Laurel the Woodfairy

Cielamara let me try this one--a very complex aquatic. Now, as I've said elsewhere, aquatics feel masculine to me, and this is no exception. She got flowers, but they barely peeked out on me. A touch of woods, though. I can definitely see this being the scent of a rain-drenched forest at night; it's a "dark blue" scent to me. Not my sort of scent, but once again Beth captures a feeling beautifully!

Very glad Cielamara let me try this one. Sea of Glass is *the* scent for aquatics-lovers. Pure, crystalline aquatic. And it didn't turn nauseating on me like some aquatics have done. A calm scent--brings to mind a perfectly smooth lake reflecting the sky. Definitely a freshwater scent. Aquatics, though, always seem very masculine to me, so this is not the sort of thing I'd wear often--but I admire it very much. Water of Notre Dame is still probably the aquatic of choice for me--it has more of a feminine cast for girly Piscean mermaids like myself.

tried with Cielamara on a lovely early-autumn day in the mountains This was pure sweet pea on me, and a perfect choice on Beth's part for the scent of innocence. However, although I admire her interpretation as always, I don't like the scent on me--so sweet as to be cloying. But then I never liked Desdemona anyway, precisely because she IS so damn pure and innocent. No spunk, that girl. If you're going to be strangled, at least have a wild, crazy young life while you can. Nope, sweet pea is the scent of that horribly perky cheerleader who blushes at dirty jokes and has big, blonde hair. The scent of Sandy from Grease, only there's no hope of her finding her bad-girl side. Definitely not for me!

Rose Red was nothing but green on me; I hated it. And I'm a mad rose-aholic, so that was a shock! Blood Rose is my favorite regular catalog rose scent. But the Holy Grail of all rose scents to me is (surprise!) Havisham. Oh, the love. It's a *fresh* rose scent, just gorgeous. I'm hoarding every drop I have, but I'll bet there are still decants out there.

Aw, that is the cutest thing!!! I love Dragon's Milk and it does make me feel "safe". Now I know why!

Dana O'Shee is *the* almond scent to me. Gluttony did have a lot of hazelnut, as did Hellcat, but both also had a lot else. Dana has a "pure almond" feel to me; I haven't found a pure hazelnut yet. OMG, Nutella!

If you have Midway coming, I'd say you're all set. I *love* Pink Sugar, and Midway--although it has a lot else going on--has a lovely cotton candy topnote that reminds me of it.

Caps with wands would be good, but what I *really* want are eyedroppers that fit perfectly onto my 5mL's--I *love* being able to apply on myself with droppers. I've bought some from Sunburst, and they were a little too small (and now I can't recall what size I bought, anyway!). I have assigned one to each bottle to use, but I really want some that fit perfectly so I can just replace the bottle tops with them. Anyone know what size that would be??? My health food store doesn't have the right size, and besides I really liked working with Sunburst. ETA: I found a different thread that deals with this. Never mind!

Grab some Gypsy Queen before it's gone--it "feels" much like Queen of Spades to me. They both just feel very purple and regal and feminine. And it sounds like Beatrice was made for you, so get her while she's here, too: in the story, she is associated with a certain *purple* flower, and I'll just bet the "rich blossoms and spicy perfumes" capture that.

This arrived while my mom was here, and I tried it on her first--her sig. scent is White Linen, and she immediately said this was the closest in terms of "feel" of any BPAL I've given her. The only note they have in common is lily of the valley, so that must be what she was picking up on. I immediately said "sandalwood! with a white floral topnote." And then I read the notes--I'm getting good at this. On me, the opium comes out and blends richly with the sandalwood; in fact, it reminds me of YSL's Opium--sexy oriental. The vanilla-floral does not come out nearly as strongly on me as on mom. In fact, the mandarin is a tad bitter on me, since for some reason my skin is ignoring the sweet notes. I think I will give it to mom--it seems like Belle Epoque really loves her!

Hamadryad is very spicy-floral on me rather than woodsy, so just be aware that YMMV on that. Samhain is *the* embodiment of autumn, although there's a lot going on it in besides forest--I recommend it as autumn-in-a-bottle, but not pine-free forest. Hmmm. Wolfsbane is greeny-green-green on me, and so is La Belle Dame sans Merci. Green notes tend to amp on me, though.

Very pleased to have a decant at last--at some point I want a full collection of Tarot oil 10mL bottles, but with my current finances, it's not in the cards. HORRIBLE pun, I'm sorry! But seriously, lately I am feeling two things that draw me to this oil-- 1. I'm feeling drawn towards the Tarot in general, as a crucial part of my practice, and 2. I could really use some grounding and empowering from the Mother Goddess aspect of deity. So The Empress is just what I need, regardless of scent. But it does not hurt that I love roses! ::sniff:: OMG, this has the same undernote as Queen. Something almost *chocolately*, but in a dry cocoa way, not sweet. I think it's sandalwood that does that on me. And lovely roses on top of it--elegant, lighter roses than in my other favorite rose blends, Blood Rose and Spellbound. The scent has depth but the rose note itself is lighter, more like Moon Rose. The scent of a cool beauty, sitting quietly lost in her own wise meditations. And the scent of an altar bedecked with sandalwood incense and an offering of fresh roses. This is so perfect for ritual use for me. It "feels" like Queen but belongs to Tarot rather than Voodoo, and thus is much more in line with me. Very happy about The Empress.

