ClareN

Yog-Sothoth is a close relative of Djinn, both soapy clean vetiver scents; Djinn is more of a lemony vetiver, while Yog-Sothoth is not lemony and features some of BPAL's "dark aquatic" or "ozone" notes. It smells like a shower gel marketed at men. I am learning to appreciate vetiver, but aquatics? Try me when hell freezes over. This scent is emphatically Not For Me. If you do like vetiver and aquatics, you might enjoy this. It is also a good choice for those who prefer to wear scents traditionally marked as "masculine".

I only wish I had something to say besides: soapy aquatic. I can't wear this kind of scent.

I think I bought this as one of my first purchases from a forumite, when I first got into BPAL. I just got around to testing it now, and I didn't remember, before testing it, what the notes were supposed to be. Somehow I expected a dark bitter herbal scent, with maybe some earth and vetiver. Not at all. I put it on and without rereading the notes, I thought "fruity bubblegum" straight away - I wouldn't be surprised if this has a bit of lotus, since lotus is supposed to smell like bubblegum. I don't really like fruit or bubblegum scents. Black Hellebore soon reveals an aquatic side, which is another scent family I don't like at all. I didn't perceive the pink, fruity scent as rose or peony until I reread the notes; it's really a rather generic sweet pink scent, slightly soapy. Nothing about this excites me; sorry I can't say much about it. However, if you do like sweet, fruity, watery scents, I imagine you might enjoy this.

I picked up jasmine, rose and citrus straight away without rereading the description, so I guess my nose is getting better at identifying notes. There's a lot of citrus in the topnotes, but that fades away pretty fast and soon, like everything with jasmine, Versailles turns into all-jasmine-all-the-time on me. A bit of powdery rose, too, but not the kind of rose I prefer. This is one of the better jasmine blends I've tried, I do like the citrus and amber, but if you can't wear jasmine this still isn't wearable. Surprisingly, the jasmine actually backs off in the drydown, which is a sweet powdery amber-rose on me...still not something that I'd be drawn to wear again, though. I happened to test Guerlain's Jardins de Bagatelle (jasmine-rose-neroli) at the drugstore today, then put on Versailles when I got home, to find that the two are actually somewhat similar (in the initial stages). So if you like that Guerlain, try Versailles!

The dominant note in Death of the Grave-Digger is BPAL's snow accord. I can see how it is evocative of snow, but it doesn't smell like snow; it's a sweet pine/evergreen scent with a hint of citrus. I don't like this note terribly much; there's that unfortunate association with pine-scented cleaning fluid. So I'm not really destined to like Death of the Grave-Digger. There's a hint of some tart berry that comes out from time to time, which is nice. I waited for the opoponax and myrrh to make a grand entrance, but they never showed up on my skin, except just the tiniest hint of something resinous in the drydown. From memory, Death of the Grave-Digger smells a lot like the GC Black Forest, which I tested about a week ago, which was evergreen and sweet in a similar way. In both cases, a nice enough scent I wouldn't wear as a perfume.

Another ignorant question. My boyfriend has an oral allergy to almonds. That's *not* the life threatening, anaphylactic kind of allergy, but it means he'll throw up and get serious heartburn if he accidentally consumes some almond. With the amount of actual almond in a perfume like Hecate or Bastet being fairly miniscule, am I right in thinking it's no big problem if I wear those perfumes around him and he kisses my wrist or something? I've asked him before, and he doesn't know. Can anyone here help?

Hmm, all the reviews on the first page say "LEMON!" but Shoggoth is mostly floral on me. Freshly applied, I smell the iris and coconut (last seen together in Black Pearl) quite strongly, but then the floral notes start to pick up steam and take over, and it smells like fresh pear. I've noticed that a combination of miscellaneous floral and plant notes often smells like pear to me; I don't know if it's a particular note doing this or if I just label things as pear too easily. The overall scent of this is light green to me. I don't mean that it smells like sap or leaves or herbs, just that it is strongly evocative of the color light green. I guess that's the pear. Anyway, although I like the iris and coconut at the start I don't really wear light green florals, so this isn't for me. EDIT: Second try, September 2 - I'm getting a "herbal tea" vibe in the topnotes this time, alongside the iris and coconut. It smells like hibiscus-lemon tea (so THERE'S the lemon) and something from Lush I can't put my finger on (perhaps a sweeter version of the sadly discontinued Spank Me With Saplings shower jelly). It still turns into pear soon after that...but I might have to keep this imp a while longer.

