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BPAL Madness!

303marlena

Barred from swapping
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Everything posted by 303marlena

  1. 2nd the Asp Viper, since it has Myrrh and you already know you like Snake oil. I would also say Midnight Mass if you can get your hands on some.
  2. 303marlena

    Voodoo Lily

    I think its quite odd that so many members are smelling different notes with the Lily...Maybe thats the VOODOO part! I got the limey jelly-bean smell someone else mentioned and then maybe some citrus, I think orange or lime. As it dries, I get sharper, herbier flavors, I thought maybe vetiver, but not in a bad way. Underneath it all is the lovely smell of lilies , not quite soapy but warm and sweet. I agree that the overall impression is Lily--with an exotic twist . It morphs a bit too.
  3. 303marlena

    Beaver Moon 2005

    Delicious!!! Wet, it smells like cake mix before you pop it in the oven. Moist, vanilla, doughy goodness. On the skin, it acquires a slightly cheesy aroma, like the creamcheese frosting others have compared it to. On the dry down, I smell cupcakes and occasionally the vanilla frosting aspect. Less of the vanilla cheesecake I got at first. I am sitting at my desk at work typing and a coworker just walked by and said, "Do you have cookies? I smell cookies!" I told her it was my fragrance and man, did she look disappointed. Personally, I like smelling like cupcakes. IF you do also, get your hands on some. I am considering putting this particular oil on a part of my anatomy I would like my boyfriend to taste! Gives an interesting connotation to the name, doesn't it? There is only one tiny drawback to this oil. The more I wear it, the more I want to eat some cupcakes, cake, or cookies! Probably not good if you are on a diet!
  4. 303marlena

    Horn of Plenty

    We have another Winner here. Let me first disclose that I smelled this without any preconceived notions, unlike my usual obsessive way of reading the ingredients first. Also, as I received this as an imp, I had NO IDEA it was a voodoo blend. So my interpretation of "horn of plenty" was "oh, like a corucopia that you have at Thanksgiving, or, if your Pagan, Samhain!" And, interestingly, my preconceived notion possible influenced my interpretation of the blend, because I found myself thinking--ahhhhh this smells like Thanksgiving. When the pies and desserts are heating up in the background as everyone sits down to dinner to eat. Of course I don't smell any turkey! But there are pie smells in the background, buttery smells, cherry or cranberry! blended in, and subtle herbs and spices. There is also a warm feeling, and a touch of vanilla and almond. The almonds and ?cherries are not overpowering though, and everything is well blended. I cannot attest to its voodoo properties, but it makes you feel prosperous. This is a nice somewhat foody blend that isn't too sweet or screaming "Eat me, I smell like cookies." Good wearlength, and I'd say medium throw as well. I will use up and hoard more imps, and I am considering buying a big bottle.
  5. 303marlena

    Xiuhtecuhtli

    Xiuhtecuhtli is without a doubt one of my OMG blends. Besides the fact that I adore anything Aztec, the imagery behind this one also caught my interest. In the imp--actually I should say in the little plastic jar I decanted my imp into, as my imp top broke off half way in the imp and I couldn't recap it so scrambled quickly to find an alternate container --anyway, in the container, it smells overwhelming sweet but also mysteriously compelling and sexy, the copal I am thinking, since I have never (knowingly) smelled it before. On the flesh, this is simply divine. Otherworldly. Aztec! It is smokey, with a sweet resin vibe and the sweet orange and (by me at least) unidentified tropical blooms peeking through. It has good throw and excellent wearlength too. Sexxxxxy, sweeeeet, resinnnny goodness with an orange twist. I love it!!!!
  6. 303marlena

    Loving the frankincense!

