inurbanus

TO HELEN Edgar Allan Poe I saw thee once - once only - years ago: I must not say how many - but not many. It was a July midnight; and from out A full-orbed moon, that, like thine own soul, soaring, Sought a precipitate pathway up through heaven, There fell a silvery-silken veil of light, With quietude, and sultriness, and slumber, Upon the upturned faces of a thousand Roses that grew in an enchanted garden, Where no wind dared to stir, unless on tiptoe Fell on the upturn'd faces of these roses That gave out, in return for the love-light, Their odorous souls in an ecstatic death Fell on the upturn'd faces of these roses That smiled and died in this parterre, enchanted By thee, and by the poetry of thy presence. Clad all in white, upon a violet bank I saw thee half reclining; while the moon Fell on the upturn'd faces of the roses, And on thine own, upturn'd - alas, in sorrow! Was it not Fate, that, on this July midnight Was it not Fate, (whose name is also Sorrow,) That bade me pause before that garden-gate, To breathe the incense of those slumbering roses? No footstep stirred: the hated world an slept, Save only thee and me. (Oh, Heaven! oh, God! How my heart beats in coupling those two words!) Save only thee and me. I paused - I looked And in an instant all things disappeared. (Ah, bear in mind this garden was enchanted!) The pearly lustre of the moon went out: The mossy banks and the meandering paths, The happy flowers and the repining trees, Were seen no more: the very roses' odors Died in the arms of the adoring airs. All - all expired save thee - save less than thou: Save only the divine light in thine eyes Save but the soul in thine uplifted eyes. I saw but them - they were the world to me! I saw but them - saw only them for hours, Saw only them until the moon went down. What wild heart-histories seemed to he enwritten Upon those crystalline, celestial spheres! How dark a woe, yet how sublime a hope! How silently serene a sea of pride! How daring an ambition; yet how deep How fathomless a capacity for love! But now, at length, dear Dian sank from sight, Into a western couch of thunder-cloud; And thou, a ghost, amid the entombing trees Didst glide away. Only thine eyes remained; They would not go - they never yet have gone; Lighting my lonely pathway home that night, They have not left me (as my hopes have) since; They follow me - they lead me through the years. They are my ministers - yet I their slave. Their office is to illumine and enkindle My duty, to be saved by their bright light, And purified in their electric fire, And sanctified in their elysian fire. They fill my soul with Beauty (which is Hope), And are far up in Heaven - the stars I kneel to In the sad, silent watches of my night; While even in the meridian glare of day I see them still - two sweetly scintillant Venuses, unextinguished by the sun! Electric ozone, opaline notes, moonflower, white amber, beeswax, and three roses. I'm shocked that there's not a thread for this already, but I've looked every which way for one in vain, so here it goes. This does not smell like I expected it at all. I thought there would be some similarities to Her Voice, but these are very different. Her Voice is fresh, dewy flowers, while To Helen is deep and sweet with just a hint of the roses. What I smell over everything else is a little bit of ozone mixed with what have to be the "opaline notes" in the scent description. I had no idea what those would smell like when I ordered this one, but they turned out to be smooth and radiant. This one is very clingy and oddly seductive. I'm surprised by To Helen, but not disappointed. 4/5 ETA: Lab description

Milk chocolate buttercream. Was anyone hoping this would be a substitute for The Candy Butcher? If so, it's not. It's a million times better than The Candy Butcher, and I'm saying this as someone who liked CB. This might be the most delicious BPAL foodie blend I've ever smelled. Yes, it's that good. And I don't even like the Lab's chocolate blends half the time. Thick, rich chocolate over a layer of sweet sugary cream. If you don't like sugary scents, this isn't for you. But for those who do, this is awesome!

Live thy Life, Young and old, Like yon oak, Bright in spring, Living gold; Summer-rich Then; and then Autumn-changed Soberer-hued Gold again. All his leaves Fall'n at length, Look, he stands, Trunk and bough Naked strength. Eternally evolving, blooming in power and grace: acorns, oak leaves, oak bark, and oak sap rising through a mist of traditional lunar oils. I got my Oak Moon bottle today and decided I needed to test it ASAP. For the first hour, it's definitely wood. Not being exceedingly familiar with oak, I can't say if it's accurate. It's a rich, earthy wood that smells very slightly of cedar and has a subtle sweetness. I was worried that this would be too strong but it actually has the perfect amount of throw. It's deep but not overwhelming. What I really like about this scent is how naturalistic it smells. It's definitely does not smell like a shop with lots of oak furniture. You can smell soft earth and forest foliage along with the wood. This actually reminds me more of the Lab's other dirt scents than it does wood ones. As for the lunar oils, when they appear, they really enhance the wood - they smell fruity to my nose but I can't really identify what kind of fruit. Berries, maybe? Some kind of rich, round fruit. As a whole, this scent really lives up to its name. I predict that a lot of people will be very happy with this.

