porcelina

What I love shall come like a visitant of air. The wild freedom of the snow-gleaming heath thrusting through the dull safety of the hearth and the doldrums of the bleak, rolling moors. Lush, honeyed red musk twined with heart-thrilling white musk on passion-warmed skin against a backdrop of raw, iced peat, common heather, and hearth wood. whoa what am i smelling here? the Visionary is ICY. i can tell the iciness comes from mint but it doesn't really smell minty; it smells cold! it's crazy. i am enjoying the icy peat and heather/red musk combo way more than i thought i would! it really, really works. this is scent to wear on a cold winter's night in front of roaring fire with howling winds outside.

If you love patchouli, and I love patchouli, you will love Tricksy. This is a similar patchouli to the one in #occupywallstreet. There's a bit of honey in there to sweeten it up but not very much and it is mostly dirty aggressive patchouli. I don't know what aquaria agallocha smells like (a quidk google search tells me that it is agarwood or oud??) but what I am mostly getting here is PATCHOULIIIIIII. There might be something a little powdery on the dry-down that softens things up a bit but still I don't really know what to say about this besides RAAAAHHRRR PATCHOULIIIIII!!!!! which is basically what it smells like to me, in a good way!

The notes of Imaginer read like a list of all of my favorites! At first: it's almost too sweet for me. The honey, the amber, the beeswax- it's almost sticky-sweet! There's a beautiful spicy-peppery undertone that emerges as it dries, however, and takes us into wearable territory. It's warm, sweet, resinous and spicy and and wears close to my skin. But wait- OH NO- something goes wrong after the first few minutes and something starts to smell flat and plasticky. WHY?!

(2013 version) CHAMPAGNE and fancy floral perfume. I could see wearing this on New Year's Eve FOR SURE. Florlas don't normally work for me but it's that wonderful, fizzy champagne note that I love so much that takes this to a wearable level. It's bubbly and glittery and pretty and I would love to wear this while drinking plenty of champagne in a sparkly dress.

First impressions: burnt gingerbread! Whoo Gingerbread Troll is STRONG. This is like the angriest, most aggressive gingerbread man I could ever have imagined. The musk and vetiver (the latter of which is being pleasantly subdued, for once!) are what make this work for me- they keep the gingerbread from being too foody. The pine takes it from there to make it SCREAM Christmas- what could be more Christmas-y than gingerbread and pine trees? I really like this, actually. It's very strong and I need to apply with a light hand but it's a different type of Christmas scent (musky, spicy and MEAN) and that appeals to me!

A Low Candle-Lit Room is kind of an odd scent! First impressions are a blast of waxy sweetness. It's smells a bit like beeswax but a little plainer. There's a lot of musk which is slightly powder at first but gets better as it dries. I smell a hint of smoke but not very much leather. It dries down to a mostly skin musk scent which wears close to the skin. It's pleasant but maybe kind of bland.

Amber and black copal with black coconut, Sumatran red patchouli, green cardamom pod, and golden musk. So Below sounds perfect for me on paper but on my skin, it's another story. maybe the black coconut is messing with me or something. the scent is sharp and the amber goes REALLY powdery like, as soon as it hits my skin. at first it smells like rotting coconut mixed with powdery perfume and it' a thick, sticky, heavy scent. i can smell the yummy golden musk hiding under there somewhere and as it dries, the musk starts to envelop the other notes. i'm disappointed in the lack of cardamom and the patchouli is laying surprisingly low. as it dries, it's not as bad as my initial reaction and actually starts to become somewhat pleasant, but i have to get past the first unpleasant stage to get there! i'm totally surprised by this set because i thought So Below would be the clear winner and only actually ordered As Above for completion's sake, but As Above was the clear winner. more surprisingly, combining the two on my wrists sends both scents straight to plastic hell, so i think i will wear them separately for sure.

this is very, very nice. the leather smells soft and worn to my nose, and the white patchouli is nice and mellow. it's a warm, woodsy-sweet scent. the notes are all mingling and enhancing one another, meaning that even iffy notes like jasmine and almond are playing nicely on my skin. i'm trying to think of which other bpal As Above reminds me of… maybe tombstone, because of the sweet, warm wood and vanilla combination? add in the almond and there is something making me think of sarsaparilla. mmm i am really enjoying this one! it's a warm, soft scent but i'm getting decent throw, too. a keeper!

