couscous

Hiya guys- Does anyone here think that Ochosi is a good Buck Moon sub? How about Olokun for Cthulhu? I've heard the comparisons made in the review thread, but only by one or two people. I thought there might be more who haven't thought up a full review yet but could confirm!! Also, I'm always on the hunt for a Cerberus sub if anyone's got an idea. Poor little doggie

I love gardenia, love musks,love aquatics, love muguet, love ginger, and yet I did not like Lady of Shalott. Wet, I smell muguet, gardenia, and ginger- but, as soon as it's on, it becomes a watered-down floral vaguely reminiscent of fabric softener and increasingly powdery with time. It's pretty, but all of the elements get watered down on me- the spiciness of gardenia is gone, the heat of ginger is nowhere to be found, the tart one expects in aquatics is gone... it's as if the identifying elements of each single note canceled each other out when blended to create something new. Even though Pele lasts all of two seconds on me, I much prefer her to LoS because the FIRE of ginger is there, the savory kind of ginger which so often gets pushed away in favor of sweet baked ginger. Lady of Shalott is pretty and quite wearbale (meaning that an aversion to any of her listed notes should not automatically cancel her out), but she's too innocuous and straight-on flowery for me. She needs some bite.

I got an imp of this with a trade- thank you, sweetie! So...scarecrow is supposed to be scorched, huh? Very odd. I don't get anything scorched from this at all! In fact, this is very grassy on me, very alive. It's heated grass, warmed grass from the sun (achieved, I suspect by some warm honeysuckle?), but not at all burnt. I also get a bit of sage from this- just a little bit, a tiny bit, but there's a herbal tinge that reminds me of weeds growing between the blades. Scarecrow is a wee bit soapy, and slighty sweet, but it otherwise a primarily grass and light floral which is surprisingly beautiful and very wearable. Grass scents are pretty popular, and I hope scarecrow gets some more attention for being the fine example of fresh green that it is. I was shocked to discover how pretty this went on and stayed on.

Sweet pea is a pretty good floral note on me, which means that it has not been automatically axed as a heady headache-inducer. Still, I've found that the presence of sweet pea in a blend usually means that sweet pea is the foreground AND much of the background, and so all of said blends take on the same kind of generically pleasant sort of springtime innocence no matter what else is in it. What can I say? Sweet pea is pretty and recognizable and fresh, and she delivers a pretty predictable result. You don't die over her, but she behaves and she's nice to you. Sweet pea is like the Betty Cooper of florals! Despite the fact that you never really swoon over a sweet-faced angel the way you do over a mean vixen, Aeval is my favorite of all Beth's sweet pea blends thanks to the musky sweetness of the tonka and the saving grace of bracing sage, which was a fantastic idea. It gives the blend a slightly naughty, more substantial feel, and, on the base of such a wearable and jovial floral, you really do end up smiling. Sweet pea for grown ups. I'll bet men like this one on women, too! Perfect for spring, and, if you are not a fan of tulips and carnations and honeysuckle, you can still own a piece of ultra-femininity with aeval.

Egads, this is sweet. I'm not getting any booze from this, gin or otherwise. It smells like pomegranate and oranges, and maybe a drop of cherry, as well. Juicy in the extreme. Swank belongs to a scent family I just can't get behind. The connotation of 100 percent fruit is too summery, too teenaged, and too bright for me. Still, fruit purists and fans of Persephone are going to love this one.

In the vial, Juke Joint did indeed smell like mint, booze, and sugar. Not more than a few minutes on, however, it changed to...bitter patchouli and mint, and an animal musk? I swear, I smelled feral musk in this. It's VERY long lasting, and the mint dries off to a faint herbal crispness after just a little while, and I would call this one pretty far to the left of "sweet". It's tough, murky, and vaguely unpleasant . Very boozy, too. That being said, i love it. It's strong willed and different, and it stays on all day. It's swagger and masculinity mixed in with upscale snob lady all in one, and I love the way the mint stays low instead of high-pitched. It may be an acquired taste for some, but Juke Joint is a real winner for me.

