Unseelie

SWEET~ First sniff from the vial is sweet, WOW. There are so MANY fruits in here, i'm not getting a predominent note from any one. It's complex in the sweet way, and not cheap or artificial; deep sweet, not light. I'm feeling lucky that there's no gardenia overt, either; not my favorite flower. As it dries an incensy spice warms the scent. I'm 'listening' to this one for rose, or floral, but I'm not hit my any recognizable single floral note either. It's morphing as wear continues; different aspects of deep, dark, sweet fruit. I'm timing this for duration! Hope it's a durable one. At half an hour I've had a brief breeze of gardenia and rose, as the sweet fruit top note steps back. The incensy warmth is still there- can't figure out what is offering that note though! Fir would be more piney? I haven't noticed anything that.. evergreeny.. though that would explain some of the power and depth of the scent. Nice!

Gritty, yes, languid in the opium dark sense, with a sharp green floral.. oh "black herbs"! Fig date and currant are sweet but not excessively so, and not particularly juicy - and thankfully not artificial. This is a dark one, herbal to the extreme; quite nifty and should go on anyone's "Fig" hit-lists. It starts out sharp, and softens on dry-down; this is one to wait through the first scent to get to the lasting quality of it! I'm going to want to roll in this as summer turns to fall..

Granddaughter of Helios, Hecate's chosen: Medea was one of the greatest sorceresses of the ancient world. She is the embodiment of ruthless power, indomitable will and furious vengeance. Night-blooming cereus, black orchid, black currant and myrtle leaf enshrouded in the incense of Hecate's cypress and myrrh, and the dark rage of magickal labdanum and intoxicating poppy. My Medea, a 2ml shorty that was split from a larger bottle in February, is initially nearly a dead ringer for Hunter Moon- at least in the early stages when some of the herbal sharpness resembles pepper. The cypress is sharp, and the other similarity that rises to mind when Medea is wet is Nemesis - a green, herbal, scent, but rather than bright, made full and dark by the fruit carrying it. After drydown this clings to the wrist; incense and round deep fruit, I'm nose to skin again. It's the recent reviews that made me pick this up to try, to see if it had changed much since I'd first received the bottle. It certainly hasn't lost any of its potency, and is wafting well.

Hamadryiad is ~soooo~ nice; i probably won't be able to get my brains in order to write a real review but it goes through a cinnamon (other) woody stage, and seems much like Chimera, early on, then goes warm and woody and subtle for quite a long time. The sandalwood seems to have staying power.

i really don't understand this scent, but i love it. i really don't like patchouli, but i think this blend is - i dunno, love like rocket science. the patchouli is tamed by the sweeter notes; orange creamsicle/vanilla velvet kept from going candystore by the patchouli spice.. and for once a patchouli that doesn't smell like dirt on me! i can't stop sniffing it, i'm not sure if there's a flower i can't place or something new about orange blossom, but it's a really astonishing blend. i'd reccomend this to someone who doesn't think they like patchouli but keeps wanting the deep, mystic spice experience. it's also just too well crafted to pass up; multi-note, mostly stable- it's layered rather than changing- and it's a wonderful non-main use of vanilla!

i wanted to like this one from the description and past experience with opium notes; unfortunately it just *didn't* want to play nice with my skin. i got the strange boozy-turning-to-plastic odor that i got from Bordello. if Bordello works for you, and probably O and Swank, this one will probably work out. ah well, one more 5ml for the swaps!

