fiddlehead

Creeper Dragon Musk: daemonorops, green leather, and red musk with dribbles of honey and white cream. I love dragon's blood and red musk so I figured I would be happy with this. It is indeed mostly those two notes. If I really inhale I think I get a little leather, but it's barely there. Honey and cream (is there another sort of cream that isn't white, I wonder?) are barely there as well. It may age into something more complex but even if it doesn't I'll wear it, along with Blood Amber & Blood Kiss. It's definitely got the same vibe. Lovely incensy dragon's blood and red musk.

Pumpkin, hay, champaca, and leather accord. Wow. This is a really interesting scent. I've never tried a blend with a hay note before but I love the smell of hay. The pumpkin is really subtle in this blend and not foody at all. There's a slighty spicy note and I definitely get the hay note. The leather is very soft and not at all obvious as it is in Western Diamondback or Quincy Morris. I'm getting a bit of something that reminds me of Luctor et Emergo by POTL and I wonder if that's the champaca or the hay. I'll need to wear this a few times to be sure. Right now it's a definite winner for me. Edit: I wore this today and was sure there must be cinnamon in it. But I didn't get a skin reaction like cinnamon usually gives me. Today I also didn't get the PotL note as strongly. ETA: Another wearing and the spicy note is stronger. Now it reminds me of super strong potpourri like you buy at a craft store. It's making my sinuses unhappy

You might try an imp of Satyr

When I was little, a summoning went awry at the standing stones in the grove by my house, and the ensuing carnage in the neighborhood effectively ruled out the possibility of trick or treating locally that year. My parents didn't want me to be disappointed, so they drove my brother and m'self to Innsmouth for the night. The people manning the festively decked-out skiffs that were moored in the sand-clogged harbor were incredibly generous with their candy, and my brother and I ended the night as happy as two sugar-high little kids could be. The strange beauty of the crumbling Georgian houses and their widow's walks is forever etched in my memory, along with the distinct scent of fish and kelpy incense. Innsmouth: Halloween, 1983. Fish and ceremonial incense. Cthulhu F'tagn! Don't be afraid of Halloween in Innsmouth. To me, it's a very wear-able incense scent and reminds me very much of other BPAL incense scents I've smelled. If you've been into BPAL for awhile you'll recognize this. There's a "cool" element to this that is like the note I caught in the first year edition of Samhainophobia. Maybe it's meant to be the sea air. Does it smell fishy/kelp-y? If I use my imagination, it does a bit, especially right at the beginning. And now that I've had it on for about 30 minutes I can still smell that note on one wrist. That being said, I'm very suggestible and do my best to smell what Beth is attempting to evoke in her scents. It's a big part of the fun of BPAL to me. I like this quite a lot and will wear it during Cthulhu Christmas as well! Edit: I love this. It reminds me of Arcana, which was a favorite when I first discovered BPAL. If you like Arcana you will probably like this!


I had seen maps of the town, and knew where to find the home of my people. It was told that I should be known and welcomed, for village legend lives long; so I hastened through Back Street to Circle Court, and across the fresh snow on the one full flagstone pavement in the town, to where Green Lane leads off behind the Market house. The old maps still held good, and I had no trouble; though at Arkham they must have lied when they said the trolleys ran to this place, since I saw not a wire overhead. Snow would have hid the rails in any case. I was glad I had chosen to walk, for the white village had seemed very beautiful from the hill; and now I was eager to knock at the door of my people, the seventh house on the left in Green Lane, with an ancient peaked roof and jutting second story, all built before 1650.
 The scent of ancient families harboring ancient secrets: thin dribbles of frankincense, bitter cistus, hollow myrrh, pale chamomile, and dark, furtive opoponax.
 I took a chance on this one even though I figured that the frankincense would dominate and not allow me to smell any of the other notes. It's a bit more complex at first but quickly dries down into all frank all the time. And then it's gone. Reminds me of Arcana, as most of the frankincense blends do.

On me, this is a super perfume-y blend and very strong. I put a tiny dab on and it punched me right in the nose. This will have to be set aside to age in hopes that it calms down a bit. I can't pick out any separate notes at all. I was expecting a softer, warmer blend for sure!

I wasn't very impressed with this when I first got it a year or so ago. It just seemed like light rose and cedar on me and disappeared quickly. Fast forward to today...and it's beautiful. The rose otto is definitely present now and the cedar lightens it and makes it airy. I dabbed some on my wrists to re-test this morning and just went back to slather. Might need another bottle of this to age.

IVORY VULVA Marshmallow root, coconut, macadamia milk, cream accord, and a drop of golden amber. This is definitely a creamy coconut scent. I've had it on for about 30 minutes and it's stayed the same. The other notes don't stand out to me but I think they're what's making this a warm coconut as opposed to just coconut. If you like coconut you will like this. It reminds me of the coconut in Goblin without the patchouli.

