Vampy

Not sure if it's been suggested yet, but Priala the Human Phoenix (from CD) packs a wallop of myrrh. (It also packs a wallop of cinnamon, so if you don't like cinnamon that might be out...) It's very sweet and spicy and just a touch soapy on my skin. To me myrrh is bitter-sweet, where as frankincense is more just plain sweet. If you're interested in trying some frankincense blends, Magus and Hymn are both pretty heavy on it.

Dominantly amber (of course,) very warm, with a musky undertone. There's a hint of some kind of wood, I think, but it's so faint I can't place what it is. There's also a slightly earthy note, like there's just a hint of patchouli or something similar. Light golden spices, and a definite note of tea. Yes, tea. I don't get the extreme dryness that a lot of folks seem to be getting from this blend (probably because to my nose that tea scent I'm picking up reminds me of, well, drinking tea.) A very warm and bright scent, a good pick-me-uper. To my nose it's unisex, but I can see the musky note coming off as masculine to some.

This is dominantly clove and camphor on me, which sounds unpleasant but it isn't. There's a backdrop of lavender and cinnamon. It's very soothing and pleasant, if somewhat medicinal smelling. As far as effectiveness, my experience has been inconclusive either way, but if nothing else it certainly is effective as simple aromatherapy - the scent soothes frazzled nerves and sullenness, the camphor clears the sinuses a bit and gives a cooling sensation. I have the sense of being a cranky and feverish and over-stimulated child, and I've just been given my favorite teddy and a cool drink.

I was wary of this one, because although I like burning actual dragon's blood resin, all of the dragon's blood blends from bpal I'd tried so far excepting Bloodlust went sickly sweet and headache inducing on me. Bloodlust was the sticky, warm and mellow dragon's blood that I know and love, but I had given up on finding another DB winner amongst bpal blends. Well, I was very pleasantly surprised. When I first sniffed the vial, I was more baffled than anything - lightly spiced cherry cough syrup. Not unpleasant, exactly, but odd, and not really something I want to smell like. It was in fact a very hot smell, though I'd be hard-pressed to put my finger on why, as it isn't very spicy - just bright and hot. Then I tried it on, and as soon as it dried, there was that glorious mellow dragon's blood scent. Joy! It's almost all dragon's blood, with just a faint background of other smells rounding it out. There's a faint whiff of clove or possibly carnation, and a faint whiff of something like cherry - it might be almond essence. Maybe a touch of cinnamon? If so, it's very light. The overall effect of the scent is intense heat, without being particularly spicy. The only thing I really have to complain about scent-wise is that it doesn't last very long or have very much throw on me. One thing I noticed about this blend though - it seems to make me a little jittery. This might merely be because lately I have been a little jittery in general (I have generalized anxiety disorder and sometimes it's worse than others,) and that the pure heat of the smell is just agitating me more than my nerves can really stand atm. I'm a little sad that I finally found another bpal dragon's blood scent that I love, and it's discontinued.

I haven't had any skin reactions to any bpal/tals except Hand of Hermes, - and that's only when I apply too much of it - the cinnamon burns in too large a quantity, but the burning dissipates quickly. (The first time this happened I had the most amusing red splotch between my eyes. ) But I have a lot of respiratory allergies - almost any commercial perfume will make my nose stuff up and give me an awful headache. Some bpals give me a problem - I have to be very cautious with anything floral (though some florals don't bother me.) And for some reason, when vanilla is mixed in almost any perfume, it goes very unpleasant and headache inducing on me. I can't fathom why, as I have some pure vanilla diluted in jojoba, and it smells lovely to me. I know the synthetic vanillas commercial companies use are awful, but I think bpal uses natural vanilla...

Anyone suggested Ahathoor for summer yet? It's not really a STRONG cinnamon note, but it's distinct to my nose, and it's a very summery scent - it smells just like the summer sun. Sin is delicious for winter.

Hmm. This blend is odd. I don't really care for the scent. It's not awful, but it's got a hint of something that smells like bpal's dragon's blood note - (can it possibly be? the oil isn't red at all!) - and bpal's dragon's blood note is just kind of sickly sweet on me. If this isn't dragon's blood I'm smelling in here, whatever it is is off-putting in the same way. But... for some reason, even though I don't like the smell much, it calms me every time I smell it. It's the oddest thing. I get a similar effect from taking a fourth of a dose of Ativan. I would think it psychosomatic, but usually if I don't like a smell, any reputed "therapeutic" effects just don't happen, because well, I just can't stand the scent - but this seems to work anyway. Huh. I'll definately be using the imp I got, though I don't know whether I'll be getting a bottle.

