PrinceofcatS

This is very, very bright, very clear white lily. (Which is funny, because in real life cobra lilies look like alien snakes. But real life voodoo lilies smell like dead body, so.) I agree with the above posters that reference it as strong, grounded, not powdery, not soapy, and not particularly long-lasting, but a pure and lovely lily. This isn't the exact way I like my lily note - the drydown stage of Voodoo Lily would be that - but I've found this layers perfectly with every scent I've ever sniffed and thought, "Hm, kind of want a lily in there."

I really just get pale lemon, pale sandalwood.... and soap. Sandalwood doesn't generally go soapy on me, but in this one it definitely did. I wouldn't say it smelled like lemon floor cleaner, it was definitely recognizeably pefume smells, but with a strong, undeniable soapiness overtaking everything. From what i recall from wearing it in the warmer weather, it didn't go soapy on me then, but it was also a paler smell. I got listless out of it then - it wasn't a scent for me, but I'm sure it is for somebody.

A friend of mine sent me her old imp of this. I'm so sorry to see it's discontinued; I'm not sure I'd purchase a bottle of this or not, but it's pretty enough that I wish i had the option. I don't get too much jasmine from this, but I'm not familiar enough with honeysuckle (or buttercup) to know for sure what they are. It does have a warm skin scent to it. Someone mentioned it smells like baby shampoo, and I honestly get that! It's like a clean, floral-bathed skin, but it doesn't smell like baby powder on me. It isn't as fresh as I'd like, but that might be its age. I'm not certain what buttercup smells like, but there's a plainish, warm floral in this that's not the sharpness of jasmine and doesn't seem to be honeysuckle to me, and that's the predominant scent. This really does manage to be maternal and spring-time-y; it's not the kind of floral I generally go for at all (I gather I like stuff that induces headache for other people!) and, if it were still around, I'd definitely recommend it to anyone who wanted to like a floral scent but had had poor luck with sharp, noisy blends.

This smells heavenly but has a bitter sadness to it. Sandalwood always reminds me of perfumey tears and beachwood a little bit, and even though there's no water to this, the flowers + this scent really make it smell like the topic of a woman drowning herself for love. The lab's neroli note doesn't always work on me, but this one seems to go wonderfully with the other two notes. The main floral note, which I assume is ylang ylang, is incredibly sweet, warmed and enriched by the sandalwood, and I keep inhaling it deeply. This isn't something I'd normally wear, but it's very atmospheric and beautiful.

2015: I wanted to love this, but it's all cold green appley sap with a faint rosewater background that, on me, stays cold green sap until the whole thing becomes nearly undetectable for the rest of the wear time. I'm really, really hoping that aging will bring out more rose to this. I love the idea of a dewy green rose, but, well, I wanted some rose. There's no rose on me whatsoever. And I'm heartbroken because while I love the other rose blends from the Lab, I was dying for a scent that was all rose.

Thank you so much, this is so comprehensive - a couple of your recommendations were already things I was thinking about trying, and looking the others up they sound like things i would love! I've tried Spellbound, and I agree it's similar to Lucille, but it seems like red musk mostly doesn't agree with me, so I passed the imp on to a friend who will hopefully enjoy it more.

I only just started purchasing from BPAL again after a six year hiatus, but I haven't purchased any imps yet - I've only bought from collections - so I would love some general collection recommendations if anyone has any! My favorites are: 1. Egle 2. A Young Woman Appealing To a Witch 3. Leanan Sidhe 4. Lady Una 5. Lucille Sharpe I warred with putting Voodoo Lily on here, which I got as a frimp with my Crimson Peak order and ended up wearing more than anything in the order, but it's pretty basic. eta: I get along with a wide variety of scents, but I really hate patchouli.

This is a Halloweenie, I apologize! But it's come out a few years so it might come back, and you might be able to find a bottle online, but on me, I swear The Vampire Bride has the exact same base as Morocco, plus a little bit of a chilly dark-green vine note laid over it. A friend of mine has said the frequent Yule scent Rose Red (out now) has the same rose scent as Two, Five and Seven. Based on your other interests, I'd recommend Maiden (white tea, carnation and rose), because it's a light, almost spicy, delicate but rich rose scent, and Penny Dreadful, which is one of my all-time favorites - it's like a spices-laden women's perfume in red grave loam, which sounds vile, but is in fact THE BEST. I also think you would like Belle Epoque ("Sweet opium, Lily of the Valley, vanilla, mandarin and red sandalwood"). And depending on your budget, the scents from the Crimson Peak collection Between Your Heart and Mine and The Waltz might appeal to you - they both have a rosewood, vanilla and white rose base, iirc, but The Waltz also has amber and "champagne musk" (on me, champagney musk, truly warm and musky and not at all soapy like champagnes usually go on me). eta: Lucy's Kiss! This is "the gentle scent of rose and a blend of Victorian spices".

