How do you apply your BPAL oils?

[lishal]

I use a cheap brand of q-tip with plastic sticks that I cut in half. I'll usually dip the cut plastic end of the q-tip in the oil where it gets about a drop trapped in the opening in the center of the tube and use that to dab on my skin. If I'm wearing a scent locket, I pull the cotton off the plastic stick and dip the stick into the oil and use that to drop some into the cotton. I then stick that cotton ball into my scent locket. Two uses for the price of one.

[Gael]

I wonder if the specific oils we are using could account for some of the difference between people who slather and people who dab. When I posted that I only needed a little dab of oil at a time I was wearing a lot of Blood Kiss, Blood Amber, Lilith. Those are quite strong scents. When I tried Inez and Sudha Segara lately I was shocked how much oil I needed to get myself to smell good.

That makes sense to me - my faves are generally lighter (I'm not an incense/resin/heavy musk fan), things like Alice and White Rabbit and Antique Lace and Dorian. When I wear Glowing Vulva, I have to remember just to use teeny dabs or it will be crazy!

 

Oh for sure that has to have something to do with it. However, even on the scents that are the strongest on me there is no way I am applying it with a toothpick!! I just roll my eyes when I read that.

 

[katiet518]

I use a plastic toothpick or upend the bottle (so that it goes into the cap, cap is still on) and then just apply from the cap by rubbing the cap on my wrist. That slathers it a tad though, so it depends on the scent.

[dronzeka]

I wonder if the specific oils we are using could account for some of the difference between people who slather and people who dab. When I posted that I only needed a little dab of oil at a time I was wearing a lot of Blood Kiss, Blood Amber, Lilith. Those are quite strong scents. When I tried Inez and Sudha Segara lately I was shocked how much oil I needed to get myself to smell good.

That makes sense to me - my faves are generally lighter (I'm not an incense/resin/heavy musk fan), things like Alice and White Rabbit and Antique Lace and Dorian. When I wear Glowing Vulva, I have to remember just to use teeny dabs or it will be crazy!

 

Oh for sure that has to have something to do with it. However, even on the scents that are the strongest on me there is no way I am applying it with a toothpick!! I just roll my eyes when I read that.

Hee! No, it's always more than a toothpick for me, too.

[Gael]

Toothpick.......give me strength. Like it's that powerful.

[jarvenpa]

Well, I guess some BPAL is so strong a toothpick would do it.

 

But I am a slatherer, and I do the put-wrist-to-bottle-and-tip-bottle routine.

 

Only--a word to the wise--if you do this, do not then wave your hands about with uncapped bottle still in one, as you gesture to bookstore customer.

 

Cause if you do....

 

well, I have a lot of Antique Lace scented stuff around my desk right now.

[whimsies]

So I just received my oils yesterday. I got home from work around midnight and much to my boyfriend's shagrin I squealled with joy and tore open my box from BPAL.

 

I got a bottle of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Bat, White Rabbit and Hellcat. I love the first two and Hellcat may take a little getting used to.

 

I also received some imps, and I love that they have little applicator sticks attached to the lid. When I opened the bottles and found that they lacked such applicators I became a bit confused.

 

So, without applicators, how do you apply your oils? Q-Tips? Finger to bottle then dab? Or by dabbing the lid on yourself?

 

Thanks for your help and wisdom! Also, where do you all find your little scent icons you include in your sigs?

[Inventrix]

I put the scent into imps/decants, if it isn't already. (Seriously, I do, unless I'm just testing.)

 

On a more helpful note, when applying from a bottle, I roll it (there's a description of what that means and why one should do it in detail around somewhere) and then flip it upside down for a couple seconds, open it, and use the little knobby thing inside the cap as an applicator.

 

I think the scent icons are in a subforum somewhere around here... let me see...

 

***EDIT: Found it! Directions to find: Community Gallery > Scent Icons & Minis

Edited July 24, 2009 by Inventrix

[eyeska]

There's also a whole thread about applying oil from the bottles in the FAQ section! It's over here.

[Monster]

The Lab sells caps with glass wand applicators on them if you find applying from the bottle to be a bit difficult and messy.

 

You can purchase them here, http://blackphoenixalchemylab.com/sample.html (scroll all the way to the bottom)

 

 

White Rabbit is one of my favorites! Great choice!

[megank4]

The Lab sells caps with glass wand applicators on them if you find applying from the bottle to be a bit difficult and messy.

 

You can purchase them here, http://blackphoenixalchemylab.com/sample.html (scroll all the way to the bottom)

 

 

White Rabbit is one of my favorites! Great choice!

 

I had no idea about this, and I've been on here for about two years!

Anyway, I usually just press it against my wrist or thumb, then flip over.

[Mousesong]

I employ what I have begun referring to as the suicide method: upending the rolled bottle onto my thumb, putting it back, then cutting my thumb across my wrists, cutting it across the top of my throat, and then rubbing it onto my sternum (a la stabbing self in the heart). I didn't realize how menacing this series of movements looks until recently

[Monster]

The Lab sells caps with glass wand applicators on them if you find applying from the bottle to be a bit difficult and messy.

 

You can purchase them here, http://blackphoenixalchemylab.com/sample.html (scroll all the way to the bottom)

 

 

White Rabbit is one of my favorites! Great choice!

 

I had no idea about this, and I've been on here for about two years!

Anyway, I usually just press it against my wrist or thumb, then flip over.

