Psuke

Received in a swap

 

I like the fruit note. I like it a lot. There's also a bit of dirty note - probably from the neroli - that keeps it from being too sweet. I'm not entirely sold on the mint, though. I see how it's meant to add an electric note? And it kind of does...but there's also kind of a Tom's of Maine toothpaste vibe going on.

 

I think I need to live with this a bit more and see how I decide the mint goes.

I was very considerately gifted an imp of this in a swap and was *very* excited to try it. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately all things considered) this did not work for me. It's leather, certainly, but very faint and with a bitter overlay. And it's exceedingly faint (subtle?). I can definitely see this working really well on a man, but unlike several other "manly scents" I've run into on BPAL it does nothing for me when I wear it. Perversion is a much better fit.

This is really lovely, and more subtle than I was expecting. The leather in this reminds me alot of the leather in Yule Buddies, a very warm, well aged leather. With the tobacco notes like high end cigars and the Chardonnay this is the most welcoming Duungeon you've ever been in. You're sure to have the most memorable evening. I don't really smell the rum or tonka as such...for me I think they add the subtle sweetness that underlays this scent.

I bought this thinking it was more of a deep purple with a greenish tint, which it how it looked to me on the website. When it arrived, it was, in fact, a dark silver. How very Unseelie, to throw such a Glamour on me.

This is very shiny - almost, but not quite reflective, so I'm guessing it was picking up the colors of whatever was close by on the desk. The description says it is a shimmer, but I would say it borders on metallic/foil. Good formula, went on easily with no dragging or streaking, and was opaque in two coats, but I did three for a deeper color.

Powder...all powder.

 

It seems that cocoa and musk, or cocoa and amber do not play well together with my skinistry - which is sad because some of my favorite scents have these elements, just not together.

Decant bottle

 

In the bottle: sweet

 

Wet on skin: I get candy first. Like violet or rose pastille candies, then the tuberose starts coming in strong.

 

Dry down: this gets much more floral as it dries and the other notes start coming in to play.

 

 

This is a very pretty Spring floral scent. A bit on the sweet side to be a personal favorite, but I definitely like it and shall treasure my decant.

I had hopes for this - especially the dusty tomes and oakwookwood halls (I love a good library smell), but I get candy. On good days it's pure butterscotch, and other days it's a mix of cheap chocolate, commercial marzipan and red vines. If I were more of a foodie-scent girl the butterscotch days would be great, but alas, I am not.

This was a heartbreaker for me. It smelled almost exactly like a loose makeup powder I used to wear back in the early 90's. It started that way and it ended that way. It wasn't unpleasant, as such, but wasn't what I was hoping for, and it was sort of overwhelming. Oh, well - more for everyone for whom it shines! And I have learned to stay away from golden amber and musk notes paired together, so learning experience?

I think golden amber must be a death note for me, or maybe amber with musk is a death combo. This (and Dolce Stil Nuovo, which I had such hopes for) is pure powder on me, the scent of loose makeup powder and nothing else.

Caramel. Butterscotch. Coconut macaroons. I was hoping the tobacco and Asian spice would come through more, but no. This is too much of a foody/candy scent for a perfume for me, but I think it would be totally fun for a beach bag spray!

Oh, *my*. This is precisely what I hoped it would be. The musk and sugar and boozy notes are playing perfectly with each other. The musk grounds the sugar and the sugar brightens the musk and the boozy notes (more background on me) keeps it all interesting, and on the fun side of "filthy". I think this has made my top ten.

First out of the bottle this smells like sugared rose petals to me. The resins don't come out to play until it's dried down a little. I really like this one - it's not overwhelmingly sweet, and the resins play really well with the rose scent.

First sprayed from the bottle - ROSES. Roses and roses and roses. It's more of an antique-rose, and after a moment it reminds me a lot of the Weenie Atmo Red Roses and Old Bones. This would be fantastic for the lovers of old fashioned rose scents.

This stuff was *strong*. When I first sprayed it my head snapped back. But I had a decant bottle that I worried was leaking, and after changing bottles I put the emptied one in my bathroom to just diffuse into the air. It worked perfectly, and the smell lasted for weeks, and I loved it. I think this scent would work awesome with a wick diffuser, and would smell for *months*.

Perfumed buttered movie theater popcorn is what this smelled like at first - not best pleased. On drydown it became more floral, but as it's similar to other BPAL florals I already have, I'll be passing this on to another.

