RainyDayGrey

I can't believe I've never reviewed Envy. I could have sworn I typed up a review for this, I must not have posted it though. Envy is one of those scents I never in a million years would have picked for myself, but the lab sent an imp my way, and I am ever so grateful. I'm just not that keen on mint, it's nice enough, and I loved the mint plants I had in my old garden and smelling their fragrance on the wind, but I'm not that big on smelling it on myself. Envy is very strongly mint, not sweet mint either. In combination with the lime, lavender and herbs, Envy is the perfect summer scent. Envy is the only thing I wanted to wear during the summer when it got so stifling hot out that I just wanted to curl up and die. It's so cool and refreshing. It's also the perfect scent to wear when I'm feeling blah and don't want to do anything, but have things that need to get done. It's the perfect kick in the pants. Scent wise it's dry mint with tart limes and a hint of lavender and herbs. I did not realize until I smelled this how much I love the smell of limes, but I can now say with out a doubt that it's my favorite citrus. Come spring I will be ordering a bottle of this to get me through next summer. I love Envy, love it.

Ahhh, Dorian is lovely. It is exactly what it says it is, sweet vanilla tea and musk. It's not screaming, "I'm too manly for you!" at me, but there is something very masculine about Dorian to my nose. The vanilla isn't as rich as I was hoping it would be, it's very light and almost watery. The musk is very clean and light, and like I said, very masculine. Overall a very clean sweet and sexy scent. I don't think I love it as much as some folks, but Dorian is a gorgeous blend.

Blood Kiss is one of those blends that turned me right off reading the description. Cherry, no thank you. There are alot of notes in here that I love, vanilla, honey, vertiver, clove, but cherry, I have no desire to have anything with cherry. Especially not in combination with honey and vannilla. I don't mind a little bit of sweetness, but that just sounded like overkill to me. This one showed up in my last order, and since I promised myself I would try every BPAL that crosses my path, no matter how much I think I'll dislike it, I took a chance on Blood Kiss. In the imp: Cherry, sweet juicy black cherries. The kind my grandma used to can when I was a kid. I could detect a hint of vanilla and clove, but mostly this just screams cherry in the imp. Wet: The vanilla and clove become a bit more prominent, and I can smell the honey on my skin. Very very sweet, but oddly enough I don't find it offensive. Dry down: And this is where I fall head over heals for Blood Kiss. The longer I wear it the more beatiful and complex it becomes. It remains very sweet, with the cherry, vanilla and honey, but it suits this blend. The clove helps temper the sweetness, plus I just love cloves, cloves are my lover. It's very sexy, in a very wrong sort of way, and underneath it all there is something dark and feral and just depraved about it. It certainly lives up to it's name, thats for sure. I can not even put in to words how awesome this blend is. Okay, so I was a doubter, but Beth obviously knows what she is doing. Bottom line, Blook Kiss is fanfuckingtastic.

In the bottle: creamy, buttery and sweet with just a hint of mint. Almost smells like buttercream frosting flavored with mint extract. Wet: pretty much the same as in the bottle, the honey smells a bit more like honey instead of just sweet. Drydown: After a bit this starts to smell like Suave Milk & Honey conditioner on me, only 20 times better, with a bit of mint still. Not bad, I think I might have liked it, but there is something uriney smelling in the back ground on my skin. It's not strong enought that I'm walking around smelling like I've been peed on, but it's just noticable enough to bother me. Too bad, it really is a lovely warm comforting scent. In fact I've tested it three times hoping it will go away, but it doesn't. I think it's time Milk Moon and I part ways. I know some one out there can love her far better than I do.

Hmm, can't believe I didn't review this one yet, I tried it the first time months ago. I remember that it smelled like chocolate, toffee and nuts. It smelled good, but unfortunately I found that once I got it on, I didn't want to smell like something that came out of a box of chocolates. So I stuck it in the swap box, but never got around to swapping it, so there it sat. Until a few days ago. I decided to give it antoher shot, as it's autumn now and I'm starting to appreciate the foodier scents more. Just to be on the safe side, I put a little bit on my wrist and sniffed. It smelled the same as I remembered, toffee smothered in chocolate and hazlenuts. And I did like it, so I slathered it all over my wrists and neck. After I had myself covered in it, it did something that it did not do last time. The hops came up, and I mean they came up and stomped everything else into submission. I could still smell the sweet candy goodness in the background, but mostly it smelled like my home brewing husband stuck a bag of hops under my nose and said "smell this!" Something I've never been to fond of. I didn't think the combination was that great, maybe if the hops hand't been so damned strong, but they were. It made me feel a little nauseaous and headachey, I had to go wash it off. Even the husband, who does like the smell of hops thought that the combination was a little sickening. Like drinking beer and eating chocolate, just not a good thing. *sigh* Back into the swap box it goes.