Smut is great. It's everything people said it would be- musky, boozy, VERY sweet, very sexy, and surprisingly light in strength. And yet, I've just swapped it for another LE I missed, because I like Snake Oil more. Smut smells like clarified snake oil, if that makes any sense. Snake oil syrup. It keeps the vanilla (perhaps amps it up) , lightens up on the musk type, and replaces it with grainy sugar and some sort of whiskey-esque booze. Most importantly, it's missing the resins and unidentifiable spices which made snake oil so exotic-smelling. It's sexy snake oil, perhaps more overtly sexy than snake oil itself, but it lacks the murkiness and slight sense of malice which makes Snake oil so perfect. if you're asking yourself why I, like so many people, cannot review smut as a singular scent without invoking the Grande Dame of BPAL, it's because you really can't. You can't deny the relationship between the two. Snake Oil is the best-selling scent for a reason- it's peerless. You can consider Smut a more universally friendly blend, much like a very well-made English dub, but I prefer the original formula.

AngelFireHeart lived up to her namesake when she sent this imp along with her swap. I have always been curious about it, but there was always something else, and I kept forgetting to buy it. Thank you so much for letting me try this! I agree with everyone who described this as "cocoa" rather than chocolate. Though there are moments when the blend sweetens inexplicably and Velvet drifts into the brownie batter, this is mostly a dry cocoa, with slightly medicinal resins, grounded by the sweet wafting of sandalwood. Chocolate, myrrh, and sandalwood are all very present in the blend. I do not get vanilla as much, and I get something slightly (and I mean slightly) bitter when my nose is flush up against my wrist. Yum. It's BEAUTIFUL. I love it. More importantly, my dog went NUTS over this one, sniffing me trying to find the chocolate bar I'd obviously hidden somewhere under my skin. This is the first time she has done anything so overtly positive with respect to fragrances. Usually, she is LESS likely to hug me after I've just applied something. I'd buy a 10ml right now, except for one small problem: Velvet is light. VERY light, in the order of Dana O' Shee. I slathered myself in it today and now I can only smell the faintest hint of it on my wrist. Maybe my skin cells thought I had a chocolate bar, too

Man, am I going to have to get bottles of the entire Ars Draconis Line? Every single scent from this collection has been simple and beautiful and straightforward. I did not get smoke or tobacco from this blend- at least not in any identifiable form. I DID get leather, though, and, surprisingly enough, it really DOES hold its own up against the mighty DBR. Lovely. Which is not to say that leather and DBR are all I smell. Dragon's Hide is sweet- sweeter than DBR is on its own- and I wouldn't be surprised if there was a drop of cinnamon in this one, if that isn't the tobacco I smell. It's like hot liquid candy on, and it dries to spiced leather and then, finally, to a dead man's hand-esque wristband of scent. It's amazing to see how different components bring out various qualities of DBR- Dragon's Eye's lilac highlights the lilac-like quality of Dragon's Blood, and Dragon's Tears cuts the sweetness and leaves more of a resin. Dragon's Hide, like Milk, emphasizes sweetness. A surprise for me- this is not nearly as imposing at the name suggests- but beautiful.

Dragon's Blood. YEEEAAY! I love dragon's blood, and French Love is very much a DBR scent, so I had a feeling we'd get along just fine. Despite the fact that I'd say a love/respect for DBR is a prerequisite for enjoying this scent, French Love is the lightest Dragon's Blood I've smelled- and an extremely light fragrance in general. For whatever reason, I've found that the lighter DBR wears, the more it resembles lilac, so be warned that this particular blend has a much more floral feel to it. I do not get any cinnamon at all. Cinnamon would have ruined this blend for me. Instead, I'm going to go with the camp that guessed gardenias, because there is a slight, barely perceptable spiciness to this, and a tiny, tiny drop of gardenia would have given that impression. French love is not foody at all, and, if there is any vanilla in this, it exists way, way in the background. It has the warmth and comfort factor of vanilla through creamy light florals. Very pretty, a bit sexy, very easy to wear. As to it's voodoo properties, I cannot say. Lovers are the last damned things I need right now!

