VelvetSky

My favorite Lunar, Wolf Moon, smells like night to me.

Brimstone is pretty odd. Beth says it's 'smoky, gritty, husky and gray' and that pretty much sums it up. India Bouquet was also strange back in it's day.

Sweet floral you say? Try Desdemona. It's sweeeet.

I have a sorta weird way of applying my oils, but I find that doing it this way really gives any scent I wear excellent throw and long lasting power. I use unscented dry oil (I buy mine from Scentastics). I pour a little of this dry oil into my palm and shake a few drops of BPAL into the oil (I always use reducers on my bottles, but you could easily add a few drops with a dropper). I then apply all over my body. If I'm using a lightly scented blend, I add a few drops of oil "straight" onto my pulse points. In this way, I find that my BPAL scent lasts on my body all day long, and moisturizes to boot.

October doesn't smell like a man's cologne to me at all, but it looks like I'm in the minority with that observation. To me, this smells like earthy, damp autumn leaves that have fallen and partially decomposed...the fresh air of early Autumn...slightly astringent tree bark. I like this because there is no floral, vanillic, or resiny warmth in the drydown. It's a chilly October evening in a bottle. Love it!

Seance scares the crap outta me. For some reason, that faint cigarette note seems spooky.

Hi everyone. Can anyone recommend an oil that closely resembles Anne Bonny? I luv her, and I'd like to try other similar blends. Thanx

What I'd really love one day is a scent with primarily lilac in both the top and the drydown, and maybe a bit of incense floating around. Or even a lilac that's faintly herbal would be cool with me. Dragon's Eye ends up strongly metallic and smelling of just dragon's blood on me, although I do get a little lilac in the topnote also.

Sri Lanka is a perfume that I knew I was going to love from the second I read the description. There was simply no question about ordering a bottle. The only thing green or sharp on my skin about this blend is the cedar in the topnote. After 15 or 20 minutes, this note melts further and further into the background until it is gone. The middle accord and the base of Sri Lanka are what really makes me adore it. Earthy, spicy, warm, luscious patchouli and sandalwood with the incensey, mysterious aura of the olibanum and the mastic. Usually myrrh amps on my skin, but not here, in fact, I barely detect it until the scent is almost gone. This has good lasting power, and is a true unisex blend, as it's neither masculine nor feminine in character. I love it. Top Ten!

Wings of Azrael was a gift from the Lab, and I really appreciate having the chance to try it. Almost all the way through the final drydown of this fragrance, this is all about the myrrh, with the sweetness of the lily of the valley surrounding it. This is a very cold and remote perfume, and to be honest I don't feel entirely comfortable wearing it. It's smells like death, albeit very elegant and aesthetic death. I really only pick up a slight faintness of violet, and a bit of cajeput, but the myrrh seems to dominate this scent. I'm not sure whether I'll be able to wear Wings of Azrael. I will have to test it again before I decide whether to pass it on or keep it.

A reducer is a little plastic insert that goes into the top of the bottle. The insert has a small hole, so you can control the amount of oil that comes out. I personally wouldn't put anything metal into my oils, but I guess it really wouldn't ruin it.

Ahh.

This has happened to me...and the email address that Kittyflop gave is correct. Might not be Sara specifically, Kennedy might reply, or someone else. But the Lab is wonderful about correcting mistakes on orders. Fabulous, in fact.

Well, I can definitely now confirm that Masquerade is a wonderful patchouli. I'm on the hunt now for an imp of The Coiled Serpent....

I received Kali from kittyflop, and I'm so happy to be able to review this perfume, which has been on my wishlist for a while now! Kali is a very sexy, intense, sophisticated, extroverted scent that Beth has blended with breathtaking skill. It's floral, but not a cliche. It's gourmand, but not weirdly foody. It's deep and dark, but very wearable. The two notes in this perfume that seem to be the most prominent on my skin are the rose and the lotus. As it dries, the incensey, tobacco, boozy notes become more obvious, but to me, this is basically an intense floral. I will be ordering a bottle of this; I adore it.

I'm very happy to add a review of Masquerade, thanks to the ever-generous minilux who gave me the opportunity to try this perfume. This is a truly beautiful, deep, profound patchouli blend with an undercurrent of orange that lifts the earthiness of the patchouli in a lovely way. Tremendous lasting power and really good throw. If you love patchouli, I think it would be difficult not to love Masquerade. Also, I've been thinking of this as a very 'medieval' blend. It smells mysterious and old to me...and those are very good things.

