TheOneTheyCallLuna

Sassafras, vanilla extract, oak leaf, CO2 butter extract, and onycha. Nom nom nom. Real authentic root beer and cream sodas! Refreshing! Delightful! A definite keeper for the warmer months to come!

The notes in this one are everything that I love: woods, smoke, greenery...yum! So I really expected to love this one, but I just don't get it...any of it. No wood, no smoke, no ivy, just subtle slightly glowing perfume a la waaay toned down 51. Kinda powdery, and a bit reminiscent of clean smelling and refreshing shower products. My boyfriend has a great nose for BPALz so I consulted him for a second opinion. I didn't tell him what the name was and then asked him to identify themes, notes, or what have you. His take - honeysuckle, florals, and melon. I've never had this happen to me before. I guess, unfortunately, everybody has to have wonky skin chemistry happen to them sooner or later...

This was a frimp that I just got. It smells good, and I think it smells just like apricot brandy!

At first this smells just like Hand of Glory, and I was so confused because that is not what I was expecting from Haloes at all! Fortunately, almost immediately some other notes come out and mingle...softer, more flowery aspects which lend this blend some grace and its glowing quality. This is heavenly delicious and heady...innocent and decadent at the same time! A real light golden flowery blend! I like this very much!

I've been desperately searching for some of this to try after hearing everyone raving about it. I've been three for three today with orgasmically good BPAL blends. Needless to say, Black Lace did not disappoint! If Antique Lace is an upbeat ingenue with thrift store chic (what I personally get from that blend. Yes, I know, I'm weird!), then Black Lace is a sophisticated and slightly somber woman, with smoky eyeshadow in lacy black underwear with a garter belt and stiletto heels. This blend is soft, glowing, dark, a tad morose, and also a bit romantic, to my nose... This is another BPAL masterpiece and I can see why it is so incredibly sought after! This blend perfectly encapsulates the concept and matches the lab description to a t. Exquisite!! Now if only I could track down some more! Hmmmm.....

I'm so ecstatic to be reviewing this blend! I've had it on the top of my "must try" list for quite some time and was finally able to swap for a half decant. In the imp, this smells of thick, heavy, oppressive smoke and myrrh. I'm intrigued... Wet, a touch more of the spices come out to play, which I am very excited about, along with some delicious resins. This one is a morpher - each time I sniff it, it seems to have changed since the last time. It's at once smoky, and tarnished gold, with syrupy resins and the lightest brush of spice. I really love the heavy smoke in this blend, and find it to be totally unique and captivating. Dark and mysterious, smoke-a-licious! A definite winner! My one word review: Sultry! ETA: the more that I smell this, the more I become convinced that I must have more NOW!!!

I FINALLY get to review Three Witches!!! I have been waiting so long to get my greedy little paws on some of this stuff, and it has been well worth the wait, because..."YUM!" In the imp, this definitely gives off a foody spicy apple pie vibe, and I am totally in love already. On the skin, this picks up even more spice than before. It gets hotter and a bit less foody...it's like Pickled Imp with extra cinnamon! This is the spicy delicious scent that I have been searching my whole life for...Oh, please, resurrect it one more time?

On me this starts off all kinds of crazy lemon! I love lemons, don't get me wrong, but jeeez mister! After a bit, it tones down slightly and some bright and creamy florals come out to play. This is very reminiscent of Carnaval Diabolique on my skin, just minus the haze of opium smoke...I'm going to have to do a side by side test here: Okay, CD is way sweeter and more creamy and hazy, while this is more floral and bright and tangy. I actually think I might like this better between the two! Like Arcana meets Carnaval Diabolique for some summer lemonade out in the garden! Tasty!

