Macha

The House of Night, without question. Also Whippoorwill, if you get it before the end of May.

I smelled this in the bottle and smiled. It didn't smell anything like what I expected. This is, just a Sarada said (and reviewing the Springtime in Arkham scents is doubly re-affirming my suspicion that Sarada and I perceive scent in very similar ways) very much like a combination of Dublin and Silk Road, also two of my favorite BPAL oils. On my skin it becomes a peppery, spicy and wonderfully GREEN fragrance. I would expect it to be more mossy, but I think the cedar and juniper may be keeping that under more control. Truthfully, it's wonderfully balanced, refreshing and serene. My boyfriend declared this to be one of his favorites from what he has humorously begun calling my "Cthulhu Booster Pack," but then that's not too much of a surprise, since if he's left to his own devices with the perfume Dublin is invariably the scent he reaches for. After a little while, the cardamom and pepper create a wonderful chai-like feel that fades beautifully. This is really spectacular, and even though I have a bottle, I must admit I am tempted to buy another while it's still available. My only complaint is that it doesn't last as long as I might like. The temptation to really slather this scent is enormous.

So how to describe Yog-sothoth? You know, I honestly think Beth's description may be best. This is scent that is not scent, perfume that is not perfume. As those before me have said, it is best described by what it is not. There are no flowers, no ozone, no incense, no fruits, no spices, no cloyingness. Towards the beginning, it's ever-so-slightly soapy, and does have some similarities to Dirty, but....gah. How can something be the scent of nothingness, and yet be so palatably present? This fragrance does have substance, don't get me wrong. From what I'd written someone might think the lab played a trick and gifted me with nothing so much as a vial of neutral oil, but there is a fragrance here. It is glittering, and iridescent and so very sutble. As the scent dries, it sweetens a little, which surprised the hell out of me. It stayed crisp and transformed into the most delightful ethereal breeze, a nighttime whisper of secrets and wisdom. It has good throw, but this isn't a perfume that yanks your nose and demands you notice it. It had excellent longevity on me. Sarada said it best: this is indeed a glittering black jewel of a fragrance.

I realize that while ozony, aquatic scents don't necessarily get the love that an oriental or gourmand perfume might receive, fans do exist. I'm one of them. I've always loved the ocean, and I love the smell of the ocean. I think part of this is because I grew up in the seaside town, in an apartment only a mile or so from the beach, and during the summer daily beach trips were required. And, as my boyfriend sometimes teases me to this day, my home town is not a place that necessarily sees a lot of sun. Instead, there is a constant marine layer, and fog rolls in almost every morning, a fine wet blanket nestling over miles of beach and Pacific Ocean. There is a smell to that, a smell of mist, ocean and salt water, that you either love or hate, and if you hate it you'd better move somewhere else, because you'll never escape it otherwise. I must say though, that to me this does not smell like an ocean storm or the aftermath of said storm (for that I would turn to Storm Moon or Hurricane.) This is that morning fog, and sitting on the beach while it washes over you, the smell of wet sand and ocean waves. It's ozone without being over-powering, sweet and salty the way only ocean air can be. This isn't a tropical beach, a pirate beach or sex on the beach. There is nothing to distract from the smell of all that water, the foamy brine and soft fog. It's just...perfect. The best beach scent I've found yet. I'm not sure what sort of throw it has since my hand had been glued to my nose since trying this on (makes it hard to type, let me tell you) but it is, as allidavie said, heaven.

I was one of the rare few who couldn't wear Samhain. I'll admit it: I couldn't even stand the smell in the bottle (needless to say, this was a crushing disappointment.) There was something in there, maybe the honey, that clashed with me in a profound way. As people began to say that Hexennacht smelled like Samhain, I mentally wrote this fragrance off. If it smelled like Samhain, I wouldn't like it. However, when my bottle arrived I was somewhat surprised when I didn't have an immediate negative reaction to the fragrance in the bottle, so I followed through and tried it on. To my delight and amazement, Hexennacht does smell like Samhain -- almost excactly to my nose -- but without that whatever scent note I reacted negatively to. In other words, I adore it. Although Hexennacht is tied to an April holiday, it is definately a fall scent to my mind, full of smoke and bonfires, lush forests and the sweet musk of some fairly intense partying. This is a fantastic scent, with excellent throw and very nice longevity. I was litterly jumping up and down gleefully as I realized how well this scent worked on my skin.

