Alia Kaitan

My Layering Experiments, now with emoticon ratings! Smut 2007 + Body, Remember boooozey raw coconut & sugar cane, sexeh to the extreeeme. Smut 2007 + Touched Twice lovedrunk innocence utterly shattered by first taste of passion. moar booze + coconut goodness. Ice Princess Bath Oil + Touched Twice floating halo of sweet, creamy, faintly tropical white sparkles. Panther Moon + Variety of Pleasing Amusements sweet incensed leather. Dance of Death + Black Pearl yay accidental deliciousness! was testing these two (one on each wrist) and while they are both good on their own, together they are 100x better. Black Pearl gives a creamy sweet depth to DoD's dark elegance. Ivanushka + Entangled Okay, sometimes I just have to see if Ivanushka goes with something. Aaand this, was very weird. Not recommended.

Oo! Thanks for the tip about tea! I loove tea, and won't mind adding it to some scents. Yeah, right now am on a bit of a Smut layering kick. Because booze and musk makes everything better. Well, almost...

Is this the chart we're looking for? Thank you mimers99!!!!! ETA: Sorry, I didn't realise google docs is a little weird with the zoom. But if you download the PDF, you should be able to view it just fine.

I would love to see a list like this, too! Fingers crossed that someone can find it. Because a reason to buy more BPAL is exactly what we all need. ('But, the list told me to! It said this would be awesome for me!')

Daaayyyya, wow. I was frimp'd this beauty. Thank you kind forumite! In the imp it is definitely resinous with a little spice, but once on my skin, this glorious golden candle-wax scent comes up. This smells so much like my old candle of Tibetan Mountain Temple from Pacifica. 'Gilded beeswax', for sure. Maybe some ginger and Ceylon cinnamon (the woodsy kind) in there, possibly some patchouli and a hint of orange rind, and some kind of cedar or pine? The base is very similar to the base of Faunalia to my nose. Regardless of the notes, the imagery in this is all about gold and warmth. Golden candles upon a golden altar, a bounty of offerings in golden bowls. Truly, this is radiant.. neither scorching as the sun nor cold as metal, but a warm amber-golden glow that fills the air. So glad I got to try this.

YAY! And congrats on finding your Panther Moon In addition to being one of my favourite Lunacy oils, I think PM is perhaps my favourite Lunacy label.. and it's definitely the Lunacy tshirt I coveted more than any other and almost didn't manage to resist Awww, thank you!! My family were totally confused when I opened the package and did a little happy dance. It's so nice to have people here who understand, haha. Guh, it is so beautiful. Definitely one of my favourite labels so far, too. If I could ever track down one of the tshirts I would probably live in the thing... regardless of whether it actually fit me...

Oh wow, the butterflies really are gorgeous all together. Errgh, now I regret not getting into a decant circle and missing out on a chance to grab an empty. However! I should quite whining, becaaauuusee.... The Precious is here! The Precious is here! To celebrate finally getting my grubby paws on some Panther Moon, I posed my slinky black kittehs together:

Holy canoli this stuff is amazing. The person I bought by bottle from thought it was coffee heavy, but my skin has this as this absolutely DIVINE balance of leather and spices with a coffee feel that reminds me much more of those little cups of potent turkish or arabian coffee than starbucks. Individual notes are hard to pick out, but wow. The combination is just rapturous, sweet yet full bodied. It's sultry and truly conjures the image of being in a tribal desert camp, fantasy Bedouin or something like that, surrounded by tents and dozing horses and their saddlery, sipping on coffee, watching the stars and dancers by firelight... Must find a backup of this... somehow...

While wet, this was a delicious blend of root bear and sweet red musk with a touch of carnaval foods! Much like the other reviewers. Then my skin did it's thing and amped the red musk to high heaven... haha. I love red musk, but I have many others, and wasn't looking for a red musk SN with this. Off to swaps it goes!

Entangled (Kudzu vine, raw honey, ginger cream, and gingergrass.) is my go-to ginger blend right now, and I love ginger! On me, it's somehow dry, a little green & sweet and definitely warm ginger bite all at once, like a fresh cut ginger root. Before discovering BPAL, I swore by a little rollerbottle of White Ginger I found at Whole Foods. If my little White Ginger grew up and became sublimely sophisticated, it would be Entangled. Also, Hi fellow equestrian!

I love darker moods in my scents, and for me, Nephthys v11 pretty much encapsulates a deep, silent sorrow. Which is interesting, because it's not a heavy blend at all, but there is just something quietly tragic about it. Like the echoing of empty temples and long kept secrets... and I love every melancholy bit of it.

