edenssixthday

Gothabilly - This was the one scent I was the most jazzed about because I love Egyptian Musk, black vanilla, and black cherries. It was a lot creamier than I expected. The cherry note is not juicy and wet cherry. It definitely reminded me of the creamy cherry cordial in MB: Bloody Mary, but it's not as sweet as that because it's tempered by the musk and liqueur notes. It's not as sweet to me as maraschino cherry is, either. It's surprisingly un-boozy, sweet in a muted kind of way, and smells extremely delicious, like something I'd want to pour over Cherry Garcia ice cream (if the perfume were a food, that is). It's a really awesome scent on me, sweetly feminine, yet not girly, and it definitely has a darker edge to it. I'm holding on tight to my bottle of this. Love it!

 

Victoriana.Goth - I was scared of this one because of the lavender, but I shouldn't have been. This is a beautiful scent -- a traditional, English-garden type floral. It's not remotely old-ladyish or dated, though. It's really beautiful -- very fresh and pretty. I feel like I should be wearing organza and white gloves while wearing this fragrance. The florals are definitely the strongest notes, but they're tempered by the resins and herbs so they're not "in your face" floral. On me, the dominant notes were the rose and wisteria with the slight huskiness of frankincense and earthiness of violet leaf keeping the flower power in check. I really love this scent. It's one of the prettier florals and absolutely gorgeous for late-spring and summertime. Also, while it's not a heady floral, it's very strong, so there's no need to slather.

 

 

 

Geek.Goth - When I first sniffed this, my very first thought is that somehow, someway, the typical BPAL champagne note has been used in this. It has the exact same feel of bubbly champagne, but without the dry, boozy quality of most of the various champagne scents. It's much sweeter -- like the champagne in Bon Vivant. The lemon-lime is definitely strong, and the overall scent is very Mountain Dew-like. I really love it -- it's bright and bubbly and happy and sweet and really, really awesome. It does go a little "dusty" on my skin, as many of the super-sweet scents do, but I only notice it if I sniff up close. Also, it's very, very strong. A little goes a long way. *geeklove*

Loli.Goth - This is an awesome, girly scent. It's in the same vein as a few past LE's like Pink Phoenix and Strawberry Moon 2005 and even Peach Moon.... yet totally different and unique. It's soft and slightly creamy (maybe from the musk?) and doesn't smell like a mixed fruit salad at all. The dry floral of the iris and the wood notes definitely balances out the sweetness to keep it from being overly-sweet. I really love this scent. However, something about it goes a little stale and dusty on my skin after 30 minutes or so. It's only slightly "off", so I'll still wear it, but it'll be a much better scent-locket scent than skin scent for me.

This scent is a bright, crisp, and clean metal and cologne scent. To me, most of the cologney metal scents smell quite similar and there was nothing about this one that stands out. It lasted a good long while on my skin and the scent stayed true throughout the entire wear time. It's not my type of scent, but I imagine it could smell quite nice on my husband.

This is actually a much nicer scent than I anticipated. The gin is subtle and blends nicely with the perfume note, which is a kind of generic perfume scent, slightly cologney, yet pretty. What makes this scent interesting is the cigarette scent, which is smoky and ashy, but not in a heavy Brimstone kind of way, but more wispy and ethereal. It adds a layer of interesting complexity to the rest of the fragrance. I liked it a lot, but am not sure it's the type of scent I'd reach for often.

Phantom Time Hypothesis - Now I understand when people say a perfume went 100% to baby powder. That's exactly what this one does on my skin from beginning to end -- rosey baby powder. Really overwhelming and cloyingly sweet rosey baby powder with more baby powder in the background, and all of it standing on a solid foundation of baby powder. Baby powder, baby powder, baby powder. So sad, I had hopes for this one.

Menacing Ionospheric Research Instrument - This opens with a bright zap of super-fresh peppermint. It smells like a really delicious toothpaste. Mmmm! Yum! for toothpaste, but not so much for a perfume. The toothpaste mint dissipates super fast -- in about 3-5 minutes, leaving behind the scent of gleaming, slightly dusty, metal. I smell no sage, no violet, and no neroli. The dustiness of obviously the amber, and the rest is all metal. An hour after application, I can barely smell it on my skin even when I sniff up close and then, all I smell is metal. It's a fresh, clean, and nice scent, but not really for me.

Helios - This is a gorgeous predominantly frankincense scent. It reminds me a lot of The Magician, only more bright and golden. It's mostly frankincence, copal, and cedar on my skin, with the perfectly-sized, small hint of saffron. It's golden, slightly husky from the frankincense, and really lovely. It layers beautifully with Clytie, but I prefer both Clytie and Helios on their own. If you don't like frankincense, cedar or saffron, I would stay away from this one. If you like them, this could be a winner for you.

