aidenraine

I dropped a little oil into the palm of my hand, and briskly rubbed my hands together. I pressed my tired head into my hands and inhaled deeply.

 

My first impression was... lemongrass. It actually smelled to me like Tom Yum soup, like Thai food. It still is wafting up from my hands kind of deliciously.

 

I am exhausted on every level described by this oil today, but need to function. So I may also put a little in an oil burner. All the help I can get...

 

It did seem to wake me up and motivate me a little, but only a little. Maybe I need more.

I used this for the first time today. I annointed a maneki neko statue on the top of its head. Maneki neko is said to bring good luck and prosperity. I tried to give this statue away many times. It's cheap and ceramic and I never really liked it, but somehow it just never wound up finding a new home. Today I looked at it and thought... hmmmm I wonder if I can turn this thing into a lucky todem for myself. So I annointed it.. hmmm the oil smells good. Herby and golden.

It also made me feel optimistic and comforted.

I hope this statue is well-charged now. I'd love to hear how other people have used this oil. Usually, I go more for complicated rituals, but this was just me, an oil, and a statue.

I am intending to bring it into work with me, actually. I could use some luck there



ETA- I am also going to annoint a pen that I am using to work on PhD apps with this. It's already my "lucky pen", so might as well give it a little extra oomph.

I am working with this oil right now, to help me get into a good PhD program and to prepare me for the changes ahead- transitioning from teaching as a professor full-time, to going back to school. I seriously need the blocks in the application process busted though. (The folks in the General TAL Chatter thread recommended this one, actually. I had been using Road Opener before this.)

 

I did a ritual on a Wednesday night, 10pm (precision is so important to me, it focuses my intentions and helps me to believe in what I'm doing.) I dressed a yellow candle with this oil, faced east, and meditated on my desires. I also burned peppermint and lavender essential oils, which are reportedly useful for my purposes.

 

(I actually had a couple of good chants I made up for the occasion. Again, chanting helps me focus. It becomes like a little song in my head.)

 

I have done this ritual twice now. The first time I felt such a surge of energy rip through me that I actually shook. It was intense. The second time I was exhausted and lacked focus. I still felt good about the process, but didn't have the same energy.

 

I am academic in my approach to everything I do research so my rituals can be "just right", but it really seems to help.

 

I won't know until March whether my rituals helped at all!

I am really impressed with how BIG this scent manages to be- by which I mean, it captures the sense of a really lonely wide open empty space brilliantly.

 

It's cold, but incense tinged, piney, resinous and odd.

 

I don't enjoy it as a body scent, but I enjoy it as an experience.

I definitely have PMS today... moodines, verging on depression (without cause), anger at random things that don't deserve it.

 

I need me some Bitch.

 

Fresh out of the imp, my Bitch (ha) is really sweet on me. Joy Mojo sweet. *double checks the label* Yep, it's almost like the aroma of pear tea. It's wafting around telling me to mellow out and buck up.

As it fades, it's almost a bit like coconut. I've smelled this before- in a candle or toiletry shop in the mall.

 

Pressing my nose to my wrist makes me want to sneeze.

There's definitely something in here under the sweetness that smells like body odor on me. I keep thinking my wrists stink (of b.o.) and are ruining the sweet smell, but no, it's Bitch.

 

 

 

Body chemistry is weird around this time of month.

Can't believe I am smelling someting so different from everyone else! Odd.

Oh man, I wish I didn't love this. I'd wear it a lot if it were more readily available. It's got that scent that good "pumpkin spice" candles have, and I always love to smell those in the stores. One of my favorite seasonal smells.

 

In this is a certain amount of nutmeg and cinnamon mixed with the pumpkin. Mmmm it's almost like baking, and the oil color ( a rich orange) is perfect.

I like this better than the pumpkin patch blends even. It's more what I think of when I hear "pumpkin". I really am getting lovely layers of spice.

 

It stays consistent as it sits.

I want to roll in it.

 

Ah well.

My first sniff of this was an "Oh yes!" kind of moment. Delicious, bright berries with an undercurrent of musk. I could almost taste the red and purple.

 

As I lean forward to sniff, however, there's something under there that's strangely.. chemical. It's slightly sour, almost body odorish, and also somewhat like hair-dye. Y'know how many hair dyes try to cover up their smell with floral/fruity perfumes? Yeah, like that.

