forspecial_plate

I thought this was vaguely fruity, and somewhat spicy and/or herbal. I did think 'berries' when I wore it. I didn't have the description with me, now I want to try it again because I can't remember if I smelled the amber or not (or iris....although I'm not even sure what iris smells like). So, yeah.....somewhat spicy berry scent, medium throw and duration, not a bad scent. I've been exploring fruity/berry/wine scents lately, giving them more of a chance. This one didn't quite work for me, even though it's not offensive. Just not exciting me much. I will most likely try it one more time because of the amber.

I think this scent is delightful. Light, green, sweet and springy. Apple stands out, with little hints of mint dancing around the edges. Wears very light on me, which can be perfect when I'm in the mood for that.

I was starting to think that anything 'mist'-y was going to turn soapy on me. Then I got to try Fairy Market (thanks moonarcana!), which I actually really like. I didn't have the description around me when I tried it, so these impressions are just that....impressions. It was a light, springy, and definitely 'green' scent at first. I thought it smelled good, but not extraordinary. I already knew that sweet notes can be really strong on my skin (or maybe they just stand out to my nose), but in this case it's a good thing. As the Fairy Market dries, the exotic sugared candies basically dominate the scent for me, with some springy green-ness swirling behind. It's like a lighter, springy Sugar Skull, almost. I really like it although it's a bit feminine to wear out and about....but in the right setting, could be an absolutely fun scent for me to wear.

This scent smelled bright and sweet at first, aquatic and floral as the description suggests. May be a touch too sweet for me. Then as it dries the woods come out more strongly. They remind me of some other bpal scents like 51 and Calico Jack, I think.....slightly light and soft woods. This is a pretty scent, I'll have to try it again at least once to decide if I want to hold onto it. It seems to be almost but not quite soapy on my skin.

This came to me by way of the lovely filigree_shadow. I was excited to try it, being so recently discontinued..... The general vibe of the scent was somewhat similar to the new Blue Moon, to me. Slightly soapy floral, with kind of a blue, crystalline wetness about it. Like Miseraya, I was reminded of Dirty.....there is some note far in the background here, some floral, that reminds me of Dirty. Above average throw and wear length.....this has impressive staying power, unlike the new Blue Moon. I'm glad I got to try this, but I'm not sure I would wear it with any regularity. I'm starting to get an idea of scents that are going to smell soapy to me, so this was useful in that regard.

Ripe berries and fir, crisp and lush at the same time. Ever so slightly spicy....and I mean just a *hint* of spicy on me, not any particular spice either. Frosty and chilly, too. Very, very pretty scent that I really like. To me, yeah...I get the candle resemblance....but I think it's better than 'just' a candle. I will definitely wear Yuletide this winter.

Thanks so much to growwild for giving me a very testable amount of this! : ) Forgive me but my very first thought was "Why, this is Shub Light!"....blasphemy, I know....but it's a compliment, because I love Shub-Niggurath a whole lot. And this really did strike me as a much lighter version of that. Just a first impression. As it warmed up, I started to get the complexity of it. More pumpkin spices for me than actual pumpkin. Honestly, I'm not sure my nose is savvy enough to pick apart individual spices....perhaps ginger, clove, nutmeg, a dash of cinnamon maybe?...and possibly black pepper. In the early stages there is some kind of beeswax thing going on....something waxy, not sure what that's coming from. But it fades after a while. At this point (after the waxy fades), I was guessing this is what Three Witches must smell like. Many subtle layers of spiciness. Then about 3 hours later, I picked up on some kind of resin, I thought....or possibly musk. Some golden note that reminded me of Minotaur....so I'm guessing benzoin, light myrrh, or maybe copal? Or possibly a soft, dark musk....but not powdery at all. The spices were still there, now with a diffused golden light kind of feeling. Overall, Pumpkin King is much lighter than I was expecting, but very very good, golden autumn-y, complex and spicy, resinous and warm. It's something I would definitely wear, but I have to say I don't see what makes this so much more special than other LE scents that have been produced. I like Snake Charmer just as much......(not to be a party pooper, but that's my opinion!).* *Edit.....who am I kidding.....I would dearly love a whole bottle of this. I have half a decant left and it's the only oil in my whole collection that I hold back from wearing, because I don't want to run out, ever!

