hackess

I really wanted this to be coffee single note, and it's nowhere near that. In the imp, it's all boozy caramel, and applied, butterscotch with hints of coffee. It almost immediate turns to woodsy notes, and reminds me very strongly of freshly polished hardwood banisters. It's very dusty and dry. Sophisticated and intellectual. Reminds me of ancient libraries, which is great for the visual, but I'm not a fan of the arid drydown. I've reapplied twice already today, just to cover the papery notes with something sweeter. It's evocative, but I'm not in love with it like I want to be.

Snake Oil isn't among my favorites, but I don't hate it. Which is good, because I can smell it in nearly every Snake Pit scent I've tried. I have a bottle of Green Tree Viper and can justify a bottle of Saw-Scaled Viper (I think I like it more than Shub) I didn't like Asp Viper, Boomslang, or Coral Snake. The only others I could see myself trying are Habu and Temple Viper.

Anything specifically you're looking for? I took most of Nattie's spreadsheet and tweaked it a bit for its current incarnation. Here's most of what was released/discontinued/otherwise made available in 2007. I think I'm probably missing some of the Neil Gaiman stuff from this particular list, but it should be most of what you're looking for. I won't be maintaining this sublist, but I will be updating the full spreadsheet with all the release dates for situations like yours.

Anything specifically you're looking for? I took most of Nattie's spreadsheet and tweaked it a bit for its current incarnation.

Try OpenOffice? It's open source, free, and is nearly fully compatible with MS Office files (except those blasted Office 2007 extensions).

Smut, Crypt Queen (strange, no?), Snake Oil, and I feel like a damn Sex Goddess when wearing Magdalene even if the scent itself doesn't give off that kind of vibe.

Yule update at the bottom, now also contains a partial list of links to review threads, in their own column, for those of you who like those.

Midnight Kiss is the same as Vampire Tears, only with a red background instead of purple. Very cute bat!

Only because you beat me to it! They are the purest rose I've smelled in BPAL's catalog, though Two, Five & Seven is close and just slightly greener. Whip and Wanda are also great rose scents for lovers of strong rose notes.

I was intrigued by Bonfire Night, but put off by the idea of a scent with beer in it. Is it just a background note with a hops smell to it? I get a lot of smokiness off Hellfire, and I like that so Bonfire Night sounds appealing except for the beer part. Pumpkin II sounds good. Pumpkin I is definetley a no-go because I can't stand Jasmine. Is the orange strong in Pumpkin V? Because that one just sounds lovely. The beer didn't come out too much for me, and what did appear was a nice caramel note -- not hops. In Pumpkin V, the blood orange balances really well with red ginger and pumpkin, and (thankfully) masked the vanilla. Pumpkin I didn't give off much jasmine tea, to be honest. I got all fruit (pear and grape). Of course, YMMV.

Pirate Moon is amazing! It's a beautiful calm aquatic that doesn't turn to soggy weeds or ozone on me. Hurrah! It's just slightly green, likely from the coconut palm, and full of soft wood notes. It really does put in mind a perfect white beach, blue ocean, and hanging in a hammock between two palm trees. Even the leather note is soft, like good worn doeskin breeches...and now, there's a bit of salty musk and my mind is wandering to a swarthy pirate and some land-lubbin'.

Try Bonfire Night. DoA and October both didn't work on me, either, and I thought I'd love them. Bonfire Night is almost what I wanted DoA to be: just slightly smoky, just a little earthy, just a little sweet. If you like Jack, you probably want to try the Pumpkin Plunder scents. Pumpkin I is much like Jack in that it's a top note of buttery pumpkin, and then levels out to a nice sweet fruity blend. Pumpkin III has white chocolate and pomegranate. Pumpkin V contains blood orange and red ginger.

