BPAL: Shub-Niggurath (8/16)

Another BPAL today! Big surprise?

This time I've chosen to try out another of the Lovecraft-inspired scents: Shub-Niggurath. This is a difficult scent. For one, what concept of Shub-Niggurath do you take? See, Shub-Niggurath is a vague entity. In fact, it's not even clear of what sex he or she is... if it even has a sex to begin with. The general consensus appears to be that it is a "she," since most of her appearances indicate a sort of evil mother-figure. But there's one very troublesome bit for this interpretation... well, let's get the official BPAL description out of the way first.

Iä! Shub-Niggurath! The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young, the All-Mother and wife of the Not-to-Be-Named-One.

The lust incense of a corrupted Astarte. A blend of ritual herbs and dark resins, shot through with three gingers and aphrodisiacal spices.

And there you have it: the "Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young." That quotation appears first in the 1931 story The Whisperer in the Darkness in which the Black Goat is also named "Lord of the Woods" during a ritual by a group of alien crab-things. It is the first story I read to mention Shub-Niggurath, and the second time chronologically the name is mentioned at all... the first is a bizarre, inexplicable exclamation of "Iä! Shub-Niggurath!" in a passage of The Necronomicon from The Dunwich Horror. The passage is apparently a rambling monologue of the Mad Arab Abdul Alhazred (as so much of the book seems to be) on the Old Ones... interestingly, Cthulu is called the "cousin" of the ones mentioned, all of whom are descended from Yog-Sothoth, one of the Outer Gods. So perhaps Cthulu is somehow different? But nevermind Cthulu. What does the exclamation mean? Some sort of quick satiatory praise? An epiphanal summary of thoughts, in that all things lead to Shub-Niggurath? Did Lovecraft even know?

Others have taken up the Cthulu Mythos since Lovecraft's death and added their own elements to Shub-Niggurath, but explaining and then distinguishing between all of these would make things very confusing, certainly more so than I care to make them. A mysterious being which never actually appears except as a vague And then there's also the so-called "revision tales" which Lovecraft ghost-wrote for others, which identify her as a Great Old One, but those are not usually considered canonical.

...However, that IS the apparent origin of the description of her as the "All-Mother and wife of the Not-to-Be-Named-One." Damn you, Lovecraft, why did you have to die without fully explaining yourself?

Also, Lovecraft once described Shub-Niggurath as an "evil, cloud-like entity" in a letter. So not a black goat... though the Black Goat may be a form of hers, or a manifestation, or one of her Thousand Young? Although that last one seems unlikely, given that the Black Goat is somehow seen as synonymous with her.

Finally, one little note on the "corrupted Astarte" bit. The Wikipedia page is not very good on this one (and I really need to get on with the rest of the review so I don't feel like sifting through the many other internet sources out there at the moment), Astarte is a sort of archetype goddess of fertility, and also of sexuality and/or war depending on the context. Aphrodite is probably the best-known version of Astarte today, but in earlier civilizations she was less of a singular force and more of an all-encompassing force of "fertility," which would have included things like farming and claiming land. Aphrodite was turned into a sex kitten... Astarte in general, though, was not a human stereotype. She was the Mother from which entire civilizations and lands came, and as such she held the power of both.

Now consider this goddess corrupted, evil, and malicious. Take all humanity away from her, and replace it with a terrifying presence of unknown purpose, a force incomprehensible within the confines of the present universe which births countless other abominations, but you don't even know what they are? That's Shub-Niggurath, and that's why this scent is impossible.

To the scent!

We got this from one of Beth's friends who described it, as I think I recall her saying, like a sweet rotting corpse. She never actually put it on because of the sheer repulsion of its smell in the bottle. I have to agree with her... I'm not sure that it's the smell of decay, per se, but it's about that foul. There is ginger, yes, lots of it, and... something just awful. Kind of stomach-churning. No idea what it is. Maybe the "ritual herbs?" Whatever that means.

Wet on the skin, it changes. The general consensus on the forum seems to be that it smells like "evil gingersnaps," and I have to agree. Evil lemon ginersnaps, anyway. The repulsive scent from before stays strong, although the ginger feels more developed, which makes it much fuller. Warm, spicy, lemony, and still oddly repulsive, though not stomach-churning any longer.

As it dries, the ginger stays very strong, although it stops having a potent a "throw." Instead, it begins to smell and feel almost as though it's been rubbed deep into the skin. The lemon scent subsides, and in its place rises some other spices... I wasn't able to figure it out myself, but one forum poster thought she smelled a mixture of cinnamon and cardamom, and I think that's exactly right. Not cinnamon sugar, mind you... dark, dry, ground cinnamon. And the cardamom, which is a very potent, slightly sweet spice. I also think the "dark resins" start to develop... I'm not clear on what those would be, and I don't even have a solid concept of what a resin even smells like, but there's a scent which brings back some mental connections to previous BPALs which featured resins. Anyway, it adds a certain feel to the scent... the "repulsive" part from earlier (ritual herbs?) dies, but the resins come through and replace it. They're not scents I'd consider particularly good, but they are quite interesting, and the complement the spices in a strange way. Hard to describe.

Aging, I found that the other scents faded until I was left with cinnamon, cardamom, and ginger... and looking it up, I just found out that cardamom was a ginger. Who would have guessed? But anyway, it's a very spicy, hot, dry finish.

Overall, I can't say the scent reminded me of Shub-Niggurath... at least not as I envisioned her. It did, however, conjure up some interesting images... mostly of a room filled with a dry cloud of burning spices. Originally ginger with a sour/tart lemon taste, and when the lemon faded the cardamom and cinnamon came out to make the air truly dry. And all the while there was a weird taint to the entire thing, originally repulsive (the herbs?) and later something "off" but also kind of fascinating (the resins). I also realized that it never brought the feeling of being alone, but rather in a group... was that just my mind making that up because I knew it was supposed to be Lovecraftian, or was it because a cloud of spices seemed more appropriate to a group ritual? Not sure.

One distinction, though: in spite of the many food-related scents used, it was not, as one forum poster observed, "foody." Most of the posters seemed to think quite the opposite, but I have to agree with her. It was not an appetizing scent to me. Not so much because of the herbs and resins, but because of the nature of the spices themselves. They were not like a heavily spiced meal or beverage... Tintagel's mulled wine scent was delicious and foody, but this was just dry. It was like smelling spices on an empty stomach -- they smell just as good, but instead of giving an I want that! sort of reaction, they evoke an I can't quite handle that! (I found this true both before and after eating). The spices were rich and pleasing on one hand, but rough and harsh on the other. Fitting, I think.

In the end, Shub-Niggurath was not what I expected. But that's not a bad thing! In fact, what I expected should not have been remotely enjoyable... but this was an interesting experience! I liked it. Harsh, yes, and not a favorite, but one I'm glad I tried.