in the bottle: butter. butterscotch? my first thought was it's that butter flavoring you use when making frosting, but i got the more butterscotchy tang with a nice deep snort. i concur with a majority of BPAL.org reviews; a butterscotch based scent! on, wet: a threat of mint-like-lift, but it's GONE quickly. overall the wet scent is calm, and buttery. FLOWER! *gone* huh? what was that? there was just a moment of super sweet berry flower, i would have sworn, but it's.. buttery again {less butterscotch, more creamy sweet}. drying: THERE's that flower again! it's a sugared petal whatever it is, and the butterscotch is a delightful backing. mmm, it is nice, but i do find the hint of a lift like booze, which can go to plastic on me. it's not though, butter balances it down, creamy weight winning out. i like the super berry floral. now and then there's that crystal cucumber "lunar oil" smell, the one similar note that, ja, it's here, it's in Hunter, Wolf and Storm moons. i think that's what comes across as a "threat of mint", because it never really develops spear- or peppermint. good grief.. now that i think on it, this is intensely girly overall. sweet buttery floral, shimmery moon smell. not overpowering, and there are layers to it that make it interesting. a sleep scent, ja. if i'm too embarrassed to wear this kind of thing to work; there i am ebil ubervixenazi! muah haha! i like this with medium luv. over the long haul it's the lunar chilly scent that stays, the floral drops away, and the butterscotch base means i smell some of the boozy lift. not as frantically enthused with this as i am with Wolf and Storm, so i think i'll have some to spare if there's any takers.

to sum up: OMFGWTFHAHABBQ!!¡1 this is floral. this is powerful. Oppanax/Galbanum type strength, MIGHTY lillies, not their weak and sweet funerial cousins. there's a heated lift to it; not cinnamon, not dragon's blood, nor patchouli. i'm having a hell of a time picking out anything individual from this, but i'm captivated. bewarned - it smells like "perfume". the way Dragon's Eye had that "Hello! I am a perfume product!" scent to it, this is like.. that plus Venom {a terrifically strong blend reminiscent of Dior's Poison}. In the bottle: rose? nnuh.. rose geranium mebbe? but.. i hate those, and i don't hate this. Or.. HM, flower? I can't *tell* what it is.. but.. i'm compelled to swipe it on.. play Tom Waits "What's He Building?" when you wear this for the first time. Wet on skin: OH PERFUME! It's got that strong 'Perfume' smell i associate with Venom and other.. ooh, it's slightly more chemical than Venom, but going through a fabulous floral range. Candy-like-spice scent just wafted for a moment, then back to an 'expensive perfume' scent. WOW. it's wonderful. it will just kill me if it turns out that this has a huge Gardenia note that i'm suddenly inexplicably digging on. Half an hour: It's still a strong scent. This is going to be a 'good all day at the office' scent. It's gotten a faint touch of powderyness to it now, softening of the brittle edges, but it's still potent. hm, i tend to powderize amber, so that may be a component. ORCHID.. my GHAD i just caught a lovely whiff of a dark orchid. *squee* Oddly.. uh.. it's not really reminding me of Fire. o_O In.. ANY way. It smells.. really good, to me, but.. uh.. "Hey Beavis.. huh-huh, how come there's no fire?" Some heavy florals, i can't get the inspiration to wear in warm weather - i think this one will do just fine. Ja, i can see wearing this in stifling heat and finding it uplifting and unwavering. WARNING: i predict this will drive people with allergies B@TSH¡T, it's just so strong and wafty and floral. HOWEVER: if you take public transpo and have had the Stinky Crazy Man get on, and then suddently caught a whiff of a Woman Who Smells Lovely and drives away the darkness? She'd be wearing this. This is the Galadriel of scents, ja, and it would feel pretty cool to be that Woman Who Smells Lovely. PURPOSE: this would be a nice "bridge scent" to lure more traditional members of aquaintance or family to BPAL with! it's far from "hippy" or "headshop" and very strong, mature, and female.

