sunlitgarden

Panther Moon came out right after I started getting into BPAL. I remember seeing it on the site and being like "black musk? Resins? Yikes! That sounds way too dark and heavy for me!" but it was before I had done a lot of experimenting with notes, and learned that I actually like just about everything in here (though myrrh is iffy). By that point (a year or two later) Panther Moon had become a fan favorite and I was kicking myself for not buying it when I had the chance. Fortunately, I was able to acquire a partial bottle on LiveJournal. In the bottle, I do find it a little intimidating... I can smell black musk for sure, but there's a bitterness to it, probably because of the myrrh, which is often pretty bitter-smelling to me. It's intriguing, though, something that I keep sniffing again and again to try to get to the "bottom" of it... like trying to peer into the depths of an inky-black pool. Oil color is brown. On my skin, it's still pretty bitter at first. It smells incensey, kind of in a "local pagan shop" way. I can definitely smell the ambergris accord in here, though. Sometimes it goes salty on me, but it isn't doing that here. Weirdly, I can only describe the ambergris here (and in its single note) as the depths of a musty attic, but in a way that's pleasant and almost sweet. The initial bitterness is tempered as it dries. It's not sweet, but it evens out. Something about the combination of spices in here is weirdly enough reminding me of Dr. Pepper, which... I actually have no idea what the flavorings of that are. Internet searches discuss 23 secret ingredients, though, and some people have theorized that it has star anise - so my guess would be that, combined with the vanilla-like benzoin, and a bit of "fizziness" from the ginger. This is definitely not something I would wear to work or even around the house. I wore it clubbing once layered with Snake Oil. I'm still not sure that I'm going to keep my bottle, but I'm glad I got the chance to try it.

In the bottle: It's really a mishmash of various fruits at this stage. It's lemony and vaguely tropical but not too sweet. The lunar herbs give it a bit of a greenish, fresh edge, almost minty though not quite as "sharp" as mint can be. On my skin, the grapefruit is noticable right away, but it fades pretty quickly. The citrus and cherry blossom in here remind me of Aizen-Myoo, which is one of the "fresh" smelling fruity-florals that I enjoy. I'm having trouble picking out any individual notes once the grapefruit fades. The overall feeling of Cheshire Moon at this point is light and fresh; it almost reminds me of a "spring rain" scent from a shop like Bath and Body Works. Despite all the tropical fruits, there's something kind of chilly and almost mentholic about this scent, like the minty cold air note that's in some Yules. Maybe it's the lunar herbs. Dry, it's mostly minty with some lemongrass. There's also something a tiny bit spicy in the background. Going by seasons, I would consider this a "late winter/early spring" blend, but it's also something refreshing to wear during the summer. I like it a lot and am glad I have a bottle.

2012 version: In the bottle, Snow White is very creamy and sweet. It smells like an almondy-coconut with some flowers in the background (though none I can identify -- it's just kind of florally sweet-smelling). On my skin, it smells a lot like the lab's tonka accord (which I just tested in its single note form). There's more almond, though, which gives it an almost cookie-ish scent, though I wouldn't go as far as to call it foody. If I put my nose right up to my skin, there's a kind of plasticy smell at this point, though I don't really experience it in any wafts of scent I get when holding my arm at a normal length. A bit of an ozoney cool air note comes out more as it dries. The distinct almond from the wet stage is gone, but it still has an overall creamy feeling. This is a well-blended scent overall. I find it to be really soft and gentle, and not really confined to winter at all. It's not one of my absolute favorites but I do enjoy it and am glad to have a bottle when the mood strikes.

I'm not super famililar with what tonka accord smells like on its own. I usually see it compared to vanilla, and it's in some blends I enjoy. In the bottle, the Rum-Soaked French Tonka SN is creamy. I can definitely smell almond in here. Rum is more on the spiced side, but it doesn't really have that heady alcoholic booze note. Rum is there more in the sense as background of an extract than a pure bottle of spiced rum. Vaguely reminiscent of a suntan lotion kind of coconut as well. I don't really detect clove specifically except contributing to the rum being darker/spiced. On my skin, it smells kind of "toasty", almost like toasted coconut or almond. It's definitely a warm, snuggly, comforting note. It is similar to vanilla, in that it's light and sweet, but it smells more like an almond or coconut note to me than vanilla. Vanilla often has a kind of buttery or musky "deep" quality to it that I don't really smell here. This reminds me a lot of Snow White, and I wouldn't be surprised if it's an ingredient in that blend. I don't get clove at all.

I sold mine a few years ago, but Fledgling Raptor Moon really evokes late summer to me for some reason - dead dry grass but still warm... it's about the only time I miss it.

