Rhowan

In the bottle: cold stone, dry earthy a bit astringent to me Just applied: I can smell a bit of dirt and a note like Eucalyptus which grows and grows until the Eucalyptus is SCREAMING at the top of it's lungs. It is so over the top that I can't even get away from it. It is on my wrist but it is still making my eyes water! As it dries down I have lost any note there was at first to the eucalyptus. I am seriously thinking of washing it off. Completely dried down: Luckily, I got side tracked in a conversation and didn't wash it off. Thank Heaven for small favors! The eyewatering eucatlyptus note faded and then dissapeared. What I am left with is a beautiful stone, dirt and minerally scent. Conclusion:Kinnabari is beautiful when it is completely dried down. It smells of deep earthy mineral, stone and dirt. That description might make you think of this a kind of a flat, one dimensional oil but believe me, it is not! The red, deep mineral scent gives this a depth and feeling. Definitely a beautiful prototype!

I agree with whom ever said Oblivion! That is a dark sinister scent. But I would have to say that I think Samhainophobia is my darkest scent! Samhainophobia: Menacing Haitian vetiver, patchouli, and clove with a shock of bourbon geranium, grim oakmoss, and dread-inspiring balsams pierce the innocuous scent of autumn leaves. Samhainophobia takes the darkness, horror, and trepidation of Samhain; then adds in your fears and unwelcomed thoughts and blends all until it is a pure black smell of terror and abomination....

I too was looking so forward to this as I couldn't imagine anything but smelly wonderful goodness from the the description... In the bottle: Vanilla Licorice - but the licorice is very slight Wet on my skin: for just a heartbeat I get a pure unadulterated vanilla single note that is heart stoppingly beautiful! Then the licorice starts to warm up and it goes from a slight thin scent to a wonderful full bodied licorice! Drying down: For just a moment the licorice and the vanilla are perfectly balanced ~ one doesn't overpower the other and both notes are full, round and warm and beautiful! * sigh* One heartbeat later,(I kid you not!) the vanilla goes to playdough and now I get playdough and licorice! AND IT DOESN'T STOP THERE! OMGosh! The licorice keeps amping up until I am surrounded in a cloud of overpowering black LICORICE LIQUOR with a nices stink of playdough rounding it out!! Complete dry down: I keep waiting for this to morph into something else. Unfortunately it keeps amping until I am naustead by the continuous wafting coming from one wrist. It actually makes me so sick to my stomach that I have wash it off. CONCLUSION: OH! THE HORROR! I mean, OMG! I only put a slight bit on my wrist and it ended up smelling like a took a full bath in the stnkiest black licorice liqour (and I don't mean Liqueur either but HARD liquor!)I could find and then supplemented it with a nice rubbing down with playdough. Give me some credit though, I waited thru the nausea for 1/2 hr before I washed it off - That's something isn't it? I shouldn't have been so optomistic about the vanilla in this one. I usually either turn vanilla into plastic, playdough, or fake vanilla candle but I figured since it was one of two ingredients that maybe it would be ok. I did get that one perfect moment when this smelled drop dead beautiful, sexy, and flirtatious. I will give it a couple of more tries and see if just the slightest of drop might work. If not, at least I have my scent locket which should keep it true. Still, it is a big bummer - I hate my chemistry!

To Autumn brings to me a vivid childhood memory of my grandparent's orchards and farm in Washinton. I am reminded of playing in the apple orchard toward dusk with all of my cousins. I can smell the leaves, the wood from the trees and the apple crates, the moss, the low ground mist as it swirls around my feet, and the smell of the hot spiced (homepressed) cider we know is waiting for us back at the farm house. The first 1/2 hour when this was first applied, I could smell every single note, blended together to make such a beautiful scent. The memories that To Autumn invoked were bittersweet: my grandfather is dead and the farm and orchard have been sold and we are no longer kids but the the smell, put me right back there as if it was happening right then and there. To Autumn was also so unique as it's scent stayed strong on me for around 4 hours! (That rarely happens with most scents.) Between the first half hour and around the 4th hour, it still smelled strongly of apples, wood, leaves and nuts but it is no longer reminding me of that chill night, no, it is a warmer scent now. A sunwarmed orchard in the fall. The next morning, It was still there -sweeter and lighter, but there - and still invoking my memories. This is one of my favorites! edited for spelling

