forspecial_plate

I love the way this smells....I can't keep my hand away from my nose when I wear it. Maybe not so gender-appropriate for me, since I'm a guy, but I don't care....I want to wear this to work, and other places. I like all the notes in Dia, and my only slight worry was that the scent would be soapy or powdery, and it has hints of both of those, but never quite crosses the line where it's too much. Oakmoss is a note that I want to love, but I think that sometimes it becomes soapy on me. In this case, it's not too soapy though, which makes me happy. All the other notes just seem to blend together until nothing really stands out too much. I would agree with most of the other reviews, this is a light, musky floral scent. The colors I think of are white and pale green at first, then the amber warms the scent up a bit, and I think of golden/yellow threads winding through the white and green. It's really great and it does remind me of Snow White, only there's no chill in this one, and it's not quite as floral. I love it!

I never reviewed this?? Inconceivable! I really like Blade Of Grass. It is definitely realistic, and I can smell both the snappy green grass and the mellow autumn leaves. However, it's light and subtle enough that I can wear it to work and not make people think, "Why do I smell grass??". I read some other reviews that mention soap, and I didn't think so, but at least one friend of mine did say it reminded him of soap. To me, it's like a lighter October, and I already have a full bottle of that. I think this could work for those that found October too cologney or after-shavey (if I remember correctly, that was a common complaint). I like both scents, though. This one has a light green and gold feeling.

First of all.....if you're reading this, and I complain about something that you do, please don't take it personally. Just a minor pet peeve of mine. I've noticed a trend lately with reviews. People are writing their reviews based only on sniffing the scent in the vial, not putting it on the skin. This drives me crazy. Basically, it's like judging a book by it's cover. In my experience, most scents smell totally different, or they go through changes, after they touch a person's skin. I admit, when I go to a meet 'n sniff, I don't try on every scent that I come across. I smell some of them in the bottle and make a judgment based solely on that impression. But that is different from writing a review for other people to read. When I read a review of a scent, and the person didn't actually try it on, I write it off as completely useless to me.

DCVII I got this from Supremegoddessofall. : ) She called it earthy and masculine, which I can agree with. At first I was calling this 'Deep Purple' because when I first tried it, it had an odd purple feel, but not fruity in the slightest, and not really floral either. Now that I've had it for a few months, it's not quite as 'purple' as I thought, although there is still a slightly purple feeling when I smell it. SO.....what does it smell like? It's kind of gritty, sooty, dusty, and also dusky. It has a dark/night-time mood. I think there is vetiver, and it kind of reminds me of a toned-down On Darkness, without the sweetness/fruitiness of that scent. This one is really hard to pin down, but I like it a lot. It's possible there is some patchouli, too. I think there could be something planty, maybe pine, because at times it reminds me of Jolasveinar. I still don't know what that purple note is, but it fades in and out of the blend. Far into the dry-down, I think I can detect vetiver. At this point it's reminding me of Devil's Claw, a little bit. I wish I could describe this better, I know I'm not doing it justice! : )

The numbers are a little rubbed off, but it looks like CCXCVII. I first tried this with moonarcana, and we each wrote down our (very different) impressions without saying them out loud. It was fun! Wet on the skin, I got the suggestion of black licorice, big time. Moonarcana smelled hay and/or grassy notes. As it started to dry, I began to think it might have a hint of leather. I smelled a very little bit of Snake Oil, and moonarcana didn't smell Snake Oil at all! Upon drying down, we both agreed this scent changed a lot. I still smelled a leathery note, but I also picked up on a big metallic presence with ozone. Moonarcana smelled tobacco leaf, and some kind of wood note that she couldn't pinpoint. Something like mahogany. She eventually smelled the Snake Oil component, and I smelled it stronger than the wet stage. SO.......after we shared our impressions, I can see where she gets a grassy note because something reminded me of Scarecrow, a little bit. And I agree that there could very well be a deep wood note. She agreed with me that there could be some leather in there. To sum it up......this could possibly have: leather, anise, grass, hay, metal, ozone, wood, and tobacco, with Snake Oil. I think of it as the love child of Iago, Scarecrow, and Snake Oil [conceived at the Steamworks & Research Facility?]. When I tried it again the next day, the Snake Oil was much stronger. Definitely a winner for me!

