jewelbug

Tweedledee is nice--more fruits than just fig (very tropicall and lovely). I can definitely smell the fig, espeically later in the drydown.

Oh, and I just remembered hellcat: its a rich foody, boozy vanilla/nut scent (hazelnut, buttercream, honey mead, rum and sweet almond). I also really love Dana O' Shee: its like sweet almond cakes, really gentle and comforting to me. Edited to add: Oooh, and elegba (coconut rum butterscotchy smell to me)! Wrath, if you like spice, is kinda like red hots candy or big red bubble gum (at least to me) Okay, i'll stop now....really, i will....

Hmmm, there are so many, and I'm sure i'm missing more than a few: Gluttony:buttercream frosting and hazelnut cakes Dragons Milk: Strong vanilla frosting/dragons blook (okay, this isn't strictly cake/candy, but i always think of vanila icing when i wear it) Drink Me: Very sweet foody numminess Bliss: pure chocolate Jailbait : smells like cherry lollipops Jack: really buttery pumpkin spice pie smell. Quite tasty. Monsterbait Closet and Underpants: both are cakey type scents, though I can never remmber which is which....one is cinnamon/coconut/cocoa cake, and one is blackberry cake. (also LEs, but you can find em around swaps if you're looking) Midway: cotton candy and other delightful fair yummies (its an LE, though)

Pranashakti gifted me with this during some medical issues I was having earlier this year. Thank you! Scent: Imp: Fruity bubblegum with citrus and licorice. Wet: Citrus licorice sweetness. There is something sharp in it too. Dry: This turns into a vanillic bubblegum with great throw, but short staying power lasting about 2 hours. It really is a joyous scent. Efficacy: Well, this cheered me up in two ways-- 1) Because it was such a generous and heartfelt gift from a stranger and warmed my heart.... 2) Second, when I started to feel down in the dumps about being on bedrest, I annointed some candles with it as suggested. I have to say that I think it really helped. How could an orangey/sweet/vanilla/bubblegummy aura NOT cheer you up, you know?

Imp: I smell 99% almond, with maybe 1% or so of myrrh/frankincense. No vanilla/spice that I can detect Wet: Immediately on, this is still very intense almond, but the type of almond that verges on cherry. It is quite pungent, sort of like Jergin’s cherry/almond/vanilla lotion, if you’ve ever tried that. There is a dry cinnamon floating far away on the background. Drying: the cherry/almond settles more into the background, and the cinnamon comes out full force. Dry cinnamon sticks. Myrrh kind of smells like syrup to me, and I think that its making an appearance too. The result is a syrupy, spicy scent. But the result is not as foody as it sounds. The early dry-down has that intense cinnamon/cassia type smell that I love so much in blood moon--a dry spice/rich creaminess combo. Late Dry-down (2 hrs +): Over time the cinnamon weakens, and the cherry/vanilla/almond smell from the beginning re-emerges. The cherry-ish influence is a little too much for me. By 5ish hours, the cinnamon is completely gone, and its mostly like the aforementioned lotion smell. Overall: I ADORED the early dry phase of this with the powerful spice/creamy almond combo. But the cherry smell that comes out in later dry-down was too much for me and I missed the spice. If it stayed like the first 2 hours the whole time, I'd totally buy a bottle, but it wasn't meant to be.

Imp: Buttery sweet with a creamy chaser. Its not nearly as berry-ish as I expected--but since I'm not a huge berry fan, that's a good thing. Wet: This gets a "drier" feel when its on. Buttery and creamy and a hint berryish. It smells sweet and buttery, rather than boozy, as I'd expect from the bourbon. Drying: The buttery/darkly fruity scent of this reminds me of the pumpkin patch that includes pomegranate….It really smells yummy, but there is a tinge….a tinge of something that may decide not to work with me--sort of a burnt plastic-y sugar smell. Dry: Buttery, sweet, kind of like lightly caramelized sugar and a faint fruit. The plastic-y note is slight, and is purely a result of my own uncooperative skin chem--I can't imagine what note is doing that, usually coconut does that for me, but this doesn't have coconut listed… Unfortunately, after 30 mins the plastic gest worse and goes caustic. This stage lasts until around the 2 hour mark, then dissipates a bit, letting a montressor like deep winey fruit smell come out. Its like montressor + burnt plastic. Overall: Burnt sugar/plastic is no good. Damn skin chem. I really liked the beginning phase, but it just wasn't meant to be.

