BPAL Project: Saint-Germain

"We begin to take up people . . . the other day they seized an odd man who goes by the name of Count Saint-Germain. He has been here these two years, and will not tell who he is, or whence, but professes that he does not go by his right name. He sings, plays on the violin wonderfully, composes, is mad, and not very sensible. He is called an Italian, a Spaniard, a Pole; a somebody that married a great fortune in Mexico, and ran away with her jewels to Constantinople; a priest, a fiddler, a vast nobleman. The Prince of Wales has had unsatiated curiosity about him, but in vain. However, nothing has been made out against him; he is released, and, what convinces me he is not a gentleman, stays here, and talks of his being taken up for a spy."

Horace Walpole, 1745

If Comte Saint-Germain wore pomade in his hair I rather doubt he would have acquired it from the local barber--rather he would have made it up himself in his apothecary's lab and invested great meaning and purpose into every ingredient. Straight from the alabaster jar this hair pomade would have smelled like any man's cologne, fresh with lavendar and brisk. But combed thickly into the hair and warmed by the scalp Saint-Germain's pomade would soon give off the somewhat dirty scent of powdered roots, roots Saint-Germain believed would increase his intellect. The emollient would settle into something warm and aged, dry but still with the aromas of lavendar. Carnation, geranium, mosses; herbaceous and dead things sifted together into a promise of special erudition to the wearer. Secretly Saint-Germain would inhale his own creation. To the modern observer an element of foppishness is inescapable, but to an elaborate creative creature such as Saint-Germain his scent is an alchemy adding to both his powers and his mien.

"gilded amber, hypnotic lavender, brash carnation and deep mosses."

BPAL Project: Bastet

Bastet is creamy white icing with grownup spices.

Bastet is sugared almonds with an addicts saffron.

Bastet is holy lotus with whispers of myrrh.

Bastet is intoxicating, delicious, an intense potion you wish you could lick off your fingers..

Bastet is a ravishing liqueur.

Bastet fades into the dryness of the desert, warm with a scent memory of perfume. This is perhaps Bastet's true wisdom.

A stunning BPAL who's scent journey from vial to drydown has a lifetime of experiences in it. A BPAL that will inspire me to always hope for every imp to be, again, The One.

Painting by Frank Frazetta

"Luxuriant amber, warm Egyptian musk, fierce saffron and soft myrrh, almond, cardamom and golden lotus."

BPAL Project: Fenris Wolf

When I was a child just reading about dark forests would make the back of my neck tingle. They conveyed most vividly an interior world of fears and intensity. From "Where the Wild Things Are" to Mirkwood of "The Hobbit" these descriptions were incredibly real. I knew the dark forest intimately. I had feared it and known that one lost step could find me eyes wide, unable to make my way back to light and safety.

Fenris Wolf is a sticky dark red goo in the vial, like sap. It starts off a very natural incense woody resin. If you had ever forgotten that sandlewood was actual wood this will remind you. The rosewood is dominant, dry and very impressive. Soon a little spiciness emerges, the spiciness of earth and bark. Always this is the forest at night; a still, crackling, scary scent. The red dominates in the heat of the wolf moving through the cooling forest and the glow of his eyes.

This is a private scent. A power scent. The drydown is increasingly bitter as befits the deepening night. There is some green in there of crushed leaves and vines which brings a roundness to the bitter tone. Though never a sweet scent there are edges of sweetness to it. Multi-layred, Fenris Wolf is a masterpiece.


"The raw, untamable power of chaos. Rosewood, amber, red musk and a dribble of red sandalwood."

Farewell to Two Fine Gentlemen

Last week I farewelled two fine gentlemen who have been living with me for a year or so. We went down to the local international point of departure office and, with much bubble wrap and a few tidbits to accompany them on their journey I sent them on their way. By now they will have traversed one of the most inhospitable deserts on the planet; they are quite some travellers as both of them were born in France. I expect they are now languishing in in a busy city center, waiting a tedious trip out to the 'burbs. I should be hearing from them this week.

I can't really say that I enjoyed their stay, though I did try. At one point the more distinguished fellow, Monsieur Ivoire I will call him, seemed to making himself slightly more agreeable than I had initially thought. I had read that others enjoyed a subtle raspberry note in Monsieur Ivoire and yes, now that it was pointed out, my impressionable self enjoyed it too. But a bit of red fruit repartee did nothing to cover up Monsieur Ivoire's indecorum in other areas. We all have our little standards and tastes and it saddens me that Monsieur Ivoire is so welcomed in other parlors but I am unable to appreciate him. Hopefully he will be loved and feted in his new home.

