Clavis

Now that it's had a couple years to age... This starts as a dry-ish orange, not a sweet juicy orange. As it dries a dusty sandalwood comes out with a trace of patchouli warming and spicing it up. The patch isn't dirty, just a warm spice. The tobacco and musk lurkg in the background and giving it a base although they peek out a bit more as it ages on your skin. Overall the scent is a bit dusty and dry but NOT powdery. I like this! It's dark and heady, yet still fresh enough for spring and summer. Many of the BPAL scents work in specific seasons and not so well in others. This one would work well in ANY season. A true year-round scent.

I've been wearing an aged imp of this for the past two days. Yummy! Its soft, sexy, decadent, and warm. Even though this is an amber blend it smells more like a musk with wood and a touch of chocolate after it dries. Yet it doesn't have the cloying sweetness or oily note of a musk. Likewise, there's no powder of an amber. I want to know where the chocolate comes from because its NOT listed. Yet clearly its there since Im not the only one noticing. Perhaps its the combo of the patch, wood, and cinnamon when it ages. I wish I had a whole bottle of this. Alas, I do not, and I suspect a fresh bottle won't have the smoothness or the chocolaty note. A fresher imp I have, while certainly the same perfume, is noticeably less smooth and doesn't have that chocolatiness in the background. Sigh. Guess I'll have to get a bottle and wait 5 years...

13 Hours is definitely an interesting one. I really like this one! I don't get any nastiness or roses. It's quite astringent/dry actually. In a good way. It's primary note on me is halfway between the aloe note in Mr Ibis and the linen note in Medical Procedure. All three are fantastic for hot weather BTW.

My go-tos for summer: Cathode Zephyr *Autumn and Winter (applied lightly) *Bat (The Salon) Sea of Glass Lightning *Little Bird *The Ides of March *Frost at Midnight *Garden Path with Chickens *Sunrise with Sea Monsters 13 Hours *Archangel Winter Harvest Moon (any year) House of Night *Winter Havens *Sunlower * = LE I know... several of these are Yule scents, but they work really well on me in summer.

Lavendar doesn't always play nice with me. It tends to turn acidic, but this time it was perfect. Alot of people had the lavendar play center stage but for me it was more of a supporting role. It lended an herbal astringency that gave complexity to the sweet incense smell of the oudh and benzoin (something else that can be problematic on me) gave it sweetness and depth. This dried down to a sweet warm fuzzy scent like a cashmere shawl. Very close to the skin and really sexy in a candlelight and skin-to-skin massage kind of way. A bit sleepy and relaxed. It is a touch masculine but I find that the masculine scents work very well on me (I wear Dee, The Red Rider, and Dracul regularly). I really liked this one. Its a cool weather scent but s sublte enough and playsclose to the skin enough to wear in August too (which is why this review is being postedin August :-) ).

I found that this one isn't straight patchouli on me. It's equal parts patchouli and red rose with a touch of cinnamon. I didn't see anyone else mention the rose or cinnamon but it's very apparent on me. I DO amp rose enormously and cinnamon a bit less so, so that may be it. These are accords after all so they are all a mix despite being a "single note" Having said that, I love this. The rose doesn't override the patchouli and helps bring a floral nose and point up the spicyness of the cinnamon. This one works really well on me, more than plain old patch does (which tends to take on an unwashed socks note on me after awhile). Love it!

This oil is a lovely deep rose in color. Haven't seen this color in an oil before. Wet: soft and woody floral. Dry: this is so well blended that I can't identify particular notes. This is beautiful. Later, this is a very light perfume, but stays the same, no mutability. I think I'm going to need a 2nd bottle of this. Later: my other half sniffed and said "you smell good.. like you only better". Definitely need a 2nd bottle.. and maybe a 3rd.

I got a bottle of this from the lab's Etsy site. It had a week to settle down before I tried it... then I fell in love I saw a lot of reviews likening this to tobacco smoke and ashtrays. On me, this is anything but! In fact, I went back to Etsy and got another bottle of it since I can't be sure I'll get another chance. On me, this is smoky leaves and apples with a whisper of spice drifting through. Its not fruity despite the apples. It's not spicy despite the spice. Its not woody and yet... It's July here in Seattle and we just had a big thunderstorm roll through (Thunder and lightning are very rare here) ands the rain has laid down all the dust and pollution. The air is cool, soft, and smells new. And somehow it all reminds me of this perfume. Soft, wrapping around you and making you feel comfortable with a hint of sweetness from the apple. I can see this one is going to be a favorite for awhile. 5 out of 5.

