Extispex

I got this because in my birthchart, my Saturn is retrograde and unaspected (ouch) and I'm trying very hard at this time to re-integrate Saturn's more positive qualities into my life. I need you, Saturn! First sniff: Yeah, this ought'a do it. Its thick and heavy, maybe some myrrh and something herby and medicinal. Might be some vetiver lingering in there too. Wet on my skin, something smells awfully familiar. I think there's a hint of anise in here. Overall the scent is dark and earthy, but there's a spicy 'bite' behind it (like the spiky point of a scythe). The drydown is much the same as the wet. Earthy, with that slightly spicy, woody bite. The throw - dear me, what a throw. Its quite intense on me, and I might add, quite beautiful. I'm not going to mind working with this gorgeous blend. It certainly seems to encapsulate the Saturnine qualities. Definitely glad I grabbed a bottle of this one.

Today's test-o-rama begins. Considering my fetish for all things Roman, its surprising that I haven't grabbed a bottle or three of this before now. Even more surprising because it contains one of my favorite notes - cypress. But it was the rose that was steering me away from this one. You see I believed I hated rose, but then I received a frimp of Bess and bravely tried it and... a miracle. BPAL rose smells nice on me. So I dared to try the Rome. In the bottle, OMG its incredible. That cypress note tickles the sinuses, the juniper nice and prettily sharp. The rose lingers in the background, barely there, and I don't pick up the chamomile at all. Wet on my skin I do get the chamomile and the woods, the bite of the juniper contends with the gentle warmth of the chamomile. At this stage, its truly gorgeous. The dry-down sees the rose asserting itself, but its a woodsy rose, warmed by the chamomile and given complexity by the woods. Its lovely and intriguing. Not a dark femme-fatale rose, or a flirtatious rose, or a sweet victorian rose, but something stately and elegant. More confident than most rosy scents would be, with maybe the slightest hint of austerity. However to me, there's something that smells 'devotional' about this oil, and I may end up consecrating it and using it as an offeratory oil in my lararium.

In the imp, musky myrrh. Very dark, almost spicy. Wet on my skin, I get my usual 'patchouli blast'. BPAL's patchouli always blasts me in the face when I put it on, with a deep earthy aroma, then fades into the background. When the patchouli fades, oh wow. This is a true beauty. Myrrh and patchouli cling heavily to my skin, enriched by a hint of musk; and the orris just adds this spicy violet scent. I can detect the notes but they're beautifully balanced and play well with one another on my skin. Dark and heady with a hint of the melancholy. Can it be that I've finally found an Ars Moriendi fragrance that agrees with me? Oh yes! This goes on the bottle wishlist for certain.

Light floral in the imp, but gosh does it rev up on the skin. Wet, I'm getting a sharp floral that I think may be the carnation. I'm not very familiar with a lot of the floral notes, so its hard for me to pick out individual ones. This is very vibrant and glittering. I like it. On the drydown, powder. In fact, its so powdery I find it uncomfortable to sniff. Well it was pretty while wet, but there are so few florals that my skin can carry off. I think for those who can carry off a floral, this is really lovely and unusual and certainly worth a try.

I was pretty intrigued by the idea of a volcanic gas note, I'm just hoping its not sulphuric or anything. In the bottle, I smell nothing of the sort - just lush tropical flowers. The kind of scent that portends soapiness on my skin. Wet on my skin, it gets pretty sharp actually. A kind of smoky spiciness wafts through the floral canopy. Wow, this is really nice, but there's a hint of something that almost makes me want to sneeze, something slightly dry - but not powdery. I don't get a huge amount of musk from this - just enough to add a warmth to the scent. Nor do I get a lot of greenery. A very heady and lush scent. The dry-down is very pretty, and thankfully never goes soapy, but its still mostly floral on me, and the sharpness that made it so interesting during the wet-stage is gone. If it had stayed the same as it smelled wet, it would have been bottle material for sure, but alas, in the long run it becomes a lovely, somewhat unusual floral, but not unusual enough to justify a 5ml purchase. Then again... damn this just keeps morphing on me. One moment, nice floral, the next, a piercing bite of smoke. When I sniff this, there's a sense of something sharp and pointy barrelling into my sinuses first, chased by flowers. Yes yes..... No... no.... I don't know. More testing is in order for this one I guess.

