Leopard403

Wet in the imp, I actually smell roasting marshmallows. On my skin, all I smell is the burning. Bummer.

I avoid lavender. I find it not just medicinal and reminiscent of a good facial, but totally overwhelming: Put lavender in a blend and I will not smell anything else. And yet I got my decant of Nightmare and fell in love with it, only remembering once I checked the notes that there was lavender in it at all! On my skin, now that I know it is there, the lavender is soft and powdery, almost orris-like when it combines with the other notes. The vanilla grounds the scent well so that jasmine peeks around the corners, and the gentle notes that could easily have been overpowered by the lavender or amber are all present. Beautifully blended, this smells expensive, not "spa-like" at all.

I received Chokecherry Honey as a frimp from the lab. I tend to be wary of the lab's honey note as it is always very "high" on my skin, so much so that it doesn't really smell like honey at all but more like a bright amber-and-citrus note. But this combination is a winner on my skin. This is smooth, sultry, real honey like a mouthful straight from the jar. I don't get any cherry (or cherry cough syrup), but there is a juicy red tartness under the honey that is quite decadent and balances out the sweet honey. And it lasted forever: After a hectic ten-hour day I could still smell it on my ears and neck when I flipped my hair.

On me, after an initial burst of crisp apple-y goodness, The Green Apple of Venus smells just like Avobath.

I think this is my favorite Weenie of 2011. Very evocative of Autumn, but it doesn't make you think of dead leaves and the "dying" aspect of the season. Rather, I get the warmth and the comfort of the season, the burrowing and the waiting of Fall, smeared very thick and bright. This is complex and well-blended, which makes it sophisticated. There's something about it that makes it feel French and expensive, one of those well-kept secret scents. Very much the kind of scent that could simply be the way a modern woman smells, rather than the way a woman's perfume smells. Plus, on me it has great throw and lasts all day. Love!

On my skin this is a lot nuttier than I expected. It is complex--a little foody, a little floral--and unfortunately I just find all of that confusing. It really is a gorgeous scent, but there is something too busy and slightly generic about it.

When freshly applied, this is all crisp, juicy green apple, evocative of the slices I eat for lunch most days. On the drydown it is much more complex, though after about ten minutes the blue musk makes it smell identical to Under the Harvest Moon.

I can't figure out how the notes end up this way, but: On me, this smells just like Lush's Avobath bomb.

On me, this is all gardenia. Like sticking your face right into a bloom. Which is EXACTLY what I hoped for.

KITTY: HER BATH Strawberries, white grape, vanilla-soaked cream, and a dusting of a light spice-touched musk. The scent: Lovely and identifiably foody. The strawberry doesn't have any sign of that plastic-y note I sometimes get, and the vanilla, cream, and musk combine to make this smell like rich and expensive strawberry shortcake (the food, not the doll). I don't smell any white grape. The salts: I knew these were "wet" when I ordered them, but they are much wetter than I expected! Much of the oil pooled in the bottom of my plastic bag, and some of it leaked a bit. I think these may do better in jars with tiny scoops. In the bath: Can't comment on this yet. I'm in the process of gutting and completely renovating a bathroom to put in a deep, decadent tub, so I'll report back when things are finished.

In the imp and wet on my skin, this smells like Thin Mints with something ever-so-slightly herbal/bitter-green on top, like a delightful cookie with a small, secret dose of some kind of medicine mixed in. I can't really comment on the drydown, as other than the lingering puff of old mint gum this is GONE in about a minute.

I guess I've never noticed how similarly leather and grass smell, but in this perfume I'll be damned if I can tell the difference. Sniff one was very green, very fresh grass; but sniff two came immediately after and it was the leather of a Western store's boot department. Then grass, then leather, then grass, then leather; and sometimes I sort of get both. Either way, I am shocked to say that I LOVE it when first applied.. It's such a great Spring-y, earthy type scent that I want to run through a rainshower or dig around in the garden for plump veggies. (Ha, maybe I'm getting notes of the "mud," too, and my brain can't label it in words but knows that it wants me to be frolicking outside. ) Sadly, as this settles, something in it turns sterile, almost like I get a whiff of grass'n'leather with the slightest puff of Bandaid on top. And once that has lodged in your brain, it's all over.

Smells an awfully lot like my favorite (now discontinued) Yankee tart: Lemon Chiffon. It's the same creamy, foody, non Pledge-y lemon with something sort of bakery crust-y and fluffy underneath. I get the tiniest, gentlest whiff of blueberry on the drydown but I really have to look for it. Quite lovely, and light enough for summer but would probably wear well in cold weather if applied heavily. eta: Sadly, with a full wear, the marshmallow cream does what every cream scent does on my skin: Turns to salty boiled peanuts. Whyyyyy?

