The Poison Queen
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Posts posted by The Poison Queen
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Longing and loss: fallen leaves, the memory of pale roses, and long-ago dried tears.
In the Bottle: a sweet Aquatic, no rose at all, just soft florals.
Wet on skin: Floral aquatic salt, very similar to the Ghosts of the Arroyo Seco, to me, which I love. I thought the tears would wind up being that belovesd aquatic salt note of mine, and they are.
Drydown: Very much like the wet stage, only with a hint of that lovely leafy note. Definitely a keeper, and I hope the rose comes out as it ages. -
Ozone, white sandalwood, Gum Arabic, crystallized white amber, verbena, oakmoss, clary sage, davana, and a hint of white citrus rind.
Hands down, this is one of my favourite lunacies.
In the bottle- Sharp ozone-citrus and sweet verbena with just a hint of oakmoss.
Wet on skin- A sweet citrus amber, medium sillage. Just really a beautiful scent. Sometimes verbena turns to lemon pledge on me, but in this blend it is just so nice.
Dry- Stays very much as it did in the wet stage, only I get a bit more of the ozone and the gum arabic. Just a beautiful scent, I wish I had ordered more of it. -
Officially official, they are GC- they've updated so you can get imps and the price is the normal price, thanks so much Kaitlin!
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Whurps! Then I just paid an LE bottle for a GC bottle. Oh well, still sounds magnificent.
Oh dear. They're 17.50 on the site for me, I put them all in my cart just to make sure- I would email the lab and let them know you were over charged.
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I think the new additions are general catalog (they say they are entering Excolo), but they have only the option for bottles at this time. After further thought I ended up just getting a single bottle of the mayan deity, but... it was much more confusing than usual.
They are definitely in Excolo section and not in the LE.
I think they just missed the coding on that. I sent Kaitlin a PM and will see what she says! -
Ouch. That stinks.
I guess I'll need to figure out the whole Paypal without the Paypal-setup before I place another BPAL order. (I HATE unnecessary fees, and I refuse to pay them.
)BPAL no longer is using CCnow, so you're fine to check out. When they updated the website, that was one of the big changes they made.
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Almondy sweet snow in the bottle in the bottle but SN Snow on my skin. Off to someone who can love it!
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See now I fooled my nose into smelling camphor. I had this all typed out nice and neat and had never smelled camphor before but now my brain got tricked into it. I think they might also have cinnamon or cedar in common but with my mind trying to smell camphor that's the only thing I can get
If you LOVE camphor then I totally suggest this scent I just reviewed but can't remember but I will add it in in a second "Like Brooms of Steel", it's totally all camphor/menthol/Vick's Vaporub all the time. "Death Fires Dancing Over the Tombs" has it too, less menthol, more camphor on that one.
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The man who had brought me now squirmed to a point directly beside the hideous flame, and made stiff ceremonial motions to the semicircle he faced. At certain stages of the ritual they did grovelling obeisance, especially when he held above his head that abhorrent Necronomicon he had taken with him; and I shared all the obeisances because I had been summoned to this festival by the writings of my forefathers. Then the old man made a signal to the half-seen flute-player in the darkness, which player thereupon changed its feeble drone to a scarce louder drone in another key; precipitating as it did so a horror unthinkable and unexpected. At this horror I sank nearly to the lichened earth, transfixed with a dread not of this nor any world, but only of the mad spaces between the stars.
The mad spaces between the stars: oakmoss, myrrh, vetiver, rectified cade, ravinsara, wild verbena, and neroli.
In the bottle: Vetiver and verbena with an undertone of the juniper cade. Very interesting.
Wet: Mostly lemony verbena, actually very pleasant without being pledge. I get a hint of the neroli and the vetiver stays low in the background. This is a very dark oil in physical color!
Dry: Much the same as wet, but maybe with a hint of the oakmoss. Really a very interesting scent, glad to have a bottle. -
Fainting and gasping, I looked at that unhallowed Erebus of titan toadstools, leprous fire, and slimy water, and saw the cloaked throngs forming a semicircle around the blazing pillar. It was the Yule-rite, older than man and fated to survive him; the primal rite of the solstice and of spring's promise beyond the snows; the rite of fire and evergreen, light and music. And in the Stygian grotto I saw them do the rite, and adore the sick pillar of flame, and throw into the water handfuls gouged out of the viscous vegetation which glittered green in the chlorotic glare. I saw this, and I saw something amorphously squatted far away from the light, piping noisomely on a flute; and as the thing piped I thought I heard noxious muffled flutterings in the foetid darkness where I could not see. But what frightened me most was that flaming column; spouting volcanically from depths profound and inconceivable, casting no shadows as healthy flame should, and coating the nitrous stone above with a nasty, venomous verdigris. For in all that seething combustion no warmth lay, but only the clamminess of death and corruption.
