Racecar Gibson

This is how imagined Three Witches would smell on me. Very sweet-spicy. I don't see me wearing this one a lot, since I do get the tiniest hint of "craft store" when I sniff my arm, but I think that might have to do with the fact that I'm first testing it in 90+ degree July. For now, I'm def. keeping my imp so I can dab during what passes for our "winter" and then reassess.

This was a frimp that I had *no* preconceived notions of prior to dabbing. Wet, this had a very familiar feel to me. As it dries, it just gets to feeling more and more like a bit of my own childhood history. When I sniff to pick out individual notes, I can def. smell that same really wonderful musk that I smell in Dorian. (I'm not a musk person but I can appreciate a beautiful scent on it's own merits.) I want to say it's white musk but I really don't know that much about it to say for sure. The scent itself is "golden" and would be a great summer scent, I think. This reminds me so much of my father it's unbelievable. He was a musk cologne wearer and a sweet fruity pipe tobacco smoker. I thought he smoked cherry pipe tobacco but maybe it was peach? There is a sweet tobacco-y muskiness to this that is really beautiful. I was not expecting this sort of emotional response from an oil. I'm really *not* a musk person for everyday (or night) wearing. However, I've recently started to do some inner work on coming to terms with the...complicated relationship my father and I had and his passing. It's amazing to me how much this conjures up the positive memories of burying my head into my Daddy's neck and sniffing. I'm keeping the imp and putting Aglaea on my "Possible 5 ml...someday" list.

Oh, I'm so sad. On me, this has a distinct Butter McButtery note that I can't live with. I'm so surprised since I thought I would love the three gingers but that butteriness just doesn't go away and I'm always sniffing myself to see if I like it yet. Nope! One for the swaps.

Sniffed in the bottle, and then wet on my wrist, this is such a "wet pink" scent that it makes me laugh! Don't get grossed out but it's definitely fleshy! While this is wet, I really do smell, well, "pickled brain" is how my own pickled brain is classifying it. Thankfully, the drydown is much less dramatic and it tones down sweetly to a fruity very wearable, slightly spicy, second-skin musk. This fades quickly on me, so I'm glad that I even though I do like it quite a bit I won't be kicking myself for not ordering tons. Huh. Easy for me to say NOW while there is still tons left in the bottle! Ask me again when I am down to 1 ml.!

The patchouli comes across too strong on me. Esp. since (I'm guessing) it smells like black patchouli to my (newbie) nose and I've been spoiled by the blends that have that yummy red patchouli. However, this smells just WONDERFUL on the man of the house.

I've always stayed away from rose scents because of the Gramma factor. Leave it to Beth to make me rethink my hardline No-Rose stance with this one! This is a rose scent that is really "me". I love patchouli but it doesn't really come across (on me) in any kind of obvious way in this blend. This is a rosy sandalwood. Or maybe a dusty rose! It's a dirty-sexy kind of scent. I'm definitely keeping and using up this imp. 5 ml? I think if Vixen wasn't satisfying my dirty-sexy needs so well I'd jump at Wanton. *** Update: This has now jumped to a def. 5 ml. purchase.

I second Capriquariaus' Xiuhtecuhtli recommendation.

Vixen is (probably) my favorite so far of my (relatively small, I admit) collection of oils. In the vial, I smelled a dark burnt orange scent that I was unsure of. On, the patchouli comes out, but it's sweeter and less obtrusive. A sophisticated patchouli. While wearing it, I've never had anyone come near and me and say "Hey, who's wearing patchouli?" like I did back when I wore head-shop patchouli oil (The tiniest of dabs! I swear!!). I love the sweet spiciness that the ginger gives and this is the oil that made me want to smell at least a little ginger-y ALL THE TIME! Once a few hours have passed, it turns more powdery on me and I can almost convince myself that I'd be just fine wearing this even in the middle of the sweltering, humid SoFla summer. It's far too heady for that though, I know. I should be getting my 5 ml of this any day now.