In the bottle I am getting what I call "Christmas fruits", which I guess is the plum and currant - it smells rich, dark red, and spiced. There's also something that smells like pine or a Christmas tree note. I almost feel like there's orange in here, though I think that might just be my nose filling in the blanks for what goes into a lot of the "Christmas fruit" blends. On my skin, it's sweeter than in the bottle, right away. The fruit and spice combination are still reminding me of a Christmas candle, but not in a bad way; I enjoy those scents. Cardamom is normally a pretty distinct scent to me but here it just smells "spicy" without really smelling distinctly like cardamom. I have Blue Snowballs on my other arm and the snowball note here seems different; Blue Snowballs is more mint and cold air while Purple Snowballs is more piney, though there's a trace of that "coldness" in Purple Snowballs too. Blue Snowballs is more of an all-year-round refreshing scent to me, but Purple Snowballs is much more "Christmasy" because of the spices and pine.

In the bottle this reminds me of a bag of sour gummi worms candy! Berries and lime, both sweet and with a tart sensation. On my skin, at first it's the same as the bottle scent, but a spicy note starts coming out pretty quickly as it warms on my skin. The blackberry is becoming more prominent now, whereas the berry scent in the bottle was more blueberry. It's still very sweet. I start to get more of the "slush" note as time goes by. It's a minty-cool note, with something that reminds me of cold air or ice but without having a strong ozone note. This actually almost reminds me of a non-alcoholic slushie with berries, lime, and sugar. I really like it and it's a scent I find refreshing year-round.

(I'm going through some of my old notes. I tested this at Will Call when it was new.) I wasn't really sure what to expect from this, other than something in the floral spectrum, as I wasn't familiar with the Sweet Alyssum flower. I liked it well enough, though. It's a light, sweet, "fresh" smelling floral, with yellow to light green color associations in my mind. I got a drop of it on my notebook and a day later, it smelled pleasant and sweet, if a bit soapy.

I'm going through some of my old notes. This is for the 2012 version, tested when it was fresh. I love the idea of "old book" smells, but to me they need to have a bit of sweetness; I've actually learned that this is from a compound released when the paper starts to break down. No sweetness here. The Lurid Library was dark and musty, crumbly, and bitter on my skin. Evocative, but kind of gross. I think I'll stick with my Dungeon Crawl for this type of scent, which has a similar sort of spooky, musty feeling but is more wearable.

(I'm going through some of my old notes. I tested this at Will Call when it was first released.) I found the Devil's Trumpet SN hard to describe. It didn't really smell *floral*, exactly, but was light and sweet. Not really something I would wear, but I liked it.

(I'm going through some of my old notes. I tested this at WC when it was first released.) I really liked the Spanish Moss SN. It was kind of earthy, but also kind of light in a way, and green. It's fresh without being dryer-sheety.

I'm rotating through previous years' Weenies right now and finding ones that I forgot to review in the past! In the bottle: Hmm, this is a tough one to describe. It's a bit hard to pick out individual notes but I'm getting some incense, something a bit bitter, and maybe a bit of the same sort of dark cassia-ish blood musk in Blood Moon 2010. On my skin I'm getting the smoke right away, then some more incense. I tend to not like overly-strong smoke notes, but this isn't too overpowering -- it's more like walking around outside with someone burning wood nearby, but not being right next to the bonfire. I'd say the leaves used here are dry and crumbly, not still fresh or wet. I'm not getting any traces of the "dryer sheet" or "cologne" note that wet leaves can produce. It's overall a fairly dusty scent but something (the musk?) is keeping it from getting too dry or bitter. The woodsmoke note fades over time. Further dry, it's getting a tiny bit spicy. I still think there's a little cassia in here - it has a pretty distinct scent to my nose that's spicy but also really deep and earthy. Dry on my skin, the scent is fairly gently dry-dusty with a little spice. It makes me think of exploring a cellar full of dry leaves and plants. I still don't really smell the common "red musk" note used in blends like Infernal Lover. It's more like in Blood Moon 2010, just toned way way down. 45 minutes later, it's pretty similar to the drydown of Samhain. It seems to have gradually gotten sweeter over that time and I guess more like the typical red musk note. It still doesn't smell exactly like the frequently used red musk to me, when my partner got home and sniffed me she said "you smell like red musk" so... maybe my nose is just odd.

