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Wow - gorgeous, lovely tropical fruits with a hint of tropical flowers but not to the point where it becomes a floral blend.

This one's full of sunshine and happiness - just like a big bowl of fresh fruit on a summer's day. So very very pretty, and the fruits are very natural smelling.. I get the Starburst reference, but for me Tiki Princess V3 never quite goes into candy territory - it is sweet, yes, but not artificially so. Delicious!

ETA - thanks to the lovely bookandbroom for sending me this tester!

Thanks to the lovely bookandbroom for a tester of this one!

I'm finding it difficult to pinpoint what the notes might be in SPDU1 - at first I thought it was green/herby, but then it went a little fruity, and now I'm just not sure what it is!

Overall it's very soft and powdery, it has an almost incense-ish vibe but it doesn't seem resiny at all. It's slightly smoky, but not in a vetiver kind of way. I'm pretty sure there's something fruity going on, perhaps a very soft plum.. actually maybe that's what's giving me the smoky feel - plum can sometimes go smoky rather than sweet on my skin. There *might* be a bit of red musk in here too.. maaaaaaybe, or perhaps it's more of a brown musk.

I hope someone else comes along and adds another review, because it seems mine is too vague to be of much use!

I was worried this would be all burny uber-spicy cinnamon, but it's really not - it's spicy, yep.. but I think there's more than just cinnamon going on in here, because it also has a slightly resiny edge and I agree with ZZ that it might have a hint of plum. The initial 'hot' feel dies down fairly quickly, and leaves behind a nice soft spiciness that's not irritating at all because it's warm and sensuous rather than hot and spicy. It kinda reminds me of a mix between Chrysanthemum Moon and Hellion, with an extra boost of spice. It's beautifully blended and very smooth.

I'll be curious to see which of the proto versions is closest to the CD Fire Dancer when it eventually comes out. If it's this one, then I think it will be a huge hit for a lot of people who seek warm and spicy blends.

Mmm.. lime! MMMM... pear AND lime! I wish Beth would use pear more often, it's such a lovely note when it plays nice with others.. as it does here in Luna. The combination of pear and lime is perfect - I'm kinda wondering now how well they would work together as a juice drink

There's a slight pepperiness here from the carnation, and the thyme adds an organic element to the blend - those two are doing a fine job of stopping this from becoming a fruity sugary mess. I'm not sure what Touareg tea smells like, so I can't comment on that.. but Luna does actually remind me of a 'tea' kind of smell - one of those exotic teas that you pay a lot of money for because it's supposed to contain natural ingredients and real fruits.

I might have to acquire a bottle of this one, it reminds me a bit of Perilous Parlor which also has a gorgeous pear note - but where PP is pink to me, this is definitely green. It wears beautifully on my skin, the notes all stay good and the musk comes out later to add a layer of softness to everything. Very very yummy, and it's so nice to have a new lime blend in my BPAL collection!

Mmmm... good! The mandarin and ginger partner beautifully and the mango is gorgeous - those are the main three things I can smell here. I was scared that the pumpkin might overwhelm everything, but honestly.. I'm not picking up hardly any pumpkin in here at all - what I can smell is very subtle and it's hard to distinguish the pumpkin from the ginger. And sugar cane can sometimes go horribly wrong on me (Pet Magah Bird, I'm looking at you!) - but nope, not here. I'm also not noticing much of the golden amber, there's nothing powdery in here at all - I must be amping the fruits much more, because amber usually makes a pretty clear appearance on my skin.

Slightly spicy from the ginger, but beautifully fruity from the mandarin and mango. A really interesting blend, it's warm and earthy and overall quite tasty.

Hmm.. I get NO vetiver at all here. None! Wait.. maybe it is there, but uber-soft, like just a drop in a whole 5ml. Mostly I get a sweet apricot from Common Jezebel, with a little bit of lemon sugar. The coconut isn't really there in a COCONUT kind of way - it's just adding a slight waxiness to things. And the red currant.. hmm.. yes, there it is - it comes out after a short while and blends in with the apricot nicely.

Very pretty, and just overall *nice*.

