BPAL: Impapalooza
The Frimps:
DRAGON’S BONE (Ars Draconis): (Company says: The dry, thin scent of a draconic ossuary. Dragon’s blood resin with white sandalwood, dusty orris and crisp blondewood.)
In bottle: Mostly dragon’s blood with the orris giving it a violet root depth. The woods are a soft support. No skin test due to orris.
EVIL (Ars Draconis): (Company says: Smouldering opium tar, tobacco absolute, green tea, black plum, kush, ambergris accord, ambrette seed, and costus root.).
In bottle: Thickly sexy. Opium, ambrette, tobacco, ambergris, and kush combine to make a richly sexual dominant scent. Of these, the kush is comparatively soft. Both the costus and the plum are understated and more accents than scents on their own account. The green tea ties everything together beautifully. Wet: More plum on the skin as it moves to the strongest rant, just under the opium and ambergris. I’d put green tea and tobacco as strong thirds with the rest in support. It’s lovely and a dangerous sort of sexy. Dry: Oh my God! This is gorgeous on the dry down, with a spicy incense sort of feel to it. Opium, tobacco, and kush have the most staying power it turns out, with ambrette, ambergris, and costus maintaining a noticeable presence.
GRAND GUIGNOL (Bewitching Brews): (Company says: Our Grand Guignol perfume is a shot of sweet apricot brandy; just enough to settle your nerves after a ghoulish, gory brush with the macabre.)
In bottle: It’s slightly candied, boozy apricot, rather than the bright fresh glory of the lost march hare. It’s a whole lot more sugary really. Wet: apricot dominant. Still sweeter than the pure apricot note, the booze comes out more. Less cloying than in the bottle and more dangerous smelling, as my natural musk mingles with the apricot brandy. While I like the lost fresh apricot note better than this brandy apricot note, the brandy version is interesting enough in it’s own right. Dry: It’s a little weird on the dry down, a little artificial and fusty while stille seemingly like apricot brandy. It’s warable, but not quite right on me.
INDEPENDENT 2008 (Forum Only: Election Day):
In bottle: Wow, that’s a lot of champagne. It’s got some citrus too, so maybe champagne and oranges? It certainly smells like celebration, effervescent, sparkly, upbeat, and sunny. It’s lovely, but my skin it terrible with champagne notes, so I’m not skin testing.
RAGE (Diabolus, discontinued): (Company says: 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 bottle: It’s definitely volcanic. In order of strongest to weakest: Ashy, parched amber and dragon’s blood dominant with the fruits next and a touch of floral. The volcanic elements are disconcerting with the bright luscness of the fruit. No skin test for several elements.
URANIA (The Muses: Astrology & Astronomy, discontinued): (Company says: Moonflower, Moroccan jasmine, benzoin, white musk, iris, moss and a flash of ozone.)
In bottle: Mostly pale, delicate flowers, with a kiss of benzoin for body, a flash of green moss, a touch of musk for sexiness, and a faint whiff of ozone. Wet: stronger on the skin and quite lovely. The Moonflower is rich and glorious, with the iris a strong second. The jasmine and musk are understated, adding a touch of sensuality to an otherwise ethereal blend. The moss is gentle and well blended, a green cushion on which to display the jewels that are the flowers. The ozone is more accent than a separate scent to give extra airiness to the flowers. Dry: As it wears, the moss and ozone get stronger and the flowers fade, which turns out to be rather unfortunate when combined with my skin chemistry.
Ordered:
BEAVER MOON 2011 (LE, Lunacy): (Company says: Lavender honey cheesecake.)
In bottle: Oh my God! It really does smell exactly like Lavender honey cheesecake. The cheesecake is dominant with honey a close second, and lavender a slightly weaker third, but really, they are all strong and distinct, yet work together well. Wet: The note reverse order on the skin with lavender strongest, honey in the middle, and the cheesecake drawing up the rear, noticeably weaker than the other two. The effect is really a lavender scent with a sweet, vaguely foody undercoat. I’m just fine with that as I love lavender and this blend is unusual for lavender scents. Dry: The cheesecake comes back as the honey fades. The result is still lavender dominant, but more balanced. I’m thinking this is cleverly constructed to allow the honey and cheesecake to cover for each other during their weak phases. This is genuinely lovely, and as someone who makes a lot of lavender backed goods, this is incredibly pleasing.
