wolfie13

Okay - my rascally skin chemistry is likely at fault here, but I seem to be getting something entirely different than most folks! From initial sniff to drydown I get a mostly very green/woody scent (and a touch floral), fairly light and unisex - in fact it's rather similar to Yggdrasil on me! (if you added some rose) My skin REALLY amps up the moss note in this one, which is the dominant one the whole time, and I get some rose and the siam benzoin (which reads as pretty sharp and balsamic on me - not much of the vanillic quality that some folks get.) I really don't get any sandalwood or myrhh from this and no incense either! This is an okay scent for me for a "green" type scent, but there are others I like better in this genre and considering i was looking for a real incense blend, it's a non-starter. (I'm hoping Midnight Mass will be my HG concerning this matter.)

This was Milk Moon lite on me. I still got the butter and cream that I got from Milk Moon, but a less heavy version, with the addition of a light floral component that was not present in Milk Moon. As someone who hated Milk Moon and doesn't get on well with most florals, I found myself liking this more than I thought I would. It was an almost-but-not-quite for me.

First sniff - I was totally loving it! I smelled lots of pine and cedar, some patchouli and some cinnamon spicing it up. This had the potential to unseat all other blends of this genre (even my beloved Umbra) Upon wearing - This turns immediately to heavy, un-relenting, long-lasting leather with a musky tinge to it. And did I mention it lasts FOREVER? (This is what my chemistry tends to do with leather. Among other notes. Sigh.) I really thought this would be my favorite of the CN's and so far is my least favorite.

In the bottle: Smells nearly identical to Snake Oil. Upon initial application and wear: A fruitier (plums), sweeter (again, likely due to the plums - and the coconut, though I never get the scent of coconut, per se), and muskier Snake Oil. It has taken all that I love about Snake Oil and made it into something I can't wear at all! It's become one of those fragrances like Scherezade that just screams "too everything" on me! Late, late drydown: A sweeter Snake Oil. As you can imagine from this review, I'll be keeping my Snake Oil and swapping this one.

I really can't believe this - but I like Harvest Moon too! In the bottle I smell mostly wine, sweet plums and some florals. Wearing: Things really change. It becomes mostly light apple, light spice, light autumn florals, light herbs all beautifully blended so it doesn't read as one thing more than another on me. It's not apple cider, it's not wine, it's not floral, it's just......FALL. (And no food, butter or potpourri aspects either - those are big hurrahs for me!) It's not my usual type of scent, but this may well be the very first lunar blend that I end up keeping. (ETA: After about 2 hours of loveliness, this turns to a lingering swampy floral on me. What is wrong with me?? I may have to officially give up on the lunars - though i ordered Blood Moon already)

This was mostly a fresh ozone with a light, slightly powdery violet note in the background and a teeny note of something sharp and cool when wet (lemon or eucalyptus? though it could just be the wet version of "ozone"). The notes stayed pretty much the same while wearing, though the overall feel did get just a touch softer and sweeter after a few hours. It's actually quite interesting and unique - it says "fresh and cool" in an unexpected way - and I'm not nearly as afraid of it as I thought would be based on some of the reviews, but it's just not really me. (Warning: at least on me, it did have a lot of throw and lasting power - a little goes a long way!)

This one is pretty much the same in the bottle and wearing: Sweet, syrupy - ableit nicely realistic - apricots (exactly another poster described) with a bit of musk. I don't really notice any orange blossom at any point. This is not really my thing, but neither did it didn't inspire the deep dislike I thought it would. I think it might be very appealing to fruity scent lovers!

Amber, heliotrope, golden sandalwood, peach blossom and vanilla bean. In the vial: SWEET peach. I'm concerned. Wearing: The vanilla in this the very creamy, sweet type - not my favorite - and the combo of the heliotrope with the peaches makes for an overripe quality. The touch of amber in the background only serves to make things even sweeter in this blend. Yikes. This one did not work for me at all.

In the imp: very soft and light - musk, a bit of a floral aspect with a touch of vanilla. Upon wearing: Whoa - totally different. Much more vanilla, no floral, and a sharp "mineral" note that is actually fairly prevalent on me! It's kind of 50% vanilla and 50% rocks. But clean rocks. Like by a stream. It's very different and completely embodies the concept, but on my skin it's just not a keeper.

