Diana

I could not resist an oil named for the Norns, so I bought 5mls of all 3 as soon as they were released. In the bottle, this is incensey patchouli heaven. LOVE. Putting it on, some of the winey-grape fruit notes come out, but it's still tempered by the patchouli. I'm digging this so much. Drydown: I've been wearing this for 10 or 11 hours now, and it's still going strong. The fruit notes have pretty much gone away, but what is left is a super dry, woody scent of patchouli and nag champa. THIS IS SO GREAT.

From the vial, wet, and through drydown, the scent didn't ever really change much. It was sort of a smokey-incensey spiced vanilla. For some reason it was really similar (to my nose at least) to the sweet vanilla in Blood Kiss. It was not super sweet like Sugar Skull, and the complexity of the vanilla wasn't like anything I've ever encountered before. I really like this! I think I'll wait to get the big bottle, as my list of 5mls is rather embarrassingly long.

I think Blood Kiss & Snake Oil have some similarities. Snake Oil doesn't have the clove or vetiver, though (thank GOD).

I just finally got around to trying this Yule blend that's been sitting on my BPAL shelf for almost a month now. I'm easily distracted, what can I say? In the bottle, it's really true to its name. It smells like yummy sugary gingerbread. Putting it on, the spice scents take off running. It starts to smell a bit like gingersnap cookies, then as it dries it starts to smell very similar to the cinnamony Sugar Cookie. Oh no! thinks I... Sugar Cookie smelled terrific in the bottle & initially but went all wonky playdoh on me! But behold! no playdoh scent! The warm, sugary spicey scent remains even now, 7 or 8 hours later. Of course it is nowhere near as strong as it was hours ago, but it is definitely still there. It is really delicious & comforting. The scent in the bottle stayed pretty true to form throughout drydown on me, which is always a nice bonus. Glad I got a bottle of this one! YUM!

I've gotten a noticable reaction with Cerebus, Dia de los Muertos, Sugar Skull, Samhain... ... er, actually, pretty much any oil.

I am another who thought it might smell a bit like Hellfire. Nope! It doesn't. In the bottle, it is really smokey-cherry. Like smoked cherries. Not cherry tobacco. I mean like if you took dried cherries and smoke them like you'd smoke sausages. Weird, I know. Putting it on, the smokey-woody-cherry scent is super strong. And the oil starts to burn my skin. OW OW OW OW OW OW. Seriously, I'm getting red welts on my neck, insides of my elbows & cleavage. Determined, I wait for about 5-10 minutes and the burning & red marks subside. I've never had that happen with any oil before! That HURT. I've been wearing it now for a few hours. I'm somewhere between liking it and not liking it. I do like the smokey-cherry, with the slight leathery background, but at the same time, the cherry scent is a bit too cloying and syrupy. Not fruity fresh sweet, but goooopey, or sort of like overripe fruit when it starts to rot. I have a bit of a headache, but I don't know if it's the scent or being put on mofowing speakerphone twice already this morning. This is one I might try again, but I am not really sold on it, especially considering the painful reaction.

I can detect the citron & lavender in the vial, hiding under the pennyroyal. As I put it on, the Pennyroyal takes off and running as the predominant scent. There is sort of a bitter undertone to the pennyroyal (mint! mint! mint!) but that fades away after 5 minutes or so. However, the minty quality of the pennyroyal stays on. And on. I was hoping the citron-lavender would make more of an effort to be smelled, but they were fairly subtle in the background. After a while the musk & pennyroyal become a powdery soft scent with a hint of mint. This is quite nice, but not what I expected. I was hoping for more of a Gemini substitute. While this is slightly close, not close enough. Though, I still really like this and may buy a bigger bottle at some point in the future. Also, was it just me, or did anyone feel kind of funny after wearing this oil? I'm hoping it was the breakfast of pizza and not the pennyroyal.

I had the exact same thing, unfortunately. I put it on and 20-30 minutes later, it was all but undetectable! In the bottle it was a lovely musky-citrus. Going on it had a piney, almost juniper-smelling note to it, with a nice grapefruity underlayer. It was divine. Then it was gone. I'll give it another shot, but if this doesn't want to stay on me, I'll just have to swap it. This royal couple didn't like me too much.

