Laurel the Woodfairy

BPAL Wedding Headline: Penance wore Blue Lilac as her BPAL bridal scent. Oh, blood*rose, no one answered you? Hmmm...if you read the tarot, I would think Sun and Moon from the Tarot series would be appropriate for Lord and Lady. Otherwise, I would select from Excolo the aspects of God/Goddess you feel closest to--Eos comes to mind as a sunny, joyous Goddess aspect; perhaps Himerus (sexual desire!) for the God?

Empyreal Mist is the *only* one I've tried that felt truly clean enough to be rain. It is the scent of cool mist rising from a waterfall. If you want sunshine warming your rain, Water of Notre Dame. If you want a *very* few clean, damp flowers in a flood of rain--Amsterdam. I actually swapped that one b/c it was 99% rain on me and that wasn't quite what I wanted.

A generous gimp with a swap; Brian was intrigued by the name but I get to try it first :sing-song voice: Cathode is soft and mossy--the mints are calm rather than "electric" on me. This is indeed a good summer scent--the mint feels cool on the skin and the moss...well, I'm a Southerner, so moss feels right at home for me. *However*, the ambergris really is an odd undercurrent--heavier and richer than the other notes, almost *bloated* smelling. I haven't tried Bayou, but this is how I imagined it. With the moss, it's a thick, murky base with the sparkly mint at the top. Ergh, I have a sudden mental image of a dead whale floating in the swamp. With mint chewing gum in its large mouth. Um, Brian, I'll pass it on now...

I've been curious about Spooky for ages, and am so excited to finally have a decant! And I don't care if it's June; time for some holiday LE goodness. In the vial: Mmm, rum and coconut and peppermint all together! On me: Ok, I have a dry cocoa note and a happy peppermint note in perfect tandem, and I like both--I can see the Girl Scout Thin Mints association. There's also the touch of coconut, which reminds me pleasantly of a Mounds Bar with the cocoa. But *what* is that weirdness underneath? Something sharp and bitter and plastic-y, which doesn't generally happen with my chemistry. All that's left is the vanilla, but vanilla has never done that to me before. Errr...maybe it's a special Spooky vanilla? It needs to go away! I like all the other notes so much! Verdict: this is actually a really good summer scent, b/c the peppermint oil makes it cool and tingly on your skin and the coconut adds a tropical vibe. However, there is one note is here that is being truly odd on me. I'm going to try it on the boy, since he looooves rum and coconut both. If it goes weird on him, it'll still be a yummy room scent.

I am *all* about Beltane for a spring or summer wedding! All those sophisticated florals plus a little extra sexy mojo.

On me, sandalwood + musk = dragon's blood. Seriously, Fallen is almost like single-note dragon's blood on me, but with a touch of creaminess and faint floral. This seems perfectly appropriate to me, since I associate Lucifer with serpants and dragons. I like it, but when I'm in a rich/dark mood I tend to reach for Tintagel instead. But I wanted Fallen more for DH anyway, and I think it will be lovely on him.

This one will grow hair on your chest. Seriously, I swiped it on (since I'm the household reviewer; must get Brian to review more ) and now I smell like a dude. A sexy dude, but definitely a dude. DH and I concur that this would be a good oil to introduce a guy to BPAL if he normally wears commercial cologne. It smells an awful lot like Brut crossed with Old Spice, but *fancier* spices than Old Spice, and for a more sophisticated, er, brute. Brian said it will be his all-purpose scent when he's not in a particular fragrance mood. Nice and solid, but not as whimsically unusual as many of the Lab blends for boys.

