BPAL Reviews 126 - 150
Continuing reviews of Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab (BPAL) scents. I DO NOT HAVE AN ADDICTION >_> Some general info: reviews are broken up into groups of 25 per post and I update posts frequently with new reviews. I will post a separate update to my journal when I add new reviews. Blends are noted as LE or GC (and occasionally prototype or special); LE = Limited Edition, GC = General Catalogue. GC scents are available as "imps", which are tester-sized vials of the oils. For more info regarding BPAL and imps, click the respective links.
Review #126: Monster Bait: biggerCritters (LE)
Website Description: "Five vanillas with Moroccan jasmine, white gardenia, and pink
grapefruit."
In the bottle: Vanilla yums with the jasmine and other notes swirling beneath.
Immediately after application: Vanilla and jasmine.
Warming up: JASMINE. Jasmine and rose, always godzilla stomping everything else. I can tell there's a hint of creaminess from the vanillas. FOR RLY, there are 3 damn vanillas and all I can smell is JASMINEOMFG. Wait. I'm starting to itch on top of it :\ AUGH.
Fading: DAMMIT, jasmine. Kind of smells like shampoo. And itchy.
Faded: Average throw, average wear.
Overall: Stupid jasmine. I am SO disappointed. I thought 3 vanillas would be amazing. Instead it was just amazing...ly... jasmine. With a side order of itch.
Rating: 1/5.
Review #127: Huesos de Santos 2010 (LE)
Website Description: "Orange-glazed cake, dotted with anise seed, and filled with custard, set beside a bouquet of celebratory funeral flowers."
In the bottle: Orange Golletes. And I loved Golletes *crosses fingers*
Immediately after application: Orangey cake and now I'm getting the anise. It really smells like an orange Golletes vs the berry in that blend. Less bready, more cake. Mmmm. It's less sweet as well.
Warming up: The flowery notes are showing themselves now and the cake has softened. I'm kind of torn on this one.
Fading: The same cakey-bready note as Golletes.
Faded: Light throw, average wear.
Overall: I'm torn on this one because while it smells yummy, it's very similar to Golletes except orange vs. berry and with the addition of florals. I think I'll stick to Golletes.
Rating: 3/5.
Review #128: Punkie Night 2010 (LE)
Website Description: "Apple orchards, bright cranberries, and a touch of warm cider."
In the bottle: Apple-y heaven.
Immediately after application: Fresh apples still on the tree. A bit of tartness from the cranberries. I expect the cider will come out as it warms. It smells FANTASTIC right now, mmm.
Warming up: Getting more of the cider spices but it's maintaining a pretty fresh apple rather than supersweet B&BW type of apple or potpourri scent.
Fading: Soft apple and spices.
Faded: Light throw, short to average wear.
Overall: Oh wow I like this one too. DAMMIT I LIKE SO MANY ALREADY AND I HAVEN'T EVEN TESTED THEM ALL XD
Rating: 4/5.
Review #129: Poisoned Apple (GC)
Website Description: "A perfect, lovely, gleaming red apple whose sweetness masks a swirl of narcotic opium, oleander, and hemlock."
In the bottle: Fresh, tart apple with a hint of herbally greens.
Immediately after application: Pretty much the same as in the imp but with the opium wafting through. YUM.
Warming up: Apple is going, going, gone. Or at least very faded. The opium has taken over but is oddly not as strong as opium usually is on me.
Fading: This fades really fast on me. My skin sucked up all the apple and I'm left with mostly opium and a hint of hemlock/oleander.
Faded: Little to no throw, short wear.
Overall: I LOVE it wet and it's rather nice on drydown as well even if the apple faded. I will probably eventually get a bottle, but I've got so much stuff I want to order it'll be waiting awhile.
Rating: 3/5.
Review #130: Pomegranate V (LE)
Website Description: "Pomegranate, carnation, amber, cardamom, neroli, vetiver, black pepper, and opium tar."
In the bottle: A burst of sweetness, the spicy carnation, and a hint of opium.
Immediately after application: Tart/sweet pomegranate, carnation, a bit of opium, perhaps a bit of spice from the black pepper.
Warming up: Definitely carnation with the sweet/tart pomegranate and the richness of the amber. I think I like carnation notes and I don't usually care for floral notes. It's got a spiciness to it I really enjoy.
Fading: This stayed absolutely lovely on me. Sweet, tart, spicy, a bit floral, warmly resinous, and under everything a breath of opium.
Faded: Light throw, short wear.
Overall: Finally, a blend that didn't disappoint! The vetiver behaved and it was a gorgeous mix of notes that wore wonderfully on me. My only complaint is that it faded pretty quickly.
Rating: 4/5.
Review #131: Decrepit House (LE)
Website Description: "Dilapidated planks of mahogany and cypress wood perched feebly on a grim foundation of long-dead leaves, black musk, patchouli, galbanum, tobacco absolute, fragonia, and oakmoss."
In the bottle: Woods, patchouli, a green scent I think is the leaf note.
Immediately after application: Woods, musk, and patchouli.
Warming up: Lovely melding of wood, musk, and patchouli and a whiff of tobacco.
Fading: Woodsy, musky patchouli.
Faded: Average throw, average wear.
Overall: I'm a slut for woods + musk + patchouli. The other notes are basically frosting on the cake. They subtly added depth. It smells almost like Raven Moon, which is one of my absolute favorites. Bottle, definitely.
Rating: 5/5.