 

 

I keep giving it another hopeful sniff, wishing that the top notes were the only ones, but that backdrop just doesn't agree with me!

I am really surprised to see that this hasn't been reviewed yet, as I have read some folks' incredibly positive experiences with this oil in other areas of the forum.

I am using this to aid in my recovery from "injury", I guess I could say. Despite applying and reapplying sunblock this past weekend I got a horrid sunburn on my shoulders and back (I don't think it was as waterproof as it claimed.) I am the queen of aloe right now.

So it's a little thing in the grand scheme of things, but I haven't slept decently since getting the sunburn, and I'd love to speed its healing along. I'd also like to minimize lasting damage. Generally, I am obsessive about skincare, and the awful red blotchy texture that much of my body is right now worries me.

So, I annointed (gently) the part of my sunburn I could reach, and immediately smelled something like citronella, followed by cinnamon.

I am meditating on healing my body (which is rough because I can hardly sit still for the unholy itch right now), and banishing my fatigue from lack of sleep. I am annointing a white candle just a bit, as I think this helps on my body more.

I am visualizing the redness lifting off my body and floating away like red smoke. My skin is left pale and strong, as it was before. There is no pain left. I am visualizing the aloe sinking into my skin as well and the skin rebuilding.

Send me cooling and itch-free thoughts

I don't have any particular feelings about pluto, aside from being intrigued by all of the planets in a general sense.

 

Wet on my skin I immediately smell incense. A strong incense, wooden and masculine. Behind that lurks a very herby mint that makes me nose tingle a bit to smell it. There is something slightly akin to eucalyptus/menthol/cedar in here. I feel like I am standing in a cedar closet with Vick's Vapor Rub under my nose.

 

And no, that's not entirely appealing.

It reminds me of some of the woodsy TALs. Not something that was meant to be worn as a perfume, in other words.

 

I am not sure, because of the wooden notes, that this captures Pluto for me. It just gets more straight-woody <--- as it sits.

Wet on my skin there is a strong element that reminds me of church incense. It's smokey, like the end of an incense burn.. or the way incense mingles with charcoal.

 

That edge is layered with a sweet vanilla that makes this delicious. It's also almost a touch salty on my skin, but, er.. not in a weird way, if that's possible.

 

Wet, there's also a slightly soapy note on my skin.

 

After about thirty minutes this has settled into that very smokey vanilla-on-fire. The smell of ashes remains a part of this and it seems to have decent throw.

Rosewood and black cherry with white musk, red rose, red musk and a spark of lavender.

 

 

Ok, I need to begin by saying that I hate rose in perfume.

Hate.

 

But I barely smell it in here. The lavender shouldn't be listed as the last note, because it really dominates. It's right here smacking me in the face (softly). When wet, I initially smelled the cherry as well, and a bit of the red musk. It was delicious.

 

It gets light and airy really quickly though, and starts to disappear on my skin. The lavender swallows up all of the other notes and sits lightly. I can barely smell it after about ten minutes.

 

I wonder if this would be a good blend for sleeping, but the vanishing act it pulls makes me hesitent to invest in more.

Two words:

 

 

FROOT LOOPS

 

 

 

 

(shortest review ever)

Well, I _am_ a prostitute, so this is perfect for me.

 

 

(Ok, I'm kidding.)

 

Actually, I am happily married, but we've been together for eight years, and in such time, we have gotten a bit familar with each other. I thought the energy of a one-night stand would be a wonderful addition to the repetoire.

 

Upon applying this I immediately get a rush of honey, somewhat sickeningly sweet, with florals underneath it. Gah, I don't like honey. This reminds me of Kama Sutra's edible honey dusting powder, scent-wise.

 

I asked my husband what he thought Cleo smelled like, and he said "cucumbers". Well, so much for his sniffer.

And then he jumped me.

 

Ah, my first client.

 

There are so many other blends for attraction/seduction in the TAL/BPAL catalogue that I think I'll try them before I subject myself to this aroma again. I really don't like it much. Personal preference.

Hehheh "ho wood".

 

 

Anyway, this smells deliciously citrusy in the bottle. You know Lush's Happy Hippy? Well, maybe not, but anyway, it smells just like that in it's bottle.

