Miss Lynx

I got a frimp of this included when I bought a bottle of Venus Genetrix from someone on Facebook... And while I would never have picked it for myself based on the description, or even most of the reviews, I find myself kind of sad that it's discontinued... Because I actually really like it! It's not bitter or medicinal or especially evil-smelling on me - I guess my skin chemistry has sweetened it up or something, or maybe it's just one of those scents that mellows with aging? It reminds me a lot of Nocnitsa - it's a sweet (but not overly sweet) foresty scent, like balsam fir and sweet fern and berries, though with a touch of darkness underneath. Like a fairy-tale forest full of both magic and danger. And there's something a little heady, almost intoxicating about it. Very nice. The sweetness eventually fades as it dries down, though not for an hour or two, and after that it's a bit more generically herbal, slightly medicinal. Not so much like something you would wear deliberately as a scent, or at least not something I would. But that first hour or two? Really lovely! On the whole, not so sure I want to try and track down a bottle, at least not just yet. At first I thought I did, but the drydown's not so hot... Will experiment more and see. Grade: initial phase B+/A-, later on C+

Just received a decant of this, and wow - I really like it! I was a little unsure if I would, because rose can really amp on me sometimes, and I also wasn't sure if "lilac musk" referred to musk blended with lilac scent, or if it was just another in BPAL's long line of colour-themed musks (i.e. red musk, black musk, white musk, purple musk, green musk, etc.). But it's really not very floral on me at all. There's a bit of floral in it, mainly rose - I can't really pick up any lilac as a separate note - but mainly it's all pomegranatey musky incensey goodness. Fruit notes for some reason tend to be really nice on me, though I wouldn't have guessed that before discovering BPAL, but the darker fruits are best, and they do need to be mixed with other not-so-sweet notes. And this scent works perfectly in that regard - pomegranate is one of those luscious dark fruits, and the other notes balance it beautifully. It's a bit reminiscent of Mme Moriarty, but if anything I like it even better than that one. Overall, this is heady and sexy and a little dark, but not overpowering. It really does evoke some kind of underworld nymphs, but in a subtle way. I think I may have to hunt down an actual bottle... Grade: A

My top spring picks of the moment are Penumbra and Red Rose. Both sweeter than my usual style, but at this time of year, that's exactly what I want. Penumbra in particular feels very, very springlike to me, or at least as springlike as a scent can be and still work on me. I do not usually get along well with light, sweet, scents, or florals in general, so for me a perfect spring scent has florals and fruit balanced with enough earthy/incensey notes to actually work on my skin, and Penumbra's got the perfect balance. Red Rose is just all-out love and I expect I will enjoy that one at any time of year. Really need to hunt down a bottle, because my decant's going fat...

I was just about to say The Chapel, but the previous poster beat me to it. I've tried a lot of BPAL scents at this point -- I think I'm closing in on my 600th review or something insane like that -- but the Chapel is without a doubt the one that most emphatically says SERIOUSLY EVIL DARK MAGIC to me.

Oh, this is nice! I suppose I shouldn't be surprised given that it's got a few of my favourite notes in it (orange blossom, blackberry and amber), but the mint kind of worried me. And "amber mint" just sounded odd -- I wasn't sure if there was a comma missing in there or what. But the notes seem to combine really nicely, mint and all. Something about it smells a little reminiscent of some other BPAL scent that I can't identify, but on the whole it's quite a neat and interesting blend. There's a strong fruity element, of course (particulary given that orange blossom smells more like fruit than flowers on me), but also a slightly intoxicating incensey aspect to it, and a sharp herbal kick that isn't quite distinguishable as mint, but that's probably what it comes from. The result is sweet and a little bit boozy, and has a bit of the same hard-to-define quirkiness to it that some of the Mad Tea Party scents do. Its eventual drydown after a few hours is a soft amber-sandalwood skin scent. On the whole, I'd say this is my favourite of the Shunga scents this year. Not necessarily a huge overall favourite, since it takes a lot to enter my top ten these days, but certainly a keeper. Grade: B+/A-

