hlinspjalda

Yeats lover that I am, this was the first 'weenie I skin tested. I expected something a lot like Swan Maiden. In the vial: Wet dirt and florals in the moonlight. Exceptional. Wet: More sweetly floral now, but still silvery like moonlight. There is dark green at the heart of this, but mostly it's the silvery white florals and aquatic. Half an hour: Sweeter and softer now, but still silvery. I may have fallen for this one. Hour and a half: Gentle aquatic with florals and ozone. Still subtle, silvery. This reminds me of the way Long Night Moon began on my skin, with that extraordinarily evocative silver-white moonlight impression. But Long Night Moon turned headachey, while this retains its impression without turning all aquatic like Swan Maiden either. It is so beautiful! Normally I don't do well with aquatics, orris, or muguet. I'm so thrilled with this one, I hardly know what to do with myself!

In the vial: Penetrating, bitter, dark leafy citrus with a touch of something floral. Wet: I get a lot of yuzu-like citrus, the linden, and something else floral. Not getting the bubblegum lotus scent, nor the dangerous headachy "water lily" one. This is a clinging, bitter, tangy floral with green overtones. Half an hour: More of a citrus-orris vibe now, as the floral has subsided somewhat. I can still trace the linden, but it's definitely a supporting player now. Hour and a half: Orris and some dark herbal note, kind of soapy overall. The linden has blended down so completely that I can no longer discern it as a separate note, just as part of the blend.

In the vial: Sharp rich resin, a bit of rose, and some vetiver. Strong, a little dandyish. Wet: That's the sweetest vetiver I've ever had that still retained its blackness. I like this one; let's see how it develops. Half an hour: Here too I find the crittery note I sometimes get, like in Whitechapel, Arcana, Tin Phoenix. Usually that comes along with citrus and white musk, neither of which are listed here. But there are also a host of more traditional notes that are good on my skin. The vetiver is much calmer now. One hour: There's a note in this that I don't like, and I'm not sure what. It's similar to but not quite my crittery note. Four hours: Rose and resin with some very unusual overtones. The crittery note subsided somewhat, but it's still unusual. A very interesting scent: not at all my typical skin reactions to rose, frankincense, or vetiver.

In the vial: Bitter, gummy floral. Wet: Sticky gummy bitter floral. No detectable honeysuckle, possibly no chrysanthemum. I think that's mostly hydrangea I smell; it's evoking the sticky sap of some landscape shrub from my youth. One hour: I get the helichrysum, I can tell because it smells like the note in Aquae. There's a sweetness too that might be the honeysuckle, but also a bitterness, more likely the hydrangea than the mum. The only thing holding this one together for me is the balsam. Two hours: This got steadily softer and sweeter on me. Always able to smell the helichrysum, and the honeysuckle came along pretty nicely. The hydrangea eventually fell back leaving the sweeter notes in charge. At three hours it was pretty nice, but light.

In the bottle: Sticky sweet blackberries and hickory nuts. Wet: Oh wow, this is nice. Lots of fruit, both the sticky darkness of berries and the soft brightness of apples. Some of the apple notes are problematic on me, and I don't have any predominantly apple scents in my collection. But this one is really spectacular, almost floral like a ripe cider apple instead of juicy, cidery, or peel-ish. There's a warm nut note and some grassy-sweet herbs over a dark herbal resin base. As it warms an unexpected cognac note comes out, rather like the one from Autumn Moon of the Mirror Stand. Two and a half hours: Steady reduction of the bright fruit notes, and the cognac and nut notes have blended down into something soft and rich. It is more herbal-woody now, with a grassy impression. I like it very much, although it's not as spectacular as it was earlier. After it gentled down, it stuck around for another couple of hours. This doesn't last as long on me as some scents do; it's more the kind of scent I'd want to refresh after a few hours. I'm so glad I bought that bottle unsniffed; I'm going to wear it tomorrow for the equinox.

