summer

I love lotus, and this is an interesting and evocative blend, but it's not for me. The sharp, tangy lotus scent is most apparent at first, but very quickly the "black" part begins to emerge -- a smoky, dusty, resinous scent. It reminds me of exploring ancient tombs and ruins. Very interesting, but I just can't wear smoky, dusty scents.

I have travelled both internationally and domestically with BPAL and never had a problem. I usually stick 8-10 imps in my jewelry box and either pack it in my suitcase or carry it in my carry-on bag (always carry on, in the case of international travel). It's never been searched, and I've had it with me in Atlanta, New York, L.A., Denver, London, Paris, Amsterdam, and even Beiruit!

Mmm, lovely. This smells very much like Libra. Sharp green apple, rose, white florals, and a wee bit of honey making it all smell dappled and sweet. Very me. Will wear this often.

Old Paris (now just "Paris") is my favorite lotus scent. I didn't even know it was lotus when I fell in love with it -- I just thought it was a divine, clean, round, kind of Sweet-Tartsy scent. (That's how I think of lotus! Kind of clean, round, and tart.) Anyway, Paris is the most divine combination of that clean, sweet, tart lotus and sexy spices. It's one of my favorite BPALs. Very unique and sophisticated. Forbidden Fruit is PURE lotus to me -- that's all I smell in it. It's like Paris without the depth. Black Lotus is very sweet -- almost a deep, dark, bubbling lotus. Very sweet and delicious. Blood Lotus is nice too, but I haven't worn it in so long that I can't remember its specific characteristics. Maybe I'll wear it today and report back! As for Muse, I didn't even realize it had lotus in it, but when I think about it, it makes sense. Muse is one of my absolute favorite scents too; must remember to get a bottle for the summertime.

I have tried all of those but Cerebus, and I would say that CARNAL is most definitely the most figgy. I have both Carnal and the Fig single note, and I hardly can tell the difference between them.

I can't believe I didn't try this sooner! It's a very tart, sparkley fruit scent that, unlike lots of fruit scents, is pleasingly dry. I love the tartness of it. It's sparkley like Titania, but instead of feminine, it's mischevious. Instead of floral, it's tart. And it dries down into almost a woody, grassy fragrance. I really love it -- a perfect way to wear fruits when you don't feel like a fragrance that is dripping or sticky or too foody. It's just fresh, tart, fruity, and playful. I LOVE.

It's amazing how a scent can grow on you. I got Jolly Roger in one of my very first BPAL orders, and didn't care for it much. I found it too aquatic, too masculine, and a little bit too sharp and cologne-y. Of course, I think that back then I was on a quest for "my signature scent," and when this one wasn't it, I immediately moved on from it without appreciating it for what it is. So, recently I got curious about Jolly Roger again, after hearing people talk about layering it with Snake Oil. This morning I woke up and it was raining. Normally I steer clear of aquatic scents on rainy days, because I prefer to counteract them with something warm. However, Jolly Roger was calling to me. It's watery, but not in a dreary, rainy way -- it's more watery in a festive, "Ahoy Matey!" way. There's something alive and feisty about this water. It most definitely is a sea spray. Now that I've got it on, I am so glad that I never traded it away. It *is* masculine, but in a delicious, outdoorsy way. The sea note is there, but I love how salty and rugged it is. I daresay it's my favorite aquatic blend! I was planning to try the Snake Oil experiment today, but I'm enjoying the smell of Jolly Roger alone on my wrists so much, I may just have to leave it. Edited to add: OMFG -- This is lovely on it's own, but absolutely mind-blowing combined with Snake Oil. It sounds like a weird combination, but it's SO very good that I will be ordering a 5ml of Jolly Roger. Done.

Boo, hiss! I thought I was going to LOVE this. Mind you, I still do like it very much, but I'm dissapointed, because my first few sniffs of it promised LOVE. In the bottle -- yum, apricots! Wet on the skin -- OMFG, apricots and clove! Spicy, heavenly, rich clove. I am IN LOVE. But then . . . no! As it dried, I started smelling a disturbingly familiar, plastic Strawberry Shortcake doll heads scent. No! Is it fig? It smells just like a fig note. If I really focus, I can still convince myself that I'm smelling the apricot and clove, but when I just catch the odd whiff, I smell fig. This smells just like Carnal! Or even like the fig single note. Why, March Hare, why? You were so warm and spicy and sweetly delicious at first! I keep re-applying to experience that initial rush of sugar and spice, but sure enough, on the dry down it's figgy Strawberry Shortcake doll heads. Or perhaps like a waxy potpourri candle. Either way -- I wish like all hell that the clove note in this were stronger, because it smells phenomenal in the bottle. I foresee usage as a room scent.

Beth has SO NAILED the whole "sugar cookie" CONCEPT with this oil! My husband wanted to eat my neck when I wore this. He kept saying, "you smell like VANILLA!" And he's right. There's vanilla in this stuff. But it's whipped up into a blend that smells *just like* creamy, almost RAW, moist, lemon-sugar cookie dough. This smells chewy. Moist and chewy. Amazingly, however, it manages not to be overly sweet or cloying! I find it much more mellow than, say, Snake Oil. This vanilla isn't heady. It's smooth, baked into a fresh lemon cookie. A delicious comfort scent!

