miss_rynn

This is lovely. I'm always a little scared of tea notes, but the tea in this is subtle and grounding, not full of the s mell of tannins. It starts of smelling like dried mango - not too juicy or fresh, but preserved and concentrated, like dried apricots - followed by a nice, warm, fruity pumpkin note. As it dries down it gets a little spiced, more like pumpkin pie than chai. It settles to a warm, soft cardamom scent on my skin with a whisper of clove and warm, roasted pumpkin way in the back. This isn't overly buttery or overly spiced - it's a great subtle foodie scent for people who like gourmand scents but don't want to smell like cake.

Tart and effervescent. It's bordering on unisex/masculine; a rather dry, sharp and fresh scent. It has the same fizziness that some of Arcana's perfumes (Joy, some of the TSG scents). This is not a sweet girlie scent - it's a bit like Pumpkin Princess's male cousin; none of the heady spiciness of Pumpkin Queen, but with the same kind of pumpkin core.

I got into BPAL just after the original carnival scents went down, and I was always sad that I had missed out on Shill. I really, really wanted to try it. This one seemed to be the closest I was going to get, so I snaffled a bottle as soon as I could. This was not a mistake! It initially smells like candy with a bitter smoke note (a bit like burned popcorn), but it soon settles down to a sweet, fairly subtle sugar vanilla. Subtle in that it's not a screaming cupcake kind of a foody scent. The vanilla in this reminds me of Lolita Lempika's "Lolita" perfume, even though the two scents are nothing alike. It's a foody vanilla with a sophisticated, cool edge. I was scared the sugar in this would turn over powering (like in Bread and Butterfly) or ashy (like a lot of sugar/vanilla scents can on my skin), but it plays nicely indeed! I think I'll still need to apply with a light hand, but this is a very nice, fluffy scent without being too sickly.

Under a nice sheen of butterscotch, it's all headache inducing patchouli and vetiver on me. I can't stand vetiver, as it makes me feel ill, and I'm pretty sure that is what I'm smelling more than patchouli. I can see why this would work on someone who likes both sweet and earthy scents, but unfortunately it is not for me.

From Etsy (and I'll take all the Pecker I can get ); Quite a masculine, woody Dragon's Blood scent. It has the same dryness as Velvet, and the same woody/vanilla note to my nose as Tombstone. In fact, it's very much a Tombstone scent with Dragon's Blood instead of sassifrass. This is actually quite lovely and subtle, and I expect I'll wear it often.

I like this, and I don't like this. The peach note combined with the myrtle (I'm guessing) gives this a slightly under-ripe peach smell, which is made more pervasive by the musk. Musk is often used in detergents to make the scent "stick" better, and I think that's the vibe I'm picking up from the musk in Aglaea. It doesn't *smell* soapy, but it's triggering scent memories of soap and detergent. I love the amber base to it, though. I think that if I could get a muskless version of this, I'd be in love.

I think I want to get a bottle of this. The dragon's blood isn't as syrupy sweet on me as it is normally, I expect because it's nicely tempered by the clove to help ground it. The cherry is there if you look for it, but the myrrh keeps it from being too bright, sweet or candy-like. This feels to me like a masculine cousin to Dragon's Milk, possibly because it reminds me of my brother (who wears a lot of clove scents). It clings to the skin, and adds a subtle spicy-and-sweet note without being overpowering like a lot of Dragon's Blood scents can be. It doesn't smell at all 'fussy' or over-complicated - it is fabulously well-blended and smooth. I am seriously, deeply impressed.

I dithered about this for so long, but I decided to bit the bullet for my love of chocolate and peanut butter. For the first half hour on my skin it's a delicious chocolate and nutty-coconut scent, but then it blooms into an incredibly true grenadine scent. Grenadine with an undercurrant of white musk. This is stupidly, impossibly pretty given the inspiration of the scent. Much love!

On my skin this is not at all what I expected from the description and the other reviews, but I love it all the same. It's a fresh, spiced masculine scent that borders on unisex. It doesn't have the soapy scent a lot of aquatics can have, but it certainly has a cool, damp smell to it. The spice is incensey, put not POW in your nose incense - it's more like unburned incense resin. Dry, exotic, and sophisticated rather than hippy-ish. The chocolate aspect comes through as a rich, deep cocoa scent - kind of like an unsweetened version of the cocoa in Boomslang. It's unusual, but at the same time comes across as vaguely familiar... it's a mystical deja vu scent. It's not aftershavey or soapy (as I said before), but it does have that certain unsweetened, clean, spice scent that comes across as masculine to me. I think this is the perfect scent for days I want to wear something more unisex.

