filigree_shadow

YES. It smells like it belongs on an antique make-up table next to one of those sterling silver brush and mirror sets. Quite perfumey, and a little bit powdery -- but in a good way. This is what I imagine upper-class women smelled like in the 1940s. The perfume of a woman who is feminine but strong. It's a take-me-seriously scent. Not sure if I can pull this one off, but I'm sure as hell going to try. And this is nothing at all like the impression I thought I'd get from Ozymandias, but there you go.

I'm with the other reviewers who said this smells like cedar. Very strongly. Like Cathedral. I smell no dirt, nothing rooty or spicy. Just straight up cedar. Very sweet resin. Although it was quite strong at first, after about 15 minutes it softened up a lot. And I'm getting the same sort of comforted feeling from this that I get from Aureus. I'm thinking about wearing this at bedtime.

Very bright, with a citrus-like quality to it. It smells kind of juicy. It's hard to describe -- of the citrus scents I'm familiar with, it smells closest to lime. It's tangy instead of sour. And there's something underneath there, too... as it dries I think I smell something that's almost floral but not quite. It's sweet. Give it an hour or so before you make up your mind, because it changes. I like the scent, but to be honest it smells like bath products to me -- not really like a personal fragrance. I'm not saying it smells soapy, I just mean that it's the type of bold invigorating scent that people like to use in scrubs and stuff.

At first it's bright and minty. Very slight lime twang to it, but mainly mint. Then almost immediately it turns into a whole lot of lime. Tangy. Probably from the apple. This is actually pretty nice for a minty scent, but it's still a little bit too minty for me personally. Quite bright and fresh-smelling, though, and I don't get soap from this at all. And it's quite soft for a mint -- not bold.

Oops, this is kind of a sour floral on me. And it's giving me a headache. Hunh. This is the first BPAL that has ever done that. It's strong, too. I think I'm going to have to was this off...

Definitely fruity, but not overly sweet. Plum with some florals. It's not sharp at all, it's very round. Smooth. This actually smells more perfumey to me than other BPAL oils. Very feminine. I like it a lot -- since the floral scent is in the background, this is definitely one I could wear. It's certainly light enough for spring. I have to admit, I am extremely impressed with the Orisha blends. The ones I have tried have all been lovely and complex.

I knew I should have gotten a 5mL of this straight off. Deep and musky, with just a little bit of resin. I don't think this smells masculine, but it is dark. The saffron is lovely. Overall this is a beautiful blend. Put some of this on my hubby, and on him the sweet resin is a lot stronger. I like it on him, too. I think this one and Hellion are the only ones that work well on both of us. Edited on 7/9/08 to add: I've been letting my imp sit a good long while, and now it's about two years later and I'm wearing it again. Wow. It smells fabulous. It reminds me a whole lot of my aged Al-Azif bottle from the Springtime in Arkham series. My husband wore Oblivion today too, and we both liked it a lot. I'm now trying to talk him into buying a bottle of it.

I saw all the comparisons to Queen of Spades in the reviews here, so I put Frumious Bandersnatch on one arm and QoS on my other arm. FB is spicier on me. The "spicy carnation" part is prominent. QoS is fruitier, rounder, and more floral. Actually, I expected FB to be more floral than it is. They are slightly similar to my nose, but I like the sweetness of QoS better than the spiciness of FB. Wish I got more plum out of this like some other reviewers do. This is scent is plenty pleasant in its own right, but I'm afraid that nothing will win when being compared to QoS for me. Kinda wish I hadn't done that comparison now, just to see what I had thought of FB all on its own.

I put a little swipe of this on my wrist and thought it smelled a bit like Scherezade, which makes NO sense. So I put a more generous amount on and sniffed again. Big apples this time, but that really only lasts for about 10 minutes and then everything starts to blend. I'm finding out that I like these chili peppers. It's the right kind of spicy quality for me, I think. And the coconut gives it a creamy background. I thought the pineapple would be overwhelming, but to be honest I don't think I can even smell it. The weird thing is that I am still reminded of Scherezade, only sweeter. There's no red musk in this, so I wonder what combination of notes is giving me that impression. This is a fantastic blend. I'm not nuts about the apple stage but I love it after that. It's quite intriguing -- one of the ones where I have trouble picking out the notes. Very well done! Shango is going on my "wanted" list for 5mLs...

I very nearly bought a 5mL of this at the update instead of an imp, and I'm glad I didn't. Not that this is a bad scent or anything -- I do like it, it's just that I like Ogun better. Yemaya and Ogun both have that melon that reminds me of Fee, but Yemaya is that same very bright melon and candyish melon that Fee has. Ogun is darker and more my style. Anyway, Yemaya is quite pretty and sweet. It's absolutely melon.

