rainbow

I've found Blood Amber to be just like Spellbound without the rose. The now-discontinued Pandora has a very similar cherry candycane feel to the up and coming Nine Mysteries (indeed, if Nine Mysteries enters the permanent collection that will help me get over my sadness at losing Pandora). I think this might have been mentioned earlier, but Bewitched is very similar to Glasgow, just a bit sweeter- more focus on sweet berries, where in Glasgow those berries are tempered more by the heather.

This is definitely a masculine scent. In the bottle and wet on my skin it smells mostly of sage, bay, and lemongrass. It's clean and refreshing, and most definitely green. As the scent dries it becomes a bit sweeter, sagier, and then settles into lavender. This is a very kitcheny scent. The lavender stage is my favorite, and thankfully appears to be the most long-lasting. Unfortunately this scent doesn't last very long- about a half hour on me. Oh well. I'll certainly use up the imp.

In the bottle and wet on skin- I can smell each note quite distinctly- the citrus, the mint, the eucalyptus. It is quite sharp, and also soapy, but in a good way (as in, that's some mightly fine soap, not oh dear, that's gone soapy on me). It feels very fresh and clean. Banshee softens almost immediately on me (within the first few minutes) and becomes a citrussy-fresh scent, with definite hints of lemon. I'm also getting a hinst of something that smells almost like rose, but I can't really pin it down. This is definitely a daytime scent, and very much one for a fresh spring day. I'll probably save most of this for springtime. It gives off some lovely green and yellow vibes.

In the bottle this smells mostly of crisp, green apples. Definitely Granny Smith apples- I love that I can pin it down to a particular apple. When I sniff the bottle all I can think of is cutting up a really crisp Granny Smith, and little beads of juice running out, as well as the contrast between the firm, green skin and the white flesh. Lovely. When I put the oil on my skin it instantly takes on a sweet, caramel, honeyed sort of smells that jumps right on top of the apple and nearly takes over. For the first few minutes of application this scent is mostly sweet. As it dries, however, the apple comes back and slowly cuts through the honey/caramel. I've found that most of the changes in The Hesperides take place in the first half hour of wearing. After that the scent settles into a very clean, fresh apple. I find it really, really beautiful. I enjoy wearing this very much. My only complaint is that my skin eats this stuff up post haste- it only lasted about an hour on me. Sigh. I'll still wear it, and quite possibly order a big bottle, as it looks like I'll be applying frequently.

In the bottle and wet on my skin this is a thick, sweet, and cloying cranberry scent. It's very, very sweet, in fact. I don't find that to be a bad thing, but it's definitely sweet. As the scent develops the sweetness fades and I'm getting whiffs of something that smells almost like orange coming through the cranberry. There are musky undertones as well that become more prominent the more the scent develops. It becomes a really fresh musky cranberry, and stays that way through the drydown. This is a scent I like very much, I find the cranberry unusual, and it has a nice, autumnal feel. I'm certain that I'll be ordering a large bottle of this at some point in the future.

Glasgow's a nice berry scent that I find to be fresh, rather than sweet. The heather really tempers the berry.

All very helpful- I have a certain pale blue linen blouse that has some distinct yellowy-orange snake oil stains on the cuffs.

In the bottle and wet on my skin I'm getting what smells to me like citrus and musk. It's very sharp- I'd guess that's the orange blossom/cypress combo. It's slightly jarring. On me it softens and mellows a bit. I get more geranium, still with wafts of cypress. This smells like men's cologne to me. It pretty quickly becomes much harder for me to pick out individual notes, though I presume the increasted sweetness is the result of the passionflower. It's pleasant and a bit tropical. Ultimately this goes rather soft and sweet on me when I smell it up close, but from a distance I still get those wafts of men's cologne. On the drydown it becomes a truly sweet floral scent.

Yes indeed, my Yule and Frost Moon orders were harvested this week too. Yiippee!

That is a nice idea. If I were doing it, I'd include the following: - Snake Oil - An herbal/incensey/wood scent (Cathedral?) - An acquatic scent - A fruity scent (Persephone?) - A floral (Queen Mab?) - Something else, to be determined.

