good_mourning

I very much wanted to love this one, and the notes sounded like they'd be more fantastic on me, but in the imp I can't tell a bit of difference between it and one of the less pungent brands of citronella candle; it only gets more astringent on my skin. Alas.

Surprise smash hit win of the series for me! The only 'stone' note I've smelled that I know of was Black Opal (oh, and Inganok Jewelers--blech!), which I really disliked, but a three word, evocative description convinced me to tack it on to my decant circle order at the last minute, and I'm really glad I did.

This is wispy, slithery ozone with a remarkable dark sweetness to it! I want to say it's orange, but I'm pretty sure that's not it; maybe a pomegranate, some kind of luscious melon? I really don't know. Not candy-like at all, but very rich, with a certain close warmth to it. I think saralaughs is right about the skin musk, as once I applied I get some of the rancid hand lotion note that typically turns into on me; but since I have a scent locket, this is probably still bottle-worthy.

This is also very viscerally reminding me of one of the very old Halloweenies, but darned if I can remember which. Maybe one of the cider-y ones.

Aww, man, I really wanted to love this one; I was hoping for a Nosferatu relative. In the imp, I get nothing but barbecue smoke and a faint hint of wood that does not even wait until skin contact to turn into pencil shavings (well, maybe sawdust). On my skin, that dies down a little to reveal a sickly, rancid sweetness that I assume is the pomegranate rind, as mimosa and wine typically play very nicely with me. I usually amp dirt and moss notes to the high heavens, and can maybe detect a hint of moss hiding in the smoke, but no earth at all.

Ah, well; I've never thought much of Miss Austen anyway.

Maybe I'm broken. In the imp, I smell practically nothing; maybe a whiff of leather that might well be my watchband. On my skin, same thing. Directly on a pulse point, if I bring my wrist right up to my nose and huff, I get a very faint whiff of a Vicks Vap-o-rub type scent, but that has already faded to practically nil in the time it took me to cap the imp, load the forums, and find this topic.

Weird. This is the first time I've ever encountered an 'invisible' BPAL.

I'm terribly envious of pretty much every review in this thread, as both in the imp and on my skin, this is pretty much just rotten wet leaves.

I have been on a frenzy for lime notes lately, so I decided to risk one of my death notes; whatever is common to most of the BPAL baked goods scents tends to go horribly wrong on me and, lo, it did! Even worse, while I usually quite like BPAL's bay rum note, that's not what I am getting here; it is instead the sickly-sweet, cloying rum of Grog and some of the Orishas. I don't detect tobacco at all in this, and the lime is pretty well buried (I'm honestly not sure if I'm smelling it or the sharpness of the rum).

It may seem pointless to post a negative review of something I was fairly sure I wasn't going to like, but the bay rum/rum note was a particularly unpleasant surprise.

This is indeed very woody; one of the few BPAL woods that doesn't smell like a pile of pencil shavings to me. The herbs are very prominent as well, but they lack the astringent tanginess I've come to expect; I think that's the sweetness of the orange cutting them, though, as I can barely detect that at all.

It's not a very naturalistic scent, but the vibe I get is a forest in late summer/early fall; the air's still warm and there's still a few things blooming, but the undergrowth is starting to mulch. This scent isn't at all what I was expecting it to be like, but it's very pleasant. I'd put it just a hair past unisex into masculine; I think it's going to end up being a touch too butch for me, but it's one of the most unusual BPALs I've ever sampled.

I find this to be extremely bland, but in a very comforting way. It's hard to explain. It smells sort of like Indian food being cooked a few apartments away; it smells sort of like a very upscale head shop; but in a pleasing, calming way. Unfortunately, like most of BPAL's milk notes, this turns into rotten cheesefootcrap horror on my skin, but it's very nice in a scent locket.

This is a remarkably realistic scent; to me, this is straight-up strawberries just picked from the brambles with a hint of sugar (actual sugar, not the sweetly cloying note BPAL sugar usually turns into), and a kind of earthy-natural scent that I assume is the dandelion sap--makes me think of freshly mowed lawns, personally. This one is also notable for me because it does not morph at all; what I smell in the bottle is what happens on my skin. Lurrrrrve.

I've been fortunate enough to be able to sample many of the highly sought after BPALs, and the original version of this is, literally, the only one I have ever thought was worth all the fuss (also the only incense note that has ever worked for me!). Smells like a scary, intimidating old lady, but in a totally awesome way. Imagine if Mrs. Havisham was the sort of person to punch you out if you looked at her funny. This would probably be my One True BPAL if I weren't worried about running out.

And if that weren't enough, the re-release has taught me some of the wonders of aging. (My bottles are from the Christmas Miracle when Black Lace mysteriously reappeared on the Dark Delicacies site with no announcement and we weren't sure whether it was going to come back or not; I note this simply because there are apparently significant batch variations.) I've always thought people made a bigger deal of it than it necessarily warrants--I certainly can't tell much difference with most scents--but I am now a believer. The new version is like the original's slightly younger sister who isn't quite completely furious with the world yet; but in a year or so, when the florals have died down a bit, I bet it's going to start swingin' too.

I totally agree with karen; this is basically a grown-up, outdoors-y version of Penny Dreadful, with a great big splat of blood on the pages. (And while I can't really articulate how, it truly does smell 'congealed,' though not in a nasty way.) The Lab's "lunar oils" and I traditionally do not get on; they are detectable here in all their flat, metallic murk, but they are blended (or overwhelmed) well enough that I can actually wear this.

Out of my vast hoard of dirt scents, this is not a particular favorite, but that's only because of the lunar blend. Definitely worth a sniff!

This has been getting a lot of play lately because I currently live in the desert and need help reminding myself that some day, it will not be this hot. That being said, I don't get winter from this, per se; more like late February/early March, when everything else has mostly warmed up but the ground is still mostly frozen and there's still a bit of bite in the air. Nor do I get beeswax; what I smell is that unique scent you get for a second or three right after you've snuffled a candle. The blackberry is delightfully tart (if anything, I'd like it a bit stronger), and this is the first BPAL milk/cream note that has not turned into rotten-cheese-foot-horror on me, so it's got novelty going for it to boot! Honestly, I'm glad people seem not to like this; it will be easier to hoard.

This is without a doubt my number one BPAL. It is what convinced me, all those years ago, that maybe there was something to this indie perfume oil thing. Every time the Lab discontinues a GC, I panic and add another bottle to my next order, just in case. That being said, I would never, ever actually wear it on my skin. It's far too atmospheric.

Imagine that, late one spring night, you walk through your medicinal herb garden, open the doors to your root cellar and go within, a fresh breeze still carrying the scent to you, to discover that one of your housemates has only just murdered another, breaking a few bottles of wine you've stored down there in the process.

But in a nice way!

BPAL's wine note might well be my favorite thing they do (definitely in the top three), so I was very excited to try this--no. Grape bubblegum and burnt plastic, or possibly the aftermath of hairspray just having been set on fire. I couldn't even bring myself to try skin-testing it. Seeing all of the comparisons to Gluhwein in this thread surprised me, so I just did a side-by-side, and... well, clearly those folks are aware of something I am not.

I wonder if either of the ladies contemplating an SQL solution have made any progress? While Nattie's spreadsheet is fabulous, I'd love some sort of PHP widget to add to my blog (or, even better, a full-on Wordpress plugin). Curse my lack of coding skills...