Rhowan

In the bottle: YUM!! Stawberry cotton candy! Please! Oh! Please! Stay true on my skin....

Wet: Sugar-y cotton candy goodness No stand alone notes as of yet, just a wonderful smell!

Dry down: This is so incredible! The strawberry is more on the tangy side, not an overly sweet scent like you would find in a lot of perfumes. It is the perfect partner to the sweetness of the honey and vanilla. I think the sweet pea and pear play supporting roles in this as I don't really get a hint of either.

Conclusion: This is absolutely lovely! Very girlie - not in a bubble gum smacking way- but youthful and exuberant! Honey usually morphs into a very old lady powder smell on my skin but not with this! Tangy, sweet, and a very HAPPY scent! I will be finding another bottle!

In the bottle: First sniff and all I can get is an amaretto sour drink. I too confuse almonds with cherries. This reminds me of Kabuki a bit because of that cherry spice like scent. I love both amaretto sours and Kabuki so this smells really good. I am worried about the buttered rum because butter usually turns to playdough on me and rum usually ends up just being stinky on my skin.

Wet: First swipe and I am getting the amaretto/cherry but a deeper scent in the background. A hint of the clove maybe? My hopes are raising for this!!!

Dry Down: The cherry almond scent receeds at a pretty good pace and the other scents come forward to make a marriage made in heaven! It takes on a very lovely and warm clove scent . I almost expect my skin to literally be warm where I have applied it. This isn't the dry clove that one gets from the spice itelf in a jar but an almost liquidy warm spice.

Conclusion: This is warm and spicy reminding me of warm spice cookies and eggnog for some reason. Maybe a hot spiced rum? As someone said before me, it is very festive! Great staying power and a pretty good throw too. I will definitely be buying a bottle of Port-Au-Prince to wear for the holidays next year. Put this one on my big bottle wishlist!!!

I would not have ever gotten this for myself - it came as a frimp though, and I am happy it did!

In the bottle: All I can smell is very sweet mint. No anise, no wormwood...just sweet mint.

Wet: When I first applied this to my skin, I got mints but in the background I also got a quick smell of warm soil - it smelled like green mint over Zombie. Weird.

Dry down: The Zombie smell is very quick to go and as this dries down and mellows, the mint also takes a step back from being the prominent note. Everything is blended so wonderfully blende that I can't pick out just one note unless I close my eyes and really search for it. After about 15 minutes I am getting a light, very sweet minty/anise with a woodsy background. Very lovely.

Conclusion: This is a very nice scent and if you haven't tried it you definitely should. I am not a mint lover at all but this really suprised me!

Thanks once again for your work - I am loving it!

In the bottle: My first sniff ever and I am smelling the very tail end of spring/beginning of summer! Maybe it's the combination of the jasmine and apricot that bring out that association for me.

Wet: Hint of ginger, sweet jasmine and apricots. The vanilla is in the background supporting the whole mixture and adding to the sweetness.

Dry Down: If I close my eyes and concentrate as I take a deep smell, I get spicy sweet jasmine and apricots. All of the notes blend so well together it is really hard to pick out a single note unless you do concentrate. It's dry down is lovely!

Conclusion: Siren is yet another BPAL to be added to my fav's! It has great staying power and a perfect throw. Siren is a seductive scent in an innocent way. Innocent in that the jasmine, apricot, and vanilla make this feel naive and sweet but then the spicy ginger revs it up to make you think that underneath all that innocence is a very naughty, playful girl waiting to come out!

In the bottle: Staight almond with just a hint of citrus

Wet: The smell stays as true on my skin as it smelled in the in the bottle - that is very unusual for me.

Dry Down: This really goes through a lot of morphing after a couple of minutes pass. In the first few minutes of dry down, the almond and citrus start to fade and the sandalwood and rose start emerging. I cannot pick out any of the clove or nutmeg spice that I had assumed would also emerge.

As time passes this becomes soapy to me. If I take a lingering smell, I still smell a warm rose scent but if I am just catching a hint of it, it smells like soap.

