xochitl

The Greek God of Tears, Patron of Mourners, who dictates and accepts honors paid to the dead. He is the personification of grief and the sorrow and emptiness that comes from loss. Weeping is his hymnal, and this is his perfume. Salt tears over white roses, the fumes of thin funereal incense and the hollowness of calamus. This is a light, fragrant scent of water notes and florals. It is very similar to the discontinued scent Tears (as one might think), so if you are broken up about Tears going bye-bye, you might give this one a try. In fact, I am wearing both right now, to compare. Wet, Tears is saltier smelling, and Penthus has a light floral floating over the water notes. Dry, however, I can barely tell the two apart!

This was a surprise gift from the lab, and when I say surprise, I mean it! To me it belies its name - I never would have guessed it as a masculine scent. Surprise number two was that it is a resinous scent that actually works on me. Must be the vanilla. Surprise out of the way, it is a beautiful, golden scent. The first note is the pine everyone keeps talking about, but on me that fades quickly. It warms into a lovely, soft vanilla with a twist. (The amber, which keeps the vanilla golden.) I love it and will certainly buy a bigger bottle, and I will certainly NOT be sharing it with my husband. I'm not cool enough to tell people what I'm wearing without giggling, though.

When I got my PBAL package today, the first thing I did was rip it open and douse myself in Spooky. I've been sitting here in the scent cloud for a while, breathing in the heady loveliness, and boy am I glad I got to buy a bottle of this. Minty goodness, with chocolate and a dab of coconut to spare. I'm not getting any rum, but it's so good, I don't care! This smells like something the Girl Scouts would sell in the form of a cookie, but I'd rather wear it any day!

Mostly I get the patchouli and musk out of this, but the neroli and vanilla sweeten it up a lot. I like it - it is such a blend of oils that I can hardly discern any single notes out of it. It dries down to almost all musk, but it is still a little sweet. Nice. The sweetness and musk/patchouli combination almost give it an amber-y effect. If the notes weren't listed I'd swear it had amber in it.

Yeah, they really do. All the dream oils seem to have quite a lot of lavender in them, as a matter of fact, so I think if you took a bath in WND or the Lavender Blissard ballistic and then layered it with one of the dream oils, you might not make it to the bed! Really? I never in a million years would have put those two together. I guess you really like the combo, yeah?

This is a lovely scent on my skin, just shy of being a "I love it" it is more a "Like it but don't need it." The chocolate and musk blend beautifully and the juniper berry lingers for a long time on my skin, giving the musky blend a brighter note that I like. I think it is this slight "lift" that makes me like it so much. I'm not sure what it would take to make me go over the top on this one. Nice. Not great.

I can definitely smell cocoa, wine, and blood in this. And each scent is good, but they never combine into a complete scent on me. After an hour or so, this scent is nonexistant on my skin except for a vague powdery whiff of bloody cocoa. Not my favorite scent, but interesting nonetheless.

This is a gorgeous scent. I'm so glad I managed to get it in one of my orders. I would buy this in a heartbeat. It is very sweet and slightly fruity. I can't put my finger on a specific fruit (like pineapple) but it is tart and sweet like a pineapple. I love it. It has a slight musky drydown on me that doesn't negatively affect my opinion of it. (With some scents it does!)

Definitely Penthus. It's good. And if you look around the swap thread and can get ahold of a DC'd scent called Tears, you'll probably enjoy that too. Tracking that one down might be a long term goal!

Dorian - my new love. The musks are indeed very pale and do not overwhelm the scents of vanilla or tea. They all mingle to make a lovely mellow, sweet scent that leaves me smelling my wrists all day. Another big bottle purchase to be sure.

Sweet butter. Loveley. And foody! I happen to know someone who tried this and it smelled extremely coconuty on her, so if you like sweet butter OR coconut, try it! I can't get a coconut scent on me at all, but the rum goodness works for me. A big bottle, most definitely.

I love this. I LOVE Dana O'Shee and I regret waiting this long to try it. It is sweet and the almond note is just a little stronger, making this a wonderful symphony of notes. Simple, but beautiful and elegant.

OH! Oh, my. The description of this sounds so wonderful. And on me it is pesticide. STRONG pesticide. And every single note usually works on me, but together, in this blend, no way.

This is good. I like this. But I haven't been disappointed by a Lunacy blend yet. This is Harvest Moon's musky, aquatic sister. Aquatic, but somehow inviting, not cold or as crystalline (on me) as Frost Moon or Cold Moon.