When I first got this, it was an artificial, migrane-stabby strawberry scent that I just couldn't stand. Now, 18 months later, it's mellowed into something fabulous. It smells very baked-goods-with-strawberries-on-the-side. It reminds me a whole lot of Beaver'versary, but it's not quite as sweet and has an almost savoury hint to it. It smells more like doughnuts than cake, without the greasy fried note of Midway. It's lovely!

This doesn't smell like something I would wear as a day-to-day perfume, but it's very profound nonetheless. It smells on my skin exactly as if I had been working at my altar for a few hours - I tend to burn frankincense resin and rose oil is an oil burner, and while Rose Cross doesn't smell like actual frankincense resin and an actual bunch of roses, the smell on my skin is almost exactly the same as the smoke and oil mix that clings to me after I've been at my altar. I actually smell perfumed, rather than that I am wearing perfume. I expect that I won't wear this out and about, but I will wear it when I'm doing spell work.

All florals and sadness It smells like a floral version of the honey and red musk in Womb Furie, and gives me a headache like an icepick through the skull. So terribly unhappy, because I had such high hopes.

Definately from the same family as Dorian, but much more masculine. Dorian's older, less foppish, more straight-laced yet kinky brother. It becomes a very fresh after-shave scent, bright with citrus, but grounded in soft leather. This isn't the punch-you-in-the-nose leather of Whip (for example) - it's more like a suede scent. It smells like the flogger of a dark, sensual Dom. ... I'll be in my bunk.

This one shocked me in numerous ways. Yes, it starts out as a rich, sweet, drippy pear scent, but that phase doesn't last long on my skin. It doesn't even stay sweet, and I get no vanilla. What I do get is an incredibly reaslistic cream scent that - wonder of wonders - neither turns sour or turns to ashtray on my skin. Just a bowl of fresh cream. This wasn't what I was expecting at all, but I have a feeling I'm going to love using this to layer with!

Actually, not too sweet! The right man could get away with this. This is slightly woody, resinous vanilla, not at all foody. On first application it feels like the vanilla in TKO, but it settles to be quite similar to Tombstone, though not as woody or sasparilla-ish. It's quite subtle and sits close to the skin, not punch-you-in-the-nose like the TKO massage oil. I like it! I'll probably wear it more as a perfume than use it for massages.

Cake Smash with extra spiced rum. It's cakey, with hints of Dorian in particular, with a rich tobacco undertone. It starts out with a red fruity tone, but settles down to a boozy, cake sent.

This may get me lynched, but this reminds me of a floral commercial perfume. I think it's the mix of tiare and guava that does it. The frustrating part for me is that under the strong floral I can smell the parts of Pumpkin Queen that I love. It's sweet, with a bright pumpkin note (not a musky one), and over all gives the impression of a floral gourmand scent. If you like Pumpkin Queen and florals, this is probably a great scent for you!

This is unfortunately too heavy on the musks for me to enjoy. It's a bit like a sweeter version of The Soldier. I do get a little bit of the vanilla and mandarin peeking through, but it's mostly very dark, musky and patchouli based. It has a very similar base to Snake Oil, without as much sweetness or spiciness to lift it. I can see how this would work on the right person, but alas it is too heavy for me. If you love dark musks, though, it's certainly worth a look in!

