Leda

Freshly applied: Wow, this is very close to Devils Night in it's opening with that somewhat lemony/cinnamony sugar cookie opening. That, on top of pink Dove soap. Not what I expected. Dried down: Sweet & clean. While still close to Devil's Night to my nose, I prefer this over DN because this is lighter and sweeter. I do get a fresh crispness to it, and there is an underlying candy scent I can't quite place. I admit I was hoping for more sweet powder given the description, but DN was not a favorite of mine and Enraged Bunny Musk may be too close for my comfort.

Us too! My almost 3 yo daughter wants to have perfume like mommy. I rummaged through my imps and found Alice and put a tiny dot on her wrist--it's so HER! So now we have to get a bottle, to share Snow White and Dana O Shee really do sound like other nice ones for sharing with children. I wonder if the Raven would also be nice? I seem to remember comparisons to baby shampoo in some of the reviews...

There was something about Skuld that made me think of sex. Something sweet mingled with that clean sweat after sex smell. I had to stop wearing it because it was too personal. Like everyone around me would think I just came from the bedroom. Try it! LOL It is very nice. (Ylang ylang, honey, Egyptian and Arabian musks and labdanum). And, get yourself a BPAL scent you love and then go have some really great sex for all future scent associations!!

Pre-BPAL, I used to love Joy perfume. In Hymn, I have found an even better replacement. Hymn's rose is very soft (fragrance, though not intensity!) and the resins in this come across gently spicy. Such a comforting, clean, refined scent. If you love Joy, you really need to try Hymn. P.S. Thanks Sookster, you are enabler supreme! Now I have to get a bottle

Ajna begins very camphor/menthol-y, literally clearing my head. There is a note of licorice, but the colors I envision are deep gray and black, with a purpley tone. As the menthol dissipates, maybe 5 minutes after application, the anise scent becomes quite smooth. Appearing beside it is awhat reminds me of plopping a piece of frankincense resin onto one of those sparkly little round coals; watching it bubble and melt; and the thick smoke that emerges. However, its not really smoky or resiny. The scent is quite weightless and grounded at the same time, I can almost envision it in two perfect layers. Perfect in my mind for any intuitive/meditative work. It stays right on the skin, almost no throw, so this is quite personal and definately suited for ritual work/tarot reading/meditation for me. The anise to this blend is what the purpley sheen is on a black feather--a beautiful compliment to something deep and dark and mysterious. Love it!!! ETA: Waaay after drydown, I'm left with some kind of dried herb note. I can't place it, but it reminds me of the dried sage and sweetgrass smudge sticks.

Wow, I love this! Sweet violets mixed with clove are the most obvious of the notes. And although I've never smelled the lab's carnation SN, to my nose the spice and sweet floral combo make this is a dead ringer to the scent of a fresh carnation. While wearing, I kept getting flashes of something I recognize from Black Opal (the tonka, maybe?). And other times, something that reminds me of (old) Morocco. Overall, this is clean, sweet, and spicy, but not cloying. Quite possibly entering my top 10. Definately a big bottle. ETA: I recieved 2 imps of Sybaris in a swap, and they were different from each other. I can only assume that the one imp was mislableled, because it was so completely different from the first I tried, and the other reviews. Kinda smelled like lotus or something. While one was an instant love, the other was an instant wash-off! Weird.

As others have said, this is pure dark and mushroomy potting soil. So realistic! If day dirt and night dirt smell different, then this is night dirt. Cold, dark, and damp-yet fresh. As it dries, the mushroomy note fades and then GD reminds me of that metallic dirt scent that happens right when it begins to rain. Graveyard Dirt doesn't last long on me, but its very evocative. One whiff of it and my mood is instantly changed to calm and grounded. This is my perfect bedtime scent.

Deep, rich, golden vanilla warming up the sweet Dragon's Blood. While wet, this was almost too sweet, but as the oil dried the scent also became more dry. Final impression: This is the scent of dry, sweet, resinous Dragon's Blood mixed with the heady, spicy vanilla from Snake Oil. Very yummy, indeed! However, I'm one of the unfortunate few who apparently is allergic to DB. If you are into Dragon's Blood scents, and like Snake Oil, get some of this.

Snow White is the most unique scent I've ever smelled. Barely detectable in the bottle, its creamy and cool with a slight green note. Smooth coconut cream over this pale green note. This isnt your coconut and green as in Eden--Snow White is pure and innocent and wears as a second skin. More of a "white" scent. I can see why there are all the raves, and I'm so glad I am finally able to join in. Now I swear I'm not nuts, but I smell scotch tape in this, and ya know what? I LOVE it! Coconut cream and scotch tape. Just sniffed a roll to confirm. That pale green scent is best described as that, but not in a chemical way. That's one of my favorite parts about Snow White. Love this stuff.

Eden, I could have loved you, if only you hadn't shielded your true beauty behind your green, green exterior. Smooth and sensual fig, sweet milk, sandalwood and coconut. I'd love this if only the sharp green fig leaf would let go and let me enjoy the other notes.

Devil's night went on like a lemon-tinged sugar cookie. I waited for the fires, for the boozy swoon, for the thuggish musk......Oh, there is the musk. A little more masculine than I had hoped. And then it happened. Someone replaced my BPAL with a yankee candle! Citrus sage, I think they call it? I am not willing to give up just yet. I will put it away for a bit and maybe resurrect it as a room scent.

