sarada

This doesn't last very long on me, but while it does it's boisterous, joyous and effervescent. It smells like a lemon-lime soda of some sort. Sprite or something. Synaesthetically, for me it's yellow (lemon yellow) and blue (a bright, electric blue). Complements Tweedledum very nicely and I think as long as I have one, I will want to have the other! I don't wear things that are this citrusy very much because they don't last on me, but it might work in a locket or as a quick cool-down splash in hot weather.

I immediately started drooling when I read the brief note description of this and knew I should have just ordered a bottle unsniffed. I love amber, though I prefer it very deep and thick, sweet, resiny and rich. I love "dark fruits" if that means things like plum, pomegranate and purple or red berries. When I got a sneak sniff of this a little over a month ago it struck me as somewhat lighter and more pale gold and perfumey than I had expected, since I was thinking of something that would be intense like Blood Countess. But now that I have an imp, I'm going to go through it within a week I think because I can't stop drenching myself in it! These are some of the best ingredients in the world for my particular chemistry. Amber, when it works, is long-lasting, radiant, golden, and slightly sweet and the fruits are a luscious ruby and purple bouquet, just tart enough that the scent explodes like bubbles fizzing at your nose when you go to sip a freshly-poured glass of soda. It dries into a lasting, radiantly sweet resiny-fruity scent, though still much lighter than I expected. I like it anyway though. I like it a lot. This will be a bottle for sure, as I can't stop using the imp. I love it on my skin, where it positively comes to life, and I love it in a locket, where it stays at a slightly paler and lighter tone throughout the day, but lasts even longer. I wish I'd just taken a chance on a bottle all at once!

When I first sniffed this at a meet 'n sniff over a month ago I thought I caught a stronger whiff of dragon's blood, and overall I thought for a moment that it might be a bit like Red Moon. Now that I got a bottle though it smells just like Holiday Moon to me, as others have observed. I tested it once and the effect was similar -- the tart, green pulpy stem scent of bamboo perhaps spiked with a bit of tea leaf but I don't get any of the other notes. It doesn't dry down to dragon's blood or sandalwood on me either, but side by side with Holiday Moon this has a slightly warmer glow, and slightly less crisp and raw. I think that I'm set for that kind of scent with Holiday Moon though...I'll save my dragon's blood and sandalwood cravings for whenever I try Dragon's Claw. Darn, I was hoping this would work a little better on me!

Foody (sweet/baked good) scents are the one thing that I avoid like the plague...somehow it's usually nauseating to me unless there's actual food backing it up. However, I love currant and have had good luck with some of the lab's vanilla blends so it seemed a better fit for me than the ambiguous Drink Me. In the imp, I do get a hint of the dreaded buttery smell that makes me feel sick, but I don't actually feel sick this time. It's not a strong enough component or maybe I'm just used to it by now. I don't really smell currant but it's a pleasant, soft cakey smell rather than an overwhelming, stomach-churning one. On my skin it becomes quite nice. I don't specifically smell currant but the fact that I like this is probably because it's in there somewhere, adding that tart berry touch. When it dries down it smells just like the drydown of Snake Oil, minus the spices. Must be the vanilla. Still not my kind of scent but if I was in one of those rare moods for something like Snake Oil I could go for this. There might be some hope that some of the foody blends are becoming a bit more soft and mellow for folks like me, who have really bad reactions to the butter and strong, sweet scents. I think I'll keep this around!

I tried this one a long time ago and it didn't make a huge impression on me, but in trying it again -- after two years of constant sniffing -- I am in awe of the gentle beauty of this blend. It's a shame that notes aren't listed because I think a lot more people would try it if they knew what to expect. My first impression is: frankincense. But a soft frankincense, with a touch of floral underneath. Like Arcana without the sharp herbs, in a way. Or a very faded Penitence or Cathedral, with a powdery layer of florals just beneath. There might be a hint of a faint vanilla as in Antique Lace, but that blend had a very harsh, chemical phase to me and this is just very soft and natural. A wonderful resiny scent but not too strong or churchy -- if you don't normally like resins this might still work for you. Whatever this sweet creamy floral bouquet is, behind the radiant resins, is just gorgeous. It's a soft, warm, glowing, comforting light. A lot of people mention sandalwood and that could very well be in there as well. Sandalwood often gives things a dusty, powdery quality and I get that in the drydown as well. So I'm going to say: frankincense, white (?) sandalwood and some sort of gorgeous faint florals, maybe with a touch of vanilla, I'm not sure. I even think I get a quick hit of pepper for a moment there but frankincense is often "peppery" on me. I think this is going on the short list for big bottles that I will eventually want to get. It's been in the catalog for awhile but hasn't gotten a lot of reviews...so please try this one out!

