LadyMedb

This is a beautiful incense blend to the tune of Cathedral or Anne Bonny, but a little dryer and sharper maybe. It has a bit of a men's cologne feel to it, but I expect it's unisex, just like those other two. I really do like it, but I passed on it because I already have so many delicious incense blends from BPAL that I've gotten a bit spoiled. I got a compliment in the hall at work wearing it, so I enabled my coworker instead.

I bought Mina because I thought she'd be exactly the sort of thing I'd like. Well, she is, down to the subtle feminine softness that can easily go to work and the sexiness that is great for at home. She's gorgeous sweet roses, a sugary hyacinth that I hoped would work on me for White Moon and finally does here, and, of course, my beloved incense, with just a drop of currant wine. Her only downside is she takes a lot to show up, and fades kind of quickly, so I have to keep slathering her on. This can be annoying. I feel bad I didn't get a second bottle because of this, but I like her ladylike subtlety and her strong incensy core. Great blend - all iron fists and velvet gloves. ETA - bought that second bottle and am now happily slathering away. I love this one.

Gorgeous! I love the sweet dragon's blood - Beth's db smells almost floral to me, it's so sweet, and this is exemplified here by its mixture with pine resin. When I first inhale, I definitely get the pine, dried leaves, and cold exterior; half a breath later, the leathery, smoky, and metallic middle notes populate the Castle with its expected faded and decadent residents. This blend is dry, sweet, and miraculously unisex for the husband and me. Excellent.

Regal, sensual, powerful: all these words work for Purple Phoenix. I feared grape jelly in the bottle, but on my skin it turned into something absolutely beautiful - this must have been the myrrh kicking in. This is maybe not an everyday kind of scent for me, but it's drop dead gorgeous on the days I want to wear it - an attention-grabbing, diva fruity blend rather than a giggling girly one. I really love it. Purple Phoenix gets positive comments from my friends, too, who tend to use the word "sensual" to describe it as well. It must be written somewhere in the formula.

This is a beautiful humid jasmine scent, floral enough not to be a traditional fruity floral, yet fruity enough (crisp pears and lush cucumbers) to give it a warmly tropical feel. The musk darkens it and adds sillage. The whole blend is sparkling and pure while retaining a dew-kissed sexiness. It's one of those any-season, any-occasion, maybe any person (well, if you're a woman) scents. I love it.

Gorgeous, love it, amazing, and I'm not a fruit perfume girl (although I love peaches, so that helps). I think what makes it work is the dark musky scent - it keeps it from being too cheerleadery and adds some mystery. Splendid indeed - I want a full bottle.

I got this as a decant in an imp lot along with the masterful Schwarzer Mond and the intriguing Snow Bunny. I didn't think I would like it because the green soapiness of the mums shot up my nose, and it seemed destined for the swap pile. However, I was determined to try it on my skin at least once before swapping, and after five minutes, Oh my god! It settled down into a gorgeous, warm, enveloping and comforting incense scent, sweet and orange-gold and maternal. The final drydown recalls the sharp mum note, but that's all part of this baby's mystery, and I still LOVE.

At first I thought this smelled like generic lilac candles, and then I got was sharp white flowers and lots of lilies. It wasn't done changing there, though - a green note crept out that was both crisp and frustratingly detergent-like, peeking out between the sweet and slightly soapy lily and the now-humid and decadent lilac. One second I'd be swooning, and the next wrinkling my nose. It finally settled down to a light, clean, powdery, ladylike floral (the kind that makes you go "Ahhh! Pretty!" every time your wrist happens to waft it near your face), which I have, like the person above, liked more and more with each wear. Overall, I'm taken in by the mystery of this light and slightly green fragrance - it is eminently pleasant, but also keeps me guessing, like a woman dressed smartly in Chanel who knows just the way to break hearts and take names. Its sharp, slightly aquatic, and sweetly comforting quality is perfect for times when I want a crisp, clean scent (and a bit of olfactory entertainment). The sharp yet subtle lily note is everything I wanted to like about Kostnice, without the astringent floor-cleaner quality the latter has. It really takes a lot to show up on my skin, too. EDIT - The vacillation continued until I could take no more. After having tried for a while, I just couldn't handle the sharpness of it - it doesn't go with my skin. It's close, but not it, so I must swap - I already have so many other bottles in circulation, you see.

