Diana

Skadi, how I love thee. Seriously. One of my most favourite goddesses in Norse mythology, I was a total sucker for this oil just because of the name. In the bottle, this is sharp, strong pine. Like you've just crushed up handfuls of pine needles or walked up against a fir tree. Initially, wet and for the first 30 mintues or so, this stays true to the bottled scent. Sharp, strong, wonderful pine, that still has snow clinging to the branches. Shortly after this, a soft berry creeps up to the surface and mingles with the pine. They do a little dance together and mingle so perfectly. Now that this has been on for a while, the pine moves to the background. It is still a strong note, but it's softened remarkably. It almost smells grapefruity at this point. I am so glad I made myself order a 2nd bottle before it sold out! This oil is truly worthy of being named after a goddess.

In the bottle, this was sugary sweet cinnamon. The initial application was much the same... the cinnamon note really came out to the foreground, as did a bit of a buttery note. This smells kind of how I expected Sugar Skull to smell. Now that I've worn it a bit longer, the cinnamon note is really still the reall prominent scent. I smell like a red hot. With a playdoh basenote. Now, maybe it's just me, but wha? It doesn't smell too much like a Sugar Cookie, per se, but it's still nice. The playdoh thing is kind of wigging me out. I'll have to try this one again in a week or so to make sure it's not just me. ETA I tried it again... it did start to turn on me, but not as badly as last time. It turned only slightly floury instead of full-on playdoh. The cinnamon stuck around a bit longer & was a bit stronger too, which may have overpowered other notes that don't like me as much. I think this will work best as a room scent rather than as a Diana-scent.

In the bottle, this is very juicy berry. Sweet, luscious yum. Initially, it is very berry, almost pomegranite smelling. I go and reread the scent description. Ah yes, plum. Now that I've been wearing this for a while, it is VERY similar to Bordello, which incidentally is my favourite BPAL scent. It's not quite as boozy/smokey, but there's some other stuff going on here (I bet it's the NOSTALGIA). I'm not getting any discernable floral notes, but the plums have softened nicely (I think the plums like me like me).

In the bottle: Very juicy, no one discernable fruit smell, but an interesting melody of fruity overlaid with flowers. On: very much the same. I've had this on for a few hours and it's still a very fruity/floral scent. I usually am pretty picky about florals, but I really like this. It's mostly white grape & sweetpea I think I'm smelling, but everything is so well blended together, it is hard to pick out a single note. It's like a big bowl of delicate white fruits and light pink flowers, but in liquid format. This did make my coworker sneeze a lot initially when I took it out of my bag to resmell the vial. I told her she was allergic to pretty. While I think this is a nice & pretty scent, overall it's a little delicate for my tastes. I could wear this occasionally, but it's not "me" enough for an everyday scent.

In the bottle, it's patchouli-piney-wierd murky smell that I can't really place. Wet, on the skin, the patchuoli takes off running. Good thing I love patchouli notes! After wearing it a while, the patchouli blends with apple & the spices, so it smells like delicious apple cider. That thick, brown, sweet pulpy kind. The pine is still murking about as a really faint base note, and everything just blends together so well. It is truly an autumn harmony. This is really beautiful. I traded away my 2nd bottle for Dia de los Muertos, but now I think I need to get more Samhain! Hah. I'm so fickle. ETA: I can still smell this! I put it on around 9am this morning, and now at nearly 1am, I can still get little whiffs of powdery patchouli and just a wee top note of cider. This is so rad!

I did get an imp of this. I really liked it at first... and then not so much. I don't know if it was the vetiver or something else (something kind of musty and ... rank), but I didn't want it on anymore! Icky. Now I'm on a hunt for a Gemini replacement. Hee hee. Oddly enough, it smells almost exactly like an oil I had hand blended for myself at a pagan festival several years ago. Now all I have is a tiny imp and a dream.

Out of the bottle, there is an intense scent of cherries, tamed by the currant. Oddly, there is a mysterious NUT smell. I have no idea what my nose is playing at. I put it on, and the nut smell kind of disappates and the cherry/currant becomes a bit stronger. After a while, the mahogany scent appears. This one is tricky. At times, it is a rich, woody, almost cedar type aroma, and then it shifts to smell like a cherry-scented urinal cake. Um, yuck. Then it goes back to cherry-woodsy. If it would stay woody instead of alternating between wood & pee-ish, I think I'd really like this. It blends beautifully with Bordello, and really becomes a rich, earthy berry scent. Alone, it scares me.

Out of the bottle it's a screamingly fruity odor of berries that attacks my nasal passages. After wearing it for a bit the fruit softens a bit, but still is bright and sweet, like mixing plums and raspberries and fruity red wine. So delicious. There is a tiny tinge of incensey smoky-powder. This didn't last ungodly long on me, only a few hours before I really had to sniff at my wrists to smell it. I think this demands a 10mL with my next order. FWIW, this layers beautifully with the Red Queen, if you like the fruity/berry notes.

