Lyrical

In vial: 1st sniff: caramel, 2nd sniff: red jam - no particular flavour - just red. 3rd sniff: burnt sugar, as in Fruitcake or Sugar Skull. Wet on skin: burnt sugar caramel - like the melted sugar you use to glue a gingerbread house together, but which isn't nice to eat because you let it brown for too long! Or like the dark crust of a rich fruitcake that has baked a long time. Dry on skin: there is a faint jammy note there, but the predominant smell is burnt sugar. It starts to smell a little greasy too, so perhaps it's a little donutty, but these donuts have been burnt! I do rather like it, though!

In vial: a very sweet and gentle berry scent, with no harshness or sharpness at all. Wet on skin: golden sweet berries, honey and musk. Lovely! It immediately starts to go a little sour close to the skin (as honey does on me), but the throw is all mild and sweet summer berries and musk. Like a dish of freshly picked berries warmed by the sun! Dry on skin: close to the skin this is nasty - the way BPAL honey often goes on my skin. The notes are very well blended, though, and the throw is still pretty berries and musk. The fig stays close to the skin, where the honey smothers it! Overall, though, I like this. It fades far too quickly, leaving behind a gorgeous whisper of golden musk, fig and honey. In general, this is quite similar to Tomoe Gozen, but I like it better. The far drydown is even better, as the honey has faded away almost entirely, leaving a soft, figgy musk! I wonder if this bodes well for aging?

In vial: strong and medicinal. Wet on skin: dirty! As in Debauchery, but sweeter. Also reminiscent of Ravenous. Very strong throw, even though I applied it sparingly. Dry on skin: after a while the medicinal note wears off and orange blossom comes to the fore, sweetened by melon. I don't recognise any pomegranate here. There is a greasy feel I associate with amber, and a deep, rich spiciness from the red musk. Red musk isn't a favourite of mine, though, and this bottle has already been rehomed.

In vial: very bright, light florals - the rose, pear and freesia stronger than the violet. (Queen Elizabeth root is apparently another name for orris root.) Wet on skin: rose, pear and violet. There is a powdery softness to it and a definite hint of vanilla. Surprisingly lovely so far! Dry on skin: powdery rose, pear, violet and vanilla. It's very pleasant, but I prefer Symmakhia (vanilla, heliotrope, red sandalwood, pear, black lily, white wine grape, and white rose), which has more depth to it.

In vial: wet, dusty and smoky. Wet on skin: quite masculine, with a discreet warmth. It's no longer wet or dusty, but golden and beautifully blended. Dry on skin: very masculine - a golden brown, smoothly blended scent.

first sniff: ew! second sniff: marmalade, dirt and grass - sweet and quite pleasant. The BPAL dirt note smells like slimy, rotting vegetation to my nose, and that is here, but it soon gives way to something sweet, followed by a warm, woody note, which certainly doesn't smell of crunchy old sticks. It is lingering around the room in a comfortable, unobtrusive way. Now something smells really good in here!

In imp: very, very rich, sexy, dark, a little boozy, almost dangerous! Wet on skin: Ex Lux Fuit? Are you sure? *sniffs again* Yupp - it's a darker, sexier Et Lux Fuit! Slightly bitter, in fact. Myrrh, cognac and honey blend with the very dark musk to make this mysterious, sophisticated and very sexy! I think I smell opium too. Dry on skin: honey is wafting up to my nose - not the sourish note that BPAL honey often turns to on my skin, but warm, rich, dark honey. Myrrh, cognac, honey and dark musk are still the main notes here. Next to the skin it is bitter, but the throw is beautiful honey and myrrh - a less foody version of Wezwanie/Hold. It's not quite me, but it's actually quite marvellous stuff!

