Seadreamer

The '09 Version:

Oh, hai there frankincense! Why don't I just lay my brain here on the floor so you can stomp on it with your oh-so-stylish spiked heel, pointed toe pumps?

I should have known better. I DID know better. I was just too tempted by the lovliness that is Sol Invictus. But however wonderful it may be, I have to force myself to remember one thing:

Frankincense gives me migraines!! AAAARRRRRGGGGHHHH!

<-- and that is what it does to my brain.

Still pretty though...

I am totally in love with the Pet Magah Bird label...

OMG, me TOOOOO!! I'm so thrilled I got a bottle.

Wow, I'm surprised. This scent goes extremely metallic on me. Does that mean I amp pyrite? Or maybe bronze musk? How odd. Up close to my skin, I get that lovely pear/amber/fig leaf combo, but the throw is all metals, all the time. I'm not sure about this one. I wonder if aging will mellow it out just a little. Then again, I've only had it on a couple of hours. We'll see what it does the rest of the day, and if it doesn't sweeten up a bit, I think I'll tuck it away to age.

In the bottle: Minty, soft flowers growing in dirt.

Wet: Well, hallo MINT!!

About 15 minutes: That's... huh. I smell like dirt. It's.... I feel like I need a shower, for some reason.

2 hours: Mmmmmm... soft. Silky. Barely floral. Barely mint. In fact... barely there. I'd reapply, but I'm not sure I want to smell that strongly of dirt.

I'd love to collect the whole set, but honestly? To be practical, I'm glad I got a decant.

Of all the scents in this update, Tissue was the one I was most looking forward to. I got a decant, and now I want a bottle to slather myself in. I like gardenia, but was hoping this would be more than that. I should have known that Beth would never do something that simple, becuase this is one of the most beautiful scents I have ever had the pleasure of smelling. If you looked up "pretty" in the dictionary, you'd find a scratch and sniff of Tissue.

It is floral, without a doubt. But it also creamy (though not foody-creamy) and mellow at the same time. I have no idea what rice paper is supposed to smell like, but when I think "rice paper" and smell my wrist, my mind immediately goes, "Oh yeah! I get it."

The only complaint I have is a complaint against myself. For some reason, I'm only smelling it very faintly. I've had a couple of office-mates ask me, "Is that you? That smells WONDERFUL!" so I know it's getting out there. I, however, have to put wrist to nose and inhale. And you know what? I can live with that.

OMG, I got this at work today (YAY for making THAT decision) and immediately went out to my car to spritz it. I was careful, because I know how strong these things can be, and.... I want to buy it again. And again. It is GORGEOUS. In fact it's so great I'm pretty much useless for objective conversation here. All I can say is BUY IT!! Buy it now!! Feel free to buy me some more too! *lol* It's amazing!

Editing the next day to add: This morning on my way to work my car smelled AMAZING. It's still filled with lucious honey, almond and that smoky, spiciness that must be the myrrh. This is the first time that I seriously think I have to order another bottle, budget permitting.

This one is doing really weird things on me. On the one hand, I ADORE the smell of it in the bottle. It's so YUM. And floating around me on the air, it's beautiful. Nice throw, obviously. But up close and person with my skin? First it turned into soap. SOAP! WTH? And then it disappeared. I think I'm probably smelling it from where I got it on my shirt at the bends of my elbows. If so, it works. I think it's crying out for a scent locket. Oh, that absolutely justifies the price of one, yeah?????

The Macabray is still a keeper, even if I might have to treat it a bit differently.

OH... MY... GOD...

After reading the reviews, I knew I had to try this, even though the frankincence in it worried me. (Sometimes it hates me) And there was a moment when it went sharp and strong and I was absolutely devestated. That lasted about 10 minutes and then this scent turned into something so amazing it's hard to put it into words. My advice? Go, read all those reviews of people who are better at this than I am, and take them to heart. This is an AMAZING warm, just-sweet-enough, smokey, incense-y, beeswax-y congolmeration of utter perfection. This is different from every other BPAL scent that has worked for me so far, and I am utterly and overwhelmingly in love. I will be ordering a big bottle and my earliest (financial) opportunity.

You know, I should REALLLY take a closer look at the descriptions of things, because all I seemed to zero in on was "sugared pear and white apple." And while that IS there, this scent is SO much more than that. It positively didn't work for me, so I sent my decant off as a gift to another forum member. Still, it was absolutely fun to check it out.

Got my inquests and added photos to my flickr page!! Haven't put them in their own section yet, running late. I'll try to do that later from work.

 

edit: Oh, I added photos of the new pen too.

Oh, I'm horribly jealous! I made a huge TP order, WITH Inquisition and got no pen.

