Poenari

Hello strawberries! I don't think I've ever tried one of the Lab's strawberry blends before, and I am amazed at just how much this smells like a bowl of fresh strawberries. In fact, that's all I smell. Maybe because I'm not used to it, I don't know, but it is beautiful. I can't smell peach at all, nor the other notes as distinct from each other. It's just a lovely bowl of sweet strawberries, but after a while it has the barest hint of peach. Ah, there is finally some sandalwood emerging. This is not "my" kind of scent, but I am really glad to have the decent and will definitely wear it. I think it will be a nice scent to apply first thing in the morning and sniff while I sit and drink my coffee before my shower.

I tried this without first re-reading the notes. I knew from the color of the oil that it was the one with red musk, so that was a good start. Upon application and while wet, I smell peach first, not red musk. Huh! This is surprising, since I amp red musk whenever it's in a blend. But immediately following the peach is something else... I can't quite decide... something green, almost foresty, I look up the notes and aha! It's the cypress! This is interesting and not what I expected. After drydown the red musk finally shows up and starts to amp, as expected. Later on, this is all fruity red musk on me. No signs of myrrh, patchouli, or vetiver in this blend, each of which I can easily identify. Don't be afraid of the patchouli or vetiver, for those who don't care for those notes. They aren't identifiable, but probably help to keep this a grounded scent and balance out the sweetness of the peach and red musk. This is a lovely scent and I'm glad that I got to try it. Fortunately for me, I have many other gorgeous red musk blends so I don't feel the need to chase after a bottle of this one.

This is a great dirt scent and very reminiscent of one of my favorites, The Premature Burial. They share the dirt and cypress, but Midian is a gentler scent, with a touch of the blood and incense faintly present. I am happy to have this as another dirt scent in my collection. Lovely and wearable, very autumnal.

Since it's autumn, I'll start with a few of my favorite autumn pairings (so far ): Autumn Leaves & Haitian Patchouli HG with: Samhain Death of Autumn Hallowe'en 1914 Black Silk Crypt Queen Tricksy HG with; Tricksy (duh) Womb Furie The Infernal Lover Black Clove, Grave Soil, & Tobacco Flower HG with: Hellgate of Ireland Gacela of the Dark Death Night Hag Visiting the Lapland Witches Crypt Queen Samhain Mircalla Red Apple HG with:: Fearful Pleasure Lambs-Wool Creepy Trick or Treat Pumpkin Spice Everything HG with: Pumpkin Spice Everything Pumpkin Lace Pumpkin IV '09 Pumpkin Princess Pumpkin Queen ALL THE PUMPKIN SCENTS That's just a start

I'm a "flower hater" and believe me, June 23, 1868 is the ONE TRUE FLORAL for floral haters. I adore it and even bought a backup bottle. On my skin, there is no sharpness, no headache-inducing white floral, no soap. It smells like a big bouquet of lilacs with the tonka, tobacco, and vanilla keeping the flowers in check and melding into a sensual bouquet.

Graveyard Dirt is THE perfect dirt scent! Last year's Halloween scents included Single Note: Pile of Fallen Leaves. You might have some luck finding them for sale on the forums.

Leather and petitgrain were the only two notes that I was uncertain about in this one, while all the others are full of win, so I ordered a bottle. I usually amp frankincense, but for once it is staying in its place. What I get is a beautifully blended spicy incense, but I can pick out the clove and champaca. The throw is softer than one might expect with all of these notes, and it stays very close to the skin. This is an incense blend that is wearable even in the 90° heat we're currently experiencing, where I usually have to hold off for cooler weather to wear clove/tobacco/incense blends. Love it!

Another member of the stinky hippie family here! This one was an instabuy because of course I need another patchouli scent in my collection. So, about the cannabis... I haven't smelled the real thing in decades, but upon opening the bottle, woah did that bring back memories! Upon application, the cannabis was the first hit I got but it was immediately followed by the patchouli, vanilla, and hemp blend. I was a bit nervous at first that I would never be able to wear this out of the house, but the cannabis dries down very quickly and within a half hour is only there if you know to look for it. I really don't think that it would be noticeable unless I stuck my wrist up to someone's nose and pointed it out. I love my Banshee Beat, and this contains a drier, much less sweet vanilla and patchouli combination. It's not as sweet as Sumatran Red SN nor Goblin, and more along the lines of #occupy wall street without the cocoa. It also doesn't really waft after the drydown and stays surprisingly close to the skin. This has much less throw and is not as long lasting as BB and after the first hour, is a soft herbal vanilla blend, with even the patchouli not as in yer face as usual. I'm glad I bought this, but one bottle will suffice.

Based on the notes alone I would never have bought this one, as I don't like citrus scents and especially dislike anything orange flavored. But it's called Jiggery Pokery and so I just had to have it for the name and for what it references. I wanted the bottle label, so I ordered a bottle as soon as it went live instead of just getting a decant. Hey, it's for a good cause, too. Pink pepper is usually not good on me either, so it's interesting that I really don't even smell it in the bottle or on my skin. What I do get is orange creamsicle, as others have said. On the drydown, I think the pink pepper keeps the cotton candy from turning into a sickly sweet blend, and keeps it from being too little-girlish. It's a nice scent, definitely not "me" but wearable. Once he's old enough for me to wear perfume around him, I would wear this on days that I babysit my grandson, or if I was traveling and wanted to wear a subtle inoffensive scent. Plus it's just damn funny.

