Athena's Owl

I was anabled with a little imp and then somebody said that they wanted to sell ther bottle of typhon.

I bought it, of course. I mean, it has the magic v word and the magic p word and the magic s word. I was doomed from the start.

When I first put it on, it is powerfully vetiver, patchouli, with a definite sandalwood underlayer. and I love it. I have such an attraction to masculine BPAL. Typhon wet on me is an entire stampede of dirty hippies on an easter egg hunt - but they're looking for hidden dime bags, not eggs. and you know, I'm good with that. It's what I was hoping Schwarzer Mond would be like for me, but wasn't.

but here's the magic of Typhon - as the hours go by, the scent calms down and warms up. sandalwood blooms forward, supported by vetiver and patchouli. a thread of the musk winds through, and something... peppery. and so seven hours after I put it on, it's the most gloriously sexy thing. it just melts into my skin like it belongs there. I read an earlier revier who layers this with snake oil.

just thinking about that is hot.

imp: sweet, floral, sugary. where's the sharp? it's like a hard orange candy.

wet: oooooh. more with the florals, and i've been on a real floral kick lately. i wouldn't be surprised if there was a tiny bit of dragon's blood in here, making that sweetness amp to candy.

20 minutes: yow. it's fading already?

later: an overtone of spice, and the florals are *poof* gone.

Fire of Love on me is an unabashedly immodest cedar, and...

is that what civet smells like?

I'm not sure if I like that or not. it's the same intial reaction i had with vetiver - I kept saying, I don't think I like this, but I could not stop sniffing it. it's a tiny bit animalistic.

oh and there's the ginger. hello, ginger!

I think though that I'd wear a little bit of this for the intent and the energy and wear another scent for the top, overt fragrance.

IT's been a long time since an imp was so evocative that it turned one of my reviews into flash fiction, but here it is, for Rose Red, year unknown:

Rose Red

imp:

New snow whispers under my boots, snow not walked on by anyone else. Clear, cold air gets into the arm seams of my cloak in little puffs. I'm walking between tall firs and pines, branches bowed down with snow on either side, and I'm holding the most perfect roses to my nose and every breath of air is scented with them - from the cut stems and leaves to the bouquet of the blooms themselves, perfectly, velvety, red as blood roses.

It's cold enough that they should freeze and die.

But they're still just as sun warmed as if they had nodded on the bush on a day in June, when I cut them from that bush.

wet:

One bloom isn't quite open, and I stroke it with my fingers, thinking of how impossible they were, how I had to have them... how just one became a dozen.

Then the bud unfurls all at once, and hurls its venom in my face, smelling of ammonia, catsand, and licorice root.

A curse, I think as the world tilts sideways, and then remember that licorice root is used for commanding spells as a drift of snow and my face touch.

dry:

I open my eyes and wonder how I ended up in the snow. Cut roses lie scattered around me. I rush and pick them up, counting each one until I am sure I have all eleven. the perfume isn't as powerfully fresh, but they are holding up well in spite of that.

I hold them to my nose and step off the path. I'm not going home any more. I don't know why.

But I have to go this way, now.

imp: rose? Jasmine? not quite either but reminds me of both, and its definitely not rose *and* jasmine.

wet: greener, now...uh oh, plastic doll heads. I wonder what Dr. John seward and this lady have in common?

answer: ginger! hmmm.

after a minute or two the doll head effect drops back, just in the same way. hmm. it's a sweetly floral blend. this is another nice one, but not in the way that I usually seek.

after a long time, it's the faint impression of barbie heads.

maybe i'll try it again in a week.

imp: smells like orangey angel. so like angel, except, citrus!

wet: but then i get it on my skin. and then it's orange oil.

because I was peeling an orange, and I got a mist of orange oil all over my face.

and in my eyes. ow!

in a few minutes it becomes ten ton orange peels clogdancing on an angel dancing on the head of a pin. and that's how the balance goes - the scent that makes me think of angel, precariously balanced and carrying orange zest on its back.

a few minutes after that...

this is angel.

no, I mean it. The orange backed off and all of a sudden I am twenty one years old and sticking my nose in the collar of my coat because AT LAST, I have found a perfume that does not make me smell like a girly bouquet. My Makeup is by MAC. all the shoes in my wardrobe are black. everybody loves my haircut, as it makes me look like Josephine Baker. the only perfume I wore for fourteen years. except... richer. smoother. not as sharp on the nose, but still that thrilling and familiar scent.

