Philosopher in Meditation: Smoldering woodfire embers, Galen’s Kyphi, and Abramelin incense.
In the imp: Hot - fire hot and incense smoking. I'm not familiar with Galen's Kyphi so I'm not sure what I'm smelling.
On me: Incense!!! Deep, dark, delicous incense!! It is sweetened up by something that I can't quite figure out, and smells so very lovely.
If I smell like incense, I am happy, and this is no exception. It's a unique incense, different from the other incenses that I've tried.
Methinks a bottle is needed.
Lucretia: Iris, black amber, sage, Kashmir wood, vanilla musk, mandarin and violet.
In the bottle: Yuck - pure iris! I almost didn't even test it, but thankfully I did.
On me: A sharp violet! The iris hides, thankfully. The violet blooms and definitely takes the forefront, its beauty is accentuated by the amber, sage, and vanilla musk. They blend beautifully to de-floralize the violet while still keeping a strong violet presence (confusing, but I don't know how else to describe it).
This is a gorgeous scent.
Oya: Oya’s ofrenda is a Nigerian potion of love and war, sweetened by darkest plum. Oya winiwini!
In the bottle: Sweet plum and a little woodsy undertone?
On me: Wet it was a sweet plummy incense. When it began to dry down a bit it lost its sweetness and turned into a very dry woody scent that I couldn't place, which was disappointing. Then 10-15 minutes later the plummy sweetness came back to mix with the woody scent and I have a very sweet incense. I am loving the plum in this. And the way it morphs on my skin, which is loving it.
This is a very purple scent (I'll have to resesarch Oya and see if purple is one of her colors).
Faith: Sugared Violets
In the imp: A very sweet sharp violet softened by delicious sugar
On me: True to the imp, smells much like it did in the imp. Soft and sweet, yet still sharp and deliciously violet. I definitely need to get Hope & Faith bottles!
Lucretia, Albrecht Dürer:
Iris, black amber, sage, Kashmir wood, vanilla musk, mandarin and violet.
In the bottle: There was something funky in here that my nose didn't like, it might have been the Kashmir wood but I'm not sure.
On me: This totally transformed into a delicious spiked violet/sage with a little amber in the background scent. Wow! I sniffed at the test site all night, really enjoying this one. What a change from bottle to skin. This may very well be on its way to becoming a favorite.
Violets: I didn't think violets were my thing, but I think I've been converted into a violet lover between Lucretia and Faith.
Sunrise With Sea-Monsters: Ocean mist, kelp, ambergris, amber, white pear, osmanthus, freesia, and seafoam accord.
In the imp: Lots of delicious ocean mist, a bit of kelp, and the seafoam. Not detecting any freesia, pear, or amber in this.
On me: I definitely feel the humor in this, I can visualize funny looking sea-monsters splashing around. This is wonderfully blended, as I can't pick out any notes in particular. It definitely reminds me of the ocean.
Antonino, The Carny Talker: White musk, wild plum, vetiver, black coconut, verbena, fig, and lavender.
In the imp: I was expecting this to be dark, and was scared of the vetiver (usually my nemesis). Instead, I got this beautiful feminine scent of plum, verbena, and fig. Couldn't find the coconut, and thankfully not the vetiver.
On me: A beautiful blend of precious. The vetiver hid, and I'm ever sooooo thankful!! The musk helped the plum and fig bloom without being fruity. The verbena gave it a teeny bit of citrus so change things up, and the lavender really rounded this scent out beautifully. The coconut helped make this scent sweet, but I can't detect any coconut on me.
I think Antonino was really "Antonina" because this is a very feminine scent. I'm in love, and must get a bottle of this before CD comes down.
Lust! Oh yes. And I usually don’t like patchouli. Do I smell coconut in here? I believe I do.
Jailbait - I like it, but it smells like Materva (soda) with a little bubblegum! This might be a Cuban/South Florida thing.
Lilith - I can’t pick out anything but I LIKE!
Blood Countess - Fruity and Floral? But I likes!
Obatala - a coconut that works!!! Oh this is delicious!! It's everything I wanted the Tikis to be.
Dirty Viking (HAEE)- Mint or eucalyptus? This will be good for hangovers.
Voodoo Punani (HAEE) - holy crap! More, now, please.
Skuld - OMFG my nose had an orgasm! This is up there in all time favorites. I must have buckets of this, and I’m so happy this is GC!!!!!
Golden Priapus - Amber, juniper and vanilla all in one? And pine that doesn’t smell like cleaning fluid? yay! The pine reminds me of Christmas, this will be a great holidays scent.
13 - I want to eat myself!!
The Organ Grinder: Almond milk, sarsaparilla, tobacco smoke, black patchouli and white pine bark.
In the imp: A delicous almondy scent, though not as strong of an almond as those with almond oil. I also get some sarsaparilla and pine bark, but this is so well blended I can't pick out the other notes.
