Silvertree

Curiously enough, my skin didn't exude any spices, ambers, woods, or resins with Scorpio. Instead, I have a fresh and almost minty scent emanating from my testing wrist. Reviewing the Celestials (both the planetary and the zodiac lines) has made me wish I was more aware of the connotations and characteristics of the various symbols. I'd like to know why "this makes sense!" as so many people have said. I can get a feeling for the energy and intent behind the blends, but I'd love have a little concrete information to tell me why it feels right, instead of just saying that it does. Beth's oils are always an education for me! I've researched Norse legends and Romantic poetry, Sephirot and Tarot meanings, and I'm not done yet. I can't think of the last time I used my nose and my brain in conjunction- better yet, I can't think of a single instance where another beauty product inspired me to go running to my bookshelves and my library to better understand its background. I am completely in awe of these beautiful oils and the thought and effort that their creator puts into them.

Courtesy of the Celestials circular swap! I don't get rose or rose geranium- what I *do* get is a lovely fresh, white floral that straddles the line between sweet and soapy without being either. The sandalwood and apple held keep it bright and juicy, yet grounded. This fragrance expresses balance extremely well!

Courtesy of the Celestials circular swap! I think I've identified one of my no-go notes: heliotrope. I get a bit of a vanilla-y/ozone scent from Leo, but what I *really* get is a headache.

Courtesy of the Celestials circular swap! This reminds me of a friend of mine, who happens to be an Aries. It's alluring, a bit difficult on occasion, but ultimately worth the trouble. The frankincense, ginger, pepper, and cloves? sandalwood? cedar? squabble for a little while, all trying to assert their dominance, but eventually agree on a blend that suits all the parties. Especially me!

Pisces is the oil that would convince me to buy a scent locket. I enjoy the aquatic florals quite a bit- it's very different from my usual spicy/woodsy/green staples, but I enjoy it all the more for that. Unfortunately, something in the oil (heliotrope, perhaps?) combines with my skin to produce a tacky, gummy scent that makes me wrinkle my nose and wash my wrist.

Courtesy of the Celestials circular swap! A lovely earth scent (I won't go so far as to say THE Quintessential Eart Scent... but it's close!), the oil of my Sun sign is warm, glowing resins, bright cedar, and a little crunchy patchouli to round it out. I'm very sorry to have missed the chance to buy a bottle of this scent, but grateful that I had a chance to try it.

Courtesy of the Celestials circular swap! While sweet and classically "perfumey" in the vial, Pluto is green and fresh once it's on my skin. It's greener than green, a dark, wild green that's sweet and fresh and growing, not cold or bitter. It could be the scent of some fantastic intergalactic forest that's flourishing many, many light-years away from our civilization and its concept of life. I love it!

Courtesy of the Celestials circular swap! Soft and musky, Neptune is a sweet aquatic that wafts both fruity and floral fragrances at me. Neptune's water is warm, languid waves lapping a green shore where orange trees blossom.

Courtesy of the Celestials circular swap! Is this a Cinnamon Single Note? No? Well, then, it's the closest thing to it, at least on my skin! Fresh, sweet, spicy cinnamon, but not too hot or sharp. Droooool.

Courtesy of the Celestials circular swap! Woody and dark, Saturn is stern and uncompromising. I started to like it, but I don't think that it appreciated my accelerated smell-as-many-as-possibly, hurry-hurry-hurry approach to the Celestials, as it gave me a headache after a while. I'd like to have more time to spend getting to know this oil.

Courtesy of the Celestial Swap! Jupiter is a rich, powerful wood scent. It's strong and forceful, without being malevolent or overpowering. Just used to getting its way. It stays and stays, too; this is a fragrance with a real sense of self and purpose. I love it!

