amrita

For some reason this goes overwhelmingly figgy on me. I do like fig, but the other notes don't bolster it enough to make it interesting to me. (No date or currant, either!) There is something acidic and astringent that I can't identify which doesn't appeal to me. Something almost salty or aquatic. hmm...

I thought the dominant wet note was grape, but I see it's actually plum. I'm not getting any carnation at all. This is sweet and smells almost like something you'd buy at a department store. It smells nice, but I like scents I can deconstruct a bit, and on me, this is a very tightly blended pretty Perfume Smell. As it warms, the spiciness comes out more-- that must be the carnation. I've been feeling very picky about BPALS lately, trading away anything I don't absolutely love-- and this is *almost* nice enough for me to keep. It's a little too "perfumey" for me, but I know a friend who would love it.

Wet, I get rose and something that smells like lilac-- light, sweet, and very pretty. Unfortunately, it also smells strongly soapy right off the bat. As it dries, the lilac fades and this becomes a warm dark powdery rose. It's nice, but definitely not my thing.

Honestly-- as a gardening nerd, I was skeptical when others claimed this smelled like real dirt. Well... ho-lee-crap, it really does. If you walk out into one of the northwest pine forests, kick your foot deep under the layer of moist, decomposing pine needles, this is what you'd smell. (Rich earth and a hint of pine. ) This also smells like the bags full of organic mushrooms I get that are still dirty. I've been racking my brain to try and figure out how Beth could've possibly done this. Are mushrooms involved? (Always a wise question to ask oneself.) I keep laughing in surprise every time I put this on. The only down side is that my skin drinks this up very quickly. Well, whatever... I'll find a way to make it last. This totally made my night!

When I first applied Nuit, I was startled by how clean, pure, and appealing the rose smelled. (I haven't liked any other BPAL blends with rose.) My second thought was that this blend describes perfectly what it feels like to be in the loving arms of the Goddess. I haven't had this much of an emotional reaction to any other BPAL. Wow. A couple hours later, the florals have faded but are still melded perfectly, and the incense is laying softly on my skin. This is so beautiful... and to think I almost didn't try it because of the rose! This is going to make an awesome meditation blend.

This starts out very gentle and sweet (sweet in character, not in scent). I get lovely light fresh blooms. (Must be sweet pea? It does not smell like sweet peas that I have grown.) I really like it. Within about 10 minutes, it dries down to heavy powder with a hint of ylang ylang in the background. Kind of reminds me of ylang ylang Neccos. I'm pretty disappointed... I wanted this to turn out on me! The damn Powder...

I didn't get any spice with this-- strong patchouli and something else-- I wish I knew what orris smells like. It reminded me of a family friend I hung out with when I was a kid; she used to wear a perfume that smelled a lot like this. Dark and unctuous yet comforting at the same time. I imagine Death sneaking up behind me and closing his hands around my throat. This is just too weird...I had to wash it off. (I would probably think this was a great blend if it didn't remind me of weird childhood times!)

Pine essential oil is an adrenal stimulant, so you could try a blend heavy on the pine.

I think that Scheherezade smells similar to Nag Champa, but it's definitely not exact. I haven't tried the oils that have nag champa listed as a note (Gaueko, Urd), but they're on the way. Does anyone get the nag champa note in anything else?

Wow.. Nocnitsa does some bizarre things on me. Wet, it is a beautiful combination of pine (or spruce?), a touch of lime, and berry sweetness. Slightly aquatic, like wet night air. I get absolutely no mosses or earth. The pine is really beautiful and complex, very evocative-- but it fades within a couple minutes. As the oil dries, the berries become more prominent and flit in and out of soapiness. This is clearly an oil that is getting screwed by my skin chemistry. After about 10 minutes, I get wafts of mango, and it starts turning to a cross between Wolf Moon and Glasgow on me. (Soapy berries, mango, aquatics.) I think I'm going to keep the imp and play around with other ways to use this, because I *love* how Nocnitsa begins. The trees smell so beautiful! But where are the mosses and the earth? I hope to god it's not the "earth" note going bad on me, because I'm really looking forward to Graveyard Dirt...

Dragon's blood has a tendency to go insanely floral on me, but it doesn't in this blend. The leather tones it way down and I'm actually getting something rich and incensey out of the dragon's blood. I love this! It's warm, dark, and mellow, with a hint of "sweet and sour" (I'm not sure what I mean by that). I think this is my favorite of the Ars Draconis now...

I've had an imp of Lady MacBeth sitting around for a while; I remember when I first tried it, I liked the fruity grape sweetness, but now I just don't like it at all. The last few times I've tried it, I had the artificial grape and powdery bubblegum thing going on. I've smelled this particular powder in a couple other BPAL blends-- I hope I can figure out what it is!

Wet, I get fresh grass, musk(?), light white appley flowers, like chamomile... warm sunlight. I really like this! Within about 5 minutes, it loses this fresh greenness and the masculine smell (a light musk?) really comes out, along with the fragrance of warm fields. At this point I can't tell if it's too masculine for me or not. I still really like it. I do understand where people get nailpolish remover, but it's not strong. Ten minutes later, nailpolish remover has taken over! I washed it off my arms and tried to wipe it off my neck, but four hours later the acetone fragrance lingers. Weird as hell. I loved the initial grass note before it evaporated!

