Nachtwulf

Hokay. Low, low number of #49. In the bottle, citrus and 'freshwater aquatic'. If I inhale REALLY HARD I can pick up a hint of frankincense in the very back of my sinuses. Wet: OMGLEMONZ. Good lord. Lemon lemon lemon (water) lemon. Oh, and lemons. And maybe a hint of... bug spray. Maybe it's grapefruit instead of lemon... I often get that sort of bug spray thing from grapefruit. Dry: All I'm left with is a (to me, somewhat noxious) citrus. I'm not saying this wouldn't be amazing on someone else; one of my last CTs reminded me of nothing more than 'pot roast' and yet the gal I traded it to thought it was fantastic. Ah, skin chemistry, why must you be so fickle.

I really didn't know what to expect when I ordered this. I don't have a good history with honey blends at all, but this one at least seemed to be free of 'doom scents' (on me, that's like... honey, patchouli, lotus...) When I got the bottle, I was actually surprised how dark and smoky it was, very thick and incensy and heavy. I figured I'd just save it for autumn. On, however, it metamorphoses swiftly, and for that I'm grateful. Like most others, I find coconut to be the strongest note, but it's a very 'crushed coconut' scent rather than a sugary candy type coconut. I'm not sure that I actually get licorice, as such.... maybe a hint, but mostly I get something that's very much like baking chocolate; a sort of non-sweet-cocoa that grounds the coconut nicely and keeps it from turning into 'suntan oil'. It retains a hint of that incensy quality, but as far as cinnamon, cream, clove, or any of that... if it's there, it's not distinct enough to identify. Chances are, I'm reading the admixture of tonka, licorice, and sandalwood as 'cocoa powder'. Anyway, it has a very distinct scent that lasts all day without difficulty even in the baking Arizona heat, remains consistent (i.e. doesn't go weird after a certain period of time), and is neither too heavy nor too sweet. Overall, I am delighted with this scent and am glad that of all the Hive collection, this is the one I picked to order.

I got this when it came out, decided it went to plastic on me, and tossed it in my swaps box. And there it has lingered for... cripes, three years now? Or thereabout. But I just moved, I found my swaps box again, and went back through it. I don't know if this is a case of it mellowing with age, or mebbe my nose is different now.... but this is indeed just like people say. I like Cathedral. But Cathedral is a warmly lit chapel with pews polished by the buttocks of centuries of parishioners, and staffed with quiet little monks in soft floppy robes. The Abbey on the other hand, hasn't seen a worshipper in years. The wood has crumbled with dry rot, brown leaves have blown across the floor, and the roof has fallen in leaving the altar open to the sky. I think that's what was 'plasticky' about it before; the pine/cedar/whatever notes involved are fussy and don't always behave. It's not -pine-, per se... nor the familiar sharpness of cedar, it's softer and quite sweet. But it's edged with vetiver, which brings in that 'gloomy woods' thing, and then underlying it all is the incense. Nose to skin, it's not that wonderful, but it has a lot of throw and -that- is marvelous. I like vetiver, as long as it's blended well enough, and this is a marvelous autumnal scent. If you want something for Halloween that doesn't smell like the bottom of a candy bag... this is definitely near the top of the list.

In the imp: It's both fruity and aquatic. The initial hint is of lemons, sharp seawater, and some vague 'red fruit', with just a faint hint of what might be dragonsblood. On me: The lemons back off, although it's still present. The aquatic note also tends to back way off, though it lends a faintly soaplike quality. The main notes (although this seems to fade quite a bit on my skin) is a warm, 'red' incensy quality comprised of dragonsblood and what might well be frankincense. It has a throw that's more like plum or even possibly cranberry. It might also contain carnation? Final thoughts: Well... it's inoffensive. I don't hate it (like most aquatics), but it's really not me. It reminds me faintly of a candle shop for some reason, and it fades fairly quickly. However, if you want a warmer, richer scent that's still got those aquatic notes, then this might be what you're after. Edited since I found out it's not unreleased. Whoops. *cough*

