Lucy’s Kiss – Love Potions

Notes: rose, victorian spices

In the imp: weak, watery rose

On the skin: smells like a weak tea rose on me. There’s only about 3 BPAL rose blends that I can do and this is not one of them. I find this to be weak, watery, with a slight chemical tang. The spices are there but they do not compliment the rose well on my skin nor to my nose.

Smelled while outside (it’s so cold here, -2*F), my hand smells good, especially from a distance. The rose was nice, sweet, pretty. I didn’t get that weak chemical smell. And after washing my hands, Lucy’s Kiss is still sticking around – now the rose is taking on a powdery aspect and the rose scent has smoothed out. I think that I prefer this scent in smaller doses. Not enough to want a bottle but maybe enough to keep an imp.

Viola – Illyria

Notes: tea rose, lilac, calla lily, somalian rose, amber, spanish moss, red sandalwood, rosewood, myrrh, mandarin

In the imp: rose, flowers, but tempered and softened

On the skin: mainly a soft rose mixed with some other flowers. The resins and woods soften and moderate the flowers, adding a richness and sensuality to the blend. It’s a quiet scent and it stays close to the skin. This is really pretty scent, soft and gentle. I doubt that I’d wear it much but I’ve enjoyed trying it.

Tisiphone – Excolo

Notes: oleander with black patchouli, ylang ylang, and neroli.

This oil smells dark, slightly floral. Wet, I can smell the patchouli, but there’s the richness of flowers. It smells like incense to me, despite it not having any traditional incense notes. As it wears the patchouli melds really well with the other notes while still being present and quite prominent. I’m not sure what oleander smells like, and I’m having a hard time trying to describe this scent or link it to the listed ingredients. The best way I can describe it, once dry, is that it’s slightly sweet, heady, rich, dark, and softly floral. A fine layer of powder is present and adds an old fashioned air to this scent. The dark oils almost smell hot. This is an unusual scent and one that I’m glad to have tried.

Spellbound - Love Potions

Notes: 3 roses, amber, red musk

In the imp this smells very much like Fenris Wolf – the red musk and amber dominate the scent. Once applied, the red musk softens and the roses peek through. The roses interweave with the amber and the musk provides a stunning backdrop. As it wears the roses take on a slightly powdery smell, but still meld well with the amber and musk. The amber reminds me of the amber in Sin, which is a good thing. There’s a smoothness to this scent and reminds me of polished wood, even though wood is not a part of this scent. The best words for this scent: smooth, dark, slinky, and sexy.

Voodoo - Bewitching Brews

Notes: myrrh, patchouli, vetivert, lime, vanilla, pine, almond, clove

In the imp and initially on the skin, this smells a bit like cherry coke. After it’s been on a while, it doesn’t smell exactly like cherry coke any more, but I’m at a loss at how to describe this. It’s a tad masculine, and I think it would smell really good on a guy.

I can’t get beyond the cherry coke imagery in my brain for this scent.

reviewed 7-4-06

Snake Oil - Bewitching Brews

In the vial: spicy, ambery vanilla

On the skin: damn, this smells good. spicy, ambery vanilla. Yum. This dries to a wonderful, slightly spicy vanilla. I know that there's patchouli in here but I don't smell it, it's all vanilla on me. But not vanilla as in a bland, "vanilla ice cream" type of way - no this is not an innocent, school girl vanilla. This is much more confident and sexy.

Conclusion: I love this scent and most of the scents in the Snake Oil family. There's a reason why this is a classic. It smells great fresh or aged. It layers wonderfully and is a slightly dark, sexy as hell scent. Confident. It lasts forever and that's even better in my book.

Seance - Bewitching Brews

Notes: rosewood, rose leaf, hazel

My first impression of Séance is: roses! Rich, moist, lush roses. Slightly green. My second thought is that this is a good sub for Rose Red. It has that same fresh rose with a touch of greenery. After I’ve had it on for a couple minutes, the rosewood comes out and it’s not an exact dupe of Rose Red but still very nice.

After it’s been on a while, this still remains a beautiful rose scent, slightly woody. Beautiful. Just beautiful. Thanks GC swap – I probably wouldn’t have gotten around to my imp of this otherwise!

reviewed 6-4-06

Kathmandu - Wanderlust

Notes: incense, saffron, sandalwood, cedar, lotus, chiuri bark, nepalese spices

Initially, there’s a lovely wood scent – mainly cedar, a touch of smoke and sandalwood. After it’s been on for about a minute, there’s a wintergreen scent. It sticks around for a while, then poof, the whole scent is gone.