This is one I've been meaning to actually put on my skin and try out for a while. I knew I'd love it just from sniffing at the imp, but as I've experienced, one can never be too sure with these things. In the vial, it's highly reminiscent of Demeter's Dirt. It is the smell of freshly upturned earth, or a flowerbed after a thunderstorm. There is a hint of rose underlying it all, but really it just screams DIRT. Cool with me, because I love this smell. Putting it on & wearing it all day, it doesn't really change too much. The roses alternate from that weird "flower arrangement in a funeral home" to "dried out roses." They also take turns with the dirt smell for attention. One minute it smells a bit more rosey, the next, more like dirt. The staying power is incredible. This isn't an overly pungent scent, so I didn't expect it to last more than a few hours. I was totally mistaken! I do enjoy roses and dirt! So, needless to say, I reaalllllllyyyyy love this.

I put this on last night about an hour or so before I went to bed. I'm trying to test out every imp I have (ha!). In the vial, I got the impression of deep, dark piney scents. My initial notes on this oil was "oddly comforting." Putting it on... HOOOOOOOEY LAWDY. The pine/evergreen scent is impossibly strong, almost to the point where it smells like eucalyptus! My cat tries in vain several times to lick it off of my wrists. ... waits ... Ah yeah, it faded. It softens nicely into a tolerable amount of pine. The musk blends with it. It smells rather reminiscent of sandalwood to me. But I think I have an affinity for making everthing turn into sandalwood. It is my superpower. The scent is rather on the masculine side, probably neutral-to-masculine, if I were to rate it. Not unwearable by women, in the least, but I think most girls tend to go for slighly softer scents (except ME, heh!). Overall, it's a rather lovely scent. Not something I'd personally wear everyday, or something I'd need in a bottle in any great quantity, but I like this imp.

I really like all these notes, so this seems promising. Ylang^2 can be a bit overwhelming for me at times; I find it to be pink & waxy smelling in certain blends. The oil in the imp is dark... this can only mean good things! The vial scent is deep & musky & sensual. Putting it on, the ylang-ylang makes a brief appearance to say HI CHECK ME OUT I'M A FLOWER! It's light and almost fruity and contrary to the other ingredients in the mix. After a few minutes it settles in and blends with the other three notes. All I can say is WOW. I am so totally digging this with the biggest shovel in the toolshed. I've been wearing it for several hours now, and it still has nice potency and the wafting fragrance off my skin is totally devine. I'm trying to resist the temptation of sticking my face down the front of my shirt so I can get a bigger whiff. This oil is totally a winner for me! I LOVE resins and spices and deep, mysterious, warm, murky scents. This has a bit of a sweet top note from the ylang-ylang so that it's not overbearing. Perfection! Bigger bottle required!

Somehow, in the vial, this smells almost fruity. Almost a grape-like quality. It's the jasmine. Yum. Sweet, but a bit on the delicate side. I'm somewhat apprehensive about this one, becaues I'm not a huge fan of orchid. It's one of those floral scents I find to be perfumey and cloying. As I wear it, there is a definite orchid note that rears its head, becoming more and more apparent. Somehow I'm not that annoyed as I would be. I guess the scent is tempered by the musk & sandalwood, though I must admit, I wish they were stronger. Overall, it's nice and pretty, but a little too floral for me. I also think it's a bit too soft compared to the deeper & stronger spice & resin scents I generally prefer.

In the bottle, there was very little scent. Kind of piney, but hard to describe. As I put it on my skin, it erupted into a scent of winter berries (something red & pungent, maybe bayberries?), PIIIIIIIIIIIIINE!@!!!! and cinnamon. As it started to dry, the cinnamon became really prevalent, along with something I can only say was the overpowering scent of a really strong soap on me. So I smelled like really burninating combination of cinnamon & soap. When I say burning, I mean, it actually hurt my eyes and nostrils. I had to wash it off. And I typically adore cinnamon in blends. Something about this was physically painful. I really wanted to like you, Yuletide 2004, but I think it's best that we see other people. edited because i did.

A glittering icicle of a woman, regal, proud and cold: shimmering white grapefruit, pale flowers and lemon bark with orchid, rose and a dash of mandarin. In the bottle, and wet it is overwhelmingly floral. I do detect a slight citrus note, but it's very subtle to my nose. As this dries, this does me no favours. The florals are really too perfumey and cloying for my tastes. I'm not getting any citrus notes anymore, and no apparent rose. It's all very reminiscent of the drydown of Black Pearl, which went totally Iris on me in a really not-so-good way. I'm thinking there's Iris in here as a "pale flower" along with the Orchid. It is not really all that strong, but this is really not my cup of tea. So sad, I had really hoped for a more citrusy blend. Wah.

