indicolite

This is very strangely simple - and reminds me of something else. It is not unpleasant in the locket, except during certain stages, but I am not head over heels in love with it, and I have decided to not let stuff I am not head over heels in love with hang around in bottle form.

Rachel, this thread has over four pages of recommendations for you. And I am going to ask that your topic probably be merged to it. Meanwhile, I would say TAL Concentration or Clarity as my top "get up" blends, but for general BPAL, probably Ra.

I can smell mint, lemongrass and citrus - probably lemon. Added: this also has the note that was present in great quantities in Tarot: the Star, and ruined that blend for me. In smaller quantities, though, I think I can stand it, and since The Star was voted by the forum to be the most popular Tarot oil, the fact that I do not like it should not dissuade anyone from purchasing Clarity for fear of the scent.

I rubbed it on my palms, put it in my scent locket, and went to read up on the Curry-Howard Isomorphism - you don't have to worry what it is, but trust me, understanding it is a test of Clarity if anything is!

And I think I am cool with the Curry-Howard Isomorphism. I think I understand it now (the skeptic in me notes that I had been rereading it in various forms for the past two weeks, so Clarity may not be completely responsible, but just be the final nudge towards understanding the thing; I cannot say yet whether it is magic or a weak placebo). I will take Clarity and/or Concentration to class tomorrow, to see how they help me with the zoned-out person I usually am in a senior honours math class at 6 in the evening.

Some notes:

1) I haven't tried Concentration yet, but given the reviews, what I expected of both these oils was undistracted focus and a fascination with the subject as new ways of understanding it opened up to me.

That was not what I noted. When I was sniffing Clarity, my mind was still restless, a part of it wheedling, "Stop reading this thing, let's go read the forums or check your email, at least for a little while - please? Pretty please? A small break?" I generally do have a very restless mind, not wanting to stick with any activity except a story for long. I had high hopes that the oils would quiet its wheedling down (I already know how to resist its siren song) but that has not happened with Clarity. My observations of Concentration I will put into that review.

2) Opening the jar did give me a motivation to turn off the music I had been listening to. (They say that you should not listen to music with lyrics you can understand in it while studying, since your mind gets distracted analysing the lyrics, while people with musical training, like me, should not listen to music PERIOD, because they get distracted analysing the music!) I sensed something akin to Clarity complaining, "Well, if you got me to do some work, shut up and let me do it!" So I turned the music off.

I like the scent of Clarity, and I hope to use my bottle avidly in the future, since more evil is yet to come where the Isomorphism came from.

The Great Red Dragon nearly broke my heart. For a while it was dark and smoky, like vetiver but not vetiver, and now the woods are coming out. But there is something about it that I dislike; I am not sure whether it is hyssop that ruins blends for me, or something else.

It may be that aging will improve this imp, but alas, the Great Red Dragon is a disappointment.

I am getting the coconut meat and something else. Little of my beloved orris, but something dark and heavy.

I appreciate the artistry of this blend (as well as the artistry of the painting) but I do not think I will wear it much.

I agree with the reviewer who said this was like roasting chestnuts. I am, surprisingly enough, not getting even a hint of mandarin. Judith seems very foody (how can you have a woman cutting off the head of her - was it rapist? - be a FOODY blend?) I will wait around for her and if she morphs any more I will edit to report.

In a locket, this is an exquisitely lovely blend (having learned that vetiver does not always behave itself on my skin, I reserve Three Gorgons for the locket). Over the course of nearly 20 hours, it was at first sweet orange (don't ask me to tell apart mandarin and tangerine) which I considered lovely - but then the sandalwood began to peek through the orange, in woody brown notes, the next day. Now I am getting hints of what i think is black pepper, and also maybe tobacco - I was reluctant to try blends with tobacco, because I thought it would lead me to smell like a smoke-clouded bar (back before my province banned smoking in bars). But in Three Gorgons, I think the tobacco and vetiver just add an elegant grounding to the rest of the notes, and are not prominent in themselves. There, vetiver, you are doing your job, the way you are supposed to - now why didn't you shut up and do it in some other blends?

I think this may be a lovely replacement for Sol Invictus once my bottle runs low - it is pricier, but available year-round rather than having to hunt for it. Especially if layered with Ra, this may be a beautiful Sol-imitation.

Like Bood onmy Hands above, I felt turned off by the incest factor. However, I have to admit this: Lot and His Daughters are a beautiful blend. I am getting the patchouli, lemon peel and tangerine, with the rest of the notes melding into harmony. This is a very lovely scent that I am reaching for again!

The next day, in the locket, this is almost completely tangerine and possibly geranium - that neroli-like note that I found too overwhelming in The Star. It is still a lovely fragrance; I am holding on to the imp.

Second Emzebel's review above. This is vetiver vetiver vetiver vetiver. None of the other notes even give a hint of appearing. I am going to wash you off, He-Goat, I am sorry.

Evil gingerbread is right! Huzzah!

However, Shub dries clear, with a clear note playing through the ginger.

I can see what all the fuss was about!

I am forced to make a very repugnant conclusion: vetiver does not play nice on my skin. Even worse, my skin wants to declare any presence of vetiver immediately. I have deduced what that smell was that made a lot of perfumes ruined for me, and it is the vetiver. I am in good company on this forum. But alas, Black Ice, it is not to be between the two of us: you are lovely in all the other notes I can smell, but the vetiver, ah the vetiver!

