Ishtar

Fae is a very happy, summery scent on me. White musk + fruit is usually a surefire combination on my skin, and this is no exception. I get a big burst of flavourful, ripe peach from the wet stage, that slowly mellows down to a warm, slightly powdery light musk. Yet another keeper

I quite liked Depraved in the vial and wet. Contrary to most blends, this one seemed to pick up strength as it dried, ending up being a little overpowering after complete drydown. However, I can tell this is going to be fabulous as a scented lotion. I don't get anything dirty from this, just a very ripe apricot bursting with flavour and the underlying darkness and earthiness of the patchouli. And to think that before BPAL I wouldn't have been caught dead wearing patchouli!

Wow, there is not much I can add to what has been posted before -that's one well-reviewed scent! On me Dana O'Shee is much lighter than I expected from the description, which is a good thing since it tends to be very sweet. Were it more powerful, I might find it a little overpowering. However, it has a very decent staying power. I cannot help but comparing it to Lush's Snowcake like several people did. I don't get any honey in this, but a definite marzipan note. It is very nice and a keeper, but I think that amongst the almondy scents, Queen of Sheba is still my favourite one.

This is a tender, romantic, emotional kind of floral... very Cancerian indeed! The wet stage is a bit reminiscent of Delirium, with the rose/lemon combination, but instead of going all fresh and crisp the way Delirium does, Cancer dries down to a rounded, slightly mysterious rose with a liquid quality to it that is quite remarkable. I remember the discussion we had a while ago about how our moon sign rules our scent preferences more than our sun sign does. Apparently this applies here, as Cancer was one of my favourite BPAL rose blends whereas I would not have ordered Aquarius (pine and I don't get along all that well).

The curse of the chocolate scent strikes again. Absolutely delicious in the vial, to the point that it gave me an instant craving for chocolate. Once again, I am in awe of Beth's talent for capturing so accurately such a complex scent. Very "milk chocolate", extremely similar to Vice but without the hazelnut note. Alas, on my skin, it turns to the now familiar but nonetheless unpleasant blend of nuts, dirt and burnt wood. Under the shower we go to scrub you off, Bliss!

Oh wow. This is downright beautiful If I tell you that my two favourite BPAL are Dragon's Milk and Haunted, you will probably guess that I loved Blood Amber. I like dragon's blood a lot, but it sometimes is too heady for my taste (I can't wear Drago's Heart or Dragon's Blood, for instance). So I applied Blood Amber sparingly, as it smelled quite potent in the vial. I was really pleased to see that it was not on the overpowering side, but fruity and vibrant. After a few minutes, the amber came through and this is when I fell hopelessly in love with Blood Amber. Amber always works very well on my skin, and this is no exception. Beth achieved a perfect balance between the two notes. The drydown is powerful without being aggressive, bold without being overbearing. And mamma mia, this is a sexy scent if there ever was one! Big bottle, here I come!

Unfortunately Gluttony didn't work on me at all. It actually stayed the same on my skin as it was in the vial: terribly nutty, with a strong burnt note that gave an unpleasant bitterness to the whole blend. I have since learnt that I can only do chocolate scents when the chocolate is a supporting note, as in Kali or Velvet.

Deep, luscious green and berry scents that evoke images of woodland witchcraft and the raw power of nature: blackberry, sage, green tea, wild berries and dark musk. Oh, I love, love, love Bewiched! This is the perfect combination of red and green in a bottle! It is sweet and fruity a la Bordello or Jester, with the greenness of the sage and the tea to prevent it from being too heady or cloying. Beautiful. It is smooth, happy, festive. It is one of these scents with texture. If it were a fabric, it would be a rich brocade in hues of red, gold and green. A definite keeper

Do you remember this really fun thread we had a while ago where everyone described what would be the absolute worst note combination on them? What I described back then as "Ishtarbane" was dangerously close to Bayou: green, aquatic notes, cypress, moss... only the lotus is missing. Well, the next order I got had Bayou as a freebie. And it was a freebie with a mission: to teach me that I should never say never Turned out that Bayou was actually quite nice, much better than I would have expected! It is a little too green for my taste, but I actually liked the initial aquatic stage. It is only after drydown, when the cypress and moss come through, that it doesn't quite work for me. It is nevertheless a very nice and evocative blend. I have learnt my lesson but now I am wondering if I should not try ALL the oils in the BPAL catalogue, just in case...

