GypsyRoseRed

Lust's passion will be served; it demands, it militates, it tyrannizes. -- the Marquis de Sade Red musk, patchouli, pomegranate, red currant, bourbon vanilla, nutmeg, sweet orange. As the de Sade quote might indicate, this is a very lusty scent. When I first added a little to my bathwater, the only notes I could pick out initially were the red musk, bourbon vanilla and red fruits. It did morph a little, darkening and ripening into something richer and sultry with a little help from the patchouli. This definitely smells and feels like a luxurious indulgence.

Literally everything! Pumpkin spice it all with this traditional brew of cinnamon, cardamom, allspice, and clove. Okay, usually, I'm not a big fan of scents that include pumpkin, because I don't like cooked pumpkin and they tend toward pumpkin pie. Not so with this. I smell juicy raw pumpkin, with a dash of spice. Really lovely!

A toodle oodle of pink cotton candy noses, vanilla spun sugar fur, scattered kernels of popcorn, and a touch of polished golden wood. Mouse Circus is all pale vanilla and clouds of spun sugar. It's beautiful, but very much not my type of scent, and about an hour in, my dry skin had drank up all of the oil so there was nothing left to smell. Cotton candy lovers should pounce on it, though.

Chastity - the most unnatural of all the sexual perversions. -- Aldous Huxley Rice flower, vanilla, and cream. I predict that this is going to be a very popular product! There are only three notes listed, but this scent is truly gorgeous in it's simplicity, sweet, creamy and infinitely pretty. This could be sexy used before perfume (I'm sure it would sweeten and soften most scents, though I haven't tested that theory yet) and yet it's also very comforting.. like a fluffy cloud of fragrance. As you'd expect, it's pretty much vanilla cream, but it's not a buttery vanilla. Just light and lovely. I hope this is going to be a permanent addition to the BPTP, because I could see myself buying a lot of it.

Once on the skin and long into the dry down, this is Snake Oil with a deeper complexity, less herbal, softer with a hint of caramel and spice. It's so, so pretty. Definitely buying a backup!

Snootier Bat has leather at the forefront when you open the bottle and sniff it, and even on initial application. 20 minutes in, though, it's a soft, sophisticated incense with a dark and slightly sweet vibe that has a decent amount of staying power. My only complaint is that I wish there was more leather in the dry down!

Butterscotch candies flecked with dirt, encased in a shiny black shell of myrrh, patchouli, and anise seed. I was so, so excited when I saw the first prototypes for this scent, because this was always a memorable part of the book for me! I'm not a lover of anything that has caramel or butterscotch listed as a note because my body chemistry tends to amp those sweet notes until they're sickening, but that didn't happen here. Upon first application, yes, it was butterscotch.. But when it dried down, something very dark and explicitly non-gourmand starts to peek out more and more. How perfect is that? It's *exactly* what it ought to be, and ends up balancing darkness and sweetness in a pretty great way, IMHO.

Pumpkin artwork by Amy Kinard! Pumpkin cream with cardamom, black tea, allspice, and ginger milk. I have to confess to being generally ambivalent about pumpkin, with the exception of Pumpkin King. A few of this year's Weenie's might have changed that, though, especially this one. I get pumpkin (fruit, not pie), allspice, and cardamom with a drop of tea. It's a great spicy fall scent that still stays edible smelling, without going to the generic pumpkin pie that I mostly get from pumpkin fragrances.

Yussss. Cherry cordial and dragon's blood make for a juicy scent that oddly enough, totally does remind me of stage blood.

I was so excited about getting to try this that I *had* to post a review. In the bottle, this smells very unusual. I get a touch of something fruity (I keep wondering whether it's peach or melon) and a sugary note. It's almost like candied fruit slices, but I can't explain it any better than that. I tried a dab on my wrist, and over the last 20 minute it's become generally warm, fruity and slightly sweet with very light throw. I wish I knew what was in this, because I don't think I've ever smelled anything similar to it in the BPAL catalog.. Overall, a very light and pleasant blend although definitely not 'me'. Still, I'm really grateful to the Lab for it!

