zazkea

2018 Okay, Alcestis,... now you! It has been such a battle with you. Initially When I smelled Alcie in the beginning, I immediately hated that it felt like an overdominating buckthorn berry, which switched my gender and my stomache. I was actually quite shocked by disliking the smell, after it has had such a nice description (Sassy. Impetuous. Loya.l) and listed notes, which I all like. So I immediately put this away, and was very much thinking about selling her. But I didnt do it because I had hope. And because the label is pretty;) (young red-haired girl) I have aged this and its time for a review. 2019 After 1 year Its much more balanced now Now, I get a fresh, green, slightly sweet scent. Nothing dominates - Meaning that individual notes are hard to identify now. Maybe this is how it was supposed to smell like. Nectarine and honey combine to a fresh background sweetness. (Only) If I do my best I get the sandalwood and oakmoss in the background; it's not woody or herbal. Conclusions: Its very loving now, not hard or masculine at all, in fact, perhaps unisex. Green, fresh/clean, slightly sweet, subtle. Can be worn in the office without trouble. (however: not sassy or impetuous - but loyal, maybe...) 2024 this is one of my favorite scents of all time now;-) i think it aged well, it’s more feminine now than in the beginning but just reminds me of being myself. It’s out of stock since many years and my own bottle has about 20% in it - so I am saving it for special moments when I feel like it. ? its like a sweet garden now.

(Swap/Bottle from 2010) Snif Slightly weird...grapefruit (sweet) and lemon. Wet I get tea, ginger and flour (not listed, I guess thats the tonka my brain errs). Dry I dont get green tea anymore now. Tonka comes in late and makes it a bit more heavy. I find that I still like jasmine and wisteria. Combined with ginger, this is interesting; but it vanishes. Grapefruit makes it more jokingly to me: rather a cheerful, dancing vampire. No tears here, only from joy, perhaps. Conclusions In the end I only get grapefruit and jasmine, not the other notes, anymore - and these bring it to the edge of smelling like a pile of freshly washed clothes,.... and thats the scent that lingers on. I like it, but not every week. May combine this with musk. (Edit: yea, that works well! + gives this elderly scent more depth).

In the imp and on my skin, I find this scent unsettlling because to me, it smells like I imagine crematorium smoke would smell like. (and yes, there is almond, but that doesnt make anything better here). Although I am happy it doesnt reach a real burnt people KZ kind of smell, and even though I do like rum ("Grog" is amazing), it has a "dead something" note on my skin - and I dont like it. I will let this be an imp in the box and may revisit it later, as in my experience, many scents I initially dislike, are better after a year.

Initial snif (2017): straight, simple, prudish + turns to soap after an hour or so. After almost one year aging (2018): The rose is wonderful! It is indeed only "a promise" of a rose, not a real rose. This image is very congruent with this scent. I can also smell the image of stem and leaf, but maybe thats a priming effect from reading the description. Green, fresh, a bit fruity-sweet, smart, clear, determined, not-floral, a bit green apple-like (coming from the image of the "stem"), pure, straight, pale, delicate. --> really, very lovely! Absolutely not a jealous or mad rose. She remains sightly prudish but is a sweet girl.

When I first opened this last year, it was too strong on me due to ginger and fir. Having had this bottle rested almost a year, its just excellent! In bottle ginger, fir needle. A "strict" image. When I had this at first, I rated as unisex. I used it when I had important meetings, presentations and the like, so: to appear strong, smart and a bit strict;) (Edit 1 year later: This strictness is a bit better after a year ageing.) On skin Wow! This is a perfectly blended scent, really. White tea is very much in the back - actually I would rather call this "green" or green tea... because I mainly get the fir needle, ginger, oakmoss. Apricot is also the last scent coming up on my skin and rounds this - and actually I may rather get peach blossom. But knowing that I am supposed to smell apricot, this is indeed apricot on close sight. Very "fresh" and green, juicy image - not "lush" but a nice summer breeze. It is not foody or too fruity. No soap tendencies on my skin. Its not very sweet. Yet, it does have a fresh kind of sweetness. Conclusions fruity, juicy, spring... different than you may imagine when you read the description. And on first smell, it wasnt easy for me to get used to, but after a year aging, this is really good. Also very suitable for office hours; it smells "interesting", "fresh" and "different". Edit 3 years later It's still one of my favourites (next to Kitten with a Shamisen daydream). This scent is mostly sweet now: there is no sharpness at all, and the fir is a bit on the background, which is sad because I like fir. No strictness as initially rated, but more like a comforting embrace / hug that can carry you through a pandemic home office work day. Its okay that the surprise in this scent is a bit gone, because we all need a hug now and then. Too bad I have only 1.3 ml left by now (this is a hint to how much I liked this scent). Edit 8 years later This remains one of my favorite lupers, but unfortunately for me there is not much fir or ginger left (two note that I really like). Its more like a bath with amber and cream. No whip of sharpness, anymore - just soft and cozy, and the oakmoss is still there. Like having a creamy bath in a forest, very safe.

