Eschewed Obfuscation

De Sade

The essence of pleasure heightened by pain: the raw scent of leather.

Wet: Sharp, almost antiseptic-like. Even burns my throat a little. Eww.

Dry: I don't know what leather smells like, but if this is it, I don't enjoy it. I think I'm going to go wash this off now and hope for better luck next time.

Snowberry (Skindazzle)
? Any help on the description, yhlee? I can't seem to find it on Google.

Wet: Sharp. I am strongly reminded of the dentist's office; and while I like my dentist very much, I don't exactly want to smell like the place. A tiny hint of fruitiness, straining to come out.

Drydown: I was hoping that the fruit would come out and play, but no luck. Still mostly dentist. I think I'll just avoid smelling my wrist now. A pity.

Goshdarnit, I'd really like to know what ingredient comes across as dentist on me. And it's such a pretty name, too.


ETA: laurin612 kindly informs me that this is in fact not a BPAL scent; and there's a retailer called Skindazzle, so I'm assuming it's from there.

Thank you for the BPAL care package, yhlee!


Strawberry Moon
Strawberry moon is a blending of strawberries and cream with light, dry lotus and soft ylang ylang and a touch of green tea and sage to bring it closer to Earth.

I find it amusing that one of my previous BPAL posts actually shows up on the first page when I Googled this scent for the description.

Wet: Strong whiff of strawberries.
Drydown: It mellowed pretty quickly on my skin, to soft and yummy strawberry. A definite keeper. This and the Bon Vivant imp should keep me good for strawberry. Mmm.

First, if you haven't already, you should go and read yhlee's online fiction/poetry. They're linked in the sidebar of her journal, but nice person that I am, I'm linking them directly here as well; 3 stories and 3 poems.

• "Notes on the Necromantic Symphony": I haven't actually read this yet, just added it to my lengthy reading folder, but it looks really cool.
• "The Shadow Postulates": A story about scholarship, sword-dancing, shadows, and love.
• "Screamers": Haven't read this either; SF, I believe. Maybe a Yoon-variation on space opera?
• "Dear Yourself": A short poem about the burden of a story.
• "Stella Rosetta": And a shorter poem, in the metafic style.
• "Unicorn Flesh": Fantasy poem on the consumption of the flesh of the fabled unicorn.

Major themes that I have noticed: POC [People/Characters of Color], music, math, Asia, and ornately pretty prose.

Also, I have finally tried BPAL! The aforementioned yhlee sent me a bunch of imps as an Xmas wishlist present--thank you ever so much! I'm wearing Bon Vivant right now, modest review of which follows:

Bon Vivant
An effervescent blend of crystalline champagne notes and sweet strawberry.
Wet: Pleasantly citrusy, fruity, and light.
Drydown: The strawberry is addictive--so warm and citrusy. Not sure what champagne smells like, but this is all strawberry on me. A keeper.

Not completely random draw--I did smell it in the bottle and thought it was promising. And it's name is en francais, so it rocks automatically.