    Midnight Mass--it is the holy grail of frankincense!
  7. 303marlena

    Belle Époque

    This is another OMG blend. I go kookoo for anything with vanilla and sandalwood. The mandarin is a great touch which balances out the sweetness of the other two. I don;t know what opium smells like , as others on the thread have mentioned, but I definety identify the swooning feeling I get from wafting the scent of the perfume. The smell of the lily of the valley takes a little longer coming out but it complements the blend beautifully. I get a nostalgic feeling with the scent, which I also feel is feminine and romantic. Normally, I am more into the herbals and incense smells, but this floral is a real beauty.
  8. 303marlena

    Yggdrasil

    This scent is definitely in my top ten, or at least top ten GC scents! It smells like the odor of the trees and vegetation when you are walking in the woods and the leaves are in varying stages of decomposition. When the sun is peeking through a thick canopy of leaves and making the scent warm up in the piles of vegetation on the forest floor. There is a dusty dry leaves odor mixed with the scent of the bark and the fresh leaves also. I don't smell any pine or citrus. There is a smell of lovely dried herbs in the background, but I don't dectect any specific smells such as lavender or mint. The "bark" smells like either cedarwood or sandalwood. Definitely this scent captures the olfactory essence of the "world tree." I would say its the quintessentual wooded scent. Brilliant!
  9. 303marlena

    Wanda

    At first, wanda smells sweet and a little boozey, not unlike the way Lady MacBeth or Bordello begins. As it warms up on my skin, I can detect a faint hint of floral, just enough to sweeten the wine note, not enough to overpower. I sniffed before I read, which is good, because I would not have had the courage to try if I had known both violets and roses are present, which can turn wacky on me . Luckily, that never happened, they stay in the background as a light floral backdrop if you will. Like you are sitting and smelling the cork of a lovely red wine with maybe blackberry notes and there is a bouquet of roses and violets in the background. The myrtle note is a little stronger, and blends well with the wine scent. A little later, the leather warms up and adds to the symphony of notes, but again, it is blended well and does not, well, dominate the mix! The sexual skin aspects blends in well and adds a tone of seduction to the whole thing. Individual notes are hard to distinguish, but it blends well into a very seductive, slightly sweet, slightly drunken, a little bit of leather (whip cracking noises in the background) impression. Very sexy, a little naughty, and somewhat tipsy as well. On the drydown, more of the same, minus the drunken sensation. Overall, VERY VERY good. I expect this will be a favorite.
  10. 303marlena

    Harlot

    Purchased a 5 ml of this, taking a chance and I am glad that I did. I smelled first and then read other reviews, because I don't trust my nose just yet at picking out the individual notes. Wet, in the bottle, my impression was of wet roses, you know when you get them as a bouquet or smell them still wet? I did not detect any cinnamon, which is interesting as I found most of the reviewers previous to my post either detected a predominance of roses or cinnamon and it seemed to be pretty equally split. I wonder if this bottle has aged a bit, which I read in another review will dampen the odor of the cinnamon a bit. Wet on the wrist: Still roses and I can barely detect a citrus type note, I thought was lemon but read later was citronella. Still no cinnamon or spice. If you put your nose to the rose bud and smell, this is what it smells like. Its warm thought, not cool as roses usually are when dry, maybe thats the cinnamon or the citrus note blending. Dry down: Dry roses. The way they smell on the bush with the sun shining on them and warm air wafting the scent to your nose. Not soapy or powdery at all for me. I like roses a lot and this was a beautiful scent. Wearing it made me feel pretty and sexy, but not an in your face way, more like the librarian who can get wild if the right person and circumstances permit... Overall impression: If you like roses, this was very, very good. The rose notes predominated for me throughout. If your bottle has too much cinnamon note, let it age a bit. Although, it was not very complex, it was sexy and sweet in an understated way. The roses were beautiful and there was medium throw and short to medium wearlength. I think it would be better layered, I am going to try and find an imp with more "spice" in it to mix...
  11. 303marlena

    Lotus Moon 2006

    I took a chance on Lotus Moon and it really suprised me in a good way. In the bottle, it smells bubble-gummy as others have mentioned, but not too sweet to me. I can detect what I think is the lotus mainly, it is a sweet pink flower smell, similar to peony. (I have never smelled single note lotus) On the wrist it smells less intensely sweet, a pink flowery smell. Underneath the sweetness, I detect the amber smelling "goldenish" and the resin of the pine. I never got the sharp smell of pine like with other oils, just a sweet resinous "base note", which is understated. I never smelled the opium but maybe I sensed it as my impression of the oil was as if I was daydreaming. Overall I felt sweet, feminine, just a little sexy, and mysterious... On the dry down it was like pink cotton candy, not too sweet but dry with an almost vanilla flavor, perhaps thats the amber drying. It had a lickable quality to it then, no I didn't taste it though. The pine really did not last and was never intense, I really did not detect it at all after the dry down. Not much of a morpher, not much throw although some. Pretty good wearlength, not the best but lasted about 3 to 4 hours or so. I'd like to try it with a scent locket. Overall impression: Sweet lotus, sophisticated and understated but feminine, with a warm, amber base and just a "hint" of pine resin to ground it. Lovely and unique. Glad I have a 5 ml. Will be looking to hoarde more...
  12. 303marlena

