olympia301

Very white flower smelling to me nearly overpowering florals with a very appealing greenlike skin drydown. Aeval is strong indeed and enchanting, it's almost narcotic. Even though the ingredients don't list the usual white flower suspects, if you like the strong and deep florals get hold of Aeval because I am sure it's going to be a winner with you.

Beautiful blend, really one of the prettiest I have tried. I can see that if you are in a foul mood White Light would really lift your spirits. I think I can smell excellent jasmine but the rest of the blend is so well co mingled that it is difficult to say exactly what I think is in here. Wispy and like the air, I think this one is great for Gemini's and our highly strung way of living. Made me feel more down to earth. Real Good Blend.

I got this as a freebie in a swap and, unfortunately, I think the imp was past its prime. I could smell the remnants of what was once licorice and a kind of voodoo backup of vetiver and maybe clove but the time of its attractiveness is past. This is the first imp I ever laid to rest, but it's over. RIP.

I did the icon before I smelled the blend. I kind of liked the icon and didn't want that to go to waste. The white rooster is a sacred voodoo symbol for the god of fertility, hence the white rooster representing Haitian Lover.

I get the definite impression of forests from Tintagel, a bit of conifer, a lot of cinnamon and perhaps some apples or honey in the background. It is another of Beth's creations which needs atmosphere between you and it in order for all of the components to marry well and present themselves in their best light. Away from your nose, you catch a whiff of an almost bakery smell which is charming, King Arthur must have had a happy childhood despite its irregularities.

Tintagel is a disarming fragrance, up close there isn't anything spectacular about it but given a decent distance between your nose and the source it becomes like a second skin, an "of course I smell like that" sort of perfume. Tintagel is quite right!

The Lion! Great for this end of August time. The dry grasses, blue sky and the hope that warmth will never end. The sun just left Leo and so you can hold on to the majesty (perhaps the tail) of the lion for just a while longer. Such a good recommendation.

I also recommend Sudha Segara highly for the lead in to cool weather.

This is a riot! This blend is called "All Night Long" and it smells like nuts! Sort of a cross between hazel nuts and walnuts. What a scream! It is very pleasant. Kind of gets into a cinnamon phase, a nutmeg background, a bit of real suave linseed oil kind of smell (I love the smell of linseed oil, never tried it as a 'marital aid' however). Damn, I just love the Voodoo oils, just because they smell so very fine. This is yummy.

Strange and wonderful is Dracul. I smell fir when I first put it on, that is quickly followed by a tumutous profusion of other things including orange blossom. Wow! What a collection of things to process before you can say,"I have smelled Dracul."

I know there is something suave lurking under all the other things, vanilla is there...it's GOT TO BE THERE! I smell it. Black Musk always plunks on the happy strings of my nose, and I'm almost exhausted thinking about Dracul at the moment.

Dracul is really lovely and really masculine. Another of Beth's men's scents that isn't femme enough for me. This is guy stuff and I think it is a great blend. So, bite me!

Very piney and a bit smokey, I am not sure I am surprised by a bit of loam in the blend. I can't smell any flowers. This must be a winter Scandanavian burial with only evergreen boughs for "flowers". A real somber scent and not one that I would be inclined to wear on my skin, but would make a very nice room scent, or a scent for an enclosed space, like a casket perhaps?

One more reason to love the voodoo blends just because they are beautiful scent (in addition to the other things they do). Dove's Heart is lavender, jasmine, vanilla and the "Voodoo smell" faintly in the background. It is great for those with anger issues, really calms down your urge to reach out and choke someone. At least it does for me. I should wear Dove's Heart at art openings, that would at least keep the Demon of Anger Due to Stupid Remarks and Deeds at bay. Sort of like your best friend councilling, "Slow down a bit and take your mind off it. It won't seem so enormous in the morning, you know."

For itself, it is just as pretty a fragrance as you could ask for. Very clean smelling, as I have noted it has a lot of lavender and smoothness. There is a bit of volitility because of the lavender in it, but that just makes me think it's penetrating your brain and getting to your "reptile brain".

2 Kings, chapter 9

1: And Elisha the prophet called one of the children of the prophets, and said unto him, Gird up thy loins, and take this box of oil in thine hand, and go to Ramoth-gilead:

2: And when thou comest thither, look out there Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi, and go in, and make him arise up from among his brethren, and carry him to an inner chamber;

3: Then take the box of oil, and pour it on his head, and say, Thus saith the LORD, I have anointed thee king over Israel. Then open the door, and flee, and tarry not.

Just thought this was appropriate for a perfume oil review of Jezebel. I like the part about "flee, and tarry not." Always sound advice.

Anyway, Jezebel is exactly as advertised. Very "pussy" smelling but there is no civet, jasmine listed here. I do smell oranges, skin, and it turns kind of a "bar on Sunday morning" (which is hard to describe in other terms), in some ways it's comforting and makes you feel like you have a whopping great hangover of Biblical proportions at the same time.