Sometimes I allowed my thoughts, unchecked by reason, to ramble in the fields of Paradise, and dared to fancy amiable and lovely creatures sympathizing with my feelings and cheering my gloom; their angelic countenances breathed smiles of consolation. But it was all a dream; no Eve soothed my sorrows nor shared my thoughts; I was alone. I remembered Adam’s supplication to his Creator. But where was mine? He had abandoned me, and in the bitterness of my heart I cursed him. Amiable and lovely creatures: honey and rosewater with fig, patchouli, night-blooming jasmine, and white almond. I wasn't really sure what to expect with this one. I love figgy and almondy scents but jasmine can easily ruin promising scents, so it was kind of a toss up. I'm happy to say that this scent is elegantly blended and that the jasmine behaves itself. I'm getting a mixture of jasmine and light rose (it's not very strong at all) perched on top of creamy fig. It kind of smells like what I imagine an old-fashioned boudoir table would smell like, dribbled with rose water, jasmine perfume, and sweet powder. Off the top of my head, I can't think of a BPAL scent that compares with this, but it has elements of Miller V. California and Honey Mone. It's different but I like it.

I really had no idea what to expect from this one but the notes sounded good, so I went ahead and got a bottle. Straight out of the bottle, this is very strong tobacco flower and teak. It's a pungent combination and I don't particularly like it - it's so smoky that it makes my nose tingle. However, after about 15 minutes, this disappears and is replaced by a lovely, unusual perfume. It's a creamy combination of sandalwood, vanilla, teak, patchouli, and tobacco flower. After it calms down, the tobacco flower is gorgeous - it's a full, slightly fruity aroma that complements the vanilla and woody notes perfectly. I agree that this resembles Black Lace, but with a twist. Brown Lace, maybe. It's fabulous and I can't wait to wear this throughout the cold winter.

At first the patchouli is way too "gnarly" for my taste (which I kind of suspected would be the case!) but after about a half an hour it mellows into a smoke and resin scent that I can tolerate a lot better. Unfortunately, the notes I was really interested in - the cocoa, tobacco, and vanilla - don't make an appearance. Maybe I didn't roll my bottle enough or maybe they'll come out in time as this ages. I'm willing to wait and see because I have a feeling that this could be really amazing with time.

I'm fairly neutral on the Lab's leather notes - sometimes it does wonderful things (like in Miller Vs California, Mmmm!) and sometimes it smells like a chemically mess. The leather in The Arabian Dance is deep and smoky but it blends really well with the coffee. Luckily, it doesn't smell like a big mug of the stuff (which would be too strong for my taste) but has a lovely, lightly roasted aroma. It's like inhaling the aroma of coffee and spices in a coffee shop. I can't speak of the hazelnut except that it's unobtrusive but I have a feeling it was contributing to the yumminess of the coffee note. Usually, I wouldn't go for something like this but it is really good. Love it!

I usually don't have good luck with the Beaver Moon scents but I keep buying them because they always sound so good. To my surprise, Beaver Moon 2011 actually turned out very nicely on me - it starts off very peachy but gradually the peach burns away, leaving a thick slurry of strawberry and glaze heaped over cheesecake. The strawberry note isn't super realistic - it's the smell of strawberry lollipops, gummy candy, and pie filling. It's sweet and thick and leaves just of a dollop of cheesecake recognizable underneath. It's definitely the best strawberry scent I've ever smelled from the Lab. I'm very happy I went ahead and got a bottle of this. It's super yummy.

A maddeningly festive blend of warm, buttery rum, cocoa, coconut, vanilla and a jolt of peppermint. It’s a sweet, decadent, slightly silly scent, reminiscent of rum-laced holiday cookies. I tracked down a bottle of Spooky after making macaroons - I was hoping for something creamy and coconutty. Actually, this smells like Elegba, which is a mixture of coconut and sugary rum, and tobacco, without the tobacco note. It's got the standard BPAL rum note with a swirl of coconut (although I wish there was more of it, being the coconut fan I am) and a little drizzle of peppermint. The peppermint is not strong at all, in fact I would like it to be stronger since it's so weak here. Personally, I don't think I'm such a huge fan of the rum note but I like the scent as a whole. It smells like something you'd find in a coffee shop, either on the cookie rack or near the flavored syrups. Yum.