A surprise winner! I almost didn't get this one because brown sugar is not usually my friend. Not at all, nope, never. But it works here! And the clove is soft, really subtle, another win! The sassafras is lovely, very root beer-ish but not overwhelming, and finally the plum is just playing around with all the brown things - it adds a lovely touch of warmth and soft sweetness. This one is reminding me very much of Hellion - it's not as rich and opulent as Hellion but it has a very similar vibe.

Wowsers, this one is freaky! Have you ever accidentally had your iron on way too hot, and scorched something cotton like a blouse? If so.. remember how it smelled? That's what Paper Kite smells like on me!

I can smell the coconut and white sugar struggling to come out, but unfortunately they just can't escape the scorched cotton smell. This is the first ever coconut blend to do this to me, so I have to blame the angelica because black pepper usually behaves itself for me. It could be the white sugar too, perhaps - hmm.. yes, maybe that's it. Either way, Paper Kite has earned a place in my list of shame as only the fourth ever BPAL that was so nasty on me that I've had to wash it off.

Very pretty, sweet but not cloyingly so, fresh and lovely. On my skin, the most obvious notes are the sweet pea and rose sugar - the lemon blossom is beautifully soft (not a sharp lemon at all), and the vanilla bean is soft rather than sweet. I'm not really picking up either of the two berry notes, nor the candyfloss on its own but perhaps that's what's giving the overall sweetness effect. There's something peach-y going on here too - since peach isn't a listed note, perhaps that's a result of the lemon blossom and berries.. dunno, but it's definitely peach-y.

I'd put this one in the same family of smells as Mouse's Sad & Long Tale, and some of the District blends - it has a lovely fruitiness with that lovely natural sweetness from the sweet pea. I'm not sure I'd wear it a lot, as these kinds of blends aren't really my thing, but Rosy Maple is definitely a very pretty one.

I'm in the 'big disappointment' camp with this one. It's not ghastly or anything, but I thought it was going to be something really special and.. well, it just isn't. Not for me, anyways

Overall, it's just way too soft for me. I actually double-dabbed it - after my first application I could hardly tell where it was on my skin, so I put another splotch on. And it's still hardly there - 15 minutes in, and it's so light as to be almost not there at all. What I can smell is a very very faint cardamon and a teensy bit of Egyptian musk. What I was most excited about in this blend was the bourbon vanilla.. which I can't find at all. Nor the tonka, or white sugar. What I have here on my skin is quite nice smelling, but not what I wanted from Gypsy so this decant will probably be passed along to someone who will hopefully get a better result.

I have tried most of BPAL's leather blends and I agree with previous posters - there seems to be two 'categories' of leather (although the leathers themselves do vary).. those that go sharp, bitter or chemical-y on my skin (De Sade, The Traveller) and those that go all warm and sexy on my skin (eg Crowley, Liz, Loviatar). However, leather seems to be particularly prone to the affects of skin chemistry and I think that's why we all have such different results from leather blends. I've also found that aging makes a HUGE difference to the overall tone and feel of BPAL's leathers.

khazakant - for GC blends, Crowley is by far the best leather for me - it lasts for hours and hours on my skin and is rich, warm and luscious. BUT! (and this is a big BUT!) - I have a bottle that's about 2 years old, and it's delicious. I recently bought a brand new bottle from the Lab, intending to stash it for aging, and the difference between new and old is astonishing - new, it's quite bright and slightly sharp, the other notes are way more noticeable. Unfortunately you can't buy Crowley in imp form from the Lab, but once the Swaps area comes back to the forum you could post an ISO and I'm sure you'll be able to find a decant of it to try. Liz also worked really nicely on my skin, but it's a more 'feminine' blend - the vanilla is soft and pretty where Crowley is more 'dark' feeling.

I'd also recommend trying Black Rider (black leather, oppoponax, tobacco, and black amber), White Rider (white leather and sandalwood), and Red Rider (red leather, red moss, and balsam) - they're all available as imps in the Marchen line, and might be a good way to get a feel for those three styles of leather as well as how other notes mix with leather. Black Rider is my fave of the three.. but I like the dark, rich kinds of leather blends. I think the secret of finding a good one lies in finding what combination of other notes bring out the best in the leather for your own skin chemistry.

What do you want from your leather blend, khazakant? Are you looking for dark, smoky, sexy? Or light, soft, pretty? Or.. ? There's so many choices in the GC!

