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Showing results for tags 'the fools journey'.
Found 38 results
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The keeper of the secrets that are hidden [AB3] at the moment that life begins. Her light is the veil that cloaks the spirit; she is the mediator between the supplicant and the word of the gods. White carnation, cardamom pod, and honey milk. WOW. Bottle: Heady. Sticky honey and floral, just a hint of a green sharp or spicy edge. Wet: A blast of cardamom milk, liquid carnations. Dry: A little sweet, a little creamy. The carnation hangs out for a long time, on me. It's so comforting, I want to wrap myself in it. This is honestly one of the most well-blended scents I've ever gotten, from BPAL or anywhere else, so complex and beautiful and evocative it's bringing me to tears.
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Reviled and mocked, pelted by stones and set upon by dogs, all the while singing the song of divine madness: red sandalwood, tobacco absolute, palo santo, black copal and balsam dusted by burnt sage, soot, and an echo of frankincense. 2022 update: How amazing the journey of scents is! When I first started smelling BPAL, I was really sensitive to certain notes. Tobacco was one of them, and certain denser woods were another. Now, after four years of smelling so many blends, I have learned to distinguish infinitely more layers and it's really exciting to see that progress. So I just thought I would give this a new update, because I have in fact acquired a bottle of Il Matto and enjoying it! Anne Bonny's red sandalwood and frankincense is joyfully present, smudged with sage and soot (a la Smokestack) and roughed up around the edges with the scratch of balsam and palo santo (which is quite vocal in Il Matto, so tread with care!). The tobacco is also strongly manifested, but I'm not convinced it's French tobacco, because it's dryer and less thick/chewy/caramelly than most tobaccos. I wouldn't guess that there was copal in here with all the other more powerful notes, but this is indeed a quite woody, darkly resinous scent. I am calling Il Matto "Anne Bonny's OTHER boyfriend", her first one being Hanging Johnny. Il Matto is gritty and dangerous. He is a scent you wear with kohl-rimmed smoky eyes and a sexy dress and a long leather trenchcoat. Don't forget your ass-kicking boots. If you love Anne Bonny but you want something punchier (thanks tobacco and palo santo) and grittier (soot and balsam), this is the ticket. I just retried Antikythera too, and while they are equally as punchy, Il Matto punches in a direction I like now, while Antikythera still punches me right in the face. Alas! But they are not as similar as I once thought they were, and I'm enjoying my scent evolution as well as the effects of aging on Il Matto's bottle.
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Speaking truth to kings, beggars, and popes alike, immune to retribution and lordly wrath as he flings wise quips like cream pies and barbed arrows. A motley tunic, festooned in bells: red currant and lemon peel over sugared patchouli and a bit of buttercream. A huge "Huzzah" to this Jester! Opens with a bright citrus-like sugar. Fresh and sweet, like smelling a lemon poppy seed cake. As it wears the Red Currant supports the brightness of the lemon, keeping me away from the scent memory of a lemon scented cleaner. The Patch is playful, delightfully tethering it to the ground or it will all float away. Substantial longevity and mild throw. Now I want to get out my bottle of Cherophobia 2016 and side by side test them.
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The sign of life, the sigil of eternity. The mathematics that form the structure of the universe, the finality of Omega, yet also the inconceivable, endless space beyond. Immortality and rebirth, the perfect aspiration of Spirit. Frankincense and black pepper, Himalayan cedar, cognac, and tobacco. The Leminscate is very woody - hard cold wood chips with black pepper. The wood is harsh. Dry down is pure wood with a light wooden element which maybe the tobacco trying to come out. I don't hate it but I don't love it enough I have a couple of hard wood scents already. Reminds me very much of They Lie Thus Chambered and Cold to the Moon. I dont get the warmth of the tobacco or the cognac I had hoped for, they are elements not the main stage on me.
