crimescenecleanup

OK...so at first spray, I get pink grapefruit. Usually, I love citrus scents, grapefruit is a particular favorite when it makes a bold appearance - Baobhan Sith, I feel in Love with a Floating Brain, etc. However, this grapefruit I did not like and it did not like me. Oh, it was true pink grapefruit all right, but this is one bitter, acrid, pink grapefruit, destroyer of worlds. Very Lovecraftian. It frightened me. Sometimes Beth is scary good at her job - she can apparently design something that smells both refreshing and evil. I leave the room. Wait fifteen minutes. Come back. ARRRRGH pink grapefruit! nothing else. I continue my epic battle with the astral grapefruit. Strangely enough, I bought this because I was told that citrus-scents are good for space clearing and mood-lifting, getting rid of bad vibes, so to speak. Well, this stuff is strong enough to drive most anything away, very effective. No wonder the Zoogs have fled. It almost drove me away. However, I did not lose faith. In my experience, the BPTP atmosphere sprays soften and sweeten up considerably with time, becoming more complex as different notes come forward, so I waited. Fifteen minutes pass. I check again. The grapefruit is still there, still strong, but not as bitter. Oddly enough, it is kind of cheerful now. I feel like the tyrannical grapefruit has pummeled the zoogs to death and is now basking in its victory, radiating pleasure and calm. I grew up around many old citrus orchards, and this smells a bit like a grapefruit orchard warmed by the sun. This is a sunny summer scent. I leave for another fifteen minutes. Come back and hello! We have lemon verbena. A very sweet, herby lemon verbena, almost exactly like the kind used in Meyer's natural soaps. Every once in awhile I get a gentle hint of camellia, which is more astringent than floral, like the aroma wafting up from a cup of white tea. The grapefruit is still present but has faded into the background. Perhaps the stars are no longer right and the Elder Grapefruit has gone to sleep. And hour after spritzing, the Anti-Zoog spray is the scent of night air off the desert, so well blended you can't discern individual notes. It is remarkably similar to 51. We had a rough start, but in the end, I have to say this scent is a favorite. The drydown is lovely, and not a Zoog in sight. edited for: my typing sucks. typos fixed.

Sugar Skull, any year...any recommendations?

The Apothecary is my ultimate pharmacy scent. Although it has no sweetness, no syrup notes. Just straight up astringent and medicinal. Thorns had a medicinal bitterness to it. And I want to say that Silk Road had a funky cough syrup thing going on...but I'm not sure if I am remembering that right. It might be Kathmandu I'm thinking of.

Bliss has a similar in-your-face chocolate note, like DarkChocolateWhiskeyCognac does. Maybe Bliss layered with Mad Sweeney? And while I'm in this thread, I am in love with the particular vetiver from Fuwu Bansaku. Any close matches?

I get the exact same cake note from this that I get from Cockaigne - unfortunately, this note has a tendency to go kinda funky on me - a cross between burnt buttered popcorn and sourdough. Feeding the dead shouts CAKE CAKE CAKE FERMENTED CAKE and after a few minutes it develops an incense-stick undertone with a hearty dose of dry cinnamon. Cinnamon. blast! I was hoping the cinnamon some reviews mentioned was a mistake, maybe just a warm incense note that was similar to but not actually. No, it's definitely cinnamon. bummer. I was hoping for mostly incense with hops/grains and a smidge of foodiness. Instead, this is a rich, yeasty cinnamon-dusted cake scent with a background of gentle woodsy spice. Fans of Eat Me and Cockaigne will probably love this. The throw is moderate, while the staying power is truly impressive. This lasts for hours and I'm guessing will stay strong all day.

