Laurel the Woodfairy

:Nods at Minna: Tombstone, definitely. Also Snake Oil, Perversion, and Scherezade.

Celebrity Death Match: Black Rose: vs. Spellbound: I find that Black Rose plays well with others--i.e. for layering, whereas Spellbound needs to stand alone. So I'll pair Black Rose with Haunted or Vice or anything that I want to add some dark rose goodness to, but Spellbound *already* has all the depth it can stand. If that makes sense.

Oh, this is a beautifully layered one! The spruce (which smells like *blue* spruce, almost like juniper) alternates perfectly with the iced fruits, although I can't pick out individual fruits, and underneath it all the creamy musk. I think it's the musk that's reminiscent of Snow White--in fact, I think this may be the scent of her mother, dead at the beginning of the fairy tale but no doubt a beautiful, more sophisticated and complicated version of Snow White. I imagine this Queen in her crystalline Ice Palace in the center of a spruce forest, at the head of a banquet table with a centerpiece made from mounds of iced fruits on a gilded platter. She is pale, lovely, and utterly poised, undisturbed by baby Snow White toddling around her feet. Wear it when you need to feel strong and cool, but not at all brittle.

Lemon and jasmine...it actually smells like a lemon-flavored cake at a garden party, with fresh or candied flowers used for decoration. I'm getting visions of a Southern tea party, ladies in big hats and floaty dresses on the terrace. Awfully sweet and innocent for a prostitute, but then they do say men love the smell of baking...

Ooo, I like how this one tiptoed up on me on silent ballerina toes. At first it was plums and berries, less "silly" than Jester but similar, and berries aren't my thing--I could definitely see the Jolly Ranger comparison. However, as the sugar note crept out it became more subtle and complex. A bright, clear plum dusted with powdered sugar to make it more holiday-appropriate. Now I feel like a Sugar Plum Faery. I am wearing this to dance class today. :twirl: Edited to add: just used this in my oil burner, and found I like it best as a room scent: it really brightens up an icky cold day without being overtly "Christmasy" like other Yule LEs; it's great for that long bleak January stretch when you don't want to be reminded the holidays are over but need some major cheering.

In reading these reviews, I think I'm lucky Ravenous didn't do anything weird or bad on me, although it didn't do anything fantastic either. My first thought was, "Like Masquerade, but less complex." Yup. It has Masquerade's patchouli and orange blossom, without the carnation and ambergris. If you like the idea of Masquerade but can't wear carnation and/or ambergris, this is how you can still play. But since Masquerade is my favorite nighttime scent, this seemed a little tame. I wore it to work and it was nice. Eh. I think I'll send it to someone who'll find it madly sexy.

Ohhh...OHHHHH! This one caused me possibly the most visceral reaction I have ever had with a BPAL--I turned to Brian and said, "I want a cookie! I WANT A COOKIE NOW, DAMMIT!" And almost wept at the lack of cookies, because this smells like heaven. This is not just the smell of eating a fresh hot crispy spicy cookie, this is the smell of getting laid by a fresh hot crispy spicy cookie. I will never again wear it unless cookie-dough ice cream is nearby in large quantities.

:huge hugs to everybody, including me, who is hurting: We are the most fabulous-smelling women ever to have life deal roughly with our hearts. May our individual and collective *fabulosity* carry us through to a peaceful and happy shore. And let me just say that wearing Sugar Cookie and then eating raw cookie dough is like having Grandma hug you and tell you it's all ok.

I am going to save most of my decanted Skadi imp (thank you, Clover! ) for when I have the inevitable winter cold or flu--it cleared my sinuses in a powerful Vaporub/Noxema kind of way. Yet it smells much better than either of those products due to all the fresh pine. I don't know if it contains eucalyptus, but it *affects* me that way--strong and bracing, blowing all the cobwebs out of my nose like a Giantess' breath. Whew.

Oh, gorgeousness! Thanks to Minilux for this giftie, since I wouldn't have thought to try it (me: "what the hell does an *eye* smell like??"). I should have read the description--I adore lily of the valley and also lilac, and this oil overflows with both. The dragon's blood resin keeps the flowers from being "old lady" (their unfair reputation) and sexes things up. This will be the springtime version for all of those (including me) who loved Dragon's Milk for cold weather--this is just as distinctive and beautiful, replacing the foodiness with floral.

