LittleGreyKitten

This does have a Snake Charmer feel to it, with more sandalwood I think. I like it more than Hellion which, yes, it also reminds me of. I do agree there's got to be some black plum in there for the sweetness. Also a bit more incensy than either of those other two blends. I like it a lot, that's for sure. It isn't quite as deep and delicious as SN but, on the other hand, this blend is brand new and unaged- it may get perfectly gorgeous after a little while. There's some other blend this also has some similarity to- maybe a less honeyed Sed Non Satiata feel? Not sure. As it dries it takes on more of it's own unique character- less "sort of this, sort of that". It is definitely lighter than some of the oils it initially resembled to me. It's still a darker blend, but with a less heavy feel. Sort of like a spring or summer version of some of the uber-heavy and hardcore BPAL blends. I like it more and more as it dries down; however I'm thinking it's not gonna be very long lasting. I'm going with 4.5 out of 5 for now- I've liked several of the Qliphoths quite a bit, and most of them not at all. It's definitely a love-or-hate series.

Oooh I really, really like this one. It has a lovely, white/yellow scent that reminds me of a less sharp Sundew, or a bit like the unreleased Toxin but again less sharp. It's very refreshing and sweet. Lemony, a bit maybe. This one is the one I might very well use a *lot*- I've been loving some of the fresher floral scents like Ides of March and Sundew- great for spring for sure. This one has the benefit of being a bit less sharp and/or green than some. For me this one is a 5 out of 5, I really like it a lot.

I keep thinking of the Samael monster in Hellboy "The Hound of Resurrection". (Oh, the crap that clutters my brain!) Anyway, Sam is a the most straight up floral of the Qliphoths so far. It's a lovely light almost slightly aquatic floral. It reminds me just a bit of Beatrice, but less powdery. I'm not a huge floral fan, but I might use this one- it's so pretty and not overwhelming. Then again, I'll see if I use up my half imp before considering a full size! I'd call it a 4 out of 5- I don't know what these are exactly intended for besides perfumey goodness, I must admit

I tried this without the descrip near me. The pumpkin is Jack-like to me, a little buttery and all lovely. The other notes (orris & sandalwood as I realize now) simply added this amazing tantalizing extra dimension to the pumpkin. I always underestimate how much I like Beth's pumpkin note. It's especially fun with an unusual but very nice pairing like this. I liked it better than PP#1, which I also didn't know at the time was a more typical pairing of scents (mulling spices, apple cider). Anyway, I will for sure be hunting for an imp of this. I'll need to try a full size test- I just did a teensy dab out of another lovely forum member's imp- to rate it fully, but I'd think it will be a 4 out of 5.

On me, a straight up cedar scent. Not something I want to smell of, so therefore I gave it to my sistercousin; I'm trying to convert her to BPAL, and she's a big fan of cedar scents. She'd actually asked me to find her one, and I'd come up emptyhanded. Then I sniffed Mandrake and knew it was perfect for her. She thought it was perfectly cedar on her too, and loved it. And the name. Yay! Another convert! For me it was a 2 out of 5, for my sistercousin (I think it was her holy grail of scent) I'm guessing she'd rate it a 5 out of 5.

Wow, judging by the description I didn't think I would like this much. Woody? No. Green? Not usually. So imagine my surprise when this smells all... creamy. How weird. It's beautiful though. It has a hint of green-ness, but predominantly there's this warm creamy scent from it. I'll have to test drive it a few more times but I'm thinking full size, this is lovely. For me so far I'm calling it a 4.5 out of 5.

Note to self: heliotrope is always a bad thing on my skin. Always. If it is noticeable, it eats every other note in the blend and creates The Flower From Hell. Sadly, that would be be Sheol. Not inappropriate perhaps, but very much not something I want to smell of. Oh well. I neeeeed most all of the Orishas in full size, so perhaps it's not a bad thing really. Can't want everything! For me, 2 out of 5.

I work in an antique store. We see lots of partially full many-decades-old bottles of perfume. They all smell strangely identical. Ozymandias captures that ancient perfume aroma perfectly. Sadly its rather rancid smelling to me, and very sharp/potent. I got the same feel off Khajuraho- while I doubt they're twins, I am sadly not loving Ozzy here. It sounded awesome but in reality the notes just don't work on me. Glad I just imped it! For me, 2 out of 5.

I'm having a hard time picking notes out of this one. Its definitely more masculine than I'd prefer- musky, quite woody, a bit herbal. I will probably try it on my man. It lasts very very well, though, so if you like it a lot that's always a big plus.

Oya smells amazing. Oya reminds me of Queen of Spades quite a bit, but less sweet and candyish, and a little spicier. In a good way. This just is perfect, and I'll definitely be putting this on the bottle-soon list. It makes me feel much better about never shelling out for a bottle of Queen of Spades, since this will be not a substitute, but more enjoyable for me. 5 out of 5, like several of the Orishas. What a great series.

