Effluvia

In the vial: Shirley Temples, as my friend observed. I'll definitely have to second that. That would be the almonds, I assume. Wet, on my skin: Yeah, Orangina! Orangina and nummy spices. Mmm. Some kind of spiced orange cake...very foody. It's so exotic and intriguing...I do smell the rose after a bit, which makes me very happy. I think I smell the sandalwood and cloves, too...Oooooh, I think I'm in love with this!! Dry, on my skin: This is very lovely, but it fades on me almost instantly. I may order a bigger bottle so I can slather it on, because I REALLY like it A LOT when it's wet. (sigh...)

Burial or Black Forest (I've yet to try Zombi).

Pele, Lolita and Fae are my favorite hot weather scents thus far.

Thanks, you guys! I LOVE the Caterpillar, I'l definitely check out Despair and Zombie and Ulalume are on my imps-to-order-next list...lol I promised myself I wouldn't place any more orders until my OTHER THREE get here, though...

in the bottle: Liquid fine chocolate with a hazelnutty edge. Mmmmm...this will be a godsend when I'm PMSing... on my skin: This has turned into Dulce de Leche ice cream on my skin. Now I'm REALLY hungry... Then it turns quickly into the most lucious cocoa/hazelnut powder...I'm WAYYY too tempted to lick my wrist...lol I'm SO happy I have a big bottle of this!! I can't wait to try this in the difuser!!

in the vial: Mmmm, a real beach scent!! I smell a lovely, swirly gingery floral in the background, too. wet, on my skin: Ooh! This is no ORDINARY beach scent (and, really, how could it be?), this is Akira Kurosawa's BEACH SCENT. This is a brilliant, surrealist beach scent with breathtaking cinematography. I totally feel the goddess vibe! dry, on my skin: Very subtle golden beachy, ginger-y, floral-ness. Sigh. I've already ordered a big bottle of this.

in the vial: Ooh! Vibrant, lovely peach and some kind of green mossiness, with some lovely floral note in the background. Juicy AND earthy AND a little floral is definitely a perfect combination for a springy-summery oil for me. wet, on the skin: This definitely invokes images of little, glowing peach-colored fairies in the woods. Actually, this is what Dead Can Dance's Aion cover would smell like!! dry, on my skin: I smell soft earthy sweetness (yummy!!). This lasts a lot longer than I thought it would. Huzzah! Yup, another 5ml purchase for me...!!

in the vial: OH YES! I'm obsessed with earth-y/rose-y scents (it's a Taurus thing, I suppose), so this is just totally perfect for me. wet, on my skin: Wooow...as usual, totally authentic smelling...this is just fresh and mellow and haunting and perfect. dry, on my skin: This is how I wish I smelled after a long walk in the woods in Autumn. Nothing smells synthetic in the least. Big bottle for me!

in the vial: Some kind of lime vodka drink. This reminds me of a mojito. wet, on my skin: This is totally the embodiment of "venom"...This chick is very pale and has white blonde hair and has a weird sadomasochistic relationship with Draco Malfoy. This is totally Slytherin, but feminine and kind of sexually malicious...bitchy. Definitely cold-blooded. I like this a LOT, but it's not warm enough for me...I think I'll wear this when I'm playing someone else for a day. Someone far more icy and wicked than I. dry, on my skin: lime and some other VERY familiar spicy smell I can't quite put my finger on. I'm pretty sure it's the jasmine. This scent makes me feel so bad-ass dominatrix all of a sudden! Not in the usual Loviatar way, though, this makes me think of a sex scene in an Ayn Rand novel. Update: That's it, this is going on the big bottle list FOR SURE.

in the bottle: Grape children's medicine. Hmmm... wet, on my skin: Holy frijoles, that's sweet! Ooh, but I smell a bit of my beloved clove peeking through...I definitely smell the wine and the mimosa, too... dry, on my skin: Red wine and clove cigarettes. Two of my favorite things, hooray!! Oh my GOD. I just read that someone said this has a urine-y smell. Damn you. Damn your black heart. All I smell dried pee now...NOO! Wait, invisioning the wine and the cloves again...ah, there we go, it's all good now. I'll be wearing this with black velvet...but if someone asks me if I had an accident, I'm gonna be REALLY pissed off... (oops, SO no pun intented LOL) Bottom line, though, it's a wonderful oil. This smells like how port tastes. If that concept catches your fancy, you NEED this.

In the bottle: Satanic maple syrup. Um... Wet, on my skin: Ooh! How darkly sexual. This is Loviatar's twin sister who's exactly like her in every way except she doesn't dig the leather scene quite as much. She prefers latex. She dyes her hair red and wears crimson velvet dresses and shiny black boots. You really have to have a certain type of personality to wear this. I'll try and live up to it as best as I can... Dry, on my skin: Wooow, this one LASTS. It's spicy and rosey and warm (in a very sinister way) and has incredible depth. You can tumble deeper and deeper into this one and still discover more notes. Brilliant.

Whoa. This is a Joel Peter Witkin rose. I think that's a pretty all-encompassing statement. For those of you out there who don't dig rose scents, don't worry, because Beth's rose scents are not the rose scents you know. None of the powdery ickyness of mainstream rose scents can be found here. It's all smooth and velvety and real; what you always wished rose scents would smell like. This particular rose is dark, evil, mysterious and shockingly beautiful. It smells glorious, and it DEMANDS you break out your Sisters vinyls and dance around like an evil hippie. This is definitely a keeper...definitely a 5ml for me!

