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Wet: Okay, this starts off *weird*. Lemon, bubble-gum, sharp green vegetation, and powder, all mixed together. Just ... indescribably weird. However, scents with patchouli in them often start off very strange on me and then dry down very nicely. Drying: As I suspected , the extreme weirdness clears away. Goes through a phase of being clear strong lemon; then this starts to fade a bit, and the skin musk starts to emerge, with a hint of patchouli and spice behind it. Dry: This is really nice, now. Patchouli and spice, soft light musk and some lemon. And it works even though I can't normally do citrus. It's a very pretty bright yellow scent. Light, but with a surprisingly good throw. This one's a keeper for sure. I just have to avoid thinking about that whole incest aspect ... ETA: OMG, suddenly the patchouli has amped up like a wild patchouli thing! This is just fine, because I like patchouli, and my husband's also a big fan. But wow, it is strong. Still kind of spicey and a bit lemony. Yeah, this is a *good* scent for me. But if you don't like patchouli, you'd probably want to beware.

Wet: Very woody, green and sharp at first, but with a hint of honey underneath. Also, sadly, a touch of soap. This one could go a variety of ways. Drying: Pine, wood, moss, and some laundry soap. Honey and incense notes start to emerge a bit more, but faintly. Very light, not much throw, and the soapiness is bothering me. My husband likes it, though. Dry: A nice light waft develops, honeyed and patchouli-ish -- but there's still that lingering laundry soap. Pretty fast fade. Just not sure about this one yet. I'll let it sit for a while and try it again; it may just need some time to settle, or it may not quite work for me. I haven't had irritating soapiness for a while -- don't know what note is causing that.

My hope for this one is dark resiny and smokey; my fear is monster jasmine. Wet: Oh, it's looking promising so far. A bit of an orangey-citrus top note for some reason, a bit of opium smoke, and the jasmine, though clearly there, is not overpowering. Drying: Continuing to live up to my hopes. Dark sweet opium smoke just tinged by jasmine. Lovely and deep and mysterious. This is really good stuff. Dry: Now I begin to have some doubts, because it does seem to fade very fast, and the late stages are jasmine-dominated. Nevertheless, it's still very nice, and I can see where this could become a favourite if slightly aged and properly handled. This is one of those times that I'm really glad I took a risk on ordering a bottle.

Wow. This is very different on me than it is on many people, it seems. It started out almost violently green and bitter, like chewing on a green plant stem of some inedible kind. After a few minutes, it settled down enough that I could identify the bitter note as grapefruit, which just never does well on me, and continued (as it does) to get more and more bitter for a while. Luckily, it faded into powder reasonably quickly. Definitely not for me.

It took me a long time to get hold of this, but it's very nice. On me, it's a smooth vanilla and coconut, with a tinge of something cool and almost aquatic. I don't usually come up with scenarios for scents, but this really did make me think of sitting by the ocean in the summer wearing some kind of coconut sun lotion. Which is no bad thing to think of in December. Soft and very pretty. I don't get any of the spiciness that some people have mentioned, just creamy sweetness.

Got this as a frimp. At first I get quite strong juniper (my husband says, "It smells like some kind of tree"), and then surprisingly strong lemon; I seem to be amping whatever hint of citrus others perceived in this one. Bright, effervescent -- probably very nice if that's your kind of things, but it's not really mine. Not very long-lasting. Probably an excellent scent for someone else.

Wow, this was a pleasant surprise! I got a frimp in my last order, and based on the notes, and the reviews here, I assumed it wouldn't work on me -- jasmine usually amps to the exclusion of all else, and most florals are just not that great for me in general. But this is actually really nice. The jasmine is definitely present, but it doesn't actually take over; there's a nice spicy incense waft with a musky earthy note beneath it. Not too light or too heavy, not too floral, fairly complex with some good depth, very enjoyable. My only reservation is that the staying power is no better than moderate; it's not one of the long-lived scents. But it's much, much better on me than I thought it would be, and I'm very pleased to have it.

Aiyee! I'm afraid this is an OMG-Get-It-Off-Me scent. It's like burnt plastic with extra-strong dirt. Yikes. Patchouli is normally quite good for me, so I guess it must be the vetiver. I can wear some vetiver scents, but obviously this is just way too much for my chemistry.

Sharp, bright, clean -- lots of anise and a bit of mint. I don't get lemon at all, but there is faint undertone of soapiness which may be what the lemon is doing on me. If it weren't for that slight soapiness I'd like it more, but it's still a pleasant sort of wake-up scent. Which I suppose is quite far from the effect of actual absinthe, but so it goes. My husband likes this one on me, which is also a plus.

Wet, it's sort of fruity with a disturbing undercurrent of chlorine. Luckily this chlorine note (some florals do this on me; it's a mystery) moderates down rather than amping up. Mild bubble-gum sweetness of lotus, a hint of spiciness warming it up; quite pleasant. Every now and then, though, I do get a waft of bleach, which kind of detracts from the overall effect.

Wow. I smell exactly like a giant mug of hot chocolate, of the syrupy-sweet milky chocolatey kind. To be honest, I'm not sure how often I *want* to be a giant mug of hot chocolate, but this certainly does achieve what it sets out to do. Impressive.

