Nachtwulf

I want to like this, I really do. But I'll be honest, all I'm getting from the imp is 'Yankee Candle'. Mind you, it's a nice, spicy candle that I wouldn't mind burning in the upcoming autumn chill, but it's still very.... Yankee Candle anyway. It's pleasant, kind of sweet, very spicy (enough that it's making my skin itch a little, though not burn or welt), and kind of alcoholic, but I can't deny a certain artificial quality to it all that is what's really making me think 'autumn-release candle shop product'. I'm going to blame the rum/alcohol for that, since it's also an impression I took from the Tiki Lounge blends... they all had that weird artificial quality that kind of ruined a lot of other good notes. It also doesn't seem very unique or distinct in itself. It's nice, yes, but like a lot of other things I've smelled.

Okay so... apparently Receipt #2 was somehow preceding the actual ship notice. I guess it was just some kind of weird code/order processing hiccup that sent me a duplicate receipt. Panic over! Still, it was confusing, I have to say....

I placed an order on 10/7. I got my receipt from the website at that time. However, today I just got an email saying 'Your order has been received and is being processed'. Uhhhh... I ordered a MONTH ago and just a day or two ago sent an email saying 'hey is my thing shipping maybe yet?' Did they like... totally lose my order and then only find it today? Am I going to be stuck waiting another month for my halloweenies? >_< I'm sorry, that really sucks, if so. I mean... jeez, I've been patient and all, but that's kind of absurd...

Aah, Stentor, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways. Well, when I first got it, I actually -didn't- like it. After a few days to apparently shake off some travel shock, however, it stopped being Vicks Vapo-Rub, and instead has become one of my all time fave blends. This is what I wanted "Numb" to be (which it very much wasn't). On first application, it's all winter-mint and menthol, somewhat astringent and sinus-clearing. As that eases off in the first few minutes, however, the other notes rise to the surface and make for a perfect, bracing, admittedly somewhat masculine scent. I don't get any champaca, much, and just the -bare- hint of lime (which is good because most lime seems to go icky and sour on me)... It's not a citrus blend at all. It's mint, and what I suspect is eucalyptus lurking unlisted, and the mellowing effects of 'some other stuff'. So very glad i took a chance on it, so sad that when/if I run out, getting more will be hard. Ah well, so it goes.

I took a random chance on this when it came up on ebay. Aquatics and me are not friends but... I loved Wind in the Willows and don't live anywhere NEAR Anaheim soooo...eh, why not. Thankfully, I escape any hint of 'lemon pledge' in this at all. It -is- aquatic, but either because it has different components than BPAL's other aquatic blends, or there's enough other stuff in there to kill it, it escapes turning into soap. It -is- rather 'wet' smelling, as one might expect from the waterfront manor of Mr. Toad, with the aforementioned golden wood notes taking the edge off it. If I had to pick a word to describe it, it would be 'dapper'. This is very definitely a 'dapper' scent. I don't feel that it's overly masculine though. It's too light and airy, and very much too damp to be masculine in my mind. And, oddly enough, I don't hate it (like I usually do with aquatics). I'm just not sure how -me- it is. It's one of those conundrum blends where you kind of like it and all but don't find yourself reaching for it much. Maybe it just requires a Toadier sort of day.

I can't believe I haven't written a review of this yet. I got GOP as a random frimp in a BPTP order I placed. Who knew it would be the only one of the 'political' blends I could stand. When I first put it on wet, it smells...pretty much exactly like whiskey and cigars. Which makes sense for the blend, I guess, but isn't very appealing. Soggy cigar tobacco is, frankly, pretty icky. HOWEVER. And this is the important bit. The acrid cigar stink goes away pretty fast, and what's left smells like... SUCCESS. It's like the Old Fogy Republicans got cleared out and replaced by the New Upwardly Mobile Republicans. I suppose that's not very clear, so... hm. I don't honestly have any notes for this. It's a bit herbal and cologney, in an unspecified fashion... a bit woody, but clean and sweet without being perfumey or foody. I'm pretty sure it has bay rum in it too. I suppose the reason I like it, is that it smells good -without- being overly strong in one particular way... not too sweet or too acrid or soapy or anything. I really do think of it as 'an office scent' because it's pleasant without being something that will distract your co-workers (either positively or negatively). Now if I could only make it not smell like soggy cigars for the first 15m it'd be -perfect-.

