Belladonnastrap

Pulled from a stack of recipes I keep in a folder called “Things I Will Never Be Skilled Enough to Bake.”

A radiant inferno of blood orange, sheer amber, tangerine, clove husk, red cedarwood, and red myrrh bursting against jagged peaks of black pine, fir needle, and snow-white musk.

Hay, white peach, opalescent musk, orris root, pink carnation, osmanthus, and rooibos.

Indigo blossom, tobacco absolute, oakmoss, cypress bark, black vegetal musk, and candied blackberry.

Gingerbread, pumpkin pulp, Arkansas black apple pulp, rosemary, and lemon peel.

Mountains of ice jutting through an iridescent pool of peach musk, fir needle, immortelle, white moss, crystalline turquoise musk, juniper sap, apricot rind, fleur de sel, white rose, misty orris root, and white amber.

Gingerbread, dark chocolate, cinnamon, and star anise.

Amber, cream accord, white honey, apple blossom, skin musk, caramel, and teak. I feel like Mario from the Super Mario Brothers video games series reviewing this lol. "It's-a me! Belladonnastrap!" Anyway I'm so so thankful to Beth and the Lab for letting me take part in this amazing series. I love you guys! I'm not worthy! First Sniff Like Red Lantern and O got together and did nasty, dirty, NAUGHTY things in the backroom of a honey hive. I keep reading that this smells like one of the Shunga scents (which I never smelled so I can't attest to that) but I suppose it makes sense considering in the picture a guy has been killed right after coitus. My skin chemistry rarely amps caramel until much much later but I do get the lovely skin musk note in O that makes me go "Oooooooooh." I can't smell any apple on me which is odd because next to skin musk and amber, apple is the one note that you can smell on me miles away. It's somewhat foody but yet not. I'm a big fan of gourmand scents that don't leave one smelling like a bakery and this delivers. It's a very sensual smell. Go me! Wet Ah-HA! There is the caramel and apple. Pretty much the same as first sniff but wet the more subtle nuances come out. Make no mistake this IS somewhat foody but it's upscale. The apple prevents the whole scent from becoming just O or Red Lantern 2.0 by giving it a bit of tart and tang to it. No cream accord yet but if it's anything like Loves Philosophy it'll take a couple of hours for the cream to kick in on me. I do want to talk about the honey note though. It doesn't smell like any honey I'm accustomed to. It is honey, make no mistake about that but it's a light almost fruity honey. Drydown BRB HUMPING ARM. No seriously, this is delicious. All the elements mellow into this rich, heady scent that is pretty subtle until you get close and then BAM! All the elements smack you in the face with deliciousness. The cream really comes out to play on the drydown of this , you'd think it would bump it over to ZOMGSWEET catagory but really it enhances everything else. Up to this point I got no teak whatsoever. Zilch, nada. Now I get the teak and wow, it completely elevates the perfume into something else. It's a dark gourmand scent. I suppose I'm a bit biased but I think the perfume perfectly captures the scene and mood of the painting. There's that deep decadent er...sexual aspect of it but there's a definite tang to it. The staying power is pretty darn long, I put it on around 8:00am before I left for work and I (and my co-workers, this ish has some major throw whoa!) could smell it around 2:00pm. It was even remarked that around my desk it smelled like sex, so a word of caution with that Aftermath PLS BE TO BUYING ME KTHXBYE. Let me stop, no this is an amazing scent. I'm thrilled that I was able to be a part of this and I'm ecstatic that I smell so GOOD. Beth always amazes me with her creations but I think with the Carnaval she has completely and utterly outdone herself. If you're a fan of O, Red Lantern and to a lesser degree Honey Moon & Loves Philosophy do give this scent a try. I proudly give this my stamp of approval...which is good since I'm the cover girl

Gingerbread, honey, molasses, pulverized chestnut, powdered sugar, nutmeg, and hazelnut.

Gingerbread wrapped in bourbon vanilla, white sandalwood, and marshmallow butter.

With an extra shot of espresso to get you through the rest of 2020.

Erupting with pomegranate jelly with a touch of cranberry and red currant.

Smoky grey amber, frost-black oak, snow-covered soil, Tuscan iris, storm-grey musk, fenugreek, linden blossom, and benzoin.

Gingerbread, vanilla bean, peppermint, and milk chocolate chips.

With brown sugar, nutmeg, and walnuts.

Blue lilac, winter narcissus, snowdrop petals, ambergris accord, white musk, ambrette seed, and wisteria.

She was sprawled, awkwardly, beneath the hazel tree, and she gazed up at Tristran with a scowl of complete unfriendliness. She hefted another clod of mud at him, menacingly, but did not throw it. Her eyes were red and raw. Her hair was so fair it was almost white, her dress was of blue silk which shimmered in the candlelight. She glittered as she sat there. The high, crystalline scent of a star-filled night with blue lavender and lush magnolia. The first Neil Gaiman book I ever read was Stardust. I was at Gen Con & my ex boyfriend was in one of the game rooms playing Bob, Overlord of Evil. I decided to go sit outside and read this book called Stardust that was written by the guy who wrote Sandman. I liked Sandman so I figured the book would be pretty cool. I sat for about...maybe 5 hours in the bright Wisconsin sun, enthralled. I had always liked fairy tales and this was a fairy tale..but done with bite. There was humor and lust and laughter and creepiness. It was about two people who fell in love almost accidently and it quickly became my favourite book of all time So imagine my shout of joy when I found out that there were gonna be BPAL scents based on it! First sniff: Effervescent with bite. The lavender isn't really prominent on me (unlike say Oneiroi) and I can barely smell the magnolia. Its a very cool sort of scent, very fitting. Wet Awful sweet now and it reminds me a lot of Urania (hah!). I was really worried Yvaine would turn into a floral sort of mess but it's very very subtle yet sweet with a sharp tang to it. Drydown Maybe it's me, maybe it's this heat but Yvaine completely disappears on me in strongness...yet if I turn my head I get faint wisps of it. It's not a balls in your face scent (well in the beginning it is. Fitting again since Yvaine pretty much gets all up in your grill) but very subtle and fleeting and..twilightish. Completely and utterly on the ball. Buy if if you're a fan of Moon Rose, The Unicorn, Urania and all the lovely twilight ethereal scents Beth does.