Drinks: Beer from the Marsh Woman's Brewery, Tavern of Hell, Drink Me, Juke-Joint, Grog, Twenty-One Snakes: The Coiled Serpent, Snake Oil, Serpent's Kiss, Le Serpent Qui Danse, Cobra Lily, Ouroboros Water: The Pool of Tears, Water of Notre Dame, Undertow, Sea of Glass, The Sea Foams Blood, The Sea Foams Milk Light: twilight, ultraviolet, The Lights of Men's Lives, Lightning , Aureus, Event Horizon Air: Windward passage, Zephyr, Smokestack, Bread-and-Butter-Fly , Hurricane, Ehecatl Classic Monsters: Troll, Zombi, The Ghost, Nosferatu, Loup Garou, Goblin

What gets to me most is carrot seed. First showed up on me with L'Ecole des Filles. I had tested it on the inside of my wrist, half an hour later I had blisters and itched like mad. Took a week of cortizone cream for it to go away. It was easy to spot the offender because I had had everything else in that one except the carrot seed without any problems. It was confirmed when I tried Gathering Wild Mushrooms. I didn't spot the carrot seed in the list until after I had the reaction. Ick. The only other thing I react to is Orris. It makes me sneeze. Alot. Unfortunately, there's this lady in my office that likes to wear Chantilly, which is loaded with the stuff. I've asked her not to wear it it because I'm allergic but she keeps on wearing it. I'd be happy to open my store of BPAL to her so she can find something else she likes because otherwise she's a very nice lady and I like her... but she's a bit of a bitch about it. Says she wouldn't wear anything "concocted by someone so steeped in the word of Satan". First I knew that she was a thumper. Oh well.

Everyone talks about "citrus" and "aquatic" with this one... I don't get that at all. What I get is four o'clocks. When I smell it I remember being a child. We had a big bunch of four o'clocks by our front door and I would go out on summer evenings to watch the hummingbird moths buzzing around them. I remember picking some of the flowers and sucking the nectar out. The memory is so strong when I smell this. I can even taste the nectar. I had forgotten this among all of the bad memories from my childhood. It's nice to have a good childhood memory back. Thank you Beth!

Bottle: Vetiver & ginger. Very sharp! Wet: smells the same. The Pepper is making an appearance as it warms. Even sharper! Dry: The vetiver backs down a bit and the neroli, opoponax, tobacco and myrrh come out as it dries and sweetens the mix. In the end, this turns into an unusual but nice man's cologne but it doesn't smell like it would work on the boy... Not for me either unfortunately. Into the trade pile.

Well, never having tried Skadi I have no idea how they match up so all I can do is give my own impressions... Wet: A bit of eucalyptus gives the chilliness and makes the pine seem a bit rough at first. The pine itself is very light. As it warms on the skin, a sweet berry/floral comes out, perhaps that's a touch of rooibos? It bears a certain similarity. Dry: The eucalyptus fades and a light musk comes out touched with vanilla so the scent warms a bit. The vanilla with the berry/floral is lovely! Overall: Beautiful! Well blended and balanced. The scent is strongest in the first 15 minutes, after that it calms down and stays close to the skin. Rather addictive!

Okay... evidently my skin chemistry is pretty wonky because what I get is TOTALLY different than anyone else's experience. Wet: brown sugar and spice. Like I'm mixing something up for Christmas cookies... Dry: very much the same. Brown sugar/caramel and spice. None of the spices stand out, they all just meld together. Much later a soapy note comes out (the rose otto) but melds well with the rest. I like this one! However, it smells very much like some others on me and I put it in the same class as Egg Nog 2010, Gypsy, Arrival at the Sabbath and Homage to the Devil, Mama-Ji, & Bad Luck Woman Blues.

Wet: green (violet leaf), pikake, a touch of lily at the back. Overall it gives a cool metallic impression Dry: The green fades into the background and it turns into something my grandmother could have worn. Perfumey but understated. Definitely floral. Rather nice actually. I keep sniffing at it. The amber and agave gives it a warm sweet base for the florals. I didn't notice any honeysuckle at all. Overall, I rather like it but I'm not sure it's for me.... But I'll keep it around for layering and linen spray. Lovely.