Poenari

I love this! There is an initial blast of salty popcorn that quickly morphs into caramel apples. It's a foody scent, and I'm going to keep it in my office. I agree that this scent doesn't seem to linger in the room as long as my other sprays, although it's fun while it lasts. But today, I got a real test of it's worth. Our county fair is currently going on and my agency has a booth every year to hand out information about our services. This morning I was the volunteer on "booth duty" so I brought my bottle along and sprayed the tablecloth all down my side of the booth. I'm so glad I thought of bringing it! I loved getting the wafts of Midway Plaisance, and it really helped drown out the smells coming from the cow barn directly across the way.

Frimp from the lab. I tried this one before reading reviews, because based on the color in the imp (red) I figured it would contain either dragon's blood or red musk and therefore something I would like. I wasn't wrong at all! I get primarily dragon's blood, maybe a slight spicy musk on the drydown. One of my favorite scents is Blood, and this one has a similarity that is just lighter on the clove/spice. This is definitely in my realm of scents that I like, but doesn't surpass my love for Blood, so I can skip getting a bottle.

Chimera is the first GC scent that comes to my mind:The fiery, volatile scent of cinnamon, thickened by myrrh, honeysuckle, and copal. Or from Carnaval Diabolique: Priala, the Human Phoenix: As you come to the final stage, you see a spotlight focused upon a large pile of pitch-black ashes on the center of the floor. A parchment scroll has been tacked to the foot of the stage. It reads: Now I will believe That there are unicorns; that in Arabia There is one tree, the phoenix' throne; one phoenix At this hour reigning there. You catch a whiff of burnt cinnamon, and a whirlwind begins to form within the center of the cold pyre. The ashes rise, condense, and coalesce into the dusky form of a woman. She shakes her body gently, tossing her hair, and the ashes fall from her skin. She is perfect, radiant: not a single cinder mars the flawlessness of her countenance. Her body seems to cast a shadow shaped like a triumphant bird, wings outstretched, onto the blank taupe canvas behind her. Her eyes are closed, and her head is bowed; her expressionless face is enigmatic. Her dark eyes begin to glow, and her mouth turns up in a secretive, intimate smile. She throws back her head and extends her arms, and suddenly the scent of smoldering myrrh assails you. Within moments, the woman explodes into flame, and you see that her face is now a vision of passionate ecstasy. The turbulence of the conflagration whips around her violently, and gouts of flame burst from her body, igniting the canvas behind her. She raises her arms in exultation, and through the flames, you see both the outline of her scorched black skeleton and the shadow of the phoenix triumphant. Three deep, dark myrrhs, smoke, and cinnamon bark.

Was gifted a sniffy of this with just enough to test. It's all salty buttery popcorn and peanuts. At first, it was very heavy on the salt, but that dries down quickly. The butter also smooths and blends in to the overall scent, so it didn't make me turn up my nose the way Jack's buttery smell did the first time I tested Jack. This scent is one that I find interesting, but would never feel compelled to actually wear it, and also doesn't appeal to me enough to consider as a room scent. Very glad I got to test it, though, as I had been curious about it.

I second the rec for Grave Pig. From the Retail only scents, I highly recommend Lucifer. It rarely seems to show up on forum sales, but I think it's still available from Healthy Living in Vermont. And my favorite fig scent is a past Yule from the Trading Post, which seems a little easier to find: FIGGY PUDDIN’ Calymyrna figs, dark rum, cognac, raisins, cinnamon, ginger, brown sugar, and clove.

Overall, I think there have been a lot of pumpkin scents, especially given the years that there were pumpkin patches in the Halloweenies. I know that there was a pumpkin shortage a few years ago, and that may have affected some of the supply. But unfortunately, the only pumpkin scent I can think of in the GC is Jack. I find Jack to be very strongly scented of buttered popcorn when fresh, but the butter scent ages out and I prefer it aged. Also, don't forget to check the Trading Post for pumpkin scents, though they will also be LE.

