torischroeder9

In the decant: Juicy plum, sandalwood, and lavender. 

On my skin:

Wet, it's plum and blackberry wine. As it dries, the wine note goes away, and I get some lavender, and... something a touch powdery. I can't say what as this isn't usually how sandalwood or white musk present on me. 

Aaand... then it fades back to a faint but juicy plum only on me. It's pretty while it lasts, but it doesn't last long enough to make me reach for this decant again. 

In the decant: Coconut, hazelnut, and a bit of sharp lavender, which, given the foodier main notes, my nose almost reads as a spice. 

On my skin:

Wet, it's coconut first, and then the lavender comes out underneath it. As it dries, though, the lavender disappears, and it's coconut over sandalwood, which is really nicely grounding for it. 

This is where it stays on me -- a little elegant foodie, a little sexy suntan lotion. I don't get anything overly sweet. The sandalwood does make a reasonably strong showing on me and I think tames the ultra-gourmandness it could otherwise be. 

This is also a pretty strong candidate for a bottle upgrade, though I think it would be a warm weather scent only. (But I live in Arizona, where warm weather scents get a lot of airtime.) 

In the decant: Clove smoke and vanilla cake. 

On my skin:

Wet, it's instant tobacco. As it dries, I get a bit of smoke, though it's not particularly clove-y. 

Some time later... still tobacco. 

Eventually, I do get a bit of smoke and a bit of cake, but it's almost all tobacco. 

Darn you, tobacco. Darn you to heck. 

In the decant: Very lavender, almost soapy. 

On my skin:

Wet, orange zest comes out right away, followed by beautiful musky ambrette seed. I don't always love ambrette seed, but this particular phase of it is absolutely stunning. As it dries, the ambrette becomes the star of the show. I get warmth rather than sweetness, and nothing I can identify as lavender, wildflower honey, or orange zest, but I. Do. Not. Care. This is amazing. 

After a while, a touch of honey comes out to sweeten this, which is still pretty great, and the change is subtle. I want to say this dials back to be more of a skin scent, but I still get whiffs of ambrette seed in the throw, so that's not quite right, either. 

I got this decant mostly for the title, so I wasn't actually expecting to be wowed by it, but this might be bottle worthy on me. It's sophisticated and warm without being overly sweet or sharp. 

In the decant: Mostly sweet orange, sweeter than orange juice to my nose, which is probably the addition of the honey. I get a bit of airiness from the orange blossom, but not much. 

On my skin: 

Wet, the orange blossom disappears, and it's all sweet orange. As it dries, the orange blossom becomes more apparent, but as is true of many orange (not orange blossom) scents, it's all very close to the skin on me. (I do usually amp orange blossom, so this could also be because I'm using a tester amount.) Once settled, it becomes fairly honey-dominant, though it retains the lightness of the orange and airiness of orange blossom. 

I wrote a review, then my computer decided to restart and install updates, and so my review comment didn't save. Foo.

Fortunately, it's not much of a morpher on me. I get dusty woods, a little tea, a little smoke, and -- yes, something that I can see where some say wood polish and some say other chemicals or disinfectants. It actually reminds me most of some of the leather notes from the Lab, generally leather I read as "new." 

It's actually a fairly pleasant scent overall, though, woods and -- I'm going to say -- leather and tea and just a bit of smoke. I don't get blood, but I don't mind. This is all on the drier end of things, with the tea keeping it from being too abrasive. 

I don't know that it's quite good enough on me to seek out a bottle, but it's definitely a fun atmospheric to have tried. 

Frimp with purchase through Forum. Not sure of age. 

In the imp: For sure myrrh along with some other notes. You could convince me of black musk and vetiver. 

On my skin:

The oil is definitely dark and thick, like an aged Snake Oil or Vixen. There's definitely vetiver going on in this, though. As it dries, the throw does get a little of the slinky, vegetal musk Snake Oil vibe. But if I put my nose to my elbow crook, it is vetiver all the way. 

As someone who loves Snake Oil but is not a vetiver fan, this perfume is a tease. 

