Laurel the Woodfairy

I would have done mad, crazy things to get my hands on this, such is my love of Morgan le Fey--but it turned out all I had to do was swap with pkwench. It's a foresty scent, definitely pine, but with a warm breath of flowers and a touch of lemon to soften it. A warm meadow fragrance--tiny white starry flowers blooming in the shade of lemon trees and pines. An enchanted valley where no wind blows and time stands still, suspended and evergreen...just beautiful. It faded fast on me, but I don' t care.

I sqeeee'd like mad when I found this as a gift with my latest order. I've been so excited about this one, and it's just what I expected--pure dragon's blood and amber, perfectly balanced. Because my mind is pretty random, I immediately thought of the novel Dragonfly in Amber, by Diana Gabaldon (historical romance), which always struck me as a cool title and a cool image--and now a great fragrance; warm and strong.

Whoa! I simply can't believe what Kali did--she so perfectly lived up to her name for me, but in the most unexpected way possible. I put some on--and it went DARK, DARK CHOCOLATE! Loudly, like that. A big wave of hot powerful darkness. I was a little scared. But then--the chocolate faded entirely, and do you know what I got? White Linen. Yep, that's right. The very complicated, sophisticated floral Estee Lauder perfume that is my mom's signature scent. I've asked people to help match it in BPAL, and they suggested Veil, but on the drydown--Kali is it. I got a little misty-eyed, b/c that scent is such a strong association for me. So Kali came on dark and strong, and then turned into...my mother. Wasn't there a thread somewhere that someone else had a poweful mother-association with Kali? But her description sounded very different than what it did on me. Er...this almost belongs in Walking the Old Paths instead of reviews. I love Kali but am slightly weirded out. She moves in mysterious ways.

Oh wow! I love this! On me it's a rich, strong blood-orange scent--not bright hot-weather citrusy orange, but the fancy oranges they used to put in Victorian kids' Christmas stockings. Definitely a nighttime scent--what I thought was red musk must actually be patchouli; regardless, very warm, spicy, and rich. I was sorry to find the orange faded leaving only the muskier base notes, b/c that juiciness was my favorite part of this. The dry-down is fine, just less special and festive. feeling a sudden urge to put on a mask and sing Masquerade from Phantom of the Opera..."Take your fill--let the spectacle astound you!"

Mmmm...reminds me of Snake Oil, only more feminine and fae--so of course I love it! Baby dragons are mighty lucky if they get to drink this, that's all I'm sayin'. This is my first Draconic scent--between Dragon's Milk, Bone, Heart, Eye, and Tears, about all we need is a Dragon's Tail for a full dragon!! But this is the one that appealed to me most, and it's exactly what I hoped: the dragon's blood and honey-vanilla in perfect balance; neither dominates. I really like both, although only for certain moods--this will not be my everyday oil, but when I want something sweet but not too foody, with a touch of the mystical, it's perfect. I'm also sensing some good layering experiments ahead... :schemes:

How does Beth do it?? Jester smells mischievous but with a tart bite; a true Shakespearian Fool. This is very berry on me--fruity and tricksy. The only thing is...I'm really not all that fruity or tricksy, and I felt quite silly wearing it--it was as though the oil wanted me to find my Inner Fool, but I just couldn't. I do wonder about it as a room fragrance though...

You know, I wouldn't have thought of rice pudding, but I can totally see that. Which makes no sense, because it smells woody and green otherwise. It reminded me slightly of a greener Kostnice--I get resins and woods confused. This one is for my sister and her love of Remus Lupin, the werewolf from Harry Potter--he was always trying to fight his werewolf nature; maybe this would help?

Note to Aeslin if she reads this: don't buy any of these, sweetie! Read the suggestions and tell me which you like...and then act totally surprised at Yule.

That's a good point, Amberbella--they call it that, but amber isn't listed in the notes on the site at all. Weird. You guys are so helpful! I'll add Old Moracco to the list and give her several different ones to try. I have ulterior motives here--I want all my friends addicted.

Ok, so my best girl just emailed me: "If I wanted something non-floral, sort of mysterious or musky or spicy (but not all patchouli), what would you suggest? Clearly you are the girl to ask." Well, maaaaybe, but thought I'd ask you girls (and boys) as well, because that leaves the field wide open. Most of mine are florals, but out of the ones I have I thought of: Mystery, Intrigue, Three Witches, Snake Oil, Tintagel, and I bet she'd love Wanda (dominatrix tendencies! ) Other ideas? Like I said, I'm deficient in this category because I'm a green/floral kinda faery.

