amrita
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Everything posted by amrita
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Before I read the description, I thought I smelled spruce, cedar, myrrh, vetiver, and the wonderful "wet dirt" note. Now I'm not sure about the myrrh or vetiver. The drydown was somewhat perfumy on me, and I think I might have been smelling the honeysuckle note. (My skin doesn't usually treat florals like that kindly.) Something in this really tickled/irritated my nose, so I don't think I will use it for meditation or perfume. [Reviewed as part of tarot swap.]
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I don't like this so much; it's very perfumy. The strongest note is a floral which seems very familiar but I can't place. I think this is really irritating my nose-- my nostrils feel very naked and prickly. Oh yeah... I had to wash it off. [brief review part of tarot swap.]
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This smells like peaceful, rosy incense on me. I can't identify the incense notes. It's not bad, for a rose blend (usually very bad on me). I would use this for meditation even though it is predominantly rose. [cursory review as part of tarot swap]
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Wet, this is exceedingly "fresh"-- It reminds me of fresh scented soap. Drying, this is primarily green tea (reminds me of the particular flavor/smell of green tea icecreams), and a grassy-greenery smell. I am curious to see how this will develop, since it's starting to go soapy, but is still tolerable. Crap... twenty minutes later, this is still so soapy-clean, but now I detect something warm and woody-sweet underneath. It's very light and has no throw on me right now. I tried this again on a different day, and instead of liking it more as I expected to, I liked it less--it seemed even more soapy. I think this is a bad body chemistry issue, especially because I don't get a lot of the complexity that other people seem to get. Sigh...
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Wet, I think I smell an earthy blend of cherry, rose, and jasmine. As it dries, it starts wafting a "cherry candle" smell. Something about this reminds me of sweet and sour sauce (with florals). It's actually a really pretty and interesting smell, but I don't think it's for me.
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This is the foodiest blend I have ever tried. It smells incredibly appealing-- butterscotch, brown sugar, and rum-- I would love this as a flavoring oil. It dries down to a kind of sweet, buttery, gamey tobacco on me. This is definitely not a scent I could wear, but it's just stunningly food-like. I am impressed!
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Here are a couple pics of Holiday Moon... I love the pup. Hee hee!
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Wet, I got the amber, rose, and sandalwood-- but within minutes this is 100% rose soap. I never smelled any mandarin or nutmeg, unfortunately. It sounded so pretty... I wish it worked on me like it does on other people.
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I think YBNB is right on with the lemon verbena and neroli, and I agree there could be lavender or rosemary--there's definitely something camphorous in there. I think there might be lily and/or sweet pea in this. And perhaps palmarosa. I also pick up something vanilla-like, but it smells to me like sweetgrass or sweet woodruff instead of orchid vanilla. I agree that there is some spice, but what spice I can't tell-- it sort of reminds me of star anise, but yet it doesn't smell strongly of licorice. How mysterious... Eventually the powdery floral I smelled initially fades into the background (yay), the blend loses the aquatic/perfuminess, and it smells fresh, green, herbal, and sweet. Very much like a nutritive herbal tea.
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The first whiff is of Corsican mint and almond. Wow, this really smells like Corsican mint and fresh air. I love this. Corsican mint (Mentha requienii) is a creeping mint with teensy tiny leaves and is one of my all-time favorite herbs. Awesome. Definitely getting a bottle of this! (Cursory review as part of a tarot swap circle.)
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My notes say: honey! sweet, VERY sweet and floral from the ylang ylang. this is punch you in the face honey. hm. and, GRAPE. what a useful review. That is really the essence of my experience with Skuld. I am an incense/wood/resin type gal-- this is way too sweet for me to wear!
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Initially, this reminds me of Honey Moon, a soft floral honey. I smell orange and gardenia. It is so pretty. It smells "perfumey", but I expect it to mellow out in a sec. Five minutes later, this smells mainly of honey and apricot. This oil seems to fade a lot and I don't get any throw from it-- but it is so beautiful. I think this is absolutely a very merry scent; I find it very cheering and I'll probably buy a bottle of it.
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Grape, and strong, incensey patchouli. I don't know what cereus smells like, but I don't smell any floral or vanilla notes here. This is a really pretty oil, but something about the incense is too strong and choking and it kicks my butt. Hmm... I bet this would smell way more appropriate in an oil lamp than on my skin.
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Wet, I smell honey, wine (this actually smells like port on me, or prune juice), and a sharp green which is probably bay. Woah... the bay is way too sharp on me. This is a pleasing and intriguing mix of warm kitchen smells and faint incense. I think it's a really interesting blend, but definitely not my thing. Hm!
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I actually thought the fruit in this was apple before I looked it up; the pear note has that same tangy freshness that I associate with green apple. The pear and lily and rosewood smell very pretty together in the beginning, but the lily fast goes soapy and powdery on me.
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I got mostly peppermint and vanilla, possibly with a hint of spearmint. This dried down to a very soft one-dimensional mint on me-- but within 10 minutes the mint faded away and I was left with what smelled like white musk and vanilla. I tried this as both a room and skin scent, and although it's a nice minty sweet scent, it wasn't amazing enough for me to keep... (being on a conservative BPAL kick, and all...eek.) I guess I am used to the pure punch-you-in-the-face peppermint oil that I use in my oil burner; when I used this in the burner, it smelled like it was something that would be better used as a perfume, and when I used it as a perfume, the mint whined that it could not stay long on my skin and would rather be used in a burner. Hm.
