edenssixthday

White winter flowers plucked from a snow-covered graveyard. The Macabray - This is one of my favorite winter blends. It's the smell of cold, slushy snow and crisp winter air and tiny winter flowers and maybe even a handful of winter berries that got squashed under someone's foot. It's a really beautiful scent and when I woke up to May snow in my yard today, I knew exactly what I was going to be wearing this morning.

Arsenic v2 - This is a beautiful tropical-floral blend. I catch definite wafts of plumeria and a subtle yet lush greenery. I don't at all smell the gardenia noted by other reviewers. There may be a bit of tiare or pikaki in here. No matter what's in it, it comes off as a soft, subtle, floral that is very pretty and very tropical.

Mr. Edward Hyde - I hate it. I had to wash it off immediately. It opened up with the scent of tobacco and musk and a really strong smell of sweat and blood. At first, I thought it might work out nicely, but then it just became gamey and gross and began to smell like an unkempt dog kennel, kibble and all. On me, it just doesn't work at all. Blech.

Hel v6 - This is definitely an apple scent, but instead of being bright and crisp, it's dark and heavy, almost like an apple that's starting to turn. There's definitely an understone of something dark, but I don't believe it's myrrh or vetiver, since my skin usually loves both of them. Rather, I think it's maybe peppercorn. There's also a hint of a white floral, but I don't believe it could be apple blossom, since that always turns to pure dishsoap on my skin. This isn't really my type of scent because I'm not a fan of apple scents in general, but I imagine people who like apple and who like dark and dirty type scents could potentially enjoy this one.

Android v2 - I fully anticipated a sharp, biting, metallic scent. Instead, I smell soft, sweet metals along with tangy citrus (lime?) and most surprisingly and deliciously, juniper. This isn't the kind of scent I would normally be drawn to myself, but I do like it and think it would be an awesome guy's summertime scent -- fresh, crisp, clean, and summery. It's awesome!

Giant Vulva - This is a musky honey scent that is slightly cologney and definitely has an added jolt of sweetness from the sugar cane. It's got the faintest hint of creamy sweetness, which must be the vanilla flower? It's very, very pretty, but would be perfect without the cologneyness of the copal and with a little more of the beeswax, which I can't really smell at all. It's very clean and fresh and pretty.

Spare Change - This is a metallic cologne scent with a hint of powdery violet. It's totally the smell of the inside of Aunt Norma's purse. This should come with a loose, lint-covered lemon drop stuck to a crumbled, lipstick-dabbed tissue.

Tcotchkie - This is the smell of Christmas dessert in a mountain cabin. It's full of woods - sandalwood and pine perhaps, and sweet buttery goodness (maybe chestnuts?), along with spicy mulled wine, and then an oddly out-of-place scent of eucalyptus or menthol of some sort. Without that weird menthol note, I'd love this. But with it, it just doesn't smell quite right to me.

Diabolical Offspring - There's pretty much nothing diabolical about this scent -- it's a super-sweet baby powder scent, with a hint of smokiness underneath. When I first apply it, it's uber-sweet baby powder (with a possible hint of rose?), and it's only as it dries down that I smell the faintest trace of smoke. The notes work surprisingly well together. It has a moderate level of throw and lasts a really long time on my skin.

Thriambus Atmo Spray - I did not get to smell this in the air, I only got to smell the oil in the tester bottle at the Bat's Day booth, but it's gorgeous. I swooned. I swoon when thinking of it. It's the perfect type of scent to swoon to. It's heavy on the red wine scent, but it's not the scent of cheap red wine, but of high-quality red wine, mixed with cloves and tobacco plus an add smattering of other scents (must be the random absinthe, latex, final, and fog?) that don't really fit the scent, but rather than detract from the overall feel of the scent, actually add to its depth and complexity in a really interesting way. It's a really awesome scent and I'm so glad to know Puddin's making more available for those of us who missed out on it on Saturday. It's a very gothy club-scent and will smell gorgeous in my home and on my linens. ETA: Puddin' WINS BIG TIME for allowing those of us who missed out on Thriambus at Bat's Day to order some from him. I got mine a couple days ago and haven't stopped using it. I've been spraying it on my linen shower curtain and bath towels and every time I walk into my bathroom, I have a split-second moment of WHOA! WHAT IS THAT AMAZING SMELL?!?! and then I remember it's Thriambus, and I'm so glad I have some. See alicia_stardust's review below: I couldn't put it any better than that. Her experience with it is exactly the same as my own. In the bottle, it smelled mostly like wine to me, but after spraying it on my linens in my bathroom, my bathroom smells like sexy clove cigarettes and wine. It's so uber-gothy and reminds me a million times over of all the best parts of my old club days.

