BPAL Reviews 101 - 125
Continuing reviews of Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab (BPAL) scents. I DO NOT HAVE AN ADDICTION >_> Some general info: reviews are broken up into groups of 25 per post and I update posts frequently with new reviews. I will post a separate update to my journal when I add new reviews. Blends are noted as LE or GC (and occasionally prototype or special); LE = Limited Edition, GC = General Catalogue. GC scents are available as "imps", which are tester-sized vials of the oils. For more info regarding BPAL and imps, click the respective links.
Review #101: Bocal de Sang (special)
Website Description: N/A
In the bottle: Tobacco and some heavy, dense fruit as an afterthought.
Immediately after application: Definitely tobacco and I catch a hint of anise/fennel/licorice.
Warming up: Cherry fruit, not cherry blossom. Yay! No evil powder smell. Spices in the background and I think I'm catching some honey as well.
Fading: Cherry with somewhat of a sour smell behind it, probably a wine note. I think there's a wood note as well. I smell... dust? Something similar. It ends up fading into a faint sweet cherry.
Faded: Little throw, average wear.
Overall: It reminded me a bit of Banned in Boston in the imp, probably from the strong tobacco note. I liked it until I got the sour/woody/dusty note. I'm sure it will find a good home elsewhere.
Rating: 2/5.
Review #102: #20 Love Oil (GC)
Website Description: "A potent, enticing love formula, favored among Louisiana courtesans."
In the bottle: Herbs and a touch of citrus.
Immediately after application: Herbal lemon.
Warming up: AUGH Lemon Pledge and plastic. GET IT OFF!
Fading: N/A
Faded: N/A
Overall: WE DO NOT NEED MORE LEMON PLEDGE.
Rating: 0/5.
Review #103: New Orleans (GC)
Website Description: "Sweet honeysuckle and jasmine with a hint of lemon and spice."
In the bottle: Jasmine and honeysuckle.
Immediately after application: Strongly jasmine with a slight tang of lemon.
Warming up: Jasmine and honeysuckle and omg FLORAL. Not me at all.
Fading: I had to scrub it off.
Faded: Decent throw.
Overall: Guh, floral *shudders*
Rating: 0/5.
Review #104: Fire for Thy Stepmother's Daughters (GC)
Website Description: "Flaming coals, hellfire, and blackened bone."
In the bottle: I think I'm getting the bone note, it's hard to describe, and definite spiciness.
Immediately after application: It feels like it should singe my nostrils. Underneath a general feeling of "heat" is a fruity scent. Interesting.
Warming up: I'm getting a fruity-floral with just a hint of spice/heat. This smells nothing like I expected from the notes.
Fading: There's a hint of spice and smoke now but it's still mainly that fruity/floral.
Faded: Little throw, short to average wear.
Overall: I wasn't sure I'd like it from the description of notes but it ended up not smelling at all how I expected. I think I would have liked it better had it actually smelled like the listed notes! Not a bad scent, but nothing exciting.
Rating: 2/5.
Review #105: Fearful Pleasure (LE)
Website Description: "Dried orange peels floating in simmering cider, roasted apples, smoldering firewood, chimney smoke, sassafras beer, warm hawthorn wood and oakmoss."
In the bottle: It smells like fall. Apple cider, woodsmoke.
Immediately after application: Sharp smoke, apples, almost like it has a vanilla-type component.
Warming up: Leafy, slightly smoky, a smidge of apples. It's got a clean, almost soapy smell way in the background.
Fading: Smoky and slightly apple-y.
Faded: Average throw, average wear.
Overall: I only had a testable sniffie of this and now I'd like to hunt down a full decant so I can try it out again. Look at me talking when there's science to do.
Rating: Withheld til I can find a decant and re-test.
Review #106: Vampire Tears (LE)
Website Description: "Regret born from ceaseless longing: wisteria, white grapefruit, neroli, green tea, jasmine, white ginger, honeysuckle, iris, and tonka."
In the bottle: Grapefruit, possibly the tea, tonka?
Immediately after application: Grapefruit, tea, neroli. It's soft and slighty fruity yet slighty floral yet slightly foodie. Rowan has her own roller-ball vial and is so proud of herself :) She declared: "Mommy, it smells GOOD!" after putting it on all by herself.
Warming up: Slightly foody, slightly fruity, and slightly floral. It's a nice mix of notes, though something smells "off" to me. I've looked at other blends that had that "off" smell to me and it looks like it's the wisteria note I don't like. Rowan, however, has decided it smells like candy and she loves it.
Fading: Still that foody/fruity/floral vibe but I can't appreciate it with the wisteria telling my nose something's wrong.
