Myrrha

The notes are nothing alike but the complexity of this scent reminds me of The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Both of them have notes from several different scent categories and are well blended complex scents that are difficult to pin down. The description mentions that the fumes of this tree are poisonous and I get that sense from the scent. It is very aromatic and fume-y. There is some fruit, blended with something sharp and aromatic, maybe a turpentine-like resin? As it dries there are lovely green notes and some spiced bark and musk in the background. It isn't something I would wear as a personal scent but it is very interesting to sniff. It is more a masculine scent but because of the spiced greenery might be nice for a woman who likes more masculine scents. This will smell quite different on different people as it is complex.

Wet: sweet, creamy with a sort of neutral backdrop which must be the "wool" note. As it dries: The lily of the valley is so lovely in this scent. Any sharp edges are smothered by the cream, beeswax and wool. The beauty of the lily peeks out but without the problematic aspects. Dry: The pepper is the last to come out. A lovely scent but in a quiet way. Sometimes I really like the milky tea but at other moments (if I sniff my wrist directly) the milk smells slightly sour. All in all an interesting scent. I would recommend it to anyone who likes creamy light florals as the lily of the valley is so beautiful. While it doesn't smell "manly" or cologne-y at all it might also be an interesting choice for a man who wants a sweeter light floral scent. edit: I like this and will look for some other blends that have milk and tea notes.

Wet: Blast of powder. It is too sophisticated to ever be baby powder. It smells just a little like pine. This must be the amber. It is nothing like the amber in Blood Amber. No bpal amber I've tried has turned to powder quite like this. As it dries: the pomegranate comes out but is pomegranate the way my skin presents it which means sort of plastic smelling. Dry: Still mostly amber/powder. If I focus on it I can smell the fruit. It isn't an awful scent. It is distinctive and has lasted for a couple of hours. I don't think this is how it is supposed to smell though. I'd better be wary of dark amber in bpal blends.

Wearing this scent is like unexpectedly finding a couple of free hours and sitting in the shade of lilac and wisteria drinking iced oolong and peacefully doing needlework. It is cooling shade and leisure in a bottle. Wet: I notice the lilac first, and a cool, moist almost aquatic aspect to the scent. It isn’t really an aquatic note but somehow moistness is infused into the scent like it is in Glasgow. It feels very cooling and refreshing. As it dries: The cool musk and wisteria come out and balance with the lilac. It makes a blueish purple floral scent like lilacs and wisteria painted with transparent watercolors. Dry: a gorgeous, light watery floral. If I focus on looking for it I can smell the lavender but mostly it just adds a relaxing soothing tone to the scent and shapes the character of the lilac and wisteria. The lilac and wisteria do not refract into fake smelling notes on my skin at all, they smell enchanting even if I put my nose right down into my wrist. After an hour: The refreshing, watery aspect of the scent is the tea, and it comes out more now and is more recognizable. The musk is more prominent now but it is delicate, cool and transparent not an animal-like musk. The lilac and wisteria color the tea note so it is like musky iced tea with flowers floating in it. Verdict: I like this much better than Nocturne for a lilac scent and better than Glasgow or Dian’s Bud for a cooling floral. I might need at least a second bottle because I can imagine wearing this frequently in the summer.

Wet -- Orange! I'm not really into orange scents. There are hints of amber and spice but mostly it is orange. As it dries -- The apricot and amber blend with the orange and I like it much better now although it is quite powdery. Dry -- After about a half hour there is a wonderful cloud of softly spiced and fruited amber-rose. As others have mentioned it is a very blended scent so no singe note really stands out. Well, the rose does seem a bit dominant but it is so permeated by the amber, fruit and spice that it almost isn't rose anymore. Something about this scent lifts my spirits and makes me feel happy-- but in a grounded, calm way. The softness of the scent is relaxing. It is really a lovely oil. EDIT I tried another scent with "dark amber" prominently listed and realized that on me dark amber = dark powder.

This is soooo beautiful! Wet -- at first it is mostly lily. For the first few minutes I don't care for it much. As it Dries -- The peach blossom comes out. This is peach, but a light, fluffy kind of peach. The lily calms down and combines well with the peach. Dry -- I think I can recognize rice flower here, that creamy pale flower scent... it all adds up to a creamy, soft, peach and lily scent that is just indescribably lovely. I don't notice the rose in this blend. I can smell it with my wrists down at my sides so there is some throw. It lasts about three hours on me but my skin eats scent.

