Theravada

Fresh tangerine peel and ruby red grapefruit pulp!! It's so tart and fresh it smells like real fruit juice. Incredible! I just love this. It's going to make a perfect room scent, and I also think I'll make a body spray out of this. It would be lovely to spritz on in the mornings after a shower.

Tarot: The Star is VERY close to Spooky. Both sweet peppermint, although Spooky is more chocolate and Tarot: the Star is more cherry. Queen of Spades (one of my top five favorite scents) is VERY close to Bewitched. Both have a lovely blackberry note, although QoS is more "woody". King of Spades is slightly similar to Lampades...both have a tart, musky, berry scent. But they're not spot on replacements. Gluttony doesn't smell anything at all like Sugar Skull or Sugar Cookie. Gluttony is very buttery ad nutty. Samhain doesn't smell like Jack. Samhain is much more cidery and Jack is more pumpkiny. Although both are fantastic! King of Diamonds reminds me of a masculine version of Snow White - creamy citrus!

I really thought I'd love this one, because I'm a bit of a musk fanatic. I decided to order a 5ml unsniffed. Unfortunately, I've recently realized that dragon's blood is one of those notes that completely overpowers everything on my skin. All I ever get from this is dragon's blood. It might as well be a single note. I don't ever get any yummy musks! Hours later all I smell is dragon's blood. I'm going to have to swap or sell this one. Stupid skin.

I absolutely adore this blend. On me, this is mostly red musk and sage. The lavender, amber, and mango are all detectable as individual notes, but they always play a supporting role to the red musk and sage. The sage was kind of wierd for me at first, but I've really grown to love the smell of it now. I want to try more blends with sage! And mango. Such unique notes, but I'm utterly in love with the way Beth blended them so perfectly in Corazon. So sad this one is being discontinued!! ETA: Got this from Phaedrine, she knows me so well!!

A celebration of one of the first commercially produced perfumes of America's Old West. A rugged, warm blend of vanilla, balsam and sassafras layered over Virginia cedar. In the vial and when first applied this smelled mostly of deep, sticky sassafras with just a suggestion of cedar and a warm vanilla note. After a few minutes the sassafras fades and the vanilla takes center stage and the cedar becomes stronger. Thankfully it never becomes the overwhelming, pencil-shaving smell of the cedar in Lear and other blends. The vanilla in this one isn't my favorite. It's more of a "commercial", fake vanilla scent on my skin. I have a feeling this one would work out better on a man. But for me, I already have a vanilla and wood scent-Golden Priapus. So Tombstone doesn't make the cut.

The "lemon" everyone keeps referring to is actually bergamot, which is also a cirtus scent. Bergamot is the citrus scent/flavor in Earl Grey tea. Which explains my love of Earl Grey, because I adore bergamot. It's one of my absolute favorite scents. I wore Bath and Body Works Bergamot Coriander exclusively before I discovered BPAL. Actually, I still wear it. I always get compliments on my Bergamot Coriander, especially from men. I have this theory that men actually enjoy more "masculine" fragrances on women and that women only wear those fruity, sweet, floral scents for themselves. So if you haven't guessed it by now, Severin is the closest thing to my Bergamot Coriander that I've found in the BPAL line. It's a sharp, distinctive citrus scent that isn't so masculine or uninviting that most women can't pull it off. And men adore it. If you have problems with your guy appreciating your BPAL, try wearing Severin around him. Also, the black tea and bergamot are strongest here. As a strict vegetarian, I really don't enjoy the smell of leather. I don't think that Severin is a strongly leather scent, like Highwayman or De Sade or Whip. This is one of my favorite "sleeper" BPAL scents. It doesn't get a lot of attention, but I really think that if more people ordered imps of it or snagged it in swaps it would be more popular than it currently seems to be. I need to work on acquiring a bottle!

