olympia301

I am having a lot of trouble processing Samhain '05 in my brain. My first reaction is: volitile! Not happy with the way my skin is turning it into spicy mothballs; but that could just be my head attempting to sort out the riot of autumnal elements put in the blend. I hope that I finally get it all categorized and on my way to loving this. I don't get any apples or pumpkins or leaves or individual spices that I can pick up on. If you have heard of "A Party in you Pants" this one is "A Car Crash in your Head" to me so far. Boo hoo. I want to love this.

I smell pure ylang-ylang in this one. Very floral and very flurry-ish. A pretty scent, which I was not expecting, rather seductive and classic. Dia de los Muertos should be at the top of any Halloween floral lover's perfume list. It lasts a very long time.

At first this one is very butterscotch sweet wet and corny out of the bottle. Then it slowly gets a real good whiff of spice in the background. When it dries down it is butterscotch and spice. Very nice but I was wondering about that spiciness, real candy corn is bland as hell. As a scent by itself and not as a replication of candy corn. I venture to say that this is more like what "Gourmet Candy Corn" would smell like if there was such a thing at Williams-Sonoma. Trick or Treat is really good, Halloweeny and right for the season. I wouldn't go wanting it to be candy corn only, this is a BPAL blend and more is being said here than merely recreating an item. Comparing this one to Sugar Skull...well there might be some similarities on some levels, same church but waaaay different pew. Sugar Skull has booze and tobacco in it to my nose, Trick or Treat is candy corny goodness and I really like it a lot for its more childlike approach to Halloween without the dark complexity that Sugar Skull brings to the blend. Trick or Treat is a grand scent for newbies to the BPAL fold. You can' t help but like it and it has it's little complex moments with no break-in period and no nose training sessions. Edited to add: After trying all of my Halloween LE's I have to conclude that Trick or Treat was THE scent which defined Halloween for me. It has all of the elements I love in the festival: sweets, slight smokiness, spices and lilt. It starts off innocent enough and ends up with a whicked tang, subdued but definately there. I really love Trick or Treat and think the little "novelty oil" of the bunch turned out to be the winner...for me. I hope it becomes a Halloween staple.

Roses. I only get roses from this blend. Maybe the other notes will come out with age but I do love roses so I am a very happy person here. They get stronger and stronger for about an hour. It's amazing. I just touched All Saints on in two spots on my arm and I started to worry that people thought I reeked of roses! Then, it just stopped. All that broadcasting came to a halt. I sniffed my arms where it had been and it is magnificent. It's past its throw stage and is ultra close to my skin but what a treat. I love this blend and am so glad I got All Saints this year.

I love this one! It reminds me of one of my all time favorite moons, Pink Moon revved up for cooler weather. It's got that foody "pink" trill but deepened up to a brighter and slightly more intense lower keyed tone. I just know Harvest Moon '05 is going to age to beyond beauty. I think I detect a sort of wheaty smell playing in the background which Pink Moon didn't have, a touch of brown sugar instead of pink cotton candy, and it is not a frivolous scent but it's certainly isn't a po-faced smell either. I think of it as Pink Moon after it learned a thing or two. This one is just gorgeous. I am so eternally grateful to the Lab for Harvest Moon '05 and will treasure my bottles while considering myself a fortunate woman to own them and love them.

This is a treat for the flesh. The cinnamon, and dragon's blood are perfectly blended, the orange is in there but wisely kept at such a low voltage that it becomes part of the beautiful full picture instead of grabbing center stage then vanishing. I love the cherry-eque/almondy bits that come in and out of it but it is the handling of the orange which you have to take your hat off to. This is a real good blend. I wish I could say it was vastly original but I don't get the shock of the new from Decadence but I certainly applaud its ability to state the fruit and cinnamon clearly and well. Sad to say, this one doesn't stick around too long but it's great fun while it lasts. If you can get your hands on Decadence, put it on and just treat it as you would a great piece of candy.

This one is a beautiful lily of the valley fragrance which starts off with a cherry note. Without the cherry I think it would just be another pretty floral, but that foody childlike start really adds the mental image which is needed here. I never would have thought that lily of the valley would combine nicely with a foody scent, but Beth proves me wrong here with Queen of Hearts. It is a delightful blend, yes I agree with those who say it is springtime, it is. Springtime, youngness, attractive and nubile, Queen of Hearts is unusual but harmonious. A real sweetie. On the downside, it is a little bit old fashioned and someone else remarked, a scent that I would pinpoint as being in the department stores around 1960's and fashionable then. But that was eons ago, and I would say this sort of stephanotis and lily of the valley should return and be considered renewed. I would also say that if you are over age 25 (and that is stretching it a bit) this one would be considered juvenile for you. You don't need innocence to pull this one off, but you do need the proof of youth for it to be your scent. I would heartily recommend it for people under drinking age and as a great introduction to the world of perfume for a pre adolescent who is taking her first steps into the grown up world. Though this is indeed a Mad Tea Party scent, I wanted to finish the four playing card queens I was doing with the icons. I think of this blend as being more of a playing card Queen of Hearts rather than a bellowing animalic looking Queen of Hearts from behind the looking glass.