How lucky am I that in my last order I haven't found one scent that I don't like? Hellfire is another one that I will have to order a 5 ml of, pronto. The incense and musk, perhaps with the addition of pipe tobacco, give Hellfire its sweetness that I adore. Layered with the leather, however, this one turns naughty and seductive. Immediately bumped de Sade and Perversion out of their top 2 leather slots.

Rose Red. Moon Rose. Havisham (wich indeed smells rosy to me). Black Rose. Maiden. All rose scents. All lovely. Whip is the perfect rose scent. I will never be without it and my search for the signature rose has come to an end. Perfect.

Nine Mysteries - wow. To me it smells nothing like it does in the bottle. I couldn't even tell what the scent was in the bottle! But on my skin it is nice and minty and mellow. Almost buttery and a tiny bit sweet. Not foody, not floral. It is fresh but not sharp at all. I like this a lot, and I would certainly buy it if it were available.

This scent did the funniest thing on me. It disappeared completely! I've never had that happen before, but nothing about it stood out on me. I put it on my husband and it is reminiscent of Aureus on him, and it smells really good. I originally bought it for me, but it looks like he'll be the lucky one wearing it!

I can smell the lavender really strongly in this. It doesn't disturb my sleep, though, so that's good. And I DIDN'T have any bad dreams, but I think it is too soon to tell if that had anything to do with the oil. I'm going to use up my imp, though, so surely I'll be able to tell by then if my sleep is better and uninterrupted by nightmares. I've been thinking of trying a combination of Somnus and Baku to help me sleep/ no bad dreams!

I got this as a freebie from the lab, so when I first wore it, I didn't even know what was in it. And the first thing I thought was, "Man, this is good on me!" It has a sweet berry scent, as has been noted , but it is so light and fragrant it's amazing to me. I didn't know a berry would work one me so well, as cherry just rots and goes cloying. So, for anyone wanting to try a nice berry scent but you think cherries and currants just don't work, you may give this one a go.

First out of the bottle, I had the same reaction many others had. THIS is autumnal? This is cherry! But immediately placed on my skin it turns into a heady, heavy wine, with a few spicy notes to lighten it up. It reminds me of Harvest Moon, but stacking the two next to each other, I'd have to pick Harvest Moon. On its own, however, Mabon is still a lovely harvest scent that I will certainly use up. This one has a certain mystery to it, something musky, that lends it as a good evening scent, where perhaps Harvest Moon is its daytime counterpart.

I really love this scent - it is the perfect, PERFECT companion to Queen of Spades. It wears really well on me and stays a bit sweet, but it definitley has masculine tones, especially after worn for an hour or so. As much as I like it, I think I might stick with Queen of Spades and get my husband to try this. What a scent pair!

This is a light, fragrant scent. There is only one note that stands out on me - the jasmine, one suspects. But the other notes must temper it because it doesn't bother me while I'm trying to sleep. It is just light and lilting. I've been using it to help me sleep (the generous and wonderful SpinalDesign sent it to me for just that reason.) But it hasn't been helping me sleep. I haven't been sleeping any better at all. However...... Going back and reading the scent description, I now realize it is used to invoke dreams. And holy moly, does it do that! I have been actively dreaming, moreso than in years and years - and not understanding why! Epiphany! Hello! I didn't think I could relate any sleep experiences with any of these oils, but I was wrong. This one is a mystery to me... Now to try Baku and Somnus. I hope they have effect...

Harvest Moon - my most beloved of all BPAL scents. I wasn't around to order it, so thank goodness for SpinalDesign's generosity is selling it to me! I don't know how I am getting butter from this, but it is there nonetheless, right out of the bottle. A buttery, sweet, lightly green, but mostly woody scent. The colors in my mind are maroons, tempered with dark oranges and yellows. Brown inflections. And wearing the oil is bure bliss. It doesn't bother me at all, ever. I can wear it everyday and even love it wearing it that frequently! I practically bathe in the stuff - one 5 ml bottle may not be enough!

My very first impression upon applying this was that it was an amped up version of The Dormouse. As far as I know, the two don't have any notes in common, but that's the impression I had. An amped up version of The Dormouse with a little more floral. But florals don't seem to go nuts on me the way they do some forumites, so I can wear them pretty easily. After worn a while, I can definitely smell the plum wine that other people have mentioned, but it is mellow and warm. I think I might be falling for this one...