I tend to gravitate towards sweet scents too, but thing that I have used that are not sweet are: - Loviatar- smoky, slightly spicy leather - Spellbound- like Loviatar with a bit of added rose and amber. It's not sweet, not at all. - Kumiho- crisp and fresh- green tea and citrus - Glasgow- I'd be a bit more careful with this one, I don't think it's sweet, but it has berries, which might have the potential to go sweet. It's berries and lavender/heather. I think it's more fresh and herbal.

In the bottle and wet on the skin I'm getting red fruits, possibly cherries, and citrus- big ripe oranges. My nose may be confused, however, and what I think is cherries may in fact be almonds. There's a slight bitter note as well. After a few minutes the herbal elements, particularly the lavender, really come through. This goes through a phase where it's quite strongly lavender, nearly a lavender single note. While some lavender scents can be soporific, I find this isn't at all. In fact, it's quite energizing. That must be because the mint's in there, even though I can't smell it at all, because it's so well-blended with the lavender. After that the lavender dissipates and the thyme comes through quite strongly. The thyme phase is definitely the longest phase of this scent. I find that this scent lasts for about 3 hours on me, with the last two hours being nearly pure thyme. I had high hopes for this oil. As a historian, Calliope is "my" muse, and I was hoping she could be of assistance. Overall I'm pleased with the results. This is an energizing blend. I feel like I can wear it and Calliope will help with my dissertation (well, at least I hope she will!) I think this is one of those oils that overall is better for what it does than the inherent beauty of its actual scent. Shame she's been discontinued.

I love minty scents, and was terribly excited about this. It certainly hasn't disappointed. In the vial and wet on my skin this smells like those fruity, multi-colored candy canes you get at Christmas time, the ones that turn your mouth blue - it's all fruity and strong mint. It's yummy. I can tell there's loads of mint in there because when I apply it to my skin I get that chilly tingle that topical mint application gives- it's nice, and it lasts for quite a long time (say, about an hour). As the scent develops I'm getting a hint of citrus peeking through. Is it orange? In fact, it is a ripe, big, fresh orange with beads of moisture on the peel. It's the whole orange, peel, white stuff, fruit, and all. The mint fades as the orange comes through, and it morphs into an even purer orange, and stays this way for several hours. It smelled like my hands after I've eaten an orange, and as I was going about doing other things, a few times this scent actually tricked my brain into thinking I should probably go wash my hands because I must have orange residue on them- then I'd come to my senses and remember that it was my perfume. Seriously, it's that close to true orange fruit. I never got the dark or coconut drydown that others have described, for me the orange just sort of petered out. That said, I find this oil amazing- the way it can go from pure mint to pure orange is absolutely astonishing. I desperately hope this becomes available for regular purchase at some point, as I will surely get some.

In the bottle this smells like a collection of tropical flowers and fruits to me. I'm imagining big, lush red hibiscus blooms and Hawaiien leis, as well as a good whiff of pineapple. It's very pretty, very floral, and very feminine. On my skin this goes instantly floral, and within a few minutes softens even more. There are aquatic notes here now, along with the florals, and ever so often I get the slightest whiff of bubble gum or cotton candy. That sounds like it might be awful but BPAL does it beautifully. There's a hint of citrus, too, possibly lemon, that develops as well. As the scent progresses, very well-mixed tropical fruits, like a fruit salad, come through, and an hour or so later I get the amber notes as well, but they're faint. The only unfortunate thing about this oil is that it doesn't last all that long, and requires frequent reapplication. After a couple of hours this has dried down to just a faint scent of sweetness on my skin. Overall this is soft, feminine, floral and just lovely.

I made 2 orders on 10/27, and neither one has been harvested. I'm glad to see others haven't either, because I was beginning to wonder if there was a problem with my credit card.

What about Glitter? It's sweet and cherry-like (sort of like Cherry lifesavers) and the name is very appropriate for a young girl.

