3 new BPALs

Tried out a few new scents recently. Two were ones I picked--Dragon's Blood and Yggdrasil (although Chris heartily agreed to try the latter), and Galvanic Goggles was a Chris-pick.

50% of the reason we got Yggdrasil was because it reminded us of one of our friends (and we will be mailing it to her once Chris has had a chance to try it out :P). 25% was because it had an awesome name (me), and 25% was because it references awesome Norse Mythology as well as Xenogears (Chris).

Without further ado:

Dragon's Blood
Powerful, commanding, blazing with strength.

In Bottle: ...floral. Very floral and "pink". Sort of a sweet dried strawberry smell to it, too.

Dry on Skin: Still a pink, floral smell. Chris says it smells like potporurri. It doesn't quite have a potporurri smell to me, but I can definitely see where he's coming from because there is a definite "dried flower" scent to it. There's something berry, too. When I smell it, the back of my mouth tingles in a strange way...sort of in a tart, under-ripe berry way. But I don't really like the sensation. A few hours later, it's starting to smell a bit soapy. Not nearly as strong as it was before, and while it *is* starting to grow on me a little, I still probably wouldn't choose to wear it again.

Thoughts: I wandered into the Micro lab at work this morning, and was surprised to realize that this smell...kind of reminds me of the lab. o.O Which is bizzare, because it sure doesn't smell like flowers in there. But there's some sort of chemical backdrop to Dragon's Blood, and whatever it is, it's definitely something that's also present in the Micro lab. REALLY strange. Also, after looking up what exactly "Dragon's Blood" was supposed to be, I realized that I've smelled it in an incense before. I went through a (very) short kick as a teenager where I'd try out different incense. At least, until I came to the realization that all of them gave me a headache. That (in addition to the slight problem of my mother not being happy about me lighting sticks on fire in the house) led me to abandoning my short-lived incense hobby. I wonder what I ever did with the burners I had...


Yggdrasil
The World Ash. Nine woods, nine leaves, and three herbs each for Ratatosk and Vidofnir, with three final herbs to placate Nidhogg.

In Bottle: Warm and woody. On the wand, it was minty and woody--smells really wonderful.

Dry on Skin: Stayed minty and woody for about 20 minutes. After that, the mint smell started to dissapate, leaving just the warm woody smell again. It's a little like bark mulch...I wonder if there's cedar in this. The smell reminds me a bit of the cedar closet at my parents' house. Dang, this smell is warm and comforting. :P It'd probably be perfect in the Fall when it's all cold and crisp outside.

Thoughts: I really enjoy this scent. But there's something about it that reminds me of old ladies. I can't place who, what, when, where, or why...but this reminds me of *someone*, and I just can't place it. Other than her being elderly. Maybe it's the slightly medicinal quality of this scent--something cool and tingling, maybe eucalyptus? I really do like this smell, though...but either I should save it to wear when I'm 70, or I should have the scent make a bold new comeback with the 20s crowd. :P


Galvanic Goggles
Metallic notes with Indian musk, tobacco flower, and African balsam.


In bottle:

Dry on skin: The first thing I smelled during the initial drying was...pine? Something like pine, but not quite. Checked the BPAL description, and it says balsam--that *has* to be what this is. The balsam is pretty over-powering for the first few minutes, but it smells very clean--a little soapy, brings to mind Pinesol, but without the citusy notes. Now that I've had it on for a grand total of 10 minutes, I'm starting to notice a musky scent underneath. After about an hour, a dryer scent is starting to come through...maybe the tobacco flower?

Thoughts: I think this is more of a man scent. A very nice-smelling man! But a man all the same. It makes me think of Chris's Old Spice deoderant that I really liked. :P After a couple of hours, though, it's really hard to fight the temptation to wash this off. It's starting to get over-powering. And I only put a little bit on one wrist, too. I'm *so* glad I didn't put it on both.