Eris

It took two and a half years, but Penitence has finally been knocked out of my #1 scent spot.

That's right. It's Creepy Time.

This oil is liquid gold. This is one of the first caramel scents I have ever found--BPAL or otherwise--that doesn't turn to maple syrup. It wraps around the apple, and both seem to give just the right amount of restraint to each other. The apple doesn't get too fruity, and the caramel doesn't get too in-your-face buttery. It's the perfect blend. It dims once it's been on the skin for an hour or so and turns into a nice and cozy vanilla-gourmand type fragrance. I think this is the coconut rum coming out. The only down side is that this one fades more quickly than some of my other BPAL's, but it's well-worth the reapplication.

Awesome. Thanks guys, these are great!

That's okay! She might be able to find some of that one day.

I have a friend who's a new author too, but she writes about werewolves, not succubi! I'm trying to get her to go in on an order I'm about to place and wondered if anyone who knew the GC better than me had suggestions. I was thinking Loup Garou and Fenris Wolf, but I'd appreciate any others out there on wolf or lunar stuff. Must get another convert!!

All right, I've kind of put of reviewing this...but, well, it didn't really work for me. I feel really badly about it since we share a name and all, but I guess we both have different ways of interpreting the goddess of chaos.

On me, it was really sugary-sweet. It reminded me of orange Nerds candies. Which, I should add, are totally delicious. But, it's just not something I wear on my skin. I had a similar reaction to the mimosa single note waaay back in the day, so it may be that acting up on me again. It does kind of mellow out into the skin as time passes, and the artificial smell drops considerably, but the overall effect is still way too fruity for this chaos minion.

I never really knew what plum smelled like, so this must be it--kind of a fruity, lush smell. It does remind of the cherry in...what was it, Kyoto maybe? That one didn't work, but I kind of like this one. It definitely has a sexy edge to it, inspiring images of red and purple velvet for me. I'm not sure it's one I'd wear myself (more of a vanilla gal), but it smells divine in an oil heater.

I loooove frankincense and patchouli but the green/pine in this one is too overwhelming. That initial 'whoa' does fade once it's dried on the skin, leaving kind of an herbaly scent behind. It's not anything that really jumps out at me, but I know some people find that kind of thing to be a really nice, fresh scent. So hopefully I can swap this away to a good home.

Yes, definitely kind of an elegant, old-fashioned perfume. I can handle rose pretty well, but my chemistry is very picky about violet--which is sad because I love it! And alas, no matter how many I try, BPAL's violet just doesn't want to play nicely with me. I should give up searching...but I just can't...

Wow, this is...well, milky. I never would have thought dairy could be so encapsulated in a scent, but it has been. In the bottle, I get a strong creaminess that reminds me of what I smelled in the bottle with All Saints too. Unlike in All Saints, Milk Moon's creaminess holds on to the skin, actually intensifying in strength. Over time, a glimmer of mint emerges, which is surprising. It must have been in the 'lunar oils.' The whole effect reminds me a bit of the creamy mint found in Tarot: The Star. In Milk Moon, however, the mint is only a walk-on; milk and cream remain the major players here. Strong and long lasting.

I too was interested in the 'opium den haze,' but I've had mixed luck with narcissus in the Love Potions and the occasional bad run-in with poppy too. But, when a frimp shows up, you can't turn it down.

In the imp, this had that medicinal smell in Laudanum, but it went away quickly upon application. Then, as expected, the narcissus came out and turned all funny on my skin, mingled with a faintly-sweet smoke scent, much as I got from Belle Epoque.

The scent stayed like this then, not morphing into anything else. What was funny was that it didn't fade. It stayed at full intensity until suddenly just being gone; there was no lingering or diminishing.

Got this one as a frimp, though I'd been eyeing it for a while. Initial application is very astringent and almost metallically herbal--the rosemary, methinks. That sharpness fades, and the lavendar pushes out to the forefront to create a sweeter herbal effect. This is soon overtaken by a citrusy smell--persumably neroli and verbana. Neither on their own is overhwhelmingly citrus, but united, they push the envelope, at least on me. This is soon subdued by a creamy, almost vanilla-y element (though there's none in the blend), and then finally all notes yield--though the verbena puts up a good fight--to my old friend frankincense. Frankincense always works well with my chemistry, and I'm left with a familiar resiny finish.

Lots of morphing! I can definitely see a magical edge to this.

