wolfie13

I got this as an extra gift in a swap (thanks kellia!) - just when I had been thinking that I should maybe look into finding an imp to try! Alas, Hunter Moon is not for me. There are so many great descriptions already, that I won't really elaborate too much, but basically it smelled like grape juice and woodsmoke, with an additional musk-y or civet note. It stayed pretty much the same throughout wearing - and it was REALLY strong - I could barely wash it off. VERY evocative and unique, but did not work for me at all. (Now worried that none of the lunar oils will ever work for me - and i JUST ordered Milk Moon!)

In the vial: Overwhelmingly sweet cherry, with a dark herbal edge. (This was not almond to me - absolutely CHERRY). Smelled half way between cherry syrup and cherry cough medicine. Upon wearing: This changes to half way between cherry syrup and cherry pipe tobacco. (And it's really strong - be careful when applying!) I don't really like it on me, but I love how interesting it is. As far as olfactory use - this would make a nice room scent in the winter, and fans of Hearth and others like it may love this one to wear as well. But if it works half as well as Blockbuster does for me, there will be a bottle in my future. (ETA: the drydown - after about 2 hours it's much mellower on me - same cherry pipe tobacco but a little softer, sweeter and smokier - more of a creamy vanilla/almondy character with the pipe tobacco - actually like it just for the wearing at that point. Voodoo properties - When wearing this I had someone undercharge me $14.00 for an item that I was purchasing, but since I noticed when i was still at the register I told them about it, so no net profit there! But made me think that this would be good to work with in a focused fashion, since that happened when I was just wearing it around town for trial sniffing purposes.)

Yup - frankinscense and myrrh. Sweet and smoky incense smell. Upon wearing, this reads about 1/2 way b/w Cathedral and Djinn on me - a bit more interesting than cathedral and a bit less smoky and burnt than Djinn. I love incense-y scents, but this is a bit too much even for me to wear on it's own. It might be good layered with other scents and would definitely be amazing as a candle or room scent! (ETA: I actually have been wearing this quite a bit and loving it - it's a woman's perogative to change her mind! Not to mention that this is one million times better than any other etailer or candle-maker's "frankincense and myrrh" scent that I've tried over the years - they always end up seeming perfumey or smelling like something absolutely unlike frankincense or myrhh. This is the real deal.)

Don't have much different to say than other folks, but here goes..... In the vial: Amber! with a spicy/cinnamon edge. Loving it at this point! Wearing: The hot spiciness disappears almost immediately and a grassy smell takes it's place. It stays pretty equally balanced between amber and grass on me the whole time. It's a very mellow close-to-the-skin scent on me which I actually really like - I just wish it had a little more to it. It's kind of just "fine" on me. Nothing to write home about. If it stayed the way it did in the bottle it'd likely be a signature scent - bummer.

In the vial, I get cedar, a bit of sandalwood, and a bit of something astringent-ish (think lemon, pine, eucalyptus - along those lines)- smells nice and woody, like some of my fave bpals. Upon application - this turns immediately, and unrepentantly, into root beer (yes! just as others have said!) and STRONG cedar. And stays that way until the end. Bummer - I thought I would really like this, but this soda-sweetness plus cedar is a no-go on me. I think I will attribute this to the "lotus hates me" factor.

I think she might like Belle Epoque or the Living Flame

Wow. Really surprised here. Yet another scent that from the Lab description and reviews sounded nice but not really "me". Turns out I REALLY like it. Silk Road smells largely the same in the vial, wet and dry on me, though less grassy when dry. And it really is hard to describe. First overall impression is the smell that hits me when I walk into my favorite occult shop. The main notes smell to me like green grass, ginger, and amber accented with bits of pepper, and perhaps frankincense and saffron flowers? (I could be totally wrong on any and all of this, of course) It is green, spicy (but NOT in a sweet or foody way), a touch floral and yes, incensey on me. (I know that might disappoint some folks) But I LOVE incense scents, and this is sort of a kinder, gentler one in that category - well-suited to someone that loves the heavy stuff but wants something lighter for day, office or summer use. (Also - it gets MUCH lighter on the "incense" aspect after 30-60 minutes and dries down to a scent that I think most would love.)

