VelvetSky

Lightening was a gift from the Lab, and I so appreciate being able to try this fragrance. This is quite a strong, bracing, head-clearing scent. Not rainy to me, but definitely crackling and ozonic. I get a lot of citrus here, and bright, young greenery. Extremely fresh; I think this is going to be a fantastic scent to wear in high summer when I want to feel cool. Lightening is definitely a unisex blend. I really like it, and I'm going to enjoy wearing this imp!

I have truly hit the BPAL jackpot today....along with Nuit, I ordered Santa Muerte untested, hoping I'd be as happy with the scent as the description sounded. I'm so happy to report that Santa Muerte has not only not disappointed me, but she has made it onto my Top Ten. Vetiver....Great Goddess how I love vetiver....opens strongly in the topnote of this blend. As the scent warms, the beautifully sweet but dry scent of cactus flower pushes through. This is a fleeting, but gorgeous note, and sticks around just long enough for me to realize how perfectly it blends with the dirty smell of the vetiver. Santa Muerte morphs rather strongly into deep, bold, powdery honey-rose. Quite a strong basenote that lasts and lasts on my skin. I can't wait to make lotion out of this to layer it. If you don't like bold, ballsy florals, you probably won't be into this scent. Luckily, I love bold, ballsy florals. Yep, Top Ten. Beautiful.

I have a new goddess on my Top Ten list, and her name is Nuit. I bonded immediately with this scent the second I sniffed it on my wrist in a way that I can only describe as emotional, as well as olfactory. I ordered this bottle before testing, and I was hoping and praying that I would adore Nuit, because I have a special love and affinity for the great Goddess of the Sky. I'm thrilled to say that it's everything I hoped for and more. It opens with sweet and creamy jasmine...not sharp or overpowering at all on my skin, as so many jasmines can be. I also detect the subtly sweet smell of the moss that blends so exquisitelywith the flowers. The sweet topnotes warm down into a gentle middle incense accord. Just enough to keep me smelling my wrist blissfully. I was worried...so very worried...about the white musk. Musk is my nemesis, but the musk in the drydown of Nuit is perfection, and matches wonderfully with the sweet jasmine. I adore this fragrance. I worship at the jasmine-bedecked feet of this blend!

Hell's Belle: I was very much anticipating this scent, because the name is so fantastic. This is a sophisticated, non-girly blend...very sexy, mature, and unisex. Although Hell's Belle is sweet, it is not particularly flowery. It's more spicy/foody, like warm sticky buns. Yes, it's smoky but not like an incense smoke....more like clouds of scent coming from an exotic bakery. The middle accord of this fragrance is very buttery and mellow. Perhaps that's the creaminess of the magnolia. I don't get the oleander at all. This scent really hangs in there for a long time; it's quite strong and doesn't fade out to the final basenote for hours. I'm not a foody scent-wearer, so I'll probably swap this, but I think this is a very interesting and lovely scent.

This was giftage from the luvly Labbies. Alecto smells wild to me, literally wild. Like things that grow in untamed places. I've never really smelled a perfume like this before. The cedar that dominates the topnote of this blend is dirty and ancient. This isn't the sharp, clean cedar that I'm used to in Beth's oils. The cedar slowly fades back a bit, and I start to get the olive and raspberry leaf. What an amazing combination! Yes, the olive leaf lends a bit of interesting foodiness to the scent, but it's more of a hint than overt. It's almost nutty or buttery, if that makes sense. I get the raspberry leaf quite strongly in the middle note. Sweet/herbally/fruity/minty, behind the cedar woodiness. It's exquisite. I can't stop sniffing my wrist. Alecto fades very quickly on my skin until I'm left with just a hint of cedary sweetness in the final drydown. I'm absolutely amazed at this perfume. You must try it to believe it.

Titania smells like a fruity version of Desdemona to me.

Nocnitsa has the distinction of being the slowest-evolving BPAL scent I've tried thus far. The drydown is worth the wait, because this is an absolutely gorgeous fragrance. The topnote is all about pine....strong and bracing, with maybe a touch of green herbs. This is a very dry blend on my skin in the first hour, fresh and cleansing, like the wind through the tops of high pines. I didn't get any of the lime that others have stated, just trees and herbs. It reminded me very much of Yggdrasil. After a long time, the blend warms up and starts to sweeten. The pine falls back until it's just a memory. I start to get more of the herbs and some flowers that slowly grow stronger and push to the top. I get a lot of mint in the middle accord. The drydown of Nocnitsa took several hours to establish itself on my skin. The base of this blend is a very sweet and fresh floral. This is a lovely oil, but it reminds me so much of Yggdrasil, I doubt I'll wear it very often. I've swapped it away, but I'm so very glad I tried it.

