Silvertree

Three cheers for the Celestial Swap! Luna is a soft, slightly musky floral in the bottle. It could be jasmine, there might be some violet, but it's too soon to tell.... From the moment the oil hits my wrist, Luna becomes a light, elusive second-skin scent. I can detect some juicy berries and fruits wafting through the flowers, but the overall fragrance is so subtle and well-blended it's hard to tease anything out.

I never posted my reviews from the Celestial Swap- so here goes! Sol is a bright, fiery, powerfully spicy scent. It's fierce and hot, with a quality that I wouldn't hesitate to call blinding. It's a brash blend of citrus and spices. Used sparingly, it's warming and pleasant, but I imagine that it could be overpowering in larger doses. On the whole, I quite enjoy it, as hot spicy scents are my forte.

Rhododendron and bellflower petals swirl through deep, cool, dark aquatic notes. I first smelled this at the home of my friend (and BPAL enabler) linaerys. It was gorgeous in the bottle, so I'm hoping that it will like me back.... In the vial, Danube is cool and refreshing, with little tiny blossoms just barely peeking out. As many have noted before, it's the perfect scent for a muggy summer day. After applying the oil to my skin, the most incredible things start to happen. My headache slowly melts away, I feel calm, cool, and collected, and even relaxed enough to put my head down on my desk and take a nap. I would love to put this on before going to bed, as I haven't felt this at peace in quite some time. Regarding the fragrance: I couldn't be happier. I see that many people were assaulted by the evil grapefruit of R'lyeh travelling through the waterways to wreak havoc upon the unwary; my Danube experience remains unsullied by The Great Old Citrus. Not that I don't love grapefruit, for I do enjoy it, but there is simply no citrus to be found in this river today. What I do smell is lovely, sweet, fresh water. If you've ever read C.S. Lewis's Voyage of the Dawn Treader, perhaps you'll recall Reepicheep's quest to find the Utter East- a place in his world where the sea is sweet. Danube is that place. It is cool, refreshing, and sweet enough to be delightful without turning thick or cloying. The florals are light and breezy- not perfumey or heady, just barely scenting the air with their nectar. It puts me in mind of slowly gliding down a gentle, lazy river- your craft hugs the banks in order to stay out of the sun, and you find yourself being lulled to sleep in the cool shade. For something so light and pleasant it seems to be clinging to my skin remarkably well- I've even washed my hands several times today without dislodging the scent. It's utterly, amazingly gorgeous. I'm going to wear it all summer, and even on cold, crisp winter days! Even my hands and wrists are noticeably cooler than the spots that are Danube-less, and I'm going to enjoy staying cool and smelling great for many weeks to come.

Imagine my surprise when this little impling was in my most recent order! In vial: I get a sharpish herbal/floral/peppery smell that my nose labels "lavender"; however, upon reading others' reviews, I could also be persuaded toward juniper and wysteria, as there's both an evergreen and a clean peppery feel to the oil. Wet, on skin: Whoa. My brain has been racing 500 miles a minute ever since I moved, and I haven't been able to concentrate fully on any one task. After nuzzling my nose in to my arm, I suddenly start to feel calmer, more focused, and- dare I say it- at peace. I'm going to go with my original impulse and say lavender is the predominant scent, although there seems to be a little citrus winding through the purple blossoms. The fragrance has also warmed up a tad, and is soothing without making me sleepy. Dry: Like the Wet stage, but even more so. Warm herbs and lavender, slightly less on the citrus. I may be sitting at my desk reading through manuscripts and writing e-mails to people, but in my mind I'm wearing a long, drifting white linen dress and wandering through a giant herb garden. The path leads to a hill, and at the top is a large hammock and a pitcher of fresh limeade. I climb into the hammock and start to swing, relaxing and enjoying the relaxing surroundings....

