pranashakti

Have you tried them on your skin yet or just sniffed from the bottles? Most bottle sniffs smell radically different to me than a skin application.

Jack is everything I hoped Sugar Cookie would be, plus pumpkin. Foody, sweetly spicy, and warm, but lightened by the pumpkin and with just enough peach to make it juicy. Absolutely love it, and I'm looking forward to the Pumpkin Patch so much now, it's silly. I could eat my arm...and I don't even dig pumpkin...I'm a sweet potato gal, myself. I agree that this has great throw. I got asked what yummy thing I had put on all the way from the kitchen! It's a laster on me as well, and stays sweet and spicy both for a long while. Right on.

MMMMmmmmmm...almonds and bay rum on wet, super-sweet and borderlining on amaretto. The almonds disappear fairly quickly and the cloves and sassafrass appear. This is a sweetly spicy, woody scent with a rummy kick, and just perfect for the newly arriving fall weather. It's soft on me but has a spine (a touch "masculine", but not "manly" per se) and is very long-lasting. This puts me in mind of ripped jeans, a man's old butter-soft sweater and a breezy autumn sunset. I must to also try this on my other half...'cause it's so damn slurperiffic on me! Bottom line: Love it. Completely slather-worthy, especially on days when I'm feeling a bit sassy.

Al-Shairan starts off with a bit of a bite for me. More than a bit, actually...I get more peach than orange on first application and a sharpness that I attribute to the patchouli, so sharp it gives me a sense of menthol, strangely enough. Bracing with a touch of sweet. I am apprehensive...I love patchouli but it doesn't always love me. But wait...there's more here (as there always is). Ahhhhh, clove - there you are! and cinnamon comes out to play as well. The sharpness has vanished and there's smoldering fire here. I'm still getting more peach than orange, the incense notes keep it and the spices from being to sweet, and the patchouli gives this a beautiful depth. This is lovely - I'm glad I got a 5ml unsniffed. It's bright but brooding, sweet but dark, multilayered and complex. I do get some of that holiday vibe from it because it is so rich and deep, but not in a potpourii sense. This has tons of throw and is quite long-lasting. I applied before I fell asleep early and woke up this moring to faint whiffs of sweet spiced pleasure. A keeper for me for sure.

I can't believe I haven't reviewed this yet. I grabbed Dorian at the last minute for my trip with the Red Cross on the same level that I packed my teddy bear - sheer comfort. This is a gorgeous, warming scent that envelops like a hug. It starts out rather refreshing, because of the herbal touch of the fougere, but that stage fades on me very quickly. Sweet tea is next in the transition, with just a splash of milk, but mostly rather "clean". But what comes next is what I live for...complete drydown is a warm, lusty, second-skin type scent, sweet musky vanilla with just a touch of bite left over from the first two stages lingering. I feel like I smell like me with Dorian on, and mercy am I delicious! As an aside, I feel I'd be remiss without mentioning my recent "Dorian Effect" experience. Working in the kitchen in Baton Rouge, I became great pals with some of the Kentucy MPs stationed there. The first day I wore Dorian, there was a larger number of them than usual stopping by to say hi and get a hug. Turns out that my buddy JP I brought coffee to every morning at his post caught a whiff and spread the word...they all came down to smell me! Visualize, if you will, large uniformed men with M16's looking dazed and staring at the little bottle I procured from my fanny pack... Thank you, Beth and Ted, for this true stunner of a scent. It really spread the joy in a hard place.

If you don't mind the short wait for the order to get to her Priority, it seems to me that the simplest solution might be for the whole order to go to her first and to have her ship yours to you herself once it's received. Shipping will be cheaper that way, and the confusion is minimal. I've done it for others and vice versa and it's always worked without a hitch, and it's less for the lab to worry about.

If you take the word of the Kentucky National Guard and a bunch of Red Cross volunteers, Dorian is the most head-turning scent on the planet (I snuck it in for comfort when I packed and it caused mucho ruckus).

Floral, heavy, strong white floral....choking me...must make it to the sink...where's the soap for the love of god?! One of the very few BPAL oils I have no tolerance for at all.

