Pain

[Orodemniades]

Wicked and vicious! A sharp, cruel blend of lavender and pennyroyal.

Oo.

Imp : Minty, with a sweet undertone.

Wet: Mint, with lavender.

Drydown: Mint, but with the scent of freshly cut wood underneath, which must be the pennyroyal.

15 minutes later: No sir, I don't like it. Or rather, I don't like the lavender. The pennyroyal doesn't bother me at all, yay!

Overall: I won't be wearing it at all. Off to the swapses it goes!

Oro

[blaqpearl]

Wow....this was an extra and I didnt read the description. Woah. First impression was this smells like lysol. Followed by mint. All of the sudden I feel light headed. Not a good thing for me.

[paperdoll]

Initial Sniff: Wicked sharp - minty pennyroyal with a hint of astringent lavender. Color association: the brightest white you can imagine - the kind that it hurts to look at.

 

Wearing: Very sharp indeed, but it quickly fades into a minty herbal. It is gone completely within the hour.

 

Final Impressions: Very medicinal.

[brownbear]

In the vial and on my skin it smelled minty, but not in a harsh, evil way like most mints do on me. It was a soft mint. Mints are still not my favorite though. After literally five minutes it was completely gone. No trace at all.

[wolfie13]

Initial whiff: Pennyroyal (which always smells to me like bright strong mint with an herbal undertone that makes me a tad edgy.)

 

Wearing: Still pennyroyal, with a bit of the lavender seeping in around the sides. The problem for me is that the herbal edge mentioned above takes on a swampy quality on my skin. So I smell like breath mints that somebody fished out of a lagoon.

 

Verdict: I should have known better, as pennyroyal usually does this on me - but I've been on a quest to try every mint-esque scent bpal has to offer.

 

Tulzscha is still in the lead.

[Northernminx]

Very sharp and green, the pennyroyal is almost metallic to start, but fades to a sort of menthol sort of mintiness which is surprisinginly refreshing. Combined with the lavender this reminded me of a victorian doctor, just a little edgey but good for you in the end. Nice but just on the side of unsettling that I've no desire to wear this one often.

[OriginalWacky]

Bottle (Imp): WHAH! MINT!!

 

Just On: This is very much mint, and that's the only thing I can smell.

 

An hour or two later: Wow, it's nearly gone, and I can just smell a little mint now. It's a hint watery as well.

 

Around 6 hours: The faintest hint of mint.

 

12 hours: It all went away.

 

Overall: Wow, I really only got mint out of this.

 

After reading other reviews: Aha, pennyroyal. That's the mint. I never really got the lavender at all. It's interesting, but maybe not something I"ll wear often enough to buy a big bottle of.

[Chas]

Ow!

 

When Beth says sharp, she means sharp! At first sniff this hurt my nose. I had to close up the imp and come back to it. I sniffed again, and got a strong whiff of mint. I can't even get it on my wrists though, it's just too strong. Sadly, off to the swap pile with pain.

[sophia_helix]

Normally I do real-time reviews of oils, but I tried this on quickly when I first got it and it didn't change at all.

 

I love lavendar, and I love mint, and I love astringency, so I hoped this would be a new favorite. Sadly, it's just a hit of PURE pennyroyal, very true to the actual plant, and it's a pretty bitter mint. The lavender only peeks through, not doing much to tone down the crazy bitter sharpness, and I found it unpleasant to wear. Maybe it would make a good room oil, but I'm sick enough of the scent not to want to try.

 

Also, it's totally overtaken my BPAL box, so every time I open it that's all I smell! I need to swap this, quick, before it permeates in forever.

[magdalene]

in the bottle: starlight peppermints, right up the nose.

 

wet on skin: this is extremely minty, which is actually the pennyroyal, without the slightest hint of lavender to tone it down a bit.

 

dry: Sadly, the lavender never made an appearance for me. Into the swap box, it goes.

[dreadeddragon]

In the bottle: MINT! That's about it.

