BPAL Reviews Catchup Pt 3

[arianhwyvar]

The Phantom Wooer (A lifeless love song: stargazer lily, bone dust, tomb mosses, buttonweed, moonflower, and honey myrtle): In vial -- light mostly floral, interesting. Wet -- very sweet strong floral, nice. ..A bad vaguely uriney note coming it. Ugh, stale myrtle bleh uriney smell under nice flowers. It's faint, but there -- this is no good. (1.5)

Ophelia (lotus, water blossom ivy, stargazer lily and white rose): In vial -- nice sweet floral, with a hint of something I don't like as much. Wet -- light but pungent floral. ...Ok floral, though there's a touch of a note I don't like as much (white rose?). ...Too rose, I think. (2)

Ra: In vial -- golden, a little sweet, maybe the barest touch dirty. Wet -- sweet, honey?, and that herby note I don't like as much (lavender?). Yeah, kind of a lavender or patchouli taint I don't like. ...Better blended, a bit of skin alchemy. Resiny. ...Pretty ok standardish dry. (2.5)

Come to Me: In vial -- I really don't know. Masculine, not bad. Wet -- pungent. Oddly sweet? A little soapy? Kind of pleasant, though. ...More herby/fresh. Not what I would have expected from the name. (3)

Bitter Moon (Nepal poppy, lotus root, wild rose, and blue hibiscus with blackberry, tonka, sage, lavender, peony and vetiver): In vial -- floral, a bit thickened and bitter. Wet -- a bitter floral. Interesting! Blackberry, a bit of herbiness. ...Like blackberry and fresh mint. ...Fading to be lighter and not as interesting. (3)

Helena (Rose amber, calla lily, night-blooming jasmine, water lily, and white rose): In vial -- fresh pleasant floral. Wet -- white rose, plus some florals I like a bit better. On, this is heavier, less fresh, more rose than it was in the vial. ...Good throw, but mostly seems to be white rose. ...Nicer throw now, less rosy, I rather like it. A slightly sweet, pleasant floral. Light, vaguely smokey floral standard drydown. (3)

Moscow (imperial rose, carnation, lush jasmine, lily of the valley, dark musk, amber, bergamot and gilded tangerine): In vial -- rose. Wet -- rose, some other florals. ...Pretty much stays light rose. A bit of nice standard drydown. (2)

Goneril (White geranium, calla lily, cedarwood and black orchid): In vial -- floral! Wet -- eh floral. Maybe a bit of cedarwood. Got more eh, then lightened. (2)

Loviatar (The slap of slick, hot leather punctuates the warm, sensual embrace of black amber, red musk and dark, lascivious myrrh): In vial -- red musk but not vile, dark things, a touch of leather. Wet -- that is a 'hot' smell. Hot, dark, resinous. A touch powdery. Not excessively sweet. Ooh -- dry it's nicer, warm, a little powdery and sweet. (3)

Devil's Night (the scent of autumn night, fires in the distance, with a touch of boozy swoon, playful sugar and thuggish musk): In vial -- mm, sugar; and perfume. Wet -- sugar and a bit of fruitiness? Not bad. A bit foody, a bit perfumy. ...Going a little stale. Eh, not awful, but a little perfumy/weird. (2.5)

Lady Una (Honey musk, green tea leaf, blackberry leaf, vanilla bean, and fae spices): In vial -- honey, vanilla, maybe a bit of blackberry and spice. Wet -- strong vanilla, honey, and blackberry leaf or tea leaf. Fairly pleasant. Sourness of the leaf keeps it from being cloyingly sweet. ...Honey and sour, rather neat. ...Faded back, still touches of honey, a touch of staleness, ok. (3.5)

Midnight Kiss (red musk, cocoa absolute, Nepalese amber, red sandalwood, aged patchouli, nicotiana, and blood wine): In vial -- red musk and resin (not bad), + wine. Wet -- red musk, strong powdery cocoa, sandalwood, a bit of wine. Almost too sweet -- a brush of sticky sweetness. ...COcoa faded fast. A note I don't like came up, vague stale/plasticky/garbagy. ...Stronger garbagy note, yuck. Eh, faded back, faintly woody. (2)

