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I agree with fairnymph.. I'm fairly certain that The Confectionary started out life as the CD023 prototype. However, where CD023 had a dusty sort of musk/amber/sandalwood kind of vibe, The Confectionary is more rich and syrupy - that 'dusty/dry' feel is not as obvious here.

I think this has some form of strawberry in it - if not, then a 'pink' fruit of some kind. There might be a very light touch of cherry, maaaaaybe raspberry, and maybe just a *teensy* touch of apricot. And cake. Strawberry cupcakes, almost, but it has a definite candy flavour that stops it being completely cakey. There's also a vanilla in here, but it's quite a dry vanilla.

To me, this has a similar feel to Midway - that cotton candy kind of sweetness - but where Midway had a chocolate-y undertone, The Confectionary has a pink fruity undertone. This is going to be loved by fans of blends like Candy Phoenix, Beaver Moon/Beaver'versary, Jailbait, Velvet Unicorn etc.

I've been sooooooooo looking forward to my decant of Miaiphonos arriving, ever since Dark Alice said "This sounds like a licorice and orange flavored taco" when the update was first announced.

Well.. turns out she was kinda right! The anise is very licorice-y, and in combination with the clove it's quite pungent. The mandarin is doing its very best to be seen - "hey, I'm here! Let me out!" - but the big bad clove and anise won't let it - "HA! Take that, you pussy mandarin. You're not even a proper orange, get back where you belong!".

This actually reminds me very much of The Last Squished Jelly Bean. Something's messing things up though, and I suspect it's the cumin. Hey - cumin? Go away, you smell kinda funky.

I really don't know whether I like this or not, but I'm pretty sure I wouldn't wear it so a bottle purchase can be resisted. It is, however, a very interesting smell and it gets nicer as it dries down - the initial blast of anise/clove mellows out a bit and the cumin fades away. I'm a bit sad that the mandarin isn't a bigger player here though - that's the note I was most interested in but sadly it just never really comes out to play enough here.

I know I keep banging on about how much I love Banshee Beat.. but.. right now on the gorgeous west coast of Australia, it's 38 degrees. Uh.. that's over 100F, I think. I dabbed some BB through my hair today (as well as on skin), so now when I walk around outside, I am surrounded by a cloud of warm and rich vanilla gorgeousness.. it's just fantastic.

I actually enjoy my BPALs more in summer, I think they smell the best on warm days (and warm skin). My other summer faves are Tombstone, Antique Lace, and Snake Oil. Clearly, I have a thing for smokey vanillas

I suspect this whole "grind the fragrance molecules" thing is bogus. You know.. like how you shouldn't jog too much, because it jumbles up all your insides. Or how if you swallow your chewing gum it will stay in your stomach for seven years.

A quick google search finds several websites warning against rubbing wrists together because OH NO the molecules will be DESTROYED! It does seem to be somewhat true, though, that the heat created from rubbing can cause the top notes (ie the more volatile molecules), to evaporate more quickly. But I'd be willing to bet that it would take Dr Nerdy McMolecularperson several years of looking down a microscope to prove that, and even if it is true.. we're probably talking about fractions of fractional percentages of evaporation that you wouldn't notice unless you have a nose the size of a football field.

Personally, I have stopped putting my BPALs on my wrists/arms - the oil seems to disappear too quickly.. apparently the inside of my forearms gets a lot of action during the day (who knew!). I've started doing the vertical swipe down from behind my ear to the bottom of my neck, right at the pulse points on each side. I don't "smoosh" the oil when I do this, I just kinda wipe it over my skin.. and it's still there *hours* later.

Maybe next time you apply your oil, find a really quiet room.. do the smooshing thing, then hold a wrist up close to your ear. If you hear HELPPPP MEEEEE I'M DYYYYYYYYYYYINNNNNNGGGGG then you are guilty of molecular destruction and should be arrested for crimes against nature. If, however, no screams of terror or cries of pain can be heard, then you have happy little fragrance molecules and there's no need to worry.