Review #132: Velvet Tiki (LE)
Website Description: "Gold-washed frangipani, vanilla flower, vanilla bean, coconut, hibiscus, papaya, pineapple, bouganvilla, passion fruit, and three orchids."
In the bottle: PINEAPPLE, PAPAYA, AND COCONUT HOW DO I LOVE THEE?
Immediately after application: Getting the florals along with the fruit and even a bit of spice. OH MY YUM.
Warming up: It's blended into an amazing tropical scent. LOVE.
Fading: Yummy tropical fruits and a hint of flowers. Plus coconut and vanilla. WIN.
Faded: Light throw, average wear.
Overall: In the Tiki-Tiki-Tiki-Tiki Room, in the Tiki-Tiki-Tiki-Tiki Room, where the birds sing words and the flowers croon, in the Tiki-Tiki-Tiki-Tiki Room!
Rating: 5/5.
Review #133: Halloween: San Francisco (LE)
Website Description: "Salt air wafting in from the bay. Rain falling on rain-soaked leaves."
In the bottle: Leaves. Wet leaves. HOW DOES SHE DO THAT?
Immediately after application: Wow. WOW. It is so evocative of a rainy October day by the ocean. This is beautiful.
Warming up: Turning into more of a pure aquatic and losing the leaves. Damn.
Fading: A bit of that cologne-y vibe I associate with aquatics.
Faded: Light throw, average wear.
Overall: I'm not sure I want to smell like this, but it would make an amazing room scent and so incredibly captures the idea, it's insane. Too bad this doesn't come in an atmo spray.
Rating: 3/5 for capturing the moment. I wish this came in atmo spray ><
Review #134: Boo 2010 (LE)
Website Description: "Eerie billows of spun sugar, fluttering white cotton, and sheets of cream."
In the bottle: Sugared creamy vanilla om nom nom.
Immediately after application: Same as in-bottle with a slight "clean" note that's probably meant to be the cotton.
Warming up: A bland "cream" note. I can barely smell it after half an hour. Wait. 15 minutes later it's a gorgeous vanilla cream. Holy crap. I guess it just needed a kickstart XD My husband hugged me and said "You smell amazing!"
Fading: It's lasting really well. It's a soft vanilla sugar cream.
Faded: Light throw, average wear.
Overall: It smelled amazing in the vial and after a bit of warming up, just as amazing on. I get a true vanilla sugar cream scent rather than the overly sweet or oddly fake vanilla of the many available "vanilla sugar" scents like B&BW. I have wanted a simple vanilla-y blend like this for years and those fake-smelling vanillas turned me off so much. I'm also pleased I can wear the lab's cream note without it souring. BOTTLE!
Rating: 4/5, only because it goes through an odd phase as it warms. After that though, it's perfection.
Review #135: Sibyl (LE)
Website Description: "Bourbon vanilla, Egyptian musk, olibanum, summer honey, white tea, Spanish mandarin, tea rose, cognac, and a faint trace of prussic acid."
In the bottle: Vanilla, musk, mandarin.
Immediately after application: It's morphing like crazy. It's gone from musky to sweet to vanilla. It's settling into a mandarin/white tea with perhaps the acid note adding some bite and a smidge of vanilla. Tea rose normally behaves on me, and I'm not getting any amped rose so that's a good thing. It's really a quite complex blend. It's skin-close right now and I'm tempted to slather a bit more on but I just looked at the reviews as I was curious if it did the mighty morphin' dance for others and the reviews said it grows in scent as it dries down. Looking forward to it!
Warming up: Holy morphing crap, it's turned into the most unbelievably creamy vanilla blending with the mandarin and tea to produce an ungodly sophisticated scent reminiscent of creamsicles but oh so much more complex. The very faintest whiff of floral but the rose is being a good girl. It's definitely stronger now, so good thing I didn't slather more of this precious scent on myself!
Fading: Strongly vanilla, a whiff of tea, and some undercurrents of musk. A tiny bite from either the acid or the cognac.
Faded: Very light throw, average wear.
Overall: Wow, what a stunning blend. Just wow. I am so thankful to have gotten a bottle.
Rating: 5/5.
Review #136: La Bella Donna Della Mia Mente (GC)
Website Description: "Soft, lush myrtle and dry, sweet melilot with wild rose, pomegranate juice and peach blossom against a background of deep aquatic notes and a twirl of melancholy autumn breezes."
In the bottle: Fruity floral.
Immediately after application: Rose, tempered a bit by the myrtle and a smidge of pomegranate.
Warming up: Rose and floral. Meh.
Fading: Oh wow it got pretty! I get the peach over a tiny bit of aquatic and mild floral.
Faded: Slightly peachy, slightly pomegranate, just a breath of floral left and a tiny bit of aquatics.
Overall: Not fond of the floral phase but once it was warmed up, it really smelled pretty. However, I am not waiting over an hour to smell nice ><
Rating: 2/5.
Review #137: Harvest Moon 2010 (LE)
Website Description: "This Harvest lunacy combines the autumnal scents of dry leaves, mulling spices, balsam fir, cedar, juniper berry, clove, saffron, damson plum, sage, yarrow, and lily twined with Dionysus' sacred grapes and ivy, a bounty of apple and pumpkin, and the amaranth and lingum aloes of Janus, all touched by a gentle breath of festival woodsmoke and sweet wine."
In the bottle: Mulling spices, a hint of balsam, a touch of wine, apple, plum, and pumpkin.
