torischroeder9

In the decant: Gunpowder hits my nose first. As I continue to sniff, I realize it's a cedar core with a gunpowder accent -- but the gunpowder hits a part of my nose/olfactory processing that noplace else gets. 

On my skin:

Wet, it's all gunpowder, like cannons on my arm. This Cannon SN continues well into the drydown. 

After about half an hour, the cedar once again makes itself known. But now it's gunpowder-gilded cedar... Pirate Ship SN? (I know pirate ships weren't made out of cedar, but it's a fun thought.) Still not getting anything I can call gingerbread. 

Aaaand... after another half an hour, gunpowder cedar is where it seems to stay. I think this is a case where some aging might be in order. 

(2018 version)

In the decant: Cedar, something like a light pine scent, and a bit of sage. 

On my skin:

Wet, it's the light pine, cedar, and sage. As it dries, the warmth and roundness of the fig note starts to come out. 

Given some time to dry and settle down, the fig warms and comes out as the dominant note on my skin. It's the same sensuous fig as in Carnal. Only this time, instead of being the grounding note, the fig is the top note. At this point, the cedar and sage aren't detectable on me except to know that something earthy is grounding the fig. 

About half an hour later, the fig remains the only detectable note. At this point, I could be wearing Carnal (since the mandarin there disappears on me) and never know the difference. I like fig well enough as a scent (in fact, I like fig very well as a scent, and I'd wear it more often if it wasn't such a low-throw note on me), but I don't know that this is distinct enough on me to warrant a separate purchase. 

Edit 1/20 -- Fun trivia: I'm wearing this again today, applied approximately 90 minutes ago to both inner elbows and to my cleavage. (Initial test above was on inner elbow or inner forearm.) Cleavage application went figgy very quickly; elbow applications are still cedar-dominant. Going to let this sit in the decant for a month to see if that creates a little more consistency. 

(2018 version)

In the decant: Something sweet and almost fruity, like an orange hard candy. 

On my skin:

The scent is somewhere between an orange candy and an orange cleaner, not necessarily in an unpleasant way. 

Twenty minutes later, the candy note is gone, and I smell white musk over wood. There might be a tinge of sweetness left, but it's an accent on the blend rather than the main note. Given as much time again, the white musk increases and the sweetness fades until this is just white musk over... polished wood.  I've just now, as I've been sniffing and typing, had the realization that this scent is white musk, wood, and just the tiniest tinge of orange oil, as if the wood had been regularly but not super-recently oiled and polished.

The effect, to me, is that of smelling polished wood through the veil of something else. It's cleaner than dust or powder but not so wet or clean as is water. It's softer than ozone. It's evocative of a piece of wood that's been regularly polished but also regularly touched -- like, for example, a wooden bannister in the staircase of an old house, especially one that held a large family -- over a lot of years. 

The white musk element of the blend has pretty good throw. If it's typical of white musk for me, it will also have pretty good wear length. Will check back after a couple of wears to see if that holds true. 

In the decant: Oakmoss with lavender. 

On my skin:

Wet, oakmoss is still dominant with the lavender still detectable and becoming a bit sharper as it dries. 

About fifteen minutes later, as it settles on my skin, lavender is in the forefront. Now the patchouli is also detectable as a grounding note. I can still pick out the oakmoss tying these scents together, but the "pallid oakmoss" descriptor is apt. It's just barely there enough to be a unifying presence. 

Given additional time to settle and warm, it becomes lavender as a top note for something almost powdery on my skin. But, like, very fine, high-end, grown-up powder -- not the baby powder I sometimes get when a note like amber doesn't play nice on my skin. 

Much later (sorry, I left periodic arm-sniffing long enough to cook and eat dinner), the scent is a very light, powdery floral. The top note is something like a very light rose. (A quick Google tells me cistus is rockrose?) The lavender is detectable as a base; at this point, I cannot detect any patchouli or wood fulfilling this role. I can't tell what's leading to the powder note on me (none of the listed notes usually do this, and the quality of the powder is different than I've ever experienced from perfume oil). 