I really wanted to like this. So many of the notes sounded so good. Unfortunately... this is like... sour jolly ranchers. WAY WAY WAY too much lime. Lime lime lime sour lime (just a hint of berry) lime lime pucker up and ew. There's something strangely plastic and artificial too; that same plastic note ruined Pink Snowballs for me too. Sadly disappointing. Maybe it will mellow more if it sits. But right now, it is consistently 'sour lime plastic with a hint of berry' and not at all appealing.

What I wanted: Cedar, DB, peppermint, lavender, sage. What I got: Toothpaste. There is some note in a regrettable number of BPAL's blends that inevitably goes to slightly resinous toothpaste on me. I think it's galbanum, I was just hoping it wouldn't be so nastily prevalent. It's not the peppermint, since things without mint notes have in the past turned to toothpaste. Going to let it sit for awhile, but at least for the moment.... Toothpaste. Yech.

I took a chance on this... Doc Constantine from the Carnaval didn't work out on me at all, but a) it looked like the notes were a little different, and b.) my room is not my skin. All I can say is, this is amazing. Atmosphere sprays are kind of my new addiction (I still buy perfume oils but I find myself -using- the atmosprays a lot more often...) and this is my favorite of the four or five I've accumulated so far. It's herbal, but not the least bit soapy. It's a little spicy without being food or clove death. One thing I REALLY like about it is that it isn't heavy. All of the other things I have (Aphrodite, Exotic Bazaar, Mahogany Hall and so forth) are all heady, thick, sweet, and smoky things. This is ... well, fresh and clean but as previously mentioned, not in the soap way. I'd be hard pressed to pick any notes out of it specifically, but then again, when talking cure-alls, who knows what's in that stuff anyhow. It's part of the mystery! I've taken to spraying my headboard-pillow with it before sleeping... it soothes the mind and carries away the cares of the day like nothing else. I have a lot of trouble sleeping, and this really helps in a fundamental and noticeable way. Absolutely will be replacing it when it's gone.

This is indeed predominantly a musk blend... though to me, I mostly get black musk with undertones of red. There's something about it that reminds me of sweet woods, too... probably the amber, if anything. Amber can go powdery, but on me, this fails to do so. There's hints of wood notes too... that my nose reads as 'polished mahogany'... no bitterness or sharpness at all. I hate florals, and there are a lot of scary notes in this blend (lotus and orris, I'm looking at you) and yet I can't pick out any of them. It is basically 'musk blend with some other stuff in it'... a very reddish-black and almost furry scent (if that makes sense). I'd put this aside during the hot days of summer but now that it's cooling off, it has waited for me like an old familiar friend. It also lasts. And last. And lasts and lasts. Without being overpowering, I might add. That soft reddish sweetness just hangs around in the background, periodically reminding you that it's there. Last night I put it on at about, on, 6pm, and it was still detectable some time after I got up.

This is sweet, faintly resinous, and clean. It reminds me very much of the first run of Midnight Mass, as well as There Was a Great Cry in Egypt. It is, basically, like a few other 'holy resins' blends I've gotten from BPAL, which all seem to differ only by a note or two... this one lacks the woods of Great Cry and the florals of Midnight Mass, or the sugar of All Souls. It's a 'cleaner' more straight forward blend, and is quite pleasant... for those that don't have any of the above, it's quite nice. On the other hand it is a -lot- like All Souls and Midnight Mass, so I'm a little disappointed that it isn't more different than it is.

In the past, most "mahogany" blends I've tried have been warm and mellow (sometimes almost to the point of syrupy)... This is not like that. This is harsh, sharp, edgy, and painfully resinous, almost sour or acrid at times. I was hoping for 'red' notes, from the description...dragon's blood, cherrywood, I don't know, something to soften the harshness, but it's basically 100% resiny dry wood and is MUCH too aggressive and un-sweet for my tastes. It's the olfactory equivalent of inhaling splinters. I'm a little sorry I popped for a bottle, but maybe I can layer it with something like Hellcat and make it work.

Sadly, the -actual- Miskatonic University smells rather like Corn Nuts to me. Mnemnosyne:MU has its own corn nuts stage in the beginning, running for about 5-10m, but then that weirdly salty, corny smell gradually fades away. I'm left with a sort of worn leather, faintly coffee, faintly pastrylike scent that reminds me very VERY much of the book shop/coffeehouse in Michigan I used to spend cold wintery nights in, drinking coffee and trying to pretend it wasn't below zero outside. For me, it really is kind of a 'mnemosyne' since it does evoke memories for me, and I consider it much more of a success than the catalog MU. I -do- wish I didn't have to sit through that icky corn-nuts stage at the beginning, but it doesn't last, so that's something. Overall, I'd consider it a fairly masculine blend, although more the sort that wears little round glasses and a turtleneck sweater instead of Manly Men Doing Manly Things.

