BPAL Reviews
I'm not much of a girlie-girl, but I do love perfume. I don't have much perfume because I rarely find one that I love enough to remember to wear or is affordable. I did have a thing for Tuscany Per Donna by Estee Lauder, but it's freaking expensive. And I still have a good supply of Love Spell by Victoria's Secret that I really enjoy too, but I'm bored easily and don't want to wear the same thing every day. So when the flist around here started talking about BPAL it really appealed to me. And after visiting the site it was a foregone conclusion I would be trying it. Try I have.
I've been meaning to get these reviews up for a while (told elishavah I'd do it a couple weeks ago), but I'm slow with this kind of thing--especially when my reviews pile up. I've tested quite a few scents and many of them worked pretty well. Considering my plethora of allergies and hive triggers, I was tickled to have as many work as they did.
I tend to be drawn to clean, fruity, aquatic, or tea scents. Musks don't work well that often, and I'm not terribly flowery, so overly flowery scents I don't enjoy much.
Tempest: A crisp ozone-tinged breeze. The scent of the first gentle rain before the storm.
In the imp: In my mind, it brings up dark blue and green swirls. I can smell a layer of something citrus under that cooling humidity post rain smell.
Wet: Smells like rain-cool and a steely, blue green color. Very light. I think I smell some orange under there. Like it very much right now.
Drydown: Very watery, very clean. A little soapy, but a soap I would like to use. Also, the citrus is gone now, and replaced with white floral scent. Not over sweet, but fresh. After several hours I can still smell faint traces of it.
I don't know that I'd get a bottle of it, but I will definitely go through the imp.
Embalming Fluid: A light, pure scent: white musk, green tea, aloe and lemon.
In the imp: The tea and musk give this a bit of a piney scent with some good bright lemon shot through. It also had something in it that reminded me of a type of insense used at my church when I was a kid.
Wet: Light and lemony but not like cleaner.
Dry down: Light citrus still smelling like church insense. Not bad at all, and lasts about half the day. Very light and unobtrusive.
Think I'll use it on occasion, but it's probably not a big bottle purchase.
Undertow: The Dark Side of Water: clean and purifying, yet menacing -- lotus and juniper with a hint of mint. A scent dragged up from the depths to the Stygian shore.
In the imp: Mint chocolate chip ice-cream...mmmmm....
Wet: Lots of juniper. Still has a creamy mint base but the juniper definitely is dominant.
Drydown: Very clear, yet creamy (I'm going to assume that's the lotus because I don't know that I've ever smelled lotus on it's own enough times to have it for recall). It's the kind of scent you wish you could lick to taste it. I really like the level of cool mint.
I suspect I'll wear it occasionally, but I don't see a larger bottle of it in my future.
Dirty: A wonderful antidote to an all-nighter oozing with drunken, addled perversion and debauchery. A fresh, crisp white linen scent: perfectly clean, perfectly breezy.
In the imp: Sweet-tart mixed with laundry detergent (the fresh smelling kind-not the soapy kind). Don't know that I'd want to eat that combo, but the smell is is both comforting and refreshing.
Wet: It still smells like candy (like many of the fresh scents seem to turn to eventually). Not unappealing, just not wowed (like I am with Lolita).
Drydown: Wore off within a few hours so that I couldn't smell anything (nor could the handful of friends I asked to take a whiff of me). A nice scent, but I'd rather have something that stuck around longer.
Dorian: Refined, elegant, and lovely, with a noble bearing and seemingly gentle air. This blend is an artful deception: a sweet gilded blossom lying over a twisted and corrupted core. A Victorian fougere with three pale musks and dark, sugared vanilla tea.
I had heard so many good things about Dorian that I was really looking forward to trying it. Got my wish fairly quickly in my imp gathering, so I was psyched.
In the imp: A smokey sweet vanilla
Wet: Warm on the skin and creamy smelling
Dry down: More musk now over the vanilla and already becoming faint--white and powdery sweet. Not long before I began to itch and the headache kicked in. Washed it off and put into the future swap pile.
Lolita: Bright, sweet and youthful, but swelling with a poisonous sexuality. Glittering heliotrope, honeysuckle, orange blossom and lemon verbena.
Oh, Lolita, how I love thee!
In the imp Lolita is a sweet haze of wet fruity candy. Once it is on, it lightens up and evens out so that I smell like pixie stix, which I'm surprised I really really like. Lolita is the only scent so far that actually improves my mood just by wearing it. I feel upbeat and pretty happy. The funny thing is that I'm not remotely a candy person anymore, but I did like it as a kid, and I think this has a good association for me. This might be an anti-depressant this winter. I plan on getting myself a nice big bottle...winters are long.