I was a little nervous about the caramel in this one, since that's killed more than one scent for me (BPAL's caramel note tends to smell really cloying and synthetic on me, sad to say). But thankfully, as with Melainis, the caramel in this one is barely noticeable at all. What stands out most to me in this one is the rose, but it's not overpowering -- my skin tends to amp rose a lot, but while the rose does seem to be the top note here, it's not amped beyond all reason. There's a soft added fruitiness from the berries, a little kick of spice from the pepper, a softly incensey undercurrent, and also something a bit cold that I can't quite place. I'd have almost thought there was some orris or mint or something like that -- something that would give it an edge of coolness. But I'm not sure what in here would do that, unless it's somehow the alcoholic edge of the cognac, which is otherwise not making itself known too much. At other points there seems to be a faint herbal bitterness underlying it, offsetting the sweetness just a little. The combined effect is fairly sweet and light -- at least compared to the kinds of scents I usually wear -- subtly spicy, and while not too deep, at least complex enough to be interesting. It's a fair bit "girlier" than my usual sort of scent, but I sometimes like that in the spring. As rose-plus scents go, this can't really compete with the greatness that is BPTP Red Rose (the hands-down winner of this year's Lupercalia for me), but it's a pretty nice one and I may well keep it. Grade: B/B+

In the imp, this smells heavy, dark, complicated and almost medicinal. On my skin, it becomes a lot sweeter, and at first sniff, seemed almost floral, which is odd given that it doesn't contain any florals at all. Once it settles in a bit more, it's more dark and incensey, which is more what I would have expected. Thankfully, the caramel note, which has killed many scents for me, is not really noticeable here at all. But it's strange -- while definitely on the dark side, this is much lighter -- in the sense of less heavy -- than I would have expected. And I do still keep catching traces of something near-floral in it. I know my skin tends to sweeten black musk considerably, but I don't know if that's all that could account for this. It's very hard to pick out the individual notes in this -- they blend together really seamlessly. It's less spicy than the presence of clove and anise would make you think, and doesn't have the usual bitterness of teak at all. And patchouli, which can easily dominate a scent, is only a soft background presence. If I had to hazard a guess at what's dominating it, I'd say maybe labdanum, oakmoss and tobacco, but in so gentle a way that it's hard to really pinpoint them. As it continues to unfold, it's becoming apparent that some of the sweetness is currant, and it seems to be blending a bit with the tobacco to give a hint of some kind of very sweet, fruity pipe tobacco. Eventually, that fades down a bit, and it settles into sort of a softly spicy, incensey-musky-wood scent. Very nice, and despite being named for an aspect of Aphrodite, a scent that could work equally well on either gender. On the whole, this is very nice -- very rich and complex, and beautifully balanced, with no one element dominating it, but tantalizing hints of all kinds of almost-recognizable things hovering on the edge of perception. Grade: B+

This smells like -- well, pretty much what the notes say! It's most strongly boozy and fruity, with just soft undertones of the other notes. This is definitely not a cutesy teenage fruit scent -- it's very much an adults-only sort of fruit, laced with strong wine. The sandalwood's barely noticeable except as a background presence mellowing it out a bit, and the champaca adds a sort of dusty floral overlay to it. It's like dark, juicy, slightly overripe plums soaked in wine, with nag champa incense burning in the background. The overall effect makes me think a bit of an opium den or something. Decadent, intoxicating and a little bit evil. It's closest equivalent is probably Purple Phoenix, though it's not really as complex a that one. Ultimately, this is kind of like the winey part of all of BPAL's wine scents, distilled into one uber-wine scent, with just enough softly incensey background to keep it from being cloying. I quite like it, but I don't know if it's really unique enough for me to keep it considering the size of my collection. I suspect that when I want to smell like this I'll probably reach for Purple Phoenix instead. Grade: B+

Oh, Khrysee, you got my hopes up so high and then cruelly dashed them! When freshly applied, this smells really good! It does have a few moments of smelling a bit Creamsicle-like, but thankfully doesn't stay that way for long. It turns fairly quickly into sort of a more delicate version of my beloved Vixen, without the spicy edge that one has. The orange blossom lends a nice citrussy tartness to the creamy vanilla, keeping it from being too bland or sweet. I absolutely love it at this stage, and the first time I tried it, was already thinking "Must! Have! Bottle!" Unfortunately, though, that stage doesn't last nearly as long as I'd like. The orange blossom fades way and leaves it smelling mostly like vanilla and a bit of amber. Not bad, even like this, but nowhere near as nice as it was. It just becomes a little... generic. Just sort of "Yep, that's vanilla and amber, all right." And then further on still, even the amber fades a bit, and the vanilla starts going kind of Play-Doh-y, and it just smells vaguely like of been using some random vanilla-scented drugstore product. Not bad exactly, but decidedly uninteresting, and nothing like the awesomeness of that first stage. Ah well. I still have Vixen. Grade: B (A at first, C+ by the end)

