fiddledragon

At first, this one is a blast of wintergreen, but as it dries, the leaves and bark and very faint florals come out. It's a wonderful foresty smell without being evergreenish. Once it fades, the wintergreen succeeds in just making it smell "cold" without being overly minty. It's a great scent for studying; it really keeps me awake.

Thanks for merging these -- I swear I searched for this, as I couldn't believe it didn't exist, but the search engine betrayed me.

Anyway, I have discovered today that ironically enough, Sloth makes an amazing study scent for me. Don't take that as a recommendation, though, because going from the other reviews, I have either weird skin chemistry or weird scent associations. On me, it's this wonderfully deep, grounding, ritual sort of incence-and-vegetation smell.

Wow, my skin chemistry is weird! On me this is not evocative of sloth at all. This was a bit of an impulse swap, as normally strong vetiver turns to Giant Bog Monster on me, but maybe it was fate. On me, it's a deep, calming, focusing sort of vegetation and incense smell. The vetiver has a sharp, almost unpleasant note to it that keeps me alert, while the myrrh is wonderfully grounding. This is an absolutely perfect study/work scent for when I'm jittery, and it arrived the first day of finals :-)

That said, I still can't decide whether I actually like the way it smells. Vetiver is still a sort of iffy note on me when it's dominant (in the background, I'm extremely fond of it), and I like myrrh to have a little something to sweeten it. This is definitely a utility/ritual oil for me rather than a perfume.

My other study notes are Vinland and Jabberwocky, for alertness...I wonder what would happen if I mixed them? This is probably a a bad idea......

Mmmmmmm.......

This is one of my favorites to wear when I need something strengthening. On my skin, the myrrh at first is slightly unpleasantly harsh, but after about 10 minutes it softens to a wondefully enveloping incense. The other notes are all in there somewhere, but nothing jumps out strongly enough to tell what it is unless I really concentrate.

This is the first college finals week I've had since I got hooked on BPAL (and ironically my last finals week, since I graduate next Sunday), and I'm finding Vinland, Jabberwock, and Rose Cross to be quite the lifesavers. Glasgow is also quite wonderful as a room scent, as the heather calms me while the berries are sharp and awake.

What do other people find works well for alertness and concentration?

Although it isn't listed as one of the notes, I think there's civet in Forbidden Fruit. Civet has a certain, unmistakable and unique smell on my skin that shouldn't be present based on the notes that Beth does list in the description. And a little animalistic muskiness would definitely have a place in a scent that idealizes your first time, right?

Interesting...I liked the dab of that that I tried -- I should give it a better test and see if I can pick out the civet.

Civet seems to have this rather infamous reputation, but the one scent I've tried that I know has civet in it, Black Annis, I've greatly enjoyed. What I'm assuming is the civet adds a lovely warm furry musk tone to it. The lichen and anise and such combine to make it smell delightfully creepy on me, but most of the time I don't actually want to smell creepy.

The one other scent that has been reviewed as having civet in it that I've tried is Satyr, in which the red musk did horrible, horrible things on me (I think it's red musk. It's one of the musks that goes weird on me anyway.). So I'd like advice on:

1. How much civet is there in Black Annis?

2. What other things could I try that have civet but NOT red/skin musk? (black, white, and golden musks are delightful).

In the bottle, this is a bright herb/lavender scent. On me, it turns to lovely warm spicy basil and clove, with the lavender and what might be a creamy lemon in the background giving it depth. This does nothing for my sleep or dreams, unlike some of the other Somniums, but it's a beautiful scent, so it's going in my normal perfume box.

Eos was on me remarkably accurate spring flowers -- not perfumy floral, but like I'd just been dumped in a garden :-)

Burial is earth and forest.

Nocnitsa is deep evergreen forest.

Kali on me smells of wonderfully sexy chocolate and wine and slight florals.

Tezcatlipoca is a very powdery chocolate, and on me did this weird green-banana thing.

Santa Muerte smells like cocoa in the bottle, despite not having cocoa in it.

Kali on me smells of wonderfully sexy chocolate and wine and slight florals.

Tezcatlipoca is a very powdery chocolate, and on me did this weird green-banana thing.

Santa Muerte smells like cocoa in the bottle, despite not having cocoa in it.

I've found Sudha Segara to be a very close cousin to Honey Moon.

Is Clio at all similar to Miskatonic U. in the paper/parchment note? M.U. on me was sickeningly sweet coffee, but I'd been hoping for library-smell.

Just in time for Spring :-)

Scent in bottle: sort of generic yellow-white floral and a very light musk

Scent on me:

Wet -- Oooo! No more generic florals! Now it's sweet, sweet daffodil and honeysuckle.

Dry -- Daffodil and honeysuckle and jasmine and yum!

Conclusion: Very evocative of Eos, and smells glorious on me. I'll save this one for winter, when I need to remember that flowers exist.

Scent in bottle: A marvelous deep mossy herby floral. I can't pick out any distinct notes yet.

Scent on me:

Wet -- I think that's jasmine, and what's maybe frankincense? It's still very earthy and mossy.

Dry -- Mossy and earthy and floral and resins.

Conclusion: Yum! It's incredibly well-blended, well-named, and very me. A bit too floral for everyday wear, though.

This is the first blend I've seen where the oil is green.

Scent in bottle: Herbs! Many many herbs! I know there's rosemary here, and thyme? And other things. It smells like an herb garden.

Scent on me:

Wet -- Fresh growing herbs...the thyme is really strong on my skin. There's also basil in here, I think.

