sarahmarie

Swank, for me, is not sweet. It's very tart and fruity, with a definite bite. Aizen-Myoo doesn't strike me as sweet. It's one of my favorites because it's fruity and citrusy without being overpowering or predictable. It's really unique.

Whoa! Upon opening the vial, I smell the same melted-butter scent that I got most strongly from Jack. It's a salty, strong butter scent, with nuts underneath. (The butter made me sort of sick in Jack, but it doesn't seem to do that here.) When I put it on my skin, the butter remains strong, but the hazlenut comes up too, and then there's some coffee in the background. If I'm smelling chocolate, it's very well blended with the coffee because I almost can't detect it. I feared that this would be too sweet and make me ill, but it really isn't. It's decadent, sure - I'm picturing some sort of elaborate chocolate/coffee/caramel/hazlenut dessert, maybe in the form of something like a mudslide pie. But it's not sugary on me at all. It's buttery, nutty, and dark. I smell sweetness only when I directly sniff my arm - what comes up to my nose is just the dark, buttery smell. I like this. I don't know if this is bigger bottle material for me, but it is definitely a delicious, fun scent that perfectly matches it's description and seems to work well on my skin.

Ahathoor... I detect woods and amber most strongly in this. It seems like a lighter amber to me than in other amber scents I've tried. It's very golden. There's also a very light citrus, and a hint of spice. I love scents with wood notes in them, and I think this scent is very well balanced. It isn't overpowering at all, but it is definitely a noticeable scent. I like it better on Ryan than on me. I think it's pretty masculine, and while I will happily wear masculine scents, I think it's better suited to his skin than mine. It's warm and bright and golden, perfectly suited to the midday sun. I didn't think I was very interested in the Sun scents, but this scent has me thinking otherwise. Now I'm curious about the rest!

I ordered this in my first BPAL order, when I had no idea what worked on me and what didn't. This, sadly, is one that didn't. In in the imp, it smelled very white. It was classic and pretty, very much a woman's perfume. Unfortunately, I thought it was too "perfumey", if that makes sense. I think it would be easy to wear too much of this, and on me it turned into an unfortunate hair-spray scent. My skin and flowers do not get along, as I have since learned. However, if you're a fan of florals and distinctly feminine scents, this one might be for you!

Pele was nice on me, but as other's have said, it was very light. I like light - florals tend to give me headaches, so I needed it to be light. But it was so light I could hardly smell it. That's never really happened to me before, but as others said - my skin just ate it, or something. It also turned a bit soapy on me, as florals tend to do on my skin. But, before it faded and went all funny, it was very pretty. It struck me as being a pink scent, light and feminine. It's soft, but it has a little crispness because of the ginger. It was more complex and pretty in the imp - just not so much on my skin.

Kweku Anansi, on me, is lemon (verbena?), wood, something darkly spicey (black pepper?) and something...else. I might decribe it as herbal, I'm not sure - but it's something green and earthy. It's a little bit masculine, a little bit dark and dry, but it also has a that spicey black pepper and fresh, green quality that keep it from being too dark or heavy. It reminds me of Eidolon, but it's not as smooth and simple. Eidolon, to me, was a smooth wooden table with lemons on it, or smooth, shiny round wooden balls scented like lemons (as weird as that sounds, that's what I picture when I smell Eidolon - I also think of buttery lemons ). This, to me, is a dark forest, lit by something friendly. It's more interesting to me, and I prefer it. My spouse really likes it, too. He said it reminded him of camping, because it's outdoorsy (not because it resembles bug spray, because it doesn't - he made sure to mention that ). I think it will be great on him, and I also like it on me. If he wears it, I think I'll want a bigger bottle - I hope this becomes available for purchase!

I think I'd go with... Snake Oil (because it's the most popular) Swank, Glitter, Aizen-Myoo, or maybe Lolita - something feminine and fruity Alecto or Intrigue (something woody and gender neutral) Wrath, Three Witches, or another cinnamon/spicey scent Harlot, Rapture, or Endymion - something floral, those being a few I really liked Chesire Cat, Perversion, Kali - something complex and different OR something incensey/meditative, like Old Kathmandu or The Coiled Serpent

Nero, Nero, Nero -- I can't emphasize Nero enough on the rosemary front. [And it helps with migraines, too, yes.] It's a very underrated scent, but definitely one to give a try. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Funny - I just ordered that as one of my imps in my last-minute order last night. It was completely on a whim, since I'd never heard anything about it. It just sounded like a good one that wouldn't bother my head. So I'm glad you mentioned that

This kind of...freaked me out at first, but now I really like it. At first, it's strong and kind of astringent, I guess you could say...but it's also refreshing, calming, and cool. I can see wearing this when I have a headache, I think. Last night, I put it on when I couldn't fall asleep, and I found it comforting then. The first time I wore it, I thought I smelled mint and something that reminded me of geraniums, oddly enough. Last night when I wore it, I could smell lavender, mint, and something else that I can't identify. I can't say yet how it affects my dreams, but I think I love this oil. I didn't at first, but it seems to be growing on me. I think I'm going to want a bottle to keep by my bed. Also, I think I want to try some more of the dream formulas.