I didn't really dress up, well not as anything in particular. I do think I looked pretty hot for taking the kids out trick or treating, though. I had on a black tank-top with sparkly roses, and dangly earings with roses on them, so I wore Zombi. It seemed appropriate.

Hamadryad was wierd with my chemistry. It smelled like cotton candy with a bit of leaves underneath. I was hoping for a softer more femenine foresty type blend. Thats what Dublin is for me, mossy, woody, and softly foresty (softer than my other foresty blends at anyrate, but I like smelling like an evergreen tree). It's gorgeous, and looking at what you like about Hamadryad, you might like it.

I don't know how I kept over-looking this one, it has so many things I absolutely love. This I love. It's gorgeous, vanilla over dark green foresty notes and just a touch of dry wood. It's beautiful and delicious and everything I hoped it would be.

This is really sweet on me at first, like smarties candie or sweet tarts. Then it dries down to a gorgeous smokey carnation, my skin will amp the carnation in anything, fortunatly for me, I love carnation. It's incensy, but not the way I usually think of incense, it's softer and sexier. Very pretty and womanly, it reminds me of purple.

I can't believe I haven't reviewed Flower Moon yet! It's one of my favotites, and definatly a summer staple for me. As for individual notes, ha, don't know. This one is very a very soft floral, light and bright and a touch sweet. It's very vibrant and youthful, definatly not an old lady floral. It's gorgeous, and is soft enough I can wear it when it gets really freaking hot, so hot that florals are usually the bane of my existance. Even my beloved Beltane is to much when it gets really hot, but this one is magic on a hot day.

I really had to warm up to Loviatar. The first time I tried it I wasn't wild about it, but I didn't hate it either. I felt it had potential so I kept it around and brought it out once in a while when I was just lounging around to see if my impression of it would change. It's grown on me, alot. I can see this one going into heavy rotation once the weather cools down (it's way to dark and heavy for a summer scent, or a daytime scent for that matter). On me Loviatar is all amber and myrrh. No leather and barely any musk. It is slightly powdery, which I think was what put me off at first, but not over-poweringly so. A little sweet with a foresty/evergreen undertone. The myrrh is smokey and perfect, it really rounds out the amber. This is a definate night time prowling scent. Its dark, sexy and powerful, and while I think it would probably smell fabulous on a man it's got a strange femininity about it.

In the bottle: Honeysuckle, with just a hint of something deep and dark lurking in the back ground. Wet: this one goes strait to honeysuckle single note when first applied. And stays that way for quite a while. Drydown: This one takes a while to develop on my skin, but when it does, OMG. I think it just knocked Three Witches out of the top three. Honeysuckle remains the top note untill the very end, but after about an hour of wear the vetiver and opium notes come out. It's kind of a confounding scent because honeysuckle is so light and sweet and innocent to me, and the vetiver and opium make it dark, slightly sweet, and smoky. The sweetness definatly comes from the opium note, and it's not the same sweetness as the honeysuckle. Honeysuckle to me is a genuine sweetness. A little girl in pigtails curled up in the grass taking a nap kind of sweet. The opium is a seductive and deceptive kind of sweet. See what I mean about confouding. Oh, and if you're worried that this one will be to much, I'm not a big fan of overly sweet blends, this is just right This was a gift imp in my last order. There was a total of six blends in that order, and of course I had them all slathered on at once. This was the one that I could not stop smelling! I was drawn to it all day, I just could not get enough of it. It also answered a big question I had. I was planning on including some oils with Vetiver in my next order, just to see if it worked for me. I've noticed it's one of those love it or hate it, and most seem to hate it kind of notes. Vetiver is definatly of the good.

