Lycanthrope

Hee! I don't have anyone to dominate. Still, a dab for a test. And... perhaps if I play my cards right, or my experience with Q5 is a stunner, .

 

Bottle: It has a sharp, almost achingly sweet and musky aroma to it. If I had to compare it to a catalog blend it would be most like Satyr or Czernobog. The overarching spicy muskiness also reminds me of the initial bit of Storyville, or some of the Lab's richer, headier perfumes.

 

Dab: Pine, civet, and black amber, black patchouli. Pine, yes, pine. I think it appears to be a familiar element of many male blends. Oh. Civet. Uh huh. Meow.

 

Drying: Uh oh, civet civet civet. I smell really... evil? I smell like a dark forest with lots of creeping beasties.

 

Summation: Again, more of a ritual use, as civet doesn't behave well on me. However, this scent does make me think of debauchery and naughtiness, so perhaps it would have a similar effect on someone else. I'll reserve judgement for that if I find anyone willing...

Expectations - I caved and bought a bottle of this. I'm anticipating a fiery, red, radiant blend, with a lot of oomph. Let's see how it goes. I'll comment on the efficacy of the 'primary male principle,' as I am gearing up for clinical stuff soon. Ironically, I'll be starting OB/GYN so... mayhaps Godfire may put the wrong kind of energy into that situation. I'll be sure to take a good cleansing bath before I hit the wards.

Bottle: Pine and... mint? Snow? It almost smells like Talvikuu or Nuclear Winter to me. That is, it has a sweet, icy arboreal aroma. Mayhaps a touch puzzled at this point, but we'll see how it does with a test dab.

Dab: Gawarrggh! Pine'd! The snowy note vanished pretty fast and aw man, is this one strong and ferocious tree whompin' me up the nose. It sort of tickles at the back of my throat.

Drying: Ok, the pine is behaving itself a bit more, and it's adopting a very warm, slightly smoldering, subtle background. As if there are more spices that are just faintly accentuating the herbal forefront... and the oil does have a touch of warming tingle, as well.

Longterm: I think this may have a very tiny bit of sandalwood and amber mixed in, but they contribute to the overall subdued, quiet smoldering effect of the oil. Ahah. Pepper. I think there's some kind of pepper in here!

Summation: Most likely will be used for ritual, meditation. The smell is interesting but tolerable, heh heh.

I think Strangler Fig's too warm to be as crisp as ivy... but it really, truly is a slightly creamy, real leaf scent.

 

*awaits big bottle*

I'll try to keep this short. It seems like Dum is the preferred over (T)Dee in the duo, and in my opinion both are nice scents, but Dum is much more wearable, at least on me. It's definitely figs and mangos, over a very delicate astringent tea. The patchouli, if present, is not that eager to assert itself. All in all, a pleasant, tropical aroma that wears light.

Oh boy, is this sharply citrus. In the bottle it's a very faint orangey oil in aroma, and it definitely does not seem to be as potent as a later skin test will reveal! On my skin, this really amps up to a bitingly ferocious citrus. Tweedledee has rabies! I can smell a very, very distinct, rind-y citrus oil note (kumquat?) blended with a quite audacious orange blossom, spiked with a dry, peppery base. This reminds me a lot of Kunstkammer, which went all candy-sweet on me.

 

Oh! This reminds me of fruit-flavored cereals in general - a blaze of fruity aroma and taste so potent that it seems composed of fruits that don't exist. GeneriFruit. GeneriFruit + a nice undercurrent of pepper, but still, quite strong.

 

It's all right, but I can't see myself wearing it too much. Looks like I'll test it in my burner next.

I want to preface this thanking BellaKatrina for letting me obtain some of this blend!

 

In the vial, Doc is cool, cool greenness. Definitely some stands of pine, fir, but no additional notes like leather or smoke are apparent. I'm not sure what to expect, as I don't know the story behind the name of the blend. On my skin, the oil remains a sharper, resinous tree scent but I think there's some benzoin or galbanum, a sweeter true resin that sets a sweeter base for the airier pine. Oh - I bet there's a 'paper' note in this, because I'm detecting a morphing and dusty scent which reminds me of the parchment in Clio. It's quite foresty!

