Fyre_in_Winter

This is very different from what I expected.. the scent smells very "pink" to me instead of "red." I smelled a bit of citrus, somewhere between orange and grapefruit, from the vial and when initially wet, but my skin eats most citrus, so it disappeared quickly. What has remained is a kind of floral-bubblegum smell. The same kind of smell as when you first crack a gumball, overlaid with flowers (I wanna say jasmine). There probably is some rose in here, since it's developing a lemony undertone on me. There might also be a tad bit of cinnamon or some other spice adding some background heat. To me this smells like a sweeter and floral version of Tintagel. Not sure what I think of it, but it's not doing it for me.

Count me into the pencil shavings club! Although in Velvet it's more of a fleeting thought, rather than the jab-you-in-the-nose of Intrigue. The vanilla really saves Velvet for me. It's a smooth and sweet, yet very dry vanilla that is grounded by the sandalwood and myrrh. The myrrh and cocoa make a very interesting and complex combination, and I'm happy the cocoa takes a backseat in this blend. It incites the urge to burrow my face into a thick black velvet pillow. Very, very beautiful scent.

I was very excited to try this blend. It wasn't as bitingly spicy as I expected, but was in fact smooth and bright. The spice and incense are there, as is the giner (which doesn't like me) but there also seems to be some exotic citrus smell- yuzu maybe? I rather liked it, until something reacted with my skin and Aries plummeted squarely into pure lemon. Very sad, and going off to swaps.

Wet on my skin Black Phoenix has the same cherry-almond smell that Bastet does, except much stronger and emphasis on the cherry portion. It starts to die down quickly, being replaced by a rich smoky incense smell, and the blend progresses more towards a dry feel. I can also just make out a nutty smell, toasted hazelnut maybe, peeking out. This stage actually smells very good to me, albeit very strong and dark. However, something in Black Phoenix turns sharply to baby powder at this point. The only other blend that's even remotely done that to me was Follow Me Boy, and thus I am left wondering what that ingredient is. Disappointing, but I donn't quite love it enough at it's good stage to mess around with scent lockets and such. C'est la vie, and off to swaps.

My skin and honey have an interesting relationship. O is a very interesting scent, for lack of more eloquent language. The amber turns a bit powdery to my nose, but otherwise it shares a thick, sweet, and slightly well, odd, smell of sex. The honey keeps it from going completely overboard though. I love the creamy sweetness and the way it seems to emanate from my skin. A little too faint for my personal taste, but I definitely think it has infinite layering possibilities for me. It seems like a very golden scent to me- definitely "morning sex."

Wow, Antique Lace is simply gorgeous! Equal parts clean laundry and a tender, sweet vanilla, yet amazingly fresh. This is one of the few vanillas to not turn icky on me. It is a perfect scent for people (like me) who love sweet scents but don't want them to turn cloying in the heat. I can't stop sniffing myself to get that intoxicating dichotomy. As others have noticed, I expected this to be much drier and dustier, but it smells as bright as laundry just brought in from the line.

In the vial it smells like a spicier and more cookie-ish version of Gingerbread Poppet. Wet on my skin it had a hint of booze, and became very heavy on the nutmeg with a hint of what I think is anise. It then became to smell sharper and more acrid, if not burnt. And then it morphed into spicy latex gloves in under five minutes. This definitely doesn't agree with my chemistry and is off to swaps.

Hmm, another scent review that seems to have slipped through the cracks. Lily of the valley and my skin chemistry do not get along at all. In fact, they have knock-down, drag-out fights and it smells really bad. The pear is indeed juicy and helps somewhat, but this ended up like Regan on me- "old lady cloying perfume."A shame.

As I was marking Black Pearl off as swapped on my spreadsheet, I noticed I had never posted a review of it, which I shall rectify now. My experience mirrors darkling's closely... It smelled gorgeously of coconut in the vial, with a touch of nuttiness. Normally I'm not a hazelnut fan, but whatever Beth uses is richly decadent and wonderful. However, the iris and white musk ruined it all for me. As I'm discovering, my skin amps up white musk in an unpleasant and soapy way, and the iris became cloying. All of this drowned out the beautiful coconut and hazelnut combo. So off to a new home it goes, but my samplying of the hazelnut has prompted me to give Gluttony a try at some point.

