unlaced

Preconceptions: I was a little worried about this one because of the strawberries. The strawberries in White Chocolate and Strawberry went plastic immediately on me and I'm hoping this doesn't do the same thing. In the bottle: Strawberries and cream! yum yum!! Wet on my skin: a little more cakey now. Cake covered in strawberry cream! No plastic here... Dry: more of the same. Delicious. Fades a bit quickly though... oh well... *slather, slather*

In the imp: I can barely smell anything at all... I get a whiff of something that smells like Antique Lace's vanilla but that's about it. Wet on my skin: a very, very soft, creamy vanilla. Very similar to Antique Lace. Loving it so far! It stung my wrist just the teensyest bit when I put it on, but that's gone now. Drying: I can smell some spices creeping into the background now. They smell like generic Snake Oil spices to me... (uh oh) I tend to amp carnation a lot and that's not happening here. Dry: The throw is not as strong as I would have liked, but I can definitely see why so many people love this so much! The spices have toned themselves down and backed away from that headache-giving territory. So now it's creamy vanilla with lovely red spices thrown in and it's just wonderful! This is what I wanted Scherezade to be I think, but wow. This is awesome. Upgrade to big bottle!

LXXXVII (87) In the bottle: Smells pretty much just like regular Dorian does. I don't own a bottle of regular bottle of Dorian and last time I sniffed it was a while ago and it was an aged bottle, so my perspective may be a bit skewed. I keep thinking I can smell some sort of other element behind everything but I just can't pin it down. Maybe some kind of fruit? Wet: There's definitely something else in the mix here. It's very faint and hiding behind all the sugared tea and lemon. Drying: I think it might be fig. As I'm sitting here sniffing my wrists every 5 seconds, I'm getting very Carnal-esque vibes from this smell. Carnal was FIG with citrus undertones on me so maybe the lemon tea-ness of Dorian with a fig mystery ingredient would simulate that. Dry: Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's fig. Figgy Dorian. Not bad. I know I like my Dorian aged better than fresh so I'll let this get some time on it in the bottle box but I do like this better than Dorian on it's own.

In the bottle: flowers with a little honey and... beeswax? wet: yep. Smells like beeswax alright. The same kind that was in Giant Vulva. drying: light florals and beeswax. Seriously, did I pick up Giant Vulva by mistake? If I sniff really close I can make out what I think are the wildflowers, but that's about it. dry: ahhh, that's better. Now there are some full bodied florals up in here. And really, I'm terrible at picking out floral notes from each other, all I can tell you that "flowers and honey" is pretty much right.

In the bottle and wet on my skin: Apple and caramel! ohmygod! nggghhh....... *drool* (I shouldn't have tried this while I was hungry) drying: The throw is creamy teak, but if I get up close to my wrist and sniff it's juicy caramel apple... (weirdly enough I smell apples, not apple blossom.) dry: pretty much the same but with honey now... Apples, caramel, creamy teak and honey. this is amazing! why have I not tried this before now!?! *runs off to order 2897646284 bottles*

The Flower Moon label is beeeeeeyooootiful!! I actually *gasped* when I took mine out of the box today. And the silver ink on my CT bottles is rubbing off too, but I label the tops of my bottles to it's not such a big deal...

Another magic frimp from the lab. In the imp: it smells kind of sharp. And a bit cologne-y. Wet on my skin: the sharp/cologne changes to kind of an herbal scent with smoky, creamy tonka coming in from out of nowhere. yum! drying/dry: tonka all over the place!! Smoky & creamy. Everything else has pretty much backed off but I can smell powdery lilac and a bit of violet behind the tonka. This is love... I'm thinking this imp won't last too long...

