sarada

I am very grateful for a chance to try this blend. I was brought up in a household of Taoism (Daoism) and Buddhism, where we had a little meditation alcove and a yoga mat. While it is not my official religion (I don't have one, really), the Tao Te Ching and meditation are things that I always come back to and find comfort and solace in. It is profoundly emotional for me to be able to use an oil in meditation that is specially formulated with that in mind. Since those experiences are very subjective though I will just describe my impression of the scent and a little of my experience with it. The initial scent evokes a very strong memory. It reminds me of what my mother would burn while she was meditating when I was little. That's the smell, alright. I never knew what it was at the time, but here it is -- slightly woody, with a hint of a sort of candlewax smell to it. I feel pretty confident in speculating that ylang ylang and sandalwood are components here. The ylang ylang I'm pretty sure of because it's such a recognizable smell and although I have an unfortunate habit of associating it with a sort of chemical scent it is milder in this blend and softened by what I think might be sandalwood. It's one of the woods, anyway. There's a slight hint of that scent that makes me think of a recently-extinguished candle in Cathedral. As for how it makes me feel, I have been sniffing this throughout the day to center myself and feel calm as I tackle a number of stressful things. I dabbed it onto my forehead (third eye area) and immediately feel centered and drawn to it. I come to it and think of being a small child on a yoga mat with incense burning. I will treasure this and share it with my mom, and hope that I can get a bottle some day.

I got this almost by accident, but I knew that if there was chamomile in it I would love it. The chamomile really jumps out at me in the bottle and I relax. Ahh, yes, everything's gonna be just fine. I am a huge rose lover. I rarely go for blends that are just rose + floral because they fade too quickly on me (I favor rose + wood, resin, etc.) but an herbal rose is an intriguing development. I adore herbal blends and greedily grab for any that come out. The chamomile reminds me strongly of Vipralabda, but with those mellow pale powdery rose notes beneath. In the locket, the chamomile stays strong, and is joined by some dreamy, watery blue florals along with the slightly sharper note of juniper. Though I love wisteria and iris flowers in the garden they've never worked in perfume for me, but they manage not to become too prominent or powdery. And I don't have a headache, so that's a good sign. On my skin, it faded pretty quickly and the notes became less distinct, but that always happens with me and anything that doesn't have a very dark base note. A dreamy, somnolent, calming blend of mists and flower-strewn ponds at twilight. It is definitely a crepuscular scent to me, quiet and muted, a watercolor of wildflowers and summer herbs nodding in a faint breeze while mists rise from a still lake.

My eyes lit up when I saw the notes for this one. First, I am a sucker for anything with the words "blood" or "garden" in them -- and here's a blood scent without dragon's blood listed (which has a tendency to drown out other notes, I've noticed). The combination of ivy, wood and leather made me wonder at first if this would be a fruity cousin of The Black Tower -- while the dark luscious fruits brought longtime favorite Blood Countess to mind. And with a bit of clove in there as well, this is an exciting combination to contemplate. I know I always call things "incensy" when I like them, because that's my go-to word for anything that I just really like, but that's my first impression as it dries. It is also surprisingly fruity -- rather like a big box full of mostly fruity-scented incense, with the scent of dust and some dry woods mixed in. Leather and wood give it a nice, strong, long-lasting base. I don't smell clove, oddly, and I don't get a lot of the ivy or green notes, which is a shame, but those might come out in a locket better. I also don't get a lot of the metallic blood scent, because the wood and leather creates such a strong impression of dusty warm incense. I think this one might vary greatly depending on your personal chemistry and how you wear it -- wearing it on incense-amping skin, on very hot days where I'm always applying sunblock, I might not be getting some of the subtler notes. I think that as we head into fall this will create an entirely different experience, and the more subtle notes, or the ones that burn off quickly, will be able to fully emerge.