#99

From the bottle, fizzy! I detect champagne.. and champagne is not my friend. On the skin - yep, champagne for sure.. it's fizzy and it has that white spirits smell that my skin detests. The vanilla is valiantly trying to come out on top, but nope - champagne wins. This one has been fairy-gifted away to a more loving home.

I've been meaning to try this for ages, and finally did - thanks to a swap with CapricornSister

I guess I put it off for so long because of the words "floral perfume" in the description. I love leather and vanilla as a note combination, and if either/both have a smoky aspect then I love them even more! So I was worried that this would be overly floral and ruin the other things, bu as it turns out.. my worries were needless.

Although it goes on quite strong at first, once it dries down the floral aspect of Liz is very light and soft - it is feminine, and it's also quite pretty. I'm not sure what specific florals are involved - it's all so light and well blended that no particular floral note is really jumping out at me - this is a Very Good Thing! The vanilla is also soft, with a slight smokiness (not the dreaded plastic kind, or the super-sweet kind), and the leather is also beautifully soft.. more like a suede than a strong leather note, very subtle - more of a background note - and it has no bitterness at all. I agree with others - this one wins out over CC:Female for me too as a vanilla/leather blend.

I think even those people who normally dislike or can't tolerate leather would be able to wear Liz - it really is very soft and lovely, and no one note dominates. This is one of those blends you could wear at any time - it just smells.. nice.

I've discovered that fresh Tombstone, on me, smells a lot like Le Pere Fouettard.

 

However.. my old 10ml bottle of Tombstone, which is.. uhm.. about 5 years old now, is very different to the Lab-fresh imp that I just got and the similarity to Le Pere isn't quite the same.

 

Alas, that doesn't work for me.

Oh.. bummer! I was really surprised by how similar they were on my skin. Le Pere had the edge over Tombstone, it was just overall more 'deep' in the intensity of the notes, but Tombstone was doing an admirable job of being its dupe. Sorry it didn't work for you

I've discovered that fresh Tombstone, on me, smells a lot like Le Pere Fouettard.

However.. my old 10ml bottle of Tombstone, which is.. uhm.. about 5 years old now, is very different to the Lab-fresh imp that I just got and the similarity to Le Pere isn't quite the same.

Thanks to princessbeena for frimping me this one!

I had no idea what the notes were in Grief, so I just opened it up and had a slather. I guess I was expecting something kinda cold and alone and sad, which is how grief feels to me, so I was quite surprised to find that this is a mix of pretty florals.

But now, having read the excerpt that Beth chose to go with this one - which relates to not dwelling in grief - it all makes perfect sense. This is the kind of smell that you couldn't be sad around - it's bright, and pretty, and the combination of the floral notes have achieved that lovely balance of sweetness that makes them heady without being too strong or 'flowery'. I'd say the lily is foremost in the fragrance, but the muguet is also quite present.

I'm not sure that this has anything especially awesome that makes it rise above other BPALs with similar combinations of floral notes, but then I'm not a big fan of florals in general so I can't say I've tried a huge amount of them. But overall, this is a very pretty and unobtrusive scent that has a lovely elegant touch with a slightly sombre yet sunny feel.

So here's me, the anti-flower girl, reviewing this one

When I first dabbed it on and leaned in for a smell, I was expecting florals of course. And yep - this is all about the florals! But I was actually pleasantly surprised, it wasn't flowery flowers - I got a good hit of greenery and something slightly dark and mysterious in there.. I'm thinking ooh - maybe this is an OK type of floral.

But no.. I lean in later for another sniff once it's dried down, and there they are - the flowery flowers. This is just like walking into a florist - that strong fragrance of heady florals from all different kinds of flowers in bunches. I'm not sure I can identify exactly *which* flowers, but my money's going on things like freesia, honeysuckle, jonquils and orchids - those 'spring' kinds of flowers. Maybe some violet or something blue/purple too, and possibly lilies. There's also something slightly wood-ish in here, but not like a tree kind of wood - more like the smell of cane or wicker.. which would make sense, maybe this flower girl carries her blooms in a little wicker basket.

So for all you floral lovers out there - this one's going to be everything you've ever wanted, it really is very pretty and extremely feminine but personally I just can't be dealing with all these florals.

ETA - oops! I forgot to mention, big thanks to wintersmelody for sharing her decant with me!!

