edenssixthday

The Girl - How is it possible that Beth is making so many floral blends lately that are to die for? I haven't been digging on florals in a couple of years, but suddenly, all these new ones are just amazing! This is no exception. In the bottle, it didn't smell like much to me and I didn't think I'd like it, but as soon as it hit my skin -- wow. It's sooo pretty! It's got a very ethereal feel about it, even though it's not subtle. The star jasmine and the musk are the most prominent notes, yet the jasmine doesn't overpower the scent at all. Behind the jasmien and muask are the white amber and what I'm guessing is the immortelle and davana (not familiar with either note). These notes all blend together to make the most lovely, feminine, bewitching fragrance. It's highly floral and feminine, yet it doesn't send me screaming for the hills. I'm in love!

Summer's Last Will and Testament - The thought of the marigold in this scent scared me, and of course it turns out that on me the marigold is the most strongly identifiable note; however, although the marigold is just as bitter and pungent as I anticipated, it blends so gorgeously well with the amber, blood orange and sunflower that the overall scent of this blend is quite beautiful, unique, and intriguing. I am sad to not be able to smell the geranium at all since that's one of my all-time favorite notes. The myrrh deepends and darkens the brightness of the sunny citrus notes. There's a hint of dryness in the background that makes the scent feel a little...somber. It's absolutely gorgeous and just perfect for this time of year when we're seeing the last bit of summer as it fades into autumn. After drydown, it has a fairly light level of throw, and I am sad that the scent completely fades after a couple of hours. Still, it's worth reapplying. It's really lovely.

Perle von Mauren - This is a really, really weird scent, yet it totally works. I don't tend to like dirt notes, but blended with the right notes (here's looking at you, Shattered Pumpkin!), it can work. Same with the "blood" note. Here's another scent where both of these notes blend gorgeously with the dominant sweet scent of heliotrope and really work gorgeously well. It's a heavy scent, but sweet and earthy. It has an odd scent about it that I can't really describe, but it works really, really well, and I keep coming back to it because I'm so intrigued by it. It's a really strong scent with tons of throw.

The Hell-Gate of Ireland - Another huge surprise hit for me from the Halloween update. I had no notion at all that I would like this scent. I mean, brimstone? black musk? metal? It sounded atrocious. But when I sniffed it in the bottle as I was decanting for my group, it actually smelled kind of good. So I tried some....and I fell in love. It does not have that heavy, sulfuric smoke scent that most brimstone blends have, and the black musk didn't screw up the whole scent as it always does on me. And I smell no metal at all in this. The close isn't so heavy that it takes over, either. I'm not sure what to think of this -- if I didn't know what's in it and had to guess, I'd have guessed heavy mosses...but I'd have been totally wrong. I can't really make sense of why or how this works on me, but it does. It's dark and thick and heavy and absolutely gorgeous. It's going to age well, too, I'm certain of it.

Tattie Bogle - This gives me the feeling of sitting in a hay field all by myself, feeling kind of lost and sad. Another reviewer used the term "desolate", which is a perfect description for the feel of this scent. It's the scent of dry, brittle hay. I detect a hint of the "autumn herbs". I don't really smell the woods, and the patchouli is very, very light, but definitely what gives this scent depth and earthiness. It's not a fragrance I'd wear on it's own, but it's interesting enough that I definitely want to try layering it with some of the Pumpkin Patch scents.

Boo - I love love love love love love LOVE this scent. Until I put it on my skin. Before it touches my skin, it's all cotton-candy, sweet-cream sweet, and it's such a pretty, sugar-sweet girly scent. As soon as it touches my skin, the cotton candy turns to sugary plastic and the cream note turns sour and starts to smell like the milk in the original Milk Moon. I keep catching wafts of sugar-sweet sour milk, and when I sniff my arm up close, I smell sugary-plastic. Soooo sad! BUT! I have a solution: my oil burner. I've been using it a lot over the past couple of weeks, and I'm going to definitely put it to use with this oil to make my entire house smell wonderful. It's also definitely a scent-locket scent. This is one scent that's so lovely that even though my skin kills it, it's worth figuring out other ways to keep it in my life. Boo 2010 - This smells the exact same as the last Boo, but my skin chemistry must have changed because it no longer turns plasticky on me. It's just sugar-sweet cotton candy and slightly sour milk, which is actually a note I love.

