Reedsong

I adore Longing. The mix of spice, rose-sweetness, and resin is just gorgeous, in the bottle and on my skin. It amps so perfectly; I can smell it, and so can everyone around me. I get complimented by everyone, even my mailman!, when I wear this one. It's a beautiful expression of the warm love that every line of the poem exudes, and one of my favourite BPALs ever.

FROOT LOOPS! I am not exactly sure how this happened, but it started as a faintly sweet, complex resin/citrus in the imp. It smelled sophisticated, intriguing, piqued my interest in a fun and flirty way... ...and then dried down to Froot Loops. Seriously. I want to layer this with Milk Moon and a spoon. First Deimos smells like Fig Newtons, and now this?? What's next, Wonky Skin Chemistry? Will you convert some other oil to Velvet Pop Tarts? Or Petit Four Moon? This is getting ridiculous. Ah well. I'll send this sniffy on to a more appreciative BPAL-er. Darn.

Because this shares notes in common with Pulse Points (civet and black poppy), it doesn't surprise me that this smelled...well, a lot like Pulse Points. In the imp, in fact, the scent was very similar. On my skin, though, it dried to a faintly bog-like and sour variant on PP. This is a very strange scent, and while all of the notes individually work for me, together they're somewhat chaotic. It's very reminiscent of entropy itself, really, so in that sense it's perfect!

This is a really lovely scent, and I'm so disappointed it doesn't work for me. "Honey-sweet and soporific" is the best description possible of the blend; it's a groggy, sleepy bunch of sticky honeyed flowers that seem to invite a good, long nap. As it dries down, though, it becomes cleaner and brighter until it smells like old-lady soap. I love the scent of BPAL's lotus note, but it always does this on my skin; on the up side, that means that anyone who loves the Lab's lotus should rush out to buy this one!

CCXXVIII if I'm reading the smudgy numbers right, and in the bottle, it's Dorian and...penicillin? Ah, this is why - it's ripe plummy Dorian, with a bit of fuzzy peach in there. On my skin, the fruit notes amp and produce the effect of a cup of hot Blue Eyes tea. It's a sweet and cheerful blend, and if I can get past the initial blast of juicy pink penicillin, I might just keep an imp of this one.

My best guess for the number is CCXXVI, and in the bottle, it smells bracing, clean yet dark, perhaps a blend of a few different musks. I apply it to my skin, and something heavy, murky, and oppressive emerges; this must be black musk, a death note for me. I also detect something resinous, perhaps either benzoin or opoponax. This reminds me very much of Schwarzer Mond, and I think anyone who loves Schwarzer and Snake Oil both would adore this blend.

MXVIII: I received a decant of this as a frimp today and am very pleasantly surprised. Typically, I love the 'unexpected' element of Chaos Theories, but they tend not to love me. In the imp, this strikes me as lush tropical flowers and fruit. I think I smell cherry? Maybe jasmine? It's a strange combination but a likeable one. This one actually made it onto my skin - rare for a Chaos Theory. After a few minutes, something very tart emerges - grapefruit? Orange, maybe? Whatever it is, it's brightly citrus, in the refreshing way of a newly-opened fruit. Finally, some spices come out to play - I get some clove and maybe nutmeg in this. What started off smelling like a tropical wonderland suddenly ends as a sweet, lovely holiday pomander. The way holiday spice should smell. The way I always want pomanders and mulling spices and potpourri to smell. My only complaint is that this fades almost in the time that it takes me to type the review. It hugs my skin very closely and goes away all too soon in a haze of warm, comforting spices. It's a really lovely fragrance, and if this were released with a Yule update, I would at least buy a decant if not an entire bottle. Previously reviewed by Dark Alice.

This ranks in my top 5 BPAL scents of all time, and I'd probably save my bottle from a burning building. It's luminous, sweet, warm, "red" in feel and so elegantly romantic. I can't pick out a single note from this perfume; I read the other reviews and think, "Well, yes, there is likely vanilla in here," or, "Clove, I could see that," or, "Sandalwood, that's an interesting notion," but all I smell from this scent is loving, bright passion. One insightful reviewer likened this to a softer version of Dior's Poison, and I find that comparison apt, but really, there's no summary of The Living Flame that does it justice. This fragrance is so unique and brilliant, and I'm strangely more content in my ignorance of its ingredients than I would be with a list of notes. I watch the Lupercalia update eagerly every year to see if this one will make a return...well, a Baudelaire-loving lady can hope, yes?

