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Rovylern

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Blog Entries posted by Rovylern

  1. Rovylern

    Pink Moon 2007

    By Rovylern,

    A sweet and silly compliment to the first breath of Spring! Sugared carnation and phlox!
     
    Reviewed 01/07/2008
     
    I admit, I've been prejudiced against carnations. I found that I like some blends with carnations, though, so I was willing to give Pink Moon a try.
     
    I really enjoyed the spiciness that I've come to recognize as BPAL's carnation note, but after that initial yummy spice it turned into pure play-doh on me the way Beaver Moon '05 did. One odd note about this one: my cats went crazy over it. Completely and utterly bonkers. They were fighting each other to get to the spot I applied it and wouldn't stop sniffing and licking it. I've never seen anything like it!
  2. Rovylern

    The Oval Portrait

    By Rovylern,

    Evil was the hour that she saw, and loved, the painter. Gentle beauty and innocent devotion: honeysuckle, carnation, stargazer lily, bluebonnet, vanilla musk, and rice flower.
     
    Reviewed 01/07/2008
     
    My first impression is HELLO FLOWERS! Heh. It's almost overwhelmingly floral. There's an undernote of something tangy that makes the corners of my mouth pucker, something sharp and almost citrus-y. That fades out at about the same time the flowers begin to be tempered by the musk. I don't get much vanilla out of it, though I normally amp vanilla; it smells more like a skin musk on me. This is very feminine and adult, not like my normal foody inclinations but very wearable and pretty. I'm not sure I could use an entire bottle of this, but I might get another imp or two of it.
  3. Rovylern

    Strawberry Moon

    By Rovylern,

    Strawberry moon is a blending of strawberries and cream with light, dry lotus and soft ylang ylang and a touch of green tea and sage to bring it closer to Earth.
     
    Reviewed 01/04/2008
     
    This is absolutely beautiful. It's very true-to-life, like a bowl full of fresh strawberries and homemade cream. I don't get the plastic, fake note that other people have mentioned, but I also don't get any hint of tea or anything green at all. This is very fresh and summery and delicious, and it breaks my heart that I adore it so much because I know I'll never be able to afford a bottle of it!
  4. Rovylern

    Midnight Kiss

    By Rovylern,

    Eternal desire, unquenchable passion: red musk, cocoa absolute, Nepalese amber, red sandalwood, aged patchouli, nicotiana, and blood wine.
     
    Reviewed 01/04/2008
     
    One of my resolutions for the new year is to be more on top of testing and reviewing my BPAL, especially the approximately 100 untried imps sitting in my imp box. So I've started randomly grabbing two each night and testing them out, whether I thought I would like the notes or not.
     
    Wet and Initial Drydown: Ew. EWW. I smell like BO and something flowery. Normally musks work with my skin, so maybe it's the nicotiana or the patchouli.
     
    Complete Drydown: Oh yes. This is finally coming together and smells wonderful. Now I get the cherry cola-ish scent that people mention. It's dark, but sparkling and not overpowering. I'm in awe, the lab made something that is dark and light at the same time. It's very sexy, in a commanding way. I think that I could get past the initial funky stage and wear this, but it's definitely not an office scent.
  5. Rovylern

    Nuit

    By Rovylern,

    She is the Goddess of the Sky, one of the Ennead, daughter of the air [shu] and water [Tefnut], lover of Geb and Hadit, the Eternal Mother, and the Receiver, Reviver and Protector of the Dead, whose loving, divine embrace shields our souls from annihilation. She is love, rapture, splendor, continuous and eternal birth and rebirth, infinite space, and the “the naked brilliance of the voluptuous night”. Nuit is Earth’s guardian, and shields her lover and her mortal children from the primeval chaos that threatens Existence. Her perfume is starry and crystalline, a jewel-clad and glittering paean to night: dazzling white musks, white rose and night-blooming jasmine with the soft moss of moonlit meadows, a waft of Egyptian incense, and a gentle breath of moonflower.
     