First? Oh, the pressure! I was gifted with a testable sniffie of this prototype by the incomparable Tramp. In the vial: Wax and something odd, maybe ozone or aquatic? Wet: This smells like a beeswax candle that's been extinguished and is now cold. It's got the sweetness of beeswax along with a slight charcoal odor. There's also floral, and maybe a tinge of aquatic, something that's coming across as blue to me. Half an hour: Creamy beeswax with a vanilla note. This has a very subtly translucent impression, much like the face of a waxwork. I like it. One hour: Creamy beeswax, vanilla, and maybe cedar or sassafras? This reminds me of Tombstone, only gentler and with a truly beautiful beeswax note. I like it very much and may have to get a bottle of it. Awaiting the description of the notes with great interest! Two hours: Still lovely, sweet creamy vanilla-beeswax with wood. I love the beeswax note and have several scents featuring it. I think this is the most girly of the beeswax scents I've tried. Three hours: Still creamy vanilla-beeswax. I really like this one. I'm not prone toward vanilla scents, but maybe this is one I could take to heart, because I think the beeswax note is exquisite in this one. I can't wait to pick up a bottle of this one! ETA: There is a honey-like note in this that is just like Hetairae and Lupanar.

In the vial: Cherry scented pipe tobacco, wine, and something that smells like celery. Wet: The celery impression intensifies, and there's a powerful sweet woody note. Something almost floral as well. This is an odd scent but I want to breathe in great huge huffs of it. One hour: This is very warm, sweet, and floral-powdery. Might be black musk, might be one of the powdery ambers. I'm guessing black musk, though. There's a bit of something like incense smoke, too, although sometimes that signals carnations on me. I lost track of this later, but it stayed rich and heavy, a powdery musky floral on me. In retrospect, it might be honey that gave it the powderiness; one of Beth's honey notes does that on me. The celery has showed up in about six blends I've tried (most memorably in Wood Phoenix, but Flower Moon 2005 and Her Voice stood out for that too), and they don't have any listed notes in common so I don't know what it is. The wine note didn't stick around, and I didn't get any spices either. I like it, but sadly it does not maintain the glorious level of the wet phase on my skin.

On me this was mostly night flowers, which I'm not very good with usually; they tend to be sharp and dominating on me. But there was also a lovely soft sweetness about it, probably the resin. The scent faded completely after two hours, which is a remarkably short time for any BPAL fragrance on my skin. I'm glad I have the T-shirt!

A kind friend sent me a decant of this, saying that it smelled like cherry popsicles. I reread the ingredients list and rolled to disbelieve, until I sprayed it. Wonder of wonders, this really does smell like cherry popsicles: sugary, with very fruity cherry and almond notes, and a musky vanilla type undertone. It's very cheerful, artless (artfully so, I'm sure), and highly evocative of the inked pages of your favorite superhero comic book. Any citadel smelling like this would just have to be filled with electronical gizmoes and gadgets sufficient to make any superhero fan squee! Some of the spray got on my skin afterward (that always happens when I try to huff the air), and it was musky lily with a bit of other florals. Where in the world do the cherry popsicles come from, and where do they go on my skin?

In the vial: Citrusy, herbal, maybe a touch of lavender? Not strong or pungent, but rather clean and tangy. Wet: Still herby-citrusy. There is a note I sometimes get in blends that include white musk and citrusy notes, one I call "the crittery note" because it smells particularly animalistic -- not heavy, but very much like an animal. (It's very evident in Whitechapel, for instance.) I am pulling a lot of the crittery note off this scent. So I'm guessing white musk and lemon verbena. There's a metallic kind of tang to it, also. One hour: Best use of the crittery note ever, as it went through a brief phase that really did almost evoke rotting. Now it's mostly past that, with a faint citrusy residue. But there is an underlying metallic note in it. That's an alchemist joke, and I love Beth for putting it there. White amber is one of my notes of love, and I am not getting a single whiff of it in this blend. Three and a half hours: Mostly metal now, with a touch of floral, less floral than Metal Phoenix but in the same family. It smells a bit like one of the Alchemical Phoenix blends, too, but I don't remember which one. It also reminds me of Torture Queen but again less floral. I'm not prone to wearing metallic scents, but this one would tempt me if I could get enough to feel free to wear it.

I got this goblin squirt as a frimp from an eBay purchase. The cap has a little keyring on it so I can take it places! First impression is roses, candy-sweet like the Bulgarian rose note. There's also a substantial violet presence. This smells entirely and overwhelmingly Victorian to me,making me think of tussy-mussies of roses surrounded by lace. Then the powdery note kicks in. Okay, now it smells of my grandmother's musky bath powder. This is delightful, but heavily floral and powdery to my nose.

