cuervosueno

I just got a frimp of this in a swap with the wonderful Marlena. Thanks, sweetie! Yes, in the imp is is pure concord grape juice--not as sweet as grape candy, but more fresh juice. As soon as I put it on, the grape recedes and I get wisteria, that heady, haunting purple note. (which makes me think of my wisteria growing misadventures at 7500 ft. in NM. Let's just say this: it didn't survive). It smells more like wisteria to me than lilac, but who knows? the two are similiar, though I think of lilac as just a bit sweeter. I love BPAL's grape notes. Urd is a great favorite of mine, and this is the same grape. (And I never thought I liked grape as perfume until I tried BPAL). What I'm interested in this is if I sniff my arm from a certain angle it is all wisteria, but from another it is grape. So far, none of the other notes are making themselves known. No boozy notes, and no myhrr, though there is a base note I can't quite detect which is probably it. I don't smell violet, which is good because I don't much like it as a scent, but I really don't know if African violet smells like regular violets, though I don't remember my african violet plants being scented... I love the early stages, heady and rich, but after 10 minutes or so, that fades, and I do finally get the slight booziness of cognac. It also becomes drier....the orris I imagine. And at this stage it really is regal, unlike the spring-fever wildness of the scent when it is wet. I like it....but more in the wilder stage. I don't know if I'll keep the imp--I prefer the grape/patchouli of Urd--but I'm glad to have tried it, and I like it more than I thought I would.

I like foody scents, but for some reason, I didn't have a huge interest in this one. But I was given a sniffable amount in an imp when I was swapping for a bottle of Shanghai Tunnel, and then I found I was glad to get to try it. And it is gloriously foody. In the imp and on me it is the same--a boozy, burnt sugar scent with berries. I can see the comparison to Sugar Skull though this is way less....agressive....on me, and it does smell like baked berries (so much so that I'm wondering if I shouldn't make some blueberry muffins....not that this smells like blueberries, but blueberries are the only berries I have on hand at the moment! ) it does make me hungry! It's not buttery on me at all, and the berries are more a hint of berries than full on blackberry pie or anything. Mostly it is a boozy caramel scent with a hint of purple and a hint of spice. I do like it, and am glad I got to try it, but if I'd gotten a whole bottle I don't think I'd have kept it. It's not a scent I need to track down or anything, but it is tasty.

This is a very interesting scent that I really wanted to try, and was lucky enough to swap for. I wasn't sure I'd like it, but I did want to try it. the big surprise was that I actually like it quite a lot, though it is not a scent I thought I'd enjoy as much as I do. As an earlier reviewer noted, this is a fascinating scent and I also keep smelling my wrist obessively, trying to figure out what exactly is so interesting about it. I also find it morphs dramatically. In the bottle, Shangai Tunnel is green and slightly earthy and slight aquatic. It does smell like the moist green of the pacific northwest, though it most reminds me of the broken stems of plants (and I feel like I should know which plant but I just can't quite figure it out). And at some point there is a scent that I think might be one of the mosses that manages to smell like wet, mossy stone, which is quite nice. There is also something a bit sharp in it early on, and I can see why an earlier reviewer identified it as eucalyptus, though I don't think that's what it is. It is not quite that sharp and overwhelming. I tested it next to some essential oils: juniper, eucalyptus, myrtle and sage, and thought that it was closest to one of the last two, though it was hard for me to tell, especially sicne it is blended with other things, of course. In any case, at this early stage, it really does evoke a tunnel in a place of lush greenery. I also see why some reviewers thought it could be bamboo and/or green tea--there is something that hints of all those Asian moon scents. I get no pine at all, btw. What I love, though, is how that green scent contains a hint of sweetness that I keep sniffing and sniffing at. And after quite awhile--say a couple of hours--that green is completely gone and what I'm left with is a sweet core that is almost but not quite foody. It is the sweetness that has been there all along--the heart of the scent--that couldn't be reached until the green faded. It is quite lovely, and quite unexpected. Overall, I really like this. The mix of mossy green and the final hint of sweet (which is likely a combo of sandalwood and musk) is just wonderful.

