Dana O'Shee

[Gateau]

… Offerings of milk, honey and sweet grains were made to placate these creatures, and it is that the basis of the scent created in their name.

 

Imp -- sweet almond. Clear oil.

Wet -- this is a dead ringer for an almond-honey face scrub my mom bought me when I was a teenager and absolutely loved. Crushed almonds, honey, and a cereal base.

Dry -- This stays true to the creamy almond-honey-cereal scent it had wet, but as it fades it does get a Play-Doh note. Unlike other scents that make me complain of Play-Doh-iness, though, this captures what makes that stuff to appealing to so many people.

Not a lot of throw on this, but it did stick around for several hours in a close-to-skin way. I was a little nervous based on many of the reviews, but at least on me it lasts a reasonable amount of time.

[whitsunweddings]

In the imp: Sweet glacé cherries and almond essence. This is like a liquid bakewell tart!

Wet: The same, but moreso, with vaguely patstryish notes (like I get in the Knave of Hearts and Halfling).

Dry: Turns into that unfortunate grubby smell that I also get with Halfling (milk on my skin, perhaps?). It wore off rather quickly.

[aentee]

Imp: Bitter almond, almost acrid.

 

On skin: It warmed up considerably and I get a lot of cream and honey while the almond dies down. But that bitter note is still hanging there. Such a shame because it'd be so beautiful without it. The sillage is poor, but it does hang about close to the skin for quite a while. I just had a shower but if I sniff my wrist, I still get wafts of it.

 

Since I really want to like this, I will give it another go in a couple of weeks to see if the bitter note goes away.

[donkehpoo]

Wet: Mmmmm. Sweet almond. This reminds me a bit of Lush's Snowcake, which is one of my favorite Lush scents!

 

Dry: Snowcake. The almond has calmed down and the scent is fairly lighter now, but this is total Snowcake deliciousness on my skin. Creamy and wonderful. If you're into milk and honey scents, you should definitely give this a shot.

 

 

5/5

[Luxuriance]

In the imp: Reminds me of one of my favorite bodywash. I'm getting an almond and cherry blossom scent, which I love.

 

Wet: The cherry scent fades and now I smell marzipan and honey. Not bad.

 

Dry: It's not very strong and someone would have to get up close and personal to get a good whiff of it. I really like it once it's had some time to settle. Definitely has a great milk, honey and grain scent to it that I'm lovin'. I'm undecided on whether I should by this in a bottle. It sticks a little too close to the skin and I'm not sure it's worth slathering more on every time I think it's fading. Maybe I'll test it out in a lotion and see if that helps.

[maproot]

Oh Dana

I dont get the almonds, but a wonderful, bready vanilla that makes me want to lick my wrist and now I am hungry. Thank goodness I have a partial bottle,and now I NEED more of you.

 

very comforting!

[bellumed]

Okay, this scent is… well, pretty boring, to be honest. I guess what I’m smelling is the milk and the sweet grain. But it’s very unchanging, simple, too quiet. It doesn’t smell BAD by any stretch; I certainly wasn’t embarrassed to walk around with Dana O’Shee on my skin. I just wasn't that intrigued by it. To be fair, though, it makes a decent skin scent for when I want to wear a non-perfume perfume.

Edited June 28, 2012 by bellumed

[ChesterCopperpot]

I got this as a frimp with my first BPAL order and I love it! I'll be getting a full bottle of this stuff for sure!

 

In the imp: Straight-up almond extract. Smells like I could be making cookies with this!

Wet: Still very almond-y, but the vanilla comes out of hiding now.

Dry: After it has dried, it smells like the vanilla frosting that you put on cinnamon buns. Very sweet and vanilla. Loses all of the almond scent for me, but that's alright. It becomes faint on me fairly quickly, but it lasted all day, just stayed fairly close to my wrists.

 

My favorite foody scent (and I love foody scents)!

[GoddesShel]

This was on my bottle list, so I was VERY excited to get an imp of it with an Etsy order I placed.

 

In the imp: Oh dear...this isn't milk, honey, OR grains..it's fake cherry something??? (the almonds, maybe? Oh I hope not...) I went back and checked the imp label. Thinking it couldn't be THAT bad, I swiped some on, knowing that my skin chemistry has made successes out of dismal failures in the bottle/imp before.

 

First five minutes...still fake cherry - no milk, no honey, no grains ....ick. So disappointed.

