LittleGreyKitten

Wow, this is *strong* on me. Uh. Smells like a sauna indeed, yeah. Spot on. Strong woody sandalwood is the major note, though I can smell the patchouli and frankincense too, but mad sandalwood, basically. Too much for my taste, sadly. Not so much me. For me, 2 out of 5. Will probably pass on to my cousin-sister, recently enabled, who likes sandalwood very much especially, and the woodier the better.

Wow, I'm an idiot. This is one I kept sniffing in the imp, thinking "Ick" and never actually applying. I thought I had, but after actually testing the imp that had been languishing in the box for MONTHS, I realize I hadn't actually skin tested. Stoooopid. Anyway, this is amazing on skin. It reminds me a lot of Dragon's Milk- very sweet, very dragon's blood, very yummy. Muskier and a little less sweet than the Milk, it's delicious all by itself. I love! The lunar oils are not too strong in this, the blood is by far more potent. The musk is beautiful in this one. For me, 4 out of 5.

I like this more than Samhain, which I'm not a fan of too much, but less than Harvest Moon, which I love. This is definitely a deep, autumn scent, with a musky/dark tone to it that kind of takes me aback initially. Upon drydown though, I like it a lot more. The feral, dark notes seem to back away, leaving more sweet loveliness to come out. It's good, but of all the moons, not a giant fave... it has some stiff competition. Still, I like it more than I expected to, that's for sure. For me, 3.5 out of 5.

This is one I hadn't been wearing much, just sniffing my imp every so often but not really engaging with it. I should know better. Skin is the only way to determine if something works or not... so. I finally applied it, and I actually do like it more than I guessed I would. It's got potent ozone base, of course, but the lunar oils balance this out well for me. It becomes a clean, sweet, rainy scent on me. Very nice. I wear it less than some lunar oils that I'm head-over-heels for (Milk Moon, Chaste Moon) but it's still one I like a lot. For me 4 out of 5.

Wet, this reminds me a lot of Storm Moon. Same huge hit of ozone. There's more sweetness in Thunderbird though, something... fruity, I think. I don't smell any pine on my skin, just a sweeter, fruitier version of Storm Moon. Upon initial drydown, say 10 minutes, the ozone of Thunderbird backs off somewhat. It still smells similar to Storm Moon- I'd say around 80% alike, to my nose, but the ozone definitely burns off more in Thunderbird than Storm at this stage. The remaining scent is primarily a light, sweet smell to me, a bit fruity, but a little white-floral too. Later drydown, 30 minutes onward, they become more alike again. Sweet with a hint of ozone for both, with Thunderbird a hair sweeter. I think it also has some qualities that relate it to Neo-Tokyo too. Thunderbird is sweeter and less complex, but the sweet+ozone thing is definitely present in both. All in all, this is a nice blend, but it isn't an OMGMUST HAVE MORE NOW thing. It's just pleasant, and fairly wearable. One of the less aggressive ozone based blends, girly enough for most of us I think, rather then the masculine cologne variety of ozone. For me this is a 3.5 out of 5 blend.

