BPAL reviews
Nov. 19th, 2009 02:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
brigdhHey, remember when I used to write BPAL reviews? Me neither. But! Now I have done it again, mainly for my own benefit, since writing this out helps me remember which one smells like which. That fact that I can't remember on my own is probably a sign that I own too many BPALs, but um, hey, look, there's a new update with cool stuff!
Athens
Website Description: A 'Wanderlust' scent. A reformulation and modernization of a true Classical Greek perfume, myrrhine: voluptuous myrrh, golden honey, red wine, and sweet flowers.
In Vial: Warm wine, with very subtle undertones of floral honey.
Wet: Warm gritty myrrh soaked in honey.
Dry: The incense-gritty-ness I associate with myrrh, with some wine and honey in the background. A very good business-day smell, pretty but subtle, a sweet smokiness.
Notes: This one is very similar to Hetairae, but less over-the-top feminine. Since that's one of my very top BPALs ever, this one is also a favorite of mine. Great for when you feel like Hetairae, but don't want its super-strong sweetness. This one is subtler.
Baghdad
Website Description: A 'Wanderlust' scent. Amber, saffron and bergamot with mandarin, nutmeg, Bulgar rose, musk and sandalwood.
In Vial: Sandalwood. Pretty strong sandalwood, with maybe some bergamot to it.
Wet: A softer sandalwood, almost dusty. The spices and floral are just barely there, just as a hint, making it a sort of spiced sandalwood with a warm musk backing it.
Dry: It's a very spices-and-sandalwood scent, but not the sweet, tasty way spices smell when they're mixed with sugar and flour and other yummy things. This is very much spices-still-in-the-jar, that powdery, dry, not-very-foodlike scent they have. I haven't been to Baghdad, but this scent does not make me think Middle East. It makes me think of some Northern European country, Germany probably, and a dark room with wood-paneling, like a hunting lodge or someone's den. A dark, dry, vaguely masculine scent.
Bastet
Website Description: An 'Excolo' scent. Bast, Ubasti, Ailuros, Ba-en-Aset. Represented as both a domestic cat and a fierce lioness, she truly evidences traits of both. She is the Mother of All Cats, Goddess of Sensuality, Fertility, and a guardian and protector of women. She is also one of the Eyes of Ra, and in that aspect is an Avenging Goddess, seeking retribution and punishing enemies of her people. Luxuriant amber, warm Egyptian musk, fierce saffron and soft myrrh, almond, cardamom and golden lotus.
In Vial: Very strong and sharp almond, with musk and amber underneath it.
Wet: Almond almost being overpowerd by the nutmeg and cardamom. It's a sort of bakery, spice-cabinet sent. It reminds me of unsweetened almond cookies.
Dry: The cardamom and the nutmeg, with a fainter base of almond, musk, and amber. It still has a bit of that almond cookie feel to it, but overall it seems like this fades away too quickly. This is not feline at all to me, but I don't think I really want to smell like a cat, so maybe that's for the best.
Athens
Website Description: A 'Wanderlust' scent. A reformulation and modernization of a true Classical Greek perfume, myrrhine: voluptuous myrrh, golden honey, red wine, and sweet flowers.
In Vial: Warm wine, with very subtle undertones of floral honey.
Wet: Warm gritty myrrh soaked in honey.
Dry: The incense-gritty-ness I associate with myrrh, with some wine and honey in the background. A very good business-day smell, pretty but subtle, a sweet smokiness.
Notes: This one is very similar to Hetairae, but less over-the-top feminine. Since that's one of my very top BPALs ever, this one is also a favorite of mine. Great for when you feel like Hetairae, but don't want its super-strong sweetness. This one is subtler.
Baghdad
Website Description: A 'Wanderlust' scent. Amber, saffron and bergamot with mandarin, nutmeg, Bulgar rose, musk and sandalwood.
In Vial: Sandalwood. Pretty strong sandalwood, with maybe some bergamot to it.
Wet: A softer sandalwood, almost dusty. The spices and floral are just barely there, just as a hint, making it a sort of spiced sandalwood with a warm musk backing it.
Dry: It's a very spices-and-sandalwood scent, but not the sweet, tasty way spices smell when they're mixed with sugar and flour and other yummy things. This is very much spices-still-in-the-jar, that powdery, dry, not-very-foodlike scent they have. I haven't been to Baghdad, but this scent does not make me think Middle East. It makes me think of some Northern European country, Germany probably, and a dark room with wood-paneling, like a hunting lodge or someone's den. A dark, dry, vaguely masculine scent.
Bastet
Website Description: An 'Excolo' scent. Bast, Ubasti, Ailuros, Ba-en-Aset. Represented as both a domestic cat and a fierce lioness, she truly evidences traits of both. She is the Mother of All Cats, Goddess of Sensuality, Fertility, and a guardian and protector of women. She is also one of the Eyes of Ra, and in that aspect is an Avenging Goddess, seeking retribution and punishing enemies of her people. Luxuriant amber, warm Egyptian musk, fierce saffron and soft myrrh, almond, cardamom and golden lotus.
In Vial: Very strong and sharp almond, with musk and amber underneath it.
Wet: Almond almost being overpowerd by the nutmeg and cardamom. It's a sort of bakery, spice-cabinet sent. It reminds me of unsweetened almond cookies.
Dry: The cardamom and the nutmeg, with a fainter base of almond, musk, and amber. It still has a bit of that almond cookie feel to it, but overall it seems like this fades away too quickly. This is not feline at all to me, but I don't think I really want to smell like a cat, so maybe that's for the best.