 

After it finally dried, the fake cherry went away, and now it's more of a cherry blossom, but it's still a lot sweeter than I normally like, and I thought I'd developed a taste for sweet since I'd started BPAL.

 

One less on the bottle list, I guess?

[White_rabbit334]

In the bottle: Ohhh my goodness, almonds and honey. The creaminess isn't a thick cream so much as a thin milk. I've smelled creamier oils, to be honest, but this isn't necessarily a bad thing.

 

Wet: Goodness GRACIOUS almonds. It's almost a soapy almond-honey-milk blend, but I say that because it's one of my favorite scents for hand soap... >.> It certainly isn't bad, and because I'm a slatherer it has a decent throw at least initially.

 

15 minutes in: Wow! I usually have a hard time letting scents mellow on my skin without wanting to add something to it (when I tried Ekhidna I actually ended up sweetening it with this and a vanilla/black pepper/sandalwood blend of my own making)... However, when those urges kicked it, I couldn't bring myself to layer it with *anything*. It smells AMAZING! It could've gone oatmeal cookie on me, but instead it's going all sweetgrass. I imagine I can thank the almonds, honey and milk notes for tricking my nose into it It's delicate, sweet, creamy without being cloying, and has a hell of a throw still. Apparently I am amping this like tossing jugs of gasoline on a bonfire.

 

Dry down: Nothing but honey and milk and sweetgrass-notes. I smell like someone infused milk with it and a scattering of almonds, with just the *faintest* oatmeal notes rounding it out. If this was a bath, I would feel like Queen of the Fae themselves afterwards, good gods! I don't think it can get much better than this. I'm glad I splurged on a 5 ml; clearly I need one that's a LOT bigger

 

I should also add that I've been wearing this for about a day straight, and the more I reapply, the creamier and sweeter this gets, both in terms of honey and the sweetgrass notes. I think there's a good chance I'm quite literally addicted; this is aptly named/described, because apparently I've been enslaved.

[Inscrutable]

I definitely get his attention when I wear this. On my skin, it's rather soft but very pervasive, it smells as if I'd spent hours baking almond cookies: yummy and scrumptious, with just a touch of slightly musky something, with a nice backdrop of milky, honeyed vanilla.

Again, the scent, on my skin, is not strong, but it lasts forever and transfers onto everything I touch, making it a bit of a ghost scent, it leaves scented memories behind.

This one inspires nuzzles, cuddles and more, in my man, it never fails, to the point that he has asked me not to wear it around him if he has to work or concentrate on something important, as he finds it too distracting.

So, of course... I wear it.

[elinox]

First Sniff: Golden amber with maybe a tiny hint of cream.

 

Initial Wet Application: Creamy milk with some vanilla. It’s very light but it smells yummy though!

 

Beginning Dry Down (first 15 minutes) & Dry: This is a pale vanilla cream with oats in the background.

 

My Reaction: When I first applied this, I was worried that I hadn’t actually put anything on my wrists, but after three swipes from the wand on my left wrist, I think I’m actually getting some throw! It’s still very light, but I can detect almond which is making the creamy milk and vanilla good buddies. It’s a warm, kitcheny scent, that makes me feel like, had it been stronger, as if I’d spent the day baking almond vanilla cookies. I want this to be stronger though as it’s already fading!

 

Rating: 2.5

[Foxdreams]

Agh I'm so torn!

 

At first the almond-cherry note scared me, but it disappears so fast and gives way to a gorgeous milk-oats-vanilla that is like a warm, soft hug. I feel very comforted by this scent, and I LOVE the smell, but...

 

I swear it's gone completely in an hour! I don't know what I could do to make it last because it's breaking my heart that I love it so! Ahhh!

[ringmaster-red]

In the bottle: fresh and sweet. Almost rain-like.

 

Wet: It starts out quite green and sweet on me, like fresh sugarcane. It’s very light and soothing. Then it took a quick wrong turn into cloying cherry cough syrup town, and for a while it hovers back and forth on the line between that and green-sweet. I’m a little concerned about it going nasty on me. After 5 minutes, it seems to have settled on slightly bitter sweet hay, which is definitely much better than cherry cough syrup. It’s fresher and creamy. I guess that’s the milk and honey coming out? I like it a lot. Every once in a while, the cherry peeks out and I get nervous (that might be an almond note? I’m allergic to nuts so I don’t know what almond smells or tastes like, not sure how to identify that; no allergic reaction to the perfume though).

