Sara

A scent as sharp as glass shards, and as brittle as a broken heart. The formula came to me - quite literally - in a dream, and is named after, and created in memory of, the last poem that I ever wrote… almost ten years ago to the day. A blend of white champagne notes, grapefruit, lotus, slivered mint and crystalline aquatic blooms. Initial sniff: SNOWCONES!!! Liquid snow cone...ooooh yeah. Swipe: Hey..I thought I said snowcone damnit! A thick, sweet, almost potpurri scent begins to emerge...very remiscent of "Bon Vivant." Drydown: No more snowcone. No more hint of snowcone. It smells almost exactly like Bon Vivant does (well...Bon Vivant didn't last..so this smells like Bon Vivant does in my hair). Which, in turn, reminds me of the artsy fartsy festival thing my mother used to drag me to in Waterloo (?). I'm standing in the big barn filled with dried flowers n' things, stuff for potpurri and wreaths..... Oh yeah, and there's a touch of feminine powder (ack) on the outer edges; getting ready to swoop down and ruin this completely I'm sure. Overall: If only this would've been on my skin what it was in the imp, I would've placed an order on the spot. Sadly, it's not. It's nearly exactly Bon Vivant in the drydown on me.

Initial shiff: Bright, almost sparkly floral with a hefty punch of fruit. Swipe: Hey....I thought I smelled fruit! Now it's just florals, fast becoming a scent I "recognize" from artsy fartsy country shops my mother would drag me into as a kid. Drydown: Hmm..It's a pretty scent, for sure, but it's just not me. It reminds me of country stores and my mother. Very, very strongly of my mother. I'll bet she would love this scent. It's floral, soft, and very feminine in the drydown. Overall: This is a lovely woman scent...unfortunately, I'm not into it.

Initial sniff: Umm...I'm not really sure about this one. It's got that hippie/occult shop note, I think it's patchouli (or something similar) but it's been so long since I've sniffed it I can't be sure. Swipe: More notes begin coming out, the sharpish hippie scent is a little brighter, but thankfully not the only one present. 10-15 min. later: Hmm...I must admit, I was fully prepared to dislike this scent (despite wanting ever to desperately to have a pirate scent love me). But the sandlewood coming out strongly and kicking the hippie note in the nuts is wonderful! I really do love sandlewood (even though I'm sure I'm spelling it wrong now). At first I couldn't smell any of the "sea" in this one, just warm sandlewood and a touch of what I thought was something creamy hinted with citrus (it was one of those things that's in the back of the sniff and it's hard to be sure). After sniffing my arm again, while typing, I smell the salty sea deck!!! Final thoughts (tee hee hee, totally reminded of jerry springer): I love this!!! It's so damn hard for me to find "warm, skin" scents that remind me strongly of dirty hippies or occult shops (Yep, I can associate lemon notes with something other than cleaner, namely candy; but I cannot help but to think "hippie/occult shop" for certain scents or scent catergories). But this...this is good. Tushnamatay shares the same sandlewood to it, only sweeter. Thankfully I do not associate sandlewood with dirty hippies or occult shops, just niceness. Seriously, the smell of salty sea deck does it for me. I need a bigger bottle.

Oh I totally tried all those keywords too. Nope, not another company. The only perfume oil company aside from BPAL I've ever tried was Ava Aromatics...and I can't imagine fearsome woman pirates being part of their scents. It's totally driving me crazy. I *know* I freaking saw that description. But it's been so long ago I can't recall it clearly enough to know whether I'm meshing it with something else.... egads man! Granted, Anne Bonny's (which I plan on trying tomorrow) description does sound kind of like it...but I wouldn't have gotten "Anne Bonny" confused with something Asian (just widening things a bit. ).....Seriously, where are those crazy pills at?

I hope this is the right place for this query.. So, I though I read the description for an oil saying it was a Japanese pirate woman or some such. Terror of the seas..who knows. I just remember it being a funny name I didn't know how to pronounce and it had to do with a female pirate. Does anybody know what I'm talking about? I just went through my scent list *three* times looking for it...so am I crazy, blind, or just confused?

