rosetta

Thanks for explanation, Eyeska To be honest I had never seen those before... Maybe I need to get one (funds permitting)

Nice to know I'm not the only one who has been wearing perfume oils while pregnant, Abejita Although, as I said on previous page, I didn't even know that would pose any risk. Now I don't know what to do with my newly purchase imps when they arrive...

I'm currently almost 18 weeks pregnant (my 2nd pregnancy), and I must admit I really didn't know even perfume could be dangerous... (As I'm sure the majority of women don't...)

Of course I know about EO's, but even regarding them, the info is so conflicting!! Just as an example:

I'm going to be trying to get pregnant again soon, and I found this on aromaweb....apparently theses oils have a 'reputation' of being 'generally' safe during pregnancy.....

 

Benzoin

Bergamot

Grapefruit

Lavender

Lemon

Neroli

Orange

Patchouli

Sandalwood

Spearmint

Tea Tree

Vetiver

Here is listed e.g. Lavender (which I've also heard elsewhere to be safe), which Talula_fairie below (and some other in this thread) mentions as "do not use in pregnancy" oil... It's nothing short of a minefield!!!

Mind you, I didn't use almost any perfume in the 1st trimester, as most smells made me nauseous, but now that problem is over, I've happily started using perfume normally again, including BPAL... (Well, not so much BPAL yet actually, as I currently the only actual BPAL I have is the remains of 5 ml bottle of my very favourite BPAL oil that I'm saving for very special occasions, but during the last week or so I have bought several imps on the swap forum here etc., so I was going to use it normally... Oh, and today I'm wearing the remains of an old Aunt Caroline's Joy Mojo imp - hopefully that doesn't contain any "stay away from" ingredients... )

Actually, I'd have thought BPAL perfumes would in fact be safer than ordinary, commercial ones, as BPAL oils don't have any alcohol, AFAIK? Which the commercial perfumes mostly consist of.

Personally, I really don't think there is enough evidence through scientific studies that certain essential oils will cause serious harm in pregnancy BUT there also hasn't been a lot of study in this area. Really it's one of those things no one *knows* about but that we kind of assume is safe -like dying your hair while pregnant. I know the lab tells people no bpal at all during pregnancy because they don't want to be sued, and yes, it is better to err on the side of caution. It just bums me out when people make pregnancy (and sometimes nursing too) out to be this time where you can't do freakin' anything. There are a lot of things that are relativly low risk that we, as Americans, have blown way out of proportion...all the while minimizing the risks of medicalized birth (and this is coming from someone who had two epidurals). It yanks my chain!

 

Anyway. My point (and I do have one) is that yes you should avoid putting the "do not use while pregnant" oils on your skin (sage, lavender, eucalyptus, pennyroyal, ect), but really, I think using some bpal in pregnancy is fine. Get a scent locket or an oil burner. I really, really, really don't think that you could abort your baby just by smelling some bpal perfume that had some lavender in it. Even people who are purposely trying to abort their child using herbs have to take massive doses at exactly the right time in pregnancy. Short of drinking your bpal, I really don't think that would happen to you. Just my $.02

Wise words indeed!

Oh, and would someone please tell me what is a scent locket..?

Well, the title kind of says it all... I have recently fallen in love with the smell of monoi oil (even the manufactured one), and was wondering if there's a BPAL scent resembling that, as I wouldn't mind smelling like that all the time . I know some oils that contain gardenia, but they don't really smell like monoi oil does to me... Any ideas at all..? (Hope there's someone else who loves monoi here! )

(I wasn't able to find any similar topic here, but in case there was one, I apologize, and please feel free to point me to that!)

Seconding lovely *Hetairae*, one of my favourite BPAL scents...

This kind of grew on me; at first I didn't like it that much, it seemed a bit too spicy for my liking, even in the vial, but on me, after a while, it just develops into a warm, nice scent, spicy but not too much. I didn't really get much violet in it, like many others, for me this is mainly spice... But I must say this is one of the first spicy bpal scents I've tried, so maybe that's why it seemed a bit overpowering to me at first.

Based on the description, I was sure I'd like this, but no...