Leather. Warm, sexy, Marlboro Man kind of leather. Rowr. It smells a little sharper, more like De Sade, on my husband than it does on me. I think it smells better on me! But he won't let me keep it, even though I love it! In reviews a lot of times I say something like "This one is not for me." This one is FOR ME! Please please please bring this back! Me and gangstaknitta alone will make it worth your while!!!

This smells creamy on me for some reason. Rich. And it's about as green as I like to get. To me, this has a vaguely feminine plant-like scent without smelling like a flower. (Which is good, for me.) It's slightly sweet, but nothing at all like fruit. For some reason it reminds me of a leaf. It's fresh and smooth and interesting. I like it a lot.

I sniffed it in the imp and thought "Oh no, this is going to be like Zombi, just dirt dirt dirt." But it's not. Yes, there is an unmistakable soil smell to it, but it's sweet. It's not that pungent oakmossy dirt scent. Reminds me of loam. As it's drying it definitely gets an acidic characteristic -- probably the pickles nineveh was picking up on. But then it moves into a combination of something exceedingly sweet and powdery but darkly musky as well. For some reason I often think of scents in terms of music. If it's really sweet it seems high-pitched, and if it's dark and deep it's low-pitched. This one is a soprano and bass duet. But it's not comfy or calming at all, so unfortunately it's not for me. Very interesting and well-done, though.

Very woody. I can't wear pine because it makes me think of cleaning products, and I can't wear cedar because it smells peppery on me. Odin smells like sweet wood with some kind of musky ... hold on, it's getting kind of a spice/herb twang to it. Um, wow. Holy crap. Excuse me, I have to go put this on my husband. Right now.

I agree with SeaMonkey -- Ogun reminded me of Fee right at first, but Fee was a bit too sweet for me. I like this one better, it's darker and more complex. The melon backs down a lot on drying. I can still smell melon, but wow, the tobacco and chili pepper is much better than I expected it would be. It's not too sweet or too spicy. I'm surprised because I thought this would be heavy, and it's not. I also thought it would be masculine, and it's not. Anyone who is even slightly interested in melon should try this. Actually this is a very comforting scent to me. It doesn't remind me of a comfortable time or place, it reminds me of a comfortable person. I think Ogun is going to get a lot of love.

ETA: This was from April 10. I can't find the appropriate thread right now so I'm putting this here. Holy fricking crap. This has been one of the best days I've had in a long time. I'm thinking it ranks right up there with the day we brought our puppy Prudence home. I had so many packages delivered today that the mailman left one of those plastic mail bins outside my front door. And this is what was in it: My March update order with 5mLs of Peony Moon, the two Monster Baits, Saturn, and Uranus. And 3 imp packs with imps of all but two of the March GC updates, plus 13 frimps. YAY! I also got packages from herbhealer (Thunderbird!!) and sheila (with tons of stuff off my wishlist that I bought from her, including a 5mL of Beatrice, which is now my spring scent!). In addition to that, I got my "mystery box" from eBay, which had in it decants of Peony Moon and the Monster Baits! Plus tons of other stuff too, including 7 BPAL imps! I also got my fabulous order from Arcana, with soaps and perfume oils, and they frimped me a couple of oils plus a free big bar of Dia de los Muertos soap! And here is where I'm saving the best for last. I got a total of 13 decants that I bought from lorajc, including these: Snowblind, Skadi, Queen of Spades , and FORMULA 54. This has been my BEST BPAL DAY EVER!!!! Thank you thank you thank you to everyone who sent me these great packages!!!

Brownie batter. That exact scent. At the stage where the powdery bits are still clinging to the sides of the bowl and you're mixing in the eggs. (I'm not the only one who buys brownie mix in a box, right?) There is something else in there, too, but I can't place it. Something sweet. It changes a LOT after 10-15 minutes. It goes a little nutty, and it softens up a whole lot. No more brownie batter. Still chocolatey, but for some reason it reminds me more of Quik than brownies. (I'm not the only one who uses chocolate milk powder out of a tin, right?) I like this scent, but I have no idea what to do with it. I like foody blends, but I want to smell reminiscent of food, not exactly like it. Maybe someone will recommend some good layering ideas over in the Layering thread. (And now you all know my secret shame: I can't cook.)

Mabon is medicinal at first, but I think that's because apple tends to go acidic on me. The wine is a nice touch, and I can detect it. It smells woody somehow, but not strongly. It does remind me of apple cider, shy on the apple, heavy on the cider. After about 10 minutes it begins to smell somewhat like some of the chemicals I use in chemistry lab. Oh dear. I don't think this is going to work for me. After an hour or so it's a much lighter, sweeter, fruitier scent, and I like it a lot more. But that initial phase is just too strong for me to get through.