Bewitched: Deep, luscious green and berry scents that evoke images of woodland witchcraft and the raw power of nature: blackberry, sage, green tea, wild berries and dark musk.
I had to try this twice because the first time it gave me a slight headache. I'm glad I did.
In the imp: It reminded me of a Christmas candle. Definitely green-evergreen and smokey with ripe purple berries.
Wet: The evergreen is prominent but the berries are pushing their way up.
Drydown: A drier, lighter scent--more berry now, not at all over-powering. Still reminds me of a candle, but not as much as before. Now it's wet, sugary berries with a lovely undercurrent of the tea which is coming out and keeps the berry smell from getting out of hand. It's lasting a good long time now, with no headache to be had.
I think it makes a wonderful fall/winter scent and I plan to use it often in the next couple months.
Ultraviolet: Electrifying, mechanized and chilly -- the scent of crushed blooms strewn on cold metal. Lush violet and neroli spiked hard with eucalyptus and a sliver of mint.
In the imp: It's all mint candies-I wanted to eat it when I first smelled it in the imp. Fresh, sharp and sweet.
Wet: It smells a bit funny-reminds me of moulering dried flowers in a hospital. Not horribly appetizing.
Drydown: Actually smells wonderful after a couple of hours-a light flowery scent with just enough mint undertone to keep it from being too sweet.
The Lion: The dry, glorious warmth of the Savannah. A golden, spiced amber, proud, regal and ferocious. (this one was a frimp)
In the imp: Spiced cake. Dry though.
Wet: Smells like spiced apple potpourri but less overpowering. A bit musky but relatively light.
Drydown: The longer I wore it, the stronger it seemed to get. It definitely made my nose itch. had to wash it off about an hour after application
Envy: Green herbs slithering through mint, lime and lavender.
In the imp: Butter mint. minty green-a little like mouthwash
Wet: I smelled like a newly printed dollar bill for a couple of minutes. Which, for me, working in print, isn't a bad thing.
Drydown: Didn't last more than an hour. Before I knew it, there was nothing left to smell.
Aizen-Myoo: Yuzu, kaki, and mikan with cherry blossom and black tea.
In the imp: fizzy alcoholic shirley temple or an umbrella drink lite. Sort of light and airy, spicy sweet. Very uplifting, pale golden with streaks of pale pink
Wet: Still fruity and light...bubbly. Almost like champagne soaked fruit.
Drydown: There's a hint of something that smells a bit like carmel hiding in there. It's very light now, but plesantly so. Still smells fruity, but faint. Only lasts a couple of hours tops.
Shanghai: The crisp, clean scent of green tea touched with lemon verbena and honeysuckle.
In the imp: This one reminds me of Tuscany Per Donna -sweet & lightly spicy
Wet: The tea is definitely the dominant scent. The spiciness lays down quickly but gives a good base to the tea.
Drydown: Wet teabag as it just comes out of the water from steeping. I do like it. It's a little strong, but not in a hugely bad way--like strong tea, not strong perfume. I smell like tea with some extra spicyness-but light and sophisticated. Lasts all day.
Dublin: The scent of misty forests, damp alder leaf, and the gentlest touch of white rose. (wearing it right now)
In the imp: musky pine-a little like Bewitched but without the strong berries. A little alcohol sharpness
Wet: a bit like walking through the woods after a rain.
Drydown: Dries down to a lighter version of Bewitched with a hint of more flower and woods than berry.
So that's it for reviews. Oh, I did have my husband try Villain, and he smelled great in it. So that was a keeper. And I bought my gardenia-loving mother an imp of Euphrosyne that she immediately adored and worked really well on her. There are a few scents I didn't even test because I couldn't get past the smell in the imp. If there's anyone reading this who also does the BPAl thing, I've got a short list of imps to swap (and I'll probably post to the forum and elsewhere on LJ). They are:
The Lion (tested once)
Dirty x2 (1 unopened, 1 top of label)
Envy (tested once)
Muse (unopened)
Zephyr (top of label)
Dorian (decant-full)
And I could probably be talked out of keeping Undertow, Ultraviolet, Dublin, and/or Tempest.
Here's my wishlist on the BPAL forum if you want to know what I'm looking for. Yes, it is a different handle, but I assure you it's me (again with the bored easily thing and I'm really only scapeartist for scifi related things if I can help it). :)
Looking forward to getting imps of the Pumpkin Patch LE's and I'm toying with the idea of buying a bottle of Mid Winter's Eve 2005 from this year's Yule scents.
