joseybird

I'm hoping Beth can do something to streamline operations so that her brain doesn't go *pop* from all the stress of tons of new customers+mucho orders+only a few labbies to help I don't mind waiting a while, because I get most of my BPAL satisfaction from swapping, but I'm worried about explody Beth brains going everywhere so any mods who've talked to her lately...is she doing ok?? (besides the working long hours, and stress...any good news on her end?)

MOXIE!!! Works like a charm take two and call me in the morning.

"Boob leech" That's beautiful!!!

Medici, have you smelled Hexennacht? I think it fits your description

Okies, chickies--I won't tease you any longer! Thank you SO MUCH olympia301 for trading this to me! She drew the cutest lil doodle on the envelope, too Prologue: I've been dying for this oil ever since the preview. DYING. I wanted it more than the clubs, 13, CT2, and everything else combined. I loved the name, and I loved the idea of honied almond milk, fig, greenery, and coconut. Moreover, it sounded like the perfect scent for my favorite rpg character, so I was putting all of my hopes into this one scent.. Wet on my skin: Fresh green leaves, slightly spicy and bitter in a way that makes them smell incredibly *real.* These are the leaves shielding the succulant figs from the sun, slightly dewy and very *alive.* This isn't grass-like greenery or Belladonna-like greenery...these are small, dark, slight rounded leaves, the leaves of a plant which focuses it's energy on the beauty of its fruit. Early drydown: The green leaves stick around for a *long while* on me. A bit more than I'd like, I think, just because I can't wait for all the other yummy notes to arrive! Ahhh there it is...the fig...it melds beautifully and seemlessly with the leaves...and it's beatiful! I love fig...I adore Gomorrah and Intrigue, and the fig sns is one of my favorites...but this fig is different: it's exceptional. It smells EXACTLY like a ripe, fresh fig, and not like fig juice like many other BPAL fig scents smell. I can smell the texture...perfect and smooth... Mid drydown: The honied almond milk begins coming out at this phase, swirling around the fig note. I actually don't smell any almond--just a slightly milky creaminess and the bares touch of honey, as if I'm dipping the fig into honey-milk. The leaves are still perceptable, but it's as if they're in my peripheral vision, boarding scene instead of standing in the forefront--they become easy to "tune out", actually! Late drydown: The leaves begin to fade, along with most of the fig, and the coconut comes out. I'd say "pops out" but it doesn't--none of the notes in this blend, besides the initial leaves, "pop out"--they transition increadibly smoothly in a balletic harmony I've never experianced in a scent before. This is a very creamy coconut, totoally different from that found in Spooky or Elegba, perhaps because it blends with the honey-milk (for anyone who's wondering, the closest approximation I can make to the honey-milk note is a honey sn layered over vanilla bean sn...I hope that helps at least a few of you out there who are curious ). This is by far my favorite of the stage...coconut-honey-milk with a drop of ripe fig...still no almond (I can hear you guys cheering in the back row...) End of drydown: Finally, the fig completely dissapears, and a tiny hint of sandalwood comes out. Now, I was really worried about the sandalwood in this blend, as I usually find sandalwood to be way too dry for me. But this...this is the most beautiful woody scent I've ever smelled. It's incredibly subtle and smooth-textured, like the feel of soft, sanded wood, and softly sweet and grounding. The blend finally fades away a honey-milk-coconut-sandalwood--the ultimate comfort scent. Overview: This is the most complex, evolving scent I've ever smelled. It's also the most beautifully structured. Far from getting a jumble of different notes running willy-nilly, there is a clear, logical progression that gives this blend an incredibly memorable, evocative quality. From leaves to fruit to the milk and honey of happiness and comfort, gifted to the one who leans against the silky-smooth trunk of the tree...(the coconut grounded the honey-milk's sweetness into something more earthy and not..bubbly/cloying?). If I could change anything about this blend, it be to make the leafy stage a bit shorter, but overall...this is paradise and the closest thing to a liquid masterpiece I've ever smelled. It was like watching Beth paint a picture of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and inject life and soul into her creation. ADDED July 28: I just got my 10 ml today (an amber one, too!) and it smells quite different, so here's an additional review Wet on my skin, I could still smell the greens, which were just like the greens in my imp, but they weren't quite as bitter, and I could smell the fig loud and strong. Wet on my skin, it was greenery and fig. The fig held it's own--bold and juicy and fresh and sweet. Just like smelling a fresh fig surrounded by leaves. The leaves move to the background--still noticable, certainly, but playing second fiddle to the fig. The fig, btw, is more juicy in my bottle than in was in my imp, probably because the milk and honey and sandalwood haven't arrived yet (the fig arrives a lot earlier than the latter 3 in the bottle, while it entered *just* before the latter 3 in the imp). The honey starts to come out, but it's married to the fig, so it doesn't go all icky on me BPAL honey usually does. Then the milk (no almond) gently folds into the honied fig. I think I detect the sandalwood in there with the milk, though it's hard to say. The late drydown is mostly honey milk with a bit of greenish fig and a touch of sandalwood. I like my bottle SO much more than the imp! The imp was unique in that it unfolded incredibly picturesquely and artisitcally, but I find the bottle more wearable. I had asked in the questions thread why many reviews barely mentioned what I had thought were incredibly strong greens, and now I'm sure that it's due to slight differences between batches. Hooray for my beautiful bottle!! =D

Thoroughly corrupted: amber, sandalwood, black patchouli and cinnamon. Dark and heavy, but with a warmth (from the amber) and a sweet spiciness that dances around the darker notes like glimmers of flame in a dying fire...this is deep and warm and lusty and patchouli and sandalwood are usually too dry for me, but in this blend they're warmed up *just* enough...I love!

