olympia301

I used to put London and deSade together and wondered why Beth didn't have such an obvious combination...well she did. Whip is a very good blend and I think if I didn't know about London, I would have fallen for Whip. However, I prefer the roses in London to get together with the leather in deSade. Just personal taste talking here.

I was perplexed at first and couldn't decide what I was smelling though it was familiar, then it came to me. Some scents can be replicated using other oils, in this case I thought I was smelling violets at first, but it is clears that it is the scent of violets replicated with lavender.

It is a calming scent to be sure, and there is something slightly suave around in the background which I would say was a vanilla-like element that takes away the edge which lavender naturally has, but does not interfere with the violetness of the blend.

A very pretty recreation of violets, in some ways a simple scent and the scent that a master would put out to show their proficiency in the craft. Very very attractive and more interesting for sorting out what it really is in my head.

Fir and pine are what hit me first. This is a very strong scent and it does contain a good deal of dirt. There is a bit of fruit under the opening and I can smell that strongly when it's wet, perhaps something to lure the kids with, eh? Nocnitsa is wicked indeed, and I would imagine it is more of a room or object scenting blend rather than a perfume you would wear on your skin. Creepy, it really does represent what it's supposed to.

The icon is a drawing of an ugly old lady by Leonardo da Vinci, just says "Nocnitsa"

Powerful and astringent, I honestly can't say that I smell mint in this, or burbon either. If you want mint julep, I'd recommend Aglaea for that, oddly enough. There is a heavy element of stone about Juke Joint, and a frenzy which you can only say goes with what it is. Rockin' at the Juke Joint. Now Juke Joint does contain a perfumy element sweating away deep down doin' the dirty, and it's a true action scent, almost masculine. It's fun and serious at the same time and an unusual picture of something which could have been much more mundane.

Smells just like the dark purple JuJuBees I used to love, they would get stuck in my teeth and wave about like seaweed until they dissolved. A very unusual flavor and I love its interpretation here in Block Buster. It developers a sour kind of stinky sideline for the first minute or so on my skin, and I bet this is a chemistry issue. Not very much of a broadcaster, it sticks close to your skin. Must work, though because it got me moving on doing the last reviews I told myself I would get through. I would say this is a real nice oil and I will give it a try on those things I need to solve using it.

P.S. I claim "fair use" of the Blockbuster logo for this private and unpaid purpose. If they don't like it, they can come and get me. I have the number of the local media and I'm not afraid to use it for PR purposes!

Iago reminds me a great deal of Laudanum but it is a good deal sweeter and easier to like right off the bat. No mental adjustment needed. Very masculine, not for my collection but would smell great on your villian. It's a great blend of black musk and vetiver, and it ends up having an undeniable licorice like part thanks to the combination of the two. I would say it is an exceptionally successful man's blend.

Very masculine and would smell grand on my own personal pirate. I'm getting a whiff of citrus from the hold just now, as the salty spray washes across the deck and the gobs are scrubbin'. Perhaps a bit of lavender, or is that leather from the cat-o-nine-tails in me hand? Arrrr, and how could I forget to mention the boozy rummy smell that sets me heart a thumpin'?

Aye, 'tis a manly scent indeed. Not one that this fine lady will be indulging in but keepin' it in the cask for the Cap'in. Arrrr, we can have a merry romp 'pon this 'un under the stars 'round Hispanola! *wheezy laugh* 'Ar 'ar 'ar 'ar 'arrrrrr!

If you love red musk, this is a great scent for you. Tres sexy and you can indeed smell the dragon's blood and cinnamon in this blend. For added fun it goes on your skin leaving a red smear, something like real blood (potential stain alert). It has a sort of iron/copper tang just like blood. Just trying Bloodlust made me feel like a vampire. Mmmm, the vulnerable throbbing of your neck, m'dear, it reminds me of your....

Review of Sugar Skull '05:

What a difference a year made! This is a thick, deep, rich, boozey blend indeed. I think I can smell tobacco in the mix as well. No fruitcake whatsoever and that makes me happy. I like the Sugar Skull idea plain, with all of its wickedness intact. It reminds me of Elegba without the coconut and amped up to a much stronger degree. Oddly enough there is a good deal of a volitile element, something like fermented sugar or burnt sugar. I find that's attractive. I like this year's Sugar Skull a great deal.

