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juushikaMACHU PICCHU (GC, Wanderlust)
Sweet tropical fruits burst through deep, wet rainforest boughs, enormous steamy blossoms, over thin mountaintop breezes, mingled with the soft, rich golden scent of Peruvian amber.
In the vial: Tropical, but darker than just fruits or florals.
On me: It goes on perfumey—the airiness of the breezes combine with the fruits and florals for a department store, spray-on scent. Thankfully, it loses that perfumey quality on drydown. What emerges is dark tropical fruits, familiar insofar as it fits nicely into BPAL's catalog of tropical scents, but its darkness makes it unique. It's not quite greenery, but rather the shadows cast by jungle branches: depth, darkness, almost like cocoa without being too similar to Xiuhtecuhtli, cutting the airiness and brightness of the tropical fruits and flowers. The scent is still quite sweet, but not cloying or sharp. I don't get much amber in its own right, but it may contribute to the general well-roundedness of the scent. Scent-color is a dusky, dark pink. Throw is fairly low, but that may be because I applied very little. Wearlength is moderate long.
Verdict: To my great surprise, I rather like this. Tropicals aren't my style, but this one is—well, not exactly toned down, but smooth, round, shaded. It's a very full scent without being overpowering, its sweetness makes it palatable, and its dark tropics have great individuality. I still don't think it's a scent I would wear, in the end, because however lovely it's still not my style. But it's an interesting one to try. (On the other hand, I also tried this many years ago, as a frimp to my first BPAL order, but didn't review it at the time. If I remember correctly, it was brighter and more generic tropical fruity floral to my untrained nose, and I had no particular love for it.)
GRANDMOTHER OF GHOSTS (GC, Excolo)
Mania, Roman Goddess of the Dead, Matron of Madness, Governess of the Ancestral Spirits, Bestower of Divine Frenzy. Her scent swirls with a high-pitched tumult of laurel, stargazer lily, splintered woods, peony, mandarin and white musk, and is spiked with pale pepper.
In the vial: Thin, white, powdery—almost an absence of scent.
On me: The lily is predominant when first applied, but then some warmth comes up behind it—a powdery sort of warmth, white musk and white pepper and maybe just a touch of mandarin, with woods providing a little body. It's a thin scent, a barely sweet, clean floral sprinkled with white powder; there are occasional spikes, the pale spiciness and phantom heat of white pepper, which keep it from tending towards baby powder. As it wears, pepper becomes predominant, atop lily, touched with white musk. All in all a pale floral, but without the airiness or fleshiness that I usually associate with that scent family. Scent-color is opaque white. Throw is moderately low.
Verdict: Grandmother of Ghosts is much better than I expected—I'm not a fan of most florals, but the other notes keep the lily dry rather than oppressive, and the scent's pale whiteness is elusive but gently intriguing. Nonetheless, this is far from my style and I find the scent's overall inaccessability (a more more than subtle, a little too ghostly) somewhat offputting. I'll trade this away.
BLOCK BUSTER (GC, Bewitching Brews: Conjure Bag)
Used to open up options in your life, overcome obstacles, and create opportunities. This blend increases your potential for success, inspires creativity and quick thinking, and helps you to be more flexible, adaptable and open to change.
In the vial: A sweet fruit—I feel like I should be able to name it, but can't.
On me: The fruit gets fuller and riper—almost to the point of overripe fermentation—on application. There's some apple in there, but I think there's other fruit(s) that I don't find as easy to recognize; all in all, a pinky-red golden full scent with just a touch of cinnamon, more in powdery texture than explicit scent. During drydown the cinnamon amps—there's clove in there too, and maybe some patchouli; it's darker than I was expecting, and continues to amp until it becomes a dry, potent, dark, warm spice over the memory of a ripe red apple. It's not sweet, too pure-spice to be foody, bold but absolutely lovely if you want to curl up in some spice. A few hours into wear, however, the fruits reemerge and grow dominant—apple, and perhaps some peach, almost overripe, making for a seasonally-inclined scent which I find much less appealing. This scent is potent, with a strong throw and long wear length, so the fruit stage sticks around for some time. Scent-color is vivid red.
