Aldercy

Wow, the oil is almost black! And very opaque. Unfortunately, on me, this is the "meat on a charcoal grill" kind of vetiver. I do find milder, more buttery vetiver notes to be very soothing and cozy, but this is about as harsh as it gets. I'm hoping aging will make it into something as wonderful as I'd hoped, but at this point I'm glad I didn't cave and buy a full bottle.

Happily, this is nothing like a beach ball or chemicals on my skin. It's the same smoky leather undertone from Liz (LOVE) with soft, windblown herbs and lush summer grass. They blend together surprisingly well. It's delicate and ferocious at the same time. I'll get a lot of wear out of this one.

It might not sound like it from the description, but "fun" is actually the word to describe this one. It's spiced snow! Frozen eucalyptus and glittering ice, but spiked with ginger root and hot incense resins. So it's not sweet, Christmas-y bakery spice at all. The ginger is raw, the hellsmoke hellish. But it combines into something with these perfect hot/cold layers that I really enjoy; neither side overwhelms the other. I really, really like it.

Mmm... the part of the description that sucked me into getting this one, the "wet honey musk," is definitely the highlight of the blend. It's complex and very suggestive. The honey note is reminiscent of that present in Door (kind of watered down and slightly smoky), but The Orgy has really roughed it up with the underlying scents of raw, throat-burning alcohol and harsh white face paint. You really can smell the lead powder. It's very distinct from everything else. I don't get any wine or leather, but it could come out as this mellows with age. This is amazing and very much how I would expect a room full of 18th century debauchery to smell. It's one of those highly imaginative "you-are-there" blends that I really love. It's a little too... specific... to wear very often, but I'm certainly going to keep the decant.

This smells oddly more fruity than I would have expected. Maybe... maybe it's the champaca? which for some reason often morphs into candy grape on my skin. But I don't really smell anything else. No opium, nothing aquatic, no musk, no flowers. Flat, plastic, purpley-red fruit. I don't know. Something is wrong here. I'm going to wait a couple days and test it again.

This starts out well because I love BPAL's snow note, but it unfortunately goes downhill as it dries. That icy sweet eucalyptus-mint slush is there in little bits and pieces, but it falls apart in the face of Monastery in the Mountains' "airiness." That air/wind note just turns to strong, powdery dryer sheets on me. And, unfortunately, the sandalwood and deodar are not up to the task of helping. They're too wispy/dusty and do nothing to effectively ground the scent. I loved the idea of a sandalwood-and-snow scent (I like scents with warm and cold layers: Ded Moroz, I'm looking at you *eyebrow waggle*), but it's just not working for me.

I almost cut this out of my decant order, but I'm glad I didn't. It's really interesting. Conical Beast is heavy on the black cherry (a tart, mushy, burgundy fruit smell-- very realistic and not at all the bright red cough syrup of regular cherry). When I first apply it, I get a blast of that as well as some gritty, rough vetiver. The angry, rusty-nails-and-meaty-smoke variety. This is worrying at first, but within five minutes it's completely calmed down into the more balmy, comfy vetiver I love. Like an earthy summer night and kind of sexy. It mixes perfectly with the rustic black cherry. As it dries all the way, I'm getting a touch of warm patchouli and a touch of fluttering white jasmine. I'm ultra-picky about jasmine, but night-blooming seems to work best and it's very subdued here. It contrasts nicely with the heated darkness of the rest of the scent. Overall, it reminds me a little bit of Earth Phoenix (Chinese musk, dark musk, moist soil, black cherry, opoponax, night-blooming jasmine, plum, woodland tobacco, snakeweed and cypress), but more sensual. It's unusual, but stays close to the skin and is very wearable. Definitely keeping the decant, and it could be a bottle purchase. This definitely is the best cherry-centric oil I've tried.

