cyberpuff

Champaca magnolia, bourbon vanilla, blonde tobacco, and white honey. This is from a bottle straight from the lab. First impression- Wow. Definitely a cousin of Red Lantern, or maybe even a closer family member. That's the blonde tobacco, and it's all sweet and lovely on the first skin application. Next on the dry down, I'm really getting a sugared floral, which must be from the champaca magnolia. It reminds of something BPAL that I've smelled before and loved, and can't quite place. I hate when this happens. The tobacco and honey seem to anchor this with a warm heat- there's no giant honey overtone like Womb Fury, and the vanilla is not sticking out, it's an all around player. At this point it just seems to be a Day Walker, or lighter, version of Red Lantern. I tried this last night before I went to bed, and this morning right when I woke up, I thought, Midnight on the Midway. That's the other BPAL this reminds me of, and on today's retest, I can definitely say they share similarities. Overall, it's a fantastic blend and I'm glad I didn't hesitate on this blind bottle purchase. Since it's lighter than Red Lantern I'll get more wear out of it, so a backup may be necessary before the lupers come down.

In the bottle: Like the two above me, I'm getting a hit of 2009 Boo. It's the buttery/salty thing that never happened again- until now. Like when you make rice krispy treats and you're at the melted stage of everything. On application: Same as above. The scent gets warmer, toastier. Total marshmallow dream. Dry down: While I wish this had more throw, it's still got some power. It's a great marshmallow that doesn't disappear or become super sickly sweet or too vanilla or too foody. I never get any of the sugar crusted part of it. Verdict: Hoard worthy! I have had issues with some of the vanilla or marshmallow scents turning plasticky on my skin (I'm looking at you, Stekkjarstaur ) and this does not. It's like a marshmallow cloud, or like sticking your nose in a jar of marshmallow fluff. I also agree that having this in bath oil or hair gloss would be amazing.

Golden Champa Attar is my sneaky little holy grail scent I didn't know I was looking for. In the bottle: Years ago, someone gave me a nag champa soap bar. I loved it. I thought I could get more but I think it was a one off thing. This is what Golden Champa Attar smells like in the bottle and freshly applied to my skin. Dry down: The smokier incense parts start to emerge! But the floral resin is still king here. Hours later: Up close, when I really huff at my skin, it smells like the cleanest parts of incense burning without the musty funk. Verdict: Yes and more yes! I will be buying another bottle before it goes away. This oil is the base, bass and beat of some of my favorite BPALs- it evokes Panther Moon, Snake Charmer and Midnight on the Midway, in a brighter floral way.

Let me first establish that I am not a member of the Stinky Hippie Family. I have lived amongst the Stinky Hippies my whole life and have actively if not violently separated myself from that tribe whenever possible. It's an ongoing ordeal. Ask The Nearest Hippie was something I uh, got for a friend. Yeah, it's not mine, it's my friend's... I tried it on and got a very toned down patchouli. It doesn't scream cannabis to me, but my apartment hallway is constantly a cloud of that (again- not me!!!) so my nose might be desensitized to a more subtle rendering of it. I sense a bit of leather. You know what this smells like? Soil and money. If this is a hippie then it's the one who lives on Mount Tamalpais with an eco friendly home who hosts fundraisers for Al Gore with $35 bottles of Sonoma Chardonnay from the 2011 reserve. Or she lives in Laurel Canyon and has her own bamboo/modal tshirt company and loves to tell she'll totally let you stay in her place in Bali- did you know it has a saltwater pool? Wow, that was a tangent. But that's what this scent does- it conjures up that level of hippie lifestyle. It stays close to the skin. It makes me feel like I should follow my bliss. It doesn't seem like it would get the drug sniffing dogs barking, it is patchouli with earth and an extra very rich j'ne sais quoi. If it also helps, I wanted to love Banshee Beat, which smelled like dirt syrup on me, and OccupyWallStreet was a nice idea for me but a disaster in reality. This is a patchouli for the patchouli haters, a gateway patchouli, if you will. My friend has to get her own now, this one is mine.

Well, hello there you little weirdo scent! In the imp, this does have a sharp scent which I'm going to say is the green leather. It smells nothing like any of the other bpal leather notes I've tried and loved. It's almost briny, if that makes any sense. On my skin, that briny scent is non-existent. Now the dragon's blood and musk are warm and close to my skin, sweetly swirling and playing nicely. The honey adds a thickness to this. It's nice. There is maybe the tiniest hint of that sharpness of green that hits every so often. And then twenty minutes later... HOLY MOTHER OF GOD. This little weirdo Creeper Dragon right here? It's of the same stuff as Snake Charmer right now. Is this me or is this the Creeper Dragon? They're both in the reptile family, and the sharpness seems to be advancing, then receding, then advancing. So nice. The dragon's blood and musk seemed to have merged into one thing. I almost did a blind bottle purchase on this, but I was trying to be smart with my Lupers so I just got a decant. I wouldn't have been disappointed with the bottle, now I just need to decide if I need one or two.

