sunshinedaisybliss

Unfortunately.. no banana bread for me. When this hits my skin, it's a blast of butterscotch-caramel. Then I notice the strong pastry/cake behind that, and there it is - sticky toffee pudding. You know those little muffin-shaped pudding cakes, the ones you turn upside down and all the hot caramel sauce oozes all over it? One of those. This is very strong - I only put a teensy drop on, but it has massive throw. And it stayed on my skin For Ever, I actually had to wipe it down a bit because I kinda don't like it... brown sugar smells are not my friend. But if this ever gets released, everyone who enjoys caramel/cake combo type blends is going to love it!!

This really is a very snuggly scent, definitely representative of its name! On my skin, it's all about the honey. It's a dusky, powdery honey - sweet but not overly so, and the musk aspect is quite sultry. The rose never really made an appearance - which is unusual since anything involving rose usually turns out to be all ROSE for me - but I can smell the plum.. very faint, but it's there, although it really only came out after about 30 minutes once the honey had softened up a bit. After 1 hour, I can hardly find where it is on my arm.. it's faded away to almost nothing. This one reminds me a little of Mead Moon, but it's not as strong or sweet as that was - Plush Companion has a more 'cakey' feel. If your skin handles honey well, then I'd say go for it - this is one of the nicest BPAL honey blends that I've tried.

I'm beginning to think that Little Bird and I have the exact same skin chemistry.. When I first put this on my skin and leaned in for a sniff, I actually pulled back in horror.. it smelt nasty. Very, very nasty. Rotten strawberries with a touch of ammonia. I almost went and washed it off, but I decided to let it dry and see how it would go.. so now, 45 minutes later, it's dried down to a very sweet and artificial strawberry but still very sour. I too have trouble with strawberry.. neither variations of Strawberry Moon really worked for me, but this is by far the worst one ever for my skin. I envy those of you who are reporting yummy strawberry candy!!

Mmm... when this first goes on, it's all lovely woody cocoa - a very earthy feel with a slight smoky edge. Where most of the other Naughty oils I've tried so far have been quite rich and strong, this is more subtle.. verging on powdery when dry.. but it still has a quiet intensity to it. After about an hour on my skin, the tobacco has come out on top with the wood and resins just behind. The cocoa, unfortunately, has pretty much disappeared although its essence still kinda lingers - when wet, it reminded me a bit of the chocolate/cocoa in Cupcake Spatter Analysis, so I guess that's the "dirt-smeared" aspect. Can't say I ever really found the coconut. I'm a bit undecided on this one.. it hasn't got quite enough oomph for me. I'm going to hang on to it for a while because the resins and wood might get more rich with age, but ultimately I'm a bit disappointed that the cocoa wasn't more prominent because I do love a good cocoa/wood/smoke/resin mix.

As Forspecial Plate said, you had me at "sooty licorice incense". As with all the Naughty oils I've tried so far, Deathly Pride is the perfect perfume for its story. Much like the snobbish and scornful Godolphin Horne, this is haughty and regal - it's very rich and strong. When it first goes on, it's all about the licorice with the rum just teasing its way through the smoky black feel of the licorice. When dry, everything balances out and the coconut is just peeking through, but only in a very subtle way - it's just playing at the edges of the licorice. My skin is very picky about licorice.. it couldn't handle the strength and sweetness/foodiness of Humbug, but it seems to love this one - probably because this isn't a sweet licorice as such, it's definitely a smoky one. I've never actually come across a licorice incense, but if I did.. I reckon it would smell like this. I'm not really getting a lot of bay rum in the dry stage, but it was there when wet. This is a definite keeper, and will probably smell even more amazing after aging a few months. A masterful blend, just fantastic!

I can't really say I got much clove from this either.. orange, definitely! On me, it's more of a wood/orange combo, I wouldn't say it's spicy. The orange is quite rich and tart, rather than sweet, but it has a creamy feel to it. This was lovely while it lasted, but faded very fast.. leaving behind a faint, orange powderiness.. it still smells lovely but I enjoyed that initial blast of orange when it was wet.

A lovely buttery, cake-y vanilla, it goes on quite strong at first but dries down to a softer and creamy vanilla. Had I not read the previous reviews, I wouldn't have picked any cocoa or chocolate in this at all, but now that it's been mentioned.. perhaps it is lurking faintly in the background but it's definitely not strong at all. I'm not getting anything like hazelnuts (or any kind of nuts) either. On my skin, BTCS reminds me a little of Cupcake Spatter Analysis and is also similar to Antique Lace, and it's also a bit like the XCDL13 prototype but the vanilla in BTCS is less rich/boozy.