OK, Hellenists - Pannychis? It's a hard ch = k sound, right? That y confounds me though........ ....please help!

Although I love incensy scents, the combination of lily and frankincense somehow makes this a little astringent and lemony. (Geranium, also, I think, doesn't agree with me, but it's minimal.) It's a clean scent, and a basically pleasant one, but it's not worth slathering all over yourself. Those who really love clean-smelling and slightly soapy perfumes may like this better.

Oh my god I love this. It's a fabulous smoky, slightly powdery, marginally sharp incense blend with tons of frankincense and myrrh. It smells a little like Anne Bonny, but I feel like the frankincense is stronger in this one, giving it a slightly citric bite even as the sweetness of the myrrh and the powdery resinous whole comforts in its dark mystery. What a wonderful blend! Especially on drydown....perfect balanced bliss!

This is a lovely, fresh innocent scent. I like the rose; I like the creamy powdery undertones...I basically like everything about it. It's a little too innocent for everyday use, but beautiful and well-composed and original enough to buy the full bottle. I recommend it for days when you want a lightly sweet and ever-so-slightly spicy scent.

I like this a lot. It's a nice uncomplicated resin scent, and, as mentioned above, it makes a wonderful everyday oil. There's something comforting yet refreshing and pure about it. I think I like Cathedral ever-so-slightly better, but this is a very nice-smelling sandalwood, frankincense and patchouli blend (although I get much more of the frankincense on my skin).

Add Regan to the vanilla list. My husband really liked it (and so do I!). Another day scent he also likes the very citrusy Aizen-Myoo, which is lovely for this weather but not really my thing...

LOVE it. It really does smell like tea with sugar and cream - it's the barest breath of a scent, and a little too innocent for me, but it has this refreshing quality about it that nudges you into wakefulness as its softness provokes an almost meditative state. It's so light that the sweetness is not cloying at all - I guess that's also because of the white pepper, which, with the ginger, is a perfectly brilliant pairing with the vanilla. This probably deserves a full bottle, even though it's not my usual sort of scent - or maybe because it isn't!

This is a nice enough blend, but unfortunately wet and on initial drydown the roses are rather soapy. The fact that this is covered up by the syrupy-sweet cactus flower makes for a very strange combination and although I think I'd like the cactus flower in another blend (although the idea of Death being sticky-sweet is very, very appealing), the balance just isn't quite right for me. It's a little too foody. The soapiness dries down long-term (like, after sweating part of it off on a hot day) to heavenly, powdery vetiver sweetened still by the other notes, but it's not worth the other two phases for me, and by this point it's nearly worn off anyway. I like this scent, or at least the idea of this scent, but I think I'd like other uses of these notes better.

My new favourite (well, this week)! This is a deep, incensy rose - the amber notes make it reminiscent of Stella McCartney's fragrance, but it is darker still than that. It stays warm and soft without being too sweet - there is a light, trace powderyness to it that one acknowledges with each sniff as quickly as it disappears on a breath of incense, and then the deepened rose takes over again. I'm really in love with this one - actually, I'm kind of addicted. I've never gone through an imp this fast, and I can't stop smelling myself!

I tend to wear heavy scents OK, and I see the exotic combination of notes that's being attempted here, but that civet note just kind of turned all the others to rot. It's fine when you first put it on (the opium scent is wonderful) but once it dries, civet is all that remains. Civet kind of smells like poo on me, to put it bluntly. Pass.

Big fruity, golden jasmine scent. I usually don't prefer my jasmine mixed with much fruit at all, but this one has such an expansive and glittering mood about it that I've broken the rule. It's a warm, happy scent (the spice gives it plenty of sillage, too) and definitely worthy of a full bottle.

