tempete

Orange jello! With a bit of spice underneath! That's what I get from Kunstkammer when it's wet. It dries down to a slightly spicy, slightly sweet skin scent. A fun scent, but I don't think that I need a bottle.

Snake Charmer was love at first sniff for me, a definite OMFG BPAL and the first LE that shot immediately and without hesitation into my Top Ten. Initially, I can detect whiffs of plum and coconut merging with the rich, smooth vanilla/tonka base. It dries down to the luscious base notes with the plum and coconut adding a touch of fruity, creamy sweetness. Snake Charmer is definitely reminiscent of Snake Oil, but is different enough on my skin (sweeter, more vanilla, less incense, musk and spiciness) to justify hording large vats of both My only problem is that Snake Charmer doesn't have the throw and staying power of Snake Oil, so multiple bottles are a necessity for me. I have one bottle already, and have another one coming in a swap. I don't think that's enough - I think that I need to order more bottles before the Carnaval goes away so that I can slather myself in this scent with abandon!

The initial medicinal smell of Medicine Show is vaguely citrus-y, which makes me think that elemi and perhaps ginger dominate during this stage. Quickly though, the tobacco and balsam notes take over, making me smell very much like cigarettes and wood for about two hours. Eventually, what I think is the opium note (or some other sweet resin) pushes its way through and dries down in a slightly powdery manner. I love how Medicine Show ends up on my skin, but I have a DSH oil that gives me an end result with a similar feel much quicker, and it doesn't go through the intervening cigarettes and wood stage which is not really pleasant for me (if you worked bingo halls in high school, you would feel the same way too).

I swapped for cuervosueno's Himerus imp thanks to the raves from UltraViolet Initially, Himerus is mostly musk and slightly dry woody notes (perhaps the juniper?). It's masculine-feeling at this point, though not aggressively so; just assertive and energetic. The bergamot emerges as the scent dries down, and then I get a stage where I smell berries and musk, which reminds me slightly of Bewitched. The final drydown on me is a hint of bergamot, a whisper of red musk, the other florals and the sandalwood, which must be the red variety since it's so delectably smooth and creamy. The drydown is surprisingly lovely on me, so I'm definitely keeping my imp and I would consider getting a bottle.

Please note: This review was originally in the Snake Charmer thread, but it has since come to my attention that I received a decant of House of Mirrors, not Snake Charmer, because of mislabelled bottles (HoM labelled as SN and vice versa), so I've edited the review accordingly. I got a decant of House of Mirrors from wickedgoddess. This scent is light, citrus-y and perfume-y. If I inhale deeply, I think that I can detect faint whiffs something that smells like Liquid Tide, which I originally thought was Arabian musk (yes, Beth's Arabian musk smells like detergent on me) but I now think that is probably ozone. The citrus-y aspect seems to be fading slightly during the drydown, but the perfume-y part is lingering. Much later in the drydown, House of Mirrors becomes a rich resiny amber finish with the aquatic/ozone notes poking through a little bit, which matches the scent description perfectly. Unfortunately, the initial citrus-y and perfume-y phase isn't enough to make me want to order a bottle or keep the decant, which has fortuitously already found a home with someone who was expecting a Snake Charmer decant but was also looking for a House of Mirrors decant!

Vechernyaya is heavy on the patchouli when wet - this seems to be a drier patchouli, as in the black variety, not the sensual red type. As the scent dries, the patchouli retreats and leaves a faint smokiness behind, while the white musks come out and give that sparkling, almost effervescent impression that I always get from Beth's white musks. I don't know how a scent can be smoky and sparkling at the same time, but that's what Verchernyaya is like for me. It's a little too hot here to be wearing a smoky scent, so I'll be holding onto my imp until fall arrives.

Verdandi is spiced apples when wet, like mulled apple cider. As the amber creeps in during the drydown, it adds some depth to the scent, and eventually, Verdandi smells like apple-sweetened, gently spiced amber. Verdandi is the last of the Norns that I tried, and although it works the best on me, I still won't be keeping her around as there are other amber scents that work better on me.

Santa Muerte is very earthy when wet, since vetiver is asserting its presence during this stage. Almost immediately, however, the rose and other florals push their way forward and the scent becomes an unexpectedly lovely, earth-tinged floral. Santa Muerte reminds me a bit of Zombi, except the rose in Santa Muerte is definitely a lush, living flower and the presence of the other florals really adds to the character of the scent. I am keeping the imp!

Flower Moon weaves the floral notes with the lunar oils and the result is surprisingly pretty. However, it does go a bit soapy in the drydown. That, combined with the fact that I have other floral scents that I like more and that I can't really pick out the violet note (one of my fave floral notes), leads me to conclude that I probably won't wear Flower Moon that much even though it is very lovely.