 

Dry: Slightly green sweet grains. It’s comforting. I like it. Surprisingly, it actually has some throw on me. It’s pretty long-lasting, too. I can see myself wearing it on a day when I need some cozy quiet time. I’m not sure if I want a bottle; I’ll have to test it another time.

[ToThineOwnSelfBeTrue]

Ohhhhhhh Lawd!!! How I love you Dana. This is now a top 3 of mine, the feelings of comfort and happiness are what this scent does to me. Sweet Tonka, honey and so much warmth. This will be a numerous bottle purchase for me

 

I can imagine this as a candle, bath oil Ohhhh the possibilities are endless.

[Erinofhere]

Offerings of milk, honey and sweet grains were made to placate these creatures, and it is that the basis of the scent created in their name.

This reminds me very much of Bramble Berry's Milk and Honey candle and soap making fragrance. I made a huge batch of cold process using this fragrance last year. I still have some bars left. So I layer Dana over the soap I used in the shower at night. So comforting.

This is a cuddly, sleepy, warm and content smell.

It doesn't last long at all. That's a shame. If this lasted longer I would buy a bottle. I still may buy one. But I have many more HAVE TO HAVE IT bottles on my list. Dana O'Shee didn't make the top 5.

In the imp and wet I get honey and milk. I suppose I get the grains too but mainly it's Milk and Honey.

This is the perfect scent for long winter sleeps. Shame it doesn't last longer.

[welcometothefamily]

In the Imp: LUSH's Snowcake soap! Luckily, I like Snowcake .

 

Wet: This reminds me a lot of Alice actually. Has the same milky/honey combination. Very light scent though, not a lot of throw at all.

 

Drydown: It's sweet, creamy almond milk with a smudge of honey. I hate almond smells normally, but this is awesome!

 

Verdict: This is a sweeter, creamier Snowcake! I love Snowcake so it's no surprise that I love this too . My only issue is that it's so darn light. But still, this may be a bottle purchase .

 

4/5

[TriGirlJ]

In bottle: almond extract. Almost overpowering almond.

 

Wet: sweet almond. It smells like Lush Snowcake, which is one of the reasons I bought this.

 

Dry: It's gotten softer, but retains the beautiful Snowcake smell. I wish it lasted a little longer, but I adore it.

[brilliantcat]

I see now why this oil is so loved. I mistakenly thought I had tried it and hated it (turns out that was Cockaigne). This starts off sweet almond that dries down creamy and lovely. This is pretty much a skin scent, no throw to speak of and it fades pretty quickly but it's so worthy of slathering. I can see the comparisons to Snow White minus the snow. This is the most comforting, cozy scent I have ever smelled and I neeeeeed a bottle. This is going to be in heavy rotation as a nighttime blend, daytime blend, anytime blend. It's like wrapping yourself in a scented hug.

[applecider10]

This was the scent I was most excited to try, by far. Alas and alack, it fades in an hour or two and isn't quite what I'd hoped for.

 

For awhile, it smells like sharp, harsh vanilla oil. Then it softens into something creamier and milkier, although still synthetic-smelling. I'll give it another try, because it is, indeed, quite a comforting scent as it mellows out, but the lasting time is really poor on my skin.

[IambicDearie]

Sweet almondy vanilla on its own. Not one I'd jump to buy, but not bad.

 

I did make the mistake of wearing it to bed and it gave me a dream bad enough to almost cause stress-vomit.

 

So yeah.

 

Off to the swaps.

[nefta]

In imp: Sweet almond?

 

Wet on skin: Still almond, becoming a headache.

 

Dried on skin: Almond-death note gets amped up.

 

Unfortunately this didn't work for me ):

[Aviatrix]

This is extremely soft and creamy, and I'm getting something almost reminiscent of almond - maybe a kind of almond milk? Anyway, it's quite nice, but it's just SO FAINT on me I can smell it fine in the bottle, but hardly at all once it hits my skin. So I won't be getting a bottle, but I wish it had more oomph, because it's certainly a sweet blend in the vial.

[cinderfallen]

Fresh from lab, it's very reminiscent of Serge Lutens Rahat Loukoum, a very light and pleasantly sweet, soft, cherry almond (and not the cheap kind!). I've gotten this before in imps and bottles, and I remember it to be a little creamier, which I'll hope it gets with a bit of age. It's a very light scent on me and almost disappears after applying, which I like as I hate cloying sweet smells.

[inhumation]

I had the same experience as aviatrix did - smelled quite sweet and beautiful in the imp, but is practically non-existent on my skin.