Ishtar

Temple of Dreams was an extra imp that the Lab generously sent me with my order. It immediately grabbed my attention. For the past year, I seem to have been able to remember my dreams much more frequently and vividly than I used to and I hope that the Dream Formulas will help me work further on these dreams. In the vial and wet, Temple of dreams is all strong lavender, as you would expect from a nighttime oil, with a deeper note that I can't quite place. It could be something herbal, or maybe even a little resiney. It soon mellowed down into a very soothing, relaxing blend. The lavender still predominates, but there is a hint of spice coming through now. I fell asleep pretty quickly while wearing this, faster than usual actually. I don't remember any dreams from that night, but I know I had a restful sleep. The best part is that the nightmares that have been plaguing me for a while apparently decided to give me a break. Yay! Not only is Temple of Dreams a keeper, but I am now very tempted to get myself the whole Dream Formula collection

Even though their notes are fairly different, on me Baobhan Sith smells almost exactly like Old Shangai. I actually wore one on each wrist a few days ago to compare them and I could hardly tell them apart. You will have guessed that it is the tea note that predominates on my skin, so heavily that the grapefruit and ginger are missing in action during the first 45 minutes. This is not a bad thing for me since I love tea scents. This is crisp without being biting, cooling without being chilly. Very, very nice. It is only after drydown that the grapefruit and ginger start coming through, imparting a slightly bitter note to the blend. If I inhale very deeply, I can almost feel an astringent sensation at the back of my throat, as if smelling grapefruit peel. I really like Baobhan Sith a lot, but overall it is too similar to Old Shangai to justify having both. If you like crisp fruity tea scents, though, make sure to give it a try.

Tiger Lily is a lovely, bright but light floral in the vial. On my skin, this becomes very smooth and well-rounded, the greenness of the lilies perfectly balanced by the sweetness of honey. For this is a very sweet honey note: it has none of the sourness honey can sometimes display as in the early stages of O, for instance. Here, it imparts warmth and a touch of powderiness to the blend. This is very pretty and smooth, maybe a little too unassuming to warrant a full bottle, but really nice.

The Unicorn started off as a pretty fragrance full of spring flowers on me. Crisp, white and innocent. I could distinctly smell the linden amidst the youthful, breezy notes. 20 minutes later, it was almost gone. All I was left with was a faint white floral, quite pretty if a little too juvenile and understated for my taste.

Dove's Heart went immediately soapy on me, to the point that I am having a hard time smelling any other note in it. There is a hint of florals underneath, but it is just a whisper. This is a very understated, gentle, soft scent that dries down to a blend of pale florals, aquatic and green notes. Since I thankfully don't suffer from a broken heart, I cannot vouch for its ritual properties, but I can see how such a mellow, wistful scent could send good "closure vibes". On me though, it is definitely too soapy to be really comforting.

Cathedral was one of the many generous extra imps I got with my last order. I guess I would never have ordered it, because for some reason I kept associating it with Aureus, which was nothing spectacular on my skin. Now that I give it a fair chance, I have to say that Cathedral is really nice. For the first few minutes, I get the polished wood smell that several people mentioned. Yes, it could definitely be a old pew in a church. If I smell it closely and carefully, the wood scent that predominates is cedar. Red cedar. It is quite nice if a little one-dimensional, far less dusty and stuffy than I would have expected. After drydown, I start getting resiney notes (myrrh? Frankincense?). Far from making the blend heady and forbidding, they actually turn it into something very pure and cleansing. I think this would be stunning layered with a white, cristalline floral. Cathedral was a very nice surprise. However, there are only so many woodsy scents I can use, and Intrigue already captured my heart. I think I will try to swap this, and if it has no takers, I will either layer it or use it as a room scent.

Bluebeard was an extra imp that the Lab generously threw in with my order. I am a great fan of violet, lavender and white musk, so I hoped that Bluebeard would be somewhat like Chypre: masculine, admittedly, but elegant and crisp enough that a woman could wear it. The first whiff was almost all lavender, with the pungent smell of vetiver underneath. Sharp and a little forbidding. After a few minutes, it turned downright cold and metallic. To me this is not so much the smell of anger as that of cruelty. Cold-blooded cruelty. I guess it befits the tale that inspired it, but it is a little too bone-chilling for me to wear. Seriously, it scared me a little. Off to the the swaps forum with you, Sir!

Perversion is like a sweeter, deeper Rapture on me.

