sarada

What a beautiful floral! I am not typically a floral person but from time to time one really grabs me. Usually lilies and honey together make for a great combination, such as Tiger Lily. Powdery sweet florals, while usually headache-inducing, from time to time really lift my spirits: Phantom Queen and Flower Moon had exclusive claim to that title, but now I finally have a bottle of something else under that description. It is not cloying, and while it gets a little powdery on my skin I think this would be a perfect locket scent in the spring. It is far more floral that I ever thought the Brides would be...but I am dazed by their glory and fall back into their arms, smothered by the sweet heady blooms. Yes, even an old incense nut like me can be won over with honeyed lily kisses.

I almost put Renfield in my first order because I'm insane for patchouli, pretty sure I like balsam of Peru, and often enjoy moss and neroli. I like cumin in cooking but thought it might give this too much of a savory/cooking kind of smell, since it's a bit of a strong, sharp scent that is good in a curry but not necessarily on its own. In the bottle Renfield is strongly mossy, very much like Zombi or Burial without the rose/floral notes. I've smelled the lab's oakmoss and Spanish moss single notes and it does smell like them. It quickly loses this sharpness as it dries. After it's been on for awhile the warmth of balsam and earthiness of patchouli come through. The sharp moss burns off and the cumin has become pleasantly dry and herbal. Neroli? I can't tell it's there...perhaps it lends to the sharpness of the moss. That damp, almost sour mossy greenery gives way to the really beautiful part of this blend, earthy, still green and slightly sweet, just a touch of dry herbal spice. I think it's better on my skin than it would be in the locket, because my skin gives it a chance to let all that sharpness soften. I think it would give me a headache in a locket. But I think this might be the green mossy scent I've always wanted...Burial, Zombi and Omen all stayed too sharp and mossy but this morphs beautifully.

I'm so glad that I got a bottle of this...it was a bit of a surprise, since I made a list and didn't know what I would get as gifts. And this is a surprise favorite! I can see where everyone is coming from with all of the rich variety of impressions on this one: I do smell banana at one point, and I get a plasticky smell for a moment and then think it's a little more foody/creamy than I typically like, but the overarching scent is thus: A sweet woody incense, the champaca of Two Monsters without the leather, and the boozy sugary smoke of Devil's Night. There are so many impressions that I get from this that aren't in the listed notes though, I don't know what to do! The most exciting thing about this is it's one of those scents that really comes to life in the air. Put it on or better yet, in a locket, and it will take on a life of its own, acting out a different scene in smoke signals each time it takes to the air. Incidentally, opium/poppy are among the absolute worst scents for me and I typicaly dislike them, but I LOVE this blend and I don't smell anything in it that reminds me of that opium smell that so often gives me a headache.

Mmmm....yuzu! Swoon. I love the yuzu in Aizen-Myoo too though it is much too light for me to wear. More of a locket scent or something I'd enjoy (as I say with most citrus scents) in the bath. However this is a bit deeper. It is a swirling deep tart grapefuity yuzu, and has much much more throw and power than I expect from such an ethereal scent. Reminds me a little of the ghostly grapefruit in Hungry Ghost Moon actually. Sweet and warm, glowing ghostly lemon yellow and ghastly persimmon orange, like twin citrus eyes peering at you through the darkness.

I've really been itching to try this -- I love the imagery, the greenish light, the FRANTIC PENGUINS!!! Though I do not enjoy coconut, the phrase "green coconut meat" is worth the price of admission. So, having tried a sniff of this, I love it! I don't know that it's something I'd wear -- if I could use it in a bath bomb or other bath thing maybe, since this kind of scent evaporates on me instantly. I love lime, and there is a hint of that sort of key lime pie scent in here as others have remarked. Not lemon, definitely lime, but a light lime, sort of frothy and clear. Big foaming heaps of lime-coconut bubbles. The coconut is indeed "green" and I don't know how else to describe it. Makes me think of a tender green shoot of some sort, with the delicate frosting of faint coconut, than the unpleasant thick headache-inducing foody one. I should tuck an imp of this away in case I ever get around to scenting plain bath products, my taste in the shower is completely different from my taste on my skin!