It's not like I needed another money suck, but at least I'll smell good when I'm broke and living out of a box. ;)
I've been meaning to get these reviews up for a while (told elishavah I'd do it a couple weeks ago), but I'm slow with this kind of thing--especially when my reviews pile up. I've tested quite a few scents and many of them worked pretty well. Considering my plethora of allergies and hive triggers, I was tickled to have as many work as they did.
I tend to be drawn to clean, fruity, aquatic, or tea scents. Musks don't work well that often, and I'm not terribly flowery, so overly flowery scents I don't enjoy much.
Tempest: A crisp ozone-tinged breeze. The scent of the first gentle rain before the storm.
In the imp: In my mind, it brings up dark blue and green swirls. I can smell a layer of something citrus under that cooling humidity post rain smell.
Wet: Smells like rain-cool and a steely, blue green color. Very light. I think I smell some orange under there. Like it very much right now.
Drydown: Very watery, very clean. A little soapy, but a soap I would like to use. Also, the citrus is gone now, and replaced with white floral scent. Not over sweet, but fresh. After several hours I can still smell faint traces of it.
I don't know that I'd get a bottle of it, but I will definitely go through the imp.
Embalming Fluid: A light, pure scent: white musk, green tea, aloe and lemon.
In the imp: The tea and musk give this a bit of a piney scent with some good bright lemon shot through. It also had something in it that reminded me of a type of insense used at my church when I was a kid.
Wet: Light and lemony but not like cleaner.
Dry down: Light citrus still smelling like church insense. Not bad at all, and lasts about half the day. Very light and unobtrusive.
Think I'll use it on occasion, but it's probably not a big bottle purchase.
Undertow: The Dark Side of Water: clean and purifying, yet menacing -- lotus and juniper with a hint of mint. A scent dragged up from the depths to the Stygian shore.
In the imp: Mint chocolate chip ice-cream...mmmmm....
Wet: Lots of juniper. Still has a creamy mint base but the juniper definitely is dominant.
Drydown: Very clear, yet creamy (I'm going to assume that's the lotus because I don't know that I've ever smelled lotus on it's own enough times to have it for recall). It's the kind of scent you wish you could lick to taste it. I really like the level of cool mint.
I suspect I'll wear it occasionally, but I don't see a larger bottle of it in my future.
Dirty: A wonderful antidote to an all-nighter oozing with drunken, addled perversion and debauchery. A fresh, crisp white linen scent: perfectly clean, perfectly breezy.
In the imp: Sweet-tart mixed with laundry detergent (the fresh smelling kind-not the soapy kind). Don't know that I'd want to eat that combo, but the smell is is both comforting and refreshing.
Wet: It still smells like candy (like many of the fresh scents seem to turn to eventually). Not unappealing, just not wowed (like I am with Lolita).
Drydown: Wore off within a few hours so that I couldn't smell anything (nor could the handful of friends I asked to take a whiff of me). A nice scent, but I'd rather have something that stuck around longer.
Dorian: Refined, elegant, and lovely, with a noble bearing and seemingly gentle air. This blend is an artful deception: a sweet gilded blossom lying over a twisted and corrupted core. A Victorian fougere with three pale musks and dark, sugared vanilla tea.
I had heard so many good things about Dorian that I was really looking forward to trying it. Got my wish fairly quickly in my imp gathering, so I was psyched.
In the imp: A smokey sweet vanilla
Wet: Warm on the skin and creamy smelling
Dry down: More musk now over the vanilla and already becoming faint--white and powdery sweet. Not long before I began to itch and the headache kicked in. Washed it off and put into the future swap pile.
Lolita: Bright, sweet and youthful, but swelling with a poisonous sexuality. Glittering heliotrope, honeysuckle, orange blossom and lemon verbena.
Oh, Lolita, how I love thee!
In the imp Lolita is a sweet haze of wet fruity candy. Once it is on, it lightens up and evens out so that I smell like pixie stix, which I'm surprised I really really like. Lolita is the only scent so far that actually improves my mood just by wearing it. I feel upbeat and pretty happy. The funny thing is that I'm not remotely a candy person anymore, but I did like it as a kid, and I think this has a good association for me. This might be an anti-depressant this winter. I plan on getting myself a nice big bottle...winters are long.
Bewitched: Deep, luscious green and berry scents that evoke images of woodland witchcraft and the raw power of nature: blackberry, sage, green tea, wild berries and dark musk.
