moonarcana

I also do not mean any disrespect to the loyal customers of H&EE - I have tried several of the scents, mostly in the very generous sample sizes and purchased a few of the body products (which I think are awesome) and bought a couple of the layering notes which I like quite well. I agree that the products as a whole have no comparison to BPAL, either in composition or concept. I've never tried 'Underpants' but I did offer words of support to Michele privately during that whole exchange. But the 13/Thirteen thing was kinda cheesy. Whether or not it's a violation of any trademark or copyright or how quickly she responded to correct the conflict...the fact remains that it wasn't a very original idea and seeing as how many customers Michele has cultivated from the BPAL forum, I would think that she should have shown a little more respect for an idea that is a traditional offering from a company that she says she adores. Although I kept quiet during the discussion, I was personally rather put off by the whole ambergris thing - it's illegal in this country ( . period) her defense that it's non-kill ambergris does not matter. The main thing that really stymies me is what's up with ALL the lost orders? How can one company have that many things go "lost" and everybody still thinks that it's getting lost by the postal service? Once it happened to me is when I really noticed other people posting about similar lost orders and how she was nice enough to include more products free with what she resent. I'm NOT accusing - but I simply cannot help but question what seems to be a pattern. I really don't feel any urgency to PM her for an explanation...my computer always glitched out whenever I tried to access it it anyway, so I deleted my membership there. I have decided that the manner she has chosen to conduct her business through this forum is not something I wish to support through buying her products anymore. This was something I was considering before the information posted in the past couple of days. And it's not likely that I'll be visiting the H&EE thread anymore. I will still enjoy the two bottles of layering notes I bought recently and the remnants of my tub of Fairy Queen body butter. I don't hold any ill feelings toward Michele and I hope that elsewhere on the forum, I can continue the friendly interactions I enjoy with those of you who I know are loyal H&EE customers.

When I first read the description for Chrysanthemum Moon, I was smitten by the promise of a scent I was sure to adore. When I received my order, I have to admit that my heart sank just a bit when I immediately got a waft of faint powder. You see, me and powdery fragrances don't usually see eye to eye with one another... ...but to spite myself, I found myself falling madly in love with this lunacy! I wanted to wear this one around for awhile before attempting to review it. And after a couple months time, I find myself reaching for the Mum on a regular basis and I get compliments often. A woman in my department at work loved it so much that I offered to locate a bottle for her to purchase and she's since told me that her husband really 'perks up' whenever she wears it! It is a very sexy scent, while not aggressively so. It is soft and relaxed, even comforting in a sense and lurking around in the background there's some naughty opportunities just waiting to happen. While many BPAL scents go through a morphing cycle, Chrysanthemum Moon surrounds me with layers of fragrant atmosphere, each one is always present but there's an ability to reach through the strata and experience whichever scent-ation you choose to focus upon. Whether a soft wisp of powder hovering closely above the full and delightfully pungent floral essence or the narcotic spicy resins that gather among the earthy roots. Mezmerizing and absolutely lovely! Rating: 5/5

