Lycanthrope

Definitely my interpretation of this scent is not necessarily a statuesque, strawberry-blonde heroine, but I see instead a little mischievous prince, blonde, with a hint of a goatee, kind of like a Liam Hemsworth of Princes, looking playful yet a bit devious. To actually describe the scent, I suppose... It is strong on the dry initial bite of cedar and the light 'acidity' of that note has remained on me throughout wear. The scent itself is definitely not strong and has less throw than I would like. It is a cuddly sort of thing, like a blanket or personal force field. I would have to say that the floral aspect of this scent is a mild radiance or a gilded edge rather than strong petals. The scent dries down surprisingly woody and nutty almost, a soft, hazy skin-scent that is a touch exotic. Amber does a little bit of that Lugubre Gondola prettiness but it is not strong! Surprisingly unisex, worth a shot. Try this if you like, um... The Coiled Serpent, Aureus, um... maybe Penitence?

So simple... vanilla, amber, oudh. On my skin, a little bit of a sweet resinous amber with vanilla, and the oudh heats up a touch and adds a sparkling smokey note. It dries down simple and sweet on my skin, like a marshmallow or some kind of odd LUSH marshmallow woods concoction. Sweet, innocent, simple. Tasty.

Wet, I get the schmear of fig and cedar together. There's a spicy, sugary note mixed with orange and honey, touched with a little sharp resin. It smells kind of like... a cedar fig yogurt with a sharp almond, a hint of spiciness and splintery woods, but other than that it is not a straightforward resin smell. It is very hard to describe. I would say closest to Strangler Fig with the creamy fig family.

Please don't take this the wrong way. I am a guy, and this perfume so embodies young pretty girlhood, that I feel wrong wearing it! It is a superbly beautiful white floral-orange floral scent with a perfect base of spices and resins. When I wear it it flashes to me unicorns and parties in the backyard with toddler girls and mixed drinks that are really made just of juice. Then add the reality of me being a man in my thirties and the creepiness factor in my personal situation strikes. It is so wonderfully feminine that I. Just. Can't. Handle. It. So, please, get this wonderful perfume but it is not unisex! On this gay guy it is so pretty it is disarming.

Sounds like it should have been awesome, but I am not someone who does well with bourbon vanilla. Having several frankincense essential oils the sharp resinous top note is what I am looking for. On me this starts off with a hint of the glowy white resin but turns very foody on me quick. Final dry down is a safe and well behaved vanilla. Not something I am reaching for, sadly.

Right. So, this is exactly perfect. It's a warm, rich cedar forest, and sweetens up over time, without being too 'musky' or 'sweet.' Also very appropriate for me, and more neutral for sure! I will have to scrape together a little more to get an extra bottle or two. I have short hair, but found myself using more just to get that foresty woodsy hit!

Whoa, dude, it's like a giant sexy pomegranate in a slinky black slipdress sidled up the to bar, bought a cosmo, and then slapped me. So smooth. And yet so dark. Mmm.

Wet, this is planks and wood and creaky splintery floors. As it's trying to dry down on my skin, it's vacillating between strong hits of cedar, wood shavings, and this odd scent I've smelled a thousand times before but can't identify but... what is that? I swear I've... OH. LILY SAVON SOAP. I'm getting a huge hit of lily of the valley, rising up with a touch of something... foggy, gassy, almost a touch gasoline-y. I'm a big time cedar amping fiend, and so for me this is a duality scent, both scents rolling and ebbing, waxing together, and on my skin unable to decide if it is going to sit still as a giant, stolid house like House of Night, or a haunting spirit. It mixes together into a little bit of a cacophony, unsettling, very potent. It's musty white florals and predominantly strong lily (of the valley type), darkened and corrupted by dusty, smutty woods. Ok, well, yeah, I guess that's a haunted house!

Dear Invidiana: I cannot post my reviews after your reviews, since you perfectly nail every scent with so much more descriptive ability and much clearer than I can! I totes agree. Doods. This is like less gritty October. I get more wet green leaf, intermixed with a light powdery wood, and slightly crinkly mostly yellow and orange leaves. There may be a bit more woodsiness to this than standard October with less... um, musty rot? This, please note, is coming from a wolf who LOVES the smells BPAL uses to describe and embody decay. Mmm. /wolfpounce /leafsplash /rollrollroll

Wet, I get hay, sweetgrass, dry, crumbly, tan and gold grasses. There's a whisper of something lemon verbena-ish (or I'm crazy). Sweetness of amber rolls on through as a middle note and I get little Coyote and The Lion flashbacks. Not exactly sure what the dominant deep note is... it may be a dark musk of some sort because it's got that round sweet musk element. I think what I'm pulling out as verbena is the berry-esque fruity tone noted in the review above. The scent is kind of... a lemon-amber-black musk. On drydown the grassy element is not as pronounced, it's mostly a very predatory (and sensual!) amber black musk. It's very pretty and atmospheric, but one bottle will do me fine.

