roesmoker

Provenance: Got this as a frottle (free bottle) in my long-delayed Flying Devil order. Scent Review: Having one bottle of the discontinued Voodoo Blend (which is very strong/sharp and clove-y, even though it can't be that new, I won it on eBay one step removed from the Lab fairly recently (this winter)), and having also had the bottle that Wickedgoddess now has (much softer, I won it from QuantumSpice on eBay), I can say definitively that the old blend and the TAL one are very, very similar. The differences are slight enough that they could easily be attributable to different batches rather than a change in ingredients. Put it this way, the difference between those two bottles I mention above is much greater than the difference between my "strong" bottle and the TAL blend I am reviewing here. I would say this particular TAL bottle is slightly less "clove-y" wet/in the bottle (and more lemony) and less floral (more sweet/powdery) in the dry-down. My "strong" bottle has the same dry-down, whereas the aged bottle had a much more floral dry-down. If anything I think this scent is even more beautiful than either of those. FC is my top scent when I'm in the right time of the month (the rest of the time it's the TAL version of Chypre) and when I wore this I fell in love with it all over again. Magical review: I have never noticed any magical effects from the Voodoo blend. This one similarly did not have any noticeable effect, although I did not do any rituals with it, I did concentrate on the described purpose when applying.

This one smells exactly like Mercury to me, which makes sense. Lavender+cinnamon, a strange combination in theory but one which I quite like. Unfortunately Hand of Hermes is one of the very few scents that gives me an allergic reaction, which is strange because Mercury didn't do so. I had applied it behind my ears and a few minutes later I felt it burning. Even sadder, I didn't get any magical effects at all from this oil. (I did not perform a ritual, but when applying it I did concentrate on the stated purpose.) I'll be swapping my imp.

Scent Review: This smells very familiar to me, like a herb or spice used in Indian cooking, but for the life of me I can't remember which one. Coriander, maybe? Definitely not cilantro. I also get something metallic. I literally picture a big pair of brass balls when I smell it. Ritual Review: I didn't do a ritual (I rarely do, at most a little candle magick) but as I put it on I closed my eyes and tried to concentrate on the stated purpose of the oil. I felt a little snappish that day, which sometimes happens to me with the "confidence/power" oils (like High John for example). I didn't notice any more confidence. I think I prefer Lionheart and Crucible of Courage in this area. (It also helps that I greatly prefer the scent of those oils.)

Got this as a frimp in my eBay purchase of several TALs. Tried it last night after staying up too late singing in my band and then getting excited over the new TAL update. Scent: Floral, I agree with the rose & lavender remarks of the previous reviewers. I think perhaps the lavender is dried too, though, because it's not quite the ZING! Super!Lavender of Nanshe or some of the other GC blends. It's not bad, but totally not my style. Magical: I put it everywhere as directed except my pulse points because those still had Chypre (TAL version) on them from earlier and I didn't want to mix TALs. Still, just smelling Nocturne made me almost immediately start to feel sleepy. Then I lay down and did my usual routine of fighting sleep because I am weird & perverse like that. Nocturne was trying to knock me out, I was just resisting. Finally I gave in and slept like a baby. I do agree about the weird dreams, but I don't mind those, they were quite amusing. (Old ladies on the bus trying to tickle my fat away as part of a spell? ) Overall: Does what it claims, scent is fine, not off-putting. Much more effective than the Somnium blends in my opinion. ETA I have tried Nocturne several times since this review and it really is fabulous. What I notice now is that the wacky dreams usually occur the night after I use it, not that same night. I don't remember any dreams the nights I use Nocturne. Still a big thumbs up!

Why did I think this would work on my skin? Florals almost never do. Smells EXACTLY like Clairol Herbal Essences shampoo on me.

Finally got an imp of this in a swap and it's everything it's hyped up to be. Foody scents can sometimes make me nauseous, so the butter phase of Snowblind is a trial, but luckily it only lasts for the first five minutes or so. Then it dries into vanilla sugar frosting that lasts & lasts and makes me happy all day. My quest for a bottle continues!

After 13, Dia de los Muertos, Devil's Night and Misk U were busts on me, I thought I'd never like a foody scent that wasn't vanilla. Then LoC came along and Oh. My. GOD this is good. I'm shocked at how much I like it. Yes, it does make me crave brownies. I don't care because it smells so addictively great. For some reason (probably there's a chemical/hormonal explanation for this) smelling/wearing it makes me happy. Stays absolutely true from the bottle to my skin and lasts forever. Yum!! (If only I had a bottle instead of one lonely imp!)

I really liked this a lot and I had been afraid of the honey note quite a bit. I'm baffled to read that it may be the same honey note as in O because that one went horrifyingly bad on me. But anyway, the Masque: Wet it is unremarkable, strong carnation and myrrh. I never go by the wet phase of any scent though unless it makes me ill because it doesn't last long enough to really matter. On the dry-down I start getting incense (ah, my beloved), then it gets sweeter until it becomes almost completely chocolate* and clove, incense and a little myrrh. The dreaded honey does not ruin everything, nor the carnation over-spice. It lasted quite a while on me, too - it's been over 16 hours since I put it on this morning and I can still smell it on my wrist. This one is addictive - but I will try my decant one more time before venturing a bottle, because I've been burned before by rushing to purchase (yes, I'm looking at you, Chaste Moon). * - I don't know if it's really chocolate or just some combination of tobacco, labdanum (which I still have no idea what it smells like), jonquil (ditto), clove, etc. that just reminds me of chocolate on my skin, but I don't really care, I love it!

