Blood onmy hands

I wasn't very hopeful that Habu would work on me, honestly. I don't do well with the Asian-themed blends. I was hoping that the Snake Oil part of this would make it more interesting and wearable for me... but I can't smell any Snake Oil here, even after wearing it for 4 hours, and the sharp, clean, musky notes are really not appealing to me. On me this is soapy, sharp, astringent... dominated by a cheap men's cologne sharpness from the black musk.

Like most blends with verbena in them, this is all lemon all the time on my skin. It’s a bit herbal and astringent, but screaming LEMON. After a while there’s a hint of a bitter and perfumey floral underneath the lemon. I really don’t care for this blend.

I expected this blend to be really sharp on my skin, but the drydown isn't so bad. At first it is sharp and bitter from the rosemary and rose otto, and I don’t like the cheap men’s cologne vibe that I get from the black musk. After a few minutes though, those unpleasant notes seem to burn up in a sudden blaze of fiery spices and this scent gets much better for me. It turns into something of a slightly smoky, sweeter incense and bold smack of a spice. It does remind me a bit of cassia and a bit of rootbeer from the saffron at first – but it’s not as sweet as either of those things on my skin. I probably wouldn’t wear this, but it’s rather interesting anyhow. It’s not quite a sweet enough scent, more of a bitter spice to me that gets more herbal and a pinch soapy over time. Not what I was expecting from the scent description. Out of all of the Faces of the Heroine scents, I think this is the one that I like the most, but I still don’t see myself keeping my decant.

I was surprised to see the artwork for Thalassa, it reminded me of the lionfish mermaid (“Lions of the Sea” series) art by Stephanie Pui-Mun Law (very purdy if anyone wants to check it out ). I love the lionfish mermaid concept. We used to have a pair of lionfish and they were so beautiful. I digress. Unfortunately for me, I have some trouble wearing aquatics and this one doesn’t work well on me either. I can’t pick out any of the actual notes, but the whole thing blends together into a soapy, dryer sheet sort of scent. A bit breezy and sharp at first. In the drydown, the scent becomes sweeter and not as soapy, but I can’t really explain what it reminds me of other than dryer sheets. I want to get the trading card for this blend, but I don’t think I’ll keep my sample…

Other reviewers have already described this one better than I will be able to. Dolce Stil Nuovo is a very prim floral blend on me. The flowers are a touch sweet and light, the lavender is sort of cool and smooth, and the musk wraps it all up into a very traditional perfumey floral. It gets more powdery on me the longer that I wear it, but my skin generally does that with amber scents.

Vipralabda is a bitter, herbal scent on me. It isn't very perfume-like or wearable. On me it has a bitter, astringent greenery mixed with a dry and almost smoky sort of herbal something. I have a hard time picking out any of the listed notes. This does sweeten up after an hour or so, but only slightly underneath the bitterness. It's not so bad that I need to scrub it off, but I can't think of any point in my life where I would actually want to wear this either.

The currant and red musk in this excited me, but I wasn’t very hopeful about this scent overall… opium poppy and black musk have become two of my least favorite lab notes. Of course, my skin amps up the opium poppy in Arachnina like mad and throws in a screaming dose of generic FLORALMUSK to make things just a bit worse for me. This is sharp and heavy and a perfect recipe for giving me a migraine. If you like opium poppy then you should definitely try this blend, because it’s even stronger than usual on my skin. Opium poppy/floral/classic perfume loving people should enjoy this one. If you have trouble wearing florals or dark musk, I’d pass on the Spider Girl.

I wisely just decided to wait and get a sample of this one from a friend. It contains my arch nemesis, opium. Painfully sharp, white, biting. Smelling opium is like snuffing razor blades up the nose for me. Opium paired with a dry, dusty note and the unpleasant, sticky sweetness that I get from tobacco… this is a nightmare scent for me My skin amps up the sharp opium and hints of dirty tobacco as a suffocating dryness lingers in the background. I had to scrub this one off. Awful. If you can handle opium and like resins & tobacco scents, you'd probably have good luck with The Parliament of Monsters.