Verdict: I didn't have particularly high hopes, but the dry spices in the middle of Block Buster were almost perfect, rich and dry and hot and potent, at its best absolutely divine. I'd be won over, but for the fact that the fruit eventually reemerges—and while cinnamon apple is pleasant, it's too much a change from the pure spices and a little too seasonal; it might work better as a room scent, and I don't particularly want it on my skin. As a result, Block Buster was ultimately a personal disappointment (although it makes me eager for a pure spice blend). But for whatever it's worth, I got a lot of work done the day I tested the scent—more along the lines of overcoming internal procrastination than working around external obstacles, but still a powerful blend for a productive day.
SCARECROW (GC, Bewitching Brews)
An agricultural gargoyle. Though he is the Guardian of the Crops and Keeper of the Fields, his visage is stll the stuff of nightmares. The scent of a hot wind blowing through desolate, scorched, barren fields.
A gift from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sisterite.
In the vial: Hay and perfumer's alcohol.
On me: Perfume on application—it's that sort of nondescript perfumey scent that's mostly perfumer's alcohol, but not entirely so; it's also very light. The scent warms post-drydown, but remains thin: golden, warm, but I wouldn't say hot; retaining an airy perfumery quality that tries to mimic winds but doesn't entirely succeed. Long into the wear length the scent becomes fainter but more polished, losing much of that perfuminess and gaining something of an amber base note with a barely sweet edge. All in all a strange scent—it's almost but not quite a single note, but that single note is more of an impression than a scent. It's an apt but not perfect echo of its inspiration: the wind-blown hay fields are there, but they're not scorched. Throw is low. Wear length is moderate.
Verdict: I don't get the harshness that others get, and thank goodness for that. I'm not overly fond of the scent's various similarities to commercial perfume, but I do like it's late, toned-down stage. This is one to test again (and in large quantities) to finalize my impression. So far I'm intrigued but not quite satisfied, in part because of the similarities to commercial perfume, in part because I wish the scent had the punch of its description—instead it's faint, if more palatable.
THE CATERPILLAR (GC, Mad Tea Party)
Heavy incense notes waft lazily through a mix of carnation, jasmine, bergamot, and neroli over a lush bed of dark mosses, iris blossom, deep patchouli and indolent vetiver.
A gift fromsisterite.
In the vial: It's hard to say, but to be honest I think I mostly get citrus—there's other details and notes underneath, busy but unnameable; mostly it's bergamont and neroli.
On me: The patchouli and vetiver are the easiest to pick out at first, but they're not alone—they're potent notes I know and can easily recognize, but the rest of the list is mixed up beneath them. After a minute the incense comes in, warming up the scent, and that's the heart of The Caterpillar: smoky, dark, resinous, but not particularly overwhelming, a warm and smooth blend of patchouli/vetiver/incense classics. The other notes are there, but they pop up one at a time, unevenly, each combining well with the base scent but no more than one or two ever appearing at a time such that this never becomes a single unified blend. There's a mossy herbal, and then a surprisingly and pleasantly potent carnation, and then something a bit perfumey (jasmine? I doubt it's iris) with a powdery edge, and then there's something sweeter and fruitier (perhaps the neroli/bergamont again), and then more carnation, and a continuing random parade of the other notes come one by one. A master morpher indeed. Throw is moderate.
Verdict: It's hard to say. Each of the facets works well on my skin, with the occasional exception of the jasmine (as florals aren't my style, and this one goes a little grandma's soap on me). Some, like the carnation, are quite good—carnation likes to get swallowed by other notes on my skin, but here its a rich spicy-sweetness and absolutely fantastic. I'm fond of the heart notes, and they combine well —they're less headshoppy on me than they seem to be on others, and also remarkably smooth and calm despite their tendency towards potency. But I like to know what I'm getting out of a scent, and The Caterpillar never does decide. Its rotation of notes is unusual and surprisingly successful, but I don't know if I'd be able to wear it with any regularity. I'll hang onto my imp and test again.
