batsy

In the vial: green dandelions and booze. On the skin: Fresh cut grass and yellow dandelions. As it dried down, the hemp popped up. Full dry down was the same, with a booze backnote. I so wanted this to work but the smell of cut grass just gives me a headache.

In the vial: chocolate oakmoss. The chocolate note is always strong for me. On the skin: Chocolate peppermint pistachios. Drying down the cedar pops in to play. Full dry down it's like a woodsy/foodie scent. From that point on it became chocolate cedar. It's not bad, but it's not something I'd wear.

In the vial: That was my face upon sniffing. On the skin: I'm not as familiar with the notes in this one, but it's very herbal-ly and burns my nose. I would guess it's the cassis bud or the benzoin, but it might be the petitgrain. Overall this blend smells like the inside of the local feed & supply store and that's not something I want to smell like! The rose otto struggled to come out after the dry down but the throw of the rest of the notes is so strong it's making me sick. Verdict: Swap!

In the vial: Red apple and roses. Promising. On the skin: Red apple and teak. I'm pretty sure the neroli is strong on me today. As it dried down, it became teak, musk, and patchouli. Apple disappeared entirely, which is sad, because it's hard to find an apple scent that *stays* apple. Complete dry down it becomes teak wood furniture polish. Sigh. Verdict: Swap.

In the vial: Bright mandarin, but it has a plastic tinge to it. And a hint of spiciness. On the skin: Full on mandarin. Which is good, because normally I cannot wear things with any hint of fig in them. Even on the dry down, where it fades into my skin, it's still mandarin. Not much throw, if any, to this, unfortunately. It's a fun little scent, just not sure it really invokes its name. Verdict: Keep. Try at a later date to make sure there are no fig issues.

In the bottle: A fake blueberry note mixed with that note in Selkie that always hits me. (I think it's ozone?) Not bad; decidedly strong, though. On the skin: This reacts on my skin just as Selkie does, but with an underlying plastic blueberry note. (This will sound weird, but I had a My Little Pony that was scented blueberry and it smells just like she did.) As it begins to dry down, the lime creeps out for me; I'm not getting blackberry anything, but maybe the leafy smell is tied to the blackberry? It's not a strong wet leaves (probably more like wet fir needles), but it's also got a bit of spice in it (the ozone?) to my nose. Verdict: I like this. It really does remind me of Selkie (which I liked) but it's a lot stronger and seems to last longer/throw more on me. I may try layering it with something.

I've been into BPAL for, like, six years now and have never sniffed Snake Oil. I don't think I've ever received an imp of it. (Snake Charmer, on the other hand, I have six bottles of that.) So I thought I'd give the soap version a try, since I love Villainess soaps. Holy crow, I am DRENCHED in awesomeness! The soap was super smooth; it doesn't lather like some of the other Villainess bars I've tried but that's not a big deal. Having never tried Snake Oil before this, I think I'm now a fan. Will have to try out some of the other BPTP soaps.

In the vial: Patchouli and spicy incense, with a whiff of orange. Promising. On the skin: I imagine this is what an open-air spice market smells like. Normally, I would be very much "clove and orange, yeah!" but the incense and patchouli seem to make this smell like a "generic exotic perfume oil" on me. The cinnamon and clove does cut the patchouli, which my skin tends to amp, so that's helpful. I just with there was more clove and orange. Nice to sniff but probably wouldn't wear it very much, if ever.

In the vial: Nothing but warm musk. Hm. On the skin: I'm getting spices and musk, and whiff of sandalwood but the carnation is making this all sour on me. Dang. It's actually lovely, probably does evoke mental images of Morocco, but I'm not sure I'll keep it.

In the vial: Solid vetiver. Oh boy, it made me cough. On the skin: I wanna say this reminds me of Czernobog, but more as it's totally dark nothing sweet cousin. Now while I love Czernobog and it loves me, Sloth is nothing but vetiver on me and all I can smell is burning wood chips. Oh well.

In the vial: Exotic-type spices, sticky sweet caramel, honey. On the skin: This reminds me of that generic incense all the stoners loved. I think it's the red musk and the benzoin that are causing this comparison. Yeah, I don't really want to smell like that. My skin ate the caramel and honey and all I got left were the spices and musk.

In the vial: Lilies and musk. It's sweet, perfume-y. On the skin: Okay, near-instantaneous morph into soap. I still get lilies and something that evokes the ocean and salt, maybe that's the musk? Yeah, not going to work on me. Which is actually fine, because usually lilies and I don't mix. Still, a pretty scent.

