sunshinedaisybliss

What a quirky and bizarre little blend this is! I really had very little interest in trying this one - I figured it would be too seaweed-y so I wasn't even slightly tempted. But then the lovely nrl1978 offered to send me some to try, so I thought ah yeah - let's give it a shot. Well, colour me tentacled! There is an underlying ocean bed flavour to this - not fresh sea water like an aquatic.. more the smell that you find on a fishing boat that's been in dry dock for a while - that mix of dried seaweed and salt and general bottom of the sea type muck. As nasty as that sounds, it's actually quite a sweet and exotic smell if you like that sort of thing. In the middle layer, there's a deep dark incense with a smoky hue - this blends beautifully with the dark smells of the ocean and creates a very exotic mix.. 'malignant' is a good word for it, because it does seem somehow alive and bottom-of-the-ocean kinda mysterious. Then, dancing around on top, is the chocolate - it's not a HEY chocolate thing at all, just a hint, but it's certainly there. It is weird, I agree with others on that one. But weird is good, right? This is certainly a scent unlike any other BPAL I've ever tried, and truly worth a try for the curious Edited to update: I ended up buying a bottle, and wore it yesterday. Err... ick. I had to wash it off, it was making me feel kinda sick. The oil I had in my decant was nice but what's in this bottle is *strong* - just way too much. Sorry Cthulhu.. you're going off to swapsville

This is honey, honey, and HONEY - super sweet and rich to the point where it's kind of nauseating for the first half hour or so. The Snake Oil isn't really present until it's been on my skin for about an hour, and even then it's buried under the honey which has developed a very sweet and nutty quality, kind of like O. Given there's Snake Oil involved - this may age nicely, but I don't think I'll bother waiting. I can easily recreate Womb Furie by layering O and Snake Oil.. but I don't think I'll be doing that - the combination is just too sweet for me. I'm kinda disappointed in this one, because I love my Snake Oil and I have several of the Snake Oil Chaos Theory blends that I also love, but it seems that in this case.. honey is not my friend.

This is really interesting and quite elusive.. I'm getting faint hints of orange blossom, and maybe cherry blossom also. There's also something almond-like going on here. It somehow manages to be quite creamy and musky, and dry at the same time - I suspect amber is present, and maybe some skin musk. Very pretty without being girly, this is a mysterious and exotic kind of blend that I keep going back to for another huff

I'm not familiar with the CP blend you mentioned, but for chocolate + amber in BPAL it has to be Gelt - "A bounty of chocolate coins! Dry cocoa and golden amber!". Unfortunately it's no longer available - it was a Yule release in 2008, but you might be able to find some here on the forum in the 'For Sale' area. Reviews are here.

When this first hit my skin, I was a bit taken aback by the tobacco - it was very sharp, strong and bitter.. not really very pleasant. So I thought "hmmph, I don't like this!" and promptly ignored it while I tested the other bottles that arrived in my Lupercalia order today. But then, about an hour later, I went searching for Enkhespalos again and found him resting softly on my arm, he's put the spear down and turned into a sexy cuddly beast What a turnaround! The cognac has come through and is beautifully warm and lush (not boozy at all), and the wood has a very organic feel about it but that's in the background. The leather is gorgeous - it's more like suede, a lovely soft leather.. it's not harsh or heavy, it's err.. cuddly. Yeah, cuddly leather - fancy that! The tobacco that was so rank at first has gone from being all sharp and obnoxious into a classy golden softness. Enkhespalos, you almost had me fooled. You're not a scary warrior at all, you're a big cuddly guy who wears suede undies.

OK - 'fess up.. who ate all licked all the dark chocolate off of my key lime truffle? The lime in this is lovely, it's just like the lime note in Scurvy and Mr. Nancy - not overly sweet, slightly musky, fresh and tangy delicious. But damn it - seriously, where is the dark chocolate? I can smell it in the bottle, but once the oil hits my skin it's almost non-existent. Occasionally I catch a whiff and I think "ooh, there's the chocolate!", but then it's gone. It comes and goes, but mostly goes. The lovely lime sticks around fairly well, and stays pretty true for about an hour but then seems to fade very quickly. So overall, slightly disappointing because ohhhhhhh how I love the way Beth does her gourmand dark chocolate things, but the lime is so good in this that I can possibly overlook the chocolate's disappearing act. And on a side note - once again, I am convinced that angelicruin and I share the same skin chemistry