This scent gave me the weirdest experience I've ever had with perfume. For some really odd reason, my nose does NOT recognize Violet Ray. I can't smell it at all. I practically stuck the imp up my nose, and... nothing. That's not the strangest part. I put some on the back of my hand. and still I smell absolutely nothing. BUT!!! I dropped my hand down by my dog's face and she RAN. I kid you not. She sniffed my hand, scrambled up out of my lap and ran to the other side of the room. WTF, people? I literally sat there with my mouth hanging open. I coaxed her back to my lap and slipped my perfumed hand by her nose again, and she left again. At that point I got up and washed it off. If that's not the oddest esperience anyone's ever had with scent, I'll.... Um... be surprised. Yeah. I'll be really surprised. I'm still left with the overwhelming sense of WTF???

You know how disappointing it can be when you have your heart set on a scent, and it just doesn't work for you? Lucky for me, Croquet isn't that scent. I have wanted this since the very first time I made it all the way through the lab's website and this one just cracked me up. I got it as a frimp in a decant circle (thank you Diana!) and I am in LOVE. Croquet is very similar in tone to Serpents Wtih Sparkling Eyes and Forky Tongues, but it's not identical. I still love them both. I was praying that the sage wouldn't overpower the citrus, and it doesn't, but it's absolutely there. As is the musk. And it's just so... YUMMY. I mean, there's just no other word for it.

Croquet is the BOMB. I've never really found a signature fragrance before, but this juuuuuust might be it. I think I'm going to have to order a bottle, like, TODAY.

On the handy-dandy 1-5 scale? Off the charts, babeeee. Off the charts.

Edited since I can never seem to hit "post" without there being SOME kind of error.

I think the woodsey thing that this scent has going on is acting just like the evergreens that hate me so much. Even getting past the name... *lol* If it had worked for me, I would have admitted it. But unfortunately, I get overwhelmed with the feeling that someone is beating me over the head with aromatic boards. Um. No. Actually... having been around sawmills as a child (my dad worked in one) it smells like uncured wood, which is always a little more sharp and a little less smooth. I know I like woody smells in general, but I think the difference between the cured wood smells and the sappy-sharp smell of freshly cut wood in this scent is what's putting me off here.

But an interesting experiment, none the less. Much appreciated, Lab, even if it didn't work out for me. This one is off to swaps, along with Tabella.

--Edited to make a little more sense.

Oh frankincense, you evil, evil creature. I didn't even smell you at first sniff, but within an hour, I had a full blown migraine. There's also something in there that smells sour to me. Not sure what it was, and I don't know if it would have faded on my skin, because I only sniffed from the bottle. It never even GOT as far as my skin. You know, migraines are why I gave up perfume 20 years ago. I'm so disappointed that I'm having problems again. At least, with these blends, it's a whole lot easier to narrow it down.

Anyway, this once-sniffed bottle will be going off for swaps. Too bad.

Since this is my first winter experiencing BPAL, I was hoping one of the snow scents would work for me. I never had a "snow" perfume before. Snow White scores, big time. It doesn't have the pine that ruined Snow Bunny for me, and I don't get coconut or playdoh... I just get clean, white, crisp snow and white flowers. This is just lovely, and would work, I believe, well into the spring. Heck, it would be wonderful to whip out in the middle of a muggy, oppressive summer and wear just for the cooling effect. I very, very much like this. My only complaint is that it faded VERY quickly. I had to reapply within an hour. Other than that, this one is a keeper.

Oh wow.... You know, I was a little afraid when I saw how dark Jacob's Ladder was in the decant. But at first sniff, this was just AMAZING. It is spicy, but it's a mellow spicy. It's almost, um... I can't even describe it, I'm so in love with it. It's like black coffee smoothed out by cream, although it smells absolutely nothing like coffee, if you know what I mean. *lol* If you always wanted to be able to wear those rich, spicy scents like Snake Oil, but they just went crazy on you, try this one. It's smooth as silk and rich as velvet. It is, to me, definitely a winter scent, maybe because I live in the Deep South. I couldn't see wearing it in the summer here. But as soon as that first frosty day hits, this would be the one I'd pull out and slather on. This is quite possibly my favorite of the Yule 2008 scents. I wish I could afford a bottle before they go away.

On the trusty 1-5 scale, this is a 6. Oh yeah. That good.

I am learning that my skin seems to amp all the evergreen scents. In the bottle, this was just as described, powdery snow and girlish perfume. I absolutely adored it. On my skin, it smelled just like I'd skied headfirst into a pine tree. *sighs* Unfortunately, this one's not for me unless I just use it as a room scent. Which IS always an idea.

Version: 2008

Source: Decant Circle by Ahania

Holy moly. My first mental response is to recoil a little from the sweetness, but this is quickly drying down into a perfectly gorgeous sugar cookie.

I'm quoting because I did EXACTLY the same thing! For some reason I thought it would be a brown sugar cookie with a lot more spice. First sniff was WOAH, and then a cautious re-sniff. It does turn out to be the perfect cookie, and sitting here thinking about it, I want to layer it with Gelt. Talk about a Yule treat! This is definitely what you should wear if you want to smell like cookies. Children and snack addicts would follow you home. *lol* In a word... YUM!

