Thaleia

Let me preface this review by saying that dragon's blood is hit-or-miss with me, depending on what's in it. I haven't figured out what goes well with it on me and what doesn't, given my limited experience with it, but somehow this one works. Blood Amber is definitely resiny, which is obvious from the amber and dragon’s blood combination. This is actually really pretty – warm and sweet and just a little bit floral. Amber works well for me in most blends, so that could be it. I've since decanted my two imps into a little shortie bottle for me to carry around. It might not merit a 5ml, but I'm glad I have my two imps' worth - there are other amber blends I prefer over this one, but you never know, I might get a big bottle in the future. 7.5/10.

I have a million reviews to catch up on, because I've been lazy lately, but I have to review this because the description that popped into my mind when I tried it cracked me up. Jezebel is, in two words, NAUGHTY ALICE. It's a combination of Alice's innocent milk-and-honey-floral and O's honey sex. I really love this. I'm also still laughing at myself. I'm not crazy, but Naughty Alice? I really can't help it. 9.5/10

Right now, for spring, I'm really loving: Sundew!! Budding Moon Berenice Endymion The Apothecary La Bella Donna Della Mia Mente and my year-round favourites that fit the bill: Katharina Ode on Melancholy Black Dahlia

My "I'm going to kick your ass" scents are: Vechernyaya - the "I may be pretty, darling, but I can still kick your ass" scent. Pride, The Bow and Crown of Conquest, Titus Andronicus - all very haughty, no-bullshit, better-than-you scents.

My vanilla scents are Antique Lace, Dorian, and Morocco. Haven't tried Snake Oil yet, but I should.

Hm ... let me see. Katharina, La Bella Donna Della Mia Mente, Arachne, maybe Kitsune-Tsuki if you don't mind the plum ... and I know you said you didn't like rose, but Seraphim and Ode on Melancholy are two of my favourites and aren't overly rosy, so they might work for you. Brisingamen for me was a light floral warmed by amber, but I don't know if that's too heavy for you. Ave Maria Gratia Plena's also beautiful, and you might want to look into Eternal and Ephemera as well. Good luck!

The second Rappaccini's Garden scent I've gotten to try, and the one I've most wanted to receive as a frimp! So, I'm really excited. The description sounds wonderful, and sounds like something I would love (as I'm a huge fan of rose and peony). Rose and peony, alright, with a green scent underneath in the bottle; the floral comes out more on my skin, as I expected it to. Very soft, pale pink-and-green scent, not so much like Venus, but softer and more unobtrusive. There's a soapy quality to this one, but not in a bad way. So pretty! I may have to get a 5ml of this, especially now that I've tried and liked it. 9/10.

I've had very limited experience with dragon's blood resin, but I like it enough by itself that I'm willing to try blends, though not very many of them have worked on me, unfortunately. Dragon's Bone, in the vial, smells like a hotel hallway: cleaning fluids, vacuumed carpets, and flowers in vases all along the hall to make it look nice. On me, it quickly becomes very empty and dry - a soft floral, but an empty one that picks up on the woods. I'm impressed at how dry and hollow the scent is. I just don't think I'd wear it. 6.5/10.

Wow, now how long did I have to wait to get a frimp of this? I'm all about the narcissism and kissing mirrors and dancing in front of them - heck, I do it without BPAL's signature blend all the time - but whatever helps me and gives me an excuse to do it randomly ... In the vial, I'm getting maraschino cherries. This may or may not mean that this'll turn out to be jasmine, as Luna starts out as cherry/almond on me and dries down to a pure jasmine (which leads me to believe that too much jasmine can smell like cherry). Okay, definitely cherry on me. Sweet cocktail cherries whose stems I love tying into knots with my tongue. (Show of hands, how many of you can do that?) Then a sweet, creamy almond à la Dana O'Shee or Alice appears over the cherry. Oh my God! It's Black Cherry Vanilla Coke! I like this enough to keep the imp, and I may get a 5ml in time. 7/10.

So this is Envy? If Envy could smell this sweet all the time, I'd be guilty of that sin. Juicy green pear (now that's random, but I do get it), freshly cut grass, a hint of lavender, and mint. Green with envy, indeed, and I love it. I'm not getting lime at all, but this is definitely sharp. I see a 5ml in my future. 9/10.

