boomtownrat

A big reason I wanted this was because I love Hela and Cate Blanchett but I also had a feeling all the notes would be wonderful together. I always want to try musk and amber scents if I can, and to have them together was irresistible. Musk is the main attraction as The Queen of Hel dries on my skin. It reminds me of another musk that I remember from the '80s but can't quite place. The leather is a beautiful complement to the musk and the green amber floats around it all like a glowing cloud, truly luminescent as the description says (how does Beth do it?). It's soft, like zankoku_zen said. This is Hela when she's feeling a little more mellow, not on a rampage. I feel a bit stronger and more confident when I wear this, like I'm wearing bad-ass black leather armor.

The only patchouli-based scent I've tried that was this dry and woody was Malediction, but Dragonsplaining isn't nearly as stanky and loud as that one. It doesn't smell like a cookout, but rather, more like the fire before you've begun to cook. I get no sweetness from it, but it's slightly green at first. It's really not cedar itself but the smoke, just as the description says. Worn only on my wrists, its throw was plenty noticeable but not overpowering, so I'll probably not wear it on my throat or behind my ears.

I've never tried the original Silk Road, so I can't make any comparisons. When I got my bottle yesterday, I couldn't wait to try it. I tested a bit in the crook of one elbow last night, where I got a hot ginger, neroli, and cinnamon combination, but it had only been off the mail truck for a few hours at the time. Today I'm wearing it on the backs of both wrists, where it bursts forth with cinnamon, cassia, tea, a little sandalwood, maybe some sweet frankincense. For the first half hour or so it reminds me of a less overpowering Poison with a tea note instead of the fruitiness that I normally smell in Poison. After about two hours the cinnamon and cassia have stepped back a little to make way for tea, ginger, sandalwood, and frankincense. The throw is less strong at this stage but it's still wafting. It's somewhere between the sweet softness of Morocco and the spicy headiness of Baghdad. For those who have smelled Economic Recovery, the Black Friday/Cyber Monday frimp from a few years ago, this is like a sister to that. At first I was concerned that it might give me a headache, as Poison could sometimes do when a lot of girls wore it in high school, but it doesn't. In fact, I'm compelled to keep smelling my wrists to figure out all the layers of notes. Still, I will apply it sparingly because it goes a long way, and I'll give it an hour or so to settle down before going anywhere if I know I'll be around people who might be sensitive to perfume. This seems like the kind of oil that will age wonderfully.

These long-dead scents are back for a limited time in a slightly tweaked form! The deepest, darkest point in a shadow; the area contained within the shadow of an eclipse. East African black patchouli, cedarwood, vetiver and a dribble of cinnamon. Original Umbra is one of my favorite BPALs, but I didn't discover its aged magnificence until after it was discontinued. I've only had a single imp that I was afraid to use more than once every few months until this resurrection was announced, and it became a holy grail. When I saw the announcement for this resurrection, I squealed and bought a bottle right away, with plans to buy more after I pay some bills. I'll be buying backups for sure. The bottle arrived on Monday and I couldn't wait to smell it, but I let it rest for a couple of days before I gave it a try. The overall effect of Umbra - Resurrected smells a bit like you're storing sticks of real cinnamon bark in a cedar box. Based on what I can remember of the original when it was fresh, the cedar is a little more prominent and there's probably less vetiver. This isn't overpowering on me, but I'm going to apply it sparingly because it's kind of dirty, like the original. (If you prefer clean scents then you probably weren't looking at this anyway.) I feel it will be a nighttime and weekend scent, when I've always liked to wear the original, and probably best saved for the cool months. It's got the potential to smell a little too dirty when body heat amps it. This is an empowering yet calming scent that I think will work on any gender.

I want to enjoy Kumiho because I love most anything ginger, but that tea note really is sharp, biting, and crisp on me, turning this initially light scent into a potential brain spike after it dries. Almost without fail, fragrances that other people describe as "clean" are bound to trigger migraines or push me right to the brink of one before I wash off the scent. My skin turbo-charges both the white tea and the ginger. Both of these notes have worked for me in other BPAL scents that contain sweet, round, or dark notes to smooth over the astringency. I may try a test layering with something sweet, something vanilla, like Snake Oil or Morocco.