I like this scent, and everyone else pretty much described it better than I could....or at least I'm getting the same impressions. Very light, marshmallow sweet at first, then a mixture of floral, musky, and a touch of verbena. I agree with the 'cold floral' feeling that others talk about, and also the delicate white metal, which is strange. It might lean towards feminine, but I don't care....it just smells good. Besides, one other reviewer considered it somewhat masculine, so I guess it's all subjective (or is it objective? I get those confused). Anyway, like I said, this JUST SMELLS GOOD, and I personally don't find it powdery or soapy (either of which might turn me off). Chinese musk really drew me to the Phoenix scents this time around. I used to have a bottle of non-Bpal Chinese musk that I liked, but I lost it. I like it in all of these scents, although it's not so obvious in all of them. It's obviously a very light variety of musk, maybe related to white musk. If it were ever offered as a single note, I would happily buy at least a bottle and wear it on its own.

Starting out, this smells almost fruity on me. It reminds me of ginger blossom or vanilla flower....sweet and floral, and a touch fruity. At this stage it reminds me of Opuhi. Then later, as it dries, some drier notes come forward and it takes on more of a grass or hay aspect. It's a very golden scent, from start to finish. Starts out with a 'roundness', if you know what I mean. But as it dries it becomes just a little flat on my skin. I think I'd like more cinnamon, more amber incense. I think it's the vanilla that goes just a little flat on me. I don't hate it, but I admit I was a little disappointed. I wanted something sultry like Mum Moon, and to me this is more like Hay Moon.

So here I am, blogging about video games on a perfume discussion forum. Ten years ago I would have had no idea what that even meant. But I already have the last post in the video game discussion thread, and I don't want to double post. I'm still playing Dragon Quest VIII, but I got Final Fantasy IX this past weekend, and I may be switching over to that for a while. In DQVIII, I got all the way up to the big God Bird, but haven't been able to beat it. So I'm back-tracking, trying to alchemize better weapons, level up, and also buy better equipment. I will beat that damn bird! Switching over to FFIX was a little jarring. The graphics are so different, and the battle system is a little different since it's Active. I like being able to sit and think about my next move, and you can't really do that here. But I'm determined to find another RPG that I love, so on I go. The great news is, after my class tomorrow, I'll have no real obligations for the rest of the day, and all the next day. So I can play to my heart's content. : )

What, I've never reviewed Geek?? I loved this at first sniff, a couple years ago. It's kind of wild and....almost elegant, at the same time. Cinnamon bark is what stands out most, but even that is so well-blended it's more like a hint. Everything else is just seamless. As it dries, it actually gains strength, and lasts and lasts for hours. It's borderline too butch for me and not something I wear all the time. But when I'm in the mood, nothing else will do. I get a big golden/resiny backdrop to the spices, and hint of leather. It might be the dry grass combined with opoponax giving me the 'ambery' feeling. But there's no powder, like you might find in really resinous scents like Minotaur. It fits in with the mood of Doc Constantine, and Fascinum, a little bit. I may be going out on a limb with those comparisons but they seem to be in the same family. Doc C. is the most subdued, Fascinum is the most brash, and Geek falls somewhere between them.