This reminds me of a candle scent that I've used to make xmas candles around the holidays. I'm not sure what the notes are in that either, though. Kind of a foody-floral mish-mash of smells. In the bottle, this is a wet, oily floral scent. Slightly buttery. Odd. Putting it on, a really odd note appears, and I have NO idea what it is. It's not agreeing with my nose at any rate. Thankfully that isn't the predominant scent and is mostly hidden by the weird aquatic-butter flowers. Drying down, a slightly minty scent appears and this softens up. The weird funk smell is still kind of there, but only if I stick my nose up to my wrists and really inhale deeply. The floral note reminds me of a note in Frost Moon... lotus perhaps? I'm not getting coconut so much, but I see how some people would get that out of this oil. I think it is masked by the floral scent on me. As odd as my description sounds, it really is a soft, lovely scent. I probably wouldn't get a second bottle of this, though. It's nice, but not something I'd envision myself wearing very often. --- ETA: months and months later... I didn't like this because it smelled "plasticky," but after I let it age for a few months, it is WONDERFUL. The mint kind of dissapated and now it's a creamy, sweet, wonderful cacophany of coconutty musky pineapples.

In the bottle, wet, dry, it all smelled like long stemmed red roses with a bit of foliage. Very intense, deep rose smell. This lasted a long time and did not change at all on my skin. This is not a soft & powdery rose. This is full-on in your face rose action. I like it, but probably not for everyday.

I bought this 5ml unsniffed. Ooh mystery! oh, and in case you're wondering what cubeb is; it's a pepper: Pungent and bitter with a strong terpene aroma. The aroma is variously described dry-woody, warm-camphoraceous and spicey-peppery In the bottle, it is a deeeeeep murky fig scent. Slightly chocolately. Putting it on, the figs really come to the foreground even more. Not fresh, sweet figs, but the heady smell of dried figs. Dare I say it, somewhat similar to fig newtons. As it wears, a lemony scent appears and mingles with the fig. Fruity and light and dark & deep at the same time. For an unsniffed scent, I done good! I really like it. I don't think it lasted more than 4-5 hours, but that could be my boyfriend's fault.

Midwinter's Eve = Bordello Bordello has a bit more depth to it, but there's a very strong plum similarity in both. I've yet to try out all the Yule LEs I have, so I may have more later.

I got this as an additional imp with my order, though I had planned on getting this. Sneaky! I was about to package this up with a 5ml I'm trading someone, and noticed that the plastic part of the imp was cracked & leaking. Might as well try it out, no? Who am I to argue with fate?! At first whiff, I'm a little sceptical and kind of intimidated by the smell. Very sharp! Kind of screamingly so. Throwing caution to the wind, I dab it on. The wet application is really strong still, and almost medicinal, probably due to the overwhelming and exceedingly strong combination of orange blossom & rosemary. "EEEE!" I think to myself. Still, I must prevail! MUST NOT WASH OFF. As this dries, the roses become more apparent, and the rosemary & orange blossom soften to an incredible aroma. This is becoming increasingly lovely. This Catherine chick was onto something, methinks. Ok, yes. You are teh win! This is definitely something I can wear on a daily basis! It's unusual and funky and soft and feminine all at the same time. I'll be getting a bottle with my next order. edited for spelling.

Ooh. Black Pearl. Who doesn't want to smell like a pirate ship? In the vial, this smells dreamy & creamy & heavenly of coconuts! I love coconut, and was dying to try this imp out! Putting it on, the coconut smell becomes more apparent and there is a slight hint of the hazelnut & iris in the background. After wearing this almost all day now, the coconut has all but disappeared and I'm left with a very perfumey iris smell. I want the coconut back!!! Overall, it's fairly nice, but a little too perfumey for my tastes. I think the iris is a bit overwhelming & cloying on me. Ah well. Maybe the Star will work out better for a coconut scent.