Samhainophobia 2011: This is really not a scent I was expecting to like at all due to some of its more prominent notes - vetiver usually smells like either wet campfire or BBQ to me, and patchouli often smells like BO. I do really like clove and oakmoss, though. I acquired my low partial (probably a decant or less in there) from a traveling circular swap box a couple years ago; I sniffed it and was like "wow, this is awesome!" The main word I would use to describe it is "smooth" -- while the more "dirty" elements can be recognized in the bottle, on my skin it's a well-blended fragrance that reminds me of the smoothness I sometimes get from cognac/tobacco scents. It's not sweet, but the clove prevents it from getting too bitter or dark. I actually found the Haitian vetiver SN to be more smoky/rich/dark and less bitter/burnt/ashy, so it seems to be doing its thing here without ruining the blend for me. Good to know -- I may need to only try blends with Haitian vetiver specifically. Samhainophobia is a little more on the masculine side, though not overwhelmingly so; it kind of reminds me of Autumn Moon of the Mirror Stand (which I didn't love; I actually think I swapped it away in that same circular box). I feel like Samhainophobia has a similar "base" to Samhain with the patchouli, clove and woods/leaves (which makes sense, really, if you consider them variations on a theme). It's similar enough to Samhain that I don't really feel like I need full bottles of both, especially since I like the sweeter notes in Samhain. Samhainophobia is not really something I feel the need to put on as a perfume (except I did for this review and am liking it) but I enjoy having my little bit of oil to sniff when I feel like it. It's a good reminder that my preconceived notions about a scent might be wrong.

I've had Love in my collection since it was released, but hadn't reviewed it yet! In the bottle: Sweet strawberry. Vanilla that smells like it's straight out a cooking vanilla-extract bottle. Not boozy, but heading in that general direction. Rose is somewhat faint, but present. Overall smells very "light pink" if I were to ascribe a color to it, or a mixture of light pink and white fluffy clouds. I get a little more rose when it's applied to my skin, and after a minute or so, more strawberry. But overall it's fairly well-balanced without one note dominating. It doesn't evoke marshmallows to me, at least not the mass-produced kind, but I usually find those kind of gross anyway. The scent makes me think of pink cake or a strawberry milkshake with whipped cream. As it dries more, the vanilla becomes less "vanilla extract" and more the sweet musky vanilla found in some other blends I enjoy like Joyful Moon. It's a very comforting and snuggly vanilla. I had tried a number of scents along this vein, some of which were rares I was thankful to even have a partial decant of like Velvet Unicorn and Loli.goth. But, to my delight, Love works better than both of those did and I bought a bottle right away. It's something I don't have occasion to wear often, because it's so girly and sweet, but I love it - it's like falling into a huge pillow of pink sweetness

I think this originally came to me as a lab frimp. In the imp, The Apple of Sodom is a very "juicy" smelling apple to me, with an edge that's almost boozy. I wouldn't call it a tart green apple, it's probably closer to the reddish-green apple varieties I like that are somewhat sweet like Gala and Fuji. It's like it might be starting to ferment into cider, though it's not fully there. Skin test patch: Still juicy apple when wet. Apple scents tend to fade fast on my skin, and this is almost gone after 15 minutes. Good while it lasts, though.

The scent I associate with carnations is a spicy-smelling floral. I haven't really had the pleasure of smelling a real carnation with that note, as it's pretty much been bred out of commercial florist carnations that only really smell like "refrigerator". I have occasionally gotten a slight whiff of it from garden carnations though. In the bottle, the Spanish Red Carnation smell is mainly just a straight dose of that spicy-floral carnation smell I adore, but on my skin it's more than that. Much like some rose BPAL scents have a note that reminds me of a green stem and leaves (Rose Red, The Rose), on my skin there's a similar note in Spanish Red Carnation, which evokes a whole flower, not just its scent. Unfortunately, it starts to go a bit powdery on my skin. Overall, the bottle scent is divine, but I'm not as fond of it once it starts to get that powdery note on my skin. The overall blend does not last too long on my skin either, it fades after maybe an hour or so. This blend might be good for layering.

King Mandarin smells just like rubbing the peel of a satsuma or other sweet orange all over my skin. I actually used to do this before discovering BPAL, so I keep expecting it to be sticky! It also makes me salivate a bit because I really enjoy eating satsumas. It's a really cheerful scent that bolsters my mood. It doesn't last too long, maybe an hour or two before fading. Since citrus notes generally get fainter with age, I'm okay with applying and reapplying this fairly liberally to get full enjoyment out of the bottle.

Thanks so much izile for keeping this updated while I was out of BPAL-land

Lick It Vigorously is a delicious, sweet minty scent. To me it's somewhere in between mint tea and a candy cane -- it's sweeter than mint tea, but not quite as sweet as a candy cane. I love the smell, but I don't wear it as a perfume because on me the mint has a VERY strong cooling effect where applied. Like, it feels like I put an ice cube in the spot and the feeling lasts for at least 30 minutes. It's wonderful in summer, though, when it gets too hot (my apartment does not have air conditioning and sometimes can get very stuffy). I did go overboard one time though, which was pretty unpleasant, and felt almost feverish. Would not recommend doing that. I just put a bit on my pulse points and am mentally transported to a chilly wonderland!