La Belle Dame Sans Merci (A bewitching, seductive scent, rife with mystery and foreboding): In vial -- herby/sharp, a bit floral. Wet -- floral and green, a bit clean/soapy. ...Fairly soapy though not awful, a little noseburning, a bit of pleasantness. ...Getting a bit sweeter? Eh, ok but not very exciting. Faintly green/floral/clean/stale. (2.5)

Masquerade (Patchouli, ambergris, carnation and orange blossom): In vial -- patchouli taint, fairly pleasant orange and floral. Wet -- strong orange/a bit of floral. Almost but not quite verging on a sickly sweet. Orange with a bit of a dirty note. (2)

Iambe (Sudanese amber, patchouli, rose, gardenia, gladiola and white tea): In vial -- Ugh! Rose + some other meh florals. + something ok -- tea? Wet -- strong pee-ew floral changing immediately to ok tea with some not too bad floral. A hint of resin. The floral note is better now, kind of fresh, though still too floral for me. A touch of skin alchemy. Now more ambery floral, not bad. Interesting with the skin alchemy. ...Many hours later, a bit stale/woody on left, still a bit floral/resin on right. (2)

Ultraviolet (violet and neroli spiked hard with eucalyptus and a sliver of mint): In vial -- eucalyptis, mint, orange, not bad. Wet -- weird! Eucalyptis, mint, orange, slight floral? Strong, almost menthol/altoids, but not vile. ...Soapy/plasticky. (2)

Her Voice (Hyacinth, beeswax, wild roses, vanilla amber, lily of the valley, tiger lily, honeysuckle, carnation, and heliotrope): In vial -- green fresh floral. Wet -- foodiness coming in -- still some nice flowers, but growing out of a cake. ...Delicious cakeflower, blended into something lovely I almost want to eat! ...Staying nice. Continued very nice for many hours; was happy whenever got a whiff of it. (5)

The Clod and the Pebble (Rose otto, clove, patchouli, Indian sandalwood, nutmeg, and cedar): In vial -- varnishy/incensy, like Cathedral. Wet -- greyer/grainier than Cathedral, with some floral? ...Better, more Cathedral-like. ...Eh, not quite as good as Cathedral. (3)

Oberon (Orchid, white musk, and bergamot wafting over juniper berries, with a gentle touch of soft, earthy patchouli): In vial -- floral/perfume. Wet -- very cologne-y, but changing fast to be more interesting. Floral, + something pleasant (white musk?), a hint of berries? Not very sweet. A bit of soapy-ehness. ...Quite perfumy, a bit plasticky. (2.5)

Erato (a crush of roses with sweet pea, myrrh, ylang ylang, orris and stephanotis): In vial -- floral plus something more pleasant. Wet -- slight rose, plus nicer florals, and a bit of a tasty, almost foody scent. ...Too floral, though not awful -- soapy rose a bit too strong. ...Meh floral. (2)

The Knave of Hearts (Crushed roses and blackcurrant tarts): In vial -- Delicious cake! Foody & buttery. Wet -- delicious alcoholic cake, fading quicky to cake with maybe a slight floral undertone. ...Slightly floral cake, well blended, still pretty ok but with hints of staleness. Eh, going to standard stale cake. (2.5)

Terpsichore (vanilla and carnation with neroli, iris, stephanotis, sweet pea, apple blossom and palmarosa): In vial -- a bit sickly sweet, some floral. Wet -- too sweet floral. Becoming less sweet. Eh, too floral, almost smells a bit dirty/gritty. ...Meh, playdoh. (2)

Nero (Rosemary, bay, pine and a touch of lemon): In vial -- pine, herbs (rosemary, bay). Wet -- overpowering not-so-nice pine, a touch urine-y. Herbs creeping back in. Ridiculous throw -- throw not so bad, Christmasy. Holiday potpourri. ..This is quite a 'manly' smell. ...Lighter, still piney, ok though I wouldn't wear it. ...Became oddly lighter/more florally when dry. (2)

