HappyLoveJoy

Glory and Majesty, Kokab, God’s Judgement. (Resurrected 2009) Never in my BPAL experience have I smelled an oil that can change from day-to-day and application-to-application. When I first tried it all I got was carnation plus the green stems and leaves. It was much later that I started to get a soft, powdery muskiness but by then the scent was nearly fizzled out. I tried it again the next and day thought I may have smelled a tinge of almond in the drydown as well as that wonderful vanilla note in Euphrosyne, and though the carnation was still dominant on initial application, it turned out the be the note that fizzled out the quickest. In fact, I couldn't even detect it. Here I am today, wearing Hod yet again, but now what I get is a most gorgeous vanilla and some sort of flower that isn't carnation. Huh? And you know... I can't help but think of Mouse's long & Sad Tale when I sniff this on my wrist. It's reminiscent of ML&ST when it made its debut. If you have some from the very first batch to compare , this Hod is sweet vanilla and white musk and pretty little fruity flowers much like that version of ML&ST. Amber is hit or miss with me and I do feel that it's here but not overwhelmingly so. If there's such a thing as white amber that's what I envision. I read the reviews from long ago and saw comparisons to O. I get nothing like that at all and I love O. I wouldn't be surprised if, on my 10th application of Hod, that I will in fact get O out of it. It's that unpredictable! So, if you find you're not liking Hod too much, don't give up on it. Don't make your decision too soon. I got a decant in a swap (thank you damonkitty!) and didn't think I'd need a bottle. Now I have one on the way that I ordered straight from the Lab. *I tried to edit to add the description like it is a couple of pages back but couldn't do it like it is in that box. I'll just italicize it for now.

I put on some Mlle. Lilith and went about my business. After about 10 minutes I caught a whiff of... Prospero? So I took a closer sniff and yep, it's exactly like Prospero when Prospero reaches its later drydown---purple, plummy wine with champaca. Lilith is a beautiful little fortune teller with her candied fruits and wispy incense. I can't smell any distinct coconut but I think it's probably doing on my skin what the champaca in Prospero does for me. I won't be seeking a bottle but only because I have something that smells like it already and Mlle Lilith is softer and fades much quicker.

Wow. I am going to be in the minority when I say...It smelled like an unopened can of Mello-Yello that sank to the bottom of the ocean and stayed there for many years. The corrosion of the can leeched into the soda and rendered it undrinkable and very acidic. Of course I have no clue what that would actually smell like but that's what I imagined. In the vial and on my skin it was nauseatingly metallic lemon-lime with some kind of other note that woke up my gag reflex.

I love this. I will agree with the reviews that say it smells like a buttercream/candle/suntan lotion/coconut kind of scent, but then that's coming from someone who loves those scents. I'll add that when I first put it on, I'm reminded of "O". There's that same kind of smoothness. I love the creamy vanilla sweetness and just like the description says, it's melty vanilla ice cream. Specifically the kind that isn't the least bit cold anymore and all frothed up at the bottom of a bowl. The sugars are much more concentrated and the vanilla-infused cream is rich and foamy. As time goes by, it just gets better on me. I'm going to try layering it with lots of other oils cuz I think I'm bound to hit upon something really incredible. Keeper.

Wow!!! What a beautiful incense!! I have never tried Ozymandias so thank goodness I got frimped with it in a swap! This is not incense smoke but fresh, unburned incense. It takes me back to high school (in the early 80's) when I would go to World Bazaar and buy Gonesh Cone incense (dang, which one was it?). This oil reminds me of it so much. I think I'm detecting a little egyptian musk in it, too. Overall this is really beautiful and emotion-provoking. I don't want to turn anyone off of this awsome oil by saying that it puts me in a funeral-type atmosphere, mentally & emotionally, but it does. It's like being in a place where people are sad and emotions hang in the air, unspoken, but at the same time they are secretly pleased to smell something so pretty and comforting. Beautifully melancholy.

