Elilara

With its roots in the Grand Guignol, Gore-Shock is a transgressive art form: using visual depictions of graphic, horrendous violence to push the limits of social tolerance. In the words of Michael Arnzen, "Splatter films differ from typical horror films because they revel in the special effects of gore as an artform. They are part of postmodern art and depict postmodern condition as a vehicle for cultural transformation." Then again, these might be extreme gross out flicks and nothing deeper. Examples: Blood Feast, Two Thousand Maniacs, I Spit on Your Grave. Pulpy, scorched, pork-like flesh, glistening entrails, and doughy skin with the coppery tang of blood, salty, sweaty musk, filth, and a huff of rusted machinery. I had to try this. With my deep love for the video game series Silent Hill, I couldn't help but hope this was it, my Silent Hill smell. I'm pleased to say that yes, it is, and in so many more ways than I expected! Forgive me if this description gets a little odd. Okay, quick and dirty description of how the world of Silent Hill works, for those who don't know. For those who do, I'm sorry if my paraphrasing is a little off as it's been a while since I've been as deeply into the lore as I once was. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_Hill Lets break it up into three basic layers: 1) The normal world: Silent Hill is a perfectly normal tourist trap town, with a history involving a Civil War prison, and some cultish religious practices. 2) The same town, but abandoned, with a thick, mysterious fog, roads that end in bottomless pits, the occasional monster. 3) The Otherworld. Dark, decayed, blood soaked, rusted metal, walls replaced with metal grating and machinery, unearthly hellish glow and heat coming from nowhere... This perfume has all of those layers, but kind of in reverse. When I first opened it, I was hit with a wave of the salt, rust, blood, machine oil, and something else like pickled flesh. Mmm, that's a good start. Utterly terrifying, yet somehow intriguing and pulling me in. Okay, I'll try it on. It started out even more pickle-y, but that went away after a minute or so. I have a lot of trouble describing this stage... it wasn't the smell itself, but what lingered in my sinuses after I pulled away from it. It's dark, it's musty, it's lonely, and slightly decayed. A very grey and white smell. Very much like the second layer of Silent Hill. There's still a sense of the blood, the rust, everything else terrible lying underneath. After another few minutes, it dried down a bit. What have we here? A facade of a oddly pleasant, ancient smelling, semi-floral perfume. It's resting there, precariously, a thin veneer of normalcy over dust, decay, and a faint hint of the hellish underworld of rust and, dare I say it, a hint of brimstone? I love this. How on earth was this made? When I said I wanted a Silent Hill scent, I expected it to only smell of the "Otherworld" layer. This is so much better. I must say, it's come off as fairly repulsive to most of my friends who've smelled it, and it thoroughly disturbs my boyfriend as he's a fellow Silent Hill obsessive... So, I'm never going to need more than this one bottle. However, I'm never going to part with it! *Golum-cling* Edit: My boyfriend got more of the burned flesh note from it on the drydown- "like making out in a burn unit" he said. Frighteningly appropriate if we consider the story of Alessa Gillespie from Silent Hill... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alessa_Gillespie (short version, she was burned terribly by her mother as a kind of sacrifice, and her own pain and anger that spawned from this had a large hand in creating the Silent Hill we know, and I love more than is healthy.)

I'm eternally in debt to my friend who ordered the inquisition, but turned out to be semi-allergic to the room spray, so she gave it to little ole me! This is a perfect pick-me-up for me to help me survive the rest of summer. It not only smells like wonderful slightly-rotty (to me, this is a good thing) leaves and faint smoke, but it makes the room actually FEEL cooler to me! Cool, moist, comfy. I looooooooooooove it! It's just the right strength for me too- one good spray makes my whole room and half the hall way smell lovely for hours. Though, "one good spray" in my car was a little much! *cough*

I've only used this a little bit so far- Kind of getting to know it first -but it is one of the most beautiful scents I've encountered! It's earthy, warm, spicy, comforting and familiar. There's a little bit of something cold lurking down below, but it's more like soil-in-the-shade cool to me. I wore it to bed one night (with intent), and I had a distinct feeling of lying on my back on thick, cool, spongy, dark, moist soil and slowly sinking into it. Part of me thought this should be scary, but I just didn't feel the fear I expected... I don't remember my dreams (unfortunately! That was really the whole point...), but when I woke up my first thought was of a vivid green sprout popping out of sun-warmed soil. I felt VERY well rested- almost like I'd hibernated. I'll add more later on when I try it out again. Though, sometimes I just have to sniff it since it's so comforting and grounding.

