Laurel the Woodfairy

I had to have this for my husband, my personal Heathcliff! It has that classic gentlemen's cologne scent, more mainstream than some BPALs but with a lovely spicy touch of carnation. I think even men who are new to BPAL would like this.

My imp is pale gold in color. I admit the notes make me nervous, so I'll be testing just a tiny bit! In the vial, the balsam is strong and I smell pine trees and herbs. On me, for some reason none of those notes are very apparent--I smell like incense, sage, and saffron. It's nice and not "scary", much more mellow than I thought it would be. I think it's more of a room scent than a perfume to me: a smooth spicy gender-neutral blend.

This was a frimp from the Lab in my order that arrived today, and I'm taking that as a sign that it's the blend I need! My heart isn't broken, but I would indeed like some peace of mind and closure with regard to a love issue--specifically, a much-despised ex of my DH's popped up on my radar today, and it always leaves a terrible taste in my mouth on the rare occasions I think about her. Bleh. Time to let it go. I don't care how Conjure Bag or TAL oils smell, since I use them ritually, but I'll review for both scent and efficacy. In the imp, I smell jasmine and lavender. On me, it's definitely sharp lavender while wet but dries into sweet jasmine. I wouldn't wear it for the scent, but it does have a soothing quality; for some reason it makes me think of New Orleans and a motherly Voodoo Queen giving me a hug...a beautiful mental image that says to me, "Child, don't waste your energy on the dead past. You have so much joy in your life today." I swear I can almost hear those words. I'm going to anoint a candle with this blend and do a little ritual now.

A very pretty, clean white bouquet, with the lily of the valley prominent. Not cloying like the similarly-themed Eternal. Reminds me of the Jessica McClintock perfume I wore in high school! For that reason, it makes me feel more nostalgic than sad.

I don't generally wear leather scents on myself (except for Whip now and then), so I'm testing this with my DH in mind. It's very red-colored in the vial and smells of straight leather, like being in a furniture shop! On me, though, it goes VERY strange...is it the moss? Something sweet and resinous, but somehow the way it mixes with the leather is really scary on me. Like, it freaks me out; it smells so weird. Eep.

I love steampunk style, but this is the first of the Steamworks scents for me to try...I think I had some idea that they *all* smelled like oil and grease, but the notes say otherwise! Aelopile has bright, fresh topnotes of lemon verbena and perhaps tangerine. Amber goes really well with these notes, adding depth and warmth. As it dries, the cedar comes out; I am less fond of this phase, because cedar + citrus = cleaning products to my nose!

The name "Blood Pearl" just screams "pirates!" to me...duals fought over chests full of treasure. It smells nutty on me but not specifically coconutty. In fact, it smells like cocoa butter and "grownup" perfume (the orris and musk, I guess?), reminding me of my grandmother's dressing table in a good way! I'm very surprised.

I love dragon's blood as a note; my favorite blends with it are Tintagel and Dragon's Milk. Dragon's Hide is the same distinctive pinky-red color as those two, and smells very clearly of both leather and dragon's blood. It's a nice combination, and gender neutral. I like it but don't find it quite as "wow!" as the two I mentioned, so I may frimp it to someone.

Right at first, straight from the bottle, it truly smelled like bread and I thought "oh no". Almost at once, the bread note fades, and it becomes cream/butter and sugar almost entirely. I don't really get tea, which is a shame as I love tea scents. I would say that White Rabbit remains my ideal Tea Party scent, but this is nice and, in fact, would likely layer well with Rabbit.

I really love the scent of chesnuts, but I think whatever honey is in these Apiary scents is not working too well on me--Horse Chesnut Honey started out great, very nutty and spicy and sweet, but dried down strange and cloying. It has a lot of throw and lasting power, so if it works on you, I think I would really work!

Deadly baby powder. Right out of the bottle, there was something sharp that honestly smelled like wasp spray! That faded almost at once, thank goodness, and a non-sweet pollen note emerged along with some greenery. However, on drydown it went very powdery. Laurel Honey had a touch of powder as well, but this is moreso. I think I will try it on my sister, whose chemistry is quite different from mine, and see if it smells more "edgy" as I was hoping.

This was an automatic bottle for me; I rarely buy BPALs based on name alone, but come on! I'm called "Laurel, Honey" by many loved ones, and this is as close as I'm likely to get to having a BPAL named after me (since Beth is not doing custom blends any longer). It's softer than I expected, and stays close to my skin. The honey is clearly there but not really sweet...the green notes predominate. It's nice; not OMGawesome, but pleasant. I think it would actually layer with florals very well, as it makes an almost neutral base of soft greenery on me.

I love the story so much that I decided to get a decant, despite one of the most frightening descriptions in all of BPALandia! "Old foul, bad yellow things"...yikes. What I get, though, is a quick flash of sharpness that immediately settles into...old, bad baby powder. There are some florals in there, but something is just going flat-out powdery on me. It isn't an offensive scent, but it's not doing much for me. Oh well.

I highly doubt Bertha Rochester would smell this good--I'd actually expect scorched cloth! Perhaps this was how she smelled earlier in her life. Anyway, I was hoping the "dead bridal bouquet" would smell like Havisham, my other favorite Gothic madwoman, but no can do. I think it might be honeysuckle and/or lilies; a sweet white floral, definitely not rose. The sandalwood is very warm and pleasant as a background to the florals. This is a "tame" scent for Bertha but I like it quite well enough to use up my decant.