I squeed my pants when I saw this: "For this series, we decided to try a different type of chaotic experimentation. Each CT:5 scent has a base of one of the following scents, in wildly varying proportions: Dorian O Penitence Snake Oil" ....I totally was not expecting a new round of Chaos Theory!! All my bottle purchasing plans just went out the window in favor of CT. I love it so much, because each one is on-of-a-kind. My tentative plans for purchasing this round: Snake Oil.....will 2 be enough? I dunno, I already bought the whole Snake Pit, how many Snake Oil variants can one person hoard?? I did trade away a few of my Snake Pit scents, though. I'll say 2 of these, for now. Dorian......at least 2, maybe 3......not because I'm crazy about the scent, really, but I think this one has the most exciting potential to be something great with other notes added (did that make sense? I know I'm rambling now). Penitence.....at least one, maybe 2.....Penitence itself goes just a bit powdery on me, but I like it enough that I want to try one or two variations, just for the hell of it! O.....no thank you! I am glad there is one that I can safely skip. I never have tried it, and honey usually is not my thing. So, screw it, I should just get 1 of each (of the first 3) now, then another one of each (maybe 2 more of Snake Oil) before they go away. Sounds like a plan! I'm already impatient!

I really like this. It smells kind of high-class and sophisticated to me. It's light and clean, like others have mentioned, and dry, dry, dry. I was expecting more sweetness or juiciness from the apricot, but not so. I am reminded of Ebisu and also Men Ringing Bells, the best parts of those scents, but the woods make this entirely its own scent. There is something sparkly, almost minty, which I guess comes from the sake? For some reason I was expecting something like Carceri D'Invenzione, but this is much drier. This seems so simple, but everything comes together, harmonious, and just works really well on me. Even though it's a light scent, there is a surprising amount of sillage. This is just great, a big surprise from the Lupercalia scents. I knew I might like it, but I wasn't really expecting to like it this much!

I don't have a scent locket. I've thought about buying one, and I bought one for my sister, but I've never bought one for myself. I always think, "I have so many different scents that I can hardly decide what to wear on any given day. A scent locket is just going to make that decision more complex and difficult. It's like adding another layer to the whole business when what I really want to do is simplify". However, every once in a while I come across a scent that is really nice, but seems that it would be better suited for a scent locket. So now I'm going to start making note of that here. Tamamo-No-Mae is such a scent. It is very, very lovely, but somewhat fleeting. When I first put it on, it has these delicate, sparkly top notes, something almost minty, that could be from the tea or maybe ginger, or who knows what. Anyway, I love that part of the scent, but on my skin it lasts all of 5 minutes! It's still a great scent after that, just very subtle and kind of like skin-incense, the powder stuff (although I've never tried that). Kind of fruity and smokey-sweet at the same time. So, as a note to myself, or a reminder, when I do eventually get a scent locket, Tamamo-No-Mae would be a great scent for it. I think that sparkly note in the beginning might last longer, and the scent as a whole might be a little stronger in a locket. If I find more scents that seem tailor-made for a locket, I'll continue to make note of it here.

I really love this, and it totally doesn't match my personality (or gender, really...), but I just love the way it smells on my skin. The first day I tried it, it was less foody and almost hair product, like conditioner or something. But since then, it is always light, creamy plum blossom, pretty much as others have described. It's like some fabulous, creamy plum dessert. Just light and fruity and yum! I agree that it doesn't have a lot of throw. When it has dried on my skin, after a while, it deepens and becomes something like plum tea or maybe even plum wine (is there such a thing? there must be...). I also agree that there's something Underpants-y about this scent, although I couldn't describe exactly how. And if you like Tamamo-No-Mae, you may also like this, although they are different. But this is just great, my favorite so far of the whole Lupercalia update. Oh and I wanted to add, this reminds me very much of one of the 4 Fat Cats wax tarts, but I can't remember which one. Maybe White Plum Chutney? That would make sense. Or maybe Basmati Rice. Anyway, it brings back good memories and I think I may need more of this scent. Edit: I also want to add that this isn't totally foody. The sandalwood doesn't stand out a whole lot, but it must be supporting somewhat.

I wore Lovers In A Rice Field again today, and I like it more and more. The plum blossom was much more apparent, and overall it smells like some kind of fabulous plum/cream dessert, but still not totally foody. It's rather on the femme side for a bearded guy like me but that doesn't hasn't stopped me from wearing it, and in some situations it would be just great. Possible bottle? Or maybe just another decant would suffice. Still have to test my other decants which are still pending, and there may be another favorite among those.

