edenssixthday

The Isles of Demons - My first impression is that this is a strongly masculine and earthy scent. It’s a dark, thick, almost damp floral and there’s a smoky note that reminds me of Brimstone, without being quite as sulfuric. Underneath the flowers and smoke is a heavy, dark musk that is really the foundation of the entire scent, although it takes a few minutes of warming up on my skin before it really begins to become strongly evident and blend well with the other notes. This scent has taken me by total and complete surprise: when I read the scent description, I didn't think it would appeal to me at all, and even when I wear it, and smell how thick and heavy and damp it is, I’m still surprised I like it, but I do. It’s incredibly unique, very dark, very sexy, and while I thought at first it was masculine, it's not. It’s the scent of a very, very strong woman. With this scent a little goes a very long way, as the throw is extremely strong and it lasts and lasts. I will definitely be wearing this one again and again. I may have to put it on my list of bottles to consider. I also think that people who are often afraid of wearing florals may be surprised by this one. It’s definitely floral, but very different from the traditional floral blend. I still can't get over how beautiful this is, when I didn’t expect anything good from it at all!

Caliban - This is a very bitter and green scent. Before reading the description, I thought perhaps I was smelling dandelion in this blend, but apparently that bitter, green scent is either palm and/or tropical ferns. It's got a touch of salty tang, but at no point in the life of this blend do I smell the "bittersweet wine." After about 30 minutes, I notice a very strong dirt/soil scent underneath the bitter green notes. This scent is too dirty, too green and too pungent for my personal taste.

Jezirat Al Tennyn - Reading the scent description has me thinking I was going to hate this scent. I had visions in my head of something that would smell like Brimstone or Inferno. However, while it's not something I'd choose to wear as a personal fragrance, it's really not that bad. There is an ozone note that I suppose is meant to be the "wind" aspect of this scent. Blended with the earth and smoke notes, it's actually a rather sweet and almost incense-like scent. In fact, it's almost too sweet for my taste and reminds me somewhat of cookies whent their bottoms have burnt on the cookie sheet. It's definitely an interesting scent, but still not one I'd choose for a perfume scent. The throw and staying power are about average.

Kumari Kandam - I really don't know if I can describe this blend any better than Beth did in the scent description. It's heavily floral and heavily aquatic, and there's a pine note that reminds me a lot of Skadi, Frost Moon, and Ice Queen. I wouldn't normally wear a scent with that pine note, but it works really, really well in this blend. The throw is very, very heavy and the scent lasts for a good 7 hours before it needs to be reapplied. I'm very impressed with this scent and have found a scent that is going to be a favorite in the coming winter months. This will be perfect on a cold, snowy day.

Port Royal - This is an incredibly woody and spicy scent from the get-go. It doesn't morph on me at all. I don't really smell the "salty sea air" in this blend, although it does remind me of a cross between Anne Bonny and Port-au-Prince. It's incredibly sexy and spicy and gorgeous. Initially, the throw is strong, but mellows upon drydown. The staying power is impressive -- definitely well above average. I'm hanging on to this one. It's really great.

Pontarlier - Swiss ferns, lilac, blackcurrant, Gallic rose and lavender with a dollop of sugar and absinthe. - This is a strange scent. It has a few notes in it I like and a few I dislike, so I was curious to see how it turned out. Unfortunately, it doesn't work on me. The lilac becomes to green and bitter as a result of the fern note. I don't smell the rose at all, and the lavendar note has the strange scent on my skin that most BPAL lavendar gets -- a sort of "gamey" essence about it. The sugar and absinthe notes remind me a lot of La Fee Verte, but I'd rather wear LFV than this blend. Sadly, it's not for me. The throw and staying power are both very strong.