sniffed in the bottle it's subdued, slightly fruity but not the bold screaming berry reek of Bewitched or the others i've collected for their "purple" fruits and spice. this one is a grower, rather than a shower. at first application the fruity quality seems to waft with a slightly peppery bent, i started thinking of hunter moon, but the pepper hint didn't last and it wasn't a very strong effect. i suspect now it was the first efforts of the incensy spices to come up. since it took a little time for the fruit to fade and let the other notes through. dry, i'm slightly surprised as i was really expecting this to be a strong scent, one of those mighty-wafting perfumes that announces itself boldly; but it's much more subtle and i'm having to sniff it out, and it's only about 20 minutes in! the incense is prominent now, the majority note, and it's a real chapel and altar incense- wonderful! i just wish it were *stronger*. it seems that this one is going to last long as an incensed floral with a faintly sweet pull to it, it's dark and subtle, keeping close to the body and warm. it's a nice one, but Blood Countess, as a much stronger force will remain higher on my favorites list.

in the bottle: so THAT'S ozone, ja, i recognize it, now the name will stick for -sure-. hm, ozone lift and spearmint, and that lunar-mystery-note. i'm sceptical about this, but slide it on.. @_@ applied: one becomes sexy-clean-man. *squees* THIS is a summer cross-dressing scent, ja ja ja, and something to try out on the nearest male at the first available opportunity. as it dried it lost the spearminty common note and has held an incredibly aquatic ozone/cucumber smell for the past half hour. i don't think it has quite the lift that Wolf Moon had, but when you get close to annointed skin- oh smexy clean-boy smell!

In the bottle it's minty-chocolatey, complex and a little strange. It's ringing a bell that takes a while to settle in but once i dab it on and the scent gets some lift i realize i smell like a chocolate martini. o_O Wow! i'm not getting much coconut, or sweet oil scent, after about 20 minutes the mint has faded back and i smell an incredibly rich, powdery cocoa wafting from me when i move. this is so amazing..

i'd gotten an imp of this in decant version as part of a lot in fall 2004, so it came a few months after the scent had been discontinued. i really.. can't recommend chasing any around at this late date. in my decant the jasmine has risen to eat the rose, giving it a very nasty bite and very little that distinguishes it from "rose smelling jasmine". judging from other reviews.. grape? are you kidding? hm.. well if you're planning to pick this up from someone ask them specific questions about what *theirs* in hand smells like, it's quite likely that by now different batches of the oil can have gone in wildly different directions. i'm not going to inflict the rest of my imp on anyone; it's just gone nasty and has that bitter nose-burning strength of a delightfully mature jasmine-uber-alles.

in the bottle: wet green, powdery medicinal and herbal, not much floral wafting from the bottle. on wet: so lightly green, flowery {that's a duh statement, i wish i could do better} it will smell nothing like this dry - reinforcing the ultimate lesson to "imp sniffers", that doesn't work, you have to put it on! drying: oh wow, slightly smokey rose and only if i deep sniff - there's the orchid. it resembles Queen Mab with that cloying drape of floral comfort; though Magda is, to my memory, much less overtly orchid, less creamyness and much more rosyness and clear floral. i want to say it's incensy, but it's not that; there's a deep softness to the rose, something that cuts the edge of the floral as it dries and sends it dark and softly furred, warm and very sexy. i don't want to say the rose is incensey/smokey, but there's the most delicate pull to the flavor of the flower in a non-flowery direction. i go for über-spice and heavy incense, so that might be giving me a perceptual blind-spot? a touch of smoke.. i could say it's flavored that way, just a bit.. and now for FUN! the "what does this remind me of?" sniff-off! Phantom Queen - back of right hand Magdalene - back of left hand I'm trying a sniff-off because these two remind me so strongly of one another, the creamy & orchid quality fills my nose and i need some way to pick out the difference. Magdalene shows up the roses, and they are dark creamy roses, Phantom Queen goes bright cheery green sweet apple again. Fascinating! they are *nothing* alike when sniffed side by side. Next test - Magdalene & Queen Mab... {finds backs of wrists currently unscented} wow~ both lovely.. i'm going to have to do this again on another day. right now they're So Close they're nearly indistinguishable and it could be locations of smell or other things. first impression is that Queen Mab is stronger, stronger wafting and creamyness and stronger orchid power. Magdalene has a touch more crispness to the rose, and the rose has just the slightest barest almost incense/smoke. Queen Mab- milky heavy-sweet, Magdalene- softly herbal-spice.. but really.. today they're too close to call. wow!

