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BPAL Madness!

cranberry

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Everything posted by cranberry

  1. cranberry

    Yesod

    When first applied, this is all flowers – gardenia, ylang ylang and jasmine. It’s heady, rich, and seductive smelling. As it wears, it reminds predominantly gardenia. After about 2 -3 hours it’s gone.
  2. cranberry

    Tiphareth

    Spicy, resiny – like there’s frankincense in here. Amber too. As it wears it takes on the most amazing caramel – sugary tone. It’s not nearly as sweet as Sugar Skull or what’s in Trick or Treat. It kinda reminds me of the sugar-caramel layer in Anaconda. What ever it is, this is gorgeous and I’m so glad that I tried my imp. I have to get a bottle of this for sure!
  3. cranberry

    Binah

    This turns very powdery on me as soon as it is applied. It’s rather like what Haunted did, so it makes me wonder if black musk is here, or perhaps the amber is turning bad on me. Whatever it is, it pretty much kills the blend for me. After it’s been on a few hours, it’s a purely amber scent now, turning into a second skin kinda scent. I’m liking it at this stage, but I don’t know that I can take the beginning to get here.
  4. cranberry

    Anthelion

    this is a truly amazing scent and oil. scentwise, it's quite beautiful - lavender, clove, maybe vanilla. whatever it is, it's like a warm fluffy blanket that just wraps itself around you and helps you feel better. everytime I wear this I feel better, calmer, soothed, more at peace. this is an amazing effective oil. today of all days, terribly stressed - my car caught fire and I'm looking at a hugely expensive car repair bill. it doesn't seem so bad and I'm assured there will be a way through this. I have no doubt, this oil has helped me see that, as it has through stressful times in the past when it seemed there was no hope. I strongly believe in this oil and am grateful for the clarity it helps to provide to see though the mist and clouds.
  5. cranberry

    shipping confirmation emails

    the email will come from the USPS and it'll say who is shipping, and where it's going. so it'll differentiate between BPAL and BPTP. if you use CCNow, the order # (by your name) in the CnS email should match the CCNow order number. if you use paypal though, it doesn't correspond. in that case, I generally assume it's the earliest one but they have shipped to folks out of chronological order.
  6. cranberry

    The Lovers

    When first applied, this is sweet and smells like candy – maybe a gummi worm. It should be a red oil as that is how it smells. So this smells like a red gummi worm. That sweet smell remains even after it's dry, however flowers and citrus do emerge. I’m thinking orange blossom – there’s the bitterness there that I always associate with orange blossom. This is different from how I remember so I’m glad that I retried it. It didn’t last too long on me. I can’t get over how much it smelled like gummi candi.
  7. cranberry

    Ace of Wands

    Damn. I’ve finally come across my nemesis. This oil does not like me and I do not like this oil. It’s a strange and discordant blend of eucalyptus, red musk, maybe some almond. My reaction when first applied was that this was all wrong and that I’ve never smelled anything worse in my life. And that’s saying a lot. As it dries, the red musk becomes stronger and more prominent, and dukes it out with the eucalyptus. It smells better as it dries but nothing will take away that first reaction and the combination of top notes on my skin. Ahh, now there's dragon’s blood here too. This is a crazy oil – musk, eucalyptus, dragon’s blood, almond (?)….it makes me want to read about the card and try to figure out why such a strange mix of oils would personify that card. The musk and dragon’s blood is beating the eucalyptus into submission and this oil smells much better now. It’s turning into a very nice red musk blend. Now that its completely dry and been on an hour or so, this is really good. It reminds me of other great red musk blends like Fenris Wolf or Lovitar. I like it but not enough to wear it again, or at least any time soon. My imp will do me just fine.
  8. cranberry

    Ace of Pentacles

    In the vial, this reminds me of my beloved King of Clubs. On the skin, wet, there’s a touch of evergreen or juniper. As it dries, it gets stronger and starts to mask the dirt/loam/moss smell. Now it’s backing off and the earth smells comes forward. There’s patchouli too adding that twang that it sometimes has and supporting the earth/dirt/loam/moss smells. Sniffed from a distance, it’s more like King of Clubs than it is when my nose is plastered against my wrist. Looking at the notes now, I see why, they share a lot of the same notes. I bet if you added a blast of amber this would be very close. But anyway – that’s neither here nor there. I do enjoy this scent a lot. I’m not sure if I need a bottle as I’ve got KoC and that is my ultimate dirt scent, and this is good, but not that good. If I was on my last drops though, I’d snatch up a bottle in a second.
  9. cranberry

    The Fool

    Wet, this is all pennyroyal or mint. Or maybe a combination of both. I’m not usually a fan of minty scents, but this smells pretty good. This is such a happy, vibrant scent. It makes me feel refreshed, and I find it quite calming. I feel like I can concentrate better too, and it occurred to me that there may be some similarities or commonalities with the TAL Concentration. The pennyroyal burns off (fairly quickly when I tested it last night and not so quickly today) and something floral and fruity comes out. It’s familiar but I can’t place it. It smells like apple. Another wonderful oil.
  10. cranberry