I was wary of the honey, but then sniffed it on my skin, and said, "This is pretty!"

And then my skin ate it. Unnoticeably. Didn't even go smack-smack-yum - just ate it all. Not a trace I could smell.

Maybe that's for the best.

This reminds me a great deal of Envy, but even more of a lawn or garden rich with the morning dew in June. This is a lovely scent, but not one I am likely to reach for again and again.

Caramel. More caramel. Still more caramel. There may be some vanilla in there too, but it is generally a candy scent.

I am not a foody person, so I will send it off to swaps.

Now that we'll have the bottles in our grubby little hands soon, does anyone want to take a crack at pronouncing some of the more strenuous Ashtanyika and Luperci names?

 

I'd like to know that too, particularly the Ashtanyika scents.

 

I recently discovered that I LOVE Vasakasajja, and I would like to be able to pronounce it correctly. I've been saying "vah-SAHK-ah-sah-JHAH" but I have no idea whether that's even close. Can someone help me?

 

As an aside: I tried Googling it, and the first page of search results was mostly BPAL decant circles.

Abejita explains how in the Hunger Moon Update thread

Any recommendations for scents similar to 1) Sol Invictus and 2) All Saint's?

 

Liber Resh Vel Helios: Ra reacts almost exactly the same way Sol Invictus does on me. Right to the horrible scent they have on me wet that turns slightly incensey and then finally turns into this incredibly long-lasting calm citrus-y scent. Ra takes longer to get past the incensey stage on me than SI and the citrus isn't quite as heavenly as SI, but on me at least they're versions of each other, heh. (I'm very, very glad about this as I absolutely love Sol Invictus. )

After rekindling my relationship with Ra, I agree with the statement - I usually wear Sol Invictus in the locket, and Ra is very close after several hours, although I would agree that SI is richer (I do not get much incense out of SI, though, and thank goodness for that.)

Thankyou! Alas, no luck so far. Theres no picture of Harvest Moon 04.

If you have access to a digital camera, make one!

This thread gives guidelines to the size of the pics possible; if yours go smaller than that, you can put them directly into the post, using the little tree picture icon above the post editor; otherwise (or if the tree-picture icon confuses you too much ), put a link here to their location in a website or image-hosting site such as the Community Gallery here, Flickr, Photobucket, or LJ post; and the wise will look and tell you whether it is the true Harvest Moon or a cunning forgery.

ETA: I didn't see Andra's post, silly me, but my advice would work, I hope, for other future perplexed.

You will find this post (and the entire thread) in the BPAL FAQ section helpful. The thread has links to the gallery of photos, where you may find what the bottles you have are "supposed" to look like.

Pine and winter air. I cannot get other notes, but they are there, mellowing the pine. I like this scent very much, rejoice in my bottle, and am already thinking about hoarding it.

Oh Jolasveinar, I had such hopes for you after Noumenon's fairly, um, dramatic endorsement.

But whatever marsh felwort is, or the other components of this, they are not working on me - not even in the locket, so I cannot blame my skin. I am getting whiffs of the pastries (and I HATE smelling foody), the pine - but also something medicinal and something incensey that is giving me a headache. After the stunning success of Winter of Our Discontent and Sol Invictus, I was thinking I need to get all the Yule scents - but this one is definitely not working for me. There are at least three notes here that I dislike, so aging does not show promise.

I will go and weep, and put this up for swap, asking to trade it for more Winter of Our Discontent.

I am of divided mind about this scent. It was on my wishlist and I was very happy when I got it as a frimp in my latest order. And dragon's blood and aquatics both work on me.

However - it is neither the best dragon's blood on me (that's still, after all these months, Dragon's Heart, with Dragon's Bone as honourary mention), nor is it the best aquatic on me (still, after all these months, Lightning.)

I am not sure I will want to wear it again, although it is indeed a pretty scent.

Green herbs slithering through mint, lime and lavender.

I could not describe it better myself. Particularly one herb I know the scent of very well; the name or appearance of the herb does not come to mind, though.

However, Envy does not last long on me. An hour, and it is gone.

Well, a lot of people love her, so I will give her a try. Slightly bitter, a little foody...

And she does not blow my mind. It's ok. She is a bitter, woodsy with a hint of vanilla.

Wet: it doesn't smell like incense. It's been a long time since I've given incense a chance...maybe I'll like incense...

Dry: Nope, still hate incense.

The Salon category is not searchable using the BPAL site search engine.

I was trying to find oils other than Judith Victorious that have chestnut blossom and neither current scents search nor advanced search returned any scents for "chestnut" - they did not return Judith Victorious, either. I checked the possible categories I could search, using the advanced search, and saw that neither "Salon" nor "The Salon" was an included category.

That adventure DOES answer my question - if any other oils include chestnut blossom, they are probably also in the Salon, or in A Picnic in Arkham, which is not a searchable category either. However, could this woeful (to Indi the self-confessed Salon whore) omission be rectified when you get a chance?

ETA: Noticed that the issue did come up back in August; I hope I do not appear to be a nag, as that was not my intention.