I like this a lot, but.... No, let me start over. My niece thinks this scent smells better on me than any of my BPALS. She loves this one on me, and so do I, sort of. The best way for me to describe this fragrance is 'surprising'. According to the description, it starts off gleeful and moves toward darkness. On me, it does the opposite, beginning sort of dark and gloomy and moving toward glee. Fortunado Retrograde, I guess. In the bottle its a rich wine aroma, with a hint of berries and woods. Wet on me, I get a blast of earthy patchouli (patchouli always smashes me in the face, then fades) with the fruits and wines lingering in the background. The dry-down is really amazing. Fortunado mellows quickly into fruited wine. On me it smells exactly like an expensive, bittersweet orange liqueur. So good I could drink it. And therein lies the problem. It smells like I've totally been boozing it up, and I'm not sure how often I want to smell like that. Other boozy scents work really well for me. they hint at booziness without overpowering, but this... this smell just like liqueur. I keep imagining myself parked on the side of the road, "No officer I haven't been drinking. Thats just my BPAL, Fortunado". "Your pal, Fortunado, you say? But there's no one with you ma'am. Step out of the car please." And yet surely there are occasions when such a fragrance would be appropriate. I can think of a few. This one deserves more testing.

Oooo yum, lovely. In the bottle this is almost entirely apple, crisp, tart delicious apple. Wet on my skin its much sweeter. The apple is still there but sweetened by the florals, and thankfully the florals don't go soapy on me. The dry-down sees the dragon's blood rising up to dominate, with the fruity floral notes lingering in the background, growing lighter and lighter until there's little left but pure dragons blood. I like dragons blood, but I want something more complex from my BPAL. Its lovely while it lasts but unfortunately, the supporting notes evaporate too quickly on my skin.

This is incredible! This is the kind of incensey fragrance I was searching for when I tried Cathedral (which went all wrong on me). There aren't enough adjectives to describe the beauty of Carfax Abbey. In the bottle, its more green than resiny. It has an outdoorsy, wind-swept feeling. Wet on my skin, woods and herbs predominate with just a hint of churchey incense. Its so gorgeous and evocative - it really is like standing in a wood or a copse of trees, but the hint of incense draws you toward sanctuary. As it dries down, the incense grows stronger. You are drawn inside the church, and the scent of wood and garden waft gently through the open doors, carried on a crisp breeze. OMG this is top ten material. Precisely the scent of an isolated church or abbey, nestled in a wood.

It was the vetiver that sold me on this one. I love vetiver but didn't have any scents where it was a predominant note. I'm always cautious about lemon, since my skin likes to rev it up to top speed, but I have several blends where lemon has treated me very nicely, so I went for it. But wow, what a fascinating and beautiful scent. In the bottle its very rich and dark. I pick up hints of patchouli and musk barely tinged by lemon. It smells almost resiny in the bottle, but when it hits my skin it goes very herby. Very very herby - but in a heady, overpowering way. Its almost like an apothecary's cabinet, dark and mysterious with all sort of wonders waiting to be discovered. There's just a hint of the medicinal, but not in any bad way - it actually adds to the mystery. And surprise! No lemon at all. The drydown is gorgeous. Still darkly herbal with the vetiver and thyme, but I start to pick up the patchouli again. The saffron adds bit of a twist, and there is something very melancholy about this blend, but beautifully and mysteriously so. This is another unique and unusual fragrance that I know I'm going to cherish.

This came as a frimp with a forum purchase. It had been on my wishlist of imps to try; now its on my wishlist of bottles to buy. I'm another person who loves the color of this - dark and green and murky. Like industrial-grade window-cleaner gone bad. In the bottle, it doesn't smell too great to me. Kind of like Old Spice with something sour lingering in the background. Probably the saffron. I like saffron, but in the bottle it sort of jars with everything else. But of course the smell in the bottle doesn't keep me from slathering this window-cleaner-looking stuff on my wrists. Wet on me it's spectacular... and weird! It has to be one of the strangest scents I've tried on BPAL - which is precisely why I like it so much. At this stage I can't pick out individual notes, but its definitely dark. A hypnogoguic plummet into sleep, a tiny spike of fear just as the lights go out. The sweat of fitful slumber, the phantoms of dream who lure you into ever deeper senselessness. The drydown doesn't change an awful lot, but it does deepen, if thats possible. I just LOVE this. The throw is quite spicy (and very pronounced); but close to the skin, the fragrance is mercilessly sombre. No particular note dominates - they all blend to form a subtle and tenebrous menace. Definite bottle material, maybe even top ten. ETA: Age your Oblivion. My original imp probably had some age on it. My bottle doesn't have near the same depth and darkness as the imp. Its still lovely, and its a scent that I tend to 'crave' (you know - some days you just need to smell a certain aroma?) New, my bottle is much 'fresher' smelling - almost a clean spicy smell. But I think this one picks up body and depth with age.