Faded: Medium throw, average wear.
Overall: I've determined I don't like how wisteria smells on me. But Rowan LOVES it, it's become "her" perfume so it's still getting lots of love :)
Rating: 2/5 on me. But it's ROWAN'S PERFUME so that doesn't matter XD
Review #107: Jailbait (GC)
Website Description: "Sticky pink bubblegum and the thick, sweet scent of orange and cherry lollipops smeared over a breath of heady womanly perfume."
In the bottle: Fruity bubblegum.
Immediately after application: Still bubblegum but kind of like the pieces that fall out of the pack and sit at the bottom of your purse. Rowan's testing this one too and it's straight bubblegum on her.
Warming up: It's calmed down from that "bottom of the purse" smell and is now a sweet fruity scent.
Fading: Slight fruitiness.
Faded: No throw that I can tell, short wear.
Overall: I think Rowan will be the one to use this one. It's pretty but not terribly exciting. In spite of its name, it works quite well on little girls though!
Rating: 3/5.
Review #108: Skytyping with Chemtrails (LE)
Website Description: "Spun sugar, white amber, white musk, citron, and lemongrass masking a sinister, almost chemical, undernote of elemi, zdravetz, and ravintsara."
In the bottle: Lemony and sugary.
Immediately after application: Lemon poppyseed cake! Oh yum, please don't turn to Lemon Pledge on me D:
Warming up: It stays a lovely lemony cake scent. YAY lemongrass! You don't turn to cleaning products!
Fading: Faint lemony cake with a bit of musk.
Faded: Little to no throw, average wear.
Overall: I really liked this, now to find a bottle or partial. It's lovely for warm weather.
Rating: 4/5.
Review #109: Aglaea (GC)
Website Description: "Three golden ambers, bright musk, peach wine and myrtle."
In the bottle: Peachy!
Immediately after application: Soft, fuzzy peach. It's not a "juicy" scent to me, it reminds me of pressing the downy skin of a ripe peach to your nose and inhaling that wonderful scent.
Warming up: Sweet, slightly musky peach. This was more what I was hoping for with Tamora, but who needs her because I have Aglaea!
Fading: Peach and hints of musk and the amber.
Faded: Light throw, average wear.
Overall: I think I'll probably get a bottle of this. It was a wonderfully peachy blend that I can share with Rowan and will be nice for those days I don't feel like smelling like a bakery or like I rolled in patchouli/incense/resins/blood/booze XD
Rating: 4/5, because although wear time was average, the scent itself was faint after about an hour.
Review #110: Misericordia (LE)
Website Description: "Eons of grief and unending hunger: magnolia, black currant, castoreum accord, lavender, labdanum, amber, rose otto, and opoponax."
In the bottle: Lavender at first sniff.
Immediately after application: Lavender, a bit of the rose, magnolia, perhaps a hint of the currant. It's an earthy, sophisticated floral.
Warming up: Interesting, the currant is taking over and it's very fruity with a background of florals. Pretty, but not what I'm looking for.
Fading: Fruity from the currant fading into the florals. I liked it better as it faded, but not really for me.
Faded: Average throw, average wear.
Overall: A lovely enough scent, just not my personal preference.
Rating: 2/5.
Review #111: Metal Tiger (LE)
Website Description: "Peony, China's national flower, with bamboo for flexibility, plum blossom for perseverance, courage, and hope, tangerine for wealth, orange for happiness, lychee for household peace, pine resin for constancy, golden kumquat and quince for prosperity, narcissus and King mandarin for good fortune, cypress for longevity, and peach fruit and hemp to represent the fourth phase of Wu Xing, with a splash of blazing red of dragon's blood... to help you scare away the rampaging Nian."
In the bottle: A burst of all the fruit followed by pine.
Immediately after application: Lots of lush, juicy-smelling fruit.
Warming up: It's settled down into a fairly bland orangey scent. Considering the amount of notes in this, I am very surprised.
Fading: Orange.
Faded: Light throw, average wear.
Overall: It smelled so intriguing in the decant and really yummy at first, but I was hoping for some of the deeper grounding notes to emerge during drydown. Instead, the delicious juicy-fresh fruit scent dried into a very bland, one-dimensional orange scent. Very disappointing on me.
Rating: 1/5.
Review #112: Mr. Croup (GC)
Website Description: "Tonka bean, black musk, bourbon geranium, and crushed porcelain."
In the bottle: Strongly geranium.
Immediately after application: Heavy on the musk and the geranium is softer.
Warming up: Aggressively musky and unnerving. Bitter, probably from the "crushed porcelain". It captures the character quite well but I don't think this is what I'd like to smell like.