I had a lot of anxiety about this one--I so badly wanted to like it, because of my work on mystery novels, but the reviews were so negative. It wasn't until I saw that it did work for Witch's Dagger that I got up the nerve to try it. In the vial: huh, it's clear--I expected it to look smoky. On me: (holds breath) Ah! Relieved--this smells just fine on me; licorice and a touch of smoky floral. I'm not totally in love with it, but it's definitely not bad; I like it enough to keep the imp. Which is a good thing, since I was already pretty determined to slather it on for my dissertation defense no matter what it smelled like.

Obeah...I didn't know what it meant; a quick Internet search says it's, "Jamaican version of voodoo Shamanism." A powerful oil, definitely. On me, it's strong citrus with green herbal/resinous notes. Calms down and blends more after an hour, but still herbal and resin. Gender-neutral, serious and strong--since I wear mostly uber-femme stuff it's not really me. Off to swap!

Something yummy this way comes!!! :bounce: I was so excited about this one; it was the first of my autumn imp order to try out. Brian smelled mostly clove when I put it on, but I got all 3 notes in perfect balance and I'm delighted; it's just what I expected. This'll be good for the Ren Fest, for Samhain if I can't afford the LE, and perfect for experimental layering--I want to go try it with Jack for a pumpkin pie effect, and then with Dana O'Shee for a spicy-cookie smell, and so on and so on.

Kallisti!!! No, I don't smell like Discord--but I do smell like a Golden Delicious apple; Eris would be pleased. This has just a touch of spice, cinnamon maybe? A very autumnal scent; I don't really like smelling of apples but think it'll be great as a room scent. Very harvest-smelling.

Ohhhh, Oh Yes! One drop out of the imp and Ophelia made it to my Buy the Bottle list. This is my idea of personal perfection--I haven't smelled Pisces yet, but to me this is what a female Pisces (i.e. me! ) should smell like--mystical white rose, delicate aquatic florals. A romantic, a dreamer. This is not crazed, mad Ophelia; this is the Pre-Raphaelite paintings of Ophelia-- the lovely girl sitting in the shade by a burbling river bank, quietly graceful, or floating gently on the river's surface in her gorgeous dress. I am absolutely bonkers over this one and could wear it every day--except that there are so many imps left to try!!

The faerys are having a bit of sport with me: they know how badly I want to be enamored with one of their scents (to match my screen name/persona), and they keep twisting them so they work on almost everyone but me. Queen Mab was pretty awful on me, as much as I tried to like it--strong peaches and soap. Fae smells like a lighter version of the exact same thing--peaches and baby powder. Slightly more wearable, but pretty bleh. No bergamot came out to play, and no musk. Maybe I should set out some goodies to tempt the wee folk before my last hope, Titania, arrives...

Amber Romance is very, uh, amber--very sweet, too; according to their site it has sandalwood and creme anglaise, but it seems a bit like honey to me, too. I did a Lab search for amber-dominant sweet feminine scents and came up with: Imp Haunted O Sin upcoming Blood Amber Now...I haven't tried any of these, although some are on my wish list. So for those who have tried them, which seem the most likely for her?

Huh...I can't figure Wanda out. I got the leather right up front, but with a crispness, as of apples...but not smelling at all like apples, more like crisp grapes that have been in the fridge. The florals came out beautifully--florals love me--but it was much softer than I expected, and faded fast. Intrigued, I decided to re-apply. The wine came out more clearly with re-app, but less leather this time. Still soft...definitely a Victorian dominatrix, sexy in a sophisticated way but still a touch coy, like she's getting used to this role. Like maybe she was a good girl who had one too many glasses of merlot one night and surprised her boy by pulling out a whip. This smells nothing like my usual favs, but I like it and will keep the imp to apply in Wanda's honor on nights when I want to pull out my boots and riding crop.

Holy Toasted Hazelnuts!! That's what I got at first--but as soon as it starts to dry, butter and espresso come out. I don't really get much chocolate, which is probably a good thing since I would be diving head-first into the brownies if so. Instead, this makes me feel like I'm in a super-posh coffee shop--there's one here in town called Old Europe that's very elegant and fancy; we love to go there late at night. Methinks I need to go there tonight, wearing this, and have their cafe au lait and a Napoleon... I'm completely rambling, I know, but this is so evocative--delicious but classy.

