OctoberGwen

I am a confirmed Snake Oil HG whore, but may I just say:

Silkybat is made of win and awesome.

I can't wear sugared scents on my skin because they turn into "I've been barfed on" scents, but in my hair? Oh, yes. Sweet baby Jesus, my hair smells pretty. And with the patchouli? Whaaaaaaaaaat!

As with all the BPTP glosses, my hair looks great and is shiny and behaves. Two spritzes in palms, applied to dry hair, yadda yadda.

I love patchouli (most of the time), but the 'sugared' part does something really interesting with the patch here. It's light, sweet, and just smells...really fucking good. My husband loves it. I love it. I really will need multiple bottles of this, shelf life be damned.

Please don't tell my Snake Oil.

Yeah, Zombie totallly freaks me out...

I know, right? There have only been two that give me the creeps: that, and Whitechapel.

And Depraved is nasty, but in a very different way.

Hope you had a good Halloween, Zii, whatever you smelled like.

O TRICKSY HOW I LOVE THEE!

I fell in love with the original iteration of this, the bath oil, as soon as I pulled it out of Em-'s Bath & Body swap box last year. The patchouli was the mellow sort that I love (stick-in-your-throat 'filthy' varieties like the ones found in Depraved or #occupywallstreet kind of disgust me, to be honest), and there is a slightly sweet, woodsy quality in Tricksy that is just delicious. I am not a honey fan, in general, but this particular honey is not cloying at all, and in fact it doesn't even scream "honey" to my nose. I use my bath oil as an aftershower moisturizer almost daily, and it layers beautifully with about 75% of my BPAL.

Tricksy the perfume oil smells just as luscious, and it is also slightly more concentrated. Anyone who loves patchouli will almost certainly love it.

I cannot even tell you how thrilled I am to have this. Thank you so much, Puddin' and Beth, for making this happen.

Let the hoarding commence!

I think Zombi would be perfect, mostly because I find it very disturbing/disquieting.

I don't like to wear leather or cinnamon, but this smells great to me (if that tells you anything.)

There is no 'chemical' quality to the leather at all, thank God. Ceylon cinnamon is the only sort of cinnamon I like to smell: it is more woodsy and less foody-spice to my nose. The balsam is lending even more of a woodsy quality, but it's not burning my nose or screaming I AM BALSAM at me. I don't wear Über masculine blends, but I would wear this when the mood strikes me.

I think this is a beautiful combination, and I will keep my decant - right next to In the Forest, the only other leather-containing scent I can stomach.

Note: my decanter has listed the notes as "Dragon's Blood Sedum, Red Musk, and Tea."

This blend is beautiful; very dragon's blood-heavy upon application, but then the red musk (and there is most definitely red musk in here) comes forward and they swirl together with the tea. The three elements really play nicely together.

Unfortunately, I just don't love dragon's blood; it is far too sweet for me and can sometimes even induce one of those nausea-producing headaches. This makes me sad, because as a red musk whore, I can say that this blend is red musk heaven. Ah, well.

If you love dragon's blood and red musk, hunt this one down. You will die happy.

PHASMOPHOBIA

Oh, this is...haunting. Lovely. Perfect.

I am only in the mood for white florals every so often; they don't usually go soapy on me, but I'm a dark resiny/musky sort of gal and the white flowers are often too ethereal. They also tend to fade very quickly and can sometimes feel a tad generic.

This is ethereal, but it has staying power. And it is...poised. Gently pretty. And so evocative. I agree with a reviewer above who said it's one of those scents you keep catching whiffs of every so often, which of course embodies the concept so beautifully.

I don't care for wine notes on my skin, and I get none of it. When wet, it is reminiscent of Moon Rose, but after a while the rose fades back and blends in with the other notes very nicely.

As a lifelong ghost story enthusiast, I love this one.

NOCTIPHOBIA

Oh, this smells sooooooo familiar. I agree with Tzi; I have most definitely smelled something very similar to this in the commercial world, and I think it was a men's cologne. I wish I could think of the name of it.

Anyway, this is a very well blended scent that I have a hard time picking out notes from. (Although let's face it: I'm no expert even when the notes are listed.) It definitely evokes a vast blackened sky and chill night air. I quite like it. It would smell like win and awesome on my husband, I think.

ACHLUOPHOBIA

This is indeed an inky blend. Patchouli, tobacco, and black musk are almost always my friends, but opoponax usually tends to be just a bit too sweet for me and that is the case here.

I will say, though, that this blend captures the concept of suffocating darkness quite remarkably. Something about that syrupy opoponax and the bite from the tobacco makes me feel uneasy...and a little fascinated.

This is almost green to my nose and there is a note that becomes nearly sour on my skin. I think that I need more components to make this wearable, like Elegy IX with its honey, cognac, and patchouli to offset the leaves and boughs.