I'm reviewing this before testing it's efficacy because I'm so impressed with the smell -- and I'd better write that down before the review turns into a Penthouse letter. At any rate I only plan on wearing this around the mate, just in case. It smells very minty in the imp (I got a decant) -- very minty. I like mint, and people tend to be attracted to it, so that's a good thing. On my hands, it smells a lot like Spellbound. A lot! And the color of the oil suggests red musk, one of my favorite notes of all. I'd say that red musk, rose and peppermint are probably all ingredients in this -- definitely very much like a minty Spellbound. That, in my experience, has been a scent that men like. I always got a lot of comments when I wore it, or anything with red musk in it really. So I can definitely see this as being an oil that could draw people in and excite them. I'm not close enough to the boy for him to smell it yet but like I said, I just wanted to get my first impressions down. I am going to be very careful not to wear it outside of the house!

It doesn't have a lot of staying power, but Szepasszony feels wonderful to me in hot/humid weather. I bet if I added it to an odorless shampoo or body splash or something like that, it would really help to make the scent stick around and lend its cooling quality. I can't wear BPAL on summer days that I'm outside because I have to wear so much sunblock and bugspray to go out! There's no point in pleasant fragrance that is going to get buried under that stuff...because even the odorless kind does have a particular smell. Sigh. I spend most of my time indoors in air conditioning so I bring them with me to work to enjoy in that environment.

Aeval contains: sage, sweet pea, bold pale musk and warm tonka. No patchouli listed and to me it smelled mostly like sweetpea...i.e. a very sweet, slightly fruity, slighty cloying dewy floral. URD is definitely the ultimate headshop scent I think! Anything containing red musk has a bit of that hippie vibe in it too in an incensy kind of way (not patchouli, not vetiver, not champa, but just something rich and deep red, musky and sultry). Lust, Scherezade, Fenris Wolf and Spellbound are all good red musk scents.... but then again hippie scents are my favorite so I kind of over-scrutinize them!

URD! Uuuuurrrrrd! It's the ultimate nag champa hippie store scent and it's my favorite! Hellion is very similar if you can find it. I thought Death Cap was wonderfully earthy in a sweet, incensy kind of way. That's another favorite. Anne Bonny has already been mentioned of course but yeah, that too!

I actually find Mantis is my favorite grassy blend although I'm not sure why it comes across that way. Maybe it's because the first imp I got was bright green! Despite the amber and patchouli, there are green, green grassy herbs in it and it's just my favorite summery fresh green scent.

Tried this on a day I'm going to the shore (not a common occurence despite being in NJ...I'm just not into the shore). I like it in the imp, it's very fresh and clean, with just a touch of almost liilac-like sweetness to it. I'm interpreting it as slightly floral, a pale pale clear purple water color in my mind when I sniff it. I think the leather in Severin is in this, strangely light and sweet at first but it warms over time and becomes a bit more gruff and stubbly. Arrrr. I loathe rum but I don't specifically smell it. This is a clear, clean, salty scent. And although I don't like aquatics it's closer to what I would like than most. It does not smell like men's cologne, it smells natural. All that said though it makes me feel a little seasick. It might be fun to keep around, but I think I'm going to have to put on something else...

I had a craving for strong amber today and since I don't have Haunted anymore I remembered that Iago was very similar to my nose. But for some reason I thought this was an amber blend... As it turns out, it smells a lot like Haunted to me anyway, maybe the musk is the same. In fact, maybe it was the musk that dominated in the other blend as well and I mistook it for amber. It's strong, but thin and golden to my nose. I love vetiver but I don't smell it in this really. Vetiver is a dark earthy sweetness and it comes out marvellously on my skin, but I don't get anything like that until well into the drydown. I also don't get the leather, which actually tends to work well on me. A surprising scent, not really how I imagined it at all. I'd say this is a slightly stronger Haunted to my nose. I thought I liked dark musk but it does this thing that civet does (though they smell NOTHING alike!!) where it it is a little thin and high-pitched and just seems to get all over everything and overpowers the other scents. If I could find a batch of this where there was more vetiver and leather, we'd be in business.

