Little Bird

I was very excited to sample this at a friend's house, just because I am always excited to try a LE blend that is no longer available. Unfortunately, I was not familiar with the notes in Red Moon and realized too late that it has dragon's blood in it. Dragon's blood hates me. First on this was very sharp orange citrus. Then the dragon's blood comes out behind the orange and smells like rotten fruit, rotten flowers, and that odd metallic smell that it often turns to on my skin. It was very strong and bothering me on the ride home, then the amber started to come out and this went powdery on me. Red Moon, sadly, is everything that I hate. Orange citrus, dragon's blood, and baby powder. Oh well, at least now I don't feel so bad for not having a bottle, lol.

The High Priestess is very much Pine Sol cleanser on me. Piney and astringent, slightly minty. I'm actually not getting any almond, which surprised me because my skin usually amps up almond to disgusting intensity. It's crazy. I feel like I have a decant full of Pine Sol. I smell like I just cleaned my house in it and my clothes are soaked in the cleanser. Good thing that I like the smell of Pine Sol.

Nyarlathotep really doesn't work well on my skin. First on it smells like burning incense and grapefruit. Grapefruit often smells nasty and a bit dirty on my skin. It makes me sneeze. The incense disappears after a few minutes and this turns into strong ozone with grapefruit in the background. Now I smell like dryer sheets and dirty grapefruit This is one for my swap pile.

I actually rather like Ace of Pentacles. Maybe not enough to buy a full bottle, but I definitely will cherish my decant. When I was little my family lived in the middle of a pine forest in Missouri. My parents planted flower gardens all along the edge of the woodline, so that you'd have to walk through the flowers to get into the forest. This is what that smells like to me. First on it is earth and sweet florals. The floral isn't bothering me, the dirt smell and floral are balancing each other out so nicely. In the drydown I *really* like this though. The patchouli, pine, and moss scents really come out and this becomes a spicy forest scent. It gets a bit powdery after an hour or so and fades quickly after that, but it is still pleasant while it lasts. Thankfully, no almond ever made its presence known for me. Almond smells like boozy cherries on me. This is a nice earthy blend.

Wearing Graveyard Dirt was an interesting experience over the weekend. I put it on before going out with my sister... and my sister HATES the smell of dirt. She is very anti-outdoorsy. She even gets angry when it rains because she says it stirs up the soil and makes the world smell dirty. Yes, I find her odd too, lol. Anyhow. I thought that she was going to beat me and throw me out of her car when I wore this. Honestly, it made me a bit sick to my stomach as well. It was like sticking my head into a bag of moist black potting soil. It's not that I dislike that smell, but I don't want to smell like potting soil... and I don't want to be smelling dirt for hours on end. This is really strong and has a lot of throw on me too. Very rich soil and decaying matter. It gets a bit mossy in the drydown. This is just very not-me. I ended up giving my decant to one of my male friends that I don't see very often.

I love civet and hate florals... so I'm happy to report that this smells mostly like civet and I didn't get any florals. On me this is musky animalistic civet with a hint of spice in the background. The spice might be cinnamon, but it isn't as sharp as cinnamon usually is on me. I'm so amazed that this is musky yet is not giving me a headache. In the drydown this smells like civet and dill pickles. Is it gross that I love this? Figures that I'd like a perfume named The Devil. This reminds me a bit of Satyr though (only I like Satyr a LOT more), and I have a 10 ml of Satyr... so I think that I'll keep my decant of this one, but I won't need a full bottle.

I am not fond of The Fool. I don't really like mint for some reason. It's just something that I associate with toothpaste and that's about it. Something about the smell is very off putting to me, and I hate smelling minty (I prefer to be spicy, lol). The mint stayed strong for 3 hours before I washed this off. In the background was a sort of creamy vanilla and berries smell. The mint isn't so sharp in the drydown, more like a sweet/powdery spearmint. I would say that this is a happy and playful scent. It just isn't something that I would wear as a perfume.

ETA: This is another bpal scent that smells nothing like it did back in 2005. I think that a lot of things have been reformulated. I love the 2005 Black Tower, but the recent imps I've gotten of this smell nothing like the 05 (and it's not just a case of aging, they don't smell the same as they did/do fresh). Recent Black Tower gives me a headache and smells like cheap spice potpourri mixed with cigar smoke. I don't really get the leather, wine or ivy from the newer versions, but there's a weird sourness to it and something that smells like dead leaves. Spice potpourri, cigar smoke, dead leaves and soured fruit. My older bottle of this still smells great, but the newer ones are unwearable... -- Old review: First on I am getting the red wine and ivy. It's an odd mixture of boozy berry and green. I am enamored with andrabell's review of ivy trailing out of a challis of wine, so that is the mental picture that I am getting now. I am amazed at how well the description captures the scent. This does remind me of wandering desolate castle grounds overgrown with ivy and long dead spirits. There is a burst of ozone in here, like a chilling breeze, and then it is gone to make way for leather, sandalwood and amber. The warm powdery amber over the cool leather is making my pulse race. I'm starting to think that this would be a really sexy scent to force the boy to wear, lol. I like that it does get a bit warmer and spicier in the drydown over a few hours. Conclusion: I like this one. It's one that I'd love on myself or the boy, though it has a more masculine feel. --

