GypsyRoseRed

Shadow saw the old woman, her dark face pinched with age and disapproval, but behind her he saw something huge, a naked woman with skin as black as a new leather jacket, and lips and tongue the bright red of arterial blood. Around her neck were skulls, and her many hands held knives, and swords, and severed heads. Spices, cardamom, nutmeg, and flowers. To think I almost passed on this because I thought a spicy floral might be a little.. generic. Mama-ji is anything but. This is in the same family of blends as Voodoo Queen IMHO. Anyway, when it's wet, this blend is a little too floral on my skin but once it dries down it becomes a sweetly spiced bouquet that is strong enough to be noticed without being overpowering. I'm so glad I have a 5ml of this!

The NIGHTMARE TERROR of TEENAGE love gone GRISLY! She's HELL-BENT on romance, THRILL-CRAZED, and HUNGRY! There's NO ESCAPE from her clutches! A deranged darling, sweet and sociopathic! Clotted vanilla cream, pink pepper, grapefruit, blood lily, red ginger, English pear, and lemon-squeezed candyfloss! Wet, in the bottle, this scent bears a lot of resemblance other classic BPAL foody blends with just a little added sweetness. It's pretty, but it's not what I expected given the listed notes, and while it's a good scent and definitely wearable, I can't say it's really exceptional or even makes my top five of the Lab's 'foody' type of scents. It's generally slightly sweet, though well balanced with a hint of the candyfloss and pear. It's got a short wearlength on me, and a couple of hours in, I can barely pick up a whiff of it on my wrist. ETA: Although the ingredients are different, there's something here reminiscent of Treat 2 about 30 minutes in. Hm. I think it's the combination of pear and grapefruit giving off a vaguely dusty feel thanks to my weirdo body chemistry. Blarg.

GEEK.GOTH Highly caffeinated, profoundly sugared lemon-lime soda. Geek smells very much like Sprite, and is very effervescent. On my skin, it is light and refreshing, and all I get is a subtler version of the lemon and lime. Nice, but so not my thing.

It's very light in the bottle, and definitely has skin musk front and center, but after wearing it for about ten minutes what emerged was a slightly floral musk with an elegant vanilla, with a very subtle breath of sandalwood. Totally in love with it.

Extracted directly from the twitching nether-regions of the wild Eastertime bunny rabbit: a snarling, slavering, buck-toothed, fluffy, floppy-eared, horny-as-hell Springtime beast. Soft cotton blossom, white musk, baby's breath, clover and pale powder notes. Inspired by Emzebel, by way of Heretic and Lycanthrope on the BPAL forum! This may be the Year of the Enraged Musks. Am I the first to review this? Eeep. I can't find a thread for it, so I must be. I don't have the Lab description for this. so I'll just get right onto my .2 cents worth.. In the bottle, this is delicate and pleasantly sweet. Not the sickening, ate-a-whole-basket-of-Easter-candy kind of sweet. I can't put my finger on a single note, but it's definitely warm, mild and yummy.. Dry on my skin, it smells like lemon drops with a tiny bit of cotton candy. YUM. ETA: This has a surprising amount of throw, and just keeps getting more lemony, but it's a soft lemon.. Mmmm.. Edited *again* to add.. almost 6 hours after the first application, this has gone from a cute easter bunny, to.. well.. a hot guy in a bunny suit. This is blending with my body chemistry to create a really unique and kinda sexy scent. It's like *skin* but with a hint of clean sweetness that's really natural. I know that probably doesn't make much sense but.. *sniff* Man, this stuff is good. OMG ETA: This lasted over 8 hours on my skin. NOTHING ever lasts that long on me! This is my lucky day. edited to add description - clover

A toodle oodle of pink cotton candy noses, vanilla spun sugar fur, scattered kernels of popcorn, and a touch of polished golden wood. Mouse Circus is all pale vanilla and clouds of spun sugar. It's beautiful, but very much not my type of scent, and about an hour in, my dry skin had drank up all of the oil so there was nothing left to smell. Cotton candy lovers should pounce on it, though.

A handsome, dark-skinned man weaves and dances his way through the crowd. Veves have been burned into the face of his old acoustic guitar, which he strums casually as he strolls though the crowd. A winged Capuchin monkey is balanced on his shoulder, holding out a rusty metal cup. The guitar player's melancholy chords begin to mingle strangely with a cacophonous jangling sound. The discordant symphony grows and swells as he moves toward a cloaked and hooded figure; this spectre's skeletal hands operate a dilapidated barrel organ that stands at a crossroads in the midway. As they come together, the music hits a nightmarish crescendo; your heart heaves with longings unfulfilled, your vision swims, and your head is filled with whispered incantations and gallows secrets. In that instant, you suddenly understand the profundity of deals made in Heaven and Hell, and the price of desire. Almond milk, sarsaparilla, tobacco smoke, black patchouli and white pine bark. I really wanted to try this because of the almond milk, but didn't expect to like it because patchouli and I don't usually get along. The first sniff was unlike anything I've ever tried before, and it only got better on application. The strongest note for me is sarsparilla, which is very pleasant, distinctive and sweet without being foody.. Something in the background smooths it out which smells like vanilla, but I'm guessing that'd be the almond milk. The description is right on this money with this - it's a subtle, persuasive scent. It may not be overpowering, but it's very memorable and lingered for a while. I could still detect traces of it three and a half hours later.