I loved the first 13 so much that I didn't bother trying any of the others. Then I thought well, they really sound quite different, so why not? So far, I'm thinking I'll stick to my white label 13. What I was hoping for was spicy chocolate, like Mexican Hot Chocolate (I think someone mentioned that above?). What I got is....different. In the bottle when I open it, I get rich chocolate--yes, more like cocoa--which i like, but there is also something else in there--slightly fruity sweet, but not in a particularly good way. Then I put it on. Aacck! Chocolate soap! I'm not that crazy about soap scented like food, for some reason (though I can do lemon sometimes). So that isn't pleasing at all. Then the peach comes out pretty strongly, and though I like peach ok, I guess I never thought of it mixed with chocolate, and just like that doesn't really appeal to me tastewise, I don't much like the scent. Plus on me it is like fresh peach with chocolate soap, as if something very bad happened to my dessert, or either that and someone dropped some peaches into my bathtub with a bar of the chocolate soap from Villianess. either way, I'm not diggin' it. I'm still hoping for a real drydown that brings out chocolate and spice, but even if I do get it, I'm not sure I'm willing to go through peaches with chocolate soap to get the better part. Ah well. I have my original 13 and Velvet and Bliss and the Tell Tale Heart to get through my chocolate cravings, and I probably didn't need more chocolate anyway.

I like to review things right away, before I forget what they smell like, esp. if I may end up swapping them away. So Tristan: wood and something slightly herbaly and clean. It doesn't smell like rosewood (as a single note) per se, but it is a soft wood, if that makes sense. I'm not getting a lot of redwood either (which is sad, because that is one of the reasons I bought it. If anything, the sandalwod dominates, though it still softer than most sandalwood). I think the herbal scent is the mix of mint and coriander--it doesn't smell like either one particularly, but adds a nice soft green herbal note to this (whew! that was a lot of adjectives!). The lemon peel peeks out....adding to the clean scent. I don't get any tonka bean, but perhaps it is softening the wood some. I get no patchouli at all, sadly. There is also a hint of mint as it develops. I can see the chyphre comparisons--it does strike me a bit that way. And it would make a lovely scent on a man, esp. for summer--clean with enough woodiness to keep it grounded and not smelling like soap. All that said, I'm not sure it is for me. I prefer woody/earthy/resiny scents. I'll report back after it has been on more than 15 mins, but so far, I'm leaning towards not keeping this.

First, I must admit that I have no idea what this is for; I just want to know what they smell like. So when an option came up to get this in a swap, I did. This is a link to info on the Temple itself: OTO . Interesttingly, the first temple I came across was called Temple of the Scarlet Woman. When I open the imp, the first thing I note is a slightly minty note--maybe spearmint? But then it turns bitter. I'm not sure what the bitter scent is, though it is slightly familiar. It might be myhrr, though it also reminds me slightly of narcissus, which is a bitter scented bloom to my nose. Overall, I can't really decipher the notes in this, but it is a dark, bitter scent. Not for me--though it wouldn't be anyway since I don't follow this path. Still, I'm glad I tried it.

I really dislike most dirt scents because they always smell like......beets! as the reviewer above has noted. So awhile ago I got a frimp of this, sniffed it, said huh, dirt, and swapped it away. Then I got another frimp--as if it were a hint from the lab: put it on, don't just sniff it from the imp! So I did. And lo and behold....I like this! Vanilla dirt is a good way to describe it, though as others have noted, that's not quite it. It is like sweet, clean earth, like potting soil. And there is a slightly clean mushroom scent to it as well. But there is from the beginning, a hint of spicey vanilla, which is delicious. And like others, I found this scent oddly comforting, and put it on before I went to bed last night, so I could fall asleep to the earthy sweetness. When I woke up, I could still smell it, but all that was left was a slightly woody vanilla. It does smell like there might be a touch of wood in there--cedar shavings?--but mostly it is this earthy vanilla spice (and I love me some vanilla!) Final verdict? This morning I was pondering what to wear. I wanted something sweet and delicious. Bloody Mary? Velvet? Milk Moon? Then I thought I want that wierd-ass Death Cap! So that is what I think of it as: that wierd-ass Death Cap that actually smells good.

