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But when, Calliope, thy loud harp rang -- In Epic grandeur rose the lofty strain; The clash of arms, the trumpet's awful clang Mixed with the roar of conflict on the plain; The ardent warrior bade his coursers wheel, Trampling in dust the feeble and the brave, Destruction flashed upon his glittering steel, While round his brow encrimsoned laurels waved, And o'er him shrilly shrieked the demon of the grave. The eldest of the Muses, she is Eloquence, and thus, governs heroic and epic poetry, and her eloquence has served to calm quarrels even amongst the surliest of Gods. She is crowned in gold, and holds a roll of parchment or stylus and tablet. Hers is the scent of creative inspiration, and it is a boon to writers, poets and arbitrators: lavender and bright mint with bergamot, verbena, thyme and a touch of sweet orange and warm almond. with the lavender, mint, and thyme banging their heads together, this smells like my old kitchen herb garden - the orange and almond are definitely there, which just makes it more of a kitcheny scent. add it a little bubbling wine and some chicken, and you've got a fabulous coq au vin.. yum. now i'm hungry.

An opiate torpor, soporific, trancelike, and sublimely languid. A poet’s morphine dream, a listless journey into a gentle dream and the precipice of intoxicated madness. Paperwhite and black narcissus, three lilies, black poppy and tuberose and a hint of hypnotic opium den haze. all i can pick out is the poppy and some smoke and the narcissus... gentle, and not very strong. definitely a lazy scent. the lilies don't turn all soapy on me like they tend to do with this one, but i can smell them in the background.

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. yet another short review in the midst of sensory overload from having more parts of me covered in oil than decent: sweet floral incense. i can't really pick out anything in particular, but it reminds me of an incense basket at one of the shops in OB i randomly went into the other day, where they had rose and musk and a citrusy incense all jumbled up. i likes it, which is a little surprise because neroli and bergamot are usually misses.

The wild, untamed essence of lycanthropy. Primeval in its raw power and insatiable hunger: juniper, cypress and galangal with the barest touch of eucalyptus. it's like the middle of the forest. very tree-y (the pine, cypress, and eucalyptus). an untamed kind of earthy. that distinct smell of the forest, with the slight decay.

A pain-tinged, pleasure-soaked blend of leather, oakmoss, orange blossom, amber, and rose with a breath of virginal French florals and a hint of austere monastic penitential incense. at first sniff, it's all about the leather and orange blossom. wait a bit, and the other flowers come out to play. it smells surprisingly masculine in the bottle. on my skin, wet, it's all orange and amber and leather. as it dries, the flowers blossom and push back the leather into the background, and then BAM the incense and leather get into a screaming match. after awhile, they eventually get bored and tone down and it's gorgeous - the orange blossom is barely a whisper, and leather and incense back down (though still definitely there). i think it'd be drop dead sexy on a guy.

John Dee: master of science, alchemy and magic, Hermetic philosopher in the schools of Rosicrucian Christian Mysticism and Platonic-Pythagorean doctrine, and Queen Elizabeth’s astrologer, advisor, cryptologist and spy. With Edward Kelly, he created a field of study and work in Angelic Evocation, and isolated the Angelic language: Enochian. His scent is soft English leather, rosewood and tonka with a hint of incense, parchment and soft woods. first off, i've got to say that leather, rosewood, and tonka are three of my favorite notes, and many of the scents i adore have hints of incense or woods in them. so it should be no surprise that i absolutely ADORE this blend :bowdown: in the bottle, it's all about the leather and incense. once it hits my skin and starts to dry, it blooms. the rosewood and tonka whip the leather and incense back, and it's absolutely lovely. it's definitely one of my new favorites

Warm cinnamon, husky clove and white pepper. three witches smells like i've been cooking up something yummy. i can smell the cinnamon and clove with just a hint of the pepper. if there was a hint of apples or pumpkin, it'd smell like just baked pie!

so i'm going out on this wonderful night on the town, dressy style, with andy after i graduate in may, and i want a "wow" perfume to go with the "wow" dress i bought (normal price, over $100, but last year's model - not that classy dresses ever go out of style - so it was only $15!) -- and if it matters, it's an ankle-length royal blue, with some sparklies. i think i'll end up wearing plain black heels with it, along with garters & thigh highs, hair in an updo, etc. suggestions?

