Gin

I'm sad I didn't stock up on this one. It's like a cross between Frost Moon and Blue Moon '04. Minty and cucumbery in perfect proportions. With age, it's taken on a mint-tea tone. *So* lovely, and missed greatly.

Yup, wooden shelving, books, and lemon cookies. An herby-incensy note comes forward while the lemon recedes. The buttery cookies are still there, but I think it's not quite foody enough for me.

Ashlultum is all lilac and vanilla and light musk on me. Very light and pretty.

Aeronwen is quite a surprise. I'm pretty sure someone frimped me a lil' tester of this because the notes don't paint a picture of a scent that would work for me. And yet, they totally do. It starts out really green--not *sharp* green, fresh green--and dries down to a dark, sweet muskiness.

Oh wow. This is quite different than what I expected. It's not "Lab Snow" to me at all. It's cold, and ozoney and almost-pine-almost-eucalyptus, and initially, kind of sinister. Then it does a 180 and goes sweet and sort of flowery.

I remember trying Cheshire Cat many, many years ago--in fact, it may have been in my very first order. Back then, I really didn't care for it. 'Manic' was a good description of it. Now, however, I like it much better. I get grapefruit, lavender and chamomile, which seems a bizarre combination, and even weirder for me to like it since I am neither a fan of lavender nor chamomile, but here, it works really well. It's citrussy but herby and actually kind of relaxing, like dirfting off to sleep (?) to the sound of the Cat's voice.

Coconut and black pepper sound like they shouldn't go together, but I kind of like it. It's unusual, for sure. But the pepper goes away and leaves coconut to play with the sugar and presumably the angelica--but it's mostly just coconut.

This is surprisingly soft on me. Usually I get oakmoss like whoa, but in Parthenope, it's quiet. Soft honeysuckle, powdery orris and musk. It may be the power of suggestion, but this feels watery to me, even though none of the notes strike me as watery notes.

Mmm! Delicious spicy gingerbready cake with candied cherries and nuts. It seems surprisingly faint to me, I'm used to ginger-spicy scents staying strong for ages. Cute while it lasts, though!

Oh, vetiver, why must you ruin everything? Okay vetiver doesn't ruin everything, but it's ruined Common Jezebel for me. Apricot! Lemon sugar! Coconut! Red currant! All amazing! But vetiver stomps all over them. I can smell coconut (husk?) and a hint of the delicious apricot, but I had really hoped the apri-lemsug-coco-currant would be the focus, with a teeny bit of vetiver in the back to anchor it.

Love the name, love the concept. On y skin, it's *so* ozoney. Soapy-ozoney. But I waited it out. I was promised apples! Eventually, the orchard not does come around--which, on a side note, is so strange to me. I understand fragrances developing and whatnot, but it always shocks me when I note seems to come out of nowhere. How can ozone turn to orchard? Anyway, I think I can see (smell) the orchard on the horizion, but I wanted a bit more. I was hoping or the apples other reviewers mentioned. I got empty trees.

Acai! And that's pretty much it. And that's okay by me, it smells great.

So violetty! I can't remember another BPAL that had such a strong violet note. In the back, there's a spicy note that could well be the mums, or it could just be more violet.

Rose and musk and amber and myrrh... the currant is presenting as a tartness, but not really red currant. Te orange is brightening up the place, ut like the currant, I don't feel like I smell orange exactly. For a floral blend, this is nice, but I really wanted to have it be more fruit-heavy.

Rose, vanilla, sweet plum, and peony. I start to think that maybe this is a floral I can wear and then it turns sharper and powdery--I'm wondering if it's the iris, we've never gotten along. I might try some sort of locket/non-skin application because I do like it, but my chemistry seems not to.

Ooh, what is that? It's sweet and lush and green. It reminds me of The Conservatory at Como Park--a glorious greenhouse with all sorts of exotic plants. It also smells a bit like the original Scorpio--maybe that's why I like it so much? Absolutely gorgeous.

Smoky musky plum and flowers. On me, this is surprisingly faint. There's something cool and astringent, too, almost like pine. Very odd. This is going to swaps because I like my plummy musk to be heavier on the plum.

I don't understand why Mountain of Bone doesn't get more love. Is it because the name is off-putting? It sounds like it would be dry and dusty and dead, but in fact it's light and fruity. It's like ... well, a wine cooler, but good. Mixed fruit and fizz. I'm glad I grabbed a bottle.

Three Brides goes on all sharp and pointy florals but smooths out to a sandalwood-powdery floral.

I wanted pineapple and lemon but ended up with sherry and rye. I think this might be one for a locket--the toothpick I used to apply the oil smells fruity, it just doesn't appear on my skin.

Brilliant. It's everything advertised, and then some. So, so, good. I wish I would have stocked up on this.

The Night-Raven reminds me so much of my mom. She always had incenses and weirdly-scented wooden boxes and she'd take me to pagan bookshops, and I think that's what this smells like, a pagan bookshop. (One shop especially--Evenstar, formerly on University in St. Paul, MN.) I got a whiff of plum that's now gone or receded and blended in, a bit of patchouli and musk, and rose geranium. I don't know if I can wear this as a personal fragrance, but it might be interesting as a room scent.

I thought I didn't like mango, but apparently, I do 'cause this is marvelous. Syrupy sweet and edible-smelling mango ove the Lab's chocolate note. Wish I'd bought multiples.

What a gem! Like its stress-relieving counterpart, this is lavender, mint, clary sage, and geranium. However, it all takes a backseat to the glorious King mandarin and blood orange. In the bottle, I couldn't tell much difference between Holiday Stress Relief and Holiday Joy--they both smelled nice, but I was slightly disappointed (do I really need both?). On the skin, though, the oranges really pop and set this apart from HSR. It's calming, yet energizing, if that makes any sense. I feel like it helps my mind snap back into focus, and the oranges makes me feel happy and uplifted. Good stuff.