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BPAL Madness!

andhowever

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Everything posted by andhowever

  1. andhowever

    Sweet, sweet florals

    I put it on today and am reminded of how much I love it: Baobhan Sith! On me it's a sweet apple blossom with hints of ginger and tea. It smells exactly like spring to me.
  2. andhowever

    Ozymandias

    This was a frimp from the Lab. Several people have said this reminds them of something their dad used to wear, and I definitely get that association as well. My dad wore Royal Lyme, and this doesn't smell like it per se, but it has the same feeling. I get a soapy scent, a little bit of sandalwood, and something that smells like shaving cream. This is very much, to me, a wholesome-clean-boy scent. In fact, I have a friend who is a wholesome clean boy in every respect and I'd like to try this on him.
  3. andhowever

    The Ghost

    This was a total surprise for me! Didn't expect to like this at all, but it's fresh, cool white flowers. To me it smells soothing, like walking into an air-conditioned house after you've been out in a hot and sticky day. I do get a little bit of apple smell from this, but just the skin of the apple. This scent makes me feel clean, cool, and refreshed.
  4. andhowever

    The Unheavenly City

    Love the label art on this one, by the way! In bottle: As others have said, this one's difficult to pin down. Is it creamy? Is it floral? Is it spicy? Let's put it on and see! On me: Tragedy! Something in this is going very bitter and icky on me. It's probably either the red musk or the dragon's blood. This one, sadly, is not for me.
  5. andhowever

    Lydia

    In the bottle: Light grassy floral. I know others have said jasmine but I smell gardenia. On me: Geez, this is light! To be fair, I am wearing a gazillion other perfumes, so I'll give poor Lydia another chance. From what I can smell, it's a beautiful feminine floral. It's such a true floral, in fact, that I suspect it may be triggering my allergies (achoo. . .achoo). If you like gentle, sweet, white florals, Lydia is the girl for you. Just gorgeous, although I'm not sure how much to my taste she is.
  6. andhowever

    Shanghai Tunnel

    In the bottle: Wood. Definitely pine or something else evergreen. I have Golden Priapus on the other arm and the wood scent is not quite the same, but it's close. On me: This scent seems to change every time I sniff it (which I've been doing a lot, naturally). Right now it's like a tree trunk on a warm day. On, this is definitely pine, and it's possibly ponderosa pine? It reminds me of the way things smell in Central Oregon - dry, hot, and sweet. It's odd that I'm getting those associations when others are getting "damp", but such is the nature of smell, I suppose. I also smelled a little bit of green tea, but that might have been a) the Dormouse from my other arm or my mind playing tricks on me because of the name "Shanghai Tunnel". Oh, this is gorgeous. Definitely my favorite of the blends. To me it's very evocative of Portland and the Northwest in general, because of the extreme accuracy of the wood note. I love Portland to distraction and am away from it 8 months of the year - this is what I'll be wearing when I miss it.
  7. Shub! It's been said before, it'll be said again. It's Friday night, I go to the market in slouchy shorts and a sweatshirt, and every single stock boy and store clerk checks me out thoroughly. A couple hit on me. And why? It's because of this perfume. It's a man-magnet! . . .totally getting a bottle.
  8. andhowever

    Hurricane

    I got this as a frimp from the lab, and I never would have tried it otherwise. In the imp: . . .air? Can't really smell much of anything. Wet: Soapy cleanness. If you've ever used the shampoo Creme of Nature, that's what it smells like to me. I like that scent, so I'm willing to see where this goes. Dry: I "see" this in two layers: the upper layer of fresh ozone, which is aquatic and a touch chemically, and the lower layer of dirty vetiver. This is my first vetiver blend from the lab, so I was a little apprehensive, but it appears to be playing nicely on my skin. I'm from the Pacific Northwest and now I live in the Midwest, so this scent almost makes me want to cry - it makes me think of the way winter smelled at home. I don't know if I can wear this. Drydown: Too chemical. Can't tell if it's the ozone or the vetiver that's doing it, but it's definitely there. This is my first foray into either of those and I don't know if I'll repeat it. Generally I'm not a fan of aquatics. Also, weirdly, I smell an undertone of peanuts. I will, in fact, be interested to try this on my male volunteers. I think I'm going to wash this off and put on some March Hare - its polar opposite!
  9. andhowever

    Pink Moon 2007

    I just got Pink Moon today, and I love her! The label is adorable - it's the skelly girl from the T-shirt. So cute! I get sugared carnation from the scent, but that's probably because I wouldn't know a phlox if one hit me upside the head. It's soft, sweet, and lovely, but just spicy enough to be a little sexy. It's really perfect for spring, but it's not a "springy" scent, as such. It's just a gorgeous concoction of sugar and flowers - everything I wanted from it!
  10. andhowever

    Lolita

    If I didn't actively hate this scent, I knew I was keeping it no matter what, Lolita being my favorite book of all time. Fortunately, I think I love it. Wet on my skin it's a little herbal for my taste, but it dries down to a sharp, bright lemon. I can almost see Dolly Haze, demanding and slippery and tragic, when I smell this. I am thinking of aurochs and angels, the secret of durable pigments, prophetic sonnets, the refuge of art. And this is the only immortality you and I may share, my Lolita.
  11. andhowever

    Shub-Niggurath

    I'm new to BPAL myself and am slowly dragging all of my friends into it with me. I bought a random imp pack for one of them, with the intention of leaving the first test of all of them to her. Well, I saw that there was an imp of Shub. What's all the fuss about, I wondered? I snuck a tiny little dab onto my arm. Three hours later I snuck the imp out of her bag and into my BPAL box. If you'd told me Shub-Niggurath would smell like bright, fresh, lemony, gingery, Juicy Fruity, sweet yellow goodness, I would have laughed. But it does on me. So perfect for what I want from a scent. This could very well be a bottle.
  12. andhowever

    Cheshire Cat

    My very first review! In the imp, I don't smell much of anything, but that seems to be a pervasive problem with me so I put it on my skin. Boy, am I glad I did. It starts out as a sweet, tangy grapefruit with some soft floral hanging out in the background (the delphinium, maybe?), and dries down to a mixed-up, mashed-up, citrus/floral/musk that I love. I liked Baobhan Sith (before I lost my imp - grr!) and tried this on that basis, but I think I prefer this one. It just has that little extra je ne sais quoi. It's young, fresh, sweet, and more than a little quirky - just like me! I can see myself wearing this to work in the summer (I'm 19, so I think I could get away with it).
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