ljaylh

I knew I was in for a treat when I slathered this on and saw that the oil was a rich dark brown colour - always a good sign Oh Callidora, you vampy thang! There is not one note in here I don't like - everyone's a winner baby that's no lie (that's no lie) /Hot Chocolate (and if you get that musical reference, you are simultaneously awesome and ridiculous and I love you) Of course the star of the show here for me is the gorgeous red patchouli - it lays down a warm bed of sumptuous velvet and beckons the blood musk to come lay its voluptuous body down on top. The myrrh sneaks in softly with the slithery sweetness of the benzoin dancing around between its swirls of smokey seduction - these two lovelies get on in there with the blood musk so beautifully that it's as if they were always meant to be together. The patchouli holds everyone close then lets the tobacco rain its soft flakes through the air, its warmth giving off a softly comforting glow. The cacao makes an appearance late in the game but it gets in there under the covers and snuggles right in, adding just the softest breath of warm spicy chocolate. Once everything's wrapped up together in Red Patchouli's velvet wonderland, the magic really starts to happen as the musk sexes up the place... I'm pretty sure these notes aren't just blending - they're fornicating. This is the kind of perfume that makes men swoon, and should therefore be worn with caution - it is not one to slather before going to Tuesday night bingo with your Auntie Sarah. It reminds me very much of my other favourite BPAL vamp - Lucy, Kissed... it has that same lusty throbbing thing going on. It's definitely one of those 'wear if you dare' blends - I agree it's in the same family as Snake Charmer and Mme Moriarty, as the lovely VioletChaos mentioned. Callidora is the BPAL to reach for when you're wearing that naughty black underwear you save for special occasions. It's the BPAL you dab behind your ears when you know someone's going to be breathing there later. It's voluptuous and vampy, and completely seductive. It's Morticia Addams in a bottle.

Hmm.. the only thing I can think of is Tristan - from Stardust. The notes are redwood, tonka bean, white sandalwood, lemon peel, patchouli, rosewood, coriander, and crushed mint. ... I don't think I've tried it myself, but it doesn't sound like what you've described. There's also Trick or Treat - but that's a full-on popcorn smell so that doesn't seem to match... and also The Triumph of Death - black patchouli, red sandalwood, dark musk, peru balsam, ambrette seed, vetiver, and ambergris accord - Trinket, which is like cherry cola - and Trick #2 - pomegranate, tobacco leaf, patchouli, wild berries, pine pitch, oak-aged vanilla, and pink pepper - that's about all I can come up with. Oh - there was a proto... Hermes Tri-something-or-other. I hope you manage to figure it out!

You're right - it does seem that there is a proportionate amount of frimps with orders - around 2 x frimps per bottle... generally (of course, this varies). However frottles seem a bit more random. I've received a frottle with large orders, but also with not-so-big orders. I really don't think there's any such thing as "guaranteed to include" - free *anything* is to be appreciated, not expected. I don't mean that as a personal thing aimed at you, aphrodite, but I just felt it's important to remember this

Oh dear... when my bottles first arrived and I de-lidded As Above, I was assaulted by a blast of almond. Yes, assaulted! Aww sheeit, I say to myself, this is not good. But I put my fears aside, for I am an intrepid BPALer! I know that notes who jump out of bottles up my nose don't always have the same vigour once they get on my skin. Like you - stupid almond... you think you're all that when you're safe in your little glass home, but let's see if you can stand your ground when I get you out Sadly... I have to report that yes, the almond does stand its ground when it gets out. Really... this is all about the almond (which translates to cherry cough syrup on my skin) - way too much about the almond It's almond who ruined the original Haute Macabre blend for me... and it's doing it here too, damnit! And then peeking out behind the almond is the jasmine - a note that typically does not work for me (although the Moroccan variety is often an exception) - so at first all I get from As Above is an awful mix of almond + jasmine, which together smell like cherry-flavoured vomit. It takes about 20 minutes for that to go away, and then huzzah! Here comes the bourbon vanilla! There's the leather! And the white patchouli - quite ethereal here, very clean and fresh, with the oak bark very faintly at the very bottom of the note pile. I dunno... this turns out almost OK in the end, but overall I'm just not digging it all that much. It's just a bit brash for my liking - the notes are kind of clanging against each other rather than blending harmoniously. Most of the time it's all just a bit of a soapy mess - like walking into a laundromat and breathing in the odour of the twenty different washing detergents and fabric softeners that have been used that day, combined with the remnants of eau de smelly socks.. Every now and then I get a waft of lovely soft woodsy leather with a touch of vanilla sweetness - and those moments are pure bliss - but then the cherry and jasmine come back and we're back to laundromat land.

