sunshinedaisybliss

This is a surprise winner.. my relationship with rose is not a happy one, but here the rose stays softly in the background - blended beautifully with the musks. I've never come across grey amber before, but I can pick up the amber note in here and it's cooler than usual so I guess that's the grey variety. The lavender never really pops for me in this one - it's there, but not very well developed. The standout notes are the carnation and vanilla bean which together put a warm, heady, and slightly spicy glow everywhere. For me, Under The Harvest Moon reminds me of those lovely creamy skin scents in recent Shunga lines - it's that same kind of not-quite-floral blend but with a much warmer and golden edge. Very pretty.

This smells exactly like when I stick my face into my cat's floofy tummy.. all warm and clean and snuggly sweet. I never really get 'aftershave' out of this, but it is slightly soapy. The sweet edge actually does remind me of candy wrappers - the waxy kind, they always retain just the subtlest smell of the candy they once held. I'm also really happy with the brimstone in this - it's staying in the background, adding just a little smokiness but more a musky kind. Yup.. floofy cat belly It's really quite nice, and I think it would work very well on a man - it's semi-powdery but not in a bad way. It's not what I think Hellboy would smell like though.

Thank you so much to damonkitty for sending me a sample of this one! Wow. Just.. WOW. This is one of those sprays that pervades your room in a dark and menacing way - a couple of spritzes is more than enough to instantly fill the space with atmosphere. When it first hits the air, I'm reminded me of a dark and slightly damp wine cellar... the shiraz smell is up front, and it's stunning. It is absolutely spot-on to the wine itself.. shiraz is something we make particularly well here in Australia - our blends are rich and sumptuous with nuances including plum, blackberry, pepper, licorice and chocolate, depending on the origin of the grapes. All those things are in Thriambus, and it's just gorgeous. When the clove and tobacco notes chime in, the combination is sublime - totally decadent and rich. The tobacco is particularly nice in here - it's golden and smooth, with no sharp/sour top end like tobacco can sometimes give. I don't notice the rubber until about 10 minutes in - but it's there, and I think the latex and vinyl are just all part of the same illusion.. it's nothing specific, just a kind of rubbery smell in the background. Quite a masterpiece, and I'm so glad I've been able to try it. As others have already said, I wish this were more widely available - it's a shame more people won't get to try it.. and I'd definitely buy a big bottle of it. Ah well.. I'll definitely enjoy what I've got

In the bottle, this is bright orange candy citrus smell - quite deep and lush. When it first hits my skin, it's the same - a really bright orange, but not natural orange like the actual fruit smells - this has a slight 'fake' smell to it.. it's just *too* orange. Things quickly change.. Now some other citrus notes are coming out. There's more to the orange - it's lost that artificial feel and become a more 'true' orange.. far more deep. More like a tangello, perhaps. I'm getting some lemon now too, and yeah - probably grapefruit although the blend of citrus in here is a little too well blended.. it's hard to pick individual fruit notes - and it's become more sweet.. everything is softening up nicely. About 10 minutes in, the fizz starts to appear. This is more than the kind of tart fizz that grapefruit usually creates.. it has an alcoholic smell to it - I'm calling champagne (or a dry white wine, perhaps) on this one. My skin does not like champagne, not at all.. on me, it becomes a nasty sour thing that with a sharp and acrid edge. And of course, out it comes to override all that lovely citrus I had before. Had the champagne not come out, I would have loved this.

I must preface this review by saying that I have been spoilt with a plethora of BPAL leather blends lately, due to my current obsession of finding "the one". So far, Spanked is my all-time fave but due to its impossible-to-find-without-winning-the-lottery status, Crowley is my #1 and (for me) is going to be very hard to knock down from that position. I like my leather blends complex, hot, throbbing, pulsing and menacing. Whilst I enjoy the softness of leathers like Sacrifice and NGG023, I prefer my BPAL leathers to have some oomph. Bearing all that in mind, Rivet.Goth comes in to the race with high expectations behind him. The leather is very nice - but it's like new leather (ever bought a brand new leather jacket?) - very fresh and clean. The tobacco absolute note is lovely - it was quite sweet at first, but when fully dried down it changed into a nice golden bitterness. The musk, sadly, is more sweet than 'gritty' for me - I was hoping for a darker musk in this one. And machine oil.. hmm.. can't say I'm really picking that up, although there is a slight air de mechanic shop around everything in this. So.. to me, this is the scent of the little guy on the bottle. The wanna-be tough goth, who's got a new leather coat that he keeps shiny and clean and is really not the tough guy people think he is*. Rivet.Goth is just not enough of a standout from other similar blends to really make me take notice. It's nice though, don't get me wrong, but just.. kinda weak. Lacking in grunt. Pretty boy leather *with no offence meant to anyone who is into this style of goth-dom!

