Effluvia

in the vial: MEMORY TRIGGER! Some kind of nasty medicine I used to take when I was a kid...fake bubblegum flavored nasty medicine...

wet, on my skin: Ooh! Yes, that plum wine you get at the end of the meal at Japanese resturaunts...then it changes very quickly to something that reminds me of Blood Lotus mixed with Pele...I'm intensely intrigued by this one...it's not actually juicy, but it's juicy in a dry way, if that makes any sense. Because I read star anise, I smell star anise, but left to my own devices, I never would have detected it...it's very well blended in there. This is very smooth and mellow.

I like it a lot. This feels like one of those effortless second skin scents on me.

drying, on my skin: I really like this one a lot. I smell like a ripe plum as it fades, and I'm tempted to bite into my arm lol.

ooooh, thanks so much!!!

in the vial: This seems to be pretty consistant on everyone who wears it...bright, wet, juicy pommegranate and rose. Almost painfully beautiful.

wet, on my skin: Fresh, feminine, innocent and achingly beautiful. Weirdly, though, on my skin, it has a tinge of that vegetable smell flower petals have....(a few minutes later) but that goes away pretty quickly, and I'm left with pure, fresh, wet, juicy rose (no powder AT ALL). The pommegranate's gone completely.

drying, on my skin: Just fresh, juicy rose. This is more or less how I imagine Rose Red smells.

...This one REALLY LASTS! It wafts all around you and you're surrounded by this beautiful, soft but vibrant rose. You really have to love roses to fully enjoy Persephone. I *adore* roses, so this is heavenly for me.

dry, on my skin: It dries to an almost second skin rose on me. Lovely, lovely, lovely.

in the vial: Bright! Juicy! ...Sangria!!!

wet, on my skin: Juice, juice, juice...bright red, mindbogglingly delicious juice! I smell currant, berries, apples and wine. Collectively, it smells like sangria. I really adore this. It's just sweet enough, and it has an irresistable tartness to it that keeps it from being too sweet.

drying on my skin: This sticks around...(yay)! It hasn't really morphed a lot...it's stayed pretty consistant so far.

dry, on my skin: Light, soft, insanely pretty berry/fruity note. Sigh. I wish I could drink this.

in the vial: Bright lime and almond. Something dark and bitter.

wet, on my skin: Almond! Warm, buttery, vanilla-y almond...with a sharp, bitter background...ah! It's the vetivert, which smells marvelous underneath all the sweetness...okay, I smell lime...I smell myrrh...hoo boy, this one's a bit of a changeling! I love it...it's so intriguing and mysterious...it suits the title beautifully.

drying, on my skin: Warm vanilla with a spicy, clovey background, tinged with lime.

dry, on my skin: Just warm spicy vanilla and a tinge of pine. Lasts quite a while!

I'll definitely use up the imp of this, but I'm on the fence about buying a bigger bottle.

in the vial: Acqua Di Parma! The only commercial perfume I actually like! It also reminds me a little bit of my beloved Depraved.

wet, on my skin: Acqua Di Parma, only the orange just got amped up about 50 points. Now...my skin's not too hot on orange...orange turns to soapy orange floor cleaner on my skin. I'm fine with Beth's other citrus fruits (lemon, lime and grapefruit are fine on me), but orange always goes weird on me. However, I'll give this one another chance in the future, because I *REALLY* like the way this smells in the vial, and I'm hoping my hormones are just messing with my body chemistry and that it'll smell glorious on me in a week or two...

drying on my skin: There's hope! As this dries, it turns more and more into the initial Acqua Di Parma/Depraved scent. The orange soapiness fades pretty quickly, which in my case is good.

dry, on my skin: I really like this. Everything's meshed together no nicely, I can't pck out any individual scent. It's a soft, woody smell. Very nice.

While I won't be buying a big bottle of this, I'll probably use up the imp. I'll wear this in my hair a lot.