Thank you for posting this information in one place. I share the concerns as well, which have nothing to do about the quality of the H&EE products - but mainly for the way that this board has been used to promote the business. I don't frequent many of the other e-tailer threads here on a regular basis (except for Villianess) but from what I have noticed, none of them use functions of this forum to conduct business. When I had problems with my order a few months ago, the only way I was able to make communicate with Michele was through PM from THIS FORUM...I was not comfortable with that - why is somebody who has a day job as an IT manager unable to straighten out problems with their e-mail so they can address communication with their customers properly? I tried joining the discussion board set up for the company but always had problem accessing it. If Michele ever reads my comments, I'm sure she will think I'm being highly ungrateful because of the manner in which my previously mentioned problem order was "resolved". I don't want to go into details - but what I ended up getting was probably about $50 worth of product MORE than what I paid for and I had stated beforehand that I did not wish to receive extra products to compensate - it makes me feel very uncomfortable. Others say that she does it to be nice, but (in my opinion) nice is including a few samples or maybe with a really large order a full size body product or bottle of oil. Since my own problem order, I've noticed other posts that mention lost or delayed orders being resent and including a bunch of free product. This is one way to balance out poor customer service, but it just doesn't sit well with me. Does nobody else wonder how so many orders can come up "lost in the mail"? I've placed another order since which was received in good time (still with no shipping notice sent) but I've been sitting on the fence about doing business with this company for a couple of months now - but seeing the things itemized here on your blog posting has sealed my decision. And for the folks who remain loyal fans of the product and support Michele, I'm truly glad that their experience has been positive - I'm not trying deflate the squee. But it makes me sad to think that if Michele had chosen to abide by the forum rules and not done things to circumvent the system then very little of the various brouhaha would have ever occurred. She is not being 'targeted' by the admin/mods - many of which have a good deal of legal expertise on top of good ol' common sense. Heck, I recently received a 'warning' for a rule that I was ignorant of...I didn't get my back up and think that I was being singled out - I just went "Doh! what an idiot I am!" and learned from the error and moved on. A forum member can choose to work out any issues they have behind the scenes and without it being evident to anyone besides the parties involved. I think it's pretty obvious that anxious1's continued disregard for the rules and policies of this forum (whether blatant or ignorant) is what has created the recurring 'drama' in the H&EE thread...not the mods and not the people posting viable questions about products or voicing concerns about the owner of the company.

I'm a big fan of carnation, but I don't get a strong spicy carnation note at all in Desdemona - to me, it's a soft old-fashioned floral nosegay scent. Very pretty and somewhat wistful. Maenad is big time fruit and green floral on me. I get no hint of a traditional carnation note at all from this scent. My favorite scents for carnation's sake are: Alice (carnation worn by a little girl) Maiden (carnation worn by a young woman) Carnivale (carnation worn by a woman of the world) and of course, Carnation single note.

I generally don't like to rush to snap judgements like this...but I'm pretty sure that White Moon just became my favorite Lunacy blend! Read the listing of the notes again: lilac, calla lily, wisteria, white sandalwood, moonflower, night musk, phlox, and violet. Yep, they are all there! Blooming in beautiful harmony. This isn't a loud and pushy floral scent, it's softly feminine with amazing depth and so very classy. I've not tried it out in public yet, so I don't know how the scent carries to others, but I am rather enjoying the lovely floral aura that's surrounding me while wearing White Moon and it certainly seems to have good staying power. (at the moment, I'm 4 hours into the application and still getting frequent lingering wafts of this amazing bouquet) If I had a Sub Rosa bottle cap, it would adorn a bottle of White Moon. I'm so glad I had the presence of mind to order two bottles.

I'll never look at my lava lamp in the same light again!

Snake Oil - quintessential BPAL whether it likes you or not Black Phoenix - ummm...obviously Alice - classic Antique Lace - classic Black Moon Rising - as Phaedra already mentioned, the set is the perfect dynamic balance of the range of the lunacy blends. Dorian - classic Dragon's Heart - passionate Ars Draconis Embalming Fluid - classic Hollywood Babylon - so different Smut - oh yeah...gotta have teh Smut Snow White - classic LE Venice - one of the GC's most beautiful floral blends (IMO)

