Wwindy

Answering my own question in case anyone else is looking... http://www.morningstarhall.com/BPAL-TiddlyWiki-big.html

Shameful admission: I still haven't tried Snake Oil. I know, I know... but I fear sticky-sweet vanilla! Anyway, The Wild Men are everything I'm afraid Snake Oil won't be on me -- lovely spicy, sexy vanilla. In the decant clove and pepper are the dominant notes. On my skin the vanilla comes out strongly, and continues to amp as the scent dries down and fades. The patchouli stays pretty far in the background; mostly I'm getting clove-y, slightly amber-y vanilla. Three hours in, the vanilla is still going strong. I can see how some people might find this masculine, but on me the vanilla is prominent enough that I don't think anyone would peg me as wearing men's cologne. I'm thinking bottle of this one (unless my husband strongly objects to it when we get home tonight!).

Is anyone currently hosting/maintaining a BPAL Tiddly Wiki that can be used by others? I think this sounds much better for me than the Excel spreadsheet (not to knock anyone's hard work in that regard, I'm just spreadsheet-impaired!). I could've sworn I'd seen links to such a thing in the past, but all the links Google turns up for me are dead now...

The Sportive Sun has definitely turned into my comfort scent -- it's so warm and soothing! I hate to use the word "snuggly" (such inelegant connotations! ) but it often does feel that way to me. Guess I have to go hunting for a backup bottle...

So, here's the update! My decant is gold (warm but not very dark -- sort of a medium saturation) in color, and seems relatively viscous. I don't notice any separation in the bottle when I look at it, but rolling/shaking does seem to make a difference! The scent is now closer to the decant although still not identical. Soooo... is it oxidization, maybe? Should I leave the bottle open for an hour or two to see if that makes a difference too? Could it really possibly be the two or three times I touched the bottle mouth to my skin affecting the scent? I have to admit I'd been a little skeptical about the whole skin-"contamination" making a difference, but I guess maybe it's possible after all! Would it be completely insane to mix what's left of my decant into the bottle? I have a feeling it would, but...

Hee hee! Sorry, I probably should've waited to hear back from you before I posted, but I was just so pouty this morning after oil application... I'll go home tonight and check the color/consistency of my decant vs. the new bottle. I definitely didn't think to shake the bottle this morning (I've never encountered the separation problem before), so that might well be part of the problem. Got my fingers crossed for more of the loveliness and less of the hairspray!

Oooooh, am I ever disappointed. A little while back I got a decant of Heavenly Love & Earthly Love and adored it -- I was sure I'd finally found my One True BPAL Scent! The bottle I ordered just arrived, though, and it's *nothing* like my beautiful ambery, warm, sexy decant; it smells (to me) like hairspray and stale florals!!! I could cry... Anybody had a similar experience with HL&EL, or another RO/Salon?

Is there myrrh in this? My skin seems to think there is... I got a few minutes of a very fresh, natural forest-y pine tempered with a little sweetness before it died back to a stale, old-perfumey smell. I may try this in a locket or on fabric, because it showed signs of being quite nice before my chemistry trampled it!

Wet: Entirely cocoa and cherry to my nose, but curiously unsweet (as others have mentioned). Dry: Cursed skin chemistry! This goes almost completely head-shoppy incense on me, with just a faint overtone of the dragon's blood. I don't mind it, but it's definitely going to read as a "hippie" perfume to people around me. Very faint after about two to two and a half hours and all but gone after four.

Thanks! Now to go ISO...

So, I've been dithering... When the Order of the Dragon came out I only went for the two blends I was interested in. Then, this summer, my baby daughter was born and we wound up naming her Mina -- now I'm thinking I should track down some Wilhelmina Murray for her to have! Obviously she won't be interested for a number of years, though. Is there any point in trying to store a bottle or imp that long?

I'm really enjoying Lear, and can't help wondering how it would smell on a man. Have any of you guys tried that one? My husband is adamantly against all things perfume-related for himself, alas (arrrgh! so frustrating!). Guess I'll have to find another guinea pig!