A very pleasant scent, nothing really super-special to me, but it is distinctly mood lifting, and very appropriate to the card. Very bright and cheerful and purposeful. The dominant note is, of course, orange, I think both of the bitter and sweet varieties - and I think it's rounded out by a few other citruses, lemon and bergamot maybe? There's also a distinct, smooth frankincense underlining the whole thing. Maybe a hint of amber, but I'm not sure on that. There's just a touch of something sweetly floral, maybe the heliotrope others are getting? It's not very strong on me, though (which is odd, considering florals usually amp on my skin.) And, this might be my imagination, but somehow I get a slight hint of smoky cedar. This reminds me of Ahathoor, but it's both less powdery-sweet and less smoky, more pure bright citrus.

In the bottle: OH HAI. My anise. Let me show you it. It's a sweet anise scent, though, not bitter like absinthe. Very bright, too - I get the impression of glowing light. On skin, wet: Black licorice jelly beans. Srsly. It's got maybe a touch of sweet orange at the edges - like someone ate all the decent non-black jellybeans but forgot a few orange ones. I do not find this smell unpleasant, but this isn't exactly what I was hoping for... Drydown: The licorice dies down enough to let a little cedar smokiness come through, and meeeebe lil' hint of frankincense and pine? But it's still dominantly black jellybeans. So much so that the boy tried to eat my arm. (He's an oddball and adores black jellybeans.) It doesn't last long either - an hour, maybe two. Overall, it's a nice smelling thing, I definitely don't dislike it, but it's not what I was hoping for based on reading the reviews. I was kind of hoping for less sweetness, less anise, and more woodsiness and resin. It does have an energy to it, a sense of purpose and a touch of mystery, I'll give it that. I got strong color associations with this one - inky black and dark green, sort of glowing around the edges. Incidentally, a friend was visiting and she tried it on as well - on her, it started out with the black jellybeans, and quickly morphed into... root beer. You could still smell the jellybeans a bit - we decided someone had left a pile of black jellybeans by a big mug of root beer. Then after a while the cedar started coming up through it, and we decided someone had knocked the root beer over all over the nice cedar coffee table.

Oh dear. I tried Debauchery, which is supposedly pretty heavy on the dreaded civet, and didn't get any poo notes or anything from it, so I wasn't worried about the civet... And in the vial, it does smell wonderful. There's a sweet, boozy top-note, which I find immensely appropriate, a heavy earthy-musky background, and something hot and bright. Perhaps a thin thread of something smoky. I really like it in the vial. On me, wet, the boozy note gets stronger, with a sort of nose-tickling, bubbly edge. Then it dries and... er... baby powder and dirty diapers. I'm going to try this again later, just to make sure my chemistry or sense of smell isn't just funky atm, but... This isn't working as a skin scent, I think. ETA 7/21/07: It actually doesn't turn out as bad now, a week later, but there is still a whiff of the baby powder and poo thing going on. :\ I'd try it as a room scent but I don't know if I really want something that musky (or of this particular symbolism for that matter) suffusing a whole room. alkdsjfdl;jfk damn it.

Oh, wow. This is just - just! Gorgeous! I didn't expect to like this one, as florals aren't usually my thing, but it's one of my favorite tarot cards so I bought a half an imp from a decant circle anyway. Now I'm hoping I can find some more of it somewhere! In the vial it smells cool and glowing and white, a pleasant gentle floral mix, and something that actually makes the inside of my nose a little cold, but it's faint enough I can't identify it - a touch of anise? mint? I'm not sure. I still wasn't trusting it, as florals are apt to go splodey on my skin into headache inducing awfulness. I put just a little on, and it went splodey, but not in a bad way at all - oh, it was like nectar, so watery and sweet it made me want to DRINK it. Fortunately I abstained. I'm not familiar with that many florals, so I can't name all what's in here - I am sure, however, that the dominant note on my skin smells like honeysuckle. It starts out creamy white and morphs to nectary water, making me think of a burbling stream with moonlight shining on it. LOVE.

Oh no. Oh no. Why didn't anyone tell me this smelled so much like Scheherezade?! It smells like Scheherezade's gorgeous and aggressive older brother. In the vial, it smelled strongly of patchouli - almost too strongly, in fact - but as soon as I put it on it began a rapid morphing into a much stronger, darker version of Scheherezade. And where Scheherezade is dry, this has a certain "juiciness" about it. I really can't pick any notes out for certain besides patchouli. It all just sort of morphs together into this spicy, incensy, sultry browness. Oh god. You guys. I have only half an imp of this.

