Lunasariel

My first Samhain, woohoo!

 

In the imp: Wow, there's a lot going on here. It's mainly a spicy-fruity scent, but I wouldn't exactly call this a gourmand. It's rounded out by hints of woodsiness - sometimes sharp and green, sometimes earthy and almost damp-smelling. Very much a cool-weather scent, like walking through the woods between rain showers, with a cup of something warm in your gloved hands.

 

Wet: The apple evaporates 99% entirely, and the sweet mulled spices 85%. What I'm left with is a fascinating scent that I thiiiiiink is mostly pumpkin and patchouli. TBH, it reminds me most of apple rootstock, woody pumpkin stems, and firewood laid out but not yet lit. There's also a note in here that reminds me of... hay? Cedar? Alfalfa? It reminds me of the way the hutches of my pet mice and guinea pigs used to smell, but in a good way. I think that might be the mullein, which I have zero experience with, but google tells me is a healing herb. It's almost a dry, dusty smell, while still remaining very vegetal. Huh, interesting!

 

Dry: A beautiful balance between ITI and wet. The spices and apples (and I do agree that these are red apples) make a comeback, but the woodsy, pumpkin-y notes also hold their own. This one lasts for a looooooooong time - still discernible after 14 hours, albeit as an unexpected but distinct honey note.

 

Overall, I wouldn't entirely call this a foodie scent, although the apples, spices, pumpkin, etc. are prominent. I guess this a scent of harvest, of storing fruits and vegetables in dry root cellars against the winter.

In the imp: Clean and spicy, dry and vegetal/herbal. This is a very distinctively SoCal scent - I'm a NorCal girl, but both sides of my family live in the L.A. area, so I'm very familiar with the scent of sun-baked sagebrush and grasses, almost sticky-resinous while still being a distinctly dry scent.

 

Wet: An initial blast of juniper quickly settles down, allowing the other notes to come out and play. This is the scent of running around the sunbaked scrubland behind my grandparents' house, of hiking Malibu Creek before the sun gets *too* hot. I'm mostly familiar with L.A. in the summer, so a dry, aromatic scent like this is just perfect. Settles down to a skin-level scent remarkably quickly.

 

Dry: Still sage and grasses sunbaked to the point of caramelization; softly aromatic. And I do mean softly - I've only had it on for 4 hours or so and I really have to huff to get anything. I've really been loving aromatic, herbal, sage-centric blends lately, and this one is a doozy! The low throw and softly herbal notes make it office-appropriate, but there's still something outdoorsy and a bit wild about it. Love this!

In the imp: A light, clean scent, but not soapy; more like clean air and running water. Right now I think I'm getting mainly the pale musk and sweet pea, although the sage is also evident, transforming the sweet pea from something unabashedly sweet and cotton-candy pink (as in Mouse's Long and Sad Tale) into something a little wilder, a little more complex.

 

Wet: ...And there's that soap I was worried about. The sweet pea is more definitively itself, but the white musk is developing soapy overtones, as it sometimes does on my skin. It's nice soap, but still soap.

 

Dry: I agree with roseus - this would make a great office/enclosed space scent. It gets very soft, very quickly, and the soap fades, albeit slowly. What's left is an herbal-floral take on "your skin but better" - like you've been gardening, or washed your hair with really really nice shampoo that morning, or just naturally smell amazing.

In the imp: The exact scent of a coastal redwood forest during/after rain: sweet, slightly floral, living greenery. I get a bit of musk at the back if I really sniff for it, but mostly it just smells like earth and wood.

 

Wet: A much muskier, softer scent. There's an interestingly elusive floral element, but not ethereal like Zorya P. Just elusive in the sense of faint and far away - maybe hidden under some ferns around the next bend in the trail. Overall, there's very much a feeling of damp ferns and shade.

 

Dry: Primarily a dark, definitely fruity musk, with the sage also still going strong, and maybe some woods? I'm surprised by how fruity-sweet this turned out to be, although the woody-herbal-ness is as lovely as I'd anticipated.

In the imp: Mainly a bright, clean aquatic. I've noticed that if a scent is described as having a "touch" of this or a "drop" of that, for some reason that's pretty much all I can smell, so it kinda makes sense that the "cleansing droplets of summer rain" are front and center here. Otherwise, some determined sniffing might reveal some very vague greenery, but they're not strong enough for me to distinguish sage vs. verbena vs. grass.