Hmm.. before I read these previous reviews, I would not have said there was anything metallic or ozone in here! But now that I've read 'em, and gone looking for those notes.. maaaaaybe I can smell them - although I'm also picking up something slightly aquatic in here. But I really wouldn't class this as a metallic or ozone blend at all - it has a very 'clean' feel about it though, quite fresh and slightly fruity. As it dries, sweet and heady florals appear - hmm.. I have to agree with myth on this one, the morph into florals territory is very disappointing.

So this ends up being a mostly floral blend on me, with an underlying tinge of clean metallic/aquatic something-or-other, with the end result being rather perfume-y. Having never smelled an actual ferris wheel, I have no basis for comparison, but I wasn't really expecting florals out of this. I'll be interested to see whether the final version of this that comes out in the next CD act is anything like this proto!

This review was brought to you by big to wintersmelody for sharing her decant of this one with me!

Source: decant by Edens Sixth Day

When this first goes on, it's all about the herbs and moss - they're quite strong and very organic-smelling. Ten minutes in, and they've gone to the background - now I have a really beautiful orange. This actually reminds me of the way my house smells when I've given all my wood cabinets a once-over with orange oil - that mix of wood and orange is lovely.. not sweet, just very natural and fresh.

As time goes by, the orange mellows out - now I can smell the moss again but the wood is still there too. I'm really enjoying this blend - the orange stays present but doesn't go fake or candy-ish at all, it retains that very natural/real fragrance, and all the other notes are working well together. It's my favourite of all the Underworld blends!

EDIT - I had to update just to say.. four hours later it turned to.. soap. damnit

Source: decant by Edens Sixth Day

This is very much like Snow Glass Apples, but with dark rich berries instead of apples. The minty/cold feel is definitely there, without it actually smelling particularly like mint. It goes on quite strong at first, but once fully dried down that initial cold blast and strong berry note softens up quickly and actually fades quite fast. It doesn't stick around very long on my skin at all, and the best parts of the fragrance pretty much disappear - leaving behind a slight sourness. Overall, a quirky scent that's not overly foody - it's... interesting

Sadly, this one just didn't work on me at all. When I read all these reviews that talked about awesome chocolatey goodness, I couldn't resist! And yes - I get chocolate from it, but it's a weird kind of chocolate that's completely overwhelmed by everything else in the blend.

Ghoul Hooligan reminds me of all the Mother Shub's blends I've tried - it's foody and rich, but completely wrong for me. I get something that smells like rancid nuts and stale beer - it's pretty nasty. Have you ever cleaned up after a party when beer's been spilt on the carpet and the whole place just reeks? If so, then you know the smell I'm talking about. There's some spices in here, and I can also pick up the pumpkin-y smell, but as with the chocolate.. those are both completely lost under the overpowering nuttiness.

Perhaps I got a rogue bottle where something went a bit funky, because my review seems so out of whack with everyone else's.. but I actually had to wash this off, it was making me feel a bit sick.

That's really interesting, moonberryjam - Hypnotic Poison was my favourite perfume pre-BPAL I wouldn't have picked The Girl or Vasilissa as smell-alikes for it though.. to me, those two are more 'pink' and 'girly', just overall more 'pretty' - Hypnotic Poison on me is all about the sandalwood and vanilla. But I can kinda see what you mean, and I agree that Vasilissa is very similar to The Girl which is handy, since The Girl is so hard to find!

Brittany - I also love Blood Kiss, and I've only ever had a sample spray of Midnight Poison ages ago but I remember it was quite dark and lush.. it's got black rose and patchouli in it, if I remember correctly, and a nice rich vanilla. If you love those deep, dark and 'mysterious' fragrances then you've got sooooooo many choices in BPAL!! One that comes to mind is Lucy, Kissed - this came out as an LE a little while ago from the Trading Post, so it's no longer available, but you may be able to find it in the For Sale section of the forum. Some GC blends you might want to check out are Depraved, Vixen, Hunger, Perversion, Darkness and Ravenous. Dionysia and Mme. Moriarty from Carnival Diabolique might also be worth a try.

See if you can identify which specific notes you most enjoy in Midnight Poison, then you can use the search function on the BPAL website to find which blends contain those notes - that's a good way to find things that might match up with what you like.

Good luck in your search!