Gluttony was another one of the first few BPAL scents that I tried that totally didn't fit my expectations. Not being familiar with BPAL's "foody" scents, I was expecting this to be much more sweet than it actually was. Gluttony turned out to be a thick, heavy, overpoweringly buttery scent on me. I didn't get any sugar or vanilla. The nutty aspect was sharp and uninviting, while the carmel was a burnt and buttery instead of creamy and sweet. This just really didn't agree with me, no matter how many times over a period of several months that I tried giving this a chance. While a select few of the "foody" scents grew on me, such as Jack, Gluttony just isn't my kind of perfume.

Pale yellow, spicey, warm, sweet floral. I just love sandalwood, vanilla, and musks. So I'm quite happy that Zephyr met my expectations. This is a soft, white sandalwood warmed by vanilla and musk. It's very sweet and soft and as close to a "classic" perfume as I can get. I reminds me slightly of Belle Epoque, which is also a light, sweet sandalwood. I have a feeling if you like one you'll like the other. This would be wonderful for Spring/Summer, but since I have a 10mL of Belle Epoque already, I'm not sure that I will order a bottle of this too. But I will use my imp.

I really wanted to love Namaste because I love lemongrass and I'm interested in Buddhist culture (hence, Theravada). Unfortunately, Namaste was simply a non-descript "perfume" scent on me. It reminded me of all of the department store perfumes that had turned me off of perfume until I found BPAL. I hope Beth tries another lemongrass scent some day that isn't quite so floral intense.

Now that Black Pearl has safely established itself as a favorite, I can admit that it totally reminded me of Mr. Bubbles bubble bath. I really didn't like this one. I never got coconut or anything yummy from this. It just smelled mildly soapy and blah.

I was expecting something else from Cathode, but I still like it. This is a highly charged scent. It's very sharp, fresh, and minty. But it's more of a spearmint than a peppermint (I was hoping for peppermint). There is also a noticable herbal aspect to this blend. This is a fantastic gender neutral scent that would work well in the warmer months. It has a cooling quality to it for people that want something for summer than doesn't involve florals or cirtus notes.

Deep, feral purple. This is mostly blackberry but a much tarter, more musky blackberry than the Queen. I really prefer the Queen and find this a lot less wearable. I'm glad I had the chance to try this one, but given that I enjoy QoS much more I think I'll swap my imp. Having said that, I really wish I could try this one on a man. I bet it would be delicious! ETA: For some reason this reminded me of Lampades.

*content sigh* Ahhh, this is the good stuff right here. This dries down into a lovely, well-rounded musky amber. There's both a hint of sweetness and a hint of peppery spiciness at play that I just love. The musk is not a dark, animalistic black musk, but rather a gentle and highly wearable golden musk. Coyote is one of those "second skin" scents with minimal throw that would be great as an everyday scent. Truly lovely. Although I do agree with ChupaChup that this is a masculine scent. It would smell wonderful on a man, but it also works really well on me. I love this!

In Hermetic alchemy, brimstone is one of the Three Heavenly Substances, one of the primary alchemical Priciples. It represents the strength of will and the vigor of passion, and it is a symbol of the process of fermentation. A smoky, gritty blend, husky and gray. *sniff sniff* Woah, hello vetiver! It literally took a few minutes for me to screw up my courage and apply this one. I dabbed just a teeny tiny amount of this on my arm, hoping the vetiver would calm down. Well, it doesn't. It's just screaming, raging vetiver mixed in with something grey and smokey....like ash. Reminds me of Highwayman....very intense. "Evil" pops into mind. I can't see myself wearing this one. Maybe on a man it would work out.

Just got this today and this is totally nothing like what I was expecting it to be. This really, really reminds me of All Saints and Dia from the Halloween LEs. I wonder if it shares some similar notes. It has that same strong, dark, buttery-floral thing going on. Add some moss in the mix and that's Wolf Moon. I never got pine or aquatic notes at all. And this doesn't remind me even remotely of Skadi. But if you liked All Saints or Dia, you might want to try this. Oh well, they can't all be winners. But I'm still a bit sad because this really doesn't agree with me at all.

