mystery213

To my nose, The Visionary is a conglomeration of red, white and skin musk, with a honeyed sweetness, and a touch of saltiness (somewhat like Selkie) in the background. Surprisingly pretty, and musky.

Oooh, I do adore this blend so very much. Though do be warned- it is *so* much better after being very well aged. I was frimped a tiny partial decant a long while back with the old flying witch label, so it was obviously very old. It was sweet and syrupy and almost spicy- so rich and decadent! I promptly went and got myself a fresh bottle, and was completely disappointed. Fresh, dragon's blood tends to be sharp smelling and almost medicinal- somewhat harsh. I tucked it away, and after a year or so of aging the bottle, it was not nearly as sharp, but was not the bliss that I had remembered from my tiny frimp. Fast forward to a few weeks back when I scored my self a bottle of eight year aged Dragon's Milk, and it is so close to what I experienced with the imp. So mouthwateringly delicious and super duper potent! To my nose, this is a sticky sweet/almost fruity resinous blend with a touch of spice to it, but unlike any other spice imaginable. Dragon's blood is really a unique note, and mixed with the honeyed vanilla, it is an incredibly stand alone blend, and totally in my top favorites (once aged, at least).....

Mmm, this is like Nag Champa incense in syrupy liquid form. It is a super thick, rich colored oil that is probably going to do amazing things as it ages. I have tried a lot of 'Nag Champa' scented things, and have been disappointed so many times, but this one nails it. It even has that slightly dusty head-shop smell that the real Nag Champa incense always seems to have. It also has some excellent staying power- my skin totally eats scents, but this even lasted through a hot bath! Awesomeness....

Yep, count me in as another that must have gotten imps from a bad batch- I had three imps that tagged along with my Yules order split the first time I tried to open them...... It was certainly a surprise! I have not ever had that happen from a BPAL imp before.

Wow, this starts out on a strong butterscotch note- seriously similar to butterscotch snaps liquor. It quickly fades down like most frankincense and myrrh blends do for me though, into a fairly non-descript powdery note. I also think this will probably age beautifully, and will be very nice for those who do not have the skin chemistry that just morphs it into powder...

The impenetrable darkness of opoponax and vetiver, sliced through with a shiver of mint, white grape, star anise, and pungent frankincense. In the bottle, this is inky black and smells frightening. On my skin, it becomes almost straight up black licorice/anise with a heavy amount of mentholated tobacco thrown in the mix. Normally vetiver takes over blends for me, but in this one, the anise is by far the star of the bunch. As it drys down, the menthol fades a bit, and the blend becomes slightly sweeter. A very pleasant cologne-ish note starts blooming near the end of the dry down. It reminds me a bit of a more masculine version of Licorice Bat. I am not usually a fan of either anise, nor menthol tobacco, though this actually dries down really nice. I am pretty sure this one will have a serious fan base with the anise lovers.

An infestation of Ceylon cinnamon bark, black patchouli, tonka absolute, bitter almond, and frankincense. Ah, the cedar in this blend makes me want to cry. Every other note is stunning! Perfect! It smells like cinnamon cherries drenched in patchouli in the vial. But then when I apply it, cedar barges in with it's whole 'I am Cedar! Hear me roar!' thing and just about overtakes the blend. I amp cedar in a ridiculous way, so on other people this may possibly be all of the beautiful, spicy, tonka drenched patchouli with cherries (bitter almond) on top that I had hoped for, but on me, it is mostly just a resins/patchouli/cedar dominant blend. I am tempted to let this hang around for it bit to see if aging the patchouli and tonka helps to override the cedar, though I do fear I may be waging a losing battle with this one....

From preconceived notion, I thought this would be too 'dark' compared to the violet note I usually like in BPAL's (Faith, White Chocolate and Sugared Violets...etc.). And it is truly much darker and sinister, but still just brimming with beauty. It goes on lush and rich, and is a brooding violet, unlike the usual sweet and candied ones found in most blends. The mint is (thankfully) pretty much non-existent. It goes a bit soapy on the drydown though, and loses a lot of the dark 'purple' feel that it has when first applied. This will likely end up on the frimp pile....

Oh my. I had a chance to try this scent about eight years ago, and remember really liking it back then. So when I got a chance to swap for half of a bottle I jumped for it. I was a little bit worried about how this may have aged, but my worries were completely unfounded. This. Is. Amazing. I think it is even better than I remember it. This is peppery leather that is drenched in spices (Clove! Cinnamon! Ginger! Oh my!) with a woodsy backdrop that brings it all together perfectly. This has pretty much got to the the perfect scent for a man. I normally will not wear any masculine blends whatsoever, but I would make an exception for this. If I were a man, I would wear this almost every day. I really, really hope this one gets resurrected!

This scent is both smokey and sweet with a touch of an ozone tang mingling with the faintest whiff of blackberries.There is a sharp green note lurking in the background of everything that surfaces every now and again. All of this is thoroughly intermingled with a faint smattering of the snow note that is familiar to many of the winter blends. This would be soooo awesome as an atmo spray!

This starts off as a fresh, clean floral with just a touch of background sharpness and greenery under the tart sweetness. It smells a little bit like expensive shampoo. It dries down into an unusual lemony floral.

This is so beautiful and fresh and clean smelling! Normally I go for darker, muskier, foodier or spicier scents, but this is amazing! It is such a beautiful merging of the three notes, with none standing out too much from the others. The white tea adds a bright feel to the scent, and the carnation lends just the right amount of pepper to balance out the sweetness of the Damask Rose and keep it from going soapy or powdery.