Love in Idleness: In vial -- pleasantly perfumy slight floral. Wet -- yum! Something delicious -- almondy? With maybe some nice floral. Deliciousness faded fast to ok floral, maybe a little plasticky. Perfumy but pleasant. ...Faded, not very exciting. (3)

Imp (white peach, amber, golden musk and patchouli): In vial -- peach, vaguely dirty patchouli. Wet -- peach & patchouli. I don't like the way patchouli 'dirties' fruit notes. Like a headshop next to a farmstand. ...Eh, light dirty peach. The peach is ok. ...Nice much later, after mostly washing off. (2)

Tanin'iver (dragon’s blood resin, patchouli, pomegranate, myrrh, mimosa, cassia, blood musk and smoke): In vial -- light resin, cinnamon, slight fruitiness. Wet -- strong sweet dragon's blood. Slight fruit. Cinnamon coming in. Not bad, though maybe a little sweeter than I want. Yeah -- getting sickly nasty-sweet on left wrist. ...Mostly light cinnamon. ...Maybe a bit warmer. ...Ok dry; light warmish dragon's blood/cinnamon. (2.5)

Faustus (frankincense and cinnamon, darkened by violet): In vial -- weird, mostly resin, but with a tone I'm not wild about? Wet -- ugh. Thick, burned, slightly nasty perfume smell. Choking and yucky. ...Less vile, more resiny. Not so bad now. (1.5)

Anubis (a blend of holy myrrh, storax, balsam, and embalming herbs): In vial -- pleasant, slightly sweet, resiny, a touch of a note maybe I don't like. Wet -- an interesting mix, light, subtle, fairly sweet, light herbs/resins. Pleasant. ...Slightly soapy/clean, in a pleasant way. A sliiiight gritty note on the right wrist, slight skin alchemy on left. ...Eh, a little grainier/grittier. Not bad, but I wouldn't wear it in preference to something else. A little stale. (3)

Tisiphone (Oleander with black patchouli, ylang ylang, and neroli): In vial -- dark floral, nicer than I expected. Wet -- fairly strong floral. Better than I expected at first, then a slight urine-y note. ...Eh. Stale not-interesting floral. (2)

Masabakes (Thick black currant with the darkest, deepest myrrh, a drop of bitter mimosa and the slightest touch of mandrake dust): In vial -- a thick dusty smell with a touch of resin. Wet -- yeah, smells like thick dust/dirt. Bleh. Yuck. Thick vile dirt, like being buried. In dust. Ugh! ...Becoming vaguely more tolerable as it fades, very slightly resiny, but still, blech. (1.5)

Jezirat Al Tennyn (The Dragon’s Isle: smoke and fire, earth and wind. The rage of the elements blasting over a primordial paradise): In vial -- dark, dirt, maybe a bit of fire. Wet -- perfumed dirt. Not too dirtful, though. A bit of smoke? Eh, perfumy dirt. Bleh. ...Light dirt. Just not a fan of dirt. ...Lighter, still eh. (2)

Melpomene (dark cypress with mint, geranium, Bulgar lavender, orange blossom and passion flower): In vial -- ok lavender, slight mint? Wet -- lavender, mint, a hint of floral. ...Ew, nasty urine note. Ugh, now like dusty urine. This is gross. ...Fading, but what's there is still gross. Done with this! (1)

Plunder (The scent of a pirate's bumboat, overflowing with stolen wares: tea leaf, cassia, cinnamon bark, clove, allspice, sandalwood, tobacco, peppercorn, and nutmeg): In vial -- cinnamon! Maybe some other spices, and a bit of pepper. Wet -- cinnamon, nutmeg/allspice, I thought I briefly smelled tea/tobacco, but now just spices. ...A touch of tea. ...Spices plus dry tea leafiness. ...Light cinnamon/spice. Ok, not super exciting. (3)

Port-au-Prince (the rich scent of buttered rum flavored with almond, bay, clove and sassafras): In vial -- yummy almond, with something else -- rum? Wet -- delicious almond. There's the bay & clove, maybe the rum. Is that spiciness sassafras? ...Almond faded, now spicy/clove/bay. Ok. ...Hm -- going soapy/too sassafras? soap/sassafras. Eh. (3)