Dracul, I don't care if it's sapposed to be traditionally masculine. I love it and wear it all the time. Woodsy, spicy and musky with a hint of tobbaco. This is one of the most perfect BPALs I've come across. Oh, and I'm not big on smellin like a man either, so I think this one would fit what you're looking for. Loviatar is dark mysterious and sexy. Sacred Whore of Babylon, yes I'm plugging the Sacred 'Ho again (hey any chance I get I'll take it). This stuff is so damn good, I could not say enough good things about it. I love it so much, I could bite myself when I wear it. Instead I settle for drooling and sniffing. It's sweet smoky and spicy over gardenia goodness. Eclipse is almond and vanilla with spicy cinnamon kick and smoky frankincense. Wanda, there is nothing in this that doesn't scream sexy.

R'Lyeh for water and Lightning for air. Zombi is also very earthy, if she doesn't mind roses. I haven't tried any of Beths really firey blends yet, but Eclipse could work. It's fairly smokey and cinnamony.

Another vote for Beltane, it's the essense of spring in a bottle to me. Fae is a good spring time scent too, peach and light florals.

In the bottle: Good, it's hard for me to descripe in the bottle. It smells like sweet florals. It was very good, I had high hopes for it after sniffing in the bottle. Wet: Oh good lord. There is something in Eternal that is also in Sacred Whore. I got that floral that I love to little bitty bits in Sacred Whore, but have no freaking clue what it is. Must be gardenia since it is most definatly in Eternal, and many people have mentioned it in their Sacred Whore reviews. Good to know. Just for shits and giggles I smeared some Sacred Whore on the other wrist. Yep it smells alot like my beloved whore, but with out all the spicy (well not quite, Gardenia is quite spicy all on it's own), vanilla-ey, smoky goodness. Over all though still very good. Drydown: And this is were Eternal and I decide we don't like each other. About ten minutes after applying the gardenia pretty much went away. I could still catch faint traces of it in the back ground, but it tuned into soapy roses. I love the hell out of roses, but the soapyness bothered me. About a half hour after that it turned into straight up old lady floral. I wanted to cry, seriously. It was so damn good in the bottle and while wet. Damn.

The Mi-Go label kicks all kinds of ass. I can't wait to see the Carnivale Noir labels as well. Hell I can't wait for the udate. *falls off the edge of her seat*

In the bottle: Roses, and green earthy moss. Wet: The dirt comes out to mingle with the roses and moss. Drydown: This one doesn't change much. It's just a beautiful earthy rose scent. Good throw, pretty long lasting. Overall: I was pretty intrigued by Zombi the moment I read the description. Love roses and dirt, and moss. I would have been down right shocked if I hadn't loved this one. And I do, it's now officially my favorite rose scent, and thats saying alot. I feel like a wonderfully smelly earthy goddess when I wear this. It's also good with a bit of Graveyard Dirt over the top if your wanting to up the dirt factor.

Named in honor of Vlad III, Tepes, of the Order of the Dragon. Black musk, tobacco, fir, balsam of peru, cumin, bitter clove, crushed mint, and orange blossom. In the bottle: I wasn't overly impressed. It smelled alot like generic mens colonge to me. I was pretty sure I smelled musk, but I couldn't remember the specific notes when I sniffed it and first put it on. Wet: And this is where I fell head over heals for Dracul. When I first smelled it on my wrist I about fell over, it sure as hell didn't smell like generic mens colonge any more. It smelled piney, but I could tell it wasn't pine, it wasn't nearly as strong as that. A more mellow evergreeny type scent, with a faint hint of spice. It reminded me alot of Black forest actually. Drydown: I thought the first few sniffs were good, this stuff just kept getting better. the balsam and fir (it smelled so good that once I got it slathered on I had to run right out and check the notes) remain the top notes, with the clove, cumin, tabacco and musk, mingling in the back ground. I didn't get any mint or anything floral, but that is just fine by me. The scent didn't change much, it just kind of mellowed out. It's pretty strong and long lasting too. If you like spicy foresty scents, get some, now. Overall: I could kiss the labbie that packed my last order. Seriously, this wasn't even on my wish list, I probably never would have tried it (or at the very least it would have taken me a long damn time to get around to ordering some), but now it's one of my favorites. I imagine it would smell fab on my husband as well, but I'm stingy and am not about to share any of my precious imp. Maybe when I get a bottle.