This is everything I like best about pumpkin spice lattes. It's pumpkin spicy in a way that smells amazing but might be a tad too much to drink. The sweetness level would be just right for drinking though. It's smoothed out and creamy without being cloying. I get very little coffee, and I don't mind that in a perfume. 

I agree about the pumpkin spice being very similar to that in Pumpkin Spice Snake Oil (which I also love and wear regularly). 

I had this on order when Pumpkin Snake Latte came out. I wondered then if I might need that. Smelling Rite of Passage, though -- on me, not just in the bottle -- I cannot imagine there being a better pumpkin spice perfume than this. 

In the bottle: Chai spice buttercream seems about right. It's chai spice but softer and creamier. You could convince me there's a vanilla component to it, which I hope doesn't mean my skin will eat it. 

On my skin:

There must be a vanilla component because on my skin, the "buttercream" aspect is instantly gone, and it's replaced by honey (though chai spice is still there). As it dries, all the gourmandiness fades back (but not away completely), and the scorched and stick bit (you could convince me I'm getting sandalwood here) take center stage. For a good long while, nothing really happens to change that. The stick and scorch are soft rather than screeching -- so they must be softened by things like the marshmallow and the honey and chai spice -- but they are very much the starring notes of this blend. 

After some time --- about 90 minutes from application -- I get considerably more honey wafting away from my skin. But honey is only barely detectable in the skin scent, which is still very much pretty scorch and stick. Like, it's scorch and stick, but it still smells genuinely pretty. 

I have concluded that I think my bottle needs to rest more. It could be that this is just going to be a morpher on me, but the sort of strange order of note dominance on me makes me think this still has a bit of settling to do. 

Edit 11/6 -- I tried this again yesterday (11/5), and it was all chai spice buttercream honey. I got only the briefest hint of scorch or stick on the initial drydown, which is a little disappointing since that turned out to be my favorite part of the initial test. However, since that's such a big change from a week ago, I think I'm still at the "rest and retest" stage with this. Not ready to call this one yet. 

Edit 11/13 -- Tried again today. It went through the chai spice BUTTERCREAM phase much faster this time compared to the second (a lot more like my initial test). I do get some scorched marshmallow stick, but it ultimately settles down to very soft chai spice with a lovely hint of smokiness. The final version of this trial is a very skin-close but delightful scent. But. I think still too different from my last trial. Test again in a week or so. 

Edit 11/23 -- WTF, Cerberus'ish? We're back to overly sweet honey marshmallow buttercream that I just cannot handle. 

In the imp: Trader Joe's Pumpkin Spice Coffee pods, minus the boozy tinge those sometimes get. 

On my skin:

Yup, ground pumpkin spice coffee -- the grounds themselves rather than the brewed beverage. It's concentrated. As it dries, I can pick up some of the spices that are different from most pumpkin spice stuff -- ginger and dry, airy cardamom. As it develops, the ginger fades, the cream smooths out the coffee note, and the black pepper amps just a touch. The spices are reminiscent of Bengal on me, but where Bengal can be overly sweet, there's no sweetness to Kobold Barista. 

I'm a little torn on this. The early stage is glorious on me, but the longer drydown leaves a little bit to be desired. I'd love the airy cardamom to reappear and for the clove to make a stronger appearance overall (anyone want to guess how many times I've said that in a BPAL review, though? so that might just be that my note preference is skewed). I get a little more ginger and a little more black pepper than I think would be ideal for me. 

But it is a uniquely spicy GC, and I don't have all that many spicy GCs. 

I tried this a long time ago. Like in 200..7?

In the imp: Anise and civet in a black licorice cat pee kind of way. 

On my skin:

First, though I like black licorice for eating, this is scary enough to make me hesitate putting it on my skin. Civet and anise and a little bit of vetiver, in a "how the heck is vetiver the top note in this perfume" kind of way. As it dries, I get a whiff of drier lichen and oak leaf. 

This is really strong and really anisey and really giving a more traditionally masculine vibe (IDK why, last I checked black licorice was not typically culturally gendered) on me. I do not like it. I think this is probably a well constructed and well blended perfume, but it's really just not to my personal taste. 

In the decant: Clean, crisp ti leaf and bright champaca. 