All right... call me weird... but I didn't get Dorian or Snake Oil. Both of those have very distinct qualities that when blended together, end up not smelling like 'themselves' at all, in my mind. What this initially reminded me of was Queen Alice, first and foremost. On the other hand, this is much nicer (on me at least) than QA. It has a very strong 'cream' note (vanilla 'flower' perhaps instead of actual vanilla), and is, no matter how one looks at it, mostly cream. Over time, 'cream' dries to 'babypowder' but not necessarily in a bad way. In amongst it, is a faint tea note, only detectable up close, and more toward Gennivre than Dorian's rolling black tea authority. In truth, up close, it's a lot richer scent. The throw is all 'cream/powder', but nose to skin, I get the tea and spices. What I -don't- get is florals. At all. No lavender, no nothing. Not a hint. On the other hand... I don't like florals. SO. Overall this was a pretty decent win. It's pleasant, and if the throw was like it is up close, I'd probably wear it a lot. As it is, though, it's a bit powdery for me to want to wear all the time. I suppose I'll have to give it a go over a day or two and see how it flies in the long run. (Or I could try adding a little extra something like Gennivre to it, who knows.)

I really wish this was more spice, musk, and leather and less dry wood and aquatics. It's not horrid, or anything... but it's basically an 'oceanic aquatic' and doesn't seem, well...very piratey to me. Or musky, or anything. It's kind of similar to the LE 'Thalassa', but at least on my skin, it's seawater, kelp, and a bit of driftwood... evocative, but not something I'm going to wear personally. Something in it also makes my skin burn slightly, though not turn red or inflamed.

Well, since I had a minor impsplosion, I might as well review this. Dragon's Hide is, as far as I've been able to tell, the 'purest' of the DB scents. This basically smells like warm, red dragon's blood and, for the most part, little else. It's not that the leather notes aren't there... in fact, when I breathe -out-, they linger there in the background, but largely, they serve as a mellowing quality for the EXTREMELY prominent dragon's blood. Mind you, I really rather like this. I like dragon's blood, but it does tend to go kind of damp and sharp; the leather note keeps this from doing so, and thus it remains nice and rich and mellow. If you don't like DB, then you'll hate this, I won't lie. But if you like it, and sometimes want something simple without a bunch of other notes stomping all over the place, then this is a great choice. It's not floral and it's not too sweet, so it'd be great for men, also.

In the bottle: Grapefruit Wet: Grapefruit (and maybe some flowers) Dry: Grapefruit. ... Okay, so... I like grapefruit okay and all, but... um... wow. That's a lotta grapefruit. I like a little more depth, really, and I'll be honest... I'm not sure I'd smell any more like grapefruit if I cut one in half and rubbed it on myself. Oh well, it was a nice experiment. n.n

It might smell good... I couldn't really have it on long enough to remember. What I DO remember is that OH MY GOD IT BURNS AAAGH.... I just put on a little bit and the whole patch where I put it turned bright red and swollen within seconds. YOW. I've -never- had that kind of response from BPAL, but whatever there is in here that's unusual, I am HIGHLY allergic to. In the bottle, it's kind of thick and smoky and a bit on the cloying side, but as for what it is on me... couldn't tell you. Just... if you have a sensitive hide, be careful, this bird -bites-.

This has the same deep wood of Ouija, but with a wet redness to it instead of the more prim and proper qualities Ouija has. I know a lot of people have complained about how it smells like cough syrup, but... compared to Red Moon or a bunch of others, that's not how I see it at all. I like my 'red fruit' scents, but more often than not, they do end up more like cherry suckers and not like something I want to wear. The mahogany notes stay very strong and clear throughout application and drydown, which prevents the Queen from turning into a red-painted trollop; it's very distinguished yet with a sultry smile hidden behind all those 'formalities' the court requires. I had this as an imp for quite awhile... and a bottle now. I loves it.