In the bottle: Oh, this is a fresh spring day, alright! I already have the window open and the smell of new growth and flowers drifting in, and this scent perfectly complements them. A little bit of Dublin, a little bit of Dorian. It's got the fresh, crisp tender budding scent from Dublin, but the musky, slightly lemony sweetness of Dorian. This is gorgeous. I don't mind the powdery notes at all -- it's a bit like what you might get from something with apple blossom in it. Sunshine pouring over green grass, in a field of dandelion fluff and clover. There's still a bit of chill in the air in the shade so you snuggle deeper into a soft white shawl or sweater. The sugar-dusted lemon fades to a soft, downy musk brushed with spring flowers. It's not overly floral and it's not overly powdery. I'd say that it's mainly a gentle, sweet white musk touched by lemon drops and pale spring blossoms. This will be the first bottle beginning with the letter "E" that I think I'll keep in my collection! It's really gorgeous and definitely makes the conceptual leap between Dublin and Dorian that I was hoping for. Perfect spring blend...I am so glad I got it when the weather is perfect for it!

I always swore I wouldn't use the word "lemony" in a review if I could avoid but but I just don't know what else to say! I have not been able to try Kyphi incense but I'd really love to, despite the slightly "ugh" feeling I get when I think about the combined scent of sticky-sweet honey, raisins and wine with my beloved resins. The strong dark lemon-honey scent is a bit too foody for my tastes, reminding me more of a cup of herbal tea that you'd have to choke down when you're sick (I'm not a lemon-honey fan, you see). But, no, I think I can see where there's a sharp sinus-clearing note in there that is almost like camphor or mint as well. There's a bit of a spicy wood scent that could be myrrh or it could just be a wood like cedar combined with some gentle spices. It is a bit more incensy as it dries but that lemony (I said it again!) note is just so strong...I'm also reminded of a lemon balm rub that I used from time to time for muscular aches. Lemongrass perhaps. Despite the fact that everyone who passes by me will probably just smell that sharp lemony note, I do like to sniff this as it evolves. It is strong, which is a big plus for me, and as I wear it I think that my resin-friendly skin brings out more of the sweet resiny-woody scents rather than that lemon note. Honey tends to also be a note that plays well with others on me, though I rarely seek it out because of its sweet and foody connotations. If this was darker and smokier, more like incense, I would be all over it. But as it is, about a half-hour into wear it is really nice on me and I'll definitely keep some around.

I'm at a loss to describe this one aside from slightly spicy and musky floral. I've been describing a lot of these scents similarly and they do have a lot in common: there are some that are spicy, slightly woody and musky and others are soapy florals. But they all do have their own individual signature and I can tell them apart by scent pretty easily. This is another that gets stronger with wear and the cinnamony spice comes out a bit more. After a shower it's still pretty strong on my wrist though indistinct as far as fragrance goes. Not as striking of a fragrance as, say, Nahemoth was, but probably in the same general family of scents as far as being a strong, spicy and slightly musky floral.

When I opened this, someone across the room from me said "That smells like blueberries." I responded, "This is Gha'agsheblah, the Perimeter of Destruction." "Oh, well it smells like blueberries." Well, actually up close it smells like a nice floral to me -- these Qliphoth have a lot of really nice florals in them, really bright, light, slightly soapy. It becomes a lot more of a strong soapy floral as I wear it. Nonetheless it's pleasant and if it was a regular perfume blend I'd count it among the spring florals that I'd consider wearing.

This really does smell like a scent of heat and fire at first. Not cinnamon or clove though, not spicy -- more like a glowing yellow-gold-red bright flower. There's an inner warmth to it that bursts, pyrotechnics on the skin. I'd say overall this is another that is roughly floral in category but with a gritty fruit scent underneath. I thought maybe fig but apricot could also be a possibility. It's one of the earthy fruits, something golden and glowing just beneath the surface. And through it all, a persistent blaze of light and warmth and heat-without-spice.

Thagirion struck me as a very bright, nice, cooling, refreshing white-yellow floral. As it dries down it becomes a strong, cleansing, soapy scent. I'm not actually getting lemon from this but I am getting the impression of the color of pale yellow. I'd say it's mostly floral, a little soapy, but again it's a very strong, piercing, cleansing scent. Something you could really use to scrub away negativity. That's what I'd be inclined to use it for if I was to use it for something...but for the moment I am just enjoying the scent.

Mmmm, rampant lust. I'd think that red musk could be in something like that but I don't smell it -- however this has a lovely color, as zillah37 pointed out. It is like....wood shavings, I agree, but with a bit of spice and musk to it. The color makes me think of dragon's blood but I don't really smell any. A powerful, dominating blend. If you're expecting something like the catalogue blend Lust, it's not like that, but it's a very appealing and authoritative masculine blend. Again, not really a scent you'd wear to perfume yourself but it is a warm and sensual scent. The woodiness fades pretty quickly though and I am left with something that feels like the scent of a flickering red-orange flame, as the spice grows in power. The spice never quite takes over, it just stays close enough to your skin so you can sniff it if you pull in close. It doesn't have nearly as much throw as the others in this series that I have tried so far.

