Mrs.Black

Quicksilver Phoenix reminds me a lot of Gris Clair. The resins lend an incensy quality to the lavender. But hurry up, it won't be available from the Lab much longer!

Yes, that definitely looks like the original Black Lace label.

I find Gwyneth very soapy.

Most of the snow scents are Yule limited editions so you are lucky the Yules are out now . So instead of sending you on a wild goose chase for Snow Moon, Snow Bunny or, God forbid, Skadi, I'll concentrate on the scents that are available now. First and foremost, of course, is Snow White. It is my and a lot of people's favorite BPAL and, although it has a gazillion reviews on the Yules section of the Reviews, it really defies description. Then, looking a the snow comebacks this year, I'd definitely recommend Snow-Flakes and The Snow Maiden. I can't speak for the new snow scents yet (such as Pink Snowballs, The First Soft Snow or When the Winter Chrysanthemums Go) but I'm sure they are worth a try.

A lot of the Luau Lounge, or Tiki Bar scents, were fizzy (especially, to my nose, Te Po, Blue Fire and Golden Wave.) They were LE, but you may be able to find some in swaps. More recently, the summer LE Spinning Multicolored Metallic Pinwheel had a very fizzy quality too. Last Yule's LE The Magi was also very effervescent. Among GCs, I would particularly recommend The Hamptons as a superfizzy perfume.

I think it's possible that not all, but only the most popular vampires have two different labels.

I don't usually write reviews but once in a while I find a scent that I have to make an exception for. Lambs-Wool is my stand-out of the Weenies this year: the most perfect cider scent ever. Little Bird's description of "apple cider from heaven" is right! Lambs-Wool is Fearful Pleasure without the loud spices and heavy smokiness that made Fearful Pleasure unwearable for me. Lambs-Wool is Punkie Night without the crazy tart cranberry. But it's also more than those two scents. Lambs-Wool is fizzy (from the ale) delicious cider with an extra jolt of sugar. The spices are delicate (I mostly imagine cinammon sticks), and the ginger is coming through to me very orangey, as if there were big juicy slices of candied orange floating in the vat of cider. I am not getting the milk at all. An all round scrumptious scent. If you try only one Weenie this year, it has to be Lambs-Wool! .

Its a close-up of a skull. You see the eye sockets and nose hole but not the lower half (sorry about the blur): Wow, thanks!

Can anyone make out what's on The Girl's black and white label? Looks like abstract photography to me. *Peers at the bottle intently*.

Can anyone make out what's on The Girl's black and white label? Looks like abstract photography to me. *Peers at the bottle intently*.

My top recommendation in this category is Shattered. You may also want to try The Hamptons and Manhattan.

According to one website's translation that I saw, it means "The Sleeping Bather". Most of the pages that I translated came up with "Sleeping", but weren't quite sure what "Baigneuse" was... this was the first that gave me more than "The Sleeping Baigneuse". --M "Bather" actually sounds right for "baigneuse." I vaguely remember that "bain" is "bath" in French. Um... is "schlafende" German and "baigneuse" French (or a related Romance language)? o_O Thanks! Yes, I also find strange that it seems to be two different languages. Maybe it's a dialect of German or something?

Sorry, this is not really about pronunciation (although feel free to throw that in) – what does Schlafende Baigneuse mean?

Any Literary Vampire labels, please?

Sorry, double post.

That sounds totally like Midwinter's Eve. It's a Yule LE, and it doesn't come back every year but hopefully it will this year.

Thank you, mparker! They're stunning!

Halloweenie pictures, anyone? I can't wait to see what the labels are like this year!

I knew my six years of study at Moscow State University would come in handy some day . Ivanushka is an affectionate form of the Russian name Ivan (eevAn), and it's pronounced "eevAnushka".

Some of the oils in the latest crop of Dark Delicacies exclusives smell very Chanel-ish to me. Diabolical Offspring and Psychological Horror are very similar to Chanel n 5 (with the first one emphasising more the powdery aspect) and Gothic Horror reminds me, if more distantly, of Coco.

To me Hogwarts would be more Tintagel than Misk U. The coffee note doesn't gel with my idea of a British castle.

I just got my Dark Delicacies order and, well, this is going to sound weird but Diabolical Offspring is totally Beth's answer to Chanel no 5.

My favorite BPAL sandalwood is Tushnamatay.

Well, I can tell you that an Australian colleague exclaimed once, when I entered the room: "You smell like boronia!" (Boronia is a native Australian plant). I asked him if that was a good thing and he enthusiastically replied: "It is to me!" I was wearing House of Mirrors (unfortunately LE), which is a citrus-amber scent. I can see it being reminiscent of the slightly lemony, sun-baked, resiny scent that drought-resistant Australian native plants give off in the summer heat. A very similar and easier to find scent is Sea of Glass.

It sounds like you are already onto Dirty. Besides that, I really, really recommend that you try Wensleydale.