Pumpkin V (2009) - The mention of hazelnut and chocolate scared me away from this blend, but I had to smell it while I was decanting some for a group I did. I am SO GLAD I did! I took one sniff and just about fell over from the awesomely awesomeness of this scent and immediately had to try some on. It's really incredible. I agree with everyone who says it smells like a Pumpkin Spice Latte (I wait all year for Starbucks to bring them out again this time of year!). I don't see cinnamon listed in the note list (which surprises me with the number of people who have skin reactions to cinnamon), but this is definitely a pumpkin, coffee, and cinnamon scent. The vanilla bean is subtle and a background note (kind of like the whipped cream after it's melted into a pumpkin spice latte). This is really an amazing scent. I have never hung on to a single Pumpkin Patch scent before, but this is one I'll be ordering a full bottle of. Maybe two. In fact, I think I need to go put some on right now. *runs off and puts on some PPV on my arms* Ahhhh.... all better now.

Pomona - This one made me a little nervous because apple blossom goes soapy on me and I don't usually like the smell of apple-fruit scents, and pomegranate can be "iffy". But there is mulberry in it and I've been DYING for a mulberry scent, and also, I just adore blackberry, so I had to try it. I'm so glad I did and that I got a bottle of it. It's really lovely and absolutely perfect for this time of year! The scent opens up with what almost smells like a mixed-fruit juice -- so many flavors all swirled together to create a really lovely, dark juice. There's something very green weaving itself around the juice, and my guess is that's the azarole. I don't smell the nuts at all. I really love how green and darkly fruity this scent is. I think I'm going to be using it in my oil burner a lot this fall to make my whole home smell like an Autumn orchard.

Mircalla, Countess Karnstein - When I saw the ingredient list for the first time, I really wondered if Beth had been stalking my reviews so that she could make a scent designed just for me. This one sounded like it was created exactly with me in mind! I couldn't WAIT to try it. When I apply it, the first obvious note -- very, very obvious -- is red musk. I think there must be a couple types of red musk because it's not my favorite red musk of Hollywood Babylon and Mania. Rather, it's the super sweet red musk round in Smut. Still, beneath that, it's full of dark and husky frankincense and patchouli, the warm loveliness of vanilla and tonka, the slightest bit of spice from the clove, and a hint of sweet florals from the orchid. It's really lovely, and if my experience with Smut is any indication, the red musk in this will become a bit tamer in a month or two, and I'll probably be swooning over this scent then. It's going to undoubtedly age really gorgeously. Now I can't wait to wear two-year-old Marcilla! It has a really strong level of throw and the staying power seems about average on me.

Soft, deep, and luminous: Lady of the Night orchid, benzoin, opopponax, currant, black chypre, white gardenia, ambergris, damp, wooded mosses, and black lily. Black Butterfly Moon - With evil notes like currant, gardenia, and black lily in this, I didn't have much hope for it at all...yet I still *hoped* it would work because I love the label art and I love the concept. Sadly, those notes are the ones that dominate this blend -- on my skin, at least. On me, it's predominantly a sour gardenia scent, along with the the sweet florals of orchid (the only good part!), the cat-pee scent of black currant, and the general unpleasantness of black lily on me. It's not so awful that I had to scrub it off right away, but it's unpleasant enough on me that I won't be testing it out again. Darn you, lily, currant, and gardenia. I mean it! *shakes fist*

Under the Harvest Moon - It's been a long, long time since a floral blend has blown me away with its sheer beauty. This one is doing just that. It's gorgeous! I ran a decant group on LJ and didn't even sign myself up for a decant of this since the notes looked pretty "iffy" -- I don't tend to like leafy notes, gray amber, and I really dislike carnation and lavendar, and vanilla bean often turns plasticky on my skin. Thank God I had extra leftovers from my decant group since this has turned out to be the surprise hit out of everything from the Halloween update (IMO). It's stunningly gorgeous and absolutely perfect. The blue musk is by far the strongest note, and the other notes are completely indistinguishable (with the slight exception of the rose) -- they're blended so well that I can't even pick out my old nemesis, lavender or the typically spicy carnation or the sweet vanilla bean. I'm so in love with this fragrance. The throw is lovely and the staying power is quite good. I am really, really in love with this scent. I can't even put into words how much it amazes me.

