Sapphy

Inez, circa 2008 I got this when it first came out because I KNEW it would be amazing--amber, vanilla musk, carnation?? My skin adores those notes. But when it arrived, it was like in my scent blind spot. I could tell something was there when I applied it but just barely--super strange. So I stashed it away and I tried it every couple months, waiting for it to age. And then I went on a brief (aka several years long) BPAL hiatus for some reason and here we are. NOW it smells amaaaaaaazing. I can smell all the notes, but most of all the vanilla musk and amber, which are some of my favorites. It's very well blended. I get the amber most at the base, with a nice middle of the vanilla musk--this makes the amber a little sweeter and smoother. The top note I get after that is the cedar, sandalwood, and myrrh, which makes the two woods smoother. Sandalwood and cedar can go a little sawdust on me, and I don't get that here. The carnation adds just a hint of spiciness to me. This reminds me of Hod, with much less carnation, more vanilla, and top notes of cedar, sandalwood, and myrrh. Love, and I am SO glad I waited.

This was a frimp. I get the pollen dusted honey, and the chamomile--but more of a floral thing than herby. That's probably because of the hyssop..the tonka is an underlying creaminess, not so much a main player.

WHY THE HELL HAVE I NOT TRIED THIS BEFORE?! WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME? Bright, crisp red apple. Complete with peel and stem. Maybe a little bit of floral wafting underneath...this is glorious. Like a summer version of Snow, Glass, Apples--red and floral instead of green and mint. More floral through the dry down, but still the perfect rosy red of a ripe apple. Now just more like perfume than the real thing.

There's something brighter green here. Like plant material. Also a little smokiness and something sweet. Like tree sap, but before it gets all sticky and gross.

Wet: Frankincense. Maybe some chamomile. Not really liking this, I'm not a huge frankincense fan, lol I'm not getting any carnation, but that could just be my skin chemistry. Dry: Holy crap, the dry down on this is WAY better than the wet stage! It's actually really pretty now! lol Less frankincense, I'm getting the carnation mingling with the chamomile, and I might be getting some heliotrope in there too. I'm still not entirely sure this is going to work for me, I get a little of the frankincense underneath sometimes, but much better.

Definitely rose, but the softer kind--the coconut keeps it very fresh and bright. It reminds me of Katrina, but without the honey sweet note, with an additional coconut undertone. There's a little musk, but I think it's mostly just holding it together rather than standing out. As it dries down, the rose does this fruity thing that some roses do on me--like I get apple under the rose in Rose Red. This has a little bit of that tinge for me too.

Dribbles of sweet candle wax and the lingering whiff of smoke from an extinguished candle. This reminds me a LOT of the upcoming CD Waxworks, but Waxworks is WAY more dialed up and Light of Men's Lives is toned down and soft, less aggressive. More of a skin scent, but like a skin glazed in sweet wax. The beeswax has an almost honey note and an almost vanilla note, but really like honey and vanilla fused together with the wax so that it's not really honey or vanilla specifically.

CHASTE MOON 2010 Though March marks the end of the desolation and chill of winter, it is not yet Spring, the time of rebirth, fertility and the Earth's fecundity. March's Full Moon is a Virgin's Moon, pure, youthful, unsullied and innocent. This is the Moon of the Child, and the scent is as soft and gentle as a baby's breath: milky blossoms and soft cream touch the last buds of winter, coupled with crystalline, hazy traditional Lunar oils. A clearer floral than I remember the old Chaste Moon being, but I like this better. It's a clear, pure, sweet floral with a vague milky thing in the background...but NOT the milk note that goes awful on me. I don't really get cream either. I wouldn't mind more creaminess but it's still very pretty. Not: jasmine, gardenia, rose, violet, carnation. Possibly: Lily, but a very low-key note. Nothing high pitched. Definitely has the lunar oils, but it's nice here. Reminds me vaguely of Kindly Moon, but not fruity...I think that's mostly the lunar oils, lol This dries down to a second skin kind of scent, but with a clean floral, like freshly washed skin. But nothing like Dirty of Wendselydale, there's no soap or dryer sheets.

I mostly get butter and sugar from this, with a little tea, and a little bit of the squishy center of a slice of white bread. Really pretty and white. And not melted butter--barely room temperature, smooshed onto the bread and caked in sugar, maybe sitting on a saucer that had tea spilled on it. The kind of snack you make when all you really want to do is eat butter and sugar, but feel compelled to put it on bread 'cause otherwise it would be too unhealthy Dries down to a cleaner sweet scent, not so foody as in the beginning. Definitely bottle worthy.

But you're trusting people who have almost no experience with bpal over people who have a LOT of experience with bpal, including the owner herself. Some people here have been into BPAL since 2003.

Well... I'm not trying to disparage BPAL or anything. Honestly, I just started learning about it recently. But I've been buying $3 samples from The Perfumed Court for the past year. I can get just about anything from there. BPAL is actually a little more expensive. I guess I've just been immersed in the world of traditional perfumery for awhile. People take a lot of pride in craftsmanship, on assembling their perfumes molecule by molecule or using the finest essential oils. Maybe I am being a bit prejudiced... This is what I was referring to. You're implying that Beth doesn't take pride in her work because she isn't in traditional perfumery. That's insulting. And since several people have answered your question, and you still seem to be unwilling to take the answers at face value, I don't know what you want us to say. You basically just told me you either think that I'm mistaken or that I'm lying because there is no way in the world perfume could be that cheap otherwise. It's seeming like the only answer you want is that BPAL is an etailer that buys preblended fragrance oils and tweaks them, then lies about how they were blended by Beth. I just don't understand what you want to get out of this when you won't believe people when they answer your questions.

I'm sorry but that sentiment makes me really angry. This is exactly what you accuse BPAL of doing. So maybe you should sit back a minute and think of whether we should be just as mad at you. Beth takes enormous amounts of pride in her work and will take YEARS to perfect a blend. It is RIDICULOUSLY insulting to say that she just slaps together fragrance oils like a generic chain candle maker. You should have read the FAQ and About Us sections of the site, and the FAQ section of this board before you started making judgements.

I LOVE this--it's more gourmand than just a cupcake. It smells like cupcake batter that's been splattered across a kitchen table, then left to gather cocoa and dust for a day or so (but the batter doesn't smell old. Just cocoa-dusty). I don't get the crumbly smell I associate with already-baked goods, hence the cupcake batter. Beaver'versary had the crumbly smell, which I take to be graham cracker. This is just gorgeous. It starts out very much batter and frosting, then dries down dustier, musky, and with some wood, without losing the cupcake batter base. It's a cocoa cupcake, but not a chocolate one. I smell like I spilled cupcake batter on a hardwood floor, then rolled around in it. ...Which sounds like a better idea than it should

This is really gorgeously fresh and lush. I get not only the blue flowers, but the leaves and stems too. Like a freshly cut bouquet of lilac sitting in a glass vase filled with ice cold water on a white table cloth. Reminds me of the lilac bushes outside my house when I was a kid. The blend starts really strong on the green, then the lilac comes out and it gets softer, but it's always fresh, like lilacs after a cold spring rain rather than lilac wafting in the sun. So glad I have this.

No description available Translucent cold light green. Green stems, aloe, small white flowers (not the big wafty blooms like gardenia), and like...a flower musk. It's extremely refreshing, like a rainforest that's been doused in a cold rain and is now cooling down and sorta steaming. It's warmer than Snow White without being warm, but not so creamy, and it shares a note with Ice Queen. I have no earthly idea which note that IS, but I like it.