Monster

I'm just going through one of my BPAL boxes and realizing there are quite a few scents I haven't reviewed. Just catching up for future reference and all that. This is a scent I showed to a male friend of mine who has a lot of anger and stress issues. After brief talk about it (since I have a lot of anger and stress issues myself) I decided to let him sit and sniff my BPAL oils since it's one of the ONLY things that sends me to an immediate "happy place". This scent, The Death of Autumn was his immediate favorite. He couldn't stop sniffing his hand and naming all of the things it reminded him of. He said smelling The Death of Autumn calmed and soothed him like nothing else. Anyway, here is my review! Gorgeous, perfect vetiver...dead leaves...and that's about it. I never detect any clove in this scent. To me, this IS the scent of the end of autumn, when all of the leaves have fallen off of the trees, the wind has more of a bite and people all over are burning piles of leaves in their yards. It's dark, smoky, dry and just perfect. I LOVE vetiver scents and this is another wonderful example of one of my most beloved notes.

Crunchy leaves smashed with some dragons blood, vetiver grass and a bit of spice (??) Smoky, airy feeling...not as dark and smoky as I hoped but still really nice. I THINK there's dragons blood in this, I could be wrong but I do smell it and I surprisingly like it in this blend This dries down to a dry incense on my skin. Love

Out of the bottle this smells like honey wine to me. On my skin, this is dreamy. When I dissect it it's blackberry, honey, faint musk, soft spice...and everything nice. As a whole, this is boozy honey wine (not mead...but grape wine with honey...if that makes any sense ) The honey in this isn't the waxy variety (thankfully) it's sweet, smooth and delicious smelling. From top to bottom this is perfect Overall I'd say this is a slight boozy, fruity blend. This is sweet, delicious and if you LOVE berry scents...you've GOTTA pick up a bottle of this.

I was SO excited to try this one out. The description of the Fairy Market in the book, Stardust was one of the most exciting, interesting things I've ever read. I love the little worlds Neil creates. This was the first bottle I purchased from the Stardust series (and the one I was MOST excited about) and I was a little bit disappointed at first (I imagined the Fairy Market as smelling more of spice and incense and was expecting that). I haven't sniffed it since I received it in the mail in 2007 so...lets see if this has aged well. Perhaps my opinion has changed. In the bottle this smells like powdery flowers, sugar and a teeny bit of incense. On my skin this is delicate purple flowers growing in dew-covered green grass. The incense note is starting to amp up as this dries down... Finally dry, this is still primarily a floral incense scent with just a dash of dusty candies. To me, this really doesn't smell what I would imagine the Fairy Market to smell like but more of what an exotic woman shopping in the Fairy market would smell like. This is really a mysterious smelling femenine floral blend. For people who aren't too fond of floral notes, I urge you to try this, it's dark and balanced with JUST the right amount of incense to keep this from smelling like Depends butt powder. Setting my original expectations for the scent aside, I really love the way this smells. It's really a grown-up sort of perfume, something I would wear on special occasions or in the winter underneath layers of clothing. It's a heady scent with great throw. Very pretty! I'm glad to have rediscovered this

I brought this with me on my last trip to Disney World since it reminds me of the Haunted Mansion ride. I can't believe I haven't reviewed this yet! This is a dusty, papery scent with a little bit of a citrus feel to it. There's a note in here that smells a lot like amber on me. This is airy, chilly, papery, dry, and sort of clean smelling. I never thought this smells like OLD books but it does make me think of books in general...all stacked up in a large, cold room filled with spiderwebs, dust and ghosts. The Lurid Library is something you really need to let sit into your skin before sniffing. I feel like it's not quite right in it's wet phase (very strong and in-your-face which I think misses the point). Put this on, wait 5 minutes and then sniff. I loved all of the Haunted House scents. I really hope they come back this year

In the bottle this smells like sharp, old polished wood. On my skin this is is...unbelievably amazing. Wow. The only notes I can pick out are old, polished wood. I dunno HOW Beth does it but...she does and I am thankful for her amazing talents. I really can't describe this scent as a set of notes, it's one of those scents that you feel and visualize. This is like a moment in time, an old memory trapped in a bottle. I swear this smells just like my grandmothers old house in Quincy. She had a lot of old woodwork in her home, railings all the way up to the attic. This smells just like I remember her house smelling...the closets and the dark, dusty spaces. Playing hide and seek with my sisters, going "couch cusion surfing" down the stairs. This is supposed to smell spooky but I find it to be nostalgic. It reminds me of all the times I slide down her giant banister as a kid and listened to the stories my mother used to tell me from her childhood growing up in that home. Gosh I miss that place. I've got it in a bottle now so I guess it's not terribly far away. This one was really just a wonderful memory scraper for me. Smelling this dug up some things I thought I'd forgotten forever. Thank you, Beth! <3

Ghostly, glowing, sweet and dark: black cherry, patchouli, cassis, cardamom and verbena. This goes on as a sweet, candy-like cherry scent and then immediatly morphs to a spicy lemon scent on my skin. As this dries it morphs even MORE as the cinnamon notes come out to play. The final drydown is a fanitly sweet cinnamon with a gentle whiff of verbena. This one is so so simple and so so wonderful. It's uncomplicated, pretty and just a pleasure to wear

This is the scent of my sexy, dirty cowboy man-fantasy Sexy Snake Oil spilled over leather. I never get much sandalwood or sage from this blend, it's pretty much all leather and Snake Oil. So far I really love the Snake Pit scents I've tried. I love the smell of Snake Oil but, unfortunatly it goes to play-dough onmy skin. For some reason though, the Snake Pit scents all work out for me. I think Snake Oil makes for a better base than as a perfume on it's own.