His cousin I am quite glad to see the back of. No regrets here, I gave up trying to appreciate his worldly ways some time ago. He may be revered in some circles but in my home Monsieur Cabochard has always been gauche. Harsh words yes, but harsh has been my experience with him. I will be glad to no longer be scrubbing his ashtray scent out of my skin and clothing. Maybe if he had taken up a pipe rather than his dreadful Gitanes I would have enjoyed some chummy moments.. but no, it is too late for any speculations. I shall not see him or his cousin again.

I hope all the best for them and not wishing to be churlish I do feel pleased to think they will be taking their rightful place in their new social circle. Charming, given to delicacy and able to show off their highbrow pedigree I expect they will both be very happy. Beaux esprits, as they were meant to be. Farewell, farewell!

BPAL Project: Dublin

Something truly must be off kilter with my nose.

"Dublin: The scent of misty forests, damp alder leaf, and the gentlest touch of white rose."

Doesn't that sound fabulous? Even a poor rendition of just one of those things would be pleasant in its own way. In the vial there is a lovely green, piney, promising waft that made me look forward to sampleing this one. My response was SO far removed that I can only blame it on my skin rather than my tastes.

Other than a brief dabble in pine shortly after application all I get from this is.. Tutti-Frutti. I can just about taste that rock candy and its sugary stickiness of fruity impressions. There is nothing unpleasant about it but mist, damp, forest, leaf are no where to be found. I will be filing this one under "try again, temporary olfactory delerium".

BPAL Project: Les Infortunes de la Vertu

Okay let's get this over with.. this is extremely boring. The drydown has some potential but this oil needs more of everything. It opens with a herbal blast that is blah men's cologne and soon a wee bit of leather makes itself know. The cologne is replaced with oak moss. When a bit of floral peeps through there is one very brief moment where this oil is prancing around playing at being Agent Provocateur. Unless you have your wrist glued to your nose you will have missed this.

The orange blossom sweetens the drydown and you can now see where this scent wants to go. Unfortunately it is too tired a leather and too muted a floral to get there. If by "monastic" the BPAL description means "an empty room" that is fairly close. This is the scent memory of someone who once slept in that cell but has been gone for some time.

"A pain-tinged, pleasure-soaked blend of leather, oakmoss, orange blossom, amber, and rose with a breath of virginal French florals and a hint of austere monastic penitential incense."

BPAL Project: Jack

Jack is all about pumpkins and their pies, their season and their sentiments. Thankfully I live in a country where the pumpkin is a blue squash your mum made you eat before you could have ice cream so my scent triggers are untainted by years of Halloween body butters, candles and LE lip balms.

Buttery and sweet Jack begins as a typical foodie scent, pleasant but who knows what will happen after an hour. The first surprise is that this oil is STRONG. Powerful pumpkin! There is a cooler scent under the warm butteriness that soon becomes quite dominant. Yes it's RAW pumpkin, at least briefly, but before I can get caught up in reflecting on raw veggies and their fragrance merits it gets very fruity in a way which eventually settles on apple. I had two people drifting in the jetstream of my sillage comment they could smell apple. By now I was starting to be bothered by this seemingly inescapable pumpkin on steroids aroma.

Too much pie, too much apples-of-autumn, too much food. It was truly beautiful for a short time. The drydown some hours later is a little harsh and waxy, dare I say stale candy corn? Yes foody scents on the way out often smell like old food. Create a very apt fragrance portrait and the brain keeps running with it down well travelled paths. Jack is nice in that it has a fresh natural quality and escapes that "you are now sniffing pumpkin" blast that some products carry.

"The scent of warm, glowing jack o,lanterns on a warm autumn night: true Halloween pumpkin, spiced with nutmeg, glowing peach and murky clove."

BPAL Project: Belle Epoque

Starting with the dreaded lily I initially thought this would be a transparent floral with soapy tones. That soon changed.

Belle Epoque dries down to a pretty sandlewood. The lily adds a certain coquetry to the sandlewood's warmth which is quite delightful.If there is any mandarine apparent I suspect it is the slight sharpness that keeps this scent fresh rather than creamy. Never heavy this is a lovely rendition of sandlewood that could be worn in all seasons. Very enjoyable!

