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Showing results for tags 'Yule 2014'.
Found 81 results
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Cold - unending, heart-piercing cold - that slices through skin and muscle like a gleaming, razor-edged dagger until it penetrates bone and fills your marrow: white eucalyptus, frosted mint, raw frankincense, davana, iris petal, white grapefruit, and wormwood. I can smell every single note in this right on application. The eucalyptus and mint are both indeed "white", i.e., mild and sweet, not like an ice pick to the brain via the sinuses. The grapefruit is a bit bitter, like the peel more than the fruit, but it's very pleasant and off-sets the eucalyptus and mint perfectly. The frankincense fades quickly, and I smell almost no iris or wormwood at this stage, but there is a rich, sweet background of davana. The key players are mint, eucalyptus and grapefruit with darker, grounding undertones. There is a short phase where I think, "Huh? Wrigley's Doublemint gum?", but that settles as it dries. It smells more like a therapeutic or spa scent than a perfume, which I like. Not sure I'll keep this, since I have other blends that fit that slot, but it sure is nice!
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They are imps of the kitchen, or drawing-room at most; and, if any spirit answers to their sphere, it must be those of unclaimed and disaffected ghosts, who, having no substance within themselves, out of which to compound a spiritual body, wander about church-yards, or haunt the localities where they enacted old crimes, or lived frivolous and disjointed lives. … It may be that the spirits called the Rappers… belong to this class. They are in, what Dante would call Limbo, driven to and fro, perturbed and lonely. These eagerly question the finer spirits, who pass through their realm on their way to higher spheres, of all the gossip that used to interest them on earth. But, inasmuch as the companionship of these people was in no way desirable while they lived in this world, they become less so when separated from the body. They are the gossips of ghost land, poor, frivolous, flimsy wretches, who receive the shred of thought here, and the shadows only of through in the spirit world, for all thought has a body and a substance as it were to itself, so that we say a thought may be grasped in anticipation of the fact hereafter; hence, thought finding no lodgment in these thin poor spirits, floats right through them. They have a restless desire for tangibility, and are perpetually trying to command material objects in a way to make themselves known. —d’Espérance, 1897 Idle poltergeists and truant phantoms loitering in darkened corners and shadowed hallways: black cedar, patchouli, and tea leaf spiked with a tittering cackle of pink peppercorn, mate, and lime rind. Gossips of Ghost Land is kind of a wild olfactory ride. First applied, it's definitely cedar and patchouli, with something that feels minty but might be the lime? The tea leaf, mate, and pink peppercorn add color and movement so it does smell restless, like different spirits moving around in the dark. Dry, this is primarily patchouli and tea leaf on me, with cedar lingering but not dominant. (I don't amp cedar, though, for the record.) The pink peppercorn and lime smooth into an interesting layer that adds subtle spice and freshness. The sillage smells a bit like chocolate, which is so weird and fun. The overall effect is really unusual and perfectly evocative—there's something a bit disturbing about this one, in the best way. I'm definitely hanging on to my bottle because the progression is so fascinating and the patch/tea leaf drydown is really nice.
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A peculiar manifestation of light produced by physical mediums during ectoplasmic séances: otherworldly snaps of ozone glowing with unearthly light. This is a tough one for me to describe. It's definitely heavy on the ozone, but unlike any of the lab's other ozone scents. It is unisex/masculine with a subtly sweet cologne-y note, aquatic, and something that smells kinda like basil without being bitter. It has a vague tinny quality that would make it suitable for the Steamworks line, but also something that reminds me of smooth, light-coloured wood.
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Gingerbread with black coconut, patchouli, and sweet benzoin. In the bottle: The gingerbread is definitely the most noticable note but there's a darker aspect to it, this isn't your average straight up sweet and foody scent, it may even appear a little bit masculine. I haven't tried Goblin on it's own so I can't compare but this is beautiful and an instant winner for me. Wet: Oh yeah, there's the gingerbread note bursting to the forefront, it's quite prominent but it fades quickly and merges into this smooth and sensual dark scent. I'm sure it's mostly the black coconut and patchouli that I'm smelling at this point. Dry: This stays pretty much the same as when wet however it does smells even more gorgeous on drydown, the coconut and patchouli are taking over but the gingerbread is still lurking in the background providing warmth. I think this does have a slight masculine smell about it but it's definitely still wearable for women in my opinion! Overall: Well if I had money to buy backups of Gingerbread Goblin I would throw all of my cash at bpal right now, but alas I don't so I will savour every last drop of my precious bottle!