Viscous vegetation, slimy water, suffocating incense: death cap and false morel with green frankincense, black copal, Spanish moss, celery seed, and lime rind over stagnant black liquid and decaying kelp.
In the Bottle: This smells like putrid, decaying plant matter, like damp, rotting woods and leaves and mushrooms and all the things of the forest. I am not sure I am brave enough to skin test this. D:
Okay it took me all day to work up to it, but here you go.
Wet on skin: Oh God, gross, get it off!! Very green and rot-y smelling with a sickening sweet undertone. D: D: D:
Dry: Sharp, putrid narcissus, like rotting narcissus flowers in the woods where some unholy ritual has been done. Unless the Elder Gods tell me to keep this scent, it will be finding a new home. -
This is lovely, and exactly what it says it smells like; cotton candy snow. It's consistent on me from bottle to skin to dry, and very similar to the cotton candy note in Midway. Definitely NOT foodie at all, I am pretty anti-foodie but the lab's cotton candy note is really just lovely.
I just adore this and suspect a few more bottles will make their way home before the Yules go down.
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A Winter Dawn
Above the marge of night a star still shines,
And on the frosty hills the somber pines
Harbor an eerie wind that crooneth low
Over the glimmering wastes of virgin snow.
Through the pale arch of orient the morn
Comes in a milk-white splendor newly-born,
A sword of crimson cuts in twain the gray
Banners of shadow hosts, and lo, the day!
- Lucy Maud Montgomery
The soft splendor of dawn in winter: pearlescent pink grapefruit, neroli, helichrysum, freesia, white mandarin, and rockrose rising behind a dapple of snowflakes.
In the bottle: Soft snow, almost like a SN of the lab's snow note.
Wet: Soft, floral snow, maybe a tinge of grapefruit. This is really pleasant and one of my favorite snow scents from the lab so far.
Dry: The florals come out much more here, very pleasant, very sweet, but the snow note is still predominant. I like this one a lot! -
Pointing to a chair, table, and pile of books, the old man now left the room; and when I sat down to read I saw that the books were hoary and mouldy, and that they included old Morryster's wild Marvells of Science, the terrible Saducismus Triumphatus of Joseph Glanvill, published in 1681, the shocking Daemonolatreia of Remigius, printed in 1595 at Lyons, and worst of all, the unmentionable Necronomicon of the mad Arab Abdul Alhazred, in Olaus Wormius' forbidden Latin translation; a book which I had never seen, but of which I had heard monstrous things whispered.
Yellowed fragments of vellum and parchment scrawled with unnamable horrors invoking ghastly abominations: decaying papers and moldering leather with sickly-sweet tonka, inky musk, black sandalwood, black fig, sugandh kokila, and pimento leaf.
In the bottle: Uhhh. Sushi. Not fishy but cucumber rolls, with a hint of wasabi. That is VERY interesting. I really smell cucumber.
Wet: dusty cucumber, paper and leather, with a touch of sandalwood. Much better on, and I think aging will erase that cucumber smell, but boy it made me want sushi.
Dry: Musk and mouldering papers with a bit of sandalwood and leather. Definitely worth keeping to age, I would love to see how this develops. -
Then I saw the lurid shimmering of pale light, and heard the insidious lapping of sunless waters. Again I shivered, for I did not like the things that the night had brought, and wished bitterly that no forefather had summoned me to this primal rite. As the steps and the passage grew broader, I heard another sound, the thin, whining mockery of a feeble flute; and suddenly there spread out before me the boundless vista of an inner world-a vast fungous shore litten by a belching column of sick greenish flame and washed by a wide oily river that flowed from abysses frightful and unsuspected to join the blackest gulfs of immemorial ocean.
Salted citron, black coconut, wormwood, and oily labdanum oozing through fungal mosses and sick, greenish subterranean flora.
In the bottle: My first impression is one of salt, and then a bit of the citron and coconut.
Wet: Aquatic and salty with just a touch of fungus.
Dry: Salty aquatic fungus, actually very pleasant. I wish that citron stuck around more, perhaps aging will help it along. -
Presently the old man drew back his hood and pointed to the family resemblance in his face, but I only shuddered, because I was sure that the face was merely a devilish waxen mask. The flopping animals were now scratching restlessly at the lichens, and I saw that the old man was nearly as restless himself. When one of the things began to waddle and edge away, he turned quickly to stop it; so that the suddenness of his motion dislodged the waxen mask from what should have been his head. And then, because that nightmare's position barred me from the stone staircase down which we had come, I flung myself into the oily underground river that bubbled somewhere to the caves of the sea; flung myself into that putrescent juice of earth's inner horrors before the madness of my screams could bring down upon me all the charnel legions these pest-gulfs might conceal.
