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I am madly in love with this scent. It smells like a fresh nectarine and the skin musk and oakmoss create the perfect undertone. I wouldn't classify it as aquatic because that description makes me think of ozone and cologne, but it does have a watery element. Loses a bit of the magic on drydown (the nectarine becomes more perfumey than fruity)... I think I will have to get a bottle so I can slather this.

I've always loved this painting so I was hoping to love the scent as well, but it's not really doing much for me. It's a light aquatic with a very subtle mint undertone. I'm not getting any overt honey, which is fine because I like the idea of honey but not the reality. It's a lovely, subtle aquatic scent but not distinctive enough to tempt me into a bottle.

I tested this one on my skin and on fabric, because BPAL vanilla and cream generally don't work well with my chemistry. The wintergreen note is very prominent. It does go away after a while and I'm left with a sharp plastic vanilla on my skin. Typical. Occasionally it morphs into something that reminds me of a delicious vanilla chai, but it's fleeting. On the fabric the vanilla works much better. I definitely see a similarity to Snake Oil, but with more vanilla and less spice. It's still more sharp than creamy though. I think that's the saffron. I'm glad I got a decant of this. I would have been tempted to buy a bottle in the hope it would actually smell like vanilla, cream and saffron, but it wasn't to be.

The acai berry is the strongest note by far, with Snake Oil lurking underneath. It's almost overpowering at first, and not like any other berry I've ever encountered, but it seems to get a positive reaction from others. I'm not really getting any cardamom or neroli, though it's possible the neroli is in there sharpening up the berry. I was hoping to get a lot more smoked vanilla, but it just seems to peek out on drydown. I'll be keeping my bottle, but it's a scent I only feel like wearing now and then.

I bought this scent because I was hoping it would smell like wet earth and I am certainly not disappointed! I have to be careful not to apply too much of this, because it can be almost too overpowering when wet... it kind of makes me panic, like I've just stuck my head in a bag of potting mix and the Legionnaires’ disease is invading my lungs. Okay that makes it sound bad but it's really fabulous, in moderation! At first all I can notice is the wet soil and cypress, but the drydown is lovely. It gets softer, a tad sweeter (I think that's the orchid). The smell of soil remains, it's just less prominent. Premature Burial has great staying power. I was still getting whiffs of it at least 9 hours after application, which is unusual for me. This is definitely my favourite acquisition of the last few months!

This is my favourite pumpkin blend by far! (ok, I've only tried three or four in total...) The notes complement each other so well, it's hard to pick them out individually. The overall impression is spiced pumpkin with amber. It doesn't strike me as a foody scent, it's almost like my ideal heavy "oriental" fragrance, but I never dreamed that pumpkin would be part of that... I don't any cardamom, which is unusual as it usually pops out for me in a blend. The orange peel and mandarin is only there if I really concentrate. It just adds a bit of brightness to the scent. The ginger is there, but not overpowering the way it is in Gingerbread Poppet or Shub. Maybe I just prefer "red" ginger. Pumpkin Queen is remarkably strong. It only requires a dab to be noticeable, and lasts for ages. After a shower and a good night's sleep I could still smell pumpkin.

Sweet brandy, dark rum, heavy cream, sugar, and a dash of nutmeg. Water, saponified free-trade palm kernal oil, coconut oil, soy oil, shea butter, jojoba oil, castor oil, Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab perfume oil, and turmeric powder. I opened this soap for the first time today. The bar is the colour of milk chocolate blended with cream. I don't think the scent should have deteriorated since it has been in plastic the whole time, but it is very light. Can't smell it at all from more than an inch away. I've never tried Egg Nog in oil form, so I can't say how similar the scent is. I mostly smell sweet cream, maybe a hint of brandy. The smell of the soap oils themselves are at least as prominent as the fragrance. The scent is quite hard to notice while lathering, or indeed while sniffing, so needless to say it does not linger on the skin. The texture of the soap is very smooth and creamy, though it's definitely not moisturising. The main reason I chose this scent was because I was on the fence about getting Egg Nog...but I don't think I have any more idea about what the oil smells like than I did before!