BPAL's First Laughter of 2012 is inspired by an image of Tanuki merchants honoring the first transaction of the year by thumping a huge testicle taiko! This is an airy, cheerful prosperity-themed scent talisman that celebrates the creation of wealth through joy, creativity, kindness, honesty, and community: German chamomile, red sandalwood, oakmoss, sassafras, verbena, and aniseseed. waraizome is pretty sharp and herbal at first, with a touch of bitterness. there is a strong sense of citrus from the verbena, and a lot of oakmoss. the woody sandalwood stays in the background and the sassafras and aniseed lend touches of spice. it blends together as it dries into a warm, herbaceous scent and honestly is rather nice, although it's not something i would normally pick out. there is something almost smoky-sweet about it- like burning herbal incense.

FINALLY, thanks to C2E2, i get to try Dolly Kei! First, it is softer, lighter and sweeter than I imagined it would be. The sandalwood dominates at first but as it dries the other notes blend with it to create a soft golden whole. The tobacco is lovely and sweet. The resins are on the dry side- I don't get the sticky-sweet kind of resin note out of this. It wears close to the skin and surrounds me like a soft sweet aura.

Planting Moon is fantastic. FANtastic. Fresh green pant life, vegetables warmed by the sun, freshly-turned soil- it is the perfect summer garden sent. It's so refreshing and unique... I can see myself wearing it a LOT in the summer. I love it.

AUUGH why. i won this on bay and i thought it would be perfect- i was hoping for rich cherry pipe tobacco but what i get is an astringent, chemical, bitter, awful smell. i don't even know what else to say. i actively want to wash this off.

first sniff: OOOH! there's so much going on here. vivamus is very sweet, with the honey, a light red musk and soft lovely lavender. mmm. wow. it's just so sweet and soft and musky. it makes me think of soft puffy pink and purple clouds, like a beautiful sunset. it's kind of like o and tko had a baby, a soft sweet cuddly baby. love this.

angry crab is (appropriately) an AGGRESSIVE aquatic. i'm not generally super into aquatics but i like this one, it reminds me of some of my more piratical favorites. the frankincense and ambergris make it kind of musky-cologney. it's very salty and fresh. i like this angry crab!

mmm! delight and consternation is so creamy-yummy. it reminds me a teeny bit of boomslang, in that they are both musky cocoa-based perfumes, but this is much lighter and sweeter. soft musk, creamy cocoa, a touch of rose (which stays pleasantly in the background and does not take over- amazing) and lemon blossom- this is a really lovely blend. i wish it lasted longer on my skin, though. for the record, my bottle has no cocoa sludge- i kind of wish it did! maybe then it would have some of the mega staying power of its cousin boomslang.

at first i thought zebra heliconian smelled a bit chocolatey but i think it's the way the coffee and coconut are playing against the cedarwood. i love the cedar and dark coffee note- it's dry and very yummy. the sage and resins give it an incense-like feel. yummy but not a must-have.

WHAT is going on with white peacock? there are so many notes in it that i love (teak, patchouli, sandalwood, vanilla orchid, tonic, tobacco, musk) and yet my first impulse upon sniffing was "EEEURGHHHH GET IT OFF ME!" the notes i am unfamiliar with are osmanthus (floral), spikenard (which apparently can have a strong woody, resinous, smoky scent, which sounds great, but someone did report it smelling like feet) and sugandh kokila, which is described as "spicy and camphoraceous." in all honesty, there is so much going on in this scent that it kind of blurs into a harsh, screaming white noise of a perfume and i can't pick up on anything distinctive. i'm assuming the blast of floral yuckiness i'm getting is thanks to the osmanthus which is basically screaming and shouting "I AM A FLOWER SMELL ME!!!" on top of what i can tell is really a lovely woody, resinous, musky base. i hear osmanthus can be fruity and there is a touch of that here but really this is not for me.