Conclusion: This would have been a keeper had it stayed true. I am not too keen on rose notes anyway but I thought the rose in this would have lent to the fullness of the oil not be the star of it.

I got this imp because I was on a cinnamon kick for awhile - looking for the right cinnamon has proven to be harder than I thought but then came SIN

In the bottle: Patchouli and Sandalwood is what hits my nose first. If I try hard, I think I can catch a small hint of cinnamon. I am already to give up on this one since I really don't catch the cinnamon...

Wet: mmm... Sandalwood, then amber, a bit of patchouli...then the cinnamon hits!! Nice, warm, sensual cinnamon - glad I didn't give up on this!

Dry Down: As this dried, I lost the patchouli (which was a good thing) and the cinnamon kept getting better and better! The sandalwood and amber really sweeten up the cinnamon so it isn't the bitter cinnamon I have experienced with other oils.

Conclusion - VERY SINFUL ! The best cinnamon I have tried! This is very sexy, warm, and sensual. If you have sensitive skin or are sensitive to cinnamon - DO NOT try this ! as it is VERY potent!!! In my personal opinion, I think this is way better than either of the Three Witches old or new! Save your $$ and get this catalogue scent!

I was really excited to try Snow Moon since I had been having a hard time finding the perfect winter scent...

In the bottle: This smells *EXACTLY* what I have been looking for - a cold, Christmas like scent - mmmm!

Wet: Foresty Goodness! This evokes an image of a snowy forest. Wet pine boughs, snow falling with just a hint of sweetness.

Dry down: As this dries down, the sweetness starts to temper the pine and cold, snowy notes. I can still smell them but they blend beautifully to create the perfect winter scent.

Conclusion: Snow Moon is what I have been searching for through all of the previously released Winter/Yule scents - including Ice Queen, Skadi, Snow White and Talvikuu. This is almost a marriage of Snow White and Talvikuu to me.(if I am remembering them correctly) This also seems like a blend that will just get better as it ages - like Snake Oil. I am definitely kicking myself on this one for not ordering 2 or 3 bottles! A definite MUST HAVE!

I was really looking forward to trying this one and luckily got it as a frimp!

In the bottle: Someone mentions "sparkly" and they hit the nail on the head. Swank smells tart and almost tickles your nose! How does Beth do this?

Wet: I am smelling "Sweetarts" a very sweet/sour scent

Dry Down: As Swank dries down, the very sour, sparkly scent is mellowing. The sweet pomegranate is coming forward but not quite rounding out the scent. I can't catch any alcohol scent just the pomegranate.

Conclusion: This is a bright sunny scent which would be a very uplifting oil to use in the spring. I expected this to mellow even more but the sweetart smell never quite dissappated. I would never want a whole 5ml of this. I think just the one imp will be enough to sate me for awhile as a little goes a long way on me and it has a pretty good throw.

IN THE BOTTLE: Cocolatety goodness with maybe a hint of lemon? It is reminding me of 13 with lemon.

WET: right away I get a combo of the fig, pomegaranate and barely a hint of cocoa and lemon. Oh! This smells wonderful right where it is at! Only time will tell.

DRY DOWN: The dry down was going wonderfully. the tonka, vanilla and musk coming forward to blend with the figgy pomegranate. The cocoa is lost after a few minutes -not really lost but blended so wonderfully to round out the scent. About a half hour later, DISSAPOINTMENT! It is starting to turn powdery on me. Maybe it is the honey in the honey musk? Honey always turns powdery and yuk on me. Only time will tell....

CONCLUSION: Everything turned out okay after all. the powdery yuk only lasted a few minutes and continued to morph. This ended up to be a wonderful scent! It toned down, quit morphing and turned out to smell like it did in the bottle - just softer, smoother, and warm. This is very nice but I wouldn't actively seek out a bottle of it.

IN THE BOTTLE: Wow! Pure pine! This smells almost like Pinesol and I am starting to worry about actually swiping it on me for fear I will smell like bathroom cleaner!

