Black Cat

[blackfelicula]

A very tricky kitty, indeed. Used most often as a key to bringing back the joy one needs to have in life in order for living to feel worthwhile. Brings back a sense of delight in simple pleasures, and creates a surge of childlike curiosity and a youthful sense of fun. This blend can also be used to reverse troublesome lesser crossings, create a playful air of catlike sexuality, and, because cats will be cats, it can also be used to throw minor, irritating or bothersome hexes, causing small amounts of chaos and disruption to your foes.

In the bottle: This has a floral feel, but it has undertones resembling the sweetness of Aunt Caroline's Joy Mojo and the kick of Van Van. The impression I get is somwhat aquatic.

Wet: There is a note with an astringent quality. It feels like there is more to it than just the oil.

Drying down: This is a mix of sweet and medicinal scents with a sheer floral overlay. It is a moist scent.

Dry: It has softened, losing some of its medicinal quality but retaining an herbal feel. It is sweet, almost like honeysuckle. It is also a clean scent, pushing soapy.

Later: This is a feminine scent. It did not go too soapy. Life went mischievous on me rather than feeling mischievous myself. I had a bunch of "fake-out bad luck," for example, the car was refusing to start then started without either of us doing anything different, in a parking lot we thought someone was pulling into the space we were trying to get then they pulled through and drove away, and though the lunch items were not out yet in the store both my husband and I found food we liked anyway. I shall have to try this kitty again. Edited September 29, 2007 by Shollin

[klavierbarrette]

i thought there was patchouli in this at first. but once it dried it was a woody herbal blend, some sweetness hanging out in there. i smell mint leaves that i used to eat as a kid in it i'm not sure i would wear this a lot...but it's nice to just put on my wrists while putting a more floral or spicy perfume on the rest of me.

[phedre]

This is an odd one, definitely tricky! Spicy herbals, and a faint powdery scent that lingers afterwards. There's something very medicinal about it, must be the herbal notes coming out.

 

I can't quite nose out the individual notes. I like the thought behind this one, but it just didn't work for me.

[Ajila]

In the bottle - Mint humbugs backed by that green note that seems to be present in most of the TAL blends

 

Wet on me - Geranium with just a hint of mint

 

Dry on me - Warm and spicy in a kind of Snake Oil kind of way

 

Overall - The dry scent is nice. More importantly walking to work I found myself noticing tiny things like dragon flies skitting across my path, which brightened by day. I probably wouldn't wear this for the scent, but for the feeling it's a keeper.

[dronzeka]

I get the nice sort of rosey-herb that others have mentioned, but I wanted to agree with previous reviewers who smelled dill! I keep having the rose teeter back and forth on the edge of dill for me. Although that sounds really strange, it's still actually quite pretty - or at least interesting - and seems to work. I get the image of a sunny English garden, with roses and an herbal border, all wildly overgrown and mixed together, and a black cat threading his way through the tangle of stems and leaves - now you see him, now you don't... occasionally exploding upward to chase butterflies.

 

ETA: I wanted to come back and edit this, because after that first time I've never smelled dill again (must have been an odd time of the month), and this has become one of my favorite scents: rose, fresh, green, light and playful. I really like it. And I find it's got spectacular wear on me - it stays true and fresh for well over 8 hours, which never happens to me! And I think it does generally cheer me up and make me somewhat light-hearted when I wear it. So let's hear it for Black Cat!

Edited March 5, 2007 by Anna D.

[anowyn]

In the bottle it smells minty.

 

On me it smelled, at first, a bit minty and very crisp and clean.

 

Drying down, it smells like fresh-washed hair and essence of shampoo.

 

In short, it smells like a hair salon. ^^;

[zankoku_zen]

I get a rosey-herbal powdery sort of smell from Black Cat. It's pretty powerful since I layered it with Dorian the second time around and I can't smell Dorian at all.

 

The rosey-smell backs off a little on drydown, but remains powdery throughout.

 

I do feel mildly feline when I wear this - sort of inquisitive, sort of standoffish, sort of playful, sort of contented.

 

I haven't had much luck with the Voodoo scents... but so far, this one is the one that I like the most!

 

ETA: I bought a bottle of Black Cat off a forumite because I was really drawn "to bringing back the joy one needs to have in life in order for living to feel worthwhile. Brings back a sense of delight in simple pleasures, and creates a surge of childlike curiosity and a youthful sense of fun." It's been a rough couple of years and I feel like this can help kickstart/maintain some of the more positive aspects I've been trying to encourage. In a lot of ways, it feels like a more playful, less potent version of White Light.

 

As for smell, its pretty rosey powdery on wet, but as it dries down, it sort of melts into my skin. So, yes, I think I'll be keeping this kitty around.

Edited May 12, 2014 by zankoku_zen

[filigree_shadow]

Herbal and medicinal. Then powdery.

 

I would never wear this as perfume, and I'm turned off enough by the scent of it that I don't want to try to use it for anything else, either.