I don't have the best of luck with the lunacies, but, when I love one, I LOVE LOVE LOVE it, and Buck Moon is the one I love most of all. I'm tempted to make this review a two-word one ("F***ing awesome"), but, for the sake of anyone looking at the swaps forum and debating, I'll try to elaborate. There's no denying that Beth's copy influences our perceptions of a scent, but, this time, she's wasn't so much 'influencing' as she was spelling the whole damned thing out. Crystalline, in particular, being one adjective that couldn't NOT have been included in this description. Crystalline is exactly what it is. Herbal and fresh, glossy and backlit. This is sacred sex in moonlight. "Amplification" is another word she couldn't have ignored, because Buck Moon does indeed smell like freshly washed skin. This musk is so clear and wearable that for the life of me I cannot figure out why it isn't in everything she makes. Beth, how did you get this? how did you make this? Just...how?? This is extraordinary; I've never smelled anything like it. I passed on this one when it came out because I thought it was going to be white musk. I'm a moron. This is NOT white musk. It's special, and I have finally, finally found a way to feel sexy without some of the more classic olfactory distractions. I can kinda-sorta see where people would compare this to Oisin, but, I suspect that those who make those comparisons got a heavier dose of "Night air" and not nearly as much skin musk as I did. Get them both if you can find them and afford them, but, if you have to make the choice, go for Buck Moon. It's unreal. Just leave enough for me to snag, please. This bottle won't last three months.

Civet doesn't go to cat pee on me. It does, however, smell like feces. No, I'm not kidding or being colorful, and I'm not trying to express my disgust. I don't really feel anything about it-It is what it is. Hey, given the choice between straight feces and cat urine, I'll take feces!! Civet DOES calm down on the dry-down, and then it smells like...um anal sex, and I kind of laugh at myself and have fun while wearing it at that point. I have tried 5 civet blends from bpal so far, mostly when I was first introduced to them last year. My "old" perfume, Opium, had a castoreum blend in it, so I thought I was going to be one of the women who could wear animal notes. I guess I was wrong! So..yeah, Civet. You either love it or you don't. If you DON'T love it, but you don't HATE it, and you have an insatiable curiosity to find out if you can wear it, there are two blends I'd suggest you try. Fire of Love is one of them. Black Annis is another. Beth was very, very smart to pair civet with Anise, as the anise dominates heavily- wet, dry, and beyond. The mossiness mixes in with the Anise to create a sinister environment, in sharp contrast to the way she used Anise in kabuki. The Civet is there, but the entire blend is so dark, so sharp, and so shocking that you can barely find the time to stop and focus on it. All you can think of is how you've never bought ANY perfume like this, and how audacious it really is. I like Anise, but no one else seems to, so if I wore this at all, I would be alone. Dry, it becomes a bit problematic, because it ends up smelling a bit like spoiled candy, but this is a great blend to try if you want to push yourself. What can you pull off? Black Annis will tell you. It's also a great way to introduce you to one of the most polarizing notes on the forum. See if you can find it!

I've gotten this as a gifty imp maybe...three times? I know the labbies gift at random, but I love nearly every note in this blend, including VETIVER (smooch), so I like to think that, on some level, I was meant to smell it. I still have not bought a bottle, however, even though Nephilim is dark, chaotic, and menacing- a niche I have not yet filled. Wet, I get slightly medicinal fig-is there some eucalyptus in this? It smells like a magickal oil rather than a perfume one. I also get the slight tapestry smell of the oakmoss, or something like it. As it dries, the fig lays on top of patchouli, and a million other smells swirl around and over. Bitter smells. Incense smells. The vetiver is, surprisingly, undetectable to my nose- NOTHING can beat the pathchouli/figgy goodness! Does anyone remember that passage in Gaiman's Neverwhere, when Richard had to dig into the bog of the Labyrinth to find the beast statue? Nephilim conjures up that some sort of murky, foreboding, enchanted imagery. It is best for a man, methinks, but the right woman could wear this. She just needs to be a patchouli veteran, someone with a hell of a lot of time under her belt spent sniffing scents and wishing they were more primal.