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An almost ridiculously adorable scent. I'm a little hesitant to write this review because I want to buy about elebenty more bottles and have a hoard of them for life! All mine! None for you! (Just kidding, I'll leave you a FEW bottles...teehee!) Sugar Plum and Vanilla Bean Atmosphere Spray is absolutely AMAZING. It's sweet, with an almost candy like quality, but not cloyingly sweet at all. It's got that creamy vanilla backing the candy-like sugar plum, so it has a soothing quality as well. I just spritzed my entire house before bedtime and it is sheer HEAVEN. I'm going to have visions of sugar plums dancing in my head tonight It is very slightly reminiscent to my nose of something. I'd say it is allllmost in the Candy Phoenix realm, but more purple if that makes sense? More plummy and vanillic than Candy Phoenix. This is just SO freaking good. It will be the perfect scent for my daughters room. I haven't spritzed it in there yet, but my girls are going to flip for it. Thank you for such a splendid holiday atmosphere spray, Puddin'! My home is going to smell so lovely and sweet all season long! Please bring this back every year? <3 ETA: I just spritzed this again and realized what that plummy note reminds me of. This is totally closer to Bordello than Candy Phoenix. I don't have any other scents with the sugar plum note, so that's the closest thing I can compare it to. I ADORE Bordello, so no wonder I'm madly in love with this!
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In examining and reporting these cases the witnesses averred that certain people, whom they called “materializing mediums,” had the strange physical gift that they could put forth from their bodies a viscous, gelatinous substance which appeared to differ from every known form of matter in that it could solidify and be used for material purposes, and yet could be reabsorbed, leaving absolutely no trace even upon the clothes which it had traversed in leaving the body. This substance was actually touched by some enterprising investigators, who reported that it was elastic and appeared to be sensitive, as though it was really an organic extrusion from the medium's body. —Arthur Conan Doyle, 1930 A luminous, viscid blend of white amber, lemongrass, white oakmoss, and davana. This is everything I hoped for. I'm not the world's biggest fan of lemongrass but I knew Beth would do something beautiful with it, something magical to take the harsh edge away, and that's exactly what she's done. This is a bright, juicy lemongrass that is tempered by the white amber. It has a sharpness when wet that completely disappears on the drydown. When dry and settled on my skin, it turns into an ethereal citrus that is uplifting and moreish. I adore this.
