Caper

Saqqara v2 is an amazing clove scent. It's by far my favorite sexy clove and worth hunting down.

I am so glad that I got this one. I am not a huge floral fan, though a few in the right amount don't bother me, and this is just perfect. It's a sweet blend of spring florals, white chocolate, and a hint of strawberries. The vanilla is peeking out on the drydown on one part of my arm. I think I might need to make sure to mix this oil carefully to get the vanilla.

 

It is complex enough that the sweet doesn't overpower the rest, and the florals are nicely balanced and not too sharp. I put it on right out of the mailbox and it really is a perfect spring scent.

 

Between this and The Fairies, I'm really pleased with the spring florals.

I love ginger and I love citrus so all the reviews made this sounds perfect.

 

instead there is something that vaguely reminds me of wet dog? not sure what is happening, but I am glad I have a butler of inextinguishable hated on the way.

I teach high school and I wear pretty much anything except the ones with a lot of throw. no changeling even though I love it. and no #occupy

almonds in the imp for sure!

 

they fade once on and i get a bit of some spices before it turns into foundation that i used to wear in junior high?!?! wtf?

 

about three hours later it is nice and mellow, but the scent association is too strong for the first couple of hours.

so i really like this one!

 

i got a partial bottle left over from a decant circle and at first i thought it was just a nice tree scent, but wasn't sure i wanted to smell like a tree. i tried to sell it but had no takers. i tried it again yesterday and WHOA! i am so glad it didn't sell!

 

it's a warm tree scent but it has depth and nuance. it makes me happy.

 

vedict: keep!

 

ETA- I have worn this for the last two years when we go to pick out our tree, and I will contribute to wear it until my bottle is gone. Wonderful scent associations that will last for the rest of my life and remind me of when my children were little. Thank you, BPAL!

i was hoping the gardenia would be subtle, but it's not. this was almost all gardenia for me which made me sad. it actually made me add gardenia to my death note list since i've realized that even a touch is too much for me.

 

still looking for a good pear!

i thought i was going to love love love this one.

 

it reminds me of the fennel that you eat after eating indian food. it's really yummy, and there's no indian food for miles around here so it's nice to have for a scent association, but it's not necessarily something i want to smell like all the time.

 

verdict: keep the imp, but no bottle needed.

 

eta- I wasn't sure about this one but I kept reaching for it and loving it, so I got a bottle in forum and it is one note fennel. I an positive there are different versions of this because my first had the sweet baked goods with coconut scent and this one is just not that nuanced.

I was afraid of this in the imp. Luckily, when I first got my decant I had a cold and could barely smell, so even though I thought, meh at first I followed thought with a skin test. the ginger was amazing but I couldn't detect much more.

 

now I have no cold and I almost couldn't get myself to put it on. Luckily I did because it is such a nice ginger/myrrh blend that I can't stop sniffing myself.

 

I have not found many yules to love and this is one of my top four.

thanks gwydion.

 

i just wanted to update that the lab sent me the oak moon components. i am fine with most of them in other blends so i have a few to watch out for. but luckily they aren't very common.

i have my fingers crossed that it's just the oak, considering i bought your hay moon i sure hope i'm not allergic to that one too!

 

cedar is fine, pine is fine, oakmoss is fine.

 

it doesn't seem like oak is a common component, so fingers crossed it's the oak and not the lunar oils!

so yesterday i had an allergic reaction to something. i was wheezing and my eyes started swelling and itching. i couldn't figure it out because there's no pollen or anything in the air, it's cold and clear here.

 

so i showered and this morning i was fine. i decided to test the oils i wore yesterday (oak moon and a torrent of light) and i started with oak moon.

 

i breathed it in from the bottle (smells SO good!) and waited a few minutes and my lungs started tightening up.

 

i generally only have allergies to seasonal pollens and things, never to any other bpal or perfume or scent. i found some other posts about contact allergies from cinnamon or headaches, but nothing like this. has anyone ever had an allergic reaction to a specific oil? do you think i can e-mail them to find out the components so i don't buy anything else with the same ingredients? i hope it's not lunar oils.

dp. sorry!

i grew up in california and oaks are a huge association from my childhood. i couldn't pass this up and i'm so glad. i actually want a back-up bottle after testing this one.