Fading: Musky. Ferociously musky with a hint of the geranium.
Faded: Medium to strong throw, average to long wear.
Overall: Amazingly true to the character and it's faintly unnerving as a scent. I don't think I'd like to smell like Mr. Croup lest I conjure him up.
Rating: 1/5.
Review #113: Jersey Devil (GC)
Website Description: "Pitch pine with blackberry leaf, cranberry, cedar wood and tomato leaf."
In the bottle: Pine! It smells like Christmas trees.
Immediately after application: Heavy on the pine but I can smell a bit of the tomato leaf as well.
Warming up: The sweetness from the blackberry and cranberry has softened the pine and it's really lovely. Nowhere near as strong or astringent as I had expected.
Fading: Mild piney scent.
Faded: Little to no throw, average wear.
Overall: I was surprised by this, I wasn't sure I would like it but it's a really nice pine blend. Not sure if I need a bottle, but the imp will get some love ^_^
Rating: 3/5.
Review #114: Joyful Moon (LE)
Website Description: "White musk, French vanilla, ambrette seed, frankgipani, angelica root, white rose, orris, and honeysuckle."
In the bottle: Vanilla and musk.
Immediately after application: Vanilla and hints of florals. I didn't expect to like this one but I like it a lot at this point!
Warming up: It's a very creamy vanilla. The rose is trying to take over but it's a well-rounded blend and not as floral as I'd feared.
Fading: Soft vanilla musk.
Faded: Light throw, average wear.
Overall: I'm surprised. I thought from the notes it would be too floral/girly for me but the vanilla kept it from being overwhelming. I'm happily surprised. I may need to find a bottle of this!
Rating: 4/5.
Review #115: Liberty (LE)
Website Description: "Liberty was created for the CBLDF, inspired by Eugène Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People: frankincense, beeswax, olive blossom, chamomile, sampaguita, magnolia, apple blossom, gunpowder, and smoke."
In the bottle: Beeswax and frankincense.
Immediately after application: The frankincense is definitely present along with some smokiness and I think magnolia. It's smelling really nice right now.
Warming up: Sweet floral with a hint of beeswax. This is way more floral than I expected. It's not bad, but again, I'm not really a floral type of girl.
Fading: Now I'm getting gunpowder and smoke along with the floral!
Faded: Fairly strong throw, average to long wear.
Overall: I'm not sure I need a bottle of this but the longer it was on, the nicer it smelled. I'm always torn on those kind of scents because I don't like waiting for them to hit the OOH YUM stage.
Rating: 2/5. It's just not my style, sadly.
Review #116: The Infernal Lover (LE)
Website Description: "A creamy, sensual, honeyed red musk."
In the bottle: Incense-y musk, yum!
Immediately after application: Slightly spicy musk, a hint of that incense feel.
Warming up: Softly musky.
Fading: Soft, creamy musk.
Faded: Average throw, average wear.
Overall: It might as well have been a single note red musk on me. I like musks but it just didn't do it for me.
Rating: 2/5.
Review #117: Ghoulish (LE)
Website Description: "This season's Ridiculous Scent! Creepy like Creepy and as spooky as Spooky, this is the scent of a black cherry and coconut amaretto confection gently laced with saffron."
In the bottle: Cherry and amaretto.
Immediately after application: Amaretto and I think some saffron. It's a little bitter at this point.
Warming up: Ugh, it's going plasticky.
Fading: A slightly cherry-ish scent.
Faded: No throw I can tell, fades super fast on me.
Overall: Bugger all, it should have been perfect on me :(
Rating: 0/5.
Review #118: Black Lily (GC)
Website Description: "Breathtaking darkness, a vision of grace in shadow."
In the bottle: Fresh lilies. I adore lilies, they're my favorite flower so even though I'm not normally a floral type of girl, I had to try it.
Immediately after application: Lily with a slightly powdery tinge, like the pollen falling from the stamen, and a bit of a bite.
Warming up: Slightly more powdery, a bit of spice, the astringent green bite is gone.
Fading: Powdery floral :\
Faded: Light throw, long wear.
Overall: Another of the "I thought I'd love it" based on wet stage, but it slowly but surely went powdery on me.
Rating: 1/5.
Review #119: Golletes (LE)
Website Description: "A circular pastry glazed with pink sugar that symbolizes the sweetness of life and the certainty of death."
In the bottle: Supersweet cake and icing. It smells "pink".
Immediately after application: It's less sweet cake up close on my skin but it's got some decent throw that has the sweet pink icing. It's almost bready.
Warming up: Bready has mellowed and it's sweet icing with a drop of cherry/strawberry and a touch of pastry.
Fading: Pink fruity icing.
