fragrantgrasse

On my skin, Hell's Belle isn't spectacular. Maybe it's the mandarin and magnolia, or could it be the oleander? I had no idea that oleander had a scent! I see it along the sides of the freeway and I imagine that only as poisonous a plant as oleander could survive those toxic fumes but it thrives! So, I wish I were getting more of the soft, coconutty richness other posters have mentioned, but at this point in it's evolution, Hell's Belle is being too pointy on me and not soft enough. I am getting some of the smokiness - and because of this more subtle note I almost imagined I caught a whiff of vetiver.....but, no. Overall my impression is more perfumy floral with a touch of fruitiness. edited for typos

My first whiff out of the bottle is frankincense. A gently dry & resinious fragrance. I might experiment putting Tiphareth in an unguent base - it smells healing to me - specifically wounded skin healing, probably because of the frankincense. Then slowly I get a hint of rose - frankincense and rose are lovely together and beautiful skin oils in particular, rose being the Queen of oils for skin and soul. There are other oils in this blend I am guessing, perhaps cedar? There is a complexity to it, but my guess is that frankincense lies at the heart of Tiphareth.... As a couple of other posters have mentioned, to me this is a ritual oil.... an annoint, perhaps. I put a few drops in a candle burner and over the course of the afternoon my office was filled with a soothing, soft, very faint fragrance. Like being in a temple. Not sure I will actually wear this on my skin - but I will certainly use it to create a feeling of sacredness in my environment.

I finally got around to ordering an imp of Morocco, I have been resisting it for a while, and now that I have tried it and love it - am wondering why I waited so long to order? It is incredibly lovely & is everything I want in a fragrance.....evocative, warm, subtle and evolving....this is one of the BPAL scents that softly morphs into a second skin scent. Mildly spicy & exotic it also is sweet and milky.......like a cup of chai tea! As many reviewers of Morocco have stated - this is one to order and reorder, it is timeless in it's appeal and most certainly a wear-it-everyday-scent. yum. edit'd for grammar and spelling

Dragon's Milk is the first blend that contains dragon's blood resin that I have been able to wear.... All the other blends with dragon's blood just went ew on me instantly.....so if you are like me and haven't wanted to try dragon's blood because of the sickly sweetness.....try this one! The rich addition of vanilla makes this scent work well on me. I still can pick out that cherry-ness around the edges but over time it evolves, softens and warms to a cozy, yummy, more languid scent that is something I would want to wear everyday......I also think it would make a killer body lotion....creamy softness all over. yum!

I love jasmine and white florals, dawn and the image of softly glowing skin so for me, Eos was a no brainer! I try to conjure up the image of the goddess of fertility, dawn and all when I smell this....but all I am getting is a dottle of jasmine - make that more than a dottle. There is a sharp edge to this that weirdly, is reminding me of suntan lotion and it is threatening to go soapy on me too... edited for spelling

ANTIQUE LACE..... Which as the Imp lies on my desk with it's label slightly twisted is reading: Antique Lice. Nevermind. My first whiff out of the vile is not too promising. It smells plastic-y right way to my nose and not at all what I was expecting or - good news - what it ends up smelling like which is lovely, sort of whipped cotton candy-ish....but in a good way. Nostalgic for sure. As it dries down it turns into a whispery soft vanilla type fragrance that I do love as it wears on over time. I wore it all day yesterday and kept getting scent glimpses of it that were so evocative and very distinct for such a soft fragrance. One image that kept appearing was of an open window in an old deserted house with shreds of an (antique lace) curtain slowy billowing in and out - like an inhalation and an exhalation. I pick up hints of musk and soft, warm 'low' notes....it is powdery on me but it is very pleasant. My husband mentioned I smelled like a baby. Innocent and sweet. But since this is Antique lace maybe I am an OLD baby. heh.... I do really love this soft scent and am happy I have my imp - might have bought a bigger bottle but it was not to be.... ETA...weeks later.... I have worn Antique Lace everyday. It is the one I reach for when I need a lift....it is my absolute favorite scent....soft, calming, sweet and when I wear it I get comments from all around me on how wonderful it smells. this is a scent t hat brings joy into a life. my imp is just about gone - boo hoo!

UMBRA....I love an old, leafy patchouli, but mixed with a dark, cool vetiver AND a wild and woody cedar, it was just all too overwhelming on me. I smelled like I couldn't get out from under the pile of damp wood chips. I would love a more prominent sense of the cinnamon to lighten the load of vetiver and her friends, so ultimately Umbra is too masculine on me. I did mix Chimera, which I adore, and Umbra together and that did the trick with the addition of cinnamon but Umbra got lost, so I dabbed more Umbra on..... Unfortunately, after just a few minutes, I started to smell like freshly shaved pencils & chai tea spices. Wasn't quite the effect I was going for..... Off to the swamp piles with you!

i may be slightly off center here, but everytime i see the SWAP FORUM - or any mention of swaps - for some odd reason i always read it as SWAMP. SWAMP FORUM anyone?