Land of the Lost?? hehe.. yeah.. and there's also this:

Hmm.. interesting to see the different reviews on this one so far! My impressions are similar to Midnight Aeval's - a soft and sugary lime (not POW kind of lime, and not a super citrus-y lime like the one in Scurvy) - it's more on the creamy side than the citrus side. There's something else going on in here.. it's almost like pepper, perhaps pink or white pepper, something in the background is adding a bit of kick (making my nose tickle) and there's also a slight bitterness somewhere. And I agree there's probably a musk of some sort in here - not white musk, but not a dark musk either - a nice soft musk. Once it dries right down, the lime-ness does fade a little but it stays true - the overall smell reminds me of the juice drinks I buy sometimes when I ask for all the green things in together - I get a mix of lime, grapes, kiwi fruit, apples, pears and honeydew melon. That's kind of what this smells like - mushed up green fruits with a citrus edge, mainly melon and lime. Quite fresh and pretty, I'd recommend it for anyone who loves things like Scurvy, or the quirky fruity blends like Twinkle Twinkle Little Bat and Schrodinger's Cat or 'Tis The Voice Of The Lobster - it's in that same vein, an eccentric fruit

What a weird combination! I'm guessing lime and lavender, with something VERY ozone/aquatic that's creating the metallic edge. This is kinda irritating my nose - not in a sneezy way, just in an irritating way - it's not a smell I'm enjoying. Very clean and fresh, maybe even slightly fizzy, but for me.. it smells like walking through the men's perfume area at the department store. You know how that smells.. the mix of all those Calvin Klein and Hugo Boss and Armani type colognes. These kinds of BPALs just don't work on my skin, nor are they the kind of fragrance I like. So nope, not for me - I'll stick to using tin foil in the kitchen only.

Wow.. this one smells exactly like a walk in Australian bushland! I was immediately reminded of how damp ground smells - damp ground that's covered in various types of wood and leaves. There's a lovely sweet top note which is probably something to do with the floral aspects of the notes (there's something almost violet-ish in here), but my overall impression is definitely more influenced by the woods and pine. It never turns medicinal or herb-y, and once it's completely dry (which took a while!) everything blends beautifully. It's not really 'floral' in the way we usually talk about floral in relation to BPAL, but it's not really 'green' either. For those of you who have never walked through Australian bushland.. slather this on, and you'll be there (in your nose, at least ).

Well.. this is the strangest thing! All I'm getting here is soap.. like a rich and heady version of baby shampoo smell. No smoke, no wood! Where's the soap coming from? I really don't know.. but somehow these notes are combining on my skin to produce something that smells a little like sweet tree sap. Sweet tree sap that smells like baby shampoo, that is. Sadly, not a keeper for me, it's not unpleasant or anything - it's just... soap

Ceremonial incense, pipe tobacco, temple roses, and shittim wood. Every now and then a rose blend comes along where the rose doesn't amp on my skin, or smell like an old lady's wardrobe, cheap potpourri or handwash. And when that happens, I rejoice. REJOICE. Illuminati Cotillion is one of those blends! YAY very much!! At the start, this seems spicy and dark but it lightens up a little when the pipe tobacco starts to warm in. The incense isn't any specific 'incense' type, more just a general incense-y feel.. dark and resinous, mysterious and moody. Even though I keep reading it as shittin wood instead of shittim wood.. this is a note I'd love to see more of - it's a lovely soft smell with a warm, foggy fragrance that adds a touch of sweetness here - a perfect partner for the incense. And 'temple roses' - well, I don't remember seeing those in a BPAL before but this is a well-behaved rose that isn't amping or overriding everything else.. it does come out more strongly at about the 30-minute mark but it never spoils the lovely incense smells. If you like dark resinous blends, you should definitely give this a try. Whilst it has elements in common with other incense-y BPALs (in particular, it reminds me a little of Lucy, Kissed), the combination of notes in this one is quite unique.