98% of rose scents seem to turn instantly to soap on me, but I had a feeling PoF would be different. (Maybe it was the resins - resins and I get along excellently.) And I was right - yay! On me it's a deep, sweet rose, a true rose that must be kind of like what other people get from Rose Red, Peacock Queen or 2, 5, and 7 (all of which are pure soap on me). The resins add a lovely almost incensey, altar-candle-like note. Love it - so glad I took a chance on this one.

This has been on my wishlist forever, but someone finally gifted it to me as a frimp. I tried it on Sunday and fell in love! This is what I wanted Snake Oil and O to be, but those scents hated me and turned into the dreaded plastic/dentist's office note that makes me nauseous - I'm almost positive honey was the culprit there. Anyway, back to Golden Priapus. Wet/in the imp: pine/eucalyptus - I agree with the Carmex/Black Forest comparisons. I like the smell of Carmex, and Black Forest is one of my faves, but the pure pine smell is not my favorite stage of BF or GP. Luckily this stage is very short on me. Dry-down: vanilla/amber comes out quickly and starts a golden glow that I just adore - it's not too sweet (and I'm glad because too sugary/foody vanilla makes me ill), the fading pine gives it a little edge - but it has a lovely golden halo feeling about it, kind of like the description of Aureus. There's a little powdery softness (that's the amber) around the edges, but I don't mind that. Throw: fantastic. I swiped it on my right wrist only and it wafted all around me quite strongly and wonderfully. Longevity: also killer. I put this on around 5pm and smelled it all night (slept with my nose to my wrist, practically ) and when I woke up (at noon - heh) I could still smell it. Golden Priapus, you are my new big bottle love! I don't care that you're supposed to be for a man, and that I'm embarrassed to tell anyone your name.

Scent review: Wet? Smells exactly like French Creole. So anyone wondering what FC smells like? Wonder no more. (If you can get ahold of MoV, that is ) Almost pure sweet clove, wicked strong, which I happen to really like, so of course I loved that phase of Mantle of Venus. But the drydown did not endear it to me - instead of going all sweet-powder-cake like FC, it went sort of generic floral, almost potpurri-ish. Magical review: I did not perform any rituals with it, but I did feel sexy wearing it. It was not as noticeably effective as, say, Arabian Nights, but I definitely felt something. I will try again, but I may end up swapping this imp away eventually. Overall: Not bad, but not a "love" - but it may grow on me, stranger things have happened.

Scent review: Wow, I Arabian Nights! To me it smells a LOT like Binah (which I adore), but where Binah takes a little while to warm up and get to the good part, AN almost immediately goes incensy-sexy-sweet and stays like that for hours and hours. Towards the very end it gets slightly floral, I agree with the people who said they got lavender in that phase, but I like lavender so I have no problem with that. It does NOT turn to soap on my skin, which 98% of florals do, so that's nice. Excellent throw and amazing longevity, too. Magical review: I felt magnetic when I wore this - even though I was getting sick and my eyelids were swollen and I looked like a total freak, my work crush paid a lot of attention to me that day, and kept trying to get really close to me, make excuses to hang out, etc. Also I used my feminine wiles to get my boss to do something (he even used the phrase, "I only did this because you made googly eyes at me") and it worked like a charm! So I would rate it effective in that area. Overall: Really nice, fabulous sexy scent with positive magical effects - what more could you ask for? This is going on my big bottle list with a bullet! ETA - now that I've smelled the Red Musk SN, I am sure this blend has red musk in it. Delicious!!

I can't believe I haven't reviewed Venus yet!! I've had and loved her for so long, now that she's about to be re-released, I feel I should do my duty. I'm one of those people that can't do florals - 99% of them turn into soap (especially roses) or air freshener on me. But I think Venus is the floral for us "anti-floral" people. When I wear her I finally understand the appeal of rose scents. I picture the tiniest little pink rosebuds among a mass of pale green leaves, like a bedspread/wallpaper pattern, only with living plants. She's minty and sweet and lovelily delicious. (In hindsight my love for Venus doesn't surprise me actually - I've got Venus in Libra in the 2nd house, so the planet and I understand each other pretty well.) To anyone who's thinking they don't need to try Venus because she sounds completely wrong for you, let me urge you to give her a try, even if it's just an imp - from reading the reviews I never in a million years would have believed she would work on me.

I have nothing to add to the reviews above except that foody scents don't always work on me - Chaste Moon being a rare exception. Beaver Moon knocked my socks off with the YUM of yellow cupcakes, pure & simple. It stayed utterly true for the 8 (!) hours it lasted, even through a shower. It brought me back to birthday parties in kindergarten - unexpectedly wonderful. I love it and will definitely hoard my bottle.

