Iceblink

There's something way too green and aquatic about this on me and it's giving me a bit of a headache. (1 hour later...now I'm getting less sharpness and a little bit of soft flowers. Still not too great for the headache though. Maybe it'll have some other effect while I sleep.)

STRONG lavender, very medicinal and herbal. I've used this a few times at night now since I got it, while I've been travelling, and I think I did sleep a little heavier on those nights. I'll be interested to see how it works under normal, at-home circumstances.

Another one that I sniffed without knowing the notes. This one made me say "WHOA what smells so good??". It's...hard to describe. Sweet and mysterious and really nice (although it smelled better on my friend than on me, and I suspect the frankincense is involved here). I never ever would have even thought to try this, based on the name, but it's not nearly as manly and rough as I thought it would be. Very pretty, really.

A nice light floral that went powdery on me quickly and then went poof. Wisteria does that, unfortunately, because I like it while it lasts. ADDED Aug. 4: This begins as a very wet, almost aquatic lavender, and I need a nap. As it dries there's a sweetness coming out that I associate with white musk, and the wisteria and rose are both distinguishable. It's a very soft, light blend...perfumey and feminine. I think it's going to end up powdery on me but even that stage is going to be nice. Quietly beautiful.

I sniffed this without knowing what the notes were and said "Ugh, vetiver, no no no". So now I'm quite stunned to read that there is NO vetiver here. It must be the oakmoss that's giving it that rotting vegetation thing. Whatever it is it didn't work at all for me.

A sea of salty tears drowning out Alice's light floral perfume. Salty, watery flowers. I don't do watery scents at all, but this is one of those BPALs that captures a concept so perfectly! It really does smell like tears.

Oh, YUM. Thick, sweet molasses! Not unlike Sugar Skull but this is a thicker, heavier sweetness than the spun sugar of SS. There's a hint of woodiness in there too. This is delicious and I may need a bottle immediately.

TOTAL Red Hots overload. I went through a phase of trying all the cinnamon scents I could get my hands on, just to see what would burn my skin and what wouldn't. Inferno was a 5-alarm red itchy fire from the beginning. It is a great cinnamony blend but if you're at all sensitive...approach with caution!

Very sweet and cloying almond on me. I think BPAL's almond note tends to go crazy on me because Hecate smelled almost exactly like this too and there ARE other notes in there, I guess...I'm just not getting them. And it's a very buttery almond that's just too overwhelming. Poo!

This lasted 3 weeks on my toes with no chipping (and I walk about 6 miles a day, and broke in 2 new pairs of shoes during that time). Need I say more? Oh, and the color's beautiful too--browner than I expected, and "dried blood" is a perfect description!

The perfect, classic, bombshell, glamour girl red! I love it!

Utterly lovely and I'm sure once spring rolls around this'll be on my nails for weeks on end. In the bottle you'd never think that gold shimmer is there, but it is! This reminds me a lot of one of my favorite polishes, OPI Nomad's Dream, which I don't think they make anymore so thanks BPTP for giving me a perfect substitute! Hell's Belle is the only polish I've bought so far that's named for an oil I've never tried. Need to remedy that.

Candy Butcher is more the dark chocolate version of Bliss' milk chocolate. I actually think CB smells a lot like Nutella; there's a nuttiness to it, at least to my nose. And CB is a more sophisticated, complex scent than Bliss.

This is the prettiest shiny, glossy purple! Two coats are indeed needed, and it did chip pretty quickly on me (unlike the other BPAL polishes, so far). But it's such a gorgeous shade.

So sweet and delicious you'd think your arm would be sticky where you applied it. This is BEAUTIFUL. It's thick, sweet pear syrup poured over the richest French vanilla at first. The pear does, as others have noticed, fade away fairly quickly...but the drydown you're left with is a warm, cozy, sexy-sweet vanilla with the merest hint of fruit, and it's to die for. Even if you're not wild about pear, this might be worth trying, because the pear is just a side note to the vanilla here. I've got to get a bottle of this based on the layering possibilities alone. Perilous Parlor? Meet my bottle of Candy Butcher. Oh, and this is Bliss. I know you'll get along beautifully!

It's taken me over a year to really appreciate Snake Oil, because the fresh version and the aged version are completely different on me. Fresh, I get that lovely vanilla/patchouli/whatever those unnamed exotic oils are...for about 5 minutes, then I get the strongest baby powder EVER. I wore this overnight once when it was fresh and nearly choked when I woke up and sniffed my wrists, it was so powdery! But those teasing first five minutes made me put my bottle away and hope that things would improve. Now, I get the fresh-on-the-wrists scent from this for hours and hours and hours and it doesn't fade or morph (well, it morphs a teeny bit...the sweetness calms down after a few minutes). And it is so sexy I want to take me out and get me drunk. Also, I think if this were edible it would be really good with vanilla ice cream. BPAL flavored syrups, anyone?

I got my bottle of Sugar Skull '07 yesterday and wore it out last night. To my nose it smells almost exactly like '05 and '06 (the only difference in those two to me is that one smells a little fruitier--I think it's '05?). Deep maple-y sugar with a fruit compote note underneath. Still delicious and very long-lasting on me. Even if these batches don't vary much I'm still glad to have them all, because this is one of my favorite oils.

Oh, I love this kitty! I'm getting fresh, sweet citrus (especially lime) with an earthy and just a wee bit minty background. The lavender isn't showing up on me, and I wouldn't know zdravetz if it bit me on the ass. But the fruits and oakmoss make a light, sparkly blend. Not sure how long-lasting this one will be; Croquet lasted on me for hours so maybe I'll get lucky with this one too.

Mmm loganberry, with a green background...this is so fresh! Reminds me of Glasgow, with loganberry in place of the blackberry. There's something almost minty in here too. Really refreshing and crisp--I like it!

Straight almond at first but oh, there's the jasmine, here again to ruin everything. It's slightly more bearable in Salome that it is in lots of other blends though. I do get a nice sandalwood note in the mix. A very warm scent and this could be extremely sultry on someone who likes jasmine more than I do.

I adore Spellbound--it's the perfect blend of red musk, rose, and amber. Something about it is not unlike a rosey version of Smut with some red musk thrown into the mix. Very sexy, and nice and longlasting too. This along with Blood Rose is my favorite rose blend!

Smells like ashes on my skin (that darn frankincense!) but this makes a great room scent--it really does smell like you're inside a church after the services have ended. Very evocative.

I adore red musk and was looking forward to trying Schez, but whatever those Middle Eastern spices are does not work on me. All I got was generic dusty spice, sort of like a pile of incense ashes after the stick's burnt out. I haven't found any blends with saffron that work on me yet so maybe that's the culprit.

This was the oil that taught me about vetiver and what it smells like. It was yummy in the imp--cherries, clove, wine...but the minute it hit my skin it smelled like DEATH. The vetiver took over and cancelled out all the other pretty notes. I was crushed. But it was a valuable lesson.

The wisteria in this turned it straight to powder on me--a shame, because in the imp the violet was more noticeable. Apparently violet only works on me when there are no other flowers involved in the blend (hello, Faith!).