LittleGreyKitten

I'm a big fan of BPAL's melon scents. Fee, Yemaya- those are both huge favorites of mine. This has that same amazing sugared juicy melon scent to it. I also am getting a hint of bamboo, and definitely some delicious lychee. The peony is hiding, thank goodness. I am really enjoying the Rat. It will be perfect on hot days- that's when I like my melony scents the most. I find it most like Fee, really- probably that lychee-ness, though with an Asian twist beneath the melon. I like it a lot more than Fire Pig.

5 out of 5, beautiful.

This scent is amazing. Despite the simple components listed, it smells incredibly complex and luxurious on me. Though the vanilla and cream are noticeable and quite amazing, there is a certain je ne sais quois that is just deadly good. I do smell the saffron note that made Underpants so wildly delicious and unusual. This scent is like Underpants's first cousin- it is similar but yet has it's own thing going. I think it might be an almost wintergreen-like aspect, though it isn't minty... I love it, whatever it is. I would say that if I ever run out of Underpants, I could assuage my pain with Love's Philosophy. I love the label, too- very minimalist and cute! I find that this has good throw and lasts quite well. I look forward to seeing how it mellows with age, too.

5 out of 5, hoardable in fact.

Huh. I know I did intend to order this, but why I'm not recalling. Now that I re-read the notes, I realize it has osmanthus in it, my worst floral enemy. Did I think I was ordering a different blend? Did I go mad for a few minutes? Really, I just don't know. Perchance the lure of vanilla flower, honey and ginger were too much and I overlooked the osmanthusness of it all.

Anyway, it actually smells better on me than I would have thought. Osmanthus normally turns to "rancid old-lady perfume" on me. Not so good. Luckily it doesn't do that in this blend, amazingly enough. It is a close to the skin honeyed quiet floral on me, with a whisper of soft ginger wafting over it all. It does have that particular sort of quiet well-balanced thing going on that a lot of the Japanese salons have, and I enjoy that a lot. I'll definitely try one or two more of them, since this should have been terrible on me and was actually pretty nice.

I'd give it a 3 out of 5, it's pretty but not so me.

Dang, this is GOOD. The most gorgeous creamy edible vanilla, and cooked pears. Not crisp ripe fresh ones, definitely like pears cooked in cream. The pear smell is strongest when wet, then it backs off when dry to mostly cream and vanilla scent (a gorgeous one). I will definitely have to try it in a scent locket, I suspect the pear will last best in there, not on skin. I can't get over how truly yummy this scent is... I was expecting some sort of "oh, I kinda get pear and vanilla, if I know what I'm looking for" sort of thing, not a full-on pear and cream deliciousness.

And. Is this a scent pun? Pear-ilous parlor? Cute!

I'll definitely be getting another, or two. Or three. I plan to bathe in this, for sure. I can only imagine how well it will age, too.

GOD this is good on my skin. I hoped it would be, but BPAL caramel tends to go all weird on me... not always, but often enough. And white chocolate can be ungood too. So, I was sooo overjoyed that instead of smelling burnt or odd, it smelled dead sexy yet edible. It isn't uberfoody, oddly. It smells somehow more like a perfume than a baking accident (not that I mind smelling like a baking accident!) The first note that comes out is, yes, the fabulous BPAL butterypumpkin scent. But the white chocolate keeps it from smelling like straight pumpkin... I can definitely detect white chocolate. I think the pomegranate cuts through the gooeyness and may be what keeps the whole deal from smelling too bakery-ish. I would normally say I smell caramel in it, but since I know what the usual BPAL caramel smells like... I don't smell that note at all. There's no heavy, burnt note at all on me. The smell brightens a bit over time, which I think would be the pomegranate coming out more. This also has MAJOR THROW. Ohmigod. I put some on and ten feet away around a corner my husband smelled it. It also lasts like whoa too. Apply with care!

I will be stocking up for the winter, for sure. My favorite of the Patch this year. 5 out of 5.

I paid a retarded amount for this. It is definitely a relative of Miskatonic U, but I like Misk U better. This has a sort of syrup base scent, not overwhelmingly sweet, then touched with coffee. There is also a sort of darkness wreathing it, too, which is neat. The cinnamon is so subtle as to be almost imaginary, which is fine. I also get a bare hint of dustiness, which I belive must be the wood.

