Macha

Djinn is wonderfully burnt. I echo that recommendation.

e-mails DO get lost. I'd try sending another note to the Lab about the situation. They are very good about responding to e-mail, but only if they actually receive them.

You can pretty much assume that any perfume ending with "moon" is a Lunar LE. I'd write the lab and give them a substitute. They're usually able to make replacements. As for the Victorian angle...hmm....sophisticated and/or innocent is a pretty subjective vibe. What's innocent to me may not be to someone else. Perhaps Ouija for that Victorian mansion air? How do you feel about roses? Lucy's Kiss and London are both Victorian roses scents.

I previously reviewed the discontinued version of this here. And...what a difference a year makes. Fall of 2005 seems to have been the season of upheaving my expectations of what I do or don't like, marking the re-release of several fragrances that I had convinced myself that I loathed (Samhain, Snow White) only to discover that I now fancy them quite a bit. When my box of BPAL goodness arrived this morning, I tore through all the bottles, but stopped cold when I reached Calliope. I stopped, because she did not smell at ALL the way I remember last year's version. The discontinued version was syrupy sweet almonds in the imp, and lemon pledge cleaner on me, and generally not my cup of tea. But this? Ah no. My second visit from the lovely muse of eloquence is a brighter and more gracious affair. Swoon worthy, in fact. In the bottle, Calliope smells to me of bergamot and thyme, with a bit of orange. On my skin it becomes this gorgeous, bright lemon with bergamot and mint (which is exactly, exactly what I always hoped this would be) and as it dries down gives out hints of thyme and orange. It does grow more herbal as it dries down, losing those brilliant but fugitive citrus/mint top notes, but what remains is still quite pleasant. There are elements to this new version that remind me of the Twilight Alchemy Blend oil Concentration -- it does seem like a very good oil to use while writing. And because I love the early stage so much, I suspect I'm going to be slathering this. Verdict: I ordered Calliope, not because I thought I would like her, but to complete the collection. I am VERY glad of that, because it's a delightful surprise to discover that this new version of the muse is a fragrance I would chose to wear on her own merits.

I had trepidations about this one, not because of the bourbon (all of Beth's "alcohol" blends seem to really like me) but because of the dirt smell. I'm not very fond of the smell of earth, and could never quite get behind any of the scents that feature it prominently. That said, I figured I would give it a chance. I've learned to second guess myself with BPAL perfumes: I'm so very, very bad at pre-judging them. And Jazz Funeral turned out to be a classic example: oh lord, this is beautiful. There is a definite swamp feel to this — mossy, earthy, wet, muddy. And if that's all there was, I would probably nod, say to myself "Well! She certainly captured THAT smell, didn't she?" and never touch it again. But this is not an empty swamp; there is life here. Beautiful, gorgeous flowers, magnolia and something that is striking me very much as honeysuckle (although that could just be more magnolia, since I'm not too familiar with that flower) all layered over a delicious clear aquatic vibe. It's sweet and thick and heady and just gorgeous on me. The moss and earth do a fantastic job of anchoring those florals — they are sweet, but not sickeningly so. What an incredible homage to New Orleans. Oh, and all that liquor? Everyone must have drunk it all before I got to the party. Jazz Funeral seems to have good throw and average staying power (for a BPAL perfume) meaning I reapplied in mid-afternoon, and probably won't need to do so again today. An instant favorite. I'm very glad I bought the 5ml, and would not hesitate to do so again.

Bottles direct from the lab no longer come with reducer caps. I believe they discontinued that practice in late 2004.

You can't see it, but trust me, I'm grinning from ear to ear. Thanks for posting those!

Why yes, yes it does. Btw...I believe Beth should take a bow for the three lovely Phoenix labels. I created the logo, but it was her lovely design sensibility that's responsible for the label. So purty.

Actually, Le Fee Verte (and I am assuming Hellion as well) has a gorgeous custom label. I wish I could post it, but I don't have a digitial camera (and my film camera is currently on the disabled list.) Cool. I didn't know if it would or not. I can't wait to see it it! It's a funny thing about the labels. I mean, more often than not I know what they look like for the simple reason that I designed them (at least that's been the case lately.) But at the same time, seeing the flat version isn't quite the same as what it looks like on the bottle, and I am (usually) NOT the first person to get a final bottle. Often as not, I'm one of the very last -- the Yule orders have been a lovely and much appreciated exception.

Resurrected scents and the BPTP scents have normal labels (as far as I know.) Snow Moon, Come and See, the Muses and the Phoenixes have custom labels.

First, let me comment that Bess is a wee bit strong if you accidentally spill it on yourself (not that _I_ would know anything about that) and under those circumstances, has extraordinary throw and longevity. Like K00kaburra, I must say this is a complicated blend, and not precisely what I was expecting (which was a lot of rose). I can smell rose, too, but it is changed and modified into something "other" by the rosemary, neroli and lemon peel (on me, there's no mint I'm aware of.) This is floral without being either "girly" or "old fashioned" -- herbal without screaming "kitchen" or "medicine." And honestly, it doesn't smell like any perfume I'm familiar with. It's quite remarkable and so unique — distinctive — that I have no trouble at all imagining the Queen of England wearing this. It's soft and refined, yet powerful, very powerful. This is gorgeous, and I'm very happy to have it in my collection.