On my skin:

Wet, it does keep swirling back and forth between ti leaf -- a scent I interpret as being clean and cool -- and champaca flower -- a scent I interpret as being citrusy and bright. 

Ultimately, it settles on being ti dominant, which is less fun for me as I love champaca. 

In the bottle: Slightly sour (? -- not bitter, not tart -- sour), spicy frankincense. The sour note itself is a little offputting, but I don't know that it's enough to make the whole blend scary.

On my skin:

Wet, it's immediately more cinnamon spicy. The sour note comes out and turns to... jasmine? 

The good news is that I never really find out because both the sour note and the jasmine go away, and the next phase is cinnamon frankincense with rose. You could convince me there's benzoin in there, and you could convince me that the rose is blood rose, but I really don't need to know about these things because this stage is glorious. Secret confession time: This is about what I once imagined Harlot would smell like, and I'm forever disappointed that it did not. Thus, I am glad to smell this. 

Given more time, the frankincense comes out a bit more again over the rose, so I'd call this scent frankincense-rose-cinnamon on me, in that order (which, since I often amp rose, makes a lot of sense to me). I guess this is not quite what I wanted Harlot to smell like, since I never pictured that being resin-based, but this is still lovely, and a definite winner! 

In the imp: Slightly smoky vetiver with a touch of brightness, either from the bergamot or the hay.

On my skin:

Wet, the bergamot jumps to the forefront, and it's a lovely sweet orange. As it dries, the opoponax comes out all resiny. There are bits of other notes flitting about there -- brightness from the bergamot or hay, smokiness from the vetiver -- but I'm getting resin as a pretty strong base. 

It's a very sophisticated, slightly traditionally masculine, resin on me. And I like resins, so I like this. But I also like resins, so I have a lot of them -- and this one doesn't strike me as particularly noteworthy in light of my resinous collection. 

In the imp: Irish Spring soap and dragon's blood. 

On my skin: 

First, given how soapy it is in the imp and how much aquatics turn to soap on me, I should note that I'm a little nervous to even apply. And I do, and it's now mostly soap and a little blood. As it dries, dragon's blood resin becomes more detectable in the skin scent, though soapiness still dominates the throw. 

Okay, no. This is awful. On me, which aquatics generally are (and on me, dragon's blood is not a note that is going to save any blend). I kept hoping it would get more resiny and less soapy, but no. Just soap. Bloody soap. 

12 hours ago, Lucchesa said:

Thank you!!!  I did think of a way it could be done. We could open 11 slots for people willing to send up to 10 cards, 6 slots for people willing to send up to 5, and multiples of 3 for people willing to send 2. Everyone in each group would send to everyone else in that group. Do you think that would work? 

(I've also been thinking about this. I'm not ready to commit to organizing another swap while I have one still open, but I like the card swap idea. So I'm thinking.)

Another option, for simplicity, might be to require people to send a reasonable minimum (suggesting 5 as a number right now, just for illustrative purposes). When they get their recipients, they get it divided up like, "Here are your assigned 5, but here also are everyone else's addresses in case you want to send more." And then participants are guaranteed to receive those 5 (or whatever number is chosen) but might receive more. 

I think, as long as the expectations for sending and receiving are clearly laid out prior to sign-ups, then people who do sign up will be happy with how the swap runs. 

In the decant: Is complexly resiny a thing? I came up with that description in my head before checking the note list. Now I've done it, I think "complexly resiny" is absolutely a thing. 

On my skin:

Wet, it's less exciting, amber with greens through it. As it dries, there is something in there that I would call "peppery" that is what I assume others are reading as cardamom. It's not distinctly cardamom on me, but it's close enough for me to infer that this is the same thing happening on me. 

As it develops, I do get some amber and some grassy vetiver. But the peppery cardamom thing... it stays. Personally, I like it. 

I'm going to leave it overnight and see what happens. I really like this cardamom-pepper thing, but I don't always love smelling like vetiver. 

Edit: Seven hours later, and it's faded to just amber on me. If did get a vetiver-forward iteration of this blend, it happened while I was asleep, which is just as well as amber is nice, and the cardamom-pepper is, as far as I am concerned, an unexpected but delightful surprise. 

