Miss Lynx

This was an odd pick for me, since rose usually amps on my skin tremendously, turning any scent it's in into ROSE!, and foody/cakey scents usually smell nasty and artificial on me. Yet somehow, I just couldn't quite resist... In the imp it does indeed smell fearsomely like that cloying fake-butter note that I so dislike in most foody scents. But on my skin, that note's not too strong at all. It's balanced out fairly nicely by the blackcurrant -- which is actually one of my favourite notes, and tends to be nicely dark and bittersweet on me. And the rose does amp, but not to the point where it obliterates everything else. All in all, it makes for an odd and interesting combo -- the three main notes balance each other fairly well, and keep it from falling quite entirely into any one category (floral, fruity, foody). It's also not as sweet on me as you might expect from the description, once it settles in a little -- I'd almost call it a gender-neutral scent despite the rose -- and there's a touch of something green and leafy in it. Grade: B

This one definitely has that "Hi! I'm a MEN'S scent!" feel to it -- sometimes I do OK with the "traditionally masculine" scents, and sometimes not so much. This one's not bad on me -- it's fairly light as men's scents go -- but it still smells unmistably like it was meant to be on a man's skin, not on mine. The overall feel is predominantly dry and woody, with slight resinous/incensey overtones, but not enough to make it smell like an occult shop. It's subtle enough that you could wear it at the office (if you happen to be male, that is) without getting too many weird looks, though it's not a generic cologne scent by any means. I don't really get "Antichrist" as such from it, but it does have a certain refined and subtly powerful air to it -- this is not a scent you'd smell on a lounge lizard, but more on an elegant and slightly sinister gentleman. It's captivating enough that you might want to get closer to someone wearing it, but without being overstated at all. Were I male, I'd probably be ordering a bottle, but I'm not, so for me... Grade: B-

Hmmm... On first contact, mixed impressions. The almond note is really strong, and I hate almond. But everything in there that isn't almond seems to smell good. Maybe once the almond fades it will be nice... Ah, yes. As the almond fades down (the one redeeming feature of almond is that it's one of those sharp top notes that doesn't last long), it's getting much nicer -- warm and musky and incensey. Thankfully, the floral notes in it aren't too strong, though they're definitely there. So minus the almond, quite nice. And the longer it lasts, the better it gets. I keep catching faint traces that remind me of other BPAL scents I like, from Khandita to Gypsy Queen to Desire to Scherezade to the Masque... While the overall feel of it is similar enough to a lot of other BPAL scents that fall into that same warm-musky-sexy-incensey category that I don't know if I need a bottle of this one when I have several others, it's certainly tempting. Once the dreaded almond goes away, it's really gorgeous. Grade: B+

Very fitting for a bright spring day like today. It's a lot more light and sweet and girly than I normally like, but in spring I tend to be a little more drawn to that sort of thing, so it's great for right now. It's kind of green and fruity and floral all at the same time, and very fresh. A little more "perfumey" in a sense than I usually like, but not to a bad extent. There are traces of hidden depths in it that keep it from being too sweet -- maybe the grass notes? And everything in it smells very real to me... very much like actual grass, berries, etc. It's a very natural scent. It does smell a bit like a scent that you'd find in an upscale soap or bath product -- it's got that cleanness to it, and it's not as off-the-beaten-path as a lot of BPAL scents are. You could give this one to your grandmother, though it's not an old-lady scent as such, either. After the first hour or two, it does get sweeter and bit soapier, but on the whole, not bad, and very appropriate for the season we're in. Grade: B

Hmmm. Well, it's very appley. And a little bit floral. Doesn't smell terribly poisonous as such... more perfumey. I find BPAL's apple note sometimes seems to have a bit of a harsh synthetic edge to it -- not always; I think it depends on what it's blended with and what stage of development it's at on my skin. But I'm definitely getting that here. The ambiance, sadly, is less fairy tale than it is air freshener. As it dries down, it becomes a bit more genuinely appley, but never all that interesting. Overall, not really a winner. Grade: C

Strange and interesting (suitably enough!). This is a very light, ethereal scent... When first applied, it was a bit unpleasantly perfumey, but now that it's settled in a bit it's starting to smell rather nice. It's an unusual scent, and I'm not sure I can adequately describe how, but at the same time it's soft and light enough that you could probably wear it at the office without getting weird looks. Despite the fruit and floral notes, it's not overly sweet -- the wood and musk notes tone it down a little, but without adding heaviness. The "night air" element made me nervous since that usually means ozone and ozone usually equals cheap drugstore perfume and/or chemical air freshener on my skin, but that doesn't seem to be much in evidence here. I think there is a bit of ozone, but thankfully it's fairly minimal. No one note really predominates here -- they all blend together, but in a way that comes across as ever-shifting and is never quite the same from one sniff to the next. It's not terribly long-lasting, but it stays nice, and intriguing, all the way down. On the whole, I think I like it. Not a top favourite, perhaps, but I think there will be days when I want to smell like this. Grade: B