No thank you. The Bandersnatch smells like an artificially scented potpourri on me. It has that weird edge to it that smells off, and artificial. Oddly, since that's rarely a thing I get out of Beth's oils. So no Bandersnatch for me, thanks. For me, 1 out of 5. It just tickles me all wrong.

Um. Monster bait Underbed. How cassia you are. Cassia with extra cassia. Now, on the other hand, I did get a compliment on this when I test drove it. I may glom onto it with mucho love with a few more wearings. But after test driving it once, I am kind of left wondering where my angel food cake and coconut is. The cassia is not quite cinnamony- it's a bit dry, a bit unsweet, a bit cocoa-y. It also has this sort of butter-biscuit underscent, a little like a dry but buttery cookie I think. I like that bit. I just feel overwhelmed with the cassia of it all at the moment. Perchance this one will age beautifully though, and meld well. It could very well. I am not quite ready to rate it with a number yet. I will wear it a few more times and edit. I do think I won't need an extra bottle though, thank goodness. (Unlike Closet, which I totally adore.) Edited upon pondering: I find that the cassia fades eventually to a more reasonable level, and that the later drydown of dry-buttery-biscuityness is quite nice. It keeps smelling crunchy to me, isn't that weird? It does take a while to mellow though- about an hour or so, longer than most blends that need mellowing/drying time. It is extremely strong I must say- stronger by far than Closet, and it lasts amazingly well. EDIT: Actually the cassia grew to annoy me. I can't stand that note, I can't wait it out long enough to get to the buttery undertone. I realized it smells to me like a Beaver Moon variation gone bad. (Indeed, I now realize that the "cheesecake crust" scent in Beaver is a friendly amount of cassia.) Instead, I will use my Beaver Moon joyously, and get rid of this one. I'll call it a 2.5 out of 5, for the yummy undertone killed by the evil cassia attack. And yes. Cassia irritates my skin, which explains why Beaver Moon gives me the itchy scratchies too. (A lot of BPAL actually irritates my skin, so I wasn't surprised at all that this did. Unless I moisturize constantly, my wrists usually have a few hives from BPAL use, and dry scaliness... yum, huh?)

Peony, plum blossom, water reeds and soft Asian woods. Hmm. Floral. And almost like a very wearable, unfunky rose, oddly enough. I get a hint of the asian blend edge to this but mostly the peony-ness of it all overwhelms all else. Now, it is nice, but it is so pink and straight-up-floral that I'm not absolutely overwhelmed with love. I like it though, don't get me wrong. However it's kind of the "nice" that I've found most of this year's moons to be on me. OK, but not what I grab much. I have a feeling Peony will be sitting quietly undisturbed for long periods of time, keeping Budding, Holiday and Sleepy moons company. I should just harvest them. (But a part of me keeps thinking maybe, maybe they'll grow on me.) I'd give it a 3.5 out of 5. (You know what would make this blend fantastic? Lunar oils. The '05 lunar oils. They would balance the peony out for me, I just know it. The water reeds & asian woods simply don't have enough oomph to cut through the pinkfloralness of it all.)

I think my sistercousin might like this- she loves wood notes. It's definitely got a woody base, with a nice spicy throw. I like most of it, but there's one note in there that just doesn't do it for me. Not sure what... saffron maybe? (Hope not, doesn't bode well for Teh Underpants!) Maybe it's just the wood mix smells kind of overly masculine. This is one where the throw smells different than the up-close-nose-to-wrist scent. It throws spicy, but smells mostly woody up close. Overall interesting but not me (thank goodness! I fell for so many of this new release of GC scents it was gonna be uuuugly.) 3 out of 5.

Yemaya is remarkably lovely. Fee won me over to melon scents, and this is definitely a sister scent to Fee. I happen to like Fee a bit more but Yemaya is lovely too. She is more candied smelling, a bit more cantaloupe-y as opposed to straight honeydew, though there's a bit of that too. Don't get grapes. Or moss. But yum! I'm now officially converted to fruit scents. I'm going to get a bottle of Yemaya for sure. I think Beth outdid herself with this series of the GC ones. 5 out of 5.

This is so, so faint on my skin- even with my nose plastered against a freshly applied patch of this wet, it's barely there. Sadly. I like what I can smell, but mostly it's nothing-scented, and as it dries it disappears even more. I get a hint of something fresh and soft, maybe a bit of apple? Maybe something aquatic? But mostly my wrist, and nothing more. Sniffle. The wee bit I can smell reminds me a tiny bit of Juke Joint, which I adore. No 5mL for me. If this were a little stronger scented I'd love it, but for now it gets a 2.5 out of 5 for being way too faint. I had this experience with Sudha Segara too, unfortunately. I guess it just soaks into my skin or something.

