stellans

This decant has been in my storage box for so long I've forgotten when and from whose hands it came to me, but since I declared this "Wear the Rares: Imps/Decants" week, it was time for an outing.

Well. Let me just say some rares shouldn't be hoarded, and --sadly-- Unseelie is one of those.

This one didn’t age well; the florals/herbs/grasses seem to have deteriorated into something plastic-like, which finally turn into something vaguely baby-powderish -- with something rather unpleasant underneath. Jasmine, is that you?. *sigh*

Well, cross that rare off my List of Hunting.

I ordered this blend because on the whole the Lab's apple scents do very well on me no matter what the other notes are. I must admit the vanilla cream note gave me a bit of pause, because the Lab's cream notes tend to turn sour on my skin (Milk Moon, I'm looking at you!) but there are exceptions (hello, my lovely Chaste Moon!). I was hoping Agapé would also prove to be an exception...and I was right!

 

In the bottle, the cream note is hanging out with the juicy just ripe-enough apple, the spicy carnation blossom, with just a bit of deepness -- the tonka, I think. I swab some on my arms, and apple immediately announces its presence with UH-THOR-IT-EYE! But there's also the spice, the sweetness, and the deep underlying tonka...but no cream on me! w00t! The sweetpea also starts to peep out more and more, which I'm glad to smell because I do love me some sweet pea.

 

After a couple of hours, the scents have all melded together in a delightful fruit-floral amalgam (with a smoothness I will credit to the cream note) which still totally delights the nose, and doesn't require deep huffing to smell, either. The waft is still excellent, despite the passage of time.

 

All in all, this is a definite keeper...and I'm not a big foodie, but I do love apples!

 

ETA: And besides, who could resist a bottle label like that, anyway??? I mean, Alice is the skin I use just about all the time!

I love the labels, but sadly I fear only 4 of the 6 have any chance of working on me. I'm giving a pass on the Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde pair.

the only danger-note for me was the vanilla cream, as cream too often turns sour on my skin. But I love all the other notes, and took a chance that Agapé will love me back. And the label makes me so happy I did -- now if mine will just arrive!

oh, lovely! The sandalwood jumps right up my nose and tickles with a dry, dusty flair which is only slightly tempered by the cedar. I was really worried about the cedar because it most often turns into pencil shavings with my skin chemistry.

I love the way Beth and the Lab manages to convey such wonderful concepts in a scent, and what a perfect Imbolc scent, though it would work just as well for Samhain...

It must the lunar oils which are referenced in each moon description, but on the whole A Little Lunacy is my favorite of all the BPAL lines. I wear one every single night...

Whoa. As described by the Lab, De Sade is "The essence of pleasure heightened by pain: the raw scent of leather." Well, yes. It is that. But there is a definite undernote of a man in fresh leather breeches, who has just completed his morning's toilet. The fresh washed, shaven, and dressed man scent that pretty much always makes me weak in the knees.

I really, really like this leather scent...but on Mr. Stellans, not me. I truly love the smell of good leather, but not as my perfume. For myself, Spanked is my personal go-to leather scent, followed by an aged and mellow bottle of Western Diamondback.

There are some BPAL blends which are considered to be masculine scents that I actually like (Whitechapel, for instance) on me, but De Sade is definitely not one of them; it will remain a male scent. So, I'll keep the imp for the Mr., but unless he asks for it, I won't look for more or buy a bottle.

ETA: OK, I should have edited this review sooner, but whoa, has my mind been changed about De Sade! As that ubiquitous Irish Spring ad says, "Strong enough for a man, but I like it too!" The pure leather in this blend is just so appealing that I was lucky enough to score a bottle before it was discontinued, and then bought another from a forumite to boot so I shall be in lovely, lovely leather for some time to come. De Sade really is the purest leather blend I own, as the others all seem to have a little side fragrance aiding and abetting their enchantment. De Sade is walking into a leather goods store. De Sade is making that leather wallet in scouts. De Sade is love.

Because I'd planned to wear White Rose first, then Red Rose, I reviewed White first here after thinking a bit, I applied Red Rose next to the other wrist, and fell in love...though not with any rose! This blend has wonderfully deep notes, the kind I like best, but there is practically no rose discernable to my nose, hardly any at all. But I have so many 'real' rose blends, that doesn't really bother me.