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If then, man, in every act, leaves the impression, or daguerreotype of his mental being upon the scenes of his life and the subjects of his action, we are by this law furnished with a new clue to the history of our race; and I think it highly probable, that, by the application of this principle, the chasms of history may be supplied, and a glimpse may be obtained of unrecorded ages and nations, whose early history is lost in darkness. The ancient manuscripts, paintings, and other works of art, which still exist – the crucifixes, garments, armor, and other ancient relics, still preserved – are doubtless still instinct with the spirit that produced them, and capable of revealing to psychometric exploration, the living realities with which they were once connected. At present, these relics are barren of significance. Their hidden meaning lies waiting the future explorer, as the hieroglyphics of Egypt awaited the arrival of Champillion to interpret their significance. And why should not the world be filled with the monuments and unwritten records of its past history? It would seem, to the superficial thinker, that man was entirely limited to tradition and written records for his knowledge of the past; but physical science proves, that the world possesses, embodied in enduring monuments, the story of its progressive existence. The geologist finds, in the different strata of the earth, in its curiously mingled and irregular structure, and in the fossil remains which it conceals in its bosom, the history of its various changes of surface, and of the antediluvian races of animals which have long been extinct. The huge Saurian monsters, which he portrays from their fossil relics, rise before the eye as incredible chimeras. And over this fertile region, now occupied by prosperous States, he revives, by the magic power of science, the antediluvian seas and their strange inhabitants, unknown to man. The Past is entombed in the Present! The world is its own enduring monument; and that which is true of its physical, is likewise true of its mental career. The discoveries of Psychometry will enable us to explore the history of man, as those of geology enable us to explore the history of the earth. There are mental fossils for psychologists as well as mineral fossils for the geologists; and I believe that hereafter the psychologist and the geologist will go hand in hand — the one portraying the earth, its animals and its vegetation, while the other portrays the human beings who have roamed over its surface in the shadows, and the darkness of primeval barbarism! Aye, the mental telescope is now discovered which may pierce the depths of the past and bring us in full view of the grand and tragic passages of ancient history! I know that, to many of my readers, unaccustomed to these investigations, and unacquainted with the first experimental facts of this great science, these anticipations must seem a visionary hope – too grand, too romantic, too transcendently beautiful to be true. But observe, that all is based upon familiar experiments, and these results are but legitimate deductions from familiar facts. As surely as the expansive power of steam gives premonition of the ocean steamship, does the power of Psychometry give promise of all the glorious performance to which I have alluded. —Buchanan, 1842 A tactile scent, groaning under the weight of aeons: wild fig, cedarwood, venerable ti leaf, and white sage. In vitro: Woody figgy. I love wood and I love figs. Let's do this. Wet on skin: The cedar and sage predominate, with the fig adding juicy sweetness. The sage contributes a very clean feeling that could strike people as smelling like really nice shampoo (Tabella did the same), but I am cool with that (I have three bottles of Tabella). Delicious, multi-dimensional cedar. Dry: Sillage is very close to the skin. This actually reminds me quite a bit of a more chilled-out Tabella, less bright and sharp, just fig and cedar and sage hanging out together. There's nothing flashy about this, in fact, but it's still compelling and substantial. It's a classy, calm, and wise scent, like meditating in a forest. Definitely unisex; I wouldn't call it masculine, but nevertheless this would probably be lovely on a guy. The sage gets stronger on drydown and reminds me of one of my favourite places in the world, the Mojave desert in southwestern Utah. Love it.
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The breath and tears and pulse of all life; the fluid that flows through all creation, permeating space and time and spirit: olibanum, red benzoin absolute, labdanum, betel leaf, galbanum, mastic, and angelica. Oh wow! Strong benzoin and labdanum, with a hint of angelica - this is stunning on application! Something slightly peppery comes out as it dries, I'm assuming this is the betel leaf (I have no clue what that smells like, so I'm guessing here), and it complements the sweet resins beautifully. Olibanum is very faint, I can barely tell it's there, but it gives this a smoky undertone. I don't smell any galbanum or mastic at this stage, but it's a great blend, especially for lovers of sweet incense resins, which I am. Near final dry-down I can detect a little more olibanum, a touch of mastic and now definitely some galbanum with its green-woody-rooty notes. Star players remain the benzoin and labdanum, making the blend sweet, dark-vanillic and rich, with the rooty, herbacious and deep green note of galbanum right alongside. I'm loving this already, and it's going to age spectacularly - very glad I got a bottle!