A friend sent me her decant of this and I need a bottle. Agreeing with the reviewer above who said their bottle is very old; my decant is from 2009. This is a truly ethereal and fairyish blend. It's a sparkling, bright honey with a hint of something almost berry, almost green, but not quite either - it does remind me of a field of blackberry bushes in the sunlight: sun-dappled, but thick with shadows. The honey isn't down to earth, thick and smeary like my other honeys - it's got an almost white, supernatural glow to it. Also serves as a reminder that if something's disappointing instead of actually awful, letting it age might be wise!

Years and years later, but I figured I'd post a review anyway. A friend passed this on to me as a Christmas present and I'm in love with it. When first applied it smells like the most dazzling collection of light, but heady, wildflowers - I can't pick out every note, but I do get daffodil, one of my absolute favorite scents. The first time I wore it I could barely sniff any honey out and then it blossomed over time into a pure, thick, sticky honey smell that lasted for hours on me. The second time, I wore less, and the honey remained light, almost "pale" and floral, and the flowers stayed on the skin. It's a versatile and beautiful scent and I expect it layers well, though I haven't tried that yet.

The reviews of this vary so much! I agree with the earlier person above me who said it smells like lavender and Ivory soap. I didn't find this soapy in the sense that is usually meant by that phrase, but it does smell just like a bar of drugstore soap now that I've read someone say that. I really want to love this, but I think lavender might not be a scent i enjoy, and while I love jasmine and honeysuckle I can't really smell them. It's all lavender and soap for me. Though I do think there's a similar note to this as there is in Mata Hari (which I enjoy), so maybe that is jasmine I'm picking up and it just doesn't work for me in this blend. I'm going to give it to a friend who may like it more.

The sun-bright flare of all-consuming passion: a ravenous yellow crème. I love yellow, it's easily one of my favorite colors, but even I wasn't sure if this would be a particularly wearable one (so I got two of the other Edith colors alongside it). Well, this is a BEAUTY. It was opaque with two coats (any streakiness is me sucking at applying it) and is the perfect dead center between cool and warm tones. Bright, rich and beautiful. I would even say this was worth 14 dollars! If their regular polishes are this wonderful they are more than worth ten. I might have to pick up some more colors really. (Pardon my terrible nails and cuticles! I work in a stockroom and my nails always look terrible. I can't judge the wear time of this or any other polish either because nothing can withstand the trashing my nails get from work, unfortunately.)

A semi-sheer, elegant lace shimmer. Socialite applies like a perfect dream and is paler and whiter as a sheer than, say, Essie Mademoiselle, but is still very much in that nude category. However, this has an ethereal light glitter or shimmer that reminds me a little bit of snow. I only applied one coat as its leaning toward whiteness made me fear it would get drastically more opaque and white with another coat, which is really unflattering on my skin color. The glimmer effect was hard to capture, but it's very pretty and makes my nails look glassy and, well, polished.

This was the scent I wanted most from the Weenies, and I received it from a dear friend as a Christmas gift. I was eager to put it on and I haven't been disappointed. The closest scent I have to this idea is Alice, and this is similar in execution, but with very different notes: rose and myrrh blend with honey and cream against an herby, sweet grass backdrop that smells like that stage in autumn when everything's going yellow but still smells very much alive when you're outside in the brush. It was very well-blended, and I wouldn't say I picked up any single scent above the rest, but I could definitely tell I was getting honeyed, creamy flowers against that wild dying greenery background. It also lasted forever and had great throw, and never went soapy or powdery on me. A Christmas miracle, maybe? The sweet scents and the boggy scents balance each other out beautifully. I felt this wore exactly like its description, which was wonderful; if anyone really wanted this i hope they manage to nab it before they're gone!

