Lit Chick

Oh my oh my. Gorgeous. Wet, it is SO DIVINE. I will use a locket for this, for sure. It smells like hope, and love, and kindness. Pure, very clean, a windy freshness. It's very floral, so on some this might go soapy. But it's so slight and airy that it never crosses that line with me. I ADORE this. It's been ages since I've had such an instant love for a BPAL. This may be double-bottle worthy.

Ondurdis... Almost a ZOMG scent. Almost. I only have one other pine scent currently, and that is Snow Moon. These are similar enough that I don't feel like I need Ondurdis. Snow Moon is sweeter, and more likely to hit that dreaded BO note. Ondurdis is fresher. It has a hint of the BO, but it's not off-putting. It's only there when I huff and analyze. After an initial POW of throw, this settles and becomes subtle. A very nice, crisp, slightly sweet winter-pine scent. I will certainly use my decant.

INTRODUCTION Family and friends, we are gathered here not to witness the beginning of what will be, but rather what already is. We celebrate with Jane and Bill the wondrous and joyful occurrence that has already taken place in their lives, their love for each other. Jane and Bill, your bond was first formed when the two of you chose to combine your separate lives into one. You have made a mutual commitment to love each other in an atmosphere of care and consideration and respect. You are partners in life, working together to bring out the best in each other, and for each other, and striving to be the most you can. This ceremony marks the moment when the relationship you have been creating gains a new, richer meaning. Your shared experiences have brought you together and forged this bond of love. From this day onward you will come closer together than ever before. You will love one another for better and for worse, in sickness and in health. At the same time your love will give you the strength to stand apart, to seek out your unique destinies, to make your special contribution to the world. Treat yourselves and each other with respect, and remind yourselves often of what brought you together. Take responsibility for making each other feel safe, and give the highest priority to the tenderness, gentleness and kindness that your connection deserves. When frustration, difficulties, and fear assail your relationship, as they threaten all relationships at some time or another, remember to focus on what is right between you, not only the part that seems wrong. In this way, you can ride out the storms when clouds hide the face of the sun in your lives – remembering that even if you lose sight of it for a moment, the sun is still there. May you always be able to talk things over, to confide in each other, to laugh with each other, to enjoy life together, and to share moments of quiet and peace when the day is done. May your marriage be a place in which you share your joys so that they may be multiplied and your pain so that it may be divided. May you be blessed with a lifetime of happiness and a home of warmth and understanding. (pause) There are loved ones who are unable to be here today. Jane and Bill, do not be sorrowful, for you know all those who love you and ever have loved you are here with you in spirit. Let’s take a moment to remember the special loved ones whose presence is missed today. (pause) BLESSING As they prepare to join their lives, it’s important to understand that everyone present has played a part in shaping the characters of Jane & Bill, and will play a vital role in their continuing lives. And thus we are here not only to witness their vows to each other, but also bestow upon them our blessing. Will you, the family and friends of Jane and Bill, pledge to give them your continuing support, your love and your understanding as they work to build a happy and enduring marriage? If so, please say, “We will.” VOWS Jane and Bill, you are different people today than when you met, and years from now you be different still. Do you both, before these witnesses, pledge to do all in your power to make this a happy and enduring union? Jane and Bill: We do. I invite you now to make your promises to one another: (Bill and Jane to write) UNITY CANDLE At this time Jane and Bill will commemorate their marriage by lighting a Unity candle. The two smaller candles were lit by their mothers to represent their lives to this moment. Bill and Jane, please take the candle symbolizing your individual life, and together light the center candle of your union. (Place the tapers back into their holders—join hands and remain near the candles) As this new flame burns undivided, so shall your lives now be one. From now on your thoughts will be for each other rather than just your individual selves. Your plans will be mutual, your joys and sorrows both will be shared alike. Although you are now entering into a marriage relationship, you do not, however, lose your personal identity. Therefore all three candles remain glowing. The individual candles represent all that makes each of you the wonderful and unique person the other admires and respects. The Unity candle in the center symbolizes the joining of your lives, families, and friends, as well as your shining commitment to each other, and to a lasting and loving marriage. RINGS The vows you’ve made are invisible; the love you feel is invisible, too. But rings are visible, material signs of these inward ties. They are tokens of the growing relationship you have come here to celebrate and confirm. (Give Bill Jane’s ring) Bill: Take this ring as a sign of my love and as a symbol of all that we share. May it remind you always of this day, and that you are surrounded by my enduring love. (Give Jane Bill’s ring) Jane: Take this ring as a sign of my love and as a symbol of all that we share. May it remind you always of this day, and that you are surrounded by my enduring love. CLOSING Bill and Jane, may you always need one another, not to fill an emptiness, but to help each other know your fullness. May you want one another, but not out of lack. May you embrace one another, but not constrain one another. May you succeed in all important ways with each other, and not fail in the little graces. May you have happiness, and may you find it in making one another happy. May you have love, and may you find it in loving one another. Jane and Bill, as you join hands right now and look into one another’s eyes, let it be known that you are joined, body and soul in this lifetime. You may now seal this ceremony with a kiss. Ladies and Gentlemen, it is my pleasure to present to you Jane and Bill (Last Name)