Thank you labbies for the frimp! This is such a lovely scent. It doesn't really scream rose to me at all. it is a soft, creamy, ethereal, nocturnal floral. Not sweet but not sharp either. It is not an herbal scent, yet the rose and moonflower are so real that there is a "planty" element. Somehow it also smells like moonlight, a scent like a glow. Wearing it I feel calm and beautiful. For such a delicate scent it is strong. I only dabbed the tip of the imp wand on my wrists and tops of wrists and that was enough. It lasts longer than many bpals do on me. How does Beth get the luminous quality in this scent? And how does she get it to smell transparent like this? I've never worn a perfume that has this ghostly transparency. It is very unique.

I hated this one when I first put it on. It seemed overly sharp and masculine but at the same time perfumy. After about fifteen minutes though it became really lovely. BPAL is like that sometimes. Dry, I could smell poppy and lily adding up to something floral but not typically floral. It is cool and a little sweet. The moss and earth notes give it depth. There is a bitterness here as well, I think it is the poppy. I wonder why it doesn't smell like gardenia to me? After a time it is mostly an earth scent with bitter flowers. It is elegant but I don't think it is for me.

Wet, very cinnamon-y but it didn't irritate my skin. After it has dried a bit the cinnamon is more balanced with the resins. There is a scent almost like skin but sweet and golden. If it weren't for an almost cake-like note I would love this scent. The cake note just makes me get tired of it quickly. I love the way the resins and cinnamon and floral balance out but I think most people around me who aren't really into scents will just smell cinnamon buns. I'm definitely going to pick up another imp or two and see how much I wear it over the winter.

Wet: a very true and realistic rose, but much softer than Rose Red. It has a sweetness to it but the sweetness is from the rose itself, not any extra sweet notes As it dries: The resin comes out more. I think it is myrrh -- a soft bitterness that balances the sweetness of the rose. The resins are a little bit earthy, a little bit spicy but not like a kitchen spice. Dry: I applied it in the crook of my elbow and I can smell it wafting around me, but only for the first forty minutes or so. After that it is more of a skin scent. It doesn't last more than two hours on me but my skin eats scent. I have a couple of bottles of this and it has become a favorite. A great scent for work or to feel romantic.

I've worn this twice now and been surprised both times at how beautiful it is. On me dragon's blood smells a little bit fruity and a little bit like lilacs. Some of the dragon's blood scents end up soapy or cheap smelling on me but this one doesn't. The ylang-ylang and poppy sort of herd the dragon's blood scent into an elegant floral direction and the amber adds richness and depth. Somehow the lilac-like resin and the other flowers add up to something really lovely and unusual. It seems like the amber is staying more in the background in this blend, avoiding the incense shop effect. Lasts about three hours which is a long time on my bpal devouring skin. I put it on my wrists and could catch whiffs of it with my arms down at my sides so there is some throw. I really like this and will probably look for more when my imp is gone.

Lilith -- it is an utterly sexy feminine scent. It does have powdery notes on me but still the most gorgeous scent. The wine and myrrh and rose make it seem right for a sexy vampire. I've gotten some older imps of this that smelled strange, as if the wine note had gone sour, so if you try it make sure to get a lab fresh imp.

Wet -- At first it is a glorious haze of red musk. I am probably getting the pomegranate mixed in there as well but can’t separate it out. At this point if I sniff my wrists directly there is a sharp note (probably the orange blossom). Not nice! But the waft is incredibly good. 10 minutes -- I can smell it pretty strongly with my arms down at my sides and I am attracting speculative glances from gentlemen some distance away so this does have throw. I can sniff my wrist directly without much of the sharp note at this stage. The orange blossom now smells *lovely* in the waft. I catch drifts of it as I walk around. 20 minutes -- Now I think I can separate out the scent of pomegranate in with the red musk and the scent is lightening up. The orange blossom continues to be gorgeous. When I sniff my wrist directly there is no sharp note at all. 1.5 hours -- At first I thought the orange blossom note had gone away and there was just the red musk and pomegranate base of the scent but then I caught a couple whiffs of orange blossom so it is still there. The overall scent is more delicate now and I feel like it is more realistically wearable than it seemed when first applied. I can still smell it with my arms down at my sides, but not as strongly. 3 hours -- at this point it is fading to where I would want to put some more on. My skin eats perfume oil so it would probably last longer on someone else. I really like this! It makes up for not being able to wear Madame Moriarty and Midnight Kiss (which also have red musk) due to patchouli. EDIT -- My boyfriend thought it smelled "fantastic" "It's fruty but also kind of erotic..." "Is it as sexy as Lilith?" I asked "No, not like that, it's just a really nice scent but there is something sexy about it." He commented on it several times.

