Theravada

I have no idea how Beth is able to perfectly capture these scents in to single notes. Every one that I have been lucky enough to try has been like sniffing the real thing. This one is no different....it's like opening up a fresh new bag of premium coffee beans on a beautiful weekend morning. I think I will use this imp to make coffee bean candles. Yummy

Really....what more can you say about this blend besides SO DAMNED GOOOOOOOOOD It's spicey, slightly sweet, and just oh so perfect. I can't wait to layer it.

I have to be honest and admit that I probably never would have ordered this on my own. I'm more of a Cerberus type person [which I odered a 5ml of and love], and I usually hate florals. And the description of this was a huge list of florals.... The Lab threw this in as a freebie in my last order and I can't believe how much I love it This just might become my perfect spring/summer scent. The lemon and lavendar bring in the perfect crisp/citrus edge to what has to be the best mix of florals I have ever smelled. This is no 'old lady' scent, which is what I usually get from florals. It is fresh, light, and just beautiful. Since I am not a floral person, I can't really say much more about this blend, because my un-trained nose can only pick out the lemon and lavendar. But I will be ordering a bottle of this to wear in the warmer months and to help support the bat conservation charity. That's two-for-two on the Oblation scents....I think I might just have to buy all of them

My friend gave me her imp of Fenris because it didn't agree with her....DAMN am I glad that she did, because this is wonderful! This blend is very exotic and mysterious. The rosewood and musk create this deep, sweet base that is gloriously sexy. The amber adds a soft, dusty whisper and the sandalwood a perfect crispness. I can see myself reaching for the Fenris when I am in the mood to go out prowling at night Of all of the 'masculine' blends that I have tried [and I have tried many because I tend to enjoy traditionally "masculine" notes], Fenris Wolf has got to be on the top of the list, right up there with Severin. I know a lot of us BPAL girls wear Severin, and I plan on ordering a bottle of Fenris for myself as well. Severin is the perfect crisp, clean masculine scent and Fenris is the perfect dark, primal and mysteriously sexy masculine scent. Don't be afraid to give it a try, especially if you gravitate towards musks or woodsy scents!

Belle Epoque is one of those OMFGBPAL scents. I just can't rave about it enough This reminds me of Hakkotsu just enough so that I am no longer so broken hearted about it being discontinued. It has that same gorgeous Lily of the Valley note that I love. It is one of the very few floral notes that I don't find icky. But here Beth mixes it with red sandalwood instead of white sandalwood so the dryness that many people didn't enjoy in Hakkotsu isn't an issue in this blend. The vanilla note is not overly sweet or cloying for those of you who don't enjoy that in a scent. It is very, very subtle. This would make a fantastic spring/summer scent. It's also a good every day scent because it is very light and cheery. This is just beautiful. I see a 10ml of this for me in the very, very near future. ETA: The 10ml has been ordered and will be in my hot little paws very soon! Yum yum!

*content sigh* So yummy....so, so yummy! I can't begin to explain how happy I am to have gotten ahold of a 5ml of this, plus I have another imp on the way still. This is the BEST floral smell ever. And I'm no fan of florals in general. But carnation is so spicey and warm! I love buying fresh carnations and this smells just like the real thing sitting in the vase right next to me. SO sad the single notes had to be discontinued

Figures, right after I placed an order for an imp of this Beth announced it would be discontinued. I waffled on buying more while I could, but since I hadn't smelled it yet and the (very few!) reviews were less than impressive I finally decided to just wait for my imp and hope I hated it. Crud Should have ordered more while I had the chance because this really is lovely!! I wonder why no one ordered it and the reviewers didn't like it? Poor Hakkotsu. Maybe it's one of those skin chemistry things, because sandalwood seems to be a potential negative for some people. But my skin loves wood scents, particularly sandalwood. And Hakkotsu is no exception! This would be my perfect spring scent. Soft, light sandalwood sweetened by lily and brightened by bergamot. I really adore it. I will treasure my imp. ETA: I found more Hakkotsu, so life is all good now!

Out of the four sun scents Ahathoor was the most subtle, and I also think that these notes are the hardest to place! I agree with the general impression of a soft, creamy, slightly sweet yellow fragrance. I'm also detecting the carnation, but the rest is so well blended I'm having a really hard time placing notes. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that this had some vanilla, anise, amber, or lemon. Whatever the actual notes are, this sure is yummy!! I'm just so impressed with the sun scents.

Khephra is my favorite of the four sun scents! This IS a slightly masculine spiced resin scent with a subtle floral note. If I had to guess the notes I would agree that there is a slight lavander note, warmed by cinnamon and perhaps a bit of pepper, and a dusty resin that could be myrrh or amber. It's strong, smokey, warm and just sweet enough to make it comforting. These are some of my favorite notes and Beth has done a wonderful job with this blend. I might try it at bedtime as an alternative to Somnus when I feel like snuggling up to something a bit deeper and warmer.