I like orris, black musk, patchouli and myrrh, so this should be made of win on me, but it's just okay. It has a smoky, ashy quality that keeps reading as vetiver to my nose, and the black musk smells sharply musky and powdery with the orris. Orris is usually sweet, pleasant and powdery on me and black musk is usually dark, smooth and powdery on me. But it's like they form into something too dry, too powdery, sharply musky, and unpleasant when mixed together. The sweet myrrh tries to hold things together, but it fails, and the patchouli smells very dry, acrid and ashy. The overall effect is like baby powder, fireplace ashes, woodsmoke, sharp musk, and hints of sweet myrrh. Harsh and discordant.

Neroli often smells like slightly spicy orange candies on my skin, and that's what I smell when I first apply Naiad. Then the lavender starts to build up in the background and smells rather sharp and herbal. The orange and lavender mix is kind of odd and unpleasant to me, so I hate this stage. I was hoping for this to be a sweet bubblegum-lotus and sweet lavender combo, but I never smell the lotus at all and the lavender smells really medicinal on me. Oh well. Lavender so rarely works on me. I'm not surprised.

First on... dragon's blood and almond? Almond always smells like boozy cherry to me (reminds me of cough syrup). Maybe a hint of cinnamon as well, there is definitely some sort of spice in the background. In the drydown I am getting the menthol Vicks scent that previous reviewers have gotten. Plus it's getting a bit of a baby powder smell to it. This is pretty medicinal and gross on me. Probably my least favorite of the Tarot blends so far. Sorry Ace of Wands

First on... (the BPAL note guessing game, lol) neroli, ylang ylang, and light cinnamon? I'm not sure. The notes are hard to place. There is a citrus fruitiness and an almost goldeny floral. I'm definitely smelling spicy cinnamon. In the drydown I am getting green floral and cinnamon. Like a meadow sprinkled with spice. It's very odd, and I wouldn't think that the combination would smell good... but it's quite pretty. I won't be getting a bottle, but I'll keep my decant around for special moments.

Unlike most people, I bought Numb hoping that it wouldn't smell like mint. And I am not at all disappointed . I love Numb. I'm actually kind of sad that I only got one bottle. When I first put Numb on, it smelled *so* familiar, but I couldn't place it. I just knew that it was making me feel extremely happy. I was getting major 'warm fuzzies' from it. Then it hit me - this smells exactly like my dad's shaving cream. When I was little and my dad would give me baths he used to give me a whole can of his shaving cream to waste at my leisure. I remember it had the most wonderful cool, almost powdery smell. Numb, to me, is being three years old and splashing around in a shaving cream coated bath tub with my father watching over me. It's so comforting. Takes me back to a happy time when my father was still alive and I really believed that he would always be there to protect me. Numb makes me feel closer to him. *sigh* I will always be such the daddy's girl...

Florals are not really me, they tend to give me headaches. Jasmine is my least favorite smell. I don't even really like citrus in perfumes. So I'm surprised that I like Versailles. First on this is like someone squeezed a fresh orange over the petals of a jasmine floral. Very citrussy with some jasmine underneath. Then the rose comes out and I really start to like this blend. The rose isn't perfumey or sharp on me, just dark and spicy. My skin almost always amps up the jasmine so that it's overpowering, but the jasmine is very light on me here. After about an hour this is powdery amber and citrus. And it all fades away in about 2 hours. The staying power isn't that great. But I like this. That's a small miracle for me where florals are concerned. Versailles is a nice citrus floral. I think that I'll end up swapping my imp as it isn't really something that I can imagine myself wearing... but I still like it.

I ordered an imp of Al-Shairan in my neverending quest to find a good clove scent. The patchouli was also very appealing to me. I think that I would go crazy for a good patchouli and clove scent where the two are nicely balanced. Maybe with some pepper thrown in there as well. But that dream never turns into reality on me, lol. First on: I smell like the finest of craft store potpourris! Several minutes later: Yup. Cinnamon orange potpourri. There was a brief burst of juicy peach in there, and an odd moment where I smelled some bubblegum, but mostly we've got cinnamon orange potpourri. Over time the orange is coming out more. It smells like candied orange peel and potpourri. Conclusion: spicy orange potpourri. And my skin started getting red and itchy where I applied this . Oddly enough, even though this reminds me of potpourri and I appear to be allergic to it, I like this. I would buy this to scent my house (I can't pull off citrus scents on me really). If you like spicy orange then I definitely recommend trying this one.