 

First on: The pennyroyal is definitely in the front, but I can smell a slight hint of lavender. It's a medicinal mint.

 

Drydown: I still can't smell the lavender unless I look for it, it's stayed a fairly true medicinal mint. I prefer it to other mint blends, but it's not for me.

Edited August 6, 2005 by dreadeddragon

[violetblue]

A little too sharp for me to wear as a perfume, but I think would be lovely as a massage oil. Pain clears my senses (and sinuses, lol) and makes me feel alert the few times I've tried it on. I'd also love to use this oil in a foot cream too!

[Blood onmy hands]

Pain is one of my least favorite BPAL blends. I don't really like minty smells, and the pennyroyal is mint at its most vicious. Very sharp and astringent. It stays strong for hours before a hint of lavender comes out and softens out.

 

It's a very cool and icy blend to me. I don't really like mint or lavender, so I think that I'll be swapping my imp.

[Aredhel]

Rating (on skin): 2/5

Summarised in a word or two: Minty lavender.

 

In the imp/bottle: Mmmm, minty fresh! Sharp, acrid pennyroyal tempered only slightly by cool lavender.

 

On skin, wet: Such a strange mint, pennyroyal. Very rarely do I sniff a mint that isn't cold. Pennyroyal (on me, anyway) tends to be a very warm mint. The lavender balances it nicely, keeping it just this side of intolerable sharpness.

 

On skin, dry: There is a certain bottle of disinfectant at work that smells almost exactly like this, and I don't much like either of them. A pity, too, as I've come to love mint and pennyroyal lately. I'm not a big fan of lavender most of the time, so I'll blame that.

 

Conclusion: Not my thing. Anyone who enjoys lavender might love this, as, in the end, this becomes mostly lavender on me.

Edited December 16, 2005 by Aredhel

[AlaskaSnows]

In the Bottle: Whoooo!!! Eucalyptus, mint, aromatic! Something stinky back there too, like an unwashed armpit?

 

Dry: Someone took one fresh crushed mint leaf and one fresh crushed sage leaf and dabbed them on the armpit of someone who hadn't bathed in a few weeks. Pain is well named, it's what I get smelling this.

 

1 to 10: 0

 

Buy Again: No.

[cuervosueno]

Pain. Seems to be an acquired taste.

 

It is very sharp in the imp. But on, its quite pleasant, though I don't know that I'd wear it much. Pure pennyroyal for me, and the most interesting thing that came out of trying this frimp is that I'm pretty sure the mint in The Fool is pennyroyal....smells very similar to some of the topnotes of that oil, and since I quite like that blend, I'm enjoying this in a way.

 

I also compared it to the other frimp I got, Envy, and Envy is much sweeter--I'd thought the dominant note I got in Envy was spearmint, but I liked comparing the two side by side. Both fade quite quickly though--perhaps mint just doesn't have much staying power on me.

 

Also interesting to discover that if there is mint in the blend, my skin amps the mint, not the lavender which is cool with me because I don't like lavender on my skin.

 

Well, Pain is an interesting scent, and I'm glad I tried it.

[sarahj]

Pain

 

in vial: strong pennyroyal, slightly soapy

 

wet: same

 

dry: soap soap soap...no lavender at all...fades quickly...lasts about 2 hours

 

verdict: not for me...off to swaps

[lohengrin]

Verdict: I tried this one out of sheer curiosity. And I think I kinda like it. It's WEIRD. It's minty... but very herbal. Very, very herbal. Smells like a mint teabag, that kind of herbal mint. Plus, apparently both pennyroyal and lavender help repel mosquitoes. Good to know.

[Colère]

Bottle: Crisp, cold, and cutting. There's a breath of freshness (mint-without-mint), but it smells frosted over. Even though it isn't listed I get a hit of dark chocolate, the intensely acrimonious kind that screams 'GREEN!GREEN!GREEN!' and makes you wonder if the bitterness can be attributed to ground grasshoppers (or other green tinted insects).

