starwild

*cries*

It's...so...perfect...

And I only got a decant.

This is the most wonderful, fruity, smooth, warm scent with a tweak of pink pepper. It's lighter than Mme. Moriarty, but to me it's in the same family. It's more adult than Mme. Lilith and much more playful than MM.

It's so smooth, with a great throw and long-wearing. It's just incredible, and I'm an idiot for missing out.

It's sort of patchouli-ish currant with almost a woody undertone (I guess that's the leather). It's not overly sweet, but it is a sweetish blend. I'm in love.

This is soooo good.

As it moves through the drydown, the feminine floral perfume switches places with the smoke and leather. Overall it's a smoky, leathery floral. Goooorgeous! Total bottle purchase. Sadly, it's very light and fades quickly on me--maybe I'll try it in my clocket.

I'm really surprised more people aren't reviewing this one!

The brimstone is not nearly as strong as it is in some blends, here it's much more reminiscent of dark smoky night than anything. It balances neatly with a whiff of clove, and then there's a sweetness that I guess is the copper-colored feathers. Overall a wonderful, really beautiful and surprisingly classy kind of perfume. I think it's a lovely, adult, feminine kind of fall scent. I'll be using this decant a lot over the next while, and considering a bottle. I bet it'll age beautifully.

09 version: I get mostly boozy sugar with a touch of musk while this is wet on my skin, and it fades to the most incredible spicy blend that's soooo good. It is kind of like fireballs, as others have noted, but on me it's more complex. I can still smell a bit of the booze and sugar in the background.

This is my new favorite fall scent. It's heavenly. Have to get a bottle.

This is the most wonderful, soft floral. I find it very relaxing and put it on my bed linens. Now all I want to do is curl up for a nap and drift off to sleep smelling The Fainting Couch!

Very light and feminine.

(This review is for the 2008 version.)

First, I want to quote my review of the original Snake Charmer:

Okay, so...I'm staunchly anti-coconut and vanilla. They just don't work on me. Vanilla turns to dime store french vanilla without fail and my skin amps it until I smell like a puddle of melted ice cream. I refused to try any BPAL with vanilla, excepting Perversion which was a frimp, and which I quickly got rid of anyway. I was content in my vanilla-shunning ways and accepting of the fact that I will never be able to handle a lot of BPAL scents because of the vanilla note.

 

Until a kind soul sent me a sniffie of Snake Charmer.

 

The spices and amber so overwhelm the vanilla that even my horrible chemistry can't amp it. It just adds a touch of soothing warmth to what is otherwise a holy-cow-sexy blend of richness.

 

If I could choose any scent for a revival, I do believe this one would be it. This blend, and this blend alone, is why I'm now dying to try Snake Oil, am giving Blood Kiss a go, and just got an imp of Mme. Moriarty. If Mme. Moriarty is like this but with patchouli, I will go crazy for it, but that's neither here nor there.

 

Snake Charmer: charms even the forum vanilla hater. This is a miracle. Beth, perhaps this can make a guest appearance in the next act of CD?

A year later, and thanks to SC, I am now totally unafraid of vanilla, benzoin, vanilla bean, orchid vanille, vanilla musk...you name it, I'll try it! *steps up to podium* Snake Charmer changed my life. *steps down*

I see people saying it's not doing it for them, and I say...don't knock it till it's aged.

The 2008 version IS much like Snake Oil/Mme. Moriarty, but that's because it's fresh. Personally I love the 2008 fresh version too! It's not as plasticy-Playdough as Snake Oil. However it's much more lightweight than the aged version. It's a lady who has only gotten half of her clothes on, and she isn't quite ready to go out yet. But when she is all dressed up, she will be STUNNING.

On me, SC 2008 is amberish, spicy vanilla--very brown and creamy white, with sparks of green and orange. This one does not have a ton of throw, but it does promise the same lasting strength. It's more subtle and while not sharp, doesn't have the depths of coconut and dark spice that develops when it's properly aged.

People are going to be kicking themselves (again) over this one in a couple years. Fortunately I bought four bottles, so I will not be one of them.

Five Stars, a Ten, a total

This scent is pure, unadulterated Blue Raspberry Warheads on me. Sweet, blue, lightly tart, and dusted with powdery sugar residue. It's light and fresh and playful, and while I'm not a foodie and don't particularly want to smell like blue raspberry, I'm tempted to get a bottle.

Edit 1-15-09: Temptation won out and I bought a bottle.

I'm very surprised this blend is not getting more press, because whoa Nelly, it's insanely good.

On me, it's a bit like the red musk of Mme. Moriarty with a kick of pink pepper and tinge of lemon and cinnamon. When my mother smelled me, she got mostly cinnamon, even though that's not listed in the notes.

I never get tobacco out of this, nor sarsaparilla or flowers.

Yet unlike Mme. Moriarty, which I can't wear often because of its thick heaviness, Fire Phoenix is very wearable and not overpowering. A deep scent without being too rich or heavy. After a few hours it morphs down into this medium-depth, sweet-spicy scent that is simply delicious and lasts forever.

It's everything I love about BPAL and nothing I don't. Multiple bottle purchase for sure, and in my top ten.

This one's a sort of slightly sweet, slushy, cool mint. Mint leaves strewn over snow, maybe. It's not the winter scent I was hoping for, but it's nice, uncomplicated and unobtrustive. I've been wearing it to the office a lot, and in my hair.

This is absolutely my favorite of the three Little Miss Lilith forum only scents. It reminds of Hell's Belle but with vanilla, and less of an attitude, more of a quiet self-certainty. It's softer than Hell's Belle and the opium is smoky and not horribly sweet, but just the right touch. The musk and mandarin and tea, plus the flowers and vanilla-opium is something incredibly smart, sophisticated, but strong and beautiful.

I desperately need a bottle or bottles of this one, sadly I'm broke--if you're not sure, get bottle(s) because I will buy it from you later! Heck, I might claim this as my signature scent if that honor hadn't already been taken.

OM NOM NOM.

Spicy, almost tea-like apple cider with orange and spice. I get a swash of smoke too, from the fire, so it's not overly sweet.

Fabulous scent for autumn and winter! Love it.

The blood musk, amber, and Nicotiana attracted me to this scent, let's see if it bears out.

Seems very dark and bitter going on, I get the Nicotiana most strongly.

Yet as it dries, it becomes very golden-amber-brown in texture, surprisingly soft. It reminds me a bit of The Lion, must be the same amber note. But where The Lion is all Serengeti heat and grassland, this is late afternoon sunshine and warm wood. It's a very different scent post-drydown, oddly enough I'm finding a lot of this year's 'weenies are. Beautiful and perfect for autumn afternoons. It reminds me of jumping into leaves while wearing warm sweaters. I don't get much blood musk at all.

Going on, this is frighteningly dark and almost vertiver-like, but once it hits my skin it turns into murky pines under a chilly full moon night. I can almost see the Goblin Rider there, just an outline, lurking in the darkness.

As it warms up on my skin...well, it doesn't really ever warm up, it's cool all the way through, but now I get a whiff of that church incense, but the combination of the woodsy notes and the incense makes it scarier.

Total yum, really spooky. Very glad to have this for Halloween! This will probably be what I'll wear.

The night air is tempting me to go for a bottle. I think this is one for the wishlist.

The sweet smell of fresh-cut grass and the tang of slightly bitter fallen leaves.

Does what it says on the label. I'm tempted for a bottle for the wishlist; I just don't know that I'd actually wear it all. Very evocative and gentle.

My first time trying any Samhain blend. This is the '08.

I can sum it up in three words: HUBBA HUBBA, BABY.

This is so sexy, delicious, and mysterious. It's not overwhelming, but it's dark, spicy, with a hint of something that is very like an old forest. It's not the foody scent I thought it would be, it's more like Schwarzer Mond, with the dark, enticing, want-to-devour-yourself richness. It's perfectly reminiscent of a late fall night, and the smoke from a fire. Although it was a little intimidating at first, it's like walking through a scary haunted house and then coming out to have cider with friends and tell ghost stories in a damp campground.

This is going on my bottle wishlist for sure! Amazing. I can't believe I waited so long to try it.

ETA: I swear I didn't read LadyLuckless' review before writing mine, yet we both compared it to a journey. Ha, great minds think alike about great perfume. Seriously, if it doesn't work at first, let it morph.

This smells like Spearmint gum that's been left in a pocketbook a little too long, and blended in with some orange tic-tacs. I like it, very fruity and minty. In the drydown there's a tiny bit of bubbling champagne.

I hate to do this, but..

EEEEEWWWW.

This isn't nice smooth leather, it's sweaty and gross and broken-in. If you like that kind of thing then good for you, but this one is just not my thing. The vertiver is way too heavy for me, on top of the stinky leather. Definitely off to trade/sell.

Imp: Why does this smell like the French Quarter?

Wet: Dark orange and something like bitter chocolate.

Dry: Orangey, spicy floral with something like bitter chocolate.

Not really my thing, but it's a nice blend. Sexy.

The mandarin from my loved Hell's Belle, separated and thrown in with fig. Fruity but not overpoweringly sweet--kind of a "mature" orange scent.

Not bad.

Imp: Fruity and floral, in a dry way, with something grounding it out.

Wet: Fruit and flowers over a punch of something kind of harsh. Kind of makes me want to sneeze.

Dry: I can smell the aquatic notes now. There's something really fierce underneath, and I'm not sure what it is, but it's almost like musk. And the rose is poking its head in.

This one's not really me, but I'll keep the imp and maybe use it for the right occasion.

Imp: YUM, fruit!

Wet: Light, crisp, clean peach with a hint of musk and something a little less sweet to ground it.

Dry: It kinda smells like peach tea. Slight floral.

In comparing this to Aglaea, it's not as in-your-face sweet and is a bit more floral. The musk makes it slightly sharp, as if this is white peach instead of the bright golden-ripe peaches of Aglaea.

Lovely and bright, perfect for Sunday afternoons.

Imp: Peachpeachpeach. Very pale orange scent.

Wet: Ambery peach.

Dry: Sweet peach, very light and golden! Tiny hint of something deeper which is, I'm guessing, the musk.

Lovely blend.

Bought a bottle unsniffed, and it's turning out to be the surprise hit of the CD for me. I think I need a backup of this before the Carnaval leaves town!

Bottle: A swirl of something creamy and soft, mildly sweet (guess that's the honey) with a sharper note of pine.

Wet: The undertones, warmer notes, are very well-blended and mesh to form something that is lovely, sweet and pale cream-like with hints of soft gold. I get whiffs of tobacco, but it's sweet and very faint. The pine keeps it from being TOO soft, and is still present, but is not overpowering.

Dry: It all dries down to a subtly creamy vanilla-honey-tobacco background with an overlay of patchouli and pine. Nothing is standing out terribly, and the pine accentuates rather than kills.

Somehow this is a very feminine blend, and it reminds me of the way Pepper is blended, though it smells nothing like that one. It's womanly and knows it, but is not at all conventional.

Love it, want more. If you like Lucy Westenra or Pepper, try this one.

I bought a bottle unsniffed, partially for the art and partially because it sounds so good. So what I'm reviewing is Lab-fresh Priala.

Bottle: WHOOSH. What's on fire? Possibly my nose! Very dark and with a smoke note that smells almost like brimstone, it's that dark note that scared me half to death in The Chapel. But this doesn't have that sense of foreboding, and it's not as grim. There's something lighter and spicy. It's a charred scent, like something that was on fire but is now smoldering. To me it's definitely cinnamon BARK, not pure cinnamon.

Wet: Almost pure brimstone-like smoke. Kind of stinks, honestly. :/

Dry: I'm glad I waited, because now it's less ashy and much more smoky myrrh. Still dark, but with flickers of cinders among the ash. The cinnamon is not sweet and very NOT foody. This is very wearable and mysterious. I'd almost say this is like an alternative to patchouli--it has that kind of "feel" to it, without smelling at all like patchouli.

This is one of those scents that really, really makes you think of its namesake. It's a phoenix--not a mythical one, but a real one, if you can imagine that. A human one. Bravo! Will keep this bottle for sure.