[insanecatposse]

Just like one of the previous reviewers, I first though "hair salon". Not in a bad way. I like hair salons.

 

In the imp: Slightly minty green herbal.

 

Wet on the skin: I'm getting the shampoo/soap and salon thing. Here, I could almost grasp a hint of that pungent perm deactivator solution somewhere.

 

Drying down: It becomes softer, powdery. Quite clean.

 

Dry on the skin about 90 minutes later: This is a refreshing scent. Soft green herbal. Clean. Soapish but not bad soap.

 

Overall: It's uplifting without being obtrusive at all. Seems like a happy scent.

Now, I'm going to see if it works for me on any other levels =^..^=

[penemuel]

I got this as a frimp from the wonderful person who sold me the Pumpkin Patch decants, and honestly was not thrilled with the scent in the imp. I didn't get any of the rose or herbal or minty touches other people smelled, and almost didn't even try it on.

 

But I did, and after a few minutes of uncertainty and hoping that the weird edge in it wasn't vetiver, all of a sudden it's this lovely soft spicy rose scent! It completely snuck up on me. I've gone from 'eeek this has to go' to 'I might actually wear this occasionally' (I'm not one for florals too often)!

[Brianne]

In the vial:

sugary floral

 

On me:

Well the sugary note is gone and now I get rose. It's vaguely spiced in a generic kind of way.

 

Unfortunately, that's about all I can say about this blend.

 

Final note:

I gotta learn to leave the Voodoo Oils alone, it seems that most of them have rose in them and I just don't like rose.

[Trish]

On me this was a pleasant enough floral, with a little rose and something that's familiar but I couldn't quite place. I also got a sense of something underneath giving it depth, but before I could work out what it was it turned to powder. *sigh*

 

There's at least one floral that's turned a few scents to powder on me but I haven't worked out what it is yet.

[SeaLady]

This is so strange (I get such different notes from this than everyone else). It's something I've been wanting to try but hadn't got around to, and the lab sent me a frimp, yay!

 

In the imp: Buttery hazelnut, yikes! I refrained from trying it for a long time because it was overwhelming.

 

On: Sweet and a little nutty. It later turns greener like there's almost something minty, and then I get woody notes. It's really lovely and refreshing. The wood is grounding, and the sweetness is warm and snuggly.

[theseagrows]

wow i can't pick out any notes in this at all. i think it may be some white floral like ylang ylang with cedar or frankincense and an added powderiness. it's kind of sharp and bitter and gives me a headache, so i'll have to swap it.

[enderfem]

Bottle--Light, tingly.

 

On me: Something sour. And then Lemon Pledge. I wore this twice to make sure. Lemon Pledge. Uck.

[le fey]

In the bottle:

bright, daytime herbal.... sort of like dishsoap?

 

Wet:

very green and astringent - I can smell mint (which every cat I've ever known adores) and maybe lemon. Still smells like some kind of cleaning product, but the kind that make the house smell good. There is something floral here too - I'm getting roses, I think.

 

Dry (15 min):

roses and mint. This smells very much like the children's perfume that comes in cosmetic play sets. Utterly uncomplex, certainly 'childlike' and nothing I can see myself wearing. Sexuality? This is 'boys have cooties' time. If this is a cat, it's a cartoon fluffy white angora wearing a big pink bow, not a black cat.

 

Later (45 min):

Roses...mint...lemon... dryer sheets. eh.

 

Wind Down (2 hours):

And at two hours, it's pretty much gone, other than a faint scent of dryer sheets.

 

Verdict:

Nothing terrible here, but nothing at all that interests me, either. I'll try it some times as an air freshener but that's about it.

Edited April 24, 2007 by le fey

[Mimicake]

One more to add to my favorites list! I wasn't sure what to expect from this little kitty after reading the description. I am still curious as to exactly what notes it contains too. It has a full rose scent on me, with a tad of spice. Is that patchouli I smell too? Most roses tend to go "elderly" on me, but this one stays brilliant and fresh. The perfect scent for when you would like to be risque and naughty. It literally makes me purr.

[Naamah_Darling]

A zesty, clean blend with a dash of mint and some herbal florals.

 

On, I definitely detect violets and roses. It's herbal, clean, and a bit soapy, and though this is a voodoo blend and not meant primarily for perfume use, I could see it being a perfume you'd wear by preference. I, personally, don't care for mint or florals, but this is a very cheerful, playful blend. Reminds me of that phase of cathood, around a year old, where they look grown up but you still catch them chasing their tails on the kitchen floor like kittens. If this is useful for casting hexes, it's the playful kind; I'm nevertheless reminded that what is playful to a cat is fatal to a mouse.

 

Someone mentioned that this smells like catnip, and not mint. They may be right. This develops a sourness about five minutes in that is reminiscent of catnip. It finishes as a zesty, herbal scent with a hint of powdery rose. Not so special.

 

Despite extreme temptation, I did not use it to throw hexes and I did not wind up licking my own butt. I just want you to know that.

