cherrycherry

The salted caramel note hits me first. It's gooey and rich and buttery. There is a tiny lick of the sea in there but the aquatic doesn't bother me too much. On my arm, the cookie note comes out to play and I'm huffing myself and thinking how perfect this is. The gourmand notes almost completely cover the aquatic note and really, it's all cookies and melted, salty caramel.

Wet in the bottle, I get a pecan top note. It's very nutty and very delicious. I also get some pumpkin and a whiff of treacle. On my skin, the pumpkin and treacle comes out a lot more and the mental image that comes with the name of the scent is solidified in my mind. This really is pumpkin-treacle tarts, topped with sugar-crusted pecans. About ten-fifteen minutes after the drydown and I can smell a pastry note too - the base of the tarts. Mmmm... love this. It's foodie-heaven.

The Lick-It family have produced an offspring. This is that offspring. The mint is in-your-face at first but as it settles and the oil begins to dry, the marzipan comes out and we have a wave of creamy sugar. Mint remains the top note and has lasting power that many of the other minty BPAL blends don't have on me. This really does smell like peppermint creams. Bloody gorgeous!

Ohhh, okay. This has that perfect cookie note but along with it we have a great deal of tea and spice. Wet on the back of my hand, the scent just blooms with tea, tea and more tea. Then we get the spice, mainly in the form of the snickerdoodle note. I am an ardent tea-junkie and so this one suits me down to the ground. It's very evocative. Funnily enough, as I am testing and writing this review I am sipping blood orange tea from a cup and saucer and the scent of that and the perfume oil are rather similar and in the best possible way. It's making me wish I had a snickerdoodle or two to go with it! This, like many blends I've tried from this year's Yule update, is not what I expected but it still manages to be a total win. If you want to smell like tea, snickerdoodles cookies and gingery spice, then choose this little baby. You will not be disappointed.

Holy crap, this is incredible. If I was wearing a blindfold right now and someone hovered this under my nose, there is no way I would even think that it was a perfume oil at all. I would think that someone had been baking the most delicious cookies known to all mankind and that they were waving them teasingly before me. This is mouth-watering. I do get the pomegranite cream also, plus a very tiny little lick of white mint, both of which are also very lovely. Mainly, this is all cookies, all the time and you'd better believe it's delicious, my friends. The throw is great and this lasts and lasts also. A small amount is needed and the sweet, sugary goodness is all around me in a great big cloud of creamy-cookie love. I must buy more of this immediately.

I love citrus notes and I love snow notes even more, so I knew this would be win. It is a win - big time. This is a sharp blend, which is okay with me because when it settles there is a cream note that comes out to help soften and even things out. I get grapefruit, which makes me smile and have wonderful nostalgia because a close friend I have loves grapefruit. He is going to love this and WANT this in equal measures and I know already he's going to try and steal this bottle. I also get sugary lemon, which is uplifting and happy-making. The snow is in the background because of the wonderfully yellow top notes but it's definitely there and more present following the dry down. I love this

A boozy addition to the devil's bake sale! Rum-soaked butter cookies, crusted with sugar, soaked in almond and garnished with orange rind. I tried the '08 version of this a while back and for some reason I cannot remember now I just did not get on with it. As I'm a forgiving sort and believe in second chances, I decided to order it this year and see if we could work through our problems. Consider them worked out in full. This blend is warm, golden sugar cookies, soaked in rum and then sprinkled in orange sugar. I'm all over this and you'd better believe it. Someone close to me who I love beyond description has a real thing for sugar cookies and this scent reminds me of him and then some - which evokes feelings of comfort, love and nearness. It's gourmand to the max, this one, but it's also playful and sort of sexy because of the spice. I'm in the mood to bake now. Mmmm, deliciousness.

A spiced coffee house mocha with an extra dash of rich chocolate syrup. Like Bliss, only darker and almost sexier with it's fiery heart. Mmm. Hot chocolate with the devil. I'll take another cup, if you please.

This is nothing even remotely what I thought it would be like. I expected some almond but there's no almond at all. Instead, I get sweet, white florals and that gorgeous snow note that the lab does so well. Actually, I really love this to pieces. It's clean and sparkling and really quite beautiful. It reminds me of a quieter, almost glittery version of Ondurdis. This might be one of the big favourite for me out of this year's Yule update. Stunning.

