#20 Love Oil

[thespring]

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

It starts very herbal and almondy for me, not good.

the herbyness slowly becomes more floral and I think it's mainly rose. Almond (or cherry, I have a hard time telling the difference sometimes) is still there but more and more in the background.

It has become very soapy in the drydown. Powdery, soft rosey soap with maybe a little bit of musk too.

It's really quite nice but just a little too rosey for me.

[Scylla]

In the vial: That usual, herbal "voodoo blend" smell

 

Wet, on my skin: I'm not sure what about it I didn't like at first, but once it actually hit my skin I sort of recoiled and thought, "What have I done?" It smelled sharp and feral at first. I fought the urge to go wash it off!

 

But, as someone else posted, it did change. It lightened up considerably and became sort of a creamy, clean rose. On drydown, it smells exactly like Dove soap on my skin.

[Falathwen]

This was a gift imp from the lab. I will pass it on, since I do not follow the Voodoo path, but I wanted to give it a try for fun.

Cinnamon and rose … and something green? It is intriguing and almost creamy. Perhaps there is vanilla in it? It works well for a while and then turns to powder. It had no effect on my husband.

[Lit Chick]

Ah, another miss for me.

This was strongly herbal and sweet - an odd combination on my skin. And as it dried it went soapy.

 

I did not wait to see what would happen with DH, as the soapiness was none too pleasant.

[PennyPretty]

Ack!! Nail polish remover!! Not.Good.

[Finny]

Spicy, sweet, and herbs.

 

Mmm, it smells good, it is a comforting scent to me. It is spicy and herbal. There is a floral here too, not sure what it is, but it is not overpowering the blend. All together, it smells nice, a bit soapy at first, but it goes away quickly leaving an interesting herbal, sweet, floral behind.

[darkling]

Initially, #20 Love Oil was all almond on my skin.

 

As it started to dry, the almond scent faded away entirely. I caught a whiff of saffron that did not repeat itself.

 

This oil was sharp and edgy but in a way different than any other scent that I have tried. It was odd because it was simultaneously sharp and smelled like a sweet pastry or cake.

 

After an hour, a powdery undertone arose that is common to most of the voodoo blends that I have tried.

 

As I already have love, this one is for the swap pile;)

[cormeretrix]

this one, like most of the other voodoo blends, was way too strong for me. i got some kind of almost nutty scent at first, then flowers. and sneezing.

 

but it does smell faintly familiar, as if i've smelled this one before. maybe down in the quarters?

 

in between sneezes, i put this one up for swap.

[shelldoo]

wow wet this is like single note almond.

 

dry it becomes quite a bit more herbal, and yes there is rose here. very nice...i'll post how it "works"

[k00kaburra]

I've had this imp before but I swapped it away because I didn't care for it again. It arrived as a freebie and I know I ought to make a proper review, so here goes.

In bottle: Very green and herbally, but I haven't a clue what is in it. It has the same definite herbal undernotes that all the Voodoo blends seem to share. My mind wants to say "Wormwood and licorice!" as to the contents; but I doubt that's accurate. It is what the fragrance makes me think, tho'.

On me: Still quite herbally after one hour. People keep saying it changes to something powdery so I'm waiting and waiting but so far...nada. I'll keep it around a few more days to test for effects, but I don't care for the scent at all.

[Blood onmy hands]

Voodoo blends seem to really hate my skin. The only one that I can seem to stomach is Follow Me Boy (which I really like and which drives my boyfriend crazy - in a good way).

 

#20 Love Oil... I've hesitated in reviewing this because it was just so awful, and I feel bad saying awful things about anything BPAL.

 

I didn't get any rose from this (no floral at all actually), I didn't get any almond notes, and it didn't smell green or soapy clean.

 

This did smell like dirty chemicals on me though. I kept making my mother smell me... she decided it smelled like a blend of, "Gasoline, insecticide, and sweaty old men." :icon_eek:

 

But I toughed it out for about 2 hours (I'm such a trooper)... until the drydown stage started to smell a bit like feces.

 

Needless to say, I won't be buying a full size of this'n and I won't be testing it out around the boy.

[OriginalWacky]

Bottle (Imp): Sweet, with some kick.

 

Just On: Sweet, with some kick, and I can't tell what kind of kick.

 

An hour or two later: Hmmm, this is turning into something else, and I don't know what it is..

 

Around 6 hours: There's a hint of sweetness. Unfortunately, I'm also getting more soapyness.

 

12 hours: It fades back into a sharper scent, though it's almost gone.

 

Overall: I could wear this regularly, except my skin makes it a yucky kinda soap.

 

After reading other reviews: I have Follow Me Boy on the other wrist, so we shall see if anything fun happens, even though it's not exactly the right time of month. I won't be keeping it, but I was happy to try it.

[arabella]

Well, here goes nothing. This is my first review, so please let me know if I'm doing anything incorrectly.

 

 

First Impression: Pungent, bitter almond - so strong that it made my eyes water.

 

Dried down to: Rose, rose and nothing but rose; then never changed.

 

Lasted: About 4 hours.

 

Rating: 3 out of 5

[sarahmarie]

Rose, and something green/herby -maybe the geranium some people mentioned. I don't get any cinnamon in this, which is odd because cinnamon usually leaps right up my nose when I put it on.

