BPAL: The Swap

[gwydion]

The Frimps:
BLUE FIRE (Discontinued, Atomic Luau Lounge): (Company says: Papaya, blueberry, lemongrass, and gin.)

In bottle: Papaya dominant, with Blueberry support. Super sweet, with gin giving an alcohol edge and the lemongrass an accent. Honestly, this reads mostly as Koolaid to me. Wet: Still papaya and blueberry dominant, but richer and more like real fruit on the skin. Gin is still a background edge. The lemon grass is a touch more prominent and really blends well with the other notes. This is not my taste, but surprisingly good. Dry: As the papaya fades, this really becomes all about the blue berry, with a lingering ghost of guin and lemon grass. Prettiest with wear, I think.

DESDEMONA (Illyria, Discontinued): (Company says: Innocent, soft and pure: sweet pea, carnation and water lily.)

In bottle: I do not know two of these flowers well enough to pick them out from a crowd. Suffice to say this is sweet, richly fragrant white flowers, with carnation giving it a little snap. This is gorgeous, unusual, and perfect for it’s concept. No skin test as I haven’t a prayer of it working on me.

EMPRYEAL MIST (Bewitching Brews, discontinued): (Company says: A hazy, soft, veiled scent: mist floating through twilit skies, curling gently towards the heavens.)

In bottle: Exactly as described. It’s an extremely soft ozone, likely with a white tea base, probably white musk, and a pale flower, and maybe grapefruit or another citrus of that type and/or bamboo. Met: really hard to get my nose to pine down. Still musky ozone dominant with tea as a strong background. I no longer smell the kiss of citrus, so likely that was a figment. There is still something like bamboo or ho wood giving support to the lighter notes. This is lovely, but fast fading on my skin. Dry: A note I’m not properly identifying is now dominant (likely the thing I mistook for grapefruit), with support from the bamboo or ho. There’s also a clean maybe cotton sort of scent to it.

HURRICANE (Bewitching Brews): (Company says: The Dark Side of Air: a high pitched, tangy, clear scent -- light China rain deepened by murky vetivert.)

In bottle: The description is good. It’s an ozoney rain scent with a dark kiss of vetivert underneath. Call it rain dominant. There is no skin test as it has vetivert.

SYBARIS (Wanderlust): (Company says: The pinnacle of wealth, luxury, self-indulgent pleasure, voluptuousness and sensuality. Bright violet with sweet clove, Mediterranean incense notes and tonka bean.)

In bottle: Strongly violet dominant. Clove is strong support to the violet. The incense blends well with the violet and clove. The tonka is understated and helps smooth things out. No skin test for violet.

Ordered:
Thirteen (13) October 2013 (LE): (Company says: A fortune's wheel of thirteen lucky and unlucky herbs, spun around a rich, dark core of pure cacao: allspice berries, cascara sagrada, ladybug beans, cinnamon, catnip, sweet clove, cumin, huckleberry leaves and fruit, master root, copal negro, sarsaparilla, nutmeg, and green rice.)

In bottle: I am not familiar with some of the elements, so this review will not be as precise as I like. It is cocoa dominant with the green rice in support. Saspirilla and huckleberry are tied for second is second. The saparilla stands alone, but the huckleberry plays with the chocolate and it’s leaves bridge to the garden faction. Third would be the spice block that mostly supports the chocolate but which also bridges to the herbal and garden element. The allspice help bridge chocolate and huckleberry particularly. I am guessing that the ladybug beans are dominant there, but don’t quote me as I’ve never smelled a ladybug bean. It’s just that the note smells like fresh bean plants. The copal smoothes the transition between elements, soft, but ubiquitous and blending well with everything. It’s interesting and complex, with the chocolate, spices, and sarsaparilla saying food, and the rest saying garden. It works and makes me thing of the act of trick or treating, tromping past Autumn gardens while carrying a bag full of candy. Wet: More perfumey on the skin. The cocoa stays dominant, but the copal pops into second, still tying things together, but prominent now rather than understated. I’d call sarsaparilla third, then spices in forth, with the huckleberries working as a bridge between chocolate, spices, and sarsaparilla. The garden/herbal faction is soft, but pervasive. It’s more foodie in affect and less carrying candy through other people’s gardens. Dry: Surprisingly sweet rice, copal, and gentle sarsaparilla. I’m thinking I’m picking up allspice berries and a kiss of cocoa too.

AUTUMN FANCIES 2013 (LE, Halloweenies): (Company says: Dry grasses bathed in amber light, muted by gentle shadows.)

In bottle: It’s an excellent fit for its concept. The amber is thick and dreamy’ the grasses soft and complex. There is a sense of fading about the grass even as the amber is so warm and buttery it smells like moving underwater feels. I suspect the shadows are mostly musk. Wet: Still Amber dominant, but the grasses pop on the skin giving the Amber and Shadows more to play against. The shadows support the Amber. There may be a berry element to the shadows. May I add that this is lovely and lazy late afternoon in September decadent. Dry: Mostly amber.

CHAOS THEORY IV DXCIV (594) 2008 (LE, Edge of Chaos): (Company says: Each bottle of Chaos Theory is truly unique, a fragrant fractal, an exercise in the joy of chance and uncertainty! Each is a one-of-a-kind, utterly random combination of scents, the composition of which is based on whim, mood and gut instinct.)

