boomtownrat

This is a high-pitched light grey floral kind of scent that seems to be making me sneeze. Sadly, I don't detect much if any of the woody aspects that made me try the scent. It's a good thing I only bought a decant, and I don't think it agrees with me enough to keep even that.

The lab generously included Belle Époque as a frimp with my most recent order. When I smell this, I picture a lady with golden hair elaborately pinned, curled, and braided into a fanciful 18th Century hairstyle. She's twirling slowly on the dance floor in her hugely bustled dress made of rose-gold silk. But I'm the kind of woman who wears mostly black clothing and Dr. Martens, so unless I need a scent for a special occasion, I don't see myself getting much wear out of Belle Époque, as beautiful as it is. This scent throws out mostly mandarin and lily when it's wet. The other notes are harder to find, but I detect a bit of opium and vanilla shyly hiding in the background. Red sandalwood, where are you? Even though I fumbled and accidentally ended up putting on more than I meant to, it has light throw once it's dry. After half an hour I have to put my wrist up to my nose in order to smell it.

This is the 2012 version. It's purely a smoke scent while wet on my skin, but as it dries, out come the red musk and a hint of incense. I've worn it on two different days and haven't noticed anything that makes me think of books. As much as I like it, I think the decant will be enough for me.

I wore Snake Oil on my wedding anniversary because it's my husband's favourite BPAL oil.

This is fluffy, creamy, sweet goodness with an unexpected lemony twist. The vanilla is light, secondary to the cream. It lasts about three hours and has decent throw. I'm thinking I need a bottle.

In the decant and wet on my skin, the woodsmoke is the only thing I smell. Soon the flames recede into embers, making way for the other notes. Maybe it's PMS screwing with me, but for a while this smells like a pineapple upside down cake baking in a wood-burning oven. That's actually a pretty good smell, but the smoke does keep reappearing as the dominant note. Finally it settles into exactly the kind of smoky treacle scent I imagined from reading the notes, with just a trace of beer. This could be perfect for certain moods in colder weather, but I won't need more than the decant.

I like adding a shot of vanilla to a pumpkin latte and I love all these notes, so I've been really keen to try Pumpkin V. Since it's fresh from the mailbox, it may well change a bit as it settles, but I just couldn't wait. The scent is kind of like a pumpkin buttercream in the bottle, but on my skin the pumpkin surprisingly is stronger than all that vanilla. This is the same creamy pumpkin note as what's in the three other BPAL pumpkin blends I've smelled. On me it has a light to medium throw. I like this; it's not like anything else I own. Even though I'd like it if the vanilla were just a bit stronger, I think that could become the case as it settles from shipment and as it ages.

On my skin, The Bloody Banister is a dark scent that mostly smells like dark woods and heavy velvet drapes in an old house. This needs a light touch when applying, at least for me. I put on less of this than I do with most oils when I was getting ready this morning, but I was still too generous. Maybe it's just that I should have kept it away from my throat. Even five hours later, after two attempts to wash some of it off as best I can at work, it's a heavier scent than my migraine brain can handle. I hope it will mellow with a bit of aging, because I normally love wood scents. ETA: After it's been on my skin more than nine hours, this is soft and gorgeous. It's been about 12 hours and I can still smell it. As long as I only wear this sparingly and below the neck, I think I'll love it. The decant will be enough for me.

This is the 2012 version. Fresh from the mailbox and tested on the back of my hand, this is a purple floral when wet. As it dries I start to smell soft grapes and maybe a touch of incense. By the time it's dry, it reminds me of how I remember Poison smelled back in high school - the perfume, not the band or the Bell Biv Devoe song. It's festive and I might consider buying a bottle, which I didn't expect. First I'll have to give it another test after it's settled from shipping when I'm not also testing other decants.

Thank you, sunshinedaisybliss! I have an imp of Morocco and I've got a decant of this year's Boo on the way.

Ooo, I've been meaning to get some Detestable Putrescence for a while now. Thanks!

Hey everybody, I did search for this topic and didn't find what I was looking for. I hope I didn't just miss it somehow. Bath & Body Works sold a lotion I loved for Halloween last year called Sinful Vanilla that I can't find this year. What I really want is a BPAL oil that smells like it, or close. Sinful Vanilla's listed notes are vanilla bean, whipped marshmallow, and vanilla cream, but I think I also smell a spicy musk in there. It reminds me of Calvin Klein's Obsession, which was my favourite mainstream perfume back when I could still wear it. Snake Oil is kind of close, but not quite. I'd like it if I could find a BPAL oil with a similar smell, and if it has the same good throw and long wear too, that would be excellent.