This is an interesting scent -- dry, earthy and warm. It's a tiny bit reminiscent of Coyote, with the amber and grassy/earthy notes, but it doesn't have the musky component that that one does. At first sniff it seemed to have a certain level of men's-scent feel to it, but that faded very quickly. Now it's mainly a soft, dry, slightly dusty amber-sandalwood, with grassy/herbal overtones that are slightly sweet but also slightly medicinal-smelling. It's not a bad scent, though there's something in it that's a bit sweet and sharp and keeps it from entirely working on me. For the elements of the scent that I like, I think I'm probably better off sticking with Coyote. Grade: B

I absolutely had to try this one, if only for the name, even though I fear green musk after trying Pollution. Thankfully, it is nowhere near as unpleasant on me as that one was, though at least at the beginning, it seemed like really not my sort of scent. True to the description, it's a very, very green scent -- cool and clean and initially kind of soapy. The citrus notes give it a nice crispness, though, and as it settles into my skin, the soapiness seemes to fade, and the fruit notes (currant in particular, I think) come out a bit more, sweetening it nicely. At this stage, it's got elements that are reminiscent of Embalming Fluid and Verdandi... It's still a fairly cool scent, and would be awesome for summer for those who like cool-toned scents to balance the heat of that season. It's gentle enough that you could wear it in a conservative environment (rather like Embalming Fluid, which I'd say is its closest relative -- this is basically EF with curranty sweetness and a bit of herbal complexity), but unique enough to be interesting. I'm actually starting to quite like it, green musk and all. I'd originally expected these serpents to slither on to a new home once I'd satisfied my curiosity, but I'm thinking they might be here to stay... Grade: B/B+

Hmmm, interesting -- I usually fear rose, because even though I actually like the scent (in moderation) my skin tends to amp it really strongly. But at first sniff, neither of the BPTP Lupercalia roses smell all that strongly rosy -- even on my rose-amping skin! They're both really nicely balanced. The rose is noticeable, but it doesn't by any means overpower the other notes. And while Red Rose is the one I've really fallen for, this one's definitely not bad either. I think the vanilla and tea notes are actually stronger than the rose -- it's almost a bit like a lighter, tarter version of Snake Oil. The benzoin and frankincense are pretty noticeable too, giving it a softly incensey vibe. The coconut, not so much, which is a good thing for me because I really don't like smelling like coconut. The orris is there, but just as a soft presence, cooling the scent a little. All in all, it's kind of an ethereal, light incense scent with tea overtones, and just a soft rose presence. Quite nice, though really, Red Rose is much more my usual type of scent. Over the course of the day, the rose element fades out almost completely, and it becomes much more of an incense scent. But still quite likable as such. On the whole, a pleasant surprise. Grade: B+ Oh, and one interesting additional note: my 19-month-old son loves it! He's already showing signs of being a budding BPAL addict, with little to no encouragement from me or his other mom, my ex-wife. He's liked smelling things for as long as he's had the nose-control to do it, and even when being carried in a sling will insist on stopping for a sniff if we pass some flowers. And he's learned to recognize BPAL imps and bottles on sight, and will immediately reach for them and make sniffy noises every time he sees them. When he spotted my Lupercalia decants he wanted them immediately and would not be discouraged. He sniffed several (through the cap, as we try not to over-expose him to scents given his age), and really zeroed in on White Rose, sniffing it repeatedly, and then looking up at me and pointing to the collar of his T-shirt. (We never put scent directly on his skin, but will occasionally put a tiny dab on his shirt if he wants it.) I dabbed a bit on there, and for some while afterwards, he was holding it out in front of his face, sniffing happily. I think the last scent I saw him show this much enthusiasm for was the third Thirteen, when he was still a baby rather than a toddler. We didn't put scent on him then, but if I was wearing that one, he would face-plant into my cleavage, sniffing.

