Blood onmy hands

In the imp vial and first on my skin, this smells bitter and green and reminds me of dandelion stems. Over the next few minutes after application, the bitter green smell remains but a sugary note also comes out to play. Dandelion stems coated in sugar. There's also something crisp going on here that smells slightly floral and slightly of limes on me. After ten minutes or so of settling on my skin, this is rather bright & sweet and not at all hellish. It's not smoky or dark at all on me. It morphs into a sort of fizzy, boozy floral with a white sharpness that reminds me of the dreaded tuberose. Definitely not a scent for me.

In the bottle this smell like a classically perfumey sort of scent. Cool and powdery. It actually reminds me a lot of the musky/powdery perfume that my mother wore in the late 80's. I hated that perfume, lol. On me... I Died for Beauty smells like delicate, sweetly bruised little violets. Sadly, this gets sharper and more offensive in the drydown. Ylang ylang is very piercing and smells oddly metallic on my skin. The ylang ylang here is coming out in full force and killing the sweet little violets. After 15 minutes or so... boring and powdery. Just a cool, faint powder. A bit more chilly and bland than baby powder though. I'd never wear this one.

Yup. Definitely almond. Boozy cherries drenched in sugary cherry syrup. After a few minutes, the psices and citrussy bergamot begin to cut their way through the cherries. For a while, this is a pleasantly spicy (but not overly sweet) incense. Then this morphs into something that makes me nauseous . I'm assuming that it's the river lily in this that goes intensely soapy on me. Soap, smoky jasmine, and woodsy fig blend to make something very unpleasant on my skin. This is very light and subtle in the drydown, but the strange mixture of notes were making me so ill that I had to wash this one off.

In the bottle... this smells of dirt and something sinus-clearing like eucalyptus. On me... this is a surprisingly light, subtle scent. It smells like rich, black soil and a sweet mint. In the drydown, this is soil, sweetly frosty mint, and something like smoky, charred wood coming in through the background. Surprisingly, I don't hate this as much as I thought I would. The sweetness from the mint keeps this from becoming too earthy or smoky for me. Then again, I still can't see myself wearing this as a personal fragrance either.

I've been eagerly waiting to try Kumari Kandam, after reading the list of notes including clay and stone. Strangely enough, I've been looking for a perfume that smells to me of wet clay and rocks. In the bottle, this smells like snow. Aquatic and smooth. On me, this goes oddly sweet. Now it smells like snow and sugarcane. Not at all earthy or incensy or decaying or even really floral. The snow note almost smells like pine, almost like mint, almost like cliche aquatic... but not quite any of those things. It's strange and pleasant when paired with this warmer, sweeter note. Kumari Kandam isn't like any other BPAL blend that I've tried before, though it falls into that category with all of the other 'snow-aquatic' blends. This is very pretty and smells slightly edible. I want to eat this snow Kind of sad that I'm not smelling anything like clay or stone though.

In the imp... cassia. Nothing but cassia. Which is fine, because I love that note. It reminds me of a more powdery (not baby powdery, just a silky powdery), softly woodsy sort of cinnamon. On my skin, this smells like Blood Moon or Spanked or any of the other heavy cassia blends. Warm, spicy cassia, warm blood musk, and something that's kind of creamy and foodie. I can't actually smell any resins or fruit or florals, but it does get a bit more of a smoky smell to it in the drydown. Out of the entire Ars Draconis category, Dragon's Milk, Ladon, and Tanin'iver are my favorites.

Dragon's blood usually doesn't work so well on me. So far, the only Ars Draconis blend that I've actually liked has been Dragon's Milk. I am kinda hopeful for Ladon though, because I love BPAL's apple and apple blossom notes. Sniffing this in the vial, I immediately thought of fall harvest festivals. This is crisp and apple cider-like. On me... this is the same smooth, delicately sweet, golden apple note that I get from Les Bijoux. Apple with a background of clean white musk. I don't detect any dragon's blood at all, which is a good thing in my case. In the drydown, this is still just a wonderfully sweet, crisp apple scent. Simple and pleasant. It sweetens up quite a bit on me after a while and makes me think of candy apples. Wonderful. I might get a 5 ml of this one in the future.

This has two of my ultimate migraine-inducing notes in it... opium and tuberose. All of the other notes are so promising though. In the bottle... this smells like creamy lemons. On me... creamy lemon-head candies, with some other unidentifiable fruit thrown in for good measure. I kept waiting for this to drydown and develop into something more complex on my skin, but this is pretty much it, lol. Creamy lemon-head candies. Sweet and candy-like, with the unpleasant sharpness of lemon. At least I don't detect any opium or tuberose.

