Vega

Sniffed: Black and inorganic. I recognize cocoa, pepper, and most of all, ash. On skin: While I can smell the bittersweet dark cocoa forming a deep base, and perhaps a bit of hay, pepper and patchouli adding nuance and variety, the blend is completely dominated by inorganic, gritty incense ash. BPAL's dust/stone accord has a very inorganic vibe, and the one in The Seekim is similar to the stone note in The Isles of Demons, Phoenix in Summer, and Visiting the Temple of Auspicious Fortune. But this is the most heavy stone accord I've encountered in a BPAL blend, to the point of being oppressive and off-putting. In fact, The Seekim smells downright spooky, and actually makes me feel nervous and very uncomfortable. Time doesn't help; it only gets more ashy and eventually drowns out all the other notes. Colour impression is a chaotic scribble of black lines. Verdict: There are (thankfully only) a tiny handful of BPAL blends that don't just smell unpleasant, but actually evoke psychic disorder and intense oppressiveness in my mind. The Seekim is one of them. I won't be trying this again.

Sniffed: Black musk, clove and patchouli: dark and pungent. On skin: Black musk, dark and forbidding, is the star of this show. Thankfully it is coloured and sweetened by myrrh, patchouli, clove, and a hint of orange. However, the other notes aren't entirely successful at tempering the pungency of the black musk, and it remains just this side of off-putting. Sentimental Initiation is a full-bodied, very deep and dark blend, in the same family of dark musks as Czernobog, Phantom and Misericordia. Verdict: If the other notes were more prominent, I think I would've liked Sentimental Initiation a lot more. As it is, there's just too much black musk for me!

Sniffed: Dry sandalwood and leafy green ivy. On skin: Here is a plain, no-nonsense blend, stark in its simplicity and directness. Post-Mortem Laureatus is a study of contrasts between dry, dessicated white sandalwood and fresh, bitter-green ivy. A thin, sharp scent with very little nuance, yet well-formed for all its straightforwardness. Colour impression is bone-white ivory versus dark green. Verdict: Definitely not a scent I'd wear, but it's a fine specimen of its Salon image, an excellent contrast of stark death and bitter freshness.

Sniffed: Just sandalwood. On skin: Sharp, dry sandalwood is still dominant, but thankfully other notes emerge with the drydown. I don't smell them clearly, but I can tell how the balsam and guiac wood are tempering and giving body and nuance to what would otherwise be dessicated white sandalwood. There is the lightest breath of rose. Overall, this is a light-woody blend which loses its edge over time and softens into something gentle and sorrowful. Colour impression is pale brown and cream bark of trees... with a hint of pink rose amidst all that woodiness. Verdict: Indeed, Death has fully embraced this Maiden: she is quite overwhelmed and all but departed from this world. This is much too woody a blend for me, but I appreciate how it evokes the Salon image so well.

Sniffed: Light resin and musk, tobacco, and the winey, slightly sour note that is BPAL's blood accord. On skin: Unfortunately, Blood Moon contains tobacco and blood at their worst. The tobacco is old and gritty, instead of warm and fresh the way I like it. If "laudanum" is poppy, it is contributing an ashy smell to the already stale tobacco. And the blood accord practically smells like sour, stale wine, which becomes more dominant and oppressive, and eventually mixes and ruins the already unpleasant tobacco. Blood Moon reeks of decay and entropy, and really is "monstrous" in every way. Colour impression is the rust-red of old, dried blood. Verdict: A resounding No. Blood Moon isn't pleasant to wear at all.

Sniffed: A blast of gritty and fragrant coffee, off-set by something smoother, which must be the woods and paper. On skin: Miskatonic University is a bit of a morpher. When I first tested it, the coffee and woods/paper bouquet were perfectly balanced. Coffee formed the grainy, dark base, and the wood/paper bouquet lightened and smoothened that grittiness, until it seemed like I was smelling the coffee from behind a screen of paper and wood: quite befitting a library or reading room! The second time I tested it, the coffee had the upper hand, although the woods/paper weren't completely overpowered, and still managed to add some smoothness to the coffee. Overall, Miskatonic University is a fine-smelling establishment, with the scent of coffee firmly embedded in its walls and books. It gives off an Old World atmosphere, and feels austere yet affable, if a little old-fashioned. Nothing sinister about this University! Colour impression is black coffee and milk, not mixed but standing next to each other. Verdict: I'm not over-fond of the coffee smell (not even the real thing), and Miskatonic University strays too far into the coffee zone. While I have no desire to wear it as a perfume, I think it would make a fabulous atmospheric spray, so I'm astonished that the Trading Post doesn't already have a version. If it did, I'll be snapping it up for sure and turning my rooms into a venerable library!