The rich scent of wild blackberry breezing over gentle rosy heather. In the bottle: Heather (very green, lightly floral). Barely a hint of berry. Wearing: The same. Hmm - where are the blackberries? I counsel patience with this one if you didn't get the berry aspect right away. It really didn't show up for at least 30 minutes and then became stronger with time until it was about a 50/50 scent ratio of heather to blackberry. The berry smell is very realistic and not cloying or fake and goes well with the green floral of the heather. Nice, though not my type of scent.

In the bottle: I mostly get HONEY, and pepper and ginger. Upon wearing: The above plus a big shot of spicy cinnamon/clove and a skin-type musk lending an almost creamy quality. After about 30 minutes: A soft, milky honey with spice around the edges. I'd say it's in the foody category, but it's a foody scent that non-foody lovers like myself can love too! That edible yummy quality without being overly sweet or obvious. ETA: I have completely run into trouble! After an hour or so, the throw on this all musk and honey - loud musk and honey. It has an almost baby oil scent that I worried was offending people. (This is all my evil chemistry, though - it always amps up honey and causes certain musks smell this way on me.) You can only smell the spice notes on wrist-to-nose sniffing. And I was SO excited about this one too. Now my bottle has found a new home.

Intial sniff: mmmm - balsam-y incense (myrhh?) orange and clove Upon application: still the same for a few precious moments during which i love it....... But then: The orange largely disappears and a sweeter fruit aspect appears (probably due to the peach, though i wouldn't say it ever smells "peach") and the clove and what I'm guessing is myrhh lending the resin-y incense quality. Verdict: It's okay, but I think I was hoping for something a bit different. And the main thing for me - and it's likely just my weird chemistry - is that the drydown of this and Blood are nearly identical on me (in that one, the fruit is cherry, with clove and myrhh, though the cherry never reads as "cherry" on me for more than a few minutes - then it's just that vaguely fruity sweetness i get here.) And I was infatuated with Blood for a time and now am not crazy about it, thus am not crazy about this one.

In the bottle: Lavender Initial wear: Mostly lavender and rosewood. It takes a while on my skin, but after about 30 minutes, this changes dramatically. The lavender and rosewood remain the front-runners, but the tonka and amber have really shown themselves. The dark vanilla-ish scent of the tonka and the soft resin of amber really sweeten and soften this scent. I think this would be great on a guy - I keep picturing Gary Oldman in his victorian suit in Dracula. It's definitely very unique and has a vintage feeling which I love and makes me keep sniffing, but I can't help feeling it's not one I would reach for that often. It hasn't dethroned my other favorite Bpal lavender scents.

Mmmm - I love Hemlock too! Maybe you could investigate some of these for green/herbally? Yggdrasil Nocnitsa Val Sans Retour Ides of March (Lots of folks would add Hamadryad and Wolfsbane, I think, though these tend to go floral on me.)

Nanshe and Gaueko are my favorite blends where lavender is featured prominently. (And I currently have high hopes for Old Scratch! And note to self re: above post -must try Paris! Somehow I've missed that one. ETA: Now I see why - the lotus in Paris scared me off - it's one of the worst notes ever on me.) I have to say that I'm pretty picky about the scent of lavender being "realistic" - and it always is in any of the Bpal blends I've tried - the lavender(s) they use is a winner! It's one of my favorite lab notes and I've tried nearly every blend containing it. (My favorite non-Bpal lavender is Serge Lutens' Encens et Lavande)

This is far lighter and more understated than I would have thought given the description. It's mostly just cedar and sandalwood on me - the other notes just seem to smooth out and fill in the blend a touch without having any real presence of their own. Magus is just kind of flat and without distinction on me - sort of like what happened with Sri Lanka for me as well. The lab has so many other wonderful incense blends that I'm actually sort of relieved not to have to add another one to my list!

