batsy

Traditionally, Beaver Moon is named thus for a very obvious reason: during this time of year, beavers are hard at work building their dams and preparing for the onset of winter. However, we at BPAL rarely let an opportunity for sleazy campiness pass us by! For your pleasure and amusement, we present this year's incarnation of Beaver Moon: gooey apple cheesecake! Wow, I'm first? (That's never happened in all my BPAL years.) Ah, Beaver Moon. My first was the original. I have had good luck with these, so here's hoping 2012 is a keeper. In the bottle: Lambs-Wool cheesecake. I kid you not. It's not as strong as Lambs-Wool in the bottle, and there's decidedly a gooey cheesecake element, but still. On the skin: Decidedly cinnamon right off the bat. It doesn't burn my skin (thankfully) but it is certainly there. The smell reminds me of a home-made thick crusted apple pie with gobs of cinnamon on top. The apples scent is still the same note of Lambs-Wool (thankfully I love Lambs-Wool) and the more it dried down on me, the more the cheesecake note came popping through. Doesn't have a heck of a lot of throw, not as much as the original Beaver Moon or other incarnations, which is probably good. (Other versions tend to give me a headache, so I have to wear them sparingly.) Overall: A lovely addition to the Beaver Moon family. Foodies will love it, cinnamon haters might hate it. I love the artwork, as well. Only wish I'd been able to afford more than one bottle!

A shrouded embrace: blackcurrant and amber with cassis, lavender, and deep purple mogra. Wow, I get to be first? Cool. In the bottle: dark and sharp lavender. It burned a little at first whiff. On the skin: On application, it's pretty much all cassis and lavender for me. To my nose it's "green"; not woodsy nor aquatic, which is what I usually mean by green, but more a "magic" green. Herbal. Dry down: I wore this all day and while it does not have a strong throw, it decidedly stayed with me. The words that popped in my head when I catch the scent were "purple plastic", which I think is due to some deep-seated childhood memory of the scented My Little Ponies I had. This is not a bad thing! The more time that passed, the more it morphed into a purple amber, difficult to describe in words but beautiful to sniff. The lavender does not overwhelm like it can, and although I have no idea what purple mogra is, apparently it smells good to my nose. Verdict: I'm glad I bought one bottle of this. I took a chance based on the black currant and amber and got a nice blend I'm sure I'll enjoy when I choose to wear it.

In the vial: strong lavender, jasmine, herbal. On the skin: Burning lavender. Which, I like lavender, but whatever else is in this doesn't like me. It made me cough. This is certainly potent in the lavender department, so if that's you, then you'll want to check this out.

In the vial: Jasmine and burning. Burning in an unpleasant way. That's probably the myrrh, which usually I like. Bleh. On the skin: Okay, jasmine. I hate you, you hate me, why did I put this on? No, no, bad.

In the vial: SANDALWOOD, then leather. On the skin: hello white leather from a 1980s music video that ran in heavy rotation on MTV. I like this; usually I'm hit or miss with sandalwood but the leather makes this balance out in the "yum" category. I can only imagine this would smell wonderful on a man. It's spicy but the hit of leather makes it creamy (?) to my nose. I might have to invest in a bottle of this.

In the vial: Chamomile with herbs. A tinge of rose. On the skin: Yeah, this isn't very pleasant to my nose but certainly makes me think of Rome. The juniper disagrees with me, which of course my skin amps. This is a very clean, fresh scent, not exactly green but in that vein. Very herbal.

In the vial: Golden amber and a juicy peach. On the skin: The musk is amping hard, with the patchouli deepening it in a dark way. The peach eventually breaks through and turns overripe, over-sweet, and mixed with the musk and patchouli, it gets cloying. I really hoped this one would work but I don't think even letting it age would improve it for me.

In the vial: There's certainly date in this, with a bit of herbs. The longer I sniffed, the fig came out. On the skin: Yeah. That's fig. Fig and I don't play well. There's a bit of honey, mixed with decay (?) as well. Certainly evokes the city when sniffed, but not something I'd actually wear.

In the vial: super sweet coconut, with a tinge of something dark. On the skin: Yikes. This went instant baby powder on me. Which is sad, because I've been looking for something with proper coconut in it. Bugger. To the swaps pile.

It's been over a month since I got my bottles but being sick stalled out my ability to test them. Before bed, I slathered on Crimson and went to sleep, and I think it was a wise choice. It still smells awesome. In the bottle: red wetness; clove, oudh, resin-y. It does morph, as I sniffed it about a month ago and got a bit of a metallic hit back then. The oil is red, much like my beloved Unheavenly City. As soon as I put it on, it shot my mind right to my great-great-aunt's home in North Seattle. I have no idea how, as I haven't been in that house in over 30 years, but apparently it smelled similar to this blend. On the skin: super sandalwood! My skin really amps the incense in this, so I easily agree with the 'nag champa' comments above. It is a strong scent that morphs (I put it on about 4am and almost 10 hours later it's still going) down to a undeniable resin incense. Only when it's wet do I smell the clove and musk; it reminds me of another BPAL scent that does a near similar thing on me, but I can't quite place it. It has a hell of a throw, too. Of the three Crimson Peak scents I purchased, I think this will be my favorite.