WET: First 30 seconds I am smelling strong pine - but not the Pinesol scent I was fearing - where the hec are the other notes? No hint at all of the amber, vanilla, and rosewood. About the first 5 minutes I am thinking this might be better suited for an oil burner or a soap than on the skin.

DRY DOWN: Now this is very nice! The longer I wear this, the more it morphs. The vanilla and amber come to the foreground and soften the juniper out. Still no hint of the rosewood to my nose. The more time passes, the more the pine is just a supporting character and not the leading role. Very soft, vanilla/amber with just a hint of spicy juniper!

Conclusion -My personal opinion? This is a revved up version of Snake Oil! The hint of juniper in it make it smell like a Christmas version of it. Very Nice!

ETA: Hubby tried this and it didn't morph at all on him! He was the one who smelled like pinesol - go figure.

For some reason I didn't see "honey" in the fragrance description until I recieved the imp -honey no like me!

In the imp: mmm! Cinnamon! Not a red hot cinnamon like a lot of others smell, this is more of a cinnamon roll cinnamon, it's a sweet version.

Wet: On my skin, right off the bat, I feel like I am smelling cinnamon out of the little tin in my cupboard. It's a dry, spicy, just sitting in it's tin spell. No sweetness yet and no cloves.

Dry Down: The longer this is on my skin the more it morphs. The cinnamon sweetened and then gave way to ginger/clove. This was the wonderful warm cinnamon roll scent that I got out of the imp. After about 15 mins. it gave way to honey - Darn it! Here comes the honey! Honey does really unusual things on my skin, mainly turning into powdery, sickly sweet old lady smell.

Conclusion - If you can wear honey, and your skin chemistry holds your oils pretty true to scent - this is wonderful oil for you - especially if you love cinnamon!

If this would have just stayed where it was at the 15 minute mark - it would have made my favorites. Unfortunately by 1/2 it was really smelling powdery/ old lady yuck. Hopefully, Three Witches will give me what I am looking for!

Bordello

In the bottle: Very fruity but with the hint of amaretto lurking in the background.

Almost reminds me of the drink Sour Ameretto.

Wet: just swiped and I am smelling playdough? That's weird - never had that happen before.

Dry Down: about a minute after the playdough smell, sweet sugary berries started emerging. It is a sweetness that kind of reminds me of the sugary scent I get in Snake Oil. In fact, this smells like Berry Snake Oil to me.

Conclusion: This is a wonderful scent! The longer I wore it the more sugary the berries became and the more the berries come out. It lasted a goodly amount of time too - maybe 5 hrs and I could stll catch a bit on my skin. This is definitely a big bottle for me - Love It!

Frost Moon - I was kind of leary about trying this since mints hate me and I am not too fond of them...

In the bottle: this smells like a York peppermint patty in the bottle. At first, I think I even catch a whiff of chocolate - it must be the instant association with the candy that makes me think I smelled chocolate. I am thinking it is the lotus that is making it smell sweet.

Wet: all I am getting is mints and eucalyptus - I am getting nervous because mints turn to Vicks vap-o-rub on my skin.

Dry down: about 15 minutes later, much to my pleasant surprise, the lotus has come forward and really tempered the mints. Much better than in the bottle or wet! It is an icy lotus, not a warm, sweet one. I am reminded funeral flowers on a snowy grave on a cloudy, icy day.

Later: This scent didn't last long on me which disappointed me but then on the other hand it was getting way to floral for my taste - almost a Easter Lilly note. At least the mint didn't ruin this particular scent for me.

Conclusion: This is nice but not something I would probably wear again. It turned to floral for me and didn't last long enough.

Ice Queen

In the bottle: Yum! Sweet snowy, citrusy pine.

Wet: A myriad of scents! The sweet pine, white musk and I am catching a hint of citrus - smells orange but I could be wrong. Right out of the bottle, this smells like pine garland with oranges and lemons attached to it, hanging around the front door in the snowy cold!

