lady_pandora

When i first opened the bottle, the first thing I thought of was Mini Magdalene, because like Mini Mag, Edith is all sweet syrupy vanilla in the bottle, like huffing the bottle of vanilla extract. On my skin, it turns quickly to vanilla/light musk and doesn't really morph a lot, though I pick up a little more sandalwood as the hours go on. But mostly vanilla/musk. It's like a smoother version of every vanilla musk perfume I wore in the 90s, which actually is perfect for the vibe, because Edith feels very innocent and nostalgic to me, and as golden as the light Del Toro lights her in. I wish I got a little more sandalwood, or any oudh at all, but this may come with age. I like this now, and hope to love it more in a year or so, therefore it's a keeper.

In the bottle, I smell vetiver and rose. Once I put it on, the vetiver morphs into woodsmoke, though this is a strangely (beautifully) soft woodsmoke; this isn't Djinn, it's not acrid at all. Over that is a haze of plum and incense. I can't pick out the patchouli individually, and I can't pick out the opoponax or tonka individually either, though I think they're what's rounding out the vetiver's edges and making it so wearable, and creating the incensey feel. Like OctoberGwen, I get the incensey rose late in the scent's evolution, it's like evil!Spellbound. This is gorgeous. It was the longest shot of all my CPs, and I bought it in the hopes of finding the gothy scent I was dreaming of for fall, and Black Moths nails it. This. This is what I wanted.

Well, variety is good too! I have some favorite notes and note combos, but I like to also have some stuff around that's totally different, for different kinds of moods.

This smells, like, I think, pepper and detergent? Think the pepper note from Bengal, warm and spicy, not the pink pepper note from, say, High-Strung Daisies that's bubblegummy. Anyway, warm and spicy laid over something cooler and kind of soapy. It sounds like an odd combo, but it's comforting and grounding, like being in your grandma's kitchen if your grandma were a witch high priestess. I used it tonight in a ritual to Hecate, and felt a kind of tingly energy after using it. I don't have a lot in the way of tangible results to report, but I will use it again, and will update if new insights result from it. ETA: Later, when I went to bed, I had the same issues getting to sleep that someone else mentioned, and "saw" spooky images in the abstract patterns on my bedding? Odd...I'll make a note of that.

Yep. And I've also done a lot of falling in love with the concept behind the scent but not so much the scent, or loving a scent I wouldn't have tried on my own because the concept doesn't really do much for me. (Frimps are great for the latter!)

The best might have been Monster Bait: Underpants back in the day. Of the ones I actually have, maybe (Not So) Penitent (Mini) Magdalene, or maybe Sinus Amoris, which has a lot of other stuff going on too, but the vanilla/sandalwood combo in it is just awesome.

Oh, you're making me wish I had that "already tried" list. It feels like it might be a bit too late at this point. It's a very good point about the vanilla. I wonder about that sometimes.. it must be difficult to create so many scents. You have to make things that aren't to your taste and still trust that they're good. Otherwise everything would be the same notes. Yep! It actually took me a while to realize vanilla really is a strong positive for me, in and of itself. Because it is in so many things, and because I had mediocre associations with it originally (like, cheap candles), I didn't really give it much thought for a while, but it turns out it's a divine elixir that can make all sorts of things work on me, and I like the scent of BPAL vanilla in itself too. (Amber can do this too.) I've had to do some thinking about note combinations too. Like...I like citrus, but it's got to be grounded somewhere--a scent with nothing but citrus will be forgettable to me, but put that citrus in with some amber and florals, and now we're talking. Or, I figured out I could wear vetiver, but I like it better combined with some things than others. And vanilla/sandalwood is almost a master key to my heart apparently.

Soooo much mint! I've now tried Jinx Removing, and I think I'll make this little new moon ritual a part of my routine each cycle. I've had kind of a crappy month as far as tension and drama and heartache, and it was really nice to take a moment and affirm that I'm washing it off and starting over with the new cycle. I'm not really a bath person, but I went topless for this ritual and applied the oil to my shoulders and arms, which is where I tend to carry my tension, in sort of a "brushing dust off" motion, while saying that I was brushing all that stuff off like dust. Then I put some on a white candle and lit it. I didn't expect to feel an immediate effect, but I did! First of all, it creates a tangible cooling sensation, but I also feel lighter now, maybe a little giggly. TAL is awesome!

Ladies of a certain age, and by certain age I mean your late thirties, do you remember wearing Sunflowers and that initial burst of citrus that was surprisingly bitter? 52 starts out kind of like that. It's fresh and citrusy and fruity but not sweet. It doesn't stay smelling like Sunflowers, but that's what it reminded me of early on. Gradually, I start to get some sandalwoody throw, perfumy with a touch of floral, and eventually it morphs away from the citrus entirely into the perfumy floral/sandalwood. There's something a little piercing to the nose here, too, that reminds me of "regular" perfumes. In the early stages, I would have said this was a summer scent, but in the later stages I'd say it's season-neutral. It's intriguing and has a lot going on; I don't think I've plumbed all its depths yet. And it's definitely unique. Right now I don't feel like I'll necessarily need a whole bottle, but I will use this imp.