Here are some Naughty/Nice observations I've made: While this might be an enormous DUH, Bliss and Lump of Coal are mind-bogglingly alike. Lumpy is a bit lighter and sweeter, and Bliss is more true-chocolate, but unless I have them both on at the same time, I can't tell the difference. And I truly adore both of them. I must admit my skin does something Different with these two: they both turn into this amazing, sweet-but-not-chocolate-or-even-food scent on me, so your mileage may vary. Also, Snowblind is a heck of a lot like Lick It layered over Milk Moon. Yeah, they're LEs, but still, you could probably buy both for the price of one Snowblind! I also think Trick or Treat is quite like Mitzvah. Mitzvah is sweeter, but they smell about 90% alike to my nose; if you layered Trick over something sweeter like maybe Midway or something, you could probably get even closer. See, I don't get any cream out of Mitzvah, just sugar and something vaguely caramel, so yeah, candy/caramel corn is really close. Again, it's an LE but I've found Trick or Treat often sells for around $15 still, and it's not that hard to locate. (I haven't found anything at all like Fee, unfortunately!) See edit at bottom: Yemaya is a lot like it. Others: I found Tarot: The Sun to be an almost dead ringer for The Haunted Palace- not 100% exact but quite similar. As everyone else has mentioned, Dublin is a twin for Skadi. I also found Snow Moon to be a heck of a lot like it too, but a it (Snow Moon) is sweeter. And Snow Bunny. They all four are subtly different but so darn close that I simply can't tell the difference unless they're literally side by side on different body parts. I found Ice Queen to be very, very similar to Nuclear Winter; in fact I like Nuclear Winter best. It's a bit sweeter, more complex, and a bit mintier, and all-around more user-friendly IMHO (I think it would have gotten more love with a more dramatic name, frankly- I think it's kind of under-rated, due to nobody really getting all that excited over smelling like a nuclear accident... Ice Queen just sounds cooler!) Ice Queen was more stark and mostly Beth's patented Icy Note without much leavening. I also thought Talvikuu was related, but with more fir tree than Ice Queen had, and a bit more masculine. (Personally, I think the '05 icy scented Yules were blended a wee bit better than the '04s, like Beth had perfected the mixes or something.) Personally, I find Snake Oil and Snake Charmer to be a bit similar- while Snake Charmer is better, more slinky and well blended, they're like fraternal twins to me. Pink Phoenix and Pink Moon are almost indistinguishable to me. Granted, they're both LEs, but I wouldn't have gotten both if I'd known how darn close they are. I found Neo-Tokyo a bit like Storm Moon to me, though not identical. The ozone was very potent in both, I think my skin amps it a lot. I liked them both, with Neo-Tokyo being more complex and not just straight ozone- I liked Neo-Tokyo best. There might be others I've noticed that I'll have to post later, these are the only ones coming to me immediately. I was really interested to hear that more than one person felt Frost Moon was a lot like Blue Moon; I have Frost, maybe I can stop snivelling that Blue is so far out of reach. EDITED TO ADD: While it's been mentioned several times in the Obatala thread, it's not been said here, so I'll add that Obatala is whole lot like Milk Moon but less heavy. Its beautiful. I like it as much as Milk Moon, which is one of my very favorite scents. The water note lightens it up a bit, in a lovely way. It's just different enough that I would recommend it even if you own Milk Moon. Or if you didn't like Milk Moon, because it went sour on you, try Obatala- it doesn't have that sour undertone at all, but is nevertheless about 80%-90% similar I'd say. Also Yemaya is a lot like Fee- just a bit brighter/fruitier. Same melon note though. I must admit I like Fee more, it just has a slightly less sticky scent to me. I'd call them maybe 75% alike, and it's not a bad way to get a much cheaper honeydew melon fix. Sundew is a lot like a mix of the unreleased Toxin and Zero to me- it's got the bright freshness of Toxin (which I love) but the floral base that Zero has. I would say it's most like Toxin, about 75% like it.

*Sigh*. Lavender is not my friend (unless it's in Ides of March)! It is almost acceptable in this blend but yet, not. Too sharp, too... lavender. The other notes are nice- soft florals, no evil rose, but the lavender trumps all and must get off my arm now. Sorry Ode! I loved your name but didn't care for your lavender-y essence. For me, 2.5 out of 5. Not horrible, certainly not stomach turning, but not for me.

Loviatar is mostly leather to me. It's like a black motorcycle jacket, with a delectable sweetness behind the leather. The amber and musk are great in this, and the myrrh adds a hint of incensy goodness to it. I do wish the leather would back off a wee bit; it's just too overwhelming to the other notes for me to absolutely swoon over it. I may eat my words though- I'll keep playing with it, and BPAL has been known to absolutely change my mind completely over notes I thought I hated. At the moment though it's a 3.8 out of 5.

