Honor

Bottle: Bubblegum (??) I'm so weird. I figured this would smell alot like Lut Ex Fuit, but all I'm getting is fruity bubblegum. And no citrus whatsoever Wet: More fruity bubblegum with cherry and a hint of orange. Not getting the "warm" feeling I get from Et Lux. Dry: Less bubblegum, and more just general fruity, with a hint of herbs/greens behind it. Sweet, fruity, and pretty overall. I just wish I could pick out individual notes better.

In Bottle: Strong mint and slightly aquatic w/ a hint of sweetness, maybe vanilla? On skin wet: A wintergreen mint, not peppermint... with a touch of herbal "green", more minty/herbal then mint/aquatic now and definetly a touch of vanilla. Dry: Muted wintergreen and herbs, with vanilla. Not much morphing on this one. I like it, surprisingly. Maybe not enough to wear often, but every now and then in winter

In Bottle: Strong, Minty, slightly smoky and a hint of...licorice? I'm strange, I know On skin wet: Still minty, but less so. The smoky smell gets stronger, and there's something else that I can't identify but stings the nose a bit. Drydown: It's softened a bit on drydown, and there's a powdery sweet mint quality to it, but still a strong, smoky, and -to me-some what unpleasant quality hanging about it, that my nose isn't digging. Overall: true to life, I think! And interesting scent, and I'm glad I got to smell it, but def. not for me I think

BPAL and electronics: So I know this is primarily an "allergy/body reaction" thread, but I was given the OK to post this here as it's still technically a reaction. That said... Has anyone had the following (or anything similar) happen?... I was testing some new imps out at my computer desk, so I could write down my notes and do the reviews right there. I'm really bad about doing reviews and wanted to get better so I thought testing my imps at the computer would help insure I do the review right there. While opening one of the imps, a few tiny drops/spray of oil gets on the keys. Nothing big..like itty bitty pin dots on a few keys. I'm not concerned about it, I sniff the oil, get a few thoughts in my head and type my review. Afterwards, I still see the tiny bubbles and go to wipe them off...only to realize that bubbles, where the oil *was* are raised bubbles of keyboard plastic. It was similar to a blister but...plastic. But I still think that CAN'T be true so I physically wipe it, to have the plastic actually come off. So the long and short of it is: a few accidental splatters/drops of a BPAL oil, gave my *keyboard* "blisters" and caused the plastic to melt/come off (I bolded that so folks could find my point among my ramblings. I'm not very good at being succinct) Has anyone has anything like this happen?? I didn't even think such a thing was possible because this stuff goes on your *skin*...but I guess plastics like essential oils alot less then human tissues do. I'm kind of annoyed(in general) because I LOVE this keyboard and it was quite expensive. They don't make it anymore, so I'd have to get a new one from ebay or settle for something else I don't quite like. I'm not going to get a new one now, or even soon...but I'm worried this will cause the deterioration of the keys to happen much faster. Of course, now my keyboard smells good.

In interesting blend Bottle: The thick sweet smell of what must be caramel and the musk, but with a bit of aquatic grassiness (perhaps the cypress, vetiver andmoss?) On Skin(wet): The sticky sweetness of caramel has reduced, but is still present, but all the mossy/grassy notes are coming through stronger, in what is amount to a very strange, conflicted smell. Sometimes I get sweetness, sometimes I get a whiff of aquatic grassiness. Dry: Similar to wet, but the caramel is all but gone (I get occassional sniffs of it though), the lime has made a small presence, and there's an herbal smell to it but overall it's more aquatic and "clean". Overall, a deceptive blend! Both sweet, but clean, earthy and aquatic. I'm not very good at picking out notes, so this is the best description I could give. But, like many of Beths scents, all the individual notes blend into something that is all together more then the sum of the individual notes and not definable by any single one of them.