Super-sweet, girly, and feminine....Sweet Pea is one of my favorite soliforal notes. I like mixing a little of this single note oil with some lotion to layer underneath Desdemona. As everyone else has mentioned, this is a slightly green floral fragrance...absolutely gorgeous if you love sweet, clean florals.

Mmmm...Bastet. I want me some Bastet.

The Truffula Trees! The bright-colored tufts of the Truffula Trees! Mile after mile in the fresh morning breeze. ~~Dr. Seuss~~ Unless you're a total devotee of only the Dark Side of BPAL perfumes, I suspect that most all of us have at least one favorite scent that epitomizes the freshness of Spring. What are your favorite fresh blends, and why? Something young and green? A touch of floral sweetness? Maybe a dewy, watery note? Which scents say "Spring" to you? Mine: Szepasszony: White flowers after a heavy rain. Desdemona: One of my most beloved of Beth's oils...I just love the sweet pea in it. Belladonna: Powdery green coolness. Kostnice: Childhood memories of Easter. Oberon: Has a note of fresh grass. Amsterdam: Probably the freshest BPAL floral scent I've tried yet.

Hmmm, well I got a lot of incense in the drydown of Black Phoenix. So I guess that shows you how valuable opinions are. I agree that she should probably just test a variety of scents with cherry in them and see how they do on her skin. What they do on your skin, or my skin, isn't too helpful.

I tend to agree with luxuria....Black Phoenix isn't what you're looking for if you want just cherry/almond with no incensey smokiness on the drydown. Kabuki is probably the scent that comes closest, imho. I really don't think that Beth has a blend that duplicates that sweet but fresh cherry/almond scent of Jergens. I love the smell too.

Othello: My first impression when first swiped on my wrist....wow. I'm liking this. Dark red rose underpinned by creamy musk. This is a very sexy rose fragrance, very adult and sophisticated. There's a spiciness underneath, but it's not an overly-foody spiciness. Mmmmm so nice. I feel as though I'm in a sultan's harem. Othello is a gorgeous scent. So glad I ordered the imp.

Strangely, I'm smelling mostly the base note in Queen Gertrude when it hits my skin. I'm not really sure what that is....sandalwood maybe. The sweet violet is washing over everything, but it's not a fresh, cool violet....this is a heavy, cloying, sweet, incensey violet. It's quite strong and brash and a bit too candy-like for me to really enjoy it. My skin doesn't want to interpret this blend as "cool". I know that it will smell absolutely gorgeous on the right woman.

Morgause is a very generous imp from the Lab. Straight from the vial onto my wrist, this smells very musky, heavy and purple. I'm not liking the top notes at all, because the musk is so darn heavy...almost like civet. It fades back after just a few minutes though, so things rapidly improve for me from there. The middle notes are sweet violets and overripe berries...a very pretty scent, sweet and fragrant. This smells a lot like my bottle of Violetta di Parma with just a bit of something else, jasmine maybe? The final dryout of Morgause has just a hint of that animal muskiness that I had problems with in the beginning. It's the only thing preventing me from loving it. I'm going to gift this to someone I think might enjoy it.

I'd like to make a point. Please understand that I'm not referring to BPAL with this statement...if Beth says the blends are all from 100% natural oils directly from the plant with no synthetics blended in, they are. But it is legal in this country to call something an "essential oil" when in fact it's a synthetic. The buyer needs to beware when it comes to these claims. That's not to say that "synthetic" necessarily means bad....just that "essential oil" does not necessarily mean "directly from the plant and unadulterated by any other substance that isn't naturally occuring".

Kyoto is quite strong on my skin when freshly applied....deep red cherries and anise with a whiff of the sandalwood underneath. This reminds me very much of Kabuki. As it warms, the anise pushes up and I'm getting that slighly medicinal tone to the fragrance. The final dryout is basically all sandalwood, with just a hint of something green and leafy. Kyoto is a scent that I probably won't wear because I can't do overtly fruity scents, but I'm very glad to have tried it. I'll be passing this on as a gift.