Smokier and woodier than her Red cousin, East African Black Patchouli is rich, passionate, and earthy, possessing a unique, distinctive elegance. East African Black Patchouli makes me feel like writing more poetry and drinking more hot tea instead of coffee and shopping at farmer's markets more often and burning candles every night. It will be perfect for layering with all sorts of things, but wear it alone and you can have that alluring yet unassuming world-traveler vibe. No head shop patchouli could hope to compare. In the bottle and when it's wet on my skin, East African Black Patchouli smells like a less sweet #occupywallstreet, which itself is practically a single note on me. As it dries, East African Black Patchouli softens into a more subtle patch that I believe to be the same as the one that's in Banshee Beat and Feed Me and Fill Me with Pleasure. This is indeed smokier and woodsier than Sumatran Red Patchouli, and considerably more intense on me. I have a sensory impression of Black as earth after a rain, whereas Red is dry like the bark of a cedar tree. Yeah, I just said Black is woodsier, but this is more of a synaesthesia effect. Red is the sister who likes the sun and Black is the sister who would rather spend her time in autumnal, darkly overcast days. This was already a thick, rich, almost sweet patchouli on the same day it arrived, so I know it's going to be phenomenal as it ages. It's certainly hoard-worthy if you're so inclined and able.

This is the 2018 reissue. On my skin, Hal is a fairly short-lived whisper of jasmine and honey with a base of wood. I want it to last longer, to speak up just a little more without getting too loud. With time, or perhaps on a hot day, maybe that will happen. Having said that, this is the quality of jasmine that I wanted. I'm sure it will work wonderfully for those times when I want to smell of jasmine without knocking myself or anyone around me for a loop.

Pumpkin, coffee absolute, tonka, teakwood, cedar, cypress, and patchouli. Oh, my poor bank account. This is fresh from the mailbox, but I'm too excited not to try it tonight. In the bottle it reminds me of Pumpkin Latte 2011, but with a woody undertone. Wet on my skin and when it's just barely dry, the woods come up to the same level as the pumpkin and coffee. The more it dries, the more cedar I get - and the patchouli arrives, but dressed in its most sophisticated Halloween costume. This might be the most subtle patchouli I've smelled. Pumpkin II is warm and soft with a medium throw on me. It's something I can easily imagine wearing to work, to hang out with friends, to sit around at home and enjoy all by my greedy self... I expected to love Pumpkin V more out of the two that I bought, but I underestimated how gorgeously these notes would sing together. I may need a backup bottle.

A citrus chypre with French lavender, yellow bergamot, and clove bud. My bottle has only settled from shipping overnight, but I was impatient. I'm a poet and I've wanted a poetry-inspired BPAL scent for a while now, so I've been hoping that Scraps of Poetry would be something I could love. When I opened the bottle yesterday, all I could smell was a zingy citrus chypre and yellow bergamot. In the 22 or so hours since then, it's softened up but those are still the two notes that dominate in the bottle and on my wrists. There's the tiniest hint of lavender. I'm not sure how clove bud differs from the usual clove note, but I don't get anything that I recognize as clove. Citrus and bergamot seem to dominate every time I wear them so your mileage may vary. For me, this is more Elizabeth Barrett Browning than any other poet that comes to mind. It's a soft, golden-pink, almost powdery type of floral that would be nice for wearing at a wedding. Many of the sharper, heady florals are a problem for me, but none of those notes are in this one and it isn't setting off any headache alarm bells. It doesn't have a ton of throw, so it's the kind of floral that shouldn't bother the people around you as long as you don't slather. I'm sure it's going to change somewhat, but Scraps of Poetry doesn't strike me as the kind of fragrance that's going to age into something dramatically different. I don't think this is very "me," but I'll keep it and see how it changes once it settles.

As a fan of Streets of Detroit, Haunted, and Goblin, I immediately added this to my cart upon reading the notes. It turns out that the OLLA scent that Hyakki Yagyō reminds me of is Kit. Somehow, it's putting me in mind of a softer, lighter Kit with coconut. It's not demonic on me at all, but there's a suggestion of incense somewhere in a back room of a dimly lit old house late at night. This truly could've been an OLLA scent, so if you missed those, you might like this as an adjacent type of scent. My nose might be broken, my skin chemistry might be wonky, or it might be true. In any case, I love it. There's not as much throw as you might expect, but it lasts for hours.

