tarotgirl99

Red roses, black leather, and toasted almond. I thought this had the power to be SOOO sexy. Red rose and leather! I could hear the castanets and the flash of a switchblade knife in my head. In real scent life . . . more like new age music! The Toasted Almond is the predominant note. The leather is non-existent on me and the rose is not full-bodied, but cloyingly sweet. Fortunately, it's mostly overpowered by the Almond. Unfortunately, the scent is like an old funeral wreath that died in a metaphysical store on me. It makes me think of head shops that had too overpowering a smell and gave me a headache. Warning, though--my skin is non-normative. You may have better luck. Not great sillage nor longevity.

This is glorious, warm Honeyed Rose love on me. I do feel like the Queen of Love when I wear it. Good throw and long-lasting, too. Bottle-worthy for sure.

The Raconteur, the Town Gossip, and the first character to appear on the stage in the first act. He is the Minstrel of the Heavens, the Devil’s Messenger, spinning morality tales, singing songs of loss, laughter, and triumph, and murmuring prophecies to all. Beeswax, leather, hearth wood, and campfire smoke. The Storyteller is amazing. The beeswax gives the scent a sweetness, but the leather, wood and especially the campfire smoke make it so SEXY. I haven't huffed my wrist like this for a scent since I can't remember. It's unique but not bizarre, and that's a fine line for someone like me, who is not a huge scent groundbreaker. This is bottle-essential. Nice wear length, decent throw.

My first perfume love was Love's Musky Jasmine. I was mad for it. It is such a strong scent memory for me I've tried to get a dupe a few times, to no avail. Leave it to Beth to give me my dream--with a BPAL twist. The Night Priestess is the Musky Jasmine of sainted memory, but with that occasional Clove spice note to remind me that even the sweetest scent memory contains a sharp note. I have an imp in a bottle, but I think I need a full bottle. Throw is only average, but it hangs in for 9 hours or so.

This reminds me most of BPAL's Hope, that sweet blast of vanilla rose. I can also smell Crucible of Courage, but I like it better. This has some serious, serious throw and lasts and lasts. I may need to buy a bottle of this. Not all roses work on me but this one definitely does. The Benzoin stabilizes the potent rose of the Initiatrix, serves as a guide, so the power is more hand-in-glove than overt.

The drop of Ceylon Cinnamon has the heart of a lion. It dominates the sweetened myrrh, but the honey and myrrh provide a warm bedding. This does not evoke scroll-ishness for me. More like a holy manger and a very generous wise man. ETA: The dry down of this (3 hours later) is nummy. I found myself rubbing my nose in my wrist without realizing it. The honey has emerged and it's like a subtle Bengal (the scent). A nummy, cuddly Bengal lion cub.

Wet: I can smell all three of the stated notes. The most enticing dance. I want to live in this stage. Dry: Carnation thrusts his flower face to the front of the pack and never steps aside. I love carnation but not as much as that aforementioned holy trinity. Occasionally the sweetened milk enriches the carnation, but mostly it stays in the corner. Throw is sensational--I got unexpected whiffs on the regular. It lasted quite a long time (9 hours or so). I am going to try this a few more times before deciding whether or not I need a bottle. If it stayed in its initial wet stage, I'd buy them all.

Black rose, dried apricot, and black fig. I bought both the perfume and the hair gloss, because I love Black Rose best of all the roses. And apricot! And fig! That will be sweet and powerful and spicy, I thought. I was wrong; it went really bitter on me. It had moments of greatness at the beginning but there was a good hour of unpleasantness before it went back to a simple and lovely Black Rose. I can not tell you how much of a fail this was for me, because I was so sure it would be divine. And BPAL has too many perfect from the get-go scents on me for me to suffer through an hour of nasty. I am looking forward to reading other reviews, because my skin can be really funky.

Cacao-dusted red rose petals. Wet: OH, SO CACAO! The combination is interesting, because you can also smell the rose petals underneath, which are pink-soft and sweet, like Faith (or was it Hope?). Drydown: There's a too-short period where the two combine together in the most interesting way. I would love to stay in this unique and pretty place, but . . . After an hour: It's just soft rose with an occasional whiff of cacao if you breathe deeply enough. It's pretty enough and I may keep my imp, but I'm undecided. Strong throw, longevity.

Coffee and junk food room service: a fluffy coffee scent, all pillowy vanilla, caramel, and roasted beans. My first first review. The Worst Pillow is the Yummiest Coffee Scent ever. It's sweet and vanilla-ish and not-very-dark coffee. Yet there is a hint of the aforementioned roasted beans that are "keepin' it real." I can not stop inhaling my wrist.

On me, this is Honey SN. No pepper, not of any kind. It's a lovely honey and it lasted--very lightly--all day. Almost zero throw. I have to stick my nose in my wrist if I want to visit. I like the idea of putting this on when I want the "fool's tranquillity" to face the day. A que sera sera state of mind that allows you to keep moving lightly.

The Fortunes of Children A hymn to the safety and freedom of children that they may prosper in health and wild joy: sweet vanilla tousled with orange blossom, blood orange peel, and a squirt of strawberry juice. As much as I love Fortuna Huiusce Diei, that is how much I dislike Fortuna Liberum until about eight hours into the scent process. On the plus side, it lasts for hours and hours and hours. Sillage is more powerful than average, especially in the first hour or two. On the down side, on my skin it's Sour Aspergum for the first few hours, then it turns into Sour Milk. And because it has such strong throw, it made me kinda sick. However, I was also feeling kinda listless so I didn't wash it off. I went to sleep and when I got up four hours later, the scent had mellowed into a more gentle, not particularly luscious orange creamsicle. Very tolerable. It was still going strong, throw-wise. And 15 hours later, I can still smell it. It's not that faint, either.

