Miss Lynx

Oh, yum! Well, OK, this isn't quite I-want-to-eat-my-wrists yum, but it's as close to it as a scent can get and not be too foody to me. I was trying to test my boundaries with this one. I was originally very nervous of fruity scents, but having found since that as long as they're not too foody, they can actually work rather nicely on me, I wanted to see how far that went. I do think Kuang Shi is probably about as fruity as I can safely get, but it's not all fruit by any means. There's a really nice non-edible undertone to it, presumably the musk and sandalwood, that gives it depth and keeps it from being a Juicy Fruit type of scent. Instead, it smells kind of like an exotic liqueur of some kind, maybe the mango equivalent of Grand Marnier. In that slightly boozy, intoxicating scent, it reminds me a bit of Vixen. It's also slightly reminiscent of Fae to me, but less sunny and more... mature, somehow. Still a mood-lifter, but a bit more sultry and sensual, which is I guess is the Vixen-ish side of it. But it is definitely not reminiscent of zombies to me, at least not unless Chinese zombies dine on fresh mangos and Grand Marnier instead of brains. Only real down side to this one is not much staying power. On my wrists, it's gone inside of an hour or so, though in the crooks of my arms it's good for a few hours. Grade: B+

I've been wanting this one since I first looked at the Lab site, and finally got to try it -- but as it turns out, I don't really like it as much as I thought I would. It's not bad, but not great. Definitely an incensey scent, which is a genre of scent that I tend to like, but it's not really as complex or interesting as some of the others. It smelled nice enough in the imp, though again, not outstanding. On, there was a strange sort of pungency to it at first, almost like camphor or something, and I'm not sure where that was coming from. But it faded after a few minutes to what I could best describe as a sort of generic incensey scent. I could smell all the individual notes in it fairly well, particularly the patchouli which seemed quite strong, but they never really blended into anything greater than the sum of its parts. It was pleasant enough, but just didn't really excite me. On my wrists, the scent faded entirely within 2 hours. In the crooks of my arms, it seems to have lasted longer, but only as straight patchouli; the sandalwood and frankincense seem to be gone. All in all, OK, but not terribly impressive. Grade: B

Mmm, I really like this! I first sniffed it from a friend's bottle, and it smelled intriguing enough to me that I immediately moved its priority on my wishlist up to red (top priority). And now I have an imp. On, it definitely does not disappoint -- it's just as lovely and fascinating as it was in the bottle. There's definitely a chaotic element to it, with a lot of notes drawing it in different directions, but I like that. Spicy and foresty is the strongest impression I'm getting (the ginger and cypress, I presume), but there's also a touch of rich fruitiness, and just enough floral to give it lift without being overpowering. I so like it when floral notes actually behave on my skin and don't amp up horribly. And there's something slightly watery in it that I can't place. In a way it's like a woodsier version of Lampades (another where florals behave themselves and work nicely), and there are also notes that remind me of Black Forest and Hunter Moon. It's also the first scent that my partner and I have liked equally -- usually our tastes are pretty different. I like mostly spicy, incensey blends, and she likes mostly dark florals like Crossroads and the Raven, though she also loves Whippoorwill, which is more of a spicy herbal. Of course, this means it's definitely got to go on the big bottle list, because between the two of us, we are going to blow through this imp pretty quickly! Grade: B+ at least, might be an A depending on my mood.

Yes, that's been my major issue too. That and the fact that after spending all day doing PHP/MySQL stuff for a living, sometimes the last thing I want to do is more of it on my own time!

I'd actually been working on setting up a MySQL database to keep track of my BPAL stuff, with the intention of maybe making a PHP front end for it eventually. No idea when I'll get that finished, but for anyone who doesn't do Access and/or would prefer a web-based solution, I'd be happy to share mine whenever I get it finished.

