impolight

:::THE MALTESE CROSS OF SANCTUS GERMANUS::: Oh, this is SOOOOO good! This is so good it makes the head spin. This is the true scent of Holiness. It is relatively easy to envision an army of Crusaders thundering forth in their efforts to protect and secret away whatever it is that makes this smell... Are there Knights Templar who sleep atop the Lab? It is hard to tell which note in The Cross of Sanctus Germanus smells the most beautiful, or what combination... It is almost as though the notes switch off in a fantastic, spectacular dance that leaves the watcher dizzied, elated, confused... The Orange and the Lilac are disturbingly good together. Lime and Lilac work so well in fragrances like Whitechapel and Villain that it would have been really difficult to consider this... If ever. Amazing! The Amber and Ambergris homogenise to make a sweetness of mythical quality, while the Frankincense and Oud bring out such a rich and velvety depth of spiciness that its nearly impossible to encounter without shuddering in unadulterated ecstacy... The skin happily embraces The Cross of Sanctus Germanus and responds by sending up jets of perfumed bliss... There is more than a little surprise that there isn't any anise in this! This is a metaphysically good fragrance from the Lab... Spectrally, it would be easiest to picture candy-stripes of yummy Purple and Orange. All of the best kept secrets are kept hidden away in the inkier recesses of Carnival Diabolique! The Cross of Sanctus Germanus makes self-cannibalization seem perfectly reasonable... If you do not purchase 10 ml. of The Cross of Sanctus Germanus, your days will be without number and filled with regret, every last one. Awesome! Fantastically unisex. A requirement to truly experience the wonders of the Lab. 5.5 out of 5! What are you doing? Log out and order it! Yes, again! Scat!

Based on this fragrance alone, there needs to be a lunette of sorts, a Holy of Holies, a shrine where all of the world can come and appreciate the masterpiece that is Sunrise With Sea Monsters for inspiring this fragrance...The first noticeable element to this from the opened bottle was the Marine Accord... Of course! Hence the Sea Monsters, eh? The Lab's notes actually cite Seafoam Accord and Ocean Mist... Kelp and what have you. Yet the oceanic impressions are unavoidable. This is very much like the just-before-dawn moments down by Newport Beach, say, in early spring... The Pacific smells very much alive before the advent of the day's foodstuffs, foot traffic, and decomposing marine life done in by wannabe fisherfolk.This is, without mistake, the Aquamarine, swelling ocean; clean, cool and pure. The Amber brings just enough sweet to soften the brininess, and the Pear is unreal... Juicy with the slightest portion of grit to set the salivary into overdrive... What an incredible combo! Applied to the epidermis, the Ambergris comes out to play; simultaneously adding yet another sweet stratum to this and embellishing the oceanic theme. Giving it a few moments, the fresia really blooms, brightens, and opens the entire fragrance and radiates goldenly into the surrounding air...Thus, Sunrise With Sea Monsters. Absolute genius. Loving this. Dead sexy on Him or Her. Creme de la creme. 5.5 out of 5...

:::EDEN::: Dang and Blast! This fragrance is so familiar! It's maddening to have to incessantly refer to the Lab's notes when trying to train the nose to identify notes, but Eden is familiar is SO many ways... Specifics elude. Before peeking, it's like tree-bark, Cherry, Pomegranite, Almond, Straw, and... Pistachio? Eden signifies a place of origin. This is the Garden which embodies harmony, innocence, and immortality. Eden is devoid of the cares of the world. The soil here is unsullied by the spillage of Blood. Eden is majestic. Eviction from here is a flavor of Hell. A Flaming-Sword will leave no margin for error or misinterpretation that your welcome has expired... Digression! Pah! Back to the notes: *sigh* Well, Almond was correct. Would Sandalwood work as tree bark? Fig! *slaps forehead* Of course it's Fig! Sweet, golden-purply Fig! The Coconut came as a bit of a shock... On the skin, the Almond is rocket-propelled. A greeny note emerges which must be the Fig-leaf... very, very nice! Eden is indeed a Garden that will set fire to your heart. Eden is a fragrance worth to bask and delight in for an eternity all your own. Delightfully unisex... The Fig-leaf piques the desire to peek at Him or Her. Groovy! 4/5!

