BPAL Tracker: Tried & Traded
Scent Name - Notes - Impressions
#20 Love Oil - I have no idea, something green - This just did nothing for me.
Aeval - Got this for the amber; had to swap it for the tonka bean.
Aglaea - Brisingamen really puts all other amber scents to shame.
Al Azif
Alecto - Olive leaf, raspberry leaf, and cedarwood - just a big whatever to this scent.
All Saints - Pine and wine this one. It's one of the bpals that smells like a commercial perfume :(
Bastet - amber, Egyptian musk, saffron, myrrh, almond, cardamom and golden lotus - this was nice but too fast fading
Bayou - Spanish moss, evergreen, cypress, swamp blooms - Got this before I realized how Cypress hates me.
Baobhan Sith - grapefruity
Belladonna - starts off very sharp green. very unpleasant. Dry down is a little more earthy, but still icky.
Beltane - the jasmine note in this completely takes over.
Black Cat - not sure - I liked this scent. Spicy, and fun.
Black Rose - a heavy rose scent
Blood Kiss
Cairo - Just a straight shot of Kyphi incense.
Centzon Totochtin - Mexican cocoa with rum, red wine - My bro liked this from afar :-P I'm not keen on scents that make me wanna gag when I put my wrist to my nose. I think the wine note in this one, way too much for me.
Cerberus - deep chocolate, deeper musks, fig, bittersweet walnut, and essences of juniper berry, cubeb and rum (Gender neutral) - Wet, this is straight juniper berry. Or what I assume is juniper berry because it's sharp and berry-esque. I'm not getting anything else right now. No chocolate, or walnut. Curious.
Chaste Moon
Cheshire Cat - Grapefruit, red currant, dark musk, chamomile, lavender - all I got out of this was grapefruit. Very citrusy scent
Chiroptera - Evening primrose, night-scented stock, moonflower, night phlox, lemon balm, lavender, honeysuckle, sweet sage, salvia and thyme - someone in the forums described this as the floral for people who don't like florals. Quite right. I really liked it. Nothing in it overpowers, so I'm at a loss to describe it really.
Corazon - red musk, mango, amber, lavender, sage (gender neutral) - I'm so disappointed in this (so far, I've been wearing it for about 10 minutes). It's very, very light and I was expecting a much richer, warmer scent :( I can make out the mango and the sage, maybe a bit of the red musk. I had such high hopes for this one :( (Okay, a few hours later, and this is mango and I can finally smell the amber. Still not rich enough a scent to keep, I think I'd have to slather it. Woe.)
Crossroads
Dana O'Shee - Milk, Honey, Grains - The whole almond yogurt thing? Not for me.
Danube - Rhododendron, bellflower petals, aquatic notes - it smells like , I dunno, pear scented water or something. It's one of the truest water scents, I think. It definitely smells to me like a lake or something, perhaps with a tree of overly ripe pears growing on the bank :-P
De Sade - Leather - OMG, **hack** attack. So very leather. So very strong.
Depraved - Black Patchouli, Apricot - ugh, just didn't work at all. Patchouli was too strong.
Desdemona - carnation, sweet pea - I liked this actually. It's one of the few "scent of innocene" oils that isn't all flowery and girly and yet it still feminine. But I swapped it for more Brisingamen, so yay.
Desire - neroli, black patchouli and black musk, apple, bergamot, rose, teak, and vanilla - pretty but nothing too compelling
Dove's Heart - This smelled very much like Swallow's Blood on me!
Dragon's Blood - I like this mixed in with other notes (see: Blood Amber) but too plain smelling on its own.
Dragon's Bone - Dragon's blood with white sandalwood, orris and blondewood - dry, woody thing. Probably makes a nice room scent.
Dragon's Tears
Dunwich
Empyreal Mist - Nice, but fast fading
Erato - roses with sweet pea, myrrh, ylang ylang, orris and stephanotis - Soapy roses on all me. And the dread ylang ylang note!
Gingerbread Poppet - Gingerbread, Nutmeg, Clove, Cinnamon - would make a nice room scent.
Gomorrah - figgy deep berriness
Goona Goona - Goes on all soapy :( It seems like orange Caress, but sharper, not quite as floral. Lost some of its soapiness as it dried...can't id the notes, but there's something herbal and vaguely woody about this.