In the bottle: a sharp floral, magnolia jasmine rose - you can pick out all of them with a long slow sniff. Wet: it's still a very sharpish floral as it hits the skin; orchid rises, tugged aside by jasmine, and it smells like the magnoilia is going to be the strongest element soon. the jasmine and magnolia overall in combination gives it a slightly soapy taste on me- i don't do terribly well with jasmines. i'm not good at finding amber, it's also possible it doesn't come out on me {unless it's a major note and then it smells like something's burned up}, so though i'm wondering how it's flavoring this i can't say i'm finding it or that amber sends the overall scent any particular way. Drying: i keep sniffing, it's amazing to me that in this one you can pick up each flower, nothing seems to be lost. it's heavy, and lovely in that way- strong full floral scents that aren't wimpy at all, or generic. backing away for a lighter kind of sniff - it's a deep and complex floral, white and pale greens. if you sniff for jasmine you'll find it, sniff for rose and you'll find it, sniff for magnoilia, etc; this is probably a fabulously morphing scent per individual, two people could wear it and depending on what notes their skin pushes to the fore, *and* what they recognize or expect to smell would report totally different effects on one another and themselves. speaking of scents that play tricks... my right wrist smells different from my left. o_O it's sweeter on the left, orchid and rose. on the right it's tangier, more jasmine.

i've quoted Korki's review because i've noticed ~exactly~ the same set of effects from the bottle of Wolf's Moon i've opened. i've noticed no, not any, none, keine, nichtovo in mine: pine, dark musk, minty, menthol, mossy, vigorous green, dank or heavy notes. o_O elsewhere in the thread it's been described as a "crystalline floral", and i agree with that as well for the bottle/batch that i've gotten. and it's making me nuts; i'm LOVING it, absolutely loving it.. but i have no idea what i'm smelling in it. what are those flowers? the overall effect is 'cold' and clean and light, sweet with out being cloying both wet and on skin. some of the sweet seems to trade for a very gentle muskyness, remaining overtly floral- but the lasting power is amazing! i'm at the 6 hour mark for wrist application and still getting the occasional waft. how something so delicate can still have such strength.. really wonderful stuff. and... i.. {like to claim that i} don't like "floral" perfumes {hah! then why am i loving this to death?} ETA: a redab to strengthen and resniff it fresh.. citrusy sweet, barely-hint-o-musky.. i can't tell you how curious this has me as to contents!

Wow, dot testing Sybaris at the elbows, not a heavy slather either, and this stuff is throwing like MAD. Clove, spicy warm incensy clove with throw that *will not* stop. woohoo.. wow.. I'd dotted it on lightly since i'm in "test the new things" mode; Sybaris drowned out The Raven, and i have a slight cold and i'm still getting a mighty throw of clove spice. o_O This is a scent that will linger in a room after you've passed, will probably do great dabbed in the hair or as a room scent. Awesome... I'd like to compare this to Port-au-Prince to see how they compete at throwing the clove note; could be that clove is simply really quite strong this year/batch/season/shipment. It's a great clove though; incensy and spicy and rich. Yes, this is going in the scent-pad-thingie in my car.. mmm..

