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Everything posted by crimescenecleanup
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In the bottle, this is a very pale, shimmery mint green base mixed with glitter. Ont he nails, the green is so light it's indiscernible. Rather it creates that "frosted glass" effect that earlier posters spoke of. The glitter is pastel rainbow glitter, sparkling in many different colors. And ooh, boy is this stuff glittery. This polish is very light and transparent, so 1 or 2 coats will produce a very subtle effect, just adding a slight creamy shimmer to your nails when they catch the light. Several coats (and I usually apply 5-6!) will create really sparkly, metallic looking nails with just a hint of green. They'll glow no matter how much you put on, but if you add several layers, you get this bright white flourescent effect in the dark. And it has to be very dark. This is definitely better than any of the glow-in-dark polishes I played with as a teenager. Overall, it makes me feel...magical. I mean, subtle, shimmery, glowing nails? This stuff is great. Although I should warn that the glitter content is quite high, so you may want to add a base coat and top coat. I'd recommend No Miss brand, which is sold at places like Whole Foods and has no scary fourmaldehyde or toluene in it. Embalming Fluid claw polish is obviously very high quality and holds together well, much better than other glitter polishes I've tried, but the high glitter content still keeps it from sticking as well as other polishes. it really benefits from a smooth base coat and a matte protective top coat.
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This is the Halloween blend I was most afraid of trying, and it's turned out to be the one I love the most out of the bunch. Right off the bat I get brandy with mulling spices, and my beloved oak. I'm not usually one for spicy scents, (cinnamon and clove are somewhat anathema to me when it comes to BPAL) but gods, this is gorgeous. Spicy without being foody or incensy, at all. A red clay scent creeps out that smells just like the red terracotta clay we used to use in ceramics class. Underneath it all is something creamy, waxy, and fruity that I recognize as dragon's blood. The blood note softens it. Several hours later the boozy notes have faded considerably, but the dragon's blood, spice, and clay linger gently. This is very boozy, a deep orange-red scent, and so perfectly blended. It would be dreamy on a guy and would work equally well on a woman. A true unisex fragrance. And although I adore this earthy, creamy, daring alcoholic blend on myself, I'd looooooove to smell it on my partner. Seriously. This was just meant to be worn by someone sexy while you sit with him or her on a leather couch cuddling in front of a fireplace on a cold, spooky autumn night sipping nightcaps Just a quick note, I really didn't like the "blood" scents - blood, blood kiss, blood amber - the combination of spice and dragon's blood was quite overpowering and ended up smelling like cinnamon red hots on me. This seems to have similar elements to the "blood" blends, but none of the overpowering cinnamon candy note. And it's so smoothly blend that no one note overpowers another. I'd highly recommend it to anyone who had trouble with the blood scents but wanted to like them anyway.
- 65 replies
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- Halloween 2007
- Halloween 2012
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In the bottle: Ivy! On the skin: The note that comes to the forefront is ivy - this is the really gutsy, true ivy note that's in Black tower, with out the metallic notes I have trouble with in Black Tower. Mmmm. It realy does smell like a fresh green ivy patch with little clusters of white flowers shooting up. The background is incredibly fresh and green. Exactly like an oak tree. The bark, the leaves, snapped stems - it's amazing how the lab manages to bottle what smells like a fresh, living plant. The combination of the oak tree notes and the ivy is stimulating and clean - Like the leaves were just washed with rain. It'd make a great refresher scent after a long day at work, kind of a wake-up call. I don't get any of the burnt notes or "old" woody notes that others are getting. But then again, blends like Djinn and Incantation never turn dark or burnt on me, either. The "burnt wood" note turns to fresh linen spray. Yeah, I know, I'm a freak. Of course, the dark greenery also add an element of mystery - it's like wandering through a fantastic wood. The drydown after a few hours fades the ivy and develops a gentle, resinous sap note that I can't identify but it melds perfectly with the oak leaves and bark, and thgere's something golden in there, too, that reminds me of caramel and amber. I've been looking for a perfect forest scent since I first discovered BPAL, and this is it. Finally, I smell just like a tree and can run around pretending I'm a dryad when no one is looking. er, you guys didn't hear that.
