phantasmmysteria

This is my suprise favorite of the Luau scents thus far! In the bottle: Mmmm, Sweet Tarts! Wait.... Sweet Tarts? Wet: Amazingly, this stays deliciously candy-like and the florals don't try to beat me into submission. I definitely get the same feel from this as I did from Cheshire Moon, but this manages to not be clorying in the slightest. On the contrary, the wafts I get from Tiki Queen are just intoxicating without the note in Cheshire Moon that had a tendency to make me nauseous. Funny, I don't know that I ever detect the white musk on my skin. Dry: I get the coconut on the drydown, more coconut milk than the meat itself. It lends a sweet creaminess to the blend, and there's a slight bit of powderiness to it. The florals have pretty much all faded at this point -- scarcely an hour after applying. While I have been a little disappointed by the wearlength of the Tikis, this is truly an awesome blend. I was afraid this would be too overwhelming because of all the flowers, but it's not! It's perfect.

Well, this was a complete miss for me! The worst in a long time, though I suppose I should've seen that coming. In the bottle: Um.... men's cologne? Wet: It starts out smelling very strongly of cologne and Irish Spring, but then it goes all coffin wood, all the time. I'm guessing it's cedar? It doesn't turn to pencil shavings or anything, but it sure amps like hell. Dry: WOOD! And it's way strong -- I have about 4 other BPALs on my arms, but it's all I am catching wafts of. Yeah, this was just.... bad. I was so hoping for some rotted fruit!

How is it that I have no reviewed this one? How, I ask you?? This stays pretty much the same, bottle-to-dry. It's jammy, bakery goodness! I think I get currants from this, but perhaps mixed with a bit of another fruit... someone said orange marmalade, which could very well be it! Currant and orange marmalade, in big dollops atop warm, spiced scones. I get very little butteriness from this (luckily), but the spice note (smells like cinnamon to me) does come out more as this dries. This is so nice! I cannot compare it to Knave of Hearts, because I never dared try it -- it has rose in it, which is my bane note. It's much lighter than Eat Me, that much I can say -- this is more fruit jam than cake, with Eat Me being the opposite (and having a little resin or incense thrown in). Yep, definitely a keeper.

Have you tried Proserpina with Crypt Queen? OMGYUM. I am hanging onto my little pot of Grundy Whipped to try layering with Worm Moon once it arrives. Me too! P.M. is my favorite Villainess EVAH, so I can't wait to see how good it will smell with all my Tikis.

In the imp: I detect more berries than I was anticipating, with the evergreen slongside. I'd even venture to call it sweet. Wet: Why hallo thar, Vick's VapoRub! I get a strong blast of a camphorous scent -- I'm guessing the juniper. It is in full force for a few minutes, but luckily it calms down after that. I can still detect it high in my nostrils when I sniff close to my hand, but it's much more subtle. Dry: Just like in the imp, with the pretty, sweet berries at the forefront and the evergreen and snow in the background. After a while, the snowy note is gone alltogether and I am left with warm evergreen and berries (very much like Mistletoe '07). I think I might like this a little better than Mistletoe actually, however both scents are very faint on me and seem to disappear in the blink of an eye. I did try Skadi very early in my BPAL days, but I remember not caring for it very much. I cannot recall it enough to tell you how closely Old Moon resembles it, but I can certainly appreciate the evocative nature of the blend even if it's not something I would reach for very often.

I have the same problem as you, Denise. My coworker in the next office has a great nose, so she often smells my BPAL, but scarcely anyone else comments. Even my boyfriend, and I know he's way more close-up than anyone else is! I tend to get compliments on the heavier scents I happen to wear, which I would suppose also have a larger throw. Those are Crypt Queen, Australian Copperhead, and Smut (usually layered with Eat Me, which does well standing on its own). I also get a lot of compliments on Snow White, which strangely has a long throw despite being a subtle scent. The biggest reason commercial perfume blends are more easily smelled on others is because they contain alcohol, which increases a scent's throw. If all else fails, you can look at this thread to try diluting some of your BPAL in alcohol to see if you get more favorable results. I have liked my experiments in parfum sprays so far.

Ooh, that's a tough one. I personally get a lot more mint/eucalyptus from Hoarfrost than berries, so I would say probably something along the lines of Old Moon or The Snow Maiden would be the best match. I can't think of anything in the GC that would be a good fit (except maybe Yew-Trees from Rappaccini's Garden, but I've never tried that one personally).

I'm afraid my experience with the Bearded Lady was similar to Purrsnikety's, only instead of powder I got soap! Lots and lots of sharp, floral bath soap. It's a real shame, because most of the notes in this blend are beautiful on my skin, so I imagine it's the rose (or the rose/lily in combination) that ruins this blend for me.

FWIW, if I detected any vetiver in Lunar Eclipse, it wasn't enough to be worth mentioning. BUT! I also didn't get a lot of tobacco (which was a relief for me personally, but not so much when you're looking for it).

Pisces '07 is definitely my calm and collected scent (and I've gotten a number of compliments on it which is an added bonus), but as it has a pretty decent throw you would want to use a light touch. Perhaps it's the imagery it evokes, but I find Morgause to be a very empowering scent. It's also more traditionally perfumey, so at least you wouldn't smell too "odd" in an interview.

