Czarina

In the bottle: hemp paper. How does Beth DO that? Wet: fennel. Drydown: fennel/pomegranate/paper/lavender. Wow. This is a carnival all by itself. Love this! Fortunately, I am not one of those people to whose nose this smells like body odor.

In the imp: rain and moss. Wet: airy rain and rocks, with a sweet note also. Drydown: granite, ozone, moss. I'm really not getting the vetiver here. It is being a good boy, and playing nicely with the nice rocks and moss. My daughter and I were trying this out while watching Stardust and the Czar (not known for the subtlety of his nose) walked in and said, "Hey! It smells good in here!"

The Glory of Vishnu, The House of Varuna, One's Own Abode The Six-Petaled Lotus. The unconscious, the sweetness of life, desire, pleasure, sexuality, procreation, emotion. My initial (unkind) reaction was: bubblegum and pencil shavings. Then my nose pulls itself together and starts detecting the warm, rich, glowing resins that other reviewers have discerned. We'll see how this one works in supporting the health of this particular chakra.

Wow. Sahasrara is so much more light and subtle than the scents for the lower chakras (d'oh, I know). I get the same bubblegum/lotus note that other reviewers have discerned. It fades down quickly to a floral-spice note, and then is gone from this physical plane.

Ginger-lemon smell. Worked with this chakra today, using this oil before I went out in the morning. Had an important meeting, was told I was really masterful. Hm. Coincidence?

This has a pleasant rose scent. I have been using it in the traditional manner for the last several weeks, anointing my third eye area and crown of the head while asking that I be granted the wisdom of Solomon (more details about this kind of ritual at luckymojo.com). I didn't notice much effect until Friday, when I suddenly had a great idea for a particulary thorny personnel issue that had come to my attention at work. I discussed my idea with the stakeholders Friday and today and now everyone seems to be happy. This sort of problem-solving is usually difficult for me. I'm surprised at how well this went. This oil seems to be more of a slow-and-steady, cumulative effect oil rather than achieving instant transformation. So be it.

In the imp this has a horrid medicinal smell. When first applied, it's a rush of eucalyptus/menthol--cooling on the skin, but still nasty (I applied with great caution in the third eye area). Drying down, it has an anise smell but nothing I would ever use as perfume. We'll see if assists me in matters of the intellect.

Whoa! This is a dark, dark, solid scent. To me it smells of patchouli and cedar, and probably vetiver, and evokes dark, fertile earth. It is very strong. I have used it once so far, when I was feeling mildly scattered and in need of grounding. It gave me all of that. I think this will be very helpful for use when I need a solid anchor.

The scent of this is an herbal lemon: pleasant, but unexceptional. I have started my review of the Chakra scents with Vishuddha because of all my chakras, this is the one that needs the most support, and I see these oils as being, among other things, for chakra repair and maintenance (I note that the instructions for the TAL White Light recommend application to all the chakras, but the purpose, although somewhat related, is not the same). A large part of my career involves speaking, both to individuals and to groups. I do it well--yet I am very prone to laryngitis when I catch cold, and suffer from periodic flareups of cough asthma. At the same time, I've found it difficult in the past to speak up in my personal life. I have read that the throat chakra is a particularly vulnerable one because it is "located" close to the surface of the skin. I have wondered if I just don't know how to shield it properly. Accordingly, I applied the oil to my throat while fixing the intent of strengthening and protecting this chakra. I am not expecting quick or dramatic results, frankly, but something more subtle. Interestingly, my throat feels very warm to the touch now when I put my hand on it. If I notice any identifiable long-term effects, I'll update this review.

In the bottle: overwhelming cardamom and wet wood. Wet: cardamom and some unidentifiable, but unspeakably vile, odor. It's almost like...cod liver oil. Bizarre. Drydown: balsam, hay, wood, and sweet cardamom. Wow! How does it do that? I am happy and relieved because I really liked the idea of a cardamom scent but I was really discouraged by smelling it in the bottle. I hate, hate, hate the first five minutes of this scent. Once I get past that, I really like it. My guess is that I would not like it in a scent locket, which sustains the earlier phases of many scents for me.

I was really frightened to try this because of the blood note and because the concept makes me feel really squicky. In the bottle: smoke, blood, vetiver. Wet: smoky...leather? Drydown: mostly vetiver and smoke. After about an hour it gets kind of powdery on me, but in a smoky, wonderful way. I stepped into the control booth at a football game about half an hour after applying this and was greeted by: "You smell wonderful!" So...the blood? Not so much something to be afraid of. Guess this is a keeper after all, although from the sparse number of reviews I guess this old Fork ain't gettin' much love around here.