In the bottle I get the sharp, green citrus smell people have been describing. To me it smells like bergamot. As soon as I applied Ra to my skin the sharp greeness started fading and something warm and sweet began to emerge. I smell a subtle floral that I think might be lavander. And there's a dusty, smokey note in here too...maybe the unidentified amber/resin note others picked up on. I really can't put my thumb on what it could be. Overall this is a smooth, sweet scent brightened by a golden green citrus note. I really like this one!

I tried not to read any of the reviews for the Stations of the Suns scents because I was getting a full set of four imps from Diabolique (I love you!!) and I wanted to sniff them all four at the same time with no expectations. But I agree with most everyone else that Tum has a grape base. It's very lush and fruity. I'm not the best at picking out individual notes but my first impression was ripe red and purple fruits, maybe grape and strawberry with a licorice or anise note mixed in. I was really kind of surprised and a bit confused until I remembered that Tum is the setting sun! Now I really appreciate this. It makes me think of warm evenings watching the sun set into a reddish-purple sky. It's really quite lovely. Tum is the strongest of the four sun scents and has the most throw.

Nepthys....I couldn't have said it better myself!! This is just a screamingly loud, heady floral perfume that makes me feel kind of nauseous.

YUM! This is sooooo good! I was worried that I wouldn't like the cherry. But it's a sweet, juicy cherry smell that doesn't have that sticky amaretto smell to it. It's so yummy. I can't get over how delicious and creamy and good this one is! It makes a delicious lotion scent! Must have big bottle!!

Pancakes and incense!! I'm too busy giggling to decide if I like this one or not. I'll have to give it another try because right now all I can think of is IHHOP.....International Hippie House of Pancakes!

My dear friend Phaedrine told me how lovely this scent was, so when I saw that Lorajc had a 5ml for sale at a great price I immediately snagged it. Oh my!!! I am so happy that I did!!! This is WONDERFUL. I can't go on enough about how much I love Malice!! This is a perfect blend of spicey, sweet, resinous yummy-ness! I cannot stop sniffing myself!! Malice is now securely in my top five list of BPAL blends!

Pkwench sent me this!! What a doll When the update went live and I saw this, I was so close to ordering it. It has so many lovely notes in it! But I decided to order something else because the complexity of Lex Talionis scared me off a bit. But thankfully Pkwench sent me this in a swap because it really is amazing! In the bottle and when first applied, I can smell the vetiver fighting the violet, cardamon, and cedarwood for dominance. These are some very strong, sharp notes. I can see how some people might not like this, but I really love this stage of the blend. On the drydown this starts to morph. The sharpness tones down quickly and the pepper and myrrh start taking over. It is now much more soft and powdery. I can still smell the violet and somewhere in there is some patchouli. I feel like this is the equilibrium stage established after the initial stage of sharp retribution. This IS a complex blend. But not scary at all. I'st actually really comforting, which is probably kind of twisted to say about a scent designed to capture the "essence of blunt justice"! But maybe not. In a complex world full of suffering and dishonesty, I do take comfort in the belief in a "law of retaliation and perfect reciprocity". This is really one of Beth's masterpieces. I love it.

I ordered this because of the bergamot note, but was a bit concerned how I would react to the other notes in Libertine. Well, I shouldn't have worried! This is a fantastic blend. The bright, citrusy bergamot seems to be the strongest scent, but there is this wonderfully subtle sweetness playing underneath the tart bergamot that I'm so in love with. I think it is the chamomile mixing with the other florals. It's just beautiful, and I'm not usually a fan of florals. The patchouli isn't a big player here, but the musk gives the whole mix this smooth, smokey quality. This is just brilliant! Libertine is amazing. I pictured this as a masculine scent, but now that I've smelled it I'm not sure I can picture a man wearing this. But I can easily picture myself ordering Libertine again

I got this as a freebie from one of my lovely swappers. Although I appreciate the generosity, this scent just wasn't for me! I am not a fan of florals. They just don't agree with me. And this is a very floral blend. Something in it gives me that baby powder/deoderant smell that I sometimes get from certain BPAL scents. Wish I knew what did that! Underneath the powdery surface of this blend lurks your typical, and in my opinion unimpressive, light floral perfume. It reminds me of White Shoulders, a perfume that my grandma used to wear. So I kind of appreciate the nostolgia but this is not something that I personally would wear. I think you really need to be a floral fan in order to appreciate this blend.

