Perfumes tested this week

I had a bit of a protest day on Tuesday this week, because I was a bit tired of wearing all these really out there kinds of scents. I wanted something normal and perfumy. So I had a break for a day and wore Van Cleef & Arpels First. I won't even try to describe the notes for you - that link leads to a really good review of it. To me, it's one of those old-fashioned head-kicker perfumes that screams OLD MONEY. You know those rich old ladies in tweed or herringbone suits you see doing their grocery shopping in David Jones? This is exactly the sort of thing I would imagine them wearing. I love it. Anyway, on to the test subjects:


BPAL Detestable Putrescence: The description given by BPAL is "melty vanilla ice cream". On me it's a very sweet vanilla that morphs into one of those fake fruit scents, like the smell of a fruit-flavoured boiled lolly.

BPAL Diary Of A Lovestruck Teenage Cannibal: I bought this from a girl in the livejournal BPAL community purely for the name - I didn't care at all what it smelled like. And just as well, because it's bloody awful - on me it smells like spoiled cream and fruit. I don't mind though, I still love the name, and the label is really cool as well, so I consider it a worthwhile purchase.

BPAL Dirty: I'm not sure how this trend came about for perfumes that smell like freshly washed sheets. There are several companies that have a similar scent - Demeter comes to mind, and at least one of the Etsy stores I've bought from has one. I can understand this being a successful linen spray, but who wants to walk around smelling like washing? Weird.

BPAL Dracul: A very strong, manly musk that made me sneeze a lot.

BPAL Dragon's Milk: At first it smelled like a cheap vanilla scented candle, and then a big hit of incense turned up and hung around FOREVER. Yuk.

Wiggle Du Bois: At first I thought the roller ball wasn't working so I kept rolling and rolling, and I have to confess, I REEKED of white floral all day. Not pleasant. In normal doses, this is a pretty gardenia scent, quite simple and decent staying power. A nice fragrance for Spring.

BPAL Eat Me: One of those super foodie ones that BPAL does a lot of. At first it has that biscuity note you find in a lot of handmade foodie scents - I've never quite worked out whether or not I like that note. After a while it morphs into a warm vanilla sugar fragrance, with a bit of a jammy thing going on (probably the black and red currants). I do really like this, but I can't imagine where I would wear it.

On Friday, my free day, I chose to wear my most recent favourite, Van Cleef & Arpels Orchidée Vanille. This is an odd duck. When I was spraying it all over myself in David Jones every week before I finally ended up buying it, it would last forever on me. When I bought it and got it home, I found it had very little staying power and not much throw, which was disappointing. However, since then I have found that sometimes it lasts ages and sometimes it doesn't, and I can't work out why. Is it the weather? Is it something I'm eating? It's very strange.