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The Hustler, the Scoundrel, the Grifter, using the magic of misdirection, charm, and subtlety to swindle his way through this world, and through all worlds, seen and unseen. Eloquent and glib, he is the quintessential knave. He is the Guardian of Gamblers and the Protector of Con-Men. A confidence trick: leather, sweet balsam, white sandalwood, thieves’ rosin, and dusty lavender. This is a lovely lavender, with sweet balsam, and thieves' rosin. I love it. Need a bottle. Stat!
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Divine ecstasy and divine madness. Ambivalence and absolute faith. Frankincense and lemon peel drifting on a cloud of lemongrass, white coconut, sandalwood, and vanilla absolute. In the bottle, this is surprisingly less citrus than I would have guessed from the notes. It's mostly a whiff of a lemon kiss gliding over the meat of a coconut. The lemon like notes then veer more towards lemongrass, but it's subtle and not super sharp, as that note can be. With a little more time and heat from my skin, the coconut becomes more apparent, deepening, and then kissed and brushed with dusty medium brown sandalwood (a sweet, not super sharp, but just thrummy enough woodsiness to ground the higher notes)... and there's a bit of gourmand from the vanilla. Certainly not truly foody, but having elements of both the resinous citrus and yet creamy spice variety. With even more time, the lemon notes deepen and I can swear that the spritz of a lemon rind is now more apparent. On me, the scent does become quite subtle, and mostly a tasty buttery lemon-coconut.
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Energy, will, and the manifested Word of the Magus. It is the generative process, the act of creation: ash, rowan, oak, and elder wood, polished with sweet resins but handworn, glowing with inner fire. From wet to dry, this a lighter version of Antkythera Mechanism, with a lighter wood. I imagine the mop with Mickey smells like this!
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The Sorcerer, the Cunning-Man, the Sage. He is the Kerux, Initiator and Psychopomp, the Divine Messenger who leads neophytes on their paths through the Mysteries and shepherds the souls to the underworld. Honey absolute, Oman frankincense, and asphodel. Lots of honey, with a floral note I'd probably guess was dandelion if I didn't know better -- my nose really isn't familiar with asphodel. The frankincense is just a gentle woodiness under the other notes. This stayed true on me through the whole wearing. Fairly mild throw, good longevity. Straight-forward and very pretty.
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The Red King and White Queen, sulfur and mercury, Rubedo and Albedo. The unification of opposites, putrefaction and individuation, the culmination of the Great Work. ὁδὸς ἄνω κάτω μία καὶ ὡυτή: red and white musks alight with frankincense, white oudh, sweet labdanum, and saffron. The way up and the way down are one and the same. Wet, this is a spicy, warm frankincense with a bit of a gummy, resinous sweetness from the labdanum. It's definitely very magical smelling, like the curl of a smoldering frankincense tear. The saffron is providing a bit of a dry pepperiness in the background. I think the oudh and red musk are making this a bit more 'warm' in tone, but strangely it's not super 'oriental,' and in fact remains very crisp and clear. None of the resins are 'gummy' per se. The musks are smooth and straightforward, and I think the white musk makes this have a bit of a chillier, bright tone. It's very nice, very magical.
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Purity of ideal, unsullied innocence, liberation from base desires and worldly trappings. White rose, frankincense, verbena, and angelica root. In the bottle It's almost like sour lemon candy in the bottle, I think owing to the verbena and frankincense. Like Lemonheads! Wet on skin It's still a very candy-like scent but not as much so. I can smell a little bit of rose, but the frankincense and verbena still dominate. It's not what I was expecting, but it is pretty. It's a happy scent. Dry on skin after 30 minutes Once this has a chance to sit for about ten minutes, a bit more rose peeks out, and the rose continues to peek out rather than come forward and say "Hello!". It's not a citrusy scent, but the verbena and frankincense continue to give this that lemon candy edge without being overly sweet or, well, citrusy. Sophisticated herbal lemonheads, if there were such a thing. I like it. Thoughts I thought this would be much more rose-forward, but it ended up being more verbena-forward. This is not a scent meant for seriousness! This is a lot of fun and a blind bottle I don't regret buying.