In the bottle: An oddly boozy fruit scent, like brandied cherries. But there's also some deeply green note, so much so that it almost evokes earth, although there's nothing dirt-like about the note. Maybe it's a very green manifestation of frankincense? Wet on skin: I use these as moisturizers in the shower. When it hit my skin, first I got sweet juicy fruit for an instant, almost like lotus or JuicyFruit gum. Then the carnation came on strong and spicy, followed by a cherry note. Dry on skin: I've got a very incense-y impression, kind of like the carnation note from Ysabel bath oil, backed up with a touch of cherry and the vestige of that early, green note. The scent feels like it's strobing off my skin, warming rather than cooling. But it feels like it belongs on my skin, contented, at home more than many of the resinous bath oils have been. It also seems more moisturizing than many of them.

E-Bay frimp for me, too. I get spearmint, honey, maybe geranium (definitely something herbal-pungent like that), and then something really odd. It got onto my skin as I stood there huffing the air, and it's behaving like white amber or black musk: round, soft, sweet. The honey is herbal, not sweet like in Lupanar. It's more like the honey note in the Xmvlzencab bath oil and soap: dark, pungent. But definitely secondary to the green notes. This is really interesting, and not at all what I expected from the name. I like it.

I was really looking forward to trying this one. Aquae is one of my favorite BPAL scents, and my husband loves it too. A bath oil that smells like Aquae would be in the running for my everyday bath oil. In the bottle: Delicious geranium. It reminds me a lot of Aquae, and oddly of Ice Prince and Lines Written among the Euganean Hills. It's almost like a white amber note, I think, along with the geranium and citrus. Wet on skin: I use these in the shower as moisturizers. When it hit my skin it went successively more and more orange. It's an orange peel kind of a note, not bitter at all but intense like fresh orange zest. When I got out of the shower I began to notice the geranium again, but it was still an orange-dominant scent. Dry on skin: The geranium is still in evidence, along with the orange and some other citrusy but unidentifiable note. There's also a very slight, high herbal note that's probably the lavender. It is just a bit tart and dry in overall impression, which would make it good as a warm weather scent. This has a lot of the same vibe on my skin that Aquae does, although Aquae is sweeter and evokes a much stronger emotional reaction. Still, I'm very happy with this one and will strongly consider getting a big bottle of it.

In the bottle: This smells dangerous. It's dirty patchouli and myrrh, with a woody undertone and a squeezing of tart citrus to shake it up a bit. On skin: I love, love, love this. So does my husband. It's intense, with a huge throw that perfumes the whole room. It's warming, but somehow managing to be so without any cinnamon or any other spicy nuances. Even the sandalwood, so often cold or sour on me, seems warm in this blend. I never get any floral at all, but take it on faith that it's there. Dry on skin: My skin stays moisturized for hours after using this. The longer it's on, the more myrrh-like it gets; it's the sweet kind of myrrh, not the smoky or dark kind. But it's so incendiary, I have to restrict my use of it to private grownup time. I can also smell it on the bedsheets for three days afterward!

I got decants of all the massage oils to see which one(s) I liked. In the bottle: Woody and rooty. This reminds me of Badger. Yet there is a brightness, a spark in the middle of it somewhere. On skin: These massage oils have the most fabulous texture, I just love that. This one reads very strong at first, and I doubt myself for wanting to use it. But the rootiness (I think it's the oakmoss, an iffy note for me) mellows away quickly, leaving behind the warmth of patchouli and myrrh. I don't get a lot of sage. I think the spikenard is the source of that bright scent; it reads as a secret core of almost golden yellow. The patchouli is unlike most patchoulis in the catalogue. It's not even like the patchouli in Ignis. It might be related to the "antique patchouli" in Schwarzer Mond. Maybe. After use: The longer it's on my body, the more sweetly and warmly resinous, and the less herby-rooty, it goes. And it moisturizes so nicely, my skin feels nice for eight hours or more afterwards. I liked this enough to buy a whole bottle.

