stellans

Does anyone have pictures of the Who Killed Amanda Palmer (WKAP) series? I specifically need Conservatory Tableaux, Joyeux Noel, Unexpected Golf Hazard. Thanks!

 

Not sure if you wanted bottle pics or just the label art, but here are the bottle pics I have:

 

I should have been more specific...label art, as I need to make icons.

I got this as a frimp in my very first BPAL order, and being in the throes of lavender madness, was very disappointed in the lack of lavenderness and put it in my 'try again later' pile.

 

Fast forward to earlier this year: I am now wholly owned by the Lab's leather notes, and when searching out all such, rediscovered my put-by imp of this blend, and...wow. Just wow. This is such a lovely, lovely leather blend that I am bitterly sorry for all the time I've wasted not wearing it before now!

 

I still get little or no lavender when wearing this, nor really do any of the other notes stand out in a major way, but the leather is not at all harsh and overpowering. On the contrary, I think the reason the sage, carnation, cedar and vanilla all combine so very well that they support the leather to the heights of delight it reaches in my nose. There is a smooth gentleness to this leather, like a beloved pair of supple and soft gloves, which fit better than anything else. I don't even like vanilla, but I don't think this would be the same blend without it. I can't smell the lavender, but it is essential to the blend as a whole.

 

This is probably my favorite of all the Lab's leather blends; itsmells like no other leather blend I own, and I love it. Love it, love it, love it. LOVE. IT. Five of 5 stars.

This blend surely paid to age, because my first impression of this last year wasn't a good one: it was very aftershave-y, so much so that the leather was overshadowed. However, after a year, I've come to a new appreciation of it. The leather note is that of well-cared for tack or boots, rather than a more decorative leather item (like a coat). This leather blend is strong, but smooth, and there is now a watery touch just underneath which is very pleasant to the nose. I love this perfume, and am very grateful for having more than a decant to hoard.

Does anyone have pictures of the Who Killed Amanda Palmer (WKAP) series? I specifically need Conservatory Tableaux, Joyeux Noel, Unexpected Golf Hazard. Thanks!

I fell in love with this when the decant circle I participated in sent me a just-testable-enough sniffie of this marvelous scent. By dint of some judicious swapping, I managed to scrape together 4 full imps, which now reside peacefully in a pretty little rollerball bottle.

 

I get no verbena at all from this blend; it's all lovely, lovely purple flower (iris or violet? I waffle back-and-forth!) with just a hint of benzoin and amber, but mostly the lovely, quiet purple. This is a very subtle scent, and does not have a lot of throw, but it lasted a long time past initial application. I love both iris and violet, so any blend which highlights them is bound to become one of my favorites. 4 of 5 stars!

oh, sweet! Patchouli and leather...this is my dream scent come true, right? Well, actually: yes! Yes! YES! Crowley is an amazing (and how many times has that word been applied to a BPAL blend? How many grains of sand on the beach?), and absolutely lovely.

At first application, the musk, patchouli, and leather notes are uppermost to my nose, with all the other notes mere shadows on the wall. And thank goodness for that, because I don't want to smell cologne even if it is lilac, nor am I much interested in lemon rind. However, the combination of all these side-notes make a truly lovely background for my own favorite stars of the show: patchouli and leather, admirably supported by the musk.

But for me what really makes this a blend to be loved, worn often, and hoarded in multiple bottles is the drydown. As Crowley dries on my arm, a sensual and smooth leather note appears and takes over. The patchouli/musk notes are still there, oh yes, but the leather is now what makes me sigh in delight. It's been a while now since my fascination love obsession with leather began, and I have now many leather loves, but Crowley is up in the top 7 (by my calculations, there are 88 BPAL perfume oils which admit to a leather note; I now lack only 4!). This is a smooth, well-worn but well-cared-for leather, the kind a jacket might be made of, a jacket kept and worn for years and years: soft, supple, and altogether delicious in both texture and scent.

Ravens call, are you listenin'?

In the lane, blood is glistenin'

A terrible sight

the mayhem tonight

walkin' through a battle-weary land...