Sacrifice - What can I say.... cowboys and vampires = LOVE IT!!! I adore almost all of BPAL's "Western" themed scents, and this is no exception. When I first apply it, it smells strongly of leather and men's cologne, but almost immediately, that cologney scent dissipates. The leather is immediately recognizeable as the same leather used in Spanked, but that's where the similarities end with Spanked. Behind the leather is the copper-sweet tangy scent of blood that deepens and darkens the blend, keeping it from being merely another cowpoke fragrance. Behind that are gentle woods and and a thin layer of airborne dust. The cedar doesn't turn to pencil shavings on me as it often does, which makes me very happy. This is a gorgeous, gorgeous leather scent and may very well have replaced Dead Man's Hand and Western Diamondback as my favorite leather BPALs. It's definitely a unisex scent and will undoubtedly leave the wearer feeling a little tough and invincible. ETA: You think this is awesome by itself? Then run -- don't walk -- to your nearest bottle of Humbug and layer a touch of the vanilla-sassafras goodness with Sacrifice. It's so good your head will explode.

To A Woman - This is an odd little scent. On me, it's a rose/patchouli/petitgrain scent. It's slightly powdery, and the patchouli that's used is highly astringent -- reminds me of Fritz's Distilled Patchouli. The petitgrain gives the rose a hearty wood base. It's a really strange scent, to the point that I have no idea if I like it or not. I can't imagine wearing it again, but I'm equally fascinated by the uniqueness of the fragrance.

Berry Moon - This opens up with the scent of juicy raspberries, with their duplicity of both sweetness and tartness. Right behind the raspberry is the scent of warm musk that doesn't actually seem to blend well with the raspberry, but rather kind of awkwardly bumps it's way along against the raspberry, creating an odd juxtaposition of notes. After a while, I start to smell the blueberry, but it doesn't smell like real blueberry as much as a fake Bonnie Bell type blueberry. The honey really comes out at this point, and sadly, it's not the honey I like, but it's the one that turns to cat pee on me. After a while, it turns to waxy cat pee and dust with a bit of raspberry sweetness blended in. All that's to say, on my skin, it's a complete FAIL. However, I accidentally spilled a couple of imp's worth on a (thankfully clean) washcloth, which I then threw in the dryer with some of my clothes that night. All of my clothes came out of the dryer smelling quite lovely -- nothing like it smelled on my skin. My clothes smelled like sun-baked berries with the slightest hint of sweet musk and a drizzle of honey -- proof that the utter fail I experienced is purely due to my skin chemistry rather than the nature of this blend, which is, after all, quite lovely.

PX68 - I can't say I smell the alcohol note that schackjj gets from this blend. On me, it opens up as a soft, resinous wood scent. It would fit in quite well with the Egyptian-themed prototypes. After it dries, I do smell the orange, but it's dark and deep and blends gorgeously with the resins and woods. It's a soft, subtle scent and quite lovely.

AF5 - Violets -- like C. Howard's Violet Mints. At first it's wonderfully sweet and lovely, but then it takes on a weird plasticky smell... And then I'm certain I smell gardenia in there with it. This is a weird violet on me, and nothing like the fresh violet scents I usually love. This one is heady, heavy, and verging on cloying.

PX39 - I don't get any gardenia from this at all. On me, it's all lotus -- lots and lots of sweet, bubble-gummy-pink lotus. Mmmmmmmm! Way beneath the top lotus note is a hint of something green and slightly stemmy -- I smell that note the strongest when sniffing this blend directly in the vial. Overall, amazing throw, smells fantastic, and wear length is good.

Aphrodite v3 - this is a pretty, romantic floral. I'm having a lot of difficulty figuring out which florals -- white rose and some sort of soft lily (calla?), perhaps? It quickly turns into a soapy floral (which on my skin usually indicates the presence of sweet pea or apple blossom) and stays that way until the end. It lasts on me for about 6-7 hours, but after the first hour it sticks very close to the skin ... Which is good, because that soapiness is kind of weird.

PL176 - I don't smell the "candied" quality this scent at all, as both previous viewers noted. I smell tons and tons of bitter orange peel balanced by a bit of sweet, fresh-squeezed orange juice. The orange peel aspect of this reminds me a lot of Moxie, only I think this is better because it doesn't have the kick that Moxie has. It's a deep, dark orange scent, and really, really amazing. Lovers of Moxie will love this one.