Where Sol is hot, Mars is warm. It's the planet closest to Earth in a lot of ways, I believe- and I feel completely at home here! In the imp, it's warm, dry, and a little medicinal. At first reminiscent of the heated florals I got from The Living Flame. And then, from out of nowhere, in comes the cinnamon! And it brought with it... more cinnamon! And some cloves, and some resin, and a cavalry of cloves. Per its description, I definitely feel energetic and enthusiastic, as well as capable of daring deeds. I just may want to wait until it's cooler and less humid outside, so that I have the energy to move beyond my air-conditioned bubble to carry them out.

From the Celestial Swap.... From reading through the reviews, I was expecting pink and green, roses and grasses, sheer utter femininity. What I got was a fresh, white scent that is mostly sweet fruit with perhaps a hint of sage and lemongrass. There's something lemonny-herbal in here- not a citrus lemon, but the fresh, juicy scent you get from chopping up green herbs. I think there's something about my body chemistry that emphasizes herbs and spices... not that I'm complaining! I like this quite a lot (although it starts to go a bit soapy after a bit); it just wasn't what I was expecting!

From the Celestial Swap! In the imp, Mercury is fresh, fresh lavender. On my skin, it's a peppery herbal lavender- very energizing, very peppy, not the usual "lie there and snooze" lavender that puts me down for the count. As it dries, I can smell more herbs and spices coming out, as well as a slight citrusy tinge around the edges. No burning, not even on my sensitive skin, but I've always suspected that I'm part cinnamon anyway. Yum!

Three cheers for the Celestial Swap! Luna is a soft, slightly musky floral in the bottle. It could be jasmine, there might be some violet, but it's too soon to tell.... From the moment the oil hits my wrist, Luna becomes a light, elusive second-skin scent. I can detect some juicy berries and fruits wafting through the flowers, but the overall fragrance is so subtle and well-blended it's hard to tease anything out.

I never posted my reviews from the Celestial Swap- so here goes! Sol is a bright, fiery, powerfully spicy scent. It's fierce and hot, with a quality that I wouldn't hesitate to call blinding. It's a brash blend of citrus and spices. Used sparingly, it's warming and pleasant, but I imagine that it could be overpowering in larger doses. On the whole, I quite enjoy it, as hot spicy scents are my forte.

Rhododendron and bellflower petals swirl through deep, cool, dark aquatic notes. I first smelled this at the home of my friend (and BPAL enabler) linaerys. It was gorgeous in the bottle, so I'm hoping that it will like me back.... In the vial, Danube is cool and refreshing, with little tiny blossoms just barely peeking out. As many have noted before, it's the perfect scent for a muggy summer day. After applying the oil to my skin, the most incredible things start to happen. My headache slowly melts away, I feel calm, cool, and collected, and even relaxed enough to put my head down on my desk and take a nap. I would love to put this on before going to bed, as I haven't felt this at peace in quite some time. Regarding the fragrance: I couldn't be happier. I see that many people were assaulted by the evil grapefruit of R'lyeh travelling through the waterways to wreak havoc upon the unwary; my Danube experience remains unsullied by The Great Old Citrus. Not that I don't love grapefruit, for I do enjoy it, but there is simply no citrus to be found in this river today. What I do smell is lovely, sweet, fresh water. If you've ever read C.S. Lewis's Voyage of the Dawn Treader, perhaps you'll recall Reepicheep's quest to find the Utter East- a place in his world where the sea is sweet. Danube is that place. It is cool, refreshing, and sweet enough to be delightful without turning thick or cloying. The florals are light and breezy- not perfumey or heady, just barely scenting the air with their nectar. It puts me in mind of slowly gliding down a gentle, lazy river- your craft hugs the banks in order to stay out of the sun, and you find yourself being lulled to sleep in the cool shade. For something so light and pleasant it seems to be clinging to my skin remarkably well- I've even washed my hands several times today without dislodging the scent. It's utterly, amazingly gorgeous. I'm going to wear it all summer, and even on cold, crisp winter days! Even my hands and wrists are noticeably cooler than the spots that are Danube-less, and I'm going to enjoy staying cool and smelling great for many weeks to come.