Tried Whitechapel again last night, just to refresh my memory. Nope, no lilac on my skin down to the drydown. A bit of sweet powderiness, maybe that's the lilac, but it's not the fresh lilac I wanted. The citrus notes and the musk kinda dominate on me. Maybe Beth will read this and whip up a new lilac scent for all of us lilac lovers?

Whitechapel definitely wasn't very lilac for me. I got a lot of lemon/lime and white musk in that one...and it seemed very masculine. Ahhh body chemistry, different on everyone!

I've tried all of the current scents with lilac listed as a note, and none of them are strongly lilac to me (or not what I would call strongly lilac). Beth used to have a Blue Lilac single note, but of course that's gone. These are the ones that came up on the search of current scents with lilac: Dragon's Eye Ouija Veil Blood Countess Villain Himerus Les Fleurs Du Mal Nocturne Cordelia Viola Whitechapel And the discontinued ones: Bruja Spectre Blue Lilac

The first few minutes of Tenochtitlan is all about fruity candy on my skin. Very sweet, very very fruity. Fortunately, the initial sweetness fades back considerably on the drydown and the floral notes push forward. They are gorgeous...sweet, but subtle while retaining a wee bit of the opening fruitiness. Mmmm I'm really love it. I'm getting a little of the mint and some other type of herb. It doesn't smell like coriander, but then again it might be....I also seem to get some cinnamon in here. The middle notes of this perfume do a very interesting morph from floral to spicy/herbal. How does Beth do that??? The base of Tenochtitlan is very mellow, creamy and subtly amberish. The lasting power and the throw of this fragrance are pretty strong. I love the Lab for throwing this into my order as a gift, and I'm definitely considering a full bottle.

Fae is a frimp I received in a swap with the lovely Thorne, and I'm so happy to be able to try it! I swiped a little on my wrist before going back to the website to check the notes...and I was bowled over when I found that this contains white musk! Huzzah! A scent with musk that I love, didn't think it was possible! Fae is a lovely, soft, peachy, freshly sweet blend that really does bring to mind the faeries for which it's named. It's mellow, but sparkling. The heliotrope is very subtle and lends a very light soapiness to the drydown, which I love. Fae reminds me very much of the great classic Guerlain fragrance Mitsouko, only without the rich dustiness of that perfume. I love it; I'm buying a bottle, thanks to Thorne!

I'm not really sure why rose is a note that is so widely disliked by so many BPALers, but it's one of my favorites, and my bottle of Love In The Asylum reminds me why I love it so. This fragrance opens with very distinct notes of carnation and balsam underneath the fresh rose, which makes it feel light and fresh with an interesting little green tang. It mellows down slowly into a riper rose, but still fresh rather than that lovely musky/murky rose as with Othello. There is a hint of tobacco which only lasts for a few minutes. The drydown is gorgeous and sweet and creamy...so feminine and elegant. I'm so glad I ordered this LE. I just love it.

Gypsy Queen is a very sweet, full-bodied, floral incense fragrance that has a rather interesting journey on it's way to the drydown. It starts out quite incensey, with a touch of the lovely sharpness of fresh carnation in the topnote. As it dries, the myrrh really pushes forward on my skin. I was a bit worried about this stage, as myrrh does strange things with my chemistry, but this note tames down considerably in just a few minutes. The base of this perfume is quite floral, honey-sweet and rich, and just a teeny bit soapy. At no point do I get the candle wax others have noticed, or any smokiness. I love this blend and I'm planning to purchase a bottle before it goes away.

Oh honey, I honestly wouldn't worry about it...say it the way you want to. I know lots of people who say, 'Sam-hayne' and I don't think of them as being stupid, nor do I think most people do. I think the only BPAL scents I really feel inhibited saying to people are the South/Central American ones like XIUHTECUHTLI. It just sounds so incredibly stupid coming out of my mouth because I know I'm screwing up the pronounciation big-time.

Can any of you guys/girls give me some recommendations for BPAL 'fresh' patchouli blends? Something on the lighter side, not dark, pungent, or murky? A blend in which the patchouli note isn't swallowed up by other basenotes? I love all patchoulis (including those strong ones), but right now I seem to be craving patchouli on the lighter side.