The Frost performs its secret ministry, Unhelped by any wind. The owlet’s cry Came loud—and hark, again! loud as before. The inmates of my cottage, all at rest, Have left me to that solitude, which suits Abstruser musings: save that at my side My cradled infant slumbers peacefully. ‘Tis calm indeed! so calm, that it disturbs And vexes meditation with its strange And extreme silentness. Sea, hill, and wood, This populous village! Sea, and hill, and wood, With all the numberless goings-on of life, Inaudible as dreams! the thin blue flame Lies on my low-burnt fire, and quivers not; Only that film, which fluttered on the grate, Still flutters there, the sole unquiet thing. Methinks, its motion in this hush of nature Gives it dim sympathies with me who live, Making it a companionable form, Whose puny flaps and freaks the idling Spirit By its own moods interprets, every where Echo or mirror seeking of itself, And makes a toy of Thought. But O! how oft, How oft, at school, with most believing mind, Presageful, have I gazed upon the bars, To watch that fluttering stranger! and as oft With unclosed lids, already had I dreamt Of my sweet birth-place, and the old church-tower, Whose bells, the poor man’s only music, rang From morn to evening, all the hot Fair-day, So sweetly, that they stirred and haunted me With a wild pleasure, falling on mine ear Most like articulate sounds of things to come! So gazed I, till the soothing things, I dreamt, Lulled me to sleep, and sleep prolonged my dreams! And so I brooded all the following morn, Awed by the stern preceptor’s face, mine eye Fixed with mock study on my swimming book: Save if the door half opened, and I snatched A hasty glance, and still my heart leaped up, For still I hoped to see the stranger’s face, Townsman, or aunt, or sister more beloved, My play-mate when we both were clothed alike! Dear Babe, that sleepest cradled by my side, Whose gentle breathings, heard in this deep calm, Fill up the intersperséd vacancies And momentary pauses of the thought! My babe so beautiful! it thrills my heart With tender gladness, thus to look at thee, And think that thou shalt learn far other lore, And in far other scenes! For I was reared In the great city, pent ‘mid cloisters dim, And saw nought lovely but the sky and stars. But thou, my babe! shalt wander like a breeze By lakes and sandy shores, beneath the crags Of ancient mountain, and beneath the clouds, Which image in their bulk both lakes and shores And mountain crags: so shalt thou see and hear The lovely shapes and sounds intelligible Of that eternal language, which thy God Utters, who from eternity doth teach Himself in all, and all things in himself. Great universal Teacher! he shall mould Thy spirit, and by giving make it ask. Therefore all seasons shall be sweet to thee, Whether the summer clothe the general earth With greenness, or the redbreast sit and sing Betwixt the tufts of snow on the bare branch Of mossy apple-tree, while the nigh thatch Smokes in the sun-thaw; whether the eave-drops fall Heard only in the trances of the blast, Or if the secret ministry of frost Shall hang them up in silent icicles, Quietly shining to the quiet Moon. - Samuel Taylor Coleridge The liberating glory of nature, a celebration of wildness of spirit: fierce musk and immortelle, clary sage and oud, terebinth pine and ambrette seed, ivy and tobacco, honeysuckle and orange blossom. Frost at Midnight begins with a flurry of notes. It's fresh smelling, which may be the sage and pine, or the ivy. I can't identify the immortelle or other notes. I don't detect any tobacco. But there's definitely a lot going on at once. After it dries for a few minutes the honeysuckle and orange blossom show up but aren't heavy or overwhelming. Frost at Midnight turns into a nice, light floral. I was hoping for more pine and greenery to stick around. I think this will be a really nice Spring scent though I may have to slather it.

Honey, leather, tobacco, and myrrh. This is a nicely balanced mix of all the notes listed. At first I get more honey and leather/tobacco. Then the myrrh comes in and veils it all in spice. Still, after 30 minutes I can pick out the other notes. The tobacco note is well behaved in this, at least on me. I'll have to wear it a few times to see if it's a keeper. I think it might age really well.

Banshee Beat is a gorgeous balancing act between vanilla, dark patchouli and hemp. The vanilla seems like a French vanilla to me and maybe that's the same as Bourban vanilla. I don't know. At different times and in different places I get more patchouli and a really lovely hemp note which almost makes me think of a light tobacco note. The whole blend is definitely more than the sum of its parts though. No wonder people went nuts for it! I'll be ordering the GC version when it appears in hopes it will be as awesome as this.

How about Malediction?