I'm going back and making edits to my reviews of the snakes, now that I have my own full bottles and have been able to spend some more time with them . Death Adder is a favorite for me. I was afraid that the vetiver would make this blend too dark & earthy, but I honestly don't think that I would actually pick vetiver out of this at all. It's amazing that plain ole Snake Oil smells awful on me (no matter how fresh or aged it is), but several of the snakes have been so wonderful, and so different from each other. Death Adder definitely smells like Snake Oil, but it doesn't turn rancid on my skin. It's like a sexy, sugared, dark muskiness with the addition of a sweet, dark, dry, woody coconut and an extra helping of a sexy, dark vanilla. My boy has a coconut scented hair gel that made me realize I love the smell of coconut on him, and Death Adder is a perfect coconut scent for him. It's a complex, dark, sexy coconut. I'd wear this myself and love it, but I love it even more on my hubby-to-be. I'll have to snag a few backup bottles of this one before it disappears for good.

I was so hoping to love the kitty (and I do love the label, just the oil within doesn’t like me much). Unfortunately, the cinnamon in this one really burns, and my skin normally isn’t sensitive (though it does seem to be more sensitive and temperamental lately, boooo). The amber musk goes to perfumey baby powder, layered with an itchy cinnamon and a sweet, slightly soapy cherry. I can’t ever pick out any of the citrus. The powdery musk stays strong in the drydown, but the spice and sweet, fruity cherry (not even cherry blossom, it smells like maraschino cherries on me) keep shoving each other around and fighting for some dominance. I don’t much care for powdery scents, and the cinnamon here is unpleasantly itchy. The spice smells good, but doesn’t feel so good. I wish that I were getting the tea and sweet orange out of this citrus tea would have been lovely. I’m getting spiced cherries & baby powder. Stupid skin chemistry…

I’ve been having a bad time with the lunacy blends this past year. Hunger Moon isn’t really awful by any means, but it’s very much a ‘not me’ sort of fragrance. It’s light, clean, dappled with hints of sharp citrus, and powdery around the edges. A bit of an astringent, herbal greenery is here as well. After 15 minutes or so, it goes to baby powder with a hint of lemony citrus squeezed over it and a chilly sort of something. I’m (sadly) not getting the foresty, earthy, Dublin comparison that some other reviewers have picked out. This reminds me more of the clean citrus of Embalming Fluid, but beaten down with baby powder and slush. Luckily for me, this is light and clings close to my skin. The scent disappears completely after a half hour.

(Thanks for lettin’ me try this, C ) I thought that I would love Anaconda, but given its limited availability, I’m really glad that I don’t. This is a really heavy scent on me and the foodie part reminds me of something like Gluttony. Butterscotch, caramel, buttercream, chocolate something – but it’s so heavy and cloying that it makes me think of foodie candles rather than foodie perfume. I do get the comparison to Sugar Skull in the drydown, but that was also too rot-your-teeth-out sweet for me. In the end it smells like buttery brown sugar and hints of Snake Oil-esque spice & incense. I could tolerate this in an oil burner, but not so much on my skin.

This is definitely a good scent for The Other Woman in my case, because it is definitely not a 'Tania' sort of scent, lol. Opium does bad, bad things on my skin. It's a sharp and smoky scent, almost a sharp white smoke of a scent. That vicious sharpness dominates this blend on me. Underneath the opium, there is something floral that is trying to sweeten out the blend, but the opium crushes it. I can catch little hints of something earthy or a sweet floral every once in a while. The Other Woman is sharp and smoky on me, with hints of earth & sweet floral that never quite makes it out. Strong opium. As anyone who has read any of my reviews will know, this isn't a keeper for me...

Chintamani-Dhupa makes me really nauseous. In the bottle it is harmless enough... a bland woods & baby powder fragrance. On my skin, this triggers my gag reflex. It smells like a repulsive man's body order (reminding me of someone maybe). Cold, bland, powdery sandalwood and body odor. I have a really bad reaction to this blend. It's not sweet or incensey to me at all. It's still, quiet, cold, and unchanging in a way that creeps me out. There's definitely a sandalwood here, and it's going powdery on my skin. And there's something funky that makes me want to cry or throwup or something. Er. I don't like this one at all.

I think that the Heroines hate me a little. Abhisarika was the one that I had the most hope for, but even this one doesn't hold up well on my skin. In the bottle and on my skin, this is incredibly sharp and off-putting. It's an intensely sharp, bright musk. On my skin, a bit of the rose comes out and quickly goes soapy. Sharp musk and men's creamy shave soap. Soap. Loads of soap. Creamy shave soap that you imagine to be white and fluffy, but still soap. Every once in a while, a bit of rose or a sweeter note pops out to play, then quickly disappears back under the soap. This is headache central for me. Sometimes entire series of scents seem to go off on my skin... and the Heroines are all turning out to be pretty bad on me. Boo.