I'd love this to smell like tonka, patchouli, bergamot and lavender, but I'm sorry to say that this primarily smells like the evil and unfairly popular men's deodorant/body spray known as Axe in North America and Lynx in Australia. I can't get over the feeling that I sprayed my arm with my boyfriend's Lynx, so I can't wear this. I wish Lynx didn't exist so it wouldn't be able to ruin perfectly good BPAL for me.

This scent is mostly vetiver. Mmm, delicious vetiver. I'm not always sure I like vetiver, but right now I'm leaning towards I love it. Brimstone is what I wanted Djinn to be, but Djinn smelled like fresh, clean, lemony soap. This, on the other hand, is gloriously dark. I don't really get smoke and fire - this reminds me more of walking through a forest in medieval Europe, but it is still dark and lovely. It's olive green, not gray. It's a little sharp when first applied, but on my skin it mellows out with a touch of that lemony vetiver scent and it gets better and better. It lasts a VERY long time. I think this would be a good layering note; although I love it, I'm not sure I'd wear it on its own.

I don't look up notes before I test the imps, so the first thing I thought when I applied this was: Dusty bark and apple peels? Weird. After reading the notes, I do pick up the cypress, which seems to be the prominent note here. On my skin, Nemesis soon starts turning to potpourri, not in a terrible way, but it's not as interesting as the description makes it sound. And it's pretty faint. Minutes later, it's getting sweeter and going to floral potpourri hell. Testing this scent was when I finally realized that my skin chemistry turns most things sweet. So this is very sweet on me. Final verdict: Meh. It's okay, but nothing to keep me coming back for more.

Lily of the valley (muguet) is the prominent note here and it's very pretty. It doesn't go jasmine-y and doesn't seem fake or air-freshener-y. Before I was into perfume, I used to think muguet was one of my favorite scents, but since I've opened my eyes to other things, it doesn't interest me so much. I would have liked it better if the scent was stronger overall - it's one of the more faint and short-lived BPALs, on my skin - or if I could pick up any ginger. I also would have liked it better if it contained red musk, woodsmoke, cloves, leather, and opoponax, but don't mind me. This is a great choice for floral lovers. ETA: I said that Pele was very faint on me. I just read elsewhere on this forum that there was a weak batch of Pele a little while ago, which I suspect is what I have since my imp is second-hand. If you're buying directly from the Lab at this point or your oil is not from the weak batch, you might get a much stronger scent. Now I almost want to get a new imp...but it would probably still be not my thing.

Sometimes I wish I could dress like an expensive 19th century prostitute all the time. So bring on the old-fashioned-whorehouse scents, I say! The more the better! I like Bien Loin d'Ici even more than Bordello. When first applied, it invokes a strong scent memory of visiting Nepal when I was thirteen. I get images of rhododendron trees by the road, a dark teahouse, a crowded little bookstore. There's some distant burning incense in the background behind the scent of jasmine tea - and I mean real jasmine tea, unbelievably, not the funky BPAL-jasmine note we all hate. If you love real jasmine tea but don't get along with BPAL's jasmine blends, you need to try this one. In the drydown, it changes to a lovely sweet floral resin-incense - not too heavily floral. There's a honey note that doesn't go the slightest bit powdery and a mysterious smoky note lingering in the background. Gah, I just love this too much to describe it accurately but I will say that it is very unlike any other BPAL scent I've tried. And I do believe it beats the likes of Lust and O for the sexiest scent in the BPAL catalogue. I'm not surprised that it's a recent addition to the catalogue - it seems like Beth is getting better at her job all the time. Just to make the deal sweeter, throw and lasting power are very impressive. Why haven't I seen more hype about Bien Loin d'Ici on the forum?

My mom and I both thought that this smells like Christmas cookies. Luckily, I love that kind of scent, always have. Port-au-Prince is all almond, cinnamon, clove goodness and it just might knock Bengal off the top spot for Ultimate Spice Cabinet Scent. It takes on a "dusty" feel in the drydown and never goes too sweet - it stays good and spicy. Yes. Bonus points for not making my skin burn with the cinnamon, like Bengal does. (Cinnamon isn't listed, but it smells like there must be a little in there.) Spice lovers take note, you need this!