hours later, it stayed close to my skin and lasted until I could faintly smell it in the morning.

overcome with LOVE!

imp:

again with that butterynut smell. and mmm. this is gooood.

wet:

something spicy and herbal. a savory spice for cooking, though. the faintest whiff of something like cocoa. and whoops, that medicine cabinet smell from schwarzer mond. but this time it's a more asian apocethary. sandalwood? leather? I'm still learning how to tell the notes apart. this is a male scent. maybe not even a male scent that I'd wear anyway. it's growing sexier by the minute, though. no, definitely leather. not dyed leather, though. no hang on maybe I will wear this on myself. it smells really good. it's not kicking my butt like The Music of Erich Zahn, but it's still really nice.

dry:

god this is good.

I smell the vetiver, now. it's not a strong vetiver, but it's vetiver, and so I love it automatically. but it's vetiver and burnt sugar, and that I never would have tried as a combination. that's really cool. the medicine cabinet smell only lasted for a minute or two before it disappeared. mm.

Long after:

the medicine cabinet smell is back, but very faintly, along with this sweet burnt sugar and incense thing. this is nice. i'll keep the imp and see if I feel distressed when it gets low.

bottle: fruit and flowers. oh my but it is girly. I smell the peach blossom quite a bit here, but it's not the only thing i smell.

wet: on my skin the peach instantly amps. I hope I'm not having the bellini problem again. I can smell something resinous beneath it, and I'm enjoying that quite a bit. I already like this better than Peony Moon for me, though it is quite feminine and so I would probably only wear it when I wanted something different than my usual dirty hippie vibe.

dry: a floral blend. I can smell the lilies, and they haven't gone to soap the way they usually do. the peach blossom has moved back, obligingly. it's quite, quite pretty, and atypical of the earthy resinous scents I really like.

but I'll hang onto the bottle, for those times that I want to smell girly and femme.

I'm on a regular reviewing spree tonight....

imp:

oh, THERE we go. that's beautiful. fresh and clear undercut with the earthy beauty of vetiver. a thin note of greenery, a touch of spice, something reminding me of salt-lick skin.

wet:

funny I should mention salt. because this is vetiver and the sea, and it's making my toes curl. and skin scent, oh my yes. I'm swooning. it's gorgeous. it totally hits my weird taste in perfume buttons. a few minutes later it's all that and a sweetness I can't describe. I just want to lick myself. I want to brace me against the wall and shag myself silly, if that were possible. I could bathe in it. I want a vat. this has been the BIG WINNER of my bpal haul so far. and my personal taste in perfume is so alien and so un-girl.

This is a catalogue scent. I weep for joy.

dry:

I can't tell you about what it smells like 20 minutes later. I can't stop sniffing myself. zowie. I love this a lot and so much.

I got some on my lip when it was still in the wet stage, and it tastes awful.

imp:

cinnamon?

oh, no.

but what else is that? the floral scent that makes me think of lotus, but only the thinnest dribble of it? maybe dragon's blood?

wet:

I don't think I like this. it's insensey and I get a pepper senstation from it but it's just the wrong sort of mix, I can tell right away.

not long after:

cinnamon red hots. Out! I exorcise thee with soap!

Dr. John Seward

bottle:

ohhhh.

yesterday I was asking for something that was "nutty." i am getting this buttery candied almond smell. I like it. it's not what i expected of dr. john. I LIKE it.

wet:

now add plastic doll heads.

dammit! I'm getting my period soon, aren't i? but not to worry, not to worry. there's something else going on here that I'm really loving. Hello, tonka. just step on the barbies... there you go. oh, ginger! I catch a whiff of it.

dry:

plastic doll heads gone.

and how weird that I smell apples. I didn't get this confused with harvest moon, did I? but apples, or burning apple wood, I'm not sure. or sandalwood? some kind of wood. cedar? and then flowers. they're lovely flowers. that must be the champaca.

Harvest moon 06

imp: candy sweet. apples! apples and booze. don't ask.

wet: apples! and sweetness, and grassy, but prairie grassy, not lawn or park grassy. hey, is that chrysanthemum? the faintest whiff of burning leaves, like from miles away and just reaching your nose.

bUT predominantly, it's apples.