I pulled this out of Brian's imps to try, and I didn't have the notes in front of me at the time, but my experience was true to the description. Whitechapel starts with a bright clean burst of lemon/lime, but it *really* morphs. After 20 mins. or so, a soft floral powder/musk undernote came out (white musk and lilac, I see now) and is going strong after several hours. And it's VERY addictive. I keep sniffing myself. I can see how this captures 2 personalities--it comes on all sparkly clean, but then does an about-face and becomes insinuatingly soft and sort of lurking. I can't imagine Mr. Jack the Ripper ever smelled this nice, but I *do* like it for Mr. Jackstraw--he tends to wear vanilla/rum scents ( ) but this gives him something lighter and more citrusy for summer. Note: Whitechapel is gender neutral and would work beautifully on feminine Ripperites, but I think I will prefer to sniff it on the boy than to wear it myself.

One that hasn't been mentioned is Black Phoenix, which starts with a burst of cherry-Coke fizz but dries down spicy-sweet, at least on me!

At last! The one Yule 2004 LE that I didn't get to try, and now an imp is mine :evil laughter: I'm hoping some of the favorites will come back for *this* Yule, so now I'll know if I need a bottle of the Poppet. Short answer: Yes!!! Long answer: OMFG, Yes! Gingerbread Poppet smells as if Gluttony and Sugar Skull got together for a wild romp, and this is the afterglow. It smells like both, yet somehow even better. Sugar and spice and everything that makes me want to eat my arm. I *knew* this would be a keeper. If it comes back, I'm buying it. If not, I'll be stalking the swap/sales.

With 117 reviews, I doubt I'll be saying anything new here, but I can't resist... OMFG, this is gorgeous!!! The ginger is clean, sharp, and spicy, yet there's a Snow Whitish creaminess underneath. This reminds me of some tea we have for upset stomachs--Ginger Aid. It's a little bitter on its own, so Brian adds hot milk and honey for a scrumptious chai effect. I think Beth had the same idea here, balancing the ginger with all this soft yumminess. Sudha reminds me extremely much of Thymes Limited's Ginger Milk scent. I don't have any of that at the moment, so I will be layering this with my Skindazzles Gingered Honey Syrup body frosting--Sudha is much less sweet and more subtle, but they should play nice together. Since Dana O'Shee is inextricably associated with Lush Snowcake (and thus winter) for me, I am chuffed to have a gourmand scent for *summer*. This may be a bottle...

Ergh, this is sweet! I *thought* I would like the idea of fruity scents for summer, but the Graces don't like me much. First Thalia and now Aglaea have been what I can only call the "wrong kind of sweet" for me. I love *some* sweet things (Sugar Skull!), but the amber + peach syrup effect is downright cloying on me. However, I loved and adored apricot in Depraved. Imp, which has some of the same notes as Algaea (peach and amber) was fine as well. BUT both of those contain patchouli. Apparently for fruit to work on me it has to be either served on ice (as in Titania) or...well...dirtied up a lot. Off to re-swap...

I wasn't near a computer to check the description when I tried Thalia on, and what I smelled was gardenia and peach. That is, super-sweet Southern floral with some boozy fruit. Now I see I was right about the sweet floral + fruit, just wrong about which kinds. Thalia does indeed smell like "good cheer"--in fact it's a little too perky for me. It's like a cheerleader jumping up and down telling you to be happy (), and I'm more melancholic than that myself. Thalia smells *golden* to me; very rich and syrupy to the point of almost being *buttery*; I swear there was a moment when I smelled...popcorn! I think something in here is being weird with my chemisty, and I would bet on the plumeria--champagne was great on me in Bon Vivant, and pear was fine in Titania, but something is amiss here. Well, I'm grateful to Velvet for letting me swap for it and give it a try, but it'll be a re-swap.

A gracious frimp from the Lab, perhaps because I had Dormouse in this order and they have noticed me clamoring for peonies. And...I just dumped it all over my arm. Luckily, this is a light one. Amsterdam does indeed have some of the clean, fresh, pale green/floral quality of Dormouse. It is the scent of early spring flowers and thawing rivers. Very bright and airy. However, it's not as distinctive as Dormouse, since there are no stand-out notes like tea to make it "pop". This will make a nice room scent or perhaps a gimp for a friend who doesn't like heavier notes. ETA: I suddenly realized this reminds me of Jessica McClintock, which I wore all through high school. It has that young, clean, yet sophisticated vibe. I tend to go for richer florals now. Guess I'm no longer so young...or so clean.