I love every individual note in this blend, so I'm very puzzled that it not only doesn't work on me, but really doesn't work. Instead of the lovely fruitiness that the other reviewers are getting, I smell...penicillin. Yep, goopy pink penicillin, or maybe those chewable aspirins. I put it on my skin, hoping it would work better there, but...penicillin. A very generous frimp from the Lab, but a disappointing failure on me. :/

Dana O'Shee is the only thing that reminds me even a bit of Porridge; the dry soap and Dana smell pretty similar. The Porridge scent when the soap is wet, though, is very sweet and quite unlike anything I've ever tried. (I hated it, actually; it was just too strong and odd!) Hope this helps at least a bit.

In the imp, a sweet light cocoa, and on my skin, it radiates a dusting of dry cocoa, deepened and enriched by sweet resin-y amber. This has edged out Bliss and Candy Butcher for my new BPAL favourite chocolate fragrance. I'm especially thrilled to have it for times when I'm feeling hormonal and ready to eat every chocolate bar within a ten-block radius; this scent should really help. It's marvelous and calorie-free: Gelt without the guilt.

How strange that of all of this year's phoenixes, the one I expected to dislike is actually the only one I enjoy. How can something actually smell like gleaming white metal? But this does, with the honeysuckle and carnation providing gorgeous light accents. This reminds me of pale early sunshine, and the way a garden smells as shafts of gold-white light warm the morning dew. Metal Phoenix is charming, feminine, and very subtle; it hugs my skin closely and would be a good choice for settings like the office, in which an unobtrusive fragrance is preferable. I think anyone who likes BPAL's light, feminine florals (Bearded Lady, Silentium Amoris, Spectre, and Feu Follet come instantly to mind) will really love Metal Phoenix.

AUGH. In the imp, this is a very calm, charming aquatic blend, but it has two of my death notes (lily of the valley and sweet pea), and sure enough, once it hits my skin, it's oceanic lily-pea revulsion with a drop of completely incongruous Chinese musk. This scent would do much better on someone who...wasn't me. :/

Earth Phoenix is an interesting fragrance; in the imp, I can smell the various notes distinctly, but on my skin, it dries down to moist soil and a faint cherry in the background. It's something like Queen of Clubs with a little Graveyard Dirt mixed in - not bad, but for my "sweet/earth" scent I prefer QoC.

Awww, this one was disappointing. It started out much like Red Phoenix but dried down to a root beer/cola mix. It's a fun scent but not for me.

My boyfriend's response to this scent: "If 'wood phoenix' is the question, the answer is 'no.'" That pretty much sums up my feeling about this one. In the imp, it's this weird sour sort of woodiness, and on my skin, it's Psychotic Bamboo With a Side of Rot. It lingers, radiates, and clings to my skin like a rhesus monkey hanging from a tree. It's just horrid, and I was glad to send my imp on to someone else as quickly as possible; I was terrified that the imp would spill and make my apartment smell like Wood Phoenix forever. Yikes. :/

L'École des Filles is the most marvelous, delightful, heady orange blossom scent BPAL has produced to date. The combination of the flower with ambergris is delicious, and to my nose, the blend seems to purify and amplify the natural beauty of orange blossom - it's stronger, truer, more somehow than, say, a bottle of orange flower water. Seraglio is also very lovely, and the scent I wore often before L'École was released.

XXXVI (36): A seller on the LJ community described this bottle as "cat pee and woods" to her nose. Hoping for civet, I bought it immediately. Initial impression (bottle): A pale golden oil that...isn't civet, dammit. There's something antiseptic in here. It smells like a bizarre variant on Kostnice, or maybe Shroud. Oh dear. That likely means white sandalwood. Initial impression (skin): Hello, white sandalwood, you irritating pencil shavings, you. Good lord, this smells like sawdust-scented Lysol. I seriously doubt I'm going to keep this. Skin, five minutes: There's a very small dribble of something sharp-sweet in here, I think rose geranium. There's also an evergreen-sweet note that creeps into my throat with a sour resin tang; that's the pine pitch note, that is! The overwhelming dead wood smell is mellowing. Skin, ten minutes: This is getting really nice. White sandalwood, pine pitch, and maybe birch with that tiny mellow of rose geranium, and I'm guessing there's an amber of some variety in here, as well. Skin, fifteen minutes: It's faded to a mildly sweet-tangy wood-resin, and there's something very calming and thoughtful about the final fragrance. Had someone presented me with this bottle as a planned Lab scent, perhaps as a TAL or vodou oil, I'd have believed that the mixture was intentional. It lasts only about an hour on my skin and stays very close, so I could imagine this as a very nice sleep or meditation scent. I haven't decided whether or not to keep it, but will at least be doing a few more tests...

This is a wisp of fragrance, a pallid and quite unique scent. I'd feared soapy lily or soapier lilac, but the two strongest notes on me are the tuberose and the palmarosa, and somehow, the final result brings to mind the word 'primordial.' I can't assign a gender, colour, or category to the scent, and words are kind of failing me to describe it. Spectre is elusive, haunting, and marvelous. If it's ever resurrected I will shriek for joy and then buy a whoooooole lot of it.