Chastity - the most unnatural of all the sexual perversions. -- Aldous Huxley Rice flower, vanilla, and cream. I predict that this is going to be a very popular product! There are only three notes listed, but this scent is truly gorgeous in it's simplicity, sweet, creamy and infinitely pretty. This could be sexy used before perfume (I'm sure it would sweeten and soften most scents, though I haven't tested that theory yet) and yet it's also very comforting.. like a fluffy cloud of fragrance. As you'd expect, it's pretty much vanilla cream, but it's not a buttery vanilla. Just light and lovely. I hope this is going to be a permanent addition to the BPTP, because I could see myself buying a lot of it.

Silliness in the extreme. Vanilla bean, honeycomb, sugared pear, sweet pea and a dribble of strawberry. Am I really the first to review this? Skeeeery. I can't find the original description for this, although if I remember correctly, it did say something about this scent being "pure silliness". Right on the money, and absolutely gorgeous. (EDIT: I found it for ya. --Shollin) In the bottle, this has the warm, sweet smell of a yummy jar of good candy. Something strongly fruit flavored, but there's definitely plenty of sugar in there, too.. and maybe a little bit of bubblegum. Now that said, I don't find it the least bit sickly-sweet which is very surprising. On my skin, this is probably the strongest BPAL I've ever tried and liked, and may even be my absolute favorite. The fruity-candy smell has warmed up, mellowed out and now I can definitely smell an underlying floral there. I have to say that the name is really apt because this smells *pink*. I've never been a fan of pink before now, but this really, really works. I'll definitely have to get my hands on more of this.

RIVET.GOTH Black leather, tobacco absolute, rust, gritty musk, and machine oil. Rivet.Goth is unique amongst BPAL leather blends, and I am in with it. This isn't the fresh leather 'new car' scent, nor is it the old leather of Dead Man's Hand. What I get is well-loved, butter soft dark leather overlaid with a sexy musk, and a whiff of smoke. My overall impression is that of a sexy superhero, complete with leather suit. So, so good. :love!:

LOOKING GLASS, LOOKING GLASS BATH OIL She was a beautiful woman, but proud and haughty, and she could not bear that any one else should surpass her in beauty. She had a wonderful looking-glass, and when she stood in front of it and looked at herself in it, and said— “Looking-glass, Looking-glass, on the wall, Who in this land is the fairest of all?” The looking-glass answered— “Thou, O Queen, art the fairest of all!” Then she was satisfied, for she knew that the looking-glass spoke the truth. An incomparably exquisite bath experience: velvety red roses, luxurious sandalwood, opulent mandarin, blood-red daemonorops-infused vegetal musk, dark candied berries, crimson spot rockrose, and jacaranda with tuberose, caraway, champa attar, and benzoin resinoid. Shea oil, apricot oil, apricot kernel oil, sunflower oil, fractionated coconut oil, rosehip seed, evening primrose oil, vitamin E, Rosa damascena, Vanilla planifolia, Styrax benzoin, Michelia champaca, Cistus ladaniferus, natural vanilla infusion, and Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab perfume. This bath oil was created for Yule 2010, but never went live because we were unable to bring it into full production due to the extremely high cost of the components. The sale of this product is extremely limited; once it's gone, it's gone. When it comes to rose scents, Looking Glass, Looking Glass is the fairest of them all, without a doubt. I have an odd relationship with rose scents, in that I love the smell of roses but generally, most rose scents don't live up to expectations and tend to smell dreadful on me, even when they don't smell fake, dusty or dry in the bottle. This is a rose scent created with different types of rose and softened by vanilla musk and given depth with resin. It is so perfectly blended that I don't notice the tuberose, mandarin or dark berries mentioned in the description as separate notes. Also because the rose notes pretty much command the spotlight. It isn't any ordinary rose - I imagine this as a sprawling rose garden, the bushes filled with huge, heavy blooms, the air redolent with their perfume. My husband generally isn't a fan of some of the scents I prefer, but he was on the computer on the other side of our condo while I bathed in this, and when I was drying off, he came into the bathroom and said, "Whatever perfume you're wearing, it smells amazing." Maybe because this is a bath oil instead of perfume oil, but the scent stays true in the bathwater and on my skin, which has never happened to me with any scent that contained rose before. Maybe it's because there's so much of it in this! My 7 year old says she thinks it smells like a fairytale princess, but I'd say it's more like a Queen. Thank you so much to Lab and Trading Post, for creating this and allowing us to have some of it. I'll treasure what I have, for sure.

