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LiberAmoris

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Everything posted by LiberAmoris

  1. LiberAmoris

    The Violet Window Hair Gloss

    Wild plum oudh and crushed violets. Ugh, I love The Violet Window HG. I love violet in general, so there's that. But the plum oudh falls like a purple shadow across the floral note in a way that makes this so huffable and addictive.
  2. LiberAmoris

    Moonglow Bath Oil

    Agree with above. Moonglow bath oil is absolutely honey biscuits with cream. Strong on the honey, with the carb and dairy trailing, but totally delectable. If I sniffed this scent description unseen, I might say it's honey with a shadow of something that makes my mouth water, but I'm not sure I'd call out biscuits and cream. Those notes are very subtle on me, although present. If you like honey and foodie scents, this is a lovely, simple one.
  3. Chaos is the score upon which reality is written. – Henry Miller An old take on Chaos! A new take on Chaos! This year, we are offering the traditional chaos of the original Chaos Theories, manifested as Eris’ Tilt-A-Whirl, and a new Recursive Self-Similarity series. Each CT:6 scent under the auspices of Recursive Self-Similarity, has a base of Amber, in wildly varying proportions. From these bases comes a new series of flowing, fragrant fractals that emanate from these three roots. Random combinations of oils have been added to every individual bottle, retaining their sensitivity to their initial component, resulting in a truly unique blend that swirls merrily around its core oil. This is an 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. This post is merely a placeholder for future reviews. Whoever is first to review, please report this post using the report button below, so a mod can merge it with yours. Thanks!
  4. REVIEW GUIDELINES: The Reviews forum is the primary place at BPAL.org where forum members can share their thoughts on individual BPAL products. We welcome everyone to contribute their experiences and perspectives! However, we ask that you understand and follow some guidelines in order to minimize manual moderation: 1. Only one review per review topic is allowed, unless you're reviewing a product that has had multiple release years which are listed in the tags for the topic. For example, some Lupercalia, Halloweenie, and Yule scents have been released across multiple years—it’s ok to have a separate post for the Snow White that released in 2017 if you’ve already made a post for the Snow White that released in 2016. We ask that you call out the ‘vintage’ you’re reviewing at the top of your review so it’s clear for moderators and members. As a corollary, if you have an update to a review you’ve already posted, please edit your post rather than creating a new post. 2. We ask that reviewers not requote the scent description for the product in their review verbatim, unless their post appears as the first post at the beginning of a new page of reviews. This is to prevent redundant copy. If your post is the first post at the top of a new page, we’d appreciate if you would edit your post to include the BPAL scent description (including the formatting). You can simply copy this content from the previous page and paste it in (the formatting should be retained if you don’t select an unformatted paste). If you’re unable to do so or spot a page without a description at the top, please report the post so we can add it. 3. We have a wide palette for what is considered a ‘substantive review’, but please do say something about how the product and avoid posts that are simply ‘+1!!!!!’ to a previous reviewer. Overwhelmingly, people are browsing the Reviews forum to understand how something smells. Conveying this can occur through so many means—sheer description, a metaphor (‘this smells like a sunset’), a comparison to another product, the way it makes you feel, etc. Readers of reviews respond to so many different kinds of review posts that all takes are useful. But a focus on the product itself is essential. 4. Conversation about products should happen in the appropriate Chatter topic and not in Reviews. It’s ok to quote a previous reviewer if you're adding some additional text of your own to state your own review/opinion. But posts that seek to discuss without adding a review, ask questions of previous reviewers, and query as to swap/sale availability will be moved out of the Reviews forum or deleted. 5. If you are the first reviewer in a review placeholder topic, do not report, the scent description will now be the first review post for each scent. Reviews is locked to new posts so we can avoid duplicate topics. HAVING DIFFICULTY FINDING A TOPIC? TRY: Using an external search engine. Type in [product name] + bpal. For example: ‘Snake Oil bpal’ (minus single quotes). Searching within the Reviews forum or a Reviews sub-forum, using the forum search function (search box can be found in upper-right of forum). A drop-down will appear when you type something in; try selecting ‘Topics’ or ‘This Forum’ alternately to see if one will surface the results you’re looking for. Checking The Hunt for Hard-to-Find Review Topics post. Additionally, if you know the update release that a product appeared in, you can click on the tag for that release in any review thread to see all the products that appeared in that release. For example: clicking on a ‘Lupercalia 2019’ tag will give you the results for all other topics with that tag.
  5. LiberAmoris