This is the perfect marriage of Shub and Snake Oil. Snake Oil + Shub = Saw-Scaled Viper. 'nuff said! Spicy, cinnamon and ginger blended with Snake Oil, simply maaahhhh-lelous, dahling!

In the bottle: Lovely red musk! Wet: Ooohhh the color of this is a VERY dark, rich reddish brown. Resin galore! First swipe on my skin this is a rich, sexy red musk with a bright edge of bergamot. I can't smell patchouli...very faintly maybe. I think it's just holding everything together, giving it a nice earthy base. I can't stop sniffing my arm. I already love this. Dry: Dry, this pretty much stays the same on me. All of the notes mix together so so well, creating a wonderful red musk incense on my skin. This is a dark, sulty red musk, just the perfect version of it I've ever sniffed. I've never got any mimosa or lotus. Overall: I'm so so happy I decided to pick up a bottle of this. I'm probably going to have to order back ups.

In the bottle: A bit like Snake Charmer! Wet: Oh yeah, this is very similar to Snake Charmer. This is more herbal smelling but definitely similar! The only thing I don't like about the wet phase is the champaca flower...sometimes it smells like plastic diapers on my skin. Initially when I swiped this across my arm I smelled Snake Charmer with a horrid plastic floral note. Thankfully, as this is drying that note has completely disappeared. Dry: Dry this is (again) a near replica of Snake Charmer. Instead of the dark coconut from Snake Charmer, that scent is replaced with a more herbal, almost balmy smelling note. Temple Viper is more serious and somber than SC. Overall: Gorgeous! I'm not sure if I'll be keeping my bottle but I've really enjoyed sniffing this one I much prefer SC to TV.

I dunno if this was a nod to Guerlains famous, L'Heure Bleue or not but, either way I had to try it just because it reminds me of one of my favorite perfumes (and I love Beths absinthe note). In the bottle this smells like lilac and absinthe. When I put this on my skin the absinthe and lilac are still the two dominant notes along with a gentle rosey haze in the background. As this dries I'm sniffing less absinthe (although the memory of it is still there, now in the form of something bitter...but not in a bad way) and more rose. The smoke note is very light and adds a little bit of mystery to this scent. I would desbribe this as a dark, femenine floral. I think I actually really like this! It starts off a bit strange but as it settles into my skin, L'Heure Verte really works well for me. I don't like this as much as L'Heure Bleue, but it's still very pretty and wearable.

Mmmm this smells like Velvet and Lick It made babies! Tokyo Stomp smells just like those Girl Scout Cookie Thin Mints to me...or like the yummy mint they used to scent the Strawberry Shortcake dolls (I forget which one smelled like this...hmmm...) This is a nostalgic scent for me, lots of fun to smell, not terribly wearable (it goes a bit sour on my skin after a while). I will keep this around though, it's a lot of fun to sniff!

Enterprise, adventure, restlessness, impulsiveness, and dynamism: Chinese musk and red musk with hyacinth, cactus flower, cubeb berry, galangal, tobacco, pink pepper, and sarsaparilla. So strange but this smells like lemongrass to me. Weeeiiirrdddd! I'm not getting ANY of the notes mentioned, just straight up lemongrass. Where are you sasparilla and red musk?! As this dries it transforms into Lemon Pledge on my skin. So ODD. This is just like a single lemon note on my skin. I dunno about this one. I'm gonna have to let it age for a while longer to see what happens.

Out of the bottle this is really similar to All Night Long. A spicy red musk! On my skin this is primarily red musk with a light cassia note. I feel like the sweetness from the tonka sort of mellows it out. I'm not detecting any patchouli or benzoin. This dries into a totally sexy cinnamon spicy red musk with a hint of tobacco in the background. REAAALLYYY nice. Again, I dunno why I've had this stashed away for so long. I need to start wearing this one more regularly, it's drop dead gorgeous.

This is one of my favorite Phoenixs. I can't believe my bottle is still really full...I slathered this stuff for months before putting it away! Purple Phoenix smells PURPLE right out of the bottle. This is a deep, rich, wonderfuly yummy purple. On my skin this is very floral initally (but not cloying or sneeze-inducing at all. These are some florals I can tolerate). The violet stands out as the brightest note in the bunch when it's wet on my skin. As this dries, the floral notes fade a bit and allow the grape notes to ripen on my skin. The final drydown is a rich, pretty fruity floral with violet and grape being the two dominating notes. There's also a mildy powdery feel to the background of this...possibly the lilac? A gorgeous (and really unique) perfume!

