clover

Devil's Night

Sniffing from bottle: Sugar. Definitely reminiscent of Sugar Cookie.

Upon application: Cinnamony sugar cookies. Not getting autumn leaves or thuggish musk at all. My skin tends to turn even the darkest scents kind of sweet, so an oil that is this sweet to start out with is toothache-inducing on me.

Conclusion: I can see where people would love this, but it's far too foody for me.

Dreamland

Sniffing from the imp: Dang! That's some strong tuberose.

Upon application: The tuberose is by far the strongest note in this blend on me. I may be able to detect just a hint of sweaty carnation, but that's it.

After a few minutes: Even though the tuberose is strong, it's such a sweet floral that this smells very innocent to me - the kind of floral perfume you would put on a little girl to wear.

A few minutes after that: The other florals make a hint of an appearance, crystallizing the scent ever so slightly. It's very sweet and pretty.

I don't get any of the musk at all - UNTIL: I tried this on last night, and when I woke up this morning I could still smell it on my wrists. It had dried down to that same powdery sweet scent that all blends that have white musk in them dry down to on me - Fae, Alice, Dorian. So it's there, it's just soft - holding the scent in place.

Conclusion: Understated, sweet and innocent. Not something I would wear all of the time, but which would be perfect in certain situations.

Spirits of the Dead

Sniffing from the bottle: Very reminiscent of Maiden, to my nose.

Upon application: That first impression is confirmed, this does indeed remind me a lot of the lovely Maiden. The tea is by far the strongest note, but I can definitely detect the citrussy tang of the linden flower, as well.

After a few minutes: Tea and linden. Yep.

A few minutes after that: Ah, and already it's starting to fade. Sadly, I have the type of skin that just soaks up these light, tea scented oils. Which is a shame, because I think they're so very pretty.

Conclusion: As much as I desperately want to wear a perfume called Spirits of the Dead, and as lovely as this smells, it just doesn't stick around on me. Stupid chemistry.

Sniffing from the bottle: Black musk. Could be single note black musk at this point.

Upon application: It starts to sweeten up! I'm think maybe it's vanilla doing the sweetening. Vaguely reminiscent of Haunted.

A few minutes later: This is predominantly black musk on me, with just a hint of vanilla, and something ever so slightly herbal/citrussy. I love black musk because, besides smelling wonderful, it produces strong images in my mind of wispy, foggy, curling black smoke. It smells just exactly like you would think an alchemical laboratory would smell like!

Mysterious, nebulous, slightly smoky, wonderful.

Ephemera

Ah, Ephemera....so sweet, so lovely, so fleeting.

I just love the scent of violets, especially this time of year. And that's the first scent that hits me when I open the bottle of Ephemera - innocent, beautiful violets. After applying it to my skin, I can pick up just the tiniest hint of geranium, and a few other light florals, but it's mainly violet. It's a sweet little nosegay of a scent, really.

After a while: I can't help wishing that this was stronger - I generally like my perfume to knock me upside the head - but if it were stronger, would I like it so much? I don't know. Although I don't think Ephemera has musk in it - I kind of see it as the floral equivalent of a skin musk, almost a second skin floral kind of scent.

A little while later: Predominently violets again!

You know, at the risk of sounding totally pompous (in a "this scent brings to mind a book I was reading" kind of way)...I read the most interesting thing about violets the other day. In A Natural History of the Senses, Diane Ackerman says: "The thing about violets, which many people find cloying to the point of nauseau, is that no response to them lasts long...Violets containe ionone, which short-circuits our sense of smell. The flower continues to exude its fragrance, but we lose the ability to smell it. Wait a minute or two, and it's smell will blare again. Then it will fade again, and so on..." Apparently violets are the only flower which contain this substance. Intersting, huh? So, I guess, my point is that the violet is the perfect sense to capture the fleeting wistfulness of Ephemera.

Conclusion: Subtle, soft and lovely. A winner.

I adore Les Infortunes de la Vertu.

Sniffing from the bottle: Predominantly leather, with the sparkle of orange blossom sweetening it up. The Lovers meets De Sade (how appropriate!).

Upon application: A sweet white bouquet with a backdrop of naughty leather. Not something I would ever expect to work, but it's a delightful combo.

After a few minutes: Gah! Amber! Go away, amber! Don't mess with the leathery goodness.

A few minutes later: Thankfully, it does go away. It's just a brief, ambery interlude, I'm happy to report.

A few minutes after that: Back to the begining. I love this scent!

It lasts for-freaking-ever, too! Whee!

I think you misunderstood me.

I didn't say the oils are weak when they're new, I said that they may not seem as strong as imps that may have been around for a while and have had a chance to age. I certainly would never be afraid to order bottles straight from the Lab, I clearly do it all the time. It's definitely not a "known problem".

You can choose to age them the way I do or not, don't do it if it makes you uncomfortable. It's not a Lab sanctioned practice, just something that I do and have found that works for me. I've never had a bottle from the Lab go bad, and I have several that are around two years old.

It's a matter of aging - most of the oils smell considerably weaker when they are brand new. There's a whole thread on the subject here.

What I generally do is pick a safe place and leave my fresh bottles open, without the lid on, for 2 or 3 days after I receive them. It seems to make a world of difference. Just make sure to pick a safe place!

Those are two bottles that are definitely going to get better with time! I have a bottle of Dragon's Milk that's about a year and a half old, and it's just heavenly.

Frech Creole

This is one of those times when I think that I might just be crazy. Because ALL I get from French Creole is lime, lime, lime. Strong limes. No cinnamon, or clove, or anything like that. Just limes.

