Lycanthrope

Impression: Citrus, Light Woods, Frankincense and Myrrh, Rose A very light, faintly astringent herbal wood aroma, starts off strong on the deciduous, dry woods and has a slightly pungent thyme/rosemary aroma. Oh, wow! Then there’s frankincense! It just creeps up on the blend and it’s amazing… and yes, there’s myrrh deepening out that blend and I recognize those sacred incense notes… This dries down to a slightly woodsy, but mostly pure sacred resin note, like what I dreamed Penitence would have been on my skin. Ohhhh, wondrous. Later – oh, there’s rose in this. But there’s just a smidgeon, or else I would have turned into a giant rose. Masterful.

Impressions: Leather! Yup, leather. But it’s the tasty leather inside Dee, not necessarily a dark, sexual leather, but more of a sweet, aged leather that’s in an old, comforting coat or on a well-worn book. It probably has a hint of dry woods as a base, although it’s not necessarily as woodsy or sharp as Dee. It’s a very beautiful, wearable-during-the-day leather scent. I’d buy more if I didn’t have a stash already and Dee on the way!

Impressions: Sandalwood, a little citrus, mint, leather, fruit. Immediately I get a burst of what I believe is galangal, a lightly herbal lemon scent that dissipates quickly. Then… leather… touched with a dusty, papery aroma. It’s like an old book. How very odd! There’s this dry element to this that brings to my mind ‘ancient,’ and ‘museum,’ and ‘old wisdom.’ There’s a note in this that isn’t quite floral, isn’t quite fruit… but I think of that light, fleshy and sweet aroma one gets after biting into a pear, that same crispness and lightness of the juice, particularly pears of the asian variety! This is definitely an oil to slather when getting ready for an anthropology exam!

Impressions: Sweet, gummy tree resins. Delicious dark resin city. Smells potent, swirling, mysterious and exotic all at once in my imp, on me it swirls and dances in a blend of amazingly beautiful sacred incense gum. As it settles on my skin, all of a sudden I get an interesting effect – from the resins emerge at first a unified floral note that blooms into… a spicy, rose-like aroma blended with sparkling resins. This, like no other BPAL I’ve experienced, is a dead-ringer for an ‘Aveda’ fragrance – spicy, floral, resinous, all at once. It’s rich, heady and quite potent, a rose swirling in a cloud of incense fumes and emitting a commanding aroma.

Impressions: Mint, Eucalyptus, Sandalwood. Oh my. Goes on and turns right into my usual daily toothpaste, minty and sweet with a brush of green plant. This reminds me a lot of Kathmandu. However, the bright, peppermint-y aroma segues into a much less evocative spearmint blended with a beautiful sandalwood, similar to the one found in Fenris Wolf (the same red sandalwood whiff here!) All in all, a very unique combination of notes, at once revitalizing and cold and also warm and a touch feral. A good balance.

First Impression: Cherry Musk. Begins a bright and bold, fruity scent with a definite, striking amber blended with sweet musk. Over time, morphs very much into a scent remniscent of LUSH’s potion (almonds, a hint of rose, carnations and honey), but then takes a distinct veer towards Aveda’s discontinued chakra line – a rose-based, resinous, sweet, spicy amber blend. The almond in this blend never overpowers, which is a good and happy thing. Simply unfrickin-believably beautiful. Makes me feel a bit sensual, but in a good-natured beautiful and just way, if that makes any sense. No lust, no debauchery, just the look shared between lovers.

Comes on strong, goes out dreamy, creamy, and all-so softly into a thrum of tasty, exotic musk mixed with faint florals. This skin musk that's listed as a scent brings to mind Coyote, of all blends, except that this blend starts off with a powerful chorus of white florals blended with a nutty, earthy scent, possibly sandalwood. Mid-drydown I'm catching a lightly grassy aroma and it goes through a phase where it resembles the sweetgrass-musk of Coyote and Scarecrow, then passes into a deliciously creamy musk that lingers, hints and touches of the tuberose and other sweet florals whispering in the background. Grounding, very much so.