I got this despite there not being any notes I'm in love with...because it's my sign and I can be very quintessential Aries, and was maybe hoping it would work out anyway. Bottle: Honeysuckle and Dragons Blood mingling into something my nose really isn't digging. Can't describe it any better then that...it's a peculiar smell that I can't place. On Skin: Pepper comes out a bit and the honey suckle dries down. The DB comes out more and there's a plastic-y sweetness to present, which I have to wonder if it's the oppopanax. Dry/Overall: Once fully dry, all other notes except that plastic sweetness, with a touch of the ginger. Not really my cup of tea, which makes me sad. Off to swap this.

Nothing I can add that hasn't been said. This seems to be a very "true" scent, with little changing due to skin chemistry, as it smells pretty much like all the reviews here so far. In bottle: Definetly boozy, with an aquatic herbal quality too it, and a touch of something citrus On Skin: The herbal quality comes out strongly and gathers the juniper smell everyone talks about. I can swear it smells like alcohol too, but not in a bad way...or it could be my imagination. The citrus kick I was getting in the bottle is gone though. Overall/Dry: Herbal, Piney(Juniper) Aquatic. A strange smell, but addicting to me. I keep sniffing the spot I dabbed it on, although I don't know if would wear it often. Definetly keeping the imp, but not getting a bottle.

I was excited to wear this after smelling it in the bottle, and being in a hurry didn't test it on my skin before throwing alot on me and running out the door. Ooops. In Bottle: Sweet and floral, with a fruity undertone. Maybe a touch of wood here, but light. Overall really pretty. On skin: sweet at first, and then.... #$%@! Sandalwood?? There wasn't supposed to be sandalwood in this. *looks* Cedar. Sandalwood and cedar (although, more sandalwood then anything) do the following to me: In the wet, drying down stage I *swear* I smell of BO and cheap head-shop incense. As it dries down more, the BO stink is gone, but the woodsy head shop incense remains. When it's finally dry, all you really smell is incense-y wood, almost like pencil shavings on me. No one else smells the BO type smell that I do (thank god) but it's unpleasant to me. In the end, the sandalwood amps and takes over every single note and that's all I smell like all day. I thought only sandalwood did this to me, but there's none listed, and cedar doesn't like me either, so it must be that. So if you're like me and sandalwood/cedar amp up on you, this may be a no go. Disappointed, but not all hope is lost. Will let this age and try an alcohol based spray to see if that helps bring out other notes. ETA: Nope. Same result.

I can't help the hijack, even if it gets me in trouble. (Although I was attracted to this thread because I too am looking for some "dark" scents for writing and just evil moods) Therion? *perk* [/hijack]

just an idea, (since I'm not as familiar with those scents mentioned) you could try doing a search on the BPAL site (use advanced search) with some of the notes listed...maybe one each from the bottom, middle and top lists...and see what comes up...trying different combinations for example if I put in Bergamont, (White) Rose, Amber, Sandalwood and Vanilla (ok I cheated with the last three, but they seem paramount to the scent) I don't get anything... but searching for amber sandalwood and vanilla (in the format: +amber +sandalwood +vanilla) yields two results: Tamora and Khajuraho . So play with the search function and see what you get. Good luck!

I thought the Hocus Pocus and Abracadabra were two different scents from party lite?

Click and ships are sent to the email address you entered when you paid. Since this forum is technically independent of the lab, any information regarding your order won't be sent to your forum account, but whatever email address you supply the lab with when you order/enquire.

in bottle: chocolate orange shortbread cookies. This is not a bad thing. on skin: immediately: creamier orange, more like orange vanilla with chocolate... after 5 mins on skin: still creamy orange vanilla with another note emerging I think the sandalwood and lavendar and some other scents behind it my nose is not sophisticated enough to detect now it's creamy vanilla sandalwood with touches of orange, and a warm, musky smell that I can't exactly place behind it all...but it's absolutly LOVERLY. *grin* I am SO very sorry I only got a decant of this. And for those who wonder, it is different (to me anyway) from last years 13.

ditto on the "Vicomte" /Drakaar thing. My dad used to wear Drakaar (which kind of freaks me out because I really love that scent, and fell in love *before* dad started wearing it, so no freudian funny business here!) and when I had him smell Vicomte, the first words out of his mouth were "Smells like Drakaar". In fact, I gave him my imp of Vicomte cause my boy ain't gonna wear it. When fall's over I'm putting my yankee MidSummer Night's dream tarts out.

