theshapeshifter

I find the red wine note to be very rich and round, with a slight sour tang to it - Kali and Nosferatu are probably my favourites in that regard.

What a lovely summer scent! Dragon Moon is a real morpher on me. Wet: It's got that juicy/sharp/sour/green note, which I think is the bamboo; I know I've noticed it in some of the other Asian moons. That's the predominant impression at first, with a bit of the cherry blossom in the background. Drydown: As it dries down, it changes character a lot, with the dragon's blood and sandalwood coming up a lot more. The bamboo is still present, but now it's more muted, just giving a green freshness to the resin/wood/tea combo that it's become. I think I'm going to get a lot of wear out of this in the hot weather.

I tried Brass Balls on Saturday - we had a wedding to go to, and I was only going to know three or four people (and not know them very well - former coworkers of my husband's). The classic sort of situation where I'd normally spend the whole night hating the world and giving off 'please don't talk to me' vibes, since I have trouble with these sorts of events since I quit drinking. I dabbed a little Brass Balls over my heart chakra, and I was AMAZED at how well it worked. Not only was I outgoing, charismatic and generally charming, but I enjoyed it! My husband even noticed and commented on it on the way home. I'll definitely be getting a LOT of use out of this one. Oh, and for the record, I would NOT use this for its scent... I put the dab of it on, but then used another oil to be my perfume for the evening.

Tangy and candy-sweet! It goes on quite strong on initial application, but I'm find it's fading rather quickly on me.

Aaaaah, the perfect clove! It smells just like the spice jar of ground cloves in the kitchen, with just the tiniest hit of sweetness. Wonderful.

Just wonderful! I was a devotee of the Body Shop's original vanilla (i.e. before they changed it to a nasty perfumey blend) for many years, and I still have a very aged bottle - at least 7 or 8 years old now - tucked away. SN Vanilla Bean smells very much like that: rich, deep, dark sweetness. Love, love, love.

I was lucky enough to win an imp of this in the forum raffle, and it's a definite keeper! Unfortunately, I'm a bit lost for words on how to describe it, except that it's warm and heady while still being somewhat 'dry'. It has a very glamorous sort of feel to it while not being over-the-top.

I'm pretty much going to echo the other reviewers here - I was lucky enough to win imps of both French and Bulgarian Lavender in the forum raffle, so I was able to do a comparison test. The Bulgarian Lavender is much mellower, and not what one typically thinks of with lavender. It's rounder and smoother and not at all harsh. Very nice!

Wet on skin, this is a much stronger scent than I'd anticipated - it actually reminds me of rosemary! In the drydown, it becomes the scent I'm more familiar with from chamomile tea, soft and gentle. It doesn't have a whole lot of staying power on my skin.

This is the sharp, pungent "HELLO I'M LAVENDER!" scent that I associate with my garden. Very lifelike - and I think I recognize the note from Nanshe - but a little too much on its own, for my taste.

Stargazer Lily was surprisingly strong on me! One teeny swipe of the imp wand and I was enveloped in lush, ever-so-slightly-fruity floral. It's a bright, clear sort of lily scent, and didn't go soapy on me at all (unlike calla lily). Very nice!

After all the excitement over Antique Lace's resurrection, I was delighted to get a frimp of it in my latest order. In the imp: Um... nothing. I was worried this was going to fall into my 'olfactory blind spot' like Snow White did. Wet on skin: Okay, here it is! It starts out as a lovely creamy vanilla, quite similar to the Body Shop's 'original' vanilla (the good one they used to sell years ago), which was a pleasant surprise. Drydown: As it dries down, it becomes muskier and more 'perfumey' on me. It's quite nice, but probably a like rather than a love at this point.