In the Bottle: Huckleberry syrup! We used to pick Huckleberries up in the mountains and make Huckleberry pancakes with Huckleberry syrup - this smells just like it! YUM! First Applied: OMGosh!!! Very tart RED BERRY! This is so gorgeous that I just want to keep my nose to my wrist. Absolutely perfect! Dry Down: For the first 15-20 minutes IDSCD smells of tart red berries - almost as if there is a hint of lemon in there giving some tartness to the beautiful red currant. I love, love, love this!!! THEN... out comes the vanilla. It overpowers that beautiful red currant love and turns it into fake candle blargh. Oh! So SAD!!! At 1/2 hour, the only thing I can smell is fake candle vanilla and only if I put my nose right next to it. No blueberry, ginger, corriander, or squash blossom. Conclusion:Very light throw and about 45 mins. wear length. Definitely a keeper for my scent locket. I will give it another skin try after a few weeks. This just arrived yesterday and sometimes oils have to settle for awhile. I hope it does because IDSCD has major potential.

In the bottle: Yummy spices!! I got some oil on the tip of my nose and it actually burned there for about 1/2 hour. Not on my wrist though. First applied: Very faint cinnamon. Not cinnamon like redhots or cinnamon like in Saw-Scaled Viper. This is woody - like a cinnamon stick. Dry down: WHOA!! CINNAMON STICK! and very faint vanilla. This is absolutely delish!!! Completely dried down, Pickled Imp stays smelling like this for around 45min-an hour. Love this phase! An hour later - 12hrs later: Oh! Poo! The vanilla kicked in big time and ruined the best part. It is not the beautiful vanilla that some of my other BPAL has, but a nice plastic, candle waxy, vanilla with a very faint hint of cinnamon. I smell like a cheap candle. Conclusion:I loved this the first hour! It was so beautiful!! But then the vanilla ruined it and turned the scent into fake plastic candle vanilla. The throw is awesome and the wear length is just as incredible. Unfortunately, from one hour up until I showered it off, it wasn't pleasant. I had high hopes at first but ended up pretty disappointed.

In the bottle: WHOA!! WTF????!!! This smells exactly like a stable. I can smell the linament used on horses, (a menthol-minty-mediciney smell), and the rest smells of straw, hay, feed and warm living animals ( I swear to god I can even smell manure!! ) So far this is QUITE MALODOROUS to say the very least! After much debating on whether I wanted to smell like I slept with the cows last night until I took a shower, I decided to go ahead and apply a bit of this with the promise to myself that I will shower quickly. On the skin: OMG!! This is RANK! I do smell like I slept with cows last night!!! Seriously! That linament smell is overpowering and hurts the nose and the warm animals, hay, feed, etc.. just lurk below that. I put a little drop on and I smell absolutely beastly. Dry down: OK, it was all I could do to wait an hour and the stench is still going strong! THAT pisses me off because all the oils that I DO LOVE never last more than 1/2 hr on me - THIS smells like it has the potential to last until the cows come home (pardon my small pun) or in other words a LONG TIME. Which, for now, I am loathe to see just how long that really is. I am actually nauseated by this. Conclusion: Noxious, repugnant, and offensive to my nose and those around me.(So say my boys, hubby, Mom) THIS is going away! and I am showering just as soon as possible.

