Miss Lynx

Tried this one at the most recent meet'n'sniff, but it was very, very much Not My Thing. A bright sharp citrussy-floral that put me in mind more of cleaning products than anything I'd want to wear as a perfume. A bit like a more aggressive version of Embalming Fluid. I very much love its sister scent, Midnight Kiss, but this one is not for me. Grade: D

I had the chance to try this a meet'n'sniff quite a while back, and was finally able to score an imp of my very own from a friend. Interestingly, now that I've tried a fair number more scents in the meantime, this one doesn't strike me as being quite as unique as it did when I first tried it -- it's actually quite similar to Mama-Ji, but with an undertone of musk. Maybe Mama-Ji meets Mme. Moriarty. I can see the Gypsy Queen comparisons too, although it's much, much spicier. It's got a really sharply spicy top note -- cinnamon and/or cassia plus a variety of other spices, I'd guess. Probably nutmeg and ginger and maybe a bit of black pepper? And there's a layer of florals beneath that, but not too sweet -- the spices are very much dominant here. And then grounding that, a soft earthy musk. Overall, very nice, and very well-balanced. It definitely does evoke Mama-Ji, but I think I like it the better of the two... The musk rounds out the scent and gives it depth. I know there's probably no way I'll ever find a bottle of this unless I'm willing to pay crazy prices on eBay, but I noticed that one of the new Salon Retail Exclusive scents is getting a lot of comparisons to Voodoo Queen, so maybe I'll just have to find some of that. Because this is really nice. Grade: A

The final burst of the soul’s light and joy before passing into the depths of the earth, and into the cords of Sheol; Sheol, who is never satisfied, and who makes wide her soul to all. Vibrant gladiola, graceful stargazer lily, triumphant iris and bright heliotrope flare, and is finally made somber by heavy copal, a drop of labdanum, and tonka. This is a strange scent -- sort of dark and dusty, and at the same time sweet. It's not as overpoweringly floral as I'd feared, but the non-floral parts of it smell darker than I would expect from copal, labdanum and tonka. From the scent I would have expected myrrh and maybe a drop of vetiver. It's sort of strangely delicate and pretty, at the same time as having that dark side... Quietly elegant, and for some reason I could really see wearing this to a funeral. Which I suppose is quite appropriate given its inspiration. It's not a terribly strong scent even to start with, and fades down fairly quickly. But it's surprisingly nice while it lasts -- soft and subtle and a little eerie/bittersweet. Not likely to be a top favourite, but definitely a keepr, as there will probably be occasions it's perfect for. Maybe even other than funerals... Grade: B

Definitely sunny -- this scent just about radiates light and warmth. Initially, very strongly citrussy, though with enough of a resinous backdrop to keep it from being too over-the-top. As it settles in, the citrus mellows, as you might expect, and the other notes become a bit stronger. There's hibiscus's characteristic tartness, a strong overtone of floral sweetness, and the amber and frankincense giving it a warm incensey base. The more time passes, the more the resinous, incensey notes take over, and I find myself starting to really like it just before it fades away completely. Overall, it's sweeter than I expected, and there's a slight soapiness to it at some points that I think might be the heliotrope. It's not bad, but I'm not sure I'll keep it -- I have other "liquid sunshine" scents that I like better (Aglaea, The Lion and Leo 2007 come to mind). Grade: B