I swapped this one away. I didn't want to, because I liked the idea of owning the "totem scent" of this amazing company. Ultimately, though, I was getting too upset looking at it and knowing that it would never work, and she had to go. It was a good thing, because I got a 5ml of black cat for it, and Black Cat is wonderful and helping me with my rose-phobia. I hope my swapee was happy to take BP and writes a glowing review. Wouldn't that be a nice way for things to end? Black Phoenix was very, very much like Hecate on me. The almonds were very sharp, balanced by baby powder. I would have kept it if it had turned to ALL baby powder, because I like that smell (oddly enough, I'm one of those people who rarely if ever get it from perfume-go figure!), but the soft of the powder clashed with the sharp, red-hot , syrupy almond. I smelled "off". The dry- down was very much like Big Red bubblegum on me, and the pervasive smell of baby powder never blended in. It was like...lemon and tapioca. Not meant to be together. I wish I had gotten marachino cherries like so many others, but I'm lacking in some sort of hormone, I guess. I'm writing this review to contribute the Hecate comparison to those who may be waffling on this scent. If you enjoyed Hecate, I think you'll be okay and will enjoy this. If you didn't, then....you may want to take a chance anyway, but know that you might get a very similar result!

Wow. This one does NOT screw around. I usually notice that a scent is "strong" when i dislike it, and discount it as such. This is the first time I've really enjoyed a bpal but wished it were a bit lighter. No slathering on this one! Wet, I get mostly honey. This is not a floral honey, and it's not sheer or plasticky. This is langorus, sticky-thick honey- very sweet, very dense. I've only smelled Bpal's red wine in Centzon, Nosferatu, and Madrid, and all three of those had a slightly sour quality. Athens does not, so, while the honey smells murky and multi-layered, it is nearly impossible to identify the accompanying notes as red wine or anything else. Bluelm said raisins, and, while I don't think Athens ACTUALLY has a raisin note, she's right on with the feeling- concentrated, dark sweetness. Do you like figs? Very sweet figs? I do, and if you do too, you'll probably enjoy Athens. As it dries, the myrrh comes out with what has to be a resin blend, because Athens becomes very church-like. Very cathedral. The honey is still overwhelming, though, and it's making me feel a bit perverse. There's a battle going on between the revelry of fruit, wine, and honey and the sanctity of myrrh. I laughed a bit while I was wearing this one- it's so fitting. I do wish that it turned a bit more toward the sanctified side of itself rather than the debauched on me, but my skin's alternative is certainly one I can live with. Fans of O, try an imp of this for branching-out purposes!

The vanilla note in this smells like AGED snake oil in the vial. I'm already wondering how I'll live without it. If Tombstone had stayed this way, with the sassafrass adding a (yes) root beer tinge to sweetened, toasted vanilla, it would have been an amazing snake oil knock-off/alternative. Tombstone sets itself apart, however, by introducing twigs (balsam? brown, snappy twigs) and a very noticeable, very moisture-suckingly-dry cedar. I also think there might be some tobacco in this, though I could just be painting pictures based on beth's copy. Within an hour, the cedar has taken over, slightly sweetened. This is, by far, my favorite part of the scent journey. I don't think I own a cedar blend- I'd forgotten how beautiful it can be. Tombstone is solemn and quiet and perfectly evocative. The sweet root beer vanilla adds a bit of sexy sway. I don't find Tombstone particularly masculine, though- I'll have to smell it on my fenris-wearing pumpkin to see. Until then, this medium-feminine chick will be wearing it and loving it.