A city of mystery, wonder and majesty, said to have been built by order of Gilgamesh. Thick bitter almond and heady night-blooming jasmine with saffron, cinnamon leaf, red patchouli, river lilies, bergamot, fig leaf and the sacred incense of Inanna. Uruk is an interesting scent that does manage to be more than just almond on the skin, although that's the first note that jumps out in the bottle. I really wanted to try it because of it's name, but usually almond becomes really obnoxious on me. I can't wear Baron Samedi or Horn of Plenty ( waaay too sickly) but this almond faded into the background about ten minutes after application which is the first time that's ever happened! Maybe it's because it's 'bitter' almond? Anyway. I can definitely pick out the red patchouli, and a whiff of incense, but I can tell right away that this isn't for me. While this is really nice and very pleasant, it ends up a little too mild and dry for my tastes. Maybe I'll try an imp in the future, though.

[No additional description provided.] Okay, usually, I'm not a big fan of scents that include pumpkin, because I don't like cooked pumpkin and they tend toward pumpkin pie. Not so with this. I smell juicy raw pumpkin, with a dash of spice. Really lovely!

The hundred-headed dragon that guards the garden of the Hesperides: dragon’s blood resin, golden apple, apple blossom, white musk and hyacinth. Usually Dragon's Blood is a little much on me, but Ladon is almost all apple and apple blossom to me. There's a strong resemblance to The Hesperides, but this is softer, prettier and I can definitely pick out the white musk (it doesn't have the wood note that Hesperides has, and maybe that's what stops it from having that biting, slightly sour edge I get in the drydown with TH)... I don't get the hyacinth at all, but I'm not the best with individual notes. In any case, this is the perfect apple scent I've been looking for!

Clove, red sandalwood, orris, rose, opoponax, benzoin, and patchouli. This was love at first sniff for me because, to my nose at least, this shares some notes in common with Voodoo Queen. The sandalwood, orris, benzoin and oppoponax are all definitely present and this would be in *perfect* if not for the rose. With my chemistry, rose hardly ever fades into the background and in this scent, it's constantly peeping through which is too bad since I don't like rose and it hates me right back. In spite of that, I bought a bottle of this, and I'm going to wear it because I think this scent is so unique and fab overall. On the drydown, it is very soft and pretty with wafts of that resiny, incense with rose. Really lovely!

An olfactory guide, created to assist you in locating nearby hippies: patchouli, hemp, smoky vanilla bean, and cannabis accord. (No, there is no actual weed in this perfume, silly.) I really couldn't imagine that I would like this, because who wants to smell like weed? Except this smells REALLY GOOD. It's herbal with just the right amount of patchouli so it's not heavy or incense-y. After a half hour of wear time, it smelled sweet and slightly smokey with only a light whiff of Mary Jane.

NYMPHES DE PAVE In passing up Broadway, any evening, between the hours of 7 and 11 o'clock, one is surprised to see so many well-dressed and comely females whose ages range from fifteen to twenty-five years, unattended by companions of the other sex. These young ladies are Nymphes de Pave or as they familiarly termed "Cruisers" have furnished rooms in which they receive visitors of the other sex, and ply their vocation in the streets for a livelihood. White fig, rose otto, honey, and bourbon vanilla. This is such a pretty scent in the bottle, and although I can definitely smell the roses first, the honey is definitely there too, stopping this from being solely floral. On my skin, it's just a light, sweet rose that blooms for about an hour before disappearing entirely. It's heady, lovely, and different to the other BPAL rose scents I appreciate. Honey lovers might favor this one, I think.

Hazelnut, vanilla bean, red sandalwood, amber, myrrh, and honey. Mmm... Something here was also used in Storyville. Not sure what it is, but I suspect the hazelnut and sandalwood. Initially, I was afraid of the foodiness, but one the drydown, the notes blend into something smooth, mellow and yummy with amber and faint wafts of vague nuttiness. It fades fast on me and wears close to the skin, but it smells good nonetheless.

Paperwhite narcissus, petitgrain, rosemary, cyclamen, and ozone accord. This is one of those quintessential clean scents, and while I'm not a lover of those I can still appreciate this and what makes it work. To my nose, most clean perfumes are usually either white florals (which are great on other people, but not me) or dryer sheets/potpourri. This is neither. It's slightly floral, slightly herbal but thirty minutes into the drydown it smells like a bar of expensive French soap I once had, and it's refreshingly clean without falling into any particular category. It's like a good old fashioned dose of soap and water. I don't think I'll wear this often at all, but I'll be keeping a little bit of it for when the mood hits me.

