fountaingrl

Ok, dur, that would have been a good inclusion hey? I use O, Minotaur, Athens, Dolce Stil Nuovo, Winter of Our Discontent, Centzon Tetotchtin, Velvet, Midnight on the Midway, Bilquis, Queen. I have a number of other bottles but those are the ones in hardcore rotation. I don't have any of the Halloweenies, and I don't have any lunacies/moons except Minotaur... What a GREAT list! THank you I am going to track down a bunch of these! I have an imp of Pumpkin Queen on the way, and I am definitely going to look into at least half a dozen of the others I haven't tried. Thanks so much! (I was kind of hoping to mix seasonal or 'love' theme with my tastes because I am a geek like that -- I even thought of Tarot: The Lovers.....) This is so fun, I love the hunt with BPAL also.

Poopie. My wedding this year is on All Soul's weekend, likely on All Soul's Day itself (if not will be next morn, is matter of church availability). I got an imp of All Souls, figured it would be THE perfect wedding scent. No go. It stinks so bad on me it is not even funny. I am hoping to find something fabulous to comemmorate the day, something that I don't have in regular rotation, so that it is special and will evoke the day from then on for me. Goofy, but what can I say? I do great with ambers, incense smells esp myrrh, frankincense, sandalwood, pines, ozone, rosewood but not most other woods, many flowers but not if cloyingly sweet, honey, spice. I do horrid with fruit (I think this is what turned All Souls -- the current from the 'cake'), many cake-y smells, heavy milks. Samhain doesn't work on me although it smells good because it is the one blend that is instant headache with nausea for me. What would you wear if you were me? And do I need to get some Honey Moon for the honeymoon or am I just a giant dork? (to put this into perspective, I don't yet have a dress picked out and have only tried on ONE, but am all obsessed over the right BPAL....yah, I am a little obsessed....) Thanks much! *crosses fingers*

I wanted this to be good on me so bad. I am getting married this year, either on All Soul's Day or on the day after, and I wanted this to be my wedding scent. In the sample decant it was great. Spicy, sweet, incense-y. Immediately upon application it starts doing that odd thing that MB: Closet did on me that made me swap out my bottle almost instantaneously. I have had this on for fifteen minutes and I can already tell it is horrid. Did you ever chew on your Barbie's feet? The smell of this on me is like the taste of if I had sucked on a Jolly Rancher ten minutes ago and now I'm noshing some Barbie feet. Fake fruit and Barbie feet. So. Sad. And I love incense too and there is NO incense in this blend at ALL on me. So much for the perfect wedding scent for a wedding on All Soul's Day. Bah. It would have been so cool. Guess I'll just have to pick out a different blend for the big day (and the hunt is on, and like that upsets me right?!)

Wet in bottle: sweet, light floral, tang (light) of tea Wet on skin: still sweet, floral - very white somehow, tea is strong and there is an undertang that on me is slightly citrus and I like it. On drydown, most of the scent fades. I love the start of this, the wet phase suggested that this was going to go floral tea with a gentle citrus and bamboo on me (my skin does interesting things) but then .... all but a generic floral fades. It is pretty, but nondescript and not worth hanging onto for me when I have so many that need love. It's already found a swap where someone will give it proper love. I really wanted this one to work too, as I loved the story. C'mon, female monster that works for me PLZ! (edited for spelling, ack, need more coffee it seems)

I'm a sucker for anything with myrrh. This blend is one of my favorites. Not only is it a blissed-out resin-fest, it is mixed with spice. The clove and other notes come forward and make TWOOD very complex. Usually resins give me that "incense, yum!" comfort feeling. This one doesn't get my snuggle mode going the way Minotaur does. This one is almost aggressive. It is weird and wonderful, the scent feels cold even though many of the individual notes by themselves are 'warm' tones to me. I got a decant as a frimp in a swap, and went in search of a big bottle on the Forum that same day. Glad I did, well worth it!