Traditionally, Beaver Moon is named thus for a very obvious reason: during this time of year, beavers are hard at work building their dams and preparing for the onset of winter. Because it was too hard to resist, BPAL's Beaver Moon is sillier, sleazier, and full of camp. This scent is of cheesecake and cupcakes, more in line with it's cheekier connotations, and really hasn't a damn thing to do with Luna at all! mmmmm, red velvet cake, complete with the cream cheese frosting. yum. EAT ME! now i want some red velvet cake.

Bittersweet yet powerful: salty aquatic notes and bursting with dragon's blood. it's somewhat reminds me of tears or jolly roger's salty water... but the dragon's blood definitely gives it a bang. it smells oddly familiar, but i can't place it. and i have the urge to lick a salt lick now... (ok, not really, but i smell that tangy freshly licked salt lick smell, from my grandfather's farm)

Divine Beauty, Shemesh, Unity, the Balance of Justice and Mercy. other than i like it and i smell cinnamon i can't say much. i think i've OD'd on too many bpals in too little time and the casanova keeps pushing out tiphareth. will edit this later tonight to add more if my nose comes back.

A sensory jumble, a true cacophony of odors: black pepper, benzoin, blood orange and olibanum. to continue my one-line reviews: fruity, very fruity. it reminds me of one of my favorite breakfast sides: blood orange with strawberry, though i didn't peg the berry right away.

The Finnish Goddess of Agony, Torment and the joy found in inflicting pain on others. The Mistress of Torture, she has transformed in the modern era into the patron Goddess of Dominatrixes. The slap of slick, hot leather punctuates the warm, sensual embrace of black amber, red musk and dark, lascivious myrrh. it smells like my ex boyfriend's leather jacket, complete with his sandalwoody cologne. warm fuzzies for the memories, but it's a very aggressive perfume.

if you stuck all the orange sour patch kids (or other sour orange gummy candy) into a blender and liquified them, this is what you would get - slightly sour but beautiful orange.

No scent description available. this gorgeous oil was an extra in my latest order. it's a dark amber in color, which initially surprised me for some reason. in the bottle, it took me the longest time to figure out what it smelled like, but while i was mulling some apple cider, it came to me: it smells like spiced mulled apple cider. apples, cinnamon, nutmeg, all spice, cloves, ginger. the apples are really in the background compared to the spices, which is probably why my mind immediately went to uranus as a scent comparison. wet, it goes through this stage that's similiar to mabon, when the apple and woodsy elements are settling in, and the spices go in the background. there's a green taste to it, but it's very faint, and a slight pumpkin. once, i sniffed something that may have been vetiver, but i'm not sure... dry, it's very similar to how it is wet, though instead of apples, it's pumpkin. there's also a woodiness that comes out as it ages (and this scent lasts a LONG time - my first time trying it, after countless handwashes, a shower, a bath, and 18 hours, it was still faintly there), when it's woods and spices. i adore this scent very, very much. it's warm and a celebration of autumn and spicy and just fabulous. thanks to the lab for giving me such a fabulous scent, and to Puddin for letting me know its name

Warrior, Trickster and Goddess of Magic and Poets, she is one of the Tuatha De Danaan and the Queen of the Faeries. A very complex scent, both shadowy and fierce: black orchid, sandalwood, night-blooming jasmine, osmanthus, Somalian rose, and Chinese musk. i like it, it's a soft floral (i can smell rose and jasmine and something else) with a hint of sandalwood. it's definitely an everyday, going to work/class/interview kind of scent. ADDED Feb. 10: so i wore it today as my period decide to flood open and what not and today was rather than the strong sandalwood weak flower was FLOWERS with a wiff of sandalwood goooorgeous!

Notorious for its properties for protection against werewolves and curing lycanthropy, this nefarious plant also has a fine history of use as a virulent poison. Clasically, Medea employed it in her many works of vengeance. This concoction of ours has none of the lethal qualities, but still personifies all of the herb's dark history beautifully. very, very woody, with a bite.

A raven-haired Fairy Queen of Ireland. One of her eternal duties dictates that she must hold a midnight court every season and hear the pleas of married Irishwomen. The court serves only to determine whether or not husbands are adequately serving their wife's sexual needs. A judicious yet powerfully sensual blend, a mingling of justice and sexuality: sage, sweet pea, bold pale musk and warm tonka. mmm a perfect blend of sage and sweet pea. the tonka and musk develop as it dries. not too sagey, not to floral -- both of which i tend to run away from if they're too loud -- wonderfully balanced. i likes it alot. i have alot more to review, so i'll revisit this later tonight.

immediately when i smelled this i thought of italian and french cooking and fresh basil. yummy. good enough to eat! totally reminds me of the herbs that come up with the steam when you're making homemade red marinara-type sauces, or when you're making pesto.