Love. LOVE. I've been a lot more cautious about springing for bottles unsniffed as of late, but I made an exception for this one, because damn, how could a list of notes like that not be amazing? And I have no regrets. I've seen a number of reviews comparing this scent to both Blood Kiss and Mme Moriarty, and both of those are pretty apt comparison, despite the fact that those two scents don't really smell at all alike. But I'd also add Centzon Totochtin and Arachnina to the list of scents that could be this one's parents. I can see the Urd comparison too. And as it happens, nearly all of those scents are on my A-list or at least my B+-list, so this is pretty much a match made in heaven. It's a really hard scent to pin down -- it smells like all the ones listed above even though they don't smell anything like each other. It morphs and changes as it settles in, shifting from a Centzon-Totochtin-ish spicy-dark-chocolate-wine scent to a Mme.Moriarty-ish heady, sexy musk, to a floral-tinged and faintly intoxicating Arachnina-ish scent, and more. It smells dark and hypnotic and Dionysian and slightly dangerous, and I really, really, really like it. I'm kind of surprised how many other people don't, but hey -- all the more for me! I might actually consider acquiring a second bottle before it goes away. Grade: A+ ETA: The more I wear this, the more I love it. I think it may have actually surpassed Red Phoenix as my all-time favourite LE ever. Definitely want a second bottle!

Unlike its sister scent The Phoenix, this scent has some quite likable elements. It's a softer scent than you might expect from the description, warm musks and woods with an overlay of soft sweetness, and yet very gender neutral -- this would easily work as well on a man as on a woman. It's not as aggressively masculine as the notes make it sound like it would be, though. This works just fine on a she-pirate. It's sort of gently incensey and unlike the vast majority of oils that claim to have something to do with the sea, there really is something in here that smells a bit ocean-y -- not like the sharp perfumey scents that seem to be conventionally regarded as "aquatic" despite smelling nothing like water, but more like the actual sea. There is a stage it goes through where it has a bit of that sharpness, after it's settled in a little bit but before it's dried down all the way, and I don't much like it then, but once it's fully settled down it's pretty nice -- kind of a musk/leather/incense scent that's a little on the sexy side without being as over-the-top as Loviatar. It's not terribly long-lasting, and fades down to being not much more than a skin-scent after only a couple of hours. But still, despite that, and that one not-so-good phase, it's probably a keeper, since the before and after stages are quite nice, and not much like anything else out there. Grade: B

Alas, this one mainly just smells like sharp synthetic perfume to me. I suspect that's the "sea air" note -- notes that are supposed to smell like rain, air, wind, etc. usually seem to be some variant of the dreaded ozone note, which to me just smells like cheap drugstore perfume, or maybe dryer sheets. Snake Oil has a touch of that drugstore perfume feel too, so maybe that's part of it. If there's wood and blood in here, I can't tell. Grade: D

I wasn't sure if I'd like this or not, but it sounded so odd I couldn't resist. And it's actually much more pleasant than I had expected. Definitely very citrussy, but with other undertones that give it more depth and interest. There's a hint of darkness to it, but overall it comes across as light and fresh, sweet but not too sweet. I can pick up the lavender and mint in it fairly well, but not the chocolate. Oakmoss is only a faint background presence earthing the scent a bit, like it does in Fae (which this has a slightly similar feel to in some respects). And I'm not altogether sure what zdravetz is. As it settles in further, the bright sweetness fades a bit, and the citrus notes become more tart. There's also a bit more of a herbal edge to it now, making it smell a bit like some kind of anti-stress aromatherapy blend (which tangerine and lavender would be very good for, come to think of it). Ah, here's the chocolate... It doesn't come out until the citrus and lavender top notes have faded down considerably, but once they do, there's a definite hint of chocolate, and I think I may finally have picked out the zdravetz -- which I just googled, and apparently it's a Bulgarian geranium variant with a rosy-woody scent. The oakmoss is more noticeable now too. Unfortunately, the stage it goes to right after that begins to smell a bit cloying and artificial, not nearly as quirky and appealling as earlier. And then it fades out completely not long after that. Total lifespan of scent, maybe about two hours. So on the whole, not really a winner, but it was definitely fun to try out. Grade: B-