PEX95 - This opens up as the scent of hard woods and something else... dark musk, perhaps? It strikes me immediately as being a very masculine scent. As it warms up more on my skin, it takes on a slightly aquatic scent, reminiscent of Tears -- including that weird dryer sheet smell I get from Tears, but somehow, even though it's weird, it works. Something in this blend reminds me of Tiki King and I can't help but wonder if there's a bit of the ironwood bark used in Tiki King also used in this blend. It's a really great scent that I'd love to smell on my man. It's fairly subtle and sticks close to my skin, but it lasts for hours.

PL81 - Sniffed wet in the bottle, this smells like a winter-forest scent -- cold air, evergreens, and musk. Once it's on my skin, the musk takes over the entire blend, and becomes very, very strong. It's a furry, animalistic, sweet musk. It makes me think of snuggling under a big, fur blanket while trying to stay warm. The sweet, fuzzy musk dominates the blend for a good 4-5 hours. At around the 5-hour point, the musk has faded enough that the other notes are evident again, and now I smell fir trees and crisp, cold air. Especially during the last several hours of the blend, while the musk is more subtle, this blend makes me think of Narnia, and snuggling under a fur blanket as you're pulled on a sleigh through the cold forest for hours on end. It's really lovely during the last half of the wear time, but during the first half, that heavy, animalistic musk is not pleasant to me at all. I wish I could get the second half of the scent experience without going through the heavy-musk experience of the first half of the wear time. This scent has amazing throw, and the scent wafts around me all day long. People who like Buck Moon and winter blends would potentially really enjoy this one.

Dorian v2 - My thoughts are very similar to ondine's -- this reminds me a lot of TKO, only much more subtle. It's heavy on the lavender, and has a sweet note beside it like marshmallows or ultra-sweet cream. I don't detect the hay/grass note at all -- I think the first reviewer may have been picking up on tea leaves in this scent? I actually find the sweetness of this scent to be extremely cloying to the point that it's nauseating. Fortunately (for my stomach), it's very subtle with virtually no throw. I do like the released Dorian and think I'll just stick with that one.

Albedo v5 - I think this is among the best scents of the Cobwebs 3 event. It's a sweet scent, but not a typical foody scent. It's very creamy, but not the scent of sweet cake or vanilla, just sweet cream, boosted by lemon. But it's not the typical sweet lemon -- it's a bit deeper and rougher, making me wonder if it's actually verbena instead of lemon. I didn't pick up at all on the coconut the previous reviewer noted, but you bet I'll be looking for it the next time I wear this blend. This is a lovely scent, definitely a "happy" type of scent, and it has really heavy throw and very long staying power. I'm really in love with this one. Most foody scents tend to "turn" on my skin, so I love that I get a semi-foody feeling from this without the full-blown gourmand effect that turns to musty plastic on me. This scent stays true from the beginning to the end. I'm definitely in love with it.

AF6 - Even before the peaches, the first thing I notice is the gardenia. Lots and lots of gardenia. It's actually a really lovely combination with the peach and could be the Sacred Whore of Babylon's little sister in training. Once it dries down on my skin, the peach fades a bit, and I notice a rooty note that is strongly reminiscent of the lotus root note in Budding Moon, but perhaps it's orris or some other root. The scent leans toward being a heady fruity-floral, but that rootiness grounds it and brings it back down to earth. There's definitely an aspect of this blend that reminds of some of the Asian lunar blends that Beth released in 2006. It has super strong throw when first applied, but it fades to a moderate level of throw upon dry-down. It has a below-average level of staying power on my skin.

Osiris v4 - This is an amazing scent! This was in a second batch of bottles to come out for testing at Dark Delicacies and my nose was broken from so much sniffing with the first round of blends that were there that night, so by the time I got to Osiris, I couldn't identify any notes at all. I thought it smelled nice enough to pick up a bottle. Now that I've put it on my skin, I'm kicking myself because I should have picked up at least one backup bottle. It's really incredible. It reminds me of both Glowing Vulva and Inez. My first thoughts regarding notes were amber, vanilla musk, and cardamom. After it had been on my skin for a while, I began to wonder if there are woods in the blend, too -- red woods, specifically...like maybe a touch of red sandalwood? No matter what, this is a gorgeous scent. Resinous, woody, musky, creamy-sweet, and spicy. It's going to be one of the biggest hits among the Cobwebs 3 prototypes.