Initial Sniff: Ohhh, lavender! We grow flowers and herbs in our garden in the summer, and this is the pure, soft scent of fresh sun-warmed lavender blossoms. Wet on Skin: Juicy lavender, with some bright citrus notes and something herbal. I can feel the scent dissolving the stress and tension from my day. All of the business and thoughts jostling for my attention just seem to melt away. Dry: I put this on right before bed, hoping for a good night's rest. Between convincing my brain to slow down and finding a comfortable position in bed, it usually takes me some time to fall asleep. However, only minutes after annointing my wrists, temples, and inner elbows with this, I started to feel the most glorious peacefulness descend. I could imagine myself napping outside, just sinking into a bed of lavender and letting the scent cover me in waves of purple-blue tranquility. Ultimately: For the past week or so, I've been having restless nights where I toss and turn, wake up, stare at the ceiling, punch my pillow, and finally find sleep again. Last night I enjoyed an interrupted rest! I'm still not a morning person, so I didn't exactly bounce out of bed to greet the day, but Quietude helped enormously. I'm ordering a big bottle, and it certainly won't be getting any rest from ME.

I'm in favor of sinning, don't get me wrong. But my two personal favorites vices are Pride and Lust (the sins, not the scents). In the vial, Gluttony is the embodiment of the abstract concept. While I'm incredibly impressed with how... how... glutinous this is (seriously, it smells as if it should sound like, "glurp" when I swirl the imp around), it's so thick and smothering a scent that I feel, indeed, as if I've overindulged. The heavy, buttery, foody scents just aren't for me, sadly. I'll happily keep sinning while passing this on to someone else- never say that I could be accused of Avarice!

I like rum in drinks, but Grog has that same overwhelmingly thick, buttery quality that didn't appeal to me in Jack and Gluttony. I was really hoping to ready the cannons, haul a scurvy dog up the mizzen-mast and keel-haul a mutiny-lovin' rapscallion, but just opening the imp vial made me feel that I had walked the plank into a sea of hot buttered rum. Not for me, but perhaps some other piratical lass will welcome Grog into her hoarde.

It's taken me a while to review this scent, but Sea of Glass has been holding a place of pride in my box o' bottles for some time now. The saga began with me swapping for an imp that didn't make it to me whole. I loved the fragrance emanating from the mailer, so I trolled for an imp- and a kind person offered a full bottle! I haven't once regretted the decision to buy it from her. For me, Sea of Glass is one of those precious fragrances that stimulates such an instinctive reaction that it's difficult to approach it with the intent to *think* about it. I could just let my fingers go and try a stream-of-consciousness review, but I think that it wouldn't be terribly coherent or helpful. Here's my attempt at words: Clean, serene, and pristine, the Sea of Glass is light and air. It smells like the oxygen-rich breezes you find away from noise and people and pollution, where the rich flavor of the breezes makes you want to stand still and gulp in as much air as you can to purify and sustain you when you must, inevitably, return to your city home. A little sharp and crisp, but not cold, it is the sparkle of the waves in the sunlight as they rush toward the shore. A little salty, but also sweet, Sea of Glass reminds me more of rain-washed mountains and meadows than the ocean. Actually, the closest equivalent I can think of is the Sea of Galilee, in northern Israel. Unlike much of that country, the Galilee is lush and green, and the Sea is actually a freshwater lake (known in Israel as Lake Kinneret). I remember swimming in the waters with my friends, and later filling up a little bottle with water from the Sea which accompanied us on our hike to the Mediterranean Sea (Israel is only about 40 miles wide up north). We, like so many pilgrims before us, took the bottle from the Galilee and emptied the fresh into the salt. If you were to take a small amount of each back into the northern hills of Israel with you, and combine them perched high on an ancient hill among the fresh breezes, I think that you would have Sea of Glass.

Wet, in bottle: I almost didn't try this, because just opening the imp was enough to get a flood of butter so strong that I almost gagged. It made me feel sick and slightly greasy, and is the first scent to which I've had an overwhelmingly negative reaction. As helarctos said, it immediately brings the buttered popcorn Jelly Belly jellybeans to mind; as I'm not a fan of that particular flavor, I don't think I want to smell of that scent. But I'll try it, just to see what might happen.... Wet, on skin: That's a bit better. It's no longer so overwhelmingly buttery (I thought I had stumbled upon the previously-undiscovered Butter Single Note), and some spices are starting to pop up. Still a bit popcorny, so I don't think this is the scent for me. No apples or leaves, and no strong spices, all of which I would love. Dry: Peach! Warm, sun-ripened peaches, perhaps baked into a pie with a little brown sugar and cinnamon. No cloves or apples or pumpkin for me, but the peaches are pleasant and much more welcome than butter. This is more of a summery scent than an autumnal blend; it smells nice, but it wasn't quite what I was hoping for. ETA: I wrote this review quite some time ago, and am just getting around to posting it. I've since swapped away the two imps I had and now I've got Pumpkin King to compare to Jack, and... well, read the review!

