fragrantgrasse

It may just be too strong to take straight. Why not dilute your 10mls. with a little jojoba oil? This will cut down on the irritatant and still allow you to wear a great scent. I usually just try a just a bit at first - i.e., put a drop of fragrance on your arm and a few drops of jojoba and mix together. This isn't very scientific - but it will give you an idea of what the scent is like and whether or not you have an allergic response. If you seem to get itchy - just add lots more oil to the area. Oil, any oil, (olive oil for instance) is an antidote to too much essential oil - or - fragrance oil and antidotes your sensitivities. Not water - but oil. Hope this helps....

I waited to try Venom not thinking I would like it for some reason. Wet on my skin it is sharp and biting - I can smell the jasmine - which I love. But there is something else that is altering jasmine's sweet, narcotic scent. I can't identify what it is, maybe the lime....There is also something about opoponax & berry mix that is very complimentary and amplifying to jasmine, a sweet voluptuousness. It is incredible, and I find I really love it! As it dries it gets warmer and mellows out to a very pleasant fragrance on me. for some reason I am also getting images of Hawaiian Islands and trade winds when I smell this! Or.... maybe I just need a vacation. It is grey & pouring rain here in Toronto today. I really like Venom and this is one for my growing list of 5mls. And if I go to Hawaii anytime soon I shall certainly pack a 5 ml. of Venom! eta: corrections on info...

Love... love.... love... Sin. I love ALOT of Sin It is exotic and I am reminded of a desert oasis for some reason. I waited for quite awhile before trying this one on. I had hit a ruun of really floral scents - and while I like floral alot - I think I needed some.........sinnnnnnn. I love all the notes in this, in opposition to Glampyre (btw, love your knitted designs!) - who loves sandalwood - I love patchouli and sandalwood I have a hard time with. Someone here mentioned it was too sombre and that is the way I feel - but Sin is so masterfully blended all I get is the best of all the oils....amber, sandalwood patchouli and cinnamon. I love Sin and it will be added to my 10 ml. wish list.

I know that the description of fragrances on a perfume label can be nothing more than a list of compounded synthetic fragrance "notes" designed in a test tube to smell like the flower, spice or whatever. It is possible that Stella has some licorice in it - or fragrance compound(s) designed to smell like licorice or more accurately, licorice-like..... Fragrance design is a multi billion dollar business involving professional noses and fragrance compounds that are completely synthetic. A professional perfume laboratory can replicate anything - and the end result will smell exactly like the flower or spice - or whatever.

Jojoba oil is your best bet for mixing the Bpal scents in - IMO. Jojoba, actually a liquid wax, does not go rancid and does not need additional amounts of vit e, which is unbelieveably heavy, oily and thick - way too thick to use alone as a carrier oil. Also, jojoba oil is unscented and, as already mentioned, some carrier oils can have scents if they are seed or nut oils.....so you may get the cheerios syndrome! I like using the roll-on bottles for perfume use, handy and easy to carry around for that emergency BPAL touch-up..... P.S. you don't need to refrgerate jojoba diluted oils, but keep them away from extreme heat.

I absolutely adore Kumiho! It is sparklingly sweet, light & uplifting. For some reason I think of bamboo (but I haven't a clue what bamboo smells like) when I smell this. To me this is what a Japanese Tea Ceremony would smell like......gentle & cerebral. That doesn't make any sense but this scent is stimulating a stream of consciousness.. I am not really able to distinguish the ginger in this, just a exquisite co-mingling of scents masterfully crafted. It doesn't last too long, but for me that is a good thing. I love reapplying this because it is so incredibly pleasant. If you want something bathed in white light, this is it! I will order VATS of Kumiho!

I received CHAOS Theory XXVIII (28).....and it's a fragrant fractal mystery! And I love a mystery. Chaos arrived today, which from dawn onward has been hectic & wild. We are moving our home AND home-offices next week and chaos has been my middle name. I am at a loss to describe the scent, I haven't a clue where to begin and of course, the notes keep shape-shifting. This scent is seemingly evanessence & yet in no way is this scent fleeting, light or gossamer-like. It has an almost earthy-warm, buttery overtone and yet a head-on hit of a lemon-y type scent but...more.... like perhaps, lemongrass.... no, maybe more like lemon verbena and yet with a great big dollop of a butterscotch-y, caramel-y, thing-y going on. Still with me? Let me try again (certainly chaos is reigning in my fragrant-molecule-soaked brain)... I hesitate to call it tangy (i think of the old orange-flavored drink crystals, yuk) but it has a tangy-ness that is so lively. This is not a sweet fragrance at all but very clean on dry down, bypassing the aforementioned butterscotch period....almost soap but the lemon verbena or whatever saves it from a descent into soapiness. When I first smelled this I got an image of sun warmed earth, the way it feels on a hot summery day. Then whooosh.....and it changes again. Ultimately this scent is centered around sunny and warm. And oh yes, lemon-butter. ETA. more stuff