For the first hour, Calliope was all citrus and mint on me. It immediately reminded me of this oil one uses to keep mosquitoes at bay in summer -not sure what to call it in English, citronella maybe? Anyway, don't let the "bug repellent" comparison put you off, this is all old-fashioned natural herby goodness! It does smell a tad medicinal, but there certainly is nothing chemical smelling here. After a little while, the citrus fades away, as it always does. Sigh. You'll be missed, citrus, but the lavender is now coming through and mingling beautifully with the mint. For a few minutes the blend seems to morph into something soapy, but thankfully this stage doesn't last. This is invigorating and relaxing at the same time. Upon drydown, Calliope becomes more and more rounded without losing its fresh and clean notes. I like it a lot. I am more likely to use it in the evening for a pampering session than during the day when I suspect I would have to reapply often.

Machu Picchu lent itself to a fun little experiment the other night. I was in a restaurant with another forumite when the waitress, at the end of the night, came to our table and started chatting with us. Well, before you know it, my fellow BPALer had wiped Machu Picchu not only on her wrist and mine, but also on the waitress' and her brother's arm! Now that's what I call a good enabling job! It was very interesting to see how Machu Picchu morphed and reacted on our four different skins. On mine, it started as a sweet fruity/floral blend with a tropical creaminess to it. As it started drying, it became increasingly airy (not light, mind you, but crisp and fresh). Upon drydown, the amber came through and added a lot of depth. For such an airy scent, it was surprisingly vibrant and had amazing staying power. I enjoyed it very much, but I will have to try it again when I can pay it more attention, because frankly, having three people sticking their wrists under your nose and demanding that you sniff can get distracting

I got Old Kathmandu as a freebie and I am glad I tried it, even if it didn't quite work on my skin. I probably wouldn't have ordered it myself, since lotus and to a lesser degree saffron usually do not agree with my chemistry. On the other hand, sandalwood and cedarwood I love. In the vial, the incense and cedar notes were overpowering and I was afraid I was going to hate this. But it only took a few minutes after applying for Old Kathmandu to mellow down and become rather enjoyable. BPAL taught me not to be afraid of incense (a note I used to strongly dislike in my pre-BPAL days) and I found myself quite enjoying the spicy incense stage of this blend. Unfortunately, after 30 mn or so, the lotus and saffron came through with a vengeance and turn the blend into a mix of dusty wood and sickly sweet candy. I will have to pass on this one, but I think that its exotic spiciness would be quite alluring on someone with more adequate skin chemistry than I have.

Regan sounded like an ideal blend for me (I am very fond of vanilla scents), but it did not quite work on my skin. What bugs me is that I cannot really tell why. Maybe it was a little too light, maybe like tart I was expecting something considerably sweeter, I don't know. Don't get me wrong, it was a perfectly pretty scent, but in a very juvenile kind of way which is not quite my thing. Oh well. Seeing the majority of positive reviews here, the odds are good that the person I swapped it to will enjoy it!

Katharina is very, verrrrry fruity in the vial. I thought this would be yet another imp in my collection of terribly fruity scents that I adore but cannot wear because they are a bit overpowering. I was completely wrong, of course. Katharina is everything I love about bold fruity scents -the ripe fruit, the energy about them, only much lighter and 100% wearable. Yay! Reading the Lab description again, I can now see why it worked so well for me: white musk + fruit is a surefire combination on my skin.

Wow. To me, Titania is white, white, white. And cold. A little like a pale fruit sherbet, pear maybe. The fruity and floral notes are incredibly well-balanced. I drove my nose crazy one evening trying to isolate all the different notes in this blend, but this is a near-impossible exercise since everything is so skillfully blended together. It is lovely, subtle and feminine but it definitely has character. I like it a lot.

Dragon's Bone is unusual. And very interesting. And downright beautiful. First of all, thanks ever so much to the Lab for sending this as a freebie, together with Dragon's Tears. I love all things draconic and I am delighted that my Ars Draconis collection is now complete. Yay! As everyone said, in the vial Dragon's Bone is... liquid dryness. Quite evocative too. Even though I don't have a clear mental image forming at this point, this is definitely a blend with a lot of personality. The kind of scent one approaches with a certain deference. On, this is a miraculous balancing act between juicy and dry. Dragon's blood and sandalwood, now that's a blend that works well on my skin! I love woody scents unless they're green, and this is no exception I don't think Dragon's Bone could be an everyday scent for me, but I will certainly use it to work with my Celtic Dragon Tarot. I bet it will perfectly resonate with this deck's imagery, powerful and collected at the same time.