When I sniffed this in the bottle, I was so disappointed. I kept reading about the cherry-redness of Dragon's blood but all I smelled was rosey-floral. I remembered how different scents can become once they are on skin so I cheered up a little. Wet, I get a rosey-vanilla. Not exactly rose, a more tropical smelling floral. Heady! And the vanilla does do great things for it. As it dries the dragon's blood becomes less prominent and just kind of "backs up" the vanilla in a spicy-but-not-spice sort of way. It fades to an interesting powdery vanilla with a little kick. Which is lovely, but I don't think I will wait out the rose-y floral to get there when I have so many great spiced vanilla options to choose from.

When I was placing my first BPAL order (I'm now waiting on my second!) I was def. intimidated by the exotic (to me anyway) scents that I had no idea about. But I knew from patchouli so I my imp pack was heavy on that note (that and sandalwood). When I sniffed the vial, all I could smell was peach. But not like peach candy. Like a sugared peach blossom. Yummy! And surprising as I thought patchouli was one of those things guarantee to dominate anything. But on my skin, it's surprisingly fruity. The patchouli is still there, but very sweet. Almost like a "light" patchouli. The two scents merge well together. After a few hours the peach does fade to a just a very nice sweetness and the patchouli just spices that up a tad. Very nice.

In the bottle: Oh so that's what violets smell like. Very sweet floral..with a sharp yet musky bite that I'm not sure I'll like. I was so unsure that I'd deal well with this scent that I "inflicted" it on my poor unsuspecting 4 year old son. Oh! It really is perfect for him, at this age. The sandalwood makes the violet sweetness dry and a little spicy. Like the best baby powder ever is how I described it. It is still floral which is usually a big no for me (I admit, I got it for the name and because sandalwood was listed too) but it morphs into such a nice sweet-incensy powder! And it reacts the same with me as on my son. I admit, however, I smell it as a (my!) little boy's scent now whenever I catch a whiff. **Edited to add that this is now what we use as a room spray. I love the smell but it isn't an "everyday me" scent so this makes very good use of it! I've got more Raven on the way!

The first sniff of the bottle was all yoga studio to me. Nice! While still wet, all I could smell was STRONG herbal lemon...lemongrass, eh? Hours later, all I could smell on my skin was dark lemon. The dusty sweetness of sandlewood never came out for me. At the very end of the day, I could still def. smell the lemongrass but there were hints of sandlewood and incense-y notes on my skin. The base of lemongrass just doesn't work for me. One for the swaps!

I will have to wait further into the dry-down for the final verdict but so far my body is really amping up the roses no end. It's a shame because I was hoping forr more of a sandalwood vibe. I'm slowly assembling my own Swap Stack and I think this might be included, unfortunately.

I got a 5 ml of Snake Oil in my very first BPAL order because I am such a spicy vanilla fan (my usual "signature scent" is BBW's Warm Vanilla Sugar body lotion mixed with Kiss My Face's patchouli lotion) but so far I'm not loving the Snake Oil! When I sniffed the vial all I could smell is sweet. Like cleanser-sweet. When I first put it on, I couldn't smell any spice or any warmness at all to the vanilla really. I'm hoping it's because the shipment arrived on the same day as my moon (nice timing!). I don't know if having my period would change my body chemistry that drastically as to make me smell like an airplane bathroom! A few hours after applying, all I could smell was powdery industrial cleanser. So disappointing. I hope this is temporary body chemistry wonkiness! I did read the aging-oils threads so the Snake Oil isn't going anywhere until it ages a bit. I will try again! **Edited to add that just a few days post-flow (so about a week after getting the lab-new Snake Oil) I am liking it! A lot! I don't know where I was getting the cleaner thing from actually. Soooo, I think it might have been more my nose getting used to bpal-quality oils...or something. At any rate, now it smells a little boozy and rich at first dab and then after awhile I get a soft somewhat powdery vanilla sweetness with just a little spice. I can't wait to see how it changes with age! ***Edited again! to say that this is now my new favorite behind Vixen. And the two oils together!!