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Showing results for tags '2008'.
Found 38 results
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Moroccan jasmine, chrysanthemum, tea leaf, white musk, and acai berry. (9:54:31 PM) Karyn: Go review yer parfum (9:54:44 PM) Sarah: It's hard! (9:54:57 PM) Karyn: Dammit woman just get napa* to write it (9:55:00 PM) Karyn: "I love sarah" (9:55:04 PM) Karyn: "<3 <3 <3 <3 <3" *the boyfriend, who approves of Daiyu The inspiration behind Jenn's painting of Daiyu was Madam Ching Shih, a woman who began her life as a prostitute in one of the brothels in Guangzhou in the late Ching Dynasty, only to become one of the most powerful women pirates in history, commanding a fleet of over 18,000 boats at the height of her power. She and her crew received full amnesty from the Chinese government, and at 35, retired from piracy. She owned and operated a gambling house until her death at age 69. Contrary to the inspiration behind the painting, Daiyu is a very bright and happy scent. Some of my favorite perfumes include Dorian, Kitsune-Tsuki, Antique Lace, and Persephone. Anything with plum or pomegrante usually works well with my skin chemistry. Being a tea lover, I also mentioned to Beth that I loved the scent of jasmine tea as well as chrysanthemum (often sweetened with rock sugar or goji berries), and that it would be cool to be the "AzN" version of Dorian. That being said, Daiyu does not disappoint. It's like Kitsune-Tsuki seduced Dorian and this is their beautiful, illegitimate offspring. In the bottle, the acai is the dominant scent that I smell, but the musk and tea leaf are balanced well enough that the berry note isn't too sweet/cloying. Applied wet, you get the floral notes--kind of light and airy and not in a dirty diaper way (LOL), and I can smell more of the tea leaf. A few hours after application, it gets sweet and musky, like the drydown you'd get with Dorian but more tart. The staying power is about 4-5 hours on me, and the throw is not very strong, but it won't offend if you slather, which is usually my experience with Asian florals. Note: if your skin chemistry amps up berry notes, apply sparingly. It's one of those blends that makes me think of "it's gonna be a bright sunshine-y day". Strange enough, it fits my personality well, as I tend to be one of those happy-go-lucky types*. This is a beautiful, refreshing scent that is great for warmer months. Thank you, Lab, for the opportunity to become a whore *with a potty mouth
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Amber, cream accord, white honey, apple blossom, skin musk, caramel, and teak. I feel like Mario from the Super Mario Brothers video games series reviewing this lol. "It's-a me! Belladonnastrap!" Anyway I'm so so thankful to Beth and the Lab for letting me take part in this amazing series. I love you guys! I'm not worthy! First Sniff Like Red Lantern and O got together and did nasty, dirty, NAUGHTY things in the backroom of a honey hive. I keep reading that this smells like one of the Shunga scents (which I never smelled so I can't attest to that) but I suppose it makes sense considering in the picture a guy has been killed right after coitus. My skin chemistry rarely amps caramel until much much later but I do get the lovely skin musk note in O that makes me go "Oooooooooh." I can't smell any apple on me which is odd because next to skin musk and amber, apple is the one note that you can smell on me miles away. It's somewhat foody but yet not. I'm a big fan of gourmand scents that don't leave one smelling like a bakery and this delivers. It's a very sensual smell. Go me! Wet Ah-HA! There is the caramel and apple. Pretty much the same as first sniff but wet the more subtle nuances come out. Make no mistake this IS somewhat foody but it's upscale. The apple prevents the whole scent from becoming just O or Red Lantern 2.0 by giving it a bit of tart and tang to it. No cream accord yet but if it's anything like Loves Philosophy it'll take a couple of hours for the cream to kick in on me. I do want to talk about the honey note though. It doesn't smell like any honey I'm accustomed to. It is honey, make no mistake about that but it's a light almost fruity honey. Drydown BRB HUMPING ARM. No seriously, this is delicious. All the elements mellow into this rich, heady scent that is pretty subtle until you get close and then BAM! All the elements smack you in the face with deliciousness. The cream really comes out to play on the drydown of this , you'd think it would bump it over to ZOMGSWEET catagory but really it enhances everything else. Up to this point I got no teak whatsoever. Zilch, nada. Now I get the teak and wow, it completely elevates the perfume into something else. It's a dark gourmand scent. I suppose I'm a bit biased but I think the perfume perfectly captures the scene and mood of the painting. There's that deep decadent er...sexual aspect of it but there's a definite tang to it. The staying power is pretty darn long, I put it on around 8:00am before I left for work and I (and my co-workers, this ish has some major throw whoa!) could smell it around 2:00pm. It was even remarked that around my desk it smelled like sex, so a word of caution with that Aftermath PLS BE TO BUYING ME KTHXBYE. Let me stop, no this is an amazing scent. I'm thrilled that I was able to be a part of this and I'm ecstatic that I smell so GOOD. Beth always amazes me with her creations but I think with the Carnaval she has completely and utterly outdone herself. If you're a fan of O, Red Lantern and to a lesser degree Honey Moon & Loves Philosophy do give this scent a try. I proudly give this my stamp of approval...which is good since I'm the cover girl
