Macha

No, they're all the same. Since the Rap. Garden series is general catalog, I didn't do individual labels, but rather one label for the series that the Lab could fill in with the title at their whim, as new scents were added or (heaven forbid) discontinued.

Yup, cupcakes! Okay, not just cupcakes...cupcakes with a very distinct cheesecake/vinegar tang (a little sour with the sweet - you know what I mean,) but depending on your preference, you could just as easily interpret that as a scrumptious cream cheese frosting, which is what I choose to do. It doesn't go plastic-y on me, and stays kind of scarily true to theme. This is foodie heaven. I am delighted that with my chemistry, this fragrance does not vary at all — it starts out as frosted cupcakes, and stays frosted cupcakes thoughout the day. It's silly, sweet, and very definitely mouth-watering. Love it! My boyfriend smelled it and declared that it would be nice to use this as a house scent, because then it would always smell like something nice was baking. He has a point...

Oh cool, I'm really glad you like the Rappuccini's Garden labels (although they were funny to make in hindsight, with Beth sending me notes that read: "Nice, but can we get more thorns? And blood? And spiders?" ) The lab would have had the Yule labels up on bottles yesterday, but there were some technical glitches plaguing the lab yesterday that prevented it. Those should *crosses fingers* be sorted out now. And that bottle sounds interesting Kmasden...where did you see it? Was it at the Lab yesterday?

Penance, it looks JUST like Snake Charmer, but without the Carnaval Noir logo (and obviously it says "Snake Oil")

I missed out on last year's Sugar Skull, and its admirers are quite persuasive in their zeal, so when it came back around, I thought I'd pick up a bottle for myself. My reaction is almost identical to Diana's, above, except I didn't pick up any booze note. On me, Sugar Skulls starts out as thick molasses, and mellows out to a smokey syrupy sweet caramel. My boyfriend caught one whiff of the freshly applied perfume and immediately voiced his regret that we couldn't drop everything and high-tail it to Uncle Bill's Pancake House (a favorite breakfast spot.) And while that was funny...it's also not what I really want from my perfume. I'm going to give this one a chance to age before I make any judgement calls, but I suspect it won't be for me.

Just copying over a few threads that pertained to bottle labels - Macha

Harry Clarke again... from Poe's "Tales of Mystery and Imagination"

Give them more time ot respond. One, because Halloween is a pretty major holiday for the Lab and no one was likely working, and two, because as far as I know, they still don't have easy e-mail access...that's supposed to be put in this week. So they may not have even received your e-mail yet. FYI, I've had a package be shipped and just never arrive twice now. Once I managed to locate it through pure chance in at a post office nowhere near where the post office said it was scanned, and the second the time the Lab re-shipped it. They're very good about that once they've determined a package is lost in the mail.

My boss walked in on me as I was unpacking this from the box, and insisted on having a little smell for herself. Without any explanation or prelude, she declared: "It smells just like a cosmopolitan!" So there you have it. I'm not so familiar with cosmopolitans, but if it can elicit that reaction from someone who didn't know what she was supposed to be smelling, then I suspect it's damn close. Having come straight from the juniper-gin of Twenty-One, I recognized its presence immediately in The Hamptons, although it does hide under the cranberry and lime. The interesting thing about this drink to me is how it ages, because while it's clean and crisp and sparkling, like the real thing there is definitely such a thing as "too much." Perhaps because it's so tempting to smell deep there is also the fear that too much can be a bit stomach-turning. I like it -- I just need to be careful I don't make myself sick by overdosing on it.

I ordered this because...well...because I'm a moderator. Pretty much a given, isn't it? Of course I had to have this! Which is not say I did not have a reservation or two. I do not drink alcohol, not so much as a sparkling wine cooler, and although I gleefully cook with alcohol, I have not had much tolerance for the smell of alcohol in a long, long time. So this could have gone very wrong on me. On the other hand, I haven't met a BPAL "booze" perfume yet I haven't liked — go figure. And, I am utterly fascinated by mixed drinks and cocktails (the chemistry of them, the history of bitters, the "correct" way to make a martini.) Ah, but nevermind that, how does it smell? I'll agree with Hangingfire that some people will think this smells like Pine-sol. I can simply give such people a faint smile, sip my martini, err...wear my martini, and feel privileged that I am not part of their clique. (Hey, a lot of people don't "get" martinis either, right?) This is delightful. It's fun! Sparkling and effervescent (how does she DO that!?,) herbaceous with a strong juniper current and tantalizing, faint lemon notes. It has doesn't have much throw, but excellent staying power, and it's a clean, uplifting, energizing, and one of those wonderful, elusive BPAL perfumes I cannot smell without grinning like a madwoman. It's clean and silver and absolutely reeks of the Superflapper and the Speakeasy. LOVE it!