I think I mostly smelled lily and rose geranium. I haven't learned to recognize rosewood. I wouldn't have guessed there was frankincense in this. Now, reading the other reviews, I want to try it again for the frankincense. Mostly what I smelled was a kind of golden, glittery floral scent. Not like roses at all. Now that I think about it, maybe the frankincense was contributing. Struck me as slightly soapy. Not at all what I would expect, reading the description and other reviews! ADDED Jan. 5: Kostnice…..sharp, bright floral that quickly starts turning soapy. The soap aspect seems to grow exponentially, and very quickly this was so soapy that it nearly knocked me over. I could wait it out, see if the frankincense comes out with time………but, I have other frankincense blends that work right away, so this one’s just not for me! I think lily was the soapy culprit.

When I smell Burial I get more cool earth and juniper....but if I think about it, the patchouli is there too.....at first I loved Burial, then I went through an anti-juniper phase (which I'm now thankfully over), now I love it again. I know that patchouli ages well....I have a 15ml bottle of patchouli essential oil that's a few months old, and I can already smell a difference. Brand new patchouli smells greener and 'new', and as it ages it gets smoother, more mellow.....or so I've heard (and it seems to be true). Malediction is very heavy on patchouli and vetiver IMO, and I have one imp that I tucked away to age for a while. I may have to pull it out and find out how it's doing. : ) It's at least 6 months old now.... I always wonder if there's a big difference between Beth's patchouli oils and patchouli essential oil. Are they the same thing? I realize she uses accords for some blends....not actual essential oils. I always get a little confused on the subject (and I know there are other discussions here about that...).

This smells really good.....deep and somewhat fruity, but incense-y at the same time. It smells complex, like there are a lot of notes that I just can't identify. I remembered something about raisins when I read about kyphi, so maybe that's why I almost smell raisins or currants mixed in here. Later as it dries/warms up, I smell roses drifting in and out of the mix. Overall, it's a nice strong scent, long lasting, incense-y, and somewhat bolder than Philosopher In Meditation (which also has kyphi, I think?). I like this, but it's not shouting at me to get a whole bottle.

I love the incense-y vibe of this scent. Seems well balanced, and the notes that usually get out of control on me, dragon's blood resin and clove, are very well behaved here. Overall it's a nice moody scent, I seem to get along well with a lot of the 'red' themed scents. There seems to be just a hint of musk in this. The only thing that bothers me is much later, on the dry-down, something heavily sweet dominates the scent. My guess is the cherry because none of the other notes usually do that to me. It's kind of too much after a while, so I guess I won't get a bottle after all, but I will keep my imp.

For me this smells close to a few other bpal scents, mostly from the red musk I think. However, this has a big flourish of ylang ylang at the beginning. After that backs off, the red musk glows, with a bit of dirty gritty feel, probably emphasized by the patchouli. A few people mentioned incense and I agree this has that feel, probably helped along by the myrrh. Smells really good, and I like wearing this. I may want a bottle of either Lust or Sin, and I can't decide which one or both. They have big differences but they are similar in some ways. I like them both a whole lot. I think red musk works best on me, out of red, white, and black (although I do wear white and black musks too, in some scents). I agree, red musk does smell lusty (I think it was filigree_shadow who said it upthread). And of course I love patchouli so this one was pretty much a no-brainer. Edit to add....shortly after I wrote this, I started to think Lust might have a drop of civet. Kind of getting that 'dirty' vibe from it. I still like it.