I got this as a feebie from the lab - I never would have thought of Neo Tokyo on my own, nor would I have imagined that I would like this - but I do! Neo Tokyo smells like CLEAN in a bottle. It is light and fresh, but with a fleeting evanessence about it....does not linger long. I also like that it did not turn soapy on me, I like CLEAN, I don't like soapy. And I echo what Laurel-the-Woodfairy said, it is much more LOST IN TRANSLATION and Scarlett Johannssen than what I initially thought which was: BLADE RUNNER! This is so not Sean Young! Capisce? So don't ask me why I thought Blade Runner maybe it's the name..... I like Neo Tokyo and will use the Imp up, but the jury is still out about a 5 ml. size ETA: spelling

Haunted.....Uh-oh.... As I was reading over the previous reviews of this scent, I was absent-mindedly swabbing my forearm and neck with it. Needless-to-say, I am overflowing with Haunted And, if what the other reviewers have mentioned about it's longevity is right, I will be a human diffusor for many hours to come. On first impression, it is sweet and voluptuous in a comforting sort of way and I detect something soft "inside" of the sweetness but have not yet gotten wind of any lemon or citrus notes I was reading about, not yet anyway. I love musk and amber & was hoping that this would be a little more, what... edgy? But I think I need to give Haunted some mellowing time and I need emotional distance from this......more later... Okay, now haunted has melted down into becoming liquid memories on my skin. It is evocative and reminiscent of high school. Maybe it reminds me of Shalimar?? Which I loved way back then. That was a time when we (my girlfriends + I) would spray Shalimar all over ourselves, "annoint" our lips with this hideous, skin-colored lipstick (think concealer) that made us all look like we had been embalmed and float through school corridors - wafting from one class to another. Sounds like a scene from Picnic at Hanging Rock.......hmmmm, sort of got of into a parallel universe there for a minute, didn't I? But, I love the overall creamy sweetness of Haunted and will certainly enjoy my Imp! ETA many weeks and many wearings later - I absolutely adore Haunted! It is possibly my signature scent! I will buy a couple of 10mls. I love it.....!

Bruja - while still evolving on my wrist - has taken a wicked turn. I do think I can detect a hint of something cinnamon-like... As I type, the fragrance that is floating up towards my nose is somewhat reminiscent of a movie theatre at the end of a night... a funky, sweetish smell of food and sweat that is still hanging in the air like a dense fog. phew! Something about my chemistry is vastly different from the other reviewers here and I wish I could detect any of the single notes that are in this. But on me Bruja is just morphing into one, big primordial STEW. Up for swap! edited for typos

Never in a million years would I have suspected I would like peach, I ordered this because I love amber, golden musk and patchouli.....I was only partially curious about peach, but as it turns out I love peach! I tend to apply scent to my left wrist & arm, so I got an indirect & unexpected hit of Imp as my arm moved through the air. A soft, golden sweetness with peach topnotes....hit my nose. This is a well crafted blend and so far I am loving how it is slowly evolving! Imp is a sweet and easy scent to get used to, childlike, not complex or deep and I love it! It is certainly great wearing it this time of year - the early autumn breeze is hazy, warm & soothing. Golden light filteres through deep green of the leaves.... At the moment I have a basket of ripe peaches in the kitchen...peachy-ness, a round, soft and fuzzy (?) fragrance wafts through the air when I walk by.... The musk is coming to the forefront now and I will see where the patchouli ends up, there is an edge peeking through now

Hunger is one from my first pile of imps. I love the spicy, sharp, sweet contradictions going on in this. Wet, it certainly made me feel a yearning - the compulsive need for something just beyond one's grasp. On dry down, it is sweet, mellow and still evolving - getting warmer and ambery on me! Gotta have it..... I love this one. Now my keyboard smells like Hunger.

This is my first review so hang in there with me.... When I first smelled Wanda, I experienced duality. How was I to analyze this scent (left brain) and swoon (right brain reaction) at the same time. The swoon won out. What also fuels my love of this scent are the poetic words describing Wanda "...And if ever one of you has had the courage to kiss my red mouth, he makes a barefoot pilgrimage to Rome in penitential robes and expects flowers to grow from his withered staff, while under my feet roses, violets, and myrtles spring up every hour, but their fragrance does not agree with you." yikes. I love that. Heady and intoxicating. Sophisticated and lecherous (where's my spell check). A deeply buried memory tugging at the outer limits of my awareness. It reminds me of Paris - this scent is very complex. The dry down is a slow simmer of leather notes, and the voluptuousness of violet & myrtle. Altho, I never would have catagorized violet as voluptuous, in previous incarnations violet has always remined me of a grandmother. But make no mistake, Wanda is no one's grandmother. Unless your grandmother is a little blue-haired dominatrix. I love Wanda edited for spelling etc..