Amazing scent, morphs majorly in each stage. Wet in the bottle: sweet, honey, herb, sort of green and sharp Wet on skin: roses and licorice. You would think that would be pukey but it isn't somehow, it is amazing. I really am liking this. Early drydown is same, still roses and licorice but warmer By 2 hours in, Queen is like roses dusted with powdery honey. If you have ever smelled "honey dust" by Kama Sutra, it reminds me of this but with rose and still the faintest whiff of licorice. This is just fabulous. I swear, Beth has some sort of mojo -- she keeps sending me frimps that I would NEVER have chosen for myself and then they end up being some of my favorite scents and I go chase down bottles. Psychic marketing? If you want a floral that feels womanly and regal but with an edge, you have to try Queen.

In the bottle you can smell sweet resin and wine. Wet on skin: Myrrh! I love myrrh so I am good with this, but at first I am a little disappointed because I think 'hey this is good, but it isn't as good as Minotaur if this is all of it, and it is so similar, maybe I won't keep it?' On drydown it gets more nuanced and I start to love it. I can smell the wine come out, it is like sweet deep red wine and resins and some honey. I love love love this. I can close my eyes and it feels like how an ancient temple should smell, like incense and offeratory wine and honey. Mmmmm. This is one of my top ten for sure and it is going to go into hard rotation for summer.

Oh dear. From all of the reviews I read I figured it would be Snake Oil with an undercurrent of sweetness and resin. I love snake oil. I love resins. Fantastic, these things separately are wonderful. As combined here together though, this is awful on me. The coconut amps to the point of inducing nausea. I cannot wear this, I smell like generic knockoff tanning oil in a very very very bad way. It even chases away the snake oil. This smells like turned coconut with brown sugar. And I had such high hopes! I hope the decant of Temple Viper that also came from the circle works better on me... (at least my 11 y/o is happy, she gets first pick of the rejects and she ADORES this one...)

I'm reviewing the recent 4/07 version, and wow is it different from the very chocolate-y goodness described by many. This one isn't chocolate orange, or even very chocolate at all. When I first put it on, I got really concerned. It is sharp and good, but also sort of stinky. I know this is a very weird way to put it, but the new 13 sort of stinks in a GOOD WAY. It is sharp and dangerous and smells like flowers and a bit of creamy chocolate and underneath it? Poison. Honestly, it smells like a very dangerous plant that draws you in with floral and sweetness but then if you get close you realize that maybe you don't even want to get the sap on you! At that point I was still wavering: do I like it? Is it too toxic-smelling? Do I really want to wear something that makes me feel a little nervous (btw, that is PERFECT for a fri 13th scent, Beth nailed it!). Then it went drydown. And it did the oddest best thing ever. It started to smell like something was smouldering. This smells like herbs and flowers and strange unguents smouldering in a hot iron cauldron on a fire. I am so keeping this. I have a small concern that I had a headache yesterday & I am not sure if the scent contributed, but if it did I am going to see if I can't use it as a room scent. That is saying something because I don't use BPAL that way but this one is so strange, so unique, so aggressive but alluring that I have to have it. (I know this isn't a TAL/ritual oil, but it feels like you could charge it and use it if that is your thing, for real, this one has weird major energy.....anyone else feel that?)

In the bottle this smells like Sucrets to me. I figure though that you can't judge a BPAL from its bottle smell and I slather some on. MISTAKE! Within five minutes this is amping to a crazy degree and it is making me a bit nauseous. I had no luck with Groundhog Musk, or with Fire Pig, I should have known. It gets to be such a strong chemical fruit-mess on me (not cherry, not any specific fruit, more like the generic fruit of 'pink medicine with flavoring that makes it worse') that I scrubbed it off and I still have a headache. Woe. Getting rid of this bottle asap.

I should preface this by saying I have the weirdest chemistry in the world. I had literally never looked twice at this one because of the notes, and so didn't remember offhand what was in it (just that it was likely 'not me'). So it came in a swap last week, and I set the imp aside. I sniffed it and went "hmmm". Wet in the vial it was richer than I expected. I like rich. I know you aren't supposed to count out an oil based on the 'in the vial' scent, they change so much, but if something makes my sinuses go nuts or turns my stomach then there is no point in keeping it. Le Serpent passed this first test. Wet on skin it was really amazing. This scent went on spicy and sweet, and I immediately started wondering what was in in. My guesses included caramel, cinnamon, vanilla, some sort of floral, maybe white musk? (I suck at guessing notes too it seems) On drydown I got wood! But not the sort of stinky wood I usually get with a blend that has woody tones, like Cathedral. This didn't go heavy pencil shavings, there was a wood tone but it was beautifully balanced with florals and spicy sweetness. I could wait, had to know what wood actually 'works' on me, only to find out that there is NO WOOD, and also NO RESIN in this blend. It is vanilla (got that guess at least) and gardenia and violet. Evidently in this combination they love each other and they love me! What a nice surprise, I would have written this off as way too floral for me if I had known the notes before I tried it. I have to learn to try things on with BPAL even if I think it will be terrible, this just proves that to me once again....

