Tulliver

This is... odd. A real mix of emotions and impressions. There's definitely cinnamon in it. And there's a touch of a bubblegum-like scent too, which normally tells me there's lotus around. But... pun unintented... I just don't know. It's a lovely scent - and I'm SO grateful to Ahania for running a European circle of this and several other blends - but (and here's where the emotions take a dip), it dies away so very quickly. After an hour there's nothing left but the tiniest hint of cinnamon. Oddly it does rally just a little around the one and a half hours mark, but it's gone again by two hours, and this time it's permanent.

Since our family makes a big deal of New Year's Day as well and we all get together... I'm wearing Hony Mone. I had no idea what it was to be until I opened the box. But yes. That's it. On Christmas Eve I wore Noche Buena since... well, it was apt. On Christmas Day I wore Fruit of Paradise, simply because I was in a Fruit of Paradise mood.

I bought a bottle of this since it's one of my missions in life to get everything Poe or Stoker that the Lab produces, whether I like them or not. ... wow. Just... wow. This is the gentleman himself. This is so incredibly evocative and I feel as though I'm transported to the Rue Morgue. This truly is a Chevalier's scent. It morphs incredibly little from the bottle right through to final sniff, except that the leather which throws itself at me in the bottle (but NOT in a bad way, this is most definitely a superior type of leather *grin*), loses its strength fairly quickly on my skin. Yes, I know this would seem to make me experience it the other way round to everyone else. Fade it does, however. But not completely. It stays just "there", and lets the lavender and lime through beautifully. This scent is almost breathtaking - not beautiful, but definitely striking. It's not to be ignored and, while I'll most assuredly wear it myself, it's very much a masculine scent. It's SO unusual - I hate to say it's unique but I haven't smelled anything else like it yet - I think I may just need to "purloin" myself yet another bottle.

Ooooh my. This is just what I hoped for and more. When I read the description I knew I had to order a bottle immediately. I only had funds for one of the anniversary blends at the time, and this HAD to be the one I got my grasping little hands on first. I had a brief moment of panic just in case all my spasms of excitement over it were to be sadly let down. They weren't. GAH! This is like Kataniya's masculine twin brother. The oil/metallic scent is exactly the same as hers, to me. All it's missing is the florals. And oooooh, it's lovely. Just like Kataniya, this WILL require multiple back ups. The throw on it is really good and it has a VERY slighly under average lifespan on my skin but it's not too bad at all. The mechanical blends are the biggest of my suprises with BPAL so far. I'd NEVER have thought I'd fall so totally head over heels in love with them as I have. I simply can't get enough.

My depot's only a 20 minute walk on a bad day - but it's the principle of the thing. *lol* I DO get annoyed when I know it's just because the van driver couldn't be bothered calling - he's renowned for it round here. If I'm actually not in that's one thing, but I HATE missing BPAL deliveries through no fault of my own. The delay is HIGHLY irritating!

I HAVE been caught out with Inland Revenue fees, but never with a package sent by the Lab. It should just be delivered as per normal by your postman. Mine comes with the regular round blokey - then again we have problems with the van driver (he doesn't turn up most of the time and leaves the cards for the regular bloke to put through the door), so I think the regular round postie just brings them anyway for that reason. You SHOULD be okay. The Lab are very good with their parcelling and customs declaring. My last order from them was for 37 bottles and that was delivered with no problem at all.

I ordered an imp of this with my first ever Lab order back in August. I liked all the notes in it so I was looking forward to getting it. I hated it. I don't know why I hated it - and I certainly loved most of the other imps I'd ordered to accompany it - but I hated it. However, I tried it again today. And I don't hate it. I don't hate it at all. In fact... It's VERY vetivert and it never loses that even for a second. The florals are SO faint that I often wonder if they're actually there at all, THEN I just get the merest hint of them minus the rose. This is gardenia and jasmine. There's NO rose in here at all that I can detect - even though I know there is. And the leather - which was what put me off last time, I think - is a really well-worn leather. Plenty of scent from that. Perhaps it just needed those few months to settle a little - but I'm so glad I tried it again. This is utterly lovely. Very masculine - although that never stopped me before. I'm converted.

As a co-habitee with a very friendly, "paw-y" dog, I WISH I could help you. Unfortunately I have to say that, while she is most definitely attracted to some blends and ignores certain others, I haven't yet found one that out and out repels her. I shall test her! This will cause untold degrees of confusion since she is a dog of very little brain, but I'll have fun doing it.