- 76 replies
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- Halloween 2007
- Halloween 2012
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(and 1 more)
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'drool' I love this scent. It's funny to read all of the reviews and see how different this scent is on every person... On me I get fresh-baked treacle tart, similar to the blackberry pie scent I get out of Knave of hearts only so much better, and with molasses instead of berries. There's this rich, hard cider scent beneath it, perfectly spiced, and a smooth amber reminiscent of sandalwood. The floral notes make up the background of this for me, with that rich carnation/damask rose scent I love so much in 'Maiden'. Mixed with this is something that can only be described as a hint of white wine and fresh black grapes. The spiciness of this scent and the warm treacle and cider notes make it seem, I dunno. Old. Like something a woman would have worn five hundred years ago at some European court. Not a perfume so much as a sachet of rare spices tucked into her bodice, or something. It's a favorite of mine for SCA meets.
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Wow, this is really unique. At first I get this blast of lemon, and not much else. As it dries this really beautiful, complex wood scent wafts up. These are dark, rich, warm woods - ebony, walnut, teak, mahogany, cherry. And behind it all is this incredible fresh, light linen scent. Like how I imagined "Dirty" would smell. It smells like I'm standing in an airy room polishing beautiful antique furniture with lemon oil. It doesn't do the lemon pledge thing at all - no, this is a really true lemon.
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in the bottle: hmm, coconut milk. wet on my skin: OK, this isn't just coconut milk. This is a woman slathered in coconut oil, drinking coconut rum, holding a plate of toasty macaroons and velvet coconut cake with coconut frosting and topped with coconut flakes, and the whole tableau is drenched in coconut milk. Oh, and the woman is wearing fig leaves. But seriously, this is a really true, fresh coconut milk scent for those who are looking for one. This comes across totally different from the coconut in other bpal blends I've tried, like Elegba and Obatala. After a few minutes of drydown it morphs into something really fresh and light. There's a hint of something green behind the coconut, and a ripe purple fig. The almond behaves itself for once on me and just sort of serves to mellow the blend. Definitely a nice summery scent.
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Oh, man. This is a flashback in a bottle. Digging through cedar trunks of my dad's old stuff from his college days looking for dress-up clothes, and pulling out paisley shirts and fringed jackets, and burying my face in the musty cotton and leather to take in the vintage patchouli smell. This smells like the 1960's. The DARK side of the 60's. I mean, jeez, I can almost hear The Doors playing when I wear this stuff. It smells like like Jim Morrison should smell. Not how he really smelled. By all accounts, hygiene was not ol' Jim's strongpoint and he reeked like body odor, the greasy leather pants he never took off, and stale booze. THIS DOES NOT smell like the real Jim Morrison, thank gods, but it definitely a scent I could imagine the archetypal, rock-star Jim Morrison that only exists in my imagination wearing. Make sense? No? Good. So what does it smell like? This is a deep jungle scent. Like walking through the blackest forest where you can't see the sky because the trees grow so thick, only damper and more exotic. It's got that nice, woodsy patchouli and cedar and vetiver in it. It's a dark scent, but earthy-dark, not spooky-dark. There's something almost creamy in here I want to attribute to saffron - maybe it's the cinnamon? It's the same note that does that for me Leo 2007, I think. And underneath it all is this deep, animalistic musk. This isn't a musk I identify from any other BPAL scents. It's probably just coming from the combination of woods and herbs...but it smells wild. Feral. Dangerous. This is not a friendly forest. It's got a real Apocalypse Now/Heart of Darkness vibe to it. This patchouli is not the kind you wear to a love-in with acoustic folk ballads playing in the background. This patchouli is the kind you wear before dropping acid and heading to an orgy with growling, bluesy, psychedelic rock in the background. I think I like it.
