Lycanthrope

Oh, this is like Pit and the Pendulum incense + Hatmethit (that fishy Egyptian river scent). ... OH, GOD. This is like incense and Hatmethit, neither of which worked well on me. The incense is dark, spicy, dry, rough, and resinous. Leaning on the myrrh side of things. The fishy scent is more of a soft, metallic, glinty aquatic suggestion, but tied in with that strange slitheryness that Hatmethit had on me. Together, this smells like... mushroom soup. Please, do not use this as any type of frightening review, because what I obviously can't wear may be someone's HG! Try this if your fish is Catholic and enjoys attending Church. I can't wear this, sadly. My fish is a damned atheist!

Dude. Image of a shopping cart (with small slots) filled to the brim with 5 mLs. Love!

I felt that this was syrupy, awesome, dark, sultry and just a dead ringer for Snake Charmer / Snake Oil, but it's definitely got a dirtier kick at the drydown, probably because the swirl of other components of other blends hides the slightly dank, musty (in a good way, srsly!) dirty drydown. It definitely has a strong, sweet, almost resinous first hit but then it's just far too debauched for me at the end. Still... I want to mix this with things and have a wild time, like... Neutral Elf Cleric... NO ACTUALLY DEMONSPAWN

Well, I dunno how Beth does it, but this perfume smells like vengeful glowing eyes. Oh, I suppose I should describe it. This is definitely not my usual style of perfume, but it is ferocious, tenacious, but like, tenaciously floral. But yet, in a good way. Ugh, I'm rambling. It's quite sweet to my nose, with a softer jasmine than usual, with the gray amber this is like, um, a very angry night time garden. Ur, I guess the sweet is not sugary sweet, as in heady sweet, like the head notes of white florals without the indolic chew. Smells like bone-white flowers. Angry... flowers... Not something I can really pull off, but it's really pretty. ETA: ZOMG! Vanillllllaaaaa /nom

Mmm. Wet, reminds me very much of the top note of Clemence. Glorious, ruffly wet carnation petals. Does have a bit of similarity to LUSH's Potion lotion but where that goes more towards the rosey-aromatic petal part, this single note deepens a touch. I can definitely tell this isn't a faint carnation, this is definitely a 'red' category, the kind of red you see on frighteningly strong lipstick, like, drag queen fire engine red (Gurrrrrrl!). Drydown is a little weaker overall, and adopts a much more rose-y, Rose Otto kind of sharp drydown. Mid-to high-pitched, uniform note. Fun, because I'm going to run through my carnation blends and start searching for this now. I have definitely smelled this note before in Alice, Clemence, etc. Also, this is a good learning experience for my hoarding, since I love the smell of this and adore carnations, but I think this will end up like my Fenris Wolf prototype - adored on occasion but glanced over for the final or finalized blends. ETA about a few days later: it's super awesome, but really strong and definitely sharp. The edges on this are not blunted out. It's kind of like if you were to paint things with one shade of cadmium red, it's bold, it's present, it's red, but it is definitely a single note! I think I'll layer it onto things, though, hrm... like, put a string of carnations with some of my Yule blends.

My must have from the Salon is: Cloister Graveyard in the Snow. Definitely has that ethereal winter snow ice vibe that is one of my favorite BPAL themes. Runner ups are: Death of the Gravedigger (for dirty snow... slush... so accurate!) Lucretia (kush + violet, nothing else like it, very rich) Itaso ... blarh blarh... no Fuzoku (I remember liking this because of the delicate sweet floral, understated, but nommy) A lot of the Japanese Art Salons were wonderful on me, like Fox Fires, Itaso... I have to also put a thumbs up for Philosopher in Meditation which is like a less bristly Brimstone or other smoky incense blend. Sweet without being syrup golden sweet (for me like Cairo).

So... maybe I asked this upthread, maybe not. I've tended to avoid certain perfumes because the true resin/extract are contact sensitizers, and as a result don't find myself gravitating towards blends like, say, Kubla Khan, since they have balsam of peru listed as an ingredient. Anyone have any experience at all with BPAL contact sensitizing (i.e. over repeated application, more and more blistering?) I have a wheal reaction to cinnamon so a few blends are out but it appears to be a purely isomorphic response.

WINTER WIND Freeze, freeze thou bitter sky, That does not bite so nigh As benefits forgot: Though thou the waters warp, Thy sting is not so sharp As a friend remembered not. Heigh-ho! sing, heigh-ho! unto the green holly: Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly: Then heigh-ho, the holly! This life is most jolly. Snow, sleet, and biting wind with a touch of holly leaf and winter mint. This is a sweet mint, heavy on the spearmint at first but settling into a pleasant, slightly sugary, solid mint. There is a slight ozonic hint to the overall blend, but it's a marvelous, eye-opening winter spray. A little goes a long way, the staying power is modest, which is to be expected with a mint scent. It smells like sun-dappled snowdrifts in my car.

