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lunabee34My birthday present has shipped from Surrender to Chance. I’m getting 1 ml vials of Chanel’s 1932, 28 La Pausa, 31 Rue Cambon , Beige, Bel Respiro, Bois des Iles, Coromandel, Cuir de Russie, Eau de Cologne, Gardenia, Jersey, No. 18, No. 22, and Sycomore plus Guerlain’s Apres L'Ondee EDT, Habit Rouge EDT, Jicky EDP, L'Heure Bleue EDP, Mitsouko EDP, and Shalimar EDP. I am so excited! (I also asked for samples of Guerlain Vetiver, Serge de Lutens Miel de Bois, Caron Pour un Homme, and Robert Piquet Bandit, but I don’t know if I’m getting any of those. *crosses fingers*)
Before I get into reviewing the perfumes that Emma and I have been testing, I want to note some interesting things I’ve learned along the way. Perfumes tend to turn much sweeter and more floral on Emma than they do me. I tend to amp woodsy notes, and so far, anything with a drop of licorice or anise in it turns into Big Black Jelly Bean on me. Most of the BPAL perfumes that contain rose smell like one-note tea rose on me. And finally, while my nose is improving, I still just don’t know what so many things smell like, particularly in terms of differentiating between flowers. That’s why I need to practice! (See my perfume expenditure logic at work LOL) On to the reviews.
Anubis
The Catalog Description
His scent is a blend of holy myrrh, storax, balsam, and embalming herbs.
The Forum Reviews
Reviewers tend to find the honey note in Anubis prominent, also identifying incense and fruit (like apple and pineapple) as notes. Some reviewers, like Miss Anthropy, are impressed with the staying power, calling Anubis a “sticky” scent. Reviewers favorably compare Anubis to such commercial perfumes as Serge Lutens La Myrrhe; incense like Nag Champa; and BPAL’s Bastet, Athens, O, and Snake Oil blends.
Our Reactions
Emma’s friend Susan was spending the night, and they both hated this. Susan said Anubis smells bad but interesting, and Emma said it smells like wine and that she didn’t like it.
I, however, adore this scent. For Christmas, I am going to ask for five big bottles of BPAL. Incantation gets the first slot, Anubis gets the second, and the remaining three are still up for grabs. Anubis smells of balsam and honey and church incense, and it lasts forever and has a lot of throw. I really like wearing it, and Josh likes the way it smells, too. :)
Elf
The Catalog Description
Pale golden musk, honeycomb, amber, parma violet, hawthorne bark, aspen leaf, forest lily, life everlasting, white moss, and a hint of wild berry.
The Forum Reviews
This and the other RPG series scents don’t have a great deal of reviews. Most of the reviews are positive with reviewers reporting on their reactions to different notes listed in the description. Like every other scent with pine in it, the toilet bowl cleaner brigade is present here as well LOL. Several people identify it as a winter scent and compare it to BPAL’s Talvikku and Skadi.
Our Reactions
Emma picked this one out for us to try; she is besotted with Tolkien’s elves, Legolas in particular. She could smell musk, honeycomb, lily, violet, moss, and aspen leaves. She was very pleased and wrote in our perfume smelling notebook, “What I wanted” with a heart beside it. Elf is much sweeter on Emma than me; the woods are still there, but the honey and musk are the most prominent notes on her and are present from the beginning.
When I put on Elf, I immediately smell the aspen leaves, which register to my nose as being very close to pine. I can smell other trees and musk and something earthy along with something floral. After an hour or so, the honey starts to bloom on me and mingle with the other scents. Elf smells nice on both of us, but I think it suits Emma best, so I gave her the imp to hoard.
Somnus
The Catalog Description
Named after the Roman God of Sleep. This blend helps bring on deep, restful, natural sleep.
The Forum Reviews
I have not posted a perfume review in such a long time mostly because the BPAL forums have been down, and I am such a complete-ist that I feel like I have to read all the reviews before I post my own. It’s getting really tedious jumping through hoops to read cached versions of the reviews, though, and some of the pages of reviews are sometimes just inexplicably not cached or available through the Wayback Machine. That was true for pages 6 and 11 of Somnus.
Just like Nanshe, the other sleep oil I’ve reviewed, reviewers are sharply divided on Somnus. In one camp, a yawning horde of happy sleepers who fall instantly into coma-like sleep upon smelling the lavender-heavy Somnus. In the other camp, a multitude of offended noses who detect something not quite right with the scent. LiberAmoris smells “something kind of acrid, kind of urine-like.” Rhubarbbear dubs Somnus “weird old lady rose.” And Naamah_Darling is certain that Somnus contains some kind of “raw animal juice.” A small contingency of reviewers like the scent but don’t find it very soporific, calling it too sharp and bright to bring on sleep. Besides lavender, jasmine, rose, and chamomile are the most frequently mentioned notes.
Our Reactions
Josh and I absolutely despised Somnus while Emma was fairly ambivalent. She smelled lavender, lemon zest, and something flowery. For me, it started with sharp lavender, and then it almost seemed like there was something rancid underneath the lavender; finally a whole garden full of tea roses where something had died in a secret corner emerged. I’m pretty sure that the note I found so unpleasant is chamomile; I can’t drink chamomile tea because it smells vaguely like vomit to me. Josh found Somnus cloying and too floral. This imp is going to Smillaraaq.
Thy Godfather’s Present
The Catalog Description
A bruised purple bundle of herbs with hyssop and life-everlasting.
The Forum Reviews
A list of words plucked from the reviews: floral, sweet, water, gardenia, perfumey, citrus, basil, soap, juniper, hay, Herbal Essences. The reviews try to duke it out over whether these herbs are really purple or green without coming to a consensus. Mxtine calls it a “watery floral/stinky violet aquatic.” It’s compared to BPAL’s Amsterdam, Squirting Cucumber, Prague, and Danube.
Our Reactions
Emma smells sugar, lemon bars, flowers and mint; she calls it a foodie scent. It’s a creamy aquatic on me, sweet and herby. We both like it well enough but not well enough to wear it regularly. Josh doesn’t really like it but it doesn’t trigger a headache or bad reaction in him. Mostly, I’m just puzzled at the disconnect between the description and what the fragrance actually smells like. I expected tons of mint and rosemary and basil and the such-like and got cool water instead—not bad, just unexpected.
Here’s my list of samples that are available for give-away/swap. Let me know if you want anything. :)
Imp and Samples Give-Aways
Croquet
Black Vines by Kerosene
Endymion
Thy God-father's Present
Kyoto
Tresor by Lancome
Iago
Amsterdam
Seance
Has No Hanna
Cathedral
Before I get into reviewing the perfumes that Emma and I have been testing, I want to note some interesting things I’ve learned along the way. Perfumes tend to turn much sweeter and more floral on Emma than they do me. I tend to amp woodsy notes, and so far, anything with a drop of licorice or anise in it turns into Big Black Jelly Bean on me. Most of the BPAL perfumes that contain rose smell like one-note tea rose on me. And finally, while my nose is improving, I still just don’t know what so many things smell like, particularly in terms of differentiating between flowers. That’s why I need to practice! (See my perfume expenditure logic at work LOL) On to the reviews.
The Catalog Description
His scent is a blend of holy myrrh, storax, balsam, and embalming herbs.
The Forum Reviews
Reviewers tend to find the honey note in Anubis prominent, also identifying incense and fruit (like apple and pineapple) as notes. Some reviewers, like Miss Anthropy, are impressed with the staying power, calling Anubis a “sticky” scent. Reviewers favorably compare Anubis to such commercial perfumes as Serge Lutens La Myrrhe; incense like Nag Champa; and BPAL’s Bastet, Athens, O, and Snake Oil blends.
Our Reactions
Emma’s friend Susan was spending the night, and they both hated this. Susan said Anubis smells bad but interesting, and Emma said it smells like wine and that she didn’t like it.
I, however, adore this scent. For Christmas, I am going to ask for five big bottles of BPAL. Incantation gets the first slot, Anubis gets the second, and the remaining three are still up for grabs. Anubis smells of balsam and honey and church incense, and it lasts forever and has a lot of throw. I really like wearing it, and Josh likes the way it smells, too. :)
The Catalog Description
Pale golden musk, honeycomb, amber, parma violet, hawthorne bark, aspen leaf, forest lily, life everlasting, white moss, and a hint of wild berry.
The Forum Reviews
This and the other RPG series scents don’t have a great deal of reviews. Most of the reviews are positive with reviewers reporting on their reactions to different notes listed in the description. Like every other scent with pine in it, the toilet bowl cleaner brigade is present here as well LOL. Several people identify it as a winter scent and compare it to BPAL’s Talvikku and Skadi.
Our Reactions
Emma picked this one out for us to try; she is besotted with Tolkien’s elves, Legolas in particular. She could smell musk, honeycomb, lily, violet, moss, and aspen leaves. She was very pleased and wrote in our perfume smelling notebook, “What I wanted” with a heart beside it. Elf is much sweeter on Emma than me; the woods are still there, but the honey and musk are the most prominent notes on her and are present from the beginning.