Imp: Buttery coconut cinnamon. A tiny bit of dusty cocoa--almost brownie-ish. Wet: Mmmm, this is lip licking good. Dry cinnamon/cocoa with a milky pure cake scent. Its not very coconut-y, but considering our past (it often goes plastic on my skin chem), that's maybe a good thing….the cassia is kind of goldschlagger-ish. Drying: The cassia note grows dryer and stronger. Under the cassia, the coconut/cake has gone very starchy. Sorta like uncooked pancake batter. Its smells good. Like belgian waffles sprinkled with cream and heavily dusted with cinnamon. The cocoa is less, so that I get whispy wafts of cocoa every now and again. Dry, 30 min: Uhoh…skin reaction--my first bpal skin reaction ever! Don’t I feel special….regardless, the smell is decadent. Strong dry cinnamon/cassia, whisps of cocoa, and a doughy grainy smell--like I can smell the flours that were used in the cake.. If I had to pick a bpal this most reminds me of, it would be blood moon, thought they are quite different. Dry, 1 hr: Dammit! Here comes the playdoh-y plastic scent. Coconut beats me again…Dusky beautiful cassia peverted with a synthetic plastic smell. If I wait 10ish hours, the coconut smell goes back to normal, but I can't wait that long… Overall: While I loved this smell (minus the plastic stage), its not something I think I'd wear often (though I wish I could eat it!). The added negative of having an allergic skin reaction means that underbed is not for me. I'll have to stick with underPANTS!

Imp: Wow, this oil is so much darker in color than I'd expect for a fruit blend. It smells of super sweet fruits, and I can't pick anything out specifically except for the banana. So, its banana plus other super sweet fruits. Wet: The banana is still very distinctive, but when this hits my skin i can pick out the coconut and pineapple. Just so you know, bpal coconut has a habit of going plasticy on me, but this one doesn't! Which makes me really curious about the other coconut blends recently added to the list.... Dry: There is a rich musky smokiness to this (dragons blood?) along with the strong fruits. The banana is so strong that this ends up reminding me of manila, but shango is richer, thicker, darker, more syrupy. The coconut makes it creamy and the pinapple's acidiy cuts through really nicey. The later drydown (1.5 hr+) was a melding of fruits to result in a deep red fruit smell (no more super strong banana, and can't pick out coconut or pineapple either). Its sweet and smoky (can chilis be smoky?). Its almost like a rich, exotic wine scent. Overall: This is intoxicating, and I hope its not too improper to write that I felt twinges "down there" when wearing it. I'm very seriously considering a bottle. Maybe to replace my hanging gardens, which doesn't seem fruity enough now that I've tried Shango!

Imp: Hmmm…I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't this. This smells…almost like a vegetable. There is undeniably melon in there, but it’s a very green, unripe melon scent to me. Ah--its like the white rind part of the watermelon. I don't really smell any chili or honey, and the tobacco/gin is giving this a very "clean manly" smell. I don't know how else to describe it. I guess I thought with melon and honey, it'd be sweeter…. Wet: The juniper/tobacco/gin are quite strong, and really amp that masculine clean smell I noticed in the imp. The tobacco seems blonde to me, rather than dark like the description. Its sorta like a watery lighter version of the tobacco note in Herr Drosselmeyer. The melon is still there, still green, still like a vegetable. Unfortunately, the melon + clean smell kinda makes me think of a bathroom air freshener….  Dry: After about 10 minutes, the melon makes it exit for good. Its all tobacco/boozy gin/clean man. The honey does sweeten this a bit after a while, and the tobacco takes on a nice exotic spice smell, but the overall effect is still that of a clean masculine scent. At least it doesn't remind me of air freshener anymore! Late into the drydown, it seems to get a little bit smokey smelling, but never loses the shower-fresh mascunlinity. Overall: Lasts about 5 hrs. This is really interesting, and unique to any bpal I've tried, but I just couldn't get into this combo--its far to masculine on me. And I don't think I'm big on the gin note, or the unripe melon at the start. The tobacco reminds me of the one I love in Herr Drosselmeyer, but in HD, its rich and thick and sweet, and in this one its thinner, lighter. I suspect the tobacco would be better after aging, but the gin just isn't up my alley. I wish that i'd smelled the chili pepper, i was so curious about it, but never could tell it was there. I do think this could work wondrously on a guy. I tried it on mine, and his results were much the same, though it was sweeter on him than me. It wasn't his cup of tea, though.