Faded: Medium throw, lasts surprisingly long.
Overall: I don't MIND the bready scent but I hope it mellows with time because I DO plan on getting a bottle of this!
Rating: 4/5.
Review #120: Thalassa the Galapagos Mermaid (GC)
Website Description: "Seaweed, kelp, salty ocean spray, bitter almond, night-blooming jasmine, frankincense, and benzoin."
In the bottle: Lovely aquatic with a bit of a floral feel.
Immediately after application: Straight to men's cologne on me. Boo.
Warming up: Cologne.
Fading: Cologne-y aquatics.
Faded: Average to strong throw, average wear.
Overall: It smells too much like men's cologne to me and I have other aquatics I really love. Time to sell this to someone who'll give it some love.
Rating: 1/5.
Review #121: The Unsavory Grave-Diggers (LE)
Website Description: "An unearthed oakwood coffin, cemetery weeds, and a hint of booze."
In the bottle: Woodsy with a green, herbally waft.
Immediately after application: Aquatic? And green. Odd. It smells good, but nothing like I expected.
Warming up: Ah, there's a bit more of the wood. I still get the sense of aquatic and the green from the weeds note.
Fading: Still oddly aquatic.
Faded: Light throw, average wear.
Overall: This smelled much different than I expected. I was expecting a dirty scent, heavy on the wood note, possibly with a bit of a dirt note, and stronger booze notes as I didn't get ANY booze. It smelled much too clean. More proof that my chemistry does weird things.
Rating: 2/5.
Review #122: Blue Pumpkin Floss (LE)
Website Description: "Puffy clouds of pumpkin candyfloss with a trickle of blackberry juice."
In the bottle: Pumpkin pie, mmm. The oil also has a bluish tint, pretty!
Immediately after application: Cinnamonny pumpkin with a sugary sweet note in the background that must be the blackberry.
Warming up: Pumpkin pie-ish, heavy on the cinnamon, but with a light blackberry underneath.
Fading: The cinnamon tempers a bit and there's a lot more of the blackberry.
Faded: Light throw, average wear.
Overall: I LOVED it. The addition of the blackberry was a stroke of genius, it subtly blends with the spiced pumpkin and sugar and adds depth.
Rating: 4/5. Bottle!
Review #123: October 2010 (LE)
Website Description: "Dry, cold autumn wind. A rustle of red leaves, a touch of smoke and sap in the air."
In the bottle: Very true to its description. I can definitely smell leaves and smoke.
Immediately after application: Leafy with smoke and sap. It's a very organic scent.
I can see myself walking in the woods after most of the leaves have fallen and they're crunching under my feet.
Warming up: It's going cologne-y. Bah.
Fading: Yeah, it's not working. Definitely cologne vibes.
Faded: Little throw, average wear.
Overall: *cries* So many of the Weenies are gorgeous wet and then dry into horrific messes on me. Luckily I have lots that DID work, so I should probably consider it a good thing that all of them didn't work!
Rating: 1/5.
Review #124: Samhain 2010 (LE)
Website Description: "Damp woods, fir needle, and black patchouli with the gentlest touches of warm pumpkin, clove, nutmeg, allspice, sweet red apple and mullein."
In the bottle: Patchouli. Mmm, I have grown to love the lab's patch note so much.
Immediately after application: A muddled blend of scents and something is a bit play-doh-y. Let's hope that fixes itself. I want to love this blend so much.
Warming up: The notes are resolving themselves a bit after a few minutes. I'm getting patchouli, apple, buttery pumpkin, maybe a touch of the spices. Now I'm beginning to understand the love for this blend.
Fading:
Faded: Patchouli and some of the sweet notes. I still get the feel of damp woods as well.
Overall: The longer it's on, the more that unpleasant play-doh feel evaporates until it's gone and this is just amazing. In total, about 15 minutes before it was gone completely. I am more than willing to deal with that brief ick for the end result. BOTTLE!
Rating: 4/5, only because of that play-doh ick at the beginning. I expect aging will mellow that out.
Review #125: Lambs-Wool 2010 (LE)
Website Description: "A popular holy day beverage in 18th century Ireland: roasted apples mashed into warmed milk and ale, with nutmeg, sugar, ginger, and clove."
In the bottle: Apples, ale, and spices.
Immediately after application: Fresh apple, very crisp. Under that I can just make out the spices.
Warming up: Spiced apples. It still has that fresh apple scent, like I just cut a fresh-picked apple in half in the orchard and then poured spices on it. A faint sense of creaminess from the milk, no sourness on me. Surprisingly it's not overly foody.
Fading: Softly apple and a touch of spice.