Champaca and sweet amber wrap me up like like a warm hug when I wear this. All the other notes play more of a supporting role. If you're concerned about it being too strong, too dirty, I can say that there's nothing overpowering or dirty about Wynter Wakeneth Al My Care. I find it comforting and beautiful. It's only going to become more stunning with age.

The "Frostbitten" note in this is instantly recognizable from the bottle of Frostbitten Dorian. I've never tried Snow White, so I can't speak to that aspect of it. I own several bottles of Snake Oil from various years, as well as bottles of several Snake Oil-based variants. For me this is the lightest Snake Oil of them all, though it does stick around for hours. When it's wet, this is like sniffing a memory of Snake Oil at the edge of a snowy pine forest. I'm not sure where I got the pine note, but it's fleeting. For a brief time during the dry-down things turn a bit sharp, going all Snake Oil spices without the vanilla. Then it settles into a light, pretty, chilly vanilla with a trace of the Snake Oil spices. I believe that skin chemistry and where I apply it both make a big difference in how it smells. Edit on December 22, 2017: Just a day or two after I wrote this review, I noticed that if I'm warm when I wear this, the scent transforms into something similar to a body lotion that I used to love from Bath and Body Works called Sinful Vanilla. I have wanted a BPAL equivalent to that for six years, since I first got into BPAL. This is better because it doesn't have any of the chemical undertones of the lotion. Now I'm definitely going to need more bottles.

Now this is the point. You fancy me mad. Madmen know nothing. But you should have seen me. You should have seen how wisely I proceeded — with what caution — with what foresight — with what dissimulation I went to work! I was never kinder to the old man than during the whole week before I killed him. Percolating with derangement: flashing spikes of orange blossom, neroli, lemon, and bitter clove in a bubbling mass of opoponax, patchouli, and thick, black vetiver. For now, neroli and clove are the stars of this scent, with a base of opoponax and vetiver. It's not a patchouli-heavy fragrance, though time might bring that note forward a bit more. I feel that the orange blossom and lemon make the briefest appearance when it's first applied. It's kind of cozy and appropriate for cooler weather, without a lot of throw, but it has good staying power on me. Even though there's no wood in it, I can feel the wooden floorboards that creak beneath the narrator's feet as he goes about the week before committing the murder. There's something familiar about this, maybe like a soap that I once used, and yet it doesn't actually smell at all soapy. It feels somehow more expensive than it is. I think it would suit all genders. I have to say that I don't get any impressions of madness, but maybe I'm just a little too familiar with madness to notice.

Frostbitten Dorian is the kind of BPAL that you could use to enable someone who is used to more commercial perfumes. It's not that it's perfumey, but it's quite sugary, a bit floral, and a bit light-musky. There's a hint of tea with lemon, but on me, the sweet snowy note dominates the blend. (I've yet to try Snow White, so I can't say how the snow note compares to it and will defer to what the other reviews say.) Something in it reminds me of Lick It Softly, as though they're siblings: one musky-floral and one minty. If you think Dorian could be sweeter, try Frostbitten Dorian. As for me, I think I need to wear it on my wrists and not my throat, because it does have a fair bit of throw on me. Wear length is hard to gauge, but I put it on in the early evening and it was still going strong close to midnight when I went to sleep. This would be good for work or any social gathering where I don't want to overwhelm others with a heady scent. I could see this being perfect for a winter wedding. Edit 1/8/2018: After almost a month, I'm finding Frostbitten Dorian is getting too strong for me to wear because it makes me feel like I'm going to get a headache. I'm not sure if it's ageing that way or if I'm in some kind of hormonal phase (or maybe it's the unusually cold weather). I have wiped it off to get to the sweeter, more wearable late stages every time I've tried to wear it, which I've only done four times at most. Maybe it would be better on my husband.

The Lion had been on my must-try-eventually list for years, but somehow I had never bought it. I'm so glad that the Lab frimped it to me, because this is an instant love. In the '90s I wore amber essential oil often, so I associate it with black eyeliner and deep burgundy lipstick, World Serpent Distribution and Projekt Records, striped tights and ripped fishnets, alt.gothic and Take a Bite. Amber is my twenties in a bottle. The Lion brings all of that back to me, because I get pure amber oil with just a trace of cinnamon and a memory of saffron. There might be a ghost of clove in there, or that might be my brain telling me so because cloves were, of course a huge part of '90s goth. When I place another Lab order, I'm going to need a bottle of The Lion. It continues my streak of successes with the Mad Tea Party.