Someone's been baking gingerbread in a hurry, whilst getting ready for a Christmas party with way too many guests invited and not enough time. Whilst juggling kitchen tasks, that someone remembers they have put on their BPAL yet, even though they are dressed for the party. So, they reach for the number one go-to scent, Snake Oil, but as they are flustered they accidently drop the bottle. It slips down from buttery, vanilla-frosting flecked fingers. The bottle falls onto a tray of still-warm and fresh-baked gingerbread and all of the oil soaks into the goods. They are rendered completely inedible by this calamity, but... the someone cannot help but think that the smell of the gingerbread mixing with the precious oil is truly heavenly, even though they are saddened to have made a spill. Yes. Fresh-baked gingerbread goodness, oozing with Snake Oil and yuletide warmth. The PERFECT Christmas perfume.

Totally agreed with the comparisons to Snow White, first and foremost. At first when I opened the bottle I thought it was Snow White. This is the younger sister of that blend - milder, paler, sweeter and snowier, almost. The scent stays close to my skin and has medium-throw. I'm not getting the spun-sugar at all, I'm just getting snowy sweetness and a comforting, white creaminess. This is going to be a lovely one to slather on winter days when I'm staying at home all day and reading, writing or doing something else I enjoy. It's all of the beautiful parts of winter, without any of the harshness at all - like watching snow fall down outside your windows without actually having to go out into the bitter cold. All the beauty, none of the bite. This is really lovely and for fans of Snow White, it is a total must-have and should be hoarded.

Snow blends are my absolute favourites!! My personal go-to list is -- The First Soft Snow Ondurdis (this NEEDS to come back) Frau Holle The Snow Maiden Snow White Blue Snowballs Snowblind Snow Angel Snow Bunny The Snow Storm Snow-Flakes Dust Of Snow Frost At Midnight Winter Heavens Archangel Winter Shivering Boy Cannot wait for my Yule packages to land so I can try this year's snow blends

Seconded.

I cannot believe I haven't reviewed this one yet - it's one of my staples! I love this for two reasons. One - the concept. I heart Papa Legba and feel that he walks with me. He is the paternal trickster and I genuinely adore him. He opens doors and teaches so many lessons. Two - the delicious, coconutty sweetness. Elegba smells of voodoo macaroons, browned and sugary butter and rum so sweet it makes you lick your lips to chase every last drop. The coconut is perfect and both sultry and inexplicably fun. A perfect homage to Papa Legba. I am entirely certain that he adores this blend and is honoured by it.

Ooooh, this is a spooky one. How could old wood and old stone smell this good? It's like a ghost story in a bottle, giving all the chills it should give. This is a crumbling old castle, filled with white ladies and spectres and is so evocative of those mental images I can barely put it into words. HOW does Beth do this? Wearing this, even just a drop or two, makes me feel so... stirred. It's an eerie, dark, wet scent. It's not an everyday joy-giver like many of my GC favourites but I adore it all the same. Wonderful.

Anything that smells like Haunted is a win for me. That's mainly why I bought this one (the comparisons made me very excitable) but I also fell in love with the label. I am a shameless slut for labels that look good on my shelves and this one was a must-have. What's not to love about a skele-man and a clown? Anyway, onto the blend itself. If I was concerned about anything at all when ordering this, it was the grass note. On me, it is barely there and instead all I get is silky, warming amber. It's going to age a real treat, this one. I'm going to let it sit where it needs to, in a cool and dark place, for as long as I can bear it. When it has aged at least two years, I am going to slather Autumn Fancies like you would not believe. For a scent that is slightly mournful (why do I always feel this way about amber?) it certainly makes me extremely happy. I would love this as a hair gloss. Perfection!

Soft, sweet, darkness. This is the best of this year's phobia blends by FAR. It reminds me of Perversion in some ways and I adore Perversion. Ahem. It is mainly tobacco and black musk on me. I am wearing this currently and amping it like mad - bloody loving it and knowing I smell like dark heaven. If this ever comes back as a bath oil, room spray or hair gloss then I will be one very happy little kitty. It's just so... deep. It's almost thought-provoking in its complexity and yet the notes are simple and honest and quite gentle. I need to try this on my husband ASAP because I know that he will wear it very well indeed. Sexy, inky madness. Love.

I love foodie scents. Always have, always will. Ooky is foodie heaven on me. It was an insta-buy when I read the notes and thankfully I get each and every one. We start out with shouty almond when it's wet in the bottle and then upon second huff we get the pumpkin and lemon zest. On my skin, the notes blend seamlessly and it becomes some voluptuous sister to both Dana O'Shee and Hellcat. I love the little tickle from the lemon. It's subtle but it's there. The buttercream note is sweet and sexy. This is Nigella Lawson licking confections from her fingers and giving the camera a sultry wink. It's an unbridled threesome between pumpkin, almond and creamy lemon. It's a lapdance from a pumpkin wearing lingerie made from lemon marzipan... I don't know how Beth makes her gourmand scents so damn sexy but she has mad skillz and always pulls it off. Amazing.

