| BPAL : Nefertiti |
[Mar. 24th, 2009|12:07 pm] |
Boy, it's been a while since I've done one of these.
Nefertiti : One of the free imps included in my order, I wouldn't have ordered this, based on the description. On the site, this perfume oil is described as "Egyptian iris and olibanum with red and white sandalwood, soft myrrh and a breath of North African herbs." See? See right at the beginning there? Iris = Flowers. I don't usually like floral scents - the process by which attar is derived from flowers to use in perfumes changes the chemical composition of the scent esters enough that the attar generally smells dead or wrong to me. At first, Nefertiti was no exception. In the bottle, the iris scent is overpowering the rest of the scents, and upon first dabbing, the iris is still overpowering. After a bit, the iris drops back, and the myrrh and olibanum come up more strongly. This pleases me, as one of the few fond childhood memories I have of church incorporates the scents of myrrh and olibanum/frankincense, but I don't really want to smell like a church. Within a couple hours, the myrrh/olibanum picks up more of the sandalwood base, and the "herbs" never really put in a whiff on me.
This is.... an okay scent. It's not overwhelmingly strong, and I like a lot of the base notes, but for some reason, this scent doesn't jive with me very well. Perhaps it's the "iris". I'm putting this in the trade/giveaway pile - I just don't see me wearing this again.
Nefertiti : Meh. Ok. |
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| BPAL : Dragon's Milk |
[Mar. 24th, 2009|08:16 pm] |
Two in one day! Whooooo!
(Actually, I'm remarkably bored at work.)
Dragon's Milk : I acquired this imp quite some time ago, back when I first ordered BPAL, and never got around to trying it out. Now that I have, though, I'm glad I tried it while I'm recording my experimental process - as it turns out, this is a pretty nice scent. On the site, this perfume oil is described as "dragon's blood resin and honeyed vanilla". I'm not sure what dragon's blood resin smells like, only that it used to be used as a dye, and in incenses, laquers, and medicines, and thus I'm a bit hampered in my assessment of the layers of scent notes in this perfume oil. In the bottle, there's a very strong woodish/fruity/spicy/sweet scent, VERY strong, and a bit off-putting. Upon first wearing, the "resin" part of the scent is the dominant note, smelling sort of berry-like and soapy and woody/spicy, losing the offputting aspect to the melange that I noticed in the bottle. After a while, the resin mellows out and allows the honey and vanilla to blend into the overall scent, a very nice and rather sexy combo of scentplay. After an hour or so, the resin mellows even more, fading back to a very soft whiff of resin, leaving the honey and vanilla as the dominant scents.
Overall, I like this scent a great deal, far more than I first thought I would. It's a bit strong on the first dabbing, but after about 15 minutes or so, it smooths out and becomes a much more sexy scent than it first appeared to be when sniffed in the bottle. Still not better than O or Nanny Ashtoreth, but far better than some of the BPAL scents I've tried out recently.
Dragon's Milk : Win. |
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