I can't describe this scent very well at all by picking out the notes. However, the primary scent that I get from this is the same patchouli that I get from Funnel of Love, so that's a great start! This is like a younger sibling to it, not the same, but in the same family. I can tell there is tobacco and vanilla but I don't at all get sandalwood's typical pencil shavings note. The strangest thing is that for me, this is a scent that can either be autumnal or worn in the spring on a warm day. I don't usually cross my seasonal scents, but this one is a great transitional weather scent. I really like it!

I've been wanting to try this, so I was very happy to receive a frimp in my latest Trading Post package. Upon application and for a good 30 minutes afterward, this has some serious waft and throw! On my skin, the bourbon vetiver is all I smell. That variety of vetiver is the sweet, grassy kind, not the smoky sometimes burning kind of vetiver. I love vetiver in general, but this one is really the good stuff! Remember way back when B&BW had a scent called Vetyver. Blasphemy to mention it here, but that was before I discovered BPAL (besides, it was only available in 2003) and I loved that scent. This is very reminiscent of it! There is almost a floral quality to the cologne in this, between the sweetness of the opoponax, hay and vetiver. I don't detect any of the citrus I usually amp from bergamot, but that's not a bad thing. Overall, I could wear this scent easily as it isn't too masculine. But I really want to try to convince my husband to give it a go. I think it would be amazing with his skin chemistry.

The picture in the previous post is good, so I don't need to post another. However, I must say that I love this color! This is my first Claw Polish, and it was precisely because I adore all shades of green, but particularly olive shades, that made me buy it. I applied 2 coats over a strengthening base coat, and they applied smoothly and evenly. The golden shimmer is almost but not quite enough to make this a duochrome effect. I am in love with the color and will wear the hell out of it this fall.

This is a beautiful summery tropical floral. I get mostly Hawaiian White Ginger on my skin, and that's what sold me on Pele. Reminds me of my long-ago vacation in Hawaii. I will only want to wear this in the summer, but it is perfect for those hot summer days, or if I ever get to go on another cruise or beach vacation.

Here are two threads that might help you. BBW recs here: http://www.bpal.org/topic/12597-i-want-a-bpal-that-smells-like-bath-body-works/ And lots of coconut recs here: http://www.bpal.org/topic/21414-whats-the-best-coconut-blend/ Personally, my favorite coconut scent is Goblin. But you will see that there are a lot of great scents, depending on the "flavor" of coconut you are seeking.

A scent of dark corners and forgotten mysteries, secrets unearthed in dark attics, and cobwebbed, timeworn artifacts: vanilla bean, blackened and smoked, with husky clove, cinnamon bark, and a touch of beeswax. I obtained this bottle in a swap from a lovely forumite. In the bottle and on skin, this is definitely a softer, gentler scent than I would have expected. But if you consider the name, being loved to death would most likely occur in the same manner - this was not a crushing, cloying love, but a sweet gentle love that eased you as you passed on. The dark vanilla is there at the forefront and it is softly spiced from the cinnamon and cloves. Those two spices are blended in the perfume the way that they blend in a recipe; although you may only use 1/4 of cloves to 1/2 of cinnamon, they swirl into each other smoothly with the clove just a hint more prominent, and the cinnamon lacking any heat. Fortunately for me, I don't detect beeswax which often goes sour on me, but it lends the hint of sweetness and holds the blend together. I will wear this scent with love on those anniversaries of the loss of loved ones. And now here is the really strange part. This reminded me so much of another scent in my collection. I thought very hard and it came to me late last night, so I checked and yes! Although the only stated notes they share are the spices, this reminds me a lot of my bottle of Count Dracula. They are not the same, but in the feeling and in the surprising gentleness to each scent. I skin-tested them with one on each wrist, and side by side there is that difference in them due to the note differences, but I feel like they are sibling scents. Alluring and seductive in the most unsuspectingly gentle way.

If your Red Moon is the 2007 vintage, it's perfect for a sweltering day like today. I also love Snake Charmer in the summer, due to its hint of coconut. Just feels like a more summery version of Snake Oil

Literally everything. Brand new out of the mailbox, and I've already tested another gloss in my hair. But I'll give a quick impression here, because I'm sure people are waiting for reviews as anxiously as I've been. I'll come back and edit after I can do a full test in my hair. This is exactly as described- all pumpkin pie spices, just a bit of pumpkin. Very much like the original Pumpkin Pie bath oil which is very spicy. There is no buttery pumpkin in this and it doesn't smell like a jack o'lantern either. I am a huge fan of pumpkin pie and yes, PSL from Starbucks. This is the dream scent for every white girl with yoga pants, and now you can wear it in your hair. I can already tell I'm going to want a backup bottle of this, because I need to have enough on hand to also layer it with other glosses when I want to spice them up.