My fears about Smut were completely unfounded. It's not at all like Devil's Night and though it has red musk in it there's so much more going on. I can't identify all the notes in it. Depending on where I put it I get different facets. The extreme drydown of the dab in my cleavage is definitely dirty musk. On my wrist its sort of dry and a little bit fruity. Up along my neck I get a waft of something that reminds me of Practical Occultism, just a bit. Damn. I'm really happy to have a bottle of this! I can see why some people hoard bottles of it. Edited to add I get no booze notes that I can identify. Nor sugar, exactly.

I figured this would a good choice because I love The Antikythera Mechanism. The vanilla and tobacco combo is perfect and is the most obvious at first. As the other notes come out it changes into something even better than AM on me. Smoky, warm, complicated vanilla. It's very gender neutral on me and I can't wait to try it on my husband. We may need another bottle of this. It's bound to get even more gorgeous over time.

After a loud flurry of pine and cypress notes this settles into a patchouli single note. I can sort of catch a bit of tobacco but mostly it's the patchouli. Perhaps it will become more complex with age.

This has been passing me by for years so I finally decided to go for it. I wasn't sure about it at first but the longer it sat on my skin the better it got. I wore it out to dinner and kept getting wafts of this really good chocolate scent with an almost wood or amber-like undertone. It faded after a couple of hours but I don't mind re-applying. It's well blended and comes across as just a really rich chocolate after the initial notes of coffee and cinnamon disappear. I'm not sure if I'm able to identify brown sugar but maybe it will appear next time. I think I'm going to get a lot of wear out of this in the winter. Edited to add that this morning I dabbed some on my neck and got the cinnamon reaction even though I don't get a ton of cinnamon from the scent. I'll have to apply this on tougher parts of my skin like I do Gingerbread Snake!

Super peppermint! It cleared out my sinuses for sure. Not getting sugar so far, just the mint. It's going to be fun to try this in layering experiments!

I was afraid that this would be another patchouli heavy blend. I love patch, but I have enough of it already. I put this on and almost immediately recognize it as something very familiar. Something I really like from BPAL. So as not to ruin it for anyone...

I'd been meaning to get an imp of this forever and just kept putting it off. Luckily, I just got it as a frimp in my last order from the Trading Post! Yay Vetiver! This is my favorite kind of Vetiver, grassy and fresh. It always reminds me of the smell of rain on cement. I'm not getting any leather or musk on this first try. I think this may be a bottle purchase in the future. It's certainly going on my wish list!

When I first put this on my skin it was really strong leather. The Gingerbread started coming through as it dried and I got a big whiff of cinnamon ( I think, but I got no skin reaction so maybe not). There was also a smokey kind of note, almost like a wood fire or something. The last note to appear were the fruitcake crumbs. I couldn't identify any tobacco, unless that was the wood fire smell, somehow. I think this scent is weirdly cozy, maybe because it evoked memories of being in my grandparents' kitchen with the wood stove going while my mom and grandmother made Christmas cookies and such. The leather note added a note I associate with saddle leather and leather work gloves (Grandfather bringing the wood in from the woodpile). It disappeared pretty fast on me and I'm hoping letting it age will help with that. Yule Buddies is a strange sort of scent but seems perfect for Christmas time! Edit: I should add that it doesn't smell like cookies and the gingerbread doesn't seem as strong to me as Gingerbread Snake or Shub. This isn't a foodie scent, to my nose. It's more atmospheric, sort of like Le Pere Fouettard, if that makes sense.

Pumpkin V is the same on me as most of the other Pumpkin scents I've tried from the lab. Strong and spicy and puts me in mind of a craft store potpourri mix. I wish I could pick out the other notes but so far they're missing or just stomped on by the pumpkin. This might be good in an oil burner but I don't think I'll be wearing it. It kind of hurts my sinuses. If something amazing happens the next time I wear it I'll definitely update this review.

Sugar Skull '14 dries down into a very close cousin of A Variety of Pleasing Amusements on my skin. It's got an added note that my husband says is chocolate and I think might be burnt sugar or brown sugar. My husband will probably get this as he likes AVoPA and wears it often.

I remember my bottle of Devil's Night '05 or 06 being very thick smelling, very musky with some sweetness. Devil's Night '14 is all super-fruity candy on me. I've tried it several times now and it just stays that way. I'm hoping it will mellow with time and maybe some other notes might show up. I sure hope so.

Ulalume is very boggy and swampy to me. It does have a strong lily note as well, though. Might be worth an imp if you haven't tried it.

This opens with a very woody note, very strong. It morphs into a softer scent quickly, though. The other notes appear and the whole thing just comes together in a really good amber perfume. I'm a little sorry I didn't get two bottles. I did grab a bottle of Hesiod's Phoenix to compare it with. I think the oudh is a little more prominent in Hesiod's. I like this a little better, but wearing both of them at once is magical.