CTIII: mystery number (my bottle leaked in transit, and the numbers are completely gone). Bottle: VERY strong citrus. Like orange and grapefruit zest. Its a lot like moxie, but this isn't a bouncy light citrus like that. Its deep and earthy. Wet: The citrus is still there, but much less so than in the bottle. There is a wallop of musk (think the enraged orangutan mixed with teh smut sort) with a heavy handful of fresh dark dirt. Wow! Dry: This ends in a beautiful balance of bright happy citrus, dark sexy musk and heady sinister dirt. Later: almost pure musk, the others are almost indetectable. The dirt leaves the soonest, i think. Overall: Its between moxie, enraged orangutan, and smut and then has one of those lovely earth notes thrown in for even more interest. This is stunning, which means I love BOTH of my CT blends so far. I think this means I should order more

CTIII: CCLXXXIX (I think thats 289, right)? Bottle: This smells deep, almost chocolately, and kinda white perfumey (like berenice or night pavilion), but more foody than those. Maybe a hint of citrus? Wet: I *think* that is is sandalwood. And a lot of it. A LOT. As in, nothing else.... Dry: OMG! This blend was meant for me. Beth is a genious. The sandalwood backs off a bit, and the blend sweetens and gets just a hint creamy. It actually reminds me of a more demure monsterbait:underpants. Its creamy, but not as overtly vanillic, its a little spicy, but purely sandalwood spicy, no saffron. Mmmm, kidna like underpants inside-out: more sandalwood, less vanilla. I think there may the slightest bit of deep musk as well, because certain times during the drydown reminded me of snakecharmer/smut. Towards the later dry (several hours in), I think I might smell some champaca flower (thank you valentina, for pointing this out!). The end is an incensual sandalwood, with dryish vanilla. Note, I smelled these the first time I tried, but not since, so I might've been crazy that day: Every now and again I swear I smell almond (though i know no nuts were harmed in the making of these oils). At one point I swore that I smelled deep winey fruits (think montressor), another time I thought I smelled caramel and my husband thinks he smells apricot (I can't, but our noses are infinitely different). Overall: I don't know what happened to that white perfumey bits or the chocolate that was in the bottle, but i'm VERY glad that the blend ended up as it did. The result is a dynamic, deep, and foody scent balanced by an uber-sexy sandalwood/musk/incense. I like my Monsterbait:Underpants, but THIS is what I had hoped it would be. Its so ME. Thank you so much for sending this one to me! Edited to add more comments from more tries!

Similarly, i found the middle bit of Eclipse to be very simlar to Blood Moon on me. The beginning and end of eclipse was all almond/cherry/vanilla, but the middle few hours were that lovely dry spiciness i love so much in Blood Moon.

I'll have to give love me a whirl, then. I just came across another oil that reminds me a bit of voodoo--Baron Samedi. It was very similar to Voodoo in the early phase, but then went pure almond smokey (on hubby's sking, at least, i haven't tried it on me yet). I don't think I posted this yet, but I was trying on Bastet the other day, and it REALLY reminded me of Devil's Night--I don't get much almond from bastet as others were saying, but a lot of deep golden, smokey, musk. I don't really know what it was (maybe i'm nuts?), but everytime I sniffed it I thought of DN. With a hint of non-bubblegum lotus. I'll be needing some bastet for when my DN runs out.