This one is strange, but I love it. Wet: ZOMG Pomegranate! Almost to a point of smelling like berrys and sunshine. Not what I was expecting!! I sense a little bit of musk here, but everything is behaving so far. Drydown: The original "bright fruityness" has been slowly overtaken by a darker, earthier smell, like the rind of a pomegrante. Mmm. The vetiver creeps up in whisps every now and then, snuggling with the patchouli to create a very earthy, and animal smell. Mmm, fruitgoat. It's getting warmer and smoother as time goes on. He doesn't so much match the He-Goat on the Rotting Christ shirt I'm wearing today, though *laugh*. I can't get this terrible image out of my head, of brushing the hair of an anthropomorphic goat and giving him little bows like a My Little Pony/Goatman. Edit: Oh, and now about an hour or two later, it's mostly buttery amber with a hint of something dark and a tiny wiff of fruit. Still very nice!

Czernobog wears his sunglasses at night, while slinking through the shadows and alleyways. Or, he's Loup Garou drinking a rum and coke. A little of both. I say Loup because I keep smelling that same dark, deep, warm, forest kind of pine I get from Loup. Odd! Dark, dark, dark musk. I can't get enough of the stuff. The Myrrh and Vetiver do a dark little dance to add something slightly gritty, dusty, dead-grassy to it. That rises and falls as it drys down, but it keeps the musky, faintly piney, and Coka Cola undertone. Now, I hate Coka Cola, except in one situation. Waffle House Coke. They do something differently there that keeps it from being painfully sweet, and it keeps this nice, thick, slightly bitter undertone. That's the kind of soda smell I'm getting here. Mmmm. It is such a strange scent, but I absolutely love it.

Oh! I was just wishing for a smokey, clovey scent, and this really delivers! It has a familiar scent to it too- I think it reminds me of a very oily smelling Sandalwood perfume I had before I got into BPAL. There are also some very nice herbal notes to this one too- dry, not green. The best part? My guy really digs it. He had me put some on him on the way to school (he was driving) and at the end of the day he said he must not have been wearing enough of it because no one asked him what he was wearing or seemed to notice it! Win? Yep!

I really wanted to love this, but on me it just smells like a Windex soaked pine tree. Snow + something sharp and stingy. I let it dry down for some time, but it didn't change on me... *sad*

This was such a strange one... I actually liked the smell itself. A little musky, and powdery, with a definite green tinge. However, the "green" was such that, if I didn't look at them, I'd swear my wrists really were covered in something thick and radioactive green. Something really unhealthy. So, the smell was fine, but the sensation made me slightly queasy. I was going to keep it until I had a dear friend sniff it- she said it smelled "very organic.. like, hmmm, the underside of a toilet bowl.". Yet, it also comes off as a "clean" smell. I liked it, but it creeped me out enough that it went to my best friend (she has a higher tolerance of organic green goo?).

*cough!* This is... exactly what it says. Like others have said, I'm shocked at how perfectly it smells like alcohol- It has that sharp edge that climbs up your nostrils and does a jig. Oh man. That calmed down after about 10 minutes, and left ... a rotty, soggy barrell. I wasn't fond of it. It was really strong too, and far overwhelmed anything else I attempted to test that night. I tried it on all my roommates too, thinking they'd dig it, but the response was "AUGH Get it away!!!". Off to the swap pile, sir!

Brown Jenkins is my favorite of these, and I've tried most of them by now. Soft, warm, fuzzy- I love it. Everything but Brown Jenkins turns into PICKLES on me. Luckily my best friend loves those so she gets all the picklefur!

To me (both in the bottle, and after time to dry down) this was like a Cream Cheese frosting candle (with a nice fakey chemical undertone) saturated in another dose of raw vanilla extract. Admittedly, I kinda liked it at first because I adore vanilla, but it's just so... LOUD. Nothing subtle here. Other than the vague lime scent I'm getting from it somehow. Too much for me. Luckily, it's heading to a better home soon

I've been hooked on BPAL for about 6 months now, so I'm still trying everything out! The only things I've used up/come closed to using up are: 1 imp of Somnus (used it every single night for a few months). 1 imp of Loup Garou- one of my favorites. Though, when I received a back up imp as a frimp, I poured the last 1/3 of the imp into the tub with me. Mmm, happy sinuses. I've also used up half a bottle of the TAL Middle Pillar. During certain meditations or "spiritual study sessions" I either slather it, dress candles with it, or use it in an oil burner. I used it in the tub once as well for the same purpose. It seems like it's gone fairly quickly, but it's been such a help and I have to remind myself that I buy these things to use them, not hoard them. Other than that, I've barely made a dent in any bottles or even imps!