:::THE TEMPTATION::: This is the fragrance of an iconoclast wearing a black cocktail dress and carrying a clutch-purse. She is brutally brunette... She turns to appraise you over her right shoulder, looks you up and down, bats her lashes, turns back around, and spells out your undoing with the nape of her neck... Aside from the Rose and the Musk, the Labs notes on the Temptation are unfamiliar, making them indistinguishable from one another, yet leaving a very distinct impression that this fragrance was not only skillfully constructed, but accurately named. A mercilessly seductive fragrance for her... 5/5!

:::PHANTOM QUEEN::: When first sniffing at the Imp, the only note seemingly identifiable was... Apple. ??? A quick perusal of the notes reveals that there is Apple-Blossom, but one would assume that the blossoms smell no more like their fruits than Neroli does Oranges... Huh. Actually, the only note familiar at all is the Irish Moss, though, from where, memory eludes... On the skin, the Moss amps enormously; eradicating the Apple peel fragrance almost entirely. There is also a note in Phantom Queen that gets associated with raw honey... Could that be the Red Clover? This is a really good fragrance. This would work well in a unisex way... The sweetness that is in Phantom Queen leans around 89% toward being exclusively for her, yet the Mossy note redeems it ostracising Him completely. A pretty dang good fragrance. 4/5.

:::OBERON::: The only suitable word to describe the first impression of Oberon is... Mystification. Really? There is NO Jonquil/Narcissus in here??? A wager would have been confidently placed on that notion and pockets would have certainly wept... Oberon is clean and seems to emnate light. This is certainly appropriate as a Shakespearean fragrance. Oberon encapsulates the stuff of legend. There is chivalry here, there are fae-folk, there are royal gardens, there are strains of music plucked from a lute. On the skin, Oberon amps, but doesn't really morph. Sadly, the nose must lack a degree of sophistication because the Patchouli and Juniper berries are all but detectable. It must be the Orchid, either by itsself or combined with other notes, trying so hard to pass as Narcissus. Surreal... The musks in Oberon are quite nice; they offer a bit of cushion upon which to laze and contemplate good fortune. Oberon is very good. Unisex. Fresh. Inspirational. 5/5!

:::GAUEKO::: The Lab's note on Gaueko made it impossible to resist it's allure... What's not to like? Sandalwood, Lavender, Nag Champa? C'mon! The most prominent note from the Imp was the Lavender... Nice, regal, lounging, Lavender... This was tempered, surprisingly, by the Sandalwood. Sandalwood is ordinarily a more passive fragrance; used to compliment other, more asertive notes... Like Vanilla. Lavender can sometimes be domineering; Clip-clopping all over each and every one of the toes of other fragrances, braying drunkenly, oblivious to the worried/embarrassed looks on everyone's faces... On the skin, Gaueko does cartwheels. Tobacco's greeting is similar to helping someone tie their shoe and then getting kicked in the face... Pow!Nag Champa is here, though, sadly, sulking in the other room... It is only a while later that Nag Champa opens the door, peeks out, and the timidly sidles in to keep company. A nice fragrance. Possibly unisex, but plausibly for Him. A keeper. 4/5.

:::DELIGHT::: Sweet, bright, Baby-doll pink... Delight is soft, fresh-out-of-the-bath and vigorously toweled skin, silly-frilly panties, fresh-cut flowers, a bowl of candy and a bowl of strawberries all wiggled together under your nose... The Tuberose and Jasmine battle for top position wearing ridiculously flimsy swimsuits and tanning oil. Delight is, HOT, HOT, HOT! Come and get it! A kittenish grin that holds a smoking gun, turbo-hot fragrance for her... Meowch! 4/5!