... Blackberry wine and apple cider with hops, apple blossom, English ivy, hazel, sage, oak bark and myrrh. In the bottle, it has some berry notes... and something "dry" for lack of a better word. On the skin, initially: berries and... BANDAIDS? whatthe? Oh, that is the sage. After wearing it for a while the sage dies down (whew!) and the berries become more rounded and the ivy and wine become a bit more prominent. There is a tinge of a cidery top note, though the apple isn't all that strong. Wearing this outside in the cool damp air just now with this wafting off of my wrists was really just a perfect combination of scent and mood and atmosphere. Very lovely.

I got this as a freebie imp from an ebay auction. Whee! Thank you. In the bottle it smells incredibly like Cherry Jolly Ranchers. *resists temptation to taste* Wet/for the first hour or so of drydown: there's a really juicy sweet cherry with a very very faint almond & something green in the background. And now that I've had this on for about 2+ hours, it has dried down to a powdery almondy type scent with very subtle cherry notes. Usually super powdery stuff gets on my nerves, but this is quite nice. Hopefully the voodoo part kicks in soon. I think I need a 5mL of this!

Ok. I'm in total love. I'm sad that this is a limited edition and that I only have one bottle! WAH. In the bottle: Smells frighteningly floral. Like old lady perfume. MEH? wet: OMG CANDY! Very sweet, candied fruits come out. LOVE. I want to gnaw on my arm at this point. drying phase: It becomes a bit softer, there's still a pungent sweetness to it, but it's blended down with a really faint incensy smell. There's almost something minty to it, but not quite. It's so rad. I want to swim in it. I've had this on for a few hours now and I still LOVE this. I may have to fight people for it. Send all bottles to me!

Xiuhtecuhtli reminds me of Angel. If you read the reviews for this particular BPAL, you'll see that this similarity is mentioned a few times by different reviewers. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Heh. I didn't see that come up in a search. Oddly enough, I just got a freebee imp of Xiutecuhtli. Though, out of the bottle it smells very much like a lime. Then again, I'm thinking it's futile to ask for comparisons. Angel tends to smell different on everyone, as do BPAL oils. thanks for the recs though!

in the bottle: very tart & sweet at the same time... cherries. something sort of musky in the background. wet: more cherries. kind of like cherry cough syrup or those luden's drops. there's a woody sort of backdrop. changing rapidly. drying: the clove is starting to come out, but not heavy & oppressive-like. it's mingling into a sweet scent, but not cloying. cherry-clove candy, maybe a very faint, slight hint of something like sandalwood or something slightly smokey. later: musky honey. still a hint of clove & cherry, but not quite as prominent. they've moved into the way far backseat. there's an odd top note I can't place, possibly the poppies? more different later: it's settling down into a powdery musky-poppy scent which smells almost soapy. very vague wine bottom note. i'm not sure i like the drydown. i LOVE the juicy cherry-clove i got initially, but the scent it morphed into is just eh in comparison.

in the vial: chocolate. almost a hint of something hazelnutty, like nutella. wet: smells... oily. like faint chocolate overlaid with baby oil. a slightly powdery scent, which is presumably the sandalwood. drying: the sandalwood is coming out, very light & powdery. later: this is pretty much a straight sandalwood scent, slightly woody. i can't really detect any other notes. i never noticed any myrrh at all, and the cocoa went away almost immediately. not really what i expected, but i really like sandalwood, so i'm ok with it.

I missed out on ordering a bottle of Formula 54 , and one just went on ebay for almost $68. Ouch. Even though I have yet to smell this myself, it just sounds like something I'd love (and of course my compulsive side wants it regardless). Does anyone have any recommendations for something similar? I couldn't find any threads on it. thanks

Awesome! Somehow you listed a bunch of imps that I think have escaped my order list! I shall add these to my next big haul. Thanks!! =)

Just poking around and I found this thread. I wanted to resurrect to see if I could get some recommendations off of it. =) I LOVE Angel. I've gone through a bottle or two a year of this stuff (it's the ONLY perfume I've ever worn with much regularity). On me I seem to get some high notes of peach and bitter orange... the drydown is a powdery incensey smell. I don't really get too much of a vanilla smell, but a really faint chocolately one initially. Sometimes I layer it with a peachy (discontinued Body Shop spray) scent. Anyway, I haven't gotten any of my BPAL orders yet (please please please today), so I wonder if anyone noticed any similarities between Angel & some BPAL oils? I've ordered imps of Akuma & Bordello & Blood Countess (well, and about 2308434 others) hoping they'd remind me a bit of Angel. =) Any other recs? It doesn't have to smell EXACTLY like it, but fruit + spicey/incensey = TEH WIN! hehe. Thanks! xoxox

I get wicked bad migraines and become super sensitive to sound, light and smell. I think lavender is pretty unobtrusive, though I don't know if it's helpful. Rosemary seems to help a tiny bit, but I don't know of any BPAL scents offhand that are rosemary-heavy.