White Moon has the prettiest t-shirt so far in my opinion, but I just couldn't bring myself to get a bottle because it's like the Greatest Hits of flowers that smell like powder and bathroom spray on me. I did, however, try a decant since this is the November moon and that's my birthday. As predicted, the powdery florals are just that on my skin. Before I started wearing oils, purple flowers were my favorite things to get in candles, bath products, etc and they still are, but they're a disaster on my skin. It's a very strong piercing powder, and not the kind that I like in Enraged Bunny Musk. Unfortunately, we're talking about Glade bathroom spray when these flowers hit my skin and disappear in a puff of white smoke. I'm guessing that the sandalwood and musk keep this from disappearing immediately. It does remind me of a very wonderful lilac incense I had a long time ago...a premium, handmade kind...and the pale purple powder really worked as a spiral of grey smoke winding across the room. I just can't wear these flowers successfully. But I'm going to wear the T-shirt!

Utterly ethereal, an exquisite expression of love: moonflower, lotus root, white gardenia, beeswax, peach blossom, blue musk, stargazer lily, golden osmanthus, ti, sandalwood, hyacinth, ylang ylang, and a touch of vanilla bean. The beeswax was almost enough to get me to order a bottle of this despite all the florals (because Luperci is one of my all-time faves) but in the end there were just too many strong perfumey flowers listed for me to take a chance. Trying a decant, though, I immediately swoon -- what a gorgeous, sweet, glassy floral blend! I could really get into this in the spring I think. Lotus and moonflower stand out at first, but even for a person like me who doesn't typically wear florals this is sooo beautiful. So clear, sweet and almost aquatic in tone; flowers floating in a perfectly clear pond reflecting back the blue sky. It reminds me in a way of when I started trying out BPAL scents, I wound up with a lot of florals, but I haven't worn them much since then. It especially reminds me of the ones that are sweet lotus blends, like Black Lotus. I know lotus ROOT is different, but I still smell a similarity. I think the blue musk is giving it this glassy, aquatic quality. But with these white, crisp florals it's like...an underwater funeral. I don't smell the woods or beeswax but since it doesn't dissipate immediately and has some throw, I think they are helping this to project and last on my skin. I don't really smell vanilla either but the sweetness could be its evidence. Moonflower, lotus, gardenia and lily are all things that I would normally avoid but this is an atypical, glowing, ghostly blue scent. It's a mermaid's funeral. I will save it for the spring most likely though, and I am quite good with a decant -- I only crave florals maybe two weeks out of the year! Lovers of Ophelia might like this, since it's another sweet, watery white floral with surprising twists.

There are actually some email servers that seem to block the lab's emails, maybe that could be a problem. Here's what it says on their fron page: Thanks to some bottom-feeding, parasitic spammers, we are currently being blocked by AOL, Roadrunner (rr.com), projekt.com, elpasotel.net, and ptd.net, and there may be more out there that we’re unaware of. If you are with any of these providers, we cannot respond to your emails. Please send any correspondence from a hotmail or gmail type account. We are working with these ISPs to rectify the issue. Just a thought! Good luck!

ophymirage, I was just going to post to ask if you had Pumpkin Queen in your order...hopefully you'll get it soon now! Just speaking as a customer, I'd say that if anyone is ever worried about not receiving an order don't ever chalk it up to being a lost cause -- it would be illegal for them to take your money and never send you anything! Stuff getting lost in the post is another matter of course, but from what people have reported here, the lab always works with people to either locate or replace genuinely lost packages. Or if you're me, and just send them the wrong $$ amount because you can't do math at 4 a.m., they are very helpful and told me the balance that I owed!

I've sniffed this on other people and tested a little before but I never got a really good idea on how it worked on me until recently. Red musk is a perennial favorite of mine, but paired with these rich, sweet fruits (and even heliotrope has a certain cherry-like quality to it) it's completely irresistible. I have a feeling people might think it smells a bit like an artificial cherry or strawberry scent on me at first -- in fact I'm reminded of a play perfume-making kit I had as a kid, where one of the fragrances was a strawberry scent and this reminds me of that. The "I'm going to eat you, Strawberry Shortcake, even if you are made out of plastic" scent. But it deepens on my skin, picking up some throw and staying power from amber and musk that give it an incensy quality. This is unusually candy-like for my tastes but it's just so good. It's really more like a really good strawberry incense as it dries, than an air freshener, as the red musk and amber blossom on my skin. Someone makes an incense called strawberry champa...although there's no champa in this, the vanilla and musk combined with these deep red fruits really do make me think of that. Or maybe I just have to compare everything to incense if I like it! I really need to pick up more of this some time.