Today I found the springtime-y love that is F5. It smells so green and wet and it was perfect for the warm spring's-coming-on day I had here today. I can has bottle? This decant won't last me very long...

raw. black. leather. ...nnngh... *drool* why did I think I didn't like this? I'm soooo glad I kept my imp around and let it age. I didn't like it originally but now, 1+ yrs later it's pure As people have said before, I think this would be a great layering scent to put with other things to dirty them up a little bit. *ponders the possibilities* I'm thinking this will be the scent for me when I'm seriously trying to get the boy's attention... Now I wonder how it would smell on him?

You know, I was just thinking about this... I'm really intrigued by the "paper" scent. I don't get any paper from Misk. U., only creamy, sweet coffee. I'm hoping age will bring out some of the other notes. I have Bugger Alle This Bible and Aziraphale on my list to try but I'll have to add Dee too...

In the imp: smells like candy! yum!! wet on my skin: plum. wet, purple and very ripe... I can't really smell any of the wildflowers or cream here. just a mildly sweet plum. drying: ahhh there's the cream. (I love the lab's cream note so that's a major thumbs up!) sweet, tasty plum and sweet cream. dry: a teesny bit of floral creeps in the background once it's dry and established but the flowers are more of a background note to the plum and cream. I need a bottle yesterday!!! *drool*

In the bottle I smell a sort of... lemongrass-y kind of smell? I guess that's the fir and smoke combination... Wet on my skin: yeah... that's the fir. and oooh there's the leather. Like the last reviewer said, it's lighter than expected but it's nice. Dry: It's kinda medicinal smelling (I guess that's to be expected) Some amber lurking in the background and a teeny bit of smoke but mostly fir and leather. Very nice. I'll definitely use up my bottle. Also, I think age will probably bring the amber to the forefront somewhat...

Okay I finally got around to testing Erik from my Erik/Christine duet... and !!! In the bottle: Is there something wrong with my nose? This smells... clean to me. A bit aquatic, and fresh...? huh? *checks label* Yeeeaaah, this is the right bottle... Wet on my skin: The same "clean" smell...... I can smell some of the mustyness and maybe come cloth behind the weird clean-ness and is that resin and oil and kerosene hiding back there.......? Dry: ahhhh, there's everything! The clean smell is gone and I can smell the resin coated wood strong and clear. Everything else blends in behind it nicely and sharpens it up. Not too much, just enough to keep it distinct... if that made any sense. I'm going to have to resist my urge as a slatherer with this one. It's pretty potent. All in all I like it a lot! More than Christine... People have mentioned layering the two, I wonder how that would go. *ponders*

so does that mean it might go for both "13" months this year?

Okay, so I have a question: I started using BPALs regularly about 3 months ago and I don't have any allergies that I know of. For a few weeks now my eyes have been super itchy and getting a little bloodshot pretty much every day. My mom thinks I'm allergic to the oils or maybe some component of some of them. But in the first 2 and a half months of regular, every day use nothing like this happened; and if there was something I was allergic to in some, but not all of the oils I use wouldn't the reaction only happen on the day(s) I used that one? (I rotate through my collection pretty thoroughly) I'm thinking that maybe I've been getting a little sloppy in my application lately (I did just recently change the way I apply), then there's some left on my fingers and during the course of the day I rub my eyes which gets a tiny bit of oil in them (enough to itch but not to really badly irritate) and it creates a cycle. Any advice? Does it sound like I'm allergic or like I just need to wash my hands really thoroughly after I apply in the morning?

I suppose that one could call me overemotional and I suppose nervous could at times describe me pretty well. I'm not sure about high-strung... *shrug* As I said before, my skin eats oil fast! some things are particularly strong and last for a while (Misk. U. to name one...) but most things need slathering and at the very least one re-application during the day.

ditto unless I'm wearing something that's particularly strong on me, or I have just come from slathering I don't get any comments unless I ask, "hey how does this smell?" and offer up my wrist for inspection. I even asked my mom (who is prone to migraines and would be the only one in the house who would be bothered by my scents) if she could smell me or to tell me if I was overdoing it. She told me she couldn't smell me and enjoyed it when I asked her to sniff me from time to time. So yeah, my skin eats oil as well.

