Koumori

I'm getting an overall grapefruit and herbal sort of feeling out of this one, though I can detect lavender and poppy individually as well. It's a strong scent, and reminds me a lot of Tzadikim Nistarim, but without that blend's underlying warmth. Not something I think I want to go about smelling like, alas. Score: 2/5

Quincey was my favorite character from the book, so I was eager to try this out. If this scent were a man, I would never let him get away. Oh my goodness, I love this. The leather/pear, "cowboy" notes come through on me immediately and strongly, with just a hint of the heart of gold underneath, but after a couple of hours the leather retreats into the background and the whole thing melds into a beautiful round fruity whole. Sniffing my wrists all day. Rating: 5/5.

I was drawn to this because the poem is so lovely, and I'm not disappointed at all. This is an absolutely lovely scent. It has many of the same half-aquatic notes that we're used to in BPAL's "snowy" blends, but edged with forest pines and underlaid with a soft floral. Absolutely gorgeous. My favorite of the Yuletide blends I've tried thus far.

Deliciously complex in the bottle. On application, I get the woods and spices very clearly, but towards the end of the day the myrrh comes to be the dominant scent. I like it, but I don't particularly enjoy smelling like myrrh... if only there were a way to keep more of those initial notes on me! Ah well, this is still the ideal scent for the gal or guy who's always wanted to smell like Richard III, and who hasn't? Rating: 3/5.

The complex, slightly boozy caramel-apple from the vial didn't really last on my skin. The apple quickly disappeared into the caramel and butterscotch, and I ended up smelling a bit more like Sugar Skull than anything else. A nice scent, but I was hoping for more fruit.

A round, red, spicy scent. Dragon's blood isn't my favorite note, and neither is cinnamon, but they work together here with the vetiver to give a scent that on initial drydown reminded me of spicy Christmas potpourri or mulling spices. It ripens quickly into something full and sexy, with the vetiver dominating; I think it's a masculine-leaning scent.

This is a sweet, decadent scent, with the musk and sandalwood tying the rest of the notes together on me. It feels like a more feminine scent than the name would suggest; overall it comes across as a dark blue/green floral, with the resinous notes underlying. Not too strong, but doesn't fade away immediately as some similar scents have done on me. Nice, but overall not something I can see wearing enough to justify a bottle.

The citrus hits me first; when I was first applying, I thought maybe orange or even bergamot until I checked the list of notes. This is a really nice scent, very soft and powdery on me, lemon and lavender predominating. It doesn't have much throw, and was almost undetectable on me within an hour or two of application; I wish it were a bit stronger.

(Just to start out with a disclaimer.. I'm not that crazy about chocolate.) This is a heavy, hot-chocolate kind of chocolate with creamy, dark tones. There's nothing too complicated about it: it's chocolate, all right. While it's a different, more "evening" sort of chocolate than Bliss, more like brownie batter than a chocolate bar, I don't really think I need both. If I wanted to commit to a chocolate scent, this would probably be the one.

I liked this one in the bottle, but once I had it on, it reminded me of nothing so much as bay rum. Which is a fine scent, but not something I personally want to smell like, alas. I think on me the bergamot just came out a little too much for me to find it palatable, but it did stick around all day. Until I washed it off.

Curses and more curses! I was really hoping this would be the scent that could replace dear old Shub for me, but I think Shub may have been a fluke. Most of the ginger-type scents I've tried from BPAL morph into soap on me; that's the only one so far that has kept its pure spicy hotness. Pumpkin Queen, unfortunately, is overwhelmed by the ginger and then soapiness, as previous ginger scents I've tried have been. I also haven't had much luck with the BPAL pumpkin scents, as every one I've tried has smelled much too synthetic and Yankee Candle-ish to me. You'd think I'd learn... I had such high hopes for this with the amber and citrus, and it smelled SO wonderful in the bottle, but those notes don't last long before my body chemistry takes over and does what it does to all such scents. I should learn my lesson, but I keep hoping!

This is one amazing scent, of the "can't stop sniffing my wrists" variety. Lemon is often an iffy note on me, but in this blend it warms into the rest of the notes into a complex, creamy warm whole. No one note overwhelms, though the coconut seems to be the most constant base scent; the florals aren't too floral, the citrus isn't too citrus, the resins aren't too incensey. An awesome unisex scent. I need a whole bottle, I think.

I don't get so much pine from this; it smells very green and somewhat medicinal. It reminds me very much of Wilde (which is odd because I don't think they share any notes in common). It mellows out and becomes the warmer scent I was hoping for after a few hours on, with more of the pine and leather coming out, but it gives me a headache in the time it takes to get there. Sadly, not a keeper.