In the oil burner, though, this scent is fabulous. It's like walking through my native New Hampshire woods in the Fall.

Definitely a keeper, despite not being something to wear.

ETA: Heh. I spoke too soon.

After a couple of weeks, this has settled down and is now really lovely on my skin. Beautiful red leaves, just a touch of sweetness, and a hint of sap-filled woods. So evocative of Autumn, and so unique to my collection. I'm glad I tried it again.

I am getting mostly dark chocolate covered catnip as well. This is so rich that it almost makes me nauseous, sadly. I suppose it is fitting that I have not had good luck with 13 blends!

The label art on this one is a keeper, though, so I will probably offer to decant this for others who love rich, dark cacao blended with lots of crazy herbs.

I just want to make a note here that I used a few drops of Theme In Yellow in an oil burner last night, and it was unbelievable - my whole kitchen smelled of glowing Jack o'Lanterns. I think I will get a second bottle. It is really, really amazing...I think it's made for this purpose, really.

Note to self: you are a fucking idiot. The next time a bath oil with red musk appears, buy it all!

The lovely kashmira was ahead of me in a bath & beauty swap box, and knowing I'd never tried Eldrich Dark, she very generously decanted a sample for me. I didn't even smell it first; I just drew a warm bath and dumped it all in.

MMMMmmmmmmm....musky red musk and a dark swirl of honey and leather. This is shexy, shexy stuff. To me, this is not a layering, after-shower oil: it is very distinct unto itself and probably doesn't play well with others. I think it's a gorgeous, gorgeous bath oil, though.

OK, Pumpkin Patch fans, I need some help. . . I bought Sin in the Pumpkin Patch and Snakes in the Pumpkin Patch. They smell really, really similar on the skin. I love Alice, Morocco and Dorian, but didn't buy those pumpkin versions. Tell me if I need to keep both of the ones that I have, if one can go, &/or if I need to add one of the ones I skipped! I'm completely befuddled.

Personally, I would keep Snakes and get Alice.

Snakes is the shizznit as far as I am concerned (big shocker, I know): I think it is better than Sin (too much cinnamon for me), Morocco (vanished after a couple of minutes), Samhain (though that one is good), and Dorian (too foody for me.)

Alice is very different in tone and feel from Snakes, and it is truly lovely. Sort of delicately spicy - more of a daytime or warmer day scent.

Just my two cents, and your milage may vary according to your own tastes!

I tried Jack today and I'm praying a Theme in Yellow is nothing like it. Jack was all fake buttered popcorn (like popcorn jelly beans) and Citronella...

 

That pumpkin note is the only thing that will keep me from eventually ordering Theme in Yellow, if it smells like raw pumpkin guts with a candle burning inside. I just don't care for that smell.

 

 

 

I can't imagine ever wanting to smell like it, but if BPTP puts out a corresponding or similar atmo spray I'll probably be all over that.

Agreed. My oil will be put to use in the oil burner, though...what a perfect scent for rainy October days. It's really quite magical.

Surprisingly, this is my second-runner-up favorite of the Patches this year! I can't even remember if I've tried original Alice or not, so I was shocked to slap this on and find it so wonderful.

It's delicately sweet and spicy, with a creamy touch of pumpkin. This is the perfect scent for those warm, early Fall days when you aren't quite ready for the heavy hitters of Autumn BPALs yet. It is so, so pretty and I really love it, and will definitely be budgeting in a bottle amongst my multitudes of Snakes In the Pumpkin Patch and Tricksy.

SAMHAIN IN THE PUMPKIN PATCH

I have such a love/hate relationship with Samhain. Sometimes I adore it, and sometimes it turns into the funkiest funk on me. My bottle is super aged (2006!), and I get no apples or pumpkins from it at all.

This year's Pumpkin Patch version is really lovely. The first time I applied, it began to get a plasticky note which was very worrisome; today, though, it smelled much better. This is classic Samhain (wet October leaves and an indefinable dark spice), with way more pumpkin, which softens it up considerably. I like it very, very much.

Alas: I think Snakes In the PP spoiled me for any other PP scents, much as plain old Snake Oil (and its children) have ruined all other hair glosses and bath oils, LOL. Not really, but once I smell SO (and its children), nothing else can really compare.

In closing, I'd say that if you haven't tried the classic Samhain, you should - and try this one, too. And if you have given up on classic Samhain as being too heavy or just "too much", give this a whirl. You may find it much more wearable.

On my skin, this smells like cinnamon candies to me: no almond, no buttercream, and no lemon zest. After a few minutes it fades down to exactly the smell of my local Michael's (a craft store.) So it's a faint pumpkin spice, I guess.

In the bottle it is much richer, and I'm getting a bit of the marzipan, but I still don't smell the lovely lemon.