My sympathies- I'm a migraine sufferer too, and with a migraine I get hyper-sensitive to sensory things of all sorts (smell, noise, light, etc.) I've not found any scents that help the actual headache, but the one note I've found that does seem to make a positive difference is ginger. I've found it really helps reduce nausea (part of the fun migraine package). I've been using Lush's ginger soap, but now that you bring this topic up, I'll have to try some ginger BPAL scents myself. I did a search for ginger and came up with 11 results: Pele Sudha Segara Kumiho The Apothecary Baobhan Sith Gingerbread Poppett The Lady of Shallott Siren Vixen Nemesis The only one of those I've tried is Kumiho, which smells not at all of ginger (at least to me)- I'm not sure there's enough ginger in that one to make a difference. Gingerbread Poppett seems like the obvious choice, though perhaps others could weigh in on which of the above actually smell strongly of ginger.

I've been saying it Lamp-ah-dees, though that could be really, really wrong.

I, too, am thrilled to bits that there will be upcoming cucumber scents. I've long been a devotee of the Yankee Candle Garden Cucumber scent, and can only presume a BPAL oil will be all the mroe wonderful. I will never cease to be amazed by the wonder that is BPAL.

Kumiho is my light and fresh scent of choice right now- gives a clean citrus and green tea feeling, and very fresh. It always makes me feel pale green, if that's any help.

My Halloween celebrations will mainly be tonight, when I'm going to a Halloween party. I'm going as either an opera singer (viking hat!) or a Puritan (my old chestnut). I'm leaning towards the opera singer. If I do that I'll probably wear Spellbound. If I go for the Puritan I'll probably wear Loviatar.

What about Delirium for the girly sister? It smells clean and fresh, rose and citrus mixed together. I'm quite fond of it. I would have recommended it for your sporty sister, because I think it smells quite fresh, but the no citrus thing rules it out, obviously.

I ordered an imp of this because I liked the sound of lime and berries. I've not been disappointed. Venom is magic on my skin. The details: In the bottle and wet on my skin: I'm getting strong lime and jasmine. Not really smelling the berries. This is sweet, with a kick. As it dries: This dries into a scent that gets sweeter and headier. Within a few minutes all the scents have combined into a strong, sweet, heady, gorgeous scent, still with that bit of kick. I think it smells exactly like Lush's sex bomb. For that reason, this scent gives off a bright pink, playful aura for me. It's jasmine with a layer of deep fruits. Those must be the berries, though it's obviously not just berries. Duration: I found this oil to remain remarkably constant when I wore it. Once it morphed into the Sex Bomb scent it stayed that way. I loooove this oil. I shall be purchasing a larger bottle for sure.

I can't believe I haven't gotten round to reviewing this one yet. I got a Snake Oil imp as a freebie with one of my orders. I would never have picked this out for myself, as vanilla and I don't get along and I definitely don't like foody scents. But, in the interests of scientific inquiry, I've given it a go anyway. The results: First sniff and immediate application- Heavy and sweet. This is much heavier than any scent I usually wear. I'm not sure I'd quite describe it as heady, but it's definitely heady. It's a "brown" scent to me. Development: This develops into a more powdery and spicy scent. There's something almost watery that's coming through. It sounds like a contradiction, heavy, sweet, and watery, but there's definitely something watery there. This is not unpleasant (this is a huge deal to someone who normally hates vanilla and things that smell of food.) This might be the most rapidly changing oil ever- every time I sniff I get something different. End result- I sort of like Snake Oil. I'm happy to wear it. It's not one of my favorites, but as I mentioned above, the fact that I'm willing to wear it is a huge deal to me (and speaks very highly of Snake Oil) as I generally hate things that are vanillary-sweet.

On the sex bomb/fever thing- I don't tend to think they smell all that similar. Both have an element of sophisticated perfume about them, but I tend to think sex bomb is a bit fruitier, whereas fever is heavier, more heady. I can't think of anything off the top of my head that smells like Fever (especially since I'm not exactly sure what's in Fever, scent-wise) but if I come up with anything I'll let you know.