I don't even... what IS this? Hothrun Dath is weirdly cold and warm at the same time. The opium is very, very apparent right off the bat, and is strongly related to that found in Red Lantern-- blackly sweet and sticky. The grainy myrrh and woodsy oudh float sedately underneath, but are not very noticeable. And then I suppose it's the sand and bamboo notes that form the cool, wispy top notes. It's not really aquatic or ozone-y, just "fresh." Which is distinctly at odds with the heavy, drippy, musky opium base, but it works. Overall, it's kind of "in your face" and a little bit masculine, but I like it. I'll definitely hold onto the decant at least.

Okay, I have a huge BPAL spreadsheet that is somewhat outdated so it doesn't include more recent updates.... But the only General Catalog scent that meets your criteria is Eden: fig leaf, fig fruit, honeyed almond milk, toasted coconut and sandalwood. There's Hetairae, but it has ylang ylang (golden honey, fiery patchouli, sweet fig and clove, and a blushing touch of ylang ylang). There are several old LE or discontinued ones though: Milk Moon 2007: sweet milk, golden honey, fig fruit, pomegranate, dates, and white grape Berry Moon 2009: golden summer musk, warm fig, orange blossom honey, sweet blueberries, and velvety raspberries Libra 2007: rose, black cherry, carnation, fig, honey, plum, and blackcurrant Freak Show: fig, pomegranate and cocoa bean with lemon, bergamot, vanilla, mellow honey musk, calamus and tonka Hony Mone: three honeys blended with seven fruits, flowers, and herbs of passion, pleasure, and joy: honeysuckle, fig, carnation, apricot, jasmine, tonka, and almond The Horn of Amalthea: cream, honey, fig, quince, cos lettuce, pomegranate, pear, wild cucumber, carrot, marrow squash, saffron crocus, and bergamot Cupid Complaining to Venus: apple blossom, fig, white peach, honey absolute, red sandalwood, and wild thyme

Sometimes I am almost alarmed by how BPAL has something for every single occasion. I often try to wear secretly appropriate scents for my day's activities, and while it's awesome that BPAL has perfumes secretly appropriate for holidays or movies or horseback riding, I'm always kind of taken aback when I have something really, really strange planned and BPAL's still got it covered. Today I open my BPAL box thinking "So what's a girl to wear to a steampunk production of Titus Andronicus*?" ... ... ... "Oh. Titus Andronicus and Phoenix Steamworks**. Obviously." *which was fantastic, by the way. OMG. **they actually layer very nicely.

Faintly smoky, woodsy apples. They might even be lightly roasted, since this reminds me a lot of a simplified version of Fearful Pleasure. It's not a very sweet or watery apple note, but it is natural and kind of energizing. Not spiced or cider-y either. It balances very well between the two extremes of a floral, green "air-freshener" apple smell and a heavy, fake "apple-cinnamon-craft-store" apple smell. Juicy and delicious, but grounded. I'm really happy with it and think it's the kind of thing most people would find pleasant as a room scent.

The scent reminds me so much of last year's Sonnet d'Automne. It has the exact same syrupy thick, mushy dead leaf note (both descriptions actually specifically say "dry" leaves but I find it to be quite damp and sweet compared to the leaf notes in Falling Leaf Moon or A Blade of Grass, etc.). It's very accurate and brings to mind late autumn when all the other leaves have fallen, but oaks are still dropping their dull brown ones. It's colder and everyone's tired of raking by then, so they're just accumulating in people's driveways and getting rained on. However, it's not a dirty scent. There's a suggestion of fresh air and something kind of luminous and musky. Really nice.