:::RAKSHASA::: Wow! This is truly a Bewitching Brew!!! The very first whiff of this reached way, way down deep and yanked around that part of the brain associated with some of the earliest formative childhood memories... The compelling force of an investigative nature required another look at the Lab's notes... Ah. Perfection in simplicity. The skill with which the Sandalwood, Patchouli, and Rose were mingled together to produce Rakshasa certainly deserves applause... Shape-shifting qualities? Absofreakinlutely! Rakshasa invokes another time... Back in the early 1970's, babysitters used to love this stuff! This brings it all back: the bell-shaped straw hats, wood-bead necklaces, paisley, corduroy, enormous purses, sandals... And a fragrance very close to this one... Foxy. Back then, an Indian/Hindu themed chic seemed omnipresent; not only in mindset and accoutrements, but in fragrance, especially. That long, natural, flowing hair with the flowers tucked into it smelled alot like this. Heavenly. Rakshasa is definitely a shape-shifting seductress of demonic proportions.The simplicity of the components is deceptive; right around the moment where a note becomes identifiable, there is a whiplash-quick morph and then another, or a combination of 2, or all 3 will come together only to dance away and reform again. Rakshasa is a breathtakingly magnificent fragrance; sweet, exotic, and alluring. A heady, striking fragrance for Her. 5/5!

:::EPHEMERA::: A nice, wistful and contemplative fragrance. This will have you indeed gently down the stream... Life is but a dream. The blue chimes of the Chamomile joins fluidly with the Violets in this blend, making a crazed Indigo pattern that pans across the inside of closed eyelids. The Rose and Lily in Ephemera are another divine duo; but these two harmonize in a manner which suggests the soft kiss of those morning mists and light drizzles that only arrive in Springtime. Ephemera is the picturesque cloud formations you can pass an entire day watching, letting a storybook of your own design spill out vociferous creatures, rattling sabers, and fineries aglow... Ephemera is a clean, blue fragrance; though this isn't aquatic blue, this is luminous blue... A Robin's Egg nightlight blue... Ephemera lights upon the skin with an infinite, almost musical swell; the Violets in Ephemera are likely some of the best to be encountered at the Lab. Stunning, otherworldly, unisex. 5/5!

:::ETERNAL::: The Gardenia is Jumbo in this one. The Rose and the Jasmine make an appearance with the subtlety of a helicopter crash at Summer Camp. Here, love certainly conquers death. Death cannot even get a toehold in this fragrance without TONS of pretty, pretty flowers that dangle sparkles and ponies and pastel kittens ALL OVER Death's silly attempt at ominousness... Unless all associations are focused on a funerary aspect of the florals, this is actually an AMAZING, bright, and sunny fragrance. This is a big bag of sunshine. This is calliope music at a parade. This is catching grandma doing the Charleston. In her underwear. At the bus stop. Not to ridicule this fragrance AT ALL. Just saying that while this catalogue of fragrance is associated with mortality, Eternal seems awfully upbeat about it. Great scent for Her. Could be a neat room fragrance to welcome spring. 4/5...

Aptly named! Oya is a sky with the blue of a Disney Hue... This is one of those fragrances that is a bit of a stretch. While there are certainly floral notes in this, and the juicy beading of Plum, a sound generated by a New Age synthesizer for a Steampunk soundtrack would make much more sense than trying to convey this fragrance by comparing it to Jasmine. Oya is brilliant because this IS very much a whirlwind, a color of the sky, the sensation of cold air on your cheeks as you roll in a biplane, the roar of a crowd... But with none of the Ozone one might expect from the Lab to represent atmospherics. This fragrance is awesome! This is a beautifully unisex fragrance; Fresh, bright-eyed, confident and liberated on her, daring, heroic, and High-colored on Him. Excelsior! Bravo! 5 out of bloody 5!

:::DARKNESS::: Oh, the loveliest melancholia imaginable... Darkness is beautifully beautiful. Darkness is bittersweet, overcast, aching, and maudlin... Darkness falls all about you like damp, sullen wool. This is amazIng in that it is as spectacularly gorgeous as it is gloomy.The Myrrh and Opium coil together to make the most invitingly sweet noose, while the the heartbreak that is the Jonquil makes a poignant and indelible mark as to the fleeting nature of beautiful moments... The grasping at straws. On the skin, all of the notes amp hugely; threatening to go a bit on the soapy side before the crescendo abates and beautify... Purpling like late October's dusk. This would be the fragrance to wear while journaling or writing poetry on the front porch of a dilapidated old house that the local kids are afraid of on a cold day with sodden skies. This scent screams to be liberated from modern contraption; worn by candlelight. In solitude. Darkness is a humbling masterpiece. 5/5!

