TheDarkMother

In the bottle, Namaste is sandlewood and a sweet undertone with a slight acrid, citris tang. On me, wow...I should have guessed...lemons. Lemon candy scent again. Wierd. I don't remember there being anything in the description about lemon verbena. Don't I have enough lemon candy scents? Actually, now that I smell a little more, this lemon candy has a bit of a orange/tangerine scent to it as well. Ok, so I guess it is a little different. I liked the smell in the bottle better. Final verdict: I think I have enough lemon scents, but I love the smell in the bottle. Maybe I can burn it in the insense burner or make it into a linen spray or something.

One thing's for certain, I should never smell this on an empty stomach again! In the bottle, Jack is pumpkin bread! Mmm! It really makes me want to go on a baking spree. I can't smell the peach at all, but lots of nutmeg and pumpkin. Instead of giving me thoughts of Halloween, it gives me Thanksgiving thoughts where for breakfast I usually make a pumpkin bread loaf. On me, there's the peach! I can only smell it if I put my nose to my wrist. Other than that, its still very pumpkin bread, but the peach is starting to come out a lot more. In fact, the peach is now overtaking the pumpkin bread smell until the pumpkin is just an afternote. Could it be that Jack is a lot more complex than I thought when I first smelled it? Oh my goodness this is lovely! Definately a big bottle for me!

Aftr the hurricane, I'm really wondering if this is going to smell like that. I guess here lately that I have smelled enough thunderstorms;) In the bottle, Lightning smells more like a dryer sheet than a rain storm. Its very strong, and very heavy on the aquatic florals. I've capped the bottle and I can still smell it in the air, but in the air it smells more on the money, being lighter and more ozone-like. I'm hoping that on me it continues this trend. On me its still very sharp and powerful as its wet. Its not a smell that I dislike, its just not what I expected. But it dries down quickly and it becomes more airy with that same bite. This is really nice, although it still reminds me of laundry detergent. This is making me remember that I have to do laundry today...LOL! I better not tell my husband that or I'll have a gallon of it on order tonight. I don't know...maybe I should tell him. After sniffing Jack and telling him that it would make me want to cook more, and this makes me want to do laundry, he might just let me go wild with it! My friend swears by this scent, and I agree with her. This is a lovely scent, even more so now that its dried down. This has big bottle written all over it.

This is a scent that I got in a swap with da Minx. She always gives me the best toys;) In the bottle, all I smell is jasmine, and oh is that smell sweet! I love the smell of jasmine! On me, that wonderful jasmine with a hint of tartness that must be from the lime. Yeah, the more I sniff my wrists, the more I smell the lime, so that must be it. This is simply gorgeous, but I don't think my husband will like it. He hasn't been theat partial to the floral smells, but who says I'm wearing this for him right now? Another keeper! My goodness, I certainly have a lot of keepers!!

I would have updated this one yesterday if my power hadn't been out for Charley. Oh well. I recieved Haunted from a swap my dear Minx gave me. Hugs and kisses to Minx, love ya dear! When I first opened Haunted, it smelled of musk and a sugar sweet, hard to describe scent that made me mostly think of orange blossoms. I guess that must have been the Amber. On me, the musk is gone, only a sugary sweetness that, once again, is hard to describe. It stays that way for 15 minutes, and then ...Lemons. Just....lemons. Almost as if it had lemon verbena in it. Wierd. About an hour later, its a lemony babypowder, but very strong. I like that smell, actually. This is a keeper!

In the bottle, Rakshasa reminds me of peach iced tea. In fact, that scent is so prevalent that I think I might go and brew some peach iced tea after I get done with writing this. Mmm...it smells good, but the thought of smelling like iced tea is something that I've never thought that I would do before. If I smell that all day will I be drinking tea all day? Its not a bad thought, actually. On me, it smells more of roses, but softer than any of the other rose scents that I have tried. The closest that I could come to describe it is that it is softer than Moon Rose, but less etheral. And there is a sugary sweetness to them as well, almost like pink rosebuds dipped in sugar and placed on a cake. This recalls having teaparties with my daughter all dressed up in little white wicker chairs with her tiny porcelain set with the little roses on them. This is a very young and naive scent, a young lady's scent. I'm beginning to be able to detect the patchouli a little more now as it dries. I guess that was the suagry sweet smell that I detected before. The scent overall is very nice, not overpowering or too spicy either. As a nice feminine scent, this is very good, not as good as Moon Rose, but still one that I will continue to wear. I find it amazing that before BPAL, rose made me really ill. It was always too overpowering and I guess I was allergic to it. So far I've found three that I really like. My left wrist seems to burn just slightly with this one though, so I had better not use it on a daily basis.