To: Mercury Re: Your movement about the Earth Message: Could you hurry up and get the *hell* out of retrograde? I know you have an obligation to cause mayhem and maddness, and as your daughter of the Arien nature, I really appreciate it, I do. But I'm kind of over the drama at this point, so could you do me a favor and make tracks already? Thanks. Appreciate it. ~Honor

An experiment in madness? I think so. Why I need another journal/blog/whatever, is beyond me. But I do it anyway, because it calls to me...like a blank spiral notebook sitting on a store shelf... I have to get it, I have to hold it, I have to have it. I may never use it, but there it is. Perhaps it is the lure of a fresh new page... or the temptation of the unknown, or the idea of new creative boundaries...waiting to be explored. Or perhaps...I'm just insane. I'm thinking it is the latter. Maybe this is will be lost in obscurity, deigned to be second best to my LiveJournal. Maybe this will become my BPAL only blog...so as to save the readers (and there are few) of my LJ the pain of reading about "perfume" (it has it's own little world, doesn't it?) and maybe it's time I shut up and actually got down to doing some work in the "real world". Yes, I think so.

Having put this on without having any idea of what was in it... (until I wrote this) In Bottle: Wet, juicy fruits... although nothing in particular comes out... and not that fake fruit smell, but a realistic smell as if someone squished a bunch of "red" fruits. On Skin/Wet: The "wet" juiciness is gone, and a softer orange/raspberry smell is evolving... On Skin/Dry: Orange Sweet tarts. Nothing more, nothing less. Not a bad smell, but not sure if I want to smell like it...we'll hold on to it for a while.

Got this when it was still GC, didn't know it was disc until I came to do the review! In imp: Sandalwood marked with a what smells like a sharp floral...on reading the components, I see it's the lemon. Wet on skin: Sandalwood and lemon verbena font and center with cedar quickly following...no patchouli yet Dry down/Initial: As it dries the lemon fades away, albeit slowly, lingering until completely dry... at this point the sandalwood and cedar have taken center stage, and the patchouli is simmering in the background. It's there...and it wants to be known Dry down/Morph: This is one of the few blends that continues to morph over the hours on me (probably because nothing else lasts this long on me to morph). About 2-3 hours in, the sandalwood is starting to fade and now it's primarily cedar, and a darker background of patchouli. The patchouli isn't sharp though, which is nice as it doesn't over power. End of the day (6-8 hours in) the sandalwood is completely gone, and the cedar and patchouli are present in equal measures. A strong, woodsy scent... although not sharp and head-shoppy. Evokes a "soft" wood scent. Interestingly when I wore this (and sniffed through the day) I never got the impression of shadows at all...instead, this invoked imagery of ghastly spectres slipping among a skelatal forest of bone-white trees. A haunted woods perhaps. Although the woodsy aspect isn't as sharp as others, it's still too woodsy for my tastes, so off to the swap pile for this!

(I'm so bad at these....) In Vial: Juicy and "glistening"...can a perfume smell like that? Well this one does. Smells aquatic-like, with the the cucumber and pear jumping out. Actually, the cucumber and pear are pretty much all I smell, with some musky floral underneath. Wet on Skin: Aquatic-Floral. The cucumber and pear are still prominent, very similar to how it smells straight in the bottle, with some of the florals and musk coming in stronger. Immediately, this brings to my mind the phrase "shades of blue". Seriously, all I can think as it dries and morphs are different shades of blue. First a midnight blue, calming down into a deep navy blue, and finally bright blue. Drying/Dry Down: As it dries, the cucumber and pear disappear, although overall it retains the "juiciness" those notes brought...but the musk and florals take center stage on dry down, although I can't pin point anything in particular. Overall on dry down it becomes a musky floral, similar to "Midnight" but not as heavy. It's very comforting and pretty. I'm sorry I don't have more.