** NIGHT THOUGHTS ** In the bottle and wet on my skin: Oh Heaven!!! Lilac, blue musk and a sense of dark incense wafting around in the background! Drying down: As this dries down, the cedar starts to reveal it's self and becomes a beautiful base to the lilac and blue musk. I can detect a bit of the dianthus but no neroli. Maybe the ozone is what is making it feel like a dark incense is in the air?! Completely dried down: This hasn't really morphed on me. It is still a slight floral with the lilac and dianthus,the blue musk is so beautiful in this with that dash of cedar, and the dark, thick incense that is just absolutely gorgeous! Conclusion: Oh! What a sweet dream I had! This scent was so perfect!! It wasn't IN YOUR FACE FLORAL - just a light scent of the lilac, dianthus and blue musk sitting on a slightly smelled cedar base. That incense smell in the backgound just grounded the whole thing, making it exotic in a way. It was a wonderful dream while it lasted - for a whole hour... and then like so many other BPAL oils I have tried lately it's *POOF* gone!! Just a wonderful memory of an oil that was beautiful. (is it my skin? or is it the oil?) The throw was perfect while it could be smelled - it was within your personal space - not screaming to be smelled but not being to shy either. If this would have stayed on my skin, I would have bought mulitple bottles! Maybe others will be luckier than I! ETA: Night Thoughts is too beautiful to give up on. I will be keeping it and trying it - maybe later I will add more to this review.

~*~ Love's Philosophy ~*~ In the bottle: Fresh Cream, vanilla, and a hint of the wintergreen but it's more like a medicinal scent than wintergreen Wet on Skin: oooh! This is very creamy. So yummy, vanilla cream! There is a pungent note at the tail end that I am taking to be saffron. Drying down: This just continues to get creamier as it dries down. Still that pungent note at the end. It finishes the scent off perfect. It's not pungent in a medicinal or minty way, more like an sweet/herbal way. Completely dried down: same as above but only BETTER! Conclusion: A total perfect blend!!! I have to say that I haven't had a BPAL blend grab me like this in a long while!! It is vanilla-y without being fakey candle vanilla, it's creamy, warm, seductive, with that pungent end note that give it an unique end (without it, it would be a very boring creamy vanilla) The throw has actually gotten better the longer I wear it - which is highly unlike me. It is still going strong after an hour and that is highly unusual because my skin loves to eat BPAL in the first 15-45 minutes. I will write more later about how long it lasted but so far, this is definitely a WINNER in my book! ETA (the next day): This was still going at 3hrs BUT all of the different notes had dissapated by then~ what was left was a plain but lovely vanilla - although it was lovely, it was boring. My hubby agreed. By 31/2 hrs, the vanilla turned into plastic-candle-vanilla and before 4 hrs,it was completely gone. I have to say though, that this has lasted much longer on me than most. I don't think that I will be buying that second bottle after all....

I have a totally different reaction than most people. My skin just must be weird.... In the bottle: THIS smells like a midway at the summer fair! I can acutally smell the lemon candyfloss! But, I also smell that greasy smell that goes along with the midway with corn dogs and funnel cakes frying. WEIRD. Wet on the skin: I am still getting the Midway! (not Beth's oil named Midway but the carnival midway) I love that lemon candyfloss smell but that in the air greasy smell is stll in the back ground. I am also getting a good wiff of the pink pepper now (I Lurve me some pink pepper!) Drying down: Lemon candyfloss, pink pepper, and a hint of red ginger - but that airy greasy smell is still in the back ground: WTF? 1/2 hr: What is left on my skin is a cheap vanilla candle smell - ugh! 45mins: totally gone Conclusion: Believe it or not, I love the smell of this when it is first drying down but I could do without and still have no idea where that "grease in the air" note is coming from. Such a strange thing to smell out of what seems like a beautiful combination. What's really sad is that it is yucky cheap vanilla candle that is left and then it's *POOF* completely gone! I have tried this three different times now and still get the same reaction. On one occasion it only lasted on my skin 15 minutes. I will hang on to it for another 6 mos before I try again - but for me this is abummer.