A tousled, sexy mix of patchouli, vanilla, and hemp. Ooo, now I see what all the raving is about. This is a gorgeous, mingling balance of patchouli and a very thick, aged sweet vanilla. The rich sweetness of the vanilla takes any of the usual 'edge' away from the patchouli, softening it and rounding out the scent beautifully. This is unlike any patchouli I have ever smelled. I only get a very faint 'hemp' scent in the background, practically non-existent, but adding just a touch of sweet woody spiciness. Holy yum.

I have not had a chance to test this in sooooo many years, and finally scored a decant of it in a recent swap. Going on, it is oddly harsh, and not like I remember (I wonder if aging has done that?). However, it quickly dries down to the sweet fizzy purple scent I remember. This is almost like purple smarties dissolved in grape koolaid with a dash of plum wine, sitting on a table in front of a massive blooming lilac bush. It is such a seductive, fun (yet regal!), PURPLE scent. Oh yes, I will be seeking out a bottle of this beauty.

In the bottle, this smells oddly of dry dog food. When applied, it becomes very white sandalwood and patchouli heavy with a background of labdanum. I get almost zero cherry of any sort, which was really what I was hoping for. This is, as stated above, not foody or fruity whatsoever. It is a very dry, woodsy smell, with the slightest touch of something sweet lurking in the background. It dries down to an almost straight up blend of patchouli/sandalwood on me.

This starts off as a rich burst of sweet almond (which always translates to cherries to my nose), with a certain spiciness behind it. If I didn't know better I would say it was cinnamon, but maybe it is the rum lending the spice? The honey mead adds an incredible sweetness to the blend. So just applied, this is a super sweet, yet rich and spicy cherry blend, which I just adore... Quickly, however, all of the wonderful spicy cherry awesomeness fades away, and only leaves a lingering trace. After just a few minutes, the honey mead starts doing something weird and kind of plasticky, and a trace of the nuttiness now becomes apparent. On drydown, this seems to become a nutty honey mead scent with a trace of spice and red wine.

Oh, yeah, Jailbait for sure....and maybe Bubblegum and Roses too.....

Pink Lace, Pink Phoenix, any of the Beaver Moons you haven't tried yet, The Unheavenly City, Reflected Vulva, Lump of Coal (if you can find it), Cake Smash, Alice, Obatala, Hope and Faith (CD:Siamese Twins), Sprinklecake, Zombie Apocalypse, Velvet Unicorn, Titania, Treat #1.....

When I first put this on, it is all over the place! Is it foody? Citrusy? Powdery? It keeps morphing into different smells! As it dries down, the foodiness starts to override the other notes and starts giving it a nutty/cakey smelling quality. This merges with the golden musk in a delightful manner, and the citrus note fades away almost instantly. It still has the slightest hint of powder, but nothing too extreme. This is decidedly yummy- sweet, and cozy smelling. I think this one is a keeper.....

Whew! This is certainly a boggy 'green' scent. In the bottle and when first applied, this is almost all unripe squash mingling with the green musk, and is very odd indeed. When applied, the vetiver blooms a bit and does add some depth to the greenness, and a touch of sweetness comes peeking out with the benzoin. The vetiver is very well behaved in this blend at this point, which is not a typical experience for me. It seems to mostly add to the muskiness of the scent, making this overall a heavy, sweet green musk blend. On dry down, the vetiver takes a more prominent stance and it becomes more of a sweet, green vetiver type of scent, with a bit of boggy/mustiness in the background.

This one is deeply and richly aquatic/oceanic in the bottle and when first applied. It is salty and very clean and fresh smelling (and slightly sweet), but with the slightest hint of both white floral, and ashiness in the background. I have an association with this type of scent that pegs this as a more masculine scent, and I think that this would smell great on a guy. It also smells like something I would love scenting my bathroom with, rather than wearing as a perfume (which is actually not a bad thing, scent wise). It just brings to mind things like waterfalls and rain. It is somewhat similar to the scent Dirty. On dry down this still retains the salty oceanic qualities, but also ends up getting pretty soapy smelling, like I just washed my hands with Ivory soap or something....

While I love citrus, I do not wear it often. This is not only because it just doesn't usually hit me as a 'me' scent, but also because most citrus scents fade almost immediately on me. Helle's Belle, however is very much unlike your average citrus blend- the mandarin blends right into the magnolia and musk and it all becomes one fluid note. The 'spice' adds a beautiful peppery edge to the whole mix with a touch of cinnamon and smokiness. I have smelled this in the imp before, but never have actually ventured to try it on. I am glad that I did....

The moment before the ruin, frozen. The scent of captured glory, of glowing pearls and rubies, of golden sunlit joy and regal grandeur: red rose, Tunisian amber, blood orange, toasted vanilla, heliotrope, gardenia and red musk. Such a beautiful intertwining of amber, rose, gardenia and vanilla, with the faintest zest of the blood orange in the background. When I tried this eight years ago or so the orange was a bit too much, but now it has died down perfectly to play a very light background supporting note. The amber has deepened and gotten richer with age. Love!

The similarity to Pink Phoenix struck me immediately. It has that same overtly 'pink' smell, but is less sticky sweet than the Phoenix is. The champaca and tobacco notes seem to keep the sweetness in check, and the rose is almost perfectly balanced with the strawberry, making them a bit hard to pick out individually. This is beautiful! It seems to be fading quickly though, as all of the Laces seem to on me......

This one smells very similar to Bliss, but just less chocolate, and a lot more sweetness. I had to seriously slather this one to get the scent to 'stick' and it is still pretty faint. I suspect my skin will eat this one up fast. I do really like the scent, though. It is yummy foody, sweet creamy awesomeness. I do not get nearly as much chocolate from this than I would have thought though. It is very heavy on the cream. If it was not so faint on me, this would probably be a big win.