Holy crap, how did I overlook this??? I'd somehow put this into the "tried and meh" pile of imps- somehow methinks I actually didn't try. Because if I did, my nose must have been busted to not fall head over heels for this. My imp is aged I think- it seems like it anyway, it has the honey-thick droolicious yumminess of a perfectly aged Snake Oil. There is some aspect of this that makes me want to put in into the Snake Oil family, possibly the same spicy vanilla perhaps. It's by no means identical or even that similar, it just has a note that relates them strongly in my mind. There's a heady, delectable spicy aroma that I feel is almost swirling around my body. It's major strong and it makes me want to nuzzle it. The honey is, as it always is on my skin, amazing; however instead of being mostly honey, like most BPAL blends with lots of honey, this one has plenty of components that stand up to the potent honey note. Vanilla, yes. Poppy, I'm pretty sure, is one of the spicy sweet components in there, but it's not remotely floral. No cherries, yay! Clove is noticeable but good- I was not sure how I'd feel about clove. It's nice though, it adds a good dimension to this. Vetiver is speaking up in this one, it has a lovely woody base note going on. The interesting thing about this scent is that it smells siginificantly different from a distance- I absolutely am entranced with the smell it throws from my wrists at a distance, and I do love the nose-plastered-to-wrist scent too. It's a strong scent on me- one I'd feel uncomfortable wearing a lot of at work- but it is so damn good I might and just say screw it to anyone who was annoyed. It lasts well, as well as anything does, on par with Snake Oil/Charmer etc. This will be a full bottle; ASAP too, so I can age it! For me this is a full on 5 out of 5. I've really been having spectacular luck with the catalogue scents I've tried over the last couple of days. There've been some amazing ones I've just found.

I like most of the notes in this but not all. It's a little fruity for my taste, but it is evil fruit at least! Dark, poisonous, blood red berries is the fruit scent I get. The opium is in there- it's a deep veil hazing the whole scent. The roses, gardenia and lilac are being pretty quiet on me. This is like 90% evil fruit and 10% spicy smokey opium. Good stuff. Will definitely keep the imp and play with it; so far I've not grown to love the fruit enough to need a bottle though. It doesn't morph much, and it's got some serious throw. For me, 3.5 out of 5.

Well, this might be Nice but I feel pretty naughty for having splurged on a bottle I did a little experiment the other day that lead me away from buying imps of expensive scents- I filled an empty BPAL 5 mL with water and dumped it into a graduated cylinder. Guess what? 8 mL, filled the way the lab does, up to the shoulder. Which explains why 5 imps fill a bottle to the not-quite-two-thirds mark. So this little experiment of mine allowed me to talk myself into getting a bottle of this rather than paying for an imp. How do you like that logic? All rambling aside, boy is this HONEYDEW. Bursting ripe honeydew, with the juices running down your arm, with is gorgeous creamy sweet undertone that makes it just... sinfully good. Then, after the honeydew burns off- rather quickly, about 15 minutes like I said- I'm left with this amazing, subtle sweet, creamy scent that is slightly lychee fruit, a hint of tea, very vanilla and all delicious. I do wish it were a bit stronger at this stage; this is not a long-lasting oil on me, it does go fast. I feel like this would be one I'll love if we get any really hot weather this summer- I would love wear some Fee, lounge on my deck in the sun in my favorite black lace sundress, and drink some white wine sangria. It is very refreshing smelling to me. This one really, really grew on me. Initially I had thought I might swap this, but no way. This is the melon scent that converted me! I usually hate fruit but this is just too beautiful. The amalgam of aromas in this is just wholly amazing, and absolutely unique. I did get complimented on it while it was being strongly honeydew. I see why it's so coveted. For me, 5 out of 5.

Dear lord. I've been totally blown away by the loveliness of the last, oh... 5 GC imps I've tried. Evil, evil! I didn't need to covet yet more BPAL. Anyway, about Hollywood Babylon... oooh! This is hot stuff. It's intensely sexy. The red musk is yummy, and the most pronounced note on me. The vanilla and a hint of strawberry swirl around over the musk, making an interesting contrast, an innocent touch to an extremely sexy scent. I don't smell the cherry, thank god. Heliotrope is perhaps adding a sweet touch to it, but I've hated some blends with heliotrope, so I'm glad it is good in this. I definitely need a bottle of this. Five out of five.