You know what's funny, is that I've had this for almost a year and I never remembered to review it. I distinctly remember testing it around Christmas and writing a review on paper and losing it! So this is partially from memory though I'm retesting it again. In short, the reason I keep Alone around is to layer it with Geek. The cardamom in Alone partners with the leather and woods in Geek to produce what for me is a sort of half-assed version of Spanked. And I LOVE it. But I MUST wear them together. I can't wear Alone on its own (alone...heh!) because it's just too spicy. The cardamom overwhelms and is a bit more cinnamony than cardamom usually is. I don't smell anything else in this at all -- well maybe a hint of the patchouli, but not much. The cardamom is grounded slightly by patchouli and sandalwood, but they barely peep out from the spicy swirl. The other notes are lost to my nose, but I think that worn on its own this would garner a lot of "What smells good?" remarks. I seem to prefer it with a little Geek for my tastes though!

I found the description of this soooo appealing, even though I don't go for sweet/candy scents much. The idea of glittering, jewel-like frosted sugary fruits has been on my mind very much since I first read about this one. This is that wonderful crystalline white sugar note -- not syrupy and thick, not like caramel, not brown sugar, just a very clean, crisp, almost snowy pure sugar. The fruits are so bright and sparkly that I can see the colors vividly: pink, pale green, yellow and tangerine-orange. Like Sunkist fruit gems that were frozen and broken into dust. It doesn't have a lot of staying power or throw but it's very pleasant to sniff. This is another that makes me think more of Christmas than Halloween, to be honest, because it's such a crystal, cold sugar that I think more toward the winter months than autumn. I might need to brush my teeth after smelling this all afternoon but it's really a delight. I honestly don't need more than the tiny sample I have to sniff once or twice but I'm so glad to have tried it!

I admit, I was secretly hoping I would get this one in the inquisition, and even peppered my plea with a couple of words hinting at my love of berries and woods, but at least I got to sniff this! In the vial it has a surprisingly foody feeling to it. I forgot about the "oak-aged vanilla" which along with the pepper gives it a little bit of a savory, slightly burnt bit of baked good to it. But just a BIT. It's predominantly an earthy pine like Jersey Devil (pine pitch) with thick, rich red Christmas berries. Really, this smells a lot more like a Yule blend than one released around Samhain. A bit of the Jersey Devil in it, and a healthy dose of the sort of sweet smoke that I get in Devil's Night. It loses some of that vanilla/pepper kitchen aroma and becomes more of a smoky, earthy/woody Christmas candle. Because I love EVERY note in this SO much I feel like I should try to swap for a bottle, but I think my pine/berry needs might be filled by Jersey Devil and the upcoming Yule blends. Fortunately, while I love this, I think I probably won't absolutely die if I don't get a full bottle -- if I can at least secure an imp I know I'll have it around when I need something a little deeper, richer and smokier in my berry-pine repertoire.

Two ingredients in this jumped out at me as familiar from my Indian cookbooks and my own kitchen...ajowan (ajwain) and tamarind. I can't imagine them in concert with the other notes though -- my beloved vetiver (yes, I'm the one that loves it), gorgeous black musk and resiny opoponax. Mimosa really throws me off, I don't exactly know what it smells like. Didn't sound like a definite bottle-candidate but I just got a sniff and this is one hell of a confusing scent. I like it though! At first it transports me into an Indian grocery store -- specifically the aisle with all the bags of herbs and spices. I get the strangely sweet-sour tamarind and the sharp spike of ajowan, which together I'd described as sort of "vaguely foody, but in a savory, Indian food sort of way". In the bottle, though, like many delicious things, a little goes a long way and I'm not sure I like it. On my skin it's immediately black musk...the kind in Haunted. That "Haunted" feeling sticks around for awhile. Instead of being backed by amber though, it's the vetiver/opoponax providing the warmth. After going through a strange, almost citrusy phase, it simmers down into yet another transformation. It definitely makes me think of cooking Indian food, I'd swear I smell cumin. Then it shifts back to the sweet Haunted-like sinuous musk and ambery resins with that residue of faintly foody (even grainy?) spicy-sweet herbs on top. I have no idea what I think of this! I'm halfway between thinking that it doesn't really work, and thinking that it's a revelation. It's definitely unique in the BPALverse in my experience and I think it deserves to be tried and tried again until I figure out what I think of it!

