lady_pandora

I have a confession to make. I'm a BPAL heretic. See, I never really tried Snake Oil before today. I'd sniffed it, sure, but that was back before I had much in the way of a nose for the oils, and I was experimenting with a friend's enormous stash at the time and had about fifteen oils in various places up and down my arms, so I didn't get a very good grip on what it smelled like. Evidently, the Lab decided I needed to rectify my error and sent me SO as a frimp. In the bottle, this smells strongly of patchouli and spices, maybe some sandalwood. As it dries down on my skin, I lose most of the spices, and end up with patchouli, amber, and vanilla as the dominant notes. When I was a newbie, I compared everything to O, but this one really is very reminiscent of O, except with patchouli added. Sort of...O goes to a head shop. Dry, the amber is definitely driving the car, with patchouli and vanilla cuddling in the back seat. (I'm a big amber-amper.) It's even more like O than it was before, and it's very warm and comforting. It's sort of gray and dismal out today and Snake Oil makes me feel like I've got the world's comfiest sweater on. I can't decide whether I want to stow this away and age it, or wear it all the time to bask in the wonderful amber note it has. Maybe I need to get some more, age one, wear the other. Thanks so much, Lab! ETA, the same imp aged 5 years: This is much more patchouli than it was before! And I think cinnamon, because this reminds me a lot of Sin. It's that same really sultry spicy patchouli feel. The sex has come out to play. Now I see why people age this stuff!

A frimp from the Lab. Thanks Lab! This scent is nostalgic as hell on me. There was a review of Sea of Glass a while back where someone said "this is what I thought I smelled like when I wore China Rain as a teenager." Well, Morocco is what I thought I smelled like when I wore Vanilla Musk as a teenager. VERY similar on my skin, except Morocco has better ingredients and doesn't knock me out with alcohol. It's a comforting yet sensual spicy vanilla scent. It remains to be seen whether the sandalwood will end up resulting in a headache. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. But if it behaves, this may end up being a comfort scent par excellence for me. ETA: This is also a close cousin to Underpants, to my nose.

You might give Eden a try. B&BW lists: # Fragrance Top Notes: Fresh California Fig Fruit, Passion Fruit, White Peach # Fragrance Mid Notes: Vanilla Orchid, Sheer Jasmine, Muguet, Yellow Freesia, Coconut Milk # Fragrance Base Notes: Vanilla Bean, Fig Leaves, Caramelized Sugar, Maple, Velvet Musk The notes for Eden: fig leaf, fig fruit, honeyed almond milk, toasted coconut and sandalwood. Between the fig leaves, fig fruit, and coconut, you might just get something close. Alas, neither of them really work on me so I can't say for sure, but I have friends who adore Eden and it's beautifully juicy on them. And now a brief threadjack: If you liked Very Festive Pomegranate last year, you totally need Fruit of Paradise. There's a familial resemblance between the two and if you liked the one, you'll probably like the other.

This had been on my to-try list for ages, and yesterday I finally got around to it. Oh my. This smells like Erzulie's, which is a voodoo store in the French Quarter. (BPAL fans who haven't been there, if you go to NOLA, you simply must go there. Beautiful store, and everything in it smells amazing in addition to having powerful energy in it.) Think "occult store smell" and then imagine the very best occult store you've ever smelled, and that's what I get from Spellbound. This is a gorgeous incensey rose scent. The amber ties the rose to a chair and keeps it from fleeing, so I continue to get rose from this scent hours after applying, which is rare for me. The amber and musk combine to smell like sacred incense. I keep thinking I smell nag champa, too, though it's not listed. I smell like I've just been doing ritual or magic. I LOVE this. Definitely big bottle territory. How did it take me so long to try this one? It may sound melodramatic, but I feel like I've been looking for this scent all my life. I can see how this is a Love Potion. It's not one of those scents that "smells like sex" or screams "sex" at the top of its lungs. This is the kind of scent where you just feel so amazing wearing it that you come across as sexy even if you're not trying.

