phantasmmysteria

Hmmm... we might have a hung jury on our hands in the case of Mysteria v. Pickled Imp. The Imp, in the imp: A lovely pine sap, just like that found in The Illustrated Woman. I can smell the spices as well. Wet: The pine does disappear fairly quickly, and the cinnamon comes to the forefront. I like this phase -- it smells more like I'd hoped Gingerbread Poppet did (which was lovely, but it had some sort of odd udercurrent on my skin). Everything melds togeher in an interesting way, and the clove isn't making me feel sneezy! Dry: Unfortunately, upon drydown this gets pretty generic. The vanilla has amped up (no suprise there) and I'm left with a scent that smells disturbingly like a cinnamon candle. Verdict: I am going to try this scent in a locket, because the wet stage is pretty cool. However, taking everything into consideration I won't be hoarding this scent myself -- there are others which smell much better with my own skin chemistry, which is a relief as they aren't LE. If you're afraid of the pine note, however, I would encourage you to give this a shot as it might suprise you!

Guh. This stuff is so good! It doesn't change much at all from bottle to drydown -- it's a sweet, fruity, bubbly scent. I mostly get the blueberry (which is LOVE), but it's not tart as I expected it to be -- I'm guessing that's because the mango is sweetening it up. I don't get any blatant lemongrass, and the gin only adds a tiny bit to the background of the scent. I love this stuff.

In a fit of impulse while I was awaiting my CD decants to trickle in, I threw caution to the wind and bought a bottle of The Illustrated Woman off of a forumnite. It is not a decision I regret! In the bottle: Wow, that's a lot of pine. But it's much sharper than the evergreen notes I'm used to (like those from the Yules) -- perhaps because I'm getting the skin musk, too. Wet: Wooooooo, pine and skin musk! Funnily enough, there's something about the way the notes are interacting here that reminds me of Pisces '07 (which makes me suspect that there is skin musk in Pisces even more, but that's neither here nor there!). Thankfully the pine does settle down after a few minutes, and the tobacco never stands out. As this scent starts to dry down, I really am not sure if I enjoy the scent all that much... but I find it fascinating. I keep sniffing it, trying to figure out what's going on, enthralled with how everything's interacting. Dry: Now, it reminds me of very aged O! It's slightly powdery resins combined with honey and smokey vanilla. Wonderful. Verdict: I have worn this for three consecutive days, and I am officially in love with it! I do agree that there are some similarities to this scent and Black Lace, though the feel they invoke is completely different (and of the two, The Illustrated Woman wins for me by a landslide).

While I have definitely noticed that oils do smell different immediately after coming out of the mailbox (whether it's from extreme hot or cold temperatures) as compared to when they've had a chance to "settle" for a couple of days, I don't think it's caused by degradation of the oil from the temps as much as it's caused by the way oils just smell different at different temperatures. I really can't imagine that these oils are that fragile.

I'm not quite decided on this one yet, but I'm willing to give this lady a fighting chance because I really want it to be good! In the bottle: Uh-oh. Lots of resins. Wet: Lots MORE resins! The frankincense starts amping like whoa until it's all I can smell. The mahogany and benzoin aren't exactly helping matters, though. It stays this way for a while -- very sharp, headachey incense. Dry: Finally during the drydown I can start to smell the fruits emerging. There's a very smokey quality still in the forefront, but the fruits start to sweeten this up around the edges. It gets better with wear, but unfortunately right now the resins are too overpowering for me. Overall: This isn't my dream of Crypt Queen Revisited, but I don't want to lose hope just yet (Crypt Queen wasn't fantastic for me until it had had about 6 months of aging). This is one I'll be hanging onto for a while.

This is definitely my favorite from the decants I've received today, but it's not perfect. In the imp: the florals are the most prominent to start with. This has me a little worried. Wet: Definitely a morpher -- as it hits my skin, the same wet, green smell that's very prominent in Slippery Poppy Tincture is present for a split second before fading. The berry blooms on my skin, backed by the tea and chrysanthemum. The jasmine is not in a starring role here -- I can't pick it out at all. Dry: Wow, this disappears after only a few minutes. There's the memory of tea and fruit left on my hand, and not much else. This is pretty, but it fades SO FAST. Sadly, I don't think I'll be splurging on a whole bottle unless something happens to change that.

If there are scents you really love but find you can't wear on your skin, you can always try them in your hair or in a scent locket, as well.

First of all, I love the beeswax in No. 93 engine -- it's not overly floral to me at all!

I really don't think there's much I need to add to this -- it's already been said! I will say, however, that while this does start out smelling like the best root beer imaginable, the subtle morphing that it undergoes on my skin from wet to dry is really magical. And the drydown -- which winds up smelling like very expensive cream soda -- is to die for. I need a big bottle, straight away. For sure!

