filigree_shadow

I'm so glad this is cocoa and not the chocolate note. Chocolate sometimes goes sour on me, but cocoa is always good. This is like the cocoa in Tezcatlipoca. Lovely and dry. I guess the rice milk is what's making it smell like a creamy cocoa without being chocolate. I can't smell any teakwood under the other notes, but there is a barely detectable earthy dryness to it, and I'm guessing that's from the teakwood. The cocoa is strong at first, but after a couple of hours it really just smells like Snake Oil to me. (Which is fine!) I'm not quite sure that I prefer this over Snake Oil (I have an aged bottle that's extraordinary), but I'd like to have a bottle of Boomslang when I'm in the mood for a little twist on an old favorite.

The cardamom is really light in this, which is amazing since I generally avoid it because it's overwhelmingly strong on my skin. It seems like it's mostly a combination of neroli and berry. It's a little bitter or maybe tart, which I wasn't expecting. It reminds me a lot of a toned-down apple. It doesn't smell like juicy berries or anything like that... more like the sort of berry you're not supposed to eat. As it dries the Snake Oil part of it becomes more prominent, which is good because I'm knda iffy on that strange berry scent. The amber starts to come out more, too. Right now this scent smells a little off on me. Like maybe I need to let it age for a while. I'm not giving up on it, but I doubt I'll be wearing it soon.

I adore champaca and opoponax, and they smell glorious with Snake Oil. I like Snake Oil plenty well on its own, but I find this combination incredibly appealing. I love the incense in it. It smells more smoky and mysterious than Snake Oil usually does. I'll have to get a bottle of this for sure.

In the imp, it smells like dirt, but when I put it on, it smelled strongly of eucalyptus. As it's drying the earthiness is coming out more, but it's still doing that nose-tingly eucalyptus thing. Because of that, it smells cold to me.

I'm not so good at picking out floral notes. My nose tends to get them confused sometimes. However, whenever I smell something heady and strong, it almost always winds up being jasmine. I'm pretty sure that's what I'm smelling here. It's not simply jasmine; there's more to it. There's something in it that seems dewy, kind of watery and clear. Also slightly creamy. It develops a dryness over time, too. Maybe a dry wood like cypress? I like this one better than most of the jasmine scents I've tried. I have my handy dandy sniffie of the honeysuckle single note right here, and nope, that's not what I'm smelling. It's definitely jasmine. I mean, there might be other florals in there too, but I can't smell anything beyond the jasmine.

Vetiver, dusty pepper, nutmeg, thyme and grass over a deep, mossy wooden core. All I smell at first is vetiver. I smelled it as soon as I opened the imp. And then as it's drying... citrus? And something that makes me feel like I have to sneeze. Maybe that's pepper. Something planty in there, too. Whatever that planty part is, I think it's my favorite part of the scent. Although the other notes give it a nice twang, it seems to be still predominantly vetiver and pepper.

This smells practically like a honeydew single note on me at first. It's all I can smell. As it dries, it becomes less juice-like and much softer. It seems to be a vanilla/honeydew combination. I can't single out any carnation or oakmoss in it, which is okay with me because I often don't like those notes. This scent is very pleasant and pretty. I should note that I tried this not long after it came out, and I wasn't all that thrilled with it. I like it much better now, a year later.

Shadow is heavy on the cedar scent, which smells peppery on me for some reason. When you add in lemon (which very rarely works for me), it's kind of a no-win situation.

Hmmm. This is kind of an odd scent. The rose geranium and white musk are both strong in it, and they're not playing together very well on my skin. Not really smelling any apple or sandalwood in it, just this weird battle to the death of the other two notes. *sighs* I had hoped I'd like this because I'm a Libra, but... well, it's not working.

A very soft rose, with something vaguely metallic. It smells a bit like some kind of alcohol on my skin. I've tried it a couple of times, and I think it's just not working with my skin chemistry. I like the rose part (which is amazing because I hardly ever like rose), but whatever else is in there is not agreeing with me.

I got a huge blast of gardenia (it could be plumeria -- I've gotten gardenia and plumeria confused before) when I put this on. And unlike previous reviewers, this scent is LOUD on me. Not soft at all. Like I put my nose into a flower. A very yellow, very heady flower. I have to say, it's really well done and quite pretty... but I'm just not a floral gal.

This reminds me of Stardust because it has that sort of fizzy quality at the beginning, and then it turns into a very soft fruity scent with some floral. Maybe peach blossom? I'm also detecting something that smells a little nutty, but it's definitely not almond. It's what I would call a skin scent -- it doesn't smell like perfume per se, and it doesn't have a lot of throw. It would be lovely to give someone a hug and discover that she smelled like this.

I haven't liked most of the discontinued scents all that well, but this is one of the few that I like. I'm barely getting any lilac from it; it's mostly just myrrh and a wee bit of amber. It's not a dark scent, though, and I imagine that's the lilac being sneaky in the background and sweetening it up. Very pretty. I won't go out of my way to find more of it right now because I don't want to pay and arm and a leg for it, but I'd definitely buy a bottle if it were resurrected.

