tempete

The Moon starts out as an intensely sweet, piercing floral on an herbal background. As the scent dries down, the herbs disappear and are replaced by a lovely creaminess which I think is vanilla. Unfortunately, The Moon goes sharp and plasticky on me in the final drydown.

 

I too thought that the major floral in this was jasmine, but Beth's jasmine notes go soapy on me nearly without fail. I have to agree with andrabell and go with magnolia. It's too bad that The Moon went plasticky because I would have bought a bottle otherwise.

The Hanged Man is sweet, watery and slightly soapy when wet. As it dries, herbal and floral notes emerge while retaining its sweetness. It's a surprisingly pretty scent, as Witch's Dagger noted in her review, but it doesn't really connect with me.

If you have to deal with this person a lot, I would suggest using High John the Conquerer. It helps me immensely when I absolutely must interact with my boss.

I've actually had Maiden for a while, but never got around to writing a review for it for some reason. Every so often I pull out my imp and wear it, and my enjoyment of this simple yet lovely scent has slowly grown. Maiden seems to be a very variable, changeable scent on me - sometimes I get just carnation and rose, sometimes it's white tea and one of the florals. Pretty but unpredictable seems to be an appealing combination for me !

I got to try this thanks to the wonderful ChupaChup!

 

The Irish coffee smell is very strong initially, which is gradually edged out by a dusty smell that really does evoke a library. Unfortunately, the same sharply green note that plagued me in Spooky and Snow White decides to make an appearance with Miskatonic University as well .

 

It's a good thing that I never got around to ordering a bottle of this, as that awful green note would have ruined it for me.

Roadhouse starts out as a very green dandelion scent that threatens to give me a headache, but then morphs into a distinctly spilled-beer-on-myself phase. Thankfully, it changes once again into a slightly floral, creamy scent that is surprisingly lovely. I'm not so fond of the first two phases, so I need to wear Roadhouse at least once more before I decide to keep the imp or not.

I got two tarted imps of Tarot: Justice from swaps. One is a very light, citrus-y, green tea type of scent, which is consistent with most of the reviews for Justice. The other starts out as a green-tinged violet that morphs into a kind of caramelly sweet amber-based scent, which was also smelled by exactly one reviewer - strangely enough, this is not the person who swapped me the imp. I know that this imp of Justice is not Sybaris, because my skin would've amped up the clove to unbearable levels.

 

Anyone who has tried Justice but not reviewed it yet, please tell me how it smells on you!

The lovely ChupaChup sent me a decant of Beltane to try!

 

Beltane is a sweet, grassy floral that unfortunately turns to soap on me, suggesting the presence of jasmine. It also gives me a headache, which happens often with very green scents. Alas, Beltane did not work for me but I can see how it would be lovely on someone with the right chemistry.

I tried Marie as part of my search for the perfect soft violet scent. Initially, Marie is violet with a strongly sharp green edge. The green edge slowly dissipates during the drydown, heralding the emergence of a soft, powdery rose. But where did the violet go?

 

The search continues...

It looks like you haven't tried anything containing white musk which is a gentler, milder musk, so I would recommend Black Pearl and Fae.

I thought that I had already reviewed The Lovers, but obviously I haven't.... Since I no longer have the imp, this will be a short review. My skin loves to amplify cinnamon, and the end result was cinnamon soap - I would guess that The Lovers also contained lily, which is instant soap on me. So I come down on the "contains cinnamon" side, though my imp was tarted and who knows how old it was.

The first time that I tried Mi-Go, I got a fruity explosion dominated mostly by mango and pineapple, followed by a soapy middle phase (it's all jasmine's fault) and then a lightly sweet musky phase that was so faint I had to jam my wrist against my nose in order to smell anything.

 

Then I sold one of my bottles of Mi-Go and let the other one sit for a few weeks because I hate smelling like soap.

