[Pandorra]

Dana O'Shee

... Offerings of milk, honey and sweet grains were made to placate these creatures, and it is that the basis of the scent created in their name.

Initial: ALMONDS!!! That lovely maraschino cherry smell that almonds oil initially has.
During: I still get that almonds scent which I love. I’m not usually into foody scents, but I have always loved that initial “cherry” smell of the almond oil. But it fades so fast. This is holding on and now it has a dribble of honey within it. Mmmmm….
inal: It’s fading a bit fast, but this is one sweet foody scent I LIKE. I was SURE I would NOT like this one. It still has that tinge of almond and honey but now I can feel more food behind it. Grains? Or maybe milk. Either way, its one heck of a comforting scent. It makes me want to snuggle in a blanket on a cold night. Yet its also comforting and homey for a lazy afternoon on a sunny day. It’s an all around safe and snuggly, happy scent. This would be perfect in a lotion (Oh yes) which would hopefully give it some staying power. Dana is just pure childhood comfort for me. Mmmm.. Wish it stayed on my skin longer..*sniffle*

[Reinaluna]

I have some perfume oil called river of honey that has this exact same aroma :P It smells pretty good!

[Northernminx]

Well this is my first order from BPAL and I'm hooked! Dana O'Shee was the first Imp I tried out of the box and I adore it, this one's becoming a summer favorite and gets added to the "buy a bottle" list.

First Smell:
Smells very marzipan, as others have noted, out of the bottle.

Application: Went on a little too sweet at first but after about ten minutes this gorgeus, warm honey scent glowed through and mellowed it just slightly. I spent the day inhaling my wrist. I sort of thought of it as a "good girl" scent at first but now I'm not so sure. The more I sniffed, the more it made me want to go cuddle my boyfriend. Definitly left a warm, golden, glowing impression in my mind.

Lasted: on me? all day. I applied at noon and somewhere around one in the morning I could still faintly smell it on my wrists. Mmm.

[darkling]

In the bottle, it smelled rather bland with a hint of sweetness.

Unfortunately, on my skin, all it smelled like was Play-Doh.

[Vicious Mistress]

I'm definitely getting a big bottle of this one. Yum! Almonds, oatmeal, and honey. It's so homey and comforting. Not too sweet.

[Ms. MSGirl]

I had sniffed this in the vial several times and smelled only a pure almond single note kind of smell, but this morning when I first put it on my skin I realized I had no idea how complex this scent really is! It mellows out to the loveliest almond/oatmeal/honey mishmash ever -- not exactly like baked goods, more like just a big bowl of sweet gooey yumminess. I like that this smells like a wonderful face mask or organic skin care product. I think I can smell what people are talking about as the 'play-doh' note, an ever so slight clay-ness, but to me it's part of that face mask/skin care/nutritious smell this has and I like it. I can even smell the slightest touch of green. And I love it all.

Like all the scents I seem to love, it is quite weak on me and fades really fast. I can't see myself getting by without a big bottle of this, because I love it so much and because I will have to dump massive quantities on myself to keep the scent going so that even I, let alone anyone else, can smell it. Why does everything I love just disappear on me? (wow, that's an unintentionally relevant question nowadays...) :P

[amberbella]

Wet: The words OH MY GOD! Actually escaped my lips when I first smelled this. Almond is my favorite scent in the whole world (though I haven’t been able to find one that isn’t cloying yet) and this screamed Almond to me. YUM and YIPPY!

Dry: Wow! It smells like my skin, but just sweeter and more lovely. The almond scent has calmed way down :P, but has left me smelling beautiful. Kind of the way I WISH my skin smelled. I can barely smell it, but it’s there making me more interesting.

UGH! I CAN’T BUY BOTTLES OF THEM ALL! I’ll go broke.

[any_old_actress]

FIRST SNIFF: almond oil!
WEARING IT: warm honey, fresh baked bread. harvesting oats with a sweet, gentle summer breeze engulfing you

VERDICT: it is very lovely, i wouldn't wear it for everyday - but it's PERFECT for when you want to be a little sweeter on a crisp, autumn day.

she's a keeper!

[desida]

Like darkling, I wasn't too impressed by this. To me, it just smells very weakly of almonds, both in the bottle and on the skin, and the scent is very faint even when freshly applied. Staying power is nil. Drat, because I really wanted to love this one!

[Astarte]

This works so well with my body, its a gorgeous soft sweet smell, gently tempered by a lush green scent.

I put it on at night and 8 hours later when I checked my wrist, the smell had deepened into a stronger honey scent much to my surprise.

Have already ordered a bigger bottle of this scent.
^^!!!!!!

