modernsaints

Strongly apple/pomegranate, but there's a powdery dry undernote - sort of like pouring too many pixie stix in your mouth at once, but not as sweet, just POWDERY. Strange comparison here, but it's like a really 'meh' version of Mme. Moriarty. Not for me, sadly.

I'd recommend layering Bliss and Fae, perhaps - this 13 is heavily peach/chocolate to me. And perhaps a dot of something a bit more herbal to get that quality, depending on what 13 does on your skin.

Very little leather - a strong wine note, with a sour rose undertone. The wine goes a bit sour after awhile too. If these are your notes, though, I'd imagine you'd love this as it is really nice in the imp.

I have yet to smell a perfume that actually smells filthy but oh god this is - wow. Cherry (from the dragon's blood), dunked in mud and rolled around in some dirt, and then covered in fungus. Wow. Just... wow. I think it's the vetiver AND patchouli AND red musk hitting me all at once; vetiver is a no-go and the other two are really iffy on me, and this is just everything wrong about all of those.

Sickly-sweet candy; like a berry version of Akuma, with a sharp sour undertone (I think it's the neroli.) Ack. Not for me!

THIS is what I wanted from Tokyo Stomp - sweet creamy vanilla, a fresh mintiness, and a sweet, gentle sugared top. Absolutely perfect, and I can imagine it being good pretty much year-round. Definitely want a bottle!

Ultimate cucumber. I KNOW YOU ARE OUT THERE. Please tell me where you are, ultimate cucumber (And no, it's not Blue Moon, Squirting Cucumber, or Gibbous Moon... I want a cucumber SN.) And ultimate ocean scent - but not aquatic; there is a difference!

In the imp: OH HOLY JESUS WHAT IS THIS, IT BURNS, I WILL NEVER SMELL AGAIN. Daaaayum, that is strong, girlfriend. On me: I... it is less bad. In the sense that having a chainsaw shoved into your foot is less bad than having it shoved into your face. If you have ever had braces removed - you know that whirring thing they use to scrape the bonding material off your teeth? You know how it makes that weird sort of whirring noise, and it is accompanied by a horrific smell of burnt ceramic and enamel and God-knows-what? Mix that with some burning hair thrown in for good measure. Wow. Fucking wow. I do not even know what the hell did it to me, whether it was the cypress or the oude, or an unholy combination of those, or what. Macabre, what.

This is EXACTLY like an incense I used to have - it's got the powdery-crumbly smell, and then the bright fruit they scented the incense with. Need to road-test to determine whether I like it enough to keep, but I'm just really startled and pleased by the similarity. Most incense scents tend to go heavy and strange on me, so I'm pleased by the very true 'incense' quality here.

Mmmmm. Mostly a faint, nearly perfumey aloe, with a touch of sweetness from the vanilla - but it's not an obviously VANILLA FOODY sweetness, it's just soft and nice. The sandalwood and musk play really, surprisingly nice; my skin tends to amp woods, but somehow they stay calm. I'll need to road-test it a bit to see whether I need a bottle, but I very well might. I'm honestly startled by how pretty this is - and very feminine, too.

I had this on my list as I was under the impression that bois du rose was not similar to rose at all. And yet, on me, it goes straight to pear with a tart, sour, nearly dusty undernote - very reminiscent of Persephone, for some reason. Pear is usually startlingly sweet on me, so it's either the bois du rose or the lily going horribly awry. Shame; I like pear and wanted a really good pear scent.

Huh. Something about this is very tea-like to me... I had a blueberry white tea at Starbucks the other day and this is very reminiscent of that. The berry is really faint here. Unfortunately, I thought the blueberry white tea was disgusting Glasgow is not disgusting, but straight-up tea with a hint of berry is Not My Thing, and so this moves along.

Sweeeeeet. Sweet aquatic. Blech. I think Beth's interpretation of "aquatic" tends to a) run towards "water" as opposed to "ocean", and tends to go sweet on me anyway, so I always find myself disappointed. Add that to a strange, Saltine-like note (not the salt, the actual cracker itself) and I just find myself 'meh' on a lot of these. Lightning is not for me.