If I had a little more money when this first came out I would have ordered a 5 ml unsniffed based on "monastic incense" and "blood musk" -- though black leather is also often a winner on me (it smells like resin burning on a hot coal, as I've probably mentioned before...a little smoky, and gorgeous), and I know that I like cypress oil on its own in small quantities. "Pimento" makes me think of olives unfortunately, pepper sometimes makes me sneeze and chamomile on its own isn't always a favorite (Sleepytime Tea, anyone?) so I decided to wait a little bit... Oh I should have just gotten a bottle! This is even more incensy than I had thought it would be. This has a "hot" feeling to it -- something burning in a dark place, an incense censer simmering in a black chamber. I would swear that I smell dragon's blood. I am going to go out on a limb and take a wild guess that "blood musk" could be red musk + dragon's blood, and the color in the vial also suggests the slightest touch of radiant DB. I'm seeing a dark temple with lots of blood-red banners bearing an emblem of a single burning eye in my mind, and people wielding knives...tentacles...you know the deal. As it dries I almost think I get a breath of champa. Now we're in the "hot coals" phase that black leather does to me. It's faintly herbal, but I think of herbs being sprinkled on a fire in that dark ritual. I just sneezed -- but I think that's not the pepper, I think it's just some sinus thing I have going on right now. This reminds me a little of Blood Moon. I think it's the blood musk paired with something that's spicy, woody and herbal. Peppery woods, incense, and a sensation of a ritual fire and censer. This is also a very strong blend on me. It goes through several stages but it always seems very strong, with a good amount of throw, so I don't want to put on too much. Then again, incense and musk (especially the red/blood musks) are super-powerful on me and go on and on. Yeah, shoulda just bought a bottle. Though I felt this way about Blood Moon when I got it too and I never wore it again and wound up selling it...so maybe I'll wait until a lull in updates and get some of this after the madness of Yule dies down!

I was equally fascinated by the prospect of both Trick scents, because both have a lot of ingredients that I really love. In this one, there's red musk, which is the regal queen of BPAL notes in my book. And patchouli, of course. I am intrigued by honeycomb, since I love beeswax so much. I thought this might be something in the Snake Oil-Mme Moriarty family because of the patchouli/red musk/vanilla thing. This is a fair bit lighter than I expected and it took me awhile to really get a sense of what it smells like. Lightly honey over a dark core, something smoky and resiny underneath might just be the leather and patchouli. There's not a lot of red musk the way I think of it in things like Lust and Scherezade; I think it blends with the ginger in the same way it did in Chrysanthemum Moon. A smoky musk with honeyed notes, a faint sweetness of vanilla and a touch of resin on hot coals (even though I know no resins are listed, that's how it comes across to me). I really like it, though if a sniff of Trick #2 bowls me over then I might have to swap for it, but this trick is definitely a treat! I'd say it's vaguely in the Snake/Moriarty family though not as thick and sugared, and lacking a fruit or plum note. The leather coat of Doc Constantine over the dazzling raiments of Mme Moriarty. ETA: After a few days, I can definitely say that this is a winner. The leather, patchouli and honeycomb are coming together in a way that makes me think of Luperci now. Golden and honeyed light over a darker background, bathed all around in ruddy shadows. It took awhile for it to all come together in my head but this is a unique and special blend.

Just got a tiny bit of this to test from a kind forum member! For a tea scent, this is very strong -- it has a lot of power and my skin didn't eat it up. Well actually I put some in my hair too and things always last in my hair. It is similar to many of the tea/tea leaf and verbena/lemon scents but much stronger with more throw, and it's almost as if someone took one of those scents (Spirits of the Dead comes to mind in particular) and brushed a little Whitechapel against it. As it dries, the verbena becomes more herbal and a bit like bergamot...I would swear I smell Earl Grey tea. The lavender is not too strong but it reminds me a bit of the fougere in Dorian or Theodosius (without really smelling like them otherwise). I think the sandalwood is what keeps this strong and lasting on me. The last stage is a wisp of iris and the powdery sandalwood drydown. This is very nice and I imagine it would work wonders in a locket. I've found that I tend not to wear these tea scents as much as I always thought I would, so I think a sample is all I need but this is really one of the best in the green/tea/verbena family and might also appeal to fans of Whitechapel. Anyway, my DH said I smell good and I told him it was Johnathan Harker and he gave me a funny look.