Red rose buds, with amber, clove, tonka, Indian musk, fir, and tobacco. What a wonderful surprise this was -- and White Rose as well, to a lesser extent. I usually fear rose, because even though I actually like the scent (in moderation) my skin tends to amp it really strongly. But at first sniff, neither of the BPTP Lupercalia roses smell all that strongly rosy -- even on my rose-amping skin! They're both really nicely balanced. The rose is noticeable, but it doesn't by any means overpower the other notes. White Rose, which I'd really only gotten a decant of because the circle I joined made the two a package deal, was nicer than I expected it to be. But this one is absolutely amazing! I had high hopes for it, despite my rose issues, because it does contain a lot of notes that I like, but I'd been a little worried the rose would overpower them. Thankfully, it doesn't at all. It does hold its own nicely against the earthier notes, but in a way that just makes the whole thing exquisitely well balanced. It's a little bit like what you'd get if you mixed perfectly aged Spellbound (aging that scent, for me, makes the rose mellow out and blend better with the amber and musk instead of dominating them) with Red Phoenix and a dash of Three Witches, or something along those lines. Gorgeous, earthy, sexy, spicy goodness. It's funny -- for all that rose scents tend to cause me problems by amping up tremendously on my skin, I do actually like rose, so I keep trying different scents with rose in them hoping for the perfect rose scent that really works on me. Parlement of Foules was pretty close, Blasphemare Reliquary was even better, but I think this one just topped them both! As it wears down over time, it doesn't stay quite as lovely and complex, and it does become more rose than anything eventually. But even at that stage, it's a pretty damn fine rose. All in all, a definite winner, and I will probably be trying to hunt down a bottle in the swaps. In fact, I'd better get on that soon, given how frequently I find myself reaching for this decant. I think it may be a new Top Ten pick for me! Especially with spring here now, I'm wearing this about every second day or thereabouts. Grade: A+

Wow -- in the imp this smells exactly like baby powder, to an unnervingly accurate extent. And very, very sweet. On, it's still quite sweet, but quickly becomes much more complex and multilayered. The lavender, as a lot of people have commented, is pretty strong here, but on me at least, not enough so to really dominate the scent. There's a strong note of something that smells almost bubble-gum-like, which is often how lotus goes on me, but since this doesn't have lotus in the list of notes, I'm not sure what it would be. Thankfully, the rose and orris aren't too strong at all -- rose I like, but it usually tends to amp up big time on my skin, so it's rare to find it well-balanced with other notes. Orris I usually don't like much at all -- too cold and dry and a bit nose-tickly -- but here it's barely noticeable, though the scent does have a faintly cool feeling overall. I can pick up a trace of the "milk" note from Alice, to which this scent bears at least a slight resemblance (though the idea of a milk or cream note in perfume always confuses me, since actual milk and cream don't smell like much of anything). There's a faint hint of carnation spiciness, much less than in Alice, and a gentle earthy/herbal scent from the frankincense and sage, grounding it all. All in all, a really nicely complex, multilayered scent, which shifts and changes considerably from one moment to the next. Sometimes I quite like it, other times it seems -- not unpleasant, but not really me either. Grade: B

I knew I had to get this one. not just because the notes sounded really appealling, but also just because of its inspiration. The Wind in the Willows was one of my favourite childhood books, and my very favourite part of it was the encounter with Pan. I remember getting chills down my spine reading it -- not in a scared way, but an awestruck way -- and I can honestly say it was probably one of the influences that made me a pagan in later life. But when I have such high expectations for a scent, I'm always a little nervous as to whether it will live up to them. So I opened up the decant I got (I actually already had a bottle on the way by this point, since the decant package didn't arrive until after the WitW scents went down, and I didn't want to take any chances on this one) with some trepidation -- but my first sniff reassured me considerably. In the vial, and freshly applied, it smelled really nice -- very piney, but not with that pine-air-freshener feel that evergreen-based scents can sometimes have. As it settles into my skin, there's a delicate sweetness that rises up, making it an almost feminine scent -- the honey and florals, I suppose. It's still grounded by the earthy notes, but there's much more lightness and sweetness to it than I would have expected. It manages to be both earthy and ethereal at the same time. If anything, it almost leans toward being a little too sweet, especially for a scent associated with a deity like Pan. Though that's likely just my skin chemistry, which has a tendency to sweeten up many things. Still, it's a very unique scent, and one that, while it's hard to know whether it will work for me in the long run, I will no doubt enjoy further exploring. Grade: B+