Yum! Sharp mango and orange in the bottle. It's pretty much the same on me, initially, and then the sandalwood comes out, giving the scent even more sharpness. And finally ... the white musk softens it all just a little bit. Great for a pick-me-up scent whenever you're falling asleep the night before a big exam and need to wake up, or if you're on holiday somewhere fun and want to get into the spirit of things. Very exotic and tropical. It reminds me of when I go to the Philippines on visits. I like this a lot. 8/10.

In the vial, this is very strongly herbal and very similar to Bess. The rosemary is very prominent in both, but even more so in Catherine; once on my skin, Catherine sweetens almost immediately and allows the rose to come out sooner. The rosemary lingers over everything and doesn't really let the rose or the orange blossom come out and do anything much for this blend. This does kind of remind me of this soap I used to use when I was younger. The rosemary is definitely interesting, but combined with orange blossom and rose, it smells like random soap marked as 'rose-scented'. ... you know, I think I like Bess better. 5/10.

Oh, hello amber! That's all I can smell in the vial, really. Very resinous with a touch of sweetness, which I guess is coming from the florals. On me, I get a very warm powdery amber, which I really like. The carnation comes out next, and complements the amber. I don't get the apple blossom until later, and it lends lightness and sweetness to the blend. The myrtle comes out last and allows this to dry down to a sweet floral touched by sunlight. A lovely, golden, warm scent. 8.5/10.

There aren't any notes listed, but this seems like something I'd like, and the name's really cool, too. It was soft in the vial, but I couldn't pick out actual notes until I put it on. I'm getting green tea and pale flowers, very soothing and calm. This is Shanghai with more flowers than just honeysuckle. Definitely misty-soft and barely there, but when I smell it, I have to smile. 8/10.

This one seems like pure patchouli. Great. I just finished reviewing Brimstone, which seems to have civet in it, and patchouli's another thing that does not like me. So ... I guess I'm on a lucky streak here, aren't I? This patchouli's actually alright, less heady than others I've tried (so I guess this is black patchouli? because I can take this one). It does get sweeter on the drydown, but it's still patchouli, and I'm still wary of it. Eh. I don't know. I wouldn't wear patchouli by itself, because I will, inevitably, get a headache of some kind. This is better than most, so 4.5/10.

Whoa, that is really strong stuff. I took one sniff from the vial and my sinuses should be clear for the next day or so. Definitely smells like something's burning, which is apt for the name (I was wondering if it was to do with hell, or the 'fire and brimstone' speeches which talk about just that). I'm almost scared to put it on. Unlike Djinn, which is fiery yet comforting and warm, this one's a towering inferno. Should I be getting civet out of this? I'm getting dizzy and my stomach is doing weird things, which probably means it's a yes. It's mainly burning wood and scorched earth and a very strong civet note. I'm sorry, I hate doing this, but I'm going to have to wash this one off. I just can't take the civet thing. 1/10.

A friend of mine said that she liked this, and I love the story of Elizabeth and Leicester, so I'm glad the Lab gifted me with one in my last order. Very herby and green in the vial, very sharp. It's not something I'd say "oh, I love this!" to right away. On me, it turns even sharper from the lemon peel, with the mint peeking through just a little bit, and the rosemary giving it that herbal edge. Strangely enough, I don't smell any of the five rose variants, even though my skin loves rose and tends to amp it. It softens on the drydown to a lemon-tinged floral (I guess there's the rose after all) and then just goes away leaving a faint trace of lemon. Hm. This is definitely interesting, and different. It's 'okay' for now, but it might grow on me. 6/10.

I'd have loved to see Arachne portrayed as the overly self-confident woman who thought herself better at her craft than even the gods ... but this embodiment of her fate - soft and sweet, yet also sad and mournful, with a green, herby sharpness in the back somewhere that calls to mind her previous hubris. Arachne dries down to a soapy floral, but soapy in a good way. I'm normally terrified of spiders, but this one I can definitely live with. 8.5/10.

What's in this? Patchouli and what else? After much consideration, I’ve found that red patchouli is the devil (hence the red?) and I can actually take the black variety. I’ve only had a whiff out of the imp and it’s already making me dizzy. I don’t smell anything beyond the patchouli. Maybe a bit of incense – just maybe. On the skin, the patchouli persists for a few minutes before drying down to sandalwood and, yes, patchouli. The sandalwood I like, but the red patchouli's really making my head spin. Beth loves using the patchouli, and it's one of the three things that'll ruin a blend for me, so all of these blends that I want to like, I can't. I'm hoping that someone'll take this imp and enjoy it in a way I just can't bring myself to. For the sandalwood making a valiant effort on my skin, 3/10.