This is a lot like Lights of Men's Lives, in that it is a full bodied wax and heat aroma. The smoke is subtle. The effect of the creamy beeswax aroma is a light, light honey like scent but mostly cream with just a subtle hint of smoke. Very pretty. It's 3 pm where I am at and I feel like a little candelabra is behind me. I may have to get more. Playing Diablo III concurrently makes it extra creepy.

Fresh, wet, pulpy pumpkin from the imp. I got this with my Candlelight atmospheric spray order. Wet, still frighteningly that Jack type buttery pumpkin, with a hint of that crunchy ribbon candy orange tang in the background. As it dries down, the pumpkin takes second seat to this very strong orange essential oil / juicy orange aroma. If there is sugar here it is the faint, not particularly caramelized type and is subtle, either that or flattened beneath the high heel spike of this orange diva "You are SO not America's Next Top Model!" Overall drydown is a sweet hard candy orange with a goopy center and background of pumpkin, which is most definitely fun but not my style!

So candy like so sweet. Not as planty as I remember my prior, hoarded version being. Still sweet, like strawberries dusted with light powdered sugar. Maybe just a hint of grass, but this moon is mostly ripe-honey sweet berries dripping with... well... honey!

Wet from the bottle whiff, definitely a dry, non-terribly gritty patchouli, the kind of patchouli that drinks at Starbucks and buys things from REI and remains generally unshaven but may not have been in his or her local city's Occupy. Yes, the unshaven applies to all genders On skin, it's mostly a combination of the drier woods (sandalwood comes on strong here, as well as ebony). I'm not detecting too much if any osmanthus or vanilla orchid since the woods are so strong. Over time the woods do start to die back somewhat while remaining a coherent whole. If the musk and florals are present they are doing their thing from in the sound booth or as props, since I can't pick them out as players. Even after a further dry, it's interesting because now I'm getting the hints of a few burnt down florals, over a sharp wood. Strangely, I would have loved this scent about in the middle of its drydown, but after it goes all the way on my skin it is not something coherent I would want to smell like Well, BPAL, you win some, you lose some!

Weirdness express shuttlecraft, prepare to depart from the U.S.S. Lycanthrope. The scent from the bottle is blueberry skin and a few sharper flowers / cologne notes. On my skin... a frightening mix of cologne sharpness (bergamot?) that makes me concerned that this is going to fail, and fail hard. Patience, my shapeshifting lunatic, patience. Over time the orris root asserts and in a way grounds this scent with a dry rooty violet-esque tone, the lilac definitely increases in strength and the blueberry continues to exist as an interesting fruity back note. The overall effect is a creamy iris with juicy blue fruit. I really like this a lot!

I'm really not sure how to classify this scent. It is a powdery gourmand, but not really 'chocolate bar' nor 'coffee spiked with orange,' nor is it an orange scent. It's very intriguing. In the bottle I'd say it smells most like a fancy milk chocolate truffle or an orange jelly chocolate stick. On the skin it has that initial foody smell of smearing those orange, rectangular things on your body. However, after it gets a chance to dry a bit, it... melts into something much more complex. Never strong, mind you, so if you're looking for throw, this moth is quietly stalking your sweaters from afar. There is this persistent very subtle orange-like top note (ebony-orange?) and overall as it dries down this turns into an orange-kissed powdery wood. I'm not getting my usual reaction to tobacco, which is 'blarhg?' So that's nice... A bottle may last me though, so I'll see how I'm feeling before moth season passes

Definitely starts off very strong and sweet with the blood orange, has a bit of a 'Bayou' feel, but without quite as much sharp jasmine floral + water. This is more soft vanilla cloth with a hint of orange rind and a rather subtle jasmine than the usual suspect of a grand, potent floral. It is nice, but I think I'll still reach for Bayou when I want my jasmine fix.

Welp, this is definitely a rose. Since I take any small dabs of rose and turn myself into a giant, pirouetting, lush, petal emanating naked rose singularity, radiating beams of rose directly into the cribriform plates of all passerby, this has achieved its purpose. It's frankly quite stunningly a pure, lush, rose, similar to Yvaine's rose but without the snappy sharp clove. I don't really detect oude, but oude is probably providing some kind of thrumming that my roseevent horizon has enveloped in its thorny embrace. Please stay at least 16 feet away from me while I have this on, or you too may end up part of the petal collective. ROSISTANCE IS FUTILE.