Faded: Strong throw, my husband could smell it from across the room.
Overall: It smells like fall and I love it. The husband's verdict: "It smells like fall! Not that crappy potpourri, supposed to smell like fall stuff, but like being at a farmer's market." High praise indeed!
Rating: 5/5. Bottle!
Review #101: Bocal de Sang (special)
Website Description: N/A
In the bottle: Tobacco and some heavy, dense fruit as an afterthought.
Immediately after application: Definitely tobacco and I catch a hint of anise/fennel/licorice.
Warming up: Cherry fruit, not cherry blossom. Yay! No evil powder smell. Spices in the background and I think I'm catching some honey as well.
Fading: Cherry with somewhat of a sour smell behind it, probably a wine note. I think there's a wood note as well. I smell... dust? Something similar. It ends up fading into a faint sweet cherry.
Faded: Little throw, average wear.
Overall: It reminded me a bit of Banned in Boston in the imp, probably from the strong tobacco note. I liked it until I got the sour/woody/dusty note. I'm sure it will find a good home elsewhere.
Rating: 2/5.
Review #102: #20 Love Oil (GC)
Website Description: "A potent, enticing love formula, favored among Louisiana courtesans."
In the bottle: Herbs and a touch of citrus.
Immediately after application: Herbal lemon.
Warming up: AUGH Lemon Pledge and plastic. GET IT OFF!
Fading: N/A
Faded: N/A
Overall: WE DO NOT NEED MORE LEMON PLEDGE.
Rating: 0/5.
Review #103: New Orleans (GC)
Website Description: "Sweet honeysuckle and jasmine with a hint of lemon and spice."
In the bottle: Jasmine and honeysuckle.
Immediately after application: Strongly jasmine with a slight tang of lemon.
Warming up: Jasmine and honeysuckle and omg FLORAL. Not me at all.
Fading: I had to scrub it off.
Faded: Decent throw.
Overall: Guh, floral *shudders*
Rating: 0/5.
Review #104: Fire for Thy Stepmother's Daughters (GC)
Website Description: "Flaming coals, hellfire, and blackened bone."
In the bottle: I think I'm getting the bone note, it's hard to describe, and definite spiciness.
Immediately after application: It feels like it should singe my nostrils. Underneath a general feeling of "heat" is a fruity scent. Interesting.
Warming up: I'm getting a fruity-floral with just a hint of spice/heat. This smells nothing like I expected from the notes.
Fading: There's a hint of spice and smoke now but it's still mainly that fruity/floral.
Faded: Little throw, short to average wear.
Overall: I wasn't sure I'd like it from the description of notes but it ended up not smelling at all how I expected. I think I would have liked it better had it actually smelled like the listed notes! Not a bad scent, but nothing exciting.
Rating: 2/5.
Review #105: Fearful Pleasure (LE)
Website Description: "Dried orange peels floating in simmering cider, roasted apples, smoldering firewood, chimney smoke, sassafras beer, warm hawthorn wood and oakmoss."
In the bottle: It smells like fall. Apple cider, woodsmoke.
Immediately after application: Sharp smoke, apples, almost like it has a vanilla-type component.
Warming up: Leafy, slightly smoky, a smidge of apples. It's got a clean, almost soapy smell way in the background.
Fading: Smoky and slightly apple-y.
Faded: Average throw, average wear.
Overall: I only had a testable sniffie of this and now I'd like to hunt down a full decant so I can try it out again. Look at me talking when there's science to do.
Rating: Withheld til I can find a decant and re-test.
Review #106: Vampire Tears (LE)
Website Description: "Regret born from ceaseless longing: wisteria, white grapefruit, neroli, green tea, jasmine, white ginger, honeysuckle, iris, and tonka."
In the bottle: Grapefruit, possibly the tea, tonka?
Immediately after application: Grapefruit, tea, neroli. It's soft and slighty fruity yet slighty floral yet slightly foodie. Rowan has her own roller-ball vial and is so proud of herself :) She declared: "Mommy, it smells GOOD!" after putting it on all by herself.
Warming up: Slightly foody, slightly fruity, and slightly floral. It's a nice mix of notes, though something smells "off" to me. I've looked at other blends that had that "off" smell to me and it looks like it's the wisteria note I don't like. Rowan, however, has decided it smells like candy and she loves it.
Fading: Still that foody/fruity/floral vibe but I can't appreciate it with the wisteria telling my nose something's wrong.
Faded: Medium throw, average wear.
Overall: I've determined I don't like how wisteria smells on me. But Rowan LOVES it, it's become "her" perfume so it's still getting lots of love :)
Rating: 2/5 on me. But it's ROWAN'S PERFUME so that doesn't matter XD
Review #107: Jailbait (GC)
Website Description: "Sticky pink bubblegum and the thick, sweet scent of orange and cherry lollipops smeared over a breath of heady womanly perfume."