I ordered this for sentimental reasons--"The Dormouse" is Brian's and my name for our tearoom. In our house. Long story. Anyway, the name makes me smile. But I also have a practical reason--a mad love of peony; I need to find a blend to satisfy that craving until Peony Moon next year. This is super-pretty, and so wearable. Cool, sweet herbal iced tea. The tea is much stronger than the peony, so I'm still looking for a peony-predominant scent, but this is a lovely warm-weather scent. It's less *eccentric* than White Rabbit, and quite light; a good intro scent for people who don't wear perfume. Or a nice clean change of pace for those of us who most certainly *do*.

In my ongoing quest for the perfect rose, I ordered Two, Five & Seven as soon as it went live. I am a *major* rosephile (bet there's a more official name for that...), yet Rose Red went all green and astingent on me, which was bizarre. I am thrilled to say that this one has no such problems. On me, it's oddly soft; I keep slathering more on. It's a pure, clear, delicate rose--in fact, it's what I hoped Rose Red would be. And, lucky me, it's not an LE! This one may end up being a bottle...I hope, though, that with age it will get stronger (I checked the "aging BPAL" thread and found that rose is supposed to age well). The coolest thing about Two, Five & Seven is that it contains *different* roses--it keeps morphing gently from one rose to another, some sweet, some deep, etc. For me, wearing this is like sitting on a sunny green (croquet?) lawn with a rose garden near by, scenting the air oh-so-softly with gentle wafts of sweetness when the breeze blows...

... It doesn’t matter where your faith lies, Beltane is sacred to us simply because we’re human. It is a celebration of new growth, rebirth, of the fertility of our land, our spirits and our bodies, and is a reminder of the joy in simply being alive. Celebrate life! Wind some flowers into your hair, dab a little oil behind each ear, toss the first petals of springtime onto your yard, and bless your garden the old fashioned way! Squee! My bottle o' Beltane is here! I'm a little worried that it may contain jasmine (which I hate), but of course no one really knows what's in it, and I *had* to have it, no matter what it smells like. I need it for ritual use, and there's something perfect about having it in my bottle box next to Samhain, since together they represent balance--both sides of the Wheel of the Year. So I can't *not* love it! ::eyes the bottle:: Spring-green border on the label. Hello, little bottle of Spring! ::pets the bottle and coos:: Now for the ceremonial opening and sniffing. Ooo! Very complicated bouquet of florals and green foliage notes. Yes, this has Samhain's complexity, but on the other end of the scent spectrum--green/floral instead of gourmand/woodsy. Time for a careful dab to see how it is on me. Oh, Goddess, this is *gorgeous*. Wow. If there is jasmine in there, it's playing nice with me for the first time ever. This has some of the soft aquatic/citrus undertones of Water of Notre Dame, with the bright floral topnotes of Eos (I swear there's some buttercup in there). There's a hint of something almost candy-sweet...something innocent and playful amongst all the lush sensual notes and the cool water tones. Overall: Beth has outdone herself. Beltane is a fresh spring bouquet drenched in dew, sparkling in warm sunlight. I may very well use this as my Handfasting scent...unless Beth comes out with Litha, in which case it'll be a very tough call. Andra's right--it smells pink and green, and I will be wearing pale green and carrying pink flowers. This is how a faery resplendent in her bridal finery should smell. This is just magickal.

I *really* like Zombi, but not for the reasons I expected. I wanted it b/c I had heard it might be a bit like Havisham. It isn't, at least not on me, although the lovely dried-rose note would be appropriate for Miss H. herself. What was surprising is that both Brian and I got a strong iced tea note! He said it reminds him of Curve for Women perfume--which he likes b/c it's a bit unusual, as is Zombi. We agree it's gender-neutral; the dried rose fades into soft moss and earth quickly. And the curious iced-tea topnote, whatever may be creating that effect, makes it a surprise hit as a summer fragrance--perfect for chilling in your favorite graveyard hangout on a hot night.

