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smellsgood2015-02-05 07:34 pm
sathari) wrote in smellsgood2015-02-05 07:34 pm
I told you I had a backlog.... (Scent reviews for a BUNCH of BPALs from GC, Halloweenies, and Yules)
First off, a couple of shorts which I neglected to write up as I was trying them, so this is a sort of after-the-fact synopsis: I tried Autumn III and IV, October, and Samhain: both of the Autumns smelled "like fall" on me--- spice and woods and the warm bite of the season--- while October was the bitter version and Samhain the sweet.
Now, onto the in situ reviews:
Dumb Cake:
On me: This is sort of pleasant in a spice-sweet-liquor way, but not something I want to smell like as opposed to smell separate from my body. There’s a bitter-sharpness that I’m also not fond of, though I think I would want to eat a cake that smells like this.
Christmas Pudding: On me: this is like spoiled-fruit-liquor. Not something I want to smell like, oh, no.
Dia de Los Reyes: In bottle: disgustingly sweet/burned.
On me: Loses some of the burned scent, but still overly sweet--- I would like food to smell like this, not my body! However, it DEFINITELY gets better as it ages on me--- more of that lovely golden spicy-musk scent and less like dessert.
Autumn Cider: In bottle: yep, definitely apples. Kind of a sharp/sour scent doing on, but not a soup apple scent, sour and apple.
On me: The sour and apple integrate a bit more, and it starts fading pretty quickly on the drydown. As it ages it gets a little more with a kind of sour-apple spice, not bad but too fruity for me, really.
Anteros: When he is with the lover, both cease from their pain, but when he is away then he longs as he is longed for, and has love's image, Anteros lodging in his breast, which he calls and believes to be not love but friendship only, and his desire is as the desire of the other, but weaker; he wants to see him, touch him, kiss him, embrace him, and probably not long afterwards his desire is accomplished.
The God of Love Returned and avenger of unrequited love, Anteros is Eros' brother - one of the Twin Cupids - and was given to Eros by his mother, for without reciprocal affection, love will wither. He wields lead arrows and a hammer of gold, and he wields his weapons to inspire mutual ardor and smite those who spurn love. His scent pierces the heart with glimmering shards of rapture and the sweet ache of passion: throbbing red musk and shimmering chypre with saffron, sweet patchouli, Italian bergamot, red currant, and vanilla bean.
In bottle: light and sweet and sort-of "classic perfume" scent.
On me: a little more sour, but with the "classic perfume" scent coming out in a very woody way. Very pleasant... weirdly, it feels like... something I would wear to something that is ostensibly social but more of a professional meet-and-greet? It’s light and inoffensive enough to be unlikely to trigger an allergy, just strong enough that it would smell... well-groomed, I guess, lol. It’s acquiring a bit more perfuminess as it ages, with an "underscent" of thin spice or wood (I like richer/fuller scents on me). Mellows and fades nicely--- gets "richer" even as it fades, which is nice. Several hours and unrelated handwashing (I was cooking) later: there is still a... something... there, in the best possible way, just this hint of something golden-metallic and woody/spicy, that very elegant scent that has a hint of playfulness or at least lightness. (If you like the movie Gosford Park, Louisa wears this. Lavinia wears Veritas, described below. Thankfully I have yet to smell anything that smells like what Sylvia would wear, except maybe Red Queen.)
Hellcat: A soft, sensual, luxuriant blend with a wicked bite: hazelnut, buttercream, honey mead, rum and sweet almond.
In the imp--- so so so so sweet, ugh, and the bitter-almond smell does NOT play well with it. I am not sure I can make myself smell like this, even FOR SCIENCE.
Deliberate imp-spit on my finger: well, it is not AWFUL; the worst of the sweet chills out a little and the almond is mercifully GONE. I am still glad I did this as a finger-test and not a wrist-test since hands can stand to be scrubbed. As it dries it’s... less bad, but not what I want in a sweet scent (that’s something like Morocco or Osun, thanks.) It’s also itching a little, just in that spot on my finger, so off I go to scrub.
Veritas
Falsehood has no feet: now and again something that is false can start off successfully, but with time, Truth will always prevail.
The essence of honesty, integrity, and veracity: frankincense, white carnation, angelica, chamomile, and heliotrope.
In the bottle: this is not an "honesty" scent to me, but it’s a very nice, drawing-room type scent; I think it’s the frankincense that makes it smell sort of golden and lush? Also I usually hate carnation but I’m pretty sure that’s what’s giving this its freshness.