The "Forum Only" blends have been around since 2004. Per the Review database: King of Spades (August 2004) Queen of Spades (August 2004) King of Diamonds (November 2004) Queen of Diamonds (November 2004) Ace of Hearts (May 2005) Queen of Clubs (May 2005) King of Clubs (5/7/05) Enraged Orangutan Musk (2/13/06) Enraged Bunny Musk (4/1/06-5/1/06) F5 (8/2/06-8/8/06) Enraged Groundhog Musk (Feb 2007) Hony Mone (11/21/07-11/26/07) Pirate Moon (9/25/07-9/28/07) The Phoenix (9/25/07-9/28/07) Frederic (Leap Day 2008) Democrat (Election Day 2008 frimp) Green Party (Election Day 2008 frimp) Independent (Election Day 2008 frimp) GOP (Election Day 2008 frimp) Libertarian (Election Day 2008 frimp) Tabella (Election Day 2008) E Pluribus Unum (Election Day 2008) Irrelevant and Disturbing Surreal Crawdad Dream (7/16/08-7/20/08) The Gladdener of All Hearts (9/2/08) Lilith Victoria (9/14/08) Lady Lilith (9/14/08) Agapē (1/15-2/15/09) Lilith and the Jarocho (June 2009) Lilith vs. the Giant Crab (9/2/09) Mlle. Lilith, Fortune Teller (9/2/09) Cake Smash (9/2/09) It seems like I'm missing something. But I might not be; there's not always a "Forum Only" update when there's a Lunacy.

In the bottle: red velvet cupcakes, indeed. Very sweet, very much related to Beaver Moon. On the skin: This blend morphs like WHOA on me! At first it's all cupcakes and cream cheese. On the dry down, I get all Snake Oil and Dorian. It's actually not as overpowering on me as Beaver Moon can be, which I love. I wanted something sweet to wear, that's a foodie but doesn't give me a headache. Cake Smash fits that bill. I'm not as familiar with Doc Constantine (I think I have a decant somewhere) but if you love Snake Oil and Dorian then you'll be set. I may have to buy a 3rd bottle.

In the bottle: apple-y, kind of juicy apple like warm apple pie with cinnamon. On the skin: A word of warning: a LITTLE of Lambs-Wool goes a LONG way! This is very similar to Punkie Night, only far heavier on the nutmeg/clove for me. I put it on like I would any of my BPAL and the throw is very strong, almost too strong. It's sweet and sugary, but also spicy. It will be a definite favorite of mine for the Fall. I do wish I got more apple after the dry down, but I love the blend anyway. A very foodie blend, if you're looking for one.

In the vial: Musky, clean, with a whiff of sweetness. Promising! On the skin: My skin amps patchouli. Actually, it's kind of playing the patchouli against the orchid and musk. It's very soft, yet I could smell this on a guy. That might be because of the juniper berries.

Earth sorceress and mother of Mordred, she is, in essence, the harbinger of King Arthur's doom and the downfall of Camelot. She is a sister, or sister-self, to Morgan Le Fay. A bouquet of five night-blooming flowers deepened by dusky violet, purple fruits and the barest breath of medieval incenses. In the vial: Incense with a hint of purple fruity-ness. On the skin: Oh there's the violet. At first I was thinking 'plum?' but it's violet. It's very much a floral; I've already lost the incense. All flowers and violet. Oh well. It's pretty in its own way.

In the vial: White resins. I know that sounds odd. On the skin: It's almost a citrus, faintly lemon. It's a floral, but very light. It's turning to furniture polish on me, unfortunately.

In the vial: I think the sweetness is the narcissus. Kind of sweet and dark. On the skin: It's hard to describe accurately. It's dark and clingy. More of a floral on me; the narcissus is amped. Not bad.

In the vial: ...I'm not going to repeat what just came to mind. Not promising. On the skin: Yipe. The carnation, bergamot, and vetiver are seriously killing me. This is seriously not for me.

In the vial: Lilac, berries, and gardenia. A good mix. On the skin: Holy cow, my skin just amped the gardenia to 11! I'm not getting anything else. Okay, as it dried down, I'm not sure what happened but it wasn't good. Again, strange memories associated with scents happened. Dang. Oh well, it's a good gardenia scent!

In the vial: The smell of the children's cold medicine I used to take as a child? What? *stares at the imp* Wow... On the skin: Well, huh. If I push hard enough past horrible medication-related memories, I get fruit. There's a whiff of amber, but it's really just a bunch of fruits. Unfortunately, all I can think of is that junk they gave me to take, so I won't be keeping this. I hate when this happens! Eep.

In the imp: Definietly got the frankincense going on. Kind of dark and dry like smoke, too. On the skin: Oh, that's rosemary. A very dry, woodsy/earthy mix. I'm sure the hyssop and oakmoss are what's making my eyes water. After the dry down it went all patchouli on me. Meh.

In the bottle: Fruity patchouli. It sounds hilarious but it smells delicious. I think I picked both of the "fruit" bats. (Virtue being the other.) I think the heliotrope is a little stronger on second sniff. On the skin: I'm deducing that's bergamot. It's the strongest, battling with the heliotrope. On the dry down the blackberry comes out, very subtle like berries in the sun. It's quite a blend going on. Then it morphs into patchouli and I'm not sure I'd wear this much. Still a lovely scent for a little bat.

In the bottle: Strawberries. It reminds me a little of the My Little Ponies that were "fruit scented". It's got a tinge of plastic-ness to it, but it's not terrible. Just overwhelmingly strawberry. (Irony for someone who is woefully allergic to fresh strawberries.) On the skin: To be honest, it smells like delicious strawberry freezer jam, the kind my dad's sister made when I was a kid. It's deeper then straight strawberry, and I'm pretty sure that's because of the rose/huckleberry. It has a similar rose component to The Unheavenly City, which I love. The dry down brings out the frankincense but overall it morphs into such a lovely scent. A very beautiful little bat!