Invidiana

When I first read the notes, my eyeballs weren't exactly rolling out of their sockets because of the florals. However, on me this turns into the most gorgeous vanillic white musk with sensual ribbons of ylang ylang and sandalwood. The longer it sits on my skin, the better it gets. Fans of Antique Lace, don't miss out: Moonshine & Mist is not a duplicate, but definitely a cousin. This has become a surprise holy grail, and a bottle is definitely tagging along with my next order!

I tried this at NYCC and figured I might as well review it before I completely forgot what it smelled like. Violet Ray is like Silver Phoenix's more bracing cousin. It's a fresh violet scent, like a cool violet breeze with the mint. I do feel the two main players are the mint and violet, grounded by the the rest to keep it from venturing into too-sharp territory. It's pleasant, but I do prefer Silver Phoenix because it's sweeter.

I used to wear Body Shop white musk back in high school and loved it to death. One sniff of this and I've officially forgotten everything I know about that and any other white musk I've come across. Cheap teen perfume? I don't think so. This is so simple in its complexity, so complex in its simplicity if that makes any sense. It starts off a bit more fresh and airy, reminiscent of the linen note in Antique Lace, and dries down more musky and warm with creamy vanilla undertones. I should mention that my skin chemistry does add a certain warm muskiness to most perfumes on the drydown, but it seems this is also a quality of this oil on its own. It has a certain reserved sensuality like a white silk shirt with just one button undone. There must be the tiniest bit of vanilla orchid or at least what comes off as such on me, giving it a slight bit of sweetness and those vanilla undertones I mentioned. Maybe it's something my skin turns to vanilla, who knows, though I see other reviewers have gotten similar results. Beth's white musk is just beyond all the others in every imaginable way, and I will treasure it for years to come.

This was actually lighter than I expected but every bit as delicious. The pumpkin is mellow, sweet and lightly spiced; it's the stronger element first, but within about a minute they switch sides and the marshmallow fully emerges. The marshmallow in this is very reminiscent of Marshmallow Poof, maybe a tad of a gooier marshmallow note, or maybe my mind is just playing tricks on me. Either way I love it and want to take a bite out of my arm.

First of all, a gigantic to Sunshinedaisybliss for sending me this sniffie! Normally BPAL plum is really thick and luscious on me, with a slightly smoky quality. I expected this to be the same as the plum in Bordello, Snake Charmer, Hellion v2, etc. Wet it smells fruity, but I expected that because of course it's a fruit single note. However, instead of morphing into the thick dark scent that I've grown to know and love it goes floral. Body chemistry, for shame! I've come to the conclusion that there must be plum blossom in this, because I often amp fruit blossoms and while it still turns out alright, predominantly floral with fruity undertones, the floral quality is a far cry from the dark, sensual plum I was hoping for. I am still very thankful I actually had the opportunity to try it, though.

This is incredible. It's a lusciously thick, sensuous amber with nuances of Egyptian musk, caramel, benzoin, vanilla, incense and smoke. On the full drydown it takes on an exotically warm and musky quality that is downright addictive. If I ever find myself a bottle of this...hell I'd better just start saving now.

Mad Kate is mad alright, with insane rose geranium. It amped to infinity and overtook everything else from the wet stage all the way into the drydown. I can sense a certain sweetness behind the rose geranium, and I imagine that's the honeycomb/vanilla/redcurrant but it's really almost straight ghastly rose geranium on me.

I was hoping for something richer and creamier, but this essentially came out like woody toasted hazelnuts on me; pleasant enough, but not necessarily something I need.

Three words: spicy gingerbread fruitcake. This is like Gingerbread Poppet and Fruitcake smashed together into one glorious foody holiday scent. It's spicy but in a warm and pleasant way, more like a cozy kitchen with gingerbread baking rather than gun-toting cinnamon. I was skeptical about this at first because I feared some kind of rancid animal-nether-parts musk, but I don't get anything weird from whatever type of musk is in here.

This is a bit sharp and herbal in the bottle but after giving it a minute to dry down on my skin it's really the lovely honey and lavender that come forward replacing the herbal quality. It's like TKO with honey instead of vanilla, pretty and very soothing.