This started off quite nicely, however it ultimately ended up being nothing but rose on my skin. Where's the orange water? Not there! BOO! Where's the benzoin? Not there! BOO! And musk? What musk? BOO! All I can smell is rose! It's a pretty rose and all, but.. rose! This is the story of rose and I. We cannot be friends.

This is one of those fluffy, silly, poofy, sugary things that Beth does so well.. but this one has the lemongrass as a point of difference, as in, this isn't a typical 'white' or 'pink' sugar/fluff thing. The lemongrass is very strong though, it's not a soft and gentle lemon, it's a POW kind of lemon. So actually, it's not really very fluffy, silly or poofy at all. There is a slight chemical overtone to it, unfortunately for me it's becoming a bit nail-polish remover-ish on my skin. Ah yes, that would be the white musk and/or white amber. 'White' anything is generally not my friend. If you were looking for a lemon-y version of Marshmallow Poof, Velvet Unicorn, Chewing Little Bits of String etc.. this isn't it. For me, it's sharp rather than sweet, and just not my thing - but I think that it would be lovely on the right skin, that being one which can handle the 'white' elements and the sharp chemical tang.

Ick.. I knew this one wouldn't work for me, and I was right. Too much going on - the muguet is particularly strong and the orris is also very present, and the white sandalwood is just confusing everything. The dusty vanilla is of a sweet variety, which is quite nice, but it's lost amongst all the other things. The end result for me is a smell not unlike walking into someone's bathroom after they've just filled the air with a huge amount of cheap hairspray and spray-on deodorant. Maybe a bit of fly spray, too. Oh yeah - Nomie got it - this is very much like Lush's American Cream (which also smells like fly spray on me).

I love this. I hate this. This smells awesome. This stinks really bad. I love this. Pesky superintelligent shapeshifters - they're always such a pain in the ass. Reptoid Dominion won't stay still long enough for me to decide whether I like it. The musk is really feral and animalistic, but it also has a slithery smooth side to it and there's definitely something green in here. Not like grass, and not like forest, more like the kind of fresh green you'd find in green disinfectant liquid. Which, strangely enough, smells pretty good in this. Can't say I'm really picking up any vetiver (which usually announces itself most adamantly on my skin by turning into either poopy dirt or death stench). Oh wait.. maybe it *is* there, it's just lurking quietly. If it's not vetiver, then it's black musk or patchouli or.. you know.. someone from the black/brown family of notes. There's also something almost-minty-but-not-really-minty in here, when I take a big whiff, it's almost got a menthol vibe to it, but not quite. It's really sweetening up more as it dries - the musk isn't quite as dirty any more, and the green is also sweetening up. Actually, I think I might love this - it's slinky and smart and scary, all at the same time. It's like how David Duchovny was hot in the X-Files, but much more so in Californication. Reptoid Dominion is something Hank Moody would wear.

Hmm.. what a funny little blend this one is! When wet, the mint is lovely and soft - I'd say it's spearmint, rather than peppermint or 'regular' mint. There's also something softly sweet behind there which has a wood feel to it.. I'm picking teakwood, because I can definitely see the comparison with Glowing Vulva. Actually, at this early stage I'm finding PX79 reminds me very much of Glowing Vulva but with a soft mint instead of the cream and lotus. As it dries, the mint softens up more and fades nicely so that it's not strong at all. A musky/resinous thing starts to appear - frankincense, maybe? At this point, it's turning a little 'green' - fresh and foresty. In the end, I'm left with a beautiful soft and icy spearmint with a slight sweetness. I do think there's a wood note in here, perhaps it's cedar rather than teak.. not sure. And the powdery softness is definitely something like frankincense or sandalwood or amber. I'm really not picking up any leather in here - it may be there, but it's not something that's jumping out at me so I probably wouldn't have considered it had I not read the other reviews. This is really quite lovely - quite feminine and very refreshing, one of those scents that stays close to the skin but it does have a decent throw.