I fell in love with this one straightaway from the description. I had imagined a warm spiced vanilly cherry sort of scent, thick with sex like molasses......*sigh* In reality, this is the complete and utter opposite of my imagining. First sniff: Ick, what is that sharp biting smell? It's a note I recognize from others..must found out what it is so I can avoid it in the future. On skin: *sigh* Biting note gets louder and there's nothing to really mellow it out...Kind of reminds me of a cold, dark, occult shop run by mean ladies. On skin later: It's still the biting note mellowed only slightly by occult-shopy incense.. Four hours later: Finally this scent "warmed up" and blended with my skin. It's still not overly lovely or even close to its description, but it's fine. It's now a deep skin spice touched with hints of incense..I still can't help but think of an occult shop, this is the warm (now, not at first swipe) spice of earth, graying women running the register, and maybe just a touch of pretentiousness. If it jumped straight to this within 5-10 minutes I would definitely consider wearing it (not often though), but as it is...I might give it one more shot to love me, looks doubtful though. Overall: I'm soooo sad about this one. Really, I need to stop imagining what scents will be like from only their descriptions, I find disappointment every time. This smells nothing of blood, kisses, sex, or warmth. Only cold, sharp, biting, occult-ish bookstores. Evil Hippies might like this one..not me. *cries quietly in the corner* Edit - I reread some of the reviews on this page, how can mine be sooo different?? Where's the cherry in mine? Where's the clove? Where's this vanilla? I swear not a single one of those notes is in whatever I got. Could I have possible gotten a bad one? I've noticed discrepencies in scent from imp to bottle before, could that have happened? *allows hope to creep back in*

My...this is rather lovely! The lab always knows what freebies to include. First sniff: GREEN!! This is green to the max, absolutely screaming fresh green plants. Application: Damn..there is something in here, some floral or planty thing - something! - that is wiggling around in the back of my brain. I recognize it....I just can't quite figure out what it is. The mint also comes out now..not like a candy mint, but a fresh, light breezy, cool mint. Everything is blending so well, the green notes, the mint, the one I can't identify..it's all so utterly lovely. Wearing power: Hmm..well it's not very lasting. I applied at noon and there was no trace of it just now when I reapplied (four hours later). Which kinda sucks, but at the same time it's good, as I prefer no linger to "gross playdoh absolute drydown." Overall: Seriously, I love this one. At first I thought it would be too "green" (I'm not a green kinda girl), but really this is a wonderfully refreshing, crisp, clean scent - just gorgeous and wonderfully blended!!!

This one was included as a freebie in my last order and - wow! Again I'm pleased by the lab's ability to include scents that aren't at the top of my "to try" list, and make me love them. Upon initial sniff this one was a very crisp, fresh apple. On my skin it doesn't change too much, just a little more "rounding out." It became a little softer, sweeter, and..just lovely. I think "country apple" and could definitely see this burning in my mother's house. Perhaps for her birthday I should get her an oil burner and this scent, eh?

Holy crap. This one jumps right out at you before swiping!! Definitely scared me off as I don't think I like gingerbread that much. So this was the last of the four LEs in my possession to be tried. Wet: Very pungent peppery smell...spicy like Indian grocery stores and food. Not bad, not bad...not what I was expecting, but definitely not something to be shunned. Dry: Hmm...there it is....the reason I don't like gingerbread smells that much. They smell like plastic to me. Every single gingerbread I've sniffed has this tiny little wiggling note that sticks to the back of my throat and conjures "plastic." On the upside, aside from the plastic it has a lovely warm, spicy candle quality to it. Edited to add that this one settled down into an extremely faint scent...eventually it completely disappeared. I can't say when, mostly because I stopped noticing it 20-30 minutes after application - not so with other LEs I've tried.

Straight out of the imp Ice Queen strikes me as something bright, white, and sparkly. Definitely bordering on "fruity." After application on skin, the soapy smell comes out and doesn't leave the rest of the time. It's not a bad smell..just something unexpected and not really associated with Ice or Queens. All in all it's still a lovely scent, but I'm glad I only have an imp of it.

Hmm...kind of sharp out of the bottle. Not really sure what the notes are..I just identify them as "sharp" and remember them from previous blends (sorry, can't recall what those are). I'm really not sure I'm going to like this. After a little bit it settles down into something that reminds me strongly of "Spencers". I dunno how many of you have one of those stores near you, but those who do can understand why I would prefer not to smell like them. I hate to down on it, but this reminds me of the cheap incense section of some "punky/novelty" stores.

Hmm...not exactly envisioning snow here. Snow White is a very creamy, almost "milk-sweet" scent hinted with coconut and very gentle, non-offensive florals. And I use the term "florals" lightly. It's just a very feminine scent that conjures to me comfort and heavy, sweet milk drinks - like eggnog or chai, without actually smelling like those...just a feeling. I have a feeling that this could definitely offend a "delicate" stomach with the milky sweetness..I nearly regretted applying it at first. Thankfully it mellowed and so did my recent hormal "tenderness" to scents. Very pretty scent. Edit: forgot to mention this has a very nice *throw*. Lately oils are disappearing into my skin, but this one is still swirling around me like a lovely cloud of light fragrance.