If, in the time between order placement and order shipment, you need to update or change your address (moving, sending to work instead of home, vice versa), email answers@blackphoenixalchemylab.com for BPAL orders (or tradingpost@papow.net for BPTP orders) and let them know: * order method/date/any relevent identifying information (ccnow - order #, paypal - primary email address & transaction #) * when they should switch addresses * where to send the package If you know you are moving on a certain date, but don't necessarily know where you will be moving to, please let them know as they DO mark orders that need to refer to new addresses (though if you forget to follow up with your new address, it may be lost in the ether) Example: Keep in mind that if you do follow up, to include the original email and any responses from customer service, for their reference

Abstract Ideas - Dreams - Scandal - Glamour - Idealism - Hallucinations - Imagination - Mediumistic Power - Poetry - Receptivity - Spirituality - Visionaries - Weirdness - Seduction - Prophecy - Fantasy - Perception i think there's lotus in here, because i'm getting the bubblegum pink smell that usually accompanies lotus. it's sweet, slightly aquatic... but i'm not a huge fan of it.

The scent of misty forests, damp alder leaf, and the gentlest touch of white rose. dead on the money. it reminds me of this forest i hiked in in france a few summers ago - one of my hiking partners wore this white rose perfume and i kept smelling it - and has that morning pre-dawn foresty smell, but not a pine forest like loup garou, no this is a forest of big proud leaves-dropping trees. i'll definitely use up the imp and buy a bottle or two (coz my mom lurves it as well) ADDED Nov. 21: preface with being otr, which futzes with some notes. my left arm has some new dublin, my right arm has old dublin (er prototype). obviously, i reviewed new to the old before, so this is more a comparison when wet, new is very much more smokey and piney. the florals don't come out to play ~at all~. still a misty forest, but this one's one that someone took a hunk of pine and started burning it.. the new is as it will be: it doesn't particularly morph, and is a nice soft clean white rose with some woods hiding in the back. when they dry, new is still slightly smokey, and instead of the giant leaf-dropping trees in the back, i mostly smell a hint of pine. the clean white rose is more prominent than it was before.... i'm undecided as to how much i like the new dublin, but i'd pick a bottle of the unreleased without question. it'd be a great office room scent, though. clean yet feminine but not so cloying or foody to be in your face.

EMBALMING FLUID SOAP A light, pure scent: white musk, green tea, aloe and lemon. The soap: absolutely smooth, sheer, silken lather. I was lucky enough to try an early preview of several of the Villainess soaps, and have by dying for them to be released! I don't know if the formula changed between this preview and now -- my preview sample bar was several months ago, and not cut to the normal size. That said, it has all the hallmarks of a Villainess bar: great suds, perfect amount of scent so you enjoy it in the bath, and it lightly lingers for a little bit (but not too long). The scent is a perfect match for what I was expecting for Embalming Fluid. It's a great light 'clean' scent, and I'm looking forward to buying a bar for the summer. On the issue of dryness: my skin is very sensitive as far as dryness goes. There aren't many bar soaps (and even a good amount of bath gels) that don't make it even drier , and outside of the tropics, I tend to use an extra moisturizing bath gel with an in-shower rinse off lotion (and in arid climates, I often need a post-shower shea butter lotion application as well). Villainess is one of the better soaps I've found - my skin doesn't get all white and flakey the way it does for cheap soap. That said, I still needed to lotion up, either in the shower or afterwards, with this soap. I *was* living in the desert when I tried this, so my normal routine was a double lotion, so only needing the post-shower lotion was an improvement

Peace, serenity, tranquility, silence. i'm not sure what's in here, but when wet, it smells kind of lemony without being *lemon* (if that makes sense). there's a hit of dryness as it, er, dries. it didn't morph much from bottle to dry, though. very peaceful and tranquil. i wish i could do it justice, but i'm not. it's utterly gorgeous, though, and i love it.

Eccentricity - Adventure - Clairvoyance - Defiance - Humanitarianism - Lawlessness - Magnetism - Paradoxes - Astrology - Whimsy - Progress - Electricity - Invention - Satire mmmmm it smells like crushed up red hots, with some sort of a woody base (maybe cinnamon bark?). it kind of reminds me of a spicier hamadryad. how i love thee, uranus. my ruling planet, no less. shame that you are now discontinued.