When I wear this, hmmm.....it smells good and does work on my skin. I kept thinking of The Hamptons but this is different.....seems to have more depth, and there's a little bit that could be the fizziness everyone's talking about. It could also be something a touch spicy, maybe? It's more than the candy orange, fruity sweetness of The Hamptons. Deeper, a little darker, and also more perfumey.....and I'm not sure what's making it more perfumey. For some reason I was expecting something more like Sugar Skull but it's not like that scent. This is more fruity, tart, slightly sweet but really deep scent. I honestly can't decide if I would wear this, even though it smells good to me.

This is one of those scents I really 'should' like, but don't. When I wear it, it just doesn't cooperate with my skin chemistry (or vice versa, maybe). I can smell the notes I like, patchouli for example, but they're just not working together for me. I even put it away for a few months, tried it again, and that didn't help. It reminds me somewhat of Aureus, but dirtier. The good news is that Aureus works out much better and I have a whole bottle of that, so I'm still happy.

Torture King is dominated by citrus and leather when I wear it. It's fairly strong and long lasting. It's also brighter and fruitier than I expected. This is going to sound horrible but it reminds me of leather and Fruit Loops cereal. But I like it! It has complexity and I can tell the other notes are there, supporting. As it dries I think more of the notes are coming out, especially frankincense. (I just noticed at least one other person thought "Fruit Loops", so I don't feel so bad) This smells really good and I will probably be wearing it again. I'm glad I got my decant!

This is another one of those scents that after I tried it, I read the description, saw the notes, and thought 'All that is in this??' In other words, it's extremely well blended. I smell a subtle sweetness, recognize the fougere, and get little flashes of mint on top of it here and there. I smell hints of sweet citrus, too. It's very light on my skin and doesn't last a long time.....I really thought my sense of smell was back after a cold I had, but this scent made me wonder......starts to turn slightly powdery before fading away almost entirely. It actually smells good, but I'm not big on the fougere scents for me personally. I would rather wear something like Dorian, Theodosius, or maybe F5. I'm glad I got to try this, though. Edit: I keep reaching for this, so apparently I like it more than I first thought! I've been wearing it to work. It's nice, light and sweet, very subtle on my skin.

Interesting.....is that what carnation smells like? This smells mildly spicy to me, but not like ginger or cinnamon or anything....slightly creamy, as others have said. Not really a floral scent to my nose, but not neatly falling into any other category either. It just smells good! Right now, hours later and after a shower, I can still smell it, and it reminds me a little of Snake Oil. I honestly have a hard time describing this scent! It's somewhere between foody, amber-y, and perhaps slightly floral....not sharp or powdery. Medium throw, and lasts a long time on my skin.

Geburah is mostly about leather, as others have already said. At first it's leather with a 'clean' note, but I'm not sure exactly what the 'clean' is coming from. Then as it dries it reminds me a lot of Geek, without the bells and whistles of that scent. A little smokey, maybe a little spicy, and I picked up some musk once or twice. It's a good scent that I'll enjoy wearing! It's kind of a quiet scent but it sticks around for a long time. Will definitely fit my mood at some point, I'm sure.

I wanted to try this for a long time (thanks evilmistressoftoast, for giving me the chance!). Sometimes I'm not sure if I want to smell like chocolate or cocoa, but I do love sandalwood and myrrh does often work well for me. And I like Wulric a lot, so cocoa absolute seems to agree with me. I'm not sure what the distinction 'cocoa vanilla' means.....but I might be over-analyzing. Just try the dang thing! Velvet was kind of a disappointment somehow, even though it smells pretty much like I thought it would. I don't know why it's not knocking my socks off......something about it is a little too powdery (myrrh does that to me sometimes), a little dusty and dry, just not 'wow'-ing me. It's not terrible, though, and I'm glad I read the 'aging bpal' discussion, because now I want to hold onto this and try it again in a few months. It is very smoothly blended and I couldn't tell the notes apart really, except the sandalwood seemed to emerge more as the scent dried and faded. So....a rather inconclusive review I'm afraid. I can see why people like this a lot. And I could see it growing on me. But I won't be hunting down a bottle.....at least, not right away.

