tziporra

Oh goodness I don't even know how this is possible. Apple saves Coconut Tiare from Tropical Mess! Adds much needed freshness and tartness! This dusty powdery fig is just stunning in this blend, adding a woodsy note that grounds the whole confection. It's marvelous. What I love about these Apples is that they aren't reading FALL in some kind of spiced cider we've all been here before retread. This one especially is unexpected and very welcome. Tzi

Oh this is lovely of its type and I find myself thinking "maybe I _do_ want to wear incensey spicy scents after all." Very rarely do I decide that a scent is too masculine, but this one fits the bill. I would love to slather this on a date. I mostly get cinnamon and snuggly leather, with hints of cardamom. I can tell it has grounding sandalwood in there, but I never got any musk. Very heavy on spices, very warm and snuggly. Satan is clearly the kind of guy who likes to cuddle in front of a fire. Tzi

2015 This started out very promising in the decant - a very cool sparkling white musk and the lovely dry leaf note I adore. Alas, I think it's the "Amber incense" that mucks this up for me. It's much like Bastet or other primarily Amber blends on drydown. Cozy and vanillin and golden, which are all not things I wanted nor expected given the top notes and description. Could very well be someone else's bag. Tzi

I have fallen for exactly zero lunacies in my complete BPAL experience up to this one. Oh. It's so sexy. It's so very very sexy. Like riding a motorcycle behind a clove cigarette smoking, black leather jacket wearing, vanilla infused person of ambiguous gender on the way to dirty dance the night away and shoot whiskey for good measure. Insanely sexy. I cannot get enough. On me it dries down to much more innocuous sweet vanilla laced with the faint after effects of clove and that wild night. Gah. So glad I have this. Tzi

Source: Twilighteyes was sweet enough to trade me a partial, and I immediately dumped it over my hands. I get a lot of hay and apple and not very much cream, which is a relief because this accident could have been hugely headache inducing under different circumstances. I really love the hay note, and it marries so beautifully with the apple here. Instead of making it read FALL DAMNIT it's kind of a high end body product kind of apple. In fact, the entire scent really reminds me of this incredibly decadent Laura Mercier body cream I used to own with a light clean milk scent. Like that but with apples. Tzi

So much yes. This is the single note tobacco accord with all its sweet chewy caramely goodness married to a leaf pile and it's glorious. Along the same sweet leaf vein as World Where There are Octobers but with less danger of pancake syrup. Also, much easier to justify wearing than that TINY AMOUNT OF SINGLE NOTE TOBACCO I HAVE LEFT OH NOOOOOOS. I picked up a partial, and I'm certain I will be unable to resist buying another bottle it's just so very good. Easily my favorite weenie. Tzi

I just love the sweet dusty copal note of the lab, and it's especially lovely here with the sharp frankincense and, of course, dead leaves. It's a little cologney but in a very very good way. Spicy, snuggly, resin-y just yum. Managed to snag a partial bottle and am very happy I did. Tzi

Ugh. My oh so kind decanter of the 2015 carnivals sent me a sniffle of this one, which was enough oil for one very light application. And of course I'm in love, even though I'm not in a floral mood and this is ridiculously floral. Light and lovely and sweet and girly and just the perfect lilac and I'm totally in love. I hope this one comes back.... Tzi

I have a very good track record with the labs sarsaparilla note (I call them the root beer scents, but in a loving way. I'm a root beer nit), so I'm surprised when this one smells of paint thinner right out of the imp (decanted by Ralenth). Fortunately that lasts about a second and then I'm enveloped in the best of the root beer scents. Creamy but dark (patchouli thank you for being awesome) with a nice hit of the pine bark in the background. It's like a root beer float in the woods right after the rain when the soil is all loamy and rich smelling and oh goodness I love it. I'm getting a bottle even though I wanted to move toward more traditional perfumery scents because gah. Tzi ETA: I was perusing the above reviews (I try to write mine unaided) when it hit me that this is strongly in the So Below family because patch and coconut and assorted woodsy things. To my nose it's not as resiny or powdery as SB, and different enough to warrant its own bottle. But aficionados may take note.