I'm really not sure why I ordered this one, given that florals rarely work on me. I guess it was partly the name, partly the fact that my skin doesn't seem to amp lilies as drastically as it does most other florals, and partly the fact that some of the reviews made it sound like it wasn't as heavily florals as all that. And, in fact, for a floral it's relatively non-evil. There's no mistaking that it is a floral, but it has a somewhat appealling dark undertone, and doesn't really morph into Screaming Floral Death the way most of them do. Not really getting all the warm and spicy that others are, though. Still, it's kind of almost not bad for a floral... Or was, up until the point when it started giving me a headache, and I had to scrub it off. Oh well. Grade: C

This one sounded odd enough that I had to try it, if only out of curiosity, and I am so glad I did! This is quite possibly the best new GC scent since Hymn to Proserpine. It's a warm, complex, spicy-sweet mix of wine, apple, spices, amber and carnation, and I fell in love with it pretty much on first sniff. I'd just received a Lab order with 12 imps I'd ordered of the various new GCs, plus a whole bunch of frimps, and was going through giving each a quick sniff before deciding what to try first, but when I hit this one, my reaction was "To hell with the rest -- this is going on me now!" Carnation is one of the few florals that generally works very well on my skin, probably becomes it comes across as more spicy than floral as such, and it's no exception here -- it lends a gloriously cinnamony warmth to the scent, which coupled with the wine note is a bit reminscent of Tintagel, one of my favourites. Amber is just always good, especially combined with any sort of spice, and the wine and apple give it a bit of added richness and lift. I'm not sure what treacle smells like, but there is a faintly sugary element in here that's a bit like something in Smut, so maybe that's it. All in all, very lovely, apart from a few points early on where the apple seemed to have a bit of a synthetic edge to it, but that faded fast. And thankfully, it's not overly sweet despite the threat of "posies" -- if there are any florals in here beyond the carnation, I'm not picking up on them, and my skin usually amps florals like crazy. I think this may be the winner of the entire Mad Tea Party line for me. Grade: A

At first sniff, this was very, very green -- the fern note, maybe. The lilac caught up soon afterwards, but thankfully it and the rose didn't seem to completely take over the scent in the way that florals so often do on me. It still had a very green, fresh, herbal undercurrent. I suppose the herbiness might be partially the absinthe as well. At that stage, I found myself partly liking it and partly not. There are some nice aspects to it, but there's also a touch of something that's a bit reminiscent of that snowy note that's in Talvikuu, Crow Moon and a few others, and that note really doesn't work well on me -- it just gives a harsh, synthetic edge to the scent. Eventually it fades down to just a gentle lilac, but on the whole, I think this scent is not for me. Grade: C

Very odd... I'm not sure quite what to think of this one! I'm not getting as big a blast of cassia from it as some other people seem to have gotten -- there's certainly a spicy edge to it, but it's not overwhelming. More than anything I seem to be getting the woody note, but there's an odd sort of sweetness to it, too. Nothing I can really identify as lemon or mango -- maybe it's more the sugar cane? Not realy sure what that smells like. Some note in here is going a little off on me, and I suspect it's the agarwood -- some woods seem to have a weirdly dry, funky, slightly unpleasant scent on my skin, but I know sandalwood is usualy good on me. I'm not really picking up much in the way of red musk, at least not yet. And... oh dear. The cassia didn't smell that strong to me, but apparently my skin thinks otherwise. It's starting to itch and has gone all red where I applied the oil. And I've worn other scents with cassia in them with no problems... I guess it's a good thing that wood note kind of throws the whole scent off for me, as I don't really want to walk around with red welts everywhere I've applied a perfume. Might be worth it for something as glorious as Chimera, but this is not that. It is an interesting scent, but between the woody unpleasantness and the skin irritation, this dodo's about to go extinct. Grade: C+

