A couple of BPAL reviews
Oct. 22nd, 2005 01:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rushthatspeaks(For those of you who may be unfamiliar with BPAL, that would be the Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab, purveyors of crack fine and entertainingly described perfume. ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
yhlee was recently kind enough to send myself and weirdquark a between-orders fix selection (and we need to send you your imps, Yoon; will do soonest!), and I've been trying them over the last few days.)
Sacred Whore of Babylon
Lab Description: And upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth. An ancient formula that inspires unrepentant decadence, lechery and debauch. (Not a thing mentioned about what might be in it. Sigh. Forums aren't too helpful on this one either but suggest gardenia, cinnamon, vanilla, maybe myrrh.)
Vial: Sweet, but not in a fruity way; more cinnamon or brown sugar, but not seeming terribly foody either, if that makes sense. An undertone of something sharp, mostly hidden by the sweet, and possibly something a little spicy. Very much a sex-smell, very whorish, but not overly assertive.
Wet: Pretty much the same, but with the sharp turned up. I think the spicy is pepper.
Drydown: Almost exactly as it is in the vial; the sharp has faded back again. They usually aren't this faithful on me. I think there may be musk somewhere in here.
Several Hours Later: And it stays exactly the same until about six hours after application it is very suddenly gone. This is a complex and gorgeous scent which I would very much like to smell on somebody else, as it simply doesn't suit my personality to wear; I think that combined with my general appearance and demeanor it would be very confusing, because while I can get away with whorish (and enjoy so doing) this is subtle, laid-back, and slinky, which is a mood that comes on me once in a blue moon. Will pass around housemates.
The Hanging Gardens
Lab Description: The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the Great Wonders of the World, were believed to be created by Nebuchadnezzar, possibly to honor the Assyrian princess Semiramis, or, more likely, to cheer up Nebuchadnezzar’s unhappy, homesick wife, Amyitis. If the latter is to be believed, it is speculated that Amyitis found the dry, arid landscape of Mesopotamia, in contrast to the lush greenery of her homeland, to be staggeringly depressing and bleak. To bolster her spirits, the king recreated a fascimile of her mountanous, green home with this fantastic terraced wonder filled with sparkling waterfalls, strange beasts, and exotic fruits, trees and flowers. It consists of vaulted terraces raised one above another, and resting upon cube-shaped pillars. These are hollow and filled with earth to allow trees of the largest size to be planted. The pillars, vaults, and terraces are constructed of baked brick and asphalt. The Garden is quadrangular, and each side is four plethra long. It consists of arched vaults which are located on checkered cube-like foundations.. The ascent of the uppermost terrace-roofs is made by a stairway... The Hanging Garden has plants cultivated above ground level, and the roots of the trees are embedded in an upper terrace rather than in the earth. The whole mass is supported on stone columns... Streams of water emerging from elevated sources flow down sloping channels... These waters irrigate the whole garden saturating the roots of plants and keeping the whole area moist. Hence the grass is permanently green and the leaves of trees grow firmly attached to supple branches... This is a work of art of royal luxury and its most striking feature is that the labor of cultivation is suspended above the heads of the spectators. This perfume is an interpretation of the Hanging Gardens by night, based on further accounts of its fruit and flora: date palm, ebony, fir, pomegranate, plum, two pears, quince, fig, and grapevine with plumeria, three gardenias and dry rose. (Gender neutral.)
Vial: Fruit. Very sweet, very fresh assorted sliced fruit. I am a little worried, as the last couple of things I tried with fruit in them have ranged from 'eh' to 'unmitigated disaster GET IT OFF ME OH GODS'.
Wet: OH GOD YES YES YES MORE PLEASE *ahem* Excuse me. I wore plumeria body wash for several years (from The Body Shop, inexpensive and easy to find), and I never got tired of it. Plumeria is one of my favorite scents ever, and is the reason I was willing to try this one in the first place. And lo, there is plumeria, in a gorgeous subtle wash around all of the fruit, and the whole thing is kept from going overly sweet by the darker and deeper rose (and probably the ebony and fir, though I certainly can't pick those out specifically). I could BATHE IN THIS. And hey, it seems that my problems aren't based in fruit in general, but in berries and specifically cherries. Cool.