In bottle: exactly like melted vanilla ice cream, but with a little perfumy richness which is hard to define. Wet on skin: Love's Philosophy only lighter and sweeter and without the saffron, perhaps with a little Egg Nog mixed in. The cream note in LP is too thick and heavy for my taste, but this is nicer. If you love LP or wanted to but got the wintergreen version, you should get this. If you hated LP - don't bother with Detestable Putrescence Dry on skin: after an hour, this becomes warmer and richer, regaining that extra element it had in the bottle. It's a little cakey/buttercreamy - like Beaver'versary minus the strawberry. I like it even more now! It is fading fast, though - almost gone after two hours. Two days later: I'm getting a definite honey note - warm and rich and reminiscent of Mead Moon. Warmth is a key feature of this scent. If you can imagine warm vanilla ice cream with honeycomb and caramel chunks, you'd be fairly close to what this smells like!

Giant Monster Musk! In vial: soft, green, creamy and powdery - very nice! Wet on skin: a lot like Hunter Moon, only greener and less complex. A dark green forest and a warm powdery musk, with a barely detectable hint of cakey vanilla. Unisex. The initial sweetness fades as it dries and my MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM! turns into a meh ... The musk is now slightly bitter. Dry on skin: at first I find this too dry and manly for my taste. However, after a while I find the smell quite enjoyable after all. It ends up as a warm, old lady musk. 2nd wearing (and please note that I didn't even wait 24 hours, but felt compelled to try it again!): this time I just dabbed a tiny drop on each shoulder and was surrounded by a warm, powdery, old-fashioned musky cloud! I'm quite sure there's amber in here too. I liked it much better today. 3rd wearing: THIS IS SOOOOO GOOOOOOOD!

It's mostly rose and it's definitely red. As red as a rose can be. I don't think I can smell grass, but I do get an image in my head of a luxuriant, meticulously mown, emerald green lawn behind the velvety, bright red roses. It doesn't last long at all.

I don't normally like frankincense, at least not on my skin, but this is nice! Kind of rich and golden and ambery and elegant, with the beeswax coming through clearly. Quite the nicest atmosphere spray I've tried! It smells clean, in an I-just-polished-the-antique-furniture kind of way. In fact, I absolutely adore it and I would buy a large bottle if one ever became available. I wish it lasted longer. I think I will spray it onto fabric, eg the bath mat, to see if it will last longer that way.

I must say that the bottles used for the bath oils are pretty unsuitable, as I've heard leakage is a big problem and mine leaked too. It smells pretty damn good, though! Definitely redcurrant (one of my absolute favourite notes) and honey, but very well blended so that they hardly seem like two different notes - just a red/gold sweet, fruity haze. The oil is extremely liquid, which took me by surprise (and probably explains it's incredible ability to escape from the bottle. If you are pouring it in the bath, the runniness isn't a problem, but it makes it hard to apply to the skin without making a mess. Unfortunately, shortly after I applied to to my damp, freshly-showered skin, the burn started and the skin started to go red. It's better now, but a bath oil you can't apply to warm, wet skin isn't especially useful. Maybe I can find a way to fragrance a room with it instead, because it's really gorgeous! The scent is subtle, as in not at all strong on my skin, but it still wafts around in an all-enveloping kind of way, filling the room with red and gold! Layering the perfume over the bath oil works well. The perfume is fresher with bright blackberry and pink pepper, grounded with amber. Together, the two oils are giving me an oriental feel - light, sweet and fruity.

In vial: bee-yooo-ti-ful oriental flowers, bamboo and sandalwood! Wet on skin: mostly lilac, but nicely blended with sakura (cherry blossom), orchid, a hint of plum ... smooth sandalwood ... very much a "proper" department store perfume, only better. Dry on skin: very well blended, with lilac perhaps the most prominent note, but not sticking out too much. Warm and smooth floral blend. Very conventional and very pretty. The far drydown has a hint of sourness.

