fiddledragon

I get almost nothing but lemongrass from this. It's a sweet, creamy lemongrass, but incredibly strong and refreshing. There's also something else raw and spicy underneath that might be ginger or pepper. This seems like an excellent blend for breaking out of spirals of negativity and mindlessness, and could also work as a perfume.

This is a very complex musky floral that's mostly jasmine on me for quite a while (my skin amps jasmine considerably). It's a soft, gentle musk maybe similar to the one in Bastet. There might be a touch of lotus and some spice in the background, and some light dulled citrus. It's more the smell of the white bit inside the peel than either the peel or the juice. The closest comparison I can make to other BPAL is possibly a sexier version of Sophia without the lavender. It's defintely sensual, and I can see the associations with this chakra. It's somehow too classically "sexy perfume" on me to see myself using it for meditation or other ritual, though. It would definitely be good for a social situation like a dance where I need to work on letting down my guard some.

In the flask, this is a beautiful creamy floral-resin. It reminds me a lot of something I've smelled before, but I'm not sure what. I've been having some various health upsets, as well as just feeling out of kilter, so I decided to combine this with my usual meditation practice, emphasizing letting the negativity flow out of me. Unfortunately, this doesn't seem to work at all for me. After a while, the oil goes sour and sickly-sweet such that it's very distracting and doesn't seem to have any effect on me. Maybe I was just too tired and out of it to focus well? I'll give it another good try or two and then find someone for whom it works better. I've had excellent results embuing normal GC oils with intents that seem appropriate to their theme, and that's much cheaper than TALs anyway ;-)

I'm trying these as part of the GC Circle Swap, so I'm mostly commenting on the scent. These are concepts that very much appeal to me, though, and I might get an imp of my own if any particularly speak to me. Muladhara: In bottle: Vetiver, ginger, and something that's almost a smoked-meat smell. I tend to see "hickory-smoked X", so maybe there's hickory wood in it? On me: Wet -- Vetiver and weird. This is very, very grounding and I can't pick out any of the notes besides vetiver, though there's a lot more in it. This makes my head feel kind of fuzzy. Drydown -- Vetiver and very deep Indian spices, and that smoked-meat smell. Conclusion: This is deeply stabilizing; for work with Muladhara, this could be very powerful. It's evocative enough that I'd want to do quite a lot more research on traditional chakra concepts before doing any serious meditative work with it. It has a lot of throw, which would be excellent for meditation; I could get an imp and it'd take me next to forever to use it up. As a perfume, it's kind of weird. It'd only be wearable by someone who *really* likes those dark, earthy blends.

Oooooo While I don't normally like descriptions that don't list notes, this one was spot-on. Warm, earthy, ruddy, mild...It's a very comforting earth-scent, like being hugged by some sort of gentle warm tree-goddess. If I had to pick notes...there's definitely a mild cedar (which turns neither sharp nor pencil-y like it so often does), that dirt note (whatever's in it -- it might involve *very* mild vetiver), light vanilla, and some warm resins which I'm going to guess at being amber and a sweet myrrh or fairly tame frankincense. It goes from being sweet resiny EARTH to being quite woody but not too overpoweringly so, to becoming a soft resin-vanilla combination. This seems to contain a large number of notes which tend to be good but either overpowering or which can go weird on me given certainc conditions, but which are all balanced beautifully. This may be a bottle-purchase for me. It's not actually something that goes on the "everyday" list, as it's actually *too* dark and warm and just makes me want to drop everything and cuddle up in a quilt. But for a rainy day after a dental check-up and a stressful workday....mmmmm....all is right with the world.

On me, this is a high white floral with a dash of something earthier that may be one of the notes going weird. I can't smell the frankincense or sandalwood at all...I was hoping for something more like Rose Cross. I'll let it age a while and see if the florals tone down and the resins come out to play. I've been showing most of the scents to my boyfriend as well, and my reaction to the scent as a whole can be summed up by our interaction: Him: See, in traditional Kabbalistic angelology, seraphim were vast beings of light far beyond our comprehension. Me: Not cala lilies. Him: Not so much.

This is mostly jasmine and lotus on me. Wet, there's a bit of a lingering latrine odor, but not enough to make me want to wash it off. Once it dries, it's a lovely lotus-jasmine blend that doesn't turn too sweet and cloying. There's another floral in there that I assume must be the tuberose that sticks around once a lot of the other notes have worn off. I don't really get the lime at all, and that was one of the main things I was hoping for. Oh well. It's still a beautiful scent for when I'm feeling floral. It's a lot like Forbiddon Fruit was on me, only without that odd musk note.