"Am I awake? Have I my senses?" said he to himself. "What is this being? Beautiful shall I call her, or inexpressibly terrible?" A scent inspired by Beatrice, Rappaccini's delicate, beautiful, innocent and deadly daughter. A fragile, winsome, poisonous blend of rare, precious and graceful flowers, rich blossoms and spicy perfumes that passes heavily, as a broken heart, across the borders of Time. I've never read the story "Rappaccini's Daughter" (in fact I had never HEARD of it before, shame on me ) before this scent was released so I quickly read it before I tried the perfume so I'd have something to go on. First Sniff: Deep deep roses and spice that make my nostrils flare and my head swim. It's not an unpleasant rose mind you, I do enjoy it but there's more. I detect a hint of vanilla like the one in Antique Lace and Bearded Lady as well as a bit of lily. It's quite lovely. Wet: Ohhhhhh. It's like Antique Lace, Psyche and Shroud got together and had a deadly beautiful daughter. Whatever these "spices" are really come out on my skin. Also I'm not sure if there's any in the recipe but I detect some Lavender as well. Very peculiar, it lends a bit of innocence to the oil. Drydown: I'm getting the same drydown I got with Ligeia actually...mixed with the Shroud & Psyche drydown. There's a very well balanced mishmosh of flowers in this scent and just when I think I got a bead down it changes. Like right now I smell Jasmine. Weird. Aftermath: Beatrice and I need to get to know each other better. I'd stay away from this if you hates the florals (because it is VERY very floral) but if you can stand them but want a bit more "oomph" try this. I'm also hoping I'll have no small purple marks on my wrist when this is done

Bright, intoxicating, hectic notes masking a twisted, corrupted core: sweet wild berry, spicy carnation and heliotrope layered over deep amber and musk. Initial thoughts: Definitely a bright scent! I can smell the musk and berry more then anyting. It reminds me a lot of Cirque du Soliel...playful and yet you can sense that there's more. It seems very much a deep scent if that makes any sense. After wearing it: So far the strongest scent as in it's stayed on me for over 10 hours without losing any of its potency whatsoever. The amber in this is very strong on me and reminds me a bit of Victoria's Secret Amber Romance but not as flowery. I'd classify this as a very warm scent with just a bit of sweetness. If it had a look it would be Butter Pecan ice cream. I can't really smell any of the berry though. I love this though...recommended if you like warm scents and especially if you adore amber.

The name translates to "The beautiful woman without mercy", and is the title of an old French court poem that was later revamped by John Keats. A bewitching seductive scene, rife with mystery and foreboding. Inital thoughts: POWER. Rich and heady. It smells like what I'd imagine Mata Hari (a famous exotic dancer who was accused by the French for spying for the Germans during WWI) would wear. Definitely strong...the scent lingers even after I've shut the bottle. It's a confident smell. I can't make out what exactly is in it...I think maybe cloves. It sort of smells like freshner. Doubt I'll be keeping it which is a shame I wanted to like it! After wearing it: It smells like cinnamon roses. The strongness definitely wears off after a couple of mintues (maybe 15) and the scent of roses kicks in. Even later then that it smells cinnamon with a hint of roseyness. I still stand by the fact that its a confident smell but more feminine. As in "I'm a lady who is beautiful and elegant but I'm not afraid to kick your ass if need be." Still not sure if I'm keeping it though.

HOD Glory and Majesty, Kokab, God's Judgement. On further information I found the following: First Sniff: It smells like a milkier version of O! Wet: *thud* Amber, Rose and Honey. There's a wee bit of almond in there as well which makes me hesitate because even though I adore the smell of almond it has an absolutely HORRID reaction to my skin. Nothing bad though but there *is* a slight tingle so I'm pretty sure there's some almond in this. Drydown: Imagine O and Le Petit Mort getting together and producing offspring. That would be Hod. The almond has mellowed down into almost the barest whiff (thank the GODS that means I can wear this) but the amber and honey are still hanging in. This also reminds me a bit of Dana O'Shee as well, it has that lovely milkiness. Staying power: Holy cow Hod LASTS. 4 hours later and it's just as sweet and amberrosehoney smelling as it was when I first put it on. It's also lasted through 3 rounds of washing dishes, 2 handwashes and a healthy dosage of bleach since I cleaned up earlier. All in all it's a wonderful scent and fans of Dana O'Shee, Alice, O, Le Petit Mort & others like it should definitely seek it out! It's like the bastard child of all of those. Gonna have to save the pennies for a big one of this. (Edited to add staying power)