BPAL notes

[bronze_ribbons]

Larentalia
How obtained: 30%-full decanted imp purchased from LJ:modillian last month. Limited edition scent released December 2008.
Lab description: The festival of Roman goddess of death, Larenta, who was also known as Dea Tacita, the Silent Goddess. Spells to silence and bind slanderous enemies were cast on her holy days, as were spells of closure and suppression. During this time, offerings to the dead are left on thresholds, where spirits are said to dwell. A Roman funeral garden: cypress, thyme, oleander, crocus, gladiola, amaranth, and myrtle shrouded by herbs and flowers sacred to the Silent One.
Ribbons's reaction: Wearing it today. It's pretty strong and -- austere's not the right word, but... on the stern side, if fragrances can be said to evoke sternness. Since I've had two hours of sleep and am about to go slay some more balance-sheet dragons in the afternoon, it does fit my current mood, which is that if anyone talks to me the wrong way in the next couple of hours, I might well come down upon them like a scary Commandatore-channeling hulk of statuary.

(Which is totally not the right frame of mind for attending a John Hiatt/Lyle Lovett concert, which is also on deck, so I should pack something lighter and try to mellow out sooner than later. Whoo-ee. On the other hand, being supremely pissed off with no one to let loose on lent itself to some killer freewrites last weekend -- now the trick will be to maintain that intensity while I carve and coax them into shape...)

Harikata
How obtained: decant, sniffie, comped with a resale order last month. Part of the Japanese salon series. (limited edition).
Notes from the Scent Scribbles wiki: Osmanthus, honey, golden musk, vanilla flower, and ginger. Harikata is Japanese for an artificial phallus.
Ribbons's reaction: Well, I didn't think it was that bad - on the sweet side, but nothing out of the ordinary -- but the BYM reacted surprisingly violently to it. His initial comment was that "something smells like day-old bad breath" and when we finally figured out which scent I'd put on (sometimes I just reach for something at random and forget ten minutes later), he begged me to get it out of the house.

Badger
How obtained: decant by ralenth, sniffie, requested/comped with a resale order last month. Part of the Wind in the Willows LE series. (And...ooh, isn't "ALL THEY HAD SEEN, AND ALL THEY HAD LOST" a great name? Must add to wishlist...)
From the lab description: Warm earth, deep-reaching roots, dark myrrh, galangal, and Atlas cedar.
Ribbons's reaction: Definitely earthy and strong. Reminds me of fresh-turned earth. Sending it on to a friend recovering from a mastectomy - one of our plans once she's feeling better is to get together and read The Wind in the Willows to each other over a bottle of red wine.

R'lyeh
How obtained: lab imp purchased via resale. General catalog.
Lab description: hellishly dark aquatic scent, evocative of fathomless oceanic deeps, the mysteries of madness buried under crushing black waters, and the brooding eternal evil that lies beneath the waves
Ribbons's reaction: Pleasantly shiny. This keeps happening with me with BPAL's deep, dark monster scents - Caliban and Cthulhu are both favorites, and while the BYM didn't care for Czernobog on me, I liked it a lot. I suppose I ought to be more worried than amused by this trend, but by now I'm sort of resigned to the fact that if I ever found myself in a fantastical alternate universe, any superpowers I lucked into would be just that trivial and bizarre.

[Yeah, I'm now mellower than when I started this entry. Aromatherapy at work, right before your eyes! *g*]