 

Nice label, btw.

 

On my skin... woah, it's sort of rolling waves of different aromas. Citrusy, green, musky, tart. The musk makes it smell familar, as does the sandalwood. I think I faintly smell the vanilla. Mmmm vanilla.

 

I wonder what I'd smell if I weren't reading the scent listings though. Mostly grapefruit and musk.

It's nice for this unbearably humid day, and for summer in general.

 

As it sits, it is definitely softening, and the grapefruit is getting masked a little. It smells a bit, now, like greenhouse.

Oh no!

I didn't mean to love this. I didn't!

 

But it's so delicious on me. And now I want more.

 

It's a bit of cherry cola mixed with musk on first application. I can't stop huffing my wrist.

It definitely has some dry notes in it, of the sort that I usually fall for. Nothing like patchouli, but hmmmm....

 

The throw is medium. It doesn't get sucked immediately into my skin, but I can't smell it when my wrist is against my laptop, typing.

 

As it sits, it becomes decidely more dry, more resinous. I love this sweetness that reminds me of cherry cola though!

I have read of Eleggua as one who shakes of stagnency, and I need that right now.

Good colors to use with this oil are red and black, if you are like me and enjoy announting candles, or intend to perform a ritual with this.

 

I am burning this in an oil burner within my office, to cleanse the space and bring in a feeling of change and refreshment.

 

It smells to me first of coconut, but then secondarily of mint. The two together. I don't really get any other notes from it, but would love if it had rum in it, because of Eleggua's connection to it.

 

This is a great one for energy, and therfore, I'd imagine, for the will to make changes.

I really am not a dirt scent fan... generally. However, there is something about Death Cap that I am enjoying. It's got an overtone of dirt, but is much more interesting than that. It's also sweet and musky. Indeed a great summertime scent.

 

It also has a really decent throw. I am sitting here smelling dirty and spice with my arms a fair distance from my nose. Most BPAL gets eaten by my skin immediately, so this is good It's dirt with hippie woods and incense.

 

I actually just made this into a little spray to carry around in my handbag.

My thoughts on similarities:

 

Morocco - American Cream

Ahathoor - Potion

Corazon - Skin Sin

Formula 54 - Candy Fluff (but good luck getting yourself some)

Les Infortunes De La Vertu - Olive Branch

Tarot: The Moon - Fairy Jasmine

Panacea Elixir II: Succor - Chai shower gel

Zorya - like some of the more floral Lush products

Wolf's Heart - Chai

 

Twilight Alchemy Lab (so these are sort of beside the point but...)

Gainful Employment - Wiccy Magic Muscles

Mantle of Venus - Skinny Dip

 

and furthermore:

Blood Pearl - an almost generically Lush store smell

Black Phoenix- smells like the Lush Cacas

Euterpe - generic Lush store smell

 

Marquise de Merteuil - another generic Lush smell

Silentium Amoris - again, like the Cacas

AHHHHHHHH *falls off chair*

Oh man, I am in the leather shops of the town I grew up in- New Hope. I was just there last week and had to wait for a fairly long time while my husband tried on hats. As I paced around, this is exactly what I smelled. It's completely accurate. I feel as though I am off to play poker in a saloon.

 

Now I admit it, I cheated. I hadn't played cards in so long (used to host a poker game), and was just dying to try this imp. I cannot speak to its luck-producing qualities.

 

Wow, the throw on this is really mighty. Am I suddenly wearing leather chaps?

 

It is the new moon, and I need this badly. I collect and wear negativity from others like a horribly heavy cloak. I am, to put it simply, way too sensitive. Recently I heard that I was the subject of conversation by people I haven't spoken to in years, and the fact that they still bear me such anamosity really hurt. Other painful remarks, sometimes unintentionally so, have built up over the month.

This is one oil with a blueprint for use, and I am looking forward to a bath with white candles, myself and the bathwater annointed.
As I annoint candles with it, I am nearly knocked over by the fresh peppermint smell. I think my sinuses, as well as my aura, are likely to be cleared out.

**
So, to update... I lit a white candle annointed with this oil. The smell of peppermint patty (or "pattie", if it's a York) quickly filled my bathroom. I put a couple of drops into my bathwater, and then annointed my pulse points. I was surprised that with such a small amount in my bathwater I was actually getting somewhat of an icy sensation.
I tried to focus on relieving myself of the negative buildup from the past month.