This scent very much lives up to its description -- dark and heavy! But in a fairly pleasant way, to my nose at least. On first contact it's a bit off-putting, and I could have sworn there was some civet in there! But as it settles in a bit it softens, and there's some definite sweetness coming out from the orchid and, I suppose, the opium, though I have to admit I'm not entirely sure what that smells like. The benzoin also begins to soften it a little. At this stage it's got all kinds of interesting harmonics going on, dark and light, high and low, all at the same time. It reminds me a bit of Glasya, actually, which had a similar set of contrasts. Or Darkness if the florals in that one hadn't been so overpowering. As it settles in further, the scent mellows and becomes more unified. Also, dead sexy. Seriously. I would swear there was some kind of musk in here -- maybe it's the labdanum, which is used as a component in a lot of plant-based musk scents. I really like it now! It's like some kind of dark, mysterious, sex-and-death incense. It lasts for a very long time, but in the later stages, after a few hours, it takes on a bit of a dusty, nose-tickly scent that I don't like so much. I think maybe that's the opium; not sure. On the whole, it's got some phases and aspects that I really like, some that I don't like. I guess it will require some further experimentation. Grade: B- to B+, depending

A sweet, lovely incense scent, a little similar to Bastet, especially when fresh. It's actually astonishing to me that there are no floral notes listed, because when first applied, it's really sweet, and I would have sworn there as some kind of floral there -- lotus, maybe, or iris. Plus a sharp, clean, acidic herbal note that I suspect is the hyssop. As it settles in more, those elements diminish a little, giving way to a more aromatic, resinous, amber-licious inensey scent. It's kind of like a hybrid between Bastet, Fenris Wolf and one of the heavy church/ritual incense scents -- Al-Azif or Cathedral, or maybe even Schwarzer Mond. This is where the true beauty of it really comes out. If it weren't for the greatness of Lot And His Daughters, I'd be tempted to say that this is the winner of the entire Salon category. Yes, it's that good. It's got all kinds of layers of complexity and depth, and the best description I can think of for it is that it's like a really beautiful, high quality ritual incense or anointing oil, mingled with the scent of sunlight on hot sands -- definitely very Egyptian in its feel. I was so wanting not to have to buy any Salon bottles given how much more expensive they are than regular scents, but there are bound to be a few exceptions, and this is definitely one of them. Must. Have. Grade: A

This one didn't appeal to me originally, but having learned a bit more about what notes work on me (honey, carnation and bergamot being among them), I thought it was worth a try. On first sniff, it's pretty nice. I was a bit worried about the rose amping on my skin, but it doesn't seem to be. Then again, I don't know how old this imp is, since I got it in a swap, and aged rose behaves much better on me. It's actually kind of hard at first to pick out the individual notes in this -- it's kind of floral and kind of not, with a sort of mellow creaminess to it. It's got a touch of warmth, and as it settles in, I would swear there was cinnamon in it, which is probably the carnation -- that particular note generally behaves much better on my skin than most florals, because it smells more spicy than floral. So this phase is almost a bit like cinnamon toast sprinkled with rose petals -- sweet, warm, spicy, with the cinnamony carnation and the honey dominating and just a hint of rose. Very pretty and comforting. It does seem to fade down before too long, but really that's its only down side. Apart from that it's quite lovely, and while it doesn't really have the depth or complexity of my top favourite scents, I could very much see wearing it to lift my spirits on a grey day. Definitely a keeper. Grade: B+/A-

On first contact, the patchouli and vetiver very much dominate this scent -- it's heavy, earthy and dark. But as it settles in a bit, the other notes make themselves felt a bit. They don't stand out, but you can tell there's something leavening the heaviness a bit and adding some sweetness. I should perhaps mention that ylang ylang is normally one of my most hated notes. My skin amps florals in general, and high sweet florals like that in particular, so usually any scent with ylang ylang in it ends up smelling like there's nother but ylang ylang there. Definitely not the case here, though. I'd guessed that the patchouli/vetiver combo could dampen the ylang ylang onslaught if anything could, and apparently I guessed right. I really wish the orange stood out a bit more, though. Orange is usually really nice on me, but here it's just a faint overtone adding a touch of brightness to the heavy dark whoompf of the dominant low notes. On the whole, a little too heavy for me. I like a bit of patchouli or vetiver to deepen an otherwise too-light or too-sweet scent, but not when they're as dominant as they are here. Grade: C+

