Heavenlyrabbit

Disclaimer- I love BPAL herbal blends and they almost always smell wonderful with my skin chemistry. Sometimes I just want an aromatic herbal to keep me company throughout the day.

Vipralabda has an overall slightly sweet, balsamic quality touched with woody herbals.

This scent brings me back to my days as a gardener, walking through tall grasses in the hot summer sun and pulling out weeds and cutting back geraniums.

It also smells of aromatherapy blends and high quality linament salve that one uses after a hard days work.

This perfume would be very much at home in BPAL's Panacea catagory. It is not "pretty" in the fruity-floral fashion. It isn't sexy or foody. It's something to use when you need something soothing.

Can't imagine wearing this on a hot date or a night out with the girls but it'd be great for a mediatative walk in the woods, an afternoon out in the garden or for when you need something to ease life's ups and downs.

Anyhow, a quick search on the herbals in Vipralabda indicates that Melaleuca Ericifolia is a sedative, Greek Sage is a mental stablilizer and good for woman's internal dampness and Blue Chamomile is an anti-inflammatory.

Scents this reminds me of- in tone and not as dopplegangers-

Tombstone's balsamic and sassafras and then Tzadikim Nistarim's embracing, almost medicinal, reverent beauty.

Well, whatever Amber-Musk is it loves my skin. That's what greated me when the Crazy Cat hit my skin. Warm Amber Musk. The cinnamon doesn't take over for once YIPPEE!

It isn't til a bit later that the tangerine and tea come out. So my chemistry kind of does things a little backwards with the notes on this perfume.

Then eventually I can find the cardamom.

The dry down is beautiful and perhaps even sexy.

Chintomani-dhupa is a joyful embrace of a sweet incense perfume.

There is a vague "clean" to my nose as well but in a very good way. I believe this to be the Deodar pine and am pleasantly surprised since pine can often be overwhelming on my skin.

Love this and had an inkling I would. Wish I knew what floral is in this

This scent smells like Klimt's beautiful mosaic print that you see in Three Gorgons' background. Golden orange-ambers punctuated with black.

It's an interested combination of notes with a surprising result. Warm, shining notes combined with thicker and more earthy.

On me, the warmth wins out as the vetiver and tobacco are very restrained.

This is one of my favorite Salon II scents. It reminds me of Bengal but not as sweet but deeper and longer lasting.

Okay, I was prepared to be unenthusiastic about this blend. How many evergreen/winter scents does a girl need?

This does have a warmth and subtlety that is distinctive.

My supposition on first reading the notes was this might be a 'sexy' version of Tzadikim Nistarim and that is what is turns out being.

A fortuitous cross between Tzadikim Nistarim and Schwarzer Mond.

Perhaps this is the smell of a witch mixing ingredients for a Yule cake.

Perhaps this is the smell of unrepentant revelry and long lost inhibitions.

My reaction to this confection of a scent? This is a very refined gourmand scent.

And I choose the word gourmand rather than 'foody' out of respect for the ingredients. The difference here being the high quality sandalwood. Pretty sure that's what I'm finding/loving.

Okay, so this reminds me too of hard sauce one makes for plum or bread pudding.

But Cockaigne was heavy duty and way overdone on my skin chemistry. Gluttony lacks the complexity.

However, a subtle scent this is not. In fact it's pretty darned asssertive... after trying this on I had to stop testing and reviewing Salon scents cause this demands center stage.

Addendum, this lasts a long time and the dry down is a smoother version of Red Lantern.

This is the smell of the Underworld and dark goings on.

Shockingly, I am not reviled by this scent on my skin and actually like it. Alot. But I would never, ever wear it.

This is a dynamic blend that seems to have a certain expansiveness. There's the depth of the resin/ vanilla surrounded by the florals. The woody notes support this whole blend.

Haven't settle on a dragon's blood blend yet. This might be it cause this gets better the longer I smell it on myself.

The Sweet Pea stays in check, thank goodness... it usually ruins the party.

I am also another frankincense lover and second all of edensixthday's comments. You can smell the various notes and it all works perfectly.

This is a graceful, younger, more introverted cousin to All Saints. An incense floral.

This might work on the days when my cycle is screwing with the florals contained in All Saints.

This scent has me focus in on the guy with the red vest (the main bit of color in artwork) and his homing in on the woman with the blue ribbon tied round her waist (the other bit of color). He is definately thinking thoughts produced from months being at sea with no women.

I don't think he treats women very tenderly.... by the expression on his face.

This is the scent HE is wearing.

BTW, check out the corset laying on the couch next to the woman.

First the manly leather came out but then the adventurous bay rum and seductive coconut followed.

And here's the lilac. Lilac usually hates me but this variety Beth is using in the Salon's is very different.

I love this so much. Been wanting a 'sailor' blend from BPAL but none have worked until this.

"Itaso Kansei Nenkan Joro No Fuzoku" means "The Appearance of a Prostitute of Kansei Era"

-also entitled "Pain". I think she is getting a tattoo?

My reaction: Ohhhhh. Ahhhhhhhh.

Sweet but not too sweet. Just a smidge of something suggesting tart in an herbal sort of way. Very soothing and refreshing.

I don't think there's citrus in here but there's something that gives this a nice, friendly brightness.

PERFECT for warmer weather. Actually perfect for a dreary midwinter day like today.

This draws you in. It doesn't speak loudly and it's not as profound a scent as some of the other Salon's I've just sampled. But it has a healthy, approachable quality.

Big bottle.

Addendum, how this perfume relates to the artwork? Perhaps its the courtesan's perfume. perhaps something to sooth her?