I love it when things are bang-on with their description, and Banshee Beat really is. It's absolutely a tousled, sexy mix of hemp, vanilla and patchouli. I would add warm, organic, and cuddly to that.. but otherwise, bang-on. In the bottle, it's YIKES hemp - very strong and woodsy-green smelling, as hemp oil tends to be when wet. The first few minutes on my skin is the same - the hemp is strong and very raw at first, and I can imagine some people would be put off by this but on me it only lasted maybe five minutes. And then... THEN... the vanilla comes in and everything starts to get all warm and cozy and snuggly. I agree with VioletChaos in the comparison to Tombstone - but only aged Tombstone when it's gone all smoky rich - not when it's fresh. The vanilla (to me) seems very similar in both but it's the hemp that's giving BB such a lovely base and a slightly fresh green/organic feel where Tombstone has that balsam and cedar base so the tones are different but the overall feel is similar. Half an hour in and the patchouli stays nicely in the background, and the hemp really does settle in nicely - the raw feel has smoothed out now that the vanilla's warmed up. The vanilla is smoky and rich, not sweet - I agree with fairnymph that it's a bourbon-y vanilla. This is just such a lovely blend - it feels very organic and earthy without smelling like dirt or greenery. I can't do many of BPAL's patchouli blends - some of them smell like dirt in a bad way, but it's so nicely balanced in this that it's really not intrusive or overpowering at all. I do understand the whole "hippie" thing that's been mentioned, but I really think this transcends that aspect of its smell - BB does not smell like a bong shop or the inside of a VW Combi after a 4-day music festival in the middle of summer (why yes, I do know what that smells like ) - it's far more sophisticated and sexy smart than that. This is how I'd like to imagine Robert Plant smells when he wakes up in the morning. I am seriously tempted to hoard this, it's *that* good. And I do think it's going to age beautifully, so all the more reason to hoard it. Yes, good plan. *starts hoarding* Edited to add - big thank you to my lovely forum friend who was kind enough to get this bottle for me with her order

Perhaps Womb Furie is so furious that it refuses to wear a label Those are some of the prettiest bottles that have ever been made, I think! Thanks for posting your pics, Lycanthrope

I'm only guessing, but I'd say orders placed before the PayPal change should be OK - the sender's email details should still be on the notification that the seller receives. I'm not sure exactly when they changed things, but I received a payment on Jan 26th and it was in the new style (ie no email info in the notification from PayPal) so it must have been some time around then. They actually posted a page of policy changes on Jan 21st (available on the PP site and worth reading since seller/buyer protection rules have changed, as have some fees) and although the change to email format wasn't mentioned in those, I'm thinking maybe it happened at the same time. Edited to update: just after I'd written this, I received a CnS for my Lab order placed via PayPal on Jan 20th so it's safe to say that PP orders up to at least that date will still be OK. How's that for timing!!

Well poop! I think you're right.. this forum is very picky about its images.. the lack of .jpg is probably the issue. Never mind - they're only a click away! Thanks for sharing them

Thanks for sharing, fairnymph! I like the U one, that's very stylish. As for putting the code in your actual posting, you need to go to the webpage where your photo is - copy the URL and then come back here, click the little button that looks like it has a picture in it (is everyone's layout the same? for me it's the 7th button from the left above the text space, to the right of the emoticon button - see below) - that will open up a little box where you can paste in the URL (image location) - click OK and you're done! If you want to go back and edit your post to do that, you'll need to choose 'Full edit' from the drop-down options so that you get the toolbar with the buttons you need

Hmm.. interesting! When it first goes on the sweet pea is the most dominant note and the grape, pomegranate and plum are very close behind it. 15 minutes in and it switches around - now the pomegranate is dominant, with the grape and plum next and the sweet pea in the background - the fruits all together provide a sweetness that's not sickly or cloying but deep and sultry, but the mix is definitely fruity rather than floral and it's a deep, rich kind of fruit - very purple. The bourbon vanilla is just playing at the edges - it's in there, but the sweet pea and fruits are all over it. I really can't detect the white honey yet, right now there's a fruit festival going on. A little later on, I'm now picking up just a hint of the carnation, but the cognac is harder to find, it's not jumping out at me but perhaps it's the boozy velvet of the cognac that's grounding the fruits and holding them back from being too sweet. Oh.. and is that the sandalwood? Hello, sandalwood - come on out, don't be scared! Still no sign of the white honey. OK.. one hour in.. I like it better now that it's softened up, the sandalwood and vanilla are much more apparent now and YES! the cognac has even come out to play. Ah.. this is good, those pesky fruits have faded away nicely - they're still there, but there's no longer a fruity purple party on my skin... much better. This one reminds me very much of Crypt Queen - it's that same kind of rich pomegranate & plum base, but where the fruitiness of CQ is darkened down by the patchouli and black pepper, in Black Heart it's sweetened up by the vanilla and sweet pea. Personally, I would be happier with it if the fruits weren't as dominant.. I'd have preferred for the bourbon vanilla, sandalwood and cognac to be bigger players, but it's still a nice blend although perhaps a bit too heavy on the fruits for me at first. I just need to decide whether I can make it through that initial stage of fruity madness to get to the lovely dried-down stage, and then consider whether this is 'different' enough from other similarly fruity BPALs to make it to the 'keeper' pile. ETA: I had to come back and update this, because after almost 3 hours it's completely changed - the fruits have all vanished, and now I have a beautiful mix of sandalwood with light vanilla and a lovely rich cognac. Unfortunately by this stage it's very faint, so I have to really lean in close to smell it, but it's drop dead gorgeous. I'm still undecided about it overall, because I really can't be waiting 3 hours to get to this point, but I wanted to add to my previous review and make a note of this