The Faces of the Heroine & I are not getting along so well. They've been too classical-perfumey for me and too reminiscent of the drugstore perfumes that I try to stay away from. I was hopeful for Svadhinaopatika because I love red sandalwood and currant. Of course, I can't smell either of those notes in this blend (drat, drat I say!). On me, this is a powdery amber and lashings of a perfumey and slightly metallic honey. Baby powder and perfumey honey. A rather light and unchanging scent on me.

I loved the idea of this blend's crazed little doll-girl. I was also excited because of the 'sugared cream' part... and I've been having better luck with the lab's carnation and orange blossom notes lately. In the bottle this is almost sickeningly sweet, with a bit of the soured cream edge that reminds me of Haloa (Haloa is haunting me lately in blends, lol). Thankfully, the comparison to Haloa vanishes once this hits my skin. On my skin, the foodie part of this takes on an interesting complexity... it reminds me a bit of creme brulee with a burnt, caramelized sugar edge, yet there's still something very creamy, a soft sugar. I catch a hint of sweet orange blossom underneath and cream and caramelized sugar. Unfortunately, within 5 minutes, this is dominated by iris. Zarita winds up being a very simple and blunt scent on my skin. Conceptually, this is wonderful. Like the doll girl, you first see her and are blinded by the perfection, imagining her to be so sweet and childlike... then the true form comes out and it's all sharp edges and straighforward animosity. As a perfume though, I can't wear this. It's like a singlenote of a sharp and unpleasantly perfumey floral. The foodie part fades away for me within minutes and I'm left with this strong blast of floral that lasted 3 hours before I scrubbed it off. I wish this had been strong cream with hints of spicy carnation and sweet orange blossom... alas, it is a sharp and perfumey iris on my skin. I'll keep my trading card, but the bottle will be finding a new home.

Vasakasajja kinda smells like a cliche fruity-floral for me... the sort that has been springing up at department stores in full force over the last year. Orchid sometimes smells juicy and fruity on me, so perhaps that is the culprit. The fruit here smells something like mango on me though. Tropical fruit. Tropical fruit with a clingy, perfumey musk and hints of sweet vanilla. It doesn't seem very original or unique to me. This isn't a bad scent by any means, it just seems very common to me and isn't something that I would ever really want to wear. Juicy, sweet tropical fruits... perfumey musk... slight vanilla sweetness. Makes me feel nauseous and headache-y after a while (which is why I can't wear a lot of the usual department store offerings).

I don't often like cinnamon or smoky notes, but this 'cinnamon bark' note is lovely on me. Priala smells like a peppered, dry woods with the sexiest cinnamon spice ever. In the drydown it has a soft nutmeg-like smell to it. This is so unbelievably sultry and sexy. I hate that I'm never able to adequately describe the blends that I love the most. It's almost as though there was an explosion of a wooden barrel full of nutmeg and the sweetly scented powder is now falling softly all over everything. But then you have to throw in the slight, sensual warmth of the myrrh and a feeling of smoldering sexuality. The Human Phoenix is the sort of blend that I'd wear and instantly feel exotic & enchanting, like I was the most interesting thing in the room and any man would fall at my feet in an instant. It's that sort of good. <3 ETA: My later bottles of Priala smell nothing like my original bottles (my review for the two early bottles that I purchased is above). My two more recently purchased bottles smell like a heavy, earthy vetiver and harsh smoke. Not the same at all

I admit that I just bought this blend for the "orange pulp, vanilla, blackberry" bit. This is moreso one of those blends that you can't pick a note out of though, very complex and a result of the blend more than one or two notes. Opening the bottle, this has a dark and airy quality... but is also very wet and woodsy. It made me think of peering into a dark cave and being hit with a gust of cold wind, carrying the scent of chilled water and something green and piny. There's something cold, dark, and very clean about this. On me... almost dryersheet clean, but not that bad or that simple. More like the clean, wet, airy notes of blends like Buck Moon. Only Faiza is much darker and deeper than Buck Moon. In the drydown, this still has a dark and damp feel, but now with an added slightly powdery woods and hints of something like a sharp man's cologne. It's almost like a sharp floral perfume, which I would normally hate... but something about it is manly and so sharp that it suddenly ceases to be sharp (erm, I'm not on drugs, really). After a half hour, this has calmed down and lightened considerably. Powdery woods, a slight sweetness and spice from the ginger, and still with that dark feel of sharp, heavy men's cologne. It's beginning to give me a headache at this point as it turns a bit more powdery on me and my brain is registering some of the sharper aspects of the scent. I agree with the previous reviewer... this is unisex, but leaning more towards being masculine for me. I won't keep my bottle of this one, but it was interesting and one of those scents that I'll remember trying.