(I'm going to review the flavors one at a time, so I'll come back and edit...) The tin is lovely, and the packaging is good. Everything's very securely sealed in there. The candies are about the size of a nickel, but last a long time. It's fairly clear which flavors are which by the coloring. Autumn Cider is exactly the golden color of cider. Ghoulish is black-red. And Blue Pumpkin Floss is a dark red-purple with white spots on one side and opaque grey-blue on the other. I tried Blue Pumpkin Floss first just because it looked so weird. For at least thirty seconds after popping it in my mouth, I thought "What was I thinking spending $11.50 on 15 pieces of candy?" It didn't really taste like anything at all except something dully powdery. I was so disappointed because tastes based on BPAL scents is pretty much the greatest thing I can think of and I wanted so badly for it to be great. And then it was. Blue Pumpkin Floss suddenly kind of blooms in your mouth and becomes ridiculously complex. I have to admit, I didn't like the perfume version at all, but the candy version is amazeballs. It's not ultra-sugary, so you can really taste all the delicate flavors without the SWEET! interfering. It tastes like pumpkin pie. Not like "pumpkin pie spice." Like pumpkin friggin pie. Like the gooey hot squashy filling and, shockingly, like the crust. It's like that gum in Willy Wonka that tastes exactly like all kinds of foods it isn't. I can only taste the hint of berry if I put it on the very tip of my tongue. It really is like experiencing BPAL with a different sense, and it's so so fun. I already desperately hope that they continue to make these for other updates. I'm going to go look through all my BPAL and contemplate which scents would be good to eat. ETA: Autumn Cider is not as mind-blowing as Blue Pumpkin Floss, but it's good. It too has a strange tastelessness for a minute in the beginning... I think they just need a moment to warm up and start to melt before the flavor actually does anything. It's definitely apple juice, not apple. Clear, sweet juice (tastes fresh to me, not fermented). With a lot of brown sugar and a lot of zingy spice. It's not cinnamon, but maybe nutmeg? And something almost like pepper but not. I don't get any butterscotch or citrus. ETA: Four months later... Did I not ever come back here to review Ghoulish? What the hell. Okay. Ghoulish, like the others, needs a moment to warm up and start to taste like anything. When it does, it tastes very much like lukewarm, sticky sweet amaretto and then a little bit like dried coconut flakes and dark cherry goo. This is the sweetest of the bunch, due to its notes. There's also something strangely "hot" about it, that's hard to describe. Like a faint alcohol burn in your throat. I don't really get any saffron. This one is very decadent and sensual, and I'd say I'd rank it second after BPF and before AC. Also, since I'm obviously amending this in the middle of February, I can attest to the fact that these hold up well. I've been ever so carefully rationing them!

THE NYMPHAE AVERNALES The nymphs of the Underworld: pomegranate, lilac musk, red rose, red sandalwood, honey, and frankincense. When I sniffed The Nymphae Avernales right out of the mailbox yesterday I was skeptical-- it was screaming sharp, all pomegranate and high-pitched floral. However, testing it this morning is turning out to be a lot better experience. Pomegranate and lilac are still the strongest notes at first, but then honey quickly leaps in. It makes a sudden appearance and kind of drenches everything in delicious, sunlit warmth. It actually rather drowns out the lilac (which is okay with me), but the fruity tartness of the pomegranate is still there. It's a pretty yummy combination and is kind of making me want to drizzle honey over pomegranate seeds now and see how it tastes. I'm getting the tiniest hint of the soft sandalwood, which keeps this from becoming too foody. I also smell something else a little earthy, but it doesn't strike me as frankincense. More like oakmoss and/or fig, if I had to put words to it? I don't know what's giving me that impression, but it's very subtle. The rose is subdued to the point of disappearance, though it is there. It's a velvety dark red rose, maybe a bit dry and crumbly. Not fresh, not cloying. In any case, it's pretty slight so those who are wary of rose could probably still take a chance with this, though of course YMMV. I quite like this-- it's different from my other pomegranate scents and, as it dries, it really doesn't even seem like "a pomegranate scent" anymore... everything blends together on the drydown so individual notes aren't very apparent anymore. It's sweet, definitely, but "grown-up" at the same time. It's a keeper for me.

I'm slightly underwhelmed, but I think that's just because I was expecting Siberian Musk to be like an OMG TOP TEN! kind of scent, and it's more just average good on me. It's a lot like Snake Oil with all the sweetness stripped out. Yet there's that dark brown, syrupy "cola" note that I get from fresh Mme. Moriarty... that may sound like it should be a sweet note, but it's really not. I wonder if that element will reduce with aging as it does with Mme. Moriarty? I don't hate it, but I find it slightly jarring and unnatural. Overall, it's a very thick, strong scent. Not something I would ever wear to work, but it's strangely cozy and comforting on a cool night.