Wow - this is something a bit different from BPAL land! It's a lovely cool, refreshing blend.. I think it would be fantastic for anyone who has sinus or allergy issues, or headaches, as it has a very soothing and 'cleaning' quality to it.. like taking in a huge breath of clean fresh air in the middle of a snow-capped forest. The mint and eucalyptus aren't sharp at all - together they're very cool and soft, like BPAL's snow notes but with a herbal edge. I had to look up elemi (a resin typically used in varnish and inks) and ravintsara (a camphoraceous oil used for headache/sinus relief) - now that I know what they are, then yep.. I can pick them out in here. I guess it's the ravintsara (combined with eucalyptus and mint) that made me think of this as a nose clearer! And apparently elemi can have a sharp, medicinal smell, but I'm not getting anything like that from Volt. Oh.. and the lime! It's there, and it's lovely. It's not sweet (like the recent Dark Choc & Lime Truffle kind of lime), it's more a genuine lime with a little bit of tartness to it. The leather? What leather?!? I really am not picking up very much leather at all in here as a smell, but there is a sort of leathery softness to the overall effect on my skin so for me it's more a texture than a smell. I think this will surprise a lot of people, it really is quite lovely and not at all the sharp/medicinal thing that I was half-expecting (due to the eucalyptus and mint). I can imagine slathering this on a hot summer's day, it's wonderfully refreshing and airy. And as I mentioned earlier, anyone who has headache/sinus/allergy problems should definitely give this one a try!

This really is an interesting blend, it changes quite a bit in its first 10 minutes on my skin. At first, it's all peach - soft and sweet, and very pretty. A split second later, the coconut kicks in - this is the creamy sort of coconut that announces itself quite loudly at first and then settles down and takes a background role. The blackcurrant is very faint - present, but faint. So for the first few minutes, I get a peach/coconut soft sweetness with a slight hint of black currant. Then the orchid appears, and some of the darkness from the vetiver and oude starts to come out and it goes a little smoky. On my skin, these darker notes do not take over from the softness of the peach and coconut - they just balance it out a bit, smoothing down some of the sweetness. I think I can pick up the amber and myrrh, but if they weren't actually listed notes then I possibly wouldn't have recognised them. I'm not finding any champaca at all. 20 minutes later, I can't be sure whether the vanilla ever arrived - the coconut is overriding everything else, to the point where really all I'm getting here is coconut. The peach is still there, but it's behind the coconut. As usual, my skin is making the black currant note smell a bit like cat pee but I only notice it if I take a really big whiff up close to my skin. An hour later, it's quite faint - mostly just coconut now, with a hint of peach. There's a lot going on in here, but my final verdict is that whilst this is very nice.. the dominance of the coconut is a bit too much. Had that not been the case I think this would have been a lovely blend so BOO to you, coconut!

This one reminds me of Boo, but with marshmallow instead of cotton.. it seems to have the same lovely cream note. The vanilla is sweet and sugary, with a slight fizzy feel but the sarsparilla isn't ginger-y like it is in things like Stimulating Sassafras.. mostly, this is all marshmallowy vanilla sweetness with just a hint of fizz. ASL doesn't have the depth and richness of Antique Lace and XCDL13, but it's definitely in the same family of scents. Anyone who loves their vanilla straight-up sweet is going to love this one

Yes, sharp and boozy at first - almost to the point where it seemed to be clashing with itself, the laudanum and tobacco are bright and raw. So about 20 minutes passed, and I smell it again. A total change! Now it's developed a lovely warm sweetness that does remind of of warm skin after body contact. Like the way someone's nape of the neck smells when you snuggle up to them while they're sleeping. It is fading quickly - staying very close to my skin, but getting softer. The booze note stays sweet without ever developing a 'booze' type smell, and the tobacco has mellowed out beautifully. This is the sort of scent that would be lovely in a bath oil or soap, it's so warm and soft and evocative.