 

Skin: SWEET JESUS! Pain packs an unsuspecting punch! It's minty ammonia, and it goes STRAIGHT for your diaphragm (just like the Hardy Boys!). Menthol - or what I identify menthol to be - is apparent, but it isn't as intrusive as Loup Garou (aka 'Vick's Vapo Rub Without the Vick's or Vapo or Rub').

 

Skin, Later: Formaldehyde! But, uhm, not really. The dry down really reminds me of a preserving fluid, sans flattened animal. It's not medicinal, it's not astringent, it's...science? It's science and toothpaste, inching more and more towards toothpaste as time passes (without the chalk and fluoride - the silent killer!).

 

Verdict: Christ, I don't know. This is the third scent I've tried this week that simply disappears on me, hardly giving me any time at all to make up my mind. I caught a gentle whisper of lavender, but it was restrained and practically negligible. In less than an hour Pain was gone, but returned in the form of stomach cramps (no, THANK YOU low-carb chocolate and caffeinated coffee!) - hooray!

[Lit Chick]

Sharp, astringent. Agree with pretty much everyone on that.

 

I don't like it - but as cuervosueno said, it is interesting. Worth a sample. There's something.... well, very appealing.

 

Like mouth pain - especially a loose tooth (been a long time, but I remember)! It hurts, but you just can;t stop because in a way it feels good.

 

Not the blend for me, but very cool.

[feline.by.design]

I think sophia_helix had a similar experience with Pain as I'm having with it right now. The lavendar isn't as strong as I had hoped, the pennyroyal is quite biting and brisk. It smells like mouthwash in the beginning.

 

After I let Pain settle down a bit, the fragrance oddly reminds me of a cd store on Park Avenue. ??? That's pretty odd. My skin takes away a lot of the sharpness from the pennyroyal somehow. This is very, very light, but a bit masculine somehow. It's actually not so bad, but somehow it smells like the inside of Park Ave CDs, a store that uses a lot of metal decoration.

 

I'm wondering if there is a light touch of leather in this somehow, as I seem to be getting a really light leather scent.

 

Whoa! I'm totally confused and confuddled! When I try to sniff my arm again.... it's gone! What a mystery. I'm not sure if I want to try this again or give it to my boyfriend. In any case, it's just so confusing I think I'll have to try it again at some other point. As it stands, though, I wouldn't get a bigger bottle of this, but the imp is quite confusing, I can't be rid of it at this time.

 

-doreen

[olympia301]

 

Woo! Big mint. This will wake you up and cause the hairs to stand up on your arms! I was amazed to find there isn't any mint (as in peppermint) in this blend, but it is perfectly mimicked by the lavender and pennyroyal. Zounds!

 

This will ice-scorch the inside of your nostrils and make you pay attention. Lasts for an entire 5 minutes before it goes out completely like a magnesium fire.

 

If you have a hard time getting up in the morning, or you need to sober up muy pronto, keep a vial of this about your person. Great for you slugg-o college students and clerk-slackers everywhere.

[niter]

Imp

Wow, I can smell the lavender and the pennyroyal so well! The pennyroyal smells just like it does when I grow it!

 

Wearing

Pennyroyal!! Very strong. Since I use this to ward off bugs naturally, I think I might have to pass. However, I am *very* tempted to hold on to this to see if it keeps biting buggies away as I love the smell of pennyroyal!

[des]

In the bottle, this smelled a little bit like toothpaste, so I put off trying it right away. When I put it on, my initial impression was of minty licorice--it felt like I could actually taste it on the back of my tongue.

 

After an hour or so, the scent had virtually disappeared. I can smell a light whiff of cool lavender if I press my nose to my wrist, but the sharp, strong scent is gone. It's clean and cold but with a lingering softness. Not an everyday scent for me, but I might put it on for an early Spring stroll.

[sookster]

immediate lavendar and pennyroyal.....this one is s-t-r-o-n-g and

is sure to clear up sinuses everywhere....i'm glad i did have the opportunity

to try this although this is not something i would wear.....