On me: ...wtf? This disappears into a faint fruitiness. If that. Dayum. It’s not bad, just not a lot of THERE there. As it dries I’m getting a little of that lovely frankincense but... not a whole lot? This is sort of pointless on me. Might wipe it off just incase it does strange things when layered and throws off my sense of other scents. This one is nice-but-pointless, like if hotels and similar MUST scent their toiletries, this is the level at which they should.
Nanshe
The Babylonian Goddess of Dreams, who bestows the power of Oneiromancy onto her priests. This blend opens up psychic sensitivity during sleep and aids in the understanding and correct interpretation of portents and symbols.
...okay, this makes me want to put this on before sleep. Seriously, right up my alley right now.
In the bottle: it... smells like a lot of the BPAL/TAL sleep scents? There’s that woody thing and that... maybe it’s lavender? Breathing it in also cleared my sinuses a little bit so maybe something like eucalyptus? I also definitely got a "calming" effect from it.
French Love: I’m not pasting the description but it’s one of the Voodoo blends and is all about attracting new lovers and so forth so it... doesn’t seem like a scent that one could effectively test alone, eh? Since it’s more of a "utility" blend than an aesthetic thing.
Snake Oil
By far, our most popular scent! Magnetic, mysterious, and exceedingly sexual in nature. A blend of exotic Indonesian oils sugared with vanilla.
In the bottle: hm, I can see why this is popular but I’m not sure I get the appeal, if that makes sense? There is something a little more sugary about the vanilla than I quite like.
On me: Same drill. This scent is confusing me! I can’t tell if I like it or not? The way the sweet and the oil are coming together is just... odd to me, not unpleasant but strange. I don’t think I’ll come back to it. It’s another one that I think I would like better on furniture or as a room scent and that may be what I do with my imp of it. I’m finding it less confusing as it fades--- I think on me the first "hit" of it initially is this incensey goodness and then the sugar-vanilla comes in and makes it too sweet, and that effect mellows as it ages; however, on me, the sweet effect is what stays, and stays, and stays. Still, I think I’ll stay with Morocco, which on me has all the things I like about Snake Oil and none of the confusion.
The Rose:
When they found that their father must take a journey to the ship, the two eldest begged he would not fail to bring them back some new gowns, caps, rings, and all sorts of trinkets. But Beauty asked for nothing; for she thought in herself that all the ship was worth would hardly buy everything her sisters wished for. “Beauty,” said the merchant, “how comes it that you ask for nothing: what can I bring you, my child?”
“Since you are so kind as to think of me, dear father,” she answered, “I should be glad if you would bring me a rose, for we have none in our garden.” Now Beauty did not indeed wish for a rose, nor anything else, but she only said this that she might not affront her sisters; otherwise they would have said she wanted her father to praise her for desiring nothing.
The promise of a rose: red rose petals, fresh sap, and the sharp green scent of stem and leaf.
In the bottle: this is a very pleasant scent, with a hint of understated sweetness and florals.
On me: disappears initially (Hey, where’d it go?!); as it dries I’m definitely getting the green scent and a little powder, but the pleasant kind of powder. Not a scent I’d buy, but not one I’ll wipe off, either. (Basically, I think this is what my mom thinks perfume should smell like; namely, a barely-there accent.)
Uruk
A city of mystery, wonder and majesty, said to have been built by order of Gilgamesh. Thick bitter almond and heady night-blooming jasmine with saffron, cinnamon leaf, red patchouli, river lilies, bergamot, fig leaf and the sacred incense of Inanna.
In the imp: ...yep, bitter almond all right. Ugh. I’m postponing testing this but I hope the other scent notes, especially things like patchouli and incense, come out on my skin.
Veil: A quiet scent, soft, calm and enigmatic. A perfume of mystery, of whispers, and of secrets behind secrets. White sandalwood, lilac, gardenia, violet, orris, lavender and ylang ylang.
In the imp: um, not a quiet scent at all, by my lights--- "gauzy," definitely, and gardeny, but definitely very "loud" or at least strong. (I am not usually a fan of ylang ylang, for one thing, nor gardenia.)
On me: ... initially at least, it’s very green/floral/woody, sort of like "all the reasons I don’t like a good garden/bouquet"? Like, it’s not an "objectively" negative smell, but it’s not one I like, either: I normally like woody smells, but this one is too much with floral greenery, maybe? I keep sniffing and frowning, because there’s nothing I can point to as why this smells wrong, like it smells like I should like it, but don’t?
Grog:
Arrr! Avast ye, matey! This be the scent of pirate rum!