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Rose otto, tonka, orchid, Calla lily, skin musk, coconut, and Spanish sage. I just wanted to take a minute to thank the Lab for letting me take part in this. I adore the portrait Jenn did (Yes, that is my hair, but not my boobs.) and the scent that Beth cooked up is just lovely. At first: A fresh, springtime floral. Rose is dominant, but I can catch a bit of sweet tonka, too. On: Mostly rose. Very pretty. 5 minutes later: This smells light and sweet on me now. Lovely. Half an hour later: A gorgeous floral. This is more fo a green, Spring floral than anything heady or even potpourri-ish. Very nice. 3 hours later: A nice combination of lily and sage, with a base of rose. 4 hours later: A smooth, slightly powdery rose scent. I'm getting a tiny bit of coconut and a nice hint of musk. Overall: Just lovely. If Spring would decide to come and actually stay this year, this would be the perfect scent for it. I guess I'll just have to keep wearing it until that happens.
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Red musk, bergamot, black currant, mimosa, orchid, patchouli, and lotus root. Wow, wow wow wow! It's so awesome and such an honor to get to be a part of this project, and how Jenn managed to create a portrait that is so incredibly flattering and yet looks so very much like me, I will never know! I'm going to be a toothless old woman petting that portrait. On to the scent: At first it's all red musk; very reminiscent of Scherezade which is one of my very favorites, but more of a warm red than a savory yellow as Scherezade is made by all the saffron. I've noticed, if I dab this one on it stays predominately red musk all day, but if I apply generously and particularly in places that generate a lot of body heat, it goes through all sorts of gorgeous stages. Within an hour, the flowers bloom out in a big cloud that is so achingly beautiful, the first time I experienced it I actually burst into happy tears (which also, of course, had to do with how flabbergasted I was that this was going to be the stuff with my picture on it!). Later in the day, the sweetness of the currant and the lotus root come to the fore and the bergamot keeps an edge on them. (Although it's a very different scent, the way the bergamot asserts itself in the later drydown reminds me very much of Ides of March, also one of my favorites.) The patchouli is just barely evident to my nose, anchoring the whole thing with a faint warm earthiness. It's like when there are two low instruments playing the same line of music in unison and one is slightly brassier than the other, you almost can't hear the deeper one but you know it's there because it makes the sound richer--that's how the patchouli interacts with the red musk. I am very excited to see how the patchouli in this will age, though! The next morning, the sweet, soft skin musk still lingering in the crook of my arm is a thing of such barely-there beauty, in some ways it's the best stage of all. I am beyond honored to be associated with this scent.
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Ashlultum~ Babylonian musk, vanilla tea, tonka, tobacco, coconut, hyssop, and lilac. The scent has completely captured the character depicted in the story/artwork while simultaneously being one of the most "me" perfumes I have ever had the pleasure of wearing. Beth's abilities never cease to amaze. In the bottle~a hit of herbaceous hyssop followed by sweet lilac, rich coconut and warm tonka. Love at first sniff! On my skin~I never imagined that coconut and lilac could smell this fabulous together, truly sublime. The sweet and fresh qualities of both scents play off each other and complement each other very well. Tonka and tobacco are two of my favorite notes of all time, so warm and rich, very present in this scent. Drying down~ The lilac starts to yield to Babylonian musk, which totally smacks of my most coveted musk of all time, Egyptian. Wafting up from my skin is a perfect sexy cocktail of tonka, vanilla tea, deep tobacco, sensual musk and coconut. To my delight, the lilac never completely disappears, lending a soft, floral depth to the whole experience. All the notes play so well together, one never overwhelming another. I am feel honored to be a small part of this unique and amazing collection. I'm definitely going to have to hoard "my" scent.