Fresh out of the bottle this is a lush mixture of lily threaded with jasmine. I really like lilies and wasn't sure about the jasmine note in this but the two work very well together. Lily always smells kind of icy and distant to me but the jasmine does a really nice job warming it up and grounding it. Every now and then there's a little glint of spiciness from the clove but it's pretty subtle. After a while, the vanilla and musk become much more prominent and the scent develops a powdery feel. The lily is still there, but it's become fuzzy and indistinct, almost like it's wrapped in fog. Overall, this is a very pretty lily blend and those who like white florals should definitely try it.

In the bottle this is a wonderfully juicy, sugary honeydew melon. On the skin, the honeydew remains but there's also a bracing, briny seaweed note that comes out as the scent develops. The two notes create a very interesting olfactory contrast - sweet and salty, Yemaya makes me think of the ocean without being a literal aquatic. I think it's very beautiful but I can see a lot of people being weirded out by this. If you like sweet fruit scents like BPAL's Earth Rat or more seaweedy scents like BPAL's Cthulu or Villainess's Pearl Diver, I definitely think you should give Yemaya a try.

Oh, man. WILF. I've heard so much about this one! Well, I totally agree that it has a Snake Oil vibe. It's got the same luscious mixture of patchouli and musk but there's an additional note that strongly differentiates the two. I also smell the vanilla note that others have mentioned but it's different than any other Lab vanilla note that I've experienced. It's deep and syrupy, almost alcoholic, like vanilla extract. It plays with the base notes in an interesting way. At first I thought it was cherry or some other fruit note but once some of the other top notes calm down I could identify it. Overall, this is a good blend but I think I prefer Snake Oil a little more. There is something a little overworked about this that slightly turns me off.

This is a review for the 2009 Yule release. I was not really sure what to expect when I bought this. Individually, the notes sounded wonderful and I always wanted to try this after the famous Lab auction. However, I didn't really know how the snow would mix with the wood and resin notes. Well, it does smell a little jumbled at first but after a couple of minutes everything calmed down and I really liked the result. Rich, warm wood lit with heavy amber and a dusting of crystalline snow. At first I didn't care for the way the slushy mint of the now mixed with the wood but after I got used to the combination I really dug it. It smelled like an Aveda product, and since I really like Aveda, I was a happy camper. I can't wait to wear this again. It's gorgeous and unique, definitely one of my favorite Yules.

I was really hoping to get amber and musk from this but on me the florals were the strongest notes, especially the rose. There was a little flurry of orange at the beginning which I really liked but it disappeared quickly, as top notes are want to do. I guess I hoping for more complexity from this. It smells like tons of others rose-scented blends from the Lab and while I like rose, I was hoping for something special from this.

I needed some sweetness in my life today so this was an excellent choice. This is definitely CANDY, specifically a mixture of Starburst and jelly beans. Orange is the most prominent scent but I can smell a melange of other fruity notes underneath. I don't get any mint from this, for which I'm thankful. I think it's perfect the way it is. For me, it's pure happiness in a bottle.

Like a lot of others have noted, the first couple of minutes are very harsh. Personally, I don't smell vetiver but kush, which kind of smells like "new car smell" to me. Luckily, it soon calms down, revealing a glossy black base of wood and creamy mallow. It's very nummy and smells just like I wanted the Antikythera Mechanism to. I can see several different BPALers being drawn to this - those who love smoke and woods, those who love creamy-foodie blends, those who like their perfumes comforting, those who like their perfumes sexy, and just about everyone in between. This was an impulse buy for me and I'm very glad I decided to go for it.

Just took a bath with my beloved CCBBO and decided I needed to do a review of it. I smelled this in person at Dark Delicacies last year during a trip to California but too concerned with buying perfume oil to get a bottle. Dumb! Luckily, I was able to get a bottle off of Ebay so all was well. In my opinion, this is one of the best foodie scents the Lab has ever produced. Buttery scents usually go rancid on me but the combo of buttery shortbread/cake, white chocolate, and a little bit of cranberry is wonderful! It really does smell like something I could just pick up and eat. I'm really intrigued by the white chocolate note - usually, white chocolate smells waxy to me but here it's creamy and fabulous. Maybe because it's backed by cocoa? Whatever the reason, it's divine. I've got my fingers crossed that the Lab will release a corresponding perfume oil one day.

I bought this because I absolutely love tuberose and the thought of a winter-themed tuberose perfume made me so excited! I tend to be neutral on the Lab's snow blends - some really fit me, like Snow White and Snow Bunny, while others are too minty/piney for my taste. The first blat of ACCWD is potent eucalyptus and it makes my throat tingle. It quickly mellows into sludgy pine scent that I don't really care for (although it still makes my throat tingle). A lot of times pine smells like unwashed underarms on me and this is no exception. I'd be afraid to wear this in public for fear of smelling like BO. I'm bummed - I wanted an icy, crystallized tuberose blend and got this instead. Perhaps someone whose skin deals better with pine will find this more appealing.

