The Sacred Queen - Twyla Perfumes

Details: 
The Sacred Queen
Maia Collection
Twyla Perfumes & Apothecary

Notes:
Beautiful, ruthless and fiery - The Sacred Queen, with over 14 essential oils, is a deceptively sweet, complex and unmistakably regal blend of honey and smokey vetiver, amber and vintage patchouli, frankincense, neroli and bitter almond with smoldering spices, sacred incense and a heady blend of florals.  

I thought I would hate this at first because in the vial all I got was a big huff of patchouli. However, once applied it almost immediately sweetened and mellowed. I don't really get a distinct floral note but I think there's something flowery about it. It's very, VERY hippie-ish. Not my cup of tea, but not nearly as bad as I initially thought it would be. Oddly I can't smell the honey if I put my nose to my wrist and sniff, but I can smell it when I'm just moving my wrist around - I kept getting whiffs of it at work while I was typing.

The other day I was chatting on Twitter with some people about that fashion in the 90s for the semi-goth look, with long flowing velvet dresses, lace up boots, chokers, hair dyed black or red, etc. This perfume evokes that style for me. There's something about it that says to me: Wiccan, hippie, probably wears or carries a crystal. Sillage is medium - it packs a bit of a punch at first but settles down fairly quickly. Longevity was good - I could smell it on myself for most of the day.

Rating:
3/5

Day 177!

Womb Furie - Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab

Details: 
Womb Furie
Lupercalia (Valentine) 2010
Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab

Notes: 
Oh, that wily womb! Hippocrates and his followers considered the womb a mobile creature, causing mayhem as it writhed its way through a woman's body. Sometimes this ornery organ, due to lack of sexual activity, would create conflicts within a woman's system or would become blocked itself, causing anxiety, nervousness, water retention, and sleeplessness. With the assistance of doctors, nursemaids, hand tools, or, occasionally, self-manipulation, this vexing condition could be alleviated through hysterical paroxysms. Or, as we call it nowadays: orgasm. An itch that needs to be scratched: Snake Oil and three types of honey.

This perfume is a gentler version of Snake Oil, with the honey softening the head kicking element of the original. In the bottle it smells like sweet incense, and applied the honey and vanilla come out. It's so beautiful, I sniff myself nonstop like a creeper whenever I wear this. It's been brought back a few times, though sadly not this year or I would have bought another bottle - hopefully next Valentine's Day. I had a bit of a rave about it way back when I first got it, and I would say my thoughts from there still stand.

Sillage is medium, certainly not as strong as Snake Oil. Longevity is also excellent - again I could smell it the morning after I'd applied it. This is a good evening perfume if you are after having people sniff your pulse points all night, for sure.

Rating: 
5/5

Day 126!

Snake Oil - Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab

Details: 
Snake Oil
Ars Amatoria
Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab

Notes:
By far our most popular scent! Magnetic, mysterious and exceedingly sexual in nature. A blend of exotic Indonesion oils sugared with vanilla. 

It's been a long time since I wore some of my classic favourites, so I dragged a couple out for a run around the block, starting with Snake Oil. It's no surprise this is BPAL's most popular perfume - it's awesome. It's one of the few I ever get asked about when I wear it. My bottle is from December 2009, so it's aged a bit and I can't remember what new Snake Oil smells like. I have been intending to get a back up bottle sometime, but their shipping is so ridiculous (both cost and length of time) that I only order from them once or twice a year.

Anyway, Snake Oil is a sweet incensey perfume, very deep and sexy. I sent a sample to Nadja who said it reminded her of something else but she couldn't think what, and I've been having that same problem for years. It reminds me of one of those headkicking orientals from the 80s - like Shalimar or Opium, but it's neither of those. Damned if I can figure it out. The sillage on this is high - it's definitely not one for work if you sit in close proximity to others. Lasting power is excellent too. I put it on in the early morning and could still smell it the next day when I got up.

This is one perfume that I think everyone should try - you might hate it, but you might just fall in love.

Rating: 
5/5

Day 125!

Spellbound Woods - Solstice Scents

Details: 
Spellbound Woods
Solstice Scents

Notes: 
A soft, incensy blend of vanilla, sandalwood, cedar and amber.

I pulled this one out and immediately smelled amber and sandalwood in the vial, so I was a bit wary of it. However, once applied, it was the cedar that came out – blended with the vanilla it made a sweet, woody scent. Not reaaaaally my cup of tea, but actually quite nice. I kept waiting and waiting for the sandalwood and amber to take over again, but they never did. They were definitely there, but this is so nicely blended that everything just drifted along together. There’s a definite hippie vibe about this one. Longevity is good – I could still smell it 8 hours after applying. Sillage is medium to low – once it dries down it sits quite close to the skin.

Rating:
3/5

Day 123

Old Cedar Magus - Solstice Scents

Details: 
Old Cedar Magus
Solstice Scents


Notes:
Old Cedar Magus is an amazing blend of fresh cedarwood on a bed of mystical incense and soft vanilla. Excellent as a unisex woodsy scent... slightly smoky and very alluring.

One of the most powerful attractants (is that a word? it is now) for me is smell. I don't look at people in the street but if I walk past a man who smells good I will stop dead, whip around and stare as he passes by. He could have a head like a robber's dog but I'll still be attracted. Ironically, my last two long term relationships were with men who hated anything that smelled the slightest bit perfumy - one because he was a hippie skank and the other because he gets headaches from strong fragrances (and also because he was a bit of a borderline hippie skank, it has to be said).