Erato smelled very, very nice in the vial. A feminine, light, almost crystalline floral blend. Wet, the rose and ylang-ylang were the most prominent notes, with a hint of something powdery. After a few minutes though, Erato turned into a sharp soapy scent that has me wondering if there is a common note in the Muses that doesn't agree with my body chemistry. Melpomene reacted the same way on my skin. The florals then gradually reappeared, but the strong soap note was still there, to the point that I eventually gave up and layered another oil on top of this one. I will probably try wearing Erato on my clothes, or I will use it to scent soap and bath bombs. It is such a pretty scent in the vial that I have to give it another chance

Melpomene is Tragedy, and the sound of Her voice is filled with beauty, power and strength. She is crowned in cypress branches, holds the mask of tragedy, wears the cothurnus and wields a knife or club. Her scent is rife with pathos, and inspires us with the ability to express our grief, loss, and the pain in our souls in a cathartic, creative fashion: dark cypress with mint, geranium, Bulgar lavender, orange blossom and passion flower. The initial smell in the vial was quite nice, if a little on the sharp side. I suspect it might be the cypress, my nose is very sensitive to it. Alas, as soon as I applied Melpomene, it turned into soap. Pure, screaming soap. No, make that shampoo. You know, those shampoos with a "fresh", "herbal" scent? Not downright unpleasant, I definitely smelled very clean , but not what I expected from such a complex, layered scent in the vial. I since realized that there is a common note in all the Muses that makes them turn soapy on me for a while. Melpomene is the only that never goes past the soapy stage. That's unfortunate, because it sounded like a beautiful idea.

Like most people, what struck me first in Mata-Hari was the strong coffee note. Apparently, I am the odd duck who quite enjoyed that initial note and would not have minded it to last a little longer In a matter of minutes, Mata-Hari turned into a creamy floral blend where jasmine definitely predominated. A faint hint of coffee still lingered in the background, enough to ground the blend and give it a slightly unusual edge. I am a big jasmine lover, so needless to say, I really liked this. On my skin, Mata-Hari is warm and vibrant, with very good throw and lasting power. Given how excited I was about the initial coffe note, I am looking forward to getting my single note Coffee Bean and experiment with layering

No Samhain here either, so I ended up wearing a combination of Tombstone during the day and Haunted in the evening. Slightly spooky but sweet. Perfectly appropriate for the very pleasant Halloween I had As I hoped they would, several people asked me what perfume I was wearing and the startled look on their face was priceless. "Er, you're joking, right? -No, I am really wearing Tombstone and Haunted! Want to see the bottle?"

Intrigue is also very, very woody, in a dark, polished wood sort of way. Having said that, it is also a love/hate kind of scent. I personally love it, but some of my friends who smelled it went "Bleh, pencil shavings!" Tombstone is another one that turns very woody on me, with a distinct vanilla note underscoring it. Love it! The soon-to-be defunct Aquarius was supposed to be pine, pine and more pine. Maybe that would be worth trying for you... just don't fall in love with it!

Oh dear, how am I supposed to know what I will be wearing on the 31st? I don't even know what I will wear tomorrow! It will completely depend on my mood that day. Samhain won't be an option unfortunately (I am in Canada so my bottle won't make it here on time). At the moment I am on a huge Haunted kick so that would be appropriate... or maybe Tombstone if I want something more rugged. Ha! I can imagine the conversations : "Mmmh, smells good! What's your perfume?" " Tombstone..."

chin, I was going to post about the backlog, but you beat me to it Yes, a Canadian swaps thread seems to be in order (BTW, I still have that imp of Black Dahlia for you!) I hope my last two orders are in the same pile as yours and Morrighana's so that they can play together and keep themselves entertained Looks like quite a few friends in Europe will be getting belated Christmas presents this year...

I tried Haunted for the first time yesterday evening during an imp-sniffing session and I knew right away that I had to have a big bottle! It smelled rather fruity and deep in the vial but as soon as it touched my skin, it turned into a beautiful powdery smell. I know I am probably the odd duck here, but I for one love powdery scents, especially when they are as elegant and refined as Haunted. I am really happy that I had the opportunity to try it, because it is not an oil I would have ordered based on the Lab's description. To me there is nothing sad or mournful in this blend, quite the opposite. It is actually quite comforting and warm. It has been a while since I found a new favourite but this one goes straight at the top of my must-have list!

I usually love rose, jasmine and frangipani, so I had really high hopes when I tried Delight. Contrary to most reviews here, it didn't change much from wet to drydown, but turned straight into an extremely sweet, but otherwise rather unremarkable floral. When I tried it the second time, the sweetness was not as overpowering, but the floral notes still did not quite "bloom" on my skin. I am swapping this one.