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Ghastly misshapen branches casting long, twisted shadows and clutching at you with prickly needle-like fingers: pine pitch, bone-white dried fir, and spruce tar with opoponax and blackened tobacco. First off, take this review with a bit of salt. I just got it in the mail this morning and my bottle was so cold it misted up when I took it out of the box. But I was dying to try it, so here we go. ITB: Pine and something almost lemony sharp. Unsettling for sure. Wet: That lemony thing is totally gone, replaced by a sweet pine. The combination of the balsams and the pine is both sweet and dark and very masculine on me. Evil christmas tree is very much the right frame of mind for this. It's obviously pine and tree resin, but something else lurks in the background that's a little sweet, a little unsettling and very wonderful. Drying: Opoponax tends to be a sweet resin on me, and I can really notice that sweetening here. It's still a very dry scent, but there is something almost fruity about it, the way I had hoped Skadi's berry note would behave. I can barely notice anything I could call tobacco, which is a shame because I love it, but there is something blackened about this for sure. Right now it's prickly to the point of being a bit sneezy when I really huff it, but its not at all cleaner fluid, which I was worried about with all the pine. Dry: Surprisingly sweet. While there is still a bite to this, it settles into something that's a lot more unisex than I expected from the first initial blast of pine and woods. The brightness of the pine takes a back seat and I'm starting to get a wee bit of the tobacco, which I expect will be more pronounced as this ages and develops. My other really woody blend in my collection is Jupeterian Phoenix, which is an amazing and very snuggly wood scent. This, while still being wood dominant, is like JP's evil brooding brother. It's dark, pine rich and really wonderful. I made a good choice for my single bottle Cyber Monday purchase.
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The perfected winter rose, dew covered and freshly cut. So. I never could wear Rose Red as a perfume oil. There is something in it that mixes with my skin chemistry and turns bad. I lose that sweet rose top note, and am left with despair. I ordered Rose Red HG hoping that the top note would stay, and was not disappointed. I now have the perfect HG for all my rosy needs. Rose Red is beautiful, and very strong. Rose lovers, buy this, hoard it. It is lovely.
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This is the scent of an awkward encounter with a Yule-evoked doppelgänger mate: spectral cologne, blurry herbs, fireplace ash, and a dusting of crumbs. Dorian Dopplegänger! Dumb Cake smells like Dorian on the other side of the looking glass. The spectral cologne note is pretty great—like a luminous Dorian. The blurry herbs and dusting of crumbs are very faint...there's just an edge of something foody here, like white cake and the barest hint of perhaps rosemary? The ash is also spectral—pure grey-white, rather than gritty, sooty black. It's fantastic, and I will enjoy every drop (and endeavor to get some on my husband, because I think this would be amazing on him).
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In the month of December, another fair American medium arrived in England. This lady and her husband, Dr. Roberts, attended a course of lectures I was then delivering in Providence Chapel, upon Mesmerism and Animal Magnetism. They introduced themselves to me, and invited me to visit them. I did so, many times; and to them do I owe much; for, through the information I received from them, I have been enabled to inquire more fully into this soul-stirring, and very important subject, after several Seances at Mrs. Roberts's in Dyer's Buildings, Holborn [MD: original], where I witnessed the moving of the table in various directions. This is what is called “Table-turning,” and which has been attributed to Electricity or Animal Magnetism, by many intelligent and scientific persons… I have seen a loo-table suspended in the air, at least six inches from the ground, without anyone in the body touching it. —Hardinge, 1854 A heavy, tactile scent that thrums with voices from beyond: black polished teakwood, gullies of ectoplasm, and ghostly white musk. Wet: Starts out unpleasant. Strong camphor scent and sharp lemon. Dry down: This ones a real morpher. Camphor goes away almost immediately and the sharpness of the lemon starts to subside. Musk makes its appearance and I swear I smell vanilla. Dry: Okay, this is not what I was expecting but its actually very nice. Sweet lemony tea, vanilla, and musk with a wood smell underneath. I never would have said that it was specifically Teakwood.
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Ripe, bursting, blood red holly berries pricked by sharp, waxy holly leaves. This is for the 2014 version... In Decant: Smells so good....a perfect soft blend of holly berries and leaves. On Skin: Smells the same, and get that wax holly leaf scent....kind of "chap stick" like, but that fades right away! Drydown: This is such a wonderful Christmas blend!!! If you are like me and have been wanting to find a nice holly berry type scent, but most seems to turn to cat urine on you (anything pine type does that) then do not worry! To me, this is a softer version of the 2005 one, but maybe that has to do with it being newer. I might have to get a bottle of this stuff!!!!