I was taking a risk with this one...lured in by the aphrodesiastic promise of Egyptian amber, red ginger and cardamom...indifferent to orange and fig leaf...but completely skeptical of pumpkin. It's never done well for me as a fragrance. I'm not overly fond of pumpkin pie either. The bottle art is great - I also got Samhain, so I'm wondering now if more Halloweenie bottles feature the little crone witch but I love the black cat on her shoulder on the label of Pumpkin Queen. Sniffing the bottle is like experiencing the aroma of an autumn kaleidoscope. I'm not exaggerating when I say I amused myself with the revolving door of scent for nearly 20 minutes before I finally tried some on. It moves from buttery soft pumpkin bread to succulent fruitiness to exotic spice and each time I bring the bottle close to inhale is different than the last whiff. That little parlor trick alone is worth the price of admission. I let the oil pool upon the skin for a bit and the changing notes continued to take turns singing their solos. I begin longing to experience their harmonius collaboration but they seem quite content with grabbing the spot light away from one another - without attempting to upstage. As the scent settles in there are times it seems more blended, but then one or the other of the notes will spike back up on it's own again. The foody side of Pumpkin Queen is her namesake gourd sprinkled with ginger and cardamom spices. The pumpkin is soft and wafts sweet and creamy - almost like fresh pumpkin bread with a buttercream frosting. But then the Egyptian Amber comes to the front and hypnotizes me with it's beauty. And when I regain my senses, I realize that I'm now smelling an intoxicating fruity zest. They don't rotate in any set order. It's been about 4 hours since I first applied the oil and it still carries a unique presence although the voices have gotten individually weaker and are resigned to carry on in unison. I'm not a big fan of many of the often favored foodie scents out there, but Pumpkin Queen has plenty of diversionary tactics up her sleeve and I've fallen under her glowing spell. (I can't wait to see how this one ages) Edit 10/26 - I ended up swapping my bottle of PQ, although I kept an imp to see how it ages and because I like smelling the scent from the bottle...just not ON me. It's very lovely, but just not a fragrance that I can wear.

I read a few reviews which commented on the complimentary balance between Voodoo Queen and Doc Buzzard - but I put more of a connection between VQ and Storyville. It's like the same woody resin incense note, but where Voodoo Queen goes dry and dusty, Storyville gets soft and creamy. Enticing. This one is quite fine indeed and since it's so hard to come by, I'll just be ever so grateful for this opportunity to try it out - thank you Gypsy Rose Red!

When I was a kid, my grandpa had a huge garden and grew all kinds of vegetables, but his favorites were rutabagas, turnips, parsnips, sweet potatoes and my grandparents had a huge root cellar and that is what Doc Buzzard reminds me of - earthiness of the dirt walls of the basement as well as the soil still clinging to the stash of tubers, fermented herbal notes of the decaying greens sprouting from the top of each root and a waft of the ever present tobacco resin that was my grandpa's aura. I enjoy this scent for the sense of extreme nostalgia it produces for me, but even without the personal recollection associated with this scent I don't think that it's something that I could ever wear as a fragrance. Thanks to GypsyRoseRed for giving me the opportunity to try this rarity!

I had a sniffie of this previously, but thanks to GypsyRoseRed's generosity in donating enough of the Convergence scents for a small test/sniff circle I got to take a bit more of this incredible scent for a ride. ...reaffirming my love for the scent even stronger than before! Voodoo Queen is sensual and aloof. There's a compelling incense base, if I had to guess I'd say frankincense, myrrh and black amber - theres a touch of softness that I cant pinpoint as floral or sweet herbal, but it helps to balance out the resinous quality and give it a distinctly feminine edge. As it dries, it literally dries all over - the fragrance feels like a dusty attic - not with an unpleasant mustiness, but the way your lungs feel with that first breath of walking into a place that had settled it's atmosphere and been left undisturbed for a good long while. I am completely under her spell.

A deep peppery resinous incense swirls up into my mind and hypnotizes my senses. Schwarzer Mond as a woman's fragrance exudes confident control - unafraid of the dark as it taps into the ancient secrets and wisdom of the Crone. And any man who wore this scent would command my complete and undivided attention. Rrrrrawrrll!

