edenssixthday

Oblivion - The oil is a dark, murky green color -- the color of algae and lake-bottom scum. It's just the creepiest color, and I almost avoid applying the oil based on the color alone. However, once I apply the scent, I'm surprised that it doesn't smell like stagnant pond scum, but is rather a dark and slightly sweet wood scent. I find it impossible to identify the notes, but it's slightly husky, the way patchouli usually works on my skin when it’s being nicely subtle, and it’s slightly woody and spicy. Despite the squeamish color of the oil, the scent is really soft, subtle and nice. Sadly, it doesn't last on my skin more than an hour, and the throw is virtually non-existant. I am concerned that my pre-conceptions involving the color of the oil have interfered with my enjoyment of the fragrance, so I'm going to put this in my pile of scents to try again, but I have a feeling that it's just too faint for me and that I'll be passing it along even though it is delicate and pretty.

Languor - Despite the list of floral notes used to create Languor absolutely no florals show up on my skin. While wearing Languor, my skin smells like the inside of a New Age Spiritualist shop. The first time I wore it was one evening after very little sleep for the past three nights. I was already feeling very tired, but when I put on Languor, my entire existence slowed down and the world around me became cloudy and garbled, and my responses were slow and late -- if there was any response at all. This oil had an incredible psychosomatic effect on me (although much of it was due to the fact that I was already very, very tired). It's not a bad scent, but it's not what I'd call a pretty scent. It smells kind of incensey on me and like there may be a bit of wood in it. The opium is subtle, but the loveliest note of them all. I doubt I'll even finish this imp up, much less buy any more. Off to the swap pile it goes.

Cathedral - When wet, this smells strongly of incense and dust – lots and lots of dust. It reminds me of some of the old churches I’ve explored in my life. As the oil dries, the incense scent gets even stronger, but the dust scent completely disappears. I’m not the biggest incense-lover around and really can’t distinguish between the various incense blends, so to me it smells just like Midnight Mass and The Pit & The Pendulum. It’s very strong and a little goes a long way, so if you try it on, apply lightly until you find the amount that’s just right for you. It lasts and lasts on my skin. It’s a great incense scent, but since I don’t usually like wearing something that smells only like incense, I’ll probably swap it off for something I think I might like more.

Anathema is a strong and acrid scent. The opium scent is gorgeous, as always, but in this case, it seems to serve as little more than a battlefield on which the honeysuckle and vetiver meet like a clashing of the Titans. As it dries, the honeysuckle pushes the vetiver back and takes the dominating position. However, not long after that, the honeysuckle seems to fade as well, leaving behind nothing but a faint trace of opium. It's such a strange scent that distracts me from everything going on around me, and I don't think I like it, despite the fact that it finishes off fairly nicely, albeit subtly.

Penitence - This blend reminds me a lot of Faustus, but not quite as strong, and definitely more golden. This is a heavy incense-type scent, slightly sweet from the frankincense, and warmed up by the myrrh. I like it, but it's really not something I see myself wearing with any regularity at all. It reminds me a lot of Midnight Mass and The Pit & The Pendulum. It's got a moderate level of throw and begins to fade around the 30 minute point, and is completely gone within 2 hours.

Voluptuous magnolias strewn over orchid, star jasmine, black amber and smoky rose. Black Dahlia - This is definitely an old-time floral, very much like what I remember my great-grandmother smelling like when I was a really little girl. The florals are lush and rich. There's something slightly sweet floating underneath the richness of the florals -- perhaps that's just the sweetness of the flowers themselves? I can't usually wear BPAL jasmine, and unfortunately, this has enough jasmine in it that I'm unable thoroughly enjoy it, but otherwise, it's beautiful, and I may still keep on wearing it despite that weirdness that jasmine does on me. This is All Woman, incredibly feminine, and reminds me both of my childhood in Southern California and my great-grandmother's scent, but also reminds me of my teen years spent in the Deep South. If I'd had this scent when I was 16, I'd probably have worn it to all the coming-out parties. I could see it being worn to a springtime southern tea party, as well. You know, the more I review it, and the more I think about it, the more I believe I'm going to hang on to this and keep wearing it. It's sweet and pretty and feminine. Just beautiful.