I just tried (and reviewed) my frimp of Vasalissa, in the Marchen category: She herself had cheeks like blood and milk and grew every day more and more beautiful: creamy skin musk and blushing pink musk with soft sandalwood, white amber, dutiful myrrh, and star jasmine. It sounds like something you would like. It's a sweet but soft, creamy pink musk. I get no jasmine stink (sorry, jasmine lovers but it hates me) and I think it is great for this time of year.

This was a frimp in my recent order, and I'm making more of an effort to test imps before putting them away. I didn't read the notes before trying this, just took a chance. It's a sweet skin musk, with a creamy note like Boo, but not as strong as Boo. It smells sweet, and pink, and just lovely and not at all something I would normally choose. As it dries, the musks stay creamy, and thankfully I get no dreaded jasmine notes. Nor can I actually pick out sandalwood and myrrh. This is one of those scents where the blend is more than the notes, and if I were wearing perfume around my new grandson, this is exactly the type of scent I would choose. A pink, softer version of Boo on me.

I was able to order a decant of this from a fairy, and I'm glad that I got to try it. The tiara is very prominent, which is also true of CVBT HG on me. This is a lovely summery floral scent. I won't cry that I missed out on a whole bottle, though, because I prefer the CVBT just a little bit for a summer scent, and it's a GC.

I have really loved the frimps I've received of Antikythera Mechanism perfume, and it has been sitting in my list of GC scents to buy, but until I got the hair gloss, I never pushed the perfume to the top of my list. I love the vanilla note here, and my skin loves teakwood and tobacco, so this is perfect for me. The hair gloss is heavier on the vanilla and woods, but the vanilla in particular is quite sweet here. In fact, this is like Revenant Rhythm with woods instead of patchouli. So much so, that I sprayed some RR HG on one wrist, and some AM HG on the other for side by side comparison. YES!! This is perfect for days when I really want the vanilla of RR but won't be in a setting where patchouli is appreciated.

I love red musk with all my heart, so I am glad that I was able to snag a full bottle of this from the Etsy update, after stupidly only requesting a decant from my con fairy. Red musk very predominant, but the vanilla and honey are there. I don't detect the other notes individually, but they combine to make this darker and smokier than Aspen Leaves and Fears. This is another hair gloss that will wear well with my red musk blends and I am very happy to have it in my collection.

I had read that the OLLA, Funnel of Love, is close in spirit to the Crypt Queen. "The whole feeling of this blend is rather like Crypt Queen, but with less fruit." Thanks I'll check that out! Crypt Queen is one of my top 10 of all time scents! I also love Funnel of Love, but it is nothing like CQ to me. In fact, there has never been anything that I've found to be a spot-on match, although I have tried over the years. But I would recommend Beautiful Death from Dark Delicacies. Even though it doesn't share the notes of Crypt Queen, it reminds me of a lighter member of the family. "A tragedy in one act: pale sandalwood threaded with a vanilla filigree, bitter green cognac, white tobacco, and Roman chamomile, stained by a splash of black tea and the deceptively sweet juice of belladonna berries.". Beth said that she created it for herself because she wanted something "corpse-y and bittersweet for spring.". I have one bottle and have considered a backup to really age for a few years.

Ashes, glowing embers, and tobacco absolute. This smells just like a cozy wood fire burning in the fireplace. It is a smoky-sweet scent, with the tobacco adding a touch of sweetness, like from a chewy sweet cigar. It lingers just long enough to leave a warm cozy scent in the room, as if your blankets have absorbed the woodsmoke. It's just beautiful and not overpowering. If you don't have a fireplace and wish you did, then this spray is for you! As a comparison, Bonfire Smoke Home & Linen Spray is the smell of an outdoor bonfire with autumn leaves burning and a slightly acrid ash smoke. They are different enough from each other than I'm happy to have both.

I love original Snake Charmer perfume as well as Snake Charmer Res, so this was a no-brainer of a purchase for me, regardless of how many other bottles of hair gloss I own. I instabought 3 bottles of this to have on hand, because I expect it to age beautifully, but also plan to apply liberally. I also started wearing my Snake Charmer perfume for a few days to get ready and remind myself of the scent. My bottles arrived today, and I jumped into the shower to wash my hair and apply my fresh but warm from the mailbox Snake Charmer HG. I did shake it up first, since I know how the hair glosses can separate, and this one has a Snake Oil type of base, which definitely separates. On damp towel dried hair, a few sprays into my palm, and YESSSS! This is definitely my beloved SC. After a light blow dry, I sprayed a bit on top to shine up the dry curly hair that I have. I am posting this review 7 hours later, and I can smell it wafting around me. Snake Oil similarity, but the plum and coconut add a summery vibe. The plum in Snake Charmer has always reminded me of Mme. Moriarty, and this does the same, but again, a lighter version. But don't confuse "lighter version" with lack of throw. It is beautiful, and I think I'm going to apply a spray before bed every night so that I can have it kind of soak into my pillowcase too. I am going to have sweet dreams for sure!