THE ZADOK ALLEN VINYARD Innsmouth, MA Ut Sementem Feceris Ita Metes. Founded by the Esoteric Order of Dagon, and named after the man encased within the foundation of the winery, this fertile bastion of haphazard viticulture has been providing superb wines to the Miskatonic Valley since 1927. The site of the vineyard has been used for hundreds of years as an abattoir, and this environment lends a peculiar and exceptional terroir to all their wines and liquors. Visitors are welcome to observe Fishmen priests engaged in pigeage once a month. Please contact the vineyard for information on this as well as their scheduled wine tasting events. A deep velvety Cabernet Sauvignon with hints of plum, black cherry, rose petals, coffee bean, and smoky oak. Barrel and bottle aged, with a smooth and spicy hit mid-palate. Hints of Dagon's tarry black incense and clotted blood complete this well-rounded, robust indulgence. I've never been first at a review... The Zadok Allen Vineyard was a Luper I new I had to purchase unsniffed because it has three of my favorite things in it- red wine, coffee and black cherries. I had no idea how they would work together as a scent though. In the bottle: Right away, wow, that's wine! Then I get hit with another smell- blood. Wet on skin: Oh, this reminds me a lot of Blood Kiss. I adore Blood Kiss. While it dries I check to see the notes in both, and they share cherries, blood and wine. Drydown: The smoky oak has come out and sat right down next to the cherries. I'm not getting any coffee at all. I think my skin eats coffee anyway. This is a really nice stage of sweet, fruity smokiness. Couple hours later: This has an average throw and right now it's starting to fade. The sweetness stayed, there's a hint of smokiness. The rose finally came out but it behaved well- just light around the edges. I don't really get a true wine smell anymore, but it's like I went to the Gallery Walk night and was around red wine all night and may or may not have spilled/drooled red wine and had to buy a new shirt. Overall: Yes. This is a pretty scent, dark without the cloying. I like that it goes on drunk (fun!) and then sobers up as nice company as an adult scent with depth. I know that the bottles sometimes take a few days after shipping to "calm down," if I notice any change I'll come back and edit. Buy this if you are a Blood Kiss fan, a red wine fan or you love the complex/smoky woods.

In the bottle: I get a deep dry chocolate and slightly spicy fruit/sweet woods smell. The combo immediately makes me think of Candy Butcher. Wet on skin: The vanilla bean peaks out a little, the fruit/wood smell, which I'm guessing is the anatto/anaheim chili combo, kind of hovers above everything, which makes this feel etherial and incense-y, grounded by the dry chocolate. Drydown/hour or so later: To my nose this doesn't smell chocolately at this point, it's a blend of the vanilla/fruit and mild spice/light smoke. It's magic on my skin. My only complaint is that it's faded a lot, or my cold hasn't quite gone away and I can't smell it as well. Overall: How many holy grail bpals can one have? I feel like I've found another with this one, and for whatever reason I'm lucky that I didn't get the BO smell. I'm surprised that I don't get any cinnamon from this but that's okay- this is definitely going in the top ten, and now I need to figure out how many backups I'll need.

I had friend pick this up for me at Bat's Day and he just got it to me today. So it's been aged almost two years. This starts off as rose, rose, rose. It's a young rosewater type, and goes on my skin that way. On the drydown the rose calms down a little bit. I can't detect the opium tar or the leather at all. An hour in and I smell rose bubble bath. There's maybe a hit of leather but it's more like a light drapey suede, not a biker jacket. It reminds me of a crabtree and evelyn product I used in high school but I couldn't tell you which one. Overall: Not what I expected. More sweet and approachable than the goth I was. The nostalgia of this scent is fun, but I was hoping it would be a little more of a disturbing scent.

My first impression of Witch Dance is that it's a lovely red musk version of Halloween: Los Angeles. The bonfire/burning note is up front first, and what I smell most for the first 30 minutes after applying. It is grounded by the sweet smell of musk I recognize from Blood Kiss. It seems to fade into oblivion after about two hours. Maybe my skin eats this, maybe it hasn't had enough rest after travel. The two hours that I have it on it doesn't morph much. I'll edit if anything changes, right now I hope nothing does except maybe a longer staying power. It's a keeper for me for sure- I've already received a "you smell good" compliment.

