crimescenecleanup

I'd have to agree with Hoyden. Manhattan was my first thought, also. Very sophisticated and suitable for a professional.

Actually, reactions to codeine are very common. Codeine is derived from opiates, and is metabolized back into morphine by the body. This is what makes it an effective painkiller. Unfortunately, it's estimated that about 10% of the population are unable to metabolize codeine into morphine, and receive no benefit from taking it. A much higher percentage of the population are able to break codeine down into morphine, just not well, and suffer from side effects ranging from skin rashes to headaches and nausea after taking it. These same people may not have the same reaction to other opiate drugs. True opiate allergies are actually very rare. Definitely confirm with your doctor that this is a true morphine allergy - and not just a nasty side effect of codeine - before deciding that you are allergic to all opiate drugs. As for BPAL blends, well...opiates and the plants they are derived from are really tightly controlled in the United States, where BPAL is produced, so it would be illegal for the lab to use actual opium in any of their products. Products like perfume and incense labeled "opium" are using a scent accord, basically a blend of other oils designed to be evocative of, but not actually containing, real opium. Even if Beth is using extracts from plants that contain natural opiates, like poppies, you probably have nothing to worry about. It takes many pounds of resin a particular species of poppy and a refining process to produce even a small quantity of morphine or codeine. The amount present in a perfume oil would be less than, say, the amount present in a poppy-seed bagel, which is generally considered safe for just about everybody.

Fire of Love works. And I have to say...Casanova lives up to its name.

The "something floral" scent that reminded Harry of The Burrow, that wafts up from the love potion? I always imagined that floral (and Ginny Weasley) to smell precisely like Maiden. Also, Queen Alice, with the cider and the treacle tarts and the ink smells like Halloween at Hogwarts, to me.

Sugar and musk? I would say Smut or Red Lantern, both of which are usually available as Lupercalia scents. Smut: "Three swarthy, smutty musks sweetened with sugar and woozy with dark booze notes." ...I didn't actually get any booze out of smut. just sugar and musk. But I amp BPAL sugar notes like nothing else, so... And while there's no musk listed in Red Lantern, it seemed very candy like to me. Sensual caramel candy. the original Beaver Moon/Beaver'sary also has a very strong icing/frosting note to it.

Beaverversary is all cupcakes on me, the smell of warm cupcakes out of the oven combined with the smell of freshly mixed buttercream frosting and cheesecake with the caramelized-sugar crust. Of all the BPAL food scents I have tried, this one is the most exact representation of the food listed in the description. ...I'm getting kind of a creepy vibe here, wondering how on earth Beth created a vegan, non-synthetic facsimilie of buttercream frosting and vanilla cupcakes and bottled it. Dear Lab: You madmen! What has science done?! On the drydown, this has kind of a gritty, almost molasses-like raw sugar note to it that reminds me of Sugar Skull, and in addition to the buttercream, there is a sweetened cream cheese/neufchatel scent. It's a little strange to smell like cheese but it's blended so well into this rich dessert that somehow, it just works. It gives this scent a richness and a creaminess and a kind of musky quality that balances the sweet and sugar. It's definitely not all sweetness and light. This is sensual, in the same way that biting into a really decadent dessert is. These are sexy, dirty, naughty cupcakes. After drydown the scent stays the same for hours and hours and does not morph. Of all the BPAL blends I have tried, this one has the best staying power and a very strong throw. I don't slather, I dab lightly, and this was still going strong after 12 hours. I wore it to bed and it was still going strong the next morning. I took a shower and washed my hair - twice - and when I got out of the shower it was still there. Most of the sweetness is gone, but there is just a hint of creaminess and vanilla left that is very pleasant. Final verdict: One of the best foody scents out there - perfect for anyone who is looking to smell over-the-top sweet, sexy, and edible. However, it's too strong and too cloying for everyday wear or for work/professional dress situations. It would make a great scent for a fun night out or a cuddly date at home, or for attracting a very hungry partner. I'm not into sweet scents at all, but this is so close to real cupcakes that I am really tempted to hold onto it and find excuses to wear it.