Tanin'iver is definitely the closest GC scent I've found to Red Phoenix. I'm wearing both of them now to compare. Although, bizarrely, Tanin'iver is smelling more like the Red Phoenix I remember than Red Phoenix does... I guess my bottle is quite old by now, and it's a bit less fruity than it used to be. Now that they've dried down they smell very similar, the main difference seems to be the tobacco in RP. I would classify Midnight Kiss as the same general "type" of scent but I find it's dominated by the cocoa and blood wine note, which is quite different to the spicy incense with red fruit that is my main impression of both Tanin'iver and Red Phoenix.

mmm.. someone put chocolate syrup in my Snake Oil... The chocolatey goodness disappears fairly quickly on my skin though. I'm left with the barest hint of rice milk and the teakwood blending in with the Snake Oil spices. The Snake Oil in Boomslang is more prominent than it is in the other Snake Pits I've tried. It's definitely the most noticeable aspect of the scent, both wet and dry. This is really lovely, but not distinctive enough to be one of my favourites. Too similar too Snake Oil, and if I wanted cocoa in particular I would choose a few scents over this. I'll probably start wearing it instead of Snake Oil, as Boomslang works better on my skin.

Spirits of the Dead seems like a fresh green tea, with an almost citrusy tang. It's a very light scent, and doesn't take long to fade down almost completely on me. I'm guessing the papyrus is the last note to linger, because the only thing I can smell after it's been dry a while is paper!

Green Phoenix is the lightest BPAL I've come across in a while... it doesn't seem to have a lot of strength or throw. And it disappears on me really quickly. Not even the musk seems to linger. Which is unfortunate, because I adore it! It's wonderfully clean and refreshing and extraordinarily well balanced. I can pick out most of the notes (papaya, yay!), and it doesn't seem like one or two are dominating. That's quite unusual, especially for mint which I find tends to overwhelm a blend, at least initially, or not show up at all. I'm glad my fear that the scent would be hijacked by grass and/or sage was unwarranted. I may actually end up using up the entire bottle (which would be a first!). Much slathering is required. Oh yeah, and the label art is gorgeous. It looks like all the recent Phoenixes have stunning artwork, but this is the only one I have

I wouldn't have expected it from the description, but I think this may be the chocolate scent that works best on me. When it's wet, the patchouli is quite overpowering... but the drydown is a rich chocolate. Definitely more chocolate than cocoa. It does remind me a bit of Bliss, but Bliss went very plastic on my skin. Tezcatlipoca just smells like.... chocolate.... I never thought I'd find a scent that actually did that. I'm not sure why I'm not getting more of the other notes. Either they're all blending in to form a rich backdrop to the cocoa, or my skin chemistry has done something right for once!

Midnight Kiss reminds me of both Blood Kiss and Centzon Totochtin; it smells like spicy cocoa and bloody wine. The drydown is dominated by sandalwood and patchouli, but the throw is still juicy and red. I'm enjoying it but I don't think I need more than an imp.

Blackberry and lime rind are very noticeable in this blend, but I am also getting cat pee... and sniffing it is causing me to cough and it feels harder to breathe... eek! I've never had that reaction before. The herbal/berry/citrus combination is very interesting, but I think the negatives are just a bit too much for me to handle.

oooh this is my new favourite summer scent! At first Yemaya is all melon, but as the melon recedes the grape and moss provide more complexity. It's more tangy-sweet than sugar-sweet, which is great. I don't usually buy GC bottles unsniffed, but I'm really glad I got this one.

In the bottle, it smells like pure chocolate... Then I sniffed it again a few seconds later and it smells like pure coffee. On my skin, it smells like the same coffee note from Miskatonic University, which doesn't greatly resemble coffee on me... It actually reminds me of waffle cones or something like that. The throw is all chocolate, and it's probably my favourite BPAL chocolate yet. At first I don't smell any cinnamon at all, which is a good thing as I have plenty of cinnamon scents already, and so far this hasn't made my skin red like most of those do. The cinnamon peeks out a bit on the drydown, which is like a light dusting of cinnamon and sugar. I was expecting it to smell a bit like plastic, as foody BPAL often does on me. I think the coffee is trying to do that, but isn't quite succeeding. Yay! Verdict: delicious!

I was induced to get hold of this one in the hope that 'Black Pearl without the sunscreen' was an accurate description. In the bottle, there is an almost red berry type smell, but other than that it smells a lot like Black Pearl. It is a stronger scent than Black Pearl, and the blood musk seems to be the most prominent note on me, with the orris and coconut blending together in the background. I'm definitely not picking up any sunscreen! It doesn't seem to have a lot of throw, which is fine with me as it's a wonderful skin scent that I will be wearing all year round.

