aurore

OK I have a very picky nose and little tolerance for most scents so I tend to pick things based on how they smell. Like I might pick the shampoo for dry hair even though mine's oily just cause it smells better. But I know that EOs can be so so helpful and healing and I've GOT to get past this very long-running slump I'm in so I'm asking for scent recommendations based on desired mood-shift rather than the smell. Fatigue, apathy, and depression are my big problems, any ideas? I got my first few BPALs today in a lush swap, I tried cerberus and hearth and was very pleased to find that I DO have a good nose!! I read scent descriptions of various perfume-counter scents and I'm sniffing going 'what?? VANILLA???? I'm so not getting that, it just smells like friggin' perfume!!!'. But I have always been a big fan of natural scents and obviously my nose is perfectly capable of picking apart scents that aren't synthetic. Going completely blind without descriptions I got pepper from Cerberus (and, lo!, cubeb is a type of pepper, I discover) and I got cherries and wet wood from hearth. I like hearth's sweet cherry-honey scent but cerberus smells like sniffing cheap lemony soap in a head shop, no, more like shoving the soap up your nose and feeling the burn on your mucos membranes! Blah. So, I'm tired and sick and just rambling pointlessly aren't I? Not that I care... <nudge, nudge, wink, wink... apathy joke, get it? teehee> Aurore

Nature spirits and protectors of the world's groves and forests that appear as breathtakingly beautiful women. Hamadryads are born into a tree that serves as both a home and an anchor for the creature's soul. They are sometimes tricksters, sometimes seducers, sometimes helpful and benign, but they are always fierce and furious protectors of the natural world. Seven dry woods with mossy lichen and a gentle breeze of forest flowers. Hamadryad- In the bottle it seems like it's going to be too 'perfume-y' for my tastes. On my skin it's still perfumey but I detect a new sharp-sweet note coming through. As the minutes wear on this scent morphs rapidly and constantly. It occurs to me that this is how I would have imagined Lolita to smell like, there's this sticky-sweet note with a definite breath of cosmetic-counter perfume underneath. As far as this sweet note, I'm gettiing... cinnamon hard candies! Like red-hots, I guess, though I haven't ingested such things since I was a wee thing. The perfume underneath seems to be a sweet, jasmine based, more mature scent, like something I might pick up as a classy, attractive white-haired woman dressed in designer clothing walked by me in a store. But, how uncharacteristic! She's chewing big red! Well, I don't like cosmetic-counter perfume and I don't like Big Red (though I do like cinnamon notes, this is spicy cinnamon as opposed to cinnamon buns) so this doesn't work for me. Even if it changes drastically in the next few hours, I don't know that I could stand to smell like this for more than 5 minutes. Last sniff 6 hours later - Is that a bit of ginger I detect? Well, this one doesn't even get a second chance. Definitely not my scent.

Thick, sugared and bloated with sweetness. Dark chocolate, vanilla, buttercream, and hops with pralines, hazelnut, toffee and caramel. Gluttony - Oh MAN is this rich. Hearth is my absolute favorite BPAL thus far, so this seems a good fit. Unfortunately, I don't like nuts. If you want to smell like hot, buttery, and maybe just slightly burnt pecan pie, this scent is for you. This is what I would imagine the smell to be if you chopped up some nuts, walnuts or pecans or something equally rich, and sauteed them in butter and molasses until they were browned. It's a great food scent, very strong, and I can imagine that a lot of people will love it, especially as a room scent. I just don't like nuts... *giggle* *ahem*

Follow Me Boy - OK, I can see (smell) how people are getting diaper from this. I picked it up a bit in the bottle and wet on my skin, but it has morphed now into something that is surprisingly likeable. This is NOT my sort of scent... but... it pleases me. It isn't that I sniff it and think, mmmmmm, it smells so great! It's more like I'm sitting around and the scent keeps poking at my nose and it's just... pleasant. This is definitely mood-based more than actual scent-based, since everytime I sniff it closely I think... meh. It is kind of diaper-powdery, maybe a tad old-lady-ish, but it's sweet and comforting, and I enjoy having it on. Not at all ready to buy a big bottle, but I'll keep the imp and try it a few more times to see how it grows on me.

Dragon's Blood - Hmmm, I don't know... it's nice, a little sweet, a little floral. I don't dislike it, nor do I especially like it. I can't really explain it. It's like sniffing your own bare skin and somebody asks you, so do you like that smell? Ummmm, what smell? Uhhhhh... It's a very clean smell, is what. A neutral sort of soap, but not soapy either. Trust me, I hate soapy scents, turns me right off. This is just... clean. And puzzling. Do I like this? Maybe it's that this is meant to be blended with other scents... I need to try some Dragon's Blood blends, that's certain. I was hoping trying this would help me determine whether or not I would like the many blends with Dragon's Blood, but it hasn't helped me in the least! It's so weird, I'm at a loss for words... Maybe this is just the perfect compliment for my own natural scent? This might be good for wearing when I'm not feeling great, when just the thought of putting on perfume gives me a headache, but I still want to smell good.