ETA: Aye, hormones are a strange thing. This smells fucking orgasmic on me now. I am buying a huge bottle of it.

in the vial: Black cherry with a dark, evil, murky core. Alrighty, I already know I'm going to be obsessed with this one...

wet, on my skin: It turns a bit tangy and metallic once it hits my skin...this is just soooooo delecious. This really is the poetic romanticism of blood personified. This does, as grrrlennyl noted, smell like a darker version of Black Phoenix, which is probably my all time favorite BPAL oil. It's much more primal, a mix of earthy/fiery and sexual than Black Phoenix, though. Bright blood red, vital and powerful.

dry, on my skin: The faintest bit of tangy clove. It lasts for quite a while, which is wonderful because I really can't get enough of this wonderful scent. .

I've got Bloodlust coming my way...now I *really* can't wait to try it!!

So far, these have lasted the longest on me:

O

Blood Rose

Loviatar

Black Phoenix

Black Widow

Seraglio (heh, t3andcrumpets...curiously, this one stays on me forever but Severin vanishes almost immidiately aye, body chemistry is indeed a strange thing...)

Saturnalia

Black Rose

Glasya

Old Paris

Bliss

Blood Lotus

Black Forest

Good luck with your quest.

in the vial: SQUEEEEE!!!!!! This is exactly how I dreamed she would be!!! Innocent, creamy, curious rose. This is the PERFECT Gothic Lolita scent!!!!!!!!! YES!!!!

wet, on my skin: The rose turns a bit cherry-like (the honey, maybe?) and the carnation shows up. It gets smoothly spicy, like a Christmas scent. I can smell the bergamont, and I can smell the carnation flower petals underneath the smooth spice. This is the scent of a little Victorian girl chasing the white rabbit and tumbling down the rabbit hole! It keeps changing...it gets stranger and stranger (or curiouser and curiouser, I should say ), in a very, very good way. I think it's the bergamont that keeps quietly darkening the scent bit by bit. Now this makes me think of Little Taffy from Female Trouble playing pretend car accident games in the living room.

(If you didn't get that reference, I feel deeply sorry for you. )

dry, on my skin: Unfortunately, this doesn't last very long...I can still smell the faintest trace of bergamont lined with the tiniest drop of rose...

When the bottle issue is all better, I AM BUYING A FREAKING 5 ML OF THIS MAGICAL JUICE!!

(tee hee)

Dame Darcy would dig this stuff. Friendthegirl, are you reading?? We must send a bottle of this to her and become her very special friends and we will all have tea parties together in our

stripe-ed thigh highs and white lace parasols. (squish)

I'm just experiencing my coveted Alice for the first time (thanks, lorajc!), and may I just say you're in for a massive treat! This is innocently sexy creamy rose...I'm gonna go review it right now! As soon as the bottle thing isn't a problem anymore, I'm SO ordering a 5ml of this!!!!

I'm lost in a forest, all alone...

Actually, I'm not alone...I smell the mysterious "fur" note of the forest animals, too.

I've had this for a while, but I haven't gotten to know it enough to review it properly until now (I've been busy having my love affair with Wanda ).

in the bottle (I ordered a 5ml without smelling it first because I knew I would be obsessed with this, even just as a room scent): Dark enchanted forest! EXACTLY what I was hoping for!!

wet, on my skin: Huh...WOW...the pine note doesn't overpower this scent on me at all...in fact, it turns pleasantly sweet and warm when it touches my skin! It actually smells kind of like Haunted in a moonlit forest ( )! It must be the musk. My skin loves musk! The pine wanders to the back of the scent, and it's kind of a subtle, sweet, warm cinnimon-y note and a cool blue note I can't really identify (ambergris, maybe? I DO smell something similar to Cathode here, so that might be it)...the cool blue note is on a black background, though. The moonlight's still there. ...I'm so glad I have a big bottle of this!

dry, on my skin: Hmmmm...baby powder, which I usually loathe...but for some reason, it's okay. I actually kinda like it a little bit. It's a smooth, cool, ethereal baby powder.

ETA, a while later: Okay, I give up...when it REALLY dries, it's pure baby powder. DAMMIT! Oh well... I guess I'll just use it as a room scent. It IS a perfect room scent for me...