In the bottle: LOL, this was the laugh I needed! And this be the scent of, um, cheap spiced booze? Which... is probably what pirate rum would smell like. (Aaaaaand, now I want to go drinking with Captain Jack Sparrow, even if that is a world-class bad idea for anyone ever, lol.) (I also have thus urge to layer it with the aforementioned Veil because if what I’m smelling in the bottle works well on my skin with what Veil smells like on me, that will be amazing. But let’s give this an honest test, first.)
On me: ...Faintly excessive/sharp sweetness with that hint of alcohol, almost like sweetened alcohol wipes.
Tweedledee
Tweedledum and Tweedledee
Agreed to have a battle!
For Tweedledum said Tweedledee
Had spoiled his nice new rattle.
Just then flew down a monstrous crow,
As black as a tar-barrel!
Which frightened both the heroes so,
They quite forgot their quarrel.'
Ridiculous! Kumquat, white pepper, white tea and orange blossom.
In the imp: Gorgeous--- I barely sniffed it before I was moving to try it on--- sweet without being cloying and bright and golden without the back-of-the-throat richness of most "golden" scents.
On me: Okay, the pepper/tea comes out just a little more, but I am soooo okay with what it does, namely enhances the golden scent of the fruits while mellowing/ripening their sweetness. Seriously this scent is a major mood-elevator for me; there is a bottle of it in my future, even more than Siren. Its drydown is getting a little on the "would smell better on furniture than on me" thing, but when I stop and just let myself really SMELL it, it’s still pretty awesome.
Lust
Uncontrollable passion and insatiable sexual desire: red musk, patchouli, ylang ylang and myrrh.
In the imp: I don’t usually like ylang ylang, but it is just the right note to bring the musk, patchouli, and myrrh together!
On me:... oh, yes, this is a niiiiiice blend of the musky/sexy scents with just that hint of lightness to keep them from going stale-smelling; this is the happy middle of the three-day weekend with your LDR, as opposed to the dirty laundry after. Another definite keeper. Dries down nicely as well--- all the parts seem to fade equally.
(NB: for the next two I was typing around a cat on my lap, so that’s part of the reason for their brevity; the other is that they don’t seem very complex to me, which is not a bad thing.)
Half-elf:
In imp: very crisp, clear scent.
On me: a little musky, definitely some clear/clean notes coming through. It dries down to nicely-understated pretty fast.
Neutral:
In imp: If this is what skin musk smells like, I don’t see why people bathe, lol!
On me: This is the ultimate "clean skin" scent, like, "distilled essence of the platonic ideal of having just stepped from the bath." ...aaaand then we get to post drydown and it’s more like "perfect decadent golden musk". Seriously, this is everything I love about amber without all the awful rash.
Now, onto the in situ reviews:
Dumb Cake:
On me: This is sort of pleasant in a spice-sweet-liquor way, but not something I want to smell like as opposed to smell separate from my body. There’s a bitter-sharpness that I’m also not fond of, though I think I would want to eat a cake that smells like this.
Christmas Pudding: On me: this is like spoiled-fruit-liquor. Not something I want to smell like, oh, no.
Dia de Los Reyes: In bottle: disgustingly sweet/burned.
On me: Loses some of the burned scent, but still overly sweet--- I would like food to smell like this, not my body! However, it DEFINITELY gets better as it ages on me--- more of that lovely golden spicy-musk scent and less like dessert.
Autumn Cider: In bottle: yep, definitely apples. Kind of a sharp/sour scent doing on, but not a soup apple scent, sour and apple.
On me: The sour and apple integrate a bit more, and it starts fading pretty quickly on the drydown. As it ages it gets a little more with a kind of sour-apple spice, not bad but too fruity for me, really.
Anteros: When he is with the lover, both cease from their pain, but when he is away then he longs as he is longed for, and has love's image, Anteros lodging in his breast, which he calls and believes to be not love but friendship only, and his desire is as the desire of the other, but weaker; he wants to see him, touch him, kiss him, embrace him, and probably not long afterwards his desire is accomplished.
The God of Love Returned and avenger of unrequited love, Anteros is Eros' brother - one of the Twin Cupids - and was given to Eros by his mother, for without reciprocal affection, love will wither. He wields lead arrows and a hammer of gold, and he wields his weapons to inspire mutual ardor and smite those who spurn love. His scent pierces the heart with glimmering shards of rapture and the sweet ache of passion: throbbing red musk and shimmering chypre with saffron, sweet patchouli, Italian bergamot, red currant, and vanilla bean.
In bottle: light and sweet and sort-of "classic perfume" scent.