[Ilex]

Rose. Nothing but rose. Its a pleasant sort of rose, but not a classy one- pretty generic really. I like it well enough, and it did leave me feeling a bit more cheerful for the couple of hours it lasted, which is I guess supposed to be part of its voodoo charm aspect (and that is part of why I was interested in it, silly desperate me). I don't think I'll get a big bottle, but if I want roses, there it is. Oh, and I tried layering it with a couple of other scents, Haunted and Azathoth, but it didn't hold up as a rose note, layered it just made everything go to powder prompt like. Which was a bit disappointing as I'd like a rose I could add to things.

[n3m3sis42]

This is only the second BPAL scent I have ever tried, and I can't say that I know a whole lot about the science or terminology involved with perfumery.

 

In the bottle, this smelled woodsy and spicy. I may have gotten a bit carried away with how much I put on, because it didn't seem to smell very strongly when I first dabbed it on. I don't know how people normally test their imps, but so far I've just applied mine like I would normally put on perfume if I planned to wear it out--a couple small dabs on my wrists, which I then gently rub just below my earlobes to transfer the fragrance there. This is a good plan in theory, but might be unpleasant if I end up trying a fragrance I don't like. Still, how better to be sure if I really like it or not?

 

This fragrance seemed to react kind of violently with my body chemistry at first (which I think might be weird anyway). After 5 or 10 minutes, it suddenly became aggressively herbal and floral, sort of like a really flowery patchouli (and I'm not the biggest fan of patchouli, although I'm okay with it when blended correctly with other things). It actually started to give me a bit of a headache, and I was very tempted to go take a shower, thinking maybe this fragrance just wasn't for me. However, since I really wanted to like it due to its description, I decided to wait it out. I'm not sure what the usualt time is that it takes for a fragrance to really adjust to most people's body chemsitry, but it seems to be about 45 minutes on me.

 

After about 45 minutes, the aggressive patchouli thing backed down almost entirely. It nows smells sort of powdery, with a musky herbal undertone. I think everything smells musky on me, though. I'm a freak. My husband came home from being out and said that I smelled like incense. COming from him, this is actually not a bad thing, although it's not what I smell on myself.

 

This definitely warrants further investigation in order to determine if it also has the stated effects of feeling more playful. I think it's too early in the morning for me to tell something like that at the moment. In any case, I'd wear it again but it's not love at first sniff like Aunt Caroline's Joy Mojo was for me.

[ralenth]

In the imp: Floral and musky. Smells delicious.

 

Wet: Floral, really heady. A bit surprising with the range of throw.

 

Drydown: A bit more manageable, but still very floral.

 

Dry: Baby powder.

 

Off to the swaps. Couldn't leave it on long enough to tell if it made a difference or not.

[JenM]

In the imp: strong floral; I think I smell rose and jasmine

On the wrist: strong herbal scent, overcoming the floral. Bitter. Rose geranium?

 

After half an hour: the florals aren’t quite suppressed, but there’s still that bitter edge up close. Still has that slightly tickly sense to the bitter that made me think geranium in the first place. Has mostly vanished from right wrist.

 

After an hour: Left wrist: this is odd. There are two “tracks” of smells running simultaneously. They are not blending. There’s a floral that’s going slightly soapy and a darker, greener smell. I almost want to say rue or pennyroyal, but it’s darker and greener than any one herb. Right wrist: it has reappeared (!) faintly. It may be some sort of amber. Yes, amber, or some other sort of resin. If play-doh were a nice-smelling perfume it would smell like this.

 

After another hour or two: Resin predominates, still with a hint of floral on left wrist.

 

No rating coz it’s just too odd and schizophrenic, wrist to wrist and even on the same wrist.

[WidgetAlley]

I got this last night. And it's tax-free weekend, and I work retail, so I thought this would be a good time to test it.

 

In the Imp: Strong, pretty rose, and something a bit minty, and something else that smells so very familiar it's annoying me not to be able to place it. It's kind of sharp, almost sour-smelling, and it could be geranium, which would be bad. We'll see.

 

Wet: Herbal florals, but like they've gone off. I'm getting a distinctly sour note from this. The whole thing is very faint, though, so it's not too bad.

 

Dry: I'll admit I didn't give this one a terribly long time to dry, but I don't think it's going to change much. The traces left on my skin (it seems to fade quickly) are soapy florals, still with that sour edge. I gotta say, this isn't my favorite. I'll probably wait and try it one more time before I swap, but I think it's starting to give me a headache.

[klokwerk]

I got an imp of this with my first order of imps.

 

in the vial it smelled nice, but on my skin it turned into a pine-sol like smell. after drying, it mellowed out, but not particularly crazy about this one, which is unfortunate. Also, the "voodoo" association with this didn't seem to kick in.

 

May try layering/mixing this with Hellcat, see how that turns out. if anyone has mixed Black cat and Hellcat, please let me know how it turned out.

[aquazoo]

Starts cat pee and then becomes a spicy soap. But it’s nice! Now it’s becoming floral, an exotic type of floral.