Reason for use: I've been in a total rut at work lately, spinning my wheels and not being very productive. Use: After making a specific to-do list of a lot of hassly tasks that I've been putting off literally for months, I anointed the backs of my hands with Determination, while visualizing myself blasting efficiently through the list and feeling positive about what I was doing. Results: Excellent. Even though I'd looked at the list and initially thought it was probably too ambitious for one day, I just comfortably put my head down and got to it, and the list was all crossed off within two hours. And done well, too, not just a half-assed job. I'm very pleased - I think my imp of Determination will probably live at work from now on! For the record, the scent was earthy, heavy on the vetiver - which always has a 'let's kick some ass and take some names' feel to me, even in regular BPAL scents, so I'm sure that helped as well.

Wow!! Okay, I admit I've only just put this on, but I want to get a review down before I forget - if it does anything crazy later, I'll come back and edit. In the bottle/immediately on skin: Thick, sweet, ridiculously rich buttercream, like Trick or Treat's more indolent sister. Early drydown: Very quickly - within two minutes or so - it starts to morph fairly dramatically. The saffron and sandalwood (very well blended together, incidentally - I could only pick out the saffron because 'okay, that's not JUST sandalwood there') start to assert their presence, giving the blend a drier tone. The vanilla-buttercream-butter rum sweetness is still there, but it's more like it's painted onto the sandalwood. So far, I'm finding this a similar sort of feel to Velvet, although the actual scents are fairly different. ETA: After having it on for close to two hours now, I'm finding that the vanilla-cream warms back up and comes back to the forefront. The sandalwood is still definitely making its presence known, but it's more truly balanced now, whereas for a while there I thought my skin was going to amp the sandalwood up into the primary note. This is now EXACTLY what I was hoping for when I read the description - kind of sweet/foody gone grownup and sophisticated. Lovely, lovely stuff.

Lotus went on with a blast of that fruity-bubblegummy scent that I recognize from several blends. In the drydown, though, I'm surprised by how mellow it's become - the sweetness is still there, but it's much rounder and more floral, less 'Bazooka Joe'.

Calla Lily started out with a fruity overtone, but it's dried down very dry and fresh. Honestly, it's a bit dryer-sheet-y on me - I think this might explain why some 'lily' scents work on me and others don't.

I'm not going to even try to review this for scent, because I applied it solely for practical purposes today, and was already wearing Blood Kiss for scent. For the record, though, Hymn to Pan is not an unpleasant scent, but it did seem more 'practical' than 'cosmetic', if that makes sense. Reason for use: Mondays are my day off, and I always start out with great intentions to get lots of writing and other creative-type stuff done, and instead usually find that my inspiration dries up when faced with all this free time. I'd been particularly writers-blocked on a story I'm writing. Application: I anointed myself (palms, wrists, and the throat and third-eye chakras) with Hymn to Pan, then also anointed a purple candle while visualizing my writer's block and distractedness falling away and being replaced with wellsprings of creativity. Then I lit the candle and set it up beside my laptop. Results: WOW. Hymn to Pan really delivered. I banged off a really pivotal chapter to the story (with really pleasing results, too, not just random let's-get-something-written crap) in NO TIME - maybe forty minutes or so, when it would normally tend to take a few hours of frittering about. Not only that, but I felt the plot for the next few chapters practically unfolding in front of me, so the next stint should be easy. And then I got another idea for a short piece... AND put together a kickass mixed CD for a friend's birthday. All the while feeling this amazing rush of energy. This is utterly wonderful - and a great first experience using a TAL oil. I'll definitely need to upgrade to a full bottle of this, since I foresee my decant getting a lot of use.

Cinnamon, cinnamon and more cinnamon! In the best possible way. This is the cinnamon scent I've been dying for - a perfect red-hot-candy cinnamon with just a hint of woodyness underneath. In the drydown, I think I can see what a couple of others have mentioned about just a bit of a leather note as well. I've got a sinus cold today, and this is helping me feel better.