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Wild plum, pomegranate, raspberry, Siamese benzoin, plum blossom, patchouli, frankincense, and mahogany. First, I feel so unbelievably honored to have been included as one of the Ladies of the Grindhouse. And I feel even more honored that Beth inquired as to my favorite notes so she could include some of them in the blend bearing my likeness. And now even MORE honored to get to try "my" blend a little bit before everyone else! Beth! I'm so not worthy! Dionysia is perfection! I have loved every plum BPAL blend (check my favorites) and Dionysia is no exception. It's a wonderful combination of plum, raspberry, pomegranate, patchouli and wood. The patchouli, frankincense and mahogany keep the scent grounded and keeps it from getting hyper fruity. If I had to compare Dionysia to existing BPAL blends, I would say that it reminds me of the lovechild of Hellion and Bordello (but without the amaretto). A multi bottle purchase for sure! (I'll come back and edit this if I think of anything else, but I wanted to get a preliminary review on here for those reviewers "on the fence" about ordering Dionysia. ) ETA: While wet, I detect an herbal/leafiness that I'm guessing is the plum blossom. On drydown, I smell vanilla in the background, with a light resiny incense. After doing a little research, I see that benzoin has a sweet, warm, vanilla-like aroma! Lovely! If this scent were a color, it'd be a rich, deep, plummy maroon.
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Patchouli, Kashmiri tea, cardamom, black pepper, carnation, and clove. Initial Impression: Earthy patchouli spiked with cardamom and black pepper. After Wearing It: First applied, Clémence is a lotta patchouli. Not the sweet and smooth kind that I typically favor, but the really dirty kind that reminds me of head shops, sweat and raw hide. There was also a harsh shot of black pepper that runs through the blend like sharp slap across the face of the fragrance. It was very appropo given the imagery created for the blend and the painting's historical source of inspiration, Theresa Berkley. It was very raw and aggressive, to the point of being disconcerting, and one could very easily imagine a hot back room of an 19th century brothel smelling like this. The raw, almost leathery quality of the patchouli note was like the rub of a worn pair of leather cuffs, the pepper like the sting of the whip. The initial stage of the scent, while wildly evocative and very appropriate for the theme of the set and the painting, wasn't very me. So I was very happy and a little relieved when Cleménce started to mellow out about twenty minutes after the first application. Slowly, the cardamom, carnation and clove started to come to the forefront, sweetening the blend and smoothing out all of its rough edges. The patchouli took on a more honeyed quality that I loved while retaining its earthiness, and Clémence evolved from a scent of harsh pleasures into something much more comforting. It became enticingly spicy and slightly sweet, but grounded in a rich earthiness. The tea note built slowly after the first hour as the patchouli grew softer, and by the end of hour two, the blend smelled like a really good cup of chai. Not too strong or foody, but warm and soothing with just the right balance of sugar and spice. The scent envelopes you like a fuzzy blanket. It's like the imbodiment of a rainy Saturday spent lazying around indoors. I love it! Final Thoughts: Love it and am proud to be its cover girl! It had a nice balance of sensations: pain and pleasure, stress and comfort. I'll be keeping this one for a long time and will likely get a back up. It'll be interesting to see how the patchouli note ages.
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You hear a clatter on the ground, and a small bleached bone smacks against your foot. Cloaked in shadows between the tents, three men crouch playing knucklebones. Distress clouds the face of one of the men, while another bursts into a wicked smile and the last one sighs in relief. Scooping up his winnings and shaking his head, the victor makes a soft 'tsk' noise as he reaches towards the loser's chest, positioning his hand over the man's heart. Pressing forward, his hand moves through cloth, flesh, muscle, and bone to extract the beating organ. Tossing the heart onto the ground, he says to you, "Mind handing me those bones, buddy? I've got a game to run here." Black musk, bay rum, lime fougere, orange blossom water, gin, and tobacco. Knucklebones - Of the huge number of scents I tested at Will Call, this was my second-favorite of all of them. My first reaction when I sniffed this in the bottle is tht it's effervescent and fizzy. When I tried it on, the booze notes were definitely the strongest, backed up by the lime note. It's remarkable how it can be a fizzy, effervescent scent at the same time that it is kind of dark masculine. It strikes me as the masculine equivalent of Bon Vivant in its overall feeling. It's masculine, but not something a woman couldn't wear - God knows when I get my latest CD order in the mail, I will enjoy wearing this one very much! The scent is very long-lasting on my skin and just soo incredibly sexy.