I wish I got fruit. I was hoping for fruit. What this is, on me at least, is basically a sort of 'Queen Alice' blend... it's not quite the same, but it has that same powdery-vanilla quality, and a bunch of other things that hide behind the powdery-vanilla and refuse to show their faces. It's got a certain Antique Lace quality too, but again... I don't know. It's a bit too 'grandmotherly' for my druthers, though I suppose it fits the theme of a mature lady. I just get the Dowager Duchess not a fairy queen. Ah well, can't win them all...

Wet: Cologne Dry: ... Cologne. I love leather notes (Western Diamondback and Quincey Morris are two of my favorites.) I love anise and cinnamon. I love frankincense like whoa. Unfortunately... I can't smell ANY of them in here. I suppose it's the 'metallic notes'... but this appears to be purely an ozone scent on me, and is virtually indistinguishable from half a dozen other ozone blends I've tried (Lightning springs to mind.) I suppose it's a little more mellow than Lightning, but it's close enough that I'm not spurred to need a whole bottle of it.

I get absolutely nothing 'metallic' from this... though in my mind, this isn't really a bad thing. Nor do I get lemon. It's mostly a sweetish resin note, probably the Balm of Gilead mentioned, with some clear 'wood' notes and just the faintest tinge of honey. Yay for the latter, because I usually amp honey, which destroyed Mead Moon for me, more's the pity. This is a sweet resin/wood sort of thing... if a guy wants something that is a bit sweet but isn't going to smell like food and make them hungry, this is a good choice. But it'd be fine for a woman too, it's just not particularly feminine. I find I like the throw better than snorfling my hand close up; there's some tinge to it that I don't care for, just a little plasticky or piney... but it doesn't carry far, so as long as I don't have my nose pressed to skin I don't mind it. I'll keep the imp, I might even get another when I run out... but I don't think personally it'll be something I need a whole bottle of lying about.

Cold, chilled figs. I'm a bit of a fig fiend... one of the very first BPALs I ever got was Freak Show (and I LURVE it), but I didn't like Strangler 'cause of the icky wet green notes in it. When I first tried this, I actually didn't like it. It came off with that weird sicky-sweet sort of 'pine' thing that is an instant deal-killer for me in scents. But I let it sit for awhile, and retried it. This time (for whatever reason), I actually got fig! (Well, more the wtf about the first go.) It's a 'brighter' fig, though... Freak Show was murky sweet candied figs (and wood and stuff), this is chilled, almost minty figs. I like it... I'm not sure I'll wear it a lot, but it's definitely managed to take itself off the 'ick' list and assume a place in my bottle rack.

I was kind of hoping for Cathedral's dark, twisted brother. This is much more like Brimstone, however... in fact, I barely get any of the 'wine' qualities people have been reporting. It's gritty, sooty, harsh, and difficult to handle for me... and I'm one of those weirdos that LIKES vetiver. (I like Czernabog and Death Adder both!) This, to me, has much more in common to a crowded, smoke-filled pub in Britain than a dark chapel filled with blasphemous rites... but... I'll probably keep trying it in hopes that it'll grow on me. I like the -concept- lots?

What I was hoping for: Midnight on the Midway with Ozone/Rain What I got: Soap I'm not entirely sure what happened here, but all that lovely spiced lemon warmth is gone... no incense spice, not even the sparkle of (identifiable) ozone like in Lightning or the beautiful fresh rain scent in Quincey Morris. What this is like (on me anyway), is OMG FLORAL SOAP. Mind you, it'd be nice soap, in that kind of 'little cakes you pull out for the picky company' way, but it's SO not me. Ah well... the art on the card is cool.

