zankoku_zen

Smoky honey, saffron, and frankincense and pepper. I agree with octobergwen and Little Bird that this almost smells like leather. Or rather than actually being leather, its a flowery/vegan version of leather. Like leather made from flowers and spices. Deep, dark, narcotic flower-leather.

Lavender, cedar, oudh. This smells like smoky lavender scented pencil shavings. Kinda musky. So sexy smoky lavender pencils?

Salty aquatics and dusty moon rocks. Kelp, aquatics, and rocks. It sort of smells like the moon, the sea, and slight weirdness if that makes sense. I could totally see this as a Picnic in Arkham blend, a la Kingsport. In fact, if you missed Kingsport, perhaps give this puppy a whirl.

On wet, this makes me think of licorice. As I sniff deeper, I get lemon and something minty, and cardamom. With tea. Honestly, there is something both summery and deeply comforting about this blend. It smells like a Southern summer - sunshine, iced tea, horehound candies. It's light, pretty, and what I would say has a deep golden brown vibe to it.

Light of Men's Lives, is that you? This is soft not-quite so beeswaxy but utterly comfy candles. This just smells like a comfy home with awesome waxy candles and oodles of paper laying about.

So I have to agree with Lycanthrope in some aspects, although upon first sniff I went "Brom Bones, is that you?" This one is a warmer leather blend than Brom Bones. I definitely get the papery note and it smells very similar to Two Ply Bristol in that it has that inky note to the paper/linen going on. It's slightly dustier than Two Ply Bristol, which had a very 'clean' edge to it. So take Brom Bones, throw in Two-Ply Bristol and some dust, and you get the Gate Keeper. For me, this type of leather blend definitely smells masculine. And its the type of "I wear leather jackets out while exploring" as opposed to "I wear leather jackets because they look cool" type of masculine.

Sweet baby jesus. I have no idea how Beth and the Lab have done it, but on wet I get a giant whipped cream note. Like straight up whipped cream. When I uncorked the imp, the first smell was very rich and buttery, but on my skin it immediately transformed into whipped cream. With jasmine. Sweet summery jasmine, but still jasmine. Whipped cream, jasmine and a dash of peach. As it dries, I get more of the vanilla orchid note peeping out. This is super summery, super Southern belle, sweet, fresh floral. If you can handle the BPAL jasmine note, GET THIS BLEND. GET IT NOW. I am super sad that jasmine always smells like cat pee to mr. zee_zee because this blend is gorgeous. And the first minute of absolute whipped cream perfection on my skin has been one truly magical BPAL moment. Here's to hoping that Beth decides whatever she is using as the whipped cream note in some other blend (which hopefully doesn't have jasmine in it). Which means, I'm off to re-read announcements and see if it has popped out anywhere since then.

In alot of ways, this reminds me as a dirty, slightly peachy on wet version of Silence. *dead silence* [ahhh, unintended pun]. So I get a ton of blue musk and benzoin, with a swirl of peach (especially on wet) but that recedes as it dries. Instead, the patchouli/sandalwood comes to the front. Wait... is that a whiff of black currant? That adds a slight sweetness to it all. And then I'm left with a very contemplative/thoughtful blend. Blue musk, benzoin, and a ton of sandalwood with a fair dash of patchouli. So, yes. Dirty Silence.

This one is definitely a 'dried' peach note. Despite that, it is a stronger peach note than the one found in Peach VI. Honestly, it reminds me to dried apricots, with a hint of spices and boozy musk. But if someone were to ask me what this smells like, I'd say dried apricots. But the good kind. It's the smell of the moist skin, and when you bite down its chewy and sweet.

Brown and green musks, dry grey woods, coppery, bloody balsam, and ashes. Okay, so I really didn't like this one. It started off as furry brown musk and vetiver ash, and quickly devolved into smelling like scorched fur and blood. Final reaction: EWWW. Remember Gore Shock? This one was almost as unpleasant. Except on wet, it started off more pleasant. On the other hand, if you're looking for perfumes that push the envelope of pleasant/unpleasant smells, give this puppy a try.

Champagne grape, Pink Lady apples, white musk, white rose, and asphalt. This blend starts off as champagne grapes (whee! champagne) and pink apples, and dries down to champagne soap. Very clean, but still soapy. I have no idea how we got here. But if you ever wanted to smell like champagne soap, this one is for you.

Patchouli, oudh, and amber. It's marine without being aquatic, cool without being watery or cold, and smooth. Very gender neutral. Smells clean. I can imagine this appealing to those that like slightly masculine and/or gender neutral blends.

Salty seaweed aquatic. Actually it sort of smells like cool cucumbers with hints of lemon and anise. It's interesting. Very summery cool.

Dark green pine, oakmoss and hints of metal. There is definitely a metallic edge to this. It dries down to a fairly masculine blend on me. Hmm, I may try this on mr. zee_zee and see what he says.