Vetiver, dusty pepper, nutmeg, thyme and grass over a deep, mossy wooden core. I love receiving freebies from the lab! Kweku Anansi is a masculine scent to me. Initial impression is a combination of pepper, cypress woodiness, maybe vetiver. Upon drydown though, I am sensing almost a wintergreen note buried deep down. Also, it never evolves or changes as so many of BPAL fragrances do. What I smelled out of the vial was primarily what Kweku ended up as. Not my favorite type of smell but as always and interesting one.

This scent's rapturous previews & cult status had me so curious I was dying to try it and discover it's appeal. Then it was re-released this fall and I purchased 5ml. I slathered it on AS I was smelling it out of the bottle, being the adventurous type. I discovered Samhain isn't really me. I was also distressed to discover it lasting power is nothing short of miraculous. However (as I have discovered so many of Beth's creations are) it is SO immensely intruiging, complex & multi-layered with a certain pastiche (is that the right word?), that I find myself constantly sniffing it anyway.... And, see, that's what I love about BPAL. The fact that I can still enjoy a fragrance that I don't even like! Does that make *any* sense? So for today's review, I put Samhain on a professional perfumer testing paper. The initial top notes wafting throught the air are ones of strong tobacco & the sweetness of fermenting apples with a hint of wood fires smoldering in the background.. This is certainly an autumn scent. There is an undercurrent of something casting a 'perfumy' mid-note that I can't quite identify maybe all the pumpkin & spices. The fir needles, damp woods & black patchouli to me, are the soft backdrop to all the up front sweetness of apples, spices and pumpkin. I am enjoying this scent in small doses and occasionally in a candle burner at night. Even on a scent blotter it casts its warm autumnal shadow....

On me, All Saint's meandered back and forth through many phases. With the absolute first inhalation I got in rapid succession: coffee-butter-spice. What followed was a slower evolution into a rich floral AND deep plummy stage which was full of wistful old memories; through that and into a period of smelling something akin to damp stone. Wait, there's more.... I loved the brief moment of ancient & polished wooden pews. The fact that it reminded me of my Catholic childhood, well Then, just when I thought it had finally settled, I got a heavy dose of.....pencil shavings. ....weird and unrelated olfactory hallucinations! I will cut to the chase on All Saints.... After a slow afternoon shuffle through the snow, during which time I kept catching tantalizing scent glimpes of it all warmed up and evolved.... I decided I was totally enamored at how enchanting & complex a scent it had become. Give this one time. It completely changes. From pencil shavings to a worshipful celebration of venerable old saints!

I ordered 5 ml of each of the King & the Queen. At first I preferred the King of Spades and wore that one and used it my candle burner. Today - months later my eye fell on the Queen and I decided to give it a try. Smelling from the bottle it is unremarkable to me. But upon application I am liking this more and more! It is evolving and moving quickly to reveal a happy mixture of berries and florals. As Queen of Spades dries it becomes more warm and spicy, and I think I can detect a clove-ish note in the spices. I love the faint undercurrent of jamminess of berries - that on me - is mixing with the amber which I love. Myrrh is emerging now and is bring with it a note desert dryness, smoothing the florals and making me love this.... On me the Queen is more sophisticated that the King, decidely different and....majestic. All hail Beth!

oy. ew. Jeez, I hate like hell having adverse reactions to any scent Beth creates but I am having one with Deimos. Maybe it is the civet + musk + citrus mixing with my personal scent chemistry. I know from previous experience that civet is verboten on me. I placed Deimos, which was wrapped in an envelope - on my swap pile, while wearing a pair of latex gloves. That kind of sensitive. civet-on-me ....

Like jj_j, Snow White is my all time favorite BPAL scent, hands down....and I have quoted the Lab's description on my review because I wanted to keep reminding myself of how they describe Snow White. In no way could I connect their description with my sensory experience of it - I was flummoxed. When I first opened the vial I was thunderstruck! This was it! The Holy Grail of scents, IMO. I almost wanted to eat it although to my nose there is nothing foody about it. I do believe I can pick out coconut, but nothing else specifically, certainly not the night blooming flowers although they are also some of my all time favorite scents. What I do believe is that this scent is so spectacularly crafted by Beth that it transcends description! So I will leave my review at that....I am sputtering with delight! I, too, am casting my vote for a repeat this holiday season! ---------- eta....months later: my husband and I are out walking early this may morning and i am wearing snow white (as usual) and he asks me what scent was i wearing....because i smelled...white! how's that for a sort of synesthesia-scent-color-association?