Rivet.Goth - This was, for me, the surprise hit of the bunch. When I read the scent description, "machine oil" scared me away. I planned to stay far, far away, until I was standing at the Black Market booth and fairnymph stuck her arm under my nose, and I was instantly mesmerized. I had to have it! I had to wear it! NOW! That evening, I wore Rivet.Goth and kept sniffing my arm. My husband commented that I groaned in delight every time I sniffed. I didn't have any idea I was doing that. It was kind of embarrassing. But still, that's how gorgeous this scent is. It's totally the scent of Dead Man's Hand leather, well-worn, soft, oiled, and loved. The tobacco gives the scent the slightest bit of smooth huskiness. The machine oil doesn't smell like the floor of a mechanic's shop or the sweaty shirt of a mechanic. It's more like the scent of fresh oil applied to metal workings to make them run smoothly. I really can't add anything the other reviewers didn't already say. Simply put: it's AWESOME. It's sexy, it's gorgeous, and I think I may have finally found the scent that has convinced my husband that he should wear BPAL, too. He likes it way more than any of the other "dude" scents I stuck in front of him at the BPAL booth the other day. Of course, that doesn't mean he gets my bottle. I'll be wearing it myself, too.

Romanti.Goth - This is probably my second-favorite of the Bat's Day exclusives this year. It's dark and resinous, heavy on the opium and incense, and the plum give it just enough juicy sweetness to make it totally interesting. It's extremely dark and heavy, and evokes images of cast-iron candelabras with blood-red candles dripping mounds of molten wax down their sides casting shadows against the heavy, drawn velvet shades, while the angsty cries of Peter Murphy mingle with the clove-laden cigarette smoke swirling through the air. Oh, this is definitely a Romanti-goth's dream scent! It's rich, heavy, dark, smoky, sinister, sexy, gorgeous, and sweetly seductive. It's the "gothiest" of all the Bat's Day goth scents. See the cute little South Park Goth Kid on the right? He would TOTALLY wear this:

Gothabilly - This was the one scent I was the most jazzed about because I love Egyptian Musk, black vanilla, and black cherries. It was a lot creamier than I expected. The cherry note is not juicy and wet cherry. It definitely reminded me of the creamy cherry cordial in MB: Bloody Mary, but it's not as sweet as that because it's tempered by the musk and liqueur notes. It's not as sweet to me as maraschino cherry is, either. It's surprisingly un-boozy, sweet in a muted kind of way, and smells extremely delicious, like something I'd want to pour over Cherry Garcia ice cream (if the perfume were a food, that is). It's a really awesome scent on me, sweetly feminine, yet not girly, and it definitely has a darker edge to it. I'm holding on tight to my bottle of this. Love it!

Victoriana.Goth - I was scared of this one because of the lavender, but I shouldn't have been. This is a beautiful scent -- a traditional, English-garden type floral. It's not remotely old-ladyish or dated, though. It's really beautiful -- very fresh and pretty. I feel like I should be wearing organza and white gloves while wearing this fragrance. The florals are definitely the strongest notes, but they're tempered by the resins and herbs so they're not "in your face" floral. On me, the dominant notes were the rose and wisteria with the slight huskiness of frankincense and earthiness of violet leaf keeping the flower power in check. I really love this scent. It's one of the prettier florals and absolutely gorgeous for late-spring and summertime. Also, while it's not a heady floral, it's very strong, so there's no need to slather.

Geek.Goth - When I first sniffed this, my very first thought is that somehow, someway, the typical BPAL champagne note has been used in this. It has the exact same feel of bubbly champagne, but without the dry, boozy quality of most of the various champagne scents. It's much sweeter -- like the champagne in Bon Vivant. The lemon-lime is definitely strong, and the overall scent is very Mountain Dew-like. I really love it -- it's bright and bubbly and happy and sweet and really, really awesome. It does go a little "dusty" on my skin, as many of the super-sweet scents do, but I only notice it if I sniff up close. Also, it's very, very strong. A little goes a long way. *geeklove*

Loli.Goth - This is an awesome, girly scent. It's in the same vein as a few past LE's like Pink Phoenix and Strawberry Moon 2005 and even Peach Moon.... yet totally different and unique. It's soft and slightly creamy (maybe from the musk?) and doesn't smell like a mixed fruit salad at all. The dry floral of the iris and the wood notes definitely balances out the sweetness to keep it from being overly-sweet. I really love this scent. However, something about it goes a little stale and dusty on my skin after 30 minutes or so. It's only slightly "off", so I'll still wear it, but it'll be a much better scent-locket scent than skin scent for me.