Hiya BrokenAngel- Sara is as polite and sweet as they come, and I'm sure Anthony and Forest are, too. Keep the faith; I'm sure there's an internet gremlin at the bottom of this. Also, and this is just a suggestion- you might try and peel the label off your imp. Looking down into an imp, I've sometimes thought that I had only a bit left- but, when I peeled the label off and looked from the side, the imp was more than half-full. This is on imps I've used only- I don't think I've ever checked the lab's frimps for fullness. I know it may seem as if I'm telling you "it's all in your head", so please accept my apology in advance. I don't mean to be obnoxious. But, in the case of imps, I can safely say that my little trick helped me. If you have an imp with an unusual colored oil, or one you can easily identify by smell, it may be worth peeling. Or maybe I just have odd eyes. I don't know!

I think I replied in this thread and said Scherezade. It bears repeating, though, because Scherezade is just perfect in every single way. A year of trying BPAL, and I still have a hard time unseating Scherezade from the top slots. However, if it doesn't work on you, I've found Spellbound to be remarkably similar- and the rose notes give it a much more feminine edge. My boyfriend and I busted up as soon as I got my hands on it, so I can't say for certain whether he'd love it or not- but I'd be willing to bet that a lot of men have a positive reaction to it. Also snow white. No kidding- that innocent, soft vibe is pretty powerful.

Thank you so much , Sookster! This scent is SO much fun. Wet, it's rose, something minty, and something pickled and mildly salty. No, it's not gross, no matter how that sounds! It's tangy, minty, rosey. Chaotic but great. The rose comes out more and more as it first hits the skin, which worried me greatly (roses are often bad on me), but then it turns into...Ivory soap!! I swear to you. This is Ivory soap. Or maybe Irish Spring. Some commercial soap. It's got a sharp, bracing cleanliness. As it dries down, the rose comes out again for one last ride, but she's VERY well behaved, and, as the entire scent itself is on the light side, she never becomes offensive or overpowering. The rose adds an element of grace to the soap, in fact, making it...high end soap. Now, some of you may think that Ivory soap is a terrible thing in perfume, but i think it's great. The scent is cheeky and refreshing and completely unexpected, and after a good week of incense and vanilla, this is great for shocking your nose and wiping the slate clean. I love Black Cat

YAAY! Lemons rock!! I cannot agree with Sophia_helix more about Severin. It's TART lemon- really wonderful. I adore it. Next, I'd say go for Shanghai, another of my favorites, because it has more lemon than tea (invert it for Phantasm). A lot of people thought that Incantation went lemon-y. I couldn't really see it, but it's one of the best scents in the catalouge nonetheless. Also, Val Sans Retour is lemon-y and gorgeous, if you can come across it. Good luck to you!

I agree with nachtwulf..this isn't snake oil's vanilla. In fact, it may not be vanilla at all, but something sheer and sweet. I wanted to try black opal, being an october baby, and when the reviews came through, I got very excited. Not in a million years could I have expected this one to not work on me. Hubris. Struck down again. I get more mineral than anything else, and powder. NOT baby powder, as I rather like the smell of baby powder, but...face powder. Makeup. Cake foundation. There is only a faint trace of sweetness to this, and do I smell oakmoss, as well? There's also white musk in this, I am pretty sure- I can tell because white musk turns to tapestry, or fabric, on me. Yes, it really does smell like heavy velvet cloth, expensive throw rugs, or, worst of all- car interior. New car fabric interior. Even the above was not reason for me to dislike Black Opal. The primary reason was personal in nature, as I opened the imp, and was transported INSTANTLY to the smell of my grandmother's car- a burgundy impala with burgundy fabric interior that made me carsick as soon as I walked in. I hated that car, and this smells exactly- I mean EXACTLY- like it. I was 7 years old all over again. In the interest of fair play, however, I gave it to my mother, who confirmed my suspicions but told me that the "car smell" I imagine was actually my grandmother's skin mixing with her perfume- either Joy or Shalimar, more than likely Joy. So, there you have it. Well done, great idea, very different and new- but a disaster on me. Good for those who liked Zephyr, Saint-Germain, white musks, and, of course, Joy

