olympia301

Very jasmine on me. I really have a hard time smelling anything else. Actually, it is one of the jasmines which agrees with my skin chemistry more than most I have tried. Very nice, I may well keep this imp. I bet it would be great in a lotion or shampoo. Jasmine scented hair...very nice.

Really. I appreciate all the work that goes into pretty-ing up the BPAL. A real honor to redesign Snake Oil. Well done.

One of my two favorites in the Pumpkin Patch series, Beth uses orris as a very good compliment to the Jack-like pumpkin start. After a buttery and semi-spicy beginning with the pumpkin, this blend smoothly transitions into that autumny orris root which goes so "well with". I always get the illusion of a bit of peanuts with orris while it's drying, and that doesn't hurt the blend, it being a Halloween thing and there being a small expectation of candy/foodie component. The sandalwood part must be in there, but it sort of keeps up a suave background music and it is subsumed by the orris and pumpkin in the lead. This one is a surprising and harmonious blend of things you would not think of as going together, but they do! Three cheers to Beth for thinking this one up and letting us all participate in the fun of it.

This one started out Jack-like and then the woods and ivies started to take over. It dried down to a lovely old-fashioned scent which reminded me of the sorts of things you used to smell in old perfume bottles. Heart rending in many ways, like the favorite perfume of ghosts who died 30 years before you were born. This Pumpkin Patch paints a strong illusion. Real Halloweenesque.

Real good representation of what a Jabberwocky would smell like. Volatile and piney, their breath must be astounding (and they have teeth like ours, too, as you can see from the picture). I think this would make a potent and wonderful cold salve for a child. Mix it in with a bit of petroleum jelly, and you would loosen up the chest and have fun at the same time. Yes it does tingle a bit when I put it on. I am very happy to have tried this notable part of The Mad Tea Party. Wonderful image, never took as good a look at it as I have now. Gruesome. The scent has an oddly soothing quality to it, though, in case I forgot to mention it. I bet it's the oranges. Dries down as an exceptionally natural smelling blend.

I got Blood Countess at the same time I received Blood Kiss. Countess is far more floral than Kiss. Very temping almost bitable sweet and berry-like and juicy and plummy and I smell gardenia in here, too. It is for the floral person in the group. I prefer the resinous twang of Blood Kiss and I think that was an unfair handicap on the Countess at our introduction. If you are a fruity-floral person, this could be your Holy Grail. It has great throw and staying power and should be investigated by hopelessly feminine folk, floral folk, and the curious. Once again I would categorize this as a BPAL classic and think everyone should try it at least once. The icon is from a painting of a countess by the incomparable Gainsborough. What a great artist!

I get the illusion of orchid and coconut from this one. Neither of them are in here, but I can't think about Blood Kiss without thinking "orchid" at least. This is a complex blend of a lot of strong fragrances, some of which lose their identity when combined with the other things. That's the magic in it all, right? I smell the cherries, the vetiver, vanilla, clove? (it's in here but where, I dunno). Blood Kiss reminds me a bit of Hollywood Babylon but without the rich musks backing it up. Somehow, I get the words "cerebral pornography" when I think of Blood Kiss. Blood Kiss' lasting power is enormous and it has throw like mad. This is one of the classics, I think, a defining scent in the Strong BPAL family, a distant cousin of the Snake Oil/Hollywood Babylon family and a real pleasure. I would give it a high thumbs up and one that I heartily recommend considering after you have found your BPAL grounding blends and are on the hunt for the next phase of more complex BPALS.

A jolly scent if I ever tried one. This #2 captures perfectly the candy and extreme fun of Halloween night.Oddly enough, I don't pick up the hazelnut or walnut notes that are in here, I translate them as a faint mint scent backing up the cocoa. Go figure. I wish it were otherwise, and who knows my nose might come around. I can pick up the pumpkin and spices. I just find this a delightful scent and am glad I had a chance to try it. By the way, it will be just dandy through Thanksgiving, too.

Pumpkin and pomegranate...what a combination! Those pumpkin scents are lovable. I get the butter from Jack and the spice background as well, with #3 there is a juicy fruity part coming up and a green tang to it as well (!). This one is full of surprises.Then it veers off wildly into a harder fruit note that lasts about a minute. It isn't unpleasant, it's just not the fresh ripe note you are expecting. Maybe it's really a minty portion, or a part of a volatile aspect to a fruit (which is there in many fruits) but it's not a warm and fuzzy thing, it's sharp. Just as quickly as the overripe aspect pops up, it dies down and becomes the pomegranate counterpoint to a buttery pumpkin bass. This is an excellent brew for Thanksgiving. It's too "bustlie" for Halloween, not solemn enough. This is more a time of toothy grins, anticipated family get togethers, and who is making the string bean casserole blend. The fruit just gives it the kick of a piquant relish and a bit of grown up sophistication. Very likable blend as a perfume or as a room scent. One other thing, this is a blend that needs a bit of atmosphere between you and it. Don't stick your nose on your skin to smell. Sit back, relax and it is really pretty. I love Macha's artwork. Gotta have an icon to go with the review and you can't get a better one than that. Look closely and you can make out a pomegranate in the jack o lantern's face!

