absinthetics

My review is relatively simple, if only to help those compair and hope for a possible substitution. The clove in this is splended, unique and lovely. For that alone, I would recommend it to anyone. And though I have looked up the notes and try to see what they have in common... I can't find anything. Regardless, the most prominant note in this (both in the bottle and on the skin) is very very close to Kabuki. Other than that, the notes disappear and mingle and simply become 'art'. Brava.

This scent has become one of my most favorites.... it's honey and spicey ... the patchouli mixes with the vanillas in the most amazing way. It's a patchouli roughened mixture of Red Lantern and Storyville... and not only that, it remainsthat way on the skin. I'm in love again. Trick #1 is much more mild, it's like a died down spanked mixed with floral undertone. It's a pretty sort of trick, but definitely with less of a kick than trick #2. In fact, on the skin the patchouli aspect of it nearly disappears, and it doesn't last all that long in it's floral aspects.

In the bottle the chocolate is rampant, it has this only vague tinge of orange to it... what really strikes me as interesting and beautiful is the slathering of buttery notes I get from it. I mean, literaly butter, you can almost taste it, and feel it's soft, squishiness. On the skin the orange comes out, and the chocolate nearly disappears.... the orange is still there but the butteryness becomes even stronger, along with the herbs... it's a very very interesting scent. It's a keeper if only to pay homage to the nose.

Kindly Moon is a fresh, melony-fruity, floral. It is etheral and light, you can make out the different notes in waves. It is wonderfully blended. If you're not a floral person, don't run away from the Kindly Moon. Give it a shot!

In the bottle: the tobacco leaf and patchouli roll around in a hazy smoke that is sweetened by the creamyness of the vanilla. Only after a second inhale do I sense the berries and the pomegrante. I must admit this reminds me a bit of Storyville, I suppose that must be the pink pepper and the smoke. On the skin: It is a spicey, vanilla incense... it's actually very beautiful. The patchouli in it is surprising dark and lovely.

I generally do not like mint scents, but I love the crystalline features of winter scents. Frost Moon surprised me, in that wet and in the bottle it is this gentle, even fragile mint scent... but on the wrist and on drydown, you can clearly smell the lotus and the aquatic note smells almost like cucumber. I almost traded this away simply because it was minty, but on me... I don't smell the mint at all, just this refreshing quality that must be where the mint has gone.

This vein of chocolate is like powdered cocoa. But there is something plasticy about it that off sets it to my nose. Maybe it's meant to be a note of 'dangerousness' ad described in the artwork. There is also something a bit woody about it, something that I have found in common with everything in the carnaval.

Cherry-almond, marzipan... is the best description I've heard of this one. There is also something very woody about it. It is definitely a keeper if for only how unique it is.

Unfortunately I am not a fan of either of the notes in organ grinder, and together I find the scent to be ... almost a little sour. The milk and the pine react together to accentuate all the things I do not like about Milk and Chaste moons, white rabbit, obatala etc. If you're a milk fan, you should try this out. If you aren't though....

In the bottle this is all amber, pathcouli and opoponax Wet, the myrhh comes out... There is something a little sweeter in here, ... I will definitely have to pick up another bottle of this, for the sheer mystery.

For me, in the bottle you really smell the pear and lotus. It is extremely fruity with only a touch of floral. (Exactly as how I had thought it would be) However, when it's on it turns to a bit more of the floral, the musk and orchid are much more noticeable. The one sad part is that it doesn't last that long on the skin. I think this may be the scent that goes into my locket. I'm a huge lotus fan.

Aquatic... earth tones... in the vial. However, on the dry down the flowers come out. I'm not sure if this feeling is deep and dark and sad...or if there is hope at the end.

Cairo.... mystefies me. It's this deep and somehow dark incense, that has a bite of citrous. The first time I smelled it though, I could have sworn I got a dusty feel, like pyramids.... but then it returned to this cloying...incense. It's a keeper if only because it shows the artistry of the lab.

voluptuous myrrh is right! Voluptuous is the best word for this, it hits you over the head with its round...voluptuousness. The red wine is the next thing that hits you pretty hard, and it almost feels over-ripe. The sweet notes that trickle in later are just too little and too late, in my opinion. Though it smells like much in the imp, this could be a very interesting scent to wear on the right night...in something red.