A few reviewers have suggested you go "light" on application here, and I couldn't agree more. It's really the key to enjoying Has No Hanna. VERY heady, ylang ylang definitely, peach maybe, jasmine and/or honeysuckle, and rose. Very dense, very perfume-y flowers, with something sparkly and vaguely fruity in the background. VERY girly. I put it on my wrists and got a headache- but when i put a drop or two on my collarbone, I actually smelled pretty nice. The application makes all the difference here, so if you want to carry the intent of Has No Hanna with you but are afraid of the density, try a bit in your hair or on a non-pulse point, and be very gentle. You'll get all the pretty with none of the closed capillaries.

The scent of sacred incense swirling up the steep slopes to Swayambhunath Stupa. Saffron, blessed sandalwood, Himalayan cedar and the miraculous lotus of the Buddha with chiuri bark and Nepalese spices. YUMMY. The Wanderlust blends may quickly eclipse Ars Draconis as my favorite BPAL theme. I haven't tried one yet which wasn't excellent, even if it never worked on my skin. Kathmandu DOES work on my skin, though. As a lover of both lotus and sandalwood, it didn't take a great leap of faith to try this little guy out. I was shocked to find, however, that I couldn't pick out the lotus in this blend. Lotus haters who want to give the note another shot would do well to start here, as the bubblegum sweetness is felt rather than explicitly smelled. I suspect it's what gives the barks and twigs (yes, Kathmandu is "twiggy"), a sweet, almost root beer type of quality. There is also a bit of a very, VERY light spearmint quality to this. Do not let this throw you! Nothing clashes here- no matter what it may sound like when you hear it. As it dried, it went from sweet, spicy root beer woods to skin-soft sandalwood and back again. Not a huge morpher, but dynamic nonetheless. There is a bit of a medicinal quality to it, as well- as if you are smelling something not meant for perfume but wish someone had the guts to make one. Kathmandu is both exotic and comforting, and would be a good match for those who have already tried and loved blends such as Cathedral, Anne Bonny (no patchouli in kathmandu that I can smell, but they share the same bitter-sweetened resin quality), and, to a lesser extent, Midnight Mass.

Pink Moon was very pretty in the bottle- honey, pears, and strawberries- but, when I put it on, I got the same red licorice lipsmacker smell I got with Aunt Caroline's. I cannot describe it better than that. Lipstick-y. It gets less sweet as it dries, and for what it's got in it I cannot believe that it's not toothache-inducing, but it really isn't. It does not work with my skin, alas, for I get too much waxy sweetness, but it's really not as silly as you'd think. Given the right skin, this could be really pretty.

Hrm. Poor Rat King. I don't get "animal" from this at all, and I am fairly to almost certain that there isn't civet in this. If you are worried about that, do not be! Put your mind at ease! Rat King's "animalness" belongs very much to the Buck Moon family of animals, and if anyone does not enjoy it, I highly doubt that they will cite "overtly animalistic" as the reason. I do get grass and dust (lots of dust), raw wood on the drydown but still very high-pitched, very sharp, very muddled. The Rat King's sharpness is not crystalline clear, it is filled with wood shavings and..hay? Is there some sort of straw in this? Or is it sawdust, like in a lumber store? That could be it, too. The musk in Rat King is very, very light on me. The only "animal" impressions I am getting might be from rat bedding or cages. Far from being dark and unpleasant, The Rat King is extraordinarily grassy, green, and cleanly masculine. It's unlike any other BPAL I've tried (have not tried Geek), so I can't really think of what to compare this to. Get it if you like men's scents, fresh scents, "non-perfumey" scents, light musks, ozones or aquatics (no, The Rat King is neither, but the high sharpness can be likened to the sharpness in either of those families), or if you are a lover and keeper of Rats. I'm keeping it. I think it would be best applied lightly all over, as in a shampoo, lotion, dry oil mist, or what have you, then concentrated on the wrists.