BPAL: Galvanic Goggle (8/11)

Another steampunk-themed scent today: Galvanic Goggles! Beth was wearing this one yesterday, but she found it not only too masculine for her, but also too potent for something which was masculine (in Womanspeak: "it had a lot of throw"). To make matters worse, the intensity kept amplifying, so she eventually had to kill it. It smelled, as she says, "like Chris [me] wearing Old Spice." Which is fascinating, because I don't even recall if I've ever worn Old Spice before. But nevermind that.

Before getting to the point, of course, I must waste time. It's what I do. So today I will look into the concept of Galvanic Goggles! First, the official description...

Golden goggles fitted with zinc and copper plates dangle heavily by their leather straps from a hook mounted to the wall. Its crystal lenses are effulgent with residual electric energy.
Metallic notes with Indian musk, tobacco flower, and African balsam.

Effulgent. What a great word. (it means "radiant")

So what ARE these goggles, anyway? A quick Google search implies no such eyewear existing independently of BPAL, so I try the natural second search, "galvanic," and I'm instantly revisiting nightmares of high school chemistry class. The Galvanic cell... two metals floating in sulfate solutions connected by a "salt bridge" (or a "porous membrane") cause a chemical reaction, creating electricity. This is exactly the sort of thing that I understand just enough to realize that there's way too much in the realms of the "why" and the "why not this instead" that I don't understand at all, which is how I feel about pretty much all chemistry.

My personal reservations aside concerning the subject matter... it's named after a man with the excellently Italian name of Luigi Galvani. There's also the apparently identical Voltaic cell, named after Count Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Volta, who invented the battery by piling a bunch of the cells on top of each other, but Galvani discovered it twenty years earlier, in 1780. And besides, when it comes to stereotypical Italian names, quality over quantity, right?

So Galvani made history when he discovered that when he connected two metals (copper and zinc seem to be the classic examples) it created a spark, and when he used that spark to electrocute the nerves of a dead frog's leg, the leg would twitch. He called this "animal electricity," which is just about as ridiculous as licking a power outlet and dubbing it "tongue electricity."

Why a frog leg? Well, it seems that Galvani was somehow trying to prove that a frog's testicles were located inside his legs. Why this mattered to him is anyone's guess, but it really calls into question his intentions behind this creation. You've thought of a brilliant new way to create electric sparks, and the first thing you test it on is what you perceive to be a leg-shaped scrotum?

You know another famous person who was around in 1780? De Sade.

Back on course, what exactly are these Galvanic Goggles envisioned to do? Besides being expensive and probably fragile things made of exotic materials that hang precariously off a hook on the wall. Well, for one, I think it is important that they are *Galvanic* rather than, say, Electric, Steam-Powered, Battery-Operated, or even Goggles-with-Zinc-and-Copper-Plates-Built-Into-Them. Also, notice the material of the lenses: crystal (nevermind how they managed it). And what are crystals used for? As any truly erudite scholar of spiritual wisdom can tell you, crystals focus and purify all energies... and electricity is an energy, yes?

Put it all together. If you're thinking laser beam eyes, you've forgotten about the first point. They're Galvanic. See, when Galvani discovered his metallicly derived electricity, he shot it directly into the nerve of a frog's leg. Same thing here, but improved! Not only do the goggles electrocute to your sensitive eyeballs, but they have crystal lenses to ensure that the electricity is focused into a perfect beam capable of penetrating the pupil at any level of dilation, hitting the optic nerve, and delivering a high-powered shock to every nerve ending of the eye!

Having confirmed its unquestionable identity as a vintage torture device, let's get down to business.

In the bottle, this one is hard to describe. It smells... energetic? And fresh? Not quite like "fresh" scented men's deodorant -- it's "sharper" than that -- but kind of along those lines. What I smell in it is probably some of whatever they use in those.

Wet on the skin, the energetic/fresh scent remains unchanged. However, a certain woody smell is there... looking back to the description, it is indeed balsam. I don't know about African balsam, but there is a certain smell that I do remember from a balsam shampoo I once discovered beneath my family's bathroom sink. The shampoo was called Flex, and I could have sworn the bottle was designed (and knowing my family, conceivably purchased) in the '70s.
There's also a hint of musk. Yes, I can actually smell that! Then again, after experiencing the terrors of Rat King 2010, how could I not know what musk is?

As it dries, more scents start to surface. Tobacco, for one. Gives it a nice smokey kind of feel. As with the Antikythera Mechanism, it's not the unpleasant creosote smell (like a burning cigar), just a light tobacco scent, as we can only wish that actual smoking smelled like.
Metallic scents also start developing. Can't honestly say if they're zinc and copper or not, but they are metallic.
The energetic/fresh scent keeps going strong, as do the musk and the balsam. And Beth was right when she said that it has a high "throw."

It all goes well, and I like it... all the way until it suddenly starts to die about an hour and a half in. The scents just stop developing and begin to weaken. Everything pretty much fades away within the next couple of hours. It stops being exciting. And that "fresh" scent stops being so piercingly energetic, turning to the more familiar fresh-scented deodorant kind of smell, lingering faintly for several hours afterward. I'm pretty sure this isn't supposed to happen... with Beth, it apparently kicked into turbo-mode after about three hours, getting even stronger. Many forum posts mention similar experiences. Oh well.

So the Galvanic Goggles didn't work for me. My eyes were just too resilient to be properly electrocuted by such antiquated technology. But for so much as it did work, I liked it. It struck me that it seemed conceptually similar to the Antikythera Mechanism, also a wood-and-metal object running in an atmosphere of tobacco (although the description doesn't say the goggles are actually "running" at the time, the scents indicated a charge), but aside from being metallic and tobacco, they were completely different. Antikythera was smooth, relaxed, orderly, sweet. The Galvanic Goggles, on the other hand, were potent, metallic, and brimming with a more chaotic energy. Were it not for the musk and the tobacco, you could almost name it "giant robot."

Good BPAL! Too bad it doesn't work very long on me.

BPAL: Thanatos (8/08)

Decided to try Thanatos this morning. Wasn't quite sure what to expect, and I didn't honestly have a very clear idea of who Thanatos was. And since I can never just shut up and get to the point already, let's do some background research!

So, Wikipedia, help me! Thanatos is the Greek personification of death (that much I'd gathered already), and his Roman doppleganger is named Mors. He's a pretty minor character, which seems odd to me considering just how much death there is in Greek mythology... but hey, maybe the bards got tired of having to describe metaphorical fight/snuff scenes every time they needed to kill someone off. I could understand that. Also, he's basically hated by everyone and everything, including the gods, and he hates them all back. He's the son of Nyx (goddess of night) and Erebus (god of shadow/darkness), and the twin bother of Hypnos (personification of sleep)... although that may not be entirely true, because some of the more detailed accounts I'm seeing claim that Nyx seems to have asexually reproduced almost all of her children (and she herself was apparently mysteriously spawned by Chaos). So... who knows! Furthermore, Thanatos, from what I'm reading, is not actually a god but rather a "daemon," just a sort of vague, spirit-like personification of human phenomena.

