Belladonnastrap

First Sniff: Vanilla memory. I get a whiff of powder but its just gentle sweet vanilla, like old lace that if you touch it too much it will crumble. Wet: Newborn vanilla baby. Sweet, gentle vanilla with a hit of sadness. It's not a loud, abrasive vanilla a la Bath & Body Works but more calming and soothing. Barely there. Dry: More of the vanilla but it has a light powder haze over it, that just...I can't really explain it but the scent is sepia colored. The vanilla has turned creamy however Aftermath: ...I NEED a bottle of this. In the worst way. I'm so sad I missed out a chance to buy one

What I do Sarada is I dump everything I want into the CCNow cart, let it add up everything and then I just copy and paste that into the paypal note window. Much easier then remembering if I added that wayward bottle of Venice!

First Sniff: Flowery and fresh and spring. Is that honeysuckle? Jasmine...Beltane definitely smells like what its namesake would be. Wet: Ooooooooooooo. The flowers are a bit strong on first application but they smell divine. It instantly cheered me up. Dry: The overpowering flowers are gone! It's a wonderful sparkling greenish white flower that reminds me of a secret garden of sorts. Pretty good staying power as well, it's lasted through 3 dishwashings. Aftermath: Another oil that perfectly captures a sabbat! A WINNAR IS BELTANE.

First Sniff: Clean. It smells like the bathroom after I've taken a long shower with Neutrogena Rain Bath. Being as I luuuuurve Neutrogena Rain Bath this is a good thing. It's very herbyrainclean smelling. Which seems odd considering its a perfume named after a portent of death but whatever Wet: Fresh green herbs and rain. Damn. This is awesome. *sniff sniff* Mmm. Dry: Ugh. It's gone generic perfumey on me and it's giving me a headache. Aftermath: Ides of March starts out SOOO nice but by the end it gives me a headache so bye bye it goes

First Sniff: Oh my. Woodsy and rich and...aquatic? Could Hexennacht be the water drenched forest scent I have been clamoring for?! Wet: *blinks* Pine. Cedar. OCEAN. Holy shit, it IS the water drenched ocean forest scent I've been waiting for. Gah! Dry: The pine overpowers everything and that whiff of ocean air is gone However it's replaced by something smoky and intangible. Think of a more woodsy Samhain Aftermath: The staying power of Hexxennacht is for lack of a better word insane. It's going strong after washing the dishes AND cooking dinner (Tandori Chicken mmm). This pushes it into keeper territory. If you like scents like Belladonna, Black Forest and Noctinsa you should hunt down and try Hexxennacht.

First Sniff: Dirt. It reminds me of Nosferatu just minus the yummy wine that makes that scent turn into sex on me. It (Graveyard Dirt I mean) smells a lot like a greenhouse. Wet: I smell like I've been playing around in the dirt. Pure dirt and it's actually sort of making my stomach turn Wait. WTF? It just turned yummy cedar on me?! Gah! Dry: Cedar? OMG. What on earth have you done Beth? Have you made me lust after DIRT!? Okay so...I was all ready to sell this off but Graveyard Dirt turned into this lovely green earthy scent that doesn't smell quite so much of wet soil as it does of soil and..cedar. Yum. Aftermath: The staying power on me of this is bad. The scent fades away really quickly. HOWEVER the wonderful drydown and the fact that it smells like hot sex when layered with Hamadryad make Graveyard Dirt a keeper

First Sniff: Oh. Lavender. Pure lavender. Running through a field of Lavender with my hair billowing out behind me and the sky is a beautiful shade of pink grey. Wet: Lavender, Lemon and what I can only describe as oomph. It's a scent to wear when your mind is going a million miles per hour and you need to step back and recharge. Just sniffing it makes me calm down and step back a moment. Dry: It fades into a lavenderrosememory. I slathered this on and within 10 mintues I was feeling sleepy and as I laid down in bed when my mind would start whirring I'd catch a brief sniff and it'd calm down again. THe perfume ALMOST fades into obscurity but just when your mind wants to get overactive it rears its lovely head to calm you down. Aftermath: A WINNER. All of the Panacea blends are perfect and Quietude is amazing. If you find your mind gets too chaotic and filled with "What ifs" do yourself a favour and buy this. It will help immensely. My bottle is going to get a huge workout.

First Sniff: Dark, mysterious, sweet and earthy. Smells like Narcissus and ...moss? Something like that. Wet: Oh my. It's like Virgo's older brother who is brooding, dark and really fucking hot. I've always had this fascination with Hades and as I've gotten older it's gotten stronger...probably a combination of me embracing the "darker" aspects of my nature and a certain romance novel I keep rereading Dry: I love this. Most of BPAL's "masculine" scents I tend to avoid (excluding the suits) but Hades I adore. Absolutely adore. This has mellowed down into a lovely dark floral with a hint of masculinity, I very well imagine Hades himself smells like this. Earthy and...pure. A scent that may not get your attention at the first go but later on just becomes more and more noticable until you cannot ignore it. Wonderful. Aftermath: I ADORE this. If you haven't tried Virgo try and get an imp of Hades....it's the darker and wiser version of it. Outstanding, amazing and I'm so very glad I have a 5ml of it.