Drydown: Something spicy creeping out around the edges, probably the gardenia. It is actually, somehow, an improvement. Didn't think this could improve.
Several Hours Later: Fades gently into the background, mildly suggesting its presence every so often. I had to think for a while about why this reminds me so much of White Rabbit when they have absolutely no ingredients in common, but I've finally pinned it down: they both give me the satisfied feeling that comes of having eaten a full meal, of having fully used and enjoyed and exercised my senses in a way that could not have been bettered, and so I find them both comforting and complex and homey, like a much-loved re-read book. Ruth noticed traces of this one eight hours later, but didn't pick up anything specific other than that I was wearing perfume, so I don't think it overstays its welcome. In conclusion, MINE, though the housemates are certainly welcome to try it as I need to have a bottle anyhow. Oh, and I so do not believe them on the gender neutral; this is more floral than most guys I know would tolerate.
Lust
Lab Description: Uncontrollable passion and insatiable sexual desire: red musk, patchouli, ylang ylang and myrrh. (Gender neutral.)
Vial: Most perfumes I've seen have been, y'know, perfume-colored, goldish-yellow-clear. This is a nice dark red, vaguely reminiscent of blood. Don't know if it's an ingredients thing or intentional, but it's cool-looking. The smell, on the other hand... a small sharp animal with spikey claws has jumped out of the vial and burrowed into my sinuses. There's some of the same nastiness to this that I got from The Red Queen, and I am very much not optimistic. (Unclear where the similarity is coming from, as, again, no ingredients in common between things I am finding comparable. Odd.)
Wet: Licorice? Pepper? Sharp and bitter, anyway. Not bad enough to cause me to go scrub, but distinctly unpleasant.
Drydown: More of the same. 'Prickly' is the word I would use to describe this in general. Also, it appears to have stained both my wrists and the bathroom sink with the redness.
Several Hours Later: At least it goes away fairly quickly; no trace after three hours. Not wearing this again. Passing to housemates, and I'll try to figure out what it was I didn't like, because it was at least as bad as cherries but not readily identifiable.
Wrath
Lab Description: A scent aflame with rage, swirling in the red haze of hatred: dragon's blood spiked with black pepper, clove, and cinnamon. (Gender neutral.)
Vial: This is *hot pink*. No, really. Practically neon. Wow. Here's hoping it doesn't stain the way Lust did. Also prickly, but not actively attacking; the cloves are very evident, and remind me of the clove cigarettes that I used to smoke in high school and still occasionally miss. The cinnamon is also very evident. This is like opening a spice cabinet.
Wet: After thirty seconds of OMG OW SHARP SPICY NO this settles and mellows into the exact scent of cinnamon Red Hots as chewed by someone smoking tobacco-free clove cigarettes. Don't know where all the sugar came from. Not half bad, but I don't particularly want to smell like a sugar-jonesing Goth.
Drydown: It keeps getting sweeter. No wrist stains, I note happily. I can see this working very well onweirdquark, but it's not my thing. I haven't had it on for more than an hour yet, so I have no idea how it's going to fade. Interestingly enough, when I drink soda the smell interacts with the taste in a way that makes me go EW, so if I really need to get off caffeine I could just wear this all the time.
Mi-Go Brain Canister-- a Limited Edition kindly passed along as a bottle.
Lab Description: "They were pinkish things about five feet long; with crustaceous bodies bearing vast pairs of dorsal fins or membraneous wings and several sets of articulated limbs, and with a sort of convoluted ellipsoid, covered with multitudes of very short antennae, where a head would ordinarily be.... As it was, nearly all the rumours had several points in common; averring that the creatures were a sort of huge, light-red crab with many pairs of legs and with two great bat-like wings in the middle of their back. They sometimes walked on all their legs, and sometimes on the hindmost pair only, using the others to convey large objects of indeterminate nature. On one occasion they were spied in considerable numbers, a detachment of them wading along a shallow woodland watercourse three abreast in evidently disciplined formation. Once a specimen was seen flying—launching itself from the top of a bald, lonely hill at night and vanishing in the sky after its great flapping wings had been silhouetted an instant against the full moon." [Ed.'s note: H.P. Lovecraft]
The Mi-Go are the Fungi from Yuggoth [the planet we naïvely dubbed Pluto], a crustacean-like, winged humanoid race that travel to the highest mountain peaks on Earth to mine for minerals. They do pick up the occasional human brain during their trips to Earth, which they transport back to Yuggoth in a canister. While in this brain jar, the transported brain is fully-conscious, and, thanks to the miracles of modern Mi-Go technology, is possessed of all its faculties and the power of speech.