    The Hanged Man

    Light, pretty, sweet. Apples I think. This is so light and pretty. It has a fizzy, bubblegum note so I’m thinking lotus is here too. Oh yeah, that’s definitely lotus, no question about it! – that’s the dominant smell here. This is such a pretty scent and I didn’t expect that from this card. Six to seven hours later, I can still smell this strongly and it smells remarkably true to how it was when first applied. Most BPALS change like mad on me and lasting this long is a record. I really like this scent and the more I wear it, the more I like it.
  11. cranberry

    Death

    Wet on the skin, I smell vetivert. It smells earthy, rich, like loam and moss. So oakmoss is here too. Woods and maybe patchouli too. I was thinking it would be heavier for some reason. The oil itself is a weakish tea or coffee color, a medium brown, so I should have known that the darkness would be tempered by light. Cedar and/or sandalwood come out too, mixed with the vetivert. After its been on a while, it’s the scent that every other vetivert-dominant blend turns to on me – grassy, earthy, medium dark. For all that it matters with my skin, this is SN vetivert.
  12. cranberry

    The Moon

    Wow, wet this starts out as a strong, assertive, piercing floral – gardenia or jasmine, or a combination of the two. Oftentimes, jasmine overpowers me and I just can’t take it. It doesn’t get like that here. It stays pretty true – only growing softer and fainter on me as it wears. It fades quickly and after about a ½ hour it’s just a faint whisper.
  13. cranberry

    The Hermit

    Sweet florals, sugary fruit juice. This smells like a TAL. I think either Aunt Caroline’s Money Bag or AC Money Draw. There are sweet flowers, something like grape, carnation. This remains that sweet, spicy, fruity smell.
  14. cranberry

    The Wheel of Fortune

    Wet, herbs and maybe sarsaparilla. Oh wait, that’s not sarsaparilla, it’s wintergreen. It reminds me strongly of the World, which I just recently tested. It’s warmer than the World, fruitier too. There’s a sweetness there underneath the wintergreen that is just dying to come out. After a bit, the sweetness does come out and it smells like minty berries. It reminds me of Florence, which is one of my favorite scents. As it wears the wintergreen recedes and I’m left with sweet berries and maybe amber too. This is wonderful.
  15. cranberry

    Judgement

    Ohh, red musk! This is glorious. This is a fabulous red musk and I just want to dive in and roll around. There’s amber too. There’s a touch of sweetness, which could be the amber, or the red musk, or a drop of something else to sweeten the blend. It’s like Smut, without the smuttiness, if you will (or what some people have termed the cheese smell). The longer it wears the better it smells. I have to get a bottle of this. Or three.
  16. cranberry

    The World

    Wet on the skin this is all wintergreen. As it dries, it stays wintergreen. Sniffing closely, I think I get a fleeing whiff of lemon. This is such a strange scent. Like all BPAL, it morphs. Now, it’s a kinda warm smelling oil, like it’s red or something. It reminding me of cough syrup even though it doesn’t smell like that at all. There’s a foody smell there that’s doing it. Plus maybe a mineral smell too. This scent is so strange because in doing this review, I applied it, got confused, took a shower and am now smelling it for a second time. And it smells completely different from how it smelled a couple hours ago. I think I need to try this tomorrow with a fresh nose and see how it smells then. Day 2, testing again: wet, first on, still wintergreen. It remains strongly wintergreen After it’s been on a while, I’m not getting the heavy red smell that I got last night, nor the foody associations. It’s herbal, rather astringent. Strange this one. It seems to change every time I wear it. I may need to get a bottle just for that.
  17. cranberry

    The Sun

    Oranges, sweet oranges. There’s a bitterness there too and it’s making me think of orange blossom. There’s other flowers there too but I’m having a hard time placing it. The reviews are saying heliotrope but I’m drawing a blank on that one right now so I couldn’t say for sure. Amber too. I thought this would be similar to Sol, and it is, though not nearly as harsh. This is much softer and more gentle. It’s is a sunny type of scent and it completely suits its name. There’s something almost candy-ish about this scent and it does smell like orange sherbet or an orange creamsicle. It’s sweet, smooth, creamy. After it’s been on a while it becomes a bit powdery. It fades quickly and after about ½ hour it’s almost gone, but not quite. It’s still there. Close to the skin, comforting, sweet, slightly spicy. It’s a great scent and perfect for evoking sunny, cheerfulness, but it vanishes so quickly on me.
  18. cranberry

    The Hierophant

    Resinous, spicy (cinnamon I think) and woods. Incense too. Cinnamon’s the driver in this scent. There’s a sweetness there and it gets sweeter at it dries. It dries to a spicy, sweet, cinnamon resin scent. Yum!
  19. cranberry

