LadyMedb

Delicate, sweet rose incense, like a distilled version of what you'd find burning in an Indian grocer's. Shadowy pinks with lots of resinous depth swirling underneath. Not at all a screaming rose - this one whispers. Love it. My only possible issue with it is it might fade too quickly - I'll have to check.

It is spicy and red musky, and therefore dry and sweet/sour at the same time. I really enjoyed this scent, but I already have Fenris Wolf filling this niche, so I figured I'd pass. It might smell better on my boyfriend than on me.

Really nice. It starts out fruity-spicy-holiday-candle (not in a bad way) but dries down to a pleasant incense-mellowed light peach. It's just mysterious enough that it suits my "scent personality", but it's also the kind of scent you can wear anywhere and not be overpowering. It does disappear a little bit quickly, but not to the point where I'm frustrated with it. Overall, this is a really nice everyday go-to fruity incense - comforting and unexpected at the same time.

White sandalwood, rice flower, honey, black pepper, and oakmoss. This was kind of like incense-flavored mochi ice cream on me - largely a sweet, honey-rice affair with just a hint of earthiness. It is quite light, which is fine, but I was hoping for the oakmoss to be a little more prominent, or for the sandalwood to do more than just contribute to the overall sweetness of the blend. In short, I was hoping for a little more body to this blend, so I'll pass it to someone who can better appreciate its lighthearted nature (appropriate to the artwork I suppose)!

So I have the 2005 version of this, and it is one of my very favorites. It was nice to be able to purchase another bottle so that I don't have to be so sparing with it! My 2012 bottle arrived in the middle of a Nor'easter, so I had a chance to slather it on and go out in the snowfall. Wonderful sensory overload. Snow Moon begins with a blast of fir and birch, but dries down to sweet and soft florals, with a faintly rosy heart. I notice the only difference in the note list between this and the '05 version is daphne...to my nose, the only palpable change is that this bottle is fresher and ever so slightly more floral than my 2005 one. I appreciate this, because it smells a little less Christmas candle-y and is therefore more universally wearable. If you would like one of Beth's "snow" blends without smelling too much like candy or straight-up pine trees, this is absolutely the blend for you. I am typically a resin and resiny-floral wearer, so this is very nice as a change of pace. Also, a lot of the other snow blends have gone plastic-y on my skin, and this one never has - it remains fresh and balanced and totally magical. *And from my experience with the '05 bottle, Snow Moon is also lovely as a cool-down in the summer.

Oh dear. I didn't need to have to hunt down yet another full bottle of something discontinued. Ghosts in Love smells absolutely unremarkable to even clumsy - like scratch-n-sniff rose - in the bottle. On skin, though, it just opens up into this well-balanced poem of a scent, and I can't stop sniffing my wrists!! It is, for lack of a better description, a smoky floral...like someone made a high-quality incense out of a proper churchgoing lady's perfume. It is sophisticated and sweet and absolutely to die for. Luckily it didn't go soapy on me, though the white sandalwood did threaten to. I think this is because lily of the valley and rose tend to be good on my skin, and the smoky tobacco and oude and carnation scents kept the scent deep and interesting. This is a mesmerizing scent. I hope someone has a spare bottle somewhere! EDIT - FINALLY got a partial of the 2011, and a full bottle of the 2013.

MAD for Dawn: Priestess - it is the sex. backthatelfup, have *you* actually tried Rose Red or The Peacock Queen yet? They're coming down for the year in a couple of weeks, and I think you should try them if you've decided you love rose!

Brilliant scent - huge amounts of oude and leather on initial application, then a big rosy initial drydown anchored by the cedar. Normally cedar is not a good scent at all on me, but here it keeps the rose from becoming too sharp. The post-drydown is the best - close to the skin and sweetly patchouli-incensy, with a hint of leather...most or all of the notes in perfect harmony. Yum. I wish it lasted a little bit longer! Overall, this is a unisex-leaning-towards-feminine scent, very sophisticated (in the sense that it reminds me of a lot of high-end niche perfumes I like) and well-blended. I think this will be even better after it's had time to sit a bit, though I slather it on every other day as things are now! Excellent work!

Ohhh, lily of the valley, old friend. You work so well on my skin, but I overdosed on you in my teens....I guess it's time for a revisit, though, because I kind of love this scent. I'm somewhat confused as to why the note listing contains both lotv and "muguet", since they're the same thing....maybe one's a bouquet of other scents meant to evoke lotv? Other people are getting actual lily from this, which may be the case, but it's not doing that soapy thing on me that lily so often does (whenever I find an exception, I buy a bottle). The hyacinth is the other note I'm really getting out of this in full force, but it's not too-sweet or candle-y or anything, just a lovely damp spring scent. Fantastic scent...light and sweet and well-blended....really all of the pleasure of florals, but none of the overpowering-ness, soapiness, or boredom. Might want a bottle come springtime, or sooner if I keep reaching for this imp.

So I think Melisande smells heaps like Silky Underwear/Alkmaar, though a little sharper and not as soft. I like both of them a LOT, so no real comments past that.

THE BLASPHEMARE RELIQUARY But, which saint's remains does this vessel hold Ethiopian myrrh, Damascus rose, boswellia, galbanum, and copal. OK, so I bought this unsniffed, because it had roses and incense. I was hoping it would be perfect for me... ...and it is! The roses come on first - they're dry, but not soapy. The rest of it smells kind of like Cathedral, which is an all-time favorite of mine. It dries down sweetly mysterious, and very balanced between the floral essences and the resins - the flowers are light and not overpowering, and the incense is divine. It's like a more sophisticated Rose Cross. Love it.