I appreciated getting to swap and try this--Brian always cries when he hears Loreena McKennitt's version of the ballad set to music. Really cute. But, he said it's too flowery for him to wear, and vetiver and jasmine are both bad on me, so neither of us can wear it, alas. I don't get any rose, just the super-sweet gardenia and jasmine, with the bitter vetiver underneath. An interesting, androgynous study in contrasts, but just not right for him or me.

XXII came to me entirely empty; must have been a popular vial. Oh, well, on to... CLXXX A fruity, sweet-syrupy oil--pineapple and coconut and...what *is* that? Something lush, gardenia perhaps? Adding extra depth to the fruits. Very tropical and heady. And thus concludes my foray into the world of Chaos! Last reviewed by rhubarbbear.

...and on the other wrist: XXXIII: 33 is pale yellow in color and smells like...a pineapple! Similar to Baba Yaga, actually. There are other fruits in here; I think I'm detecting a hint of cherry. This is a Chaotic Fruit Salad, which sounds like a 1950s recipe. Last reviewed by paperdoll.

And the next day of testing begins... Now there is no question who decanted this one, due to the Mickey Mouse icon on the imp! LXXXVII Andra's Chaos is a beautiful color--peachy-pink. It's a spicy one; a strong cinnamon over floral. *This* floral is one I recognize, alas--jasmine. Spicy florals are great (exhibit A: Hamadryad), but jasmine, of course, is not my friend. Last reviewed by rhubarbbear.

I cleaned off after yoga and now have 2 unscented wrists again, so... XVII , decanted by Hypothermya, whom I really miss! Come baaaack! Oh, this one is nice. Fresh clean citrus topnote (lime, I think?), followed by a clean linen sort of scent. Like White Rabbit without the tea. This is a summer tea party when you can't face hot tea--sipping homemade limeade from a crystal glass at a linen-covered table on the porch in summer, and feeling oh-so-glamorous for it. Last reviewed by rhubarbbear.

...and on the other wrist, round two: XLVIII: This is really hard, with no notes listed to help me out. This one has a woody basenote with something light and floral on top. It's a *light* wood--balsam, perhaps? The floral is a little powdery on drydown, and there's a wee hint of spice. Rather nice, but faint--I have to really snuffle my wrist to find it. Last reviewed by rhubarbbear.

Wash, rinse, repeat--literally, had to wash off the last round to try some more. XV: Oh, this one is *insane*! It smells like cherry candy with a slight hint of strawberry--like a Jolly Rancher, basically. Sometimes cherry turns to cough syrup on me--that's not the case here, but it's not like a "real" cherry either. Just very candy sweet. Rather fun. Last reviewed by yellowrose.

...and on the other wrist, XXIX There's got to be rose in this, which I always love. But there's something else--a hint of spice, a hint of green. The rose is fading into a wood note, and now that's fading as well--this one didn't linger long on me at all.

My chaos-run-amucks have arrived! XCV This one contained less than any of the other imps, whether b/c it spilled or b/c everyone liked it the most, I can't tell! Anyway, it is an airy white floral, very graceful. I think there's a touch of aquatic in there. I'm having a very hard time isolating notes--it's not powdery, but it has a pale, light feeling to it. It's colorless in the vial. Last reviewed by paperdoll.

A frimp from the Lab; I am grateful but wary, as the notes sound very "hippy", which is not my thing (random Eric Cartman moment--"Hippies! They want to save the earth, but all they do is smell bad and smoke pot!" ). However...I am pleasantly surprised. This is like a lighter, sweeter Cathedral. The patchouli and myrrh are *not* strong on me, which is amazing. This evokes all my Gothic-architecture obsessions--it smells like beautiful old carved wood getting warm in the sun coming in through arched windows. Really well-blended and nice. I don't know if I would wear it on its own--it would be for layering or for a *great* altar scent. I wish I had incense that smelled like this. Thank you, Labbies!

Ordered this one as we can always use more prosperity. But not in a greedy way--we really want to buy a house, and I want to use this oil to help me focus on visualizing the things that need to happen for us to be able to do so sometime within the next year. The name makes me think of Thanksgiving; I may have to wear it then just on general principle. When I put it on, there was a bad moment of cherry cough syrup, but it evaporated at once. It settled into cherry-vanilla-almond; yum! Cherry almond is just always a good combination to me; I've had lotions and shampoos with that scent and always like it. Of course Beth's is more complex than those--the vanilla is a great base. This is a cheerful, reassuring scent that says it's going to be ok, the way home-baked goods make you feel better. I'll report back on how it works for bringing the $ our way.

Well, out of those options, Bon Vivant would certainly be preferable to Shill at the gym! I wear BPAL for yoga--Coiled Serpant or Sudha Segara usually, but that's a little different from the gym since it's a big studio and no one gets very sweaty. When I'm going to hit the machines I use something very light but happy, like Dormouse.

A frimp from the Lab, who must know I am simply gagging to go to Venice. Since I haven't been able to go yet, my strongest association is with Jeanette Winterson's novel The Passion, which is set partially in Venice and portrays the city as alive with magick...the particular magick, I always imagine, of those of us whose element is water. So, obviously, I have lots of positive baggage in trying this scent. On me, Venice is softly aquatic-floral, which is totally appropriate. The lemon and currant notes keep it interesting and distinctive, fresh enough to balance the dreaded sweet jasmine (although I wish I was getting more rose). This is feminine with a kick. Yes, I can imagine Villanelle, the gorgeous gondolier heroine of The Passion, wearing this. It's not an everyday scent for me, but I am keeping Venice--it will be a hope-chest imp to wear when I finally get to Italy!