VenusFlyTrap

OSTARA The Vernal Equinox. Also called Alban Eilir and the Festival of Trees. At this time, we welcome the reawakening of the Earth after winter's long sleep. Sap flows, flowers bud, the world itself is exuberant, and the vitality of the universe's life-force is palpable. This is a day of rebirth, but it is also a day of balance. Equal parts masculine and feminine, light and dark, mercy and severity, surrender and contemplation. Our springtime celebratory perfume is crafted with orris root, bergamot, frankincense, daffodil, orange pulp, attar of rose, jonquil, strawberry leaf, benzoin, violet leaf, copal, honey cakes, sweet cream, and the blossoms of springtime. To my nose, it's a gorgeous, deeper, sensual but also spiritual fragrance. The bergamot gives a citrus lift to powdery orris root in the top notes while the frankincense lends an uplifting higher vibration. This is a very lovely and well blended fragrance with floral (daffodil, attar of rose, jonquil), honey (honey cakes), hint of fruity (strawberry leaf), citrus (orange pulp), green (violet leaf) and spice/resin (benzoin, copal) notes. It reminds one of when spring has burst in full celebratory bloom with all the scents mingling with an innocent intensity. Yes, spring is officially arrived but also trailing the scents of winter, summer and fall not far behind. I would not say that this is a particularly light flowery scent but a rich, multi-layered lightly powdery/lightly resiny floral. Honey cakes and sweet cream lend a hint of lasting sweetness in the drydown. A lovely scent and very appropriate for the vernal equinox!

I Marshy Poop! It's just like the smell of the melting marshmellows atop your hot cocoa! (Of course, sans cocoa!) Vanilla and white sugar. YUM! Thank you, Beth and Puddin!

This is a nice version of *13* that seemed particularly fruity to my nose. I think it was the massoia having its merry morphing way with all the other components in this blend. There was a bit of a faint coconut like scent but without the sugar in it. It smells somewhat like a tropical fruit compote. I do like this oil but one bottle is plenty for me!

Welcome to the Madness that is BPAL!

I really love King Cobra! It's a great combination of incenses, resins and sugar. Delightful!

SueDonym! Very impressive description!

A soft powdery and light floral scent. Nice and subtle. I would definitely be wearing this for its intended purpose rather than for scent. All in all, a very sweet and lovely oil.

Incredibly difficult to describe! It smells like some 70's scent but I can't exactly place my finger on it. It's not really what one would normally call sweet or floral but more on the lines of a soft metallic and citrus sort of sex scent, if there is such a thing. Interesting and evocative.

Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous! I really this scent. Something about the red patch and orange blossom combine to make it much, much more than only those two components. It's very sexy!

I Bliss soap! Very creative and interesting wrapper. It's looks like it's something that you would find hidden in a long lost sea chest as a stowaway from a far off land. And *you* are the very lucky one to find it! A treasure! The bar smells wonderfully of cocoa butter and cocoa powder. It's not sugar laden like chocolate but a fuller and more rounded cocoal fragrance. Nice lather and the bar doesn't immediately melt away. It's not skin stripping yet you do feel like you're clean. I really like the texture of the lather and how the soap itself feels. I did have a slight brownish residue on the first soaping due to the cocoa powder. But that rinsed away very cleanly. If you are a cocoa fiend, you'll love this soap! I would definitely purchase this again! Very, very nice, Macha!

I have to say that this is one charming and light hearted scent! It's not really fruity though there is the presence of black cherry. The pink grapefruit and lemon verbena lend citrus tones to the mix with the pikaki, plumeria and Hawaiian ginger giving Infatuation a decidedly carefree, positive and slightly tropical island note. Upon drydown, it's sweet, lovely and a very happy fragrance with the scents of fruit, citrus & floral blending together to create a very uplifting scent. I can definitely see wearing this in the summer and even in spring. All in all, a very wearable and pretty fragrance!

