olympia301

Truck stop sleaze. Weedy dandelion and hops with a whiff of tobacco and hemp and a swirl of booziness. Now this is a unique scent. Dandelion stems and old stale beer on me. Very interesting. I can't say I don't like it, I can't say it's my new favorite, but I can say that Beth has painted a very clear picture of a roadhouse, what goes on there and how immediate it is. The beginning is slightly nauseating fun, the drydown stays very green and a bitter green it is, too. There is a bit of cheap perfume stirred in which give it that "been there done that" kick. I truly admire the bravado of this blend and happy I got to try it. Once again, a huge salute to Beth for bringing out a risky blend which does what it says it does. I may not want 10ml but I sure admire her for her skill with Roadhouse.

Lolita is all about orange flowers, neroli. It comes off as being immature but aggressive and sexually inexperienced, something like a nymphette who thinks it all ends up with her being "the little bride". It dries down to an old fashioned "grown up lady" perfume in the end. As a piece-of-performance-art blend, Lolita is excellent. You could scent Nabokov's book with Lolita the perfume and not be too far off the mark of it all. As a personal perfume, I am a bit past the Lolita stage in my BPAL understanding and appreciation. In view of what has gone on since, I prefer Jailbait as a performance piece as well as a scent. Jailbait has that utterly unconscious vulgarity that Lolita lacks, an overwhelmingly neurotic unshakable self centeredness a la Modern America that just doesn't jolt you in Lolita. Lolita has a wistful, misguided yearning to it which Jailbait doesn't have. The two scents are nothing like each other, by the way, but the concept of too-early sexual maturity is the theme which makes me compare them. Maybe it's the way that we looked at sex in the '50's vs. the way people think of it now which has colored my view of Lolita. The way that the slightly corny orange flowers dry down to a slightly passe old-before-its-time smell that makes me think Lolita is a great piece of art because it tells the story of the girl who grew up too fast then grew old too fast better than just about any other medium I have encountered.

I had high hopes for this one, but it just isn't doing anything new for me despite the exotic ingredients, fruits and fabulous name. It's a great concept and who could resist smelling melilot? I enjoyed the fruits and the perfumy components a great deal, too. I think I will send this one off to the swaps, though. I bet there is a newbie out there who is itching to try melilot, and I can't hold up La Bella Donna, now can I? The icon is the plant belladonna or deadly nightshade.

Rose, rosewood, violet and lemongrass. This is a loverly scent. It's strong, rosy, green and languid. If I had run across Libertine early on, I would have made this my signature scent for a long time. I would heartily recommend Libertine to BPAL newbies,it gives a great range of what Beth is capable of and her interpretation of an ancient concept.

Mint and violet, a very pretty combination. I put it on my skin which tingled strongly for over an hour, so you might want to use it in an oil burner or to scent a candle rather than put it on your hide. It was very strong and long lasting, and if it draws and keeps good fortune as forcefully as it smells, you're in business!

Very floral, very strong, and (as others have noted) purple. Very much a woman's perfume, done in the time honored style of big flowers, Morgause holds that royal secret of purple as it does have a grapey quality in the background. Morgause is one where jasmine intertwines with gardenia and violet to come up with a big, dark, juicy flower perfume with long legs and not a bit of tannin in sight. Highly recommended for when you need to come on strong. It lasts and just a tiny drop will scent a room. As with your femininity, use with caution.

Almond, the prettiest start, and it is warmed by amber and what hits me as developing musk. There is something like leather in here as well, a comforting scent of places loved and where you let down your guard. Perhaps I am reading in too much, but I have smelled cats' fur which smells a lot like the background scent in Bastet. (BTW cats think it's very rude to smell their fur). Bastet dries down to an indefinable scent mantle, I think that is the musk which your nose gets used to fairly quickly. It's a beautiful and comforting blend, made me relax and think of cats, big leather chairs and soft purring. Very light, you may lose it quickly but try a scent locket to keep it close. A really fine scent.