'sigh' I've been waiting for this scent to return for years so I could try it. I love booze scents, but rum has not been working on me at all. For some reason, it goes straight to fake butter. So with Creepy. Starts out as apple candy, sort of Jolly-rancher like, and then a hint of boozy coconut (smells just like Malibu!) and then...butter buds and cheap liquor. Just like Grog. and Hellcat. And Perversion. and Kill Devil. no more apple. or coconut. the butterscotch and caramel never showed up.Alas. Creepy really is creepy when combined with my wacky skin chemistry. why couldn't it have been whiskey or vodka with apples and butterscotch and coconut?'sigh' I've been waiting for this scent to return for years so I could try it. I love booze scents, but rum has not been working on me at all. For some reason, it goes straight to fake butter. So with Creepy. Starts out as apple candy, sort of Jolly-rancher like, and then a hint of boozy coconut (smells just like Malibu!) and then...butter buds and cheap liquor. Just like Grog. and Hellcat. And Perversion. and Kill Devil. no more apple. or coconut. the butterscotch and caramel never showed up.Alas. Creepy really is creepy when combined with my wacky skin chemistry. why couldn't it have been whiskey or vodka with apples and butterscotch and coconut?

Gorgeous, crisp, fresh apple. warm spices - but no cinnamon, thanks Gods. FRESH GINGER! sweet creamy milk and a hint of spiced ale. Mostly apple and ginger. Exactly what the description says, Lamb's wool is amazingly true to it's concept and delicious. The apple and ginger stay in the forefront in the drydown stage, but is basically the same wet as in the bottle. All the notes play together nicely and last through the drydown stage. This has gentle throw and good staying power. This also has the best milk note of all the BPAL I've tried - it smells sweet and creamy and light, and doesn't go plasticy or sour at any point. This blend reminds me of my beloved Shub-Niggurath, only way more wholesome and with less burning sensations. Not only is this a scent I would get a full bottle of, I think this is the first scent I will need multiple bottles of. Hmm...time to sign up for some overtime.

I was very surprised by Pomona. I was expecting all juicy dark fruits, maybe a bit of foody sweetness. Instead I get a very dry, woodsy scent. This is the scent of an orchard after a long, hot summer drought suddenly hit by an autumn cold snap. The last green leaves clinging to life, tart withering, frostbitten fruits, and hulls of nuts lying crushed on the ground. This is a very dry, earthy wood scent with just a hint of bitter, wine-like fruit. It fits the concept of an orchard Goddess very well - it's welcoming, gentle like a well-tended garden, but retains a hint of wildness from untamed woods. It is unusual and incredibly lovely. A full bottle for sure.

I'd have to agree with Hoyden. Manhattan was my first thought, also. Very sophisticated and suitable for a professional.

Actually, reactions to codeine are very common. Codeine is derived from opiates, and is metabolized back into morphine by the body. This is what makes it an effective painkiller. Unfortunately, it's estimated that about 10% of the population are unable to metabolize codeine into morphine, and receive no benefit from taking it. A much higher percentage of the population are able to break codeine down into morphine, just not well, and suffer from side effects ranging from skin rashes to headaches and nausea after taking it. These same people may not have the same reaction to other opiate drugs. True opiate allergies are actually very rare. Definitely confirm with your doctor that this is a true morphine allergy - and not just a nasty side effect of codeine - before deciding that you are allergic to all opiate drugs. As for BPAL blends, well...opiates and the plants they are derived from are really tightly controlled in the United States, where BPAL is produced, so it would be illegal for the lab to use actual opium in any of their products. Products like perfume and incense labeled "opium" are using a scent accord, basically a blend of other oils designed to be evocative of, but not actually containing, real opium. Even if Beth is using extracts from plants that contain natural opiates, like poppies, you probably have nothing to worry about. It takes many pounds of resin a particular species of poppy and a refining process to produce even a small quantity of morphine or codeine. The amount present in a perfume oil would be less than, say, the amount present in a poppy-seed bagel, which is generally considered safe for just about everybody.

Fire of Love works. And I have to say...Casanova lives up to its name.

The "something floral" scent that reminded Harry of The Burrow, that wafts up from the love potion? I always imagined that floral (and Ginny Weasley) to smell precisely like Maiden. Also, Queen Alice, with the cider and the treacle tarts and the ink smells like Halloween at Hogwarts, to me.