Ah, in a BPAL world of notes that often elude me, orris is one I can always spot! Orris is that transluscent white floral note with glimmers of lavendar and aqua swirled in. Or maybe I'm just hung up on pearl imagery.

Anyway, in the bottle Blood Pearl smells very similar to Black Pearl: the dreamy scent of orris splashed across coconut. I love it, but I was curious as to what the difference would be between the two. Once applied, I found out. The red musk warms the other notes. I wouldn't have thought that possible, since I think of orris and coconut as cooler, but sure enough, there it is. Unfortunately, red musk turns to static (weird, but that's the only way I can describe the phenomenon) on me, just as it does in Scherezade.

Final call: Black Pearl is still the orris pick for me. For those that find that too cool or flowery, however, I think Blood Pearl will be right on. It adds a darker, warmer note that I think will work well for a lot of folk.

Neat-o. I really like the way this one morphs. It starts off with what, to me at least, seems kind of like an all-purpose floral blend. Not bad, not stunning. It works. Then...the floral dims, and this wonderful spiciness comes out. It's almost cinnamony, and then it gets just a touch of creaminess with it which must be the rum. Very nice. I bet this would be exquisite on a man.

I'm feel like I'm the last person to try this!

And boy, have I been missing out. I'm apparently a closet lemon fan, because I get the same soft sweet lemoniness in this that I do in Zephyr, and I love it! Only, in Dorian, it's backed by sugar and cream which I also love! The tea is there, but not too strong on me.

All in all, this is a smooth, rich, and sexy scent. It's a perfect summer fragrance. It does fade quickly on me, but I don't mind reapplying.

Yum.

Wow, I get neither creamy nor spicy from this, which is what I was hoping for. I do get a very strong jasminy smell, which must be the magnolia or oleander. I'm not familiar enough with either to say which. Whatever it is, it doesn't turn artificial smelling like jasmine tends to on me.

After about an hour of drying, the whole scent suddenly starts smelling like dish soap. I get the 'soapy' phenomenon all the time, but to turn into soap has only happened once before (with Aeval), and I don't think they have any common ingredients. Alas, this one worked so well on others, but for me, it's off to swap.

This is one I've been wanting to try for a looong time. The first thing that hit me was that glorious almond, which I love love love, but then, like every almond on me, it disappeared as the oil dried into my skin.

Then, out came the cinnamon, but it was a more subdued cinnamon than, say, Serpent's Kiss. The cinnamon in that knocks me across the room, but in Eclipse it was very light with an unidentifiable background that made it slightly creamy and remniscient of bakery smells, like cinnamon rolls or gingerbread.

A little while longer, Eclipse started going soapy on me, which I can't recall happening in a blend with so few florals. Soapy cinnamon? Yeah, I was surprised too. I waited a little longer to see what it what do, but the next time I sniffed, the whole thing had faded. Twas very short-lived.

This one might bear a second test later. I've been agitated and sweating a lot, which I think might be wreaking havoc with my (already weird) chemistry.

I immediately appreciated the deep red color of this oil. It just screamed sinful and got me pretty excited.

Unfortunately, the thrills were short-lived. On me, I immediately got this sense of I've-smelled-something-like-this, but I couldn't recall what. My best guess at identifying the notes are smoky florals and maybe some EXTREMELY dark amber or musk. Too dark for me, and that's saying something. Pulse Points...maybe that's what this reminds me of. Unsure. Anyway, as Sin settled, the dark smoky air increased and took on a medicinal edge.

And that, as they say, was that. It did not agree with me, and I had to wash it off. Alas. I had entertained such fantasies of being out and having someone say, "What's that you're wearing?"

"Why, I'm covered in Sin, of course."

Mmm...never thought a berry or fruit would work on me, but this is stunning. Soft and sweet, with a little sugar. The fruitiness is real strong at first, then there's this very brief phase where--I know it sounds crazy--I get a slight smell like band-aids. I smell this in real life sometimes with strawberries and cherries. It dissipates pretty quickly in Pink Moon, and then I'm just left with a faintly floral-berry smell intertwined with those marvelous lunacy oils (which I can never fully identify).

All in all, it's a very--dare I say it--"pink" scent.

This one wins the award for the most astonishing turnaround. In the bottle, I immediately smelled Halls menthol-eucalyptus. Bleh. On the skin, it came out so blaringly loud, I thought I was going to have to scrub it off, which I rarely have to do. It was seriously making my eyes water.

When I turned back to it less than a half hour later, the eucalyptus was completely gone. Instead, I got the most delicious, sweet and slightly creamy orange. There's a faint whisper of something green behind it, maybe the pine, but it keeps to itself.