Sometimes I make a perfume just because I love this kid. Red velvet confetti cupcakes and bubblegum. I'm a red velvet cake fiend. Eating too much of it is bad, but I'm also happy to smell like it. So far the most authentic red velvet cake scent for me has been Cake Smash, but I've only got a decant of that and I'm hoping for something more readily available. Heck on Wheels was a blind bottle purchase directly from the Lab. When I open the bottle it's just like unwrapping a big, fat piece of pink bubble gum. The red velvet cake note from Peppermint Cream Cupcake peeks out just a little when I put it on, and it's almost like a cupcake with a layer of bubble gum-flavored frosting. If I stick my wrist directly under my nose there's a sort of faintly musty smell, but the throw is a pink and red sugary cloud. I find that it's truest to the description if I apply it in the crooks of my elbows. On the day it arrived, I was so excited that I couldn't wait for it to settle. I can't say how close that was to what it's going to be as it ages, but I can tell you it's got a medium throw and lasted for at least six hours. On a side note, I put Do You Like Clowns? on while there was still a trace of Heck on Wheels, and they're not bad together if you really want a sugar overload. Most of the Lab's foodie scents get more foodie with age, at least for me, and the bottle only arrived two days ago. Everything that's sweet smells pretty different on me depending on the time of the month, the weather, what I ate, and even my application method (sweeter when I dab it on with a finger than from the rim of the bottle). I may well be editing this review sometime down the road.

Valuable, Powerful, Deserving is a beautiful skin scent with staying power. It's not at all creamsicle-like on me. The amber, wood, and orange blossom combination reminds me of a much softer sister to A Bright Flame Between Two Jacinths, which is one of my favourite anniversary scents. I love what it represents and I think it's going to be perfect for occasions when I want to feel more powerful or sophisticated. Edited on 6/29/2018: I reached for this today as a kind of security blanket, since there is even more reason to protest. It's no longer similar to Two Jacinths at all, and I'm getting more of the vanilla in "vanilla oudh." There's also more amber, which is always a good thing as far as I'm concerned. It's still not a creamsicle but it's closer than it was. I don't have anything else like it.

While still wet, this is a bitter, deep red apple soaked in liquid evil. It's just the thing for a spring day when you want to smell just a little unclean. Unfortunately, as it dries there's something that gives me The Quease, a surefire indicator of an impending migraine. I had to wash it off quickly to keep it from going any further. Those first few minutes were wonderfully tart and made me feel a bit like a bad girl pretending to be good.

Something about Snake Skin smells like Snake Oil + cherry--not the cough syrupy kind of cherry note, but real cherries. I think this is my brain misreading the combination of the leather and the vanilla, because when I huff more deeply I can tell that it's leather mixed with Snake Oil. The notes are blended perfectly and I believe it's going to age as fantastically as all the other Snake Oil variants I've tried. It doesn't last as long or have as much throw as regular Snake Oil does on me, but while it lasts, it's infinitely huffable. This will definitely be a multiple-backup purchase, just as I thought it would be. ETA: Almost a month later, the cherry is still kind of present, but it does smell like Snake Oil plus leather. It's still more subtle than regular SO. I'm still gonna buy a second bottle, maybe more. Edited on 10/10/2017: I no longer get any cherry from Snake Skin, but what I do get is so good I don't know if words could do it justice. If you wanted something that smells like Snake Oil has soaked into the neck of your favorite leather jacket, I think you should get your hands on a bottle of this now. After eight months it's already this good. Just thinking about what a year or more will do for this scent, I wish I had bought more than two bottles.

Normally I only review something after I've worn it at least twice, but if I have a strong reaction (negative or positive) I won't wait. I'm reviewing Fake News on my first wear because it's remarkable. The bottle is fresh off the mail truck, but I couldn't wait to try it so I rolled it a few times and dabbed some on the back of my right hand. After I was sure I could wear it, I dabbed a tiny bit on the back of my left wrist and my neck. You may think that's a lot for a patchouli scent, and normally it would be. With Fake News the effect isn't so overpowering. I think people can definitely smell me, but it's not shouting like other patchoulis do. Fake News smells more upscale than my many other patchouli scents. The pink pepper pod is spicing up the patchouli, which is not the earthy, dirty-hippie kind. At times there's something Obsessionesque about it, which I love. I think that's the pink pepper and white tobacco. #occupywallstreet is the protester chanting in the streets, and Fake News is that same protester who went on to a career as an investigative journalist. Fake News can go to parties that #occupywallstreet would get kicked out of, but that subversive spirit is still there.