In an effort to create a pleasing environment during a surprise trip to Yuggoth, we have created a soothing yet stimulating blend of pink pepper, peony, jasmine, mango, kiwi, pomegranate, pineapple, white ginger, serene white tea and light musks. Bon voyage! (Gender neutral.)
Bottle: Grapefruit. I don't know how all of that boils down to grapefruit, but it does. Good grapefruit, sweet ripe lush sour grapefruit, but... WTFgrapefruit?!
Wet: Pleasant, light kiwi-pineapple-tea... grapefruit. Odd hints of something sharp and dark every few seconds, making me suspect that a core of Lovecraftian eldritch evil is being concealed behind the fruity innocuous surface. I am highly entertained.
Drydown: Yup, this is layered: a level of sweet, light, girly shiny pinkness and a layer of WE EAT YOUR SOUL FOR BREAKFAST (musk? pepper?). I like both of them, but this may be a bit schizophrenic for daily usage. Also, this is not gender neutral; that top bit is *girly*.
Several Hours Later: Fades really fast; I couldn't tell it was there in two hours. On the other hand, Ruth picked it up ten hours later, but only as a generic 'perfumey' smell, which she said smelled a lot more like most department store perfumes than most BPAL stuff has. Hmm. Will pass around housemates and probably wear occasionally, but may get a few second opinions, since department store perfume was not a thought that ever crossed my mind, and I wasn't smelling it *at all* by the time Ruth whiffed it.
These are too much fun to play with. Thank you so much, Yoon!
yhlee was recently kind enough to send myself and weirdquark a between-orders Sacred Whore of Babylon
Lab Description: And upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth. An ancient formula that inspires unrepentant decadence, lechery and debauch. (Not a thing mentioned about what might be in it. Sigh. Forums aren't too helpful on this one either but suggest gardenia, cinnamon, vanilla, maybe myrrh.)
Vial: Sweet, but not in a fruity way; more cinnamon or brown sugar, but not seeming terribly foody either, if that makes sense. An undertone of something sharp, mostly hidden by the sweet, and possibly something a little spicy. Very much a sex-smell, very whorish, but not overly assertive.
Wet: Pretty much the same, but with the sharp turned up. I think the spicy is pepper.
Drydown: Almost exactly as it is in the vial; the sharp has faded back again. They usually aren't this faithful on me. I think there may be musk somewhere in here.
Several Hours Later: And it stays exactly the same until about six hours after application it is very suddenly gone. This is a complex and gorgeous scent which I would very much like to smell on somebody else, as it simply doesn't suit my personality to wear; I think that combined with my general appearance and demeanor it would be very confusing, because while I can get away with whorish (and enjoy so doing) this is subtle, laid-back, and slinky, which is a mood that comes on me once in a blue moon. Will pass around housemates.