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The twilight in between the stage performer and the Magus; the sleight of hand trick transforms into true sorcerous skill: black silken musk, dark clove, guiac wood, black pepper, frankincense, and cardamom. Herbal wood-spice and a little soapy. Turns into more soap-with a funky wet wood underlying. Some mineral like wet stone and a little alcohol like sniffing an herbal liquor. It’s the funkiness I don’t like, while I can imagine that might be exactly the perfect scent for someone else. It’s not my thing. I expect the funk comes from the clove/cardamom blend. I like both those spices on their own but obviously not together.
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Sometimes playfully walking with the Fool, sometimes tugging on his stockings, sometimes attacking in a pack, sometimes tearing the ass out of his pants, sometimes chomping him right on the nuts: feral and tame, guardian and hunter, loyalty and opposition. Sometimes guiding the Fool off the cliff and other times warning him of dangers ahead. A warm canine musk, trampled grass, a gleam of ivory-white fang, cardamom pod, and crushed yew. Ridiculously charming, in a cozy outdoorsy kind of way. The 'canine musk' is light and appealing and really does make me think of freshly-washed puppy. A thread of sunny grass and maybe the crushed yew is giving it the romping-in-a-field vibe, I think. I'm not sure what fang is supposed to smell like. Maybe it's what gives this blend its pale quality; this is not a 'brown' kind of fuzzy scent like Wulric, but very white-washed and lovely. I'm not sure I can detect the cardamom, but the overall effect is exceptionally snuggly. The only thing that is keeping me from buying a bottle? It has exactly zero throw. The fade is so fast on my skin! I'm going to try turning my decant into an eau de parfum and see what happens.
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Who leads the star-dazed hero in a moon-blessed quest for his mythical lover: night-blooming jasmine, clove bud, cardamom, moonlit vanilla orchid, and moonflower. Beth continues to evolve as an artist. This collection is unique, and beautiful, complex, and stunning. Oh, she is STUNNING! I adore night blooming jasmine, it's a note I crave but find it lacking in my collection. The evokes a moonlit lover, sexy, deep, but light and bright at the same time. A little spicy, the clove is kept in check by the florals, which is great because clove, while I like it, can be a bit of a bully in some blends. This may be one of my favorite applications of clove I've ever experienced in a BPAL blend. This blend is so smooth, nothing heady, sharp, soapy, or prickly in this moonlit bouquet of gorgeousness. I can see myself reaching for this time and again.
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At peace with recklessness and abandon, the serenity of accepting the embrace of disorder and obliquity: pink pepper and honey. This reminds me of the honey from Fortuna Dubia, with pink pepper instead of Dubia's herbs. The honey is stronger on me than the pepper. At first I also got a little something that felt sugared, like a powdered sugar, but my skin ate it. This blend lives under two hours on my skin.
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The Divine Comedian, the Eternal Jester, instructing through pranks and buffoonery: vetiver-steeped raspberry and red currant. Tart and sweet raspberry juice supported by... peanut butter! It's not actually as foody as that sounds, but something in here is playing games with my nose. Must be the vetiver. Thankfully this effect burns off pretty quickly. For those who don't usually get along with that note, it's very calm here and lacks much smokiness. This is pretty nice as it settles into its final stage despite my initial experience being akin to a kid making a mess of the kitchen pantry. It's a pleasantly dry raspberry, almost wine-like minus the booze, paired with a softly musky/herbal grass from the vetiver. The currant adds a bit of jamminess. A bubbly yet mature fruity/herbal scent. Reminds me of Bewitched.
