fallow deer

A legendary warrior bard from Irish lore and a renowned member of the Fianna. His saga is detailed in two of the four great Cycles of Celtic legend: the Fenian and Ossianic Cycles. A lyric, wistful blend of summertime Irish blossoms and herbs, glistening with vibrant white musk. At first: soft and powdery yet green and manly as well. I can see where the 'sexy man' comments are coming from, although this is definately wistful country cuddly jumper sexy rather than my man kind of sexy. Drying: VERY strange. Perfumes don't usually do wierd things on me, but Oisin has become clothes /drenched/ in cigarette smoke the day after going to a very smoky pub. I got less smoke from Dia de los Muertos, less from Hellfire - this is very smoky and has lost all it's charm for me. Verdict: more Irish tramp than Irish meadow... Sorry!

There's not much that I can add - Whip is a perfect combination of lush rose and saucy leather. It's a really fresh and modern combination, and when I wore it last night I felt it struck a great balance between girly and sexy.

Desdemona Ophelia The White Rabbit The Dormouse The Cheshire Cat Queen of Diamonds The Unicorn Sudha Segara The Apothecary Embalming Fluid Some of those might not be seen as 'fresh' by others, but I definately see them as light spring daytime scents and I've worn a few of them last week at work.

Hello everyone! This is my first post to what I can see is a very friendly and helpful (not to say inspired!) noticeboard - hello! I'm going to make my first BPAL order soon. I was wondering whether anyone could recommend something similar to Vivienne Westwood's Boudior, but lighter and fresher, ie. more wearable during the day? Any suggestions, please! TIA fallow deer

One of my first posts referred to Boudoir, Galen! Its one of the few commercial perfumes that I love, but while I still sniff the bottle occasionally, I havn't actually worn it since I discovered BPAL. *grabs bottle and re-sniffs* Oh, it /is/ gorgeous! But I have yet to find a BPAL that smells like it. I gave up long ago, actually; I got completely distracted by everything else along the way! Sorry this doesn't help!

Unexpectedly mild for a blend containing red musk, a hint of mango, rather nice. Wearing, the red musk and lavender come out a little. This is softer and much prettier than I thought it would be: warm, rich and herby. Drying down, the sage comes to the fore, reminding me somewhat of Hunter Moon. The penny drops and I realise why Hunter Moon reminds me of roast dinners: sage stuffing! I can't detect any amber at the moment, and the red musk and mango have faded leaving just the warm herbs. I didn't put much on, just a dab to test, so I'll change the review if things differ when I wear it properly.

At first sniff, very similar to Blue Moon, but without the cucumber note, and more subtle. Wearing, a green note develops, with aquatics bringing up the rear. This is very much a soft turquoise scent, detatched and peaceful. It seems the most pared down and serene of the lunar blends so far and I like it for that.

I have both the prototype and the final version of The Lion - this is the review for the final which IMO is a very different beast to the prototype. A very very soft, diffused cinnamon - the closest BPAL for me would be Sugar Cookie or Chimera, but the Lion is much softer. There's another note hazing things up a bit, maybe grass or even a grain. It's cozy, soft and rather cute

Crikey O Riley! This is simply gorgeous, in a 'grrr, how come I'm getting turned on by smelling my wrist' kind of way. I don't think I can describe it since every time I go to sniff I forget everything else. Mainly strong vanilla, but its on my wrist so the vanilla will stand out more. Then cream, tea and musk musk musk. There's something kind of dangerous here. I don't agree with the fur trade, and hate to see or touch real fur, but I admit there's something kind of sexy about it. Dorian reminds me of that mixed feeling. I don't think I'd wear this during the day, its too too sexy - I'm going to wait by the door with the imp for my boyfriend to come home and slather him with it!

Postman never sticks mine through the letterbox. I've got an outside cupboard he's under strict instructions to put it in, although when he was unititiated I had had to go to the PO (far, far away) to pick it up. I wish he did put it through the letter box. I find myself checking the outside cupboard nearly every day and I get paranoid about the neighbours thinking I'm checking the gas meter daily or something!

I'll have to add Coyote to the list - definately gender neutral, amber, soft musk, nothing heady or foody, just mmm... Quite a few reviewers have called it a second skin scent.

I'm finding this thread interesting since while I can detect most notes in a blend, I have yet to identify 'fig' in a perfume, although I do love to eat those semi dried figs and fig rolls. My sister has a Jo Malone Fig and Cassis spray that I'm going to have to investigate further and compare...

Wow: this is one of those oils which make me feel like my bounderies of experience have been pushed outwards a little. I've just had a bath with Cerberus and it was one of the most deeply calming and relaxing baths I've ever had. I lay with just my nose sticking out of the water inhaling deeply for about five minutes, and then just wallowed around trying to get my nose as close to the water as possible The pleasantly medicinal juniper berries encourage an almost involuntary deep deep breath, and as the breath goes in, all the other dark brown notes come flooding in, making me want to breath in further and further, right down to my diaphragm. The dark greeny browny picture is complete then and I let go, heaving in another, equally wonderful, calming breath. The brown notes most noticeable are walnut and chocolate, but not foody chocolate - more like sleepy pod powder cocoa. This isn't just a cosy relaxing scent; for me it seems to undone a deep knot of tension that I didn't even know was there (I'm relating Cerberus to my root chakra), making it especially spiritually valuable. If you have a 5ml of Cerberus, or an imp you don't think you'll wear, I implore you to put 10 drops in a hot bath, light candles and breath deeply!