Someone was talking in another thread about how you can smell a blend, and you know it "works", but it doesn't work for you personally. Obatala in a nutshell. I know this is a soft, milky, almost sugary-sweet coconut, but something about it makes me go "blech." Sometimes I get a whiff of something almost hazelnutty, which is weird; sometimes I smell just coconut. And I think I should come to terms with the fact that I don't like BPAL coconut. If it were even that fake-tan-coconut I'd be happy (what? I LIKE that coconut!) but it's just... not for me. If you like coconut though, hit this up, I mean, it is an awesomely milky delicious coconut smell. If you like that.

Sweet, aquatic, sort of light and nearly perfumey - I like it, but I have yet to find the aquatic that smacks me upside the head with OCEAN OCEAN OCEAN. Definitely not getting the salt I'd like. Will keep and see how often I wear it, but I'm not shrieking for a bottle right this second.

Starts off EXTREMELY reminiscent of Gibbous Moon to me; don't agree with the Blue Moon comparisons, as that was far too herbal to match this, but both Gibbous and Annabel Lee share the same watery-floral-plus-a-hint-of-cucumber. Not terribly fond of the overpowering floral beginning, but it dries down into the faintest, most incredibly sweet soft... something. Almost faintly sugared, even. Mm. I'd need to slather it on, but I can see tracking down a bottle of this for that purpose. ETA: The madre loves it to pieces and wears it regularly, so count that as two votes for Annabel Lee.

Smells awful and strange in the imp - very sharp with the booziness - but I put it on because, hi, cookies! And THIS is what I wanted Shub-Niggurath to be, oddly enough. Spiced cookies, but without the harsh ginger dryness, and a lovely sugary undertone. Mmmm. I am not sure I will need a whole bottle, but it's lovely and terribly foody, which, A+.

Very perfumey at first, with a tart note (I think that's the apple blossom, though it's usually nicer on my skin.) Fades down into a generic, sweetish 'floral' that stays really close to the skin. I'm kind of surprised - apple blossom and fig are usually wonderful on me, and sandalwood is decent. Nothing about this is terribly appealing, though.

mmmh. the bottle leaked a tiny bit in transit, so I opened the BPAL box to the most heavenly delicious chocolate-bright fruit smell EVER. it's distinctly sweet, but I wouldn't pin the word "chocolate" on it immediately - it's just creamy and peachy/starfruit-y and nnngh I want more. Now. On me, it does a decent spiced-chocolate thing - massoia, clove, ginger, doing their thing - okay, but I'd pass on it. I'm keeping the bottle, no question, though. Once I get my scent locket, this will be a regular. SO GOOD.

AGH. What. I was promised cake This is... well it starts as a sort of cake-y wine. Which, gross. Then it gets heavily spicy, with a really sort of tart, green undertone (I'm not sure WHAT that is... for some reason I want to say olive leaf? nooo. I want olive leaf to smell like real olives.) It just gets weirder and weirder, and hits some strange tickly place high in my nose, and blech.

Yesterday I tested Kiyohime Changes from a Serpent and 51, and I found them nearly identical - 51 was just a bit syrupy to me, and Kiyohime was lighter. Which is odd, as they don't share any notes except green musk, but - there you go.

nnnngh this is honey. Perfect. Honey with a smoky back to it, and just a touch of dandelion brightness. I am making grabby hands at this SO HARD. I'd put this in & out of my wishlist several times, debating whether it was even worth it, and then the lab frimped it to me! Good call, lab, I think I might want a bottle of this.

Candy Butcher. I've tried all three, and Boomslang was surprisingly unchocolate-y. Bliss is distinctly chocolate, but it's a giant Hershey bar; Candy Butcher is really fine chocolate, the kind that you don't even really eat, you just get shavings over a fancy dessert in a restaurant. If that makes sense. It's also the only one of the three I liked enough to keep.

Eugh black tea. After about 45 minutes, the sharp-sour black tea smell fades off, leaving a soft pleasant citrus. Not worth waiting for, though. Blech.

The first word that comes to mind is "syrupy" - I suspect it's the guava and mandarin; one is usually enough on me, and two can get sticky-sweet. There's a heavily perfume-y aspect as well. I was hoping for a bit more fresh melon, a bit less sweetness - this is off to swaps, I suppose! The color is hilariously perfect though - the EXACT pale, glowing green of alien skin.