Wow, this is nothing like I expected, nothing like the reviews. Nothing like the Pumpkin Queen, which I love. Nor is it nutty or foody, though it does have a slightly sour but foody note in the bottle. On me, it is odd--both interesting and slightly repellent. That could be saffron--I dislike both the scent and flavor of it. I think i can smell chamomile too--its slightly grassy slightly herbal note. Frankly, I can't discern the amber--what I get is a resiny scent that could be a soft red musk (but is not). I also smell my beloved frankincense, but it is so far under the other notes it is buried. What I get is a slightly sour, slightly woody/herbal scent grounded with not enough sweet frankincense. I want more of that! A few hours later, what is left is amber and frankincense (in other words the resins) and I like that, but the fact is I have other resins scents that I like better. It is not at all fiery and proud enough for my interpretation of Leo, but.... I don't know if I'll keep this. Resins can deepen and morph, but I'm not sure I like this enough to wait for that.

From the last update, this was the one I waffled over the most. I was sure I'd love Leo and the Sportive Sun, and just had to have Witch Queen. But I kept thinking do I really need red moon too when it only sounds "meh"? Glad I got it--it is my favorite out of a not so successful order. First, a nod to Dawndie below: While I don't get the Litha comparison at all, I certainly see Glasya and orangetinis. The red musk makes this very like Glasya, and in the bottle, this is very strongly orange (though on me, the orange quickly disappears). I don't get the honey booziness of Litha at all, which is sad, because I adore Litha. At first I thought why keep this--it is just Glasya light. But now I'm rethinking that. It is red musk, with a soft addition of mild dragon's blood. I also smell some amber, and a bit of the lunar herbs. But mostly it is similiar to Glasya. I don't know how it will play in the end, but I doubt I'll keep both bottles--they are too similiar on my skin to need both. I wish I got heliotrope, but I don't. In the end, I like it, but am not swooning over it.

Cruel sun! how I wanted this to smell like a longer lasting version of Tarot: The Sun. I'd convinced myself it would--after all, it has heliotrope in it, and I'm sure The Sun does as well. And almond blossom sounds lovely and I love cedar. Amber is cool, and franginpani is a floral I'm ok with. So why, exactly, doesn't this work? I have no idea, but it goes soapy on me immediately. In the bottle it is lovely: cedar and something sweet and slightly nutty which I deem the almond flower. But on me--instant soap with the slightest hint of cedar. This was the one I most wanted from the last update, and I am not happy that it does not work on me. Ah well. Off to swaps this sun goes.

I read that first review right after I got my click and ship and so was eagerly awaiting my bottle of the Witch Queen. And I hoped that I wouldn't get the musky floral. Because I loved the description of this scent, and in my mind I though of something sort of like Madame Moriarity--rich plum and incense, with a heady dose beeswax and some white florals. Really, I got this because of the beeswax and incense. But I'm afraid my review is much like the first one: musky floral that almost smells like rose but not enough to gag me. Still, that's not at all what I wanted. There is a hint of the richness of beeswax if I huff it, but otherwise it isn't really there. It's mostly floral, with a slight soft incense note. Ok, think floral incense burning on an altar with a vase of fresh white flowers behind it, and you've got it. Witch Queen, I so wanted to love you, and was so convinced I would, but I can tell now this is not one I'll change my mind on. It is just too generic for me (and I don't mean generic in the regular world of perfume, I mean generic in that it it too similiar to other BPAL scents I've passed on).

Alicia Stardust is so right--this like fermented fruit juice in the bottle. Kind of red and tingly and like fermented fruit or a wine cooler. It's not bad in the bottle. However, as soon as I put it on, it went to a heavy perfumy scent. What happened to the fermented fruit? Where is the ketchup? This is soapy powdery on me the minute it hits my skin. Dryer sheets. that's what it is on me. This has been the first BPAL in a while that I knew was going to swaps immediately, no need for another try. Also the first one in awhile that I've wanted to wash off. Ah well.

