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At first, Rage is fruity like mixed fruits - must be the mandarin and currant. Then it turns into orange candy and jasmine, and finally the jasmine wins out and that's all I get, as happened to me with Mata Hari. Ah well.

Love this, thanks for the imp, AlectoNox!

It's like Mabon, only smokier and less sweet – there's no floral in this, just leaves and smoke and oak bark and maybe a touch of dry red wine. Whatever the “animalistic notes” are, I don't really notice them, so they seem to be working OK with my skin. The drydown is very similar to Mabon, too.

Lucy's Kiss begins as a delicate, sweet, cool rose, very innocent. As it dries, the scent seems to warm up and dry out, as if the rose is being sucked dry, rather appropriately. I can't really smell the spices, just the drying effect. It ends as a light, powdery rose petal potpourri (or ash) sort of smell. Interesting.

At first this is pure almond extract (but I love almond) and rum. Then suddenly it turns into this lovely spicy warm scent – I think this is the bay and clove, the clove is the most prominent. This would indeed smell great on someone of the male persuasion.

 

(Also, I tried layering Old Port-au-Prince with Jolly Roger, and the two together smell just how I think Capt. Jack Sparrow would smell...Jolly Roger but darker, more rum-ish, and spicier. Yum. )

At first, Faustus is all dark incense, then the violet comes out. The frankincense and violet combination is really dark purple, smoky and interesting. The cinnamon adds a subtle touch of spice/heat but isn't really noticeable on me.

 

I really like this - a man could definitely wear it, but I like it on me too. It certainly fits the name...makes me picture a sorcerer conducting a dark ritual with incense and fire, wearing deep purple robes.

In vial: a lot like Wanda, except a tiny bit more boozy and a brighter, bolder red. I don't usually like fruity notes, but I love wine notes, so we'll see which way this goes.

 

On: Sweet soft berries, where'd the wine go? Lady Macbeth just got very meek all of a sudden. Hmm. I swear my skin eats red fruits. I can barely smell this now after a couple minutes, there's just a faint sweetness on my wrist. Weird. Maybe I'll try it with lotion or something.

I wanted to try this because I'm going through all the dragon's blood scents...I quite liked the combination of dragon's blood and cinnamon, it was lovely and fierce-smelling, but then the vetiver came out and ruined this for me, sigh.

So I passed it on to ewalk, who really needed some. Now I want to try Wrath, since that has dragon's blood and cinnamon but no vetiver.

This has two notes I love – wine and honey – and one I hate- vetiver. At first I'm afraid the vetiver will ruin this for me, as it's quite apparent when wet. However, it then subsides, leaving a rather chaotic dirty-clove-cherry-vanilla-honey smell.

The drydown on me is a bit like O with cherry wine added – I think the vanilla has covered up the vetiver, which is good anyway.

I'm still not sure what I think of this one, it's so complicated. I think I like it, but it could turn on me.

First sniff: chilly, salty rose, like a rosebush by the sea, as others have said. The drydown is pretty similar to the initial scent.

 

I like this a lot. I also liked Tears, but it doesn't remind me of Tears much – the rose makes a significant difference on me. I like rose, though, and I really like the melancholy saltwater overtones of this white rose. It's beautiful.

Oh, lovely. On me, Midnight is a delicate, cool, sad, misty floral, not too sweet or heavy.

 

And it's made up of night-blooming flowers but with no jasmine! I love the idea of flowers that only bloom at night, but jasmine does not work on me, so this is good.

 

Midnight smells like the color of moonlight to me – pale and luminous and slightly blue. I really like it. Thanks for the imp, inkstone!

wet: warm red musk? smells like dragon's heart.

drying: still reminds me of dragon's heart without the fruity notes. warm and rich, but instead of the sweetness, this has a more dry/sharp/earthy tone to it, which must be due to the civet. i'm not getting any of the civet-ickiness others have described above, though.

 

conclusion: this doesn't smell horrible on me, but it's not really me, either. it's a bit too masculine or earthy or something. however, i'm interested to see that civet possibly doesn't hate me.

At first, Shadow is strongly lemony with a woody undertone on me, and the combination reminds me a lot of just-polished furniture, although nice furniture. Then the lemon fades back into the woody scents and I'm left with a sandalwood/cedar combination.

It's not bad, but it's not really for me. It strikes me as something that might smell better on a guy.

Peace smells light purple and incensey to me...in the vial it's more sharp and resiny, but on me the floral comes out more. I guess that's wisteria? I've never smelled wisteria before, but it's nice. It is a peaceful, serene sort of scent. I'll be curious to see what's really in this.