Desdemona- Unfortunately, this is just much too dry for me. I'm saying dry like dry red wine, tickle your nose dry. It's something sort of inbetween sharp, biting, and bitter... it's really none of those, but I can't think of any other way to describe it. It's kind of the way your nose feels after sniffing too much hairspray. I think it's the carnation... I love the smell of carnations and Lush's Potion and I even love the smell of carnation oil, but only the slightest whiff from far away. Any more than that and I get a headache and feel nauseous. I don't think the sweet pea really agrees with me either, but I haven't tested any other oils with sweet pea so I can't say for sure. It's too bad... I enjoy these scents, but my brain just can't tolerate them. *sigh*

Delight - When I first smelled this I was certain that I wouldn't like it, but of course I tried it on anyhow. First sniff made me wince and I had to back away quickly, it was very perfume-y and sharp and strong. 10 minutes later I gave it another quick cautious sniff and was surprised to find that it had changed greatly... it was more soft powdery floral, with the sharp note having receded greatly. I thought I might even wear it, but after another 20 minutes it is now a bit too perfumey again... not very perfumey, but for me the slightest hint of department store perfume turns me way off. Is there musk in this, just a hint? I've found that that is usually the 'perfumey' thing I pick up on.

Cerberus - In the bottle - Very peppery with a cloyingly sweet undertone, I want to say honeysuckle or something of the sort, sweet but green. On application - EWWW, it smells like soap. Very biting, nose-tickling soap scent, like I've walked into a small local head shop and picked up some lemon soap to sniff and we're not talking Lush, here. This is cheap health-food-store lemon soap. And, oh yeah, there are some incense-y smells under the soap, that's the head shop/health-food-store scent. Definitely not for me.

Bon Vivant- In the bottle; ahhhh, very sweet! As I browse through the BPAL site I tend to pass by strawberry scents, because even though I like sweet and fruity, something told me I didn't like strawberry. And now I'm pretty sure of it. On my wrist - EWWWWWW!!! Nail polish remover! *sticking my nose in a bag of fresh-ground coffee* AHHHH, that's better.... OK, I tried to give this a chance, I really did, but 30 minutes later I was still overwhelmed by the scent of nail polish remover and I finally had to scrub it off. If it helps any, this does smell like a particular nail polish remover that I always thought was very pleasant smelling... for nail polish remover, though, not for perfume....

Black Dahlia - At first, a bit too perfumey for me. I think I need to just stay away from florals. It does have an unusual hint of sweetness, but the strong musky florals are just way too overpowering. Strangely, after thirty minutes or so I started getting whiffs of something familiar. I thought it might be Lush's candy fluff, which I dust my sheets with, but I've been out of bed awhile and I'm far enough from the bedroom that it doesn't really make sense to be smelling it.... I sniffed both my arms and decided it must be Black Dahlia. When I sniff it closely it's got that perfumey thing still going on, though much less strong and nearly tolerable, but when my arm is 12 inches below my nose I can definitely smell the sweetness... and it's Lush's ROCK STAR soap. Wow. This will definitely require further testing, since I am obviously quite torn at this time... WAIT, it's not rock star, it's.. it's... YOU SNAP THE WHIP!!!! *dies* I have to make a lotion with this or something. But I do worry about that florally smell. The second time I put it on, ten minutes ago, I'm finding the wet stage more tolerable, almost rather nice. But I think it's somewhat psychological, knowing that it will soon smell like black currant. Unfortunately, this does seem to fade rather quickly... or maybe that's just me, snorting at all off my skin? After an hour or so; It seem that my skin reigns in the perfumey notes and the throw is pure black currant. If I sniff my wrist directly I get perfume with an undercurrent of currant, but if I wave my wrist around about 6 inches from my nose I get You Snap The Whip. Oh goodness, I'm going to shower and then slather and see how I like it then. Well, it must have been a fluke; I slathered after showering and it was just perfume. Must have been something already on my skin that reacted with it, though I have no idea what it was. I guess I'll be swapping it. Too bad...

Hearth - In the bottle - Wet smooshed cherries soaking in fresh, raw honey. If a bee hive fell from a cherry tree, cracked open, and languished in the sun a day amongst the fallen cherries, it would smell like this. On application - Strong honey and fresh wet wood, with a slight green tang. Later - this is what my blankie smelled like on a saturday afternoon when I was 5, a few hours after a pancake breakfast. Yes, syrup-smothered cotton wrapped around clean warm child skin. **EDIT; Over a month after trying this and dismissing it as too sweet, I was perusing the BPAL forum when a scent overcame me... though I was wearing no scent, and had nothing cooking (incense, wax tarts, OR food) anywhere in the house. I shortly recognized it as Hearth, and realized it was a haunting. I'm sure most of you know what I mean, the same thing happens to me with Lush's Candy Fluff and YSTWhip. When I'm being haunted is when I realize I'm in love. It isn't what it smells like in the bottle, it's what it smells like after an hour on my skin. Mmmmmm.... I'll buy every bottle I see! I'm even making wax tarts with it now.

