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BPAL Madness!

djnevermore

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Everything posted by djnevermore

  1. djnevermore

    Lavender Lace

    The breath between love and mourning: a cascading bouquet of French lavender, smoke-touched, with bourbon vanilla and caramelized tobacco, pricked by tiny daggers of cognac. I wish this remained on my skin as it does in the bottle! It's SO pretty all wet! Soporific lavender with lovely, creamy vanilla, and a touch of sweet tobacco. Unfortunately, my skin hates "smoke" notes, so I should have known better. I'd hoped the lavender would win. Late dry-down is smoke-heavy, with a touch of something sweet and creamy in the far back. If your skin loves smoky notes, this may be bliss on you!!!
  2. Hi! I didn’t get a message reply notification from the forum and haven’t gotten your reply, so I’m posting here to let you know I responded to your message. 

  3. BLACK LIVES MATTER 💔❤️💔

  4. djnevermore

    Snake's Kiss

    This is one of only two Snake Oil-based scents I can wear (and love!). It reminds of Cotton or Paper Phoenix in its gentle, sweet softness. I see what a previous reviewer means by it being reminiscent of Snow White, but doesn't have that almond-y playdough note, just the general feeling of SW. So fear not, SW not-a-fans! I swear there's something greenish in here, but I see there are no green notes in the description. Whatever it is keeps the Snake Oil, which is usually fake and cloying on me, from going into that territory at all. Really, this is gorgeous, and I'm very happy I gave it a chance!
  5. djnevermore

    Vivid Enjoyment of the Memory of Rupture

    Has a funk to it, wet and in the bottle, a very odd powder-something, and smells prominently green tea-ish. As it dries, I think this is what matcha green tea powder smells like, and that funkiness is fading. Dry, it's straight up, slightly sweet (maybe from the rice milk element?), heady green tea, tannic and powerful (though not overpowering). It's not what I'd expected or hoped for, but I LOVE strong, realistic tea notes in perfume, so this is definitely a keeper!
  6. djnevermore

    Caressing the Wild Rabbit

    Just lovely! I immediately adore it, even fresh out of the mail. First impression is gently sweet, creamy, and green. So springy, so shunga. It's very well blended, but different sniffs give different whiffs. The orchid is soft, the vanilla barely-there, the honey fresh and mild, and I think the greenness is from the pale tea leaf. This is subtly sexy, and indeed perfect for spring. It's a hopeful scent.
  7. djnevermore

    Spinning on Graves

    I LOVE Spinning! I don't get grass from it, except perhaps for the first few minutes. Dry on me, it's not unlike Cotton (or Paper?) Phoenix--creamy, sweet, Dorian-y. That drop of clove is the perfect amount to set Spinning apart from similar blends, without making it smell like a craft store at Christmas. True love!
  8. djnevermore

    Dana O'Shee Hair Gloss

    Exactly like the perfume, for sure, but also super-strongly scented. No amount of perfume oil was spared in the creation of this gorgeous gloss!
  9. djnevermore

    Fortuna Felix

    Blessed orange beauty, with a whiff (but not "whoa; headshop!") of champaca. Vanilla and tobacco at the back take some edge off, smooth it down to a sexy, juicy incense blend. It reminds me of a lighter Lush Karma.
  10. djnevermore

    Luna Azul 2018

    Dark, sexy, night-driven. An old-fashioned cologne with a backing sweet note and a hint of woodiness, but not overwhelming like some woods can be. This is a sly enchanter, heady as hell. I agree: it will probably age like Sean Connery.
  11. djnevermore

    Aegir

    Exactly what previous reviewer said! Seriously, spot-on, except that I'd add I can smell the saltiness, which smells better than it sounds. This would be delicious on a guy, but is certainly multi-sex! Dorian's rakish sea-faring cousin.
  12. djnevermore