I've wanted to smell Rakshasa for quite some time. I love resinous scents, and I'm getting more and more into florals thanks to BPAL. So here goes.... Wet, in bottle: I smell... orange rind? Not the fruit, but the fresh, slightly bitter oil that oozes from the rind and coats your fingers when you're zesting an orange for cooking. Wet, on skin: There's still some orange, but the bitterness is tempered by the gorgeous roses that unfold. There's the sandalwood, too- this is like lounging in a grand pavilion out in the wilds, with yards of silk rippling in the breeze and bouquets of roses thirstily sucking up precious water in huge enameled bowls. You lean back on the cushions, which release the scent of the sandalwood chests that hold the pillows and rugs and draperies when the tent isn't set up; the notes all blend into a harmonious whole. Drydown: A true shapeshifter, Rakshasa changes from orange to rose/sandalwood to almost pure, dry wood. I still get hints of the oranges and roses, so I hope that those will return. If not, since it's just a bit too woody, I'll pass this on to my mom, who dearly loves sandalwood. Wait a moment. Did it hear me? Now the roses are back, and some patchouli, as well as the orange. Now I'm getting wood polished with orange oil, a little bit of rose, and just a hint of patchouli, like a fresh (not dried) potpourri in a little wooden bowl. How peculiar that it morphs in this way... I quite like it, either way it decides to morph, but it's not the head-over-heels love I feel for some scents.

Fruity and floral, La Bella Donna Mia Mente reminds me of the Medieval recipes I've made that list rose as one of the ingredients. This is a lovely, womanly scent that is more "traditionally perfumey" than many of the oils I've tried so far. However, I don't know if I'm ready to wear it yet. Perhaps when I have a grown-up occasion, and I'm all dressed up to go out. Somehow it seems disrespectful to invoke this lovely lady when I'm running around in jeans and a t-shirt or going to the office.

Mmm. I first tried Fae a while ago, and wasn't too fond of it. I don't know if it's a weather thing, a skin chemistry phenomenon, or what, but now I quite like it. Peach, tea (the bergamot), musk... this is Dorian and Aglaea having a romp outdoors in a remote corner of the gardens on a warm spring day. I don't know if I'll get a bottle, but I will enjoy my imp!

Out of the bottle, before I can even identify the scents I'm smelling, something comes rushing out and hits me in the brain. It's sharp and biting and my head actually hurts. Then, astonishingly, my sinuses clear. Better than Claritin or Benadryl (and I didn't even realize that I had a stuffed head). I can now smell Phantasm's lovely lemon herbiness, which is sharp and refreshing. It's lemon balm, not the lemon citrus fruit, and is clean and pure and busily clearing away all the cobwebs in my head. Even if I didn't like this for the fragrance, I would definitely appreciate it for the effect it's having on me! I feel more awake and aware of my surroundings. Good morning! ETA: having tried this, I can't wait to compare it to other lemon blends so that I can flesh out my reviews a bit. Yay!

Alice is the shy little girl hiding behind the teapot and floral arrangements at a tea party. On my skin, the scent is sweet and soft and all but invisible. I smell a little whiff of something milky- the smell of a clean, happy newborn who just fed. It is comforting and pleasant, but I practically need to stuff my wrist straight up my nose to smell anything at all.

