BPAL log: Mistletoe, Darkness, Rapture, and Danube

[bronze_ribbons]

Mistletoe (partial bottle of 2007 obtained via resale)
Lab description: The plant of peace in Norse tradition. If enemies met in the forest and came upon a sprig, they laid down their arms and observed a truce until the next sunrise. Offered in 2004, 2005, and 2007. I don't know which year mine is from.
Notes noted on Scent Scribbles: pine, holly berry, mistletoe.
Ribbons's reaction: shiny velvet. On the light side, and faded out within five hours. It's the scent I'm wearing throughout Christmas School (I also own a vial of Yule that is at least two or three years old; it has a much sharper, more needle-y scent)

Notes from 12/21 (imps from sweet salsify):

Darkness
Lab description: "Bottled gloom; the essence of oblivion. Blackest opium and narcissus deepened by myrrh."
Ribbons's reaction: Not sure what I think. Kind of a cross between velvet and nib cleaner. First impression is that it's faint enough that it wouldn't work as stay-awake aromatherapy, but that's trying it after Danube, which came across as stronger.

Rapture
Lab description: "Sensual ecstasy, the blinding red fire of the apex of sexual pleasure: Moroccan rose, Sumatran rose, mandarin, Egyptian myrrh, night-blooming jasmine, bergamot and neroli thrust into Arabian musk."
Ribbons's reaction: Pleasant -- I wouldn't call it blindingly sensual, but I do like the rose + orange combo.

Danube
Lab description: "Rhododendron and bellflower petals swirl through deep, cool, dark aquatic notes."
Ribbons' reaction: If deep blue had a scent, it might be this. It's on the sweet side, but with an intriguing edge to it.

Comments

[red_day_dawning.insanejournal.com]

Rapture sounds impossibly, lushly glorious - so many of my favorite fragrances combined - it could be heavenly, it could be horrific! Rose, mandarin, jasmine, bergamot & neroli are all especial favorites - but it could be all too much.

NB. Help please - how do I negotiate the Black Phoenix site to find "Rapture"? I seem to have been side-tracked into fascinating & sultry categories, but still no "Rapture".

[red_day_dawning.insanejournal.com]

I did find "Rapture" at the Black Phoenix page - Now that is a tricky site to negotiate!!!

[bronze_ribbons.insanejournal.com]

Agreed. I am invariably distracted from whatever I originally head there to look up...

[salsify.insanejournal.com]

They seem to be behaving better for you than they did for me. I'm glad. Danube ran afoul of my ability to make aquatic notes disappear, and Darkness smelled like plastic to me. Rapture was OK, but with those notes, I was expecting something amazing. Well, that's a good excuse to keep sampling--not that I need one!

[bronze_ribbons.insanejournal.com]

Skin chemistry really is a funny thing. I had no idea when I started trying out scents that there was such a thing as "too sweet" or "too foody" for me scent-wise, but I can't wear most of the Moons or anything the Lab produces that's got dessert notes (like vanilla or chocolate), even though I have a raging sweet tooth in real life. ... and half of the stuff that smells fine to me comes across to my man as bath lotion or deoderizer gone bad, so that's another level of chemical interaction that weeds out a number of imps. *sigh*

[sylvadin.insanejournal.com]

BPAL? Scents?

Either you have a fetish for visiting perfume shops or else you are a tester for a perfume maker? Or do you have a secret source for perfume samples? In any case, it's fun to read the lab descriptions and your reviews. (Though perhaps I've been reading too many Snupin stories lately - my warped mind has envisioned the perfume rating system that Remus might use: 'Intriguing', 'Mouth-watering', and 'Made Moony Sneeze'. LOL!)




Hope the coming year proves to be filled with joy and delight for you. Good wishes. *hugs*

P.S. Thank you for the holiday card. It was an unexpected but lovely surprise. :-)

[bronze_ribbons.insanejournal.com]

BPAL = Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab (http://www.blackphoenixalchemylab.com/) The lab maintains a general catalogue and issues periodic "limited edition" sets of scents.

There are a number of active, longtime collectors of BPAL scents in HP fandom, and some of them (primarily _lore) got me interested in trying out some of the scents. Almost all of the BPAL I acquire is as gifts or via the secondhand market -- there are several BPAL communities dedicated to resales, swaps, and "decant circles" (where someone buys bottles from the lab and then decants the contents into more sample-size vials called "imps").

I am neither a serious nor avid collector, but it's a pleasant diversion when I want an aromatherapeutic lift, and I'm glad my log has been entertaining you. *hugs back*