Thanks to dear Minilux for sending Morgause my way... Oh, what a lovely sorceress she is! If you missed Queen of Spades, this is similar, but softer. It's like Queen of Spades crossed with Midnight--that familiar sweet bouquet predominates, with a touch of plums and incense underneath. Softer than I expected, but that makes it very wearable--the Queen can be a little too much on me. I badly needed to feel strong and grounded (yet always feminine!) today, and Morgause does the trick.

I do Moon but not Sun magick--it's a Goddess thing, what can I say?--so I might not have tried Stations of the Sun had not the lovely Lab sent this as a freebie. Ahathoor is indeed both hot and dry--the sun over a desert, and the layers of what *seems* to be amber and incense evoke the Sun over Morocco (i.e. the fragrance as well as the place--I think they would layer well). Now that jj_j said "balsam" I can completely see that--there's a pale woody note underneath. I question the heliotrope, though, b/c that note is *vile* on me and my skin tends to pick it up even in small amounts, but there is certainly no vileness here! So if there is any, it's so blended in as to be harmless on me.

Ooo, good thread! I have yet to find anything like Havisham (sob). For me, Black Phoenix had some of the same feel as Queen of Spades--they both seem so purple.

Mmmm...this is the really high-quality homemade spiked eggnog, not the cheap sh*t from the grocery store! Beth's luscious rum note, with spices and cream. Surprisingly, not too-too sweet; quite wearable...but don't be surprised if people want to lick you.

Dear Clover sent this to me, and the stupid post office held it 'til post-Xmas. But you know what? This is a *fabulous* post-holiday scent! Clean and bracing, it's a walk in a fresh pine forest to clear your head after all the excess food/booze/materialism (much as I enjoyed all three! ) And is it just me, or is there a faint breath of white flowers similar to Snow White under all the greenery? Definitely a *snowy* forest here. Perfect all winter long, and if you hold the bottle over your head you just might get a kiss.

Snow White and Samhain were the top 2 LE's I've wanted to try--both elicited an outpouring of impassioned, contradictory reviews, which made me think both of them must be 1. really complex and 2. unusual enough to be interesting, whether or not I liked them. Minilux graciously helped me to Samhain (I *love* it!) and now Clover has enabled me to try Snow White. :rubs hands in anticipation: On me: ohhh...ooo...mmm...this is gorgeous! But I see the problem now--it smells soft and creamy and unique, but very hard to describe. I can pick out faint white musk, a touch of marzipan, a breath of white floral and the merest hint of coconut. It's like a more sophisticated, ethereal version of Lush's Snowcake soap. Utterly addictive. I want to eat it. And make bath products out of it. And order much more. This is the perfect winter scent--not too sweet or too powerful, but somehow evocative of baking cookies and snow and icicles. Beth, you knock my wooly winter socks off.

Dear Minilux sent this to me Ohhh! Yuletide bursts out of the bottle laughing a merry belly laugh of irrepressible cinnamon and fresh green pines--you can almost hear it saying, "Ho ho ho!" And then the warm red berries come out for depth. This will be a *fabulous* room scent, although pkwench is right--it also works as "potpourri for the skin" (well said, wench!). I will hoard some for next year but enjoy through New Year's. In sum: a holly jolly oil!

Note: if *your* imp of Baba Yaga sprouts chicken legs and runs away from you, say to it, "Imp of brown, turn around! Imp of brown, please sit down!" Or the actual Russian, whatever that may be. And then it will behave, just like the Crone's house. This is a bright sunny-yellow smelling oil, bright tropical fruits and flowers with a hint of spice. It would be a perfect island vacation fragrance. It's the scent of a Crone with a young heart and a whimsical sense of humor...I imagine an old lady wearing bright turquoise eye shadow and pink lipstick, in a Hawaiian-print dress and a lei of fresh flowers. She's on vacation in Florida, playing shuffleboard and sipping fruity daiqueris. Give it to your grandma and make her smile.

I'm excited that Beth has created another yogic blend--I gave my yoga teacher Namaste for Yule and then found that this one had arrived as a freebie with my latest order! I've been very into yoga for the past 4 years, and I'm hoping Beth is testing the waters, and that if this one sells well she will create the full chakra line; I *really* want a heart chakra oil. But we'll start at the root, as it were. Oooo...the "venerable, solemn" incense from Cathedral, but much more wearable; I can see how you could read this as chocolate figs. The patchouli is warm and beautifully smooth, complex and not 'dirty-hippie' at all. We work on kundalini-rising breath in my class--it's for deep-cleansing of the chakras, getting all the psychic ickiness out of your system. I will wear this one for class; I'm really happy to have a specific oil for the purpose.