In the vial, pleasant scent but nothing extraordinary;

however, on me, it soon turned soapy (!) and a bit incensy. Drydown: even more soapy.

Nope, not for me, unfortunately.

Alas, this is one of my least favourites... I wouldn't have thought I could dislike anything with 'rose' in its name, but so it was. (Won't try anything with 'blood' in its name after this...)

In the vial, it was very strong & crisp, and somehow almost nauseating, I felt I could almost smell blood... Yuck. (No roses whatsoever, unfortunately.)

On me, after a while, it got just a little bit better, but not enough for me to like it.

This is simply the best rose scent I've ever known (and I love roses, as may be inferred from my username , although some others have said this to be a rose scent for non-rose lovers...) It's just insanely beautiful, pure rose, I don't get much other notes to speak of besides rose. In the vial, it may be pale & crisp rose as in the description, but on me, it develops into a pure rose in full bloom! Lovely.

in the vial: old eau de cologne (I'm serious!)

on me: spicy, slightly sweet; luckily the eau de cologne -smell disappears when on... I had expected to like this, as honey is one of my favourite notes, but didn't get much of it here, and this scent didn't do much for me in any way, unfortunately. It seems sandalwood & incensy scents are just not for me...

In the vial: light, a little bit of musk? promising, as I usually like musk...

...but on me, the scent somehow reminded me of Dabur hair oil, which I must say it's not a very attractive scent... So, off to someone else it goes.

~ This currently shares my "nr 1 favourite scent" spot with Black Opal. What can I say? I just love it. Warm, sweet honey & a bit of spice. Very beautiful, feminine & seductive. ~

This was really not my scent... I generally like florals, but this was somehow too 'fresh' & aquatic for me! And I'm definitely not into aquatic scents. I didn't detect much of ylang-ylang (which I like) in it, or neroli, alas.

Fruity, mainly strawberry, very sweet, comforting... For me, this stays much the same on me as in the vial, so didn't do separate categories for them. I don't know, but for me, this is somehow a happy, giddy scent, although it's supposed to be "dark, orgiastic mayhem" and is in the 'Diabolus' category!! It just makes me feel bubbly & happy, I don't detect any dark elements in it (and I'm glad I don't)... It's like a basket full of fruits in the summer.

(Crazy how these BPAL scents are so individual to each of us! )

I'm happy I got hold of an imp of this - on the basis of reviews & description, I was sure I'd love it, and I did, but for slightly different reasons...

In the vial: beautiful, faint vanilla-coconut-floral

On me: still faint, but so lovely; after a while, a hint of pineapple! And coconut + pineapple = pina colada... Yes, for me, this is a summery, tropical scent, I can detect nothing snowy or wintery here (and I'm originally from Scandinavia so I should know snow & winter if anything! )!

In any case, this is in my current top 3.

In the vial & wet: almond extract, in-your-face! Not unpleasant, but the strength of it takes you by surprise. I can detect nothing else but almond (extract) at this stage, although others have.

On me: almond fades and spices & rose take center stage; beautiful, but the only problem is that it fades so soon, within an hour! I would really love this to last... Well, it's lovely the short time it does!

This was actually the first BPAL scent to really take me by a storm - in a *thud - I'm in love* -way! (And this is my first review here, ever... so don't be too harsh on me! )

I'ts beautiful, lovely, exquisite, just simply one of the best scents I've ever smelled. Somehow it reminds me of one my old non-BPAL favourites, Ysatis by Givenchy. It's very intense & strong, to me at least. No hint of minerals or anything geologic though... Just seducing, intense beauty. Addictive!

Btw, I saw somewhere that this was classified as a "gender neutral" scent. What the..? This is one of the most feminine scents I can imagine (on me at least)!!

Hmm, so far I've just simply kept notes in a Notepad file of the scents I've tried, and was planning to transfer them to a Word file... But an excel file might be an even better idea, obviously, due to all the different columns one can add, etc. I just prefer working with Word files rather than excel (find them somehow cumbersome, and always manage to lose some text in columns, etc., as the editing isn't as easy as in Word)... But it looks so handy in this case I might just have to try & make an exception.