fenris wolf; i first mistyped fenris woof after taking a big noseful of this from my wrist and flopping my paws on the keyboard. HOLY moly is this mossy! wow! for the first time i can say "Moss! that's what that smells like!" odd, since it's not part of the description. if i were warmer, there would be more musk wafting, wouldn't there.. cold blooded people need wafting perfumes too! :weep: i'm smelling a warm dark slightly spiced wood, and it's really interesting! i haven't had an oil yet that smelled so very much like a specific object in nature. boyscent. a bit more evergreen tang noticeable as it goes through drydown, and a warmth built into it starts to emerge. i will wear this and be boyish, it's woody and dark and deep, and i don't think it knows its own strength. after half an hour i lean in to sniff and it's woody, and that's about all. maybe i should be running around and warming it up, seeing what a little body heat and natural musk could do to help bring up the oil to wafting temperature. hm, on me it's spicy wet cracked open live wood, on a man this might be a rather scary smell. i snort my wrist again.. no, on a man this might be the cuddle stuff of dreams. bizarre, i can't make up my mind. i'm having very sexually ambivilent responses to this one. i hope Wolf Moon is similar... ah.. and now i read the desc and .. look at all the red/brown ingredients! and i really thought this sniffed moss green and wet dark brown and everything about deep woods and fallen logs. odd! it's a keeper, definitely. and it's also a "make my brother" try it, too. [oh, and if you are slightly bored with the gentle wood scent, and want to try to add something to the mix, DO NOT choose Wolf's Heart. short story; you will smell like BBQ sauce.]

very perfumy, the spice of dragon's blood wafts though the floral notes. wet it's very sharp, all sharpness; fancy heels and laquered nails, hair swept back tight and flashing glasses. very tangy at this stage, although just 10 minutes into it i realize it smells like something very familiar, look it up trying to place it. at 15 minutes dry the flowers are winning, softening it up, but are still turned a lovely unexpected direction by the dragon's blood; the lilac wants to go to soap but the dragon's blood is having none of it. this is just so cool.. it also reminds me of Dior's Poison, and reading the ingredients the common one is galbanum(sp).. that plus the lilly, being nearly orchid/opponax-ish, that kind of sweet cloying floral in Poison.. yeah, that's where it's coming from, a close combination. half an hour now, i'm getting more of a soapy effect now from the spiced lilac, and want to put this on a boy at work.. very badly.. maybe tomorrow. this would make a wonderful perfume for office/work wear, or cold lifeless environments where you really want to put a kick in the air as you pass; it will pass "professional" requirements, but still zing em. final brief: a deeply spiced floral, warm and clean.

smells like candy in the bottle. waxy chocolate on the skin, berry fading quickly. maybe that's tobacco, my skin is sending this in all kinds of unexpected directions; mostly toward the really bad halloween candy direction. though there's more to it, i should sit still and just take my time with this - try again with a clearer nose and a blank canvas. wow.. okay.. either i need to try this again in a few days, or maybe let the bottle sit for a week or so before trying it again - the latter of which would be a two-for-one in the things tried column. if that doesn't work this may be my first swap due to misjudgement. this one so promising! maybe i should have known, when Wanda went so ODD on me and other people have great luck with it. boozy, tobacco, bawdy aren't working on me. WAAH! i want to be.. well.. a boozy tabacco-y bawdler! in the time it took to take notes this has settled somewhat; there's a sweet low note, and a lighter lifting alcohol (drinking, not the medicinal) scent, a good one.. still faintly chocolate though i suspect that's just me being unable to call a better description for what it really is i'm smelling. i'll definitely give this a second go in a week or so.. and also.. *eyes the male unit* i'm going to smear a bit on the man, here. see what it does on boyskin. i think it's got potential as a boyscent, the dry is light and sweet and just a little twisted. mmm..

i heartily second this rec, just got an imp of Darkness and was ~blown away~. what an amazing SMELL.

In the vial: that ‘cologne’ dry-scent, aaaah, that must be neroli, since i tag this type of marker in several blends containing it. Wet: Lemonheads! Swiped on: Ah, not lemony, more orangy, and oh so sweet. It smells like i’m wearing a Jamba-Juice! Drying: Incredibly sweet, incredibly fuity, most definite raspberry orange sweetness. Cologne scent never made it onto skin. Slightly waxy? Definitely Jamba-Juice. I'm giving this to someone i know whose skin eats fruits, this one might stick around for her! Sweeeet sweet sweet sweet.. sweet.. Wow, my favorite Jamba-Juice is the raspberry with lime. The craving is So Great ATM.. must not lick wrist.. i can't wear this one, too sweet & fruity, but if it were on ice i'd drink it. no question.