The first thing I smell in this is the berries. They're lovely, fresh, dew covered, and delicious. The freshness mixes with the grass and the budding florals and becomes this ...greenness around the fruit.

Well...I have to review this one. However, it's very simple to pick out. This is a sweetened, and for some reason lemony anise. For me, the lemon is much more strong than anything 'absinthe' about it. On the dry down, the anise all but fades away to this ghosty undertone. To me, this seems more like the scent of a little green fairy who may exude anise from her little pores.

A slightly sweet, resinous scent, of the perfect base insense with a touch of the wood of the church itself. I can't stop smelling my wrist. It's ... comforting, and even a little uplifting. Indeed, I feel sanctified.

Chrysanthemum Moon was the first moon I was really excited about. I'm not the type of BPALer that prefers one type of scent to another, my likes sort of localize in different genres. With that said, I thought Chrysanth moon would fall right into a (or more than one) little niche. In the bottle, my first sniff disappointed me a bit. I was really hopeing for the creamy ginger that everyone kept talking about. I only get a wiff of that after several passes, my first impression is a green, yet musky floral. It was pleasant though, and had a warmness to it I can't really put my finger on. However, the ginger creamyness comes after drydown. There is still a hint of floral, but it bleeds out (at least on me) into the faintly ginger musk on my skin. There is definitely a creamyness to it, and .... it still retains itself as one of my most favorite moons. However, it didn't achieve the dramatics that most of the first reviews claimed. But then again...there isn't much 'dramatics' in the vein of opiates.

BEB#2 The oil is quite dark and there's an interesting tartness to it that becomes at the same time rich and earthy. However, the tartness is mixed with a sweet note that I can't put my fingers on. It reminds me like a mix of Corazon, Mabon and something bubbly like that note in Whippoorwhill.

Ha! I knew Midsummer's Night smelled like Drakkar. I call it my 'boy smell'. Whenever someone comes over (i have the air freshener in the den) someone says 'it.. it...it smells like...like' BOY! My apartment of 2 girls smells like a hot sexy man lives there. Just the way I like it. Ehem. Anyhow, I've never actually 'smelled' the bergamot or verbena in Drakkar. For me, Vicomte has a blatant undertone of the lemon scent. I have yet to find something from BPAL that smells like Drakkar. But then again, I wasn't really looking... since I have a bottle of Drak lying around for emergencies. =X

This is a gentle mint, but mint nonetheless. There is a floral touch to it and this hint of citrusy floral in there. It is indeed myserious... but it is just too much mint for me. It is not the mint of ultraviolet though, in my opinion, it is more like Lick It and Spooky.

Unseelie is frisky, and playful, in a spritely way. But it definitely has a dark sense of humor. It is ethereal and gossamar, but close at home with nature. A fantasy-forest at night, if you will. It transports you to a place where you're not quite sure if up is up, or up is down. It is an ethereal, night-flower that converts through several different phases during its long lasting repartee. Unseelie is an herbal, darker floral frangrance. It has hints of fruit that are bound by a grassy, nature-ness. It's lovely.

Resinous.. throaty... the lilac is the bubbably and vaguely powder smell that you pick up from the imp and detect on the skin. This is definitely a vaguely floral amber... but a dark amber because of the myrrh. Bruja, to me, is golden-heavenly in the amber way of Jacob's ladder, but feminine and sexy in a way that is wholly its own.

My first impression was a good one.. it was aquatic, but it soon becomes a soapy, herbally lavender. I don't get any citrus notes at all, it simply turns into a bit of an 'old lady' perfume. A shame, I really wanted to like the elementals.

Red phoenix was nothing like blood moon for me. Bloodmoon is sweet, red phoenix is pure incensey. Similarly, Gypsy queen for me had a fruityness...while baghdad... is incensy. I seriously dislike baghdad but on the other hand would actually buy a bottle of gypsy queen.