I got plenty of the Lavender. As for the other notes, my poor nose could not find them there. There was a softening and somewhat pleasantly soap-like background to it all, a touch of what might be black pepper, but lavender was the star of this blend. I liked it and found it quite masculine overall. Real good on a guy. I don't know if I could carry it off.

Crisp and modern to the max. Neo-Tokyo has more in common with Dorian than it does Kyoto. This scent captures perfectly my impression of the hippest of the hip towns and its forward motion. I did actually think of the words "ozone" and "metallic" when I first sniffed it on my wrist. I also keep on thinking "aquatics" and I am probably wrong. I do get a faint whiff of fruit, but that is much much in the background. This would be an excellent choice for a summer or hot weather scent.There isn't much which is "snuggle up with a cup of herbal tea" about Neo-Tokyo. Smells cutting edge and ready for action at all times.

Woo! Big mint. This will wake you up and cause the hairs to stand up on your arms! I was amazed to find there isn't any mint (as in peppermint) in this blend, but it is perfectly mimicked by the lavender and pennyroyal. Zounds! This will ice-scorch the inside of your nostrils and make you pay attention. Lasts for an entire 5 minutes before it goes out completely like a magnesium fire. If you have a hard time getting up in the morning, or you need to sober up muy pronto, keep a vial of this about your person. Great for you slugg-o college students and clerk-slackers everywhere.

At first this was Kool-Aid or Jello. I mean that in the best way, as you felt about it when you were a kid and it just made you tingle with anticipation to taste that sweetness and fruity flavor. The beginning is delightful, it smells like a treat. I think it best if you know it's pear in the opening, if you don't realize what you are smelling, it comes off as "generic fruit flavor" probably because pear juice is used to flavor and sweeten a surprising number of confections nowadays. Soon the florals come into play, and I think they are delightful. This is a young springlike scent and it is perfect for a young lady going out to play in the vernal sunlight (or boggeying down in the bat caves of high school madness). On the other hand, there is an endearing old fashioned lilt to Endymion which I find charming, disarming and possibly alarming (imagine this scent with high Goth raiment...smashing). Endymion is a bit light on staying power, and if it is your cup of tea you might want to consider this for the scent locket (or more than one scent locket hung round your neck). That would keep the pear opening note fresh and powerful. The icon...well, obviously the goddess Selene has just tied up the sleeping Endymion so she can have her way with him. Nice shorts, sport!

Immediately it reminded me of Aglaea with that almost myrtle/woody scent. It is a little bit like camphor and rather bracing. It also reminds me of a plant I grow called "Sweet Annie" when you crush the leaves. I can definately see the idea of the joy of suffering being brought out in this blend. It is very beautiful but quite austere and I think it is the antithesis of "foody" and the soul of "aesthete". Saints probably smell this way. I suspect this is more of a ritual blend than it is a "perfume" smell-good blend. It makes a great statement and if you are partial to the idea and the tradition, this is a fine blend for you.

A lovely cozy blend which lasts and broadcasts like crazy. I was expecting a strong start and 15 minutes later...nothing. I was happily surprised. Once again, Beth has managed to escape making a fragrance which reminds you of Michael's Craft Store while using old standby's like ginger and spices. I am not in love love love with Gingerbread Poppet because it's an old standard done well but lacks a lot of creativity. But what it lacks in "wow" factor of The New, it makes up for in its great interpretation of something old. I'd say this was a winner and look forward to Gingerbread Poppet '05.

This is a truly beautiful orchid blend, captivating and fits the name to a tee. I find that it is very similar to Queen Mab because orchid really rules a blend. To give Phantom Queen a fair trial, put Queen Mab on one hand, and Phantom Queen on the other. I found that as similar as the two are, Phantom Queen is less sweet and more green and down to earth than Queen Mab. It's more "adult" and grounded by the greenery and more expected notes hopping around in the background. If I had never encountered Queen Mab, I would have gone for Phantom Queen in a big way If you are looking for orchid but find Regan too cloying, try Phantom Queen. I bet you will be pleased by it.