Ok, I'm gonna fess up, I'm a gaming geek. Why do I say that now? Because I really wanted to try Umbra because of White Wolf's Werewolf game. I know...that's pretty stupid, but that's why I got it. And it really isn't simply because of the name, but because of everything that the Umbra is supposed to represent in the game: spirituality pouring off f the world around you, a place where one could go to be re-energized with the love of Mother Earth. I know, I'm a geek. But I just wanted you all to know my expectations before I open the bottle. Here we go... On first sniff I can smell everything together, the patcholi (which I first got to smell in a pure form at a little candle shop in Islands of Adventure last weekend), the sandlewood, and that little afterscent of cinnamon. Its an extremely outdoorsy scent, and I am loving every bit of it. In the bottle the scent is meeting my expectations, but will it remain the same on me? Let's find out. Mmm. More of the cinnamon comes out now that its on my wrist, and I adore this fragrance! There is a definate woodsmoke scent to it, like a small forest fire with cinnamon actually being brought to the forefront. In fact, I can't keep my nose off of my wrist! This is one that I like so much that I'm going to stick some on my earlobes and pass the wand through my hair. There done. And oh my do I smell good! I smell like I have been walking in a forest that has been struck by lightning and had a small fire that is just starting to cool. Now that its begun to die down, my wrists are smelling a little sweeter than before, but it is SO hard to tell what the scent is because I can smell it in my hair the most right now! I think its more of the patcholi and cinnamon smell once it dies down, but its still woodsy in my hair. *sigh* I'm in heaven. But I still haven't answered the question: Does this fragrance live up to my expections? The answer is yes, perfectly! When thinking of the "Umbra", I had always envisioned a spiritual area where Creation, Formation, and Destruction would try to exist in harmony in its purest form, a direct viewing of the Circle of Life if you will. This blend does just that bringing the cinnamon to the forefront at the beginning which I have always taken as being quite energizing, the patcholi in the middle but seductively silent, sneaking in from time to time to let you know that its there, and the woodfire smell being destruction so that the world can be reborn. This scent caught the symbolism just perfectly, and I do think that tomorrow, when I run my Garou game, I will be wearing this to help show the players what I mean. Thanks for living up to my expectations on this, especially since they were so high! I'll never doubt you again, Beth, and if you already didn't have me so loyal, you certainly do now!

On first whiff my intial reaction was...is that chocolate?? Then I realized...no...that is just extremely gooey, milky vanilla. Wow! Not even the vanilla extract smell, so I don't think of baking anything, this is thick vanilla, like if you could make a chocolate bar only out of vanilla, or warm vanilla milk. Mmmm. On me...NOW I can smell the woodsy cedar! There is this aura of pure vanilla that I can smell when I'm typing, and then when I put my nose to my wrist, raw cedar! It kind of reminds me of burning vanilla incence on a cedar stick, but without that fake, imitation vanilla smell. I just can't get over the intensity of the vanilla! I put a drop on each earlobe, and now I can smell the cedar, athough I really think that is going to be sandlewood...but it smells so cedary. This is like the perfect blend of sweet and smoke. I think this is the first real oil that I can truely say smells simply decadent! Le Purrrrrr....

I had the strangest thing happen. I made a June 29th order and a June 31st order which were both sent out from CC-Now on July 13th. I recieved the 2nd order (from June 31st), but I haven't recieved the 1st order. I recieved the 6/31 order on Saturday though, so its probably just the postal service being wierd and I'll get it this week, but you guys know that your selling legal crack, right? Want Jack, want Jack, want Jack! I'm gonna go stalk the mailman again...

In the bottle, Ultraviolet is peppermint and eucalyptus. Mmmm. I love that combination. It really wakes you up early in the morning like this. Helps clear the sinuses and starts your day off right. On me, same smell, and its really sharp! But wait...the further away from my wrist you are, the more you can smell the violets! I LOVE violets!! I agree with the others, its like having frozen violet petals. This is a great scent, and the violets don't even smell soapy either!

I tried this on my husbnad first. In the bottle, it is very lime, so much so that I really can't smell anything else on this one. On him, first whiff is LEMON. Very overpoweringly lemon. I figure I'll give it a few minutes and see what we find then, but no...its still very decidedly lemon on him. Rats. So I tried it high on my elbow. Once again, its a very heavy lemon scent. Must be Verbena, because it seems that that scent always comes through more than any other. After a while though, there does seem to be some complexity behind it, though the Verbena is still too overpowering to tell what it is. Finally it dawns on me...babypowder. Hmmm...on me, its great, but not on my hubby. No, this one is for me now, not for him. I think I like Iago on him better!