Great piece of performance art, if you just can't get enough Southern Saturday night action, this is the blend for you. Give Jezebel a try if you like: Juke Joint, Roadhouse, Jailbait or the hard-bitten woman ideas of scent. Also if you secretly like civet, take Jezebel out for a spin of a different sort. You might find you have a winner on your hands.

Beautiful masculine scent redolent with juniper and fir/pine. The addition of vanilla to it all makes it so attractive. Overall this blend says, "Good guy". Golden P is really for the men, in my opinion.

The icon is an ancient Roman windchime in the shape of a flying phallus. They were considered lucky. It's tail is a phallus, too! So are it's legs. It's being ridden by a cupid.

Started off as almondy, volitile, candy red--just like a good paintjob on a hot car. As it started to dry down I found the woods peeking out from under the start. I couldn't believe it---from candy to wood. Then it changed entirely to wood. Unbelievable. I am in awe of this accomplishment. Maybe I never expect the topnotes to disappear so entirely, but they do. The woods are pretty, dark and deep. I do think a bit of the cherry red lingers for a bit, but it does turn into wood.

Not my cup of Wonderland tea but I can't say it isn't a righteous blend for the wood lovers out there, and there are quite a few.

At first this one reminded me of Kool-Aid. There was a real fruity beginning to it, candylike. Then the iris starts to appear, it is loverly like taffy now--you can almost chew it and have it insinuate itself into every nook of your teeth. Yes.

Blood Pearl has a violet component to it, maybe that is the iris but something is saying violet to me. Oh, it is sumptuous, like an overstuffed tufted upholstered betassled chaise longe. You could swear there is grape in the blend, too. I think Blood Pearl causes you to salivate a lot.

Blood Pearl is pink in the vial as well it should be, it's a pink or red fragrance.

Evil, evil, evil, wicked BIG FLORAL!!!!

There is honeysuckle in here from now until Good Friday, and a backlash of sweet sweet excess that is as gardenia like and Southern and pretty as you can imagine. Floral lovers, don't miss Anathema. I also would say that this is Big White Flowers. Nothing spicy or sooooothing about Anathema. If you hadn't guessed it, it's not particularly subtle either, just like an anathema from Rome. Ka-boom! That's the point.

Not for the shy, not for goody-two-shoes.

When I first put it on I get the stinky smell of jasmine lurking under the spice. Then it shifts into the skin smell which is so attractive in so many of Beth's blends. Finally it turns into carnation, very pretty carnation, too. I could make an argument for milk/honey in the blend as well. This is beautiful but does not broadcast a great deal. If you want to scent a room, this one is not your best choice. I think it's more of a personal perfume for your skin, and wouldn't advise it in a scent locket unless you really like the smell of the jasmine beginning. I have an imp of Hod and will enjoy it while it lasts. Do I want more? Well, we shall see. I might.

Heavy Black Musk that seems to stay wet for ever. Wonderful stuff this. Very masculine and overwhelming but in the best possible way. Beth made me love Black Musk and this is one of the reasons why. There are other components in here, I could not tell you what they are because they are so well assimilated into the entire thing.

I think this is one more blend which is too masculine for me, I would feel like I was dressing up as a man if I wore this as a scent. It is fabulous for a young man, I think it's too youthful for any guy over 30 (how's that for an arbitrary bit of sexism and ageism). Well, that's the objective opinion, matey. You could break that rule if you are a cowboy, as someone else noted above; but your average businessman in a real expensive Stetson strutting around a swanky Jackson Hole spa-hotel with his Platinum Card burning a hole in his pants, sorry you won't be able to pull this one off. Titus takes a bit of reality to work, if you don't have it...don't wear it.

The icon is a painting by E. Munch called Madonna. I chose it because her hands are obliterated like the hands of Titus' daughter in the play Titus Andronicus.

I smell the lily of the valley in here but the whole reminds me of something I have smelled before and it's nice but not my kind of sniff. It's pretty enough but it has a similarity to a lot of other scents I have smelled and somehow ends up canceling itself out inside my nose before I get a chance to really grip it with my mind. Maddening. I guess I just don't have the receptors necessary to get the best out of Belle Epoque. It did inspire a good icon, though.

A good blend, a bit "department store perfume" but not in a bad way. I liked it but it was not real imaginative, there wasn't anything I could identify or "hang my hat on" so a description kept on elluding me. Rather like meeting someone else who isn't really going to tell you anything about themselves, maybe because there isn't anything to tell, really. All you can say after they left is,"She was a nice person." and let it fall like that. Sorry, but this is a blend more for the person who doesn't want to stand out or use perfume as a means of personal expression.

I also didn't find it cooling or misty cool. Yog Sothoth is misty and cool but Neflheim is room temp or a bit warm to my nose.

I love Dana O'Shee. I tried it when I got my first order of BPAL, I believe it was a frimp. "Feh!" I thought, what's the big deal about this? There were so many people on the Forum who were raving about Dana O'Shee and I thought it was nice, but...