A far subtler scent that I had expected, Midway does indeed remind me of Grog without the coconut and Jack without the spices. One thing that is grossly toned down with Midway is that woody backnote I get from Grog, there isn't much wood in Midway*. It's all butter and sugar and yum yum yum. I ordered 3 bottles of this and if I wanted to be a real pig I would layer it with Grog (which has some pretty awesome throw and staying power), and Shill and just wallow. Decending to the depths of depravity, touch on a bit of Pink Moon. Wow! Snert-mmmmmmmmm! Olfactory orgasm, olfactory orgy. One note, you think that Midway isn't very loud and doesn't have much staying power but move a bit when you have it on you and it comes to life again tickling your nose and full of delight. This makes a great pure amping note for blends that you think could use a bit of buttering up as well as outlandish on its own. This one is pure hedonism, I love it and glad I stocked up when I had the chance. *I have always smelled a wood note in Grog, but then again that is me putting my nose right down on it and you can get some fierce distortion from a blend by doing that.

Incantation, Snake Oil, Hollywood Babylon, Haunted, Vechernyaya, give those a try. If they blow away, well phfffft...but I bet they won't.

Wow, this is one of the zaniest scents I have ever smelled, let alone possessed! I love it for its imaginative power, its breaking new ground, for its being so courageously blended. Wet and wet on my skin there is the unmistakable scent of cocoa and orange. They do interfere with each other, as if there is a war for my attention taking place. This is very interesting as it intensified to a pitch battle during the drydown. "Orange!" "No Cocoa!" "Orange, dammit!" "Vive la Cocoa!" "Orange to hell and back!" "COCOOOOOOOA!" And so on... At last, out of nowhere a floral antiphon starts up, quietly at first but building. This is the part where orange and cocoa's differences are resolved and the harmonious iris and white tea soothe the troops. This last part manages to achieve what made House of Night so fabulous: there is a small note which floats above the rest and is unearthly beautiful; it is elusive and uncatchable with your conscious but it will take you off guard and thrill your nose with happy torment. 13 is really a highly recommended scent. I would have to describe it as one of the "driest" perfume I have loved. I may not be so fond of the middle drydown but the opening and the lingering final stage makes 13 something which is really worth the confusion. It may take some getting used to, but this is worth the effort.

The start is citrus and orange blossom with jasmine nodding under the mix. Given a few seconds I say "neroli" (that is the orange blossom scent) and jasmine starts to appear and take her place center stage. I suspect there is a nice shot of white musk under it all to keep it on your skin. Santa Eularia is a jasmine lover's dream, this is creamy dreamy stuff. If florals are your pet, Santa Eularia could be what you have been searching for. It dries down gracefully and I would have to say that the dry stage rivals any jasmine scent that I have ever smelled, it knits with your skin. All white flowers and lemon, this is beautiful summer perfume. It lasts and is unbelievably cheery. Am I going to keep it? I don't know. It really doesn't fit my personality, but it's so damned beautiful in a frilly empty-headed but overwhelmingly passionate way. I think that if florals cloy on you, pass Santa Eularia by. If you can live in a bed of jasmine, roll in neroli and rub the nubby skin of lemons on yourself in the sun, yes by all means this is you. If you want to have a fling with a man you just met, under a crescent moon, on a silvered beach, come to a crashing crescendo, then pick up your fabulously expensive sandals and sway off to another conquest, by all means Santa Eularia is your kind of place to sojourn.

Sudha Segara is light and tea like (tea with cream), Alice is somewhat the same. Yerevan is light apricot (I found it lighter than Fae), Empyreal Mist (I second that one).

Buttery rum, hazelnuts and cinnamon in the background. A gourmandy orgy and very long lasting. This is a treat for my senses and a great foody surprise. I am entranced with it. Somehow, for all its rich beckoning, it isn't the sort of thing to set your hunger raging. It's not sweets, it's just the thought of sweet things on your tongue. This a wonder and I am very glad I got to try this chaos theory. I will love this imp.

A perfect violet fragrance. I have tried most of them. This one is like Marie in that there is a good shot of "green" in it, but unlike Marie, it is an exceptionally tender version of violets and their greenery without roses. It bears comparison with Sybaris, and I find it "clean green" versis Sybaris' clove and candy background. Overall, I find the violet pure but lacking a volitile edge here in The Raven, and the drydown very clean. The violet part doesn't seem to last, but that could be from the odd tendency that violet has to "deaden" your nose so that you cannot smell it after several minutes. The Raven is a very fine representative of the Violet scents that Beth excels in making, and if you bought a big bottle of it, I doubt you would be disappointed.