A very interesting and quirky scent, suitably enough... It's predominantly fruit, but with woody and herbal undertones that keep it from being too sweet. I'm not picking up much musk, but it may be that's what's blending all the other notes together -- musk can have that effect sometimes. As it settles in, I can pick up a bit more of the rose, but it's very gentle, not at all dominant. The different notes all seem to be blending and harmonizing very nicely now, into an interesting fruity-herbal mix that's sometimes quite sweet and sometimes not. It's got a freshness to it that makes it seem quite appropriate for spring. But alas, inside of an hour or so it seems to fade away entirely. All in all, an interesting and enjoyable scent, but without a lot of staying power. Not sure yet whether I like it enough to keep it despite that -- we'll see. Grade: B

I was most worried about the caramel in here, since that note is usually awful on me, but it's not very caramely at all, thank the Gods! What I do smell most strongly at first is something that's not even on the list of notes -- jasmine! Maybe it's in the Moroccan unguents or something. Certainly appropriate for the Scarlet Woman... Jasmine usually amps up tremendously on me, but here it seems to be behaving itself fairly well. Fairly well as in, while it's still the dominant note, at least I can still smell the others. On the whole, it's like a richer, sexier Peitho, which is pretty much the only other jasmine-dominant scent I can wear. Apart from the jasmine, it's a strongly musky/incensey scent, and quite reminiscent of the scent of an Indian incense store. Not bad at all, but it does kind of waver back and forth between being a little too jasminey-sweet and just being a nice musky-incense scent. After a couple of hours, it settles down to mainly just a soft jasmine. Pretty nice, though not exactly my usual sort of scent. Not sure if I like it enough to keep it or not, but it's possible... A jasmine scent that I can wear is rare enough that I'll at least try it another time or two before deciding whether to swap it or not. Grade: B, maybe B+? We'll see.

The description may mention both men and women, but on me at least, this scent is very much wild men -- it's got that unmistable "I am a men's scent!" vibe to it. Quite a nice men's scent, mind you -- spicy and warm and a little dark, very appealling -- but decidedly masculine to my nose. It almost comes close to being something I'd like to wear myself -- I'm a big fan of spicy scents, and amber and patchouli are usually fine on me. And I know I've worn some scents with amerbgris without problems, though that one does get used in a fair number of men's scents. Maybe it's the Spanish moss that gives it the men's-cologne feel? or the combination of that and the amergris? Not sure. Anwyay -- it's a fine scent, and very evocative of what it's supposed to be. Hot, spicy, a little dark, a little wild. And it would smell great... on a guy. Or maybe a butch woman. But not so much on me. Grade: B-

This one sounded like trouble to me from the description, due to the florals, but at the same time interesting enough that I couldn't resist joining a decant circle to try it out. And it truly is a very interesting scent -- a light herbal-floral, but complex and multilayered, and strangely evocative, though I'm not sure offhand of what. It's definitely not my usual sort of scent, but it's quite fascinating. There really is an airy and cold feeling to it, but not wintery - it's very much early spring, as it's supposed to be. There does seem to be a touch of that "snowy" note that's in Talvikuu and a few others, which I don't entirely like (it seems to be an ozone variant, and ozone nearly always smells nasty and synthetic to me). But the other notes keep it tolerable, and interesting. Unfortunately, the longer it's on my skin, the more two notes seem to rise up and take over: cold, soapy/powdery violet, which is nearly always death to a scent for me, and that snow/ozone note. The combined effect of the two began to be headach-inducing after a while, and I had to go and scrub it off, as a slow throbbing pain in the back of my head threatened to start evolving in migraine-like directions Oh well... This would be a fascinating scent on someone else, maybe, who handled ozone and violets better than I do, but I think I had better consign it to the swaps for my own safety. Grade: C+/B-

At first sniff, this one is really bitter and nasty - almost Malediction-like. Definitely doesn't smell like something anyone would want to smell like on purpose. But as it settles in, it gets a little easier to deal with. It's still a pungent dark herbal, earthy and a little on the bitter side, but it's starting to show some hidden depths - a touch of almost-floral sweetness, a bit of woodsiness, and traces of the promised incense. After an hour or so, it evolves into a lovely, warm, dark, musky incense scent, a little reminiscent of Schwarzer Mond or Fenris Wolf, and if it was like that from the beginning, I'd be hunting down a bottle right now. But unfortunately, those early stages of it are not exactly plesant, and since I already have a half-bottle of Schwarzer Mond, and a full bottle of Fenris Wolf on the way, I think this wolf will be roaming off to a new home. Grade: B

