Monster

Ok....I have been on a violet kick recently myself.

Can anyone recommend an oil that smells like Bathos by Lush? I haven't tried Faith yet, how does she compare to Bathos?

With Lush, I can't go purley by note listings because I've found thier ingredients smell very different than BPALs (particularly with jasmine. Lush jasmine is the only jasmine I can tolerate.)

Recs?

In the vial: Sweet tarts and lilies!

Wet: Umm...sweet tarts and lilies!

Dry: SUGAR and lilies.

Verdict: Pretty straightforward and unchanging on my skin. This dries into a more sugary, sweet blend with just the fainest hint of lilies in the background.

In the vial: Oooh la la! A bright, golden (almost citrus) smelling resin!

Wet: This sort of reminds me of the perfume Angel, it's very similar!

Dry: Sunny smelling (non-smoky) resin.

Verdict: I wouldn't say this one is masculine at all, quite the opposite. I LOVE this one and will be enjoying the entire imp!

In the vial: Juniper and woods

Wet: Whew! Nasal clearing juniper....very astringent smelling woods mixed with a grounding patchouli.

Dry: Smells like the outdoors...like a chilly walk through the woods at night. This one does a great job of capturing an image in your head. It's the beginning to a really great story.

Verdict: Not something I would wear on my skin but I will certainly enjoy this in my oil burner!

In the vial: Very pretty, soft and sweet floral notes. This almost reminds me of Arkham Revisited!

Wet: Baby soft heather, herbs and a gentle ozone note. This is very clean and comforting smelling. It reminds me a lot of a certain bed and breakfast I stay at on Block Island in the summertime.

Dry: I'm still not smelling blackberry. This is all a pale floral with a gentle breeze.

Verdict: Very pretty! I think this would be a great scent for transitioning someone from traditional perfume to BPAL. I'm not sure if this is a scent for me but I can certainly appreciate its beauty

In the vial: Wow! Surprisingly sweet! I was expecting vetiver but this is surprisingly smooth.

Wet: A honeyed floral note...almond (??) and ZERO smoke or ash. Veddy odd.

Dry: This turns to alllll sugar on my skin. This is super sweet with the faintest hint of something floral in the background.

Verdict: Not what I was expecting at all! This isn't anything like the description. I guess it's pretty enough, sort of boring and definitely not for me.

In the vial: Herbal plum

Wet: BIG sunny (almost soapy) lily with a sharp herbal background and a squish of plum.

Dry: This dries very soapy smelling on my skin...granted, a very NICE soap. It's expensive smelling perfumed soap, not the cheap stuff at the supermarket. "Soapy" doesn't sound appealing but I keep finding myself going back to my hand and enjoying a sniff. Hmmm...the frankincense is also coming out a bit more. When I inhale deeply this almost reminds me of Lilith Victoria.

Verdict: I'm undecided. It was too strong and sharp at first and even thought it has soapy qualities this might be something I like. I think I need to wear it for a full day.

Whenever I wear this I still feel like rolling around like a happy ferret. This is probably one of the best Lunacy blends I have ever sniffed.

Raven Moon is a dark, black musk with traces of vetiver. The red chili adds a spicy "shimmering" note to this and makes me thing of the shiny blackness of raven feathers in the night. There's a slight powderiness to this but not so much to make it unwearable (definitley not the case). This is dark, mysterious resins with spice. I wish I had purchased a back-up.

*waves* another vetiver-lover here

Have you tried Incantation or Brimstone? both are gorgeous vetiver blends

This is a sweet, peppery light floral blend. The daisy note is so creamy, sunny and warm smelling. I just LOVE this! I agree with the comparison to Pink Moon, it's very similar (less pink, a little more on the sunny side). This is the perfect floral blend for someone who is afriad of floral blends. It's sugary, sweet, peppery with a nice kiss of honeyed floral notes.

Oh yeah, I'll be using my whole imp.

In the bottle: Hmmm...leaves, a bit of rain and something nutty (??) Odd.

Wet: Just like everyone else has been saying, there's something in here that smells strikingly similar to Samhain. This has a Samhain note with a gentle, slightly sweet aquatic note, smoke, leaves and again....something odd and almost nutty to my nose.

Dry: This one pretty much stays the same on me from top to bottom, it's all leaves, sweet smoke, Samhain and...errr...nuts o_O

Overall: The nutty note is really ruining this for me. I have no idea what that is but it's making my stomach turn. Someone mentioned sweet pipe tobacco and I think that must be it (it's the same note that ruined Herr Drosselmeyer for me). Don't get me wrong, Falling Leaf Moon is lovely, there's just that one note in there that doesn't work for me personally. Oh well. Off to swaps! Someone else will enjoy this

This is a nicer version of Beaver Moon 2005! BM '05 made my stomach turn after a while. Cake Smash has the same, super delicious cake and cream cheese notes but with a background of "something else" (which is the Snake Oil, Dorian and Doc Constantine) to make it more wearable for me. There's a nice gentle hint of spice on the dry down from the Dorian. So pretty!

This is a foody dream scent...sweet and delicious without being cloying and obnoxious. I wasn't expecting to love this one as much as I do.