I had really started out dying for Varahotkantia and I recieved a sample of this with it and I am in love with this and not the Varahotkantita! It is strange how the world works!! In the bottle and first wet on my skin, I am getting just a generalized sweet floral - nothing special... As it dries down, I am catching the wild orchid, a hint of of berry, but no french vanilla or tonka to be seen - it is beautiful but still not a huge headliner..... at least not yet... After about 5 minutes on, this is the most beautiful, innoncent and seductive scent!! It's sweet, but not in a foody way. This is a perfect blend that is slightly sweet orchid with the pefect hit of berry right at the tail end. It is the perfect combination that keeps it from being an overpowering orchid or overly foody from the vanilla. This has a perfect throw within your personal space and it really lasts a long time!!! This is a favorite!!!

OH! How I love thee Judith and Holofernes!!! It's very funny that as I have reviewed all the Retail Salons, I have been reminded of a GC scent on each one of them. This one included! J & H reminds me of Golden Priapus at first sniff! The sandalwood is coming thru as the primary note to me. It almost smells like fresh cedarwood! Must be the combination of things - including the patchouli. The fresh woody notes do not fade but are joined with something spicy and green. I would have to say it is the immortelle and the carnation. I am not getting the magnolia which is odd for me. Judith and Holofernes does not morph too much on me. It stays fresh cedarwood and spicy greens forever on me! It has a wonderful throw and it lasts a very long time on me! This is a must order for me!

When I first smelled Mad Kate in the imp and then first applied it, I was totally reminded of Alice mixed with Cheshire Cat! All I could think about was the Mad Hatter blends. The only reason I was reminded of those that I can think of is the Honey, red currant and although the note is "rose geranium" all I got was a total rose note. It's funny as I didn't get the Gardenia note. My skin usually amps Gardenia unit it is the only note anyone for miles around can smell! So, I was dumbfounded that I couldn't smell it at all. About two to five minutes after application, this scent faded so quickly that I couldn't even smell it at all. I reapplied with more oil and the same thing happened again. So, for me, unfortunately, this one goes in the swaps.

Frist applied, La Vague is a cool creamy peach. When I say creamy, I don't mean to infer sweet. This peach scent is like picking the peach right off the tree in the early morning cool. Very nice! As it starts to morph after a couple of minutes, it's like HOLY GRAPE BUBBLE YUM BATMAN!!! This doesn't smell like white grape to me - it is deep purple grape Bubble Yum bubble gum trying to take over the whole oil! But wait!! after about a minute, this passes and the osmanthus and tangerine mellows out the grape and we are back to the cool creamy peach with still a bare hint of Bubble Yum... Finally the florals kick in but as a supporting cast, not as the stars - The florals do nothing to temper the fruits a and at complete dry down, I am left with creamy peach and Grape Bubble Yum. I would have loved this had it stayed at the creamy peach! I love that scent! Unfortunately, my skin has a big tendency to amp grape to the max and as always, it has ruined what had started out to be a very nice scent. A bigger bummer for me is that La Vague has a HUGE throw and a very long wear - why doesn't that happen with the oils I love?! Why do the amping and throwing oils always have to be the ones my skin does weird things to? This was a major disappointment for me.

OMGosh! Another hit for me!! I have never tried Fire Pig so I didn't have anything to compare this too. Peacocks is beautiful and so uplifting it almost glows! I cannot even begin to describe the notes but from wet to completely dried down, Peacocks is a fruity, citrus, floral, energetic blend! I am not able to smell the violet and the sugar but the plum and pear are there and well blened with teh florals. The moss, ambergris, and sugar cane give it a stable base. While this does last a while on me, it still doesn't last a long time - maybe about 1/2 hour before it starts to fade to a citrus/skin scent. After another 1/2 hour it is completely gone. Bummer! I still think I would be willing to purchase a bottle of this anyway! Great Job Beth!!!