So... Was thinking this may be similar to the Perilous Parlor, one of my favorite older scents. That scent is colder, less creamy than The Vine. The Vine is sweet slices of pear tart layered over a very buttery vanilla. The honey definitely contributes to the overall effect being much more foody than PP, so it's a different, less perfumy class of pear. Foody lovers will love this, especially if you like those pear fruit tarts. For me, this is fairly strong, probably due to the honey, so I will probably pass on a huge bottle. A little goes a long way. I AM THE PIE.

This smells kind of like Aveda Sap Moss. Drydown is softly rose, but not overwhelmingly so. Must give this a bit more time. ETA: Tried it again last night before bed. This is a very odd, different type of scent, the initial galbanum blast and Sap Mossitude (a snappy, sharp greenish resin tone) doesn't ever really fade, but there's hints of the dry tickle of amber and a bit of powder. I can't honestly say this is a very strong rose scent, which is what intrigues me that this hasn't amped to high heaven on me. Which is why... I'll probably need to get a bottle, just to play with it.

Is that daffodils? The drydown has a little of that... freaky yellow scent Beth made back in one of the Halloween eras (shakes cane, old-timer alert!). It definitely has a sweet start with the snow note and it's definitely not as strong as Encroaching Madness, but the floral tone is a wet, dewy tulip-bulby type of scent, more in the daffodil rather than narcissus category. Nice, but not on my skin, eventually. Snow lovers should definitely give this one a whirl, though!

This is a spicy environmental apple, reminds me of Sagardoa (that soap... from a year or two back), which is awesome. I got some on my fingers and the spice comes out more from my skin, although I know that's not its intended purpose. It has strong power when active and dissipates within a day, but leaves a pleasant tart-apple aroma, with a little outdoorsy grassiness from the hay. Although, this is not very strong to me on the bonfires and bales, nor leaves.

Amazing I haven't reviewed this one yet. I love all things violet. This has a very strong 'sweet' note (tonka + vanilla) which adds a sugary punch to the soft, cool petally violet. The clove is definitely giving this more of a base, so instead of smelling like Choward's Violet Mints (compliment, by the way!) it smells more like Choward's Mints that have cut class to hang out doing unspeakable things. Overall it dries down on me to a powdery, petal violet that smells crystalline sweet, a little chalky, with rough edges. Sybaris is and has been one of my top BPALs.

Sigh, what is it with the scents I love most being the least traditionally masculine ones? I love the light, hazy gauzy florals and the plum-berry. It's mostly a sweet juicy berry with a tiny bract of woods and all the wet, dewy florals humming in the background. Drydown is mostly berry, florals never take off screeching like they sometimes can when they are these wet leafy flowers (hydrangea, etc). And if anyone asks me, yes, I am wearing a strawberry perfume. I bought only one bottle, I could have bought a few more. Searching thusly!

Hah hah! This is like one of those cupcakes you see from a distance that looks all prim and proper, a perfectly tailored cupcake with a little round stick stuck in like a straw, covered in sprinkly bits, and all innocent and likely baked by a 7 year old kid. Then you get closer and realize that the stick is a cigarette butt mashed into the frosting, and the spattered decorations are from the spilt red wine. I can definitely see this as Cake Smash after she's grown up some and is out past curfew. Have two bottles on the way from a variety of sources, that may be enough for me, since I love foody scents but wearing this out in public may make some alert folks question my use of free time (it's baking cupcakes).

The moonlight must be a stark, moon-cologne note, similar to the cologney note of Night's Bridge. It initially starts off really sharp and cloying to me. Giving it some time, it settles more into a strong, smooth tobacco note. There's cloth and sweetness in the background. It's not a 'pleasant' smelling scent, but it is very disturbing. Yeeeees. Creepy.

I can't believe I haven't reviewed this, or if I have, I totally forgot. I really like the BPTP Atmospheric sprays, they all do disperse wonderfully and this 8 oz big spray I have is no exception. I think this takes all the unique things about why I like BPAL - complicated fragrances that surprise you with little touches of surprise all in an unassuming bottle that once you release it, blooms. The scent is a sweet, loamy, deep soil-y dirt scent, like the gloriously moldery dirt of Penny Dreadful, without being as dead smelling as Graveyard Dirt. The marmalade note is very, very subtle, it peeks around the edges as a rindy citrus kiss, but the winning part of this is the dried leaves, crushed twigs part - it's woodsy, natural smelling, like crushed leaves. This smells like forest floor to me, in only the best way possible. It is pretty much my 10/10 love spray, and I hope it never goes away. I still have so much of my original bottle left. Try this if you love Penny Dreadful, Worm Moon, Graveyard Dirt, natural environmental ambience scents, Autumn Grove (2010) atmospheric spray.