LiberAmoris

Like the goddess, Kali goes on fierce, with many well-blended notes throbbing for attention—and then it suddenly softens and turns into a tempered floral that seems to rise off the skin. I was reminded of Kali’s four arms: one which holds aloft a bloody sword, one that grips a severed head, one bent in posture of fearlessness, and the last which proffers a warm and welcoming motherly grace. On my skin, the oil goes through much the same cycle. It is first a warrior and destroyer of ignorance with the flood of scents that appear after application. Most prominent to me at this stage was the cassia, lotus, chocolate, balsam, and honey (in that order). Then it shifts and becomes a hazy glowing scent that seems to envelop me with its protection and favor. At this stage I smell the honey, chocolate, rose, and cassis most strongly. Kali has garnered compliments from unexpected quarters: a total stranger on the train, my boyfriend (who usually thinks that everything I wear smells like a ‘spicy cookie’ WTF?!), and a scent-oblivious ex-coworker who has been known to drink milk way past the expiry date. Not sure about the last one, perhaps that should cancel out one of the other compliments? Regardless, Kali is beautiful. I’ve already ordered a bottle so I can go through the destruction/creation cycle at my leisure.

O is truly what others have said: grippingly sweet with an undercurrent of sexual venom. It’s fantastic for days when I want a scent that’s not too complex or overpowering. Wearing O is like donning something luminous and powerfully attractant. But it’s also one of my favorite BPAL blenders. It lends warmth and kind of ambered glow to almost everything I layer it with.

Sin has officially rocketed into my top ten. There’s not one element in it that I don’t love: sandalwood, patchouli, amber, cinnamon, yum! It reminds me of Nag Champa and homemade root beer---and for those Lush fans in the house, there’s something about Sin that is reminiscent of Karma (perhaps the sweetened patchouli?). Whatever it is, it’s delectable. This one hangs onto my skin until I wash it off. It’s one of the longest-lasting BPAL oils I’ve tried. And it is awesome layered with O. Sin is In!

I was so delighted when I put Bruja on for the first time this morning, because it has that sexy BPAL amber base that I love. Dry, it smells like Haunted or Snake Oil with lilac instead of lemon or honey. And it shares the same dusting of spices I find so tasty in Sin. It’s delightful. In short, if you like Snake Oil, Haunted, and Sin---and you like lilac---Bruja might be for you.

When first applied, this one has a whoosh of mint and what I think is lotus, as it's almost melony. There's a touch of something slightly medicinal and a twist of dill which usually means there's some rose in the blend (sometimes my skin turns rose into a pickle). Once it dries, the mint evaporates and I get an herby rose, like a rose bush growing in the center of an herb (dill and mint) garden. It's better than it sounds. The herbs keep the rose from being too sweet or simple. As for its voodoo capabilities, I have felt a 'youthful sense of fun today. ' But more than that, I've felt very 'solid,' with people coming to me for reassurance or compassion which I then find I have more than ample resources to give. So I think there might be something to it.

Old Morocco has turned out to be one of the blends I go to when I want comforting, along with Velvet and Bordello. It is sexy in a bedroom eyes sort of way. But it’s also tremendously mellow. There’s nothing sharp or jarring about it and the golden spices simmer on the skin but don’t demand overt attention. I put it on at night when I get home from work and the most amazing blend of buttery carnation and what smells like hazelnut/vanilla lulls me into a relaxed state, usually against my will. I love it.

This is a sprightly blend that uses oakmoss really nicely. Oakmoss seems to usually be used as a base anchor note, but here it’s given equal time with the peach and it adds a downy green note that can be appreciated in itself. On my skin, the peach blossoms and unfurls over the oakmoss and musk, leaving me with the overall impression of a clean, springtime breeze. It also smells to me like the inside of a branch when it’s twisted and the green moist marrow is exposed and wrung of its scent. It’s very fae and very light, although it lasts and lasts on my skin. So far, it’s one of my favorite BPAL fruity florals.

Jezebel smells to me like O with flowers. The base is that same warm ambered honey I like in O, but Jezebel adds the rose and orange blossom. And what a difference it makes. To me, this is absolutely heavenly. It smells like nectar. And unlike O, this one sticks around on my skin. The honey note was most predominant on my skin, with orange blossom, sandalwood and rose following in that order. It was a little powdery but it didn’t distract from the beauty of the scent. Overall, it’s very polished and feminine, and would be just as appropriate for a hot date as it would be for a business meeting. It’s truly lovely. ETA: I'll definitely use up the imp and consider getting a bottle!