In the bottle: Gah! Balloons! This has the same rubber smell in it that I got from The Candy Butcher... only it's a lot stronger in the bottle here. It kind of makes sense here though, since I can see the relation between clowns and balloons. I keep thinking of the clown in Stephen King's IT with the whole "Want a balloon?" thing. On me, that unpleasant rubber smell is nowhere to be found (yay!). And wow... I love this. The Weeping Clown is a big winner for me from the Carnaval . I don't know why anyone would cry when they smell this damned good though. I definitely get the fruity citrus notes from the guava and orange peel, but the guava gives this a sweet and pleasant tropical fragrance and keeps the orange peel from becoming too sharp. The apple blossom is also quite noticeable, but it's candy-sweet, pink, and gorgeous. This makes me think of fruity lollipops; and, with the spun sugar in the drydown, this is all lollipops and something like cotton candy on me. I don't get any pepper here. Just fruit and candy and sweetness.

When I originally opened all of my bottles and gave them a quick sniff, The Organ Grinder and the puppets were the ones that I liked best. It's a sweet, edible, milky almond note that reminds me a bit of some exotic danish and then a lovely smack of sweet pine. I grew up in a place called The Whispering Pines, and I love the evergreen notes that BPAL uses. I hate almond (it smells like hyper, boozy maraschino cherries on me), but this almond milk is very lovely. I'm still getting a wee hint of something like sugared cherries, but mostly this is a sweet, milky, honeyed almond scent. After 5 minutes or so... great, my nemesis tobacco is coming in full force to ruin this for me. I hate tobacco notes Tobacco Smoke + Pine = forest fires. I smell burnt and suffocating. I had such high hopes for this one... dashed. This smelled so nice initially, but the drydown is unbearable for me.

I love the puppets, so it'll be interesting to see how I like their mistress. Jasmine is one of my least favorite BPAL notes, so I'm not really hopeful. In the bottle... I definitely smell jasmine, but it smells creamy and sort of nice in the bottle. Creamy jasmine flowers and vanilla. On me, this is an incredibly soft floral. If I didn't know that this had jasmine in it, I would never suspect it. Weird, because my skin usually amps up jasmine like mad. Mostly this is mimosa on me... very light and slightly fruity sweetness that goes a tad powdery in the drydown. I can also pick out a watery violet note that is a bit sharp after a while, but not really bothersome. The Puppet Mistress is a barely there floral on me. Sort of like standing underneath a tree that's heavy with sweet, pink blossoms. I can't pick out any jasmine or musk. I don't generally love florals and I don't love this, but this is a light enough floral that I could get away with wearing it and not getting a migraine.

I feel like I've smelled "Bitch" somewhere before (ha that sounds funny). It's definitely a sinus-clearing sort of herbal scent. It threw me into a sneezing fit and made my nose run when I first put some on. It really bothers me that I clearly know this smell from somewhere, but cannot place it. This almost smells like dill pickles, almost like lemongrass, almost minty, almost herbal lavender... but never quite any of those. On me, wait, I know what this is (or at least what one of the notes are)! Chamomile. It smells very strongly of the Roman Chamomile singlenote that I had once upon a time. There are some other sharper herbal notes in here as well that are kind of ruining the chamomile for me though... I think I'll stick to fragrances like Lump of Coal for my PMS-relief, lol. Chocolate makes me much happier than this sharp herbal blend.

I'm not exactly sure why I bought a 10 ml of this one unsniffed. So many of the new Wanderlust descriptions just sounded like awesome places that I'd like to visit... the whole unspoiled rainforest idea appeals to my sense of wanderlust so strongly. And I liked the thought of smelling "wet, dark greenery." In the bottle... this reminds me of Two Monsters. All masculine, chilling black musk. On me... black musk. It's a cold, dark, almost crystalline sort of musk on me. I also get a hint of something funky and BO smelling at first. After a few minutes, a sweet and lovely floral note begins to twist its way through the black musk. There's also a very damp feel to this, like flowers in the dark depths of the jungle, smothered in thick droplets of condensation. I was kind of enjoying this one and then, 15 minutes or so into this, it becomes so sharp and perfumey that it's making my eyes water . The floral is now reminding me of sharp opium poppy, and the musk has taken a violent turn. Is this that volcanic gas note? If so, I hate it. In the drydown, this blend quite literally stings my eyes and becomes painfully sharp on me. I had to wash it off. It is not the dark greenery that I was hoping for