For those who miss Dublin, or want to try a dupe... The Darkling Thrush (Yule) and Moon of Small Spirits (Lunacy) are quite similar. Not entirely the same -- Dublin has a leafier quality that those two can't quite match -- but they all are green, fresh, cold forests and not excessively evergreen.

I bought a bottle direct from Lab when it was initially released, and this is my review after 7 months of aging. Sniffed: A soft, full, enfolding scent, deep and dark with a touch of brightness. I can make out something musky, and a dash of coconut. On skin: When I first tested Touched Twice right upon receiving it from the Lab, the florals were somewhat shrill and chaotic. Now after half a year, they have subsided, and the scent has become much more blended and complex. The scent comprises of a full-bodied, "matte" base of musk and deep resinous notes, overlaid with a brighter floral sheen. I can pick out hints of coconut, musk, frankincense, and generally "white florals" that are bright but not screaming, but everything has combined and harmonized together into one unified note. Touched Twice is sweet, soft and gentle: a scent landscape sunk in a deep gloom, profoundly melancholy and sorrowful. The contrast between deep base and luminous florals clearly evoke the softly radiant magic of the Unicorn resurrecting Prince Lir, in the wake of the ruin and hopelessness wreaked by the Red Bull. Colour impression is dusky royal purple, more blue than red, the colour of the dusk sky in the moments before nightfall. Verdict: Touched Twice is a masterpiece, the most powerfully evocative scent I've smelled from the Lab. It completely embodies the scene of its namesake: the exquisite sorrow, the heart-aching melancholy, the determined and desperate hope in the face of despair. How moving it is! So it pains me greatly to say that it's not a scent I can see myself wearing regularly. Nevertheless, I'm so glad I got to try this. Bravo, BPAL, bravo -- this is the epitome of scent artistry.

Sniffed: A warm vanilla base, sharpened and clarified with orange and narcissus. On skin: A tantalizing, delicious contrast of warm vanilla, juicy orange, and bright, biting narcissus. A bit creamy-sweet, a bit fruity, a bit sharply floral -- these three notes don't entirely blend, but instead stand in juxtaposition with each other. Hunger is a scent that's just slightly off-kilter: not unpleasant, but it isn't entirely harmonious and therefore jars a bit. The narcissus tones down over time and becomes vanishingly faint, leaving behind a vanilla and orange mix. I can see how the imbalance of these notes embodies hunger pangs, especially the incisive narcissus that cuts through the foody vanilla and orange background. Even so, this blend is playful, upbeat and coquettish, and evokes more of a peckishness (for sweet things!) than ravening hunger. Colour impression is a sparkling bold orange framed with dark brown and neon pink. Verdict: Hunger is a bold, youthful blend, quite girly! Unfortunately it's a case of close, but no cigar: while I like it, it lacks that little oomph or somesuch, and just misses out on being a keeper.

Sniffed: Delicious pumpkin laced with sugar -- light, sweet, and fluffy. On skin: On one hand, warm, nutty, delicious pumpkin as I'd taste in American pumpkin pie. On the other hand, fluffy, billowy (but not saccharine) sugar that really smells like a marshmallow! Put together, the fluffy marshmallow subdues the rich foodiness of the pumpkin note, and gives it an airy, buoyant lightness. Both notes balance each other out perfectly, but they don't entirely blend together, only sit closely next to each other. This juxtaposition is not unpleasant, but is not entirely harmonious either -- and this makes for quite a fascinating scent combination. Verdict: This is definitely a marshmallowed pumpkin! (Or is it pumpkin-laced marshmallow?) It's a fine specimen of BPAL artistry -- I'm amazed at how this smells just like real pumpkin and real marshmallows. Nevertheless, I'm not entirely fond of the contrast between the two notes, and since I already have a favourite pumpkin in Blue Pumpkin Floss, Marshmallow Pumpkin will be going.

