sophia_helix

In the bottle: Whoa. That actually smells like champagane and strawberries. A little more of the sharp, boozy smell than the strawberries. Wet: More strawberries now. Drydown: This is such a fun scent. The strength isn't quite what I'd like, but otherwise it's fruity and bubbly. I love that the champagne is sharp, and keeps it from being too sweet. It also fades a little early, but I clearly just need to slather more. Yum!

Earthy, dirty incense. So many of the incense blends smell absolutely identical on me. I can't speak to this as a ritual/chakra oil, where it may work differently, but as an aesthetic perfume it's going away from me, stat. Throw was excellent, of course. Smell was still hanging around the next morning.

In the bottle: Honey and something strongly sour. Wet: Is that ... raisins? It's that kind of rich/sour/tangy thing. Ick. Drydown: The honey came out again, and then something else which wasn't recognizably bay so I'm pegging it as laurel. There was a brief period fifteen minutes during which I thought this was The Best (esp. given that it had a strong throw! I could actually smell it on myself!) but over time Wet Raisins came back. Now, two hours later, it's a fusty, musty honey-smell, still with the tang, and I already bet it won't come off unless I really scrub in the shower for a prolonged period. This is the first honey scent that hasn't worked on me, boo.

At first whiff, my thought is "yes, pretty!", because it's very sweet, light white florals, making me see the visual of lily-of-the-valley. As the scent wears on, I get much more sandalwood, which is a strangely earthy note in the midst of the flowery sweetness. I think this one could do with a bit of a heavier sweetness, like lilac or hyacinth, and I might see what I could layer it with. Otherwise, I like it but it doesn't seem quite "complete" to me (probably because my skin amps sandalwood like mad). A qualified keeper (and how funny for me, Ms. Sugar-Skin, to be complaining a scent isn't sweet enough!)

In the bottle: Peppermint with a whiff of dark chocolate. Wet: Peppermint with more chocolate. Drydown: It stayed that chocolate-mint cookie smell for ten minutes or so. Yummy. Then coconut. Even yummier. But -- half an hour in, it developed the unfortunate burnt metallic smell I got from Bliss and Snow White. It appears that chocolate and coconut are both fated to do this on me. Sigh.

Got a bottle of this in a swap, just because I like aquatics in theory. In practice, this is like most aquatics on me -- clean, fresh, blue-green, and a little too sweet, probably because there are water flowers in here. I hoped "bog lilies" would be more like Tiger Lily, but instead it's more like Lady of Shalott, full of waterlilies. I can't explain what water flowers are like on me, except that it's very cloying and perfumey and not at all like the natural flowers I like in BPAL. That smell wasn't terribly strong, and there are some nice freshwater notes in here, along with the moist earth, after a while. I'm going to have to try this several more times (justifying my investment!), but I may not be able to keep this with that strong waterlily note.

I find I end up sorting aquatics into one of three categories -- super-sweet ones with water flowers (Lady of Shalott, Water of Notre Dame), lemony ones (Storm Moon, Lightning) and "other" (Sea of Glass). This falls into the "other" category, staying pretty fresh and watery and not having much else besides a slight sweetness. I don't like lotus or waterlily, and I have lots of lemony-fresh scents, so this is just fine by me. I can mostly describe Phantom Queen by what it doesn't have -- no clover, no apples, no orchid. There's a dewy wetness, a bit of the mossy rue, a hint of something soft and sweet, and that's it. I like it better than Sea of Glass, because that one just smelled like straight-up water on me, but I do wish there was a touch of something more. I might try layering it with something that has a more floral or fruity kick, like Hesperides or Bewitched.

Sorry, using a bit of old-skool messageboard lingo, I guess. I mentioned about the violets just because it sounds like my chemistry is very, very similar to the original poster (I'd be curious to see her reactions to some of the same scents we've tried), and I've found that if there's anything potentially sweet in a scent, it'll find ME.

Oh, that one was very nice on me, but it has lots of violets and I don't know how the OP likes florals.

I feel your pain. Sometimes it's like I'm made of sugar. I'd recommend against trying to "balance" by getting super-resiny, woodsy, etc. scents. I tried that for a while, and all that happened was I ended up getting disgustingly sweet resins and woods. *g* I've had luck with aquatics. Phantom Queen and Sea of Glass were both very nice on me, and scents with lemon (like Embalming Fluid, Szesspassony [can never spell that], Storm Moon) get tarted up and lose some of the sugar. I've also tried to go wtih fresh scents that have some natural sweetness, but not too much. Glasgow, The Dormouse, Bewitched and The Apothecary were all pretty decent on me.