There's been a lot of tension in my office lately, and today I tried wearing Euphony to calm that down. I put it on my heart chakra and said something like "May my heart be full of peace," on my throat chakra and said something like "may I speak peace," and on my wrists and said something like "may I act in peace." The scent is really beautiful. There's a slightly lemony thing at first, but that isn't lemon, and is subsumed before long (and in hindsight I wonder if it's a first appearance of the frankincense that dominates later). Then I think it's rose and maybe a little sandalwood in the middle stages. I'm not always good at telling the roses apart, but I feel like this might be white rose. It's kind of powdery at times, but not in a bad way. I would definitely wear this just for the scent if it were a GC rather than a TAL. After a few hours, all that drops away and I think this is just frankincense for the rest of the day and evening. The office was still kind of a horror show, I'll admit. But like Czarina, I found that it helped keep me from making snarky comments at several points, and even when things got tense, it felt like the tension wasn't burrowing as deeply into my emotionally as it usually does. I guess to affect the whole office I'd need to diffuse it all over--but of course you never know what allergies people have and so on. At the very least, though, it's useful at calming me and keeping me from spreading the drama.

The mandarin in Belle Epoque was super quiet on me, but YMMV! It definitely behaved itself.

See if you can get your hands on Fairy Thorn: "an eerie veil of vanilla musk twirled with tuberose, Siamese red benzoin, cassis flower, Irish moss, white sandalwood, plum nectar, violet leaf, and apple petals." It was an LE but not that long ago and I don't think it's rare. I also wonder if you might like Belle Epoque: "Sweet opium, Lily of the Valley, vanilla, mandarin and red sandalwood." (The easy way to Holy Graildom for me seems to be combining vanilla with sandalwood, so my recs may be a bit skewed in that direction. LOL)

It's one of the Steamworks and a handful of people have reviewed it: http://www.bpal.org/topic/78516-behemoth/ but it's not on the Lab page nor listed as discontinued, so you might have an unreleased scent on your hands.

I put off testing Brown Jenkin for a long time, I think because I irrationally thought it would actually smell like rodents. Spoiler: it doesn't. It starts out a surprisingly sweet nutty vanilla scent, on me, and then turns to incensey coconut. It kind of makes me want to eat my arm, and yet there's something a little unsettling in this stage, and I think it's the juxtaposition of the foody coconut with the very much not-food incense, like you're thinking "I want to eat this NO I can't eat this it's incense." And then finally it settles down to a waxy vanilla blended with sandalwood and some smoky spices I can't identify. This smells a lot like...um...Not So Penitent Mini Magdalene. I'm not sure if the comparison makes sense. They do have sandalwood in common, and I think there's unlisted vanilla in Brown Jenkin, and I guess the rest of the sameness comes from something unlisted among the smoke and spice notes. I haven't worn Mini Mag in a while, so I need to wear it again soon to be sure, but if there's a GC substitute for Mini Mag, that could be quite handy when I run out. Anyway, I like it a lot.

I was expecting an ozonefest, but this was not like that at all. It goes on cool, juicy cucumber. Now, I've never really been into the cucumber thing in bath and body products. It's not really "me." But I have to admit this is fresh and well done, and that it might make a good scent for a hot day. But then in the later stages, a powdery floral overrules the cucumber. I might not have correctly identified plumeria without reading reviews; I had been guessing it might be white musk or something. But it being plumeria explains why I don't like this later stage. I never really did like plumeria back in the day. Sadly, a miss on me.

If the boyfriend decides to dress up (he's been sick and hasn't gotten all the stuff he wanted to), we're going to be Lily and Caliban from Penny Dreadful, and if we do that, I'm going to wear Lilith because I think the character's name is kind of meant as a reference to mythological Lilith. If he doesn't dress up, then I'm probably going to be a random witch (because I don't want to mess with the Lily wig unless we're doing the whole shebang), and wear Samhain or Fearful Pleasure.

Oh yes, definitely Snow White! It smells like the most expensive hair conditioner I've ever tried. If that sounds like a diss, allow me to mention that this expensive hair conditioner smelled amazing, and if i were rich, I'd drench my hair in it every day. I definitely think there's a little coconut in it.

On me, this is all red musk and patchouli. It's black patchouli, darn near identical to the patchouli note in Sin. The whole thing reminds me of Sin, except without the cinnamon, which I kind of miss. The patch is doing the wet funky type scent it sometimes has. I can definitely see how this is sexual. I don't think it's quite "me" at this time though.