Immediately after application: Oh hi woodsmoke! The evergreens and leaves lie just below the smoke scent and below that, mulling spices. Very much an organic autumn smell. Every time I say I like something at the wet stage lately, it turns awful (Caterpillar = cat pee anyone?) so I won't say I like it. I'm huffing my arm though.
Warming up: The mulling spices are trying their best to poke through but they are being strangled by the evergreens.
Fading: Evergreens. Oh and NOW there's some smoke.
Faded: Light throw, average wear.
Overall: I think I'll be swapping or selling this one, sadly. It was another of those "smell great at first and then one or two notes stomp the rest to death." I am really disappointed. I wanted an outdoorsy, woodsy, spicy blend for autumn but it's probably not going to be this one. I'll give it a week or two and test again and see what happens.
Rating: 1/5.
Review #138: Depraved (GC)
Website Description: "Earthy black patchouli swelling with apricot."
In the bottle: Patchouli and under that, juicy fresh apricot.
Immediately after application: Earthy, herbal patchouli with syrupy sweet apricot flesh.
Warming up: It smells like I dropped an overripe apricot into freshly turned earth.
Fading: Patchouli with a hint of sweetness.
Faded: Average throw, average wear.
Overall: This is the big brother of the Lab's patch notes. It's earthy and dirty and raw. Unfortunately the apricot didn't add much, leaving the patch a little too intense for me.
Rating: 2/5.
Review #139: Dian's Bud (GC)
Website Description: "Wormwood (artemisia absinthium)"
In the bottle: Light herbal, slight hint of licorice.
Immediately after application: Herbally with hints of lemon and... cucumber? Very clean and light.
Warming up: Slighty aquatic, slightly fruity, slightly floral. It feels very pale, I imagine it as a pale green in color. Clean but not soapy.
Fading: Maintains that very clean smell. White floral and watery cucumber.
Faded: Pretty decent throw for such a light-smelling blend. Average wear.
Overall: Not my type of scent, too pretty and clean. I expected wormwood to be darker and earthier.
Rating: 1/5.
Review #140: The Dodo (GC)
Website Description: "Red musk, lemon peel, sugar cane, cassia, white sandalwood, mango, and agarwood."
In the bottle: The musk and woods are strongest.
Immediately after application: Heavily woodsy with a smidge of mango and sugar. I get a very "polished wood" feel rather than "walking in the woods" sort of feel. I like it a lot so far.
Warming up: Something is trying its best to go sour. The woodsy smell has pretty much faded to background notes and it's more a fruity/musky scent. Not liking it as much now.
Fading: The sour smell is persisting. It seems The Dodo is not for me :(
Faded: Light throw, average wear.
Overall: I really liked it at first until one of the notes started to smell sour and continued to get progressively worse. Blech.
Rating: 1/5.
Review #141: Calaveras (LE)
Website Description: "Xocolatl, tequila, copal incense, smoke-dried jalapeños, vanilla pods, and cajeta."
In the bottle: It smells chocolately.
Immediately after application: I get some burn from the tequila and jalapenos (not literally), a smidge of incense, and that chocolately scent. Almost like chocolate-covered pretzels. This smells better than it sounds.
Warming up: Still smells oddly like pretzels but only from far away. Slightly sweet, spicy, savory on skin with a smidge of the tequila bite.
Fading: Smoky, spicy, a little sweet.
Faded: Average throw, long wear.
Overall: I can't decide if I like it or not. I'll mark it down as a possible bottle just for uniqueness.
Rating: 3/5.
Review #142: Pomegranate III (LE)
Website Description: "Pomegranate, Tamil Nadu sandalwood, lavender, tamarind, hazelnut, Atlas cedarwood, sugar date, bitter clove, and Arabian myrrh."
In the bottle: Sandalwood, lavender, cedar.
Immediately after application: Woodsy with the sweet/tart bite of pomegranate and sugar date plus a waft of lavender.
Warming up: Mostly pomegranate and lavender, a hint of the tamarind (I had Indian last night for dinner and had tamarind chutney so I can definitely pick up some here), a bit woodsy.
Fading: Pom and lavender, sweet and floral/herbal. Maybe a smidge of the myrrh.
Faded: Average throw, average wear.
Overall: I like! The husband hugged me and said "Mmm you smell good!" so clearly he approved as well XD Bottle!
Rating: 4/5.
Review #143: Mabon 2010 (LE)
Website Description: "Blackberry wine and apple with hops, English ivy, rosemary, hazel, sage, chamomile, sweetgrass, oak bark, wild nuts, and myrrh."
In the bottle: Blackberry and apple, slightly sweet but more akin to the fresh fruit, ivy, rosemary, sage.
Immediately after application: The fruits actually disappear on my skin. I get some of the green notes and some woods, and omg I get the nuts! Usually the nuts get completely buried.
Warming up: Everything disappeared on my skin but the fruit.
Fading: Very faint fruity.
Faded: No throw, short wear.
Overall: I am disappointed in this for a number of reasons. I loved the idea of it with the mix of notes and hoped it would smell like the mead my husband has brewing right now, sans the honey of course. It was doing an ok job when wet but it disappeared as it dried and left just a generic-feeling fruity. In addition, it faded super-fast on me. Major disappointment, at least with my skin chemistry :( And of course I bought a bottle unsniffed, which will be going to swaps.
Rating: 0.5/5.
Review #144: All Souls 2010 (LE)
Website Description: "An incense blend that invokes the higher qualities of mercy and compassion, mingled with the soft, sugared currant scent of offertory soul cakes."