Hmm. The first time I tried it I found it fruity and vaguely sick-making. The second time I got the vanilla, musk, amber thing but with that perfumey edge that gives me a headache. Reminds me a LOT of The Haunted Palace, but that one (once the blood oranges dry out) is nicer on me.

I like Heliotrope SN a lot - so far it's my favorite single note. I was surprised at how much more I liked it than expected "sure hits" like Vanilla Bean and Sweet Clove. It seems to have a little more depth than they do. As to what it actually smells like? I get a golden, sparkling, almost ambery vanillic scent. It could be floral I guess but since 99% of florals turn to soap on me, I don't associate them with anything nice. It does make me think of honey, but not the BPAL honey note since that one hates me.

Can't believe I never reviewed this one, as it was my second BPAL love (the first was Cathedral, which I eventually tossed over in favor of Black Forest). I got this in a swap when I was a wee newbie waiting anxiously for my first Lab order. The description thrilled me and I could only hope the scent was as lovely as the writing was poetic. It's all that and more. In the imp and wet the pine is way too strong, and the only phase I don't care for is the first hour. But after that it mellows into an amazing incensey-sweet combination that lasts and lasts and lasts on me - I can smell it 8 hours later. And the waft is excellent. Still trying to figure out what the notes are that I love in Black Forest - I was sure it was the black musk until I tried Haunted, which didn't work on me at all. Maybe it's the ambergris, I liked that a lot in The Black Tower. Dunno about cypress, that did nothing for me in Rome.

I was so psyched to try this because the description is perfect, just what I need in my life - so I ordered an imp. Sadly, it really did nothing for me, either in a Voodoo sense or in terms of its scent. I got vaguely herbal, fruity-ness - no cinnamon at all (too bad b/c I love cinnamon!). If it does have honey in it I'm surprised it didn't make me feel nauseous - honey usually has that effect on me. Also was very faint on me to begin with and faded after about 2 hours. So I gave away as a frimp in a swap - hope she has better luck with BB than I did.

I wanted to like Virgo so much b/c I am one (Sept 4), but I could pretty much tell by the notes listed that it wasn't going to work on me. Earth - no, oakmoss - no, rose - definitely no, white musk - hell no, apple - don't hate it but I don't love it either. The only thing out of that whole list I like is patchouli. But of course I couldn't resist trying it anyway, so I swapped with dreadeddragon for an imp. On me I got a combination of dirt, vague greenery, soap (that's the rose talking) and drugstore perfume (probably the white musk). Didn't get a hint of patchouli or even apple, waa!

I had the same sort of paradoxical reaction to Aunt Caroline's JM as I did to Black Cat - it made me feel very put-upon and oppressed instead of bright or uplifted. I think the person above who said 'smothering' described my experience with it the best, also the review about having missed the joke - it's like having your perfectly well-intentioned Mom constantly telling you to "cheer up!". I can't stand being bossed around, even by a fragrance . In terms of the scent, to me it smelled like what I thought was apples at the time but now I can see in retrospect that it was the dreaded strawberry. So, so not for me.

When I first tried this I liked it a lot, more for the way it really did make me feel happy than for the way it smelled. It's been on my Big Bottle list for ever, but for some reason I kept delaying actually placing the order. But I find that I don't reach for it that often because it really doesn't smell that nice at all (I get clean/soap combined with herbs and weeds), and the smell is distracting, in fact. Now that I've tried other Voodoo Blends and have some that make me feel good and smell delicious - yes, Van Van, I'm looking at you - Has No Hanna has moved way down in my esteem. Sorry dear, I wish you weren't so floral - I think we'd get along much better if you weren't. ETA - Has No Hanna refused to take 'No' for an answer, and now I realize that none of the other Voodoo Blends OR TAL's work as well as this one to lighten my mood (even my beloved Van Van, while the smell is a hundred times better, doesn't really change my mood after all!), plus it really does bring good luck. So not only has it gone back on the Big Bottle list, but now I need 10ml and an imp to tide me over 'til the bottle gets here - I gave away my imp to enable someone (I also find it's great for that, many people really like the smell).

I wanted to like it, but all I get is lily & narcissus, none of the opium or poppy that made me want to try it in the first place. Then after about 45 minutes my hand started to itch where I had applied it. Definitely not for me!

I did not like Brimstone at all, it smelled like a gas station on me - burning rubber. Waited but I never got any incense or Indian spices - too bad, because I would have liked that!

Wow, if Hod has carnation and/or honey, it's one of the few times those notes have worked on me, because I love Hod. It's kind of like Morocco+O or how Snake Oil is supposed to smell without inducing nausea in me (both O and Snake Oil made me - I think it was the honey and/or vanilla). My test boy at work got sandalwood out of this (on me - I haven't made him wear any BPAL. Yet).

My verdict on Chokmah? Yummy. It reminds me of my beloved Urd crossed with Binah, but sweeter than either. Makes sense that it would smell like Urd, given the Nag Champa referenced above. I don't get any cherry out of this at all, thank God (fruit and I have a mutual hate-on).