filigree_shadow

Having been with my husband for over five years now, I was especially interested to try this for its rekindling effect. It smells like: incense and herbs, with a very pleasant orange overtone. It's slightly powdery, which makes me think maybe there's some kind of resin in there. I can't get more descriptive than that because I can't really tell what's in it. It's bright and smoky at the same time, and the herbs are actually somewhat gentle. I wouldn't want it to be any sharper. Over time it becomes mainly incense with a bit of sweetness. The impression it makes one me: It reminds me of comfort with a twist. Like the night my husband wore Geek for the first time -- he was still him, but he smelled all new and good and very intriguing. I enjoy this scent, and I like the way it makes me feel.

Unfortunately, I'm with the previous reviewer on this one. My skin just can't handle dirt scents. I get zero florals, incense, creaminess, etc. This smells like DIRT in all capital letters, screaming at the top of its lungs. I can even smell it on parts of my hands where I didn't apply it. This one's not gonna work for me.

Spanked is seriously leather on my skin. Lots of rather masculine leather, from the first second through the fourth hour. It has a little bit of spice playing around the edges and just enough bourbon to make it seem slightly relaxed. Right before it fades away completely it smells mostly boozey. As luck would have it, I love leather and booze, so yay!

I wish this smelled as good on me as it smells on everyone else. On me it smells like a cross between suntan lotion and overly creamy coconuts. And it's very, very strong. I was hoping maybe that would happen just one time, but I've tried it twice now and I got the same result. It's an interesting scent, just not one I'd choose to wear. The other Orisha ones I've tried have been spectacular, though... so I guess it's not so bad that only one of them doesn't work for me.

Hubba hubba. At first this smells like Dorian with cherries, and then it ends up like creamy dragon's blood. The whole thing, start to finish, is exactly what I love. If you can't stand dragon's blood then obviously this isn't going to work. But I luuuurve it and get every blend I can find that has dragon's blood in it. And that smooth creaminess behind it in Dragon's Milk feels like luxury. I would love to bathe in this.

Oh, pretty! Reminds me very strongly of, um, BPAL. When I open the lid of my imp box, I swear this is the scent that wafts out. It's a bright, sweet mix of scents. It does smell floral, but creamy too. I keep thinking, "Oh, this reminds me of Titania, no wait, Loralei, no, Nocturne..." I can't pin it down. It seems like it's almost crossing the line into a rose scent but it never quite gets there. And there's an absoultey gorgeous spice underneath it, but I have no idea what it is. Nothing astringent or sour here for me, it's soft and playful. I'm amazed that this works one me because honey doesn't smell so great on my skin. But this works beautifully. This one is going on my big bottle list for sure.

YES. It smells like it belongs on an antique make-up table next to one of those sterling silver brush and mirror sets. Quite perfumey, and a little bit powdery -- but in a good way. This is what I imagine upper-class women smelled like in the 1940s. The perfume of a woman who is feminine but strong. It's a take-me-seriously scent. Not sure if I can pull this one off, but I'm sure as hell going to try. And this is nothing at all like the impression I thought I'd get from Ozymandias, but there you go.

I'm with the other reviewers who said this smells like cedar. Very strongly. Like Cathedral. I smell no dirt, nothing rooty or spicy. Just straight up cedar. Very sweet resin. Although it was quite strong at first, after about 15 minutes it softened up a lot. And I'm getting the same sort of comforted feeling from this that I get from Aureus. I'm thinking about wearing this at bedtime.

Very bright, with a citrus-like quality to it. It smells kind of juicy. It's hard to describe -- of the citrus scents I'm familiar with, it smells closest to lime. It's tangy instead of sour. And there's something underneath there, too... as it dries I think I smell something that's almost floral but not quite. It's sweet. Give it an hour or so before you make up your mind, because it changes. I like the scent, but to be honest it smells like bath products to me -- not really like a personal fragrance. I'm not saying it smells soapy, I just mean that it's the type of bold invigorating scent that people like to use in scrubs and stuff.

At first it's bright and minty. Very slight lime twang to it, but mainly mint. Then almost immediately it turns into a whole lot of lime. Tangy. Probably from the apple. This is actually pretty nice for a minty scent, but it's still a little bit too minty for me personally. Quite bright and fresh-smelling, though, and I don't get soap from this at all. And it's quite soft for a mint -- not bold.

