gwynhwyfar

In the bottle, this smells almost overwhelmingly sweet. Candy sweet. I like sweet, though, so ... I put it on.

For the first 10 minutes or so that this is on my skin, this smells like bazooka bubble-gum.

Thankfully, that overwhelming 'gum' scent fades and it turns into something amazing.

To me, this smells like a combination of Angel and Hypnotic Poison. I get the sweet candy/vanilla/sugar scent that is one of the primary aspects of Angel for me, and along with that, I get something that smells like the bitter almond/fruit from Hypnotic Poison.

Since those are two of my favorite commerical perfumes, I love this. I never would have thought of combining those, but now I'm going to, just to see what happens.

This, however ... this I'm going to pick up another bottle of, if funds and my lust for other things permits. Because this is absolutely delicious and something that I can easily see wanting more of after this bottle is used. I'd also like to see how this will age, because I can see this getting even better with age.

Yum!!

I had so much luck with last year's Yule scents ... clearly, I'm cursed this year. Or else my oils that I love are just jealous and want to keep the competition away.

In the bottle, this is beautiful. Rich and a little sweet, in a kind of dark way. Very lovely and differently. Florals with a candy-cake-sweetness, and a fairly heavy and dark greenery -- not like herbs, and not like pine, but more like some interesting combination of the two. Almost musty, but in a way that works well with the other notes.

On my skin ... it disappears. Completely. Within an hour, I can't smell it even if I press my nose into my wrist. I can smell my skin (which is admittedly a nice scent and all that) but no more pretty perfume. It's the strangest thing, ever. This vanishes so completey that ... well, I don't have the right comparison. It just disappears.

*reads the notes again*

*smells her wrist, sneezes, coughs up a lung and dies ... again*

Right. Every single listed note in this thing makes me bounce happily. I even like the smell of citron. However ... the combination wants to kill me. No. Really. It reaches out of the bottle and tempts me in and then I put it on my skin and those so-alluring fingers wrap around my throat, and it's just all over.

It hates me. It smells beautiful in the bottle, but I can't even begin to say what it smells like because as soon as it hits my skin, I can't breathe. I tested it twice because, well, I'm clearly a masochist.

In the bottle, however, it -is- gorgeous. Sadly ... it's destined to move in with someone else because I can't keep oils around that have secret desires to kill me.

I tend to have problems with commercial perfumes, and hardly any with Bpal. Some of the jasmines do give me headaches, so I avoid those.

I have that with commercial perfumes, as well. I worked out that I'm allergic to the perfumer's alcohol (mostly by virtue of trying to use it with oils about 8 years ago). So now ... I just avoid the commercial perfumes, except when something tempts me enough that I'm willing to cope with consequences. (Hypnotic Poison being the only commercial perfume to tempt me that much in ages and I found an oil dupe of it so ... happiness!)

Sometimes I have it with oils, because there are some notes that I'm allergic to but I just avoid them. Or try to! I have had a few unhappy surprises in blended oils, which is why I don't do the Chaos Theory things with BPAL. I fear the potential of a surprise that leads to not being able to breathe. *grins*

Lucy's Kiss (I get a rose-herbal-spice from this)

Morgause (fruity-incensey and rather ... dignified?)

Antique Lace (this was the first thing I thought of when I saw this thread -- this is a very light and delicate, feminine scent)

I'd also add a third (or fourth or whatever it is now) to the Black Dahlia suggestion. Very classic and classy, though I find it a little heavy for day-time wear. But that could just be me.

My three favorite BPAL rose blends are 2-5-7, Zombi, and Lucy's Kiss. I see a couple people have already suggested the first, so ...

Zombi for me is this lovely 'someone took handfuls and handfuls of freshly blooming rose petals and crushed them lovingly into the warm spring earth'. It's one of the more unique scents that I've smelled and one of my favorites, especially toward the end of winter when I'm yearning for spring to arrive. (And one that I probably wouldn't have sniffed if it hadn't come to me as a frimp!)

Lucy's Kiss for me is an amazing spiced-incensely-herbally rose. It makes me think of roses sitting in an old abandoned stone castle somewhere just after a group of witches were hanging out and burning exotic incenses there.

