urbanruralferal

Of those I have tried,

Love Me

and

Tezcatlipoca

are the hippiest.

Love Me smells just like the hippie herb shop in my town when was growing up in the 70's, and Tezcat is very insencey (once the chocolate burns off).

 

 

 

 

:edited for bad typing, of course

This smelled very promising on my 9 year old. I could smell the dragon's blood and it was good.

On my skin? Oh my god, it turned so. wrong. on me. This is the kind of scent that will drive my husband from the house. It has that aquatic sharp edge that reminds me of obnoxious laundry detergent, and thoroughly stirred in is a massive dose of white floral. Oh and as time goes on, it gets stronger and stronger until it is penetrating my sinuses and I can taste it in my mouth. I felt panicky...must.wash.everything that has come into contact with it.

Enough already. I will go put this on the swap list right now.

 

 

I feel so stoic, trying the aquatics even though they seem to do this to me!

This scent is to me like watching a little rosy cheeked toddler run towards you just beaming. The joy can't be contained in any vessel. It just spills out like light.

powdery, milky, honey powder. It's very nice.

I'm probably never going to wear it, but then again, it's my daughter Alice's, so it's a moot point.

 

If I had a baby, I would put this on it's clothes!

 

 

ETA: It is so funny, re-reading this review. My 13 yr old daughter loves to wear this as a soothing scent, every day these days. Trying to hang on to her fleeting childhood?

 

ETA: 11 years later, Alice still has her bottle of Alice, but doesn't wear it. She let go of childhood...

Trying this is just another bit of proof that I cannot discern a floral from a floral from a floral.

All I smell is roses? With a little bit of something wilder behind it. I am going to pretend that wilder thing is heather, but it's just pretense.

It doesn't even change all that much. It just goes on and stays on for a few hours and then it is gone. I haven't even got on the train before the journey is over.

Oh well.

I'm a-wearing this for the first time today.

It sure is complex!

I am thinking of this as Czernobog's sister, she's a Gypsy Daisy duke, bustin out all over in her little caravan on the outskirts of the Carnaval Noir...She's got a brisk little trade in herbal remedies, and if you're really in need, or whatever, she'll take you into the back corner where it's dark and dusty and take down a jar that contains camphor-clove candy. I swear I have been to her shop, maybe when I was kid in Isla Vista in the 70's. she was just passing through, but she had herbs hanging from the ceiling, and some frangipangi incense, I will never forget the smell of that place.

 

My husband says, "hmph, it smells like a head shop inthe mall."

 

I say it goes perfectly with almonds and raisins.

 

Get a bottle, Shan. And some way to make room scents... And keep on wearing it. It is good.

I agree that this is like the description.

Actually I smelled more of a leaf mold smell than turned earth, but leaf mold is simply on it's way to being earth, so...

also, it did smell a little soapy on me. But that is just me, I bet.

I liked this in principal, but I really don't wear rose, which was the predominant note after it was all dry, so I don't need to keep it.

off to swap.

I look forward to learning how to use spreadsheets so that I can make some changes. Until then, I am using Nattie's and just adding to the extra columns. I can't really use the help section because I don't understand the spreadsheet vocabulary...

Oh my. 12 pages of reviews! Don't know how much new I can add to this, but here's my two cents.

Can I tell you how much I love this?

I must admit, it is the first BPAL of the vanilla.tea.lemon ilk I have smelled, and perhaps I will love them all! but this has brought out the slatherer in me. I want to experience this with more than my nose. I want to travel to this place. I want immersion.

Okay, the gentleman in question is (don't laugh) Donovan on the back of the Mellow Yellow album. In his white linen suit, and such a lover.

The color is a yellowed white. Not like old lady hair, though. maybe like the sun shining on vintage cotton bedsheets.

The food is those vanilla lemon wafer cookies, with a cup of tea that is laced with something a little bit sharp.

It promises to feel really good in a drawn out way that has you gritting your teeth just a little.