    Miss Nellie Harding Hair Gloss

    I love the Lab's peony note so had to try this. Miss Nellie Harding HG makes good use of that peony note, and this smells like living well. The white musk and white moss throw a veil over the white rose and peony notes, so they're almost blurred. Because of the florals and the white musk, I think this is the kind of scent that people might call 'soapy' or 'powdery', but to me is retro in the best way. It's very pretty, and would be an excellent hair gloss for me to wear to work, as it smells clean and polished.
  6. LiberAmoris

    Cabbage White Caterpillar Hair Gloss

    Cabbage White Caterpillar is so delicious! I get marshmallow, lemon, and mint in that order. It smells like lemon meringue candy, and I absolutely love it. So fun, and yes, would be so great to layer with other complementary marshmallow scents!
  7. LiberAmoris

    Golden Apple, Golden Sandalwood, and Amber Hair Gloss

    Golden Apple, Golden Sandalwood, and Amber HG in my hair is apple-forward at first, with apple doing the driving. The golden apple note is really mellow but luscious—almost juicy? And is very autumnal, perfect for this time of year. As the hair gloss wears on, the sandalwood and amber step forward and assert themselves, although the apple is always present, bringing sweetness and that sense of juiciness. I wasn't quite sure what to expect from the intersection of these notes, but I like how they work together to create a total fall vibe. I think this would layer well with a lot of my Halloween scents, in fact, and can't wait to do some experimenting!
  8. LiberAmoris

    The Serpentine Hair Gloss

    I also love The Serpentine and had to have the hair gloss—and this doesn't disappoint. It's a fluffy lavender with Dorian, a light floral, and vanilla. The effect is of a downy, creamy lavender with a killer Dorian-tinged trail. Another hair gloss that's perfect to spray when I shower shortly before bed, as the smell of this on the pillow is very soporific!
  9. LiberAmoris

    Hidden Purpose Bath Oil

    I bought Hidden Purpose BO as an after-shower moisturizer. It's straight-up lavender with dark oudh intercutting it, making it less herbal and more animalic and 'perfumey'. I love the combo—simple and effective. Layers beautifully with lavender perfumes and hair glosses, and is perfect for days when I shower late and want something comforting and beautiful to usher me through the remaining hours to sleep.
  10. LiberAmoris

    Rocky Mountain Goats Hair Gloss

    Rocky Mountain Goats HG is a piney delight. This is a dry, brushy, pine/fir scent with an herbal undernote of sage. To me, this smells like high summer scrub and trees, with the heat making the oils more volatile and fragrant. Lovely.
  11. LiberAmoris

    All Hallows Chaos: Samhain Hair Gloss

    #2 This smells like Samhain with a glug more apple in it, a modification I'm in full support of. It's almost like a cross between Samhain and one of the NYCC apple hair glosses. I love it!
  12. LiberAmoris

    Spooky Atmosphere Spray

    A maddeningly festive blend of warm, buttery rum, cocoa, coconut, vanilla and a jolt of peppermint. It’s a sweet, decadent, slightly silly scent, reminicent of rum-laced holiday cookies. This post is merely a placeholder for future reviews. Whoever is first to review, please report this post using the report button below, so a mod can merge it with yours. Thanks!
  13. LiberAmoris

    Motley Atmosphere Spray

    Black currant, rhubarb, mushroom, champaca, and myrrh. This post is merely a placeholder for future reviews. Whoever is first to review, please report this post using the report button below, so a mod can merge it with yours. Thanks!
  14. LiberAmoris