This is so much like several other BPALs that I know and love - yet uniquely different. It's like Beth has gathered up all my favourite blends and somehow mixed them together to create something that smells hauntingly familiar yet intriguingly different. I recognise the warm meaty sweetness of my beloved black coconut (soft here, like in Haragata II rather than gnarly like in Body, Remember), and oh hey there's my most-loved patch.. Sumatran Red, warm and luscious. I have a real thing for Beth's 'golden' blends, and here we've got golden musk swirled together with soft dusky amber - it's like having a snuggly golden moonbeam blanket wrapped around me. The green cardamom adds an interesting tang of slight spice (it's a little wasabi-like, to my nose) - it's not obviously spicy, but there's a nice soft almost-peppery tone in the background. The only thing that's not really winning me over here is the copal - it tends to lay a bit flat on my skin, and has a habit of smothering other notes, and unfortunately that's what I'm getting here - the copal itself is beautifully waxy and silky but it is dominating a little more than I'd like. Overall, this blend has a lovely luminescence to it - a definite glow - it's quite soft and close to the skin... I really have to lean in close to get a good nose-full of it - more like the fragrance on your skin after applying a decadent body creme, rather than an obvious perfume - so it doesn't have quite the oomph that I was hoping for. But I do love how the richness of the black coconut + patchouli are lurking under the top layer of golden musk and amber, all under the cover of creamy copal. Over time, the musk + amber fade before the patchouli does, but the copal stays for the long haul. Patchouli haters dislikers - do not fear this... it really isn't that 'stinky hippie' patch that people have trouble with... but if you love those elusive, lean-in-to-sniff-me soft golden-glow type blends then this is definitely worth a try.

First up - thank you to the very lovely bheansidhe for picking up a bottle of this for me at Dragon*Con So as some of you may know, I am a big fan of patchouli. When the Sumatran Red Patchouli SN came out, I was more excited than Charlie Sheen at a strip club.. and I bought - err - a few bottles. Then lo and behold out comes East African Black! So of course, I had to give this one a try as well In my experience with various patchouli oils - both BPAL and not - the black variety is not really my favourite, it usually goes a tad bitter on my skin. And so it is with this one - when I first slapped it on, I leaned in for a big whiff and got a nose full of sharp, bitter patchouli fumes. So I left it alone for a while... half an hour later, the acrid tones have mellowed out but the smokiness definitely remains and a nice earthy/woodsy vibe has developed. It's good, but I'm not loving it, and it lacks the impact that the Red has on me... this has far less throw. I do recognise this black patchouli from #OWS, and Goblin, and a couple of other blends too - and I loved it in the mix with those, but it's not so great on its own for me... it needs something to sweeten it up a bit. I know it's kind of unfair to compare the Red to the Black, since they're.. you know.. different and all - but I'm doing it anyway For me, the Sumatran Red wins this race hands down - it's kickass but also warm and cuddly and voluptuous and smooth, where this East African Black is kickass in a slap-your-face harsh and sharp way. And whilst they definitely both have my beloved stinky hippy thing going on... Sumatran Red is the kind of hippy who takes you back to his cosy cabin in the forest to smoke some bowls, listen to Pink Floyd and make pancakes - East African Black is the kind of hippy who takes you back to his van in the trailer park, puts LSD in your hot chocolate and makes you listen to all his Beatles records played backwards.

Yeah, me too - they are perfect for the weenies! Autumn Fancies is excellent. I'm also loving the phobia labels. Thanks for posting pics!!

