Xanon

Oh wow - this one threw me for a loop! When I opened this fresh from the mailbox, it was almost repulsive. For those of you who think jasmine notes are stank/death notes, this was the first time I would agree with you. However, this is a bottle that can def. benefit from a few days of resting before passing judgements. 

Now, a week after getting my hands on this, when I open the bottle I smell red musk, jasmine, and spices - but it is no longer off-putting. 

In the first few hours on my skin, I get the jasmine note, but it is balanced now with spicy red musk. Kind of like Smut, but a southern belle smut. A southern belle smut at a classy Halloween party. 

Later this dries down, and the jasmine disappears, leaving me with exactly what I had hoped this scent would be - spicy red musk that gently hugs you and hangs around to keep you comfortable. 

I love this - hangs fairly close to the skin, but lasts for a good 5 hours. I smell like the most perfect flan.

I absolutely love this! Medium throw, decent wear time (maybe 4ish hours before I have to really huff and look for the scent)... It smells like a maple candy plus a high end "autumn" candle, but not in a bad way. 

Second thoughts: Did you ever get "Knock-a-dolly" atmo spray from BPTP? This is like the companion perfume to that. And I am a huge Knock-a-dolly fan.

I don't know that this will be a multiple bottle purchase, but I for sure will be getting one!

If you don't mind foodie scents, I suggest:

Shub-Niggurath - The lust incense of a corrupted Astarte. A blend of ritual herbs and dark resins, shot through with three gingers and aphrodisiacal spices.

To me, this smells like incense and ginger cookies.

Halfling - Porridge, kukui nuts, and pastry crumbs.

It smells nutty and sweet - and on my skin it is a little spicy.

Nathaniel, your photos are beautiful!

I absolutely love this blend. The coco stays soft, and blends with the lavander and currant beautifully - but it is the resins that bring this all together on my skin. I must just amp resins, but it really is beautiful. Luckily my skin doesn't eat this up, either. I put this on 3 hours ago and it is still there. My friend said I smell like chocolat-fruity incense. Love!!

How is this not getting more love?

On the initial spray, the cedar is much stronger than in my perfume, but it only lasts a few minutes.

After that I get the sexiest vanilla woods and spicy sassafras. I put this in my hair right out of the shower, and I huff my hair all day. Did I mention the staying power of the scent? 8am two spritz into wet hair, and at 9pm I can still smell teh sexeh-ness. My only regret is buying one bottle while it was live. I am going to be hoarding and swapping for this until the end of my days. Or until something new trupms it as my favorite HG.

The summer of the Killer Swarm was amazing! There were several infused honey blends (Jerusalem Cherry Infused honey being a particular favorite of mine, as well as the oddity Durian Fruit Infused honey). Padwan Killer Swarm is one of my all time favorites. There are some general catalog honey blends in Rappaccini's Garden. - 7 of them all grouped at the bottom of the page. I'd look at the reviews for them and see if anything catches your fancy.

Reading Ralenth's review was the only reason I tried this on my skin. I was hessitant because, while I could smell the lipstick and gunpowder, it was a screaming public bathroom soap to me. There was a brief moment in the dry-down that smelled lucious and gave me hope! And then 10 minutes later I was back to the soap. Such a disappointment.

This is not sweet, nor is it too incense-y (read: not like a head shop) - this is perfectly balanced! Nekogrrl has it right when she said that it is peaches and spice. Like someone sitting close bit into a fresh white peach, and they have an aura of incense hanging around them. I really like the scent, and find that it goes well with other, non-peach centered, oils as well. Not at all overpowering. Also, I really like the formula. I am sure that there are other reviews that you can find that talk explicitly about why the BPAL/BPTP hair glosses are so amazing, and this one does not fail in that department either.

Tons of my friends go, although I have never been. I would also suggest Tombstone for the future, since it is not something that you have. I would really think about Luna Negra. There is something about that (being on the darker end - at least for me) scent that speaks to my inner tribal collective. Hmm, I am not sure that my statement makes sense. But open the bottle, huff it a little, and try to see what imagery comes to mind. For my understanding of Burning Man, it is about the experience, the community, the music, and more of an existential/transcendental consciousness.

Have fun!

This should be an absolutely perfect scent for me. I love leather, and anise, and oils, while metallic scents are also typically winners for me. Unfortunately there is something off about this.

*Imp straight from the lab*

The good: there is a nice metallic coolness to this blend. The anise is beautiful.

The bad: I get no leather. None at all. Then something goes terribly wrong, and I get a weird medicinal scent that reminds me of my grandmother's bathroom. An odd mix of perfume, minty toothpaste, and spices. Not great.

The Verdict: Nope, this is not for me. Which makes me really sad.

I will be honest - my heart SANK when I sniffed this in the bottle. Something (elemi, maybe?) was astringent and very off putting. It was with the sheer knowledge that skin chemistry can really change a blend that I attempted a skin test.

At first, well make that about 15-20 minutes, I felt the beginnings of a headache when I shoved my nose against my skin. I kept hoping that the leather, sandalwood, or "luminous Asian blossoms" would do something, ANYTHING! That astringent note just kept intruding on anything that COULD be lovely about this blend.

Then my lovely husband started complaining about there being no food in the house - so off to the shop we went. I forgot to wash off the oil.

And then something magical happened. The funk burned off and I was left with an absolutely STUNNING result. Sophisticated, swanky, sexy... YUMM. If I can get through the horrible beginnings, this will be a keeper. I can't wait to see how this ages.

Last time I was vacationing in Las Vegas I wore a lot of Black Lace (which an idiot friend of mine ended up spilling half the bottle of.. but I digress). I felt sexy, but it also worked well in the heat for me.