SMJohns, I remember you! Which means we must have interacted more than just a little, as I don't remember people/names all that well. Did you chat in the psig room too? Thank you for the vote of confidence, I actually lost my darkroom when we moved a year and a half ago and it has definitely affected my level of activity re: photography. I have a very competent scanner with 4x9" neg scanning but it's just not the same. I do still shoot in fits and bursts and there may be some stuff on usefilm that is newer than my psig stuff. http://www.usefilm.com/artist/aurore I have lots of neg strips that I hope to get around to soon, my computer wasn't working up to par for the last several months. OK so as to BPAL, I tried two oils and recorded my impressions; Cerberus - In the bottle - Very peppery with a cloyingly sweet undertone, I want to say honeysuckle or something of the sort, sweet but green. On application - EWWW, it smells like soap. Very biting, nose-tickling soap scent, like I've walked into a small local head shop and picked up some lemon soap to sniff and we're not talking Lush, here. This is cheap health-food-store lemon soap. And, oh yeah, there are some incense-y smells under the soap, that's the head shop/health-food-store scent. Hearth - In the bottle - Wet smooshed cherries soaking in fresh, raw honey. If a bee hive fell from a cherry tree, cracked open, and languished in the sun a day amongst the fallen cherries, it would smell like this. On application - Strong honey and fresh wet wood, with a slight green tang. Later - this is what my blankie smelled like on a saturday afternoon when I was 5, a few hours after a pancake breakfast. Yes, syrup-smothered cotton wrapped around clean warm child skin. I don't like either of them to wear regularly. I definitely dislike Cerberus and Hearth is allright, a bit too sickly sweet. I tried John the Conqueror last night and didn't like it at all but didn't record my impression of it. I recall it also had a hint of that soapy smell, eck. Thanks for all the recommendations, I've added some more stuff to my list based on the comments here. It'll take me awhile to afford to try all of them though, lol! Aurore

I've only tried a few oils but I thought Hearth smelled like syruppy pancakes after an hour or so. In fact, it reminds me of being little, Saturday afternoon after a breakfast of pancakes drenched in (fake) maple syrup that spilled all over the blanky I'm cuddling in several hours later. Know what I mean? Here, I wrote a review in my bpal file; Hearth - In the bottle - Wet smooshed cherries soaking in fresh, raw honey. If a bee hive fell from a cherry tree, cracked open, and languished in the sun a day amongst the fallen cherries, it would smell like this. On application - Strong honey and fresh wet wood, with a slight green tang. Later - this is what my blankie smelled like on a saturday afternoon when I was 5, a few hours after a pancake breakfast. Yes, syrup-smothered cotton wrapped around clean warm child skin. Aurore

Good point, figuring scents that uplift me. I'm just not good about that sort of thing, I guess you could say I lack self-awareness. I can say which scents I like and which I don't... Mint is no, usually. I hate mint toothpaste, gum, candy, etc. The only mint candy I ever liked were those beechnut breathmints, which I haven't come across since I was a teenager. I also dislike patchoulli and other incense-y smells. Orange is generally good, a real, fresh orange. I used to scent my car with orange oil in one of those cigarette lighter oil diffusers. Reminds me of summer, walking around eating fresh-picked oranges all day (I live in Florida). I'm not real fond of lemon scents though. I used to like rose a lot but I'm kinda neutral there now. Every spring I really enjoy when the orange trees blossom, wish I knew what neroli smelled like, if it's just the same as those blossoms then neroli is definitely at the top of the list. And night-blooming jasmine, MMMM, my mom always has several of these going and the scent is to die for. Magnolias, too. Leather is always a wonderful scent, and VERY comforting to me, reminds me of long trips in my dad's car, or his jacket. The scent of wine is somewhat comforting, too. I also drink a lot of black tea, mostly straight black teas, sometimes earl grey or jasmine green tea. I don't like coffee. I like simple scents with only one or two heavy notes, and I usually don't like any hodge-podge scents. Like I said, when I was younger I wore oils, and they were always pure... orange, bulgarian rose, vanilla, patchoulli, the two latter I have since grown out of though. My favorite Lush scents are potion, you snap the whip, candy fluff, flying fox, soft couer, and h'suan wen hua. Potion especially, it reminds me of a perfume I had when I was a wee thing, part of some toiletries-for-little-girls gift. Oh and I love the way I smell after smothering myself in pure melted cocoa butter. Candy fluff goes perfectly over it, too. I'm going to take a shower now and try out high john the conqueror.... Thanks for the help! I'm adding some of your suggestions to my 'to try' list now. Aurore