Brimstone in the vial smells incendiary, like liquid smoke. It’s dark and pungently sharp and undeniably powerful. It’s like the air from the Underworld. I’ve been waiting for the right mood to carry off this oil, but then I realized that might not happen anytime soon. So this morning I decided to be brave and apply it to my skin. When I dragged the applicator across my wrist it was as if I had drawn the olfactory equivalent of a searing trail of sulphurous fire across myself. I smelled coals and smoldering ashes. There’s grit to it too, like basalt or some other kind of volcanic rock. For the first hour it chuffed off a grey haze of smoke. Then, suddenly, it mellowed a little and I was able to detect notes beneath the smoke. It was like inhaling a carboniferous cloud from an outdoor fire and smelling what went into the fire—what the fire was built with. There were some wood notes and something that almost registered as sweetness, something tangy like sap. So far the scent has lasted 6+ hours and it’s still going strong. At one point today I thought I smelled a BBQ, and then I realized it was me. My boyfriend said it reminded him of Iceland’s Mount Hekla. All in all, this is not an oil I’d wear again, but it’s amazing all the same. It’s like being cast into the fabled lake of fire and brimstone—disturbing and unsettling in the best possible way. I’m so glad I had an opportunity to try it.

Like Perversion, Hamadryad, and Kali, this blend was one that literally made me utter out loud: I have never smelled anything like this before. For no other reason, I feel so lucky to have sampled The Red Queen, because it is a testament to the quality of BPAL oils and Beth’s innovative formulation. The Red Queen is truly bright red berries and fresh hewn mahogany. It reminds me of a nice mahogany chess set on a table under a window pooled with sunlight, next to a glass of dark red wine. It’s an extremely evocative scent. On my skin, the smallest dab from the imp sent the odor throbbing through the room, and it was gorgeous. But in the end, I think I’ll enjoy it best as a room scent, as it carries so nicely on the air.

Like Hunger, this one was almost overwhelming sweet on me (must be the orange blossom). Like another reviewer, I smelled Sweet Tarts, or more specifically, a powdery sweet tart-type lollipop I used to get after swim lessons when I was a kid. Also, I smell ylang ylang for some reason, though it must be the patchouli. Regardless, I think I’ve decided that blends with orange blossom are too strong on my skin. I will keep the imp, though, simply because this is the first BPAL blend to evoke childhood memories for me (I thought it would never happen!).

Today I took a bath with some Karma stuff, then dusted off with the Karma powder and applied Seraglio. Mmmmmmm....they are so good together. They aren't so much a direct match as they are complimentary. Karma provides the great base of patchouli and orange and Seraglio adds a polish of rose and spices. I highly recommend it!

I know I'm in the far minority here, but Dana O'Shee didn't impress me that much. It smells just like the fragrance oil my friend uses to make her Oatmeal, Milk & Honey soaps (which aren't my favorite either). On my skin, it has that definite play-doh smell, and something plastic-y, underneath the almonds. It wasn't something I wanted to run and wash off, but I wasn't impelled to finish off the imp, either. I gave it to a friend who absolutely adores it.

“Yet Giovanni's fancy must have grown morbid, while he looked down into the garden; for the impression which the fair stranger made upon him was as if here were another flower, the human sister of those vegetable ones, as beautiful as they--more beautiful than the richest of them--but still to be touched only with a glove, nor to be approached without a mask." ---from Rappaccini's Daughter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne There was a time when I thought I could not wear roses. An otherwise singularly lovely junior high school teacher wore a single note of rose perfume every day; it was so strong that you could smell it 20 minutes after she left the room. But if there’s anything BPAL has taught me, it’s that rose is delightful when blended artfully. Blood Rose is amazing to me. The rose is so perfectly balanced with the darker, berried notes. The first day I wore it, I was reminded of Hawthorne’s classic short story Rappaccini's Daughter. Blood Rose for me is that blend of the beautiful and the vicious. I love it and I have officially put it on my Big Bottle for Slathering Purposes list.

On me, Hunger started out as a heavy, over-the-top cloying floral and never dried down to a scent I was comfortable with. It's so sweet to my nose that it reminds me of a Pikaki perfume that my aunt brought back from Hawaii---that gave me headaches. However, I layered this one with Velvet and it really took down the sweetness a few notches. Now all I get is chocolate orange and sandalwood, with the occasional waft of the once-overpowering orange blossom. I don't know if I would wear Hunger again on its own, but I'll keep the imp for wearing with my beloved Velvet.

If you like Hot Toddy, you might also like Hellcat. They are very complimentary.

My review for Bayou is long overdue. I got a freebie imp of this in my first order and wasn't immediately attracted to it, even though I lived in New Orleans for a year and have nothing but the fondest memories of the place. Then one day I decided to try it on a whim. Wow. The name made me think it would have swampy overtones, but this is a straight-up aquatic floral to my nose, very feminine and complex. It's turned out to be one of my favorites, never failing to lift my spirits with its classy, polished, verdant finish. There's something humid and sexy about Bayou that does remind me of New Orleans nights, and this would be a perfect fragrance for a Mardi Gras ball or even just a night out at Miss Mae's, drinking $3 whiskeys.