    Reviewed 01/03/2008
     
    Gorgeous. Florals aren't my normal favorites, but this is beautiful and calming. It's pure, feminine, floral. I rarely get a color feeling from a scent, but this 'feels' midnight blue to me. While sniffing I had an undeniable urge to just close my eyes and breathe very slowly and deeply, and I actually almost fell asleep. I think this would be amazing as a meditation oil or a sleep aid, maybe on an eye mask or a pillow. The throw is medium and it has a long wear time.
  6. Rovylern

    Incubus

    By Rovylern,

    Spectral white musk and the heart-stopping chill of sheared mint, fanned by caramel-touched body heat, and the diabolical sensuality of black musk, nicotiana, and sage.
     
    Reviewed 01/03/2008
     
    I got this as a frimp from the lab, so I decided to try it without looking at the notes beforehand.
     
    This, on me, smells like vomit and cigar smoke. My arm smells like a bar bathroom at closing time. I don't know what happened between this and my body chemistry but oh, my dear gods. This is definitely going in the swap pile.
  7. Rovylern

    Chaste Moon 2005

    By Rovylern,

    Though March marks the end of the desolation and chill of winter, it is not yet Spring, the time of rebirth, fertility and the Earth's fecundity. March's Full Moon is a Virgin's Moon, pure, youthful, unsullied and innocent. This is the Moon of the Child, and the scent is as soft and gentle as a baby's breath: milky blossoms and soft cream touch the last buds of winter, coupled with crystalline, bright traditional Lunar oils.
     
    Reviewed 01/07/2008
     
    I have been coveting this for months, ever since I was frimped a sniffie of it, and it was everything I was hoping it would be. It's spicy, with a base of sweet creaminess, and it blows me away. It stayed true, with no plastic or fake-ness in the undertones. It clings very close to the skin, with very little throw, the kind of scent you dab behind your ears and on the back of your neck before you meet a significant other and you want to draw them in close. Unfortunately, something in this makes me itch like nobody's business on every body part I tried it on, even places that I rarely react (like the back of my hand)!
  8. Rovylern
    Lick It:
    What else could possibly be more lickable at Yuletide? This is a candy cane perfume, minty, sweet and sugared.
     
    Lick It Again:
    Every holiday season should be full of lewd suggestions and filthy double entendres, right? This is a new take on last year's Lick It -- a peppermint candy cane with an extra jolt of sugar.
     
    Lick It One More Time:
    Every holiday season should be full of lewd suggestions and filthy double entendres, right? This is a new take on Lick It and Lick It Again -- a peppermint candy cane with a flash of vanilla and an extra jolt of sugar.
     
    Reviewed 11/23/2007
     
    I realized that I have never reviewed any of the Lick It line when my bottles of One More Time came. So what else was there to do but put all three on and do some comparisons?
     
    Bottle:
    The original '05 Lick It is a very sharp, intense peppermint in the bottle, with just a hint of something sweet underneath. The '06 version is much more mellow to my nose, but '07 is very close to the '05 version.
     
    Wet:
    On application, all three go on very strong.
    '05 is immediately very sweet while still maintaining the sharpness of the mint.
    '06 softens as soon as it touches my skin, with the vanilla and sugar pushing the mint into the background.
    '07 reminds me of the original again, the peppermint staying strong as the sweetness swirls up, just like smelling a real candy cane.
     
    Drydown:
    The best wear comes from '05. It mellows considerably and has very little throw, but it lasts for hours if I bring my wrist to my nose. Smelling it is like licking your lips an hour after you've eaten a candy cane, a minty memory on your tongue.
    '06 has very little throw as well. The mint tends to fade out after a few hours, but the soft vanilla sugar lingers on my skin for much longer. There's something seductive about it, and it reminds me a bit of Snowblind.
    My skin drinks '07 like water. After less than an hour it is completely gone, with only a faint dusty smell left like I've been carrying around old books. Even the vanilla, which my skin normally holds on to for dear life, disappears without a trace. It's the closest to '05 in scent...while it's there. I love it enough to keep it and just slather it on every hour, but I'm wondering if the aging of the original is a factor in how well it stays so I'll be tucking a bottle away in a dark corner to see if it helps. If not, there's always a scent locket, right?
  9. Rovylern
    The NIGHTMARE TERROR of TEENAGE love gone GRISLY!
    She's HELL-BENT on romance, THRILL-CRAZED, and HUNGRY!
    There's NO ESCAPE from her clutches!
     