First off, I'm tipping my hat off to minilux - without her generosity I would never have had this chance to try Storyville.

 

Let's see... in the bottle, this is very familiar, warm, and definitely spiked with some of the more herbal spices like clove, maybe some fennel, ginger, definitely. Initially on my skin Storyville is a dead ringer for Devil's Night (which I love!) but then goes through a series of changes that pull it away from that scent. Where DN is smokier, and more candy sweet, Storyville's sweetness derives from a Snake-Oil like, deep and sticky vanilla. I also smells something beyond the veil of spices, something... muskier, and dark. It's quite nice.

 

A few minutes later the back of my hand smells like a gingerbread-oatmeal cookie. It's not bad, mind you, but I think Devil's Night fits this scent niche already in my strange little BPAL world.

 

Thrilled beyond belief that I got to try this! Also quite thrilled that I don't love it, because that means I don't have to test my luck trying to snag a bottle.

 

ETA: about an hour in, there emerges a very potent white musk note, like in Dorian. It was the muskiness I was detecting earlier.

Fresh out of the imp, this has a very saline, airy quality to it. On my skin, it reminds me a lot of Penthus - but where Penthus, like all rose blends on me, turned into a slightly salt-encrusted Rose (emphasis on the capital, yah), The Pool of Tears is like... a slightly salt-dipped Sea of Glass. Less of a radiant white floral aquatic, this is definitely salt-whipped marine air.

 

I also get no carnation or florals, perhaps a hint of perfume is lurking in the blend, but Alice has been crying for a while, so this is all tears and salt to me.

I'm not a big sweet pea person, but I had to see what this was like. Vanilla and amber are friends to my skin, and I'm very fortunate to have received my Dragon Moon order.

 

In the imp, it smells quite like Pink Phoenix. There's this very sweet, candy-like aroma that has behind it a vanilla - not so much foody vanilla, as the smell of an extract or a perfume oil not meant to emulate cakes. On my skin, this has the immediate similar sweet pea note in Pink Phoenix (yay!) and over a bit of time this settles down into a very sultry vanilla, quite pleasant. It is, however, possibly too PINK! for me to get away with.

 

Over time as the sweet pea regresses, the vanilla + sandalwood reminds me vaguely of that beautiful combination from Monster Bait: Underpants, however, it's definitely -not- a smoky and sultry vanilla blend - this is innocent, fresh, and young.

Holy frappin friggin frack.

 

I am a mint fiend. One of my favorite scents from Bath and Body Works was their original Aromatherapy 'Grapefruit Peppermint.' I used it a lot, although I found that their scent was imbalanced, heavy on the grapefruit, which gave me occasional headaches and was a bit cloying.

 

Hey, Shattered! It's cold, cold mint on my skin, and it reminds me of that initial delicious snap of citrus and mint together like the BBW version, but amazingly enough, although there's the tingle of grapefruit, it doesn't crescendo past the mint (if that makes any sense!) Instead, it stays very close to my skin as a very unobtrusive, cooling rind and mint blend. Over time, the citrus asserts itself but it's never overpowering.

 

Longterm drydown, it's a light citrus. Man, this is going to be PERFECT for summer wear and places I can't get away with musks or resins, my usual fare. I'm glad I risked a huge bottle.

 

Note - this is a very light fragrance. I do need to slather to get good mileage. The plus side is it is genuinely cooling. Minty!

Sma-pow, that's a bit of bamboo pulp right out of the bottle - that same fresh note that dominates the first moments of NeoTokyo and defines Holiday Moon to me. I can't tell that there's dragon's blood in this at all, maybe a hint of sharpness but to be honest that's because I was searching for it. This is quite similar to Holiday Moon, true, but on my skin it's a bit more lemony, and the tea seems a bit sharper than the white used in Holiday.

 

I missed out on buying loads of Holiday, so I may like alternating with it during these warmer summer months. Oh, and the bottle... matches my shirt... squee!

 

May 26. Trying Dragon on one hand, Holiday on the other. There's a very subtle but noticeable difference between the two - Dragon definitely has a hit of cherry blossom that blended so well with the tea and bamboo that I didn't notice it before, and that's what I was interpreting as 'lemon.' In reality, Holiday starts off just as sharp as Dragon, but Holiday retains more of tea nature - that is, it's more sharp and astringent. I do love Dragon, not quite as much as Holiday, but enough to hoard. And now it makes rotating between the two fun!