 

Wet: An initial, worrying blast of soapy ginger settles down into... mildly soapy ginger, sweetened and smoothed out by verbena. It's still a light and clean scent, but an artificial rather than a natural one. Still no sage or amber, which are the two I was really hoping for.

 

Dry: After a few hours, the soap fades entirely and it becomes a subtle, lovely herbal blend with just a faint hint of amber for resinous warmth, and a surprisingly long-lasting ginger/verbena kick. I hope some aging helps this phase develop, because it really is gorgeous. It wears very close to the body and feels like a secret.

In the imp: Coffee just the way I like it - so much simple syrup and vanilla extract you can hardly taste the coffee. Very foodie so far; if there is any dusty tomes or oakwood halls (crossing my fingers super hard for both), they're buried under all that sweetness. I'm mostly not a foodie kind of gal, but when I'm in the mood, this is the kind of scent I gravitate towards.

 

Wet: Omgggggg, this smells exactly like my old job in the Special Collections and Rare Books division of a university library, with just a hint of someone's coffee caught in the recirculated air. Seriously, my first thought was, "OMG, my boss is going to go ballistic when she finds out that someone brought coffee into the Rare Books Room." (Which, btw, you should never, ever, ever, do. I've seen the effect of an accidental coffee spill on 150-year-old-paper, and let me tell you, it's not pretty.) But seriously, this is the old-books-and-libraries scent of my dreams! <3 With just a hint of unexpected coffee. Hmm, I wonder if there's a version of this with tea - that would be me, captured in scent form.

 

Dry: Something, maybe the Bailey's in the Irish coffee, comes off as the vanillin that very old paper produces, completing the "ghost of illicit coffee in Special Collections" illusion. Why did I wait so long to try this??? It wears remarkably close to the skin throughout the day, and lasts a good 8-10 hours. At the tail end, a sort of chocolate-y coffee (mocha?) makes itself known, and blends with the lingering vanillic sweetness to make something a lot foodier, and a lot closer to ITI. In fact, it's reminiscent of my all-time favorite gourmand, and one of my favorite BPALs of all time, El Dia de los Reyes 2014. I'm utterly in love with every step of this scent.

In the imp: An initial whiff of rather soft, lovely lavender is almost immediately subsumed by a big ol' blast of bubblegum-y lotus. That's about all there is to it right now.

 

Wet: Ah, there's the lavender! It starts out about 80% lotus and 20% lavender, but dials down to about 60-40 after a minute or so. That's... interesting. It's very WYSIWYG, and I'll never be a lotus lover, but the combination of dusty, cloying sweetness with dry, medicinal sharpness is certainly a sensory experience.

 

Dry: Lotus all the way down, with the lavender making a surprise reappearance at the very end, about five hours in.

Time to admit one of my great areas of BPAL blindness: I have never smelled OG Eve, so I'm going in blind here. I know it's one of the great ones, and I love sage with a slightly unhealthy passion, so I'm eager to see where this one goes.

 

In the imp: Sweet, musky, almost nutty honey, mixed with the scent of good, green, growing things - flowers and herbs and earth. However, I wouldn't call this one of the Lab's "earth" or "dirt" scents; it just gives the impression of slightly dry, dusty summer soil. I also get occasional whiffs of something cinnamon-esque, which upon further research, turns out to be the calamus.

 

Wet: Holy shit, if this is anything like OG Eve, I need to track down a bottle stat. This is the scent of an enchanted forest - mainly hawthorn and sage, with maybe some other herbs and/or grasses thrown in, but with an elusive, not-quite-floral edge, a tantalizing hint of incense, and some very non-obtrusive honey providing a base. All of my favorite perfumes have something unexpected about them, and this is no exception: I normally wouldn't look for incense or resins in a primarily green scent, but this is just enough to keep me huffing my wrist, trying to catch that thread of incense smoke. This is utterly lovely.

