forspecial_plate

I found this toasty, slightly sweet and spicy. From the reviews I think I was expecting much more sweetness, actually. But this is comfy and toasty. To be honest it's hard to describe this without comparing it to Possets' Morgan Le Fay, because they smell very similar to me. I think MLF is more on the foody side, and this one is more on the woods/smokey side, although not by much.

This is a great scent for this time of year! I was afraid of the beer note but I don't really smell it. And from the other reviews I thought the treacle would be more sticky-syrupy. Bonfire Night strikes a nice balance between the sweet and smokey qualities. To me the smoke is just a whisper.

Edit! Wow....I wore this again, and I got almost the opposite of my first review. Very sweet, very smokey. Honestly, this time I had to wash it off, because I think I put on too much, and I think I was overwhelming the people around me! Definitely more sweet and smokey than the first time I wore it, and now I can't decide if I still like it! I'm going to set it aside for a while and try again, because I do think it has potential to be something I really like.

Wow....that is definitely a sharp blast of sea spray, and very little else! Over time, something sweet and powdery starts to rise up out of the blend. Mostly though, it's a salty sea-spray/sea air scent, very potent and nearly soapy but not quite soapy. It strikes me that if there is ozone in this, Beth is getting more and more skillful at using that note, because this blend doesn't shout "Ozone!!" to me. But it's definitely the smell of standing at the bow of a ship, crashing through a big wave, feeling the bracing spray hit your face. That powdery note that starts to come through......I think that could be partly the Snake Oil, which sometimes does have a slightly powdery element when I wear it. Otherwise, I really can't tell notes apart in this. I'm definitely going to keep it around and will enjoy letting it age, I bet it calms down a lot and maybe the other notes will come out a bit more.

I wore this yesterday morning and really enjoyed it. It's light, sweet, and slightly 'pink' from the cherry/strawberry, although I really can't tell those apart here. I don't like it as much when I sniff close to my skin where I applied it. Don't try to go huffing after this one, let it come to you on its own. It seemed to envelope me in a sweet pink and white cloud. Kind of reminded me of pink and white Cream Saver candies, with a slight hint of powder. It is similar to Bloody Mary, but does not have the deep, juicy red fruits of that scent. This is more of a creamy, cakey scent touched with a light berry sweetness.

I think Moonarcana got it right....it's really similar to Perilous Parlour, except instead of pear it has cherry and strawberry. I did get the same sort of feel from both scents.

I wanted to try this because it seems that Beth has been exploring the 'damp stone' note a lot lately, and I wanted to experience that. What I get here is a lot of sharp floral. Very potent. I couldn't tell you which floral I'm actually picking up, or if it's a blend of the flowers in this scent. Actually, I don't know what a few of those things are in the description.

After a while, the scent doesn't change a lot, but the sense of 'floral' transforms into something else. Some people are going to think this has a masculine edge to it. Maybe it's the underlying vetiver giving me that impression, who knows. I honestly wouldn't have known there was vetiver here without reading the description. The scent stays rather sharp, and once I was reminded of the Unheavenly City. This doesn't exactly smell like jasmine, but maybe what I'm smelling is 'hothouse orchids'. That seems likely. I will wear this again once or twice before deciding for sure how I feel about it. I've been craving a good floral scent lately, so this did come at the right time.

I second Antony, and perhaps Oneiroi......lots of lavender in that one. Comes across very herbal on me, even with the other notes.

This is just a general FYI in case someone else was thinking about sending payments with a Blackberry.

I made a forum purchase, through Paypal, and tried to pay using my Blackberry. The 'comments' field never appeared, so I had to send a separate email listing my decants, forum name, etc....to make sure she had all my info. Well, I emailed Paypal to ask them how to add comments via Blackberry, and apparently you can't! With a Blackberry, all you can do is send a payment or view your balance....you can't add comments or look at your history (probably other stuff you can't do too). Which sucks!