Shadow saw the old woman, her dark face pinched with age and disapproval, but behind her he saw something huge, a naked woman with skin as black as a new leather jacket, and lips and tongue the bright red of arterial blood. Around her neck were skulls, and her many hands held knives, and swords, and severed heads. Spices, cardamom, nutmeg, and flowers. To think I almost passed on this because I thought a spicy floral might be a little.. generic. Mama-ji is anything but. This is in the same family of blends as Voodoo Queen IMHO. Anyway, when it's wet, this blend is a little too floral on my skin but once it dries down it becomes a sweetly spiced bouquet that is strong enough to be noticed without being overpowering. I'm so glad I have a 5ml of this!

Silliness in the extreme. Vanilla bean, honeycomb, sugared pear, sweet pea and a dribble of strawberry. Am I really the first to review this? Skeeeery. I can't find the original description for this, although if I remember correctly, it did say something about this scent being "pure silliness". Right on the money, and absolutely gorgeous. (EDIT: I found it for ya. --Shollin) In the bottle, this has the warm, sweet smell of a yummy jar of good candy. Something strongly fruit flavored, but there's definitely plenty of sugar in there, too.. and maybe a little bit of bubblegum. Now that said, I don't find it the least bit sickly-sweet which is very surprising. On my skin, this is probably the strongest BPAL I've ever tried and liked, and may even be my absolute favorite. The fruity-candy smell has warmed up, mellowed out and now I can definitely smell an underlying floral there. I have to say that the name is really apt because this smells *pink*. I've never been a fan of pink before now, but this really, really works. I'll definitely have to get my hands on more of this.

The pure and luminous joy of dawning love: white melon, oakmoss, bergamot, apple blossom, Italian mandarin, Florentine iris, nutmeg, and white musk. I'd love to write a long, thoughtful review that properly reflects how much I flove this scent, but it smells like melon Hi-Chews, kind of. Of course, it's more balanced and smells like FANCY Hi-Chews, but that gives you the basic idea. This is so damn pretty, and if you like fruit in scents at all, you have to try this.

Nuttal & Mann's Saloon No. 10, Deadwood, Black Hills, Dakota Territory: sweaty leather, chewing tobacco, and Red Eye. At first sniff, this took me aback a little. It's not for the faint of heart, but it is very much evocative of an old Western saloon! The scent of worn leather and hard liquor (whiskey?) duke it out for supremacy, while the tobacco remains in the background. This would be great for my husband's office.. If I felt like being nice enough to get him a bottle.

Oak King is one of those scents that I just wasn't sure about at first sniff, but my experiences with BPAL have taught me that sometimes the biggest winners for me are the blends that seem a little *too* something in the bottle, because my body chemistry morphs them. This one is a definite win! At first sniff in the bottle, I get a mixture of something that smells like wood and leaves (duh, oak) with something a little darker lurking in the background. On my skin, the first 30 minutes of this scent were all warm solid wood, nut and notes that I somehow interpreted as cardamom (or some kind of spice that managed to remind me of Spanked) and a touch of good patchouli (I say this because patchouli and I don't always get along). And maybe some kind of musk but nothing obvious and that's only a guess. With Oak King, the dry down is really worth waiting for and I'm SO glad I took a chance on this. I'm torn between wanting to rub it on my wrists and huff my arms, or rub it on the mister and.. do other things. I can't describe it! It manages to be fragrant, slightly masculine, and yet doesn't smell cologne-y at all. It's hard to detect after 2 hours, but it's wonderful while it lasts.

LOLI.GOTH An effervescent combination of pink musk, white peach, wild strawberry, pale woods, iris, and raspberry leaf. Loli.Goth is very pink and sweet without straying into candy or sickly territory. The strawberry, white peach and pink musk are the strongest notes here, but I think the 'pale woods' listed are what is holding this back from going supersweet. There's still a light quality that I never get from strawberry blends generally, but it still has that juiciness that I love. Lovely! ETA: Something about the 'pale woods' and musk is reminding me distinctly of Jingo Kogo. LOVE.