Clytie - This scent is the perfect example of why I have this crazy drive to try every BPAL I can: because if I only tried the ones I thought I'd like, I'd miss out on beautiful scents like this one. With the presence of nerolia nd muguet and even the heliotrope to a degree, I shouldn't like this at all. But it's so beautiful on me I could cry. I just can't get over it. It's a beautiful, warm, and sunny floral scent. It's sweet, smooth, and golden almost to the point of being honey-like, but without the honey. The frankincense is completely unidentifiable on me, which would usually bum me out, but not at all with this scent, because it's just perfect. It's not remotely as pretty when layered with Helios (which I love in its own right, too). On its own, it's one of the prettiest florals I've encountered.

 

 

Tin Foil Hat - This smells like a citrus and metallic men's cologne. It's quite nice, actually. The staying power is amazing, too. I was decanting Tin Foil Hat to spread among my decant group members last night, ended up with a leaker, and as a result, I ended up with Tin Foil Hat all over one of my arms long before I was planning to "officially" test it out. This morning, I woke up, rolled over, and was pleasantly surprised at the nice, masculine scent of Tin Foil Hat wafting over me. It's not at all the type of fragrance I would ever choose to wear on myself, but if my husband ever agrees to wear it, I'd love to smell this on him. It's very clean, fresh, metallic, and citrusy. Very nice.

Embalming Fluid Soap - Embalming Fluid perfume oil smells lovely but doesn't work on my skin. I was ecstatic when I first unwrapped this bar of soap and the smell wafted out -- it's very strongly-scented and soooo lovely. It's just like Embalming Fluid -- mostly green tea and aloe with a hint of bright lemon. This is an awesome soap to use in the morning - it's so bright and fresh and pretty. The soap itself is wonderful -- I love Villainess soap. It's such high-quality, with a luxurious, silken lather, and it doesn't dry or irritate my skin. I am placing an order from the Trading Post today and you better believe I'm adding in another bar of this soap. It's sooo lovely!

Snake Oil Soap - I LOVE THIS SOAP!!! If I could afford to, I'd use this soap and nothing but this soap forever. It is that good. It smells amazing. I love Snake Oil, but it turns slightly plasticky on my skin (but I still wear it because I love it, dammit!) but this soap smells like S.O. is supposed to smell -- it is so rich and sweet and vanilla-y and spicy and gorgeous. It has me convinced that I have to get a bottle of S.O. bath oil while I still can. The bar is so beautiful, too. It's dark brown on the outside, but when you cut into it, the bottom 3/4 or so of the center is a rich, golden brown with little black flecks. It looks almost like a truffle. It's just so pretty. The presentation definitely stands up to the gorgeousness of the scent. I'm buying another bar RIGHT NOW.

Port Royal Soap - The soap itself has a smooth, luxurious lather. I love Villainess soaps. However, this soap has no scent that I can find. This is my problem with many of Villainess' soaps -- they're so lightly scented that all I smell is soap base. This is definitely a bummer that I can't smell it at all, but I was half-expecting it since I've had that experience with many other Villainess soaps. I'll still finish the bar -- it works perfectl well for a soap, but I won't spend $8.50 again on a soap I can't smell.

Staged Moon Landing - This smells exactly like I anticipated it would smell based on the ingredient list. I agree with the other reviewers that it's reminiscent of Silver Phoenix, but it's drier than Silver Phoenix and not quite as sweet. The orris, white sandalwood, and vanilla are the strongest notes and they work together to create a scent that's very dry, dusty, yet subtly sweet and very pretty. I do love this. I thought it would be my favorite of all the Black Helicopters, and it's not my favorite, but it's still in the Top Three.

Teatime in Roswell - Oh, I LOVE white cake scents - Love 'em to death! They're the only foody scents I can really wear and wear well. This one smells AMAZING in the bottle -- it smells like cake and tea and it's soooooo delicious I I think I started salivating the moment I caught my first whiff of it. When I put it on, I get the strong, distinct scent of the bread note in Bread-and-Butterfly and as the scent wafts around me, I realize I'd put this in the very same category as Bread-and-Butterfly...only this one's better because it also has CAKE and yummy creamy TEA and the oddest hint of CUCUMBER that doesn't fit the scent at all, and yet it still works, oddly enough. I wore this blend this afternoon and spent much of my day outside, and every time a breeze blew past me, it picked up this scent and swirled it around me, and I swooned and salivated all over again. It's a truly awesome scent and on my skin, it smells exactly like it does in the bottle. It doesn't have the best staying power on me, but for my skin, that's pretty typical for a non-resinous BPAL.

Skytyping with Chemtrails - This is BY FAR my favorite of the Black Helicopter scents -- and I didn't think I was going to like it at all, so I didn't even get a decant for myself... fortunately, this scent didn't fill up in my decant group, which means the leftovers are ALL MINE. This smells like the summertime, lemonade version of Boo. It's all lemonade and cotton candy on me. Soooo delicious. Yummmm! Unlike Boo, it plays very nicely on my skin. I'm going to wear this A LOT this summer. A LOT!!!