 

Wow. This Lunacy evokes a very strong sense of The Morrigan for me: all dark, and terrible, and savage...but terrifyingly lovely as well. To my nose, the benzoin (which has always come across as resin-y to me), patchouli and myrrh reign supreme, though the spices and vanilla are recognizable. I agree with the previous posters who say this is a morpher; smelling it in the bottle I worried that the slight cologne-ish scent would spoil this for me, but I was oh-so-wrong! Raven Moon didn't even have to dry to morph into instant love for me, because I love it from application to dry-down. Now I'm sorry I only bought 2 bottles!

I third the approval of the new sepia old-fashioned appearance of the labels! They do go with the amber bottles better, but I like the old labels with the cobalt bottles too.

I have to admit, this was the Rider I most looked forward to: leather, sandalwood -- what's not to love? *sigh*

 

On first sniff, there is a sourness which speaks (to me, at least) of jasmine, and I get nothing else. However, on drydown I get the leather note a little, as well as a bit of the sandalwood, but there is still a slight sourness which spoils it. I finally washed it off, being unwilling to smell sour for any longer,

 

I don't know about this one, but I'm hanging on to this for a while just in case. But man, I was <i>so</i> looking forward to it and then to smell sour? argh.

 

ETA: Wow. What a difference a little time makes! This bottle now smells of leather, lovely incense-y leather. Thank goodness!

I'd like to second the comparison of Lust and Mircalla... and I actually like Lust better! w00t!

I like this blend! It isn't as dark as the description might lead you to believe; the Dragon's Blood always brings a fresh, lovely floral note to my nose when it's in a blend. The amber, which isn't always a note I can wear, plays very nicely with the Dragon's Blood, and the currant lends a sweet fruitiness to the whole. Rage? Only that it's been discontinued; this is a lovely perfume.

While on a total leather kick these days, I have to say I love the rough darkness lent to this blend by the vetiver and black musk. Its description as 'sinuous' was very well-thought of, because that's exactly what this is: sinuous. The character for which this blend is named is very well served by his namesake scent, because it is a powerful, dark and has that delicious hint of evil.

This is a review of the original Unreleased Black Orchid first, and then the more recent Cobwebs Trunk Show v5 version.

 

Original Unreleased:

I wish I could say this is a rare I don't mind missing, but it wouldn't be true. I love the scent of this, even though I get no patchouli at all; this is a very delicate aquatic floral, and it's gorgeous on my skin. I had more than the measly 1/2 decant I have now, but in a fit of good will I sold it to a forumite who wanted to wear it for her wedding. C'est le vie!

 

Black Orchid v3:

watery, and vaguely powdery, but still lovely. Not my favorite though.

 

Black Orchid v5:

This has the lovely, earthy patchouli I was looking for! This is my favorite of all 3 types.

I must join the chorus of dislike I'm seeing here: the uppermost note my nose picks up is bubblegum, sliding into public restroom airfreshener. Lurking underneath this rather icky sweet smell is an unpleasant sourness which leads me to believe either jasmine is in this, playing her usual nasty tricks on me, or there's yet another floral note which hates me, which is as of now still unidentified.

And another rare breaks my heart.

I'm glad I swapped for this rather than paying an exhorbitant amount for it out of pocket; it always seems less painful that way when it doesn't work out quite right. This blend has a sourness at the back edge of the aquatic note that speaks to me of jasmine. Mean, evil, straight-razor-toting jasmine. And it doesn't like me. At. All.

 

*sob*

To begin my week of 'Nothing But Rares" I chose my solitary decant of a fantastic leather scent: Dead Man's Hand. Contrary to one forumite's opinion to me in a PM, this is by no means a dry leather scent. Rather, it is the scent of a well-loved and often-worn pair of soft gloves, or maybe someone's favorite suede shoes (blue?). There is a definite softness to this blend, though it does start off with an oily tang which fortunately burns away quickly once applied. The throw is moderate, but the stay so far this morning is quite good; it's been a bit more than 3 hours since first application and I still catch it as my arms move. I didn't wear it in a scent locket because there is so little of it in the little vial. This is a wonderful accomplishment, IMO: the smell of leather without the actual use of animal products. And I want more. More, I say!