I have roughly half an imp of CT3 XLIII (43), received as a frimp in a swap. It's the same blend that the_cat_goddess originally ordered and reviewed here back in July 2006, although I didn't get it from her directly. It's interesting to imagine how many hands this 0.4 ml of oil has passed through before reaching me in Australia. In the imp, a fresh, greenish floral. On my skin, it's a perfumey fruity floral scent that strikes me as somewhat commercial, like something you could buy at Bath and Body Works. Not bad, if you like that sort of thing. There's some tart fruit note in it, perhaps mango or peach, or even melon, and what I envision as pink flowers. It's very sweet and girly. In the drydown, it turns slightly bitter on me. Fruit notes don't do well on my skin. I don't usually go for BPAL's fruity florals, but this was my first taste of any Chaos Theory and I'm glad I got to try it. I'll be passing it on to someone who'll give it more love.

Rosewood, lemon peel, red sandalwood, musk and sage all sound great. Too bad it doesn't end there, because the next two notes are all I can smell...that's right, this is yet another scent ruined for me by the evilly overpowering lily and jasmine. But if you've read this far, you probably don't mind lily and jasmine, so why listen to me?

Damn. This is not the incense scent I've been dreaming of. I'm looking for the dark, deadly serious scent of walking into a Catholic church, but this smells more like incense you could buy from an Indian imports store. It's certainly incense, but it's almost harsh smelling, and a little sour, and something about it makes my throat feel scratchy - I think that might be the myrrh. I like myrrh, but perhaps not when it's a main player in the blend like this. I might try layering Penitence with a woodsy scent like Aureus to tone it down.

To me, Water of Notre Dame was a lemony powdery dry rose scent, with a little incense, quite similar to Hymn (from memory). I didn't get any aquatic, just rose with maybe some frankincense in the background. I don't care for this kind of rose scent, and the rose note eventually started smelling a bit "off" on my skin, so I won't be able to wear this one. Regardless of any potential beneficial voodoo effects.

I received two packages from forumites on the same day; one contained the imp of Dance of Death I ordered, and the other contained a free sniffie of Dance of Death (since it was on my wishlist), which was very nice of the sender. I don't really mind receiving duplicates, because I get the chance to scope out potential aging effects or batch differences. I managed to get the last drop out of the empty Dance of Death, and tested one imp on each hand. In the imp, both smell sharp and vinegary. My mother sniffed the imp and swore it smelled of formaldehyde, but I think that was just the influence of the oil's name. On my skin, it softens up and is quite nice. I agree that this is a green smell, and that it smells vaguely like Lush Tramp. I figured at first, without looking up the notes, that it must have a few herbs in it. I picked up the sweet, powdery orris as it dried, but I wasn't able to identify the black musk (I think I may recognize it after this, though). 15 minutes in, the orris brings an almost coconut-like sweetness to the blend which is a welcome counter to the bitterness of the black musk and myrrh. However, the orris is much more noticeable on my right hand, where I tested the full imp. The empty imp contained a much darker scent; while they were definitely the same blend, the empty imp reminded me of crushed dry brown leaves, while the full imp was slightly more fresh, green, woodsy, and definitely sweeter. I prefer the imp that was full, but I couldn't say whether it was a batch difference or an aging effect, or which imp would have been older. In the drydown is a powdery patchouli incense with a slight "baby powder" effect. I like it, but I don't need a bottle. I'm not sure if I will keep the imp; I don't think I'd wear this very much, but I will test it at least once more. ETA: In the later drydown, when it's very faint, Dance of Death turns sweeter and smells almost like toasted marshmallows. Bizarre, I know.

I loved this as soon as I put it on, and was surprised to see it was so simple when I looked up the notes. To me, it's a spicy, fiery rose - more rose incense than a fresh rose on the bush. It makes me think of someone recounting ancient legends around a campfire. It's sort of an aromatherapy scent too, one I'd use when I want to think clearly about something (not that I have any knowledge of aromatherapy). The drydown, after an hour or so, is not as much fun - it gets faint and sort of dusty, but not unpleasant. I will keep the imp for the lovely initial stage, but I won't need a bottle.