This came as a frimp with a forum purchase, and I was a little dubious about all the floral notes. Rose? eeek.... not to mention my skin amps up lemon like crazy. Sometimes its good, sometimes not. But Bess just surprised the crap out of me. I dabbed it on as a whim because it was the only imp in the box I'd left untried. Its truly blowing my mind here. Enough to make me want a bottle. In the vial its quite sweet to my senses, with a hint of wine somewhere. On my skin the lemon amps up just enough to balance the sweetness of the floral. The winey scent fades in and out playfully against the lush backdrop of citrussy floral. This is so much more fascinating and complex than I expected. And the throw! I dabbed a tiny amount on the back of one wrist and I'm enveloped in fragrance. This is heady stuff. Beautiful.

So I've been searching for an angry, energetic scent to wear when I need a kick in the ass, and I haven't had much luck. Rage was downright pretty. Aries turned to pure honeysuckle. Bloodlust and Tannin'iver were too smoky and a little acrid on me. Upon reading the description of The Bloody Sword, it sounded perfect for what I was looking for, but I also had misgivings. I loved most of the notes listed, and I was intrigued by the 'steel' note, but I feared the fire might go too smoky on me. But impulsive wench that I am, I splurged anyway, and wow, am I glad I did. Has ever a fragrance had such a cool name? I can't wait for someone to ask what I'm wearing. And I'll be wearing it a lot. I love it. In the bottle its so gorgeous. I could sit and sniff it from the bottle all day. I get dragon's blood and resins with a strong leathery undertone thats just so rich and warm. Wet on my skin I get strong strong dragon's blood with just a hint of a peppery bite. At this stage, its kind of how I wanted Aries to smell on me, but didn't. But its the drydown that really glows on my skin like an ember from a burning battlefield. Bloody Sword? You betcha. There really is something bloody about it. The dragon's blood yeilds to the deep-smelling resins and the leather comes back, not overt, but mingling in the background with just a hint of smoke. This smells so good on me I almost can't believe it. I'm fascinated with every single nuance and so in love this is going on my top-ten list RIGHT NOW.

I love me some resins, and I expected to love Cathedral, but alas, something in it soured on me. In the bottle its very nice, warmer and dryer than I expected, but on my skin a sour piney odor predominates. I like woods, but this wasn't a fresh tree scent, it was very stale. After dry-down I get a pungent stab of resiny incense but not enough to drown out the sour pine smell. The resins finally start to play - just before they fade away. Also, my emotional response to this wasn't good. Something about the aroma brought on a melancholy, a wistful memory I couldn't quite grab hold of. I think I'll be swapping this one.

In the imp its strongly herbal, green and warm with a hint of warm woods. Wet on my skin I get hit with strong earth, much like I do with Luperci. A kind of dirty patchouli thing going on. As it dries the earthy scent mellows, but doesn't entirely fade. I love woodsy notes, and herby notes, and Wolfsbane is a gorgeous melange woods and herbs, grounded by the earthy note. Oh hell, my poor pocketbook. I think this could be bottle material.

In the bottle, and wet on my skin, Mr Ibis could almost pass for a commercial cologne. Where was the papyrus? Where was the aloe? The musks and the sandalwood? As it dries, it goes very light, very clean, a sort of barely there, mysterious miasma. Its lovely, but nothing mindboggling, until..... After about thirty or forty minutes of wear, the scent begins to deepen. The sandalwood asserts itself and I can detect a whiff of richness that must be the musks. Thats the point when I really start to love it. It really IS a rather mysterious scent, it clings close to the skin but not in a lustful way. Its a sparse and unforgiving scent, quiet and assertive. There's a gentle confidence about it - nothing over the top or in your face, but subtle in its beauty. Yes, I'm liking this a lot. Can't stop smelling my wrist. It takes a while to develop, but its definitely worth the wait.