This Full Moon marks the time of the year when the new antlers of buck deer emerge from their foreheads, coated in soft velvet. This is a time of masculine vigor, thunder, balmy nights, glorious sunlight and hot winds. Buck Moon is an animalistic, deep scent: an amplification of one's natural musk coupled with forest herbs, a hint of clear, warm evening air and a crystalline spark of lunar oil. I received a decant of this from the lovely sunshinedaisybliss and it is just beautiful. I typically don't have much luck with lunacy blends, but there have been a few over the years that have worked for me. This reminds me of Hunter Moon 2007, which is one of my favorite lunacy blends. It has a similar musk, animalic feel without the wine note in Hunter Moon. Just a lovely scent, and I am grateful that I got to try this!

This has the same kind of brown sugar as in my beloved Sugar Skull, with spices added. Very wearable and work safe on me. Love it!

Two words- Anne Bonny Named in honor of the most notorious female pirate to ever set sail. Wicked, cruel, beautiful, intelligent, resourceful and dangerous: a true role model. A blend of Indonesian red patchouli, red sandalwood, and frankincense. A million thanks to Juliana Williamson-Page for inspiration! OK, that was more than two words since I added the description, but you must try it!

I was gifted with an imp of this from sunshinedaisybliss in the Sweet Barking Cheese Giveaway Prize Packalooza TM and it is just beautiful! This smells of vanilla, musk, maybe some amber, and I can also detect carnation (thanks to my Spanish Red Carnation single note.) This is a gorgeous warm, spicy scent. I looked up the notes in the released version of Lamia and don't find any comparisons made to this, but this one is . Thanks again to Miss Daisybliss for introducing me to this scent!

My oldest bottle is a bottle of Dracul in the cobalt bottle from my first BPAL order in February 2006. I didn't love the scent as much as I had expected, so it's lasted me a lot longer than a typical bottle would. I still have about 1/2 bottle left, but as it has aged it has gotten more beautiful. I've never had a bottle go bad, and I still have a bunch of bottles from 2006-2007, all the way up to the present. However, I tend to buy incense, resins, musk, and patchouli blends so they all typicallly age well. My original bottles of F5 and Gemini haven't really morphed much either, although scents with a touch of mint or citrus tend to lose those notes first. If you store your perfume oils carefully and watch how you apply so you are keeping the application and bottle surfaces clean, they can last for many years. I don't buy imps and rarely buy decants of LE's, so mine are mostly frimps and they are building up like crazy. Once in a while I go through them and randomly slather one up in a couple of uses, or dump several into the bathwater. But that's for the "decadence" thread. Hmm, maybe I should dig around and resurrect that one.

arsinoe9 is correct! Having initially tried mixing my BPAL into unscented lotions, I definitely prefer using the virgin coconut oil and then applying my perfume. The brand I buy doesn't even have a coconut scent to it, though I love the smell of coconut myself. It stays mostly solid and I keep the jar on the bathroom counter, but I keep a little scoop handy and scoop some into the palm of my hands, and it melts quickly enough to smooth over all my parts. I am really addicted to the Trading Post's bath oils as after-shower moisturizers, but some of my perfumes don't have a complimentary bath oil, so that's when I use the coconut oil. Another added benefit- the coconut oil seems to have really kept my last two surgical incisions from scarring much. Both are barely visible. One is on the front of my neck from my spinal fusion a year ago, and the other is on the back of my right hand where I broke it and had to have a plate and screws put in. (I am BIONIC- they keep rebuilding me! ) Once the incisions were healed, I faithfully massaged in the coconut oil (stayed away from perfumes in those areas during the healing process) and not only does it keep my post-menopausal skin moisturized, it really has improved the appearance of my skin overall and really extends the life of my perfumes!

Snake Oil!!!! Hair gloss!!!! SNAKE OIL HAIR GLOSS!!!!

Gahhhh... another lovely lovely scented hair gloss! The ginger is just there enough to brighten the incense and the amber warms it. This smells so wonderful on my hair, and the scent lingers through the next day. Because the spray top on this bottle actually mists instead of spurts (three for three on my latest order so I hope the spray tops continue to be misters) I not only applied in my usual way, combing through/detangling my damp hair, but also finished it off with a light mist over the top of my head and a little more on my dry ends. The shine is fabulous, and the finish coat of scent...