In vial: very fruity. Definitely redcurrant, some honey and a splash of pepper. Wet on skin: mmmmmmm! The redcurrant and honey merge with some fresh blackberry. Not sure about amber, but I think that must be holding it all together. Barely any pepper - it's just a slight edge. Dry on skin: the initial brightness of the berries starts to fade, leaving a golden blend of honey and amber with some underlying garden fruit freshness. After a while it is mostly honey, with a slick of golden amber and a slight sourness underneath. This is very sad! I will have to test it again. Later: the curse of the BPAL honey note continues. This is very sad indeed, because I had high hopes for this scent. Maybe aging will help? It ends up as faint but lovely amber-honey with a shadow of redcurrant behind it and is better on my skin than on my sleeve. Not giving up on this one yet! Another time: this is really lovely, despite a tendency towards sourness as it dries. I think it will age well. It has surprisingly short wear length, considering how long most BPAL lasts on my skin (Sugar Skull and the Snake Oil part of anything containing Snake Oil can last 24 hours). The redcurrant and blackberry fade first, leaving a soft honey-amber skin scent.

In vial: WONDERFUL! The vanilla from Love's Philosophy with fig and neroli. No nasty vetiver, patchouli or pine in sight! The oil is slightly cloudy. Reminds me of Lovers with Rutting Cats and Pickled Imp. Wet on skin: oh - there are patchouli, pine and vetiver! However, the vanilla and fig keep them in hand. The consistency of this oil is quite different from the perfume oils, and you can tell there is mineral oil in the base. It rubs smoothly onto my newly-showered arm, leaving an oily sheen. I normally avoid mineral oils, which is why this is the first BPAL bath oil I've tried. Dry on skin: I'm surprised this doesn't have oak in it, because it reminds me a little of Haloes. It's woody in a pale way, buttery, figgy, and really very nice! Neroli and amber are barely there, just adding a rounded fruitiness to the fig and vanilla, while the patchouli is being uncharacteristically discreet! I didn't order this because the last three notes scared me off, but my fears were unfounded - I really like this! Probably not quite enough to order a set, but definitely enough to use up every last drop in the imp. It leaves my skin slightly oily, but very soft. The fragrance stays close to the skin, so you could cover yourself in this without stinking the office out! The initial throw fades much faster than perfume does, but my skin is still soft and fragrant the next day. However, subsequent wearings convinced me not to order a set. I hope Beth will make more fig, amber and vanilla scents, because this would be even more awesome without the patchouli/pine/vetiver base.

In the vial: syrupy milk and figs - very sweet and thick. Wet on skin: I've never smelled goat's milk, but this has a nutty quality that reminds me of breastmilk! The fig and myrrh are warm, sweet and earthy. Unique and lovely! Dry on skin: gorgeous warm fig and myrrh - sweet, brown, almost-but-not-quite foody. The milk morphs into butter, and it's nutty and earthy, with an odd trace of goat that comes and goes! It reminds me of walking into a shop that sells home-made skincare products, where the air is filled with a mix of lovely, natural aromas. After 5 hours, it's mostly butter. I could consider getting a bottle of this. It's really special! Considered verdict: I love this scent, but it is just that bit too weird for me to buy a bottle. There's a rank cheesiness to the goats' milk, which is just enough to spoil the gorgeous fig and myrrh for me. I'll stick to the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil for my fig fixes!

In the vial: a light, neutral cologne. Wet on skin: faint and watery, almost a little floral and musky. Fresh and golden, but it's almost vanished on my skin - like water! Definitely unisex. Dry on skin: now it amps up a lot and it's rather sharp and cologne-y. Cool and masculine, with a slightly sour note in the throw, although it smells better close to the skin. It's well blended and as colognes go, it's a nice one, but I don't like it for myself.

In the vial: extremely odd, but not unpleasant! Mostly molasses and dirt, but I can also detect redcurrants, moss and cream. Wet on skin: patchouli with sweet molasses. It smells kind of muddy. I wish there was more redcurrant. Dry on skin: this scent was a gamble for me, and I lost! To me, it smells of mud and smoke, with the creaminess underneath just making the mud feel slippery! Patchouli and dirt lovers should try it, though. Interestingly, the throw is much nicer than the close-to-the-skin scent - more redcurrant and cream, whereas it's moss and PATCHOULI on the skin, combined with something that's just plain SOUR - I think the cream has gone off!