...actually, upon further reading, nevermind. I've come to the conclusion that there is no actual consensus on who the heck Thanatos actually is, because now I'm reading something which suggests that he only personifies peaceful deaths, while his sisters, the Keres, who are basically a less awesome version of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. I am so confused now, and I'm starting to understand why there is so little ready information about Thanatos.

One note, though: Thanatos is not Hades! Hades is the god of the underworld, but it is Thanatos who sends people there. Except that it's Charon who actually does the transportation. Once again, I'm getting a headache, and now I'm wondering why Thanatos exists at all. Why can't the Greeks have just done like their European counterparts and created a cold, skeletal figure with a scythe? How does Thanatos even kill people?

Screw this! Thanatos is getting me upset. But there's another side of Thanatos which, given my personal interest in psychology and psychoanalysis, I find more interesting and less confusing: the Freudian theory of death-obsession has been called "Thanatos" as well. Freud, from my own observations, seems to have viewed the psyche as a struggle between different sides. It's not surprising, then, that he saw us as simultaneously being obsessed with both life and death... for example, we seek self-preservation and safety, but at the same time we also may find ourselves attracted to danger and risk. Modern mainstream thought, of course, rejects this sort of view in favor of a more mechanistic mind which simply weighs perceived pros and cons against each other, but as I do not personally hold to such a view, I think that, while not always entirely accurate, psychoanalysts like Freud really may have been onto something. However, this probably doesn't have much to do with anything since I doubt even BPAL would try to combine Freud with Thanatos (regardless of what it says below).

So, without further ado...
One of the horrible, painful, cruel, brooding, mocking and malignant children of Nyx, he is Death Incarnate, and is seen as a willowy young man, accompanied by a butterfly, bearing an inverted torch and funeral wreath in his hands. In modern thought, thanks to Sigmund Freud, it is the Death Instinct: love of death, destruction and decay, and the desire to embrace the quiescence, silence and peace of the grave. Dry white sandalwood and soft Siamese benzoin over a lugubrious blend of myrrh, Moroccan rose, mastic, tomb moss and a thin whiff of Greek incense.

Couldn't tell you what most of this would smell like, but they're definitely going for the more malevolent version of Thanatos here, although simultaneously being the psychological essence of death. Complex, yes, but at least it's not trying to duct tape two or more completely different characters into the same two-dimensional entity. I approve!

In the bottle, it's sandalwood. Something kind of floral in there too, but mostly sandalwood.

Wet and on the skin, it still smelled strongly of sandalwood, but the floral scent was stronger. Much stronger. And developing. For something which is supposed to invoke the Greek version of the Grim Reaper, this sure came close to compromising my masculinity. (I know, BPAL in general is enough of a compromise... but it's cologne, okay? Manly. Totally not perfume oil.)

Drying, though, it took a different turn. Some of the floral "notes" (as I guess they call them) became less intense, much to my relief, but a new scent also surfaced: moss. Yeah, that was odd. It wasn't like smelling a tree, though... the description says "tomb moss" and I think that's right. Probably mostly because of those words, but the smell did make me think of a tombstone.

As it aged, the floral scents became less and less, and eventually I was left with the sandalwood, the moss, and a new earthy scent. Someone on the forums described it as an overpowering "dust," but it wasn't that way for me. Dust was Miskatonic University, where a single sniff could invoke coughing. This was more of a dirt-like smell. Not a dirt which left me feeling like I needed to take a bath, but one which placed my mental image to the ground. I rather preferred this to the earlier floral scents.

It wasn't until afterward that I put it all together and I started to figure how impressive the scent really was. But first, based off my experiences, I'm not entirely sure why it's called "Thanatos," nor why BPAL would focus on his malicious personality when the scent would have, for me, matched his more "peaceful death" personality where he guides you to Charon. But even that aside, I'm not sure what Greek incense is supposed to smell like (was it part of the floral or sandalwood scents?), so the whole Greek theme in general didn't really work out. Also, I don't understand the significance of sandalwood, which is probably just my own ignorance. So the Thanatos theme, while it might very well be clever in ways I can't pick up, was lost on me. There's the Freud-inspired meaning going too, I guess, but then again why pick a figure from either Greek mythology or quasi-obscure psychological theory?

However, Thanatos WAS ingenious in retrospect. I don't know if it would work this way on most other people, nor do I understand how a fragrance could be designed to take this path... but, with a clean sandalwood smell consistent through the journey (which may or may not have significance), it went first from floral, then to a mixture of floral and moss, then to moss and dirt. And again, it felt clean throughout. What this one did, really, was take me through the cycle of death.

First the funeral flowers, representing memories which carry on well after death. Then the moss starts to grow... from an olfactory perspective, this adds some earthiness to the smell which brings your mind to the gravesite, but there's also something about the moss which grows on tombstones. It somehow solidifies the death... I don't mean in a morbid way, but rather that it somehow seems to represent an acceptance of death. And finally, the dirt, the eventual return of a the physical body to become part of the earth.

I had expected a morbid, dark, or malevolent scent, so Thanatos was a bit of a disappointment early on, but I appreciated it a lot in retrospect. Due to the changing nature it's more for art than everyday use, but it's not at all unpleasant, either. A good experience.

3 new BPALs

Tried out a few new scents recently. Two were ones I picked--Dragon's Blood and Yggdrasil (although Chris heartily agreed to try the latter), and Galvanic Goggles was a Chris-pick.

50% of the reason we got Yggdrasil was because it reminded us of one of our friends (and we will be mailing it to her once Chris has had a chance to try it out :P). 25% was because it had an awesome name (me), and 25% was because it references awesome Norse Mythology as well as Xenogears (Chris).

Without further ado:

Dragon's Blood
Powerful, commanding, blazing with strength.

In Bottle: ...floral. Very floral and "pink". Sort of a sweet dried strawberry smell to it, too.

Dry on Skin: Still a pink, floral smell. Chris says it smells like potporurri. It doesn't quite have a potporurri smell to me, but I can definitely see where he's coming from because there is a definite "dried flower" scent to it. There's something berry, too. When I smell it, the back of my mouth tingles in a strange way...sort of in a tart, under-ripe berry way. But I don't really like the sensation. A few hours later, it's starting to smell a bit soapy. Not nearly as strong as it was before, and while it *is* starting to grow on me a little, I still probably wouldn't choose to wear it again.