It's summer time in this part of the world, and it's hot and sweltering and sticky outside I like wearing That! The Terror From Over There in summer, it's just nice and fresh and cool, and I've also been enjoying The Girl and Vasilissa because they're nice 'pretty' blends. But my all-time favourite summer BPAL is Snake Oil. The hotter it gets, the better it smells.

Thanks for posting that info, jayne. The way I'm seeing this is that Beth & co use components that are 'natural' whenever possible and/or when that component meets their ethical, safety and quality requirements. After nothing but good experiences with them for many years, I don't think I'm being naive in trusting that they will always make the best choices for their customers. Personally, I don't have any skin allergies or other concerns, so I don't need to worry about whether something is 100% natural. What's more important to me is that a product is made with care and expertise and I am more than confident that is the case with all BPAL and BPTP. But my number 1 priority issue with anything I buy is that it absolutely must not be tested on animals - and again, this is something I don't have to worry about with BPAL and BPTP. Everything I know about Beth and her team tells me that they take their work very seriously, and I respect their ethics as much as I do their incredible talent for making beautiful smells.

I'm wondering if you should give Wulric The Wolfman a try.. Friendly, charming, and cuddly, but possessing one hell of a mean streak: cocoa absolute, French vanilla, birch tar, lavender, bourbon vetiver, wild musk, clary sage, and cistus. You can read through several pages of reviews here - I know it doesn't quite match with the description of Gris Clair but Wulric is really a very 'smouldering' scent with a soft side - although the cocoa is a definite feature in the blend, it's not a sweet/sickly type of chocolate note and it's beautifully blended with the darker notes. However the lavender in Wulric is the standout, it has a lovely smokey feel. Wulric is part of the Carnaval Diabolique (CD) collection, which you can see here - he appears in Act III, about half-way down the page. You can't order imps of the CD blends, but you should be able to find a decant on the forum if you search through the sales posts. Wulric may not be quite what you're looking for, but I just have a feeling you might like him

Oh gosh.. this is magnificent! The leather is warm and soft, it absolutely smells like a well-worn saddle. The blood is very subtle, but combined with the woodsmoke it's giving the leather a warm and soft sweetness rather than a harsh hardness. The sage does give it a slight cologne-like edge, but nothing that's really noticeable (not like, say, Severin.. which was very cologne-y on me). This is very evocative of the whole cowboy image, it's dry and dusty but not powdery, and warm and comforting with an edge. Absolutely top class, and it stays on my skin for ages. Overall.. just beautiful, and I'd say an absolute must-have for any leather lovers!

Well poo, poo and poop-e-dy-doo! I added that in with my Lupercalia order.. I hope the back-order situation doesn't cause too much of a delay. I think it suddenly became popular when all the rave reviews started pouring in! Well.. that, and the cute label is hard to resist

Yep, it's black! Very, very black!! Behold the blackness: That's two coats, straight over my natural nails - I didn't have any base coat stuff so this is just straight over the nail. Also no top coat - this photo actually makes it look a little grainy, but that's just camera badness - it's perfectly smooth and even. The polish is thick but not gluggy, and it goes on very easily. Drying time is pretty quick - it was touch dry within about 10 minutes and completely dry within 20. The results are pretty stunning - although it's an opaque/solid colour, it's quite glossy but not in a 'shiny' way - just the right amount of gloss to stop it being a dull black. It wears well too - two days in, and there's no colour loss from the tips and no chipping. And the thing that was worrying me the most, since these are real nails and real nails tend to absorb colour - the polish came off very easily, no problems at all, and didn't leave any staining or discolouration. Pretty outstanding all round really! Finally, the obligatory shot with the bottle.. although it's very hard to see the BPAL branding due to the darkness of the polish.

