ND¢

Been wanting this one for years, and finally took the plunge. Opened the bottle: underwhelmed. A weird, loud synthetic herb mishmash that is hard to describe. Drying down I didn't think this would work (spoiler: now I think it will)-- the vanilla smelled artificial, the chamomile smelled wrong; I was sad. But now as it's dried, about twenty minutes later maybe, it's a true vanilla with the chamomile adding an authentic layer of complexity to what I feared would smell like generic artificial vanilla flavoring. It isn't an immediate YES on me like it was for so many people because a bad wet stage is hard for me to swallow, but the end product merits more chances. It's reminiscent of Snake Oil some, of a brasher Snow White a tiny bit, like Sachs is Snow White's hard-knocks cousin. ETA: The smokiness comes out after a while, almost as I need to apply more (eaten by skin like sponge in Sahara Desert.) Mmm. Okay, winner.

Grail scents I would always buy or swap for: Cagliostro Crumpet Rebellion Geek Graveyard Dirt Pinched With Four Aces Planting Moon Quincey Morris Severin Storyville Snake Charmer Res. Voodoo Queen Protos, event-specifics and similar that I desperately want to try, even a small amount: Amaterasu v2 & v3, Sekhmet v5, Kinnabari, Capela dos Ossos, Anti-Saloon League, Hermes Tris v2, Vrishka Rajaya v2 BTPU1, PX717, PRC12, XCDL13, PP42005 LE/DC (sought in any amount): Atlas Antique Lace* Autumn Lace Black Lace De Sade* Gothabilly Glowing Vulva* Inquisition 07: Ecstasy of Passion Karmê (Κάρμη)** Lughnasadh Mabon Res.* Pumpkin King LE/DC- prefer a bottle: Black Temple Burlesque Troupe** Byron v13* Diable en Boîte Hanerot Horn of Amalthea Katrina Khrysopelex Lambs-Wool Loosening of the Obi Men Ringing Bell with Penises the Smiling Spider Smut Sunflower Toad Hall Unheavenly City** LE/DC- prefer a decant: Arrival @ Sabbath & Homage to the Devil Carceri d'Invenzione CD: Parliament of Monsters* CD: Faith* CD: Gennivre* CD: Western Diamondback* Great Grey Witch Infernal Lover** La Mano del Destino the Magdalena Miles** Mother Shub's Gingerbread Temples/Stygian Nougat** Nothing Gold Can Stay Pickled Imp Pisces Sweet Lavinia's Dread Puddings/Risalamande** Tobacco Honey GC (indicated below if I prefer imp but bottles always OK): Aperotos Eros*** Bensiabel (imp) Bien Loin d'Ici Death on a Pale Horse (imp) Depraved Herbert West (imp) Kumiho (imp) Le Lèthè Mr. Ibis Nero (imp) Panacea TKO (imps ok too) Penny Dreadful Perversion Port-au-Prince** The Red Rider (imp)** Roadhouse (imp) Shoggoth Panacea: TKO** Panacea: Moxie Witch's Garden**

CB IHP: try me. I like it all, but esp. tea/water/dirt/rain/stone, etc. Greenbriar 68*** Memory of Kindness*** In the Summer Kitchen Violet Empire M2 Black March** M1 Narcissus Under the Arbor Revelation I Am A Dandelion In the Library Grass Soaked Earth Ginger Flower Hay Rich Tobacco Forest/Wild Hunt Viennese Pastry Tomato Vine Rainstorm Falling Water Bamboo Flower Wildflower Honey Gathering Apples Sweet Smoke Cedarwood Tea, Lavender Tea, Black Tea, Russian Caravan Tea, Japanese Green Tea Conjure: Nejla (The Souk) Golden Amber, Tomato Leaf (Apothecary) Twr, Anna, Fire In The Earth (Feri) How You Doin', Queen Elizabeth Root, Bling Bling (Hoodoo) Earl Black, Befuddling Fan (Miss Victoria's) Notus, Anemoi (Elementals) El Alacran, La Corona (Loteria) Shakti (Mythos) DSH: Erotica (oil) Special X (any) Eden Botanicals: Pepper CO2 Select, Black German Blue Chamomile Ginger Immortelle Absolute Liquidambar HAEE: Fairy Queen, Vanilla Musk Haus of Gloi: Perfume, soap, scrub, you name it. Haus Amber, Lavender Sugar, Mango Sticky Rice, Moon Dog, Old Cider Haus,Picaroon, Pumpkin Queen, Honey Tree (soap/scrub) MAC: Both Lustreglass and Lipglass in anything but really dark colors. Eyeshadows: I'm open to all shades and styles. Want to try the pigments too. propaganda: Opium Den soap Villainess: Dulces En Fuego, Friction, Grampa Joe, Spun Sugar. Pretty much all non-fruity scents... just a slice? Whipped: Possets Indigo, Mud: Scintillating, Pearl Diver. Killer Beez oil sample, Nesthtai anything, Datura and Scintillating oils wicked cosmetics: Abricot de Vanille WoobieBath: Vanilla Tea

