BPAL Descriptions and Reviews
New order, yay! I am backdating this one, because I think people might be getting a little sick of this slight obsession. So, for accuracy, this order was put in on January 10th, I received a Click & Ship on 22nd, and the package came in on the 28th (holy turnaround time, Batman!)
Bottles:
Snake Charmer
Rose Red (the bottle I should've received in the previous order)
The Piper at the Gates of Dawn
The Head of Holofernes
[Piper and Holofernes were both already reviewed in this post.]
Frimps:
Eros (This one is not actually a frimp, I ordered it specifically)
Bengal
Machu Picchu
New Orleans
Black Tower
Blood Pearl
The Deep Ones
Nyarlothep
Libertine
Snake Charmer (Anniversary - Resurrected 2008)
Sensual, sibilant, sexual and hypnotic: Arabian musk and exotic spices slinking through Egyptian amber, enticing vanilla, and a serpentine blend of black plum, labdanum, ambrette, benzoin and black coconut. [Very hopeful about this one.]
Rose Red (Yule 2008)
The perfected winter rose, dew covered and freshly cut. [Also have high hopes for this, as her sister, Snow White, didn't work so well.]
Review: At first, it was really strong and I got this sharp, sour green note, as if I were smell a rose that had been mulched. But that was only when I sniffed close to my wrist; if I didn't, I got this amazing rose waft. So I waited a little to see if the sour green bit would mellow out, and it absolutely does. I was left with this incredible red rose. Rose Red certainly lives up to the hype, if her sister didn't (and I have a feeling that, even if Snow White worked, Rose Red would still be the better.)
Eros (Excolo)
And eros again the loosener of limbs makes me tremble
A sweet-bitter unmanageable creature.
Myrrh, lilac, and honey wine with crimson tea leaf and sweet resins.
Review: First impression: hot, spicy, heavy celery. This is just weird, but incredibly fascinating. I get a little of the myrrh, but no lilac, no honey wine, and I dunno about the resins; maybe it's all combining for this strange smell.
A couple minutes later: Ooh, the honey's peeking out a bit now! And it's starting to seem something like tea, too. Eros certainly is a sweet-bitter unmanageable creature, but somehow, I like it.
Edit: Now that it's been on me for a little while, I like it a lot more. The honey wine and myrrh have come out to play, and I don't really get that celery smell, just a sense of some bitter herbs. I think the lilac is there too, mostly serving to keep it on the sweeter side of things. A+, would wear again.
Bengal (Wanderlust)
A sultry and unruly blend that emulates the ambient scent of the markets in ancient Bengal: skin musk with honey, peppers, clove, cinnamon bark and ginger.
Review: At first, this was amazing, spicy honey cinnamon. But after a minute or two, all I get is cinnamon (maybe some honey and clove, but I have to really focus to get any of that). And it's actually making my skin a bit itchy, eep. If the first impression had remained, I wouldn't mind the itch! Oh well.
Machu Picchu (Wanderlust)
Sweet tropical fruits burst through deep, wet rainforest boughs, enormous steamy blossoms, over thin mountaintop breezes, mingled with the soft, rich golden scent of Peruvian amber.
Review: This is definitely hot and wet; sweet, thick florals with only a little bit of amber. I quite like this, and it'd be good to wear for a cool spring day.
New Orleans (Wanderlust)
Reminiscent of hothouse blooms on a humid night, ripe, but touched with decay. Sweet honeysuckle and jasmine with a hint of lemon and spice.
Review: I'm not getting any lemon out of this, nor spice. It's mostly humid honeysuckle and jasmine. Although it's spot-on in terms of the flowers, it's not quite my thing.
Black Tower (Bewitching Brews)
Say that the men of the old black tower,
Though they but feed as the goatherd feeds,
Their money spent, their wine gone sour,
Lack nothing that a soldier needs,
That all are oath-bound men:
Those banners come not in.