The Snow-Shoe Goddess, Giantess, the Norse embodiment of winter. Frost-rimed winter berries, crisp pine needle, and a slush of bright snowy notes. Skadi pretty much guaranteed I'll be investing in the Yule LEs this year. Something I wasn't able to do this past time due to money and time constraints. Anywho...wow. This is exactly Christmas. I want this scent wafting through my house from the beginning of December until it stops snowing. Pine fresh (in a non-cleaner sort of way) with a hint of sweetness (the berry?) and just a general clean, "snow covered forest" feeling. This is exactly what Christmas smells like to me. Now to find a bigger bottle since the imp won't last.... :D

Upon first sniff I really had no idea what lotus smells like...so I guess it's the sweet, juicy, nearly fruit note? Normally anything with blood in the title or in the description doesn't work for me. Somehow it always ends up smelling fake barbie artificial plastic. However this time it worked out pretty well - if a little heavy. The sweet rich scent on the imp became a deeper, smokier scent on my skin. The notes were all well-blended enough that I couldn't tell exactly what smelled like what. After thrusting my wrist under my bf's nose he replied, "Inscense." I'll have to agree. This is a very deep womanly inscense scent...and perhaps a little too heavy for me - but I'll give it another shot.

I've noticed a distinctly icky playdoh/floral smell on my skin after drydown with the majority of BPAL scents tried. Thankfully, there are quite a few without this scent, among them are: De Sade, Bliss, Jack, and Sugar Skull - foody scents, anyone? I really think the majority of the blends have a common base and some people just don't mix well with it. Good luck on trying out more oils and finding some that either don't share the common base - or don't get as "generic" on drydown.

My initial whiff of this imp guaranteed it's return to the "will try later" pile. It's just a strong, icky like scent of, what I guess to be, milk. So after trying it, I still don't like it. It goes on strong and milk/honey like with a touch of almond in the background. Normally I like almond, but this is a sickly combination on my skin. Hours later this begins to make me nauseous and is somewhat reminiscent (sp??) of a baby's spit up. Ew. However, I was impressed, amazed, and none too pleased to find out this one has some major lasting power. It lasted me all day without fading enough into the background to go unnoticed. At least I found Sudha Segara. It's everything I expected Dana O'Shee to be.

After going through my "darker, heavy scents...nooo!!!!" phase I was finally prepared to give this one a shot. At first swipe it's a very sharp/woody scent and I rather like it. So much swiping ensues... Unfortunately, about 10 minutes later it's turning into strong powders tinged with playdoh. Even the bf commented "Ew, smells like playdoh." Damnit! I really think it's the amber doing this to me. So now I'm a strongly scented (why can I never find a scent I'm in love with long lasting power??) playdoh powder puff. Grrr...

I've taken both bottles and imps in my carry-on luggage. They were wrapped in tissue and in the front pocket of my purse. No issues at all. Edited to add that BWI (Baltimore/Washington) and STL (St. Louis Airport) are the ones I've flown out of/into. I also had no leakage problems with my imps or bottles. (I walked around with 3 bottles and like 5 imps)

Very lemony right out of the imp, what is it with me and citrus lately?? There's also an undercurrent of something behind the lemon that made me back off for a little while to indulge in light, sweet scents. However I finally got around to trying this one and must admit: It's wonderful!! I love the clean, bright scent of lemon (It's like lemon candy I tell you!!) fresh on my skin with that touch of "something darkish/heavy" lingering in the background. After an hour or more this becomes nothing more than incense. But it's a delectable incense. Reminds me strongly of some kind of "occult" shop and gives me the impression of something "mysterious and earthly - special like." Not to mention it melds perfectly with my skin! (yay for the melding) So after many, many hours it's become a human smokey skin scent I rather adore.

This is a rather tasty citrus blend. At first it's a sharp lemony scent (I really feel bad for the folks who think of cleaner when they smell lemon. I get a picture of candy instead. ). But, after a few minutes of drydown this takes on a delicious powdery (but not in a bad way) lemon-like clean smell. I really, really love this on me so much that the boy will probably never try it. Although, it could definitely be pulled off by a guy. It's a perfectly yummy unisex blend...and I must admit, as bright and clean as it is, I always think of the "Jack the Ripper nod" and imagine this twinge of "dark" to the scent rounding it out perfectly.