In the bottle: Fruity bubblegum.
Immediately after application: Still bubblegum but kind of like the pieces that fall out of the pack and sit at the bottom of your purse. Rowan's testing this one too and it's straight bubblegum on her.
Warming up: It's calmed down from that "bottom of the purse" smell and is now a sweet fruity scent.
Fading: Slight fruitiness.
Faded: No throw that I can tell, short wear.
Overall: I think Rowan will be the one to use this one. It's pretty but not terribly exciting. In spite of its name, it works quite well on little girls though!
Rating: 3/5.
Review #108: Skytyping with Chemtrails (LE)
Website Description: "Spun sugar, white amber, white musk, citron, and lemongrass masking a sinister, almost chemical, undernote of elemi, zdravetz, and ravintsara."
In the bottle: Lemony and sugary.
Immediately after application: Lemon poppyseed cake! Oh yum, please don't turn to Lemon Pledge on me D:
Warming up: It stays a lovely lemony cake scent. YAY lemongrass! You don't turn to cleaning products!
Fading: Faint lemony cake with a bit of musk.
Faded: Little to no throw, average wear.
Overall: I really liked this, now to find a bottle or partial. It's lovely for warm weather.
Rating: 4/5.
Review #109: Aglaea (GC)
Website Description: "Three golden ambers, bright musk, peach wine and myrtle."
In the bottle: Peachy!
Immediately after application: Soft, fuzzy peach. It's not a "juicy" scent to me, it reminds me of pressing the downy skin of a ripe peach to your nose and inhaling that wonderful scent.
Warming up: Sweet, slightly musky peach. This was more what I was hoping for with Tamora, but who needs her because I have Aglaea!
Fading: Peach and hints of musk and the amber.
Faded: Light throw, average wear.
Overall: I think I'll probably get a bottle of this. It was a wonderfully peachy blend that I can share with Rowan and will be nice for those days I don't feel like smelling like a bakery or like I rolled in patchouli/incense/resins/blood/booze XD
Rating: 4/5, because although wear time was average, the scent itself was faint after about an hour.
Review #110: Misericordia (LE)
Website Description: "Eons of grief and unending hunger: magnolia, black currant, castoreum accord, lavender, labdanum, amber, rose otto, and opoponax."
In the bottle: Lavender at first sniff.
Immediately after application: Lavender, a bit of the rose, magnolia, perhaps a hint of the currant. It's an earthy, sophisticated floral.
Warming up: Interesting, the currant is taking over and it's very fruity with a background of florals. Pretty, but not what I'm looking for.
Fading: Fruity from the currant fading into the florals. I liked it better as it faded, but not really for me.
Faded: Average throw, average wear.
Overall: A lovely enough scent, just not my personal preference.
Rating: 2/5.
Review #111: Metal Tiger (LE)
Website Description: "Peony, China's national flower, with bamboo for flexibility, plum blossom for perseverance, courage, and hope, tangerine for wealth, orange for happiness, lychee for household peace, pine resin for constancy, golden kumquat and quince for prosperity, narcissus and King mandarin for good fortune, cypress for longevity, and peach fruit and hemp to represent the fourth phase of Wu Xing, with a splash of blazing red of dragon's blood... to help you scare away the rampaging Nian."
In the bottle: A burst of all the fruit followed by pine.
Immediately after application: Lots of lush, juicy-smelling fruit.
Warming up: It's settled down into a fairly bland orangey scent. Considering the amount of notes in this, I am very surprised.
Fading: Orange.
Faded: Light throw, average wear.
Overall: It smelled so intriguing in the decant and really yummy at first, but I was hoping for some of the deeper grounding notes to emerge during drydown. Instead, the delicious juicy-fresh fruit scent dried into a very bland, one-dimensional orange scent. Very disappointing on me.
Rating: 1/5.
Review #112: Mr. Croup (GC)
Website Description: "Tonka bean, black musk, bourbon geranium, and crushed porcelain."
In the bottle: Strongly geranium.
Immediately after application: Heavy on the musk and the geranium is softer.
Warming up: Aggressively musky and unnerving. Bitter, probably from the "crushed porcelain". It captures the character quite well but I don't think this is what I'd like to smell like.
Fading: Musky. Ferociously musky with a hint of the geranium.
Faded: Medium to strong throw, average to long wear.
Overall: Amazingly true to the character and it's faintly unnerving as a scent. I don't think I'd like to smell like Mr. Croup lest I conjure him up.