    Motley Hair Gloss

    Black currant, rhubarb, mushroom, champaca, and myrrh. This post is merely a placeholder for future reviews. Whoever is first to review, please report this post using the report button below, so a mod can merge it with yours. Thanks!
  15. LiberAmoris

    Clytie Atmosphere Spray

    This Clytie knew, and knew she was undone,Whose soul was fix'd, and doated on the Sun. She rag'd to think on her neglected charms, And Phoebus, panting in another's arms. With envious madness fir'd, she flies in haste, And tells the king, his daughter was unchaste. The king, incens'd to hear his honour stain'd, No more the father nor the man retain'd. In vain she stretch'd her arms, and turn'd her eyes To her lov'd God, th' enlightner of the skies. In vain she own'd it was a crime, yet still It was a crime not acted by her will. The brutal sire stood deaf to ev'ry pray'r, And deep in Earth entomb'd alive the fair. What Phoebus could do, was by Phoebus done: Full on her grave with pointed beams he shone: To pointed beams the gaping Earth gave way; Had the nymph eyes, her eyes had seen the day, But lifeless now, yet lovely still, she lay. Not more the God wept, when the world was fir'd, And in the wreck his blooming boy expir'd. The vital flame he strives to light again, And warm the frozen blood in ev'ry vein: But since resistless Fates deny'd that pow'r, On the cold nymph he rain'd a nectar show'r. Ah! undeserving thus (he said) to die, Yet still in odours thou shalt reach the sky. The body soon dissolv'd, and all around Perfum'd with heav'nly fragrancies the ground, A sacrifice for Gods up-rose from thence, A sweet, delightful tree of frankincense. Tho' guilty Clytie thus the sun betray'd, By too much passion she was guilty made. Excess of love begot excess of grief, Grief fondly bad her hence to hope relief. But angry Phoebus hears, unmov'd, her sighs, And scornful from her loath'd embraces flies. All day, all night, in trackless wilds, alone She pin'd, and taught the list'ning rocks her moan. On the bare earth she lies, her bosom bare, Loose her attire, dishevel'd is her hair. Nine times the morn unbarr'd the gates of light, As oft were spread th' alternate shades of night, So long no sustenance the mourner knew, Unless she drunk her tears, or suck'd the dew. She turn'd about, but rose not from the ground, Turn'd to the Sun, still as he roul'd his round: On his bright face hung her desiring eyes, 'Till fix'd to Earth, she strove in vain to rise. Her looks their paleness in a flow'r retain'd, But here, and there, some purple streaks they gain'd. Still the lov'd object the fond leafs pursue, Still move their root, the moving Sun to view, And in the Heliotrope the nymph is true. Excess of love begetting excess of grief: heliotrope, frankincense, muguet, osmanthus, and neroli. This post is merely a placeholder for future reviews. Whoever is first to review, please report this post using the report button below, so a mod can merge it with yours. Thanks!
  16. LiberAmoris