Quite a few lunacy blends have had "traditional lunar oils" or "lunar herbs" included in the notes, and if you cross-check a bunch of them you'll find certain notes make pretty frequent appearances, but as far as I know there's not any particular note or notes that appear in every lunacy blend. But you will sometimes hear people saying that the lunacy blends never work for them, that "there's just something in them..." - which makes it sound like there actually is something they all have in common. But... I'm pretty sure there isn't... well, unless there's a secret lunacy ingredient that we don't know about

@bpal posted on Twitter that all the BPAL weenies are now available at Dark Delicacies... so if anyone happens to be strolling by there, maybe they could get a pic of all the new labels!

Hey! I wore my Snow White '04 today as well - and you're right, it's still completely gorgeous I'm hoping all my best-loved BPALs will last longer than dirt. And I suspect they will

I would suggest you try to find a decant of Crowley - since you like Loviatar... Crowley has that same sort of rich/deep/dark devilish leather. The notes are: Infernal musk, red patchouli, lilac cologne, mahogany, lemon rind, oakmoss, leather, and vanilla husk - but don't let the lemon, lilac or vanilla put you off - I don't even notice them in there, it's all about the hot musky leather. However - I do find that brand new Crowley lacks depth.. it's really only good for me after it's aged a couple of years. But it really is worth the wait! Or even better - look for a decant that has some age to it. And I agree with the previous posters - SO is really a very minor element in Western Diamondback... however, it definitely is there. Again - look for aged WD, the leather gets more rich and dominant with age. Another one you might like to try is Spanked - the notes are Whip leather, cardamom, patchouli, and bourbon so there's a touch of spiciness in there from the cardamom but it's a lovely deep/earthy leather blend. You'll be lucky to find any of the original version, because it's rarer than rocking horse poop, but luckily we had a Resurrected version a couple of years ago and that one is not so hard to find edited to fix typos

Fresh pin and slushy/icy mint. It sweetens up a bit on drydown, but stays pretty much as it started out - icy pine. This reminds me a lot of Skadi and other pine/ice-like blends.

Thank you to the beautiful Dark Alice for sending me a tester of this When I first dabbed Burning Book on to my skin, and leaned in for a sniff, I kind of went :ack:because I got this acrid, chemical-ish, sharp nasty burnt smell that was rather unpleasant. It smelled kind of like a combination of burning wet socks and ink that's gone off. Thankfully, that lasted for only about four seconds, and then this lovely leather smell started to emerge - it's the lovely heady intoxicating leather I know from Brom Bones and Quincy Morris - fresh leather, rather than the soft suede-y type. I can see where people are getting the tobacco impression from, because I am definitely picking up something that has that slightly sweet and golden feel that I get from tobacco, so yeah - maybe there's tobacco in here somewhere. Ten minutes in, and that initial richness I got from the leather has subsided and mellowed out a bit, and now I can sense something inky lurking under there - it's not an obvious INK smell (like, say, India Ink which was just too much ink and really quite nasty on me). There's also a lovely smokiness emerging. After a full half-hour on my skin, everything has meshed in together beautifully and it's all very warm and sensuous - it's not giving me a lot of throw, but if I lean in and take a big whiff... it kind of makes my eyes roll back a little This is really quite beautiful, and now I wish I had tried to get a bottle when it was available... I just thought "Burning Book" was probably going to smell like burnt paper, and that didn't appeal to me at all, but here it is - all sexy leather, golden smokey tobacco and murky dusty inkiness and I love it. I'm pretty sure Patrick Stewart has a country manor somewhere, and in that manor is an exquisite library in which a fire crackles quietly in the corner and every wall is packed to the ceiling with olde leather-bound tomes. And somewhere in the sprawling manliness of his library sits a couple of old, well-worn leather chairs that hold the scented remnants of cigars smoked, whiskey sipped, and corduroy trousers warmly pressed against their seats. I imagine Burning Book smells exactly like what would greet you upon throwing open the old oak doors and stepping inside Patrick Stewart's library.

