janelle_hell

This stuff WORKS. Even if it smelled like old socks (it doesn't- to me it smells strongly herbal & a bit like patchouli), i'd still use it. Fabulous!

i can't believe that no one's mentioned Cathedral yet!

Odd as this sounds, Black Rose layered with Bayou smells *exactly* like the inside of the Pirates ride at Disneyland, on me, anyways!

i've been holding off on writing a review of this, because it reminded me of something i'd smelled before, and couldn't remember what it was. i've finally placed it, though. This smells pretty much exactly like Oh! De London by Yardley. For those not in the know: Oh! De London was a perfume manufactured in the mid 1960s, that has been discontinued for a looooooong time, and has a cult following; it always gets bid up to *ridiculous* sums of $ on Ebay, on the rare occasion that someone wants to part with theirs. The main component that stands out (to me, anyway) is the oakmoss. However, it's not a "heavy" scent at all...it's bright and cheery and somehow "green", but there's an underlying hint of "corruption". So, it fits the Lab's description/mood perfectly.

This scent is just...wow. i'm going to agree with everyone that made comparisons to Antique Lace and violet pastilles/violet mints. Faith is just...gorgeous. PERFECT.

This smelled...scary in the bottle. Really heavy,like burnt sugar and a little bit of candied orange peel (like the stuff that goes in fruit cake). i about wanted to cry,when i opened the bottle,cos i had such high hopes for this scent. But wait...after i applied it,this was Alice (one of my all-time-favorite BPAL scents) with orange blossom. Not soft,delicate orange blossom,but the way it smells on a hot summer night when the orange trees are in bloom. i LOVE this

This is... snowy pine trees... and... Marzipan Stollen!!!! (<--- German Christmas bread that has candied fruits and marzipan in it ) i so need an entire bottle of this!

i didn't get any of the sharpness or headache-inducing-jasmine-to-the-nth-power that some of the other reviewers had with this scent. Just super-sweet jasmine flowers ('sweet' in the sense that this scent reminds me of candied flowers,like violets or rosepetals),a little bit of tea rose (but not the scary-80's-perfume-type of tea rose ),and....dirt. Not the heavy,brooding soil smell of Graveyard Dirt,but the smell of fresh,damp soil after a spring rain. Beautiful. i will use my imp of this sparingly,hoping that it will be released as a GC scent soon.

In the imp,Mandrake is thick and syrupy. Literally,it's the consistancy of corn syrup,which is interesting. i've never smelled a fresh mandrake root (just dried,and the dried root smells very much like ginseng,to me,anyways). But the scent of BPAL's Mandrake oil is fresh and earthy,like Graveyard Dirt without the 'mushroom' note. This smells to me just like digging in springtime garden soil,for lack of a better description. i can see how it could be classified as a 'relaxing/sleepy' scent;it's very comforting. A good oil to wear at bedtime (when one is intending to actually sleep,not do...other things ). The scent doesn't last very long,though. That's ok,it just gives me more of an opportunity to be all intrigued-like (i'm easily amused) at the syrupy consistancy.

First off- i haven't used this oil for its intended purpose yet;seeing how its intended purpose is really not something i'd like to share the details of,the fact that i haven't used it yet is neither here nor there for this review With that said,i will decribe the scent of this oil,which is a favorable review. A VERY favorable review. It smelled gross in the imp (but then again so do alot of things-not talking specifically about BPAL/TAL,but in general,about perfume/lotion/etc in the container & not being worn on the skin). i applied it and it instantly morphed into a GORGEOUS rose scent on me (the weird skin chemistry i have that causes so many scents that 'everyone' loves to turn icky on me is a GOOD thing,for once!). On me,it smells much like the GC oil,Santa Muerte. Which i guess is fitting,with the intent of the oil (Santa Muerte will help one with wishes/petitions that are often considered 'dark',in that they involve specific people,rather than "I'm not naming any names,but I want someone tall,blonde,single,etc.",for example,rather than "that b*itch took my wo/man,I WILL have my wo/man back,and that b*tch will PAY!".). The scent is deep,hot,sultry roses,with an undercurrent of "you want ME,not him/her!" translated into scent form. Roses and something "powerful". i got no unpleasant/barnyard herb notes with my wearing of this oil. Nice,very nice Edited to add: YES,it WORKS. Very,VERY well.

