The Boundless Vista of an Inner World

[The Poison Queen]

Then I saw the lurid shimmering of pale light, and heard the insidious lapping of sunless waters. Again I shivered, for I did not like the things that the night had brought, and wished bitterly that no forefather had summoned me to this primal rite. As the steps and the passage grew broader, I heard another sound, the thin, whining mockery of a feeble flute; and suddenly there spread out before me the boundless vista of an inner world-a vast fungous shore litten by a belching column of sick greenish flame and washed by a wide oily river that flowed from abysses frightful and unsuspected to join the blackest gulfs of immemorial ocean.


Salted citron, black coconut, wormwood, and oily labdanum oozing through fungal mosses and sick, greenish subterranean flora.


In the bottle: My first impression is one of salt, and then a bit of the citron and coconut.

Wet: Aquatic and salty with just a touch of fungus.

Dry: Salty aquatic fungus, actually very pleasant. I wish that citron stuck around more, perhaps aging will help it along.

[fiddlehead]

I really like this one! It starts out with a burst of salty citrus, reminding me of Nyarlathotep. That note backs off after a few minutes but is still present. I don't get the coconut at all but there's a bit of wormwood (thankfully, not too much). The green mosses get more intense as time goes on but I can still smell the citron. Really nice!

 

After I wore this for awhile it definitely seemed like it would be very appropriate for a guy. Sure enough, my husband likes it a lot and he hasn't really liked a BPAL oil since Geek. I may have to order a second bottle for him, depending on how fast he goes through this one.

[Atrous]

In the decant: Salty, dark aquatic

 

Wet stage: As soon as this hits my skin it's salty coconut. Boy, is it powerful!

 

Dry stage: Salty coconut stays on top with something sickly and overly-sweet in the background. The fungal moss and flora smell like they've been rotting for a while.

 

Verdict: This is one of the very few Lab scents that I have found truly vile. It made me feel nauseous. I'd rate this 0/5. Apologies to the Lab but it's really that bad.

[BoneBone24]

Wet: Salted and earthy-soft. Sort of dirty but also a bit foody too - like moldy spice cake, but in a good way! It reminds me a bit of My Mommy In a Boat.

Drydown: The same but stronger, with some of the moss folding into the mix now. Chunks of sea salt spiced with resins and sweetened by a truly blackened coconut note. Lot’s of murk and sludge drizzled on top. Oh, and a touch of dizzying wormwood now too. This is the kind of BPAL scent I absolutely love. It’s completely peculiar, it’s transformative, and somehow it manages to make the scary smell good.

Dry: Wormwood-laden labdanum mixed with murky saltwater, dark coconut, and what I think might be a hint of flowers. It smells authentically tropical, like you just came out of the water and have bits of seaweed and sand and a coating of grey who-knows-what stuck on your legs. Perhaps a smidgen gross, but all in all, a very cool scent.




7 out of 10 bones

 

Edited to Add: Trying this almost a year later, and my goodness it has aged beautifully! The moldy/fungal note is basically gone now and everything else is full of WIN. The aged version gets 8.5 out of 10 bones!

Edited October 22, 2014 by BoneBone24

[ReallyZeb]

Aquatics do not usually work on me but I think I may have found one that does. The overwhelming impression I get is of one of those seaside/swamp areas that I see in films but have never been to in real life! There's salty green vegetation, coconut, driftwood, those swamp trees and a hint of a pirate lurking in the background. I may have to get a bottle.

[Monday]

On my skin wet: Vicks vapo-rub and woods. What the menthol.

Drying down: The woods have melded with the coconut which is making the blend smell a bit foody. There is still a nostril-clearing note in here. I like it so far.

On my skin dry: An aquatic note has come forward the other notes are sinking into a swampy green smell. It's salty and sweet at the same time.

No clue where the menthol comes from. All in all an interesting scent but not something I need a bottle of right away.

[zankoku_zen]

UGH.

 

Coconut, mosses, and dirt. This smells like a dank, underground pit lined with coconut.

 

No thanks.

[Quillifer]

Oh god this round may turn out to be expensive! I love this too

 

A lovely dark gloop in the imp, smells like treacle.

 

Wet, like treacle and some close friends - a bit lemony, but more the oil of the rind than the brightness of the flesh;

As it starts to dry, something very slightly floral - but that's not really the right word, it's more like a sweet thing you could eat that includes a floral ingredient.

 

It doesn't seem very aquatic to me but I'm rubbish at naming scents (I only write reviews for jollies, I suspect they're not a lot of help!)

 

Hmm. Think I may like the dry-down a little less, but this oil is really different, and that makes it appealing to me.

[lohengrin]

In the decant: I have no idea what to make of this. It's fresh, but at the same time almost makes me think of rootbeer? No clue.

 

On skin, wet: Weird! Now it's gone almost piney? And just the faintest hint of something vaguely foody. I just. This is all over the place!

 

On skin, dry: Oh, hello dryer sheets. Ffff. Curse of the aquatics strikes again!

 

After an hour: Yeah, once it dries it's all dryer sheets all the time. I knew it was a risk, trying an aquatic, but the black coconut and citron lured me in. Alas, it's a total fail on me.

[ljaylh]

Salty, woody, slimy. It smells like mushroom and coconut soup poured over seaweed. Nasty.

