GypsyRoseRed

Floria - Love your choices! Personally, I always felt like adult Mystique would be a darker version of Mama-Ji, with a light touch of leather.

 

Eeee!! I'm so excited. How do Cali-native BPALers not LIVE there?

 

 

Er.. we do frequent drive-bys. I end up having to go to my local trade supply store for one of my jobs that is 5 minutes away from there, so I inevitably drop in and end up buying a room spray or bath oil. We're SO spoiled having a retail outlet throughout the month these days.

As far as I know, there's no Trading Post stock at Le Pink, but Dark Delicacies carries claw polish (limited colors), atmosphere sprays, bath and massage oils, and t-shirts.

I'll start off this review by saying that I *really* didn't like the original version of Black Moon and automatically assumed that this rerelease would be exactly the same - aquatic and 'fresh' smelling. I'm so glad I was wrong! What I get out of Black Moon is dark, spicy pear candy with a kick of sweetness. Surprisingly awesome.

When it comes to rose scents, Looking Glass, Looking Glass is the fairest of them all, without a doubt. I have an odd relationship with rose scents, in that I love the smell of roses but generally, most rose scents don't live up to expectations and tend to smell dreadful on me, even when they don't smell fake, dusty or dry in the bottle. This is a rose scent created with different types of rose and softened by vanilla musk and given depth with resin. It is so perfectly blended that I don't notice the tuberose, mandarin or dark berries mentioned in the description as separate notes. Also because the rose notes pretty much command the spotlight. It isn't any ordinary rose - I imagine this as a sprawling rose garden, the bushes filled with huge, heavy blooms, the air redolent with their perfume.

My husband generally isn't a fan of some of the scents I prefer, but he was on the computer on the other side of our condo while I bathed in this, and when I was drying off, he came into the bathroom and said, "Whatever perfume you're wearing, it smells amazing." Maybe because this is a bath oil instead of perfume oil, but the scent stays true in the bathwater and on my skin, which has never happened to me with any scent that contained rose before. Maybe it's because there's so much of it in this!

My 7 year old says she thinks it smells like a fairytale princess, but I'd say it's more like a Queen.

Thank you so much to Lab and Trading Post, for creating this and allowing us to have some of it. I'll treasure what I have, for sure.

I guess the lesson here is that Evil smells GOOD! This somehow manages to be a scent that evokes the concept that it's supposed to, without crossing into territory that would make it unusable for everyday and I really appreciate that. While this isn't my favorite of the currently released atmosphere sprays, I have to judge it on it's own merits, and although I wouldn't have guessed that I'd be the kind of girl who'd spray my bed in Unspeakably Evil Temple, I guess I am!

 

The roots, mosses and wormwood accord give this a subtle living, overgrown plant feel that could easily be taken for wet stone or 'dankness'. What really makes this so beautiful is the smooth blend of lovely dark resins in it, because they give the scent it's ritualistic, slightly sinister feel.

 

ETA: I could still smell this on my office chair the day after I sprayed it, and it had blossomed into gorgeous, rich resins. Awesome!

I think that's definitely one of those things that varies, but the seller definitely ought to post a picture or accurately specify where the oil level is.

Once sprayed, this is slightly sweet, *warm* resin and sandalwood and a tiny bit spicy/peppery in the very best way. All of the notes are so perfectly blended into a warm, golden scent that definitely evokes the 'exotic' quality beautifully.

I've just skin tested this, and it's really pretty - the only unfortunate thing is that apparently my dry skin drinks this stuff up quickly so it doesn't hang around. When it was wet, I smelled rich vanilla with a slightly bitter edge (cognac?) and something smoky, but it had a very similar feel to Black Lace. That comparison vanishes completely once it's on my skin. Dry, it softens up considerably until the vanilla becomes warmer and almost slightly sugary, and though I don't get coconut from this, it does have a certain sweetness that I can't pin down to a specific note. With that said, this rides the line between kinda foody and sophisticated!vanilla, and it's not quite like any of the other BPAL vanilla scents I've tried... I wish I could be more specific, but my skin sucks this up so fast!

Immediately applied to my skin, I get something that smells like grain, chocolate and spice with a tang of lemon. For the first hour, that lemony note combines with honey to create a horrid smell that's reminiscent of pee, that somehow floats above the main body of the scent which is beautiful spices, light patchouli and cocoa. I had a friend test a dab of this on her wrist, and she didn't get the pee note, so maybe that was just an unlucky twist of my currently odd chemistry. After that first hour passes, that yucky layer is gone, leaving the rest of the fragrance behind and it's lovely. The question is, can I handle smelling weird for the first hour? I don't know.

In terms of scent, I think I get mostly herbs with a background floral note that might be magnolia. It certainly has that slightly creamy quality which is barely detectable under the herbs.