 

Dry: Pretty linear. The honey and incense/resins take a step back, leaving the hawthorn, sage, and other ineffable greenery prominent, with the saffron and calamus also notable. It's a surprisingly short-lasting scent on me (only 6 or 7 hours), but it makes a hell of an impression. I don't know if I would love this as much without the sage turning everything all green and forest-y, but as it is, this is quickly rocketing to a place among my all-time favorites.

In the imp: Mainly sweet and minty, with what I think are some floral touches. Think candied mint leaves and violets. This is a really delightful sweetness - not synthetic or candy-like, but not noticeably honey-like, either. More like nectar.

 

Wet: A much sharper mint (roseus, I agree - the sweeter mint is peppermint, and this sharper one is spearmint), and a touch of bracing, resin-y pine. I actually don't think I've ever experienced this particular snow note, but it does smell like something BPAL would use for snow.

 

Dry: And back to sweet peppermint. No more pine to speak of, but now there's something cool and almost aquatic-smelling; I could definitely see it being cucumber. This is going to be one hell of a summer scent! There's a general feeling of herbaciousness, but I can't put my finger on any herbs in particular, so it could just be the intermingling of mint and cucumber. A wonderful green scent!

In the imp: A heady, creamy, sweet scent. I almost want to say coconut milk rather than dairy milk, but it could easily be a case of milk + coconut meat = coconut milk. Like coconut milk, it's a very rich scent, almost overwhelming/too sweet, but not quite. Coconut is one of those cases where I dislike the taste, but the scent works great on my skin, so let's see how this one does.

 

Wet: Ah, there's the shea butter, making a nice solid base for the rest of the scent. Coconut milk has given way to coconut water - refreshing rather than rich, almost citrus-y or tropical fruity.

 

Dry: Mostly shea butter, with a bit of (rather dry) coconut hanging around the edges. No milky creaminess or water (coconut or otherwise) remains. It's a mellow, laid-back, "I took the time to moisturize ALL over, and I used the nice one with all-natural shea butter and coconut" kind of scent. I can see the above comparison to liquid hand soaps, but this is much more natural and realistic-smelling. This is what the soap dispenser in an eco-conscious corporate office is trying to smell like.

In the imp: Very dark, resinous cacao. It feels like it should come in tar format. I'm definitely getting the copal in there, and a bit of googling reveals that chapapote is some sort of pitch or tar, so I guess I was spot-on in that regard, lol.

 

Wet: At first I wanted to call this a more appetizing chocolate, but I don't think I can really describe this as appetizing. The copal has settled way the hell down, and the dark, gloopy pitch is pretty much gone, but this is still a STRONG scent. I can't discern the honey as itself, but that must be it sweetening up the chocolate, because this is an incredibly sweet scent. A musty or starchy element starts to make itself known after a minute or so - must be the maize. Or is it the cotton blossom? There's something very not-foody about this blend developing; even though it's all cacao, honey, and maize, this definitely doesn't smell like food.

 

Dry: OK, it's primarily a cotton scent now. Wow, what a morpher! It started out all dark, gritty, growling fuck-you tarry cacao, but it ends up smelling like my grandmother's closet of expensive lightweight summer clothes, with only a hint of (sadly?) tamed, sweetened chocolate around the edges. Certainly no more dark, growly pitch or tar, and almost certainly no starchy maize. So I guess the notes appeared, and then disappeared, in almost exactly the order they're listed!

 

Huh, when I first uncorked this imp, I was all set to put it in my "fuck-off sexy" jar, where a cacao-flavored roofing tar scent would naturally go, but now it's going in the "office-appropriate" jar instead.

In the imp: A lovely, light, springy, aquatic floral - I get the impression of running water and greenery, with flowers hidden in the grass.

 

Wet: The light, springy aquatic continues at first, but then a very realistic, spicy, green-sap smell emerges, and the florals shortly thereafter. In fact, the florals come to be a little bit woozy for me - I think it's the honeysuckle? It's got some pretty good throw at this stage, too.

 

Dry: Thankfully, the wooziness fades after only a few minutes. The honeysuckle settles down, and the tuberose and gardenia (particularly the former) come into their own. It eventually settles down into something about 60% tuberose, 25% gardenia, and 15% honeysuckle, although these do blend together beautifully; so much so that it's difficult to pick out one floral on its own. After half an hour or so, it becomes something creamy-sweet, almost vanillic (but never foodie!), and stays there for the duration of the scent, which is about 6 hours on me.