Thoughts: I wandered into the Micro lab at work this morning, and was surprised to realize that this smell...kind of reminds me of the lab. o.O Which is bizzare, because it sure doesn't smell like flowers in there. But there's some sort of chemical backdrop to Dragon's Blood, and whatever it is, it's definitely something that's also present in the Micro lab. REALLY strange. Also, after looking up what exactly "Dragon's Blood" was supposed to be, I realized that I've smelled it in an incense before. I went through a (very) short kick as a teenager where I'd try out different incense. At least, until I came to the realization that all of them gave me a headache. That (in addition to the slight problem of my mother not being happy about me lighting sticks on fire in the house) led me to abandoning my short-lived incense hobby. I wonder what I ever did with the burners I had...


Yggdrasil
The World Ash. Nine woods, nine leaves, and three herbs each for Ratatosk and Vidofnir, with three final herbs to placate Nidhogg.

In Bottle: Warm and woody. On the wand, it was minty and woody--smells really wonderful.

Dry on Skin: Stayed minty and woody for about 20 minutes. After that, the mint smell started to dissapate, leaving just the warm woody smell again. It's a little like bark mulch...I wonder if there's cedar in this. The smell reminds me a bit of the cedar closet at my parents' house. Dang, this smell is warm and comforting. :P It'd probably be perfect in the Fall when it's all cold and crisp outside.

Thoughts: I really enjoy this scent. But there's something about it that reminds me of old ladies. I can't place who, what, when, where, or why...but this reminds me of *someone*, and I just can't place it. Other than her being elderly. Maybe it's the slightly medicinal quality of this scent--something cool and tingling, maybe eucalyptus? I really do like this smell, though...but either I should save it to wear when I'm 70, or I should have the scent make a bold new comeback with the 20s crowd. :P


Galvanic Goggles
Metallic notes with Indian musk, tobacco flower, and African balsam.


In bottle:

Dry on skin: The first thing I smelled during the initial drying was...pine? Something like pine, but not quite. Checked the BPAL description, and it says balsam--that *has* to be what this is. The balsam is pretty over-powering for the first few minutes, but it smells very clean--a little soapy, brings to mind Pinesol, but without the citusy notes. Now that I've had it on for a grand total of 10 minutes, I'm starting to notice a musky scent underneath. After about an hour, a dryer scent is starting to come through...maybe the tobacco flower?

Thoughts: I think this is more of a man scent. A very nice-smelling man! But a man all the same. It makes me think of Chris's Old Spice deoderant that I really liked. :P After a couple of hours, though, it's really hard to fight the temptation to wash this off. It's starting to get over-powering. And I only put a little bit on one wrist, too. I'm *so* glad I didn't put it on both.

New Header

Finally got the new header finished yesterday! Now Doggie and Sushi are properly represented on this blog. I'll probably mess around with it more as time goes by, but currently I think it serves its purpose. :P

BPAL - Miskatonic University and Cthulu (8/05)

Today I tried two scents, both from the "Picnic in Arkham" collection... which is to say that they're based on H.P. Lovecraft's work. For anyone unfamiliar, he's an author from the 1920s and 1930s who wrote some extremely influential horror literature... and conceived both Cthulu and the Necronomicon. And if you haven't heard of either of those, then I really don't know what to tell you.

My own interest in Lovecraft began only a couple months ago during Beth and my honeymoon (happened to purchase and start reading one of his collections over Kindle) and I have since read about a fourth of his work, mostly in chronological order. Horror is really quite an awful genre, even early horror, but I enjoy reading his short stories... they're good for the imagination, and despite the subject matter (and ignoring his thinly veiled 1920s opinions on ethnicity) they're usually fun reads. He just keeps building this parallel universe through small personal narrations of incredible events, and I find myself driven to keep reading to explore more of the world. When Beth first mentioned BPAL, one of the only reasons I think I took notice was because she talked about a Cthulu scent, and that one of her LiveJournal friends was afraid to try wearing Shub-Niggurath because it smelled like something sweet and rotting. So I looked at the site to see what else they had, because that is awesome even if impractical.

So, the first I tried today was Miskatonic University! Beth and I were both very impressed with this one as we smelled all the scents which came with the new shipment. Miskatonic University's official BPAL description is:

A venerable New England university, whose vast library holds many rare, diabolical and obscure arcane works, including one of the few surviving legitimate copies of the Necronomicon. Home to innumerable scholars of the esoteric and the occult, and the notorious Dr. Herbert West.
The scent of Irish coffee, dusty tomes and polished oakwood halls.

But when Beth and I smelled it in the vial, there was only one scent: the Irish coffee. And it was strong. And oh what a wonderful scent it was. I instantly wanted a room spray of the stuff. Last night Beth announced her intention to wear it this morning, and I decided I might as well do the same. Because really, what could be better than smelling like rich, sweet coffee with heavy cream and a hint of Irish whiskey? And if there will indeed be polished wood and old books... well then that's going to be a delicious library, won't it?

Hahahahahahahaha... oh my. This particular experience had an almost Lovecraftian twist in itself.
Upon applying the oil to our arms, there was almost no detectable change. The wet substance just sat there wafting amazing aromas of Irish coffee. I fancied that I may have perhaps picked up a slight bit of wood fragrance in it, but the coffee was so strong it really overpowered everything. We were running too late to have made it at home, so I dropped Beth off at work and went to find her some breakfast. By the time I reached Dunkin Donuts five minutes later, there was a hint of a dusty background. I was glad it was working. I was back out of Dunkin again about ten minutes later, but something unspeakable was happening to my anointed wrist. The coffee scent was becoming fainter... to what reason no man living can explain, but in place of the lovely aroma of coffee the wretched dust was building! By the time I reached Beth again, she asked how the scent was doing. I held out my arm and told her to smell for herself... but to my horror, I could find no trace of the arm I had known well in life. To this hour I fear that I may be forever lost to the faculties of reasonable men, but this one thing I cannot deny: on the driver's seat of the car, there was found an inexplicable pile of dust.

...yeah, none of that happened. And c'mon, you know I had to make some sort of nod to Lovecraft, right? But the scent really did turn to dust. Almost completely. It was convincing enough that if I sniffed too sharply I would start coughing. I haven't exactly played with a massive array of BPAL oils, but that was by far the fastest and most dramatic scent change I have experienced. In 20 minutes my arm went from sweet Irish coffee to dust. As it aged (and it seems to have a fairly long life), a little bit of the polished wood smell came out and the dust did become more book-like and less harsh on the throat. But wow. What a strange scent. No idea how the Great BPAL Artisan managed that one, but it's quite impressive, even if simultaneously kind of horrifying.

