minouska

black pepper / frankincense ginger I'm a little hesitant to post this, because I'm not very good at describing scents or picking out notes...but I know a lot of people are curious, so maybe this will be helpful? Aries is spicy and warm and a strong scent, although I haven't had it on long enough to say if it is long-lasting. It's not feminine, but not really masculine either. There are definitely familiar notes in it, but I can't quite place them--maybe myrr? or musk? The more I smell it the more I think there's sandlewood in it, and perhaps some patchouli. A bit smoky, a tiny hint of wood smoke or something like that? It's not a hippy smell, but it's not a seductive glamour-girl smell either. Although it is a little sexy. It does smell kind of how I think of Aries, but I wouldn't say it meshes perfectly with my body chemistry, if that makes sense--it's not a smell that is ME, but it is a familiar, comfortable smell. I think there's something incense-y as well. I like it, and the longer I wear it the more I like it, but I don't think I'd wear it all the time. I hope someone else can pick out the notes better.

In the imp: smells like cinnamon red hots On my wrist: oddly enough, I can barely smell it. There's a tiny hint of cinnamon and something floral that I can't identify. I think I can get sandalwood too.

In the imp: spicy cherry cough syrup On my arm: spicy cherry, with maybe some mint? Somthing cool lurking in the background.

In the imp: pine and inscense On my arm: more pine, but with a hint of sweetness, maybe some cedar? Very woodsy with a bit of something sweet.

Foundation, Labanah, The Living God, Eternal Life, the Source of the Living Waters. In the imp: smells like Eos--so must be jasmine. On my wrist: less floral and a bit more aquatic than Eos--definitely jasmine, but maybe not the honeysuckle? It's a little more green than Eos, so maybe some herbs? The greeness comes out more the longer it's on.

In the imp: minty and spicy at the same time. On my knee: sweeter, still minty, but with an overwhelming root beer overtone--that must be sassafrass.

In the imp: leather and smoke. On my knee: More leather, just a hint of smoke. It smells cooler (in the temperature sense) on than it did in the bottle.

In the imp: Sharp, cedar, mint On my arm: cold and minty, with cedar, and some herbs. This possibly reminds me of some of the tarot scents. This smells very masculine to me.

In the imp: spicy, earthy, floral. On my wrist: sharper, but with the same earthy floral. I smell myrr, and roses or jasmine (some heady floral), and maybe cedar? Possibly some patchouli?

In the imp: a cinnamon-y version of Alice, or Dana O'Shee. On my arm: cinnamon and cherry, with a hint of creaminess. Ick--two notes that are BAD on me--it smells kind of metallic. ETA: Yes, I can get the carnation that other people are smelling, but it's not the usual carnation on me--it's sharper than usual.

In the imp: sharp, and almonds. On my wrist: almonds, and not as sharp, a little rounder. Perfume-y, but not in a fragrant sense--this definitely smells ritual to me, like all of the Sephiroth do. It smells like medicial marzipan instead of candy. I think there is a hint of cherry in it, which always goes weird on me--it always goes medicinal.

On me, Oisin smells like the masculine version of Unseelie. It's musky but powdery at the same time. It makes me feel like I'm wearing men's deodorant, but not in a good way. It's way too powdery, too manly, and even though I like musk, too musky. No blossoms, no herbs. I wish this worked! WHY do these fresh/clean/outdoorsy/musky/meadows and flowers type scents never work on me?? I keep trying them, and none do. Woe is me. If only I could get my boyfriend to wear BPAL, I think this could be gorgeous on him. It's just far too masculine for me (and I'm not very girly-girl, either).

Oneiroi is one of my all-time favorite BPAL scents. It's a dark bluish purple shot through with silver. I mainly smell jasmine and lavender in this--I can't think of anything else I've noticed in it. It's soft, calming, thick, dark, round. When I put it on, I can totally picture the horn and ivory gates Beth mentions in the description as I drift off to sleep. I wear it whenever I can't sleep or need to get a good night's sleep or just want to calm down before bed, and I love it. It really does seem to sooth me to sleep, and I think it gives me interesting dreams (though not as good as the ones I get with Somnus or Temple of Dreams). I don't know what the eventual drydown is, because I've actually never worn it in the daytime, only at night. My boyfriend really likes this one on me as well, and always comments on how I smell nice when I wear it. I love love love this scent, and will be ordering a 5ml soon--my imp has lasted over a year because it's strong stuff and I don't need to slather or put much on.

This is roses and green on me. Fresh, wet, red roses, cold, with the stems and leaves. It's clean, cool, yet red red red at the same time, but with green underneath. It's lovely. It's high on my list of BPAL favorites. However, I think I might like Whip a bit more--while Whip is warm and sexy, Rose Red is cold and distant. Whip says come here, Rose Red says stand over there and admire me. I still love Rose Red; I just need to be a certain mood to wear it. It's definitely less sexy than my other two rose favorites (Spellbound and Whip) which is good--I think it's more of a work scent than those two are. However, I should add that Rose Red earned me only my second umprompted perfume compliment ever, when my coworker was standing next to me--she loved it and kept saying how good I smelled.

I got this as a gift from the Lab, and almost didn't try it. However, I try everything at least once, so on it went. For the first few minutes I was certain this was going on the swap pile--vetiver really doesn't work on me. But then, it mellowed. It's a lovely, clean scent, without a dominating note, just....nice. There's a bit of floral sweetness, a bit of spicy carnation, and overall, a dark, clean blend. It's really nice on a hot steamy day in the city. I really like this quite a bit! Thank you Lab--I never would have ordered this on my own.