Wo-pah, there's the pomegranate. I love eating the fruit. Years of buying The Fruit of Paradise ineffectively should have taught me that my skin does not play well with BPAL pomegranate. Wet, I can get the slightly smoky scent of myrrh taming some of the fruitiness into submission, and on, it's less syrupy sweet powerful. Over time, this does seem to be a pomegranate for me of a more wearable variety. The myrrh resin tempers the sweet but it still retains some juiciness. I'm not getting a lot of floral but on my skin this went directly to smokymyrrhfroot. Grown up pomegranate. I will continue to play around with this bottle. If you like resinous scents, like Penitence, and also a hint of bright autumn fruit, get this. I'm not so sold, but I'm a cold stone violet mint kind of wolf.

One of those very well blended scents that is hard to put into words, and definitely squishes into one of those olfactory squibblies that ends up making me sound like I'm just spouting out notes. Overall, this is interesting. Much sweeter than I expected. For some weird reason I keep thinking 'Big Red Gum.' It's very smooth, and I am getting a very inky musk out of this. Maybe 'indigo musk,' as I feel like I've smelled this before. The scent is not woodsy, or terrifyingly sharp or bright. It has a moonflower like fleshy floral, and maybe some other really 'wide' white flowers (oh, God, that made no sense). It also has spices running through it, almost like a whisper of pepper that makes this whole fragrance edgy and not cold. It's a warm, visceral type of night musk. I wasn't sure what to expect. I agree that this is like Night's Bridge, but without the stone and cologne like notes. Noctiphobia stays very close to the skin but it makes me think of menacing moments in the darkness. I'm not sure I need more than what I have, but this is a very evocative scent that pulls off the fearsome, pulsing heartbeat in the evening feel. Plox to wear with: a deep burgundy and violet crushed velvet dress with blood garnet and silver rimmed necklace and earrings.

"…It's never the wrong time to call on Toad. Early or late, he's always the same fellow. Always good-tempered, always glad to see you, always sorry when you go!" "He must be a very nice animal," observed the Mole, as he got into the boat and took the sculls, while the Rat settled himself comfortably in the stern. "He is indeed the best of animals," replied Rat. "So simple, so good-natured, and so affectionate. Perhaps he's not very clever -- we can't all be geniuses; and it may be that he is both boastful and conceited. But he has got some great qualities, has Toady." Dapper cologne, scorched waistcoat, a bit of pipe tobacco, and motor oil. Didn't see the topic open yet. Maybe I missed it? Searched a few times. Anyways, TOAD! I've never had a fragrance named after toads... there's a pic of a dapper Geicko-Gecko-esque amphibian on the front looking sly, as if he's holding a cane, quite the rogue, eh? First sniff from bottle, it smells a lot like fierce tobaccos, like those in Hellfire (new formula). There's a bit of an effervescence to the aroma, something just slightly on the edge of spicy (like cloves?) and then there's a whole burst of more and more metal components, a grumbly undercurrent of functional metal. I'm not getting too much linen or burnt aroma from this, but this is a machine that is well-used, it's got oil and grease that is hot and working. This kind of smells like what I would imagine the penultimate sexy mechanic would smell like, all grease and a touch of filthy tobacco, pipemetal... It's good. I'm keeping my bottle.

The way a crow Shook down on me The dust of snow From a hemlock tree Has given my heart A change of mood And saved some part Of a day I had rued. - Robert Frost Snowflakes and hemlock leaves with snowdrop, iris, and Peruvian lily. This is the familiar BPAL snow note, with a smooth almost eucalyptus like, smooth green to it. The lily is not terribly strong, and there's almost a vanilla sweetness underlying the scent. Drydown turns less minty and more a close, whisper of a scent. Pleasant.

Briefly: Chocolate musk, with a much more commercial-type vibe. The cocoa burns off within the first hour and what is left is the musky sandalwood. It reminds me very strongly of Primal Element's Ariel.

Tenacity, force, strength, stability, and determination: Chinese musk and gleaming white metal with honeysuckle, rose mallow, verbena, and carnation. I didn't see a prior review of this up... so here goes. Metal Phoenix smells very faintly citrussy and airy-sweet in the bottle. On me, it has that burnished metal note present in Bed of Nails, Torture Queen, sort of a faint airy musk. This is followed with very soft, sweet florals, kind of like the aura of scent around a cold flower, if that makes sense. There's a little spice from the carnation but it's not very potent. It seems to be very light, and over time there's a veeeery slight powder-sweetness at the extreme drydown. Very good, but with less floral than I'd like, and more nice balance between mild citrus ozone and bright cold florals.