I felt like something sweet, foody, and comforting today, so naturally I reached for Gingerbread Poppet. In the bottle, I smelled yummy buttery sweetness! However, once I applied it to my skin, the foody sweetness went away, and this became sharp and gingery. This is not some frosted gingerbread cookie; it's REAL GINGERBREAD, made with whole, fresh ginger root. What a surprise! Because I felt like sweetness, I put a bit of Sugar Cookie on top, and the combo was . Overall, I'm not sure what I think if this! It's sharp and spicy, but not as warm and reminicient of a bakery as I thought it would be. So I'm not sure how often I'll wear it as a perfume (on its own, that is). I KNOW, however, that this is going to be an absolutely to-die-for room scent, so I plan to use it mostly for that.

OH MY. I think that one needs to be in the right mood for this, but . . . wow. It's hot, it's feral, it's animalistic, and it's sexual, no doubt. It's a deep, musky sort of sweet, scent that just screams pumping blood and SEX. I was in, er, the right mood to begin with, and this oil has made my body feel all heated. I can't wait to get my father in law out of the house . . . *ahem*

I really thought I would fall hopelessly in love with Snow White. Unfortunately, however, we just didn't hit it off. On the bottle and on my skin, it smells like very creamy snow. Which I thought would be a good thing, but as it turns out, the scent of slightly coconut-almond tinged snow-cream gives me a headache. It's a very smooth, creamy scent, and is VERY evockative very bright, warm sunshine on snow. I just wish it didn't get plasticy and cloyingly powdery on me, because I love the concept. I'm keeping my bottle, but fortunately, I was able to swap away the second bottle I ordered in anticipation of loving this fragrance. C'est la vie.

Wow! Catherine is unexpectedly charming and yummy. I reached for it this morning because I felt a little congested and wanted something in the manner of a dry-ish, crisp-ish floral, but nothing fruity. Catherine has fit the bill beautifully. The rosemary was apparent to my nose only right at first -- rosemary and rose, blending to form the dry floral that I was craving. However, with wear, the soft, creamy, slightly sweet orange blossom has come to the fore. I can still smell the rose peeking out softly underneath. This is a really perfect everyday "appropriate for work" scent. It's not overpowering, cloying or childish, but it's not overtly sexual or romantic either. It just smells goooood. Like clean herbs & mild, sweet flowers. And although I know it's named for another Catherine, I can't help but associate it with my friend Catherine, who is a beautiful, complex, hard-but-soft, sensitive, yet utterly wicked woman. This makes me like it even more!

Yu-u-um! This is absolutely stunning. I was very surprised to smell the fresh, crisp, lemon note! Surprised, but delighted, as I love lemon. Even more delighted, because this is *hardly* a wispy, barely-there lemon scent. Rather, the lemon just brightens and crispens (is that a word?) what is really a very lush, red, grapey, magnificient floral perfume. It's sophisticated . . . it's luxurious . . . it's alive. One of my favorite florals.

This is lovely. Sweet, feminine, and beautiful, like bouquets of flowers, long, flowy hair, dappled sunlight, and sweet, powdery skin. Right out of the bottle, the honeysuckle fragrance is strong and predominant. It's not just a whiff of a honeysuckle bush -- it's thick honeysuckle syrup. Warm, golden springtime captured! After about a half hour, the jasmine started to come out, making the scent warmer and huskier almost -- a warm, sweet sweet floral bouquet. After another hour or so, it started to get a bit buttery, and finally, a honeyed note started to come through. The sweet floral scent still predominates, but it's almost like it's crusted with honey. It reminds me a bit of Tiger Lily. All in all -- this is gorgeous. Spring evokes lots of different things . . . rain, green, freshness, etc. is one aspect. But this blend evokes that other aspect of spring that is the warmness of the sun after a long winter, heating up the earth and causing sweet flowers and nectar to positively BURST from it. Beautiful . . . will be getting a big bottle.

ROFL! I so *totally* do yelp like a coyote when the LEs are posted. Fabulous!

I was surprised at how aquatic Ice Queen is -- although thinking about it, I don't know why I was surprised, since ice is, after all, frozen water. Ice Queen very much *is* frozen water. Not snow, but ice. Slightly melty ice. And under that fresh, cold (but decidedly not minty) ice smell is a kind of lemony, sharp, perfumey floral. It's like very bright white sunlight melting an icsicle. This blend reminded me a lot of June Gloom, but it may just have been my skin chemistry at the time and my mood. Either way, this blend (unlike my BELOVED Skadi) captured some of the sharper, wetter aspects of winter that don't jive as well with my personal vibe. However, it's a lovely fresh blend that I plan to revisit in the summer when a bit of fresh, floral ice may be just what I need.

Oh yum. In the bottle and wet on the skin, this smells very sweet and almondy. However, it quickly warms up and the cinnamon starts coming out. Sweet and spicy is one of my very favorite scent combinations, and Eclipse nails it. A gorgeous sweet scent that's not heavy, cloying, or too foody. It faded fast on me, but it's one that I want to keep slathering on. I can see wearing this VERY regularly.