On me: Better than in the imp! A beautiful almond/woodsy scent. For about half an hour/45 minutes that is.
It then decided to turn into disgusting SOURED MILK! About as bad as Milk Moon 07 - ick. Thankfully the throw still smells pretty good, and I only get strong soured milk upon sniffing my wrists, but it's awful. And I can't seem to wash it off, so I'm stuck with it. And I can't smell too closely because it makes me nauseous.
So far it seems determined to last on my skin all freaking day. This is not nice.
The Parliament of Monsters: Dust, incense, wet tobacco, and a curl of opium smoke.
I decided to wear it today for the first time, sniffed and wore it without looking at the notes. This makes the review a bit more amusing.
In the imp: Delicious sweet incense with a touch of opium. Totally a Mia scent.
On me: Wet, I got sweet opium incense. As it started drying though, another note became very prominent. It was familiar but I couldn't figure it out, other than it smelled kind of boozey. As I was driving to work I figured it probably wasn't good that I was going to show up smelling like booze, but it was already too late. The first thing I did when I got in was check the notes - tobacco! I've been smelling tobacco! By this time, I smell like tobacco and that's it: no dust, definitely no incense, no opium. It's a sweet wet tobacco thankfully, and not tobacco smoke....so it doesn't smell bad, but its definitely not something I want to smell like. Especially not when I'm a 3 hour meeting with people who were probably very confused at my scent.....
Several hours later the tobacco has thankfully faded away and I now smell incense and opium again.
This is definitely not a scent for me.
Isaac, The Living Skeleton: Bourbon, tobacco, dry bone, bay rum aftershave, and sleazy cologne.
In the imp: a blend of aftershave and cologne, definitely masculine.
On me: I was scared of the tobacco, but thankfully I got NO tobacco at all. I got a touch of bourbon when I first applied it, but that faded away very quickly. And I ended up smelling like masculine incense, which isn't a bad thing. But I smell no bourbon, tobacco, aftershave, OR cologne. Weird. My skin seems to like turning perfume into incense.
I would have liked to smell like the imp smelled. Oh well.
Eshe, A Vision of Life-In-Death: The perfume of life-in-death: embalming herbs, black myrrh, white sandalwood, black orchid, paperwhites, tomb dust, and Moroccan jasmine.
In the bottle: A sweet deep floral.
On me: This is a very elegant, dress-up kind of scent. It's almost too perfumey, but the sandalwood seems to balance it out. The black orchid and jasmine stand out the most on me, and there is mutual love between us. The sandalwood seems to round out the scent so that it isn't floral overkill. This has amazing throw and lasts all day, always good. Plus the boy loved it, which says a lot because he is usually neutral about my perfume.
This is definitely something to wear when you're dressed up. I felt very mismatched wearing it with my Wicked baseball t-shirt.
Hope: Hope is sugared rose
I'll start off with: I don't like rose. I have never liked rose-scented anything. It always always smelled like cheap $2 perfume to me. No rose in creams, sprays, anything scented. So, yes, I avoid rose. But, I gave this a shot and got a decant.
In the bottle: I like rose? What? It was very sweet, which changed what I don't like about the rose smell into something yummy. I could like it!
On me: I am so very confused. It's still rose, but that sweet rose that was awesome in the imp. It's much sweeter than regular rose, which makes me like it. I'm trying to tell my brain that not all rose is bad, and that this is good. Because it is good. But right now the nose and brain are at odds. I might have to wear this a few times before deciding on a bottle. But I really really liked Faith in the imp so if it's good on me.....
ETA: I've since worn this several times and it is a beautiful rose scent that I *do* enjoy! I have to be in the mood for it, but when I am it is lovely. Bottle - oh yes.
Kataniya, the Clockwork Woman: Gentle flowers over hot metal, shocked to life with electricity.
In the imp: a nice, non-overpowering floral.
On me: a sharp almost-metallic floral. Unfortunately it didn't have much throw or wear time. As it faded it lost the sharp metallic smell and became a soft floral. But it did smell VERY good on me while it lasted!
Arachnina, the Spider Girl: A swirling, hypnotic perfume of black currant, poppy, red and black musk, lilies, nicotiana, and patchouli.
In the bottle: Black currand and poppy sweetness. Nice!!
On me: This one is toying with me, big time. At first it smelled like a very nice blend of incense, which I do not mind at all as I loooove incense. Though I don't think I need any more incensey BPAL as I've got lots. And then....about 20 minutes later or so, it changes for the worse. I smell ash mixed with incense, cigarette ashes. Yuck! And I was already in the car heading to work so I couldn't shower it off. About 30 minutes later I got to work and sniffed again, thankfully the ash has toned down and now I get incense with a little ash mixed in.
This one is definitely a negative.