"'The Pretty Era', France's Golden Time: an age of beauty, innovation and peace in France that lasted from the 19th Century through the first World War and gave birth to the cabaret, the cancan, and the cinema as well as the Impressionist and Art Nouveau movements. Sweet opium, Lily of the Valley, vanilla, mandarin and red sandalwood."

BPAL Project: Undertow

Long after this scent was washed off I decided that I do not like it. Some things I am indifferent to on first try and later develop a craving for; Undertow has had the opposite effect.

First impressions were unpleasantly of rotting melon. Honeydew to be exact. Perhaps this is the lotus? The melon too far gone pong disappeared quickly to be replaced by menthol. This scent is arctic cold.. the fruit gradually emerges. If you like cold scents and have a fondness for mint this is an interesting one, though the fruitiness/mint accord when most balanced has the unfortunate memory of chewing gum.

Unlike many BPAL's Undertow is STRONG. You don't need a lot and it has great staying power. I had a bit of a skin reaction to it.

Painting, "Undertow" to be found here.

BPAL Project: Coyote

Coyote is a beautiful scent, dry with a gingery tone. It has the natural sweetness of grasses and is a wonderfully autumn. The amber weaves it's way through the varying layers but it is the dryness overall that charms. This is apparently a "masculine" scent though I would not have labelled it such myself, unless the absence of florals is enough to qualify. Warm and interesting this scent is also very light.. it's staying power is good but it is not very strong. Very nicely created, it was a pleasure to sample this one.

"The Native American Creator / Trickster God of Chaos and Change. The warmth of doeskin, dry plains grasses and soft, dusty woods warmed by amber and a downy, gentle coat of deep musk."

BPAL Project: Suspiro

Suspiro "A Latin word that means to sigh or draw a deep breath, that also suggests longing, desire, yearning, and a passionate wish. Ylang ylang with white plum, white orchid, jasmine, calla lily and lily of the valley."

We begin with lily, a note I am usually avoidant of. It is only just bearable as the syrupy background mutes it. BPAL oils seem to have quite a rapid drydown and soon Suspiro is transformed into a fruity scent with lily drizzled over it. It is sweet in a pleasantly juicy way and in time matures into a beautiful summer evening scent. Very pretty. Both languid and liquid it avoids any hint of powder keeping the lily note fresh in a way new to me. Suspiro is both vulnerable and sensuous, at once desirable and a little too much. It is a scent I would miss and need to revisit on certain perfect evenings.

Photo from Fine Art Infrared Photography by Chris Maher. Many beautiful images to see there!

Suck My Spock

Surely the best album title ever.

Warp 11 is boldly hilarious. Their website offers you some sample MP3's from their 3 unique albums. A delightful antidote to Roddenberry's commie tedium vision of Our Future. See how many eps you can find references to in this song (MP3 available on the website):

From their newest album, Boldly Go Down On Me

Rage Against The Federation

To boldly go - don’t you see?
Is just a ploy - it’s a f****** conspiracy
The final frontier
Is just a lie that kills thousands every year
‘Cause you and me - don’t you see
Brainwashed at the f****** academy
This red shirt - I’ll say it loud
It ain’t nothing but a f****** death shroud

The Red Shirts are dying
The Red Shirts are dying
The Red Shirts are dying
The Red Shirts are dying

We beam down, but not back
Before the break we were under attack
“Forward!” Captain cried from the rear and the front rank died
We get the orders - we make it so
We live fast but we don’t die slow
Our bones are crushed - our blood is spilled
The prime directive is to f****** get us…

The Red Shirts are dying
I ain’t lying
What they sellin’ you buying
While the Captain’s satisfying
His itch in a ditch with some green skinned b****
And the federation grows increasingly rich

I woke up
I went up
To where the captain’s gettin’ intimate
I showed up
I strolled up
I looked at him like I don’t give a s***
He looked up
His d*** up
But it fell before my scrutiny
He stood up
He f***** up
He didn’t know it was a mutiny

Mutiny!

So we breathe our last breath
Beamed into space or choked to death
A phaser blast, a Klingon assault
Drained of blood and drained of salt
Bat’leth, poison spores
While the captain gets laid by alien whores
Our essence, understand
Distilled in a shape and crushed in a hand

BPAL Project: Absinthe

I love Absinthe. Not the drink as I've never had it but the BPAL oil. It is cold, cold, cold.. it is chilled pernod and lemon bitters. It makes you blink as it rushes into your eyes and then.. it makes your mouth water. If this was a drink I would have a serious summer addiction, its cool bitterness quenches thirsts I didn't know I had. All the more remarkable as I've had an aversion to any anise in scents, just a whisper has put me off completely. I wish this was an edt so I could buy the largest bottle and spend summer drinking it into my skin!

