Meow! BPAL!

[riverdresses]

Early morning browsing about on Flickr because I'm not going to work today! ♥

(I'm keeping vigil for my iTouch, which Amazon said should be here today. If not, they're in trouble! ::shakes fist::)

I'm planning a bit of a BPAL spree this weekend & with luck, it seems that Dark Delights still has the Summer Blockbusters & Great Duets in Horror lines available for purchase! These are their BPAL lines & o, I'm just in a whirl about which two to get!

I've decided for sure on J-Horror (. . . This scent is spectral, draped in funeral white, and surges with otherworldly, malevolent rage: stargazer lily, white sandalwood, chrysanthemum, and shincha, with white mint, eucalyptus, licorice bark, and blood orange.) which has a lot of notes that I like & just sounds very me, somehow (how pretentious of me, yes? Teehee.), but I'm torn between Giallo (. . . Profoundly passionate and singularly sinister: opopponax, black plum, night-blooming jasmine, benzoin, red musk, violet leaf, orange blossom, mimosa, mandarin, smoky vanilla, tobacco, patchouli, and black amber.) & German Expressionist Horror (Casket dust, black musk and khus, musty velvet, black pine needle, patchouli, myrrh, and black pepper.), though I'm not as wild about all of the notes of it. I like the casket dust, the musty velvet, black pine needle & patchouli, but I'm not so sure about how the black musk & black pepper will work on me & if it would come out too masculine, possibly. But I adore German expressionist horror films & have ever since I was a child. (My aunt was very progressive & I got to see a lot of them when I was very young) I like most of the notes of Giallo & it sounds like a very warm scent, in comparison to the cool, chilliness of J-Horror.

I'm also considering a bottle or two from the most recent limited edition release, specifically from the Gothic Literature: Vol I & one from the Halloween: Mnemosyne line. The one bottle I want from the latter is Halloween: San Francisco: Salt air wafting in from the bay. Rain falling on rain-soaked leaves. How can I not buy a bottle of a BPAL scent inspired by my home?

As to the Gothic Literature: Vol I line, I am over. the. moon. that they have one based on Byron's work - The Byronic Antihero, which I've mentioned here before: An aristocratic cologne of titanic passions, moody and brooding. This scent is dark with disillusionment and cynicism: a Victorian fougère and a dashing carnation boutonnière tainted by a cloud of khus, yew, and patchouli. I know it will probably be quite masculine, but . . . o, I really want to try it! It's a Byron-inspired scent! There's already a scent inspired by Shelley's Ozymandias (which, I should possibly get an imp of if I get this one, to match, since I'm so silly), but there's no general catalogue one for Lord Byron. Swoon!
The others that I'm quite enamoured of are The Madwoman (Dusty white sandalwood, ragged cloth, and a dry, long-dead bridal bouquet.), The Unsavory Grave-diggers (An unearthed oakwood coffin, cemetery weeds, and a hint of booze.) & I'm debating The Unsteady Governess, but it sounds a bit too simple a composition for my taste, with only two notes of white tea & violet leaf. I think I'll pass on that, since it doesn't really catch me as the others do.

So, poll time!

[Poll #1613157]

Comments

[infinitejoys.livejournal.com]

I probably have a bias, because when I read descriptions on the BPAL site, I tend to shy away from scents that have funereal things in their descriptions (caskets, coffins, grave dust...). What do those smell like, anyway?

The Byronic Antihero does sound rather masculine, I agree, but oh, I love the description.

[riverdresses.livejournal.com]

Well, their dust note is rather good, I think - another oil I like is Miskatonic University, which has notes of wood & dust in it - think of an old library & a bit of Irish Coffee & you'll know just how it smells - wonderful! So I would surmise that a casket or coffin note would be a sort of wood-scented one, which I like.

& if you're not as fond of funeral-themed scents, you might not want to look at the Ars Moriendi catalogue - it's ALL funeral-themed oils. (but there are some nice greens & florals there, particularly two of my favourites, The Ghost & The Phantom Wooer.)

