miss_rynn

I dithered about this for so long, but I decided to bit the bullet for my love of chocolate and peanut butter. For the first half hour on my skin it's a delicious chocolate and nutty-coconut scent, but then it blooms into an incredibly true grenadine scent. Grenadine with an undercurrant of white musk. This is stupidly, impossibly pretty given the inspiration of the scent. Much love!

On my skin this is not at all what I expected from the description and the other reviews, but I love it all the same. It's a fresh, spiced masculine scent that borders on unisex. It doesn't have the soapy scent a lot of aquatics can have, but it certainly has a cool, damp smell to it. The spice is incensey, put not POW in your nose incense - it's more like unburned incense resin. Dry, exotic, and sophisticated rather than hippy-ish. The chocolate aspect comes through as a rich, deep cocoa scent - kind of like an unsweetened version of the cocoa in Boomslang. It's unusual, but at the same time comes across as vaguely familiar... it's a mystical deja vu scent. It's not aftershavey or soapy (as I said before), but it does have that certain unsweetened, clean, spice scent that comes across as masculine to me. I think this is the perfect scent for days I want to wear something more unisex.

When I first got this, it was an artificial, migrane-stabby strawberry scent that I just couldn't stand. Now, 18 months later, it's mellowed into something fabulous. It smells very baked-goods-with-strawberries-on-the-side. It reminds me a whole lot of Beaver'versary, but it's not quite as sweet and has an almost savoury hint to it. It smells more like doughnuts than cake, without the greasy fried note of Midway. It's lovely!

This doesn't smell like something I would wear as a day-to-day perfume, but it's very profound nonetheless. It smells on my skin exactly as if I had been working at my altar for a few hours - I tend to burn frankincense resin and rose oil is an oil burner, and while Rose Cross doesn't smell like actual frankincense resin and an actual bunch of roses, the smell on my skin is almost exactly the same as the smoke and oil mix that clings to me after I've been at my altar. I actually smell perfumed, rather than that I am wearing perfume. I expect that I won't wear this out and about, but I will wear it when I'm doing spell work.

All florals and sadness It smells like a floral version of the honey and red musk in Womb Furie, and gives me a headache like an icepick through the skull. So terribly unhappy, because I had such high hopes.

Definately from the same family as Dorian, but much more masculine. Dorian's older, less foppish, more straight-laced yet kinky brother. It becomes a very fresh after-shave scent, bright with citrus, but grounded in soft leather. This isn't the punch-you-in-the-nose leather of Whip (for example) - it's more like a suede scent. It smells like the flogger of a dark, sensual Dom. ... I'll be in my bunk.

This one shocked me in numerous ways. Yes, it starts out as a rich, sweet, drippy pear scent, but that phase doesn't last long on my skin. It doesn't even stay sweet, and I get no vanilla. What I do get is an incredibly reaslistic cream scent that - wonder of wonders - neither turns sour or turns to ashtray on my skin. Just a bowl of fresh cream. This wasn't what I was expecting at all, but I have a feeling I'm going to love using this to layer with!

Actually, not too sweet! The right man could get away with this. This is slightly woody, resinous vanilla, not at all foody. On first application it feels like the vanilla in TKO, but it settles to be quite similar to Tombstone, though not as woody or sasparilla-ish. It's quite subtle and sits close to the skin, not punch-you-in-the-nose like the TKO massage oil. I like it! I'll probably wear it more as a perfume than use it for massages.

Cake Smash with extra spiced rum. It's cakey, with hints of Dorian in particular, with a rich tobacco undertone. It starts out with a red fruity tone, but settles down to a boozy, cake sent.

This may get me lynched, but this reminds me of a floral commercial perfume. I think it's the mix of tiare and guava that does it. The frustrating part for me is that under the strong floral I can smell the parts of Pumpkin Queen that I love. It's sweet, with a bright pumpkin note (not a musky one), and over all gives the impression of a floral gourmand scent. If you like Pumpkin Queen and florals, this is probably a great scent for you!

This is unfortunately too heavy on the musks for me to enjoy. It's a bit like a sweeter version of The Soldier. I do get a little bit of the vanilla and mandarin peeking through, but it's mostly very dark, musky and patchouli based. It has a very similar base to Snake Oil, without as much sweetness or spiciness to lift it. I can see how this would work on the right person, but alas it is too heavy for me. If you love dark musks, though, it's certainly worth a look in!