Rating: 1/5.
Review #113: Jersey Devil (GC)
Website Description: "Pitch pine with blackberry leaf, cranberry, cedar wood and tomato leaf."
In the bottle: Pine! It smells like Christmas trees.
Immediately after application: Heavy on the pine but I can smell a bit of the tomato leaf as well.
Warming up: The sweetness from the blackberry and cranberry has softened the pine and it's really lovely. Nowhere near as strong or astringent as I had expected.
Fading: Mild piney scent.
Faded: Little to no throw, average wear.
Overall: I was surprised by this, I wasn't sure I would like it but it's a really nice pine blend. Not sure if I need a bottle, but the imp will get some love ^_^
Rating: 3/5.
Review #114: Joyful Moon (LE)
Website Description: "White musk, French vanilla, ambrette seed, frankgipani, angelica root, white rose, orris, and honeysuckle."
In the bottle: Vanilla and musk.
Immediately after application: Vanilla and hints of florals. I didn't expect to like this one but I like it a lot at this point!
Warming up: It's a very creamy vanilla. The rose is trying to take over but it's a well-rounded blend and not as floral as I'd feared.
Fading: Soft vanilla musk.
Faded: Light throw, average wear.
Overall: I'm surprised. I thought from the notes it would be too floral/girly for me but the vanilla kept it from being overwhelming. I'm happily surprised. I may need to find a bottle of this!
Rating: 4/5.
Review #115: Liberty (LE)
Website Description: "Liberty was created for the CBLDF, inspired by Eugène Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People: frankincense, beeswax, olive blossom, chamomile, sampaguita, magnolia, apple blossom, gunpowder, and smoke."
In the bottle: Beeswax and frankincense.
Immediately after application: The frankincense is definitely present along with some smokiness and I think magnolia. It's smelling really nice right now.
Warming up: Sweet floral with a hint of beeswax. This is way more floral than I expected. It's not bad, but again, I'm not really a floral type of girl.
Fading: Now I'm getting gunpowder and smoke along with the floral!
Faded: Fairly strong throw, average to long wear.
Overall: I'm not sure I need a bottle of this but the longer it was on, the nicer it smelled. I'm always torn on those kind of scents because I don't like waiting for them to hit the OOH YUM stage.
Rating: 2/5. It's just not my style, sadly.
Review #116: The Infernal Lover (LE)
Website Description: "A creamy, sensual, honeyed red musk."
In the bottle: Incense-y musk, yum!
Immediately after application: Slightly spicy musk, a hint of that incense feel.
Warming up: Softly musky.
Fading: Soft, creamy musk.
Faded: Average throw, average wear.
Overall: It might as well have been a single note red musk on me. I like musks but it just didn't do it for me.
Rating: 2/5.
Review #117: Ghoulish (LE)
Website Description: "This season's Ridiculous Scent! Creepy like Creepy and as spooky as Spooky, this is the scent of a black cherry and coconut amaretto confection gently laced with saffron."
In the bottle: Cherry and amaretto.
Immediately after application: Amaretto and I think some saffron. It's a little bitter at this point.
Warming up: Ugh, it's going plasticky.
Fading: A slightly cherry-ish scent.
Faded: No throw I can tell, fades super fast on me.
Overall: Bugger all, it should have been perfect on me :(
Rating: 0/5.
Review #118: Black Lily (GC)
Website Description: "Breathtaking darkness, a vision of grace in shadow."
In the bottle: Fresh lilies. I adore lilies, they're my favorite flower so even though I'm not normally a floral type of girl, I had to try it.
Immediately after application: Lily with a slightly powdery tinge, like the pollen falling from the stamen, and a bit of a bite.
Warming up: Slightly more powdery, a bit of spice, the astringent green bite is gone.
Fading: Powdery floral :\
Faded: Light throw, long wear.
Overall: Another of the "I thought I'd love it" based on wet stage, but it slowly but surely went powdery on me.
Rating: 1/5.
Review #119: Golletes (LE)
Website Description: "A circular pastry glazed with pink sugar that symbolizes the sweetness of life and the certainty of death."
In the bottle: Supersweet cake and icing. It smells "pink".
Immediately after application: It's less sweet cake up close on my skin but it's got some decent throw that has the sweet pink icing. It's almost bready.
Warming up: Bready has mellowed and it's sweet icing with a drop of cherry/strawberry and a touch of pastry.
Fading: Pink fruity icing.
Faded: Medium throw, lasts surprisingly long.
Overall: I don't MIND the bready scent but I hope it mellows with time because I DO plan on getting a bottle of this!
Rating: 4/5.
