Nepthys

I've always been intrigued by Jezebel the biblical figure but I wasn't sure how something with orange blossoms and rose would turn out on me; it just sounded too candy-sweet. So I was astounded at how well my own chemistry took to this. While the honey definitely is the dominant note, the orange and rose blend together for a sultry, luxurious and defiant scent. This is a very warm, sun-drenched scent.

This smells just beautiful in the bottle - a rich soft intoxicating cocoa scent. Then I put it on and almost immediately it dries down into something almost cedarish, like the smell of pencils. Then the cocoa note comes back and blends perfectly with the myrrh and sandalwood, and it all adds up to something luxurious and old-fashioned and gorgeous. This is a strangely comforting scent and I find myself wearing it when I'm nervous or traveling. It also lasts a good while on me. Velvet reminds me of childhood, of hot chocolate and the smell of sharpened pencils.

My favorite BPAL green scent. To me this is the smell of the woods I played in as child in the summer - deep, dark green, seductive and mysterious. It's a bit spicy, a bit damp, and keeps me very alert. Wearing this makes me nostalgic (living in a desert) for my New England summers as a kid.

Kyphi is my all-time favorite incense - it's a rich, exotic, voluptous fragrance that is pure magic made properly, but my own attempts at making it haven't been able to duplicate the right scent. This oil creates that smell exactly in the bottle & it is pure enchantment. Unfortunately, it morphs on my skin into a flat resin smell, like gum arabic. I've had to content myself with burning it as a home scent but that's not a bad thing -- burned it evokes the wine, honey, cinnamon, sandalwood, frankincense, raisons, myrrh, etc of Kyphi. This is lovely.

I usually abhor rose scents and yet BPAL has, in their rose-genius, several that I like. I think this may be my favorite. I ordered this because my favorite incense recipe blends rose petals with cinnamon and I hoped this might smell similar. (It does when I blend it with Zombi.) Wet it goes on very sensual and naughty, with the sweetness of rose, yet none of the old-ladyness I associate with so many rose scents. Unfortunately the rose then trumps the cinnamon as it dries down. It's still pretty nice but I think I'll save the rest of mine as a house scent. Burned alone or smeared on candles, it really sets an erotic mood.

I am not a girl for florals but Queen Mab is one of the few I can wear for extended periods without becoming sickened. At first sniff this reminded me of a traditional department store perfume - something formal, ladylike and old-fashioned that had been around for decades. Then it dried down into something green-purple and foresty and feminine, like a night-blooming flower. All in all, aptly named. This is very pretty and was a big hit even with my unadventurous coworker, who can only handle the most traditional scents.

This is a rich deep scent of freshly turned earth, laced with a very light sweetness. It also smells vaguely woodsy to me and suggests the smell of the ground on a damp overcast day. As far as earth-scents, I prefer Zombi to wear, but prefer this to use as a home scent.

Although this is described as a mournful scent, on me it comes across more of as the sweet side of haunting, like an old attic trunk full of antiques and velvet. The amber and musk first start off as a drowsy, clean, just-took-a-shower smell, then deepen into something sophisticated and luxurious. I really love this scent. In some ways it reminds me of a drier, more foreboding version of O.

This is a great example of BPAL's ability to surprise me. I never would have ordered it (though I love the name) because the sound of it seemed so incompatible with my chemistry; fruity scents just don't mix with me. Elizabeth slipped it in as a bonus sample and much to my surprise it smelled good to me - the perfect balance of tartness and sweetness. I was even more surprised when it dried down on me to something heady and very sweet without being overwhelming. This actually does remind me of the Old West a bit - it's a very sassy scent, as you imagine a bordello girl would have to be back then.

As a big fan of Velvet, I wasn't sure I would need another chocolaty BPAL scent - especially one laced with cherry. But Elizabeth slipped in a sample of this and wow, do I adore it. I can pick out the chocolate, cherry and orange and yet it's not sickeningly sweet at all - just delicious. It reminds me of Christmas, that fresh smell that comes at you when you open up a box of luxury goodies. Whereas Velvet has a darker and somewhat mesmerizing quality to it, this tends to perk me right up. Unfortunately after the first hour it loses some of the chocolateness as it dries down, leaving mainly a liquored-cherry whiff.

Very nice scent but not for me. For some reason a strong note of jasmine came through on me which is the one scent I can't handle. Even so, I still liked the overall blend. It is very tropical yet in an elegant, feminine way, not a blaring sex-and-sand way. This reminds me of a 1950's perfume your mother might have brought back from Hawaii. I will probably use the rest of my imp as a room scent.

I'd heard this was the boy version of O or Snake Oil so I had to try it. On me this brings forth the amber-vanilla notes of the former, but with a masculine edge of wood and smoke. Gorgeous scent, very sexual and confident; this does evoke images of a beautiful boy for me, but one who is golden and pampered, not butch or rough.

Sniffing this in the vial, I was not impressed - it smelled like straight patchouli and that is what first came through wet on me, with a very hippie-ish heavy incense smell. Then the ginger came on and it dried down into something bold and challenging, yet sweet. As the day wore on, I got more and more attracted to it and now I find it irresistible. It reminds me a lot of a Chanel perfume, Coco Mademoiselle. I love blends that are completely new to me, yet make perfect olfactory sense and this is one. This is a very self-assertive scent and makes a great fall perfume.