In the bottle, it is lavendar with a minty tang to it. I'm not certain if that is the musk or not. I love lavendar though, so this should be one that I really like. When I first put it on, the musk really tanged though, but now, its just lavendar. I love the smell of lavendar, I use it in my bath to make me sleepy when I have insomnia, like I have for the past 3 weeks now. It is making my wrist tingle just slightly, and I'm hoping that the oil doesn't tinge my skin yellow again, like some of them have been doing. Oh well. There is a slight soapy smell to it, like a lavendar body wash or something. I knwo its not me, since I don't have a lavendar body wash, but I think I might get one now, just from this scent. There is starting to be a slight lemony scent in the background of Chypre also. It compliments the lavendar very well. I love this, this is very nice!

In the bottle, it reminds me of cherry Vick's Vapo Rub. Could be interesting. On me, I can smell dragon's heart, eucalyptus, and that Vick's vapo-rub smell. The longer its on, the more the dragon's blood begins to come out more, leaving that cherry smell lingering on my wrist. Hmm...is that a little verbena that I smell in there as well? A cherry-lemon medicinal scent...kinda minty too. Looks like this one is a keeper too!

In the bottle, it smells kinda like apple cider, maybe a caramel apple cider? Actually, it kinda reminds me of cooking caramel apples during Halloween. Have I ever told you how much I LOVE Halloween? On me it is very caramel apple smelling. It reminds me of the county fair that we have here, with the smells of the caramel apples and the hay for the horses. In fact, that's just it, that's the scent! Its the smell of the county fair, and all the memories that come along with it! You have the woodsy smell of the hay for the livestock around you that is paired perfectly with the caramel apple scent as well. This is a very memory provoking scent for me. I love this as much as Ace of Pentacles for that reason! This makes this very special to me. Thank you, Beth!

In the bottle, it wasn't as cinnamony as I expected from what everyone was saying. In fact, that seems to be more of an undertone, but it is there. The overtone...I can't describe it...it smells kind of like buttercream. Its beginning to remind me of the Birthday Cake ice cream at Marble Slab Creamery. On me....WOW....there's the cinnamon! It does really smell like red hots! Mmm...I LOVE red hots. There is something else here though, something in the initial sniff that I just can't pinpoint because you only smell it when you first sniff your wrist, and then there's nothing but cinnamon. The more you try and sniff it out, the more cinnamon you smell. The cinnamon doesn't take on a baking smell, like Eclipse, but its still there. I don't know if its the honeysuckle or not. I was really hoping for that scent. I've noticed a slight burning/tingling sensation in my wrists all of a sudden. It doesn't itch so much, it just kind of burns. Its not totally unpleasant either, its more of a statement. I guess I must be allergic to cinnamon oil, unless its something else in this one. I've noticed it with Eclipse too, so its probably the cinnamon. Its not making me break out in hives though, which is good. Oh well, the cinnamon smell is SO good though. I love this!

In the bottle, Sin smells like yummy sandalwood with a little bit of spice behind it. On me, wow...the cinnamon really comes out! It smells kinda like an atomic fireball! The sandalwood starts coming through slowly and...ooooh.....that blend of spice and wood is just fabulous! I love this scent. Its totally decadent, makes me thinks of warm nights getting into all kinds of trouble;) Very apt name for this scent!

In the bottle, it is very sweet almond, not really anything else that I can detect. Ok, red flag comes up on this one...I hope the cinnamon can make up for it. On me, NOW I smell the cinnamon. And it does counter the almond smell very well:) The cinnamon isn't the overtone of this scent though, its like a lingering afterthought. Together the fragrance is very sweet and spicy. This is really nice:)

From the bottle, Ace of Pentacles smells like a light floral completely overshadowed by DIRT! Not a mossy scent, not a nice woodsy smell, but DIRT! It kind of reminds me of biting into a Bernie Botts Every Flavor Bean and it tasting so much of dirt that I expected to hear my teeth grind afterwards. It lingers in my nose a lot longer than any other scent so far, and it kind of reminds me of those clouds of dirt that followed that Peanuts cartoon character all around. On my skin, it is so decidely dirt smelling that it just throws me off. I don't mind an undertone of dirt, but this is a dirty smell that just makes me feel like I have to wash. There is a slight other sweeter note to it, but the dirt scent just lingers too long and too strongly to ignore. However, this time I tried it, I didn't go running off to the bathroom to wash right away, so I finally got to smell what it was like on my skin after it began to dry more. Whereas I had put this in my swap pile (although I can't really say that it is a pile considering that I only have one in there right now as a maybe), I think I will keep it afterall. If I can get past the dirt smell long enough to let it dry, it is simply perfect! Once it dries it smells just like the smell that is in the air right before it rains! There is the smell of Florida flowers, humidity, and the ever present threatening shower in the air. The dirt smell, which is still there, has finally lingered just enough to make a nice "coming rain" scent. THis reminds me of being in the backyard at my grandmother's house, watching the rain start to come down the street, get to half of her backyard, and then stop. We would run in and out of the rain into the dry sunshine and just laugh! It was like having our own sprinkler system without paying for the water:) You know, I think I will keep this after all. My skin even feels like its expected to get wet even though I'm in the house! I haven't had a scent invoke such an emotional memory before! I am so totally impressed!! As if I wasn't hooked on BPAL enough, now I think I am totally in love! Thanks guys!

