edenssixthday

Les Infortunes De La Vertu - Until I read the Lab description, I couldn’t identify a single note in this blend aside from the leather and incense. I would call this a “handsome” scent – it’s really nice, but not “pretty” like the scents I prefer. This is another one I can’t wear but plan to pass along to my husband. I think he’d smell really, really nice in this!

Hymn - with it’s strong rose and lily notes, Hymn initially reminds me a lot of Sepulcher, but not quite as soft. As it dried down, a definite incense note becomes evident – one that I don’t care for, and as soon as I looked up the Lab description, I realized that’s because it’s not incense but myrrh, which I don't care for. The notes clash on my skin and became nauseating and cloying to the point where I have to wash it off in order to not feel ill. This one isn’t going to work for me at all.

Magdalene - When I first opened the imp of Magdalene, I was disgusted. It smelled like something had died in the bottle. But, I've tried enough BPAL to know that just because it smells bad in the bottle doesn't mean it'll smell bad on my skin (or just because it smells luscious in the bottle doesn't mean I won't end up smelling like a bum's toe cheese when I put it on!) So I tried it. And wow, am I ever glad it did. As soon as it dried down, it turned into a really lovely, white floral that is just so delicate and soft. As I went about my day, I would occasionally catch the scent wafting around me, but it wasn't overwhelming or powerful. It was soft, subtle, and really ... well, dainty. Just a lovely scent. I loved it enough to buy a 5 ml bottle.

Greed - Heavy and bitter, Greed doesn't work on me in the least. It's a very strong scent, and as a previous reviewer noted, it has a strong and sharp metallic tang to it. This is one that I can't keep on me skin as I find it too sharp and slightly offensive. Off to the swap pile it goes.

Lust - Wow, I never thought a scent would smell so good – especially considering it has three notes that I really dislike and one note that often doesn’t work on me. Once again, BPAL has really surprised me. This scent is deep and resinous, yet it has a scent that is simultaneously sweet and sharp. It’s got great throw, but not overpowering, and it lasts and lasts. I plan to wear this when I want to make an impression. I love it!

Fallen - Oh no. Did I accidentally let a hippie into my house again? Oh wait, that's no hippie. That's me wearing Fallen. This is a perfect scent for a new-age hippie -- male or female. The sandalwood is heavy and predominant. The violet subtly swirls beneath lending a very slightly floral hint to the sandalwood. The musk and amber peek through briefly on occasion, but overall this is 98% sandalwood. It's actually one of the few sandalwood scents I like, as I'm very picky about sandalwood. Phenomenal throw (i.e., be careful how much you wear!), and acceptable staying power. Unfortunately, it's way too heady for me, and way too hippie for me. This is going in the swap pile.

The Bow and Crown of Conquest - This is a very masculine scent. The leather and musk notes are really strong on me, with the cedar not far behind. Unfortunately, these don’t combine to smell good on me in the least, and I don’t think I’d want my husband smelling like this, either, so I’ll be passing this on. The throw is light, and the staying power, on me at least, is very poor.

Danse Macabre - The frankincense and oakmoss are the strongest notes in this blend. I have no idea what "oude" is or what it smells like, so that's definitely a note I can't identify, and the toasted hazelnut doesn't show up on me at all. The cypress is strong when I first apply this blend, giving it a green depth that it doesn't have once the oil dries down and the cypress fades. Upon dry-down, I really fall in love with this scent. The frankincense is the strongest note, and I've recently fallen head-over-heels in love with BPAL frankincense. This scent has really great throw and I have to be careful not to over-apply because the frankincense is so strong it will make me sick to my stomach if I wear it too heavily. Applied lightly, I catch lovely wafts of the scent around me for hours and hours -- it's one of the longer-lasting BPAL oils that I wear, and doesn't start to noticeably fade for about 6 hours, although I don't feel the need to "touch up" the scent until about the 8 hour point. I have several imps of this and will most definitely be enjoying it for a while.

Nocturne - Instant violets! Wow, this is just gorgeous! Sooo pretty! It’s bright, purple, fresh-cut violets laying on a bed of soft, purple, fresh-cut lilacs. Oh, this is just too pretty for words. I can’t wait to wear it again and if it’s this nice the second time around, I’m buying a bottle! If I had to pick only one floral to smell the rest of my life, I’d be torn between violets and lilacs, so this is a scent that makes me really, really happy!