Some more you might like: Carnaval Diabolique: opium smoke, lemon flower, heliotrope, tuberose, black musk, vanilla, coconut, apricot flower. (Starts out lemony, turns into florals with coconut) The Sea Foams Milk: Milk cresting on an ocean wave. (This one did not work on me at all, but it sounded like something you might like) O: Amber and honey with a touch of vanilla. Belle Epoque: Sweet opium, Lily of the Valley, vanilla, mandarin and red sandalwood. Black Pearl: Coconut, Florentine iris, hazelnut and opalescent white musk. I meant to only list ones I've tried, but couldn't resist breaking my rule for these: Dana O'Shee: Offerings of milk, honey and sweet grains were made to placate these creatures, and it is that the basis of the scent created in their name. Obatala: Obatala’s ofrenda is soft, white and pure: milk, coconut meat, shea butter and cool, refreshing water.

I've now used Spiritwrack twice, and I just realized I forgot to ever review it. Since there aren't many reviews for it, here's mine. The first time I used it, it was for a large geopolitical situation, and I'll probably never know if my small working had any effect at all, but it was certainly cathartic after reading some horrible things. The second time, a sort-of-local news story had really hit me hard. I don't know why this particular one, as I didn't know the people involved, but it just did. A guy had killed his wife and was on the lam. I wanted the guy caught, and zeroed in on the word "beacon" in Spiritwrack's description. I lit a candle with his name on it, anointed with Spiritwrack, and focused on the idea of that beacon making him stick out like a sore thumb to the cops so he would be caught, and in the meantime, the Kindly Ones meting out psychological justice from within his mind. He ended up being killed by cops a few days later. Once again, I have no idea if my working really caused this, since I wasn't all that close to the situation except geographically, and I'm sure there were plenty of people who were closer and whose will was also focused in that direction. But it does give you an idea of what kinds of situations I would use Spiritwrack for. Basically, I don't want to use it unless the person's death is an acceptable outcome to me. The Kindly Ones don't mess around. For obvious reasons, I didn't really sniff it like I do my other oils, but I did catch whiffs of it while using it, and the only note I could make out for sure was a dark, bitter vetiver.

I get about a minute of something kind of lilyish, and then that fades out to leave rose and sandalwood. A bit of background: I love, love, love Spellbound. And I amp it to the moon, the stars, and all the seven hells. The drop at the end of the imp cap is enough. I mean, seriously amp the stuff. The rose in Wanton is one of the roses that's in Spellbound. I'd bet real money on it, if I had any. This reminds me a lot of Spellbound, except quieter; I think I could wear this to work without clearing the room! The other notes are different (amber/red musk in Spellbound vs. sandalwood/patchouli here), but it's a very similar rose/incense vibe. It takes me a while to identify the patchouli. It's red patchouli, and it's sitting between the rose and sandalwood, kind of pretending to be each of them. It'll sidle up to rose like "I'm sweet and floral, like you!" and then lean on sandalwood's shoulder and go "I'm warm and incensey, like you!" It all blends together really well. Probably don't need a bottle, since I prefer Spellbound somewhat and have a ton of it, but keeping the imp.

Tested this last night. Initially, Bathsheba is spiced plum plus an undertone that reminds me of green tea and soap at the same time. When it settles down, it's got all three notes working at once: the plum taking center stage, the carnation providing the spice, and the musk grounding it firmly in Perfumeland rather than Roomscentia (I'm burning Alice's Evidence as a room scent this morning, and reflecting on how that spicy plummy scent comes off way more potpourri-ish than Bathsheba). It's...kinda sexy, actually. Womanly, in the same way Mme Moriarty is, though this is a simpler composition. Also this morning, Bathsheba is still going pretty strong. A little of the soapiness from the early stage has crept back in, but it's still nice.

I'm kicking myself for missing the Carnaval back in the day, because every scent I've tried from it in its reincarnation has been a hit. With Iulia, I barely got the imp cap off before saying "Ooooh, I'm in big trouble." In a good way. Iulia starts out strongly honey--I actually would have guessed beeswax; rockrose is labdanum, I think, so that may be why the whole thing comes off as vanillic at first. There's a bit of citrus too, and a brief moment when I can find a little mint if I go looking for it. It dries down into almost orange blossom single note on me, but it's a seriously awesome orange blossom note, one of the best I've sniffed. I can't pick out tea, which is fine because I'm not really a tea-perfume person anyway. On me, the other BPAL this is most similar to is Alma Venus.

Carnaval Diabolique starts out with the lemon dominant. It's sweet, not harsh as lemon can sometimes be, so one of the other notes (likely the vanilla) is softening it even though I can't smell it individually yet. It takes about an hour for the mega-lemon to settle down, and then...it's glorious. It becomes a vanilla-floral-slight lemon scent that is bright and sweet and just divine. The florals in particular are really well-blended and it's hard to pick them apart. I can reeeeallly huff and be like "Hmm, I think that might be heliotrope, and maybe that's tuberose," but I really have to concentrate for that. What's really important is that every time I moved my arm anywhere near my face, I just thought "WOW that smells good." There is also a "toasted" note that occasionally surfaces and might be the coconut, or it might be my skin or nose being weird, because a lot of things have smelled like that to me lately. I agree with Floria on the Belle Epoque comparison. I think this would be an amazing scent for the warmer weather. Probably a bottle purchase at some point.

Totally Midnight on the Midway!