So far, I have had 3 blends disagree with my skin (read: burning pain): Saw Scaled Viper (Immediate pain and redness) TAL: Hand of Hermes (Pain and redness after about 5 minutes) Snake Charmer - after about an hour of wearing it, both of my wrists suddenly started stinging badly. I'm assuming it is something in the "exotic spices". I might try this one again though, as I've not spotted any other reports as such, so I'm not sure if the concentration of spices would be enough to cause this reaction. (Though, I'll admit I was slightly relieved to find out this one won't work for me! ) Cinnamon is pretty clearly the cause in Viper, and I'm sure there is a spice in HoH that causes it.

This is the first BPAL I've found that is universally loved by both myself and the 3 guys I live with! Also, it smells wonderful on all of us! In the bottle and on for the first several minutes: Beautiful, almost sweet (in a powdery way, not a foody way) ozone. Definitely metallic, but not in a sharp or cold way- More like something worn and reliable. After 10-30 minutes (I wasn't paying close attention to the time), something else earthy and powdery showed up- it actually made me think of gray feathers, if that makes any sense at all. Right after that, the motor oil comes in, and it's gorgeous and earthy. I was driving though town and kept half expecting to see grease smears on my hands when I glanced down at them. It so reminded me of my dad and I working on my car years ago- almost brought a tear to my eye! Coincidentally, my car needed oil and antifreeze today, and getting the oil on my fingers only improved the smell! Also, every now and then I would catch a brief whiff of something VERY manly- like a mechanic who's been working all day just walking past you briefly. This was strangely comfy... Nice subtle morpher that is wonderful the whole way through- I might have to pick up another bottle before it flies away!

One of many lovely surprises in my Yule/Phoenix order! I don't think I've ever been so excited to receive fruitcake! The first thing I smell is buttery, spicy cake drenched in booze. I haven't gotten along too well with the labs boozy notes so far, but this is delicious. After a few moments I get the least annoying cherry I've ever smelled, combined with some nuttiness (almond, methinks). Oh, you sneaky little rule-breaker, you! I was not expecting this to work on me Now, where did I put that recipe for my Date and Nut Fruitcake??

I almost didn't look at Mechanical Phoenix since it will be here soon, but I couldn't resist- it's awesome! And, darnit, I keep reading about Green Phoenix and the label is enough to tip the scales on that one... I see another order coming up.

I believe I caught a similarity between Magus and Middle Pillar - Seems appropriate enough...It is not exact, as Middle Pillar smells somewhat sweeter (don't quote me on this as everyone I know in person gets an entirely different scent from it). I think they must share something though.

I love this! It's not at all what I was expecting though! Wet: Cream, honey, sugar, tiny hint of spice, As it dries down, the cinnamon comes out a little bit more, but to me it's mainly cream and honey, with a wee hint of nice floral (I realize the honey and the floral are both coming from the same thing- honeysuckle- but they express themselves separately to my nose, if that makes sense). Now after about an hour it's turning a bit darker as the myrrh comes out to play. I love this at every stage and it's one of the few foodies that doesn't overwhelm me. Mrr! I think I just enabled a coworker by letting her try this on, too! WIN! ETA: This has great staying power too. Usually I have to reapply most BPALs by lunch, but this one is still going strong. I get a big wiff of goodness every now and then.

Here's a perfect example of why Beth is awesome. This starts off as very strong lemon, but it drys down fairly quickly. A while back, I nabbed a sample of Arcana's Absinthe blend. I didn't like it one bit- it was just anise, anise, and more anise! Bleah! ( no offense to Arcana- I like some of their other stuff ). Then, a month or so later, I finally got a chance to try the drink itself. In the bottle, it smells a bit like the Arcana blend- very strong anise. However, as one of my roommate's has been obsessing over the stuff and is getting better at ever so slowly dripping water of the sugar cube, every glass he pours is just better and better. Now, the point of this story is, Beth's blend smells like a very carefully prepared glass of Absinthe, served in a beautiful goblet. Light, and sweet, and earthy. Mmm.