I have a whole list since I am trying to downsize my collection at the moment. I listed everything that is very similar to other scents and therefore seldom gets worn. Right now, I am having a hard time of deciding which one to keep since they are very, very similar on my skin: - Old Shangai and Baobhan Sith - Kali and Mata-Hari - O, Jezebel and La Petite Mort Other scents that smell or "feel" similar to me: - Dana O'Shee, Queen of Sheba and Sudha Segara - Black Phoenix and Voodoo - Mercury and Wrath - Megaera, Queen Mab and Kitsune-Tsuki - Scherezade, Wanton and Spellbound - Cancer and Psyche - Tintagel and Lady MacBeth - Kuang Shi, Katharina and Fae

Whoa, this is salty indeed! I usually cannot wear aquatic scents even if I find the salty note very interesting. The wet stage is all salt water with a hint of something floral. It reminds me of lily or maybe lily of the valley. As Dragon's Tears dries down, the saltiness begins to fade away. It progressively morphs into a light, subtle aquatic floral fragrance. I now get the honeysuckle note others were mentioning. I like this a lot and it is a very pleasant surprise. Dragon's Tears is subdued enough to be an everyday scent, yet sophisticated enough to keep one interested day after day. All the other dragon's blood blends conjured up images of strength and throbbing vitality, whereas this one actually has a slightly eerie feeling to it. It makes me think of the apparition of a mysterious white and pale green sea serpent in a remote lake, on the night of the full moon. I shall wear Dragon's Tears next time I go to the Okanagan Valley in the hope of catching a glimpse of our elusive sea serpent, the Ogopogo.

Ooh, this is absolutely beautiful! Interestingly enough, ny nose did not detect any woods or moss in this blend. On my skin, it turns into a spicy herbal scent with just a hint of floral notes. Cinnamon is the most prominent spice and now that people are mentioning it, I can smel the nutmeg as well. Hamadryad is a bright, fresh, happy scent that reminds me of the great outdoors. This is the smell of reaching an alpine meadow covered in flowers after a nice summer hike. This is gorgeous and very refreshing. A definite keeper!

La Petite Mort is like a softer, more subtle O on me. Very sweet and floral in the vial, it mellows into a smooth powdery scent after a couple of minutes. Ylang-ylang can sometimes get overpowering on me, but here it stays in the background and imparts a beautiful floral note to the blend. In spite of the floral notes, La Petite Mort never gets "parfumey". This smells very natural on me, like my skin only much, much better! This is absolutely gorgeous. I was thinking of getting a bottle of either O or Jezebel, but I think that we have a new winner!

Scherezade started off as a very smokey, incensey scent on me, that progressively mellowed into a beautiful deep warm musk. The saffron did not really make its presence known, except maybe at the very end, which may be a good think since it is a note that can sometimes be problematic on me. This is a gorgeous exotic fragrance that can be quite intense, so I would recommend applying sparingly at first if you prefer your scents fairly subtle.

Another Velvet convert here! I was a little nervous about trying it at first, because neither Vice nor Bliss had worked on me. They both turned to a dusty, acrid nutty smell that was anything but nice. Velvet, however, is pure rich bittersweet chocolate on my skin. It is really strongly chocolatey and it takes a good two hours for the sandalwood to come through. Even then, it only imparts a sweet powderiness to the chocolate, as if it were cocoa powder. It is only hours and hours later that Velvet mellows down to a beautiful resiney woody fragrance that is both comforting and sexy. I usually think of chocolatey scents as very little girl-ish, but this one is definitely on the sophisticated side. Wonderful.

Strangely enough, Jezebel smelled exactly like O on my skin! The resemblance was so uncanny that I decided to apply O on one wrist and Jezebel on the other. The only difference I can find during the wet stage is that Jezebel may be a little lighter than O. After drydown, if I sniff carefully enough, I can catch a small whiff of sandalwood in Jezebel that makes it less sweet than the vanilla in O, but they are still extremely similar. Needless to say, if you like O then you will more than likely enjoy Jezebel as well!

Another musk + fruit/florals combination and another keeper! (I know, how predictable can I be, really? ) Zephyr is terribly pretty, but not in a childish sort of way. It is a lovely, soft, light musky fragrance that pretty much stays the same in the vial and on me. As it mellows down, Zephyr becomes one with my skin and it seems like I naturally smell like smooth musk, not like I am wearing perfume. Wonderful! A big bottle may well be in order!