Poor baby! Give her hugs from me and I hope everything is ok.

You might want to give Bathsheba a try. For me personally, my sexy scents are Love Me (dragon's blood/clove/cinnamon/pepper on me) and Desire.

Wow, just wow... this is soooooo good! I was genuinely surprised by how strongly the cloves came out (sneaky bastards tend to hide in my skin) and how they combined with the cinnamon. This is a different cinnamon than I'm used to in BPAL blends... this is a sweet and hot cinnamon, yet utterly not like Red Hots. I'm guessing it's the white pepper that is a sort of heaviness lingering in the background. A very hot and bubbling scent, appropriately.

Alice is an exquisitely lovely scent. When first applied the honey and the rose vied for attention, but then all parties settled down into harmony. The rose is very soft (a nice change, since they're hard for me to wear without smelling like lemonade) and smells divine with the honey. This is the first blend I've tried where the milk note actually makes its presence known. The carnation adds a unique twist and a very soft spice. The bergamot runs beneath to unify (more felt than smelt, if that makes sense) and adds a cleaness to the scent without it turning soapy. I may have to buy a bottle for this summer. Or sooner, it might give Mata Hari a run for my bedtime oil. Beautifully done Beth.

And upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth. An ancient formula that inspires unrepentant decadence, lechery and debauch. Whatever is in Sacred Whore, my skin needs to stay far, far away from. At first I got a blast of spicy soap/gardenia smell that I've gotten from other blends that contain Dragon's Blood, except in this case it didn't fade. Add into that mix a note of licorice/ sassafras (my nose couldn't make up its mind) which I dislike and my stomach was a-churnin'. Hmm, one washing isn't going to do the trick on this powerful blend. That's cinnamon peeking its dainty head (yep, cinnamon smells dainty in this concoction) out and I think a bit of myrrh in there as well. Huh, weird, it doesn't smell half bad now. I'll keep it around for a week and see if my reaction was due to that TOTM. ETA: The complete drydown on me is burnt root beer. Double ick.

I was kind enough to get a decanted imp of this. I usually don't go by how an oil smells in the bottle, but Egg Nog did raise an eyebrow in that it's the first BPAL I have not been able to smell in the vial! Once on my skin (and it was a good swipe) it has a smell that phaedrine so eloquently put into words: And on me it's incredibly faint, like I rubbed a cheap vanilla candle or cheap vanilla body lotion on 4-6 hours previous. Dangit. What does a girl have to do to get some buttery vanilla/cream into her life?

I swapped for Fallen mainly because it sounded unique and different from the scents I'm usually attracted to. That said, it smelled quite different from what I had expected, based on the description. It is a very bright white/green floral, helped along by the musk, and almost overwhelming to my nose. It is tempered by the dusty smell of the violets, and the amber and sandalwood provide a surprisingly warm base, though the amber went a bit powdery and with the violets that created an interesting note in relation to the florals. Unfortunately on me, sandalwood and amber at first can produce a somewhat soapy top-note which is off-putting. In almost direct contrast to paschat's review, I was disappointed that the vetiver was non-existant(unusual since my skin usually amps it), since I a) like how it smells and would have added a sharp depth and darkness that Fallen needed (on my skin).

Nemesis is a very interesting blend. I would definitely recommend it for fig-lovers, since that is the note that dominates this blend (on my skin at least). The rose is only briefly present at the outset, then vanishes. The ginger adds a bit of warm spice to the fig, and the cypress added in makes this smell reminiscent of Intrigue (woods+ fig). I wanted to try this blend because of the rose/tonka combination, which thus far has worked well for me, but the tonka never does come out on my skin. Warm, spicy, and dry are words I would use to characterize this blend. It really isn't my style, but I think this would be a great scent to try out on a guy.

