Blood onmy hands

Castitas smells amazing. It has a tart, candied quality to it that makes me think of sweet tarts, if there were to be a vanilla musk flavored sweet tart. And there's a creaminess to it as well. Vanilla sweet tarts floating in sugared cream. It manages to be tart, sweet, creamy, and clean smelling all at the same time. The tartness *almost* makes me think of citrus or cherry candy, but it doesn't go quite that far. Oddly enough, the church where I grew up smelled exactly like this. I sniffed this bath oil and was instantly transported back to Sunday school, lol. Whatever pleasant, clean, comforting, air freshener thing they were using always smelled wonderful, and Castitas has that same smell The bath oil itself has the consistency of water. I love how quickly it disperses into the bath water, and it just makes the water a bit cloudy/milky in appearance. There are no pools of oil and the tub doesn't suddenly turn slick and dangerous. It's not something that I would describe as oily. It doesn't sit heavily on me or make water bead up on my skin. It just makes the water (and my skin) feel nice and soft. I use about an ounce of bath oil in my bath and it's wonderful and softening. Unfortunately, the scent still isn't very strong in the water, but it lingers lightly on my skin afterwards. I'd probably get 6-8 baths out of a bottle, since I like being able to smell the scent in the water. After using this in the bath, my skin feels amazingly soft to touch. My boy even commented that my skin felt softer. I don't necessarily feel really moisturized after using this (I still needed lotion for my arms, hands, knees, and feet), but my skin itself is so incredibly soft. It's definitely a great splurge to use when you want someone to want to touch you. I've also tried this in my hair, but my hair is too fine to pull it off. The smell is strong and amazing, but it makes my hair look greasy. Someone with thicker, less oily-prone hair would probably fair better. As a body moisturizer, I like this more than the massage oils. It's not sticky or tacky, but more slippery. It leaves a slip and shine on my skin that I really like for use on my legs. I can see myself slathering this on my legs this summer when the little skirts are back into rotation. Overall, I'm happy with this bath oil, though I wouldn't repurchase. I think I'll even set aside 5 or 10 mls in one of my empty perfume bottles and just wear it as a perfume every once in a while. This is the only bath oil so far that has been a keeper for me (didn't care for Gula at all and Frenum turned rather sharp and headache inducing on me). I have to use so much of it in the bath to get a hint of fragrance, so I'll probably just save the last half of my bottle as a moisturizer/leg sheen product. ETA: The bath oil seems to keep leaking out of my bottle of this and the oil ate off the bottle's pretty label. Every day there's a ring of leaky oil wherever I left the bottle (ate away a weird mark on our wooden cabinet ). For the price, I won't purchase any more of these, but I'll decant the rest of my Castitas into a new bottle, store it somewhere that it can't do any damage, and use it up as a leg moisturizer this summer... ETAA: I recently tried some Possets, and Castitas Bath Oil smells almost exactly like the Madame X Posset to me.

I picked Terrae as my first massage oil purchase because I love woodsy scents. There's something about this scent that I really don't like though. Perhaps it's the clary sage, but something smells high pitched, medicinal, and menthol-like in the bottle and on my skin. My boy said it smelled like "manly potpourri," whatever that means, lol, then said it smelled more like "manly pine" when it had settled on my skin a bit. I have mixed feelings about the scent. I like the earthy/woodsy/resinous part of it, but there's a lingering quality to it that I strongly dislike as well. The good part of this reminds me of Pulcinella & Teresina. It has a similar smell of peppered, rich woods and thick, sweet resins. Every once in a while, I also smelled something that reminded me of dry cedar chips. I find that pleasant enough. The bad part of this is the menthol, herbal sharpness that seems to cut awkwardly through the otherwise fantastic fragrance. It's almost like a rich woodsy/resinous blend with some Jabberwocky thrown in. The texture of this is really lovely for a massage. It's not too oily and slippery, managing to sink into the skin quite a bit. It doesn't make a mess, which I appreciate, lol. I thought that I might use this as a lotion/moisturizer to layer with some of my favorite woodsy/resin blends, but it's a little too sticky for me. I'm very picky about moisturizers, a lot of them actually make me feel dry and I can't stand the feel of something that is at all sticky or tacky. The massage oils do feel moisturizing to me, but there's a little stickiness that sits on my skin as well. I wound up having to take a shower after my boy gave me a massage with this. Bonus is that my skin did feel heavenly after the shower, soft and moisturized, and the unpleasant smell went away. Overall... I don't think that Terrae is a keeper for me. That medicinal, herbal sharpness is too much for me to handle. I don't like these as a lotion either, but they do make for a fantastic massage, and I love how soft my skin felt when I showered after using this

This isn't quite the complex foodie-citrus blend that I was hoping for, but I still really love it . It only lasts about an hour on my skin though, so I wish the staying power was better. Still, it's a cheery sort of scent, and I don't mind re-applying. I love it when it's first on, smelling like lemon sugar and vanilla. As it dries down, I get more of a zingy citrus bite and sweet fruitiness with the vanilla. I can't pick out any pepper, ginger, or lily, though I'm hoping that I'll be able to smell those notes if I age this a bit more...