On me: a little more sour, but with the "classic perfume" scent coming out in a very woody way. Very pleasant... weirdly, it feels like... something I would wear to something that is ostensibly social but more of a professional meet-and-greet? It’s light and inoffensive enough to be unlikely to trigger an allergy, just strong enough that it would smell... well-groomed, I guess, lol. It’s acquiring a bit more perfuminess as it ages, with an "underscent" of thin spice or wood (I like richer/fuller scents on me). Mellows and fades nicely--- gets "richer" even as it fades, which is nice. Several hours and unrelated handwashing (I was cooking) later: there is still a... something... there, in the best possible way, just this hint of something golden-metallic and woody/spicy, that very elegant scent that has a hint of playfulness or at least lightness. (If you like the movie Gosford Park, Louisa wears this. Lavinia wears Veritas, described below. Thankfully I have yet to smell anything that smells like what Sylvia would wear, except maybe Red Queen.)
Hellcat: A soft, sensual, luxuriant blend with a wicked bite: hazelnut, buttercream, honey mead, rum and sweet almond.
In the imp--- so so so so sweet, ugh, and the bitter-almond smell does NOT play well with it. I am not sure I can make myself smell like this, even FOR SCIENCE.
Deliberate imp-spit on my finger: well, it is not AWFUL; the worst of the sweet chills out a little and the almond is mercifully GONE. I am still glad I did this as a finger-test and not a wrist-test since hands can stand to be scrubbed. As it dries it’s... less bad, but not what I want in a sweet scent (that’s something like Morocco or Osun, thanks.) It’s also itching a little, just in that spot on my finger, so off I go to scrub.
Veritas
Falsehood has no feet: now and again something that is false can start off successfully, but with time, Truth will always prevail.
The essence of honesty, integrity, and veracity: frankincense, white carnation, angelica, chamomile, and heliotrope.
In the bottle: this is not an "honesty" scent to me, but it’s a very nice, drawing-room type scent; I think it’s the frankincense that makes it smell sort of golden and lush? Also I usually hate carnation but I’m pretty sure that’s what’s giving this its freshness.
On me: ...wtf? This disappears into a faint fruitiness. If that. Dayum. It’s not bad, just not a lot of THERE there. As it dries I’m getting a little of that lovely frankincense but... not a whole lot? This is sort of pointless on me. Might wipe it off just incase it does strange things when layered and throws off my sense of other scents. This one is nice-but-pointless, like if hotels and similar MUST scent their toiletries, this is the level at which they should.
Nanshe
The Babylonian Goddess of Dreams, who bestows the power of Oneiromancy onto her priests. This blend opens up psychic sensitivity during sleep and aids in the understanding and correct interpretation of portents and symbols.
...okay, this makes me want to put this on before sleep. Seriously, right up my alley right now.
In the bottle: it... smells like a lot of the BPAL/TAL sleep scents? There’s that woody thing and that... maybe it’s lavender? Breathing it in also cleared my sinuses a little bit so maybe something like eucalyptus? I also definitely got a "calming" effect from it.
French Love: I’m not pasting the description but it’s one of the Voodoo blends and is all about attracting new lovers and so forth so it... doesn’t seem like a scent that one could effectively test alone, eh? Since it’s more of a "utility" blend than an aesthetic thing.
Snake Oil
By far, our most popular scent! Magnetic, mysterious, and exceedingly sexual in nature. A blend of exotic Indonesian oils sugared with vanilla.
In the bottle: hm, I can see why this is popular but I’m not sure I get the appeal, if that makes sense? There is something a little more sugary about the vanilla than I quite like.
On me: Same drill. This scent is confusing me! I can’t tell if I like it or not? The way the sweet and the oil are coming together is just... odd to me, not unpleasant but strange. I don’t think I’ll come back to it. It’s another one that I think I would like better on furniture or as a room scent and that may be what I do with my imp of it. I’m finding it less confusing as it fades--- I think on me the first "hit" of it initially is this incensey goodness and then the sugar-vanilla comes in and makes it too sweet, and that effect mellows as it ages; however, on me, the sweet effect is what stays, and stays, and stays. Still, I think I’ll stay with Morocco, which on me has all the things I like about Snake Oil and none of the confusion.
The Rose:
When they found that their father must take a journey to the ship, the two eldest begged he would not fail to bring them back some new gowns, caps, rings, and all sorts of trinkets. But Beauty asked for nothing; for she thought in herself that all the ship was worth would hardly buy everything her sisters wished for. “Beauty,” said the merchant, “how comes it that you ask for nothing: what can I bring you, my child?”
“Since you are so kind as to think of me, dear father,” she answered, “I should be glad if you would bring me a rose, for we have none in our garden.” Now Beauty did not indeed wish for a rose, nor anything else, but she only said this that she might not affront her sisters; otherwise they would have said she wanted her father to praise her for desiring nothing.