Queen of Diamonds is all grapefruit and lemon when wet, but these notes dissipate as the scent dries down. She then goes through the generic men's aftershave phase that zankoku_zen mentioned, but eventually settles into a lightly floral ozone drydown. Queen of Diamonds is a pretty scent, but not being a huge fan of citrus or ozone, I think that I will pass my decant onto someone else.

Gomorrah initially is a very dark scent, as it's all sharp, bitter herbs. The fruits (fig and date) slowly emerge, adding a sweetness and roundness to the herbal overtone. Finally, the fruits are replaced by a warm, sensual amber, but the scent still retains its herbal bite. Gomorrah works well on me, as almost all amber scents do, but I have quite a few that I enjoy more, so I think that I will use up the imp but not buy a bottle.

Most jasmine scents make me go and unfortunately, Peitho is no exception. Wet, Peitho is screamingly loud jasmine with vanilla, musk and other notes valiantly trying to push through. As the scent dries down, I get a slightly softer jasmine scent that's almost imperceptibly rounded by vanilla. But it's still mostly about the jasmine. At least it's not soapy, as Beth's jasmine normally is on me. I was gifted with imps of Peitho by two lovely forumites, and I'll be re-gifting them to others whose chemistries hopefully work better with jasmine than mine.

When I first tried on Baghdad, all I got was sandalwood when wet and dryer sheet rose when dry. I was disappointed as this was one of the scents that I was really looking forward to trying, but decided to try it again in a week. Good thing that I did because I think that my hormones were really off. On the second (and third and fourth) try, Baghdad was an initially a soft scent dominated by the sandalwood and rose notes that dried down to a warm, softly spicy amber. Although Baghdad would make a wonderful fall scent, I've already got lots of lovely amber scents already, which makes me unsure as to whether I'll get a bottle or not. Nevertheless, it's a wonderful scent that would make a good intro for a newbie to BPAL.

Santo Domingo is one of those scents which is more than the sum of its parts. I can't really pick out any of the notes in the description because they all blend into a lush, creamy floral that's slightly sweet and just a bit smoky. I like it more and more each time I wear it, and I wouldn't be surprised if I ended up getting a bottle of it. (I am surprised, though, that more people don't love this.)

Right after applying Queen of Clubs, I get soft earth notes that quickly give way to a fruity combination of pomegranate and fig (though the pomegranate is dominant). As this scent dries down, the vanilla note emerges and blends with the fruity notes. All of these notes eventually die down to let the base notes of myrrh, amber and incense come out. I love the final drydown the most, though it takes a few hours to get to that stage. As others have mentioned, this scent will be perfect for fall, though I enjoy wearing it on cooler summer days. I couldn't have had a better introduction to the forum-only scents!

Eden is rather aggressively green when wet, which I assume is due to the fig leaves. Fortunately, the sweetness that is apparent underneath the fig leaves soon pushes the greenery away and blooms into a luscious, creamy fig scent. Hints of almond, toasted coconut and sandalwood eventually peek through and round out Eden nicely. I think that the sandalwood in particular keeps Eden from veering into the sickly sweet zone. Eden goes on the list of scents that I don't want to be without, ever (in fact, I've already set up a swap for a 5 ml bottle) and may be a new entry into my Top Twenty list.

Something possessed me to buy two bottles of 13 - even though most of the LEs that I've tried haven't been all that great on me (and I've tried a fair number of them), even though I don't like white chocolate (which is only the first note mentioned in the description) and even though 13 is returning in January 2006. I'm so happy that I bought two bottles. 13 is one of those fabulous morphing non-linear scents. It opens with a blast of chocolate goodness that reminds me of the cocoa vanilla in Velvet, and unfortunately dies away all too quickly and leaves a faint trace of sweetness behind. For the next several hours of the drydown, the iris, currant and citrus notes take turns partnering with the white tea note. There's a point where 13 does resemble Bewitched, as others have noted, but it doesn't last for long on me. (It never smells like Dorian to me, but that's just me.) Eventually, some kind of amber or other resin emerges and blends with the iris and currant to create a scent similar to Florence but without the nasty powderiness, which is fabulous because I dislike powdery drydowns. Finally, both the iris and currant fade away altogether and it seems that another resin joins the party, because 13 becomes darker, richer and deeper. There isn't a single stage in the drydown of 13 that I don't like (though being a fan of white tea scents, I do wish that the white tea stages lasted longer). I am amazed that the journey that 13 takes me through. To give you an indication of how much I like 13, I will probably pick up another bottle of it when it reappears in January 2006!