Love roses. Love the Moon. Can you say BIG BOTTLE?? This is gorgeous. I love roses so much, and yet most rose perfumes are so bad. Clearly Beth is on to something the makers of other rose scents are not, b/c hers are just fabulous--true roses from the garden, not half-dead refrigerated florist ones. I think of rose scents as "special, dressed-up" sort of things, since I like greenish florals for everyday. But since I'm always looking for something to celebrate, I'm gradually collecting all of Beth's rose scents, and she has one for every mood--Black Rose for Gothy vampiness, Blood Rose for big-dates like the theatre or opera...and now Moon Rose for special daytime things, like tea parties and afternoon weddings. Which is a long way of saying: completely

This one sounds very "me" from the description. Let's see if it is! In the vial: No, actually, never mind--I can't do the usual "in the vial" then "wet" then "drydown" format, because everything hit at once: my brain went Rose! Fruit! Aquatics! Love love love! And yet it's very soft, wistful. It does remind me a bit of Chanel or other expensive lots-of-stuff-going-on perfume. Really lovely. This may be one I wear a lot.

Oooo! Right out of the vial there was a quick flash of resins that reminded me of Cathedral (woods and resins always do that to me--Cathedral was one of my first imps, so I tend to compare things to it). It immediately softened into the lovely lilies and soft earthen notes--I didn't get "trees" per se, just earthiness. This is very soft on me, softer than on some other reviewers (my skin likes to eat BPAL-- ) I am left with a strong impression of being outside a cathedral--a hint of incense wafts through the windows to where I'm standing in an old churchyard. Not funereal--no new graves here--just a sense of mellowed flowers and earth in a sacred spot. This is very, very lovely.

It's a good thing I had completely forgotten the description of this one or I would've been scared to try it--I've heard so many bad things about civet...nursing-home ladies and poop??? Give a woodfairy a heart attack, why don't you? However, I didn't re-read the reviews before trying, and in fact I now realize I had it mixed up with Intrigue in my head (since I just got that one as well). I smelled the sweet/sharp smokiness of opium, which I mistook for tobacco + florals. It smelled like I wish Intrigue had smelled--that one went too sicky-sweet on me--and it also smelled like I wish Opium (the perfume) had smelled, since that one was waaaay too sweet and nauseating; it seems I have to be careful with sweet notes of any kind. But this now--this is not cloying at all; a powerful, strong, heady scent. In short (why am I so blathery this morning? I must not be awake yet), Debauchery is exactly the Victorian-opium-den scent I've always wanted to find. Although it's nothing like my usual fragrances, I will wear it for wintry evenings out and carry a warm sexy aura around with me.

Oh, gorgeousness! Clear, silvery white like The Unicorn, but even more clean and bright--bottled moonlight. My first Celestial, and I'm setting it aside for ritual work, although it smells so good I may look for other excuses to wear it. I dabbed this on and my sister yelled, "Mimosas!" I was confused, b/c it doesn't smell like orange juice and champagne. Oh, she meant the flower. Gotcha. Guess that's just my frame of reference... Yes, I can see what she means--on me this is completely floral but gently sweet; some Southern flower, whether mimosa, wisteria, or the others Forumites have mentioned. I don't know what Moonflower smells like, but this is now officially what it smells like to me! Luna gave me two associations-- 1. The light of Earendil, the Elves' beloved star, which Galadriel gives to Frodo in Lord of the Rings. I half expect Luna to glow the way it did, and now I need a crystal vial to keep it in. 2. Sarah Brightman's La Luna album, which is my favorite. Now I have to go play it.

Minilux graciously decanted me an imp's worth of Red Moon, and I've saved it for this weekend. Right out of the bottle I thought I was getting cherries, but then it turned into heliotrope and dragon's blood--a fascinating combination. I can see what everyone means: it's red in a cozy, warm way, not a loud, hot way. It faded faster on me than on others, but that's ok since I have enough to keep re-applying. For me this is a ritual scent--I'll probably use almost all of my imp during the Red Moon (it's also moving weekend for us, so I'm using it for positive moving mojo), and just save a drop to remember it by. Heliotrope is generally too sweet for me, but I like how this captures a hazy August evening.