Sweet tropical fruits burst through deep, wet rainforest boughs, enormous steamy blossoms, over thin mountaintop breezes, mingled with the soft, rich golden scent of Peruvian amber.
In the vial: Tropical, but darker than just fruits or florals.
On me: It goes on perfumey—the airiness of the breezes combine with the fruits and florals for a department store, spray-on scent. Thankfully, it loses that perfumey quality on drydown. What emerges is dark tropical fruits, familiar insofar as it fits nicely into BPAL's catalog of tropical scents, but its darkness makes it unique. It's not quite greenery, but rather the shadows cast by jungle branches: depth, darkness, almost like cocoa without being too similar to Xiuhtecuhtli, cutting the airiness and brightness of the tropical fruits and flowers. The scent is still quite sweet, but not cloying or sharp. I don't get much amber in its own right, but it may contribute to the general well-roundedness of the scent. Scent-color is a dusky, dark pink. Throw is fairly low, but that may be because I applied very little. Wearlength is moderate long.
Verdict: To my great surprise, I rather like this. Tropicals aren't my style, but this one is—well, not exactly toned down, but smooth, round, shaded. It's a very full scent without being overpowering, its sweetness makes it palatable, and its dark tropics have great individuality. I still don't think it's a scent I would wear, in the end, because however lovely it's still not my style. But it's an interesting one to try. (On the other hand, I also tried this many years ago, as a frimp to my first BPAL order, but didn't review it at the time. If I remember correctly, it was brighter and more generic tropical fruity floral to my untrained nose, and I had no particular love for it.)
GRANDMOTHER OF GHOSTS (GC, Excolo)
Mania, Roman Goddess of the Dead, Matron of Madness, Governess of the Ancestral Spirits, Bestower of Divine Frenzy. Her scent swirls with a high-pitched tumult of laurel, stargazer lily, splintered woods, peony, mandarin and white musk, and is spiked with pale pepper.
In the vial: Thin, white, powdery—almost an absence of scent.
On me: The lily is predominant when first applied, but then some warmth comes up behind it—a powdery sort of warmth, white musk and white pepper and maybe just a touch of mandarin, with woods providing a little body. It's a thin scent, a barely sweet, clean floral sprinkled with white powder; there are occasional spikes, the pale spiciness and phantom heat of white pepper, which keep it from tending towards baby powder. As it wears, pepper becomes predominant, atop lily, touched with white musk. All in all a pale floral, but without the airiness or fleshiness that I usually associate with that scent family. Scent-color is opaque white. Throw is moderately low.
Verdict: Grandmother of Ghosts is much better than I expected—I'm not a fan of most florals, but the other notes keep the lily dry rather than oppressive, and the scent's pale whiteness is elusive but gently intriguing. Nonetheless, this is far from my style and I find the scent's overall inaccessability (a more more than subtle, a little too ghostly) somewhat offputting. I'll trade this away.
BLOCK BUSTER (GC, Bewitching Brews: Conjure Bag)
Used to open up options in your life, overcome obstacles, and create opportunities. This blend increases your potential for success, inspires creativity and quick thinking, and helps you to be more flexible, adaptable and open to change.
In the vial: A sweet fruit—I feel like I should be able to name it, but can't.
On me: The fruit gets fuller and riper—almost to the point of overripe fermentation—on application. There's some apple in there, but I think there's other fruit(s) that I don't find as easy to recognize; all in all, a pinky-red golden full scent with just a touch of cinnamon, more in powdery texture than explicit scent. During drydown the cinnamon amps—there's clove in there too, and maybe some patchouli; it's darker than I was expecting, and continues to amp until it becomes a dry, potent, dark, warm spice over the memory of a ripe red apple. It's not sweet, too pure-spice to be foody, bold but absolutely lovely if you want to curl up in some spice. A few hours into wear, however, the fruits reemerge and grow dominant—apple, and perhaps some peach, almost overripe, making for a seasonally-inclined scent which I find much less appealing. This scent is potent, with a strong throw and long wear length, so the fruit stage sticks around for some time. Scent-color is vivid red.