There is really nothing more I can add to Oly's statement other than another couple of "really"s to her "really, really beautiful" statement. Oh! and.... I REALLY REALLY NEED TO BUY THIS!

This is a very hard scent to describe for me as I got a totally different reaction than everyone who has written here already. This is how my testing experience happened.... First sniff: Oblivion! Second Sniff: Oblivion and Antique Lace! Third Sniff: Oblivion, Antique Lace mixed with a slight hint of apricot- OMG!! How beautiful! Fourth Sniff: POOF!! ALL GONE!! not even a full minute had passed from start to finish! Just skin with a minute trace of apricot - but you really have to get your nose down there and sniff as hard as you can just to get that! I am in love with what Haloes was on the 3rd sniff! Oblivion mixed with Antique Lace with a hint of apricot! It was so lovely! I wonder why it just disappeard like that? It seems like a lot of the newer oils have done that to me in the last few months. It is so weird! I still almost want a bottle of this to see if it would age any stronger... or if my chemistry would once again change.

Last night, as I was visiting with my parents, my mom whipped out a box of those chocolate/hazelnut chocolates? I can't think of the name right off the top of my head, but they come in a clear box, each one is wrapped in gold? They have a truffle center and inside the truffle center is a whole hazelnut. Then they are dipped in chocolate and rolled in chopped hazelnuts.(are they called Roche? or are made by Roche?- something like that) YUMMY!!! Anyhow, the point is that when I swiped Wezwanie/Hold on to my wrist I smelled those chocolates!! I know that there is no chocolate but I think it might be the myrhh that is making me feel like chocolate is in there - kind of likea cross between Black Pearl and Velvet. After about 15mins. this really fades! I am left with a kind of a sharp bitter woody scent. Almost like the shell of the hazelnut itself. All the sweetness has gone. It is still throwing more than average but I really want to wash it off because of WHAT it is throwing. I am really sad that my skin just ate up all the sweetness! This was my pick as a number one oil and I almost ordered it sight unseen. I am very lucky that a good friend sent me the Salon retails to try before ordering! Big Bummer for me...

When first applied, Autumn smelled like fresh autumn air. Not the brisk cold air of late autumn but the fresh air of the first part of Fall when the weather is still warm in the day and cool in the nights. I kept inhaling my wrist just to feel the fresh air scent!!! As Autumn started to dry down, I started to smell the beautiful fruity/floral notes of the Osmanthus. That, combined with the fresh air note, brought a memory back into crashing reality! It was a memory of an autumn day back in my early teens. I was totally transported back into time! A couple of seconds later, I got a nice whiff of the rose - which I usually don't like. Almost all of Beth's rose notes I have tried, have been amped up on my skin to a SCREAMING - old lady-rose-powder- ick! NOT with Autumn!! I believe it is the sandalwood is helping temper the rose, almost giving it a rosewood type of note. Completely dried down, Autumn is.. well... Autumn!! A clear blue sky on a warm Autumn day, fresh air, dry leaves - it's beautiful! No one note stands alone - they are so well blended together. Autumn has great throw and a long wear! Thumbs up again, Beth!

Lucifer at first reminded me of Intrigue ~ Both oils have the dark woods and fig. But where Intrigue continues to be dark and very woody, those same notes in Lucifer come across as a quiet, solid background for the other notes. The patchouli is very meek and doesn't announce itself as a yell as it does in quite a number of oils! The amber adds a warmth and a lightness to it (much like the light in the picture) and then the vetiver kicks in to balance out the light and the warmth - not to darken it, but to balance it. Lucifer is a perfect balance between heavy and light, light and dark, masculine and feminine. It makes me believe that any skin type should be able to wear it as it is such an anomaly. I cannot describe how beautiful Lucifer is! Beth has done the most awesome job on this oil! It was everything I was hoping it would be and much, much more! Everytime I sniff myself, I can't help but think of the picture. Lucifer is rare to me as it didn't even morph during the whole time it was on. Lucifer has an average throw and a better than average wear for me which was about 5 hours. Lucifer is now going on the top of my wanted list!!