In the bottle this is rum and gingersnap cookies. The rum is very apparent and quite alcoholic smelling. Once it gets on my skin the rum calms down and the ginger cookies come to the forefront. They're very specifically gingersnap cookies. It doesn't have that bready or cakey smell... the kind of cookie I had when I was little that had a hard gingerbread base with the sugar sprinkles on top... As it's drying I can smell the musk working it's way to the top and that's cool with me... I'm loving this scent!! Yummy and just a little strange all at once! I love it!

Alrighty... testing my bottle of Snake Charmer Res. I was a little hesitant to buy this one because so many people likened it to Snake Oil, and Snake Oil just doesn't really do it for me. In the bottle: Yep, just like Snake Oil. Same spices-and-incense scent which is the only thing SO ever did on my skin. On my skin: no change really, smells just like SO. Dry: okay maybe this is a little different. A teensy bit sweeter perhaps? I'm willing to let this age and see how it changes. I know this is one of those that definitely gets better with age. Maybe it will turn into something I'll use on a regular basis but right now, I doubt I'll be reaching for it a lot.

I was very generously frimped a decant of this and the other night I decided to try it before bed because I've had trouble sleeping all the way through the night lately. Lavender usually gives me a headache so I was a little wary of this but I figured I might as well give it a try. Some of the oil spilled on the label and when I sniff that all I can smell is sweet kind of tingly bright vanilla, no lavender. But when I open up the imp it's a very nice soft lavender with a creamy, smooth vanilla. WOW! If lavender smells like this then I think I can start wearing it again! It made my skin tingle and burn a little where I put it on, especially my chest. No other BPAL oil has ever done that to me and I don't think this would have anything particularly irritating in it. Weird...

I was a little worried about this one when I read the list of notes. Carnation tends to take over blends on me, but everything else sounded so wonderful, I just couldn't pass it up... In the bottle I only smell the cream, all the Lab's cream blends smell kinda weird in the bottle to me but I'm a huge fan of them on my skin so I know not to let that scare me away. Once I get it on my skin it's appleappleAPPLE! fresh, juicy, crisp, green apple. After a while the other fruits start to peek out and the florals as well. So far so good, no carnation really Overall when it dries it's creamy fruit with a bit of floral. The carnation is (for once) behaving itself. This is beautiful and exactly what I was hoping for. I had to come back and say... I wore this again today and I am in LOVE! It is wonderful... It's fruity and creamy and lovely and mmmmmm. after a few hours the fruit and floral fades away and all that's left are faint traces of sweet vanilla cream...

hmmm, I'll have to try and find some to try out...

I bought this for the name because... come on, it's just too good to pass up! In the bottle and on my skin it starts out all rice wine. Maybe a teensy bit of tea? It smells more like green tea than black tea though. Overall the wet stage is a very green, wet scent. It doesn't smell like bamboo but it sort of puts me in mind of rain covered bamboo... As it dries it threatens to go soapy. I'm not sure what does that, but it gets past the oh-no-please-no-not-soap stage pretty quickly. On the drydown it's purely vanilla sandalwood. Though I suppose that's the tonka speaking since there's no actual vanilla listed. But to me, it smells more like vanilla. It's a very light scent that I have to slather to get anything out of and I have to reapply several times throughout the day.

I got some plastic cocktail stirrers a while ago that i use. They feel too sturdy to throw away after each use so I save it in a plastic bag labeled with the name of the oil... I used to use toothpicks but I found that they absorb too much of the oil.

In the imp: Syrup! With something else sweet lurking behind.... Wet on my skin: still sweet syrup... A little more of the pancake-y smell coming in. It's soooo tasty smelling!!! Dry: It smells exactly like a stack of pancakes with syrup and butter!!! I want to bathe in this stuff! seriously! it smells that good. Beth is a goddess of scent!