#20 Love Oil

[OctoberGwen]

A potent, enticing love formula, favored among Louisiana courtesans.

 

I like this; it's not necessarily my usual style but I find it intriguing and very unusual. Nothing else smells like #20 Love, so wearing it makes me feel special and mysterious.

It starts off quite herbal, which puts me in mind of magic. The sharp herbs soften back and provide a nice counterpart to the creamy rose that emerges after several minutes. It's a very pleasing scent to my nose.

[theredkilt]

I get a full blast of spices, either clove or pepper and something else salty and sour. Dreadful!

[Redillon]

Fresh imp from the lab:

 

In the imp: WOAH! Strong. Sugary floral. Do I smell a lemon? Ugh. Not liking it.

 

Wet on skin: AH!! ROSES. Lots and lots of sugary roses. My husband smelled me and told me to wash it off. I didn't though. I wanted to see if it turned into something else. Oh, please, please.....

 

Dry on skin: Still roses but with a spicy, heavy undertone that I can't put my finger on. The lemony smell is gone (yay), and the roses linger. It's kinda pretty now. Kinda soapy but not quite. Hummmm???

 

It has some throw and lasts a bit on me.

 

I can't say it's a favorite or that I'll wear it a lot at all, but it was the first rose scent I ever tried. I'm not a floral gal. I do think I amp rose. It lingered!!! I wish the spicy/resin came out more. I'm definitley glad the wet stage didn't last that long.

[ResinManiac]

Open the bottle and stand aside, it's STRONG! Which makes me nervous. The scent for me is some mixture of eucalyptus, magnolia and rose, which would be fine if they all weren't turned up to 11. Seriously, the strength of this mix is overwhelming, I can apply it and live with it but just barely. It marches right up to the threshold of a migraine and pauses there, daring me to push it over the edge. It authentically matches it's Hoodoo reputation for power, although I'm not so sure about it being great manbait I'm afraid. Use with extreme caution-

[becca_s]

#20 Love Oil was a frimp from the lab

 

I have no idea what's in this but my guess would be jasmine, citrus and maybe something like anise. It's quite fresh and bright, perhaps with the potential to turn soapy. As it dries down I can detect some Magnolia, maybe. It's bit too strong for my taste, but I could imagine wearing it if I was in the right mood. A little of this goes a long way.

[itsrabbitstew]

I wore this one to work once, having put it on earlier that day, and was propositioned for sex by a co-worker.

 

Use carefully.

[mimieux]

This has a bit of citrus when it's wet on skin, but as it dries down, here comes the almond to soften things up. I also smell florals in there peaking around vying for attention, but can't make out distinct notes.

 

Which brings me to the efficacy of #20 Love Oil. Damn this stuff works! I carry an imp with me since I find the scent to be a pick me up...it's light, refreshing. Well, each time I apply this to my chakra points, within minutes all male attention is focused on me in the room I'm in. I was at the car dealership having my car serviced and put some of this on while waiting and BOOM, it was as if the men there had never seen a woman before. Before the #20 Love Oil, I was invisible. It works..

[Dani87]

Imp: sharp green and herbal.

On: it started off how it smelled in the imp, but quickly turned to nothing but powder. Right before the powder I did get a bit of rose, but it only lasted for second. Off to swaps.

[Morsigne925]

Freshly applied: I could only describe this as very fresh and "clean" smelling; it reminded me of clean laundry, fairly cottony though not bath and body works-y the way Dirty smelled to me.

After a bit: It smells flowery and baby-powder-like to me now, actually it is almost a dead-ringer for a "fresh scent" powder/cream deodorant I've had before. I suppose it could be considered enticing but to me it's not quite ringing "sexy." The smell is very pleasant though and is still very fresh and clean. I'll give it a 4 because it smells good but as I'm not so much into fresh scents for perfume (I like to leave that to body wash laundry soap and deodorant) I don't think I'd get a bottle.

 

EDIT AUG 2014:

 

Imp/wet: Hmm, smells like jagermeister tastes for a little while.