Ack, I can't believe I haven't revied this yet! I love, love, love LPM. It's like sex in a bottle. Smooth, creamy, sweet and a little bit naughty. LPM has a cherry/red fruit note, a creamy vanilla/honey note, and a sensual myrrh note. It is somewhat foody, but not overwhelmingly so like Hellcat or Gluttony or Jack. This is so much better than O! The heavy honey note in O really didn't agree with me. Luckily, LPM is everything that I had hoped O would be and has a much softer, less cloying honey note. I neeeeeeeed a bottle.

If Beth decides to release this one, I will be buying a bottle. Val Sans reminds me of a pine tree on a bright, warm spring morning. Soft, understated pine, similar to Skadi, and a faint hint of citrus. But neither the citrus nor the pine ever becomes overwhleming. This is just so gorgeously blended. I adore it!! Beth, can we have this one, please?

Well...I've looked and looked and I don't see any reviews for Egyptian Musk! This is not what I expected. It's extremely strong, slightly sweet, and very "perfume-y". It's a bit better on than in the bottle, but still very strong. A little bit goes a very, very long way. Major throw. This reminds me of something that I can't quite place my finger on. Some perfume I've smelled before. I can't really say I like this one.

Wow, this is wonderful! I knew I loved sandalwood in my BPAL, but it's really amazing to have the note by itself. White sandalwood is a very spicey, almost peppery wood smell. Very sharp, slightly "dry" smelling. Very complex scent for a single note. I wish I could compare it to the other sandalwoods. ETA: I think I can understand why ladylatemar compared this to cedar, but I just wanted to say that this really doesn't smell of cedar. No hamster cage or pencil shavings here. But I guess it does smell like cedar in the sense that it's a light, dry white wood scent.

Amber? Rosewood? Orange blossom? This is a bright, effervescent orange scent. Very nice. I can picture beautiful Lady Justice in her flowing, white linen robes holding the golden scales aloft in one strong hand. Incredible work.

Yum, yum, yum! This is a carnation-lover's fix. What starts out as a very complex blend mellows into a carnation surrounded by damp mosses and incense. Smokey, mysterious, and just a bit spicey. If you're like me and a rabid fan of carnation, you'll definately want to try this one soon!

I was really, really looking forward to this one, but it's not quite what I was expecting. This reminds me of The Apothecary, only sweeter. I think that must be the neroli, because it's much, much sweeter than just amber. And if I remember correctly, neroli is a kind of violet, and violet is notorious for turning too sweet on my skin. If it hadn't been for the neroli, this would have been wonderful. It's the deeper, more well-rounded version of The Apothecary that I was looking for. If you can handle neroli/violet you should really try this one.

This is much, much lighter than I imagined it would be. It's a very fresh, white/yellow kind of scent. But also very masculine. I can see this being fantastic on a man. The vetiver and lemon are not at all overpowering here. Usually those are two notes that fight for control of a blend, but here they are exceedinly well blended. The woods here are light, soft woods...not the heavy, dark wood notes that I was expecting. Overall very, very nice. But I'd still rather smell this on a man than on me.

I put this on my Wishlist because I was in a "now for something completely different!" mood. One of my lovely swappers stuck this in with our transaction and I was so happy to try it out. This one really is completely different from my typical picks. It has a strange top note that I really can't identify, so I'm assuming that's the "champagne". The only other notes I can pick out are the candy-like lotus and a hint of green mint. It stayed very true from bottle sniff to drydown. This is really just not my style. Lotus never seems to work for me. It's just too thickly sweet. And I'm not digging the champagne note. But if you like Bon Vivant, this is probably right up your alley!

Although I usually enjoy the darker scents, this one is just a bit too dark. It reminds me of Sin's evil twin brother. A very dark, resinous scent with a wicked cinnamon core. I'm sending it to my friend who adores Sin to see her take on it.