The Ides were one I put off trying for quite a while, languishing in my imp pile untested. Then I tried it today, in the midst of weeding out the extraneous imps. Damn, it is amazing! I admit I had low expectations, but wow. I'm not sure what smells so good in this scent- it's crisp yet it has an almost creamy undertone to it, and it is quite delicate and feminine. It smells different from about a foot away (and further) than with my wrist plastered up against my nose; I noticed it, and so did a friend. She actually thought it smelled like Antique Lace from a distance, so she must have gotten a decent amount of creaminess out of it too. I don't really get floral, at least not as the major scent. It just smells different than anything else and quite delicious. Sigh, just what I needed: yet another LE to lust after! For me, 5 out of 5. EDIT: I feel I've failed to convey how amazing this scent is to me. I keep reaching for it over others. It seems like bottled summer moonlight to me, somehow. It's a night-flavored scent for some reason, at least to me- cool, and yet effervescent and translucent. Still no clue what the notes are but holy gods, it's just a beautiful mix of aromas. It is definitely high on my top-ten list. Too bad it didn't come back for this year's Ides! It smells the way you'd want Blue Moon to smell (I've never had the pleasure); like all your high expectations of BPAL rolled into one amazing, light, shimmery scent. Not at *all* masculine. Just fantastic. The longer it stays on me the better it gets, until it goes *poof* after about 4 or 5 hours. After realizing that this and Snake Charmer share benzoin as a common note, I suspect that's the "creamy". I think perhaps benzoin is one that does remarkably wonderful things on me.

Wow, I love this one. It is rather ephemeral; it only lasts maybe two hours or so. That's my only gripe. It has a beautiful frigid note, with a cool blast of mint. I can also detect the hint of eucalyptis, and the lunar oils beneath it all. I love the lunar oils in the colder scents very, very much. It is also rather sweet too, in a crisp, cold way. I do love it. It's very subtle too- it stays very close to my body, it doesn't waft out and bug people. For me, a 4.5 out of 5 because I do wish it lasted longer. I like Cold Moon a wee bit better but this is incredibly good too.

Wow, the last few GC imps I've tried that I got with my last order have just blown me away with how damn good they are. I must admit I'm kinda a LE snob, I usually just feel like I like the blends better. I find that I don't write that many GC reviews because, though I have bazillions of imps, I just find myself going "Eh. Smells OK. Doesn't blow me away." And then piling the imp in the ever growing swap pile. But I digress. La Petite Mort is OMFG sexy. It's like even sexier than O which I dearly love. It is this delicious slinky ylang ylang concoction that has depth, sweetness, and is just mmmmmmm yes good. Ylang ylang is very very right on me usually, and this is no exception. Dang Beth anyway for parting me so easily with my hard earned money! I will have to get this, Alice, Skuld, and Bliss with my next loony order. It's really the indefinable "damp skin" element in this that truly makes it- what is it? It's absolutely sinful smelling though. I feel like this would be the scent that would truly attract men who didn't even realize what it was they were drawn to, you know? It's that sexy. For me a huge raving 5 out of 5.

Berenice is nice, but I feel like she's playing hard to get. In the bottle, the scent smells like one that should blossom on the skin and just... do something more. Many BPAL florals do that on me; Berenice, though, smells identical to the bottle scent. I want to tell her, "Don't just sit there, DO something!" That being said, Berenice is a cool floral, not overwhelming or deadly sweet or anything, just a nice quiet scent with a bit of Beth's "linen" tossed in there for fun. I'm not really getting amber... oh! Maybe I am. You know what Berenice reminds me of? House of Mirrors. It's not identical or anything, but it's the same variety of bland, generic-perfumey scent. I'm not saying it's not pretty- I probably sound harsher on it than I mean to. I just expect a lot out of BPAL scents. I don't really get any Antique Lace of of this, but then, I don't smell linen in Antique Lace, just vanilla, and I do get linen out of Berenice. Berenice gets a 3.5 out of 5 for me. I'll want an imp but will probably trade my bottle.