Meskhenet, The Vulture Maiden: Frankincense, hyssop, hibiscus, river reeds, orris root, palm frond, and olibanum.
In the imp: A sweet floral - definitely liking this!
On me: A deliciously sharp hibiscus with a little something sweet and something else I can't place as I don't know what most of these notes smell like. But this totally works and smells absolutely delicious on me. I definitely need a bottle!
#20 Love Oil: A potent, enticing love formula, favored among Louisiana courtesans.
>It smelled wonderful in the imp. On me – I didn’t smell like a courtesan, I smelled like a cheap alley hooker. It was BAD!
Absinthe: An intoxicating blend containing wormwood essence, light mints, cardamom, anise, hyssop, and the barest hint of lemon.
>I had high hopes, but on me I smelled like a pack of licorice. Ick.
Aeaea: A dark ocean breeze, electric with adrenaline, magic, and fear, clashing with the thick scent of poisoned berries and spiny aloe, against a backdrop of snowdrop, cedar, and cypress.
>I really enjoyed the scent in the bottle and on me. It faded really quickly though, which sucked. It was very ocean-ey on me so it brought back great memories of when I was a kid on the beach.
All Souls: An incense blend that invokes the higher qualities of mercy and compassion, mingled with the soft, sugared currant scent of offertory soul cakes.
>On me it smelled like a blend of honey spiced up with incense. AMAZING! I love the currant in this. Must hoarde.
Baku: Our Nightmarebane. Named after the Baku, benevolent Japanese spirits that eat nightmares. In Japanese tradition, nightmares are gifts from malevolent spirits; when you wake up from one, you may call, "Baku, please eat my dreams!", and if you are virtuous and merciful in spirit, the Baku will devour the evil, transforming it into a blessing of good fortune.
>Total and absolute disaster on me! I can’t describe it, but I was not smelling very good after putting this on. And I had weird dreams.
Baneberry: A poisonous fruit-bearing member of the buttercup family. The scent, like the plant, is dark green, herbal, and plump with bulging black fruit
>I got this from the lab as a frimp and it’s one of my favorites. It smells soooo yummy on me! Seeing a pattern – me likes the darker fruits. Although to me, the scent wasn’t “dark” it was more of a deep red.
Belle Epoque: Impressionist and Art Nouveau movements. Sweet opium, Lily of the Valley, vanilla, mandarin and red sandalwood.
>On me it was a delicious blend of opium and vanilla. Heaven. And very Art Nouveau. I can’t believe I’m starting to associate scents with art – but it’s oh so true.
Blood Kiss: Lush, creamy vanilla and the honey of the sweetest kiss smeared with the vital throb of husky clove, swollen red cherries, but darkened with the vampiric sensuality of vetiver, soporific poppy and blood red wine, and a skin-light pulse of feral musk.
>On me the clove turned into some funky rotted leaves smell/err stench. Ick.
Blood Phoenix: Dragon's blood resin, helichrysum, burgundy wine grape, red musk, opoponax, red poppy, myrrh, carnation, tonka, almond, mimosa, jonquil, and neroli
>I’m wearing it today (used to cover up the most awful smell I’ve yet to put on myself). I’m in love! It isn’t as sweet on me as it is in the bottle, but I’m loving the spiciness of this one.
Bon Vivant: An effervescent blend of crystalline champagne notes and sweet strawberry.
>Another favorite. It is so sexy and sensual on me. And it makes me crave champagne and strawberries.
Diary of a Lovestruck Teenage Cannibal: missing the notes.
>On me it was the yummiest mixture of vanilla and grapefruit. And not in a foodie way. Gotta love the name too!
Dragon’s Bone: The dry, thin scent of a draconic ossuary. Dragon's blood resin with white sandalwood, dusty orris and crisp blondewood.
>Damn I wanted to like all of the Ars Draconis! I love dragons. But, no, the woods turned to rotted leaves on me again.
Dragon’s Eye: A piercing, radiant perfume: dragon's blood resin, lily of the valley, lilac and galbanum
>Another disappointment. It went ALL lavender on me, way overkill. Damn.
Euphrosyne: Gardenia, tea rose, vanilla and jasmine.
>On me this was the loveliest blend of vanilla and jasmine. I was in heaven.
Florence: The pearl of the Italian Renaissance. Elegant iris, bright berries, gilded amber and velvety spices.
>In the imp it didn’t really do much for me, but since I like all of the notes in it, I tried it on hoping it would change on my skin. It did – wet it smelled wonderful on me – amber and berries. And then it dried……to old lady baby powder perfume. Yuck! I pictured some 90 year old lady sitting on furniture covered in plastic bathing in this stuff. Not good.
Gluttony: Thick, sugared and bloated with sweetness. Dark chocolate, vanilla, buttercream, and hops with pralines, hazelnut, toffee and caramel.