The individual flavours of this one are difficult to pinpoint as it's very well blended. I agree with fairnymph on the red musk and vanilla, and probably wouldn't have picked carnation had she not said it first.. but yes, it could well be carnation here. If not.. then maybe chrysanthemum. B.B2 does have a Snake Oil vibe (vanilla, resins, musks, similar colour oil), and also it slightly reminds me of Chrysanthemum Moon. The red musk here is really quite nice - it's not too strong, nor sweet, and it hasn't gone powdery on my skin, but it's definitely the dominant note. I never got any coconut at all, nor any of the black musk or vetiver that ZZ mentioned. Overall, a nice musky blend with a tinge of resin and vanilla.

It's Friday the 13th in the Miskatonic Valley! A base of Mother Shub's dark chocolate fudge, raw vanilla, and sibilant black incense dusted by thirteen merrily malefic, ill-omened herbs, resins, and flowers: prune, musk seed, baneberry, myrrh, wild tobacco, hemp, datura, bluebell, cypress, hemlock, snakeweed, opoponax, and black hellebore. When this first went on my skin, my initial reaction was that it's like a diluted version of Gelt - the chocolate smelt very similar. But that changed within seconds when the incense and vanilla showed up. About 15 minutes in, it went very floral-y and herb-y, and the chocolate completely disappeared. Half an hour later, I can barely find where this is on my arm - there's just a very faint remnant of musky resins/incense, some prune and mixed florals. It's nice, but not enough of anything interesting really and the disappearing act is a dealbreaker.

Wow.. this is *strong* when first applied, I could swear I smelt ginger in there, like ginger cake. And a very strong musk - "alarming" from the description is bang-on.. I was kinda startled by the intensity of this when it first hit my skin. But once dry, that changed into a musky tea smell and I am definitely picking up some lemon. After about half an hour on my skin, I'm finally getting the berries, cream and chocolate but that cake-y vibe is still lingering, the musk is still quite intense and there seems to be something anise-like in there as well - a definite licorice type of smell is lurking somewhere. To me, this is quite a cacophony of smells - I can't quite work it out, which is somewhat unsettling to my nose/brain. I keep huffing it, but it keeps changing and I'm still not sure exactly what's going on. It's just intriguing, and I agree with previous reviewers that this is definitely one to keep and age a little - it's rather loud right now, so a short stay in Stashville might smooth it out a bit. I think it perfectly embodies the chaos of the "Left His Nurse.." story, which is actually one of my favourite Belloc tales - although I was always on the side of Ponto the lion rather than Jim, who clearly deserved his fate

OK.. so it's official, my skin is weeeeird On me, this is very much like Fearful Pleasure, but not quite as cidery or wood-y as FP. When it was wet on my skin, I could smell fir and pine, but that was very fleeting and it dried down to... apples. Lovely mulled apples, slightly smoky, but 99.9% apples. After about a half hour on, I think mayyyyyyybe there's a teensy bit of plum, and it's taken on a more fruity and golden tone - now it's reminding me of Hellion but with apples.

The jasmine here is very strong, but it's not the 'normal' sweet and tropical jasmine.. to me, this is more like a jasmine incense.. it has a smokey edge to it, which I'm guessing comes from the patchouli, bergamot and vetiver. Once the jasmine fades out a bit, which it does reasonably quickly for me, the lovely vanilla and cocoa start to come out, and I can also pick up a faint whiff of orange and nutmeg. The rose may be making an appearance.. it's hard to tell whether it's rose I'm smelling, it may just be that the jasmine has sweetened up a bit from the vanilla. The oil itself is light and smooth, lovely in the bath and also straight on the skin. I think the trick with this one is to use it in moderation, because it's quite a heady blend, but quite lovely. I think it's quite a unique blend of scents for a bath oil, and as a bonus.. after using it my bathroom smells absolutely divine!!

Alara - with international packages, unfortunately the tracking information doesn't update any further than that so all you will ever know is the date on which the Lab sent your package out. So that means yours was sent on or around Dec 23rd, it will most likely arrive either late this week or next week - next week may be more likely, due to the holidays around this time so we've lost a few postal service days. I'm in Australia, and it's usually around 2-3 weeks from the US to here, sometimes a little quicker though so fingers crossed yours isn't too far away!! First orders are sooooooo exciting!