My buddy caramialove and I were both too chicken to commit to a whole bottle of Chaos Theory, so thinking that there's safety in numbers, we decided to go in together on a bottle. Here's my review: Chaos Theory III: MV Smells like a Sharpie. in the bottle... applied to the skin wet... after it dries down... Smells like a Sharpie. So although neither one of us desires to actually smell like a Sharpie, it was a fun experience. And no...you don't get a buzz from sniffing it!

just received my bottle yesterday, purchased from a lovely forumite... I may have mentioned this a few other times, but I'm not typically a foodie scent person which is why I've found it easy to steer clear of the Monster Bait scents. However, the Monster in the Closet has always intrigued me. Blackberries??? Bourbon??? RED FREAKIN' VELVET CAKE!!! Cut me a big ol' slice of that stuff because I'm loving the potential there! So I caved in...I bought a bottle of a foodie scent. I love it. Others have made the comparison, so I'll chime in and say that this could be The Dark Side of the Beaver Moon Except for I'm not a big fan of Beaver Moon. In the bottle - cake, with berry filling between the layers. I don't like it much from the bottle. Nor do I care for about the first minute or two when put on my skin...still too cakey. But then - that drunken blackberry smell rises to the occasion and that's all she wrote. I must have re-applied this stuff 5 times over the course of the evening last night just to get a buzz off that intoxicating aroma. It's not at all overly boozy to me, but it's not fresh blackberries - they've definitely been fermenting a bit. It dries down to a soft vanilla with light berries that I find to be very lovely. Not cake at all. I defintely give the Closet Monster a 5/5 ...he can scare away the other monsters from under my bed and my panty drawer any time!

These are the scents that my friends and family tend to ooh and ahh over the most... (in no particular order) GC's Alice Swank O Lady of Shalott Dana O'Shee Siren Opium Poppy (but I'm a bit of a pusher on this scent ) Venice Hollywood Babylon Shadow Witch Orchid Sherezade Juliet LE's Snake Charmer Luna Peony Moon Snow White Smut

Veils and Mist is the first TAL oil that I've tried. The reason I wanted to get it was so I could 'fade into the woodwork' at work and stay out of all the corporate BS and office politics. I took it for a test drive yesterday. When I got to work, it was quiet and nobody in my department was around, so I took the imp from my purse and focused on being able to go about my own business and just get my job done without all the unneccesary petty crap that I normally get a heaping helping of every day. I annointed myself with the oil - which is (bonus!) a gorgeous floral scent that is very much something I would choose to wear as fragrance - and let me just tell you, I was amazed. The rest of the day, I got more work done than usual - I had only a handful of calls all day and they ALL pertained to matters that I needed to deal with for the course of my job. I got not ONE call from the customer service dept. or sales, who only ever call because they tend to panick and call me for the answer instead of look up the information that I update in the computer. I'm telling you, it almost felt like a vacation! I walked out at the end of the day feeling no stress from all the aggravation I normally have trying to navigate my way through everybody else's drama. It was truly remarkable. I won't over-use this oil, because my personal outlook is to use magical assistance as sparingly as possible, but now that I've experience what this oil is capable of doing - I'm pretty jazzed that I have something like this in my cache of potions!

Definitely Urd And as others have mentioned...Two Monsters is incredible but indeed very refined to be classified as straight out 'head shop'. I understand why people usually file The Catepillar into this category...but there's an ethereal quality about it that keeps me from putting it there, although I love me some really good "eau de headshop" AND The Caterpillar is my very favorite GC, so I'm probably contradicting my own opinion somewhere there! I don't really have anything else to add that others haven't already mentioned ...but I'll chime in with Lust, Sherezade, Snake Charmer and certain phases of Lotus Moon are a pure trip! ...try layering Opium Poppy over Malice sometime.

a few of my favorite 'marathon' scents... Snow White - I can put it on in the morning and still get occasional wafts late in the evening and still smell it on my skin when I wake up the next morning. Urd Jezebel Snake Charmer Carnivale Smut edit to add: Oh yeah, Morgause stays for the long haul too!