Extremely lemony in the vial and wet, Phobos almost starts off as lemon single note on me, bitter peel and all. When Phobos starts drying, the white musk becomes a little more prominent, imparting a slightly powdery quality to the scent. I absolutely love the wet stage, but this is probably the BPAL oil with the least staying power on my skin. The lemon is gone in a matter of minutes, leaving me with a faint citronella/bug repellent smell that itself vanishes in 30 minutes. Since I can't really see myself reapplying every 15 minutes, this will have to be a swap, sadly.

In the vial, Siren smelled like an unlikely combination of acrid sharpness and tropical creaminess. Odd, but promising. Unfortunately, it went really cloying as soon as it touched my skin. I think that, more than the vanilla, it is actually the ginger that makes it so heady and almost a little sickening to my nose. It is too bad, because the underlying notes of vanilla and jasmine are really nice. I might keep it for fragrance crafting, but it will more likely be a swap.

Ooh I can see a big bottle of Kuang Shi in my future! I didn't get any of the sharpness that several of the above reviews described; instead, Kuang Shi is a very bright, juicy, happy scent on me. White musk combined with fruit is always a winner for me, but the unusual mango note and the presence of sandalwood make it quite a bit less sweet and more elegant than the other fruity/musky oils I have tried so far. The drydown, far from getting cloying or heady, is light and sophisticated, similar in feel to Old Shangai and Endymion. Beautiful; a definite must-have for me

Oh wow. Can you say amazing? This is absolutely fantastic! Having said that, I must admit that my nose is all confused now. Perversion is definitely not something I would have ordered, since Wanda, Loviatar and other leather/alcohol blends never worked too well on me. But the lovely Chin gave me her imp the other day and I immediately fell in love with Perversion. The thing is, I don't get any leather, or rum, or tobacco from this. Or any disturbing vibe, for that matter. Does that mean that I am so completely debauched that I take Perversion for granted? Seriously though, I would have expected this to have fruit in it, maybe some patchouli, maybe some amber. Now I can see that the fruitiness probably comes from the wine, and the earthy roundness from the tobacco/leather/tonka combination. A complete riddle for my befuddled nose, but a keeper for sure, and I am seriously contemplating a big bottle.

I love Psyche! It is a rather complex rose blend on me, there are not many individual notes I can recognize apart from the white musk that always works well on my skin. Another very well-balanced scent, successfully walking the fine line between old-ladyish powdery rose and dark sinister rose. It is very elegant and layered, a definite keeper!

Nine Mysteries is a very nice minty scent on me, fresh and sweet at the same time. There is an underlying creaminess to this, maybe even a slight bubble gum note that makes me suspect there might be a hint of lotus in this blend. Unlike most minty scents, which tend to be quite invigorating, I actually found this one very peaceful and even a little introspective. Perfect for a quiet evening at home. I like it a lot but I don't think I would wear it very often, so I put it up for swaps so that someone else can try it before it is officially released

Sheesh. I love fig with a passion, but I don't seem to be able to find a BPAL fig blend that works well on me. Nephilim was very medicinal in the vial and wet, making me fear that I would have to wash it off pretty quickly. It became significantly nicer once it started to dry, but then some piercing, animal notes came through. I could recognize the astringent smell of cypress on a rather hectic backdrop of dark herbal notes. The drydown, however, was a nice sharp woody scent that I did enjoy, but that was not enough to compensate the chaotic wet stage. I swapped this one.

When, oh when will I learn that no matter how tempting the other notes might sound (I am looking at you, amber and citrus), any blend with the tiniest drop of lotus just does not work on me? I don't know what I did to lotus, in this lifetime or a previous one, but I visibly pissed it off something fierce because it downright hates me. So, well, Forbidden Fruit looked like something I had to try, but alas, the lotus curse striked again. Gone were the florals, the amber and the citrus, all I was left with was bubble gum. A rather bad bubble gum at that, outrageously pink and artificial smelling Swap!

I am usually quite fond of the rose+apple combination, as in Delirium for instance. I had high hopes for Eve from the description, since honey is another note that usually works quite well on me. Unfortunately, the note that ended up overpowering the other ones was the ylang-ylang, imparting it a little too much sweetness for my personal taste. Eve is a joyful, innocent, juvenile rose blend that is pretty, but not as outstanding as others. I swapped this one.