There in the tomb stand the dead upright,
But winds come up from the shore:
They shake when the winds roar,
Old bones upon the mountain shake.
Those banners come to bribe or threaten,
Or whisper that a man's a fool
Who, when his own right king's forgotten,
Cares what king sets up his rule.
If he died long ago
Why do you dread us so?
There in the tomb drops the faint moonlight,
But wind comes up from the shore:
They shake when the winds roar,
Old bones upon the mountain shake.
The tower's old cook that must climb and clamber
Catching small birds in the dew of the morn
When we hale men lie stretched in slumber
Swears that he hears the king's great horn.
But he's a lying hound:
Stand we on guard oath-bound!
There in the tomb the dark grows blacker,
But wind comes up from the shore:
They shake when the winds roar,
Old bones upon the mountain shake.
A sepulchral, desolate scent. Long-dead soldiers, oath-bound; the perfume of their armor, the chill wind that surges through their tower, white bone and blackened steel: white sandalwood, ambergris, wet ozone, galbanum and leather with ebony, teak, burnt grasses, English ivy and a hint of red wine. [Wow, this sounds complex. And I like the poem and description; I'm intrigued!]
Review: Definitely a good scent for a guy, but I like it on myself too. I can pick out the leather, the ozone, something sweet and something green. There's a slight chill in this too. It seems a bit salty too (but not in a bad way), so perhaps that's the ambergris? On me, the leather is the foremost note, and everything else backs it up really nicely. It's dark, and fits the poem, but it's not at all heavy. Very nice.
Blood Pearl (Bewitching Brews)
Lustrous, sanguine, soft and lavish: soft orris, blood musk, and coconut.
Review: I wasn't sure I'd like this one, but it's turned out to be an unusual yet pretty blend. It boils down to two very simple words: musky coconut. The orris might be the thing making this sweeter. However, while I like it, I'm unlikely to wear this when I have many more and prettier things.
Libertine (Ars Amatoria)
Like a puffed and reckless libertine,
Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads.
Rosewood and chamomile with bergamot, violet, red sandalwood, primrose and Arabian musk.
Review: Sharp woodsy herbal perfume, with some florals on the edges. It's not bad, but it's a little strong - if I were to wear this again, I'll have to remember to dab a little instead of swipe. A little goes a loong way.
The Deep Ones (A Picnic in Arkham)
I think their predominant colour was a greyish-green, though they had white bellies. They were mostly shiny and slippery, but the ridges of their backs were scaly. Their forms vaguely suggested the anthropoid, while their heads were the heads of fish, with prodigious bulging eyes that never closed. At the sides of their necks were palpitating gills, and their long paws were webbed. They hopped irregularly, sometimes on two legs and sometimes on four. I was somehow glad that they had no more than four limbs. Their croaking, baying voices, clearly used for articulate speech, held all the dark shades of expression which their staring faces lacked.
Black algae, drooping seaweed, salty brine, and crushed coral.
Review: Evil ocean! \o/
Nyarlathotep (A Picnic in Arkham)
And it was then that Nyarlathotep came out of Egypt. Who he was, none could tell, but he was of the old native blood and looked like a Pharaoh. The fellahin knelt when they saw him, yet could not say why. He said he had risen up out of the blackness of twenty-seven centuries, and that he had heard messages from places not on this planet. Into the lands of civilisation came Nyarlathotep, swarthy, slender, and sinister, always buying strange instruments of glass and metal and combining them into instruments yet stranger. He spoke much of the sciences - of electricity and psychology - and gave exhibitions of power which sent his spectators away speechless, yet which swelled his fame to exceeding magnitude. Men advised one another to see Nyarlathotep, and shuddered. And where Nyarlathotep went, rest vanished; for the small hours were rent with the screams of a nightmare.
Brooding, yet electric: the scent of buried secrets, roiling nightmares, the essence of the Crawling Chaos, the Father of Knives and Locusts, the Hunter in the Dark. This is the blackest of ritual incenses charged with flashes of ozone.