 

May 26 continued - whoa! While the starts may be similar, Dragon turns into cherry blossom soap on me. It's like the opposite of Aredhel's reaction below. It's not bad, but where Holiday stays fresh and biting, Dragon turns into a cuddly wuddly plush dragon on my skin at least.

This is... interesting.

 

In the vial it's a wet, peppery aroma, and I bet that's the chili pepper, although it smells more like white pepper to me. On my skin, this goes a touch sweet because of the honey, but then... it's like Yemaya, but spicy, and kinda sour. I'm pretty hideous at picking out tobacco, since it doesn't seem to be the same on me from blend to blend but behind this... spicy melon, is a dustiness.

 

This reminds me of this weird seasoning powder that Mom used to sprinkle on watermelon (it's an Asian thing), that was more savory than sweet. It's like grinding fresh peppercorns over your morning cantaloupe.

 

Different.

The drydown of Olokun reminds me quite nicely of the grassy finish in Berenice.

One single bottle, with quite a provocative label! Shiny and new type, too.

I prefer to call this Monster Bait: Silk Men's Boxers. Heh heh. TMI?

 

Fresh from the bottle, this smells like vanilla cream, almost like this liquid Irish Cream coffee creamer that I really adore, with a spike of spice that reminds me of cinnamon but is most likely saffron. There's a hint of rum or something alcoholic running under it all.

 

Time for the skin test. Wet on the skin it's immediately rum, like Elegba's rum with significant less coconut. This, instead of rising and becoming softer like Elegba does, immediately takes on a deep vanilla bean aroma, if that makes sense - like that 'hit' of sugary vanilla that one gets when you sniff just above a freshly iced vanilla cupcake. Over the first few minutes the alcohol note burns off rapidly and I'm left with a rather warm vanilla note, almost single-note-ish (not that I've tried BPAL's single note, caveat, it's just very pure to me) vanilla, with a base of lighter dried sandalwood. This isn't cedary, wood-shaving-y or too powdery at all! This is like rich vanilla extract.

 

Fifteen minute mark - the sandalwood and saffron are more apparent now. There's still the rich vanilla delectableness but the scent has definitely matured, and it now sits closer to my skin. What scent does reach me, however, is the most satiny smooth vanilla ever. It's like wrapping yourself in a cashmere throw. This actually reminds me of the aroma and taste of really good white chocolate truffles, if a touch butterier (is that a word?).

 

Man, no wonder this monster wants to get (into) my underpants!

Bunneh!

 

In the bottle, this smells a little like a fruity bubble gum, definitely a bubblier, fun and flirty floral that feels fluffy and definitely pastel in tone. Wet on my skin it's definitely a sugared musk, reminding me of some of the brighter musk topnotes in Enraged Orangutan Musk... if I had to compare this to a general catalog aroma it'd be like Tenochtitlan, or perhaps the sweet slightly herbal amber-like scent of The Lion. Yes, that's it. This is like The Lion's grassy breath of amber.

 

Over time, this dries down on me just like The Lion, kind of a meadow musk, I'm not getting much of an overt floral with this mix, just a flouncy, ethereal, sugary and bounding musk.

 

... a good fifteen minutes later, there's something ferocious under this rabbit! I didn't expect it, but now there's a darker, more sinister reddish or blackish musk creeping up underneath the innocent exterior! How does she do it? It's just a faint touch, now... enough to suggest the red of its eyes, without sullying the kyoooootness of the fluffy fur.

 

Long term afterwards - this is very faint now. Like... even though it's not lotus, it's a brush of bubble-gum candy sweetness but that's it. :|

I really can't describe this.

 

It's just... very well blended and floral. It does have a soapy rush that isn't apparent in the initial imp, and it sort of.... rises up in a bubble of sweet floral freshness. Lotus? Lemon? It's kind of like Venice, actually. A bright and kinda intriguing floral.

Thagirion - initial drydown on me... Alka-seltzer.