I expected this one to be a huge jumble of resins and spices but much to my surprise, this actually smells quite gentle on my skin. It's a soft melange of sweet amber (so lovely!) and cinnamon. There are some woods backing this up but they're not especially noticeable. There's a commercial perfume that smells similar to this and I'm wracking my brain trying to remember what it is. Not Opium but in the same family. I love amber-based scents and this is no exception. It's just perfect for cold Fall days.

I bought this last year in a fit of Yule-binging madness and haven't gotten around to testing it until now. Shame on me! Anyway, I generally like most of the notes in Russian Dance, especially the resin notes. (Mmm, benzoin!) On my wrist, it smells like warm, lightly spiced patchouli sweetened with a little bit of powder from the iris. I really like the version of BPAL patchouli used in this - it's definitely not the "gnarly" patchouli in blends like Goblin and #Occupywallstreet. It blooms beautifully on the skin and makes me think of fresh earth. As a whole, the blend reminds me of some of the old school GC blends, maybe from Ars Amatoria? I can see that this would be a divisive blend - it is a little sharp at the beginning and there are other blends similar to this. In fact, I'm not even sure if I'm going to keep my bottle. But it's definitely wearable and I think those who like the Lab's patchouli blends would do well to check this out.

Out of all the warrior queens featured in the Trading Post collection, Boadicea is my favorite, so I was really hoping that I would like her perfume. When I first put it on, the leather and dragon's blood were really prominent - whoa, this Boadicea was a BAMF! However, the heavy notes soon lifted and left behind a powdery vanilla blend with hints of fig and oak. Very pretty, although I kind of wish that it had more leather to give it a real "warrior" touch. I agree with the above comparison between this and Haloes, although I also want to mention that this reminds me a little of Miller Vs. California, one of my favorites, with the fig and vanilla. I like Boadicea and can see myself wearing it, but I'm a little disappointed. I wish there was, uh, more badassery in this, like the actual Boadicea. 3.5/5

I just got my bottle of Sugar Moon 2011 two days ago, but I was curious to see if it was significantly different from the 2008 version so I wore it yesterday. I went back and forth on SM 2008 - on the one hand, I liked the tart - sugar combination but it was really light and sometimes it smelled burnt on me, which wasn't good. The 2011 version is similar, with the star still being the sugar, but is really improved by the addition of the plum which is heavy enough to anchor the scent without being overwhelming. The plum also plays really nicely with the orchid and gardenia, making this a more interesting scent than the 2008 version. I really like this and feel like I could easily grow to love it, especially as it ages. Right now, it's a perfect intermediary between heavy "Winter" scents and "Spring-y" florals. 4/5

I wasn't a big fan of Vixen when I first tried it in 2007, but since then, I've had a major skin chemistry shift and have found that several of the old blends I tossed away should be re-evaluated. Vixen benefited enormously from me trying it again. Before, I thought the scent was murky and too deep for me, but now it's pitch-perfect. There's a little bit of brightness from the orange blossom at the beginning, but the patchouli soon takes over and it could not be more amazing. I really think this is the same patchouli used in Snake Oil, so the two scents do smell similar, but Vixen doesn't have that delicious vanilla backing that SO does. Instead, Vixen has a really sexy spice note, which must be from the ginger. I'm not even kidding, as soon as I put this on, I felt like a goddess, and that's what perfume should do, I think. I walked around all day like I was Joan from Mad Men. 5/5

I'm always looking for more sexy scents and stumbled upon this one. All the notes (well, except the jasmine) sounded great and I love the artwork. My first impression was a little shaky, as the jasmine came out fast and furious, but it calmed down quickly and the scent easily came together on my skin. I can smell the individual components, especially the juicy wine and rose (I attar of rose!) but the overall effect is wonderfully smooth, almost velvety because of the powderiness of the myrrh. It reminds me a lot of Athens but without the honey and I think I like The Obsidian Widow - there was something in Athens that didn't really "click" with me that's not a problem here. I will definitely consider adding this to my "bottles to buy" list but I wish I found this one earlier so I could enjoy it in the fall. The wine note would be perfect in cold weather. Rating: 4/5

I plum blends, so I was very happy to receive this as a frimp. Right off the bat, I get the lab's super sweet, juicy plum that I love so much. In this iteration, there's is a little blot of cream in there and some spicy wildflowers, but the plum definitely dominates. It smells good, but I feel like I've encountered this blend several times before - Midwinter's Eve, Bordello, Bathsheba, Lovers in a Ricefield... If you haven't tried any of those, I highly recommend Prunella. But if you're already a plum fan like me, this probably won't be very exciting. 3/5