Imagine my surprise when this little impling was in my most recent order! In vial: I get a sharpish herbal/floral/peppery smell that my nose labels "lavender"; however, upon reading others' reviews, I could also be persuaded toward juniper and wysteria, as there's both an evergreen and a clean peppery feel to the oil. Wet, on skin: Whoa. My brain has been racing 500 miles a minute ever since I moved, and I haven't been able to concentrate fully on any one task. After nuzzling my nose in to my arm, I suddenly start to feel calmer, more focused, and- dare I say it- at peace. I'm going to go with my original impulse and say lavender is the predominant scent, although there seems to be a little citrus winding through the purple blossoms. The fragrance has also warmed up a tad, and is soothing without making me sleepy. Dry: Like the Wet stage, but even more so. Warm herbs and lavender, slightly less on the citrus. I may be sitting at my desk reading through manuscripts and writing e-mails to people, but in my mind I'm wearing a long, drifting white linen dress and wandering through a giant herb garden. The path leads to a hill, and at the top is a large hammock and a pitcher of fresh limeade. I climb into the hammock and start to swing, relaxing and enjoying the relaxing surroundings....

Initial Sniff: Ohhh, lavender! We grow flowers and herbs in our garden in the summer, and this is the pure, soft scent of fresh sun-warmed lavender blossoms. Wet on Skin: Juicy lavender, with some bright citrus notes and something herbal. I can feel the scent dissolving the stress and tension from my day. All of the business and thoughts jostling for my attention just seem to melt away. Dry: I put this on right before bed, hoping for a good night's rest. Between convincing my brain to slow down and finding a comfortable position in bed, it usually takes me some time to fall asleep. However, only minutes after annointing my wrists, temples, and inner elbows with this, I started to feel the most glorious peacefulness descend. I could imagine myself napping outside, just sinking into a bed of lavender and letting the scent cover me in waves of purple-blue tranquility. Ultimately: For the past week or so, I've been having restless nights where I toss and turn, wake up, stare at the ceiling, punch my pillow, and finally find sleep again. Last night I enjoyed an interrupted rest! I'm still not a morning person, so I didn't exactly bounce out of bed to greet the day, but Quietude helped enormously. I'm ordering a big bottle, and it certainly won't be getting any rest from ME.

I'm in favor of sinning, don't get me wrong. But my two personal favorites vices are Pride and Lust (the sins, not the scents). In the vial, Gluttony is the embodiment of the abstract concept. While I'm incredibly impressed with how... how... glutinous this is (seriously, it smells as if it should sound like, "glurp" when I swirl the imp around), it's so thick and smothering a scent that I feel, indeed, as if I've overindulged. The heavy, buttery, foody scents just aren't for me, sadly. I'll happily keep sinning while passing this on to someone else- never say that I could be accused of Avarice!

I like rum in drinks, but Grog has that same overwhelmingly thick, buttery quality that didn't appeal to me in Jack and Gluttony. I was really hoping to ready the cannons, haul a scurvy dog up the mizzen-mast and keel-haul a mutiny-lovin' rapscallion, but just opening the imp vial made me feel that I had walked the plank into a sea of hot buttered rum. Not for me, but perhaps some other piratical lass will welcome Grog into her hoarde.