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That sounds like a perfect imp pack. For women, my favorite Illyria scents are Titania (fresh, cold fruit and rainy aquatics) and Rosalind (soft aquatics, green herbs, and spicy berries). For the guys, I have to go with The Apothecary. It's very herbal and astringent, but I always found it sexy.
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Out of the bottle, this is a creamy vetiver. I know those two words don't usually go together, but...that's what I get. Fresh cream note and vetiver. Strong vetiver. Very earthy. And dare I say...comforting? Reassuring at the least. A scent that gives you the strength to go forward. I was expecting something spicy, something firey and powerful that would bring up images of obstacles being brought down by a strike of lightning or a good bitchslap. But it's not like that at all. The earthy/woodiness of this blend makes me think of plants - perhaps an immense tree that has wrapped its roots around the obstacle or wall in question and is slowly eroding it away, growing up through the cracks and branching out new, fresh leaves in its place. I like that image much better. And for a ritual of positive change and transformation, it was more than appropriate. I used it to anoint candles and added a few drops to warm water. The throw wasn't so strong that my housemates noticed from the next room over, but it was strong enough to last throughout a four-hour ritual and gently scent the room I was in. It stayed true throughout the night, without morphing much at all. This is a really soft vetiver, with a hint of something creamy or milky, and something else that reminds me of uncut meyer lemons - no sharp citrus tang. It's almost like a lemon drop candies. I guessed that it was lemon verbena, lemon balm, or some kind of chamomile. If anyone here has tried the Good Earth brand tea variety "Good Night Tea" this smells a lot like that. Good Earth Good Night contains chamomile, passionflower, hops, cherry bark, mint, and lavender, so it I'm guessing it's the same kind of chamomile that's in that tea. Overall, I'm really impressed with this stuff and the atmosphere it lended to the ritual. I can't vouch for the effectiveness yet, but I'll update with further results.
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Chocolate and Cocoa, in every combination possible
crimescenecleanup replied to mand's topic in Recommendations
hmmm...I've never tried this type of chocolate, but here is a list of some promising BPAL scents with chocolate notes: Centzon Totochtin Velvet Intrigue Boomslang Wulric, the Wolfman (this one is actually very foody and rich) Kali Vice Bliss Gluttony The Candy Butcher If you can find imps or decants of any of those, they would all be worth trying. Also, for things with a strong coconut note, maybe Obatala, Elegua, or Eden? -
Searching for the Perfect Vanilla?
crimescenecleanup replied to drinbanana's topic in Recommendations
Death Cap, Tombstone, Casanova, and Strangler Fig all have Vanilla or Tonka and I would highly recommend all of them. I haven't smelled Death Cap or Strangler Fig on a guy, but I'm sure that they would work well. My skin chemistry also amps sweet and foody things, and all of the scents listed above stayed nice and balance don me. -
Eshe, A Vision of Life-In-Death (2006)
crimescenecleanup replied to Heretic's topic in Carnaval Diabolique
OK, let me start of by saying, I'm a total ho for anything having to do with Egyptology - real of fictional. I would have totally been down with the Egyptology craze of the early 20th century. I read Anne Rice's gothic novel of Edwardian-era Cairo "The Mummy, or Ramses The Damned" about a dozen times when I was a little girl. So, of course, I found the idea of a BPAL oil based on a carnival sideshow mummy girl to be irresistable. Out of the bottle: Ooooh. Nice. Another Carnivale Diabolique scent in which all the notes are seamlessly blended and nothing really stands out above the others. This is a dark scent, spooky and mysterious. On the skin: Dry-down is the same as in the bottle. The perfect scent to wear out goth-clubbing. The myrrh and sandalwood in this are smooth and earthy, but not dry and powdery like they usually are on me. This is the scent of embalming oils and pastes scented with resins, barks, and herbs. The paperwhites and narcissus (narcissuses? narcissi?) make themselves known, but this is not overtly floral. They just soften the blend a bit. I can't decide if they remind me of fresh spring buds or dried paperwhites at the end of the season. Either way, the flowers in this have a very light, airy quality. This is the feminine counterpart to Hades, I think. Still an earthy narcissus scent, but cooler and darker with a hint of wet herbs. Absolutely gorgeous. 10/10. -