:::VECHERNYAYA::: This fragrance is amazing, though difficult to describe. The Poppies and Patchouli are so skillfully crafted together, it makes a scent that is unreal... In some ways it is similar to Galvanic Goggles... Vechernyaya is rounded out and warmed by the musks, giving it a little lift... A handsome, straight-laced if somewhat tightly wound school-master would wear this with relish while pacing back and forth as he surveys the pupils hunched over a particularly nerve-wracking exam. On the skin, Vechernyaya takes on oomph and panache... The schoolmaster is gloating in a craftily cultivated patois and polishing his monacle... This is a darkness ablaze... A biting of the tongue... A scrutiny. Spectrally, Vechernyaya would compliment a charcoal suit and an ebony walking stick... Terrific fragrance for Him. 5 out of 5!

:::HERMIA::: The first impression of this fragrance was much drier and much more blonde than what was suggested by the notes in the Lab's description. It was almost as though there were Straw and Autumnal Leaves included in the blend. A second attempt revealed (on the second sniff) a hint of the pink peppercorns and a very subtle sweetness which was guessed to be the Passiflora, as Honeysuckle is usually much more of a pronounced, glistening-white sort of sweetness. The Amber is here too, but again, the Pink Peppercorn's astringent properties efficiently dry out the sweetness's initial impact. Weird... After applying it, everything BUT the Honeysuckle in Hermia was turbo-slurped by the skin... Well, maybe a teensy-weensy spot of amber too... Crazy! That being said, perhaps Hermia would go best as a fragrance for Her. Honeysuckle isn't one of the easier floral notes to pass for a man to wear. Still, an intriguing scent... Good job by the Lab! A 4/5 for this tribute to The Bard...

:::ELEGBA::: Wow. Now THIS is quite the character of a fragrance! Elegba is wonderfully sweet; though not in any way that could be described as girlie... Elegba has that growly type of sexiness that defies reason. Elegba has this manner of beaming at you that raises your body temperature far too fast to give you time to be indignant or to put on airs of offence. Elegba is a broad, dazzling white smile from a dark face wearing a wide-brimmed hat. This face has smooth, beautiful skin, yet the eyes belie what could very well be a grandfatherly age. Elegba has intriguing musculature of torso and a penetrating baritone. All of the elements combine to make this decadently sweet. While there is both Coconut and Sugared Rum in this, it isn't foody. It's an entirely different persuasion of yummy... The Tobacco in this packs the punch of a high-end humidor; the sweetness of an unlit cheeroot or a pinch of excelsior pipe Tobacco. Ooooh... On the skin, the Coconut demurs to the Rum and the Tobacco sharpens up nicely, revealing more of its "Leaf" aspect... As a result of the morph, there almost seems to be a spiced, woody edge to this; The tabletop where cigars are rolled and cut, perhaps, with spilled Rum and a bit of Allspice berry... Something remniscent of dark red Leather peeps out with a knowing wink here too... Elegba is super brilliant. The Lab's notes humbly make this out to be much simpler than it actually is. Stunning fragrance for Him. 4.75 out of 5...

:::THANATOS::: Thanatos smells like a secretive meeting-place. Somewhere mossy, wooded and deep in shadow. There is something to this fragrance that bristles with angst or despair... Thanatos seems to have the darker furies of Juniper and Cedar to lend to the overall feeling of an unwelcome, stony countenance. There might be a dallop of blanched Sandalwood trying to smooth things over. On the skin, Thanatos heats and ripens; almost giving off the impression of having just stepped into a super-heated sauna... Or, perhaps, being mercilessly whipped about the lips with an eye-watering bundle of willow branches... Thanatos is dark, spartan and no nonsense. An excellent wintry fragrance for Him. 4/5.