I got this as a frimp in a my Luper order, and I am so sad to discover it's an unreleased! It reminds me of top shelf piña colada, with something sharp and citrus-y underneath. Not lemon or orange, more like Yuzu. I really like it and shall be savoring my imp.

A BPAL frimp

 

In the bottle: This smells like cherry cordial, which is almost Cherry Nyquil, but far more pleasant.

 

Wet: Candy, but with an edge, and the warm golden honey that I have come to love.

 

Dry: Cherries and honey, honey and cherries. There is that sharp note that keeps this from being too candy-sweet and makes this a wearable scent for me. In fact, it makes me smile whenever the scent wafts past my nose.

In the bottle: warm, sharp and woodsy.

 

Wet on skin: something spicy. Not cinnamon. Clove maybe? Or one of the spicier woods/resins, and a hint of bergamot playing in the back.

 

Drydown: this becomes pretty much a spicy resin on me, and I'm quite happy with that.

I love this scent, I think it's become one of my favorites. On me it's more like a rich fruity wine, not green at all, with the resins in the back keeping it from becoming overly sweet. If this were a bath oil, it would be a bath oil that made me think of the rose petal bath scene in "American Beauty", but without the pederasty. Not because I smell roses, that's just the atmosphere it evokes for me..

I love this scent. It's an odd one, though. It smells like nothing much in the bottle to my nose. Something sharp - hay, maybe? And some other notes I can't really identify, all very disparate. But it warms up so nicely, everything coming together. And it morphs as it wears. I reminds me of what I think a Victorian Gentleman's Parlor might smell like, with highback leather chairs and very high quality pipe tobacco. Then the gingerbread/fruitcake wafts in, but just enough to provide atmosphere, not enough to take this anywhere near the "food-y" category. If it smelled like this in the bottle I'd say it would make an amazing atmo spray. As it is, I think this probably the most classically masculine BPAL scent I've come across (granted, my experience is limited), and I'd be tempted to glue my nose to the neck of nearly any man wearing it. That said, I do like it on myself, too. I keep sniffing my wrists, enjoying the cozy and complicated smell.

Interesting, wet in the bottle I smell cherries - like cherry cordial. Wet on the skin I get the fruit note, with a bit of powdery floral, and then after dry down I smell chocolate-y caramel, the fruit note is all gone, and the patchouli/musk/tobacco keep this from being an overly foodie scent. I'm very happy with it.

Imp review:

 

Wet in bottle: Fruit, like the black currant in Eat Me, but no vanilla cake, just fruit. Sometimes with a back tang and maybe some oiliness? Not necessarily unpleasant. Sometimes with more of a honey note (I smelled this several times before wearing it, and it changed subtly from sniff to sniff)

 

Wet on skin: fruit. Definitely fruit. Not overly sugar-y, but sweet, and with a dollop (small dollop) of the rich honey note.

 

Dry down: Fruit. It's fruit all the way. Not food-y fruit, but fruit all the same. It's practically a single note scent for me. Cherries or black currant my nose isn't trained enough to tell. But it's definitely fruit.

In the bottle: Beignets with powdered sugar. The coffee is very much in the background, but there enough that I'm only a little nervous to try it (i'm not much of a foodie scent person).

 

Wet on skin: Still mostly pastries, with a little more coffee.

 

Dry down: I smell like a coffee shop & bakery - in the best possible way.

 

I'm glad I got this - I almost didn't because, well, not a foodie and the pastry almost put me off. But someone on FB compared it to Cafe Mille et Une Nuits and I love that one so I took a chance and yay! Pastries are definitely a component, but the coffee (and spice?) keep it from being overwhelmingly food. A nice comforting scent for wet, snowy & cold days!

I got this as a frimp, because it's not something I would order, I am not a fan of smelling like food. And I'm so glad I did, because it turns out I love this scent! It does smell like fragrant vanilla cakes - sometimes with raspberries? (jam every other day) - but *not* (and I don't know how this works) in a way that makes me feel like I'm about to end up like the girl in that Tom Petty video. Which, come to think of it, was also Alice themed. Hmmmm...

 

It dries down into something a little sharper - like amber/vanilla/tonka bean with bite. Even if you are not a big fan of foodie scents, I highly recommend giving this one a try!