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Limited edition; winter 2003. The juice of ripe, bursting, blood red holly berries. The juice of ripe, bursting blood red holly berries - with plenty of the tangy green leaves thrown in. Absolutely holiday, I smell like a fresh garland of greens draped across the fireplace, with some cinnamon-y apple cider simmering in the other room and just barely discernable. Sharp, but good. I'm more likely to use this as a room scent than a personal one.

Dynamic Energy - Lust - Enthusiasm - Resolution - Courage - Physical Strength - Mental Acuity - Comraderie - Engineering - Any Work With Metals - Victory - Conquest - War - Power - Domination - Military Matters - Daring Deeds <span style='color:black'><span style='font-size:10pt;line-height:100%'><span style='font-family:Georgia'>There's a little cinnamon in this one - it's a used-bookstore red, if that makes sense. Cinnamon, dust, paper, light spice, and serious cloves - with a hint of sandalwood. All business, to the point of forceful, and no question about the conquest aspect of this scent. Not an overpowering scent, though; this receded past the initial blast quite nicely, and clove typically expands on me. Clove lovers will be entranced; non-enthusiasts will have an instant headache.</span></span></span>

From the Tarot collection; no description of scent provided by BPAL. This is an incredibly complex scent that manages to balance notes I didn't realize could be balanced. Sandalwood, cinnamon, running water, lemon, eucalyptus - these are just the start of the components in the World. This is earthy, airy, warm, and crisp all at the same time. This strikes me as the ultimate no-category scent, because it's all categories at once. I'll wear this on a regular basis because it's compelling and ethereal while still being grounded, but also because it's a scent that fits any mood on any day, in any season and for any occasion. Wearing this elicits a feeling of wholeness.

The sweet, perfect violet note in Veil, Wings of Azrael, Marie, and other wonderful creations by Beth. Soooo good!

Lightly powdery and green, this is clean and fresh. I think this note is in Tears and Zombi.

Let me start out by saying that any musk reviews I do are pretty likely to be different based on body chemistry. Musk scents just tend to do something funky on me, although I wish it were otherwise. That disclaimer aside ... Another great start with the Siberian Musk. Velvety, almost ambery and mildly green, in a sweet, subtle way. This is the "pepsi-cola/fizzy" note that's been mentioned a couple of times, I think, and it's absolutely stunning. Grabs your attention, and in a sexy, sensual way, not an in-heat sort of way. I wonder if this is the effervescent quality that I've found in some of the Tarot blends. It's similar in tone, although not in actual scent - those are so complex, sometimes I can just get a general impression, rather than an actual scent, though. This is the least "obvious" of the musks Beth uses (at least on me; don't forget the disclaimer at the top), and has the least of the slightly artificial note. While I really like this one, too, it's the most masculine, although not in a blatant way.

The distillate of grief and loss. A clean, cathartic fragrance. Full of contradictions, like crying because you're so mad you can't help it. Crisp, green, watery, and underlying camphor. Not a plant scent, though. I like this one - and it gets lots of interested comments. A stress relieving scent for me, à propos of the name ...

At first, just a bit artificial. Something you'd find in the cleanest, freshest most amazing laundry detergent out there, but a tad perfume-y. Within a couple of minutes, though, this settles in remarkable true. Bright yellow with green stems that break open to the pungent milky stuff. This is the green note I've been trying to identify in the Voodoo Blends, I think. Amazing, and something I'll order a 5 ml of to slather on myself this spring!

The green, flowing, aquatic herbal note in several of the Voodoo blends. One of my favorites, but easy to get carried away with. Just as robust in single note form as it is in the blends.

This is such a nice version of patchouli. It's lighter and more elegant, without losing any of the patchouli strength. It's less earthy, perhaps, and more smooth, than most versions of patchouli, and it has a translucent quality that you don't expect from wood. Definitely has the glow and shine that comes with years of polishing.

Let me start out by saying that any musk reviews I do are pretty likely to be different based on body chemistry. Musk scents just tend to do something funky on me, although I wish it were otherwise. That disclaimer aside ... Red Musk is almost fruity on me. It starts out that way, anyhow. It's sweet, and mildly animalistic, and it's very sexy. It's also the musk scent that stays closest to bearable on me, as well. It's not loud, I don't turn it into rancid cat pee, and it melds into a second skin better than any of the other musks on me. It has a faintly artificial and chemical note hiding at the very, very bottom. It's faint, and I can't tell you if it's my skin, or if it's the scent itself. Unless I sniff very closely, it's not obvious - but when I do, it's an instant headache for me. Because of the disclaimer in the first paragraph, take that with a grain of salt, please - because this is definitely something I'd like to wear by itself and on a pretty regular basis.

Authority - Creativity - Courage - Leadership - Abundance - Good Health & Healing - Illumination - Truth - Honesty - Wise Counsel - Prophecy - Pride - Revelation - Equilibrium - Mediation - Nobility - Generosity Crisp and almost arid in nature, Sol has a sharp, spicy scent that is resinous without being softly warm. Instead, it's a very fiery, almost scorched feel. There's pine in here, too - a much more complex scent than the the overall tone of the oil implies.

