Thursdae

Temple of Dreams and Sophia are both beautiful lavender blends. To my nose, Baku is a bit more sharp than I'd want in a lotion. Another idea is to order Pastilles lotion from Propaganda Bath and Beauty. They have very fast shipping, and I can't say enough about the Pastilles lotion: fabulous texture, scented with lavender and a touch of vanilla. I'm halfway through my second jar already.

Oya didn't work for me. I love Hellion, and plum in general, so that wasn't the problem. It was one of the floral components, maybe, like the sweet pea in Desdemona, which made me shudder. I doubt this would affect anyone else, because it's a case of Oya's bringing up an unpleasant scent memory for me.

To me, Energy smells like sweet orange with a hint of beeswax. I far prefer it to Moxie. I don't detect anything off, which is great, because I've found my skin sometimes imbues a few scents with a lurking off-note (sadly, it's often carnation scents, which I love--at first). In terms of broadcast, Energy stayed close to my wrists, so I've been interrupting my typing every few minutes to take a whiff. It's a delightful oil and I'd happily wear it as a perfume.

Queen of the Nile smells sweet, seductive, and a touch mysterious. I wore it for the first time this evening. I've been going to a gym for about a month, usually wearing Hellion and occasionally Shanghai. No one has ever spoken to me or even smiled. Individuals are concentrating on doing reps at the weight machines or running on the various treadmill-type things. Tonight, a man complimented me on my smile, and made a point of talking to me a couple of other times, too. Maybe it's a coincidence, but I have to report the facts. Result of Hellion: I enjoyed it but received no particular attention from others. Queen of the Nile: I enjoyed it and received quite a marked amount of attention from a friendly guy wearing a big gold band on his third finger.

Thank you both for your advice. Bookishgrrl, you rock for finding the list of notes. I’m going to search on all those notes and, with so many fragrances in the catalog, I’m sure I’ll find something I overlooked that will come close. TroubleDoll, I remember Delight as being too heavy in the jasmine department for my chemistry. Sometimes jasmine works for me (Oneiroi ) but, as a rule, it does not. I have Pele in my imp box; I’ll pull it out and do a side-by-side sniff check with the candle. And a lovely forumite stepped up and offered to investigate the candle and see whether the scent evokes any particular BPAL oils. I’ll report back on her findings for anyone else who may be surreptitiously rubbing candle shavings into her wrists.

I’m searching for someone with tons of BPAL familiarity and a keen nose. I’m on a mission. I received a candle made by a company called Lollia. The candle’s scent is called Cotton and Clover, and it smells amazing. Lollia makes hand creams and other products, but as far as I can tell, Cotton and Clover comes only in candle form, and it’s awfully hard to apply as a fragrance! Plus, Lollia products are ridiculously expensive. If you’re willing to share your expertise, I’d like to send you some fragments of the candle in the hope that you can come up with recommendations of similar BPAL oils. I was excited when I read the ingredients of Enraged Bunny Musk, but although I like the oil a lot, it doesn’t smell much like the candle. I really love the Cotton and Clover scent. I’ll send candle fragments to anyone who wants to give this mission a shot. Thank you all!

Both apple trees and roses belong to the Rosaceae family of plants. The Wikipedia entry has a cute poem by Robert Frost, "The Rose Family." Oh, and to stay on topic, I love grapefruit scents but R'lyeh was a little too quirky for me. I've got imps of all of the others on order. You might try Aizen-Myoo as a stopgap--it's a truly gorgeous citrus scent.

I've tried every one of the Ars Draconis series and I haven't fallen in love with any of them. Until now. Dragon's Eye sat in my to-try box for months. I wasn't eager because I'd had no love with any of the other dragons. And that's how the Lab constantly keeps you on your toes. Oh, you don't like frankincense, eh? Smack! Try Tzadikim Nistarim and how do you like it now? Dragon's blood not pleasing to your cranky sniffer? Thwack! Try Dragon's Eye and say that again. I'm so glad that the Lab is around to make sure I don't get set in my ways. I love this beautiful floral oil, and every day I can't wait to try the next mysterious imp in the to-try box. Smooches to the Lab!

I'd say Titania is flirty. It's got kind of a kicky high note, and it lasts a long time on me, which is rare. I second Bewitched, too. Aizen-Myoo makes me hot and bothered when I'm wearing it, but I don't know how it affects anyone else. It's one of the ones that only works during part of the month for me, and at other times, the unusual citrus note gets a little dissonant. You might want to give thought to fruity or fruity/vanilla combos. Yerevan got me compliments, and Tamora is like a sweet promise (as opposed to the ones that are knock-ya-down sexy like Hell's Belle).

I love it when I breathe in a new perfume and an unexpected memory is pulled forth from the back of my brain. With Tombstone, I thought, "Stables!" but what was really underneath that was the feeling of walking out of the sunshine into a dim, old barn, with its mingled dry plant aromas of sawdust, hay, and alfalfa seed, the sweetness of the molasses barrel and bran mash, and a bit of leather. Yummy. After a few minutes, the sarsaparilla stepped forward, making the blend sweeter and less woody. I didn't expect this result from Tombstone, but .