    Fortuna Liberum

    This is really lovely, and pale to me. I can definitely smell the orange peel, a bit of strawberry, and the orange blossom. Dry, this is non-foody and non-floral vanilla with the only orange blossom I can ever recall working on me. It's lovely, but I'm kind of sad not to be getting the other notes on dry-down. Still, might have to get a bottle! Note: this seems a lovely scent for a young girl!
  13. djnevermore

    Cushing Manor

    Without remembering the notes, I thought "wow! Clove single note!" But yeah that's spicy carnation! Sweet and strong but not cloying. It's the same top note as in Alice, to my nose, only richer somehow, more distinguished. It's really beautiful, but I honestly don't get any of the other notes.
  14. djnevermore

    Flowering Lines

    Wet: "that's so 'wow'" is all I'm thinking. Work, brain! It's sophisticated florals, with a juicy, watery edge (but not aquatic) that actually kind of makes my mouth water. It's not foody at all. The apricot is not a note but a hint. And if it was a note, it would be sour/sweet apricot juice, just a dribble. The florals don't lend themselves to a particular season. This feels like it would work well in all seasons, perhaps particularly in between spring and summer. It's bright, sparkling, and colorful. Dry: the florals took a backseat to this almost dry spiciness, like ginger root a day after grinding it. That must be the carnation, but it's different from all other incarnations of BPAL carnation (see what I did?) that I've ever tried. It's not obvious or in-your-face. And if carnation goes powdery on you, don't expect this one to.
  15. djnevermore

    Mabel

    Jenjin's review steals the words out of my mouth. Also, the comments of it being incredibly well blended. I cannot pick out individual notes at all, and probably wouldn't have guessed any correctly. It's sophisticated, elegant, commanding but not brash, drop-dead gorgeous. I've not tried hag grey (but probably need to now!). This reminds of Hesiod's Phoenix. Edit: this amber does not go powdery on me.
  16. djnevermore

    Egg Nog Gingersnap Hair Gloss

    The previous reviews are dead-on. I was a little worried too, but totally needlessly. This is sublime! It's spicy without being cloying or exotic-spice (so it's not a Morocco stand-in); totally kitchen spices at holiday dessert baking time. It's gently sweet, like a lullaby rather than a ballad. It's light-handed but present and noticeable. I keep thinking "God, what smells so good?!" Personally, I'm not really getting egg nog, but that may come with shaking the bottle a bit before application. I also feel like it will go well with so many perfumes, without fighting for attention. Foody, dark and exotic, playful--it'll be a great companion. If you're drawn to the idea of this scent, I can't imagine you'll be disappointed, and I'm convinced this will garner many compliments! Bravo, Ted!
  17. djnevermore

    Banshee Beat

    I have a LOVE-dislike relationship with BB. It's everything everyone else has said in terms of sexy, dark, hippie (think belly dancer troupe), but sometimes and only sometimes it goes quite plasticky on me. Love it when it doesn't but it's almost quease-inducing when it does. It's 7 years aged too, so I don't think it's a matter of aging. I wish it would make up its mind!
  18. djnevermore

    Brusque Violet

    From what I've read, I most concur with Caerphilly's review. Sweet, watery and fresh. GC scents so rarely work on me, but I'm thinking this is a winner, out of maybe 5 wearable GCs. To me, nothing plasticy or cloying, nor overwhelming. I also agree that it's less true violet than it is the specter of a violet. There is something old-fashioned and almost proper, except its watery/green/fresh quality keeps it far from being dowdy. As it dries, it loses some of the fresh greenness, and rarely I get a sense of a medicinal note (maybe the mint, which I don't actually smell--it just makes my sinuses feel a bit more clear: allergies), but it's a rare enough occurrence that it's not a problem. This is a lovely sunny-weather perfume and I think would well suit a young girl. Had to review this GC winner-on-me! Edited to add: this is what I'd hoped The Lilac Wood would have been for me--a sunny patch of rain-soaked flowers peeking out from a clearing in deciduous woods.
  19. djnevermore