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I smell frankincense and cedar, I'm pretty sure. The frankincense is sweet and not sharp like the frankincense tears I have for burning on charcoal. When I first tried this, I thought I smelled copal, but now I'm not sure. Unfortunately, this is too powdery and soft for me. I'm not sure what gives it the powdery quality, but I prefer my resins sharp and head-clearing (for the fragrance lamp). To me this seems soft, brown, and meditative. When I put this on my wrists, it lasted only about 15 minutes... I guess Midnight Mass and I were not meant to be.
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The overall qualities I feel from this blend are subtle, smooth, round, and gently sweet. Snow White does not change much on me. It starts out with coconut and nut (it smells like hazelnut to me), and the aroma of crushed ivy stems. I have battled many ivy plants and this is definitely that smell! I never thought I would relish the scent of ivy, but I do. The ivy eventually fades, leaving a mild coconut/vanilla/nut smell. I don't smell musk like many other people do (which is good, since I often have problems with musk notes). I will keep this imp for days when I want something subtle, pretty, and comforting. I think this would also be great in a body lotion since it is so unassuming. ETA: My husband came home and told me I smell good, and I verified it was Snow White... so maybe I'll need to get a bottle of this, heehee. (It's rare for him to compliment BPAL, since he prefers my plain skin smell.)
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In the imp, it smells like green apples, acetone, and very faint rose. I think it's the greenery notes which are turning out to be very appley on me. In the early stages, this blend is predominantly apple/greenery, with a very light rose note. After ten minutes, the rose note blooms more and the apple smell subsides. At this point the rose smells very pretty, but it doesn't smell as realistic on me as it seems to on other people. The rose smells very light (I imagine it is white), and reminds me of toys I had when I was a little girl. (??) I wish I knew my rose oils better so I could figure out what this is... I prefer the rose in Peacock Queen much more. I think this is just a bad body chemistry issue because my nose is also irritated after huffing my wrist, which doesn't usually happen. Interesting!
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In dramatic contrast to the soft innocence of Snow White and the dew-kissed freshness of her sister, Rose Red, this is a blood red, voluptuous rose, velvet-petaled, at the height of bloom. Haughty and imperious, vain, yet incomparably lovely to the eye, but thick with thorns of jealousy, pride and hatred. I usually shy away from rose blends because they have all smelled strange on me, but I was very curious about this one and Rose Red. If I closed my eyes and alternately smelled this blend and a real red rose, I could identify which is which, but Peacock Queen smells amazingly close to the real thing. I am pretty sure I smell oakmoss under the rose, and that the oakmoss is what gives it the velvety depth. I don't actually think of this blend as haughty; it seems more mysterious and withdrawn. This is the first rose blend I would actually wear.
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In the bottle, Sugar Cookie 2005 smells exactly like butterscotch Dum Dums to me. It was so dead-on my head almost exploded when memories of all the separate times I've eaten a butterscotch Dum Dum throughout my life simultaneously collided in my brain. On my wrist, Sugar Cookie smells like sweet warm rum. I don't get much spice from this; I wouldn't call it "spiced" and I can't pick out any individual spice. As it dries, it smells more like caramel, and faintly dough-like. It's mostly sugary, warm, sweet, and rummy/boozy on me. I tried it as both a room scent and a perfume, and although I really do like this smell, I can't see myself wearing it often. I was hoping it would work as well on me as Gingerbread Poppet 2004, but they are definitely two different animals.
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Allergy Questions, Allergies and other reactions to oils
amrita replied to friendthegirl's topic in BPAL FAQs
I've had this happen a handful of times, and it's really unpleasant. I checked through my notes and it looks like the last oil this happened with was Grandmother of Ghosts. For me, it takes a few minutes for the taste to appear, and then it's overwhelming, and that oil is straight off to swaps. I think there are way too many variables to figure out the real reason this is happening... we have no idea of the exact ingredients, how they were processed, or where they came from. This reminds me of a visit I had with a nutritionist earlier this year. She took out a bottle of colloidal zinc, poured me some in a tiny paper cup, and had me swish it around in my mouth for a minute before swallowing. Then she asked me what it tasted like. At first, it tasted slightly sweet, then I swallowed, and the aftertaste was slightly foul, like bad tap water. She said that an individual's perception of the taste of colloidal zinc is one way to gauge how much zinc is in their system; if it tastes really sweet, you need to increase your intake of zinc, and if it tastes foul, that means you already have enough zinc in your system. Fascinating... -
I recently saw a smoking cessation kit on Nature's Gift... search this page for "smoking". (They use angelica and black pepper.) If you were looking for BPAL to help with the emotional/mental part of quitting, you could try some Voodoo oils like Block Buster or High John the Conqueror. Cheers to you for making positive changes. I battled against smoking and caffeine addiction myself (and won!) so I know what it's like. You can do it!
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I just wanted to say that I have both of Kurt Schnaubelt's books and I've found them extremely useful and helpful. I highly recommend them...