:::HIGHWAYMAN::: From the Imp, Highwayman initially gives off the impression of a man living off of the land and what little else that opportunity will afford him. Highwayman smells as though there is Amber, Cedar, Patchouli, Violets, and possibly Vetivert in it... Between Bluebeard and Saturnalia, it has become evident that Violets and Vetivert are a winning combination regardless of the proportions... Highwayman is coarse, grizzled, flinty-eyed and contrabass... Highwayman smells of underbrush, hide-away, and boot-leather. On the skin, the Vetiver in Highwayman blooms the most, and Sage and Lavender seems to come to the surface. Highwayman is, whoah...Sexy. This is the kind of sexy that does not muck about; that will provide you with an unceremonious hiding and then absentmindedly reach for a glass of water. Highwayman is rolling hills, painted rock, and thunderclap. Highwayman is gritty solitude. Effectively authorative fragrance for him. 5/5... P.S. After going back to the notes the realization that there were no notes of Violet, Amber, Cedar, Patchouli or Sage... Aren't first impressions funny?

:::BIJOUX Y'HA NTHLEI::: This fragrance has been beamed down to the Lab by benevolent and aromatic entities! Hooray! Upon first opening up the bottle of Bijoux Y'ha Nthlei, it was unsettlingly difficult to detect... There was a ghostly trace of an anonymous sort of tartness skipping about, picking non-descript flowers. Further snortings ensued, but yielded not a single result contrary to what had been experienced from the start. Drat! Drat and Blast! After eyeballing the gaily coloured label accusingly for some moments, it was eventually concluded not to pass judgement until the formula had been intimately acquainted with the skin... Bangerang! Bijoux Y'ha Nthlei zipped into the room screaming, "Love Me!" with the ferocity of an olfactory supernova. Sensational! Bijoux Y'ha Nthlei unleashes a vibrant, stunning orchestration of fragrances that peal and reverbate and sets the wearer to swooning as though inebriated.There will probably never be a shortage of utmost admiration and and respect for the surgically sharp skills of the illustrious Mrs. Barrial and the others who have a hand in not only constructing these fragrances, but annointing them with names and associations. Freakishly genius! Bijoux Y'ha Nthlei is the yummiest form of Cosmonaut Diva or Boy Toy, Vamp, or Cock of the Walk...The Elevenses of the elements that make this fragrance play SO nicely together! They come together and form these all-new interplanetary hybrids that get inside your head and tickle every last neuron. The Neroli, Heliotrope, and Yellow Rose are fused together in an alarming state of altered neurochemistry; they are sweet in a way that is hard to reconcile with. It is almost like being temporarily allowed to see with the eyes of a bee... Extra colours and whatnot. The Beeswax, Oud, and Amber give Bijoux Y'ha Nthlei a depth of hypnotic incense and spice, not to mention the sweetness of the hive... All of this is poignantly balance with the addition of Pikake, Corriander, Tarragon, and Lime which add the clear high notes and a fascinating herbalisciousness that proves to be as exotic as it is devastating. Bijoux Y'ha Nthlei is a glorious, show-stopper of a fragrance oil.Certainly unisex; giving a wearer of either gender the advantage of yumminess... Spectrally, Bijoux Y'ha Nthlei would go extraordinarily well with fluorescents or bright, tropical colours. Incredible! Hats off to yet another extraordinary accomplishment by the Lab! Without question, a 5 out of 5.

:::BEZOAR::: How does one employ it? Well, at first one should think to smell unforgivably incredible... Aside from that the essence that is Bezoar does seem as though it has the power to still and to nullify the hastening of death. Bezoar is ridiculously good. Bezoar is a close relative of Hay Moon...While Hay Moon suggests sweet, syrupy pastoral torpor, Bezoar gleams with mysticism, with power. Bezoar supplants a calculated and much sought after intrigue in place of an escape. Bezoar has the bizarre quality of a statue that seems to follow your movements across the room. Bezoar is an ancient and underestimated intellect. On the skin, Bezoar hardens and lends a chilling degree of imperviousness to the wearer. The Balsam and the Hay Absolute in Bezoar come together to unleash a frightfully convincing coax. The Hiba wood note is ominous and alluring. The Cardamom is the most shy note of the bunch, yet lends delicious green polish when it apppears. Awesome! Unisex. 5/5!

