mountainwitch

Pure and immediate joy. The doeskin must make this one--another “natural” smelling scent, this time evocative of wild grasses. On me this turns strangely feminine, yet utterly different from any fragrance I’ve tried before. Only one problem: the scent begins to fade after two hours, and before long the single remaining note is kind of flat, dim, and powdery. But hey, it's Coyote, and he never stays put for too long!

Heavy, heavy roses with this one . . . One of the first rose scents from BPAL that I actually don't like. As some reviewers have mentioned, something in this blend is reminiscent of smoke, but not Brimstone-sharp woodsmoke; the florals are ever-present. When I asked my mother to sniff it, without having seen the description, she immediately thought of cigarette smoke. This one's just too heavy for me.

The description of this imp was one of the reasons I put in my very first BPAL order. And for some lucky women, Bess is a benevolent queen indeed. On my mother this turned into a lovely floral; on my sister-in-law (who ended up with said imp) it was a sophisticated creation that showed off the hint of grape spirit like a tiny crowning jewel. And on me . . . A little orange. A little mint. Then rosemary, rosemary, ROSEMARY! Forget the scent of doomed love; I smelled like a spice cabinet.

A pretty, floaty, and above all one of the most feminine scents I've tried yet. Light and delicate and lovely just after I put it on, but it vanishes so quickly. Of all the scents I've tried, this one vanishes the fastest, disappearing just inside an hour. Maybe my skin just absorbs it . . . Or maybe somethings are just too pretty to last!

Just lovely--sweet, fresh, and still a little juicy. A bright and shimmery perfume, the perfect scent for a hot summer night. I agree with Melantha; this is one I'd love to smell just as I'm going to sleep.

Ever since I tried Montresor and Black Tower--with disastrous results--I've been leery of red wine scents. Lilith, however, worked with my skin, and now I can add Lady Macbeth to that list too. This scent is very bright, sweet without being cloying, and just overall fresh and sparkling. It's not quite how I pictured the Lady Macbeth, even though I had a friend who claimed the saddest line in Shakespeare was, "The Queen, my lord, is dead." This Lady Macbeth is younger and brighter than how she's usually portrayed, but she is certainly still ambitious.

Ordered this before I realized I should usually leave the leather-vetiver combination alone. (Oh, who am I kidding--I ordered this because of the name!) On me, predictably, too sharp, strong, and masculine. But on a guy friend--the same one who smells great in Black Tower and Highwayman--this is some potent and fantastic stuff.

Now this one's a surprise--definitely not just another floral. The last few blends I tried with lemon ended up browbeating me with a can of Lemon Pledge, but not Cordelia. The green tea reminds me a little of Bewitched; the florals are there, of course, but there's also an edge of almost-spiciness. And then there's the cedar, a perfect touch, and an aromatic nod to Lear. Nice connection!

Got this fresh from the lab yesterday, and it does smell fresh . . . The apricot is juicy and perfect. After a moment the musk and the light floral of orange blossom catch up with the apricot, and the result is lovely and warm, totally unlike any of my other fruity-florals. I love this stuff. My only problem is that I can't shake this irrational feeling that I should use the whole imp up now, while the fruit is still ripe!

Very rich, almost candy-like at first, but one of the darkest fragrances from BPAL I've ever tried. Unbelievably feminine and sweetly wicked, this is NOT something I would wear everyday . . . But I don't wear black heels or wine-red velvet every day, either. I might not ever buy a bottle, but I'd love to keep an imp on hand, just for the right occasion.

Just scrumptious . . . With a little bit of bite! I wasn't sure this would work, given that "food" scents are so hit-or-miss with me. (Mostly miss--even with Midway!) But this is buttery-rich without ever being overpowering; I love the warmth--and I love the spices.

I had a lot of trepidation about this one after trying "The Raven"; the violet did not like me, and the feeling was mutual. I was doubly cautious because I just couldn't imagine how something like violet would mesh with cinnamon. But I had to try Faustus anyway, and it's all because of Christopher Marlowe. The scent proved to be a wonderful surprise: dark, powerful, lasting. Faustus has quickly become one of my favorite scents, and I’d like to enjoy his acquaintance for a long time . . . Say, oh, the next twenty-four years.

Baku came as a freebie in a swap package, and I was excited to try something from the Somnium category. The initial fragrance was lovely fresh lavender . . . And then the anise hit. Other reviews have suggested additional fragrance notes in this one, but for me it was a two-note song: anise and lavender, lavender and anise. I'm not crazy about anything licorice-like--licorice included--so that turned me off the fragrance. If those notes make you happy, however, then may Baku eat all your edible dreams.

Delicate flowers in a spring twilight. This smells like spring in the mountains to me, and it never loses that quality. The ivy makes this one for me, giving a hint of something green and alive running through all those flowers.

As soon as I opened the bottle, I caught the fragrance of fresh roses, delicate and alive. On my skin the resins came out immediately, but the scent remained very delicate and very pure. After a few moments the resins seemed to take over completely, but ghosts of white rose seemed to return throughout the day, like catching a glimpse of something from the corner of your eye. Overall I'm very pleased; this is a clean, pure scent for when I want something fresh and light.

"Black Tower" is one of those fragrances that embodies the Lab to me: unusual and startling notes, an intriguing title and description--and when it works, it works. On me, unfortunately, it doesn't work. (Looks like wine just doesn't.) On my friend, it doesn't work. On her husband, the only discernible note was burnt grass. But when their roommate tried it . . . We were utterly entranced by this man's wrist. The ivy, the leather, the woods--it was distinctive, dark, and even sexy. Said roommate was awarded custody of the imp, with stern orders to use his newfound aromatic potence only for good, and never for evil. Ordering oils unsniffed is always a gamble, I guess, but Black Tower makes for one of the most interesting. Of the seven people (three women, four men) I've smelled wearing it, only two could pull it off. But for the two who did . . . Wow. What a payoff!

At first the cherries were overwhelming, but not particularly off-putting--in fact, I was instantly eight years old again and clutching a whole bag of cherry sourballs. The sour-sweet edge mellowed very quickly, and in the end I was left with a sweet, warm scent, something far more complex than I would have expected from the first note. I found myself falling in love with this scent, and once it had settled it lingered for hours. Not so with Red Devil. I know t3andcrumpets suggested that these two scents have a lot in common; literally, I tried a wrist-by-wrist comparison. At first whiff they do have that bright cherry-sweetness. But on me Red Devil is gone within two hours, while Ace of Cups is still a full, rich scent. I wasn't planning on ordering any of the tarot oils until I received this as part of a sale lot; now I'm thinking this one is part of my top five!