As described by Puddin' : Umm, sorry but I can't tell you what is in the Sweet Barking Cheese. I have a few unleashed and unused oils and I grabbed one of those.What does it smell like and I will see if I can figure out which one it was. I have no clue what is in it. This room spray was made for me by Puddin' ... it's a one-of-a-kind, made-by-goblin-hand original - and as you can see by the description above, what's in here is a total mystery Sweet Barking Cheese smells like sugar and spice and everything nice. It's how you want those candles labelled "Exotic Spice" to smell, but they never do. It's how your magic carpet would smell after you'd been for an evening flight down to a spice market in Kathmandu where you politely decline several tempting offers from three-fingered men with dark misaligned eyes trying to sell you tapestries, but end up bringing home a six-pack of incense, a falafel burger, a little dark brown puppy that you name Sheik Yerboodie because you're just hilarious like that, and seven sacks of mysterious spices said to aid digestion and hair growth. It's sugary, but not sweet at all. It's spicy in a throbbing red/dark brown kind of way - definitely cinnamon, probably cassia, possibly a hint of ginger snuggled up in there somewhere.. and I think there might be a slight hint of a dark wood in here, maybe? I'm not sure what's responsible for the sweetness - I guess it's most likely a dark vanilla, but it's hard to tell. It reminds me very much of Monsterbait: Underbed, but without the cake base - it's also very similar to the Aphrodite Kypria atmo spray from last year's Lupers, but without the clean/sweetness of the Egyptian musk. This is one of those sprays that starts off lingering innocently in the room, but after ten minutes you feel it climbing up inside your nostrils like some deranged abseiler - poking and prodding until it's right up there like HEADING FOR YOUR EYE SOCKETS and you can feel it and it makes you sneeze but in the good-kind-of-sneeze-way which medical professionals claim is like an orgasm for your brain. This is the kind of spray that hides around corners, jumping out and kicking you in the balls when you least expect it - it's a naughty, naughty spray that can't be trusted. It *will* make people sneeze, and it might even make your eyes water just a little. Because.. did I mention it's spicy? Yeah, it's spicy. It's good The bottle and original artwork by Puddin' PS for prosperity - here's the link to the Sweet Barking Cheese giveaway and the story behind the spray

OK.. I just have to quote this from Beth's prose: So the next time someone tells you that you smell like an unwashed hippie, Patchouli, just smile your enigmatic smile. The enlightened know how amazing you are. Dude, I am enlightened. I AM SO FREAKING ENLIGHTENED THAT I AM A GLOWING ORB OF BLINDING LIGHT. This is the patchouli to end all patchoulis – the one patchouli to rule them all. It's the kind of patchouli that makes dogs fart on command, startles old ladies, and makes babies cry. The kind of patchouli that even the stinkiest hippie would say is a bit too strong, then hang their head in shame and go home to have a good bath and a nice cup of tea. It's the kind of patchouli that if you put more than a drop or two on your skin, follows you around for hours and hours and leaves little remnants of itself in every atom of the air that surrounds you. This is not a patchouli for mild-mannered young ladies who are afraid of being noticed - this is a patchouli that enters the room before you do and says SMELL MY MAGNIFICENCE, MOTHAFUCKAS. Just like that, all in capitals, because Sumatran Red Patchouli doesn't give a shit if it offends people. As soon as I took the lid off my bottle, I knew I was in for a treat as I felt the warm wafting gnarliness of hot feral patchouli hit my nostrils. Resisting the urge to just tip the bottle upside down on top of my head and let this liquid perfection drizzle down all over me, I gently dabbed a little bit on to my wrist, leaned in for a good sniff, and then had a moment of total bliss as this wondrous scent enveloped me completely. Wearing this is like getting a hug from a grizzly bear – it's warm, it's snuggly and cuddly, but it's also slightly terrifying. I love that this patchouli is so warm and earthy and feral, but there's also a delicate smoky sweetness playing around in there. I don't mind a dirty patchouli, but this isn't really that fully dirty kind.. it's definitely more on the earthy/leathery end of the patchouli spectrum rather than the hempy/dirty side. For such a gnarly patch, it's actually very clean – if this were a liqueur, it would be right up on the top shelf... this is the good stuff, the real deal. Completely beautiful on its own, but a fantastic base for layering – so far I've tried it with Araña (amazing, glowing, gorgeous) and Gelt (unff, wanted to eat myself), and Spanked (don't try that one unless you want to be ravaged)... but the experiments will be never ending because this really is *the* perfect mixer. So yeah, I love this Sumatran Red Patchouli – which, incidentally, actually smells just like my memories of walking around in Sumatra and Indonesia through the haze of incense that's always burning everywhere – but I suspect I should have bought more bottles. I am definitely wearing this the next time I travel back in time to 1969.