This scent is a bright, crisp, and clean metal and cologne scent. To me, most of the cologney metal scents smell quite similar and there was nothing about this one that stands out. It lasted a good long while on my skin and the scent stayed true throughout the entire wear time. It's not my type of scent, but I imagine it could smell quite nice on my husband.

This is actually a much nicer scent than I anticipated. The gin is subtle and blends nicely with the perfume note, which is a kind of generic perfume scent, slightly cologney, yet pretty. What makes this scent interesting is the cigarette scent, which is smoky and ashy, but not in a heavy Brimstone kind of way, but more wispy and ethereal. It adds a layer of interesting complexity to the rest of the fragrance. I liked it a lot, but am not sure it's the type of scent I'd reach for often.

Phantom Time Hypothesis - Now I understand when people say a perfume went 100% to baby powder. That's exactly what this one does on my skin from beginning to end -- rosey baby powder. Really overwhelming and cloyingly sweet rosey baby powder with more baby powder in the background, and all of it standing on a solid foundation of baby powder. Baby powder, baby powder, baby powder. So sad, I had hopes for this one.

Menacing Ionospheric Research Instrument - This opens with a bright zap of super-fresh peppermint. It smells like a really delicious toothpaste. Mmmm! Yum! for toothpaste, but not so much for a perfume. The toothpaste mint dissipates super fast -- in about 3-5 minutes, leaving behind the scent of gleaming, slightly dusty, metal. I smell no sage, no violet, and no neroli. The dustiness of obviously the amber, and the rest is all metal. An hour after application, I can barely smell it on my skin even when I sniff up close and then, all I smell is metal. It's a fresh, clean, and nice scent, but not really for me.

Helios - This is a gorgeous predominantly frankincense scent. It reminds me a lot of The Magician, only more bright and golden. It's mostly frankincence, copal, and cedar on my skin, with the perfectly-sized, small hint of saffron. It's golden, slightly husky from the frankincense, and really lovely. It layers beautifully with Clytie, but I prefer both Clytie and Helios on their own. If you don't like frankincense, cedar or saffron, I would stay away from this one. If you like them, this could be a winner for you.

Clytie - This scent is the perfect example of why I have this crazy drive to try every BPAL I can: because if I only tried the ones I thought I'd like, I'd miss out on beautiful scents like this one. With the presence of nerolia nd muguet and even the heliotrope to a degree, I shouldn't like this at all. But it's so beautiful on me I could cry. I just can't get over it. It's a beautiful, warm, and sunny floral scent. It's sweet, smooth, and golden almost to the point of being honey-like, but without the honey. The frankincense is completely unidentifiable on me, which would usually bum me out, but not at all with this scent, because it's just perfect. It's not remotely as pretty when layered with Helios (which I love in its own right, too). On its own, it's one of the prettiest florals I've encountered.

Tin Foil Hat - This smells like a citrus and metallic men's cologne. It's quite nice, actually. The staying power is amazing, too. I was decanting Tin Foil Hat to spread among my decant group members last night, ended up with a leaker, and as a result, I ended up with Tin Foil Hat all over one of my arms long before I was planning to "officially" test it out. This morning, I woke up, rolled over, and was pleasantly surprised at the nice, masculine scent of Tin Foil Hat wafting over me. It's not at all the type of fragrance I would ever choose to wear on myself, but if my husband ever agrees to wear it, I'd love to smell this on him. It's very clean, fresh, metallic, and citrusy. Very nice.

Embalming Fluid Soap - Embalming Fluid perfume oil smells lovely but doesn't work on my skin. I was ecstatic when I first unwrapped this bar of soap and the smell wafted out -- it's very strongly-scented and soooo lovely. It's just like Embalming Fluid -- mostly green tea and aloe with a hint of bright lemon. This is an awesome soap to use in the morning - it's so bright and fresh and pretty. The soap itself is wonderful -- I love Villainess soap. It's such high-quality, with a luxurious, silken lather, and it doesn't dry or irritate my skin. I am placing an order from the Trading Post today and you better believe I'm adding in another bar of this soap. It's sooo lovely!

Snake Oil Soap - I LOVE THIS SOAP!!! If I could afford to, I'd use this soap and nothing but this soap forever. It is that good. It smells amazing. I love Snake Oil, but it turns slightly plasticky on my skin (but I still wear it because I love it, dammit!) but this soap smells like S.O. is supposed to smell -- it is so rich and sweet and vanilla-y and spicy and gorgeous. It has me convinced that I have to get a bottle of S.O. bath oil while I still can. The bar is so beautiful, too. It's dark brown on the outside, but when you cut into it, the bottom 3/4 or so of the center is a rich, golden brown with little black flecks. It looks almost like a truffle. It's just so pretty. The presentation definitely stands up to the gorgeousness of the scent. I'm buying another bar RIGHT NOW.