Wet, this smells like fancy salon shampoo...hm. A couple minutes later, dry cinnamon and brown wood bark come through. It seems aquatic to me. My skin sucks this up-- 15 minutes later, I can hardly smell anything at all! Now we're back to fresh salon shampoo. One hour later: This has dried down to something *very* similar to Wolf Moon-- faintly sweet, woody, and aquatic. Weird! I was really excited about this blend, but it looks like it's doing something similar to what it did on Madame Nyx...

A scent pulsing with vitality, warmth and insurmountable strength: dragon's blood resin, red and black musks, a throb of fig and a sliver of black currant. In the bottle: very sweet berries! Drying: This goes on very strong. It's wafting a lot. The super sweet berries and dragon's blood waft the most -- on closely sniffing my wrists, I smell musk, tobacco, and sandalwood. (??) The fig is *barely* there for me. I do see where people are getting copper, and picking up some of the same spice as Snake Oil, although these notes aren't dominant for me, and I probably wouldn't have noticed them if I hadn't read the other reviews. They're definitely passing stages. One hour later: Has already faded a lot down to a gentle sweet woodiness that is really nice. I like this a lot and I'm going to see if I can get my boyfriend to try it too. (Dragon's blood in general can turn extremely floral on us, but it didn't happen for me with this blend, so who knows.) I'll have to experiment with this to see if I can make it last longer... I might consider a bottle!

Wet, the predominant notes are very natural blue/green/white florals. I think this is supposed to be linen, but to me it just smells like fresh, unassuming, natural flowers. I am not a big floral person at all, but I think this smells really, really good. As it dries down, milk and astringent black tea emerge, with a hint of honey and subtle ginger. Fifteen minutes after application, I'm getting sweet creamy biscuits and those same lovely fresh florals. This makes me feel like I'm eating soft, homemade buttermilk biscuits with honey in a beautiful sun-dappled garden with spring flowers wafting on the breeze. Long after the drydown, I can still smell sweetness, like amber and vanilla. This is one of my favorites. I can't wait to wear it more as the weather warms up!

This is absolutely bizarre. Wolf Moon is my first lunar oil, and I was very excited by the description. But I can not figure out this oil at all-- the most I get from it is a faint aquatic candylike sweetness, maybe with a touch of amber or mango in it. I searched desperately for the coldness, greenery, or pine but it was nowhere to be found. O mysterious skin, why?

I do not like the smell of this when wet. It smells of strangely buttery chocolate. But in just a couple minutes, the butteriness goes away, and an effortlessly balanced blend of sandalwood, cedar, vanilla, and cocoa reveals itself. It smells *so* good. It's decadent, unique, and comforting. I don't get a whole lot of myrrh from this-- just enough to echo that salivatory twinge you get when you smell something very edible. It doesn't change noticably as the hours go by. This is one of my favorites!

I perceive the "linen" note as florals also. I guess if you hung your linens out in a blooming summer garden in the fresh breeze, they would pick up this smell... but yeah, absolutely-- it is a divine, light, airy, summery floral smell to me. Big bottle on my wishlist too!

On me, Rome was very strong rose and salty olives. I have no clue where that olive came from-- once again, rose brings mayhem and confusion to my skin.

I wish this was as beautiful on me as it sounds on everyone else! On me, this dries to an aquatic floral (steamy jungle blossoms), which is just not my thing. I can pick out the sage and lemon balm, which I *love*-- but the flowers are too overpowering. I think if the lemon balm and sage were amped up 10x, and the flowers cut in half, I would love this. Alas...

In the bottle: sweet dark berries. Wet on skin: Sweet, vaguely perfumy, very sharp, and resiny. A beautiful sharp floral starts wafting, which reminds me of jasmine. I can't smell it when I sniff my wrist directly. Drying: Sweet sharp myrrh and intriguing herbs. Suddenly... I'm getting honey and rose. What? A half hour after application, this has turned to very strong rose, faint berries, and the barest twinge of myrrh on me. Skin, what are you doing? I will keep this to use for meditation, but I won't wear it for its scent alone-- rose and I don't get along...

I know ambrette seed is a plant source of a musk smell. I've never used mainstream natural or synthetic perfumes so I don't know what genuine or synthetic musk smells like, and I've never smelled ambrette seed straight up, so I can't make any useful comparisons. (I do know I like Beth's "musks"

I have a blend called "Carnation Memories" from Naturesgift.com that smells like real pinks to me... they made it by combining ylang ylang, clove, basil, and some other essential oils... It's pretty impressive. I'm also really interested in how she makes her musks. We know they aren't synthetic, and they aren't genuine (from the animal), so how does she do it??? Maybe Beth will write a book one day...

I think it's really odd that the author states these flowers resist any form of scent harvesting. While it may be impossible to extract essential oils from them through distillation, it's certainly not impossible to extract their scents through other methods. For example, enfleurage is a technique where you layer purified fat and blossoms between glass plates, and the fat absorbs the flower scent (which can then be washed with a solvent, etc, to get the scent out). I've read you can use high proof alcohol and blossoms to make a tincture (of lilacs, for example). You can also extract scents into oil by gently heating them. So, I have no idea why Aftel said that... I guess she was talking only about essential oils? If Beth is using stuff from her garden occasionally, I would almost guarantee she's using one of the above methods or something similar at least part of the time, since she'd have to have quite a plot of land to grow enough botanicals to extract essential oils through distillation. The ratio by weight of plant matter to essential oil extracted is usually something like 50-2000:1.