*SWOON* This smells absolutely gorgeous and sextastic. I was a little wary of it, because something about Old Morocco just did not work for me. I liked the idea of Middle Eastern spices, but sadly Old Morocco has some sort of heavy, musky element that makes me feel a little ill. Scherezade, on the other hand, does not have that off-putting element, and I finally appreciate how utterly delicious and sultry a Middle Eastern-flavored perfume can smell. This oil blends into my skin, leaving it elegantly spiced. It's a little bit sweet, in the way that wafting inscence and argile smoke can be, but it stops just short of being too heady or overpowering. It's feminine, sexual, warm, and exotic. Not too heavy for work, but I definitely feel like a woman when I wear it. This is the first scent of this nature that I've wanted a big bottle of. Absolutely stunning.

Out of the bottle and wet on the skin, I thought this was going to be a fruity perfume. And although I've had my imp for ages, I didn't really give it a full-day's chance until yesterday, and I'm so glad I did! First of all, this is one of the most long-wearing BPALs I've come across. I applied a few drops to my wrists and behind my ears at 7:30am, and I could still smell it strongly at 8:00pm. In fact, it's still detectable this morning! The fragrance went through three distinct phases. Like I said, it started out fruity -- kind of red grapey and plummy. Then after about an hour, it started becoming very "perfumey," and I started to wonder if Wanda wasn't too "grown-up" smelling for me. It was most definitely the perfume of a WOMAN -- a haughty, shameless, powerful woman who gets what she wants. Strong wines & florals. I found it a bit intimidating, to tell you the truth! However, as the day wore on . . . either the scent settled into me, or I settled in to it! I started feeling a lot more comfortable wearing this unapologetically feminine and sexual perfume. And the more I settled in to that notion, the more fantastic the oil started to smell on my skin. As the day wore on, some of the sharpness wore off, and it became this warm, languid floral with a kind of musky/fruity base. Absolutely gorgeous. Fortunately, this phase was the most enduring -- it easily lasted a good 6 or 7 hours. I'm so pleased that I gave Wanda another chance -- it's an evokative, complex beauty. I look forward to getting to know it even better.

Dia de los Muertos ended up being my favorite of the Halloween LE's. Like Samhain, it's distinctly autumnal, in that it has a smoky, heavy, dark nature. Crisp leaves. Decay. A chill in the air. However, it's got a rich, chocolatey, leathery element that warms it up and rounds it out in a way that makes it a lot more wearable than Samhain for me. It's got a mischevious, flamboyant aspect to it. Purple flowers and dark, dark chocolate. Tobacco smoke. Sugar. It's not something I can wear everyday, but it's a delicious, evokative blend that I really love when I'm in the mood for it.

I don't even know how to describe this, but I feel compelled to review it anyway, becuase I love it so much. At first, it's most definitely an invigorating rush of evergreens. Not Pine-Sol-esque in the slightest -- just crisp, pure, and chilly. But the enigmatic thing about this fragrance is that it's SO multidimensional -- something behind the crisp evergreen scent makes the blend somehow sweet . . . and warm. I cannot even begin to fathom what it is or what to compare it to. I'm totally bewildered by it. All I know is that I LOVE this fragrance. Something about it just smells RIGHT and WONDERFUL. It blends so well with my skin chemistry that I actually forget I'm wearing perfume! It's perfectly blended, smooth, and seamless -- a fresh, sweet, clean, warm scent that smells like you'd want your clean, shiny hair to smell after a brisk walk in the winter sun. Of all the Yule LEs, this is the one I wish I had 5 huge bottles of.

Rose Red is one of those blends that makes me absolutely MARVEL at Beth's skill. How she managed to put a perfect, freshly-cut, cold, dewy red rose complete with it's crisp stems and leaves in a bottle is beyond me. This really is the most authentic, crisp rose scent I've ever smelled. It's even rosier than a rose. It's almost . . . sharp it's so crisp. Herbal. Cold. The very essence of a rose; the best a rose can be. The Platonic ideal of a rose, if you will. I really think that even people who think they don't like roses will love this. It's so pure and clean and real -- one of nature's finest creations captured and made perfect in an oil. BRAVO Beth, and thank you!

Sorry to sound like a broken record, but warm brown sugar and maple syrup really is the best way to describe this burnished SWEEET sweet sugary fragrance. At first I found it impossible to wear, but I've found that the tiniest dab layers beautifully with spicy scents like Three Witches to add a base of foody sweetness. This discovery has made me very pleased that I got a bottle of this -- sometimes, when the mood strikes, a little bit of sticky sugar hits the spot!

Mmm, lovely! This is a very ripe, sweet, plummy perfume that fits perfectly with the notion of "visions of sugarplums dancing" in one's head. This smells charmingly sweet, like an old-fashioned boiled candy made with real fruit juice. It makes me feel special without making me feel childlike. One of the first truly fruity perfumes that smells wonderful and not overpowering on me.