I wanted to love this, perhaps more than any other oil I've ordered from the lab. Let me show my age and tell you that about, oh... 30 years or so ago there was a perfume that I THINK was by Perry Ellis that smelled JUST like fresh cut grass. I was head over heels in love with it, and wore it through most of high school. In fact, it was the last perfume I wore before the migraines started. I wanted A Blade of Grass to be this perfume. And it was oooooooooh, so close. Unfortunately that sharp, crunchy crackle of dried autumn leaves was the doom. Within moments of applying it I was singing the "Helloooooo migraine" song. It's such a shame, because I truly did love it. It just didn't love me back. So I very sadly sent it away to a new and loving home. *sighs*

Oh, I find this just beee-youuuu-ti-ful! It does go quite strongly rose on me right at first, but as previous reviews have said, it's not your usual rose. It truly is softer, creamier and simply lovely. It doesn't go InsaneRose on me like Hymn did. After a while is warms into the softest of musks and honeysuckle. (Which I am QUITE proud to have identified all by myself. Maybe I'm getting better at this.) I'm having some sinus issues, so I do lose the smell quite quickly. I can't tell if it's the same fading scent that other people have talked about, or if it's just my nose. I can tell you that I'm certainly willing to reapply it as often as necessary. This is one of the most beautifully blended florals I've ever encountered. I received this as a gift-decant from Ahania, and I think I owe her another big Thank You!

On the 1-5 scale, this is a 4.5 (Only because of the fading factor.)

It was only after I ordered this that I became afraid that frankincense was a migraine inducer for me, so... *crosses fingers*

In the bottle: Um... cologne? I see one review that describes the ozone as cologne-y, so maybe that's what I'm smelling. And something sweet.

Wet: Much sweeter, and there's a green herbal-y something coming through. I am also getting violets from this, but it's the flower, not the leaf. So far, so good.

15 minutes: Still no headache, so either the frankincense isn't the cluprit or it hasn't kicked in yet. The scent is... a soft, cool, moist floral. That sounds odd, even to me, but there you go. The violets are defininately going peppery now, just as they are in real life. This is shaping up to be the most true violet scent I've found so far. If I don't develop a migraine, this might be a real keeper.

1 hour: OMG, this is BEAUTIFUL on me. This is my perfect violet scent, with that ozone/aquactic mix that I am coming to adore backing it up. I don't get the amber, or I'm just not recognizing it. The frankincense seems to be behaving, but then my other migraines kicked in a couple of hours down the road. I think I'll post now, keeping fingers crossed, and edit later if a headache pops up. If it stays away this is absolutely going on the Must Buy A Big Bottle Before It's Gone List. Here's hoping...

--Edited because I still can't spell. Or type.

To agree with several earlier posters: Nomnomnomnomnom!!! Hershey's Kisses!

Gelt is SO good. I've never had chocolate perfume before, and now I have to wonder why NOT? It's amazing. I accidentally got a tiny amount on my comfortor days ago and every time I go to bed I still smell it. It's heavenly. And I've been having really nice dreams lately. Maybe we should ask for Gelt to be added to the Somnium line? (j/k, lab!)

I let one of our nurses smell it, and she swore it was a chocolate flavoring agent. I had to convince her it was perfume. I also had to buy a bag of Kisses, because I was craving them after wearing this for a day. I probably won't buy a big bottle, but the imp is tremendous fun.

Oh woe... I wanted to love this. I loved the sound of it. What did my skin do to it, you ask? My skin turned it into CHRISTMAS TREES!!! And more CHRISTMAS TREES!! (All caps intentional.) Kind of stinky trees, at that. It's the Christmas Tree air freshener from hell. I wanted sandalwood, white amber, frozen berries and roses. Sadly, I did not find them. Stupid body chemistry. *pouts*

This is absolutely gorgeous, and my new BPAL favorite. I'm still not having a lot of success at picking out individual notes, but here are my general impressions:

In the imp: GREEN!! Sparkling lime, citrus with a bite. How appropriate.

Wet: Clean, fresh and still sparkling like mad.

Drying: Now becoming more complex. There's a richness behind all that fruit that I've never encountered before. Maybe it's the green musk? Swirling herbs and *sniffs* is that the currant? Yum!

Final: Soft and clean, but still green citrus. My only question is how many bottles I should stockpile.

OK guys, I hope you forgive me, but I started searching back though this topic, got about 10 pages in and gave up.

I have a RAGING headache after using the Yule 2008 version of Midnight Mass. I have exactly the same reaction to it as I do Snake Oil, and since I don't know what the ingredients are in either of them, does anyone have a clue what I should be avoiding? I THINK I have it narrowed down to frankincense, hyssop, black patchouli, cardamom, tamarind, rosemary, oakmoss or cypress. And yes, those are most of the notes of Nephilim, which gives me the exact same scent-morph and blazing headache. If I can ask the lab, can you tell me if any of those notes are in either Midnight Mass or Snake Oil? Because I have GOT to stay away from them. I just took migraine strength meds, and I'm still squinting at the computer. (Another reason I gave up on the topic search.)

To make a long plea short... help?