In the bottle: Incense over sweet cake.
Immediately after application: Strongly incense with hints of cake. I love the incense for this blend.
Warming up: Incense with slight hints of cake. The more it warms, the less I can smell the cake notes.
Fading: Pure incense, no cake to speak of.
Faded: Average throw, average wear.
Overall: Basically a single-note incense. As good as that smells, I have to be more choosy about what Weenies I get bottles of. This one is a like, not love, so no bottle.
Rating: 3/5.
Review #145: Tiki Princess (LE)
Website Description: "A frothy, cold coconut perfume, pure and sweet, with gentle wafts of plumeria, pikake, and ala ala wai nui."
In the bottle: Tropical florals. I can definitely smell the plumeria.
Immediately after application: Tropical florals with a hint of coconut. It's described as "cold" and surprisingly for tropical blooms, that fits. Almost like a cool breeze through the flowers.
Warming up: Coconut is going, going, gone. I'm left with pleasant floral that seems quite girly and worthy of a tiki princess.
Fading: Soft flowers.
Faded: Average throw, average wear.
Overall: I was so sure I was going to love this but it's one of those coconut blends that disappoint me. My skin sucked it up so fast and left just the floral notes. It smelled pretty. I don't really do pretty >_> I enjoy sniffing it but I don't want to smell like it. I don't want this gorgeous scent to sit around when someone could be enjoying it.
Rating: 2/5.
Review #146: Dawn: Cernunnos (LE)
Website Description: "Terebinth pine, basil, green sandalwood, fig leaf, armoise, lemonbalm, cypress, myrrh, black cedar, and juniper."
In the bottle: Pine, basil, cedar, juniper.
Immediately after application: Ew, something smells funky. Other than that I get pine, basil, myrhh, cedar, and a smidge of juniper. Oh, funky smell is gone in minutes, yay! The throw is medium to strong and it smells AWESOME. Herbal and woodsy.
Warming up: Mm I like this. Woodsy with some herbal hints and a bit of sweetness. It's definitely a male-feeling scent but I think it can work on both genders. Wow, I really like this!
Fading: Woodsy/herbal/resin.
Faded: Average to strong throw, average wear.
Overall: Bottle!
Rating: 4/5.
Review #147: The Hag (LE)
Website Description: "Black musk, bay leaves, galangal, bourbon vetiver, blackcurrant, and rum."
In the bottle: A whoosh of butterscoth that is the rum and some musk behind it.
Immediately after application: Rum with bay leaves, something citrusy which is probably the galangal. I had to look it up, turns out it's also known as blue ginger and definitely fits the description as it's described as "citrusy, piney, earthy". It's very herbal. Damn I've been wishing for a good herbal blend that wasn't so "green", I hope this is it!
Warming up: Herbally and the vetiver is behaving.
Fading: Musk, herbs, vetiver.
Faded: Average throw, average wear.
Overall: The Hag isn't pretty but she sure is interesting. I like her. Possible bottle!
Rating: 4/5.
Review #148: A Howl in the Darkness (LE)
Website Description: "A scent evocative of a forest at midnight, with animalic brown musk, wild sage, Terebinth pine, black oak, and a chilly shock of terror personified by kunzea, cistus labdanum, verbena, juniper, metallic ozone, and white mint."
In the bottle: This is amazingly complex and beautiful in the vial. I catch pine, verbena, mint, ozone, sage in turns.
Immediately after application: Verbena but it seems almost creamy. After a few minutes, the mint appears.
Warming up: Clean, almost misty. I'm not getting the musk at all.
Fading: Second test, I think my description of it as "misty" was apt. The "wolfish" notes never made an appearance. No musk, pine, sage.
Faded: Light throw, average wear.
Overall: I am seriously wondering if my chemistry is off today because both skin tests I did turned out oddly. I'm giving each of them another try on a different day. Perhaps it's that fancy womanly cycle messing things up. ETA: Nope, stayed the same. I envision a forest wreathed in fog. Quite lovely in its way, but I have to be strong and NOT get bottles of some of these XD
Rating: 3/5.
Review #149: Saw-Scaled Viper (GC for now)
Website Description: "Snake Oil with cinnamon, cassia, and red ginger."
In the bottle: Spicy and almost cake-like.
Immediately after application: CINNAMON with undertones of Snake Oil and spices.
Warming up: Cinnamon bark, not baking or candy cinnamon. The Snake Oil actually kind
of smells like a snake o.O It's got that dry, almost dirty feel.
Fading: The Snake Oil is coming out more now. I liked the morphing quite a bit.
Faded: Strong throw, average wear. I'm a little surprised I didn't break out from this as I have VERY sensitive skin and a lot of reviewers reported burning or hives from the strong oils. I won't look a gift horse in the mouth though, I'll just be glad it behaved on me!
Overall: This is fresh and I keep hearing how amazing Snake Oil blends get when aged and I think I may need a bottle to age. I rather like it as is though!
Rating: 4/5.
Review #150: Pumpkin Latte (LE)
Website Description: "Espresso, pumpkin syrup, smoky vanilla bean, milk, raw sugar, and a dash of cinnamon and nutmeg."
In the bottle: OMG Starbucks Pumpkin Latte.
Immediately after application: The cinnamon is pretty strong but all the notes are present and make me want to lick my arm. It's a Red Hots type of cinnamon. I love cinnamon, especially in the fall.
Warming up: I get the coffee about an hour after application. It almost smells mapley. I have to admit, I'm not real fond of it and my inner foodie is shocked and apalled.
