filigree_shadow

This is a beautiful, calming scent. Myrrh brings frankincense's sweetness down to a very pleasant level. It smells very slightly floral -- but only if you're really looking for it. This is probably one of the few incense scents I would wear on my skin. BPAL has the only frankincense note in perfume oil that I've liked. Other companies' frankincense is too sweet or too dry on me. BPAL's is lovely.

This one was a little nose-crinkly for me. I like patchouli, but this is really woody and pungent. I kinda smell like band-aids. Saturnalia also smelled like band-aids on me, and they both have vetiver in them. I am really surprised about this because I always thought vetiver was my friend. Maybe it depends on the blend. Or maybe I'm totally wrong and it's the red patchouli that's smelling like ick. It does start to smell a bit better after 15-20 minutes, but there's no way I'll ever be able to stand walking around smelling like a 5-foot Curad. This one's going to swaps.

I put this on and said, "Mmmm!" and held my arm out to my hubby, who said, "Mmmm!" He said "Smells like rum!" as I was saying "Smells like coconuts!" It's not quite so Pina Colada after a few minutes, and the tobacco comes out. Sweet, silky, very tropical blend. We like this one.

I didn't like this at first -- it smelled just like pine. Don’t know why… pine isn't listed in the description. I can't smell the juniper berries, which smell like lemon on me, or the oakmoss (which is just fine with me). The hubby tried it on and we didn't really like it on him either. But after about 10 minutes it turned into patchouli and myrrh. Much nicer. This is the strongest myrrh I've smelled in a BPAL oil, and it's lovely. I think it's a little too masculine for me personally, but I like the scent a lot. Smells good on the hubby now too.

Also called Gallows Literature. A dime novel rife with melodrama, horror, madness and cruelty; a ten cent analogy of vice and virtue in conflict. Soft perfume evocative of noir heroines over rich red grave loam. There's a sort of honey sweetness to this one, but unfortunately there is also a strong dirt smell, which doesn't agree with me. I like the way it smells in the imp though, so I think I'll try it in a scent locket. ETA: Lab's description.

This is basically completely cassia on my skin. There is a slight cake undertone to it, but barely. I put it on before going to bed, read my book for an hour or so, continuing to check to see if anything peeks out from behind the cassia... nope. I got a snoot full of cassia every time I sniffed it. I don't smell any coconut. Strange that both of the Monster Baits I've tried have one overpoweringly amped note on my skin. This one is cassia, Closet was bourbon. Maybe I'll have better luck with Underpants.

I get mainly booze with a little bit of berry. And I mean strong booze. I put this on before going to bed last night and I can still smell the booze this morning. It reminds me of the booze note I got from Fortunato, but this time with a different fruit. This one is sweeter and more foody. It's slightly cakey, and the berry becomes stronger over time. Actually I could do with a little more berry, as I'm mostly getting something that smells like rumcake. But I like it, and it smells comforting to me. A great scent to wear to bed! p.s. Cat pee? Goodness! I'm glad I don't smell anything like that.

Thanatopsis was pretty far down on my "to try" list because of the pine and juniper, which are traditionally urgh for me. I put it on, sniffed, thought "eugh, pine," then went back to typing something. About 10 minutes later I started to wonder where that lovely scent was coming from. I traced it to the little swipe of Thanatopsis. So I swiped on a whole bunch more, and waited for the pine to go away again. Is anyone else getting red musk out of this? I swear the musk smells like red musk... and at one point I thought I faintly detected some leather. Very animalistic, and to be honest I don't mind the pine. It actually makes the whole thing seem slightly fresh, giving a pleasant respite from the feral undertone. I can see this being masculine, but I'm reluctant to hand over the imp to the hubby. I kinda want to keep it for myself.

Yes, they're on the Limited Edition page -- they're available until May 1. They're a bit pricier than the usual bottles, but I have them both and they are yummalicious. Well worth the money.

You've still got time to get the Monster Bait scents on the Lab's website! Those are great foody scents. Foody like pastries: Hellcat, Gluttony Pumpkin foody: Jack (if you like this one see if you can get a hold of some of the Pumpkin Patch scents through swaps/sales on the forum) Chocolate foody: Bliss, Vice, Velvet Fruity foody: Hunger, Hollywood Babylon, Akuma, Eris, Jester, Lolita, March Hare, Yemaya, Slightly foody but mostly yummy tea: Dorian There are lots more, especially several exceptionally good ones that were limited editions.

The pumpkin is creamy and wonderful and smooth, but the cocoa makes it a little bit bitter on my skin. I'm also getting a slight gingerbread scent. I mainly like the smooth butteriness of the pumpkin, so usually I wear some of the other PPs (especially #4 ).

This smells like a cross between sweet tarts and cough syrup... but I really don't care about that right now. I'm having one of those days where I suddenly start crying for no reason and can't stop, and I couldn't see very well driving my stupid car and I had to come home and just sit on the couch and bawl. Then I slathered ACJM on my wrists and hands. Since putting it on 10 minutes ago, my brow is a little less creased, and thankfully I have stopped bawling. Every time I catch a whiff of it I keep thinking "Beth made me some joy mojo... Beth made me some joy mojo..." It's helping.

Queen Gertrude reminds me of Libertine... and they have nothing in common except violet. I would be happier if my skin didn't amp the violets so much. I like the scent, but all of the ones with violets end up smelling about the same on me. This one is kind of a watery violet but there's a sharpness to it from the wisteria (luckily I was able to zero in on what wisteria smells like after trying Les Fleurs du Mal). A very purple scent. I like it, but unfortunately the hubby thinks anything with violets smells like old ladies. So I won't be able to keep this one.