Muscle ache relief. Sodium bicarbonate, citric acid, shea oil, coconut milk, dead sea salts, oat straw extract, witch hazel, rosemary essential oil, and Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab's Elixir blend. After a vigorous bodywork session, I definitely was in need of muscle ache relief. UGH was wonderfully fizzy as well as moisturizing. And it's HUGE! The rosemary was quite soothing to my aching body/muscles and quite did the trick. This is the 2nd fizzyBOOM that I've tried and so far, both have down what they've touted. TKO knocked me out for the night and UGH helped release the muscle aches. My tub afterwards is not full of glitter, tub ring or harshly strange colors. All in all, I'm really enjoying the aromatherapy and moisturizing benefits of these fBOOMs. I that they do not contain artificial colors and extra ingredients that aren't needed. No naughty bit issues with these! A big !!! Thank you, Beth!

I really adore Quietude fizzyBOOM! In the tub, one is immediately calmed with rose and sandalwood with a slight hint of something citrus. It's quite soothing and relaxing; wonderful after a stressful or not so stressful day to balance out one's energies. It does have the fragrance of Quietude in the oil form though softer. As with the other fizzyBOOMs, Quietude was a hefty size and did its job of moisturizing and lightly scenting the water. And no *ring around the tub! I appreciate the aromatherapy aspects of this wonderful new addition to the BPAL family of fragrant wonders. Definitely one of my favorite fizzyBOOMs! If you have to get just *one* fBOOM, I would recommend this or TKO!

As it is *that time* for me, it was time for a Bitch fizzyBOOM! Really calming, soothing and relaxing effect. I love the spicy floral of the geranium oil and it was sort of citrusy as well. Evening primrose oil is said to be very good for skin health and healing. Witch hazel is calming. I felt better after being in the tub with my fizzyBOOM. As usual, no bath tub ring, lots of fizzing. Moderately moisturizing but I always moisturize after bath anyhow. And actually, I don't like the water to be overly oily/creamy or however the bomb moisturizes. This fBOOM is in the top 3 for me along with TKO and Quietude. I definitely would buy this again! Thank you, Beth!

Lovely, lovely fizzyBOOM! Seduction is one of my favorite Panacea scents and the fBOOM definitely matched this scent! The water was tinted a pretty pink from the red sandalwood powder. It did require a tub swishout afterwards to remove the color. As usual, this fBOOM was great in the fizzy and moisterizing departments wafting ylang sensually during my bath. I enjoyed using this but prefer TKO and Quietude.

Loved my TKO FBomb! The scent was pretty true to the oil which is one of my favorite of the Panacea series. PLUSES: Very nicely fizzing and enormous size as well as weight! Scent throw was pretty good. Fabulously relaxing!!!! My bomb did not make it in one piece though it didn't have to make too far via the USPS (just across town). I agree with andrabell about the ooey gooey aspect of the FBomb. You're definitely TKO'd! You need to make sure you are going to sleep right after! All in all? I would definitely purchase this one again!

Wow! I am swooning over this! This is an absolutely, stunning and gorgeous white floral! It does not resemble *anything* that Beth has created before. Very feminine and lovely but not headache inducing. Most of the flowers in this beautiful scent bloom at night and, as such, we diurnal mammals miss the glorious blossoms at the peak of their fragrance. For those of you who aren't into jasmine, the jasmine here is the night blooming variety. It's actually quite delicate and plays well with the other flowers Much less heady and/or overpowering. Also, the grey amber and nighttime air ground the florals so they aren't merely a bunch of flowers. They are more like a symphony where each one has part and performs it beautifully; not overshadowing the others and in harmony. This reminds me a lot of the glorious scent of the Queen of the Night orchid cactus in my garden. Each one of its beautiful and fragrant flowers opens and closes in a single night. Ah, such transcendence... If you love light, white florals, you MUST try Bat-Woman!