Rich peanut butter and dark musk. Sweet, foody and muskier than I expected. It dries down to a foodie musky blend, slight peanuts. But I really get a lot of 'roasted' smokiness from it. Not scary vetiver, but still smoky. In some ways this sort of reminds me to Achulophobia, but less intense and more foodie.

Tobacco flower, slightly boozy and with a hint of smoke. It's not horribly complex and its like boozy tobacco flower.

Molly is a very interesting blend. I get the lime, cedar, and then some smoky sweetness. Hint of honey, amber, and something that is definitely cool. Complex, cool, interesting.

Boozy butterscotchy/caramel and musk. Brown sugar, rum, and a touch of sandalwood. I am intrigued by how sweet and toothsome this is, and finally a RUM blend that I can wear. However, this may in fact veer too deep into the foodie territory for me.

Question Mark is tobacco, hints of vanilla and orange. It's a pretty, classic, perfume. On the other hand, part of me really wants to age this to see what it would smell like in a year or two. Very work friendly, very wearable. For me, this falls into the same category as Pursue Rabbit. Something that I really enjoy, but not something I adore so much that it would get alot of use in my BPAL rotation. Hmmm... to release or to age. Decisions, decisions.

GC/LE/DC/UNRELEASED/CON/DD/RO: (decants preferred, sniffies or testers welcome!) *Any of the Bards of Ireland 2015 blends* 13 (Thirteen), March 2015 Arkham (dc'ed) Bed of Nails (to re-test) Black Supermoon Chaos Theory - particularly with a vanilla or dorian base, try me! (Would love more Chaos Vanilla 135!) MB: Underbed v1 (to re-test) Wezwanie/Hold (to re-test) --- potentially pending TAL decants of: Peaceful Home Other TAL stuff: Prosperity Bath, White Light Bath, Golden Graces Prosperity Bath, Chinese Floor Wash, Devil Cologne's Wash, Wallet Wash Will Take More Of: Alice, the Reaper of Cruelty [partial/full] Benevolent Triple Conjunction (TAL) [partial/full] A Measurement of the Soul [partial] Creeper Dragon [partial/full] Senelion (TAL)*** Sheela Na Gig Sherlock Holmes [partial only] Terra Vigoris [partial/bottle only] Thrive atmo squirt Empties of (good to pristine labels): Snake Oil, any of the Pumpkin Patch 2013, Bitter Moon, Robotic Scarab, No 93 Engine, Hot Buttered Rum (not 2014), Liberty Back up bottles of: Possibly searching for bottles of: BPAL: High John the Conqueror, Death Shall Come In With Thee, Phoenix in Winter, Phoenix at MidDay TAL: Lionheart**, Peaceful Home, Joy, French Creole, Hand of Hermes, Nine Muses Prototypes/Unreleased: (sniffies/testers, even a drop is welcome!) Burial v2 (on etsy), Dunwich v2 (on etsy), Elegy, Eye of Horus, Gaslight, Gertrude v5 (on etsy), Goat 17 (on etsy), Grainne Ni Mhaille, Hexahedraon, ICD 17 (etsy), ICD 19 (etsy), ICDX 11 (etsy), Incessant Torture of Remorse v3 (etsy), LUAL5 (etsy), LUAT4 (etsy), MMH1 (etsy), MMHX1 (etsy), Nine Mysteries v2, Passion, PPGC767, PPH07, Savage, Set, Smurf Essence (Smurf 2 Giveaway), Snow Maiden 2006 v2, Sturgeon Moon 2008 v5, Swallow's Heart, TAWL6, TCM1,Theres a Certain Slant of Lightv9, UOH11, UOUO4, Yesod V5, Yog-Sothoth v2 Older Carnaval Diabolique prototypes: The Glass Eater, The Fire-Scorched Carousel, Maeve, the Sword Swallower, Morven, the Strong Man, The Toymaker, The Confectionary, The Fire Dancer, The Geek Show, Horror Coaster, The Waxworks, The Night Parade of 100 Demons, The Contortionist, Electricity is Life, The Mesmer, The Tunnel of Lust, Boat Ride, 2¢, The Phantasmagoria, The Menagerie, Belphegor's Baubles, Gewgaws, Knickknacks & Objects of Whimsy BPTP stuff: Clothes: Belladonna yoga pants in M, Cats from Saturn babydoll M Room Sprays/Other Samples: Evening in the Veranda, Female Beauty in Spiderweb Kimono, Horticultural Building*, Major Andre's Tree, Snowblind, The Gourd of Deprivation, Tammany Free and Easy, Vivement Hair Gloss (tester to 1 oz): Chorion, Dragon's Milk, Eldritch Dark, Frankincense Clove, Golden Peach & Bergamot**, Honeyed Frankincense, Nectar Pumpkin Spice Everything, Red Patchouli and Fig**, Red Shirt Diaries, Rose Petals and Champa, Rose-Boughs and Rose-Roots, Scattered Flower Smells, Scherezade, Shards of Looking-Glass***, Shug Niggurath, Smutty Goblin, Snake Oil, Stray Poppy-Leaves, Tombstone, Tricksy, White Tea and Sage*** Bath Oil Testers (1 imp to test is enough, makes great frimps): Anne Bonny, Autumn Dusk, Bittersweet Chocolate, Blood Rose, Honeyed Apple**, L'Eau de la Folie, Late Autumn Honey, Luna Sanguinem, Peacock Queen, Pumpkin Cheesecake, Raspberry Thumbprint Cookie, Shanghai, Shortbread Snowflakes, Spider Silk* Bubbling Bath Potions: Inquisitor Bile bath potion**, Lust Bath Salts, Ninon bath potion* Candles: Spiked Apple Cider, Mulled Apple Cider, Black Clove, Pumpkin Clove, Spanish Red Carnation Will always take more of: L' Eau du Chagrin BO (1/2 oz+), Okiya atmo (1 oz+), Mahogany Hall atmo (1 oz+), Konditorei atmo (1 oz+), Caramel Apples and Ancient Oaks BO (1/2 oz+), Looking Glass, Looking Glass (1/2 oz+) BPAL/BPTP postcards & ephemera: Ask me! Particularly interested in Gennivre, Organ Grinder, Pulcinella & Teresina, the Chapel Single Notes, pre-2005 (testers/sniffies are all I need!): Allspice Amber, Black Anise Anise, Star Apple Blossom Balm of Gilead Bayberry Benzoin Cajeput Calamus Camphor Cedarwood, White Cherry Blossom Chrystanthemum Civet Clover, Red** Coconut, Toasted Coriander Cranberry Cypress Daffodil** Dragon's Blood Resin Eucalyptus Evergreen Fennel Frangipani Galangal Geranium Ginseng Grape Green Grass** Hazelnut Heather*** Hibiscus Hyacinth* Hyssop Iris, Florentine Juniper Berry Lavender, French Lemon Lemongrass Lettuce Licorice Bark Lily, Calla Lily, Stargazer Magnolia Musk, Dark Musk, Egyptian Musk, Skin Myrrh, Dark Narcissus, Black Neroli Nutmeg Oleander Orange Orange Blossom Orange, Blood Orange, Mandarin* Orchid** Passion Flower Patchouli Patchouli, East African Black Patchouli, Indonesian Red Peony Pepper, Black Petitgrain Pine Bark, White Plumeria Poppy, Black Primrose Rose Rose, White Rosemary Rue Saffron Sage Sassafras Spearmint Spikenard Tea Tree Thyme Tonka Bean Tulip** Verbena Vetiver Watermelon Wintergreen Wisteria Wormwood* Ylang Ylang ** - REALLY want strikethough means in a pending swap on order from lab: on order from decant circles: mcgyver list: red moon 2004; underpants, cc female; halloween in miskatonic Previous wishlist: http://www.bpal.org/topic/127-wishlist/page-9