Huh! In the imp I can smell hints of spice and smoke, but what I get on my skin is pure sandalwood. It is a very warm, nicely rounded, pleasant sandalwood... just nothing like the complicated blend I was expecting. ETA: This has *seriously* grown on me -- I don't know if it needed a touch of age or if my nose adapted or what, but I'm not complaining! Some days it's more complex than others, but I always seem to enjoy having it on.

Hellcat and my chemistry hated each other at first touch, I think. Initial impression: Hideous boozy B.O. Seriously. This is the first BPAL oil I've tried that's made me actually recoil from the smell on my skin. I thought about washing it off, but decided to tough out that initial phase. Drydown brought a nuttier, vaguely candle-store phase, which faded into a very soft cream with cocoa overtones; not actively awful (unlike the opening stage!) but still not fabulous and maybe a tiny bit artificial-smelling. Once dry, the scent was faint and very close to my skin -- I had to really stick my nose into my wrist to pick anything up. Not for me!

Florals and I, we are not usually so much with the happy together, you know? But I had a frimp of Goneril, and was in the mood to try something completely different this morning. In the imp and on initial application I kept getting whiffs of something angry, strong and sharp. My brain is telling me my nose was picking up pear, only with those harsh, almost acetone-ish overtones like you get from pear schnapps, maybe? Whatever that note was, it mellowed out fairly quickly. I never got the cedar standing out on its own particularly strongly; it's definitely in there grounding the flowery bits, though, because otherwise I'd be going "ew old lady perfume!" right along with some of the other reviewers. The orchid and lily combination does hover right on the edge of department-store perfume insipid, but the geranium and cedar are there to yank the overall impression back into BPAL interesting. I do rather like this, despite my general floral antipathy. I would definitely pull Goneril out when my usual spicy/woodsy range isn't quite the thing.

Ohhhh, do I love this oil. But I hate it! But I love it! *Most* of the time, Lucifer on me is an incredibly sexy, warm glow of fig and sandalwood. It's so sexy, in fact, that it got my neck molested quite nicely. There's a "but", though! If I exert myself or get overheated, the patchouli body-slams everything else into oblivion and turns into overwhelming ***PATCHOULI LIKE WHOA***. I had several people comment to me on how unusual it was for me to wear such a "hippie" patchouli scent the first time that happened! I'll definitely be saving Lucifer for cold days and times when I know I won't be dodging bullets or wrestling alligators. It's so gorgeous when it plays nicely that it's worth the risk of death by patchouli!

Mmm, yummy... for a brief while! Wet, this was almost overpoweringly "New Age shop" on me, but as it dries down I'm getting what seems like some warm amber in there rounding out and mellowing the scent. I'm smelling predominantly incense and the amber-y note; I definitely don't get any patchouli at all and also not nearly as much of the musk as some people are reporting. Just as I'm starting to really like this one, it seems to be fading out! Now I've just got slightly soapy warmth and not much else. ETA: Myrrh! A couple of hours later, the "soapy warmth" is definitively myrrh. Pleasant, but not thrilling.

In the bottle, this smelled strongly of jasmine with an edge of something sharp and astringent. Wet, the jasmine was a little more cloying but still spiked by some sort of herbal sharpness -- I don't think it was the lavender, unless Beth's lavender note is *very* different from what I'm used to. There was no musk and no spice at all as far as I could tell. I didn't like that stage at all and was waiting to see what the scent would turn into after drydown, but never got a chance as it vanished completely after less than 20 minutes! No staying power whatsoever on me... which might be just as well, I guess. Not the scent for me, alas!

On me, Bluebeard is almost entirely white musk and violet; on drydown I get the faintest hint of lavender, but not much. Shame, too -- I actually like lavender and would be glad to get the strong lavender results others are posting! It's fading very quickly, leaving just a shadow of powdery musk behind. I'm not sure why, but for some reason this scent reminds me very strongly of Ombre Rose, which I wore in high school. Weird...