Perfume Reviews!

[lunabee34]

Reviews of BPAL, Tocca, Ralph Lauren, Sex in the City, Estee Lauder, Chanel

It's been awhile since anyone posted in this comm, and I miss talking perfume with y'all. If you're not interested in any of the perfumes I've reviewed this time in my journal, talk to me here about perfume. What are you testing, wearing, coveting? :)

Comments

[kore]

Aww, nice! I miss the comm too.

I'm always BPAL -- right now I'm wearing Alan McMichael from the Crimson Peak line, and REALLY wishing I had sprung for a bottle of Edith Cushing, which is just gorgeous.

[lunabee34]

Oooooh, bay rum and sandalwood. That sounds really nice.

Edith Cushing sounds pretty as well. I quite like ambrette seed.

I have so many BPALs to test. I'm excited about getting back into it. BPAL is so hit or miss for me. I have almost invariably not liked the stuff I that appeals to me most by description LOL. I tend to do best with their citrusy, herbaly, green stuff (which I know is a no-go for you).

[kore]

Ordinarily I'm not a bay rum fan but it's not super loud on me -- it turns into something sweet-but-spicy, not floral at all but I don't get the vanilla Snow White feel some forumites did. It does go a bit baby powdery way way down into the drydown stage -- like right before it starts to wear off -- but I can live with that. It doesn't go masculine or shaving lotion on my skin, but it's a very comforting smell. People mentioned maybe vanilla in the sandalwood and cocoanut in the bay rum? I really love it.

[lunabee34]

I don't know that I know what bay rum smells like. I don't think I've tested anything with that in it.

[kore]

I think it got popular as an aftershave? The recipe seems to have included bay oil (from the bay tree), cinnamon, cloves, spices, maybe some actual rum. People seem to have IMBIBED IT during Prohibition since it was like over 50% alcohol DD: It's a very spicy-sweet but not flowery-sweet smell, and the cloves surprised me because usually those go straight to green Ugh! on my skin. I think it's also kind of citrusy.

I think the smell for older aftershaves and cologne in the 30s and even 40s was a lot lighter -- men wore citrus, even light sharp floral or lavender stuff. Fougere is still popular now and it smells SUPER sharp and flowery to me. I was expecting bay rum to smell like, well, actual rum maybe, super heavy and sweet maybe cut with some tobacco or whatever, but no. Old Spice Original is supposed to have smelled like that too, fresh and sharp and maybe citrusy-spicy.

Hunh and then Teh Intranets told me about eau de cologne (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eau_de_Cologne) (I am a perfume know-nothing despite/because of devotion to BPAL) so I'm guessing if it was a 2%–5% concentration of citrusy smells you'd get a kind of subtle but sharp fresh smell? Not like a big parfum smell. I think in the Jean Rhys books I read in the 20s there was a distinction between "scent" (for women) and "cologne" (much less powerful).

(FEEL FREE TO CORRECT ME, ANYBODY)

[lunabee34]

Ah, okay. I love fougere, and I love eau de colonge. Chanel's eau de cologne is one of the most fantastic things I've ever smelled. The only bad thing about both scents is that they just don't last; lavender and citrus don't have a lot of staying power. So both fougere and eau de cologne are intended to be splashed on multiple times a day; you literally cannot put too much of it on, and no matter how much you put on, two hours later it'll be gone. LOL

I'll have to find something with bay rum to test. I suspect I would like it given what you've written here.

[kore]

Aha, so the dude splashes it on in the morning, and then again in the evening before going out! Which always confused me, reading about previous eras as a kid, because my dad used that virulently green Mennen Skin Bracer stuff you could smell down the block.

[lunabee34]

Heeeee. I know what you mean. It's definitely not got the sillage and staying power of Axe Body spray.

[kore]

tl;dr I think the BPAL bay rum note is typically cloves + bay + spices + rum and boy do cloves and rum typically not work on me, but this is a very nice not-sharp spicy-but-sweet kind of comforting scent. Light but kind of anchored by the sandalwood. I love sandalwood and other aromatic wood stuff, maybe that's it. -- They did a single note Bay Rum and Baron Samedi is "our spin on traditional Bay Rum," plus it's in Jolly Roger and the Marquis de Carabas, two scents which did not work AT ALL on me (I was heartbroken about the Marquis because he's one of my favourites in Neverwhere).