I got this as an extra from the lab with one of my orders. From my inital sniff from the imp, I had high hopes for this one. The imp had such a melangerie of scents, shifting and changing and thoroughly complex. It's difficult to pick out any one note because of the sheer number of things popping out of the vial. Excited at this prospect, I slather it on. Wow. It's really rich and deep, but has a few high notes that really pop out (especially the lime). After about 20 minutes, this starts to smell like a spicy cola drink, perhaps Dr. Pepper. Innnnteresting. The warm basenotes mingle. The scent smells different with each inhale. Neat! And aptly named! It's MAGIC! After that, however, the clove (which I like) starts to do something with the vetiver (oh no! not vetiver! why didn't I read the notes FIRST). The vetiver just takes a scent I would normally like and turns it into a really musky dirty scent that just kind of does not agree with my nose. It did the same to me in Blood Kiss. NO FUN. So, sadly I scrubbed this off. I would have really liked it if it weren't for that meddling vetivert. Off to the swap pile with ye!

In the vial, this is lush. I can pick up notes from the heliotrope and cherry, but there's an underlying depth from the amber and/or the musk. I put it on, it starts to smell boozy. I think anything that can turn boozy will definitely do so on my skin. (you know that totally means I am a GOOD TIME.) Sexy! This is really amazing and wonderful, but starts to morph into a scent, that to my nose, is very similar to Bordello. Which is fine, really, as Bordello is my favourite scent! This has a bit more of a smokiness to it, from the amber and musk (which happen to be some of my favourite notes!). The cherry & strawberry & vanilla contribute to a very sweet top note, which I think comprises most of the overall aura that is raditating from me. I really can no longer smell any floral component. I really love this! I wonder, though, if it is too similar to Bordello. I think I'll have to wear this a few more times to determine whether it's worth getting a 5ml bottle, or if I should just hang onto the imp. ETA hours & hours later: This lasted amazingly well. I did retouch at one point about 5 hours ago, and it honestly smelled totally different with the 2nd application. This time it was way less boozy/fruity and way more musky and sooo very sexy. I think we have another winner!

in the bottle, this is really strong mint. It is evocative of peppermint and spearmint, the real kind you find in teas, not the artificial gross stuff in oral care products and gum. There is a tiniest hint of eucalyptus that adds to the chilly scent. the initial application is much the same as the bottle smell. it lingers and wafts up to my nose. i find if i inhale through my mouth, i get that tingle i associate with mints. luscious. wearing it for a bit, the mints calm down a lot. after 30 minutes or so, they are hardly even noticable, being replaced by a wave of floral aroma, which must be the lotus. it is very 'white' and crisp and clean smelling. it is unbelievably lovely. the only qualm i have with it is that it seems to fade rather quickly. i put a rather healthy dose on this morning as i was getting dressed, but now 2-2.5 hours later i don't notice it much anymore. otherwise, this is so soft & wonderful! i'm glad i remembered the update!

In the bottle, this smells EXACTLY like Eggnog! Rich and creamy and a hint of spice and booze. Wet, it smells quite the same. Unfortunately, this doesn't last too long. After about 30 minutes this started to morph into almost the same identical play-doh-ish note that I got with Sugar Cookie. While it did stay strong (my brother thought I smelled like cookies and then cream soda, my sister thought I smelled of vanilla), it didn't retain the smell I was hoping for, and to my nose, it was a bit "off." I'm left wondering what essential oil this & Sugar Cookie have in common so I don't end up smelling like spicy d'oh! Something in there just doesn't like me very much. This will probably be one for room scenting or swapping, sadly. edited for grammar

The first time I tried this, I kept thinking it was a weird lime-basil scent. My body chemistry was way off, because somehow it ended up smelling like Lemon Pledge. I'm so glad I tried this a second time. In the bottle, there is a very citrusy odor, which has to be the orange, but smells very very pungant and sharp like lime. The initial application was fairly the same, except it dawned on me that PLUMERIA was a really big part of that sharp HEY SMELL ME note. I'm a bit sceptical at the recognition of Plumeria since it can tend to be the kind of floral note I really do not like; overly sweet & cloying. After wearing it, the sharpness mellows and the plumeria/orange blends beautifully with the copal and becomes a sexy, smokey, fruity floral thing that I cannot even begin to describe. Very lush and beautiful. Interestingly enough, this was recommended to me as being comparable to my beloved Angel. While it isn't the same, I can definitely see why someone would find similarities. Overall, it does have the same kind of hazy aura of blended scents where you really can't pick anything out but you still smell AMAZING. And as a free imp that Beth threw in... it just got her a sale on at least a 5ml bottle. Heh.