I wonder if the specific oils we are using could account for some of the difference between people who slather and people who dab. When I posted that I only needed a little dab of oil at a time I was wearing a lot of Blood Kiss, Blood Amber, Lilith. Those are quite strong scents. When I tried Inez and Sudha Segara lately I was shocked how much oil I needed to get myself to smell good.

I apply the oil with a q-tip that has the ends cut off, a little oil on each wrist and on both sides of my neck. I have to re-aply after two or three hours as my skin seems to eat the scent and it doesn't have any throw after a couple hours. I would rather use less and re-apply it often. Even if I know I'm keeping a bottle I use a q-tip because I don't want to contaminate the oil, but if it is a favorite "keeper" imp then I'll use the plastic wand. I plan to get empty imp containers and fill them from my (few) bottles as imps are easy to use. I'm not a placid person but not really wound up either. I do get nervous and have a good bit of anxiety but somehow I've gotten used to it and am more easygoing now. Maybe my scent will last longer as I get less and less anxious?

This has surprised me by becoming one of my very favorite scents. It is very sugary, yes. With a breath of rose in there somewhere. But I don't think people smell you and think "she smells like sugar", it blends with your own natural scent and it just smells sweet and clean. My boyfriend described it once as "alluring". He seems to like it quite a bit on me even though other rose scents just get a shrug and "Oh, flowers?" Best of all it lasts a good 4-5 hours on me and most bpal is gone in about two hours. It has quite a bit of throw, especially for the first couple of hours. At certian times of the month I get a faint play-doh note but only when I sniff my wrist directly. It makes me feel feminine and attractive and the sugar note is relaxing for some reason.

For some reason I had never considered trying this scent but just recently received frimps of Lilith from two generous forumites. Thanks!! Wet -- At first it just smells like wine. Very quickly the wine looses some of the alcoholic tang and becomes sweet and fruity. It doesn’t smell like something I could like at this stage. “Too young and fruity” I thought. As it dries -- it darkens down and the sweet fruity note is balanced by incense-y notes (the myrrh?). After about fifteen minutes the rose note starts to come out. On me the rose note does not scream “rose”. It isn’t the tea rose of London or the sharp rose of Rose Red. It is blended right down in the mix and I have to focus to smell it. It is lovely though, sleek and silky. Drydown -- Myrrh plus a bit of sweet wine. The rose is in the background but there is enough of it to make this decidedly feminine. The scent is cool, silky and very unusual, not at all like any commercial perfume I know. From some of the reviews I thought this would be an overpoweringly dark and assertive perfume but it isn‘t. This scent doesn’t feel as soporific as some of the other dark scents, makes me feel lively and sociable. EDIT: I was wearing this at work the other day (library) and a male patron said "Something smells really good, is it you? Like powder but really nice!" Thanks, I guess.... EDIT again: I've gone through a couple of imps of this and gotten several compliments. It is definitely on my wish list for a bottle.

I bought a decant of this because I wanted to know if resinous scents worked out on me. I’m still not sure. Wet -- soap. Just amber-y soap. As it dries -- out came the smell of powder and the smell of, well, femininity. I know many people like Jacob’s Ladder so it must be my chemistry. I tried it again a couple of days later and again it seems to be doing something weird on my skin. I washed this off after about forty minutes so no information on how long it lasts. I'm very disappointed. The one's everyone likes so much never seem to work out on me...