Mmm, vanilla and creamy floral goodness. I agree with others that this is 'floral' in delicacy without having any strong floral notes. It toes the line between foodie and floral. It is definitely a complex, multi-dimensional vanilla that is sweet like cake with a honey frosting. Very evocative, sensual and yet somewhat innocent. I haven't smelled any of the Vulva scents, but if they are like this, I can definitely understand their popularity.

I got frimped this from an awesome forumite. It was all fir in the imp and while on wet. However, it settled into this dark, dry, woody, incensy, musky glory. I believe my comment upon sniffing (once it was dry) was: 'Now that is some manly manliness right there.' Yes. On me, this is very masculine, and even though I am a lady who often enjoys wearing more masculine scents, this is even a bit too 'man' for me. Really, really good though. I love me some wild forest man-beast smell. A cousin of Luperci '11, though this is a little sweeter, more musky and sans patchouli.

This is sumptuous, gingery excellence. I had this on one hand and tested a couple other Shungas up my other arm, having a happy sniff-a-thon. It was sweet blooming kudzu vine at first, nice, but didn't really grab my attention. Like a very nectar-y flower. Well. About 40 minutes later, I was no longer huffing my arms, but still sitting at my desk. I kept getting these whiffs of something absolutely incredible. Sweet and robust and smooth and spicy all at once. So, naturally, I re-huffed all the perfumed spots on my arm, and it was Entangled! Gingergrass! Ginger creme! Ginger honey! Ohhh it is delectable. Very unique, and difficult to describe. If this were colours, it would be a swirl of pale greens and earthy yellows. I can definitely tell that there is honey, even if I can't smell the distinct note. In fact, I can almost taste that combination of warm ginger and sweet honey in my mouth... mmmmm.... This is sensual, warm, cozy, grounded and strong. This is a scent that has excellent manners, oozes charisma, has an unflappable and gentle demeanor, but you do not want to piss them off. Not that Entangled would ever stoop to the level of revenge; she is far too graceful. I had a Lunar New Year dinner to go to tonight, so I decided to wear this. Even with all the fresh, spicy chinese foods floating around, I could still smell my own creamy ginger awesomeness. Many hours later, it is still going strong. This one takes a little time to unfold into it's full glory, but is soooo worth the wait. Bottle, for sure! Maybe back-ups. Emoticon rating:

I was very excited for this one, as all of the notes sound wonderful to me. In my decant it is sweet and warm and all around delectable smelling. Fruity amber. However... Wet, this is pure Eau de Porta-potty. As the previous reviewer said, bleeaaaaarrrrgh. I will be strong, and resist washing it off, and give it a chance to dry down. Must.. not.. run to sink... While drying, sometimes porta-potty, sometimes I get wafts of other things trying to come through. I wonder if the bergamot or peach is acting up on my skin. I've had something like this happen with lime before. After about 5 long minutes the porta-potty seems to have dissipated. What is left is... not bad. I can definitely smell the cranberry on top, and a bit of bergamot. I am also getting something that smells like fresh coconut flesh. The scent, overall, is fading pretty quickly on me. Dry, this has gone very faint. Still cranberry dominating. It's a drier scent, and has that slightly sharp floral I have come to associate with carnation. Warm and almost spicy. This is quite pleasing once it has settled down all the way, though I am still getting the occasional waft of something 'not quite right'. Overall, definitely cranberry, though YMMV with the other notes. I'm guessing citrus-of-doom killed this on my skin (hear my wallet breathing a sigh of relief). I can sometimes smell how this would be a really nice, unique scent on the right person. Alas, that person is not me. Emoticon rating:

I... I actually really love this. I think a bit of aging has done the bottle well, based on earlier reviews of 'OMG DEEAAATH'. I should note that I also seem to have very fortunate skin chemistry, as few things that I have tried have gone wonky on me. Don't get me wrong: it is still INTENSE while it's wet, including in the bottle. Sharp and ferocious with a dark and animal blend of notes that my untrained nose only distinguishes as 'dark and animal'. There is a hint of something woodsy in there, but it's in the back. Dry is when this impresses me. There is a sweetness that comes up and rounds it out without diluting it's impact. There is, indeed, something of a wintry forest about it. Not pine so much as just... forest. Wood and dry grasses and dormant undergrowth. I agree with another reviewer that this is sexy. A prowling, solitary sexy. It's wild and feline, mysterious and dangerous. Definitely keeping. Really glad I took a chance on a bottle. Emoticon rating:

This is an odd one for me. My first encounter was quite unhappy: I ended up with a nasty headache. Now I am wondering if I had just had too much perfume that day... because I've been wearing it for a few hours now, and no headache! Hmm. Anyway... mine is the 2011 Luperci. In the bottle, is that what patchouli smells like? It's musky but not quite, spicy but not quite. Definitely a dark brown scent. Earthy for sure. On wet, it takes on some green into that brown-ness, becomes sweet and and somehow lighter, even though it's very strong at this point. There is more of a honeyed quality to it than any distinct scent of honey. I get hints of something herbal, but not at all sharp. No, this stays very sweet and round, though a little perfumey for my tastes. Dry, I am getting more of the musk, thank goodness (for me, might differ for patchouli lovers out there). Still a very earthy scent, quite raw and more animalistic now with the musk coming through. Less perfumey now and more of a musky beastie that has been rolling in soil and patch and honeycomb. I am really enjoying the sweetness and the strength of this: it's got good throw on me and doesn't seem to be fading. I'm glad I decided to give this another go before shuffling it off to swaps. I'm still not sure how I feel about the patchouli, but I do love the overall effect of this scent. It ranks about equitable with Faunalia for me, in that I really enjoy most of the scent and I definitely have 'moods' where I will want to wear it.... but it's not quite a favourite. Emoticon rating:

I was seduced by the description of this, and oooh it is so worth it. In the bottle, this is sharp herbs with a hint of wine. Huh. On wet, boozey grass! Boozey herbs! Boozey berries! Boozey apples! So much booze. After a few minutes, the wine-shock is giving way to this incredible, full bodied blackberry-nutty-sweet hay blend doused with a red wine. The smell of dry apples, too, definitely riding in there somewhere, as I keep catching whiffs of it. This is a harvest-bounty indeed. I have the image of an old oak table in a sunlit kitchen overflowing with ripe berries, raw nuts, baskets of dry flowers and fresh herbs, great goblets of wine and applesauce simmering on the stove. Dry, the wine and fresh berry juice is not so dense but still very present. The nuts and chamomile are a little stronger. There is *almost* a cinnamon in there; not sure exactly what that is. Overall, though, this did not change a whole lot on drydown for me. It's got great throw, though, and seems to be going strong, so I am hoping it will last. I love how this has delectable food-notes, but the wine transforms it from something you want on a plate into a deeply sensual mature woman scent. This evokes a woman in the prime of her life: this lady knows how to get things done, and also how to indulge in sensory delight. She's a sultry, confident and complex creature. Mess with her at your own peril. Emoticon rating: :love!:

I was frimped this by an awesome forumite. So, my imp is probably a little aged. In the imp, I wasn't sure what to think about this. It had a strange, plastic-spice smell. Hmm. On wet, ah ha! It's honey, which fortunately smells like honey once it gets on my skin. Aaaand, I think I might amp honey, because the spices are taking a back seat here. Not that I mind. It's all delicious, musky honey. But where is my cinnamon? Where is my ginger? Dry, oh, there's the spice. Mmm. The cinnamon is very much a woody cinnamon on me, like the cinnamon bark itself as opposed to food with cinnamon in it. Some warm ginger bite. The clove is not distinct on me, and yet, this does smell a lot like Chai tea without the milk. Mmm, the honey is still quite strong but it is not oversweet; like a thick, raw honey with spices on top instead of pollen and honeycomb. I would say that this is somewhat foody, as huffing my wrists is making me crave Chai. It's a very warm scent, maroon and saffron and burnt orange in color. It's definitely pretty sensual, but in a more chaotic way than say, Morocco or Bastet. I have fairly sensitive skin and did not react to this, so YMMV as far as if this causes a problem. Definitely keeping my imp, and will likely replace the imp when I run out, but this does not top my other favs to become a bottle. Emoticon rating: (eta because I can't spell.)