I got so much orange upon opening this that I really feared a cleaning-fluid scent. However, once this got on my skin, it became apparent that it really wanted to be oakmoss and patchouli. That's fine! I like those notes! In the end, it's a very earthy and dry scent, with some sweetness to it, but the notes just don't hang together well enough on me to make this anything special.

!!! This is everything I love about The Perfumed Garden (guess it's the apple and musk) but better-executed. Beth has long since mastered fruit-amber confections, but they've always been sweet, heady things (my beloved Verdandi comes to mind) - not so with this perfectly balanced confection, where every note sings clearly and perfectly. The petitgrain is a sparkling topnote - I think that's the citrusy thing everyone's mentioning, while the incensy-skin musk-y drydown is pure sex. This is definitely one of those "come a little closer" scents, but with so much complexity to it. SOOOO relieved this is going to be around for a bit, so I can see my way clear to the $26 for it.

Rather than weak, I find this tea to be a bit over-steeped, just like the unhinged nameless governess in my FAVORITE BOOK EVER. I went in wanting to love this, but quite unsure of the notes; however, I ACTUALLY LOVE IT. The dark tea keeps the violet from going to powder on me, and the violet keeps the tea from going to citrus up-your-nose madness. Well, it's madness, but it puts on a good show. Just like our "heroine". LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE.

I love lilac, but it's really hard to wear for me - I tend to like it better as a room scent than as a skin scent. Unfortunately, the olibanum doesn't hold it in check enough here. This goes to swaps.

Lavender and HEAPS of incense. Very dark, and a bit too sharp for my taste, but, as noted above, unique and interesting!

Would be old lady rose, as it's so powdery, but the frankincense and saffron brighten it up just enough. The Rose Cross comparison is apt. I'm quite fond of this one, but I have so many rosy incenses I'm getting picky, so I think I'll just stick with my imp. We'll see, though - I do reach for this quite a bit!

Best of the lot so far for me - incensy patchouli Anne Bonny/Cathedral-ness plus flowers. Kind of a no-brainer, and I'll probably buy a bottle despite the fact that I have a lot of other scents that smell like this one. That dusty resin thing comes alive on my skin!

This came soooooo close to being perfect...though I usually eschew fruity florals, the frankincense was divine on first application, and the lotus was watery and not too sweet, with the most subtle and well-blended pink rose one could imagine. So gentle, so girly, so balanced, until the pomegranate amped on my skin after an hour, making this just a bit umbrella-drinky for me. It was still lovely, but not something I could ever reach for.

Sharp-ity sharp sharp sharp (hi, bay), with no resiny softness whilst wet (the remark above about it being astringent applies to my experience of it, too), then turns around and dries down to dryer sheet leftover resin powder on me before I can even get to enjoy the sandalwood. This is the second resin I've tried this month that's done a "dryer sheet" morph, and what's weird is most resins really don't do this on me. I even double-checked today by wearing my beloved Cathedral, which still smells like heaven. I wonder what note my skin doesn't like, as I feel like I missed all of this scent's redeeming qualities somehow!

On first application, the cardamom/carnation thing was so smoky and yummy against the tonka and sugar that I was totally in love, but the spiciness wore off within two minutes. Weirdly, this ended up smelling just like Snow-flakes '06 on me. Does that mean that Snow-flakes has a white sugar/tonka accord? Or does my skin just like to make things smell kinda cool and creamy? In any case, I liked Snow-flakes a lot but didn't love it, and that's how I feel about Gypsy. I wonder why the major morph? I wonder why it seems to remind each of us of a different past blend? It's a mystery, and I think it may be down to skin chemistry even more than most BPALs!

I just get brown sugar, brown sugar, brown sugar, with the clove just kinda serving to make the brown sugar stronger...kinda cooked or burnt-smelling. Additionally, my skin amps brown sugar, it seems, so there was just no escaping the sweetness. I like sugar scents on the whole but this was like eating a little too much creme brulee - it gave my nose an uncomfortably full feeling! 'Course, some people can eat loads of creme brulee and not feel sick. I recommend this scent to them!

#12. This amounts to frankincense and Purple Phoenix (which I always sorta regretted selling). A little bit of grape fizzy soda, a little bit of Morgause's white flowers. I think I like this...and I was all set to be critical, too! A smidge powdery, but it gets lost in the overall pleasant purple resinous effect! Yum. ETA - dang, my skin chemistry makes this dryer sheets after an hour or so, with all the lovely purples and resins haunting me still. Hopefully someone else's skin won't do the same thing!

Ooh, I wanted it to be darker. You know how sometimes frankincense, when mixed with anything at all sharp, can come out smelling sorta like lemon pledge? That's what this did on my skin, and the vetiver did the men's cologne thing rather than the dirty smoke thing on my skin, unfortunately. I didn't get the red musk at all. I'm just not meant to wield the Witchblade.

This is definitely a "perfumy" BPAL, which I usually like. In a way, it's no exception, but the plum and the orange blossom....it's too much fruit. Dark and deliciously layered as it is, it's too much of a...here, I have to say it...fruity floral perfume for me to want to wear it every day. That said, SOMEONE SHOULD because it's so very well-blended!