Oh, hey, it's menthol and lemon! It's a veritable tempest of VapoRub, waiting to swirl into my nostrils with cold-salving fury! Ew. I am so very glad that this was an extraordinarily generous gift and not anything I actually paid to have. Storm: Tried it for the name, got rid of it quickly for the smell. Doh.

I usually hate lavender and am not a big fan of magnolia, either, so I only tried Yvaine's scent because she was my favourite character in the film. I was expecting a paean to old ladies and Lysol the minute the oil touched my skin. Well, you know how Nutella and omelettes are really good separately but you'd never make a Nutella omelette? Well, Yvaine is the Cadbury Creme Egg breakthrough - somehow, vile lavender, evil magnolia, and horrid crystalline musk form an enticing scent from their unholy meshing. Maybe their respective repulsive traits cancel each other out? Whatever the reason, Yvaine is lightly, elegantly sweet. It's pure, innocent yet strong in feel,just perfect for the character. This is especially a lovely scent before sleeping, meditating, or any other serene activity. Stupid expensive non-Lysol. I thought I'd try the imp, laugh, and pass it on. Instead, I gobbled my way through the imp, bought a bottle, and came here to declare it my favourite of the Stardust scents. I can't believe I'm typing this, but here goes *ahem*: If, like me, you hate EVERY SINGLE NOTE listed for this scent, then definitely give it a try!

L'École des Filles is such a delight! In the imp, it's a heady orange flower, and on my skin, the scent changes madly, every new transformation more delicious. Each note comes out to play in the best imaginable way: the white rose is flirtatious, the ambergris is deeply sensual, the orris is a wisp of spice, the lemon balm is nonexistent (hooray!), and the orange bloom, she is the queen of them all. The final dry-down is a sweet orange blossom with a watery quality that brings to mind flora in the rain. It radiates, it lasts, it enchants. It's edged out other loves to become my favourite scent in Ars Amatoria and my vote for one of the most luscious, complex BPALs I've ever had the privilege to test. This is a bottle purchase for sure and would have been a 10 mL if the size were still available. If I ever run out of L'École des Filles, I will likely cry, and the tears will probably smell like orange blossom at that point.

Since my LiveJournal name is whitephoenix, I had to get a bottle of me (for cripes' sake - how awesome is that?!), and I'm so glad I did. In the bottle, White Phoenix smells like Magic Marker, but it hits my skin and undergoes a fantastic transformation; the chemical tang vanishes from the oil, and what remains is an exquisite, creamy, white floral beauty with incredible throw and wearlength. I agree with edenssixthday that the White is a lot like Yvaine, but the latter oil has much more of the astringent lavender and is lighter and sharper. White is much richer and deeper, and its radiance is perfect for a scent that celebrates community service and conscience. Extra kudos for the bottle label, which depicts a spiky ice-phoenix that's wicked enough to serve as some evil empire's flag. This is one of the most unique scents I've ever tried, and I will definitely try to get another bottle or two before it comes down. I'm especially impressed because this scent has a lot of notes that don't often work for me - lavender, white sandalwood, ambrette, and crystal musk are all iffy at best - yet they all blend together so beautifully that what I expected to be a mediocre fragrance has instead become a new favourite.

A gooey mound of white fluffiness! And yes, it is vegan! MARSHMALLOWS! Being vegan, I asked for a scent that smelled like something distinctly not in my diet, and the Labbies read my mind; I wanted this one especially. In the bottle, it's a strong, almost boozy fluffy sugar scent. On my skin, there's about five minutes of an odd plasticky quality, but it dries down to a warm, sweet fragrance that reminds me of a cross between Sugar Skull and a creamy white floral. There's an almost radiant quality to it, like a marshmallow oozing fresh from the bonfire, and best of all, it has almost no throw - just cuddles my skin with poofy mallowy loveliness that no-one else gets to smell. HA-ha. Marshmallow Poof is even better than I expected. I'll treasure the bottle, and will likely tell anyone who asks that I'm wearing "Marshmelon Poof" in a pathetic homage to Star Trek V.

The Hinderers. Uncontrolled energy, nihilism, narcissistic illusion. Governed by Beelzebub, Lucifer's Chief Lieutenant, one of the Unholy Trinity. This is a very pale, "flat," almost plasticky floral that reminds me, for some reason, of the "cold" quality in Sepulcher. I keep catching wisps of scent as I type, scent that's alternatingly a thin sweetness and a soapy, icy weirdness. I like this one a lot - I have no idea why - but it fades all too quickly.