Morocco and the High Priestess, actually, but you're not the only person I've heard ask that about Dorian. I really don't know what to tell you. I ordered an imp of Dorian before I ordered a bottle, have ordered three bottles since then (for myself and friends) and all of them have smelled the same. Which is not to say you're imagining things, just that I haven't had the problem myself.

Oh, this is a hard one to describe. My own personal love/hate relationship with rose is due to the fact that my skin tends to simultaneously amp it and then turn it into soap or something equally objectionable. And I do smell rose in the scent more than any other. What's interesting is that the violets do in fact do a lovely job of morphing in and out, fading and then reappearing throughout the day, floating over a bed of other smells, the autumn leaves and the much fainter smell of chamomile. Overlike, I really like this, although it's probably not quite "love" enough for me to keep it. The rose does go ever so slightly soapy (stupid body chemistry) and that's just nagging enough. It doesn't ruin it for me, but it's not true love either.

Each bottle has a different carved pumpkin on the label and the Black Pheonix Alchemy Lab name: that's it. Once you figure out which one is which, you in theory will be able to keep them seperate, but there is no other indication.

I have NO idea.

Silvertree, if I had to guess I'd say it's because you're too close. Most cameras have a "minimum focus distance" -- any closer and they can't focus properly without a special lens. One of the whole reasons that I ended up buying the Nikon I have is because it came out of the box with a 1.5 inch minimum focus distance, which meant I could take photos of miniatures/BPAL/whatever and not have to worry overly much about it going blurry on me. So try keeping the camera several feet away from the bottles, and try to zoom in. Hope that helps....

Label: I must admit that I wrote my review, looked up at Lorajc's and wondered if we had someone gotten switched bottles. But I don't think we have...so I'm going to shrug and chalk it up to different impressions and different skin chemistry. In the bottle: Gardenia. Wait...no, that's tuberose. But it's strong tuberose. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Just means this is sweet, floral, and strong enough to kick a nymphs' ass. Wet, on skin: Ooops, I think I used too much. Again, I look up at the first review and wonder if I'm losing my mind. I like to think I used a moderate amount of BPAL in application -- not quite hugely slathering, but certainly not a single dab. And this was definately too much. That strong floral tuberose I smelled in the bottle does not lighten on me, but is simply joined by the spicy carnation and iris. It's heady, euphoric, intoxicating, impossible to ignore. Dry, on skin: Many hours after application, this becomes a delectable floral musk. Did I mention staying power? Incredible staying power. It's absolutely divine at this stage. Conclusion: I really wish I could give something more useful. Is this going to be light and wistful on you or heady and thick? I suspect it will depend on personal skin chemistry and whether or not your personal chemistry amplifies certain flowers. Either way, it's a pretty perfume -- although in my case I'm going to use far less of it than I usually do. I'm highly amused that Lorajc and I came up with reviews that were, in essence, completely opposite -- just goes to show how different interpretations of the same perfume can be.

Label: In the bottle: Flowers, very much floral, with something very warm and vanilla floating in the background. Hmm...not sure about this. Wet, on skin: The blood orange top-note blooms as it hits my skin, a all-too brief but glorious burst of juiciness and warmth. I can't tell it won't last, and this saddens me. But what can you do? Darned fugitive citrus notes. Dry, on skin: In the car, my boyfriend tells me that I smell "incredible" and when I press him for a description, he says "like walking through the flower gardens at Descanso when they're in full bloom." When I told him what I was wearing he laughed and said: "Really? This seems far too happy for that -- unless the ghosts are trying to bait a trap." And he's right -- this really is a very bright, joyous and happy fragrance. The vanilla note is fairly strong, sitting very well with the rose and gardenia. And — joy of joys — the rose is NOT going weird on me. It is definitely predominate (I have a chemistry that amps rose) but not overpowering, not soap. It's well blended, well grounded, happy, sweet. Conclusion: Very nice — a wonderful and unexpected addition to the collection of rose scents that I can wear. Yay!!!