[lunabee34]

I like sandalwood, too. There's a mellow softness to it that I really like.

[kore]

Yes! and I think some people on the BPAL forums said Alan McMichael had a kind of vanilla-sandalwood scent. I really do like it.

[lunabee34]

It's the main note in my beloved Tom Ford Santal Blush. It's so so creamy there.

[bookherd]

Your review inspired me to wear Shattered today. My initial reaction to this one was that it smells like something I wouldn't like, and yet I do. I find it sharp and aggressive, two qualities I normally avoid in perfume. And I totally get what you mean about the "bathroom cleaner" connotations! Yet this one remains strangely appealing to me.

I had a sample vial of Chanel's 19 when I was in my late teens, and it never did suit me. I didn't know from notes back then, but I did know it seemed too fancy for someone whose wardrobe defaulted to flannel and hiking boots. (I think one of my favorite things about BPAL is that it offers so many options that don't carry high femme connotations.)

Last year I looked at my piles of unreviewed "imps" and realized I no longer have the time, space, money, or spare brain cycles to keep my BPAL obsession alive. I'm sad about it, but it's my own choices that have brought me here. On the bright side, I've got a ton of stuff to test and retest, should I find the time and energy. So I hope you'll keep posting! Having perfume show up in my DW feed helps me stay connected to the world of scent.

[lunabee34]

I know what you mean. I almost liked Shattered myself when it just smelled abrasively citrusy, but then when it edged over into Pledge territory, I didn't care for it as much.

I also love the range that BPAL offers. Once you've tested enough of their offerings, it's relatively easy to tell if something is going to work for you. I spent a lot of time at first getting things that sounded cool and smelled terrible to me LOL, but now I know to avoid frankincense and alcohol notes and jasmine, etc.

I have the same issue with white florals that you have with Chanel 19. It just feels like I'm trying to be someone else when I wear them. I also find most of them pretty cloying, but even when I find one that I really like, such as Chanel Beige, I almost never wear it because it feels like it's not me.

I will definitely be posting here more! I've started testing perfumes again, so hopefully I'll be doing weekly posts. :)

ETA: if you do start testing and retesting, I'd love to hear about it!

[theora]

Copying this over here too

Yay, post! Pleasures Aqua sounds lovely, though I have a bit of a jasmine phobia (based only on BPAL jasmine, which could be a different beast). And the Chanel No. 19 too - green notes, yay! I haven't tried many aquatics, but the few I have tried have gone dryer sheets on me (I hate dryer sheets).

I've been doing a bit more wearing and testing lately, and even branching out from BPAL into some conventional pefumes. Have you tried any of the Nest perfumes? I sampled Nest Indigo at Sephora the other day and found I really liked it. Figgy woody tea-ey loveliness. But pricey. I'm used to BPAL prices; fancy store perfume can be $$$$.

And back to BPAL, I have a tiny order of Luper decants out for delivery at this very moment, should be here within the hour. *bounce*

[theora]

Throwing in a link to Indigo. The bottle art for the whole series is so gorgeous.

[lunabee34]

I have to admit that I am more in love with conventional perfumes than BPAL. BPAL was my entry point, and I still love exploring that world, but IMHO, BPAL can't compare to the conventional perfumes I love best. I've had really good luck ordering conventional perfume samples from Surrender to Chance. Really good prices there and they also have sample packs they've put together if you want to try several perfumes in a single line or from a time period or that feature a specific note. Quick shipping, nothing broken. I really recommend them if you want to branch out into trying conventional stuff on the cheap.

[kore]

Heh, I am horribly allergic to something in conventional perfumes (I have to hold my breath in those "enter through the perfume counter" department stores) and BPAL is the only thing I've ever found that I can wear without horrible headaches or weird skin rashes. Altho I can't deal with her patchouli note, that is Insta-Migraine. People have told me about other indie perfume oil e-tailers that are cheaper but OMG, I can't justify getting more of those. A lot of BPAL is quirkily hit-or-miss, though, even blends that have good notes for me. Or even later versions of the same blends! hah.

[lunabee34]

Oh, I completely understand. I am so grateful not to have allergies. If I did though I would be so happy that BPAL has such a varied and endless catalog. There really is something for everyone there.