Uruk - When I first apply Uruk, it's predominantly a strong, sweet almond scent. It’s incredibly sweet, and I’m completely head-over-heels in love with the opening fragrance. However, as it dries down, the almond begins to fade on me, as it almost always does on my skin, but the warm, sweet scent of saffron becomes evident at this point. Beneath the almond, blending beautifully with the saffron, is the sweet, fleshy scent of fig and a hint of spicy cinnamon. I am very surprised that the jasmine, bergamot, and lily never appear as distinct notes on their own. Upon drydown, the scent sticks very close to my skin, but when I smell my skin up close, I can still detect a hint of almond, fig, cinnamon, and saffron and … oh! There it is: the tiniest touch of woody patchouli. Just enough to add a different dimension to the overall blend. The patchouli doesn’t dominate at all, as it often does on me. This is a beautiful scent, and although I prefer fragrances that have a greater level of throw, this is going to be perfect for those times when I want a subtle skin-scent that is unique and pretty. The staying power is fairly poor, unfortunately, and when I do wear it, I’ll have to reapply often.

The Tavern of Hell - This is most certainly a unique scent. The “aged whisky” is definitely the dominant note on my skin, followed by the gardenia, lavender, and tobacco flower, which make it a heady, yet slightly earthy scent. The orange blossom gives it the slightest touch of a powdery note. The coriander note gets stronger as the scent dries down on my skin, and smells exactly like the coriander in my kitchen cupboard! As it dries down, the ylang ylang also becomes much more evident and the whisky and gardenia begin to move into the background and the overall scent takes on an almost citrus-like scent to it. I don’t particularly like this scent on me as it seems fairly masculine to me, but not in the traditional sense. I would absolutely love to smell this on my husband and probably wouldn’t be able to keep my hands off him if he were wearing it. It’s a gorgeous scent, and the more I think about how sexy this would smell on my husband, the more I think maybe I will choose to wear it as a personal fragrance for myself after all! Mmm… yes. I think I will. This is one blend that just gets sexier and sexier on the skin as I wear it. The throw and wear length are both about average.

Ladon - This is an interesting scent. It doesn’t morph on me at all from the bottle to my skin to drydown or any point thereafter. It’s predominantly dragon’s blood with the sweet fruity scent of apple underneath and the strong, heavy floral of apple blossom. Apple usually turns rancid on me, but this is one of the few apple blends where the apple serves to really compliment the lilac-scented dragon’s blood. It’s very pretty and different from any of the other Ars Draconis blends. The throw is very strong for the first 30-40 minutes, but softens a bit after that, and becomes a lovely skin scent with light throw, although its staying power is above-average on me (which I attribute to the dragon’s blood and apple blossom notes, which always last on me). It’s a lovely blend and I can see it being a an appropriate warm scent for Autumn wear.

Tanin'iver - Wow, this is spicy!!! It’s also drop-dead gorgeous. The dragon’s blood and cassia are by far the dominant notes in this, but all of the other notes listed in the scent description (patchouli, pomegranate, myrrh, mimosa, blood musk, and smoke) are evident underneath the spicy dragon’s blood, and they blend together in perfect unison, creating a very spicy, sexy, and sultry scent. This is easily going to become one of my two favorite Ars Draconis blends, right up there with Dragon’s Musk. It’s a very complex blend, and has really heavy throw and exceptionally long staying power.

Three Jacks - Mmm...imagine the sweet herbal quality of TAL Perpetuum Bonum combined with the wooden notes of Anne Bonny combined with the spiciness of Port Royale, and there you have exactly what Three Jacks smells like. It's highly herbal, as many of the Voodoo Blends are. The scent has the perfect amount of throw, but is not something I'd personally choose to wear as a personal fragrance -- it's too herbal for me. I can't really comment on its use as a gambling aid, but my husband is talking about going to Vegas with a buddy of his, and you'd better believe that before he goes, I'll be anounting all the cash in his wallet with Three Jacks (and making sure I surreptitiously remove his credit card before he hits the casinos -- ha ha!). If he indeed does go gambling and I do a little ritual with Three Jacks beforehand, I'll definitely return with an update as to its intended usage.