I knew I was taking a chance with The Phoenix being an aquatic (very, very few work for me), but with the darker, deeper notes included I thought it was worth the risk and something about the description just kept pulling me in. I'm glad I took the risk, because this is a really unique scent to me, a really solid blend. Yes, it's definitely aquatic, but not in a fresh or soapy way. It's briny and oceanic, a very dark watery note with a midnight sea breeze sweeping over it. The salt really leaps out at me as its own element distinct from the seawater. Like a really strong, mineral rime of salt over everything, very realistic. I definitely get the gritty gunpowder, a little squeeze of lime juice, and some wood, but definitely no blood. The Snake Oil is the thing my nose is really searching for. I think its influence is what keeps The Phoenix so grounded and makes what is otherwise very inhuman? impersonal? scent a little musky, but I don't actually smell Snake Oil itself. Perhaps it could come out in the long-term drydown, after everything else has burned off over a few hours (Snake Oil lasts a long time on me). This would be amazing on a man, I think, but is not too masculine that I don't want to wear it. It's really good and not quite like anything else I have, which I always like.

2012 Version Oh wow, this is one of the very few oils that has caused me to gasp the moment I removed the cap. It's the kind of scent that demonstrates perfect blending... you have no idea what it is at first sniff-- nothing stands out more than anything else-- but it's intoxicating. I worried the patchouli would take over or that the chili pepper would be weird, but everything's really in wonderful harmony. It's slinky and sultry and smoky, with just a touch of sweetness and a touch of spice (neither hot spice nor bakery spice but just a certain glowing, grainy warmth). The benzoin, myrrh and musk are really the body of the scent, with the patchouli flitting in and out and the vanilla/nutmeg/chili floating on top. The myrrh is very, very much like that in Priala, The Human Phoenix. This has the same mood as aged Priala and they must share a type of myrrh that isn't exactly standard. Something about the whole scent also reminds me of Inez, though the only listed note they share is vanilla, and that's common enough. Not sure what's creating that comparison in my mind, but they just seem to have the same "texture." The musk is not a generic "black" musk-- which can go powdery-- or "dark" musk-- which can be too dirty or masculine. Whatever "ebony" musk is, its like soft sexy shadows. Velvety. The only other Lunacy oil that could give this a run for its money in my book is Falling Leaf Moon, my favorite. Raven Moon might be my favorite thing released so far this year. I'm so glad I didn't hesitate to buy it this time around; it's absolutely exquisite. Trying to decide if I need a backup of 2012 or if I should look for a bottle of the 2009 vintage. It seems like a blend that would age really well.

I was worried Clarimonde would be insipid floral perfume-- high-pitched, stale, soapy, powdery, etc. and so while I had it on my wish list for a long time (mostly for the white rose, which I love), I kept putting off going after it. But this is really worthwhile. Yes, it's very old-fashioned. But almost to such a degree that it's eerily perfect. It smells authentically antique, precisely Victorian, with a certain melancholy to it. It really transports you to another place and time. It's not really distinctly rosy on me. And the skin musk is not like that in any of the other skin musk blends I have. And the "Oriental perfume" seems to consist of another white floral (though subtle), a wisp of spice and a wisp of citrus. None of these elements stands out more than another. It blends together into one solid scent impression that's extremely sophisticated and dignified and somehow not generic or bland at all despite its simple, traditional notes. It conveys a kind of silent, sad grandeur, but isn't stuffy. I don't know how it works the way it does, but it's amazing and I'm glad I have it!

I ordered bottles of Carceri d'Invenzione and Arrival at the Sabbath and Homage to the Devil unsniffed because they've both been on my wish list for at least three years. I always told myself I really needed to try them and just never ever did. No time to waffle now!