There are always exceptions, but as a guide to what works and doesn't. Generally good: amber, benzoin, bergamot, cardamom, clove, dirt/earth/soil, subtle wood scens (e.g. fir), ginger, grass, incense, leather, musk of ALL kinds, oakmoss, opoponax, peach/apricot, delicate floral (e.g. rice flower; T-n-M, HGM, Obi), white sugar, tomato leaf and other plant scents, tonka, vanilla of all kinds, subtle foody scents. Generally bad: Anise, Aquatics (except The Deep Ones), brimstone/smoke, uber-buttery, candy, civet, cinnamon, cypress, dragon's blood, most strong/sharp florals (e.g. ylang ylang), most fruity scents, harsh wood scents (e.g. juniper) , muscadine, neroli, ozone, pennyroyal, vetiver, wine (except rice wine)

My boyfriend likes Nero, Taphophobia v2, Krampus and Aperotos Eros, so far. I think the first three are pretty masculine and that Aperotos Eros is pretty good on me, too.

I don't get any booziness from this at all. A sweet, somehow very well-rounded scent. I agree with the posters who mentioned HGM, it's very similar to me (don't have a bottle anymore, so can't compare.) It also reminds me somewhat of Tamamo-no-Mae. Light and conveys a very fresh, innocent quality. Will be hunting down more of this to stockpile.

Simply put, my all-time favorite incense scent. This is well-blended in the way characteristic of Beth's best blends, gentle and comforting. Reminds me of being plunked down in a friendly little head shop, and my boyfriend and I both love it. Good thing it's a GC-- we are going to stock up and start these aging, because if they smell this good now, I can't wait to enjoy them a couple years down the road.

it reminded me of satan's talcum powder drying down. Down, I'd wear this at a leather masquerade, but nowhere else. Sharp and lingering, promising... but not my type.

Oh, no, yeccccch. No. *sniffs* Nooooo. It really is sort of like I smell like a zombie or someone's evil laundry pile with rose scent sprayed on top. Ohhhhh. I made such a face.

This reminds me a lot of a stronger Herr Drosselmeyer. Much gentler than most sandalwood blends I have tried. A bit more sweet pungency from beeswax, but as the effect did not work on me in the one, it sadly also does not work in the other.

Wow. Perfect. This is what I always hoped for from Samhain-- a scent that brings me right back 'there.' I grew up some in Boston and remembering the apple picking, the holiday parties... Yes, I did all that. Anyway, there is just this feel that autumn has for me, and this scent is a credible reminder. Stewed apples-- not an artificially pert apple scent, but a real, sweet & sour boiling smell. Also, am I alone in not recognizing smoke as much as leather? To me it smells a little like sharp leather, which gives the name a whole 'nother meaning.

The previous reviewer described this as a well worn, ornately carved chest of precious spices & I think that is just spot on. I keep my imps for swap in a wooden box and this has a sweet, spicy unity that really calls my imp box to mind in the best of all possible ways. I find myself thinking of cozy parties, exotic places I've never been... The copal is clearly dominant on me, the agave nectar (not that I'd necessarily know) seems not apparent, and the tiny hint of rose is just a peep of freshness that cuts all the spiciness really handily while complimenting it perfectly. And I am not a huge fan of the way rose smells on me normally. I didn't like the plain spiciness of this in the bottle so I'm glad I really gave it a chance.