Fading: Cinnamony coffee with a smidge of milk.
Faded: Average throw, average wear.
Overall: I actually didn't like it! WHAT IS THIS I DON'T EVEN D:
Rating: 2/5.
Review #126: Monster Bait: biggerCritters (LE)
Website Description: "Five vanillas with Moroccan jasmine, white gardenia, and pink
grapefruit."
In the bottle: Vanilla yums with the jasmine and other notes swirling beneath.
Immediately after application: Vanilla and jasmine.
Warming up: JASMINE. Jasmine and rose, always godzilla stomping everything else. I can tell there's a hint of creaminess from the vanillas. FOR RLY, there are 3 damn vanillas and all I can smell is JASMINEOMFG. Wait. I'm starting to itch on top of it :\ AUGH.
Fading: DAMMIT, jasmine. Kind of smells like shampoo. And itchy.
Faded: Average throw, average wear.
Overall: Stupid jasmine. I am SO disappointed. I thought 3 vanillas would be amazing. Instead it was just amazing...ly... jasmine. With a side order of itch.
Rating: 1/5.
Review #127: Huesos de Santos 2010 (LE)
Website Description: "Orange-glazed cake, dotted with anise seed, and filled with custard, set beside a bouquet of celebratory funeral flowers."
In the bottle: Orange Golletes. And I loved Golletes *crosses fingers*
Immediately after application: Orangey cake and now I'm getting the anise. It really smells like an orange Golletes vs the berry in that blend. Less bready, more cake. Mmmm. It's less sweet as well.
Warming up: The flowery notes are showing themselves now and the cake has softened. I'm kind of torn on this one.
Fading: The same cakey-bready note as Golletes.
Faded: Light throw, average wear.
Overall: I'm torn on this one because while it smells yummy, it's very similar to Golletes except orange vs. berry and with the addition of florals. I think I'll stick to Golletes.
Rating: 3/5.
Review #128: Punkie Night 2010 (LE)
Website Description: "Apple orchards, bright cranberries, and a touch of warm cider."
In the bottle: Apple-y heaven.
Immediately after application: Fresh apples still on the tree. A bit of tartness from the cranberries. I expect the cider will come out as it warms. It smells FANTASTIC right now, mmm.
Warming up: Getting more of the cider spices but it's maintaining a pretty fresh apple rather than supersweet B&BW type of apple or potpourri scent.
Fading: Soft apple and spices.
Faded: Light throw, short to average wear.
Overall: Oh wow I like this one too. DAMMIT I LIKE SO MANY ALREADY AND I HAVEN'T EVEN TESTED THEM ALL XD
Rating: 4/5.
Review #129: Poisoned Apple (GC)
Website Description: "A perfect, lovely, gleaming red apple whose sweetness masks a swirl of narcotic opium, oleander, and hemlock."
In the bottle: Fresh, tart apple with a hint of herbally greens.
Immediately after application: Pretty much the same as in the imp but with the opium wafting through. YUM.
Warming up: Apple is going, going, gone. Or at least very faded. The opium has taken over but is oddly not as strong as opium usually is on me.
Fading: This fades really fast on me. My skin sucked up all the apple and I'm left with mostly opium and a hint of hemlock/oleander.
Faded: Little to no throw, short wear.
Overall: I LOVE it wet and it's rather nice on drydown as well even if the apple faded. I will probably eventually get a bottle, but I've got so much stuff I want to order it'll be waiting awhile.
Rating: 3/5.
Review #130: Pomegranate V (LE)
Website Description: "Pomegranate, carnation, amber, cardamom, neroli, vetiver, black pepper, and opium tar."
In the bottle: A burst of sweetness, the spicy carnation, and a hint of opium.
Immediately after application: Tart/sweet pomegranate, carnation, a bit of opium, perhaps a bit of spice from the black pepper.
Warming up: Definitely carnation with the sweet/tart pomegranate and the richness of the amber. I think I like carnation notes and I don't usually care for floral notes. It's got a spiciness to it I really enjoy.
Fading: This stayed absolutely lovely on me. Sweet, tart, spicy, a bit floral, warmly resinous, and under everything a breath of opium.
Faded: Light throw, short wear.
Overall: Finally, a blend that didn't disappoint! The vetiver behaved and it was a gorgeous mix of notes that wore wonderfully on me. My only complaint is that it faded pretty quickly.
Rating: 4/5.
Review #131: Decrepit House (LE)
Website Description: "Dilapidated planks of mahogany and cypress wood perched feebly on a grim foundation of long-dead leaves, black musk, patchouli, galbanum, tobacco absolute, fragonia, and oakmoss."
In the bottle: Woods, patchouli, a green scent I think is the leaf note.
Immediately after application: Woods, musk, and patchouli.
Warming up: Lovely melding of wood, musk, and patchouli and a whiff of tobacco.
Fading: Woodsy, musky patchouli.
Faded: Average throw, average wear.
Overall: I'm a slut for woods + musk + patchouli. The other notes are basically frosting on the cake. They subtly added depth. It smells almost like Raven Moon, which is one of my absolute favorites. Bottle, definitely.
Rating: 5/5.
Review #132: Velvet Tiki (LE)
Website Description: "Gold-washed frangipani, vanilla flower, vanilla bean, coconut, hibiscus, papaya, pineapple, bouganvilla, passion fruit, and three orchids."
In the bottle: PINEAPPLE, PAPAYA, AND COCONUT HOW DO I LOVE THEE?