This one was the Heroine scent I was initially the most enthusiastic about, just from the description, but when I first tried it, I didn't like it nearly as much as I'd thought I would, so the only one I ordered a bottle before the cutoff was Khandita, and I didn't even get around to reviewing this one until now. However, having applied it again, and heavier than the first time, so that I could review it properly, I am now wondering what the hell I was thinking. I do like this. A lot. I don't know if I'd quite call it love, but it's definitely a case of Like Very Much. And I am kicking myself for thinking I didn't need a bottle. It's warm and incensey, but also has a slightly pungent, sort of winey edge to it, presumably from the honey and currant. (I have no idea what oude or massoia bark smell like, but I'm told oude is kind of like sandalwood.) It was that edge that initially put me off, but now I'm finding that a plus rather than a minus. Maybe this is one of those different-times-of-the-month skin chemistry things. There's something about this reminds me just a touch of Fortunato, which also had a sort of winey/woody feel, but of the two this one is lighter, warmer, and more... alive, somehow. Definitely more Eros than Thanatos, and fits well with its description. There really is a kind of glow about it. *sigh* Just when I was trying to curb the BPAL habit... Now I may have to find me some more of this! Grade: B+

This is a light incensey scent, that comes across as a bit like a more gender-neutral-leaning-toward-masculine version of Meskhenet the Vulture Maiden. Both have a very distinctly Egyptian feel, and are a bit reminiscent of other incense-type scents like Cathedral, Midnight Mass, etc. but are lighter, and a little more subtle and complex. But while Meskhenet has an overlay of herbal-floral sweetness to it, Mr. Jaquel is dryer and less sweet, almost dusty. Very much an occult-shop sort of scent. When first on, it definitely has a bit of that men's-scent feel to it, but that quickly fades, in favour of a more gender-neutral feel. Eventually, after an hour or two, it does sweeten a certain amount, becoming almost feminine but not quite. It's very nice, but ultimately I don't find it different enough from all the other incense scents I like to really feel that I need more than the imp I've got. Still, anyone who's a fan of incense scents will definitely want to try this one. Grade: B+

This is a very clean and fresh scent, kind of a gender-neutral aquatic (suitably enough for a water bird). It has almost a bit of a soapy feel to it, but not in a bad way. I keep finding it reminiscent of something, but can't quite put my finger on it. Not sure if it's another BPAL scent or something else. There's just this haunting sense of familiarity about it that I can't quite place. Like Mr. Jaquel, this scent also sweetens a bit over time, starting off with more of a men's-scent feel, then shifting into gender-neutrality, then eventually into an almost-feminine feel. They're both sort of intriguingly androgynous that way. Of the two, this one I find not so much my kind of scent... Despite my being a water sign, aquatics and I don't always get along that well. It's pleasant enough, once it gets past the initial expensive-men's-soap stage, but not so much a good fit for me. Grade: B/B-

Hmmm... I both love and do not love this scent. There are elements to it that are awesome, and other elements that don't work so well on me. When first on, it's very floral, which is very much not me. But even at that stage, it's got a really strong spice kick as well. The floral component is almost headache-inducing, but thankfully it fades down quickly to a fairly non-evil level. At that point, I start to really like it. It's got elements that are reminiscent of The Masque (though without the resinous depth), and Khandita, both of which are favourites of mine. But it's a bit lighter than either -- i definitely don't get much of the incensey darkness a few other people have spoken of. It's a spicy floral through and through, with only slight incensey touches. But for that genre, it's a real standout -- I'm tempted to say that this not a spicy floral, this is the spicy floral, beside which all other spicy florals pale. Now if only I liked florals more... But still, I certainly don't dislike it, and it's entirely possible it may grow on me. Right now I'm thinking keep the imp, but not a bottle candidate. But who knows? Scents have snuck up on me before, and this is a really interesting and unique one. And I also find it a bit more evocative of Kali than the Excolo oil which bears her name -- while neither of them are particularly dark at all, this one at least has enough spice in it to give it some edge. Grade: B (maybe B+, we'll see)

Nicer than I thought it would be. I was afraid this one would be too floral, despite the patchouli and kush (which I've heard used as another name for vetiver, though I'm not sure if it's used in that sense here or not). There's definitely a strong floral element to it, but also an earthiness that tones it down a bit. Jasmine is one of those love-hate notes for me - I actually like the scent of jasmine in and of itself, but my skin usually amps it so much that it becomes awful on me. It's very rare that I find a jasmine-containing scent that I can actually wear, but this may well be one of the few. It's really startlingly nice, at least at the beginning. It's a sort of earthy, incensey jasmine, and fits very well with the vampy, femme-fatale feel it's going for. However, it doesn't wear down quite so well. It never becomes bad, exactly, but it loses a bit of its headiness and becomes more powdery, though with an earthy, slightly bitter, patchouli-vetiver kick to it. It's OK at this stage, but not great. If it could have stayed as nice as it was at the beginning, I'd have bought a bottle, but alas, no such luck. Grade: B