Once it's in powder-lavender-rose stage, the throw is pretty low, but the wear length seems to be at least average. 

In the decant: Dark chocolate and something almost minty, but a complementary mint -- like an Andes mint. 

On my skin:

Dark chocolate when it's wet, but as soon as it dries, pepper becomes the dominant note. However, left alone for a few minutes, the chocolate reemerges. It's definitely a dark chocolate -- almost bitter dark -- and spicy.

About fifteen minutes after the initial drydown, the scent on me is fairly balanced between dark chocolate and pepper. Slowly, the note that I think must be the green cardamom peeks out. In this blend, it's what's causing the suggestion of a creamy minty smell to me. It actually feels like the softest note in this blend to me, and it does a good job of bringing together the sharp pepper and the rich dark chocolate. 

And then, after about an hour -- and rather suddenly, all timelines considered -- this shifts to a nice cardamom with a solidly medium amount of throw. (When the chocolate note was present, it was a very skin-close scent on me.) I can believe that black pepper also graces the scent, but I can't prove it. 

I do like the final drydown quite a lot. I'm just not sure about the whole path it takes to get there. 

(I think this is the correct place for this review. Purchased a bottle of this on eBay from a seller from whom I've purchased before.)

In the bottle: Very sweet vanilla creamy. It reminds me of the smell of, like, an entire tub or bowl of creamy vanilla frosting. If there are other notes, they are hiding under that.

On my skin:

First, as I apply, the oil's consistency is thicker than I've experienced from most BPAL vials. It's not as thick as my aged Boomslang, but it's getting toward that. 

Wet, the vanilla dissipates almost immediately, revealing a softly spiced scent underneath. It's the kind of spice that would be at home in a room full of sweet baked goods, but there's no actual "baked good" note (like, no cake or bread or that sort of thing -- just the spice). Also, something's tickling my nose in a floral kind of way, but it's not identifiable at this stage. 

Once it's had several minutes to settle and warm, the spiciness is foremost on me. I'm actually not reading it as carnation as it's spicier than carnation usually is on me. A great deal of the vanilla creaminess comes back, though not the jolt of sugar sweetness. Up close, I also get whiffs of a high floral -- but not overly sweet -- top note. 

Settling down some more, the carnation note becomes more apparent. I'm also detecting a note that I'm interpreting as a soft wood (sandalwood?). There's also something (amber? this would be characteristic on my skin) that's letting the vanilla note waft on me. The vanilla isn't strong at this point in the blend, but it does have a goodly amount of throw. 

I expect this will disappear on me sooner rather than later (though maybe not super soon), but it is lovely. Comparisons to Morocco are apt. 

In the decant: Apricot, cayenne, honey. 

On my skin:

Wet, it's sweetened cayenne. As it dries, the apricot becomes detectable again as well. In this early stage, something in the blend -- I'd actually guess the cayenne (since I've never experienced this with honey or apricot before) -- has a quality almost like menthol. 

After about fifteen minutes, however, the blend settles down, and the menthol aspect disappears. It is apricot and honey with a touch of cayenne. On me, the apricot-honey pairing is very sweet, and I imagine that without the spice of the cayenne, this blend might be cloying. 

I would tell you that throw is low to medium on me. However, last time I tested it, my husband commented about the strength of the BPAL I was wearing. So maybe some aspect of the blend is stronger than I notice?

In the decant: Blood orange and accompanying sweetness (maybe fruity, maybe honey). 

On my skin:

Apricot springs up first wet. As it dries, also blood orange, dragon's blood, and vanilla. 

A few minutes after it's dry, the dragon's blood and vanilla both fade from detection. The blood orange is still present but cedes dominance to the apricot. The blood orange note is sweeter than I expect, but I can't tell if that's due to the sweetness of the apricot or to one of the other sweet notes, such as the honey. 

As it settles and warms on me (about 15 minutes after the previous paragraph), it's apricot being amped but sweetened blood orange closer (but not only super close) to my skin. I can't pinpoint a single origin to the sweet note. It could be just the apricot. Could also be dragon's blood and/or honey. Could also even be a bit of the vanilla acting to round out the orange. The result is both fruity and grounded. 