Awesome, thanks ivy. I think I just realized why I didn't find that when I searched. I always tend to spell it "lavendar" unless i look back. In other words, i spell it wrong, and constantly so. That thread is really useful, though, and a lot of the rec's are similar. Now to decide what to get (and quickly) so i can get the gift to her in a timely fashion...

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone! Seems like a general consensus that I should go try the somnus blends. Baku sounds the most interesting to me--anise and lavender? Is it like a pastille candy?

Well, I guess the title says it all. I'm trying to make a gift for a lady who has been very generous to me, and I know she likes lavendar scented creams. What I'm looking for is a gentle lavender, without many other overpowering notes. Something nice and soothing and "pure." And if, by chance, you've scented creams with a particular lavendar blend I'd love to know how it turned out. I'd love to hear what people think of the various lavender blends (i haven't tried many). I'm looking more for GCs since I need to do this fairly quickly, and probably won't have enough time to hunt down rare LEs. Thanks!

I second suggestions for Dorian, Alice and Antique Lace. Men love vanilla, and all of those are light enough for daytime scent. My hubby also loves hesperides--tasty apples, though maybe better for fall. Fae is a really nice one too--peachy sweet, sparkly and captivating. A lot like dorian-vanilla+peaches to me.

I can't think of anything that is specifically plum wine, but the closest I can think of is bordello: Bawdy plum with amaretto, burgundy wine and black currant. Its one i've been wanting to try myself!

I'm a fig girl, too... The most "straight up" fig I've tried is Strangler Fig. But if you're looking for something that is fig + a few other things: my faves are gomorrah (sexy exotic woodsy fig), Tweedledum (sweet fruity fig--this recently replaced hanging gardens as my fave fruity fig smell), and Intrigue (tropical cocoa-y fig). For the others: Nemesis is good too, but was less me--would be great if you want a more complex kinda woodsy dark fig. Eden is great, but a little too buttery/foody for my tastes. Hetairae was pretty, but I got a lot of floral and patchouli from it--less fig than the others above (ended in a great honeyed fig, though!). Mata Hari had far too much else going on to smell the fig (at least to my nose), similarly Dragon's Heart's fig was lost to the amping DB on my skin. Carnal was all orange to me, but I hear others get a lot of fig. The apothecary was much too light for me and was gone in a flash (I couldnt' really pick out the fig, but i've learned a lot since then, so I should probably retry it). Anyway, as with everything else, your skin chem may vary, but that's my tuppence. Hmmm...looks like i've tried all the catalog figs except for nephilim. Guess I should look for some swaps, huh? As for the LEs: FreakShow and Cerebus both did really bad things on my skin, so I'll refrain from comment. But...well....i didnt know king of clubs was fig! What're the chances I'll ever get my hands on that, I wonder?

Imp: Sweet gooey goodness--strong on the butter and sweets. Wet: First on, this has a dark red fruity tone to it. Very buttery and cookie like, so it kinda makes me think of those jam filled cookies....Sweet brown sugar and butter with a dark red fruit jam. Dry: This is a dynamic scent. The redness from the wet phase wears off, and it is a lovely dark brownsugar and butter smell. Occasionally I smell it and get caramel popcorn jelly-belly smell (kinda between midway and shill, i guess). Othertimes I smell it and the dark red smell is back. Sometimes I think its a wine. Sometimes I think its a cookie. SOmetimes its just ooey-gooey caramel. Its really fun! Captures the inspiration very well, though I must say i'm glad I didn't smell of turkey! Overall: You know how midway is buttery and pink? Well, at the beginning, this one is buttery and RED. Its a deeper, darker midway, and more dynamic. Heavier, goo-ier. Overall, its just foody and delicious, and I'm wondering if i could get a bottle of this for days when midway is too light....The only thing that would stop me is a *very* slight syntheticy smell. I mean, so slight that i don't notice unless i'm really looking for it, but it makes me wonder if there's a hint of coconut in here, cuz that often does that on me. Its clearly not a lot, cuz i'd still consider a bottle. Its just. so. yummy!