Grandmother of Ghosts - laurel, stargazer lily, woods, peony, mandarin, white musk, pale pepper - Swapped for this just because of the pepper note - I can't really get a sense of this one. I starts off smelling very woodsy, but it lightens up some and ends up smelling pretty much like peppery stagnant water? ETA: After a couple hours, this gets pretty nice! It loses the aquatic feel and gets a bit cocoa-y. Too bad it doesn't do that right away on drydown, or this would be a definite keeper :-/ But at least it's one of the gender neutral scents that actually smells like it could go on a guy ^_~
Hakkotsu - White sandalwood, Lily of the Valley and bergamot - I think it's the sandalwood in this one; it's just very harsh. I don't get any of the other notes
Hanging Gardens - floral, not one of the lighter florals, but not uber dark.
Hearth - ick! The tobacco note in this clashes very badly with something else in it. Just ick.
Hexennacht - this smelled very much like Samhain on me.
Horn of Plenty
Imp - white peach, amber, golden musk and patchouli (gender neutral) - I don't really smell the patchouli in this; the amber and musk come through strong and I get a hint of the white peach (I have a tea that smells like that!). Not bad, but nothing distinctive or noteworthy about this one.
Incantation - vetiver, dark woods, crumbling and burnt black sandalwood and a drop of lemon rind - This struck me as a really masculine scent. I was really surprised to find that it wasn't. It was very warm on my skin, for a long time.
Intrigue - Palm, Cocoa, Fig, Woods - Too woodsy.
Jezebel - honey, roses, orange blossom and sandalwood - wet, this was all honey with a hint of orange blossom and it's making me sneeze like crazy. On dry down, the honey and the orange blossom are balancing out and I'm picking up a hint of sandalwood. Not really getting rose, which is weird, because usually Rose screams on my skin. Ah, wait, actually a couple hours later and it's all powdered roses with a hint of orange blossom. So there you go.
Kathmandu - Saffron, sandalwood, Himalayan cedar, lotus with chiuri bark and Nepalese spices. - All I got was the cedar and bark. Again, too woodsy.
Khephra
Kostnice - Frankincense, rosewood, lily, and geranium rose - smells like an old church! Herbal woodsiness about it, I guess that's the Frankincense, and I can definitely pick up the rose notes.
La Belle Au Bois Dormant
Lady MacBeth - sticky sweet red berries, this one.
Le Serpent Qui Danse - Violet with vanilla and gardenia - all violet and vanilla. The site calls it sinister and darkly seductive, but I didn't get that at all. It reminds me of sweet tea for some reason. Long lasting.
London - tea, rose - This was surprisingly plain but it smells just like those notes. It's a shame they didn't go for Earl Grey or a black tea with more of bite.
Madrid - Bold red wine, mimosa, and a trickle of clove - I don't smell the clove really. The mimosa, I'm guessing, is this overpowering note I don't recognize. It smells like sticky red sweets, left in the sun, and sticking to your dashboard or cupholder. It kinda makes me want to spit, even though there's nothing in my mouth :-P
Maiden - white tea, carnation and rose - powdery and floral. It's a pretty thing, but I'm not really a rose person. I think I quite like white tea though...
Malice - peach and musk, I think? Alright.
Masquerade
Melpomene - Dark Cypress, Mint, Geranium, Lavender, Passion Flower - Much! Too! Sharp! (the cypress?)
Milk Moon - creamy and super sweet. Ugh.
Miskatonic U - straight coffee :(
Morgause - Night Blooming Florals, Purple Fruits, Incenses - Liked it okay, but it seemed rather ordinary
Mystery - I remember this didn't smell ANYTHING like the description. I wondered at the time if it had "gone bad" or was mislabelled or something. Wasn't much of an experience at all!
Nefertiti
New Orleans - Sweet honeysuckle and jasmine with lemon and spice - I'm getting the sense that jasmine is another scent that's not for me. This was okay, but the jasmine note was too much.
Niflheim - "Dark, damp blossoms winding through an impenetrable, murky gloom" - an aquatic with a hint of incense?
Paris - Lavender, lotus and something spicey - pretty, but fast-fading
Queen of Spades
Queen Mab - Black Orchid, Sandalwood, Jasmine, Rose, and Chinese Musk - Powdery & pretty. There's jasmine in it, but it didn't overwhelm the scent like jasmine normally does. Faded quickly though.
