Inanna9

As soon as I read the description I was positive this would be a Holy Grail scent for me. In the bottle, it's pure nag champa. *swoons* On, it's that lovely, incensey aroma I love so much - similar to the nag champa in Midnight on the Midway, but with vanilla and spice instead of soapy flowers. I'm extremely happy, but if I get too close something sour and doughy dominates. Not quite the full-on Play-Doh that Snake Oil can sometimes do on me, but still...it ruins some of the fun Once it dries, it reminds me of...wait for it...Hellion. And I know everything reminds me of Hellion, but there it is. They're kissing cousins at the very least. Now, Hellion is in my Top Ten, so this is not a bad thing at all. I will definitely get a bottle and add it to my spooky, wicked incense blends collection.

This is like a pretty pink cookie. There's some note that goes almost aquatic on me, and combined with the foody aspect makes the whole experience a little odd. Eventually, everythng dries down to a very light, girly floral. It's lovely, but not really me.

This was my outcome card in a very helpful 3-card spread I did today with my beloved Thoth deck (which has yet to steer me wrong). So I thought I'd cap it off with a dab of its corresponding perfume oil. What a great idea these Tarot blends are. Muchas gracias to Beth. Temperance is a lush floral, mostly white. It smells a lot like White Moon, as a matter of fact. There's even a green note in this like in the Lunacy blend, only slightly more muted. I'm catching a whiff of the sweet pea in Annabel Lee, which goes a little sharp and almost sour on me. It's held in check nicely, though. Very beautiful, and perfect for a sunny day like today, one after several of gray gloom and rain. Mirrors my head space lately, and this lovely waft of floral is making me feel very spring-like and hopeful

Yep, the Chickens are the Holy Grail of grass, IMO. Orpheus is pretty good for that crushed-stem note, but it gets very perfumey on me as it dries. Chickens rule

This is divine. In the bottle, I catch a soft patchouli and a whiff of floral that reminds a little of the orchid in The Premature Burial, coupled with something lightly sweet. On, this baby blooms into a hybrid of two of my favorite blends: the dusky, dark florals of Black Moon with a base of sweet resins and smoooooth patchouli that is so very reminiscent of Mme. Moriarty. I don't know if anyone else is getting this, perhaps I just have really lucky skin chemistry, but this is unbelievably gorgeous. The final drydown is a little powdery, but still very dark and smoky. If this blend were a color, it would be deep purple for sure. I cannot stop sniffing my wrist, and I wish I'd bought two bottles. I will need to go begging for more of this one.

I had to lay off the Hymn to Pan for a while. It's a bit on the intense side. But boy, do I love this stuff. I put it on and it goes straight to the reptile brain. I'm fixing to start using it again (heh, I sound like an addict), and I have it on right now. There's so many really deep, non-verbal associations tied up in this scent now for me, it's ridiculous. But it's already working, as it's inspired me to write the review I've been putting off a long time. My results with this started off sort of small: bursts of inspiration and euphoria coupled with a desire to get outside more, even roll around in the grass (my clubbing days are mostly over *knock wood*, so that and the occasional swig of vodka is about as wild as I get these days ). Pretty soon, I was set up outside on my back patio with my laptop, incense and candles burning, slathered in Hymn to Pan and typing furiously away at my novel. I don't really know how to explain the later stages, except to say that there are no boundaries when it comes to Pan energy; there's no sense of taboo, right and wrong or what's "civilized", only What Is - pure and instinctual. (Seriously, I really would be careful about using this at parties or around large groups of people.) My writing got intense to an almost disturbing degree, and things very much bled over into the real world as well. That's all I'm going to say, because the rest is just TMI. One thing in my case: I was also working with Temple: Chthonic and doing root chakra meditations at the time, so maybe I'm just the poster child for caution when combining TALs. I mean, I got fantstic results, but ... yeah. Intense stuff. Highly recommended, though. Io Pan, baby!

This is so fruity on me it's almost a muted, skin musk-version of Fruit Moon. Not what I expected, but really, really nice, especially since I *love* Fruit Moon. I was thinking this would be a little smokier and creamier, what with the vanilla, tonka and champaca flower, and there is definitely a hint of that in the background. But mostly it is a soft, fruity vanilla with that 'guh' factor of skin muck to amp everything up. caveat: I have a cold, so I probably shouldn't even be doing this to begin with, but I couldn't wait. I may edit this later if its remarkably different, but I hope not, because the way it is now, I think this may grow into a favorite.

The Tarot oils are a good source for this sort of thing. Death and The Tower are pretty dark. And check out the Qliphoth - I like Nahemoth myself. Bloodlust has a pretty sinister kick thanks to the vetiver, IMO.