    A deranged darling, sweet and sociopathic! Clotted vanilla cream, pink pepper, grapefruit, blood lily, red ginger, English pear, and lemon-squeezed candyfloss!
     
    Reviewed 02/09/2008
     
    In the bottle: Vanilla cake, a hint of something cherry-ish. Very foody.
     
    Wet: Again, something cherry-ish, but that fades quickly. The grapefruit and lemon are in the forefront, with creamy vanilla swirling underneath.
     
    Drydown: Sparkling, happy citrus. There is a bit of spice to keep it from going into the cleaning product smell. The cream seems to have blended in so well that I can't pick it out as a separate note but there is still a creamy feel. There's a short time when the pear note gives it a hint of play-doh, but thankfully it doesn't stay very long.
     
    The pear in this gave me pause, but I still ordered two bottles unsniffed. I'm glad that I did, because it's fabulous. This is definitely screaming "Hoard me!"
  10. Rovylern

    Crypt Queen, test II

    By Rovylern,

    As sweet as death, as deep as the grave: pomegranate, raspberry, gardenia, plum, and rose with patchouli, black pepper, rose musk, and a hint of blood accord.
     
    Originally reviewed 09/09/2007, revisited 11/02/2007
     
    I tried this for the first time back in September, and got a strange Vicks Vap-o-rub scent from it. I decided to give it another try tonight, just to see if there was any reason for me to keep it sitting around in my BPAL box.
     
    I'm still getting a strong Vicks scent from this. I can smell the berries swirling around under the surface, but whatever is going Vicks-ish on me is way too dominant. Unfortunately, it just does not fade away completely. With the exception of that one note, I love this blend...but that one note is so strong and lasting that I can't get past it.
  11. Rovylern
    Sugar-Slathered Candied Apple -- With a dollop of caramel!
     
    Reviewed 03/05/2008
     
    I can't believe I haven't posted a review of this scent yet because it's one of my favorites!
     
    In the imp: Fresh, juicy apples.
    Wet: Caramel and apples. This smells like freshly dipped caramel apples, the way you can smell the still-warm caramel and the apple as you take that first bite.
    Drydown: I'm so happy this doesn't morph on me. I absolutely love it. It smells exactly the same from beginning to end. On my skin it fades pretty quickly, but in my scent locket it lasts and lasts and has a good amount of throw. I only regret not being able to afford a bottle of this at Halloween, because now I'm jealously hoarding my one little imp of it.
  12. Rovylern

    Hony Mone

    By Rovylern,

    Hony mone, a term proverbially applied to such as be newly married, which will not fall out at the first, but th'one loveth the other at the beginning excedingly, the likelyhood of their exceadinge love appearing to aswage, ye which time the vulgar people call the hony mone.
    Three honeys blended with seven fruits, flowers, and herbs of passion, pleasure, and joy: honeysuckle, fig, carnation, apricot, jasmine, tonka, and almond.
     
    Reviewed 12/19/2007
     
    In the bottle, bright golden honey with an undertone of almond and just the faintest hint of flowers in the background. I put it on and BAM. Pretty much instantly it became cat pee. I waited a while, hoping it would change again, but the only morph I got was overripe, almost rotting floral. Oh skin chemistry, how I loathe thee! I love honey scents so I will save one bottle and see if I can age the pee out of it, but I think the extra bottle I got may be swapped out.
  13. Rovylern

    Snowblind

    By Rovylern,

    The perfect vanilla mint.
     