A salacious, lecherous, leering scent - dirty and dark, slapped with a wet sweetness. Earthy black patchouli swelling with apricot. At first it reminded me of caraway seeds. Then it boggied into pencil shavings and caraway seeds. I read the description and I think it is the kind of patchuli which is carrying on with my skin...it does not like it. I can believe that there is apricot in here somewhere (which adores my skin) but (alas) it cannot overcome the deadly duo of caraway seeds and pencil shavings in Depraved. So I'm deprived of Depraved.

The opening is 100% lavender, I would have sworn there was nothing else in it. Lavender really assaults your nose in an astringent way when you have too much on. If you can get through that the most amazing thing happens, it develops Beth's "ghost" of a scent riding on the "main" scent. The "ghost" is always heartstoppingly lovely. That is exactly what happens with Old Scratch. After it dries, you will smell tendrils of fabulous sweet perfume weaving their way around your consciousness. Is it the Tonka or rosewood, something else? I don't know but whatever it is, it is what makes Old Scratch a great fragrance for me. Another case of the whole being more magical than the sum of the parts. Old Scratch is a beauty and I highly recommend it for any occasion. The icon is part of a larger woodcut by Albrecht Durer, master draughtsman of the early Western European Renaissance. It is The Devil who is taunting a proud and righteous knight.

Real lemony at first rush, the kind of lemon which burns the inside of your nose and reminds me of the way that lemon sherbet used to taste when I was a kid. Almost hurts. Then, alas, I start to think of lemon housecleaning products. There is a soapy edge to Mantis that some will find refreshing and uplifting and others will say "Pledge". Alas, I said "Pledge" and that was it. Mantis fades fast on me, too. It is a summery blend, it will cool you off as quickly as a preying mantis' carapace, but it isn't me. My loss. It's not my skin chemistry, it's my mind that ruined Mantis for me.

You might want to think around Dana O'Shee and Alice, too. Small scents...they don't throw like Sandy Kofaks (or however you spell it) but for a vanilla lover they are pretty fine. I suspect that Alice carries a bit of white or skin musk with her (her secret). Most lovely both of them.

I stick horns on my forehead with spirit gum. They do look like they are growing out of my forehead and the kids can't figure them out. I wear a black turtleneck, a black leather jacket, jeans and boots. The eyeliner gets a thorough workout (and curls around and spikes around my cheeks and the sides of my forehead), lots of white makeup. My scent? Black Opal and lots of it. Mmmm-grrrrr. Halloween.

This is really one odd scent. There is definately mint in it all. That's the first thing you notice. There is a rummy bit rhumbaing around in the background, then it veers wildly into a wood or horseradish sort of a scent! Then there is chocolate. The horseradish does go away, but it was there! I swear it was there! Spooky is a great novelty scent. I am glad I got to smell it. Makes me smile.

One of the prettiest of the LE's I have tried from this Halloween update. It strongly reminds me of the enchanting "ghost" note I love so much in House of Night. There has to be some element common to the two. It started off as a floral blend which I had to take note of, whether it was for admiration or shock remained to be determined. Gradually that intensely beautiful symphony started to bring home the theme of the blend and I was under its spell. It is indeed House of Night without the greenery surrounding the grief. Dreamland is a gorgeous blend full of passion and staying power. It can be slightly cloying but if you like heavy scents with excellent throw and long staying power, investigate Dreamland and love it while it is obtainable. It is indeed a floral but the sum of the parts is executed flawlessly so it becomes a new and exotic flower which has never been planted before. You won't say "tuberose!" or "Rose!" or "Gardenia!" but you will say fabulous floral because the Lab has seamlessly woven their scents together to form a new entity.

Oranges, just like others have said, but these are high toned oranges, not screaming orange skin which is cheap and volitile. Then there is a perfumy sort of a background which comes through. I think it is the heliotrope. I can't smell the roses, I am sure they are here but in such a small amount, they act as bit players in the background helping to make this a suave and engaging blend. Very sophisticated and "dry", I would say that The Haunted Palace is a gorgeous scent and has made it into one of my favorites.

Cute bottle and good name. I was interested to find a smokey scent and was very happy to get this one. Wet, I get that corn smell that is rambling around this year's Halloween blends, and a little bit of menthol or lavender. I am not detecting much in the way of smoke. It's more like a mild aftershave with some corn component. It doesn't change much on my skin and I am having a hard time picking up a theme here other than the corn. It isn't a disagreeable scent, but to my nose it just lacks character. I think it is a bit masculine but not very strong. Not bad but not great to me. I also think Devil's Night is a first cousin to Buck Moon.