These reviews are for pink.owl #2 package, which contains Aeval, Carnal, Hecate, Morocco, O, Red Queen, and R'lyeh.

Aeval - A judicious yet powerfully sensual blend, a mingling of justice and sexuality: sage, sweet pea, bold pale musk and warm tonka. This oil smells almost entirely of sweet pea. It's way too sweet and way too floral for me, plus it's approaching powdery. This is just not at all something I would wear.

Carnal - Bold, bright mandarin paired with the sweet, sensual earthiness of fig. At first it's almost entirely an orange scent that's quite strong. Then that fades out as the oil dries, and it ends up being a wonderful and nearly equal balance of rich fig and sweet bright mandarin. These are both among my favorite notes (especially fig), so I had assumed I would like this, and I definitely do. It's lush, round, and sweet -- divine!

Also it reminds me a bit of Freak Show, so anyone who likes Carnal should check out that one.

Hecate - Their scent is the crisp, inviting bittersweet tang of cranberry with smoky dark lilies, heady, sensual musk, a tingle of ginger and a brush of Mediterranean spices. The first time I tried this I thought it smelled smoky, hazy, and dark. Then I got a frimp from the Lab, so I tried this new one. It smells like cherries to me at first, not cranberries, definitely cherries. As it dries I think I can detect a little bit of ginger, but not much. There is something in this that strongly reminds me of the Glade air freshener (you remember those can-like things with the scented jelly-type stuff inside) that my grandma used to keep on the back of her toilet. So, as you can guess, I don't really want to smell like that. As it's drying it doesn't smell quite as much like the air freshener, but now that I've got that image in my head I can't get it out. The scent is getting better as time goes by, but now it's turning powdery.

I kinda wish this one smelled like that first imp I had... wonder what I did with that one. I'll see if I can track it down.

Morocco - Arabian spices wind through a blend of warm musk, carnation, red sandalwood and cassia. I was rather meh about Morocco the first couple of times I tried it. It seemed to be terribly popular, and I couldn't see what all the fuss was about. I thought the carnation was too strong and I thought the whole thing smelled dry like a desert and unpleasant.

Then I got a frimp of Morocco from the Lab, so I decided to try it again. This time it's wonderful. The sandalwood and cassia is a great combination (and the cassia fortunately doesn't overpower everything else)... mmm, musky, dry, and spicy. And there's something creamy under there too. It's exotic and mysterious, and I love it!

I think that the first time I tried this it was wintertime, and that was the wrong time to try this. It is perfect for a very hot summer day like today, just perfect. Wow. I can't believe how much my opinion about this oil has changed in just a few short months.

Also I have a hunch that I should get a big bottle of this and put it in the back of my closet for about a year to let it age.

O - Amber and honey with a touch of vanilla. [Reviewed on Feb. 22, 2006; updated review on Aug. 1, 2006.] Not much I can say that hasn't been said. On me, it's honey and vanilla -- after a while it warms up into a honey musk.

After reading the reviews I was expecting O to bowl me over with sexiness, but it doesn't. (I guess Scherezade is still the reigning champ of sexy, for me.) It's not really what I expected.

ETA: After trying many BPAL blends, I now know why O didn't work for me -- my skin turns the BPAL honey note to play-doh. However I have found that Mouse's Long and Sad Tale works great on me and is sort of what I was expecting O to smell like.

Red Queen - Deep mahogany and rich, velvety woods lacquered with sweet, black-red cherries and currant. [Reviewed on Mar. 13, 2006.] Very cherry at first. Not at all like cough syrup or fake cherry flavoring. Like I just stuck my nose in a jar of maraschino cherries. (Which is not to say The Red Queen smells like almonds, becasue I don't think it does.)

It's really faint, which surprised me. For The Red Queen, I expected a much bolder and stronger scent. It's sweet and candy-ish, but not at all strong. After about 20 minutes the wood notes come out and give it a nice balance.

I don't think this is for me, but it would be good for someone who likes the sweet resiny-wood blends.

R'lyeh - A hellishly dark aquatic scent, evocative of fathomless oceanic deeps, the mysteries of madness buried under crushing black waters, and the brooding eternal evil that lies beneath the waves. Of the aquatic scents, I think this one is my favorite. It doesn't smell stinging in that way that ozone often does on me, instead it smells like clear, clean water. Like water in a fountain. Except better. I don't actually get anything evil out of this, nothing that evokes dark oceanic depths. Mostly it smells clean and fresh. My only complaint about this is that it softens up a bit too quickly and becomes faint... which is also unusual for an aquatic scent on my skin. Usually they're a little too loud for me. It figures that the one that I like a lot would be the only one that doesn't amp itself into the atmosphere.

I wrote that paragraph before I looked at the other reviews, and now I want to add this:

1) Grapefruit? I wouldn't have guessed that. I have my doubts that Beth would put grapefruit, which smells sparkly, into something that's supposed to be like fathomless darkness... but maybe. I don't know -- I'm going to be a hard sell on the grapefruit possibility. I'm just not getting that. I guess there might be some citrus in there giving it that "fresh" feel, but it's not strong enough for me to be able to pick it out.

2) I agree with edenssixthday that most aquatic scents smell masculine on me. I blame that damn Cool Water cologne that everyone and his brother wore 10 years ago.