Mmmmm...I think this smells yummy! It is a bit earthy, and even a touch bitter, though not in any way that I find offensive. The mint is well-blended but there, and there's a soft sweetness from the florals. I think this blend is very evocative of a certain sweet melancholy and sorrow. Like standing at the top of a tree lined hill alone on the most gorgeous day of the year, surveying the panoramic view below with a tear in your eye because you are about to leave behind something that you love. The sun is warm and sparkles on a body of water in the distance. The breeze is soft and cool and fragrant as it rustles the branches of the trees. You savor the beautiful view and the moment, and then turn and walk away forever. That's what I get anyway! Hehe... I'm going to use this to enhance artistic inspiration in my painting....Lovely!

This is really extremely beautiful. Another one that started out yucky in the imp and transformed into something very pretty on the skin. This is really floral, and perhaps a bit too much so for my tastes, though I do really like it! I get the spicy carnation, vanilla, iris, and neroli over a bouquet of indistinguishable wildflowers. Nice!

In the imp: Smells like Persephone. On the skin: At first it's all honey and grape pop rocks candy with roses! lol! As it dries it gets a little less sugary and I agree with the above forumite who compared Osun to fresh raw clover honey! Even though this is a honey blend, it is really different from the other ones I've smelled from BPAL and I think I rather prefer Osun to higher pitched honey blends like O. On the drydown I get the aforementioned clover honey drizzled over ripe bright berries with a bouquet of roses. Wonderful!

This was a frimp from the lovely labbies! In the imp this smells dark and a little sweet with just a touch of earthiness. I really like the history of this plant and I can already tell from the imp that this is going to smell gorgeous on my skin. Double bonus!! On the skin: Oh my...uhhhhhnnnnnnn, that is SO good!!!! On my skin this blend picks up a touch of flowery spiciness - this baby has a little bite! Overall, this is a sensual, dark, and mysterious smelling herbal blend. I'm going to end up living in this one....a clean and beautiful, unobtrusive everyday scent!

In the imp: the orchid is just gorgeous, but there is a cloyingly sweet high-pitched note in there, too, that is making my front teeth hurt when I smell it. I have my doubts here... On the skin: Oh yummers! The cloying note has developed into a fresh vanilla stick smell, deep and sweet and sultry. The orchid still smells magnifiscent, mingling with the other soft floral notes. This just gets deeper and more voluptuous as it dries, though it does still threaten to get just a touch too sweet for my tastes. Still, I'm sure I'll like to wear this blend in a dress and a cardigan once spring rolls around!

This blend works amazingly well! This Saturday morning I had an early morning art retreat to go to, after being up all night helping a friend come to terms with some seriously heavy emotional stuff. By 6 a.m. I was just totally drained and exhausted. I'd been feeling really blocked lately, and this morning I did feel totally inspired, but only to stay in bed with the warm comfy covers over my head for a few more hours. So, I grabbed some Hymn to Pan, did a little mini-ritual and went about my groggy morning. Well, the art retreat went unbelievably well...I got an almost overwhelming amount of positive feedback on my work, and everything just felt like it was coming so naturally to me. It also smells delicious...On my skin it's a really soft, smoothed out lavender blend with depth. I don't find it to be sharp at all, like previous reviewers. Mine had been aged pretty well, though. I can't really pick out any other notes in the blend. Perhaps a touch of Jasmine? In any case, it's very pleasant, pretty, and calming to the nerves, while also being unobtrusive. I give Hymn to Pan a 4.9 out of 5 for both effectiveness and scent.

Hmmmm....this is pretty good! I do detect the luscious creamy undertone from Pickled Imp, as a previous reviewer stated. It is very sexy and pretty and glowing...Creamed honey incense over smooth polished teak. I'm ecstatic to have a few decants of it! I like woodsy smells, so I think if I got just a touch more teak it would push me over the edge into unbridled lust over this blend (though I feel that way about most everything! Everything in my world could use more sandalwood!) ETA: So, this is one of those blends that needed a bit of time to grow on me, but those blends tend to be the ones that I end up loving the most and hoarding shamelessly. This is hot sex bottled...creamy, smooth, warm, sweet, a little salty, and more than a bit messy. The drydown gets quite incense-y on me, which makes this excessively wearable....though it's still hot sex incense, and I can only wear this when that's the kind of vibe I'm aiming to project. I love GVaRB. I lurrrves it. For me, it's been a magical love potion which inspires unbridled lust...ymmv.