'composes herself and tries not to squeek and jump up and down with glee like a hyper 5-year old at a birthday party who just snorted a pixie stick' A few weeks ago, I got this terrible urge to try "Melisande" in my search for a wearable floral. I just had a feeling that against all odds this one would work on me, and it did. These Carnival Diabolique scents are so beautifully blended and well-balanced. The violet water is the predominant note on me, a very true, fresh, cool floral that's not sweet in the least. It's perfectly balanced by the mimosa, which smells just like real mimosa blossoms in the height of bloom, sharp, tart, and slightly bitter and somewhat akin to grapefruit or spilled champagne. The vanilla starts to come through a few seconds after the florals, thick and husky and rich. This is an herbal vanilla more than a sugared, foody vanilla. It gives this scent a richness and depth, and makes it deeply sexy. Finally, hints of jasmine sambac waft up over the other notes. this isn't an in-your-face floral jasmine, like I'm used to getting, but a really subtle kiss of jasmine, like walking by a jasmine vine on a summer night night when it's blooming, or the scent wafting up from jasmine tea when you pour the hot water on it. This is a light scent with enough throw and lasting power to balance out it's subtle nature. To sum up: This is a very grown-up scent - an exotic floral without a hint of sweetness. The violet water base makes me imagine a very striking and dark-haired Victorian beauty wearing this, and the boozy mimosa, vanilla, and jasmine make me think she's up to absolutely no good. : ) But maybe that's just because I've read Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel series a number of times, and the name Melisande always conjures up images of a striking, dark-haired beauty who is up to no good.
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The smell of this in the imp is so light, it's barely detectable. The scent of fresh milk. On my skin, it is still a very light scent, and a very simple one. Lightly honey-sweetened milk and dragon's blood resin. Dragon's blood always reminds me of those waxy red-hot candies without the spice, if that makes any sense. I'm glad to see that the honey in this doesn't amp at all on my skin, it stays a light, creamy scent all the way through. I have no desire to use this as a perfume, but I think it makes a lovely, sensual room scent. I'll use it for offertory incense because it's such a delicious milk-and-honey facsimile, and it has that extra kick of dragon's blood to give it oomph and warmth.
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I want a BPAL that smells like Bath & Body Works...
crimescenecleanup replied to sihaya09's topic in Recommendations
oooh...A friend of mine has their guest bathroom decked out with BBW soaps and lotions in a scent called "Country Apple". I'm not usually a big fan of BBW scents, but this was really nice. Just like a fresh-cut fuji apple. It was really close to BPAL's Poisoned Apple, and almost aquatic. "Irresistable Apple" sounds a bit like a caramel apple scent. I'd love to see more BPAL apple options -
Recommend the most herbal scents, please
crimescenecleanup replied to jaeyne's topic in Recommendations
Nero always came out herbal for me, although it gets a serious spicy bite from the bitter clove. -
Allergy Questions, Allergies and other reactions to oils
crimescenecleanup replied to friendthegirl's topic in BPAL FAQs
I tried out Tannin'Iver today on my wrist. the scent was beautiful, but the exact place where I swiped the wand became a bright red, blotchy spot that burned like crazy a few minutes later. I blame the cassia. -
The absolute darkest scents? dark, ghostly, haunting, scary,
crimescenecleanup replied to Cinder's topic in Recommendations
Oh! I totally forgot. A couple others to add to the list of recommendations that others have already mentioned... Lampades kind of turned my stomach. It wasn't that it was a bad smell, rather it was a very unique smell that I just found it incredibly er...off-putting. Same with Black Annis. Both have these underlying musky, smoky notes that just give me the heebie jeebies. Destroying angel is lovely - with a strong soil note, cold and minty. But definitely on the spooky side. Niflheim, on the other hand, makes me really happy. It's dark and aquatic, but to me it comes across as a very clean, sexy men's cologne on it's drydown, with just a hint of spice. -