I've had a rough few months, so I've gone back to my roots and have been trying different magical oils from different companies to try something - anything - that might help. Lionheart sounded like part of what I need right now; the strength to keep going, and the courage to do it. If there's anything I need right now, it's more positive energy in my life. Scent-wise, Lionheart seems to come from the same family as Anthelion. They have the same herbal base notes, slightly bitter and green, under a different top note. This took me by surprise when I first sniffed from the bottle, actually, because I couldn't really tell the two apart. The upper notes are quite different, though. Lionheart is a strange mix of honey and... dishwashing liquid, or laundry detergent. Not in a bad way, but more in that 'fresh, bright kitchen' or 'clean, soft sheets' kind of way. It's hard to describe, because it's a sweet, bordering on gormand scent with a very clean, snuggly feel to it. I know that certain musks can smell like clean sheets, so maybe that's what it is. The honey-sweetness of it lasts very well, and leaves you with a kind of sweet haze all day long. As for effectiveness, I have something of an unusual reaction to TAL oils that I don't get with magical oils from other companies. The effects seem to be bright, brilliant, short-lived, and leave me quite drained afterwards. Glamour is the worst offender of this for me, and left me with something of a magical hang-over after an hour or two. Lionheart certainly made me feel more bouyant and confident, able to take on whatever the world threw at me, but this feeling only lasted a few hours, and afterwards I felt quite flat. What I think is happening is that TAL oils burn up my energy faster than it gets replaced, so the more 'aggressive' the oil is, the harder the crash I get afterwards. Lionheart isn't really an aggressive blend per se, so I'm not totally wrecked afterwards, but like all TAL oils it's something I need to keep in mind. Your results may vary.

I'm not a fan of this, which is sad because I really wanted to like it. In the bottle it smells like very dusty, dry cocoa and patchouli; no sweetness, just very dry, dusty and almost herbal. On the skin the dryness eases up, but unfortunately so does the cocoa scent. It has a strong lemon note to it, which is a little sweet and not sharp. It's not just lemon by itself, though - there's a haze of herbal notes that tempers it. It's not particularly sweet, and I don't get any honey, cocoa or vanilla. I'm sure if you like citrussy/herbal scents that aren't sweet you would like this, but unfortunately this was not at all what I was hoping for.

This smells fantastic. It's a true musk-based perfume without smelling skanky or dirty. It's a gingerbread perfume that doesn't smell foody. It's the perfect balance between a heavy, grown-up perfume and a playful, girlish gormand scent. It's pervasive and faintly sweet, but very grounded and warm. It's strong, yet subtle. This is the first BPAL perfume in a long time that has really, really impressed me.

It smells like rice pudding/porridge and English marmalade - slightly bitter, adult marmalade, rich in candied orange peel without being overly sweet. I have trouble with citrus scents that are too sharp, but this is a smooth, mellow scent. It would be stunning if it had a bit of ginger in it, and I'm going to try layering it with something like Sudha Segara, Shub, or maybe even Saw Scaled Viper.

If you like the idea of Snake Oil, but find it too sweet, cloying or spicey, than The Soldier is for you. It's the same red musk as is in Snake Oil, to the point where to me it smells like Snake Oil with the sugared vanilla spices removed. The leather is the same to my nose as is in Whip - suble, but pervasive. There's just a hint of vanilla and cream, but the end result is something very masculine. A masculine Snake Oil, if you will. I like my scents sweet and girlie, so this isn't really my thing.

Cocoa absolute, sugar cane, honey, black currant, vanilla, and caramel. This is the bath oil that I should have tried first It smells somewhere between Boomslang and Velvet to me, and I am overjoyed for it. It has that true cocoa smell from Boomslang and Velvet, not the chocolatey smell of Bliss. It's sweet without being overly so. I don't get any black currant from it, which is fine by me. It dries down to a sweet chocolately and almost woody scent on my skin; very much like Boomslang without the strong spices, or a sweeter version of Velvet. It has a very faint salty note to it, which I think must be the caramel. It blends really well with my skin scent, even after a hot and sweaty day. I expect that I'm going to be using this one an awful lot, and I'm super glad it's a GC bath oil.