first sniff: the gentleman is a LOT less immediately masculine than i thought it would be. it's quite sweet, actually. i am reminded a little bit of dorian, or jareth. the tobacco is lovely and works so well with the lilac and the little bit of zing from the lime. i actually bought this for my husband, thinking it could be along the lines of vicomte de valmont or wilde, but it doesn't remind me of either of those and i think smells better on me, anyway.

i normally run screaming in the opposite direction of any rose scent but i do like rosewater and thought mrs. grose could work if it was a softer, lighter, rose. well… the rose is a bit overpowering. but but but but but, it kind of works. there is a sweetness to mrs. grose that makes me think of rose candy, with a delicious black tea note and some cinnamon spice, or maybe cardamom? (the spices here are lovely, by the way, and not at all "craft store.") if this was a real tea, i would drink a gallon of it.

first impression: GORGEOUS, sexy, awesome, yum, where can i buy a second bottle. i am reminded a little bit of hellhound on my trail even though reading about the notes, i learned that bay laurel is a totally different species from the bay tree used to produce bay rum. it doesn't matter, it's still amazing. the leather here is gorgeous and soft. it is not a shiny black leather but more like soft worn brown leather. it's a little sweet, a little spicy, masculine without being super crazy manly… just gorgeous! to think, i almost didn't buy this bottle!

so, thinking about what we're supposed to be smelling here… snow, wood, candy canes, cocoa, christmas trees? maybe blood? i tried on hell's acres and got an instant stuffy nose. i'm getting soft pine and wood, sweetened by something marshmallow-like, maybe a little powdery. there are no real individual notes; there could be a touch of sweet peppermint. it feels christmassy to me without being obvious. it's a soft, muted scent. it's nice but if i can't wear it without feeling stuffy and sneezy, then it will have to go.

french tobacco… yum. it's not as dark and sweet as some other tobacco notes i have encountered. it IS sweet but in a slightly drier and not-at-all foodie way. it does remind me of pipe tobacco- it's actually quite accurate. i'm glad i bought two bottles of this because i love the scent of tobacco and i feel like i could get a lot of use from this either alone or layered with other scents! so so good.

i had no idea what to expect from this; i just bought it because i am a cat lady. the musk in this is gorgeously smooth; i love it. i think it is definitely a black musk with maybe a tinge of something else (red?). there's an incensey thing going on that reminds me a little of nag champa but better. a bit of green woody minty-ness like catnip or some other kitty-friendly herb and mmm it's so delicious! (i tried to get my cat to smell it and he actually recoiled in horror, so sadly lil' menus did not entertain my feline, but i love it!)

ok… little flora is not at all what i was expecting. i was thinking of something along the lines of prunella (minus the plum)- a fresh floral scent with fresh sweet cream. instead, i am getting cookies from this. the cream is like a custard or something and there is vanilla and spice. the beautiful fresh peony note i was craving is kind of buried deep under a pile of pastries and i am not really picking it up here. on the skin… the floral note starts to come out but (probably due to the accompanying notes) it doesn't resemble the peony i loved in, say, peony moon. this makes me a little sad because peony is one of the very few florals i can wear, and i bought this bottle unsniffed in hopes of sweet creamy peony perfection. this is definitely a foodie floral- a picnic in a garden with lots of baked goods and desserts. it's not unpleasant, and maybe i would like it more if i hadn't had such specific expectations, but i don't think it's for me.

my allergies have been so bad lately that i have not been able to smell at all, let alone properly test new bpal! but i'm all hopped up on sudafed right now so let's get testing! miles is my first test subject. hello, miles. in the bottle you smell… kind of sweet but kind of astringent? that is rather contradictory. on my skin… at first i have no idea what i am smelling. then i get the musk, and it starts to smell very nice. the honey/skin musk combination is pretty sexy and the dry pepper really spices it up. i'm not 100% sure what balsam of peru is supposed to smell like but various sources are telling me things like "vanilla, green olives, spice, balsamic bouquet" which sounds really weird but i think i can pick it up here. it's not 100% sweet; it's a little bit drier and, frankly, a little bit sinister. this is a close-wearing skin scent with a bit of a ticklishly peppery throw. it's pretty unique and i like it but i hope i don't start sneezing again.