Loved this one. Just sweet, juicy red-berry smell, a little like fruit punch but not so much that it's overwhelming. Very red and long-lasting -- hope this one is a Yule '05 scent!

I was able to get a half-imp of this so I could test for this year's. In the bottle: I absolutely can't describe what it smelled like in the bottle, because I couldn't place it, other than green, sweet. Wet: On my skin, the unplaceable scent was just stronger. Drydown: I think what I was smelling was the cactus flower, and the candy. I definitely got the idea of something green and night-blooming and juicy. Sadly, that was about all I got from this scent. No flowers, the teensiest hint of woodsmoke in the background, and the whole thing faded before it really got a chance to morph (like, within an hour). Wah! I was really into this. I suppose I should be glad I have fewer must-buy Halloween LEs, but I was looking forward to Dia.

Just got this in a swap from kmasden. :waves: In the bottle: Gingerbread batter. It never fails to amaze me how Beth gets that unbaked sweets smell in her oils, like Bliss. Wet: Very strong, sweet ginger...with a hint of cooked white rice? Drydown: The weird cooked white rice smell was very strong for the first few minutes (it was like milk rice, if you've ever had that low-class treat -- rice with milk poured over it like cereal, plus lots of cinnamon), but faded out eventually. I'm extremely surprised at how not sweet this was on me for a long time, given how my skin sweetens things up. It was just a straight hit of baking spices, mostly ginger with some cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves mixed in. Quite pungent, with excellent throw. Now it's mellowing out to be sweeter, more like baked gingerbread, which is nice too. I'm not much on foody scents normally, but the fact that this isn't going too sweet on me really has me hooked. I might even try mixing a bit of Gluttony with it, just to butter it up.

At first this had a lot of lemon on me (most oceanic/ozone ones do), but not as sharp or sour as Storm Moon or Lightning. It was sweet, and quite salty, which is a note I haven't managed to get from any aquatic yet, so I was very pleased. I think the bay rum and woods came out sweet on me, as this as almost creamy. So, aquatic, salty, citrus, sweet, woody, creamy -- what a nice blend! Hard to judge the throw from the little smear I had on, but the staying power was about average. I feel like layering this with Anne Bonny just for thematic fun, and to see what happens.

It's a cliche -- but O was the magic oil for me. I don't know if it was my own expectations or what, but it defintely led to whirlwind....something.

My reactions were pretty much the same as everyone else -- soapy/bubblegum lotus at first, drying down eventually into something more resinous, with the sandalwood and myrrh coming to the fore. It's kind of interesting to have aquatic/floral mixed with spicy/incensual. It's still just a little sickeningly sweet, so I don't think I'll be hanging onto this, but at least the drydown was better than expected.

This had very little change in it from bottle to drydown -- a sweet, watery citrus scent, which I can pretty much only compare to other aquatics I've tried. It didn't have the strong ozone of Storm Moon, the weird lotion smell of House of Mirrors, the overwhelming lemon of Lightning, the heavy orris/lotus of Water of Notre Dame, or the sickly gardenia of Lady of Shalott. It was much clearer and more floral than any of those, and quite pleasant, though not distinctive enough for me to really crave. I really wish there were less or no citrus in it, though, because it seems like all the aquatics have a bit and I'm looking for one scent that doesn't.

In the bottle: Like most people, cherry cough drops. Wet: Oh, yum, sweet apple. Drydown: I didn't get as much as the herbal/woodsy aspect as I would have liked, but this stayed a sweet, apple cider/blackberry wine scent on me, with a hint of sage. Very fruity and mellow and delicious, with okay throw and decent staying power. I'll be treasuring the imp I have of this, and hoping it comes out again next year.