At last, the light at the end of our three-month tunnel of misfortune. To commemorate this momentous occasion, we present a big ol' bottle of sunny, happy, bounciness -- a golden blend with a celebratory feel, promoting joy, peace, and a sense of comfort and well-being: golden amber, heliotrope, vanilla musk, carnation, daisy and sunflower bouquet, neroli, lemon peel, ylang ylang and honeycomb. This is liquid, late afternoon sunshine, and lovelier than I could have imagined prior to sniffing it. This is a warm, rounded, slightly creamy golden scent that's so smoothly blended I can't really distinguish any of the notes. There's citrus in there, but without any of the sharpness or fake-citrus that you might expect - no orange oil or dusty lemon Pledge here. Also, the ylang ylang and neroli don't hijack the loveliness and jump out at me, thank god. There's also something here that reminds me of an Avon solid perfume pin I had when I was a little girl, in the shape of a daisy.. That olfactory memory is one of my strongest and most precious and maybe that added to the gentle warmth and delicate sweetness that makes it very special to me. It's somehow distinctive and very pretty while remaining subtle and comforting. This is such a beautiful blend, it really is.

In alchemy, the archetype of fire represents activity and transformation. Our blend of ylang ylang, patchouli, sandalwood, myrrh, palmarosa, and King mandarin personifies this classical element, and expresses itself through the stimulation of your sexual energy. This massage oil inspires passion, relaxes inhibitions, and instills you with a sense of power and magnetism. Almond oil, refined rice bran oil, fractionated coconut, rosehip seed oil, evening primrose, vitamin E, Cananga odorata, Pogostemon patchouli, Santalum spicatum, Commiphora myrrha, Cymbopogon martini, Citrus deliciosa/reticulate, Citrus sinensis, Myristica fragrans, and Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab oil blends. I just got my bottle today, and it's to die for. Before I get into the oil itself, the packaging is worth mentioning. The dark amber/brown plastic bottle is sturdy, the black flip lid doesn't let out a flood of oil (just the right amount), and the label is slick looking and pretty. Now, the oil itself has a great texture. Not too greasy and slippery - I rubbed it on my arms, and my skin is soft, scented and shimmery - but not greasy! The scent itself is wonderful. Mostly I can pick out the ylang ylang and King Mandarin, but the citrus seems 'darker' and more fiery than bright and juicy, so I know that's the patchouli at work. It sure smells sexy, and I'd use this as an everyday moisturizing oil for sure since I have dry skin. Maybe BPTP could bring out a scent to match?

Lightning splits the sky, illuminating the skeletal skyline of the carnival rides: sugared incense and night-blooming flowers. Initially, I detected a similarity to Carnivale Noir's Midway, but this is equally beautiful in it's own way. As far as I can tell Midnight on The Midway has a similar base, that smooth, sweet scent of yummy sugar-dusted treats, but with the addition of a light and creamy floral that could be honeysuckle of jasmine.. but it's not overpowering in the way I'd expect from a jasmine note. Initially, this sounded like an unusual combination, but it's perfect, and where Midway used to disappear on me after about fifteen mnutes, Midnight lasted for close to an hour on the edge of my wrist. I'm looking forward to making this a bottle purchase!

MRS LEWIS Mrs. Lewis of 45 E. Houston street keeps a private house of assignation. It is conducted very quiet and orderly. White sandalwood and tea roses. You'd think it'd be all tea roses, since rose is such a bossy note in my humble opinion.. But you'd be wrong. This one is pretty much even balanced, with the wood evening out the floral so it's not OMGINYOURFACEROSE. Sadly, as it fades, it starts taking on a sweet, powdery quality that doesn't work for me.

Pumpkin artwork by Amy Kinard! Pumpkin cream with cardamom, black tea, allspice, and ginger milk. I have to confess to being generally ambivalent about pumpkin, with the exception of Pumpkin King. A few of this year's Weenie's might have changed that, though, especially this one. I get pumpkin (fruit, not pie), allspice, and cardamom with a drop of tea. It's a great spicy fall scent that still stays edible smelling, without going to the generic pumpkin pie that I mostly get from pumpkin fragrances.

White magnolias, vanilla orchid, and a cascade of champagne. This is a surprise hit for me! I usually don't like champagne scents, but I mostly get vanilla orchid from Gertrude Dix, with a light effervescence that must be the champagne note - it usually turns to a bitter, dusty smell on my skin, but sprayed around my bedroom it is *perfect*. The overall effect is a light, creamy floral that has a clean feel to it. It's unlike any of the other atmosphere sprays, and I'm go glad I got it!