CB I Hate Perfume
Some CB reviews:
Wild Honey
In vial: sharp, tangy wild honeycomb.
On skin: sharp honey. This isn't a very sweet honey but very much a wildflower honey scent, like raw honeycombs. It actually smells more like beeswax than honey, and has a musk like aspect to it. I like my honey scents to be sweeter but this one is very nice and smells authentic. It smells like what I'd imagine a hive to smell like-I haven't smelt one before (I'd be worried the bees would attack me if I did!) but this brings to mind a hive out in the country next to a meadow of wildflowers. The only problem is that like many CB scents I've tried, it's very faint on me. there are times when it reminds me of L'Occitane's honey scents, but without the sweetness.
Ocean: Mediterranean
In vial: a very gentle, sweet-salty aquatic. Rather faint.
On skin: this is very nice! It's a marine aquatic, salty and warm with a little hint of seaweed (not much), but also with a floral sweetness to it, maybe even some herbs. this is gorgeous, in fact. It definitely captures that feel of a Mediterranean beach. It is a warm sea scent, like it should be. I smell a salty sea breeze on a hot sunny day, hints of sand and suntan lotion-the floral kind, not the coconut kind-and even a little bit of a herbal scent, like the dried grasses and herbs you get in this part of the world. Maybe a touch of citrus or cologne, which also seems fitting. And the best thing about this scent? it's not turning to soap on me! one sniff of this and I'm taken back to Crete or Croatia, walking along the beach, waves lapping, wet sand between my toes, sunlight rippling on the sea, skin scented with sun lotion. As it dries, I'm so impressed at how true this scent is, though there's a hint of cologne, it really evokes transparent turquoise seas with little fishes swimming about. A very translucent and blue scent with salty watery notes. It’s a bottled summer holiday. It is a little faint, which is a shame…but it's one of the longest lasting CBs, and one of my favourites.
Opoponax
In vial: plastic and turpentine? Not the sweet resinous goodness I expected…though I detect a hint of myrrh.
On skin: holy crap, this smells like Fimo! Anyone ever craft things with Fimo clay, that came in all kinds of colours and could be baked in the oven? I get a smell of Fimo here and it brings back childhood memories of me making jewellery and 'food' for my toys and dolls. The second time I smell it, I smell myrrh resin, a slightly bitter myrrh, with a slightly turpentine-y but not unpleasant pine-like scent at the background. I also smell a hint of swimming pool to this scent. It becomes a little more woodsy-myrrh-pine as the scent dries down with a touch of chlorine, myrrh by the pool. But Fimo, dammit. It's been a while since I've used that stuff. Whilst this doesn't smell like the opoponax I expected-nothing sweet, vanilla-musky, ambery or incense-y to this like I was hoping for, this is nothing like BPAL opoponax scents, it suddenly has given me the urge to make stuff with glow in the dark fluorescent glittery modelling clay again. not sure I'd wear the perfume again though.
True Amber
In vial: a slightly 'olive-like' amber resin scent.
On skin: mmm, not bad! it still has the strange 'olive' scent I also get in Incense Classic, but apart from that, this is a good classic amber scent. very resinous-incensey, this is similar to Ava Luxe's Amber Essence, or a lighter version of Arcana's Black Amber. it also reminds me of labdanum scents, it's a rich, resinous, deep and slightly smoky amber, and not very sweet. I like it but it's not love because a) it's so faint and b) it has that vague olive oil scent that I'm not sure about. It doesn't morph, sadly, into a richer fuller amber like I hoped…it fades fast.
Jasmine Egyptian
In vial: faint, but definitely jasmine.
On skin: oh, this is gorgeous. Smells just like jasmine absolute, but softer and a little spicier, not as sweetly heady. Imagine a starry night in Egypt in a garden where jasmine scents the warm soft air. This is what this smells like. Not a heavy jasmine, more like the smell of the blooms themselves, and a hint of something dry, dusty, a little spicy to it…Egyptian desert sand maybe? This is beautiful, exotic and evocative, feminine and alluring. It's also one of the stronger CB scents when first applied…a soft aura of jasmine wafting from my skin. Like many CB scents, it is very subtle after an hour, but it lasts. This is one of the loveliest jasmine scents I've tried-it isn't bitter or sharp, it just smells like jasmine should. Even if you hate BPAL jasmine scents, give this a try!
Moroccan Spice
In vial: a faint but distinctly savoury 'spice market' smell.
On skin: mmm, cumin! That's the foremost spice here, it reminds me of Moroccan food, the stuff that's added to couscous. I also smell cinnamon and maybe some cardamom too, and possibly some saffron. It's a faint scent, which isn't a bad thing here, as it reminds me of the scent that wafts from the spice stalls of the souks in Marrakech. It also reminds me of those saffron-dyed leather slippers I got there. definitely smells Moroccan, that's for sure. But it smells very savoury-I think it's the cumin that makes it smell almost like curry but not quite…it smells more like tagine spices. And the yellow spiced couscous I ate there. It's very evocative of Morocco just as Wet Pavement London is evocative of London, but this one smells a bit too much like an exotic savoury dish for me to wear as perfume…thank goodness I don't smell the lamb that usually goes into such dishes in here! though it does turn a bit nasty on me after a while…like Moroccan food that's been thrown up, I'm afraid. There's something a bit vomity on me here, sad to say. Shame really because I liked the beginning stage of the scent!
Wet Pavement London
In vial: rain! this smells just like rain falling upon moss, bricks and soil, and pavement. Good old British weather.
On skin: holy crap, this is the smell of London after a hard rain. Damn it's accurate, spot on, it's uncanny. Though there's not much of the pollution, this smells like gardens and parks, greenery and soil, and moss…I smell the green moss that grows on the bricks of houses. And I smell stone and concrete and a little cement dust as well, damp woods, fallen leaves and such…how on earth does he do that? It smells like rain, stone, concrete, dirt and grass, just a hint of the scent of the city itself, the streets and buildings, and the parks and gardens…and the great thing is that the rain note doesn't turn to soap, and it smells unusually wearable. The rain scent turns a little perfumey at one point, which is nice and makes this even more wearable, and I smell more moss and concrete at drydown as well (which smells nicer than it sounds). But I'm a little taken aback at how much this smells like London in the rain, without any of the more icky smells, when just applied. Absolutely amazing!
Revelation
In vial: fresh fig leaves! I had a fig tree in the garden before and this is the slightly milky-green smell of a fig when it is pulled off the tree, combined with the greenness of the leaves.
On skin: green and milky and figgy! This reminds me of BPAL Eden, but not as sharply green and without the sweet honey-coconut drydown. This is softer, but the fig leaf quality is very similar. It's like walking through a fig grove. There's also honey in here which adds a golden warmth, I smell fig fruits, woods and even a hint of sticky, musky labdanum. Over time I get hints of spice and incense and the honey strengthens as well. This is a wonderful scent and very evocative of the Mediterranean landscape, of Greece in particular. It reminds me of that road in Crete lined with fig trees where I could pick the fruit which was ripe and bursting with flavour. Green and warm and rich and outdoorsy, it really does capture a wild fig tree on a summer's afternoon. If you like BPAL Eden, try this-it is a lovely variation on the same figgy theme. Another thing I like about this one is that it has a lot of throw and lasts a long time, and my skin tends to eat CB scents.