Oh, wow! Cold Moon is gorgeous! There is a frozen berry note similar to the one in Skadi with soft, white flowers underneath. Later the fern pokes through. There are definately similar notes here to Blue Moon but without the certain something that made my sinuses complain with BM. Cold Moon is very pretty and could be the first lunar oil that I wear as a regular perfume as well as use for meditation.

Ooh thankyou, ChupaChup! I've been sniffing this on my wrist for the last half hour, trying to work out that sharpish note. I thought it was a sharper than usual amber, but now I realise it is the doeskin. I was expecting a much warmer blend than this. It is actually rather soapy, not something I expected from the description at all. I thought I'd fall in love with Coyote, but I'm still trying to work out whether I like it or not *sniffs again* hmm...

I think it must depend on the individual, ie. which notes a particular body's chemistry amplifies or not. I have to say that while Severin made it to your 'heavy throw' category, I find it quite quiet and restrained, and has little staying power. I do agree with Fenris Wolf, though. For me, Throwy and long lasting (I have to be careful when applying unless going for 'effect'): Sybaris Embalming Fluid Vixen F54 Queen of Spades Subtle The Apothecary Snake Oil Snow White The Moons Skadi Sudha Segara I have many other oils that probably fall somewhere in between but these are the extreme cases I think.

Cool mint and a tiny hint of eucalyptus at first. As these notes burn off (and they do so quickly), an odd burning rubber smell takes hold, which, I think, is lotus. Although my nose is quite sharp, I've never been able to identify lotus in a blend but this could be it. The burning rubber fades within a few minutes to a very light floral with an aquatic undercurrent which lasts most of the day, although the floral fades first and the last note remaining is aquatic. Pleasant, calm and cool, very light green/blue in tone; I don't usually go for 'cool' blends but this is nice and refreshing. I'm going to save this for summer I think because I tend to like warmer, more comforting scents in the winter and the mint/eucalyptus rush was a little too bracing at six this morning...

Sorry to hear about your situation, Leapylees. I'm in the UK too. It is possible that customs have grabbed your order(s), since it sounds like they are large and of a high value. If it goes any way towards persuading people in your group to order again, I have made monthly orders since April last year, and I have never had an order go missing. I have waited up to two months to recieve an order, but have always recieved them soon after the lab sends them. Perhaps you could consider splitting your group into smaller groups, which would still reduce postage for you, but minimize the risk of customs nabbing them?

Absolutely gorgeous! A very russet scent, all ginger and spice at first then at the end of the day (it lasts!), a lovely soft warm doughy baking scent like you've just opened the oven after baking gingerbread men. Very comforting in the evening, but also wearable during the day - would be great October onwards I think and I'll probably wear this until March comes along.

Frost Moon (More minty-floral) has similar qualities to Neo-Tokyo (More greeny). I did a sniff and compare from the bottle test yesterday, but it's not really scientific since I passed on the wearing test.

There is so much going on in Dia de los Muertos that I don't know where to begin. It's got the sweet notes of Kali and Harvest Moon and the burning leaves and smoke of Samhain and Hunter Moon. I was at first unpleasantly put off by the strong smell of smoke. I was made to think of the smell of a room after a sumptious feast, with a layer of smoke and dust over everything. It actually smells a lot like my scarf after going to a pub - perfume mingled with smoke. Wearing it more though, the tobacco smoke dries to a more palatable incense and Dia de los Muertos becomes sweeter. It's a dark, brooding perfume which I like, but I'm not sure whether I'll keep it since it's so similar to other oils I have.

I'm just thinking what lovely mummys we have on the board!

Tushnamatay is like the smoothest sandalwood incense imaginable Also Faustus - really really is smoke and the sweep of purple lined black velvet cloak! And, strangely, King of Spades goes beautifully incensey on my boyfriend (why?). He wore it on Christmas day and we were at my mum's and I could just smell waves of gorgeous deep incense flowing from him... I also second (third?) The Caterpillar, Aureus, Darkness. Funnily enough I wore Chimera for the first time as an all-dayer today, and was struck by the incense note I hadn't noticed before. Mmm incense....

I second Desdemona and Maiden for the criteria listed

To me, Dublin smells exactly like putting your nose up to a silver birch covered in moss and lichen. Dublin smells much more fresh and almost-piney wet than during the dry down, which is softer. I can't really make out the white rose note which is a shame, but this is still one calm, fresh fragrance. It's a toss up between Dublin and Vinland for a 5ml spring scent. Hmm...