This doesn't seem to exist anymore, but I got a tester of it with my last BPTP order. I knew nothing about it going in; I was just all 'huh, wunner wut dis is' and sprayed. Now I am sad it has apparently been discontinued. Anyway. First of all, like the other roomspray I have (Exotic Bazaar), this stuff is pretty durn strong. This isn't like Febreeze where you hose down the room with it and it's gone in ten minutes; this stays for hours... Initially, it's mostly mahogany (it's a sweet, almost cognac-like note I've found in other things associated with 'mahogany') and some vanilla. All the other notes seem very background to me, though on the very tail-end I do get the patchouli. I am not a patch fan, AT ALL.. but this apparently only applies to wearing it. In the spray, it's actually quite nice, as it offsets the very sweet initial notes and keeps them from being too sticky. I keep the tester in my office now. It seems like a very 'office' scent even if said office does not include a huge cherrywood desk and red leather chairs with brass studs.

Well, as far as I can tell, this reminds me pretty much of Countess WIllie, and pretty much every other 'dark fruits' type BPAL I've ever ordered. I'm going to let it sit and see if settling for a week or so brings out anything that will make this less generic, but i was really hoping for something more exotic with the musk and amber, and not so much the 'berry yankee candle' thing.

This should have been amazing on me. In fact, in the imp, it -is- amazing. Marvelous beautiful almond rum and a whiff of spices. Unfortunately, as soon I put it on, it's clove. Just.... clove. There's maybe a very faint hint of rum in the background, but this blend is regrettably 98% unadulterated sharp-smelling clove oil on me. Sad. I -adore- almonds and rum and pretty much everything that's in here that isn't clove (which I tolerate) and what do I get? Yeah. Oh well, that's how it goes, I guess.

Well, BPAL doesn't use carrier oils, so that puts it above some of them (I think Violette Market might, and I know Odditorium does). I've never tried NA (or their goth line either) so I don't know if they use carrier oils as well. Carrier oils are cheaper, and dilute the scent; if you see a huge bottle, and it's only $8, then you can bet it's at least half almond or other oil instead of scent. However, I've tried ZOMGSmells and Conjure Oils both, and both manufacturers use pure oils and are as far as I'm concerned, of the same quality level. It's just whether you happen to like one company's leather note or rose note or whatever better than another, and if a certain company makes a scent you love. I don't like BPAL's lavender at all, but I love ZOMG's Purple Almond (lavender-almond) to death, I love BPAL's leather note, and CO's leather goes funky on me. It's all about skin chemistry and personal taste. Just make sure they aren't using carriers and it's probably all the same, physically speaking. EDIT: It should be noted that NEITHER BPAL nor any of the other manufacturers can truly be said to be 'essential oils'. It's true that they all use them, but many of the notes (like civet, and dirt, and banana) are 'perfume oils' and artificially created. I can't think of too many scented oil manufacturers that exclusively use essential oils, except a few of the specifically metaphysical companies that require %100 natural oils. It's possible that the TAL lines are purely essential but I can't remember seeing confirmation of that.

The question actually seems to be about The Coil rather than Ether. Coil's notes are: Ozone, eucalyptus and mint with purple orchid, passionflower, white ginger, and purple lotus. You might look at Lightning, I don't really think it will be quite as complex as Coil but it might be similar. For another ozoney take, there's the Stormhold, from the Stardust line. It's likely to be more earthy but will probably have some similarities. (Then again, what do I know, every blend in this genre turns to dish soap on me. )

I'll admit, the description makes this sound like it'd be cloyingly horrid. I mean, it really does. HOWEVER. In the bottle, it's pretty much gingerbread cookies, as people say. On me, however, it mellows into something very ginger but definitely not foodlike. It's warm, musky, spicy, and gingery... but without all the squashed sugar that the description would imply. To be entirely honest... if you wanted to know what the old, now-impossible-to-get Shub-Niggurath was like, this is pretty darn close. The catalog one lacks the spicy depth of the LE, and this is as much an echo of Old Shub as I think it's possible to get. Overall, while it's definitely not something one would wear in the warm months, it's a wonderful warm spice/musk blend that's going on my win list in short order.