Rich purple musk, moonflower, red sandalwood, black amber, oakmoss, copal, lavender, neroli, tobacco, and pomegranate. I actually gave Penumbra a miss, just from the description. Some musks (in fact, all but Black, generally) go pretty nasty on me, and I'm not familiar enough with 'purple' musk to really identify what that was. Most of the other components seemed kinda flowery, so I labeled it 'probably gonna go to soap' and moved on. One of my coworkers ordered it, though, and I ended up convincing her to swap it for Mead Moon... and I am not the least bit sorry. This is a lovely scent. It shares a fair bit in common with Purple Phoenix, but where that ended up being 'grape Jolly Rancher' for all intents and purposes, this remains a more subtle fruit, just a hint musky and spicy. The 'floral' qualities are almost nonexistent on me, only enough to make the scent lighter and more accessible than Blood Garden or any of the other much heavier 'purple fruit' type scents. If you like those, but would like something more for daily (or workplace) wear, this is a great call. It's sweet (but not candylike), pleasant, and all around easy to live with. I wish it were a little -stronger-... but then again, maybe it's better that it isn't.

Definitely Dorian's prettier, more socially-acceptable sister. It has much in common with Dorian, largely the -definitive- tea note. But it's softened with lemon (though I don't get much in it that's too floral...which is good, 'cause florals = soap on me) and is considerably more gentle and feminine. Not girly, but nowhere near as authoritative. I wish it had Dorian's (insane) staying power, but it's not weak or feeble by any means. If you like that milk-and-tea quality but want something fresher and more 'day-wear', this is it.

In reading the description, I seriously didn't expect to like this, since the whole idea of 'asphalt' as a perfume note is fairly ucky (after all, who hasn't had to pass a tar truck fixing a pothole?). If I hadn't gotten to try it at a meet-and-sniff, I never would've known. This is, in a nutshell, lovely. (And for once, a scent that other people have complained is soapy was, in fact, NOT on me. This is virtually unique!) My impression is pretty much straight from the description, except it's not so much black ice as a cold, wet, late-autumn storm that's soaked the streets and left slush in the ditches, stirred in with the crushed leaves of fall. In a way, it's the 'urban' version of Quincey Morris... where Quincey was all fresh, wet forests and rain-drenched oilskin dusters, this is a city suffering the same downpour. The 'asphalt' note is...well... not so much I think 'blacktop' as something like 'car' or 'plastic' or something, and honestly, it shouldn't be attractive, but somehow, it works with the minty-wet-aquatic marvelously well, grounding it and keeping it from being needly or sharp. It's sure not a warm, snuggy perfume, but despite that, I do find that I like it quite a bit.

Commercial perfumes are alcohol based, whcih means they rely on the evaporation of alcohol to carry the scent. Many of the perfumes are thus somewhat 'biting' in quality, thanks to the alcohol in them, and people with sensitive noses (like me) can't handle it. BPAL are oilbased, though some people are indeed allergic to some of the components. I've heard of people getting skinrashes from cinnamon or mint, although -my- skin is very sensitive and I don't react. I -do- get allergic sneezing fits from some of the BPAL oils, but I haven't yet figured out what it is that makes me sneeze. I still wear BPAL at work (I have a box of imps on my desk, actually...) but all I can recommend is to a) avoid really pungent notes like vetiver, patchouli, or strong florals, and don't slather. Keep those in mind, and I doubt anyone will complain.

In the bottle or on, this blend is a melange of notes, and I found myself utterly unable to describe them other than 'smoky/spicy/woody'. So I looked at the list ( balsam, myrrh, mandarin orange, bitter clove, artemesia, rosewood, nutmeg, dark musk, smoke and cypress) and determined that yes... that's exactly what this smells like. All at once. No notes stand out except for the clove (which is VERY prominent to my nose in its unsweet spikiness), but the basic scent is much like 'smoky cloves', like how the first version of Three Witches was described. But there's a lot of wood/resin qualities to it... I should note that 'rosewood' is not 'rose'... I don't get -any- rose in this whatsoever, but it does have the distinct red-roughness of rosewood, which I remember from back when my father did woodworking in the basement. (Thank god I'm not hideously allergic to it like he was; he developed an allergy to rosewood that made him blister-hive. Horrible.) In a nutshell, this is a dark, woody, smoky sort of spice that manages somehow to avoid having any particular sweetness at all to it save in only the very faintest suggestion. It says winter, but in the sootsmeared, bare-wood sense, in corners where the furnace heats, but lends no comfort, like an attic full of worn furniture and near-fossilized autumn wreaths. I'd almost call it the manly answer to Havisham, in the sense that it's that 'kind' of a scent. Currently, I'm trying to decide if I -like- it. Rather, I don't hate it at all. It's intriguing. It doesn't make me ill or anything, or scream 'soap' by any means. I just... I'm just not sure if it's my thing yet. Needs more testing.