Pele, Pele, Pele!

in the vial: Mmm, minty chamomile tea (although there's no chamomile in it...hmmm...interesting). But I also smell something aquatic, like I'm under water. The ambergris, maybe?

wet, on my skin: Wow...this is a very ethereal scent. Unfortunately, however, it morphs to soap very quickly on my skin. ARG!! Oh well. I'll still keep the imp, though, I have a feeling my hormones are sabotoging everything today.

dry, on my skin: Dammit, now I smell like my gramma's house.

This is very light yellow green and sparkling. It's definitely irridecent. It's grassy, minty, herby and crisp. This is a fabulous hot weather scent, definitely refreshing.

in the vial: Sour lemon candies. Mmmmm.

wet, on my skin: Lemon tea...but why does this scent strike me as really fucking sexy? Oh! There's the Earl Grey...wooow, this is just REALLY fucking sexy...! This really is the perfect counterpart to Wanda; I think Beth hit her mark really well, here. Wanda is definitely the S, and Severin is definitely the M (but there's definitely some S in there ). This is clean, unisex and FUCKING WICKED in a subtle, quietly smoldering way. Mmmmmmmmm!!!!

dry, on my sin: Very, very, very light lemon scent. Very pleasant, beautiful lemon.

WOW, I think I'll buy 5mls of Wanda and Severin on my next order.

in the vial: Purple! light purple. I smell berries and sweet, light, fruity wine. Very pleasant.

wet, on my skin: This is very light and airy...I wasn't expecting this at all! I'm not dissapointed, though, this is very, very lovely. In fact, I think the word "lovely" describes this scent perfectly. It's beautiful and pleasant and feminine, but there's nothing cloying or heavy or powdery about it at all. It's sweet in a very subtle, elegant way. It's the color of lavender. This is light purple silk. It's sultry in its own innocent way.

dry, on my skin: The berriness lasts quite a while. Fabulous.

This is so beautiful!! This is a magnificent day scent.

ETA: Holy shit! The sex just showed up!!! Good God, it's INTOXICATING! The "lovely, elegant pleasantness" has been shoved *violently* to the back of the scent, and the sex has hungrily taken over. UGH. This fits the description PERFECTLY for me now!!!! Wow........WOW... (lol)

in the vial: Eeeeeeeeeeee!!!! I smell the pirate-ness!!!! SQUEE!!

wet, on my skin: This is a big, sexy pirate (YAAR!)! I smell the sea, I smell the fresh air, and weirdly I smell dandelion (probably the bay rum), and I smell other notes I can't place, but it all smells very rugged and badass. I agree that it's more Will than Jack Sparrow, too. This would smell FABULOUS on a guy. I still like it a lot on me, though, too.

dry, on my skin: HOO BOY, this one lasts. This hasn't gotten too overpowering for me, though. I still really dig it. I really want to see what this is like in the diffuser...

I'll probably buy more when the imp is gone.

in the vial: Oh my GOD. I really, really, really don't like this so far... This is making me very queasy. I usually adore vetivert in BPAL, but I've only experienced it in the background, not IN CHARGE like this.

wet, on my skin: Okay, the violet is starting to peek out from behind the vetivert...it's starting to turn slightly purple. This might end up okay...this really is like you went into the forest, wandered into the deepest, darkest, most sinister-looking part of the forest, found the most sinister-looking rock on the forest floor, picked it up, and found THIS growth underneath. This is the "growth under the mask" in the Bauhaus song, "Mask". This is the darkest, most twisted fairy tale in the world.

dry, on my skin: Slightly faded (but not much, this one LASTS!) and powdery violet hiding sheepishly behind THE GIANT VETIVERT MONSTER.

I appreciate this as a brilliant work of art, but I don't particularly want to smell like this. I'll still keep it, though, because it DOES fascinate me.

in the vial: Hmmm...why do I smell grass? Grass and roses.

wet, on my skin: YES! I was SO hoping this would smell like the Siouxsie song, AND IT DOES!!