It's taken me a while to review this scent, but Sea of Glass has been holding a place of pride in my box o' bottles for some time now. The saga began with me swapping for an imp that didn't make it to me whole. I loved the fragrance emanating from the mailer, so I trolled for an imp- and a kind person offered a full bottle! I haven't once regretted the decision to buy it from her. For me, Sea of Glass is one of those precious fragrances that stimulates such an instinctive reaction that it's difficult to approach it with the intent to *think* about it. I could just let my fingers go and try a stream-of-consciousness review, but I think that it wouldn't be terribly coherent or helpful. Here's my attempt at words: Clean, serene, and pristine, the Sea of Glass is light and air. It smells like the oxygen-rich breezes you find away from noise and people and pollution, where the rich flavor of the breezes makes you want to stand still and gulp in as much air as you can to purify and sustain you when you must, inevitably, return to your city home. A little sharp and crisp, but not cold, it is the sparkle of the waves in the sunlight as they rush toward the shore. A little salty, but also sweet, Sea of Glass reminds me more of rain-washed mountains and meadows than the ocean. Actually, the closest equivalent I can think of is the Sea of Galilee, in northern Israel. Unlike much of that country, the Galilee is lush and green, and the Sea is actually a freshwater lake (known in Israel as Lake Kinneret). I remember swimming in the waters with my friends, and later filling up a little bottle with water from the Sea which accompanied us on our hike to the Mediterranean Sea (Israel is only about 40 miles wide up north). We, like so many pilgrims before us, took the bottle from the Galilee and emptied the fresh into the salt. If you were to take a small amount of each back into the northern hills of Israel with you, and combine them perched high on an ancient hill among the fresh breezes, I think that you would have Sea of Glass.

Wet, in bottle: I almost didn't try this, because just opening the imp was enough to get a flood of butter so strong that I almost gagged. It made me feel sick and slightly greasy, and is the first scent to which I've had an overwhelmingly negative reaction. As helarctos said, it immediately brings the buttered popcorn Jelly Belly jellybeans to mind; as I'm not a fan of that particular flavor, I don't think I want to smell of that scent. But I'll try it, just to see what might happen.... Wet, on skin: That's a bit better. It's no longer so overwhelmingly buttery (I thought I had stumbled upon the previously-undiscovered Butter Single Note), and some spices are starting to pop up. Still a bit popcorny, so I don't think this is the scent for me. No apples or leaves, and no strong spices, all of which I would love. Dry: Peach! Warm, sun-ripened peaches, perhaps baked into a pie with a little brown sugar and cinnamon. No cloves or apples or pumpkin for me, but the peaches are pleasant and much more welcome than butter. This is more of a summery scent than an autumnal blend; it smells nice, but it wasn't quite what I was hoping for. ETA: I wrote this review quite some time ago, and am just getting around to posting it. I've since swapped away the two imps I had and now I've got Pumpkin King to compare to Jack, and... well, read the review!

I've wanted to smell Rakshasa for quite some time. I love resinous scents, and I'm getting more and more into florals thanks to BPAL. So here goes.... Wet, in bottle: I smell... orange rind? Not the fruit, but the fresh, slightly bitter oil that oozes from the rind and coats your fingers when you're zesting an orange for cooking. Wet, on skin: There's still some orange, but the bitterness is tempered by the gorgeous roses that unfold. There's the sandalwood, too- this is like lounging in a grand pavilion out in the wilds, with yards of silk rippling in the breeze and bouquets of roses thirstily sucking up precious water in huge enameled bowls. You lean back on the cushions, which release the scent of the sandalwood chests that hold the pillows and rugs and draperies when the tent isn't set up; the notes all blend into a harmonious whole. Drydown: A true shapeshifter, Rakshasa changes from orange to rose/sandalwood to almost pure, dry wood. I still get hints of the oranges and roses, so I hope that those will return. If not, since it's just a bit too woody, I'll pass this on to my mom, who dearly loves sandalwood. Wait a moment. Did it hear me? Now the roses are back, and some patchouli, as well as the orange. Now I'm getting wood polished with orange oil, a little bit of rose, and just a hint of patchouli, like a fresh (not dried) potpourri in a little wooden bowl. How peculiar that it morphs in this way... I quite like it, either way it decides to morph, but it's not the head-over-heels love I feel for some scents.

Fruity and floral, La Bella Donna Mia Mente reminds me of the Medieval recipes I've made that list rose as one of the ingredients. This is a lovely, womanly scent that is more "traditionally perfumey" than many of the oils I've tried so far. However, I don't know if I'm ready to wear it yet. Perhaps when I have a grown-up occasion, and I'm all dressed up to go out. Somehow it seems disrespectful to invoke this lovely lady when I'm running around in jeans and a t-shirt or going to the office.