The promise of a rose: red rose petals, fresh sap, and the sharp green scent of stem and leaf.
In the bottle: this is a very pleasant scent, with a hint of understated sweetness and florals.
On me: disappears initially (Hey, where’d it go?!); as it dries I’m definitely getting the green scent and a little powder, but the pleasant kind of powder. Not a scent I’d buy, but not one I’ll wipe off, either. (Basically, I think this is what my mom thinks perfume should smell like; namely, a barely-there accent.)
Uruk
A city of mystery, wonder and majesty, said to have been built by order of Gilgamesh. Thick bitter almond and heady night-blooming jasmine with saffron, cinnamon leaf, red patchouli, river lilies, bergamot, fig leaf and the sacred incense of Inanna.
In the imp: ...yep, bitter almond all right. Ugh. I’m postponing testing this but I hope the other scent notes, especially things like patchouli and incense, come out on my skin.
Veil: A quiet scent, soft, calm and enigmatic. A perfume of mystery, of whispers, and of secrets behind secrets. White sandalwood, lilac, gardenia, violet, orris, lavender and ylang ylang.
In the imp: um, not a quiet scent at all, by my lights--- "gauzy," definitely, and gardeny, but definitely very "loud" or at least strong. (I am not usually a fan of ylang ylang, for one thing, nor gardenia.)
On me: ... initially at least, it’s very green/floral/woody, sort of like "all the reasons I don’t like a good garden/bouquet"? Like, it’s not an "objectively" negative smell, but it’s not one I like, either: I normally like woody smells, but this one is too much with floral greenery, maybe? I keep sniffing and frowning, because there’s nothing I can point to as why this smells wrong, like it smells like I should like it, but don’t?
Grog:
Arrr! Avast ye, matey! This be the scent of pirate rum!
In the bottle: LOL, this was the laugh I needed! And this be the scent of, um, cheap spiced booze? Which... is probably what pirate rum would smell like. (Aaaaaand, now I want to go drinking with Captain Jack Sparrow, even if that is a world-class bad idea for anyone ever, lol.) (I also have thus urge to layer it with the aforementioned Veil because if what I’m smelling in the bottle works well on my skin with what Veil smells like on me, that will be amazing. But let’s give this an honest test, first.)
On me: ...Faintly excessive/sharp sweetness with that hint of alcohol, almost like sweetened alcohol wipes.
Tweedledee
Tweedledum and Tweedledee
Agreed to have a battle!
For Tweedledum said Tweedledee
Had spoiled his nice new rattle.
Just then flew down a monstrous crow,
As black as a tar-barrel!
Which frightened both the heroes so,
They quite forgot their quarrel.'
Ridiculous! Kumquat, white pepper, white tea and orange blossom.
In the imp: Gorgeous--- I barely sniffed it before I was moving to try it on--- sweet without being cloying and bright and golden without the back-of-the-throat richness of most "golden" scents.
On me: Okay, the pepper/tea comes out just a little more, but I am soooo okay with what it does, namely enhances the golden scent of the fruits while mellowing/ripening their sweetness. Seriously this scent is a major mood-elevator for me; there is a bottle of it in my future, even more than Siren. Its drydown is getting a little on the "would smell better on furniture than on me" thing, but when I stop and just let myself really SMELL it, it’s still pretty awesome.
Lust
Uncontrollable passion and insatiable sexual desire: red musk, patchouli, ylang ylang and myrrh.
In the imp: I don’t usually like ylang ylang, but it is just the right note to bring the musk, patchouli, and myrrh together!
On me:... oh, yes, this is a niiiiiice blend of the musky/sexy scents with just that hint of lightness to keep them from going stale-smelling; this is the happy middle of the three-day weekend with your LDR, as opposed to the dirty laundry after. Another definite keeper. Dries down nicely as well--- all the parts seem to fade equally.
(NB: for the next two I was typing around a cat on my lap, so that’s part of the reason for their brevity; the other is that they don’t seem very complex to me, which is not a bad thing.)
Half-elf:
In imp: very crisp, clear scent.
On me: a little musky, definitely some clear/clean notes coming through. It dries down to nicely-understated pretty fast.
Neutral:
In imp: If this is what skin musk smells like, I don’t see why people bathe, lol!
On me: This is the ultimate "clean skin" scent, like, "distilled essence of the platonic ideal of having just stepped from the bath." ...aaaand then we get to post drydown and it’s more like "perfect decadent golden musk". Seriously, this is everything I love about amber without all the awful rash.