The Baron is very, very manly. I was really hoping for more of a sweeter rum scent like Grog, but I think it's the bay in the bay rum that really comes out strong on me, like earth and vetiver and dark masculine woods. It's simply not something I can pull off but maybe it would work better on a guy.

I get the same exact thing Madame Nyx does; dead-on orange Pez. It is a bit effervescent in the beginning like orange Pop Rocks but it essentially dries down to orange Pez, not much of a throw.

In some thread a while back, I can't remember which one for my life, I said that if I could bathe in Snake Oil I would. For Snake Oil fans like myself this stuff does not disappoint! It's the classic sexy, musky vanillaed goodness of Snake Oil that moisturizes beautifully like all BPTP bath oils and leaves a veil of Snake Oil on my skin, perfect for layering with.....you guessed it.

Now I see why Castitas is loved by so many. I put off trying it for so long because I used to work at BBW back in college and didn't really care for their Rice Flower & Shea much because it smelled of almost nothing to me (when some woman tried to buy up every single bottle of stuff in that scent during the huge biyearly sale I couldn't understand) but Castitas is completely different territory. It's a creamy warm vanilla that's very slightly floral but not much, both delicious and soothing and absolutely nothing like the BBW stuff.

This is very "humid" feeling and green, slightly lemony like the perfume oil (though the perfume oil is really lemony on me since I amp myrtle to no avail). Not really my type of thing, but I can appreciate the thoughts of Anne Rice's visions of New Orleans that it evokes.

I love this; it definitely creates an "autumn grove" atmosphere right in my room. I get mostly the dry leaves and smoky oak bark, with something nutty in the background which I take to be the acorn note. This also has a "cool" feeling to it too, like a brisk autumn breeze whipping through skeletal branches.

Red, bloody, sensual pomegranate. I'm saving this one for Valentine's season! Unless I end up craving it ravenously and uncontrollably before that of course.

This reminds me of shoving my face in my plastic pumpkin bucket and huffing deeply after trick-or-treating. It's like a melange of every Halloween candy imaginable (except those ghastly Charleston Chews--yeccch), sweet but not cloying, and now I can huff it without sticking my head in a pumpkin.

This smells just like Samhain does on me, really. It's warm and smoky with that same honeyed qulity that the oil gets on my skin, which I'm assuming is coming from the apple, pumpkin and sweet resin combined. Good thing I have enough to last me till next Halloween!

This reminds me very much of Tricksy bath oil, but sweeter with the apple; still strong enough to leave a scent trail behind, perfect for layering with other autumnal stuff. Actually come to think of it, it's something like the love child of Tricksy and Samhain. For me that's love.

The perfect creamy and buttery (but not too buttery) balance of sweet pumpkin, vanilla and something nutty, possibly some honey in there too? The overall impression is a warm and creamy pumpkin custard-type thing--not quite creme brulee because there is no burnt sugar note, but defintiely pumpkin custard cream with nutty undertones. Of course since I don't have the gallons of this to spare that I wish I did I'm going to be really picky about when I wear it!

This is smoky, woody autumnal love. If you're into L'Autunno, you'll be a fan of this one too. It's great that I don't need much to scent not just my tub but my entire bathroom afterwards (and a good part of the hall too!). I definitely get the patchouli and smoky woods the most; I sense a very slight sweetness from the honey but if you want it sweeter, do like I did and mix with a honey or vanilla-scented bubble bath; you'll never want to get out of the tub! It's also great that this lingers on my skin and provides a warm and sexy base for another autumnal scent like October.

This turns out warm and grainy/woody with a slightly sweet/musky drydown from the amber, but then again most drydowns end up somewhat musky on my skin. Not really for me, but for anyone who liked Traipsing Through the Crop Circles, I definitely recommend this one.

This is very, very strong on what I believe is vetiver/clove/earth; I do get something slightly tangy in the background which I'm taking to be the blood accord, but alas it's just too masculine for me.

I can't believe I never posted a review for this one--it's raw, highly sexual honey that's predominantly honey wet and dries down to reveal a musky amber base and swirls of vanilla. One of my GC holy grails.