I've had this in my collection for a couple years but have not worn it in a while, nor reviewed it. Pulling it out to do so now... In the bottle: I'm definitely getting the "lemony" black musk note, combined with a sort of dusty dry cinnamon. It's very strong and tickles my nose. On my skin, the "dusty" scent amps a lot. Kind of powdery, still strong. I'm definitely starting to get a wooden note now. It's kind of reminding me of The Harp of Cnoc I'Chosgair. I could imagine the oiled wood of his harp and it's a similar scent here. This is a lot more "tree bark" cinnamon than "candy" cinnamon. I'm not really loving this scent now, though. It's still very strong and tending towards powdery. There's an almost bitter, greenish note to this, similar to what I attributed to the tagetes in Harp. I'm not sure all of what goes into a black musk accord. Drying: powdery, then bitter. Eventually becoming more dusty, woody. It's fairly masculine. While not terrible, it's not really my style. I remember liking this better when fresh. I think it's heading towards Swapville...

I've had this bottle in my stash for a couple years and never reviewed it... pulling it out now to do so. (Note: I wrote this review without rechecking the notes or description of the scent) In the bottle: Smells like a fruity mix of candy, or like the scent of a candy store with all their bulk goodies like peach rings, gummy frogs, licorice... it shifts around but I get impressions of licorice and lime. On my skin, it's still candyish, I get a cherry sort of note, and citrus... more like lime at first, then it shifts into more of a tangerine or mandarin sort of orange. Then sour cherry. Kind of reminds me of sour cherry limeade. As it dries, the fruity scents eventually fade, leaving a sweet vanilla. Completely dry, it smells like a sweet, snuggly, licoricey, almost tobacco-like note. While still sweet, the drydown is surprisingly masculine on me compared to the earlier stages of the scent. (Or not surprising considering it's based on Brian!) It's long-lasting; I wore this out yesterday and was getting whiffs of it all day. I'm a fan of candy scents and this is one of my favorites from BPAL

I tested this at the 2010 Seattle Will Call, but didn't remember my impressions. I later bought an imp. In the imp: Mainly a sweet, candy-like strawberry with a cool mint note. I'm not really smelling any lemon. The mint note is intensely cold, cooling the back of my throat. On my skin it's similar at first, but the mint quickly becomes the dominant note. I think I smelled a sweet lemon *very* briefly, but the mint is very powerful here. It's a skin-cooling scent, and I think (along with my Lick It Vigorously) it will be excellent for cooling down in the summer. In fact it smells like a nice summery drink at the moment, almost like one of the Luau Lounge scents minus the booze. Weirdly even though I applied it to my wrist, I'm getting cold sensations in my elbow??? Weird nerve-linkage, I guess, but that hasn't happened before. O_o

Discontinued since 2009, so I really don't know where this imp came from. Possibly the Trading Post, Puddin' is known to throw those imps in sometimes. (I also have Mantis, which I'm similarly unsure of where it came from, so perhaps he was digging in the M bin?) In the imp: Very fruity, grapey, kind of sickeningly sweet. On my skin: Very grapey-sweet still, with a bit of spice also. Kind of reminds me of DeLaurenti's, the Italian grocery store in the Pike Place Market here in Seattle. Wine notes have a tendency to just smell like grape candy on me, and it seems to be doing that here as well. Gets spicier over time, but for clove scents I prefer Spicebush Swallowtail and Upa Upa.

Discontinued since 2007, so I really don't know where this imp came from. Possibly the Trading Post, Puddin' is known to throw those imps in sometimes, lol. In the imp: No particular notes are standing out to me, but it smells fairly "cologne-y", as well as having a dry wood, old-book type note. On my skin: still fairly cologne-y, though a bit sweeter. A tad bit dryer-sheety. As it dries it starts to smell a bit incensey, though also kind of unpleasant. It smells a bit ashy, and also a bit... poopy. Clearly not a match for my chemistry. O_o

In the imp: mainly patchouli, kind of dusty smelling On my skin: Pretty much the same as in the imp. Still lots of patchouli, but it's more of a "gentler" patch; it's not doing the sweaty/BO thing as it sometimes does. It's more of a softer dried-grass type of smell. This actually reminds me somewhat of Fledgling Raptor Moon, which I ended up selling (it's not that I disliked it, I just never really wore it). It also smells somewhat woody, not "fresh cut lumber" but more of worn, dusty wood. It smells pretty good overall, but not really something I would go out of my way to wear. Would probably smell good on a guy.