20 minutes: all about apples. and... caramel. did someone slip me a halloween scent?

later: okay, now it's mellowed out to more of the chrysanthemum and something smoky, with the apples fading back. that's neat. I guess there was a reason I got piles of Harvest moon after all!

colour: deep ruby-brown. it' looks like maple syrup.

imp: wtf? is that? I smell MINT? MINT? have i gone insane? I also smell wood, of some kind, and something that makes me think specifically of orientique ( I think only the canadians will grok that.)

wait a second. That's patchouli. isn't it? that's the first time I've smelled what I recognize as patchouli, in the bottle. must not rush this. must not slather. must sniff.

I get a hint of something like a sweet resin. I don't think it's amber, but sweet resin. so. mint. wood. patchouli. resin.

onward.

Wet: oh what's that? some kind of dried herb, something from the spice cabinet that reminds me of clove (please, no) something peppery. where did the patchouli go? I smelled it in the bottle, why not now? no, all i'm getting is that clove-like smell. not the flashback to the dentist's office trauma that was uranus for me, but still...

patchouli? come back!

maybe that's myrrh I smell, and not clove. it's not making the sides of my tongue curl the way clove does. but get this - when I move my wrist away, I get that orientique smell - not just the pathcouli but the incense and more specifically the PAPER shipments came packed in...

I know it's starting to dry aleady but the very highest note is something clean and cobweb clearing to smell. with the feel of mint, but not mint. somebody tell me what that is, I'm baffled.

and intrigued.

(partway into waiting for 20 minutes after smelling the "wet" stage) that high note is like something from my grandpa's medicine cabinet. but I don't know what. something really old-fashioned from that early to middle 20th century vibe, but with a twist. My grandfather used hair dress... you know how george clooney insisted on Dapper Dan in O Brother, Where Art Thou? like that, but marketed specifically to black men. and shaving soap, and carter's liver pills, and mysterious bottles of things. whatever this note is, it's making me think about pulling everything out of the medicne cabinet, and putting it all back. but I don't remember what in there smelled like this.)

20 minutes: back to that something peppery. (Patchouli? where did you go? Resins? hello?) and the sweet mysterious I remember this smell.

but take my wrist away to type and I get wood. a tiny sliver of wood. almost piney, something with turpinol, something that I want to call anise but I know its' not anise. and it's not fennel. but that sort of a licorice sort of vibe. like some kind of an herbal tincture. Medicine. I smell medicine.

I think that this imp is going to have to age before I try it again. it's so evocative, and just... so bizarre.

This is awesome.

I got death cap as a frimp. I sniffed it, nodded at the dirt scent, and then didn't put it on, waiting for when i was in the mood for that sort of thing.

once I put it on my skin the dirt packed up and backed off and left me up close and personal with the richest, darkest amber. I can still smell the dirt, but it backed way off.

I think that's kind of neat. I will keep trying the imp to decide if I need a bottle.

I was gifted an imp of this.

First i have to say that I have no idea what this smells like. I've used it basically for intention. I get the sense of citrus, soft flowers, a sharp spike of somthing green, a touch of spice way down there.

the last few nights have been rotten for anxiety attacks. I suffered through one until 7 am before thinking to get out the white light.

I sat up in lotus, and touched each point on my body that corresponded to the chakras, did a fast LBRP, and...

it was almost like the white light clanged down around me like steel walls. I could feel the boundaries around me, keeping things out, and filling in with a reassuring protection. I felt warmer. I was aware of this sort of bubble around me, like those illustrations of the etheric body, of this very dense, palpable energy. one of those things that you "see" in your head, if you follow. it was white, with clear golden specks though it, like dust motes in a sunbeam.

the anxiety shunted away, and I lay there for a little bit just sort of experiencing the sensation before I fell asleep, and I remember dreaming of being on a canopied raft with a bed on it floating in the middle of a lake. just relaxing and watching the beautiful, all around me, utterly contented, totally uneventful.

when I woke up I recalled as much of that as I could and sent it off to solcita, who gifted me the imp. It's wonderful. Thank you.

every night since, if I feel the teeniest bit of discomfort, out comes the imp. I find that it blends well with my dream formulas as well.