Samhain 2005. I had to get this after so many included this among their BPAL favorites! I had no choice but to have such high expectations. I wasn't really prepared for the actual scent. Once I let go of expecting it to actually smell like my own memories of cold Autumn nights, I was able to fall in love with the Samhain that it is. Apples and patchouli are what leads this scent. My nose imagines a little chocolate in the deep drydown, not unlike the ultimate drydown of 13. A little sweet, a little smoky, but with the delightful apple-patchouli. A winner for sure.

I like Numb. Reminds me of a black & white image of an ethereal movie starlet, sitting at her dressing table in a silky slip and feathery high-heeled slippers. Her eyelashes make shadows on her cheekbones, and her hair falls in shiny waves to either side of her face. Her bowed dark mouth is neither in a smile or a frown as she gazes upon her reflection. She holds up one of those perfume atomizers with the bulb and tassel, and this is what her perfume smells like.

Spellbound is my all time fave. A little dab will do ya! Yes, I get the hippy shop scent that many do, but I am the one who sniffs all around the hippy shop to find out what makes it smell so wonderful in there. I was overjoyed when I finally found that scent in Spellbound. The fresh, deep red rose blends in perfectly with the musk and amber, I can't quite call this a floral. Even though it smells kind of like a hippy shop, it is a deep-red lipstick and stilettos kind of scent. Sexy as hell.

O takes me back to the first time I ever held a packet of honey in my hand: I was 8 and I was eating chicken mcnuggets. After aging my imp a bit and trying again (several times) the sweetness comes out and O becomes a well rounded sweet skin scent. I wanted to get the holy sex venom that many others did, but I smell sweet and innocent and a bit unwashed. Like a sweaty kid running around at a birthday party. Will love up the entire imp and keep the empty bottle for sniffin', but won't be ordering a big bottle anytime soon.

It took me a while, but I finally succumbed to the delicious delight that is Snake Oil. First try it was an agressively sweet vanilla and a bit of my grandfather's cologne and pipe tobacco. After putting the imp away for a while and getting it back out for another spin, I'm thoroughly hooked. Indonesian spices? Yes, I smell those. Incense and vanilla? Yes, that too. Reminds me a little of nag champa incense. No grandpa anywhere. ETA: Something different appears each time I wear this. Sometimes I get more woods (patchouli? cedar?) and today I am getting some amber as well. Even a little cherryish camphor scent right after applied. Very complex. A staple in my BPAL collection.

On me, Salome began as a rich exotic oriental perfume. I could detect almonds and floral incense. After a while, however, the musk came into the foregrounds and took over in the form of a giant dryer sheet. Then I got a headache and could never wear Salome again.

Fresh and green, with the sweet orange blossom taking the lead. This is a very soft scent, and actually reminds me of tissues. The scented kind. Not unpleasant, but not something I would choose to wear.

Add me to the masses of Dorian worshippers. This is the sexiest second-skin vanilla musk with a twist of sweetened lemon. This is the scent that changed my mind about vanilla, and was the first scent I promptly reordered. Lazy and languid, sipping on sweet vanilla tea and licking the sugar off the lemon and nuzzling your nose into your man (or woman's) warm neck. Yum!!!

Midnight to me is an aquatic floral. Unfortunately for me, I haven't met an aquatic I got along with and Midnight is no exception. Also peculiar for me was a waxy scent that overpowered the fragrance that I can only assume is how one of the florals behaves on my skin. Reminded me of a lightly floral scented, pale blue wax candle.

When I first tried Anne Bonny, I thought of Shalimar. I don't like Shalimar, but both it and Anne Bonny have many die-hard fans. This was the first gift-imp from the lab, and I gave it to a friend long before I became accustomed to BPAL. I'd love a chance to sniff it again with my more-experienced nose.

I like this, but not for personal use. The Hesperides is a perfect Autumn room scent, a nice alternative for those who don't do cinnamon. From application to drydown, I smell fresh juicy golden apples and what I imagine is the oak bark. The oak bark and the juicyness is what keeps this from going potpourri. Very nice.

Aureus is hands-down one of my favorites. Although there aren't any notes listed in the scent description, I'd be willing to bet it contains cedar, amber, and patchouli. This is too sexy to smell of church, but yet it does. Inspires many fantasies of stained glass, a naughty confessional booth, where the hot priest looks like Joaquin Phoenix in the movie "Quill" and has his own demons to work out...... And, top it off, this is one of those scents that its great sniffed up close, but the throw is AMAZING.

Thanks, lab! Cathode is fresh and clean smelling without being aquatic or linen based. I don't get mints, oddly enough, but its an herbal unoffensive scent. Husband likes to wear it, and he has mentioned a 5 ml in his future.

I find Wilde to be so expertly blended that I can not pick out any of the individual notes. This definately is masculine to my nose, and reminds me very much of the expensive department store colognes that one might find. Perfect for a gentleman, business man, or someone's guy friend that they like, but not "like that". While I like Wilde plenty, it doesn't have the immediate lust-inducing scent that some of Beth's other scents do. Glad I sniffed it, but not on the big bottle list.