Leo 2007 is my favorite nut blend. It has a walnut note, and it's very warm and golden. I really loved the almond in Seraglio, as well

I'm so surprised that Succubus doesn't get more love! This is one of my all-time favorites. Neroli, bergamot, orange blossom and clove are usually deal breakers for me. They always come out way too strong and make otherwise subtle and lovely blends go strange on me. But I'm such a sucker for mimosa that I had to try Succubus. Maybe it was just crazy enought o work...? I'm so glad that I did. The orange blossom is the closest thing to real orange blossoms I've ever smelled. I mean, perfect, fresh orange blossoms on a hot night. It has a little hint of sweetness, but not a fruity, sugary sweetness - the kind of sweetness that comes from the nectar of the blossoms. The neroli is light, airy, floral, and a bit like kumquats...I recognize it, but it's so much better than other neroli oils I've tried. Maybe I've just never smelled good quality neroli before BPAL? It lacks the headache-inducing sharpness some nerolis have. The bergamot is rich and deep and bitter-tart, like the fragrance wafting up from a good cup of Earl Grey. The cloves is indeed a sweet clove - the kind I associate with baked goods. Not bitter or overpowering, just enough to add some unexpected spice and sweetness. The mimosa is a "soft" mimosa, it makes a nice background. The individual notes don't seem blended so much as layered - you can pick out each individual one and they complement each other perfectly. They also play nice, staying mellow and no one scent comes to the forefront to push the others out of the way. This succubus is surprisingly delicate and ladylike. An unusual perfume, bright and citrusy and exotic, but still soft, feminine, light. A stellar locket scent. Not a lot of throw, but good staying power. And there's my love letter to Succubus.

It's an LE, but if you can come up with a bottle of Hellhound On My Trail, it's a very macho, perfectly blended vanilla. Seems to get better with age, too.

woohoo! More Chaos Theories! MXX/1020 In the bottle: hello, cherry cough syrup. How odd, I've never smelled BPAL that was so...precisely like cherry cough syrup before. It's like sweet, medicinal, menthol-cherry. On the skin: yep, definitely some eucalyptus or menthol in her, but it's light. The cherry is very strong, and very sweet - like cherry candies, not all all like real cherries. And do I detect a hint of grape? On the skin, drydown whoa, yeah GRAPE...CHERRY... CANDY. This smells exactly like the cherry-grape FruitGushers candies used to taste. And yet, it's not turning directly to sugar like most sweet scents do on my skin. More like fruit leather - not like a hard candy. There's something grounding it, a couple of bitter, medicinal notes that remind me of coughdrops and and cough syrup. What could that bitter note be? hyssop? eucalyptus? The longer I wear this, the drier and more sour it becomes. I shouldn't love this, but I do! I smell like candy and it's wonderful, bitter, medicinal candies with a hint of cold and a delicious sweet, tart fruit coating to help it go down. This is perfect. I dislike sweet foods, but I love sour and bitter foods, and the lab has given me bitter candy. It's too perfect. MXLVI/1046 in the bottle - honeysuckle on the skin - honeysuckle has disappeared. Now I get woods and moss. The woods are pale and fresh, like peeled birch and pine boughs, and the mosses really stand out. This is a forest path after a rain. drydown - the honeysuckle returns with a vengeance - but instead of being overly sweet, like honeysuckle usually is on me, this is fresh, and smells just like the blossoms when you break them open to find the nectar inside. Even more surprising, I get a hint of rose (?). This is turning into a lovely, mossy, woodsy, very grown-up floral. Very fresh, not overly sweet, and quite sophisticated. Moss is still the dominant note, touched with nectar and living trees. It is so feminine, and so unexpected. I'm so happy to find a floral I can wear! Unfortunately it fades very quickly, but I imagine letting it age and settle a bit will help improve the throw. MLXIII/1063 in the bottle: bowl-me-over butterscotch. how did the lab no I wanted something wih buter and booze in it... on the skin: 'eyes roll back into head' 'falls out of chair' 'twitches for a few minutes in foody ecstasy' 'picks self up, dusts self off' excuse me. ahem. yes. this is nice. The predominant notes are butter and caramelized sugar. It also has a thick, custardy note. Imagine a creme brulee or flan with a crackling layer of burnt sugar on top, sitting next to a plate of warm butter-poundcake fresh out of the oven. This is so perfectly blended, no one note is dominant. drydown: 'waits in foody bliss for awhile'...! Is that...dirt? and...metal? wha? Egg'd mailbox, is that you? It is! This is almost precisely the same custard blend on drydown as Egg'd Mailbox. With this freaky, cold, resin-and dirt note and a hint of metal and ozone. This is the scent of the creme brulee ground into the black earth, with a cold metal shovel, while an icy rain falls. Unlike Egg'd Mailbox did on me, it never becomes cloyingly sweet or greasy, in any stage. It stays true and delicious throughout. This is both spooky and scrumptious, and I love it. Hooray for CTIV!