When I read the description of this, I though now why would I want that? I don't like fruit scents. But because I'm greedy and want to try everything, I managed to get a decanted imp. Of course I loved it! To me, this opens up smelling like a cherry crisp--warmed brown suger strudel topping and lovely cherries. It's so delicious I want to lick my wrist after I put it on. Those brown sugar notes smell just like the top notes of Dia De Los Muertos 04 (for those of you who haven't tried that incarnation, it's a softer warmer burnt sugar than is in Sugar Skull. Of course DDLM 04 is my favorite BPAL ever, so this a great thing! After a bit the sugar notes fade, and I get fruit and creamy vanilla. It is so gorgeous I can't believe it, and like others have said, it's not like some other BPAL cherry notes. It's not cherry candy--it's fresh summer cherries. It has a lot of throw--I can smell the rich sweet cherry scent as a move around, but it isn't cloying at all. This is the first MonsterBait that worked on me, and also a scent that is making me realize I actually DO like some fruit scents. I adore this, and was very lucky to score a bottle.

Chesed is gorgeous, but it is pretty woody, so in the end I didn't get a bottle. But Hod! Oh, it is one of my favorite scents, so I snagged another bottle (and a bottle of Tarot: Judgement which is rich with red musk). Hod is carnation and vanilla and yes, probably amber....it is gorgeous and spicy and sweet and one of the few florals I truly truly love. I highly recommend it to anyone considering a Sephiroth. And like someone else said, if you end up not likley a sephiroth (or Tarot) then someone else will surely want to take it off your hands.

Yep, I agree. this is the nearly nonexistent scent as someone said below. Wet: a bit of chrysanthemum, honey and cream, with just a touch of citrus. I do get some soft yellow rose, and it doesn't bother me. (I am a serious rose-hater) Instead it blends with the other soft florals. This does seem like the soft yellow light of late-afternoon hitting the walls of a white painted room. I imagine sheer yellow curtains blowing in a breeze. It is very feminine, and suits the painting perfectly. It really is creamy golden and gorgeous, but so faint it just isn’t worth it. I don't think slathering would help on my skin, so I'm going to send it off to a better home.

Yup, there’s some rose in there. In case anyone was wondering. In the imp and wet this rose with something sour behind it, though I have no idea what the sour note could be. The next stage is rose soap. Finally it smells like crushed roses with a touch of soap and violet candy. Not my thing. But luckily for me, it fades fast!

I tried this at Will-Call once and thought I kind of liked it, but with so many scents on, I couldn't really tell. So I got an imp. In the imp--or on the wand rather--and when it is wet, I get treacle and apple cider. A burnt sugary note that is not as strong as in Sugar Skull, but is still foody, and there is a hint of alcohol, which to me smells like hard apple cider. I don't get any florals yet, though there is a non-foody sweetness that might be the "generic" posies. No carnations though, and I love carnations. I think I like regular Alice better.

Everyone was waxing so eloquently about the beauties of this scent, that I was really hesitent to be the first to disagree....So I'm glad I wasn't first! I knew from reading the notes this wasn't going to work on me, but one of my friends wanted to get it for an old flame of hers, so I ordered it for her. this was quite a good strategy because it meant I got to smell it, but not actually have to go through swapping what I knew wouldn't work on me. I love the art, and I love love love the ballad that goes with the description. It is one of my alltime faves, and I also love anything to do with selkies. But I don't love the perfume. At first, I had the water thing happen: nope, no smell at all. Then, something sweet and floral, but an old-fashioned kind of floral. (Like a grandmother, is what my friend said). And on me, it turned to dryer sheets in about 10 minutes. No honey. No dried grasses. Just honeysuckle perfumed soap. Or dryer sheets. This one definately was not for me.

I have an odd relationship with the milky bpal notes. I start out adoring them, wear them too much and get tired of them, swap them away then miss them again. That is what happened with Milk Moon 05. So I thought, I won't get this new incarnation. Sometimes pomegranite surprises me and works on me, but often it doesn't. I do like honey, but fig and date? Overall it sounded too fruity and the first reviews didn't inspire me. But then I felt like I'd missed out trying it, so I swapped for a bottle, and wouldn't you know? I love it! It starts out like sweetened condensed milk, milky and sweet with a just slightly sour note underneath it all, and I find all that appealing. Then the fruit kicks in big time. I smell like fruit cocktail custard! This sounds like a bad thing, but I find it quite appealing, actually. It seems to me this is how the ambrosia dessert should really be: not just canned fruit cocktail and marshmallows and whatever else is in it, but more a creamy custardy fruity dessert. I understand why people say it smells like a pineapple shake or a pina colada....while it doesn't smell exactly like those things, it does give off the tone of them. I get a bit of honey, and perhaps a bit of white grape, but other than the overwhelming creaminess from the milk scent, nothing else is distinct. That said, this has terrific throw, and lasts way longer than BPAL scents have on me lately. It is also both intoxicating and comforting: wearing it, I keep sniffing my wrist and thinking "delicious!" Yet I also don't feel I want to wear it out--it feels like a stay-at-home comfort scent. Will I keep the whole bottle? We'll see. but I'm quite glad I got it for now, and I really am enjoying it.