I almost bought a bottle of this unsniffed, because it sounded so incredibly good from the description. I love spices, and this one also looks like it has just enough non-spice notes to ground it a little and give it depth, so that it doesn't end up as one-dimensional as Three Witches. But I exercised self-discipline and went for an imp instead. And now that I'm wearing it, I think I might as well have followed my initial impulse. (That's what happened the last time I looked at a new GC scent and thought "Bottle! Now!" too... with Hymn to Proserpine.) This is really, really, really nice. On first contact, the cassia and cinnamon are the strongest notes, and it smells almost candy-sweet, like cinnamon red-hots. But as it settles in a bit, the other notes come out more, especially the sandalwood and tobacco, and give it more richness and depth. It's funny -- tobacco is not something that I'd ever have thought I'd like in a scent. I hate being around people smoking, but surprisingly tobacco has turned up in a number of scents that I like, and doesn't usually smell anything like you'd think it would. But this one is the first one where the tobacco is really identifiable -- there's an element to it that really does smell a lot like high-quality pipe tobacco. But not in a bad way, at all. It lends a certain earthiness to the scent, which is nice, and also makes it smell fairly gender-neutral. Unlike Chimera or Bengal, both of which this scent does resemble a bit, this one could work equally well on a man or a woman, once it gets past that initial hyper-sweet stage (which only lasts a couple of minutes). The combined effect of all the notes is to send me into little spasms of happiness every time I catch a whiff of myself. It even bears a certain similarity to my beloved Red Phoenix, a.k.a. Best LE Of All Time. And thankfully, it does not appear to have caused any major skin irritation, which scents with a lot of cinnamon and/or cassia can sometimes do to me. (Note: for those who do encounter that, try diluting it in a neutral carrier oil like jojoba, or maybe something especially skin-soothing like shea butter.) The only down side is that it isn't terribly long-lasting -- within a few hours, it's down to just a faint, warm, aromatic scent that I have to press my nose right to my wrist to smell. But it's plenty nice enough to be worth re-applying as often as needed. Yes, bottle time. I may even have a new candidate for my GC top ten the next time they open the polls for that... Grade: A+

I'm reviewing this scent a second time, having first reviewed it around 2.5 years ago. Lilith was one of the first BPAL scents I ever tried, and I remember being disappointed in it at the time, although the description of it had sounded really good to me, enough that I made it part of my very first order and then picked one up from a sales post in the forum before my order had even arrived. But that was before I knew that rose amps up tremendously on my skin, that black musk turns to warm sweet powder, and that BPAL's wine note goes very fruity on me and smells more like grapes. And the odd thing is -- now, knowing all that, and after trying over 400 scents, Lilith's description still sounds good to me! So when a friend listed it in a recent swap post, I decided to try it again and see if it smelled different to me after two and a half years of BPAL experimentation. And it definitely does, though another factor may be age -- this imp has a somewhat yellowed label and looks like it's been making the rounds for a while, which is a good thing as far as I'm concerned. I've found that other rose scents get much nicer and much less likely to amp terribly on my skin once they've aged for a while. The dominant note here is still a sort of rose/fruit hybrid, giving it a heady sweetness, and the myrrh is very much in the background, but on the whole it seems warmer, richer and more complex than I remembered. Also, I no longer fear fruit scents the way I did then, since I've found they can actually work really well on me. On the whole, I definitely like it more, though perhaps not as much as I initially thought I would way back when. But I think I'll be hanging onto this imp and wearing it at least from time to time. New Grade: B

I didn't go looking for this one, but Kettu had tried it at a meet'n'sniff and a friend had one she was looking to swap, so I picked it up for her and decided to try it just for the hell of it. Definitely not my type of scent -- at first sniff it's a light, sweet floral, but it settles down to something drier, a little less sweet, and sort of... cold, for lack of a better word. Smells like there's orris in here, and maybe some sort of woody notes, and a bit of some sort of berry, in addition the florals I originally picked up. It's pleasant enough, once it's settled in a for a bit. Still fairly sweet, though not as much so as on first contact. There's something a touch bubble-gummy about it, though not to an awful extent. But it's still not really me -- very girly and with a nose-tickling dryness underlying it. It also fades out fairly quickly -- after less than an hour, it's nearly gone, but what there is of it has gotten warmer and more berry-ish, which I like -- kind of ironic that it starts getting more to my liking just before it disappears. This one definitely goes to Kettu. Grade: C+/B-

