kythryne

Oh, pretty pretty pretty. I hesitated over this one, because all the other Lunacies I've tried so far have gone soapy on me, but the bamboo and tea convinced me, and I am so very very glad. From the bottle, it smells green and damp and slightly sweet, a little like walking into one of the candy shops in Chinatown on a rainy day. On my skin, it starts off slightly sharp and lemony, and then the bamboo comes pouring out and it all mellows down into a gorgeous wet green scent. I'm having trouble picking up the tea note, but the bamboo is there, beautifully clear, and there's something mysterious and foreign to me that must be the oude. When I was a kid, we had a little stand of bamboo growing wild near our house, and sometimes I'd pick a branch of it and play with it. The bamboo in this and in Neo-Tokyo smells SO much like that -- clean and astringent and woody and fresh.

I'd been wary of all the cinnamon scents, but the lovely folks at the lab sent a frimp of this scent with my last order, and I sniffed it and set it aside, thinking it might be a good scent to wear in the winter. A few weeks ago, when the weather started to turn cold, I remembered it, and pulled it out to try. It started off very spicy-warm on me, almost foodish, but then mellowed into a rich, warm, slightly spicy amber. It smells very "skin-like" to me, in the way that a few BPAL scents do -- like the scent of clean skin, but better. It's a marvelous scent for cold winter mornings and cashmere sweaters and baking bread. As a funny side note, a minute or two after I first dabbed it on, one of my cats jumped in my lap and started headbutting me vigorously while purring so loudly he rattled. He seems to highly approve!

*weep* Why do the lunar oils always turn to dishsoap on my skin? This one's going in a locket, because it is gorgeous in the bottle. But on me... soap. Just like every other lunar blend I've tried. Bad skin chemistry! Bad!

I'm strongly drawn to the moon, and I love Beth's rose scents, so this was one I was very excited to try. The name and description are absolutely dead-on -- it's a very light, pale scent. The moonflower (which I recognize from Midnight and Chiroptera) tempers the rose into a very soft feminine scent. I've been wearing this whenever I want a perfume that smells sophisticated and feminine, and it's becoming a favorite. It has very good staying power, too, without being too overwhelming. I think I need a bottle of this. Yes.

*swoons* Ohhhhh. This was my #1 MUST TRY scent when I discovered BPAL, and I wasn't disapointed. In the vial, it smelled very green and fresh and clean. I got a bit of a whiff of pine, but not too strongly. Wet, on my skin, I smelled pine and herbs and just a touch of something clean and sweet. As others have said, it reminded me of crisp morning air in a forest. Once it dried, it mellowed into a wonderful green scent with just a hint of floral underneath. I personally wish there was more of a floral note to it, and I may try layering it with something eventually -- I suspect the new Two, Five, and Seven may go very, very well with this. It had good staying power on me, and I think it will be a wonderful perfume for summer, because it feels so crisp and cool and fresh.

I really wanted to love this scent, and in the vial it smelled wonderful - sweet and warm and just a tiny bit spicy. Wet on my skin it was exactly the same... but unfortunately, I've discovered that my body chemistry amplifies honey like you wouldn't believe, and in five minutes I just smelled overwhelmingly SWEET. If I put my nose right up against my wrist I could still pick up a bit of the spicy musky smell, but the sugary sweetness won out every time. I don't like smelling that sweet, so it's off to the swaps with this one. Sigh.

I think I'm a lot like you in scent sensitivity -- I get instant headaches from walking past Bath & Body Works, can't go to LUSH stores, cigarette smoke makes me ill, and I even have trouble with some food scents. I also get migraines from air fresheners and almost all commercial perfumes. I can, however, wear BPAL! I've tried quite a few scents, and most were just fine -- a couple gave me a mild headache, but that was about the extent of my reaction to them, and I'm not even sure that they were the culprit, since I've worn them again since without a problem. My partner also has horrible allergies to most perfumes and chemicals, but she's only had a problem with one or two scents, and those were quite mild and "tolerable" in her opinion. I use them very sparingly, usually just by swabbing the wand across my wrists once, behind my ears, and then dipping it again and running it through my hair. I am so, so thrilled to finally be able to wear perfume. I'd encourage you to give it a try -- if it doesn't work out for you, you'll be able to sell them on the forums or eBay easily enough, I'd suspect. As for light scents... hmm. Neo-Tokyo is one of my favorites, a very light crisp green scent. The Unicorn is very light, but it's one of the scents that seems to give me a faint headache sometimes. De Sade is completely different, but not very overwhelming, and Whip is also beautiful although a bit bold. White Rabbit was lovely and light right up until my skin said "ooooh, honey!" and turned it too sweet for me to stand. Good luck!