Evil really does come in a beautiful guise sometimes -- this is an absolutely gorgeous, bright fresh floral. It's all of the things that I love in blends like Flower Moon and Phantom Queen -- refreshing, crisp, soft, a sparkling floral possibly over a faintly powdery wooden base. You know that smell when you go into a place where freshly-cut wood is stacked up? It's a sort of very pale, powdery fragrant sawdust scent underneath the flowers. I'd consider a bottle of this for the spring/summer just for the fragrance but I'll have to see how it wears on me after a little while. Positively scintillating. It's a beautiful lie that you want to believe in.

Sweet and slightly woody -- a touch of something like lemon verbena at first. The Qliphoth I've tried so far all seem to be slightly sweet and fruity in some stage. This is much lighter than I expected for something that rules over perverse sexual desire. There's definitely a dusty/musty scent underneath. A pale, dusty golden wood. Since I'm testing oils for fragrance right now I can't reflect on its other properties but I can imagine using this to try to control those uncontrolled desires and channeling them into something constructive.

This is the one of the Qliphoth that I was most drawn to, perhaps because of the association with Lilith. And wearing something associated with the Angel of Prostitution, well, that's a conversation-starter, isn't it? She has a very appealing fragrance, at first in the bottle it makes me think of "classy perfume" (those are just the first words that come to mind), with a sort of fruity muskiness. It is like a lighter, perfumey version of the perfume Lilith at first. On my skin, it becomes a bit like a light Smut without what I refer to as the "cheesy" note, i.e. not as musky or sweet. It's medium in strength and tone, and it's being drowned out on my wrist by the Blood Kiss I put behind my ears this morning. Like the Sephiroth, the Qliphoth all together have a general sort of "occult store oil" feel for me, meaning that they definitely make me think more of fragrances used in rituals or for a purpose, rather than purely as perfume. However this one works wonderfully on my skin. It's a bit like a lighter Smut with a bit of a floral-fruitiness and just a pale musk instead of a deep one, as it warms on my skin. It strengthens as it warms and I feel like it's beginning to wreath me with an enticing cloud of musky fruits and flowers. I don't feel particularly evil, but...well, I'm feeling kind of confident and powerful so hopefully I'm bringing out her more positive aspects somehow. ETA: When it dries down the sense of a strong, musky floral perfume is even greater and the fruitiness is all but gone. It no longer bears any ressemblance to the other oils that I mentioned in the review, after it dries down.

Yew-Trees is another really natural smelling tree smell to me. It smells just like a particular evergreen section of a forest that I frequent. It doesn't have that "piney" smell though it's more like the actualy resin from evergreen trees...a dark green scent. Strangely, I find that Death on a Pale Horse smells like a clear stream bubbling over rocks and dark soil. This mgiht be subjective but this is an extremely clear experience to me and it is almost dead-on as far as I'm concerned.

Ogun starts out with melon that is a lot stronger in this than I expected. It's rather like a darker, masculine Yemaya at first. I didn't think that these ingredients would work together, but it creates a novel scent...I agree that there isn't anything quite like it in the catalogue. After the initial burst of melon, a smoky scent takes over, rather like burning wax or the scent of a candle that was just blown out. I was afraid of the mention of cigar tobacco since almost nothing makes me feel more sick. But while this isn't exactly the tobacco scent that I normally like, it is not the nauseating, eye-watering pungent cigar smoke that I feared. The melon disappears completely, and I guess there is kind of a sharp quality slicing through this that could be the juniper and chili. Not hot on the skin, but it smells like ... heat. It's mainly an extinguished candle smell to me, not terribly boozy and only slightly sweet. It makes me think of incense that has burned on coals and now that it has all burned up, the coal is just burning itself out. Smoky, slightly harsh but if I think of a dark temple or an altar in the woods, with offerings burning on the coals and candles smoking, it all makes perfect sense. I think I'd like this more as an incense or candle actually but it's an interesting experience and not unpleasant.

Write to them at answers@blackphoenixalchemylab.com and include your order number if you have the receipt from CCNow. It's probably a very common mistake. You can use CCNow if you're using a credit card, but if you're using Paypal you're not supposed to go through CCNow too...I'm not sure what the reason was for that, whether it was technical or an issue of them getting double-charged on fees.