This is a gorgeous scent and just full of orchid. It reminds me strongly of Regan which I love for its almost cloying sweetness. Beth dials floral sweet to the extreme and by all experience I should just detest this fragrance, but I love it! Perhaps this is the mark of a great perfumer, taking things to the limit of womanly endurance and having you say,"Oh, I could not stand one particle more of that which I love!" Like teetering on the brink of an orgasm, leeching as much pleasure out of the orchid as possible before utter saturation. Queen Mab saves orchids from being too sweet, brings in rose as a backup and they blend flawlessly. Orchid just falls into the lap of rose, in other words they have something in common and that mutuality is exploited with the master's hand. Hard to tell where one stops and the other starts. I realize there is musk in here, but it is not allowed to intrude on the orchid/rose communion. Same goes for sandalwood, that is allowed to give a bit of bass to the blend and round out where orchid and rose lack depth. The other ingredients must be in there but their role is overshadowed by the other agents. A remarkable thing, this Queen Mab. I highly recommend it as a classic BPAL which should be tried by anyone who believes them self an aficionada of Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab.

The essence of ambition, covetousness and manipulation: sweet Bordeaux wine, blood red currant, thyme and wild berries. Strong fruit right out of the imp. Blood being mimicked by berry juice? That's a thought! Starts off something like Jailbait without the sharp resinous undertone. Very attractive, if you smell it closely while it is wet, not only does it have berried in the topnote, there is a perfumy background which is subtle but charming. Maybe I imagine a soapiness here and maybe I don't. As pretty as she is, Lady MacBeth doesn't seem to stay for long. Either my nose goes numb very quickly or she is more fugitive than I would have suspected. I can't help but compare her to Bordello,and on that comparison I can smell violets in Bordello which are definitely not in Lady MacBeth. My final opinion says that though Lady MacBeth is a beauty, a red royal blend with a very sweet and full red fruitiness to her, Bordello is the superior red-blend for me. Same family, different souls. Not different enough for me to own a bottle of each, so I will punt on Lady MacBeth and stick with Bordello for its undertone of violets and over-the-top playfulness.

Another great performance art piece by the Lab.For some reason the jasmine/floral part of the blend makes me think "ewwww! a caterpillar!" Crazy man, this blend really reminds me of green wormy things.It has that strange Mad Tea Party ingredient going in the background as well. It's a great blend, why I am squicky about it is beyond me but it certainly does cause me to think of caterpillars. It's a hoot.

Lavender is the first thing I get from Dee, there is a lot going on the background but I am having a hard time picking out what it all is. A very well blended brew, this scent is relentlessly masculine to my nose, a perfect man's scent. It is sophisticated, well read, polite and would be out of place on a lout. I can't pick up the English leather, or pick out the tonka either. It reminds me of a classic scent from way back, whose name I never knew. It is an exceptionally well blended thing, I just think it's not womanly enough for my taste.

I wanted to love Bengal because everyone was squeeing so hard about it when it first came out. Sorry, no luck. It hits my skin and turns into styrene plastic. Boo hoo. After drydown it does have a tea-like almost floral component but that stays waaaay back in the background. The plastic is what forces me to fight through it to get to the good part. My loss is someone else's gain, though, and I am glad I got to try more than just a tiny dab's worth from an imp.

Severin. It isn't the strongest scent, but it's the lemonyest scent. It does fade fast, thanks to the miracle of citrus (which is fleeting). It lasts till the cows return to the outer shelters, my friend, if you put it in a scent locket however. Yes, Severin in a scent locket is a dream. Had it perking away for over 24 hrs every time I do that.

House of Night. Like Eros said, sad and beautiful. It's like a damaged childhood seen through the wistful eyes of a compassionate adult.

This is a blend which you either love to distraction or it's not you. I have seen people enthuse about Peitho over and over so I had to try it. I was expecting floralness in rounding bounty and it was surprisingly smoky in the wet stage! Could it be our goddess is sneaking a smoke behind yonders cumulus? Amidst the jasmine beds? That's sure what it smells like. I think it's pleasant and pretty, very feminine. She's a bit of a scamp, this one. There is a lingering smoke in the halfway to dry stage, the jasmine comes out more (and it is very very nice jasmine, too), it starts to evolve a candy like background to it. This is becoming fun Finally, it turns into a Grand Lady scent. Heh! Going from the sneaky schoolgirl to the grown up goddess? Yes, it does. The candy like aura is there in the background but it's very faint, and it has turned into a classy jasmine floral with just the hint of a curl of a smile about her lips. I can't say I recognize any myrtle here but it's in there 'cause Beth says so. If you like good jasmine, and I do say it is the "good" variety, I think you will go for Peitho. At least give it a try. I don't blame the Peitho lovers for their fondness, it's worth it.