I got Wings of Azrael as a generous frimp from the Lab. On me, it's a slightly spicy floral with medium throw. Unfortunately, this scent proved that violet is a note of doom for me. Violet has given me some form of headache, from ice pick to full-blown migraine, in three different scents, but it took two for me to suspect the culprit and this one for me to confirm it. This time I was prepared for the possibility and I think I've washed it off well enough in time. If not for my violet sensitivity, I'd probably keep the imp and wear it occasionally. Florals aren't really my thing most of the time, but sometimes I'm in a floral mood and this would have fit the bill.

The Lab generously included an imp of Catherine in my last order and I'm testing it today. Hello, Rosemary! I didn't read the notes right before testing, so all I knew was that it smelled green and spiky for the first couple of minutes on my skin. Rose took several minutes to show up, and even then it played second fiddle for at least half an hour. The rosemary and rose combined in an almost foodie way for a while until settling down into a soapy blend. The orange blossom is as faint as if it's coming from another room. This smells okay and doesn't offend my sensitive nose or give me any head pains the way some florals do. Catherine is strange in that rose and orange blossom are usually loud and dominant on my skin. It seems they're no match for rosemary, which I had never worn in a fragrance before this. I don't see myself wanting to wear this unless I'm in a certain mood when I'm going to the renaissance festival, but I'll probably keep the imp and see how it ages.

Rakshasa smelled almost identical to my imp of Baghdad when I first applied it, which is a scent I can only dab on in a tiny amount on a good day. I thought I'd need to wash it off. Fortunately the throw died down a fair amount as it dried and the sandalwood started to tone down the overpowering spicy rose scent. After about 15 minutes, Rakshasa smelled like an antique wooden chest that had once held a rose sachet. This would be a lovely scent for days that are not too hot, probably when I'm at home or not in close quarters with people. I can see it being a headache inducer, although it didn't give me one. It's probably enough for me to keep the imp.

2012 version: The musk and myrrh are the major notes in the bottle and wet on my skin, but as it dries I start to get more of the chili, nutmeg, and smoky vanilla. Benzoin and patchouli are the beautiful undertones. This stays pretty close to the skin and it lasted about four hours before I felt a need to dot on a little more.

Wow, where am I? What world is it where there's something that smells as good on me as Snake Oil -- maybe better? This does remind me a lot of SO, but I still need more bottles of this because I will be wearing it a lot! I knew chances were good I'd love it just from reading the notes, and I was already preparing myself for buying at least one backup. Now I don't think that just one more bottle will be enough. Red musk, cedar, patchouli, and honey together all strike the perfect chord on me. I'm not familiar with ho wood or hemlock accord, so I don't know if they're showing up on me all that strongly. I guess this must be the same patchouli that's in Snake Oil, but whatever patchouli it is, I now want to try everything it's in. I'll edit this later when I've worn it again for a full day, which will most likely be tomorrow. ETA: I did wear it all day. Its sillage isn't as strong as it was last night, but that could be a good thing on some days. I can't say how long it lasted because after a couple of hours I put more on to get a little more throw. Last night it reminded me of Snake Oil but today it's somewhere between that and Blossoms in Springtime. (It also reminds me of a deliciously scented homemade soap I once had that smelled nothing like soap, but was a warm, spicy-musky scent.) There is an occasional faint waft of a floral scent, which I guess is the champaca. Anyway, I still love it and will buy at least one backup bottle, probably more to be safe.

This was an imp on a card that was in the bag of Dragon*Con goodies that a friend picked up for me. Disclaimer: I'm in migraine hangover land right now, and although the pain and scent aversion parts are over, my sense of smell might be slightly wonky still. In the imp it's metallic and resinous, but I can't pick out individual notes. Wet on my skin it's loud, with a sort of bronze overtone that slices through the faint hint of musk and resin. After a few minutes it reminds me of Calvin Klein's Obsession, which I love but no longer wear due to fragrance sensitivities. (If it were to stay that way, it would be a multiple bottle purchase for sure.) Minutes later it goes through a weird phase that makes me think of dryer sheets or maybe clean laundry. By the time it's dry, I smell like a clean, sexy androgyne who might have a dab of musk on the wrists. This becomes a skin scent that I think I might want to buy, but I want to test it again before I decide.

Today I got my order, which couldn't be delivered on Saturday because I had it sent to work. After waiting two extra days, I was too impatient to let it settle from the cross-country trip. I'm not sure that mattered, based on how it smells now. In the bottle it's loud butterscotch with a patchouli undertone and a hint of anise and dirt. Wet on my skin that's still pretty much the case, although the butterscotch soon starts quieting down. By the time it's dry, BB&BB is a smooth, faintly sweet, dark patchouli that smells great even fresh from the mail truck and during Shark Week, no less. This never turned into the B.O. funk that I get from #occupywallstreet about an hour after putting it on if I apply more than just a little on my inner wrists. Nearly eight hours later it was still going strong by the time I took a shower. For most BPAL scents I dab a bit on my inner and outer wrists, at the base of my throat, and behind my ears. This time I started with one wrist and, because I loved it so much, later added some on all the usual spots other than behind the ears, but I could get away with less. This smells so delicious that I may come to regret buying only one bottle, especially if it ages as well as I suspect it might.