    Reviewed 10/27/2007
     
    This is so very different from other vanilla mint scents like Tokyo Stomp, Lick It, and Lick It Again. The only way I can describe this is as a WARM mint. It is utterly gorgeous and delicious the way the lab's mints always are, but it doesn't have that chilly cold feel that most of the mint scents do. Something in the combination of vanilla and butter in this blend make it feel like mint wrapped in a blanket in front of the fireplace, and I love it so much.
  14. Rovylern

    The Flower Song

    By Rovylern,

    THE FLOWER SONG
    Unknown, Written during Egypt's New Kingdom
    To hear your voice is pomegranate wine to me:
    I draw life from hearing it.
    Could I see you with every glance,
    It would be better for me
    Than to eat or to drink.
     
    Pomegranate wine, lotus root, river reeds, hyssop, and barley.
     
    Reviewed 02/25/2008
     
    Imp: Very sweet, sugary. A touch of something fruity, but very little.
     
    Wet: Sugar and pomegranate. There's no wine or booze note at all. There's an undercurrent of something spicy, like Juicy Fruit gum, as my skin amps the lotus.
     
    Drydown: Lotus sometimes has a tendency to turn to cat pee on me, but this doesn't. I never get any wine notes at all, nothing aquatic or herbal that suggest the river reeds or hyssop, nothing earthy or grainy for the barley. This is all lotus and pomegranate, all the time, and the combination of the two is beautiful. It clings close to my skin but lasts forever; ten hours after I applied the first test patch I could still smell it if I sniffed the back of my hand. I can't wait to try this in my scent locket; this is definitely going to be a multi-bottle purchase for me.
  15. Rovylern
    Reviewed 07/28/2008
     
    CXXXIII (133)
     
    In the bottle: Chocolate maple syrup.
     
    Wet: I smell like pancakes!
     
    Dry: Pancakes and syrup, sprinkled with cocoa; not the burnt-sugar note of Sugar Skull. Light throw.
     
    Verdict: Ultra-foody and yummy, but it's definitely a cool-weather scent.
  16. Rovylern

    Crypt Queen

    By Rovylern,

    As sweet as death, as deep as the grave: pomegranate, raspberry, gardenia, plum, and rose with patchouli, black pepper, rose musk, and a hint of blood accord.
     
    Reviewed 09/09/2007
     
    I am really torn about this one. I absolutely love the subtle florals and juicy, dark berries. In the bottle, it is absolutely perfect. But on my skin there is an odd smell that comes out, I'm not sure what it is but it makes my nose tickle like a whiff of Vicks Vap-o-rub does. Maybe the pepper? It's not horribly strong but it doesn't fade away. I'm going to give it a few more tries and see how it does around other people, and if they notice that same weird scent when I wear it I may try aging it for a while before trying again.
  17. Rovylern

    La Petite Mort

    By Rovylern,

    Seduction, sensuality, the Act, and the aftermath all in one. The scent of warm, damp skin flushed with the glow of passion, touched by the luxuriant potency of ylang ylang and myrrh.
     
    Reviewed: 08/11/2007
     
    This did not start off well. It was intensely floral and soapy for the first half hour, and I was ready to write it off completely. After about half an hour, though, it faded to a very spicy, subtle floral that was lovely. Unfortunately, it was completely gone within two hours after the morph so it really isn't worth the flowery soap phase for me.
  18. Rovylern

    Black Opal

    By Rovylern,

    A play of geological darkness and jagged brilliance. Soft and luminescent with flashes of black fire.
     
    Reviewed 08/11/2007
     
    I don't get any floral or greenery from this at all, just creamy tonka, soft musk, and something I can't identify but, oddly, brings to mind the sound of a mountain stream bubbling over rocks.
     
    This is a scent of seduction. Not much throw on my skin; it clings very close and getting a whiff makes you want to get closer. A tiny bit lasts for quite a while, too; six hours and still going as strong as when I first applied it.
  19. Rovylern

    MB: Tokyo Stomp

    By Rovylern,

    Beckons all giant creatures from gargantuan reptiles and humongous moths! These babies are sure to crush everything from dollhouses to shopping malls! Can even be used to summon colossal robots in a pinch! A sweet and crisp vanilla mint!
     