Verdict: I didn't have particularly high hopes, but the dry spices in the middle of Block Buster were almost perfect, rich and dry and hot and potent, at its best absolutely divine. I'd be won over, but for the fact that the fruit eventually reemerges—and while cinnamon apple is pleasant, it's too much a change from the pure spices and a little too seasonal; it might work better as a room scent, and I don't particularly want it on my skin. As a result, Block Buster was ultimately a personal disappointment (although it makes me eager for a pure spice blend). But for whatever it's worth, I got a lot of work done the day I tested the scent—more along the lines of overcoming internal procrastination than working around external obstacles, but still a powerful blend for a productive day.
SCARECROW (GC, Bewitching Brews)
An agricultural gargoyle. Though he is the Guardian of the Crops and Keeper of the Fields, his visage is stll the stuff of nightmares. The scent of a hot wind blowing through desolate, scorched, barren fields.
A gift from
sisterite.In the vial: Hay and perfumer's alcohol.
On me: Perfume on application—it's that sort of nondescript perfumey scent that's mostly perfumer's alcohol, but not entirely so; it's also very light. The scent warms post-drydown, but remains thin: golden, warm, but I wouldn't say hot; retaining an airy perfumery quality that tries to mimic winds but doesn't entirely succeed. Long into the wear length the scent becomes fainter but more polished, losing much of that perfuminess and gaining something of an amber base note with a barely sweet edge. All in all a strange scent—it's almost but not quite a single note, but that single note is more of an impression than a scent. It's an apt but not perfect echo of its inspiration: the wind-blown hay fields are there, but they're not scorched. Throw is low. Wear length is moderate.
Verdict: I don't get the harshness that others get, and thank goodness for that. I'm not overly fond of the scent's various similarities to commercial perfume, but I do like it's late, toned-down stage. This is one to test again (and in large quantities) to finalize my impression. So far I'm intrigued but not quite satisfied, in part because of the similarities to commercial perfume, in part because I wish the scent had the punch of its description—instead it's faint, if more palatable.
THE CATERPILLAR (GC, Mad Tea Party)
Heavy incense notes waft lazily through a mix of carnation, jasmine, bergamot, and neroli over a lush bed of dark mosses, iris blossom, deep patchouli and indolent vetiver.
A gift from
sisterite.In the vial: It's hard to say, but to be honest I think I mostly get citrus—there's other details and notes underneath, busy but unnameable; mostly it's bergamont and neroli.
On me: The patchouli and vetiver are the easiest to pick out at first, but they're not alone—they're potent notes I know and can easily recognize, but the rest of the list is mixed up beneath them. After a minute the incense comes in, warming up the scent, and that's the heart of The Caterpillar: smoky, dark, resinous, but not particularly overwhelming, a warm and smooth blend of patchouli/vetiver/incense classics. The other notes are there, but they pop up one at a time, unevenly, each combining well with the base scent but no more than one or two ever appearing at a time such that this never becomes a single unified blend. There's a mossy herbal, and then a surprisingly and pleasantly potent carnation, and then something a bit perfumey (jasmine? I doubt it's iris) with a powdery edge, and then there's something sweeter and fruitier (perhaps the neroli/bergamont again), and then more carnation, and a continuing random parade of the other notes come one by one. A master morpher indeed. Throw is moderate.
Verdict: It's hard to say. Each of the facets works well on my skin, with the occasional exception of the jasmine (as florals aren't my style, and this one goes a little grandma's soap on me). Some, like the carnation, are quite good—carnation likes to get swallowed by other notes on my skin, but here its a rich spicy-sweetness and absolutely fantastic. I'm fond of the heart notes, and they combine well —they're less headshoppy on me than they seem to be on others, and also remarkably smooth and calm despite their tendency towards potency. But I like to know what I'm getting out of a scent, and The Caterpillar never does decide. Its rotation of notes is unusual and surprisingly successful, but I don't know if I'd be able to wear it with any regularity. I'll hang onto my imp and test again.