Hope you have a great time!

It seems there is a stark polarity in reception with many oils. Some people report their favorite oils being even more than perfume, their experiences are so evocative... while others can say about the same thing that it is vile to them. I'm just wondering what to do, because at this point I feel like I just flushed almost 70 bucks down the toilet!!

Addressing the cost: As many people have suggested, the sales subforum is a great place to try lots of different oils. I know that you can find deals ($1 general catalogue imps, $3-5 limited edition decants) from forum sellers.

Addressing the stark polarity of people's impressions: when I started reading reviews, I looked for people who had similar opinions (good or bad) to my own and then followed the things that they reviewed. It was really helpful in getting me to try some oils that were out of my comfort zone. Keep an open mind about the oils too, there has been more than a few times where I tried something that I was sure would smell awful and it ended up being a top favourite for me. Also, are you social and a bit adventurous? See if there is a Meet and Sniff in your area. It is a fun way to meet people and try/sniff a variety of oils.

Good luck!

In the vial and wet on my skin, this is a stripped down, simple effervescent apple that I get in Glittering Apples of the Stars. I really like it. Unfortunately, the bubbly quality fades quickly, and the whole scent is gone from my skin in about an hour. Really pretty, but I'll stick to my glittering apples.

I wanted this to work on my skin! It smells so pretty in the vial. I pick up on the honey and rice milk - the gardenia comes out to play while this is wet on my skin. And then ... ORRIS RUINS EVERYTHING!! Funky powder, just like every other blend with orris. I guess this will just have to be a scent locket only perfume. Sad.

If you can get your hands on some, I suggest Blockhead from Carnival Diabolique. Smelled like Bazooka Joe to me.

My personal favorites in the "candy" end of the BPAL spectrum are Lawn Gnome and Lemon Scented Sticky Bats. Great for the warmer weather we are getting.

I love this stuff! Initially I thought this was going to be a bit off for me - based on how it smelled in the decant spray bottle. I was so wrong! I am not a fan of O and some of the honey blends that people seem to go crazy for, but I love the honey blends from the summer series (the infused honeys). As others have mentioned, I think this is more similar to a wild flower honey - which I love!

As for how this works as a hair gloss, I really like it as well. I have finer hair, but a whole mass of it! It is curly. I recently moved to Florida from the west coast and have a problem with curls being unruly as the day progresses. I find that 2 squirts into my hands and then a hair rub down (dry hair) really helps. But that only works if I have clean dry hair. If it is a day or so between washings, I have to us less. I generally have taken to using 4-5 squirts in place of a heavy conditioner into my wet hair. I can't spray this directly on my hair, so it always goes hands and then into my hair. My curls are defined without weighing them down, or making my hair so greasy that I need to wash more frequently. Great product!

I don't wear floral blends enough to pick out specifics here, but I really love this! Perhaps it is the sandalwood that holds this all together on my skin. At any rate, this does not turn to powder on my skin. Nor does it give me a headache. I feel like I am wearing a sophisticated woman's perfume that passes for traditional, but has Beth's presence. I feel Spring-time sexy while wearing this, without feeling too old or, or too young. I really am happy I took a chance with this one.

I am just going to leave some initial impressions, and then come back for a full review when my bottle gets here.

There is something reminiscent of Tombstone (as DarkSinestra mentioned above), but there is also something in here that reminds me of Lawn Gnome. I am not saying that is smells like currants and grass... but maybe it is the mood that it is evoking in me that is causing the connection. I only get hints of coco and cinnamon, but there is something that is a little like cutting into a Serrano pepper - but not as sharp. Overall it is a really interesting scent that I am going to be huffing while it is still spring time.

If you liked Tombstone and/or Lawn Gnome - this is like their quirky cousin. A bottle purchase for sure.

When I first got a bottle of this, I was so very sad - the almond did that thing where it went TOO bitter on my skin, almost ashy. However this morning, as I was searching my cabinet for something different to wear I grabbed and slathered this. THANK GODS for aging! This is magic on my skin!

In the bottle - I would have sworn that there was some sort of tonka. But it was also buttery and comforting.

Wet - I think it is the ginkgo nut that is giving off this buttery quality. The musk is on the golden lighter side, and the almond it just beginning to make an appearance.

Dry - oh wow! This is a soft fuzzy warm scent... I think that perhaps the persimmon rind is working in tandem with ginkgo nut to keep the almond note in check. There is a very faint smoky quality, but all I can think of are fuzzy nuts. [YES, I am aware of how that reads... not what I meant. No innuendos here.]

Overall, this is lovely. I am so glad that I kept my bottle!

I thought that this was going to be too much when I sniffed the bottle. However, as SSD said - it is so rich and sumptuous! I love this SN so very much!! It has great staying power: I put it on around 7:30am when I leave the house, and I can still smell it on my skin around 4pm. It has a boozey quality to it - the way that Vanilla extract smells - but no rum. As others have mentioned, there is a spice quality to this.

Whatever it is, I freaking love it!

My rose loves are few and far between. Whip was my one and only rose for a long time, but recently I fell in love with Chuparosa. Actually it started with Lush's Rose Jam bubble bar, I was looking for something with that type of rose... one day I opened up Chuparosa and tested it - on my skin it is a very similar rose. Chuparosa has shot up to the top of my GC list (ESPECIALLY for this hot summer!!).

Entangled from this years Lupers smelled like pencil shavings to me. For me it stayed like that on my skin as well, though some people get more gigner once it is on.

ETA: Maybe Manus Dei (Weeds, dirt, red clay, scattered groceries, inked fabric ribbon, machine oil, and cast steel.) from the Who Killed Amanda Palmer exclusives? I have not personally tried it, but if you can find an imp you might like it.