After Dana O Shee (sp??) I was a little worried about the milk notes...but, so far this has proven to be a rather delightful scent. I honestly cannot pick out any of the notes, serious scent-singling suckage on my part. This was sweet in the imp and although it didn't scream out as anything I would be interested in, I gave it a shot anyway. Immediately the oil morphed ever so slightly on my skin to something a little nicer than the imp, so I swabbed a little more on my neck and chest (that only happens when I know a scent isn't going to gross me out - immediately anyway. otherwise they stick to my wrists). This is now going on....hour 5? I'm muchly pleased so far with this scent. It's very subtle; yet sweet, warm, and comforting all at the same time. This is exactly what I was expecting Dana O Shee to be. I can't actually pick out the scent unless a touch wafts up near my nose...and even then it's so well-meshed with my skin (damn I'm loving the scents that meld with my skin instead of sitting on top) that I have to really pay attention to realize that it's not me or some shampoo or soap; but Sudha Segara. All in all, a very fine imp I'll enjoy using up and hopefully purchase a larger bottle of later.

Initial imp sniff: Woah! Harsh, strong, stinging, sharpness. I can't even really say that it's wood yet..just sharp and clear. Swipe: Well, it took me a while to get my courage up to try this..but I'm glad I did. The pines and tree smell come right out in a wet burst. Lovely! It's like being in the woods after a downpour when things are steamy and strongly smelling. Dry down: Still strong green/tree smells, very rich and full of woods. I love it. Two hours later:.......where did it go.......? This scent has nearly completely vanished on me; leaving behind that slightly nauseating playdoh floral smell so many other blends have. I wonder if Beth uses the same base for all, or nearly all, her scents? The majority seem to dry down to the same smell eventually. bleh. Overall: Well...I don't like how it vanished in two hours. And I don't like how it vanished into that icky floral playdoh smell...but I love the tree smell, especialy this close to Xmas. So if I can find one of those "oil warmy things" I 'll give it a shot as a house scent.

After my initial imp whiff I knew this scent had the potential to be a fave...I'm a total sucker for sweet fruity scents. But this one is mellowed out with the other notes to keep it grounded and from being too "little girl." Instead, everthing blends together nicely for a sweet, subtle, gentle woman's perfume. It's difficult for me to pick out any individual notes aside from the fruity one...but somewhere between initial drydown and hours later, I had the distinct mental image of ground up sweet-tarts. Overall I really like this scent, it's a perfect blend of those tasty fruit scents I sooo adore and more adult notes to round it out and turn it into a perfectly wonderful grown up playful scent. I'm utterly bewitched by it. :D Although..I must admit this is much better suited to spring than winter, I'll have to try it out again then.

Initial Imp Sniff: Woah, tasty fruit juiciness! Swipe: This scent bursts with fruit and juice...actually makes me crave gummies..the good quality kind. Drydown: Hmm...I'm not sure how I feel about this one now..it's kind of powdery tinged and has a sort of floral background that is strongly backing up the ripe juicy fruitness. Overall: I loved the initial ripe fruit bursting with juiciy gummie candy-ness. But I might need a little more time to get over the floral scent mixed in. I still can't help but to catergorize them as "old lady" and "standard perfume." It's still a mighty tasty scent though..definitely makes me want gummie worms something fierce.

Oh My God. I Love This Scent MUCHLY!!! Imp Whiff: FUDGE BROWNIE!! Initial Smear: Ooohhh...oooh yeah that's the spot. Utterly divine fudgey chocolatey brownie cookie goodness...oooh yesss!! A couple of hours later: Mmmm....god I smell sooooooo good. I'm fucking edible here!! It's deliciously warm, sweet, rich, buttery, fudgey (I can't stop using that word!) wonderfulness!! Overall: *drool* This is sooooo utterly fantastic. Seriously. This is a fudge brownie/double chocolate cookie buttery rich warm sweet blend in a bottle. I *NEED* a big bottle of this..can you imagine the possibilites?? A touch of raspberry and you've got raspberry chocolate, a touch of orange and the same. Some hazelnut or almond and....oooh god, I need to stop thinking of it all. I want a big fat towering slice of chocolate cheescake dripping with chocolate sauce and topped with chocolate whip cream. Home-made chocolate whip cream. I can sooo do that....now to find a chocolate cheesecake...