Another win in the hair gloss column! This is a beautiful warm, musky honey. I haven't tried the GC honey hair gloss so I can't compare, but the honey in this is very prominent. It lingers forever in a really good way. Not only did I apply this in my usual way, combing/detangling my damp hair, but the spray nozzle actually mists rather than the usual spurt, so I was able to mist it over my finished hair and ends, which adds even more shine as well as a finish coat of scent. Beautiful, just beautiful. And this would be amazing as an Atmo spray- I would love to spray this scent on my sheets.

This was an extra included in my Sweet Barking Cheese prize from the ever-awesome sunshinedaisybliss. I love all of these notes, so it was a surprise that I'd never tried Serpent's Kiss before. This is a great scent! It's like a cross between Bloodlust and Tanin'iver, two of my favorite Dragon's Blood scents. Very spicy cinnamon at first, but it mellows out quickly and then the vetivert kicks in. The dragon's blood just stays steady all the way from start to finish. Long lasting on my skin, as are most scents with dragon's blood. This is a hit and going on my GC bottle list for sure!

Yes! What she said. Exactly. sunshinedaisybliss was generous enough to hold a little contest, and I was one of the winners of a sample of this delightful spray (thank you again a million times over for your generosity!) The only thing I could possibly add to her description, which is spot on (and yes, it does climb up in your nostrils!) is that it dries down with a hint of the notes I get in my squirt of Thrive (probably the ginger) and a hint of Winter Wind's mint notes.

Goblin all the wayyyy!

This is as described, a fruity blackberry scent. It's sweet and pleasant, but not as memorable as most of my other bath oils. However, it layers very nicely with the imp of Glasgow I recently received as a frimp from the lab. My decant was enough- I'll use it, but I prefer my beloved Anthesteria for my fruity bath oil.

This is the patchouli single note I've been longing for! It's got a hint of sweetness, yet very earthy, not stinky, but absofuckinglutely the perfect patchouli to wear alone or for added oomph to my other beloved patchouli blends. This to me is the same patchouli that is in so many of my favorite blends. There is no menthol, just dark patchouli wiht a sweet ness in a molasses-sweet kind of way. I want to drown in this... 55 gallon drums of it would not be enough. I bought four bottles and am considering more. This will be the patchouli to age along with me, and to last me for the rest of my life. I swoon, I die, and die happy surrounded by this patchouli.

I ordered a decant of this, which arrived too late to get a bottle, and I knew I should have just ordered this unsniffed. So I was very excited to get a bottle in a forum swap. I find this to be the similar patchouli as that in both #occupy and Banshee Beat, with the honey and amber to sweeten it. Why oh why didn't I just order multiples at the time it was available? Also, for the patchouli lovers here, this is the perfect complement to my beloved Amber and Patchouli hair gloss, which I wear almost daily in my hair.

This is nice, a mildly fruity wine, but not nearly as good as my lovely Anthesteria. I'll stick to Anthesteria for my wine scented bath oil.

Oh man, this is baaaaddd on me, The jasmine dominates and smells like fresh mulch- the kind that has a manure smell. It just doesn't fade away. I gave it an hour on my skin and finally had to scrub it off. Good thing I only tried it on my arm, instead of my usual after-shower moisturizer slathering. Sorry but this decant will be more than enough... I might go ahead and actually give it a try in the bath as intended, but if it goes all jasmine in there too, then I'm passing my decant along. Too bad, because all the other notes should have been good.

SDDB's review (AWESOME) is once again perfect. Another home run, and another one that I would wear as a perfume (and might have once again "accidentally" sprayed on my arm ) Editing months later to add that I love to spray HOUF on my neckscarves, especially those that are knitted. The scent lasts and lasts, and I get the most amazing wafts of beautiful scent. I just adore this spray!

I agree with Herb Girl that this has a similarity to Oak Leaves and Kyphi, although they are not the same. Either way, this is a beautiful dark plum scent, grounded by the tobacco. I think I also said about Oak Leave and Kyphi, but I really do wish this was also a perfume! (I might have "accidentally" sprayed some on my wrist )