Thaleia (honey, ylang ylang, apricot, ciste, blood orange and gardenia with earthy, warm tonka): In vial -- honey, a touch of floral & orange. Wet -- honey/orange. A bit of floral. Something that smells like old sweat (bleh). Apricot/sweat. Apricot/honey/sweat. ...Apricot, a little plasticky, sweat note. ...Light apricot. (2)

Regan (A deceptively sweet orchid vanille with a faint trace of stephanotis): In vial -- floral, slight vanilla, almost sickly sweet. Wet -- yep, vanilla floral. I'm not a big fan of the tone of either of the notes. Vanilla throw -- ok. Faint floral vanilla. Eh. Ok, but I wouldn't wear. (2.5)

Desire (bittersweet neroli, black patchouli and black musk, gilded by apple, bergamot, blood red rose, teak, and vanilla): In vial -- all sorts of things, mostly good. A bit of patchouli taint, but bits of vanilla, floral, apple?, wood? Wet -- a warm, pleasant, slightly woody/resiny smell, a bit like Samhain. Try again. (3.5)

Schrodinger's Cat (A paradoxical scent experiment! - tangerine, sugared lime, pink grapefruit, oakmoss, lavender, zdravetz, and chocolate peppermint): In vial -- citrus, grapefruit, tangerine, chocolate, lavender, sugar. Peppermint. Wet -- lavender, grapefruit, tangerine. A bit mentholated? nose-tingling. Sweet, citrusy. A bit of slate eh-ness? (oakmoss?) ..A bit citrusy/tangerine, a bit garbagy. A hint of something pleasant, citrus-sweet, on left wrist. (2)

Tezcatlipoca (Deep cocoa laced with patchouli, leather armor, ritual incense, and a touch of Xochiquetzal’s flowers): In vial -- cocoa, a tiny breath of floral. Wet -- cocoa, leather. A touch of slightly stinky floral. Ew, stinky floral is stronger! Yuck. Diaper-flower. Vile sweet diaper flower on left wrist, same less-sweet incense? on right. (Still some diaper flower on both, a bit of incense coming in.) Stinkiness fading down, but still bleh. (1.5)

Rage (Black amber erupting with a dark volcanic surge of fiery dragon's blood and a burst of melati, rose geranium, mandarin and black currant): In vial -- floral? a bit sweet? Wet -- floral and something plasticky? Hard to identify. A strong sort of grainy smell, eh. Artificial. Staying at plastic, though less offensive. Meh, washing off. (1.5)

Harlot (Somalian rose, Moroccan rose and Bulgar rose with a sultry dribble of cinnamon): In vial -- light rose & a touch of cinnamon, fairly nice. Wet -- a thick but not unpleasant rose, filled out a bit by light cinnamon. Staying light rose. Not my thing but not offensive. (2)

Sed Non Satiata (myrrh, red patchouli, cognac, honey, and tuberose and geranium in a breathy, panting veil over the darkest body musk): In vial -- honey, slight floral, slight resin. Wet -- honey, some patchouli but not vile. Some note I'm not so fond of, making it sort of grainy. Ugh -- a playdoh? note. Ugh, thick floral playdoh. That sort of peanut buttery smell myrrh gives when it's bleh. ..Peanut butter meh. (1.5)

Niflheim (Dark, damp blossoms winding through an impenetrable, murky gloom): In vial -- fairly pleasant floral, a bit of aquatic sweetness? Wet -- surrounded by pleasant hothouse flowers. Like walking through a flower greenhouse in early summer -- warm and damp. Rather nice. ..After a couple minutes, the floral gets a touch less nice; dries to be a little stale, but ok. (3)

Queen Alice (Carnation, posies, and white amber with a hint of inky treacle, sandy cider, and wooly wine): In vial -- nice amber. Wet -- yummy wine, amber?, a bit of sweetness. Maybe a little carnation spiciness? ..Light pleasant sweet wine, slightly filled out. ..Faded. (3)