Once again, this has been covered: under Black Phoenix's OWN Faq page. However, to reiterate: if you make an order using paypal, you'll receive a confirmation from the lab that your order was received. Even if you pay with a credit card and the money takes a day or two to be deducted, you are still counted as having ordered on that day that you did. So there is no danger of you missing the moon you want if you buy with paypal on that day.

Mand, this information is covered on Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab's own FAQ page on their web site. International orders must be made using Paypal, regardless of how whether it is a lunacy order, LE, or whatever.

I will admit I had some hesitency about this fragrance. It sounded like it could go very, very sweet and I wasn't at all sure I'd like that. In the bottle: Is that patchouli? I think it might be. I know other people have mentioned vetiver, but truthfully I'm just horrible at picking out that note, so if it is in here I wouldn't necessarily notice. I can definately smell fig, and it is indeed a very juicy fig, not the green variety. Wet, on skin: On my skin this turns dark, earthy, spicy, and a little sweet. I can't pick out the date or currant, but I rather imagine they're backing up that fig note, adding more depth and roundness to the sweetness of the fig. Dry, on skin: The scent has mellowed a little, but still harkens to sex parties in the garden and being fed Mediterranean fruits by the nubile slaves. I can see where some chemistries might take this over to the head shop, but I happy to say my chemistry keeps this in the boudouir -- although I'm sure the neighbors complain about the noise. Conclusion: Wow. Scylla's right. This IS everything that I'd hoped Intrigue might be. Just a gorgeous dark, earthy fig scent and sexy as all get out. Quite amazing. If you like the darker fragrances, this should absolutely go on your 'to try' list.

I realize now why the post office held on to my package for so very, very long. It was a plot to keep me away from Midway. The smell that wafts out at me is enough to send me in search of a Waffle House -- it's sticky and sweet, cotton candy and freshly made waffle cones. It is, as those before me have also said, EXACTLY the smell of standing in the middle of the food stalls at a County Faire or at an amusement park midway and letting the smell wrap around you: sweet funnel cakes, hot cotton candy, powdered sugar, greasy buttered popcorn. Anytime that smell hits me at an amusement park it's like the cartoon genie finger of aroma that hooks under my nose and floats my away from whatever exhibition or amusement I was engaged in and flies me right over to the food venders. There's a LOT of butter in this, and it's strange that I (who am notoriously disliking of butter scents) should be so completely comfortable with that. Perhaps its the balance with cotton candy that makes it so acceptable. It morphs as it dries, almost as if I'm strolling different parts of the faire, mixing salty and sweet with deft, amazing skill. Must. Have. More.

I think it is, as others have said, probably a combination of the fact that you may be trying on too many frgrances in a single sitting without proper precautions (alchohol wipes to remove spilled oil from your fingers, coffee beans to clear your noise), that you're only judging from the vial instead of letting these fragrances bloom on your skin, and that imps tend to be messy little things with a fairly large potential for cross-contamination. I used to bring imps to work to let my co-workers smell, but after the fifth or sixth time a coworker ended up with perfume all over them from mangling the removal of a lid, I stopped that. And besides the time of the month factor, I must ask, any chance of hay-fever, allergies, or the like which may be effecting your sense of smell?

The Lion is just gorgeous amber.

Lohengrin, I understand your frustration, and I find this frustrating too, although for different reasons. You see, I'd like to help you. The forums are here to help. We help with reviews of the fragrances and we try to answer questions and we act as a venue for the Lab to make announcements about new releases or other topics. But none of us work for the Lab, and the forum is not owned by the Lab. We are, in essence, a fan site, and we don't control what goes on the BPAL commercial site, or the wording the Lab choses to use. You may feel their wording is ambiguous or inaccurate and want them to change it, but posting that fact here is rather akin to telling your postman you think the milkman should wear more blue. You might have better success if you politely addressed that request to the milkman in question directly. All WE can do is tell anyone who comes along asking that, yes, international orders take longer.

Maybe my math's rusty, but when someone says an order is going to take more than 21-45 days to process, how is 60 days not covered in that? Seems to me like any number greater than 21 business days is, by definition, included in that. Also, my last 3 (domestic) orders have taken 30 business days or less to proccess, not 45. "Business days" is a very important part of that sentence.