 

This is a perfect spring scent - it makes me think of running water, growing greenery, and just-opened flowers.

In the imp: Very fruity. I definitely get the apple, and Fragrentica says apple plus pear equals quince, and I'm also getting something quite juicy and pear-like, so that must be the quince. There's a soft fuzz of herbs around the edge, stopping the scent from going straight to Juicy Fruit territory, and I think the "soft musk" mentioned might be white musk?

 

Wet: Ah, there's that jasmine. It's now primarily a lush, sweet jasmine, rounded out a bit by herbs (difficult to pick out any particulars, but I think I might be getting the thyme?), and an occasional incense-y waft of myrrh. The intense fruitiness I got from ITI is still hanging around a bit, but now it's just a facet instead of the main player.

 

Dry: Settles down into an apple(/quince?)/jasmine combo very reminiscent of Desire. However, I apparently go nose-blind to this one INCREDIBLY quickly. After four or five hours, all I can get is maybe some sandalwood and the ghost of fruit, and that's after some damn determined sniffing. According to other people, it's got a low-to-medium throw jasmine and white musk.

In the decant: The first impression I get is an oddly effervescent, almost soapy, fruity-floral, leaning a little more fruity than floral. I also get a bit of the poppy smoke, but at this stage, it's more like the ghost of smoke, where all the acrid edges have been blunted.

 

Wet: Vaguely fruity soap at first, which did not fill me with anticipation. However, after a few minutes, the soap starts to trade places with a pleasantly light, fruity, patchouli. Eventually, it ends up as a light, pleasant fruity-patch-floral. I thought this would be a rich, languid, very NSFW scent, along the lines of Red Lantern or Nasty Woman, but instead I'm getting a lot more "aristocratic" and not quite enough "prostitutes," if you know what I mean. Maybe this is one of those rare instances where jasmine, which I ordinarily love, just catastrophically fails to work on me?

 

Dry: The soapy jasmine continues for a good four or five hours, rounded out by occasional whiffs of fruit (not strong enough to identify the plum directly). After that, though, the soap burns off and I'm left with a tantalizing, elusive, smoky jasmine, complicated by whiffs of an interestingly subdued, non-juicy plum, and supported by some very subtle patch. If patchouli is normally a growly, stomp-all-over-everything Godzilla of a note for you, this might be a more wearable alternative.

In the imp: A dry, aromatic scent; mainly cedar, with the edges softened by sage. There's almost a smoky quality to it, like a campfire in the mountains comprised mainly of cedarwood, with some dried sage used as kindling/tossed on for some flavor.

 

Wet: Still cedar-and-sage-in-that-order-dominant, but now a little more resinous - I almost want to say ponderosa pines. After a few minutes, just a hint of brown sugar arrives to bring the whole blend a little more warmth and sweetness. This is the essence of hiking in the Sierras in the summer, with the sun beating down on the grasses around you and the pines getting a little sappy.

 

Dry: No real surprises here. The sage, which has softened to a sort of omnidirectional herbaceousness, comes to dominate, and the cedar dials way down. That touch of brown sugar remains throughout, not candy-sweet, but providing the whole thing with warmth and unity.

 

I didn't expect to find a heartening, John Muir-y, hiking scent among this year's Lupers, but I'm glad I did! Most likely bottle-worthy.

In the imp: A big, heady whiff of sweet, rich, woozy, almost buttery rum. They weren't kidding about that "sweet, sugared" part! There is definitely some coconut in there as well (no tobacco as of yet), but it's all secondary to that rum. And I love rum scents, especially if tobacco is also involved, and I've also come to love coconut over the last year or so, so I'm looking forward to this one.

Wet: Ah, there's the coconut and tobacco. The coconut is just the way I like it - dry and non-foody, just adding a hint of soft, creamy sweetness. I think I'm also getting the tobacco, unless the coconut is really dry. There's an elusive, smoky element that takes this scent away from the "lethally strong tropical drink" category and making it more of a mysterious, midnight scent. It's still got quite a bit of throw to it, and is definitely too much for me to wear to work, but now there's something a bit more subtle about it.