Immediately after application: Getting the florals along with the fruit and even a bit of spice. OH MY YUM.
Warming up: It's blended into an amazing tropical scent. LOVE.
Fading: Yummy tropical fruits and a hint of flowers. Plus coconut and vanilla. WIN.
Faded: Light throw, average wear.
Overall: In the Tiki-Tiki-Tiki-Tiki Room, in the Tiki-Tiki-Tiki-Tiki Room, where the birds sing words and the flowers croon, in the Tiki-Tiki-Tiki-Tiki Room!
Rating: 5/5.
Review #133: Halloween: San Francisco (LE)
Website Description: "Salt air wafting in from the bay. Rain falling on rain-soaked leaves."
In the bottle: Leaves. Wet leaves. HOW DOES SHE DO THAT?
Immediately after application: Wow. WOW. It is so evocative of a rainy October day by the ocean. This is beautiful.
Warming up: Turning into more of a pure aquatic and losing the leaves. Damn.
Fading: A bit of that cologne-y vibe I associate with aquatics.
Faded: Light throw, average wear.
Overall: I'm not sure I want to smell like this, but it would make an amazing room scent and so incredibly captures the idea, it's insane. Too bad this doesn't come in an atmo spray.
Rating: 3/5 for capturing the moment. I wish this came in atmo spray ><
Review #134: Boo 2010 (LE)
Website Description: "Eerie billows of spun sugar, fluttering white cotton, and sheets of cream."
In the bottle: Sugared creamy vanilla om nom nom.
Immediately after application: Same as in-bottle with a slight "clean" note that's probably meant to be the cotton.
Warming up: A bland "cream" note. I can barely smell it after half an hour. Wait. 15 minutes later it's a gorgeous vanilla cream. Holy crap. I guess it just needed a kickstart XD My husband hugged me and said "You smell amazing!"
Fading: It's lasting really well. It's a soft vanilla sugar cream.
Faded: Light throw, average wear.
Overall: It smelled amazing in the vial and after a bit of warming up, just as amazing on. I get a true vanilla sugar cream scent rather than the overly sweet or oddly fake vanilla of the many available "vanilla sugar" scents like B&BW. I have wanted a simple vanilla-y blend like this for years and those fake-smelling vanillas turned me off so much. I'm also pleased I can wear the lab's cream note without it souring. BOTTLE!
Rating: 4/5, only because it goes through an odd phase as it warms. After that though, it's perfection.
Review #135: Sibyl (LE)
Website Description: "Bourbon vanilla, Egyptian musk, olibanum, summer honey, white tea, Spanish mandarin, tea rose, cognac, and a faint trace of prussic acid."
In the bottle: Vanilla, musk, mandarin.
Immediately after application: It's morphing like crazy. It's gone from musky to sweet to vanilla. It's settling into a mandarin/white tea with perhaps the acid note adding some bite and a smidge of vanilla. Tea rose normally behaves on me, and I'm not getting any amped rose so that's a good thing. It's really a quite complex blend. It's skin-close right now and I'm tempted to slather a bit more on but I just looked at the reviews as I was curious if it did the mighty morphin' dance for others and the reviews said it grows in scent as it dries down. Looking forward to it!
Warming up: Holy morphing crap, it's turned into the most unbelievably creamy vanilla blending with the mandarin and tea to produce an ungodly sophisticated scent reminiscent of creamsicles but oh so much more complex. The very faintest whiff of floral but the rose is being a good girl. It's definitely stronger now, so good thing I didn't slather more of this precious scent on myself!
Fading: Strongly vanilla, a whiff of tea, and some undercurrents of musk. A tiny bite from either the acid or the cognac.
Faded: Very light throw, average wear.
Overall: Wow, what a stunning blend. Just wow. I am so thankful to have gotten a bottle.
Rating: 5/5.
Review #136: La Bella Donna Della Mia Mente (GC)
Website Description: "Soft, lush myrtle and dry, sweet melilot with wild rose, pomegranate juice and peach blossom against a background of deep aquatic notes and a twirl of melancholy autumn breezes."
In the bottle: Fruity floral.
Immediately after application: Rose, tempered a bit by the myrtle and a smidge of pomegranate.
Warming up: Rose and floral. Meh.
Fading: Oh wow it got pretty! I get the peach over a tiny bit of aquatic and mild floral.
Faded: Slightly peachy, slightly pomegranate, just a breath of floral left and a tiny bit of aquatics.
Overall: Not fond of the floral phase but once it was warmed up, it really smelled pretty. However, I am not waiting over an hour to smell nice ><
Rating: 2/5.
Review #137: Harvest Moon 2010 (LE)
Website Description: "This Harvest lunacy combines the autumnal scents of dry leaves, mulling spices, balsam fir, cedar, juniper berry, clove, saffron, damson plum, sage, yarrow, and lily twined with Dionysus' sacred grapes and ivy, a bounty of apple and pumpkin, and the amaranth and lingum aloes of Janus, all touched by a gentle breath of festival woodsmoke and sweet wine."
In the bottle: Mulling spices, a hint of balsam, a touch of wine, apple, plum, and pumpkin.
Immediately after application: Oh hi woodsmoke! The evergreens and leaves lie just below the smoke scent and below that, mulling spices. Very much an organic autumn smell. Every time I say I like something at the wet stage lately, it turns awful (Caterpillar = cat pee anyone?) so I won't say I like it. I'm huffing my arm though.