    Clytie Hair Gloss

    This Clytie knew, and knew she was undone,Whose soul was fix'd, and doated on the Sun. She rag'd to think on her neglected charms, And Phoebus, panting in another's arms. With envious madness fir'd, she flies in haste, And tells the king, his daughter was unchaste. The king, incens'd to hear his honour stain'd, No more the father nor the man retain'd. In vain she stretch'd her arms, and turn'd her eyes To her lov'd God, th' enlightner of the skies. In vain she own'd it was a crime, yet still It was a crime not acted by her will. The brutal sire stood deaf to ev'ry pray'r, And deep in Earth entomb'd alive the fair. What Phoebus could do, was by Phoebus done: Full on her grave with pointed beams he shone: To pointed beams the gaping Earth gave way; Had the nymph eyes, her eyes had seen the day, But lifeless now, yet lovely still, she lay. Not more the God wept, when the world was fir'd, And in the wreck his blooming boy expir'd. The vital flame he strives to light again, And warm the frozen blood in ev'ry vein: But since resistless Fates deny'd that pow'r, On the cold nymph he rain'd a nectar show'r. Ah! undeserving thus (he said) to die, Yet still in odours thou shalt reach the sky. The body soon dissolv'd, and all around Perfum'd with heav'nly fragrancies the ground, A sacrifice for Gods up-rose from thence, A sweet, delightful tree of frankincense. Tho' guilty Clytie thus the sun betray'd, By too much passion she was guilty made. Excess of love begot excess of grief, Grief fondly bad her hence to hope relief. But angry Phoebus hears, unmov'd, her sighs, And scornful from her loath'd embraces flies. All day, all night, in trackless wilds, alone She pin'd, and taught the list'ning rocks her moan. On the bare earth she lies, her bosom bare, Loose her attire, dishevel'd is her hair. Nine times the morn unbarr'd the gates of light, As oft were spread th' alternate shades of night, So long no sustenance the mourner knew, Unless she drunk her tears, or suck'd the dew. She turn'd about, but rose not from the ground, Turn'd to the Sun, still as he roul'd his round: On his bright face hung her desiring eyes, 'Till fix'd to Earth, she strove in vain to rise. Her looks their paleness in a flow'r retain'd, But here, and there, some purple streaks they gain'd. Still the lov'd object the fond leafs pursue, Still move their root, the moving Sun to view, And in the Heliotrope the nymph is true. Excess of love begetting excess of grief: heliotrope, frankincense, muguet, osmanthus, and neroli. This post is merely a placeholder for future reviews. Whoever is first to review, please report this post using the report button below, so a mod can merge it with yours. Thanks!
  17. LiberAmoris

    Satan's Circus Atmosphere Spray

    A 19th century euphemism for the area that is now called Chelsea. During that time, there were at least forty-night bawdy house, twenty-two of which were on West 27th Street alone. Moldering wood covered by velvet-flocked wallpaper, a splash of rum, pipe smoke, and cologne. This post is merely a placeholder for future reviews. Whoever is first to review, please report this post using the report button below, so a mod can merge it with yours. Thanks!
  18. LiberAmoris

    Hell's Hundred Acres Atmosphere Spray

    A post-industrial wasteland. Peeling plaster, faded tobacco, and echoes of warehouse fires. This post is merely a placeholder for future reviews. Whoever is first to review, please report this post using the report button below, so a mod can merge it with yours. Thanks!
  19. LiberAmoris

    Crypt Queen Atmosphere Spray

    As sweet as death, as deep as the grave: pomegranate, raspberry, gardenia, plum, and rose with patchouli, black pepper, rose musk, and a hint of blood accord. This post is merely a placeholder for future reviews. Whoever is first to review, please report this post using the report button below, so a mod can merge it with yours. Thanks!
  20. LiberAmoris

    Heretic Atmosphere Spray

    Dark, spicy, animalic: Nagdi frankincense, bois de cade, beeswax, Somalian myrrh, and Laotian oudh. This post is merely a placeholder for future reviews. Whoever is first to review, please report this post using the report button below, so a mod can merge it with yours. Thanks!
  21. LiberAmoris

    Trinket Atmosphere Spray

    [No additional description provided.] This post is merely a placeholder for future reviews. Whoever is first to review, please report this post using the report button below, so a mod can merge it with yours. Thanks!
  22. LiberAmoris

    Gooey Pillowcase

    Lumps of pumpkin fudge, marshmallow glop, cookie crumbs, caramel smears, and bits of sticky fuzz. This post is merely a placeholder for future reviews. Whoever is first to review, please report this post using the report button below, so a mod can merge it with yours. Thanks!
  23. LiberAmoris