Oh no, I think I really like this... I'm surprised I like it so much, considering foody scents aren't really my thing, and this is kinda foody. But it's just so unusual - and my problem with foody scents is that they're just so common, I mean, if I want to smell a cookie I could just make some, right? But this is a very unique scent. The minty cold hits you first, then the creamy coconut underneath, almost buttery. I'm smelling just a touch of something floral, I think? I didn't smell the citrus that other people were getting the first time I tested it, but after that it came out fairly strongly - a lemon-lime blend, I'm guessing. (One moment I'll be sure it's lime, the next I'll be sure it's lemon.) It's lightly sweet, but not too sweet - no sticky sugary-ness from this. It's so fresh and cool it makes a wonderful summer scent. This is really lovely, and oddly comforting. And... And now I can't get anymore...

When I first put this on there's a sharp citrus-splashed tea scent - the pennyroyal, I think. As it dries I start smelling the lavender and the musk. It's an odd clash of heaviness and airiness, the thick musk and the high-pitched herbals. Pleasant, but very odd. Over time the musk gradually blooms until it's actually a little overly strong for my tastes - some musks do that on me. It stops just short of headache-inducing, but I'll have to be sparing with this one. The oddest thing, though. After about 15 minutes I went and took a nap, and when I woke up, it smelled like...... Sweet sugary cake? Yeah, a powdered-sugar dusted, rich, sweet cake, combined with dark musk. This hatter is pretty mad, all right. Many people said it was very masculine, but to me it came off as very gender neutral.

Got this as a frimp off another bpaler. When I first smelled it it was just for a brief sniff before I moved on to testing the thing I'd actually bought, and all I thought was - "hmm, this smells nice, but I bet it's going to turn bad on my skin." Later on before I tried it on my skin I looked up the notes and thought, "Rose. Oh damn. That's why." I like the way roses smell. I even like the scent of rose on me, when it's subtle - but see, rose just doesn't do subtle on me. Ooooh no. Rose can only scream and whack me over the head with its thorny branches. Like some bitchy primadonna, she will not share attention with any other notes, and she will screech at you until you'd rather just cut off the offending appendage that she has taken over rather than deal with that headache-inducing smell any longer. So, given that it does smell quite nice in the bottle, and I really love resinous scents... I take a chance and dab a tiny bit on anyway. The resins underneath the florals create a beautiful backdrop; it actually makes me smile for a moment, it's such a peaceful, lovely smell. Soon, the rose dominates as I expected, but at first it wasn't screaming in my face - it was a quiet, unassuming rose, damp and lovely. But that was just an evil ruse to get my hopes up. Because after about ten minutes - AAAAAAH ROSE ROSE ROSEEEEEE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD GET IT OFF ME. Headache inducing old lady rose soap. I CRY. I think I might give this a try as a room scent or something - it is a beautiful scent. It's too bad rose is my mortal enemy.

A'arab Zaraq The Ravens of Dispersion. Rampant lust, self-indulgence, covetousness, lost chastity. Governed by Ba'al, Lord of the Eastern Kingdom of Hell. Very rich, and very sweet. In the bottle, musk, sweet, spice. First impression on skin was spice and sweet resins - amber and myrrh, maybe? Then a woody scent came out, but I couldn't identify the wood for certain - probably a mix, then, I'm guessing, maybe sandalwood and cedar. Then a rich darkness came out, almost like chocolate. Then it all settled down into a very sweet, heady musk with a touch of something like good pipe tobacco - it's almost a little too heady for me, because though it's pleasant smelling, I can only take so much musk before I get a headache. I think it's a blend of several musks, because it gives me several impressions; it reminds me of both the musk in Coyote (though that could just be from the tobacco I seem to be picking up) and the red musk in Anne Bonny. This scent morphs a lot on me, more than most do. It's very sweet, but not in a girly way at all. It's pretty unisex, bordering on masculine. Visual impression: Dark, glowing red and orange on a black background. I tried this straight immediately upon getting it out of the mailbox, and thus the oil was kinda warm from the summer heat - I'll have to try it again later to make sure it behaves the same way when cool. Current verdict is, I like it quite a lot but will have to be sparing with it to avoid musk-induced headaches. eta 8/17/07 - Went a while without using this again, as I had so many new things to try, but I came back to it today. I was thinking that maybe my chemistry was wonky when I first tried this, because the musk in everything was flaring up overbearingly, even my standard favorites. (It didn't help that when I first tried this, I unintentionally slathered it all over the back of my hand...) It's still very musky, but not quite so overbearing. It's also spicier, prickling in my nose, and though still quite sweet, not quite as sweet as when I first tried it. I like it better now - I may like it even better than my Golachab, which is kind of sad, seeing as I have two 10mls of Golachab and only an imp of this...