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Mod Note: This is the review topic for the 2014 version of this scent, which differs slightly from releases in 2008 and 2013 (which have their own topic). Rum-soaked brown butter cookies, crusted with sugar, soaked in almond and garnished with orange rind and pummeled pecans. In the bottle: All kinds of cookie goodness. This is definitely a sweet gourmand scent, it doesn't smell too boozy but I can tell it's there lingering in the background. It almost reminds me of Starbucks Eggnog and Gingerbread lattes, which is totally a good thing. Wet: At this stage it smells like heavily boozy cookies, with a slight hint of orange rind and cinnamon. I'm not detecting pecans for some reason unless pecan and cinnamon smell similar? It doesn't burn the skin however which is great. Dry: Oooooh, it's completely turned into a butterscotch scent, I quite like this as it's similar to a dessert we have over here in the UK called Angel Delight which smells almost identical, I love it! Overall: This is a lovely Christmas perfume, I feel it associates with this time of year very well! The only downfall if there is one is that I'm not sure if I can handle smelling like a butterscotch cookie everyday...it is beautiful nonetheless.
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The Shard in the Heart, The Worm in the Rose Atmosphere Spray
zankoku_zen posted a topic in Atmosphere
Stony contempt and blossoming darkness: vetiver trickling through sickly roses. Damp, red roses and a touch of vetiver. The smell sticky, deeply red rosey, and very cloying. It's a heavy oppressive red rose. -
Practical Occultism consists, first, of a perfect mastery of the individual’s own spirit. No advance whatever can be made in acquiring power over other spirits, such as controlling the lower or supplicating the higher, until the spirit within has acquired such perfect mastery of itself, that it can never be moved to anger or emotion—realizes no pleasure, cares for no pain; experiences no mortification at insult, loss, or disappointment—in a word, subdues every emotion that stirs common men’s minds. To arrive at this state, severe and painful as well as long continued discipline is necessary. Having acquired this perfect equilibrium, the next step is power. The individual must be able to wake when he pleases and sleep when he pleases; go in spirit during bodily sleep where he will, and visit—as well as remember when awake—distant scenes. He must be enabled by practice, to telegraph, mentally, with his fellow associates, and present himself, spiritually, in their midst. He must, by practice, acquire psychological control over the minds of any persons—not his associates—beneath his own calibre of mind. He must be able to still a crying infant, subdue fierce animals or angry men, and by will, transfer his thought without speech or outward sign to any person of a mental calibre below himself; he must be enabled to summon to his presence elementary spirits, and if he desires to do so (knowing the penalties attached), to make them serve him in the special departments of Nature to which they belong. He must, by virtue of complete subjugation of his earthly nature, be able to invoke Planetary and even Solar Spirits, and commune with them to a certain degree. To attain these degrees of power the processes are so difficult that a thorough practical occultist can scarcely become one and yet continue his relations with his fellow-men. He must continue, from the first to the last degree, a long series of exercises, each one of which must be perfected before another is undertaken. A practical occultist may be of either sex, but must observe as the first law inviolable chastity—and that with a view of conserving all the virile powers of the organism. No aged person, especially one who has not lived the life of strict chastity, can acquire the full sum of the powers above named. It is better to commence practice in early youth, for after the meridian of life, when the processes of waste prevail over repair, few of the powers above described can be attained; the full sum never. Strict abstinence from animal food and all stimulants is necessary. Frequent ablutions and long periods of silent contemplation are essential. Codes of exercises for the attainment of these powers can be prescribed, but few, if any, of the self-indulgent livers of modern times can perform their routine. The arts necessary for study to the practical occultist are, in addition to those prescribed in speculative occultism, a knowledge of the qualities of drugs, vapors, minerals, electricity, perfumes, fumigations, and all kinds of anæsthetics. And now, having given in brief as much as is consistent with my position—as the former associate of a secret society—I have simply to add, that, whilst there are, as in Masonry, certain preliminary degrees to pass through, there are numerous others to which a thoroughly well organized and faithful association might advance. In each degree there are some valuable elements of practical occultism demanded, whilst the teachings conveyed are essential preliminaries. In a word, speculative occultism must precede practical occultism; the former is love and wisdom, the latter, simply power. A Victorian occultist’s incense, invoking the Four Archangels: precious wildcrafted Indian frankincense with myrrh, cassia, sandarac, palmarosa, white sage, red sandalwood, elemi, and drops of star anise bound with grains of kyphi. In the bottle: kyphi! A fruity, wine-y kyphi