Review: Evil lemons! \o/
Bottles:
Snake Charmer
Rose Red (the bottle I should've received in the previous order)
The Piper at the Gates of Dawn
The Head of Holofernes
[Piper and Holofernes were both already reviewed in this post.]
Frimps:
Eros (This one is not actually a frimp, I ordered it specifically)
Bengal
Machu Picchu
New Orleans
Black Tower
Blood Pearl
The Deep Ones
Nyarlothep
Libertine
Snake Charmer (Anniversary - Resurrected 2008)
Sensual, sibilant, sexual and hypnotic: Arabian musk and exotic spices slinking through Egyptian amber, enticing vanilla, and a serpentine blend of black plum, labdanum, ambrette, benzoin and black coconut. [Very hopeful about this one.]
Rose Red (Yule 2008)
The perfected winter rose, dew covered and freshly cut. [Also have high hopes for this, as her sister, Snow White, didn't work so well.]
Review: At first, it was really strong and I got this sharp, sour green note, as if I were smell a rose that had been mulched. But that was only when I sniffed close to my wrist; if I didn't, I got this amazing rose waft. So I waited a little to see if the sour green bit would mellow out, and it absolutely does. I was left with this incredible red rose. Rose Red certainly lives up to the hype, if her sister didn't (and I have a feeling that, even if Snow White worked, Rose Red would still be the better.)
Eros (Excolo)
And eros again the loosener of limbs makes me tremble
A sweet-bitter unmanageable creature.
Myrrh, lilac, and honey wine with crimson tea leaf and sweet resins.
Review: First impression: hot, spicy, heavy celery. This is just weird, but incredibly fascinating. I get a little of the myrrh, but no lilac, no honey wine, and I dunno about the resins; maybe it's all combining for this strange smell.
A couple minutes later: Ooh, the honey's peeking out a bit now! And it's starting to seem something like tea, too. Eros certainly is a sweet-bitter unmanageable creature, but somehow, I like it.
Edit: Now that it's been on me for a little while, I like it a lot more. The honey wine and myrrh have come out to play, and I don't really get that celery smell, just a sense of some bitter herbs. I think the lilac is there too, mostly serving to keep it on the sweeter side of things. A+, would wear again.
Bengal (Wanderlust)
A sultry and unruly blend that emulates the ambient scent of the markets in ancient Bengal: skin musk with honey, peppers, clove, cinnamon bark and ginger.
Review: At first, this was amazing, spicy honey cinnamon. But after a minute or two, all I get is cinnamon (maybe some honey and clove, but I have to really focus to get any of that). And it's actually making my skin a bit itchy, eep. If the first impression had remained, I wouldn't mind the itch! Oh well.
Machu Picchu (Wanderlust)
Sweet tropical fruits burst through deep, wet rainforest boughs, enormous steamy blossoms, over thin mountaintop breezes, mingled with the soft, rich golden scent of Peruvian amber.
Review: This is definitely hot and wet; sweet, thick florals with only a little bit of amber. I quite like this, and it'd be good to wear for a cool spring day.
New Orleans (Wanderlust)
Reminiscent of hothouse blooms on a humid night, ripe, but touched with decay. Sweet honeysuckle and jasmine with a hint of lemon and spice.
Review: I'm not getting any lemon out of this, nor spice. It's mostly humid honeysuckle and jasmine. Although it's spot-on in terms of the flowers, it's not quite my thing.
Black Tower (Bewitching Brews)
Say that the men of the old black tower,
Though they but feed as the goatherd feeds,
Their money spent, their wine gone sour,
Lack nothing that a soldier needs,
That all are oath-bound men:
Those banners come not in.
There in the tomb stand the dead upright,
But winds come up from the shore:
They shake when the winds roar,
Old bones upon the mountain shake.