Would it surprise anyone that a Gemini like me has a new favorite every day. Today - this is my favorite. Which is funny because I bought it for the name alone. The notes scared the hell out of me. Musk always reminds me of those awful musk colognes that were so popular in the 70s. But I've found many musk blend at BPAL that I like very much so I'm learning that musk isn't all about hairy-chested men in leisure suits on the make at the local disco. Black Tower taught me not to fear the leather note, but to embrace it, and wooden switches could go either way. I love woodsy scents... but switches.? Then there's those dusty rags . But I hoped despite the dubious notes, Krampus would surprise me. And he did. In the bottle, this one is sweeter than I expected it to be, mostly wood with just a hint of muskiness. The leather revs up on my skin, and its a soft delicious leather smell. Seductive, with a hint of menace. This one dries down so beautifully on me its almost beyond description. The notes balance gorgeously into one of the most wickedly tempting fragrances imaginable. This stuff is bottled evil - but what lovely evil. Rich voluptuous leather, the crisp crack of wood, and sexy musk all softened by what must be the dust, but it isn't 'dusty', just a hint of something earthy that grounds the intensity of the other notes. Like viewing a perverse orgy through a muslin veil. Mmmmm.... With wear, this softens throughout the day. The woods come to predominate while the leather and musk play nicely in the background. But every stage of wear is beautiful. This isn't one of those fragrances where I have to wait for it to blossom - Krampus morphs on me, but each change is a sweet and sinister revelation. You are yummy, Mr Krampus.

My obsession with feral scents continues.... In the bottle its lighter than I expected it to be, with just a hint of fir and pine carried on a damp salt wind. It was nice, but I was looking for something headier, and I was prepared to be disappointed. But of course I wasn't! Damned if Oberot isn't a gorgeous beast! Wet on my skin there's this amazing depth and earthiness. In fact, its everything that I wanted Roux-ge-roux to be. Woods and mosses and damp earth. But the aquatic element in this has more clarity than Roux-ge-roux. The dry-down is splendid beyond my expectations. All of the notes balance beautifully on my skin. When I try to pick out specific notes they elude me, like a shadowy creature that stays just beyond my sight in a dark forest. Its a rich scent, not cold at all, but damp and seductively menacing. Despite its initial deceptive lightness in the bottle, Oberot is quite powerful on me. A little bit goes a long way, and lasts a good long time. And I must also say that after trying so many of the 'feral, wolfy' scents that its surprising how different they all are. Beth is a genius to be able to portray similarly themed scents in so many beautiful ways. Another splendid scent; I love it.

Oh in the bottle this smells lovely. Nice and peppery and spicy with just a hint of softness from the floral. Just what I was looking for for my more 'fiery' moods. Unfortunately, on my skin, the honeysuckle takes over and goes all soapy. I waited and waited for it to turn beautiful, but it just got soapier and soapier. On me its ALL honeysuckle. Noooooooo.... why doesn't it smell on me like it smells in the bottle!

I'm having a test-o-rama today with my imps. I keep getting winners. This is no exception. My initial impression was fruity, kind of like melon to me. My niece said, "It smells like candy!" Like most of the BPALs, on me its the drydown that really reveals the depth, delicacy and subtlety of this blend. The olive is the only note I can actually pick out. It doesn't dominate, rather it carries the other notes gently. Its hard to pin this one down. Its neither woodsy nor resiny, herby nor foody, just a lovely well-rounded and luminescent scent. I think I want a bottle of this for my more benevolent moods.

Lately I've been on a 'wolf' kick, trying to track down everything with a vaguely wolfy theme. So of course this was on my must-try list. Now its on my 'must-buy' list. Gotta have a bottle - I'm a sucker for cypress anyway. In the vial, a big evergreen scent. Wet on my skin, the eucalyptus amps up for a moment or two, clearing my sinuses and and taking on a vague 'pine-sol meets vicks vapor-rub' fragrance. On dry-down this is a beauty. Sharp cypress, heady juniper and the bite of eucalyptus make this one very energetic, woodsy but there's also an underlying 'prettiness'. Its like being lost deep in a forest, almost overpowered by the dangerous majesty of nature, yet not so scared that one doesn't notice the delicate frond of a fern, or the color of a wildflower. Loup Garou isn't dark and musky like many of the other 'wolfy' scents, but one can only wear so much darkness (right? ). The sharp and lovely freshness of Loup-Garou makes this one stand out among similarly themed scents. It does fade on me more quickly than I would prefer, but I sometimes make lotions out of my favorite scents and layer the oil over the lotion to get a longer lasting fragrance. I'm sure that'll work with this one.

