LiberAmoris

Dragon's Eye was all lilac on me with nothing else discernable. Unfortunately lilac is one of those notes that my skin amps up until it drowns out everything else. I enjoy lilac, but I prefer florals that are tempered by other notes or that are more complex. The comparisons other reviewers have made to sexpot 50s fragrances are dead on, though. Dragon's Eye and a little red lipstick could get a girl into the right kind of trouble.

Kostnice is more floral than incense on me, which was a disappointment. I love Cathedral and really enjoy All Saints so I was hoping for another ‘penitential’ blend to round out my little collection. I also got the dill note; I think it might be the geranium rose that plays that way on my skin. It ended up smelling like spa shampoo on me, a soapy fresh floral. Nice, but not something that I need to wear again.

Strong black tea and milk with white pepper, ginger, honey and vanilla, spilled over the crisp scent of clean linen. Ack, I just cannot do the tea scents. No matter how good they sound, the ‘tea’ note always turns sour on my skin and smells like tea with milk past the expiration date. Unfortunately, White Rabbit is no exception. In the vial it’s utterly delightful, but once it hits my skin it’s bad news. In the vial: lemon, English tea, and ginger. It reminds me a great deal of Sudha Segara at this point, with the addition of tea. On my skin: high tea ruined by adding milk and lemon to the same cup (curdle city). I am so sad that this did not work on me because it’s so gorgeous in the imp. Off to someone whose skin chemistry is more amenable! ADDED April 6: I really wanted to adore White Rabbit, but the tea scents just don’t do it for me. I have worn this one a few times and have been warming up to it slowly, but the tea note still doesn’t really charm my skin the way I would have loved it to. Even though I’m not crazy about the way White Rabbit played itself out on my skin, I still find myself admiring the way the blend captures the downy, dreamy softness of white rabbit fur along with the teatime sequence from Alice’s adventure. This is why I love BPAL.

Mars reminds me a lot of Brimstone in that it smells as if it is about to burst into flame. It’s an incendiary blend, with what I detect as cinnamon, ylang ylang, clove and a spiky floral. It also reminds me quite a bit of Serpent’s Kiss, which was not a favorite of mine. All in all, it’s a perfect blend to describe the red planet and the god of war, but it doesn’t agree with me. I think this would be amazing on a man. Somehow it seems like the kind of smell that would roll off of Vulcan when Venus goes strolling by.

The Lion is so that blend that makes me want to scream: I am woman, hear me roar! It’s a deep and dizzying plunge into amber, amber, and more amber. The savannah spices round out the blend in the most lovely way---I smell something like sweet alfalfa or hops, tall grasses, and something else lingeringly earthy and primal that I can’t quite put my finger on. It’s so buttery, warm, downy and golden! Like honey run through the veins of a lion. This is perfect for days when I want a blend that is low key but sexy; the fragrance equivalent for me of designer jeans, black boots and a cozy but devastingly soft black cashmere sweater. Absolutely mind-blowingly gorgeous stuff. I’m so glad I ordered a 5ml based on the description alone. It’s a definite 10ml purchase the next time I make an order. This is a knockout.

Cathode reminds me of the Dylan Thomas Poem with the line "The force that through the green fuse drives the flower." I keep hearing that line today as I catch little bursts of Cathode rising from my sleeves. It's super minty, but once that top layer evaporates a bit, the moss and ambergris come through and really makes it an earthy, sexy, and charged blend. I love the air right before a summer storm, and this is the closest to that feeling that I have found in my BPAL sojourns so far. I notice a similarity between Cathode and both Ice Queen and Nine Mysteries. For fans of those two blends, you might want to give Cathode a try for more minty deliciousness.

Absinthe smells just like the home-brewed bottle of (wormwood-free) Absinthe that was set in front of my boyfriend and I in a back room of a New Orleans bar. Just like it! As a personal fragrance, the licorice/anise smell mingled with the mint might be a bit too pungent and herby for everyday use, but I can see myself popping open this imp in the summer for a dinner date. It's really refreshing and unique.