This is amazing. Edit: in the week since I got the decant the scent has mellowed and is no longer soapy when I first put it on. Wet -- when first applied it is all lavender and poppy making at a little soapy. In under ten minutes the softest, swooniest scent comes out. When I sniff my wrist directly it is still a little soapy but the scent that wafts around me is just lovely. As it dries -- after fifteen minutes it no longer smells soapy when I sniff my wrist directly. Poppy is the dominant note on me, as well as something sweet and “musky“ smelling, although not actually like musk. Perhaps this is benzoin interacting with a very sweet amber. It does not go at all powdery on me. Drydown -- it gets still sweeter and softer after about 25 minutes. Now it smells like my own skin but much more delicious and sweet with a veil of poppy over it. This is the scent of “darkness” as experienced by people who are stressed by bright lights, love the night, and find darkness calmer and sweeter than light. It makes me feel relaxed and safe which makes sense because in aromatherapy lavender, poppy and rose geranium are all used to aid relaxation. I love, love, love, this one. Edited to add: I wish it lasted longer. After a couple of hours it is all but gone (my skin eats scent). My boyfriend loved this one and said "there's something intoxicating about it". I also got a nice compliment from a co-worker.

Wet -- sugar! Not the maple/brown sugar of Sugar Skull but white sugar. Mixed in with the sugar is what must be blue musk, a cologne-like note. This smells like something non-edible so it is interesting with the sugar. The next notes I notice are the woods. They smell kind of brown and rich. Together with the sugar the woods smell a bit like the chestnut note in Judith Victorious but not quite so strong. The blackberry leaf and strawberry are delicate green and fruity notes in the background. Dry -- the sugar note lessens and I'm left with this gorgeous, amazing perfume. It seems sexy but without trying to be. Sometimes the blue musk note seems to stand out too much and I don't like that but sometimes the other notes make the blue musk delicious. Like many bpal scents it is different on different days. Drydown -- I don't really know how to characterize this scent. It does have a pronounced sugar note but you couldn't call it a foodie scent. No way is it a floral scent. There are green notes but it does not smell at all herbal. At times I catch a whiff of sugar or the soft, sweet blackberry leaf or the sharper blue musk. It fades quite a bit after two hours and is almost gone at four hours (but my skin soaks up scent quickly). People won't smell it across the room but they will if they stand close to you.

Wet on skin -- The red musk plus amber combination reminds me of Fenris Wolf. It is warm and beautiful. There is a mint note but that passess quickly. As it dries -- The patchouli begins to get out of hand and dirties up the scent. Something in here is absolutely hypnotic and I keep sniffing my wrist. It must be the Nicotiana. It is a faint wisp of floral scent amongst the musk and patchouli, gorgeous. Drydown -- It stays musk plus amber and patchouli with a bit of that dry elegant floral. It is gorgeous but I don't think the musk plus amber and patchouli combination is how I want to smell. If there was more of the floral and less patchouli or none at all I might like this one a lot. It lasted about four hours on my bpal-eating skin, much longer than the sweeter and lighter scents I prefer. I am really curious about Nicotiana now... what a great note.

OK, thanks all for answering! I have tried Veil, thought it was a little too gentle and indistinct on me. I'm not sure about sugary scents as I haven't tried any yet. I have an imp of Hope on the way and that will help me decide if I like the sugary florals.

Could someone who has Faith please tell me how much vanilla is in it? A few of the reviews mentioned vanilla and it doesn't work on me at all, horrible play-doh scent. Maybe the reviewers were mistaken and there isn't vanilla in it but instead a sort of creamy note?

Is Rose Red '08 different from the '07? I noticed in the Rose Red reviews that some of the years were different. '07 is amazing on me but I was hoping to read a review of the '08 before I buy it.

Wet -- I LOVE the first phase of this perfume. The rose doesn't overpower it just lends a floral, lady-like tone. The green notes are interesting and fresh. Like Witching Time of Night or Bat it gives the feeling of plants at night but this time without the white flowers. I've worn the scent three times hoping that this initial phase will last but it doesn't. As it dries -- After 10 minutes the green notes are not as obvious. The sweet blackberry and frankincense come out and the green notes become more of a background. The scent becomes sweeter and doesn't give such a night-time feeling anymore. The blackberry is not overwhelmingly fruity (coming from someone who dislikes fruity scents). Drydown -- Faint blackberry and frankincense are what is left after a couple of hours. I like this one quite a bit. It is just that the first few minutes are sublime and it breaks my heart when it changes. Putting more on every fifteen minutes seems excessive.