Dry Down: I don't know what to think - the pine is really starting to take over in a pinesol sort of way - damn my chemistry! All pine turns to Pinesol on me - and this time it's orange scented Pinesol! Come back snowy cold! Come back sweetness! What happened to the musk?

3hrs later: So, after an hour or so, the malignant pinesol smell started to fade and the sweet musky/snowy sent started to come back. Unfortunately, as soon as that happened the whole scent started to fade away to nothingness....

Conclusion: If your chemistry does well with pine and keeps the oil pretty true when you apply it - Ice Queen is for you. I wish I could suspend the smell of Ice Queen in its first applied state for all day but unfortunately - that isn't going to happen.

I got this in a swap - I was excited to try this because it seems like all of the Wanderlust oils work well for me....

In the bottle: first whiff is green bananas and florals. Second whiff is disinfectant - I think to myself, give it a good try because other scents have suprised the hec out of me - so I press on!

Wet: Okay - all I am getting is Banana Disinfectant - no yummy tropical forest that I was excited for.

Dry Down: Woodsy Banana Disinfectant - wtf? This stuff is making me nauseated!

1/2 hr later - the smell is almost completely gone but what is left that I can barely smell is what I think Manila *was* supposed to be on the first swipe.

Conclusion: My skin must not like banana. This was a real disappointment to me and the only Wanderlust that hasn't worked. If the aroma I could barely catch at the 1/2 hr mark was what it was supposed to be on first swipe, this might have been a keeper. Big Bummer...

Has anyone else had a reaction that included a taste?

 

I had a really bad experience with Cathode this morning (it made me sick to my stomach, and I could not get it washed off for hours) - at one point, I got a weird metallic taste in my mouth that seemed to be related to the smell.

 

Anyone got a possible explanation?

I was reading this earlier today and thought to myself "oh! how weird!?" So, tonight I sat down to test Juke Joint and a little bit after it hit my skin, I got the weirdest taste in my mouth ! I can't describe the taste. I also started burning really bad where it touched my skin.

If you scroll back thru this thread you will see that when I first tried BPAL I was having the burning with EVERY scent I tried. After awhile though, I got accustomed to the oils. I have tried many, many of them since the first and have not had any reaction until now and never have I had that taste thing happen.

mmm.... maybe I am psychosomatic?

I was really worried about trying this because of the "Indonesian Oils" - I didn't want to smell like an unwashed hippie woman of patchouli and incense - my tastes don't run that way. I decided to try this because of some of the rave reviews I have read.....

In the bottle: Really incense-y but I can catch the whiff of sweet vanilla

Wet: the first couple of seconds on my skin, I catch a very acrid smell. I can't quite place my finger on what it is, but it quickly passes. Very strong incense smell - not patchouli at all but a blend of incenses with a hint of vanilla

Dry Down : the more that time passed the more the vanilla came to the foreground. It is a very sugary vanilla that tempers the incense. This scent to me is not the blended scents I am used to, where after awhile you can't pick out the notes - this you can definitely pick up the vanilla. Like I said, the vanilla is so sugary - just like I had hoped Dorian would be. Hmmm, wonder how this would be with Dorian layered with it?

Hours later : Wow! Snake Oil has staying power! Great throw also, enough that people passing closely to you would sniff in your direction with lust!

My 22 yr old son describes it as "unwholesome" in a positive and very naughty way.

Conclusion: I NEED A BIG BOTTLE NOW! Snake oil rocks my world. If you are looking for a good sugary vanilla with staying power - this is it!

In the bottle - this smells like oranges and cedarwood to me. Cedarwood works well on my skin so I am excited to try this one!

Swiped on skin- Whew! Vetiver! Usually vetiver helps really make a scent feel powerful to me - but this when wet on the skin is powerfully overhwelming!

1st 10 minutes - still hanging in there...the vetiver has receded but it is still overpowering the rest of the scents - I can only catch whiffs of the cedar and tangerine. No amber yet and I can't tell what saffron smells like.