Definitely green, sweet... possibly what I was hoping Aeval would be on me but isn't! It has the same fresh, plant-like, wet aroma that Aeval has at first without the blast of sage that soon follows and overwhelms. After the initial leafy cucumber passes, I get a whiff of light, airy floral that hovers... maybe a touch of jasmine-like white floral over this green, wet, youthful base. The drydown retains maybe a touch, a faint brush of herbal sage. Yes, it's very feminine and airy, so that means I won't be wearing it out... but hoarding and using at home.

Wham! Dark, bitter patchouli and possibly vetiver's sharp bitterness from the vial. I'm a little scared, but Death came out well on me, so perhaps this is going to be a good blend... On me, it whips through a warm, peppery phase with a strong ginger whiff, and then turns into... cardamom. Like, Whippoorwill cardamom. Which is great, but on the drydown, it's less spicy and woodsy than that oil. It's nice, and changes significantly from the initial application. Nice, so I'll keep the bottle and use it on days when I want to enjoy my solitude.

In the bottle, this comes across as a very soft, mildly minty oil. Oh, but just wait until it hits your skin! Immediately, it's that same, gentle, fresh mintiness, cool, cold, a bit foreign... it's an oceanic, quiet mint. As it dries down, there's a slight increase in the sharpness of the aroma, definitely 'bruised violets,' a delicious violet floral blending seamlessly with the quiet mints. It continues on and becomes a perfectly dark, motionless ocean scent. Oh, man... if there's anything like this in the GC... This is amazing, beautiful. Evocative and wondrous. Sunken city indeed. Kudos, Beth. ETA: After trying this a few days, I find it very faint. I prefer Kingsport, probably because I like the sharper, more prominent nature of that blend.

Smells a little herbal, medicinal in the vial, and then ... pumpkin! This is then followed by a crescendo of leaves and much softer, cooler woods than the fourth blend (the one with sandalwood and orris). This blend is sweet, yet earthy, mossy, yet creamy. Very pleasant. This is actually what a sprawling pumpkin patch would smell like to me... vines, leaves, a little dirt and pumpkin. Total opinion on the set - as much as I do like the blends, one set is enough for me. My favorite would have to be II, followed by IV, I, V, and IV, although I like them all.

Who else would have thought to put sandalwood and orris with pumpkin? On my skin, it's definitely a crisp and dry sandalwood from the start, and the earthy pumpkin just creeps up beneath and the entire blend becomes an uber-creamy, super calming scent. It's very, very warm. I actually don't detect the orris, it must be very subtly blended. It's quite tasty, edible, almost.

Wow. What a morpher! First whiff on skin - pumpkin, that slightly squashy note I get from all of the Patch, followed by a blast of cloves and peppery spices, then a crisp, extremely true burst of apples, freshly cored... and then they just... blend! It's just like spiced cider simmering on a stove. Yum.

Mmm... this is hot cocoa and pumpkin, all whirled together, reminding me of grabbing a cup of hot spiced cocoa, standing on a porch and watching the wind whip through what's left of the leaves on the trees... Starts off very much 'cocoa!' with a warm undercurrent, a touch sharp and definitely a blend of nuts. The pumpkin makes another appearance, adding a slightly earthy base to the blend. After it dries down a bit, the nuts assert themselves more and remind me of shortcake dipped in milk chocolate. Mmm!

First pumpkin patch review from your howlin' fragrance fiend. This one came in a blue bottle as opposed to the others in my pumpkin patch, and I had to try it first because it has pomegranate, my favorite fruit in it! So... here goes! In the bottle, it smells kind of buttery, that little whiff you get off of creamy pumpkin pie filling with a very faint fruitiness, tart, at the top, with a slight crust-like vanilla basenote. On skin, it obtains a very fruity, berry-gum like note (just like what I get out of Swank), and it reminds me a lot of Double Bubble. Dries down with a very distinct, 'squashy', mildly sweet aroma. Definitely interesting. I don't know if it's something I'd wear every day, but I do find the blending like an upscale Halloween blend.

Very lavender, and as was mentioned before, seems to have a lemony scent, which to me immediately suggests palmarosa! (cymbopogon martinii!) A very fresh lavender blend but it immediately hits centers in my brain that tell me to just not care. In a good way. I think this works better on me than Somnus for knocking me out at night. New bedtime scent...

