BPAL reviews

[arianhwyvar]

Zarita, the Doll Girl (white carnation, iris, orange blossom, and sugared cream) : In vial -- floral, of the 'rich people bathrooms' variety. Wet -- a fairly pleasant medium floral, quickly warming. Becomes floral with some skin alchemy, nice (I think sugar often does that thing I like). However, it starts to become powdery -- I think iris and violets are strongly related plants, and they both go to powder on me without fail -- but it stays fairly pleasant. Eventually, pretty strongly powdery, less pleasant, but not bad. A pox on you, powder-inducing iris. (3)

Kyoto (A gentle, soothing blend of cherry blossom, white sandalwood and star anise) : In vial -- cherry! Wet -- strong cherry, marzipan-like. Softens, sandalwood comes in. Swiftly becomes very woody, and the anise arrives. I think this is just too much anise for me; I'm not too much a fan of anise/licorice flavor. If I liked anise, I think it would be a fairly nice blend, though. (2)

Thalia (Plumeria, pear and white champagne) : In vial -- light pear. Wet -- light pear, delicate florals, nice. Gained a little more depth. This stayed nice for all the time I was aware of it, mayyybe getting a little stale eventually, but I wasn't paying much attention to its dry stage. It was quite light, and may have faded fairly quickly, but it was nice as long as it lasted. A good late spring/summer scent. (4)

Bordello (Bawdy plum with amaretto, burgundy wine and black currant) : In vial -- a red and purple smell, almost too sweet. Wet -- red and purple, plum, winey, too sweet -- quickly becoming stale playdoh. Too sweet playdoh. :-P Currant, it hates me. (1)

Sundew (A carnivorous enchantress: diverse, lovely and graceful, emitting a sticky, glowing golden, sweet and terminally inviting scent) : In vial -- floral. Wet -- interesting floral, a bit sweet but not sickly sweet. Makes me think of a nice-smelling yellow flower. Became an interesting, sort of less floral smell. I kept wanting to sniff it. Faded quickly. (3)

Kuang Shi (Mandarin orange, white musk, mango, and white sandalwood) : This one looked like it had good notes, but just didn't work for me. In vial -- perfume/sandalwood. Wet -- an eh smell, maybe some sandalwood and a bit of citrus. After a little bit I thought I could make out mandarin orange and sandalwood, but there was also some note or combination I didn't like. It devolved into thoroughly eh, and then to nothing but bleh. (2)

Pulcinella and Teresina (Labdanum, cedar, teak and red rose) : Wet -- wood and rose. Like a polished desk. And a bit of a sharper overlay, almost a varnish-y smell, like -- a violin store! That's what this smells like, like Johnson's, where I rented my violins and bough violin music when I was a kid! Mostly wood, warming a bit and becoming nicer. Wood skin alchemy, nice. This seems to me like a dignified scent. I feel the need to hold on to this if only because of its great nostalgia value. (3.5)

Hermia (Pink pepper, golden amber, honeysuckle, and passion flower) : Wet -- pink pepper and light passionfruit. I like pink pepper, so that smells good to me. The pepper stayed strongest, but occasionally the passionfruit came out a bit and reminded me it was still there. Very quickly this seemed to become just pepper, very light, with just a little bit of staleness, but then it started to become a little rounder and warmer again. This wasn't bad, but I'm sad I didn't get any honeysuckle or much amber from it. Try again. (3)

The Music of Erich Zahn (ajowan, vetiver, black musk, opoponax, mimosa, and tamarind) : Wet -- whoa, chili powder! (Is that tamarind?) Moderating down, rounded out a bit by the musk, though the chili powder is still there, plus other strange notes. This resolved to black musk blending strange spices. This was quite a different kind of scent, interesting to try, though not something I'd wear. A distinctive scent that I could see being good for an NPC. (2)

and from our mini meet-n-sniff last night:

Selkie (The chill waters of the Orkney coast, tea-leaved willow, honey-touched Grass-of-Parnassus, sea aster, and Scottish Primrose) : Wet, this is really, really lovely -- a nice watery scent, plus other subtle things making it interesting. A green, lightly flowered smell. It is light, and may have become a bit plasticy when it faded -- it was hard to keep track of it when trying other things. Definitely try again. (4?)

Thunder Moon (Ozone deepened by liquid amber, and a spray of hot nighttime rain mingled with the scent of lightning-struck wood, water-soaked summer blooms, and sun-scorched grass) : Wet, this really did smell like ozone, hot rain, lightning-struck wood, sun-scorched grass. It seemed to try briefly to be soapy, but avoided turning into soap and got nicer, rounder. An interesting smell, that stayed nice. (4?)

Squirting Cucumber (A spurt of wet, grassy greenness) : Wet -- cucumber! And grassy. Stays pretty green. I want to get this one for myself -- I think it would be a nice, fresh spring/summer scent. (4)

Queen of Hearts (Lily of the Valley, Calla Lily, stephanotis and a drop of cherry) : In vial -- cherry! Wet -- almost cloying cherry, changing quickly to a floral I wasn't too fond of. (2)

Black Cat: This was terrible on me. So bad, I would assume it had patchouli in it, but it was apparently just as bad on grimms_creed, and she gets along with patchouli all right. Maybe there was something herby in it, but really it was just made of awful. (1)

Lolita (heliotrope, honeysuckle, orange blossom and lemon verbena) : Wet -- lemon verbena. Stayed pretty lemony, but there was some note in there that was eh. Not as nice a lemon verbena as Phobos or Yule. (2)