This has an inoffensive orange scent with an herbal underlying note. I used this for sustenance when I had a very demanding day ahead of me physicially (three hours of flamenco class). Used it on heart chakra and third eye chakra, along with my usual morning dose of White Light on all the chakras, and it did seem to have a sustaining effect on me. What was nice about it, as opposed to a lot of caffeine, is that I didn't sense any sort of crash afterwards--just a gradual unwinding as the period for which I had sustained my intent had gone. I'll be interested to use it in more formal rituals with other TALs.

DCXXXIII (633). I think the lab forgot to put perfume in the carrier oil in this bottle. It smells very faintly woody, and a little bit like the stems of roses, with a very faint hint of lemon, and that's all I get. I've tested it four or five times to make sure. Sigh.

In the bottle: straight-up rose. Wet: incense, candle wicks (?!), and rose. Drydown: clouds of smoky rosy incense. Particularly nice in a scent locket. I am not a fan of non-BPAL rose scents, but Beth's are . . . different from my mother's Tea Rose.

In the bottle: resin and spices. Wet: mmm. Almonds, dirt, patchouli, spices. Myrrh. Drydown: amber, musk, patchouli. Great throw, good wearlength. Made of win.

In the bottle: herby musk. It's like the love child of Wulfric and Smut. Wet: Wulfric and Smut are still getting it on, but here comes the neroli and ... tobacco. Drydown: oh, this is getting very complex. And a bit like a commercial perfume scent...are there aldehydes in here? In a few more minutes, I'm smelling a grape note. Really great throw.

In the bottle: pine and almond. Wet: pine, almond, and apple, fighting it out for dominance. Drydown: sugared evergreen (may not be pine, after all--might be spruce) and fruits with a bitter aftertaste. I'm wondering if the sugar is supposed to be the "snow" note. A nice variation on the fir scents.

Let me nominate Hand of Glory (or second the nomination).

In the bottle: not violets. <sighs> Oh, I suppose I should be more specific than this. It smells like the inside of a box of Russell Stover candy, if that makes any sense. Sweet and paper. Wet: patchouli, neroli (I think that's actually the red currant, but my nose "reads" it as neroli), just a little hint of violets. More sweetness (though not like Sugar Skull). Drydown: Currants. Just a hint of violet. Not even any patchouli. Moss. This was a big disappointment to me. I am always looking for more violet scents. This one barely smells of violet to me at all. It is--dare I say it?--too subtle for me. If you want, like me, hit-you-over-the-head violets, try Faith. This is more like Saturnalia, which was also too subtle for me. ETA: I discovered that after half an hour, this went through a phase of actually smelling a lot like violets for about an hour. Yeah! But then vanished completely.

Beeswax, dry leather, black pepper, saltpeter, nutmeg, Mysore sandalwood, and oak bark. I was actually afraid to try this one because the concept was so gross. I decided to concentrate on the scent notes and avoided thinking about why this particular combination was selected, ulp. In the bottle: I smell mostly the sandalwood and oak bark. Wet: pow! initially the pepper and saltpeter push to the "front." It's all I can smell. Drydown: hm. Heavily honeyed beeswax. Like a candle has just been snuffed out (that's the saltpeter/sandalwood I think). The leather is definitely there in the background. Worth overcoming fears to smell, but eesh. ETA: FWIW, this is one that I'm liking a lot more on my wrists than in my scent locket. The locket gives me more leather and saltpeter after a few minutes and less of the sweet honey drydown.

In the bottle: bitter herbs. Wet: leather and . . . evergreens? Doesn't seem very Amazonian to me. Drydown: the bitterness subsides and I can smell more of the fern note. The leather note turns sweeter and this is almost powdery on me. It's still on the masculine end of scents I am willing to wear. Low throw and wearlength. I was expecting this to be disgusting. It isnt', but I'm not falling madly in love with it, either. Maybe it will age well...

In the bottle: mmm yummy blood orange. Wet: oranges and amber. Drydown: oranges, amber, and frankincense/agarwood. I can barely detect the lilac. I think I can detect it only because I know it is there. Not sure I could pick it out otherwise. Very short wearlength, but holding its own in a scent locket. The lilac seems a little more prominent in the locket than on skin, but not enough to annoy me.

In the bottle: I just hated this. It was woody in a funny-smelling way. Wet: improves considerably. Spices emerge. Coriander isn't listed as a note, but the spice has a coriander scent to it. Drydown: very smooth, resinous, spicy, woody scent. Something about it reminds me a LOT of Temple: Chthonic, which I also disliked intensely on first sniff and came to love.

I'm surprised no one has suggested the TAL Caliph's Beloved: Stimulates your own sexual energy and incites intense feelings of passion and desire. or Blessing of Isis: Use this blend to reignite passion and ardor in couples whose feelings for one another have waned through time and familiarity.

In the bottle: hyssop. Wet: hyssop, sandalwood, dust. Drydown: the linen scent emerges. I can't smell the "rot" note at all yet. Stay tuned and I'll see if it morphs through the hours. This is a fine scent but reminds me a lot of its brother, The Contract of Theophilus of Adana (but less sweet).