At last -- I finally got hold of this one after wanting it for months! I originally discovered the Lab while Springtime in Arkham was still up -- which was part of the initial appeal, as I'm a huge Lovecraft fan. This was the main scent from that group that I really wanted, but didn’t have the funds to order at the time, and by the time I did, SiA was over. And Shub's in demand enough that it can be tough to find. But I finally got some... ...And my initial reaction on sniffing it was disappointment. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but this wasn't it. I love spicy and incensey scents in general, and ginger in particular, so I didn't think I could possibly go wrong with this one, but my first reaction when I put it on was that it was harsher than I expected and almost burned my nose, and then once it settled in a bit, it smelled disconcertingly "foody", in that unpleasant, fake-smelling way that those scents usually seem to smell on me. I wanted it to be the ginger equivalent of Chimera, I guess, and instead it was smelling like cheap Christmas gingerbread potpourri. And yet... As it dried down, I started to get more of an incensey feel to it, and it really did begin to approach a Chimera-esque level of greatness -- just before it faded out entirely. Well, I wasn't having any of that, so I applied it again, and heavier. This time the foody phase seemed to end earlier, and the lovely incensey phase stuck around longer. It still faded fast enough that I ended up having to reapply it a third time before the day was done, but by that point I was beginning to quite like it. So, the verdict... It's not as much of a disappointment as I'd originally thought, and I'd still pounce on a 5 mL if one came available at a manageable price. But I still don't like it quite as much as I thought I would. Not enough to rank it among my very top favourites. The different notes don't seem that well integrated, the initial ginger blast is a bit harsh and over-the-top, and that foody phase really sucks, though at least it doesn't last long. But the drydown is gorgeous. It's not quite the perfect ginger scent I was hoping, but it's a noble effort. Grade: B+ ETA: I just tried a different imp of it, after a friend recently gifted us with it, and it’s really different than the original! Not so different as to make me think either of them was mislabelled -- I can tell it’s still the same notes, but they seem to be in different proportion to each other. This one is not quite as sharply gingery, not at all foody, and it has a warm musky tone to it, and I like it so much better! The ginger is still there, but it’s not overpowering -- it’s more balanced with the other notes. It makes me think of a gingered version of Scherezade. This version is a definite A! I don’t know if it’s just the natural variability you get in any oil mixed by human beings, or aging, or what, but if I knew it would all smell like this, I’d sell my firstborn for a bottle!

OK, I know this is supposed to be a men's scent. But a friend sent me this among a handful of other imps, and while I lost my "try anything once" standing by not wanting to try Grog or Dana O'Shee -- both smelled too scarily sweet and foody in the imps for me to be able to cope with -- I figured I could at least try Jack and this. Besides, I kind of like the whole pirate mythos, and some "traditionally masculine" scents do work out nicely on me. In the imp, it does have a definite men’s cologne type of scent to it, but not in a bad way. On, it doesn't actually smell all that masculine -- my skin seems to have grabbed hold of some sweet note in it and amped it up considerably, to the point where it's actually kind of perfumey. And there are some notes in it that are nice -- I think maybe the bay? Some kind of aromatic/spicy herbal scent in there is appealing to me, anyway. If it is the bay, I guess that bodes well for Delphi, which is coming to me soon in a swap. But there's also something in there that I don't like, or maybe that doesn't like me. Something dry and weirdly cloying and bit plasticky or fake-smelling -- I think this may be the leather, because Loviatar had something like this as well that put me off. Then again, Hamadryad was also kind of like that, so maybe it's one of the woods? Don't know, but it's kind of killing this scent for me. Oh well. An interesting experiment, but not a keeper. I ended up washing it off and replacing it with Titus Andronicus, a "guy" scent that really does work on me. Grade: C-

I tried this one a few times, trying to figure out what I thought of it. I initially thought I liked it, but wasn't entirely sure -- it's a complex scent, with both floral and dark resinous components, and just a subtle touch of fruit. The floral component didn't seem too strong the first time I tried it, but then on subsequent tries, for some reason, that aspect of the scent seemed to get stronger and stronger. If the florals had stayed balanced with the currant and incensey notes, it might have worked a lot better for me. As it is, it would be a great scent for someone whose skin doesn’t amp florals the way mine does. Grade: C+/B-