In the imp: A berry scent with something sweet as a top note. I can believe that note is honey, but I can't actually identify it independently.

On my skin:

Wet, it's a berry-scent. It feels somewhere between blueberry and blackberry, though closest to blackberry. As it dries, the honey begins to warm it. 

Aaand... fifteen minutes later, it's basically gone before it started. 

EditIn the decant: Wow, there's a lot going on here. Vanilla, honey, floral, patchouli, beeswax. Even though I can smell the floral notes, the overall feel of this is on the deeper end of honey scents to me. Initially comparable to a more complex O. 

On my skin:

Wet, it's deep vanilla honey, beeswax, and patchouli. Not getting any of the florals or musk right away, but with how good this smells right now, I don't care if they ever get here. 

Once it dries, the vanilla disappears on me (vanilla, we really must have a talk about this one day), and the magnolia becomes detectable. 

Warmed on my skin, the notes that stand out are the magnolia and the beeswax. Honey is definitely tying both of those notes together, and a touch of patchouli is present as a grounding note, but they're supports rather than the stars here. 

Huh. Another half hour, and it's shifted again, though subtly. The beeswax is now the most prominent note on my skin, though the magnolia is still gracing the top of it. The honey stays fairly steady while the patchouli becomes a bit more prominent. There may be something gently spicy (kurundu? brown musk?) as well. 

This is a lovely, warm blend on me -- sweet without being cloying. Throw is low to medium: It's not a skin scent, but I'm also not amping it so that I can smell myself all over the room.

Edit 1/10 -- I wore this to work today in the hopes that it would be a honey blend suitable for such a location (meaning, one that doesn't amp too much on me). This was fabulous for that purpose. The throw remains low on me, but the wear length is several hours (I actually have to wash it off after work and errands in order to scent test this evening). After a few hours, it settles down to a mainly honey-beeswax scent on me. 

In the decant: Clove and sweetness, which I presume is the olive blossom. 

On my skin:

Lots of clove and the same sweetness. 

Several minutes in, the clove still dominates, with a nice sweet floral top note. If there's leather here, it's very possible the strength of the clove on me is covering it up. 

After another half hour or so, the clove dies down so that it's more balanced with the olive blossom. Though the clove has toned down a bit, it's still very pleasant, and I still cannot pick out a leather note. 

In the next phase, a soft leather note does emerge -- and it is soft, against the spice of the clove and the sweetness of the olive blossom. Here, it has almost the quality of a soft black musk. Unfortunately, from this point, the clove and olive blossom continue to fade while the leather note either remains behind or strengthens. At this point, the whole blend starts to go a little powdery and a little soapy. 

Sadly, it dries down to nondescript leather with a faint floral top note. The clove is present only in a tiny amount and only very close to my skin. It's not unpleasant -- and I certainly wouldn't mind this if it was a "morning after" or even "several hours after" type of scent -- but it's a far cry from the glorious clove that was its debut.  

Edit 2/27 -- Somewhere along the line, I ended up with a partial bottle of this, and the proportions of the bottle are somewhat different. The leather always stays a background note, which allow the clove and olive blossom to shine more. 

This is my first experience with BPAL's dead leaves note. 

In the decant: Neroli is dominant, with a little red musk detectable, along with another dusty note (I'm assuming the dead leaves). 

On my skin:

Wet, it's neroli first with a tinge of red musk emerging as it dries. 

As it dries, the neroli settles down though it remains the dominant note on my skin. The dusty dead leaves note is also present, and the barest hint of red musk curls around the edges. 

About fifteen minutes later, it's mostly dead leaves. The red musk is on the uptick, and the neroli is on the decline. (Some of these notes came for a sprint, and some showed up for a marathon.)

Another thirty minutes, and the blend balances between red musk and dead leaves (which now smell a little more like actual dead leaves to me, but the brown kind late in autumn, not leaves in the midst of color-changing and falling). The neroli is now undetectable to my nose. 