Another nice honey based BPAL blend. The honey is less aggressive than in some, and the green herbiness is a nice backdrop- a different feeling than resiny honey blends. Fresher, less cloying. Probably more user-friendly than some of the honey BPALs. I suspect this one may work on some people who thought they were completely anti-honey. (Or not, hard to say!) Though I admit I'm a fan of them, with probably the single exception I can think of being Honey Moon. This is what I wished Honey Moon smelled like. Now, I probably don't need a 5mL right away. Eventually, probably. But I loved so many of the new GC imps I've tried, this one has some stiff competition in the what-to-order-next department. So nice, very nice, but not true love (yet). A very wearable 4.5 out of 5.

Holy CRAP. This is so amazingly beautiful on drydown. It goes all creamy on me! Woohoo! I love. Truly love. Wet, its all floral and sharp. First, the sharpness goes away, within about three to five minutes. Then this beautiful, soft floral arises. And then as it dries longer, maybe 20 minutes or so, this astonishingly lovely creamy scent creeps out. The initial floral phase (about 5 minutes into drydown) before it gets really creamy where it reminds me a lot of the unreleased Toxin, which I also adore. But then it goes on beyond Toxin's prettiness, and becomes even nicer. Wow. So VERY glad I went with a gut instinct and got a bottle unsniffed. I'd be whining if I had to wait for a bottle of this and Obatala, which I also fell way hard for. I am so incredibly glad this is a general catalogue scent. I have really, really liked this latest update of GCs that came out with Peony Moon, and am thrilled to be able to take my time testing and ordering. And not having to buy a bunch all at once. For me 5 out of 5. Edited to add: Yep, even after the excitement of the newness has worn off, I still am wearing this a decent amount. It's not quite a top ten, so it's usually about a once-a-week wear, but I truly enjoy it. As it gets warmer this may come out to play quite a bit more. I do think this has something in common with Ides of March- they both start sharp and go creamy on me, and though I adore Ides, Sundew is not *quite* as amazing... still awesome though.

This is a beautiful floral. I am glad I bought a 5mL unsniffed (I admit to a poppy obsession- I even have a poppy tattoo- so I had to have it!) Just as I suspected, it is the note I like in Sleepy Moon. It's less... muddled than Sleepy Moon, and is definitely a note I've liked in other blends. It's not too sweet, not really bitter, kind of refreshing smelling for a flower. Definitely not a heavy, overblown floral. I like it more than Sleepy Moon- the lavender and other things in there don't blow me away- and I'll be grabbing this instead. I don't really find it sleep-inducing or whatever. But then, I'm always up for a catnap, so would I even notice the difference? Doubtful. (I'm definitely not an insomniac! More of a narcoleptic.) I should test it on that spastic, insomniac husband I've got. He would be able to tell if it helped him sleep. As I've noticed before, Beth's "poppy" and "opium" scents are more like... archetypes or something, than an actual replication of the smell of either. This is a GOOD THING. Poppies, and all the derivatives (from opium to morphine and all the rest), smell and taste bitter, bitter, bitter (um, *cough* so a little elf told me, I'm sure I wouldn't know from personal experience! ). The plant itself smells very bitter and pungently green (you'd be surprised how many random papaver somniferum gardens one runs across). The lovely smokey floral impression that Beth creates, thank god, is nothing like that. It's more like it encompasses what poppies and opium ought to smell like, rather than like bitter ass. I also think it's cool to see a new label for GCs! I got Sundew in a bottle too, and it has the same cute Rappaccini's Garden label. (Macha's doing? If so thank you!) For me, a 4.5 out of 5.

This is so amazingly much like Milk Moon. It has a dab of coconut added, and some lighter background, but the effect is so very similar. I can't believe the loveliness of this! I'm a nut for Milk Moon, and to find a scent that is so very, very like it that is GENERAL CATALOGUE makes me sooo happy. Dare I say I almost enjoy Obatala more? The lighter, less just-cream notes in Obatala make it more versatile. While I love Milk Moon, I don't like wearing it to work- I feel self concious in it for some reason... wearing Obatala I don't feel that way. Yeah. A gallon, now, please. OK. I admit it. I do like this more than Milk Moon. It just smells a little more yummy. I would definitely recommend to people who got a sour undertone out of Milk Moon to try this. It is quite like it but the sour note is not present (I can smell it in the bottle of Milk Moon, but it disappears on my skin luckily). Hot damn, this is a 6 or 7 out of 5. That's how much it blows me away, and how thrilled I am that, let me say it again, it's general effing catalogue. Halleluja and thank you Beth. Also, I've gotten tons of compliments on this one. Lots of people get the coconut out of it, but it's not the first note I notice. I tore through my imp like whoa, and now I'm praying for the swift arrival of my Dragon Moon order, which included a 10 mL of this. In fact out of all the goodies in that order (I showed no self restraint!) it's the Obatala I'm dying for.