    Cordelia

    In the bottle, I smell florals, at first I thought was honeysuckle, but learned from reading the notes it was wisteria--a wistful, sort of nostalgic scent. I do smelly mild "woodsy" underneath and a more sharp, perhaps you may say "astringent" green smell. I am not good a picking out individual notes so I just describe the olfactory impressions I get, hope that helps the other peeps out there like me who are not quite adept at picking out individual notes. Wet/on the wrist: I would say if this scent were a color it would be green and white swirl! there are soft, white florals, not too overpowering, wood in the background, and green, fresh scent mixed Dry: This one morphs a bit, but not as much as others I have sniffed. It did go thru a "lemon pledge" phase, that someone else mentioned, which had me worried, as I really liked it initially. Fortunately this did not last long and the light, sweet florals returned with the base wood and fainter green scent. Throw was mild. Wearlength alas was not as long as I would have hoped, although I would like to try putting it in a scent locket/diffuser as some have suggested on other reviews. If this had better throw and wearlength, it would definitely be bigbottleworthy The wisteria definitely reminds me of warm sunny evenings in the South when the wisteria would bloom and throw out this heavely aroma. I did not really pick up much tea smell, or at least I did not recognize it if I did. Lemon smell did not last much past the "Pledge phase" and I am not sure if I smelled lilac as I am not recalling what it smells like. Perhaps because I was focused on the warm, sweet, nostalgic odor of the wisteria. If you like them, this is definitely a scent you should try. As is, I will have to try the imp with a scent locket I have on order from ebay. IF it increases the throw and wearlength--I will be scouting out a 5 or 10 ml, its that nice. Very feminine without being too sweet and outdoorsy without being I dunno, smelling like a cedarchest perhaps??
  13. 303marlena

    #20 Love Oil

    This is my first review and let me just say I am not that experienced at picking out individual notes, but when I describe something I am smelling, which is kinda hard if you think about it, I can only compare it to things I have smelled before, and I try to compare it to common stuff other sniffers would have sniffed before, so here it goes.. first, this was odd, and not at all what I expected (i purposefully did not read any other reviews first before smelling) not super sexy as I would have predicted. in the imp: sickeningly sweet, somewhat almondy and cherry like amaretto liqueur on the wrist, wet, more almonds, less cherry and sweet but not drop dead sexy either dry, a few minutes later, it smells like snickerdoodle cookies inside a wooden cigar box drier, about 20 minutes later, this was the phaze I liked the best, it was like dried herbs, cinnamon toast, with the roses starting to peak through 30 minutes, roses predominate, getting a little soapy (damn, I hate it when that happens ) 50 minutes, the soap is gone, thank goodness, all i can smell is soft roses this was nice, I liked the way it morphed but it did not really last. Definitely keeping the imp. Whether or not I buy a bottle will depend on whether or not it delivers later on the voodoo properties, hee hee . Had my sweetums sniff it, he did not seem particularly amorous (any more than usual, I was on my way to work after all) We will have to see. If there is a dramatic love potion effect, then I will post again, otherwise, nada...but it is a nice smell and I am keeping the imp marla
  14. 303marlena

    Beachy, Tropical Scents

    thanks portalkat, I will have to try me some Thalassa... Marla Thanks Electra, I will try that Thalassa and the other 2 mentioned by portalkat--Tempest and Caliban. I think I have the other 2 on order... wandering off to swaps to find some Thalassa
  15. 303marlena

    Beachy, Tropical Scents

    I have fallen "in love" with the home fragrance from Crabtree and Evelyn called "Salt Air" It smells like a crisp breeze coming off the beach in midmorning. Any BPAL smellumwizards or witches out there can recommend a BPAL smell-alike? I would love to smell exactly like that home fragrance but it probably isn't safe for skin and it does not last very long disappointingly... marla
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