Overall, this Vampire is far too musky and weird for me. This actually reminds me very much of '51' with its incredibly strange, warm, sweet sort of musk. It's not a dark, spicy, or resinous scent to my nose at all. Mostly I can pick out musk, a bland and not too sweet melon note, and some muted citrus. Musky, sweet, and rather clean smelling. After a half hour or so, I think I smell a bit of clove and more sweetness under the musk, but this is such a strange scent on my skin. Something about it just doesn't seem like it blends together very well...

I love the Cheshire Moon art tis why I ordered the shirt and got in on a partial bottle from a decant group, lol.

The House is a rather sour scent on my skin, and it reminded me a lot of a more floral Bayou, with a light sprinkling of dirt. The moss gives a sour, humid/damp, warm sort of impression that I actually like, though I do find it difficult to wear. It smells swampy. I also get an impression of musty, damp woods. There's a soft sprinkling (almost dusty on my skin) of earth note that stays lightly in the background. Over time, I get more rose. It's a bit perfumey and bold, but it does go a little sour on my skin, perhaps thanks to the other notes. Overall, I'd say that this is a swampy rose. It always smells a bit damp and sour on me. I appreciate these sorts of blends, but I don't think I'd wear this much.

Madeline is my definite favorite of the retail exclusive Poes. I like the white rose note quite a bit. I also tend to love ivy notes. Earth notes are iffy, but I do like them when mixed with the right floral note and greenery. Madeline is a really great mix of rose, green, and a touch of earth on me. The white rose note goes rather sweet on my skin, like tea rose. The ivy seems to add a lively dark green impression. The blend surprises me in that it's a cool sort of smell, and almost a bit damp smelling on me, like crushed stems. I briefly get a bit of a musty woods and earth note from this, but it's mostly a light rose scent on me. Very pretty. I'm not sure if it's full bottle material (Parlement of Foules remains my ultimate white rose blend), but I'm keeping my decant.

I was really looking forward to trying Rozpustnica, as I imagined a moonflower, rose, and blue musk blend. I tend to amp up and hate lemon verbena though, and it's crazy strong in this blend. I can't even pick out any rose or moonflower, which surprised me. The sharp lemon really smothers the other notes on my skin, finally letting a bit of the muskiness out to play after a half hour or so. The drydown is sharp lemons and a clean sort of musk, going off a bit towards being outright soapy smelling. After an hour, I do smell a bit of rose, but it smells a bit sour to me, and I don't like it mixed with the sharp lemon. Overall, it's much too clean and too sharply citrussy for my tastes.

In the bottle and on my skin, this falls somewhere between grape flavored bubble gum and grape cough syrup (blech). As it dries down, it's sort of an artificial grape popsicle + a hint of cough syrup. Wine, amber, plum, champaca and white musk sounded all sorts of sexy, but this is all artificial grape smell on me. Turns a little powdery after about 15 minutes, and has disappeared entirely by the half hour mark.

I received a generous sample of Aeris from a generous swapper . The scent of this is really pretty, though I probably will try another fragrance when I go to purchase a full bottle of massage oil. Aeris is a bit too citrussy for me, especially when it's first on. Sweetgrass as a note itself smells a bit lemony on me before morphing into more of a meadow scent, so I get a bit of sharpness with the sweetgrass, verbena, and grapefruit combined at first. On the skin after 10 minutes or so, the lemony sharpness calms down and this mellows into a soft floral lavender. The citrus becomes less sharp, more of a soft orange blossom. The softer notes mingle with a grassy, herbal sort of twist. Mostly I would say that this is a clean, herbal scent when it's rubbed into my skin. Clean meadow of wildflowers, herbs, and lavender? A pretty, light scent on me. I like the texture of this too, from what I could tell with my sample. The oil sinks in rather quickly on my legs. I think that I'll repurchase, but probably in a different fragrance.

Something in Judith and Holofernes goes powdery on my skin, and I'm not sure what note it is. Perhaps it's the sandalwood, but BPAL's sandalwood doesn't usually turn to baby powder on me. The honey does its odd thing, smelling almost metallic and sour on me for a bit, before settling into a soft, tangy sweetness. I can smell the earthiness of patchouli in the vial, but no patchouli once the oil is on my skin. The skin musk smells like something of a sharper white musk, and I do like that note. In the drydown, this is sultry skin musk, a hint of honey, and a hint of spicy carnation over a base of baby powder. It's subtle on me, on the warmer side of things, and it has a nice hint of sweetness. It's probably too powdery to be a keeper for me though. After an hour on my skin, I can't pick out any notes and am left with a musky, slightly sweet baby powder.