My grandmother lives in Arkansas. She is a very strong and feisty woman who cooks lovely things form scratch. Anyhow, Bengal smells like my grandmother's house. First on when it is still wet it is a wonderful honey and cooking spices smell. Sweet and lovely. In the drydown it smells mostly of cinnamon on me (reminding me of the potpourri that my grandmother uses) but there's something else going on here. It's like being in my grandmother's house when she is cooking a pie or some other sweet dessert. I wish that the cinnamon weren't so strong, it's drowning out all of the other wonderful notes. I was really hoping for more clove and pepper, but I only catch brief glimpses of clove every once in a while under the cinnamon. No pepper at all. All in all I will probably end up swapping my imp of this one. I don't like fragrances where the cinnamon is this strong and in the forefront, I like it more as a note in the background.

First on this reminds me of all of my favorite yellow-florals... honeysuckle, daffodil, and weedy green dandelions. It's floral, but not the sort of floral that gives me a headache. I actually rather like this. Unfortunately, there is a hint of something that reminds me of lemon scented dish soap underneath the florals. That soapy smell just gets stronger and stronger until it eventually overtakes the florals. I'm left with something that smells like dish soap and dandelions

First on this smells like very heavy lavender and anise. It's an odd fragrance. Somehow over the course of an hour this manages to morph into a spicy aquatic floral. In the drydown I think I smell carnation and a very slight watery note. Then the aquatic begins to get stronger and the floral starts to smell more woodsy. Very strange. I don't necessarily like The Magician, but I am intrigued by it and can't stop smelling it.

I think that I'm pretty lucky in the fact that I haven't fallen desperately in love with too many BPAL blends that I can't get more of. Grapefruit is always sort of harsh and dirty smelling on me, so I'll probably end up swapping my decant of this one. First on this is sharp bitter grapefruit rind. It smells a bit off on me, as always. There is a spicy peppery ginger smell sprinkled over the grapefruit. After about a half hour this has dried down into a powdery white floral smell. It is faint enough that it is not giving me a headache, but I'm definitely not in love with the smell. I am sort of relieved that I don't really like this. Now I won't have to go through the torture of trying to find some more, lol.

The raw, untamable power of chaos. Rosewood, amber, red musk and a dribble of red sandalwood. This is delightful. Oddly, it reminds me of Cathedral with a drop of Satyr. The red musk here isn't as heated, strong, and fruity smelling as it normally is on me. This has more of the sexy, feral, dark musk feel that I get from Satyr. And it's mostly rich, sweet, resinous smelling woods (I would have guessed dark myrrh). It's really smooth and even the amber isn't going to baby powder like it usually does on my skin. Fenris Wolf is fantastic and sexy, and I *really* love this on my husband. Another plus is that this blend has amazing staying power and throw. It amps up like crazy on my husband and lasts all day on me as well. Good stuff.

First on this is perfumey white rose with a salty twang. When I was little, I salted my mother's white roses because I liked the way the sun made them look like they were sparkling. This reminds me of that moment. The smell, however, is not good to me. It's a headache inducing sort of perfuminess that is drowning out the salty smell (I love the smell of salt). In the drydown this is salt water and soapy roses. Like washing your hands in the ocean with a bar of rose scented soap. It keeps making me think of all of these broken, slightly absurd images. I don't really like the smell, and overall the blend is very distracting to me. It was still going strong after two hours before I scrubbed it off of my wrist to concentrate on my homework.

This is another case of a bad run-in with dragon's blood for me. It's very strong, cold, and almost metallic in this blend. And it's doing its usual rotten flowers smell as well. Rotten flowers and metal. After 10 or 15 minutes a bit of cinnamon starts to come out. It's a very sharp cinnamon and it's making my eyes water. Half hour mark - this smells like dragon's blood and old spice . I just washed it off. No more kissing serpents for me.

First on, Dracul has a very chilly smell to it. It is mostly fir, mint, and tobacco. There is also a sort of earthy dirt smell in there. It reminds me of a dark forest as the sun is beginning to go down and you're lost and feeling a bit nervous. Anyhow, after a few minutes the orange blossom comes in and the tobacco gets stronger, making this more nauseating on me. The orange blossom turns into that burnt orange rind smell that it always does on my skin. Then the overall smell is of too sweet tobacco and burnt citrus. Dracul will be one for the swap piles. The orange blossom just doesn't work with my skin chemistry.

Chuparosa was the soapiest of soapy florals. The God of soapy florals, if you will. I think that there might be lily here, as it always goes that way on me. Super soapy rose. Did I mention that this smells like dish soap on me? Strong throw too.

I admit that I tried this only because I wanted to see what it would be like before it was re-released. It didn't sound like something that I would like (I'm not a fan of citrus), and I'm not terribly fond of it. It has that bitter sour smell/taste of a lemon or orange rind. Very sharp citrus. Then in the drydown a bit of spicy clove and cinnamon mingles with the citrus. It reminds me of the holiday potpourri that my grandmother always buys. It looks like an orange stuffed with cinnamon sticks. I'm sure that people who like citrus will love this, but I won't be needing a bottle.