Pulcinella and Teresina was the Carnaval scent that I was most excited about. Which figures, because it appears to be the most unpopular one . I am always the odd one out. I heaved a sigh of relief when I realized that it was not the leaky bottle in my order. I love puppets. My dad used to put on the most brilliant puppet shows for me when I was little (he passed away when I was 12), and he made them seem so lifelike and funny. They always make me smile and, no matter how creepy they are, I find them adorable. The artwork for Pulcinella and Teresina is my favorite BPAL label ever. What wonderfully evil little marionettes In the bottle, this reminds me so strongly of one of my favorite rose blends ever: Parlement of Foules. But this is much more intense than Parlement. Deeper and richer. The notes in this have me really worried though. BPAL's cedar goes insanely funky and smoky on my skin, and labdanum tends to smell like baby powder on me. I *so* want this to work on me though. I want to love this more than I've ever wanted to love a BPAL blend... On me... this is another wonderful BPAL rose blend and unique enough to stand out from the others as well. This is a perfect blend of peppered woods, goldeny sweet resins, and full red rose on me. No one note is overpowering the other, but it has awesome throw and keeps wafting around me in the most sensual sort of way. I'm not getting any funky cedar or baby powder. After an hour or so, the woods have calmed and headed to the background (but are still very much present and lovely). Now it's mostly soft rose and a sweet, almost syrupy resin. I love everything about Pulcinella and Teresina. It's going on my top 10 list for LE blends, and I'll definitely snag a few more bottles before it disappears

I am now well acquainted with The Candy Butcher. It butchered itself while it was en route to me and leaked all over my package . Bad Candy Butcher. In the umm... bottle... and mostly leaked all over my other bottles... this smells like dark cocoa powder, hazelnut, and rubber balloons. In my attempt to clean up the leaky mess, I got this all over me. And I mean ALL over me. Like a whole bottle of leakage. And this is still incredibly light on me, to the point where it has almost disappeared after only a half hour. I got that rubbery cocoa smell for a while, then it dried down to a faint creaminess that actually reminds me of butterscotch or caramel. But that strange rubber balloon smell is really off-putting. Candy Butcher is more creme brulee than cocoa on me, with a weird rubbery undertone. Staying power is awful on me too. At least I don't have to deeply mourn the loss of my bottle now, lol. There has to be a bright side. ETA: I usually do well with BPAL's chocolate scents (I LOVE Lump of Coal, Bliss, 13, Cerberus) and the creamy, milky, vanilla scents... so The Candy Butcher is an odd exception for me. ETAA: I aged my replacement bottle for a bit over a year and this still smells off on me. The rubber tone isn't as strong and has morphed a bit, but now I get a faintly burnt scent from this. It's like loads of creamy vanilla added into a bit of milk chocolate with a background of burnt rubber. *Why?*

When I saw the "warm and wet" bit, I instantly thought of Bayou. "A lazy, warm deep green scent with a thick aquatic undertone: Spanish moss, evergreen and cypress with watery blue-green notes and an eddy of hothouse flowers and swamp blooms." And the description pretty much sums it up perfectly. It was one of my first BPAL loves, just because it's so unique and interesting. It smells like hothouse blooms and swampy water... but somehow it makes swamp smell wonderful. A lot of the aquatics have more of a chilly smell to them, but Bayou is very warm on me. The Pool of Tears was like cold, salty water and florals on me. The Mock Turtle's Lessons is a more complex aquatic. And Sea of Glass is just a really beautiful aquatic... BPAL makes quite a few interesting 'watery' scents.

In the bottle... this smells like a field of lavender flowers (herbal stems and all) that have been coated in a wonderful sugared vanilla. On me, this has a cool eucalyptus sort of bite to it that reminds me a bit of pine trees. A cool pine-like something and I'm still getting that wonderful vanilla note. It's a sugary, cool, smooth, and slightly powdery vanilla. Perfect for a dream-time blend. After fifteen minutes or so, the pine and chilly menthol note has disappeared and the soft lavender flowers have returned. More than anything, this is an enchanting vanilla smell on me. A nighttime vanilla unlike any of the other vanilla scents in my BPAL arsenal. Sweet and soothing. In a strange way, this smells exactly like what I imagined those cartoon "dream lands in the clouds" to smell like when I was little. After 2 hours, this is a faint spun sugar and powdered milk sort of scent on me. Like cotton candy and vanilla, only not as sickeningly sweet as those two things could be. It's just so wonderfully comforting. TKO is going to give Sleepy Moon a run for its money. This could very well be my new favorite scent for wearing to bed. It really helps to clear my mind and relax me. Love this one

My boy has taken over my wee decant of Crown of Success. And that is fine with me, because it does strike me as a masculine scent (one that is actually even a bit too masculine for me to pull off). This is earthy and dark, smells sort of like a dark vetiver with hints of black patchouli in it. I also get a bit of the peppery bite that a few other people have mentioned. On me, this stays dark and murky and kind of depresses me... on my boy, a smooth wooden note comes out in the drydown. It smells like sexy woods and earth on him. I gave him the decant when people in his life were trying to drag him down... but he's generally pretty lucky and able to shrug off other people's negativity. Now he just smells extra sexy while doing so

Something in this blend goes very sugary-sweet on my skin. It reminds me of some sort of fruit punch drink with way too much sugar added. Thick, fruity, tropical, and hyper on the sugar. In the drydown, the fruity note takes on a boozy quality that reminds me a bit of wine... spiked fruit punch. I'm also getting hints of rose in the drydown, and the rose goes a bit sharp on me. This isn't a favorite smell of mine, but it's an interesting fruity scent with hints of floral.