 

The clove is blended wonderfully well with the amber and musk; the tobacco isn't very prominent, which I am grateful for, because it usually turns aftershave on me; I can also discern a faint hint of fir, which I love, and I hope with age this note comes more to the forefront. I think fir + rose might be very nice, especially with the other notes.

 

HOWEVER: this blend's true genius comes out when it is layered with its companion blend, White Rose; separately, I like Red Rose best. Together, I love them both! I am looking forward to this set as it ages, and from now on will most likely wear it layered.

I first applied White Rose early this morning, and as soon as it sat on my skin a bit, I liked it a bit. It was far too sweet when sniffed from the bottle and when first on my skin, but settled down to a more bearable level soon. This isn't at all the rose I was expecting; in fact, I get very little rose from this at all, only sugar, vanilla and tea -- not even any benzoin nor frankincense. I was sadly deciding to put my 2 (TWO!!!) bottles up for sale or swap when I remembered: this was called the Unity set! D'oh!

 

I grabbed my bottle of Red Rose (which I had planned to wear tomorrow) and tried it solo on my other wrist (that review is posted in the appropriate thread) and sniffed deep: this I like much better on its own than the White Rose (I must be Team Lancaster after all).

 

But together...layered, these two blends become altogether fascinating, with depth and intricacy I hadn't expected at all. The frankincese and clove do very well together, and there are the slightlest hints of roses way, way down underneath.

 

These are unlike any rose blend I've ever sniffed, but I like them, I like them...but only layered, as is surely the intention of anything called "The Unity Set."

Hmm, I'm not sure if many of you have tried out any of the Twilight Alchemy Lab oils, but love the scent of TAL's La Flamme. One reviewer compared it to being similar to LE Smut.

 

Can anyone confirm a scent match? If that's a yes, I'm gonna find me some Smut!

Does anyone have a current list of TAL's offerings? Their website was last revised in 2007 (!) and La Flamme is not listed. Thanks!

A closer look at the DD Pulp Horror artwork that I did now available at my LJ:

http://jenniferrodgers.livejournal.com/46503.html

 

It's great seeing those up close, Jennifer! You are so talented.

word. Thank you for posting them, because all I had to work with for icons were totally horrific pretty bad scans of my own bottles.

Hey- does anyone know what scent this is called??? Is it something REALLLy ridiculous simple like "Jolly Roger"? Lol.

Yep, that's Jolly Roger!

Okay, I know this is really random and possibly already discussed but I tried searching and nothing came up so I apologize for the possible repeat.

 

I'm looking for a picture of a bottle of Odin...

Mine is just the normal GC label...

 

I think that Lines Written Among the Euganean Hills smells a lot like the L'Inverno perfume oil, although I only tried L'Inverno once, briefly.

On my skin (and to my nose) there is a mint note in Lines that disappears eventually that isn't there in L'Inverno at all. The mint note in Lines, however, is more than my stomach can handle -- unfortunately. I'm glad I was able to acquire a bottle of L'Inverno, though!

First of all, many thanks to the lovely ivyandpeony for the labor of love of compiling all the recs from this thread in list form.

 

ivyandpeony =

 

I recently got my order including a few Marchen bottles (mostly the ones named after female characters) and was struck by the similarity between The Miller's Daughter and Hay Moon. They are so similar that I need to decide which one I like most and get rid of the other! The Miller's Daughter has a slightly more feminine feel but, if you are missing Hay Moon, this is the one to get.

oh, thank you for this! I love Hay Moon, and will get Miller's Daughter as a daytime alternative...

great picture of bottles!

I wish I'd been in funds to order the Inquisitions!

TwilightEyes is extremely generous for allowing this person (whom I've bought from before, and she's a good person but still...) to use her photos, even with credit given. It was very rude to just download and slap them up without even asking first. Very rude.

 

In her defense, she didn't know they were mine. They came up on google images. And she was very nice and agreed to credit me.

 

She didn't know they were yours, but she had to know they were somebody's. A BPAL fanatic, like she is. Somebody who loves BPAL enough to take pictures. I still call rudeness. But if you're ok with how it's shaken out...hey, that's ok too.

As a note to people who are looking for photos of bottles in order to sell their item on eBay --

 

It is NOT COOL to steal (link to or copy) someone's photograph and use it in your eBay listing. I am more than happy to give permission for people to link to my photos if they ASK and if they credit me...