I was sure I wouldn't like this but I always want to try the most popular scents despite that. Through lucky circumstances in a swap with Kellia (thanks!) I got to try it. And I'm surprised. In the vial, the bergamot and honey give it an earl grey tea type smell. But wearing, those scents fade to the background and it's mostly milk and powdery carnation on me, with tiny hints of rose here and there. I LOVE that that the milky scent actually is noticeable and true on me (because in so many of the other blends it either outright disappears or is a bit "turned" on me, and is one of my biggest BPAL heartbreaks) It does have a bit of that baby powder aspect, but I don't find it to be too overwhelming or offensive, stays pretty close to the skin. And it doesn't go overwhelmingly sweet on me at all, as many blends with honey do. It makes for a lovely, light, feminine spring/summery scent and invokes the idea of "Alice" just perfectly. It's SO not a "me" scent, but honestly, I can't stop sniffing myself when wearing it. And I keep thinking I'll give the imp to my sister, because it's very much a "her" scent, but somehow I keep "forgetting" to. In summary: a very unexpected like for me.

I have to agree completely with Penance's analysis - this DOES smell like those cinnamon honey straws! It smells pretty much the same to me in the vial, upon application and during drydown, although the honey is most prevalent on me. It's funny - others have said it's light, but on me it's very loud and sweet (b/c as I've mentioned on many other reviews - my skin blows honey up like crazy) It's not something I would generally wear at all, so I've relegated it to strictly use with intention. I use this whenever i need creative inspiration in a hurry on a design project, and let me tell you this WORKS. Of all the bpal voodoo blends I have tried so far, this has been the one that works best for me for it's intended purpose.

In the vial it smells green and woodsy/herbally but on a darker note, like the woods at night. I really like it at this point and upon initial application. During the drydown it becomes more floral, but not overly so - more of a layer on top of the original scent - it smells like lilies to me, actually, but lightly. In fact the whole scent is very light on me, more than I would have expected, and it fades very quickly on me, which is a bummer. It's walking through a cemetery at night in springtime, pausing next to an as-yet-to-be buried casket that still has flowers strewn across it.

In the bottle, Brisingamen is a very smooth blend, with the amber as a base and glimpses of apple blossom and carnation. Upon initial application and for perhaps 30 - 60 minutes I get a very definite soapy smell that I wasn't really crazy about, but after that the scent mellows quite a bit and attains the total blend of notes that I smell in the vial. I was actually hoping the amber would be more predominant than it is, but my skin tends to eat it up, so others will probably get more of it. The carnation and apple blossom are very definite presences, yet this blend does not read as overtly "floral" at all (the resin and wood of the amber and myrtle totally grounds it) It's definitely a nice, light warm-weather fragrance, yet still complex and unique enough to be interesting (sometimes I find lighter fragrances to be "boring", for lack of a better word) I'm actually really looking for a summer one right now, but I don't think I've found it just yet. (Though I will admit to having little second thoughts right now about having already sent the imp to someone else! I think a lot of people will really like this.)

I love the notes in this and and hoped it would be perfect for me, but it just isn't working out. (It's one of those blends that i just know will be great on some of you folks - but not with my wacky chemistry.) Honey gets really loud on me in many of the blends, and in this blend it sort of overpowers everything else (I too would never guess the rest of the contents - and they are notes that i'm very familiar with and love in other blends!). The rest kind of blends together to create this grassy, almost swampy note mixed with the honey. Not good. This is already on it's way to another home.

I agree that Love Me is both sweet and smoky - the incensey-floral coca-cola descriptions sound dead on. In fact, on me, this is very reminiscent of Voodoo, if you substituted the lime in Voodoo with the Jasmine in this blend. Unfortunately, the sharpness of the pine and lime in Voodoo is what makes it very wearable for me. Love Me is not so much.

Dragon's Blood can go insanely floral on me too, at times, and it really sort of does in this one. My skin also amps up leather which adds up to this being one STRONG scent on me. And it ends up being just that - simply dragon's blood and leather. I'm undecided on this one right now.

This is a sweet-ish, musky floral on me, leaning more towards the musky side upon dry-down. Not sure on the notes - maybe some lotus? (which is a sweet floral on me). Or perhaps Jasmine and vanilla? It's not spicy on me, it's rather soft and gentle, more pink than red if you will. The undertones remind me a bit of Wolf Moon, actually, (if you were one of the people that got floral from that) but warmer and sweeter. I think if you liked that one, or perhaps Le Serpent Qui Danse or Belle Epoque type of scents, you will like this one. I didn't outright dislike it, but it's just not me - it deserves a better home!

I hate to be so unoriginal, but while he indulges my Bpal experimentations, the only ones that have prompted an unsolicited "you smell good!" are Snake Oil and Dragon's Milk.