Put aside your expectations for this one -- it is quite complex, and a bit of a morpher. I should know by now that lavender + frankincense is always a good thing but I hesitated a bit on it. Still, that combo always signals something that will be bright and herbal, balanced with something resinous, with staying power and an anchoring darkness. The other elements were what threw me. All of those possibly licoricey herbs -- they can sometimes go wrong. But none of these turn out particularly licoricey. There is an amazing layered complexity to this, particularly in the bottle, as each individual note swirls up and takes its turn, bows, and goes neatly back into the mixture. A bit of fresh wet garden greenery, just the barest hint of a spice cabinet (ah yes, a hint of that fennel and anise, but perfectly blended), something citrusy, something a bit like carrot -- all intermingled with a very steady, pleasant blood red throbbing pomegranate note. Although I love pomegranate, it tends to turn everything into a pomegranate candle after it dries a bit, I've found. But this has so many other elements to play with, that it stays out of candle territory. The soporific spike of lavender and soothing smoked sweetness of frankincense really anchor it all. Incredibly complex and surprising, and an unexpected hit from the set for me. Who knew necromancy could be so much fun?

I can't stop smelling this. I am so drawn into this scent -- the first layer of sweet, smooth beeswax luring you in, and then the scorched, smoking fingers close around you. Charred leather, burnt wood, smooth dark polished wooden surfaces brushed by wisps of smoke, all beneath the golden honey glow of beeswax. In other words, this is one of the most beautiful things imaginable in my olfactory world. As it dries there is a slight powdery note developing that I can't place -- it might be the way the smokiness dries down, but it is as if the smoke dissipates and the charred leather flakes away to ash mingled with pollen. The darker smooth wood and beeswax cling to me for hours, and into the next day, so I catch tiny whiffs of it wherever I applied it, a ghostly reminder of the spectre. Oh so lovely. It smells like someone just blew out the candles on the devil's birthday cake!

Mushroom gases and swamp mist made me long for this scent -- the scent of a will o' the wisp on a marsh, with ghostly white mushrooms sprouting among dead tree trunks, pale as puffy corpse fingers. The notes and imagery were spot on for this, as it is a completely otherworldly, haunting scent. It is barely there, but at the same time entrancing and all-consuming. It is not strong violet or mint, but both combine to form something new and just in between. A boggy aquatic herbal-floral? eta: and also, I would swear, a hint of melon or cucumber. But that's not really doing it justice. It's a wet, misty flickering green-violet, swollen with moisture. The pallor of something that grows in the dark, but throbs with inner light. For something supernatural, it smells SO natural and fresh. As Tramp said, a perfect summer blend. I would not be frightened by either violet or mint, if those normally don't agree with you. If this sounds interesting, I say try it -- splash some on after a shower or a day in the hot sun and you will glow and possibly levitate.

On looking at the notes for this I imagined something similar to Robin Goodfellow or perhaves Carfax Abbey. And indeed those come to mind as I wear it! Also, whenever I think about this scent the song "Two-Headed Dog" by Roky Erikson goes through my head all day. Dark musk is easily recognizable by any who have smelled it, and it seems that many either love or hate it -- it is a sinuous scent, amplifying all that it touches, and comes off just a little bit powdery. The scattered, dry herbs and woods all smell like an herb garden in the summer heat -- some sun-bleached and crackling, some green and thriving, with a fuzzy dry pad of moss underneath. As a friend who tried this at will call told me, it bears a resemblance to an old Airs incense that I think also had petitgrain in it -- I can't say which note, but in general it gives me the impression of a woody-herbal incense, light and dry and hazy. And of course, if you like either Robin Goodfellow or Carfax Abbey in particular, I think this will be a particular favorite.

One of my favorite notes/concepts that has come about in the past year or so of BPALdom is the 'rot' smell. Forbidding Foyer is one of the most unique and wonderful things ever, for example, and lovely lush rot has cropped up in Worm Moon and some others as well. The Winding Sheet is less rotty, but there is still that hint of lovely subterranean dankness, beneath the scent of perfumed dusty linen. White sandalwood is a very musty, dusty smell to me, wood bleached by sunlight through a dusty windowpane in the attic. That clean, bleached whiteness has moved into the shade, for this scent, layered by a powdery dust. With time I get a stronger sense of the wood beneath, and the basement-like musty notes just add a hint of strength and pungent staying power to the blend. It moves quickly through these stages on me, into the mellow dusty wood (with a dab of sour darkness) that I like, but I imagine it would be slightly more of a perfumed linen scent if I had it in a locket.