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The Raconteur, the Town Gossip, and the first character to appear on the stage in the first act. He is the Minstrel of the Heavens, the Devil’s Messenger, spinning morality tales, singing songs of loss, laughter, and triumph, and murmuring prophecies to all. Beeswax, leather, hearth wood, and campfire smoke. The Storyteller is amazing. The beeswax gives the scent a sweetness, but the leather, wood and especially the campfire smoke make it so SEXY. I haven't huffed my wrist like this for a scent since I can't remember. It's unique but not bizarre, and that's a fine line for someone like me, who is not a huge scent groundbreaker. This is bottle-essential. Nice wear length, decent throw.
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A jester’s balloon, a vagabond’s pack. The riddle and the punch line. The Consequence, the Mystery, the Untapped Collective Knowledge of All Mankind. Jasmine petals tumbled with a panoply of spices, suffused with incense smoke. The Bindle offers a jasmine-dominant blend with a dreamy, summery, honeyed quality, like there's a hidden honeysuckle in it. My first thought was actually that I smelled honeysuckle, and then jasmine, and I thought of Eostre of the Dawn, one of my favorites. It's a lovely jasmine, full rather than high-pitched, and closer to Winter Jasmine SN than a jasmine from some of the GCs I've tried. Freshly applied on me, The Bindle reads as mostly this jasmine and honeysuckle with a diffuse waft of gentle, calming incense smoke. This isn't the strong incense of walking into a shop where it's burning in the same room, but rather of incense burning from the next open door or two down the street. It's a mellow incense, like frankincense sleeping in a hammock, or like some sticks I would've bought in a Saturday market to burn years ago. I don't catch any spices from this until it dries, and even then they are barely there and seem part of the incense. This is a surprise for me, as I often amp spices, but something here is giving the dried Bindle a more exotic air, reminding me of India. The flowers have settled down by this point, leaving a really lovely exotic skin scent. Unfortunately, I'll probably want a backup of this.
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The affable fool who uses his own obtuseness and ignorance to his advantage: milk, honey, and wild fig with ambrette seed and almond buttercream. Narr opens thick and rich and sweet. It's a buttercreamy milk, heavy with almond and honeyed fig -- that's about the order of strength of the notes on my skin. At first, the ambrette is just darkening the blend a bit, its nuttiness blending into the almond. But in drydown, after the initial honey cream rush (which was pretty heady stuff), the ambrette comes into its own on my skin, building its nutty sort of musk. It reminds me a little of the ambrette in Fortuna Primigenia, which was kind of ambergris-like to me, but here it's mingling closely with almond and harder to separate. The buttercream milk and honey settle down surprisingly fast. What begins as omghoneycreamheartattack quickly mellows on my skin into a nutty, sweet ambrette with creamy and figgy qualities.
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Wherein the Magician and the Fool are one, spinning the story and juggling the knives that drive a man’s fate. Frankincense and star anise, bergamot and clove bud, rue and green cinnamon, saffron and carnation, cedar and vanilla absolute. In Bottle: The saffron and cloves and green cinnamon dominate; it doesn't smell sweet at all, instead being a wild spice blend. Of the three bottles from the Fool collection my datemate J sniffed for me, this was the one she didn't say was a very 'me' smell. Too confident, I think. Wet: As I was walking to the train station after putting it on, the dominant notes were the saffron and the cedar, to my surprise. The woody note behind the saffron was rich, and took over the spices for a bit. Dry: By the time I got to work, the spices were poking back out, including the bergamot and anise that I hadn't caught, at the 'edges' of the smell. The cedar died down quick, yielding to become a grounding bottom note. End of Day: I was catching mild spicy whiffs all day long, and at one point thought I caught a hint of tumeric. Maybe the saffron interacted with something interestingly? I liked it, though. I'd love to try layering this with Wrath at some point, to stoke more of the cinnamon clove note. This didn't go sweet on me, like most scents do, but the end result was still very food-y. In all, a nice scent I'll be wearing again.