OOOHHH yes! I bought a bottle of Minotaur unsniffed, based on the notes and reviews. And then I went back and bought another bottle, unsniffed because I was afraid I would love it and would not be able to go back for more. This blend is like the love child between Smut and O, but with something darker at its base, something even sexier and harsher but smoooooth. I am embarrassed to admit how I am with this scent. I have used my first bottle down to just above the label. I haven't even gotten my second. I am .... I am going in search of a third. Two won't be enough with this, it is that good.

I found a decant of this and was beside myself, so excited I didn't know what to do. Snake Oil smells great on me, and Smut smells like good dirty sexplay (seriously, I wear it sparingly). I heard that Storyville was in that same family but mixed with sweetness/food. I do not know what is with my chemistry. There is no point in drawing out the review. On me, Storyville turns to earwax. So disappointing.

In the bottle: sharp floral and a sort of plastic tang Wet on the skin: Hm. Hm. Flowers and sweetness, some orange, but it smells like bad candy orange. Like chemistry set orange. Suntan oil and inexpensive perfume? I don't know that I like this yet. Early drydown: Getting better. Sweetening up. The fake-y feel to this is toning some but it still is a disconcerting smell. I am wondering if it is going to chill out further, become more unified or if it is going to continue to smell 'jangly' on me. Dry on skin: This becomes more floral with time, and the sweetness takes on a sugared/salted creaminess. I like that, but I am not sure of Zarita. Throughout there is still a bit of a waxy smell to this, a hot wax smell. The main notes are luscious -- a roomful of strong carnation and flowers, with wafting scent of creamy caramel in the background. But then there is the smell of cheap white taper candles put out a couple of minutes ago and still cooling. Considering that the scent is a 'doll girl' and that she is 'sociopathic,' I don't know that this is inappropriate. It's also not all that unpleasant if you know it is coming, but if you aren't expecting it, it is unsettling -- mmmmm, flowers, mmmmm cream yum cream and caramel and .....wtf stinky Dollar General TEA LIGHTS??

Ooooohhhhhh Bilquis!! In the bottle: sort of plastic-y fruit and flowers. I am concerned, other fruit notes have either disappeared on me or turned bilious. I do not want to have to call this Bilious! Wet on the skin: First slather is weird. Sweetness, almost cookies. That must be the almond, it is very strong at first application. Then it goes through this weird, unfortunate morph stage. I almost quit Bilquis here, strongly considered going to the bathroom and scrubbing it off. The sweetness stays, amps a bit even, but the musk joins it. When the musk first shows up, it isn't an easy pairing. I sat sniffing myself, wrinking my nose, feeling that the smell (more like 'smells', it feels like several disconnected scents at this point) was familiar if unpleasant. Finally it hit me: coffee cake, and feet. I swear to you, for five to ten minutes this goes coffee cake and feet on me. Like the apple crumb coffee cake that is buttery and sugary and apple-ish, that is the main note, but like you are eating this next to someone two tables down who has taken off their shoes under the table and should NOT have done so. I did what I could to keep my arms down from my face and stick it out. I prayed that this would stop. Within another five minutes, maybe ten, the perseverance paid off. The musk finally decided to play nice, and it started smelling sexy instead of sweatsock. Then the honey showed up, and oh my GODS the honey!! It doesn't smell like plain old Sue Bee honey either, it smells like Tupelo honey, a dark almost spiced honey. And apples, and buttery sugar but very faintly sugared. With a light lush undertone of lilies and rose. I am so in love. I am actually willng to smell like feet, every time I put this on, for ten to fifteen minutes until Bilquis is ready to show me some lovin' again.