Lysander is fantastic. Basically I agree with the other reviews on this one. A little sweet, almost foody but not quite. Someone mentioned 'salty' and I get that too, just slightly. And someone else got leather.....me too...I kept thinking there was leather in this, and was surprised when I saw that there isn't. However, leather sometimes takes over a scent, but nothing in Lysander takes over....it's extremely well balanced and blended.

This smells fresh and clean to me at first, then it shifts slightly after a quick period of time (less than 10 minutes), and a woodier, more rugged side comes out. I really love that first burst of freshness, I think it's due to the lime partly. I would be afraid to get a bigger bottle of Lysander, because I think there may be some delicate components and I wouldn't use it up fast enough. And I found it hard to believe I was enjoying a scent with lilac and violet! Amazing! Usually I don't like either of those, Bluebeard being the exception for violet.

Also.....this kind of reminds me of a Possets scent......it seems to straddle the line between 'modern' and 'classic'. I can see what people mean when they say it's old-fashioned, but I also get a real modern vibe from it. Gender-neutral to my nose, and wonderfully so.

I'm still learning. Now I think some bpal scents are too masculine (Dee, I'm looking at you), and I really lean towards the truly gender-neutral ones. Death Of Autumn is my new favorite gender-neutral blend....I really love it! I also love October, and I do consider it pretty masculine although from the reviews, some of the girls really like it too.

My review straight out of the mailbox......

At first this is very buttery on me. It's the same buttery pumpkin note that I recognize from Pumpkin Queen and Jack. That strong buttery-ness fades back a lot after about 15 minutes (which is the same thing it does in PQ and Jack), and the other notes start coming out. So delicious! The hype is all true.....basically, if you think you'll like this, you most likely will. I can smell the creamy cheesecake component, sweet and slightly spicey pumpkin, and I think I can even smell that graham cracker crust part, too (unless that's just the power of suggestion!). This scent is very rich, just like the dessert itself, with a strong throw.....and lasts for hours.

Really nothing more to add, except that this probably fills my desire for a good Pumpkin scent quite nicely! I most likely don't need bottles of the Pumpkin Patch scents now, although I will enjoy my decants that are coming.

Edit: I meant to say also, Pumpkin Cheesecake kept reminding me of Flossing, the Possets scent. I'm not sure why.....maybe there's some vanilla, and quite possibly some ginger, in PC.

[from my 2006 bottle]

I knew there was a reason I waited months and months to review Samhainophobia. I tested it a few times, and just didn't get it. I read the reviews. I read the description. What I had didn't match up with any of that. No patchouli, no vetiver......in fact, none of the notes listed, as far as I could tell. To me, Samhainophobia smelled almost exactly like Samhain, with just a smidge of sharpness on top. [i should mention, when I wear Samhain, I mostly get the sweet apple note, almost like honey, and very little woods or patchouli or anything else like that. Samhainophobia is the same way.]

Well, I wore it again today, and it finally 'clicked' for me. It still smells sweet, like Samhain's apple note. But there is a chill, like autumn woods at night, that just reached out for me this time. It's reminiscent of bpal's snowy blends, but definitely different.....this is an autumn chill, with the slightly spicy sweetness behind it. I think I finally just gave in and accepted the scent as it is, and found that I really like it. And since autumn is my favorite season, I'll be wearing this again, for sure.

This smelled like aquatic, white floral, and white musk to me. A little powdery, and the familiar 'mist' note that I remember from other bpal scents......it became more powdery as it dried/faded on my skin. It reminds me very much of some perfume that my stepmom wears, but I don't know which one that is. It also reminded me of Empyreal Mist, a little bit, if I remember correctly. This is another scent that I could use for enabling, I think my stepmom might like it. I personally won't get much wear out of it, though.