The energy coming out of that oil is very... white. I do feel lighter. I wasn't able to focus on the intent of the oil as much as I wanted to in the tub though. (My husband came home, came in the bathroom, and we started chatting.)


ETA- A couple of weeks after using this I do feel like it gave me a fresh start and I have turned a corner in my moods. I do feel like the negativity was banished on that day.

Today is one of those days where I woke up feeling like someone had hit me with a big bat all night.

I am exhausted, achy, and I want my mommy.

 

However, I don't have time for a nap. I need to get some work done. I'd never tried Energy, so what better time for it. Now I fear I'll need more soon.

 

I put this in my oil burner and also annointed my pulse points and the soles of my feet with it.

It's as citrusy as everyone says- lemon, orange, and a touch of lime, with a wee bit of mint in it.

It does smell like liquid energy. Or tangerine juice.

 

Unfortunately, my exhaustion was no match for it, and I had to lie down anyway.

Maybe I need to be taking this as a shot

I decided to try this oil in a house blessing, as it represents exactly what I'd like in my home environment- trust, calm, harmony, compassion. I have only lived here for a few weeks, and did a cleansing ritual when I moved in. Maybe that's why it's been such a joy to be in here, even though it may not be as new or fancy as our last place.

 

I annointed a light blue candle (for peace) and walked to every corner of my apartment (feeling glad it isn't bigger, for once!) while reciting an incantation for blessing.

 

I can't say I like the smell, per se. It's a bit medicinal smelling for my liking.

This is definitely an oil that I will want to bring to my newly remodeled office this fall.

 

I can't say, in the case if this type of ritual, whether this "worked", at any point, but I feel better and safer in my space already, and that's something!

 

I am letting the candle burn in the center of our living room, where we spend most of our time together.

I really need this. I can't seem to get any work done right now. I am a professor with summers off, and I need to do research, but have only myself to put pressure on me right now.

So I am applying this to my wrists, third eye, and neck.

 

Initially, it smells like a chewable vitamin. It's got that lemony-fruit smell with something that smells like iron does in vitamins. It does smell a little clove-like too.

 

Ok, down to work.

 

(Later)

My experience with this oil was that about five minutes after applying it I was extremely focused. I've never had results like that beyond taking ADD medicaton. For about 30 minutes I was riveted to my work, and then suddenly I lost it. I reapplied, but it seemed to have left me. I am dying to get it back.

 

I am going to try again tomorrow and see if I can recapture that focus. Catalyst does have real promise!

I am trying this one with intent to actually buckle down and work, when my output has been kinda low lately. I also intend to use this for communication purposes, perhaps even when teaching.

 

It doesn't matter to me what it smells like, so long as it helps, but I am immediately taken aback by the combination of strong cinnamon on my skin, and lavender in the bottle. On my skin it does not linger particularly much, which inclines me towards using an oil burner with it instead. That generally seems to be a good solution with the creative blends, which seem to need to assert themselves consistently in order to be effective.

 

It seems as well, that my skin doesn't like this. It has become really itchy where I applied it. My whole neck feels irritated. Yikes!

Oil burner, it is.

 

I feel like I am smelling a combination of crafts store and ribbon candy.

Alright, off to fetch the burner and see how this does there.

I annointed an orange candle with this oil, and was really careful to perform my candle ritual during the waxing moon. I am looking for a manuscript of mine to be accepted at the publisher I just sent it to (academic work). I was working with both the Fire and Air Elementals, so in addition to my candle, I put on some instrumental music and sang a couple of chants I had made up about my intentions. (Both help me to focus. I am very distractable.) I alternated facing the east and the south.

 

I am currently letting the candle burn down. It is right by the drafty window in my study, because that's a good eastern-most location in my home. Oddly, considering the breeze, it isn't even flickering.

 

As I used it, I felt strangely charged and filled with light, like I was hovering.

 

The room is filling with a smell that is both herby and minty.

 

(Wow, big gust of wind there and the candle didn't even move.)

 

 

I base my rituals on ideas from The Candle Magick Workbook, and always love to hear ideas from others :>