Most wood and all tobacco are usually absolutely overwhelming on me, and horrible. Yet this blend shows no evidence of vileness from either one. It is beautifully blended, for sure, all the elements work smoothly together. For some reason it remains at "mm, that's nice" rather than orgasmic, for me; I can't pinpoint exactly what it is that makes me kind of indifferent to PWFA's charm, but for some reason I am, a bit. It has a short wear-length on me, even in a scent locket.

3.5 or maybe 4 on some days, out of 5.

This blend is difficult to review. It smells dark to me, yet very sweet. There is a strong incense, or maybe resinous, undercurrent that my skin amps up as it dries. The haze of sweetness over it occassionally reminds me of Aquanet, but mostly is just hard to get a handle on. It does smell floral, though, rather than citrus or melon on me. This really is a fascinating scent, like no other BPAL I've run across. It also stays pretty close to the skin, though initially it smells strong to me. It also does a quick disappearing act. I'm really grateful to have had a chance to try it, but it isn't one I'm going to keep.

I got Selkie, because I couldn't resist it, even though it looked basically floral and possibly aquatic, neither of which are favorites. Amazingly it is beauteous on skin. My husband loved it and I got about four compliments on it during the day. It is very light smelling but it must throw more than I would guess, since other people had no trouble noticing it. Two people said it smelled very refreshing. It must be that water note. I wonder if the non ozone based water note is similar to the one in Obatala? That's another one that has a detectable water note that isn't traditionally "aquatic", which is what I get out of Selkie. Plus the florals are not really... floral. They're more like backup to the main sort of honeyed water note. Altogether quite lovely. It doesn't last very long though, which is the only drawback really.

I'll go with 4.5 out of 5 on this one, and it will be fabulous on extra hot summer days undoubtedly. And, wow is the bottle art beautiful!

EDIT: I'm gonna say that scent lockets were made for Selkie. My biggest gripe was that it didn't last long, and I was using a lot of it to get not a huge scent return. But, when applied to a swatch of cloth in a scent locket, it really does last all day. (Tamamo-no-Mae also benefited immensely with locket-ing, as that was another like Selkie that went *poof* after a half hour or so.)

This is such an unusual, completely unique scent. I get the icy slush notes, a faint, faint whisper of pine, and just the barest hint of buttery pie crust beneath it all. Wow! How does Beth do it? I don't wear this much, but nevertheless I appreciate how evocative it is. It is very faint on me, that's the biggest drawback. The icy note on this edges into ozone a bit, but not overwhelmingly so. I'm glad I have the bottle, but it isn't one I wear much at all.

5 out of 5, though I don't love it, it is so perfectly unusual and well crafted.

Hm. Never reviewed this one somehow. It isn't a huge favorite of mine, though I love most of Beth's snowy blends, especially in the summertime. I may try to spend some more quality time with Black Ice, though, this summer. It is evocative, for sure. It has that "dark, empty" quality that Yog Sothoth had. It also does have the icy note, but it is more ozony than in some of the other winter ones. Black Ice also lacks the sweet undertone that many of the other winter snow blends have- it is much colder as a result. The vetiver is behaving, surprisingly; it was the major reason I almost didn't order this. But it is noticeable nevertheless, just a balanced background note rather than overwhelming like it can be on my skin.

4 out of 5, it is quite evocative of black ice indeed.

This is one of those that I'm kind of at a loss as to what inspired me to order it. Maybe it was the daffodil, or the idea of sugared blossoms or something. However, I rarely do well with the "eleventy billion flowers in a bottle" types of scents. Every now and again, though, the mix is just right for me. Poisson is actually pretty nice on. There's no one major scent sticking out- it's just a lovely mishmash of FLOWERSANDMOREFLOWERS. Yet it isn't too strong, or headachy. And the daffodil, which I often loathe, is noticeable but pleasant. It is very sweet, indeed- the honey and sugaryness are probably what make the daffodil nice. This really isn't a very "me" scent, but it's way better than I expected (what was I thinking when I ordered, again?) I adore the label, too, and the name is of course great. I would say I'll wear this every now and again. The biggest drawback is that it fades really, really, really fast.

3.5 out of 5.