I scoffed at the notion that a scent with these lovely notes would smell like "nail polish" as so many have said - oh please, how could it possibly??! But there it is - it smells like nail polish on me. Very acrid and chemical-ish. After about an hour, i get more of a hay/grass scent, but more of a burning-the-last-of-the-field-to-make-it more-fertile-for-next-year than a hayloft filled with fresh hay. (Which bums me out as I love the smell of fresh hay at the stable.) It's sort of okay at this point, but after a couple hours it goes back to a more perfume-y, chemical phase, albeit lighter and not so nuclear blast-like as the first go-round. I'm really disappointed! I even tried layering Verdandi over it to give it some sweetness and more of the "harvest" feel that I was hoping for, but this Scarecrow immediately devoured all the apples (and my hopes.)

In the bottle: Yikes. REALLY buttery and sweet. The second I even OPENED it someone in the cubicle next to me popped up her head and said "Do you smell buttercream frosting?" (Not knowing that I was scrabbling around with my bpals.) Wearing: Still too buttery. This note does mellow quite a bit after about 20 minutes or so and then I think some earlier posters have really hit the nail on the head when they mention "peach cobbler". I get a lot of peach and baking spices, with the buttery note in the backgound. Surprisingly - don't get much in the way of pumpkin at all - if anything it actually has apple-y moments on me! Overall: That dang buttery note (also found in Milk Moon to mention another) does not suit me at all. And even when it fades this one is WAY too foody for me.

This blend makes me want to cry. And not because of it's associations (though it does have a lovely wistful quality) No - it's because it's fantastic on me for 10 minutes, and then - pffft. Sniffing and wearing for 10 minutes: Mostly a very true saltwater scent (my first!!), with a lemony touch and light wispy trail of incense. Not normally something I would go for, but I love it! (Reminds me of walking on empty beaches on a cloudy day in the fall) After that: It becomes nearly all white rose on me. (Bad.) Which after an hour, turns to soapy rose. (Worse.) (I'm starting to have a bad feeling that Tears may be the scent I'm looking for in this genre - and it's of course, gone.)

In the bottle and initially: Granny Smith apples (not overly sweet and this apple note is very realistic) and amber. Wearing: Mostly the same. After an hour or so it gets a tiny bit sweeter and grassier. Overall: Really nice! Apples and amber are usually two separate scent categories in my mind - who know they would go together so nicely?

In the bottle: Almonds, lime and mint Upon application: Whoa. The almond disappears right away and I'm left with something that smells a LOT like Spooky on me (must be the mint-coconut combo) right down to the unpleasant burnt, plasticky note and a chocolate-y quality. It even smells like Junior Mints for a while. Drydown: The plastic-y note actually dissipates (which it never did in Spooky) and I'm left with a SWEET vanilla coconut with mint in second place and lime around the edges. Too foody for me - and I think I just don't like mint with my coconut. Hours later drydown: Sweet sugary coconut. Too sweet. Overall: Not for me, but I can totally see how others love it. Or will love it when they try it! Note: This might work for you if you didn't like Spooky but still want something similar.

This was mostly tobacco and rosewood on me with a touch of lemony spice which I think is the elemi (the scent is sometimes described as "lemon pepper"). Not for me, but I think this would be great on the right guy - something I picture a manly, older gentleman wearing.

In the bottle: lavender, orange blossom, frankincense - herbal orange floral Wearing: the same, but the herbal/lavender factor fades and some cinnamon seems to step in to meet the orange and frankincense. I like it at that point, but after drydown the herbal aspect seems to creep back in more. It's okay on me, but not a keeper.

Oh dear. This is all musky floral on me, with just a hint of coconut. I get no hazelnut at all. The distant waft is strongly reminiscent of the Coppertone suntan lotion (NOT the coconut stuff) that we used as kids during summer afternoons at the community pool. Close-up, sniffing wrist - Iris and musk. Not a keeper.

My skin apparently amps up magnolia - it's nearly all i get from this. That and the smokiness make it strongly reminiscent of Black Dahlia on me. Although this one is MUCH sweeter. So yeah - SWEET, heady, smoky floral. Way too cloying on me. Really strong and long-lasting. Which is as I expected, but I just had to try it, in case, since I would love to tell people the name of my scent was Helle's Belle!