rushthatspeaks | BPAL review: New Orleans

To expand: I hadn't much hope, because so far every scent that has worked on me has failed absolutely and totally during my period. So today I was just rummaging among the ones I hadn't tried at all, and I figured what the hell, and I'm going to have to test again to see if this one works when I *haven't* got my period, but even if it doesn't I don't care.

Wanderlust: New Orleans

Lab Description: Reminiscent of hothouse blooms on a humid night, ripe, but touched with decay. Sweet honeysuckle and jasmine with a hint of lemon and spice.

Vial: Spice. Very dry, and not very sharp. An old-books kind of smell, not terribly promising, which is why I haven't tried it before. No florals at all, and no fruit.

Wet: Spice laced with CRACK. I have no idea why this smells so good, because it ought to be giving an impression of mustiness, but it isn't. It is, however, the one spicy sort of scent I've ever tried that is neither too sharp in an attacking-my-sinuses-with-rocks sort of way nor too sweet in an I-smell-like-the-bakery-I-used-to-work-in sort of way. Still no floral. Still no fruit. I DON'T CARE. AT ALL. I cannot keep my wrist away from my nose.

Drydown: There's the lemon. But it isn't overpowering everything else and turning violently sweet the way all fruit almost always does on me: it's a pure, clear top note, like a cold breath of air. In fact, it isn't sweet at all. It's lemon without sugar. Yay.

Five minutes later: And the floral just hit: OMG honeysuckle, and the very best jasmine like you get from a really good pot of jasmine tea. But the other stuff hasn't gone away, so it's STILL NOT TOO SWEET and I don't smell like anybody's grandmother.

In fact, I smell like the very best glass of secret-ingredient iced tea with a slice of lemon and no sugar that I've never had, drunk out on a porch next to a muddy but not swampy river and a luxuriant flowering of honeysuckle. So if they want to call this New Orleans? FINE BY ME.

I still can't keep my wrist away from my nose.

If this still works on me when I haven't got my period, and if the throw lasts any time at all and doesn't vanish in the next half hour, I want a bottle. I didn't expect to love this, but it's totally the best I've found since White Rabbit, and White Rabbit is my all-time favorite wear-everywhere. Cool.

I should totally look around for a perfume icon.