This goes on frozen blackcurrant with a faintly woody, very cold snowy background. It has an almost fizzy, bubbly, chilly smell to it that reminds me of elderflower liqueur but doesn't fall into a lemon-lime soda scent, thankfully. As it dries later the resins make it shadowy and velvety and the blackcurrant gets a little sweeter, but not quite unfrozen. It's quite pretty and feels a little fairy-esque, but it's never particularly complex. January 17th, 2016: I'm so disappointed saying this, but this has gone soapy on me every time I've worn this since. I don't know what I'm doing wrong! It was so nice the first time. >:{ February 22, 2016: I'm wearing this for the first time in about a month with some trepidation, and it's lovely! my skin is so weird. It still starts out "frozen blackcurrant" - i recognize now the same ice/snow note that's in The Snow Maiden mixing with blackcurrant - then softens into sweet blackcurrant and velvety resins/woods again. I think I am glad I got this.

wet: Sharp, wet, starkly chilly snow that feels kind of piney, but not in a forest sort of way, along with the unmistakable scent of an old house with a huge hole in the roof, the floorboards rotting away into being earth again. It stays this scent for a long while, maybe an hour. It's not particularly feminine, and I was like "well, i don't know what else i expected"; it's not a bad smell, but I'm not used to things where that sharp wet scent lasts after the oil has technically dried. I saw a lot of reviews about how this didn't smell like decay and I'm baffled as to what people think decay smells like. I assume people think decay and they think mold wallpapering a wet wall indoors or something, or rotten garbage? This does smell exactly like a decaying wooden house left to the elements. Trust me on this one. dry (hours later): The decay note is warm and almost... spicy, but in an herbal-ish sort of way, a little bit like sawdust. It reminds me a little bit of the loam in Penny Dreadful, but not quite, so I assume it was the red clay. The chill is surprisingly not entirely gone and it has a distinctively soft white floral. I think this is common to the snow note, actually, but it's rather pretty. So it's Allerdale Hall in the early stage, and Allerdale Hall with Edith walking the hallways after it's dried down considerably. I agree that this feels like a Yule scent. It actually feels more like a Yule scent than any of the Yules I bought, which is a little sad for me. ETA: Those white flowers were definitely accompanied by a vanilla note, since, HOURS later, vanilla is almost all I smell. A slightly nuanced vanilla, but how strange to think it died down to that! This is a really unusual scent that could only have come out of this story and perfect expresses not only the house, but Edith too.

I got this as a free imp and I'm really glad I did, because I may have to purchase a bottle of this. I literally got this with the purchase of six Crimson Peak scents and I've worn it more than I've worn any of those scents, even though those scents are gorgeous. When it first goes on, it's a spicy, almost syrupy floral. Everyone's said cinnamon, but I don't get anything out of it but carnation. Truly, I really hate carnation, even though it's a scent, and a strong one, in a lot of scents I do love (like, say, Alice or Maiden). That lily is in the background, though, and the carnation stage only lasts the first hour - then it fades into a warm, sweet, soft white lily that I wouldn't describe as sultry, sexy, spicy or any other hypersexualizied, exotifying term. It actually makes me feel like a secluded, solitary girl in a white dress reading by candlelight or some other thing. I'd also say that this scent lasts a really, ridiculously long time on me, which I adore.

I get grapefruit, white tea and ginger from this when it's first drying, and a faintly soapy floral note that is probably apple blossom. Not complex, or especially me, but clean and pretty. Then the scent vanished pretty much entirely from my skin. I still get a faint soapiness and grapefruit, but I am not impressed. I've wanted to try this a long time so I'm glad I got this as a free sample, though.

Strong vanilla, almost an edible vanilla, that leaned a touch powdery at first, and thankfully didn't tip over the edge into baby powder like I feared it might. Underneath was something that smelled almost like dusty, preventing it from actually being very food-y. As it dried the sandalwood and amber came out quite a bit more, and the oudh started to show up, but very lightly, but vanilla was always a dominant note. Eventually it was just a bit of amber and the darker oudh vying with vanilla, and by now it's faded into vanilla and amber with just a little shadow. It developed a lot, from a light, rather cloying sweetness into a stronger and darker blend, but the sweet strong vanilla note was always there. I find this very fitting for Edith and for the upcoming long winter nights. It just has that sort of feel to it. I've been really impressed with the CP scents! I regret not managing to get a couple of the ones that sold out, but I'm impatient to get more of them before they all disappear. They've all had a lot more complexity and beauty than I was expecting, and only one of them was disappointing on me.

At first all I got was Champagne + Musk, then some rosewood began to come out. I assumed that, like Between Your Heart and Mine, rosewood would overpower the other scents, but it's been on for about an hour and the white rose has really come to the fore in a lovely way. I really don't get much if any vanilla though, and the very light, almost dry champagne note (which at first leaned rather soapy on me) is still fairly strong. The amber in the background adds something bright, and keeps the cool and dry scents from being one-dimensional on me. This is another scent that's weirdly more of a "normal" perfume than anything else I've tried from BPAL. There seem to be a lot in the collection that feel like that. All that said, this is softer and lovelier than most perfumes are, in my experience - it's very light and gentle, but still strong-willed. ETA: The vanilla eventually came forward; the champagne and musk notes never really left, but I'm not sure the white rose is still here. Anyway, an unusual and lovely scent!