The first thing I thought when I put this on was "Green". it started out very herbal and almost menthol or eucalyptus. There was a dark streamside mossy feel to it.

And then it moved on to something sweeter, but the sweetness didn't sit well. It's a boggy almost putrid sweetness, a bit like the mullein in Czernobog. I think it is the carnation. It has that spicy quality. I like it but it is weird.

 

Completely dry and the morning after, I can still smell it on my wrist. The patchouli really comes out as it dries, and the carnation/whatever is still there...The disparate scents seem to be better integrated with time. What a strange ride getting to this point, though.

 

Over all it may be too sweet for me to wear regularly, but I'm going to try a little on a lightbulb and see how my room smells.

I did smell chocolate when it was in the bottle, but as soon as I put it on, I just got The Great Floral Waft. Imagine if you will a huge animated blossom, Sgt. Pepper's style, and out of this trumpet-like bloom, flowers of all different colors keep piling out, covering each other up, more and more of them, and you will have an idea of how I experience the floral scents I have been trying lately. I just sort of stand back, and go, "Whoa. trippy. that sure is floral."

My nose, it's just not terribly discerning.

I didn't smell wood at all. Unless that was what that chocolate smell was at the beginning. I did however smell...LILAC! I love lilac, really I do, but this just didn't speak to me.

And then, in the end, it turned to soap.

Another one to swap.

I swear we've had this discussion before. Each measure of oil that goes into the bottles and vials are calibrated. The imps are 1/32 of an ounce (IIRC). The glass in each bottle/vial can differ, which is you may get bottles that are full into the neck or only up to the shoulders. It is still the same amount of oil.

 

ETA: The viscosity of the oil can also make a difference in the level of fullness.

 

Yes, I know I had read how much an imp contains, but I had no idea the vials would vary so much.

Thanks for the replies everyone. I will feel more secure in my swapping now.

I am wondering how full an imp is when it is brand spanking new.

I couldn't find this question in the FAQ section.

Hmm, well, I was really excited about trying this, as I am working my way down the list of scents with vetiver... plus intrigued to smell violet again. I'm on a definite learning curve here.

So, got this today and put it on right away.

the violet and vetiver were on an equal footing when wet, but as it dried down, the violet took over and it was cloying.

I thought of a manipulative woman, all sweet, with dark intentions.

The vetiver never faded out of the picture, but I lost interest. I can't stand it when women bat their eyelashes at me.

Many hours later, I am left with nothing but a faint, slightly more femme version of Bluebeard on my wrist. Same combo, go figure. deodorant-y.

 

I'm gonna swap it.

I only have girls, and they are much older (9 and 12) but the 9 year old loves Black Lotus, and the elder, The Lion.

We haven't tried all that many, though; these are just the faves so far...

I just smelled "perfume" in the bottle, but once I put it on, the aromatic herbs were strong, sort of a trumpet blast, really!

Almost immediately, I smell something...powdery. I don't know what that is yet (frankincense?) but I do tend to get powdery smells a lot. The herbs are lost in a veritable fog, which is not unpleasant, but I was wanting to relish the lavendar and rosemary a bit more.

As this dries, it descends quickly through a series of phases that I am beginning to recognize: powdery, then sweeter like powdered candy, and then on to a dry powder which I liken to elder flowers. I love elder flowers, but I'm not looking for them in a bottle. This is the second blend to finish with what I shall call The Elderflower Wine Effect. (Belle Epoque did the exact same thing.)

Must be my body chemistry. Meh.

Off it goes.

I am sorry to say that this smells like....
one of those Swiffer wet pads...
and I can't even get past this association. I have to go run to wash it off.
Off to swap.

I don't have this scent anymore but I was dancing today and a few associations came up for me around Belle Epoque.
Element: Air
Time of Day: Dawn
Music: Cocteau Twins, Pandora

All that but slightly corrupted. All that but tired, like it has been out all night.