This is way more feminine and perfumey than I would have thought from the reviews, at least on my skin. Then again, it has got rose, lily and jasmine in it, so I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. It smells like a fairly high-end women's department store perfume -- very floral, but with undertones of other notes grounding it. It's also quite markedly different on my wrists than in the crooks of my arms. On my wrists it's warmer, with more of the amber, vanilla and sandalwood making themselves known. In the crooks of my arms it's sharper, sweeter and drier, smelling predominantly like florals over tea, with a bit of that snowy note that's in a lot of the winter scents -- I suppose that would be "caves of ice" -- and something vaguely minty and almost medicinal. It lasts for quite a long time, even through dishwashing and housecleaning, and on my wrists eventually settles down into something really lovely and warm, a bit like Lyonesse. In the crooks of my arms it stays thoroughly unpleasant for at least a few hours before eventually fading down to something not too unlike the way it smells on my wrists. I kind of like the wrist version, though the vanilla did start to get a bit Play-Doh-y at a few points. I very much do not like the arm version. I had been certain this one would be really nice, but I guess I hadn't counted on the ability of my skin chemistry to amp the florals beyond all reason, and I really should have taken the ice reference as a warning bell too. Oh well. Grade: wrists B+, arms C, averaging B-

This smells like... half of The Death of Autumn. Specifically, the earthy dead-leaves half, as opposed to the spicy saffron-amber half. Unfortunately, it was the spicy saffron-amber half that I liked. Not sure there's much more I can add to that. This scent is dark and earthy, but not in the warm way that scents like Omen and Umbra are -- it's very much cold earth. There's a slight element of mustiness and decay, but it's not as strong or as off-putting as the decay note in Zombi. Hmmm, I spoke (typed?) too soon! As it settles in, there's a really lovely warm spiciness coming from it. Very autumnal, but now it's in a cozy, nesting by the fire sort of way. I can't even identify the note(s) involved, but it's turned into something earthy, warm, spicy and somehow really comforting. And took much less time to get there than The Death of Autumn did to get past its nasty stage and into the ambery goodness. At first I was thinking "Should I even have tried this?" Now I'm sniffing my wrist repeatedly and smiling contentedly. I think this one may well be a keeper. Grade: B... B+?

A dark ocean breeze, electric with adrenaline, magic, and fear, clashing with the thick scent of poisoned berries and spiny aloe, against a backdrop of snowdrop, cedar, and cypress. I was a little unsure of what this one would be like, since the description sounded like it might have the dreaded ozone note in it. But BPAL's berry notes are nearly always good on me, and cedar and cypress are usually pretty reliable nice as well, so it seemed like it might be worth a try. And really, it's not bad at all. There is a touch of that perfumey ozone edge to it which I don't like overly much, but it's not that strong. The berries are definitely dominant, and they're definitely that unique sort of evil underworld berries that BPAL seems to specialize in. As with many of BPAL's best fruity scents, this is not some teenager's fruit scent, this is evil fruit that will steal your soul, and I mean that in the best way possible. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to have too much staying power. It's fading down already and it's been less than half an hour. The floral note from the snowdrops is also coming out a bit more, though it's not predominantly a floral scent by any means, and the damn ozone's a little more noticeable too now that the berries are fading. So probably not a keeper, even though it's nicer than I thought it would be. It's not like I don't have a lot of evil berry scents already. Grade: B-