In the bottle: grapefruit, fresh juicy grapfruit. Wet: Grapefruit with a kind of floral/herbal scent in the back ground. It's so light and faint under the grapefruit that I almost can't tell it's there. Drydown: Even if this had stayed pretty much grapefruit on me I probably would have loved it, especially this time of year when it's so warm out. But the tea and giner come out pretty strongly and it's just gorgeous. The ginger is fresh ginger root, kind of sharp and biting, like in sudha segara (though these don't remind me of each other). It's pretty light on the skin and has an almosty whispy misty quality. The grapefruit is pretty fleeting, it lasted an hour and a half two hours tops and then faded away. After that I could smell the apple blossom, but the white tea and giner really stood out the most. I love this, I think I'll go cry. I just want to slather this all over, but I only have one measly imp! Oh well, I'm going to wear the hell out of it this summer, cry when it's gone, and hope like hell it comes back some day (and if it does I'll be ordering a bottle for sure).

This was a suprise imp in my last lab order, now it's one of my very favorite scents. In the bottle: the peach really stands out, I can smell crisp green notes in the back ground, but this is mostly peach. Wet: peach is still the top note, the other notes do come up a bit more. Drydown: The rest of the notes really start to blend beautifully with the peachy juiciness. It's sweet, but light and floaty. It's got a kind of sparkly qualilty, but at the same time a grounded earthyness too. It's absolutely gorgeous, and perfect for warm spring/summer weather. It really does remind me of fairies. This may sound kind of odd, but it kind of reminds me of a warm weather Jack. Probably becuase the note that stands out the most in both is peach. Of course Jack is a warm buttery spiced peach, and Fae is a cool glittering peach.

In the bottle: lemon, except not quite as sharp and acidic. Wet: Mmmm, it smells like lemon tea. Drydown: The honeysuckle comes up and mingles with the tea and lemon verbenna giving Shanghai a hint of femininity. It's a gorgeous summery blend. Overall: This one reminds me strongly of, prepare to be shocked, Embalming fluid. I loved Embalming Fluid, but it came off kind of masculine on me (not that it stopped me from wearing it, but it did stop me from ordering a whole bottle). Shanghai is Embalming Fluids feminine counterpart (while still remaining fairly unisex). If you'd tried Embalmind Fluid and liked it, but found it a tad to manly, give Shanghai a try.

In the bottle: It smells soft and femenine, with a hint of sweetness. Nothing really jumps out at me and says "I smell like this". Wet: Upon first sniffing maiden on my wrist I about started crying. It smells so perfectly like carnation. Carnation has a tendancy to make me weepy because the smell reminds me so strongly of my late grandmother. Drydown: The rose and tea come out on the drydown, but carnation remains the dominant note. The damask rose is a softer rose than I'm used to, it's more subdued and subtle. The tea kind of makes me think of flower stems in this blend. Overall: The name fits the scent perfectly. It is definatly a softly sweet feminine perfume just oozing with innosence. This is the second BPAL I've tried that reminded me of someone I love, and the first to remind me of someone I've lost. This definatly won't be an every day scent, or even one that I'll probably wear out of the house, but when I'm feeling nostalgic and am missing my grandma I will definatly pull this one out.

Hamadryad sounded lovely in the description. I'm down with the woody earthy florals, and reading that there was cinnamon in the reviews I had to try it. In the bottle: super sweet cotton candy, huh? Just to make sure I wasn't imagining things I made my husband sniff it too. Nope definatly cotton candy. Wet: Cotton candy with something faintly earthy in the background. And intresting affect, but not really me. Drydown: Whatever the earthy was goes away pretty fast and it remains all pink sugary cotton candy untill it goes away. Overall: Well shoot, I really thought I would love this one, but I wasn't expecting it to be so super sweet. Despite my raging sweet tooth, I do not like to smell like candy. I'll probably give it one more shot, but I think this one is going to be headed for the swap box.

In the bottle: apricots Wet: all apricots, sweet but tangy, juicy ripe apricots. Drydown: the cloves do eventually make a guest appearace slighty after a while, but this one pretty much remains apricot on me. Overall: This was a frimp in my last order. I really wanted to try it but I was afraid that the apricots would smell like dried rather than fresh so I was waiting. Fruity scents are really rather hit or miss with me as well. March Hare is lovely, I was sniffing my wrist all day. I will definatly be getting a bottle of this one.