Szepasszony....it's got to be Szepasszony.

A few weeks back I chanced upon several old and out-of-print books on perfume at a used book store. So I've been reading a lot about such things lately (and let me tell you...fascinating stuff.) And as I read through the section on Roman perfumes, I started to see a lot of veeeerrrry familiar ingredients. *looks over at the description of Ides of March* Right. In the bottle: A little medicinal, very green, very crisp. I would describe the scent of this perfume as "invigorating." Smells like the Roman herb garden at the old Getty Museum, in Los Angeles. Wet, on skin: Oh yeah. Wonderful stuff. Kimchi is right. This is a wonderful light fresh green herbal, subtle and quite sophisticated. The rosemary is there, faintly, but in general all the elements blend smoothly. I can't pick out any of the ingredients I thought would be very distinct. It's very unisex; I could see a man being just as comfortable wearing this as any woman. Dry, on skin: Even the rosemary loses itself in the total fragrance, and it almost verges on wanting to go soapy, but never crosses over completely. I keep thinking this is the ultimate work scent, because I cannot imagine how one could be offended by the smell of this. Really very nice. Conclusion: A wonderful floral for people who don't like florals, Ides of March is light, refreshing and lovely. It doesn't have much staying power with my skin chemistry, so I am tempted to slather, but this perfume seems strangely immune to any danger of overdosing. I'm very glad I bought a bottle of this.

There is a house I walk by every day, on the way to work. I've never been inside the house, although the gate outside has a sign on it that proclaims it is "Fig Tree Cottage." Occasionally I see the owner of the house, and I wave hello to her. It's the sort of neighborhood where people wave back when you wave hello, even if they don't know you, which is ironic when you consider it's a neighborhood in a city known for gangs and high crime. Nevermind that. I want to talk about Fig Tree Cottage. It is the house I always wanted as a child, or rather, the garden. The garden out front is amazing, planted with flowers that have been chosen -- not for their appearance -- but for their scent. I don't recognize half the flowers, hell probably far more than half. I know she has honeysuckle planted in an arched trellis over the main gate, and those mentioned fig trees, and the most incredible old-style wild rose bushes climbing up the side of her house. There are gardenias and all manner of herbs and lovely smells. Every morning I walk by her house, and the incredible aroma wraps around me. It is the smell of everything that is wonderful about the very best flower gardens, the freshness, the sweetness, the beauty to leave you trying to breath deeper than you thought was possible. To walk by that garden every morning is be drunk from the beauty of it. Every morning, I walk by there, and every morning I thought how wonderful it would be if somehow the Lab ever came out with a perfume that smelled like that. But how could they? How could anyone capture, not the stale sweetness of dead flowers in a vase, but the incredible glory of a living flower garden, of THAT living flower garden? Just not possible. But damn if that's not exactly what the Hanging Gardens is, and it's so beautiful I'm truly almost moved to tears. I love this.

I've been meaning to buy a bottle of Helping Hand over at Black Broom for a while, and finally managed to hit the store when they had a bottle in stock. I don't know much about any traditional voodoo/hoodoo oil formulas called "Helping Hand," but I have found out that the image of "The Helping Hand" is a pretty traditional symbol of such. In the bottle: Mint and dark chocolate. It's not a very foody chocolate though, more like the darkest unsweetened kinds. Still, this smells extremely delicious. There some other spices playing with this too. You know, the more I smell this, the more I wonder if it's chocolate at all. I think it might be something else, but I'm not quite sure what... Wet, on skin: This is a very dark colored amber liquid, similar in color and texture to Snake Oil. I suspect it would stain clothing. The mint hits my skin and simply explodes. This is one of the most invigorating "wake up!" mints that I've ever encountered, and I can well see where it might help someone with focus and mental clarity. I really like this. Dry, on skin: The mint fades as it dries, letting the predominant background scent peak through. I've been scratching my head all day trying to pin down what it is I'm smelling, because it seems to have notes of chocolate and caramel, dark musk and perhaps even Balsam of Peru. Then I realize, and it makes perfect sense for a voodoo oil: it's tobacco. It's a wonderful rich, warm smell, and goes extremely well with the lingering mint. Conclusion: Besides just liking this as perfume, I should mention that a LOT of things went right for the day I wore it, including finally nailing down some nagging problems that have been worrying for many months now.