:::TWO LOVES::: Two loves is very much like a tumultuous exercise in poetry. Two Loves is overextended idealism, diturbing vividity and passion enflamed. Two Loves warps time and space; quickly bringing the wearer to the bittersweet realization of having the slightest control or influence over the splendors that surround every day in infinities; but instead succinctly at the mercies of powers beyond brash tongues... And with only a bemused sort of hope that we can survive it. There is a spectrum of great breadth as to the notes making up the fragrance that is Two Loves, which makes it notoriously difficult to remark on single notes... Just about the time a scent draws near to specification, it merges, nay, homogenizes with another note creating an effect that is ever renewing itsself! This is the confusion and constant state of arousal engendered by, not one, but two obsessions... Two Loves! After swaying back and forth over the opened bottle for several moments ( winning an eye-roll from spectators, it was decided to see where the skin would take this fragrance. Two loves comes a ripping off of the skin; bounding, blending, uncurling, unfurling!Fragrantly, it is difficult to describe... Visualize one of those (blue) coloured smoke-bombs used for guiding in parachutists, placed under a half-dome of glass, and it's quasi-close... Two Loves is a double-fisted wake up call of olfactory goodness! There are so many good qualities about this formula that it might just be near the top of that proverbial list. Spectrally, Two Loves is the whole package. It is all colors. With extras. That makes your head hurt. In HD... Two Loves is decadently, deliciously unisex; beguling and salivary on her, posh and über-swoony on him... Purrversion! Quick! Find approximately 3 bottles of this one before it runs away! Bravo, BPAL, bravo! 5/5!

:::TULZCHA::: The Cold, Green Fire indeed! The mints are up front and electric in this formula; the most persuasive being Spearmint. Tulzcha is sweet enough to be a tea, with the exception of the White Pepper, which bites at the back of the throat like small, snowy ants. Just a catch. The Cucumber in this formula is very incospicuous; nigh undetectable (though not unexpected, as this bottle was procured in a swap nearly half of a decade after it's release...or was that escape?) which is a slight downer as the Lab's Cucumber in other blends certainly lends a juicy pop... Giving it a squirting texture. Whoah! On the skin, Tulzcha darkens menacingly; taking on an acidic, almost sulfurous edge. This is not to say that it is egg or match like in the least... Merely sharp and on the verge of volatility. The mints abandon most of their sweetness and harmonize with the White Pepper into villainously sharp points. The insight of the darling 6 year old in residence: "Papa, it smells like cotton-candy ice cream in a root-beer float!" Out of the mouths of babes... Lovecraft himself would be unable to stop sniffing! 4 out of 5 for this one.

Ozone, eucalyptus and mint with purple orchid, passionflower, white ginger, and purple lotus. :::THE COIL::: Preface: Having been osessed with the life and the genius of Nikola Tesla since approximately the eigth-grade, and having read and reread satirical, steampunk alternative histories by the Maestro Robert Rankin, this review comes with an ENORMOUS portion of hyperkinetic bias... 5 ml. of The Coil were purchased, unsniffed, for the moniker alone... Even with a twinge of apprehension that was based on The Lab's notes and a number of reviews from the Forum (Toothpaste? Really? Ick!). The opened bottle: Oh, reeeaally? THIS was what the fuss was over? Of course there is mint in plentitude, yet this stuff is a fistfull of crushed foliage and dewdrops. There is nary a synthetic veneer in sight... The combination of Ozone with this was a stroke of genius of Tesla proportions! This fires off bolts of a lightning/chlorophyll hybrid that echoes and incandesces off the walls in a corneal-aching shade of deified Mint-Chip! This is glacially green... Minted glass. A springy version of a Jacob's Ladder... And now for the coup de grace... The Passion Flower. * le sigh* Adding this kalaedoscopically psychadelic, fractal-flower... This psychotically bliss-kissed note was superb. How utterly, flawlessly PERFECT for the fragrance that is The Coil, conceptually! Passiflora is heady, sweet, exotic and mind-altering. Ethnobotany recognises the species' potent, transcendental properties... This is not only conspicuous from a half glance at the seemingly extraterrestrial blooms, but from the entirely one of a kind fragrance it unleashes... Even the bees fly from it a wee bit funny... On the skin, all of the elements that The Coil is comprised of, merge seamlessly and pulse like a beacon. It is really hard to describe just how SciFi beautiful this fragrance really is! Language fail! Sure, a poetic snippet here and there may coax the gentle reader towards a generalised association, but this is UNREAL... Here, the Lab's Ozone note is unlike itsself in any other blend. Here, the Ozone is not what could be associated with metallics, nor is it really aquatic. The Ozone in The Coil is beyond even vapour... It is radiance. The Power of Suggestion aside, The Coil really and truly does seem to be a personification of lightning... And this lightning has an awareness. The Coil is very much a terrifying intelllect, independent of matter or convolution to house or contain it. The Coil is cosmically radiant, a germ of life... An origin. While The Coil could work as a unisex sort of formula, it might come across as distressing on Her... Frizzed out hair, limbs akimbo and hyperventilation... This seems as though it would much better accompany the frizzed out hair of the Einsteinian ilk... A good natured, if a bit peculiar chap. Shoes on the wrong feet and what have you... This is not to say that The Coil is fantastically gorgeous! Ordering this on instinct was a fantastic serendipity! Good fortune! Thrill! 5/5! Bless Bpal!