I have not reviewed Elegba? How have I not reviewed Elegba? This must be remedied! 

In the imp: Tobacco, coconut, and rum, in order of appearance, though once I get a good whiff, rum actually appears to be the strongest note. 

On my skin:

Wet, it's delightfully sweet coconut spiced rum. I want to smell like this, I want to sip it neat, I want to make the most kickass pina colada out of it. As it dries, the delightful coconut rum stays prominent, but I also get a whisper of tobacco, which I selfishly hope will stay just a whisper. 

Miraculously, the tobacco does behave, and I get a lovely softly spiced black coconut scent once everything settles. 

I have memories of previously trying Elegba but having it go tobacco-heavy on my skin. I'm not sure if that experience was the fluke or if this is. So I'll have to keep the imp and test again. 

In the imp: Yes, that's oleander. It's less sweet than my imp of Oleander Honey, but that's not saying much. 

On my skin:

Spoke too soon. Wet, this is exactly like Oleander Honey on me. As it dries, I get a bit more ylang ylang, which keeps the floral but undercuts the oleander's heady sweetness, and patchouli and neroli, that add a bit of grounding and bitterness. Given more time, I note that while the neroli does add some bitterness, it also adds a touch of brightness that makes the florals easier to manage. 

All that said, though, it's still a very heady florally blend, which is not so much my thing. 

In the imp: Gladiola, lily, and sticky sweet resin. I think I can pick out the copal here, but I might just be filling in based on the note list. 

On my skin:

Wet, it's absolutely sweet, sticky copal. On the drydown, the barest hint of florals come out, but it's still mainly copal. After some relatively short time (30-60 minutes), the florals disappear almost entirely, replaced by the warming presence of tonka supporting the copal. And a while after that, the resins fade, and I'm left with lilies again. 

It continues in this regard, bouncing back and forth between the copal and the lily, never quite settling in on me. 

I'll be honest: Based on notes alone, I think this was never destined for someone with my skin chemistry. I feel like it must come together much better on other people. 

I have never reviewed this? Never tried this, even? Absurd! 

In the imp: Patchouli and fig laced with mango and green tea. 

On my skin:

Wet, it's green mango and green tea on top, overlaying the fig and patchouli. The two bottom notes are vying with one another to be the most dominant there. As it dries, the green tea and mango slowly dial back, so I'm left with fig and patchouli, which produces a combination not unlike what I've gotten from The Strangler Fig and... some other BPAL I recently tried that had something like a "fig wood" note listed in it. It's just so, a softly woody scent infused with fig smell (which sounds a lot weirder when I type it out but smells a lot nicer on my skin). 

It has a moderate amount of throw on me, and it ends up being mostly the patchouli-fig brightened just a touch by green mango and green tea. I like this quite a bit. I'm not sure if it's truly enough to want to seek out a bottle (especially now that I'm in a paring-down mood), but I do like this. 

8 hours ago, Em- said:

I really hope we have the usual glut of Yule related swaps. You have such fun ideas Twi!

 

Speaking of which,  assuming that there's interest in a 12 days of Christmas swap, do folks have a strong preference for opening before Christmas (starting December 15, ending December 25) or the more traditional 12 days after (Dec 25 - Jan 5)? We've done it both ways,  but have ended up doing the latter by default because otherwise we basically need to start organizing now.

I like both, but I prefer the traditional 12 days since it lessens the pre-holiday rush and lengthens out the holiday opening. 

Definitely a nice green and non-soapy rose! This is what I wish for in rose perfumes, but I will happily accept it in bathroom (ahem! atmosphere) sprays.

43 minutes ago, Kmichh said:

I wonder what is different about this particular batch??

It could be a different source for a component oil, different plants from the same source, or even different growing/harvesting conditions (e.g., weather) for the same plants. 

Yes, lime candy -- limey but definitely sugary. A tiny whiff of absinthe. And then a little bit of sugar plum and fig to give it a little rounding and grounding while keeping it sweet. 

The sugar plums and fig keep it smelling like Christmas to me, but the lime cotton candy makes me think this would also work as a summer scent.