Poenari

I was gifted a bottle of this a few weeks ago from a lovely forumite/friend and finally got around to trying it. Holy wow, is this gorgeous! I tested a small spot on my inner arm, found it to be a winner, and promptly took my shower and slathered! At first this smells like the old original Skin Musk Oil on me... bear with me, because that is a good thing. I wore the hell out of that scent in the 70s and it always garnered compliments. This is not that scent, not at all, but it starts out on me with that vibe. A kind of musky vanilla. After about 20 minutes, the patchouli starts to waft, mixed into the gorgeous vanilla. I agree that this is like a Banshee Beat/Revenant Rhythm in reverse. The patch is softer and not dominant, but the vanilla has a sweet smokiness to it and it all works beautifully together. I'm really happy to have this and will be able to wear it in more situations than I can wear Banshee Beat.

This is as beautiful as the atmo. I find it to be mostly lilac on my skin, which is a great thing. I adore lilacs and have some of my happiest childhood memories of spring when the lilacs bloomed. We filled my 2nd grade classroom with lilacs and lily of the valley during the month of May, and being May Queen was the best part of the month. Lucille's Room takes me back to that feeling. Gorgeous!

I received a bottle of this as an a extra in a swap, and was so intrigued. In the bottle it smells like a gorgeous dark cocoa. Definitely not milk chocolate. Once applied to my skin, it blooms into a smoky hearth with the chocolate and leather making it a dry smoke. I love this and am going to wear it a lot in the winter! It's the perfect curl up with a book on a cold snowy day scent.

I received a bottle of this in a swap where I was gifted a ton of extras. I've wanted to try it so badly, and I'm not disappointed! As a member of the stinky hippie club this scent takes me back to the headshops of my college years in the 70s. The weed note is strong at first, drifting out of the back of the store, but then the nag champa pushes it's way to the front of the shop. The patch is there to meld them together into the perfect head shop scent. This is exactly what I had hoped for, and I will wear it with care. I get it that not everyone appreciates this kind of scent, but I sure do!

I was gifted a partial bottle of this, and was so happy to try it! I amp amaretto, so I applied nervously. I got a blast of it on my skin, but it faded quickly as the chocolate and plum bloomed. This is a gorgeous scent. While I agree with comparisons to a chocolate Bordello, it is also a kissing cousin to Midnight Kiss on my skin. Love this!

As sweet as death, as deep as the grave: pomegranate, raspberry, gardenia, plum, and rose with patchouli, black pepper, rose musk, and a hint of blood accord. I forgot to review this! Crypt Queen is one of my top 5 scents, and I couldn't believe my eyes when this popped up as an option on the Post's Etsy. I snatched it up. The scent is perfectly matched to my Crypt Queen perfume, so it works perfectly in the hair gloss medium. Fabulous and I am so grateful to have this!

I was gifted a partial bottle of this today, and it was the first time I had smelled it. Sniffing blind from the bottle with no clue of the notes except for the name, it immediately reminded me of standing in a redwood forest, with mingled scents of the various trees. The earth note is a dry but deep earth scent, not the same dirt note I get in Zombi and Graveyard Dirt. I put some on my wrists after I got home, and I really get all the woods. Pine and cedar dominant with a kind of spicey bite, but what a gorgeous dark woodsy scent. After about 30 minutes, it sweetens and softens as if the muguet and amber are toning down the cedar. This is a very gorgeous scent!

It is the lady of midnight and she has arrived! She of Two Faces, She Who Eats Filth, the Death Caused by Lust – Tlazolteotl – is the Aztec goddess of the regenerative function of the earth, human sexuality, and fertility. She represents the active female principle in the eternal cycle of life feeding death and death feeding life. Her arms, dressed in flayed skins, embrace mirrored principles of sin and purification: she inspires lust, depravity, overindulgence, vice, lechery, and licentiousness, and is also empowered to cleanse and forgive moral, spiritual, and fleshly sins. Her scent is a melding of her symbols and offerings: chapapote and black copal with cacao, black honey, maize, and cotton blossoms. I found this imp at the bottom of my Yule bottle box and had never tried it, so decided to give myself a good slather before my shower this morning. What a lovely scent on my skin! It smells like a very dusty incense from the copal, the cacao isn't foody but gives it almost a patchouli vibe, and the cotton blossom keeps the vetiver in check. This is a smokier, darker version of Nasty Woman on my skin. Fitting for the goddess it represents. This is a bottle worthy blend for me!

This is so well blended! Although I can detect most of the notes, they meld into one another in a swirl of gourmand deliciousness. The scent is softer and sweeter than I expected. The leather and patchouli keep it from going totally foody, but the vanilla and pumpkin and fruit take it right to the edge. I was going to wear Nasty Woman to vote today, but I'm really glad I chose to wear this instead. If the lines are long, this isn't offensive and yet I am making a statement.

This is the version of Samhain I have always dreamed about. I do like to wear Samhain in the autumn, and have bottles from a few different years. Usually they are heavier on the fir and woods, with a slight medicinal scent. This one is sweeter, more fruit-forward, and lacks the medicinal note. I am so happy I was able to get a bottle!

OMG keep f*cking up, because every time I try one of the "mistakes" I love it. I adore Snake Oil fresh and aged and in-between. This blend is like Snake Oil lite on my skin. The "cream soda" smells like the vanilla syrup I ask to be added to my Diet Coke in restaurants. This Snake Oil variant will be perfect for wearing when I am in close quarters and not wanting to overwhelm people, but still need that whiff of Snake Oil for myself.

My bottle is #4. I am in love! This is my first ever Chaos Theory, after buying BPAL for 12 1/2 years, and it's a winner! These are the slightly sweet, dry, warm red leaves. I'm not good at picking out the other notes, but it seems like a smooth musk and maybe a bit of myrrh. I can't wait for my friends to test this when we see each other next weekend, and get their take on the notes. I can't stop sniffing my wrist.

Pugsley hair gloss smells like my tortie kitty Mina and reminds me of her personality too. It's a gentle musky tea scent with just a hint of attitude. Mina is a catloaf with a hint of tortietude. Pugsley is just perfect.

I ordered my bottle of Hal back when the OLLAs first went live, during the Great Forum Crash of '14. I posted my review on a FB page that no longer exists, and forgot to post one here after the forums returned months later. So this overdue review is for my OG Hal. I rarely buy decants, but in the case of Hal, I got a decant first. The reason is simple: jasmine, spoiler of scents for me. I adore the song in the movie and just had to at least try the scent. Imagine my delight when it was a luscious exotic floral without the "bad jasmine" association! I promptly ordered a bottle. Unfortunately, in the full bottle, my experience was quite different. All jasmine, the "bad kind", and there was no way I could wear it. I swapped it away a few months later and never looked back. Sorry jasmine, you and I are never going to be friends. I did manage to use up my lovely decant over the years, but don't think I want to risk another try. Let the good memory remain.

I ordered my bottle of Adam back when the OLLAs first went live, during the Great Forum Crash of '14. I posted my review on a FB page that no longer exists, and forgot to post one here after the forums returned months later. So this overdue review is for my OG Adam. I am always leery of leather scents, as I don't care for it on my skin. But I couldn't *not* order a bottle of Adam to go along with my Eve. Unfortunately, it was almost a single note chemical leather on me, and I knew I would never wear it. I swapped it away a few months later and never even considered replacing it. There are plenty of scents that I love, so no reason to feel bad that I have an occasional miss.