So far, all of the Somnium blends definitely have lavender as a component, but each of them has a different blend of oils that the lavender 'rests' upon. In this case, it starts off as a bright, herby lavender with rosemary as was mentioned before, but this goes right into a pure sweet bay (pimenta racemosa?) with a hint of the past florals overhead. It's very appropriate, as sweet bay is often associated with dreams and dreamwork. It actually smells amazingly magical to me at least, and I actually slept a little later than usual because I kept sniffing at my arms

Quite a nice blend. I stress out far too much, so though this may not be my 'travel' blend, it's definitely useful when the lists of organisms and diseases gets a touch overwhelming. That said, Safari starts out a very bright and crisp true lavender. On my skin, it stays as such but creeping into it are two very calming aromatherapy components - what I believe are rose geranium and palmarosa. It's definitely a soothing lavender with a slight floral kick. Pleasant, and for me at least not sleep-inducing but quite calming.

Following Ultraviolet is like trying to sing Happy Birthday on stage after Pavarotti has stepped off. This smells like the Gothic Reading Room at Duke, i.e., a room filled with old artifacts, ancient bibles and texts all meticulously cared for in a room that has all the moisture pulled out of it so you can feel the dryness on your skin. My sniffer's a bit off today, on account of a mild illness, but I can still detect a mixing of dry, much more deciduous woods mixed with a snap of paper... yes, paper, not cedar or some wood, but the processed and aged mulch of parchment, all blended with a subtle hint of smoke and oxidation for that truly old aroma. The leather is definitely the type that embraces these relics, not the kind one wears out clubbin'.

Dublin starts off on me a very light, green, deciduous forest, complete with branches and bark... and then my chemistry turns it into cotton candy. No kidding, this noticeably goes sugary on me, which is really strange. Oh well...

Even the oil is green! Spruce. Then eucalyptus. Then lavender. It may have a kiss of jasmine, and a hint of pepper spiciness. Very herbal and plant-earthy.

This is the first BPAL that literally made me pop the cap on the imp again and shake my head to clear away the scent. I have no idea what did it, but I really doubt that I can wear this - I think it's that same brush of 'dead' that I detected in Zombi. A little splashed on my binder and I wiped it up with my fingertips and it's turned to soap on me. Soap... of death! So, initially it smells slightly alcoholic and winey, but more of a brighter, pink or white wine. It also has a dirty, dusky earth aroma but it's cut with something... kind of soapy, citrussy, something that makes my stomach twist in a little knot and go 'you are NOT putting this on.' A few minutes later, it's gone completely, utterly soapy sweet. I can even taste the alkalinity of a bar of soap on my tongue as I sniff again. I think this may be my first BPAL scent that I'm not going to give the usual wrist test, as it's just... too visceral a reaction against it for me. Sorry Nosferatu!

Gonna keep this short, because otherwise I'll ramble on about the glory of Jolly Roger for ages. Bottle: salty sea spray, just like the description suggests! On me: Starts off a wonderful burst of salty ocean air, followed by the scent of bark that's been marinating in said air for years. A touch of leather and pirate rum, and I'm standing at the helm of a frigate, heading to go fire cannons at Spanish ships or whatnot. Mmm.

Aw, sage makes an appearance in this aroma, which seems to be prominent in Aeval, too, and it definitely overamps and hangs on my skin. Starts off quite sagey, with a very faint violet undercurrent that I could only pick out because I was primed to think 'purple' and 'violet' by the description. There's also a slight wet fruit plumminess to the scent that can't in any way compete with the herbal, potent blend of green leafy incense that is led by sage. It pretty much stays constant on me, sort of weird for a BPAL blend, and settles into a very green, herbal sage violet. It's not me, though. Swap!

Wow. This isn't what I expected from the description - it comes out and stays on me a pure sage from the get-go to the last whiffs of this Fae Queen. In the bottle, it's a grassy, slightly astringent aroma, which I didn't place at first as sage, but my, is it! On me, the sage amps up a touch and overwhelms all the rest of the fragrance and it takes quite some time for it to even become remotely obedient. There's a slight sweet, pungent floral twist which may be the sweet pea, but I detect very little tonka. It doesn't have that same tonkaness (word?) that I love in Sybaris. It's too sweet, and stays sagey on me to the end. Swap!