Teaotter

Warm ginger-spice and incense. It gets a little smoky char around the edges for about the first twenty minutes, but that dissipates. Not especially foodie, not particularly sweet. Just warm and comforting. Sadly, this doesn't last very long on my skin.

Fruity spice. Goes on in a blast of nutmeg and simmers down to a sweet, fruity pie filling. No crust note that I can detect, sadly. Reminds me very much of Alice's Evidence on my skin. I'll need to test them side-by-side to be sure, but I think they're definitely scent-siblings if not twins.

This goes on with a sharply inky note -- something more reminiscent of a machine shop than I imagined. There's a strong medicinal clove under there that starts to burn through the machine oil after about ten minutes. The smoky incense blends comes out after a while -- not smoky like bonfires, but there's definitely the warmth of incense smoke and not just the smell of incense. This one confuses the heck out of me. Good throw and decent longevity, but it never quite leaves the machine shop behind. This is a steampunk alchemical lab.

A sweet, almost chalky vanilla. More complex than I can put my finger on, but it stays true from application to drydown on my skin. Settles into a skin scent after about an hour.

This goes on pure apple, then gets overtaken by herbal spice. There's definitely clove in there, but something else that my brain keeps reading as a bramble bush for no reason I can put my finger on. This is a dark, powerful apple scent. Clove and mulled cider, Arkansas black apple, and an inky hedge maze. I keep thinking of Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty.

I wish the Lab's pomegranate note worked on me! But sadly, this goes the way of all Poms on me -- fruit-candy Neko wafers. Light, with only a hint of Snake Oil underneath. Aaand my skin eats it in two hours. 😭

Leading a host of spectral hounds, he scours the earth in search of errant souls: black pine and vetiver, leather and clove. First? Really? Wet: spicy woody incense. Dry: this stays pretty much the same on me the whole time I'm wearing it. It's so seamlessly well-blended that I can't pick out individual notes. The clove is definitely there, but it isn't screaming its name the way it usually does on me. I wish I could describe this better, because it's GORGEOUS! A little smoky, a little spicy, just a bit of leather and pine. I get the impression of cool incense smoke dispersed from a swinging censer under high trees. Soothing and centering.

Sweet honeyed patchouli, very reminiscent of Feed Me and Fill Me with Pleasure. I don't really get any cinnamon, but there's a dustiness to this once it settles onto my skin. But where FMaFMwP has hella throw on me, this one is a soft skin scent with almost no throw. Lasts for hours at that level.

If I stick my nose right against my hand, I get dusty wood and warm velvet with a hint of some old-school sultry perfume. The throw, on the other hand, is a shifted version of those notes -- sultry opium perfume with a woody base and a hint of body-warmed velvet. A beautifully elegant, old-fashioned feminine scent with an unexpected twist. I love Beth's 'perfume-plus' scents, and this is no exception. So lovely!

Wet, this is all soft sesame-almond nuttiness. It reminds me of the almond note in Romans 13:8, actually. As it dries down, the oud comes out more, giving it an incense quality, but still with that soft nuttiness. .. and then it's gone from my skin, POOF! I liked it while it lasted.

Fizzy motor oil? When wet, I get a blast of fizziness, like the Lab's champagne note but without the usual sweetness. After a bit, an almost buttery notes comes out that I can't place for a while. Drydown, fizzy beeswax and something mildly chemical. The throw makes me think 'fizzy motor oil' and I can't get it out of my head. Decent throw and great longevity.

On wet, this is definitely patchouli-heavy, with a chewiness that reminds me a lot of #Occupywallstreet. After a few minutes, it settles down a bit and that tobacco/cocoa note fades out. Then it starts to smell like cedar. (My skin chemistry, clearly.) Once it's dry, this is a spicy woodsy scent, with a strong hay note. The vetiver is definitely more grassy than smoky on me. Overall, it's definitely on the masculine end of scents, with a pretty low throw but decent wear length.

I've been using this oil as a meditation focus this week, and it works. Hoo boy, does it work! But this is no soft, wishy-washy peace. This is LOUD, almost militant in its determination. It's kinda like being hit in the forehead with a 2x4 made of the most amazing sunny garden afternoon. It's a symphony tuning up until it reaches a single triumphant chord that carries you with it. It makes all the brain-weasels fall into line and calm right the fuck down. There WILL be peace.

After reading the scent description, I'm not at all sure that my review is going to be any help to anyone. The main note I smell in this is frankincense. Wet, it's straight up woody frankincense with a balsam edge to it. Maaaybe a bit of oudh around the edges. Dry, it's powdery frankincense and greenery. Lovely incense, very mild throw, decent longevity. I have no idea how I'm getting frankincense out of this, or why I don't smell the cinnamon.