The Heart and I didn't love each other; I found it to be weird, and not in a good way. It has no sweetness at all in the bottle. On skin, it gets sweeter as it dries. The cocoa is a prominent note, yet even as it sweetens you can tell the cocoa is dry and unsweet. I'm not sure how I feel about it yet. It might be too busy for me. It has a dusty scent too, which is interesting. I can definitely get the dragon's blood out of this too- probably what sweetens it a touch, and likely is the dusty note too. I simply all in all find it somewhat offputting. It keeps me at arms length, and when I smell it I just kind of feel like I wish I was smelling something, anything else. Slightly unpleasant would sum up my feelings I think. It may be the pepper I'm not digging, but truly I'm not sure. I like my chocolatey scents sweet, I think. For me a 2 out of 5.

I do believe Alice is a love or hate deal. I fell in LOVE! In the imp, I thought, eh, nothing special, kinda sweet and meh. Then on my skin, it blossomed. I am a true BPAL honey freak, and this one is major honey on me- almost as much as O. This could be O's little sister. The honey is backed by the roses mostly, with a tinge of spicy carnation thrown in and a teensy swirl of milk. Mostly BPAL's milk scent doesn't come through on my skin, though the cream aroma does very strongly. Alice is a beautiful very honeyed light floral on me. Amazing! Definitely need a full size. 5 out of 5.

Bah, this is one that did the exact opposite of growing on me- I grew sickened by it after a while, enough so I am rewriting my entire review. Luckily before I'd ordered a bottle. It was weird- I really loved it the first two times I wore it, and after that it was like it went immediately off on me. This is the first time I've experienced the honey antipathy that others have expressed- too strong, too sweet, too cloying. I usually do well with honey, with the major exception of Honey Moon, but this was too much sweetness for me. Maybe it's the combo of both honey and ylang ylang. Too much sweetness. For me, 2.5 out of 5.

Ah the Mad Monkey. The Mad Monkey is quite delicious. Smutty, yes, there's a relationship. The musk in the Monk is clearer, less sweet, and not boozy. I don't get the tropical fruit in this, just soft yummy musk. Enraged Orangutan Musk gets sweeter and more like Smut as it dries. However I like Smut more- it just has an indefinable Something More that is better on me. Therefore I'm not sure I'll need my bonus bottle, since I feel they're awfully similar but Smut is better on me. Anyway, it's a great blend and I get a huge kick out of the name. If I don't keep the second bottle I'll probably give it to my monkey obsessed sister who will probably die laughing over it. For me, 4.5 out of 5.

THIS IS MY REVIEW OF THE '05 SCENT: I must write a whole different review of this blend. I got the '06 one, and ended up swapping it because I felt that it was just not pleasing to me. I ended up getting the older one in a whole lot, and didn't think much of it, untill I tested it again. HOLY COW. It is that different. First, it has this divine chocolate aroma, which YUM the new one didn't have quite the same. Then when it dries, it leaves this soft, slightly creamy, a little tea-like scent. Wow, I like much better! I almost can't believe it's the same scent. I'm pretty sure it's not just aging that did this- I just think I like the blend better. It smells soft and delicious, no citrus in there ruining it and no fruitiness. Hell yeah. I will be getting a full size of the old one. 4.5 out of 5. Incidentally, the husband hates it, but I don't care. He can suffer.