On Saturday's Halloween party I was a sideshow snake woman *cough* and wore Faiza! Today at work, I'm a pirate (okay, so I look like a bar wench) and am wearing Cthulhu as it's the only aquatic I really like. Oh man, I forgot how much I loved Cthulhu!!

Thick shadows hang heavy across fungus-smeared, dilapidated wainscoting, cobwebs hang like fine lace across sagging mouldings, rats scuttle past gaping doorways. The faint scent of brimstone, ghostly breath laced with cognac, neglected mahogany panels, and rot. Oh wow! This is one of my 2 favorites from the Halloweenies. Warning: I didn't list much in the way of notes in the review, just mainly feelings... Wet/in bottle: DUST! Musty, old, dusty, stone and wood. Walking through cobwebs and dusty fabrics in an old house. While it's brilliant, I didn't think it would be something I'd run to as a perfume, but it's fun knowing I can smell like dust on purpose... After 30 minutes or so: Why, hello there... The cognac is starting to show up, very faintly. The dust is calming down and it smells very airy and ethereal now. This is what I wanted "The Ghost" to smell like. It's quite haunting! A little bit sweet, even.. maybe resin-y? After an hour or so: Now it's starting to smell like someone who really loves this house has been cleaning it out, polishing the antiques, oiling the woods... Though, the cognac never quite got cleaned up fully. Oily, spicy, whispy, a work in progress but a labour of love. Conclusion: A major morpher, very complex and evocative. I love it at every stage!! I am still debating if I need a bottle- it's wonderful, but not something I'll be craving come spring time and a little goes a long way. Maybe I will haunt the swap forums just so I'll have a little more for next Halloween...

Darnit! I was sure I'd be madly in love with this one, but it turns out it's the woodsmoke that causes Agnes Nutter to make me cringe, not the gunpowder- The woodsmoke smells sharp, cold, and acrid to me no matter what blend I try it in. Sadness. HOWEVER! I can tell this is just my sniffer/skin chemistry, because the other notes underneath form something really beautiful- nutty, buttery, warm- not even too sweet... If the woodsmoke note would just tone down on me, it would have been awesome. Luckily, my best friend LOOOOVED it, so my decant is in a good home now

Wow, this sounds amazing and perfect for me from the reviews. Now I'm half thinking the imp that fell into my hands was incorrectly labeled, or that my nose has gone mad. All that I get from this is wintergreen. Specifically, Wint-O-Green Lifesavers. Out of the imp, after dry-down, it never changed. My friend that was with me at the time got the same from it too. Oh the other hand, it seems many of the newer reviews mention wintergreen / toothpaste, but the older ones talk about cinnamon, wood, spice...odd. Edit: pretty much disregard this- I found a review explaining the possible batch variation.

Oh my! I had been wanting to try this one, then kind of forgot about it until it found it's way to me as a frimp. My first whiff of it from the imp made my nose tingle a bit. I feared I had found another one of those "Axe"-like smells. Cold, chemically, and a little generic. I tried it on anyway, hoping the amber at least would warm it up, and boy did it ever! Over the next several minutes it kept warming up to a nicely sweet, almost vanilla amber. The mosses are adding a gorgeous earthy-wetness to it, and the flowers are there faintly in the background adding a stately air to it. Oh, I can just picture the man wearing it (he's got glasses and slightly ruffled hair, and is wearing a very nice long coat... not TOO fancy, but more functional) - and it's like being curled up next to him, reading a book- we're sitting on a comfy bench in a bay window, and it's raining gently outside. Hi and welcome to my top 5 favorites so far, Saint-Germaine!

I didn't expect to like this one, as I'm not a floral girl, but alas I've been woo'd! Lovely sweet floral (yet somehow not "girly"), with gentle herbs. Also, powdery yet oily and slinky/sleek. I can picture a crow strutting about with a gorgeous light purple flower in it's beak. It makes me think of "the Raven", but I might just be on a corvid kick- Murder of Crows is like The Raven grown up and mellowed out- more refined. What a happy surprise! I must refrain from seeking out more than my little 5th of an imp! Thank you for sharing this, Cuervosueno!