I sniffed Dorian twice out of the imp, my eyes rolled back in my head, and then I RAN to my computer and entered it as the number two spot on my top ten GC list! Then I put it on and it GOT EVEN YUMMIER!!!! Oh god, this blend is sexy! It's sexy in all of the ways previous reviewers have already described here, but you really have to smell it for yourself to understand. I want to smell like this all the time! Sugared tea with lemon and musky vanilla = Victorian liquid sex. 5 ml, please and thank you!

What was so great about Pickled Imp? For a minute this blend just made me forget. When it dried it was still amazing, but lost some of the heat from the spices, and I was hoping for just a leeetle bit more "POW!" But it's still great, and spicy, and delicious. If you like spicy blends get yourself some Bengal immediately. It's one of my favorite GC blends of all time! I can't wait to wear it out and around and see if it grows on me and how my impression of it develops! ETA: I don't know what was wrong with my nose yesterday. This is deliciously spicy, and yes, it has sufficient "POW!" factor. I love this, and need a big bottle ASAP! :love!:

The lovely tartchef was generous enough to share a decant of this lovely blend with me when I purchased a few things from her sale recently, and I am SO GLAD because it is really amazing! This is in that same scent family as Vinland (and also Verdandi and even Lampades or Coral Snake, to a lesser degree), but it is far richer and more complex. The sweet berries are the top-note, but I can catch wafts of something just a bit frost-bitten underneath, as well as wisps of delicious smoky incense. Yes, syrupy apples and some booze as well. This scent alone makes me feel like a powerful, sexy Viking woman - it will no doubt be incredible for ritual work! :love!:

Why have I not tried this one before now? Whyyyyyy?!? *shakes fist at the air* This is so freakin' delicious! Creamy, sweet, sensual, and woodsy with pine and a hint of...lime? That's what my nose gets anyway, though I'm certain it's the orange blossom combining with some other note that reads as lime. I don't get much clove, but I know that note is contributing in some way to my love of this blend, because: "Hello, I'm Luna, and I'm a spice-a-holic!" If you don't happen to share my love of all things spicy, fear not! The spice in this blend is not anything that stands out in any obvious way, but just contributes to the background of the fragrance. Also, something in this blend is so creamy and really quite sexy...not at all what I was expecting. I want to douse myself in this...it is SO GOOD!!!!!!! Sexy forestliciousness! Must. Have. More!

This blend is mostly beeswax and leather on me, though something about it reminds me of summer? Something about it is vaguely suntan lotion or oil or something...not in an overt way, and not even in an unpleasant way, but I still keep getting that image in my mind everytime I smell my wrist. Come to think of it, I probably will end up wearing this one a lot come summer, even though the notes would lead me to believe it is a heavy winter blend. I find it to be a really sexy smell, but it reminds me of a man...though at the same time I'm not sure I'd want my boyfriend to wear it because it's way too feminine. I wish I got more sandalwood from it. I HATE how BPAL buries their sandalwood so well into their blends, because mysore sandalwood is my favorite thing ever. It's so delicious, and so, so freakin expensive!!! If I got just a touch more of it from this blend, then I would be in love. As it stands, this blend is scrumptious, but not mindblowingly so...Still, I think I'll hang onto my decant, thanks! This has the distinct potential to grow on me more...

