Catmint

This is my greatest BPAL heartbreak of all time. Pear and vanilla are two of my very favorite scents, and not only do I get ZERO pear from this, the sugar note goes totally smoky/scorched on me, and the vanilla turns into plastic. I've tried this 5 times, over a period of several months, hoping that either my chemistry would change or aging the oil would help, but every time I get the exact same thing: burnt plastic doll heads. :D

WET: Creamy vanilla and honey, really warm and yummy and quite sexy. It's foody, but not in the "I-smell-like-a-cookie way," more like sitting naked in front of an open fridge while someone dribbles whipped cream and honey all over you. DRY: So far so good...vanilla and honey with a slightly sharp, almost minty thing happening underneath 10 MINUTES LATER: Arghhhhhh....plastic/baby powder vanilla death soooo sad

I love honey and orange blossom and got this in the hope that they would be the dominant notes. Alas, this is ALL rose and sandalwood on me. There's something a bit sharp and green and medicinal under there too. Like a bowl of potpourri at a doctor's office. Ick.

IMP: sweet, citrusy & green/herbal WET: mega tangerine with a hint of guava and juniper DRY: the juniper really takes over and turns it into a very herbally citrus soap. In fact, it smells remarkably like the old Herbal Essence shampoo. I'd be happy with a soap or shower gel that smelled like this, but I don't think I care for it as a perfume.

Jamaican rum, almond liquor, orange water, sugar syrup, lime peel, black cherry, vodka, and mint. Whoa, this one is one of those Jekyll & Hyde scents IMP: almond extract x100 WET: in yer face cherry & almond, and very very fizzy. I don't get much booziness, just super fizzy soda pop DRY: Initially it stays quite fruity, the lime and mint come out a bit, too. The almond gets more buttery, like marzipan. 30 MINUTES: This is a totally different scent now — no more cherry cola or marzipan, it's very dark, smoky, and incensey. I recognize the incense from Catholic mass when I was a kid — what's that doing in a tiki drink??? I loved the first half hour, but the morph from fizzy drink to church incense was really freaky.

Pineapple, mandarin orange, raspberry, passion fruit, and rum. WET: This is the most incredibly literal BPAL I've ever tried. Not only is there a blast of alcohol with the pineapple & raspberry, I could swear there is something salty/ozoney in there, because it smells exactly like a tropical drink on the beach. This is the only Tiki Bar scent I got that beachy smell from. It's also by far the most alcoholic! DRY: Initially it's super sweet and fruity, mostly raspberry and pineapple. Kind of artificial and candyish/bubblegummy, but I like that! The rum becomes less alcoholic and more sugary/buttery. AFTER AN HOUR: Pineapple and butter, with a hint of raspberry fruit punch in the background. The first half hour or so was amazing, but I'm not so keen on the buttery drydown. If it was just butter and pineapple it might work, but butter and raspberry punch is kind of weird and unappetizing.

Wet, this is all grapefruit & lime, very citrusy and LOUD but also sweet, like one of those Hansens all natural sodas. For the first 15 minutes or so I was thinking I would definitely need to order a bottle, but then the citrus totally disappeared (as it always does on me, sigh) and all that was left was a weird burnt smell. I'm guessing there's burnt sugar or something in the rum notes? Whatever it is, it's really unpleasant.

IMP: very fruity & orange WET: juicy and orangey with a hint of vanilla and ginger. YUM DRY: sadly the fruit goes POOF within minutes, and the florals quickly turn to soap.

When I first tried this 7-8 months ago, it was strong, painfully sharp, and sour. Nothing remotely warm or sweet or milky about it, and I hated it. Tried it again today before listing it for swaps, and it's a totally different animal. Now that it's nicely aged, I'm getting exactly the soft, creamy, gingery honey & vanilla scent everyone has been raving about! The ginger is still fresh but much softer and vaguely lemony — none of that sharp, hot, green bite it had when I first tried it. The milk note is warm and sweet, not sour and curdled. I love love love this!!! Big bottle for sure!

I amp rose like crazy, and not in a good way, so the results were fairly predictable. IMP: lovely watery floral, with a fair amount of rose WET: ROSE, ROSE, and more ROSE. Screaming rose and not much else. DRY: Cloying, overwhelming, old lady dried rose potpourri. Oh, and it lasts forever, and doesn't wash off no matter how much I scrub.

I loooove all things orangey, I have every Body Shop and B&BW orange/satsuma/mandarin product ever made, etc. etc. so this sounded like ultimate orangey goodness to me, and so far I've had great luck with BPAL orange and orange blossom notes. This one, alas, smelled exactly like orange soap from start to finish. I have a problem with BPAL lemon & lime scents turning to soap, but this is the first time an orange one did it. Sigh.

I ordered Tiki Queen at the last minute, so by the time I received my order and discovered it was my favorite BPAL scent ever, it was too late to order more. :D Since in the past I've avoided florals (most smell like old ladies on me), I have no idea what GC scents might come close to the divine Tiki Queen. Also, what do people layer TQ with? I'd like to be able to stretch out my supply as long as possible, since I'm using it up at an alarming rate by slathering it.

I ordered 2 bottles of this hoping for the fruity "sweet tarts" scent so many people were getting, or at least some coconut and vanilla, but I only got about 2 seconds of vaguely fruity floral in the bottle -- the second it hit my skin it was knock-you-over tuberose. I almost washed it off until my husband assured me that he couldn't smell it from 4' away so it was safe for me to go shopping without knocking people out. I was going to put both bottles on my swaps list without even a second try, but several hours later I noticed a faint musky floral smell and realized that Tiki Queen had dried down to something really light and beautiful and quite sexy. So I tried it again the next day....and the next...and now it's one of my favorite scents. I'm definitely not a heavy floral person, so this is a very unusual scent for me, but I can't stop huffing my wrists when I wear it. It doesn't last long on me (and I never get any coconut or vanilla), but I like reapplying it several times throughout the day so I get a blend of the kick-ass floral topnotes and the sweet, musky dry-down at the same time. My husband also loooooves this on me, which surprised me because he doesn't usually like florals either. But this really is drop-dead sexy (in a very sly and sophisticated way) when it dries down.

The only note in here I'm familiar with is benzoin (which I like), so I never would have tried it if I hadn't been frimped. It's dark, sweet, smoky, resinous & woody -- I don't get much floral out of this, other than a sort of dark, sticky sweetness. A bit too heavy/masculine for me (I like citrus, green, and fruity florals) but it's fantastic on my husband. Smells very warm, dark and a bit dangerous on him -- and very very sexy.

I am totally addicted to TKO! I've tried many many sleep blends, including TAL's Nocturne, and while Nocturne does have a relaxing effect on me, I really don't like the dried roses/potpourri smell very much. I also don't like the in-your-face, herbally-sharp lavender which many sleep blends (like Somnus) have. TKO is perfect -- the lavender is soft and powdery, and combined with vanilla sugar it's just the most amazing, comforting, relaxing scent. Also very sexy -- my DH loves this scent on me, while Somnus gives him a headache and Nocturne makes him think of "old ladies." I've suffered from severe insomnia my entire life, and TKO works wonders for me. It doesn't knock me out, but it relaxes me enough that I'm able to drift off to sleep after an hour or so, and my mind isn't madly racing for that hour either. Who knew that a little bottle of oil could totally change your life??? ETA: in reading some of the other reviews, I see that many people have commented on how TKO quiets your mind and stops the racing thoughts/anxious worrying that tends to plague insomniacs. If, like me, that is what keeps you awake all night, definitely try TKO!