Dry: Pretty linear. The coconut gets a bit drier and less prominent, while the tobacco amps up and becomes more chewy than smoky. The rum settles down and mellows even further. Pretty much all alcoholic scents that aren't based around grapes or gin (rum, bourbon, whiskey, etc.) are wonderfully mellow, warm, and sweet on my skin. This is definitely no exception.

In the imp: On first sniff, I got rose. Then jasmine. Then rose again. It shifts back and forth a lot, but it's a dark, slinky, sexy, voluptuous scent. If it stays exactly like this, I will be 100% happy.

 

Wet: Still flip-flopping. Either rose-jasmine or jasmine-rose, 60/40 each way. Sadly, it's gone a bit sharp and lost that candlelight-and-velvet feel from ITI. It's still a nice, lush floral, though.

 

Dry: Passes through an unfortunate soapy phase (huh, I've had frankincense misbehave, but never myrrh), but after three or four hours it's quite nice. A little musty, but still that jasmine/rose - rose/jasmine flip-flop. Soft, sweet, and very realistic!

In the imp: Marzipan, marzipan, and more marzipan! Honey-sweet almonds all the way down - if there's any cream or milk to be found here, it's buried way too deep under that landslide of marzipan for me to detect it. Boy, do I wish I liked marzipan, like, at all.

 

Wet: Does a complete 180 to become a your-skin-but-better scent for a kitchen witch/Demeter-esque earth goddess. The milk (or is it cream?) is soft and comforting, the honey is subtly sweet, and the grains are...just shy of baked goods, is the best way I can think of to put it. Somewhere between sun ripening grain in a field and a kitchen where generations of one family have been baking loaves of bread, but nothing is cooking today. This is astonishingly lovely.

 

Dry: Pretty linear. The throw remains soft overall, but on me it lasts for a good 8-10 hours. The cream and honey are fairly dominant, but the grains give them an interesting spin. There's a family resemblance to O here, but this is O's younger, quieter sister who loves to bake and garden instead of go out dancing.

In the imp: Exactly as described. The red musk is dominant, but I'm also getting some sexy-sultry florals, myrrh (more resinous than incense smoke-y), and the patch is fruity rather than gritty.

 

Wet: Still red musk-dominant and very sweet, but almost a cherry-like or boozy sweetness. The myrrh is drier and more incense-like, and the ylang ylang also takes a big step forward. I can definitely see the Sin comparison; it also reminds me of scents like Red Lantern, Desire, or Scherezade.

 

Dry: A classic BPAL sultry-sexy scent, mainly red musk and patch. That odd, too-sweet, cherry-boozy sweetness has faded, leaving it a lot subtler and more complex. I still get the occasional whiff of florals or resinous myrrh, but mainly it's the red musk and patch all the way home.

In the imp: STRONG, cloying, fruity sweetness - I agree with the bubblegum/candy mentioned above. It tastes like the neon pink gum I always begged for as a kid, but then tasted like talc and artificial sweeteners. Well, here goes nothing.

 

Wet: Hey, that's actually a lot better. It's softer and a lot less chemical-smelling, with a sort of omnidirectional floral element taking center stage. It's still rather sweet and "my mom finally let me pick something out at the scent aisle of the drugstore," but in a good way. It's still a very young, preteen/young teen scent, but this is a girl who's going to have amazing taste in a few years and is already developing it.

 

Dry: The orange blossom is more prominent, but there's still a lot of floral going on here. The strawberry is also still present, but much more in the background. While this scent still feels very young, it's no longer obnoxiously so. I can see myself wearing this on a carefree, picnic-in-the-park-and-ice-cream-after kind of day.

In the imp: To borrow Samuraibrarian's words, a bracing, herbal scent - rosemary and lavender, mostly in that order. I do get whiffs of something a little sweeter and more floral from father out; I like how elusive that element is.

 

Wet: The verbena takes a BIG step forward, only lightly accented by...mostly rosemary, I think? I'm still getting intriguing floral elements from afar, but up close, it smells like the hippie herbal remedy store in my hometown.

 

Dry: A wonderful, softly herbal scent. I almost want to say sage, but I think it's mostly rosemary. It's kind of an omnidirectional herbal, though - think a witch's kitchen or an apothecary. The frankincense is subtle at first, but blooms over time. And huzzah, this is the second blend I've ever found where frankincense doesn't go sour on me! If this is what y'all are smelling the rest of the time, sign me up. It's a wonderful warm, mellow, resinous scent, perfect for a cold January night like this.