I was so happy when the lab made Bitter Moon, since I've been longing for a good blackberry blend... then I was heartbroken when the poppy in Bitter Moon ruined the blackberry. Thankfully, I was happy again when the lab released more blackberry blends The Oblation is a dream blend for me. The lab's blackberry note is fantastic... not fakely sweet at all (which is what I get from most companies). It smells like real, tart blackberries to me with something of their almost earthy quality. That gorgeous blackberry note is the main part that I get from this fragrance, with a bitter and slightly astringent lavender accompanying it at first. In the drydown, the lavender calms down a bit (loses its harshness and sweetens up), but I don't get much of the honey that I can pick out. Overall, this blend smells exactly like a real blackberry patch. My grandmother in Arkansas has over an acre of blackberry bushes that I've spent plenty of time in. The Oblation transports me right back into the middle of those bushes. Such a great smell. Fruity, but still earthy and almost tart & bitter, but not unpleasantly so. The lavender in the drydown is so lovely too, summery and flowery sweet. I'm so glad that I have a bottle of this one. I'm loving BPAL's blackberry.

Tiresias (the blend that I've just been calling "Manboob") was my most coveted of the new releases. Currant, patchouli, caramel, and red sandalwood are all some of my absolute favorite notes from the lab. Sign me up. In the bottle this is sexy-woodsy in a way that reminds me of Luperci, my most favorite perfume EVER. Tiresias is like Luperci with a slinky, sexy caramel licking at its edges. It has the same honeyed, edible sweetness, the same SEX bare hint of an almost woody patchouli, and the same overall sex-in-the-woods vibe. I wish that I could describe this better. Why is it that it's always easier to describe something that I don't like? This blend is so sexy and gorgeous that it stuns me. It is like Luperci with caramel, even on my skin. But the caramel here isn't just plainly sweet, foodie, and one dimensional either. Sexy caramel. Honeyed, caramel woods... with a slap of the most exotic and sexual something. If you like Luperci, try this one. This has shot straight to the top of my favorites list. Luperci & Tiresias are total aphrodisiacs to me, they scream sex and just melt into my skin so beautifully. And there are no florals here in sight to muck anything up. It's heaven for me because it seems to combine Luperci (my favorite) with a strong, warm caramel note. Love. Did I mention that I love this blend?

I love cassia (love Underbed) and Shub Niggurath (though Shub doesn’t smell ultra spicy on me – more like lightly spiced cookies and a hint of a wet, mouthwatering citrus-esque note … oooh I love Shub). I don’t usually care for cinnamon, and can’t wear it in heavy doses. Saw-Scaled Viper is much, much too much cinnamon for me. I was hoping for a Snake Oil with licks of cassia, but this blend is all burning red hots cinnamon candies on me. It’s too strong and gives me an awful headache. I could only keep it on for a half hour before it started burning my wrists and I had to scrub it off. I can’t pick out any cassia, ginger, or even any Snake Oil in this blend; it’s just loud, screaming, burning cinnamon.

I grabbed up a decant of The Sailor's Den in the hopes that it would work on my boy. Of course, I had to try it on before sending it to him, lol. I don't really like the lab's leather or tobacco notes, but I did like the blue lilac singlenote. Anyhow. I also get a bubblegum-esque sweetness when I first put this on. Rum fragrances always smell like bubblegum to me. The sweetness wears off after a bit and the dark woods & linen come in to play. It's a bit soapy on my skin. Half hour later. The dark woods have faded and I can smell hints of the sweet blue lilac & coconut underneath the clean, soapy fragrance. Surprisingly clean/soapy, light, and sweet on my skin. I'm not sure if this would be a good masculine fragrance after all. The generous slather that I had applied to my wrist was gone after a bit over an hour. Thankfully I didn't really smell the leather or the tobacco here, though the blend does go soapy on me.

Yup, like other reviewers have said, this smells rather nutty to me. Almost a burnt, woodsy sort of nutty at first, paired with a sweet citrus smack of mandarin. In the drydown, this is mostly all musks and florals on me. Nothing special, but not bad either. It has something of a bright and cheery sweetness as the orange scent dances about. After fifteen minutes, this is something of a boring floral-musk perfume that I could find at any shopping mall. Not really my style.