Hmmm... I liked this one when I tried it at the meet'n'sniff, but when I wore it again at home, it seemed -- well, very Snake Oil-y. More so than any of the Snake Pit oils I've tried so far. I know, I know, they all have Snake Oil in them, but most of them don't really smell like it. This one does. Which would be great if I liked Snake Oil, but I don't. I'm one of that small handful of people it doesn't work on -- on me, it turns to Play-Doh and drugstore perfume. This one doesn't do that, exactly... at least, not the Play-Doh part, but it is a little... perfumey, in a not-so-good way. I do like the eventual drydown, but the initial stages aren't quite as nice. The "sweet vanilla incense" description that a few people have mentioned does seem appropriate. In a way it 's almost more reminiscent of Snake Charmer than Snake Oil. I don't know -- I may need to experiment a bit more. I don't entirely dislike it, but it's heading into approach-with-caution territory. Grade: B/B-

Not bad... Incensey scents and I usually get along pretty well, though the idea of wet tobacco makes me a bit queasy. But tobacco notes in perfume seem to come across as very sweet, almost floral, on me, so between that and the opium this scent is considerably sweeter than I'd really expected it to be. But despite the sweetness, it doesn't feel feminine in the slightest. It definitely, particularly as it settles in, seems more like a men's scent to me, though an unconventional one. I'm sure it could work on some women as well, but on the whole something about smelled slightly... not right on me. Can't really pin it down more precisely than that, but it just didn't seem to be a good fit. An overall fairly pleasant scent, though... Just not really one that suits me. Grade: B-

This is a very delicate scent, and startlingly nice. It wasn't one of the ones that initially grabbed my attention; it was more on the "maybe" list. But I quite like it. I think it could best be described as a somewhat ethereal incense scent -- frankincense is definitely the dominant note (and isn't olibanum another name for frankincense?), but the other notes soften it and give it a bit more depth and a touch of sweetness. The overall effect is very Egyptian -- and smells almost more like a ritual incense than a perfume oil. It's a bit reminiscent of Midnight Mass and The Pit & the Pendulum, and slightly of Al-Azif, but a bit lighter and gentler. There's something delicately herbal in it that leavens the resins a bit. Sadly, it doesn't last very long -- I suppose that's the downside of its softness. I have to reapply it after about 2 hours or so, but it's worth it. Not sure if I'm going to order a whole bottle of this or not, but I'm definitely keeping what's left from the decant circle I did. Grade: B+ (ETA: a little over a year later, I tried this scent again after having more or less forgotten about it for quite a while, and I have to say it ages really, really nicely. I had tried it again because I was thinking of doing a bit of a purge of scents I didn't really wear, but now that I've smelled it in its aged incarnation, this one isn't going anywhere! It's gotten richer and deeper, and smells like some sort of Egyptian temple incense combined with warm sunlight and wind, if those had a smell. Lovely.)

I wanted to love this, despite the caramel. I don't do terribly well with foody notes, especially not the buttery/cake/candy variety. They go all nasty and cloying and fake-smelling on my skin, like synthetically flavoured plastic or something. But everything else in it sounded so good... So I was really hoping there woudn't be too much caramel, but anyone who's smelled this or read the other reviews knows how vain a hope that was! Death by caramel! And yet... The caramel does fade a bit as it dries down, just enough to make it not awful. The other ntoes begin to come out, and I can just about smell how wonderful this scent would have been without the damn caramel, or at least with much less of it. So it's kind of a tease that way. It certainly does evoke the androgyne - this scent is very much masculine and feminine at the same time, which is kind of neat. And I would really like that... Were it not for the caramel. Oh well. Grade: C+/B-

As I commented in my Boomslang review, I couldn't resist ordering decants of a few of the Snake Pit oils despite being one of the few people out there who doesn't like Snake Oil. They just added so many interesting things...! I'm very fond of spicy scents, so Saw-Scaled Viper immediately grabbed my attention. And spicy it certainly is... This not one you want to apply to any remotely sensitive areas of the body, or right after a hot shower either, unless you enjoy pain. But on intact, not-too-sensitive skin, it doesn't burn... much. So, it's plenty spicy, but I don't really find myself liking it as much as I thought I would. I don't dislike it, but it doesn't really have the kind of depth behind the spiciness that made me love Chimera and Red Phoenix and scents like that. The spices come across as a bit harsh and flat, and vaguely discordant -- a bit like Three Witches did on me, which I also expected to love and did not. I think I'll have to let this viper slither on to a new home. Grade: C+