OK - who stole all the coffee and spices and incensey goodness out of my bottle, and just left me with Turkish Delight and rose? I was really hoping for that thick, rich, gnarly coffee smell - you know the one, the type of coffee that when it's brewing the whole street knows about it. I was kinda hoping for not-too-much cardamom, because it tends to turn into eau de curry powder on me - so I guess it's good that I'm not finding any of that at all in here, and I reallyreallyreally wanted the buhur to give everything that gorgeous eastern incense-y tone. The one thing I didn't want - a rose explosion - is exactly what I got, although in the bottle I can smell the dark sweet coffee, the hint of spice, the swirl of incense smoke - it's my skin that's messing this up (as expected, because rose hates me and the feeling is mutual) If the rose would just GTFO of the way for a moment, I know the coffee is there - I can *almost* smell it, but no... rose has to take over everything. Screw you, rose - I've had enough of you ruining all my BPALs. In here, the rose is making everything a bit cloying and overly foodyish - it's like sickly sweet sugared rose. BOO! Overall, and very sadly, all I get for about an hour is Turkish Delight and rose... but then... but then!!! yes - the rose does finally calm down and let the coffee and buhur peek through... and this is when I think for a moment that maybe this will turn out OK. But even then, I don't really like it - the Turkish Delight smell is still there, and it's sweet in that urinal cake way which is never a good thing. But I stick with it, because I am stupid hopeful - and once I manage to make it through that unpleasant stage of feeling like I've been trapped in Barbara Cartland's bathroom, I find that it's dried down to a weird and equally cloying smell that gives me hints of stale coffee and baby powder. I'm just not sure this will end up being a keeper because although the rose mellows, it never really goes away and it's just not playing out very successfully on my skin. It's actually giving me a slight headache edited to add label photo:

Well far out, bean sprout! I didn't know there was an 'original' CN label style.. I don't think I've seen any of those in my travels! Thanks for the info, Little Bird

Yep - your bottle is the original - nice! That's one of my favourite labels I think sometimes decants get labelled just as 'Midway' without the 'Resurrected', so it's possible that your decant is the Res. version maybe? Also - I've heard people say that oil ages more quickly in a decant than in a bottle (something about the smaller volume, can't remember now what the reasoning was) so that might be why the oil in your decant smells different to the oil in your bottle? But then you said that your decant smells more 'right' than your bottle.. so, well - I don't know! Curious and curiouser Anyways - as long as you like them all, then it's all good! PS I remember reading somewhere that the old(er) BPALs were more prone to batch variation, because the Lab did more small-batch lots back before they had the large customer base they do today, but I'm not sure how true that is... and I can't say I've noticed it in any of the old/older BPALs that I own.

I think they're either exactly the same, or very very similar - the original is more aged, obviously, so to me it smells less 'fresh' and the sweetness is more mellow - but the difference is subtle. The labels are completely different though - if I remember correctly the original had a paper label with a big ferris wheel on it, and the resurrected version looks like this:

The embodiment of heart-wrenching loss, torment, of mad, obsessive cruelty and chilly revenge. This is the scent of a frost-limed wedding bouquet, frozen forever in time. I was making up packages today, and saw this on someone's wishlist.. then remembered I had a half-decant of it! But I had never tried it, so before sending it off to its new home, I tried a little dab. Yeah.. I can see why people find this one so alluring - it's a beautiful ghostly floral blend that dries down to a very soft memory of the gentle smell of walking through a garden of roses, lillies and clean white flowers. It's not a heady floral, nor is it sweet - it's more aloof and distant.. like it stands back from you slightly, so that you have to go find it. It turns a little powdery on me, and slightly soapy, but retains its mystery beautifully.