 

I decided that I should wear Mi-Go one more time before I put the other bottle up on my swap list, so I slathered copious amounts of Mi-Go on my wrists today. The strangest thing has happened - someone has abducted the jasmine from my bottle of Mi-Go! No more soapy phase! And the musky drydown wafts way more when I slather (duh!), to the point where I can actually detect the white tea note and the slightest tiniest bit of spiciness (hello, pink pepper?). I'm enjoying Mi-Go much much more now that I'm not being subjected to jasmine's soapiness, and I think that it may actually rouse me from my usual weekend torpor - perhaps that's why I got so much done today?

 

And I finally broke out the squishy brain, now that I've decided to keep this bottle of Mi-Go. Whoever posted that the brain can walk down walls? OMG, that's hours of entertainment right there. I'll never be without something to do ever again.

Whee! I've never had a green BPAL before!

 

On me, Belladonna is a strongly ecalyptus scent with a slight hint of mint and the faintest touch of florals. It reminds me a lot of Ultraviolet, except the florals in Belladonna are so light that I can barely detect them. I would have kept my imp of Belladonna if I had not met Ultraviolet first, but Belladonna is nice alternative if you can't wear violets or neroli.

The Hermit is my year card for 2005, so I've been interested to see if it connects with me the way Strength (my 2004 year card) did.

 

Initially, I get a purple fruitiness (grape?) that isn't overly sweet. As this scent dries down, a green, herbal note emerges that becomes medicinally astringent at one point and eventually almost completely pushes out the fruitiness. The final drydown is a toned-down version of that herbal note that is slightly sweetened by the fruity note.

 

I'm not connecting with The Hermit the way I did with Strength, but it could be because I don't desire more solitude and introspection right now.

I think that Beth's white musk is really marvellous - it's got this effervescent quality that is very distinctive, and it doesn't dominate a blend like other musks can. Anyways, I can't remember if you've tried these or not, joseybird, so I'm throwing a bunch of suggestions out:

 

Black Pearl -

Embalming Fluid - Lots of people seem to love this scent. I don't just because my body chemistry likes to amp up lemon .

Endymion - Haven't tried it myself because it contains lily of the valley, but I've heard good things about it.

Katharina - If you can wear orange blossom, then give this one a try.

Kuang Shi - White sandalwood goes a bit too dry on my skin, but if it works for you, then this is a fun, fruity scent.

Oberon - I loved the opening of this scent, but it went too masculine in the end.

Whitechapel - I like the balance of citrus-y elements vs. white musk vs. lilac. Not overtly masculine, fairly gender neutral in my opinion.

Surprisingly, Chaste Moon is the first Lunacy LE that I've ever tried. I think that I've shied away from trying the Lunacy LEs because I wasn't sure how the lunar oils would react with my wacky body chemistry. However, I put my apprehensions aside for Chaste Moon because Beth's creamy scents seem to meld amazingly with my skin.

 

Initially, I get a huge rush of butterscotch which fortunately disappears quickly. What emerges is a gentle, creamy scent with whisper-light touches of mint and florals that very effectively evokes a springtime feel. Chaste Moon is so light that I have to slather copiously from the bottle or mash my wrist right up against my nose in order to smell it, so it's a good thing that I have an entire bottle!

Because of all the hype about Midway, I was waffling about whether to get a bottle, given that I don't normally do foody scents and the last time I gave into a heavily hyped foody scent (Spooky), it didn't turn out to be the magical foody scent that I adored and could wear. Fortunately, Shollin was kind enough to swap with me and so I got a decant of Midway to test.

Of the foods in the description, I can smell funnel cake, caramel and cotton candy initially, though the caramel and cotton candy scents seem to fade quite quickly. Something salty emerges during the drydown to balance all that cavity-inducing sweetness, as well as a faint whiff of that plasticky note that LunaSea mentioned in her review. Since I usually get a similar plasticky note with most of BPAL's vanilla blends, I think that the base for Midway is probably vanilla (which would make sense as it would blend very well with the foody top notes).

Since I don't like smelling like specific foods, I won't be getting a bottle of Midway and I'll be passing my decant onto a special friend who will definitely adore it!

Venom reminds me of Poison.