From wikipedia:

According to Hawaiian legend, night marchers (huaka‘i po in Hawaiian) are ghosts of ancient warriors. Legend has it that if you look a night marcher straight in the eye, you will be forced to walk among them for eternity, but if you have a relative taken by them, you will be spared. Hawaiians say that in the presence of night marchers, one should lie down on their stomach, face down to avoid eye contact, stay quiet, breathe shallowly, and don’t move. Some say that they may nudge you to provoke a reaction so they can take you.

First up - I have to side with Invidiana's excellent review on this one.. for me also, it's very dark and exotic. Actually.. she's pretty much nailed it - I'm not sure I can add anything of value here, but I'll try anyway

I definitely don't see this as a TKO/Lilith Victoria smell-alike - it's way too scary and sinister for that. It starts off with a big burst of menacing blackness, enough to make me pull back from inhaling it - I was kinda scared it was going to come off my arm and bite me. But thankfully it didn't, so I left it alone for 15 minutes and then leaned in for another try..

At the midway point, it's gone from being scary to being quite sensual - where before it was pushing me away, now it's luring me in! I can detect something down deep in the layers that's reminding me of Glowing Vulva - that 'flesh' kind of smell, quite intoxicating.

It changes again once it's fully dry (45 mins on my skin now) - yep, there's the exotic tropical thing.. but still dark - it hasn't turned into a daiquiri cocktail or anything, it's just perfect for the legend - I can imagine that a band of ghost warriors walking across Hawaii at night might be doing so in air that smells like this. The tropical feel is reminding me just a little of The Night Parade of 100 Demons which is a CD prototype that I tested a while back... I wonder if Nightmarchers v5 is somehow related to that one? Anyways - this one is really mesmerising and I do believe I'm going to carry this with me in case I come across any night marchers.. not because it will keep them away, but because I think they'll like it

Hmm.. interesting.. first up - no cherry for me. This is a Good Thing. Grape? Yes.. perhaps.. but not the type of grape that I'm used to in BPALs.. this isn't the candy type of grape or the purple type of grape.. it's the wine sort of grape. And whilst I agree with MA that there's no boozy note here.. I'm categorising this as a wine blend. A very VERY dry red wine - like an old vintage Merlot or Pinot Noir - deep, purple/red grapes - definitely old fruit, not young and fresh wine - with a touch of pepper and smoke. The wine-ness backs off when it's fully dried down, allowing the smokiness to come to the front and reveal a slight spiciness.

There's more to this blend than purely a wine-like fragrance though - it's quite complex, but so well-blended that I can't quite pick out what else could be in there. It may be a touch of musk, or perhaps something earthy like a black patchouli.. maybe even some wood - teak, perhaps.. it has a slightly exotic flavour about it. For a prototype, it really does seem quite complete - it's very full-bodied and deep, with just the right balance of top and bottom notes to keep it interesting.

This really does seem worthy of Belshazzaz, the last King of Babylon - it's a feast of smells with a definite exotic edge. If you like those rich incense/smoke blends with dark red/purple undertones, you're probably going to really dig this one.

I need to preface this review by saying that I am a BIG fan of Boomslang.. but my little hoard of it is all very well aged to the point where it's dark and thick and sludgy and amazing.

So having said that - this prototype version is really interesting because it's totally different to the sludge that I have at home It's definitely the same smell as the released version - no question about it - but as the previous reviewers have mentioned.. it's less intense. The chocolate here seems much softer (more like a milk choc than a dark one), and the Snake Oil component of it seems less spicy and more vanilla-ish - definitely less heavy on the red musk. I've never actually had any lab-fresh Boomslang, so perhaps this is actually how new Boomslang smells? I dunno.. but this version is gorgeous, really soft and yummy, and a kind of toned-down version of the released version.

For the first time ever, with this Boomslang I got the 'baby powder' thing that I've seen people despair about with Snake Oil. This has never happened before! But again.. all my Snake Oil is uber-aged too so maybe that makes a difference. Anyways.. I actually like the powderiness of it.. it's lovely, soft and snuggly.

So in summary, if you love Boomslang because it's dark and rich and gourmand, then this proto version will probably disappoint you because it's just not as intense. However.. if you find Boomslang a bit too much and would prefer everything toned down a few notches, then this proto version could be just the thing you're looking for!