Upon first whiff of this, I do get the Schwarzer Mond comparisons. That sweetness burns off pretty quickly upon skin application and then Siberian Musk becomes the heartbeat of another one of my favorite scents- Panther Moon. But it's free from the intricate edges and accessories, if that makes any sense. I sort of understand the Snake Oil comparisons, but the end result is much different on me. Colder, like mentioned above. I've only smelled Snake Charmer once and would say Siberian Musk is closer to that. It's deep, solid and sexy.

I've been using Snake Oil Hair Gloss for almost three weeks now, and it's been great. I was worried about the silicone because that stuff seems fine in my hair at first but by the end of the day, it seems to pull every environmental microparticle piece of yuck to my hair. This has not happened with the Snake Oil Gloss. It really agrees with my hair- which is softer, smoother and amazing smelling. I work it into my hair when it's still damp, and I've also used it on dry hair (in a much smaller amount) to re-style. It doesn't weigh my hair down at all, and seems to have helped to breath some life into my very over processed hair.

In the bottle I get an almost identical scent to Lemon Sugar by Fresh. I've used it in the bath and as an after shower oil, and the scent has good staying power, but it does change from the bottle and gets deeper and more carmel-y. It's a great one to layer with other sweet scents or light florals.

#occupywallstreet is my second BPAL lava lamp. Meaning: There is a layer of goo at the bottom of the bottle, and large dark chunks floated around when I rolled it. Then those chunks stuck to the side. And there's still thick goo at the bottom. People, we have cocoa absolute! Now that you have the visual: In the bottle: Perfect patchouli, with a hit of cocoa and vanilla. Wet on skin: The patchouli that others have describes as astringent comes forward. But I coaxed a dark chunk out of the bottle with a toothpick (i know, I can hear screams of horror over this unorthodox testing ) and it makes the patchouli less cleaning solution and somehow more floral. 20 mins later: This is gorgeous on my skin. It's a very rich, sweet patchouli that somehow doesn't scream "OMG, Hippy!" I don't get dirty from it, I get deep, dimensional grounding. The sweet is nothing like the dirt syrup experience I had with Banshee Beat. 1 hour later: Same as the 20 minute mark, but less throw. Not a lot of throw to begin with on me. Overall: This has surprised me. I really thought I was just buying a scent to support the lab's donations, because I really appreciate that they do these things. I was afraid this would turn into a Banshee Beat scent and I wouldn't get to enjoy wearing the scent, and also because part of me still instinctively recoils in fear when I see patchouli listed as a note. I guess I'm just a hippie at heart ( ) because the stuff smells great on me. And I agree with others about the aging on this one- should be fantastic. I feel bad for people who are getting the pencil shavings/cedar, I have none of that here. edited cuz my spelling typo was just embarrassing

! ! Some of you around here might be as old as me, and remember when Madonna's Like A Prayer record was released. The first release of it had patchouli scented sealer for the shrinkwrap. That's the first thing I thought of with my first whiff of Sentimental Initiation. And this scent goes way deeper than some patch scented plastic wrap. I can't even review this in my usual way. This scent is earthy, dirty and bad good. In the first hour I had it on my skin I wanted to curse every time I smelled it- in an emphatic dirty talk kind of way. I have a hard time keeping at bay the primal urge to call up exes that I should never talk to ever ever again, and just recite a play by play action of our greatest hits, if ya know what I mean... Sheesh, where was I? I get spicy, I get musky, I get earthy, I get a small amount of wood . While I normally amp clove, and it's ruined scents for me before, the clove stays balanced and now (2 hrs later) it's faded into the background. I'm left with a scent that embodies a little bit of guilt, with a good time had by all. It packs a wallop of a throw on me. This one is a troublemaker. All the right kind of trouble, hopefully...

Oh wow. This might just be the Holy Grail Scent that I didn't know I was looking for. In the bottle: smells like cake batter and sangria. Drydown: Total and complete Afterparty In A Teeny Apartment smell. The kind that makes you leave and hope some magic elves come do the cleaning for you while you're gone. Really super sweet and cigarette-y right now. 20 mins later: OMG. Hello, hella foxy! This is exactly Grown Up Cake Smash. I do amp most sweet notes, so it's not surprising to me that I'm getting wine soaked cake and the sugared tea of Dorian. There's incense too, and a little bit of smokiness, which makes it seem like I've been up to no good. Every so often I get a hit of frosting. 1 hour later: The same, but with less throw. Overall: Totally my cuppa. I totally agree with Bluelena about getting in close to earn a whiff. I was a little disappointed that I couldn't detect the Snake Oil in this, but hey, that's what Snake Oil itself is for! Now I need to decide now if one or two back ups are necessary- this one is going to be a daily driver for a while, and I'd love to have some to age too. Fantastic job, Beth!