Foody scents aren't my thing anyway, so I'm not too heartbroken. I'm glad I got to smell it!

This is gorgeous, but you really need to love cinnamon for it to work. The pumpkin somehow seems to bring out the cinnamon in Sin to the nth degree; it also lends a lovely, creamy vibe that is really delicious.

Sadly, cinnamon and I are not friends, so this one isn't for me.

DORIAN IN THE PUMPKIN PATCH

I really couldn't imagine how this would smell before I tried it, but it is quite nice - I do agree that the pumpkin actually blends quite nicely with Dorian's vanilla tea vibe. I also agree that it's quite sweet and foody, which isn't my thing at all. When first applied, the pumpkin is pretty strong; after several minutes it softens down quite a bit and the whole scent becomes really well blended. There is no mistaking the fact that this is Dorian.

For foody folk, or anyone who loves Dorian, this should be a no-brainer.

MOROCCAN PUMPKIN PATCH

I'll start this off by saying that Morocco is one of those scents that I really love, but for some reason I've never sought out a bottle. Every so often I dig through my imp box, happen upon it, and say "Oh, yeah! Morocco!" I've no idea why it doesn't inspire passion in me, because it's really right up my alley. *shrug*

Anyway, the Pumpkin Patch version of this smells richer and spicier to me than the regular version, although unlike Snakes In the PP, it is not yielding a ton of that distinct pumpkin note. It smells quite nice and then suddenly...it's gone.

Once again, Morocco and I miss our connection.

Dead Dreams of Days Forsaken

...how I love that name!

In the bottle this smells like sweet cough syrup; on my skin it starts out very heavy on the bitter almond note - almost to the exclusion of everything else. After several minutes the almond fades way back and this becomes a gorgeous symphony: deep, earthy, and spicy. I can definitely detect the cumin and maybe a bit of the labdanum, which I believe is what's adding the very faintest of tingles to my nose. I'm not getting a ton of frankincense, but I bet it will come out more with time. The patchouli is sort of magnificent.

I love Dead Dreams; it is unique to my collection and I believe it will age beautifully. I'm so happy I chose this as my one Proserpine bottle.

I have a feeling this one is going to be a cult classic, if you are a resin lover and don't buy this you have lost the plot...

I have to quote you here because this is so apt.

I managed to find a decant of this, which is probably all I need since I bought another Proserpine bottle already. I won't need more than a decant of Hope & Fear because this type of resin scent is something I am only in the mood to wear occasionally.

That said, man oh man: this is some amazing frankincense. I do not get the usual cloying quality from the bourbon vanilla; rather, here it just complements the resin so beautifully. It's a symphony played on two top-quality instruments. I feel like I am sitting in a grand, ancient cathedral during the Christmas vigil.

Gorgeous stuff. Frank fans, get thee a bottle STAT.

This is exactly the sort of scent I love: spicy, slightly musky, with a hint of rose. I am so glad I'm not a rose amper, because it is so very beautiful in blends like this. I only get a very faint (almost subliminal) suggestion of gummy bear residue if I smush my nose to my wrist...which is perfect. Sugary candy scents do not work on my skin at all.

I am thrilled to finally have a Lilith scent that is so very wearable. It is gorgeous, and something I will definitely reach for on a regular basis. Of course, the label is adorable, too.

SEPTEMBER MIDNIGHT

God, I love this Teasdale poem.

This scent is very pretty, but also very hard to pin down and describe properly. It has an airy quality, which I wasn't expecting from the amber/myrrh combination. In fact, I do not really detect either of those notes per se. I do get dark pomegranate, but it is not juicy here at all. Overall there is a slightly perfumey feel; perhaps that's the airiness.

I love what this captures, but ultimately I know this is not something I will reach for. I like deep resins and earthy musks, and this is just too airy for me.

It is really pretty, though, and pomegranate fans should definitely try it.

THEME IN YELLOW

Oh, this is soooooo evocative.

This is fresh pumpkin: the clean inside rind and flesh after all the gooey guts and seeds have been scooped out; and warm, glowing beeswax. There is a hint of something sweet (the Halloween joy, perhaps?), but this is not foody to my nose - no baked or sugary/spicy pumpkin here; no craft store pumpkin, either.

This is a jack-o-lantern that has just been lit, and it's pure October magic.

I love this so much.

ETA: I just wanted to add that putting a few drops of this in an oil burner with some water created the most wonderful thing: a kitchen which smelled of glowing Jack O'Lanterns. I absolutely love this in the burner, and will probably pick up another bottle so that I can use it for just this purpose.

Also, when I accidentally let the water evaporate, I could actually smell charred pumpkin flesh - like when the candle is too close to the lid on the Jack O'Lantern.

Completely awesome. Beth, thank you so much for this scent. Now I can experience what, to me, embodies the spirit of Hallowe'en whenever I want to.