Everything changes its scent as it gets older What I have discovered is that the shape of the container can change the way we interpret the scent. So smelling from an imp is not the same as smelling from a bottle which is not the same as oil dumped in a wax burner. But imps do seem...I don't know...like they age faster than bottles, if that makes any sense. There are several perfumes I bought as imps, fell in love with, ordered bottles of, and was very disappointed in the bottle scent, which wasn't at all what I thought I was ordering. After sticking the bottle in the back of a drawer for a few months, however, I discovered that a little aging brought the 5ml back the wonderousness that had prompted me to order it in the first place.

I'm positive it's a Harry Clarke drawing, but less sure of the exact source.

There's no description for this voodoo oil and I know next to nothing about the Orishas, so I did some looking around on the internet. Orunla (also called Orumila) is the symbol of wisdom. He aids in curing mental illnesses. It was Orunla who originally possessed the gift of dance but gladly traded it to Chango in exchange for the gift of divination. Orunla is the Orisha of wisdom and divination. He was the only Orisha allowed to witness the creation of the universe by Orunla and bears witness to our destinies in the making as well. This is the source of his title of Eleri Ipin or "Witness to Destiny in its Creation". Orunla is the patron of all animals, he also protects ecologists and merchants. And in on-line shops that sell Orisha-themed oils, Orunla oils are sold to engender clairvoyant or prophetic dreams. This review is purely based Orunla's properties as a perfume oil. In the Bottle: Spearmint, with some herbiness floating in the background I can't identify. Smells strong, even medicinal. Lavender? Maybe lavender. This is fairly intimidating, and it's quite difficult to pick up the notes. Wet, on skin: Well then. It certainly doesn't stop being spearmint once it hits my skin. If there is lavender there, it's hiding. This is strong, and not particularly pleasant. It reminds me of that moment when chewing spearmint gum when it goes from sweet to old and bitter. I don't really want to sniff my wrist. It's not invigorating so much as shocking. Dry, on skin: During the day I'm sitting here, and I occassionally catch these delicious whiffs of mint and melon that are just beautiful. I realize it's from the perfume. It has quite a bit of throw, but none of the bitterness is making the distance. SO strange. This perfume smells wonderful -- as long as you don't get too close. My wrists still smell like used, old wrigleys, but the air around me smells fantastic. Conclusion: I don't really know what to think of this one. It has good staying power, good throw, and really does smell nice, but I miss not being able to take deep sniffs of my wrists. I suppose its appropriate that a scent dedicated to a god of prophecy be something that finds you, rather than the other way around. This certainly does set its own terms, that's for certain. I'm quite tempted to try it before going to bed, and see what happens.

Quietude. Without a doubt. Sounds like Safari might be a good one too.

It's largely Harry Clarke, Aubrey Beardsley, and Beresford Egan with some other stuff thrown in. Basically, illustrators of the Fin de Siecle era. Edit: Yes, I did the Carnaval noir labels and postcards.

Perhaps you could post a link? Anything? There are a lot of posts in reviews. I honestly have no idea what you are talking about.

Of course, part of the problem is that, quite honestly, what smells like one thing for you may not smell that way for me, and vice a versa. To me, Dublin is everything you say you want. I get no rose from it at all, and it doesn't smell like pine, just lovely wet, misty deciduous forest. So I'm at a loss to make suggestions, because right from the start you've established that we don't interepret scents in anything like the same fashion. As for the rest of your desires, I advise keeping your eyes open for the Autumn-themed LEs that will (hopefully) be released by the Lab in the next month. I'd be very surprised if there wasn't a scent amongst them that is all autumn leaves and decay.

Oh damn this is beautiful. How to describe this dream of a scent — lingering, warm, soft (soft as the deer velvet or the soft fur of a doe,) wrapped in the memory of forests and the pale hint of herbs and spice. Press close to the skin and it changes: not the scent of deer and herbs, but the smell of human skin (sensual, naked, primal skin.) Not just forests and deer then, but the human animal too, and mating rites and through it all...gentle nuzzling, soft touches, and comfort. I'm not sure about longevity yet, and as I have succumbed to classic BPAL'ers Syndrome (i.e. I have my nose glued to my wrist) I can't say much about throw either. I suspect it's a close skin scent — that this is a fragrance that really demonstrates itself through close proximity. The closer the better. I'll put my voice to those who have already said that people will regret not having ordered this. It's a gorgeous, and if there was ever a BPAL perfume that showcased just how beautiful a fantastic musk can be, this is the one. It might well be my favorite of all the lunar oils to date.