It's hard for me to review this in the way that I normally review. First, opening the bottle I get a smell that's part mild turpentine, part salad dressing. Nothing I want to smell like, and I'm kind of disappointed. But I put it on my skin. It stays the same for a few minutes, then the fruitiness of the pear comes forward, along with the floral of the orchid. It stays bright like that for about fifteen minutes. Then it totally disappeared. Then later, about an hour after the disappearing act, I am catching whiffs of the most graceful, elegant scent. It's like the ghost of Madeline Elster, the blonde character Kim Novak plays in Vertigo. The scent doesn't have a huge throw, plus it's sneaky- what's with that long disappearing act? I think what I can pick out is the orchid, maybe a tiny bit of dark green from the violet leaf, and the musk. There's a slight spicy warmth to it-probably the grounding of the opopanax and patchouli, and I can say that those two things are probably what's keeping the rest of it from going off into the ether. It's lovely and quite different than any BPAL I own. It's something to wear when you need the boost of elegance in your life. I'm normally like Judy Barton (the less glamorous, more mundane version of Kim Novak in the same film) and Black Moon makes me feel like I can be that other, more upscale version. And if you get some of this- please skin test it! I'd never think what I smelled initially would turn into something so sophisticated.

To me, this scent doesn't get too piney. There is a very clean element of it- I'm not sure which of the notes make that happen. It's airy above all with a slight watery/tiny earthy feel. I think it was one of the will-call threads where someone said this reminded them of babies sleeping in the woods, and I have to agree with that- it's like the baby bambi animals sleeping by a very gentle babbling brook. I sprayed my pillowcases with this the other day and was knocked out for a three hour nap in the middle of the day. I woke up drooling. This gives Fae Forrest top marks in my book!

I was excited for this blend because of the plum musk note. What does that even mean, plum musk? Wet: Soft floral, with added sweetness. It feels like I'm standing near a non-vanilla fragrant orchid. Drydown: Now this is really starting to open up. The oakmoss is behaving itself, which is good because that's one I amp to the high heavens. I don't get too much grapefruit from it, just florals balanced by a sophisticated sweetness. An hour later: Well, apparently this gets stronger on me. Drunk guy at bar last night comes over to me and my friend and asks what smells so heavenly and ladylike. My friend and I each point at the other one, and he looks at me and says, "It's you. I know you're married- your man shouldn't let you out without him." Then proceeded to not leave us alone until my friend said something completely offensive. Also, I am not married, I wear a band on my left ring finger. Overall: I included that long story(which I actually shortened) because of the She Who Conceals Love Affairs title of Kytherian. It's a surprisingly powerful fragrance for how light it begins. I now have to decide if this is bottle worthy. The thing that's holding me back is that I don't know if I'm up to handling the potential trouble this could cause!

The notes listed here are all of my favorites. It's hard for me to not just instantly purchase anything that has red musk listed first. Champaca flower is another drool worthy scent, and The Lab has cured me of my patchouli aversion. The other florals looked really good too. Wet: I get spicy and warm, definitely red musk. A Sunbird kind of feeling. Something seems not right though... On my skin: Okay, something is not right at all. I'm having flashbacks to Fledgling Raptor Moon, which did not work for me. At all. Comparing the notes, I see the culprit- Massoia Bark. Twenty minutes later: I'm keeping this on for the sake of reviewing only at this point, because I really want to wash it off. I can sense potential- the musk/patch/champaca trinity is starting to come forward, and that massoia is starting to back off, but it's still stuck in my nose. Overall: Since I can't make it to the hour or longer stage with this one, I can say that if you like woods, Fledgling Raptor Moon and red musk, this one is for you. It's not for me. At least I now know that massoia bark is a Total DealBreaker for me, even when it's surrounded by notes that I love.