I vote for Jolly Roger, but since I just recently got frimps from the lab in Undertow and Caliban, you guys have made me run to my imp box to test Caliban is very fresh, a little sweet. There's a hint of floral. Like a fresh ocean breeze. Undertow is a little darker, but definitely aquatic ( a quick disclaimer: my skin does weird things with ozones and sometimes aquatics, so YMMV). This one has disappeared on me already, so it's hard to get a good handle on it. Same fresh water and air feeling - not as much salt as I expected since it smelled a little salty in the vial - and a little deeper, darker. I also swiped Undine (technically a TAL) because I remembered how salty this smelled. This is, not surprisingly, not as pretty perfume-wise as the others, but the sea salt is definitely there. I think I detect a hint of vetiver or something like that. This is closer to - I don't want to say brackish - but deeper water filled with ... things. Eh, not that useful. Sorry. I really should just copy these to Reviews. My vote is still for Jolly Roger - that one is amazing. Salty, fresh and pretty. Never thought I'd like that one, but I do. Caliban is the prettiest of the other three.

I've done something terrible to this scent. When I tested it on my arm last night, it was a pretty lilac floral - a la White Moon - and sweet juicy grape concoction. I couldn't have loved it more, so today I slathered it on my wrists and elbows and it immediately turned into a harsh, headache-inducing floral. I genrally like florals, but not this one. Your label is so pretty but I can't keep you, Purple Phoenix There's only the slightest hint of grape peeking through in the crook of my elbow, and sadly my wrist is the one amping all the floral horror. This is tragic.

Okay, first things first. This is for sarada: I adore this. It's earthy, smoky and resinous, and yet so sweet and mellow. I'm slowly catching on that black patchouli turns to sawdust on me, but red patchouli loves me - combine it with the sandalwood and I think that's what my chemistry is turning to that hint of warm sweetness. And I've never had vetiver behave itself so well. This is amazing. *sniffs wrist* And to think I nearly passed this up. Enabling is a very good thing

The apricot is luscious, and the patchouli is such a nice counterpart - for about ten seconds. Then my skin turns it into pencil shavings. Fruity ... pencil shavings. *sigh*

Tarot: The Sun. I've been on a sunny-scent quest for a while. I didn't like The Lion, ELF went to powder, Sundew was nice but turned "perfumey". I thought I'd found it in Sol Invictus until I re-tried my 10ml of The Sun I'd had in my TAL cabinet for at least 6 months (I got it for other reasons and hadn't been wearing it as perfume, but hadn't used it much). Turns out I'd had my sunny scent all along. (The Sun, who'da thunk, huh? ) It probably depends on personal taste though, but I find it too be bright, fresh and a bit citrus upon application, with maybe a hint of herbal, and a little creamy upon drydown (there's probably amber, orange and heliotrope among other stuff). But it's very happy and sunny.

This is very pretty - kind of a softer version of Harlot. I'm surprised how few people report a spicy note, but it's definitely in here because it's making my wrist itch like only cassia or cinnamon can. The rose seems like it might be a tea rose, coupled with a heady, white floral for oomph (honeysuckle sounds about right). I'm not getting any green out of this at all. Harlot-Lite sums it up pretty well for me.

This is very unique. I think it will be like Sleepy Moon and grow on me the more I wear it. I get a sharp but juicy blackberry note, with a hint of the poppy for depth and the lotus for a little sweetness (which might be some of the tonka too - I can't tell, but I definitely pick up the lotus). There's a little sage floating around there - wow, that makes for such an interesting mix - and I'm not really picking up peony, lavender or vetiver individually. But it's probably because all these notes blend together so nicely. It's bitter in a grapefruit sort of way, but really lovely, and not like any other BPAL blend I've ever tried. I had a feeling Beth would do wonderful, surprising things with this one, and I was right. A keeper for sure.

First on, Krampus smells like teh sex. Upon drydown, Krampus smells like, erm, well...sex. Seriously. I remember what it smells like - it hasn't been that long. Red musk has never morphed on me quite like this before, but I definitely think it's the culprit. Krampus is very musky and a little sweet, with a cedar-like wood note and a teeny tiny hint of patchouli. It's got a great alpha vibe to it, cut nicely by the sweetness. Defintiely in the Loviatar family, but I barely get any leather at all, from start to finish. And the finish is sexy in a very animalistic and uh, literal way. I'm not saying I don't like it. But I do feel like I could use a shower.