The earlier reviewers all got strong rose out of it, and in the bottle it smelled like freshly cut roses and nothing else to me, so I was quite shocked when I put it on and almost solely smelled rosewood! As it dried, notes of rose came out. A little while in I could get hints of vanilla, but it smells like old-books vanillin, not like a creamy, sweet and edible vanilla at all. I'm very surprised with this one. I'll have to think about how I like it, because rose and vanilla with wood in the background sounded lovely, but this is a rather bookish scent - light swirls of wood and poring over old books, with the floral notes pretty firmly wrapped with the wood notes. I think it is very perfectly Edith Cushing with all that in mind, but not the creamy rose I hoped for. Edited, five months later! I wondered if maybe this had aged a little bit (or rather, hoped!) but it really seems to have! I put it on and got all rosewood at first, but then the rose and then the vanilla came out in full force, with the wood underneath them. I'm glad I kept it, because I had been very disappointed and almost got rid of it multiple times.

I'm unbelievably lazy so here is the review I posted on my blog: Immediately on, it smells like an equal blend of clove and leather. This was a relief to me, as my past experience with leather scents has been a very intense leather, which tends to make them too masculine for me. (I feel bad saying this? I don’t think scents should be gendered, but here I am, gendering them. Sigh.) Nonetheless, I really like leather as a scent, and was excited to try this one; clove, another scent you wouldn’t think of as soft or feminine, really does soften up this leather. As with my first sniff of it in the bottle, it’s prominently leather but not the kind of leather that says “genre: western”. This is leather so old and so softened by time and use it doesn’t squeak or shine anymore. It’s barely been on the skin a few minutes when a richly sweet, but still rather light, element comes in, and something that I swear smells green on me. I think this might be the white sandalwood in part, but it comes off creamy, fresh and somehow green. Then as time goes on the leather becomes a bit more straightforward, but still not overpowering or masculine. I swear there’s like a white musk, white flowers note in this, but there’s no such thing in the description! I suppose it could just be the amber, which I always find to be a beautiful scent. This is a clean and fresh scent dirtied by the faint clove and the leather. I hate to be that person, but this scent feels incredibly apt for the moment in the film it’s representative of. I didn’t snag a bottle of Thomas, but I can’t honestly picture any other blend of notes embodying this character this well. This scent is the innocence of someone who fundamentally stopped developing in childhood, the worn leather of clothes he can’t afford to get repaired and the dust and wood of a workshop alive with mad hope - and at the farthest edges, the darkness of what must be done for this dream encroaches. But also it just smells really really good on me so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

A lot of people compared this one to velvet, and that honestly sounds like hyperbole when you read it, but somehow it's really fitting. It started off intensely sweet, but not thickly or cloyingly so, not girlish or edible - a blend of rose and plum that was extremely beautiful. That dipped down really fast on me, like a door shut on it, and I could still smell it underneath as other notes came forward - so their "faded roses" description was quite apt. At this point I could detect the lily note, which was so light but still so sweet. Amber is a very beautiful scent on me and grounds scents very well, I find. I don't know how to describe it, but this scent felt, to me, like there was something utterly sweet and beautiful, even sumptuous, behind a room's locked door, but I was in the hallway, where it smelled dusty, though not in a bad way; there are dark edges to this scent that don't drown out the loveliness. Actually, nothing drowns out anything because this scent is VERY gentle. I actually assumed its staying power was very poor because it seemed to vanish so quickly. And yet I could not only continue smelling hints of that dusty-sweet-darkness last night, but this morning at work too I kept getting hints of it! Though deliberately soft and "faded"-smelling, this does have really good lasting power, wow.

This scent is very different on me than in any of the other reviews I've read! My skin seems to only produce warm notes, no matter what you put on it, so while chilly scents and green ones and pure florals all call to me, none of them develops on my skin. It's like the perfume version of being, in fact, a vampire bride, and ending up with that which you love dead in your arms by the end of the night. On me, this scent is soft, gentle incense wafting over green notes - like ivy creeping over a tomb that should house nothing with blood still running beneath the skin, yet somehow does. It's not icy at all on me, but it doesn't become warm either. I was surprised to find that on me this smells almost exactly like Morocco - a scent I had an imp of and used up and never got around to purchasing in its full size - but with an added, complex layer of soft greenery. This is, I suspect, the violet leaf and tea, but I wouldn't expect them to have this sort of scent. Nonetheless, I love it. It's delicate and pretty, yet otherworldly. I actually liked it much more than I expected to!