Wow... Can this really be my 450th review? Hard to believe! My first thought on seeing the description of this one was "What? What were they thinking?" But then curiosity overcame me and I ordered a decant anyway. And it's really nowhere near as unpleasant as you might think from the description. First and foremost, it seems to be a foody, sugary scent. The treacle note really dominates it, and while I didn't mind that note at all in Queen Alice, it's a bit strong here, and leans unpleasantly toward caramel, which is usually a complete scent-killer for me. However, it's not too bad - nowhere near the Caramel Death that Red Lantern, Tiresias, etc. turned into on my skin. But still -- the main fans of this scent are going to be people who like those scents, as well as Sugar Skull and other similar ones. This really does smell like something you should eat rather than wear. Not getting anything much in the way of tar, which is probably good, though there seems to be a bit of an ashy, smoky note hovering in the background. Nor beer either, though I'm really not sure how that would be rendered in a perfume anyway. There does seem to be a bit of something dark and earthy counterbalancing the sugar/treacle note, though, which is kind of nice. On the whole I think I sort of half like it and half don't... It's nicer than most of the other sugar/caramel type scents, but really, I'm not much of a foody-scent type person. Grade: B

The incense-tinged scent of forbidden tomes and the musk-laden remnants of infernal servants. This smelled pleasant enough in the vial, and when first applied to my skin, but it's disappearing extremely quickly. What there is of it seems to be a nice, soft, incensey scent with undertones of musk, much as the description promises, but it's a very light scent and fading extremely fast. Hmm, perhaps I spoke too soon. It actually does seem to be hanging in there, just at a very soft level, more of a skin-scent than anything. I can definitely see the similarity to Clio that some people have mentioned - it's got that same occult-shop feel to it. I could see wearing this while copying out Books of Shadows or something. On the whole, not a standout, but quite nice. I don't think I'm about to go searching for a bottle, but I'll keep & enjoy my decant imp. Grade: B+

The Death of Autumn was the one I was most looking forward to from my Halloween decants, but this is the one that made my eyes go wide when I sniffed it in the imp, and I absolutely had to dab some on despite the fact that I was already wearing Priala. My initial reaction to that first experiment was that it was absolutely lovely. The previous incarnation of Hunter Moon wasn't bad, but this one is much nicer. It seemed to have that combination of sweet heady boozy fruit (from the wine, I suppose) with musk and earthy notes that makes me so love scents like Bewitched, Lampades and Urd. There was definitely a touch of the same decaying-dry-leaves note that dominates The Death of Autumn, but the musk and wine make it much softer and sweeter. However, on trying it again today, applied more heavily to more parts, I liked it somewhat less. The sweetness became a bit more overwhelming, a bit too perfumey. At times it actually seemed to bear a distinct resemblance to Snake Oil, which unlike 99% of the BPAL-loving populace, I do not like. It was that same sort of too-sweet, cloying vanilla. As it settled into my skin, it seemed to go very differently in different places. On my wrists, it was more or less the same sweet heady musk as the day before, but in the crooks of my arms, it was perfumey to an almost unpleasant extent, as if it had the dreaded ozone note in it or something. And there was a touch of that sharp high sweetness that I have come to fear whenever I see the phrase "traditional lunar oils" in a Lunacy description. So on the whole I would have to say the jury is still out on this one. I was about ready to start searching for a bottle of it after my first experiment, but now I'm not so sure... Further testing needed, I guess. Grade: A ETA: Further testing brought back the love, in force. Not sure what was wrong the second time I tried it, but every time since it's been lovely, to the point where I had to acquire a bottle. I've actually bumped the grade straight to an A now.