This scent reminds me of my grandmother -- it seems like she used a powder that smelled like this. And that's a good thing, because my grandmother was a classic admired matriarch. There's something elegant about this scent to me. Refined. And a little untouchable -- it has a cool veneer rather than a warm heart. It's definitely powdery and floral, and I have to put my nose right next to my wrist to smell it. It smells clean to me, and just a little bit haughty. I like the scent but I'm having trouble picturing when I'd want to wear it. Maybe some day this summer when it's blisteringly hot I'll have another go of it.

Ace of Hearts smells almost entirely of rose on me. With a little bit of powder underneath. It does smell white -- the whitest rose I've smelled in any BPAL oil. And it's a little bit aquatic. Gets quite sweet after a while. It's a lovely scent, very feminine and soft. It doesn't have much throw at all, but as rose scents tend to overpower on my skin, I'm happy with the throw. Do you know what's interesting? I'm starting to like rose. Egad! Me, liking rose. Insanity. About a month ago I started noticing that Beth's roses were starting to win me over, despite my dislike of the scent. But they're just so beautiful.

I was worried about the grapefruit in this, but perhaps the citrus has degraded a bit by now... I can't really smell much grapefruit. Which is perfectly fine with me. This is mainly aquatic with orchids on me. It does smell quite perfumey, and very regal. Glittering and exquisite. Perfectly fitting for the Queen of Diamonds. Perhaps slightly too mature for me to be able to carry it off, but I'm going to give it a go. And I'm with mandragora -- I would love to see these forum-only King/Queen scents revisited. I hadn't heard of BPAL when they were presented, and I missed getting bottles of some of my favorite scents.

At first this is kind of bitter and woodsy, which doesn't surprise me much because carnations are almost always bitter on me. But then the orange blossom comes out and makes it kind of sparkle. I really wish I was getting more patchouli from this, because I like patchouli. Then it warms up, and it smells a lot spicier. This is interesting, but it's not the sort of scent I usually wear. It's a sweet spice. A little too much for me.

Yow. Minty, but a medicinal mint. Is that what pennyroyal smells like? I'm not sure if what I'm smelling is lavender... I can't really figure out what this smells like. It's really well blended. But it's making my nostrils curl. OK, I'll be honest. It mostly reminds me of, um, poppers. Not that I know what that smells like... But I take a big whiff of my wrist and get light-headed. Definitely can't wear this as a fragrance. ETA: After 30 minutes it's GONE. Completely. I can't even tell where I applied it.

I'm not usually a fan of rose scents, but I like this. It's not overpoweringly rosy. It's a sweet rose. I didn't get any patchouli or sandalwood at first, but then I put on another swipe over the first one, and now I am smelling some. I like it better this way, actually. This does smell quite feminine, but also it's unusual. I think I'm going to try wearing this for a day and see how it goes. ETA: Hmm. After about and hour it's all rose. Guess this one is for swaps after all.

On my skin this is mainly lavender with orange and a little bit of a lemony scent at first. The citrus scent fades when it's drying, and I'm left with mostly lavender an a little bit of jasmine. It's feminine and cheerful.

Oneiroi doesn't have as much of a lavender scent as Somnus. I like the scent better. Not sure if I want to wear it before bed again -- I had the most bizarre dream last night while wearing Oneiroi on my hands. In the dream, there was a huge BPAL convention at my house, and it turned out that Beth and Joss Whedon were really good friends, so it was also a half Buffy/Angel/Firefly convention. There were all sorts of vampires there and they were staying up all night being loud and boisterous when I wanted to go to bed. I was very irritated about the whole thing. I did win a Spike t-shirt in the raffle, though.

Holy crap, I like this one a lot! Pine normally does not lead me along the path of happiness, but in Snow Bunny I think it smells pretty damn good. I can't believe I had this marked as a "No" on my spreadsheet without even trying it. There's a sweet lovely creaminess to it, and this pine makes it smell brisk. It actually does make me think of a forest in wintertime... but this smells even better. It does remind me of Skadi but it's creamier. I think I like Snow Bunny better. I almost wish it was snowing out right now so that it would be appropriate for me to wear this. I don't want to wait until the snow falls again. Maybe I'll bust it out in the middle of July and make everyone within its throw think of snow. [Above, I meant to type "everyone within its throw" and mistakenly typed "everyone within its thrall" first. And I'm not entirely sure which one is more appropriate...]

I think Spectre is pretty. It's a white floral, soft and floaty. It reminds me of some other floral BPAL oils, but I don't know which ones. It is lilies, that's for sure. And tuberose always smells good on my skin. No "touch of menace" that I can detect, though. Just a pretty floral.

When I first put this on, I thought "Ew. Did she sneak some civet in here?" Pungent and gross. And then I got interested in something I was doing around the house, and didn't sniff it again for about 15 minutes. It was much better that time. Still a bit nose-crinkly but not icky. It smells smoky, not like a campfire but like that acrid smoke when something's burning that shouldn't be. But I don't actually want to smell like I'm on fire. The thought of people lunging at me with buckets of water does not appeal. So this one's not for me. However I must mention that there is something in this that reminds me of chicken noodle soup. Odd. Maybe it's an herb in there or something.

I expected this to be an invigorating scent, some sort of wake-me-up stimulant like Moxie. I'm not getting that at all. It smells like: Cold fresh water. Like a clear little pond on a spring morning. At first it was a bit astringent, but not after about 15 minutes. And it's very soft. My nose has to be right next to it to smell it. It has a similar throw and feel to it as The Mock Turtle's Lessons, to me. It's a pleasant, playful scent. Cheerful but not sweet.