Have you guys tried Zephyr?

That information will be given with the update information posted here on the forums. So in other words, we will all find out next update.

I was weak. I put this on and was immediately struck full in the face but an extraordinarily unpleasant medicianal odor, not Vics Vapo-rub as much as...I don't know...Ben Gay maybe? I know I should have given more time for the fragrance to develop, for the scent to change. Every indication is that such does happen. But why would I want to fight through a half hour of pain for a pleasant dry-down? I smelled, made a face, let me boyfriend smell it (he made a face) and then ran, ran I tell you, to wash it off. Hmm...object lessons in a bottle, mayhaps. I'll try again later and see if I get a different reaction.

You may also have more luck buying imps until you can figure out what works best for you. Cheaper that way too. I was going back through my notes on scents I've tried and it struck me that Xiuhtecuhtli is a beautiful orange scent that you might really like, so I wanted to recommend that one too.

I had to buy this, just from the description, but I'll be honest: I had no idea what this was actually going to smell like. As I started to read through the descriptions, I smiled at some of the unexpected imagery, quite certain that _I_ would love Aeval. In the bottle: Huh. Okay, yes, I smell some sage, and bit of sweetness, some herbiness. Okay, smalls promising. Wet, on skin: I laughed as soon as this hit my skin. Holymotherfussingaroundthewillowtree: this IS the smell of an occult bookstore. On my skin it's all incense and old books, dust and the musty smell of ancient artifacts. I wanted flowers and herbs...that Witch's Garden that Molly Moon mentioned would have been fantastic. But no...this is Hogwart's Library. Dry, on skin: As the fragrance ages, more of the Tonka and Musk comes out, and it really is quite pleasant, but I can never escape the feeling of walking into a store that has been there for a very long time, where the books were all published before I was born, and where an insense stick has been burned and replaced continuously (like the sacred flame of the Olympics) since the Victorian era. Conclusion: This is the first time since Snake Oil that I've come across a scent that I think I might need to age before I can enjoy. It doesn't smell bad per se, but it's not at all evocative of what I thought it would smell like, and I find that I'm not really interested in smelling like "old occult bookstore."

Just to comment on what Malista said, you may discover as you experience more BPAL, that your tastes in perfumes are not always what you expect. From my own personal experience and discussions with others on this forum, I know that tastes tend to "evolve." There's nothing at all wrong with only liking simple combinations, but you may not wish to limit yourself. For instance, I also wore some single note oils as a teenager and avoided the commercial "complex" stuff, but Beth's complex blends aren't like those.... BPAL has some great fragrances with wine, leather, orange and tea in a variety of styles and combinations (not necessarily together.) I recommend reading through some reviews and using the search engine on the black phoenix site to get a better idea of what's available and what appeals to you. Sometimes the idea of a fragrance can be uplifing all on its own, if it tickles your fancy in some manner.

I found BPAL for very similar reasons: I was having trouble with depression and I wanted to try a more natural way of dealing with it, namely scent. It's not a cure-all, but it really does help. Unfortunately, I'm not so certain I can give you a list of recommendations. It does seem that what triggers a happy association and memory for one person may have the opposite effect on another. It may help you to sit down and try to figure out if there are scents you associate with positive memories. Does sweet vanilla tea always make you smile? Then Dorian's for you. Chocolate? Try Bliss. If you can find a scent that reminds you a happy place, the battle is won. To start, however, you may wish to try those fragrances that are designed to be mood lifting: Aunt Caroline's Joy Mojo for example, or one of the Panaceas (perhaps Succor or Quietude?) I personally find Van Van Oil to be a very positive scent, and Has No Hanna is quite specifically designed to alleviate depression. My own current mood-altering scent of choice is Tarot: the High Priestess. It's not that the scent snaps me out of a depression, but little things don't get under my skin the same way when I'm wearing it. The best thing is to probably find the scent you love, and then just smelling it will make your day a little brighter.

Although LE, Ice Queen is my favorite hot-hot-hot weather scent. Just wearing it seems to lower the temperature in the room 10 degrees. Tarot: the High Priestess also seems to be spectacularly cooling and light, and I think I'm going to order this for summer.