Now as for what it smells like:

In the imp: eucalyptus! that's the sharp green. it clears my head wonderfully, and i raise my head and quit slouching as it draws me up. I breathe from the belly, more aware.

lemon, too, well blended. it's soapy, but not stromgly so.

anointed: a touch of something that reminds me of the scent of Aveda Sap Moss Shampoo. which I adore sooooo much.... it makes me think of the forests of home, the mosses and lichen coloured rocks. a perfect association for me.

now I smell flowers, but i'm not sure what. pale flowers. not anywhere near potent enough to be jasmine or lilac, but reminding me of that. a tiny dribble of cinnamony something, and the soapy edge, I think is from frankincense. which totally blows my mind, but okay. a few shavings of sandalwood...like one drop per hundred, or something.

I didn't concentrate on it before. I was putting it on to get the effect. and even now, just doing the anointing to both work as White Light and to smell it, the headache that's been dogging me for a week has faded back, I feel clearer in the head, and supported.

Defintely must order a bottle of this, right now now now. (runs to paypal)

today I dreaded going to work, because saturday was a big fat technical nightmare.

so I told myself to get over it and put on some lionheart.

it's swooningly beautiful, this scent. I definitely recognize the amber, which is an excellent note for me. I read the previous reviews, and if heliotrope is in this then I must have more - but the amber predominates.

today at work wasn't too bad. but - best part - the cute guy at work I crush over came in today (unexpectedly) and we practically ran into each other in a doorway, and I managed to talk with him without feeling like an utter idiot, the way I usually do, and I could actually think of things to say instead of trailing off awkwardly and looking at my shoes.

I thought it was rather brave of me. and this scent is so wonderful, it mellows me right out. More TAL, please!

determination does not seem to help me stay on track for tasks.

BUT. this is the first scent I've worn that has stopped total strangers in their tracks. for serious. I'd been wearing it to work on days that I know are going to be high stress, just keep shoving, only 425 minutes to go before it's over days.

each time, somebody has walked past me, stopped, turned around, and said, "You smell. AMAZING. what *is* that?"

It must just work with my skin chemistry! I have this obsession with vetiver (yes, 'thena, we KNOW) and if this has patchouli in it then I must invest heavily in patchouli based scents. it starts off yelling vetiver, but then it settles down into this creamy blend with this peppery edge that just smells like IDEAL perfume to me.

Now if only it helped me keep focused on crap I need to do but enjoy putting off...

my bottle of chaos theory, arrived today, is MIII (1003.)

in bottle: good lord, I don't know. my impressions are "sweet" and "clean" but not lemon or mint. flowers? I don't know, it doesn't smell like anything I recognize.

It's a good smelling stranger, though.

wet, on skin: there's somthing in this that smells like skin, or leather, but it's faint, and something that makes me think of the way fruit strip gum tastes. and I smell roses, I'm sure I do. and something way down beneath it all that is... slightly feral.

later: dryer sheets, a bit, but still roses and sweetness. that i think it's leather smell, a slightly herbal edge.

I think it's a fragrance I have to get to know. it's not like my usual resins and woods or my love affair with honey or what have you. it's interesting and still light.

I'm going to keep it and see how it ages.

my question is on timing.

and unexpected limited update (black moon!) is up until the 29th.

my paypal account is empty, and by the time the funds cleared, the update will be gone.

is it all right to pay with paypal by e-check to "hold" my place in the order even though the funds for the e-check won't clear until after the 29th of august? or am I out of luck?

This is the scent I was most anticipating in my salon decant set.

imp: the first note is the leather, and it's the most clearly leather note i've smelled in a bpal. just underneath that, the tiniest hint of vetiver. alongside it, a rich, rich amber and flowers combination.

wet, on skin: now the peppery ginger is foremost. and that must be the champaca flower. i expected this to be very Man! but i vow that they'll pry this imp out of my cold, dead fingers first. I've still got that leather feeling. and a citrus scent, but not what i'm used to from citrus - that must be the pittosporum. the sweetness that I associate with musk, as well. I can't detect the patchouli - i'm not sure I even knows what it smells like.

in 20 minutes: ambergris! I actually couldn't stop sniffing my wrist while waiting the 20 minutes. now I have this beautiful ambergris and champaca thing, and they blend so smoothly and seamlessly it's hard to distinguish them. leather is there, and again the tiniest bit of vetiver. the pepper, ginger, and citrus has stepped back.

in 1 hour: leather and champaca. it's sweet and rich without the "floral" cues. ambergris is still there, and it's soft and pretty. I can't smell vetiver at all, but that's all right, really. it's beautiful and soft, but I'd bury my nose in a man's throat if he was wearing it, too.

