gwynhwyfar

This oil fascinates me! It doesn't suit me, I wouldn't want to wear it, but the oil is still absolutely fascinating. I couldn't test it on my skin because it gives me a headache, but that didn't stop me from sniffing it several times. Because apparently, fascination overcomes pain. It's a very dark scent -- very smokey and heavy. Definitely not for the faint of heart! It reminds me of the spirit bonfires we used to have before football games back in high school. I think that might be the source for the fascination -- since it reminds me of one of the few good memories of high school. It's very autumnal and interesting! Did I mention that, yet?

In the bottle, this is beer. Wet, this is beer. After drydown, this is beer. Four hours later, this is beer. Are you noticing a trend here? So did I! This disappointed me because I gravitate to the blood accord blends. Since I can't really smell like I had a bender before coming in to work, this is definitely not the oil for me.

Sweet. Sugary. This is where sugar goes to roll around in more sugar and have sugary fun. The sweetness of this blend is overwhelming to me -- I like sweetness from time to time, but this really is like I rolled around in rock sugar and it's sticking to me. It isn't for me, but if you're a sweet/sugar lover, you need to acquire this. Possibly in large amounts.

Initially, I love this one. It smells like a combination of freshly mowed grass and walking through crunching fallen leaves. Sadly, that initial fades into something that's almost rancid, through the miracle of body chemistry. At least I have that brief moment of loveliness. Though that makes it worse when it turns into evil.

I like almost all of them, but my favs are Cottonmouth and Temple Viper, with Coral and Saw-Scaled being right behind them. I love Green Tree Viper fresh but it doesn't age nicely for my skin.

Blood Moon (blood accord, lunar oils, grainy scents) and Cracked Bell (blood accord and incense) if you can find them. Ditto Tell-Tale Heart from the Maelstrom series. Oh, and The Chilling Cellar has the blood accord, too.I LOVE it. I search it down and I cling to whatever I find with it in. I wish it was used more heavily. I would have mentioned Centzon Totochitin, loudly and repeatedly, but other people already did, so I'll just underline it. Hee!I have great hopes for John Barleycorn, but I don't know for sure yet. I don't really like it.I LOVE it. If the lab discontinued it, when they made the announcement, I would immediately order at least five bottles and hoard it because if I ever ran out of this oil completely, I would be incredibly sad. I suspect that there are a lot of other people who love it, too, but they don't want to admit it too loudly because, erm, yeah. 'I like this perfume that smells like chocolate and blood and booze.' ... kinda might as well hang the sign saying 'I probably am a wee bit kinky, too.' *giggles* *hangs her sign with pride*

Gorgeous bottle. Cobalt with that amazing and creepy image. This is one of my favorite Gaiman stories ever, so I was stalking for this scent. In the bottle, this is a very interesting scent. Apple, with a biting edge to it --wormwood is my guess. A little of that chilly almost evergreen scent, along with some light, sweet florals. Then I put it on my skin and something truly horrible happens. It turns to soap. Pure, straight out of the bottle, handsoap. Worse, this is that cheap stuff that you find in the dispensers at those disturbing little truck stops in the middle of nowhere. I'm sure I'll be able to find a new home for it, but I'm sad that something that pretty can turn that horrible and evil.

Thanks, Beth! For the answer and for the lovely collection of scents that I (and the rest of us) have collected. How about Revival of the Dead Yule? Rat King, Cracked Bell, SnowFlakes, the first incarnation of Mistletoe, Snow White, Rose Red, Christmas Rose, Noche Buena, all three versions of Lick It ... no need to do new blends! Just revive the dead and we're all happy!

I'd add Juke Joint and Kill Devil to the possibilities. There are others that are sweet, but not that same sugar-cane scent.