i'd had imps of this, and held off review until larger bottle arrived; it was so good i had to *know* it wasn't a flukey imp. Wow, the ever-green and woods are strong in the bottle, and there’s some gentle spice, something warmer, that can almost be sniffed out. it’s teasing, the sweet notes drifting in there somewhere among the green. swiping it on it warms even more, woody, gently spicy, and sweetness rising. usually i’m not so thrilled with patcholi blends due to bad chemistry, i turn it to dirty/dank smell.. but a rounding sweet fig type scent seems to be more dominant. that and the base notes just win overall; a wonderfully ever-green and woody note seems to be the strongest component, touched up by the sweeter elements. given time it’s mellowing and more floral wafts are lifting, i’d swear i smell sweet fruit on a slightly broken green branch, YUM. complex. it takes a while but eventually, unexpectedly, the rose appears. when it's nearly gone there’s the occasional whiff of rose, and that seems to be the way this one ends its life. it’s long-lasting though, takes its time mellowing, wafts well and is a real head-turner during the day. this turned into a big-bottle order almost immediately.

Nephilim; i was frightened of this due to the patchouli component, but determined to forge ahead since i kept putting in on the want list for so many other tempting notes. cure by fire! Wet: green. o_O really green smelling. thick and harvesty and planty and not patchouli or dark in that way. as it begins to dry it sweetens, though it's got a darkness i'm still not thinking it's patchouli talking, it's more a darkness based on weight, thick syrupy herbal candy. wow.. Drying, 5-20 mins: lime candy, those hard round balls related to ribbon candy? i'm thinking it's still just slightly herbal and a narrow inch away from pine-sol or something, but not; my creepy skin plays games with green scents something fierce. i think the something deeper and slightly spicer is showing up underneath as drying progresses. time to look at the official description and see what's going on. could that be frankincense? wow, what a complicated herbal concoction, i didn't remember how many there were in this, no wonder it's such an amazingly mutating scent. the cypress and lavender are probably giving me the clean-room idea, cypress has been a real treat in Nemesis, teaching me to like a tangy green lift, strong plant scent, and i've always liked lavender. Dry: i'm going to buy this and smear it on the mate. he'll be really pissed off, since he has no interest in flowery things, but i think he'll mellow as it dries and changes. i'm also going to send a decant to my brother and see how he likes it. oh, about the scent. >_< there's a lingering sweetness now, a gently wafting herbal sweetness, it's still complex and green. if i could identify individual herbal notes i'd probably be in heaven with this one; as it stands i just keep sniffing and going "Green Green Greenery, woot!" wow, is this an androgynous scent! oh, and not a *sign* of the 'bad patchouli gene' i posses turning this one dank!

if you like violets at all, Saturnalia just sings the tang of violet & dark vetiver at the top of its lungs. most recently i was wearing The Raven, applied to both wrists and was paying attention to it over time to see how it lasted & changed. i decided to put a drop of Saturnalia in an un-Raven'd spot to compare the violet notes. JUST a drop of Saturnalia, a touch of fingertip to the back of my wrist. it became all i could smell. some scents want body heat or chemistry to stimulate the different notes, Saturnalia doesn't need a thing. *VOOM* i just reviewed it as a good "hair annointment" scent for that reason. great for dark edwardian little girl or little gentleman days, ribbons in hat or hair and a few drops in the tresses and there you go.

Updated with use of Saturnalia more often, and since a recent violet comparison reminded me that it's got such natural 'throw' of its own - if you want a scent to finger into your hair, this is one of the good ones. some BPAL seems to need body heat and/or chemistry to activate notes, and send the perfume through its range. Saturnalia doesn't need or ask for any assistance. the vetiver and violet will sort out dominance as the oil itself dries, and then it just throws like a mutha'. tip a bit onto a fingertip and dab through the ends of your hair and you'll be followed by violets ~allll~ day long.