Staying power is poor.. this one is best as a secret vice you partake of only for you.

"An intoxicating blend containing wormwood essence, light mints, cardamom, anise, hyssop, and the barest hint of lemon."

BPAL Project: Dragon's Milk

Today's Imp.. Dragon's Milk

Take some fairly fresh smelling cherry syrup and dump some spices in it.. mmmm.. yummy.. but perhaps some more spices would be better. Spicier, spicier.. oh no! The cherry freshness is suffocated under a bloom of euro-bakery spice. Hmm.. how can we save this. I know! A dab of almond and for a brief spell we have lovely spiced marzipan torte. But in the end there is no escaping the excess spice burden and with time the torte grows stale with the powdery melange.

Personally I think young dragons are nursed on a milk that tastes of saffron infused cognac. They have fire to develop and sticky cakes will never do the trick. Hopefully tomorrow I can choose a BPAL that has no foody element, this one was picked at random.

Pineapple Lumps

I like to eat candy that amuses me. If these tasty kiwi treats were named Pineapple Squares I would have only eaten them when presented with a bowl of mixed lollies. I can't imagine buying them, not that they aren't yummy in their own way. However the charm of these little chewy blocks is in their fab name, Pineapple Lumps. Who can resist? I used to get them at the milk bar, 3 for 5 cents twisted up in the white paper bag. They are fresher bought in their packet though.. you can end up with soft and chewy Pineapple Lumps or ones that break your teeth depending on how old and air exposed they are.

It's like Violet Crumble vs Crunchie. Of course Crunchies are better but why eat something with such a prosaic name when you can partake of the glories of Violet Crumble?

hmm.. I guess this explains why I've never felt the urge to sample any fragrance dupes. It's not all about the juice. It's the name, the story, the portrait of what swirls inside the bottle. I don't care if Dupe #23 smells exactly like Mitsouko it fails to charm and beguile.

Pineapple Lumps in the news!

Pineapple Lumps Thrown At Gunman

BPAL : Project Sample-thon.. Snake Oil

I recently swapped many lovely decants of fine frags for a mix of BPAL imps as well as other, as yet unexplored, natural oils. I was blown away to receive jillions and squillions of imps from this swapper! A kind of panic overcame me.. what if my One True Love is in there somewhere and sloth and lack of direction keeps me from him for a year? So I vow to try one imp a day. After my first sample I am wondering if I will wake each morn thrilled at meeting a new oil or if by the end of the week I will be "Oh Tedium.." Starting with the ones spoken most highly of seems best.

Today's Imp.. Snake Oil

First impression, headshop. Then the vanilla blooms, pleasantly foody. Soon spices (apparently Indonesian) pepper the vanilla and there is a brief woody phase that is very refined. However this has now vanished to be replaced by.. cake consumed in the headshop cafe. Had I never smelled a vanilla fume I would have been enchanted. Had I smelled this as a teen I would have bathed in it. It's very nice. According to the BPAL site Snake Oil is "By far, our most popular scent! Magnetic, mysterious, and exceedingly sexual in nature." If the way to a man's loins is through his stomach I guess they could have a point but to me sexy is The Bal or Agent Provocateur.

Best Point: the spices retain a slightly woody quality.. if you hold your nose to your wrist and inhale deeply.

Ode to Pink Sugar

I love your cotton candy fumes
I love the way you fill a room
I love your woody undertones
I love your many cheaper clones

Oh Aquolina! Who are you?
That brings us such a happy fume!
A mystery from across the seas
Your magic juice is sure to please

Your pinkness is a carnival
A delightful flight of fancy ball
Your bottle twirls and whirls to say
Come and dance with me today!

Most surprising woody oriental. Could have been voted least likely to please teacake. Very moreish! Never say never.


Top note : Sicilian oranges, raspberries, fig leaf
Middle note : lily-of-the-valley, licorice blossom, red berries
Base note : vanilla, caramel

Wine Cooler Madness

I tested J.Lo's Miami Glow when it first came out.. eww, very unpleasant. However some rave reviews on POL sent me back one day to do a proper skin test. Apparently for some the drydown is a delicious coconut and I've been seduced by coconut before. So.. generous spray of unfragranced arm, off on walkabout for the afternoon. WELL. This is THE MOST disgusting thing I've tried in a loooooooong time. By the end of an hour I felt I'd doused myself in a cheapass pineapple wine cooler, or even more likely the sick-up from a teenage drinking bout of sugary alcohol goodness. I had to wash my jacket the next day because the smell was so pervasive, still retaining its acidity. Any coconut in there was added only to heavy the cooler hit to the unsuspecting adolescent drinker.