In the vial: Very strong vanilla, sugary, and something I can't quite identify. I'm not a big fan of vanilla, so normally I only wear aged Snake Oil, or Snake Oil that's been blended with something else. But I expected a lot of vanilla to be obvious in fresh Snake Oil bath oil. No surprise so far. Wet on skin: I use these in the shower as moisturizers. When this one hit my skin, it smelled much stronger than I expected. Most of the BPTP bath oils I've tried have been just a bit lighter than I wanted them to be. This one was stronger than any other I've ever tried (except for Xmvlzencab). Still mostly vanilla, although if I concentrated I could get past that to the other notes I love. Dry on skin: When I came to bed after my shower, my husband had already noticed the scent in the air. Normally he doesn't even register these things, but he was waiting for me to come in so he could comment on it. He doesn't like it! I asked him why, and he told me what it reminded him of. (Not the kind of thing I want him to be thinking about when I'm clean and freshly smelling of Snake Oil!) So I told him the vanilla would age out and not bother him after a few months; I don't think he believes me. But I did notice the vanilla calming down over the course of the evening. By the next morning I could barely smell it. What was left trended more toward the nutmeggy darkness that I so much adore about well-aged Snake Oil. It also had a more frankincense-like note than I usually get from Snake Oil. Since I like frankincense, that was a pleasant surprise. So I think I will stash my bottle of this for a few months and see what happens with it. I expected that. I just hope my husband gives it a chance! I also noticed the texture of this bath oil. It appears to be a different formulation than any of the other BPTP bath oils; I noticed mineral oil is farther down the list of ingredients than it is on other bath oils. I like this new formulation; it feels more slippery, nourishing, and moist on me, and it makes my skin stay moist longer. I also wonder if the new formulation has any bearing on the fact that these new LE bath oils all seem to be scented more strongly and lastingly than the earlier bath oils.

In the bottle: Strong but yet not sweet honey scent. There is something almost woody-sappy about it, like a gum tree's resin. It reminded me of tupelo honey on steroids. In the bath: I use these in the shower as moisturizers. Applied on my wet skin, the impression is very dark honey, still with that woody scent. The honey is more floral than sugary, but very dark floral. It's rather like acacia honey in that way. If honey could be said to be menacing, this would be menacing. Dry on skin: Afterward the scent morphed some. That treeishness went away, to be replaced by something a bit green and bitter that made a nice counterpoint but also contributed to the impression of darkness The honey went a little bit smoky, too. There began to be more of a detectable floral note as the scent aged. The next morning I took off my pajama top and a blast of ripe plumeria burst through the room. The herbal darkness of honey was still there underneath, almost as strong as when I went to bed. Normally I'm good with honey scents, but this one was dark and strong enough to give even me pause. It reads like a looming cloud of bees over my head. I like it very, very much because it is so complex and so unusual, but the one-ounce decant will be enough.

I too owe my chance to test Storyville to the amazing wren08! In the vial: Red musk (with the distinctive "corn tortilla" note) and vanilla. Wet: Vanilla very much like Snake Oil, but with a more musky underlay. I can smell other things wanting to come out as well; this needs to blend. One hour: This reminds me a great deal of Black Lace! It has the same boozy vanilla note, but I think it's more musky, at least on me. It also lacks one of the notes in Black Lace that I think is floral. But wow, sweet musky vanilla! I can understand why this one is so popular. Three hours: Still coming on strong. This is still a lot like a less boozy, more musky version of Black Lace. It has a lot of throw and hasn't faded or changed much at all. It's a little bit softer around the edges, is all. She's the bad-influence elder sister of Black Lace, the soft zaftig one with the inviting, throaty laugh that makes you want to sink into her arms. The one Black Lace swore she wouldn't grow up to be like at all, at all, but you can still see the family resemblance when they're both in the same room. After several hours on me this faded to a fairly true vanilla bean, but I got at least six hours out of my encounter with it. She loved me long time, for sure!

In the bottle it's amber-floral and bergamot. When it got wet it was more snowy, with a fruity edge to a mostly white-floral scent that reminded me a lot of jasmine or gardenia. On my skin it left a rather remarkable blend: part green and amber, part floral and citrus. It is very different, but I'm not sure what it is that sets it apart. I liked this very much, but it was incredibly ephemeral, vanishing after half an hour.

In the bottle I get delicious musk, bergamot, and a hint of sweet floral. It smells round, almost fruity. When it gets wet suddenly it smells incredible, with supple evergreen and lily over musk. It is both invigorating and soothing. On my dry skin it's more musk than anything else, but gently so, very snow-like. Faint plum and lily notes remain. This one is exquisite on my chemistry, very wintry but definitely not bleak. I love it!