Oh - and in case you were wondering.. yes, there really is a Dr Nerdy McMolecularperson. Here he is:

edited for clarity

Hmm.. this one's very interesting! It's kinda all been said already.. lovely warm cedar with slight sweetness from the blackcurrant - neither of these are strong or heavy - they're both quite subtle and soft. The saffron is like a little bit of dancing spice over the top - barely there, but lovely nonetheless. Black currant has a habit of turning to cat pee on my skin.. that didn't quite happen with this one, but I can feel it wanting to.. it's *just* on the edge of doing it.

My issue with this one is that it's so well blended that it becomes difficult to actually work out what's going on - the cedar seems to have flattened everything. It is, however, worthy of further testing because I think I want to like this one.

Err.. no.. not nice. At first, this smells like that brown disinfectant stuff - the balsam/oakmoss/juniper are too dominant and the patchouli is lurking around in the background, doing its dark and dirty thing. Can't say the cocoa ever came out on my skin, same with the franckincense. Overall, once it dries down it becomes quite a nice dark and smoky blend but not my thing - that disinfectant smell never quite goes away enough for me.

Hmm... "Destroyer of Men"? I don't think so!

On me, this is very faint and not as grunty as I expected it to be. The black sandalwood in combination with the nutmeg gives a slight peppery spiciness, but the benzoin is adding a medicinal overtone that's not very nice. The tonka never really made an appearance, which is a shame because a bit of sweetness would have been nice here. I'm not getting any baby powderiness, although it is very dry. Overall, nothing particularly outstanding about this one.

This is so much more than just mint. The initial blast (actually that's BLAST) of mint is definitely eye-opening, such a beautiful clean mint that isn't quite peppermint, not quite spearmint.. a cold green fire is *exactly* what it's like - if fire can be cold then this is it.

That strong mint dies down within the first five minutes and the pepper starts to peek out, adding a hint of spice to the base. Then the cucumber warms up and it's on - cucumber vs mint.. who's coming out on top? Cucumber! No wait.. mint! Cucumber fights back! Mint reappears! This little battle is fascinating, the two are so beautifully blended that it becomes impossible to distinguish them separately. The end result is the freshness of cucumber tempered with the fire of the mint while the pepper just lurks around very close to the skin.

After about an hour, it has dried down to a beautiful softness - as other reviewers have said.. it does fade fairly quickly.. but what's left behind still has all the beautiful layers of mint, cucumber and pepper - it's just much more subtle now. It never went soapy on me (YAY), nor did it become overly green although it definitely has a forest feel. This really is quite beautiful, and an absolute must-try for anyone who enjoys this kind of thing.

I have nothing useful to add here, except to say that yes - Stinky is just about a perfect match to BB's Buttermilk. Stinky does have a stronger milk note (so if you're one of those people for whom the BPAL milk note goes a little funky, you might not get the Buttermilk yumminess), but really it's so similar it's kinda uncanny. I wouldn't have said Werepuppy is a match though, I can see the similarity but unfortunatey the baby skin/milk breath notes never really came out very much on my skin.

I can't think of a BPAL that's quite like the Milk & Honey lotion though - the honey note in Womb Furie is similar, but there's no milk in that one so.. hmm.. dunno!

This is very confusing to my nose! When it first went on, the balsam was very very strong - pungent, actually. For the first half-hour, all I got was licorice-y spinach. Yup, you heard it right.. licorice-y spinach

Half an hour later, the balsam has mellowed out a bit and now the leather's appeared - this is a strong, acrid kind of leather though - not sweet, and not soft - it's old leather that's been passed through many hands and taken on a variety of body odours and sweat through the years. I've met old books that do smell that way, so this is pretty spot on, but it's not a smell I'm particularly enjoying on my skin.

One hour down the track, and the vanilla is just peeking through.. this is a soft and natural-smelling vanilla - not the 'foody' type at all. But the dominant players here are the leather and balsam, the vanilla is fighting a losing battle.

I find that this smells nicer at a distance - when I lean in to my arm where the oil was applied and take a big whiff, it's just too strong on the balsam and leather. However if I wave my arm around about a foot away from me, it wafts a much softer smell through the air and I can smell the vanilla much more.

I'm not sure what to make of this, it's certainly an interesting one and not like any other leather blend I've tried so far in BPAL land. I'm reserving my judgement for now - I'm tempted to keep it and see how it ages, but I suspect that the balsam will only deepen over time.. however I'll keep fingers crossed that it softens instead and lets the vanilla come out more.