And to think my first impression was of suntan lotion. Bring on the Bain de Soleil, that was much more favourable.

Let us compare thee.. Opium Fleur de Shanghai and Opium Fleur Impériale

It is refreshing to have a fragrance which truly offers a variation on a theme rather than the endless name dropping of perfumes who's eponymous sisters have nothing in common with each other. None could make this complaint about Opium's limited summer editions, rather a long spell between sniffs would leave many scratching their heads as to what was new.

Shanghai Notes

Top note : Mandarin Orange, Chinotto Sour Orange, Bergamot
Middle note : Chinese Magnolia, Star Jasmine, Carnation, Myrrh
Base note : Vanilla, Patchouli, Amber

Fleur de Shanghai, the 2005 summer LE is a beautiful, creamy ingenue of a fragrance that makes me smile. The lovely magnolia gives it a sunny disposition with happy spices. The drydown is a sweet vanilla that is a bit overpowering when worn in the heat, unless you have a sweet tooth. I find the vanilla almost gourmand. I enjoyed
Fleur de Shanghai very much, but I had to be ready for the sweetness if I was to wear it all day. I was eager to know how Fleur Impériale, the 2006 summer LE would differ.

Impériale Notes

Top note : Tangerine, Neroli, Bergamot
Middle note : Apricot Blossom, Fresh Jasmine, Carnation
Base note : Vanilla, Osmanthus, Myrrh, Patchouli, Amber

Impériale, Impériale, Impériale.. Flower of the Empire. Very much the adult, the ingenue unveils herself a year later grown into the vamp. Where Shanghai has a waxy beauty, Impériale is all spices resting on a much sharper floral. The vanilla is still there but it's oh so dry and the drydown is very sexy with a touch of civet to my nose (though not to the given notes). I was quite wowed! This is one I will miss when it disappears and I foresee a bit of stocking up. I could not say one is better, and it will be a personal choice which is favoured.

As to staying power, I do believe that Shanghai lasts quite a bit longer, though it is the vanilla with a little piquancy that remains.

Bond no.9 Chinatown

Being an expat, no matter how tenaciously adjusted, leads to many unlooked for moments of sentimental ambush. Would I have the same child like expectations of the Bond no.9 series if was about London rather than New York? No, it would be more a curiousity. I had already been wowed by Little Italy's juicy gelati bursts that had rendered poor old Sicily (once loved) a stale flat mess. So I was very happy to receive a small decant of Chinatown from generous swapper.

The decant itself smelled candified in a good way but the initial topnote blast had something very bad in it. I know honey was not the intended impression but when you really loathe a note in scent any faint homage to it leaps out and cloys at you. This disappeared quite rapidly though and was replaced by the lightly incensical cardamon. No star anise which is certainly a dominant scent of the chinese groceries of my childhood. The spice notes are powdery, not in the classical perfume sense but in the literal sense of huge kilo bags of finely powdered spices piled up on shelves in the back of the store. It's a dry overload of fine particles more than any particular scent and were it cranked up just a bit more you would probably want to rub your nose. I remembered tasting that dry powder on my lips after wandering those shelves for a while. I imagine if you worked in such a store you'd be wiping it off your skin at the end of day. These middle notes recede into a very yummy drydown of brightly coloured happy florals. The sweetness which has been likened to caramel is more to my mind that of White Rabbit candy. The powdery spices and perfumed flavourings of a chinese grocery are still there but now you are wandering the aisles sucking on White Rabbit goodness. The condensed milk sweetness is a creamy pleasure that softens and blends what was an assault on the senses.

It's a rapid and choppy journey to the drydown and the end result is beautiful and unusual. My father adored taking us to a three story chinese grocery in Chinatown when we were children. My sister and I would wander the aisles whispering over the enormous bags of varied dried fungi, sniffing everything and always finishing up peering into the watery buckets of beche-le-mar in the fridge section. "Would you eat it for a hundred dollars?" We would buy beautiful miniatures for our doll houses, unusual candies that took our fancy (Haw flakes anyone?) and, when I got older, always a new kind of tea. Bond no.9 is a very changeable landscape and reminiscent of all the surprises a chinese grocery held for two little wasp girls.