I love Old Moon as a room scent, and my boy acted like it was the best room fragrance evah, lol. It's cold and foresty. I smell the juniper and evergreen most strongly, and I don't think I could ever pull off juniper as a personal scent. It has an almost spearminty crispness to its greenery. To my nose, Old Moon is a bit snowy and minty, but mostly a strong juniper and evergreen. I like a softer pine note for perfume, but this is a great home scent. Very crisp and pretty.

Blood Phoenix wound up being very sweet on my skin. First on, I get a blast of scary almond that smells like hyper-sweet, boozy cherries. Underneath the almond I can pick out hints of the very warm, smooth red musk. I love the lab's red musk, but the almond makes it too sweet and too red. Over time, the almond manages to calm itself down and then the wine grape and dragon's blood surge forward. Dragon's blood often takes on an odd & specific smell on my skin, a smell of sickly-sweet, rotting flowers in a pool of stale water in a forgotten vase. Wine notes often smell like bitter, rotting fruits on my skin, but the grape note here actually smells more like sweet bubble gum (grape bubble tape?). It's floral in a cloying-sweet way and grapey in an artificial way. Overall, Blood Phoenix just goes too sickly sweet with my skin chemistry. It starts off with a strong boozy-cherry-almond and dries down to smell like rotting flowers and grape bubble tape. The undertone of smooth red musk keeps it interesting for me, but I probably won't ever wear this one. I do like the red and purple picture that it paints though. I'll probably keep around my decant for aging, because the reviews on this one are so varied and I'd like to get the incense that others have mentioned

This has a traditional floral scent on me, without smelling cheap or insanely sharp. It's still a bit sharp going on, but it doesn't give me that overwhelming department store perfoom feeling. The Oval Portrait is a bit musky on me, in a cool and powdery sort of way. Sweet florals, a touch of almost citrussy sharpness from somewhere, and a base of powdery musk. This strikes me as a very dry smelling blend. I'm especially bad at describing floral scents, and the best my mind can come up with here is that this smells like a very adult blend of powdery, musk-touched florals. It's not as sweet or natural smelling as I like my flowery blends to be. It loses it's odd citrus twang and some sharpness after a while, which I appreciate. I don't love this, but I also don't hate it...

This starts off as a white-floral-mess on my skin. Sharp and chemical smelling. In the drydown, the lavender and perhaps the sugar cane try to come in and do damage control, and this sweetens up quite a bit. I think that I can smell a powdery, grounding sort of sandalwood here as well. White Phoenix winds up smelling of sharp white flowers & musk, softened by a sweeter lavender, laying on a powdery base. It's definitely not my sort of fragrance, but it's not as bad as I thought it would be either.

Green Phoenix is the sort of fragrance that torments me. Half of it is made up of notes that I *love* (papaya, grass, cucumber, and lime), and the other half is notes that I hate (sage, mint, bpal's amber notes, and green musk). First on, this is a teasing burst of a scent that might actually work on me. It has a bit of juicy fruitiness to it and the refreshing, cool scent of watery cucumbers and green grass. Then the Green Phoenix quickly morphs into a refreshing dryer sheets and men's cologne sort of fragrance. The green musk mixed with green tea keeps making me think of a very crisp cologne. The amber lends its powdery hand into the mix in the drydown. There are hints of fruitiness and an herbal sage every once in a while, but the musk ruins yet another blend for me

Sea of Tranquility takes on a cheap, drugstore, floral perfume smell on my skin. The poppy and other floral notes are sharp and chemical-esque, making this rather harsh to my nose. The amber and sandalwood try to calm it down in the drydown, but they just add a dry, powdery edge that I don't care for either. Sea of Tranquility is probably pretty if you can stomach white florals, but I unfortunately cannot

My initial review of this was not glowing. It's just not the sort of scent that I would normally wear. It starts off with a sharp, cutting musk that I really don't like. However, my boy *LOVES* this on me. For that reason alone, I have to go back and edit this. Black Lace seems to be quite the man magnet, lol. I still don't care for Black Lace the first few hours that it's on me. It's just too musky for me. However, when it dries down and settles, it has crazy staying power and smells like the sexiest vanilla ever. It's a bit clean, a bit sweet, and just has an overall feel of an incredibly sexy date perfume (the sort of date where you spend a few minutes making your date crazy and then spend the rest of the night in bed). So now I have to track down more of this. My man is rarely fanatical about my perfume, but he loves Black Lace and Boomslang on me. His attraction to the scent and the lovely drydown have made this a winner for me.