Having experienced the strange wonders of Miskatonic University, I decided to take a shower and apply a new one before I left for work. And what better to try than Cthulu? We got a few more, but I have been very curious about Cthulu. Cthulu is, of course, a great dead monster with a squid-like head who, though I do not actually recall him being an Elder God himself, is at least a prophet of the Old Ones. I think. I need to re-read that story. But yeah, he's basically depicted as a sea monster, even if he is probably just an alien of sorts. (Edit - I did my research and Cthulu is not, in fact, an Elder God... I was right: he is part of a group of beings called the Great Old Ones who are currently imprisoned and dormant, probably by the Elder Gods themselves.)
So the scent based on him goes as follows:

A creeping, wet, slithering scent, dripping with seaweed, oceanic plants and dark, unfathomable waters.

...but really? Right out of the bottle, it just smelled like deodorant. Some people have said "Irish Spring," and while that's pretty close, they obviously haven't worn men's aquatic-scented deodorant before. I think I had one called "Pacific Breeze" that smelled just like this. The fragrance itself is aquatic, soapy, and clean... Cthulu never smelled so good!
This may be unfairly biased since I already have an image in mind for the scent, and given the success rate of BPAL it may stand more as a testament to deodorant creators than anything else, but this didn't really make me think "Cthulu." Aquatic without question, but waaaaaaaaay too clean and fresh for an evil quasi-dead tentacled abomination.

I was concerned that the squeaky-clean aroma may have been all there was because it really wasn't starting to change after twenty minutes, as most seem to (popularly known as the "drying" stage). But after about forty-five minutes, I did notice something else... at the time, I identified it as a "dusty" smell, which would have made sense if I had only been using the arm that I had used for Miskatonic University... but I had used both arms just in case, and the smell was definitely on both. Dusty and aquatic? Is that even possible? But "dusty" wasn't exactly right. I checked online at other reviews and I believe I found the scent: ozone. See, to me ozone is a layer in the atmosphere which protects us from harmful solar rays which gets a hole in it when we pollute the air. To BPAL users, ozone is a scent. But I seem to recall other people describing the scent of "ozone" too... somewhere, I believe it was associated with burning, frying, and other smells kind of like that. And really, it would make a lot of sense if it was. So while still coming across as squeaky-clean and fresh, Cthulu was becoming tainted with ozone, which I was a bit more comfortable with. I mean, it is Cthulu!

Also, there was a "rubbery" feeling to it. I can't describe why or how it got there... it didn't smell like rubber at all... but it did the nose thing. You know when you rub a balloon and it makes that sound? Squeaking, stretching, rubbing... there's something about it, and you feel it all over the back and top of your nose just from hearing the sound. That's the feeling I got from the smell. Slick and rubbery... and with the aquatic and ozone scents, you naturally get a tentacle. Kind of impressive.

As it aged, it stopped smelling soapy and clean. The ozone took over, not enough to be repulsive, but enough to definitely give the whole "dark, unfathomable waters" feeling. It even started to smell a little more plant-like eventually, but not strongly. In the end, though, everything faded except the aquatic scent.

So Cthulu wasn't quite everything I expected. But then again, my own expectations aside, it was still pretty awesome, and it got the right sensation across after the ozone started to develop. Very good!
More Lovecraft scents in the future, for certain.

BPAL - The Antikythera Mechanism (8/05)

Just a big new batch of BPAL imps... ordered twelve and got three for free! Although one of them is intended for a friend, I think. I'll have to ask Beth about the rules regarding Yggdrasil. But hey, in the meantime there are still plenty more! Like the Antikythera Mechanism.

So what the heck is an Antikythera Mechanism anyway, and why would they make a scent of it? I didn't recognize the name at first, but anyone who's ever watched a documentary on sophisticated classical-era technology has almost certainly heard of it. It was a strange machine
discovered in a shipwreck by the Greek island of Antikythera in 1900 which has been deemed the world's first known "analog computer," specifically made as an astronomical clock... which is to say that it tracked celestial objects, like planets. The sophistication, according to someone out there, was about equal to the work of a 19th-century Swiss clockmaker's. Which would be a lot less impressive if it were made in the 19th century... but no, it's dated to around 100-150BC, and there is some fair speculation that it probably wasn't the first machine of its kind, either.

But wait! 150BC isn't Steampunk at all! That's like... Roman-punk. And yet there it is! A overly complex mechanical contraption made of gears and other pre-computer technology to perform tasks which should be entirely outside the capabilities of pre-computer technology, overcoming these barriers through a combination of genius and willpower to create a device which, from a modern perspective, is entirely anachronistic and ahead of its time, yet falls within the theoretical capabilities of Victorian-era inventors. All right, that last bit probably should have been three sentences, and I hope that I'm not leaving out any important aspects of Steampunk (I don't have the patience to look it up right now)... but the point is that the Greeks basically invented Steampunk. Which is awesome. This scent seems to aim for a more classical interpretation of Steampunk (har har, did you notice my confusing use of the word "classical?" I'm proud of that...) and while that may seem to make the Antikythera Mechanism anachronistic... well, it already IS anachronistic! So there!

...okay, onto the point...

According to the official description:
Bronze gears spin inside a polished wooden case, and an entire universe dances within.
Teakwood, oak, black vanilla, and tobacco.

In the bottle... it's kind of a wood smell. Don't ask me what kinds of wood... I'm not the sort of cultured, well-traveled person who could tell you that. It's a refined wood smell, though, not a forest-like wood or a lumber mill's. I feel like I'm just copying the website here, but polished wood really is the best term. Not like wood polish at all, but a smooth, refined wood. There's a hint of something vanilla-like, although not really a sweetened vanilla. The site mentions "black vanilla," which I've never heard of... but it does incite a mental connection with dark-colored vanilla extract, which is basically what I'm getting here. The vanilla has a natural sweetness of its own, but not a sugary or honey-like sweetness.

When I put it on my arm, it started to seem a little more smoky, probably at least in part due to a hint of tobacco which developed more as it dried. This was not, however, the cigar-like and creosote type of smoke scent like from yesterday's Smokestack. This was pleasant and earthy... I'm not a smoker, but it's what I've assumed is the smell of tobacco itself (and since tobacco is one of the smells, I guess I assumed right). If only the lingering odor of smoked tobacco actually smelled like this....

Still smelled the same refined wood smells mixed with vanilla. As it dried, though, the vanilla and wood scents began to meld together until I found the vanilla itself had almost vanished. I began to notice a new scent, though, which bore a suspicious resemblance to the vanilla: a metallic scent. A sweet, smooth metal... and a sweet metal doesn't even make sense to me, but the smell was metallic. It wasn't like iron or steel... the official description suggests bronze, but I think brass might be closer. Whatever it is, though, it's smooth... just an ideal metal.