In the bottle: Ooh, this is pure honey with the amber and vanilla deliciously blended in there...ooh, tasty---wait, what's this? Something smells suspicious. Not bad, just suspicious, like there's something hiding in there amongst all that innocent sweetness. Wet, on my skin: There it is. I smell sweaty sex in there and it's a little bit too realistic and it's creeping me out a bit. I'm intrigued, and I'm still going to wear this a lot, but that extra little scent in there is definitely a little unnerving at first. It's like there are people having sex in the bottle when I'm not looking and tainting the perfectly innocent scent. Then again, I think that was the whole idea... Dry: Much more subtle, but tiny traces of all of the scents involved are still intact. Wow. Crazy. Beth, how on EARTH do you do these things?? The little creature that lives in Jareth the Goblin King's pants must creep into your lab late at night and slip you secret otherworldly ingredients from the Labyrinth....

In the bottle: This is a Christmas cookie with emotional problems. I don't mean that it smells foody, though. It's luscious and spicy and extremely warm and inviting, yet has a troubled edge to it that says that this could NEVER be a mainstream perfume. It's far too special. Wet, on my skin: This is utterly delicious. I'm a big fan of musk, and this is the perfect musk scent because it's so well balanced with warmth and sweetness. If it didn't turn powdery, this would be an utterly perfect scent. It doesn't go powdery in an unattractive way on me for quite a while, so I still get this divine warm, delicious spiciness that does indeed have a "haunting" quality about it for a long time. Dry: Powdery, which I don't like, but if I reapply when it gets to this stage, I'm cool.

In the bottle: Ooohhh, no thank you. This is not good times...that's a grape lollipop that eats puppies. There's something VERY wrong about this one. Wet, on my skin: Once again, my miraculous body chemistry has regained power. This is obscenely delicious on my skin. It's glittering greens (chartreuse and olive, mostly) and glittering violets, all on a black background. This is dark, hedonistic evil. This is early Bauhaus concerts. This is everything attractive about evil. This girl buys ridiculous expensive, custom made goth finery and grew up with David Bowie posters on her wall. This is *SO* how I'd imagine Black Widow to be. Beth is frightening me with her genius. Dry: This one has amazing staying power. It dries to a slightly subtler version of what I just described. Good GOD, this is delicious.

In the bottle: Cherry/almondy soda. Getting a little afraid...this smells WAY too sweet... Wet on my skin: Whoa...I am blessed with some seriously miraculous body chemistry. All of the oils, even if they smell a bit wonky in the bottle, all end up smelling luscious on me. This is no exception. The sickening sweetness goes away immidiately and leaves a sexy-as-hell rose/subtle black cherry spiciness on me. This is a definite night time scent, unless it's one of those "I'm a sexy bitch" days. This really fits the site description. Meeeooow. Dry: This has crazy staying power. It still smells like rose, very, very subtle black cherry and luscious Snake Oil-esque spiciness. Ugh.

UGH. I am in total lust with this scent...I just bought a big bottle of it. It's crimson velvet with gold leaf...it's sensual and sweet, but in the most divine black cherry way. This is totally delicious; I want to bathe in it. PS, this ridiculously hot Peter Murphy clone came up to me last night at a party and said I smelled, "soooooo good". I'll beat myself up that I was too much in awe to flirt like crazy BACK...lol... I will now start camaigning for giant gallon-sized bottles... ADDED July 15: in the vial: Some kind of fruity candy I can't place... wet, on my skin: This doesn't smell "bloody" or "vampiric" to me, it smells like a sweet, bright, juicy, cherry flavored (but in a subtle way) red rose. This smells like Black Rose went on Prozac and traded in her Witkin books for some Chagal. Still very brilliant and creative and artistic, but slightly brighter and warmer. It's exquisite and very comfortable on me, like I've been wearing it all along. I've adored every single BPAL rose scent I've tried, and this one's no exeption. dry, on my skin: All I'm getting now is a red rose DRENCHED in wine (it's not boozy, though). Oh, HELL yes. There will definitely be a 5ml in my future. (Jesus H. Christ, I have, like, 500 big bottles to buy!!! )

When I first smelled Loviatar, I instantly fell in love. I was reminded of my old leather jacket, worn and smelling of patchouli oil. It's also a very erotic scent, and it instantly boosted my confidence. I applied some to my pulse points and went to class, expecting some positive feedback. My professer walked into the room and said, "Does anyone else smell baby powder?", and my spirit dropped a bit. Then I thought, well, he's probably not talking about me; the scent I'm wearing is supposed to be the manifestation of female sadomasochistic lust, not bloody baby powder!! Unfortunately, I went up to him to ask him a question about something, and he said, "Oh, YOU'RE the one who smells!" and I literally crawled under the table. Maybe I applied a bit too much, we'll see...but I think I'll just switch back to Snake Oil for a bit; that one's fool proof... afterthought: I take it all back, this really *is* the manifestation of female sadomasochistic lust. (tee hee) I've had a lot of luck with this oil lately , and for some reason the baby powder isn't nearly as prominent anymore...maybe because I started using less or my nose just adjusted...either way, I'm very, very, very happy with this scent now.