Rose Cross - Although I love rose, I’m usually not a fan of frankincense, so I avoided this one for a while. On a whim I decided to go ahead and try it, not having much hope for it. However, I have to say that (as I’ve said a multitude of times already) here’s another BPAL that has pleasantly surprised me. It’s gorgeous. It’s got the typical BPAL rose scent, but it’s deepened and spiced up by the frankincense. It definitely has a sacred feel about it and I keep getting images in my head of old European cathedrals. This is a Lenten type of scent – very somber and serene. I love it. It’s got a little bit of throw – not enough to wrap me in a veil of scent, but enough to occasionally remind me how pretty it is. It’s not an every day scent, so it’s not going to be worn often, but will be absolutely perfect on certain occasions.

Sin on my skin, it's all patchouli and sandalwood -- two scents I don't care for unless they are blended with just the right notes. And in this case, it's not. This scent is too red and spicy for my taste. It takes a long time to dry down, and I can actually see a slightly oily spot on my skin for quite some time after applying it. It's strong without being overpowering, and the staying power is pretty good. But despite these positive aspects of Sin, the combo of sandalwood, patchouli and strong, cinnamon spiciness will keep me from returning. I don't always have issues with red and spicy, as there's a time and place for most scents, but I don't see there being a time or place in my life for this particular one.

De Sade is pure leather. I love it. This is not a scent I would normally wear on its own, but I could see it being incredibly sexy on my husband. As nice as it is on its own, after the first time I tested it alone, I tested it again layered with Harlot, and oh my! That’s a phenomenal combination. It has really amazing staying power and while it stays fairly close to my skin, I occasionally get a waft of this uber-sexy scent and it makes me weak in the knees. This is sticking around, that’s for sure.

Seraphim - Sniffed wet in the vial, I smell calla lily and rose. But the moment this blend touches my skin, it becomes 100% wisteria, and it’s gorgeous. It reminds me of a home I lived in where wisteria grew all along the entire back fence, and every spring, for couple of weeks, I had fresh wisteria on my table every single day. This is just gorgeous, but I don’t smell any of the other notes. I have a feeling that someone with different skin chemistry that amps up the wisteria a bit less could smell the other notes in this blend. But it doesn’t matter to me, as I love it just the way it is. Great throw, but it had fairly poor staying power.

Wrath is strikingly similar to the BPAL blend Blood, but it’s not as heavy, resinous, or full-bodied. It’s like the weaker brother of Blood. It’s a decent dragon’s blood blend, but after wearing Blood, it just doesn’t have the “oomph” I want in a blend of this sort. It has moderate throw and staying power.

Hellfire is by far the best "smoke" blend I've ever smelled. It's still not something I'd find myself ever wearing again, but of all the "smoky" BPALs, this is by far the cleanest and most refined. When I initially apply it, all I smell is smoke and a touch of tobacco. It is not something I'd wear as a perfume normally, yet I can't stop sniffing my wrist because I'm so fascinated by the scent. It sticks close to my skin and doesn't have much throw, however, 10 hours later, the scent is still going strong, although somewhere along the way, it morphed and the smoke scent is gone, and toward the end, the scent of leather comes through -- a deep, plush leather. It's really interesting and while I can't normally wear scents like this and get away with it, I imagine this would smell uber-sexy on just about every man I know. Very nice blend, overall.