In the bottle, which is very pretty bottle at that, considering that this was really the first time that I had seen the way that the old bottles were packaged, Ace of Cups has a very almondine smell. Its very sweet too, which is its downfall. I am reminded of nasty almondine soap or a roach spray that I smelled in elementary school that made me gag. Ok, strike one against the scent. On me, that sweet alomd smell is overpowering. It isn't so bad, it just reminds me of that scent so much that I really don't like it. It isn't so bad on my skin as it begins to dry down though, not being half as overpowering on my skin as it had been orginally. I'm glad that I tried this imp one more time before I swapped it. As its dried down, it got much better. Not something that I would jump up and buy a large bottle of, but it is nice. The only problem is that after about 15 minutes, the smell is gone. Its pretty bad when I can still feel the moisterizing quality of the oil on my skin, but the scent itself is gone before a half an hour is up. I wonder if it will stay longer on someone else?

Upon first sniff fron the bottle, it is very decidedly fig, with a touch of wood in the background. Kind of cedary in quality. On me the wood REALLY comes out, and it smells VERY much like cedar. It actually reminds me of a store in the mall that used to sell a lot of cedar objects and different wicker furnitures. (Portside Imports) As it begins to dry, the fig comes out a little bit more, but there is still that cedar scent behind it. After a while, it begins to turn more sandlewood-ish, but not too much. I always liked the scent of my Mom's cedar chest. This reminds me of that:)

In the bottle, Shattered is very minty...mmmm....mint. Its a bright scent, a wake up scent:) On me it is bright and crisp and very minty. It eases the sinuses even! It reminds me of a Eucalyptus and Peppermint blend that I sometimes use in my bath to ease migraines. As it begins to dry down, there is that cool, crisp, chilled champagne scent in the background. It reminds me of the Philharmonic show at the Magic Kingdom, when the champagne bottles pop and you can feel the cool air and smell the champagne! I adored that smell from first sniff, and now I'm all happy because I can smell it on myself!! I adore this!

In the bottle, Dragon's Eye is very floral with a strong lilac smell. I just LOVE lilacs!! On me, the dragon's blood really comes through th most, leaving a very cherry smell with a soft floral undertone which to me is still more lilacs than lilies. The longer I wear it, the more cherry smelling it becomes. Still in the back of the scent there is that floral tinge to it. Simply beautiful! Very light and feminine and fruity at the same time! YUM!

In the bottle, Eidolon is a light lemon fragrance with a strong sage overtone, something that makes my mouth pucker just slightly. It reminds me of eating lemon rind when I was younger and in Germany. The lemon trees there were EXTREMELY sour, but I usually ate them anyway. There could be a tinge of grapefruit in there somewhere, but I think that's just the sour tinge of the lemon and sage. On my skin, the verbena takes on a heavy jolly rancher smell again, which is what I've noticed that happens when I wear something with verbena in it. The sage note is completely gone, and all that I can smell is lemon candy. After a while, there is another scent here, like a soft minty smell. That quickly dissolves and it insteads ends up smelling like lemon Pledge. Fun:) There seems to be a lot of scents ending up with that lemony smell on me. I like it, though.

In the bottle, Bewitched smells like vanilla and honey, maybe a bit of a lemon smell in there as well. Have I mentioned yet how much I love these scents? Mmm. On me, it has a crisper scent than in the bottle, lemon scent that is made crisp with the vanilla. The honey comes out in that radient glow that honey usually does on my skin. Mmmm....In love. I adore this scent. Light, and sweet, without being that sickeningly sweet smell. I don't detect any berries whatsoever until around an hour. And then there is a slight raspberry scent mixed in with the honey. Mmmm. Definately a keeper.

In the bottle, Golden Priapuis smells a little woodsy and smoky, but with an aftersmell of vanilla. Its very crisp smelling, something that wakes you up without burning out your senses. On me, it has a kind of minty smell to it, almost a peppermint after-effect. There is still a green scent there, I imagine the juniper (man, I'm going to have to get all the single notes just to be able to identify the scents more often), with almost a peppery bite to it. As it dries, no....no longer mint, more like eucalyptus, and the vanilla is starting to glow around it as well. Its something that actually helps clear the sinsus a little (and I should know about that because apparantly they are stuffy from allergies again). This is such a nice, clean, fresh scent, and I just love the eucalyptus smell (something that I happen to have a bottle of oil left over here in my potpurri diffuser box). This is something that I would love to put in the bath!