I had to try this twice because the first time it gave me a slight headache. I'm glad I did.
In the imp: It reminded me of a Christmas candle. Definitely green-evergreen and smokey with ripe purple berries.
Wet: The evergreen is prominent but the berries are pushing their way up.
Drydown: A drier, lighter scent--more berry now, not at all over-powering. Still reminds me of a candle, but not as much as before. Now it's wet, sugary berries with a lovely undercurrent of the tea which is coming out and keeps the berry smell from getting out of hand. It's lasting a good long time now, with no headache to be had.
I think it makes a wonderful fall/winter scent and I plan to use it often in the next couple months.
Ultraviolet: Electrifying, mechanized and chilly -- the scent of crushed blooms strewn on cold metal. Lush violet and neroli spiked hard with eucalyptus and a sliver of mint.
In the imp: It's all mint candies-I wanted to eat it when I first smelled it in the imp. Fresh, sharp and sweet.
Wet: It smells a bit funny-reminds me of moulering dried flowers in a hospital. Not horribly appetizing.
Drydown: Actually smells wonderful after a couple of hours-a light flowery scent with just enough mint undertone to keep it from being too sweet.
The Lion: The dry, glorious warmth of the Savannah. A golden, spiced amber, proud, regal and ferocious. (this one was a frimp)
In the imp: Spiced cake. Dry though.
Wet: Smells like spiced apple potpourri but less overpowering. A bit musky but relatively light.
Drydown: The longer I wore it, the stronger it seemed to get. It definitely made my nose itch. had to wash it off about an hour after application
Envy: Green herbs slithering through mint, lime and lavender.
In the imp: Butter mint. minty green-a little like mouthwash
Wet: I smelled like a newly printed dollar bill for a couple of minutes. Which, for me, working in print, isn't a bad thing.
Drydown: Didn't last more than an hour. Before I knew it, there was nothing left to smell.
Aizen-Myoo: Yuzu, kaki, and mikan with cherry blossom and black tea.
In the imp: fizzy alcoholic shirley temple or an umbrella drink lite. Sort of light and airy, spicy sweet. Very uplifting, pale golden with streaks of pale pink
Wet: Still fruity and light...bubbly. Almost like champagne soaked fruit.
Drydown: There's a hint of something that smells a bit like carmel hiding in there. It's very light now, but plesantly so. Still smells fruity, but faint. Only lasts a couple of hours tops.
Shanghai: The crisp, clean scent of green tea touched with lemon verbena and honeysuckle.
In the imp: This one reminds me of Tuscany Per Donna -sweet & lightly spicy
Wet: The tea is definitely the dominant scent. The spiciness lays down quickly but gives a good base to the tea.
Drydown: Wet teabag as it just comes out of the water from steeping. I do like it. It's a little strong, but not in a hugely bad way--like strong tea, not strong perfume. I smell like tea with some extra spicyness-but light and sophisticated. Lasts all day.
Dublin: The scent of misty forests, damp alder leaf, and the gentlest touch of white rose. (wearing it right now)
In the imp: musky pine-a little like Bewitched but without the strong berries. A little alcohol sharpness
Wet: a bit like walking through the woods after a rain.
Drydown: Dries down to a lighter version of Bewitched with a hint of more flower and woods than berry.
So that's it for reviews. Oh, I did have my husband try Villain, and he smelled great in it. So that was a keeper. And I bought my gardenia-loving mother an imp of Euphrosyne that she immediately adored and worked really well on her. There are a few scents I didn't even test because I couldn't get past the smell in the imp. If there's anyone reading this who also does the BPAl thing, I've got a short list of imps to swap (and I'll probably post to the forum and elsewhere on LJ). They are:
The Lion (tested once)
Dirty x2 (1 unopened, 1 top of label)
Envy (tested once)
Muse (unopened)
Zephyr (top of label)
Dorian (decant-full)
And I could probably be talked out of keeping Undertow, Ultraviolet, Dublin, and/or Tempest.
Here's my wishlist on the BPAL forum if you want to know what I'm looking for. Yes, it is a different handle, but I assure you it's me (again with the bored easily thing and I'm really only scapeartist for scifi related things if I can help it). :)
Looking forward to getting imps of the Pumpkin Patch LE's and I'm toying with the idea of buying a bottle of Mid Winter's Eve 2005 from this year's Yule scents.
It's not like I needed another money suck, but at least I'll smell good when I'm broke and living out of a box. ;)