Electra

This is all jasmine on me. Apparently my skin loves jasmine. Too bad my nose doesn't .

Magnolias, burnt sugar, and a bit of spice. Not bad at all, but doesn't blow my doors off like Black Dahlia did. Off to swaps.

Golden Priapus was lots and lots of pine on me - barely any vanilla at all. Smelled like Christmas trees. Zephyr was really masculine and cologne-y on me - again, no vanilla. Give Dorian a shot. It's sweet, sugary tea with vanilla. I agree with Antique Lace, if you can get any. I'm guessing fruity scents are out? Regan also has vanilla as a prominent note, but the stepanotis went funky on me. Might smell nicer on you, though .

I *know* I wrote a review for this, but apparently it didn't take. Huh. Wet: Caramel apples. Initial drydown: Apples. These are real, fresh apples, not the B&BW fake apple scent - you can even smell the skin. Later drydown: a bit of a sugary scent is coming back. Candied apples, maybe? Smells less crisp. Nice, but fruity scents aren't my thing.

I find it really interesting that all of these reviews are describing Dorian as sex on a stick. It could not possibly be more innocent on me. It's a soft (but with tremendous throw) heavily sugared tea from start to finish - I pick up a bit of lemon near the end, but not for a long time. I'm from the south, sweet tea is my drink of choice, and that's what this smells like to me. Not what I consider sexy . Nice, but I don't know if I'm going to be ordering a bottle - I don't do scents that are so sweet all that often. Updating my review - I did wind up ordering a bottle. Now when I wear it, most of the time I wind up smelling like a gingerbread cookie. Also nice, but still not sexy .

Wet in bottle: Strong scary-ass butter. Eep. I hate buttery scents. They make me violently ill. Wet on skin, first five seconds: Strong scary-ass butter. On skin, next five minutes: Candied florals. Pretty. Innocent, in a little-girl way. Drydown: Pina colada. This one morphs more dramatically than any other BPAL scent I've tried (thank God, because that butter and I were not going to get along). Not exactly what I was expecting, but nice enough nonetheless. I wish it had been close to Snow White for me like it was for some people!

Wet, first 30 seconds: a hot, dry wind sweeping across a sun-baked prairie. There's a dusty, rugged one-street town visible in the distance. How is it POSSIBLE to get the Old West into a bottle like this?? Genius. So very evocative. Dry, first five minutes: sinus-clearing root beer. Spicy kick-you-in-the-teeth root beer. I guess that's the sassafras. Dry, next hour: root beer and cedar. Sharp and dry. Final drydown: a gorgeous, soft, sawdusty-cedary vanilla. Absolutely marvelous. I won't be sitting through the first stages again, as I don't like them enough, but I wish I could find something else that smelled like this drydown.

My turn! This scent was sadly nowhere near as delightful on me as I had expected. Wet: dry, musty spices. Dry: dry, musty spices. Smells like the inside of a spice cabinet around Thanksgiving. I get no pumpkin from this at all Dry, 30 minutes later: this has become distinctly masculine. It smells like a spicy, musky man's cologne. Smells like a surprisingly mainstream man's cologne, actually. I would jump a guy who was wearing this, but alas, it's not for me. Guess it's a good thing that I didn't fall in love with an unreleased scent, though .

I have to second Shanghai (I find Embalming Fluid too harsh, but Shanghai is lovely), The Unicorn, and Chiroptera. Did anyone mention Kumiho? That's another good one. And :::::drumroll please::::: Storm Moon. I think I'm one of the only people who's madly in love with this one, but good gravy, it's nice! I love aquatics in warmer weather, and this is a great one. So fresh.

Not good. Not good at all. I knew that Spooky was going to be hit-or-miss, since coconut hates me. Bottle: Malibu rum with the slightest touch of mint and chocolate. On me: straight coconut. Which is to say, plastic. Ugh .