Warming up: The mulling spices are trying their best to poke through but they are being strangled by the evergreens.
Fading: Evergreens. Oh and NOW there's some smoke.
Faded: Light throw, average wear.
Overall: I think I'll be swapping or selling this one, sadly. It was another of those "smell great at first and then one or two notes stomp the rest to death." I am really disappointed. I wanted an outdoorsy, woodsy, spicy blend for autumn but it's probably not going to be this one. I'll give it a week or two and test again and see what happens.
Rating: 1/5.
Review #138: Depraved (GC)
Website Description: "Earthy black patchouli swelling with apricot."
In the bottle: Patchouli and under that, juicy fresh apricot.
Immediately after application: Earthy, herbal patchouli with syrupy sweet apricot flesh.
Warming up: It smells like I dropped an overripe apricot into freshly turned earth.
Fading: Patchouli with a hint of sweetness.
Faded: Average throw, average wear.
Overall: This is the big brother of the Lab's patch notes. It's earthy and dirty and raw. Unfortunately the apricot didn't add much, leaving the patch a little too intense for me.
Rating: 2/5.
Review #139: Dian's Bud (GC)
Website Description: "Wormwood (artemisia absinthium)"
In the bottle: Light herbal, slight hint of licorice.
Immediately after application: Herbally with hints of lemon and... cucumber? Very clean and light.
Warming up: Slighty aquatic, slightly fruity, slightly floral. It feels very pale, I imagine it as a pale green in color. Clean but not soapy.
Fading: Maintains that very clean smell. White floral and watery cucumber.
Faded: Pretty decent throw for such a light-smelling blend. Average wear.
Overall: Not my type of scent, too pretty and clean. I expected wormwood to be darker and earthier.
Rating: 1/5.
Review #140: The Dodo (GC)
Website Description: "Red musk, lemon peel, sugar cane, cassia, white sandalwood, mango, and agarwood."
In the bottle: The musk and woods are strongest.
Immediately after application: Heavily woodsy with a smidge of mango and sugar. I get a very "polished wood" feel rather than "walking in the woods" sort of feel. I like it a lot so far.
Warming up: Something is trying its best to go sour. The woodsy smell has pretty much faded to background notes and it's more a fruity/musky scent. Not liking it as much now.
Fading: The sour smell is persisting. It seems The Dodo is not for me :(
Faded: Light throw, average wear.
Overall: I really liked it at first until one of the notes started to smell sour and continued to get progressively worse. Blech.
Rating: 1/5.
Review #141: Calaveras (LE)
Website Description: "Xocolatl, tequila, copal incense, smoke-dried jalapeños, vanilla pods, and cajeta."
In the bottle: It smells chocolately.
Immediately after application: I get some burn from the tequila and jalapenos (not literally), a smidge of incense, and that chocolately scent. Almost like chocolate-covered pretzels. This smells better than it sounds.
Warming up: Still smells oddly like pretzels but only from far away. Slightly sweet, spicy, savory on skin with a smidge of the tequila bite.
Fading: Smoky, spicy, a little sweet.
Faded: Average throw, long wear.
Overall: I can't decide if I like it or not. I'll mark it down as a possible bottle just for uniqueness.
Rating: 3/5.
Review #142: Pomegranate III (LE)
Website Description: "Pomegranate, Tamil Nadu sandalwood, lavender, tamarind, hazelnut, Atlas cedarwood, sugar date, bitter clove, and Arabian myrrh."
In the bottle: Sandalwood, lavender, cedar.
Immediately after application: Woodsy with the sweet/tart bite of pomegranate and sugar date plus a waft of lavender.
Warming up: Mostly pomegranate and lavender, a hint of the tamarind (I had Indian last night for dinner and had tamarind chutney so I can definitely pick up some here), a bit woodsy.
Fading: Pom and lavender, sweet and floral/herbal. Maybe a smidge of the myrrh.
Faded: Average throw, average wear.
Overall: I like! The husband hugged me and said "Mmm you smell good!" so clearly he approved as well XD Bottle!
Rating: 4/5.
Review #143: Mabon 2010 (LE)
Website Description: "Blackberry wine and apple with hops, English ivy, rosemary, hazel, sage, chamomile, sweetgrass, oak bark, wild nuts, and myrrh."
In the bottle: Blackberry and apple, slightly sweet but more akin to the fresh fruit, ivy, rosemary, sage.
Immediately after application: The fruits actually disappear on my skin. I get some of the green notes and some woods, and omg I get the nuts! Usually the nuts get completely buried.
Warming up: Everything disappeared on my skin but the fruit.
Fading: Very faint fruity.
Faded: No throw, short wear.
Overall: I am disappointed in this for a number of reasons. I loved the idea of it with the mix of notes and hoped it would smell like the mead my husband has brewing right now, sans the honey of course. It was doing an ok job when wet but it disappeared as it dried and left just a generic-feeling fruity. In addition, it faded super-fast on me. Major disappointment, at least with my skin chemistry :( And of course I bought a bottle unsniffed, which will be going to swaps.
Rating: 0.5/5.
Review #144: All Souls 2010 (LE)
Website Description: "An incense blend that invokes the higher qualities of mercy and compassion, mingled with the soft, sugared currant scent of offertory soul cakes."
In the bottle: Incense over sweet cake.
Immediately after application: Strongly incense with hints of cake. I love the incense for this blend.
Warming up: Incense with slight hints of cake. The more it warms, the less I can smell the cake notes.
Fading: Pure incense, no cake to speak of.