The combination of amber and cognac in this is sublime - the voluptuous richness of cognac is tempered by the dusky powderiness of the amber, so that neither is dominant - they're blended beautifully. The tagette is lending just a touch of sweetness, a bit of "shine" to the overall softness, but on my skin this is all about the amber and cognac. I'd love to smell this on a man, I think it would be drop dead sexy on the right guy. The longer it stays on my skin, the lovelier it gets.. it has warmed up nicely but still has the beautiful duskiness of the amber. It's warm and comforting, like a soft cuddly blanket. Gorgeous!

Ayup.. this is champagne, definitely - fizzy, bright and boozy. The initial blast of champagne-i-ness dries down into a softer, fruitier smell, but the boozy fizziness sticks around. This would be one of those bright, shiny and glittery baubles on the tree

Quite sharp and almost metallic at first.. then it dries down into baby powder! Quite soft and pretty.

Hmm.. musky nuts, with a slight pastry-ish vibe. Something slightly fruity, like cherry, but it's faint.

This smells vaguely like that mentholated cream you rub on for muscle aches. With a touch of vanilla and something resinous/wood-y. Interesting, but not my thing.

I could have written this myself! Trinket is all soft powdery honey, sweet and musky on me too! w00t!!

This is so pretty - on me, it's mostly apple blossom sweetness with a little musk, lily and orchid, and the amber & sandalwood are adding to the overall muskiness, which I'm happy about because I think that without those, Flora would be far too sweet and floral-y. After it's been on my skin for about 20 minutes, it's turned into a very soft and wispy apple - I have to lean in before I can smell it, but that's kinda nice - sometimes I like to wear things that only I can smell, especially when they're as pretty as this one. I may have to buy a bottle of this one, I'm really enjoying it

Very lush and heady - this is a very lovely blend of the rich aroma of a magnolia flower on a hot summer's night with the sweet syrup of peaches. The honey is mixing nicely with the two, keeping the sweetness grounded but maintaining the richness. I have a magnolia tree in my front garden, so I know the smell well, and this is dead-on - it's exactly the same smell that I get when I open my front door on a breezy warm night and the smell of the magnolia flowers comes in to the house. This is actually too much for me.. for the first hour or so it was wafting sweet rich syrupy smells all around me, almost to the point where I was tempted to go and wash it off, but once that stage passed then it became a lovely sweet and powdery wispy fragrance - still with the magnolia, but far more mellow. This should be worn with a flowery dress and a big floppy straw hat whilst you sit under a shady tree at the park on a sunny day.

This one isn't really working for me.. I took a risk with it - hoping I would get the wormwood, rum, star anise, vanilla and cognac, but alas - on my skin it's all peppermint and tea with a smokey and slightly metallic undertone. The anise is *just* there, but hardly noticeable. What a bummer - vanilla and cognac would have been luscious.. BOO to my skin not letting them come out. It's not unpleasant, but it's not particularly pleasant either - it's just.. disappointing. And actually - it is "clamorous" and "noisome" - it's like this isn't sitting right on my skin, the notes are clashing and just aren't working out.

I'm very happy with this one.. and I'm in agreement with Little Bird - I like this blend more than Marshmallow Poof and Plastic Pink Flamingo - MP is very sweet on me, and PPF was very sharp and sour. But.. Chewing Little Bits of String is a lovely soft fluffy white marshmallow! The tea comes out a little after about 20 minutes, but the lemon never really makes an appearance - which is just what I was hoping, since my skin usually amps lemon badly. The honey is also very faint, it's just taking the edge off of the girly-factor with the marshmallow thing, and adding a smoothness to the sweet. I really can't detect anything lettuce-like in here, although there is a 'fresh' and 'clean' feel to it.. maybe that's the lettuce. Overall, a very pretty blend that's not too pink/sweet/sugary/foody - it's just right! Very very nice

First up, thank you to bluberyaplsaus for sending me a decant of this one! Yum.. this is a stunning vanilla - deep and rich, sweet and syrupy with a definite boozy swagger, like a shot of rum's in there somewhere, but mostly it's all about the vanilla. I agree this is very much like Antique Lace (but to me, heavier on the vanilla), and also I'm voting for this being a Boo-alike as well, but again much heavier on the vanilla. Absolutely delectable, it lasts for ages on my skin and I can smell it all through the house. What's not to love?!?

Ooooh! Thank you, bluberyapulsaus and cfrancesca - the bottles look great, I love the labels that are done in a set like this. And your goodies too.. !! I'm really excited about these Inquisition oils, can you tell?