mollison

I don't get any cream from this, which is great, because cream does not agree with me! In the decant and on the skin, it is pure ANIMAL CRACKERS! Such a yummy scent! As it dries down, a nice citrusy topnote is coming forward--the bergamot from the Earl Grey, I presume. Later: OMG. Earl Grey and animal crackers. This is very sweet and reminds me of a little kid's tea party. It is FUN. Maybe not something I would want to wear a lot as an adult, because it just reminds me of childhood snack time. In an awesome way. Oh, who am I kidding--I am a stay-at-home mom, so this might be a perfect scent for me. :-P Edit: Even later on, the lemony note fades and it's just crushed animal cracker crumbs on the floor at the end of the party!

This is way better than I expected it to be. It smells much more like commercial cologne than most BPAL does. Wet, it is a blast of mint florals. As it dries, it settles in to this very green herbal ozoney scent that just gets more and more sophisticated as it dries down. It reminds me a lot of my Dior Escale à Pondichéry (I think?) or l'Artisan thé pour une été maybe. This is a scent that I could easily wear working in an office as a daily scent. I'm a fan, and I definitely did not expect to be.

In the bottle, it actually smells quite a bit like Boomslang, but not as chocolatey. Maybe Boomslang when the cocoa oil has sunk to the bottom and not mixed well? I don't know where I'm getting this! On, drying down: This is *really* nice. It smells like spicey, foody Snake Oil. Further on: Less foody now. Just a lighter Snake Oil. And a little edge from the leather. 20ish minutes in: There is a hint of plasticky scent! Oh no! It's weird because none of the listed notes cause me problems in other blends. It actually smells like it shares a note with Gluttony--that one used to go plasticky on me in this way, too. I'll wait and test this again once it's rested more. I hope the plasticky note goes away! Because it's really nice otherwise! ETA: 35 minutes in: It now smells like a light Madame Moriarty without the plum! O_O Very nice. Edited 10/22: I wore this again the other day and didn't get any plasticky fumes. Mostly the red musk, patchouli, and vanilla. I actually really loved it when I tried it again and ended up ordering a bottle (I was testing from a decant). I'm thinking it will be even nicer once aged.

In bottle/wet: HONEYSUCKLE!! Starting to dry: FRESHLY MOWN GRASS (and nothing else) 10 minutes in: JASMINE (and a little bit of grass) 15 minutes in, dry now: The honeysuckle is back! As it settles in, the jasmine is still there, and the mown grass gives the floral notes a very raw green edge. 25 minutes in: It has faded to a more blended floral soap scent with just that slight hint of freshness from the grass. This one is pretty simple--exactly as described, really. I was hoping for honeysuckle SN or mostly honeysuckle as some have gotten. I'm not a jasmine person at all, and feel meh about grass, and normally have not much use for straight floral scents, so I'm not sure this is for me. But if you love honeysuckle, jasmine, and grass, then you'll love it!

Haute Macabre maybe? it is not super feminine on me but not super masculine either. Badgers is a favorite of mine! It does have sarsaparilla in it but it doesn't come out on my skin at all (or in the bottle either). All I smell with Badgers is patchouli, leather, honeysuckle, and vanilla.

So I really enjoy Dorian, but it's not in my top ten. Something about my skin chemistry makes it turn just a bit cloying and shallow on me--not enough to not want to ever wear it, but enough that I don't reach for it when I am feeling my best (or wanting to feel my best). I love lavender in many BPAL blends, but in some it is too harsh for me (can't remember specific names, because I didn't keep those! ). Some of my BPAL faves are lavender blends are TKO, Under the Harvest Moon, and Lilith Victoria. I *love* The Serpentine. More than I love Dorian. When I first put it on, I instantly smelled both TKO and Dorian (and Lilith Victoria, for obvious reasons). It could almost be simply Dorian + lavender, but there is an extra depth to it that keeps it smelling fresh and a little more complicated (I'm assuming it's the snowdrops, though my nose can't specifically identify them), so it doesn't go too cloying or harsh. I felt so pretty today wearing it. I didn't get a ton of morphing--it was pretty consistent to the freshly-applied scent, just fainter as the day went on. It has mostly faded, almost 12 hours later, but I can still smell a hint of it. I actually slathered it just a bit, and it had great throw- I wouldn't say it's as light as some BPAL blends, but it's not as powerful as some, either. If you like Dorian and lavender, this is a must-own. And I think it's the only lavender blend I own that doesn't make me feel sleepy, so I can wear it in the morning instead of waiting until the evening to put it on.