Vice - I normally hate foody scents. I don't know what happened, but apparently I had a moment of shopping-giddy insanity and purchased a 5 ml bottle of Vice without ever smelling the stuff. After I thought about it (after the order was placed) I realized I'm a fool. Not only do I dislike foody scents, but I hate chocolate scents with a passion. I was positive I was going to be selling/swapping my bottle and/or imping it out. Well, my Vice arrived, and all I have to say is -- daaaang, I can't believe all the negative reviews of this yummilicious scent! Wet, it has a very chocolate scent, but not the scent of cakey-chocolate (i.e., chocolate cake, brownie, chocolate cookies, etc.) but pure, rich, deep, dark, bitter-sweet chocolate with the tiniest hint of hazelnut -- like Nutella! Add the cherry to it (and I normally dislike BPAL cherry) and it's simply gorgeous. Upon dry-down, the chocolate moves into the background and a blend of orange blossom and cherry move into center stage, and I'm left with a truly stunning and creamy chocolate-cherry-floral blend that makes my knees wobbly. It's beautiful. It's yummy. It makes me want to sit around and lick my wrists. All that and it lasts a good 12 hours on my skin -- a first for a BPAL scent on me! I'm keeping this bottle! TIP: Blended with Pink Phoenix, you're never going to be able to function again, because your nose will be permanently attached to your wrist. It is the most incredibly yummilicious BPAL layering combo I've discovered yet.

Gluttony – I don’t traditionally like bakery scents. I usually avoid them. I’m not sure what got into me, but I had a feeling that I was going to like Gluttony despite the description. The first few seconds are pure bakery heaven. The very first note that jumps out is butter, but not popcorn salt & greasy butter, more like butter creamed with a ton of powdered sugar. Almost immediately the sweet butter scent is followed by vanilla, pralines, and hazelnut. But after 30 seconds or so, the novelty has worn off, and I don’t like the way I smell, and about five minutes into the scent, it takes on an artificial plastic-like odor. I would be thrilled if I could create something in my kitchen that tasted like this smells during the first couple of minutes. I just don’t like wearing bakery/foody scents and add to it the twang of plastic, and well, my loss will be someone else’s gain, as this is off to the swap pile.

Jailbait - in the vial, it’s pure pink bubble gum. When it first touches my skin, again – all bubble gum. Within a few seconds, it takes on a slightly perfumey scent and the bubble gum fades into the background, although it’s still very sweet and I really like it. Within 10 minutes, it’s turned completely to plastic. I will have to see how it works in a scent locket. It’s a really fun fragrance that I’d like to enjoy without the plastic effect.

The Great Sword of War - What a beautiful blend! The Great Sword of War is full of gorgeous food scents, yet it is not a “foody” blend in the traditional sense (and it doesn’t have that “bakery” scent that I dislike so much). When first applied, it smells very strongly of chocolate, but a dark, dry cocoa as opposed to a sweet chocolate. The chocolate combines with the richness of tonka and the husky sweetness of tobacco to make it deep and rich and so much better than just cocoa on its own. As it dries, I begin to note the very distinct scent of red musk surrounding the chocolate scent, but it also has a very, very faint bite of citrus. This is just gorgeous! I can’t get over how pretty a scent this is. In fact, it reminds me so much of Storyville that I decide to test them side-by-side, and sure enough, while they are not the same, they are very similar. TGSoW is dry whereas Storyville is sweet. However, they are so very similar that when I no longer have any Storyville left, I won’t mind too much because I can get the same general experience and scent from TGSoW. It’s beautiful, complex, blended really well, and it lasts a good long while on my skin. I can’t say enough good things about TGSoW!

Laudanum - on my skin, it's soft, but dark. It's a soothing scent, and on me, seems fairly masculine. It's deepest, blackest myrrh with a hint of spice and something slightly sweet that I can't quite identify. It's definitely a scent that's too strong for me to carry off, but I think my husband may like it. I hope so -- I think it would smell gorgeous on him.

Tzadikim Nistarim initially smells sweet and floral when I apply it, but as it dries down, it becomes sharp and sour on my skin. It smells like a rotten vegetable. I’m not familiar with several of those notes in this scent, so I’m not sure which one is the culprit, but I’m going to be keeping a close eye out for them to see if I can find out which one turns on me so much. It fortunately sticks very close to my skin, although the staying power is moderate.

Dorian - The top notes are definitely a smooth blend of lemon and tea with a dash of sugar and cream. However, those notes almost instantly fade into something that's slightly old and musty. The words that keep coming to mind are "musty" and "antique" I like it at first, but after a few minutes, despite how soft and subtle this fragrance is, it becomes annoying. I feel like I smell like an old man -- who has been living in a dank, musty, dusty attic for a few years. This just doesn't work on me, unfortunately, since the initial top notes are so lovely!