:::AELOPILE::: Ye Gods, this is a MAGNIFICENT fragrance! The Phoenix Steamworks line KICKS SO MUCH A@@! Opening the 5 ml. bottle and taking a whiff wiped everything completely blank. The ultimate reset button... The only significant thing at all was for everyone and everything else in the universe to go away, so all that remained to curl up around and dream was the fragrance that is Aelopile! This is a brass and chrome contraption that hums with both religious intensity and erotic abandon. This is clean, arousing, reflective, and intensely focused. On the skin, Aelopile amps. Aelopile berzerks. Aelopile leaves no survivors. Aelopile would be right at home in the Bladerunner movie AND it's soundtrack. Aelopile is the robotic assassin that you REALLY wanna fu... Well, you know... There are certainly citrus notes in here. Tangerine?There is also the cleanest wood smell encountered to date, the sexiest cinnamon encountered to date, and the Lab's crazy-beautiful-erotic metallic notes... This is such an incredible formula! This would be the ultimate ballroom in a mansion designed exclusively for an eccentric trillionaire who made their fortune entirely from steampunk technology. Aelopile is bright, clean Copper buffed to a mirror's polish with platinum filigree. Aelopile is a fantastical unisex fragrance. This would be ideally suited for someone looking for a departure from commonplace and predictability. 5/5!

:::THE CATERPILLAR::: SUPERCALIFRAGILISTICEXPIALIDOCIOUS!!! This is a hedonistically clever fragrance... Finding anything original to describe The Caterpillar is maddeningly difficult, having JUST come back from watching Tim Burton's Alice in WonderLand... Nevertheless, finding wonderful qualities about this formula is, per usual, easy-peasy... The Caterpillar actually does summon the image of that starry-eyed, sagacious loady who has happily had their spirit led hither and yon by every conceivable Food of the Gods known to man, and a couple you'd rather not think about. Said loady is probably also one of those blokes who, though they are oft a laughable caricature, are also well equipped with knowlege enough for multiple PHD's; someone you could unhesitatingly approach for information on an obscure ancient civilization or, mayhaps, a cryptobotanical reference. While there is a startling range of florals contained herein, The Caterpillar is not at all a flower-bomb. Quite the the torrential flow of an entire Enchanted Forest's worth of leafy, fruity, sappy, blossomy goodness! Even all of this, however, does little to stand in the way of the billowing incense and opium smoke that threads it's way between every mote. On the skin, The Caterpillar morphs and then amps. Turbo Butterfly! There is an element of wood here, yet it is so subtle, it could actually be parchment. Perfumed parchment. The Currant has deepened and taken on an almost Winey character and there is a single floral note that really comes to the forefront... Is that... Carnation? Wow... The incense also mellows at this stage, melding and assimilating with the other notes to take on the technicolor if gauzy form of... Yup. Caterpillar! Eventually, Jasmine decides to cease and desist with the whole wall-flower business and steps foreward to devastate with soporific crooning... The incense is beautiful and golden as The Caterpillar softens... Nag Champa on clean, bronze skin. The Caterpillar is a brilliant, brilliant scent! Well worth wearing for Him or Her. This is one to celebrate the wonder of being alive with. Stellar! 5/5!