Naiad is quite the interesting scent. The lotus, lavender and neroli are definitely a creative combination. It's one of those components that make you wonder how it will *really* be on your skin and how it will smell. Which one would be most prominent? Or will each one cancel or enhance the other? On my skin, the neroli seemed to take the top note. Hence, I get more citrus from this scent upon initial wearing. It reminds me of a fragrance from one of the French perfume houses from a while ago. A lady of the manor type scent. The lavender brings a potpourri quality to this fragrance. But wait, isn't a naiad a water sprite? Final impression: An elegant, feminine scent that is quite wearable and regal. Definitely different! I like it.

I adore lilac and Spectre is the most lilac of all BPAL. My skin does well with pretty much any scent and seems to love white florals especially. Spectre with components of lilac, tuberose and Lily of the Valley is, indeed, on first impression from the white floral family. It is mellowed out and grounded with the addition of the white sandalwood. I really like this scent and hope that one day, it will make a comeback!

Muse is just lovely! Floral as well as fruity (lime). I love the hypnotic combination of tuberose, lotus and jasmine with a whisper of lime. This is the closest (to my nose) to the long gone Yuki Onna. Definitely a keeper!

Of the three scents created for Convergence XII held in New Orleans, Voodoo Queen was my least favorite. I am lucky enough to swap for an imp of this and wanted to test drive it more than once before reviewing it. I got that strange pickle top note upon my first wearing. It was so overpowering that I couldn't really detect much of anything else. On the 2nd try, I got more woods and some incense but still some of that pickle note. Fairly intense and long lasting. The bottle label was quite lovely for this scent but sadly, this is not a fragrance for me.

Doc Buzzard is the companion of Voodoo Queen. Or you could say the Yang to her Yin! He is mysterious personage and spicy, indeed.. You would do well to be wary of him as it is very easy to be ensnared in his grasp. If you love spicy, smoky, woody *boy* scents, then this is a fragrance for you. I find that this scent to be quite grown up. Doc Buzzard reminds me of someone sitting outside on a veranda smoking a pipe and imbibing a good whiskey. Richly scented but also subtle. No Old Spice here! Very, very wearable. And I usually go for the more girly, sweet floral fragrances. Another winner from the inimitable Beth!

Wow. I can see why everyone is raving about this scent and not merely due to its exclusivity. It's a bit of this and that evoking the historically magnificent NOLA. Storyville contains a bit of sweetness, a touch of booziness, a hint of incense and a smigden of spice. Which, I would guess, it what New Orleans is all about; a melange of different cultures, cuisines and lifestyles. I really enjoyed the delectable foodiness in this oil. This makes it quite accessible to your nose on the first sniff from the bottle. (Slatherers be forewarned!) In addition, there is that essence of spice upon drydown that makes it a much more mature scent than initial top note. I have not been to New Orleans yet though I have read about it in novels (yes, Anne Rice!). Wearing Storyville gives me the sense of having experienced it via an olfactory tour of the City. Just gorgeous! I would love to see this scent make a reappearance.

I absolutely ADORE this scent!!! Wonderfully combining components of sweet, spice and *hiccup* rum. The sugar is a white sweet syrup, not carmel or brown sugar. The sugar, cream, vanilla, rum and spice married together here make it one very delicious scent! The addition of saffron gives the Undies a mysterious *kick* that is really nice and sexy actually. You know how when you add a dash of cinnamon to some dish that you're cooking, not enough to really taste it but it gives a dish that added umph that you sense? That's what it is here. Pretty nifty! Yet another fabulous creation from the lovely, talented and gracious Beth! My new favorite! Huzzah!

This is lovely and succulent with honeydew, peach blossom, lychee and white tea. The vanilla in the top note is a sweet beginning with this scent. Surprisingly, the carnation is an awesome touch of spiciness but not overpowering the rest of the components. Wonderful for both spring and summer wearing. I would even say that this would be a lovely bridal fragrance as well (if sweet, soft and lovely is what you're trying to evoke!) This is one of my 2 favorites in the Inquisition along with Mitzvah. I am fortunate to own a full bottle of this incredible scent.