Hrm. I forgot to add that I ended up with the mate to my original Snake Oil Experimental Blend #1... it is from the same person, who must be a forum member but I dunno who; the second one is Snake Oil Experimental Blend #2. My original impression was "wow, Snake Oil smoothed out with something fruity". Then Madame Moriarty came out. My SN#2 is so much like it, I would say it was a prototype or something. It is like Mme Moriarty mixed with Snake Oil, and I love it. I would say the fruitiness therefore must be plum. I've been jealously hoarding both bottles but yum. I love them both.

Wow, this almost is one of Beth's uberheavy foody scents on me. While I adore 90% of her foody blends to the point of silliness, there is the occasional one that's too heavy for me: Sugar Skull. Gluttony. Cockaigne.

Crumpet Rebellion is ALMOST there. Almost. It smells swoony in the bottle. Tart currants, crumbly buttered scone, oh my. Then it spends a half hour being almost overwhelming on my skin. A friend sniffed it and said "I like it in the bottle better." Yes. Then it chills out after a time, and smells more like how it did in the bottle- delectable.

Clearly I need a scent locket to do this blend justice. I adore the latter drydown, though. I just don't love the half hour to an hour of too-heavy-to-take.

EDITED TO ADD: It's a little better in a scent locket. But it still is edging into the 'too much' zone, and is one of those blends that can make me feel a little queasy. The good news is that I may never, ever need to re-wet the swatch I have it on. I save the fabric I load with oils in wee plastic baggies and Crumpet Rebellion has stayed full-on stinky for a month so far- just broke it out and put it in my locket, and it is still really, really strong. If you adore this and only have an imp, get a scent locket! You will never use your imp up!

Dagnabbit. This is the nonexistant scent. Like Silence on me, it isn't there. I smell something faintly, faintly floral in the bottle, and applied it there is a bare, bare hint of soft floral, then 5 minutes later nothing whatsoever Wow. This is the amazing undetectable BPAL. I really had to try something with monkey flower and cream and honey in it. Oh well.

Um, I'm gonna have to go with a 1 out of 5, for not existing really.

I'm not really getting a common scent from this vs. the first blend. They smell like totally different perfumes. Which is fine, but I expected some commonality from so many repeat ingredients. It makes me wonder what the original Blue Moon smelled like brand new... perhaps different than it does now? Anyway, judging this on it's own merits, it's a really interesting scent. Light, airy, and very soft. It doesn't seem blue to me, really. More green. It isn't woody... it isn't floral... it isn't aquatic. I'm having a really tough time nailing down any particular notes. It just smells faintly sweet/green to me. It is of short duration and very light throw. I'll update this if I can add anything more useful but frankly I'm just kind of stuck going "um, nice?"

4 out of 5.

Mmmm. Nice! This indeed as has been repeatedly mentioned, has a HGM flavor (and I should mention that HGM is a scent I still wear obsessively). But different. It is creamier, lighter and fluffier. No citrus, no ginger. Yet it still is reminiscent of HGM, somehow... must be the rice milk or something. Like a sister scent to HGM, it is related but entirely it's own thing. This blend also smells somewhat vanilla-y too. It is unfortunately REALLY faint on me. But it smells awesome. Need more! Slathering is in this blend's future.

This is indeed a masterpiece of Beth's. It really is just perfectly blended.

5 out of 5, for sure.

EDIT: OK. I am going to say that my Carnaval Diabolique phoenix design scent locket is not a silly extravagance after all. This little bugger is going to save me from having to douse myself in some of my favorite faint, but delicious, stinkies... and also the too-precious-to-waste ones. Both of which fit TNM. It fades in about a half hour on my skin, and has a fairly low throw. Put her in a scent locket though, and the scent lasts... well, for a really long time. I've worn the same TNM saturated swatch at least three days, on and off, and it keeps on stinking. Wow! It also makes the scent throw much better. (Selkie, which I had a similar experience with, also does the same thing in a scent locket... and the ones that are powerful, like say Storyville, or Crumpet Rebellion, I will never need to put on my skin ever again- just save the swatch in a baggie, and reuse forever.)

I also get jasmine, with an aquatic note behind. The jasmine goes on painfully strong, then ebbs to a soapy sort of ozone-y thing, with jasmine floating on top. I wonder if this is related to BiggerCritters jasmine; while it doesn't play as well with me, it smells somewhat similar to me. But my nose is definitely thinking jasmine. Interesting, but not so very me. Too floral, and this behaves in a way that I'm more familiar with as far as jasmine goes- that is, being difficult for me to take. (It had almost converted me with BiggerCritters and Unheavenly City.) I adore the label though.