As much as I can remember, Lupercalia is my least favorite of the yearly 'big updates' from Black Phoenix. Every year, I get excited about trying some new scents, but overall, they've had the lowest success rate for me. I like a couple of the Shunga scents from '08, like Ebisu Making Love, and Men Ringing Bells (actually bought a whole bottle of that one, even though I don't wear it much). They both remind me of some kind of fabulous, expensive hair care products. And I really like Chintimani-Dhupa, which I think was a Lupercalia scent. Today I got some of my decants from this year's update, and so far I've briefly tested Miller Vs. California, Lovers In A Rice Field, and Lovers With Rutting Cats. I think the Rice Field is the best out of those, but again, it smells like some kind of fancy shampoo or conditioner. Not so much foody as drinky to me, it starts out rather like shampoo or soap. Then it drifts into plum tea, then later into plum wine. This scent, in the early stages especially, is extremely reminiscent of one of the 4 Fat Cats wax tarts, but I can't remember which one. Basmati Rice, or maybe White Plum Chutney. This is nice because it reminds me of when I lived in northern Kentucky, three years ago, which although not the greatest time of my life, does have some pleasant memories. Lovers With Rutting Cats is probably my least favorite of the three. It reminds me of Love's Philosophy, but not as sweet or sugary. Or maybe Stimulating Sassafras Strengthener, without the sassafras. Basically I get a lot of vanilla that comes off a little plasticky, and as a whole, the scent just feels a little flat or one-dimensional to me. I might be spoiled because so many other bpal scents seem 'deep' to me, and this one just falls flat on my skin, unfortunately. Of course, this is from a first impression, and those sometimes change. Miller Vs. California is an interesting one. This scent actually smells more complex than the notes suggest. I first smelled a lot of sweetness, fruit, berries, and cream. The leather seems to be a supporting note only, nothing like the leather in Quincey Morris, or other leathery blends. As this one dries, it changes a lot. The papery note and the leather both come out stronger, and it also seems to get spicier, which I attribute to either the leather, fig, or possibly both (or maybe something else entirely!). At the beginning, this reminds me a lot of the newer Milk Moon, which I hated, but this is better....the cream isn't so sour or cloying. It's creamy, but the sweetness of the berries and fig balance it out a little more. I think the leather is actually helping to ground the scent a lot, even though I couldn't really smell it at first. Later, after drying, this scent smells entirely different.....it does remind me of some other GC scent, but I can't think of which one. Nephelim? Or the one I can never spell, Tzadikim Nasturtium or something. Anyway, I swear there is another scent that smells something like this, but I can't place which one it is. I like the early sweet and creamy stage more than the later, dry, papery/spicy stage of this one. So far I can't say that I'm likely to get much wear out of these, but I also have yet to try my other decants. I have Flowering Chrysanthemums and Phallus Head still to try, as well as decants from another circle still on the way. I'm really looking forward to Dia and Glukuprikos (sp?).

Three Gorgons (I no longer think I want a whole bottle of this.....Satan And Death is a better citrus-y scent) Dia Flowering Chrysanthemums Lovers In A Ricefield Glukuprikos Silence Carnaval Diabolique Satan And Death With Sin Intervening Obatala

Yeah, the labels are the same - I'll have to check next time I'm at will call which one is out. I really do prefer the golden one more, it's a little softer and more Storyville like than the red variety. They really are different scents! From our handy-dandy Label Image Gallery....... The original label, from the Springtime In Arkham series Resurrected bottle .....I bought the 2nd bottle of those two as soon as the scent was resurrected (somewhere around Nov of '06), so it's possible the label has been changed again, since the other GC labels have been revamped. It's also worth noting that before it was brought to the GC, this was one of those super-coveted-by-many scents that was really hard to get a hold of! To me, the original and newer GC versions look and smell the same.