[Jangzonrice]

Wet: mold and rotting vegetable...sickly sweet rotting smell (did not like this at all!!!). Dry: salty ocean waves, but at night during a bad winter storm at sea...awesome....with a hint of menthol that clears up the sinuses and then I can smell desiccated black coconut (not the sweet fleshy kind). I thought I finally came across a bpal I hated, but it turns out to be magical so give it a fair try before you wash it off!

[patina]

I get caramel, which must be the black coconut and labdanum. Caramel and salty ocean water with a hint of citron and some moss underneath. This is really nice in a dark oceanic way. It seems like a salt water cousin of Ekhidna. The scent has a huge throw on me and I can occasionally smell some wormwood and maybe mushrooms. Overall it has a salty aquatic toffee cologne feel which is better than it sounds. There's a bit of earthiness too from the moss. A mangrove swamp near the coast on a tropical island is an image that comes to mind.

 

I like this a lot, possibly enough for a bottle.

[Alphakitty]

In the bottle: Salty fungus. Sounds disgusting written down, but it's an intriguing smell. It's... thick and sticky. Like fungus candy.

Wet: ...gingerbread. I got a weird mix of spices and my boyfriend came over and asked if I was wearing gingerbread perfume. What the what.

Drydown: I usually do not like aquatic perfumes, but the saltwater here is tempered by moss, coconut, and strange vegetation. There are hints of molasses, the rich feeling of the in-the-bottle smell coming back. Yup, saltwater moss fungus candy with coconut shavings.

 

I feel like a true Lovecraft scent should be weird and almost indescribable, which this definitely is. Not a scent for everyone, but my wrist ends up attached to my nose when I wear it.

[brilliantcat]

One of the darkest oils I've ever seen. Awesome!

 

In vial, moss, citron, fungus, salt water... and a touch of menthol. I LIKE this! On me, it's definitely moss and fungus. I'm picturing an underground cavern with deep dark pools of water and an absolute carpet of bright green mosses and lichens with glowing fungi on the walls providing the only illumination. So cool. The scent wafting around me is so different from the one on my wrist. It's primarily moss and fungus in the air, but at my wrist Salty coconut with a hint of citrus. Unng, it's gorgeous. I'm not sure I'd want to wear this often, but I am definitely going to look for a partial bottle.

[tailoredshirt]

I'm kind of torn on this one. Applying it, I got woods, aquatic mosses, and some citron. It definitely gave me a pirate-y feel, which I liked, and it was slightly cologne-y. But the longer this wears, the more I smell dryer sheets. The woods have faded a lot, unfortunately, and I get no coconut at all. The saltiness is nice, but combined with the dryer sheet scent it's quite sharp.

 

I wish this worked for me. The rest of the notes are so nice!

[AirAmIJH]

Don't usually post reviews. This will be the first.

I purchased this bottle as a random act of universal abandon. Then I read the reviews and thought Ohhhh, what have I done?

 

Its hard to verbalize the mental and emotional response I had to this scent but here goes.

 

The Boundless Vista of an Inner World - Like walking backwards into and through an unsettling catastrophe I survived. I re-experience the sickly-sweet embrace of a terrifying yet transformational journey that I may re-claim myself and the power it holds. Potent and omniscient yet humble and silent. A serendipitous feeling of being brought back from the grave within a circular congregation of the innumerable Pantheons of universal Gods. A benevolent, profound feeling of "what didn't kill me, should be running." A new journey through acceptance, understanding, freedom then sweet, sweet Bliss!

 

A profound example of the skill, talent and artistry that is wielded by BPAL!

[annemathematics]

I feel as if I've stumbled upon a tide pool filled with oozing rockrose and coconuts. the air is salty but not briny or fishy at all. the coconut provides a creamy texture and light sweetness rather than anything sunscreen- or cocktail-related. and the labdanum is thick and rich and gorgeous. this is one of my favorite of the yules and one of my favorite bpals. it has a good throw and lasts a long time. it smells completely new and entirely familiar at the same time. it's delicious to my nose but not at all foody. I love love love this one.

 

 

 

 

I completely agree with bonebone24 when she says, "This is the kind of BPAL scent I absolutely love. It’s completely peculiar, it’s transformative, and somehow it manages to make the scary smell good."

 

and with alphakitty's assessment, "I feel like a true Lovecraft scent should be weird and almost indescribable, which this definitely is. Not a scent for everyone, but my wrist ends up attached to my nose when I wear it."

[milo]

Sour and salty indeed! This one is a bit odd, and not something that I care to smell like. Kind of masculine. It may be quite nice with the right skin chemistry on a guy, but on me, this is rather distasteful.

[Balame]

This is different. I was hoping to smell coconut as one of the main notes, but mostly it's "oily labdanum" with musty moss. It's reminding me exactly of... wet dog.

 

Not even joking, certainly not anything I want to smell like. Some people were saying it's a pretty, citrusy aquatic but not on me. I do get much more of the citron as it dries, and the labdanum/moss recedes considerably, but it's still not what I was envisioning. In the end Boundless almost perfectly evokes a fizzy drink (think Mountain Dew) gone flat.

 

An improvement over wet dog, yes, but still not anything to get riled up about. Bummer.

[aquazoo]

Woodsy, herbal. The coconut ties it together. It’s not a bad ooze, it’s nice.

[bellumed]

Moss and salt. Reminds me of the ocean. On skin, the (distinctly black) coconut starts to emerge. Smells like an off-season day at the beach-- no hot dog vendors or crowds or suntan lotion. Just cold salt spray and oceanic vegetation.

 

I know everyone's noses and chemistry are different, but I'm stumped as to why this isn't more popular. It's great!