I've had a rough few months, so I've gone back to my roots and have been trying different magical oils from different companies to try something - anything - that might help. Lionheart sounded like part of what I need right now; the strength to keep going, and the courage to do it. If there's anything I need right now, it's more positive energy in my life. Scent-wise, Lionheart seems to come from the same family as Anthelion. They have the same herbal base notes, slightly bitter and green, under a different top note. This took me by surprise when I first sniffed from the bottle, actually, because I couldn't really tell the two apart. The upper notes are quite different, though. Lionheart is a strange mix of honey and... dishwashing liquid, or laundry detergent. Not in a bad way, but more in that 'fresh, bright kitchen' or 'clean, soft sheets' kind of way. It's hard to describe, because it's a sweet, bordering on gormand scent with a very clean, snuggly feel to it. I know that certain musks can smell like clean sheets, so maybe that's what it is. The honey-sweetness of it lasts very well, and leaves you with a kind of sweet haze all day long. As for effectiveness, I have something of an unusual reaction to TAL oils that I don't get with magical oils from other companies. The effects seem to be bright, brilliant, short-lived, and leave me quite drained afterwards. Glamour is the worst offender of this for me, and left me with something of a magical hang-over after an hour or two. Lionheart certainly made me feel more bouyant and confident, able to take on whatever the world threw at me, but this feeling only lasted a few hours, and afterwards I felt quite flat. What I think is happening is that TAL oils burn up my energy faster than it gets replaced, so the more 'aggressive' the oil is, the harder the crash I get afterwards. Lionheart isn't really an aggressive blend per se, so I'm not totally wrecked afterwards, but like all TAL oils it's something I need to keep in mind. Your results may vary.

I'm not a fan of this, which is sad because I really wanted to like it. In the bottle it smells like very dusty, dry cocoa and patchouli; no sweetness, just very dry, dusty and almost herbal. On the skin the dryness eases up, but unfortunately so does the cocoa scent. It has a strong lemon note to it, which is a little sweet and not sharp. It's not just lemon by itself, though - there's a haze of herbal notes that tempers it. It's not particularly sweet, and I don't get any honey, cocoa or vanilla. I'm sure if you like citrussy/herbal scents that aren't sweet you would like this, but unfortunately this was not at all what I was hoping for.

This smells fantastic. It's a true musk-based perfume without smelling skanky or dirty. It's a gingerbread perfume that doesn't smell foody. It's the perfect balance between a heavy, grown-up perfume and a playful, girlish gormand scent. It's pervasive and faintly sweet, but very grounded and warm. It's strong, yet subtle. This is the first BPAL perfume in a long time that has really, really impressed me.

It smells like rice pudding/porridge and English marmalade - slightly bitter, adult marmalade, rich in candied orange peel without being overly sweet. I have trouble with citrus scents that are too sharp, but this is a smooth, mellow scent. It would be stunning if it had a bit of ginger in it, and I'm going to try layering it with something like Sudha Segara, Shub, or maybe even Saw Scaled Viper.

If you like the idea of Snake Oil, but find it too sweet, cloying or spicey, than The Soldier is for you. It's the same red musk as is in Snake Oil, to the point where to me it smells like Snake Oil with the sugared vanilla spices removed. The leather is the same to my nose as is in Whip - suble, but pervasive. There's just a hint of vanilla and cream, but the end result is something very masculine. A masculine Snake Oil, if you will. I like my scents sweet and girlie, so this isn't really my thing.

Cocoa absolute, sugar cane, honey, black currant, vanilla, and caramel. This is the bath oil that I should have tried first It smells somewhere between Boomslang and Velvet to me, and I am overjoyed for it. It has that true cocoa smell from Boomslang and Velvet, not the chocolatey smell of Bliss. It's sweet without being overly so. I don't get any black currant from it, which is fine by me. It dries down to a sweet chocolately and almost woody scent on my skin; very much like Boomslang without the strong spices, or a sweeter version of Velvet. It has a very faint salty note to it, which I think must be the caramel. It blends really well with my skin scent, even after a hot and sweaty day. I expect that I'm going to be using this one an awful lot, and I'm super glad it's a GC bath oil.

This is quite pretty. First and foremost, it's a great oil (I use it as an after-shower moisturizer) - my skin drinks it in, and it doesn't irritate my eczema, which is good because half the reason I bought it was to help treat my poor sensitive skin. I do get the coconutty vibe mentioned above, but to me it smells more like good old-fashioned Australian lemon slice - lemon icing over a base of crushed Nice biscuits, butter and dessicated coconut. The apple in it is probably the most prominant note, and it's a tart, almost waxy apple. It's a scented body oil, not a perfume oil, so the scent it pretty subtle but at the same time pervasive. I would personally have preferred something a little more sweet and a little less plasticy, but I expect that's my skin chemistry reacting with the apple. It's a great quality oil, and while the scent is not what I'd use every day I expect I'll be using this one quite often as a moisturizer.