Grass. For real. It's got that somehow pleasant, dark planty odor, even. I think the darkness I smell is a perfect recreation of very faint autumn leaves, and I also think I am going to buy a grip of these.

So I said to myself, 'Self, why is it that you think everything smells like Lemon Pledge on you.' Self: 'Everything does' No, really. I don't know why I smell neither tea nor honey nor wasabi but... there you have it. A lemony-candy scent, if I want to forget Pledge ever existed.

on me, this is a very understated fresh bay/clove herbal scent. not too sharp or astringent like some people are getting. I do like it, though it'll be a while before I can justify a bottle of something so outside my normal preferences.

Lemon verbena and red hots... a not-too-pleasant combination with a sharp, gritty clash where the two scents meet.

Each bottle of Chaos Theory is truly unique, a fragrant fractal, and exercise in the joy of chance and uncertainty! Each is a one-of-a-kind, utterly random combination of scents, the composition of which is based on whim, mood and gut instinct. I agree with the description of this CT3 as 'juicy.' It's a bit like freshly pulped wheatgrass-- sweet even in the smelling. A full, rich green juiciness that, on the drydown, becomes a mild floral that, however nice, doesn't do the wet stage justice.

Carrot peelings, hay, chaff, molasses, maple oats, red apples, stable wood, and musk. The musk in this also strikes me as similar to Ivanushka, though I don't really smell it until five or so minutes in, after having been slammed around by a sharp wedge of WOOD or HAY or something really... crisp (but not in the apple way, in the... masculine soap way.) This definitely evokes oats and a stable but I'm not sure if I can really carry off the 'brightness' of the fragrance. I love the maple waddling along at the bottom of this one, though.

A strong heady fruitiness on application, rounded out by the buttery scent that I suppose also does include pumpkin. And the... you know, I do want to say the musk is somewhat apparent. I think I thought that was frankincense, but I don't think I really know what frankincense smells like. This would not really be a scent that would work on me.

Oy, I wonder what my sniffer is thinking. I get a minty pumpkin smell about a minute into the drydown. Those York Peppermint Patties? Yeah, those. Maybe I can detect the tobacco in the background. Oh wait, yeah yeah, that's tobacco, not York Peppermint patties. Like a strong cherry tobacco/vanilla scent... as it evolves... and the pumpkin is notably absent. Huh, I might end up liking this one on a non-Halloween-related basis, although it's unmistakably a fall/winter scent. ETA: And cedar. It's like smoking cherry tobacco in a cedar closet. With a vanilla candle lit.

Huh. I get the 'sharp' reaction on applying it, as described above. That evens out a minute or two into it, and I don't get much leather ... perception in this scent, let's say. it's a 'high' sortof scent, light but with an undertone of pumpkin and, what on me is sadly an 'overtone' of lemon laundry liquid. Oh dear.

This is a more Snake-Charmeresque love child of Alone and Mme. Moriarty on my skin. I swear: the sharp dash of Alone's clove-cinnamon, the sexy fullness of Mme. M, and yes... yes... peeking through and getting more obvious on the drydown.... Snake Charmer. I'd get the new one but I fear it just won't match up. Very nice for someone like me who finds Mme. M a bit overwhelming, Alone not quite 'rounded' enough, and loves the Snake.

It comes off on my skin as a sort of bleh thick-orangey curdled... bleh. Sigh. I am so glad it will find its loving home elsewhere as I *know* it just has to be good and my skin says *buzzer sound*.

A seamlessly-blended creamy-soft and 'rounded' floral with the unmistakable crispness of teak. Very unusual and, I would say, a must-sniff.

Since anyone who has ever talked to me about perfume probably knows I *do not* do aquatics (reference my hatred of junior-high-evocative Walgreens' perfumes) I thought I ought to come give it up for The Deep Ones. This is probably the only aquatic I have ever liked in the history of sniffkind. The citrus is not at all sweet, and doesn't go 'wrong' like on some of the other reviewers.... it is a bright scent-scarf thrashing back and forth on a dark cerulean wind. Awesometastic. even more so because it ALMOST goes into 'perfumeland' but stays firmly on the side I like... the unconventional, unique, I've-never-smelled-anything-like-it, head-turning, 'What *IS* that?' quality that makes BPAL the only perfumerie that can really warm the cockles of my heart.