Sri Lanka (Indian sandalwood and cedar, and the dry incense smoke of olibanum, gum mastic, patchouli and myrrh): In vial -- nice sandalwood/resins. Wet -- a surprisingly green scent, quickly becoming a bit woodier. Light. No, still rather green, but in a sort of marshy way; some woods behind. Woodier, with some unexpected slightly musty spice. Eh, ok wood, light, not I think as nice as some other sandalwood/cedar blends. (2)

Debauchery (Mingled heady civet and red Egyptian musk, thickened with opium): In vial -- thick and red, but not bad. Wet -- almost plummy. A red/purple smell. Not too sweet. Almost a smokey plum. ..Slowly become a bit more of a sweat smell, still not bad though. (2)

Bien Loin D'Ici (red musk, benzoin, caramel accord, golden honey, and spiced Moroccan unguents): In vial -- honey, interesting spice. Wet -- honey, odd but ok spices on my right wrist, a winey smell on my left. Eh -- a stale spice note. I don't like it. (2)

Xiuhtecuhtli (Copal, plumeria and sweet orange and the smoke of South American incense and crushed jungle blooms): In vial -- floral, a bit of smoke/orange. Wet -- interesting. Orange, sweet incense. Fairly pleasant. ..Light ok orange, slightly floral, a touch of stale. (2.5)

The Coiled Serpent: In vial -- strong herb/resin with a hint of dirt -- the patchouli? Wet -- strong but not unpleasant. A warm smell. Changing to a smell of sweat. Is it yucky, or ok? And yet it smells kind of nice, resiny. (2)

Angeronalia (olive blossom, white nectarine, vibrant blood orange, honey absolute, lemongrass, elemi, sensual patchouli, and the quiet purity of gardenia): In vial -- pleasant, slightly floral, things I can't identify. Wet -- a pleasant, light scent, well blended, maybe slightly floral. Slightly warm. ...Staying pleasant, light, warm. ..Stays light, fades. (3.5)

The Death of Autumn (Dark amber, dead leaves, khus, saffron, bitter clove, chrysanthemum, camellia, galangal, and a drop of oud): In vial -- dead leaves, strange green/floral vegetable scent. Wet -- dead leaves, smoke (not entirely pleasant), that strange vegetable smell. ..Dead leaves, musty leather, vegetables. ..Leather, wet dead leaves. ..Light leather/leaves. (2)

Blood Phoenix (Dragon's blood resin, helichrysum, burgundy wine grape, red musk, opoponax, red poppy, myrrh, carnation, tonka, almond, mimosa, jonquil, and neroli): In vial -- grape candy, almond, resin. Smells tasty. Wet -- almond wine, yum! A bit of grape. Not so sweet. Almond fading. Another note coming up -- redder, also ok. Light wine grapes, maybe some resin. ...Faint, reddish scent. Pleasant, though I don't think I'd wear. (3)

Hunter Moon (Dry leaves, autumn bonfires, blood red wine, feral, animalistic notes and the chill of approaching winter): In vial -- red wine sweetness, can't distinguish other things. Wet -- an almost candy sweetness, taken over quickly by warm fuzzy notes -- like Bastet or Coyote? Hints of things I can see as autumn fires, leaves. Nice. ..I like this. It's warm and pleasant, slightly sweet, not plasticky. (4)

The Bloody Sword (dragon's blood, myrrh, black pepper, labdanum, benzoin, leather, fire, and steel): In vial -- pepper, leather, resin. Wet -- mm, pepper and leather, with a bit of resin sweetness. I can see that as a fiery scent. A touch of a 'colder' scent too -- the steel? Nice drydown, still a bit there much later. (4)

Green Phoenix (Sage, white mint, grey amber, papaya pulp, crushed grass, cucumber, green musk, green tea, and lime rind): In vial -- green, grassy, fruity, slightly herby/green tea-y. Wet -- fruity, a bit oversweet. ...More herby/minty. ..More perfumy, a little nose-stinging, not as green/fresh. ..Light, eh, a bit stale. (2.5)