I also get the feeling of motion. It's supposed to be a machine smell, obviously, and I think it does that well... but when I smell the fragrance it really does come across as an active machine, not an idle one sitting on a desk, waiting to be wound up or used. My best guess is that the slight sweetness of the vanilla brings a sense of excitement. But that's just a guess. I'm really fascinated that a smell can manage to imply action and movement, and actually a little skeptical of it too, but it does!

As it ages, the tobacco and smoky sensations fade, and eventually the metallic scent weakens leaving a sweet, woody scent. A nice finish. The only I don't like about the scent is that it starts fading too quickly... both times I put it on (I usually try to experience it twice: once just before 8:00am and then reapply it just after noon before leaving for work) I stopped smelling it in the air at all about three hours after applying it, whereas most of the BPAL scents seem to last for about four hours on me. It does last, however faintly, on the skin itself for a long while, though, and I could still smell it about ten hours later.

Final thoughts? This is my favorite scent yet. Just plain smells great. The description may not sound like the most exciting BPAL creation, but there's a surprising level of charm to it. And strangely masculine, too, for perfume oil. (which is basically what cologne is, too... so shut up, it's totally manly!)
Looking forward to trying out more Steampunk scents....

BPAL - Smokestack (8/04)

Sitting at work, sitting at work... what to do? Hey, why don't I pass the time by making yet another BPAL post? That sounds like a great idea.

Today I decided to re-use a couple scents. The first was Grog, which is delicious in the way that only butterscotch can be, but sadly fades to baby powder on me after an hour or so. Totally worth having, though, even if I'm incompatible with it.

The second is Smokestack, which I mentioned earlier. It's one of the first ones I tried, and though the scent is hard to place, and while it's not really a particularly great or terrible smell, I find myself strangely drawn to it. Trying it again.

The official description is "Creosote, coal, and industrial waste." Originally, I wasn't sure what creosote was, so I looked it up... apparently it's the stuff you smell in tar fumes (I am slightly disappointed that it does not have anything to do with robot ninjas). And I guess it's also a prime element of liquid smoke, although that's not the same as tar fumes... those are wood fumes, which are more pleasant to think about consuming. Not necessarily healthy, but oh well. There's also creosote from burning oil, coal, and other things, so at this point I'm guessing that creosote is probably best described as "smoke fumes." In this case, they're probably going specifically for coal-based smoke fumes.

One other little issue of personal ignorance: come to think of it, what does coal smell like, anyway? I know I've grown up in a sheltered world if I can not know the smell of coal. I know what it looks like, of course, and that's it's made from the carbon of dead plants and such. I have a mental concept of "coal." But what I really think of is "charcoal briquettes," which are, as I understand, actually more of a wood product, and smell delicious. Actual coal can't possibly smell that way, because then Industrial-Era English cities would have smelled like a barbecue every day, and who would ever want to change that? Pollution is a small price to pay for an everlasting, industrial-size barbecue.

Putting it all together in a genius spree of stating-the-obvious, Smokestack is supposed to smell like industrial smoke! Or at least like factory-polluted air. So how close does it get?

When I opened the vial, the smell was not easy to place. Nor did my observations seem at all reasonable coming from the olfactory sense. But the words which came to me from smelling the open bottle were "thick," "warm," "muggy," and "chemical." In this case, "chemical" was mentally associated with toxicity. As for the first three words... I'm tempted to think that I did, in fact, feel them with my nose rather than smell them, but the oil should not have been noticeably thicker, warmer, or moister than the others, and yet this is the only one which really brought all those thoughts to mind together. Very possible that it's just a mental connection with the word "Smokestack," but I think it's at least as likely that the scent was named that because of these sensations.

I put two coats on my arm. Smelling it as it started to dry on my skin completed the scent. I think my skin works well for the "harsher" fragrances, or at least it seems to add some sort of chemical mixture which complements them well. There were two different scents I could really sense. The weaker of them was, I think, the "creosote" scent. I could best describe it as the lingering odor on someone who has smoked a cigar. It wasn't overpowering, but the hints were strong enough to be noticed.

The second scent was really more of a personal memory. It smelled like a certain vent back at college. Sometimes as I was walking back to my dorm in the morning, I would pass through a vent blowing thick, white, opaque steam across the sidewalk. As I passed through it, it would always be warm and moist, and it would smell of chemicals... detergent-like chemicals. It was kind of "fresh" smelling, but at the same time it felt toxic. And this scent was exactly like walking through that.

As it ages, it seems that the "creosote" part dies away, leaving a mostly pleasant scent behind. Although I still think of it as kind of toxic. Strange. It lasts, as with most, about 4 hours on me before becoming very faint.

Overall, while it's not a great, healthy-smelling scent, it's one I like. Good atmospheric scent... a dense, polluted steam. Not what most people would go for, but one I'm fond of.

BPAL - Calico Jack (8/02)

Another BPAL today... this time Calico Jack, my second piratey scent. The first one, Grog, smelled delicious (like an alcoholic butterscotch) but didn't really agree with my body chemistry, quickly turning to what I hear is the infamous "soapy" or "baby powder" smell. But this one is not grog, and focuses on a different aspect of pirate-ness... like, you know, being on boats and stuff.

Calico Jack, for the record, was the pirate captain (Jack Rackam) of the Revenge, best known not actually for himself but rather for having two women on board, Anne Bonny and Mary Read. As I recall reading in a certain extremely old book on pirates (A General History of Pyrates, 1724), there may have even been a more explicit love triangle than the current Wikipedia page lets on. Then again, most of what we know about the two women is actually from that book, so they're basically legends. And you know what? The scent has nothing to do with either of
them.
Oh yeah, Calico Jack is also the one who popularized of the second-most stereotypical Jolly Roger design... that skull and crossed swords insignia, second only to the skull over crossed bones? Yeah, that was his. But no, he's just some inconsequential pirate captain who had two women.

So, the scent... not sure what I really thought about it in the vial. There was plenty of fragrance, but it didn't really conjure any images. But on the arm, it was all sorts of images... frankly, the
website has it perfectly. There was heavy, salty sea air. And driftwood. And seaweed. And a certain something which "hits you hard in the back of the nose," as Beth put it... not really sure what it was, but it just made the entire scent harsher (this little subtlety did not show up on Beth, however). And then there was a general undercurrent of what I learned from the Rat King was musk. Now the sea itself wouldn't smell like musk, of course, but the fragrance did add
a certain sense of proud indulgence, which would be, if I read him correctly, very characteristic of Calico Jack.

Now Beth says the scent lasted for a long time on her. For me, it was about the average time... four hours until it became faint. The scent changed, too, as it aged, with the harshness and the wood smells fading, eventually become what seemed to me as a sort of salty musk.