Shrunken Heads is nothing like I expected -- I thought I knew the lab's leather note(s) well but this is much different and less, well, leathery than I anticipated! If I didn't have a description to go by I'd even guess that a main note had been a green cedarwood or green sandalwood -- something deep and woody, but at the same time tart, fresh and wet. I imagine putting a green chunk of cedar on a fire and enjoying this combination of smoky wood and damp herbal greenery -- heads have never smelled so lovely! Damp, sun-warmed herbs, trees and a comforting, smoky warmth with a hint of darkest leather -- far more woodsy and green than I even dared to hope. I should love to wear it in a little shrunken head locket around my neck on a leather cord. I do believe I'll place it in my top five from the Wunderkammer.

Looking at the list of resins in this, it was an obvious choice for me. There are already quite a number of resin and rose scents so I didn't expect it to be wildly different, but Blasphemare Reliquary really does stand out from the others. The resins are very deep and rich indeed. If boswellia is basically frankincense, and it is coupled with myrrh, you know you're going to be starting off with a deep, dark base of something like Midnight Mass or Penitence. That scent, like a shadow beneath a cowl in a forgotten monastery, glitters with the dry, gold-dust shimmer of copal, layered with ages of ash. The rose is a faint memory -- someone walked through the catacombs once with a bouquet, and left them to fossilize in a lightless tomb. All of the darkness of the finest resin scents, suggesting medieval cloisters, shadows and smoke, but alleviated with the brightness of copal and the soft breath of rose. Definitely one of my favorites in my favorite collection!

Before I even got it, I knew that it would be true love with me and Bezoar. I imagined a smooth polished ball of fossilized whorled wood and I knew what it would smell like. My prediction proved true, and this is everlasting love. The only way I can describe the overall scent is one of a very rich, dark and gritty earthy amber/wood, smoothed over and shining. I don't know what the balsams smell like on their own, but it brings to mind something glistening, dark gold and ancient, smooth and resinous. Surprisingly, cardamom doesn't jump out, but I think that the hay note adds a bit of glimmer and shine to the surface. This is so beautiful I am speechless and will have to wear it some more before I can figure out what to say beyond that. It's immediately one of my favourites, and I recognize in it instantly the scent that I have been longing for.

I agree heartily with the first review, and I was drawn into this dark stained glass chapel by the promise of dark wine and unspeakable rites...but so many wine blends become a powdery berry or an overwhelming Grape Ape on me that I did have a vague worry that I'd wind up with another berry blast when I was hoping for unspeakable darkness. This one is all unspeakable darkness, and I love it! This is the really gorgeous deep rich bloody wine I was hoping for, splashed on a gritty, dark background of charred stone and blackened wood. I feel like people should cross themselves when I walk by wearing this. I don't smell anything resembling blood (it does give a nice metallic tang to some blends it is listed in) but the wine is extra super dark bloody red. Initially the more smoky and burnt notes are prominent but as it dries they soften and it becomes a rich, complex earthy smoky wine scent. It speaks of altars and sconces and braziers and light flickering off statues in dark corners, cracked stone and black cloaks. I want to go watch movies with words like "Torture Dungeon," "The Castle of..." and "The Abominable..." in the title when I wear this!

Oils that smell like incense are the whole reason I got into BPAL -- and now I have so many of them I hardly need to burn incense anymore! So things like this really get my attention. I was not sure what Rosicrucian incense would mean, specifically, except that I imagined there might be a rosy element, maybe something like Rose Cross, but this is even more beautiful. I don't know if I can ever get enough wood/resin-plus-rose blends, but I love every one and this is no exception. It smells almost exactly like a patchouli-rose incense called Mayan Temple Blend that has long been one of my all-time favorites. Neither of those notes is prominent, but together they blend into something faintly rosy, rich, earthy and woody. In my locket or on my skin it smells just like I have a stick of that incense burning. As soon as I put it on my husband asked what I was wearing -- and if he says anything other than "God, you're giving me a headache with that stuff!" it's a good sign. He immediately recognized the rose and thought it smelled like really good incense. In my locket as it dries a little I catch some strong deep sweet resins -- I swear it smells a bit like Cathedral at times, but again with that pinkish glow of rosy incense dust. And on my skin it becomes more radiant and warm with time, growing in intensity. Yet another winner in the fabulous Wunderkammer set!

The Chilling Cellar from last year's Halloween line could also fit the bill though it has some wine notes as well. If you can ever track down Shanghai Tunnel that might be perfect! But Kumari Kandam is definitely something to try, I agree. Singing Moon from last year, another LE that isn't too hard to come by secondhand, has some nice mineral/damp notes.