Review of 2004 Sugar Skull after it aged about 11 months:

Almost a fruitcake beginning, very rummy...more so than any other BPAL I have tried. A sweet booze with frosting like hard sauce. I smell nutmeg, and perhaps cinnamon under the glaze. This isn't the tame sugary smell I was expecting. I also smell a perfumy element way in the background, so it doesn't smell like something you want to eat, it's attractive, though. I am certain that there is vanilla in there, but it's being run over by the rummy smell (that can happen with vanilla, it's a lot more tender than you think).

I can see how some people would say "maple syrup" but that's not how I would describe it. I get the impression of a resiny part in here, a splash of something you would find in Snake Oil.

Grape, very grapey blend indeed which is pleasant and likable. Somewhat candylike and I could happily sniff this and watch the sun slide down. Maybe I get a whiff of clove, maybe that is something faintly metallic in here. There is a slightly volatile side to Tum, could be just a tiny bit of pine resin to keep it from flying away. This is a deceptively complex blend which wows you with its grapey goodness then runs in on tip toe to deliver a far more serious punch.

I can see the argument for violets, and the scent reminds me of violets but doesn't smell exactly like them. There is a soft and powdery quality to it and it reminds me so of something I smelled a long time ago, it was a product scent but I can't put my finger on what it was. Of course, that is bothering me painfully but...

Numb does give me the sensation of cold, it certainly isn't a warm scent at all. I think that Ultraviolet comes close to the same sensation but those violets really do warm things up because they remind you of something that was alive. These violets never lived, they are throughly artificial.

Think there is a lot of musk in this blend. I hangs on forever. Very pleasant overall but it won't become my special sweetheart, but I will pull it out and love it when the weather is sultry. Glad Beth can get this to us while there is still some hot weather about.

I'm not a doctor and I don't play one in private with my lover (the amazing Mr. Olympia) however, I suspect it could be where you apply certain oils. I can put Eclipse on my neck (tendre skin there) and get lovely red burning tracks from where I rolled it. Put it on the backs of my arms just fine.

Empirical evidence is difficult to refute.

There is something very familiar about Versailles. That jasmine start, yet it is tempered with something else to keep it from becoming to "civety". It's a musky sex smell but very floral. I smell a bit of fruit here. Berries starting the frivolity to follow.

I can also detect the kind of roses that are in London, fresh and rather greenery clad, but up lifting. And now, for some odd reason my nose starts to get lost without the top notes to guide me regarding Versailles. As it dries down I find it becoming confused. I just lose the theme of what was starting to take shape in my head. It's very good at the end on me, but not memorable.

I believe this is the fault of my skin chemistry and my mental state combined with my experiences in scent. I wish I could be more specific and more clear than that.

I agree with whomever said Aunt Caroline's Joy Mojo and Jailbait. Fruity with no bitterness or unpleasant aftertaste. Very very upbeat and the prettiest, most attractive fruit/happiness smell yet. I would love to get 5ml of this and if it doesn't last forever, I would love to put it in a scent locket. Really a fine, sweet fragrance.

Please note, I am just talking about the fragrance, not the effectiveness of the oil for ritual purposes. I am not a practicioner in public (or really in private either) so please take what I say about any TAL with that in mind.

I can't quite pin down what I smell in here and I can't pick out one theme running through it. Several other people have said it is nice but indistinct, and I have to agree. I can't call it: fruity, floral, resinous, spicy or any other mental classification. It is attractive and reminds me of a spring tree smell I used to pick up in my childhood in Washington, D.C. But, I don't form a solid opinion of it when I smell it in any of its phases. Amorphous blend, pleasant but without much character.

Yes, I add my voice to the praise. Great job, Macha! I hope the tee shirts and such come out sometime soon, I am pining for one.

From what I understand, Aquilino's Pink Sugar smells an awful lot like Black Opal. I am thinking you are searching for the semi-soft musk base note and candy top/middle note.

There, now you are suitably confused.