I ordered this strictly because I needed its listed benefits. I did not expect to enjoy it as a scent at all-aquatics and I don't see eye to eye. That said, I was wrong. Very. This goes on very grass/clover for me, of the wild field full of blooms nature. Green and alive and sweet and a bit floral - and strong but gentle at the same time. I think I do get violets as it dries, and it lightens somewhat in intensity, but not in strength. I get that sense of aquatic in the lightening, and a shift from green to blue/green. I love this. It's light but strong, innocent but deep, morphs quite a bit but with sniffing I get a sense of stillness and calm. Clean. This is the smell of the place that one can lay one's burdens down and have them washed away. I have recently been in an exceptionally deep funk, that despite all valiant efforts to resist, kicked my freakin' ass. Unlike me. It is no coincidence that this all began to turn around with the arrival of this bottle from the Lab. I cannot express how it has helped me clear my mind and heart, or my gratitude for the blissful silence in my shouting head. Effective? Sweet mercy, yes, yes, yes. Thank you, Beth.

Randomly, I read on LJ that Beth says Bliss smells like Nutella on her...I don't get that but wouldn't it be great?

And just to quickly note...it's "business" days - so only Monday-Friday count towards that total (which is 42 days today ) even though the lab seems to be always working... If it will rest your mind, email Sara at Customer Service after 45 days. She's a great help. Don't worry, the precious will be there soon.

This is definitely intimately familiar to me. I find similarities to a lost love...I found BPAL on a quest to replace a fig/chocolate/apricot oil blend from someone who went of out business. I'm sorry for his loss...but since it brought me to this fabulous new world of scent... Ahem. I digress. This puts that to shame. To shame I say. And I loved it to distraction. Wet, it's all cocoa and fig, a gorgeous play of sweet and dark that makes me want to eat my arm. Very remiscent of some chocolate-fig covered bon-bons I spent alot on for Thanksgiving...decadent and lush. I don't get much lemon or bergamot, even as this dries...just the slightest touch to keep it from being too sweet. I was worried about the lemon. Completely dry, the cocoa takes a back seat. The fig stays forward and plays with the tonka and vanilla (mmmmmm), the honey musk grounding and giving a bit of sass and the calamus just the very lightest touch of herby spice. This blend is why I came to BPAL. My favorite LE, ever (so far ) and that is saying a great deal.

Thank you so much, Josey! In the vial and first applied...this smells like babka dough. Traditional Polish sweetbread with raisins, and I help knead plenty when my Babcia (grandmother) was alive. There's a foodyiness that's not sweet - it's almost yeasty, and it's alive in that way that rising bread is alive. Reactive and warm. This sweetens upon me pretty quickly, and the scent rounds out amazingly when the honey comes out to play. The "yeastiness" doesn't go away completely, but is moved into the backround and grounds this nicely. The ginger and pepper come out at this point and the clove and cinnamon just flit in and out of the blend, which is lovely. Completely dry I do get that "Chai tea with honey" vibe, but definitely black Chai. More clove but still only a touch of cinnamon, and it's definitely the bark rather than the spice. It's slightly woody and not overwhelming at all, and while I loves me some cinnamon it does have a tendancy to overwhelm with my chemistry. Not so here...I can distincly smell all the spices and they're working together beautifully. The Chai tea doesn't last long, though...when the "skin musk" takes over it smells like...well, skin. Hot, sexy, sweaty skin that purrs while it undulates. The first note I get may well be the skin musk...I've not smelled it before and that reactive and warm scent is back strongly now. Very sexy and very very alive. For me, this isn't Three Witches at all. The components are similar, but where Three Witches got right up in my face and yelled at me, Bengal slinked on over...in much the way a cat will "sneak" into your lap and then act like it's always been there. Speaking of which, mine's trying to lick off my Bengal as I type... This is an amazing blend, and I'm thrilled I have a 5ml on the way. If you like to purr, you might order a bottle for yourself. I feel like a playful Bengal Tiger kitten with this on. Powerful, playful, warm, fuzzy and sexy as hell. Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeow! I'm off to sharpen my claws on the carpet...