XCIV (94) - Two letters: P.U. This smells way too much like Tum -- it's a weird plastic-artificial-fake grape juice scent. I am also almost certain that there is a drop of two of soapy sweet pea in this blend. There's also the slightest hint of eucalyptus in here and the soft powdery scent of orange blossom. This is a really atrocious scent (at least on my skin!) -- very sickly sweet, artificial-smelling, slightly soapy, and overall, it smells like a spot on a carpet where you're not sure if the dog piddled or if a kid spilled his juice box.

Chrysanthemum Moon - I could write 2,000 words on this blend and still not fully/adequately describe it. When HGM came out, I said it was the #1 of all the lunar blends. I have to take that back: Mum Moon is a hundred times better than any of the previous lunacies. I’m currently doing laundry and made my own dryer sheets using a cotton ball soaked in Mum Moon tucked into a muslin bag that I’ve tossed in the dryer with my clothes. Not only do my clothes smell amazing as they come out of the dryer, but my whole home smells amazing right now. Okay, so where to begin when it comes to describing this spectacular scent? First, it opens up with the soft scent of chrysanthemums, sweet red musk, and ginger – but not the spiciness of ginger root, rather the soft, sweetness of ginger flower. As the oil dries on my skin, the ginger disappears, and the sweet, seductive, soporific scent of opium becomes the dominant note. The scent is so beautiful at this point that I can barely put it into words. The scent does not morph much after this point. The most spectacular thing that happens at this point is that the throw remains strong for hours, and a good 10 hours after I apply it, I can still faintly smell it on my skin. This is the first time a lunar blend has lasted more than an hour on my skin. Normally, they start out with really strong throw, but stick very close to my skin upon drydown, and then completely disappear within 20-60 minutes of application. Mum Moon doesn’t remind me of the typical lunar blend at all, not just due to its throw and wear length, but I don’t smell the lunar oil in this blend that I smell in almost all of the other lunar blends. A girl in the elevator the other day asked me if I was wearing Opium. I said, no, but I was pretty sure that the perfume oil I was wearing had an opium note to it. She said she could tell because her mom wears Opium every day and she recognizes the scent. I mentioned this to a BPAL friend of mine who agreed that as a former Opium wearer, she could see the similarity, except Mum Moon is better. That’s the under-statement of the year. Mum Moon is better than almost everything. I haven’t been able to stop wearing it since I got it, and I’ve procured a few other bottles, as well. I really can’t get enough of it. Absolutely spectacular. It’s definitely going to be among my most-worn BPAL blends.

The Jersey Devil - When I first apply this, the first thing I smell is the tomato leaf -- it smells just like the scent of standing in the garden and picking tomatoes ripe off the vines. In the background, is the scent of pine, but it's not heavy and doesn't have the "car freshener" scent that pine often has on me. After about 2 hours, I smell something in this blend that I'm positive must be the blackberry leaf because even though it's woodsy and leafy, it's got a sweetness reminiscent of blackberries. I don't ever smell the cedar in this blend, which thrills me since cedar usually turns most blends to pencil shavings on me. Overall, I'm very surprised how much I like The Jersey Devil. After first reading the description, I didn't think I'd care for it in the least, but it is quite a unique scent that takes me back in my memories to a day when I was about 10 years old and my mom and I visited a friend who had the most amazing g arden in her back yard. Everything about The Jersey Devil reminds me of standing in her garden, picking fresh tomatoes, looking at the blue sky above, peering over her wooden back fence -- everything. I've already gotten much use out of this blend and will continue to use it. It's fabulous. The wear length and throw vary on me from day to day -- sometimes it's light and disappears quickly and other times (especially if I apply right before exercising) the scent lasts for hours and is fairly strong.