What a quirky and bizarre little blend this is! I really had very little interest in trying this one - I figured it would be too seaweed-y so I wasn't even slightly tempted. But then the lovely nrl1978 offered to send me some to try, so I thought ah yeah - let's give it a shot.

Well, colour me tentacled! There is an underlying ocean bed flavour to this - not fresh sea water like an aquatic.. more the smell that you find on a fishing boat that's been in dry dock for a while - that mix of dried seaweed and salt and general bottom of the sea type muck. As nasty as that sounds, it's actually quite a sweet and exotic smell if you like that sort of thing. In the middle layer, there's a deep dark incense with a smoky hue - this blends beautifully with the dark smells of the ocean and creates a very exotic mix.. 'malignant' is a good word for it, because it does seem somehow alive and bottom-of-the-ocean kinda mysterious. Then, dancing around on top, is the chocolate - it's not a HEY chocolate thing at all, just a hint, but it's certainly there.

It is weird, I agree with others on that one. But weird is good, right? This is certainly a scent unlike any other BPAL I've ever tried, and truly worth a try for the curious

Edited to update: I ended up buying a bottle, and wore it yesterday. Err... ick. I had to wash it off, it was making me feel kinda sick. The oil I had in my decant was nice but what's in this bottle is *strong* - just way too much. Sorry Cthulhu.. you're going off to swapsville

This is honey, honey, and HONEY - super sweet and rich to the point where it's kind of nauseating for the first half hour or so. The Snake Oil isn't really present until it's been on my skin for about an hour, and even then it's buried under the honey which has developed a very sweet and nutty quality, kind of like O.

Given there's Snake Oil involved - this may age nicely, but I don't think I'll bother waiting. I can easily recreate Womb Furie by layering O and Snake Oil.. but I don't think I'll be doing that - the combination is just too sweet for me. I'm kinda disappointed in this one, because I love my Snake Oil and I have several of the Snake Oil Chaos Theory blends that I also love, but it seems that in this case.. honey is not my friend.

This is really interesting and quite elusive.. I'm getting faint hints of orange blossom, and maybe cherry blossom also. There's also something almond-like going on here. It somehow manages to be quite creamy and musky, and dry at the same time - I suspect amber is present, and maybe some skin musk.

Very pretty without being girly, this is a mysterious and exotic kind of blend that I keep going back to for another huff

I am looking for a chocolate amber scent, similar to Cocoa Pink's Black Chocolate. TIA.

I'm not familiar with the CP blend you mentioned, but for chocolate + amber in BPAL it has to be Gelt - "A bounty of chocolate coins! Dry cocoa and golden amber!".

Unfortunately it's no longer available - it was a Yule release in 2008, but you might be able to find some here on the forum in the 'For Sale' area. Reviews are here.

When this first hit my skin, I was a bit taken aback by the tobacco - it was very sharp, strong and bitter.. not really very pleasant. So I thought "hmmph, I don't like this!" and promptly ignored it while I tested the other bottles that arrived in my Lupercalia order today.

But then, about an hour later, I went searching for Enkhespalos again and found him resting softly on my arm, he's put the spear down and turned into a sexy cuddly beast

What a turnaround! The cognac has come through and is beautifully warm and lush (not boozy at all), and the wood has a very organic feel about it but that's in the background. The leather is gorgeous - it's more like suede, a lovely soft leather.. it's not harsh or heavy, it's err.. cuddly. Yeah, cuddly leather - fancy that! The tobacco that was so rank at first has gone from being all sharp and obnoxious into a classy golden softness.

Enkhespalos, you almost had me fooled. You're not a scary warrior at all, you're a big cuddly guy who wears suede undies.

OK - 'fess up.. who ate all licked all the dark chocolate off of my key lime truffle?

The lime in this is lovely, it's just like the lime note in Scurvy and Mr. Nancy - not overly sweet, slightly musky, fresh and tangy delicious. But damn it - seriously, where is the dark chocolate? I can smell it in the bottle, but once the oil hits my skin it's almost non-existent. Occasionally I catch a whiff and I think "ooh, there's the chocolate!", but then it's gone. It comes and goes, but mostly goes. The lovely lime sticks around fairly well, and stays pretty true for about an hour but then seems to fade very quickly. So overall, slightly disappointing because ohhhhhhh how I love the way Beth does her gourmand dark chocolate things, but the lime is so good in this that I can possibly overlook the chocolate's disappearing act.