Okay. Wow. I've been wearing this on my skin, in my locket, at night, and during the day, for a week now and I am so overwhelmed with love for this blend that I don't even know what to say about it. But for anyone who watches my reviews -- this could very well be a new all-time favorite for me. Don't hesitate to scoop it up -- it is perfect. First, there's an herbal beeswax scent that reminds me of my favorite parts of Luperci -- this is also the strongest when I wear it in the locket or first put it on. The simmering warm waxy scent of ritual, a perfect balance of the natural and the alchemical. On my skin and after long wear in the locket the overwhelming scent of warm, gritty, earthy resins is the main note -- the sort of ecclesiastical resinous incense of Heavenly Love & Earthly Love, but even stronger and without the powdery notes. Could this be any more perfect?? The resins are sweet, a tiny bit spicy (they seem to be playing dress-up in robes of carnation and myrrh). I am constantly intoxicated with the beauty of this scent. It puts me in the mind of dark cathedrals converted for use as alchemical workshops -- green growth breaking through the stained glass windows, climbing over the wooden pews as the air fills with the honeyed smoke of beeswax candles and crackling, melting mounds of fresh golden resin. This is really GC? Really?? I can get more whenever I need it??

How fantastic is it that I have a perfume with an Easter Island head on the bottle? Pretty fantastic. This was the only one of all the Tiki scents that appealed to me based on notes but I would have had to get it anyway, for the image of the Moai! It reminds me very much of the gunpowder/smoke scent from some other blends like Agnes Nutter, though a bit more like burnt wood. I don't really have a good handle on what palm should smell like, but as this dries it seems to have an almost floral undertone and I find myself thinking of humid tropical greenery and hot rocks. I have never had the pleasure of being in one of the places that this might evoke, but it definitely takes me to a wonderful, lost world kind of H. Rider Haggard place in my mind!

The original Hexennacht is a great and eternal love for me and I'm glad to see the concept revisited -- this is completely different, but equally gorgeous, and perhaps even more suitable for this time of year. Unlike the slightly sour and smoky undertones in the original (which I adored for those qualities!) this is much more fresh, clear and crisp. It is the scent of the evergreens in spring, wet and verdant with new growth. I actually don't get much of the deeper musk or amber notes, though I imagine they are helping to anchor this in place -- it might become too light and high pitched without them to ground it. A clean, earthy evergreen, the sun-warmed pines no longer laden with snow. I've been wearing it in my hair and skin behind my ears and reapplying for a couple of days. Like many natural scents, it also really comes to life when you're out in the woods yourself, and the fragrance warms on your skin as you walk and let the woodsy air lift it up around you.

I haven't been reviewing my moons lately....which is a shame because I love them so much this year! Worm Moon sounded pretty much like the ultimate dirt/garden scent so I was delighted to see it appear. I love the smell of dirt and potting soil and freshly-turned earth and moss and rot more than just about anything (along with burnt wood, fresh wood, wet wood, wet stone, and...well, you get the idea). Hearing the will call reviews that this was like peat moss or potting soil made me want to stockpile this before I even got my first bottle! This is indeed a dirt scent to die for. If you had a chance to try Graveyard Dirt, this is much deeper and stronger with many layers to dig through. It reminds me also quite a bit of Premature Burial because in addition to the earthiness there's a lot of greenery and a bit of a floral hit. This is not quite so heady but has a similar quality. I've been wearing this for days...on my skin, in my Clockwork locket, I just can't get enough of it. Not quite the sweetness of Death Cap, but nowhere near as pungent as Zombi, this is just the right combination of gritty dry dirt, moist garden soil and hints of bruised flower petals and deeply decomposed compost that has turned to humus. Yet, oddly enough, wearing it I feel like it smells perfectly clean -- soil washed by spring rain. It's an instant classic, and while Singing Moon has been my favorite moon for months, this one has to at least tie it.

wow, it's my old pine post! Hexennacht 2008 is the newest entry for me in the pine happiness category. Joining the newest Capricorn (as mentioned before) and I think Jersey Devil and Troll as having that particular pitch pine note. Mmm.