>I hadn’t experimented with any chocolate scents so didn’t know what to expect. But OMG I wanted to eat myself! Oh so yummy.
Haloa: A Priest and Priestess bore torches that symbolizes Demeter and her daughter Persephone presided over the final ceremony, which culminated in the ultimate celebration of fertility: an orgy that lasted til dawn. Wine grapes, myrrh, frankincense and olive leaf, and the warm scent of offertory cakes.
>OMG this is absolutely delicious! I want to eat it! When I wear it I can’t stop sniffing! Unfortunately, something in this one makes me red and itchy for about 20 minutes after I put it on. Won’t stop me though, it’s soooo yummy.
Harikata: Osmanthus, honey, golden musk, vanilla flower, and ginger.
>It smells amazing in the imp, and good but totally different on me. After it dried on me it smelled exactly like Issey Miake. Now that I’m a BPAL addict, though, I realize that I don’t need to smell like commercial perfumes.
Highwayman: Vetiver with gardenia, blood red rose, night-blooming jasmine, a dash of cinnamon and a faint hint of leather.
>Funky in the bottle to my nose. On me I got a lot of jasmine and leather, no cinnamon. It smells a lot like Bucheron on me – good stuff.
Kumiho: Nine-tailed fox demon of Korean lore who transforms into the visage of an irresistible beauty in order to seduce men and lead them to their doom. A sharp, biting blend of crisp white tea and ginger.
>Nice and fresh scent on me. Probably good for hangovers.
Lyonesse: Golden vanilla and gilded musk, stargazer lily, white sandalwood, grey amber, elemi, orris root, ambergris and sea moss.
>In the imp I adore the vanilla and musk in this one. Yum. On me it is a totally different scent – a lot of lily and ambergris. Still really good though.
Madrid: Swarthy and vibrant! An elegant, full-bodied scent that ignites all the darkest passions. Bold red wine, mimosa, and a trickle of clove.
>A yummy spicy wine on me. And it does totally remind me of Madrid.
March Hare: A twisted teatime tart: apricot and sweet clove.
>This smelled soooo good, and then I put it on and I smelled like I had been dunked in a bucket of cloves. In a bad way. Ick, what a shame.
Midnight Kiss: In Roman Catholic tradition, the Christmas season begins liturgically on Christmas Eve, though it is forbidden to celebrate the Christmas Mass before midnight. The most devout attend Midnight Mass, celebrating both the Eucharist and the drama of the Nativity. This perfume is a traditional Roman Catholic sacramental incense, most often used during a Solemn Mass. Traditionally, five tears of this incense, each encased individually in wax that has been fashioned into the shape of a nail, are inserted into the paschal candle. This is, of course, represents the Five Wounds of Our Risen Savior. Symbolically, the burning of the incense signifies spiritual fervor, the fragrance itself inspires virtue, and the rising smoke carries our prayers to God.
>Delicious deep dark incense on me. Heaven!
Midnight on the Midway: Lightning splits the sky, illuminating the skeletal skyline of the carnival rides: sugared incense and night-blooming flowers.
>It was heavenly on me. A sweet incense. Thank you B! Enable away.
Midway Resurrected: A bombardment of edible carnival indulgences. Funnel cake, caramel apple, cotton candy, salt water taffy and sugar tart.
>It was absolutely delicious and yummy in the imp. After it dried on me I smelled like AN ASH TRAY! It was awful! Even my dog didn’t want to smell me. Damn that sucks! But I have this air deodorizer machine thing that I can put oil into to scent the room, so tonight my room will smell like the good side of Midway.
Minotaur: The Bull of Minos, guardian of the Labyrinth in Knossos. A deep, swarthy black musk dusted by a dark, resinous blend of sacred bisabol myrrh, atramentous benzoin, tsori, balsam, and galbanum.
>B – WOW! This is one of my favorites. It’s a spicey incense on me, not to sweet and wow it lasts quite a long time. And the bottle has the coolest looking minotaur on it!
New Orleans: Reminiscent of hothouse blooms on a humid night, ripe, but touched with decay. Sweet honeysuckle and jasmine with a hint of lemon and spice.
>T you’re awesome! This reminds me of Lestat walking through Anne Rice’s New Orleans. Yum! I totally need to order a bottle of this and keep backups.
Wanda: Her scent is a deep red merlot with a faint hint of leather, sexual musk and body heat over crushed roses, violets and myrtle.
>Absolute heaven in the imp….all leathery and so-so on me. Damned body chemistry!!
This seems like a good idea. Right now I'm randomly throwing in BPAL review in my livejournal and most likely boring most of my friends list. This way I can keep my reviews organized.
I'm still new at this, so it's still hard for me to pick up specific notes because I'm not familiar with a lot of the notes that aren't super common (like rose or lavendar). But little by little it's getting easier...