    Rose Moon

    Since friendships fade like the flow'rs of June, I will leave her in charge of the stable moon." Then he said to the moon: "O dear old moon, Who for years and years from thy throne above Hast nurtured and guarded young lovers and love, My heart has but come to its waiting June, And the promise time of the budding vine; Oh, guard thee well this love of mine." And he harked him then while all was still, And the pale moon answered and said, "I will." And he sailed in his ship o'er many seas, And he wandered wide o'er strange far strands: in isles of the south and in Orient lands, Where pestilence lurks in the breath of the breeze. But his star was high, so he braved the main, And sailed him blithely home again; And with joy he bended his footsteps soon To learn of his love from the matron moon. She sat as of yore, in her olden place, Serene as death, in her silver chair. A white rose gleamed in her whiter hair, And the tint of a blush was on her face. At sight of the youth she sadly bowed And hid her face 'neath a gracious cloud. She faltered faint on the night's dim marge, But "How," spoke the youth, "have you kept your charge?" The moon was sad at a trust ill-kept; The blush went out in her blanching cheek, And her voice was timid and low and weak, As she made her plea and sighed and wept. "Oh, another prayed and another plead, And I couldn't resist," she answering said;" But love still grows in the hearts of men: Go forth, dear youth, and love again." But he turned him away from her proffered grace. "Thou art false, O moon, as the hearts of men, I will not, will not love again." And he turned sheer 'round with a soul-sick face To the sea, and cried: "Sea, curse the moon, Who makes her vows and forgets so soon." And the awful sea with anger stirred, And his breast heaved hard as he lay and heard. And ever the moon wept down in rain, And ever her sighs rose high in wind; But the earth and sea were deaf and blind, And she wept and sighed her griefs in vain. And ever at night, when the storm is fierce, The cries of a wraith through the thunders pierce; And the waves strain their awful hands on high To tear the false moon from the sky. Thou art false, O moon, as the hearts of men. I will not, will not love again. Bulgarian rose, tea rose, violet leaf, opium poppy, Bois de Jasmin, patchouli leaf, honey, blue lilac, balsam, woodruff, and lemon peel. Rose Moon is just achingly beautiful. I say achingly, because this smells to me like longing, as it's a wonderful capture of the poem by Paul Laurence Dunbar. Or as Robert Hass once wrote: Longing, we say, because desire is full / of endless distances. Beth's rose notes are numinous, and here they seem to shimmer a little with a kind of lunar light. There's no doubt on my skin that this is a predominantly rose blend, but the rose is really balanced by the other elements. No one note stands out to me as singular, but if I concentrate I feel like I can smell hints of them---a moment of patchouli leaf and violet leaf that seems to give the blend a bit of earthiness, opium poppy which always smells a little spicy on my skin, the honey and lemon peel giving it a touch of sweetness and tart lift---and the lilac and balsam making something wistful happen in between them. Honestly, I am a total sucker for the rose blends, but even so, this is one of my favorites.
  24. LiberAmoris

    The Hypnotic Eye Atmosphere Spray

    You have it, everyone has it for everyone is born a hypnotist. Would you like to develop your hypnotic powers and wield an influence over others? Would you like to sway the minds of men, make friends and achieve success? You can develop this power in the privacy of your room. Influence the minds, health, and actions of others (results not guaranteed): lavender, mugwort and hops with sandalwood, jasmine sambac, bourbon vanilla, and a mesmerizing wave of white musk. I love the label on this atmo! And I don't know how this is possible, but this is reminding me a bit of a non-floral Erebos. Jasmine-haters, I don't get a lot of jasmine from this at all. Lavender is the primary note, with everything else rounding it out. It's a dry, herbal, musky, vanilla lavender—I only get the sandalwood and jasmine if I'm really looking for them. Another fantastic sleep/chill out scent that I'll keep in the bedroom for dusting linens before bed.
  25. LiberAmoris

    Pyre Nail Polish

    A stop sign red linear holographic filled with holo microflake and a bit of copper shimmer. This post is merely a placeholder for future reviews. Whoever is first to review, please report this post using the report button below, so a mod can merge it with yours. Thanks!
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