scent with lots of cassia and a bit of anise. On skin: glorious spicy kyphi. This smells less like Cairo’s lemongrassy-rosy take on kyphi, not as wine-y or ashen as Philosopher in Meditation, it’s more like the kyphi note from the Oak and Kyphi atmosphere spray, or the Chthonic Kyphi incense from TAL. It’s spicy, resinous and complex. Cinnamon/cassia is the most obvious note, but it’s also full of myrrh, frankincense, red wine and honeyed raisins, there’s also a hint of fuzzy sage to it as well. The anise isn’t there any more. I absolutely love the resinous spicy scent this has. It reminds me a bit of Haloa but without the foody notes. It also reminds me of Egg Moon’s cinnamon frankincense. After a while: it doesn’t change too much but I think the honey and wine aspects of the kyphi become more obvious. The resins deepen further, the cassia becomes warmer. The myrrh is wonderful in here, it reminds me of the myrrh in Priala, especially with the cinnamon, but not as smoky. Something about it reminds me of a couple of last year’s phoenix scents. Verdict: probably the best kyphi scent by BPAL so far. If you are a kyphi lover, you must get this. It’s brimming with spice and resin and honeyed wine, all in balance. Yule is a perfect time for this scent to be on sale, there’s something almost festive to it because of the combination of red wine and cinnamon, frankincense and myrrh, at times it reminds me of mulled wine in a church during a Christmas service, but it’s got that undertone of mystery and darkness hinting at more ancient, occult origins for this particular incense blend. The great thing is that it’s cinnamony but doesn’t burn my skin. I’m glad I took a chance on this as it’s perfect, I think it will age amazingly. Is it a keeper? for sure. Maybe a backup? If you like this, try: Egg Moon, Pliny’s Phoenix, Tacitus’s Phoenix, Priala the Human Phoenix, Oak Leaves and Kyphi atmosphere spray, Saturnian Phoenix, Philosopher in Meditation, Haloa, Cairo, Saint Foutin de Varailles, Valentine of Rome
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For the sake of continuity the subsequent history of the Fox sisters will now be given after the events at Hydesville. It is a remarkable, and to Spiritualists a painful, story, but it bears its own lesson and should be faithfully recorded. When men have an honest and whole-hearted aspiration for truth there is no development which can ever leave them abashed or find no place in their scheme. For some years the two younger sisters, Kate and Margaret, gave séances at New York and other places, successfully meeting every test which was applied to them. Horace Greeley, afterwards a candidate for the United States presidency, was, as already shown, deeply interested in them and convinced of their entire honesty. He is said to have furnished the funds by which the younger girl completed her very imperfect education. During these years of public mediumship, when the girls were all the rage among those who had no conception of the religious significance of this new revelation, and who concerned themselves with it purely in the hope of worldly advantage, the sisters exposed themselves to the enervating influences of promiscuous séances in a way which no earnest Spiritualist could justify. The dangers of such practices were not then so clearly realized as now, nor had it occurred to people that it is unlikely that high spirits would descend to earth in order to advise as to the state of railway stocks or the issue of love affairs. The ignorance was universal, and there was no wise mentor at the elbow of these poor pioneers to point the higher and the safer path. Worst of all, their jaded energies were renewed by the offer of wine at a time when one at least of them was hardly more than a child. It is said that there was some family predisposition towards alcoholism, but even without such a taint their whole procedure and mode of life were rash to the last degree. Against their moral character there has never been a breath of suspicion, but they had taken a road which leads to degeneration of mind and character, though it was many years before the more serious effects were manifest. Some idea of the pressure upon the Fox girls at this time may be gathered from Mrs. Hardinge Britten's* description from her own observation. She talks of “pausing on the first floor to hear poor patient Kate Fox, in the midst of a captious, grumbling crowd of investigators, repeating hour after hour the letters of the alphabet, while the no less poor, patient spirits rapped out names, ages and dates to suit all comers.” Can one wonder that the girls, with vitality sapped, the beautiful, watchful influence of the mother removed, and harassed by enemies, succumbed to a gradually increasing temptation in the direction of stimulants? —Arthur Conan Doyle Deception and despair: rose geranium and tea roses with mahogany wood, bourbon vanilla, and apple peel. I can definitely smell the apple peel, but it's not that meekly-fruity apple note that I disliked in many BPALs - this is red, blood-red, juicy-blood-red apple that's almost aggressive in its boldness. Man, finally an apple scent I like! It settles back after a while, letting the geranium and mahogany have a chance, and what a perfect combination of notes this is! I smell almost no rose and vanilla is hiding back there somewhere, apparent but subtle. The main notes remain red apple, mahogany and geranium, and it's a brilliant blend. Polished, red and mouth-wateringly juicy. Very glad I got a bottle!