 

ETA: Since writing the above, I was lucky enough to buy not one but two bottles of this amazing leather blend (one with a vintage label). It truly is a remarkable blend!

I finally had to give up on Appleworks when I updated my OS to Snow Leopard. The two just wouldn't play nice when it came to my humongous BPAL database. Solution? I downloaded the trial version of Bento 2, was able to import my Appleworks database seamlessly, and have used it very happily since. I'm going to go ahead and spring for the program at the end of the 30-day trial period. It has a lot of features Appleworks didn't, though it is only a spreadsheet/database type of thing (no word processing, for example) but that's what I need.

 

Color me happy with Bento 2! (DISCLAIMER: no connection in any way except as happy user.)

 

p.s. I've tried to use online organizers, and I just really prefer having one on my own computer to fiddle with even with offline; plus, Bento 2 syncs with my iPhone! w00t for gadget love!

It's taking me a while, but I'm slowly but surely catching up on reviewing the Lunacies in my current 31-day rotation. I've not had the privilege of sampling the original Hunter Moon released in '04, but the later release in 2007 became of my favorites due to its lovely musky, autumn woods scent. This is all about the hunt: the stalk, the chase, and the capture/kill. There is no blood note that I can tell, but the impression is there of a successful hunt. This begins a little sharply, but it doesn't take long to warm up into a very sensual wild musk, more animalistic than some other musk blends I've tried, and the woods/leaves notes are absolutely essential to make the Hunter's portrait complete. I get no powder from this blend, only sex. Lovely, lovely sex.

4 of 5 stars.

The first time I sniffed this blend, the aftershave impression took me aback and I nearly capped the imp without ever trying it. That would have been a shame, because once I get past the initial harsh aftershave note, this blend is really quite lovely. It doesn't take long for this to morph on my skin to a very nice, smooth salty-leather scent, reminiscent of how the leather band in my dad's old Stetson smells, only better. There is a definite ocean/seagoing sense to this blend, but the leather also comes out strongly, which delights my nose so much. 3 of 5 stars (it would be 4, if I didn't have to wait for the warming to like it).

I so looked forward to wearing this for the first time, after reading all the reviews mentioning resins, etc. Sniffing the bottle didn't at all prepare me for the immediate plastic attack when I applied this oil first thing this morning. Could not wash this off fast enough, and ended up with a headache.

To the sales page. *sigh*

This is a glorious leather blend, and I'm so very grateful to have a bottle! There was a bit of a cologne-y note at the start, but it doesn't last long at all. The very slight cologne note mellows into a soft woodsy-grassy leather, like riding on a summer day to your best wooded pasture. I don't get a blood note at all, which is a little disappointing because I love Dragon's Blood, but nothing I can't live with, LOL! This blend is amazing, a different leather blend than anything else I have so far; I am obsessed with leather lately, and this is a great addition to my collection.

This blend is why I always give anything containing amber a chance. Though amber is not kind to my skin chemistry in most cases, scents like Carnivale are the exception I always hope for but so rarely get.

 

The sweetness of the berry note is held nicely in check by the spicy carnation, and the amber is there too, but doesn't turn into powder on me (for a change). Musk underlies the whole thing, but doesn't overwhelm me. This is a very balanced blend (on me) and delights my nose. It has moderate throw and medium stay (3 hours before I needed to refresh it). 3 of 5 stars!

google doc updated to include the Tales of Death & Dementia...

 

You could also try The Snow Storm.

This Convergence 15 was the release I looked forward to the most, and the one which disappointed me the most as well. I love violets, love them almost as much as I love roses, and this sounded so wonderful. When I first sniffed it, it was love: pure violets, not overly sweet, but lovely. However, upon application, the mint came storming out at me and had to be washed off immediately. B340, I hardly knew ye...