Catch Up Post # 4

Aaaagh! How did I get nearly two weeks worth of review notes piled up without making new posts? My mum is here for her yearly visit at the moment and she's gone to the casino for the afternoon so I'm grabbing the time while I can. I have just been flat chat with work lately and when I get home I'm too tired to do anything. I may not be back on track until after the end of the financial year when hopefully work will quiet down a bit.

BPAL Defututa - Olive blossom, honey, smoky vanilla, cinnamon, jasmine, sandalwood and champaca flower. 
There is nothing unique about this, but it's a really pretty honeyed white floral with a slightly spicy vanilla dry down. Sillage and longevity are quite high - it's one of those ones that will make you sneeze if you're prone to perfume sensitivity. 3/5

BPAL The Lights of Men's Lives - The wax and smoke of millions upon millions of candles illuminating the walls of Death's shadowy cave, some tall, straight, and strong blazing with the fire of life, others dim and guttering.
One of my first BPALs and stil one of my favourites - I don't know why I don't have a full bottle of this. It's a smokey honey scent that lasts for hours. I'm not generally a fan of honey perfumes but I do tend to like BPAL's. 4/5

Paintbox Soapworks Tw*twaffle - Buttery waffles, black cherries, warm maple syrup and shame. 
I wanted so much to like this, but it just smells too synthetic. It's really strong too - it gave me a bit of a headache. The cherry note (which smells a bit almondy) is overwhelming and gave me a bit of a headache. Bummer. 1/5

Possets Custance (The Man of Law's Tale) - Sandalwood combined with a drop of Oude infusion, a kiss of tobacco flower, and a light dusting of dry incense.
What I mostly got was incense, but it's not too heady and the tobacco flower seems to add a bit of floral to it. It's not one I'd seek out, but I quite liked wearing it on the day. 3/5

Possets 301- Musk and cashmeran. 
This is a really lovely, simple musk perfume. It doesn't change on me from start to finish, but it's comforting and warm and I enjoyed it a lot. It's quite strong and lasted most of the day. 4/5

Sarawen Girl on Fire -  Wild strawberries gathered from the forest blend with the comforting scent of leather hunting boots, and in her hair a very faint hint of sweet forest herbals.
In the bottle the strawberry smells a bit fake and cloying, but once applied it's actually lovely. It blends beautifully with the leather and the green foresty note, preventing it from being too fruity. Sillage was medium and it lasted about 6 hours or so. Really like this one - could be a full bottle. 4/5

Sarawen Scandal in London -  Feminine lilac and ylang ylang flowers blends with feisty dragonsblood with a light hint of eastern sandalwood. A touch of Holmes' favourite tobacco tops off this sultry floriental perfume.
Another Sarawen winner. I love me a floriental - they're probably overall my favourite kind of perfume. It reminds me a little of Givenchy Ysatis. The dragonsblood and tobacco add a smoothing element to stop it from being a full on heady floral. Nonetheless the sillage is pretty high making this more suitable for evening when you're on the prowl than knocking everyone out in the office. Love it. 4/5

Firebird Woodsmoke & Vanilla - Spicy, smoky, resinous, warm and sweet- with notes of frankincense and myrrh, fir needles, balsam and cedar, on a soft base of vanilla and honey.
I have a few of these 'sitting by the fire' kind of perfumes and this one is probably my favourite. It smells like a bonfire out in the forest - I can definitely smell the fir. The vanilla stops it from being too strong or too masculine. It's warm and cosy and one of those ones to wear when you're snuggled up in a giant aran jumper. 4/5  

BPAL Diary of a Lovestruck Teenage Cannibal - A deranged darling, sweet and sociopathic! Clotted vanilla cream, pink pepper, grapefruit, blood lily, red ginger, English pear, and lemon-squeezed candyfloss!
I hate this perfume, I have had it for several years and have always hated it. I keep it because I love the name, though. I pulled it out for the first time in at least a year to try it because I though ageing might have improved it a little. Nope. It smells like vomited up canned fruit and turned cream. Gross. Still love the name, though. 1/5