And on a side note - once again, I am convinced that angelicruin and I share the same skin chemistry

I love it when things are bang-on with their description, and Banshee Beat really is. It's absolutely a tousled, sexy mix of hemp, vanilla and patchouli. I would add warm, organic, and cuddly to that.. but otherwise, bang-on.

In the bottle, it's YIKES hemp - very strong and woodsy-green smelling, as hemp oil tends to be when wet. The first few minutes on my skin is the same - the hemp is strong and very raw at first, and I can imagine some people would be put off by this but on me it only lasted maybe five minutes. And then... THEN... the vanilla comes in and everything starts to get all warm and cozy and snuggly. I agree with VioletChaos in the comparison to Tombstone - but only aged Tombstone when it's gone all smoky rich - not when it's fresh. The vanilla (to me) seems very similar in both but it's the hemp that's giving BB such a lovely base and a slightly fresh green/organic feel where Tombstone has that balsam and cedar base so the tones are different but the overall feel is similar.

Half an hour in and the patchouli stays nicely in the background, and the hemp really does settle in nicely - the raw feel has smoothed out now that the vanilla's warmed up. The vanilla is smoky and rich, not sweet - I agree with fairnymph that it's a bourbon-y vanilla. This is just such a lovely blend - it feels very organic and earthy without smelling like dirt or greenery. I can't do many of BPAL's patchouli blends - some of them smell like dirt in a bad way, but it's so nicely balanced in this that it's really not intrusive or overpowering at all.

I do understand the whole "hippie" thing that's been mentioned, but I really think this transcends that aspect of its smell - BB does not smell like a bong shop or the inside of a VW Combi after a 4-day music festival in the middle of summer (why yes, I do know what that smells like ) - it's far more sophisticated and sexy smart than that. This is how I'd like to imagine Robert Plant smells when he wakes up in the morning.

I am seriously tempted to hoard this, it's *that* good. And I do think it's going to age beautifully, so all the more reason to hoard it. Yes, good plan. *starts hoarding*

Edited to add - big thank you to my lovely forum friend who was kind enough to get this bottle for me with her order

I'm also curious about Womb Furie though!

Perhaps Womb Furie is so furious that it refuses to wear a label

Those are some of the prettiest bottles that have ever been made, I think! Thanks for posting your pics, Lycanthrope

I think this is the place to post this: What's the status of orders placed before paypal's latest (as usual inconvenient-to-users) rule change, re not giving the lab our emails? Will we not get a CnS? And does anyone know the date it took effect?

I'm only guessing, but I'd say orders placed before the PayPal change should be OK - the sender's email details should still be on the notification that the seller receives. I'm not sure exactly when they changed things, but I received a payment on Jan 26th and it was in the new style (ie no email info in the notification from PayPal) so it must have been some time around then.

They actually posted a page of policy changes on Jan 21st (available on the PP site and worth reading since seller/buyer protection rules have changed, as have some fees) and although the change to email format wasn't mentioned in those, I'm thinking maybe it happened at the same time.

Edited to update: just after I'd written this, I received a CnS for my Lab order placed via PayPal on Jan 20th so it's safe to say that PP orders up to at least that date will still be OK. How's that for timing!!

Well poop! I think you're right.. this forum is very picky about its images.. the lack of .jpg is probably the issue.

Never mind - they're only a click away! Thanks for sharing them

Thanks for sharing, fairnymph! I like the U one, that's very stylish.

As for putting the code in your actual posting, you need to go to the webpage where your photo is - copy the URL and then come back here, click the little button that looks like it has a picture in it (is everyone's layout the same? for me it's the 7th button from the left above the text space, to the right of the emoticon button - see below) - that will open up a little box where you can paste in the URL (image location) - click OK and you're done!