Except in very rare circumstances, fruit + me = failure. This isn't one of those rare circumstances. It's not terribly unpleasant, but it starts off as a very strong artificial cherry scent that makes me sneeze, and then fades gradually away to nothing; the wood notes never really manage to emerge at all. Ah well.

Very nice on me; the sandalwood is quite strong, but sort of wrapped in a soft, not very sweet, cocoa note. I'm not sure I can really pick out the myrrh, but myrrh is sometimes just a subtle grounding note on me, which makes a blend work without calling much attention to itself. Not a showy scent, but warm and inviting.

I can't speak specifically to BPAL during pregnancy, but I did use a few carefully selected aromatherapy oils later in my own pregnancy. First trimester, yeah, I'd agree that it's best to just swear off everything; and because no one knows all the components of the BPAL oils except Beth, it might be best to avoid them just in case. But I did use geranium essential oil as a hormone/mood balancer in my second and third trimesters. On the other hand lavender is a definite NO (it can be an abortifacient), which is hard on those of us who rely on it for sleep.

Strong cocoa and lavender notes right away, with a hint of fruit; slight chemical overtone which fades with drying. It is indeed an odd combination of things. More floral as it dries, too (and what smells like a bit of red musk, though that's not one of the given notes), though the cocoa and lavender are still quite strong. Not very sweet, but has a lot of depth. As it dries further, the sandalwood gets much stronger, with cocoa and lavender underpinning it. I don't really notice the rooibos much at any point, and the vanilla seems faint on me, which is interesting as it's apparently quite strong on some other people, and I often amp vanilla. It's giving me some kind of very strong scent flashback that I can't quite pin down. This is a strangely fascinating, complicated blend.

Ooh, spicy resiny goodness yes! This is just one of my perfect scents, and I only regret that I didn't order more of it. Rich and sweet and dark and complex, lovely. Straight to the top ten. ETA: My gosh, the drydown is even better, so sweet and thick and haunting. I LOVE this scent. I did learn that I have to be careful re: the throw, which is intense. People two rows back in the theatre last night were teasing me about my perfume, and I had to go to the bathroom and scrub some of it off. But just as well it's strong, because I'm going to have to ration what I have ever so carefully.

The very first sniff when applied is sweet, fruity-boozy and herbal; but then it very quickly and unexpectedly turns to Comet cleanser. Weird. The worst of this burns off quickly, but there's a lingering cleanser note (this would be the pine, I guess) which is undermining an otherwise nice spicey dark scent. with a hint of apples. I'd like this very much if it weren't for that one note that's bad on me. I seem to be having a lot of strange and not especially pleasant experiences with the Halloween scents this year.

This is very interesting. It's lighter than I expected, but very nice; a complex mix of sweet and autumnal notes, hints of citrus and spice, a touch of dry leaves, some earthy musk which gets stronger as it dries. At this stage it could almost substitute for Shub-Niggurath in a pinch, though much fainter. Then after an hour or so it dries down into a very sweet, very light dry and slightly burnt sort of hay smell. I wish this had a bit more strength on me.

Caramel sugar cookies, initially, and then crisp fall apples (probably macs). I like it, but my husband doesn't. He tends not to like foody scents. It is true it smells just a bit burnt and chemical if you get very close, but I still think it's nice.

Wet, it seems both floral and a bit foody, which is an interesting combination. The floral-seeming note then quickly becomes more green and sharp -- actually almost unpleasantly sharp -- and the cakey note recedes well into the background; then it goes all floral again. Curious. This one seems to have a lot of throw, and it's not bad, but on me it's conventional-perfumey and a little soapy, and really very floral. Don't know what's up with my skin and this one. It's too bad, because it sounded like my kind of thing from the description.

I am *very* glad I managed to get a decant of this. Musky-sweet and herbal/woody sharp at the same time. As it dries, the sharp note tones down quickly, though it doesn't disappear; gets more incensey and rich. Like a less sugary Smut, maybe? Or a slightly sweeter Madame Moriarty? Gets creamier as it dries. This is SO GOOD. It's the hints of resiny smoke scent that sort of twine through the musk which make it really wonderful.

Orange with warm spices, and hints of caramel and baked goods. As it dries, the orange fades a bit, leaving a nice autumn spicey-cake scent. I don't seem to get much of the pumpkin note, but it's a lovely soft blend. Quite light, not terribly long-lasting.

On me -- lavender bubble gum. It's too bad, because Paris is my favourite city in the world, so I'd like to like this scent, but it just comes out weird and not terribly nice.

Wet: Cinnamon, and something green. Drying: This is pleasant; almost entirely cinnamon/cassia, with not much in the way of other notes, but nice. A bit of an undertone that reminds me of some kind of body oil, a nearly scentless presence of something. Dry: Disappointing, actually. It dries down into mostly that vague body-oil scent. Not bad, but not really anything. Virtually none of the panoply of components are choosing to make themselves evident on my skin.

Starts out with an intense blast of the buttery note that others have gotten from pumpkin scents, but this dies down almost right away, and the pomegranate takes over, with a hint of pie-crust behind it. Settles down to remain almost entirely pomegranate, a bit spicey. It gets softer and mellower after about an hour, and is really quite nice at that stage, but it's also pretty faint. Pleasant, though I'm not sure how often I'm likely to wear it.