The Hanging Gardens
Lab Description: The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the Great Wonders of the World, were believed to be created by Nebuchadnezzar, possibly to honor the Assyrian princess Semiramis, or, more likely, to cheer up Nebuchadnezzar’s unhappy, homesick wife, Amyitis. If the latter is to be believed, it is speculated that Amyitis found the dry, arid landscape of Mesopotamia, in contrast to the lush greenery of her homeland, to be staggeringly depressing and bleak. To bolster her spirits, the king recreated a fascimile of her mountanous, green home with this fantastic terraced wonder filled with sparkling waterfalls, strange beasts, and exotic fruits, trees and flowers. It consists of vaulted terraces raised one above another, and resting upon cube-shaped pillars. These are hollow and filled with earth to allow trees of the largest size to be planted. The pillars, vaults, and terraces are constructed of baked brick and asphalt. The Garden is quadrangular, and each side is four plethra long. It consists of arched vaults which are located on checkered cube-like foundations.. The ascent of the uppermost terrace-roofs is made by a stairway... The Hanging Garden has plants cultivated above ground level, and the roots of the trees are embedded in an upper terrace rather than in the earth. The whole mass is supported on stone columns... Streams of water emerging from elevated sources flow down sloping channels... These waters irrigate the whole garden saturating the roots of plants and keeping the whole area moist. Hence the grass is permanently green and the leaves of trees grow firmly attached to supple branches... This is a work of art of royal luxury and its most striking feature is that the labor of cultivation is suspended above the heads of the spectators. This perfume is an interpretation of the Hanging Gardens by night, based on further accounts of its fruit and flora: date palm, ebony, fir, pomegranate, plum, two pears, quince, fig, and grapevine with plumeria, three gardenias and dry rose. (Gender neutral.)
Vial: Fruit. Very sweet, very fresh assorted sliced fruit. I am a little worried, as the last couple of things I tried with fruit in them have ranged from 'eh' to 'unmitigated disaster GET IT OFF ME OH GODS'.
Wet: OH GOD YES YES YES MORE PLEASE *ahem* Excuse me. I wore plumeria body wash for several years (from The Body Shop, inexpensive and easy to find), and I never got tired of it. Plumeria is one of my favorite scents ever, and is the reason I was willing to try this one in the first place. And lo, there is plumeria, in a gorgeous subtle wash around all of the fruit, and the whole thing is kept from going overly sweet by the darker and deeper rose (and probably the ebony and fir, though I certainly can't pick those out specifically). I could BATHE IN THIS. And hey, it seems that my problems aren't based in fruit in general, but in berries and specifically cherries. Cool.
Drydown: Something spicy creeping out around the edges, probably the gardenia. It is actually, somehow, an improvement. Didn't think this could improve.
Several Hours Later: Fades gently into the background, mildly suggesting its presence every so often. I had to think for a while about why this reminds me so much of White Rabbit when they have absolutely no ingredients in common, but I've finally pinned it down: they both give me the satisfied feeling that comes of having eaten a full meal, of having fully used and enjoyed and exercised my senses in a way that could not have been bettered, and so I find them both comforting and complex and homey, like a much-loved re-read book. Ruth noticed traces of this one eight hours later, but didn't pick up anything specific other than that I was wearing perfume, so I don't think it overstays its welcome. In conclusion, MINE, though the housemates are certainly welcome to try it as I need to have a bottle anyhow. Oh, and I so do not believe them on the gender neutral; this is more floral than most guys I know would tolerate.
Lust
Lab Description: Uncontrollable passion and insatiable sexual desire: red musk, patchouli, ylang ylang and myrrh. (Gender neutral.)
Vial: Most perfumes I've seen have been, y'know, perfume-colored, goldish-yellow-clear. This is a nice dark red, vaguely reminiscent of blood. Don't know if it's an ingredients thing or intentional, but it's cool-looking. The smell, on the other hand... a small sharp animal with spikey claws has jumped out of the vial and burrowed into my sinuses. There's some of the same nastiness to this that I got from The Red Queen, and I am very much not optimistic. (Unclear where the similarity is coming from, as, again, no ingredients in common between things I am finding comparable. Odd.)
Wet: Licorice? Pepper? Sharp and bitter, anyway. Not bad enough to cause me to go scrub, but distinctly unpleasant.
Drydown: More of the same. 'Prickly' is the word I would use to describe this in general. Also, it appears to have stained both my wrists and the bathroom sink with the redness.
Several Hours Later: At least it goes away fairly quickly; no trace after three hours. Not wearing this again. Passing to housemates, and I'll try to figure out what it was I didn't like, because it was at least as bad as cherries but not readily identifiable.
Wrath
Lab Description: A scent aflame with rage, swirling in the red haze of hatred: dragon's blood spiked with black pepper, clove, and cinnamon. (Gender neutral.)