Well, it's a lot more sensuous and SEXY AS ALL FUCKING HELL, actually. Well...sensual. It's soft and warm and comforting and dark and mysterious and sweet and slinky, but it's not sex. This is feeling sexy, but not necessarily having sex. This is definitely a night time scent. This girl's nocturnal. This is also a very fabulous, formal-smelling scent. You don't wear this with jeans and a tee shirt, mind you, you break out the unfathomably expensive black velvet gown and stiletto heels and wear blood-red lipstick and smoky black eye makeup.

dry, on my skin: Mmmmmmmm the sensual, comforting scent of the lingering amber and languid, sexy rose.

Dammit, I can't buy a big bottle of EVERY imp I love...

(...wait a minute, why the hell not!? )

ETA: Serious, mature, snobby, traditionally ladylike, and a smidge brooding and mysterious. I'm on the fence about this one...I think it's a very successful oil, I'm just not sure it works for me. I love sultry, rosey, dark, feminine blends, but I think this one's just a little too "old" for me. Oh well...maybe it's a bad time of the month for my body chemistry and I'll love this in a few weeks...

in the vial: (sniff) ...Pie?? Or some kind of peach juice drink. Both of which have some lovely spices/herbs in the background. YUM.

wet, on my skin: (smellgasm) (cries) HOLY SHIT....I have become instantaneously addicted to this scent. You know when you've found a BPAL that is actually your world manifested in a scent? This is definitely one of those for me. I can't even begin to describe it...it's such a specific emotion captured inside the scent...I can't decide if this is my world or the world I'd like to be in (sort of like the first time you listened to the Cocteau Twins). It's the darkest, most destructive kind of sexuality, and it's breathtakingly beautiful and SO SAD. This is the romanticism of tragedy (if that makes any sense).

dry, on my skin: The apricot hasn't really faded, it's just blended flawlessly into the herby/spiciness. This is a bit like the yummiest tea you'll ever drink.

Alright, I'm done with the nonsensical rambling now.

I'm SO buying a 5 or 10 ml of this in my next order!!!

in the vial: The image of being surrounded by giant, monster sunflowers!!

wet, on my skin: ...Soil? Soil and a slight licorice-y floral scent.

drying, on my skin: I’m getting a lemon-scented black rosiness smell mingling with the smell of mulch. I feel like I’m at one of those outdoor flower nurseries directly after a rainstorm when you can smell rain-soaked mulch and wood chips and flowers and the sun’s peeking out of the clouds.

Sigh. This is a glorious creation, as usual.

Howdy!

I'd recommend Wings of Azrael.

ETA: Count me in for Desdemona. I just tried it again today and I think it fits the word "melancholy" beautifully.

Weird. I'm listening to The Cranes as I first smell this and type this, and there's this feeling of total oneness. This scent is melding with my musical experience perfectly...there's this perfect blend of complete and utter all-consuming sadness with a glimmer of hope and innocence, and impossible beauty. I'm visualizing very, very old angel statues in a cemetery on a gloomy day, flowers strewn about the ground. Children playing in cemeteries. I'm EXTREMELY intrigued by this!! I want MORE!!!! MOORREEE!!! lol

DAMMIT, I didn't think I liked light blue/light grey/grey scents!! I have to spend SO much more money, now!!! Thank you, Beth, for creating these things that help us to expand our minds and horizons and introduce us to worlds we'd never thing of entering ourselves.

In the vial: Shirley Temples, as my friend observed. I'll definitely have to second that. That would be the almonds, I assume.

Wet, on my skin: Yeah, Orangina! Orangina and nummy spices. Mmm. Some kind of spiced orange cake...very foody. It's so exotic and intriguing...I do smell the rose after a bit, which makes me very happy. I think I smell the sandalwood and cloves, too...Oooooh, I think I'm in love with this!!

Dry, on my skin: This is very lovely, but it fades on me almost instantly. I may order a bigger bottle so I can slather it on, because I REALLY like it A LOT when it's wet. (sigh...)

Burial or Black Forest (I've yet to try Zombi).