Good luck!

Patchouli and I tend not to be the best of friends. Most perfumes with it in, whether oil or spray, don't generally work on my skin. With that said, there are exceptions.

In the BPAL world ...

Tezcatlipoca is the first exception. Although I can tell the patchouli is there, it's nicely balanced with the cocoa, incense, and flowers that I get. (What leather? *grins*)

Sed Non Satiata is second. This is a very sensual perfume for me with the patchouli there, under the others. But, then, my skin amps up the sweetness of any of BPAL's oils that contain honey, so it's not a surprise that this is a largely sweet blend on me.

Snake Oil is third. I tested this once, aged, and instantly and totally fell head over heels in love with it. It's spicy and rich and beautiful. Although you mentioned Snake Oil, I don't know if you tested it new or aged -- you might want to try the other, if you only tested one. There's a major difference between this aged and this new, I've found.

Vechernyaya is fourth (and the last, for now). This is a musky, perfumey oil on me and quite lovely.

I'm entertaining hopes about Mme. Moriarty, though I haven't picked up a bottle of it yet. I have a suspicion that might do what Snake Oil does on me, though, and work aged but not new.

Hope that this helps! I know how it feels to long for an oil or a note to work on your skin and to be disappointed every time.

If I'm reading this right, you like the minty part of the oil with the other hints? I'm not sure of anything like that exactly, which could be because Gennivre is still on my 'want to sniff' list and hasn't yet made it to my home. But with that said ... minty scents that come to mind ...

Ultraviolet is a bright mint, with a hint of florals.

Tarot: The Star is something that I get a clean mint with citrus and coconut creaminess in.

Undertow is a minty-aquatic, a bit darker than the others. (Juniper.)

Envy is a herbal-citrus-mint for me.

Juke Joint is a mint julep on me -- sugar and mint and a hint of alcohol.

My guess is that the closest to something that would be mint and tea and honey would be The Star, because of the sweetness of the coconut and citrus. Good luck and I hope that these help you.

I love the smell of apples!

The Hesperides is the only general catalog that I get a lot of 'fresh picked apple' from. I get some from Desire, though on me, that tends to turn into citrus-citrus-citrus-citrus after a few minutes.

Since it's relatively recent, I'll also mention Punkie Night. That is a beautiful spiced apple with a hint of autumn leaves for me.

In the bottle, this is a gorgeous fruity almond with a hint of pure pine (Douglas Fir ... I have one sitting in the living room right now and my bedroom is far enough away that I know I wasn't smelling the tree).

On my skin ... it's that same beautiful scent. For about four hours. Then it goes away and leaves me to weep in abandoned heartbreak. I'm entertaining a vague hope that it might be the time in my cycle and that maybe for the other 3.5 weeks of the month it wouldn't leave so quickly but I'm going to wait a couple days to test it again. (And in the meantime, try to trade imps out of the bottle for the Yule scents that I'm intrigued by but fear might not love me.)

If I discover that this is just a time of the month thing, this oil is definitely a keeper for me. If not, I'll probably keep it just for a room scent (and maybe pick up a second bottle if I do manage to trade out all of this bottle for imps of other Yule oils).

Overall, though, it's absolutely beautiful and one of my favorite Yule scents that does put me in specific mind of the holiday.

Like Rose Red, I needed to get my hands on a bottle of Snow White because I love the fairy tale.

What I wasn't expecting was to fall in love with it as soon as I tested it on my skin. It's beautiful. Vanilla-cream with a touch of fruitiness to it. Very soft and warm and soothing, all at the same time.

As a bonus, it smells delightful when it's layered with Rose Red.

And the bottle is beautiful, as well.

I'm very glad that I got a bottle of this. Now I need to find a catalog that's enough like this one to satisfy my desires for this when I run out. And, of course, cross my fingers for next year. *giggles*

Since this comes from one of my favorite fairy tales, I had to get my hands on it. I'm glad that I did. While there are rose blends that I like for various reasons, this is a beautiful pure rose on me. All I get out of this is rose, rose, rose and more rose. It's like a rose-party happening on my skin, and everyone is invited.