Oooh, lovely labels! I adore the Sea of Tranquility one. For some reason I thought it'd just be a lunar surface picture, but the Art Deco is gorgeous. I can't wait for mine to arrive now.

Oooooh... patchouli and cocoa and nicotiana and wine and and and... all swirling together in a wonderful, heady, sexy, musky mist. This is PERFECT as a companion scent to Vampire Tears. It's the absolute polar opposite, note-wise. I'd like for it to last a little longer, I confess, but then that's down to me, not the blend. I wasn't sure if I'd like the Shojo Beat blends, but I thought I'd take a risk because I KNEW I'd have no trouble finding loving homes for them if they didn't work on me. I'm SO glad I took that chance. This is incredible.

This is incredibly beautiful in the bottle. So clean and bright and slightly sharp but not quite. It's hard to explain. Definite florals here, with ozone (I think I'm beginning to recognise ozone now). It's not a warm scent in the bottle at all. Wet on the skin: Oooh, there's a spiciness on the skin that's not in the bottle, and the petitgrain comes through fairly soon afterwards. Oh wow... this is lovely. Still not a warm scent, perhaps surprisingly - it's more whites and pale greens - but it's absolutely lovely, and far stronger than I'd have thought from the bottle. Dry: This is utterly gorgeous. I'm not sure I feel worthy of it. It's been mentioned that this is a RICH woman's scent and I can see what was meant. The throw is very good - the scent is almost divine. I love the narcissus, and the rosemary is JUST there, but the main note on me is the petitgrain. Not that it smells of orange because it doesn't - but there's a definitely "green" orange thing going on here. Once it's had a while to play it does die back a little but it's still more than noticeable. The florals are very similar (to me) to the florals in Kataniya, the Clockwork Woman. Obviously, this doesn't have the metallic note, but it's lovely. Totally lovely. This is a stunning blend. Breathtakingly beautiful and I'm SO glad I got it. I will be wanting back-up bottles of this. Wagner referred to his Parsifal as "a Festival Play for the Consecration of the Stage" rather than an opera, and there is something so inherently... sacred, for want of a better word... in this blend. It may seem a little un-Wagnerish, since he's referred to in my family at least as a "crash, bang, wallop merchant" (not in ANY sort of derogatory way, I assure you), but this is FAR more subtle than that. This is noble and aristocratic. *sniffs hand again* Dear God... this is stunning.

I squeed when I saw this one since I've used the picture as inspiration for something I'm writing. So I just had to get it. In the bottle: I'm not really sure what I'm smelling in the bottle - watery florals, I think. And there's a hint of thyme in the background. Wet on the skin: Oooooh... the thyme spikes VERY sharply - but briefly. It's there then gone, and I'm glad I was sniffing my hand when it was there. There's no sign of the honeycomb, I don't think, but the florals are lovely. Gardenia is particularly strong. I'm hoping for freesia though - it's my favourite flower for scent and was also my grandmother's favourite. In fact I had freesia in my wedding bouquet just for her. The red currants are poking through too, but it's still fairly aquatic. Dry: Ahhhhhh, there's my freesia. I'm so glad it showed itself. This is such a lovely blend. I still don't think I can get the honeycomb, but the rest of it takes turns in coming to the fore. It doesn't last very long unfortunately and the throw isn't madly big. But it's very lovely indeed and I'll enjoy wearing it.

I've been sniffing so many blends in the past 24 hours, I really should stop now while I still have a sense of smell. However, Atrocious Attic - this was another one of the Hallowe'en blends which I had to wait for until money was in and I could finally get them. It's also the one that appealed to me from day 1. I loved the sound of the notes. In the bottle it smells both floral and perfumey - an innocent child-like perfume rather than anything more sophisticated. It really is lovely. Wet on the skin: Oh this is VERY lovely indeed. The florals are light but strong - oddly I don't get the lavender which I thought would be fairly obvious. All the notes are behaving beautifully with me, there's not a single "off" one. Dry: Gorgeous. Lovely throw and a really warming comforting scent of flowers and something almost berry-like. It's dusty without a doubt, but not so much that it's overpowering. This is lovely. I'm actually sorry I only got one bottle. I may have to look for another one somewhere.