TATTERED LACE An allegory of Victorian melancholy and madness: tea-stained bourbon vanilla, with white cognac, coconut bark, Oman frankincense, and woodmoss over opium tar-stained silk. I've just skin tested this, and it's really pretty - the only unfortunate thing is that apparently my dry skin drinks this stuff up quickly so it doesn't hang around. When it was wet, I smelled rich vanilla with a slightly bitter edge (cognac?) and something smoky, but it had a very similar feel to Black Lace. That comparison vanishes completely once it's on my skin. Dry, it softens up considerably until the vanilla becomes warmer and almost slightly sugary, and though I don't get coconut from this, it does have a certain sweetness that I can't pin down to a specific note. With that said, this rides the line between kinda foody and sophisticated!vanilla, and it's not quite like any of the other BPAL vanilla scents I've tried... I wish I could be more specific, but my skin sucks this up so fast!

RIVET.GOTH Black leather, tobacco absolute, rust, gritty musk, and machine oil. Rivet.Goth is unique amongst BPAL leather blends, and I am in with it. This isn't the fresh leather 'new car' scent, nor is it the old leather of Dead Man's Hand. What I get is well-loved, butter soft dark leather overlaid with a sexy musk, and a whiff of smoke. My overall impression is that of a sexy superhero, complete with leather suit. So, so good. :love!:

Clove, red sandalwood, orris, rose, opoponax, benzoin, and patchouli. This was love at first sniff for me because, to my nose at least, this shares some notes in common with Voodoo Queen. The sandalwood, orris, benzoin and oppoponax are all definitely present and this would be in *perfect* if not for the rose. With my chemistry, rose hardly ever fades into the background and in this scent, it's constantly peeping through which is too bad since I don't like rose and it hates me right back. In spite of that, I bought a bottle of this, and I'm going to wear it because I think this scent is so unique and fab overall. On the drydown, it is very soft and pretty with wafts of that resiny, incense with rose. Really lovely!

BADGERS As a general fact, these girls are smart, good-looking, well educated and are near, and prepossessing in appearance. This is especially the case with those who are called "Badgers," but more widely known as panel thieves. These plunderers have had full swing, of late, and have robbed many an unsuspecting stranger of his all. Sweet patchouli, soft, honeyed leather, sassy sarsaparilla, honeysuckle, and French vanilla. Badgers really turned out to be much softer and sweeter on the whole than I was expecting! I can't detect leather, and it's one of my favorite notes (but I can always add a drop of Rogue if I want to...) which initially was disappointing, but once the scent dried down, I really like the soft warmth of the patchouli in this one, and although sarsaparilla can be over sweet in some blends, the notes all balance themselves out perfectly here. Even the honeysuckle is blended and harmonious with the vanilla until all I smell is a lovely, rich earthy sweetness. ETA: This is heaven. :joy: And about 40 minutes into wearing it, the leather note *did* make an appearance, though it's a soft glove leather note. So effing awesome.

A city of mystery, wonder and majesty, said to have been built by order of Gilgamesh. Thick bitter almond and heady night-blooming jasmine with saffron, cinnamon leaf, red patchouli, river lilies, bergamot, fig leaf and the sacred incense of Inanna. Uruk is an interesting scent that does manage to be more than just almond on the skin, although that's the first note that jumps out in the bottle. I really wanted to try it because of it's name, but usually almond becomes really obnoxious on me. I can't wear Baron Samedi or Horn of Plenty ( waaay too sickly) but this almond faded into the background about ten minutes after application which is the first time that's ever happened! Maybe it's because it's 'bitter' almond? Anyway. I can definitely pick out the red patchouli, and a whiff of incense, but I can tell right away that this isn't for me. While this is really nice and very pleasant, it ends up a little too mild and dry for my tastes. Maybe I'll try an imp in the future, though.