Opium Poppy layered with Urd is headshop/incense like,wow

Wow,i can't believe i haven't reviewed this one;it's been one of my all-time favorites ever since it came out! As other reviewers have mentioned,if ACJM were a color,it would be PINK. Bright bubblegum pink! Scent-wise,it's very candy-ish...i've no idea what notes are actually in it,but to me it smells like bubblegum (but not the bubblegum of Jailbait;i also love Jailbait *the oil,not actual jailbait!*,but,this is a different bubblegum-if Jailbait is Bubble-Yum,then ACJM is Bazooka Gum-heavier,more sugary...don't know if that makes any sense),licorice allsorts (the multicolored assortment of licorice in cute little shapes,from the UK),and...hot cotton candy. As in,cotton candy in the process of being made,like at a fair or carnival. Midway isn't a Voodoo Blend,but ACJM reminds me alot of Midway,not in actual scent notes,but in the general 'feeling' of the blend. Midway is sinister,in a sense,underneath all the sweetness;ACJM is Midway,minus the scary clowns and leering carnies . When i want reminders of happy times,when the 'now' is a bit much to deal with...i douse myself with this stuff. And,it never fails to improve my mood,at least somewhat. Plus,it goes great with Lush's Creamy Candy Bath...just put some on the Candy Bath cube/cake before putting it in the water...happy bubbles galore!

Urd layered with Opium Poppy is the ultimate dark-incensy-headshop smell!

My favorite Voodoo blend is Love Me. i didn't think that i'd find anything similar,let alone EVEN BETTER! Dixie Love Perfume is Love Me plus...honeysuckles. (well,that's what it smells like on me,anyways...). Cinnamon Red-Hots and honeysuckles. This is FABULOUS

Cleo May is the sweeter,lighter little sister to Follow Me Boy. i don't know what specific notes are in it,but to me it smells of Easter lilies and honey. i haven't used it for its intended purpose (i'm not a Working Girl and there's currently no one i'd like to have a one night stand with ) but the scent totally fits with the "Pay lots of attention to me! Give me money! Lots of money!". It's definitely a noticeable scent,with a great throw to it. It's sweeter than Follow Me Boy and Alice combined (which are 2 of my most favorite BPAL scents) which may be too much for some people,but me,i like it. Now,this is totally 'politically incorrect',but if Cleo May were embodied in human form,i would picture her as a gorgeous young woman,with Cleopatra kohl around her eyes and bright red beestung lips,wearing a floor-length fur coat,sitting in a fancy restaraunt with her 'agent' (who drives a big,metal-flake-paintjob car and is wearing a hat with a big purple feather that matches his hat ). All around her are shopping bags filled with fancy goods from today's shopping trip to Tiffany and Godiva and La Perla and all sorts of other fabulous things. Cos what Cleo wants,Cleo gets. i LOVE this scent

To me,this scent doesn't bring to mind the suicide/poison connotations of its name...to me,it's a bright,happy,let's-party-til-sometime-tomorrow-afternoon boozy scent. In fact,on me,it smells pretty much *exactly* like green Chartreuse liquer. Which is fitting,cos it's the same bright green color. It's strong and herbal,but undercut with a vicious sweetness. i'm pretty sure i smell angelica in it,and maybe citron peel. i like this alot

This doesn't smell so much of opium poppies as it does of opium itsself. i totally agree with everyone who's posted that it makes them feel sleepy...maybe it's just the power of suggestion? Opium Poppy reminds me of what the Caterpillar in Alice In Wonderland would smell like (actually,what his hookah-smoke would smell like). i think i need a 5ml of this for when i can't fall asleep even though it's around 4 in the morning. Very,very nice. *edited to add: i have a new favorite. i Opium Poppy as much as i heart Stardust. Seriously. i'd bathe in it if that were possible.*

I finally got to try this today...and...IT IS MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE BPAL OIL EVER!!! Of course,i was biased to love it by the description (my email for the past 8 years or so has been 'nancystardust';on LJ i'm 'aquanetluv'...and that counts for nothing beside my love for all things glittery,music and fashion wise...). i get a little bit of a hairspray note with this,but it's a good thing. Like Aquanet Extra Super Hold before it's been on my hair from 8pm til sometime the next afternoon : p. Mainly,though,i get CHAMPAGNE...and tuberose...and POPPY. If this were available by the gallon,i'd have to come up with a creative way to bring in the cash to fund my new habit. i know this bottle is going to get used up very,VERY quickly. 12 out of 10

This smells like Parma Violet soap! Which isn't a bad thing! i know that the name of it was meant to invoke an icy type of 'numb' associated with a chilly relief from a summer heatwave. But,to me,it evokes the type of 'numb' that comes after some horrid life-changing event,and you've got to 'take a Valium and lie down' This is my official 'Don't Expect Me To Get Out Of Bed,i'll Be Out For The Next 18 Hours Or So' scent.