Oh wow. Let's see if I can review this w/o blushing or giving TMI. This is another one I gave Brian for Yule, and I begged him to try it first. I immediately squealed, "It's 'O' for boys!" And it is. Vanilla/amber sex in a bottle, with a touch of juniper to be slightly more masculine than O. This should be a Voodoo blend, it works so well. Allow me to suggest slathering it on a boy of your choice--from neck to priapus--and just *see* what happens.

I gave this to Brian for Yule, and I LOVE it on him!!! He should do his own review, but here are my impressions: Tombstone smells like the cowboy who is the narrator in The Big Lebowski. Yes, you know the one. He's a sweet old guy in full cowboy gear who turns up in bars and orders sarsparilla and gets his long white moustache in it. This oil is warm and sweet and delightful, a Hollywood cowboy with a heart o' gold. It's also *strong*; the whole apartment smelled deliciously of vanilla and rootbeer after Brian applied it. And there's just that touch of cedar peeking out to make it a little more manly (although you girls can totally wear it). Tombstone is a rootbeer-float toast to the man who likes tough-guy old Western movies but is a total softie at heart.

Shakespeare's Kate always reminds me of my grandmother, Katherine--very strong-willed and a total sweetheart, but she did indeed have a "shrew" reputation when she was a glamorous businesswoman in the 1940s, b/c she had balls and was ahead of her time. Katharina is strong and bright and straightforward--she wears her orange-blossom and apricot heart on her sleeve, nothing secretive or subtle happening. I mean that in a *good* way--Katharina is bold and forward; she will tell it like it is, but always with the kindest intentions. Because of the apricot, this seems like a less dirty version of Depraved, if anyone found that too dirty (I like it, myself). I would like to give this to my Grandma Kay, but she has been an Avon loyalist for lo, these 60 years. And you just can't sway a strong-willed Kate/Katherine/Katharina, now can you?

Rose Red: The Passion. The Obsession. The Drama. I badly want to try Snow White and Gingerbread Poppet (decants, anyone?), but this was the *one* Yule LE that I had to have, the one that made me start making weird "wanting" noises when Beth posted the Yule update, the one I begged Brian to buy for me. And since today is Yule, now I have the lovely little bottle with the flaming-heart logo sitting in front of me (or is it a rose on top of a heart? Hard to make out). I madly adore Beth's roses and have been systematically trying them all, looking for the fairest of them all... In the bottle: whoa! Green! Now I see what everyone means. A bouquet of red roses framed with tons of greenery and a breath of cold air--perhaps because a highbrow florist has just delivered it to your door as a Yule gift from an admirer. On me: This is going to sound insane, but somehow I'm not really getting much rose from this. It's *in* there, but the greenery is way stronger. The crispness of it almost reminds me of green apples! Well, I do like green scents, but this is not what I expected--on me, instead of roses on the bush, it is a tangle of greenery with one last winter rose clinging to it...like the castle garden in Beauty and the Beast. Verdict: Beautiful background greenery, but I am actually going to have to layer some Blood Rose with this to make it rose enough for me. I'm building my own little BPAL bouquet. A bizarre reaction, but intriguing...

I don't even *like* gardenias, but I had to buy this in honor of the lovely Lady whose image (by Waterhouse) looks mournfully down on me every day when I wake up. I have a Pre-Raph poster gallery in our bedroom, and I put the Lady next to La Belle Dame sans Merci, whom I see as her flip side--the woman to whose love men are enslaved and go to their doom, just as the poor Lady did for Lancelot. It's a yin/yang thing, I guess. *Anyway*, on to the oil... I am happy to say the sweet, sweet gardenias fade like sunshine on the summer hills, and cool shadowy aquatics and ginger remain. A gentle, sad scent, complex and wistful as she herself. ::softly sings the poem set to Loreena McKennitt's music::

A Lab freebie--I think Beth may have noticed my love of white florals. Hmmm....Muse is indeed "light and invigorating"; I wish the lime came out more prominently on me, since tuberose and jasmine are a touch too sweet for my taste when paired together. Muse seems like a daytime version of Midnight, very classy and feminine. But I seem to like my white florals "dry", if we can use wine terms for comparison. Muse is for those who like a sweet dessert wine bouquet, whereas I am more of a dry chardonnay girl. I can see the loveliness of this, but it's off to swap.