Wet, this smells very woody...I'm not getting sandalwood at all, but more of a hamster-cage woodshavings smell. It's not *bad*, but it's kind of odd for a perfume. Dry, it smells like hamster shavings and ylang ylang. After drying for an hour or so, it's a faint sugary sandalwood. This isn't great now, but sandalwood ages well, so I may put it in the "maybe" box and let it develop.

On me, Kumiho is a wonderfully crisp, light ginger-tea blend. The tea smells lemony, but a very herbal, almost lemongrass scent. Something about it is almost, but not quite, a very light rose. It's the happy perky ginger of Sudha Segara without the warm sexy honey note. Kumiho is feminine without being at all girly...this is the fox demon CEO sitting perfectly poised behind her desk with exquisitely styled hair.

I *love* Alice, Jezebel, and Sudha Segara as comfort scents. If you like GP, Sudha Segara may be another thing to try, since it's a lovely ginger-honey blend. Thaleia for me is happiness in a bottle.

On me, Dragon's Musk smelled like something a sleazy 70s lounge lizard would be slathered in -- heavy, stinky, cheap men's cologne, mixed with something like a rutting goat. So I'd say no. Wow...our body chemistries must be total opposites with musks! On me, Smut was weird sweaty musk, while Dragon's Musk is a very sweet, enveloping kind of smell. But that's even more proof that they're definitely different

From the reviews, it looks like Panacea: Seduction is very strongly ylang-ylang, but I haven't tried it, and it's more expensive than some others. I'd echo MilkAndSugar's recommendation to just get a bottle of ylang-ylang oil from somewhere reputable, and then give her an imp pack of some ylang-ylang-y BPALs...that way she has her ylang-ylang fix, and can amp up the BPAL blends with extra yummy goodness if the ylang-ylang in them isn't strong enough.

Mmmm...honey.... Sudha Segara, Jezebel, and Thaleia are some of my absolute favorites; I find Sudha the purest honey of the three. Tiger Lily is also lovely, with a very fresh, true floral note. Alice has a nice honey note that is, for lack of a better word, crystalized, and melds well with the milk and florals. O, alas, does truly disturbing things on my skin. In the more recent blends, Osun is a bright light honey blend. The imp I tried in the GC Circle Swap was almost indistinguishable from a lighter version of Honey Moon once it dried, but the one I now have from a swap is more strongly herbal. I suspect that's an aging issue. Honey ages *gloriously* if my 9-month-old bottle of Sudha Segara is any indication.

Dynamic Energy - Lust - Enthusiasm - Resolution - Courage - Physical Strength - Mental Acuity - Comraderie - Engineering - Any Work With Metals - Victory - Conquest - War - Power - Domination - Military Matters - Daring Deeds This review utterly made my day! On to my actual review... Anyway, on me this is strong dragon's blood and musk. (It is, for the record, the '06 blend) The musk is very...I want to say animalistic, but that usually connotes sweat and wild fur and such. This musk, plus a slight metallic note, gives an almost blood-like overtone, which is highly appropriate, but here not at all offputting (unlike, say, Centzon Totochtin which smelled *exactly* like blood and hot stone on me and made me want to go scrub my hands from the inside). The dragon's blood is sweet without being cloying, and the musk is blended with it so beautifully that it's hard to tell them apart. The musk certainly doesn't go crazy on me like some do. There may very well be sandalwood in this, but I can't actually pick it out as a separate note. Now that it's fully dry I'm picking up a whiff of cinnamon and cloves, but again they don't go crazy like they often do. I don't know how much it connotes Mars for me, but the notes in general are of a grounding, strengthening sort. It doesn't feel at all masculine...I may have to ambush my boyfriend at some point and see what it does on him. Given that I have a strong afinity for Athena, it's probably a good thing that this doesn't seem evocative enough of Mars to use it in any sort of ritual/meditative setting, as the two are not generally depicted as getting along well. This blend is a lineup of all the notes that go crazy-strong on my skin, yet somehow they tame each other and produce this beautifully unified scent. That said, it's not something that I'm in love with enough on *me* to wear it every day, but it's certainly quite lovely. I'll probably decant off a couple imps for swappage to share the love, and keep the rest of the bottle.