I was really worried about this one after reading the reviews. I needn't have been. Aquatics have always been my favorite scent family, and they usually love me right back. Storm Moon is no exception. In the bottle and wet upon initial application, it's very strong ozone. I definitely see the fabric softener comparison, but I actually find it quite pleasant. Drydown: simply the most magnificent salty ocean-water scent that I have ever had the privilege to wear. This is the Atlantic Ocean in a bottle. I love it. An hour later: we're back to the fabric softener scent. I guess those are the flowers. Smells very clean. This would be a great hot-weather scent.

I missed out on ordering a bottle of Lughnasadh (it was available before I got into ordering the LEs), but I got an imp in a swap. Wet: Honeyed cherries. I don't like cherries. But I really want to like this oil, so I'm going to give it a go. Dry: It's gotten spicier. Like mulled wine, but...mulled cherries. Very nice! But more of a fall scent to me - I can't wear it right now.

And I was the other way around. Love Samhain, but Jack is wretched on me.

Soap. Very nice soap, but soap nevertheless. Actually a very pleasant clean scent, but I have others in that genre that I prefer.

Baby powder. That's all she wrote, folks. Sigh. Stupid body chemistry. Editing to update my review - trying it again, Haunted was a frimp from a lovely swapper . GAH! LEMONY baby powder this time. Amber and I do not get along. Actually, it smells just like Shalimar Eau Legere on me. Go figure.

This is DEFINITELY a gender-neutral scent. I like it on me, but I'd love to smell it on a guy. Mrowr. Wet: Cool, somewhat powdery mint. Smells very similar to Bath & Body Works' Stress Relief aromatherapy line (eucalyptus/spearmint) - which is what I expected Frost Moon to smell like, ironically enough. No similarity between Frost Moon and Cathode/Stress Relief despite the similarity of the notes. Drydown: The mint is completely gone. What I'm smelling now must be ambergris - it's powdery and really, really nice. I like this one a lot. I doubt I'll get a big bottle, but I'll definitely keep the imp on hand.

A new one from me (cut and pasted from the Reviews forum):

The Hierophant is the bastard love-child of Hamadryad and The World. Wet, I smell something strongly reminiscent of Hamadryad's woodsy cinnamon. It dries down into The World's confusing but lovely cool-greenness-and-warm-spices combination (BTW, if you like the smell of Florida Water you should like this - it's a very similar scent) - it's pretty much a dead ringer on my skin, actually - BUT without turning into pencil shavings as The World does. Fantastic. The Hierophant is one of my favorite cards, so I'm thrilled that I like the oil. A definite winner.

I don't have problems with cinnamon oil either - no itching or burning from this one. Initial wet scent - almonds on the attack! Strong, STRONG almond. I'm not a big fan of almond. Drydown - smells just like Big Red gum. Nice, but I prefer Hamadryad's woodsy cinnamon.

Here's a totally weird one - Temple of Dreams and Morocco. On my skin they smell NOTHING alike. On my sheets, however (what rubs off because I wear it to bed), Temple of Dreams smells exactly like Morocco.

Another vote for Sea of Glass. I think that any of the delicate floral blends would also be great - Pele, Eos, some of the Illyria blends (Juliet, Desdemona, Ophelia, etc.). Kumiho and Shanghai seem more summer than spring to me, for some reason.

This is a very "pretty pretty princess" scent (and I don't mean that in a bad way!). The Unicorn would be a lovely fragrance for a very young girl. It's fruity but not overly so (made me think of white grapes), light, and luminous. A bit too innocent for my taste, but very, very pretty.

This is a very, very changeable scent on me. I won't be ordering a bottle (and will probably swap my imp, as it's not really me), but I like it a lot more than I thought I would. Wet: Anise? WTF? Drydown: For about half an hour this smells a lot like Morocco on my skin. Clean and softly spicy. Dry: Much, much, stronger. A strong, dark incense. Church incense. This is actually what I'd expect Cathedral to smell like, though I haven't tried it - it smells exactly like a Catholic church.

I use astringent pads for really stubborn ones.

Two words: pineapple incense. Headshoppy, but in a pleasant way.