This is going to need a lot of age before I'll know whether I want to keep the frimp. I knew that the combination of balsam and embalming herbs would be risky for me, but I love the concept so I had to give it a skin test. Sure enough, it's true to the idea and I can see the inner sanctum of a pyramid, or the cozy study of an Egyptologist who's reading by candlelight late into the night. The imp is still so fresh that it gives off a spiky, almost menthol quality. I think that this oil could be a thing of majesty if it ages long enough, but I'm not sure I'm elegant and regal enough to pull it off. A little swipe on the inside and outside of one wrist, dabbed onto my other wrist, is more than enough.

Red velvet is my favourite kind of cake, and I love peppermint. I like smelling like a delicious dessert because I can get away with it at work, and because the notes in foodies usually play nicely with my sensitive nose. The only experience I previously had with the red velvet note was in my precious decant of Cake Smash, which smells just like the real thing and not just like chocolate. My only peppermint scent is Lick It Softly. I wasn't sure how much real red velvet scent I would get from this, given that it would be battling it out with peppermint for dominance, but I needed to try it and was confident enough to buy a bottle. After being lucky enough to get one bottle of the Chocolate Stout Cupcake scent last year before it sold out, I've decided that if there's a delicious-sounding dessert scent that I really want, I shouldn't wait on a decant. When it's in the bottle, Peppermint Cream Cupcake smells identical to the real thing. Right now, in a bottle that's just under a week off the mail truck, the red velvet note isn't as strong on my skin as it is in Cake Smash. The peppermint is higher pitched than it is in Lick It Softly, but it doesn't stick around as long. After the mint fades, I'm left with a sweet but light skin scent. I'm hopeful that the red velvet will start to come out more with age, because I wore it last night and noticed that it's starting to smell more like the bottle when I wear it now. It's great for work because people won't think it's perfume, but they'll probably want to know who has the mint candy.

Opening this bottle for the first time was like stepping through a portal to 1984. I can picture a plastic book bag clip that I used to have, which was dark purple with a mirror in the middle, and little holes around the mirror where you'd snap in tiny button charms. I can also picture my sticker collection, all my Breyer horses, and the purple ink pen that was also a bracelet. When I decided to wear this today, I smelled like I had smeared fruit and sugar all over myself, but in a good way. The fruits soon settled beneath the sugar and it's close to what I once imagined Sugar Skull would be like. I'm going to layer it with Sugar Skull when I get a chance. After suffering a migraine for the last two days, I needed this. It's not at all overpowering and it boosted my mood. Somehow, in spite of the images it evokes, I don't feel like an eleven-year-old wearing a perfume that was made for preteens. It's... a lighthearted scent for the eleven-year-old in you?

If you don't mind hunting down LE scents from a few years ago, look for Planting Moon. Mine is from 2013. There was at least one earlier version that I know of but haven't tried. It smells exactly like the garden my dad always used to have when I was a kid, from the roots in the earth to the tip-tops of all the plants.

My first impression: This is chocolate Snake Oil and I want to bathe in it. My lasting impressions: Chocolate and cocoa notes generally trample all over everything else when I wear them, but that's not the case with Boomslang. I'm not really sure what teak and rice milk notes are like, but they're in the background behind cocoa and all of Snake Oil's vanilla and spices. Snake Oil, on me, is a scent for all times, seasons, and situations, and I think Boomslang will be the same way even though she's a little more mysterious. I'm still getting to know her, but upon first glance she is Snake Oil's sister who drapes herself entirely in deep red silks from head to toe. In spite of the cocoa, Boomslang is less sweet than her more famous sister and she stays closer to the skin. As she matures, I hope she will stay this rich and smooth. Boomslang is what I have wanted every chocolate or cocoa scent from the Lab to be, but somehow none of them have been this good on me before. My special skin chemistry oddities: Thanks to hormones, my skin is so volatile that I never know whether a scent I love is going to turn funky tomorrow. I'd be willing to take a chance and buy multiple backups of this, even if I have to wear it in a scent locket or in my hair.