 

I haven't used this for anything yet, but I can already tell that this is going to be good. First off, I'm a Taurus and my birthday was the day before the triple conjunction. I've been feeling so drained and awful today - I even tried an extra cup of coffee but nothing helped. I put a few dabs of this on and within a couple of minutes, I felt so energized. I'm looking forward to using it and reporting back with the results.

I was gifted a sniffie of this by the lovely persianmouse, and am surprised by how lovely it is. In the vial, it's very dark in color and the oil looks slightly viscous. When it's wet, I mostly smell resins, but once it's dry, things really get interesting. There must be ginger in here, because it's reminding me of 2 of my favorite scents - Shub-Niggurath and Storyville. Ginger and resins make for a sexy, unique scent, though it wears pretty close to the skin. This fragrance totally evokes images of the sword swallower. Dark, seductively beautiful and dangerous. I'll be all over this one when it's released!

I have to second Scherezade - it's a beautiful floral incense, and in my opinion, it's the best of that type in the GC. I also love Al-Azif, which is described as a sinister incense, but it's a soft, slightly sweet incense.

How can people not be raving about Harikata II in this thread? Sexy, sex-ay coconut!

 

ETA: I meant HARIGATA II. My bad!

On me, Vamp.Goth is a dark rose, offset by a pretty resin note. No leather, though, which is a shame.

Hm. I *wish* I got the creamy orange - instead, this is a buttery vanilla with gardenia, and although it's pleasantly pretty when it dries, it's certainly not outstanding. Maybe I just own too many awesome BPAL vanilla blends! I'll keep a bottle, but my backup is going to swaps.

I always thought Mia would be more Mama-Ji.

AFAIK, it used to be green, but now it's light yellow IIRC. Doesn't smell any different. By the way, this probably belongs in BPAL Chatter, not BPTP Chatter.

This would be one of the greatest smells ever, if not for the butterscotch and some faintly dusty note that effs up the delicious milk chocolate and ginger. Really, what smells better than chocolate covered ginger? Not a whole lot of things, and yet the butterscotch manages to turn it to dusty fake candy. Oh, well. Guess I'll have to go eat some of the real thing to console myself.

This is by no means a thorough review, since my skin testing was limited to a tiny dab on the outer edge of my wrist, but hey, I'll give it a shot.

Weeping Branches Moon seemed to be perfectly balanced to me - slightly fruity as well as a delicate 'pink' floral, so it's neither omgfloral nor juicy and fruity (like, say, Budding Moon was). Overall it was really pretty, feminine, and elegant, in the way that Beth's Asian-inspired Lunacy blends always are.

Thanks for clarifying! I was going by the information posted when those scents were announced, and I couldn't find any update on that. Are they available at Dark Delicacies, too?

 

Thanks for clarifying! I was going by the information posted when those scents were announced, and I couldn't find any update on that. Are they available at Dark Delicacies, too?

Only if it was one of the original retailers that those specific Salons were created for, and I don't think it was.

 

ETA: The retail only Salons are only for purchase from Healthy Living Market in Sourth Burlington VT, Le Pink in Los Angeles, and Whole Foods in Roswell GA.

I know retail onlys are available at the places that Will Calls are held, at least they are in the 'Dirty South'.

 

Not in California! We are the exception.

I have a kind of complicated way to get some perfume from LA area to myself in Canada.. not by post.. and I was hoping to get some retail salons.. but I don't know where from..

 

Can anyone tell me what Dark Delicacies currently carries?

I have heard they have a full GC line (and I've seen the shelves!) but do they have any LEs? Does Dark Del carry retail salons or is that reserved only for Le Pink in the LA area?

 

 

Kthx

 

(ETA: Does anyone know what the prices of the retail salons in the store are, or can point me to where I can find that info?)

I have basically the same question.

 

Where in So Cal can I find retail salons? I'm going to bat's day and figured I should stop by somewhere while I'm down there . . . I thought there was a whole foods down there somewhere that had them, but I'm also sure there's more than one in all of LA.

Thanks for any help, and sorry if I'm missing the obvious.

 

I can only answer for Dark Delicacies - they have all of the general catalogue and SOME limited edition stock (not the most recent update) and the Dark Delicacies exclusives but NO retail only Salons, because those were only for Le Pink. Anyone interested in specific retail only Salons should call and speak to someone at Le Pink directly, because someone mentioned them not having stock of all of those bottles anymore, so if you want 'em, let the store know!

 

As far as I know, there are no Whole Foods stockists in California, so the CA places to buy Black Phoenix products would be Dark Delicacies and Le Pink. Hope that helps!

I can see the comparisons to Antique Lace, but to me, this is a much more floral vanilla - Madagascar vanilla - with white musk and a jot of sugar. It doesn't have a lot of throw, and has medium wear length but it's very pretty and feminine.