Both Hellfire and Brimstone (more the former) have a sort of fireplace-candle-burnt-smoke sort of quality to them. THere's also one that someone makes (albeit I forget who) that isn't BPAL called 'Fireside', but Fireside smells a lot like Hellfire anyway, so... yeah. Haven't tried Darkness though.

This was a swap-frimp. I tend to avoid herbal things since most of them end up being heavy on the pine or other notes I don't care for. Still, if I get it, I'll try it... I've been surprised a few times. When first applied, I can see where people get the 'Vicks vaporub' thing from. Wet, it's basically a nose-prickling blend of pine and eucalyptus, screamingly green and needly. It's nice, but the eucalyptus reek initially makes me want to claw my nose off. Ah, but the eucalyptus is fugitive, and soon enough vanishes. (We're talking less than five minutes.) In fact, the blend becomes -very- subtle, and I don't know if it's just my nose failing to function properly after being abused by a snootful of eucalyptus-menthol or if it really has faded that much, BUT... I can ALSO see where people are getting the 'incense' thing from now. I still get a bit of pinishness, but it's not powdery. It also seems to contain something warm, spicy, and sweet, like some kind of resinous wood. It's gentle, sweet, a marvelous woody fragrance that I wish wasn't so bloody subtle. In a nutshell, it starts out awfully harsh to me, but -very- swiftly dries down into a very pleasant woody scent, with almost a tealike quality. Unfortunately, it also becomes very faint. I THINK. I'm going to have to check with a third party to see if it's just that I overloaded on the initial application stage. It's completely gender neutral; as long as people don't amp eucalyptus, I'd imagine it'd be nice on just about anyone.

In the bottle: Fruity. I can't identify it...it's pretty much 'fruit salad', but it's not cherry or anything else overtly identifiable. It shies away (barely) from boozy, but there's something lurking there under the fruity fruit fruitness that keeps this from being like something like Midwinter's Eve... it's darker and more mellow. On: It's still 'fruit salad'. Or rather, an admixture of fruitiness that lacks any identifiable notes. I can pick up the pepperiness of it now, though, plus it's got some sort of strange 'adult' depth to it that keeps it from being a bubbly-perky sort of scent. As it dries, it gains a sort of boozy quality. Not wine-boozy or bourbon-boozy, but thick and rich, the pepper drying back to just a faint whisper in the background. I really like this... it's fruity without making me feel like a picnic side dish. I think I'd like to try layering it with Candy Butcher. Mmmm...

Bottle: Piney musk. Not pinesol pine, though, thankfully... fir, I guess, has a softer edge to it than pine-pine, but it's definitely evergreeny. No leather, though, so far as I can tell. On me... Whaaagh, evergreen! O_O It's pure unadulterated fir, with maybe just a hint of salty musk in the background. And then, the evergreen dies down into leather... ish. Leathermuskfir. And....pepper. I swear I can pick up a pepper note, too. This says 'Western' all over it... not so much the concept of Doc's 'frontier medicine'... but more like the cowboy that's just stomped into town from a long day's range-running, and considerably before he's boozed-and-whore'd up enough to qualify for Tombstone. It's all worn chaps and lariats and saddle oil and hot sun and sweat. It's nice. It's actually really nice. I think... it's probably too manly for me, but at least it's not 'Manstink'. I keep thinking this'd be great in soap... not because it's soapy, but it's got an edge to it that I think I'd like better in a bath product than a skin scent.