greenranger

Myrrh, how I do love thee. I hardly get any sharpness. I get loads of myrrh laying a sweet resinous foundation for just enough of the tobacco and rose geranium. I don't know wenge, but, there's a bit of woodiness that might be that. This, I may need a bottle of.

Energetic and spiky in a sort of bang your sword against your shield sort of way. Wet, lots of juniper, oakmoss and PATCHOULI. Drying it starts to smooth out, but, this is an assertive take no prisoners scent, still. Dry, it gets smoother still, and the resin finally shows up and begins to sweeten the scent, slightly. I can't smell any cocoa, but the oil is a rich dark color.

6 imps? That isn't much of an investment to worry over. You will either like them or not. For the rest, here is the quote from the lab and the link that matters to me: "We believe in compassionate consumerism, and in giving as much back to the community as we can through charitable contributions, volunteer work, and by supporting fair trade and self-sustaining growers whenever possible. We participate in the Green Power for a Green LA program at work and in our homes, and have participated in fundraisers for many fine organizations, including the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, the Orangutan Foundation UK, AIDS Project Los Angeles, Covenant House, the Red Cross, and the Humane Society. With the exception of our honey-based products, everything that comes from BPAL is vegan, and we abhor animal testing. All products are tested on staff, family, and friends. " Aaaaand, the quotes you dug up are likely to attract some attention.

A very fertile smelling scent will all sorts of green growing things, with coriander hanging around behind. After a while, it starts to smell like a farmer boy. A really idealized farmer boy who has been out in the garden working hard harvesting radishes and sprouts and green things because he smells of them. Have you heard that country song, "Good Directions" about the guy selling turnip greens on the side of the road who gets the girl in the end? If he smelled like this I might turn around and come back too. I don't know if I need to smell like this, but, scents like this just break my heart that my guy's nose is too sensitive and can't deal with BPAL.

A blanket of warm tropical florals, shot through with powerful strands of tart citrus. It settles down into a warm tropical floral with a bit of zing. I like it, but, I'll have to wear it more to figure out how much.

I'm a little wary of blue musk and orchid, and the cucumber? I thought I could smell that in the bottle and I became very very worried. It hit my skin and changed utterly and completely into something else, almost as it it inverted or turned inside out. I smelled sharp lavender and sage, and then they softened and the cypress, frankincense and musk came out to play. There are notes here that I just don't know well enough to pick out, and the whole thing has begun to blend together. It's a cool scent, and seems slightly shimmery? Like there's some atmospheric shimmer between me and the scent, the same thing that causes stars to appear to twinkle. Very appropriate for a wintery blue moon. It's a very cool scent, to the point where the point where I applied it seems cooler than the skin surrounding.

In the bottle this smelled dark, dark, dark... Vetiver, and musk, and just pure darkness. On me, it's still very vetivery and musky. Vetiver is usually ok on me, but, this is strong vetiver even for me. Drying, it begins to seem more mellow and smoother. I suspect the opium and tonka are warming up and mellowing things out. Slightly. I usually like the darker, smokier blends, but, I may have actually found the limit of what I can comfortably wear. I won't let go immediately, as I am curious about what a few months aging will do to the scent. However, I really don't think I'll be wearing this.

This smelled elegant, stylized and yellow... I'm still thinking about how I feel about smelling this way, but, it seems a really good representation of Giallo.

I was worried at first, as the rose attempted gamely to take over. The scent in general seemed to heat up, like the nectarines, roses and honeycomb were either rasing their own heat by battling it out, or lying exhausted in the sun. They do settle down, very gradually. Apparently the wheat arranged a truce or something. Once everything clams down, over an hour and a half in, it's a well blended rose/nectarine/wheat/honeycomb scent. It is still a warm scent; Nothing here is cool and wet with dew, that's for certain.

For the first couple hours this was mostly ROSE and incense. About two hours in I started to smell something a little smokier, and the rose began to fade. At about hour three I have a dusty incense scent with a bit of smoke and a hint of rose. One wrist is more dusty than the other. The wrist that doesn't have the majority of the dust has more myrrh.

2009 version. After this has had a few hours to settle in on my skin, it's nice. It's cocoa and spices. For some reason, there is some rough woody note that is interfering until it gets to that stage. I'm amping...something? It's not love straight out of the bottle, but, there are lots of folk who do love it so that's not a real problem. I will hold onto it for a while in the hopes that it will mellow, though.

I'm so glad I got to try this, since I had thought that it was forever beyond my reach! This is the new 2009 batch. I've just opened the box and can't wait to try it. I can smell the alcohol, and to me that gives it a more perfumy feel than many BPAL oils have, at least at the start. The vanilla and cognac are the most apparent on me, though I can smell the tobacco and incense. I like it, though I suspect that love will come much later, after it has had a chance to age, and after it is no longer available again. =) ~edit~ Y'know, this is doing the strangest thing...when I sniff my arm I smell almost nothing at all, but, there's this utterly enchanting scent somewhere around me... I think that I am beginning to see what all the fuss was about.

Apparently my skin amps completely different notes. =) In the bottle, I could almost smell swirling winds. Seriously. On me, the flowers come out to play first. This is probably one of the few times that I am happy to get as many flowers as this has. I can't really pull out the seperate flowers, except maybe gardenia, and I am not truly certain that that's because it is stronger, or maybe having a gardenia bush in the yard when I was growing up made me more familiar with the scent. Drying, this is a fabulous floral scent. I can smell the sandalwood in the back giving just a bit of earthyness to it. The musks and oakmoss are playing support really well. I love this. I am happy to have my bottle. I'm not usually a floral seeker, but, this is wonderful to me. The strange thing is, this really does seem windy somehow; As I am smelling this, in my head I am picturing silk scarves being twisted in the air by a whirling wind.