I was gifted a bar of Snow White soap by a lovely forumite! So this bar has been aging since around December 2007 I guess, since it was a Yule release from that year. Although the soap was still wrapped in its plastic cover inside the beautiful outer paper, I could smell the Snow White fragrance straight away - it's *exactly* the same as the oil. My first thought was to keep this and never use it, because the wrapping is so pretty, but then I thought I should get over that and just use it. So I did! I'm surprised earlier reviewers mentioned a thin lather - I actually got loads of lather from mine, way more than I expected.. which is a good thing, a little of this goes a long way. It's beautifully soft and creamy, and washes off the skin easily. And the fragrance.. well, if you love Snow White then you're going to love this! The smell from the soap stayed on my skin post-shower.. the only potential problem with this could be that it would be kinda wrong to then wear any BPAL other than Snow White.. but that's not a problem as far as I'm concerned A truly beautiful soap, creamy and silky soft, and a beautiful fragrance. I hope this one makes a reappearance with the new BPTP soaps this year!!

I took a risk on this one - cucumber and purple sage didn't really appeal to me but the tonka bean, black coconut, redwood and teak combo did! So I just had to give it a try What a strange little blend.. it is a rickety concoction indeed! The cucumber's actually quite nice here.. it's fresh and light, and gives the whole thing a very clean and crisp feel, and the sage is adding a hint of peppery mint. The redwood and teak are definitely present, and definitely true to form - this isn't a 'brown' wood base like you might get with oak or a darker wood - it's totally a red. I can't really distinguish the coconut and tonka bean separately - I know they're in there, because there's a sweet tone to everything - but on my skin the cucumber and woods are more dominant. The longer it stays on my skin, the nicer it gets - the tonka bean comes out much better after a while and it sweetens up beautifully - even goes a little creamy - very pretty. This is really quite unique, I would never have thought that cucumber and sage would work with the tonka, coconut and woods, but it really does. A very clever blend and quite lovely.

Well this is strange.. not at all what I was expecting! As previous reviews have said, it smells quite strong in the bottle - sweet and creamy and a big waft of ginger. However when it first went on my skin, I could swear it smelt like fizzy orange - not a sweet citrus kind of orange but a deep rich blood orange. Ginger doesn't usually smell like orange, so as I said.. strange! Half an hour in, I'm still getting that blood orange thing but now I can tell that there's ginger involved - a very slight peppery spiciness is coming through the sweetness. It's still quite creamy, which I guess is the musk, but I can't say there's much of a 'scorched' aspect to it though.. maybe a teensy hint of smoke, but I might just be imagining that. This would have been right at home with the Atomic Luau Lounge range of BPALs from a while back. Overall, a very interesting blend - not an instant love but I have a feeling it might age beautifully so I'll hang on to it and see what happens

Annnnnnd.. many thanks to milo for passing it along to me! When I saw the name "Night Parade of 100 Demons" I thought hmm.. what's this going to smell like?!? and I have to say I was expecting something.. well.. demon-like. Instead, this is actually quite pretty! As milo said, it definitely has a vetiver-like, almost dirt-like zing in the vial and when it first hits my skin. But that fades quickly once it starts drying, and then a fresh floral appears. I'm going with a lily-type floral, or perhaps narcissus, I don't think it's jasmine cos I can usually pick that from a mile away, but it could possibly be a jasmine variant that's lighter than 'plain' jasmine, or it could be the mysterious 'night blooming flowers' that appear in other BPAL blends. It definitely has a fresh, green edge to it. Further into the dry-down, the green ripens and sweetens a bit and there is something slightly fruity in there - a citrus kind of fruit, maybe a dash of lime? Perhaps some ginger? I dunno.. this is a tough one to decipher! Half an hour in, the floral has mellowed and that smoky vetiver-ish thing has come back, but now everything's balanced beautifully and it's a lovely warm scent. I can't wait to see what the notes actually are, when this one gets released!

Lolita is the lemoniest lemon pie-ish lemon GC BPAL that I can think of. Is lemoniest even a word?

That's so disappointing! I've been putting off getting a bottle of Black Phoenix and I, too am (was?) expecting the different label. I'm interested to know the answer to this one too.. my bottle has the orange label with black phoenix, if I remember correctly it was purchased early 2008.

First up, big love goes to the very special person who sent me this as a surprise in a swap package! Thank you, Sue Alright.. so this is, as expected, completely decadent. It's a true dark chocolate - rich and creamy. The cocoa is very much like Candy Butcher, and (as mentioned in a previous review) Boomslang, but where both of those blends have other notes this seems to be 99% chocolate - I do detect a hint of vanilla and spices in there, which gives it a slightly liqueur-like feel. Deep, rich and ridiculously delicious. I wish I still had my decant of Orange now, so that I could layer the two together as originally intended, but alas I do not. So I shall enjoy this all on its own.. which is not a bad thing!