The description of Bordello was so evocative that I was dying to try it. Before I even uncorked the imp I was conjuring up every image of a southern gothic cathouse I had tucked away in my brain from films with lavish production budgets: pink and maroon striped wallpaper, artfully asymmetrical lines of drying lingerie, blood-red carpeting, mahogany paneling, and dark-eyed ladies lounging about in corsets, petticoats, and dressing gowns falling off the shoulders. Bordello did not disappoint my imagination. In the vial and when first applied to my skin, I smell brandied cherries. As it dries, the amaretto really emerges and mingles in a sultry way. The end result for me was a sweet, post-coital berry with a spanking of dark liqueur. It was like Bon Vivant’s darker sister, and is the first predominantly berry BPAL scent that I think I’d be willing to commit to a big bottle of.

Cathedral and Anne Bonny smell very similar to me, although AB is a touch sweeter and has that 'salty wood note' that many have mentioned. But both have the same base of resiny/incensey wood notes, at least to my nose.

The Caterpillar and Alice looked at each other for some time in silence: at last the Caterpillar took the hookah out of its mouth, and addressed her in a languid sleepy voice. “Who are you?” said the Caterpillar. This was not an encouraging opening for a conversation. Alice replied, rather shyly, “I--I hardly know, sir, just at present--at least I know who I was when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed several times since then.” I was expecting to like The Caterpillar, because so far I’ve loved all of the incensey scents I’ve tried, but this far exceeded my expectations. It’s definitely a shape-shifter on my skin, starting out with a riot of florals suspended over a carpet of moss, patchouli, and vetiver. Once it dries down, it smells just like what I imagine the underbelly of a caterpillar to smell like: grasses, earth, and a throng of sweet florals. In particular, I can smell the carnation and jasmine---yummy! This lasts all day on me and makes me smell like I’ve been tramping about in the woods. I’ll definitely get a big bottle of this when my imp runs dry.

In Depraved there’s the deep, rich smell of earth turned up underfoot (patchouli) and a sweetness that’s both innocent and knowing (apricot). Together, they smell more to me like a longing for depravity than depravity achieved. If I sniff my arm, I get the smell of pencil shavings, but the waft is of a crushed apricot dredged in moist, dark soil. There’s something incredibly sexy and tangible about this scent that reminds me of a summer I spent misbehaving with a guy I worked with at the local pool. When the sun went down, we would drive to the woods where we would climb to a platform in the trees that overlooked an enormous waterfall. In Depraved I can smell the same mixture of wood and the warm current of sweetness given off by skin. Now I'm going to have to try Imp!

This was another freebie that the Lab threw in with my last order---they are so generous. I’m ecstatic that I got the chance to try this, because I probably would never have ordered it on my own based on the description. This is one of the most unusual and original of the BPAL oils I’ve tried so far---I can honestly say that I’ve never smelled anything like it. It reminded me of downing Hot Toddies in a certain Irish bar in New Orleans that I used to frequent. There’s a sweet rum note, a touch of tropical coconut, a swirl of smoky pipe tobacco and a sexy smack of leather. It’s another one of Elizabeth’s blends that can match my mood perfectly when I apply it, always ready to comfort, stimulate, or simply warm me with its presence. I added my imp to a small jar of coconut oil, and use it to slather myself silly when the mood strikes me.

This was a freebie from the Lab with my last order---thank you! When I uncorked this imp, I thought: It’s Strawberry Shortcake gone boozing! Dee-lightful! On my skin, though, the smell of the strawberry itself was lost amongst the sweetness of the champagne, and it ended up being too cloying for me. I passed it on to a friend for whom the strawberry is foregrounded, and she adores it.

Tempest to me smells like the Shakespearean island from the eponymous play. It’s like the smell of the water carried in the wind after the storm. It’s filled with the odors of crushed verdure and a brush stroke of citrus from a storm-bruised orange grove Prospero planted to remind him of his Italian homeland. I get all of that and the open ozone note that makes the floral and citrus bloom on my skin and cast their nets wide. This is a very clean fragrance, but to my nose the citrus keeps the scent from entering ‘dryer sheet’ territory. I’m not sure I’ll be buying a larger bottle but I will use up the imp I have and then consider getting another one in the spring.

Although Veil is a complex floral and masterfully blended, on my skin all I could detect is the high, bracing, overpoweringly antiseptic smell of lavender essential oil. It was unrelenting and did not evolve the way Elizabeth’s other blends have on my skin. It’s clearly my chemistry, though, as it smelled delightful in the vial. This fragrance would probably be a good match for fans of lavender e.o. or fans of essential oil blends in general. In the vial I could smell a tantalizing tangle of violet, lilac, and gardenia and on the right person I can imagine it would be a knock-out.