Obatala smells like milk and fresh, sweet coconut to me. It has good throw, too. I'm liking it very much indeed and am tempted to put it on the bottle list with no further ado.

Khajuraho is not my usual fare. I’m usually into fruits and florals, and seldom go for incense blends. But the incense/resin aspects of Khajuraho like my skin, and it has very good staying power. I love layering it with Chaste Moon. I wear Khajuraho quite often, and even searched out a backup bottle. It’s funny that some of my fruity loves are sitting there untapped while I pull out the Khajuraho again. I may have to adjust my thinking about my scent preferences. Beth’s magic touch has blended the disparate elements of Khajuraho into a magic mixture. I don’t know what I’m smelling, honestly, but I know I love it.

Sniffing Absinthe conjured up a scent memory. This doesn't often happen to me, and in this case, it means I won't be wearing Absinthe. Its destiny is the frimp pile. What was the memory? When, as a kid, I went fishing with my dad, he sometimes used a type of bait that looked like a raspberry. A rubbery, translucent, orange-colored raspberry. We kids used to enjoy squishing it and sniffing it. And that's what Absinthe brought to mind. It's not fishy or anything like that. There is a sweetness to its peculiar odor. I'm glad to have been reminded of those long-ago fishing trips but . . . you catch my drift.

I adore Xiuhtecuhtli. It's so well blended that I can't pinpoint any notes. No other oil smells like it. It really lasts on me, too. I usually have to reapply oils every couple of hours but Xiuhtecuhtli's pink-orange magic stays with me all day. It's a must-have oil for me.

I saw someone post (I think earlier in this thread or in the replace-your-longlost-LEs thread) that Tiger Lily was reminiscent of Al-Araaf. I like Tiger Lily quite a lot but I found Al-Araaf to be very faint on me. The Mad Tea Party blends just universally rock!

I put Oneiroi on one wrist and Sophia on the other. I couldn't tell them apart. I love them but I must be missing something. Is anyone able to smell notes that differentiate these two?

When I think evergreen, I expect the smell of pine or fir, both of which I like very much. Yew-Trees laughs at my expectations. On my skin, Yew-Trees smelled like a sharp mint or pennyroyal with a touch of wintergreen and some kind of sweet sap, like birch. Nothing overtly fruity or berrylike; in fact, it was almost toothpaste-fresh, with a definite cooling effect. Not really for me as a body scent but a good candidate for room scent, especially on days when my stomach needs a little soothing.

I was afraid The Queen of Hearts would be all lily-of-the-valley, which always turns to soap on me. And I don't much like lily-of-the-valley even before it becomes soap. But The Queen of Hearts surprised me, mingling light florals and sweet cherry in a completely pleasing and gracious way. My husband thought it smelled "gentle." I will definitely use up my frimp and keep The Queen of Hearts in mind for a full bottle order in the future.

Come to Me smelled clean and light, maybe pointing its toe in the direction of Dirty. I'd call it closer to green/herbal rather than citrus on me, with an attractive background of soap. It was not overpowering and it seems like it would a make a very good addition to my select few bedtime scents.

Eos almost jumped the jasmine shark but misjudged and fell into the crashing jaws of that bully of the floral fishtank, jasmine. It became soapy after the first few minutes, as jasmine tends to do on me, and I had to wash it off.

It didn’t break my heart when Katharina didn't work on me. It starts with an appealing apricot note that lasts about an hour. Nice, but not dislodging March Hare or Tamora from my list of peachy loves. Then my skin morphs Katharina into something less appealing, a bit funky, even. The same thing happened with Psyche, and I blamed the frankincense, but that's not an element listed as part of Katharina. It could be a particular musk that is giving me trouble. Some lingering musks work well for me, as with Embalming Fluid and Lick It. Katharina's musk, if that's what it is, makes me smell like I skipped my morning shower.

Oneiroi on my wrists and neck garnered me a lovely compliment. "You smell so good, what are you wearing? It's wonderful! It smells exactly like flowers!" I like it very much, too, although I've only worn it at bedtime. Usually jasmine makes like The Old Soap Factory on my skin, but not with Oneiroi. It stays a pretty floral. My skin drinks the oil fairly quickly, though.

My favorite rose scents are 2, 5 & 7 Blood Rose Wanda I love Spellbound but it doesn't read like a rose fragrance to my nose. Rose scents that I wouldn't go back to include London, Marie, and Parlement of Foules. I'm also not a fan of Moon Rose but that's not because of its rose but because moonflower doesn't work very well on me. I think it's quite pretty and worth chancing.

Alice in the Mad Tea Party series is absolutely lovely. Its notes are milk and honey with rose, carnation, and bergamot. Yesterday I had a dentist appointment, and dear Alice was the one to help me (nerves of spaghetti, here) through it.

Euphrosyne went into my "try again" box. It was pleasant and wearable but for me had a soapy undertone. It's a scent that really shines if I waft it around rather than going for the close-up, nose-to-wrist huffing.