Thanks, Morrig!

OK, I stupidly ordered Butterscotch Balls and Blackbeetles and a bottle of Haunted through CCnow because I was too lazy to go through the more time-consuming process of figuring up my order cost for Paypal. Now I don't have a CnS, people who ordered after I did have gotten a CnS, and Blackbeetles is listed as being sold out. Should I be worried?

While LSSB is wet on my skin the lemon sings loudest, and it has good throw in the early stages, but it doesn't take long to melt back into a lemon-cookie skin scent. Lemon and sugar are two of my favourite scents, so this is a lovely thing. My only complaint is that I have to reapply about every two to three hours because it vanishes. If LSSB lasted on me like it does on some other reviewers it might be in my top two or three, but it's still in my top ten.

I got this 2005 bottle of Pumpkin Patch IV from a friend, who let me pick out two BPALs from her huge swap/sale stash as a birthday present. The buttery pumpkin smell is strong in the bottle and while it's drying down, but a sandalwood warmth blooms over time and blends gorgeously with the pumpkin. I only have one other scent with orris in it and I'm still not totally sure what it smells like -- this one is so well blended that I can't really pick it out and the other, Smoky Moon 2012, has too many notes for my relatively inexperienced nose to find the orris -- but I've read that it's like iris. Right now I can't remember what that smells like because I apparently just haven't smelled that many irises. It seems to be one of those notes that can easily become too overwhelming for me to wear, because I've been trying to narrow down what it is about Smoky Moon 2012 that does the same thing. As much as I've loved wearing this on two other occasions, when I reapplied it a little bit ago it started to give me head pains and a slightly sick feeling, so I think it's one that I won't be able to reapply when it wears off. As long as I don't do that, it seems to play nicely with my fragrance sensitivities. Speaking of reapplying, this does have good lasting power. I had been wearing it for about six hours and it was nearly completely faded when I decided to put on just a little more. It's got decent throw. This is incredibly smooth, warm, and comforting (at least when I put it on the first time -- it was going so well until I did that). I think it's going to be perfect in cooler weather. I don't think I'd be able to wear it out in the heat of summer, but I'm staying indoors on this hot day when I'm reviewing it.

This is a sweet, comforting skin musk on me. Without much throw and a lasting power of only about two and a half hours, it's perfect for times when I want something that won't overpower anyone. I can pick out the amber, musk, and woods in that order, but I'm not sure what doeskin or plains grasses smell like so there's probably a bit of that in there that I'm just not detecting. It's beautiful.

Dragon's Milk: in a battle between three notes that my skin has been known to amp, which note shall be the victor? Let's introduce the known competitors. Honey: One of the best smells my skin has ever known, it's never cloying when I wear it. Even during Shark Week, it smells delicious. Vanilla: Prior to my acquaintance with The Lab, Vanilla was already one of my skin's favourite scents. I love it with musks, resins, florals, fruit, wood... anything. Dragon's Blood Resin: A newer contender, this is a scent that my skin is still just getting to know. It smells almost like a deep pink floral on me. The winner every time I've worn Dragon's Milk has been DBR. (That goes for anything containing DBR that I've worn so far.) This stuff must be powerful indeed, to so easily overpower both honey and vanilla. Occasionally the honeyed vanilla is a little stronger in the mix and it's closer to what I want, but there doesn't seem to be a pattern. A few hours later, the DBR fades and vanilla is most prominent. When I tested a friend's Dragon's Milk imp of unknown vintage back in May, it smelled so good I thought it might actually knock Snake Oil from the top of my list. That Dragon's Milk made me swoon! I won an eBay auction for a bottle of Dragon's Milk (also unknown vintage) about a week later. My bottle smells much more DBR-heavy than that imp so maybe it's newer or there was some kind of batch variation. It's not that Dragon's Milk doesn't smell good, but it's not what I had hoped it would be. My friend's imp is probably at least two years old because she has been on a BPAL-buying hiatus, so I'm hoping this bottle will age into something closer to what she let me test. Having said all that, Dragon's Milk is lovely and I wear it often. I think it will layer well with Blossoms in Springtime -- that might actually be pretty close to what the sample of my friend's imp smelled like on me. ETA on 4/28/13: The Lab recently included a frimp of this with an order and it smells closer to what I remember from testing my friend's imp. I'm now inclined to think it was a batch variation, because my friend's imp was aged, my bottle is who knows how old, and the imp is now only about a month old. The vanilla and honey are still not as strong as the DBR, but at least now it's not The DBR Show.