 

Drying: starts to smell more floral, but I think it must be rose. It doesn't smell unpleasant at all, but the whole affair does remind me of sachet pillows that my grandmother has. This is a scent I might use in my closet, or in the bath, but probably wouldn't actively wear. 3 stars

Edited August 22, 2014 by Morsigne925

[SlySionnach]

Imp: I can't even begin to describe this. Herbal, definitely. Clean linen, as well.

 

Wet: Ack! Almond! Definitely not a keeper. Almond makes me feel bleh after awhile because it amps so heavily.

 

Drying to Dry: Powder on top of almonds. And now powdered sugar. Bleh.

 

Verdict: Not keeping not keeping not keeping

[Ordo_ad_Chao]

Wet, this presents as a bright green, effervescent herbal. As it dries down, a musty rose appears. After about 15 minutes this becomes a pure, rich, ancient rose on me.

 

The first oil I ever wore was a single note pressed rose oil purchased for me in Afghanistan- this is amazingly reminiscent of it. To the point that I tested them against each other. Almost exactly the same, just #20 has a tiny hint of leaf if I try hard enough to smell it. It takes some work, though.

 

Since I first started exploring BPAL looking for something better on me than that rose oil, this one will want to go to someone who will appreciate it more.

[boomtownrat]

In the imp I smell mostly cherries with an herbal backdrop. Wet on my skin it's a blast of earthy herbs. I want to say I can smell a tiny bit of cumin, as odd as that might sound. Soon there's the same dark rose that's in Black Phoenix, and I think I also smell carnation.

 

Huffing my wrist to identify notes gave me a runny nose, but when I quit shoving my arm into my face it stopped.

 

After 20 minutes the rose is the only note I can identify in the scent, but then a few minutes later that cumin smell briefly reappears. Within 30 minutes of application, it's a soft, dark rose with low throw.

 

This was lovely to test, but I think I'm going to offer it to a friend who loves rose scents more than I do. As for the intended effects of the scent, my husband would be far more likely to say that Snake Oil is a love oil.

Edited February 16, 2013 by boomtownrat

[4807]

I thought the scent was okay at best. On my skin it smelled like ginger. Ginger ginger ginger and lemons with a very slight undertone of potpourri. It faded almost completely in 2 hours, though my wrists have a small potpourri tinge that is barely noticeable even if I stick my nose right onto them.

[WidgetAlley]

Imp: Sweet almonds, soft florals, and something clean and green. Pretty!

 

Wet: Almonds, roses and geranium soap, green and prickly. I think a lot of the "traditional" love oils smell like floral soap, maybe because historically people have bathed less often! This one actually reminds me a bit of Black Phoenix, what with the almond/rose thing happening, but it's a lot lighter on the musk.

 

Dry: Lovely herbal soap. Well, it was nice while it lasted.

[Shealynne]

I wore this today, and came here with the intention of stating ironically joking that I was attacked by two bugs on the way to work today. Directly after clicking and browsing through the reviews, I remembered that my male coworker randomly bought me a cookie and then ice cream while I was wearing this, which I originally took as an way of apologizing for a recent argument without actually saying sorry. Now I'm wondering if it had more to do with the way I smelled.

[TurpentineChai]

Have been back and forth on getting a bottle of this for a week, so finally invested last night into actually testing and not just throwing it on and forgetting.

 

I really like the smell for the most part, almonds and rose stems with just a bit of old apothecary medicinal herbs that all the voodoo blends seem to have. Unfortunately it has no throw and fades fast, so as a perfume, I feel I can find a more efficient signature almond scent.

 

As to the voodoo properties, I wore it to work bartending last night and noticed no extra (in fact maybe less) amorous attention than usual other than my brother saying I looked nice. Not really the effect I was hoping for. I'll use up this imp, but will be passing on a bottle.

[Xue_Bai]

Frimp!

 

Wet: Almond and herbs. And mint? ZOMG smells like my beloved (and gone) Draco blend by Cara on Adagio. I want to drink my wrist now, please and thank you!

 

Dry: Rose slowly pops it's head into the scent, and something turns a bit powdery and very green. It's nothing like the wet stage. As others have said, vaguely potpourii-ish, but not in a bad way.