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The mystery of divine virginity, insemination, and the cradle of all birth. Fertility, wise counsel, and the gift of true wisdom. Gleaming amber and copal with white sage and sheer juniper. Beth continues to evolve as an artist. This collection is unique, and beautiful, complex, and stunning. SAGE and AMBER!!! Who knew they could be so gorgeous together. Sexy as all get out, resinous but bright, the juniper adding to the herbal brightness without going soapy. She's really soft, though. I want more throw from this, it's just so gorgeous! This would be a great scent when you want to smell amazing up close and personal for a special someone.
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Flos campi and lilium convallium, Rose of Sharon and Lily of the Valley: the blossoms of transcendence and spiritual aspiration. First sniff was pollen heavy floral like orange blossom. Wet down I get intense white flower, I am not a lily/lily of the valley fan but I can imagine this is a white flower fan's dream. The flowers are dusky with almost a medicinal base, so not bright. I could see this being a contemplative scent. It dries down powdery white flowers taking on a department store style classic perfume element as it settles. I can't do white flowers but if I could I'd be all over this.
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The three phases of the moon fashioned into a lunar triregnum: blue chamomile, mugwort, and orris root. Beth continues to evolve as an artist. This collection is unique, and beautiful, complex, and stunning. Tea lovers rejoice! This smells like a perfect cup of herbal tea. So soothing, grounding, calming. I don't love this on my skin, but in a locket or a diffuser, this will be perfect. It's atmospheric. I want it in a room spray!
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The Magician’s right hand bears the wand of Will aloft, while his left hand points earthward. This is the descent of grace, the act of drawing Divine light and inspiration to the material, mortal realm. Sweet myrrh, calamus, ambrette seed, and Ceylon cinnamon. On wet: Sweet myrrh and juniper mainly. The Ceylon cinnamon keeps the juniper from getting to strong. I am not the biggest fan of this one. I am glad I got the decant, I won't need a bottle. The final dry down is sweet myrrh with hints of cinnamon and juniper. Pass.
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The unknown factor, the outsider entering your town uninvited, unannounced, and unknown: a narcotic black chypre with crushed violets, indigo lilac, patchouli, oakmoss absolute, labdanum, and clove. Super intrigued! Wet, it smells very cold, almost like a splinter of blue-black dark. I bet there are some opium notes in this because I get that soporific swell in some of the poppy-containing blends. Labdanum is one of those notes I love, but also jumps out on me, and the poppy-black-musk opening becomes gummy with warmth on my skin and lets out a spicy-sweet cloud of labdanum, made gritty and husky with the patchouli. This is really, really heavy and basically is prowling off my skin. Interestingly, it isn't until at least 15 minutes later, that I can get a bit of the oakmoss/lilac/violets. These are not whomp you on the head florals or greens... a tangle or dark crown or wreath of gray-green foliage scattered with dark, subtle petals, but still a menacing arrangement, lurking in the shadows. I like this, but it is farrrrrr to dark for this bright violet-wearing metal-aquatic werewolf. Still, this is super dark, moody, sexy. Complicated and layered. Even with the florals, I think this is unisex and may even transform based on who's wearing it... again on me, a guy, it's an unconventional, dark musky in tone with bruised purple florals lurking but not showy in the background.
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Virgin, huntress, witch, holding the mysteries and powers of womanhood between her palms: vetiver, white pine, hay, Sicilian lemon, leather, and agarwood. Beth continues to evolve as an artist. This collection is unique, and beautiful, complex, and stunning. The hay is front and center, and I adore Beth's hay note, and it's here in all its glory, like you find in Hay Moon. I also find the light pine and lemon prickling beneath the hay. The huntress aspect of this scent is prominent, witch, secondary, and virgin, hmmm, not finding it. Definitely not a feminine fragrance. Vetiver and leather, two problematic notes for me, but they aren't too prominent here. I like this but I'm not as enamored with it as some of the others in the collection. I'd like to smell this on a man. I also think it will get better with age. Needs cellaring.