Ahmagad... yet another instance of 'something everyone loves except me'. I figured... cake, tea, strawberries...how can it go wrong? Silly, silly me. The tea is fine, but it just can't salvage the salty, smelly reek of 'old gym sock' that whatever that cake note is turns into. It's not quite the same one that killed Elephantine Colossus on me, but it's close. I don't get strawberries, all I get is old socks soaked in milky (and slightly soured) tea. This lasted about two minutes before it was off to the bathroom to scrub it off. Sad day! If it had the cake note that's in Eat Me, I suspect things would've been better. Oh well.

Oh god. I was hoping this would be more like Midway than anything else, 'cause I loved Midway. Oh no. It's kettle popcorn. Fallen, sticky popcorn baking in the sun by the seaside (and we're talking urban seaside here...salty and thick and heavy). The cake note is the same one that's in Lilith's Tea Party and immediately turned into fetid old socks, and that in combination with the salty-caramel popcorn thing was almost enough to turn my stomach. To say this didn't work on me is a -vast- understatement. It didn't last for five minutes before I had to go and wash it off. While I love the old Colossus monument, I fear the scent is going on a quick trip to somewhere eelllllsssseeee....

Okay, I didn't get much coconut or anything at all tropical. Sadly. I was hoping for almonds (arsenic having the scent of 'bitter almond' traditionally). But I can't find any almonds in this at all. It is, however, a very dusty, -green- scent. Perhaps a reference to 'Paris Green', a colorant made from arsenic compounds? Unfortunately for me... while it's otherwise pleasant, slightly herbal thing, there's something in here that really does hit me and make me think 'paint'. Not house paint, but artist's paint, that sweetish-chemical-y quality I'm all too familiar with as an artist. And yes, it's probably poisonous paint too, for that matter. This is a sweet herbal with maybe just a hint of something like green coconut, and if it didn't have that paint note, it'd be marvy, but while I appreciate the reference to Paris Green, I don't actually want to smell like old, painted wallpaper.

Ginger? Cookies? ... On me, this smells eerily like... tomato juice. I'm not even kidding. Fresh, it smells just like I spilled V8 on my hand. It becomes slightly less tomato-y on the drydown, but I'm really not getting any ginger, citrus, or cookies at all. 100% of your daily suggested vegetable rations, right here.

Yet another shot in the dark that magically hit the target, for me. Hag had more appealing notes in it than Odd Portents (the other 'weenie I ordered) but it was still a wild guess. Bottle: Rum and bay. Not 'bay rum', this is distinctly 'rum booze' and 'bay leaves'. Wet: Magical. It's sweet, and woody, and a touch resinous. The rum is still there but faded back so I don't smell like I spilled the liquor cabinet on myself. What's primarily noticeable is the vetiver and bay, but underlaid with enough blackcurrant rum to 'sweeten the pot' and stop it from going needly or harsh. I admit, I am fortunate in that I -don't- amp vetiver and it's usually a safe note on me, so your mileage may vary. Dry: It remains remarkably consistent. I get a bit more of the musk once it's good and dry but it never becomes overwhelming. There's something almost like cedarwood to it too, although I'm not one of the people who ever get the 'pencil shavings' effect so my opinions about cedar are somewhat biased (toward the positive). This is likely to go into my surprisingly-small 'frequent use' corner. It's sweet without being foody. Woody without being man-stink. Just sharp enough but never too sharp. And it lasts ALL FREAKING DAY. Definitely a win.

Oh, Odd Portents, how I love thee. I took a real chance on this; me and florals of any sort pretty much hate each other. I'm not even sure why I got it in retrospect aside from 'ooo currant, black musk, myrrh'... ah, but this is not like that. In the bottle: Lavender, and some sweet, mellow undertone that seems almost foodlike. This scent is very well-blended and it's difficult to pick out very many notes individually. Wet: Ginger. No, I'm not kidding. There's something about the initial application that reminds me of nothing more than Shub Niggurath or Gingerbread Poppet. A bit sweet, a bit spicy, a bit prickly to the nose. Less actively foody, but there you go. Dry: The gingery spike mellows back as it dries and it turns into this gorgeous spicy fougére. I never do get even the slightest hint of rose, in any identifiable sense, but the amber and black musk step forward to soften the lavender and myrrh and whatever else. It's the kind of scent one can wear all day without getting sick of it (and a good thing too because its staying power is insane). Even now, it's 13 hours later and I can still pick it up on the back of my arm. Very nice, very warm and unisex. It's a bit autumnal, but I'd certainly recommend it to warm up any rainy cold days you might be having.