The only one of this year's Plunder I didn't like was Pumpkin II -- the champaca was overpowering. I was hesitant about Pumpkin III, as BPAL chocolate and caramel usually don't turn out well on me, but in this blend they were fantastic. It smelled almost like hazelnut coffee, strangely enough, and when dry was a very creamy pomegranate, not overly sweet. Pumpkin V was touted as Pumpkin Queen's little sister, and that's pretty true. It's fruitier than PQ, and not nearly as spicy or regal. Pumpkin I smells like candy! Pumpkin IV is slightly green, thanks to the sage, and really is the only one that retains its pumpkin smell throughout.

I play V:tES, so I wear Crypt Queen during our games no matter what clan my deck is built with. Must've helped last night - I swept the table twice.

I put the updates at the bottom of the list, so you *should* just have to copy the bottommost lines into your version. Lines 1204-1214 cover the Beaver Moon update. You may want to start over on the TAL worksheet, though -- that's been redone entirely.

Ironically, this was the one autumn environment scent I DIDN'T think I'd like -- I thought DoA and October were more up my alley, and neither of those is staying in my stash. Bonfire Night, though, is my perfect fire scent. The treacle is REALLY strong in the imp, but fades pretty quickly once applied. It's a sweetly smoky blend, slightly nutty like cranberry said, and there's an earthiness just under the smoke. It's the lingering smell of bonfire on your clothes and skin, without the acrid scent of ash and ember. I was afraid of amping the a) alcohol from the beer, or the hops of the beer, but instead I get a very rich note, like caramel malt or a the finish of a nice dopplebock.

Very sweet pumpkin! As it dries, it's got almost a sugar-like feel to it; like Smarties candies? I don't know if that's the pear or the white grape taking center stage, but there's no jasmine in this at all on my skin -- and that's good. Delicious! Very soft, fades within two hours.

Anything with red ginger (incl. Pumpkin Queen and, very briefly, Pumpkin V), or any ginger really (Shub), gives my neck a temporary burning sensation about 5 minutes after applying. HOWEVER...so does Snake Oil, and there's no ginger or cinnamon/cassia in that one, as far as I know. So, yes, Saw-Scaled Viper leaves a mark, but so does Green Tree Viper. It's very temporary, only affects my neck (e.g., it doesn't burn my wrists), and I love the scents, so I'm not inclined to part with them. If you're really in love with SSV, maybe a scent locket, or apply it to your hair and over your clothing instead? If you want to try some other blends with cassia to see if that's the culprit, there's Tanin'iver, The Dodo, Morocco, Kali, Plunder, All Saints', Red Phoenix, MB: Underbed, and a Salon, The Death of Sardanapal. Scents with red ginger listed: War, Chrysanthemum Moon, Pumpkin Queen, Pumpkin V, and Trick #1.

Smut -- it tends to last through two days, and two showers. Crypt Queen has been producing similar results.

Bakeneko is close, but Alice is closer.

Death of Autumn straightaway from the imp smells like burned resins -- deep and dark and smoky. Once applied, it's...oh, hey, burning leaves! A little dirt! Some nice sexy musk. That's not so ba....OH NOES! A little goth kid fell into the fire and he was carrying an entire CASE of handrolled clove cigarettes!! THE HUMANITY!!! You see where I'm going with this? DoA began as a nice fall scent, reminiscent of walking through the last of the falling leaves on a chilly wet day. Then, WHOOSH. Heavy, heavy clove. Acrid. Not so much the warm conflagrant feel of a bonfire, but more the hissing embers recently doused and throwing bitter smoke that burns your eyes and throat. As far as descriptions go, oh, it's right on. This is all about autumn's last throes. And that poor kid. What will the babybats smoke now that all the cloves are gone?!?

Schrodinger's Cat is the cutest! I love how the Halloweenie labels all follow the same design.

I'm really looking forward to trying out Plunder - it's right up my tea and spice alley! Kill-Devil is also on my to-try list, though I'm a bit scared of the sugar and honey - both tend to go burned or rancid on me. And I had to order Pirate Moon.

Honestly, it did for me -- with the addition of moth balls. BPAL chocolate (except white chocolate) just does not work on me.

Seems like everything I've been grabbing thus far during cooler weather has been pumpkin-based: Pumpkin Queen, the new Plunder blends, etc.