Were I prone to dramatic gestures, I would be ready to part with my last bottle of commercial perfume (Angel) right this minute. The comparisons between Xiuhtecuhtli and Angel are right on, although Xiuhtecuhtli is more tangy and less sweet. But it’s gorgeous tropical blooms and citrus/fruity vibe are very similar. This seems to me sort of the summer version of Snow White, with the buttery snow removed. I think I will be ordering the big bottle in time for summer, as it seems the perfect scent for sticky, sexy NYC nights out on the town. Or for riding the subway to work when (probability suddenly being on my side) I find myself smushed up against some painfully attractive man who just happens to enjoy brushing up on his Aztec mythology.

Like powdery violet candies with a touch of myrrh. Sybaris is delightfully dark violets, like violet incense that hangs on the air. It’s smoky and sultry and beckoning. And yet, it's also elegant and refined. Like a staid tea party after which the ladies pull out the ouiji board and close the curtains. This is one of those BPALs that I know will slowly wear me down until I decide I absolutely can’t live without a bottle.

As other reviewers have mentioned, Mistletoe is not a complex scent, but it is lovely. I get a very true crushed juniper that does indeed smell like an X-mas tree. I actually kind of enjoy its one-note simplicity, as so many of the other Yule LEs are really complex, and this is almost comfortingly straightforward. It also makes for a great blender, to amp up the other Yule scents when you want more green, and with Rose Red, with which it makes a damn near heavenly wreath.

Oooh, Ice Queen is brisk and refreshing. I get a melon-mint with spruce and a touch of the musk. (Doctor, I think I have a touch of the musk…) This one is so wintry and cold that I think I might save it until July/August/September, when it’s so bloomin’ hot that Ice Queen will be the ultimate personal air conditioner. It will feel amazing to slather some of this on in a lotion and let the mint cool my skin down. Sort of like saving some snow (of which there is currently plenty outside) in the freezer for a mid-summer snowball fight.

Sugar Cookie smells to me like a blend of Gingerbread Poppet with a touch of Sugar Skull. It reminds me of the crisp edges of a sugar cookie right out of the oven. I have actually used it to quell cravings for dessert! When I want to kick Sugar Cookie into serious sweet tooth territory, I layer it with Sugar Skull and walk around in a cookie cloud.

Skadi is what I imagine Christmas potpourri would smell like in the afterlife. It’s got the same blend of holiday spices, evergreenery, and berries that commercial holiday blends try to get right---but don’t. Skadi has all those elements, but adds such depth and complexity. Each note in Skadi is so true and rich! Of the new Yule LEs released this year, Skadi is by far my favorite. Please bring this one back next year!

Gingerbread Poppet reminds me of the spices, sans sugar, that are added to gingerbread, except that I also smell a lot of cardamom as well. For me, the overwhelming note ends up being cardamom---which is great, as I love cardamom so much that I make my own garam masala. That involves roasting cardamom pods with a bit of oil before grinding them up, which makes my kitchen smell amazing for weeks afterwards. Like some of the other reviewers, GP irritated my skin if I wasn’t careful to apply it to the outside of my arm. I applied it once on my neck after a bath and it burned so badly that I had to wash it off and use an ice pack! Lesson learned. Poppet’s a great blender. My favorite recipes are: Poppet + Sugar Skull, Poppet + Sugar Cookie, Poppet + Rose Red (really!), and Poppet + O. I also tried it with The Lion yesterday and it was smashing there as well.

Visions of sugarplums dancing in my head! Midwinter's Eve is the same juicy berry from Jester and Bordello but with a dusting of holiday spices and the tiniest hint of cinnamon. It started out really bubble-gummy, but as it dried it got darker and more plummy. It did not end up being my favorite of the Yule LEs, but I like it enough to keep the bottle for those days when I feel festive and berrylicious.

Hearth was much sweeter than I expected from the description: more cherries for me than wood or tobacco. But I enjoy having it around for times like last night, when I craved something sweet but mellow on my skin to lull me into sleep. It’s sort of the fragrance equivalent of a comfort food dessert, like cherry cobbler. I did not find it as dimensional on my skin as the other Yule LEs, but it has a foody charm to it that I enjoy.