A friend just sent me a handful of imps she'd ordered from the Lab that didn't work out for her, and in keeping with my try-anything-once philosophy, I’m trying them, even though they’re mostly "foodier" scents than I'm usually drawn to. This was the first one I tried, because I thought I would at least like the spice notes, and the peach wasn't bad in Fae, so really there was only the pumpkin to worry about... *sigh* Which just happened to be the dominant note in it, of course. Well, if I'd had any temptation to try the new Pumpkin Patch scents, I don't now. This is not a nice scent, at least not on me. Initially, it actually had a sort of pungency to it that made my nose burn a bit, and I don't think it was just the spices, because I'm usually pretty good with spicy scents. Something about that pumpkin note does not agree with me. And I am finding that spices + fruit are not necessarily bad if they're balanced out with other things, as in Vixen, Blood, Voodoo, etc., but here there's no balance happening. The pumpkin doesn't tone down the sweetness at all, it just makes it smell like, well, nasty fake food. Oh well. I will just have to find my nutmeg, clove and peach in other combos, because apparently pumpkin and I are not going to be friends. Grade: D

Not bad at all -- earthy, woodsy, incensey and dry. There's a sort of dustiness to it that does bring cemeteries and the dead to mind, but it's nicely aromatic and resinous at the same time. It's a very occult-shop type of smell -- the sort of scent you'd expect to get walking into someplace full of resin incenses, old books, and magical supplies. And that slightly tickly dryness puts me in mind of blowing the dust of the books in a place like that, or maybe in an old house that had been closed up for a long time after the death of its inhabitants. Maybe a long-abandoned magical workroom or temple... Unlike a lot of reviewers thus far, I don't find it particularly masculine. Gender-neutral, maybe, but not masculine as such. The first time I tried it, it seemed to fade away very quickly, but today I applied it more heavily -- pretty much slathered it, really -- and it seems to be doing a much better job of sticking around. It doesn't really quite have the multilayered complexity of the scents I tend to like best, but it's evocative and enjoyable, and I'll definitely use up the imp, even thought I don't think it’s really a big bottle candidate for me. Grade: B

This is a strange one. I had to try it, partly due to it being the only overtly Canadian BPAL scent, even though it had several florals in it. And thankfully, it didn't come across as being all that heavily floral on me. However, I'm having a really hard time figuring out how to describe it! Like Nephilim and a few others, it's a crazy combination of contradictory scents that pull it in all kinds of different directions. In the imp, my partner said it smelled like icewine (très Canadien, that), which seemed like a pretty close description. Very fruity, and a bit heady. Once on, all kinds of different notes seemed to be jumping all over each other vying for attention at once, including several florals All that soon settled down and a sharp, very green, herbal scent rose up, with maybe just a touch of floral in it, that smelled maddeningly familiar to me. Not unpleasant, but not like a scent you'd wear on purpose either, unless it was to -- that was it! It smelled like insect repellent! Something between Deep Woods Off and one of those citronella-based herbal repellents. In a scent based on a Canadian location, that struck me as just too amusing for words. After a little while, the insect repellent scent died down, and the berries began coming out strongly. Quite nice, at that point. I am coming to realize that berries are my friend, scent-wise. But before too long they faded too, eventually replaced by a mild but vaguely nice herbal scent with just faint overtones of both berries and wildflowers. Not bad. All in all, I'm not really sure if it’s a keeper, but it’s definitely an adventure in a bottle! Grade: C+/B-

Does anyone have any ideas for what would be similar to Whippoorwill? It's my partner's favourite scent, and it's not so easy to find. She doesn't so much like most spicy scents, but she really likes the mossy undertones of that one. Most of the scents she likes seem to have moss in them somewhere -- oakmoss, Spanish moss, or just general moss, but Whippoorwill's got that overlaid with a sort of dry spiciness, which really works for her in a way that most other spice-scents don't seem to.

All right, I officially give up on the Ars Draconis blends. Dragon's blood just does not like me, at least not in combination with many of the things it appears with. As with Dragon's Heart, which I had really thought I'd love, it just turned into a hyper-sweet perfume attack -- only this case, even more so, and with the added bonus of an undertone of the nastiest kind of musk, like something from a cat's anal glands. I had to wash it off within a few minutes. There are a few dragon's blood blends that have worked OK on me -- Blood and Tintagel come to mind -- but they seem to be rare, and I think they're the ones that have something really earthy and un-sweet to balance it. Musk does not do that, at least not on me, and even Bloodlust went all perfumey on me. It sucks because I really like the smell of actual dragon's blood resin, as incense, but the oil is a whole other story, apparently. So, I give up. I have removed the entire Ars Draconis category from my wish list. The dragons just don't want to play nicely with me. Grade: D

This one was quite different than I expected. On me, it wasn't masculine at all... not even slightly. It was initially quite sweet and perfumey, very feminine but not in a "girly" way. I think my skin amped the neroli to a pretty fair degree, and dark musk also tends to be sweeter on me than on most people, I think. As it dried down, the perfuminess (which thankfully was not as intense or long-lasting as in several other scents I've tried lately) diminished and some nice layers of complexity began to come out, including an undertone that was very reminiscent of Haunted. Eventually, after an hour or so, the Haunted-ish scent was all I could smell on my wrists, though some of the rest of the scent lingered in the crooks of my arms. I often find scents dry down a bit differently in the two places. And that final phase of it was relatively long-lasting -- I can still smell it, albeit faintly, nearly 6-8 hours later, and that's very rare for me. Even after several hand washings and washing some dishes! I don't think it's going to be a top favourite, because, ironically, it's a bit too sweet and floral for my tastes, particularly in the early stages. But I do like it, and will undoubtedly use up the imp, and who knows, maybe by then it will have grown on me enough to want more. I do like Haunted a lot, and this is like a more complex version of it. I guess my freaky skin chemistry gave Titus a sex change... Grade: B to B+

This is the first of the Sephiroth that I've tried. It's an interesting blend -- seems predominantly resinous; I'm picking up frankincense and amber and maybe something a bit more exotic, storax or galbanum or something? Definitely smells like an incense blend, very ritualistic. It seems to pretty much suit the sphere it's named for -- it's got a definite solar feel, very golden, but a deep gold, with a touch of darkness. There's a faintly unsavoury undertone to it, as though it's been touched by its qlipothic equivalent... The bright/dark feel seems very appropriate for its position as the centre of the Tree. I don't think I'd wear it as a perfume, though -- it smells much more like a ritual/magical oil. Not that it's unpleasant, but it inclines my mind toward serious magical work, not day-to-day living. Grade: B

I nearly didn't try this one at all. In the imp, it smelled overpoweringly of almonds, and I really, really hate that smell. I like actual almonds, but I can't stand almond extract, Amaretto, and that sort of thing. I think too many Agatha Christie novels at an impressionable age (I went through a big murder mystery phase when I was around 12-13 or so) made me associate it permanently with cyanide poisoning. But still, as I've mentioned before, I'll try anything once, and I like Bastet despite the almond, so I figured it was worth a shot. On first contact though, I almost regretted the decision. ALMOND ALMOND ALMOND! With an undertone of nasty lime like that neon-green bar mix people who don’t actually know how to make margaritas make them with. Oh dear. However, that faded fast. Within a few minutes, almond and lime were barely noticeable, and earthy spicy goodness was taking over. The clove was really strong, and it reminded me a lot of Blood, which is the scent my partner likes best on me. It had a lot of the same spicy-scented-candle feeling to it. So I extended my wrist for her to sniff and she immediately smiled with much the same wicked gleam in her eye that Blood usually causes. And I thought OK, this is definitely a keeper. Now that it's drying down a bit, it's not so spicy, but it's still a beautifully complex, multilayered, earthy/spicy/incensey scent, and I could see myself getting to be very fond of it. Grade: B+ ETA: Worn it several more times since then, and I'm definitely fond of it. The notes that linger the longest on me seem to be vanilla and vetiver, with a touch of spice (clove probably), and wow do they last! Most scents fade on me within a few hours, but Voodoo stays noticeable all day and sometimes until the next morning. It's probably the longest-lasting scent I've tried yet.