I had no plans to order this at all. Amber has just gone to powder on me lately...but boy, was I wrong! This goes on with a very crystaline note...a bit sharp and cutting, but sweet. That phase only lasts a moment and the amber comes out strong and glorious. And it doesn't turn to powder on me!! When I say strong, I mean strong and bright, not heavy. This is bouyant, uplifting and yuuuuuuummmmmmmy. It has alot of throw and lasts forever on me. Just as an aside - I don't get any Snake Oil spices from this. It had a certain sweet purity that you have to smell to believe. This is like bathing in buckets of warm sunshine reflected in every direction from the House's mirrored maze after a long, long time in the dark. Genius. (edit to add: yes, this review is from a confirmed bottle of House of Mirrors. I DO get warm and sweet but light/bright amber on the drydown...no "soap" or "perfume" on me. )

Lustration really helped me feel better the last time I was sick...very soothing and subtle and gentle.

In the vial I get a sweet, buttery rum scent. On application, there's no butter at all...I get a pure burnt sugar smell, reminicent of Sugar Skull a bit but much softer. The rum shows up immediately and I'm sniffing up sweet boozy goodness with a just a touch of smokiness. This softens on me pretty immediately, and that's when the coconut shows up - which is when I expected to write off Elegba. Not a fan of coconut at all...except...that this is delicious. It's warmly sweet and light at the same time and the tobacco leaf adds a touch of roundness, grounding it and making coconut a friend. The drydown of this reminds me of Perversion, which is great for me. Somehow I get an almost leathery note in the drydown. This is cheering and lighthearted and comforting. It's soft and doesn't have alot of throw, and it's one I'd have to slather...it disappears rather quickly on me. Which is actually a-ok in summertime. And as He's also an opener of doors as well as the Divine Messenger, I'm going to need to get my hands on some more of this. It helps me feel better about some tough, scary choices I have facing. If anyone's interested, there's a some great info about Elegba here.

This is one that my body chemistry wreaked havok with. In the bottle, it's buttery, creamy and delicious, with just a hint of mint...I definitely agree with the other reviewers who say they got those yummy melty buttermint candies from this. Lovely, refeshing, and comforting. When I apply it...it goes right to yogurt. Mint yogurt, to be precise. That's been left in the sun, no less. For a good, long, while with the cover on. Most un-excellently uncool...I had to wash this off for it's "turned" smell and strength. I SO wish it smelled like some of the other reviews on me. to my wonky skin!

I think of this as Aunt jj_j's Joy Mojo...'cause she gifted it to me and 'cause it makes me joyous. This first time I tried Sugar Skull, I'd sniffed about three imps. I was thrilled to try it after reading the reviews. I slathered it on, sniffed, and got plastic dipped in white sugar. Blah. Unremarkable. Don't see what the fuss is all about. Three months later and my tastes have broadened alot. I have a much deeper appreciation of complex blends and notes I'd never thought I'd like. I was adopted by the amazingly generous jj_j, and she gifted me this. Somehow, it was the first one in the package I reached for. I slathered, for confirmation more than anything else... waited and took a sniff... and fell ass over teakettle in love. Carmelized sugar (amen, wikkedgoddess!) with a touch of cream and an edge I just can't put my finger on. It's sweet alright, and rich, and a little creamy (on me) but somehow, it's just not nice. Or innocent. It knows. I don't know if that entirely makes sense, but that's the feeling I get from it. And I feel better when I'm wearing it...it's my current "break glass in case of emergency" scent. This is still around 12 hours after application and just as delicious as when first applied, though with a bit less throw. And my chemistry just eats most scents...I have to re-apply most everything frequently. I love, love, love this and it was a complete surprise. Needless to say, if you're looking to part with any, I'd be very grateful for a pm...