 

It's a fizzy medicinal lemon... but it's like... lemon and bicarbonate. It also kinda smells like... Ramune... you know, that Japanese soda in glass bottles. However, it still has that scent of fizziness and that taste of Alka-Seltzer. Egads.

Whoa, this is much darker than something like Golachab or A'arab Zaraq, definitely musky and woodsy, patchouli, but much sharper and woodsier. Deeper, if I may use that very vague term... On skin... whoa, what is this note? It smells almost like... fennel? Something sweet and waxy? Beeswax? I have no idea! It's almost sugar-caney. I don't know... I really have no words. This is quite nice.

Light blonde liquid in the vial. Sweet and kind of honey-ish, floral like a Carolina jasmine, or some kind of wild, yellow flower with an uncommon herbal scent. On skin, it goes really bright and powerful... I'm tempted to think this is wisteria, or honeysuckle. Whatever it is, it is a wet, gray floral like Asphodel, powdery and giving me a touch of a headache... whoa. Very strong. Yikes.

Rich and red in the vial. How does it smell from the imp? Sandalwood, for certain, as a base, under a sweet musky aroma, on skin it's kind of peppery-spicy, perhaps a brush of ginger giving it a little ferocity. This reminds me of some note that's also present in Sacred Whore of Babylon, a hypnotic blend of flowers. Maybe some black pepper? This is definitely a woman that brings to mind a villainess - peppery spice layered with a slinky floral. I like this. I don't know if I can wear it, but... hey, it's great.

Orange in the vial, moderate viscosity. Smells mildly orange / fruity? This is a little peppery on my skin, definitely warming up as it hits my skin, citrus and something biting (patchouli?) blended with perhaps white pepper, something fiery and warm. I do like this! I think there may be... lotus in this, too, because it's also sweet? It's very well blended, and quite warm and spicy.

 

ETA: I think this is like Kunstkammer in a way - it dries down to sweet orange hard candy on me. Just like the ol' K.

In the imp, Ghagiel is... sweet, and reminds me of some of the lily blends in that I can tell that this is going to be floral, but I don't detect the -wham-pow-bam- notes that usually suggest rose or jasmine. So, here goes... on my skin, whoa does this amp up into a very powerful, strong floral. I can't tell what this is... all I know is that this is definitely not a blushing flower. Oh. I bet this is narcissus - because this is really knocking me out. Whoa. A bunch of strong white flowers duking it out with my wrist. This is not a shy blend at all. Heady and exotic.

In the vial, this is a blonde, very faintly tinted oil. It smells like roses and honeysuckle from the imp. Ya know, this smells a LOT like Dove's Heart. On my skin - POW - this is a sharp and powerful floral, except it's kind of malicious. Definitely mucho honeysuckle and lilies I'd say. I don't know though, because it is totally amping up on my skin into a ferocious chorus of shrill rosey flowers.

 

Not for me!

Oh, I am so idle... and full of idleness.

 

In the imp - reddish orange amber, slightly less viscous compared to A'arab Zaraq. In the vial, it smells like having a bit of olive leaf in it, perhaps akin to Alecto. There's also elements of Tzadikim Nistarim, in that there's something sweetly banana-esque which I believe is spikenard. Whoa! On skin, hi lemongrass. Lemon and olive leaf, and oh no... this isn't working on me. It's a very angry lemongrass.

 

It dries down as all lemongrasses do on me - lemon herbal bleh.

Wahah! Rampant lust. Yeah... none of that in me. My first Qlipoth blend... it makes me a bit uncomfortable to use a blend that is so focused on, well, evil concepts, but here goes!

 

This oil is an orange amber in the vial, of moderate viscosity. From the vial, I smell a warm, sweet resinous aroma with hints of cedar, possibly patchouli and some kind of warmer musk. This isn't sharp or biting at all, present, but not acrid. On my skin I get a hint of woodsiness that retreats behind a mildly powdery incense musk, and I can see how the past reviewers stated this isn't 'masculine.' At least, it's not as masculine as it started out seeming from the imp. There's perhaps some spikenard in this, or something similar to Tzadikim Nistarim, and it dries down sweet and very red on me.

 

It's definitely a slightly twisted incense aroma. Not bad at all.