This is a fun scent to experience (I looooved the Doozers as a kid, so I had to get at least a decant), but it's definitely not for everyday wear. It actually starts out as a soft, slightly sweet dirt scent-- and I love the Lab's earth notes, so the wet stage is quite wearable. Then the radishes come out. It's really amazingly accurate-- sharp, peppery, white hot. Rooty and vegetal. I swear I can almost taste radish. It drowns out the soil scent to just a dry suggestion. It's not blindingly offensive, but it's pretty odd. If you want to smell like you rubbed unwashed radishes all over yourself, this will do exactly that.

This is shockingly good on me and the only 13 to work so far. It's mostly soft white chocolate with an herbal overtone. The floral notes are not too strong, but I do get a whiff of carnation. It shifts a lot from one moment to the next, but it's always good.

Yes. Yes, yes, yes. This is one of those rare scents that actually made me gasp out loud when I opened the decant. Followed by immediate slathering. Jareth, as many have said, is clearly on the same order as Dorian with its strong sugared musk quality, but I have to agree also with Venneh: that it has a similar tonka-and-leather vibe as Clockwork Couture: Female (though it's not totally feminine by any means-- I think this would be drool-worthy on a man). I love both those scents, but Jareth is still its own distinct thing. There's a slightly spicy, woodsy base to it, and just a breath of lilac hovers at the edges, misty and suggestive but barely floral and definitely not overpowering. Everything is very well balanced. The "gleaming" leather had me concerned, but it is not a chemical leather note, it's sleek and warm and is kept in check by the other elements. It's great fresh, and I imagine it will age extremely well. Sexy as hell. I want to wear this forever.

On my skin, this actually reminds me pretty noticeably of a stronger Black Lace. With linen and tobacco/tobacco flower being the only notes in common, I find that kind of surprising, but I'm certainly not complaining. This has more throw and has a drier, more raw quality about it... like Black Lace's older, scruffier brother. The linen note is warm, worn and crinkly, almost with a tea-stained parchment quality to it. Really awesome and not at all perfumey like commercial "linen" and "cotton" notes usually are. There's tons of that distinctive tobacco flower note, which I love but if nicotiana is not your thing, steer clear. The sandalwood is there, lending a slightly musky aridity to the background, but it's very faint. I'm not a huge sandalwood fan, but it really works here. Dragon's blood resin is totally absent as far as I can tell, to the point where I'm wondering if it was forgotten. The oil is even perfectly clear, without a hint of pink to it, which I've never seen in a scent containing dragon's blood before. Medical Procedure is my definite favorite from among my Lupercalia decants and I'll probably get a bottle in my next order. ETA: This lasts forever. Like for 36 hours. It's frankly ridiculous.

Sugary florals-- relatively one-dimensional, but nice. It's a dewy pink scent, but there's a bit of spring greens in there too. I quite like peony and vanilla orchid, but I think this has made me realize that I like them better mixed with calmer/deeper supporting notes (like the tea of Dormouse or the resins and leather of CC: Female). It's pleasant, just not my usual kind of thing.

Wow. While I'm sure Queen of Clubs was good when it was brand new, I think the nearly 7 intervening years have probably done nothing but improve it. Every listed note is present (I can really pick out each one, which is unusual), yet it's all so well-blended by now that unless you're really concentrating on it it comes off as just one big totally mysterious scent without any note or set of notes dominating. It's smoky-sweet and earthy with dark red fruits, really mellow vanilla and just a bit of damp rose. The tartness of pomegranate and the sharpness of rose are thoroughly absorbed and softened by the resins and vanilla, but they're still there serving to perk things up. Overall, it's pretty dark and brooding. Sexy in a very overtly luxurious and primal way. I wouldn't wear this just anywhere. It reminds me a lot of Penny Dreadful (if I had to recommend a GC equivalent, that would be it), somewhat of Zombi, and a tiny bit of Crypt King, but it's really gorgeous and not exactly like anything else I have.