In the bottle: Woodsy, with a hint of earth, and a strong, sour-sweet tang. Wet: Almost all sour-sweet tang. Which means.... Drydown: Sigh. Like ozone, lemon, and orris, I've found another note that blasts like a megaphone on me: skin musk. This did have a very long, morphy drydown. The sour-sweet musk was the heavy top note for a long time, with only the tiniest whiff of pine if I got down close. A few hours later I started to get apple, which brought the scent to an even less woodsy place -- and, ironically, made this a sweeter version of Samhain on me, instead of the other way 'round like everyone else! Later the sweetness backed off a bit, and I got something piney and smoky, but sweet, in a way that was definitely reminiscent of camping. In fact, given the overall sweetness this was pretty much exactly like roasting marshmallows. So, definitely not what I was hoping for in this scent. Maybe I'll see if I can get the murky, woody smoke from Devil's Night instead, and stick with Dublin in the meantime for my pine fix.

A swap freebie. Took me ages to get around to trying it because the description made me nervous. In the bottle: Incense, not too strong, with just a little bit of clean ozone at the end. Wet: Whoa. Straight-up ozone. Drydown: I've been waiting for this to change, but it's a nice, salty, tingly lemon-clean, the kind of ozone I love, with maybe a bit of smoky campfire scent behind it. Whoever said this smells like camping is right, although the smoke is more ashy/incensual than sharp like woodsmoke. I wish there was more smoke, actually, but I think that ozone is a scent that just loves my skin chemistry. Luckily, I love ozone too, but sometimes I wish it wouldn't overwhelm every blend! This reminds me a lot of Bed of Nails, actually, which worked well on my husband. Nyarlhotep is probably more of a men's blend too. It isn't very strong, and I have to sniff hard. Given that, and the lack of incense, I don't thnk this is a keeper.

In the bottle: Cherry-almond. Wet: CHERRY almonds. Sigh. Why do almonds do this to me? Drydown: I sniffed this one compulsively. I think I got some spice/amber/incense at one point, but nothing like O or Snake Charmer, which were much better on me. No, that's because they kept being destroyed by the sickly-sweet cherry almond thing I got from Dana O'Shee. BPAL almond + me = bad news.

I'm a Libra, and a law student, and Justice is my significator card in my readings (I know, insert rant about it being presumptuous to have a Major as "your" card -- I just identify with it, that's all. And it shows up all the time.) So I had to try this. Anyhow, I somehow ended up with two different imps of this, one tarted, one with the standard lab sticker-label, and I tried one on each arm. They're mostly the same, except the tarted oil was much stronger and richer. What do I get from this scent? Like others have said, it's quite difficult to describe. Floral, yes, herbal, somewhat, definitely soft and powdery but not submissive -- it's too rich to be "light" but too soft to be "strong." Well-balanced indeed. The notes are difficult to pick out, although this is the first oil I've ever gotten true tea notes from. I'm almost certain there's also some violet in there (it's much stronger in the tarted oil), and possibly some amber, now that I read other reviews. Nothing particularly resinous or woody about this, at least not like any the true BPAL woods I've tried. It's polished and womanly, but it feels more like an older woman's scent, one who's casual and calm and refined, but not stuffy. Sweet and understanding, but also very intelligent and competent. I can't make up my mind whether I like this. On the one hand, I do get soap from violets, and a headache, almost invariably. On the other hand, it's a very compelling and familiar scent, too. I'll have to try it a bit more and see...although sadly, it's not really feeling like what I get from the Justice card.

This was utterly delicious. Super-fruity, not too much sugar but a lot of natural sweetness. I think I was mainly getting the melon and peach, but I'm rotten at picking out different fruit scents. Just so yummy. Sadly, the throw and lasting power wasn't great on me. I'd love to get a full bottle (why did I order Numb instead? why??), but if I don't I can't ever see me really getting to put on enough to make up for the lightness. I did give my imp of Titania a first trial today, and while it's much sweeter, it was still close enough that I may substitute it in for my fruity needs.

A pretty steady scent on me. Mostly getting the icy fruits (esp. peach and pear) with a touch of sugar, but no florals. A silvery pink-and-blue scent, and very pleasant. I tried it while wearing Fruit Moon to see if I could swap it in (I didn't order any Fruit Moon, boo), and it's much sweeter and more "finished"-smelling, but still satisfies that fruit kick.

This one hardly changed a bit from application through several hours of drydown while sweating. Just a lovely, warm, spicy blend of those three resins; the sandalwood is the spicy bit, warmed up mainly by the patchouli on me. Brown and red and very strong on me. It got a little sweeter later on, but in a resinous, amber-like way that just added another dimension. Fitting I tried this on Talk Like a Pirate Day. Yarr -- I'll be ordering more!