I'd been wanting to try this, then received a frimp of it from an evil (and wonderful) enabler in a forum purchase. In the bottle its rather sharp and herby. Bay and laurel I suppose. Wet on my skin it goes crazy sweet, the honey-wine just jumps right out and in a scary way. I immediately tossed the imp in the swap pile and was going to wash it off, and then... ... well I should have known better. I picked my imp of Delphi from the swap-pile and put it in the keeper-pile. This stuff is crazy. Strong and not at all subtle, the herbs and wine crash together to create a mad intoxication of scent. This is one of the most unusual fragrances I've come across at BPAL and I may just have to have a bottle of this. Later I layered it with Ides. Glory!

I got a chance to try this one this evening because I spilled half an imp of Hades on myself and had to shower. After my shower I thought I'd go for a change of pace, something light and fresh for a warm spring evening, so I tested my new bottle of Ides. Ide of March was an impulse buy. I'm sure none of the rest of you know what thats like. Heh. I loved the name, I loved the concept, but I wasn't too sure about that lemony note, since I figured my skin would amp the hell out of it. Then I saw it for sale on the forums and thought "Why not?". In the bottle, its green and herby with a miasma of lemon hanging over the greenery. On my skin, there's that lemon. Its a crisp lemon though, very clear and fresh smelling. Not Lemon Pledge at all, just bright with a hint of sweetness. As Ides dries, wowee, it turns lovely on me. It just glows. Mr Lemon fades and begins to play nice with the herbs and flowers. I can't pick out single notes, its all so well blended with nothing overpowering anything else. 'Glowing' is definitely the right word, a diffuse radiance that bathes everything but seems to have no discernable source. The scent is neither green nor yellow to me, but a pale luminescence, like being in the presence of a gentle mystery. The aroma is light, without a lot of throw, but tends to flutter around me as I move. Truly beautiful.

Ever read the description of a scent and think "Thats it! Thats the one!". It happened to me with Nephilim, and it happened again with Lycaeon. No imps for me, I wanted a bottle of this stuff. I knew it would be perfect. And I was right. First sniff in the bottle I get a blast of cypress (yum) but softer, and kind of dark. Wet on my skin, wow. It deepens immensely and the resins just scream for attention. I get mostly frankencense and myrrh, but with an added lushness that I suspect is caused by the olive leaf. With wear it just goes deeper, richer, more complex and yeah, a little bit monstrous. But what a beautiful monster, a creature possessing such a brutal and seductive grace, voluptuous lips drawn back to reveal a blood-stained fang, every motion a terrifying revelation.... Holy crap I love this stuff. I can't stop smelling myself. I think this just became my new favorite.

I've worn this a couple of times since purchasing an imp from the lab, and I'd have sworn there was fruit in this. Berryish, maybe currant. But no, when I see the description there's no currant in sight. I get more resin than floral when I wear this, though I suspect one of the flowers is creating that lovely currant smell. Sheol is very strong and sharp on me, without too much darkness. I like it a lot though not for daily wear.

I was a little wary of such a strong patchouli note, and the phrase "down and dirty". I feared I might get the same 'barbeque pit' smell I get from Coil Serpent. But in the bottle, I didn't smell any patchouli at all. Mostly juniper with just a whiff of fresh-turned earth and maybe something herby. (I have no idea what Samson-root smells like, but maybe thats the herby smell). The second it hits my skin, dirt. Pure, fresh strong dirt. Surprising, but I kind of like it. It isn't the burnt dirt of Coiled Serpent, but something much purer. The dirt smell lasts a split second, then fades to a wild and feral sex smell. The wolves come running and they're lookin' for love. The patchouli is there, but softened somewhat by the balsam, with the sharp, toothy bite of juniper and the grasping, hungry claw of musk. As it dries, it sweetens into a honeyed musk, the lush and langorous after-play that follows an orgiastic romp in the forest. "Sexy" isn't a word I use much, nor is it something I feel much since my divorce, but Luperci is 'sexy' and I feel kinda sexy wearing it. Kinda dirty. This one is definitely making its way to my top ten.