If you want to go back and edit your post to do that, you'll need to choose 'Full edit' from the drop-down options so that you get the toolbar with the buttons you need

Hmm.. interesting! When it first goes on the sweet pea is the most dominant note and the grape, pomegranate and plum are very close behind it. 15 minutes in and it switches around - now the pomegranate is dominant, with the grape and plum next and the sweet pea in the background - the fruits all together provide a sweetness that's not sickly or cloying but deep and sultry, but the mix is definitely fruity rather than floral and it's a deep, rich kind of fruit - very purple. The bourbon vanilla is just playing at the edges - it's in there, but the sweet pea and fruits are all over it. I really can't detect the white honey yet, right now there's a fruit festival going on.

A little later on, I'm now picking up just a hint of the carnation, but the cognac is harder to find, it's not jumping out at me but perhaps it's the boozy velvet of the cognac that's grounding the fruits and holding them back from being too sweet. Oh.. and is that the sandalwood? Hello, sandalwood - come on out, don't be scared! Still no sign of the white honey.

OK.. one hour in.. I like it better now that it's softened up, the sandalwood and vanilla are much more apparent now and YES! the cognac has even come out to play. Ah.. this is good, those pesky fruits have faded away nicely - they're still there, but there's no longer a fruity purple party on my skin... much better.

This one reminds me very much of Crypt Queen - it's that same kind of rich pomegranate & plum base, but where the fruitiness of CQ is darkened down by the patchouli and black pepper, in Black Heart it's sweetened up by the vanilla and sweet pea. Personally, I would be happier with it if the fruits weren't as dominant.. I'd have preferred for the bourbon vanilla, sandalwood and cognac to be bigger players, but it's still a nice blend although perhaps a bit too heavy on the fruits for me at first. I just need to decide whether I can make it through that initial stage of fruity madness to get to the lovely dried-down stage, and then consider whether this is 'different' enough from other similarly fruity BPALs to make it to the 'keeper' pile.

ETA: I had to come back and update this, because after almost 3 hours it's completely changed - the fruits have all vanished, and now I have a beautiful mix of sandalwood with light vanilla and a lovely rich cognac. Unfortunately by this stage it's very faint, so I have to really lean in close to smell it, but it's drop dead gorgeous. I'm still undecided about it overall, because I really can't be waiting 3 hours to get to this point, but I wanted to add to my previous review and make a note of this

It's summer time in this part of the world, and it's hot and sweltering and sticky outside

I like wearing That! The Terror From Over There in summer, it's just nice and fresh and cool, and I've also been enjoying The Girl and Vasilissa because they're nice 'pretty' blends.

But my all-time favourite summer BPAL is Snake Oil. The hotter it gets, the better it smells.

Thanks for posting that info, jayne.

The way I'm seeing this is that Beth & co use components that are 'natural' whenever possible and/or when that component meets their ethical, safety and quality requirements. After nothing but good experiences with them for many years, I don't think I'm being naive in trusting that they will always make the best choices for their customers.

Personally, I don't have any skin allergies or other concerns, so I don't need to worry about whether something is 100% natural. What's more important to me is that a product is made with care and expertise and I am more than confident that is the case with all BPAL and BPTP. But my number 1 priority issue with anything I buy is that it absolutely must not be tested on animals - and again, this is something I don't have to worry about with BPAL and BPTP.

Everything I know about Beth and her team tells me that they take their work very seriously, and I respect their ethics as much as I do their incredible talent for making beautiful smells.

I'm wondering if you should give Wulric The Wolfman a try..

Friendly, charming, and cuddly, but possessing one hell of a mean streak: cocoa absolute, French vanilla, birch tar, lavender, bourbon vetiver, wild musk, clary sage, and cistus.

You can read through several pages of reviews here - I know it doesn't quite match with the description of Gris Clair but Wulric is really a very 'smouldering' scent with a soft side - although the cocoa is a definite feature in the blend, it's not a sweet/sickly type of chocolate note and it's beautifully blended with the darker notes. However the lavender in Wulric is the standout, it has a lovely smokey feel.

Wulric is part of the Carnaval Diabolique (CD) collection, which you can see here - he appears in Act III, about half-way down the page. You can't order imps of the CD blends, but you should be able to find a decant on the forum if you search through the sales posts.

Wulric may not be quite what you're looking for, but I just have a feeling you might like him