    Reviewed 07/28/2007
     
    When I opened the bottle, all I could smell were freshly baked sugar cookies. It was definitely sweet, sugary vanilla all the way. I love vanilla, but it was way too sweet.
    The moment it touched my skin, though, the vanilla faded and the mint came rushing forward. I absolutely adore this scent, and it lasts forever on me. Ten hours after I tried it on yesterday I could still smell it if I lifted my arm past my face! My boyfriend swears he smells chocolate in it, but I don't get that from it. Either way, he liked it as much as I did.
     
    I'm going to have to be careful and sparing with this one, even though I love it to death; my skin just grabs this and holds on for dear life and it could very easily get overwhelming. It's definitely a wrists-only scent for me.
  20. Rovylern

    Faith

    By Rovylern,

    A huge crowd mills in front of the next stage. You hear the din of their voices, chattering in a Babel’s fall of languages, laughing and buzzing with a strange anticipation. As you get closer, you notice that they are wearing a motley mix of clothing from ages past… all rotting, all in shreds. In the sea of faces, all bearing a similar chalky pallor, some stand out: there is a woman in a threadbare Burgundian gown, a young man in torn breeches and sagging slops, a maiden in a dagged-sleeve houppelande that is splattered with cruor, a snarling Victorian rogue with a battered silk top hat, and a vacant-eyed man in a shredded Confederate uniform. As you make your way through the crowd, you feel cold fingers pluck at your clothing, and the hard, almost glassy skin that you brush against radiates an unnatural cold. You hear tittering sighs as you push through the gathering, and your skin prickles as you feel icy breath upon your neck. Abruptly, someone cries out, and the strange congregation begins clapping a steady rhythm. Their voices rise in a tintamar of ghastly cheers as torches flare to life on the stage. The firelight illuminates a gargantuan, shining black stake in the center of the stage. It is festooned with black ribbons, drooping moss, and viciously-colored poisonous blooms in a playful, grotesque mockery of a Maypole. Two women, clutched tightly in a brutal embrace, spin onto the stage, shaking a tambourine and clacking a hembra in time with the clapping. One is clad in violet, with violet tresses to match; the other is a vision of swirling rose. Their long, waving hair whips in manic arcs as they twirl, stomp, and pirouette around the onyx shaft. The crowd becomes more and more frenzied as the dance reaches a mad crescendo, and suddenly you realize that the two are one: they are conjoined, identical twins, bound eternally at the ribs. The violet sister, caught in the throes of the ritual’s passion, throws her head back and moans. She bares a set of gleaming white fangs and bites deeply into her sister's neck. The rose maiden screams in joy, and returns her sister’s violent kiss as the crowd explodes into Corybantic mayhem. Simplicity and innocence, gleefully despoiled! Hope is sugared rose, Faith is sugared violet. The sisters are inseparable, and may only be purchased together.
     
    Reviewed 07/30/2007
     
    In the bottle this was so yummy and perfect: candied violets and thick powdered sugar icing, innocent and youthful but somehow entirely adult, and I loved it. It started off gorgeous wet, too, but when it dried it turned horribly wrong. It smelled like a Hug-A-Jug, one of those awful pure-sugar drinks, with a faint note of hand soap underneath. I sniff this on my skin and immediately think of Little League games from my childhood. Not something I want to smell like at work or out for the evening.
     
    I passed this one off to the munchkin. If anyone can pull off a childishly sweet scent it's an eight year old, right? Imagine my surprise when she tried it on and the violets deepened, the sugar faded to a bare hint, and she was left with the gorgeous, delicate scent I originally fell in love with. Little monster, I'm sending her out to work to fund her own BPAL habit! *LOL*
  21. Rovylern

    Blood Countess

    By Rovylern,

    Elizabeth Báthory, also called Erzsébet Báthory in Hungarian and Alžbeta Bátoriová-Nádašdy in Slovak, was the Bloody Lady of Hungary. In order to preserve her youth and loveliness, the brutal and incomparably savage countess captured, tortured and slaughtered innumerable young women and bathed in their blood as part of her beauty regimen. Ah, vanity. Corrupted black plum, smoky opium and crumbling dead roses covered by a deceptive veil of Hungarian lilac, white gardenia and wild berry.
     