The absolute darkest scents? dark, ghostly, haunting, scary,
crimescenecleanup replied to Cinder's topic in Recommendations
The absolute darkest BPAL scent I've ever smelled is Azathoth. It smells like an HR Giger painting, to me. Seriously. I have a Giger print hanging in my house, and if it had a scent, it would smell like Azathoth. Like infinite spookiness, heaviness, darkness, and madness. And maybe tentacles. Or impossible geometry. Tombstone on me was the driest, dustiest, most desolate graveyard scent I'd ever smelled. Seriously, it's the scent of dust on dry stone and wood. Of all the "graveyard" and "soil" scents I can think of - Burial, Nosferatu. Zombi, Danse Macabre...They all have this hint of life to them - flowers, or mosses, or decay - something living clinging to something dead. Not tombstone. This is a truly dessicated, devoid of water or life. It's also one of my favorites! : ) The only scent that ever creeped me out, though, was "O". It smelled like...like the sex industry to me. Like some incense that's burned in strip clubs and porn shops, or a box of old playboys with the scent of the perfume samples folded inside the pages still wafting up. Or the mix of sweat and sugary perfume and alcohol that came off of two really unhappy girls I used to know who worked at a local fetish club. It wasn't so much the smell of sexuality as it was the smell of exploitation, if that makes any sense. It felt...sinister. It seemed to conjure up this image of defenseless, yielding sexuality, which i guess is the point! It was a really strong scent and an equally strong emotional association, and it just didn't want to wash off. Not a scent that contains what one would traditionally call "dark" notes, but definitely scary, to me, at least. -
Fox Fires on New Year's Eve at the Garment Nettle Tree at Oji
crimescenecleanup replied to nikkoblue's topic in The Salon
I was really excited to get a bottle of this, and it didn't let me down. This is probably the most complex BPAL scent I've tried. It changes continually throughout the day. I chose to wear it on a day when i had meetings from eight in the morning until six at night, and it seemed to be a different scent every few hours. Straight out of the bottle, this has a very dark, wet, woody scent, almost musty...like moss and lichen covered tree bark after a rain. It's a deep blue-green scent. Like a wetland, only, well, just the pleasant parts, and not the swampy water smell. Just the smell of wet plants and moss and soil. I wonder if the "musty" dirt note comes form the green tea incense? It also has this kind of biting spiciness to it, but not anything I can really identify. It reminds me of clearing nettles out of the garden. It actually makes my nose and skin tingle, like nettles do. I tend to sneeze when I first put this scent on. The lovely, musty woodsy aquatic smell fades to the background and something very pale and soft comes to the forefront. Maybe the lilac and soft musk? If the first notes formed a dark, earthy nighttime scent, then what takes over at this stage feels very ethereal and luminescent and light glowing green. It's a perfect depiction of shimmering foxfires appearing on a cold, rain-soaked night. but even this faded into the background and I got this really light, amorphous herbal scent. For the first 3-4 hours it was a scent without any definite direction, constantly shifting - I could pick out the earthy, green, aquatic, musk, floral and that nettle note all just swirling together. Towards the middle of the day, the scent was still very strong, but it had dried down into... cherry 7 up? No, really. Exactly like Cherry 7up if it was made with real lemon, lime, and cherry juices. But not overly sweet. Maybe the diet version? It must have been the rice wine that offered the sour yellow-green citrus note, but there is this soft rich sweetness behind it that probably comes from the drydown of the musk and the floral. It's the sweetness that comes from fresh water and flowers, though, and not the sweetness of sugar. Overall I find this a really fun, comforting scent. Not in a foody way, but in a wet, foresty way. It's very restful and delicate, and Overwhelmingly feminine in the way that it conjures up images of peaceful evenings and green plants and soft rain. -
It's the perfect scent to capture the spirit of the brutal Barbarian queen from Titus Andronicus. It is at once warm and golden, with core of solid and unyielding strength, and a breath of softest femininity over it. And yet it seems so faint and indistict and shadowed. This is a scent of a woman whose plans are unfathomable, and one who will use any of her powers to get revenge.