This was the one I was most looking forward to of the Halloween scents this year, but I can't figure out whether I like it or not. It's definitely a very complex and interesting, multilayered shapeshifter of a scent, but not altogether pleasant. On first contact it's kind of scary, and not in a good way. There's a dry mustiness to it that works very well for conjuring up dead leaves, with maybe a bit of decaying wood as well, but it's not a note I'd really want on me on purpose. It almost leans a bit towards the decay-note in Zombi, although thankfully nowhere near as severe. It also bears more than a passing resemblance to the singularly bitter and nasty sort of vetiver that's in Malediction. Did I mention that Zombi and Malediction are two of my all-time least favourite BPAl scents? However, things change a lot as it settles in. The amber, saffron and clove, all notes I dearly love, start out fairly soft in the mix, just slightly mellowing the bitterness enough to make it nicer than it might otherwise have been. But after about 20-30 minutes, they rise up and become more dominant, and it morphs into this really nice dark smoky amber scent. If only it would start out like that, this would be a bottle purchase for sure. But the initial stages of it are seriously un-fun, and I don't know if it's really worth suffering through them to get to the good part. Grade: D initially, A eventually, averaging B/B- or so?

I really, really wanted to love this, because -- well, it's called Selkie! I have a major liking for seals and selkies, as is probably evident from my forum userpic. But aquatic scents rarely work well on me, and it's also got floral notes, which my skin likes to amp to all hell. So I couldn't resist ordering it, but admittedly there was a certain level of apprehension. My first reaction when I initially tried it was that it wasn't nearly as bad as I'd expected -- it's a fairly light scent, and not overwhelmingly sweet. You can certainly pick up the florals pretty strongly, but they're not at the rise-up-and-kill-you level. However, it's still a much more conventionally perfumey sort of scent than I'd normaly ever wear. It's also really not what I'd associate with selkies -- it really needs to haave some animal musk for that. It's too... clean this way. I have been up close to seals (again, see userpic). They do not smell like perfume. They smell kind of wet and fishy and musky and, well, animalistic. If you wanted an authentic selkie scent, it'd be kind of like wet dog mixed with fish, though I expect that wouldn't be a big seller. But still... it'd be more evocative for me if it had a strong musk note, and a little more darkness, and was maybe a bit more woody and less floral. As it stands... it's not completely unpleasant, but it's really not me. And I have to decide whether it's really worth keeping just for the fact that it says Selkie on it, which have of me says it is (just because OMG Selkies) and half of me says "Are you kidding? With the amount of BPAL you already have? Away with it already!" *sigh* Grade: C

As others have commented, this is quite a "green" scent. Very strongly herbal, though with floral overtones as well. The musk seems to be more of a gentle background presence, giving it a bit more warmth and depth than it would otherwise have. The idea of volcanic gas in a scent kind of worried me, and indeed when freshly applied there's an unmistakable whiff of the dreaded ozone note, which makes anything it appears in smell like cheap drugstore perfume or air freshener to me. But thankfully, the ozone presence is fairly light, and fades quickly. The remainder of the scent is not bad at all -- a fairly nice herbal-floral, not too sweet, but more like a regular perfume than you might think from the description. It could probably work on either gender, depending on skin chemistry, though on me the florals stand out a bit more than they probably would on other people (my skin loves to amp florals). Haven't yet decided if it's a keeper or not -- it's certainly likable enough, once the ozone note fades, but it's not all that exciting or distinctive, and these days I have so much BPAL that my standards for what I'll keep are a little higher than they once were. Grade: B ETA: Wow, I just noticed (from the points total) that this is my 444th review! I do have a life, really I do...

The scent of calm waters just before a raging storm, limned with achingly-beautiful blooms, an icy scent, but somehow warm, and mirror-bright: bold gardenia, crystalline musk, muguet, water blossoms, clear, slightly tart aquatic notes and a crush of white ginger. Got this as a frimp with my last order. The florals in the description scared me a little, but with musk and ginger it seemed like it might have potential. Plus, muguet at least (a.k.a. lily of the valley) seems to be one of those few florals that doesn't amp too much on my skin. On, it's definitely floral, but not too scary. It's actually a very light, soft scent, not overpowering at all. The musk does soften the florals, and the ginger is just a faint presence, but also acts to tone down the sweetness just a touch. The throw is minimal -- it's really more of a skin-scent that you have to get up close to notice. And it doesn't seem to want to last very long. What there is of it is pleasant enough, but there's not much there. Grade: B-