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Held on December 5th, this is the festival of the Horned God of the Forest, one of the di indigetes of Rome, god of cattle, fertility, wild, untamed nature, and prophecy through dreams. The scent of a thick, starlit, unspoiled forest, with a burst of wild musk, opobalsamum, black bryony, mandragora, and hemlock. The label art on this is a little strange, a dapper young man riding Krampus. The dood on Krampus has a Victorian mustache. Anyways... Sniffed from the bottle, this is a sweet, cool pine with a touch of a skin-musk, sort of like Coyote / Ivanushka. On the skin, this scent develops a little bit of the metallic snap of pine, similar to Black Forest/Nocnitsa (without the dirt). It's not a sharp, airy pine by any means, and there may be a hint of snow but this is not a predominant note. The scent dries down to a soft, snuggly Coyote-esque forest aroma, with the pine and woods being a full, rounded note as opposed to bracing. It's actually quite nice and close to the skin, and if you're scared of 'forest' notes, you shouldn't be of this one!
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Kitchen herbs and rosebushes streaming with snow peas and fluttering petals. Wow, this smells like spring! Kind of a weird experience to spray this when there's snow on the ground outside, but I'll happily indulge in anything to distract me from winter's chill. A Triumphal Arch of Leaves and Flowers atmo spray is really equally split between the herbs, the snow peas, and the roses. The herbs and snowpeas make a kind of phantom note that reminds me a bit of seaweed—in a good way! There's something very green here to balance out the rosebushes. After spraying, my husband walked in and said "Roses!" so clearly it's not rose-light, but the greenery is prominent. After a bit, this smells, somehow, like a green rose. It's fascinating! I'll definitely keep and enjoy this one, especially since spring is a ways off yet. ETA: This morning the room I spritzed this in smelled mostly of roses, with just a hint of green. I love rose and am so glad this note won out and lingers.
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Black Phoenix's Christmas Pudding is loosely based on a medieval recipe, and is crafted, as tradition dictates, from thirteen ingredients (representing Christ and his apostles, natch). Thick with treacle, smoky with suet (suet accord, sillies - there's no mutton fat in this perfume!), and sweet with stirred custard. I don't really get much Christmas pudding from this, but it certainly *feels* Christmassy. I get a lot of plum in this - probably from the historical plum pudding recipes. It's actually quite green, like freshly sliced, slightly under-ripe plums. The suet is in there - a slightly savoury, fatty scent - but it doesn't smell like lard. Almost like pie dough with less flour. Oddly, the treacle is quite understated. I normally amp things like treacle, but this one is playing nice. I am just faintly getting the custard, but I'm hoping it will come out more with wear. Unexpected, given the description, but very Christmassy.
