Bean Rua

Scent note: my Indian friend smelled me wearing it, and swore it smelled exactly like betel nut. That's areca nut and betel leaf, which the nut is wrapped in. Effectiveness: It's worked both in ritual and using it as perfume. I think overall, it helped me regain some measure of sexual confidence and assurance in my overall desirability.

Oh Candy Butcher, I so wanted to like you! Bliss and Velvet are two of my favorite scents... This makes me smell like a cheap vanilla candle. Ugh. This is very, very odd, as it smells like Bliss in the imp. Gah, it's giving me a headache. Weird...and sad.

This scent is aggressive. It's Snake Oil and Sin and Snake Charmer having an on stage threesome in a rather seedy sex club. It gets me feeling rather aggressive too. Like I want to walk up to people and demand they smell me. Dammit, I smell f-ing fantastic, right? RIGHT? Right. Give me another drink while you're at it. I find it pretty funny that I also got Snow White in the same package. Snow White is anti-Smut. I find that owning Snake Charmer makes this scent rather redundant. But it's not going anywhere. I'm going to be *very* interested to see how it ages.

Yes, apples, butter, allspice, etc. I should just love it. But I don't. It's too much mashed together. Too complicated. It ends up smelling artificial to me, like a Yankee Candle. Unlike many BPAL scents, it stays ALL DAY LONG. While it's not horrid, it's just not "it." Glad I got the imp before I bought this year's version.

When I opened the imp, I thought THIS IS PERFUME?? I put it on, and exclaimed: This STINKS! I waited and said: This stinks....so....very....good? Good! Really good! Yes, this is an all hag scent. It's not playing. It's serious old child eating hagginess. But the longer it stays on me, the more the illusion is played. The hag showing herself as a beautiful woman. Alluring. Slightly woody, slightly flowery, slightly powerdery...underneath...grave dirt. Evil and grave dirt. Any minute now...full frontal HAG! It's sexy and menacing. It's impersonally rageful. It's not a fun scent. It is seducing. It reminds me of Devil's Icebox, a cave system near my home: http://rockbridge.missouri.org/virtual%20Tour/wrb11.htm I like it, but I don't know if I will wear it often enough to get a big bottle.

Skadi! Beautiful, beautiful Skadi. I didn't think I'd love it. I bid on a benefit auction, and voila...I open the bottle and... Trees! Sappy trees. We're at a tree farm, choosing just the right tree to cut. It's just the right day, with sun, to encourage the trees to give off their special fragrance. And sweetness! And spice! Like I had some hot mulled something in my hand, wafting up towards me. Just a zip of something almost citrusy. Playful! It fades all too quickly on me...as many scents do...into something vaguely sweet and spicy, like the memory of a lovely day in the woods, laughing, hot drinks, snow angels... I would love to buy more, so I could use it in my oil burner. This bottle I am using on me. More, Beth, please? Pretty please?

Molten red hots top a pile of sweet, vanilla ice cream. The myrrh really comes out on me after a few minutes, and it feels very much like Sin, Snake Oil and O. However, it *is* unique, and I will be buying a bottle soon. It's like a yummier Gluttany.

A mournful, poignant scent, thick with foreboding. Soft golden amber darkened with a touch of murky black musk. This smells like the bastard child of Shalimar and Aramis. It invokes intense, but vague scent memories for me. Some moments I love it, some it just almost gives me a headache. Sometimes the sweet is just too...much... The weird thing is that its throw is very substantial, but I can hardly smell it directly where I applied it at all. I'm in a cloud of it. Yes, it is haunting me. Very definitely. I'm just not sure if I like the haunting or not. Actually, it will probably go in the seldom used pile, as I have a real affinity to many other scents.

On initial smell, and when wet, the most engaging juicy pear smell wafts about strongly. I would guess this is the lovely plum, and I can't get enough of that part of it. When dry, the florals slowly overwhelm the sweetness of the fruit. Soon the florals take over. While I want to love this dearly, there's something here which just doesn't fit me too well. Too much of a floral cacophony. Too much like plumaria. It almost gives me a headache. This morning it smelled quite a bit better than the reapplication in the evening. This might be an occasional scent, when I am in the mood for something different than the thick, spicy, sweet and foody scents I prefer. For me, it reflects the nature of the Kitsune, and it makes me smile.