Shirafuji Genta With a Kappa - This definitely has a strong Asian feel to it. It's predominantly a dry, blonde wood scent with the sweet powderiness of ricer and the crisp bite of juniper berry. I don't smell the lavender at all, which surprises me since I can usually smell lavender from a mile away (and I don't like it at all). There's a soft sweetness about this scent, and even though it's a dry wood scent, it's not as dry and reminiscent of pencil shavings as most cedar scents tend to be. I do like it, but considering my typical scent preferences, I'm not sure if I'd reach for this very often. .

Fuwu Bansaku in Ruined Temple With Black Monster on Umbrella - This is gorgeous. Just stunningly beautiful. It's a dark and smoky wood scent that's kept soft and slightly creamy by the coconut. The coconut is heavy and meaty, and doesn't remotely make me think of Hawaiian Tropics. Black currant always turns to revolting cat pee on my skin...but not in this blend! It's really beautiful, has a gorgeous presence on my skin that feels very earthy and natural. I really love it.

Does anyone have a photo of a Chaos Theory V Snake Oil series bottle? I have one, but there's no number on it and I can't figure out where the number is supposed to be if there is one. I'm hoping seeing a photo might help me figure out if I just got an oddly un-numbered one. Thanks!

 

I don't have a picture, but I just pulled out my bottle, and the numbers were written in the dark space between "RECURSIVE SELF-SIMILARITY" and "THE SNAKE OIL SERIES." There was probably a number on there -- in the past tense. The pen used to number the labels rubbed off extremely easily, so unless you wrote the number on a sticker for the top of the bottle as soon as you received it directly from the Lab, chances are high the number would rub off, even with minimal handling. My guess is that you just got a bottle that had the number rubbed off through normal handling, not an unnumbered bottle (as a side note, my barely-handled bottles have lost their numbers, too, although I did write them on cap labels).

 

 

After seeing photos of the labels, I can definitely see where the number should be. I can't tell if there was ever a number written there or not. I received the bottle second-hand, and have no idea if that owner got it from the Lab or from someone else. Anyway, I was just curious. It's actually an amazing scent (Snake Oil, roses, and leather... mmmm!), and I'll be keeping it and giving it my own name -- Snake Whip or something like that.

Does anyone have a photo of a Chaos Theory V Snake Oil series bottle? I have one, but there's no number on it and I can't figure out where the number is supposed to be if there is one. I'm hoping seeing a photo might help me figure out if I just got an oddly un-numbered one. Thanks!

J-Horror - In the vial, this smells gorgeous -- it's almost entirely blood orange and white mint to my nose, with a hint of high-pitched floral and the dry raspiness of white sandalwood. As soon as it touches my skin, the blood orange really blossoms and it smells positively amazing and delicious. And then.... 30 second later, it's become soap. All soap. Entirely soap. Soapy soap with a bit of a bright citrus edge, but mostly sudsy, soapy soap. Blah. How sad. An hour after I apply it, the soapiness is still there, but the citrus edge is gone, and what's left is a creamy licorice scent in its place. It's actually really pretty, although very faint. If that creamy licorice could take over the soap, it would be beautifully wearable. And sure enough, as the soap starts to fade, the creamy licorice note becomes even more evident, and it turns into something really pretty and surprisingly foody. So this is an odd scent for me. I love it once the soapiness fades, but getting to that point isn't the most pleasant experience. Not sure if I'll keep wearing this one or not.

NGAGLS - If there's cherry in this, it's more of the cherry cordial scent used in Monster Baid: Bloody Mary than the bright, almond-like cherry used in scents like Kabuki. This is a super-sugary, tropical-fruity scent. It reminds me of drinking a fruity mai-tai in Hawaii...without the booze. It's just loaded with sugar and sweet tropical fruits, possibly banana, pineapple, guava, and a hint of that cherry cordial or cherry creme note. It's positively delicious and oddly enough for a sweet, sugary scent, it stays true on my skin and it lasts several hours. Love it!

Red Rose - Well, shoot. Why did this one have to come out when I was in my "I need to save money and not buy BPAL!" phase last year? It's GORGEOUS. On me, it's mostly rose, clove, and fir, but the amber, musk, and tobacco are there in a more subtle way providing a nice base for the first three notes. I usually amp clove, but I don't with this blend. It's the perfect amount of clove to spice up the scent. Overall, it's an absolutely stunningly gorgeous, warm, spicy, super sexy rose scent. I love it and am bummed I didn't get a bottle of this back when I had the chance.

The Traveller - When first applied, this has the horrible scent of burnt rubber tires. Not pleasant. But once it dries down, it becomes the scent of well-worn, well-travelled, dirty leather boots. To me, the scent is highly evocative of what it represents, but it's not something I would ever wear -- the dusty/dirty aspect of it is just too unpleasant for me. But I imagine on the right person, particularly those drawn to masculine scents, it could smell really earthy and nice.