Tesseljoan

This one is so hard ro describe. When it's dry, I can smell the violets and a little musk, with a hint of powder underneath. There's more to it, the notes are definitely well-blended and hard to distinguish. It is very lady-like and beautiful. As someone who is thouroughly scared of florals I can say this works and might for others for whom florals are their nemesis.

This smells lovely and a bit like a creamy vanilla in the bottle. On my skin, Black Opal becomes drier and develops into.... Antique Lace. Dead on, I swear. Side-by-side testing showed that Black Opal is just a tiny bit creamier then AL>

 

 

Stop staring at me. I KNOW I have weird skin chemistry.

I used this for a presentation. Me + social anxiety = need every help for presentations I can get.

I wasn't any less nervous, but I felt I spoke with authority, and my classmates confirmed it. One even said that I spoke 'with balls', so it works really well.

 

scent-wise, I'm not fond of it, I can smell notes which are fine and dandy indiviually, they just don't work in a blend. I don't give a rat's arse and will continue to use this, though.

 

Edited to add: I wore this again to a party. I applied to all chakra points, and put some in my hair. When I was waiting for my tram, I struck up a conversation with a stranger. I had another conversation in the tram, with someone else. I wasn't as chatty at the party, but I had a good evening. Those few moments I had no-one to talk to (you know, when your mate goes to the bar and gets a drink and everyone around you is deeply engaged in conversations of their own), I felt absolutely fine. No anxiety. Once again, great oil.

Mod Note: FYI, there is another 'Meditation' oil/review topic located in the general category of TAL.

 

 

I put this on my temples and my forehead as instructed, and meditated. I have used Concentration for meditating as well, as an experiment, but this oil is much calmer, and therefore much better suited for mindfulness meditation. It gives a gentle nudge whenever my mind starts to drift off (whereas Concentration would hit me back into concentrating and focusing). I have tried this on only one session, I will update when I have used it a bit longer.

 

I don't feel comfortable giving a complete scent description, but I will say that I can smell violets and I don't detect any "controversial" notes, such as vetiver, civet or patchouli.

 

Edit: but a patch test might be a good idea (a patch test is always a good idea). My skin turned just a wee bit red from this. Nothing painful, though.

From the bottle I do get a whiff of cocoa underneath the citrus, but it disappears on my skin, and becomes almost exclusively citrus. When it dries down, I smell more spices with the citrus, especially the saffron comes to the foreground. I can also smell the Tonka, it always gets a bit sickly sweet on me. Later on, I can smell a mildly citrus blend, with herbs and spices.

The Scales of deprivation reminds me of how a church smells. At first, a citrus note is dominant, but that disappears very quickly in the black scent that the Scales turns out to be. It makes Umbra smell like a pleasant stroll. The darker notes blend in perfectly, and it defies description even in my own language. It is beautiful.

When first tried this scent years ago, I hated anything that smelled earthy. I have a bit more tolerance for earthy scents now, and I got Greed as a free imp again from the lab. On me, this smells much like glorious incense, with a dirt note slithering underneath that comes up every so often.

 

Did I mention how much I love Beth's concepts madde into scents? This is perfect.

Death on a pale horse smells much earthier out of the vial then on the skin. On me, it smells pale and fresh. It's light musk with fruit twirled in. It's not light and and summery per se, it does have some body to it.

I don't drink Martini, but I must say that as a scent I find it exquisite. It's light and pleasant, little bit of herbs, not too much, fresh and gentle..

 

On my skin, lasts for about three seconds. After writing this short review I have to reapply again. Will do so with pleasure!

It smells of sweet light flowers. I think I detect tea rose in there, but I'm not sure. There is a dusty layer over that, which is quite soft and pleasant.

Bug repellent.

 

So sorry because the idea behind the scent is so beautiful. Not on my skin though.

When I used this blend, I did a little meditation to clear my mind and focus on my goals for the day (I found out the hard way I had to be VERY SPECIFIC. I used this once without specifying my goals explicitly, and I spend a good portion of the day working on my Tarot studies, instead of what I should have been doing. YMMV, but that was my experience). I am incredibly impressed so far. When I wear it, I just don't stop until I have done my goals, and I seem to have acquired a distaste for procrastination.

Scent-wise I actually quite like it, which is a bonus.

 

Edited for an update: Still excellent stuff, but in addition to being VERY specific about what you want to accomplish, be realistic as well. I've fallen into this little trap a few times now where I take goals that can't be realistically done in a day. With Determination on, I stay up and about, without eating or sleeping, untill it's DONE. The time I did try to go to bed, I lied awake for hours, thinking about what I should be doing. It's fantastic stuff, but potent.

I really needed this. I have some procrastination issues, and usually only get worried by a deadline when it's staring me in the face..