Vial: This is *hot pink*. No, really. Practically neon. Wow. Here's hoping it doesn't stain the way Lust did. Also prickly, but not actively attacking; the cloves are very evident, and remind me of the clove cigarettes that I used to smoke in high school and still occasionally miss. The cinnamon is also very evident. This is like opening a spice cabinet.
Wet: After thirty seconds of OMG OW SHARP SPICY NO this settles and mellows into the exact scent of cinnamon Red Hots as chewed by someone smoking tobacco-free clove cigarettes. Don't know where all the sugar came from. Not half bad, but I don't particularly want to smell like a sugar-jonesing Goth.
Drydown: It keeps getting sweeter. No wrist stains, I note happily. I can see this working very well on
weirdquark, but it's not my thing. I haven't had it on for more than an hour yet, so I have no idea how it's going to fade. Interestingly enough, when I drink soda the smell interacts with the taste in a way that makes me go EW, so if I really need to get off caffeine I could just wear this all the time.Mi-Go Brain Canister-- a Limited Edition kindly passed along as a bottle.
Lab Description: "They were pinkish things about five feet long; with crustaceous bodies bearing vast pairs of dorsal fins or membraneous wings and several sets of articulated limbs, and with a sort of convoluted ellipsoid, covered with multitudes of very short antennae, where a head would ordinarily be.... As it was, nearly all the rumours had several points in common; averring that the creatures were a sort of huge, light-red crab with many pairs of legs and with two great bat-like wings in the middle of their back. They sometimes walked on all their legs, and sometimes on the hindmost pair only, using the others to convey large objects of indeterminate nature. On one occasion they were spied in considerable numbers, a detachment of them wading along a shallow woodland watercourse three abreast in evidently disciplined formation. Once a specimen was seen flying—launching itself from the top of a bald, lonely hill at night and vanishing in the sky after its great flapping wings had been silhouetted an instant against the full moon." [Ed.'s note: H.P. Lovecraft]
The Mi-Go are the Fungi from Yuggoth [the planet we naïvely dubbed Pluto], a crustacean-like, winged humanoid race that travel to the highest mountain peaks on Earth to mine for minerals. They do pick up the occasional human brain during their trips to Earth, which they transport back to Yuggoth in a canister. While in this brain jar, the transported brain is fully-conscious, and, thanks to the miracles of modern Mi-Go technology, is possessed of all its faculties and the power of speech.
In an effort to create a pleasing environment during a surprise trip to Yuggoth, we have created a soothing yet stimulating blend of pink pepper, peony, jasmine, mango, kiwi, pomegranate, pineapple, white ginger, serene white tea and light musks. Bon voyage! (Gender neutral.)
Bottle: Grapefruit. I don't know how all of that boils down to grapefruit, but it does. Good grapefruit, sweet ripe lush sour grapefruit, but... WTFgrapefruit?!
Wet: Pleasant, light kiwi-pineapple-tea... grapefruit. Odd hints of something sharp and dark every few seconds, making me suspect that a core of Lovecraftian eldritch evil is being concealed behind the fruity innocuous surface. I am highly entertained.
Drydown: Yup, this is layered: a level of sweet, light, girly shiny pinkness and a layer of WE EAT YOUR SOUL FOR BREAKFAST (musk? pepper?). I like both of them, but this may be a bit schizophrenic for daily usage. Also, this is not gender neutral; that top bit is *girly*.
Several Hours Later: Fades really fast; I couldn't tell it was there in two hours. On the other hand, Ruth picked it up ten hours later, but only as a generic 'perfumey' smell, which she said smelled a lot more like most department store perfumes than most BPAL stuff has. Hmm. Will pass around housemates and probably wear occasionally, but may get a few second opinions, since department store perfume was not a thought that ever crossed my mind, and I wasn't smelling it *at all* by the time Ruth whiffed it.
These are too much fun to play with. Thank you so much, Yoon!
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no subject
Date: 2005-10-22 06:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-22 07:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-23 02:05 am (UTC)Reading your reviews of your results makes me regret that fact rather a lot, because this sounds like a great deal of fun. Keep the reviews coming; I'm enjoying the vicarious scents immensely.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-23 01:10 pm (UTC)