Review #120: Thalassa the Galapagos Mermaid (GC)
Website Description: "Seaweed, kelp, salty ocean spray, bitter almond, night-blooming jasmine, frankincense, and benzoin."
In the bottle: Lovely aquatic with a bit of a floral feel.
Immediately after application: Straight to men's cologne on me. Boo.
Warming up: Cologne.
Fading: Cologne-y aquatics.
Faded: Average to strong throw, average wear.
Overall: It smells too much like men's cologne to me and I have other aquatics I really love. Time to sell this to someone who'll give it some love.
Rating: 1/5.
Review #121: The Unsavory Grave-Diggers (LE)
Website Description: "An unearthed oakwood coffin, cemetery weeds, and a hint of booze."
In the bottle: Woodsy with a green, herbally waft.
Immediately after application: Aquatic? And green. Odd. It smells good, but nothing like I expected.
Warming up: Ah, there's a bit more of the wood. I still get the sense of aquatic and the green from the weeds note.
Fading: Still oddly aquatic.
Faded: Light throw, average wear.
Overall: This smelled much different than I expected. I was expecting a dirty scent, heavy on the wood note, possibly with a bit of a dirt note, and stronger booze notes as I didn't get ANY booze. It smelled much too clean. More proof that my chemistry does weird things.
Rating: 2/5.
Review #122: Blue Pumpkin Floss (LE)
Website Description: "Puffy clouds of pumpkin candyfloss with a trickle of blackberry juice."
In the bottle: Pumpkin pie, mmm. The oil also has a bluish tint, pretty!
Immediately after application: Cinnamonny pumpkin with a sugary sweet note in the background that must be the blackberry.
Warming up: Pumpkin pie-ish, heavy on the cinnamon, but with a light blackberry underneath.
Fading: The cinnamon tempers a bit and there's a lot more of the blackberry.
Faded: Light throw, average wear.
Overall: I LOVED it. The addition of the blackberry was a stroke of genius, it subtly blends with the spiced pumpkin and sugar and adds depth.
Rating: 4/5. Bottle!
Review #123: October 2010 (LE)
Website Description: "Dry, cold autumn wind. A rustle of red leaves, a touch of smoke and sap in the air."
In the bottle: Very true to its description. I can definitely smell leaves and smoke.
Immediately after application: Leafy with smoke and sap. It's a very organic scent.
I can see myself walking in the woods after most of the leaves have fallen and they're crunching under my feet.
Warming up: It's going cologne-y. Bah.
Fading: Yeah, it's not working. Definitely cologne vibes.
Faded: Little throw, average wear.
Overall: *cries* So many of the Weenies are gorgeous wet and then dry into horrific messes on me. Luckily I have lots that DID work, so I should probably consider it a good thing that all of them didn't work!
Rating: 1/5.
Review #124: Samhain 2010 (LE)
Website Description: "Damp woods, fir needle, and black patchouli with the gentlest touches of warm pumpkin, clove, nutmeg, allspice, sweet red apple and mullein."
In the bottle: Patchouli. Mmm, I have grown to love the lab's patch note so much.
Immediately after application: A muddled blend of scents and something is a bit play-doh-y. Let's hope that fixes itself. I want to love this blend so much.
Warming up: The notes are resolving themselves a bit after a few minutes. I'm getting patchouli, apple, buttery pumpkin, maybe a touch of the spices. Now I'm beginning to understand the love for this blend.
Fading:
Faded: Patchouli and some of the sweet notes. I still get the feel of damp woods as well.
Overall: The longer it's on, the more that unpleasant play-doh feel evaporates until it's gone and this is just amazing. In total, about 15 minutes before it was gone completely. I am more than willing to deal with that brief ick for the end result. BOTTLE!
Rating: 4/5, only because of that play-doh ick at the beginning. I expect aging will mellow that out.
Review #125: Lambs-Wool 2010 (LE)
Website Description: "A popular holy day beverage in 18th century Ireland: roasted apples mashed into warmed milk and ale, with nutmeg, sugar, ginger, and clove."
In the bottle: Apples, ale, and spices.
Immediately after application: Fresh apple, very crisp. Under that I can just make out the spices.
Warming up: Spiced apples. It still has that fresh apple scent, like I just cut a fresh-picked apple in half in the orchard and then poured spices on it. A faint sense of creaminess from the milk, no sourness on me. Surprisingly it's not overly foody.
Fading: Softly apple and a touch of spice.
Faded: Strong throw, my husband could smell it from across the room.
Overall: It smells like fall and I love it. The husband's verdict: "It smells like fall! Not that crappy potpourri, supposed to smell like fall stuff, but like being at a farmer's market." High praise indeed!
Rating: 5/5. Bottle!