After reading that this contains my beloved acai berry, I ordered a 5mL straight away. It's not so great, actually. Wet: OMG, GREENINESS. It's all wet, green flowers and leaves and stems. Where's the honey and berries? Dry: The greenness starts to calm down a little, and the honey is poking around the edges. It's a little tart, and a little sour... yeah, it's just not doing anything for me. Upon far drydown, though.... it's great! Now I get the honey and acai berry and a little bit of poppy, all nestled together and happy. I'm going to age this, and I really hope that the green, "slippery" notes will start to fade with time!

After reading the initial reviews and seeing that dreaded word "ozone," I had to wonder again why I felt the need to go straight for a big bottle of this one! But, I had to push on and at least test it out before deciding whether to cull it or not. Bottle: Ooo, zingy! This smells totally citrusy in the bottle, and slightly sweet. Wet: It starts out, again, mostly citrus, but this starts to morph quickly: a hint of flowers here, that citrus note there. I suddenly get a noseful of that awful ozon note and, disheartened, decide to stop sniffing my wrist and go about doing other things. Another 5 minutes pass, and I suddenly catch a whiff of some lovely sweetess wafting from somewhere. Huh! It's one of the sweet flowers I recognize in the throw of Tiki Queen, but I realy couldn't tel you which it is. Up close cannot smell it, but now and again I catch the ghost of a scent, and it's really lovely. This is incredibly light (perfect for the dog days of summer, I reckon) and fades fast -- perhaps those white resins will become less ethereal with time. For now, I think I should keep it around to find out.

Okay, I am not a big fan of tobacco notes at all, but I have been looking for a nice, woody (hehe, woody) scent to add to my repretoir for quite some time, and I think I just found it in The Antikythera Machanism. The tobacco is instantly identifiable in the imp, but here is nicely balanced by the oak and teak rather than dominating. Wet to dry, this doesn't change very much; the tobacco actually recedes a bit, and the woods (particularly the lovely, rich teakwood) and vanilla create a very sophisicated and sexy perfume. I don't find this manly at all, thoughmy skin's tendency to amp vanilla may make it a sweeter blend on me than on others. I can't wait to see how this ages, and it's definitely going to require a big bottle.

I'm sure I've seen this idea discussed in various other topics, so if the mods feel it's appropriate to merg please feel free. I think I've owned 3 different bottles of the pink-label 13 (I get one, swap it away, and then realize I actually liked its chocolatey goodness). So, I pulled out bottle no. 3 for... actually, probably the first time since I swapped for it, and decided to test it. Only to find it's absolutely nothing like the previous two bottles I had. From bottle to dry, it's a really floral thing, with none of the cocoa, peach, honey, or starfruit that I love. Now, normally I might just chalk this up to aging or skin chemistry, except it even smells totally different in the bottle, and cocoa isn't one of those notes that's known to disappear with age. It's really bizarre! I recall last year's rendition of Egg Nog also having reports of different levels of throw/wearlength from one bottle to another, but I couldn't really tell myself. I suppose my question is how common is this? Has anyone else experienced anything similar without it being caused by the age of the oil or skin chemistry? If so, what was the oil in question?

Received as a frimp in a swap! I'm always wary of scents heavy on the resins, but decided to give this one a try for the hell of it. In the imp: I actually don't smell much at all. A little sweet muskiness, perhaps, but not much else. Wet: Right after I dab this on my skin, the musk and patchouli come forward (uh-oh), and this gets sharp and powdery. I can't specifically pick out the flowers, so I'm not sure if they are the cause of the powderiness or something else is. This stage is actually kind of nice -- as it dries down a little, the honey starts adding a hint of sweetness and it gets a smoky quality to go alongside the musk. Dry: Yeah, dry isn't so great. Mostly honey (and a nice honey at that), but there's some added funk to it that leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Blech. I think I'll try this in a scent locket, but I have a number of honey blends that I adore... I don't really need another if it doesn't agree with my chemistry.

This is my suprise favorite of the Luau scents thus far! In the bottle: Mmmm, Sweet Tarts! Wait.... Sweet Tarts? Wet: Amazingly, this stays deliciously candy-like and the florals don't try to beat me into submission. I definitely get the same feel from this as I did from Cheshire Moon, but this manages to not be clorying in the slightest. On the contrary, the wafts I get from Tiki Queen are just intoxicating without the note in Cheshire Moon that had a tendency to make me nauseous. Funny, I don't know that I ever detect the white musk on my skin. Dry: I get the coconut on the drydown, more coconut milk than the meat itself. It lends a sweet creaminess to the blend, and there's a slight bit of powderiness to it. The florals have pretty much all faded at this point -- scarcely an hour after applying. While I have been a little disappointed by the wearlength of the Tikis, this is truly an awesome blend. I was afraid this would be too overwhelming because of all the flowers, but it's not! It's perfect.