Sugar and musk? I would say Smut or Red Lantern, both of which are usually available as Lupercalia scents. Smut: "Three swarthy, smutty musks sweetened with sugar and woozy with dark booze notes." ...I didn't actually get any booze out of smut. just sugar and musk. But I amp BPAL sugar notes like nothing else, so... And while there's no musk listed in Red Lantern, it seemed very candy like to me. Sensual caramel candy. the original Beaver Moon/Beaver'sary also has a very strong icing/frosting note to it.

Beaverversary is all cupcakes on me, the smell of warm cupcakes out of the oven combined with the smell of freshly mixed buttercream frosting and cheesecake with the caramelized-sugar crust. Of all the BPAL food scents I have tried, this one is the most exact representation of the food listed in the description. ...I'm getting kind of a creepy vibe here, wondering how on earth Beth created a vegan, non-synthetic facsimilie of buttercream frosting and vanilla cupcakes and bottled it. Dear Lab: You madmen! What has science done?! On the drydown, this has kind of a gritty, almost molasses-like raw sugar note to it that reminds me of Sugar Skull, and in addition to the buttercream, there is a sweetened cream cheese/neufchatel scent. It's a little strange to smell like cheese but it's blended so well into this rich dessert that somehow, it just works. It gives this scent a richness and a creaminess and a kind of musky quality that balances the sweet and sugar. It's definitely not all sweetness and light. This is sensual, in the same way that biting into a really decadent dessert is. These are sexy, dirty, naughty cupcakes. After drydown the scent stays the same for hours and hours and does not morph. Of all the BPAL blends I have tried, this one has the best staying power and a very strong throw. I don't slather, I dab lightly, and this was still going strong after 12 hours. I wore it to bed and it was still going strong the next morning. I took a shower and washed my hair - twice - and when I got out of the shower it was still there. Most of the sweetness is gone, but there is just a hint of creaminess and vanilla left that is very pleasant. Final verdict: One of the best foody scents out there - perfect for anyone who is looking to smell over-the-top sweet, sexy, and edible. However, it's too strong and too cloying for everyday wear or for work/professional dress situations. It would make a great scent for a fun night out or a cuddly date at home, or for attracting a very hungry partner. I'm not into sweet scents at all, but this is so close to real cupcakes that I am really tempted to hold onto it and find excuses to wear it.

Leo 2007 is my favorite nut blend. It has a walnut note, and it's very warm and golden. I really loved the almond in Seraglio, as well

I'm so surprised that Succubus doesn't get more love! This is one of my all-time favorites. Neroli, bergamot, orange blossom and clove are usually deal breakers for me. They always come out way too strong and make otherwise subtle and lovely blends go strange on me. But I'm such a sucker for mimosa that I had to try Succubus. Maybe it was just crazy enought o work...? I'm so glad that I did. The orange blossom is the closest thing to real orange blossoms I've ever smelled. I mean, perfect, fresh orange blossoms on a hot night. It has a little hint of sweetness, but not a fruity, sugary sweetness - the kind of sweetness that comes from the nectar of the blossoms. The neroli is light, airy, floral, and a bit like kumquats...I recognize it, but it's so much better than other neroli oils I've tried. Maybe I've just never smelled good quality neroli before BPAL? It lacks the headache-inducing sharpness some nerolis have. The bergamot is rich and deep and bitter-tart, like the fragrance wafting up from a good cup of Earl Grey. The cloves is indeed a sweet clove - the kind I associate with baked goods. Not bitter or overpowering, just enough to add some unexpected spice and sweetness. The mimosa is a "soft" mimosa, it makes a nice background. The individual notes don't seem blended so much as layered - you can pick out each individual one and they complement each other perfectly. They also play nice, staying mellow and no one scent comes to the forefront to push the others out of the way. This succubus is surprisingly delicate and ladylike. An unusual perfume, bright and citrusy and exotic, but still soft, feminine, light. A stellar locket scent. Not a lot of throw, but good staying power. And there's my love letter to Succubus.