In the vial: Velvet Unicorn! But there's something green here too, that tones down the excessively pink sugary-ness of the unicorn pleasantly. Wet on skin: definitely Velvet Unicorn, but with something creamy added. It's smoother and less of a sugar-rush! Dry on skin: crunchy pink sugar and creamy sap. OK but not fabulous. Dries down to dandelion stems crusted with sherbet, which is just plain unpleasant to my nose!

Polycarbonate and metallic film monuments to domestic whimsy, whirling merrily in the summer breeze. Raspberry, lime, blueberry, tangerine, lemon, juniper, and white grape. In the vial: juniper, with a hodge-podge of multicoloured fruits. Wet on skin: so many fruits it's hard to pick out individual ones. Bright and fizzy, and the juniper calms down a little and just adds a breezy freshness to the fruit. Dry on skin: like a fizzy drink, only it's not sweet.

In vial: faint. It's an artificial, candy-like strawberry. Wet on skin: soft and sweet, slightly sharp, and very natural. Strawberry and green stuff and a hint of musk. Extremely wearable, but very light. Dry on skin: the throw improves on drydown. More greenery appears and it's a very natural, outdoorsy kind of scent. Not at all foody or candyish. The sharp and fruity muskiness reminds me of Nowhere in Particular, but this is softer and sweeter. The far drydown is creamy, with less strawberry and more grass. Creamy grass??? Not as weird as it sounds, though! Still sweet and musky and made of win! I have a feeling that I ought to like this more than I do - everything about is good, but I'm not really loving it! But after a few hours I can smell peach. Canned peach pie filling, to be precise! Very odd. I assume it's my skin doing this, so I return to the bottle and sniff deeply. And there it is again - peach! I must try this again when my nose isn't broken! Second wearing: still a little peachy. This is a really pretty scent, so I can't work out why I don't like it more! Perhaps it's a little tame.

In vial: a soft, damp floral with a hint of lemon. Very nice so far! Wet on skin: preeeetttyyyyy! Is there lavender here? Honeysuckle? Lilac? It smells like real, fresh flowers. Yes, I think there's lilac. Where did the lemon go? This is probably too floral for me to wear, though. The dampness has evaporated off already, like dew on a hot June day. Dry on skin: a fresh, juicy, sweet floral - very pretty and innocent. I was hoping for more rain and citrus and less lilac, though.

In vial: *cough* pungent incense and honey. I think that's copal, which never seems to work on me. This is a scent I'm curious about, rather than one I think will be good on me! Wet on skin: honey! Bright yellow honey! With something fresh and bright, which I think must be vervain (verbena). The incense is subtle and this is mostly sweet, honeyed florals and deep green moss. Dry on skin: I've never tried such a yellow scent before! Like flowers that leave a saffron yellow stain on your skin! I'm getting mostly honey and copal - both notes that tend to amp on me. The copal and the sweetness make it similar to Giant Vulva, only without the musk. It ends up mostly copal. I think aging will improve this one.

This scent is spectral, draped in funeral white, and surges with otherworldly, malevolent rage: stargazer lily, white sandalwood, chrysanthemum, and shincha, with white mint, eucalyptus, licorice bark, and blood orange. In vial: oh so pretty! Cool and bright, with a citrus note that felt like grapefruit at first, then settled down into freshly sliced orange. Wet on skin: my friend's bathroom? WTF? She must use something or a combination of somethings with these notes in! Very bright and fresh, with cool undertones of mint and eucalyptus that lift without dominating. No licorice. Dry on skin: it's a combination of soft, pretty flowers, lovely tea, and cool citrus/mint/eucalyptus - and a sweet smell I can't quite define. I'm not sure whether I like it or not, but I do generally love these light, oriental tea, wood and flowers scents. It gets sweeter and creamier as it dries.

In vial: honey and the same fruity wine note from Fairy Wine, over deeper myrrh and resins. Wet on skin: sweet and slightly foody, without actually smelling of recognisable food! I can't really pick out the individual notes, but I like it. Dry on skin: ew - something bitter is amping up here and I'm not sure what it is, but I don't like it! This has changed completely very quickly. Skin chemistry failure!