Thanks to the staggeringly generous jj_j... Miskatonic reminds me of a very specific day in my life. I was the first in my family to go to college, and was always an avid bookworm. A bit of a black sheep in reverse. My college advisor (and mentor) took me under her wing and I did several independant studies with her. On this particular day, she asked me for lunch at her house in Cambridge, and I got to see how the "other half" lived. It was a tiny, cramped apartment, with wall-to-wall wooden bookshelves simply crammed with books of all sizes and kinds from the floor to the ceiling. We sat at her old wooden table, shiny as a mirror from many polishings, and we drank Irish coffee (my first) and looked at Medieval grave rubbings she took while in England and copies of manuscripts in spring sunshine. She told me I had potential and a gift and it was the first day I ever believed that. The sweet, creamy coffee goodness of this is lovely all on its own. Almost a bit too sweet at first, and I'm a "foody" type of gal. But the polished wood note and a touch of warm dustiness mellow the sweetness after a bit, and the scent that's left is the encapsulation of that day in my mind in my heart. It was a day when I began to believe that I was more than where I came from, that I began to see what I might be. Life has moved on for me much since then, but I am in a similar place in my life right now and am very grateful to have something to sniff that brings back that feeling.

I thought that Alice would be an instant hit for me, but alas, my skin chemistry when NUTS with the bergamot. I get one instant of creamy honeyish sweetness (yum, yum, yum!) and then bam! citrus / lemon and not much else. I waited patiently, poked my arm, ranted at it and it DID change after quite a bit of time...into a very slightly spicy lemonish scent. I'm off to give my skin a harsh talking to...

Wet - lots of roses! Gorgeous, dew covered, freshly cut roses (btw-not a rose fan per se-but trying to be!). And then there's lemon... Lemon? What the heck? The citrus disappears even more quickly than the roses did. No spice, sandalwood, or patchouli love for me. It very quickly morphs into a dusty, powdery, dry scent with just the slightest underpinning of rose and citrus - with something else "funky" and un-fun that I can't quite put my nose on. My quest for a rosy friend continues...off to a happier home!

Wet this is cool, lemony tea on me. Just the right temperature to chug on a hot day - refreshing but not so cold that you can't drink your fill. The fig just barely peeks out, adding a touch of juicy sweetness that makes it irrestistable. This is the kind of scent that feels like it could just float away and take you with it, but the moist! mosses, herbs, and the tiniest bit of ginger serve to ground it on my skin. For me...it's really this: it's late spring and unseasonably hot. Next to my grandmother's house there's a strip of old pavement where moss breaks through - it's my favorite place to read. But now I'm watering the garden on a hot day...and it's always shaded...so I step back into this little path to cool off. Bare feet on green, moist moss with my skin still radiating sunshine...oh, this is how an apocathery's medicine SHOULD smell.

It's official. I'm in love with fig. I'm in love with almost every fig blend I've tried so far, but I think I've found "it". On application, this is FIG on me. Figfigfigfigfigfig. Did I mention fig? And I worried...even as lover of the scent I was waiting for...well...more. But it dries very quickly and as it does the cocoa and woodiness step forward to round the whole thing out. They warm the fig's deeper notes while toning down the sweetness, bringing a dimension to Beth's fig note that I've never smelled before because my nose was too full of fruit sugar. Sweet, but not cloying, deep but still light, and warm and sexy as hell. Yum! This is a frontrunner for "everyday" scent. And thanks to this blessed forum (and Macha ) I've got a 5ml on its way already...

Thanks to the wonderful Helarctos, who sent me Strength when I needed it... This is gently stunning. It goes on quite sweetly - a very floral, juicy green. As it dries, there's a touch of earthiness (not dirt, but moist spring earth) that's very warming. Feminine and sweet, but firm...a scent that's grounding and uplifting at the same time. When completely dry it has a light powderiness that soothes pleasantly without lulling, and I am not usually a fan of powder. Strength doesn't have much throw with my chemistry - it stays very close to the skin, giving the feeling that it's there just for me. It has brought (and is bringing) me through a difficult time with my head high. Beautiful and most amazingly effective.

I'm in love with March Hare (thanks Joseybird!). The apricot stays juicy and true while the clove adds depth and a spicy sweetness that keeps the fruit from taking over. I only get a bit of the buttery tone that other reviewers have described in the drydown - just enough to make it comforting as well as cheery. It smells like the color of my hair (lol-I'm a strawberry blonde type redhead) and makes me grin when I'm wearing it. A definite keeper and in my top five. Yea!