Howdy ya'll. This scent smells like the saddle of a horse after it's been worked to death on a ranch. That pure scent of pure leather with a bit o rawhide and something that screams OLD WEST. John Wayne should have smelled like this. Basically take an old leather shoe. Sniff it. That's Dead Man's Hand. Amazingly true to life. Whereas it's not really great smelling on me, I'd imagine it would smell FAB on a guy. Rawr.

Have any of you been to any of the Disney parks? You know when you're walking down Main Street U.S.A. and all those wonderful candy smells meld together and assault your nose? You get the urge for cotton candy, salt water taffy, popcorn and jumbo lollipops. Add a dose of fresh ocean air and you have what Midway smells like. My grandmother remarked that it smelled like Coney Island back in its glory days. I can definitely forsee massive amounts of this being sold, it's perfect for the summer months. I know I'll be buying at least 2 bottles.

*sniff* First Sniff It smells like Andes mints! And something a bit darker. Hmmm. Wet Mint mint mint mint mint. I get no coconut, nothing else but pure mint. Imagine Spooky doused with the power of an entire mint factory. That's Eleggua. Drydown WTF? NOO~! This has turned into burnt plastic on me! NOOOOO! It now smells like my kitchen does after I've depoted eyeshadows Aftermath I wanted to love you. I did. But you failed me Eleugga and now you go up for sale

First Sniff Oooh! Dammit I've smelled this before but I can't remember where. It smells like spices and tea, a wonderfully poigant mixture. It makes me think of far off lands and places. Wet This might be the first scent that smells the same on me as it does in the vial. Odd. There's some sweetness here but I ...OH! I know what this smells like now! The old dorm room of a friend from college He was a huge pothead and I'd go over to his room to watch anime and see him stoned out of his mind. Silk Road smells like that ahahahaha. That sort of warm languidy smell. Drydown Still headshop, but more incense comes out then anything and that for me is a huge letdown as I HATE incense smells Aftermath Well I was hoping the flowers and herbs would be more prominant on me then the oils but alas, Silk Road and I aren't meant to be.

First Sniff Stopping by the woods on a wet evening. Wet ..holy crap. It's like Belladonna's more ethereal but still deadly sister!! Mint and forests and something sweet...oooh. I can't stop sniffing myself. If Belladonna is more heady and suited for the colder months then Nocnitsa is definitely for spring and summer, it's the same mood but lighter. Wow. Drydown Oh my. This is my new favourite forest scent. It's light and sporty and very fae yet there's a menancing vibe underneath it. It doesn't drastically change from the wet stage just becomes more solid and long lasting. Aftermath This is a MUST OWN for me. A bottle of this will be in my May lunar order!

First Sniff Ever read Anne Rice's Mayfair Witches series (not the crap ones like Blackwood Farm & Blook Canticle but the orginial three) and they're talking about how they were in the carribbean orginially and having sex with each other? Santo Domingo smells like what I imagine the carribbean would smell after a good long screw. Wet "But where's th' rum?" RIGHT HERE. ITS RIGHT HERE! Rum and Leather and fire. Whoa. This is a very evocative, manly sort of scent!! Drydown Ah the rum has toned down and now the blossoms have come out to play. Wow. This is fab...I imagine it would be FAB in the coming warmer months for a night out. More of a hedonisitic version of F54/Perversion Aftermath Not entirely sure if I'm gonna buy a bottle of it as I need to test the imp more but this is a WONDERFUL summer scent I feel and very very evocative of the town.

First Sniff Mint and something boozy, aka A Mint Julep!! Wet Andes mints drenched in booze and spices. The mint is pronounced but the alcohol is more pronounced, I swear my body just LOVES the booze! Drydown Huh. Amber? WTF? THERES NO AMBER IN MINT JULEPS!! Any sort of mint is completely gone and replaced by a strong alcohol smell and something that smells like burnt Aftermath Whelp as a perfume it's a bust (burnt amber and booze make my head hurt) but as a room scent, this is FABBBBBBBB!

First Sniff Mmm gentle honey,spices and something more...I can't place my finger on it, it's whatever the note is in O and Le Petit Mort that makes lower parts of my body clench in rememberance...yay for TMI! It smells red. Wet Mmmmmmmmm. This is nice. A bit heady and more spicy then I like (I normally steer clear of the overtly spicy scents) but it's nice. A little dab of this definitely goes a long way! Mmm. Drydown Hm. This has turned into a spicy floral. The only scent I would say this *vaguely* smells like is maybe Morocco but the warmth is different. It also vaugely reminds me of CK One oddly enough. I like it, it's heady without giving me a headache. Lasts pretty well too, I put it on at 10am and it's almost 12 hours later and still going strong. Aftermath Normally I'm not a fan of the spicy floral (I like either one or the other, not both) but The Living Flame is a great exeception. Heady without being cloying, seductive without being overbearing. Another great scent Plus the label's fab.