All this is a long-winded Grandpa Simpson way of saying that to me, Old Cedar Magus smells like the PERFECT MAN. It's warm, inviting, a bit sexy but not in that Sex Panther kind of way (you know what I'm talking about).

In the vial it's a freshy woody scent, like walking through a forest in the middle of the day - green and a bit zingy. You know when you go out to the country and you throw your head back and breathe deep and go, "Aaaah, smell that fresh air!" and look around smugly at the people you're with while they stare at you wondering whether you're going to be that annoying for the whole trip? Yeah, that.

Once applied, the warmth comes out - a rich, vanilla resiny wood, mildly smokey, just delicious. The dry down doesn't change a whole lot, but the vanilla comes out more as it wears on. Solstice Scents' vanilla note is just so far beyond anyone else's that it's ridiculous. Go home everyone, SS has got this covered.

Longevity is medium - I finally stopped sniffing myself after about 6 hours because it got to the spritzer hour and more important things were afoot. Sillage is medium - you could keep it subtle with a dab, but if you splashed it about or, say, took it out in the street and threw it on random men, you'd definitely know it's there.

Sidenote: When I tried this on at first I happened to be listening to this song, and the combination of the two conjured up an immediate feeling of warm snuggliness. Weird how that happens sometimes.

Rating: 
5/5 Full bottle ASAP.

Day 86!

Alchemy - Black Baccara

Details: 
Alchemy
Black Baccara

Notes: 
In this bottle is an Alchemist's lab strewn with bottles, jars, brews, and divinely scented, decaying cabinets of curiosities. A mysterious unisex perfume blend -deep and sensuous with notes of incense, honey, sandalwood, cardamom, and the faintest hint of plum.

This is a funny one - lots of weird things going on but I can't pin down anything in particular. When I read the notes, I was thinking, oh yeah - that's there, and that's there, and that's there... but without that to tell me I was lost. It's incense but not quite, spicy but not quite, woody but not quite. There's something in the opening notes that almost makes me dislike it, but then I kept getting drawn in to sniff past whatever that was (and I still don't know - something sweetly sour, like when a baby spits up milk). The whole time I was wearing this I sniffed it compulsively, even at work like a weirdo. It's so interesting, even though I can't decide for sure whether I like it.

The dry down is sandalwood, and it smells musky even though that's not mentioned in the notes. The base is more of a classic scent than the unusual opener. I've probably been of no use at all describing this one, but it's a mystery to me, even though I wore it for a couple of days in a row trying to get my head around it. Sillage is lowish, but longevity is good - 10 hours at least.

Rating: 
3/5 I might come back and make this higher eventually. I'm not entirely decided.

Day 85!

Snake Charmer - Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab

Details:
Snake Charmer*
Carnaval Noir 
Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab

Notes:

Sensual, sibilant, sexual and hypnotic: Arabian musk and exotic spices slinking through Egyptian amber, enticing vanilla, and a serpentine blend of black plum, labdanum, ambrette, benzoin and black coconut.

In the imp this smells like aged Snake Oil, a deeper version of my bottle (bought in January 2010), with the incense more prominent. On the skin the vanilla is there and it reminds me more of Womb Furie. It's quite sweet and I actually think I like it even better than Snake Oil, which can sometimes be a bit heavy on the incense for me. I could swear there's a note of something like sarsparilla in there too - it's quite faint, but it adds a little something-something, whatever it is. This is a Limited Edition, of course, so there's not much likelihood of me being able to pick up a full bottle anytime soon, but I definitely would given the chance.

*This is a decant so I don't know if it's the original or Snake Charmer Resurrected. 

Rating: 
5/5 Gorgeous! 

Day 35!

Children Of The Night - Deep Midnight

Details:
Children of the Night
Deep Midnight Perfumes

Notes: 
Children of the Night: What sweet music they make! A nice Gothic blend of dragon’s blood, silky champas, deep vanilla, dark black fig, and the haunting faint breath of heliotrope. This unisex scent will them howling for more.

There is a note in a few of the Deep Midnight perfumes I have sampled that has that synthetic, plasticky smell that's kind of like bandaids. This one has it too, and it's quite strong both in the vial and when first applied. I feel like it might be the heliotrope, which can sometimes smell a bit weird on me. I'm not overly keen on this - it's not quite a scrubber, but that synthetic note distracts me. When it dries down it smells like vanilla and incense. The sillage is not strong, and the lasting power is medium. I don't have much else to say about this one, but I'm definitely not howling for more...

Rating: 
2/5

Day 26!

Black Lace - Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab

Details: 
Black Lace
Dark Delicacies 13th Anniversary Concoction
Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab

Notes: 
The embodiment of Victorian funereal elegance. A delicate sugar-spun vanilla cream cotton, stained by tobacco and incense, Indian musk and drops of cognac. 

I like this perfume quite a lot, but I don't have much to say about it. It's one of those 'everything mooshed together' blends that BPAL does sometimes. It works, but nothing really stands out to me. In the bottle, it smells like incense. Once applied, it's a vanilla musk, and on me that's pretty much it. I don't get the tobacco, the cotton, or the cognac. I do like vanilla musk though, so it's not such a bad thing.

Rating: 
3/5 Not quite a 4, because I don't find anything remarkably unique about it, but still a very nice scent.

Day 15!

*Apologies for the delay on this one. I'm on holidays at the moment and having trouble keeping track of what day it is - I messed up my schedule dates.