It's an LE, but if you can come up with a bottle of Hellhound On My Trail, it's a very macho, perfectly blended vanilla. Seems to get better with age, too.

woohoo! More Chaos Theories! MXX/1020 In the bottle: hello, cherry cough syrup. How odd, I've never smelled BPAL that was so...precisely like cherry cough syrup before. It's like sweet, medicinal, menthol-cherry. On the skin: yep, definitely some eucalyptus or menthol in her, but it's light. The cherry is very strong, and very sweet - like cherry candies, not all all like real cherries. And do I detect a hint of grape? On the skin, drydown whoa, yeah GRAPE...CHERRY... CANDY. This smells exactly like the cherry-grape FruitGushers candies used to taste. And yet, it's not turning directly to sugar like most sweet scents do on my skin. More like fruit leather - not like a hard candy. There's something grounding it, a couple of bitter, medicinal notes that remind me of coughdrops and and cough syrup. What could that bitter note be? hyssop? eucalyptus? The longer I wear this, the drier and more sour it becomes. I shouldn't love this, but I do! I smell like candy and it's wonderful, bitter, medicinal candies with a hint of cold and a delicious sweet, tart fruit coating to help it go down. This is perfect. I dislike sweet foods, but I love sour and bitter foods, and the lab has given me bitter candy. It's too perfect. MXLVI/1046 in the bottle - honeysuckle on the skin - honeysuckle has disappeared. Now I get woods and moss. The woods are pale and fresh, like peeled birch and pine boughs, and the mosses really stand out. This is a forest path after a rain. drydown - the honeysuckle returns with a vengeance - but instead of being overly sweet, like honeysuckle usually is on me, this is fresh, and smells just like the blossoms when you break them open to find the nectar inside. Even more surprising, I get a hint of rose (?). This is turning into a lovely, mossy, woodsy, very grown-up floral. Very fresh, not overly sweet, and quite sophisticated. Moss is still the dominant note, touched with nectar and living trees. It is so feminine, and so unexpected. I'm so happy to find a floral I can wear! Unfortunately it fades very quickly, but I imagine letting it age and settle a bit will help improve the throw. MLXIII/1063 in the bottle: bowl-me-over butterscotch. how did the lab no I wanted something wih buter and booze in it... on the skin: 'eyes roll back into head' 'falls out of chair' 'twitches for a few minutes in foody ecstasy' 'picks self up, dusts self off' excuse me. ahem. yes. this is nice. The predominant notes are butter and caramelized sugar. It also has a thick, custardy note. Imagine a creme brulee or flan with a crackling layer of burnt sugar on top, sitting next to a plate of warm butter-poundcake fresh out of the oven. This is so perfectly blended, no one note is dominant. drydown: 'waits in foody bliss for awhile'...! Is that...dirt? and...metal? wha? Egg'd mailbox, is that you? It is! This is almost precisely the same custard blend on drydown as Egg'd Mailbox. With this freaky, cold, resin-and dirt note and a hint of metal and ozone. This is the scent of the creme brulee ground into the black earth, with a cold metal shovel, while an icy rain falls. Unlike Egg'd Mailbox did on me, it never becomes cloyingly sweet or greasy, in any stage. It stays true and delicious throughout. This is both spooky and scrumptious, and I love it. Hooray for CTIV!