Tarot: The Sun is a wonderfully warm, ambery resin that has been gently spiced. Occasionally, the gentle spice vanishes and a cleaner, sweeter smelling phase takes over. In comparison to Sol, Tarot: The Sun feels like a representation of the sun as the giver of life since it lacks the scorching energy of Sol.

I'm not good at picking out notes, so to my nose, Sol is a warm resin that has been spiced-up (it smells like cinnamon or clove or possibly both). Amazingly for my skin, the spiciness is present in all phases of the evolution of the scent but doesn't overpower the resinous base.

 

Sol gives the overall impression of the blazing sun at its hottest.

When I made up the imp packs as Christmas presents for my sisters last year, I hadn't tried a lot of BPALs. If I were to do it over again, this is what I'd pick:

 

Everyone gets Snake Oil. That part doesn't change .

 

Light and clean: Dirty, Kumiho or Tenochtitlan

Spicy: Hell's Belle, Morocco or Scherezade

Fruity: Apocathery, Bewitched or Fae

Creamy: Alice, Black Pearl or Dana O'Shee

Floral: Seraglio, Spellbound or Wanton

Wild card: Brisingamen, Dorian or Haunted

 

As usual, there's lots of overlap between the categories. The above list is more or less my Top Twenty forced into some kind of order...

 

[Edited to add link to last year's Christmas sets, and to add, remove and rearrange scents. Now I'm happy with my hypothetical gift lists! ]

Nefertiti starts out as a dry, herbal scent with a hint of sweetness in the background, and feels very regal and elegant. She then evolves into an herbal floral (must be the iris), which turns green-ish. Hours later, the resin notes have emerged full force with an herbal undertone. What can I say, the herbal notes really tie all the stages together .

 

My favourite stage is the final drydown, but it does take a while to get there. So while I like Nefertiti, I don't love her, which means that I'll probably hold onto my imp but not get a bottle.

So here's my tentative list:

 

Snake Oil -- vanilla & "exotic Indonesian oils"

Dana o'Shee -- milk & honey

Dublin -- Cool foresty smells

Neo-Tokyo -- crisp & light

Spellbound -- rich roses, amber, & musk

Velvet -- sandalwood & cocoa

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The sandalwood can be quite strong in Velvet and make it smell like wood shavings on some people. Also, you have two scents with strong creamy foody vibes (Dana O'Shee and Velvet), so it might be good to replace one with say, a fruity one that isn't over-the-top-B&BW-fruity. Fae (peach, oakmoss, heliotrope and white musk) and Bewitched (berries, green tea, some other green notes, dark musk) are my favourite fruity BPALs because they balance the sweet fruity notes with other components. Others have mentioned Bordello as a favourite fruity BPAL.

 

I'm not so fond of Neo-Tokyo myself because of the cherry blossom which always turns too fruity and sweet on my skin. I would suggest Kumiho (white tea and ginger) as your crisp and light scent, but I'm a little biased because I think that everyone should slather themselves once a week in Kumiho.

 

Finally, some forumites classify both Snake Oil and Spellbound as headshoppy. In addition, Spellbound can be too overwhelming for some people (not me, I adore it). You might want to go with a floral that contains less or is lacking in red musk (which can be an acquired taste) and amber until your sister has a better idea of what she likes. I'm no good in the floral department in general, so suggestions will have to come from someone else.

I recommend Tenochtitlan:

 

The greatest of all Aztec cities, and capital of their empire. Amber, hyssop, coriander, epazote, Mexican sage, prickly pear and Mexican tulip poppy.

 

On me, it's amber with the green tones of the herbs and prickly pear. I have no idea what Mexican tulip poppy smells like, but whatever it is, it doesn't make Tenochtitlan smell overly floral, if at all. (I think that most forumites who have reviewed Tenochtitlan would agree.)

I seem to be on the prowl for a good rose and patchouli scent, so naturally I jumped at the chance to swap for Rakshasa. It starts out promisingly enough as a very beautiful blend of rose, patchouli and sandalwood, but unfortunately for me, dries down as a duet between patchouli and sandalwood with very little rose in sight. The search continues...