widdershins

This is the 2010 version. I am in love with BPAL's rose blends! Peacock Queen smells like a rose that has bloomed and been open for a while. It smells much deeper and velvety than Rose Red. There is a touch of pollen or spice at the very center of it that adds to the maturity of the rose. This is a perfume I will wear when I put on red lipstick and a little black dress with gloves. Very sophisticated and classy. You would find these roses drooping on the plant or in a vase of water, the petals heavy and lush, and slightly dry around the edges.

I would love to try any of these in any amount (decants, anything!) The ones with the asterisks (*) are the ones I've tried and need more of. The ones in bold are things I especially want. GC BPAL/BPTP: Akuma Alice* Black Phoenix Bon Vivant Castitas Bath Oil Cordelia Dana O’Shee Dove’s Heart Drink Me* Down the Rabbit Hole Atmosphere Spray* Eat Me* Envy Fainting Room Spray* Frenum Bath Oil Garden Path with Chickens Glasgow* Gertrude Dix's Atmosphere Spray High-Strung Daisies Humanitas Bath Oil Les Bijoux Ode on Melancholy Okiya Atmosphere Spray* Oneiroi Queen's Croquet Ground Atmosphere Spray* Séance Schrodinger's Cat* Somnus* TKO* Tweedledee Viola* White Rabbit LE/unimpables/Discontinued etc: Candy Butcher* Chaste Moon Day of the Skulls* Gothabilly* Grindhouse Holiday Argument Diffusing Spray Ichabod Crane Ingenue Josie La Vita Nuova Love in the Asylum* Monsterbait: biggerCritters Moxie New Year's Eve in Dogville One to Tie, Two to Win Orange Peacock Queen Peacock Queen soap Presence of Love Schlafende Baigneuse Silenti Storm Snow White* Snow White Atmosphere Spray Snow White Bath Oil Snow White Soap Sugar Plum Fairy Sugar Skull Atmosphere Spray TKO Massage Oil Velvet Nudie* Velvet Unicorn* Wensleydale Xanthe, the Weeping Clown Yvaine I also love LUSH, Villainess, and makeup.

In the imp it is fresh and slightly soapy. It makes me think of freshly scrubbed skin that is lightly perfumed from using a special expensive soap. On my skin the soapy aspect gets stronger into this almost detergent like feel. Nevertheless, it is delicious smelling detergent. One of those spring floral laundry soaps. After it is dried, about 2 hours later, finally the peony, roses, and greenery peek out, close to the skin. That freshness is still lurking. This blend surprised me at how clean/soapy it is....but I like it!

As other reviewers have stated, Eclipse starts off as an in your face pure almond extract. I almost washed it off before it got to the drydown because my head started to pound. I am so glad I didn't! In about five minutes the almond recedes and becomes softer, and vanilla cinnamon warms up the blend. It smells like a cozy bakery. Quite nice on a cold snowy day. ETA: I didn't experience any cinnamon burning my skin and my skin is quite sensitive. I lucked out!

In the bottle and the wet stages for Pink Phoenix are identical to me. It's this overwhelmingly sweet plastic vanilla note. Like little pink plastic Barbie shoes. I started to slather this on my wrists and neck because I assumed it would have a light throw. WRONG. In a few minutes I radiated it. Thankfully after it dried it became a sweet soft skin musk. I quite like it for those childlike carefree days.

Very light and flowery in the imp. I slathered it all over because it's very subtle. I can smell a very pollen-y flower, I'm assuming its the osmanthus, and it does smell very similar to honeysuckle. The honey lends a beeswax note to my skin chemistry. Overall, it's very subtle, a refreshingly floral summer scent.

This is what the sea would smell like on The Little Mermaid movie. Colorful frothy water with strands of sea greenery. I'm not usually one for aquatics, but this is fantastic and breezy.

This is exactly what it advertises to be. Charcoal and ash, but dampened. It reminds me of a match put out in a glass of water. Smoky and ashy and wet. I don't really get anything like a palm from it, but it does smell like exotic ash.

Alright, I'm going to preface this review with a little quirk I have. To me, some flowers smell "meaty" like gardenias and honeysuckle. I don't really know how to describe it, but it's not necessarily a bad thing. They're just very cloying to my nose. This is how Marae is. A hothouse filled with big, meaty, cloying flowers. The vanilla orchid and gardenia come out instantly, while the monoi tiare is in the background, smoothing things out. Very full-bodied and it reminds me of a lush tropical greenhouse.

Oh this is so refreshing and clean after all of the Bar scents I tested. Sweet, tangy jungle grasses. If I was a horse I would be after mouthfulls of these Boo Bam grasses. The hibiscus is steamy on top of all of the green. Mmmm I can almost smell the saltiness of the ocean.

Hrmmm. Similar to Rangoon Riptide to my sniffer. At least in the bottle. On my skin, it smells like a butterscotch lifesaver with *spark*. I'm glad I let it dry before passing final judgment, because it becomes warm and spicy and comforting. I like it, but not enough for an entire bottle. I guess I'm not a warm and spicy kind o' gal.

In a word, Te Po= effervescent. In the bottle, I was freaked out because it had a very strong boozy smell. On the skin it calms down immediately. I'm reminded of 7-up with a ginger-lime-cherry twist. The almond gives it some warmth--I think it would be very chilly without it. My mom loves this one!

I was wary to try this-- I think I thought the rum would turn it into a sticky sweet mess like it had in Rangoon Riptide. Fear not! It is gorgeous. Me need bottle! Zesty, bubbly, gingery, and fresh lime burst out immediately on my skin. The apricot makes it juicy and curvy in all the right places. It's warm and bubbly cool at the same time. It is the most refreshing thing I have ever worn.

This smells like the thick syrupy glaze section of a pineapple upside down cake. I'm not a really big foodie, so I'm not too into this. It is definitely buttery and smooth...sort of like a butterscotch lifesaver with pineapple. On my skin, the pineapple peaks out a little more, but not enough to make me happy.

I wonder what it says about me that I love all my fruits smelling boozy? Golden Wave is all juicy and I really want a sip right out of the bottle. The tangerine smells very strong in my decant, but when I put it on it melds with the passion fruit and guava deliciously. There is a decidedly liquor note I have to attribute to the gin and tonic. I want to slather myself with this and wear a sundress and big fresh flowers in my hair.