Someday, someday I will learn that unless I have actually applied imp to skin, I cannot write off a scent as no good. Bliss was one I opened, smelled, and said "Eh, why would I want to smell like a Hershey's Kiss?" and tossed in a box. Then I got Lump of Coal to test. Lumpy made me swooooon. It didn't smell much like chocolate on me! It morphed into this amazing, unique, completely indescribably wonderful aroma that had a wee bit of brownie in it, but was mostly not foody. The boy didn't believe it was supposed to be a brownie scent at all- it smelled that different on me. Wish I could pinpoint what it turns into, but take my word for it: it's flippin' amazing. So I decided to break out the ignored, neglected Bliss, to see if I could find a cheaper clone. And yep. It is. It's a wee bit more true chocolate on me than Lumpy is, but then, I'd suddenly realized why indeed one would want to smell like chocolate bar. Actually, the chocolate aroma is more like semi-sweet Lindt chocolate, or something else very high quality. So Bliss is my baby. I can smear it happily all over me rather than stingily dabbing like with Lumpy, and hot damn it smells good. It certainly has the Wonderful Unidentifiable Aroma which makes Lumpy so great, but it also is a bit deeper and more true chocolate; I like them both, the lighter sweeter Lumpy and the darker Bliss. But really, the difference is so incredibly slight, unless I have them both on at the same time, I can't tell which one is which, that's how similar they are on my skin. Not a bad thing! Perchance I can avoid the need to sell a kidney on ebay to pay for Lump of Coal, thanks to Bliss. Will I get a full size? Hell yeah. The full moon cannot come fast enough for me. I need a 10 mL actually. Then I can bathe in it properly. Total 5 out of 5. I really love this blend, it is just as good as Lump of Coal and it's one I can't live without. I love wearing it to bed.

Sigh, looks like my review of this got eaten. Anyway, I lurve this. I didn't think I would at all- smelling of a brownie didn't appeal at all to me. Dunno why, but chocolate scents just didn't excite me whatsoever. So anyway, I ended up swapping for a half imp of this regardless. OH MY FLIPPING GOD. Lumpy is amazingly delicious. There's something absolutely indescribable about what this blend does when it hits my skin- yes, in the imp it's all brownie, but on the wrist it becomes Something Else. Something amazing. Something that's not even all that foody. Very sweet, and yes, a bit chocolatey, but holy cow whatever it is that is the primary scent is and . What is it? I can't even put into words what it smells like. So I decided to bust out my Bliss imp that I'd also never tried, simply sniffing it and thinking "Eh. Hershey's." And it does the same thing- not quite as much as Lumpy, it stays a little true-er, but it still has that drop-dead-delicious under aroma. Yeah. Off to sell my firstborn for more. At least Bliss is a good similar scent- it's just a little more chocolatey on my skin, and unless I have both Lumpy and Bliss on I can't tell the difference.

It is divine. I have to say I do like Milk Moon just a bit more, and Spooky, but oh MAN this is a close third. It's different from either of them, though. It is not like Lick It either (which I also love and hoard). Lick it is so strongly minty it actually burns when I apply it, and Lick It is like a piercingly sweet intense cold mint with some vanilla and spun sugar, but not creamy at all really. This instead has a gentle, cool but not icy mint note wafting lightly out from my wrist when it's wet. The mint lasts maybe 20 minutes on me, it's pretty fugitive, but that's OK. The whole scent is so beautiful, I don't mind that it changes as it evolves. Initially the creaminess beneath the mint is very like the Milk Moon thick cream scent; it's not milky or really vanilla, it's definitely thick, clotted cream, with that almost-too-intense scent that I love so much about Milk Moon. As it dries longer, it evolves to become more like Midway than Milk Moon or anything else. Sweet, creamy, amazing. Until BPAL I didn't know foody scents would amuse me as much as they do. This and Lump of Coal are like... wow. Yeah. So amazing they make me kind of inarticulate. My friend who also likes BPAL laughed at me snuggling the bottle of this today, and told me that I was definitely an addict. Observant girl! The only sad thing is that my dry skin eats this, and it only lasts maybe 2 or 3 hours max. Possibly the fact that I won't slather it affects that. 5 out of 5, and drat Beth anyway for making such devilishly delicious scents that are so hard to find.

Usher is amazing. It doesn't smell masculine on me at all. It does remind me some of Dorian- probably the same fougere base, and I can smell tea in both. Dorian is way sweeter and more vanilla, and Usher smells quite different, but there is a similar base to them, and those that love Dorian might want to try Usher. It's delicate, yet not floral at all. I totally don't smell mint, though I almost smell a citrus tone to this. It's very elegant smelling. For me, 4.5 out of 5.