i didn't see pine listed as one of the components to this scent;maybe it's the 'power of suggestion' that's making me think i'm smelling pine. (As most actual Midnight Masses that i've attended were held in churches that decorated with real pine trees or pine boughs.) This is a sweeter,more mellow,pine-infused version of Cathedral,and it perfectly captures the intended image. i hope it's brought back this Winter!

i only have an imp of this;i think i need to get a bottle. This is such an...evocative scent. Yes,it smells like dirt. Like mud,precisely. It also smells like faded perfume,and makes me think of a stack of old love/hate/i-love-you-so-much-i-don't-know-whether-i-want-to-be-with-you-or-BE-you letters,tied with dusty pink silk ribbon,sitting in a heart shaped box on the edge of an unmade bed in a Victorian-era residential hotel. It makes me think of a long walk in the rain and mud through an old cemetery with mossy marble angels looking down as you steal one wet,red rose to give to the person that all those letters are to and from. It smells like something you keep looking at,even though you don't know why,because what you're looking at,well,you aren't sure if it's the most beautiful or the most horrifying thing you've ever seen. Penny Dreadful is the scent i would choose to wear if i had the urgent need to put on my white satin slip from the 1940's and show up on a certain someone's doorstep at 3 in the am with a stolen (from the park,not the cemetery-i'm too superstitious for that!) rose in one hand,and a half-empty bottle of Southern Comfort in the other. There's just no other way to describe it.

If 2 of my favorite BPAL scents,Jailbait and Aunt Caroline's Joy Mojo,mated and reproduced,Bastet's Laughter would be the result. i have no idea what's in it,but i smell bubblegum (sweet lotus,maybe? i don't know how bubblegum would fit in with the theme of Bastet,but it works,so i'm not complaining!),candied fruits (apricots,maybe?),and a wee bit of Egyptian Khyphi incense (sort of like the 'perfume' undertone when Jailbait dries down). This is just...perfect. i would buy it for the scent,even if i wasn't going to use it for its intended purpose. (Which,by the way,it's great for...i have to say,it was more than just the pleasant psychological effect of having many pretty colored candles that smelled of bubblegum and other yummies all around the house...within a couple hours a HUGE problem i was having fixed itsself,i got unexpected $ in the mail,etc etc). i really,really wish that this could be a catalog scent...i am sure most people who could try it would ADORE it.

i got this as a freebie in my order that arrived a couple days ago : ) i didn't order it myself cos although all the other notes sounded great,i don't usually care for patchouli. But,on me,the patchouli is indetectable,and i get a wonderful combination of sweet grape (like in the discontinued Bat's Blood,which i LOVE!),and lots of Nag Champa. The smell of Nag Champa that is unique to small,out-of-the-way headshops that have had probably hundreds of pounds of Nag Champa burned over the past 35 years or so. This combination reminds me of the good parts of my time as a teenager...grape Popsicles on hot summer days...visits to places where i was the only person in the room who didn't remember the 1960's,in search of rare,vintage blacklight posters,and cool beads for my art projects : ) i'm glad that whomever it was at the Lab who selected my 'freebies' this time around thought i'd enjoy this,cos i do! i'll definitely be using up the imp,and more than likely will be getting a 5ml with my next order!

Watermelon and sea-water are 2 things sacred to Yemaya;this smells beautifully and perfectly of both. i'm not big on either fruity or aquatic notes,but this is somehow different. The watermelon smells just like real watermelon,not watermelon candy or those yucky,aimed-at-preteens 'watermelon' scented body sprays and bubble baths (my teenage sister was quite fond of them at one point,so i know how they smell...which is...not good!). The sea-water smells just like sun-warmed waves...a scent note i've been searching for a very long time! This is a sweet,calming scent for hot summer days (which usually put me in a foul mood cos i get sick in the heat,so 'sweet' and 'calming' is just what i need!). Another '10 out of 10' scent for me

Many thanks to Blackrayne,who decanted me an imp of this! Because of the previous reviews,i was thinking that this would be exactly the smell of the midway at the county fair (the ones i usually attend are here in Southern California,and take place during late spring/early fall,so there's usually a 'hot,dirty,but not unpleasant' smell beneath all the fried dough/spun sugar/candy apples). To me,it isn't-it's the smell of Main Street,USA at Disneyland!!! (which i saw that someone else thought of,as well!). This makes me love it even more than i thought i would (i heart Disneyland )!!! The fried dough/funnel cake note is predominant,and underscored by hot,sticky cotton candy,sweet,juicy candied apple,and just a bit of the hot caramel and saltawter taffy that they make in the candy shop on Main Street. i am so,so glad that i ordered a bottle of this even before i got the chance to try it,and will probably be ordering at least 1 more bottle. This stuff is great!