I've still got a lot of my Halloweenie shopping to review from this year's selection so before my Yule's come in, I'm going to make a start! Dark Pumpkin Mead is what it says it is - it is dark, it is pumpkiny and it is boozy. Beyond that, it has a treacle/molasses note (on my skin anyway) that really is very moreish. I get the maple also and as others have said - it's not a cheap maple note, it's a REAL maple syrup note. If this blend, all notes included, was an edible sauce or syrup of some sort I would want it slathered on everything I eat. It's so well-rounded and tasty. Also, a little bit goes a long, LONG way. The throw is incredible and smells wonderful on my husband also. Perfect for those lazy, cosy Autumn/Winter days where you want to be warmed and soothed and pleasured by the perfume you wear. Dark Pumpkin Mead is a gourmand hug in a bottle.

This is a gorgeously sweet snow note mixed with the blueberry note from Blue Lollipops with an extra little kick of citrus. I knew this would be good. Though I didn't order it the first time around it was available, I got my bottle today from a lovely forumite and I am so glad I did! It's just so beautiful. It also reminds me of the snow-cones I devour every year when the fair comes to my city. Coldness and sweetness and syrupy, sugary fruitiness. I may need another bottle of this (thank God it's available again this year at the TP!) because this little baby is going to get some regular lovin' from this BPAL addict! One of the best snow-based blends to date. Edited to add -- now this has settled some, since arriving in the post, I've come to realise just how much it smells like gummi bears!

Before BPAL, I would not have worn an apple scent and nor would I have used a bathing product that smelt of apple. After being seduced by Creepy, Sugar Slathered Candied Apple and Candy Corn Coated Apple, I found myself thinking very differently. This bath oil belongs to the same scent group for obvious reasons and really is very wonderful. I don't get a great deal of oak from my bottle but that's okay because I'm all about the sugary, caramel-smothered apple scents these days and this one truly fits the bill. Lovely. 10/10

This has to be one of the best Halloweenie bath oils ever presented by the Trading Post. It is massively creamy, the spice behaves itself and the pumpkin note is warm and buttery and delicious. As with all of the bath oils, you don't need a great deal to enjoy a powerfully scented, skin-softening bathing experience. Three squirts from the bottle is enough for me and when I use it, it's a genuine struggle to get out of the bath because of it's sheer gorgeousness! This NEEDS to be a perfume oil at some point. It's totally divine. 10/10

I've been using this as a bath oil and a body oil and it certainly is a lot like Eldritch Dark. I was concerned about the 'rose milk' when I made the purchase but it really is nothing to worry about at all. On me, this is red musk, patchouli, a milky note and a very, very light floral. It works wonderfull well with Callidora and with the Silkybat hair gloss. Just lovely. 9/10

Callidora belongs to a certain musky-patchouli scent group that Beth does with brilliance and knowing flair. It's very deep, very strong and very powerful and I can only imagine how beautifully she will age. One needs only a tiny amount for impressive throw and the staying power is fantastic. I'm not getting a great deal of myrhh, but I am getting plenty of warm benzoin, cacao, patchouli, blood musk and delicious, sweet tobacco absolute. This is gorgeous. 10/10

This is a very original and very different sort of patchouli - not at all what I was anticipating and the best possible way. I knew I wanted one complete set out of the three Hallowenches available and because of the subtle Elizabeth Bathory conotation (Bloodbath bath oil, hello?) Callidora and her associated scent and products were my choice. I was happy with the notes for the perfume oil and the bath oil but unsure about the hair gloss as it seemed too simple. How wrong I was. Silkybat is not terribly complex but don't be fooled into thinking that it is 'just a patchouli hair gloss'. It really isn't. If anything, the 'sugared' note is more dominant than the patch and the overall sweetness and lusciousness of the scent is very becoming and wonderfully surprising. It is a struggle not to slather my hair in this stuff because when I spray a few squirts into my palm, I just want to keep spraying and rub it all over myself, skin and all. If there was a perfume oil of this, I would buy it greedily. It is not my favourite of all the hair glosses that have been offered but it is in my top three without a doubt. 10/10 Edited to say -- I've just looked over some of the other reviews and I have to say I agree totally with the comparison to both the Amber/Patch hair gloss and the Spun Sugar Spectre bath oil. it's like a sexy lovechild of the two.