In the bottle: Sugar with a hint of coconut. This reminds me a lot of Arcanas Ganesh (which I love)

Wet: Mmmm lovely coconut and sugar. This isn't a sun tan lotion coconut at all...it's not a black coconut either. The only thing I can compare it to is Arcanas Ganesh (very very similar!) I really can't detect the other notes, they're all very well-blended and complex. This is mostly SUGAR with a hint of coconut and something dark in the background.

Dry: As this dries the musk is more apparent. This is still all sugar and coconut on me, with a background of musk and maybe a faint whiff of incense. The longer it dries, the more sweet and musky it gets...like a slow crescendo of ssssswwwwweeeeeEEETTTTTTTT AHHHH!!!!!!! *explode* If you like sweet scents, this is IT.

Overall: A better version of Arcanas Ganesh. This is a very sweet, sugary blend with gentle fruit notes against a base of soft musk. I think this would probably make a great layering scent. MLFT is quite lovely on its own though and smells best after it's settled into my skin for a while. I love love love this one We have a winner!

In the vial: A salty aquatic note.

Wet: Ohh! There's mint in here! This is a really interesting salty ocen scent mixed with mint. It feels a bit cooling on the skin.

Dry: As this dries I'm detecting more wood notes. The aquatics and mint are still dominant. The wet stage is very strong and chilly but as this dries, it's like the calm after the storm. The sun comes out, warms the water a bit and bakes/bleaches the coffin wood. Really nice!

Overall: Like Femme Fatale said, this doesn't dry into soapy residue at all. Aquatics generally don't work for me but I can't stop sniffing my arm right now. I wasn't planning on trying this one but I'm really glad I did! Next to Hideous Heart, I'd have to say this is my favorite out of the Gris Grimly scents.

In the vial: Boozy red wine. Gah! I love the Labs wine note. SO nice

Wet: Boozy red wine and fresh grapes.

Dry: This dries to a yummy purple grape scent.

Overall: I love this...but I'm not sure I would wear this one alone. Soothing System would probably make a great scent for layering.

In the vial: Vanilla and umm...plastic?

Wet: Woaahhh vanilla plastic! This reminds me of those scented dolls from the 80s.

Dry: Uhh uhhh plastic plastic plastic with a little bit of vanilla. Gotta wash this one off.

Overall: Not good.

In the vial: BLACK CHERRY! Mmmm

Wet: Black cherry, cinnamon and a wood note in the background. I'm not smelling any licorice. Maybe the wood note I'm smelling is the licorice root??

Dry: As this dries the cherry fades away a bit and the cinnamon note completley takes over. I'm left with a big, bright red hot cinnamon note with a background of sweet cherry.

Overall: Cinnamon, cherries...I knew this one was going to be a winner

Oooh! Cupcake splatter!

This is such a fun scent I was nervous about the chocolate part (since chocolate isn't one of my favorite notes) but this is really nice!

In the bottle this smells like cupcake batter! It's sweet and foody smelling.

On my skin this is really mellow, I smell golden cupcakes with just a hint of chocolate. Underneath everything I'm detecting notes of...not exactly dirt but ground. It's a very mild almost grassy smelling with a dusty sawdust note. Very interesting!

The final drydown is a very faintly sweet dusty ground smell.

Cupcake Splatter is pretty much as described (light on the chocolate though, it smells more like golden cupcakes with a buttercream chocolate frosting)....cupcakes splattered against the floor of an old, abandoned house. I like it! Yum!

Oh! The art on the bottle is pretty fantastic too.

LOTS of jasmine, almost ALLLL jasmine. This one gives me a terrible headache and....I need to wash it off immediatly.

In the imp: Puuurrre honey. Very sweet with a lot of beeswax.

Wet: A very waxy honey paired with the sweet scent of orange blossom. I'm not smelling any rose or sandalwood.

Dry: Dry, this remains the same on me. I never got any rose or sandalwood. This remains a sweet, waxy honey with a beautiful orange blossom note.

Overall: This is pretty, but a bit too waxy for my tastes.

The lavender completley overpowers and dominates everything in this blend. I'm having a hard time sniffing anything else. It's very sharp, floral and medicinal smelling.

If you like lavender, you might enjoy this one. Unfortunately, this one just isn't for me.

In the vial: Gorrrrgeous white tea note!

Wet: I love love love this white tea note, it's the first thing I smell and pretty much overpowers everything in the wet phase. This is reminding me of something...I can't place my finger on it though. Hmmm

Dry: The final drydown phase is pretty much ALLLL tea! I'm sniffing a bit of carnation and NO rose (which is surprising seeing as how I usually amp it).

Overall: I love love love this.

In the vial: This smells a lot like Inez + rose to me.

Wet: Mostly a dark, powdery amber with only a hint of rose underneath.

Dry: Black Rose becomes really powdery as it dries (in the bad, old lady way unfortunately ) I'm smelling more rose at this point...the longer it's on my skin the more rose I'm getting. Eventually, this ends up a powdery old lady rose scent. The amber in this is very similar to Inez (which I didn't like at all).

Overall: Not for me (the amber note ruins it).

Oh wow....this is beautiful. Dia is very similar to White Rose (minus the rose note). It's also a little bit like Snow White (mostly while still in the bottle).

On my skin this is creamy, soft pale coconut blended with dainty floral notes. This is gentle, feminine and sweet. The dry down is a dusty amber and coconut musk scent. I'm so so happy I got my hands on a bottle of this. Lovely!

This one is alllllll caramel and rose on me. It dries to a sweet cake scent with a lot of rose.