A scent of misdirection, of 140 frantic characters typed out in spite at 3am, and paranoia-clouded churlish accusations hurled at perceived enemies: crushed pink pepper pod, bitter white tobacco, gnarled patchouli, all covered in glinting, garish slashes of gold. In the bottle, this reminds me of #occupywallstreet. I'd swear there was cocoa in there with the gnarly patchouli. Wet: Whoa, that's some rooty patchouli! The strength of it knocks me over for a minute. Dry: This settles into something much smoother and utterly gorgeous. It sweetens within a couple of minutes of hitting my skin -- when I put my nose right up to it, I smell something creamy like melted vanilla ice cream, but I don't get it in the throw. Just smooth, sweet patchouli with some warmth from the tobacco and a hint of something more traditionally perfume-y. This is amazingly wearable and very pretty.

I've been wearing this for the last two days and I still can't figure out how to review it. Wet: Gauzy rose and spicy carnations; not a hint of the other notes Dry: So freaking difficult to pin down! White rose and carnation still. I don't exactly smell either the moss or the oud, but there is something grounding this scent, and I just can't put my finger on it. There's a hint of something almost like white musk maybe. Relatively low throw but good longevity. Very feminine on me, womanly as opposed to girly. Velvety, sensuous, romantic. Reading the other reviews, this is clearly one that plays very differently on different chemistries!

I don't get any clove or leather from this at all. it's all vaguely sweet and fruity. My nose keeps telling me it's watermelon candy.

This one started out beautifully, all honey and herb-garden -- and then it turned. Sweaty, metallic gym socks. Honeyed gym socks, but still, no. I'm sad, this one should've worked on me!

Infinite kisses: white honey, red currant, sugar cane, and ginger. In the bottle: Red currants and sweet (not spicy) ginger. Uh-oh. I really wanted the honey to dominate this. Wet: Oh, that's different! Something tree-sap like takes the forefront, probably a mix of the sugar cane and ginger. It smells like vines to me, green and leafy and sappy. The honey is just barely there right now, and I don't get any currant at all. Dry: Once it settles in, it blooms gorgeously on my skin. The ginger takes a back seat to the honey and currants. The sugar cane is definitely present, but there's also a mild waxiness from the honey -- not as waxy as the usual beeswax note, but definitely there. This is a subtle scent but it wafts around me gently. It fades pretty quickly, but I find a lot of scents do when they're brand new. If this is like other honey scents I have, it'll have a lot more lasting power once it's aged a month or so. Summary: Not as fruity as I thought it would be when I sniffed it in the bottle. The final scent is a soft, fruity-floral honey with just a tang of green sap to it. If it were a color, it would be the translucent green-champagne-pink of ripening pink currants. It's gorgeous!

Triple-cream butter, plasticky vanilla, and freshly-sharpened pencil. The lovely brown musk tries to fight its way through, but alas, it is overpowered. To be fair, bourbon vanilla and cedar both tend to go wonky exactly that way, but you know how it is -- BPAL hopes spring eternal! Good throw and longevity.

I was worried at first, because the first wave of scent was very aquatic and cucumber-y. But it settled down after a few minutes, and then started smelling exactly like my BPAL box. A little green, a little musky, a little leathery, a little foody. Incredibly well-blended, warmer than I was expecting, and just utterly familiar all at the same time. SO MUCH LOVE!

On my skin, this is fresh-cut iris stems and benzoin. I never got even a whiff of metal or bergamot, this was consistent all the way through. It's a very elegant floral, decent throw and longevity.

This is a beautiful spicy vanilla amber scent, right on the edge between gourmand and oriental. My only complaint is the very low throw -- I hope it'll age into something a bit stronger.

Then said Gangleri: “How did the races grow thence, or after what fashion was it brought to pass that more men came into being? Or do ye hold him God, of whom ye but now spake?” And Jafnhárr answered: “By no means do we acknowledge him God; he was evil and all his kindred: we call them Rime-Giants. Now it is said that when he slept, a sweat came upon him, and there grew under his left hand a man and a woman, and one of his feet begat a son with the other; and thus the races are come; these are the Rime-Giants. The old Rime-Giant, him we call Ymir.” The first people: mugwort and thyme, fennel and frankincense, honey and myrrh. Wet: peppermint candy canes. Drydown: still very minty, but it backs off from candy cane territory and starts to smell more like the leaves of the plant Dry: This ends up very lovely and well-blended, after the first overwhelming MINT!!! burns off. I can't pick out particular notes, just a mildly sweet herbal incense. I usually amp honey and frankincense, but they're definitely staying in check here. Impression: cool, wistful incense, with a decent throw and longevity.

This really ought to work on me, but the vanilla immediately does the curdled-cream thing that usually only happens with foodie blends. The honey and oudh combo is delightful, but it can't drown out the curdled cream. *sigh* Skin chemistry, why must you do this?