Twilight – The first time I tried this, it was all jasmine. Before I’d even finished pulled the cap off the vial, my olfactory senses were assaulted with the overwhelming scent of thick, heavy, heady jasmine, jasmine and more JASMINE. I quickly washed it off and tossed the imp in my swap pile. BPAL Jasmine is my nemesis. We have to find one single instance where we can be in the same place at the same time. We're mortal enemies. Then I decided to lightly try it again so I could give a blow-by-blow review of the horrid stuff and well, whaddya know, my chemistry must be different today, because I had a completely different experience. When I first open the vial on this particular occasion, I instantly recognize this as lavender. Then the jasmine started to peek through and I thought this seemed like what would happen if Dove's Heart and New Orleans were combined. Once I applied it to my skin, the lavender became the dominant note and smelled almost exactly like Dove's Heart. After about 2-3 minutes the heady lavender scent subsides and the jasmine starts to peek through the lavender again, and from here on out, this is pretty much a perfect balance of light lavender and sweet, floral jasmine with the slightest hint of sweet honeysuckle swirling far beneath the jasmine. It’s soft and powdery, and I love this combo. The jasmine smells exactly like all of the non-BPAL Jasmine oils I’ve worn in my life and loved. It reminds me of a day many, many years ago that I spent driving through the Blue Ridge Mountains in the springtime with the ubiquitous scent of springtime jasmine blossoms wafting through the air and in through the rolled-down windows of my car. I am now extremely confused about this fragrance. I had such a typical BPAL jasmine reaction to it the first try and upon the second try, it's surprisingly gorgeous. I guess I'll pull this out of my swap pile and try it again.

Zombi - Oh, I don't like this at all. Not one bit. Wet soil and worms. That's what it smells like. Fortunately, my skin eats it up after only a minute or so, and it doesn't leave any trace behind at all. Definitely not trying this one again.

The Ghost is aptly named: it is light and soft and very ethereal. This is the first BPAL fragrance in which I cannot identify any notes, even after reading the description and knowing what some of the notes are! It's very well-blended and obviously a white-floral, but that's as far as my nose has been able to determine. This is a lovely scent. Smells like a lot of almost-nothing in the bottle, but as soon as it touches my skin, the scent warms up and becomes a truly lovely white-floral plus....???? Like I said, I can't distinguish the other notes even knowing what they are! The more I wear this fragrance, the more I like it. I doubt I'll buy a full bottle, but will probably keep this imp on hand for those days when I want to smell soft and ethereal and well, faintly ghostly!

Wings of Azrael is full of dark myrrh, and on my skin, not much else. It’s not unpleasant as myrrh usually is on me, but it’s definitely not something I’d wear again. Moderate throw, good staying power.

The final burst of the soul’s light and joy before passing into the depths of the earth, and into the cords of Sheol; Sheol, who is never satisfied, and who makes wide her soul to all. Vibrant gladiola, graceful stargazer lily, triumphant iris and bright heliotrope flare, and is finally made somber by heavy copal, a drop of labdanum, and tonka. Sheol - This scent is full of strong and sweet heliotrope, which is a scent I don’t like when it dominates other notes. I prefer it as a background note. The scent is also slightly musty, and I can’t tell what note is giving it the dank, musty touch. Iris always smells bitter on me, and this blend is no exception. Overall, this is a strange scent on me that is a jumble of heady florals yet it has a low level of throw and the staying power is about average on me. I’d say that people who like heavy florals would possibly love this one, but it’s definitely not for me.

Jazz Funeral – if you’ve never had the privilege of seeing a second-lining jazz funeral for yourself (or participating in one), you are really missing out. This scent perfectly captures the sorrow and joy that is a New Orleans jazz funeral. I’m pleasantly surprised that in this blend, the magnolia isn’t too heady and strong for me. Rather, the florals are light and pretty and perfectly balanced with the other scents. The boozey scent doesn’t smell like someone went on a drinking binge, but it is soft and subtle, like when I was a kid and Grandpa would come to kiss me goodnight when I went to bed, and I could smell the slightest trace of liquor on his breath from his after-dinner cocktail. I am hard-pressed to believe that there is no lemon or other citrus scents in this particular blend, as well, as there is something really fresh and juicy like a thin wedge of lemon tossed in a glass of ice tea. There is definitely a touch of graveyard dirt, which I find strangely odd considering that New Orleans and the surrounding region is the area where jazz funerals are held, and there’s nary a dirt-graveyard to be found down there. All of the graveyards are full of above-ground tombs. This is a gorgeous scent, too light for winter, but perfect for spring/summer months.

House of Night - This scent is incredibly soft, subtle and very clean, almost watery. It's a barely-there scent that consists of boughs of soft greenery, and very light florals. This scent doesn't leave me with much of an impression at all. It's pretty, but so incredibly subtle I hardly know it's there. It also fades quickly -- within the first 30 minutes I can barely detect it, and after an hour, it's completely gone.

