emzebel

Mmm. Spicy almond...almost like sugared, spiced nuts that you can buy on the streets of NYC, but without the obvious candy tinge. Saying that may not make this sound overly appealing as a perfume, come to think of it, but it is actually not overtly foody - the sandalwood and rose round it out nicely. I like this. Not sure if I would wear it enough for a bottle, but I am sure this little impsy here will see some use...

Lemon, with a damp, herbal grassy edge...like I can imagine walking through a lemon grove might be after (or even during) a summer rain. I really like this blend and am thrilled to have acquired a decant so long after it was released.

Wow. I have recently discovered that I absolutely adore the scent of lilies in Beth's perfumes, and this is no exception. Black Lily lives up to its name - wet is is a very true, polleny floral lily, which on my skin, just blossoms into a rich, womanly, sultry perfume. If you like lilies, this is a definite winner, and I suspect that this will win some converts to the lily valley as well.

The Four Hundred divine rabbits of the Aztec pantheon that preside over parties and drunkenness. Bittersweet Mexican cocoa with rum, red wine, and a scent redolent of sacrificial blood. Blood and Chocolate. That's what this is...and it is absolutely divine. This is dark, bitter cocao, not some whimpy milk choco bar. And the blood - it's iron tinged and dripping. This blend is not for the faint of heart or those who cannot revel in the macabre. But it is absolutely wonderful if you can.

In the vial, this is all rum...on my skin, the spicy notes that characterize bay rum come out and this is a yummy spicy rummy goodness. This is definitely a masculine scent, but not a *male* scent...certainly something us women folk can wear too.

Alas, I cannot get past the uber floral stage at the beginning of this blend to anything resembling cinnamon or otherwise. To the sink to avoid a headache I run, which is too bad, because it sounds like it is really very pretty.

A very handsome devil, is Wilde. This is a fresh scent which I did not expect to like because of the jasmine. It reminds me a bit, in a very good way, of a cologne that I used to sniff when I worked at TJMaxx in high school and college - lots of lime, lavender...but unfortunately the jasmine gets me in the end.

I got this as a frimp from the lab just before it was discontinued. It is very sharp and pungent on me, to the point of actually starting to raise some welts - talk about venomous! There is an interesting sweetness here which I would like to like, but between the welts and the jasmine which is deciding to amp on me, alas, Venom is not my friend.

I like all of the notes in this and it is a very nice sweet mellow sort of blend. The plum is a little strong on me and I would probably like this better if the musk came a little more to the party.

I liked this in the imp, but on my skin something turns sort of bitter - I think it is just the wrong combination of flowers, which is too bad, because I had hopes for amber, patchouli and tea...ah well.

At first this smelled very dark and sharp on me. But with time, it's become sweet and fruity with an almost intoxicating tinge. The raspberry is the most predominant note on me, but there are definitely other fruits here. Probably not a bottle purchase, but an imp I'll keep around for when the mood strikes.

I swapped for this imp mostly out of vague curiosity than any sense that it would be fabulously wonderful on me. Luckily, I actually really like it - it is a very earthy natural smelling scent on me, with a definite aquatic tinge, but one that works. It is a smiky hazy sort of green scent, and one that clings to me like woodsmoke. Not something I'll wear often, but something I'll want to keep around.

Mmm. I was looking forward to this the most of all the monsters, mostly because I thought the mix of the sweet vanilla and foody notes with the sandalwood and saffron would be delish, a perfect grounding of alcoholic vanilla with earthy spicyness... Well, right I was... And that's about all I can add to this discussion.

No pickle here... Of all of the absolutely amazing Convergence blends, Voodoo Queen is my far and away favorite. It is sultry and musky and spicy and just clings to my skin with the divine grace of a Voodoun priestess. The vever on the bottle is evocative of Erzulie and she seems to infuse, or at least inspire, this blend with her sultry sensuality. It is hard for me to pick out note, I am so taken with the "sense" of this blend, but I would guess that there is a very nice musk, perhaps some vanilla or tonka, definitely some spice. My mother smelled it on me and though it smelled like mulled cider, although I do not personally get an apple note or an autumnal fee from this. There is a definite "perfume" undertone, but it works in a way I cannot adequately describe...other than just to reiterate that I love this.