Oops, this is kind of a sour floral on me. And it's giving me a headache. Hunh. This is the first BPAL that has ever done that. It's strong, too. I think I'm going to have to was this off...

Definitely fruity, but not overly sweet. Plum with some florals. It's not sharp at all, it's very round. Smooth. This actually smells more perfumey to me than other BPAL oils. Very feminine. I like it a lot -- since the floral scent is in the background, this is definitely one I could wear. It's certainly light enough for spring. I have to admit, I am extremely impressed with the Orisha blends. The ones I have tried have all been lovely and complex.

I knew I should have gotten a 5mL of this straight off. Deep and musky, with just a little bit of resin. I don't think this smells masculine, but it is dark. The saffron is lovely. Overall this is a beautiful blend. Put some of this on my hubby, and on him the sweet resin is a lot stronger. I like it on him, too. I think this one and Hellion are the only ones that work well on both of us. Edited on 7/9/08 to add: I've been letting my imp sit a good long while, and now it's about two years later and I'm wearing it again. Wow. It smells fabulous. It reminds me a whole lot of my aged Al-Azif bottle from the Springtime in Arkham series. My husband wore Oblivion today too, and we both liked it a lot. I'm now trying to talk him into buying a bottle of it.

I saw all the comparisons to Queen of Spades in the reviews here, so I put Frumious Bandersnatch on one arm and QoS on my other arm. FB is spicier on me. The "spicy carnation" part is prominent. QoS is fruitier, rounder, and more floral. Actually, I expected FB to be more floral than it is. They are slightly similar to my nose, but I like the sweetness of QoS better than the spiciness of FB. Wish I got more plum out of this like some other reviewers do. This is scent is plenty pleasant in its own right, but I'm afraid that nothing will win when being compared to QoS for me. Kinda wish I hadn't done that comparison now, just to see what I had thought of FB all on its own.

I put a little swipe of this on my wrist and thought it smelled a bit like Scherezade, which makes NO sense. So I put a more generous amount on and sniffed again. Big apples this time, but that really only lasts for about 10 minutes and then everything starts to blend. I'm finding out that I like these chili peppers. It's the right kind of spicy quality for me, I think. And the coconut gives it a creamy background. I thought the pineapple would be overwhelming, but to be honest I don't think I can even smell it. The weird thing is that I am still reminded of Scherezade, only sweeter. There's no red musk in this, so I wonder what combination of notes is giving me that impression. This is a fantastic blend. I'm not nuts about the apple stage but I love it after that. It's quite intriguing -- one of the ones where I have trouble picking out the notes. Very well done! Shango is going on my "wanted" list for 5mLs...

I very nearly bought a 5mL of this at the update instead of an imp, and I'm glad I didn't. Not that this is a bad scent or anything -- I do like it, it's just that I like Ogun better. Yemaya and Ogun both have that melon that reminds me of Fee, but Yemaya is that same very bright melon and candyish melon that Fee has. Ogun is darker and more my style. Anyway, Yemaya is quite pretty and sweet. It's absolutely melon.

Leather. Warm, sexy, Marlboro Man kind of leather. Rowr. It smells a little sharper, more like De Sade, on my husband than it does on me. I think it smells better on me! But he won't let me keep it, even though I love it! In reviews a lot of times I say something like "This one is not for me." This one is FOR ME! Please please please bring this back! Me and gangstaknitta alone will make it worth your while!!!

This smells creamy on me for some reason. Rich. And it's about as green as I like to get. To me, this has a vaguely feminine plant-like scent without smelling like a flower. (Which is good, for me.) It's slightly sweet, but nothing at all like fruit. For some reason it reminds me of a leaf. It's fresh and smooth and interesting. I like it a lot.

I sniffed it in the imp and thought "Oh no, this is going to be like Zombi, just dirt dirt dirt." But it's not. Yes, there is an unmistakable soil smell to it, but it's sweet. It's not that pungent oakmossy dirt scent. Reminds me of loam. As it's drying it definitely gets an acidic characteristic -- probably the pickles nineveh was picking up on. But then it moves into a combination of something exceedingly sweet and powdery but darkly musky as well. For some reason I often think of scents in terms of music. If it's really sweet it seems high-pitched, and if it's dark and deep it's low-pitched. This one is a soprano and bass duet. But it's not comfy or calming at all, so unfortunately it's not for me. Very interesting and well-done, though.