Sultry, very floral and aquatic, with just a bit of lemon to sharpen it out around the edges. I haven't worn this all day yet, because it's very much a "summer" scent to my nose, but I've dabbed it on a couple of times and love it. It doesn't smell quite as decaying as I think it should, but that's probably not a bad thing since it's supposed to be perfume and not an actual bayou... I've been very nostalgic for the south lately, and this makes me feel a little less wistful.

Oh, I like this one a lot. I'm an insomniac with often severe chronic pain, and I don't sleep very well most of the time. I've put a bit on the past two nights before bed, and both nights I've slept deeply and well, and woken up feeling rested and clear headed. Well, clear headed once I showered -- it's strong and long-lasting, and until I washed it off I kept getting whiffs of it and would catch myself yawning and unable to wake up fully. It smells like lavendar and jasmine to me, with a hint of gardenia and some sharp herbals. My partner says it smells like dirty hippie, but I disagree. And she seems to be sleeping better than usual too, so pfffffft. I may get a bottle of this in one of my next orders, because I like being able to sleep soundly.

This smells like grapes and cleaning fluid on me. I don't like it as a perfume, but I do find it calming and and strengthening, and people who had previously been snarky with me over stupid things started behaving themselves again yesterday, so make of that what you will. I'll put a dab on somewhere inconspicuous from time to time if I'm going up against something challenging, and I dabbed a bit onto the door and the window of my office.

Oh my oh my oh my. *faints* The first time I wore it, it was a perfect balance of rose and leather. Well-worn leather with just a touch of body heat lingering on it, and slightly wilted red roses. Today it's more strongly rose, but it's still gorgeous. I may layer this with either Wanda or De Sade to play up different aspects of it. This one's going on my big bottle list...

I'm fascinated by this scent. I put a tiny bit on the back of my hand to test it, and I keep stopping to sniff it over and over again. Every so often I catch a tiny bit of it as I work, too. My first thought was that this doesn't smell at all like summer to me, because I grew up in Florida and to me, summer = hot and wet. But then I remembered the summer when there was a terrible drought and wildfires every week or so, and was stunned by how vividly this scent sums up that sort of feeling. I can not describe the notes in this at all. It just smells hot and dry and slightly uneasy to me. I don't think I can bear to wear it very often because of the memories it calls up, but I'm hanging on to the imp because I know I WILL wear it every now and then.

If this were a pastry or an ice cream, I'd love it. It's rich, just slightly sweet, and smells like dark bittersweet chocolate, rum, and a bit of coffee to me. I don't think food scents work on me, though, so I'm putting it in the swap pile. It smells lovely, but it's not a scent I want to wear, if that makes any sense.

I got this in a swap last week, and just now got around to trying it on. It's beautiful, and I think I may have just found my second "big bottle" BPAL scent! I love lavender, so I was quite curious to see what Beth's lavender would be like. It's a little hard to pick out in this blend, but it's there, clean and sharp and cool. The florals do a lovely job of softening it to a perfume rather than a medicinal/clean smell. It smells very complex in the vial, but dried down to a soft herbal honeysuckle. I just reapplied a bit behind my ears and on my throat, and I can smell the herbs more strongly now -- I think the thyme is peeking out a bit. It's lovely, lovely, lovely. I'm about to walk over to the greenmarket to enjoy the sunshine and buy some plants for my apartment, and I can't think of a more perfect scent to be wearing right now. I'm a little afraid my partner may be allergic to something in this one, but I'm hoping that won't be the case because I really do want to order a bottle of this. EDIT: I still love it, it passed the allergy test (wooo!) and I have a big bottle on the way. I'm so sad it's being discontinued, but I use perfume so sparingly that a bottle should last me a long time.

Thank you! I'll have to try that. Next question... what oils (if any) are similar in character to Wanda? I particularly like the way it smells like heat-flushed skin.

From the description, I was expecting something like chai... but this is a whole tea party, rolled into one bottle! It's spicy and sweet and vanilla-y, and not at all what I expected but utterly lovely. The honey was quite strong most of the time, and I had a little trouble picking up the tea and the linen, but I liked it a lot. And now I want to go to Central Park and have a picnic on the grass somewhere in the sunshine. My one unhappiness is that it made my skin itch, which isn't surprising since I'm badly allergic to black pepper. (Yes, I'm smart. In the future I'll just put it on my hair.)