Okay, Brimstone has the honor of being the first BPAL scent to feel like home to me. Going on, it feels like a second skin! (I used to wear vetiver all by itself, or mixed with sandalwood (Khus), so this is a comforting and familiar scent.) It is gritty and sharpish at the same time, although grey I don't get...
After wearing it for an hour or so, it loses a bit of it's sharpness and goes a tiny bit sweet on me, and almost a little soapy, but not unpleasantly so. It seems to fade fairly quickly, but it may be that I can't smell it anymore but others can. That used to happen to me with vetiver...
At the rate I am applying this, I am going to quickly use up the little imp; this may my second big bottle ever!
Brimstone has also helped define a path for me to travel through the world of BPAL. I am sure to meet a scent that will bump Brimstone, cause it's not quite perfect, but for now it reigns in my imp box!
Oh, yeah, and my husband, who is wary of added scent due to chemical sensitivity, took a whiff of this on me, and said, "Now that's more like it!" An added bonus.

ETA: In town today wearing Brimstone. A clerk says as she rings me up, "I smell something burning... rubber?" It was me! BWAHAHAHAHA!

 

edited 2017: I tried a fresh imp of Brimstone, and while it is still really nice, it isn't the Holy Grail I was raving about 11 years ago. Today, for me, this finishes as a pretty, feminine vetiver.

Image: the sweet stargirl that works at the head shop. You have a crush on her, but she isn't quite letting you in to her private reality.

 

I'm going to put this aside to age for a while, cause, you know, vetiver.

I am in awe that this resource exists! Absolutely priceless.

thank you, Nattie.

(I wore this again, and I totally have to rewrite the review.)

 

I know that Bluebeard was a nasty wife-killer. I can't smell him in here.

I do declare this is some swashbuckling ship captain. I was thinking gentleman pirate, but I then I remembered Russell Crowe in Master & Commander, and oh! this is it!

It's bracing, you know? And sea-swept, and there is a large trunk on deck with leather hinges that has all kinds of mysteries inside. I can't quite spy them out, but I know they are in there, and there is Intrigue...

and there is the Captain, on the deck, salty hair blowing a bit.

Mmm, yes...this is a fun game to play!

 

But will I wear it? If the Captain of the ship o' my heart could tolerate scent, I would ask him to, but as for me, I think it may be a bit too butch. I'll keep it for a while and see if I can't build a suitable outfit around it. Summer is coming...

I have tried this a couple of times and we were about to put it in the swap pile, but I decided to try it again. today it hit the spot! I fell in love...

Although it goes on a bit harsh for me, sort of a floral trumpet blast! once a couple of hours go by it has mellowed into almost the perfect summer scent. There is something so innocently sensual about this twilight. I used to live with a long gone lover in a lovely Old Portland apartment, and that summer there were moments just as lazy and luscious and unfettered as can be, watching the sun filter through a broad green tree and it was so so hot. This almost took me there.

There was just a *touch* of sharpness that kept spiking through, but in between I could forget it and dream...

 

It was very strong and I have to be careful to only use a little tiny bit in each spot. I am tempted to put this in a carrier oil and roll it on or something. yeah. yum.

 

I am still going to look for that more rounded jasmine/honeysuckle (New Orleans, perhaps?), but until I find it, I think Twilight will do.

Black Lotus, it started out smelling like strawberry jam, and as it dried down it took on that smokey quality everyone mentions.

It smelled like strawberry (or something) scented candles! I used to hang out at this figurine shop when I was a little kid. They had Job posters, and porcelain animals, and fairy cards, and scented candles. It smelled like that place.

After wearing this for a while, I all of a sudden wanted to go rollerskating, with my hair in big ponytails on the sides. I wanted to be twelve and just starting to think about boys, hanging out with a friend in her room, chewing Bubble Yum, with some strawberry (or something) scented candles burning. We are heading to the roller rink any minute!

After a couple of hours the back of my throat started to hurt and I had to wash this off, because it got too mixed up and overbearing.

I might try it again, using a bit less, but...

I really think I would like it better if it were lip gloss!

 

I will definitely pass it on to the kids.

hecate...