Very woody. I can't wear pine because it makes me think of cleaning products, and I can't wear cedar because it smells peppery on me. Odin smells like sweet wood with some kind of musky ... hold on, it's getting kind of a spice/herb twang to it. Um, wow. Holy crap. Excuse me, I have to go put this on my husband. Right now.

I agree with SeaMonkey -- Ogun reminded me of Fee right at first, but Fee was a bit too sweet for me. I like this one better, it's darker and more complex. The melon backs down a lot on drying. I can still smell melon, but wow, the tobacco and chili pepper is much better than I expected it would be. It's not too sweet or too spicy. I'm surprised because I thought this would be heavy, and it's not. I also thought it would be masculine, and it's not. Anyone who is even slightly interested in melon should try this. Actually this is a very comforting scent to me. It doesn't remind me of a comfortable time or place, it reminds me of a comfortable person. I think Ogun is going to get a lot of love.

ETA: This was from April 10. I can't find the appropriate thread right now so I'm putting this here. Holy fricking crap. This has been one of the best days I've had in a long time. I'm thinking it ranks right up there with the day we brought our puppy Prudence home. I had so many packages delivered today that the mailman left one of those plastic mail bins outside my front door. And this is what was in it: My March update order with 5mLs of Peony Moon, the two Monster Baits, Saturn, and Uranus. And 3 imp packs with imps of all but two of the March GC updates, plus 13 frimps. YAY! I also got packages from herbhealer (Thunderbird!!) and sheila (with tons of stuff off my wishlist that I bought from her, including a 5mL of Beatrice, which is now my spring scent!). In addition to that, I got my "mystery box" from eBay, which had in it decants of Peony Moon and the Monster Baits! Plus tons of other stuff too, including 7 BPAL imps! I also got my fabulous order from Arcana, with soaps and perfume oils, and they frimped me a couple of oils plus a free big bar of Dia de los Muertos soap! And here is where I'm saving the best for last. I got a total of 13 decants that I bought from lorajc, including these: Snowblind, Skadi, Queen of Spades , and FORMULA 54. This has been my BEST BPAL DAY EVER!!!! Thank you thank you thank you to everyone who sent me these great packages!!!

Brownie batter. That exact scent. At the stage where the powdery bits are still clinging to the sides of the bowl and you're mixing in the eggs. (I'm not the only one who buys brownie mix in a box, right?) There is something else in there, too, but I can't place it. Something sweet. It changes a LOT after 10-15 minutes. It goes a little nutty, and it softens up a whole lot. No more brownie batter. Still chocolatey, but for some reason it reminds me more of Quik than brownies. (I'm not the only one who uses chocolate milk powder out of a tin, right?) I like this scent, but I have no idea what to do with it. I like foody blends, but I want to smell reminiscent of food, not exactly like it. Maybe someone will recommend some good layering ideas over in the Layering thread. (And now you all know my secret shame: I can't cook.)

Mabon is medicinal at first, but I think that's because apple tends to go acidic on me. The wine is a nice touch, and I can detect it. It smells woody somehow, but not strongly. It does remind me of apple cider, shy on the apple, heavy on the cider. After about 10 minutes it begins to smell somewhat like some of the chemicals I use in chemistry lab. Oh dear. I don't think this is going to work for me. After an hour or so it's a much lighter, sweeter, fruitier scent, and I like it a lot more. But that initial phase is just too strong for me to get through.

Cerberus is the King of Morph. The first time I tried it, when I put it on I thought "whew, where's that spice coming from?" I didn't think I was going to like it. After about ten minutes it changed into a deep, rich, almost earthy scent. Slightly bitter but not overly so. Intriguing. Dry, it mellowed out into a soft chocolate figgy scent with just a little hint of spice to it. I I liked it, so I decided to wear it again. This time, immediately after I put it on I thought "Lemons?! What the --?" I even checked the imp to make sure I hadn't picked up the wrong one. Okay... same imp, totally different scent than the first time. As it started drying I could tell it's not actually lemon, it must be the juniper berry. Then my beloved fig started to come out, and I got a tiny bit of chocolate. Half an hour later it turned into a barely bitter but sweet warm fig scent Somehow Cerberus manages to smell sweet and deep at the same time. It smells nothing at all like my dog, but it evokes the same types of feelings -- it's cozy and friendly and comforting. And I think that's what Beth was going for, so yay! It worked!