A simple review: Cobra Lily smells like a incredibly large bouquet of stargazer lilies, with a tiny bit of cinnamon to keep the perfume from being too sweet and give some balance. It doesn't last quite as long as I might like, but the floral is so purely gorgeous that I don't mind reapplying.

Oh! Sharp! Much more so than the initial sniff I had of the test bottle at the Lab. Beth said she was going to make it sharper, and she did -- this one is quite feral. I'm mean, rather shockingly feral. I used to date a man who owned rats: lovely, sweet and friendly, but rats nonetheless. And the dead-on-accuracy of this: the smell of the creatures, the dust of the cage, is kind of spooky. I was always a bit surprised at how accurately and perfectly Cerberus smelled like dog under all the other lovely elements: Rat King dispenses with the other elements and goes straight for the animal. On dry down, Rat King turns to a deep, gorgeous musk (although musks traditionally do very well with my skin chemistry) that is perfect. This is my favorite stage of the wearing. So...I suppose the final verdict is: interesting. I'm not in love with it, and I don't think Rat King is ultimately for me, but it certainly wasn't an unpleasant experience by any means. I'm glad I got to try it.

Aw, now that's a DAMN good idea, Judas_kiss. And you can manage to make it so you HAVE done the humpty-hump just before this little meet fest, so much the better.

Phantom Queen. To me it's pleasant, lovely and screams "I could rip you into a thousand pieces but you might get a spot of blood on my favorite blouse."

2005 Version Hey! Nobody told me Yuletide was cinnamon and clove! I mean, seriously...I opened up the bottle expecting juicy berries and what slapped me in the face was instead serious, serious mulling spices — sharp broken cinnamon sticks, bits of clove, some orange peel, and underlying it all, the smell of evergreen trees (which does occassionally smell a bit soapy.) This is gorgeous! I can see why people would be reminded of potpourri — this after all the smell that most Christmas potpourri is trying to reproduce. Personally, I think mulling spices are one of the happiest smells on Earth, so all I need to do is layer this with something apple-y and I think I'll be in some serious bliss.

Ah, how beautiful. Nuclear winter is wonderfully chill, and icy — a cold, deliciously frosty mint. I was amazed to note how much it reminds me of Ice Queen (but without Ice Queen's florals or harder edge.) It has a lot of the same glacial qualities (put your nose to a huge block of ice or a glacier: breathe) but with a gentler aspect. Calm, serene, a little sweet. I find myself comtemplating the awfulness of white and thinking back to the world of Gethan from The Left Hand of Darkness — all unending ice and cold, but full of life. Now that I've had a chance to wear this, rather than just smell it from a bottle, I'll second the opinion there's something grassy underneath on the drydown. It's a lovely touch, because it does bring to mind wide open fields, now covered with the weight of tons of snow and ice. It's an oddly hopeful and uplifting thought, this idea that the grass is still waiting for the winter to end, and the chance to renew. Ahem. Sorry. Waxed all philosophical there. It's pretty — and I need more bottles of it.

The Rat King does not look like a nutcracker...hopefully someone will post a pic soon. My own camera needs batteries.

Oh, Beth's a very talented graphic artist. She's done a number of the labels herself. Beatrice, the Halloween Scents, Love in the Asylum....all that is Beth's work. She has a wonderful sense of aesthetics.

Me personally, I'm waiting to see what Midnight Mass and Peacock Queen look like (and yes, you'd be right to infer that means that I did not create those labels.) I can't wait to see what Beth created!

So...put that away for a bit, yes? I'd send the lab a little note that you think there might be a problem with your oil and explain the situation. Whatever it is, it's sufficiently beyond the pale of the normal switch-ups that we're probably not going to be able to help unless someone else has had the same problem.

Huh. There goes that theory. (Strong, medicinal root beer is a description that sometimes is tacked on to both Tombstone and Laudenum, I believe both oils are dark colored.) Pale yellow and thin sounds pretty close to what I remember Hamadryad looking like, which is not much help at all.

What color is the oil, Fallow Deer?

Oh. This is one of those fragrances. I ordered it because if I have a fascination/revulsion to the works of the Marquis deSade, and because I was curious (which was of course why I read deSade in the first place.) Sometimes leather works on me (Casanova) and sometimes it does not (Dead Man's Hand.) This had enough interesting other notes to make me hope it would be the former, and not the later. At first, it is a soft leather, balanced but not particularly overwhelmed by the floral notes, and as it dries, more of the rose and amber comes up — but never easily or predominantly (let's hear it for my chemistry not blowing out the rose, eh?) It's all very smooth and well balanced, easy to wear. This might smell of leather and traditionally masculine notes (and might smell fantastic on a man) but I'll agree with Heavenlyrabbit: this makes me think of a female anti-hero --- a Juliette rather than a Justine. It's also one of those perfumes that makes me itch to layer it with others. Les Infortunes de la Vertu with Katharina, perhaps. But what do I mean when I say those fragrances? Ah, well, it's those perfumes that I keep for special occassions, the ones that can be guaranteed to produce a particular mood. And this mood is not "nice." It's obsessive, decadent, dominant and very, very sexual. Oh yes. Absolutely a perfume for communing with your inner bad girl.

I believe they just stretched a 5ml label up to fit a 10ml (in other words, I didn't make two different versions) so the 5mls are in correct proportion. And WidgetAlley: it's a pretty good bet you'll see something new for these. (I have it on good authority... )