I'm crazy about jasmine, and so I get angry at the slightest hint of soap. In the imp, this one smells pretty soapy, but I put it on anyway because the note description was so lovely I thought it might change. After a few minutes, it was still soapy, and still I sat and prayed that it would change. Of course things usually change *to* soap rather than *from*, so I didn't really expect a whole lot. Somehow, my wish came true! The soapy scent disappeared and Morgause went through a phase of delicious (non girly-girly) fruit and then dried down to a sophisticated and ever so slightly powdery jasmine-centered floral. Everything smells sweet and balanced. It's GORGEOUS!! I'm so excited. It ended up nice and light for the summer too.

I'm kind of poor, so I'm not prone to buying things unsniffed. I was afraid of being disappointed on this one, because the description sounded so intriguing I thought it might not live up to it, and it contains notes I rarely wear. In the bottle, it smelled a lot like Neo-Tokyo to me - I guess the cherry blossom, etc. I thought it was beautiful, but was unsure as to how it would react on me. Neo-Tokyo's a strange one, and I've been going back and forth on whether to buy it for weeks, after all. However, after five minutes on my skin, Dragon Moon became an explosion of beautiful notes. Everything is detectable and balanced. The cherry blossom is still huge, but the dragon's blood gives it heart while the bamboo keeps it fresh and ethereal. I'm completely in love with it, and am so glad I took a risk with an LE.

This stuff smells really sweet and lovely - a true jasmine scent, sweet and not soapy, with drunkenly sweet apples. The Perfumed Garden contains a lot of sugar, but enough spice to keep the thing from sillaging off into the stratosphere without taking you along. My only real gripe is that it could, I suppose, carry more body for the sweetness, but the candied jasmine scent goes really well with my skin, and it gets me a lot of compliments! When I want a light Spring or Summer scent, this is what I'll be sure to reach for now - and I'm sure my husband will appreciate it. I consider myself lucky I got this as a free decant, even if it meant I had to go out of my way to grab a full LE bottle. I may have never tried this lovely scent on my own! The Perfumed Garden taught me that some girly scents are wearable for me (fruity florals are usually bane for me), and even worth falling in love with! It's a really pretty, versatile, wear-anywhere little bit of magic.

I've been going back and forth on this one for several months. In the bottle it smells like an innocuously soapy floral, and half and hour on my skin later it smells sharply, sneezily soapy, the rose and spices pickling my nose. In fact, it changes so much that I almost forget what it smells like - the fact that a friend of mine hated it when I tested it on her and it changed from its soapy phase to a still worse sweaty phase really made me upset. However, after the soapy stage is over for Lucy's Kiss on my own skin, it settles into what it says it is - a very girly, light Victorian rose with very girly and sweet spices. This means that it's still slightly soapy, but classically so, with a delicate sweetness that is quite pleasant! It smells really nice at this point (my husband likes it), and the the rose makes it enough of a "me" scent to finish out the imp (in fact, I think there are a few occasions for which it would be the perfect scent for me to wear), but it's just a little bit too much trouble for an only just above average payoff. If this weren't a BPAL, I would buy a full bottle, but I know Beth does better work than this (to me at least).

For a moment I was afraid of a lemon cleaning fluid scent, but then this changed into a gorgeous mix of white flowers, lemon and deep spices. It's a little more of a baby-powdery scent than I would normally pick to wear, but the woody notes blend well and anchor it into my skin, forming an eminently wearable, refreshing, uplifting whole. It even has throw! It's just breathtaking for Spring or Summer. I think this is a beautiful scent of simple elegance, and I'm so happy it came to me - I'm going to have to get the full bottle of this one, I think. I'm in love. ETA - I got the full bottle, and I love it, especially in the Summer. My skin amps the myrrh like crazy, which I just love.

This one's an easy yes - on me it's rich, heady, and balanced. Patchouli is historically great with my chemistry, and here it prevents the jasmine (one of my favorite all-time scents, but I have to be careful with it, even if a little of that is because I like it so much I hate when it's done badly) from going soapy. It's like the roots of a garden, like flowers in your hair after you've rolled upon the earth, like wispy bits of incense floating through a forest. It has a sophisticated "perfumy" quality to it - not a whole lot, but just enough to keep it from smelling too much like a headshop. I really love this scent.