    St. Lucia v8

    I personally believe if you are a fan of Hearth or 3 Witches, St. Lucia is the scent for you...and even better than the previous two! Like a blend of the two together with a toned-down smokiness and a bit more sweetness. I still wouldn't call it foody, as it's too strong and spicy for that definition. But I submit it's a YUMMY one for Hearth and 3 Witches fans!
  20. djnevermore

    Jingo-Kogo v6

    Ah, I am lucky! Wet and for quite a while, this a sour, reddish (?) sandalwood with a background of not-fake creaminess and a hint of sweetness, though I wouldn't call this foody. The sourness lingers long and reminds me of the scent of my little brother's dirtied cloth diapers from decades ago and spoils this for me. I think that sourness is incongrous, no matter whether one associates it with diapers. SO I am saved long, financially painful searches for this rarity. Take the sour note out and it would be ray-of-light-and-angels-singing-worthy.
  21. djnevermore

    Oak King v4

    It smells a bit off or strange in the bottle but, on, is Oakmoss single note, from my recollection of it. To die for if you're a fan of oakmoss.
  22. djnevermore

    White Chocolate and Strawberry

    While this is a 6-or-7-on-a-scale-of-10 realistic strawberry, I really didn't get much white chocolate at all. Yes, the strawberry has a sweet tooth and swallowed the white chocolate whole. This is the same strawberry as was in Strawberry Moon and ends up being SMoon's twin scent, which is no good for me. SMoon ended up giving me headaches and smelling medicinal and this is doing the same thing. Bummer. But if you love SMoon, I think you will love this too. Just don't expect to smell WC.
  23. djnevermore

    White Chocolate, Marshmallow, and Coconut

    This is the same marshmallow as is in marshmallow poof and it's definitely there. The coconut is not tropical-y. Rather, first it's meaty, nutty coconut and later on in drydown is more like toasted coconut. I was glad not to smell like sunblock. I really do like this note. I sold MPoof long ago because it made me smell like sex and I just didn't want to smell like that. This marshmallow does about the same thing but I may keep this anyway because the coconut and other notes balance out that aspect. After a while, the marshmallow turns into a honey-ish scent, like fresh, pale honey. VERY late drydown (12 hours later) smells like a faint creamy honey with a bit of nut in the background. This is very sweet and foody but sexy. Kids I work with walked near where I was and said it smelled like fresh-baked muffins. When I said it was my perfume and they sniffed my wrist, a number of girls who usually thumb their noses at my fancy perfumes said, "You gotta hook me UP with some of that!" Oh yeah...and the chocolate note seems to me to be just sugar and cream. I am also happy to say there was no burned note in here and nothing was fake or plasticy.
  24. djnevermore

    Fearful Pleasure

    No BPAL apple, smoke and wood scents to date have been kind to me so I really hesitated to buy this. I usually end up smelling burned or like pencil shavings, though the notes always sound intriguing. I liked this at first but didn't love it and almost put it in the swaps pile. I tried it again and still wasn't too impressed. Then I smelled my wrist hours after application, when it was very, very dry. It was a wonderful, slightly sweet, creamy, woody scent with some frozen leaves tossed in. I was enamored with the dry-down!!!!!! Even though it took a while for the dry down to develop, I decided to hold onto the bottle. Well, my grip on that bottle has grown ever tighter because THIS apple note does not bother me and because I smell the dry-down scent faintly while it's wet now. I LOVE it. And to boot, I just noticed its dry-down is very similar (to me) to Pumpkin King's dry-down. PK is my all-time fave scent and I have so little of it. The fact Fearful Pleasure has some similarities just thrills me. I can say with confidence that I intend always to keep this bottle! Kudos! Oh, yes, it was one of only two Halloween-released scents I even liked. Huesos de Santos is pretty groovy too.
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