Apples and I don't usually work well together if the apple is the dominant note. Oddly enough, it's the dominant note in Lambs-Wool but it loves me! And I love it back! It's mainly apple spice for a good bit of the time. I don't smell just the cinnamon but a true blend of mulling spices that smell like one spice. As this dries down I get the creamy aspect of the milk but not a milk smell. The ale is just a splash but when I'm able to can catch it it smells dark and hoppy. Or maybe it's the roasted part of the apple? At any rate, I get the feeling that when I wear this, it'll subconsciously make those around me really happy about the coming of Fall and October. It's lovely.

As soon as I put it on I smelled cherry blow pop. Bubblegum and that really great wild cherry scent mingling together. I get chocolate, too, but it's dry and nearly unsweetened like it's there to keep this from being overly cherry or red. It mutes the candy-ness but doesn't take away the beauty of it. It compliments it and makes it better. I smell no rose at all. A floral, yes, but not a traditional rose. Could it be carnation? Carnation mixed with some other floral? Anyway I can't really place it. I should add that I think this smells like a new bar of Lush's Rockstar soap with a dusting of chocolate, a spritz of Silky Underwear perfume and the teeniest particles of black pepper. I've had this imp for a long time and just got around to trying it out. Had I tried it sooner I might have a bottle by now. I think it just hit me what floral it is I'm smelling-----champaca!! I smell the same creamy-sweet fruity floral I get in Vasakasajja. Ahhhh....I feel better now. Review complete! *My MIL has a plant called Hindu Rope and it bloomed. It was a surprise to both of us and of course I had to smell it. My immediate impression? Chocolate. The same kind I smell in Love Lies Bleeding.

For about 15 seconds I smell the fruit of Milk Moon '07. Then it changes quickly (thank you!) to rich green fruit? huh? Green? *goes back to read description again* Hmmmm...can fig smell green, I wonder? Anyway, it smells really good! It's nice and strong like Mead Moon meets Hollywood Babylon. The sharp green is rounding out and becoming sweet. More like the berries are floating their way to the top. Overall, it's just like the description says. Rich musky honey and berries with fig lending a fresh, outdoorsy quality that's clean. I'm keeping this lovely Moon.

Oddly, this smells like the recently discontinued Tiger Lily. It's nearly identical on me. Fresh, pretty and feminine with that sunny-honey-floral characteristic. If you loved Tiger Lily, you should try an imp of Idleness and Mischief and see if it mimics it. I get lots of honey, not too sweet or powdery and a tinge of chamomile tea and flowers. Edit: Oops, I'd said Lobster and meant to say Idleness and Mischief. Fixed now.

On me this smells like fruity/floral/potpourri air freshener. The old-fashioned Glade kind that left a big powdery cloud of dusty fragrance in the air. Or even like that carpet fresh stuff you sprinkled on and vacuumed up. It's not any specific fruit to my nose but a blend of fruits that creates one fruit smell. I adore Prospero and Hollywood Babylon for their rich, dark, smoldering fruit but Lobster isn't doing anything like that for me. Bummer.

This is a lot like Velvet (chocolate/wood) but with the added sweet depth of creamy vanilla mint. I get the cedar more as it wears on and the vanilla/mint/cream is still there working its sweet swirl of yumminess. Warm, creamy, woody chocolate with a touch of smooth, sweet mint and melty white chocolate. This is my new BPAL chocolate love.

This smells almost identical to Black Opal on my skin, only Inez is better. They share that sugared vanilla note but where Black Opal has a wet, steamy rock scent blended in, Inez has more of the airy-fresh, clean and pretty creamy lemon-like florals. Even though it's very different from Mouse's L&ST, I can see the comparison because the personalities are very much alike in that they're both ambers that just so darned sweet and gorgeous. Inez is soft like flannel pj's that have just come out of the dryer on a cold night, and just as clean and fresh. I get nothing spicy or resiny but then I can never smell the spices in Morrocco, either. I will search for a bottle so I can slather. *edit for spelling