First Sniff Amber and some flower that makes me think of generic soap. Wet Oooh nice amber and...something else. It also vaugely reminds me of soap Drydown WAHHHHHHHHHHHH SOAP! BORING OLD SOAP! Not even yummy amber soap but just blah soap!! NOOOOO. Brisingamen I wanted to like you so so much. SO much. Alas, I think you will be going up for swap

First Sniff Buttery cream and white flowers and lace! It also made my stomach turn a wee bit. It's that buttery note that's so previlant in Gluttony & Harvest Moon 04 but more creamy if that makes any sense. Wet Oh! Oh! Oh! ITS A BUTTERY BLUE MOON *melts into happy puddle* I smell the "tradtional lunar flowers" that I can sniff in all the lunar oils (and I've tried them all) but this one has that extra buttery note so its creaaaamy. Imagine a dream realm where the sky is shades of purple & blue and the moon is huge. It's a starless night so the light shines down on the white flowers below making them shine with a warm brilliance. That's what Chaste Moon smells like wet Drydown Mmmm butterific! The smell mellows down a bit more so the tradtional lunar oils come out but that hint of butteryness is still there, keeping the scent together. Still smells the same as it is wet so that's nice. Aftermath Wow this might be my second favourite lunar blend after Blue Moon! I'm a bit sad I didn't get another bottle of it but I'll definitely be cherishing my 5ml!

First Sniff Perfumey. I can't believe I'm about to say this but I get that generic perfumey scent I smell when I walk into Macy's perfume area. All of those scents mashed into one...although I can pick out some herbs. It reminds me of Anais-Anais if any of you have smelt that old school perfume. Wet Ooo. It smells like what I think mystical Ireland would smell like...a sort of fae, very green scent. Still getting that perfumey headshop scent though which worries me a bit. Drydown Mmm, the perfumeness is gone now and it's a lovely green herby scent. It reminds me of a more tamer version of Belladonna, whatever it is that gives that particular scent it's headyness isn't here in Leanan Sidhe but in it's place is something more wistful, like a memory. It lasts pretty long too, I put this on around 8 o'clock at night and when I woke up in the morning I still could smell it a bit. Aftermath I was a bit hesitant with this blend because it really smells like generic stuff but once you put it on the whole atmosphere changes and that lovely BPAL-ness comes through. This would be a great scent to try to coax more people into trying the oils, it can remind you of the commercial scents but still has Beth's wonderful touch.

I spots a bottle of Brisingamen!

Do you guys remember when Times Square here in New York City wasn't quite so wholesome? When a regular sight was hookers on the corner, dirty old men leering and seedy porn theaters? Forumla 54 invokes that. It's such a SEEDY sort of scent, I think its the combination of tobacco and flowers. There's a sense of debauched innocence in it. At first sniff all I could smell was the tobacco flower which really put me off as I'm not particularly fond of smelling like a cigarette. Once the oil hits my skin I get..cherries. Cherries and booze and cigarettes...which basically means I smelled like Humbert Humbert's car after he and Lolita got busy. On drydown any sort of sweetness disappears and I get a strong, almost sicking tobacco scent and nothing else. It's been proven that I have bizzare body chemistry so maybe that's it. Needless to say Forumla 54 isn't my bag. If you like most of Beth's "darker" blends (ie Wanda, Hellfire, Perversion) give this a try if you can find it

Somnus smells like a more potent, deeper version of Oneiroi which makes sense. There's lavender and I think some mugwort but overall I'd say Somnus is a deeper, more heady Oneiroi. This isn't a scent I'd wear everyday as just a wiff of it makes me sleepy. I also find that if I put a dab of this on my wrists and behind my ears when I fall asleep it's very calm and peaceful, if I'm stressed out all the stress just melts away. Eventually I will have to buy a bottle of this because my imp is going to run out. If you're torn between this and Oneiroi I'd say look to see how deeply you sleep. If you only need help falling asleep sometimes grab Oneiroi. However if your mind just constantly functions and you find yourself waking up frequently grab a bottle of Somnus, slather it on and head off to the stars with Winkin, Blinkin & Nod.

Initially I had held off on buying Dorian because the fact it seemed male-centric bothered me but Diana said "No you must try it!" and I bought a bottle of it unsniffed. I am SOOOOOOOOOOOO glad I did. In the bottle at first it smells like a very strong lemon tea but after about 5 mintues it mselts into this lovely warm vanilla sugar tea scent with a tinge of something darker. It's absolutely incrediable. It's a lot like Snake Oil's older, more sexual and delicious brother. After hour 3 the scent mellowed and the tea came back stronger then before but that wonderfully warm vanilla was still there, beckoning one to come closer. It's absolutely DIVINE and definitely not gender-specific. I must get a 10ml of this, much like Nosferatu (and I suspect Persephone) I can't be without.

To me Wolf Moon smells a lot like Cold Moon's more feral older brother. There's the definite moon oils that links it to all the other lunar oils but there's also something more deeper, definitely making this more male then any of the other Moon's so far (and I've bought them all). It's also more clean smelling, the scent reminds me a lot of Yankee Candle's Clean Cotton tart, in fact they're almost interchangable. I really like this. It's more DEEP then any of the previous moons and very much invoking the whole Wolf Moon aspect.