chin

Hellfire

In the vial this smells sweet and light - I almost wondered if there had been a mix-up with the label. After applying, at first, this reminds me of pine resin and pine smoke - light, heady, resiny, increasingly smoky. The smoky resiny leathery sweetness builds over time, it's wonderful. After about an hour the ambergris comes out - the note that I love so much from Masquerade. I love it, its very sexy. I don't get the creaminess or the brandy, overall this is not heavy on me although it does have a lot of impact. It also has incredible staying power on me - more than twelve hours later, it's sweet and smoky, moody and sexy.

Well now ... no I didn't! Thanks lady

 

Now that it's at the top again maybe it will be useful for other international peeps waiting for Wednesday!

 

ETA, if I subscribe, does that mean that I will get a pesky e-mail every time someone posts? Hm this probably belongs in Forum FAQ, sorry.

selfishly bumping this info because I will need it on Wednesday!

Q you are cool

 

Nella (or anyone) is there an ideal subject line for PayPal orders? Customer name (real name, not handle), or something else?

Kweku Anansi is an oil that I wanted to love, because I grew up with Anansi stories. When I read the reviews above, I wasn't hopeful - but, surprise, this oil does wonderful things on my skin!

At first, I thought I could detect tiny hints of clove, allspice and lime. The overall impression at first was very damp-earthy, but that morphed quickly into a dark, sweet, earthy, powdery scent. It's been about six hours now, and it's still going strong. I think I can smell a little bit of bay, like the way it smells in bay rum, not the leaf. The spices might still be there, but if so they are in the background. I am wondering if the lime I smelled is actually myrrh (sometimes my nose makes this association, to me, sloth smells a little citrusy). I love this - the dark sweet earthiness is beautiful. I will order a big bottle when it becomes available!

Very lemony but not sharp, citrusy, "white" and cold, if that makes sense. A clear, refreshing scent that still seems grounded (the white musk?). If Phantasm is a cashmere sweater, this one is the palest yellow bias-cut gossamer silk slip dress. On second wearing, I notice a middle note that doesn't agree with me. It reminds me of the taste of blood and metal ... hard to explain.

The scent is orangey, and after the first hit, the civet (I think) makes it a little stinky for a short time (reminds me of ... the idea of the smell of fear). The drydown is still orangey, and sweet, but grounded.

Morella was not as sagey as I expected, it's very pretty and soft. I can't pick up the civet, and the orris (I think!) is rounding this out. This oil was a mystery to me in terms of knowing the components and smelling the actual oil blend ... I was expecting something different. It's a pretty, soft, herbal floral - which sounds like damning with faint praise but it's NOT meant to be, it's beautiful. I don't know if I will use a 5mL but I will order an imp or two before it's discontinued.

Yuki-Onna

 

At first it's a bit sharply lemony - it is chilly, "whiter" than the other lemony scents I've tried. It's softly citrusy after drydown, and the jasmine is more pronounced. This is one of my favourites for putting in bath salts - really lovely.

 

In comparison with my other citrusy faves, this is chillier than Phantasm, sharper, not as round. It doesn't have the musk that Phobos does, which I like. It's less sweet than Lobban, and a whole different beast than Aizen-Myoo (which is round and orangey and happy and warm, to my nose).

Tempete, I have nothing to add but wanted to cross-post a big thank you for being so thoughtful!

AH O'dessa, thank you - It turns out that my Sept 10th order is shipping today, so I imagine it's too late for that one - but if the others (yeah, I went crazy in Sept ) and my Yule order could be FedExed, that would be awesome.

Morrighana maybe your orders will meet my orders and make some beautiful music

 

Meanwhile, maybe we should start up a Canadian swaps thread to tide us over!

Well, at least it's in your hands now, nevermore

 

I'm thinking that all of my outstanding orders are somewhere in that huge pile.

Anyone from Western Canada besides me?

 

(apologies for the lack of formatting)

 

http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouvers...84-5867165b9697

Old Sybaris was my first thought - let us know what you think when you get it, lavinia! As you all know, it doesn't have chocolate, but I find the tonka bean very foodie and warm and almost chocolatey in its richness. Yum!

Hey Klowey - thanks for pointing that out

 

My next question is really the same question ... if international orders are going out in a cluster once per week, could we have an update once per week? I'm thinking that if tracking/paperwork is already being done for the int'l orders it might be not so painful to post which orders have gone out. At least that way we'd know to direct our mental energies towards Customs

bumping to say that lovely Nella has posted examples of how to write orders in the comments box when making a PayPal order. thanks Nella!

 

[added link to the example ~qs]

This is probably not totally on point, but there is a fresh green note that shows up in the tarot oil, Strength, that reminds me of the initial cold, fresh green note in Rose Red (oceandessa let me try hers!). I love that - like walking into a cold room full of wet, red roses.

 

What if you layered Strength and Persephone? Ack maybe not.

ditto on the thanks to both anyoldactress and to Nella!

 

I am in Canada and I do know that it's not as easy to ship here from the US. I appreciate that the lovely peeps at the lab are willing to do it!

 

A question about shipping updates ... when Brian posts an update (e.g. "shipped through Sept 14th"), does that apply to international orders too? If not, would it be possible to have a separate update for international orders ... or is that too big a pain in the butt?

Hey Krista, one more rec for you - Greed. It's one of my favourites, smoky resiny deep ... I don't know which patchouli it contains, but it's soft and warm on me, really really great

Hey pixie, before you order you might want to read the Sugar Skull thread in the BPAL chatter area as well as the review of Sugar Skull. I think it's been described more as a brown sugar scent as opposed to cotton candy.

I love tomato leaf too, brownbat! So far the only thing I've found is Burt's Bees soap and toner. It's not perfect, but it's something.

 

I will be all over the BPAL version when it comes out!

cool, thank you malanna

 

oubliette, I have an imp of Neo-Tokyo - I should try it again to compare.

 

Actually I should try Lolita Lempicka again - my memories of it are from my pre-BPAL days. My nose is a little more "eddicated" now and I'd probably think about it differently.

It's so cool the way different people's chemistry works - Ravenous was totally orange popsicle on me.

 

I should try Kabuki - malanna, do you think the anise was what you were smelling re: the licorice? Was it pretty strong compared to the fruit?

Hi binky, Lolita Lempicka is one of my favourite non-BPAL fragrances (although I don't wear it a lot now because, well, BPAL kicks ass!). Unfortunately I'm not much use to you Although I've tried my fair share of imps, I haven't found anything that is similar. On me, LL is predominantly licorice-y and herbal, sweet but not cloying, not fruity at all. The vanilla isn't strong on me either.

 

I haven't tried the single note of licorice - maybe start there? Other oils that have some of the same quality/mood for me are Morella (herbal-floral), Rosalind (herbal-fruity-floral), Alecto (dry-fruity-woody-herbal). I haven't tried Le Serpent Qui Danse, but it could be a possibility - violet, vanilla, and gardenia are the components.

 

Good luck!