 

i'm glad someone mentioned the changeling because i find the same wood note too. however, i _loved_ the changeling (back-up bottle loved) and i was really happy to find a hint of it here. where the changeling makes me think of fresh oak hardwood floors in a sunny room, oak moon makes me think of moonlight in an oak grove. it is a softer, greener, more luminescent scent.

 

this one is a very powerful growing scent. i keep trying to describe it and all i can come up with is tree imagery. there is a passing thought of berries, or vanilla, or sweetness, but if i close my eyes, i see a small sapling with growing patiently into a gnarled old oak. it's timelessness and patience, not vanilla or berries.

i wasn't sure if winter berry would be something like raspberry/blackberry or something a little more bitter and red, like holly berries.

i'm glad that this one is the sweeter berry rather than a bitter one!

 

in the bottle: berries. rather sweet and yummy, but not a lot of nuance.

 

wet: berries. with a bit of rose. i had just about sworn off of roses since i seem to amp them but they are just AMAZING combined with the berry.

 

dry: still berry and rose. i'm not getting the frankincense (which i love!) or the sandalwood. i was really hoping for a strong frankincense note but i can't seem to find it?

 

after rereading the description i have tears in my eyes. this scent is really perfect for the concept. it is full of brightness and joy. i hate to re-use the name of the oil, but i can't really think of how else to describe it. it's the moment when the cares of the world fall away and you are wrapped in a bright joyful place where reality doesn't matter. stunning.

yay, i'm first! let's hope i can do it justice.

i find myself drawn to descriptions that are bright and clean, even though i don't always like the way they smell on me. a torrent of light smells great on me though, and i think it's because the amber tempers the higher pitched notes.

bottle: light citrus? and ozone. i think that this might be the difference between eucalyptus petals and straight eucalyptus. it's a lighter non-astringent eucalyptus that makes me think of citrus. really amazing in the bottle.

wet: oh yum! i smell clean and light. there's an brightness to it that makes me think of electricity, but the eucalyptus is vague and not harsh like i was worried it might be. it could be unisex at this point, which is usually how ozone comes across to me.

dry at 5 min: the amber starts to warm and mellow the brightness of the mint and eucalyptus. i say mint and eucalyptus, but neither of those are really prominent or harsh like they can be. just light, breezy, and a hint of cold. this seems to be more feminine to me but it isn't strongly feminine at all. in fact i would say it is nicely androgynous.

dry at 30 min: the amber has really warmed it up and softened it like amber usually does. i love amber in pretty much everything i've ever tried it in and seem to be lucky that it doesn't go powdery on me. the eucalyptus petals add a slight floral edge to it but i'm not really into florals and it definitely doesn't come across as a floral. it's more like the floral adds a touch of complexity to the warmness of the amber and the brightness of the ozone.

verdict: i like it a LOT. i'm definitely keeping my bottle and i think it will work well on those days when i need a bright winter scent that isn't foody or sweet. masterful blend! 9/10

for those that were afraid of either the eucalyptus or mint being too strong or astringent, you should try this one anyway. they are very subtle and the amber and ozone are the more prominent notes.

Sin and Salvation

Nero- rosemary, lemon, and bay I this on my dh.

 

 

Bewitching Brews

Calico Jack- Sea air, driftwood, waterlogged kelp, and the memory of plundered spices sprayed over worn leathers, rough musk, and the salty wooden floorboards of the Revenge. This was very masculine but good.

light and soft and green. definitely a spring or summer scent.

 

i didn't realize it was discontinued so i will certainly be keeping my imp. it's rather refreshing and cool.

aelopile was my first GC bottle purchase and i LOVE it, so i had high hopes for this no. 93.

 

imp: starts off sharp and bitter and astringent. like the inside of a crushed bitter seed and i'm having a hard time putting it on my skin. (i have no idea why i'm getting that impression but it reminds me of something icky).

 

wet: oh ewwww.... so sharp and just tickling something at the back of my mind. i want to wash it off but i'm holding out hope.