[Hallows_Eve]

This scent is so me!

In the bottle: Smells delicious- almost like cake.

On me- Transforms into something more ethereal and loses the food aspect. The honey and almond complements my skin so much that it seems made for me. (This and Jack).

Its a lighter scent, good for spring and summer.

[inkdarkmoon]

This is one of the only scents that my guy likes on me...he says it makes me smell like a naughty school girl , hee hee!

It's a sweet honey scent toned down with milky almonds...smells like a syrupy, creamy oatmeal custard sprinkled with sugared almonds..or a rich, creamy vanilla-marzipan confection dusted with powdered sugar.

It is one of the yummiest scents I've ever sniffed and even if that damn fool man o'mine didn't like it, you can bet your boot I'd be plenty stocked up with it anyway!

ADDED April 8, 2005:

This is my favouritest stuff in the world! EVER!
Smells a little almond-y in the vial, plus a pinch of sweet and a dash of milky..

but on, it is utterly divine! To me, it smells like most everything everyone has mentioned, sweet and custardy, sugared marizpan, but imagine all of that while you are burning incense! Or more acurately, a stick of sugared milk custard incense! Sweet ,with on me, at least, an underlying smokiness which makes it incredibly understatedly drop dead sexy.
Amazing.

[enozgirl]

In the Bottle: Almond candy. Sweet and light. Like almond candy with a cherry filling.

Wet: VERY almondy. Sweet almonds. Cherry almonds, covered in honey. I want to eat my wrists!

Dry: I can absolutely see why it's been compared to Honey I Washed the Kids (got that as a sample with my Lush order!). The honey really comes out. It's a very foody smell. With just enough spice to keep me interested. And, the best of all, no powdery smell to hurt my nose! I'm so glad that this was recommended to me to replace Alice.

2 hours later: It's gone! All I can smell is my soap! I'll be hurrying to put some more on. It's got me in a very good mood!

[Andra]

First Impression: Mellow and sweet...almonds drizzled with honey.

Second Impression: This is the "comfort food" of all the BPAL scents I've tried. It's the stay at home, I need a hug and my fuzzy slippers fragrance.

Final Analysis: Dana O'Shee really comforted me when I needed it. This is a keeper for "days like these".

Edited to Add: I dabbed a bit more of this on before bed last night (it's just sooo soooothing) and when my husband got into bed and cuddled me he kept sniffing me and sniffing me saying "MMMMMM". It was wonderful!

This post has been edited by andrabell: 24 May 2004 - 12:21 AM

[hypothermya]

I'm not a huge fan of sweet smelling perfumes, and while I enjoy smelling them, I definitely don't wear them. *but* I am a fan of oatmeal scents, and almond scents, and since everyone was raving over this one I had to give it a try.

In the Bottle

Marzipan. Definitely the sweet almond candy smell, not like baking bread or honey drizzled almond or anything else (although it shares some similarities) -- this is pure marzipan, just like the kind that you get at Christmas. It had me remembering those fruit shaped candies that always melted into your mouth with just the hint of grittiness in the texture. Not much in the way of milk, and nothing that even reminded me of oats.

Wearing It
This went on sweet and inviting, a beautiful scent that warmed up and rounded out as it dried. Once dry, I could smell hints of milk and oats, but the sweetness was the real show stealer here. Nothing could even compare to the sweet honey almond smell that was surrounding me. I felt like I was a walking piece of candy, and felt almost self concious around other people... (This is probably more due to a story about a bad incident with the Body Shop's Warmed Sugar and Vanilla scent, where a guy sat down next to the girl and suddenly wanted Rice Krispies, promptly wandering away to the snack table. I was secretly afraid that someone might do the same to me, except think of something more gourmet and delectable.) This is another one of those quick BPAL scents, where after about 2-3 hours, it's faded away. Once it starts to fade, it turns into a more bland (almond and oatmeal bland) scent with a hint of sweetness.


Although I really love the way this one smells, I probably won't make it a regular scent for me. Just too sweet and too foody. I'm going to *have* to show this to a friend of mine who goes by the handle "Dana O'Shee" on LJ though... I think she'll simply fall in love.

[red_jezebel]

I bought a 5ml bottle of this without trying the imp first based on the reviews here and I must say I am extremely pleased at doing so - so thanks to everyone for their detailed and well thought out reviews. :P

I agree with most other people here, it does smell like Lush's Snowcake soap and therefor I am in heaven as I adore that scent. But as I find that the soap is extremely drying this is the perfect alternative - I can have that wonderful scent all year round and without the dryness. And I have to say this scent is so much better than Snowcake, as you'd expect BPAL to be, as its scent quality is not so weedy - it is so much more almondy, creamy, sweet but not cloying, grainy, mmmmmmmmm....! But I just don't detect the marzipan people mention. Which is a good thing.