This scent reminds me of a lighter, girlier Minotaur. It has that same undercurrent of smooth, syrupy resin. In the imp, this smelled kinda yucky - like most of my favorite BPALs!! First on the skin, I get a weird waft of cocoa that quickly gives way to a golden, honeyed, Minotaur-esque fragrance. Yum! Minotaur was almost true love for me, but not for the fact that it always seemed just a tad too dominant and...fancy for daily wear. Like I would wear it with an immensely expensive dress suit and heels to a business power-lunch at an upscale restaurant if I were a top-rate lawyer (ETA: call me crazy here, I thought I was for a long time, but I swear the first time my boyfriend smelled Minotaur he said, "that smells like something you should wear a suit with," which is what I always thought. Maybe it was my skin being weird?) and, er, not a scruffy lil goth punk girl in black skinny jeans and chuck-t's on my way to the tattoo shop. So, yeah, while I absolutely adore it, there just weren't exactly a lot of great opportunities for wear and I ended up passing dear Minotaur on to a much happier home. Inez is Minotaur that I can wear everyday, out to a romantic dinner with the boy in a pretty dress, or to a punk show or the co-op in jeans and a tee. This blend smells like it would be suitable for any season or occasion year round. Oh, and did I mention that it smells heavenly? Golden and glowing, softly spicy and resinous, feminine without being remotely cloying...I am absolutely going to require a big bottle before the carnaval departs. This is destined to be a new LE favorite of mine! To my nose, it shares notes in common with both Minotaur, and Mama-Ji. Resiny, spicy, radiant amber!

This smells exactly like the lab description: crushed roses and blackcurrant tart. Roses with buttery berry yumminess underneath. It is a very strange combination indeed - sweet roses with foody, currant cakes! Ultimately I must say I love this blend. I adore roses, and this is a rosy variation on Eat Me. Yum!

I've managed to get my greedy little mitts on lots of rare and dc'ed BPAL, but Crypt Queen is one that I have been waiting to try for a while. In the imp this made my eyes roll back in my head. So yummy! Dark fruits that are not overly sweet tempered by earthy notes that prevent this bend from becoming too perfumey or generic. On the skin, initially, the sweetness of the fruits rises to the top of the scent, reminding me a great deal of a slightly darker Coral Viper. Yeah, to my nose this is a lot like Coral Viper in the sense that it is dark fruits that have bite to them with a complex, sexy undercurrent. As the blend dries, Crypt Queen proves that she is far darker, richer, and more berrylicious than CV, which I couldn't wear due to it's overt sweet and tangy top notes. This is a dark and sinister, womanly, voluptuous blend. I am in love with this one and am so glad I got my hands on a decant of it. I'll have to keep my eyes peeled for more! 1-5 rating: 4.5

This is a heady, complex, swirling, purple and green scent. The reviewer who said, "jungly, dark bouquet" was spot on! It's almost too complex to pick out the specific notes. I like it, but it's way too floral and a bit too generic for me. If you are into really girly scents but want something a bit darker and more mysterious, then this may be for you!

I am so ecstatic to be reviewing this blend right now. The lovely forumite, SurrealReality, was generous enough to include this decant as a frimp for me in a recent purchase - straight off the top of my wishlist! This blend definitely stands up to the hype, and does not disappoint. This baby just shot straight to my top three, though further testing will need to be undertaken to determine if it has managed to dislodge my number one and two from position...stay tuned! Anyway, in the imp this smells weird, and not good weird, either. It must be the pine sap, because I recognize the "steam room" smell from Illustrated Woman, and that has pine, too. On the skin it transforms instantly, revealing the yummiest blend of spices I have ever smelled in my life. This is a spice lovers' nirvana...cloves, and cinnamon, and vanilla, oh my! I really don't get the previous posts comparing this blend to gingerbread poppet at all. To my nose, this smells nothing like GP...It is WAY more spicy (thankfully!), WAY less foody, there is a lot more cinnamon, and it is far more complex. I'm getting more, like, halfway in between Monsterbait: Underpants and Saw Scaled Viper minus the cassia. I keep trying to decide if this is foody or not. I guess it is, technically, but I think if you ate something that smelled like this, you would burn your tongue for sure! The vanilla in this is heavenly. Where previous BPAL blends have occasionally given off an artificial vanilla, Pickled Imp delivers the real deal. I can't pick out the clove or pine, but I know they are there, adding depth and complexity and anchoring this blend, preventing it from becoming too sweet or foody, though later on in the dry stage the vanilla and pine do become much more pronounced. I'm gonna need A GIANT VAT of this one to swim around in!