So I used Release this morning, and will update later with any other effects. Today started off with me waking up drained, sad, and grumpy. I didn't want that to be my day, so I figured I'd give Release a shot. It smelled like lemons and mint, and I found the scent to be super pleasant. Kinda zingy. I used it before climbing into the shower. I anointed myself and thought of things washing away. I made a deliberate attempt to 'wash down and out' in the shower. I would say that in general I'm one of those people that need to shower 'to get their day started'. I typically feel better after a shower. This was a little different. I feel almost Zen at the moment. Like super calm. And that's a big difference considering where I was emotionally this morning. I followed up after the shower with some BTC, so we'll see what the combo ends up being. ETA: So I ended up feeling drained the next day, which isn't bad but combined with the BTC, it left me a little on Ground Zero, and while I feel the strength needed to sort of re-prioritize my life, it is a big lift.

Smoky marshmallows and graham cookies. Whiff of chocolate. Super foodie. It may in fact be too foodie for our household because this smells like baked goods, campfire and all of those dessert things in life. And now I want smores.

Also seen just as "Tea Leaves". This one is a light tea, either green or white, and citrusy. I swear I am sniffing also some fresh green dandelions? I definitely get the green stem sap smell along with the tea. It dries down to a clean, little old lady soap but on wet, it's absolutely delightful. If you're looking for a fresh, clean floral with tea, I'd give this a try.

So, I've been pleasantly surprised by Sarah, the Mother Bear. It is on me, a very pretty, soft and female version of Quincy Morris. Soft brown leather: CHECK Tobacco and gunpowder swirls: CHECK Tonka and cinnamon: CHECK Scary sage MIA: CHECK Overall, I get a very soft brown leather with enough grit (tobacco and gunpowder) to let you know how tough it is, with enough soothing spices to make it comfy.

The intoxicating perfume of exotic incenses wafting on warm desert breezes. Arabian spices wind through a blend of warm musk, carnation, red sandalwood and cassia. This smells just like Morocco. Spicy, creamy carnations and spices. If you love Morocco, and wanted your house to smell like Morocco, get this. No more need to sacrifice Morocco the oil in an oil burner, there is now a candle that does exactly that.