A deep, rich sherry encased in dusty darkness, touched by oak, and damp catacomb stone. The scent begins with a sense of drunken glee, of orange peel, bittersweet berry and rose hip, and moves inexorably towards the dread and terror expressed in black patchouli. What's wrong with me, that I never reviewed this? I adore this scent. Actually I think my review was eaten when the forum was up and down a lot earlier this year. So let's try it again: Cold stone, ivy, slightly sweet, slightly sour fruits and wine, wood soaked with sweet cold wine, damp greenery. I tend to think of this scent as a series of adjectives, since it has so many distinct fragrances talking to me in unison. Cold, fruity greenery. Wine caskets swollen with subterranean dampness. Damp stones. It escapes being purely fruity, because these are musty fruits -- a painting of a still life iced over by dust in the cellar. As it dries there is less fruit and it is more like dark wood and stone on which a dry wine has splashed. It's a faintly sour and purple wine that strengthens with time. I love the complexity of this. It's a bit of a cousin of Black Tower...less woody and smoky though. The four Maelstrom scents I initially ordered back when they debuted are still among my favorite LEs ever and this series is probably still my favorite series thus far.

I've been wearing this to bed at night...surrounded by the dark spicy warmth, and the almost soporific smoky leather. Darkest clove and blackest leather, spiked with sharp ginger for a moment. I don't smell patchouli as a distinct element but I know it's in there, a layer of black soil grounding these deep spices. I don't like cinnamon and I don't smell it, but the overall feeling is of deep, burnt spices buried in black earth and smothered in body-warmed leather. It is quite a bit different from Dracul, which had strong notes of mint along with clove and a bit of orange, along with the smoky/earthy notes. Dracul is in my top ten GC scents and Count Dracula is just at the edge of my top ten LEs now but I like so bloody many it's getting harder and harder to choose! If anyone is ever looking for the scent of a burning clove cigarette in a bondage club, you know where to send them. But I really don't associate it with that so much as just the scent of darkness...and a strange, comforting warmth when there is danger all around. This is something that I want to smell like...I would just want to get closer to someone who smelled like this, and bury my nose in their hair and skin to find the source of that incredible aroma. This is my favorite of the four OotD scents I have tried so far, and since I ordered the ones that sounded the most likely successes for me it will probably be my favorite of the whole batch! p.s. it reminds me of the 4FatCats wax tart scent "Dad's Jacket" btw!

Whoops, I forgot to review this one when I got my package on Monday and went on a mad sniffing spree. Fortunately I've had a chance to test it at great length in the intervening days! Being a fan of "heavy woods" I had my money on something kind of dark and smooth but this is a powdery, dry wood. At first the blend as a whole smells like Yggdrasil but a little more incense dust, a little more piney herbs. It's the box of old incense that is in my closer, or a breath of air through a dry, pine-needle carpeted forest. Somewhere between The Rat King and Yggdrasil, but with a bit more green, dusty herbs. I like it best in its early stages, though it fades quickly. Unlike The Castle, which grew stronger as I wore it, this started to fade into the ambient smell of the woods that I was walking through when I first tested it. It's definitely in the family of scents that I like but I will probably have to wear it in a locket to keep it strong and fresh. I see the pale straight trees in Yggdrasil shadowing an abandoned wooden building overgrowing with ivy and greenery, and motes of dust suspended in a pale shaft of light.

I know a lot of blue ones that I got were arriving with broken lips...I think that's about when they switched to amber, they seem to be of better quality. Over the years I've had a few blue ones arrive with chipped lips or crunched caps, but the amber ones are always fine.