Hemlock has snuck up on me in a very pleasant way. I started wearing it because somehow it was the only imp that ended up in my desk at work on those days when I forget to apply perfume before leaving the house, but I've come to look forward to wearing it on purpose. It seems to mesh with most types of moods and weather; except for high sweaty summer, there's no time I wouldn't think to wear it. I get a light pine-meadow scent from it, pleasant and not distracting.

I'm so glad I ordered this! I don't usually jump on the Lunacies, just because I have a bad track record with scents I don't get to try out beforehand, and this one should have made me doubly wary because I tend not to mesh well with florals. I guess peony is one floral that I can absolutely love and wear successfully. This is a lovely soft floral with some green and aquatic notes, not very strong on me. After a few hours, it becomes more powdery/woody and less floral, but it would definitely be worth a re-apply.

When I tried this on, I was going through the box I'd just received from the Lab and sorting everything into "try now," "try later," "maybe not" piles. My SO was telling me about her very unpleasant day, and I put some Closet on while she was talking. And then I just started grinning and grinning and couldn't stop. Why? "I smell like cake!!!!" This is the sweet, foody scent of my dreams, much like the 2004 version of Sugar Skull that is the only 5 ml I've ever completely used up. Since the 2005 version didn't do the same for me, I'm thrilled to have Closet instead. I don't get much bourbon or "boozy" quality from it, just straight up cake, and that is not a bad thing.

Oya, Oya, where to begin. I ordered a full bottle, because Oya plays a significant part in my favorite novel. I took a sniff of the bottle, and immediately my nose wrinkled up - too strong, too sharp, too... something. But I decided to try wearing it and see whether my initial impression was borne out. It changed completely when I put it on, darkened up quickly into a complex scent that I can't quite pick out individual notes. Slightly aquatic, slightly airy, slightly musky, slightly foody; it's absolutely gorgeous. Unfortunately, it doesn't last long on me at all; I applied it at 7 AM and was sniffing my wrist by 10 to see if I still had any on.

This is a sort of deep musky amber on me. I do like it, very much, but I'm also quite certain that it reminds me of other BPAL scents in my arsenal, like Elegba after the initial rum note has died down a bit, or Devil's Night. I think it's the tobacco/coconut combination. It's a very nice scent, but too similar to too many others for me to really be able to say anything unique about it.

Kurukulla isn't doing anything for me, I'm afraid. It has what I think of as a sort of 'generic' BPAL floral scent, rose/lily/daffodil, and doesn't really stand out from any of the similar scents I've tried. Straight-up springy floral, fairly strong and with good staying power on me, but nothing special.

A subtly menacing blend of lemon verbena, white sandalwood and cedar, dimmed by droplets of the darkest patchouli. This is interesting; I got it as a freebie from the Lab with my last order. Other scents I've tried with a strong lemon note haven't worked on me, as it seemed my skin just soaked it up. Not the case with Shadow, which quickly resolved into a bright herbal lemon scent. Some of the other notes began to come through with a little wear, but they didn't have much time, as this scent disappeared on me very quickly. I doubt it's a full-bottle buy, but I'll use up this imp.

I *love* Elegba. Wet, there's a strong note of coconut suntan oil, but it quickly warms and softens into the warmth of rum and hot sun on a dirt road. With the coconut, it's a bit like a very, very butch version of Spooky.

I was surprised by how much I like Devil's Night; BPAL scents with smoky and woody notes tend not to work with my chemistry. But this was the hit from the new Samhain scents of '05; it is rich and warm and foody, with a boozy note I love. It won't replace Samhain as my autumn scent of choice, but it's good on its own merits, less outdoorsy than Samhain and less chaotic than Dia de los Muertos.

Alas, BPAL scents with smoke in them don't tend to work out well for me, and this is not an exception. It goes on warm and rich, a little booze and a little pine, but quickly develops an overpowering smell of wood smoke. This seems to be a chemistry problem for me, and it's a shame, but Hearth isn't going to be a keeper. I'll try it as a room scent first, though.

I love pine scents. Thanatopsis is still in my top 5, and it was one of the first bottles I ordered from BPAL years ago. Talvikuu is a soft, cool pine touched with aquatics and a bit of green beneath, gender-neutral and very appropriate for snowy mornings. I find it goes on me a bit strong, and there's something about it wet that seems not to work for me, but within minutes it settles down to something gorgeous. This is one of the few scents I just keep re-applying all day.

This is a really pleasant, sweet floral. It hits first with something like strawberries, then with everybody's favorite sticky red/purple fruit punch. Really delightful, and despite its bountiful fruitiness, it seems to work really well with wintertime!