Those banners come to bribe or threaten,
Or whisper that a man's a fool
Who, when his own right king's forgotten,
Cares what king sets up his rule.
If he died long ago
Why do you dread us so?
There in the tomb drops the faint moonlight,
But wind comes up from the shore:
They shake when the winds roar,
Old bones upon the mountain shake.
The tower's old cook that must climb and clamber
Catching small birds in the dew of the morn
When we hale men lie stretched in slumber
Swears that he hears the king's great horn.
But he's a lying hound:
Stand we on guard oath-bound!
There in the tomb the dark grows blacker,
But wind comes up from the shore:
They shake when the winds roar,
Old bones upon the mountain shake.
A sepulchral, desolate scent. Long-dead soldiers, oath-bound; the perfume of their armor, the chill wind that surges through their tower, white bone and blackened steel: white sandalwood, ambergris, wet ozone, galbanum and leather with ebony, teak, burnt grasses, English ivy and a hint of red wine. [Wow, this sounds complex. And I like the poem and description; I'm intrigued!]
Review: Definitely a good scent for a guy, but I like it on myself too. I can pick out the leather, the ozone, something sweet and something green. There's a slight chill in this too. It seems a bit salty too (but not in a bad way), so perhaps that's the ambergris? On me, the leather is the foremost note, and everything else backs it up really nicely. It's dark, and fits the poem, but it's not at all heavy. Very nice.
Blood Pearl (Bewitching Brews)
Lustrous, sanguine, soft and lavish: soft orris, blood musk, and coconut.
Review: I wasn't sure I'd like this one, but it's turned out to be an unusual yet pretty blend. It boils down to two very simple words: musky coconut. The orris might be the thing making this sweeter. However, while I like it, I'm unlikely to wear this when I have many more and prettier things.
Libertine (Ars Amatoria)
Like a puffed and reckless libertine,
Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads.
Rosewood and chamomile with bergamot, violet, red sandalwood, primrose and Arabian musk.
Review: Sharp woodsy herbal perfume, with some florals on the edges. It's not bad, but it's a little strong - if I were to wear this again, I'll have to remember to dab a little instead of swipe. A little goes a loong way.
The Deep Ones (A Picnic in Arkham)
I think their predominant colour was a greyish-green, though they had white bellies. They were mostly shiny and slippery, but the ridges of their backs were scaly. Their forms vaguely suggested the anthropoid, while their heads were the heads of fish, with prodigious bulging eyes that never closed. At the sides of their necks were palpitating gills, and their long paws were webbed. They hopped irregularly, sometimes on two legs and sometimes on four. I was somehow glad that they had no more than four limbs. Their croaking, baying voices, clearly used for articulate speech, held all the dark shades of expression which their staring faces lacked.
Black algae, drooping seaweed, salty brine, and crushed coral.
Review: Evil ocean! \o/
Nyarlathotep (A Picnic in Arkham)
And it was then that Nyarlathotep came out of Egypt. Who he was, none could tell, but he was of the old native blood and looked like a Pharaoh. The fellahin knelt when they saw him, yet could not say why. He said he had risen up out of the blackness of twenty-seven centuries, and that he had heard messages from places not on this planet. Into the lands of civilisation came Nyarlathotep, swarthy, slender, and sinister, always buying strange instruments of glass and metal and combining them into instruments yet stranger. He spoke much of the sciences - of electricity and psychology - and gave exhibitions of power which sent his spectators away speechless, yet which swelled his fame to exceeding magnitude. Men advised one another to see Nyarlathotep, and shuddered. And where Nyarlathotep went, rest vanished; for the small hours were rent with the screams of a nightmare.
Brooding, yet electric: the scent of buried secrets, roiling nightmares, the essence of the Crawling Chaos, the Father of Knives and Locusts, the Hunter in the Dark. This is the blackest of ritual incenses charged with flashes of ozone.
Review: Evil lemons! \o/