Cagedflame

the suggestions forum said it was for -oils- suggestions, so... http://community.livejournal.com/egl/49698...31889#t68031889 apparently some people outside the us are just trying to check out, get the 'no orders outside the USA' message, and go aw no... oh well... (two just in that lj comment thread...) never seeing the FAQ bit about international orders. if it's possible to change the message the cart gives to more accurately reflect bpal's int'l ordering policies, i suggest that be one. bpal can always use more addicts worldwide, right?

This smells like the edges of the field bordering my favorite patch of woods on a hot late summer day. My skin likes to amp up honey, so this is a lot more sweet and feminine on me than it would be on most, I think. Very nice. Unfortunately, I think it's giving me a headache. >_<

Yucky on me. Anything BPAL berry turns into gross cheap generic candle of some sort, and this is no exception. Smells like a dollar store holiday scented candle.

Got a frimp of this with my Lupercalia order. It is strongly reminiscent of Axe Kilo body spray. Oh, it smells like cheap guy cologne, bummer, you might think, but nooooooo. I think Axe Kilo, on my guy at least, is the fucking sexiest smell for a male.

Ok, apparently I am not the only one smelling a Snake Oil kinship. Of this I am glad : whatever the musk is in SO it's the only one that doesn't go horridly overpowering and perfumy on my skin. This is extremely aggressive in the bottle, to the point of getting an ew face from me, but it changes dramatically on skin. Sweet, sexy, the *feel* of spice without the scent, if that makes any sense; Snake Oil without the incense. I only put a tiny dab on, so that might explain why it seems to have no throw. Definitely gonna test it further. During the inital drydown I picked up this weird note that smelled like something rubbery was burnt O.o but after it's dry, yum.

I think I'm the first to not really like it. :/ In the bottle it reminds me strongly of Yankee candle. Sage and Citrus scent and really buttery caramel. On my skin it smells... much like another Yankee candle. I can't for the life of me recall which one. It turns a very generic candley sweet spice on me. Then after a couple hours it goes very faint and smells like something between sweet hazelnut coffee and rum caramel.

This smelled so, so good in the imp. It reminded me heavily of the herbal teas I've been drinking a lot of : slightly flowery, a bit fruity, hint of spices. But on my skin it turned to rose, really strong rose with quite a throw. Sadness.

This does indeed smell like slightly evil gingersnaps. In the bottle, it smells exactly like delicious buttery gingersnaps, but once it dries on my skin something herbal comes out underneath. In fact, it smells exactly like these "medicine cookies" I made that had gingernsnap spices, ginseng root, astralagus root, and licorice root in them/in place of most of the flour. Incidentally, I find this gives me quite a 'charge' spiritually, even though it may not have been intended to do so.

In the imp and wet, I can smell all of the delicious notes. After the drydown, though, the sandalwood and myrrh overpower the cocoa and vanilla. I think I'll experiment with layering it with a vanilla single note oil and a dark chocolate oil to bring those notes back a little. The sandalwood and myrrh are very, very nice sandalwood and myrrh, smelling just like expensive essential oils at a local shop, but it was just better with those two other notes. If I can get my layering to work, this will be right up there with Snake Oil for me.

Another BPAL where I didn't smell any of the notes listed. I smelled orange Pez with something slightly 'perfumy' underneath. It may have been a bare hint of musk or one of the florals. 15 minutes after application, it suddenly disappeared! I tried it again, and it disappeared again. Awww. Smelling like Pez could have been fun.

I had such hopes for this, but I could not smell any of the notes listed. No leather, no wood, no salt. I might be smelling the bay rum in that it smells like a not-icky but not-truly-appealling masculine cologne, but I'd think bay rum would smell like, well, bay and rum. I smell neither.

On me, none of the pepper, ginger, vanilla, or milk comes out, and barely any of the tea. I was highly disappointed. It smells like fresh grass and white clover blossoms with a bare hint of tea on me. I think it was the honey doing it, as BPAL and other honeys don't seem to get along with my skin. While it's a pleasant scent, it's not me, and not what I was looking for.

CagedFlame: Hemlock is a bright poisonous looking green. This ought to be interesting. moukin: I'm curious about that one. CagedFlame: Definitely pine. and other stuff I can't yet identify. CagedFlame: Some sort of spice... and a berry? moukin: nope....won't try it then. moukin: pine somehow always smells like noxema! CagedFlame: Something warm in it toning down the cold bite of the pine. moukin: hmm...now that might be okay CagedFlame: I'll sniff it again in a bit. [...] CagedFlame: Cedar? moukin: ooh, cedar is good CagedFlame: It's a little noxemaish, but there's something warm in there too that I can't place. Poss amber? moukin: hrmm CagedFlame: That'd be interesting, like all parts of a tree. CagedFlame: Weird, I only get that slight noxema hint from one spot on my wrist, but i wiped it all the way across and shook it up before applying. CagedFlame: After the drydown, Hemlock really does smell like woods with a hint of poison, with an occasional waft of berry (though maybe that's just my nearby berry iced tea ). CagedFlame: And that bright green color just rocks

Wet and in the imp, it smells like pepper and wet, hot stones to me. During the drydown it smells like peppery supermarket soap, but after the drydown it's right back to peppery rocks. Extremely interesting.

My first impression is of powdery spice. In a few minutes the berry starts coming out, spiced berry, warm but not foody. I think I smell some iris, and I think it might be the amber undertone keeping it unfoody. I can't decide whether I love or hate this just yet. I suppose I'll let it stay on a bit longer, see how it develops. After half an hour a similar note to one in Laudanum comes out... the one that reminds me of the smell of latex gloves. Ack. I'm thinking something doesn't like my skin. Pity. If it had just stayed spicy warm berry, I'd probably have liked it.