I really wanted to like this one. It smelled intriguing in the bottle, and while my skin initially amped up the floral notes on first contact, as it often does, they faded down again fairly soon, leaving a pleasant, incensey scent -- which proceeded to fade to nothing inside of half an hour! This has got to be the quickest-disappearing oil I've tried yet apart from Thanatopsis. *sigh* If it had stayed, it might have been a B+. I even reapplied it, but the same thing just happened again. I'm having trouble even coming up with a good description of what it smelled like because the window between the initial floral blast and total disappearance was so small it was hard to get any kind of solid grasp on the scent. As it was, it was just kind of a tantalizing tease. Grade: C+

I almost didn't try this one, but I'm glad I did. I originally ordered it more for my partner than for myself, but once it arrived, she took one sniff of it in the imp, and refused to try it, saying it was much too sweet for her. I don't like super-sweet scents either, not at all, but I'll try anything once, so eventually I pulled it out of the swap pile to try a bit on, and I'm glad I did. Yes, in the imp, and when wet, it's an insanely sweet floral. But that sweetness starts fading within minutes, and the drydown is completely different — a light, dry woodsy herbal, with just faint floral overtones. I can definitely get the gossamer reference — it's a very light, gentle scent, and fading away already, after only an hour or so. But it's nice, though not really my kind of scent. Ironically, the drydown actually reminds me a bit of Whippoorwill... which is my partner's favourite scent! So I think I'm going to suggest she conquer her "Arachne-phobia" and give it a try. Grade: C+

A fiery Martial blend that embodies primal rage, lust for conquest, and all-encompassing desire. Dragon’s blood essence, heavy red musk, Indonesian patchouli and swarthy vetiver with a drop of cinnamon. I really, really wish that this had smelled anything like what it apparently does on other people on me. It smelled OK in the vial -- if anything, a little on the earthy/masculine side. But when I put it on - ye Gods! It went brutally sweet in seconds. I smelled like I'd been attacked by the entire perfume section of a department store. Not unlike Dragon's Heart, which has some of the same ingredients, and Snake Oil. Like those, it eventually settled down to something bearable, and then eventually pleasant, and it actually took less time to do so than either of them -- the initial assault was over with in about ten minutes, and it's now basically vetiver with a bare touch of amber and maybe dragon's blood, I think. But it's also fading away really fast, and it hasn't even been a full hour yet. *sigh* I really wish I could have smelled what everyone else did with this. I'm starting to think that red musk hates me, or maybe the combination of red musk and dragon's blood. I guess have to try a few more oils with one or the other of those notes to be sure what's doing it. Grade: C-

Oh, this is lovely -- rich, resinous, incensey, and with a strong overtone of honey. Did the Egyptians use honey in embalming? I think I read that somewhere... The colour it brings to mind is a deep gold, and it’s definitely got a bit of the same feel to it as Bastet -- very Middle-Eastern, and evocative of desert mysteries and magic -- but less feminine. Not overly masculine as such, but gender-neutral; I could see either a woman or man wearing this easily. And there's a darkness to it, as suits an oil named for a psychopomp and guide of the dead, but not in any sort of menacing way. Surprisingly, while several other people seem to have gotten a floral impression from it, I got nothing floral at all -- and my skin usually amps florals incredibly. Glad it didn't this time, because this scent is pure incense/honey bliss. On drydown, the honey element becomes most pronounced and it smells almost exactly like beeswax candles. I put it on before going out to a meeting tonight, and at various points during the meeting, any time my hand would come near my face, I would catch traces of this lovely beeswax scent -- very calming. It would probably be great for meditation. And it's got better than average staying power too -- I could still smell it when I got home, several hours later. All in all, a definite winner, and prime candidate for the big bottle wish list. Grade: A

I just tried Anubis for the first time to me, and on drydown it smells very much like beeswax candles to me.