 

dry: there's the beeswax!!! it mellows and loses it's pungency into a nice resiny beeswax. i love beeswax! this seems similar to what other people are saying but i don't know why my initial impression is so different?

 

i don't know if i can make it through the initial twenty minutes of eww before it gets to this yummy stage. i think that there are too many that i love from wet to dry to keep this one. likely into the swap pile but i'm not completely convinced, i may try again.

i shied away from this one because of the guava and tiare but i happened upon a half bottle and decided to get it on a whim.

 

imp: golden warm pumpkin with a hint of a bright floral. mostly a buttery golden pumpkin.

 

wet: pumpkin and bright floral. a touch of amber and vanilla blends with the floral and makes a really refreshing mix, light and nuanced.

 

dry: the floral notes dominate on me and i thought that would be a no go but i like it. i had no idea i would like a tropical floral blend but it is really soft and nice.

 

i'm so glad i got the half bottle, i will definitely use this for fall. likely even as summer starts to turn because the lightness would work earlier in the season than some of the more dry leaf autumn scents.

so i just wore this one all day and decided it's a great time to review.

 

imp: chocolate, hay, and a little bit of darkness. i'm kind of intimidated.

 

wet: this one SEPARATES! so i had to really roll it and tilt it from side to side gently. wet i got a nice chocolate and patchouli blend but the oil is so hard to mix that i had to tip the edge of the imp against my arm because the wand just wouldn't hold any oil except for the light blond one at the top. i could see the cocoa absolute on my arm mixed with the light blond oil.

 

dry: so freakin' amazingly good. i can't really explain how much i love this one. it dries down to a soft warm chocolate patchouli that sticks pretty close to my skin but last a long time.

 

 

my skin seems to be eating scents lately so i'm going to have to retry in a bit because i don't remember this the first time.

 

this is definitely a bottle. maybe with a back up?

bottle: omg! it's yellow cake batter. the betty crocker kind.

 

wet: yellow cake yellow cake yellow cake. vanilla and sweet and dense kind of smell. there really isn't anything contrasting or high or low here, just warm sugary cream.

 

dry: it stays the same with an occasional bit of linen. for a LONG time and with quite a bit of throw.

 

it's too thick for me and a bit too foody. if the linen had been more predominant and i'd been able to get that yellow cake association out of my head i would have been interested.

my bottles this time around are:

 

the changeling

halloween las vegas

devil's night

the seekim

two tailed sogg

 

i'm getting some half bottles left over from a decant circle for:

 

sonnet de'automne

pumpkin princess

calavera catrina

 

imps i'm definitely keeping are

autumn cider

samhain

night hag

 

the only one i'm slightly iffy on is expressive head and even that one is starting to grow on me.

 

i like almost all of them!

 

ETA- retried two tailed sogg and it's getting moved to a bottle. it just mellows into a nice green musky/slightly powdery but reminds me of the redwoods scent.

imp: so good! smokey and apples and LOVE!

 

wet: delicious. it's a medium pitched scent for me and doesn't really have any dominant notes. it's just a nice blend that makes me think of fall.

 

dry: about an hour it's just powder? okay, it's apple powder. i wish the dry leaf note hadn't disappeared.

 

i'll keep my imp because i've found that i like it layered with autumn cider but i'm disappointed because i really thought it was a bottle scent for sure.

this was a surprise! sometimes chocolate just goes crazy on me (how doth the little crocodile) and i was a bit concerned that i'd end up smelling like a candy store. not the case as the cocoa is nicely tempered but the other notes and it doesn't overpower anything.

 

imp: smells light and sharp, i get a hint of the same leaves note as devil's night and october but in a different setting.

 

wet: mostly amber but with a hint of vanilla. the crisp leaves fade a bit from the imp.

 

dry: vanilla, amber, and cocoa. there's a light muskiness to it but this mellows and warms into something really nice. i can wear it to work and it's just right for this time of year.

 

this was up for a potential bottle purchase but i was able to get a half bottle and a really full imp so i'm going to leave it at that. i really like this one.