Sleepy Moon is sharp to me. But in a good way. It is the first opium poppy blend that I've really been able to wear, perhaps because the other soporific notes drown it out, but it is really quite beautiful, in a languid, herbal, sort of way. This is a potion, most definitely.

If I had to describe this scent in just a couple of words, I'd say light green. It is bright and cheery, definitely limey (which is the most prominant note to my nose, quite happily). There's a slight alcoholic tinge, but it's like a splach of vodka to flavor the soup, not like a coctail. This is a light chilled summer soup of lime and apple and mint and a touch of something almost creamy (the ambrette?). It is lucious and I may just need a bottle to slather when the mercury rises into the triple digits...

Another blend I had high hopes for from the notes, but it rings very sharp and bitter on my skin. The honey is a nice touch of sweetness, I think it must be my on-again off-again relationship with sandalwood souring or something.

I've had the opportunity to try both the 2004 and 2005 versions of Snow White side by side...and I should love them. Not necessarily from the description, but from the reviews, the milky, coconutty creamy light floral sweetness should be wonderful. But alas, it is not meant to be...something turns this sharp and almost plasticy on my skin. Sigh...

I had such wonderfully high hopes for this blend, because all of the notes, save opium, tend to be wonderful on me...alas, it must be the opium curse, because while Red Lantern smells nice, something is just off. I get the caramel tobacco goodness, but there is a sharp, bitter undertone that makes this a less than wonderful blend on me. So sad.

What a great freakin’ word. BPAL LOVES TEH SMUT! Three swarthy, smutty musks sweetened with sugar and woozy with dark booze notes. I didn't order Smut at first, because I thought it would be a lot like Devil's Night. Then it was clear that it was not, but was darker and swarthier and sexier, so I figured, why not. Plus, who could resist "Smut"? So I ordered it. And it was nice. Spicy and sort of boozy vanilla, similar to aged Snake Oil, but rougher, more raw, not as sultry...smuttier. It's nice, but it sort of tickles my nose a little too much and in the end, I swapped it for something I wanted more.

The amazingly wonderful heartbeast gifted me with a bottle of this, and I simply cannot thank her enough - this is a simply gorgeous blend. The rose is soft and alluring, but not so much as to be overpowering and the resins are spicy and sweet and almost edible. I would never have pinned this as "floral" from the bottle or on my skin, which is what steered me away from ordering it off the bat. Absolutely delightful!

This is a sweet creamy fig on me - definitely figgy, but not overwhelming. Strangler Fig is actually what I had hoped Eden might be before the greenery got all out of control - soft and creamy, with a darker undernote that keeps it from being truly *sewwt* or foody. I really like this and can see it making its way to my bottle list.

Roses are one of the florals scents that I tend to like and often seek out (along with lily and lotus these days). And I adore Dragon's Blood and tend to like how Beth uses it in her blends, so I had high hopes for Blood Rose as an ocassional sweet floral imp scent, if not necessarily an OMG, must have big bottle scent. Alas, there is something almost too syrupy about this for me. The rose does not blend quite right with the DB to my nose and it is just too...powdered rose syrup on my skin. Ah well. You win some, you loose some.

Death Cap grows like its namesake, starting with an earthy push of soil, and developing into a colorful, resinous, almost sweet warm umbrella of scent. There is just enough earthen scent here to make the soil lovers happy, I think, but not so much as to be overly scary for those of use who like a warmer spicy scent. This is definitely the smell of something flora and natural though. I am falling maddly in love with it, and it is definitely on the big bottle list.

They are the same as the GC, except for under the name of the scent, it reads in RED ink: orisha blend and the usual BPAL at the bottom (in red also). And, the label is outlined in white. Also, the Shango I rec'd was in a amber bottle. Actually, the Orishas seem to differ in the accent color depending on the blend - Osun is in yellow, Ogun is green, Yemaya is (I think) blue, but I may be remembering her wrong...but the main difference is the hint of color for "Orisha Blend". All of my bottles last order, including four non-Orishas, were amber, so it may just be the current run of bottles for those.