Faded: Average throw, average wear.
Overall: Basically a single-note incense. As good as that smells, I have to be more choosy about what Weenies I get bottles of. This one is a like, not love, so no bottle.
Rating: 3/5.
Review #145: Tiki Princess (LE)
Website Description: "A frothy, cold coconut perfume, pure and sweet, with gentle wafts of plumeria, pikake, and ala ala wai nui."
In the bottle: Tropical florals. I can definitely smell the plumeria.
Immediately after application: Tropical florals with a hint of coconut. It's described as "cold" and surprisingly for tropical blooms, that fits. Almost like a cool breeze through the flowers.
Warming up: Coconut is going, going, gone. I'm left with pleasant floral that seems quite girly and worthy of a tiki princess.
Fading: Soft flowers.
Faded: Average throw, average wear.
Overall: I was so sure I was going to love this but it's one of those coconut blends that disappoint me. My skin sucked it up so fast and left just the floral notes. It smelled pretty. I don't really do pretty >_> I enjoy sniffing it but I don't want to smell like it. I don't want this gorgeous scent to sit around when someone could be enjoying it.
Rating: 2/5.
Review #146: Dawn: Cernunnos (LE)
Website Description: "Terebinth pine, basil, green sandalwood, fig leaf, armoise, lemonbalm, cypress, myrrh, black cedar, and juniper."
In the bottle: Pine, basil, cedar, juniper.
Immediately after application: Ew, something smells funky. Other than that I get pine, basil, myrhh, cedar, and a smidge of juniper. Oh, funky smell is gone in minutes, yay! The throw is medium to strong and it smells AWESOME. Herbal and woodsy.
Warming up: Mm I like this. Woodsy with some herbal hints and a bit of sweetness. It's definitely a male-feeling scent but I think it can work on both genders. Wow, I really like this!
Fading: Woodsy/herbal/resin.
Faded: Average to strong throw, average wear.
Overall: Bottle!
Rating: 4/5.
Review #147: The Hag (LE)
Website Description: "Black musk, bay leaves, galangal, bourbon vetiver, blackcurrant, and rum."
In the bottle: A whoosh of butterscoth that is the rum and some musk behind it.
Immediately after application: Rum with bay leaves, something citrusy which is probably the galangal. I had to look it up, turns out it's also known as blue ginger and definitely fits the description as it's described as "citrusy, piney, earthy". It's very herbal. Damn I've been wishing for a good herbal blend that wasn't so "green", I hope this is it!
Warming up: Herbally and the vetiver is behaving.
Fading: Musk, herbs, vetiver.
Faded: Average throw, average wear.
Overall: The Hag isn't pretty but she sure is interesting. I like her. Possible bottle!
Rating: 4/5.
Review #148: A Howl in the Darkness (LE)
Website Description: "A scent evocative of a forest at midnight, with animalic brown musk, wild sage, Terebinth pine, black oak, and a chilly shock of terror personified by kunzea, cistus labdanum, verbena, juniper, metallic ozone, and white mint."
In the bottle: This is amazingly complex and beautiful in the vial. I catch pine, verbena, mint, ozone, sage in turns.
Immediately after application: Verbena but it seems almost creamy. After a few minutes, the mint appears.
Warming up: Clean, almost misty. I'm not getting the musk at all.
Fading: Second test, I think my description of it as "misty" was apt. The "wolfish" notes never made an appearance. No musk, pine, sage.
Faded: Light throw, average wear.
Overall: I am seriously wondering if my chemistry is off today because both skin tests I did turned out oddly. I'm giving each of them another try on a different day. Perhaps it's that fancy womanly cycle messing things up. ETA: Nope, stayed the same. I envision a forest wreathed in fog. Quite lovely in its way, but I have to be strong and NOT get bottles of some of these XD
Rating: 3/5.
Review #149: Saw-Scaled Viper (GC for now)
Website Description: "Snake Oil with cinnamon, cassia, and red ginger."
In the bottle: Spicy and almost cake-like.
Immediately after application: CINNAMON with undertones of Snake Oil and spices.
Warming up: Cinnamon bark, not baking or candy cinnamon. The Snake Oil actually kind
of smells like a snake o.O It's got that dry, almost dirty feel.
Fading: The Snake Oil is coming out more now. I liked the morphing quite a bit.
Faded: Strong throw, average wear. I'm a little surprised I didn't break out from this as I have VERY sensitive skin and a lot of reviewers reported burning or hives from the strong oils. I won't look a gift horse in the mouth though, I'll just be glad it behaved on me!
Overall: This is fresh and I keep hearing how amazing Snake Oil blends get when aged and I think I may need a bottle to age. I rather like it as is though!
Rating: 4/5.
Review #150: Pumpkin Latte (LE)
Website Description: "Espresso, pumpkin syrup, smoky vanilla bean, milk, raw sugar, and a dash of cinnamon and nutmeg."
In the bottle: OMG Starbucks Pumpkin Latte.
Immediately after application: The cinnamon is pretty strong but all the notes are present and make me want to lick my arm. It's a Red Hots type of cinnamon. I love cinnamon, especially in the fall.
Warming up: I get the coffee about an hour after application. It almost smells mapley. I have to admit, I'm not real fond of it and my inner foodie is shocked and apalled.
Fading: Cinnamony coffee with a smidge of milk.
Faded: Average throw, average wear.
Overall: I actually didn't like it! WHAT IS THIS I DON'T EVEN D:
Rating: 2/5.