Wow. It really smells just like a hurricane. Or at least, the way hurricanes smell here on the south-east coast. The green chlorophyll and pine-tar smell of splatted leaves and pine needles, broken, rain-soaked wood and rot, and sodden earth, and a tinge of salt water. Somehow it manages to capture the wild, ozone filled winds of the actual storm and the sun coming out and and shining on the destruction on the morning after. It's pure genius. Makes my hair stand on end and my bones itch with the need to go run out in the rain and wind.

WOW! How strange! I got this as a freebie and tried it on just now, and I couldn't remember the notes in it - and when I looked it up, I was shocked to see it said civet! This is the first time I've tried anything with a civet note, and I've been dying of curiosity due to all the cries of "CAT PISS!" or "DOG SHIT!" whenever people review civet scents. Now I'm blinking and wondering where all the piss and shit is... It smells pretty darn good on me - familiar in ways I can't quite put my finger on. I know there's a spice note that Scherezade shares, but it's not got that feminine aura at all. It's very unmistakably masculine. Wet, it has a strong men's cologne edge, underlaid by some sort of incense - an incense I just know I've smelled before, an Indian variety I think. The cologne smell softens as it dries down and the incense comes out stronger - the Scherezade similarity intensifies somewhat as well, but it still doesn't smell feminine. I think it's the musky smell that pervades it - I'm assuming that's the civet, but the spicy incense smells are far more intense than the musk. As I sit here typing this review it's mellowing out more and more, becoming almost soft. I get the image of a very large and dangerous cat purring sleepily. It seems I'm one of the few, but I really like this.

I get very good throw from Sin, Snake oil, and Fae.

This smell saddened me, because it was beautiful at first, but then went to a vague, department store bath powder on me. Florals are the bane of my existence. At least it didn't turn into something heinous and headache-inducing, as a lot of florals do on me. Before it went to bath powder, it was a lovely, pleasantly powdery purple smell, very solemn and romantic. Gave me visions of a pale young woman in a white silk shift, standing in a green, breezy field under moonlight.

LOVE. THIS. Seems a lot of people are comparing it to snake oil - I don't get that at all, though I do like both. In the bottle: The same gritty, resinous, dark earthiness that I smell in Aureus and Cathedral, and swirling, musky spice. On skin, wet: Resinous smell dies down, but is still there; patchouli amps up, and cinnamon comes out to play. Fiery, musky, dark. On skin, dry: ...Smells like sex. No, literally. I get a uncannily realistic, human sexual musk smell, strongly underscoring a dry, spicy incense. I'm guessing this is due to my chemistry's reaction to amber combined with the black patchouli. It is incredibly sexy, calling to mind rough sex in a dark room full of incense smoke - though I must admit, the realism of the sex smell is unsettling! Over time: Dries down to a drier, fierier scent, the sexy musk not gone but faded to something understated. The cinnamon, which had died down a bit, is stronger again, as is the sandalwood. This one changes a lot and often on me, but every stage seems to smell just as luscious as the last. And oddly, when the boy tried it on (intrigued by my description of it smelling like sex), it smelled totally different on him, though no less wonderful. His was much less of a sex musk and much more of an intensely fiery incense smell, the cinnamon flaring up on him as the VERY dominant note.

I like this, but I wish I got a little more patchouli out of it and a little less vanilla. My skin always amps vanilla, and I'm rather sensitive to it (gives me a headache if it's too strong,) so I'll only be able to wear this in very small amounts. Those who said it was like a milder snake oil are right, I think - it's got that smoky sweetness, but less overpoweringly sweet. I get VANILLA in all caps, with a dark, tart fruitiness underscoring it, and just a breath of musky patchouli and smoke.

Cathedral = Aureus with extra frankincense and something spicy that bites in the back of my throat. Lovely scent, warm and glowing like a candle. Odd thing is it not only smells like the resinous blend, but also like the charcoal that it's burning on. Don't know yet whether I like it or Aureus better, I think it will take a few wearings to decide.

Oh, my, this is so lovely. It smells so much like a little trinket and occult shop nearby where I live. Very dry, wafting incenses and spices and a breath of musk. It feels soft to the senses, like a gauze curtain blown by a breeze caressing your cheek. Oh dear, I think I'm going to be needing a bottle of this too...

Fae has white musk, and is overall a very bright white scent. Kind of mysterious and irridecent. (Hah - I just suggested Fae two threads in a row, how odd.)