The first thing I thought of was Gypsy Queen: "A heavy-lidded perfume, the quintessence of beauty and power shrouded in mystery, swathed in a deep, velvet-clad cloak of dark omens: Romany incense and candle smoke mingling with an alluring, body-warmed whiff of bergamot, neroli, Bulgar rose, carnation, and amber musk."

For me it's more floral than anything, but it has a lot of throw. When you described your costume it seemed to fit.

(oh and it's LE from Carnaval Noir)

I've worn this a few times now, and still can't tell if I'm going to like it enough to wear a lot. It's much sweeter and.....brighter than I expected it to be, greener somehow. Basically the other reviews before mine are accurate. There does seem to be musk here, and it reminds me a lot of Devil's Night. Both scents are musky and sweet on my skin, and light on the booze notes. In Hunter Moon the wine is hard to pick out.

Comparing it to the old Hunter Moon, from my decant......very different scent. That could also be because of aging, though. But I like my old-school, dark, incense and woodsy (also heavier on the wine note) Hunter Moon more than this one. This actually reminds me more of Buck Moon (which I've only tried once, but I think someone else mentioned the resemblance and I agree) than the older Hunter Moon.

I've had good results with this when I apply very lightly. Too much of it becomes cloying but that's often a problem for me. Oh and as long as I'm comparing, Hunter Moon '07 reminds me a lot of Thunder Moon, like this could be its fall companion.

For some reason Umbra rubbed me the wrong way. I like many dark scents and this seemed like one of the darkest. I love patchouli and vetiver, and cinnamon sounded good here too....generally I like it in moderation.

So what happened? At first I got strong, 'new' patchouli, and lots of it. Then as it dried the other notes came in. Something began to smell borderline powdery, and somehow the scent as a whole just didn't work for me. It was woody and earthy with a faint undertone that was high and sweet....a little cloying, almost like decay. Basically, just not for me. This scent reminds me of Typhon, but I love Typhon. Oh well, there are plenty of other scents to love.

Edit....I'm holding onto my imp because I know that patchouli and vetiver can both age beautifully, and become smoother. Still pretty sharp today but no powder so far. Yay!

First impressions, straight out of the mailbox:

This goes back and forth from realistic damp leaves to more traditional, but light, cologne or perfume. I agree that you could call it masculine. There is a hint of peppery bite at the top, from the leaves I think. Underneath the leaves, this scent has a 'golden light' mood or tone that reminds me of Minotaur and even Pumpkin King, a little (yeah, I said it!). I think there is some kind of soft, subtle resin at work here, like copaiba balsam or something....that must be the 'sap in the air'. The hint of smoke has echoes of Djinn. But mostly this is golden autumn light dancing on falling leaves. In fact, if there was ever going to be a Falling Leaf Moon like someone speculated, I think it would smell like this. Much later, as October dries, that peppery bite seems to gain intensity until I'm getting almost a cedar vibe from the scent. Woodsy now and spicy.

October is light, and I don't think it has a whole lot of throw. Still, I am drawn back to my wrist over and over to sniff. I could wear this year round but I'm weird like that. In other words, I love it. I'm already resisting the urge to hoard another bottle (and I've never even finished an entire imp or decant of anything).

[edited to remove clunkiness]

Ooooh, Hunter Moon looks very pretty! Can't wait to smell it too!

For some reason I expected this to smell like Dragon's Milk, but it doesn't. It reminds me of a Possets scent, Elixer of Heartlessness....but I bet if I tried them side by side, they're quite different.

This smells 'perfumey' to me (I know, lame description), and I think I finally know what orris smells like. Doesn't one of the Snake Pit scents contain orris? Now I want to try that one again. The coconut here just barely peeks in and out. I do like this, but perhaps not enough to wear often. I'm not sure yet.

I haven't tried the L'Occitane scent you're talking about. However, bpal's Spider (from the Carousel) has notes of "White ginger, artemesia, vetiver, nutmeg, King mandarin, bergamot, and lime". Might be worth tracking down a decant.