Sweet and sort of fruity, Lilith reminds me strongly of Wanda without the silly notes. This lady is all business. Fruity and has a scent I only usually find in Chinese food, and I don't know what it is....like the woody note in a good soy sauce. This is attractive and cherry like and wine like. It doesn't last forever though, I would say it has average staying power. This is a good scent, but I think it is one of the older ones and really doesn't have the originality and risky beauty that some of Beth's later scents do. Perhaps it was bleeding edge when it came out, but I have smelled so many by now that I can't say it is memorable compared to some of Beth's Grand Fruit blends like Bordello. Nice as a taste of what these blends used to be like and I would certainly recommend it, but it didn't capture my nose, never mind my heart. The icon is a black apple. Lilith was supposedly the first mate God created for Adam. She fought with him and left, then Eve was created. Lilith was the original, and since the apple is the stand in for all things regarding Eden...I thought a black apple would make the point.

Hmmmm, I don't have you on my spreadsheet for Seance but you know what I mean. This is a case of the blend itself varying widely, or certain notes coming out under certain circumstances, or aging, chemistry, or even mislabeling*. I would just like to know what is causing it. Actually I have found quite a few people who greatly prefer the woody over the rosy form of Seance, so any trades I made coming in or going out have had the net effect of increasing the happiness and satisfaction quota of all involved. However, I have received the extra bonus of curiosity for my actions! Being a Gemini, I can have no other course of action than to pursue it. *Had this happen with Hamadryad and The Hesperides.

Very pretty pretty scent. Floral and a little bit old fashioned, like an unabashedly feminine woman a bit out of step with the "Modrens". I can't say that this scent is Hawai'i, at least the place I experienced but it is floral and beautiful. I think it's just itching to go into a scent locket because it won't last longer than a volcano's small explosion, such as *bang*; but I bet it is a great find for the scent locket because it remains true from wet through drydown.

This one certainly is aquatic and it is dark, dank and citrus on the fly. By that last idea, I mean that I would never ever had said "grapefruit' without the famous remark about the Grapefruit of Evil. It just didn't strike me that way. I reminds me of the CT2 I got and it isn't a bad thing, it's just not to my taste. I know that lots of BPAL-ers out there love it so I know it can be given a good home. I had wanted to try this one for a long time and thanks to the lab, I did!

Dang, the plot thickens.

I got an imp of Seance and it definately has a rosy flair to it. I loved it and got a couple more while waiting for my 5ml. I got a 5ml in a swap and when it arrived it was woody, not rosy. I thought that was real odd, and I got another 5ml from someone else. Same thing, woody not rosy. Finally my fresh-from-the-lab bottle came today and it is also woody not rosy. All of the imps I have gotten are rosy. All of the 5ml I have gotten are woody. Has anyone else heard of mislabeled imps of Seance and who would be a good person to send an imp of Seance to to tell me what it is? I would love it if it were a blend which I have not tried, believe me I would buy a 10ml toot sweet if I only knew what it is. Please know that this is only one suspicion I have as to why it's imps vs. bottles, but it's so logical. Could someone who is wise to these things point me in the right direction. Thanks.

An old fashioned kind of perfume with the roses that my mother used to wear. Very pretty, and don't get me wrong, it's a full and fruity floral. But this just has to do with my taste not the goodness of the blend. I have smelled similar perfumes in the past and Seraphim just reminds me too much of them. It's just not enough of the new to make me want to go out and buy a bottle of it. However, it is charming. The icon is a firework which reminded me of one of the seraphim.

Devilish temptation, as sweet as sin: blood orange, neroli, and raspberry. Orange Kool-Aid. I do smell some subtlties, not the rasberry however, but some of the neroli, but this is orange through and through on me. I like it but I don't want to smell like it all the time. If you are an orange fan and you just can't get enough, grab a big bottle of this and bliss out.

Yes. E-mail them again. I have always had the best response from the Lab, and if you are not hearing from them, they probably had a good reason.

A great rose scent which reminded me of why I fell in love with Tamora. It is simple, rose and pomegranate and very juicy...just as Pluto must have seen his prey. Well, he got a bit of yum-yum and clean socks, Ceres got a feckless son-in-law who felt compelled to send her an expensive Xmas present every year, and Persephone...well maybe she got an unlimited credit card to take the sting out of 6 months in gloomy old Hell with boring old Pluto. I like to think that just about everyone was happy once they got used to the idea. The icon is one of the most remarkable pieces of sculpture on earth, The Rape of Persephone by Bernini. Pluto's hands are digging into the soft womanly flesh of Persephone's thigh and waist.