Ms Density

I sometimes wear a mix of Silk Road and Obatala because it smells like the Yogi Sweet Thai Delight tea.

This smells collegiate to me. It’s almost cliché—Dead Poets Society, anyone? This scent is like those boys taking a shower and then immediately wandering out into the misty ivy-covered woods near the university on an early evening in the Fall, heading to local caves to discuss Walt Whitman or some such. I do have a soft spot in my heart for this kind of literary romanticising (despite other problems I have with the movie, I always loved this idea), so this works for me. This does go through a strong man-soap phase on me, but once that goes away, I do enjoy it quite a bit. I’ll probably experiment with dilution for this one, or try to force some on my husband. When I asked my husband to smell this on me and tell me what he thought it smelled like, he said “like an orange, like… like a cowboy eating an orange.” So there’s another perspective!

In the bottle, this has an almost sour scent—like tart kool-aid right out of the packet. As soon as I start applying it, giving it some air, I can smell the sweetness. It’s a creamy strawberry sweetness that somewhat reminds me of the way my hair smells after using American Cream conditioner from Lush. I just received the bottle two days ago, so it will probably settle some more and I suspect the sourness will relax. That note fades quickly enough as it is. Two hours later, a slight sourness returns within the context of sweetness and I do believe I smell Tangy Taffy. It really smells delicious, fruity, chewy (!) and yes, sweet but not overwhelmingly so. In fact, it’s just the sort of candy I would reach for first if I had a big bag of Halloween candy in front of me. This is such a great scent for the fun, giddy, sugar-rushy side of Halloween!

Am I sitting on the porch of a pine cabin surrounded by woods whittling a pine branch and smoking the best hand-rolled tobacco money can buy? No, but I smell like I am. And this scent makes me truly wish I were doing just that. If you’re a born and raised nature girl seduced into moving and living in the city, this will make your heart ache for twilit horizontal expanses of stars and years of clear, bright, cold moons keeping watch over the forest and you.

I bought a bottle of The Apothecary last year after trying out an imp of it. It reminds me of my local herb/spice shop that also sells a variety of loose leaf teas. The teas are located near the entrance, so when I walk in that’s the first thing I smell. Each large apothecary jar of tea has a small covered cup in front of it so you can sniff the varieties available. There are certain teas I have to sniff every time I go there even if I already have some at home or don’t plan to buy any that day: Irish Breakfast, English Breakfast, Green tea with wild cherry, Casablanca with its cornflower petals and dried apples and strawberries, Russian Earl Grey… From there I move on to consider which herbs to buy: lavender, calendula… I absolutely love visiting this shop, and The Apothecary embodies that experience for me. It’s drying herbs and cool tea on a warm day, and the moss and grass lends to it a balmy garden air. It’s my black-tea-hair-tinting bath scent; my farmer’s market breakfast scent. If I had a porch, it would be my reading on the porch scent.

I work in a library. I second The Apothecary, although you may want to dilute it because it's pretty strong. I also think Arcana would work for this.

I couldn’t be happier with The Death of Autumn. It’s difficult to tell which way it’s going to go, when I sniff it from the bottle. Those top notes are pretty green to me, along with something earthy… something that reminds me of Mastic gum (I happen to enjoy that smell). Once I put it on, absolute magic happens. I can smell my beloved Vetiver. This is the strongest measure of Vetiver I’ve detected in any BPAL blend so far. But there are other things here as well, and the bashful ones come out slowly but all at once. Boy, does it bloom into something lovely. I get Vetiver, Clove, Amber and something smoky. The smoke is what I imagine my skin would smell like after falling asleep next to a campfire. I even get a sense of the warm earth near the fire. But that campfire stage is quick. Something reminds me of Oblivion—maybe that’s the saffron. Everything comes together and conjures out my most ideal outdoorsy autumnal chemistry. This is EXACTLY what I want to smell like this fall, under my black cashmere jacket and swirling around me when the autumn wind whips my hair around. This is what I want to smell like wrapped in a blanket lying face up under the biggest, orangest tree I can find, watching its leaves fall all around me. This smells like keeping warm despite the cold. This smells like a fresh air walk in the woods when indoor things get to be too much—crunchy leaves, nearly naked trees and distant churchbells. While Samhain feels like an autumn day, and Samhainophobia feels like an autumn night, this is timeless autumn to me. Needless to say, I LOVE it. Fate brought this to me; it was made for me.

The Masque has aged so beautifully. When I first got it, I thought it had potential but it was a little too sharp on the floral side; perfumey. I got it out today for the first time in a year and it’s all clove and honey and carnation, and my chemistry loves it. A bit like Alice, if she grew up and covered herself in honey dust and started smoking clove cigarettes (no more drinking milk in the rose garden). Just the smell of the clove is giving me a lovely tingling sensation at the tip of my fingers and the tip of my tongue. The tobacco comes out toward the end, and this really smells like an unlit clove cigarette. It’s a relaxed, sensual scent for me rather than a blood-tinged chamber. I’m so sad that I only have an imp of this. This is perfect for this time of year. I'd love to slather it.

Blood Moon is in my top five. As a wee lass, I was obsessed with those cinnamon toothpicks you could buy in packs of ten (Fire-pix). This reminds me of those. That robust waft of cinnamon combines so beautifully with a really dry wood and what I can only describe as a dry musk as well. Red and sensual, for scenting hair and bosom. And this makes me want to draw, strangely enough, delicate shapes and swirls with a very, very fine point red pen.

I'll usually put the oil in my hair if I'm worried about a skin reaction. It seems to hold the scent a bit longer too.

Even as a vetiver lover I passed this one up, snarling at the citrus and thyme. Someone gave me an imp of this, and even the first time I tried it I dismissed it. I've just tried this for the second time. I like how the vetiver and patchouli deepen this blend. I can smell the lemon peel (and it's not sour or too clean-smelling, surprise!) and musk. The smoke mingles so well with the vetiver that I can hardly separate them. The saffron, thyme and plum are pretty much non-detectable to me but I'm certain they add a femininity to the blend that might not otherwise exist. Essentially, Lenore is a "perfumey" blend but with deep earthy roots which I can really appreciate.

On me, Obatala is like coconut water and honeysuckle juice. Sweet, creamy and it smells absolutely delicious. Since I grew up with tons of honeysuckle growing around my house, I completely associate this smell with summer. I wasn't expecting to like Obatala half as well as I do. I've worn it three times since I got the order on thursday! The second time I layered it over some Snake Charmer to bring out the coconut. This will go on the list for upgrade to a big bottle of summery goodness...

Thanks for the update on Wanda, Blu... I think I'll add an imp to my next order to give it another try.

I’m not sure about this at first. Sniffing the imp wand, I'm thinking "god... another bubblegum scent." Once it's on me, it's a wine and candy waft. Very sweet. Too much, I say. But it definitely has an interesting complex scent that I want to get to know better. Luckily, it gets better as it settles down. Now it smells like an amaretto and plum sake cocktail, with a side of one of those plum candies they give you at Korean restaurants. There is something about the smell of this that makes me think "sticky"--I think it's just so sweet it reminds me of some creamy melted candy. When I want to smell like an exotic sweet liquory candy (which isn't often I must admit), I"ll wear Bordello. It may just be the perfect thing to wear when I'm going out to a swanky restaurant. It's not the kind of perfume that screws up your taste buds, like some others.

Red Phoenix is electric. It smells like magic and fire and friction. Once the cinnamon fades, it reminds me of the Red Poppies sticks from Incense from India. It’s not one for attaching your nose to your wrist—it needs air to excite the flame. This oil warms my air and water personality and seems to fulfill some elemental need.