oh, I love me some copal. And vanilla. And black musk is nice, and sometimes I even like tobacco. I do not like lavender. And of course, on me and in the imp, it entirely dominates this blend. When I first smell it in the imp, and when I put it on, it seems like straight up lavender almost, though there is something making it a bit sweeter. When it dries, I get a hint of tobacco, and possibly copal. but now it is just a clean soapy lavender with something else to make it sweeter. Imagine someone who had bathed in lavender soap, and then had smoked a pipe of sweet tobacco. that's what I get from this. Which was, alas, not what I wanted.

In the imp, this is hyssop and honey with a touch of dusty saffron. I like BPAL honey notes, but I'm not crazy about hyssop, and in the imp this ends up smelling, well, sweaty. But on, it becomes creamy and complex. I get the sweetness of frankincense, but frankincense itself is not really standing out. Nor are any of the other notes. Instead, it is like a a layer of honey and cream over herbs, if that makes any sense. And that's not really right either--it's more like an exotic honeyed dessert that is going to be both sweet and savory. Really, it is like nothing I've ever smelled, and I'm very intrigued. It's a golden scent, with a bitter herb note underneath. Rather like something sweet that barely masks the taste of poison.

so I got the imp pack and tried this and the Smiling Spider first, and on me they are very similiar, though they don't share a lot of the same notes. And I like this better. They are both dark, dry scents on me, with a hint of spice and bitterness. Smiling Spider is sweeter, from the cloves I suspect. Still, the initial dark bitterness is the same in both of them. They are dusty black scents. This one turns heavily to vetiver, though, which is fine with me because I like vetiver. I get vetiver and a bitter spice, which I think is the cinnamon combined with the bitter almond. there is also the scorched smell, which makes this even darker. I don't get the mandarin or the sage, though there is a slight sweetness to this which could be the mandarin. Interesting scent....but I haven't decided yet what I think of it.

I got an imp pack of these new salons, and so I decided to try the ones I was most interested in at the same time. That meant Smiling Spider went on my left hand and Mad Meg on my right. I say that because in the imp these are very very similiar. A lot of bitter clove....that is definately the topnote. But this one is more clove than Mad Meg. I agree very much with Shelldoo....this is very true to what it smells like in the imp, and on me it is mostly clove cigarettes. I get clove and patchouli, and that's nice. Still, one of the things I like is the complexity of the Salons, and I'm afraid on me this one is not very complex. It does remind me of Count Dracula without the leather, so I suppose I like it more than the Count, but I'm not seriously enamored of it.

In the bottle: holy hell, that is some strong-ass pine. And yes, Terebinth pine (which is what turpentine comes from) with that clear-out-your-sinuses sharpness. This is not at all like BPAL's other pine scents, at least not the Yule ones that I love. That said, I like this. In the bottle and wet it is so sharp I think I'll never ever want to put this on. It smells like pine-tar soap. But on that sharpness fades, and I get a lovely foresty scent others are mentioning. Not winter forest, but summer forest: warm pine, the faintest hint of woodsmoke, and the sweetness of birch and cedar (not like a birch tree, but like the birch essence, with is lovely and almost root-beerish). I like this much more than I expected to.

I wanted to try this for the hops, mostly, because I love that bitter scent, and I hoped this would really feature it (like Roadhouse). it doesn't. when I opened my decanted imp, I thought holy shit what is that! I can't even describe it--it was just awful. I didn't really want to put it on, but I've been a BPALer too long think it would smell the same on me. Thankfully, it is different on, though I'm still not crazy about it. On it is tonka and cherry tobacco, mostly tobacco. No hops. It's like putting on a flannel shirt that belonged to someone who was smoking a pipe. Warm and fuzzy, but not really me.