My final thoughts on this BPAL... I liked it, of course, although perhaps more for the novelty value than the actual scent. Then again, I'm really more into it for the novelty anyway. Very interesting smell, and I would say it was more "genuinely" piratey than the Grog (as though I know what genuine pirates smell like). I read that not everyone had the same experience (and that men seemed more fond of it than women), but I, for one, recommend it.

BPAL - The Rat King (8/01)

Interesting BPAL today... the 2010 version of Rat King! As in The Nutcracker's Rat King. Beth had received it randomly as an extra gift from someone she had bought imps (sample vials) from and said that she had read it was supposed to be "very masculine with lots and lots of musk." I only understood the first part of it, of course, because frankly I'm so manly that I don't even have a clear concept of what "musk" means. So I'll look it up.

Musk, according to the inerrant sovereignty of Wikipedia, is an aromatic substance taken from a vague, nondescript gland called a "musk pod" of the male musk deer. The word "musk" comes from means "testicle" in Sanskrit. O-kay... and apparently we don't actually kill the deer anymore for their "glands," instead opting to make it ourselves. Well, I kind of approve of that last bit, but it does make me wonder, once again, what the heck was wrong with our ancestors? You kill an animal, pull a strange "gland" out of it, and somehow decide that it's a great idea to destroy it and rub it over yourself to attract women? No two ways about it, that's just a bad idea, much in the same strain as other bizarre ancient success stories like cow's milk, fermentation, and makeup. But anyway. That's what musk is, or at least is supposed to be like.

So the smell!
I opened the vial and took a whiff... I couldn't identify the smell, but I believe that must be what "musk" is. I didn't really like or dislike it, but it was strong. Very strong. And there was really only a few millimeters of it left at the bottom, but it was easily as strong as the other BPALs I've smelled. Kind of insane.

Since only the very tip of the plastic stick-thing reached, I put on four coats. I wondered if it would be enough. Then I smelled it.

Good mother.

The first thing I smelled? Completely honestly? Rat urine. Well, rodent urine, really. Beth kept a pair of gerbils for a while, and due to living at college sometimes their cage would go for several weeks without cleaning. This is what that smelled like, only much stronger... I didn't mind the gerbils. It's the first time I've actually been repulsed by a BPAL scent. I was somewhere between being impressed and disgusted, but I was mostly impressed.

The official description, of course, was not "rat urine." It was dust, wood floors, and "feral musk" with a sharp bite. I sniffed my arm again and, sure enough, there was the scent of a dust-covered wooden floor. But the rat urine -- excuse me, "feral musk" -- overpowered everything else. And it did bite! With ammonia. One might think that a king rat would be a little more hygienic and less rat-like, but this one apparently pees himself. Over and over and over and over and over and... you get the picture. And then he holes himself up in an oversized rat hole, and stays there until he dries. Pretty disgusting.
But again, kind of awesome that someone went to the trouble to make something so uncannily reminiscent.

I tried not to think about how I was going to be dragging this scent with me to work.

Luckily, the "bite" and the "feral" parts began fading after about an hour, and it turned to a more pleasant (or at least less revolting) scent, which is probably what musk is supposed to smell like. I could finally see what people meant by it being a "masculine scent," or at least I hope this is what they were talking about. Because I fear for my entire sex if we are associated with the smell of urinating on ourselves.

Throughout the day it has faded more and more, and incidentally become more and more pleasant. I can still smell it against my wrist nine hours later, making this a very long-lasting scent.

Rat King 2010. Interesting. Disgusting. Not for daily use, but still pretty awesome in its own way.

BPAL - Tintagel (7/28)

Note: I write most of these at work, and then plan to post them here. Usually Occasionally I don't get around to it for a while. So sue me. :p

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According to BPAL, this scent is supposed to smell like King Arthur's birthplace... which could mean a lot of things, but in this case it's modeled after a feasting hall. My three minutes of research do not indicate the exact location where Arthur Pendragon was born, though I sincerely doubt he popped out right there in the middle of supper. The earliest known precise location of Arthur is the "postern gate" of Tintagel, which is where he was brought directly after birth wrapped in a gold cloth (is that even possible?) and taken by Merlin. And you what? Horses, sweaty guards, metallic linens, castle gates, and the aroma of an old man carrying herbs and a staff... that's not a very good scent. So I think I approve of BPAL's version.

The official BPAL description goes as follows:
According to legend, the birthplace of King Arthur. The scent of a castle's great hall in the midst of joyous feasting. Spicy mulled wine flowing through the musky heat, warm leather and bright clash of armor, the damp branches of Cornish hawthorn, blackthorn, juniper, English elm and bayberry, and the magical tingle of dragon's blood resin.

In the vial, it smelled, as Beth's sister put it "like an old lady's craft store." Which is not really meant in a derogatory way... that was just the setting it evoked. Fragrant spices and fruit (spiced apples, cinnamon, and other spices I can't place) with hints of wood. It's intense and mixed together, which certainly gives the impression of being indoors.

On the skin, however, it changed and began to seem more manly (to my great satisfaction). Beth described it as "spiced cider," which was quite accurate, and I imagine that's the same way mulled wine would smell. The wood smell, though still not in the foreground, seemed a
bit fuller, too. I couldn't tell you which kinds of wood it smelled like (I'm not nearly that good at distinguishing scents), but it was there. I didn't pick it out at the time, but the smell of leather, I think, was also present.

That was around 8:00am.

As the morning progressed, the smell became fainter. Which is really to say that it became less strong, since it was very fragrant. By noon it occured to me that the scent had changed somewhat, but it was also almost gone, so I took a shower, reapplied it, and left for work.

I paid more attention this time, and this is how the scent seemed to age. First, the mulled wine scent. You know how fresh cider smells, with the apples and the cloves and the cinnamon all individually distinct? That was similar to how it smelled when I first put it on.
When spiced cider ages for a few hours, those three elements tend to mix together until it takes on a more general, pleasant sweet spiced apple scent. Same deal here. The individual scents of the mulled wine ran together and became a less distinct sweet fragrance of spices.

The wood smells faded most quickly. Three hours later, it was not a smell I would have picked out.

The leather, on the other hand, seems to become more pronounced as the others fade. It doesn't become the foreground scent, but it gets more noticeable. Mixed with (what I imagine is) the aging mulled wine aroma, it's very pleasant.

By 4:00pm I could only smell the fragrance if I specifically put my nose against the wrist to which it was applied, and now, just after 5:00, it is still fading. I could keep noticing it fade for all eternity, but in reality, having experimented with it twice (two coats each time), I can safely say that this is effectively a four-hour scent on me. I think that's probably the normal time, since yesterday's Smokestack lasted about that long as well.

I like Tintagel! Very awesome scent.

BPAL!

My first BPAL post!