I'm afraid that Alice is one of those popular scents I don't really get. It's so pretty when I first put it on, a gorgeous powdery carnation scent. The rose doesn't come out too much on my skin, it's all pretty, sweet, spicy carnation. I love carnation. Unfortunately, this stage is far too brief; after ten or fifteen minutes it morphs into a bland, sweet, milky floral, with the carnation fading into the background. This might be a personal chemistry issue, but the stage I like is too short for me to buy a bottle of this one. Sigh. I wish BPAL had more carnation scents that aren't heavy florals.

In the imp: Aquatic as anything. Yep, definitely the BPAL-style "dark aquatic". This is not a scent family I'm fond of. On my skin, wet: This does the weirdest morph ever, where the aquatic note sits back for a while, just to mess with me, and the predominant scent is the spicy, sunshiny floral note of Roadhouse with a hint of the vanilla creaminess of Dorian. I would LOVE a blend that smelled like this from start to finish, but I know Kumari Kandam has other plans. Drydown: And it does. It goes back to the aquatic scent I smelled at the start, and like most aquatics, I can't escape the feeling that it smells like a cleaning product or a man's deodorant. I can still pick up a little of the magnificent floral note from Roadhouse, and a clay note, but the aquatic note spells doom for me. I ended up washing it off. If, unlike me, you tend to enjoy BPAL's aquatics, this is definitely one to try.

In the imp: Buttered-rum candy. On skin: Sweet, sharp rum (rum cake with raisins maybe), and coconut. It smells almost exactly like the description, except that I don't get the tobacco note. It soon turns very sweet on my skin, but that is what my chemistry generally does with most scents. I wish the tobacco note would come out to counter the sweetness somewhat. Drydown: This eventually fades to a fairly simple, sweet caramel-rum scent. It's a good foody scent if you like rum, but it's not for me.

Mmm, vanilla cake. I'm another non-foody person who loves this blend despite the odds. I think I smell a tiny bit of dragon's blood resin in here. Since BPAL is all natural, and it's hard to extract a fragrant oil from real fruits, I hypothesise that Beth might be using a little bit of dragon's blood, along with some other things, to recreate the smell of red berries. In either case, I'm normally averse to dragon's blood AND fruit notes, but I can wear this! The berry note is subtle and doesn't turn into air freshener or scented candle. Like Gluttony (which I'm also testing today), I'll reach for this imp whenever I have occasional foody-scent cravings, even though I may not need a bottle. If you do love the foodies, there should be a bottle of this in your next order.

Golden vanilla and gilded musk, stargazer lily, white sandalwood, grey amber, elemi, orris root, ambergris and sea moss. So I'm one of the only ones who doesn't like this very much. Sniffed in the imp: Vanilla and caramel. Very foody. Wet stage: A mildly sweet, fresh, vanilla-amber scent. Drying: Straight away the "fresh" component of this scent turns itself way up, until this is more of an aquatic foody scent than just a foody scent. I guess that's the ambergris and sea moss, although I'm not adept at identifying those notes. Unlike most vanilla/amber scents, which have a golden feel, this one turns out to be a very pale blue. Later drydown: Definitely aquatic, although the vanilla is still there; it's taking on a fabric softener/detergent/aftershave feel. Not for me, although it is an interesting blend.

Based on reviews, I expected Gluttony to be super-sweet, especially with my skin chemistry which typically turns things sweeter (Jack, for example, was unwearable for me). But I'm testing both Gluttony and Eat Me today and I'm surprised to find that Eat Me is the toothachingly sweet one on me, while Gluttony is more warm and spicy-foody. As an American raised in Australia, Gluttony reminds me of the USA - visiting my family for Thanksgiving and Christmas in Texas, eating far too many desserts, caramel ribbon ice cream, German chocolate cake with nuts, pecan pie. (Gluttony reminds me of the USA - OK, that sounds really anti-American, but I do mean it in the nicest way!) Lots of sweetness in the wet stage, but in the drydown there's a surprising dry, rich spiciness to this scent - not a specific spice like cinnamon or clove, but a general spiciness, like sniffing dry flavored tea leaves in the bag. I love it - my only complaint is that the drydown scent is not very strong. I don't often wear foody scents, but this one is a keeper for the imp at least, for those times when I have cravings.