I'm kind of relieved......I think I'm all caught up on my ordering, at least until I get to try my Yule decants (then the madness starts all over again). I am resisting the urge to order a bottle of Meditation In Autumn. I wore it again today, and I realized it smells like November, only greener, with less snow. It does have a bit of icy bite, somehow. But the resemblance to November is close enough that I don't think I really need a whole bottle after all. If, however, someone were to offer a swap, I certainly would take it. I am excited to try the Yule blends, still have to track down a decant of Mole, but other than that, I'm all caught up on decants I want to try. I absolutely can't wait for my bottle of Fearful Pleasure to arrive, but it looks like I still have over a week, at least. Hurryhurryhurry!

Oh my gosh, I just now found this! I ended up liking Fearful Pleasure, but I think I might like To Autumn even more. : ) I like the spicy/mossy element, and it really comes out in To Autumn.

How strange, but interesting......at first I smell some fruits, kind of clean like the apricot in Ebisu. But the slightly buttery pumpkin is there too. After a while, I would swear that I smell nuts, maybe pecans. I don't think it's the coconut, but I'm really not sure....maybe just a combination of the pumpkin and myrrh, doing something strange? I don't know, but when I read this: ......that association got into my head, and I would have to agree! It's like a sweet potato casserole with brown sugar and pecan topping. Wow. I really don't smell coconut or myrrh, even when I try. So, bottom line, this is yummy and sweet, but not quite what the description says, to my nose. And jewelbug, I totally agree with your DH. : ) Sweet potato casserole with nuts. Maybe it's a guy thing.

No. 93 Engine is pretty interesting. It starts out very herbal with resins and a very appealing, light beeswax note. I was a little wary of any kind of honey note, but the beeswax is actually really nice. I can definitely smell the frankincense, too. Overall, this reminds me a lot of Minotaur, with maybe less resins and more herbs, but a very similar golden and glowing feeling. After a long while, this scent does veer towards something sweet and powdery that reminds me of honey, but isn't quite the same. It is really interesting and something that I would consider wearing again. I like it much more in the first 30 minutes or so, as opposed to the long dry-down, but it's definitely worth holding onto. If I end up giving it away, it's because it's a little too close to honey for my taste, and also I already have Minotaur which I think smells like this. Edit: I forgot to mention, when I first put this on and it's still wet, I get a little bit of 'fizzy cola' scent, kind of like Schwarzer Mond. I wonder if there is some oppoponax in this?

At first this was too odd, and it has taken quite a while for me to dig it out and try it again. Imagine that Samhainophobia has a young niece or nephew (could be either gender, really). Cute as a button, but also cheeky as hell. That is To Autumn, to me. The subtlety of the moss, bark, mist, and leaves....all swurrled together....really make this scent for me. It's a great example of how Beth refines her skill more and more, with each new season. <3 I love her use of these odd, almost abstract notes like mist, stone, and dust to create a mood or feeling.

Dark and fruity, purple, incense. Reminds me of a few other bpal oils, all variations of a theme. After a long while, this takes on a gilded quality, or something like gold filigree. All the while, there is a slightly powdery element, but not so much that it repels me. I admire the artistry of this, but for me personally it verges on womanly (which I am not). Also, I have other fruity and/or incense scents that I prefer.

In order, roughly...... Three Gorgons Dia Flowering Chrysanthemums Lovers In A Ricefield Glukuprikos Silence (pending) Carnaval Diabolique Satan And Death With Sin Intervening Obatala

Bad Luck Woman Blues....."Keep that bad luck woman away with a blend of Spanish moss, black pepper, mullein, sweet sage, vandal root, cypress, cigar tobacco, and a puff of goofer dust cloaked by a swarthy cologne of vetiver, lime, dark musk, caramel accord, and lilac". I might totally revise my review of this one. It's almost 2 years later now, and the moss really POPS out. It's a lot of moss and caramel, with herbs and a little lime. This scent has aged incredibly well, it's one of my favorite scents in my whole collection. Even though it's limited, I do see it in sales from time to time.