This is definitely a clean laundry smell on me. In the bottle, all the way through to drydown, its a slightly floral soap. There was a little phase during drydown that I had hope; the resin became more prominent for a few minutes, but alas, it is not to be. A little more interesting than normal 'laundry smell', definitely has a pleasant salty tang, but not something I am ever going to wear. This is very nice doused on my rice milk dryer sheets and tossed in with a load, or spritzed over clean sheets and towels. After an hour or so they don't smell perfumed at all: just a blissful, fresh-cleaned scent. Wanted: unique aquatic scent. Got: way to make all my laundry smell awesome. Emoticon rating:

From an imp, from a kind forumite. In the imp this smelled like really nice, milky... soap. Yep, soap. I was a little worried, because I've had a few other dragon's blood scents go completely soapy on me. Wet, yay, the soap vanished almost instantly! It started to go sweet, then sweeter... and at the apex of wetness smelled a lot like that vanilla cherry coke that was out a few years back. (Maybe still is, I dunno, anyway...). Not an overbearing vanilla cherry coke smell, mind you, but a very pleasant one, if you're into smelling like a soft drink. Dry, thank goodness, whatever was giving it the cola smell has backed off. Now I am getting a resiny, slightly dry vanilla with a subtle cherry note and a sweetness like natural, raw honey: ie, not oversweet, but thick and delicious and creamy. Very cozy, definitely a 'cuddle me' scent. Am just starting on trying vanilla scents, so not sure how this will compare in the long run, but my imp is certainly a keeper. Emoticon rating:

I got an imp of this from a forumite. In the imp it's definitely heavy and floral. On wet, whoa flowers. Thick with florals. This is pretty normal on my skin, though, to get a couple minutes of FLOWERS before it calms down. As it starts to dry down I get more the incense than the purple fruits I was hoping for. This is turning into a very dark, dry floral. Elegant and powerful and maybe a bit haughty. Perfect for something like an evening attire affair; I don't think I could live up to this scent on a daily basis. After a little while it is still teeming with the dark purple and crimson flowers, and still dry as incense. There is, perhaps, a little fruit sweetness hovering in the back that I can pick up every now and then. This has better throw on me than most. It is more 'perfumey' than I usually like, but I do like the darkness that it evokes. I do like this enough to hang onto the imp for now, and when I next have a formal event to go to, I will probably consider it. As far as night florals go, though, I prefer the softer musky drydown of something like Nuit to the sharp incense drydown of Morgause. Overall: very evocative of high-class elegance, with a dark bent. Suitable for special occasions only. 2.5 out of 5.

I got a partial bottle of this from a wonderful forumite, and oh. my. I have found my signature scent, the one that is just perfect for me day in and day out, the one that I want people to think I just exude from my pores. This scent gives me flutters. In a good way. In a very very good way. In the bottle it smells like clean sheepskin to me. Slightly leathery, very furry and with a hint of something like autumn leaves. On, this just turns to magic. It is sweet and warm without being heavy at all. Deliciously musky, yes, but it doesn't make me think musk. It makes me think warm, living, plush fur. And yes, as it dried down, a breath of forest comes out. A hint of dryness, earthiness on top of the soft and smooth texture of the musks. This one hovers close to my skin but is oh so romantic, oh so comforting. And I love that it smells so natural, not like a perfume at all. If my skin were permanently infused with this, I would be a happy lady. As it stands, as soon as I can secure a stash, I plan to bathe, sleep and live in Ivanushka. Because of some of the reviews about pickles, I made sure to try this at different times of the month. No pickles at all for me, but then I seem to be quite blessed in the way of body chemistry, as very few things go bad on my skin. I do think it could be worn by a man, though because of the softness of it I definitely associate it more with the feminine. 5...thousand...stars.

Delphi has to be one of the most unique scents that I have tried so far. The smoke of Sacred Incense of Apollo twined through laurel branches, bay, and honey wine. I do loooove it, which was a surprise to me. In my mind, it's a perfect daytime scent for dark people. Smooth smokey honey with a slight herbal feel (the bay and laurel?). It does have a fruit sweetness to it, but it's a full bodied, living sweetness: more like berries on the bush rather than dripping berry sugar syrup.

Got my imp fresh from the Lab, and though I wasn't entirely sure why I ordered this, I'm glad I did. In the imp, its a burst of honey sweetness and dry herbs. Going on, this is the same wet until several hours later: A tangy/sweet berry wine brushed with smokey herbs. The incense on me is not overwhelming, and is well balanced with the honey sweetness. I once got to taste a blackberry mead - that's what this reminds me of. Definitely a dark red or purple berry on a backdrop of sage green. I like this because it's something different from my other scents, and has the dripping red mead quality without being foody at all. For me, truly invokes the image of standing at the base of a hill in ancient Greece, surrounded by merchants with baskets full of red and purple fruits, hanging herbs, and the priesthood wafting their way up the path. Wearing this today, I did get two compliments on it. It feels fairly gender neutral to me, and suits me either day or night. I don't think I will need a bottle, but will replace my imp once it's used up.