GOBLIN CIDER (Labyrinth): (Company says: A dark, earthy ginger cider.)
In bottle: oooo! I wish this were a real beverage! It does indeed smell like ginger cider. It’s fizzy real ginger beer scent about coequal with a hard cider scent. Wet: The ginger is now stronger and the cider less alcoholic. There is still fizz, but it’s more understated. Let’s call this mildly carbonated ginger beer with a touch of apple. This is the best the fizz note has ever done on my skin and paring it with ginger is pure genius. The ginger and apple play really well together. Omnomnom. Dry: mostly ginger with hints of apple and fizz.
GHOUL HOOLIGAN 2010 (LE, Underworld Cup): (Company says: The smell of smashed gourds and seventeen-thousand football-frenzied ghouls tanked up on Kadathian Spiced Black Tar Cacao Lager.)
In Bottle: Unaccountably wonderful in the bottle. I love the spices with the cacao. The lager turns out to be a pleasant grainy note rather than nasty beer on skin as I was worried it might be. The gourds are crisp and go surprisingly well with both spices and cacao. Wet: Eve better on my skin, the dominant spices and cacao are rich and wicked, the grain and gourds are soft and well blended. I’d call the spices cinnamon dominant, with a mix of pumpkin pie spices, likely a little clove and nutmeg. Basically, this is very Mexican hot chocolate, which is fine by me. Dry: Mostly cinnamon with a touch of grain.
JARETH (Labyrinth): (Company says: Ethereal lilac fougere and gleaming leather with ti leaf, tonka absolute, white musk, and oudh.)
In bottle: It’s pale lilac and fern colored sort of scent. It really does feel like Jareth looks. Call it lilac fougere dominant, with ti leaf a strong second. It’s one of the softer leather scents leading a coalition of white musk, oudh, and tonka 9listed strongest to softest). It’s well blended and balanced, ethereal and more than a little wicked. It’s a bit softer than I’d hoped, but lovely. Wet: Still fougere dominant, but the oudh makes it’s move to a strong second, taking ti leaf as strong support. Then.it warms a little further and the leather asserts itself strongly overtaking everything to be co-equal with the lilac fougere. It’s quite the morpher. This is what I’d consider a mid-level leather, with some of the sharp, chemical edge that characterizes black leather, but nowhere near as strong, and some of the softer more supple feel of the gentler leather notes in the catalog. Best not to try this one if you don’t like the stronger leather notes, though in this blend it’s toned down enough to play really well with the delicate notes that make up this blend. Dry: Leather dominant, with quite a bit of musk. A touch of fougere and tonka lingering.
HOGGLE (Labyrinth): (Company says: Fermented pumpkin, brown leather, dust, tobacco leaf, and dark woods.)
In bottle: This is rather intense. That is definitely fermented pumpkin, and strongly dominant. With the other elements, it’s very much a dark brown scent. It’s beautifully blended with tobacco, leather, and woods providing excellent support. (Listed strongest to weakest. The dust is soft, but distinct, tying it all together further. The edges all blend together. It also smells strongly brown sugar. The brown leather here is worn and soft and lacks the chemical edge in many crisper leather blends, so this may work for folks who have trouble with black leather and other stronger versions. Fermented pumpkin and brown sugar dominant as in the bottle. This is an uncomfortable scent though not as uncomfortable as, say, smashed pumpkin. The support is still there, but now instead of blurred edges, they are so folded together that it takes work to separate them in my nose. Dry: Mostly Fermented pumpkin with a touch of leather and tobacco.
NGIFR6 2011 (LE, Event Exclusive Oils):
In bottle: (Note bene, my sample size is very small, being a sniffie from a trade). It is softly spicy over sweet resins. It is bright and delicate. It is very slightly cinnamon roll, without going all the way over to foody. It feels like a very summer afternoon in my mother’s kitchen with the light pouring in the wall of windows and dough rising in the sun. I am having a hard time identifying the resins though they are familiar, and there is a metallic edge to it, through I’m not remembering which one makes that smell. (I know it’s not iron or silver, which are heavily represented in my collection. Gold, maybe?) Anyway think, warm, shiny, spicy. Wet: slightly weird on my skin. I’m loving the metallic and resins, which really blossom on my skin. The cinnamon and clove dominant spices are comparatively softer, but work beautifully with the warmth of the resins and the metallic sparkle. This is subtle, with not a lot of throw, but quietly dazzling. Dry: the resins plus clove go a touch plastic, but in a surprisingly attractive way, like a Barbie head just out of the package. It wears liong, though remains soft. It really does end up mostly clove plus incense. It remains deeply alluring. I’m rather sorry I hadn’t a larger sample for slathering.