Gomorrah is Evil Fig Eden is Good Fig What I LOVE about Eden is that not only is it THE most complex fig scent I've ever tried (I've tried most of the lab's fig), but it's also moist and fresh without being *juicy.* I admit not not being able to tolerate most of the lab's fruit scents in more than minute quantities because to my nose they're either candy-ish or so juicy as to be fruit juice and not the fruit itself. Even some of the figgy scents fall prey to this...but not Eden oh no...not Eden... Yay fig! I envy the person who won the SN fig lab auction!

Eden fits the bill. Perfectly

Fresh basil and sweet herbs pop out at me immediately, as does something sweet and a bit resiny (myrrh?) and creamy. The creamy myrrh comes out more during drydown, and the herbs dissapear. There's a an deep, ancient feeling to this blend; it's something I can see a priest of some ancient and powerful god wearing. It's not "me" at all, but it's incredibly evocative and I deeply appreciate it

Sweet, creamy candy is the first impression I get. Cherry-vanilla candy with a touch of lilac (Dragon's Blood smells like fierce lilac to me). The cherry-ish note turns to honey fairly quickly, and I'm reminded of O. This is pretty and sweet and creamy but a bit too candy-ish for me. It smells like a child's perfume--sweet and fun but without depth or complexity.

Phantasm!!! Jasmine tea+lovely sweet lemon

This is delicious! Sweet, rich amber and dry grasses, exactly the musk is very faint and light--perhaps a little darker toned than the musk in Oisin, but not animalistic smelling at all, though it does give the blend a sort of "furry" texture. If you love amber, you'll proly love this

I'd just layer Three Witches over anything Tintagel is not a scent for me, but it's wonderfully evocative and makes me LONG for the Arthurian collection...please oh please let it come soon......

I've heard that EOs don't go bad with age except for citrus oils...most non-citrus fruit notes are bouquets, because most fruits resist distillation or have no oils to extract, so it might be that even though a citrus is not listed in a blend's description, it might be part of a bouquet used for one of the notes Either that or the bottle has just become very contaminated?

oooo! I'm usually not a pine fan (Skadi and Dublin were not for me), but this... This is a FOREST. Not the neon-green, wet forest of Dublin or Skadi...This is the slightly sweet pine needles, bark, and sticky sap. I can smell the undercurrent of dark musk--silky, like fur, and slightly animalistic. WOW.

Chocolate! Incense! Leather! How could I resist?? The only reason why I didn't immediately spring for a big bottle was the mention of flowers (which all-too-often go all evil on me). So I just got an imp. Right out of the imp this is unsweetened dark cocoa, like the cocoa in Velvet, with something slightly woodsy in the background. The leather and incensey resins come out pretty quickly--they blend *beautifully* with the dark cocoa There's a little hot sweetness here coming from the resins here, and the resins and leather take charge as the dark cocoa fades away (nooo! come bacckkkk! ). There seems to be something slightly grassy in the background...the florals, maybe? This is a temple warrior's scent--sexy and masculine and dark and mysterious. I love it, but sadly, it's way too butch for me (far more so than, say, King of Clubs or Villain, both of which I love and can wear).

Although I don't want school to start yet, I can't wait for autumn for the sole reason that the vast majority of my scents scream AUTUMN and are way too heavy for summer. I love QoC and KoC but they're way too heavy to wear now Red Moon and Hexennacht are great for summer, but more summer evenings than during the day =/ The only bottles I have that are summer-appropriate are Juliet (which I wear often) and some rare scents that I ration like mad. I can't wait to get my bottle of Yemaya

I actually like Hexennacht *better* than Samhain...Samhain has somehow become all ashy on me...

I've never tried Au Lait, but you might want to read the reviews of Milk Moon

Villain is my favorite refined male scent, but I think a woman could pull it off Dorian is lovely, but it's pure unisex to me, and not masculine at all My fave earthy manly sexiness is King of Clubs but a woman would proly also smell sexy in it

I second Mabon Also, KoC and QoC I adore them, but I just feel like they're too rich and heavy for July

At first whiff, this is sweet, creamy coconut... then BAM! HERE COMES THE RUM! At first, the rum completely overwhelms the coconut. It's very much like Grog but less buttery. As the scent dries down, the coconut peeps back out...it's a bit creamier than the coconut in Spooky, but not by much, and the edges are tinged with tobacco. This is the epitome of Dark Tropical Scents. I would have preferred more milkiness, but this is pretty nice

QoC and KoC are gorgeous amber scents, although the amber only peeps out during drydown for me

This is delicious! I am instantly reminded of The Hesperides (spelling??) because both smell prodominantly of apples. The herbs and amber are accents in this blend, and lend a warm, woodsy tone that's just

Definately jasmine....but with some other notes that smell like...tape? plastic? Not pleasant, sadly My skin doesn't normally do this sort of thing to jasmine...