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Recoiling, you back away from the dicing. A large tent striped in many shades of green grabs your attention, and you walk towards it. You peer inside the open tent flap and see a room crowded with people in various stages of profound intoxication. Tables are littered with glasses filled with thick, cloudy emerald liquid, and candlelight glints on discarded silver spoons. The scent of spilled absinthe, opium smoke, lilac blossoms, and rose water permeates the stifling air of the tent. As you close the tent flap and turn to leave, you see a scantily clad server bend close to a rugged laborer that is sitting slumped in a sagging chair. A low velvety voice voice asks, "Another drink for you, Monsieur Lanfray?" Spilled absinthe, scorched sugar cubes, opium smoke, lilac blossoms, and rose water. L'Heure Verte - I was expecting a scent similar to Absinthe or La Fee Verte, but this one is really different. The absinthe note and the sugar note are distinct from one another and the absinthe is definitely not sweet, but does remind me of the scent of real absinthe. The sugar sweetens it up a lot. The rose water adds a subtle hint of floral to the scent and I don't smell the other notes listed in the scent description. On my skin, this is very subtle and doesn't have much throw, but the staying power is quite strong. It loses its sweetness the longer it's on my skin and after a few hours, it's mostly a faintly floral absinthe scent. It's great and I'm really, really looking forward to my CD Act IV & Act V scents to arrive at my door!
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Back out on the Midway, a huge, leather-clad man leans against a post. He smiles at you, guilelessly, baring a mouthful of sharpened teeth as he hammers huge rusted nails into his skull. Rusted metal, leather, and a pop of pink bubblegum. The Blockhead - Where's the rusted metal? Where's the leather? In the bottle and on my skin, this smells like sweet, pink bubblegum and nothing else. I love it! It's so sweet and reminds me of the Big League Bubble Gum I chewed when I was a kid. It's a scent I probably wouldn't wear often, but it's so sweet and nummy that I know there will be times when nothing else will do but a super sweet, pink bubblegum scent.
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By God, what floats in this ghastly jar? Cinnamon, clove, vanilla, and pine sap. Pickled Imp - I don't tend to like cinnamon blends, but this one rocks really, really hard. Every single note stands out in this blend and each is perfectly complimentary of all the others. The vanilla sweetens up the spicy cinnamon and clove but the pine sap gives it depth without making it too dark or sticky. It's been three hours since I left Will Call where I had applied this scent, and it's just as strong as it was when I first applied it. I really love it. I'm anxiously looking forward to the CD scents arriving on my doorstep and I'm very excited to wear it again.
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This was a gift with the purchase of the full Wunderkammer set. No scent description is available. Screaming Mandragora - What a great scent! It seemed fruity and slightly earthy on me, and when asked what was in it, Beth's passed along the word that it's a "rooty fruit." I really couldn't describe it better than that. The earthiness of this scent is not a dirt type of earthiness, but definitely a rootiness. I have no clue what the fruit scent is - something sweet, a little dark, and perhaps some type of red fruit, but I really can't identify it for the life of me. After being on my skin for 30 minutes or so, the earthiness fades and what's left is the sweet, deep fruit scent. I wish I could identify it - plum, perhaps? I have no idea. Anyway, It's been three hours since I applied it and I can still smell it. It's lovely and I'm sooo bummed this isn't more widely available.
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The Night of the Witches. In the Teutonic calendar, April 30, not October 31, was the night that the witches congregated to celebrate their Work through ecstatic dance, wild music and revelry. The witches fêted with spirits, fairies, and a bevy of otherworldy creatures atop Brockenberg peak in the Harz region of Germany, where they lit an enormous bonfire and cavorted naked until midnight... at which point they donned their robes, boarded their brooms, flying rams and sacred goats, scooped up their cat familiars, and sped off into the night. In later days, it was believed that on this night the witches conjured the devil, who would then select one of them for his bride. This perfume is the scent of the witches' revel: German fir and forest herbs, incense and bonfire smoke, infernal flora, glowing amber, and the wet, glimmering scent of skin warmed by dance. (Okay, based on the Beltane thread last night, I'm making a new thread for this one because the Lab description has changed slightly. If it should actually be part of the old Hexennacht thread, sorry!) In the bottle: hello fir trees! And incense! The incense smells like the part of Sleepy Moon that's not the opium and not the lavender to me. Yummy! On me, wet: the fir is much more mellow than expected, though it is still holding its own. The incense note is only getting more beautiful. I'm also getting a really gorgeous but gentle amber note along with a little musk. And is that... yes, it is! A little bonfire smoke! Aside from the infernal flora and forest herbs, which my nose may be lumping in with the incense, the gang is all here! On me, dry: same as wet, except a little more herbal. Throw and duration: throw's a bit above average. ETA: it's been almost five hours and this is still going strong. Yay! Overall: You should know that I've never smelled the old Hexennacht, so I can't draw any comparisons. That said, Hex '08 rocks my socks. What's amazing about this blend, at least as it plays out on my skin, is how gentle all of these often strong notes are in it. They really work together instead of one of them rising up and stomping all the others down. It's not a fir scent, it's not an incense scent, it's not an amber scent, and it's not a musk scent... it's a really gorgeous combination thereof. I'm super happy I picked up a bottle of it, and will definitely be hanging on to this puppy.