Yggdrasil is an incredibly beautiful, fresh woodsy/herbal scent that perfectly encapsulates it's description and inspiration. This is a green, leafy fragrance....not at all deep or resiny. As it dries down, a very subtle and sweet floral pushes to the surface. The cool herbal notes underpin the entire blend with a wonderful freshness. Yggdrasil is a perfume I'm going to enjoy wearing on hot, sticky summer days. It's perfect.

Nefertiti is all about sandalwood, iris and crushed mint on my skin. An herbal undertone in a fragrance usually gives it a cool character, but Nefertiti is a sun-scorched scent to me. This is an extremely dry fragrance; when I smell it on my wrist, it's giving me visions of dry red bricks baking in the sun for some odd reason. I can detect the myrrh in the basenote, but there is no sweetness here at all. Nefertiti is a very interesting scent...aloof and queenly and very no-nonsense. I'm not sure I know quite what to make of it, so I'll just say that this blend is very Egyptian.

Thanks for the info, antimony. That's very true. The book was published in 2001.

If Ms. Atel states that those flowers resist any form of scent harvesting, I tend to believe what she's saying. Her book describes in detail all methods of extraction, including enfleurage. If these flower essences were able to be extracted in a usable and cost-efficient way by the perfume industry, I tend to think she wouldn't have made the statement. Also from Fischer-Rizzi, Susanne in the Complete Aromatherapy Handbook: Enfleurage is the most expensive extraction method and is the only one that won’t alter the chemical makeup (therefore, fragrance) of some botanicals such as lilac. As a result, commercial production of some essential oils is impractical. I think it's really odd that the author states these flowers resist any form of scent harvesting. While it may be impossible to extract essential oils from them through distillation, it's certainly not impossible to extract their scents through other methods. For example, enfleurage is a technique where you layer purified fat and blossoms between glass plates, and the fat absorbs the flower scent (which can then be washed with a solvent, etc, to get the scent out). I've read you can use high proof alcohol and blossoms to make a tincture (of lilacs, for example). You can also extract scents into oil by gently heating them. So, I have no idea why Aftel said that... I guess she was talking only about essential oils? If Beth is using stuff from her garden occasionally, I would almost guarantee she's using one of the above methods or something similar at least part of the time, since she'd have to have quite a plot of land to grow enough botanicals to extract essential oils through distillation. The ratio by weight of plant matter to essential oil extracted is usually something like 50-2000:1. <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Arachne is very, very different than what I anticipated from the description, at least judging from the topnotes. I smell black lotus here, and a medicinal herb. Strong and piercing, dusty and heavy. This is most definitely not a wispy, light fragrance on my skin. I think my chemistry is really amplifying the lotus. Some kind of wood underneath, frankincense maybe. As it dries down and warms, I'm getting some mint and camphor, and the sweetness of the black lotus is backing off. It's becoming drier and airier. The drydown of Arachne is really quite pleasant. Faintly flowery/herbal with the dry soft wood and mint in the background. I'm perceiving this as a masculine scent; not something I'd wear, but something I'd like to smell on a guy.

I was surprised that so many other reviewers call Kitsune Tsuki a light fragrance. This goes on my skin pretty darn strong, with a very pronounced, jammy, fruity/plum topnote. Very sweet and candylike. This reminds me of a young Japanese girl in kimono, sitting underneath a flowering plum tree. As it warms, the plum note fades back and I'm getting more of the sweet flowers, mostly the jasmine. The white musk is giving it a little background tingle. I'm not getting any of the other flowers, because the sweet candylike notes are overcoming almost everything else. The final dryout to this fragrance on my skin is light, sweet white musk and candy. I need a more womanly blend than Kitsune Tsuki gives me (less candy, more musk), but I think this would be absolutely gorgeous on a young girl.

I'm interested in the Lab's response too. I don't think it's possible to obtain some scents from their actual source...or at least in an unadulterated state that would be usable in perfumery. But I stand corrected! If the Lab says they use only natural oils, that's the answer. I can definitely see that Beth could blend other natural notes to get a good approximation of a scent (like honeysuckle, etc.). In fact, that's pretty cool.

Niflheim is a cool, foggy, dark floral aquatic. It has the added benefit (for me) of not being an aquatic blend with woody/resin notes on the drydown, which normally doesn't work on my skin. So I'm overall really pleased with this scent. It goes on quite strong, murky and watery. The floral heart notes are very sweet and fruity, and the final dryout is a cold, powdery, white floral. This is a very sophisticated watery blend. I can't stop sniffing my wrist. A keeper.