Samhainophobia is, for me, the perfection of Samhain. When I first tried Samhain '04 it went through a very deeply smoky, piney stage early on, and that is what this is, through and through. In the bottle, while it's mostly sweet, dark, earthy vetiver, it rapidly morphs into that woodsmoke Samhain scent on my skin. As with the other reviews I am writing today, I tested this in the woods, and I think the fragrance really took off on me in that setting. Surprisingly, I smell just about everything that is in Samhain, in this -- the cidery deep apple and spiciness, but much stronger in this are the woodsmoke, dark pine and smooth, earthy vetiver. Oh yes, this is a sarada scent. This will bump Samhain down a notch on my ever-lengthening favorites list.

I tested this on my right wrist on a massive test-a-thon today right before I went for a long walk in the woods. I figured that the crisp autumn air and forest would help to set the scents loose in their natural environment. The Castle smells faintly resiny in the bottle and the woodiness is similar to that in Carceri d'Invenzione. Actually, the slightly sweet, resiny scent that I get from this might be dragon's blood...I can't quite tell the colour of the oil but I think it may be slightly rosy, holding it up to the light. This really deepens upon wearing it. The wood scent resolves itself into what I think is redwood, judging from my imp of the single note. It has a moist, pale, pulpy wood quality to it, not the green pine that I was expecting. This is more of a warm, soft, spongy woodpulp. The Castle lasts and lasts, and that redwood and dragon's blood love my skin. I had expected a very green scent but this is a pale red and muted soft brown in my mind. Now that I am testing it at home, and the natural scents of the forest aren't confusing my overloaded senses, it is a much stronger, and more clear scent to me. Highly recommended to fans of Carceri d'Invenzione, particularly if you don't mind a touch of dragon's blood. As it dries, the faintly spicy aroma of crumpled dry leaves is released into the air, and the moist wood pulp becomes a dry, powdery, sweet and slightly spicy wood. Very complex, morphing scent and very much up this forest girl's alley.

My first thought upon sniffing this: wintergreen. I'll be honest, it made me think of Ben-Gay, which I could actually use right now since my back hurts. But it's not something I typically want to smell like. Actually, there is a Chinese white flower oil my mom gave me to use on muscle aches and it also reminds me of that...very medicinal, wintergreen, menthol. I immediately start thinking that this will not be a keeper, but I put some more on and let it dry for awhile. After all, I was testing four scents at once and I was IN the woods, so there were a lot of circumstances around my first sniff! As it dries it reminds me more of cold flowers ... maybe like the flowers in Arkham Revisited, pale pink and blue, and a blast of minty forest air. The drydown reveals all of the color of this blend, all of the frosty flowers and lichen-encrusted stone. The Ben-Gay scent becomes almost unnoticeable after a short time. (eta: that was based on my in-the-woods test of this, but when I tried it at home the Ben-Gay scent did in fact dominate for much longer...maybe my in-the-woods experiment picked up on some natural outdoor scents as well). I was hoping for something very woodsy and piney touched with flowers and though there's a hint of that, the wintergreen scent really turns me off. I'll try it a couple more times before deciding what to do with it though...it's not quite like anything else in my collection so I may want to keep it for the winter to see what it does.

It's my understanding that this is a Black Broom exclusive, as according to an update by Beth dated September 2004, this was among those listed. I don't believe there is a description available for this now, so please edit and update if one becomes available, powers that be! I received this in a trade, as I am currently on the other side of the country from Black Broom, and I'm so glad I got to try it! This is an incredible fragrance. It very, very strongly reminds me of the Caterpillar, the first fragrance I ever got here, which had attracted me by its description. I'm comparing the two side by side right now and I think that whereas the Caterpillar represents this scent in the shade, nestled amongst mosses, that Flame of Desire represents this scent in the full brightness of day, in the sunlight. Here is the description for Caterpillar, by the way, as I think they may share a couple of common ingredients: "Heavy incense notes waft lazily through a mix of carnation, jasmine, bergamot, and neroli over a lush bed of dark mosses, iris blossom, deep patchouli and indolent vetiver." The strongest sense that I get in Flame of Desire though is a very green jasmine, backed with some buttery deep gold floral and incensey notes. It's less complex, brighter, and stronger. This fragrance is sticking to my skin without changing all day, and I love it! The incense notes come out slowly as the strong floral/jasmine smell starts to recede. I was expecting a more "red" scent -- something hot and wild, maybe spicy, from the name, but this is a very romantic, sultry and sensual fragrance. I am assuming that because of the name that the ingredients in this one are probably associated with love and desire. I'd be curious to know what's in it!