Oh my, my. This is incredibly gorgeous. It is somewhat like BiggerCritters in that, it is a floralbutnot. I get lots of sweet swoony goodness... vanilla? cream accord? caramel accord? To me it smells most like a wondrous vanilla or cream, mostly; the caramel is usually a heavier note to my nose. I cannot frigging BELIEVE that it has jasmine, magnolia and gardenia in it. Those are usually sheer hell on my skin (with the other exception of BiggerCritters, and Lydia a bit)... I would have guessed less aggressive, heady flowers, maybe light rose and moonflower. I may be a convert though, I love this scent. The red musk sure is in visible evidence- bright red oil!- but it is subtle on my skin. I think my skin is picking out the foody notes and they're taming the florals. The florals are indeed there a bit but they're GOOD.

I would say this smells mostly like sugared, vanilla-ed soft, soft flowers... truly beautiful ones. I also get a hint of "rain" or something, not ozony but almost like a hint of what some other perfume oil places call rain musk or china rain or something... maybe it's just that this blend is light and airy in feel, not heavy and deep. It does kind of fade fast, but it might deepen.

This is such an awesome blend. I am so, so giddy that I was able to get it. I am bummed that I ruined the label like a dork on the way back, but I'll live. Dratted leaky imp. (Thought it was Lydia at first, but no.)

5 out of 5, hoardable. Likely to be a coveted one (though it sounds like Crumpets might be more so.)

This is such an interesting scent. It goes on all chilly, dark and in some way sort of sweet on me... it isn't masculine at all. It is not really aquatic on me either. The initial phase is just fricking gorgeous... subtle, intriguing, and very complex. And dark. The label fits well.

Then, it dries. This sharp odor overtakes all the goodness, and it becomes pungent and weird. It gets more so over time, and it smells like an entirely different scent than the first opening notes smelled like. Unfortunately. I'm guessing it's wood or stone that's coming out and kicking the subtle, sweet, dark scent's butt.

I'm not giving up so easily though. I'll try it a few more times, or possibly finally get a scent locket, as I'd find it totally worth it to get that initial phase to last longer. It really is unusual and gorgeous, until it all goes wrong. I'm not gonna rate it, I just can't- I think it's my skin chemistry causing weirdness.

On me this is 90% bitter sharp herb, 10% dry cocoa. Not really enjoying the effect, unfortunately. I absolutely adore the '06 blend, and like the '05 a lot. But this is a total strikeout on me. Oh well; the monster bait goodness made up for the disappointment in this blend. I put some on my mom, and it morphed into a totally different scent on her after about a half hour; on her the bittersharp herbal thing backed way, way off and it became something pretty and interesting. On me, not so much. I can see this is going to be a very individual thing.

2 out of 5; I may give it to my mom. If it smelled on me like it does on her, I'd be all over it.

This is so freaking good. I was a bit worried about the cherry, but as it turned out, it's one of the best blends ever for me. It smells like a version of Closet on me; similar cakiness beneath, with berries over. I don't get cherry though, just a general sweetfruit. Perhaps strawberry? The creaminess is very noticeable, too, which I adore. The powder sugar is not a note I can pin down. But I just adore this blend, for sure... the bottle art too! Best bottle art ever! This, and Closet, are my very favorite MB blends, with Underpants and Tokyo Stomp as very close runners-up. It just has this amazing deep sweet scent that is definitely creamy but is also elegant- its the sort of scent enjoy the most. I love the fruit as leavening to the creaminess of it; I also like that it isn't cherry on me. It evolves as I wear it... the fruit gets even less noticeable and it morphs into just a delightful sweetness with no really sharp notes to it, very smooth... it also deepens.

5 out of 5, hoardable.

So I wasn't sure what was going to be unique about this: there are two other vanilla mints, Snowblind and Lick It. But those two are quite different so I assumed Tokyo Stomp would have some twist to it. Indeed, it is it's own scent, though it is somewhat reminiscent of Snowblind. I like it a lot more than Snowblind, which I find a bit bland in a weird way. Tokyo stomp has a very cake-like vanilla base, and I adore it. I will be bathing in this constantly. Mmm. I did have someone say "chocolate" was a scent they got out of it while I was wearing it. I didn't notice it. But indeed, it must have some aspect that smells like the Thin Mints everyone mentions.

