alicia_stardust

This is mostly benzoin and red musk on me. Those two notes share dominance so this doesn't become a straight-up red musk blend, nor does it become a resin blend. They play off of each other well. The spices are really noticeable and the honey adds a touchy of sultry. This is an amazingly hypnotic blend of feminine sensuality. I fell in love with this immediately.

The Dormouse is mostly peony on me. The peony is bright and sweet. It smells pink. The teas, however, sort of mellow that out and envelop the peony. At that point this becomes a calm, meek scent that isn't necessarily noticeable from far away, but when you lean in close there is a nice, sweet surprise waiting for you.

Kumiho is a beautiful, clean scent. It has a nice simplicity: white tea and ginger. I find it to be clean, comforting, and calming.

Baobhan Sith is, pure and simple, a beautiful citrus-grapefruit blend. It keeps the best part of the grapefruit fragrance yet the citrus tempers any bitterness that sometimes follows. The tea acts as a bridge between the different notes and gives this a smoothness. The ginger isn't dominant, but it's there. It adds just a touch of zing without it being spicy. It's uplifting, bright, fresh, clean, smooth. This is the perfect energizing scent and it's a must for the summer months.

Bordello is mostly sweet plum on me. I get very little of the amaretto, but there is definitely a richness and warmth to this. It's not all purple and juicy fruit. I really like this, but I think it's a little bit too cloying and sweet for my skin chemistry. You should definitely try this if you are a fan of wine, berries, plum, or currants.

Sed Non Satiata starts out as red patchouli with a sweet honey-cognac twist to it. There is a honey-like skin musk quality to this that adds a sensual, breathy quality. I almost feel naughty when I wear this but it is so lovely! The tuberose comes across as light and dusky with a powdery finish, but it stays in the background and lets the honey-patchouli-cognac work its magic. I'm always keeping some of this on hand!

Skin musk smells very sexual and honey-like to me. It wears close to my skin and has a nice, sultry sweetness to it. Beyond that, the myrrh adds a dark but feminine resin background and the ylang ylang sort of brightens and accentuates the skin musk so again, it goes back full-circle to that honey-sweetness.

Perversion? *lick* What can I say beyond that? It's a lovely gender-neutral blend of decadence and debauch. I love the way the rich tonka mingles with the leather and there's just the right amount of chardonnay in there. My skin chemistry doesn't really change or morph the fragrance and it has a very strong throw and long wear-length.

Bathsheba is a nice, spicy carnation blend with a jolt of purple-red plum. It has a nice warmth and an exotic little twist of spices that weave through it. I'd classify this as a sensual, feminine blend. It's lovely.

Nefertiti was one of my very first BPAL loves. She is glowing and golden, regal, commanding. The two sandalwoods mingle well together. There's something about the herbs and the way they mix with the woods that really gives this a glowing quality. When I wear this it's as if there's a golden aura around me. Nefertiti is beautiful and commanding. It smells so different on my skin than it does in the bottle. Every single time I wear this my husband asks what I'm wearing because he likes it so much.

Nocturne is a vivid and sweet violet scent. It smells natural and dark, as if the blooms of this violet are deep purple rather than pale, powdery or dusty. The one thing that stood out the most to me, though, is that this smells so similar to LUSH's Bathos bubble bar!

This comes across as bold and red, yet the musk is softly blended. There is a strong vein of bright, berry-like redness that pairs well with the blood musk. The tonka enriches this and the other notes... the mix of florals and resins... all seem to add a nice complex, yet muted background to the dominant notes. Overall this is red and musky, sultry, complex, feminine.

Dana O' Shee is a beautiful, magical fae fragrance. It is the right amount of sweet and creamy and it has just enough of a soft almond and grain background to it to prevent the milk and honey from becoming too cloying. I really cannot express how simple and beautiful this fragrance is.

Hymn to Prosperpine is mostly amber with a dark red bite. This is a darker expression of the myth than I usually see and for that alone, I love this. The amber seems really dark and biting and not so much powdery as some amber blends go. The red fruits really enrich this and it brings to mind images of pomegranate seeds in the shadowy realm of the Underworld.

This is dark yet sultry, in a decadent way. The fig and cocoa combination is divine, yet it doesn't run off as a foody scent because the dry, dark woods envelop it. I can't quite express what it is that is so neat about this combination, but I know I fell in love with it instantly.

The pitch pine is noticeable first, but it doesn't dominate. What I can really smell is the blackberry leaf and especially the tomato leaf. This is exactly the fragrance of a fuzzy green tomato leaf and vine. My hands have smelled like that many times after visiting the tomato garden. Beyond that, the cedar adds a nice dry woodsy quality and the cranberry tempers the strength of the tomato leaf as time wears on. This is such an amazingly unique and evocative blend that I have to keep it just for the experience.

This is a pretty straight-forward scent: there is white, bubbly, effervescent champagne and a pink-hued sweet strawberry. This is very decadent without being too "rich" and I find it feminine and innocent.

Blood Kiss starts out as a honey-cherry scent, which lures me in before I realize that there is a bit of clove and the dark, sinister vetiver finish. I find this simultaneously alluring and dangerous. It's such a complex, intoxicating scent.

This smells like white sandalwood and muted fruits, with a haze that seems to fall over everything and distance it from myself. It's truly still, silent, unmoving, peaceful. There is a dryness to this, and the tea/mint is a nice quality to smooth over all the intricacies of the other notes. I know this review is a little abstract but the scent is beautiful. It truly achieves its concept and evokes the feeling of the painting wonderfully.

... Dry white sandalwood and soft Siamese benzoin over a lugubrious blend of myrrh, Moroccan rose, mastic, tomb moss and a thin whiff of Greek incense. The top note of this is the white, almost-sweet sandalwood but beneath that it is all complex incense resins. It's amazing that there are so many ways to blend the same rotation of resins into such amazingly different scents. This one is solemn, dry, aged. It's a dream for anyone that loves incense blends.

This is red wine and myrrh, the dark and biting kind of myrrh. There are rose petals for a period, then the scent fades into the darkness of black musk. A lovely, beautiful scent rendition of Lilith.

Persephone has a strong, apple-like, young rose fragrance to it. It's as if Rose Red had some of the greenery stripped away and then some juicy pomegranate seeds were added. There is almost a bitterness to the way that the rose and pomegranate mingle, yet in some ways I find it fitting to the myth and story of Persphone. This is worth checking out if you like rose, pomegranate, or have an affinity with Persephone.

Mania has an overlying sharpness from the white musk, but the red musk deepens, darkens, and sensualizes this scent. It is smooth and red, but then the grapefruit kind of adds a jolt to things. As the scent dries down I smell the strawberry leaf, which to me is very different from strawberries. It has a sort of sweet, leafy garden scent from the strawberry patch. I love the way the notes in this blend sort of clash into each other and yet, ultimately, create a lovely scent. I'm keeping this one!

I know this has buttercup and jasmine in it with what seems to be a soft skin musk. They are sweet and light and extremely spring-like. The thing, though, is that something about the way those notes meld together make me think of Easter lilies, pure and simple. I love that fragrance.

Megaera is mostly grapefruit, but the grapefruit is not sharp or bitter. It is emboldened by the bergamot and the plum adds a darkness and depth to it. The orris is a little sharp and the amber provides a nice, wide resin base. Again, the grapefruit gives this a nice jolt. It's a very fitting scent for the Jealous One.