Another Convergence bottle, by way of the fiendishly enabling (and oh-so-generous) chopchica! Miskatonic University arrives in a pretty amber bottle, but I really think it would be more appropriate decanted into a hip flask. Especially since I want to carry this around with me and have it available at all times. Much as St. Bernards traditionally carried barrels of brandy to fortify and revive lost skiers and hikers, this scent could perk up all but the completely comatose. Student zombies, take note! I love the aroma of coffee even better than the taste, but the caffeine rush is the best thing about these tiny brown beans. After my first sniff of the bottle I wonder if Beth has managed to include caffeine molecules along with the coffee notes, as I feel much more energized and awake. The creaminess and whiskey waft out, like an utterly decadent oversized mug of Irish Coffee. On my skin, the oil stays pretty true to its bottle scent. I don't get too much of the dusty books or wood notes. It's like sitting in Caffe Reggio in the West Village drinking a huge mug of coffee, where the wood paneling just gives off the slightest tinge of something. It's the smell of the librarian's office, where the book wranglers need all the help they can get to stay awake (because you don't want to fall asleep around some of these tomes).... It's more of an atmosphere than a wood smell, if that makes any sense. As it dries, however, the different notes blend into a beautiful and exciting combination. Miskatonic University is the Dorian of the coffee scents! I'm not sure how this scent made the progression from waking me up to turning me on, but I can easily see how that all-nighter in the rare books wing could become a caffeine-fueled encounter in a remote corner of the stacks. Mmmmm.

In the bottle: The Ides of March is very fresh and crisp- clean and green and a bit medicinal in the sense that these aren't cooking herbs, but healing plants. Wet, on skin: The lemon rind makes an appearance, but it's still herbal and fresh. I get more lemon balm than the citrusy lemon fruit. My skin starts to bring out the amber and cardamom, so a warm spiciness mingles in with the fresh green herbs. I'm getting a little bit of the rosemary, and maybe just the slightest hint of the florals. Dry, on skin: Fresh and very spring-like, The Ides of March is a lovely youth standing in an herb garden with a crown of greenery and amber jewelry. I spilled a bit of the bottle on the table right before reviewing this, so I ended up slathering on more than I would normally apply. However, it's not overwhelming, so I suspect that if I used a smaller amount, it would be fainter. The Ides of March is one of my favorite days- my friends and I love saying, "Beware the Ides of March!" I'm so glad I ordered this- coolness quotient aside, it's a beautiful and refreshing scent that's perfect for spring and summer. I will cherish my bottle!

I had fun playing photographer last night... enjoy!

Graveyard Dirt's label has a gray border and "RIP" in an unusual font. It's cute in a Nightmare Before Christmas kinda way.

I love it! As my (gay) friend Kev would say, "it's all fruit!" I *really* want a Miriam scent now.

I thought I'd submit this to the owners of noses more experienced than my own. This Saturday, my family is hosting the Seder for the first night of Passover. For those of you not familiar with Judaism, Seder means "order" in Hebrew, and is a combination of service and meal with many symbols and traditions. Passover is observed to remember the children of Israel's freedom from slavery and subsequent exodus from Egypt. For about a week (depending on your level of observance), Jews abstain from eating leavened bread and most grains to remember the flat bread (Matzah) our ancestors carried out of Egypt. Additionally, Passover brings in aspects of regrowth and renewal, as Spring comes back to the world. I think I remember hearing somewhere that the Last Supper was actually a Passover seder (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong), and Easter and Passover are usually very close to one another in terms of calendar dates. The only reason Passover is almost a month later this year is that the Hebrew calendar, a lunar calendar, periodically inserts an extra month to keep the dates from slipping too far out of season. Anyway, I could babble on about this for a while, but I'll get to the point! I have a fair amount of scents to choose from, but I'm rather at a loss as to what I should wear. I have Tzadikim Nistarim and several Sephiroth scents, to go for one connection, but I mostly want to get away from the darker, spicier scents I usually reach for. After all, one of the over-arching themes of Passover (and one of the Four Questions) is "Why is this night different from all other nights?" There will be about 15 people at our house, and a lot of food, so another reason I don't want to wear something heavy or spicy is that it will quickly become overpowering as the room heats up. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

Voodoobaby, that would be great! I'll post those recipes tomorrow morning for you. Oh, our table is covered with frogs! In fact, the table isn't considred set until we make sure that the Plagues are well represented! I like your mom's sense of humor- it sounds very familiar. I put the orange on the plate half-way through dinner, as we had forgotten it. When we went to the 2nd night Seder, at my parents' friends' house, there was a lot of discussion about its meaning, but I didn't want to blurt out the story in front of 20 or so older people. You never know how they'd take it... I'll have to swipe Tintagel back from the boy. I wore Ides of March on Saturday, though. Mmm!