I received a sample of this from the incomparable evanescence! In the vial: Ozone, juicy citrus (grapefruit?), and white metal. Wet: White metal, something mechanical, a lot of ozone, and is that wet dirt I'm getting? It smells a little like there's a whiff of diesel fuel, too, but as it warms up that note is going more aquatic on me. Half an hour: Aging vinyl upholstery, mechanical equipment emitting just a bit of smoke, and the disquieting scent of a lot of people eating a lot of different kinds of foods somewhere beneath my feet. Fascinating! Two and a half hours: A gentle metallic note and a bit of ozone. This has calmed down a lot on me. It was never dismaying, even with the diesel note. Five hours: Long since almost disappeared, just a breath of something that might be metal is left. Normally I have a hard time with the metallic note, but this one was never a problem.

In the bottle: Mostly resinous, with touches of evergreen and the bitterness of lettuce. Wet: Evergreen, but with a sweet tinge. It smells like shopping for a Christmas tree. Half an hour: It still smells like shopping for a Christmas tree, but with plum added. I love the plum note, and it's a fabulous addition to this very dark green scent. One hour: This is nice, much less green than I expected. It's warmly resinous and plummy, with a nice hemlocky green note and a slight bitterness. I don't know if that's the lettuce or the tobacco, but I like it. Two hours: I'm beginning to get a darker note now, I'm not sure what. It's resinous and aromatic rather than smoky or sharp, almost anise-like. But the base is still resinous evergreen plum. Three hours: Thicker and flatter now, still with that darker note. It is heavy, still greenish, but also still with the plum. Four hours: Dark, flat, greenish resin; most of the plum is gone now. I found this one very evocative and look forward to wearing it again. It is definitely a dead of winter kind of scent, though.

In the bottle: Red ginger, mostly, and a dark metallic note. Wet: Alas, I get the red ginger note a lot. That's usually a death note for me. But the metal, myrrh, and other spices are fighting for control too. Half an hour: Wow, that's hard to describe. Definitely dark metal is the first thing I get, then there's a complex mixture of spices with a dominant note I just plain don't recognize. It is dark like star anise or licorice, maybe. There's also resin. I am amazed the red ginger has not totally destroyed this scent for me, as it has in the other scents I've tried with red ginger in them. One hour: Still a very anise-y or licorice vibe to this, but dark, with metal and black pepper. Still can make out the red ginger, which is barely held in check by the stronger notes. Two hours: Very strong dark anise or licorice note now. There's something cheerful and sweet in there, too, like maybe a red fruit note, although it's utterly surrounded by stronger, darker notes. This one is so very intriguing, and for something I feared would crash and burn on me it's really turning into something special. Three hours: Very heavy dark anise-like note. I'm not getting the dragon's blood at all, which is surprising on my skin. This really smells very little like I imagined it would, but it also works better than I expected it to on my skin. It is definitely combative and aggressive, but it doesn't reach out and punch you in the nose. Four hours: Still that dark note, followed by spices, with a sort of dull metallic background. Now it smells like iron, somehow. This is very different from the Iron Phoenix prototype that I tested.

In the bottle: Air, metal, citrus. Wet: Lemony, a touch of metal and some bright herb. It is very refreshing, cheering. Half an hour: There's something perhaps like white musk in this. I'm getting the faint crittery note. The last time or two I had that, it wasn't so intense as some of the early times. It does always seem to appear in scents with a lemony note; I wonder if there is a connection there. One hour: The crittery note is stronger now. I'd say it's vying for supremacy with the citrusy note, and the metal notes are right behind. This is still refreshing, but there's an element in it that makes me stop, look back, and reassess. Two hours: Still that crittery impression with ozone, metal, bright herb, and citrus. I like it, and it's very eye-opening, but I'm still uneasy with that crittery note. Wish I could figure out once and for all what that note is! Three hours: Very metallic/ozone now. This is not a realm where I do well, but it's still managing to be wearable. The citrus and bright herb are there still, which is probably what makes the difference on my skin. Four hours: The crittery note has calmed down, and the edge is off the metallic/ozone. What's left is more like hyssop than anything else, i.e., a slightly bitter green herbal note. I never did get much in the way of tonka on this one.