I was ordering this blindly, because I wanted to test scents I am not used to. Then, after a few days of settling, it smelled like a just refreshed bed. I have let this rest for 1.5 months now, and I do like this scent even more now. Bottle Wet! Wet male, just coming from a shower. But the friend you know all your life, no further interest in the man, just in the smell. Artwork: the photo on it giving me slight shivers somehow; I dont know why. On my skin Wet. But on the skin this is different than the bottle smell, which came out masculine. On the skin, this may be unisex. Initially, I get totally different scents (but these may be images I get) than what is noted: a clear pale flower in a spring wind, some metal. Initially, on my skin, this is at the edge of becoming soap or car room spray. But then, it is not becoming soap-like like I was afraid of. Having dried, this gives me an image of (indeed) a polished clean wood; really elegant at this stage. Some vanilla emerges in the background. It combines with what is an image of "polished surface". I personally cannot get no tea or oak at first. I still have the feeling of "wet" and dont know where this comes from; perhaps from the tea? Very clean, yet it has some unexpected depth. Somehow I wonder what would happen if I combined this with some musk? Before I can smell what is tea-uncanny, 15min passed. It is less tea/wood, but more "sweet and fresh" on my skin. Conclusions Although I can relate to an image of "polished surfaces", I have trouble finding the ingredients listed in the scent I can smell. Grounded, balanced. Sweet and fresh at the same time. 4.5/5 (the .5 I subtract is personal taste)

This was an experimental decision. It came out to be surprinsingly beautiful Bottle Initially grape and oudh. Then a rather fresh feeling; plus smells I cannot categorize yet, because i dont know them (perhaps thats the plum velvet?). Then, and interestingly, I get this image: a very brief "alcohol" feeling; giving me a slight headeache when trying to inhale this too quickly. Then, the alcohol scent quickly changes to this image: standing in the cold, maybe clear view to stars in the winter above me; then, before I get frosted, the feeling of smelling a Glühwein nearby. This feeling changes to smelling, now, non-alcoholic Glühwein. Then to "lets put this on the skin". Overall: Nice! On skin Wet: wamer and a bit darker, more like wine now (not boozy or deep, more clean), red fruit. Very straight; stays like this. Then, on drydown, I get a (quick, fading) feeling of wanting to "protect" this scent motherly. When dry: dark fruit, yet warm and sweet. The (dark) sweetness still gives me a slight headache. In the background, Cassiopeia is spicy somehow, which creates an autumn feeling (not warm spicy though!). No glühwein/Wine anymore now (thus not recommended for wine-scent lovers, I suppose; this is not like Lady Macbeth for example). More incense, which I do not like that much...also, changes to a bit soapy/generic now - and back to fruit. Thus, need to use less next time. But overall: Nice. Conclusion I would place this to autumn, rather than winter. Warm and straight; red fruit. 4/5 (1 point off for the generic feeling in it)

This scent from a decant didnt do anything with my skin, initially. It remains very much in the background. In bottle: clean, straight. Not sure what I smell though... On skin: Soapy oudh. Myrrh coming late. I still dont know what the scent "should be"... I dont get any benzoin or labdanum, but maybe I dont know those scents well enough yet,... There is just...nothing to smell, somehow. After an hour: I have to look up the description of what I am supposed to be smelling. Its just...nothing. This doesnt create a scent on me... maybe a "rounded" soap, whatever that menas... Conclusions: This fades into nothing on my skin, which is neither good nor bad, I suppose... After one month aging: this starts smelling like red musk (not listed) and oudh and, slightly, myrrh now. Maybe I should let this rest longer...

I really wouldn't have guessed this works so well on me. Positively surprised by a random decant. In bottle: bakery serving tea, also warm spices. On skin: A collague naively (i.e. without knowing) started talking about how it smelled christmassy in the office. To me, the cinnamon is nice (not overwhelming + no allergies) Conclusion: Yes! Perfect, but mainly when you count the days to either halloween or christmas. Warm, spicy, balanced, chai + your skin. Straight thing. I wore this so often last year and can recommend this to people liking warm brownish scents. Image on bottle: really cute, thanks for the design!

I am really trying to get a relationship with this scent. But the scent is interferring. As a researcher, I must figure out whats 'wrong'. Or can it ever be wrong...so far, all bpal scents have amazed me. This one does the reverse. In bottle: First snif gets a feeling of "Ok, I am done with lavender." There is a sharpness to the lavender + ink + oudh combi that makes my brain go wtf in loops. Sniffing more, I get an image of a dark beautiful yet dead fairy hiding nearby. Clean. The inky musk is probably what I should avoid from now on... On skin: The unsettling tone remains. Gets warmer (amber), but there is something in the corner of your eye that to me remains unsettling. Thereby: annoying (in my personal taste). An image of a a whip comes up but vanishes to a dark, smokey, shiny, slinky scale of black without a trace of earlier images. After one hour: Ok, finally warmer, more balanced. The fairy doesnt seem evil now. Behind the curtain of beauty, she's really a monster. This is not the right scent for me. Too much lavender + inkstuff. Conclusion (before aging) This is okay for me as a decant, but I had a different image based on the initial description... Maybe thought it would be dark, but sweeter. The ink isnt working for me, and the lavender is very sharp. Unfortunately, this scent just doesn't fit "me" (at all). For me this is too dark and dominating. I will put this to rest and see what happens in a year or so, because I have the feeling it gets warmer in time. When the scent was just new, it lingered 24hours, but fortunately it doesnt atm. Conclusions after aging: In fresh, I didnt like this scent at all. Not because it isnt well-blended. It is. But because it was annoying, in a way (lavender + ink combi). After 4 months, the scent is more balanced, warmer, ripe. It remains slinky. Slightly irritates my sensible skin if I put more than one drop at the wrist, as a side note. After 7 months, this is more balanced, but also more boring, on my skin. The too sharp lavender has calmed down, but with it, it lost a bit of its speciality. However, for me, this works MUCH better now.