 

My spouse said it reminded him of the roses that grow near the ocean in southern Maine, and I can see that. I like the lightness of the rose, but the herby quality is slightly off-putting for me (much less so than some other VooDoo oils though). I won't be buying a bottle, but I will use up my imp.

[Shanti]

urgh...just got an imp of this today.

 

It smelled slightly unsettling from the get-go, but it smelled fairly nicely cherry and almond like to begin with. In about 10 minutes, it went from sweet to very powdery, rosey, and soap-like. Another 10 minutes and it was distinctly nail-polish-remover like.

 

grrr...have to be one for the re-gift pile...

[quikslvr]

Odd green almond start, but that phase is brief. Something here reminds me of Black Phoenix as it dries down--spicy, definitely, but on the herbal side. A few hours later, it seems to have been swallowed by my skin--but I'm not sure since I seem to be having an allergy attack. Not sure if it was #20 or the vacuuming I just did that started it, though.

 

This was a freebie from the Lab. Thanks so much!

Edited July 1, 2005 by quikslvr

[HoneyHoneyNY]

Got this in a swap (thanks cuervosueno!)

 

In the imp it smells aromatic and herb-y at first. Kind of rosemary-ish. Then when I put my nose closer, a wave of almond comes out. The initial almond scent is so sweet and boozy that it makes me think amaretto. Hmmm yummy so far.

 

On my skin as soon as the oil touches my wrist, the roses bloom to the surface. (I think I'm starting to learn that rose notes really stand out on me, which is not a bad thing.) A nice rose scent, not too sweet or too powdery. There's a slight sharp edge to the scent that I can't put my finger on, and a faint hint of the original almond.

 

As it dries, it's starting to get more complex. That rosemary note is coming back, then the rose turns almost lemony, then the almond scent peeks out. And the rose is back to it's rosy self. It's not the full blown rose-skin scent I get with some rose notes, but it's nice and fresh

 

The rose+green note in this reminds me of Two Five and Seven, but I like this better, maybe because the almond rounds it out a bit. I think I want more of this, but we'll see once it's been on my skin a bit longer. I want to make sure that the faint, not upleasant bitter tinge stays faint and not unpleasant.

 

ETA: I love the scent of this oil, but it fades so fast. I put it on before bed last night, and it was gone completely this morning. I put more on this morning, and it's almost gone already. I'm going to use the imp and decide if I really want a bottle.

Edited July 13, 2005 by HoneyHoneyNY

[bellis]

Starts out very herbal and lemony, then turns into a powdery floral. There's a bit of spice to this, something that tickles the back of my nose. It's a clean, soft smell. Very nice. I may have to consider a big bottle of this.

[~AmusedMuse~]

My Impression: To me this is a citrusy, cherry rose...absolutely divine. A real keeper ... It is lighter than what I would like and I wish it had more UMPH, but overall it is gorgeous

[The_Merf]

In the imp: This smelled tart and fruity to me. I didn't pick up the almond at all. I really had a hard time putting my finger on the smell--it was tart, but definitely not citrusy fruit.

 

Wet: Fruit, and then it turned immediately to soap. I was unable to wear it for more than 20 minutes, because the soapy scent was quite strong. Luckily I have a friend who is getting married, so I think I might slip this into her bachelorette gift bag and she can see if it works for her.

[Firewaver]

I smelled.. green tea.

 

This smells almost exclusively of green tea to me, almost identical to my green tea shampoo, which i'm not overly fond of.

 

I think i may be passing this one on, i don't think my boyfriend would approve of me wearing a love oil to work anyhow.

[Eros]

Slightly sharp herbal with cherry syrup & just a touch of cinnamon spice. There's also a bit of almond that comes through. After about 5-10 minutes, rose makes an entrance. Very nice blend, but unfortunately, like most rose blends, it gave me a headache.

Hopefully, I'll be able to stand it long enough to see how it works

[olympia301]

Smelled like linseed oil on me at first. Not very nice. I was about to chuck it into the swap pile but I wanted to review it first and gothabillywench's review caught my eye. So I put on a good amount and waited for the linseed oil to dry down. Sure enough I was rewarded with an almost carnation/basil combination that was really gorgeous. I can see that this is a great sex worker blend, just like Follow Me Boy which starts out as an unpleasant jasmine pissy smell and ends up being so heartbreakingly beautiful you want to weep with joy at it. #20 is the same. Real nice and I am leaning toward a bottle of this. Mmmm. I love those voodoo blends, they are so mutable and appeal to your basest instincts.

[QueenFae]

When I first sniffed this one, my first thought was almonds. Now that I've worn it awhile, it's dried down to a spicy/herbally rose scent, and it's quite lovely. It's like a heady rose perfume with a bit of a kick, like evil seductress roses. Quite enticing, extraordinarily sexy, and perfectly suited to it's name. Wear this one when you're on the prowl, my fellow seductresses

[coulrophobe]

In the imp: Aaagh! Cherry - or almond, they smell the same to me... evil, evil cyanide But in the name of science, I'll test it out anyway.

 

Wet on skin: Yep, cherry and/or almond... *sticks arm out window and waits for drydown*

 

Dry: Huh... total morph to roses and cloves. I can see this being a blend favored by courtesans. Lightly spicy, and very decadent smelling... this is all about satin sheets sprinkled with velvety rose petals. Rowr.

 

I'm really happy that it's so clovey on me, because roses are often a bit overwhelming and artificial smelling on my skin.