I can't BELIEVE that I didn't review this oil yet! I guess it's time to go through my most-loveds and make sure that I really did write reviews for them, since I thought I had. This is one of my favorite BPALs, though it requires a certain mood to wear. Like Blood Moon and Centzon Totochtin, I pick up something that smells like pure blood in this oil. Not dragon's blood, but that metallic, wormwood-base bouquet that smells like warm blood. Because I'm fundamentally a weirdo, I LOVE that scent. Along with it, there's a deep, rich incense. Church incense, to be specific. I said that this was a 'mood' scent -- it's kinda like ... 'do I want to worship in the vampire church today?' mood. I keep hoping that it returns because I only got one bottle of it and that's almost gone. Maybe this year!

My first thought was Nosferatu, but YMMV.

In the bottle, this is a very fruity gin -- someone took the bottle of gin and started jamming tropical fruits in through the neck until it was overflowing. On my skin, this turns into my second-favorite Tiki scent -- The tangerine is the strongest of the fruits, but it doesn't totally overwhelm everything else. It has good staying power, and I can't help myself -- I just want to sniff it over and over again! (Wow, that sounds slightly wrong ...) This is definitely a fruit-lover's scent, without being so heavy that it overpowers everyone and everything.

This was another oil that I was really looking forward to -- it sounded like it'd be an awesome summer scent. In the bottle, it lives up to its promise, being another great tropical floral scent. On my skin, it's Gardenia Gone Wild. This is Gardenia that doesn't follow the rules, this is gardenia that stays up late, and pushes down little old ladies before running away giggling. I like gardenia, but I don't like gardenia in need of adult supervision.

I love the notes in this, so I was really excited to test it out. In the bottle, I wasn't disappointed -- it's an absolutely gorgeous floral. Pretty, and a little sexy. Thankfully, I resisted the temptation to just slather it on, because while it remains gorgeous for the first few minutes on my skin, once it's drydown, it turns into the scent of rotting wood. This is another of those body chemistry things that I have no real explanation for, but it's rather a fascinating process. Assuming you don't have my skin, if you like florals, this would be a hard one to beat.

*laments* In the bottle, this smells like candy. Sweet, sugary, fruity, candy. It smells good enough to eat (and even my father commented on this one -- normally, he just says that he likes the smells, but he actually wanted to sniff this one for real rather than just my 'air pollution' while I'm decanting. I was in love with this almost immediately from the bottle, but I waited to test it until I was finished decanting and got those mailed off. And then ... then, my reward ... Or not. This vanishes within fifteen minutes of me putting it on. It doesn't even smell like there's anything on that patch of skin. So sad.

Welcome to another oddity of skin chemistry! On me, this interesting little scent is ... pure pineapple and sugar. Mostly pineapple. I'm not entirely sure how my skin managed to turn the notes that are present here into pineapple, but it did it! In the bottle, it's rich, sweet, and seems like a relative of Xanthe to me. Alas, that vanishes upon contact with my skin. At least it's amusing! And if I want to smell like pineapple, this would be the scent I would definitely reach for. I was so hoping to smell like blueberries. Oh well.

Ginger blossom and vanilla orchid. This is my favorite Tiki scent on my skin. I'm definitely going to get a full bottle of this because this is a wonderful summer scent for me -- it's a beautifully light scent that's a little sweet, a little sultry, and a little powdery. Usually, when a scent goes to powder, it turns into baby powder, but this just has that slightly 'honey dusty-like' powder to it, and it doesn't have any affect on the sweetness of the fruits and florals. I can see this getting a lot of wear over the summer when I still want to wear scents, but don't want anything too heavy because of the heat. Yum.

This reminds me of Underpants. It's so heavily creamy from the bottle that I haven't yet gotten past that to try it out on my skin. I don't have a lot of luck with those creamy scents and I fear that this one will be another failure. Under the cream, there's a hint of something almost minty and chill, as well as a faint hint of what is clearly saffron (I sniffed the small packet for comparison and it's dead-on). Because of my love of saffron, I'll probably get brave and test it, and edit this post accordingly. For anyone who likes rich, creamy scents, this seems likely to be a winner. For me, it pales in comparison with other Lupercalia blends.