I definitely want a bottle of this.

With the new price incrases on oils from BPAL announced today, is there also an increase in shipping costs we should know about?

Urd absolutely smells like a head shop.

I also like Namaste for this effect.

also, Black Lotus for the tibetan import store effect.

(and zomg I can't wait for my decant of Two Monsters to arrive now - I'm ready to run over to the site and order a bottle!)

I was looking for a sleeping oil last night, and the contest came down to the two Voodoo blends in my collection - horn of Plenty and Van Van. I thought Horn of Plenty smelled nice, but my first whiff of Van Van was all about the vetiver. Lemongrass? where?

so I said "Yay!" and put it on my wrists and throat.

I relaxed quickly, because vetiver does that to me. a slightly peppery note popped up and blended with the vetiver, and something faintly lemony, but pepper and vetiver...oh god I cannot wait for Two Monsters, what can I tell you.

I've taken to wearing scent to bed because I'm prone to elevated anxiety as I'm trying to go to sleep. vetiver is an ace bedtime belnd for me, as just smelling it makes my eyelids heavy. I didn't feel anxious, and I quite enjoyed the scent. I ended up resting with my wrist directly under my nose. It's redoubled my desire to get Every Single Scent with Vetiver in it! I am a fan!

The last thing I remember thinking was, "Hey, I wonder what this blend is supposed to do?"

...Then I was awakened by a phonecall. Normally this is irritating, but it's a phonecall I'd been waiting SIX MONTHS for, and my life was pretty much on hold until this person phoned me. To top it all off I had just been told a couple of days ago that I probably wouldn't be contacted for some time.

Hot. Damn.

I'm going to wear Horn of Plenty when I'm in interviews, if this luck reversal of Van Van works that well!

I had this on my wishlist, and it was frimped to me with my Premature Burial order.

I opened it, I sniffed it, and thought, "that's the strangest thing I've ever smelled." and promptly put it on.

I then spent the next hour saying to myself, "I don't think I like this," while compulsively sniffing my wrist. All I could smell was vetiver. that's it. all vetiver, all the time. violet? where?

when I woke up the next morning, I reached for SAturnalia and put it on. and then thought, "why did I do that? I don't like it."

I had it on my neck, and I was wearing a turtleneck sweater. I kept pulling the collar up over my nose and taking a deep breath snootful of vetiver. because of course, the violets were nowhere to be found. vetiver, and that's it. and I dont' like the way it smells.

Honest. I don't. I did not just sniff my wrist just now and feel this utter wave of relaxation rush over me. you've got me confused with someone else.

a week later, I put on a different perfume and immediately identified the vetiver. I'm obsessed with vetiver. enchanted by it - in the old sense. I don't expect anyone to understand this irrational desire to staple my wrist to my nose when I'm wearing saturnalia because I don't like the smell.

*sniff*

ahhhhh.

you know, when I first started with BPAL, I thought I was the anti-floral. and Jasmine was public enemy number one.

but you know....I've been all about the flowers, though what I've been desirous of is a comination of floral and oriental. I think nuit is doing that for me.

This imp was frimped to me from a swap, and so I believe that it is aged. what I get is the sense that I'm in a room at night with the windows open, and night blooming jasmine is wafting in through the windows while i'm burning incense... a resinous blend, with amber or benzoin, and off in the corner is a bouquet of moon-pale roses that only blush slightly pink at the edges. when I got them, they were open just a little more than rosebuds. now they're open, nearly in full orgiastic bloom. and I'm lying on a fainting couch staring out the window because It's damn near too hot to sleep but the night is so beautiful anyway. when the breeze is strong, it's jasmine, when it ebbs, it's incense, and they trade off being on "top" scent-wise but that delicate rose stays true, just underneath it.

It's beautiful, it's warm, it's the perfume of a woman who flops down on your sofa and says, "I don't know what to do - Blaine and James and Chad are all pressing me to choose, darling, but I'm thinking I should just dump them all and start over, what do you think?"