When I realized my order would come right smack in the middle of my PMS week, during which patchouli notes usually turn to pure stank on me, I decided that if Angeronalia smelled good on me I'd review it right away, but if the patch went sour I'd wait and try it after shark week and then review it. I find myself in a predicament I hadn't considered: Angeronalia isn't working on me, and it has nothing to do with the patchouli. And everything to do with the lemongrass, aided and abetted by an unholy alliance between, I think, elemi and olive blossom. In the bottle, and wet on my wrist, blood orange and tangerine are the most prominent notes, and I was hoping they would stick around and team up with honey and patchouli to make an earthy, sensual blend. Unfortunately, I never get honey or patchouli, and the Lemon of Doom arrives all too soon and clobbers the other fruits into submission. Lemon seldom plays nicely with me. Voila, cleaning fluid smell. I had hoped lemongrass would behave better on me than actual lemon. (Well, at least it's a learning experience, right?) Underneath this astringent lemon scent, the elemi (which I looked up, and which apparently has a fennel-like scent) and the olive blossom seem to be combining to convince me that I'm smelling, not olive blossom, but actual olives. It smells like someone spilled olives on the floor and is mopping them up with lemon-scented floor cleaner. And, of course, it LOVES my skin and amps like CRAZY. Disappointed, I washed it off. And oddly, though it didn't all come off, the washing improved the scent. I seem to have washed off all the lemon but not the elemi, which is much more tolerable when it's not paired with the lemongrass. I think I might try to age this and see if the lemongrass dissipates at all over time. I'm intrigued by the stuff going on in the background of this scent and I think it could be a nice earthy blend if the lemon would calm down.

Wet: Chocolate and booze. Reminds me of drinking creme de cacao in my college dorm. *reminisces* Drydown: An earthy, sensual patchouli rises to the surface. I'm pleasantly shocked to see patchouli behaving itself this well at this TOM! The patchouli and the chocolate sound like an odd couple. but they're blending surprisingly well, and the effect is both sexy and comforting at the same time. Think "romantic evening with your beloved" sexy rather than "clubbing" sexy. It's a little like Sin at this stage, except with chocolate instead of cinnamon. Yummm. Dry: Alas, something fruity has eaten the patchouli for lunch and teamed up with the chocolate to turn the scent VERY sweet and candyish. It's not bad, just not as amazing as the chocolate/patch synergy of a little while ago. Still, I can definitely see myself being in the mood for this scent. I haven't decided if I need a bottle, but I'll hang on to the imp. Thanks Lab!

There was never any question about whether I would order this. Persephone is one of the deities I feel closest to, and I've been fascinated by her myth since I was a little girl. Add to that the fact that I love the scent (and taste) of pomegranates, and Fruit of Paradise was kind of a no-brainer. The very first thought that popped into my mind, upon opening the bottle and dabbing some of this awesomeness on my wrist, was "Very Festive Pomegranate!" I remember we had a thread going last holiday season about what BPALs were similar to Very Festive Pomegranate, a Bath and Body Works holiday LE. The first whiff was reminiscent enough that I ran to get the bottle of VFP body cream I've been hoarding all year, so I could compare. The result: VFP has more throw, but Beth's note is truer, darker, and more complex. But they're quite close, at least on me, so if you loved VFP last year (and I know there were other fans of it on this board), you absolutely cannot go wrong with Fruit of Paradise. Fruit of Paradise is...well, it's just lovely. This is definitely a wintry pomegranate scent, not light and juicy like the Excolo Persephone. There is some spice here. I can't put my finger on exactly what spices, but they add a sort of Christmassy tingliness to the blend. The oil does not morph much, and when it does, it's subtle. It feels like it's cycling, almost imperceptibly, between tart/bitter and sweet, as though Persephone's thoughts are wandering from her mother to her husband, and I'll leave it to you, and your personal interpretation of the myth, to decide which thought makes her happy and which makes her sad. There's a serenity to both the sweet and bitter phases, and an almost "mulled" quality which I think comes from the mystery spices. The only trouble with FoP is that it really doesn't have a lot of throw on me. Which means...well, I can see another bottle in my future, because this will need to be slathered pretty heavily.