I do like other rose blends more than I do this, but this is such a beautiful pure rose that I'll definitely keep it. And the bottle label is breathtaking -- a work of art in its own right.

Mmmm. This is another absolutely beautiful lunar oil on me.

There's a strong sweet honey, so much so that I keep expecting my skin to be sticky, like it would be if I'd put real honey there. Almost completely overwhelmed by the honey is the jasmine -- surprisingly, I like the effect. The jasmine is there and I can pick it out, and it has a little bit of spiciness from ginger, but it's subtle enough that mostly what I get is sweet honey. I keep resisting the temptation to chew my own wrist off because it smells delicious.

Of course, if this were on someone else, I might not be able to resist the desire to chew on them. And probably wouldn't want to. *grins evilly*

I want to layer this with Strawberry Moon now and see what happens. Though it might possibly lead to me exploding with delight. *giggles*

*swoons*

This may have just managed to turn into my favorite BPAL Strawberry fragrance ever.

It's a light and creamy strawberry with a cool touch from the lunar oils and something beautifully herbal under the fruit. Nice and sweet and refreshing. It's perfectly lovely and I rather regret that I only have one bottle of it right now. Clearly, I'll need to do something to remedy this fact. Or else hoard the bottle like crazy. Or both. This is a strawberry lover's dream.

*purrrrs*

An imp of this came my way via a friend.

Immediately after putting this on, I wanted to start chewing on my wrist. Not to chew it off, but because it smelled rather edible. I reminded myself sternly that eating your own flesh is bad and settled down to suffering from wrist-to-nose disease instead.

This is lemon and lime, along with coconut and mint. There's just a hint of vanilla, but that doesn't show itself until the oil has been on for a few hours. I'd describe it as soothing and comforting/comfortable, as well as an interesting combination of relaxing and refreshing.

I love this scent. I loved it right after I put it on, when the lemon and lime were all in my face. And I loved it after it dried down. And I loved it when the vanilla came out to play. And I loved it the next morning, when I woke up and could still smell the hint of perfume on my skin before I shower. This oil bumped its way to the top of my want list and sneaked into my Valentine's Day order because I just don't know that I'd be happy only having an imp of it. (Mostly because I don't think that I'd have an imp of it for very long!)

For me, this would be Ultraviolet. That is a weird combination of calming and focusing for me and I've fallen in love with it for times when I have to be awake and focused but might be inclined to freak. (Like major exams or writing papers ...)

Undertow and Lightning, for me.

I was really looking forward to this one and hoping for a nice crisp and cool scent, especially as it would arrive at my door just in time for cool weather and I like wearing cool scents when it's cool out.

Sadly, I was heartbroken with this. Out of the bottle was interesting, but it didn't just draw me in the way some blends do. Despite that, I was still looking forward to testing it and hoping for some of the things that other reviewers were talking about on my skin.

This did not happen. Instead, I got pure soap. It's very strong and very astringent on me -- and determined. It took me scrubbing my wrist four times, plus washing the dishes, plus showering and washing my hair until this scent finally let go of my skin. Which just makes my reaction to it more tragic, since that kind of determination and staying power would be amazing for something that I love.

So, this bottle is off to the swapping pile, where it will hopefully find a new and loving home.

I'm madly in lust with this scent. And lust is the right word.

Out of the vial, this is straight chocolate and rum for me. A deep, rich, dark chocolate and the kind of rum that just a shiff can make you tipsy.

Then, it dries down. And I go from 'well, this is nice' to 'oh gods.' With the drydown, I get a strong note that is the smell of warm blood. I can pick out wormwood from that particular note, and it's a very interesting thing to smell in my perfume, especially as clearly as it comes through here, though it isn't something that surprised me to find here, after I stopped to think about.

For a good eight hours of wear, I get chocolate-and-rum-and-blood out of this perfume. This isn't something that I'd wear for any mood and every day, but it's definitely something that I plan to pick up one (or two ...) big bottles of and hoard for those special moods that just demand chocolate-and-rum-and-blood.