After a while it starts to mellow out, and I get a light herbal floral, with something mellowingly sweet. Like vanilla. But it's still got the fizziness of lime.

So, yeah a limey, fizzy, herbal blend with a vanilla kick. I like it, and I can't wait to actually try it out. In the magical way, that is.

Blood Pearl

You just never know.

I’d been scared to try this, because coconut is usually a deal breaker for me. But I was very anxious to try it when I received an imp in the mail from a lovely BPAL friend.

Sniffing from the bottle: Tears well up. What is it with orris? Why does it inevitably make me so emotional?? This is the most beautiful, elegant simple orris perfume I've ever smelled.

Upon application: Still very weepy. So beautiful. That gorgeous violet-scented orris, with just a little bit of something sweet and dusty. Doesn't necessarily smell musky to me, but maybe a little bit like dragon's blood. Not even a hint, thank god, of coconut. I adore it.

Conclusion: So why does it make me cry? This is the beautiful thing about Beth's perfumes, to me: they're transporting. I can put on Blood Pearl and all of a sudden I'm elegant Edwardian lady wearing velvet and silk, and dining by candlelight while reading a beautiful leather bound novel...instead of a geeky little redheaded bookworm, reading a dogeared paperback while eating a frozen burrito. So that's why I love Blood Pearl...it's everything that I want to be, and not everything that I actually am. And it's also my new favorite perfume.

I think Masquerade is your best bet. Maybe Vixen.

Obeah smells much more like Amazonian, to me. I don't think Old Madrid or Sin are really anything like Karma.

You might try Ravenous, too! Ravenous & Masquerade would be my recommendations.

Harvest Moon 2005

Sniffing from the bottle: Syrupy fall fruits! Can definitely detect the mulling spices & brown sugar.

Upon application: I'm thrilled to report that the cloying syrupy sweetness disappears immediately upon application. On my skin I can smell the wonderful apples & pears with just the slightest hint of mulling spices. Very light spices - doesn't smell in the least bit crafty.

After a few minutes: There are so many ingredients in this blend that I can't really pick out any in particular - but there's definitely a tempering of the fruits with dry florals. But they are not really floral florals - just something not so sweet that's balancing the fruit. More like grains. Really wonderful - like a more golden Mabon.

And it's funny - I totally would not have expected this from Harvest Moon - but there's something very lightly musky & dusky in this blend that makes it kinda sexy. Like a roll in the hay on a crisp autumn afternoon. What a surprise!

It's lovely, lovely, lovely!!

Asphodel

Daffodils!!!!! Daffodils & dandelions, that's what Asphodel smells like to me.

To me, this is so close to the daffodil single note (which always reminded me of the dandelion single note as well).

So very pretty, I'm thrilled to have a bottle.

Do you mean that you paid via paypal, but used the CCNow check out?

If so, the Lab will still get your order...I believe the reason they ask you to use Paypal directly is because they will get charged twice, from CCNow & Paypal, if you check out the way that you did.

To me Dorian is sort of reminescent of Pink Sugar, but there's no BPAL that's all that close to it.

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Yep, Dorian would be my recommendation, too.

I think you're talking about Lady_ell's review of Undertow. Although she has removed the pictures.

sh1mm3r, I think Seance smells just exactly like fallen leaves.

Lolita, Loralei & Succubus are strongly orange blossomy. And Katharina, too!

Old Scratch

I think I'm going to have trouble expressing through mere words the awesomeness of Old Scratch.

I was wary at first, I admit. Tonka, lavender and amber are not notes that traditionally agree with me. At all. And although I know that fougere means fern, I'm not really sure what it means in perfumery. But I was thrilled to see an imp of this with my Buck Moon order, and decided to try it out first.

Sniffing from the imp: Defnitely smell the lavender - and something citrussy. Bergamot? I double check the description...nope no citrus in the description, how interesting. It also smells chilly.

Upon application: Lavender, immediately. And then just a few seconds later, this AMAZING scent starts to rise...to seemingly crawl out from beneath the lavender. It's so beautiful, I can't even describe. Slightly peachy, soft, but strong and woody and musky at the same time. At this point, strangely, Old Scratch starts to remind me ever so slightly of Queen Mab.

After a few minutes: It keeps getting softer and fuzzier. I cannot tear my nose away from my arm. And it doesn't strike me as a particularly masculine scent, either...defnitely unisex.

Conclusion: I'm head over heels in love with this scent. Love, love, love, love, love.

I doubt it's a mislabeled imp. My impression of White Rabbit was that it was definitely very orange (the color not the fruit)...probably the ginger and honey. And I don't think apricot is very far from that scent range, either.

Oh, man...if only Virgo were still available! I think it's exactly what you're describing.

Otherwise, I would recommend Masquerade or Ravenous. They both have orange blossom (I think), which makes them sort of bright and glittery - but the patchouli is definitely still prominent.

OH-bee-YAH, at least that is how Angela, one of the nurses I work with (who is from Jamaica) pronounces it.

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Thanks Andra!!

Can anyone help me with the pronunciation of Obeah?

I would definitely recommend Djinn & Tarot: The Tower.

Numb

First impression: Hmmm, this smells strongly of violets to me. I love violets.

Upon application: Yep, on me it's mainly violets, with a hint of another "white" floral, maybe rose or lily. Something that's ever so slightly soapy.

After a few minutes: The soapiness goes away, and it turns into a powdery violet. Not musky powdery, but kind of dusty powdery. Not too sweet, but sweet enough. I think the sweetness is coming from the violet scent, though. The impression I get is those sugared violets that you can decorate cakes with.

Conclusion: Very soft and innocent and sweet! Pretty.