Yes! I agree with ChupaChup - try Voodoo! It is definitely complex and changeable. At various points of the day the emphasis on one aspect or another may shift, but it's usually most prominently featuring a blend of lime and cloves, with some vanilla and almond, on top of a bit of an incensy/smoky base lurking in the background. It's very unique. (Okay, I'm done stumping for this scent for today-it's a current obsession.)

So sad. I loved this in the bottle and upon first application - a beautiful strong, yet not too sharp, aquatic mint. I thought I had FINALLY found my perfect mint fragrance. But then.....attack of the lotus. I really do NOT get along with lotus at all. It has ruined other blends for me that I know for sure have it, and still others (frost moon, wolf moon, snow white) that i suspect have it. I am one of those unfortunates who get a very strong and weird sweet/plastic-y smell from lotus that no other ingredient seems to be able to tame. Sigh.

I agree with the mentions of Black Phoenix and would add Dragon's Milk.

I love forest scents and have tried most of them..... Everybody's chemistry is different, but I concur with the suggestions for you of Hamadryad, Dublin and Ygdrassil - they may be the most what you're looking for. Black Forest was nice but actually read as too masculine on me. You might want to try Wolfsbane and Hemlock as well. (Many people don't like Hemlock, and I don't like the way it smells in the vial, but on me it turns into a sort of light, sweet-ish pine.)

My skin really amps up leather, so contary to many of the posts I've read, I actually really smell the leather, combined with true red rose in pretty equal proportions. It smells like this in the vial, and when first applied, and I really like it at both those points, but after about an hour, the combination goes powdery and starts to have that old-lady-ish quality. So ultimately, it doesn't work for me.

Okay, so here I am complaining in other reviews that my skin devours cinnamon - many scents that people describe as having cinnamon in them are just lost on me -and now here is a scent that is ALL CINNAMON and well - it's just too much. As others have said, this smells exactly like Red-Hots. I love eating them, but I just don't want to smell like cinnamon candy. This is just sweet cinnamon on me, and after an hour or so, there's sort of an almost mossy smell lurking in the background (where this is coming from I have no idea) that makes this EVEN WORSE on me.

In the vial it's very sweet-smelling. Smells like cherry sweet-tarts, which is probably the dragon's blood (sweet)/wine (tart) combo. Upon application, the rose really comes out and the cherry-ness fades and the wine pretty much disappears. The combo is perfectly split between rose and dragon's blood (which is cherry/spicey on me), reading as a rather sweet, heady floral, but not totally overbearing because of the incense backdrop of the dragon's blood, which becomes more prominent in the dry-down. (Although could just be me because dragon's blood ALWAYS becomes prominent on me) Except for the rosier initial hour or so, the hours-later dry-down smells a lot like Blood on me. Normally I would maybe not love, but definitely like, both of these scents, but I have a friend that just BATHES in a magical oil that's really similar to these two, and it's sort of ruined me for ever using anything similar on myself. Or even smelling them too much.

I have had no prior affinity towards Egypt or the gods and goddesses of that pantheon, which didn't make me that excited to try this immediately. (Yes, my scent choices are often initially persuaded by certain names/associations that appeal.) Not to mention the whole "God of Embalming and Guide and Friend of the Dead " thing being not so much something I feel like evoking these days. But I guess I can't deny my dark side - i love this stuff. In the bottle, this smells balsam-y and herbal-y - almost, but not quite medicinal. However, upon wearing I get a real blast of sweetness that totally reads as honey on me. Maybe there's some in the blend, or maybe it's the storax, which i think can lend a sweetness (though I could be wrong). The sweetness mellows and blends with the balsam and myrrh and other goodies and creates a truly unique resinous scent - words are kind of failing me. Whoever has mentioned that it reads as "golden" and "ancient" are dead-on. (hah!) Edited to Add: I still like this, but it's no longer in the "love" category. Everytime I wear it, it's gone sweeter and the sweetness lasts longer. My skin loves the bpal honey/sweet notes - too much at times.

Well - I get mostly strong patchouli from this, both in the bottle and wearing. Coiled Serpent is a little more interesting than that makes it sound, because there are some other notes floating around in the background that I can't quite place, but the patchouli definitely takes over on me. I actually do like patchouli, but more as a note in a blend - not straight-up. And since I haven't been to yoga in a year, the "proper use" aspect of this oil doesn't really apply for me right now either. And oddly (for such a strong scent initially) it seems to fade really quickly on me.