Take a good look at those two Angels in the painting. They are the antithesis of the guys in the locker room comparing sizes and then going out to the parking lot to drive home fast in their sports car.

These two Angels are completely Self-assured and confident in their masculinity. And they exist in the Analog realm of spirituality.

Angels are androgenous but these two guys have identified with Power and aren't afraid to show it.

Guess that snake is offering up another piece of fruit to keep the power surge going. These Angels have not qualms eating that fruit. In fact, I think they commanded the snakes to go fetch. Is that one snake actually smiling? Can snakes smile?

And all of what I just wrote describes this scent.

I could wear this, but it definately reeks of "Man". Or rather, "Man-Sex". YUM!

Fallen Angels, indeed. Look out girls, if they ever shed their wings. These two are trouble.

I owe a debt of gratitude to Beth for her blends cured me of my distaste of and aversion to patchouli. Black patchouli being the variant that seems to work on me.

This is one of the blends that called out to me on reading the notes... I felt brave reading patchouli and thinking how well it'd work with the other notes. And it does.

Deep, resonant base notes are tempered and kept from collapsing inward by the citrus which isn't screaming ASTRIGENT, thånkgoodness.

You can pick out many of the notes and I'm sure a more sophisticated nose would identify more than I. But the notes work all together.

This is a timeless androgymous blend (tending towards masculine) that has an almost 'tonic' feel to it. And by tonic I mean strengthening. This would make a wonderful massage oil and I'd also like this in my study as a room scent or on my body when working with Qabala.

This strikes me as an 'old fashioned' floral perfume. Traditional and I suspect many sampling this might associate with 'their grandmother'. Oddly this also somehow sort of reminds me of some of the voodoo love blends. What a weird juxtaposition of associations especially considering "Melancholia" is the inspiration for this. Guess its the unabashed use of heavyweight florals.

Lilac is usually a deal breaker when I assess a perfume for personal use, but the blue lilac here is dominant and yet bearable. Perhaps it's a very good quality variant?

Very, very pretty blend but not for the faint of heart. Much as I like this and as well as it works on me (despite the lilac!) I can't think of when I'd wear this on my body. I COULD imagine using this to scent letters.

Now with all those flower notes listed, you might think this would be a cacophony of headache inducing florals.

On opening I get the grass/ivy thing happening.

The florals are there indeed, however. They are well blended and fairly well behaved. They come into the foreground later on along with a tinge of the herbal notes.

Overall, this blend would be nice for a casual date. The ivy, grass and herbs do temper the florals and that surprised me.

One of the herbal notes isn't working that well on me.

This is a more 'mainstream' blend reminiscent of the sweet fruity florals that I gravitate to in boutique blends. And this is praise... because sometimes I want a beautiful full bodied perfume oil like this.

The Fig definately adds depth to the sweetness.

For obvious reasons this is like a combination of Eden and Les Bijoux.

More like Les Bijoux at the opening and then more like Eden upon dry down.

Wore Snake Charmer to the Christmas Ritual earlier in the week.

Wore Haloa for Christmas.

We'll have to see about New Years.

Oh Joy! I was standoffish when reading about the almond in this blend. But not to worry, it's not the bitter kind.

Evergreen and apple and almond all do greet me and linger upon wearing this for a good long while.

If you're testing this and find it's too heavy on the evergreen and don't get the payoff from the apple and almond, may I suggest trying again 2 weeks later. I did and found Knecht Ruprecht to vary a great deal according to my hormones- much more than many other BPAL's have.

A great variation on BPAL's Winter/Evergreen/Snow blends this year.

Seldom do I feel drawn to a BPAL scent because of the name... but my name is Robin and so wanted Darkling Thrush to work on me.

Violet is a very tricky scent and few perfumers every really do it justice.

Darkling Thrush is exquisite in its understated, quiet beauty.

This is a counterpoint to some of the more complex Yule/Winter blends from this and last year. It's got the gorgeous snow/air quality, the loveliest violet and the amber is there in the background with its deep warmth.

It must be the amber that keeps this from being too cold and distant,which was my concern upon first reading the notes on the update.

This is beautiful to start with.

Ineffible, well blended cold, delicate mint. And it's difficult for me to pick anything else out.

Then the blend seems to seperate out. I personally do not catch the florals (and my chemistry loves florals in the best way) and something almost citric and then perhaps somsthing astrigent comes along. Perhaps the last note is Zenvodunista's suggestion of Cucumber?

Sadly this ends up with a less than stellar dry down on me.

Playing off my impression without seeing notes listed and the name Sol Invictus:

This is a mid-Spring day with clear blue sky, warm (not hot) Sun with not even a speck of humidity to foil the rain of Prana that I can see every so often.

It's when the leaves have come in but they're still light green as they reflect abundant solar energy and the Vital Essence.

On me, this is a slightly sweet floral/amber. Subtle but pervasive. It floats off me, is noticible but not in an overbearing way.

There's a youthful vitality. Can't imagine a man wearing this... or a senior citizen.

In quality, I end up thinking of the Unicorn (minus the herbal and soap) and then Delight. Checking the notes, Fragipani seems to be the reoccuring scent I caught.

florals over roasted grains along with a smidge of garden dirt thrown in for good measure. There's also the barest hint of fermentation, IMO.

Whoa Nelly, this is intoxicating.

Just the perfect blend of sweet, booze with resins and a touch of fruit.

This is a silk velvet dressing gown of a scent.

There's a hint of sunny days here. Outdoors through fields and orchards.

Perhaps some boozy swoon over lighter florals with the satisfaction of some fruit notes.

Gauzy dresses, straw hats, a picnic for two out of sight.

Somewhat casual and freespirited- this is another keeper.