Oh, Matilda. Dear, crazy, sexy succubus Matilda. I so love the Gothic excess of The Monk; I had to have this. Besides, I knew from the notes that this would be a classic "sexy BPAL" and it is. It's the same family as Snake Oil, Smut, Storyville, etc: resinous, spicy and/or sweet musks. It reminds me a fair bit of Snake Charmer, actually. Warm and inviting, with the red musk prominent from the get-go and the honey coming out all yummy and O-like as it dries. I waved my wrist at my husband and said, "Do I smell like a succubus?" He said, "always!"

I had to have this one; I remember writing a seminar paper on Turn of the Screw and whether or not there were ghosts...of course I believe there are! This is pure, lovely white tea on me--it's a single note for at least the first hour. The violet is very soft and registers just as a little extra sweetness, but really this is almost pure white tea, a note I love. Clean, fresh, bracing, delightful! Good for steadying those nerves.

I'm not sure why I didn't try October '07, but the description appealed to me this time around. Wet, I get woods with a bit of what might be musk--something softening the woods so they are less sharp than Cathedral, but still in the same family. I think I'm getting moss and aquatics on the drydown. Not a lot of throw; it stays close to the skin. October is definitely a gender-neutral scent, but I'm going to give it to my husband. Dr. Taurus loves earthy scents, but I prefer spicy for fall and will stick to Samhain.

I had to have this because the poem is one of my absolute favorites. It's a beautiful scent, but I see I am completely wrong about the notes! I was going to say it is the perfect ivy scent with linden on drydown. Neither of those notes is listed. I guess the aquatics plus leaves = ivy to my nose, and the various flowers "read" as linden. All I know is, it's a beautifully cool green/aquatic while wet, and a delicate white floral on drydown. If you love Beth's ivy note as much as I do, you should love this even if it's technically not ivy at all!

I am wearing Golletes to the State Fair today, because it reminds me of a more autumnal Midway. A quick flash of cotton candy and donuts or funnel cake while wet, and then a rich raspberry jam note emerges and becomes dominant. There's maple underneath it, too, along with the dough scent. Foody, syrupy, jammy and delicious!

Nom. Nom nom. Oh, I suppose I should stop huffing my wrists long enough to actually review this, hm? Well, first of all, TONS of throw here--wet, there's a huge coffee note, like Miskatonic U. on...well, on espresso! The pumpkin is in there but it's subtle; I get tons of spice and just a bit of pumpkin. This is funny to me because I order my pumpkin lattes at S'bux with 1/2 the regular amount of pumpkin spice syrup, so this scent actually does smell like the proportions of my drink! On drydown, and even hours later, rich spiciness remains, with a calmer but stable coffee note. This is the perfect scent for a chilly or rainy fall day, hanging out in a coffee shop or curled up at home.

Urgh, this put me immediately in mind of an iced drink they make at a coffee shop near me--it sounds like it would be fantastic, with green tea and fruit, but in reality it is syrupy melon flavor that kills the tea dead. Likewise, Luna sounds like it should be delicate and lovely, but--at least on me--a syrupy pear note all but drowns the refreshing tea, herbs, and lime I was hoping for. Sad.

Lemon blossom, vanilla bean, huckleberry, sweet pea, rose sugar, acai berry, and candyfloss. I'm realizing that I do not like the smell of acai berry. I had two teabags of it in a mixed herbal tea sampler, and found it sickly-smelling so threw it out. And now that same smell is messing up an otherwise delightful blend of lemon, cotton candy, and what smells like brown sugar. I LOVE candy scents for summer, and this should have been nummy like Fresh's Lemon Sugar, but that ick-berry is muddling it. I'm not wild for sweet pea either, though, so I guess the "ugh" notes and the "yum" notes are about equal here. A decant is quite enough! I'll stick to Loli.Goth for my summer sweetness this year.

I admit it, I'll try anything with Gypsy in the name! I looove Gypsy Queen for instance. Mmmm, I really like this! It's a good late summer scent--a little spicy (cardamon is a beautiful chai note on me) but not as strong as the super-spices that I reserve for autumn wear. And it's sexy but lighter than most of the "hardcore" Sexay BPALs. Perfect for a summer date--I just can't do my go-to Snake Charmer when it's 90 degrees out, but Gypsy has a bit of that vanilla-musk-grrrr quality in airier form. I think this is ideal for those of us in hot climates who want a sexy scent as a break from fruits n' flowers but don't want to smell overheated with heavy notes.

Mmmmm, I love this! What a perfect summer scent! For just a moment, wet, the coconut was all, "shall I go plastic on you?" but then decided, "no! I shall turn into a lovely creamy, sugary coconut that makes you smell like a Mounds bar sans chocolate!" A hint of pepper on the drydown adds a kicky twist, and there's a bit of the "macaroon" note from Tarot: The Star (which I am still hoarding). I slathered this on after showering with Tiare flower bath gel, and now I smell like a tiki princess...not necessarily BPAL Tiki Princess, as I haven't sniffed that yet, but now I don't think I'll even need it; Paper Kite is exactly what I was looking for in a girly, beachy, summery scent. My husband said I smell delicious, and I keep huffing my wrist. Good lasting power as well.

When I heard about this scent, I absolutely freaked out--Victoriana.Goth sounds like my personality! I knew I needed a bottle, not just a decant, so as to have the adorable label as well. Well, I was finally able to buy one, and it arrived yesterday. Wet, it reminds me strongly of London: tea rose and lavender. However, as it dries, the warm amber emerges, along with some rich spice (much be the frankincense actually). Really lovely when dry, and more complex than London, finishing with a flash of herbal green. I wish it lasted longer, but hey, I have a bottle for slathering!