Mmmmmm!!!! I wish I could come up with a more detailed description but for now I will say that I get that Lush vibe as well, but on me it's more of the scent of American Cream because I'm not getting the clove that Skinny Dip has. I get a sassafrass-tinged vanilla and I'm guessing that's the orris? It's a sweet root smell with the soil still on it. I want a bottle but I'm hoping to swap for one instead of ordering one. Oh, and I tried layering Clemence with Cytherea to see if it would mimic the spicy scent of Skinny Dip a little more and it did but then it seemed to make Cytherea smell more like Black Opal, too. I'm going to try layering Cytherea with some more spicy scents that I have, like Khandita, Baghdad and Over-the-Rhine by Possets. I miss the rich scent of Skinny Dip gel so much and would love to hit upon a dead ringer. Maybe all my experimenting will pay off one of these days. I love Cytherea and I think it'd smell yummy on a guy, too. *edited for spelling

I put the bath oil on my skin and added some water to it so I could mimic what it would do in the water. Immediately I am reminded of Eden, a peach-y golden one instead of a green figgy one. On my skin it's so amazingly similar that I'm blown away because they don't share any of the same notes. After a couple of minutes, the peach is nearly gone and I'm left with a wonderful-warm-sexy-honey-sweet-floral that is tempered by the neutral scent of beeswax. When I smell beeswax in a scent I know it's there even when it's hidden among the other notes because I'll get a sugary wax scent that makes the scent feel more tangible somehow. As if I could chew it and it would taste amazing. L'Estate Bath Oil is deliciously scented and truly goes hand-in-hand with the perfume oil.

Oh, this is lovely! I predominately get the florals and they are sweet, fleshy and dripping with nectar. It really does evoke the essence of summer, smells like the color of honey and gives me the feel of being around fruity-scented flowers on a hot humid early morning when things are moist and dewy. The amber, musk and sandalwood lend the sexy note of sun-warmed skin so it feels like the florals are sinking in and floating all around me like an aura. Summer is the sultry, sexy season that has us wearing less and revealing more and L'Estate captures it so well. I'll bet L'Estate will morph wonderfully with the temperature and with the degree of body heat so that it's everchanging throughout its time on the skin.

Upa-upa is weird on me. It smells like a spicy, flat 7-up in a rusty can at first, and then the coconut starts to rise up and it's not a sweet coconut but more like the oil that comes from a fresh, opened coconut that's been lying in the sun . It's not bad, honestly, but that spicy note makes me think more of colder weather and makes it a brown scent. It doesn't stay spicy, which is good, and when I asked my kid what it smelled like he immediately said, "Coconut!" On me this is dark, dusty, dirty coconut with a slight waft of rum. Or... Capt. Jack Sparrow made me a yummy drink in a coconut shell with bits of husk in it and then in his drunken stupor he dropped it.

When I first tried this I imediately smelled something that reminded me of Candy Butcher minus the chocolate. It was the candy note that smells like banana taffy. Tiki Queen is a fresh, gorgeous floral with a creamy fruit. It's bright but not sharp or biting and makes me picture the plumeria flowers that are hot-pink-y coral with a yellow center. I can smell the coconut only at the end when it's just a faint memory but even that is a gorgeous sniff. It's a happy, sexy, sunny scent that makes me smile from the inside out.

Have you tried Tweedledee? There's an initial citrus kick from the kumquat but just a little while later the scent was more purple fruit-smelling to me. Prospero is another super-purple scent with a dark, sweet drydown and I love it like crazy---it doesn't smell boozy or wine-y on me, thank goodness. I adore the scent and color of Blackberry Bomb and I always wish that Lush would make a solid perfume or lotion with the same scent. Sultana is supposed to smell just like BBB but there's some sort of slight difference I can't quite put my finger on. I will say that the scent of Sultana soap sticks beautifully to the skin and is almost like wearing perfume. Good luck, Baudelaire, and if you ever come across any BBB smell-alikes, please let us know! ETA: Does anyone know if Wezwanie/Hold smells like Nutts Massage bar? The reviews sort of sound like it's along the same lines as Nutts and the notes sound like they'd create something close. I love the scent of NMB but I can't touch my 1 year-old after using it or she'll get red spots.