First on, Seven African Powers is soapy citrus and a grassy herbal scent. Green, a bit sharp, and soapy. After a few minutes, the soapiness fades away and a bit of something like dry cedar begins to come out on my skin. Over time this morphs from an astringent green scent to a dry, almost dusty scent on me. Like the grasses have dried and a warm cedary scent takes over. It becomes more grounded and earthy. This isn't a scent that I'd wear, really, but I found the transition that it went through on my skin to be rather interesting.

I was expecting this to smell more green and damp, since that's what I think of when I think of 'moss.' But this is a surprisingly dry smell. At first it does smell a bit like damp tree bark on me... earthy, musty, and kind of woodsy. In the drydown though, this is the crisp dollar bill smell that I get from Greed. Dry and papery. It smells just like money. I don't know that I'd ever wear this or want a big bottle of it, but it's an interesting little scent.

Light Myrrh on me was a sort of peppery, dry, dusty woods with hints of sweetness. Dark Myrrh is richer and deeper. I definitely can smell the honeyed note that other reviewers have mentioned. In the drydown, this is like smoky, dark incense on me, but with a wonderful sticky-sweetness. It doesn't remind me of woods as much as the light version. This is very strong and has a lot of throw on me for about an hour, but it fades quickly after that. I love this and the light myrrh but, like the light version, I can't see myself ever wearing the single note by itself. It's gorgeous though <3.

La Flamme has a really beautiful scent to it. Definitely dominated by warm red musk, hints of a watery and subtle sweet orange, and what smells like brown sugar to me. In the drydown I can smell a bit of spicy red rose, but I never get any cinnamon out of this blend (and my skin usually amps up cinnamon). It also goes a bit powdery on my skin, but not in a bad or baby powder-ish way. A sultry and warm sort of powder that envelopes me like a cloud. After an hour, this smells like sweet orange and brown sugar on me, with hints of red musk wafting all about. As for the effectiveness... I have a few specific ideas in mind about what I want to do with this oil, so I'll update this after a few weeks ETA. Hrm. This is not as man-magnet-y as I was hoping. It's a warm scent, but it sometimes seems to go oddly off and metallic when I wear it as a personal fragrance. The boy I used to be interested in hated it, and the boy I'm with now isn't overly fond of it either.

Caliph's Beloved is such a lovely fragrance. It reminds me a bit of Voodoo (my all-time favorite scent), but a warmer, spicier sort of version. It has the same cola smell on me, and perhaps a hint of something like a warm, red patchouli and red sandalwood. This reminds me of that holiday spice version of coca cola in the drydown, which was basically just cola and cinnamon. I *love* that smell. Cinnamon bothers me sometimes, but the cinnamon here isn't overly strong or sharp to me. It's just perfectly sweet and foodie. As for the effectiveness... my sexual excitement is pretty much always at a fevered pitch to begin with, so I'm not sure that I noticed any difference that was out of the norm. I do love this as a perfume though, and will probably go through my bottle and buy more. It's very sexy and pleasant to me. Perfect for heating things up during the winter

I almost didn't buy Chrysanthemum Moon. The description of the opium den terrified me. The whole opium/poppy thing is something that I've learned to fear... the smell of it gives me vicious migraines and actual nosebleeds. But I hate to miss out on a BPAL LE, so I decided to face death and buy a bottle at the last minute anyhow, lol. The beautiful description for the Mum Moon fits it so perfectly. Gold-dusted mums, sensual incense, and spicy ginger are all apparent to me... I could really visualize the story that was told along with the scent when I wore this. A strange side note: This has a subtle background note that smells like a man's lime-scented cologne. It's sexy and pleasant, just not something that I was expecting. In the bottle, this actually smells like some sort of lime cleanser on me too. But it's a light (barely there after a half hour or so), gentleman's cologne on my skin... Mainly this is like spicy, dried flowers and sultry incense. There's probably a bit of amber in here too, because it takes on a warm, dusty quality on my skin. There is that opium poppy note here as well, but it was light and faded quickly enough that even an opium-hater like me could wear this without getting ill. I really was fond of this one. It was a wonderfully comfortingly warm, spicy, dry incense on me in the drydown. I'm going to love Mum Moon this winter