It depends on what kind of drama you're looking for... and it would help if you could tell us what kind of notes you like or that work well on you. I've noticed that I've become somewhat bipolar in my scent choices, so here are some of my favourites that are on the 'bold' end of the spectrum: Anne Bonny - Pirate queen drama! Black Phoenix - A very hedonistic, self-indulgent scent, you won't be able to stop sniffing yourself Dragon's Musk - A scent for a woman who is sexy as hell and doesn't take shit from anyone Hell's Belle - A scent for someone who exudes a "here comes trouble" vibe Seraglio - A more subtle, feminine version of Black Phoenix Snake Oil - Sexual magnetism in a bottle Spellbound - If the notes in this work on you, it'll make you feel unbelievably beautiful Wanton - Not as sexually uninhibited as the name suggests, but definitely not for the faint of heart

Chaos Theory XCVI (96) JazzieCazzie generously sent me a decant of one of her CTII bottles . Right after application, this scent is a creamy pineapple somewhat reminiscent of a pina colada . Pretty quickly though, a fresh-smelling herbal note creeps in, tempering the sweetness of the pineapple. The resulting combination is not too fruity and not too fresh. About an hour or two into the drydown, the herbal note mostly dissipates and I'm left with a faint creamy pineapple scent. Then, the base notes come out to play: an amber emerges and blends with the pineapple note, creating a slightly sweet resinous warmth that is gorgeous. Sometimes I can catch a very faint dryness that might be the residual herbal note or perhaps a different base note like white sandalwood, but it's not apparent everytime I wear this scent and it definitely doesn't detract from the beauty of the final drydown. Many thanks to JazzieCazzie for allowing me to experience CTII! Previously reviewed by JazzieCazzie.

Spark has obviously smelled the Florentine iris single note (SO JEALOUS), so you should listen to her. But I have to say that I adore Black Pearl, whereas I had to warm up to Nefertiti because it has a stage where it goes a bit dry on me (probably due to the white sandalwood note). Someone will probably recommend Florence at some point, but it went super powdery on me and amber hardly ever does that to me. The Raven was soapy on me (though it definitely has its fans), The Catepillar is more incense and vetiver, Vinland seemed more green than floral to me and Yerevan was all about the fruit. I have not tried The Ghost (lilies are so bad on me), so someone else will have to comment on that one.

Like k00kaburra, I get lemon peel when I first apply Lustration. As yeahbutnobut noted, this dries very quickly, after which the overall citrus tone becomes a little more grapefruitty. This is a very fresh, cleansing scent.

Succor was initially burnt wood on me, with perhaps a very wee hint of something herbal, and then it morphed into that sharp green note that I get from Snow White, Spooky and Miskatonic University. Unfortunately, Succor was not very relaxing or calming for me .

Seduction is definitely not singing on my skin. I think that it's screeching, actually, so I suspect the presence of jasmine as Nadirah suggested in her review. As Seduction dries down, the evil jasmine dissipates and allows the ylang ylang note to come through. But this only happens for a short time, as a somewhat sharp green note then pushes out the ylang ylang. There are a lot of BPALs that are seduction personified for me, but this is not one of them, unfortunately.

Moxie packs quite the ginger-sharpened orange punch when wet. Unfortunately, the ginger goes woody smelling and the scent overall goes slightly sour on me in the drydown, the latter of which makes me think that Moxie contains orange blossom. And I'm feeling really lethargic today and Moxie doesn't seem to be inspiring me to get off my ass, so I think that I will pass this decant onto someone else.

I'm not a fan of dragon's blood resin - depending on what it's blended with, it can do a number of wacky things on my skin, like go soapy, sickeningly sweet or generically spicy. But I adore Beth's darker musks, so I swallowed my trepidation and ordered Dragon's Musk. And now that I have it, I realize that I should have ordered it the instant it became available. WHY OH WHY DID I WAIT SO LONG?? This is by far the best Ars Draconis scent for me! The musks play the starring role here, and it almost seems as if each stage in the drydown feature a distinct musk. The complexities and evolution of the drydown are best appreciated when Dragon's Musk is slathered on (so order a bottle rather than an imp if you can). The dragon's blood resin is a supporting note in this scent, and it lends a vague cherry-like sweetness in one stage, a slight metallic edge in another and an almost floral quality to yet another. It's amazing how Beth managed to make such a musk-laden scent so smooth and not overbearingly animalistic, yet retaining enough of that feral edge to make me feel as if I've slipped into the skin of a very powerful, dangerous yet unreservedly sensual creature... one who exudes a "Don't fuck with me" attitude while wearing black leather thigh high boots. It brings to mind all those sexy female fighters like Trinity, Aeon Flux and La Femme Nikita who can deliver a roundhouse kick almost in the same breath as a passionate kiss. I would think that Dragon's Musk would be absolutely devastating when layered with other musky fragrances, like Snake Oil and Scherezade. But for now, I'll be wearing Dragon's Musk solo so that I can enjoy the effect that it has on me and the people around me at work... (I should note that the first time that I tried out Dragon's Musk, the dragon's blood resin was more predominant and it got sweeter and sweeter during the drydown. The next time I wore Dragon's Musk, I carefully mixed it before applying, which seemed to greatly subdue dragon's blood resin note and bring the musks to the forefront. So be forewarned, some of the musks might settle to the bottom if you haven't mixed Dragon's Musk before applying.)