Very floral on me but not very organized. The Ghost was chaotic and never quite gelled on my skin. I couldn't pick out a theme in it either. Perhaps there was one there which I couldn't register but, I am sad to say, The Ghost was not for me. Great name, though.

The icon is the photograph of a real ghost called "The Tulip Staircase Ghost" caught on film long ago. If you look hard you can see the specter pulling itself up the railing with both hands.

Just like a man. It comes on all hot and full of promise and then disappears when you ask him to last. Hrumph!

Mars is gorgeous. A fine surprise from Sookster, he appeared so very full of testosterone he leaked out of his imp and all over. Premature ejaculation, but that's life, chickens.

He has plenty of dragon's blood to make him bold and lusty, clove and cinnamon to give him fire and kick. He would be memorable if he would hang on for even an hour, alas he can't do that any more than he can manage to take out the garbage!

I will treasure the remnants of the Great Man and be very happy I had the chance to make his acquaintance if for ever so briefly. If I am left with naught but his soggy underthings, well at least the undies of the gods smell good.

The image is the most wonderful Mars by the most wonderful Diego Velazquez and it hangs in the Prado and it is very very very good.

This one is a fraternal twin sister to the Chaos Theory 2 I received which was VIII. VIII was hard enough to describe, Buck Moon is no different. I would say it is a musk and it's something between the sharp musk of Vechernyaya and white musk. I can't smell too much more in it. I would say it is autumn-like and blends with your skin to the point that it is positively subtle. You might say there is a once removed citrus component here, but it's not anything you can identify by name, just a vague volitility clinging to the edges. There is absolutely nothing floral about this mix, no vanilla at all, nothing foody. This is an original blend. I am sure it lasts like mad (being a musk) but it is so small and soft, you won't mind living with it. It isn't very sexy to my taste, it's much more of an intellectual type of scent. Hope this was a help in describing what Buck Moon is like.

Aptly named sweet and floral, Ingenue reminds me of some perfume or bath product I had as a young woman. I can't pick out the melon but it is a tender scent and I agree with the person above, I don't get thrashing around on the casting couch so much as I do the wistful calm before the storm of life and love which we have all felt during the time when we are leaving adolecence and just about ready to start the courtship dance.

I do get a well mannered violet in the blend, as well as an amazingly accurate clover (a scent that few people pay attention to). Mixing through the air to my nose, it is really wonderful has a sweet and recognizable "ghost" which Beth is famous for. The parts have co-agulated into a different and most beautiful scent which rides above the oil on your skin and becomes a wholy different and remarkable "quintessence"...a new entity, utterly unique and fabulous.

To me this is a blend best suited for those under 30, and the rare one of those who has a bit of purity left.

The icon is Audrey Hepburn, the American actress who defined the idea of "ingenue" to so many people.

Mmmm almond and cherry cherry. Really smells good in that dark rich foody way. I like it's spit and zizzle. It lasts well, too. The odd problem for me is that is dries down and smells like the pipe tobacco Borkkum Riff with a small undertone of fir. Go figure. Don't get me wrong, it smells great to me but the association is a bit hard on my mind here. I will keep my imp of Hellcat, who knows, there are times when you wake up and say,"Darn it, I like it anyway." That may very well happen with Hellcat. It is a very very good blend overall, in my opinion.

Very floral but starts out grape-like. That doesn't last too long before the slightly resin-like and candy flowers take over. A sumptuous and succulent blend and I would say it suits the voluptuaries in this group to a tee. It is floral but in a gourmandy way, that is it is almost edible flowers. Very sweet but not real loud, and I think I detect a bit of black musk under the brew to keep it in place neatly. A very well considered blend which is real juicy.

I vote for Whitechapel. Very lilac.

Oddly enough I would recommend that you try Regan. It is orchid and vanilla but it gives me the impression of lilac. Sounds strange and I really mean it.

I got this one at the same time I tried Aeval, quite similar. Very white flower but Juliet is younger and fresher. A touch of green in here, as befits this girl giddy with the first flush of love. I would say this is a great scent for a young woman, a very young woman like about 12 on up to about 15. Maybe I'm getting tangled up in the name, but it seems tres virginal but within the throes of sexual maturity. Pretty pretty. Very spring and summer. Good throw and long staying power.