This is the one Bat's Day blend that I thought was doomed to failure for me, because... well... florals just aren't my friend. But I have freesias growing wild through my garden at spring time every year (here's a tip for the young gardeners out there.. plant bulbs!) and they smell amazing. But bourbon vanilla - amber - ylang ylang - saffron - these are all good, very very good, so I figured I'd give it a chance. So - let's see.. Serotine Bat. What's nice about it is that it turns fruity on my skin - not floral at all. But not fruity like FROO-TEE, just a hint of fruitiness. The peach blossom is so light and fluffy that you really have to pay attention to realise it's peach, and the freesia has a beautiful waxy sweetness without being all floralpants about it. The saffron here must be in very small quantity, because it's not something I pick up strongly as an individual note - it's just adding a gentle golden glow to the overall feeling of the fragrance (as others have mentioned.. I recognise the saffron from Love's Philosophy but here it's way less obvious). But the stars of the show are the vanilla, amber and ylang ylang - what a heavenly combination! Last year, the big winner for me was Silver-Haired Bat with its gorgeous shimmery golden ambergris+oudh+amber combination, and strangely enough.. Serotine reminds me very much of SHB - and by "strangely enough" I mean.. aside from amber, they have no common notes - but it's a feel thing, not a smell thing. Where SHB is like being inside a sleeping bag of warm salted caramel, Serotine is like being inside a sleeping bag of warm fruity caramel. Not that nasty brown-sugar type caramel, but the soft light-brown chewy caramel. They are both silky smooth and luxuriantly sensuous... this is the BPAL that Carolyn whatsherface should have had on when she married John Kennedy in that white satin sheath dress. Or Charlize Theron wearing that gold dress in that ridiculous bloody J'Adore commercial for that stinky Dior perfume. Not that I want to marry a Kennedy, or wear a silky gold dress and pout around speaking French - oh no, no I don't - but this is definitely a BPAL worthy of screen goddesses and women-who-marry-Kennedys, should one be inclined to aspire to either of these things. But the best thing of all... where SHB lasts for less than an hour on my skin, Serotine sticks around for two hours before I notice it starting to fade. And it doesn't morph or mess around at all - it stays the same from dab to disappearance. Wait - I know what this is! Serotine Bat is like Silver-Haired Bat meets Monsterbait: Underpants. It's drop-dead gorgeous and I am now going to embark on a mission to find at least one backup bottle. And maybe a Kennedy Edited to add label photo

I really can't think of a fully-marshmallow BPAL that doesn't have something else with it.. I would have suggested Marshmallow Poof, but you've said it may be too sweet for you (plus, it's pretty hard to find) so I'm going to suggest checking out Starring Fragrances... I've tried a few of their marshmallow-ish blends, and they do those kinds of things really well. And they sell samples. They do single notes - and they have one called Puffed Marshmallow - White sticky marshmallows, nothing else! - which could do the trick Good luck with your search!

Thank you to the lovely Klepz for gifting me a decant of this Yep... this is very 'sun' like - it's fresh and clean, and the colour association for me is definitely yellow. It smells like a fancy shampoo on me. I can't really pick up the individual notes... it's just... shampoo.

Huge to my friend Klepz for gifting me a decant of this! So yeah.. it's all been said already - this is one of those BPALs that smells exactly as you expect it's going to Because I amp rose like a boss, that's pretty much what Love ends up smelling like on me - at first it was all fluffy marshmallow, vanilla and strawberry deliciousness but then... dun dun dun... out comes the rose, and that was the beginning of the end. Over time, the rose just got stronger and stronger until it's all I can smell. BOO! As far as rose goes, it's pretty nice - quite soft, and sweet, but still ROSE. It reminds me of Pink Snowballs, but with strawberry added and less vanilla. If that whole rose situation wasn't happening, I could really enjoy this scent because the marshmallow + vanilla + strawberry combo is really gorgeous but.. yeah, rose

Here is a pic of the original, and the re-release. The original Black Lace had the teal-toned label (on the left) and the re-release has the black/grey one. Hope that helps!