 

If it hadn't changed from the wet stage it would have been an instant buy. As is, it's just okay...not really me. Got to see how the voodoo works before passing final judgement though.

[JazzieCazzie]

Frimped an imp.

 

IN THE IMP: Almonds.

 

Dabbed on wrist and crook of arm.

 

WET: This is super odd and interesting. Oddly, I don't get almonds once it's applied. VERY herbal when wet. Can't put my finger on which herbs, though, though I THINK there is chamomile in here. It smells like facial toner. Very clean.

 

DRYDOWN: Here I get the rose, though to me it's more like rosewater since I'm still getting high end organic face treatment smell from this (thus, the chamomile and roses connection). Despite the rose scent on drydown and the almond note when I smell it in the imp, I would totally put this in the "herbal" category.

 

OVERALL: Just too strongly clean smelling for me. Not that I don't want to be clean, but I don't like smelling like soap.

 

On a scale of 1-5, a 3.5

[Hel]

This is one of those scents I've gone back to periodically for years. I'm always perplexed because there's no guidance from the Lab regarding what's actually in it, but it always keeps me coming back. And I always expect it to smell different on me, as time tends to change your body chemistry slightly, but I've been testing it on and off for maybe 6 years and it never seems to change. For which I am thankful.

 

Immediately opening the bottle I smell a very deep rose scent, something that might evoke images of a Victorian brothel. It also makes me think of how certain flowers were used in that era to hide the smell of death and decay; its a nice scent but its definitely strong in the bottle.

It quiets down after application, however, and softens to something a little lighter - still the roses, and some type of lemon. Maybe a little lemon verbena, the kind of sachet Scarlett O'Hara talked about her mother smelling like in Gone With the Wind. Something very feminine but still with a little edge. There's something else hiding in there as well, though, some other type of floral (lavender? magnolia?) I've never been able to put my finger on. Its too well-blended.

It fades pretty steadily but never entirely, and every once in awhile throughout the day I find myself getting a quick whiff of it even if I don't continue to smell it strongly.

 

Its one of the scents I can never seem to break away from. It seems much too strong for some people, but there's a unique, bright floral quality to it that stands out even among the floral scents.

[greeneyedgirl]

Imp: yes, that's potent alright. Heavy floral, really don't think this will work on me but I'm going to try it anyway. Wet on my skin it's pointy florals, my skin amps it a ton and it isn't pleasant. This love formula did not love me.

[Kerry]

This smelled interesting to me, it was floral but not your average kind of floral.

 

On my skin: immediately straight up old granny soap. Like, properly floral old soapy soap! I had to wash it off after an hour, and even that didn't fully take away the smell!

 

Unfortunately, this doesn't work with my skin at all

[LizziesLuck]

Wet, I get some spiciness (I thought it was cinnamon, but it faded too quickly for that) and some effervescence, it kinds smells like cola at first. Then there's something herbal. It's fairly pleasant, but not something I want to wear as perfume. I don't really use ritual oils, so I will pass it on to someone who might!

[sunlitgarden]

Frimp from the Lab

In the imp: Almond (the cherryish kind) with some lemon

On my skin: Starts to smell a little more herbal. The lemony-herbal aspect is reminding me of some sort of herbal tea. The almond doesn't last long on my skin. The part I got on my finger is starting to smell like rose. My wrist isn't smelling like that yet. Wrist part is smelling a bit soapy (As in, not just the scent that would be in the soap, but the soap itself). A few minutes later, the rose is starting to come out on my wrist too.

Okay... the soap-scent has faded now. It's a sort of herbal-lemony-rose. I probably wouldn't buy a full bottle of this, but I like it.

[freyasfae]

A drier spicy scent, which tends not to be up my alley, but there are florals in it to keep it from going too incense on me. It almost makes me like the voodoo style scents.

[nolifeking]

Frimp from the lab

Wet: Heavy, soapy rose!

Dry: still the same...my skin seem to amp over 9000 rose...too bad!

Edit: My Marseille soap has exactly the same rose scent haha

Edited March 19, 2016 by nolifeking