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MULBERRY! I couldn't think of it until someone mentioned it in an earlier review, but if this reminds me of any plant at all, it's mulberry. Berries, tree bark, and leaves. The whole kit and caboodle. Just a hint of a mulberry tree in the sun. However, the overwhelming base of this scent is astringent and almost...like that blue liquid they use in airplane sinks and toilets and as disinfectant in hospital wards. I mean, much more pleasant, clean, herbal version...but I still can't kick the association with some kind of deep blue cleaner. It's a lovely scent...clean, herbal, and somewhat biting and poisonous. But it makes me feel like I should go around wearing a sign on my wrist saying that I've been sanitized for your convenience. It's just so...clean. I couldn't wear it very often, but maybe it would work as a room scent?
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This is somehow like concentrated cucumber - like if you cut open a cucumber, and magnified the fresh scent of the insides and juice and skin a hundred times. I keep telling myself that the concept of smelling like a giant cucumber is silly, but this scent makes me so ridiculously happy everytime I get a waft of it from my shirt or my wrists that I just run around the house grinning like an idiot. It's so summery, it makes me want to run through the sprinklers in my bare feet on the lawn, and jump into piles of leaves, and ride my bike around the neighborhood, and get into mud fights. And I'm 24. Also, my favorite aunt, who was very fashionable, funny, sweet and social used to use a cucumber soap and so this scent reminds me of the good times I had with her and is sort of linked forever with happy memories and comfort. Anyway, the drydown is lovely - this scent just keeps getting better, cleaner, richer, and it builds to this cool, deep green blue scent.
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Death Cap is in my top 5 favorite BPAL scents, easily. The first note I smell is wet clay or concrete. This is is one of my favorite smells. I grew up in the desert, and we had a room that opened to the backyard that was concrete block and clay tile. When it rained, this is what that room smelled like - fresh water and ground stone. Or when you first cut open or unwrap a block of grey clay in a ceramics class (sorry - never took enough ceramics to learn what this kind of clay is called) this is the smell of very fresh, clean clay. Underneath that this wonderful, er...fluffy? food smell comes up. But not a sweet smell. It screams vanilla to me, but that doesn't seem quite right. If this is a vanilla, it's the smell of a drying vanilla bean. And then...mushrooms. Huh. whaddyaknow. One item I never expected to find, or like, in a perfume, but I did. All of the notes balance beautifully and none of them trump the others. Although I'd be hard pressed to tell someone why, because I don't recognize any spice notes, it feels warm and comforting, with an edge. If this scent was an image, it would be a moist dirt path through a fairytale forest, edged with rings of plump mushrooms, leading to gingerbread houses and little girls in red cloaks with picnic baskets full of fresh baked pastries.
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I LOVE this scent. It reminds me of Aspen cologne, but so much more complex and balanced. Vinland smells so much more real and fresh, like stepping into a meadow surrounded by a circle of birch and maple trees. It smells wet like green, living trees, and golden like a carpet of aspen or birch leaves in fall. Not dry like most woody scents, and the florals don't have a hint of sweetness - they're almost herbal, like you're smelling the whole plant, roots, leaves, stems, and flowers. Although this is a unisex scent, it reminds me of a fine's men's cologne. The kind of thing my grandfather or my father wears on special occasions, with a nice suit, and because of this association it seems very masculine to me. As much as I love it, I'm not sure that I would wear it regularly for this reason. However, I think a bottle of Vinland would make a lovely gift for any of the men in my family. Here's keeping my fingers crossed that I could get my significant other to wear it sometime. : )