Sniffed: Ugh! Peppery! Where are my beloved ozone/rain notes? On skin: Nothing but angry pepper. What baffles me is that this is the second time I've tested Phoenix in Summer; the first test smelled drastically different: more ozonic/watery and stony, completely in line with the notes list. I'm hard-pressed to pinpoint what is causing this angry, peppery scent, it's like no other note I've smelled before. Vetiver, perhaps? I suspect it's a component in one of BPAL's "rain" notes, as Szepasszony pulled the same stunt on me. Phoenix in Summer is the only other blend that has done this, though. Anyway, all I smell is this peppery note, perhaps touched with some inorganicity from the stone/pavement. It's thoroughly repulsive, and unwearable -- I'm going to wash it off now. Verdict: What a disaster. I have no idea what happened to Phoenix in Summer between the first and second tests, and I'm not interested in finding out. I'm glad this peppery note is a rare occurrence! But this was quite a horrible experience and my decant is going straight to the swaps box.

Sniffed: Darkly glowing resins (myrrh and patchouli being the most prominent) mingle with dark musk, with perhaps a spicy kick from nutmeg and chilli. On skin: Raven Moon is mainly a resinous blend. Myrrh is the prominent note, supported by benzoin and patchouli; these glowing resins are flattened slightly by the soft, dark musk, and discreetly spiced with nutmeg and chilli. I don't recognize any vanilla at all. All the notes are very well-blended, no one dominates; this Moon is gentle, warm and enfolding. Unfortunately it gets a bit sourish over time, probably the patchouli going a bit dirty. Colour impression is the darkest ultramarine with a flash of dark red. Verdict: A cozy, gentle Lunacy blend, definitely shadowy and vague... and ultimately not memorable. I'm indifferent.

I recently moved overseas (from one side of the Pacific to the other), and took my jewellery box full of BPAL imps and bottles with me on the flight in check-in luggage. I barely did anything to secure them: I only filled the box interior with plenty of tissue paper (so that everything was snugly fitted and didn't jostle around) and then wrapped the box with rubber bands. Everything made it through a 20+ hour journey. A few imps did leak and a few adjacent labels were stained, but thankfully all of my bottles were fine. I didn't declare them at customs, but the customs form didn't ask for it). Still, don't tell anyone... I managed to get away with doing the absolute minimum *meeps* to secure my collection, but I don't own much (relatively speaking; ~20 bottles and about 150 imps) and felt that I could take the risk.

(Note to myself: I got a sniffie of this and there was barely any oil for a skin test.) Sniffed: Sweet vanilla and dry leather, with a clean earthy touch from the clay. On skin: Mm-mmmm, what a delicious vanilla-tonka combination -- creamy, smooth and very delectable! This sweetness is not entirely vanilla, but mixed with something that's a little off-beat and intriguing (and reminiscent of how The First of the Three Spirits turned out on my skin). I'm guessing this is from oakmoss and florals, most likely the orchid. Vanilla-tonka increases over time, and this becomes very snuggly and very delicious, without any hint of metal/leather inorganicity like I smelled in CC: Male. This steampunk lady is spunky, independent, but so sweet and warm. Colour impression is cream, tinted with brown and red. Verdict: Now I understand why CC: Female is such a loved and coveted blend! It gets just a little bit too sweet for me, but it's so delectable. I may have to track down a decant...

(Note to myself: I got a sniffie of this and there was barely any oil for a skin test.) Sniffed: Leather and sandalwood, maybe a whiff of clove and metallics. On skin: Leather, sandalwood and metallics, dry and a bit inorganic. Simple, straightforward and no-nonsense, but a really nice blend of organic and metallic as befits a steampunk theme. A light and clean masculine scent: a proper neo-Victorian gentleman with just a whiff of steampunkish inorganicity about him. Colour impression is old ivory, off-white and a bit browned with age. Verdict: A bit too woody and metallic for me, but it's a great masculine scent and I would LOVE to smell this on a man!

Sniffed: A complex floral-resinous blend: I smell sandalwood, amber, incense, tobacco and red musk. On skin: Hygeia is the embodiment of red, golden and dry. Radiant, dry amber undergirds all the other notes, and I can make out the red sandalwood, frankincense, tobacco and discreet musks. I can simultaneously smell the distinctive characteristic of most notes, and also how they blend so well to create this evocative scent. Something warmer morphs in occasionally -- maybe musk or tobacco -- but Hygeia is primarily resinous. It's a womanly scent but cool and dry, almost herbal in feel; this is not warm molten gold, but coldly glinting gold. I continue to be impressed by how the Salon blends embody the art so well, and Hygeia is no different: it smells red and gold, and does evoke the lofty, regal, somewhat aloof femininity of a priestess or goddess. (Hygeia is the Greek goddess of health and cleanliness.) The very embodiment of feminine empowerment. Colour impression is scarlet, surrounded by a glittering golden aura. Verdict: Another gorgeous, evocative Salon blend! I'm so glad I got a tester to try, because this is quite beautiful, even though I don't see myself wearing this much.