In the bottle: Sweet, boozy cake. Wet: I immediatly get incense and what I believe is olive leaf. The cake is just adding a gentle sweetness to this, not too much at all, it's just perfect. There's a "butter rum" quality to this as well. Very pretty! Dry: As this dries the wine note comes out a bit more while the frankincense and myrrh amp up like craaaazy. This almost reminds me of a lighter, boozy version of All Souls. Overall: I dunno why I've had this stored away for so long. I'm not usually a fan of the Yules blends but this one is really nice. Aloa is delicious, mildly sweet and filled with glorious church incense.

In the bottle: Sugar Skull with powdery floral notes Wet: Woaaahhhhhh SUGAR! Super sweet, carmalized sugar, dripping, gooey...sticky sugar. Yikes In the background I can detect some soft floral notes and musk (?) I'm not exactly sure what blue musk is supposed to smell like. Dry: This gets a lot better as it dries, it's A LOT more powdery now (blue musk and "dusky" rose?) I'm not detecting any strawberry or blackberry leaf. The violet is there, sugared and sweet. Overall: This may be a bit *too* sweet and powdery for my nose. I've had this bottle sticking around for a while now and I'm still unsure. I'll have to let it age another year before I decide what to do with it. Dry is much better than the wet phase but it still might be a bit too cloying for me. I want to like it so much though!

I was married in December as well! For my wedding I wore Carceri D'Invenzione. To me, it was just a perfect, rich and sexy smelling scent...perfect for winter and really went with the style of my dress. I just looked at your favorites list and maybe Antique Lace or Clemence? What are your wedding colors...etc...?? Oh and congratulations!!

I wear the bath oils directly on my skin so, this is being tested on my arm Pine needles and a fresh waft of vetiver (already ). There's more vetiver in her bath oil than the perfume (woo hoo for me!). Underneath the pine and vetiver I can smell creamy sweet vanilla and fig. Dry on my skin this is mostly fig and vanilla with a hint of powdery amber. This is OHHH so so sexy! A perfect accompaniment to the Boadicea perfume oil! So far I have tried three WQ bath oils (Zenobia, Semiramis, and Boadicea) and this one is my favorite by far!

After reading the reviews I decided to make this my second WQ purchase In the bottle: "Fresh" smelling resin. Wet: This almost smells like there's a bit of pine in here, but that could be the leather and vetiver playing tricks on me nose. It's hard to single out all of the notes in this, everything is really well-blended and balanced. Boadicea is definitely a resinous perfume with a clean sort of feeling to it. The vanilla flower and neroli add just a hint of sweetness. This sort of reminds me of a softer, femenine version of Schwarzer Mond (which I love). Dry: Wowowowow this dries down beautifully! Yowza. I'm getting a gentley powdery amber with a hint of sweetness from the floral notes and woody oak. I haven't detected patchouli or dragons blood in this at all. The leather is mild as well but is really only prominent in the wet phase. Dry, I can't smell any leather. This is just a really pretty, femenine resin. Boadicea hugs my skin and stays close. Overall: So far out of the two WQs I've tried (only other one is Zenobia) this is my favorite! This is one of those scents I can wear all year 'round, anywhere (it's soft enough on my skin to be office friendly as well). Such a beautiful scent. This one is not to be missed!

2005 version Yup! Like someone else said, this is Christmas in a bottle. This smells like a Christmas tree decorated with berries and some stove-top potpourri boiling in the background. This is all of my wonderful winter holiday memories condensed and bottled up (just like L'Autunno is the bottled version of all of my autumn memories). Super-concentrated Christmas in a bottle.

2005 version. Dear Lab, PLEASE bring back the cobalt blue bottles! They were so so pretty! ___________________________________ Lick it 2005 is pure candy cane. This one has a lot more peppermint than the other versions. I think I like this one best

2005 Version This is one of my all-time favorite Halloweenie scents. I REALLY hope Beth decides to re-release this in the future. I also have to say how much I miss the cobalt blue bottles! Devil's Night is the darker, dirtier brother of Samhain. This has more spice, more smoke and doesn't have that honeycomb note I get from Samhain. It's really hard to pick out individal notes but I know there has to be a lot of mulling spices in this (minus the apple cider). Hmmm smokey gingerbead maybe? This doesn't remind me of Christmas though, it's certainly an autumn scent. Oh well, I can't really pick out individual notes with this one...I can only compare it to Samhain and profess my undying LOVE for this blend. I love it so so much. I feel like this used to be smokier as well. I'm remembering more smoke but, as it's aged the smoke note has seemed to fade quite a bit. Yadda yadda yadda, I just love this one

Again, I'm going through my boxes of BPAL and reviewing scents I haven't (for future reference and all that...) First of all, I really wish I had snagged the t-shirt for this scent when I had a chance. The design is really really pretty. This one smells strangely herbal to my nose...herbs and sweet musk. This isn't as dark smelling as you would think (based on the description with bofires and leaves). It's more of an olive green/light brown colored smell (if that makes sense). Dry, this ends up a little bit powdery on my skin (but not to the point where it's unwearable). This dries down to a soft, musky powder scent on me. Really beautiful! I'm glad I saved my bottle