Then I got another frimp in my most recent order. Dear Me! What was I thinking. This is outrageously good. Cream, new mown hay sort of scent, like Alice but not Alice more almond and less fruit like. I refuse to reduce Dana O'Shee to the level of marzipan, marzipan never smelled this good. This is special, as only the Irish know how to do "special". Grains? Well maybe. There is something real comforting there. A few carbs, mmmm. Very very nice stuff this Dana O'Shee.

It went from "ho hum" to "10ml real quick!" and in my top 10 Favorites and Best for me. I am now a real Dana O'Shee fan and hope to make you rethink your ideas of it if you are not one of the Dana O'Shee-ites here.

This one is a prime candidate for the scent locket.

Black Opal was born a legend. Sweet and creamy yet with a float of musk underneath it all. Don't go snuffing after it like a pig after truffles...let it come to you through the atmosphere then the entrancement starts. Black Opal is long lasting, almost pure and virginal but womanly at once. There is a plant-like but not green component to it (which reminds me of one of the elements in Incantation and House of Night), you will know it when you smell it, it's like a wall to hold the rest of the scent in place.

Somehow I get the impression of either Halloween or ghosts from Black Opal: excitement, dress as someone else, a fabric smell, the scent of the unfamiliar but wonderful like the way costumes smelled in the box when you were a kid. This one has an undeniably autumnal air, that part of Fall that we all love the most but can't define. I would say that it would be just fine in any other season, too; it has: the sharp sophistication of Winter, the hope and depth of spring, and the heat and sex of summer. But I am so happy that I got this at the end of summer and the beginning of Fall. It is divine layered with The Hesperides, but should be enjoyed by itself.

Black Opal is a real treasure. I can only say the scents that are closest to it in my mind are: Aquilino's Pink Sugar, The Body Perfumery's Basmati, Skindazzles Pink Sugar type, or FeMaldictions Courtesan's Gaillo. Every one of those is a beauty. However, Beth does it better and more subtly. That's what makes BPAL enchanting. This is a semi-sharp musk and candy sweet scent, like the ones I mentioned above, but they are a cruder approximation of Black Opal. BPAL's Black Opal is the magic, the imagination, and the art and science of Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab developing from an exceptional scent-maker to a legend. Black Opal is excellent.

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*Please please please, if you don't like Incantation or House of Night, give Black Opal a try. Like a great chef, Beth can make you like no love things that you swore you hated. So don't get put off by my comparisons. Try it for yourself.

P.S. I have noticed a camphor smell at the beginning of the wet phase of Black Opal. That seems to go away as it dries and I think it is the "minty" scent that some people are talking about here.

Roses, I smell roses. I smell some other things faintly in the background and I wish that part were a little stronger and mingled with the carnation and tonka and vanilla and the rest of the crew. It is a very nice blend, don't get me wrong, and the roses are a fantastic variety but they just seem to overpower everything else in Love in the Asylum and make it a good rose perfume.

I could have sworn I smelled some kind of fir or balsam in this blend. I swear it. Blackberries? Well, if you say so. There is a fruity undertone in Glasgow and it's quite appealing. It's almost too sweet in some ways and then it's spot on. Heather? I have never smelled heather in my life. Not even in the garden store, so if it is in there I would never be able to identify it

Because it smells like fir to me, I have to say this is a great cold weather blend. You just can't go around smelling like winter in August. No. Not. The berries make it really appealing and the fir is so soft and non astringent that it melts me. Glasgow is a winner in my book, a frimp from the lab. Nice job, laddies or labbies!

The icon? "X" marks the spot, of course. Glasgow, city of multiple enchantments.

Goes on very smoky and reminds me of Laudanum, medicine-like. I thought that was a bit perky for a scent named "Sloth" but that was just the first volley.

The smoke takes a while to clear out as the blend dries down, but what lingers is an almost carnation-like smell which is pretty strong and long lasting. I would say this is a very nice blend despite its name. Somehow I don't associate the drydown scent with Sloth and it's more unpleasant aspects, it's a pretty nice blend overall. I don't think it's plowing new ground in terms of its unique aspect, but it's very good and I would recommend it for all the folks who like heavy scents with long staying power and pretty spicy florals.

This one disappeared so thoroughly on me that I wondered if there was really anything in the imp! Right before vaporization, I got a faint whiff of some sort of perfume with a good dose of wet-summertime-washrag-that-wasn't-so-fresh. In other words, Baghdad and I didn't find any happy ground. I swapped it away and hope it ends up in a good home with someone who can bring out its best aspects. Sorry, but there was little I can say about it.

I second Macha's recommendation for London (a gorgeous never cloying true rose scent with no earth or greenery intervening almost licorice but always the most exquisite rose), and add a vote for Seance, too. Seance has a non rose element but it is a fabulous "booster" to the rose, and has that "wonderful scent within a scent" which Beth does so well. Quite special and worth pursuing.