Arrrrrrgggggggggggg. In the bottle, insanely beautiful. A little mojito-esque, what with that mint and honey going on. And the heady floral overtones. Just lovely. On my skin, not so much. First we muddle through the Horrible Tea Drydown which is the sour thing tea does on my skin that makes me want to cry. And then when we have made it through that we are left with an amped sugar note that is cloying in it's too muchness. Alas. I loooooooove this in the imp. Probably wonderful on everyone else but me. Tzi

There is a terrible moment in the dry-down of all tea scents on my skin. It's just sour yuck on me, unforgivably strong tea-ness. Theodosius is so good every other second, from the bottle, to the soft vanilla bergamot loveliness after, that I'm considering upgrading to a bottle anyway. I've been craving more "perfumey" scents from the lab, and this one fits the bill. The fougere reads like an upscale men's scent, perfectly blended, warmed with vanilla, sparkling with musk. It's really nice. I'm torn. More testing needed. Tzi

Yeah I mean it's fruity candy. Like woah fruity and sweet. Makes my teeth hurt. I'm not sure why I thought I would go for it.... Maybe because I'd had a run of lab fruits that really worked well on me. Not this though. It's just tooooooo. Tzi

Oh yeah, this is the juice....... (Source: imp decanted by Ralenth) Musk furred with leather and, er, fir. Traditional cologne but in the very best sense of the term. Woodsy, but without hint of pencil shavings or peanut butter. My first top favorite of my Carnival decants. Tzi

Black plum, dolorous vetiver, tobacco absolute, bourbon geranium, white sandalwood, ambrette seed, and Terebinth pine. Despite that long and delicious looking note list, on my skin it is all about the plum. This is a dark, plummy scent. With plums. And darkness. And a teensy whiff of Bourbon Geranium for good measure. It smells a little like Blot Upon the Earth, but without the Opium. I already have Blot. Ditto Blood Countess. I like all of these notes immensely, and I like all of them on my skin, but I already own so many similar scents that I really don't need this one. If you are short on dark plums, and you really like them, please try this! Tzi

So according to the description we have three notes. Lemon-silvered: you may be worried that you will smell like lemon pledge but I have the lemoniest pledged skin and I only get it for a second here. Do not fear the lemon Pear: note that I got the order wrong. It's intentional. The pear is lovely. It's not quite as sparkly and young as in something you'd find at the drugstore, but neither is it (on me) a spicy ripe fall pear. This is a sexy pear. A come hither pear. Likely because of Musk: oh heaven this is the best cleanest sexiest musk ever. And the wear time is foooooooooorever - I've been wearing it to bed which is ideal because I get some nice pear action in the evening while I'm falling asleep or, um, whatever, and then I wake up in the morning to seriously one of the best musks I've ever smelled. It's a lot like the Ava Luxe Oriental Musk which I am a huge fan of, but without any hint of plastic. Just insanely good. If you are a fan of clean musks I cannot recommend this highly enough. Love, Tzi

I bought a bottle of this unsniffed even though it sounded entirely too foods for me and could have been a cloying disaster on my skin. The cardamom convinced me, it's one of my favorite notes. And. Oh. It's so good. I used to have a light fruity apricot room spray that I adored. Very springy and fresh and wonderful. This is very much like that but ever so much better. It's just exactly how I want to smell when I want to smell like apricots. Which is more now than before I got this oil. A lot more. It's a definite perfumery apricot, well supported by the bourbon vanilla, and the cardamom keeps it from being cloying with a sweet spiciness. I just love it. I had not found a fruity fragrance from the lab that worked well on me, and in this update I got two! Love, Tzi

NOM. This is very much root beer (from the nutmeg) and leather and vanilla after the fashion of Tombstone and The Bow and Crown of Conquest, but I like it better than either of them (well, my bottle of Tombstone was absconded with by a friend, so I can't compare side by side, but I think I like it better. Anyway, I have this and I don't have that, so that's a plus). It has a moment of terrifying leather amp in the drydown but then it was all well behaved spiced carmelized vanilla soda with a nice floral depth added in for good measure to make it slightly less manly than Tombstone. 100% in for a bottle.