Revewing the 2009 version. Sniffed: I smell light brown tobacco, mixed with a melange of woods, rich red florals and fruit. A dry, bright, and complex scent. On skin: Diable en Boîte is a complex scent: it's rich and luscious, yet dry and bright, and quite red. Brown-gold tobacco -- warm and slightly gritty -- is the most obvious note, but I also smell touches of juicy peach, dry redwood, and clove. This scent morphs significantly: over time I get hints of hemp and red musk too. Overall, it's a gentle lush scent, with all the notes blending and harmonizing well, with tobacco the leading voice. Colour impression is a shades of crimson and vermillion. It reminds me of Changing the Shadows in dry fruitiness and colour impression. Verdict: While Diable en Boîte is a fine "red"-coloured scent, it's ultimately not distinctive enough to keep.

Sniffed: Pale, cold mint grounded in very faint white chocolate and musk. On skin: Much to my chagrin, the MINTzilla appears with a vengeance in Lady Amalthea, dominating and drowning out all the other notes. The most assertive of the non-mint notes is white chocolate, which manifests as a lighter version of BPAL's milk and dark choc notes; like them, it doesn't give a chocolate smell per se, as infuse and embellish the other notes with a chocolate vibe. (Watch me use "chocolate" four times in one sentence! ) The cold mentholic edge burns off over time, and perhaps I can smell a whiff of white musk and delicate florals, but Lady Amalthea ultimately smells minty through and through; even the lovely white chocolate was not enough to keep it in check. Colour impression is pure white touched with the lightest of minty green. Verdict: I love The Last Unicorn and was looking forward to testing the Lab's interpretation of Lady Amalthea... so I'm rather chagrined by this outcome! Sigh, yet another casualty of the MINTzilla.

Sniffed: Sharp, pale herbs contrast with a warm sweet base of benzoin and grey amber. On skin: A fascinating and not entirely harmonious contrast between sharp, cool non-green herbs (and perhaps some florals) and deep, warm benzion and amber. The scent is full-bodied and well-rounded, both resin-warm and floral-cool; the feeling is polite yet a little distant and aloof. Colour impression at this stage is dove-gray, or the off-white of dusty old lace. Even though A Murder of Crows starts off quite pleasant, I was a bit worried about verbena, one of my death notes. And sure enough, verbena begins to assert itself after a while, and gradually overwhelms the other notes with its sour, thin scent (a lot like old sour sweat). Ugh! Verdict: A Murder of Crows wasn't wowing me from the start, but verbena really spoiled everything. Pass.

Sniffed: Warm leather of the earthy, "brown" variety (as opposed to the inorganic "black" variety), sandalwood and tonka, cooled with lighter sage. Not a hint of Snake Oil. On skin: Firstly, Western Diamondback is as good as a non-Snake Pit blend: Snake Oil is nowhere to be found, and remains AWOL from start to finish. The most prominent note is sage, herbal and bluish in scent colour. Leather and sandalwood provide a substantial base and deepen the cool sage. This woody-herbal scent feels crisp, somewhat airy, reminiscent of a high, cold desert or sub-alpine climate. Western Diamondback begins as a pleasant blend of the non-SO notes, but gradually becomes less pleasing: somewhere the sage turns astringent and bitter, and combines with brown leather (maybe the other notes) to become something stale, hard-edged and off-putting. Verdict: Although I ended up not liking it at all, Western Diamondback is a fine specimen of a woody-herbal blend. But it fails spectacularly as a Snake Pit blend. It's going straight to swaps.