I've been hankering after a bottle of this since the Hallowe'en scents went live. However, I've only recently been able to splash out on more than a bottle or two of anything. Oh my, was this worth waiting for! It's absolutely lovely! Floral, but with greenery and water and a fair bit of dust. This is from the bottle to dry. It hardly morphs at all on me and I'm so glad of it. Not that I don't like the morphers, but this is so lovely it's nice to keep the same scent throughout. It's light, but not weak. It lasts fairly well and has a really good throw while it IS around. I'm SO glad I got this even if it was after the rest of the world. Ahahahah.

This is really weird. I can't smell anything in the bottle at all - well, there's a VERY faint, vague "something", but I certainly can't pick anything out. Wet on my skin: Now I smell stuff. But I was expecting a hint of foodiness. There's absolutely none of that at all. It's a little incensey but mainly floral. The florals are extremely lovely. There's a very slight sharpness/acidity to it as well - perhaps the cactus. Dry: This morphs VERY little. It has a fairly decent skin life but not much of a throw. I like this, but one bottle will be enough - just as well really since they're gone now. Ehe.

This is a HUGE surprise. Perhaps because it was in a set with Peacock Queen and Rose Red I somehow expected to get roses from this. Oh my, WHAT a surprise. This is SO strange. In turn it's smelled like marzipan, cake icing, coconut and now it's dried down the florals are coming out. It's the epitome of the word "White". There are no other colours in this blend whatsoever. And, while it's rather faint and never amps up, it does last. And it's really quite unbelievably gorgeous. I've never really smelled anything like it before, I don't think. I'm not sure if I'll be getting a second bottle of this. At the moment I'm thinking yes, but we'll see. It might be just a little TOO sweet and light for me. But it is gorgeous.

OOOOH! I thought this would be very like many others I've tried with the fir/pine/spruce base. And, at first, it is. Certainly in the bottle, that's pretty much all I can get. But on my skin... this is VERY different, and very special. In fact, even as I'm typing this, my brain is going from "niceniceniceOOOOOOHNICE..." all the way to "getmoregetmoregetmore". And that's exactly what I'll do. The aconite and mint in this are absolutely STUNNING and make this a scent all of its own. I was a little worried in case the mint took over, but it doesn't. It blends REALLY well. ... wow. *flees to add this to "GET MOAR PLZ!!!" list*

I was utterly delighted when the Yules went live and I saw this was one of the listed scents. This was one of the very first true ghost stories I ever heard and it's always been one of my favourites with the poor little, rightful lordling and his greedy uncle. So I was and remain unashamedly biased. There's no WAY this bottle will be sold on even if I can't stand the blend. As it happens, I CAN stand the blend. In fact, more than that, I actively LIKE the blend. It's not my favourite - and it does remind me of one or two others - but it is lovely. In the bottle, I get pine and wet and cold. I'm loving this snowy winter "thing" that Beth does with the oils. I have no idea how it happens, but it's absolutely right. Wet on my skin, it's still just pretty much the same - pine, wet and cold. But during the drydown there are other scents that come through. I think it's the labdanum, benzoin and olibanum making their presence felt, albeit only slightly. Whatever it is it works. It REALLY works. Dry: Okay, I'll confess. This isn't one I'll wear a great deal. But I DO like it quite a lot. The background sweetness is a perfect counterpoint to the cold and the bleakness and the pine. And I think it'll be a perfume rather than a room scent although it would adapt itself perfectly to either, I think. And I'm still squeefully delighted that Beth made this one. I almost feel she did it just for me. Edit, December 19th - Just updating to say the more I wear this the more I love it. It's actually making its way up to the top of the Yule 2007 list now. It's utterly exquisite. Gah!

Ahhhhhh. Having just been disappointed by my skin's reaction to the rose in Peacock Queen, I fled to the 2007 version of Rose Red. I hoped she'd be just as lovely as the 2005 version and I wasn't let down. In fact, this is even lovelier... and I didn't think that would be possible. The green is still there, VERY much so. But the rose scent is stronger and it's SO lovely and undeniably red and fresh. I still love it. In fact, I love it even more than I did before.