Oh good, I'm not the only one who gets buttered popcorn jelly belly, my most hated of the flavors. It smells good and bad and good... cannot make up its mind. I'm not sure about this.... honey can be dodgy with me. Cream is awesome... and I can smell the notes fighting over who wins on my skin. I'm going to keep this and see what happens at different times in my cycle... right now I'm fertile and the honey and my hormones do not mesh. It's oddly masculine, perhaps it will be hot on the husband.

EEEEEEEeeeeEEEEEeeeeEEEEEeeeeEEEEE! Instant love. Perfection. This may just be my BPAL holy grail. Freshly wet, it is super-sweet. Fruity. The pear is singing. Then it quickly dries into a soft, gentle, every-so-slightly-spiced lotion scent. It's kind of creamy, kind of powdery. Very second-skin. Hardly any throw and does not have much huffability in that it's a very natural scent, so it smells more and more like yummy skin than perfume. I had DH give a sniff with his fresh nose and he very much approved. It's sexy, but not in an agressive way. This would be an excellent bridal BPAL. Its subtlety and low-throw make it more work-friendly than many of my other BPALs (no one will be saying who smells like booze/cookies/bonfires). I am not a bottle-hoarder at all. I will be getting 2 backups, that's how amazing it smells on me.

Oh my god. This... this is.... I'm speechless. No more xls that is super out of date! I just imported all my reviews, and I am flipping out with joy. My first listed scent is Annabel Lee, which I had not worn in at least a year if not more, but felt compelled to slather on today. Somehow, it knew..... Awesome job, QS, thanks a millions times over for it!

Jabberwocky is a bit like Vick's Vapor rub - but in a good way. I know there are other menthol smelling blends, but I forget, since those were too medicinal. Jabberwocky is happy medicine.

Yes. Yes. YES! First wet, it is very pleasant and creamy, with a touch of suntan lotion - but not an aggressive Banana Boat way. I guess fresh coconut and skin will always have a bit of that feel. As it dries, it becomes an incredibly delicious creamy skin musk scent. It's I love and adore cream scents, and this totally made up for my crushing disappointment with Chaste Moon 2010. Coconut milk. Yesssss. Precioussssssss. The comparisons to Snow White scared me, because that one started nice on me and without fail turned oddly melted plastic. Beanman does have a similar feel as Snow White, but without any of the badness. Same musks perhaps. I dabbed some on to test last night, and my 2 year old came over and said (in the very exaggerated toddler way) "MMMMM. That smells GOOD!" And started to huff my arm, repeating "Yummy lotion!" He has never done that before! So, I gave him some and he was very pleased. This oil is toddler approved!