Cerberus is the King of Morph. The first time I tried it, when I put it on I thought "whew, where's that spice coming from?" I didn't think I was going to like it. After about ten minutes it changed into a deep, rich, almost earthy scent. Slightly bitter but not overly so. Intriguing. Dry, it mellowed out into a soft chocolate figgy scent with just a little hint of spice to it. I I liked it, so I decided to wear it again. This time, immediately after I put it on I thought "Lemons?! What the --?" I even checked the imp to make sure I hadn't picked up the wrong one. Okay... same imp, totally different scent than the first time. As it started drying I could tell it's not actually lemon, it must be the juniper berry. Then my beloved fig started to come out, and I got a tiny bit of chocolate. Half an hour later it turned into a barely bitter but sweet warm fig scent Somehow Cerberus manages to smell sweet and deep at the same time. It smells nothing at all like my dog, but it evokes the same types of feelings -- it's cozy and friendly and comforting. And I think that's what Beth was going for, so yay! It worked!

I have a problem with lemon and lemon peel amping on my skin, and they have wrecked more than one blend for me. So I was worried about this one. However, my skin also amps vetiver, which smells dark and broody and beautiful on me -- not like dirt, more like smoke. And in Lenore, vetiver wins! Yay! On me this is a soft dark blend, with the barest twinge of something herbal. The lovely plum is prominent at first, but it fades after a couple of hours, leaving me with something that reminds me, strangely, of Aureus. It has that ethereal quality to it. It's comforting and cozy and only very, very slightly feminine. A Demon in My View has three of my all-time favorite BPAL scents, and Lenore is one of them. (The other two are The Haunted Palace and Dreamland.)

I agree with blu° - Prague is perfect for this time of year. I wore it yesterday and it made me happy. And Rhowan reminded me about Kitsune-Tsuki -- that should be perfect on a day like today with lots of sun and a gentle breeze. Aglaea is going to be making her grand entrance this week too. Yesterday the hubby was wearing Usher, and it also has a very springtime quality to it.

[Apologies in advance for the length of this post.] I've read every thread about ccNow, PayPal, and ordering that I could find. The summary recommendation seems to be: Use PayPal instead of ccNow if you can because ccNow takes a big cut of the Lab's money and because all that received/shipped/etc. stuff from ccNow is confusing. All of that makes sense. And now here's my actual question: Is another benefit of using PayPal that my order shows up in the Lab's queue faster? (In one thread, someone said yes, and someone else said no. But that was a long time ago.) This is why I'm asking: I'm pretty new to BPAL (only two months), and for Sleepy Moon I just ordered it at some point in the middle of the day. Then everyone was getting their CnS notifications, and I didn't have one for several days. I was feeling a little sad because I was dying to know what it smelled like, and there were bottles up on eBay before I got mine. So I thought for the next lunacy update I'd stay up late and order right away as soon as the update was live. And maybe I'd be one of the lucky ones with an early CnS because I'd be at the front of the line, so to speak. So for Peony Moon I was totally obsessive about making sure I was online when the update went live, and I ordered as soon as I could. But the same thing is happening this time -- people have been getting their CnS notifications since 3/31, but I don't have one. I don't know if it's because my order was huge (1 of each 5mL that was on the LE page, and 3 imp packs with 18 of the new GCs), or if it's because I used ccNow instead of PayPal. I'm kinda thinking it was because of ccNow. I didn't know about ccNow taking a big cut until today -- I've been using it for every order (12 orders total). Finding out that ccNow took 10% of the Lab's money for all my orders makes me sick. I'll be switching to PayPal for everything from now on. It'll be interesting to see if I get one of the early CnS notifications for Dragon Moon or not...

The ones that are very candy-like on me are Eris, Midwinter's Eve, and Titania. I totally agree with thedragoncharmer about Lady MacBeth & Hollywood Babylon... they aren't really candy scents on me, but very fruity/berries. Also Bewitched. Also you might look at Bordello and Lilith -- Bordello morphs into boozey but starts out very sweet and fruity, almost like watermelon. Lilith is sort of similar but darker than Bordello. There are a couple of really good fruit candy-smelling LEs: Pink Moon and Budding Moon are quite sweet and fruity on me. Pink Phoenix, too. For violets, I think La Serpent Qui Danse is a great blend. Violets and vanilla.

I agree with slave1's review -- I found Marquise de Merteuil to be just as she described it. Definitely peach, but the florals and vetiver make it sophisticated instead of girlie. Plus I think peach and amber is a fantastic combination. I already have a 10mL of Tamora, and a 10mL of Marquise de Merteuil is currently on its way. I just love the Lab's peach scents, and I think Tamora is the perfect daytime peach and Marquise is the perfect evening peach.

Very cherry at first. Not at all like cough syrup or fake cherry flavoring. Like I just stuck my nose in a jar of maraschino cherries. (Which is not to say The Red Queen smells like almonds, becasue I don't think it does.) It's really faint, which surprised me. For The Red Queen, I expected a much bolder and stronger scent. It's sweet and candy-ish, but not at all strong. After about 20 minutes the wood notes come out and give it a nice balance. I don't think this is for me, but it would be good for someone who likes the sweet resiny-wood blends.