High John is like an old friend...I used to use this oil alot for ritual/hoodoo purposes years ago. Few days ago, it popped up as a passed-on imp from the LJ forum, and, anticipating some big, bad family trouble on the horizon, I jumped on it. The timing of its arrival was perfect. I received it yesterday, after having one of the worst days of my entire life. Really, I'm not drama queening...I was absolutely emotionally devastated. Bad, bad stuff. I reached for my old friend, High John. Opening this imp invoked strong scent memories. There is nothing quite the same as High John the Conqueror root, and this is all of it, no doubt. I've had some powerful oil before, but none so refined, and so, well, well mannered and powerful. While wet, spicy, sweet, and grape-ish can get in the ballpark of this scent, I find it unique. I think if you need it (and I need it), it will smell right for you. It's not perfume...think of it as a cloak of good fortune, or perhaps, your own invisible, but highly effective armor. Immediately, my mind turned, and then quieted. I was able to go to bed, sleep restfully. Waking up, I feel surprisingly balanced...quite a difference from the emotional hostage fighting for freedom that I was yesterday. I am focused and confident. I am flying the flag "Do Not Tread On Me." I wouldn't hesitate to use this for powerful workings. I will order a bottle of this soon. More information is available at http://www.luckymojo.com/johntheconqueror.html.

A midnight scent, evoking images of flickering golden firelight reflecting off the sheen of glistening skin and the jerking shadows of bodies suffused with spiritual ecstasy. A deep, powerful, resonant blend of myrrh, patchouli, vetiver, lime, vanilla, pine, almond and clove. Voodoo...received as a frimp with my latest order. Thank you so much, Beth!! In the bottle: coke with lime, with a cedar-like undernote Wet: Attack of the spiciness! Swirls of sassafras and cola...sharp and effervescent. Morphs into cola...slightly rootbeerish... Dry: So many layers...so much morphing! Sometimes strongly myrrh...sometimes very woody, like pencils. Sweet vanilla wafting in and out. It has "head shop smell" moments (probably the patchouli and clove). It lasts for quite a long time. Over hours, it holds a spiciness that wafts up again and again. It's fulfilling for me. Strong and deep. Reminds me of the lucky black cat oil I have. I was surprised to find out that it had no High John in it. I would have named it Hoodoo myself...that's where it takes me. Delicious!

Midway smells like very sweet Tahitian vanilla on me. *Very sweet.* Cotton candy, fried dough. No apple. No salty. Just sweet vanilla. Before dry down, it smells all too much like a cheap vanilla scented candle. Really, for me is *does* invoke the feeling of a carnival midway. All the sweet and junk and fried and calories, but no substance really. While pleasant, and rather yummy, it gets...old...after awhile. There's just not enough complexity in this for me. The better use here is as a layered scent. Anywhere you might need a drop of sweetness. I mixed it with Vice last night, an hour before bed, and I woke up in a haze of chocolate buttercream frosting. I've just put on some MMU Violets Are Blue lotion and now I have a candied violet thing going on. Funny enough, I'm watching what I eat...and Midway is helping with that. The smell is really feeding my craving for sweet. I'm finding that I just don't really *need* to eat any.

I'm wearing Gluttony today, and my coworker wheeled herself over from my cube, and said "IS IT YOU THAT SMELLS LIKE FRENCH TOAST??" My my my, yes indeed it IS me that smells like french toast. I promptly made her smell like french toast too. As in most BPAL, don't judge the first sniff in the bottle. It was icky fake butter there. In the wet stage, it also smelled just too fake buttery. When it dried down...french toast. Waffles with maple and toasted pecans. Unfortunately, I've totally lost any chocolate here. It's sad. It also disappears much too fast...the same fate as Velvet, which I adore. It goes beautifully with my Creme Brule body wash and body cream from Bath and Body. Surprisingly, both 13 and Milk Moon didn't do it for me (how shocked am I??), but are absolutely divine with just a touch of Gluttony. Big bottle for me thx!

It's all about the florals in here. Spices and musk took a look at the glory of those night blooming beauties, and flew the coop. The crown of the flowers is jasmine, no question. It's lovely sweetness, just to the right of corruption....the sweetness of a fruit at its zenith of ripeness, but best not wait an hour! The other flowers provide depth to jasmine's scent, but no question, we know who's queen here. While it is beautiful, and fairly delicate, it's just SO VERY jasmine that it will be just too flowery much of the time. I would wear this on special occasions, when the temperature is mild.

I tested this side by side with Baghdad. It's funny, they shouldn't have much in common, but they do. Heavy resin provides the base. Incense wafting through temples. While I can smell the cedar, it doesn't take over, like it does in Azathoth. There's a special sharp sweetness here that Baghdad does not have. It might be the type of sandalwood, probably the olibanum or gum. It invokes coolness for me...deep shade. Where Baghdad feels oppressive to me, Sri Lanka is filled with light and good cheer. It fades beautifully, leaving the sweet resin behind. It's been six hours, and its presence is subtly in place. It will provide a great base for other mixtures. Last night I layered Dana O'Shea, and right now I'm reaching for Port au Prince. It's a keeper for me...although I am not sure if it is so high up on the list as to order a 5ml right away. Think I am also going to use this in a burner, and perhaps as a scent for my towels and bed linens.