What the heck am I supposed to say here, seeing that there are ten pages of reviews I have to follow - after having reviewed Dana O'Shee just now and not finding anything original to say there, either? The first thing that pops out, both on my skin and in the bottle, is the sweet vanilla tea with a slice of lemon (which I'm guessing should be the Victorian fougere - I've smelled a few fougeres before and they sort of smell like this). Very Victorian, very narcissistic - this is someone who's beautiful and knows it. I'm already holding my head a bit higher, even though I'm only wearing pj's. Very sexy. For one of my graduate school classes, I wrote my final paper on the aestheticism of Walter Pater and Oscar Wilde as presented in The Picture of Dorian Gray. I wonder what would've happened if I'd submitted this bottle in lieu of my paper. This says it all, honestly, better than I ever could. 10/10.

When I ordered this scent, all I really knew about the namesake was that there's a film being made about the Black Dahlia case (starring Josh Hartnett, Hilary Swank, and Scarlett Johansson, click here for more information). So, I read up on the case and ... well, I won't lie and say it didn't freak the shit out of me, because it did, but this scent really evokes the sophisticated, vintage glamour of Hollywood that was, unfortunately, lost on Beth Short. This is what her life could have been. All of that aside, though, this is very innocent, hopeful, but there's something lurking in the background that portends tragedy, which is, I guess, what could be said about many people in old Hollywood ... they didn't come to such unfortunate ends, obviously, but all the same, they had their issues. Who doesn't? Creamy magnolia, rose, and jasmine with just a touch of orchid and dark amber that makes me feel like a star. Is it wrong on some level that this has become an instant favourite? I swear, I'm not morbid, but this is love. 10/10.

I can't even say how much I love this scent. It's angelic, evocative of heaven, etc. obviously, but I'm in Heaven. This is a perfect Easter Sunday scent, pale pastels and sunlight. I'm not struck speechless very often, but the most I can manage right now after smelling this is "aghahgh" or a close approximation thereof. This is Ode on Melancholy (one of my favourites) with the depth of sandalwood and frankincense, less evocative of sadness and loss, and actually gives a sense of hope for better things. Must get a 5ml. Right now. Thank you, Lab, for sending me this. 10/10.

What can I say that hasn't already been said? Dana O'Shee is a lovely, creamy almond, very much like Lush's Snowcake soap and Smitten hand cream, definitely. It's also a lot like like Alice, without the tea and flowers. See, I can't think of anything original to say. Even "I love this" isn't original. I really do like it a lot, though. It's perfect for those days when you need a soft, comforting scent that isn't obtrusive, sharp, or heady, and reminds you of those days when you were five and drinking a glass of warm milk. I was thinking that, in the event that I thought this to be too much like Alice, I'd give it to my best friend, who likes almond scents - but I'm keeping mine. She can get her own damn bottle. 9/10.

Khajuraho, in the bottle, is a very incensey floral, not in the way All Saints is, but more complex. On me, the incense and sandalwood are prominent for about fifteen seconds before giving way to a lush floral that has a distinctive gardenia/jasmine note above the others, plus a green/fruity sweetness. This is really beautiful and evocative of a romantic spring garden that I'd love to walk through. 8.5/10.

I know I'd heard from the get-go when reviews started pouring in for Red Lantern that it was much sweeter than we all thought it would be. And wow, is it sweet. In the bottle, it has the same buttery-rum smell that Grog has, but more complex and exotic. There's a hint of Asian spice underlying the sweetness. When I put it on, it's initially very sweet, like Gluttony layered over Grog or vice versa. It's definitely boozy-sweet, with exotic, Asian spices combined with Gluttony’s caramel, and then a sandalwood note comes out (what is it with me and being able to pick out the sandalwood more readily today than usual? I had this same thing happen when I reviewed Night's Pavilion) above everything. When the sandalwood comes out, the caramel fades to the back and the scent dries down to woods, booze, tobacco, and debauchery. Rawr! 8.5/10.