I just wanted to add that I thought starlurs posting was excellent and informative. I recently met another massage therapist who has been studying aromatherapy for about twenty years and makes her own essential oil blends. She demonstrated for me how she makes accords - she showed me her recipes for fresh pear, leather, and rainwater accords. It was eerie. She basically mixed a few drops each of a bunch of different essential oils into a carrier oil - I think she used sweet lavender and a couple of evergreen and citrus extracts for the pear - and blended together they were an almost exact replica of the real thing. She also had essential oils derived from things like dandelions, and various types of kelp that she had gotten from local botanists and herbalists that distill their own oils. Dandelions? Kelp? Who knew these things were available? Then my brother brought back tinctures of local lichens and moss from his last trip to Reykjavik. Seriously, if folks are out their extracting essences from obscure things like ice lichens, I'm pretty sure BPAL has a pretty broad palette with which to work when they try to approximate with essential oils scents that are usually only available as synthetics. I was skeptical for a long time that many scents could be recreated without synthetics, but the more I observe people working with plant-derived fragrance oils, the more convinced I am that perfume companies never have to touch synthetics to produce really gorgeous fragrances. As for the the international shipping questions, when in doubt, I just write down "cosmetic samples" or "cosmetic oils" and that has seemed to work.

LVII (57) Arrived today. The labels is gorgeous, all deep earth tone fractals with the roman numerals in gold ink. It's also full almost to the lip of the bottle. Won't be running out of this any time soon. In the bottle: dark, sweet resins, dark like the artwork on the label. Intriguing. On the skin: Wha? where'd my perfume go? It disappeared. I smell nothing. That's...odd. About two minutes later: some kind of wood? warm and almost buttery - usually this is the scent I associate with oak, but it is very faint. First stage of drydown: the wood notes become a little stronger, I think there is something like hazel, and something like rosewood in this as well. There is a sweetness to this blend, but it's the sweetness you sometimes find in smoke or tree sap - it's overwhelmingly masculine and earthy. I'm certain this is the resin note I can't seem to identify. There is a warm, nutty note in this that also reminds me of sweet pipe tobacco, tonka, and classic men's colognes, perhaps coumarin? Last stages of drydown: The woods have faded to the background a bit, and the sweet nuttiness comes to the forefront with hint of warm musk. Reminds me a bit of Hunter Moon and Ivanushka, but less sweet and quite a bit darker than either. The wood notes remind me a lot of Arkham without the florals. So there we have it - sweet resins, woods, musk, and something like pipe tobacco. The throw is very light, and the scent overall is faint. Still, that hasn't kept me from keeping my nose pressed to my wrist for the last hour trying to figure out what on earth was in this. It's already nice, but I think it would improve greatly with a little aging. I was really hoping for a unique, woodsy "forest" scent. This wasn't at all what I expected, but I think I may have gotten just what I wished for. I can see how Chaos Theory can be so addictive! This was great fun.

Home from the movie. What'd you finally decide, neddykapoozle? Shub must have cinnamon or cassia in it, because I diluted it in some lotion and dabbed some on my cleavage, twenty minutes later, big red welts all over my chest and a turtleneck. Damnit. That didn't happen the first time I tested it - I thought all the spiciness was from the ginger. No evil, oversexed gingersnap scent for me, then. Ah, allergies - my true and undefeatable nemesis. Should have gone with Bastet. Never tried Lyonesse, although it sounds intriguing. And I love the pun! Oh well...I couldn't find my purple cat ears, either. Just the gloves and boots. So I guess I was Catwoman on her off night, in jeans and a long-sleeve cover-up shirt. So now I really want to know - what are the scent notes in Smilex?

I giggled so hard when I saw this topic. hmm, I immediately think of the warrior scents from Illyria - Antony (leather, ambergris, frankincense, sage, basil) and Titus Andronicus (sandalwood, frankincense, neroli, bergamot) for theme. But honestly, I think Batman, or at least Bruce Wayne, would smell like Manhattan - rich and sophisticated - amber, leather, tea, orchids, polished teak, biting citrus. Tonight my theme is Catwoman, even thought she's not in the movie, and tonight Selina Kyle smells like Shub Niggurath! Spicy and dangerous!

OK, clawsight, I loved your description of the blue-faced hag at Lowe's. I remember the first time I tried this scent, back when I first got into BPAL, it was from a fresh imp and it was very sharp, sour, and musky, all wet lichen and civet. Now that I've time to sit down and do a proper review with an imp that's settled a bit, it's not sharp at all. The first thing that jumps out is oak - this is a warm, woodsy scent, all the way through. The one characteristic of Black Annis that never changes on me, from bottle to drydown, is the scent of oak. On drydown the vetiver comes out full force to blend with the oak - this is a vetiver that is more "cream and mown hay" than "earthy and green". The anise adds a touch of cool sweetness, and there's a warm, sweet, fierce musk behind it all - maybe the civet? And just a hint of something astringent, sour, and cold in the background, which reminds me of lichen liqueurs my brother buys when he goes back to Iceland, so I think it's the lichen. Altogether, it's almost foody - foody like some kind of unholy whiskey and absinthe cocktail due to the oak and anise, but still warm and sweet and almost edible. At different stages it almost seems like there's caramel or cedar in this. The downside? The throw. I have never, ever tried a perfume with so much...ooomph. I tried a dab of this on the inside of my arm and I feel like I'm being beaten over the head with vetiver grass and oak branches, while small musky forest critters pelt me with licorice and caramels. It's nice to have a BPAL with a lot of throw, but this might be too much for me. After about an hour the cooler notes come out, the vetiver and oak start to behave themselves, and it does take on a sour sharpness but it's so well blended with the warm woods and musk that it never overtakes the blend. It gives the impression of walking through a forest in autumn, ankle deep in dry , decaying leaves, a chill in the air, the last warmth of the setting sun leaving the wet earth, and the animal musk of a predator following you. Creepy, indeed. What an evocative scent. Perfect for Halloween. I love this and how well blended it is. Unfortunately it's way_too_strong for my tastes. headache inducing too strong. With amazing staying power. It's now four hours after I put it on, and it's still really powerful. Even washing my arms up to the elbows and doing a two-minute surgical scrub, the scent hasn't gone away. If I can find a way to dilute this a bit before wearing it, I think it would be a lovely, unique scent, one of my favorites, but for now I'm too concerned with how to get it off. Maybe it should go in a scent locket next time?

I have the Dark Delicacies version of this. In the bottle - strong dragon's blood and spicy cocoa. The oil is actually a dark red color. I wouldn't apply this directly to clothing, but the oil itself is lovely and the color doesn't show on skin. Wet, on the skin - this is a more resiny, incensey dragon's blood that the fruity/waxy note I usually get from BPAL dragon's blood blends. The cocoa come outs right away and it's strong, but not sweet. More of a gritty, dark chocolate note, like cocoa powder. I this. It's very much the dark chocolate/incense blend I was hoping to find with Velvet. It's got a light "apple pie spice" kinda thing going on with the allspice. The black pepper offers a clean, dusty note that makes me think of warm sand. No obvious vetiver yet - I think it's just giving the cocoa a bit of depth. drydown - Someone in the compliments thread described this blend as "renn faire incense" and I'd have to agree. There's something about it that makes me think it would be perfect for a Renn Faire or SCA pirate. Probably the exotic spices. drydown, about two hours later - At this stage, the blood musk really comes out. I suspect it has vanilla, because I always get a 'hard sauce" vanilla/cream/booze mix out of BPAL's blood musk, with a heavy dose of dragon's blood resin. At this stage the dragon's blood develops a cherry-like scent. It's foody without being sweet - the cocoa still blends beautifully with the incense and spices, providing a very dark, smoky background for the blood musk. The vetiver comes out at this stage, and it's a gentle vetiver, balancing out the blend with a dry herbal note. Overall, this blend is surprisingly light, with less throw than most BPAL, but fantastic staying power. It's a soft, skin-hugging scent. Perfect for summer days when you need a scent that's a little bit lighter than usual, but still want to wear something spicy or foody or dark and sensual. And Tell-Tale Heart manages to be all of these things.

Oh...The Black Tower That is one creepy scent. the moldy, decaying dirt notes, the green ivy, the metallic bite.

I get play-doh and plastic notes from the sweeter vanilla scents - antique lace, velvet, etc. almonds and musks are fine on me. I hear that vanilla gets better with age - will aging these bottle for a few months or even a year help cut down on the play-doh note? Has anybody tried this?

Ok, those savvy to Ancient Greek, classics majors, linguists, and the like - What's the proper pronunciation for Sybaris? Which syllable is stressed? And for that matter, Sybarite. Also, Aeaea is driving me batty I, too, am tempted to say it A-e-a-e-a like E-i-e-i-o, 'cause that's the only way I can remember the spelling. But I say it "I(long) -a (long)-yah"

Tziporra - I never wore Blood countess for long enough to test this theory, but I see it has a lilac note. and BPAL lilac note gives me a fierce headache in all the others blends it's in. Perhaps that's it? amnerine - tonka is toxic, but not immediately. It's only through prolonged use and exposure that it can be considered toxic and/or a carcinogen, and as far as I know, that was only known from studies involving the use of cigars, cigarettes, and foods flavored with a particular extract of tonka. So as long as you aren't ingesting it in large quantities, you're probably ok. The lab may be using a tonka-scented oil that's safe, or perhaps there's nothing to fear from skin exposure. If you are concerned about slathering yourself in any of the tonka blends on a daily basis and exposing yourself to too much, perhaps email the lab and ask them about it.

I've run into post office troubles as well. The reason they don't want people shipping perfumes is because most do use alcohol, which is extremely flammable. I'm not sure how most commercial outfits that ship perfume get around this, perhaps they have a special permit? Anyway, I do know that the US postal service will not allow private individuals to ship alcohol based perfumes for this reason. I've had an absolutely terrible time trying to explain to postal workers and customs agents that BPAL products are not alcohol based, so now I just say "It's a fragrance oil" or "it's an essential oil blend" and that seems to go over ok.

Oh my. I was so looking forward to this one, because I adore frankicense, white musk, and osmanthus, and being into herbal medicine, I'm quite intrigued by the Nile Lily, or Blue River Lotus. Straight out of the bottle, the osmanthus gives this a very "perfumey" quality - not the lingering chemical overtone one associates with modern perfumes, but more the astringent, flowery sweetness of a good classic perfume. The smell of osmanthus always reminds me of strongly scented jasmine tea, and it's definitely a strong note in this blend. On the skin...blueberries?!?! Blueberry jam?!?! With an overtone of musk?!? What? Now I love blueberries, but this is odd. Odd in a "I love it - it's like fresh fruit"! way, but I can't think of any other cosmetic product I've smelled that reminded me of...blueberries. Maybe it's the Nile Lily? Well, at any rate, it's a cool, musky, fruity scent at this stage...it definitely has a "blue" feel. The osmanthus is still perfumey, and the frankincense is powdery, hardly there at all. Aaaaah, here we go. The drydown stage is really lovely. The osmanthus has settled a bit and developed a rich, dry, tea-like quality on drydown, while the frankincense has developed into a deep, true resin base note, and the Nile Lily comes across as sweet and fresh, while the white musk has the creamiest and softest drydown of any of the BPAL musk scents I've tried so far. About an hour after wearing it the sweetness has become little more than a whisper, and this has become a lovely, musky, dry, cool scent. This is so beautifully blended, I'm very glad that I found a bottle!

KABUKI!

Ha! I always marvel at how the lab can bottle a sense of humor. I once heard the new Shojo-Beat scents described as "very teeny-bopper", and I wondered how that could be possible. How can a perfume be "teeny-bopper"? well Teenage Cannibal has succeeded, in the very best way. This is totally the first perfume a girl would get hooked on wearing - foody and sweet and fruity and innocent but just grown-up enough that a 13 year old reading Tiger Beat would think it was really cool. Straight out of the bottle, I get a sweet bubble-gum scent, probably the pear and candyfloss, with a juicy grapefruit-lemon-ginger smoothie. Underneath is a thick, rich cream scent that reminds me of coconut cream used for cooking, or a really decadent ice cream. It's that mellow, heavy cream note that is distinct from BPAL's milk note, for which I am thankful. It has very strong throw and good lasting power. The citrus-ginger tang and overall brightness of this scent makes me think of bottled sunshine. I am convinced now that the teenage cannibal is a valley girl. This is totally not the kind of scent that I would usually wear, but I like it so much I might hold on to it, just for those summery days when I'm feeling immature and goofy. It's not something I would wear to the office, but it would be a good scent for miniature golfing or hanging out at the mall with girlfriends or rollerblading near the beach. So what if I smell like bubblegum? I smell like really delicious bubblegum, and that's what matters.

Leo 2007. I will take out 1mL of BPAL from a bottle and dilute it in a 5mL roller bottle with an after-bath oil blend, so I can use it as a roll-on and slather it. Leo is one of those scents that stays strong, even when diluted, and I love it. I'm gone through two and half rollerbottles and my 5mL is half empty already.