FWIW: I put this in my review as well, but for anyone who missed out on F5 or want more, it smelled *exactly* like when I mix Absinthe and Embalming Fluid. I'm pleased because I can emulate F5 when I'm out!

In the vial: Almond-Cherry Wet: Almond-Clove Dry down/Dry: CLOVE. clovecloveclove. Apparently clove amps like hell on my skin. NOTHING else came through. I like the smell of clove, but not *that* strongly. And that's all she wrote folks. Nothing complicated here. Pure, unadultered, clove.

I'm surprised no one mentioned Three Witches: "Warm cinnamon, husky clove and white pepper." Very warm and spicey and just all pepper and cinnamon to me. Although it was discontinued, again, so it maybe hard to find. I personally only have a decanted imp of it.

In The Bottle: Almond-Cherry, with a hint of sandalwood. (upon seeing other reviews, I'm glad I'm not the only one who smells cherry even though it's not present) On me: Wet: A vanilla-y cherry (I think that's almond that smells vanilla) with the sandalwood emerging and now a hint of feral musk...like animal musk, but not in a bad way (then again, I kind of think ferret musk smells comforting...uh, should I admit that?) Drydown: As it dries, the cherry dissapears, and the musk comes out more...although it's morphed from "animal" musk to the more "golden" musk everyone else talks about. Complete Dry: Although almost nothing like it was wet, this is really really beautiful. It's taken on a dusty, warm, golden musk, and the saffron has finally come through. Strange, that I only smelled the saffron now but I think the strong nature of the musk earlier masked it. Overall, it reminded of a warm, dusky skinned woman standing admist a golden dry desert. Not desolate, but exotic. I've never gotten such a mental evocation from a scent, any scent, before. Wow.

This is going to be a tiny little short review becauuseeeeeeeee.... nm. Nothing I do is short. Ever. F5 smells like the love child of Embalming Fluid and Absinthe. From the notes and previous reviews I knew it would smell like an amped up EF, which is why I bought it.. In the bottle: Yup. EF.... with the faint whiff of lime and mint, but not strongly so. No "sea spray" here. On my skin Wet: Embalming Fluid meet Absinthe...Absinthe meet Embalming Fluid. It's got the lemony-tea-musk smell of EF, with the lime and mint making it a bit "juicier" and "wet green". If "wet green" had a smell, this would be it. Dry: The lime and mint have settled down and now it's a slightly muskier, minty version of Embalming Fluid....even the dry down is similar to what EF and Absinthe smell like on me. So the good news is when it runs out I know how to make more! Although I'm a bit dissapointed it didn't smell more....different.

I second sleepy moon... it's the perfect "comfort" scent...to me anyway, it smells like fresh, warm laundry. I dab some on my blanket, and I SWEAR it helps me sleep...and I have sleep anxiety-issues. I actually had a post somewhere around here gathering scents for my sleep anxiety (basically, I can't sleep cause the brain doesn't stop thinking, usually about bad things) - it's not the same as your anxiety, but it's still anxiety. Anyway, someone else with a similar issue also reccommended the TAL White Light. And my roommate, who has some anxiety issues as well loves Water of Notre Dame. I know all of the above were already mentioned, but I thought it would help to know that they work for others as well. And of course, there's the typical lavendar/vanilla combo, which is frequently reccommended not only for helping sleep, but also as a general calming/soothing scent. Also: to further on what kraken just said, you may want to take a bit to think/make a list of happy, warm, comforting, soothing memories/events in your own life, and try to find oils with notes associated with those events. So while cocoa may work for kraken, you may have a happy memory associated with, oh I dunno, vanilla and you can go and search for scents with prominent vanilla notes. Although I reccomend looking a bit through the Review threads once you compile a list of scents with the note you want, to see if that particular note really does come through, and how. (i.e. vanilla in one perfume may be more prominent then in another.)