Two, Five, & Seven was the first catalogue scent I ordered a 5ml of without trying an imp first. Unforunately, this was a mistake. I *love* Beth's roses (two of my all-time favorites are Spellbound and Whip) so I had high hopes but this just did not work. It was candy sweet, fake sweet, no rose, no floral, just sweet. Like the pink version of Sugar Skull. In the bottle, I smelled rose and sugar; on my skin just sugar.

A rich, bold blend of imperial rose, carnation, lush jasmine, lily of the valley, dark musk, amber, bergamot and gilded tangerine. On me, this is a really lovely well-blended floral. I'm actually surprised it works; the scents that have a lot of florals (Flower Moon) but no one dominating (like Spellbound does) don't usually work on me. However, this is an exception. I'm not getting any tangerine on this, which is good, nor much lily. I do smell rose, lavender, and jasmine. The rose and jasmine trade off for most prominent note. This is a very soft scent, a bit sexy but not too sexy to wear to work. I don't think it's very hot summer day, more warm summer evening. I won't get a big bottle of this, but I'll definitely use my imp when I want something a little softer than Spellbound.

Alas. The first time I tried this, I *loved* it. It was the clean, cool, green scent that I had been looking for. I was going to order a 5ml, no question. About the third time I wore it, it went off. I don't know what happened, but it was no longer cool, green, and lovely. It has a weird sweetish note and just smells....not good. It's not gross, it's not aquatic, it's not cat pee, or any of the other off reactions I ever get...it's just not right. I can't quite describe it...just too sweet, like sweetarts or something, but not fruity. I keep thinking Flintstones vitamins, but I don't think that's quite right either. The pine was gone, the rose was gone. The same thing happened to me with Skadi as well, so it may be some note the two have in common that just doesn't work on me. It's really too bad, because this has such gorgeous potential--just not on me! I really wish I could wear this.

In the bottle, this smells strongly of fennel and anise. On my skin, at first it was all anise, but after a while it faded down to a milder scent. Definitely foody/piquant, not sweet at all. I don't smell any florals at all. At the end, it smelled a bit like the color you get left in pan after making curry, that dark yellowish color. It's nice, but not really perfume-y, if that makes sense? It doesn't smell (to me) like something you'd wear out, unless you wanted to smell it for yourself; it's definitely one of those scents I'd use as a voodoo scent or a home scent.

I usually wear Alice or Snow White to job interviews. They're both soft and pretty, feminine but not sexy, and they stick close to me so there's not a lot of throw. I feel like they fit in my "skin but better" catagory. In addition, I find them both soothing, and that's always good! I also often add a tiny dab of Has No Hanna or Horn of Plenty...though I find those two to be very strong, so really, just a tiny tiny bit. I would stay far away from anything particularly sexy, or anything with alcohol in it. Good luck, Jen!

Huh, I thought I reviewed this one already, but I guess not... Spellbound is my favorite BPAL. More favorite even than Snow White or Alice or Bue Moon or Whip. I got this in one of my first orders (I can't even remember if I picked it or if it was a gift) and I've been in love with it since--it was my first catalogue bottle order. On me, it's warm, sexy, golden-purple. It's soft, womanly, mature, but not stuck up. My boyfriend loves this on me--I think it's one of his favorites as well. It blends really well with my skin and doesn't seem layered over top like some perfumes do--it's like my skin but better. The rose and amber blend into a smoky warm feeling--it feels like I am wearing a long purple dress made of something soft and thick. Since it is very sexy, I don't usually wear it to work, but I almost always wear it when going out, dressing up, and sometimes on weekends. It also has quite a lot of throw--just a bit is needed, less than many other oils.

Silk Road starts out as a lovely, complex, feminine scent. Spicy, floral, warm, sexy. Unfortunately, after less than 10 minutes, I had giant red welts on my skin and had to wash it off, so I have no idea what it dries down as. I am almost positive this has cinnamon in it, so others with cinnamon allergies watch out!

I LOVE Eos. Love it so much I just ordered a 5ml--only my third 5ml of the regular collection in a year and a half of buying BPAL. (Well, I kept it company on the way with 5mls of Snake Oil and Whip. ) Eos is warm, golden, sexy without being sexual (ie, can wear it to work), comfy. It melds perfectly with my skin, and like few other BPAL scents, it smells like *me* but a thousand times better (Snow White is the other I can think of). "Softly glowing skin" is a perfect description. It's very spring/summery but I can also see wearing it in the winter when I need reminding of nice sunny weather. I can't really pull out notes on this one, but it's definitely floral with other stuff in it, honey which is probably the honeysuckle, and jasmine for sure. I'm not sure, but I think I can recognize buttercup as well in the sunniness. In short: love it!

Chaste Moon smells like a buttery Snow White on me. Warm, golden, creamy, sweet but not candy sweet or Sugar Skull sweet. It had a hint of the coolness of Snow White, and maybe way on the drydown, some pineapple. Wet it's very buttery and wet-smelling, but dry it's dryer and warmer. That makes no sense I'm afraid...sort of the difference between cake batter and baked cake, maybe? If Snow White was white-blue, this is white-yellow. My only complaint is that it didn't seem to last very long on me. I can barely smell it by the end of the day, and I slathered it on. However, the boyfriend told me I smelled "buttery" when were lying on the couch together after work, so maybe it's one of those where I can't smell it anymore but others can. I usually don't like foody scents, but this is joining Spooky (which it also reminds me a bit of) as an exception.

Whip is one of my favorite BPAL scents. On me, it's red, wet rose, with a hint of leather. Like a huge red rose, all the way open, wet with dew and wrapped with a leather cord around the stem. It's sexy, but not too sexual to wear to work. It's very fresh, clean, spring-y to me, but at the same time it's like a darker, damper rose-y-er version of Rose Red. Love it! It's also got decent staying power.