I am deeply in love with this scent. I wasn't sure I'd like it, since I have very bad luck with anything that has a pirate/sea theme (except Anne Bonny, which I love). Pirate Moon was a perfumey headache for me, for example. This is a surprisingly resiny scent to me, and really reminds me of Schwarzer Mond at first sniff, with deeper tones reminiscent of Anne Bonny -- deep, smooth polished wood, but with the sweet and complex added swirl of heady bay rum and just a touch of the more fragrant notes. The faintest hint of tea rose and the tiniest splash of currant. The deep wood notes, bay rum and patchouli combine to create something between Schwarzer Mond and Cathedral or Anne Bonny. But rather than being steeped in anything too dark or ominous, the twinkle of rose and currant keeps it buoyant and alive. I've smeared this behind my ears, on my wrists and in my hair -- this is one of my favorites in recent memory. Wish I had a second bottle!

There should be some sort of an explanatory note on the CCNow site letting people know that their "shipped" status does not have anything to do with whether your actual order shipped. It just means the order was accepted by the Lab for processing. Nothing has shipped until you receive a click & ship email from the USPS. Sometimes the click & ships aren't working, but the CCNow status still does not indicate the actual ship date. They don't point this out anywhere on the CCNow site though so it's a bit confusing for a lot of people. To see where the lab is in processing check the "click & ship" thread, where it looks like they're up to about Feb. 29 right now. They should be up to March 7 soon! If you're using Paypal, they suggest not checking out through CCNow though if you can avoid it. On the main BPAL page it asks that Paypal orders be placed directly through Paypal, and not through CCNow. It will still reach them but they get charged double fees or something like that. If I'm mistaken, someone please correct me! That's just how I remember it!

ivyandpeony beat me to it! Virgo '07 is the most garden-herbal to me. I almost put it on today and then opted for The Passionate Shepherd because I wanted something more in that vein. I haven't really found my herbal dream scent yet, oddly enough -- I'd like something that was straight-up sage and basil. I do find that anything containing sage as a note makes me pretty happy though. Beneath the clear, light woody notes, the herbs in Yggdrasil do come out nicely though. And for bergamot, I want to say that the Apothecary, Dormouse and Severin seem to ring some bergamot/earl grey bells for me. Ditto on Lear being kinda herbal too, if you don't mind cedar (I love cedar, so Lear is one of my faves!).

I was just curious about this, since I only remember Possets starting up less than two years ago -- was that an early, pre-web scent or did they have a previous storefront or perhaps was it a different brand? I ask because that sounds just freaking amazing! The scent of summer. I'm dying for more herbal/fresh/garden scents. Wet potting soil and coriander seeds (from garden-starting) and fresh leafy cilantro (from chopping it for dinner) is actually what I bet I smell like right this very instant!

I am very glad I ordered a bottle of this unsniffed, because in the bottle I concur that it does in fact smell like hairspray at first -- and I wouldn't have ordered a bottle if I just smelled that! But it dries down to something completely different. I attribute the brief hairspray phase to grey amber combining with the resiny scents -- I've noticed something similar in a couple of other blends. As it dries, something amazing happens, and a deep, lusty, spiciness emerges. Sweet, earthy and spicy with a bit of sharp greenery spiking occasionally. Incredibly, the sweet spiciness reminds me of Bakeneko from time to time. Myrrh has this wonderful spicy quality, and tonka is a gorgeous sweet smooth note that just creates magic wherever it goes. What is left of that hairspray feeling is just a sparkling shininess at the edges. I think this scent will largely depend on individual skin chemistry to determine how it works on you, but mine happens to interact very favorably with myrrh, tonka, oakmoss and resins in general. The odd little spikes of something perfumey, I'd chalk up to muguet amplified by grey amber. If you bring out the spice in myrrh and the sweetness in tonka, though, this is going to do amazing things.

It doesn't take much to get my interest -- say incense and throw in a couple of resins and I'm there. The only question in this blend for me was whether there would be floral notes that would throw off the glorious green darkness. In the bottle, it is very herbal, dark green, faintly smoky. I think of thick, darkest green cypress -- fresh and evergreen but also dark and smoky. The hot, burning resins in the background come out more on my skin and glitter as if sparking on coals. There is a distinctive herbal scent that does also make me think of kitchen herbs -- rosemary perhaps? Then it deepens again into those crystallized resins on a wood fire or burning in a censer. Both natural and churchlike -- a darkened wood chapel in the forest, surrounded in silent evergreens and the smoking remnants of fires. This will definitely have a place of honor in my collection as I shuffle things around to figure out who gets bumped from the Top 50 to make more room again!