Chris mentioned a little about Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab in his last post--it's generally a place of awesome. One of my long-time "internet friends" started talking about it a few months ago, and I started looking into it.

AND IT WAS AWESOME.

Again, Chris's posts will likely be far longer than mine when it comes to reviews. Mine are short and to the point. Kind of. :P Let the games begin!


Grog
This be the scent of pirate rum!

In the bottle - Butterscotch. Wonderful, delicious butterscotch. I want to drink it all day.

Dry on skin - Vanilla. All I can smell now is vanilla. It's sort of a waxy vanilla--it actually smells *exactly* like a Vanilla Yankee Candle. It even hits me in the back of the nose/throat in the same way that a Yankee Candle does.

Thoughts: Sad that it doesn't smell like butterscotch on me. :( Vanilla isn't bad, but I'm not a huge fan of Yankee Candle-type vanilla. Although someone did comment that something smelled delicious while I was sitting next to them, I'm not sure if I'll go with this one again. :( Need to find out how it worked out for Chris.

Eat Me
Three white cakes, vanilla, and red and black currants

In bottle: Vanilla. And...fermenting cake, maybe?

Dry on skin: At first it smelled nice and sweet, but I couldn't really identify any particular scents. As it dried more, it seemed to become more like a vanilla or buttercream frosting--cake-like, but sweeter than cake. So frosting it is!

Thoughts: I like how sweet this one smells. I haven't picked up on the scent of the currants at all (not that I actually know what they smell like, but I assume it would be berry-ish?). It's mostly a sugary sweet smell, but not in a sickening way. It's very light, so the sweetness isn't overpowering (although that might have to do with the amount I put on...?). In all, I enjoy this one. If I needed to smell sweet in a cupcake sort of way, I'd pick this scent.


Schrodinger's Cat
A paradoxical scent experiment! - tangerine, sugared lime, pink grapefruit, oakmoss, lavender, zdravetz, and chocolate peppermint.

In the bottle: Lots of scents and tastes swirling around in a vortex of undescrib--LIME! I smell LIME. I WIN.

Dry on skin: The first whiff I caught while it was drying on my skin was bugspray. That...was not what I was expecting. Now that it's dried a little more, it smells sort of warm--I think I'm catching a little bit of vanilla, but it's buried underneath the all-encompassing bugspray smell. My tongue feels slightly tingly after smelling it...hopefully in an hour or so, the smell will begin to calm down and I'll be able to catch more than a kind of citrus-y bugspray scent.

Thoughts: This one faded very fast one me. I put it on around 8AM, and it was almost completely gone by 11AM. The bugspray-smell persisted throughout the entire time that I wore it, although it became weaker as the hours went by. I started smelling more of the lime and less of the "bugspray" towards the end, as well as something vaguely wet and green--possibly the moss? Other than that, I'm still getting the citrus sensation on my tongue when I try to smell it, even though I'm not picking up much in the "scent" department anymore. Actually, now that I think about it, the sensation on my tongue feels just like it does when I have candied orange peels. So I think the sugared lime is dead-on. Fascinating scent, but not one that works for me. It's also the one that's been absorbed/negated by my skin the fastest. I wonder if this will turn out to be the case with other ones I try that have some of the same notes...

Bliss
Pure milk chocolate.

In the bottle: Chocolate, but strange. Sort of a sour chocolate (although I also think there might be a leak in this bottle--so something else might be giving it the sour smell).

Dry on Skin: It really does smell like chocolate!

Thoughts: It smells very yummy. It's a nice light chocolate scent--I don't feel like my nose is being assulted by chocolate syrup. Just calm and sweet and chocolatey. If I have an occasion where I need to smell like chocolate, I think this will be the go-to scent!


Calico Jack
Sea air, driftwood, waterlogged kelp, and the memory of plundered spices sprayed over worn leathers, rough musk, and the salty wooden floorboards of the Revenge.

In bottle: A very strong smell--I couldn't pick out anything in particular, except maybe for something kind of old and wooden. It's not unpleasant, although it's kind of jarring.

Dry on Skin: Something woody, but I can't quite place it. The scent hits me right in the back of my throat and makes it feel cool. There's also something slightly musty about the scent. Or maybe "dusty"? I'm getting a slight headache now from smelling my wrist so much. :P And maybe I'm crazy, but I think I smell rose. I only notice it if I sniff my skin and the scent lingers for the next couple of breaths. At the end, I can almost swear I smell roses.

Thoughts: It's an interesting scent, and it seems to stick around quite well. Unfortunately, there's something about it that gives me a headache. I don't think it's one that I'll really be able to use again. It also doesn't strike me as very pirate-y, although there's a definite "wood" smell to it.


Miskatonic University
The scent of Irish coffee, dusty tomes and polished oakwood halls.

In Bottle: Strong coffee and butterscotch. Or maybe super-sweetened coffee with LOTS of sugar and cream.

Dry on Skin: On initial application, the smell is strong like coffee and butterscotch. It's awesome. <3 After it's dried down a little, I could smell the coffee and sweet delicious irish cream, but I started getting a tickle in the back of my throat--like dust. After another few minutes, I coulld faintly smell dust and something "flat", sort of like wooden boards. Within 20 minutes of putting it on, the dusty book and wooden plank smell has moved to the foreground, with a slight hint of irish coffee in the background. Come back, my wonderful coffee...!! :( 5 hours later--my right wrist smells like sweet sugared coffee. My left wrist smells like dusty tomes. Best body chemistry ever? :P

Thoughts: I love the smell in the bottle. I don't like the taste of coffee, but I love the smell of it--and this smells like the perfect coffee. I'm not a big fan of the dusty scent, though...although I feel like this is something that would work out really well if I was pretending to be an old bookstore owner. Like the guy in Neverending Story--I bet he smelled like this. While I don't really like the smell on myself, I sort of want to experiment with it on different objects--if less of the dusty smell shows up, I might just buy a bottle of this to put on things. :3


Vice
A deep chocolate scent, with black cherry and orange blossom.

In the bottle - Could definitely smell the cherry, along with something sort of floral (probably the orange blossom). Didn't catch any chocolate.

Dry on skin - Kind of powdery, light berry scent. Something artificial beneath it all...it began fading pretty quickly.

Thoughts: At first I was thinking play-dough, but then I figured out what it was: The scent does bring me back to my childhood, but not to play-dough. It smells like a doll that I had once (I can't remember its name). I think the one I had smelled like Cherry. My sister had one that smelled like blueberry. And I think my other sister had one that was strawberry? But it smells the way they smelled--lightly scented, somewhat powdery berry on plastic. Not a bad plastic, but maybe it's just more of an "artificial" tang more than plastic. But it really reminds me of the scent of that old doll. Huh. I never caught any hints of chocolate, but Chris thought it smelled rather like cherries and chocolate on me.