 

I agree with you totally ... that is so un-cool. However I have to say that it is very generous of you to allow someone if they ask you and give you credit.

 

When I sold on eBay (which has been forever and a day ago) I always wanted to use my own pic of the actual item so people can see exactly what they are getting. I just felt it was in both parties best interest.

 

I've been guilty of using someone else's photo when reselling a bottle I bought from them, but that was a long time ago and before I finally had my own camera.

 

TwilightEyes is extremely generous for allowing this person (whom I've bought from before, and she's a good person but still...) to use her photos, even with credit given. It was very rude to just download and slap them up without even asking first. Very rude.

I feel I should post here, since I am currently obsessed with Voodoo Queen.

 

The Lupercalia LE, Sapphics, is like a base sketch for Voodoo Queen. It lacks some of the complexity of VQ, and the hint of rum, but it gives you a pretty good idea of what VQ smells like.

 

That, and it's easier to find that VQ.

I agree with ZZ on this, and I would never have known had not a kind forumite sent me a sniffie of Voodoo Queen not too long before the Lupercalia was released.

I got a CnS for my Election Day bottles either Monday or Tuesday, can't remember which. I so hope they come in today! I bought 2 bottles of each (my usual for very special LEs and Lunacies) so I'm also hoping for the full political spectrum in imps!

Here's the Rose-Red 2008 bottle I received just the other day:

 

I wonder if there are other labels? I'm planning to buy another bottle of Rose Red to hoard, so I hope so!

 

edited to add: Wow, Tramp! Great photos!

I got my Lilith line bottles this morning, and I got a different Lilith Victoria than the first one posted, so I uploaded it to the Gallery:

 

Gallery

 

Here it is, if the gallery link doesn't work:

Apples! Apples, apples, apples...and an undernote of wood!

 

This is a great blend sold to me by fellow forumite Jadys, and I love it! I'm sorry it didn't work for her, but so very happy she sold it to me. In fact, this is the latest in several Chaos IV purchases from forumites that have succeeded tremendously.

 

In the bottle, this is all apple...a green, tart apple (peel and all!), but not the icy blend of Snow Glass Apples. Only after it's applied to my wrists and dried a bit does the woody note come up, and smells so delightfully of an apple just picked from the tree. As time goes on, the woody note fades away again, leaving the tart apple note to slowly drift away. This blend has excellent throw and medium stay. It's a keeper!

I am a long-time deep woods, pine/fir/balsam scent-aholic. So when I saw a forumite's recent sale page which included an Edge of Chaos blend (Chaos IV) described as strong woody. Oh boy, was my immediate thought!

 

So when ChaosIV: CMXLVII (947) arrived, and I hurriedly unscrewed the cap to take a deep whiff, I had pretty much made up my mind beforehand I was going to love it.

 

I do. ZOMG, I do love this blend! It takes the best of Snow Moon, Nocnitsa, Black Forest, and mixes them all up into a glorious deep woods scent which has no light and no end. There aren't any snow or water notes (that I can tell) and there is some wood to this blend, which makes it even better in my mind. It calls to my mind those early boy-girl parties where the uninitiated were taken on snipe hunts in the dark woods...better, of course, on a moonless night but good any time as long as one was the initiating rather than the initiatee...am I right?

 

In any case, this is a wonderful scent and I'm sharing it with Mr. Stellans, on whom it smells divine -- or at least it did once I hugged him with my oily arms and it got on him, hee!

 

Verdict: this is a keeper, and I'm so grateful to GoldenRubee for the chance to wear it.

I swapped with herkissofshame for CTIV: DCCXCIX (799), which arrived today. Since I already tried out my scent du jour (Blood Garden), I washed up and applied my new Chaos Theory. Instant love ensued!

 

One of my all time favorite LE releases is Twisted Oak Tree (from last year's Halloween Haunted House group), and DCCXCIX could be, if not a long-lost twin, at least a close relation. The ozone note, the woods, the resins -- all are there. Perhaps the only thing not there is the slight scent of burned wood (lightning strike on the oak tree? who knows?).

 

The clean aquatic scent is deepened, darkened, and utterly demonized by the resins in this blend, and I love it so much! The throw is amazing, long-lasting, and just as good in my scent locket as it is on my wrists!

Anyone know if the new Schwarzer Mond and Lune Noire bottles have the same labels as last time?

The first Schwarzer Mond/Black Moon releases were black-on-white; these are white on black: