Reaver

Lavender/mint/anise. And not a nice anise. Far too sharp to be a pleasant sleepy scent! This stuff makes me want to sneeze and I don't think I'll be wearing it to sleep.

 

Also, my nightmares are pretty cool so I'm not worried about NEEDING it if it smells this... odd. It's not something I want to smell like during the day and snuggly = musks or amber and this is just too 'high-pitched' for that.

 

3/10. The anise tones down and becomes alright. If it wasn't for the rest of the notes, I'd keep it just for the anise. But no. Swap pile. Too many lavender scents already.

Sweet amber and sensual red musk. The leather gives this scent a bite and although I'm not the greatest fan of leather notes, in Loviatar it is a lot friendlier to me than it usually is! This is quite a light masculine scent on me. It has very little throw but is beautiful close to the skin. It is quite vanilla-ish as other reviewers have mentioned. It's a very familiar scent - possibly as it bears such a similarity to a favorites of mine, Haunted and (when dry) Crowley - and it is soft and pleasant and quite 'homely'.

 

I don't quite get the whole 'Mistress of Torture' side of this scent, it's too calm and snuggly. It's the cuddle after all of *that* stuff if anything.

 

7/10 - I'll be keeping the imp and enjoying it but it's a pleasant sweet amber scent on me and where other similar scents have a lot of offer, this is fairly flat. It's got a long wear-length though, and stays true all day without warping into something weird!

STRAWBERRIES! Perfect strawberry but not overly childish due to the base of amber. The fruits aren't too sweet, tempered by the throw of the red musk. On me, the vanilla is fairly understated until all the other notes have had their fun.

 

This is another scent that's hard for me to review as it's one of my very favorites, and an everyday blend for me.

 

It's not really evocative of anything - this is definitely a scent that you have to wear, not let it run off for itself. It's cute and playful but would be suitable for a night out too because the red musk carries it from day to night with ease. It lasts about 3 hours on my skin for it's 'full' stage - strawberries and everything - and about 6 hours as just red musk and vanilla.

 

So well blended it could be considered sweet and simple. I love it.

 

10/10 and getting a bottle soon as it's a worthy investment. This has aged beautifully so far. (6 months of careful application from a lab-fresh imp - I don't want to ever run out but there's only a few drips left! It's strictly needs-only now...)

Bright woody cherry with a base of red musk. The rose is gentle and very much serves to lighten the scent. It's such a well blended scent that it's perfectly sweet and playful, yet sophisticated and fresh.

 

This is my number one scent of all time. Trying to review it after a year and a half of loving it to death is very difficult! This, to me, is the epitome of 'yumminess scrumminess' and totally beautiful.

 

10/10. OMG yes. Harry Met Sally style 'Yes. Yes yes yes.'

This is possibly the best thing ever. You should have SEEN my plea for this one. I have no shame. It paid off though!

 

I LOVE licorice flavoured things. To hell and back. Hate the stuff, but things that are MEANT to be licorice are awesome. Anise, fennel, licorice, these are all things that I jump on when I see them in a scent note list. The best before Humbug was Absinthe. This is so different to all other licorice scents I've sniffed though - it's true licorice. Bright and black and sweet and bitter. The vanilla is slightly plasticky but that's just how vanilla seems to go on me without any aging.

 

I'm so glad I waxed lyrical.

 

"Bonjour Mister Tedwin.

I think that licorice is made of win.

This is a mix of verse and demand,

Because I don't just want what's to hand.

I appreciate you're busy

Because this season makes everyone busy.

I want 'Humbug'.

Please, 'HUMBUG!'

I shall stamp my feet until I get it

And yell and shout and cry

But licorice is made of win,

And that's the reason why.

Not the reason why my poetry sucks though. That's an entity all of it's own."

 

 

 

 

Edit; DARN! Forgot to say; 10/10! WANT MORE!

If this is what chinese zombies smell like, count me in! BRING ON THE APOCALYPSE! It's full of sunny days and fresh yumminess!

 

Bright, tingly and tangy.

Light, sparkly and zingy.

And SWEET!!! Candy sweet without the sugar-rush. These rotting grotbags don't even have rotting teeth.

 

For something that should taste of dead and gross, this is far too nice. It's mainly mandarin and musk on me and dries down to a creamy mandarin - I blame it on the mango. With a LOT of sniffing, I can get the mango but it's not a bully. The white sandalwood just grounds the other notes but it doesn't do much of a job as this lasts 20 minutes on my wrists, just over an hour at my elbows. It has the stickability of a deserter on the front line fighting the zees. Nevertheless, I shall be buying a bottle as this is just SO yum.

 

10/10. I'll go through a bottle in a month (blasted through my imp in a few days) but it's love.

Sandalwood, jasmine, patchouli. This was always going to be fresh and indian-esque. But I wasn’t expecting this! It’s a delicious and multi-layered blend. The lemongrass is one of the main ‘wafts’ and it makes this smell like the cloths you get in curry houses after your dinner. Which is fine if you want to remind people of the nice biryani they had last week, but a little odd if you don’t. The dry-down is still very fresh, no cloying aromatics like with a lot of the more Indian themed scents (Kali in particular is quite cloying) and it’s very playful and light. It doesn’t last that long on me though, and doesn’t throw anything but lemongrass. The up-close-and-personal wrist/neck sniff is fantastic though.

 

Conclusion: Like, but I’ll have to be cautious about the whole face-cloth thing.

 

7/10. It’s a keeper, and is enjoyable to wear. A summery sweltering scent for hot nights.

Cherries. Beautifully astringent cherries. Cherries soaked in rich whiskey. The cherries back away quickly to reveal a sweet aniseed scent, akin to licourice, but more adult. This is deep and sexual, but still overwhelmingly fruity and sexual. This is one of my favourite blends, but I have to be careful of when I wear it. This one really gets affected by my hormones, it seems. Excellent throw and lingers for hours. And yes, it STINKS of cough syrup. Delicious.

 

Conclusion: I’m damn happy that this is GC, or I’d be spending far too much money on hoarding bottles and bottles of it.

 

10/10. Rich, and I want to lick myself. I tried it. Not good.

 

Knucklebones. Lime + Sex.

VERY sweet woods with a dark musk overtone. The herbs just make the wood more fragrant. This is a very earthy and grounded scent on me and it's not unpleasant. Quite simple and fairly constant from wet to dry - woods and musk but with no bitterness or brightness from the herbs.

 

5/10 - I'll be keeping the imp to see if it grows on me as it's something that think might. It's a little similar to 'Haunted' though, which I also have an imp of and rarely use.

 

ETA: One of the mystery herbs is SAGE, I'm SURE of it. I think.

Little research = Mugwort, waybroad (plaintain) open from the east, lamb's cress, attorlathe, maythe, nettle, crabapple, chervil and fennel

So I was wrong. Still smells like sage though.

When I test, I always test my elbow and my wrist. With Ultraviolet, I realise again why I do it!

 

On my wrist, its delicious violets - calm and sweet and classic. It has a slight herbal undertone and a refreshing throw.

 

At my elbow, this is a BLAST of eucalyptus and overwhelming fresh-cut mint. It smells like a herbal head-ache remedy. If I sniff for long enough, I get a slight floral overtone but this is just TOO strong! Makes me see white light in my eyes when they're shut, it hurts so much to sniff. Yet my wrists are so nice? I don't get it.

 

A half-hour later, my elbow is still pretty much a herbal-health-blast but I can sniff that it's dying down and becoming akin to what my wrist smelt like. The scent on my wrist is near disappeared now.

 

It's a stroppy scent. I KNOW it smells lovely, it's just trying to tame it so it's all violet, all the time, with a HINT of the herbal yumminess.

 

7/10 because I KNOW it should score high for me, but I can't warrant anything more due to it's... weirdness.

 

 

On me, this is mostly lilies. It's VERY light and is somewhat akin to a clothing detergent. It's pretty and inevasive. Would probably be good for a quick pick-me-up as opposed to the rest of my collection, which is made up of heavier, or more 'Look At MEEEEE!' scents. Somethings telling me I should keep this as I just have NOTHING similar.

Bright white and blue flowers with a touch of freshness - probably the greenery from the ivy. This isn't a scary ghost - this is a kind wisp rather than a boisterous poltergeist!

I was expecting dark and oppresive. I GOT REFRESHERS!

Seriously. Refreshers. Swizzells candy. Or it might be Love Hearts? It's fizzy and bright and candy-ish and incredibly worrying but I love it and I need another bottle.

Unexpected candy scents are nice.

All I get is all Spearmint, all the time. And chewing gum spearmint at that. It's nice but it's NOT perfume in my mind. Passing this one off to someone that'll love it!

 

2/10 as it's not GROSS.

I've hardly enabled anyone. I've gotten two imps to someone, and they weren't particularly enamored. They wear them, but haven't asked about more. I suppose I enabled my boyfriend but he kind of did it himself.

 

If I WERE to enable someone, I'd go for two imp packs for a present. In a box, with a bow and a postcard from the lab.

 

I'd put in:

 

DRAGONS BLOOD - Because I think it's fairly typical of what BPAL is about.

NIGHTGAUNT - Universal love from everyone that's smelt it on me. It's light and easy to love.

SNAKE OIL - Or, 'crack'.

INCANTATION - Introduction to BPALs vetiver which I LOVE and think everyone else should.

SWANK - Bright fruit is a popular thing, I think? Also smells quite cute and Avon-y.

SUSPIRO - To show that BPAL can do florals too.

VELVET - Because light chocolate could work.

KUMIHO - Smells quite 'familiar' but still has an edge.

NOSTRUM REMEDIUM - Craziness, but not too crazy. Will have people trying to guess the familiar scent.

ANTIKYTHERA MECHANISM - Because once you've sniffed, you never go back.

ETHER - Something a lot lighter and with a touch of floral.

THE GREAT SWORD OF WAR - Dark and bizarre, but with familiar touches of fruit and cocoa.

 

 

I think it's got a good range but then I can only speak from my experience really. I like scents that a lot of people balk at so I tried to stay away from STRONG vetiver craziness and bizarre note combos that might scare people off.

BRIGHT! YUMMY! GLOOPY!

 

Fizzy pomegranate and berries.

The booziness fades within moments to leave a fun, childish summer candy smell.

 

I CAN FEEL BUBBLES IN MY NOOOOSE!

This is gross for a matter of seconds before the initial wetness disappears and this becomes a very gentle aquatic. It's just as serene as the name suggests - a realm of mists. This isn't cold and damp though - it's a very warming scent on my skin. There may be a hint of vetiver in this that gives it that edge? The florals aren't country-garden style blooms, they're more resonant of the small white flowers that grow in marshland. This is a difficult scent to peg down as it's NOT a floral and it not a straight up aquatic.

 

The more I sniff at this, the more I LOVE LOVE LOVE it.

 

9/10. Perfect. Bottle please.

The most bitter SN lavender I've EVER come across.

 

Can't swap away fast enough which is a shame as I wanted to love it SO much. Lavender is usually my friend.

Gosh, sorry to ask such a noob question, but are all GC labels the ones with white background and black text and maybe (maybe, but not definitely) a little icon in the center that may (or may not!) pertain to the scent (eg a little pumpkin or witch's hat)? And only LEs have the full-color photo labels?

 

I now own three GC 5ml bottles with two more on the way: Samhain 08 and Graveyard Dirt. Since these are LEs, I'm hoping they will have colorful labels. My three GC bottles all have the same labels.

 

In my imp order, I got something from the steampunk line (Obsidian Widow) and its imp label had a design on the back, whereas the others were just the usual imp label.

 

Here is my General Catalog set! The Ars Draconis bottles (or at least mine) are dark with a red dragon on them. Black Phonix has an orange label with a black phoenix. The Steampunk and Pharmacopoeia scents have different labels as well, and of course Snake Oil has a label similar to the Carnaval Noir bottles. The salon lables have their matching artwork on them as well.

 

The LE bottles nowadays are usually pretty colorful labels! Some of my Yule labels from last year were "scroll" labels instead of having the pictures -- there were multiple available. Sometimes (as in the case of Lilith Victoria) there are multiple pictures available. Older LE labels (I'm thinking specifically of Sugar Cookie 2004) look similar to the current GC labels.

 

The Steamworks imps have a different color text on them too, and the Pharmacopoeia imps are also different. I don't have any Salon imps.

 

Also, as far as I know, all of the GC labels have the same symbol in the middle -- the symbol is listed in Rudolf Kock's "book of signs" as being "copper saffron" and it appears as "crocus veneris" elsewhere. Anyone else know anything else about it?

 

Crocus appears to refer to yellow powder or pigments (but can also refer to red) obtained from metals (iron and copper in this case?) by calcination. Veneris has something to do with Venus. Green basic copper acetate is referred to as "crocus veneris". Crocus veneris is also a type of crocus flower.

 

Another article says:

".EASTUARY, is Sometimes alfo ufed in Pharmacy, for a Va-

pour-Bath, Balneum Vaporofuem, See VAPOUR, and BATH.

ES Uftum, called alfo Crocus Veneris, a Chymical Pre-

paration, made of Copper cut into thin Plates, put into a

Crucible with Sulphur and Salt, firatumfuiper Jiratum, and

thus fet in a hot Charcoal Fire, till the Sulphur be con-

fumed. See CROCUS, COPPER, VENUS, SC.

It is very deterfive; and is ufed for eating oPF dead Flefh.

They who make this ufe of it, are to heat it red hot in the

Fire nine times; and quench it as often in Linfeed Oil. See

EPULOTIC."

 

also interesting was the British Journal of Homoeopathy which says that in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries they would make salves or plaisters of crocus veneris for external medical use. They ascribed to it an "acid-absorbing, astringent, and purifying power, and accordingly used it for "cleansing and cicatrising ulcers and putrid abscesses, or in cases of gangrene."

 

I'm probably the only person that finds this interesting, so I'll stop now.

 

Maybe some of the Labbies can share what it means to them??

 

 

The 'Picnic in Arkham' group have different labels also. Brown with the pentagram symbol from the collection in the background with the name is BIG black letters on it.

 

Isn't the scent 'Jolly Roger' in a plain bottle with a pirate flag on it too?

 

Schroedingers Cat's label is a kind of art-deco cat with "the cat is" and then tick boxes, both empty, saying 'Alive' and 'Dead'.

 

ETA: The Gaiman scents are technically GC too. They all have illustrations on the labels. The 'Stardust' labels are all white and blue which is quite cute.

Fairly bland floral. Pleasant enough to make me skin test it twice but doesn’t morph on me, doesn’t suit my idea of ‘my personal scent’ and it has nothing really to set it apart from many of the other florals.

 

It lasts about an hour too. Boo. I thought I really liked this one for a while.

 

4/10 if only for the similarity to My Little Ponies that someone mentioned earlier. I was wondering what that was!

Someone earlier said corrupted zombie liquorice? I agree. When I first put this on, it was total and utter mossy vetiver. I had hopes that this would be THE liquorice blend for me - suitably dark and delicious and I was upset when all I smelt was that sticky vetiver. I LIKE vetiver but I have many other blends with it in which are far more interesting than this wet. Dry, however, the vetiver gives way and lets liquorice become the main attraction. It's SO good. Where other anise/liquorice blends are sweet or bland, this is... expansive? I can't think of a suitable word for it. It's one of those scents that grows as you sniff it until you finally run out of breath and you still haven't explored deep enough so you want to sniff more but have to start the journey again. I'm not one for imagery in scents, I prefer them to be WORN by me, not vice versa, but Black Annis really IS like exploring a cave and expecting a monster at the back of it. You back out when you run out of nerve, only to want to try again.

 

9/10. Keeping the imp. I don't know if this is an everyday scent for me because of the crazy distraction it leads me too, plus it's a little too boisterous. I prefer my scents as a passive sigh rather than a punch in the face.

Bright, citrusy tea. VERY bright. I expected 'white tea' to be milkier but this is almost a jasmine tea. It's easy to see where the asian influence of the subject of this blend comes in. The ginger is light and sweet, making the tea pop rather than become almost dark like it does usually on my skin. This said, most of my experience of tea is black tea, and often accompanied by tobaccos, resins or woods so this is a very pleasant change. Unisex and playful. I love it.

 

8/10. Keeping the imp to see if I use it enough to warrant a bottle, considering that I only have a handful of bright scents that I can wear.

Updating this with

 

LIGWIGLUNGA (very herbal weirdness, but fennel is STRONG)

and

HUESOS DE SANTO (not tried myself, but apparantly dries down to Aniseed)

and

THE ROBOTIC SCARAB (not STRONG anise, but yummylicious and one of my favorites)

 

Just in case someone else comes looking!

For something that appears to be fairly simple in notes, this is amazing on my skin! It pops after a few seconds and turns from a light amber into a beautiful, sweet and dramatic scent. I can see this becoming a new love very quickly!

 

8/10. Keeper!

This smells RESOUNDINGLY like Yankee Candle Evening Primrose. It's very clean and floral but to me, more of a linen scent than a perfume. It smells like an English garden and I think that this is mainly because of the chrysanthemum which really pops out when the oil is dry. Not a keeper for me.