Wow, thanks everyone! I do find that strong scents are a bad thing if I'm not careful. Sweet scents sometimes bother me, as do florals. I can wear all of the above sometimes, if I'm feeling good, but perfume is sadly often a gamble. (Someone mentioned apple - I think that one bothers me too. Samhain went all sweet and apple-y on me, and gave me a headache. Sniffing lots of different things one right after the other can do that too.) Cinnamon seems to be safe for me, and I think the suggestions of ginger and lavender could be good too. I will try the lavendar essential oil, and look into perfumes with lavender in them. It's also nice to know that I'm not the only one here with a passion for BPAL and frequent headaches and migraines. Sometimes they really don't go well together, but I am trying my best to work around it.

The Unicorn, Endymion, and maybe The Dormouse, or Juliet.

Blood Kiss is a sweet scent with vanilla in it. I love it, myself

Gluttony has chocolate!

Hi everybody I am prone to migraines and tension headaches. When I have a migraine or when one is brewing, I get very sensitive to scents. They can make me sick or make me feel worse, and they seem more intense. So, there's a lot I'm afraid to wear because of migraine-inducing tendencies, or because I'm afraid a migraine will put me off them (which has happened with foods as well as scents - if I experience them with a migraine, I may not like them for a long time). But I was thinking - I know there must be some oils that might help people with migraines - aromatherapy and all that. I could just google it (and I will), but I want to know if any of you have found any particular BPAL scents helpful for headaches or migraines. Any that make you feel better, help ward them off, or even ones that smell good/comforting/calming when you have one. Recommend some to me? Thank you!

I love Decadence! On me, it smells strongly of oranges and almonds when I first put it on. I don't like orange at all, but there's something different about this orange, to me. It's a little lighter than other orange scents I've tried, somehow, or maybe it's just the blend...but I don't mind it. I am glad, however, when the orange dries down to something much gentler. This is the first scent I've tried that morphed so completely on my skin. It starts out all almond and orange, and 5 minutes later, there's hardly any almond or orange and tons of cinnamon all of a sudden! As a big fan of cinnamon, this excites me. This is a drier, brown cinnamon, like cinnamon sticks, that I really, really love. There's still a hint of orange, but it's in the background now, making the scent bright without being outwardly orangey. There's a hint of sugar and booze in this too, but it's also a background to the cinnamon. I wore this on Halloween night. It's so bright and fun, very festive and perfect for cold weather. I want more!

This is very sweet on me, but in a way that I like. It's very deep and complex, and I do think it's very sexy. I think I will need to apply it sparingly, as it is rather strong and sweet on me. At first, the cherry is very strong. It's a black cherry, very dark and sweet. It also smells like chocolate at first on me, oddly enough. As it dries down, the vanilla comes up, and what I get most strongly is a deep cherry-vanilla scent. It's almost creamy, and still reminds me slightly of chocolate and cherries, even though it is most definitely a vanilla/cherry/honey smell. I get just a whisper of musk and clove, which works out well. The sweet fruity creamy aspect of the scent keeps it feminine, while the background of darker, muskier things balances out the sweetness, adds to the deep complexity, and brings out that little tinge of sex. I love it!

I have a hard time describing scents, as is probably evidenced by my reviews. But I will try. Without reviewing the notes, I couldn't really remember what was in this one. What I could pick out before looking at the notes was sweetness, incense, a spicey sort of floral, dry leaves, and something chocolately underneath. And hey, look - that's about right! I like this one, possibly a lot. It's sweet, but it's balanced by the incense and leaves and that spicey floral scent, so it's not too much for me. It changes on my skin, too - sometimes, it will smell smokey, then it will turn and I'll smell the leaves most or the chocolate-y scent. I like that it changes, it keeps things interesting and I get to keep noticing, which is fun. This one really does feel like fall to me, and I think the description really hits the nail right on the head. It's very evocative of a Day of the Dead celebration, I think - and I've never even experienced one! It just smells right. Oh, also - the floral notes scared me, but they actually work on my skin! They are not perfumey flowers, if that makes sense - the scent is more of a dry, hot, spicey floral. I'm really glad I got this one! ETA: Wow. I've had this for a while now, and I've been wearing it almost every day. It took a little time, but now I am completely in love! It's just so warm, complex, and evocative...I'm so glad I got this. I hope it comes back next year!