Beautifully hypnotizing - a pure floral resin fragrance which perfectly captures the the essence of opium's enigmatic spell. This is one of the few BPAL oils I've tried which doesn't change at all from bottle to skin until it starts to fade away at the very end, wafting unobtrusively into the night on a warm summer breeze. This is among my Top Ten favorites - most definitely rated a 5/5 "They now came upon more and more of the big scarlet poppies, and fewer and fewer of the other flowers; and soon they found themselves in the midst of a great meadow of poppies. Now it is well known that when there are many of these flowers together their odor is so powerful that anyone who breathes it falls asleep, and if the sleeper is not carried away from the scent of the flowers, he sleeps on and on forever. But Dorothy did not know this, nor could she get away from the bright red flowers that were everywhere about; so presently her eyes grew heavy and she felt she must sit down to rest and to sleep." From The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum

I made lotion today and I had considered scenting it with Whitechapel because I had a couple of extra imps of that onhand...I ended up going a different route (mixing Opium Poppy and Malice...yum!) but I'm definitely going to try Whitechapel lotion sometime in the future. On me that scent is very lavender with a twist of lemon...which I find so funny because there's no lavender listed in the notes. But no matter which way the scent wafts, it's really quite nice.

The cap comes off the bottle, drawing me in to it's clutches with sweet gooey berries and promises of a good time lurking in the background... I pay for my ticket and go on through the gate. On the skin the cacophonic rhythms of the evening fair take over, revolving around and around with bright sweetness and dark temptations. While Carnivale is still fresh upon my skin, it is like a ride on a big beautiful carousel spiked with the anticipation of going through the haunted funhouse next! As it dries, the gorgeous deep spice of carnations begins to permeate the senses until it's the only note I notice at all. This is my favorite part and lasts a long time, but then after awhile, the flowers slowly fade as a familiar sassy spark emerges - yeah, that combo of amber and heliotrope that makes wearing Hollywood Babylon feel so naughty. I guess you could say this is the part where I sneak out the back gate to engage in a bit of (ahem) indiscretion with the intention of rejoining my friends for some more fun on the Midway later. The whole ride lasts about 4 or 5 hours on me, but I'd gladly buy another ticket to let it roll well into the night. Definitely 5/5

I too love florals and Beatrice and Bearded Lady are among my favorite LE scents. If you've not tried Flower Moon, you may want to find some of that...it is my most favorite of all. As far as GC, I love Amsterdam, but that may be too green for your liking. Today I packed my imp carrier with 3 Rappaccini's Garden scents which I absolutely adore - Opium Poppy, Asphodel and Shadow Witch Orchid...among those Asphodel is the 'brightest' scent. I recently got the imp of SWO and can't stop sniffing myself...so it will become a bottle soon. I'll have to go through my notes when I get home to give you some other recommendations - there are so many wonderful flowers to smell in the BPAL garden!

The aroma rises from the bottle very sweet - but not in a sugary way, so I personally don't find it to be 'bubble gum'...more like a big ripe Summer fruit salad. I smell some floral and a hint of resin lurking in the shadows...but right now it's all about the hot fun in the Summertime. It eases into the skin like a lazy afternoon when it's time to kick back, cool off and get ready to go out on the town as soon as the Sun goes down. But just because the night air might feel cooler, that doesn't mean that things aren't about to heat up. Wow! The transition is nothing short of mesmerizing. My wrist barely left my nose for a good 1/2 hour. (is super glue a secret ingredient?) And it continues to be wonderful, but it took me about that long to regain the presence of mind to shake the narcotic stupor and drag my arm up off my face. After a couple of hours it drifts gradually into a light but extremely present dusting of amber and faded rose...sigh...with just the slightest memory of the Sweet Sunshine. How glad am I that I have a bottle of this? Oh yeah...Pretty Damn!!! 5/5

Hi there - see Macha's note about the bottles a few posts back on this thread.

reviewed courtesy of Quikslver's GC circle swap Kurukulla first sniff: like sweet white wine. tested wet: this is totally fruity -I don't smell rose at all. It's grapes and orchard fruit...nothing heavy - but still very full and lovely. tested dry: I find it completely mystifying that someone who loves florals as much as I do does not smell ANY flower notes in a big bouquet of lotus blossoms and roses. (scratches head) but I will have to say that this is one of the nicest fruity scents I've tried. conclusion: This goes on my imp wish list...maybe the next one will reveal some floral notes - I need to give it another try before I deem it bottle worthy. 4/5