Hrm. I think the Lab's dead leaves note is pleasant enough, at least as I encounter it in this blend, but it doesn't evoke the particular type of autumn leaves for which I was hoping (at least, it doesn't end up working that way on my skin). As for red musk blends, again, this becomes pleasant enough within a few minutes (and neroli isn't a bad note on me -- it's just that red musk is much better), but it's not my favorite red musk blend. 

In the imp: I can pick out two rose scents. One, unfortunately, goes soap-rose to my nose. The other is the authentic sweet rose scent of the roses we had in my backyard growing up. 

On my skin:

Wet, soap-rose wins. 

As it dries, I think I can start to detect the cinnamon creeping up, but that could also be my hopeful imagination. 

After a few minutes, the soap-rose fades, and the real rose becomes the main player. The soap isn't quite gone completely, and I still can't really find the cinnamon. 

😞 [One Eternity Later...] 

I've been waiting and waiting for the cinnamon to show. It's not going to. 

The waft of this perfume is lovely; it's all the sweet, natural rose. Soap-rose dominates up close, though. 

In the imp: Predominantly violet, with other deeper notes swirling in the background. 

On my skin:

Wet, violet still dominates with one of the grounding notes becoming a distinct wood. 

Once dry, I am amping the heck out of this violet. (I have a working hypothesis that sometimes in a blend, a scent can "attach" itself to the amber note, which is what helps it amp on me. There are several blends where I don't normally amp Note, but I do amp Note + amber.) This is definitely a deep violet. On my skin, there might be a touch of the other florals giving it a bit of a top note, but it's mainly violet as the main player supported by a lovely mix of grounding, deepening notes. At this stage, I once again cannot pick out one grounding note from another. 

Half an hour later, and my skin chemistry has spoken: This seems to want to stay a fairly pure and deep violet on me. The combination of woods, musk, and vetiver must be what's creating the soft, deep base for this perfume, but they very much allow the violet to be the star of this show. 

The throw on this is fairly strong. I'm not sure if it's actually stronger than the throw from my other favorite violet scents (Marie and Sybaris) or if it's just that this scent carries a little more heft to it that makes the throw feel stronger. 

Possible TMI update:

In the decant: Artificial pine and cold exhaust. If you're familiar with both the smell of a summer road with the high, thin, shimmering exhaust of a number of cars and also the puff of exhaust of a single car as it warms up in a frozen driveway -- to me, this exhaust is evocative of the latter. 

On my skin:

As it dries down, the pine air freshener remains consistent while the motor oil and exhaust notes vie back and forth for dominance. It's almost astringent, almost grassy, almost smoky. 

About 15 minutes in, what it reminds me most of is the inside of a national chain tire store. I must be picking up something I perceive as rubber as well as the "clean car" (pine air freshener) and motor oil-type notes. 

This seems to be where the scent stays on me. 

While I echo the conclusions of Amaxophobia not being something I'd want to smell like every day, it's not actually an unpleasant -- or even that strange -- a scent on me. It doesn't smell like new car, but it does smell like some automobile elements that are new and clean. 

Throw is medium; wear length is likely the same.  

In the decant: Chocolate with red wine coming to the forefront. I can detect a heavy spice, which might be either the clove and/or the allspice, as well as a rounder sweet note, which might either be the coconut and/or the marshmallow. 

On my skin:

Wet, the red wine jumps to the top of my skin though it steps back pretty fast to let the chocolate take its place. Within a moment, it settles down to chocolate and muddled spices (not unpleasant, just difficult to discern individual notes). It continues to morph during its first dry moments on my skin. The coconut makes an appearance, then recedes, leaving spiced chocolate again.

Now there is a positively minty smell coming from my skin. This, in turn, continues to morph and develop over a few minutes until it's almost like eucalyptus. It's not as strong, either in scent strength or in throw, but the quality of the note is similar. (Some quick Googling suggests mullein might be the note most responsible for this. I also wouldn't put it past the red wine note, which tends to go to vinegar on my skin, to be playing up this aspect of the blend.) 