I wore Aizen-Myoo for job interviews earlier this summer. It's light enough for the heat of July, and it's crisp and professional. I tried not to put enough on to be noticeable for anyone other than me. It really helped me get in the right mood :-) On the other hand, now that scent reminds me of stressful interviews, so I can't wear it anymore!

Someone earlier suggested Tushnamatay...I haven't tried MB:Undies, but Tushnamatay definitely has a lovely vanilla/sandalwood with what might be saffron. If the rum is heavy in MB:U, you could layer some Grog over it or something, maybe?

Grapefruuuuuuuit! Grapefruits before a storm with high but not unpleasant sharp florals. Normally aquatics do truly terrible things to me, but this is lovely. I don't know that I'll use more than an imp, as I'm still not much of a fresh-scent person even when they work on me, but it has definite potential.

This was not at all what I was expecting. Normally, both almond and coconut have the risk of going horribly sweet on me -- especially almond. Fig goes all dusty-dark, which I love, but it didn't come out and play at all. No, the almond and coconut were on top, very green (which was probably aided by the bitter green that I assume is fig leaf), and the sandalwood added a bit of depth. The milk added a subtle warmth, but otherwise it and the honey were also not very strong. Somehow this translated to an almost exact aroma of Thai lemongrass coconut milk soup. With cilantro. I am deeply confused.

On me, this is very similar to Tzadikim Nistarim -- I amp hyssop out of all proporion Luckilly, I adore hyssop! The other notes combine with it to make a spicier, sharper TN; I'm assuming that's the coriander and sage. Several times I caught a whiff of something almost smoky, which may be the sage doing something odd. The prickly pear is lost in the fruitiness of the hyssop on me, but would probably be lovely on someone whose chemistry let it come to the front.

This is a wonderful sweet musk-floral on me. There is a strong jasmine note, with the lotus taking second place, and citrus behind that. The lotus and jasmine combine to produce something almost white musk or civet-like (bearing in mind that civet goes wonderfully cozy-fur on me). It's much heavier than I'd anticipated from the notes, but in a down-quilt kind of way. The quilt-jasmine is more similar to Somnus than anything else, but the citrus adds a lovely freshness that keeps it from being stifling. The amber isn't particularly noticeable, but may come out to play once the jasmine tones down a little.

It may just not really be his thing. I'd also suggest, though, that if he still seems interested in trying them, that you get him to try one at a time and wait until they dry down on his skin. With a few exceptions, my boyfriend tends to think that all BPAL smells very similar before it dries -- that sort of "generic bpal imp box" smell. There is that certain edge to wet bpal...I don't know if it's just a very common note or a natural stabilizer or what, but it's all he smells at first and isn't something he's all that fond of. But dry, most oils just keep increasing in complexity.

The best orange blossom scent for me is actually Vice. The chocolate and cherry fade away to a gentle warmth and leaves the scent of orange blossom water. But my chemistry may be weird; it's sickeningly sweet in the bottle.

Of those, I think I found Al-Shairon the strongest -- it's a beautiful spiced-orange scent. Vinland is a clear, cold, piercing scent that's wonderful for mornings and I found it to have a fair bit of strength. None of the rest of them are regulars for me, so I'll let other people handle them. Oh, and Gomorrah is *wonderful*! I'll add another vote for Dragon's Eye as a lilac scent if you can wear dragon's blood. And if you like foody scents the two strongest oils I've ever tried, hands down, were Shub Niggurath (nearly impossible to find) and Jack (GC). Jack made the *entire dining room* gently perfumed with wondrous spiced peaches and pumpkin from me swiping the imp wand across the back of my hand so that about a square inch of it was oiled. It was impressive. Your body chemistry may vary, of course.

... Ogun's ofrenda is heavy and dark cigar tobacco, gin and juniper, melon, chili pepper and a touch of honey. Ogun -- This stuff is weird. The chili pepper really jumps out at you, and there's something almost chocolate-y about the tobacco. As it dries, the tobacco recedes and leaves mostly melon and honey with a touch of pepper. I think it's not me, but I might get an imp and see if it grows on me.

From the GC Circle Swap. Ephemera: This is incredibly evocative...I hadn't thought a scent could be sad. I get the violet and chamomile, with a hint of rose and leaf notes. This is a masterpiece, but I don't actually want one; I'd never wear something this wistful.