1/2 later - mmmm... this was worth the wait! It has totally mellowed on my skin. The amber finally came out to smooth out the vetiver and round out the scent. To me, this is warm and a bit sweet but still empowers me!

Conclusion - Azathoth is an oil that needs patience but it is well worth it. Good throw and lasts long too. Probably not an oil I would use around both sexes as a power scent simply because (on me at least) it igets warmer, more alluring and a bit sexier the longer it sets.

ADDED Jan. 6:

I was originally worried to try this because all of the BPAL scents I have tried, the vetiver has turned to a really stinky smell on my skin, almost like a cat just sprayed all over me - yuk!

In the bottle: Nice sweet cedarwood with a hint of tangerine -

Wet: For a moment I am reminded of Intrigue but sweeter. So far, so good. Still sweet cedarwood with a hint of tangerine.

Drydown: The vetiver slowly starts to come forward - but it isn't that stinky vetiver I usually experience. It seems to blend nicely with the amber to make the cedarwood warmer. I am catching just a hint of saffron now too, making this a rich, sexy warm sweet cedar scent.

Conclusion: Azothoth is so sexy! It is definitely a man's scent but lord help the man who wears this around me! Awesome throw! Awesome staying power - it is all I can do to quit smelling my wrist.

Dirty is good but my vote for Power non sexy is Alecto - it is very gender neutral to me with just a fresh clean scent but the hint of vetiver in it lends some power to it.

I would also vote for Severin - The teas and leather are a great! and the leather? well, its up to you how to weild your whip!

Good Luck to you!

So all we can figure is that...

 

1. Some blends might be partially diluted in carrier oil.

 

2. There are non-synthetics that aren't essential oils, like attars and absolutes and all that jazz. This could be one reason they're not "100% oil," or one reason why they're safe to apply directly to skin, or both.

 

Did I get that right? Am I missing something? I'm a little confused.

To add to your confusion and mine, if you go to the "FAQ"section on the BPAL website it states that Elizabeth uses PERFUME oils that are more highly concentrated than regular perfumers oils. I though that using such a pure "perfume" oil was extremely expensive. (Like $100 an oz. expensive.) I had also read somewhere that true high quality EO's were EXTREMELY spendy. It has always been my understanding that Perfume Oils and Essential OIls were two different things. Can anyone weigh in on this?

Black Pearl : This is luscious and almost lascivious! A great scent if you are planning a seduction!

In the imp: Yum! This smells really sweet. It's blended so well there is no definite scent of coconut or musk that I was kind of fearing.

On my wrist: still very sweet. Almost a rummy vanilla coconut drink - It's kind of boozy but not in a way that's icky.

On the dry down: This scent rocks! I cannot smell the coconut or the rum. It's mellowed to a sweet woody scent. I think the hazelnut must mellow the coconut to make it just a nice warm background to the iris and musk.

Like I said up at the top, this is very well blended, sweet woody scent. This was a hard one to review since everything blended so well! Perfect for an intimate evening!

MARCH HARE: I was very wary about trying this since some oils with clove in it tend to end up smelling like Graveyard Dirt on me but this one was different....

In the bottle: Apricots - not fresh off the tree but more of a sweet ,almost boozy apricot. Almost like Grand Guignol but not so boozy.

Swiped on writst: Now that is fresh apricots! I can almost smell the tree in with the fruit.

Dry down: This has become a more rounded scent . The clove is peeking it's head out but it's not overpowering (or earthy). It's helping to darken the apricot from the fresh and fruity it was at application to a deep sensual, languid scent. I can't stop sniffing my wrist.

quick update - I got a super fast response from the lab today saying that they think by the end of next week my order should be shipped - Wow that was a quick response! Thanks!

Is the 21-45 business days unusual? Did I just happen to place my very first order at a busy and/or crappy time? Oh! Ya! Thanks for sending the click n ship link, I had seen it before but didn't know what it was for.....