Minutes later, the whole blend starts to fade away.... 

Edit, 1 hour later -- It doesn't quite disappear. The eucalyptus smell does disappear entirely. It's replaced by a very soft marshmallow scent with a very low throw. Like, I have to put my nose basically touching my arm to smell it -- but it is there. 

Note: I'm testing a bit of oil in the bottom of a decant. This may limit my ability to give a complete or thorough review. 

In the decant: I can make out the vanilla and something vaguely fruity. 

On my skin:

Wet, I get the fruit and the honey initially. Within a moment, the vanilla resurfaces and what I think is the cognac starts to play. (There's a moment where the base of this perfume smells akin to what I've gathered is the honey-cognac mix in Sed Non Satiata.) 

On me, this morphs quite a lot as it's drying. I get plays of mandarin, another fruity note, some honey, some tobacco, some cognac, and some spice. The vanilla disappears on me, but that is often the case with my skin chemistry. 

Once it settles, however, it stays put pretty well -- and it's also pretty well balanced. The main note I get is closest to spiced pears (I'm guessing that's the quince). It's made richer by the honey and deeper by the cognac. I cannot pick out the tobacco individually; however, as someone who's historically amped tobacco into a near single note, I cannot say as I mind it being well-behaved here. 

The throw is quite low on me, but that could be attributable to the amount tested. 

In the imp: Ozone, ambergris, and wine over an indistinct blend of grounding notes. 

On my skin:

Wet, the ozone and ambergris continue to show up first, with the wine trailing close behind. 

As it dries, the ambergris becomes the dominant note big-time. Like, I can maybe pick out or imagine ozone and leather along with it, but right now it is The Ambergris Show on my elbow. 

After another 15 minutes or so, I can start to detect the sandalwood (white bone is a good descriptor for how dry it comes across here) grounding the blend and the ozone riding as a top note. At this point, something faintly smoky -- maybe burnt grasses -- starts to emerge as well. A few minutes more, and a note I read as a warmer wood -- probably the teak? -- also starts to give this a faint spiciness. 

Ultimately, the flickers of other notes fade out, and this settles down to become ambergris and ozone over sandalwood on me. It's not unpleasant though it's a bit more stereotypically masculine than I prefer in my perfumes. 

Note: I have the end of a tester of this. The amount of oil may limit my ability to give a complete or thorough review. 

In the imp: Patchouli and vetiver. 

On my skin:

The amount I have is such that it dries almost immediately, so I can't comment on if it's doing anything while wet on my skin. 

As the patchouli calms down, I can start to pick out the oudh and a bit of the plum. 

After about 15 minutes, the plum does warm up. At this moment, it's fairly reminiscent of how Nasty Woman behaves on my skin. 

Sadly, after about 30 total minutes, the scent as a whole starts to fade out, plum first. 

Relatively low throw throughout. 

The patchouli remains until the last.  

In the imp: Honey with an undercurrent of spice and an additional non-sweet grounding note (probably the patchouli). 

On my skin:

Wet, it's the honey and ylang ylang who show up first. Even after it dries, it's a strong ylang ylang floral honey, though I can detect the clove if I put my nose right up to my skin. 

Slowly, after about another twenty minutes, the ylang ylang starts to temper itself, and I can pick out the patchouli in addition to the clove. Still, the clove and patchouli are quite close to my skin while the ylang ylang and honey amp like it's their job. 

Another few minutes, and I think I can start to detect the fig, too: there's a sweetness that's deeper than the honey. 

All in all, it turns into a lovely, deep, grounded honey scent. However, I definitely don't love the phase that's dominated by the ylang ylang, and in fact, I could probably do without this note (in this blend) altogether. But I might also be bitter because by the time the ylang ylang dies down, so does much of this scent's throw on me.

In the imp: Most prominently, a green, herbal note. I can also detect mint, lime, and lavender. 

On my skin:

Wet, mint comes to the forefront, followed by the herbal note and the lavender. In just a second, before it's even dry, those two notes take over the mint, so it's barely detectable. 