At first: Samhain reminds me of candy corn at first, with a little bit of spice and apple behind it. It's very sweet and almost buttery. As it dries down on my skin, the apple comes out more. It's almost a candy apple, very sweet and very red. I smell a teeny bit of the pumpkin, and the spices warm up but stay very close to the skin. Later: Samhain didn't work out for me - I loved it in the bottle, and at first on my skin. But after a while on me, my skin turned it too sweet. It became very unbalanced - everything but the sweetness just dropped out. I never got any of the woods or fir needle. It's my chemistry's fault, it just didn't agree with me. That's not to say I don't like it, because I do - it just didn't turn out to be very "me". But I am really glad I got the chance to experience it, and I bet it's great on other people's skin.

I ordered an imp of this for a friend for Christmas, but I couldn't resist trying just a teeny drop first. It is so good! I'm really glad I tried it. On me, I definitely smell the tobacco, but it's tempered by the soft sweetness of...something, I guess that's the tonka. There's also a tingley chardonnay note in there, and it lifts the scent just perfectly. I smell like I've been somewhere smokey, but my skin also smells sweet and warm and that chardonnay makes me want to lick myself I'm so happy to have found a scent that isn't fruity and isn't incense-y that I can wear well! I like fruit and I like the other stuff I can wear, but this is just so different. I love it. Now I'm going to have to get my own imp or bottle ASAP!

This starts out so nicely - it's beautiful in the imp, and at first, it's even more beautiful on my skin. It's perfectly balanced and blended, very smooth - fruity without being too fruity, green and damp without being all about that, and floral - yes floral - but not too floral. It invokes beautiful imagery, and it's bright, but not loud. But, as is the way of florals, it turns to floral soapiness on my skin after a while. I will give it one more try, but I bet I'm going to have to swap this to someone whose skin does not hate flowers. Why me?

A few seconds after I put this on, it smells very strongly (and nicely) of lemon verbena. Then the cedar shows up, and it makes me think of a creamy or buttery lemon. I guess it also makes me visualize a lemon on a very smooth wooden table, or a lemon made out of smooth wood...one way or another, the cedar makes the lemon very smooth on me, and it's nice. I love lemon verbena, and I forget how refreshing it smells until I put this on. This isn't my favorite scent ever, but I will still be sad to see it go.

Okay, this scent is really creepy and everything, but I have to say that it makes me giggle. I mean, it's just so uncanny - it smells *exactly* like a freshly dug grave with a bunch of dried roses. It's freaky, in a way, but for some reason my reaction to smelling it is just to laugh. It makes me think of Bertie Bott's every-flavor beans (as they are in the HP books, I've never actually tried the ones Jelly Belly makes ). All that said, this is exactly as it is described, and I like it much more than I thought I would. I don't know how often I'll wear it, but I definitely like having it around.

I am Ms. Bad Luck With Florals, so I have some ideas for you Wrath (Sin and Salvation) - A scent aflame with rage, swirling in the red haze of hatred: dragon's blood spiked with black pepper, clove, and cinnamon. Wrath is, I think, my favorite BPAL scent. It's really spicey and warm, and quite cinnamony. Mmm. I also really like Alecto and Tzadikim Nistarim from the Sin and Salvation section. In Bewitching Brews, I've had good luck with: Swank Blood Amber Eidolon Intrigue Kali (despite the floral notes - this one isn't very floral on me at all) In Love Potions: Aizen-Myoo Bordello Kabuki Harlot (despite the rose, oddly) Mad Tea Party: The Red Queen Illyria: Lady MacBeth Wanderlust: Old Kathmandu Tintagel Of course, my experience is fairly limited and there's plenty more choices than that, but those are ones that work for this non-floral person.

I loved Alice in the imp, and I loved it when I first put it on. It's just perfect - I can smell each note, but they blend so well and it's such a great scent. It made me feel good to smell it! But...then the rose came out. I like rose well enough, but my skin seems to hate it. It turns rose sharp and sort of...bug spray-like. It's not horrible, but it's not right either. And I'm so sad, because I love Alice! I may try it again just out of blind hope, but it seems Alice will not work on me because my skin's bad relationship with rose. I'm really disappointed, because this is so nice...but I do have lots of new imps to make me feel better.

On me, this is a very nice, sweet-cedar-smoky scent. The cedar comes out a lot on me, as cedar tends to do on my skin, and the fig comes out well also, balancing the scent and making it more warm and comforting. I love the smell of cedar alone, but the fig gives it a great balance. If I sniff my skin directly, I smell a smokiness in there that reminds me of Old Kathmandu - but it's more subtle and earthy. I can't really smell the cocoa...although I kind of think I can pick it up if I focus on it. I might be imagining it though. I really like this scent. I find it comforting, and I can imagine having nice dreams if I wear it to bed. It also stays on my skin more than some other scents do, and I can smell it around me, which is nice.