Well, this was a complete miss for me! The worst in a long time, though I suppose I should've seen that coming. In the bottle: Um.... men's cologne? Wet: It starts out smelling very strongly of cologne and Irish Spring, but then it goes all coffin wood, all the time. I'm guessing it's cedar? It doesn't turn to pencil shavings or anything, but it sure amps like hell. Dry: WOOD! And it's way strong -- I have about 4 other BPALs on my arms, but it's all I am catching wafts of. Yeah, this was just.... bad. I was so hoping for some rotted fruit!

How is it that I have no reviewed this one? How, I ask you?? This stays pretty much the same, bottle-to-dry. It's jammy, bakery goodness! I think I get currants from this, but perhaps mixed with a bit of another fruit... someone said orange marmalade, which could very well be it! Currant and orange marmalade, in big dollops atop warm, spiced scones. I get very little butteriness from this (luckily), but the spice note (smells like cinnamon to me) does come out more as this dries. This is so nice! I cannot compare it to Knave of Hearts, because I never dared try it -- it has rose in it, which is my bane note. It's much lighter than Eat Me, that much I can say -- this is more fruit jam than cake, with Eat Me being the opposite (and having a little resin or incense thrown in). Yep, definitely a keeper.

Have you tried Proserpina with Crypt Queen? OMGYUM. I am hanging onto my little pot of Grundy Whipped to try layering with Worm Moon once it arrives. Me too! P.M. is my favorite Villainess EVAH, so I can't wait to see how good it will smell with all my Tikis.

In the imp: I detect more berries than I was anticipating, with the evergreen slongside. I'd even venture to call it sweet. Wet: Why hallo thar, Vick's VapoRub! I get a strong blast of a camphorous scent -- I'm guessing the juniper. It is in full force for a few minutes, but luckily it calms down after that. I can still detect it high in my nostrils when I sniff close to my hand, but it's much more subtle. Dry: Just like in the imp, with the pretty, sweet berries at the forefront and the evergreen and snow in the background. After a while, the snowy note is gone alltogether and I am left with warm evergreen and berries (very much like Mistletoe '07). I think I might like this a little better than Mistletoe actually, however both scents are very faint on me and seem to disappear in the blink of an eye. I did try Skadi very early in my BPAL days, but I remember not caring for it very much. I cannot recall it enough to tell you how closely Old Moon resembles it, but I can certainly appreciate the evocative nature of the blend even if it's not something I would reach for very often.

I have the same problem as you, Denise. My coworker in the next office has a great nose, so she often smells my BPAL, but scarcely anyone else comments. Even my boyfriend, and I know he's way more close-up than anyone else is! I tend to get compliments on the heavier scents I happen to wear, which I would suppose also have a larger throw. Those are Crypt Queen, Australian Copperhead, and Smut (usually layered with Eat Me, which does well standing on its own). I also get a lot of compliments on Snow White, which strangely has a long throw despite being a subtle scent. The biggest reason commercial perfume blends are more easily smelled on others is because they contain alcohol, which increases a scent's throw. If all else fails, you can look at this thread to try diluting some of your BPAL in alcohol to see if you get more favorable results. I have liked my experiments in parfum sprays so far.

Ooh, that's a tough one. I personally get a lot more mint/eucalyptus from Hoarfrost than berries, so I would say probably something along the lines of Old Moon or The Snow Maiden would be the best match. I can't think of anything in the GC that would be a good fit (except maybe Yew-Trees from Rappaccini's Garden, but I've never tried that one personally).

I'm afraid my experience with the Bearded Lady was similar to Purrsnikety's, only instead of powder I got soap! Lots and lots of sharp, floral bath soap. It's a real shame, because most of the notes in this blend are beautiful on my skin, so I imagine it's the rose (or the rose/lily in combination) that ruins this blend for me.

FWIW, if I detected any vetiver in Lunar Eclipse, it wasn't enough to be worth mentioning. BUT! I also didn't get a lot of tobacco (which was a relief for me personally, but not so much when you're looking for it).

Pisces '07 is definitely my calm and collected scent (and I've gotten a number of compliments on it which is an added bonus), but as it has a pretty decent throw you would want to use a light touch. Perhaps it's the imagery it evokes, but I find Morgause to be a very empowering scent. It's also more traditionally perfumey, so at least you wouldn't smell too "odd" in an interview.

Wow. Seriously? Sorry, I didn't to a play-by-play with this one, but I would like to say: Men Ringing Bell With Penises is very, very evocative of Fresh Sake. Which is amazing, considering the only (listed) notes they share are ginger and sandalwood. When I compared them side by side (okay, arm by arm), Men Ringing Bell dried down to a woodier, more masculine smell, with the moss and green sandalwood being the prominent notes. So, if you found Fresh Sake to be too fruity/feminine (or you want your manthing to wear something complimentary), you will probably love Men Ringing Bell.