In vial: aquatic, grapefruit, a bit dark.

On: Wow, grapefruit straight up. Sweet pink grapefruit at that. This phase is weird.

 

However, as it dries, the aquatic becomes more murky and the citrus takes on a chilly quality, like deep water is cold, which is rather appropriate. It ends up as a dark green sort of smell, and I do get an image of shafts of light descending into the depths.

 

I love the idea and the pictures it evokes, so I'll be hanging on to the imp just for that even if I don't wear it much.

Nyarlathotep is black, lemony, myrrh-y at first sniff. The ozone/aquatic is definitely noticeable, but it's like a thin sheen over something dark. I totally get the “shiny black” description - it's a mysterious glistening shadow sort of smell.

 

It's not me (a guy might be more able to pull off wearing this regularly, though) but I will keep it in case I ever need to smell like the Crawling Chaos.

On me, Desdemona is a watery white floral that reminds me right away of a milder Szepasszony or Lady of Shalott - perhaps this is the water lily? It dries down to light carnation. It's a very soft, girly, nice scent, but doesn't do much to distinguish itself, so I'll probably swap it.

On me, right away this is lavender and carnation mixed together so I can barely tell them apart. The mosses seem to back them up, and the amber adds a touch of warmth as it dries down. This may be my favorite BPAL lavender scent so far; the lavender is toned down and works beautifully in harmony with the other notes.

 

Saint-Germain is a very pulled-together, calm, refined scent that could work for either sex. I love it on me, but it would also be way hot on a quietly confident, intelligent man. It does make me think of someone who knows everything but prefers to operate behind the scenes.

Blood Amber, on me, smells just like the name - warm, resiny amber and dragon's blood - but I think the amber makes the overall resin quality of both notes too prominent for me.

 

It's nice, but not me. I think I prefer Dragon's Heart for a deep warm dragon's blood scent.

On me, Medea is just dark wet wood and leaves, rather similar to Melpomene, which I'm guessing is the cypress note taking over. I like it, but I wish the orchid and currant and everything else came out more - I was really thinking I'd love it. Cursed skin chemistry.

Oh, I love this. Wet, it's sweet in a natural green sort of way, as others have said. Clover, trees, mist, hint of roses hidden back amid the green. As it dries, on my skin it turns to something lightly spicy, like pine needles but not, and a faint rose scent wafts up.

 

This is so good. I fell in love with the description before it was released and I'm so glad it works on me. I just wish the initial green clovery smell lasted a bit longer, because I completely adore it.

in bottle: Watery floral.

 

on: Green, warm, aquatic floral. I don't get any ginger from it. it reminds me of a stream running through sunny grassy meadows.

 

Hmm. I wanted to love this, but I'm not sure what I think of it yet.

wet: that orchid I love in Phantom Queen. but sweeter.

 

drying: and the vanilla in this is very nice, not oversweet or sticky. it's still quite sweet though...deceptively sweet indeed.

 

conclusion: yummy. sweet vanilla orchid, as the description says. a creamy, white, heavily feminine scent – makes me think of a girly-girl type who flirts to get her way. and yet I'm drawn in by it because it smells so good. I'm so not that girl, but I will keep the imp.

Sloth was a freebie that I didn't think I would like because of the vetiver.

 

wet: yep, there it is, my nemesis, that dark brownish green feral vegetation smell.

drying: oh, hey, it seems to be fading. the myrrh seems to be beating back the vetiver. now it's mostly dark myrrh. better, but still not really me.

 

conclusion: Sloth is a heavy, dark, lassitude sort of smell, right on for the sin, but I don't really like that feeling, and it's not my kind of scent. Off to swaps with it.

I mainly get sweet, rich spices from Samhain - can't pick out the pumpkin, but I imagine that's the buttery sweetness underneath. I don't get any apple or leaves or any of that, just very, very spicy and strong and thick.

 

I really liked it at first sniff, but I now think it's too strong for me, as I've been wearing it today and ended up feeling like an overspiced holiday candle. It did last a really long time, though!

 

All in all, I think Mabon is still my favorite "fall" BPAL.

 

ETA: Samhain and I have not been getting along so well - I'm probably going to swap or sell it to someone who will like it more.

On me, Black Pearl is creamy coconut-hazelnut. It's definitely a smooth, rounded scent. The iris seems to add a note of fresh, shimmery coolness or iridescence on the surface, but it stays warm and sexy - I totally see the black silk association. Really like it.