Oooooh, I was so hopeful for this. I LOVE rose scents and of all the BPAL blends, there only seems to be one type that turns to soap on me. ... this would be it. I left it on to see if it would start to behave, but sadly it's a no-go. I'll stick to the rose blends that do work - which is almost every other one. So I can't complain too much. *sends it to swaps*

Autumn leaves damp beneath the first snowfall. There's not a lot I can say about this one that hasn't already been said. Wet forests. Not snowy, but wet and cold. Slushy leaves rather than dried ones. You'd think that would be a turnoff. Quite the opposite. This is lovely. This smells just like the field outside my house of a winter morning when it's just me and the dog, before the local little thuglets wake up. In fact, I keep getting the impression that all I have to do is turn my head just right and I'll catch the scent of some of our resident foxes too. It's probably a good thing that I don't. *giggles* I do love our foxes, but they really wouldn't translate well to a perfume. Hmmmm, no. But yes. This is gorgeous.

In the bottle, this is a lovely mixed floral blend. I can't pick out many individual notes, but I do get a hint of the spiciness of the sage. Wet on skin: Eh. I'm fairly certain this is going to be one of those that disappears on me quite quickly, but fresh on my skin... oh my. There's a lovely waft of tuberose which carries even when the scent is nowhere near my nose. Carnation, too. And, I think, lily. I confess I don't know what plumeria smells off. But this is a very very VERY lovely true floral. It's the sort of floral that isn't just for Christmas, if you know what I mean. This wouldn't be out of place at a summer garden party. Infinitely feminine, it needs floaty chiffon and large-brimmed hats.. Dry: Eh. It does last a little longer than I first thought, but it's still too short-lived, although the floral wafts in the air do outlast the scent on my skin. Something goes a little soapy on me, but it's only for a few moments then it's all lovely and girly again. I like this a great deal. I'll keep the bottle and use it every time I feel the need to belong to the set that wears floaty chiffon and large-brimmed hats. This could actually be more often than I might realise.

In the bottle: Soft and green, but with a very faint sharpness in the background. This smells like freshly cut shrubs to me. It's lovely. Based on the reviews I read while I was waiting, I was fearing a blend that was TOO piney, but it really isn't at all to me. Wet on skin: Oooooh, this is SHARP! Wow... not menthol/eucalyptus sharpness, but heading that way. But it's a really good one. You know, not so long ago I'd NEVER have worn a perfume with these notes, but that was my loss. This is beautiful. Although maybe it would suit more as a room scent rather than a skin one. Dry: It loses a lot of the sharpness, making it far more sociable, I think. It's still green, undeniably so, but there's something in the background. Somebody mentioned berries, and I think they're right. I must admit, in all my many years I've never actually concentrated on smelling mistletoe, but if it's anything like this scent, even remotely, I might make it a practice to bring some into the house for the season. This is glorious. I won't need a second bottle of it - and it's definitely a winter scent - but this bottle is most assuredly a keeper and it WILL get used.

In the bottle: STRAWBERRIES! No... plums? Really? I still get strawberries. Not that I'm complaining since I love both. Wet on skin: ... ooooooooooh... NOW it's plums - AND strawberries, but it becomes more and more plummy by the second. My word, this is incredible! And the throw is superb. It has real attitude. There could be a slight floral influence, but it's mainly the fruits. I don't get so much sugar either. It's sweet, but not toothachingly so. Dry: This is crying out for another bottle to keep it company. I think I just may succumb. It's VERY fruity - berries are always a good thing. Definitely dark berries. This is a sombre blend, but not an unhappy or oppressive one. And it lasts, which a lot of my favourite GC berry scents don't on me (Blood Countess, Morgause). This is wonderful. I love it.

Wow. I get a really boozy smell from the bottle - like a really good port. I don't see anyone else getting that. Maybe my nose is rebelling, but it's a really obvious one for me. Wet on skin: Oh wow... this is REALLY odd. I can't pick out any individual notes at all - although the port scent seems to have gone. It's very faint almost immediately, with hardly any throw. This is a shame since, while I definitely can't pick out notes this was one of the first blends that I earmarked for my huge Yule order. I'm hoping something comes back once it dries a bit and settles. Dry: OH! There's the violet! It's EVER so faint and I can pretty much only detect it at the back of my nose, but it's there. There's a cakey sweetness to it, too, and a hint of smokiness. But it's really a very faint scent. Oh, what a shame! I'm having to bury my nose into my hand to get anything of this and it's only been 15 minutes since application. I like this. I REALLY like this. I just need for it to hang around a LOT longer. Maybe I'll try it again at a different time or use it as a room scent. It would make a gorgeous room scent, I think.