A chilly, bright perfume: flurries of virgin snow, crisp winter wind and the faintest breath of night-blooming flowers. For me, trying to describe Snow White is like trying to describe a winter flower from a fairytale---there’s just nothing to compare it to. Like the reviewers above (who’ve done a lovely job putting its power into language), I pick up on the buttery floral, the gentle tropical vibe, and the pastry/almondy/coconutty edge. And yet, it seems to me one of the most elusive BPAL blends I’ve tried, changing so many times on my skin that in the end I can only imagine an expansive field of untrammeled snow, broken only by pale yellow anemones. When fairies dance in the winter, this is the smell of the flower that springs up at their feet.

Before BPAL, I thought I disliked rose scents, having been scarred by a zealous junior high school teacher who had clearly burnt out her olfactory system after liberally dousing herself with a commercial rose perfume every morning for thirty years. She was a hugger, and hugged each student on their way out the door each day (she probably couldn’t get away with that in this day and age, but it was the sweetest thing ever). But BPAL’s rose blends are incredible, and Rose Red is no exception. It’s absolutely the truest rose I’ve ever smelled, and the addition of the greenery and a hint of berry (to my nose) rounds it out perfectly. When I wear Rose Red at work, people literally lean in to smell me as if I was the flower myself. It’s my favorite of the BPAL rose blends so far, and I’m so glad I got two bottles, anticipating my obsession with this blend based on last year’s reviews!

Cold Moon is gorgeous, frosty, watery, berried loveliness. I smell the same mulled spices that I got from Skadi, mixed with an aquatic floral that reminds me a touch of the Water of Notre Dame. It seems an unlikely mix, but the result is really unique and compelling. It’s perfect today, as it’s snowing up a storm outside (blizzard conditions!), but inside our apartment is warm and cozy. Cold Moon is that same combination of chill and warmth, freeze and thaw, blue and red, winter weather and hearth fire---that is a perfect partner to this season.

Like other reviewers, In Khephra I also smell frankincense and something herbal like lavender or chamomile. I also detect the spice, but it burns off quickly on my skin, less than a minute or so. I'm left with a warm, aura-ish frankincense, deepened with the herbal notes which give tension to the smooth resiny undertone. There's something dark at the edges of the blend which makes it perfect for the Midnight Sun. There is the feeling that the warmth has been over-extended. Like Aureus, this is a blend that imparts a near glow to my skin and makes me feel cosy and warm. Definitely a keeper.

Lolita smells to me like a lollipop. It's got sticky sweetness from the orange blossom and the fruity note from the lemon verbena. The heliotrope and honeysuckle add to the knowing innocence of the blend. It would be quite nice on a warm day or when I'm in a coquettish mood. Unfortuntely, my love/hate relationship with orange blossom will probably prevent me from wearing this on a regular basis.

On me Czernobog is musk, myrrh and eucalyptus. The eucalyptus (or whatever minty note) is strong at first, then burns off and it becomes a more peppery musky blend. Thankfully the vetiver is hardly noticable. I like the wet stage a lot because there is a thread of sweetness running through it. But when dry, it seems more traditionally masculine. I think I will try this on the boy and see how it works on him. He's currently comatose from eating too much Tofurkey so I think I will be able to sneak up on him and apply as much as I want!

There are very few BPAL oils I've tried that I actually wouldn't try again, but Serpent's Kiss is one of them. I'm sure this is heavenly on the right people (like the lovely people above) but I am not one of the lucky ones. I don't have that much experience with vetiver, so I'm not sure if that's the note that's the culprit, but on me this smells like a bathroom spray my ex-boyfriend used to have in his college apartment. It's not bringing back any good memories. I believe this is one I will give to a friend in the hopes of a better match.

Masabakes is a really complicated scent, difficult to describe and difficult to detect notes in. It's really well-blended. To me, it smells like plum incense or a bonfire made from cherry branches. It's a hazy, dark, fruity blend with a good waft. The currant comes out last for me and smells a bit like mulled wine. Quite nice.

Dear God. Iago is one super-sexy blend. To quote a dear friend: I think my panties just dropped. Iago's truly masculine. So masculine that I don't know if I'd want to wear it on a regular basis. Rather, I want to go find my BF and give him a good coating of it. Except I'd be afraid to let him outside with it on, as he'd likely get some offers from strangers! If dominance had a scent, this is it: musky sexuality, a hint of clarifying mint, the earthy grounding of vetiver, and the snap of leather that comes off the crack of a whip. Another one I never would have ordered on my own, but of course, BPAL knows best. Thanks for the imp, it will be put to good use.