Arcana Vulgar -  Dirty cherry with dark chocolate, vanilla-infused marshmallow, honey, pepper, patchouli and a hint of smoky bacon. 
So for years I've been banging on about wanting a bacon-scented perfume. Now I have one, and guess what - smelling like you've been rolling around in your breakfast is not that great. The cherry dominates in the bottle, but once applied the bacon really comes out, and it's slightly sharp and acrid. There's a very bitter chocolate note that might be what's adding to the sharpness. The dry down is sweeter as the vanilla and honey come out and the bacon subsides to a faint smokiness. I could get to like that part of it but it doesn't last all that long. It had pretty much disappeared entirely within 3 hours. 2/5

BPAL Mad Kate - Honeycomb, red currant, freesia, vanilla, rose geranium, thyme, and gardenia.
Honeyed floral - another pretty BPAL honey scent. The gardenia is the most dominant for a while, but the dry down actually smells like chocolate. Weird since it's not listed in the notes. The sillage is high before it dries down - that gardenia packs a punch. I like this, but I don't love it. 3/5

BPAL Saint Foutin de Varailles - Beeswax, frankincense, dried rose petals, and a dribble of wine.
Again with that honey note! Somehow I seem to have collected a good number of BPAL honey perfumes and tested them all at the same time. Weird. This one is quite similar to The Light of Men's Lives, and come to think of it might be the reason I don't have a full bottle of that. The wine adds a bit of a boozy element to it though, so it's not exactly the same. Sillage is high and longevity is good - I wore this all day and could still smell traces of it on my wrist the next morning. 4/5

Darling Clandestine What Mandy Makes - What Mandy Makes is deep, vague, very smoky, very potent, with undertones of Oriental musk. It has a cucumber topnote, though there's no "cucumber" fragrance ingredient. The drydown is smoky sweet. A perfectly unisex fragrance.
Cucumber always smells like melon to me - in the bottle and when first applied I smell melon. It's pretty and summery but it deepens quite quickly to a smokey musk. It's lovely would be perfect on either a man or a woman but it fades and disappears annoyingly fast. This is one to reapply frequently. 3/5 

Days 161 to 173!

Catch Up/Round Up 2

Well, dramas are still drama-ing so yet again I'm forced to do a catch up post as I'm testing but struggling to keep up with writing the actual reviews. I hope to get all this sorted and get back on track very soon - I don't want to lose my momentum entirely. :-/

Solstice Scents Violet Mallow: Dark chocolate, violet, violet leaf and vanilla absolute. 
I'm undecided on this one - I've worn it a few times but I can't work out whether I like it or not. The violet is strong at first and it smells very floral. Once applied and it starts to dry down the chocolate and vanilla come out - it's essentially a floral gourmand, but it's very rich and quite strong. Lasted quite a while - about 6 hours before I felt I had to reapply. 3/5

Alchemic Muse Cloud Nine:  Victorian lilac, fresh cream, white raspberry, sweet jasmine, white rose, white violet, cherry heliotrope.
This is a Spring limited edition, but mine is from last year's Spring collection. It's a gentle floral, with the rose quite dominant on the skin for a little while. There's a zingy green note in it, and once the rose settles, the lilac and jasmine come out, making it very much a 'country garden' perfume - I don't really get the food notes at all. I haven't had much luck with heliotrope in general, and particularly in Alchemic Muse perfumes, but here is doesn't seem to come out on me, thankfully. There's nothing remarkable about this perfume, but it's very pretty. Doesn't last long - it was gone in a couple of hours. 3/5

Black Baccara Carnival of Ghosts: Pumpkin, kettle corn, apple, licorice, freshly turned soil. 
Yet another in my large collection of Carnival/Fair perfumes that I buy compulsively but never wear. This one smells like Lolly Gobble Bliss Bombs - is that what kettle corn is? On the skin there is a slightly astringent sweetness, like lemon sherbet lollies. This was quite strong at first but didn't last more than a couple of hours. 2/5

Firebird Bath and Body Brown Sugar: Brown sugar, coconut, vanilla bean. 
This is just a very simple burnt sugar scent. If you like the smell of those kinds of perfumes, you'll like this one. It's not bad, but it's definitely not my cup of tea - I don't find sugar scents interesting at all. Lasted about 5 hours or so but sillage is quite low. 2/5

Enchanticals Mysteire Noir: Blood orange, raspberry, dark chocolate, black labdanum, vanilla.
Fruity top notes, once applied the chocolate comes out but the fruit stays around and it's too much for me. This perfume is similar to Alize, except that one is more chocolate and this one is more fruit. Lasted quite a long time - I put it on at night and could still smell it on my wrist the next morning. 2/5

Deep Midnight Perfumes Charis: Sandalwood, Vanilla, Musk. 
This starts off as a boozy vanilla but goes dusty on me within minutes and stays that way. It was gone entirely within a couple of hours.I don't know what happened but I tried it a couple of times and the same thing happened - something in it just doesn't work on my skin at all. 1/5

Twyla Perfumes Gun Street Girl: Bourbon vanilla, tobacco absolute, musk, leather accord, Russian rose absolute, blackcurrant, green cognac.
Another Twyla winner for me - I adored this one. It's a boozy, smokey, leathery, masculine vanilla with a dab of soft rose. This is one of her newer formulas and the lasting power has definitely improved - sillage was medium and I got about 6 hours before reapplying just because I wanted to keep smelling it. Gorgeous, definite full bottle. 5/5

Days 98-104!

Almond Milk - Firebird Bath and Body

Details: 
Almond Milk 
Firebird Bath and Body (formerly Flourish Bath and Body)

Notes: 
Soft, sensual, intoxicating: almond, vanilla, musk, a wisp of white chocolate. This fragrance manages to be both a soothing comfort scent and incredibly sexy at the same time (try it- you'll see what I mean). Sugary perfume haters need not apply, but lovers of all things sweet and gourmand- I think you'll enjoy this one quite a bit.

Oh, Almond Milk. What can I say about you that does you justice? This is pretty much my all time favourite perfume. I have also bought it for my mum, who is definitely not a perfume person (I think she might have had the same bottle of Tweed for about 15 years when I was a kid), and she loves it. It’s not a complex blend, but it’s warm, comforting, and I have never smelled anything else exactly like it.

In the bottle it smells like marzipan, not a scent I’m overly fond of. Once applied, the almond retreats – this is an almond perfume for people who don’t like almond. It’s a vanilla for people who don’t like vanilla. White chocolate for people who don’t like chocolate. Musk for people who don’t like musk. I’m not kidding. It smells of all these things, and yet it doesn’t.

I have always thought that this perfume perfectly captures the essence of ‘baby head’ smell. It doesn’t exactly smell like a baby’s head, but it’s that same perfect, compulsively sniffable feeling you get when you hold a baby. Or when I do at any rate.

I can’t rave highly enough about this perfume. If you don’t like gourmands at all, or feminine scents at all (though I think a man could easily pull this off and smell amazing), it’s not for you. But for everyone else, get in there. It’s about to be discontinued, and I’ve ordered a back up bottle and seriously considering grabbing a couple more while I can.

Rating: 
Eleventy million/5

Day 45!

Snowdrift - Firebird Bath and Body

Details:
Snowdrift
Firebird Bath & Body

Notes:
Snowdrift is a wintery blend of peppermint, vanilla and evergreens.

For the second day in a row, my childhood memories come into play.  My whole life I have suffered from motion sickness, and in particular I would often get car sick as a kid. One of the strongest smells of my childhood was a pine-scented air freshener in my parents' car - it contributed greatly to the nausea I felt every time I had to sit in that back seat. That smell is what this perfume makes me think of.

In the vial Snowdrift is a minty pine; when first applied the mint retreats and I mostly get pine with a bit of a resin note lurking about.

The dry down is more resin-ish, but the pine is still there, the two mingling in a queasy soup that makes me feel like I've just done a road trip around the Great Ocean Road. I'm a fan of Firebird generally, but this one is definitely not for me. I had to scrub it off after about an hour as I could no longer stand it. I tried using a liquid soap, a body scrub, and even a nail brush. On me, this perfume was the very definition of a scrubber. Even then I was catching whiffs of it for hours after when I moved my arms - it did not want to leave me!

Rating:
1/5 Yuk. Sorry, Firebird - I'm sure there would be many people who would like this on, but it has too much of an unpleasant connotation for me.

Day 5!