Dry --Juniper comes out, ties the herbs up, and throws them off a cliff. All except for thyme, who's still hanging on valiently off to the side.

Conclusion: Poor herbs. Juniper does tend to take over my skin that way. It might make a good room scent, but I have other juniper blends that work better on me.

Scent in bottle: Flowers. Nice deep rose and jasmine, and what I assume is plumeria.

Scent on me:

Wet -- Same as in the bottle...it's a remarkably spicy floral.

Dry -- The florals get a bit dustier dry...I have no clue what plumeria smells like, so I can't distinguish it from the rose and jasmine very well.

Conclusion: Not really my thing, but I'll keep it around for a bit and see if it grows on me.

Scent in bottle: Resins and some sort of wonderful herb/incense note.

Scent on me:

Wet -- It's some sort of herb, but I'm not pinpointing what it is. This is a very strange smell.

Dry --Frankincense and herbs.

Conclusion: This one's peculiar. It reminds me very strongly of something that I can't remember. I think I like it. I'll certainly give it another try.

Scent in bottle: Saffron, sandalwood, ceder, and spices. Mmmmm....please don't turn to pencils on me, little imp!

Scent on me:

Wet -- Anise? Why does it suddenly smell like anise and cedar? Not that I'm opposed to smelling like anise, but that wasn't exactly the plan. I now smell like licorice Altoids kept in a cedar box.

Dry -- I have no clue what this smells like. Some sort of marvelous incense, but it still intermittently smells like licorice.

Conclusion: This scent confuses me. It fluctuates between that wonderful Buddhist-temple incense smell, and licorice Altoids, without any sort of apparant rhyme or reason. I'll give it another try when I haven't been trying zillions of other things.

Scent in bottle: Pomegranate! But it's a very crisp, alcoholic sort of pomegranate. Not a heavy wine or rum kind of alcohol, but more a vodka kind of smell. It's sort of generic-perfumy, but not in a bad way.

Scent on me:

Wet -- Sharp, effervescent pomegranate. How on earth did they manage to make something smell carbonated?

Dry -- Still lovely cool fizzy pomegranate. But the smell is giving me a headache when I sniff it close up.

Conclusion: It's lovely, but I need to try it again to see if it still gives me a headache. If not, it'll make a nice scent for when it's hot out, but otherwise is a bit too "crisp" for me to wear very often.

Scent in bottle: I'm getting vanilla and what smells like red musk out of this. I don't want red musk! It does not like me!

Scent on me:

Wet -- No clue what is in this. It's weird and musk-like.

Dry -- Vanilla and...other things. Other things that do not agree with me. Still no idea what they are, though. It's almost alcoholic-smelling, and musky.

Conclusion: It may be their most popular oil, but it doesn't like me. Oh well. Someone else will want it, I'm sure.

Scent in bottle: Sickeningly sweet caramel-coffee. Oh dear.

Scent on me:

Wet -- Much less sweet coffee. It's a nice coffee scent. I can't stand the taste of coffee, but I quite like the smell. I'm not entirely sure I want to smell like coffee, though.

Dry -- Sort of a coffee-candy smell, with a little bit of wood notes finally peeking out. Miskatonic University apparantly suffered some sort of space-time warp and was melded with Willy Wonka's factory.

Conclusion: Too sweet. Not me. Up for swaps! I need to try Clio, and see if that has the book/parchment note I'm looking for.

On me, this goes through stages of gingersnap, dominating clove, and then highly sexual spiced musk. It's beautiful, but it's a little too well-named. It scares me. "Evil gingersnaps of fertility", it has been named by my boyfriend.

Scent in bottle: Wow, that's honey all right. It's unsurprisingly very similar to Sudha Segara in the bottle.

Scent on me:

Wet -- Soft honeys, a touch of ginger, and more honey. Maybe the thyme and jasmine lurking in there somewhere?

Dry -- Lots of honey, and a sort of ginger-herbal note to it as well.

Conclusion: Sudha Segara's slightly more charismatic twin brother. I'm extremely fond of it, but I have a giant bottle of Sudha Segara, so no worries that Honey Moon is a limited edition. It's much stronger than Sudha Segara, though. I smell like I've been lightly dipped in some sort of honey dust, despite only dabbing a bit on my wrist.

Oh dear...the berries and herbs and musk will work well, but I didn't notice the tea. Maybe the green tea will play more nicely than the black tea in White Rabbit.

Scent in bottle: Weird, rotten-berry smell. Smelling this appears to give me a blinding but very short lived headache. I am highly dubious.

Scent on me:

Wet -- Huh. Now it's pure sage and green tea. The green tea is not evil, though while I adore green tea, I don't particularly want to smell like it.

Dry -- And now I smell like fresh-mown grass and a nice warm musk.

Conclusion: I kind of like the drydown, but I don't know that I like it enough to keep. This stuff is weird on my skin chemistry.

Scent in bottle: Yeah, that's definitely dragon's blood.

Scent on me:

Wet -- Mmmm...dragon's blood.

Dry -- And still lovely, lovely dragon's blood.

Conclusion: I was a bit uncertain how dragon's blood would work on its own, as it's quite sweet, but this is beautiful! A sweet, sensual resin scent. *purrrrrrr*

Scent in bottle: Vetiver, cedar, and some herbal notes. Let's see if I smell like a bog or pencils!

Scent on me:

Wet -- Mmm...a lovely ceder scent that has not turned to pencils!

Dry -- A very dark, woody, forest-floor kind of smell.

Drier -- And now I smell like pencils. Meh.