Leanan Sidhe

Her perfume is a crush of Irish herbs and flowers, Gaelic mists, and nighttime dew.

At first, it's aggressivly clean. Once it dries down, it becomes quite pretty. It is a bit like a nice fabric softener. I find it less piercing and more pleasant than Dirty.

3.5/5

Juke Joint

Kentucky Bourbon, sugar and a sprig of mint.

It's only a little sweet, so it's not heavy on the sugar. I also don't get a lot of mint. There's probably amber, since it does go a bit powdery. I don't know what bourbon smells like, but there's a hint of something that might be alcoholic. My mom smelled it and said it smelled like vanilla and sandalwood. That's actually a fairly positive comment from her, so it must have pleasant throw. Okay, if a bit powdery.

3.5/5

Fire of Love

A catalytic, potent love oil used to spark (or rekindle) the flame of desire between lovers.

Can't speak as to its properties, but as a perfume it seems to me like Hunter Moon 2007 plus a huge wallop of ceder, and maybe a hint of something tingly, like eucalyptus. Since I like Hunter Moon and cedar, I really do like this. It really doesn't seem like a 'perfume' scent, which is good for me, but I might feel a bit odd wearing it outside the house.

From the way my nose is glued to my wrist, I'd say there's a good amount of black musk. So, strong, slightly powdery blend of black musk, cedar, and maybe a hint of eucalyptus.

4/5

Anne Bonny

A blend of Indonesian red patchouli, red sandalwood, and frankincense.

I was a little afraid that the frankincense would get out of control on this one, but the sandalwood is the main note. It smells powerful- I like to wear it when I suspect my work day will be a tough one. Sweetened spicy sandalwood scent, good throw and lasting power.

4.5/5

Kubla Khan

Through sunlit caves of ice, roses unfurl amidst dancing waves of serpentine opium smoke and amber tobacco, golden sandalwood, champaca, tea leaf, sugared lily, ginger, rich hay absolute, leather, dark vanilla, mandarin, peru balsam, and Moroccan jasmine.

Starting out, it seems astringent and sharp, but as soon as it hits my skin, it starts changing. It seems minty as it dries. Then there's a jasmine-vanilla combo on my wrists; the inside of my elbows are all about the leather. If the thoroughly dried down stage, my arms smell of jasmine-leather and my wrists smell of vanilla-sandalwood-incense. The jasmine leather is a little odd, but not unpleasant. The smell on my wrists, though, is heavenly. It reminds me of Morocco.

4/5

Black Forest

Thick, viscous pine with ambergris, black musk, juniper and cypress.

I like this one better than I expected, since I'm not that wild about the idea of pine. I do love black musk and juniper. When it's wet, I enjoy the throw and it has a bit of freshness. As it dries down, the juniper fades and the pine seems to get sweeter and sweeter, until I'm sick of it. I think it's the pine that goes sticky-sweet on my skin. It's just not something I'd enjoy all day.

2.5/5

Plunder

tea leaf, cassia, cinnamon bark, clove, allspice, sandalwood, tobacco, peppercorn, and nutmeg.

This smells mostly like clove tea with cinnamon. It's not a red hot cinnamon, it's a lot smoother than that. The other notes blend into the background, to my nose. It's pretty nice. I think I prefer the sweetness of Bengal, but if someone's looking for non-sweet spices or spices + tea, then this is the scent.

3.5/5

Penny Dreadful

Soft perfume evocative of noir heroines over rich red grave loam.

Wet, it smells like vaguely spicy loam- very nice. It doesn't seem to have any moss in it, since I usually amp that. As it dries down, the perfume comes out and floats on top of the loam. Ultimately, it gets a little too perfumey to be one of my absolute favorites, but that loam base is really nice. A warm, feminine, spicy scent.

4/5

Bewitched

blackberry, sage, green tea, wild berries and dark musk.

It smells like blackberry tea! Wet, the sage is a little strong, but it mellows out as it dries down. I think the musk keeps it from becoming too sweet, but this is very much about the blackberries. Works for me! It's a softer scent, not a lot of throw, average staying power.

4/5

Blood Kiss

Lush, creamy vanilla and the honey of the sweetest kiss smeared with the vital throb of husky clove, swollen red cherries, but darkened with the vampiric sensuality of vetiver, soporific poppy and blood red wine, and a skin-light pulse of feral musk.