I second Talvikuu. I'd love to second Snow Storm, but I haven't smelled it yet. *covets*

How about The Apothecary, from Illyria?

Mad Sweeney went all campfire-y on me. YMMV, though, a lot of people got straight whiskey!

Origin: my GF's imp box Wet: Headshop. Drydown: This may sound weird, but the image I get from this scent is that I'm biting into a piece of wood, and there are spices rubbed into the grain. The wood smell is vivid and "juicy," if wood can be said to be juicy, and I can almost feel the texture of it between my teeth. (I chewed pencils as a kid, so I know what I'm talking about! ) My GF commented that it smelled floral on me, though my nose missed the flowers. Dry: Red Patchouli evidently has decided that I don't properly appreciate its role in the scent, so it decides to play an extended solo riff. And alas, the rest of the day it might as well be red patchouli single note; the other stuff never comes back. This is a woodsy, autumnal, and sort of comforting scent during the 1.5 hours that the wood and spices stick around. I wouldn't be in the mood for it every day--it falls more to the masculine side of the spectrum than my "usual suspects"--but it's quite nice. I just wish it stayed complex longer on my skin. I'd have to reapply a lot. I give it a 3 out of 5, and recommend it to fans of Anne Bonny. ETA: After writing my review, I read the list of notes and don't see red patch listed. Weird. Evidently some note or combination of notes (maybe the red musk?) is turning to a reasonable facsimile of red patch on me.

I was a Devil in a Blue Dress (blue velvet dress, sequined horns), and I wore Lilith, because she's a demoness and because I associate that scent with velvet gowns.

I wanted to like this; I have some poppy incense around the house and I love it. Poppy is such a decadent, evocative scent to me. Unfortunately, on my skin, Opium Poppy turns to hair spray. The only thing it evokes is a memory of being thirteen in the early nineties and having my bangs poofed up into a hair-wall over my forehead. :D

Have you tried Les Bijoux? Yummm.

This is a beautiful, complex scent that I'm not sure I can describe. I'll say that the vanilla, the musk, and the sandalwood are definitely dominant on me, and that my impressions seem to be "warm," "dry," and "golden." If it sounds like I'm describing MB:Underpants, I'm not describing it right. Mr. Ibis is a much less foody vanilla, a much drier sandalwood, and overall a less sweet and more gender-neutral scent than MB:U. It's very lovely and I definitely enjoyed having random whiffs of it waft their way up to my nose throughout the day. Only trouble is that it gives me that little twinge in the head that tells me I'll probably get a headache if I put on any more of it. More testing is definitely called for, just to make sure before I make any hasty decisions.

Barrel-aged whiskey and oak. I get a slight whiff of whiskey--and definitely expensive whiskey--when i first apply this scent. It's kind of sweet the way whiskey is, and very very boozy. But once it settles down, what this really smells like on me is woodsmoke. It shoots a dozen memories right to my brain--campfires, bonfires, the neighbor's woodstove on the first chilly October night. This is not the cigarette smoke smell I got from Black Tower but something much more inviting, more wholesome. This is a comforting, autumnal scent. Not sure I'll actually wear it much. Woodsmoke is more something I want to smell than something I want to smell *like*. I may use it in my oil burner, though.

Hee! I forgot this had vetiver before trying it on. No wonder I only really got two impressions from Spider: 1. Men's Cologne and quite an overpowering one at that. 2. Not for me. Not at all. I have a curse: I hate vetiver and I amp it like crazy. This just smells like aftershave and Men's Cologne on me and it is so not working. I think I'm going to try to sell this to a male friend.

Rum and sugar cookies all the way. I don't get any tobacco or lime and I'm quite pleased with that. This is very much a comfort scent. Yummm, sugar cookies.

Choosing from that list? Well, I haven't tried some of them, but I can recommend The Apothecary as a relaxing and mellow blend and Anne Bonny as a ball-busting empowered blend.