Um. Once it's dry, I get predominantly lavender soap. In fairness, it's much nicer lavender than is in most commercial lavender soaps. This is like fresh-cut lavender, with the greenness of stems and leaves in addition to the flowers. But there's a decided soapy tang going on. 

I'd been staying away from this because I don't do well with mint. On the plus side, at least the mint turned out to be a non-issue for me?

In the imp: Cherry and chocolate, definitely. I can't tell if the lightness I'm detecting is part of the cherry note or if it's the orange blossom in addition to it. 

On my skin:

The cherry shows up first, at least temporarily driving the chocolate back to a background note. The orange blossom, if present, is very indistinct and is melding with the cherry right now. 

Almost as soon as it's dry, the trend starts to reverse. The orange blossom amps up, and the cherry recedes. Ten minutes in, and it's predominantly orange blossom with a hint of cherry's roundness. 

After another ten minutes or so, I get an interesting phenomenon. My skin amps the orange blossom, giving that element a lot of throw. But if I put my nose close to my skin, cherry is the more dominant note. Neither note completely overshadows the other in either place; it's just the balance that's different. The chocolate is undetectable, though. 

Several minutes more, and both the cherry and orange blossom start to fade a bit, finally revealing a bit of a chocolate grounding note. Unfortunately, by this time, the scent overall is pretty faint. I can't see it lasting too very much longer on my skin. 

All in all, I'm glad I tried it. I'd been avoiding Vice because cherry can go overwhelming and candy on my skin. While this is definitely a sweet scent with the cherry detectable throughout, the orange blossom keeps the blend from smelling too cloying or artificial. 

In the imp: Sweet mango. I can't tell if that's just the mango note or if I'm also detecting the sugar cane sweetening it. 

On my skin: 

Wet, the mango jumps forward as does the cassia. It's an odd combination, yes, but not actually unpleasant. 

After a few minutes, the lemon peel and the sugar cane start to come forward more. Now it's sugared lemon and mango with cassia still in the background. 

The sugar cane actually increases for a while until it's the main note. The throw of sugared lemon and cassia is impressive. At this point, the woods start to come out near the skin. 

... and then the woods disappear, and it's sugared lemon cassia again. 

I'm a little confused by this blend. Usually red musk is pretty dominant on me. Lemon too, but in that I AM LEMON PLEDGE kind of way. The sugar cane, I think, is really helping here to make this a much more wearable scent for me. 

Not sure where the red musk went, though.

In the imp: Orchid, with hints of other notes playing in the background. 

On my skin:

Wet, orchid surfaces first. As it dries, some note -- probably bergamot, though I can't detect it independently -- brightens the floral. 

Given some time to develop on my skin, the white musk emerges to soften the floral and fruits. This trend continues, making the scent itself less intense (note: it was pretty light and fresh to begin with) while simultaneously giving it more throw (this is a normal white musk thing for me). It's basically like orchid and bergamot are riding this delightful little ray of white musk.

This would probably make a nice summer scent. The white musk gives me an impression of it being a less sweet, more-stereotypically-unisex version of Katharina. I mean, they're different scents, obviously, but I feel like the times I'd choose to wear them would be similar. That said, I'm going to hang on to my imp for another several months to give myself a chance to test that hypothesis. 

In the imp: The soapiness I associate with Lab aquatic scents, plus florals. Sniffing again, I can also detect the vanilla and maybe the sandalwood and/or moss. 

On my skin:

(First, full disclaimer: the imp wand was acting abnormally, so I ended up just imp-slathering this on my skin.)

Wet, the soapiness dies down, and the aquatic-like scent becomes moss and musk. Unfortunately, the vanilla goes into hiding. 

As it dries, I can start to pick out the sandalwood, elemi, and ambergris. I can't pick out either the vanilla or the lily independently, but some sweet note is acting to keep this from being an overly dry or harsh blend. 

Oh, dang. After about 45 minutes, the soapiness comes back. 

It was an interesting run while it lasted.