I just wanted to add that I thought starlurs posting was excellent and informative. I recently met another massage therapist who has been studying aromatherapy for about twenty years and makes her own essential oil blends. She demonstrated for me how she makes accords - she showed me her recipes for fresh pear, leather, and rainwater accords. It was eerie. She basically mixed a few drops each of a bunch of different essential oils into a carrier oil - I think she used sweet lavender and a couple of evergreen and citrus extracts for the pear - and blended together they were an almost exact replica of the real thing. She also had essential oils derived from things like dandelions, and various types of kelp that she had gotten from local botanists and herbalists that distill their own oils. Dandelions? Kelp? Who knew these things were available? Then my brother brought back tinctures of local lichens and moss from his last trip to Reykjavik. Seriously, if folks are out their extracting essences from obscure things like ice lichens, I'm pretty sure BPAL has a pretty broad palette with which to work when they try to approximate with essential oils scents that are usually only available as synthetics. I was skeptical for a long time that many scents could be recreated without synthetics, but the more I observe people working with plant-derived fragrance oils, the more convinced I am that perfume companies never have to touch synthetics to produce really gorgeous fragrances. As for the the international shipping questions, when in doubt, I just write down "cosmetic samples" or "cosmetic oils" and that has seemed to work.

LVII (57) Arrived today. The labels is gorgeous, all deep earth tone fractals with the roman numerals in gold ink. It's also full almost to the lip of the bottle. Won't be running out of this any time soon. In the bottle: dark, sweet resins, dark like the artwork on the label. Intriguing. On the skin: Wha? where'd my perfume go? It disappeared. I smell nothing. That's...odd. About two minutes later: some kind of wood? warm and almost buttery - usually this is the scent I associate with oak, but it is very faint. First stage of drydown: the wood notes become a little stronger, I think there is something like hazel, and something like rosewood in this as well. There is a sweetness to this blend, but it's the sweetness you sometimes find in smoke or tree sap - it's overwhelmingly masculine and earthy. I'm certain this is the resin note I can't seem to identify. There is a warm, nutty note in this that also reminds me of sweet pipe tobacco, tonka, and classic men's colognes, perhaps coumarin? Last stages of drydown: The woods have faded to the background a bit, and the sweet nuttiness comes to the forefront with hint of warm musk. Reminds me a bit of Hunter Moon and Ivanushka, but less sweet and quite a bit darker than either. The wood notes remind me a lot of Arkham without the florals. So there we have it - sweet resins, woods, musk, and something like pipe tobacco. The throw is very light, and the scent overall is faint. Still, that hasn't kept me from keeping my nose pressed to my wrist for the last hour trying to figure out what on earth was in this. It's already nice, but I think it would improve greatly with a little aging. I was really hoping for a unique, woodsy "forest" scent. This wasn't at all what I expected, but I think I may have gotten just what I wished for. I can see how Chaos Theory can be so addictive! This was great fun.

Home from the movie. What'd you finally decide, neddykapoozle? Shub must have cinnamon or cassia in it, because I diluted it in some lotion and dabbed some on my cleavage, twenty minutes later, big red welts all over my chest and a turtleneck. Damnit. That didn't happen the first time I tested it - I thought all the spiciness was from the ginger. No evil, oversexed gingersnap scent for me, then. Ah, allergies - my true and undefeatable nemesis. Should have gone with Bastet. Never tried Lyonesse, although it sounds intriguing. And I love the pun! Oh well...I couldn't find my purple cat ears, either. Just the gloves and boots. So I guess I was Catwoman on her off night, in jeans and a long-sleeve cover-up shirt. So now I really want to know - what are the scent notes in Smilex?

I giggled so hard when I saw this topic. hmm, I immediately think of the warrior scents from Illyria - Antony (leather, ambergris, frankincense, sage, basil) and Titus Andronicus (sandalwood, frankincense, neroli, bergamot) for theme. But honestly, I think Batman, or at least Bruce Wayne, would smell like Manhattan - rich and sophisticated - amber, leather, tea, orchids, polished teak, biting citrus. Tonight my theme is Catwoman, even thought she's not in the movie, and tonight Selina Kyle smells like Shub Niggurath! Spicy and dangerous!