I love Beth's foodies. I love Tokyo Stomp.

5 out of 5.

I got really freaking lucky. I'm gonna be slapped if I ever go to a meet n sniff, I think. This is why: this turns into the original Milk Moon after about 10 minutes.

Initially I was kind of indifferent about the grape/figgyness... it almost smelled like cream and champagne to me. Then the "champagne" notes back off, way off, and the milk/cream pops out. And voila, I have the original Milk Moon! Uh, I have no idea why it works on me when everyone else gets nothing like it. But I love it and will be stocking up, for sure.

5 out of 5, wonderful!

Every so often I feel the need to acquire another Chaos Theory. I've had a good number that I scored soooo well on, a few I feel indifferently towards and one I flat out couldn't stand. The good: caramel apple drizzled in butter (smells like a Creepy prototype), a lavender marshmallow vanilla scent that is slightly Spooky-esque, a cake batter scent, one that smelled dead-on like baklava, and a few others I couldn't precisely identify but loved nevertheless. So I felt the urge to get a Chaos Theory off ebay the other day, the description only being "foody, maybe". OK, that's enough to interest me.

So I got me a half bottle of DCCCXL, or 840. It smells oh-so familiar on first whiff. It doesn't take long to realize why. It is very like Matin Calin by Comptoir Sud Pacific... sweet sugared creamy milk, in other words. The exact notes in Matin Calin are sugar candy, toffee milk, sandalwood and vanilla pod. Sugary cream is how it smells to me, as does DCCCXL.

To compare to other milky BPALS, DCCCXL is a lot like the original Milk Moon but a lot more sugary, and more like half-n-half rather than heavy cream. Nobody would get sour out of this blend in any way. It isn't as much like Obatala, I'm not sure why... Obatala, though it reminds me of Milk Moon, doesn't seem similar to this blend, except in the most general way (milk scent). It does seem somewhat like the later drydown of Milk Moon '07, simply because by that time the milk/cream base has emerged and killed off the grapeyness, and it smells a lot like the original by then. But again, DCCCXL is tempered by more sugar, and something I would call caramel if it wasn't a BPAL blend (Beth's actual caramel note is much much more potent than what I'm thinking is caramelly about this.)

Do I even have to say I'm in love, and will treasure this half bottle like it's gold? 5 out of 5, and Chaos Theory rocks.

Edited to add: The other blend I tried side by side with this is Milk by Ava-Luxe.com. Very, very similar too. Their Milk blend is sugary, creamy and light, and also extremely similar to my CT3. The difference is that the Ava-Luxe perfume fades much faster than the CT3, and is less complex. I also found that same thing when comparing side by side with the Matin Calin... extremely similar, but the CSP is a fainter fragrance with noticeably less complexity. But, when I run out of DCCCXL, they'll help me through the pain!

I get an Underpantsy feeling from this too, despite the floral-ness. I am not a big floral fan but I like Critterbait here. The vanilla seems to make the flowers all nice and palatable for me, though the vanilla is pretty mild and tame. This does have a hint of citrus tang to it too. While jasmine is usually a no-go for me, and even though I can actually pick it out in this blend, it works for once. Yay Critterbait! This is a soft skin scent- not aggressive at all, no way I'm going to get a headache from this blend. I would definitely classify this as a floral though- perhaps one of the most wearable I've ever run into, but a floral none the less. The grapefruit is mostly present as a background hint of tart bitterness.

5 out of 5, though it fades fairly fast on me.

EDITED TO ADD: The throw is all vanilla, and apparently it's a lot more noticeable than I would have guessed, at least for about a half hour. When first I put it on at work I had a bunch of people say "What's that yummy smell? Cake?" So even if it seems like Flowered Underpants to me up close, it's all vanilla from arms length.

AND EDITED AGAIN: I got some backup that has the plain label, sans Critter. It's different! Quite noticeably so... I'd even say that it is almost as dramatic as the difference of Snake Oil vs. Boomslang or something. I like it even more, which is hard to imagine, as I used up 1/4 bottle of original-with-critter. The non critter plain bottle kind is much less jasminey, by far. The vanilla is deeper and foodier. I have to say it's even more amazing. The grapefruit is just a bare, bare hint in this, also less noticeable than the first run. I noticed after I added this someone else thought the exact same thing a few reviews below.