I'd been wanting to order an imp of this as soon as I could afford it, but I was lucky enough to snag one in a swap with one of our lovely forumites! I just love this place Ok, on to the review: I agree that lavander is the most prominent note here. I also detect some other florals blended in there, but I'm not going to be good at picking them out since I usually tend to avoid florals at all costs. I'm not very familiar with individual floral notes. But, I have to say that this is a really lovely blend and the fact that it is floral actually doesn't disagree with me for once. So even if you fear florals like me, give this a try. This is not at all like what I expected. Somnus is very bright, fresh, and somewhat sharp. I had imagined something thicker. Something that would remind me of dense, warm blankets. I was really surprised when I sniffed this in the bottle and detected such a sharpness. But it is not at all unpleasant. I've been using this the past several nights and I do think it works well. I decided the best way to use it is to dab a little bit on the center of my eye mask so that the scent stays true and doesn't do any wierd body chemistry morphing. I also get the benefit of the blend all night long this way. The lavander is very soothing and the sharpness of whatever else is in here really helps open up the chest so that you breathe deeply and evenly. It really does help make for a restful sleep. I wish I could be more specific about the notes, but I can tell you that this is a lovely blend and I plan on buying a 5ml as soon as I can!

A lovely forumite tossed an imp of this in with one of my recent swaps. I usually hate all rose scents, but I love sandalwood and patchouli so I thought I would give it a fair trial regardless of the rose note. In the bottle Rakshasa smells very tart and astringent. On, Rakshasa turned into rose dusted with baby powder. I didn't get any sandalwood or patchouli But the astringent quality faded quickly and this mellowed out very well. I just hate rose! So this is a bad scent for me, but anyone who enjoys rose would probably like Rakshasa. Into the swap pile again she goes until a proper home is found!

Lampades started off as a nice, sweet cranberry smell. It seemed as if it would be a wonderful scent. Shortly after applying a small dab to my wrist, I started getting hints of this metallic, stinging smell.....it smelled very familar. Suddenly, it hit me. This smells like sweat!! After the drydown all I get is this sweet, sweaty cranberry smell. Too bad. I really had high hopes for this one. Back in the swap pile it goes.

I was a little put off by Masquerade when I smelled it in the bottle. It wasn't an "Eww, ugh!" reaction, but more of a "Woah! What's going on here??" thing. Not having had the pleasure to experience Lush's Icon, I can't say I've ever smelled anything quite like Masquerade before. I decided to try it on, and WOW am I glad that I did! I absolutely love, love, love this scent! It's so unique and sophisticated. The strongest impression I get is "spice". This is a super sicey scent. It's very invigorating and energizing. The carnation comes across most strongly on me, but it's not an overly floral scent. Which is a very good thing because I detest most all florals. I don't get the cedar note that other people have been describing, and I'm very familiar with cedar. This doesn't smell "woodsy" to me at all. I also don't get the overwhelming orange some people seem to have gotten. To me, Masquerade is a perfectly blended spicey perfume that is very gender neutral. I bet this would smell extremely sexy on a male, but I also like it on me. It makes me feel confident, sexy, and daring. It's very clean smelling, and I suppose you could say it has a bit of a "soapyness" to it. Masquerade also has awesome staying power. One swipe of the imp wand rubbed between my wrists stayed true and strong for most of the day. I forsee a 5ml of this is my next order! Anyone looking for an exciting, spicey, gender-neutral scent should give Masquerade a try!!

The Unicorn is a very juicy, sweet fruit scent. It's very pretty. And Wanda is also a very nice floral/fruit scent. Maybe these would be good for the "girly" sister.

I've been in love with Velvet for a long time...I have a 10ml of it. But I haven't posted a review because everyone else has done such a fantastic job of capturing Velvet in the previous reviews. But I decided to finally add one more loving praise of Velvet to the list! The one thing I will say is that this scent smells much different after the drydown period than what you smell in the bottle. In the bottle Velvet smells very thick to me. Almost too thick. But on, Velvet is simply luxurious. The vanilla that Beth uses in this blend is nothing at all like the vanillas you smell in Snake Oil or other blends. This vanilla is sweeter but not nearly as cloying. I know that seems like a contradiction, but this vanilla is a subtler scent than the thick vanilla used in Snake Oil. If you're usually wary of "sweet" "vanilla-y" scents, I'd urge you to try Velvet anyhow. It's really not sticky or sickly sweet. It's just subtely sweet enough to tone down the bitterness of the sandalwood. The sandalwood is really the most prominent note. Velvet is a very bitter-sweet scent and the myrrh has a tendancy to make this an "incense-y" smell. I know some people don't like that but I think it's lovely. Velvet is a complex, bitter-sweet, smokey scent that is perfect for someone who wants a sophisticated yet sexy non-floral perfume.

Storm smells like turpentine(sp?) or paint remover to me I don't think I like aquatic scents or lemony scents.....I got this as a freebie from the Lab, and it wasn't something I would have chosen for myself. But if someone wants to try this scent before they discontinue it, PM me and I'll be happy to pass along the imp.