Vetiver, vetiver, vetiver. That's all I can smell from the imp. I tried it on anyway, but had the rubbing alcohol ready. I needed it, too. I want to try everything I get from the lab, but I should really just give up on anything with vetiver.

0/5

Lampades

Their scent is the crisp, inviting bittersweet tang of cranberry with smoky dark lilies, heady, sensual musk, a tingle of ginger and a brush of Mediterranean spices.

I can smell the cranberries and the spices, with a touch of lilies. It's a very warm scent, but it doesn't last very long at all. It has medium throw while it lasts. It's good for a quick pick-me-up. I like that I can smell the lilies without my brain screaming "floral".

4/5

Scherezade

Saffron and Middle Eastern spices swirled through sensual red musk.

I hoped for something spicier. I like red musk, but it does have a tendency to make everything smell the same on me. It seems very dusty and eventually dries down to a fairly nice saffron scent. It sort of reminds me of Morocco, expect Morocco really works on my skin.

2/5

Blood

Essence of dragon's blood resin, thickened with myrrh and cherry, with a trickle of clove.

The cherry is a short lived note. It disappears almost instantly upon hitting my skin. This does smell almost exactly like dragon's blood incense. I can't quite decide how often I will have this need.

3/5

Jolly Roger

Sea spray with an undercurrent of leather, Bay Rum, and salty, dry woods.

At first, this is all salty wood, which worries me. However, the salt begins to back off. As it dries further, the woods are mellowed by the leather and the whole scent is sweetened a bit by the rum. I'm fond of it, even though I can't imagine using more than an imp.

3.5/5

Jack

true Halloween pumpkin, spiced with nutmeg, glowing peach and murky clove.

Way too buttery for me. It calms down a bit as it dries, but then the peach comes out. I really don't care for peach scents. I was hoping for more spices, but it stays sort of peachy and buttery. I think pumpkin's just not my thing.

2/5

Hymn to Proserpine

The darkening amber of faith's sunset, deepened by the dark fruits of Proserpine.

This just smells sort of like cleaner on me, and it's really strong and long lasting. I managed to get some on my pajamas and had a migraine in the morning. Now I can't stand the smell of pomegranate at all. Probably one of the stranger notes to have a strong aversion to.

0/5

Hamadryad

Seven dry woods with mossy lichen and a gentle breeze of forest flowers.

I got this before I realized how much I amp moss. This was really all moss on me and some woods. I've never really wanted more florals to come out before, but that would have helped balance this scent.

1.5/5

Cathode

Ambergris, Spanish Moss, oakmoss and three electric mints.

I wasn't sure what to expect from this one, since I'd never tried any of the notes before. Overall, I just didn't care for it. I don't think mint is really what I'm looking for in a scent, and the moss amps like, whoa. It ended up smelling like a cleaner to me. At least I know to avoid moss, now.


1.5/5

Dee

His scent is soft English leather, rosewood and tonka with a hint of incense, parchment and soft woods.

The first BPAL I ever tried and it's still my favorite. I'm not very good at describing it, other than Mmmm. The blend of leather, wood, incense and tonka is perfect. It reminds me of when I was a kid at the library and would pull the old leather books off the shelves just to smell them. And dream about having a home with a classic library, full of old books and dark wood, with a fireplace, fancy globe and one of those giant unabridged dictionaries. Why yes, I am a librarian, why do you ask?

Also- sort of cool- my grandmother was called Dee, short for Devonah. And my mother's middle name is Dee. Nothing to do with the inspiration for the scent, I know, but it's a nice touch.

This scent is just so Me.

5/5

The Black Tower

white sandalwood, ambergris, wet ozone, galbanum and leather with ebony, teak, burnt grasses, English ivy and a hint of red wine.

So, something just smells bad when you combine this one with my skin chemistry. Most likely, I wasn't paying enough attention and burnt grasses = vetiver. It just doesn't work on me at all. Although, another possibility could be galbanum. I looked it up in one of my aromatherapy books, and part of its scent description lists "turpentine". Which could describe the scent I'm getting.

Anyhow, it's a bummer and overwhelms the entire blend. I was really hoping for a wine/leather/wood blend with some ozone shot through. This blend is really about the plants, though.

1/5