Mmmm. Monster bait! I love Closet. It smells like creamy buttery frosting with a blackberry on top. The blackberry is the perfect amount- not a ton, just tart enough, quite a lovely foil to the sweet. The buttercream is actually not an overwhelming smell. It is light and fluffy on my skin, not cloyingly sweet. So far I haven't gotten any hints of chocolate. I noticed it smelled better dry- the notes melded better, the blackberry settled down to be definitely blackberry- at first it was an unidentified tart scent, and then it morphed into the perfect hint of blackberry. I must admit I'm not a massive fruit fan, but this one definitely is great. This lasts major long on me. It lingers, and lingers, and lingers- I'd say it lasts around 6-8 hours, which is great on my skin. In the latter hours my skin chemistry brings out this fascinating scent that I can't even begin to describe- it's delicious though, and is definitely different than the beginning aromas. This is becoming one of the ones I reach for constantly, a signature scent of sorts, though I'm far to schizophrenic wiht perfume to really have one. For me it's a 5 out of 5. (I am a foody-scent nut!) This has become one of the scents I reach for constantly. I just don't get tired of it- instead, it's grown on me. It's amazing. I admit to a need to hoard this. I ordered some backup, for sure- which honestly I will use, as I've used a half bottle already (eep! and I thought I was trying not to slather!) I hate to be at the mercy of eBay to get extra when I waffle and don't get it when it's available... I so much prefer to contribute to Beth, too! Edit: I realize that this changes as it ages... though I guess a few weeks of "age" is more just the scents settling in and melding properly. The cake and buttercream deepens, becomes way more gooey and prominent. The blackberry receeds, and becomes more of a hint than a whallop. I noticed the difference between a decant and my lab-fresh bottle immediately- the imp was much cakier, and my bottle was a lot more berry. Then as the weeks passed, they became identical; my bottle got much cakier too. Which is how I prefer it.

It surprises me that this is one that seems kinda neglected from the Carnaval Noir run... I could be wrong, but I think Snake Charmer and Midway get all the lurve and Freak Show deserves more than it gets. This is one hell of a wonderful scent. It is unique- I haven't ever run across anything like it. The dry cocoa is wonderful, it has that gorgeous vanilla musk to sweeten it. Those two are the most prominent notes by far. The lemon, which sounds like it shouldn't go well at all, is a beautiful balancer. Then there's the figgy goodness and hint o' pomegranate in there too... whoever but Beth would have thought those notes would be beautiful together? Anyway, I am glad I have a few bottles. This one also seems to hit it's stride around a year of age. It deepens and lasts much longer on skin. I have so many bottles of BPAL I adore, I sometimes forget how wonderful this blend is. But everytime I break it out it makes me smile with how yummy it is. If you like foody scents definitely don't pass up a chance to try this one. It may have a lot of fruity and floral elements in it, but on my skin it is mostly a vanilla cocoa with fig thing. Very complex indeed, smooth and has decent throw. 5 out of 5.

A snarling, feral scent, ever-so-slightly deranged: hot leather, opoponax, cedar, pine needle, mosses, dry grass, patchouli and cinnamon bark. I'm trying to review the CN scents that I've failed to for the resurrection. Geek is just not me. Leather, first of all, overpowers all on me. Geek is just about 99% leather and this weird medicinal edge on me. It also smells a little smokey. Anyway, no Geek for me this time around. It might smell OK on my guy, but I still don't know if I'd like it much. For me, a 2 out of 5.

Now, why did I sell this again? Oh, because... I psychically knew Beth would resurrect it, right? Well, no. Frankly I'm not sure why. I broke out my imp of it today while trying to decide what I neeeeeded, and I was shocked at now much I liked this. I remember finding it really bland. No, it's actually a gorgeous light silvery blend. It's not very ambery an any way- and I vaguely recall being quite disappointed with that- but it has that sort of brilliant, bright scent which actually is very like a mirror. It stays close to the skin, but it is quite lovely. It reminds me some of Evening Star. Both I wouldn't hesitate to wear in any situation, nobody would find them offensive. So glad to be able to replace this during the resurrection of the CNs. And I hope my last bottle found a good home! 4.5 out of 5.

I decided to re-try my imp of this now that it's revisiting us. I like it more than I remember. I too definitely get dragon's blood resin primarily, with an interesting smoky background aroma. It could definitely be a men's scent, but I wouldn't feel out of place wearing it. It does dissipate FAST though. I might not get a bottle this time around, just because I don't know if I'd use it, and those that require reapplying every 1/2 hour annoy me. I'd call it a 3.5 out of 5.