This is so pretty. Cool and slushy, with an ozone note that meshes perfectly with this delicate, minty floral. Upon drydown, I get the sweet hint of amber others have mentioned, and the "cool air" feeling remains. Really feminine and lovely, and I'm so glad there's an ozone/aquatic blend that loves me as much as I love it!

My two favorites of the lot were Thagirion for its fresh citrus/ light floral tea scent, and Nahemoth for its musky and dark fruity Hellion/Smut vibe.

I bought a bottle of this a few months ago, and have used it several times since, but I'd never reviewed because it had never done anything that impressive. I just figured it was one of those TALs that was not meant to work with me. But last night, bored of Somnus and too lazy to dig out my Sleepy Moon, I took Nocturne out of my TAL cabinet and dotted it on faithfully, but with no real expectations. whoa. I was reading in bed when I realized the soles of my feet were tingling in this very soft, pleasant way, and it was literally spreading up my legs - just like in those guided relaxation exercises they have. My head felt kind of quiet and soft, and as I turned out the light, the most relaxing, liquid warmth began to swirl in my torso and chest. I slept deeply, totally undisturbed, and had some really amazing, symbolic dreams. I woke up feeling like crap, but that's because I still have a cold. And the scent is really beautiful; a slightly softer version of the lavender in Somnus with the rose and chamomile I love so much in Despair. I'm so pleased this works.

dude. I get straight-up bug spray from this. At first I thought it was just from the associations I have with Renfield, but no...it's a cross between old-school Off Mosquito Repellant and a slightly softer version of that stuff you spray at wasps. I'm not kidding. However, by the looks of everyone else's reviews, it appears to be my chemistry playing what it thinks is a clever joke on me. Bug spray. Very funny, me.

I used to have these in my garden...apologies in advance for all the vagueness here to follow - I had a hard time pinning this one down. Love-Lies-Bleeding is so unusual - I think zenvodunista is on to something when she uses "the sap of a freshly cut flower" to describe this. Every time I sniff I get such a strong image of this plant, as if it were right in front of me. To be honest, I don't remember what the actual plant smelled like, so I think it's just the freshness combined with a thicker, almost woody note that is so evocative of a real, live plant. But it has none of the artificial, sharp "greeness" that sometimes goes along with this sort of blend (which I don't mind, but I know some people don't care for). It's really quite lovely and almost dark. There is a more resinous note in here -- I wouldn't call it spicy, exactly -- but I don't believe it to be dragon's blood, since I usually amp that one, and this is not a sweet, heavy floral - at least on me. Overall, this is such a spot-on fresh plant scent that it's practically a work of art. I think I'll layer it with my Graveyard Dirt and swoon

This is GORGEOUS. Snow-Flakes is what I'd hoped Nuclear Winter would be. It's cold and still and pristine white. This really is such a beautiful, delicate mint; cool, but not sharp, nothing foody about it, and yet it's still somehow a tiny bit sweet. There's a hint of something soft and feminine in here, perhaps an ethereal touch of something floral underneath it all...? I'm also picking up a light fruity note that may be pear. Everything is so well-blended, though, that what I really get is a clear impression of a winter landscape, a soft cloak of snow and minty cold air. It's so pretty. I'm really glad I took a chance on this one.

2006 version Umm...maple syrup? Yep, that's maple syrup all right. Not getting any candied fruits. I must have somehow turned this into burnt sugar. Not my thing, I'm afraid.

I don't get any of that omgSwoon! effect with this--as far as scent goes, anyway. On me, this smells like clove and Play-Doh, and is just barely tolerable. So when I tell you Anthelion works, rest assured it is not just an aromatherapy thing. This stuff is astonishing. I'm on the edge of a depression, my bitter ex and his stupid lawyers are harassing me again, and I've been frazzled and feeling a little tempted to despair. Today I came home from a meeting and after picking my kids up from school, and made a beeline to my imp box for my decant. I had nothing formal planned, I just wanted to apply with a little focus--but I didn't even get to do that, as one of my kids came in my room and promptly started rummaging through my closet, looking for where I hid his Halloween candy, all the while yammering away in his usual double-Aquarius Gemini-rising fashion. So much for focus. Twenty minutes later, I'm catching up on my emails and I realize this sense of calm and peace has settled over me; a soothing, quiet hope. All my problems and irritations are still here, but I feel centered and...good. Like it's all going to be okay. It just sort of snuck up on me. I'm so impressed. And I smell like Play-Doh. Maybe I can wash this off now

It is uncanny how much this smells like Kumari Kandam on me. There has to to be some aquatic element to this, because it's kicking ass all over the place, except not in a good way. It's even KO'd the dragon's blood, which usually amps on me. Overall, it's not unpleasant, but I can probably get this experience with my imp of Kumari Kandam.