I'm always quite afraid of rose geranium, as it totally annihilated a few good scents for me. This smells very watery and salty, aquatic, in the bottle. On my skin, it plays totally different and turns into a very strong resinous salt scent. The strongest notes on me are the moss and salt. This does almost remind me of something more that I would eat, maybe how Tako smells in a good japanese restaurant, or the kelp salad with a touch of brine. I wish this were more like Thalassa to me, since I found that scent to be a beautiful combination of water and the almond-type scent, lending it a kind of foody aquatic nature that worked out really well. I'm not certain Octopus is doing that. I may consider diffusing it, or wearing it in a locket, to capture that airy ocean scent. Also, for now, I will wear it so that when people ask me what I'm wearing I can say, "Oh, don't you know... it's octopus!" ...

Since I do not have a CleavageTM I tested Stentor on my upper left bicep. It's a common place where I test things as I am gaming. Holy cow! PEPPERMINT'D! Also, this has that severe mentholated cooling that I'm feeling. Similarly as above it is a veritable swirl of mint. I think there's a little sourness from the lime but it's a brightness more than sour, and I've always had a blind spot for juniper berry. The tea is not a strong potent 'Apothecary' style tea. It's a very sweet peppermint and lasts a long time. This is starting to remind me of this little camphorated tube thing that my mother used to use to rub on upset stomachs. It came in a small white and had a burgundy base... Taiwanese Americans, help me out here... in that it has that minty smell but a touch of herbs that is bringing to mind 'mothball,' but only in a very complimentary way. Or, erm, Ricola? Perhaps a soothing mint syrup? Keep in mind I -love- herbal cough syrup, so I'm a freak of nature. This is pleasant, but I can't see myself wearing this regularly. When I next have a cold I will apply this to my chest, because it is bracing!

13 is significant, whether you consider it lucky, unlucky or just plain odd. Many believe it to be unfortunate... ... because there were 13 present at the Last Supper. ... Loki crashed a party of 12 at Valhalla, which ended in Baldur's death. ... Oinomaos killed 13 of Hippodamia's suitors before Pelops finally, in his own shady way, defeated the jealous king. ... In ancient Rome, Hecate's witches gathered in groups of 12, the Goddess herself being the 13th in the coven. Concern over the number thirteen echoes back beyond the Christian era. Line 13 was omitted form the Code of Hammurabi. The shivers over Friday the 13th also have some interesting origins: ... Christ was allegedly crucified on Friday the 13th. ... On Friday, October 13, 1307, King Philip IV of France ordered the arrests of Jaques de Molay, Grand Master of the Knights Templar, and sixty of his senior knights. ... In British custom, hangings were held on Fridays, and there were 13 steps on the gallows leading to the noose. To combat the superstition, Robert Ingersoll and the Thirteen Club held thirteen-men dinners during the 19th Century. Successful? Hardly. The number still invokes trepidation to this day. A recent whimsical little serial killer study showed that the following murderers all have names that total thirteen letters: Theodore Bundy Jeffrey Dahmer Albert De Salvo John Wayne Gacy And, with a little stretch of the imagination, you can also fit ”˜Jack the Ripper' and ”˜Charles Manson' into that equation. More current-era paranoia: modern schoolchildren stop their memorization of the multiplication tables at 12. There were 13 Plutonium slugs in the atomic bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki. Apollo 13 wasn't exactly the most successful space mission. All of these are things that modern triskaidekaphobes point to when justifying their fears. For some, 13 is an extremely fortuitous and auspicious number... ... In Jewish tradition, God has 13 Attributes of Mercy. Also, there were 13 tribes of Israel, 13 principles of Jewish faith, and 13 is considered the age of maturity. ... The ancient Egyptians believed that there were 12 stages of spiritual achievement in this lifetime, and a 13th beyond death. ... The word for thirteen, in Chinese, sounds much like the word which means “must be alive”. Thirteen, whether you love it or loathe it, is a pretty cool number all around. ... In some theories of relativity, there are 13 dimensions. ... It is a prime number, lucky number, star number, Wilson Prime, and Fibonacci number. ... There are 13 Archimedean solids. AND... ... There were 13 original colonies when the United States were founded. Says a lot about the US, doesn't it? In our paean to all the mysteries surrounding this enigmatic number, there are thirteen lucky and unlucky components, including white chocolate, dark chocolate, apple blossom, honeysuckle, frankincense, allspice, nutmeg, black tea, tonka, and sandalwood. I did a search for 'Thirteen' and 13, and I didn't see it come up amongst the search results. Apologies if there exists a thread already... So... whereas white label original thirteen was cocoa oranges, purple label was spicy cocoa clove, green label 13 actually is... chocolate apples, with a bit more creaminess than the prior two. There's a similar feel to the blend that is akin to the past incarnations of the scent - a touch more herbiness, some 'substantiality' to the scent beyond just cocoa, but it's most definitely an interesting mashup of a milky, creamy chocolate and what is like apple rind (not so 'juicy' per se, it reminds me of dried apples). So, cocoa mixed with some herbs that keep this in line with the other 13s, but blended up with dried green apples. Staying power is moderate on me and there's a decent waft. After about thirty minutes my skin has eaten most of the notes, it's mostly cocoa with a tiny dry bitterness to it.