Perfect and absolute mental collapse: black pomegranate and vetiver with rose otto, rue, red patchouli, petitgrain, myrrh, and cacao absolute.
In the bottle: VETIVER! And cocoa. It reminds me of Hershey's easter eggs, oddly. The kind that have the candy shell.
Wet: Vetiver and cocoa still. I never thought the combination of those would go together but it's pretty interesting and works well. I wouldn't call this foodie either.
Dry: Vetiver. This might as well be SN vetiver on me, I don't get much else at all. Still pretty okay though! -
The Garden in Winter
Frosty-white and cold it lies
Underneath the fretful skies;
Snowflakes flutter where the red
Banners of the poppies spread,
And the drifts are wide and deep
Where the lilies fell asleep.
But the sunsets o'er it throw
Flame-like splendor, lucent glow,
And the moonshine makes it gleam
Like a wonderland of dream,
And the sharp winds all the day
Pipe and whistle shrilly gay.
Safe beneath the snowdrifts lie
Rainbow buds of by-and-by;
In the long, sweet days of spring
Music of bluebells shall ring,
And its faintly golden cup
Many a primrose will hold up.
Though the winds are keen and chill
Roses' hearts are beating still,
And the garden tranquilly
Dreams of happy hours to be -
In the summer days of blue
All its dreamings will come true.
- Lucy Maud Montgomery
Swaths of red poppies, white roses, graceful winter lilies, and sun-bright primroses beaming from beneath a flutter of snowflakes.
In the bottle: Lilies and snow!
Wet: Lilies and poppies with a dust of snow on them. This is a very visual scent for me and I don't normally have a visual reaction to scent, but I can just see the lightly snow covered primroses and poppies and lilies and roses drooping with the weight of the snow on them.
Dry: A light, floral snow. Lovely! -
The Visionary
Silent is the house: all are laid asleep:
One alone looks out o'er the snow-wreaths deep,
Watching every cloud, dreading every breeze
That whirls the wildering drift, and bends the groaning trees.
Cheerful is the hearth, soft the matted floor;
Not one shivering gust creeps through pane or door;
The little lamp burns straight, its rays shoot strong and far:
I trim it well, to be the wanderer's guiding-star.
Frown, my haughty sire! chide, my angry dame!
Set your slaves to spy; threaten me with shame:
But neither sire nor dame nor prying serf shall know,
What angel nightly tracks that waste of frozen snow.
What I love shall come like visitant of air,
Safe in secret power from lurking human snare;
What loves me, no word of mine shall e'er betray,
Though for faith unstained my life must forfeit pay.
Burn, then, little lamp; glimmer straight and clear-
Hush! a rustling wing stirs, methinks, the air:
He for whom I wait, thus ever comes to me;
Strange Power! I trust thy might; trust thou my constancy.
- Emily Brontë
What I love shall come like a visitant of air. The wild freedom of the snow-gleaming heath thrusting through the dull safety of the hearth and the doldrums of the bleak, rolling moors. Lush, honeyed red musk twined with heart-thrilling white musk on passion-warmed skin against a backdrop of raw, iced peat, common heather, and hearth wood.
In the bottle: This reminds me very strongly of the scent of a good metaphysical shop, the musk is really very lovely and there's a bit of wood.
Wet: Heather and musk! What a gorgeous combination!
Dry: Still heather and musk with just a touch of iced peat, this is really very lovely. I want a backup! -
Death's Second Self
That time of year thou mayst in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruin'd choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.
In me thou seest the twilight of such day
As after sunset fadeth in the west,
Which by and by black night doth take away,
Death's second self, that seals up all in rest.
In me thou see'st the glowing of such fire
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,
As the death-bed whereon it must expire
Consumed with that which it was nourish'd by.
This thou perceivest, which makes thy love more strong,
To love that well which thou must leave ere long.
- Sonnet 73, William Shakespeare
Yellowed leaves, pale frankincense, solemn amber, and ashes.
In the bottle: Crumbly autumn leaves.
Wet: Crumbly leaves with a hint of sweet amber. VERY pleasant, I like this very much.
Dry: Leaves and a touch of amber, with the frankincense peeking through just a bit. This is a keeper! -
Winter Stars
I went out at night alone;
The young blood flowing beyond the sea
Seemed to have drenched my spirit’s wings—
I bore my sorrow heavily.
But when I lifted up my head
From shadows shaken on the snow,
I saw Orion in the east
Burn steadily as long ago.
From windows in my father’s house,
Dreaming my dreams on winter nights,
I watched Orion as a girl
Above another city’s lights.
Years go, dreams go, and youth goes too,
The world’s heart breaks beneath its wars,
All things are changed, save in the east
The faithful beauty of the stars.