SHILL 2005 (LE, Carnival Noir): (Company says: Gloriously innocent and guileless: pure buttered popcorn!)
In bottle: Yep, buttered popcorn. It may be a touch rancid. Wet: Salty buttered popcorn. Not rancid on the skin, luckily. I am not sure I want to smell like a movie theater, though it certainly smells really good. As it warms, the corn actually comes out further, which gets really interesting with the butter, which gets more natural and less accordlike in scent. Dry: A bit scorched on the dry down. I’m not sure if I want to go around smelling like this, but I’m not sorry I got to sample it.
TANUKI NO DÔKE DARUMA 2011 (LE, Pon poko pon no pon): (Company says:
Red currant, champaca flower, apple blossom and apple pulp, goma, tomato leaf, and brown grasses.)
In bottle: I’m goin to call this apple dominant with the blossom supporting the pulp. The red current and champaca are gentle support to the apple notes. The tomato leaf is softer than I’d hoped, but gives a sharper greener edge to the otherwise gentle fruit and floral blend. The brown grasses are giving the tomato leaf very understated support. Goma appears to be a sesame dumpling, and if I’m guessing right which element it is, it’s very understated and mostly serving to tie the other elements together. Wet: Still strongly apple dominant. The red current is stronger and brighter than it was, but still supporting apple pulp. As the tomato leaf and brown grasses come into their own, there is a more outdoorsy than foody feel to it. This is really well blended and utterly lovely as a whole, though I think the apple blossom and champaca tip it a little too far into the florals for my comfort. Dry: Fast fading into soft red current and champaca.
TANUKI NO HIKIFUNE 2011 (LE, Pon poko pon no pon): (Company says: Honeydew, honey, and sparkling golden-green musk.)
In bottle: This really oes smell strongly of honeydew, more consentrated than in an actual melon, but it feels authentic. The honey is next strongest, with the soft green musk blending beautifully with the honey dew. Wet: It’s still strongly honey dew dominant and with the honey support is making me think of some of the honeydew based treats they sell at the Asian market. This really is all about the melon, with the other notes a delicate setting for the jewel. Dry: The honeydew fades down to a ghost, breaking down into some lovely accord components that last longer than the others, but the honey and musk are lovely with what’s less. Delicious with more staying power than I expected, though it doesn’t survive as honeydew per se.
TANUKI NO SENKIMOCHI 2011 (LE, Pon poko pon no pon): (Company says: Anise seed, furry brown musk, cypress sap, myrrh, and smoky woods.
In bottle: I’m calling this smoky wood dominant. The anise and musk are second in strength, with sap and myrrh as a strong third rank. It’s well blended and unusual, feral and sly. Wet: A bit more myrrh and sap on the skin. I’d now call it smoky wood and sap dominant, with musk a strong third. The anise seed gives it edge, and the myrrh ties things together. All elements are strong and retain individual character within the whole. Dry: Anise, musk, and myrrh end up strongest as they fade the least. I can still pick up woods and a hint of sap. It works, but is less interesting.
TANUKI NO YÛDACHI 2011 (LE, Pon poko pon no pon): (Company says: Lilium speciosum, rice wine, white grapefruit, lotus root, bourbon vanilla, and vanilla orchid.
In bottle: lily dominant. It’s a rich unusual lily, with grapefruit, lotus, and orchid providing strong cleverly designed support. The rice wine is understated. The bourbon vanilla blends well with the orchid in particular, but smoothes things out and ties them together, like paper around a bouquet. Wet: More grapefruit than in the bottle, still doing gorgeous things with that Japanese lily. Orchid is still providing lovely support. Lotu is more understated on the skin. The balance is different, but it’s still absolutely stunning and possibly even better than in the bottle. Dry: The florals and the vanilla have the most staying power, which turns out to be lushly gorgeous .with lotus in support
Winners: Beaver moon 2011
Runners Up: NGIFR6, Ghoul Hooligan