I did an actual comparison test, as the 80-year old lilac bush outside my door is just beginning to bloom. I cannot tell the difference. This is dead-on, and fabulous. I'll be ordering a bottle for my mother this evening, as she is a professed lilac junkie and always complains lilac scents don't smell like the real thing. Updated: I took the Imp out to my mother so she could try it, and it was actually pretty funny, because I'd just received the "True Lilac" from MMU that I'd ordered for her lilac passion. We dabbed that one on first, and she sniffed, sat back in her chair and sighed, telling me how good it was. I waited a couple of minutes, and told her I wanted her to try another scent, then dabbed Beth's lilac on her other wrist. My mother sniffed it, looked at me with wide eyes, and said, "This is the scent of lilacs!" Then she wrinkled her nose, looked down at the other wrist with contempt, and said, "That's just perfume."

So sweet, so good, it's almost a tiny bit fuzzy, just like the skin on a real apricot. This isn't a fresh apricot, by the way. This is the scent of a dried, chewy apricot. I bought a package of these at the grocery store because a) we love them, and I wanted to be sure I was right. Dead ringer!

This is the soft, not-really-powdery, but barely sweet note that's so elusive and beautiful in Tamora, and O, I think. It doesn't smell like the heliotrope that grew outside my best friend's back porch, but I could be remembering it wrong, as it's been several years. Regardless, I say ... Mmmm! Full bottle needed, ASAP.

This is the light, inoffensive, barely-soapy white floral that I've been sniffing in several of the latest blends. It's jasmine without being overpoweringly so, and sweeter to my nose. Very tropical. No headache-inducing properties, either. EDIT: It's Pikaki on the site, so I changed the topic title (from Pikake) so it's easily findable. --Shollin

Oakmoss, sweet sage, juniper berry, civet and a drop of grape. Forest all the way - sweet sage and oakmoss give this a green, deep-forest feel, and the juniper berries add crispness. The drop of grape sweetens the package, and the civet completes the earthy, animalistic, forest picture. Starts out as a sharp green with definite musky animal tones, and dries down to a more mellow but very solid blend that leads me to mental images of rabbits curled up in the hidey-hole that low-lying tree branches create next to their trunk. Civet and I don't seem to get along well, as it turns funky on me; otherwise, I'd wear this one often.

Lemon verbena is a scent I associate with nearly every vacation my mother and I have ever taken together. She loves sand and sun, I love spas, so we combine and go to beach resorts with good spas. Every single Caribbean and West Indies spa I've been in has smelled like lemon verbena, so this very true single note pleases me greatly! Lemon pledge, but green and crisp, with an almost artificial sweetness. Oddly enough, those notes are absolutely what the scent should smell like - this is the real thing, and it fades down to a light, boisterous, and sweet lemon pie scent. Not the greatest staying power, but citrus scents don't retain their crisp, vibrant nature as long as others; considering that, I'm very pleased with the longevity of this one.

This freesia scent may be the almost tropical, fruity note that some forumites have had a hard time identifying. It's definitely familiar without being common, and for me dries down to a very "pebbly pear in pineapple and other tropical fruit juices" sort of scent. Beautiful, and nothing like the Bath and Body Works version, which may be the only concept many of us have of freesia. My mother thinks it smells like floral fruit loops, just for a different take on this one.

Bergamot has such a clean, citrus, tea smell - I love this one. Yes, it's the scent that wafts out of your cup of Earl Grey tea, but Beth's is pure and light, without the heavy black tea note to hold it down. Lustrous, sparkling, and very lemony without actually smelling like a lemon, it's like almost all of Beth's single notes - the real thing!

Pluck a green fuzzy leaf from the tomato plant on your patio this summer, rub it between your fingers, and smell what I'm reveling in at the moment. Perfect, and this from someone who spent all of their childhood tending a 1/2 acre garden, complete with tomato plants each year, and who stakes one in a pot for the patio each summer still.

My grandmother has a set of serrated spoons that she used to section up grapefruit for me as a kid, and over the years, the wooden handles have become imbued with the scent of tart pink grapefruit. That's exactly what this is - tart pink grapefruit, clear and true, with a heavy heaping of sugar on top to sweeten it up. I love that the single notes Beth uses are so true - they're fantastic in blends, and on their own.

Sharp, cleansing pennyroyal - this is the real thing! It's absolutely biting and clears my sinuses, head, and the room before eventually mellowing to a moderately minty and vaguely medicinal scent. I actually like this one, but it's for use in small doses, and you should avoid this like the plague if you're pregnant. It gives my mother headaches, and is sharp enough that some may not want to try this if they're sensitive to scents, too.

Since I love the smell of peppermint tea, which is really just peppermint leaves minced up and put into a bag, I couldn't be happier about this single note. So bright, so crisp, Beth's peppermint is just luminous - there's no sweetening or muddling caused by the heat of tea-making. This really is the scent of mint leaves rubbed between your fingers, and it's chilly and refreshing. Fabulous!

<span style='color:black'><span style='font-size:9pt;line-height:100%'><span style='font-family:Georgia'>From the Sin and Salvation collection: Strands of bacchanal ivy wind through sweet wormwood, pungent poppy, and a sliver of murky sassafras. I expected something much more ... stridently green .. than Dissipation turned out to be. I'm so glad to be disappointed, as this is another fantastic newcomer by Beth. Wistful and soft, the ivy in this is beautifully set off by the hint of wine and the fuzzy, dry poppy. I don't smell any sassafrass in this, but Beth did say it was a sliver. The wormwood really is "sweet", and it lends a poignant, refined wooden tone to the whole of the scent. This isn't the least bit harsh, and it's more the scent of a memory so strong you can smell it - or can you? - when you close your eyes and feel the early summer breeze on your face. </span></span></span>