Winter Solstice Lunar Eclipse is a bottle I picked up more because of the event than the scent, although seeing red musk, golden amber and patchouli in the note list was encouraging. In the bottle: Herbal, alpine, berry. Reminds me of last year's Blue Moons plus something else that I can't quite name. Wet on skin: The herbs calm down, the hollyberry comes front and center. Drydown: Berries, pine and a touch of bright pepper. 20 minutes later: Hey, I just remembered the other Bpal this reminds me of- Quick Grope Under the Mistletoe! But a midnight, outdoor version! An hour later: Finally I can smell tiny traces of the amber and patchouli. It's faint and never quite overpowers the elements of winter night cool established by the pine and berries. Overall: Super nice interpretation of a very rare event. It's unusual for me to like a scent that doesn't have an in-your-face anchor to it. None of the resins dominate nor misbehave, and the fruit is there but never edible. It doesn't really last much longer than two hours on me, which was about the length of the event itself, no? The florals rush by, not sticking around for a noticeable amount of time, evoking the clouds that rolled through the sky that night. I'll be holding on to this one, it's unlike my go-tos of red musk and sugared food stuffs!

I've usually done really well with the foodie scents, so I was looking forward to enjoying Grossvater Tanz. In the decant: Froot Loops. I got that smell before I had read anyone else's reviews here. Wet on my skin: The cloying sweet of sugar cereal is gone, and now it's rice with thick cream. 20 minutes later: The same as above, but a whiff of spice and orange every so often. The spices do not sit well with me. An hour later: Well, this is definitely foodie, but not any food I want to smell like. On the plus side, it smells very warm, and thick. On the minus side, it's reminding me of congee with century eggs, which makes me kind of nauseous. Overall: Not for me. I think that clove is what makes me respond with yuck.

I'm giving myself a deadline of December 24th to try to leave feedback for, well, everyone I haven't left feedback for! It would not be out of line for anyone I owe feedback to bring it to my attention!

Waltz of the Snowflakes was one I got just for the name. The Lab's snow notes usually don't work on me, so I had little hope for this one other than getting to smell the interpretation of the dance and the music. Wet in the decant: I get vanilla and... cleaning solution. Which must be the pine part. Wet on skin: Minty vanilla! Interesting... Twenty minutes later: Wow. What happened? This is like slightly minted vanilla frosting on my wrist. An hour later: Gorgeous. Simply gorgeous. It's like a fresh vanilla minty cool mini xmas tree. Overall: For someone who avoids the snow note, WOTS is a reminder that you should always be open minded enough to skin test outside your comfort zone notes! I get no plastic funkiness like I have gotten from Snow White, Pink Snowballs, or Snow Flakes. It's a perfect scent for the season- each note stays very mild, and the fir/pine keep this from being too foody once it's dried down.

This is for the 2010 version. With the top off the decant, I smell chocolate and floral. Nice! I'm happy about it because there was no Dia de los Reyes this year, which is one of my all time favorites. Wet on skin: Almost just like the bottle, but there's a very pretty smell taking over. Drydown: There is barely any cocoa at all now. It's straight up floral/amber. 20 minutes later: See above. At least the amber hasn't gone to powder on me- it's very sophisticated. An hour later: I feel like this has a ton of throw on me. Or, maybe this is just not a smell I'm used to. It's not bad, it's just , I don't know, mainstream. (I don't mean this in a bad way, please don't hurt me!) Overall: I had expected more chocolate out of this. What it turns into is a scent that would be good to enable your doubtful friends into bpal, the ones who won't put down their Large Fragrance House fragrances. It's a very feminine amber, a very faint chocolate background, and sadly I think too fancy for me personally to pull off.

Sometimes I'm wary ordering a lunacy. This was one of those times- peach scents just drive me up the wall, there's a bad association in my past with them. I've smelled the old Beaver Moon (not sure which year) and the anniversary version- both brought such a big smile to my face, which was what made me order this one. In the bottle: Danged if this doesn't smell just like a strawberry creme conditioner I shoplifted had when I was like, ten years old! A very condensed version though. I get no peach or cheesecake- well, maybe I do, and that's the "creme" part. Wet on skin: Very candy like! Almost over the top. It's got an aquatic thing going on, not green, really, but like the water off of rinsed strawberries. Drydown: The peach shows up. It is fine because the strawberry is stronger. Still very sweet. An hour later: I overheard someone in the store asking who had eaten toast and jam. I guess they're getting more of the crust than I am. Through its stages, it threatens to go plasticky a few times, then reigns itself in. It also threatens to go really sweet and give me diabetes by osmosis. Overall this is pretty straight up strawberry- bakery red glazed, sitting on top of a cake but without the cake strawberry. I will be hanging onto this one- it's so cheerful and unlike any other bpal I own, and like others have said, I'm really interested to see how it ages. Extra bonus points for the label art too! ETA: I'm editing this because after a week I noticed a subtle shift in the notes after the first hour- there is some cream cheese showing up. It's really nice with the glazed fruit!