    Reviewed 07/30/2007
     
    In the imp I smelled mostly the juicy plum and berry notes that everyone mentioned. On my skin, it went VERY floral almost immediately, and I nearly ran for the bathroom. Heavy carnation or gardenia scents make me gag, and I'm not sure why I stuck this out but I'm so glad I did. The floral stage lasted about 15-20 minutes and then disappeared almost entirely to be replaced with lighter berries, dark, lusty spiciness, and a faint hint of opium and flowers swirling up every so often. And my SO's opinion, well, let's just say that's not appropriate for a PG (or even PG-13) forum! I'm going to assume that means he likes it, too. Oh yes, this is definitely going to be a 5mL purchase. It's so incredibly sensual and sexy!
  22. Rovylern

    Sugar Cookie 2005

    By Rovylern,

    Affectionately nicknamed 'The Devil's Bake Sale'
     
    Reviewed 08/13/2007
     
    The first few times I wore this, I loved it. LOVE. It was gorgeous. If you are baking cookies and you cream together the butter, vanilla, and sugar, and lick the beaters, that taste is how this smelled.
     
    Then, apparently, my body chemistry shifted. When I put it on yesterday, I had to take off running for the bathroom and wound up throwing up before I could get it all off. It smelled like rancid butter, and even after scrubbing my arms twice it still lingered. Wow. I'm going to keep this around for those times of the month when it's not awful on me, but I'm going to be very, very careful with testing it each time I use it.
  23. Rovylern

    Snow-Flakes

    By Rovylern,

    The radiance and desolation of winter.
     
    Reviewed 08/26/2007
     
    I don't get any of the mint I expected from this. It's a light, cold, watery floral. It has almost no throw and clings very close to my skin. After a five or six hours it turns very sweet, almost vanilla-ish.
    I absolutely love wearing this right now, because it has been insanely hot and muggy lately and sniffing this makes me feel cool even when I'm sweating to death.
  24. Rovylern

    The Emathides

    By Rovylern,

    Gleaming eyes, screeching voices, glistening wings: black amber, black orchid, black currant, olive blossom, wood violet, lavender, blue musk, rose attar, and cedar.
     
    Reviewed 08/26/2007
     
    This was so odd on me.
     
    Emathides started off smelling EXACTLY like Avon Skin So Soft, and it was so strong that I almost gave up on it right then and there. But after it dried it changed to dark, juicy berries with a hint of woodiness underneath. Not my normal scent inclination but very nice all the same, not overpowering but with a good throw. After a few hours it morphed to a very overwhelming baby powder-ish smell. Then that faded out and it became the berry-and-wood scent again, only much lighter. That final stage lasted for another few hours and then poof! It was gone.
    It was very pretty and feminine and grown up, and I can see myself wearing this out for formal occasions.
     
    And for once, a scent that I love didn't work better on my kiddo than me! Muahahaha. She tends to lean towards light, floral scents, and this was all musk on her. It was a very light musk, but she didn't like it at all and wound up washing it off after about an hour.
  25. Rovylern

    Boomslang

    By Rovylern,

    Snake Oil with cocoa, teakwood, and rice milk.
     
    Reviewed 03/26/2008
     
    I didn't sniff the imp of this, because I was nervous after reading the notes and didn't want to pre-judge it. I didn't read the reviews either. The teak note makes me nervous, wood goes to sawdust on me normally, and I've never smelled Snake Oil so I can't compare it with that.
     
    Wet: No sawdust yet, thank goodness. It's mostly dark cocoa, with a hint of something like caramel. It's not sweet or foody though. It's complex, I can smell some other, spicy notes floating around but I can't identify them.
     
    Drydown: This stained my skin where I put it on for a test patch. After about half an hour a sandalwood-like note came up and became very prominent, to the exclusion of pretty much everything else. It's very strong, and I'm not really fond of it. At the same time, a pounding headache came on. I'm not sure if they're related, but I had to go wash it off anyway. I'll have to test it again to see if the headache returns, but right now I'm not fond of this one.
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