OK, clawsight, I loved your description of the blue-faced hag at Lowe's. I remember the first time I tried this scent, back when I first got into BPAL, it was from a fresh imp and it was very sharp, sour, and musky, all wet lichen and civet. Now that I've time to sit down and do a proper review with an imp that's settled a bit, it's not sharp at all. The first thing that jumps out is oak - this is a warm, woodsy scent, all the way through. The one characteristic of Black Annis that never changes on me, from bottle to drydown, is the scent of oak. On drydown the vetiver comes out full force to blend with the oak - this is a vetiver that is more "cream and mown hay" than "earthy and green". The anise adds a touch of cool sweetness, and there's a warm, sweet, fierce musk behind it all - maybe the civet? And just a hint of something astringent, sour, and cold in the background, which reminds me of lichen liqueurs my brother buys when he goes back to Iceland, so I think it's the lichen. Altogether, it's almost foody - foody like some kind of unholy whiskey and absinthe cocktail due to the oak and anise, but still warm and sweet and almost edible. At different stages it almost seems like there's caramel or cedar in this. The downside? The throw. I have never, ever tried a perfume with so much...ooomph. I tried a dab of this on the inside of my arm and I feel like I'm being beaten over the head with vetiver grass and oak branches, while small musky forest critters pelt me with licorice and caramels. It's nice to have a BPAL with a lot of throw, but this might be too much for me. After about an hour the cooler notes come out, the vetiver and oak start to behave themselves, and it does take on a sour sharpness but it's so well blended with the warm woods and musk that it never overtakes the blend. It gives the impression of walking through a forest in autumn, ankle deep in dry , decaying leaves, a chill in the air, the last warmth of the setting sun leaving the wet earth, and the animal musk of a predator following you. Creepy, indeed. What an evocative scent. Perfect for Halloween. I love this and how well blended it is. Unfortunately it's way_too_strong for my tastes. headache inducing too strong. With amazing staying power. It's now four hours after I put it on, and it's still really powerful. Even washing my arms up to the elbows and doing a two-minute surgical scrub, the scent hasn't gone away. If I can find a way to dilute this a bit before wearing it, I think it would be a lovely, unique scent, one of my favorites, but for now I'm too concerned with how to get it off. Maybe it should go in a scent locket next time?

I have the Dark Delicacies version of this. In the bottle - strong dragon's blood and spicy cocoa. The oil is actually a dark red color. I wouldn't apply this directly to clothing, but the oil itself is lovely and the color doesn't show on skin. Wet, on the skin - this is a more resiny, incensey dragon's blood that the fruity/waxy note I usually get from BPAL dragon's blood blends. The cocoa come outs right away and it's strong, but not sweet. More of a gritty, dark chocolate note, like cocoa powder. I this. It's very much the dark chocolate/incense blend I was hoping to find with Velvet. It's got a light "apple pie spice" kinda thing going on with the allspice. The black pepper offers a clean, dusty note that makes me think of warm sand. No obvious vetiver yet - I think it's just giving the cocoa a bit of depth. drydown - Someone in the compliments thread described this blend as "renn faire incense" and I'd have to agree. There's something about it that makes me think it would be perfect for a Renn Faire or SCA pirate. Probably the exotic spices. drydown, about two hours later - At this stage, the blood musk really comes out. I suspect it has vanilla, because I always get a 'hard sauce" vanilla/cream/booze mix out of BPAL's blood musk, with a heavy dose of dragon's blood resin. At this stage the dragon's blood develops a cherry-like scent. It's foody without being sweet - the cocoa still blends beautifully with the incense and spices, providing a very dark, smoky background for the blood musk. The vetiver comes out at this stage, and it's a gentle vetiver, balancing out the blend with a dry herbal note. Overall, this blend is surprisingly light, with less throw than most BPAL, but fantastic staying power. It's a soft, skin-hugging scent. Perfect for summer days when you need a scent that's a little bit lighter than usual, but still want to wear something spicy or foody or dark and sensual. And Tell-Tale Heart manages to be all of these things.

Oh...The Black Tower That is one creepy scent. the moldy, decaying dirt notes, the green ivy, the metallic bite.