Our local big Playhouse is starting the season with Dracula. I am so excited!! I'm already deciding what bpal scent to wear (unless I go with Possets...). I think Count Dracula is a little obvious. I'm thinking Devil's Night or October (and I haven't even smelled it yet!). If I decide on Possets it would be Ribbands, Merlin's Mistress, or Over The Rhine.

More choices:

Montresor

Pumpkin King

Typhon

Mme. Moriarty

One of my new favorite scents is Montresor...."The black fruit and vanilla oaken notes of fine Medoc and De Grâve, but not a hint of the elusive Amontillado". I love deep, somewhat dark scents and this sure is that, and the vanilla is fairly prominent on my skin. It's LE but doesn't seem all that hard to find....I found a 5ml fairly quickly on ebay.

This from another guy who sometimes amps sweet notes, which can sometimes ruin a scent for me (unless I want a really sweet scent, like Sugar Skull).

Hmm, right away I thought of 3 from the Salon.....Orpheus, Garden Path With Chickens, and Les Anges Dechus all smell very 'herbal' to me. Antony is another herbal scent, and you could even get a sample of that one (the Salon samples come in sets only).

Now when you talk about specific herbs, it might be easier to just do a search on the Lab's website. For example, a search for bergamot turned up no less than 26 results! Lavender would probably bring a lot of results, pennyroyal at least a couple (Mad Hatter is a good one, smells kind of minty with lavender and musk), ginger is in quite a few (Shub-Niggurath is a must try for ginger fans if you ask me) and the list goes on....

Hope that helps a little, I know the lab's catalogue can seem daunting at first!

I was pleasantly surprised by Cathode. I was expecting a lot of bright mint, more of a high-pitched crystalline scent. Instead I am getting mostly moss I think, with the mint kind of dancing around the top. I was also afraid of it smelling like spearmint which I hate, but I really don't smell that at all. In fact, I don't really smell peppermint either....it's more like a minty feeling.

It goes through a long middle stage where it reminds me of a spice cabinet, some kind of savory herbs....not sage or basil, but something. Then long after that (I put it on 5 hours ago and it's still there), I think what I'm smelling is mostly the ambergris, although I don't really know what that smells like. It's not musty like moss can sometimes be on me. It's a little sweet, somewhat herbal. Basically I'm thinking 'masculine' when I wear this, along the lines of Antony.

It's a really good scent that works well on my skin. I will continue to wear it and consider a bigger amount than my imp.

I'm always on the lookout for the perfect 'red' scent.........red musk, incense, spicy, smokey, that general category.....there are a few that I really like.....Fenris Wolf, Sin, Lust, Blood, Mme. Moriarty, of course Red Moon, and Crowley, which sort of falls into that. The list goes on and on! Oh yeah and Hellion, perhaps.

When I tried this today I smelled mostly honey. I don't like to smell like honey, so this wasn't good. After about an hour, the sweetness backed off some, and it was more of a spicy, warm scent that I liked a lot.

I heard a rumor that this gets better with age, so I'll hold onto my imp and try it again. I was expecting a lot more almond, so it's weird that it smells like honey (almost typed hiney!! ). I guess it's the myrrh and/or musk that's playing tricks on me. Bastet does have some potential to be something I like.

My first thought was this smells a lot like the more recent Blue Moon, with some minor differences. Lady of Shallot doesn't have the wood note/s that Blue Moon has. There's some note floating around in the background that made me think of plumeria for some reason, although I really don't know what plumeria smells like. Now, reading the notes, I think it was the ginger.

This is a very pretty, aquatic floral scent. The ginger might give it a roundness, I think. I will probably use this for enabling because I think it would be good for that purpose. I personally don't need this because to me, it's so close to Blue Moon which I already have.

edit: I agree with dorothy humbird that there is a linen-like note in this. It reminded me of Dirty, a little bit.