Dana O'Shee isn't exceptionally long lasting in comparison to other BPAL scents (AND it requires one to use a larger amount on application), it does last for about 4 hours on me before requiring a top-up.

Utterly wonderful. I want to buy a 10ml now. This 5ml really isn't enough.

[Dispatcherbert]

First of all let me say that my second order of Imp's Ears finally arrived today and this was one that I ordered--woo hoo!

This will definitely be a 5ml order down the road. Wet, it reminded me of the scent of schoolmate's kitchen when I was growing up. Her mom baked sheetcakes for a living and this is what Dana O'Shee smells like to me--just like the white sheetcakes my friend's mom used to bake topped with wonderful "lard" frosting (God, I love lard frosting!) Now that it's dried, the honey scent is coming out more on me. It reminds me a tiny bit of O (but less naughty).

I love D O'S!

[friendthegirl]

This smells exactly like Baklava or one of those other very sweet Middle Eastern desserts.

ADDED Nov. 18:

This smells like baklava to me, which I can only attribute to the honey.

This post has been edited by Shollin: 28 November 2004 - 06:31 PM

[mercury]

Dana O'shee is a maddeningly elusive scent. After reading the description and reviews, I was certain I would love it...and I know I woud if I could just catch it. One drop wasn't strong enough so I decided to pour on a bit more. I accidentally let out about 1/4 of my imp. Eep. Well, if you gotta overdose on something, it should be BPAL. For just a moment, I got a very strong whiff of that spicy rum-dipped maraschino cherry thing I get when I first apply Hellcat...maybe that's the almond note?

But then a strange thing happened. The smell on my wrist just...whoosh...disappeared. Like Sagitare said, very strange. I sat here for awhile sulking, cursing the chemistry Gods and occasionally smelling my wrist. Sometimes, just for a moment, I would get a wispy thread of oatmeal honey but the deeper I sniffed, the harder it was to catch.

Okay, it's about 2 hours later and the smell has finally come out to play. It's still a little teasing, almost feathery, but very yummy. Creamy honey with hints of almond and oatmeal. This is not a scent I expect most people in the room would notice...but anyone lucky enough to get very close would be in for a delicious surprise. I will definitely be buying a great big bottle of this.

This post has been edited by mercury: 02 June 2004 - 07:00 AM

[Fulltiltredhead]

What Red Jezebel said, word for word.

This is my favorite favorite, number one of my top five. I adored Snowcake -- it's gone, but Lo! Fortuna is good -- there is Dana O'Shee. Even better!

So happy.

I want several 10 ml bottles.

[Tesseljoan]

Before ordering i was worried that the almond might put me off, as I disliked the almond note in Hellcat and Black Phoenix. Those two just smelled too sharp to me, but this is a beautiful, wonderfully gentle almond/marzipan note. Almost exactly like Lush' snowcake. Later on it becomes a yummy edible mix of grains, honey and milk. Lovely light scent. I think I'll wear this on days I don't want my scent to be intrusive.

[Mitzy]

I disliked Dana O'Shee. why? I dont really know. in the imp it smelled very much like marzipan. when I applied it, it turned very mellow and sweet and baked goods. but not MY type of baked goods. I couldnt pick out the individual notes, but I didnt really want to either. this scent enveloped me in a cloud of Dana. seemed to last a while, as the ones I dont like usually do.

[Nadirah]

Holy fuck this is good stuff. When I got my package this is the one I went to first. Once I applied it my husband came up to smell me and said I smelled just like a cherry tootsie pop. It does remind me of a smell from my childhood, like a new doll or something. Out of the bottle I thought, *it smells like eclipse* As it absorbed into my skin a bit I could smell honey almond granola with REAL cream, you know the thick kind without all the additives, almost like butter but not. I love this one and it had OK staying power. Lasted about 3-4 hours were I could smell it. Glad I bought a big bottle of this one!!
:P

[shadow]

Mmm. This scent is soft yet substantial. There's no whispiness here. I looked at a couple of the reviews and someone compared it to a blanket. That's a great description, like one of those super soft luxurious fuzzy cashmere blend blankets. In a pale pale green. This is perfect for when you want a little comfort. If I'm not feeling so great I put a little dab on in the morning and I sniff throughout the day. It had fantastic lasting power on me.

[hellsbelle]

Cream, almonds, honey, in that order. Delicious. The Snowcake comparison is spot on. It reminds me of steamed milk with almond syrup and makes me feel fuzzy and girly. More for a lazy night in than a hot night out.