Contrary to many previous posters here, I really do love rose, especially rose absolute or a pure rose otto. So of course I ordered Rose Red. First out of the bottle I thought: Ye gods, toooo rosey! But I dabbed it on my wrist and let it marinate for a while. It didn't evolve on me the way I would have wished, it turned into something with.....too high a vibration? Does that sound too new age? However, I am nothing if not persistent so I put it in my candle diffusor - a few drops of Rose Red in water atop a lovely stone candle diffusor - and viola! Utter magic.....a truly gorgeous room scent!! Rose Red is so lovely as a room scent in fact, that even my husband, who does not love much in the way of fragrance, really liked this one!

I received Q of Sheba as a freebie months ago - and while I try to keep up with reviewing, I have a huge pile of Imps and only so much arm space! NOT THAT I AM COMPLAINING, mind you!! No way!! It is also February in Toronto and I would love nothing more that to be transported to the desert, any desert to feel it's hot, dry fragrant wind on my face.... It also took me awhile to decide about this one. While I love Dana O'Shee - it doesn't last long on me at all - so I was hoping after reading some of the comparisons with it - that Queen of Sheba would be a similar scent, yet longer lasting. What I ultimately discovered is that Q of S is much more sophisticated than Dana, which on me, is warm, soft & cuddly. Initially I smell strong, very astringent bitter almonds, a wee bit of honey and something else? Saffron? It is a dry scent and tends to go too green and almost metallic on my skin. I really want to love this scent, and yet I can't quite get passed the green metal part of it, so far anyway... However, I notice I keep smelling my wrist.... this is an intriguing scent for sure. I have now applied it twice and may even keep applying... ---------- It has been about 45 minutes now and it is softening and becoming a whisper of almonds and dry honey'd spices... which now I absolutely adore - this is so unusual. Love it. Need more. Huzzah!! Go Beth!

Nine Mysteries - as I am typing I can smell the minty freshenss of this scent, it has even cleared my sinuses - but an evil side is begining to make its olfactory presence known. Violets.....followed by soap. ew. My high school algebra teacher always wore violet perfume and I have never been able to wipe that olfactory memory from my brain. I blame violets (and her) for my complete failure in that class - it must have been the violet perfume! I was violet addled! I am still hopefully waiting for Nine Mysteries to enter into the coconut or even the dark stage other posters have spoken about. But so far it is just peppermint and violets. If it doesn't morph soon I am going to have to go wash it off and because of the disasterous numerical connection - I hope I don't have to add any columns of numbers up today. I am in a violet funk. Sorry.....off to the swap pile!

It has taken me a long time to review Snake Oil even though it was one of the first imps I bought. The description just jumped out at me and yet, still, I waited.... What Scorpio doesn't want to smell magnetic and mysterious, i ask you? We all do! (this is the royal "we") Snake Oil is nothing if not magnetic and mysterious. In fact, it is dripping in magnetic and luscious aromamolecules. While I am not able to pick out the Indonesian spice oils - I certainly do get that gorgeous sugared vanilla right up front - and there it stays. This is a scent that warms to my body growing rounder, softer and more soulful as the day wears on. In fact, I believe snake oil only gets better with age, which is so valuable in signature scent. Snake Oil is a classic. It is creamy-yummy, warm, soothing, relaxing, inhibition-dropping, and sexy-without-borders.... and one of my all-time favorites. Like Egyptian Amber & ambergris (now discontinued), Haunted and O - to me they share a similarity of sorts - a kindred spirit'dness....And they are all on the top of my BIG BOTTLE list.