I am just so very in love with this! Have you ever had to bag up the last pile of leaves after it happened to snow unexpectely the night before? As you pick up the first big handful of the fozen leaves and shake as much snow off as possible, have you smelled that cold, dusky, icy scent of the leaves underneath the frosty air and the newly fallen snow!? This is EXACTLY what November smells like -Somehow, Beth was able to cram a HUGE pile of dead, wet and frozen leaves and a new fallen snow into this little 5ml bottle. I am telling you, from in the bottle all the way to dry down, the scent is dead on! It has good throw and lasts quite awhile too. This is another oil that Beth has done that gives me total recall of a specific time and place! Good job Beth!!

YUMMY!!! I was very lucky to trade my Pumpkin Smash for Marshmallow Poof as pumpkin notes don't like me. Marshmallow Poof, however, LOVES ME!!! In the bottle: light sugar with a hint of plastic - I ignored that because I had really high hopes! Wet on my skin: Heavier sugar with an odd plastic note THEN IT CHANGES!!! Drying down to complete dry down - Heaven!! Smelling my wrist is like sticking my nose into a bag of marshmallows!!! It is the perfect sugary/sweetness with a hint of vanilla. This actually makes me crave hot chocolate with melting marshmallows on top! I cannot get enough of smelling myself! Conclusion: Marshmallow Poof is DIVINE! This smells even better than the real thing - l;ike marshmallows on steroids - not marshmallow but MARSHMALLOW!!! It lasts quite a while on me and the throw is perfect! It definitely had noses turning in my direction! Awesome job Beth!!

In the bottle: overly sweet pumpkin Wet on skin: Pumpkin with honey and there is an odd note that has a dirty, tar like scent to it. Complete dry down: Gritty sweet pumpkin Conclusion: Pumpkin notes are NOT good on my skin. Pumpkin is not my favorite. This is really sweet with a raw gritty edge to it. I think if I loved pumpkin, this would be my favorite as it is the best Pumpkin scent I have smelled so far.

* BLOODY MARY * In the bottle: Cherry cough syryp Wet: Cherry cough syrup with Black Anise added to it. Dry down: Cherry cough syrup, Black Anise, and a top note of stewed tomatoes. Conclusion: As most of you know, my reviews are pretty well detailed. Not this time! I am at a loss for words in describing Bloody Mary and in describing my disappointment. I *SO* wanted this to be a sweet sugary light cherry scent but that was not to be, I suppose. Unfortunately, the throw is great and the wear is LONG - so long I had to wash it off and it doesn't come off easy. I am still optamisic though (I don't know why) and so I will hold on to this and give it another few tries later down the road. If anything changes, I will be sure to post it here! Big Bummer!!

*~v~* BONFIRE NIGHT *~v~* Oh how I love thee, Bonfire Night!!! In the bottle and wet on my skin: deep, dark, smoky musk with a thick, syrupy, nutty overlay! Dry Down: As Bonfire Night dries down, it gets even better if you can imagine it! I can smell slight hint of ozone giving it the "night" feel. The smoke is beautiful and sweet! Under it all is a running base of treacle - not molasses-y, but more of a sweet mixture of butterscotch, molasses, and a hint of nuts. Conclusion: Bonfire Night reminds me of being out late on a cold autumn night around a big bonfire while a vendor with a cart full of sugared roasted pecans passes your way. I wonder if the nutty scent is coming from the hops in the beer and maybe the tar is lending to the ozone type note I am picking up. Whatever the case, I think Bonfire Night is a sleeper! I think alot of people will be turned off by the list of the notes, but I think they will find out later what they missed. I expect this will be a highly sought after oil in a few months to a year. Great throw, very nice, long wear! This is a 2 or 3 bottle KEEPER!