mercutia

In the bottle, this is very herbal and sort of musky/patchouli-ish, lavenderish and piney with a hint of spice. It's the cologne Hermes would wear to his job as an office manager who is thoroughly professional and always shuttling back and forth from cubicle to cubicle, taking care of business, touching base, keeping business moving along, before taking everybody out drinking and partying on a Friday night for a good week's work. On my skin, it went HELLA CINNAMON and started irritating and itching. Oh, well. I suppose you can view that in a tricksterish light--annoying, but not deadly. I'll try it again after I get a perfume locket and see how it develops with slow body heat but no direct skin contact. As far as intent, I was hoping for something subtle and partly wearing it in tribute (I mean, look at my username). I *have* been getting more done at work, though I'm not using it at the moment due to the skin thing. Residual effect? Psychological effect? Hermes laughing up his sleeve? Hey, I'll take it.

Oh my goodness, this smells fabulous!I haven't tried it with purpose yet but the smell makes me want to take advantage of MYSELF. This is a thick floral that so far is staying nicely on me, which they never do; but there's other stuff in there. It starts out a lot like Salome (which is one of my go-to scents), with a sweet but slightly nail-polish-remover thing going on, but then blossoms out bigger and with more happening. I smell jasmine and honeysuckle and possibly roses; then it flares out into this spicy, not-quite-cinnamon note that's present but not overpowering (quite a trick, because cinnamon is usually a very in-your-face kind of scent IMO); there's an aquatic thing there that I like, which usually I don't go for that note except in a room spray; and a sweet, custardy floral that's probably magnolia and gardenia frolicking together. Poooosibly also a touch of a light, high musk in there, or could that be vetiver? (If I'm remembering vetiver correctly.) I'll post any results later; I live (but am not from) a small community where pretty much everyone's been married since right after graduation, but there's a big event that draws people from out of town soon. Hmm! Here's hoping... Post-Festival: Nothing in particular; people were friendly but they usually are around here. I was also working and sleep-deprived, so that likely didn't help. Two men were VERY happy to see me, but one was gay (therefore off the menu, though I love him dearly) and they were both excited because I brought homemade baked goods. But I smelled great and it perked me up a bit, so I'm happy.

I got this as a freebie, and I wanted to try it anyway, so I'm pretty happy as far as that goes. This smells like very strong baby powder on me, with strong dry vanilla overtones, but more like fake vanilla than real vanilla, if that makes any sense. You can catch a whiff of florals if you really try, but mostly it's baby powder and vanilla. I also agree with the first poster, who said it reminded her of a plastic babydoll. In a weird way, it does to me, too. I don't think this will be more than an imp for me, but I'm glad a got a crack at it.

I bought Samhain because everyone was so excited about any incarnation of it they could get their hands on, I figured it must be excellent. Note to self: Do not necessarily go by others' body chemistry experiences. I really, REALLY wanted to like this, but it smells like Ben-Gay and original-flavor Ricola cough drops along with a trace of mushy, wilted pumpkin on me. I got the same thing in the bottle, but since Anne Bonny wasn't too great in the bottle but ended up fantastic on my skin, I tried a little. It immediately got twice as strong and did not change or sweeten any, and after ten minutes' vigorous scrubbing, I STILL smell like it. Urgh. Oh, well, I'm glad I got to try it. And of course, I'm getting right back to ordering more scents as soon as I'm able to afford it, so curiousity satisfied and no hard done.

This was my freebie. I like it, though it smells about halfway between something you'd want for a personal scent and something you'd use to freshen a room. I got dish detergent, grass, herbs, and sort of sweetly astringent florals out of it. Not bad, not at all. Then after about 30 minutes, it just...disappeared. Poof. Well, shoot. I'll probably donate the imp to my mom or grandma, who might get more mileage out of it. Ah, heck.

My skin loves woody/resiny/incense scents, and amplifies them like there's no tomorrow, so at least in terms of throw, this was a shoo-in. In the bottle, it was so potent I actually found it a bit off-putting. Honestly, it smelled like slightly sweet nail polish--I was prepared to have a headache all day. On first application, it enveleoped me in a VERY strong scent, but not as headache-inducing as I thought it'd be, and quickly became VERY sweet. I was happily surprised. After a while, it evened out and became pleasant but still carried most of its original strangth. This was true through a ten-hour workday. The sandalwood was supported by the patchouli (much like a dash of coffee makes chocolate taste that much better and more complex) without being overpowered by it, which is good, because pure patchouli is a bit much for me. The frankincense wove in and out and made it even sweeter. After a long day, it got powdery and faded some, but it lasted FOREVER and I'm pleased with it from start to finish. Plus I felt like a pirate queen all day--I was less inclined to ask for permission in every little thing (something I'm prone to) and I was very assertive about my boundaries. Definitely a keeper.

Smells kind of like grape and kind of like some nonspecific cleaning fluid, as was mentioned above several times, but this actually doesn't take away from the pleasure of the scent. Also, as someone else pointed out, a round, non-bitter scent of green herbs and a touch of almond. The only bad thing is that it goes very quiet and powdery on me after only an hour or so and then I have to stuff my wrist up to my nose to smell it at all. I can't speak to its efficacy per se because I had a good day, but there was no special reason for me to have had a bad one (a meeting did go pretty well, though). I think I'll be saving this for any major obstacles and just letting it rest otherwise.

This is good, but it's very much a room scent, not a personal one. VERY strong and VERY aquatic. In addition, I get the 'storm' feeling second and the first thing it reminds me of is the linen closet in my bathroom back home. My mom hung some kind of essential oil called "China Rain" (don't know by who) in a clay/ceramic jar in that particular linen closet to make it smell nice, and so Tempest makes me think of...Mom's clean towels.

Both in the bottle, and on me, I got... ...a fabric softener sheet. A really, REALLY potent one. Dangit, I wanted to smell like a pirate.

Biblical witch, priestess of Astarte, and general troublemaker. A true role model for today’s upwardly mobile Modern Woman. A gloriously decadent blend of honey, roses, orange blossom and sandalwood. I'm quoting malanna because it's a very accurate description of this scent on me. I might also add that it smells: 1.) Like the inside of a really shady headshop; 2.) Like a REALLY aggressive cheap amber knockoff. I'm not saying at all that that's what's in it--I can, with some judicious sniffing, pick out the honey and sandalwood notes--but just what my skin does to it. It's a shame, too, because I was prepared to love it. Oh, Jezebel, you faithless creature, it's off to the swap pile for you.

Hey, thanks, Mnemosyne! And OMG only early April orders shipped so far--whoooo, gonna be a while on mine. Oh, well, I can spend that time figuring out what to get next, preferably for autumn. I've never smelled any BPAL stuff before, but this many people can't be wrong...

AAAIIIIGGHHH!!! But this is actually a relief, because I've been bouncing like a crazy person waiting for it and thinking it must have been lost, and now I'm not so freaked out (made an order on the 8th of May). Also I can stop driving my landlady crazy. Which is, you know, good. *bounces more quietly*