In the imp: Lemongrass first and foremost, but made interestingly woody or earthy, almost nutty, by patchouli. I also get a breath of florals, but I'm having trouble picking out which. If pushed, I might say rose, but I'm far from sure at this stage.

 

Wet: Still mainly lemongrass, but the rose is now much more prominent. The patch is now dialed back to the point of invisibility, alas. At skin level, I get occasional whiffs of something spicy - sandalwood? From afar, it's a sweeter scent, with the lemongrass and the rose about equal.

 

Dry: Woodier and woodier. The lemongrass burns off first, as expected, but the roses hang around, but much softer and mellower. I agree with lizabelle - it's a unisex take on the sandalwood/rose combo.

In the imp: Oof! This is a ballsy, dark, growly scent, with throw good enough that I can smell the uncorked but covered imp sitting a foot away from me. The leather is black and fuck-off, the patchouli is at its grittiest, the vetiver is very prominent, the musk is animalic (which is a little odd, since red musk usually reads as sweet to me), and the pepper is spicy to the point of abrasiveness. I'm glad I didn't decide to test this on a day I have to work, lol.

 

Wet: Still very dark, very sexy, and VERY not work-appropriate. The vetiver, black leather (and boy is it black leather), and patchouli are all front and center, with only the barest hint of red musk, which is indeed coming off as a little sweeter, to smooth the edges.

 

Dry: It settles down into a take-no-prisoners, darkly sexy scent, mainly leather and roses. The leather is still a very black leather, as opposed to my usual well-worn leathers and suedes, and the roses are similarly dark. Coconut and red musk provide an earthy sweetness that takes off some of the sharpness. There's just a hint of vetiver remaining, lending the whole thing some grit. And maybe a touch of ginger?

In the imp: Quite reminiscent of The Antikythera Mechanism - smooth, polished wood at the base, with prominent but dry, non-foody vanilla and black tea. I actually found the tea way more prominent than I expected, and I like it! It makes the whole scent a bit lighter, and the vanilla gives it just a hint of sweetness.

 

Wet: Now more Dorian than The Antikythera Mechanism - a light, strong but sweet vanilla tea, with only a hint of woods for grounding. Or rather, Dorian if it actually worked on me; a few years ago my skin decided that anything containing moss/fougere notes was going straight to soap. T.T But now, I'm getting a sophisticated, elegant blend, subtle and sweet.

 

Dry: Actually quite similar to ITI - dark, aged wood, sweetened by vanilla bean pods - it almost reads as the sort of vanillic smell you get from really, really old books. There's still a hint of tea, but it's no longer quite so Dorian-esque.

 

I bought this for its similarity to The Antikythera Mechanism, one of my all-time faves, and while it didn't turn out exactly the same, I'm kind of glad it didn't. I'm forever sad that Dorian no longer works on me, and this is very reminiscent of Dorian, but with the addition of the dark, smooth, aged bookshelves I love from TAM. <3

In the imp: A very light scent, almost carbonated. I think I'm getting the sage and ambergris mostly, but it's more like the scent of sage carried on the breeze. I think I'm getting the florals after some pretty determined sniffing, but it's more like iris root than iris; quite powdery. And finally, I think I can get the patchouli and purple fruit way down at the base, but I've never smelled dark, heavy scents like these so lightly - barely a whiff.

 

Wet: The sage immediately steps to the fore, which I could not be happier about. The ambergris really weds it to my skin, and the leather and patch start to make themselves known a bit more. The iris drifts in and out. It's still a very light, elusive scent, but I'm liking it a lot better now. It feels...well-bred, for lack of a better word; subtle and understated. Definitely not what I was expecting, what with the leather, "patchouli-soaked blackcurrant," etc., but lovely all the same.

 

Dry: A gently herbal, musky leather, actually fairly similar to Anthony, albeit with occasional whiffs of a particularly sweet, fruity patchouli. It's still a very soft, subtle scent, but also a reassuring one. I'm going to reach for this one on days when I feel unsettled and unsure and need some grounding. <3