Ra
Regan - orchid vanille with stephanotis -Another powdery floral, but my favorite of all the ones I've tried I think. Classy, I thought.
Red Devil - "a sinfully playful lust blend" - HA!
Red Moon - kinda berryish
Roadhouse - Dandelion, Tobacco, Hemp, Hops - Ugh. It totally smelled alcoholy and trashy.
Sacred Whore of Babylon
Samhain - Damp Woods, Fir Needle, Patchouli, Pumpkin, Nutmeg, Red Apple - woodsy, autumny scent; just okay.
Scherezade - Saffron, spices, red musk - I can definitely smell the saffron but there's also something a bit Lemon Pledge-y about this one.
Sea of Glass - fresh, crisp aquatic.
Shattered - generic citrus
Shub-Niggurath - muted ginger :(
Skuld - Ylang ylang, honey, Egyptian and Arabian musks and labdanum - the honey was overpowering
Somnus - This didn't work for me half as well as Baku. I'll be sticking with that for my sleep blend.
Spooky - buttery rum, cocoa, coconut, vanilla and peppermint - Coconut and peppermint were strongest on me. I wish I'd gotten more of the chocolate note other people seemed to pick up.
Storm Moon - ozone!
Succubus - Mimosa, orange blossom, neroli and bergamot with a drop of clove - I went with this one on the Orange Blossom and Clove, despite the neroli and bergamot. But the neroli will NOT BE DENIED. And I couldn't smell either of the two other notes. Woe.
Swank - a crisp pomegranate martini - I love pomegranate, so I thought I'd give this a try. There's something very crisp and fruity about it, but it didn't strike me as pomegranate enough. It does smell like a drink though, and as with Roadhouse, I'll pass on smelling like an alkie, thanks ^_~
Sybaris - violet with sweet clove, Mediterranean spice notes and tonka bean - after trying this and Aeval, I think it's safe to add tonka bean to the list of notes that do nothing for me.
The Caterpillar - "heavy incense notes" and carnation, jasmine, bergamot, neroli, iris blossom, patchouli - I had hoped this would be more incensey :( This is a dark floral on me; it smells the way Le Serpent Qui Danse's description oughta smell ^_~
The Dormouse - green tea, white florals - too, too light
The Hesperides - sturdy oak bark, dew-kissed leaves, twilight mist and crisp apple - Weirdest experience. This smelled pretty brisk and strong in the imp, but I put it on and nothing. I couldn't smell anything. And I'm not talking fading; the scent disappeared the second it hit my skin.
The Unicorn - wispy linden blossoms, white flowers, and a touch of sweet herbs - pretty green thing, but much too light
Tiger Lily - honey, lilies - I was intrigued by the description of this as "honey warmed", because I'm a sucker for warm scents, but I like my florals a little subtler...
Tisiphone - oleander with black patchouli, ylang ylang, and neroli - Ylangx2, neroli, and patchouli keep showing up in scents that doesn't work for me. Message much?
Undertow - lotus and juniper with a hint of mint - Liked the aquatic aspect of this scent. Quick fading though.
Val Sans Retour - sharp, citrusy greens - They were not kidding. This scent was offensively sharp. I couldn't wait to swap it.
Vicomte de Valmont - White Musk, White Sandalwood, Moss, Mints, Jasmine, Rose Geranium, Rosemary - Like Wilde, this one smelled a lot like a gentleman's cologne you might buy in a store.
Vinland - Rose, Prairie Crocus, Yellow Birch Bark, Mayflower, Maple Leaf - sweet and woody. Woody=bad.
Whip
Whippoorwill
White Rabbit
Wilde - patchouli, bergamot, moss, lavender, jasmine and thyme - Nice scent, but I'm not a guy and I don't have one in my pocket. It smells rather like department store cologne, I was surprised.
Wolf Moon - coca cola :-P
Wolf's Heart - blood mostly, and a little something berrish
Wrath - dragon's blood with black pepper, clove, and cinnamon - didn't get the pepper, but I definitely the clove and cinnamon. One of the first scents that I liked, but I didn't need to keep it.
Yggdrasil - Smelled like clay and ash at first, then faded to a surprisingly light and green scent. But that first bit is just too much for me.
Zephyr - Lemon, lemon verbena, neroli, white musk, white florals, white sandalwood, China musk, bergamot - Lemon and neroli! **makes sign of cross**
Veil - roses