In the vial: gun powder. Burning gun powder. I actually coughed. On the skin: Lemon Pledge and burning gun powder. I don't know; I would certainly say this blend does not work for me. Even after dry down, it's a burning, bitter, medicinal herb scent. And that's that.

In the vial: Oh, hey, ylang ylang. On the skin: I get myrrh, but it's not strong enough to overpower the florals. And even the ylang ylang is gone. I'm not getting roses, I'm getting flowery baby powder. Sadness. Swap pile!

In the vial: Chrysanthemum and cactus flower, the latter being something I love. Also a hint of darkness. Possibly the vetiver. On the skin: Leather, worn leather that's all warm and supple. At full dry down, I'm still getting leather but the floral aspect is coming out. It's not terrible; it reminds me of a western wear store (odd analogy, I know.) After a while it turned to floral hand cream with leather. I just can't see wearing this. Bummer.

In the vial: Minty. Fresh. The oil has an actual green cast to it. Neat! On the skin: This is a woodsy green, which is a "green" I can tolerate. I went into this without high hopes, so this is a nice surprise! It's certainly not strong in small doses, and you get a bit of spice in the background as it dries down. I got a whiff of smoke (incense?) as well. It's a sweet green, which is something I don't think I've ever said in any review! Overall, quite a surprise and I'll certainly keep this imp.

In the vial: ....chlorine from a swimming pool? Okay, that can't be intentional, but it's the first whiff I got. On the skin: super wet aquatic, like seaweed on a wet, sandy beach. But not a sunny beach; more like the Oregon coast. On dry down it got "green", so more seaweed and what I would hazard to be verbena. It smells like a hand cream that my mother has. A hand cream that I hate. I think I would like to forget this. Swap pile!

A friend procured a 5ml of this for me from NYCC as an extremely early Xmas gift. Just a bit of a preface: I adore Cerberus and Ivanushka, and was hoping that TBITC would be similar. In the bottle: strong but sweet sour whiskey, with a hint of wet fur. On the skin: It smells a lot like Cerberus when initially applied. It has a fair amount of throw at first. After several hours of wear, it dries down into a soft, sweet blend of whiskey - almost like the alcohol has burnt away and left just the sweet sugars - with a whiff of tobacco. This is great because it's got decent staying power, although not a lot of throw; it plays very close after that initial application. Which is unlike Ivanushka, which totally goes powdery and dies quickly, no matter how much I put on. Really, I adore this blend, and the story behind it, and feel fortunate I have a great friend who went after it for me.

In the bottle: strong maple syrup. Much like Cockagnie but without the pancake element. On the skin: The maple syrup factor, which I know isn't actually maple syrup but but more likely to be the ginger milk and cardamom mixed with the pumpkin cream, is super strong on me. Like, I barely put any on and I have this giant cloud of MAPLE SYRUP floating around me. This isn't a bad thing; at least with this it doesn't result in a migraine the way Cockagnie does for me. When I sniff my wrist, I get the black tea and pumpkin. I've been wearing it about five hours now and it's still MAPLE SYRUP but it's very pleasant. It's less spicy than Eat Me, but similar in the "warm comfort" scent way. I'm glad I bought a bottle, although I don't think I'll need a backup one. It will be interesting to see how this settles over time.

In the vial: So many notes that hate me. Mainly eucalyptus and cypress. On the skin: I guess it's the galangal because this deepens as it dries and gets quite impressive, until juniper marches in to bash me over the head. Totally dry, it's a cypress and juniper party. I think this would be great for a man but it won't work on me.

In the vial: Apparently I cannot escape patchouli tonight. On the skin: The patchouli disappears (yay!) and leaves the cassis and benzoin to play. I think the petitgrain gives it a woodsy flavored note. Not cereal grain, but grain-y. It's not until nearly full dry down that the rose otto comes out. This is very woods-y, grain-y, and not at all what I expected. I honestly can't see myself wearing it.

In the vial: Ylang ylang, we meet again. And you brought your friend, myrrh. On the skin: Okay, well they both took off and left over-whelming patchouli to stay behind. Yeah, this one is off to the swaps.

In the vial: Super patchouli, copal, and oakmoss. To the 10th power. On the skin: I couldn't put it on. My sinuses immediately reacted and it's so very strong, even in the imp's ear, I didn't want to chance a headache.

In the vial: Jasmine, darkened by something. I'm thinking the rose. On the skin: The myrrh adds some spice to this, which is mainly jasmine on me, with a deep dark rose note. Pretty but makes my sinuses ache.

In the vial: Unpleasant. In better descriptive terms, super bitter almond, heliotrope and frankincense. On the skin: It smells like almond muffins on my skin. That bitter taste. Yeah, all I get is almonds here. Swap pile.

In the vial: Orange. Which is a poor way to describe it but that's what I get: orange. On the skin: It's quite a sweet, over ripe candy orange on my skin. I don't get any fig, which is a blessing in disguise, even after full dry down. I'm not sure I'd wear this often, and the throw is very little on me, but I might layer it with something.

On the skin: crisp apple and rose, with a hint of teak. In the vial: I think that's the neroli, it's gone sour apple and dark. I can't say this ended up being what I imagined from the notes. Bummer.