So Far I Have Noticed the Similarity Among: Marie-The Raven-Sybaris Hollywood Babylon-Snake Oil Yerevan-Fae Egleba-Santo Domingo Grog-Jack Maiden-Alice-La Petite Mort Some are stronger than others (Yerevan-Fae), others are subtly different (The Raven-Sybaris). If one is similar, I have to put them on my arm side by side and sniff, the difference is quick to appear then. Edited for French spelling and grammar. It's La Petite Mort, Feminine.

Another of Beth's hauntingly meltingly beautiful violet scents. How can she come up with such fetching variations on an old and undeservedly neglected theme? This one contains clove and other goodies which soften the impact of violets which really can assault your nose unless tempered by something more amiable. Sybaris dries down to a beautiful carnation-like scent which does linger. I found that Sybaris is very similar to The Raven. I did get to compare it with The Raven and really preferred the latter, but as a violet scent is concerned, it was like comparing excellent with excellent. The Raven is greener and Sybaris is spice and candy-like undertones. If you get a chance, compare the two next to each other and you will see. Then you will have to make up your own mind or buy both.

Right out of the imp I thought,"Groan! Jasmine. Phffft! So what." Good thing I waited. God, this stuff is absolutly lovely when it blooms on your skin. There is a good jasmine component, but there may be basil and roses in here. It is DIVINE! Even makes me want to get fresh with myself. Nothing animalic, low down or unpleasant about Follow Me Boy. This blend reminds me of Santo Domingo and La Petite Mort. I did try all 3 side by side last night and you could tell them apart but they had a lot of similarity overall. If you are a fan of one, you will probably love Follow Me Boy. Also, this lasts and lasts. Just put a tiny bit on and it's been going beautifully for hours. I heartily recommend Follow Me Boy. Yummy.

This is a rare scent, and one to be taken quite seriously. My first impression is one of wood and apples when it's wet. There is a sort of a nut-like "ghost" flitting around in the background (makes sense, trees --> nuts). When it is wet, you can smell the water in the background. It does not smell like a forest, it smells like where a woodsman felled a tree with an ax, then sat down for a snack of apples and nuts (and perhaps honey) before going back to work. This is a very attractive scent, and it's not floral, not minty, not musky, not rosy, not anything common at all. It is a real piece of imagination and inspiration which goes to places that most stuffy or overly commercial perfumers don't even know exist. I don't smell cinnamon in this (thank God for that, what a tired beat cliche: apples and cinnamon!), but I do smell wood. There isn't any floral but I detect a perfume-like backlash in the background of it, especially when I breathe in near where I put it and then continue to inhale as I take my hand away from my face. It darts by my nose and vanishes. Could that be pipe smoke? Eventually the wood smell fades and I am left with a slightly volatile apple-like scent. Very refined, outdoorsy but in a mild way (not the Big name Designer "Sporty-Clenched Teeth--Let's Cover Up Some Sweat" way). It reminds me of Aglaea. When some fragrance relies on anything but the usual suspects or the "commercial Big Time IFF smell", and it does rely on such an exotic scent notion as "wood", that is piercing your heart. This is a great and special scent. I am definately getting 5ml. December 2005: I loved this stuff and decided to buy a 10ml bottle to last me through the winter and beyond. Alas, things were different. I got a big blast of birch (which is a dead ringer for wintergreen) and it overwhelmed the apples. That is a real pity. So, I hope I find someone who likes the fresh minty tang of birch because I don't. I am really sad about the change in The Hesperides and I don't forsee it going back to the way it was. I compared the new bottle to the old one, and yep...it's not the same. Someone held out the hope that the birch will fade over time. Maybe it will. I suspect I will be able to find out. Maybe just time and aging will bring The Hesperides back to it's former beauty. I hope so, because it was a real pip.* *That's a good thing, being a pip.