I don't get "cotton candy" at all from Celeste. I get a very dry, VERY floral scent mostly composed of iris and orchid. There's a creamy note underneath, but you have to know you are looking for it to find it, and even as mellow as the vanilla and saffron are, this still socks you in the back of the throat like a bouquet of flowers slightly past its prime. I wish I got the pretty, sweet vibe everyone else is getting.

This is lovely. "Soapy" in that it somehow smells clean, and not readily identifiable as a "floral" even though you know flowers are probably involved in something that smells so nice. One of those "your skin smells nice" and not "I like your perfume" kind of scents.

When I was little, I loved Valentine's Day because of the gummy hearts my father would buy me. They weren't gummy like worms, more like gumdrops but without the sugar coating. They were smooth and thick and I used to love to bite them in half and examine my teeth marks in the candy. My point? Kypris smells like those candies. Cherry is sweet but with an ever-so-slight spice to it, less cinnamon-smelling than the warmth you get from cinnamon. It turns powdery and fades quickly.

Wet, Nymphia smells sharp to me, so much so that I almost didn't skin test. On my skin, however, this is identical to the much beloved Tiki Princess. I mean IDENTICAL.

So I admit it: I don't know what a sugar plum is, let alone what they are supposed to smell like. I can say, though that Sugar Plum Fairy is not easily classified as it doesn't smell distinctly "foody" or "floral" or anything else. But it is very pretty. Similar to Faith on a cold sniff, but on the skin has more depth while at the same time it is delightfully dainty, and perfume-y without being overtly so. It's one of those "You smell good" kinds of scents (i.e. not the "I like your perfume" kind). It's great in today's very cold weather, but I imagine this will also be fun and wearable in the spring and summer. Sorry I'm not more help than that. eta 12/9: I'm wearing this again today and have tried desperately to smell this Watermelon Jolly Ranchers smell that everyone else seems to be talking about, and sorry peeps, but to my nose it just isn't there. I'm actually quite glad about that, since WJRs smell, I dunno, simple to me; and this scent is definitely something with more depth and more interest than that.

I am totally striking out on Weenies this year. Wet in the bottle and wet on my skin, Marshmallow Pumpkin is all cinnamon to my nose. At the moment it dries on the skin, I get a lovely waft of the clean marshmallowy top note I get from Boo and, say, Teenage Cannibal, on top of a cinnamon-heavy pumpkin pie, and the scent is heavenly. But the next moment it is all gone. I mean GONE. Then, strangely, 30 minutes later I get that dreaded salty boiled peanut scent I often get from "cream" notes. So sadly, except for that brief shining moment of pure olfactory joy, this is a bust. Off to swaps.

I was trying desperately to like this because this (along with Punkie Night) is the cutest label I've seen in a very long time, but I think both my sniffer and my skin are just getting old. I don't get any of the "blue" parts of this scent; nothing sweet or tart. And strangely, I don't really get any pumpkin, either. I get a big ol' olfactory wallop of the slick buttery note that is in Jack, but no pumpkin underneath. No cinnamon or other spice, even, though I know it must be in there somewhere because to top it off, when I gave this a full skin-test, it "burned" the back of my neck and ears and I had to style my hair quite deliberately to hide the welts.

Not much I can add here. I completely understand the Captain Crunchberry comparisons; and this is indeed reminiscent of scents like I Fell in Love with a Floating Brain and, a litle less so, Diary of a Teenage Cannibal. Pink and sugary and sweet and a lot of fun. And the label is one of my favorites this 'Ween!

After this has settled on my skin, it is gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous. Soft and sophisticated, gently floral, soapy without being overly "clean," and slightly dusty in an old-trunk-of-memorabilia way, this could easily become a signature scent for me. The problem? It takes about an hour to settle, and for that first hour, this is screaming, perfume-y, medicinal pain. Something in it is that "high" note that makes me hate traditional alcohol-based perfumes, and it just reeks. SO sad.

Wow, this is strong. The strongest BPAL scent I've tried so far. I say that because I had a very physical reaction to sniffing this wet: Something hit me in the back of the throat, like the first tickles of strep, and my mouth watered heavily and my back teeth started to ache. Luckily, it isn't nearly as strong after it dries on my skin, but in those first few minutes I think I could seriously be in danger of anaphylaxis. Like whoa. The scent itself is reminiscent of the Yankee Candle scent Home Sweet Home. I'm hoping this will mellow with time.

I am SO in love with the Punkie Night and Blue Pumpkin Floss labels. I can't wait until mine are delivered!

Ye gods I hate lavender. It just eats everything else, filling up my nose and brain and leaving room for nothing else. Bah. Misericordia is 99% lavender on me, and it's the hard, medicinal kind, not the gentle kind that will put you to sleep. If I sniff long and hard enough, I can smell the sweet and slighly soapy scent of black currant blended with magnolia, and that part of the scent is *gorgeous* and makes me hate that lavender even more. There's also a hint of resin there for warmth. But mostly, it's like a cheap sachet.