Initial reaction sniffing from the bottle: Gak. Lots of cream, this is probably going to do Bad Things on my skin. I'm sooooo glad I tested it on my skin. The cream fades completely and I end up with this lovely combination of fruit (citrus!), herbs, and something that makes the combination smell a little cool. And sweetness. For me, this is a summer blend, but I'm happy to smell like it today (decanting bottles). Not only is this a keeper for me, this was an 'order more' because I can easily see reaching for it again and again. For me, this one falls into the same category as Xanthe and is a distant relative of Forbidden Fruit. A much lighter, sweeter relative.

I like almost every note in this ... I wanted to love the oil. Sadly, I wasn't too successful in my mission. Out of the bottle, this is so sickening and cloying sweet that I can't even manage to put it on my skin. Because my SO loves it, I wanted to at least like it, but the combination of hazelnut and the sweet notes turns this into super-sweet candy. Sadly, this wanders off to the land of Bliss, along with the other 'too sweet' candy scents.

I'm developing a ritual ... go to Shell's shop, test a couple retail-Salons, decide that I need one immediately, come home with it. Mad Kate was the first and this is the second. Initially, I was put off by the oak ... woody scents are hit-or-miss on my skin. But the lure of testing it got to me and so I put it on my skin and then sat on the carpet to play with a cat and let it sit for awhile. Periodically, I stuck my note on my arm and found myself in bliss as the amber, vanilla, and ginger warmed up. This scent gets richer and sweeter the longer it's on my skin. Although I'm heartbroken by the fact that the lily doesn't stick around, I can live with it because what does hang out with me is so gorgeous. This is a perfect scent for a cold winter day ... sweet and comfortable and comforting and warm. Deliciousness.

With the listed notes, I fully expected to like this oil. What I didn't expect was that I was not only going to love it ... I was going to immediately turn covetous toward it. This scent takes me instantly into my happy place. It's sweet and herbal and almost intoxicating. I get a lot of honey and vanilla from this, but there's definitely a bite of fresh green herbs and a little touch of fruit to make it even sweeter. This is one of those oils that I hope is here to stay, especially as long as I keep teaching 9th graders. I really need my happy place.

I'm not sure how much this will help you, but what I remember of the scent is that it was an incense-musk ... you might want to look in that direction for things similar to Grass. It's been a long time since I've smelled Grass, so I can't really think of any specifics that would be close enough to help you out.

I love amber and I love aged amber. Let's see ... Some of my favorite sources of BPAL amber happiness ... Mouse's Long and Sad Tale. Oh, yes. Happiness in a bottle and when mine ages, I'll be even happier. Hollywood Babylon. Once this gets a little old, it's even better. Amber and fruits and musk. *swoons* The Haunted Palace. It's hard not to love amber, rose, vanilla and musk. Hunger Moon. This is one of the top for me and one of my top 'why didn't I get more bottles of this?!?' Lotus Moon. Amber and lotus, yes, please. BrisingAmen. I love the name, but I also love the amber and carnation that really comes out in this when it's on my skin. Coyote. This smells JUST like an incense that I fell in love with ages ago and then could never again find. Jacob's Ladder, both versions, though I like the one that's aged better than the newer bottle. I'm hoping that it returns this year so I can add to the growing stash of it. O, after it's aged. Aged amber, honey and vanilla, deliciousness incarnate.

Bliss vial: "Hello, I am chocolate and you will hear my call." Gwyn: Whoa. You are chocolate. You are sweet chocolate. Bliss: "Yes, yes! You must love me. You will ... hey! What are you doing? Come back ... why is it dark? Eeek, help!" Gwyn: *munches on a dark chocolate bar* Yep, this is chocolate. To my nose, it's a sweet chocolate and far too sweet for my tastes, being the dark chocolate girl that I am. This blend makes me want to add things to it ... like cayenne pepper or something else interesting. Or else go eat a nice bar of good high cocoa content chocolate. I definitely prefer my chocolate scents with other things rather than on their own. Or else coming from the bar in my hand that I'm in the process of putting out of its misery!