When I first put this on I was reminded of Sportive Sun but mainly because of the amber. I am happy to say that these two are worlds apart on the drydown. Glowing V is exactly what the notes represent: creamy amber with just a touch of soft wood and a hint of floral that is not cloying in the least but lends just enough sweetness to make it feminine. It really does seem to glow in a smooth, warm kind of way like flowing amber-caramel enveloping something precious. On me this has superior throw and lasts for several hours---I am quite happy about that. It's so beautiful that I don't think my review is even doing it justice. I highly recommend getting a bottle or two.

Yep, milky wintergeen and glade vanilla candle. Luckily for me the wintergreen note disappears completely. There's a short stage inbetween the two extremes that smells like some kind of suntan lotion with a creamy coconut note. The final drydown is actually still pleasant to my nose and I have to admit that I like it after all. Warm, sweet, creamy vanilla with a touch of something that reminds me of what rice pudding made with coconut milk would smell like. still puzzled as heck about the wintergreen note *scratches head* ETA: See above where I said I liked it? Well, today I have worn only Love's Philosophy and I have officially fallen in love with it. That wintergreen note is still not something I care for but it must be doing something good somewhere, plus it disappears completely after a while. There was a brief whiff of a familiar scent and I think it's Obatala. It's got coconut and milk and that shea butter note which reminds me of suntan lotion, so in my scent memory it has some of the same DNA as Love's Philosophy even if they don't share the same notes. Tonight I also realized that the drydown smells like one of my very favorite things to eat--- whipped cream! It's the richest, creamiest vanilla whipped cream my skin has ever tasted. Consider me smitten.

I adore everything about Prospero. The initial blast of fruitiest grape and plum, the golden amber emerging to take a bit of the candy edge off the fruits, that wonderful thing Champaca flower does on my skin and the musk softening it all up and keeping it pretty. I usually don't care for fruity blends because they tend to be too bright and sharp but this one is deep and dark and gilded with a great balance of sweet and tart. I love being able to smell the underlying perfume and not just the fruity topnotes. I finally broke down and got a bottle and every time I slather it on, my 5 y/o son thinks I'm eating gummi candy. He'll say, "Mmmmm, I smell something that tastes really yummy!" or he'll ask for some of what I'm "eating". Apparently it's a winner for him, too. A++

Simply stated, this smells like sickly sweet men's cologne on me and nothing much else. Bummer.

I really love this! Honestly I didn't think I would, which is why I never tried it until now. At first I thought it reminded me of the candy sweetness of Midnight on the Midway, however, what it really smells like is chocolate-covered Brach's Circus Peanuts and some kind of floral. Said another way, I smell that artificial banana candy scent mixed with smooth creamy chocolate and light fruity florals. I have to add that I hate Circus Peanuts but I do love artificially-flavored banana taffy and such so this is a winner for me. Candy Butcher never smells like dark chocolate to me so I'm guessing the heavy cream gives it the soft, creamy milk chocolate feel. In its final stages I get the softest powdered cocoa and lightly sweet vanilla. Gotta getta bottle!

The cocoa burns off superfast and what I'm left with is very Snake Charmer-esque. Heavy with sexy notes of amber, musk and soft spices. If there's any chocolate left on the drydown, my nose isn't smelling it. At first I thought it reminded me of Mme. Moriarty but side by side, MM is way fruity. They do share that smoldering sexy depth, though. I'd buy a bottle if I didn't have Snake Charmer.

Add me to those who get a play-doh smell initially---marzipan play-doh. I asked my 4 1/2 year old son what it smelled like and he said, "Clay." It truly is a good play-doh smell, though, as Dark Sparkle mentioned. Luckily it doesn't stay on top and pretty much fades and lets the true scent develop. If you could make snow from fresh coconut and almond milks plus moist, freshly grated coconut meat, this would be it. It's got that cool frozen feel to it and I could swear I smell a hint of pineapple that has been dried and pounded into a sweet powder with little or no tartness left. Snow White is both warm and cool/frozen, milky, creamy and fresh. I don't get any mint but it feels brisk like mint if that makes any sense. ETA: The other day I put on just the teeniest bit of Snow White and smelled white musk. Normally I slather and that's when I get the concentrated play-doh smell so I'm wondering if putting on a scant amount lets the soft powdery musk come to the forefront for a little bit?