Thank you to Invidiana for sending me a teensy bit of this to try! I'm not really getting the salt, but I definitely do get the wet/green aspect. I think this might be what an old abandoned island may smell like - fresh air, green undergrowth and dappled sunlight, and a hint of damp mystery. I think there's also something 'gold' in here - it's not a powdery or dusty gold, but a bright shiny gold like a bright yellow flower. Not really picking up anything dirt-like. The fresh green is strong at first, but it softens up quickly on the drydown. About 20 minutes in, and it's really clean and fresh and organic smelling. What a lovely blend, I don't recall smelling any other BPALs like this before. It's classy and understated, but alive and vibrant.

Holy moly - the black monster isn't on the umbrella - it's in this bottle, and his name is vetiver. Actually, that's Mr. Vetiver to you. Mr. Stinky Dark Black Evil Vetiver, to be precise. At first I was worried I might have popped a sniffer vessel from the shock of VETIVER blasting off my skin. For about 10 minutes, that's all I could smell.. but it did get less and less overwhelming as each minute went by. Finally, at around 15 minutes, I can start to smell some other things in there. Hey, hello coconut! Blackcurrant, nice of you to show up. Tonka bean, my dear friend, come out.. it's safe. Alright - now we're getting somewhere.. this is turning into something interesting. Fiiiiiinally.. it's safe to sniff my arm again. Err.. WOW.. this is gorgeous. It's gone all creamy soft and sexy, the mix of tonka bean and coconut is sublime - sweet without being sickly, tropical without being tanning lotion. The vetiver's still there, lurking around, but it's not offensive now - it's all smoky and subdued, which may be due to the sandalwood in the mix. Can't say I'm really noticing the blackcurrant.. actually, there's something almost lime-like coming through - lime? Yeah, lime. And the exotic velvety oud has stepped out from behind the curtain - this is such a gorgeous note, I'd love to see it in more BPALs. I'm very glad I only put a teensy dab on for testing, cos this stuff is potent, loads of throw and once that first drydown stage is complete, it doesn't fade much. PS yewberry - mine says "FUWA" too

BIG to ifinena for sending me a tester of this rare beauty! I see she's been generous to many others in this thread, what a lovely fairy she is Wow.. just.. wow. I wish I had been around back in the day when this came out, because it really is drop-dead gorgeous and I would have bought several bottles of it. It has a deep, incense-y feel to it, very mysterious and sexy. The dark musk is the most prominent note for me, it's above all the others with the black rose just flirting around behind it. The clove isn't very strong - it's there, but it's more a sweet clove than the usual hot/spicy type we get in our BPALs. And the cognac.. well.. as expected, it's smutting up the place with its gorgeous warm velvet touch. This is such a perfect combination of notes, everything is beautifully blended and the end result is just gorgeous. I shall treasure these few drops that I have!

First up.. huge to the lovely ifinena who gifted a tester of this to me! I've been wanting to try this for ages, but I didn't really think it was going to be something I'd like - the mention of metallics, mountain air, ozone and electric light had me thinking it would be one of those strange metallic/ozone blends that my skin turns into a stinky mess. However.. those notes are very much a background to the gorgeous cherry blossom and orchid - I could swear there's grapefruit in here, but not the sour kind - a lovely sweet pink kind. The bamboo comes out more when it's fully dry, and together with the fruits and florals it creates a lovely dry and airy mix. I've never been to Tokyo, but this blend does bring to mind the flashy neon and chaotic vibe of that city - it's bright and shiny whilst somehow still managing to be soft, quiet and fresh. Very, very nice.

I ignored this one completely, until I started reading reviews and thought I should give it a try. And I'm just so glad I did! It's pretty rare that I get a new BPAL and swoon.. but that's exactly what I did with this one. Sweet, sexy sandalwood and vanilla with a slight citrus-y undertone and the beautiful softness of amber. This is one of those wistful skin scents that still packs a punch despite its delicate touch. There is a slight baby shampoo/soap aspect when sniffed up close, as others have mentioned, but that isn't noticeable at arm's length. Unfortunately it dries down into a subdued version of itself - it goes a little powdery, the sandalwood becomes quite dominant and the vanilla disappears, which is a shame because all the notes together were so beautifully rich and full when freshly applied. I'm not sure I will wear this a lot though.. as lovely as it is, it's just not "me". But it really is quite a gorgeous fragrance.