In the imp, and when first applied, Juke Joint is a sweet and refreshing mint but unfortunately the drydown on me is kind of like I spilled bourbon on myself. Kind of grotty. The initial burst of scent is lovely though.

Sniffing from the bottle, Vasakasajja makes me think of Dr John Seward. So that must be the champaca flower dominating (they also share tonka, but I don't think that's what I'm noticing here). Wet on my skin, the champaca is still strong but the other florals make an appearance. After a few minutes the vanilla and musk kick in, and temper the florals with sweetness and depth. The champaca flower definitely works a lot better for me in this blend than it did in Dr John Seward. I find it rather bitter, but Vasakasajja's other sweet ingredients balance it out nicely. On drydown, vanilla seems to be the most prominent note, and it's a lovely creamy vanilla. I think that must be the tonka helping it out. I used to think I loved vanilla, but I eventually realised it's a bit too sugary for me usually, and tonka is more like my idea of what vanilla should be. Vasakasajja is a beautiful and romantic blend. I don't wear a lot of florals, and it is closer to a typical commercial perfume than I generally like my BPAL to be, but I can definitely find a place for this one.

I've been on the fence about Milk Moon 2007 for a while. The only reason I bought it at all was because of FIG! but I can detect no fig whatsoever. None! Okay, I never get as much fig as I want, but usually there will be at least a tantalising whiff... but nothing.. I think it's overpowered by the honey and other 3 fruits. So minus fig, there's not a lot left for me to like. Honey has never worked for me, nor milk, and the addition of something sharp like grape to milk and honey that are already not working on me is just not right at all. So I can see what a lot of other people were saying about the sickly effect of this combination... And yet... I wore it on my birthday even when I thought it was kinda iffy. And then I didn't sell it off when I was culling my collection. So there must be something perversely appealing about it. I tried it again today for the first time in months and I think aging has helped. When first applied, the milk actually smells milky and not in a gross way. However, it also disappears really quickly which leaves the honey and grapes/dates predominant. Still no fig . I don't love the way the honey is playing out on me, but the sour/nauseating aspect that it first had seems to be subdued, and I am enjoying the fruitiness. I don't think it smells like pineapple but there is definitely a tropical fruit aspect to it.

I love this. I wasn't expecting to, but maybe that's because I couldn't really tell what it would smell like from the description. I can't pick out a lot of individual notes, but it really is the perfect spring scent. It has greenery, sweet creaminess, florals, and they all balance wonderfully. The florals are like fresh outdoorsy florals, not the usual perfume floral at all. I don't actually know what a daffodil smells like, but this what I would have imagined. There's a really "sunny" aspect to it, and the cream and honey notes round out the more plant-like aspects. (when I say honey note, it's not like the usual "BPAL Honey" note, it's a more subtle sweetness that I'm guessing is meant to be the honey cake) It has quite good staying power considering it's a relatively light scent (well, usually it does, today it actually disappeared fairly quickly..) I will keep wearing this regularly since it's spring in Australia at the moment. It really makes me feel at one with the season!

I was really hoping for noticeable plum, but I can only detect a hint of it if I sniff really close to my skin. In the imp, I can detect beeswax and incense, but on my skin it's mainly ylang ylang and tuberose, with a sharpness to it, which is exactly what I don't want.

This reminds me of a fizzy drink that I can't quite place. But it also smells like dusty parchment. A strange combination, but not as unpleasant as my description makes it sound. It's actually really nice, but I don't think I'd wear it much.

Really ridiculous, insanely inappropriate, and staggeringly silly! Cranky groundhog musk sweetened up by chocolate-covered black cherries, cardamom, French vanilla, and caramel. I'm glad I gave this one a chance to age a bit. A few months ago I was not very impressed.. it just smelled like another version of MB:Underbed to me, kinda like a cinnamon biscuit. A few days ago I decided to give it another shot and I could smell the chocolately goodness wafting around me. The cherries only seem to peek out occasionally, but I'm very happy with this one and will be wearing it more often. Boys seem fond of it as well Oh, and this doesn't irritate my skin at all (so far, fingers crossed!) unlike Underbed. (edited to add description)

I really liked this one at first, sweet berry with complexity to it.. but then I wore it to work one day and my incorrigibly blunt coworker enquired 'why could I smell salt and vinegar as soon as you walked in here?'. hmm maybe it's the wine note.