If I were to have based my opinion on what Mata Hari smelled like right out of the bottle, it would have ended up on the very *top* of my swap pile. Lucky for me I waited! Coffee is the first note I detect and it is not subtle but right up there, feet planted squarely in each nostril. It is tempered by an odd sweetness, that, mixed with the coffee makes it idiosyncratic. But this is just a phase. Over time the jasmine and roses emerge and temper the coffee - alchemically changing what was origianlly a swap - for a treasue. Mata Hari is smooth and luxurious, rich, round and very unique. Over time it softens and grows into one of my favorites! ADDED March 1: "From Bewitching Brews/ Mata Hari / A renowned exotic dancer and courtesan, possessed of aristocratic elegance, matchless charm, an iron will and a streak of fearlessness.......Her scent is striking and bold with a delicate yet dark undertone: five roses with soft jasmine, warmed by vanilla, fig, tonka bean and mahogany, spiced with a drop of coffee bean." Exotic and elegant. Bold and delicate.... Absolutely. Five roses and soft jasmine, yup. Spiced with a drop of coffee..... Just a drop? wow. I have been using Mata Hari in a variety of different settings. On my wrist, on a perfumers strip to gain a bit of distance, and in a candle burner. In each incarnation she smells the same although the warmth of a candle burner really amplifies this to a lovely distraction. My first impression as has been mentioned by almost all reviewers is the coffee note. On me it grounds and maintains the more floral aspects....which gain momentum immediately! Rose and jasmine come forward to mix with, but not be altered by the coffee. To me the coffee note is the most constant and unchanging scent in this blend. Roses and jasmine soften and evolve, tonka and fig, where are you? I love tonka bean but am unable to indentify it, probably its beaniness mixes so well with florals and figs that it just adds it's quiet presence to the chorus. I am not sure what mahogany smells like but the addition seems like it also adds mellowness and warmth to the other notes. Over all I love Mata Hari - it has a strangly stimulating effect on me.....oh, duh... Of course! The coffee.... not until I wrote that did I connect the two. I also find I have to be in the mood for this one though. On me it requires a certain psychic & physical stamina be present. I could never wear this to bed for instance!

I really like the gentle, wet sweetness of Forbidden Fruit. For me the top note is lotus - then it quickly slides into a panapoly of tropical friut. Not Juicy Fruit, but more like Tahiti's mango-papaya - a sheer veil or water color fragrance, by that I mean it is so soft and sweet as it says in the description.... impressionistic & innocent. Lolita this is not.... more like Anne of Green Gables. I really like this but not sure if I would order a larger size...

I'm with jj_j - I have black amber on one wrist and egyptian amber on the other and they have been mellowing now for a decent interval. To me the black amber smells a whole lot like vetiver - or is it myrrh? It has vetiver' s smokey-ness and a just a hint of licorice-ness....? or is it anise? No - I am sure now, to my nose it has a dottle of myrrh in it creating that distinctive dryness & resin-y-ness. But as they both mellow and soften I find, I too prefer the egyptian amber and wonder if there is any available anymore....it is everything I love in an amber scent: softness, warmth, a hint of the ancient.... & comforting without being too sweet. That's the good news. The bad news is: it is no longer avialable, what a surprise....! For me, trying to locate a good amber that doesn't turn wicked on me has been like a quest for the holy grail....only even more mercurial. It seems the heavens conspire against me ever actually finding one and having it be available! The very second I finally locate a delicious amber - you can bet on it - my next order will contain this note: SORRY......all ambers have been...... DISCONTINUED.

now we're talking - yum - coconut! This smells exactly like coconut, you will experience no surprises with this one. One of my all time favorite combinations is a whisk of coconut on one wrist and a swish of patchouli on the other and rubbed together gently. Warm, soothing, exotic, comforting all rolled up in one. I swear when I put htis on and walk around people walk up to me and ask what is it and where did I buy it? I wear an amber bracelet - it is simple and lovely and when I have this blend on my wrists it's fragrance "stains" the bracelet and acts as a diffusor of sorts - I can smell the fragrance the next day if I wear the bracelet again. So coconut -

I'm not sure Mad Hatter is my cup of tea. I definitley get the "paroxysm of pennyroyal" right off the bat. After a decent interval of time there is a shadow of lavender that emerges but not enough to ward off that pennyroyal...then "feral" black musk creeps in to muddle my mind. It is more of a masculine scent than I like and I am quite certain I wouldn't care for it on the husband. To the swap pile!

Malediction. I am very used to smelling vetiver. She is deep and dark, a grass with tiny rootlets that reach deep into moist riverbeds drawing energy upwards from the depths. Wet, Malediction is just sheer unadulterated vetiver I don't yet pick up any of the patchouli. This combination of root and leaf is soothing and yet I am not sure how they will evolve on my skin. So far it is cooling and sweet and I am getting a hint of something else hovering in the background that as an earlier poster mention is smokey, like an evening fire. I like this scent, the sweetness is now deep and wet. I feel like Mother Earth!

Machu Picchu. I expected a scent with the name of Machu Picchu to smell like altitude. Dry stone, mountains, wind and scrub brush - with maybe a few Chilean flutes piping up softly in the background. I was way off! This imp is filled with a mix of tropical notes as the description says. It is lovely and so unexpected. It is fruity and sweet, there is so much going on in this scent as Velvetsky said. I really love the complexity of Beth's creations. How does she do it? Layer upon layer of mountainous vistas.....gazing at the verdant green and lush floral valleys below. Gotta get more of this! .....and visit Machu Picchu