The emphasis would go: Tsa DEE keem Nees TA reem. The "tza" sound has a soft "s" rather than a hard "z"; it's like the "ts" in "tse-tse".

I'm finding this thread even more fascinating than I originally imagined it could be! I like reading about the ties between religions- even though I identify mainly as a Reform Jew, I love reading about other faiths. I'm especially intrigued by symbols that are important to people across the lines of religion, like the Tree of Life (looks at forum name). Voodoobaby, I'm curious as to what your thoughts might be on Jews for Jesus. Are their beliefs similar to those who follow the Messianic tradition? If you want to take this to e-mail or PM, please let me know! Keeping this on topic, I may go with the Apothecary. It's nice and herbal. Or maybe an apply scent, although apples belong to Rosh Hashanah. I would love to have a scent for Miriam! Strong and a bit mysterious, but warm and caring and joyous. Maybe a little aquatic (for Miriam's well, and her involvement in putting Moses into the river), or citrusy (for the orange on the Seder plate). Actually, I would love a spicy citrus scent (does anybody know of any others?). I'm imagining clove and star anise and orange, like the orange pomanders you make by sticking cloves into an orange and letting it dry. Yum! It could also have some pomegranate, because those taste like Israel to me. Also, I wants me some Pomelo. Citrus from the Holy Land, anyone? ETA: For those not familiar with the orange on the Seder plate, I had heard a story from my congregation's Rabbit that apparently during a talk given by Susanna Heschel, there was some guy who griped about female Rabbis. He said that having a woman on the Bimah was like having bread on the Seder plate. In answer to his comment, she supposedly answered, "No, a female Rabbi is like an *orange* on the Seder plate. It doesn't traditionally belong there, but it is not forbidden. So now some put oranges on the Seder plate to show that they're in favor of having women be Rabbis. Incidentally, my Rabbi is female. Oh, and further ETA: I found this link explaining the orange story... which is vastly different from the one I heard. Further explanation is here. I also like having Miriam's Well represented on the table, but I can't remember if we do that at my house or not.

Wow- thank you, guys, for the great suggestions! It's definitely nice to see other MoT (Members of the Tribe ) here, although I hope nobody thought I was asking for responses from Jews only. I hope people didn't feel excluded... I love the Ten Plagues idea. FROGS! My mom loves frogs, and we always put out her (fake) frog collection on the Seder table. It's almost as entertaining as my cousin and me slumping or falling off of our chairs to represent the Tenth Plague. Hey, we were 10 and 8, respectively. We thought we were funny. Speaking of the Tenth Plague, I don't think I have it in my collection, but Wings of Azrael would probably be appropriate. Hmm, special Passover scents- Hillel Sandwich? Apples, sweet red wine, cinnamon, and bitter herbs, grounded by the weight of unleavened bread. I'm definitely going to miss carbs. Voodoobaby, the annointing oil sounds fantastic! Could the "cane" you mentioned be cane sugar? I love myrrh and cinnamon. In terms of Passover birthdays, (Happy Birthday, by the way!) my family has some great Kosher-for-Passover dessert recipes; my mom will be making Mississippi Praline Meringues (brown sugar & pecans. I eat these things by the bucketful), and I'm tackling a Chocolate Oblivion Truffle Torte (four ingredients: chocolate, butter, eggs, and sugar. GUH.) with a fresh raspberry sauce. My sister's Bat Mitzvah was during Passover, so we came up with a bunch of great dishes and desserts to have at the reception. The only thing we missed was my mom's amazing challah! I'll post the recipes in Eat, Drink, and Be Merry sometime in the next couple of days. Chag Sameach, everyone! (p.s. I find myself wishing that we could have a BPAL Seder! How much fun would that be?!?!)

Hmm, I don't have either of the two you mentioned, but I definitely have some herbal scents. Don't want any bitter Maror, although I'll probably smell like the Charoset I'm making! I like the "soft and comfy" idea, too! Hmm. Chaste Moon is incredibly comforting to me, like mint buttercream frosting. So many beautiful choices! Thanks for your input! I'll resmell those tonight. Cleaning is not even close to being done! My parents are staying home from work on Friday to give the house a thorough going-over, I'm in charge of a couple of the rooms, and then we'll do the traditional chametz sweep that night. Chag Sameach, ladies! Next year in Jerusalem!