I wish I'd gotten a full bottle of Capricorn in my latest order instead of bottles of Tanuki and Hony Mone. I always do the wrong thing, lol. I was afraid that the tobacco and hemp in this would overpower everything and turn this into a dark, gritty, dirty sort of scent on me. I think I can pick a bit of earthy, gritty tobacco out in the drydown, but it's not overwhelming on me. On me, this is a very lovely little pine scent. It makes me think of icicles melting off of pine needles. It is crisp, a bit watery, and a bit sweet like pine sap. The pine manages to stay at the center, and it doesn't go too sharp on me. Yay. I think that this would be an awesome room scent, but I'll probably hoard my little half-decant to actually wear from time to time.

I was grateful to get a frimp of this in a swap package, but it sadly doesn't work on me. I get a strong almond note from this at first, and it's a boozy, super-sweet maraschino cherry sort of almond. In the drydown, Fruitcake becomes spicier. I have a hard time wearing spice scents because they sometimes make me think of cloying candle fragrances, and the spice here is like sharp cinnamon and hyper buttery sweetness. This reminds me of an incredibly cloying, foodie candle. The spicy cake, boozy sweet fruit, and nutty something are just way too sweet. I couldn't pull this off in perfume form, but I would love it in an oil burner. I probably won't search out more of this, but it'll be lovely as a room scent while it lasts.

Tanuki is definitely a floral scent on me. It has a dark, sweet sort of floral note to it that makes me think of violet, but this is more musky-perfumey than violet. I can smell a fruitiness as well, but it's artificial and reminds me of sweet tarts. Overall, this blend is too much perfumey floral and too tart for me. It's sharper and has more tartness to it than I was hoping for. My bottle is headed for my swap pile...

I think that the bottle/label art on this is so cute, and I love most of the notes in here. In the bottle, the oil actually smells wonderful. It's a sweet, rich, creamy, slightly foodie sort of scent. On my skin, it's the same for a few seconds and then starts to smell quite a bit like The Organ Grinder. It has a similar honeyed almond scent with a bitter edge. I love fig, carnation, apricot, and tonka, which is why I bought a bottle of this one. Unfortunately, within a minute, Hony Mone has turned into nothing but a stong, overwhelmingly perfumey floral. I don't think that BPAL's jasmine has worked on me in any blend, but it's usually not this sharp and perfumey on me either. Hony Mone is a sharply perfumey white floral to my nose. I asked my boy to smell this on me, but he just made a face and said, "Smells soapy." Not a winner for me

I forgot to review Pollution, perhaps because it strikes me as a more department store smelling fragrance. It's also hard for me to review anything with amber-musk in it, because they tend to go so wrong on my skin. I picked it out of my imp box yesterday and dabbed some on myself and the boy. At first this reminds me very much of a men's cologne fragrance, but I can't place which one it reminds me of. It strikes me as more unisex though. It's musky and the sort of thing I'd expect marketed as a men's cologne, without striking me as being particularly manly. I think it reminds me a little bit of Versace Man - a bit on the femme side, especially in the drydown, if that makes sense to anyone, lol. A men's cologne for men who wish to smell a bit feminine? I get a hint of something slightly sweet and citrussy for a while, and I wish that impression would stick around. On me, this goes a little soapy and then morphs into a baby powder phase, thanks to the amber. Unisex musk, a bit aftershavey for a while, and then morphs into slightly musky baby powder. On my boy, it smells much the same, only (oddly enough) smells a bit more feminine on him. I get a sort of sweet floral scent on his skin that might be the davana. Overall, Pollution probably isn't one I'll be keeping.

I snagged a decant of Dupin for my boy, because lavender & lime are two of my favorite scents and they smell dreamy on him. Unfortunately, this seems to be a pretty heavy leather scent. I tried it out on the boy and on myself, and all I can smell is leather. A dark, sharp, smoky sort of leather. It fades really fast on my boy's skin, but seems to stick around on mine. Too much leather for my tastes, and my skin really amps up leather.

I seem to amp up tobacco notes like mad, and Hastur has the sort of tobacco that I hate in it - gritty, dirty, slightly smoky. It doesn't really smell sweet on my skin at all, though it does have an almost caramelized stickiness to it. It's almost as though it wants to be a sweet tobacco, but it's overtaken by a smokier something on my skin. All I can smell is the tobacco at first. I love black patchouli when it's paired with something sweeter (such as fruity notes or caramelized notes), because it has such a dark, leather-esque scent on my skin that I need something to soften its edges. The dark and smoky tobacco plus dark and dirty patchouli is too much for me to pull off, lol. This strikes me as smelling very masculine, but it's too harsh to my nose, so I wouldn't want it on my boy either. People who can stomach tobacco better than I would probably like this one.