I'm in love with that description - wonderfully evocative! & I'm convinced that Zagreus would probably wear The Byronic Antihero, which probably helps in my mad adoration of it. :P

[kisstheviolets.livejournal.com]

I have Giallo, it's lovely!
&I absolutely adore the Halloween update on the BPAL site - I must admit I splashed out quite a bit & ordered rather a few!
Bpal is love, indeed! ♥

[riverdresses.livejournal.com]

Giallo is looking to be the one I might get! It sounds just wonderful!
Eeeeee, do tell, what did you order? I'm so curious!
I ♥ BPAL so - I don't know if I could wear anything else. :D

[kisstheviolets.livejournal.com]

I splurged quite a bit! I ordered bottles of: Boo, Ghoulish, Lambs Wool, Punkie Night, Samhain, Sugar Skull, the Pomegranate Grove (I to V) & The Infernal Lover; and decants of almost everything else!
BPAL is my big luxury >

[westminster-son.livejournal.com]

I'm voting Giallo too - I've tried German Expressionist Horror and it's really very dark and masculine. Too dark even for me, which is saying a lot :p I haven't tried Giallo personally but I hear a lot of people love it :)

I voted The Madwoman mostly because I did hear the Byronic Antihero is going to be quite blokey and more cologne-like, especially with the Victorian fougère. I considered The Unsavory Grave-Diggers for myself but have recently heard it's mostly really heavy on the booze with just a bit of greenery . . . I don't really know if that's something I want to smell like. There's a wee bit of booze in one of my favourites, Mr. Hyde, but I've also tried BPAL scents heavier on the booze and they always smell like I'm an alcoholic :p Also, the cloth and sandalwood notes in Madwoman sound very pretty :)

[riverdresses.livejournal.com]

After sleeping on it (& reading your comment yesterday!), I'm ninety-nine percent certain that I'll go with Giallo - it's so full-bodied & voluptuous, in composition to J-Horror, which is so delightfully chilly & spectral.

I'm a bit sad that German Expressionist Horror is THAT dark & masculine - but then again, so are German expressionist horror films! :P Ah, well - Herbert West isn't getting worn much either & that's so light, so I probably wouldn't be wearing any of German Expressionist Horror.

You know, The Madwoman reminds me of the currently unavailable Antique Lace - I believe that one has cloth notes to it as well. But I adore it all on its own merits, however. :D

BOOO! Another strikeout with The Byronic Antihero? :( But thankyou for letting me know; once again, I rarely wear Herbert West, so I probably wouldn't even wear The Byronic Antihero at all & it would have been a bit of a waste. (but I do hope you'll try it! You're just the kind of fellow who should wear it. :D) It's also a little sad that The Unsavory Grave-Diggers is reportedly so boozy - I still feel uncomfy in pubs, so I probably would not enjoy smelling like an alcoholic. :P Darn, it had so much potential & it's inspired by one of my favourite stories! O, well, such is trying BPAL. ;)

[westminster-son.livejournal.com]

If I was a girl I'd definitely try Giallo, it sounds brilliant :D

My mum has a bottle of Antique Lace! I bought it for her in my first BPAL order, and two weeks later it was discontinued. What luck :P It's sort of creamy, soft, vanilla kind of cloth . . . I think Madwoman might be similar!

I'm somewhat torn on whether to get one of the Gothic Horrors. It's usually that I like the story / theme of one but then there's always one note or two that really make me worry! With Byronic Antihero it's the carnation, which is often very intense on me, and the victorian fougère is sometimes to lemony. Howl in the Darkness, I only just realized, has mint, another failure on me . . . I like the theme of Ecclesiastical Excesses, but the rose! Though I'm still considering it, because sometimes, sometimes the rose works. The Unsavory Grave-Diggers I'm still considering. I really want to like it, because I'm anticipating John Landis' new movie after long years of semi-retirement, Burke and Hare, and it's of course their story. I like the oak and the weeds, and the booze was workable in Hyde . . . I did definitely order a full bottle of Samhain though, which sounds amazing! (damp woods, fir needle, and black patchouli with the gentlest touches of warm pumpkin, clove, nutmeg, allspice, sweet red apple and mullein.)