There's a perfume brand that does a lot of sugared scents. This reminds me greatly of their Sugared Rose. I also don't smell vanilla or cotton candy. I like it, but an imp will do me just fine.

Peach blossom is definitely less sweet and fruity than peach, which makes this scent more sophisticated and significantly less foody than you might expect. On me, it definitely morphs into something almost bitter at times and then comes back to center. The musk does make it perfumey or hair spray-esque, but not for long. It's just definitely a morpher, because when the musk and amber come out, the perfume isn't sweet enough for my taste. But after a few hours, it settles into loveliness. Not sure if this is going to be a keeper for me.

I did not get any lemon! When I first put this on, I got huge clouds of creamy honey/honeycomb wafting from my wrist. The Snake Oil puffs itself up slowly, but soon swallows the majority of the heavenly honey. I get tiny gasps of it but am reminded that I am not a Snake Oil girl as a rule. It has strong sillage and I can still smell it faintly 12 hours or so later. In this batch of Lupers, I find I am falling in love at the beginning of some scents only to fall out of love a too-quick hour or so later. How apropos.

This starts as a very different, surprisingly bitter and sophisticated scent. Mostly I get caramelized sandalwood with the cassis appearing early and disappearing fairly quickly. I think the tonka is what sweetens the sandalwood. It has little throw and not much longevity (and I slathered). It's not me.

Bourbon vanilla, preserved apricot, and cardamom. Not sure why I never reviewed Aristocratic Couple but I rediscovered it today. It's so lovely. Not too fruity, despite the apricot, which is the primary note. It's just rich and feminine and opulent and gorgeous. It's not as much of a skin scent for me, but if it were, I'd be willing to slather to get many, many huffs. Lurve.

The Luck of the Day A hymn to seizing good fortune in the moment: orange blossom and wild bergamot sweetened with apricot. As much as I dislike Fortuna Liberum, that's how much I LOVE Fortuna Huiusce Diei. Though don't ask me to spell it. In the bottle, the orange blossom (one of my favorite notes in the history of notes) is predominant. On my skin, it remains dominant. The bergamot is the Mary Wilson of base notes, visible, complementing and supportive without taking center stage. Much as I love apricot, it does not initially present. On dry down, the apricot is still backstage. The scent is gently refreshing, a harbinger of a most desirable spring. I love it and plan to wear it in winter to remind me that another, less tumultuous and challenging season, beckons. I'll also wear it in the Spring. Summer and fall, too. It's lovely.

Smooth wood, sweet pipe smoke, tonka, and Irish coffee. I suspect many people (including myself) bought this one hoping for a close variation of Pinched with Four Aces. Since tonka replaces cinnamon in the scent, I was even more excited--I LOVE tonka! In the bottle, the Irish coffee dominates, which is just how I like it. But within seconds of application, the pipe smoke takes over...and it doesn't seem all that sweet to me. After a few hours, the coffee returns and the scent is perfectly lovely. Wear length and throw are both average. All in all, this is not the Return of Pinched for which I was so devoutly praying. I suppose you could say this is closer to a straight than a royal flush. It's definitely not two of a kind.

This actually reminds me of the exquisite Eggnog Latte. Except insanely better. This lasts FOREVER and has throw to spare. This may be the best scent ever, Okay, that's crazy talk. But if you like rich, creamy, hardly-boozy-at-all Irish Coffee on the rocks...you will love this. It's like a sweet, thick surrealistic cloud that stays with you for hours and hours.

Passing the time tossing tarot while mom and dad make dinner. Tomato leaf and frankincense. This is almost all frankincense, with a wee hint of tomato leaf as a sweetener. And tomato leaf isn't all that sweet. Not being a huge frankincense girl, but a Tarotgirl, I only bought this for its name. Silly of me.

Wet: This is chocolate and brimstone Dry: Less chocolate, but still chocolate-y...but the bonfire becomes a kind of Lamia-like cinnamon-y thing...but coppery, too. I only have an imp of this and considered whether I might need a bottle. But I don't like the coppery thing as much as the choco-cinnamon.

This would be like the sugared violet candy my Uncle Morris used to give me except for the blackcurrant bass line that gives it a little fatback. It's very sweet, very very jeune fille. It may be too much so for an old lady like me, but I do dig that blackcurrant. ETA: Lasts for hours and hours. I can still smell traces from early last evening's application.

Oh, this is better than my imaginings. It's foody without being too foody and perfume-y without being too perfume-y. In the bottle it smells like...imagine this!...peach pie. Just baked. But the peach isn't too sweet or cloying. On, it's slightly less edible and more like peach flower. But the flower is really peachy. You can't smell buttery piecrust or anything. Considerable throw. I've had it on for four hours and it's fading a bit, and, as it fades, it becomes less lush; the scent isn't just lighter but slightly coppery. But the first two hours are divine.

I love love love this. Mouse's Long Sad Tale revisited is the best way I can describe it. No amber to ground it, though; it's just a sweet, beautiful, ultra-feminine and somewhat traditional scent. You can wear this one anywhere, especially if you are playing the role of sweetheart with a secret smile. Average sillage, but not much throw. I end up sniffing my wrist on a regular basis. It makes me feel like a young girl again.