This scent has a soft, pretty lemon scent plus a dry cedar. It's much softer than I would have expected from the notes. I'm not sure what else to say about it... it just seems like verbena and cedarwood to me. Maybe a bit of an herbal overtone from the sage, but it's not very noticeable.

I'm not too fond of carnation or jasmine, and moss is hit or miss, but the other notes in this usually work on me. This smells like jasmine incense to me at first, and surprisingly, I kinda like it. Usually jasmine makes me run screaming in the other direction. As it's drying the patchouli warms it up and makes it smell even more incensey, much more so than floral. This scent has some deep, smoky notes in it that I really enjoy. The florals aren't overwhelming at all after it's dry. Just nice, sweet incense. I think this scent is calming and relaxing.

Weird. I thought I reviewed this a long time ago, but I see no review. Anyway... I like all the notes in this, and I like the combination. It smells really sweet at first, kind of like a mango tea. Then as it's drying the fig and patchouli come out and give it a wonderful richness. It smells sweet but well-rounded. It's full and lush, and a bit bold. I think this is a great scent, and I like it a lot better than Tweedledee.

Wow, that's a lot of almond. I could smell it when I opened the imp, before I even put any oil on my hand. But, on me almond usually screams at first and then it quiets down. And what's under it is CINNAMON. Tons of it. I'm not so crazy about almond or cinnamon, so this won't be an oil I can wear. However, I can see why people who like cinnamon like it.

Baku smells like lavender and licorice to me. I'd be surprised if there weren't any anise in here. I have a couple of sleepytime oils (TAL Nocturne & Sleepy Moon) that I like to use, and I don't think I could get used to the scent of this. It smells far too sharp and piercing to me. But since I don't have a problem with nightmares I probably don't need to try this one before sleeping.

I don't remember what this smelled like when it was wet, but when it's dry it's very strong on the sandalwood. I can barely detect the patchouli, and I can't smell rose at all. Luckily, I like sandalwood. It's a warm, sweet, dry scent. It smells almost golden. If I didn't know better I would have sworn there was a little bit of honey in this. It has a creamy undertone.

OK, I admit it. When this oil is wet, I don't like it. Too much juniper and cypress. It smells slightly astrigent/medicinal to me -- that could be from the cajeput. I have no idea if this will make sense to anyone, but it smells like it's an insect buzzing. Bzzt. Bzzt. It's the perfume equivalent of a monotonous annoying whine in your ear. However, when it's dry, it's pretty. That buzzing characteristic goes away entirely, and about half an hour into wear, I really start to like it. It smells like sweet myrrh with just a little bit of a floral background, and the cypress makes it smell dry. It's soft, kind of earthy (not like dirt, but like a natural scent), and sweet. I've discovered that if I don't like an oil's wet stage, I never wear it, no matter how much I like it when it's dry. So I'm putting this one into the swap pile, but I'm hesitating about it because it sure is tempting to keep it.

I wasn't all that interested in Spider, after reading the notes. Ginger's kinda iffy on me sometimes, and I was having trouble envisioning how it would work with mandarin and lime. I thought it might smell confusing. It doesn't. It blends very well. It's a bold scent and makes me think of someone who is confident. More specifically, a confident man. I don't think this scent is feminine at all, but, of course, I didn't expect it to be. It's called Spider. It's strong and sexy. My mystical powers of prediction sense that my husband will be getting a surprise bottle of this as a present after I submit my next BPAL order...

Initial reaction: Woah, that's a lotsa almond. This smells like almonds and honey on me, and very little else. I mean, I can tell there's more in the oil than just those notes, but I never would be able to guess what they are. As it's drying: The almond becomes a lot less strong, and the scent sweetens up. I can't pick out any florals, no ambrette, no apple (maybe the apple is what's causing the sweetness behind the scenes?)... and there's something that smells slightly dry in it, so I'm betting that's the fig leaf. It has a deep richness, so I'm assuming that's from the myrrh and musk. It's a warm, golden, deep scent. Once the almond backs off it's really quite lovely.

Almost all apple at first, but it fades down, and what's underneath it seems quite perfumey to me. I don't usually like apple scents, and at first the apple was so strong in this that I didn't like it at all. But after it's dry I like it a lot better. It still has a hint of apple, but I like that scent that's under the apple. It's pretty. A little more tart than I usually go far, but it would be a good scent for the fall.

Oooo, I like this one. Dry and incensey, with a hint of coconut. I really like that white sandalwood and the cocounut husk. It's light and sweet, dry and hazy. Quite nice! If you like the scent of coconut but you usually find it too strong in perfume oils, try this one. It's light and incredibly gorgeous in this.

Smells like lemon, tea, and... um, aftershave. Hee. It really does smell like Embalming Fluid and aftershave. It smells more complex -- maybe there's some sort of wood note in there? It's not as bright as Embalming Fluid, it's a little less intense. I like Embalming Fluid, but I like this one a little bit better.