When I put on Elf, I immediately smell the aspen leaves, which register to my nose as being very close to pine. I can smell other trees and musk and something earthy along with something floral. After an hour or so, the honey starts to bloom on me and mingle with the other scents. Elf smells nice on both of us, but I think it suits Emma best, so I gave her the imp to hoard.
The Catalog Description
Named after the Roman God of Sleep. This blend helps bring on deep, restful, natural sleep.
The Forum Reviews
I have not posted a perfume review in such a long time mostly because the BPAL forums have been down, and I am such a complete-ist that I feel like I have to read all the reviews before I post my own. It’s getting really tedious jumping through hoops to read cached versions of the reviews, though, and some of the pages of reviews are sometimes just inexplicably not cached or available through the Wayback Machine. That was true for pages 6 and 11 of Somnus.
Just like Nanshe, the other sleep oil I’ve reviewed, reviewers are sharply divided on Somnus. In one camp, a yawning horde of happy sleepers who fall instantly into coma-like sleep upon smelling the lavender-heavy Somnus. In the other camp, a multitude of offended noses who detect something not quite right with the scent. LiberAmoris smells “something kind of acrid, kind of urine-like.” Rhubarbbear dubs Somnus “weird old lady rose.” And Naamah_Darling is certain that Somnus contains some kind of “raw animal juice.” A small contingency of reviewers like the scent but don’t find it very soporific, calling it too sharp and bright to bring on sleep. Besides lavender, jasmine, rose, and chamomile are the most frequently mentioned notes.
Our Reactions
Josh and I absolutely despised Somnus while Emma was fairly ambivalent. She smelled lavender, lemon zest, and something flowery. For me, it started with sharp lavender, and then it almost seemed like there was something rancid underneath the lavender; finally a whole garden full of tea roses where something had died in a secret corner emerged. I’m pretty sure that the note I found so unpleasant is chamomile; I can’t drink chamomile tea because it smells vaguely like vomit to me. Josh found Somnus cloying and too floral. This imp is going to Smillaraaq.
The Catalog Description
A bruised purple bundle of herbs with hyssop and life-everlasting.
The Forum Reviews
A list of words plucked from the reviews: floral, sweet, water, gardenia, perfumey, citrus, basil, soap, juniper, hay, Herbal Essences. The reviews try to duke it out over whether these herbs are really purple or green without coming to a consensus. Mxtine calls it a “watery floral/stinky violet aquatic.” It’s compared to BPAL’s Amsterdam, Squirting Cucumber, Prague, and Danube.
Our Reactions
Emma smells sugar, lemon bars, flowers and mint; she calls it a foodie scent. It’s a creamy aquatic on me, sweet and herby. We both like it well enough but not well enough to wear it regularly. Josh doesn’t really like it but it doesn’t trigger a headache or bad reaction in him. Mostly, I’m just puzzled at the disconnect between the description and what the fragrance actually smells like. I expected tons of mint and rosemary and basil and the such-like and got cool water instead—not bad, just unexpected.
Here’s my list of samples that are available for give-away/swap. Let me know if you want anything. :)
Imp and Samples Give-Aways
Croquet
Thy God-father's Present
Kyoto
Tresor by Lancome
Has No Hanna
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Date: 2014-06-11 01:06 am (UTC)etat libre d'orange: la fin du monde and
guerlain: aqua allegoria pamplelune
in exchange if that's okay.
PM me your deets and let me know if you want those other two imps as well; they are fresh from the lab and full. :)
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Date: 2014-06-10 11:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-06-11 01:07 am (UTC)I adore it. It feels so warm and elegant and *rich* in all senses of that word.
I have discovered that I do not care much for frankincense, but myrrh? Oh, buddy. Love it. :)
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Date: 2014-06-11 01:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-06-11 01:21 am (UTC)Several of the BPAL perfumes that I have really not liked had frankincense in them (although I can't be quite sure that that was the note of death for me as my nose is so pitiful), and we have a bottle of frankincense that we use medicinally that just doesn't smell all that great to me. It's not *sweet* like myrrh is, and it's not that I need things to be sweet. I love woods and leaves and earth, but frankincense would be better IMHO if it was sweeter.
no subject
Date: 2014-06-11 01:49 am (UTC)I usually love myrrh as long as it's sweet, and that was BPAL's myrrh's problem: on me, often it was NOT sweet, just kind of funky. Kind of like their patchouli went right to dirt on me. But, who knows. Good luck with it! :D
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Date: 2014-06-11 11:26 pm (UTC)