Oh, my. I wasn't at all sure about this one, because in the vial I smelled something very reminiscent of bad breath. Since I've learned that I can't judge a scent at all by how it seems in the bottle, I put it on anyway... and I'm so glad I did. It started off smelling very wet and fresh and grassy. It reminded me a lot of Neo-Tokyo at first, but then the grass and herbs jumped out, with something vaguely musky underneath. As it dried, it settled into a beautiful, slightly sweet, very clean scent, with just a hint of something very, very feral and almost ghostlike. It smells like moonlight on a slightly cool spring evening. This is a keeper. So, so pretty. I can't wait for it to get warmer here so I can wear it with a camisole and a fluttery skirt.

Aieeee! Lovely sexy goodness in the vial, horrible bubble-gum scented room freshener on my skin. *flings imp into the swap pile and scurries off to scrub wrists*

I'm not sure yet what to think of this one. I'm starting to suspect that my skin amplifies incense, because that was pretty much all I could smell once I put this on. In the bottle I could smell the moss and something very earthy and slightly spicy-floral, but on my skin? Insense. I'm going to try this again a time or two, but I don't think it's quite right on me. I have a friend who will love it, though, and it would probably be a fabulous scent for an oil burner or candles...

Oh, this one is lovely. In the vial, it smells like deep, rich hothouse roses, with just a hint of spice. I couldn't quite pick up the musk, but I suspect that's what's responsible for the "deepness" of the scent. On my skin, both wet and dry, it's very much the same. It mellows a little and becomes slightly spicier and sweeter, but it's still very rich and lush and dark. I wouldn't classify it as masculine, but I suspect a man's body chemistry might be able to change it into something considerably different. This isn't something I'd wear every day, but I will definitely be keeping an imp of it around, because in the right mood, this would be a PERFECT scent. I see it as a scent to wear when I want to feel powerful and sleek and just a little feminine.

Are there any oils that stay like the very first stage of Ouija -- the smoky dusty wood scent? I LOVED the way it smelled in the imp and when I first put it on, but then it turned into a very heavy floral and gave me a headache, and I'm sad.

I got an imp of this in today's mail, and I'd really been looking forward to to trying it. At first sniff it was very smoky and the woods came out very strongly, with just a hint of a dusty dried rose smell -- I thought I was in love! Sadly, on my skin it instantly morphed to lilac. Very, very strong lilac. And now it's smelling like flowery soap. *cries* I'll give this another try, just in case the last remnants of the Neo-Tokyo I put on this morning skewed it, but I think I may have to wear this one in a locket or on my hair, because I love the way it smells in the vial but can't stand what it does on my skin. Edit: I'm not going to be able to wear this one at all. It promptly turned to very strong lilacs on both my hair and on a tissue, and it's giving me a headache. Sadness. Into the swap pile, methinks...

From the reviews and the description, I expected to love this, but it just didn't work on me. After sniffing it in the vial, I described it to a friend as "Eau de New Age Shoppe" -- very heavy and thick and incense-like. I wore it once, and it was unremarkable on my skin -- just not something I'd wear. Discovering that my partner is allergic to something in it cinched the deal -- off to swap! Oh, well. Upon re-reading the reviews, I'm more than a bit bewildered, because this didn't seem floral to me at ALL. How odd.

This smells like spring to me. I'm wearing it today because it's a gorgeous balmy day and I wanted to wear something equally light and crisp and fresh. It stays pretty much the same on me as it smells in the vial. I can pick out the bamboo quite clearly (growing up in south Florida, we had a little stand of bamboo growing near our house, and when I'd grab a handful of leaves and crush them, they smelled EXACTLY like this does) and also something slightly floral. I'm not noticing any mint or lemon or fruit at all. The only reason I don't wear this more is because it smells a little more like soap than perfume to me. It also doesn't last very long on my skin -- I've had it on for about two and a half hours, and it's faded down to where I can't really smell it unless I sniff my wrists really carefully. I may end up dumping this into lotion or an unscented soap, or maybe putting it in with my clothing. It'd be lovely as a room scent, too.

I had mixed feelings about trying this one, but I got an imp of it anyway, and I am so very glad I did! In the vial, it smells... odd. The wine is very strong, and it's a bit sharp and musty. When I first sniffed it, I wasn't sure if I'd like it, and set it aside to try later. Wet on my skin, it shifts into a lovely rich scent. Still very strong red wine, but also something warm, which I think is the leather, and a touch of something floral. I knew right then that I would like it. Dry, for the first hour or so, it's VERY sexy. I can't quite describe it, but it's warm and spicy and very slightly sweet, and it reminds me of flushed skin and red wine on a hot night. After a few hours, it fades down to a slightly spicy floral with just a hint of the wine and musk left to tease my nose. It wears well on me -- I dabbed a bit on my wrists and behind my ears before I left for work, and when I came home I could still smell it if I brought my wrist anywhere near my nose. I am absolutely buying a big bottle of this -- probably a 10 ml, because I can see wearing it just about every day.