 

I just found out recently as well Those glass wand caps sure are handy little things.

[whimsies]

The Lab sells caps with glass wand applicators on them if you find applying from the bottle to be a bit difficult and messy.

 

You can purchase them here, http://blackphoenixalchemylab.com/sample.html (scroll all the way to the bottom)

 

 

White Rabbit is one of my favorites! Great choice!

 

I had no idea about this, and I've been on here for about two years!

Anyway, I usually just press it against my wrist or thumb, then flip over.

 

I just found out recently as well Those glass wand caps sure are handy little things.

 

Ack! Wish I knew about these before, thanks! Definitely getting a couple on my next order. ...I bought a bottle of Lawn Gnome for my mom for her birthday, I wonder how she'll do without a wand for a little while. Hmm...

[Gin]

If I'm not sure the oil is a keeper, I use a fancy toothpick--they're round but have a groove on the non-pointy end. It picks up a little more oil than a regular toothpick. I used to use Q-Tips, but they seem to suck up *so* much oil.

For keepers, I usually up-end the bottle on my arm, though now that it's summer and I'm always coated in sunscreen, I've been using an index finger. I also like the glass wand caps, but I always forget to add them to my order.

[SmileCat]

You didn't know about it because they only started doing it recently.

[donnatron]

On a more helpful note, when applying from a bottle, I roll it (there's a description of what that means and why one should do it in detail around somewhere) and then flip it upside down for a couple seconds, open it, and use the little knobby thing inside the cap as an applicator.

 

Rolling helps to blend the oil together so that if any components have separated you won't be applying only from the top layer of the oil. It also warms the oil slightly from the heat in your hands and gives you a bit fuller scent experience. It's important to roll rather than shake a bottle because shaking could snap long molecule strands in the oil components that will lead to quicker degredation or alteration in the oil.

 

</enthusiastic bottle roller>

 

After I test a scent and decide to keep it I apply by covering the top of the bottle with my middle finger, upending the bottle and then applying that way. I like the sort of more sensuous experience of having the oil in my hand as I apply. It's the same reason I loved 4711 before switching to BPAL (well, that and 4711 is just a really awesome, classic fragrance).

[neddykapoozle]

I do it all, depending on the scent, upending the bottle on finger, wiping the rim on my skin, dotting from the cap, etc.

 

How did I not notice that the lab sold wand caps? I may need to get some for my favorites. I only have a wand cap on a bottle of Gennivre I was swapped, and it makes me feel so darn elegant lightly dabbing honey mint tea onto myself from a glass wand.

[HighPriestessIce]

I have discovered the awesomeness that is a plastic straw <3 I take a thin plastic straw and lightly dip (not too far) , a small amount of oil gets caught in the tube, and it goes a long way :3

[RachelElizabeth]

I roll and then press the nubby thing in the cap against my skin.... simple and leaves the perfect amount of oil.... I have to recap and reroll quite a few times, but there's very little risk of spillage. I'm clumsy, so if I tried to upend the bottle on my wrist (or, for that matter, anywhere else) I'd end up with a scented room and an empty bottle

[ltrittipoe]

I love the wand caps! I want them on all of my bottles, so am adding them a little at a time.

 

Question, though - is there anything that I can do with the caps that I take off to replace with wand caps? It feels just wrong throwing them away, so I have them in a zip lock bag until I figure out if there is any use for them.

 

Does anyone have any ideas? or does anyone want them? I will be happy to send them to you!

 

Laura

[EdenIris]

Question, though - is there anything that I can do with the caps that I take off to replace with wand caps? It feels just wrong throwing them away, so I have them in a zip lock bag until I figure out if there is any use for them.

 

I save them on the off chance the bottle doesn't work for me and I want to sell it. Also, I have more bottles than wand caps (I didn't know the lab sells them now -- hurray for that!), so as I rotate bottles in and out of regular use, sometimes I switch the wand caps out. I soak them in alcohol, clean them thoroughly with water, and let them dry in the sun, and they're ready for a new scent.

 

The glass wands are the method that's worked best for me. When I first started buying bottles, I put them in rollerballs, but they applied far too much oil.

 

[lookingglass]

I can't think of a scent that I wear that dosn't get put on wrist/fringertip to bottle and get applied to wrists, neck, hair, and other pulse points....and reapplied at least once a day! I seriously don't gag people out, either. Ok, ONCE I know I gave someone an allergy attack, but they were fine in a few minutes and kept sitting next to me and they totally could have moved if they wanted to! I don't like rubbing pokey plastic on my skin and I wouldn't be able to smell anything if I only put on a drop of anything.

[Magic]

I use a pipette , squeeze up a little , put a drop or two on each wrist or wherever i want the oil to be placed, then squeeze the rest back into the bottle / imp and then i wash the pipette out by squeezing up soapy water , then shaking it around , then squeezing out!

 

 

Xx

[Balame]

Not sure this is the best place to ask, but I'm curious if anyone else has heard this - quite a few sources I've seen have mentioned that direct exposure to air for oils is not a good thing. This isn't the most in depth site I've found but if you go here it mentions this near the very bottom. I wouldn't want to harm the quality of my BPAL oils in the least and since up till now I've just been applying from the bottle, I'm considering decanting into one of my imps at this point. Does anyone else do this? How much does the oil quality suffer if you do apply directly from bottles (thus exposing them to air more often)?