- Sara Teasdale
Dreaming my dreams on winter nights: starry blue musk with mugwort, white mandarin, rockrose, and snow.
In the bottle: The blue musk really stands out to me with a little bit of mugwort.
Wet: Blue musk (it really DOES seem blue) and mugwort, with just a hint of rockrose and snow.
Drydown: The blue musk stays the predominante scent. This is a very interesting scent and I've got nothing like it in my collection. Definitely will keep my bottle to see how it ages. -
Like brooms of steel
The Snow and Wind
Had swept the Winter Street,
The House was hooked,
The Sun sent out
Faint Deputies of heat-
The Apple in the cellar snug
Where rode the Bird
The Silence tied
His ample, plodding Steed,
Was all the one that played.- Emily Dickinson
Sharp, metallic slices of snow and freezing wind with a faint hint of cellar dust, burlap, and apple.
In the bottle: There is such a strong camphor note to this that I cannot smell anything else. Whew.
On the skin: Bitter camphor and eucalyptus with a hint of sour apples.
Dry: Medicinal and sweet, but not the usual apple note I am used to from the lab. Not... really what I was hoping for with this scent.
This is off to the swaps.
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We went out into the moonless and tortuous network of that incredibly ancient town; went out as the lights in the curtained windows disappeared one by one, and the Dog Star leered at the throng of cowled, cloaked figures that poured silently from every doorway and formed monstrous processions up this street and that, past the creaking signs and antediluvian gables, the thatched roofs and diamond-paned windows; threading precipitous lanes where decaying houses overlapped and crumbled together, gliding across open courts and churchyards where the bobbing lanthorns made eldritch drunken constellations.
Dizzying, swirling, starry madness: eucalyptus sap, white tea leaf, and ambergris foam.
In the bottle: Ooooh. This is LOVELY, it brings to mind an aquatic Herbert West for me. Oooh!
Wet: Strong tea with a hint of reanimation agent. This is a seriously lovely scent, I am so surprised!
Dry: definitely Herbert West and tea. This is a multibottle for us! -
I was far from home, and the spell of the eastern sea was upon me. In the twilight I heard it pounding on the rocks, and I knew it lay just over the hill where the twisting willows writhed against the clearing sky and the first stars of evening. And because my fathers had called me to the old town beyond, I pushed on through the shallow, new-fallen snow along the road that soared lonely up to where Aldebaran twinkled among the trees; on toward the very ancient town I had never seen but often dreamed of.
Sea salt, kelp, and twisting willows.
In the bottle: Beautiful aquatics and something just a little foody-woody.
Wet: Gorgeous, salty aquatic! The foodieness turned mostly into a spicy wood.
Drydown: This stays salty aquatic on me, it's really lovely but that little foodie note is just a tad disappointing for me, I will have to see if it ages out, because if it does this will be my perfect aquatic! -
In dramatic contrast to the soft innocence of Snow White and the dew-kissed freshness of her sister, Rose Red, this is a blood red, voluptuous rose, velvet-petaled, at the height of bloom. Haughty and imperious, vain, yet incomparably lovely to the eye, but thick with thorns of jealousy, pride and hatred.
Dear heavens.
I cannot get over what a silky, luxurious rose this is. The oil is just gorgeous on my skin but the SCENT is heavenly. I have always been fond of the lab's dark red, heady rose, and it's at my very favorite in Peacock Queen, but I am just RUINED with it in bath oil form- It is a really good thing that I don't have a tub and am using it post shower right now because I would never.leave.the.bath.
Thank you SO much Puddin', this is amazing. GOSH I wish it was GC! -
Inspired by and created for my beloved Tedwin: my eternal, beautiful, wicked Dorian Gray. Refined, elegant, and lovely, with a noble bearing and seemingly gentle air. This blend is an artful deception: a sweet gilded blossom lying over a twisted and corrupted core. A Victorian fougere with three pale musks and dark, sugared vanilla tea.
Pure, glorious, perfect Dorian. I absolutely am SO excited this has become a HG. Throw is large without being overwhelming, and my hair looks super shiny. I had high hopes for this and I am 100% not disappointed. Thank you so much, Puddin!
Thrice Toss These Oaken Ashes
in Lupercalia
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In the Bottle: Camphor and dirt, oh dear, very much like the camphor that ruined "Like Brooms of Steel" for me.
Wet: the Camphor is still very strong with hints of wood and cypress and a bit of the sweetness of the apple peel. Much better than I thought.
Dry: The sweetness of the apple peel is much stronger now, I am glad I skintested it but I am still unsure about it because my nose can't get past that camphor. I am hoping a bit of aging will do it good. There's definitely none of that lovely burning smell that scents like Halloween in Los Angeles and Burning Book have, and I so wanted there to be some.