As I mentioned lust ... this scent has one of the strongest effects on my sex drive that I've ever encountered before. It's a very distinct part of my sex drive, that I'm not going into details about here, but the blood fits that mood nicely.

Luckily, it has the same effect on both of the people that I'm lovers with right now.

*swoons*

This isn't the first unreleased to fall into my hands, but it is the first one that I tested rather than just sniffing from the imp.

I'm a bit sorry that I did.

In the vial, all I get is this amazing pure cherry, from the almond bouquet.

Wet, there's a second of pure cherry and then on the next breath, there's spice. Allspice and cinnamon and ginger and ... yum.

It stays yum for a good long time. The cherry does eventually calm down and mellow into the almond scent more and that just makes it more yum.

So thus ... I'm a bit sorry that I did test this one because I'm totally in love and if I could do it, I would be adding this one to the list of things that I'm going to get a big bottle of when I have money.

As it is, I'll be hoarding my imp, crossing my fingers and hoping that it makes it to the general catalog because this is, without a doubt, my favorite blend that includes almond.

Mmmmm.

Out of the bottle: The milk scent on this was a little stronger than I expected but I tested it anyway.

This was not the best idea as my skin took that rather light warm milk and turned it to yogurt that was sitting out in the sun and curdling. I had to wash it off almost immediately because my skin also did what it always does with the lunar oils and upped the scent of it to overpowering.

This is going to a new home. Where it will hopefully be loved.

Oh, Alice ...

*weeps*

I love the notes. The imp was loaned to me by a lover who is madly in love with the oil so I was looking forward to testing it.

In the bottle, it's lovely. Milk and honey and florals and a hint of citrus from the bergamot.

Wet, there is a brief moment of citrus and honey and then ...

It dries down.

And when it dries down, it turned to complete baby powder.

Sadly, I fear that I shall have to enjoy this scent on someone else's skin as she clearly is not going to work for me. If I want to smell like baby powder, that's what I have baby powder for.

*sighs dramatically*

I had high hopes for this. I'm leaving my beloved university before too long -- and the even more beloved library. I was so hoping that this would remind me of the smell of late-nighters with coffee and musty and dusty old books so I could keep it and cherish it when I'm living in a town where the library was, until recently, barely five rooms big.

Sadly, I have been disappointed and left heartbroken.

The coffee smell is definitely there. And alone there. Not even just any coffee ... this is Irish coffee, very very strong. So strong that just a whiff made me start to sneeze. I couldn't bring myself to test it on my skin when I couldn't stop sneezing.

So, with my spirit low and my heart broken, Misk U shall wander off to the swaps. Or the coal-mines, to atone for leaving me to tragically disappointed.

This wasn't something that I would have picked up on my own and was a freebie from the lab (yay for the lab!).

I don't know how much help this review will really be, since I didn't get past smelling it out of the vial, but on the theory that every little bit of info helps, here it is ....

Out of the bottle, all I get from this is the tobacco. Strong to the point of overpowering and strong enough that just one sniff led to wheezing. So I sealed it up, remembered how to breathe and passed it on to a new and loving home. It does sound interesting, in combination, but with only tobacco in the vial and with that being one of my strongest allergens, I couldn't get there. And I just couldn't bring myself to testing this on the skin.

In the bottle and wet: Oh, look. Dragon's blood standing on my head and jumping on me, just to make sure that I know that it's there.

With drydown, the dragon's blood started to behave as the other notes began to make themselves known. As those notes came out, I got a rather aquatic and green floral along with something almost salty.

That floral resolved into a very distinct lily on me with an odd but not at all unpleasant hint of mint. All of that sat and reclined on the squished into submission dragon's blood, which behaved and just acted as supporting cast to give the florals and greens a nice resiny spiciness.

This, along with the other two that I've tried, may have changed my mind about dragon's blood in blends, even if the dragon's blood itself is just far too pushy when left alone on my skin. I think it's fairly likely that this will eventually become a big bottle and I have some desires to play with layering this with more mints to see if I can intensify that mint without ruining the floral-dragonblood balance.