MISS JENNY Miss Jennie Creagh, a dashing brunette, has splendidly furnished her palace at 17 Amity street, from top to bottom, sparing neither expence nor labor to render it a palace of beauty forever, with it's French mirrors, English and Brussels carpets, rosewood furniture, superb bedding and everything in character. This emporium of love and beauty is one of the finest in the city. Pink peony, white carnation, freesia, white peach, amber, and pale woods. Of all of the NYCC exclusives, this was the one that sounded the prettiest/sweetest to me, but it just goes to remind me ONCE AGAIN that even though notes are mentioned, we have no idea in what proportion. I was expecting to be able to detect more of the floral notes here since I adore carnation and freesia. What I get from this once it's dried down is mostly amber, pale woods and white peach - very beautiful! It's *elegant*, and though it does go through a powdery stage it ultimately ends up with the sweet peach and pale woods being most prominent for me with a delicate carnation peppery kick, which I really enjoy. It wears close to the body but I love it.

Extracted directly from the twitching nether-regions of the wild Eastertime bunny rabbit: a snarling, slavering, buck-toothed, fluffy, floppy-eared, horny-as-hell Springtime beast. Soft cotton blossom, white musk, baby's breath, clover and pale powder notes. Inspired by Emzebel, by way of Heretic and Lycanthrope on the BPAL forum! This may be the Year of the Enraged Musks. Am I the first to review this? Eeep. I can't find a thread for it, so I must be. I don't have the Lab description for this. so I'll just get right onto my .2 cents worth.. In the bottle, this is delicate and pleasantly sweet. Not the sickening, ate-a-whole-basket-of-Easter-candy kind of sweet. I can't put my finger on a single note, but it's definitely warm, mild and yummy.. Dry on my skin, it smells like lemon drops with a tiny bit of cotton candy. YUM. ETA: This has a surprising amount of throw, and just keeps getting more lemony, but it's a soft lemon.. Mmmm.. Edited *again* to add.. almost 6 hours after the first application, this has gone from a cute easter bunny, to.. well.. a hot guy in a bunny suit. This is blending with my body chemistry to create a really unique and kinda sexy scent. It's like *skin* but with a hint of clean sweetness that's really natural. I know that probably doesn't make much sense but.. *sniff* Man, this stuff is good. OMG ETA: This lasted over 8 hours on my skin. NOTHING ever lasts that long on me! This is my lucky day. edited to add description - clover

Lilith’s monstrous dragon steed: dragon’s blood resin, patchouli, pomegranate, myrrh, mimosa, cassia, blood musk and smoke. Finally - a smoky dragon scent, and one that I can actually wear! Until now, I haven't really been able to wear more than two of the other Ars Draconis blends. I'm not good at picking out individual notes, but the fruit and the smoke blend together so perfectly here. The smoke is subtle enough that I don't get any ash which has been a problem for me in smoky blends like Brimstone and Djinn.. They were just too harsh overall. This is softer, sweeter and really good. It doesn't have a lot of throw on me, but you can't win 'em all.

Unspeakable HORROR and SHOCKING supernatural space SEX! Can they find MARITAL BLISS on EARTH? A blend of blood-soaked daemonorops, black amber, dark musk, glistening leather, caraway, smoky myrrh, cinnamon, and clove that is glowing with a luminescent, space-addled coating of clary sage, lemon balm, white grapefruit rind, mandarin, green melon, and white musk. This blend doesn't smell like anything special in the bottle, but I'm happy to say that once applied, it became something more beautiful than I ever could have guessed given the listed notes. I was expecting something cool and citrus, but the ingredients are skillfully blended to create something that manages to be dark and somehow clean at the same time. When it first dried, it smelled soap-and-water clean, but about thirty minutes in, the dark musk, white musk, black amber and smoky myrrh come into play and the prettiness took on a smoky, slightly creamy, sexy edge that make it a truly exceptional scent. The wear length and throw are good, too - three hours later, it's going strong and only getting better. Of the two B movie exclusives, this is my favorite, hands down. Gorgeous!