Mianjo

In the imp: Smooth citrus and something else. Maybe the tea? Wet, on my skin: CITRUS!!!!!! And not orange blossom either, but something that resembles more of a lemon verbena-type note. The tea and the resiny opoponax keep this from sliding into furniture polish land--but just barely. Dry: Settling into something a bit more orange than lemon. I don't like this enough to wear it or get a big bottle, but it really encapsulates the feeling of the artwork it is associated with--two high notes (the citrus and the tea) being tempered by a lower note (the opoponax).

In the imp: Smells a bit like when someone has cut the grass in the early morning...you go out, pick up a handful of freshly cut, dewy grasss...that's that smell. Wet, on my skin: Interesting. I get a bit of floral, a bit of the greenery. The "fern" is coming out a bit. Chlorophyll--green juices from a picked leaf on your fingers. Dry: Not bad. I smell something a little creamy? underneath the green/floral. Nice scent for spring. I'm not sure that it's *me*, though. I might give it another go soon. ETA: One of the listed notes is "bittersweet wine." Generally speaking, on my skin Wine is like the smelly kid in the Moon Bounce--once he joins the party, all the other kids leave as quickly as possible to let him have the space to himself. Not this time--Wine played nicely and blended with the other notes. Maybe because it's bittersweet?

Short review, because it's probably not very helpful to anyone but me: I know I have problems with roses and carnations. Roses in anything mean I might as well just wear a single note of rose...and carnations generally amp and turn into "nail polish remover." Dolce Stil Nuovo on me is rose-scented nail polish remover. I don't get any of the other scents...no florals, no amber, no musk...nothing. It smelled divine in the vial, but...it is what it is. I wish it were as lovely on me as it is on some of the other ladies.

I looked at the notes on this one and instantly said, "Pass!" But at a mini MeetnSniff with a friend, I sniffed her bottle and knew I had to get some of my own. Generally speaking, it's rare that I smell something and want it--I have to get it on my skin and see how it fairs. In vial: Green! But a dark green. And I smell a little of the Snake Oil. The combination is a little "men's cologne," but in a good way. A "this is going to smell sexier on ME than HIM" way. Wet, on skin: I smell tea and sugar. At first when I put it on, I thought, "Gennivre!" But as it sunk into my skin, I thought, "No, closer to Dorian." All the while, that Snake Oil is slithering around in the background. Dry: This to my nose is Dorian, but soooo much better. Dorian on my skin is a little...iffy? I want it to be sweeter than it is. This Banded Sea Snake is just so fresh and so clean (clean). But I still smell sugar, which I totally didn't expect. If I put my nose right up to my arm, I smell something else--I suppose it's the mosses that's giving this that "tea" feeling? Either way, I love this one. Yet another Snake to hoard. I don't know if I should follow that last with a or a . seems appropriate. It can go either way. ETA: I did a quick skim of the other reviews, and it seems like others see (smell) the Dorian connection as well. I was thinking maybe my chemistry was off--turning mosses into sweet tea!

I almost didn't get a decant of this because I'm not really a fan of smelling like chocolate. But I decided that since I love Snake Oil so much, I would try all the members of the Pit that I could (2 of them have ingredients I cannot have because they interfere with medication I take). In the vial: Cocoa...thick, gorgeous cocoa backed with slight incense. Wet on my skin: Lots of cocoa. Not chocolate, but yes, cocoa. And there's the Snake Oil making an appearance. Delicious! Drying: The cocoa is fading, and I'm getting a ton of Snake Oil. Dried: Roughly 30 minutes after application, the cocoa is gone. Now all I'm getting is *motocross announcer voice* SNAKE OIL! Snake Oil! snake oil! EXTREME SNAKE OIL! Extreme Snake Oil! extreme snake oil! *cut announcer* I say that because the throw on this is amazing compared to regular Snake Oil. I put on about a 1.5 inch square on my forearm to test and it smells like I did one of my "hot-ass date with the hubby" immersions. I don't know if that's the cocoa amping the Snake Oil or if the Lab just used a stronger "dosage" of Snake Oil so that it wouldn't be overpowered by the cocoa...but that's a spicy Snake Oil! I like it, and I'll hold onto the decant and see what aging does to it. If in say, 3 months the cocoa lasts longer than 20 minutes on my skin, I'll look into building a Boomslang Hoard.©

A very interesting scent. The mint is subdued--much less bright that I expected it to be. I do get a hint of that musk in Snow White that didn't work on me (Snow White smelled like a cross of musk and coconut on with my skin chemistry). I do get the ozone...and unfortunately on my skin it overwhelms everything else once the scent has dried down. Not something I would wear, but it definitely captures the somberness and stark beauty of the art by which it was inspired.