This is lovely. Really lovely. Not sure I can handle that eucalyptus stage to get to the orange stage, but perhaps this will give me inspiration to seek out similar notes in other blends. Wow.

Gardenia, gardenia, gardenia! That's the strongest note both in the bottle and wet on the skin. As it dries down, I can detect some jasmine as well, which has a bad track record with me.

Yup--sure enough, as soon it settles further, the jasmine turns the whole thing soapy. Sigh.

I sure would be interested in reaping some luck out of this one, but I'm not sure if I can get over that jasmine interference.

Ah, lavendar! That's what I'm smelling. The violet I recognized immediately, as it and I tangle quite a bit, never entirely sure where we stand with the other. I can't specifically pick out the vetivert, but it usually works with me, and I think it and the lavendar help keep the violet in check in this blend. Usually violet runs wild on me, gets too strong and fuzzy. The others tame it into a thin, pale purple colored scent, lightly floral and hardly (to me) masculine.

I suspect I might otherwise be on the fence with this, save that I can't get over the name and associations. So much of scent is perception, and BPAL is phenomenal with marketing and descriptions to really make you *want* to love a fragrance. Well...with the story of Bluebeard...I don't know. It kind of turns me against the perfume, when my reaction was otherwise neutral. Hmm. We'll see.

I got little amber out of this but could definitely detect the apple. I have a nice single note (from another company) with a very lush apple scent, and so I was sort of hoping Verdandi would carry some of that with an herbal enhancement. Instead, the herbs (and I guess the amber) sort of muted the apple out and didn't really do anything for it. After a little while of wear, this one faded out entirely to what I think of as "the static smell." It is neither powdery nor soapy but in the same category of when-scents-turn-blah on you. So, Verdandi and I must part ways, but hopefully someone else has more compatible chemistry.

Why-oh-why can't the sexy, popular blends around here work on me? Why-oh-why can't I love O and Snake Oil like everyone else? Alas, Brisingamen now joins those ranks. Sigh.

Upon first application, I got mega-amber which was nice, though it was immediately followed with a soapy note which was not so nice. I had never before considered the concept of soapy amber--and with good reason. Fortunately, that soapy note faded and took on a slightly powdery edge which worked much better with the amber notes.

Continued dry down yielded a soft ambery base similar to Hecate but without the musk or spice. I never picked out the apple blossom, which is a damned shame since that is one of my all-time favorite notes. Final verdict: an okay ambery blend. I was not compelled to scrub it off, fortunately, but it did not make me feel sexy or irresistible or even like I wanted to continually smell my wrist.

Love Potions, how you taunt me.

My first impression of Belle Epoque on was that it was like smelling a sweeter version of my beloved Penitence. Or perhaps Hymn without the rose. When I went back and re-read Belle Epoque's ingredients, I discovered the tell-tale lily of the valley, also in Hymn. This made me happy, as that works well with me.

As the scent settled more deeply into my skin, the resiny backing started to fade. That lily of the valley top note stayed, along with some else greeny and floraly. Mandarin? I doubt it's the opium. Regardless, the overall effect reminded me a bit of Amsterdam. Further play on the skin finally made Belle Epoque walk--but not quite cross--the soapy line. And there it stayed.

Like so many BPAL blends, I enjoyed tracking its morphs and was pleasantly surprised by all its nuances. In the end, though, this one doesn't 'do it' enough for me to keep.

Be careful what you wish for. Pine and skin? Yup, it's all here, hands down. Upon first application, the pine about blew me away, along with something else...animalistic. I guess musk is definitely the best way to describe it, but this is truly the most 'musky' musk I've ever smelled. White musk is light, Arabian musk is sweet...but Hexennacht's musk? It's like hardcore, marking-your-territory, hear-me-roar kind of musk.

As it dries into the skin, the strength of the pine drops a little but still holds its own with that powerful musk. I get only the faintest smoke note in the background; mostly the others claim center stage.

This reminds me very much of a famous men's cologne whose name is alluding me... It also reminds me of certain New Age stores I've been in (not to be confused with the craft store smell, which is much sweeter). I'm surprised by the comparison to Hunter Moon because that one was very berry-ish on me. There's none of that in Hexennacht, nor any other sweetness I've read about from others.

Overall? Hmm. I don't know. I'm not sure if I'm woman enough to handle this. I suspect it would be terribly sexy on a man, however, so I may have to go do some reconaissance...