What a complex and just outright pretty blend! As per the usual with my skin, the rose dominates at first, though tempered by the other notes. I'm guessing it's the apple that is adding a nice round juiciness to the rose-almost makes my mouth water! I can't detect the patchouli or musk or bergamot, but there is some lingering bitterness that keeps it from being too "happy fluffy." Though Desire is definitely sweet... as time goes on, it becomes similar to Mata Hari on me in that I get a delicious roses-steeped-in-cream kind of smell. Desire is different in that a hint of juicy fruit remains with the rose, and the bitterness has shifted into more of a spice. Now I can smell just a hint of citrus adding some freshness and keeping the vanilla smooth and not cloying. Now about an hour later Desire is a very complex vanilla-but-better scent. Again the words fresh and pretty spring to mind. For some reason this blend really screams "date" to me... it has a very classic feel to me, and is pretty and feminine without being juvenile or cloying. And I am so pleased to find a rose blend I can wear! Another masterpiece from the Lab.

Ahh Jack, wonderful, nummy Jack. Once on my skin it becomes a wonderful blend of buttery creaminess, peach, and strong nutmeg. I'm not necessarily into fruity scents, but the spice of the nutmeg really makes this blend. The peach does die off fairly quickly, leaving a gorgeous spiced cream/butter/pumpkin. I do love the smell of pumpkin, and wish it appeared more strongly on my skin, but I still love the way it smells on me. Odd that it's named Jack- this oil makes me feel all girly and flirty.

This has to be the most unusual BPAL blend I've smelled yet. Oh man, the fruits are surprisingly juicy, the spruce doesn't overwhelm, the florals are delicate, a hint of mint to give it coolness, and smooth musk to blend it all together. Yet it remains very lightweight and breathy, with a fair amount of throw. The fruit and whatever kind of mint is in here seem to be predominant on one wrist, while the spruce and musks seem to predominate on the other. As time goes on the florals disappear, leaving a smell that would be quite nice on a man. I'm not sure how "me" this is, but it is so lovely, it might make me consider keeping it. A masterpiece.

This scent turned out very differently than what I had imagined. On my skin it ends up a very dry, spicy, and slightly acrid. To my nose I'm getting mostly jasmine and what I think is the oakmoss. After a bit the musk starts peeking out and giving some smoothness. But the dry spiciness remains, in an unpleasant way. It doesn't smell bad, precisely, it just so doesn't fit my chemistry or personality.

I've had other BPAL scents disagree with my chemistry or become odd combinations.. but this is the first one to actually cause my stomach to flip-flop. In the bottle it smelled vaguely like anise with a hint of something medicinal beneath it. I don't like anise, but I gave it a shot and dabbed a very small amount on. Pfhew, whatever that medicinal smell is, it multiplied by a thousand, crawled up my nostrils and hung on for dear life. Ugh. Luckily a woodsmoke note came out and masked that pretty quickly. Luckily for my stomach that is, and it's left me with a faint headache. I can see where this would work wonderfully on someone with the right chemistry. After several washings the bit lingering on my wrist smells quite nice. I also think this is definitely a more masculine scent. Off to the swap pile.

I was very disappointed with the way Regan smelled upon hitting my skin. Something in it turned lemony on me, and for about 10 minutes it smelled almost identical to Follow Me Boy. Then a green note entered the picture, kind of like a broken flower stem, and the florals swelled. Overall it was a very sweet, cloying, and sticky-wet type of floral fragrance. Then at about the half-hour mark, it died down into this funky smell. I can only describe it as being like some kind of cheap drugstore body lotion. Not quite suntan, but the undertone of cheap body lotion. It smelled so lovely in the vial. Oh well, off to swaps.

On me, Intrigue smells like sweet and very expensive pencil shavings. The cocoa, the fig, a hint of vanilla in the background- it smells utterly gorgeous. The fig really makes this wonderful and different. But the darned pencil shavings are still there! I love this too much to admit defeat! I will try it again in a week or so, or maybe layer it. Gods I hope the pencil shavings are a fluke!

Hecate is simply wonderful, in my book. Thus far this is the scent where the almonds stayed on my skin the longest, which makes me happy. After about 45 minutes the almonds are all but gone, leaving a dark, warm veil on my skin. I cannot adequately put into words how lovely this smells on the drydown. It is warm and rich without being cloying or smothering, or too spicy. As perfectly suited to a hot date as Hecate is, I think it will become a scent for any time that I am feeling particularly confident yet mellow and at ease with the world.