I got VIII in my order and swapped for LXXVIII, and I must say there is some relation between 8 and 78. 78 is much stronger and less fabric-like and citrus-like, more floral (in a very mild way) and more like wood than 8 was. It almost seems as if Beth was building up the essences as she went along from 8 to 78...or did she? I will never know. I do detect violets underneath it all (just a drop) and perhaps a bit of carnation. I would call it woody but not resinous. 78 is a far prettier scent than 8, a little bit sexy. Definitely not foody, quite cerebral. Neither 8 or 78 give me impression of harmony, there isn't an attempt to call up a theme of scent (e.g. the warm violet of Wings of Azrael, or cold violet of Ultraviolet), or weave more than one theme (e.g. the rose, greenery and violet of Marie). Then again, this is Chaos Theory, not Harmony Theory. Beth gets to break all of the rules and go on a marathon mixacology tour with CT. This is a wild, fun, and highly labor intense sniffing spree, and I enjoy the reintroduction to controlled cacophony, even if I won't end up seeing it as more than a novelty--it's a great novelty. Previously reviewed by laochodia.

A likable clean and universally pleasant scent, Arachne stays strong for a long time and doesn't morph very much from the original wet form. I would say that there is a misty aquatic feel to it and it is a bit of a "sporty" smell. Just right for daytime wear. If anything, Arachne comes close to being androgynous with its wet and woody notes being so prominent. It's more of a thinking/doing blend and would be great as a gift for someone who isn't big on smelling exotic. My only complaint is its lack of originality*, but it would be the best choice in many situations where a more conventional scent is called for. Because of its versatility and its ability to last so well, I'd say Arachne deserves more appreciation. *By that I mean Arachne could be presented as a "commercial" blend and I don't think anyone would suspect it's handcrafted based on its smell alone. There isn't any one non-traditional perfume note which protrudes in here, nothing associated with the iconoclast (eg. patchouli, menthol, chocolate, fruit).

Out of the bottle it is the strong (almost stinky) milk and lime scent I found in Milk Moon. It quickly goes from that to tuberose and stays there. It may be gardenia instead of tuberose, but I say tuberose. I see this as a befittingly simple scent, as chastity is a beguilingly simple state of being. On me, once it is dry it hits the single flower note and stays there. A lovely thought and a lovely perfume. Personally I prefer the vulgarity of Milk Moon to the sophistication of Chaste Moon, but that is only my taste. I think as performance art, Chaste Moon is right on target and is as true as it gets.

These are the ones I think of regarding Autumn: Jack Grog Incantation The Hesperides Haunted Aglaea Miskatonic University Perversion Florence Morocco

Cigar smoke starts the action here. I happen to love cigar smoke, and there is this perfume dancing and whirling around behind it. Then it starts to emerge that you are in a room paneled in luan wood. Nothing else smells like that, it is wonderful. You must be blindfolded in one of the men's teahouses deep in Fez, can't see it but can smell the surroundings. Recline on the soft cushions, this is a great ride. The cigar smoke disappears eventually, but the luan wood stays for the entire time. Very masculine and fine. This scent lingers and is very woody, warm, spicy in a woody way, real unique, it's a true winner. The only drawback to Morocco for me is that it is one of the few BPAL scents which is too masculine for me to wear. That's saying a lot because I usually refuse to recognize the distinction between genders in scent, but I am making an exception in the case of Morocco. It would be gorgeous and tres sexy on a man, and on the right woman. I love this blend.

Hmmmm. The gol-darndest thing happened to me yesterday. I have taken empty bottles of BPAL and filled them with warm water. I shower and before I get out of the tub I pour them on myself. I smell great and get every drop of goodness out of the bottle before consigning it to undies drawer. So? Well, I drenched myself with my lovie Eclipse and wow! Burn! That never happened to me before. I looked in the mirror and saw red rivers on my skin where the diluted Eclipse had run down my shoulder. I was really shocked. I have no food allergies. Then it occurred to me, I used a Buf Puf on my skin in the shower, that made me very sensitive. After waiting a few minutes, I tried to apply Eclipse to the tops and undersides of my arms and no problem. FYI

A chilly, bright perfume: flurries of virgin snow, crisp winter wind and the faintest breath of night-blooming flowers. After so many excellent reviews of Snow White, I only have one thing to contribute... Snow White reminds me of Le Must du Cartier, but it is better because it isn't synthetic. This is what Cartier should have paid his perfumer to make. It is so much less astringent, less Windex-like and brings out the limit with coconut and whatever else is in there. If you put your nose right down on it, you get the smell of full bore hyacinth, take your nose away and it's Le Must but better. This is one of the most beautiful and inventive scents anyone every made up. God how I wish that Beth would bring it back as a permanent addition to the catalogs.