This is quite pretty. First and foremost, it's a great oil (I use it as an after-shower moisturizer) - my skin drinks it in, and it doesn't irritate my eczema, which is good because half the reason I bought it was to help treat my poor sensitive skin. I do get the coconutty vibe mentioned above, but to me it smells more like good old-fashioned Australian lemon slice - lemon icing over a base of crushed Nice biscuits, butter and dessicated coconut. The apple in it is probably the most prominant note, and it's a tart, almost waxy apple. It's a scented body oil, not a perfume oil, so the scent it pretty subtle but at the same time pervasive. I would personally have preferred something a little more sweet and a little less plasticy, but I expect that's my skin chemistry reacting with the apple. It's a great quality oil, and while the scent is not what I'd use every day I expect I'll be using this one quite often as a moisturizer.

I wanted to love this. I wanted to love this so badly. It pretty much just smells like shae to me. This is my first BPTP bath oil, so it's possible that I'm just really sensitive to the smell of the shae oil in it. It's pleasant enough, it's just that I'm not a huge fan of the smell of shae, and I was really hoping for a vanilla scent. Still, my skin drinks it in, and it leaves me feeling soft and moisturized, so as a bath oil/moisturizer it's fantastic.

A strong, mean, black tea smell (it reminds me of darjeeling), with slightly under-ripe strawberries. A little sweetened, but not very. Faint flowers, at a guess something white and fresh like roses. I'm not hugely fond of this one. Something about the strong black tea and the strawberries smells a bit like off-putting anise with a hint of mint. I think what I'm put off by is the strong tannin scent from the tea. Tannins and I don't get along well - I have to put milk in my tea to cut the tannins a little or I end up feeling really head-achey and nauseous. I think it's more a scent-asociation which is bothering me. In any case, despite being a bit bitter (or rather umami, which is an odd thing to describe a scent as), it's just a little sweet and is quite fresh and bright smelling without being a citrus scent. Anyways, not really for me, but if you like black tea-scents (rather than green tea), this one will suit you.

This smells to me really, really similar to Spring Training 2008 - caramelly, and almost pancakey. It smells a little creamier and has more vanilla in it, though, almost like Spring Training with Delectable Putrescence. I don't get much rum, but... almost like tirimasu without the coffee. Delicate sponge cake, caramel, cream, butterscotch. Not all of BPAL's caramel notes work on me very well, and this one turns ashy on me after an hour or two, but it's still very nice.

This was probably my most anticipated scent of the weenies, because I missed out on it last year. I think it suffered a little from such high hopes It is pleasant, though! It's a tart, spiced apple smell. It does smell a bit waxy, but I think that's actually the milk note. But if you've ever cooked up apple slices with some clove, nutmeg and a dash of cinnamon, but NO sugar, you'll know this sharp hot apple mash smell. One of the stuffings I make for poultry is apple and sage; that's what this reminds me of, without the sage. This is actually great if you want a non-cloying apple scent. I'm probably going to try layering this with something super sweet of a candy apple scent.

This is not really what I expected, although it does serve to confirm that red velvet cake is one of my favourite notes of all time. This is the same red velvet cake as Monsterbait: Closet (which I adore), but without the blackberry. It has a similar creamy vanilla note as in Beaver'versary. So far, so good! On the skin, however, the cake/vanilla notes tend to tone down and fade. What is left is a very clear impression of Dorian (to me it's the vanilla-tea smell I get most strongly from Dorian), a dry wood (which I'm assuming is Doc Constantine), and a whisper of Snake Oil spices underneath. Really, it smells to me like a mixture of those three, with very little red velvet cake. That's a bit of a shame for me, but all in all I'm very pleased with it.

This is super, super pretty. It's like a more innocent version of O without the amber. To me, wet, it smells like vanilla and honey and cream. It doesn't last too long on the skin for me (although I only put a little dab on for testing), but it dries down to a very true light cream scent - not soured at all. I'm really impressed with this one.

I try to avoid a lot of the alcoholic BPAL scents because they tend to go to that stale alcohol smell of the morning after, rather than the delicious booziness of the night before. Ghoulish, while very pretty, is one of the scents betrayed by my skin chemistry. It starts out being a rich, red, candy cherry much like Bloody Mary, then heads to the more dark, realistic cherry scent of the Hideous Heart, both of which chased by a damp marzipan scent. Unfortunately, it dried down on my skin to the same sour booze smell I get from Hellcat. Infact, this feels to me very much in the same family as Hellcat, with a fruity note on top. This is just my skin chemistry, though - I can see how this would work on the right person. In fact, I'm probably going to wear this one in a locket.