In bottle: This is a green tea dominant scent. I strongly suspect rain, melon, and likely bamboo or ho wood. There is a lovely fruit I can’t identify. There is something sweet like maybe sugar or a very light. I would not be surprised if there was cardamom and/or grass. The grass note smells dried, like a woven mat. It may have some apple blossom. There is a haunting familiarity about this, but I’m not placing it. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a touchy of musk. Wet: The thing I’m suspecting of being musk melon or some other Asian melon type fruit is now strongest with green tea support. There is definitely a musk that blends beautifully with the melon and tea and likely a touch of Rain. This is a very green and fruity scent. I’m still not placing the other fruit that is quite strong; There is something powdery that could be amber, but might be something else with a similar feel. I’m still picking up bamboo or ho wood as a well blended background, and a soft pale floral that might be apple blossoms, but could just as easily be something rarer. There is still a touch of something grassy, but now it’s more fresh mowed. There is something in the middle strange I’m completely failing to place. I appear to be mildly allergic to this blend, which makes me wonder if the thing I’m not placing is unplacable because I’m allergic to it and thus avoid it. As it wears, the melon starts to burn off and it gets a mildly insensey tone to it. Dry: Amber and probably green musk with something incense or incense adjacent and a touch of rain.

DEATHLY PRIDE 2009 (LE, Naughty or Nice Inquisition: Naughty): (Company says: A sooty licorice incense with coconut and bay rum.)

In bottle: Licorice wins out as the strongest note after wrestling the bay rum to the ground. Licorice then dances about in triumph while the Bay Rum provides a pervasive background. The coconut basically tries to make peace between them while still mostly siding with the Bay Rum. Wet: Bay Rum wins the second round with coconut screaming encourage from it’s corner. Licorice skulks about muttered under it’s breath about cheating and plotting revenge. Dry: In the third round, the licorice comes back for a rematch. By this time the coconut has wandered off, leaving the bay rum to fend for itself. The licorice seems to be winning, but the bay rum won’t give up the fight.

I AM TIRED OF TEARS AND LAUGHTER 2013 (LE, The Garden of Proserpine): (Company says: White lavender, oudh, and Siamese benzoin.

In bottle: Beautiful strong pale lavender with benzoin in strong support and oudh to smooth it out. Wet: Richer and yet more sharply delineated on the skin. It’s wetter and juicier, but the balance remains essentially the same, only with stronger oudh. Dry: Mostly lavender with a kiss of benzoin.

KING HAGGARD (Last Unicorn): (Company says: Dry cedar, bitter balsam, and ashes.)

In bottle: They aren’t kidding about the bitter. It is bitter balsam dominant, the ashes blending in with the bitterness. The cedar is second strongest and supports the balsam. Wet: The cedar flips the balsam to grab the dominant position. The Ashes are now second with the bitter balsam supporting both. It is well blended, but impossible on my skin. I am wondering is there is vetiver in the ash accord. Dry: Dry, dry cedar with a bitter, ashy, edge.

MOPSFLEDERMAUS 2013 (LE, Bats Day): (Company says: Brown sugar and ginger root with smoky clove, bourbon vanilla, cardamom, and Indonesian musk.)

In bottle: Every bit as wonderful as I’d hoped. The Brown sugar is marginally strongest, with ginger a close second. The musk is pervasive and vaguely patchouli like. The vanilla and cardamom smooth the edges, while the clove is a well chosen accent. Wet: Complex and spicy on the skin. Still brown sugar dominant, now with the spices working together in second. The musk is still well blended and ubiquitous. The vanilla is a gentle background. Dry: Brown sugar and ginger.

OAKMOSS ACCORD 2013 (LE, Single Note): (Company says: In perfumery, oakmoss is considered a base note, and it is often employed as a fixative. It adds depth, a sense of grounding, and solemnity, and acts as an anchor for more capricious notes.)

In bottle: Yep that is oakmoss: Mossy green and vaguely masculine, one of my favorite base notes. Wet: By itself, you can start to pick out components of the accord, but they still read as a united whole. It’s little juicy, very sexy in an aftershave/men’s cologne sort of way. Dry: Exactly the way oakmoss smells on the drydown. Slightly powedery moss, with the more complex elements burned off.

PLACOPHOBIA 2013 (LE, Halloweenies): (Company says: Fear of tombstones. Jagged claws of crumbling stone thrusting through tear-soaked moss.)

In bottle: Mmm… Exactly what it says in the description. The moss is strongest lying on a bed of moist earth, but the stone pokes through, with the faintest kiss of salty aquatics. Wet: Way more subtle on the skin. The stone accord now sings, surpassingly dominant. The rich moss and loam support the stone giving its place in the spotlight. I’d swear there were granite and sandstone both here. The salty kiss is the faintest of accent, but lovely with the moss. This is unusual. It is hard to get stone accord to sing and dance like this even for a short time, even with such a lovely setting for it. Dry: Moss dominant with a hint of stone and dirt.

TARANTULA FASCINATOR 2013 (LE, Lilith's birthday update): (Company says: fuzzy cacao-drenched hazelnut with hay absolute, black pepper, and nutmeg, laced with stripes of wild plum and white sandalwood.)

In bottle: this really does suit it’s concept. The dominant cocoa note does read as “fuzzy” when supported by sandalwood and hay. The hazelnut adds a richness to the cocoa. The spices give a prickliness to the cocoa. The plum is a surprising counterpoint to the cocoa, giving a sense of unpredictable movement. Wet: Simpler on the skin. The Cocoa is still strongest with the plum in second as counterpoint. The hay and sandalwood fade into each other, still supporting the chocolate, while the hazelnut and nutmeg fade into the cocoa a bit. The pepper keeps its sharpness. Dry: Mostly cocoa and plum with some sandalwood and nutmeg.



Winners: Mopsfledermaus, Placophobia
Runners Up: Tarantula Fascinator, I am Tired of Tears and Laughter, Oakmoss Accord.