I used this once so far, for writing an article that's due tomorrow. I inhaled, sat myself behind my work computer and suddenly felt motivated, of all things. Did a good half hour of non-stop writing (which is remarkebly long for me), and I'm well underway for tomorrow. Good stuff, will need gallons of this for when I start working on my thesis.

Edited to add: While I'm waiting on a TAL order with Meditation in it, I decided to try Concentration for single-pointed concentration meditation (I'm not sure how to say it in English, but it's the kind where you focus on a single point. I usually practice mindfulness, but I decided to experiment with this blend and see what it would do). It works quite well for this kind of meditation. I was able to sit longer then usual and felt my mind wander off less. I usually use this blend when I need to get work done, but it turned out to be useful in this aspect as well. Will continue to experiment.

Ah, another freebie from the lab which shows they know best. Blood is one of those scents that I keep meaning to get but never get round to. And I really should have done so sooner. This scent is cherry-licious, but not too much so. It's as red as I expected the Living Flame to be. Flowers, fruit and incensey clove mingle together nicely.

I got this as a freebie from he lab. I would never, in a hundred million years, have ordered Umbra myself. Patchouli, cedarwood and vetiver? No way.

 

I'm glad the lab threw this in, and I'm glad that I'm so stubborn to test every single blend, no matter how unappealing they may seem to me.

 

Because Umbra is stunning. It definitely has a sandalwood-esque-ness to it, because it smells dry, but it is so deep, dark and velvet-y and simply beautiful. From the amount of reviews, I'd say this is a very underrated scent. Try it, it deserves more love.

I hesitated to add a review of Muse, because I really don't have a lot to say about it. I decided to do it anyway for someone whose chemistry might be similar to mine: this will turn pure white floral on you. Try it if you if you must, but it won't work on you. Sorry.

 

 

(seriously, anyone want to swap my skin??)

Silk road on me is a lovely cinnamon with a bit of orange, and possibly a bit of amber. One reviewer said it reminded her of Snake oil and Three witches, and I agree, but like to add Aunt Caroline's money draw as well. The cinnamon stays very true and spicy on my skin. Surprisingly lovely scent.

13 straight out of the bottle smells like fruity cocolate. On my skin, it morphs into flowery fruit, with that bit of chocolate underneath. I agree with the reviewer above who said it was a classy scent.

I find Baghdad hard to describe by itself, so I'll just say that on my skin, it smells similar to a less cirtussy, more rosey Scherezade. The rose makes it a little soapy, so I prefer Scherezade over Baghdad.

Eden is glorious on my skin when it's wet. It smells of almond and vanilla and other good edible things (edible is good in my perfume-book). and then... fig. Fig always seems to turn into a cheap, nasty potpourri scent. So after the dry down, Eden is absolutely not for me.

The first thing I smell from Nanshe is Clary Sage. After a while, it develops into a lemon-esque scent, but more the herby kind (lemongrass, bergamot). Quite nice as a scent, will try this too to remember my dreams.

 

BTW, this is the 200th BPAL scent I've ever tried

 

 

Edited to add something: I know this blend is used to aid in understanding dreams, but when I started to write on my daily draw tarot card, I simply couldn't stop. Where I am nomally like: 'o it has pomegranates... uhm.. that gots to mean summin'...' I think I wrote 3 A4's about what I preceived to be the card's meaning. Interesting blend, this.

IN the vial Nocnitsa smells like a forest with the dusty smell of an old stone church. Ever since I've been to Florence, I adore the scent of stone churches, so this one seemed perfect. On my skin though, it turns into a pungent after shave smell, and I smell like the kind of guy that has an after shave cloud twenty feet around him, with his hair slicked back (you know the type). so....... this goes into my oil burner, to make my room smell like a dusty stone church in a pine forest.

Faustus is mainly Frankincense in the wet stages. It is still the dominant note when dry, but the violet is more noticeble, and since I associate violet with velvet (the cloth not the scent) it has a very luxurious aura. I *think* I smell cinnamon as well, but I'm not sure. There is a bit of sharpness in the scent which could be the cinnamon, or my skin chemistry.

Initially, Nemesis went a bit chaotic on my skin, with the fruit, flowers and ppatchouli all wanting my attention, but now it has turned into fig. Unfortunately, fig turns into a artificial cheap potpourri scent on my skin.

Chaos Theory CCCXLVI (346)

 

Now this shows how crap I am at picking out notes from perfumes without help from previous reviews. However, I can say that Chaos Theory 346 is an interesting mx between food and floral and fresh. I think there is Lotus in it, and that becomes dominant on my skin. Very faintly in the background, there is a slight burnt sugar smell that I get from Sugar Skull as well. The unusual pairing of the two make an interesting scent. It is perhaps a little too flowery for me, but I find myself already attached to this bottle since it is so unique.