This may not be the most expert review, since I have a cold and my nose is getting more stuffed-up with each passing minute, but I'll give it a go: In the bottle/Wet on skin: Pretty much exactly what the description suggests, although I don't get a lot of bourbon. It's mostly thick sweet buttercream with a juicy berry note. Drydown: So far it's staying pretty true. If it does anything weird (or if I think differently when my nose is unstuffed!), I'll come back and edit. So far... this stuff is the BOMB.

I'd had March Hare on my wishlist for aaaaages, but after having bad luck with pretty much all the other peach/apricot BPAL's I'd tried, I was definitely skeptical. On first application, it was really in-your-face apricot, and I was worried it would go 'fakey' on my skin, but within about 5 minutes, it blossomed out with this AMAZING sweet clove... with the apricot just rounding it out, juicy-tart in the background. This is AWESOME.

I've worn Sugar Skull to a couple of rock shows in crowded, sweaty (although thankfully not smoky any more) bars, and found it held up really well. Out of your 'possibles' selection, I'd go with Sugar Skull, Samhain or Snake Oil. My favourite rock-show scent, though, is Dead Man's Hand.

In the imp/wet on skin: That sweet gummy/fruity scent I associate with lotus. Drydown: What a surprise! The myrrh, sandalwood etc come to the forefront, and somehow the black lotus turns to.... plum? By some wonderful alchemy, this turns into the kind of dark-plummy-incense that I was hoping for from Hellion. Lovely, just lovely. I wish it stuck around a little longer, though - a little over two hours and it's fading away, but what a wonderful scent while it lasted!

Wow! I never would've ordered this, given my fear of roses, but it arrived as a generous frimp with my latest order, so I gamely gave it a try. In the imp: Aggressively, eye-wateringly herbal - sour rosemary. I was almost afraid to try it on. Initial application: Oh! Citrus! I hadn't yet read the scent description when I first put it on, so I was confused for a while, although vaguely reminded of the lemon-mint candies I liked as a child. (Makes sense now.) Suddenly, this seems much more promising. It's a bit medicinal, with the lemon on top and the herbs and a winey tang beneath, but surprisingly pleasant. I only get the roses as a faint hint in the background, just enough to make the scent a little more feminine. Drydown: Several hours later, it's still just barely present if I sniff my wrist. It doesn't change a lot in the drydown, just mellows and gets less sharp. It's an unusual scent, and still does remind me somewhat of herbal cough drops, but I don't mean that in a bad way. There's something very energizing and upbeat about the scent. I'm glad I got to try it!

2006 version. I have been desperately wanting Mars ever since discovering BPAL, primarily because it happens to be the name of a fictional character I spent a year and a half writing about. Therefore, it was a hugely exciting moment to finally remove the cap and take a sniff! In the bottle: Oooh. I'd been expecting spice, but this is much more complicated... warm and heady and red. Something about it evokes The Living Flame to me, although they don't really smell that much alike. Wet on skin: Orange peel! I get a strong, strong rush of orange on application, but not a juicy-candy orange, more like a semi-dried orange rind. Drydown: Oh, Mars is so much more complicated than I'd expected. It's really well-blended, which makes it a challenge to pick out notes. Orange rind, dragon's blood, maybe some jasmine, a bit of spice (clove?)... I'm not sure what else. It's absolutely, absolutely gorgeous - and has GREAT staying power. I'm so happy! It's lived up to my wildest dreams... I think Mars is going straight to my top 10.

I was a little nervous of the mad monkey, especially after one of the musks in Smut seems to have turned on me. But on me, the monkey's quite friendly! In the bottle: Wow, that's definitely musk! Warm, but dark and ominous. Wet on skin: Warm, enveloping musk, and a deep foresty greenness that must be the rainforest plants. Drydown: I guess it's the combo of musk and amber, but this mellows into a very woodsy/incensey kind of scent - warm and natural without being an in-your-face "OMG INCENSE" sort of scent (although I like those too). I foresee getting a lot of wear out of this one!