Sorry, I couldn't even get this as far as my skin. I sniffed it in the vial and knew it would nauseate me, and I usually like musks! A friend did try it on. She asked me what I thought. I said, "I love you to death, but I can't stand it, sorry." There's just something in it that smells like dirty socks to my nose. *shudder* Sorry Lab.

I don't like this, and it's not Beth's fault. A few years ago I had severely dry skin and I had a cherry/almond lotion that I used all the time. The lotion didn't work very well, and I also got sick of the scent after a while. This smells exactly like it. I think I just don't like the combination of cherry and almond and that it will always smell kind of medicinal to me and bring back memories of irritated skin rather than anything hedonistic.

This is an absolutely beautiful scent. I think it's the myrrh that makes it so great on me. Ordinarily my skin amps the hell out of jasmine and eats rose for breakfast, and while I do love jasmine, I sometimes like to smell the other oils in a blend as well. Here, though, the myrrh holds the rose in place so that it stays around to balance the jasmine, and the myrrh also gives the entire blend a sophisticated, mature-woman feel rather than the "girliness" many florals have. This is definitely the kind of Wicked Stepmother who sweeps around her forbidden palace in glamorous, flowing gowns. It feels kind of like an old-fashioned couture perfume and makes me think of old Hollywood. I need to order some of this; it's a great one for when you need to feel regal. Give it a try if you like Lilith and/or Purple Phoenix. Wicked has a similar feel somehow, even though it doesn't have the grape/wine note. The myrrh is probably the link.

This starts out almost peanut-buttery in the same way that Sed Non Satiata did. Which caused me to make the irreverent comment that, well, Anubis *is* a dog after all and I'm sure he does like peanut butter. That stage didn't stay around long, though. The dominant note here is definitely the patchouli, and I think it's the black patch. The fact that it doesn't reek on me in this blend, I suspect, is because of the amber. I usually can't wear black patchouli and the blends I can wear it in, all contain amber as well. So while I can't actually smell the amber in Jacquel, I'm definitely grateful to it. The spices add an exotic complexity. There is also something that kind of reminds me of dust. There's a hint of "sweat-smell" in the blend as well, which I think is coming from the patchouli note. It doesn't smell like week-old B.O. but more like the fresh sweat of someone who bathed this morning and just happend to exert themselves a lot during the day. I'm surprised I don't mind it but for some reason I kind of don't. My friend said this smelled like sex on her; I said that on me it smelled like sex in an old bookstore.

Mmmm, this is lovely. I get the flowers first (I can't put my finger on exactly what they are), and it feels like it's going to be a pretty and simple floral blend. Then the spices show up, and they reminded me of incense. The blend feels *sacred* to me, like it's something I'd wear for ritual. It doesn't have a lot of throw or staying power on me, but I love it while it lasts.

I almost bought a 5ml of this unsniffed when it first came out, based on the listed notes, but I held back because of the almond. I was so afraid it would go Play-Doh like it did in Hecate... I tried a friend's decant last night and as I opened the vial, I was chanting "Almond, be good. Almond, be good." The first fifteen or twenty minutes weren't spectacular on me. It didn't smell *bad* but it didn't blow me away either. Then, BAM! My skin went "Oooh, there's honey here, aren't we supposed to be amping that?" And suddenly it smelled like an apple dipped in honey, with maybe a bit of musk, and it was amazing. The first words out of my mouth were, "I should have bought that bottle." It's glorious and feminine and above all *golden*. After a while a sweet, sensual floral note rises to the surface as well. Thankfully I do have my own decant on its way soon, and hopefully I won't use that all up before I've got the money to go for the 5ml. Love this stuff. Love it. Try it if you like O, Brisingamen, Les Bijoux. ETA, 11/11/07: Usually I edit my reviews to say that I've come to love something I was "meh" about before. Unfortunately, this edit is the opposite. I find that I don't like Bilquis nearly as much as I thought I did at first wearing. It's just kind of...too much, if that makes any sense: too sweet, too "sticky" (not literally sticky, of course, but that's the way the scent comes across to me). It's definitely evocative of the American Gods character and the way she...ahem...sucks men in. And not in a good way. Also, about half the time, the almond goes play-doh on me.