I might just be crazy, but when I wear them, Khajuraho and Hellion seem really similar to me--both sweet floral incensey blends. Now, mind you, they're not the same--hellion is a darker spicier version, so it could be a great fall/winter scent for you. I loved hellion, but on me, khajuraho was so similar that I didn't need to buy a bottle of both. I think it might be the champaca flower: Hellion: A scent for all rabble-rousing, nose-thumbing reprobates: black plum, champaca flower, dark musk, patchouli, narcissus and scorched sandalwood Khajuraho: honey, date palm, tuberose, davana blossom, amber, white sandalwood, vanilla bean, Damask rose, and champaca flower.

This was a generous gift from someone (you know who you are, thank you!) during a rough time I was having this year--I had 4 detached retinas (partial blindness) and 4 surgeries in both my eyes over the course of 2 months. It was, obviously, a rough time for me.... Lionheart came to my doorstep quite unexpectedly. During those trying times, I wore it to my Dr's appointments to help me feel more bold (a nice way of saying "less terrified"). There are rarely situations where I need that much extra oomph,so I haven't used it much since, but those definitely qualified. I find I use White Light for more day-to-day boosting. I wore this on my chakras to my most important surgery of the four (the only time i'd been in a hospital/gone under anestheisa, etc). While I was still scared, I really think it helped a lot. I found myself joking with the nurses and feeling much more high spirited than I would've expected. I'm quite sure that Lionheart had something to do with it. I wore this intermittently with White Light during my recovering, for days where I was feeling especially down. The smell is not somethign that would normally attract me (i get a very sweet baby powder from this, actually), but I think that its power speaks for it, rather than its scent. I have yet to annoint a candle with this, but the next time I need its great power, I will!

An immensely potent purification oil. Anoint your chakra points and palms with this oil, and anoint white figure candle, a personal fetish, or any other object representing you. Purges your soul of dark and morose thoughts, and vigorously cleanses away day-to-day irritation and misery. Helps relieve stress and anxiety, and clears your mind of ugliness and clutter. I've had this for a while now (thank you so much, you know who you are!). But I'm always hesitant to review TALS like the other BPALs--like to give em a chance to work their magic first...anyway.... Smells like: Freesia (or is it gardenia?) and gentle spice. Really absolutely beautiful, like others have said--pure and sweet and perfect. There might be a hint of jasmine, but if so, its a jasmine that isn't the same as in most other BPALs (at least not to me). I wear this to all of my doctors appointments to encourage good news, and any time I need to feel uplifted/supported--particularly days I know will be harsh at work. This is my courage/happy/want-good-news scent. I know its not specifically for courage, but I feel like I am protected by it, so it makes me more bold. No specific ritual, other then centering myself before I annoint all the chakras. I usually add a little extra on my arms for good measure (since it smells so purdy). This oil was generously given to me while I was recovering from surgery (it really helped a lot with my depression while bedridden), and I think that the positive intentions of the gift along with crafty alchemy skills really gives it great power for me. I love this one, and will never let it go.

Have you tried greed? On me, they have a very similar feel, though they're not identical. Both golden earthy woodsy smells. Mmmm....

Bottle: This reminds me of the lemony bits of dorian. Its much sweeter than I expected, and I can't smell the powdery notes (which is promising, since they *almost* kept me from ordering this blend). Its much sweeter than I expected--like cold pink lemonade on a hot day. Wet: On, this is immediately lemon. Sweet lemon--like a lemon candy. Lurking under that is a greeness, and also a hint of powders (I can do a hint). This is whispery, sunny, and really delicate. Enraged bunnies are apparently much more pleasant than enraged jewelbugs.... Drying: In about 20 mins, the lemony smell fades, and so does the "pink" smell. My skin has turned this into something just a little bit spicy. I have no idea where that's coming from. In any case, this blend ends like a very light, green version of silk road--think a spicy green tea, ever-so-slightly sweetened. Its really beautiful. Overall: I'll be honest--I expected not to like this--florals/powders usually turn me off--but I ordered it anyway because it was a forum exclusive. Quite unexpectedly, the bunny really showed me who was boss . I'm uber-thrilled that I have a spring/summer version of silk road (one of my many faves). Thank god I ordered this instead of letting a few notes scare me away! I think I owe Beth an apology for ever doubting !