I am sad. Chaste Moon '05 is probably my top scent ever. I ordered 2 bottles of '10... and unless they chill out in the next 2 weeks, they will be swapped. With the original, cream was the main note, with florals slightly supporting. '10 is herbal florals of doom, and I get a totally newbie reaction with it - it's harsh and soapy. I will give it time, since milk and cream are listed notes in the description - maybe they just need time to relax. '05 got sweeter and creamier with age, so I am willing to see if this gets better. However, I don't think it will ever match the original, because the florals are just too strong here.

In the oven like heat of AZ in the summer, my favorites are Aeval and Amsterdam.

Interesting. Snake Oil and all prior variants turn into plastic doll head on me. And this was no exception, until the very very dry stage. After about 2 hours, it was sweet but sexy. I kept smelling it, baffled. It's almost too sweet for me, with a bit of sweaty naughtiness.... but it smelled GOOD. I might get a bottle... maybe. The first two hours were annoying, going from yum to yuck and back again, repeatedly. But once this settled, it lasted ages. I'm intrigued. I sort of want a Snake Oil blend that works.... off to the talk me down thread I guess....

2010 version: I was hoping for carnation, and I'm not getting any. At all. Perhaps it will age well though. At first, this reminded me of The Gladdener of All Hearts, because of the massive baby power note. So, I went back and tried TGoAH, and it's aged well. I'm thinking Hod will do the same. If not, then I'm fine with that as well. I love BPAL cream, and I think this has some. It's a close-to-skin scent, mellow and soothing. I don't get vanilla really - almost very BPAL vanilla note turns plasticy on me, and this does not turn in the slightest. Just lightly sugared cream. The longer it's on, the more the power turns into that cream. In fact, as I huff away.... this might be a good replacement for Chaste Moon. CM is much much sweeter, but what I loved in that was the creaminess - and I think I prefer it with less sugar.

Snow Moon is really really icy snowy pine. Nothing warm or mully about it. For woodsy / spicy scents, there are loads in the CG that would fit. Is it the pine you want more or, or the spice? Some initial thoughts - Loup Garou Jabberwocky (love this, big BIG pine, citrus to makes it cheery) Hamadryad Block Buster - I'm wearing some aged BB right now, and it's a very gentle mulled scent, close to skin, makes me very positive. Bengal

I got to try this at an M&S. It was a vanilla that worked on me, probably because of the major cream factor. I did not get the usual plastic. Of course, my nose could have been broken by the time it would have turned... It was really delicious, very melty-vanailla ice cream over a little bit of white cake. It's a very heavy vanilla, a sweet, goopy, foodie one. Very straighforward. Glad to have tried it, and I think this would make a wonderful sleep scent. It's very relaxing. Not what I'd wear for my normal perfume though.

A light, feminine vanilla floral perfume and a swirl of smoke and leather. I got to try this at a MnS. I adored the early stages, when the smoke and leather is still there. If it stayed true, this would be an instant top 10. But. Then it gets very sweet vanilla floral. The plus - this is now only the second BPAL blend with vanilla in it that did not go plastic on me. Huzzah. The minus - my skin amps sweet, which is why I like my sweets grounded by spice most of the time. It's lovely, and people liked it on me. But I like just a little more edge I think. This might blend excellently with one of the smokey oils.... and now I'm wondering what it would do with Mad Sweeney, which smells like fire on me in the dry. Worth a bottle for the experiment? Not sure.... but the sweet/smoke combo was . Hmmm.

Wwo, I have a very different experience. Based on the listed notes, I would never have tried this. But it was a freebie in my last order, and I'm glad! It is a glorously sweet and bright floral on me. I guess that's due to all the greens, because straight floras usually turn soapy. It's a very simple, very innocent perfume. I smell like a little girl, but in a very good way. I smell clean and fresh and like a summer morning. It's exactly the sort of cheerful scent I needed right now, and it's not like anything in my rotation. Comforting and fun!

