BPAL Review: Dark Chocolate, Fig, and Tamarind
My BPAL Lupercalia 2011 "Box of Chocolates" arrived last night, and I began testing today with Dark Chocolate, Fig and Tamarind. I am inordinately proud of the fact that I have the first review of this on bpal.org.
Anyway, I thought I'd reprint it here:
I usually don't order bottles unsniffed. I made an exception here--I'm a sucker for chocolates.
In the bottle: This appears to be a clear to light amber oil (hard to tell with these new-fangled wand caps). The notes are all present and accounted for here: chocolate, an orange-y citrus (that's the tamarind, I take it), and in the background, the fig. It's like Vice and Nemesis had a baby!
On skin, wet: Interestingly, there appear to be small solid bits that smear when I apply them to my skin. The color of them is the reddish brown of tamarind paste, so maybe that's related. Right away, the tamarind note flies away like citrus usually does on my skin, leaving the fig and chocolate to fight it out. One minute the fig seems more dominant; the next, the chocolate overpowers it. I do wish this had more throw--I actually went back and applied more, which I rarely do.
Drydown: This has dried down to a well-blended figgy chocolate that I'm moderately pleased with.
Verdict: I like this well enough, but maybe I was hoping for something a touch more exotic and maybe headier--this one does exactly what it says on the tin. I have plenty of fig and chocolate scents already, after all. I'll give this one a 3 out of 5.
I also got some promising frimps (free samples)--Rangoon Riptide and Blue Fire from the new-ish Atomic Luau Lounge collection, for example. Looking forward to trying those out!
Anyway, I thought I'd reprint it here:
I usually don't order bottles unsniffed. I made an exception here--I'm a sucker for chocolates.
In the bottle: This appears to be a clear to light amber oil (hard to tell with these new-fangled wand caps). The notes are all present and accounted for here: chocolate, an orange-y citrus (that's the tamarind, I take it), and in the background, the fig. It's like Vice and Nemesis had a baby!
On skin, wet: Interestingly, there appear to be small solid bits that smear when I apply them to my skin. The color of them is the reddish brown of tamarind paste, so maybe that's related. Right away, the tamarind note flies away like citrus usually does on my skin, leaving the fig and chocolate to fight it out. One minute the fig seems more dominant; the next, the chocolate overpowers it. I do wish this had more throw--I actually went back and applied more, which I rarely do.
Drydown: This has dried down to a well-blended figgy chocolate that I'm moderately pleased with.
Verdict: I like this well enough, but maybe I was hoping for something a touch more exotic and maybe headier--this one does exactly what it says on the tin. I have plenty of fig and chocolate scents already, after all. I'll give this one a 3 out of 5.
I also got some promising frimps (free samples)--Rangoon Riptide and Blue Fire from the new-ish Atomic Luau Lounge collection, for example. Looking forward to trying those out!