Sniffed: Warm, rich, gorgeous Snake Oil with nutty cocoa. On skin: When wet, Boomslang is Snake Oil with a subtle nutty-woody tone from the cocoa and teak. A lighter note, which must be the rice milk, gradually emerges with drydown. Now SO retreats into the background and acts as a base; cocoa and teak mingle and lend a dark, "matte" tone to the SO; rice milk morphs in and out, occasionally lightening the dark base with its light, milky touch. Over time, rice milk and teak gradually take over the scent, even overwhelming the cocoa, to become something merely light and milky. While Boomslang is a pleasing scent, it's considerably less complex than SO. The extra notes don't distinguish themselves or embellish SO properly; instead they flatten out the rich, full-bodied base into something quite nondescript. Verdict: A resounding "Meh". Boomslang did nothing to distinguished itself or improve upon Snake Oil. I'd built up such a high expectation after reading all the great reviews, so this was overwhelmingly underwhelming. Mehh!

Sniffed: A lush foresty scent, sparkling with herbs, with dry-woody notes lurking in the background. On skin: I can't wear this without thinking of my favourite forest blends, The Snow Storm (pure cold evergreen) and Moon of Small Spirits (lush floral-evergreen). Libertarian falls squarely between them: it is a cool, green forest with more herbs and less florals, overlaid on a discreet base of dry woodiness. There's another note that emerges upon drydown which I can't place: perhaps it's fruity? resinous? (After reading the reviews, I suspect it's clove.) These non-green notes are what distinguishes Libertarian from my other two favourites. It's a morpher -- now a bit resinous, now more woody, now even a hint of fresh fruitiness -- but always green. I've tested it several times in the past, and it can be quite the sparkling, slightly bitter herbal, but this time it's more woody and mellow. Colour impression is brilliant, emerald green fading into wood-brown. Verdict: This scent definitely embodies the political libertarians: changing, varied, alternative and off-beat! However, the blend is too much like the Snow Storm and Moon of Small Spirits, and it's ultimately not amazing enough to unseat my favourites from their solid positions.

Sniffed: Dark, juicy cherry with an orange zest. Where's the chocolate? On skin: I've noticed that the Lab's dark chocolate note doesn't so much give off a chocolate scent per se, as add weight and darkness to the other notes. That's exactly what happens here in Vice: the dark chocolate note is grounding and deepening the fruity notes instead of contributing to the smell (if any). The rich, luscious cherry and bright, tangy orange are the stars of the show, but are much darker and rounded than they would be on their own. Cherry can be hit or miss on my skin, but here it is gorgeously juicy and not overly sweet. The sparkling, zesty bite of the orange contrasts well with the full-bodied, dark cherry. Vice is exactly its name: wickedly decadent chocolate, indulgent and debauched cherry, and the orange sting of the conscience. The scent fully embodies the word "succulent". Colour impression is the same dark red as black cherries, sparkling with orange. Verdict: Vice is a luscious, sexy blend, and absolutely gorgeous! I would've liked to smell more chocolate, but this is a minor quibble. I love this!

Sniffed: Dry, sweet and glowing. On skin: Wet on skin, I smell a sweet yet dry, light note, slightly glowing: this must be rose-infused amber. I'm not sure what notes comprise "spun gold", but I don't smell them clearly, nor the straw. The scent becomes even drier with drydown, and I'm now getting hints of another note that may be the straw. Over time the scent develops a glowing, radiant body, that reminds me of sunlight piercing a dusty barn full of golden straw. Ultimately, The Miller's Daughter is a simple blend: all dry amber, sweetned lightly with rose, touched with straw. Verdict: Eh, boring. The Miller's Daughter is a beautiful showcase of amber, but I need something a bit more substantial to keep my attention.

Sniffed: The first thing that comes to mind is: Black Lace! Zephyr must have the same sugary vanilla note. Beyond the fluffy sugar are smooth florals and fruit. Gentle, sweet and clean. On skin: Soft, sugared vanilla and downy white musk, contrasting with smooth, gentle, white florals and a sparkle of zest from the lemony notes. This is a light, clean blend, airy and maidenly; it definitely embodies a zephyr, and also puts me in mind of a little girl. Colour impression is pure white blushed with the lightest of pastel yellow and pink. Fades over time, and the lemon notes now threaten to get sour, although they never fully do. Zephyr really reminded me of Black Lace off the bat, but a skin comparison revealed that it is substantially lighter, brighter and more floral. Quite a different scent, actually. I suspect that they share the same vanilla note. Verdict: While Zephyr has its own character and does evoke a gentle breeze, I simply can't wear it without thinking of Black Lace, which always turns out to be far superior. So it isn't staying.