Ugh....I just lost the review I wrote for this!! I'll try again. Just got Red Moon today, and I can already tell I really like it. It's a warm, dry, and somewhat spicy scent to me, subtle, and stays pretty close to my skin. [Caveat: I had a cold recently and lost my sense of smell for a couple weeks, but I still think this is just a subtle scent on my skin.] The dragon's blood resin, and maybe orange peel, lend the scent a touch of sweet fruitiness. The dbr does not take over...it's really pretty restrained on my skin, which is unusual for me. Here it is very, um, well behaved. I am glad I got this. It reminds me somewhat of Corazon just because they both have this subtle quality while still being strong in a quiet way, if that makes any sense. Even moreso, it reminds me of The Great Red Dragon from the Salon, but not as woody as that scent, and not as sweetly floral (I think the Great Red Dragon has sweet pea if I remember correctly....). But the amber warmth is there. Red Moon also has a spicy feel almost like cinnamon, but without really smelling like cinnamon. That could be coming from the amber too. I will enjoy wearing this!

I found this scent very light on my skin. I didn't think 'almond' when I smelled it, and if I hadn't read the reviews, I'm not sure I would have thought of almond at all. I really didn't recognize any other notes. Even though it was super light, it lasted a long time. There was a faint element in there that reminded me of rubber or maybe leather, for some reason. Weird, I know.... This wasn't a very descriptive review. The scent is light, sort of sweet and slightly nutty, a little 'clean'. It didn't smell bad at all, but also didn't really grab me as something I want to wear a lot.

Speaking of 51, I found Incantation and 51 to be in the same scent family. Incantation is like the handsome brooding older brother and 51 is like the young pretty sister. To me the wood element is very similar in these scents.

Can it have a floral element? At the last meet 'n sniff that I went to, Knave of Hearts was a big favorite.

I think I've made more Kingsport comparisons than any other bpal scent.....and I'm afraid I'm about to do it again. But this really does remind me of Kingsport. It's like a brighter, lighter, slightly more feminine counterpart to Kingsport. This has less ozone and more 'yellow-ness', which I guess is pretty obvious looking at the painting and reading the notes. But there ya go. Really I can't describe it any better than the other reviews. I pick up a bracing sort of sea spray, bright and sweet, and a little fruity. Not so sweet that I can't wear it, and not too feminine, either, even with the breezy floral notes. I could definitely wear this, and will! Edit to add.....this scent lasts and lasts, for hours. I'm going on hour 8 now, and it's still going. I keep getting this warm, slightly sweet note or notes that reminds me of vanilla. I suppose that could be the amber and/or pear coming out. Really good stuff.

It was very interesting for me to try this and then read the reviews. I'm totally with those that got a big 'masculine' vibe from this. It starts out with a big flourish of lavender, which is a note I've always got along well with. But that does back off pretty quickly, and the other notes come forward. It's all blended together so I really couldn't pick apart the notes....and I didn't have the description with me, so I didn't know what notes were there anyway, except I remembered there was tobacco in it. Kind of a suffused golden and smokey scent, elegant, almost. Makes me think of couples slow dancing in a smokey lounge, to sultry jazz music. The extended drying stage of this totally reminded me of a classic, almost old fashioned men's after-shave. After reading the reviews I can't wait to try it again, and see if my opinion changes at all, and if I get any 'feminine' feeling from it. It's something I would enjoy wearing when in certain moods, but not all the time, and probably don't need a whole bottle of. But it is quite interesting and as usual, I love experiencing Beth's interperetations of the art. Edit: You know....something about this scent reminds me of a used ashtray. I think it's the golden resin, because copal sometimes goes out of control when I wear it, and tobacco doesn't usually have this effect on me. I don't think I can wear this any more. : (