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Frost-dusted honey. The White Bees Swarming is very straightforward and very pretty—honey, honey, honey (and a little frost). The frost is so light in this that it truly is just a dusting. As with the white lilies hair gloss, I think this one would also be perfect in the spring...the honey is warm and sweet like late winter/early spring sunlight. It's tough to describe the type of honey here and I'm sure others will capture it better, but it reminded me of the type of honey I love in Crib Girls. Even though Crib Girls is a melange of many different honeys (and other notes), there's a similarity that makes me happy (I love Crib Girls!). Maybe because the honey note in The White Bees Swarming also has an almost floral tinge, like honey from wildflower-loving bees? Whatever it is, I like it. This hair gloss could be a revelation for those who love the honey note but don't like the way it smells on their skin...and for those who can wear it on their skin, it will be a great layering gloss. I can't wait to try it with Osun, Bengal, Honey Moon, and O—just for starters. I wore it with Crib Girls today and the combo is out of this world.
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Tattered leather, dry straw, matted hair, sharpened sticks, and a bundle of switches. The leather-lover in me just fainted dead away. It kind of reminds me of Captain Cully a little. a soft and woodsy suede. It reminds me more of my dad. I finally found my blend that is exactly my reminder of dad smell. This smells like his sunday suede jacket that he kept hung in the closet with a block of sandalwood in the hanger and cedar on the shelf above with his ties. So the fact that this is a "Dad" smell inherently means leather and wood- which is freaking delicious! Saint germain smells like his skin+aftershave. So the two (which I just had to smell together right now) are exactly the smell I remember from cuddling up against him and dozing off with his arm around me during sermons on sundays growing up. I don't see myself wearing this all the time because I don't necessarily want to pull out that scent memory on a daily basis, but I will not ever be giving this up. There will forever be a decant of this in my box of treasured memories in smell.
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A chilly, bright perfume: flurries of virgin snow, crisp winter wind and the faintest breath of night-blooming flowers. Ah, Snow White! My favorite BPAL fragrance. So beautiful, so unusual, nothing else like it found anywhere else. I've acquired two bottles of the oil since joining this forum in August (2010 and 2012 versions). This candle smells DEAD ON the fragrance that I love. Icy but yearning, delicate yet rich. Apples, vanilla, and cold, cold, cold. A perfect picture of beauty, frozen in time. I simply ADORE Snow White and had SUCH high hopes for this candle. Unfortunately, the scent of the candle is so faint I can barely smell it. At first I lit the candle in my kitchen, but when I couldn't smell it after a few hours of burning, I thought the big, smelly room might be too much of a challenge for Snow White's candle. I moved it to my small bedroom (ten feet by twelve), closed the door, and left it burning for at least an hour. Nothing... Sigh... This must be how the dwarves felt as they gazed at her lovely sleeping face. It's as if Snow White was still sealed inside her glass coffin, not a hint of life escaping. The jar is beautiful, the label is elegant and lovely, but if there is no smell, there doesn't seem to be much point. Perhaps I got a dud. Perhaps others won't have the same experience I have. Because if the scent trapped inside this candle were to permeate the room, it would be magnificent. Hopefully it will be for someone else!
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Gingerbread with olibanum, Oman myrrh, Damascus rose resin, and cassia. Gingerbread Cathedral! Just as it says on the tin, my friends. Cathedral is so good (another nostalgic fave from my early BPAL-addiction days), and the gingerbread here drives the churchy incense back to earth in the best way possible. Wet, it smells like a peppery, gingery Cathedral. But dry, this is gingerbready incense, with all the in-the-body notions of satiation and hunger (and maybe even gluttony!) up against the rising-toward-the-Godhead resins I associate with mass. It's perfect for this time of year, as it puts together both the secular and divine. Definitely a keeper, and I suspect this will age very well.
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Merry malice and malevolent pleasures: infernal red musk bubbling with sour white grape and bitter cognac. I love this! It's as if red musk's tendency to be grape-ish was removed only to be replaced by actual grape. To my nose, the drydown is red musk, grape, and red incense. I don't detect the cognac, but I do smell something akin to geranium...however it doesn't have that sharpness that geranium usually has for me. It is bright and deep simultaneously. Slightly tart, slightly sweet, slightly resinous. If you are the type of person who likes when red musk goes grape-y, you need to try this.