Embalming Fluid - I don't normally like tea scents, but Embalming Fluid is a gorgeous, light, crisp, clean scent. It makes me think of a warm spring afternoon spent meandering around the Huntington Botanical Gardens sipping on chilled green tea with a hint of lemon. It's a smooth and cool scent, and very light and fresh. I will be buying more of this before the warm springtime "wanna be outside" weather rolls around again. I think I'll wear it a lot this coming spring/summer.

Les Fleurs du Mal - I really had high hopes for this blend, as I'm a huge fan of BPAL rose scents, I can't get enough lilac, and I'm a complete nut about wisteria. However, when I apply this blend to my skin, it smells like floral soap. No note in particular stands out -- it just smells like cheap, floral, decorative hand-soap. About 20 minutes after application, the soapy smell is still there, but has faded significantly, and I now can identify the distinct fragrance of rose. It's soft and round and reminds me of Venus. It sticks very close to my skin and I have to raise my arm to my face to smell the fragrance. Around the 2-hour point, I notice it's beginning to fade significantly. At this point, I also smell a hint of wisteria behind the rose, lightening up the rose and breaking it up a bit. It's a lovely combination, alt hough it's so sadly subtle on my skin. I ne ver do smell the lilac in the blend. This is a really pretty scent and once that initial soapiness dissipated, it leaves my skin with a really light layer of soft, pretty floral tones. I don't see myself using this as a regular perfume because it's so light, but I could see myself blending it with some unscented lotion on days when I want to be lightly scented with springtime blossoms. Very pretty.

Thanatopsis is a very earthy scent. On my skin, it smells fairly resinous, and I don’t smell any of the pine or juniper. It has very light throw, as most of the funeral oils seem to on my skin, but it lasts for several hours despite being very soft and subtle. It’s a bit too earthy for me, and I hope it will find a good home with someone else.

Midnight is a beautiful scent. It's fairly "perfumey" in it's quality, and doesn't smell like any one particular flower or note, yet it's floral in it's complexity and beauty. It's a smooth, swirly, and sleepy scent and reminds me of my youth in New Orleans, and quiet warm evenings spent lounging in the swinging chair on the front porch, breathing in the warm Southern nighttime air and listening to my friend's dad practice his slow jazz saxaphone. This is one of my favorite scents to wear in the evenings.

Shroud - Oh wow, this is a gorgeous blend! It’s so soft and pretty, yet very somber. Not having read the description before I tested it, I was way off when I tried to guess what notes are in it. I thought for sure there were roses and incense. Then I read the description which says it contains “Dry white sandalwood wrapped in thin woods, soft grasses and the lightest white flowers layered over cajeput and the warm, deep scent of embalming herbs.” Well, no matter what is in it, it’s beautiful. And it’s lovely when layered with a tiny drop of Cathedral, as well. It has moderate throw and lasts on me for several hours before fading.

Haunted - BPAL ambers and musks are really hit-and-miss for me. This one is a miss. The scent is very light and barely shows up on my skin. I would be hard-pressed to believe there is not a touch of lemon/citrus in this blend, because wet on my skin, that is the predominant scent -- citrus that's grounded by the musk. As it dries, the citrus scent clashes with the amber and creates a "scentual" experience that is to beautiful fragrance as a room full of pre-schoolers playing marching-band instruments is to a beautiful symphony. It's strange, startling, and noisy, making me raise an eyebrow and wonder what the heck happened here. Fortunately for me, the scent stays close to the skin and lasts only 60-90 minutes at most. I will be swapping this one away!

Darkness - Wet in the vial, all I can smell is myrrh, which I don’t care for. When initially applied, I’m almost overcome by the sweetness in the scent, which I’m assuming is from the opium. The overwhelming sweetness fades over the first few minutes. What is then left is a powdery-soft, slightly sweet scent of opium that has the dark and slightly caustic touch of myrrh. This is quite possibly my favorite opium blend. It has moderate throw and good staying power. It’s very sexy and too powdery to be called “dark”, but it’s definitely not “light”! This is a nighttime scent for the woman who wants to be mysterious, sexy, seductive, and feminine, with a streak of naughtiness.

Dance of Death is dark, dry and woody/incensey. It is very strong when I first apply it and smells like a “dirty hippie” scent, but as it dries down, it becomes mellower and the incense scent becomes less like a headshop and more like church incense. It’s a really warm, comforting blend, and I’m surprised at how much I like it considering that it’s darker than most blends I like. The patchouli doesn’t overwhelm me like it usually does, and the myrrh is surprisingly pleasant. Dance of Death is a phenomenal scent. I will be wearing this one again.

Bewitched is very light and a pretty scent, slightly fruity, slighty musky, and something else that I can’t quite place. Unfortunately, on me, it’s too light and too subtle, and it fades within 30 minutes. I have passed this one on. I’m glad I tried it, but I don’t need to try it again.