I am very on the fence about this. Bottle, bright and citrus and herbal. Nice. On, it's that for a second before it starts to get really funky. Acrid soap, very harsh. Then that goes too. Then we have kind of a really really nice scent, the frankincense comes out, everything else is mellow. And then it turns dusty and unpleasant again. And then it's nice. Major morpher, and I'm not sure if the nice parts are worth the icky ones. I might hang on to this though, because I think might age well.

HAPPY DANCE!! My latest batch of smellies has been a huge disappointment, and Lambs-Wool started off no different. Yummy apple, then some spice, and hello holiday candle. BUT. That fairly generic stage was extremely breif, and for most of the early stages it was an excellent cider scent. I was bummed about the lack of cream.... and then the dry-down came. Oh. God. Yes. Creamy creamy sweet wonderful cream and apples. Delightful. And the very last driest-dry reminds me of the end stage of Chaste Moon. YIPPEE. This is by no means a ringer for Chaste Moon, but the cream works the same way on me and it is LOVE.

It's a lovely, very very sweet, spicy cookie. But there is an ample amount of vanilla in it, and my skin hates BPAL vanilla. So after a pleasant five minutes, the creeping plastic ick smell bloomed and made me cry. Sadness.

Ahhhhhh. I thought this would be different. Severe. But it is creamy, woody, herbal, very close to skin, clean, a bit like how my yard smells after rain (olive, sagebrush, wet dusty air). I love it. It is very reserved, but calm and balanced. Good power. Thoughtful.

Wet, this was a fresh green bouquet of wildflowers. Dry, it has morphed into something unpleasant and harsh. I'm thinking it's the dreaded violet effect - and sure enough, when I look at the list of state flowers I see violet is a favorite. Bllleeeehhhh. Why not more carnation, USA? This will be swapped, because while I liked it wet, Violet is the one note that never, in any form, ever works at all on me. If you are a violet fan, this is a must-try because it will likely be a delightful, happy floral on you.

Autumn leaves scattered among blades of grass. LOVE Yes, grass. But I also get an equal amount of leaves. I tried a few of the 'weenie leaf blends, and they all smelled like the composting dampess at the bottom of an old leaf pile, not happy autumnal goodness. But this is just grass and leaf! Happy dance! I made my husband smell it on me, in the dry-down stage. He said "familar....what is that.... (thinks)... it smeels like leaves...and something a little grassy????" HEH. He is usually so bad at putting names to smells. It is a testament to the blend that it's so very clearly leaves and grass that even DH could get it. It made him want to go apple picking. We miss New England. Sniffle.

Such an interesting and lovely scent. I get a sweet, smoky, foodie thing going on at first.. a little gingerbread poppety ('05, I think). There's a dark almost-burnt caramel undertone. Woody too. It lightens up dramatically into a well-behaved masculine cologne. Not generic, not agressive, it's unaffected. Neutral in a good way. It doesn't try too hard. I really like this, and I would have never tried it based on the notes. Violet was on my never-in-any-form list. Hated. Herbals not my fave. I am so digging the tonka - cannot wear any of BPALs vanillas (and I've tried) but this gives me what I want without the unfortunate dough effect. Lilac too - who knew? Lime does make a very weak attempt to make me pucker, but hah! Die citrus, die. Shocked and pleased, and encouraged to give more notes a chance.

I was hoping for spicy carnation and cream, and that's not what I get. Still, this is a delightful blend. Lavender is strong and herbal to start, but it quickly calms down and sweetens. I wish it would stay just a little bit herby, because the blend is extremely sweet on me, with a fruity tangy edge. It makes me think of candy necklaces. It's adorable and innocent and sweet. A keeper. ETA: Now aged over a year, and really not worn at all since my first review - the blend has changed! Fresh and wet, I still get the candy necklace vibe. But it calms right down into clean fresh baby, in a very good way. Close and snuggly, with the scent of infant. I'm wondering if my pregnant hormones are warping this into something more lovely as well.

A lot of the reviews mention Poisoned Apple as being close. I have not smelled it yet but I'm going to - I also fell super hard for SGA.