Mag Mell - Oh wow, I had no idea this would be so fresh and bright and pretty! The verbena is the strongest note on me, but I also smell the ginger, sage, and grass weaving in and out behind the verbena. I cannot distinctly detect the amber, but this scent has a warmth to it that I believe is the amber. This is such a springtime scent -- I would put it in the exact same category as Beltane 2005, except as Beltane 2005 is all springtime sun and flowers, this is all springtime sun and non-floral plants. It's lovely, lovely, lovely, and I'm so excited to wear this on a bright, sunny day...or a crummy winter day when I need a little bright happiness in my life. Great scent. Average throw and average staying power.

Ace of Pentacles - I was at work and I opened the imp just the tiniest bit and a wave of powerfully strong eucalyptus washed through my entire office. I quickly closed the imp lid just as someone came into my office, but the scent was so powerful, she thought I was sucking on a cough drop. Once I applied the oil to my skin, the eucalyptus blasted out of the imp again. As soon as the oil touched my skin, the eucalyptus backed off and the dominant notes became the scent of soil and patchouli. The eucalyptus is still there, feeling cool on my sinuses as I breath it in, but overall, this is an incredibly earthy and woodsy scent. It doesn't suit my taste when it comes to personal fragrance, but it is an interesting scent that I'm certain the more woodsy/earthy types would enjoy immensely. The wear length is about average and the throw is initially above-average, but after dry-down, it sticks surprisingly close to the skin.

Ace of Wands - This scent is sweet and aromatic, and reminds me of a combination of licorice, eucalyptus, dragon's blood, lilac, cherry, and Pepto-Bismol. It's not something I would be drawn to as a personal fragrance, yet I've worn it a few times and can't stop sniffing my skin when I'm wearing it. I still don't care for it as perfume, but would definitely like to find another use for it -- perhaps in my oil burner. Fascinating scent -- fiery without the traditional spices of "fire" scents, and warm despite the coolness of the eucalyptus, and powerful. It makes me want to learn more about the Ace of Wands card. The throw is very strong and the wear length is above average.

Ace of Swords - This initially smells like a much lighter version of Somnus. It's all lavender and herbs. But after about 10 minutes on my skin, there's a very distinct note of poo underneath the lavender, and I think it's a mint note of some sort, since I seem to get the "poo" scent predominantly from certain blends with mint in them. It's unpleasant to me, and I have to wash it off.

Ace of Cups - In the vial, I smell a sweet, aquatic lotus. However, as soon as the oil touches my skin, it's evident that there's jasmine in this blend. It must just be a hint of jasmine because, although it's the dominant note on my skin, it doesn't amp up and take over my life, as jasmine usually does. I can still smell the sweet, bubblegum-like note of lotus and a light aquatic behind the jasmine. Unlike the majority of reviewers, I do not smell any cherry at all. None. Despite not liking jasmine much at all, I really like this blend. It has definitely surrpised me. It's very sweet-watery and floral, and just really, really lovely. The throw is above average, yet not heavy and the wear length is a little more than average, as well.

Cockaigne - My first impression is that this is a WOW!!! foody scent. It's very strong and very bakery-foody, and definitely unlike any scent I normally find appealing as a personal fragrance. However, it smells so delicious I can hardly wait to put it on, and I wonder if this might be a foody scent I can actually enjoy wearing. I apply the scent, and I'm completely enamored by the amazing scent. I can't believe that something bakery/gourmand/foody is grabbing my attention quite like this. To me, it smells like thick buttery toffee and shortbread, and I'm surprised when I read the description that this is the scent of milk, honey, sweet cakes, and wine. I would have never guessed those notes! Milk, honey, and wine rarely smell good on me and "cake" notes always turn to plastic -- but not with this blend. About three hours after application, I begin to notice that I can smell the wine note as a distinct note separate from the others. About an hour after that, the milk and honey are discernible as distinct notes, although the wine has receeded back into the overall buttery-toffee-shortbread smell. Five hours after application, this scent is still as strong as it was when I first applied it, which is a first for any BPAL blend. Even my favorite long-lasting BPAL blends are noticeably fainter after a few hours. It's not until the 7.5 hour point that I begin to notice the scent fading, although it's still stronger than most BPAL are on me after the first hour, and after 12 hours, I still get wafts of it about me. One application of this gets me through an entire day without reapplying. That's definitely a first for me with any BPAL blend -- and I've tried many! I'm thoroughly impressed and I'm excited to have discovered a bakery/gourmand/foody scent that I like so much and that has such great throw and wear length on my skin. It's also going to make a terrific home scent when I use it in my oil burner. I'll be giving this imp much love and will probably need more when it is gone.