    Strength

    Bitter, green smelling. Familiar. Yeah, that’s dandelion all right! It’s not the sweeter, grassy dandelion of One to Tie, Two to Win. No, this is tough, defiant, standing firm, impossible to eradicate dandelion. After its been on a few minutes, it becomes floral. A bitter lily if you will. The longer it wears the stronger the lily becomes. It’s not a sweet smell by any means. Inhaling deeply, there’s a bit of spice behind the lily, so perhaps it’s becoming more like a stargazer, without the sweetness. Wow, I’m really liking this now. It’s so fresh and green. Still a bit sharp, but I like it. I couldn’t wear much of this but dabbed on, this is beautiful! ETA: I posted too soon. After about an hour it melds into this wonderful, ambery lily scent. It is gorgeous. It remains that way and it is just fabulous. As it wears it just gets better and better. Ambery richness that reminds me of the Lion but with a touch of floral. I think I need 2 bottles of this one. This is freaking amazing.
  20. cranberry

    Justice

    This is light and woody smelling. It’s an airy scent, ethereal. There are light flowers, violet in particular. It reminds me of how Yggdrasil felt – light, airy, full of life. There’s herbs and a light spice there too. It’s quite complex and difficult to describe. As it wears it remains quite light and soft. The violet is becoming stronger now. It’s not the cool detached violet that’s in Numb or Yog Sothoth, nor the sweet sugary violet of Faith. This is slightly spicy (like it has a touch of lavender there), airy lavender. It’s a soothing scent and I’m reminded why I’ve been on the lookout for a bottle of this for a long time.
  21. cranberry

    Chokmah

    Initially, this is mainly cedar and sandalwood. As it dries, this reminds me of the incense notes in Midnight Mass or Cathedral. Once it’s dry, it’s smelling more like sarsaparilla and incense. There’s a musky note that I actually think is the cedar or sandalwood. This note comes again to the forefront after it’s been on a while. There’s also a bit of sweetness there. After its been on forever, the cedar-sandalwood remains as does the sweetness. The sweetness seems almost fruity to me. This is a medium dark smelling scent, syrupy, resinous, quite delicious in fact. It’s too similar to my nose to Jupiter and maybe even Saturn to warrant a full bottle but it’s been good to try this.
  22. cranberry

    What do bottles and labels look like?

    Taniwah - thanks for posting pictures. Rose Moon is gorgeous!!!
  23. cranberry

    Cottonmouth

    I have to admit that this one scared me a bit. I glanced at the reviews when this first came out before I got my decant and remember seeing all flowers completely overpowering the Snake Oil. So it’s taken me months to pull this imp out and give it a shot. Yup, it’s flowers. But not sweet, innocent flowers. This is a medium dark scent – the flowers are more of the sultry, sensuous type. That must be the effect of the Snake Oil as I can’t imagine these flowers alone smelling anything like this. There’s spice there and I’m actually getting a lot of vanilla from this scent. It’s much closer to Snake Oil than some of the other oils from the Pit. But lighter and brighter. I can’t discern any of the individual flower notes; I can just tell they are there. This reminds me a lot of how I remember Ravenous. My memory could be totally off but this is very similar to my memory of how that scent is and they seem to be of the same “family” of scents, if not closely related. I’m pleasantly surprised by this scent and now I’m tempted to get a bottle. It’s pretty – not quite as sensuous as Snake Oil, and seems a bit more refined. More for day-time use if you will. ps - I should note that this decant is from when the Pit was first released, so it's not lab fresh and has a touch of age.
  24. cranberry

    Coral Snake (2006)

    This starts out as spiced fruit. It smells edible. As it dries, I can smell a bit what’s like apple, but it’s not as true as what I remember as when it were fresh (this was a from an imp from around when the update first shipped, so it has a bit of age on it). There’s that spice again, must be the Snake Oil peeking though. This smells like a dessert – fruity, spicy, similar to some kind of cobbler or pie. This doesn’t last long on me – and after about an hour its gone. It was lovely while it lasted though.
  25. cranberry

    Arachnina, The Spider Girl (2006)

    This is a morpher of a scent. Initially, I got a whiff of grape or something juicy, plus something bitter like tobacco. After it’s been a few minutes, the juiciness goes away and this scent dries up. It smells like a perfume (yeah, maybe Opium or maybe a variation of Youth Dew) and I can smell the patchouli. Now it’s strongly tobacco and patchouli. There’s a whiff of sweetness in the background but it’s faint. Anyone looking for a good tobacco scent should check this out. It vacillates between patchouli and tobacco. I can’t really smell the musks at all, which I find surprising as it usually takes over. The poppy is faint, as is the lilies. It stays masculine smelling and dry. I didn’t expect to like this one as much as I do.
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