This was suprisingly nice. At first, while it smelled sweeter than most scents I like and had a definite floral edge (the lunar oils that form the base of most the Lunacy scents, I guess -- this is the first Lunacy scent I'd tried and I'd been a little nervous about that), it also had an intriguing, almost intoxicating complexity and richness to it. Then my skin got hold of the florals -- specifically, the lunar oils seem to be exactly the kind of high, sweet, cold florals that my skin loves to amp, and I began to be afraid that I'd not only have to write this one off, but the whole Lunacy line. But then a funny thing happened: the florals settled back down and began to behave themselves. They were still there, but they weren't taking over after all. The other notes came out of hiding and it all began to blend together nicely. The spicy-fruity mulled wine scent was very noticeable, and there was a sort of woody/leafy undertone as well, and a touch of musk softening everything. Very nice -- still a bit stronger on the florals than I usually go for, but not bad at all. My partner compared it to "flowery pencils", but hastened to add "Not that that's a bad thing -- I like pencils!" I think she was picking up on the woody note. Anyway, while I don't see this becoming a top favourite, it'll be nice for occasional wear. And I no longer fear the Lunacy line. Or at least, not as much so. Grade: B

This has to go down in history as my shorted BPAL trial ever. I put some on right before going out the door with my partner, and it was startlingly, aggressively sweet -- not at all what it smelled like in the vial. As soon as I got within five feet of her, she backed away, saying "Oh my god -- what is that? It's awful!" "Um... It's Aeval. You know, the one you said you thought you were going to like from sniffing the imp?" "Please, please get it away from me! I think I'm getting a headache already." So I ran to the washroom and washed it off. But too late -- she did indeed end up with a splitting headache for most of the rest of the evening. In the brief impression I had of it before I washed it off, it did seem killer-sweet -- I think the sweet pea in it rose up and obliterated the sage and musk and everything else. It was kind of Death By Floral. It might have eventually dried down to something pleasant, but I've run into far too many scents like that lately, and I really don't want to keep something around that'll kill my partner. Into the swap pile it goes. Grade: D

My opinion of this one is pretty much the same as my opinion of Rakshasa: I'd really like it if either (a) there was about a third to a half the amount of rose in it that there is, or ( my skin didn't tend to grab hold of floral notes and amp them up hugely. As it was, though, Rose Cross was pretty much pure rose on me for the first hour. Eventually the frankincense begane coming out to play and it struck more of a balance, and at that point it was really fairly nice. Almost like hte rose frankincense incense you can get that's made from heating frankincense resin until it softens and kneading essential rose oil into it, which is kind of the effect I was hoping for from this one. But it took its sweet time, so to speak, in getting there, and was really cloyingly sweet in the meantime. *sigh* That seems to have happened with a number of oils lately: Snake Oil, Dragon's Heart, and now this... All of them eventually dry down to something nice, but only after an hour or more of super-sweet hell. Oh well. Grade: C

I'd be astonished if I ever found any scent that lasted all day on me. I've had various BPAL scents last anywhere from about 10-15 minutes to 2-3 hours. Rarely longer. Most are faded down to the point where I have to press my nose to my arm to smell them by the end of the first hour. But I suppose everyone's skin chemistry is different. For rose scents, though, I'd second the recommendation of Rose Cross. On me, at least, it smells very, very rosey -- very little of the frankincense scent there. I'm wearing it right now, for the first time. And it's still fairly strong after -- well, 45 minutes I think it's been. Which is longer than a lot of scents last on me...