High hopes for this one--I love my single-note rosewood, and all things Victorian. If you've tried Fleurs du Mal, there's the same touch of green floral, and that note in Eternal that I can only call "sad floral"--but Ouija is both spicier and rosier than either. Yet it's VERY soft--it is indeed "wispy", a sad but romantic ghost in a dusty old mansion. How does Beth capture these things?? She must have asked some Victorian spirits via her ouija board... Overall, I like it but it's too faint. I think I will layer with Rosewood for a little more oomph, since I seem to be smelling--appropriately enough--the ghost of a perfume...

Another poison scent! :bounce: Yes, I'm a wee bit morbid. Hopefully this one will wear better than Hemlock on me, although they are the same bright green in the vial. Whew! This one goes on so bitter it's a little scary. I love green florals, but I'm not getting floral nor earth here. Hmm. There's a teeny hint of floral on drydown, but it's like the "achingly beautiful woman" has smeared Vaporub all over her chest...I'm sure she's lovely, but it's a bit too, er, distracting. Drat. I was so hoping it would evoke the Stevie Nicks album of the same name. I appreciate getting to try it, but I think it'll be a re-swap.

I've been curious about this one, as it's the Lab's only frangipani blend thus far, and also because I have to try all of Beth's rose blends. Whew, it's a strong one! I can smell a thick sweetness before even opening the imp! Hm, it gets much less sweet on my skin--a faintly bitter-edged floral (it's almost a *lavender* hint, oddly) with an incense edge. Very interesting. I have no idea what frangipani smells like alone, but this reminds me of a less-sweet Sacred Whore, which is good since the heliotrope made that one unwearable for me. I'm not getting any rose yet, alas...maybe on the drydown. Edited to add: drat, Brian says I smell a bit old lady-ish. That's got to be the jasmine; I keep inadvertently running into it, because it's in so *many* of the floral blends, and it's about time I accept that it always goes bad on me. The rose never did appear. I appreciate my swapper letting me try this, but it'll be a re-swap!

Funny you mention that--I *just* discovered the creme version in a shop here after having hoarded some I bought at Ren Faire, like, 10 yrs. ago. I'm mad for it. I'll have to think about which BPAL matches and get back to you on that. Edited to add: Nadina's website says it's an "Exotic floral blend with a touch of sensual euphoria." Fat lot of help that is.

I am testing this one out in celebration of getting a lot of writing done today, so I already feel triumphant...but any random acquisition of money or success that might happen is welcome, too. This smells...clean and bright. A red-wine note slightly like in Wanda, but sweeter. Soft herbs around the edges, coming out more on the drydown. I have a mental image of raising a goblet to toast some major celebration. This one would be good for graduations as well as job interviews. This and Water of Notre Dame will be my most-used Voodoo blends, since I'm all about managing the stress...

[mental sound of The Cardigans singing, "Love me, love me! Say that you love me!" ] I really have no idea what to expect with this one--jasmine tends to hate me, but cinnamon loves me, and of course I may get something that smells like neither. Let's just say, I mainly hope it *works*. Pretty reddish-pink color in the vial; similar to Tintagel. :sniff: Ooo! The color isn't the only thing that's like Tintagel--hel-lo, dragon's blood and spicy cinnamon! Mm, florals and vanilla somewhere underneath; there's so much happening here, and it's all so feminine and spicy and sexy. I keep sniffing myself; what's *not* to love with this one?

I am wearing this to the theatre tonight, and it strikes me as a perfect spring Event-with-a-capital-E fragrance. The sweet pea comes out soft and lovely, but the sage makes it more formal and not too cutesy--it's an unexpected, distinctive edge. The musk is faint, just enough for depth. I feel feminine and fae wearing Aeval, which of course is exactly what I am usually shooting for.