Wow. Seriously? Sorry, I didn't to a play-by-play with this one, but I would like to say: Men Ringing Bell With Penises is very, very evocative of Fresh Sake. Which is amazing, considering the only (listed) notes they share are ginger and sandalwood. When I compared them side by side (okay, arm by arm), Men Ringing Bell dried down to a woodier, more masculine smell, with the moss and green sandalwood being the prominent notes. So, if you found Fresh Sake to be too fruity/feminine (or you want your manthing to wear something complimentary), you will probably love Men Ringing Bell.

This one took a little bit of wear before I could decide if I really liked it or not, but I think it's a keeper. In the bottle: Oh, wow... this is cakey!! Wet: None of the cakey goodness from the bottle... in fact, the lunar herbs and florals are what come to the forefront. I smell something suspicously mint-like, along with the hibiscus and cherry blossom. Luckily for me, this stage quiets down very quickly and the citrus starts to peek out from behind the blossoms. It's very pretty, if a little sharp. Dry: Ahhhh. Here's that pretty creaminess that I get from the bottle. I wonder if it's the guava or the banyan fruit (or both) that gives it that impression? In any case, it's lovely. That subtle creaminess balances nicely with the high-pitched floral and the tangy citrus, making the blend both subtle and interesting. While I can see the resemblance to other fruity-floral blends like Tanuki or Fire Pig, this scent actually succeeds in not being cloying on my skin. I can see this in heavy rotation as the warmer weather approaches (especially in my scent locket). This is a very perky scent, and I am happy that I managed to get a bottle.

Clove is supposed to be a boy magnet too. I remember reading that study that mentioned pumpkin... but I think it was pumpkin pie, not just the big orange squash-relative itself. The spices in a pumpkin pie are cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice... and I think I've heard independently of cloves and cinnamon having aphrodisiac properties. For myself, I'm looking for the ultimate peach. I've noticed a few BPAL blends that have a bit of peach, but it never seems to be described as a primary note. My favourite scent to wear up until now has been an old bottle of Fuzzy Peach eau de toilette from the Body Shop. It's just pure, single-note peach. I'd love to find something that has a lot of peach but also other things to make it more complex. I'm still a BPAL virgin. I've ordered some stuff but it isn't here yet. I think a couple of the imps I'm getting have pear (like Titania) and plum (can't remember which, might have been Bordello). Aglaea is golden amber and peach. LOTS of peach! It's really beautiful. La Vague (a Retail Exclusive salon blend) is also very strongly peachy, with a backrop of pretty florals. But personally, Aglaea is better on my skin. I am looking for the ultimate honeysuckle blend!

How about Blue Moon? .... Sorry, I couldn't resist. Angeronalia from 07's Yules reminds me very strongly of Coco Mademoiselle and is a very beautiful, elegant scent. You shouldn't have much trouble tracking down a bottle, either.

Why am I always suprised by how much I love Crypt Queen? I let her sit untouched in my cabinet for months, and then one day I get a little crazy and take out my decant to retest and BAM! If this is what moldering fruit smells like, why buy it fresh?

Paradise Misplaced + Pele or Hi'iaka Raspberry Swirl + Spiked Punch Also, I recall someone saying in the Villainess thread that Thalassa was almost a dead ringer for Pearl Diver. I haven't tried them side by side, but I'll be they would layer well.

Wow. This scent is so far off the beaten path of scents that I go for, and yet it works so well. However, since this is pretty "out there" for me I have pretty much no idea what any of these notes smell like individually -- makes for an interesting challenge when reviewing. In the bottle: Very herbal and, suprisingly, musk-like. I think the moss and opium is creating this false musk note, but (being a musk fan) it's lovely. Wet: I was nervous at first, because this gets a minty quality to it when it hits my skin. This settles down quickly, but I'm vexed that I don't know if I'm mistaking one of the listed notes for mint of if there's actually mint in here. Moving on, this is a fascinating blend to sniff, but at the same time I find it comforting. I have a visceral reaction to this -- which I find quite appropriate, since I am a Piscean Moon baby. Dry: I kept sniffing this on the way to work because I was trying to place what other blend that it reminded me of... which it turns out is Ivanushka. It's sharper and a little more complex, but the herbal-musky tone of Pisces plays out on my skin very similarly to Ivanushka (but without actually causing me to smell skunk-like! Bonus!!). Overall this is incredibly cohesive, with no note(s) dominating over the others and all coming together to be a really beautiful herbal-floral. This is good. Really good! And (again, appropriately) this blend has probably caused the strongest emotional response of any of Beth's perfumes that I have tried so far. But more than that, it just smells good on me! Of course, now I wish I would've taken the chance on multiple bottles -- I really do think this is one I need to keep around a backup of, fo sho.

The only thing I have found in BPAL that even reminded me of B&BW's Night-Blooming Jasmine was the floral in Snow White.