 

the almond is really strong wet, but upon application it almost immediately is absorbed by the other notes. within 15 minutes, it smells like almond tinted baby powder, and that is how it holds. I am 4 hours into it, and it is almost gone, but not quite...

 

It took me about 2 hours to get a visual on hecate. What finally came up was an image of an old lady's face, all wrinkly and soft, soft as silk tissue. She is smiling, just slightly, she is pleased and at peace.

She knows that soon she will die, and she's okay with it. This scent is not like a shroud, more like acceptance and peace. It's funny, before this picture came to me, and without my thinking about who Hecate is (I was getting her mixed up with Hestia, duh), I was sweeping the floor and singing, "See That my Grave is Kept Clean." Huh? I never sing that song. So, maybe it was my subconscious talking to my waking mind, or maybe is truly Alchemy. Who can say?

 

The upshot of this experiment is that, while I like the smell, it lays on my skin and does not blend into my persona. I think it would make a lovely room scent, especially during times of stress, or as a nursery lullaby. I think I will keep the imp for that use, but probably not get a big one. We'll see. It's awfully nice, and I do like a soft granny.

 

Also, FWIW, for those who smelled maraschino cherry in place of almond, the two flavors are housemates. I have smelled wild mushrooms that are described as smelling either like maraschino cherry or almond. It is considered an indication of toxicity...in a mushroom.

Ha ha! In the bottle and wet this was totally the childhood drugstore perfume counter!

 

I have skinned a coyote before and I have to say it doesn't smell like this. It smells like wet dog.

But I am not one to be locked into literal so I made up a little story about how Coyote got to smell like this.

He was out roaming around one day and he found himself down by the riverbank. well, you know how Coyote is always horny. It's never far from his mind, or wherever, and today was no exception. He sees this cute muskrat lady (I know muskrats aren't known for their Beauty, but maybe it's the smell..) and Coyote thinks, "I gotta get me some of that. Let's see if I have anything in this bag that will cover up my dog smell...ah, yes, here it is.." and he slathers a bunch of musk on. He ambles up to where the muskrat-ess is working, "hey baby" but she takes one look at him, and is outta there.

Hmmm, that should have worked thinks Coyote, guess I better move on. He heads up and away from the river til he gets to this stretch of grassy plain. It's a gorgeous day, and the wind is blowing all that tall grass around, and across the field he sees the sweetest little doe, "Oh baby!" he thinks, and starts rummaging around in his pack til he finds the deer scent. He starts towards her, but she doesn't fall for it either and leaps across the field and out of sight. Dejected and not so horny any more, he decides to head home for dinner. Who knows, maybe his old lady will be in the mood...

He gets home and he goes inside and his kids start running and tumbling over to their daddy, but then they take a whiff and they can't smell anything like Coyote anymore, even though he looks right, so they get afraid, and start calling for their mom. She comes out to see what all the fuss is and when she sees her old man and smells him, she knows he's been up to his old tricks and chases him out of the house.

 

My daughter likes it cause she likes the Lion. This was similar, without the cinnamon/matsutake note. I loved the way it smelled once it dried down. I will be trying it again to see how long it takes to get to the point where it is irresistable to me...

tobacco? where is the tobacco? I bought a 5 ml, my first, because there was no other way (for unconnected and bpal poor me) to try this, and I wanted the tobacco.

I think I smelled it once, but over my repeated wearings of this (I have that ig bottle after all) I mostly get...

LOVE'S BABY SOFT! only a bit medicinal. I like to wear it to bed. My husband, the chemically sensitive does not find it attractive. So it is a secret pleasure buzzing around my head, not my loin.

 

I like it. I find it very soothing and sweet and feminine without being cloying and insecure.

It is an independant 12 yr old who has a healthy mistrust of society. she lives in her own caravan and holds her own. At night she brushes her hair in her cloudy oval mirror by candlelight, but you can't get her with candy. Oh, and maybe she smokes. But only occasionally!

 

ETA: As this aged, the tobacco started to become more prevelant in this. An interesting and pleasant blend, but one I didn't keep.