Yaksh has very little throw. I would best classify it as a soft, slightly cold, grayish blue misty scent that stays close to the skin. The dominant notes are dry (must be the iris root, chamomile, moss, sandalwood), with a little bit of quiet petals (tuberose and morning glory). The jasmine is not overpowering, but over time on the skin you can tell that it is there. On my skin jasmine does a quiet amp, so this dries down to a very faint floral. I loved the color and several of the predominant notes, but I don't think that I would need more than my decant.

For starry-eyed lovers: NYMPHIA White rose, apple blossom, mango, cucumber, coconut, and lavender. Ok... so, turning my sniffer into my taste buds for a little bit! These are well wrapped, little golden disks a touch smaller than traditional butterscotch discs. So many notes, yet this comes across as a beautifully divine, honeyed floral. It tastes like I am eating sunshine and flowers. The candies are pretty sweet, but awesomely complex. The dominant 'fruit' notes all behave well as they all seem to be a sweet coconut milk kissed with a touch of green (cucumber?). The rose, apple blossom and lavender are subtle but you can tell that they are present... especially if you have just let the candy sit for a while and after it has dissolved. Quite amazing! We need a constant edibles section on the BPTP, with very odd flavors! Because this is very intriguing - like eating perfume!

Ambergris accord, kelp, pale oakmoss, sea buckthorn berry, mugwort, petitgrain, frankincense, and salt. In the bottle, it smells like salt and sea air, definitely less ozonic and 'breeze' and more of the sandy/salty ocean scent. I've got high hopes. I love aquatics! Especially when they are CRAB PEOPLE. On, wet, it really morphs, I still get the salty quality but there's definitely a strong petitgrain scent - I can pull that note, stems, leaves, twigs and all, to the forefront. The kelp then steps in to add a very slightly fishy quality (Kani? Kani??? I love yoooooo), and now, mysteriously, it smells a little like those imitation crab sticks. Or maybe that's my brain. I don't know. After a little bit the cologney ambergris accord sidles up the front going 'HI I'M A WHALE. WHO DIS CRAB.' And... over a little more time, the whale and crab accords kinda hit it off, so I'm left with a very watery, extremely oceanic, breezy citrus tree/plant scent. I think, like salty petitgrain made of oranges. In time, the resins (frank) and smokey scent (mugwort) make this a little stormy. This is not a replacement for my much missed Kingsport, but it's a good, roiling oceanic marine that doesn't depend upon florals or lily to make it fresh. Do not use if you don't like petitgrain, because yup, it's a strong dominant note! After a few hours, this dries down to a mysterious salty cologne. Not a sweet or heady perfume drydown, salt salt salt. Very nice, if you're a marine aquatics fan.

THE LILIES AND LANGUORS OF VIRTUE Calla lilies and lily of the valley with white lilac, narcissus, osmanthus, asphodel, and Egyptian musk. Yowza! This is strong and very floral! I get tons of the lilies pushing to the surface, all like "DOOOOD WE ARE LILIES," and then the sharp, off skatole of lilac kicks in. After the immediately sharp parts of the floral, the airy asphodel and osmanthus + musk appears to provide an airy base that is very pretty. This smells remarkably airy and innocent. Like... in a wedding dress, or what a bouquet lying on the table smells like. It's strong, though, light, almost citrussy white floral.

She Who Spies Tuberose, mandarin, jonquil, black sandalwood, green musk, styrax, hyacinth, and violet musk. Strong tuberose on application, with a airy background, sappy florals. It's quite 'wet' and the violet part of the musk adds a bit of depth. On drydown this is mostly a sweet, sharper floral, tending towards tuberose waxy but kept less cloying by some of the other notes. Drydown is stemmy, with the top note of tuberose. I am a fan of this, may be getting one bottle. Very strong throw, but a thin scent, if that makes sense.

Now I smell like I'm wearing bubblegum perfume and am layered with a little whipped white chocolate mousse and a tiny hint of crunchy nuts. The mate is a sharp leafy herbal, like tea but not quite. This is so weird.