Sloth - I think I’m slowly changing my mind about both vetiver and myrrh. These are two scents that I can’t usually stand, and it seems that lately, they’re both surprising me a lot. In the vial, Sloth smells thick and heavy, and I know it’s pointless to even try it, but I do anyway….and WOW! It turns into a gorgeous, dark, husky scent that is slightly reminiscent of a hippie, but more reminiscent of pure sexy SEX! This scent is similar in many ways to Faustus, only it’s darker and thicker. Sloth was one I thought I’d be passing along – and quickly – but instead, I’m going to keep on wearing it. It’s not the type of scent I’d normally find myself drawn to, but in this particular case, it really works. The throw is moderate and the staying power is really great. I’m positive that one imp isn’t going to keep me happy – I’ll be getting more of this, most definitely.

Envy - Oh wow, Beth took the saying, "Green with envy" to heart with this blend. This is a green, green, green blend! The first scent I notice after applying is mint leaf. It's fresh and thick, just like mint sprigs plucked from the plant. Behind the mint there are bitter, green herbs and lavendar blend together, reminding me distinctly of Somnus -- but Somnus with a sharp squeeze of lime. I could swear that one of those herbs is cilantro! Wow, this is a really sharp, edgy, and bitter blend, and while I don't find it appealing on myself as a fragrance, I can imagine that a lot of people would like it, particularly those who enjoy herbal and mint blends. I'm going to hang on to my imp because I can see the possibility of there being a situation where this blend would be absolutely perfect on me despite not finding it appealing for every day use. It has great throw and solid staying power.

Sea of Glass is an aquatic floral that is incredibly fresh, clean, and evocative of that “golden hour” of the day when the sun is setting, casting a deep, yellow glow over everything in your line of sight. The floral is white and heady like gardenia or magnolia – difficult to identify. It has a similar “dryer sheet” smell that Tears has, but not as strong as it is in tears. It unfortunately has a very sharp note in it, and I’m not sure what it is, but it’s the same sharpness that I sense in Tempest and in Lightning, and it is a note that I find highly offensive, and thoroughly ruins this scent for me. I think I’d like it otherwise, and I wish I could figure out what that scent is that doesn’t work for me so I wouldn’t keep getting oils with that note in it! The throw is pretty good and it lasts a good long while.

Dirty - When first applied, this smells like clear, white tea. I was expecting the scent of linens, not tea! However, as the scent dried down, the tea scent vanished, and the longer I wore this blend, the more it really did begin to smell like fresh linens, but not clean out of the washer -- more like fresh, hanging-on-the-line-to-dry-in-the-sun linens. It's really nice and clean and softly sweet like the smell of fresh air, but it's too subtle for me. It's a fabulous scent that people who prefer subtle, light scents would probably like a lot. For me, it's just not one I find myself particularly drawn to.

Nero - Peeeuuuwww!!! This oil hates me! It’s the strong and pungent scent of bay and poo. The bay is far too pungent and odoriferous for me, and the poo… well, it smells like poo! Honestly, I have looked at the scent description over and over as I’ve tried to smell my skin and detect which note is the one masquerading as poo, but I can’t figure it out. The imp I have is fairly old and aged, and perhaps that is the reason for the astonishingly crappy scent. Fortunately, although the scent is very strong initially, it fades quickly, has little throw, and disappears within a couple of hours.

Faustus - I’m in LOVE! I don’t smell the cinnamon in this, but the frankincense (which I don’t normally like) is thick and heavy, but mostly smoky and sexy, and everything I ever wanted in an incense scent! Violet (one of my very most favorite floral scents) lends a soft, deep, touch of floral-sweetness to the frankincense, keeping it from becoming overpowering with its heaviness. The scent has a lovely level of throw and it lasts for hours upon hours on my skin. It’s rare that a BPAL scent knocks my socks off the way this one does. I am absolutely crazy about it and this is going at the top of my list of GC bottles to purchase! In fact, I think I’m going to wear this one again today. It’s just so WOW SUPER SEXY!!!