This is a nice mix of florals, but a little too sophisticated for me. It reminds me of something an older powerful woman would wear, a subtly dominating scent which would underscore her power.

I do get the baby powder associations others have mentioned but this also comes on as very green and grassy to me. It dries down into something soft and half-innocent, half-mysterious. This is an addictive scent that can grow cloying worn every day but worn once in a while, it's beautiful. My only concern is that it might be stronger than I perceive it to be, because twice I have had strangers lean in and sniff and ask what perfume I'm wearing.

In the bottle this smelled too sweet and childish for me. But on it began with the floral note dominating, and then dried down to a vanilla baby powder smell - yet there was a lift of sophistication that saved it from being too cloying. This is a very pretty scent and though I sometimes don't feel comfortable in ultra-feminine perfumes, this is a great light summer scent.

This was thick and dark green on me. I thought the floral notes might add some sweetness but really it was just a murky, mossy vegetation smell on me. None of the hothouse flowers came through at all. It's funny but I don't find this humid in the least; I think that's because I used to live in a swamp town in South Carolina and this was totally evocative of how the swamps smelled in winter -- dry, spooky and very green.

I'm beginning to love so many BPAL oils that I'm having a hard time ranking my ultimate favorites, but this is definitely one of my top-tier ones. I think I can pick out cinnamon or cardamon, sandalwood, almond and spices, but really it all comes together in a perfect blend that dries down on me to smell exactly as it did wet: warm, sophisticated, inviting and exotic. I love that it is spicy without being bitter. It does fade quickly on me halfway, and then the ghost of it lingers on all day. But I don't mind reapplying because this is just so beautiful.

This really works with my chemistry and for that I am grateful, because nothing has ever smelled as good on me as O. It smells like warm skin, sex and cake - arousing and cozy and mysterious all at the same time. This is my all-time favorite scent ever. This summer I've been wearing it set with Kama Sutra honey dust powder and the effect is ... quite nice.

Sandalwood is my all-time favorite scent, so I suspected I would fall in love with this and I was right. Wet, it didn't smell all that complex to me - then it dried down into a very rich, wicked and seductive smell. The cinnamon is barely detectable, but deepens and sweetens the sandalwood to a perfect extent. This reminded me of something a very confident, wealthy courtesan would wear. Strangely this, more than any other BPAL scent, has elicited verbal compliments from men who usually refrain from such. One even made me write down BPAL's url so he could buy a bottle for his girlfriend.

Wet, the woodsy notes dominated and smelled exactly like a Southern graveyard in autumn. It dried down, however, to a churchier scent of heavy frankincense - something I'm not fond of. Luckily that only lasted a short time before morphing to a nutty, mossy wet-tree smell and then settling into a lovely scent that I can only describe as burning incense outside on a wet fall day. I would love this on a man but I like it quite a bit on myself as well.

This is clean, green and very bright. I love this scent, though it doesn't suggest to me the usual suicide connotation of hemlock; it's just too happy and bright. It's not the wild green of a forest, but rather the peppier green of ferns and lemons, such as a freshly-cleaned greenhouse. So often bright green scents turn cloying on me after a while but Hemlock stays clean and enticing the whole time. I really like this.

This took some getting used to. It is quite sharp, as the name implies, and kept me on edge. The grapefruit and mint came through very loudly on me, drowning out the aquatic notes, and somehow made it impossible for me to relax while I could smell this. I couldn't wear it at all at work, but at home it was the perfect summer night fragrance for doing my nails, cranking the AC and puttering around the house. It's a very fresh, invigorating scent and VERY different from the scents that are usually described that way - this is quite unique and worth a try.

This sounded like such an odd blend of different scents that I couldn't even imagine how it would smell - but I have always loved the goddess Kali so I figured I had to order this. And it is divine. This is very light, not heavy at all, yet decadent and seductive at the same time. To me this strikes the perfect balance - not overly sweet or innocent like so many light scents, and not overpowering or heavy like so many sensual scents. As others have said, on me different notes dominate on different days - sometimes it's a very sweet and warm wine-floral smell and other times the chocolate comes through, and at other times it's quite smokey. It reminds me of the way a sophisticated perfume smells on a woman not when she puts it on, but hours into a party, when it's commingled a bit with smoke and the warmth of her skin.

I knew from the description that I would love this and I was right. I missed out on June Gloom but this scent sort of hit what I was looking for -- a suggestion of an overcast summer day, damp and fresh yet dark. This reminds me of those silent moments in a forest before a storm when all of the birds are silent and you can smell that tangy damp woods smell; this has that same profound, unsettling and invigorating feeling. Very nice. ETA: So many moons later, I had to say that I just love this scent. My reactions to most BPAL seem to fluctuate so much - currently I am off all sweet scents - but Incantation always has that mysterious, fresh impact on me. This is the perfect summer scent to me because it reminds me of so many pleasant summer associations - being in a library on a hot day, walking through the woods before a storm, even clubbing. Definitely one of my top 5.