Chaos Theory 3: DCCCXC (890) - The person who sent me this (and who originally reviewed it) thought it smelled a lot like The Red Queen or Kabuki. When I open up the imp, I get a blast of strong, sweet cherry. As the oil begins to warm up on my skin, the cherry loses its punch and the strong, distinct scent of brown sugar comes to the forefront of this blend. There may be other notes in it, but on me, it smells like what you’d get if you mixed a half-cup of maraschino cherry juice with a cup of brown sugar. I don’t usually like brown sugar notes, but blended with the cherry, this is actually a very distinctive and interesting fragrance that I think will be perfect for scenting my home rather than my skin. Previously reviewed by maddi.

The World - My first impression is that it’s a strong, earthy mint, which I quickly decide is not mint after all, but eucalyptus. I’m not finding it pleasant at all. Underneath the eucalyptus is a decidedly woody note combined with the scent of freshly upturned earth. This whole blend reminds me of of a Sunday afternoon I spent wandering around Balboa Park in San Diego with a couple of my friends. At one point, we settled down on the soft grass between one of the tall eucalyptus trees, and lay there, looking up at the blue sky between the leaves of the tree. This scent smells like that day – laying on the grass and dirt underneath a eucalyptus tree. It definitely brings back a really wonderful memory of a favorite day from many years ago, but in the end, I have to say that I can’t wear this scent as a fragrance, and since I don’t work with the Tarot, I don’t really see that I would have much use for it.

Temperance - This is a heavy, wet floral on me. It’s pungent and green like dandelion, and there’s a soapy floral blended with it, and I have a hunch that it’s sweet pea (since sweet pea is the only floral I’ve found that goes soapy on me). There is a watery backdrop to the floral, but not salty and aquatic. Rather, it smells like a vase of bright, freshly-picked flowers, water and all. This scent is too heavy and soapy for my personal tastes. The throw is above average, as is the staying power.

Eidolon - When I first apply this, it's a soft lemon verbena scent, yet despite how clean and fresh it is, it has really good throw. I don't normally care for lemon blends, but I start to think this may be one that I will enjoy very much. As it dries down, the lemon softens, and out comes the dry, arid scent of cedar, which on me, smells like pencil shavings. It doesn't take over the verbena, but it mixes with it in perfect balance. Unfortunately, that doesn't work for me, since I simply can't stand the scent of cedar. After about 30 minutes, the entire scent has faded to the point where I have to sniff my skin up close to smell it at all. It doesn't waft around me in the least. I was so very excited to get a bottle of this, but I'm afraid it's going to have to find a new home.

Manhattan - This is a really pretty scent – very light and fresh. It starts out very citrusy, but as it dries down, the citrus calms down and the orchid becomes softly noticeable, and white tea swirls around the other notes, providing balance. I don’t ever distinctly smell the leather in this blend, but I can feel it there, giving the overall scent a depth it wouldn’t have otherwise. I’m amazed that a scent with white mint smells good on me! I keep going over and over in mind memories of my numerous visits to Manhattan, and this just doesn't jump out at me as all as something I'd ever associate with Manhattan itself, except for the fact that it’s sophisticated and classy and reminds me somewhat of the Upper East Side and a nice tea drink I had in a cafe there once. This blend sticks very close to the skin and doesn’t last long on me, but it is really pretty.