In the bottle, I thought that I smelled snow, or some watery note, and I worried. On me, though, it warms up fast. I smell spicy greenery and musk. There might be something dewy and wet somewhere in the background.

Hod resurrected 2009 I smell carnations right away...carnations and something smooth, sweet, resiny and almost creamy. There may be vanilla and almond in this, maybe. It's stopping short of being foody, on me at least. I think there's something in the resiny part of it that is flagging this to my nose as not edible. Drying, I can tell that there is definitely something vanilla in this. The almond part has faded. The vanilla is beginning to overpower the carnation. I do like this. I can see what the fuss was about. I am very happy to have gotten to try one of the scents that I thought was forever beyond my reach.

This starts off fudge and chocolate, but, then it goes....in a completely different direction. After about 5 minutes, I wouldn't guess that there's any chocolate in it at all. Vanilla? Absolutely. Vanilla, and flowers, backed by resins. I'm pretty certain that I am smelling bluebells drenched in vanilla and myrrh. Actually, I think I really like this. The greenery is beginning to show up. I think the tobacco and cypress are now apparent as well...and maybe a few other green things. The flower scents are wafting around a bit further out than the rest, but otherwise, it is blending together now. I'll need to try this a few dozen more times, but, I like this. Oh, and the green tentacled 13 on the label is very cute as well. ---- Second wearing: It's still really well blended, except that I am getting some sort of really sexy...musk. I only see musk seed listed, but, mmmmm. This is actually close to what red musk sometimes smells like on me, and I do like. =)

So, is that what Champaca flower smells like? This is coming across like a floral on me, but, nothing familar. It's soft, and elegant. It's also close to the skin. The vanilla is warming up(my skin loves vanilla) and it is becoming a slightly floral vanilla, with a bit of sandalwood and resin in the background. It is the sort of scent that, while it doesn't bowl me over right off the bat, is likely to grow on me over time.

At first, it's all patchouli and pepper. Drying, the tea comes out. I suspect that the carnation and clove are hiding till it has aged just a bit. I put this on about three minutes after I retrieved the box from the mail, so there may be some temperature shock still. It's very promising so far, though.

It's just so strange how one scent, presented with no scent notes, can come across so differently to different people. I too love the Quick Grope. However, I didn't get wassail or apples, at least until I read other people's reviews. Now, with that in mind, I can almost smell something like apple, maybe....perhaps. What I smelled was some sort of spicy Christmas greenery that wasn't pine or fir tree, and I figured that was most likely mistletoe, or an impression of it(possibly an impression of it. I know I loved Beth's impression of tumbleweeds in Velvet Bandito). Then I thought I smelled some sort of musk, possibly skin musk. Once the scent settles into greenery and musk on me it stays stable for hours and hours and hours. It was still recognizable as itself the next morning. To me, it smells like spicy sweet greenery, and something slightly musky, in a very vverry good way. Now, as to whether there is really musk in this? I suspect we need a report from someone who can't usually do musk on their skin to be certain. If there's smoke, it is faint on me. I don't smell it. My husband said "strong, sweet and ...flowery?" However, his nose is not to be trusted at all.

The cubeb is most apparent at first, with a lovely veil of honey sweetening it's rather tart edges. As it dries, the cubeb steps back and the honey and cradamom step forward and all three blend into this lovely warm sweetness. At the very end, which for me is some 8 to ten hours in, the honey and the cardamom are all that remain. This has a lot of attitude at first, when the cubeb is at the forefront. Then it becomes more and more cozy as it dries and settles in. I really like it.

Mostly spices, a hint of coffee...and the goat milk note hiding under everything. It's nice? It isn't instant love, though. I will say that the far drydown is lovely. All that was left on my skin the next morning was a really great coffee scent. Apparently the parts that I do like have the most staying power. I just wish it didn't take quite so long to get there.

Peppery spicy soap. I have no idea where the soap is coming from. Most foody scents work just fine for me, so this is extremely odd. However, I'll let the bottle sit a while and try again some other time. Second try, and though it is different(slightly) from the first, it still isn't love. I still have no idea what is causing the scent to go wrong on me. Sniffed closely it is harsher than it should be. I Like bitter dark blends, but, this just comes across as harsh when it shouldn't be. However...several hours later I am getting a whiff of something sweet and almost barely floral? Somewhere near my hands where I applied this? But, when I sniff the backs of my hands it's still harsh like rough wood soaked in sugar water. There's no wood notes listed, there's no floral notes listed...what the heck does my skin think it's doing? Gah!

When I first put it on it made me think of the warm mash you'd feed a horse. I was thinking that there might be grains in this as well, but, no. Once it settles down it is mostly honey and crumbled bits of hazelnut. If the hay ever showed up it was a mere whisp in the background. I got no berries at all. Somewhere as it dried I thought I did smell the carrots.

Complex is a very good word for this. It's a rich spicy scent that makes me think of the desert and the spice caravans, or maybe a mediteranean feast with a lot of food...there's something festive and a little foody about it. I can't pick out much in the way of individual notes, but, I can tell that there's lemon something in it. Other than the lemon verbena, though, nothing stands out seperately. I do like this, but, I'll have to see how it agrees with my skin over time. I'll check in later with a verdict.=)

Bright and clean and sunny and sparkling. I'm not getting any particular notes, but, an overall impression of golden sunlight. Not hot sunlight, but, bright golden light over fresh new cleanness. Also, this lasts pretty well on my skin. On me, this isn't floral or fruit or really resinous either. It's just light and bright and clean.