I love blackberries, but I have been really frightened of honey notes until recently. Emboldened by my recent good luck with honey scents, I thought it was high time I tried Lady Una. In the bottle: On first sniff, this has me a bit nervous. It's positively sticky with honey, and very sweet. I love sweet scents, but sometimes honey can go sour on my skin -- yet, I press on and dab a bit on my wrists. Wet: This starts to really bloom upon my skin, and its transformation is wonderful! The first new note that comes along is the blackberry and green tea leaves. This is not the smell of ripe blackberries, but the fresh greenness of the foliage that surrounds them. This is how I'd hoped for the blackberry leaf to smell in The Oblation (which sadly never worked for me). The sticky-sweet musk and the greens blend together and separate at times, really making this not only pretty, but interesting to sniff. Drydown: This dries down to a soft, honeyed vanilla musk. I catch a whiff of sourness every now and again (which, actually, could be actual blackberry now that I think about it), but I think the musk does a great job of keeping the honey in check. There's not hardly so much dimension to the scent dry as there is while it is wet, but it is equally pretty in drydown as it is in the beginning stages Overall, this is a short-wearing and faint scent on my skin, but I love it. I think it will do very well in a scent locket, or layered on in a lotion (yum!).

I avoided ordering this when it was released, laboring under the false assumption that honey notes = bad for me. It's nice to be proven wrong sometimes! In the bottle: While the honey is what scared me off from the listing, smelling the perfume I am most frightened by the amount of jasmine I smell. I hope this doesn't go straight to floral hell, despite jasmine being rather nice to me in general. Wet: Lots of jasmine! It's a soft scent, however, which blends really nicely with the honeysuckle (my favorite), and even the honey. So far, it's not sour at all. In fact, it's great! Honey has gone pretty sour on my skin in the past, but the florals (particularly the aforementioned honeysuckle and jasmine) really compliment the sweetness of the honey. Dry: I can smell just a teensy bit of fig and the herbal components of this blend in the background, keeping this from being too cloying. I sometimes catch whiffs of the chocolatey scent that Tempest mentions -- I think it's the combination of the herbs, honey, and tonka that give that impression. I (sadly) don't really get any apricot or (fortunately) carnation. The throw, particularly from my locket, is mostly honeysuckle -- which is just to die for! After about 5 hours my skin has faded this to pretty much a memory of honeyed florals and not much else. While the throw is slightly above average, the wearlength isn't, so slather away. I can't believe I let this one get away!

Well, I'm sad to say that this one wasn't nearly as good on me as Fire Pig was, because I apparently amp melon (I sure as hell amped this one, that's for sure)! It starts out strong melon in the bottle, and yet it only gets stronger once it hits my skin. After drydown, I can definitely smell the notes I love from Fire Pig, but they're all drowning in melon. Nothing is able to make it past that on my skin. If your skin tends to eat melon and you liked Fire Pig, I would give this a shot, as it might work beautifully with your chemistry. Perhaps with age this will become a more well-rounded scent, but I don't have the heart to let it sit and languish, not as unwearable as it was for me. Off it goes, hopefully to a far more appreciative home!

I bought two bottles of this, unsniffed. It's truly gorgeous, and so I can't say I regret my impulse buy. In the Bottle: vanilla frosting! Are you sure I can't drink this?? Forgoing the call to the Poison Control Center and applying it to my wrist: Hmm... this actually has a cool, almost "minty" quality to it as it's drying. Perhaps minty isn't the best word, but something very "fresh" is mingled in with the vanilla and cream. Almost at drydown, I have this terrible moment where I think this is going to turn into French Vanilla scented candle (like MB:Tokyo Stomp did), but it settles quickly past that stage. When it's dry: This is a beautiful vanilla, tempered by the saffron so as to not be foody at all. While I bought this with the hopes of something like Underpants, this has a very slight powderiness to the edge of it that reminds me strongly of Antique Lace. So, if you liked AL but couldn't handle the floral notes, Love's Philosophy might be just for you.

It's funny, because on my skin Ivanushka smells just like tanned fur when wet. On the drydown, it was a little powdery, sweet muskiness that reminded me more of the fur of a living creature, but that was always the only note I got from the blend. Sadly, my boyfriend said I smelled a little like skunk when I wore it -- NOT the effect I was going for!

Pollution is awesome! It's so bright and green and cheery. I'm not a fan of aquatics, but I found Sea of Glass to be a lovely blue-green scent.

I originally slathered on Mistletoe '07 for the Christmas Day trip to my mother's house, but after about 30 minutes it was gone! So I spritzed on my old standby (my EDT of Australian Copperhead) before we got there -- funny side story, but Teh Manthing had gotten out to fill up the car when I decided to smellify myself. When he got back in the car, he asked, "why does it smell like a chipmunk whorehouse in the car?" :D Anyway, at one point I was giving my mom a hug and she exlaimed, "you smell good!" She thought that Aussie Copperhead smelled bad before when I wore it (which I think is the red musk doing that), but apparently the drydown appeals to her. During our trip to Florida, I think I wore Hungry Ghost Moon exclusively (as everything else seemed a bit too cloying in the heat). Back home on New Year's Eve (our anniversary), I wore Snow White.