Huh, my experience with this is pretty radically different than the others listed here. I get a blast of peach blossom right out of the bottle and then it's all peach blossom all the time until I fall asleep. It's really much floral. Much, much floral. The kind of floral that is all flowers with not much else going on except MOAR FLOWERS. I'm a floral lover, but I have to have them grounded with a resin or a spice or a wood or something. This has none of that. Just florals. If you like straight flowers or fruity florals this might be your thing. I'm thinking Juliet here.

Very much on the same lines as Feed Me and Fill Me With Pleasure. It's not as _much_ as FMAFMWP though, if that makes any sense. It's rich dark sweet patchouli with vanilla supporting the whole the whole concoction. I admire it very much although it isn't something I will wear myself. I'm not amping the leather, so that is especially nice. Tzi

Noctiphobia is my favorite dark LE. Sheol is lovely from the GC. Tzi

Yeah, so, this is like Badgers on me but easier to wear (the leather in Badgers is _really_ thick on my skin, and while this is still a dense scent, I don't get the leather headache right away). I get leather on top, a nice warm vanilla, and carnation to mellow it out. Around the edges I can find the cedar, which also keeps the roundness of this scent in check and gives it a well defined edge. I didn't get lavender at all, but maybe I didn't thoroughly roll my bottle before applying. I always like the _idea_ of masculine leather scents more than I like the scents themselves. I collect them, I like them in the bottle, but on my skin the leather usually does give me a headache. Also, I'm a slatherer and over-applied leather is the worst. Bow is very leathery, but the other notes appear to keep it in check. Definitely a keeper, although we'll have to see if that is because of "collectibility" or real love. Tzi Eta: this is definitely reminiscent of Tombstone, which I am missing a bottle of, and which is in my top ten. I think this can just take it's place for now.

Wet on skin it's MINT which is funny because I bought my bottle at ECCC after skin testing it and finding it was all ANISE wet. I'm hopeful the anise will reappear with some aging, but I can definitely agree with all the itsmellslikeabsinthe wet crowd. Dry the soft veil of Victorian Oriental Perfume really comes to the fore in a spectacular fashion. This is a vintage perfume scent, perfectly backed up by laudanum. It's still airy and minty around the edges. On my skin this is really spectacular, and I'm so happy I found it. Definitely one I would never have guessed was going to be true love based on notes and reviews. It's very old fashioned, and you might find it grandmotherly if your grandmother has a love of absinthe and is still spectacularly beautiful (but still cuddly). Tzi

I tested this at ECCC right off the bat as it was the only scent on my "to try" list that was available to sample (boohoo). It is a very sweet peach. On my skin this peach is just no good. It's amping (so no magnolia, sad) and it isn't a juicy fresh peach, it's a waxy candle peach. I smell like waxed fruit. I'm beginning to think that I just can't wear stone fruits, they are all cloying and off smelling. I can imagine in my mind's nose a wonderful fresh sparkly sweet floral peach that I would love to wear, but my skin is just not cooperating. I'm sorry Josie. Tzi Eta: this does have wonderful throw and staying power to last through my attempt to wash it off.

Oh, hurray, I finally got to see what all the fuss was about! Tested (and purchased) at ECCC. Very sparkly "floral perfume" with smoke ringing the edges, supported by a lovely non-intrusive (ie no plastic cookies) vanilla and a hint of blondish leather. Just yum. Instant bottle buy, could not stop sniffing the back of my hand. If you like perfumerie scents with a twist, this one is 100% a winner. Tzi

What is this I don't even?!? Did I possibly get a mislabeled bottle? On the other hand, this was a blind purchase, so I have no idea what it's supposed to smell like except from the above reviews. This is butchest sapphic scene I could have imagined. In the bottle it's straight cologne. On my skin I start to amp a note that rings the "Irish Spring" alarm bell, and if I wasn't sitting here with the note list in front of me I would have said, "woah there is a lot of moss in this". But I can see there is NO MOSS. I also would have said, "this is a lot like Nuages Gris on my skin, but more masculine." But I can see that this and Nuages Gris share NO NOTES. I'm so confused. Anyway, on my skin this a very green but not herbal cologne. I really really like it (and my husband is going to adore it, he always wants me to smell like a boy), but it is exactly nothing like I expected. Tzi