In the vial: Sugary, slightly spicy oranges. Wet on my skin: This reminds me of something. Something orange-flavored and sweet...Creamsicles! But...high-end Creamsicles, if that makes any sense. I think the spice I'm getting is coming from the carnation. Hmm. The iris must be the floral-something-or-other I smell. Dry: Interesting. I still get that creamy orangeness, but not as strongly. The iris has died back, thankfully. It's an interesting scent, but I don't know that it will be one of my favorites. Something vaguely reminds me of nail polish remover, but not in a bad way. I don't know if that makes sense to anyone but me. I'll have to try it again in a few days and see what happens. I want the orange blossom to be a bit more in the front. I liked it better wet, I think.

In the vial: Herbaceous cocoa. Thick with that cocoa absolute--it's giving me a hard time blending this oil for testing. Wet on my skin: More cocoa, but something sexy stalking underneath. I get the sage--it's a bright, yet muted green. That sexiness must be the vetiver, which I generally love, and the wild musk playing nicely with the others. The vanilla is there, but it's not a showy vanilla--it's ever so sweetly blending with the cocoa and the herbs. I don't smell the lavender, but there's so much complexity going on here that I suspect the lavender is just brightening everything instead of trying to be a showstopper. I don't get the birch tar either, and for that I'm grateful. I was thinking that might be the one thing that ruined this blend for me. I had to look up cistus and here's what I found: "This resin oil is rich, warm, spicy and a bit lemon-like. It is a bit incense-like, and slightly camphoraceous, yet with a distinct balsamic note." That's what I'm smelling! I thought I smelled something slightly citrus-like in the background. Don't be afraid--it's way, way, way, in the back. It enhances the blend, rather than taking it over. Dry: Rather like the wet stages. The cocoa has receded a bit to let the other bits of the blend shine through. The only thing I'm able to pick out now is the cocoa, but just barely--everything is blended to perfection. It's cocoa perfection, but not foody--but it is sexy as all get out. I love it on me, and want to get it on the Hubby to see how it smells on him. A big bottle might be in the works. Love it!

*hi fives self* It's awkward, but I'm worth it. I was just in that thread yesterday. I have two BPAL loves: sugar and spice. I love foody blends, and I love spicy/incensy blends. That thread has tons of great ideas. Glad I could help.

http://www.bpal.org/index.php?showtopic=10948 The above pinned topic has a foodie category in it. I'm not certain it's exactly what you want, though. (Sorry, the hyperlink deal won't work for me.)

Yes--TAL: Nocturne is an unreleased Twilight Alchemy Lab oil but still can be ordered (see this post), but there is a separate BPAL perfume of the same name under Funereal Oils on the BPAL site. Edited to make more clear. Aha! I was wondering how all these people figured out that the BPAL Nocturne was good for sleeping. That's what I get for trying to be helpful.

Nocturne is under the "Funereal Oils" category on the bpal website.

Lilith was grape and rose on me. Also, Eat Me was very "Grape Ape! Grape Ape!" on me, too. I know it lists the fruit as "currants", but all I kept saying all day after I slathered was "That's grapes! That is grapes! I know grapes when I smell grapes!" Yes, bad grammar and everything.

Got this as a testable sniffie in an order from a fellow forumite. In the imp: Flowery and sweet. Wet: There's a bit of depth to this beyond the floral. I do smell the orchid, which makes me think of the color purple--but a deep purple, almost black. There's also fruit under there...I get ripe red apples and maybe a tiny bit of grape. It's also a bit spicy. Maybe a dash of white pepper? Yummy! Dry: Pretty much the same as wet. I can't stop sniffing my wrist. Once this scent dried and the original notes went away (hours later), I could still smell something sweet on my wrist...no more flowers or fruit, but something like wet white sugar. I like this fragrance. It reminds me of something I used to wear in high school, but ever so much more sophisticated. I don't know that I want a bottle of this, but I will probably request an imp of it in a future order. It feels like special occasion wear.

In the imp: Mmm...smoky chocolate. A bit of the leather, too. Wet: More intensely chocolatey. Something sharp, which could either be the blood or the wine, or both. Spicy, somehow. So far, so good. Dry: LEATHER!!!! SPICY LEATHER!!!!!! My skin totally ate that yummy wet scent and amped up the leather and blood, which turned to spicy leather on me. Overall: No thanks. I wouldn't mind smelling this on someone else, but it's not my thing. If only it had stayed as it was wet...it could have been a contender for one of my favorites.

In the imp: Very green and herbal. Wet: Camphor and dirt. Lurking underneath is a hint of green corruption. Dryish: Now it's morphed into the scent of an old gardener after a day of working in an old garden--he smells of rotting vegetation, body odor, dirt, and a helping of Ben-Gay for his aching joints. Not something I want to smell like. Overall: Not for me. I couldn't even let it dry fully because it seemed like it got stronger and stronger. My chemistry amped whatever note that smells like body odor on me--and all from a tiny dot on my wrist.

In the imp: Yar...Lemony limey sugar. Yum! Wet: Holy moley with the Lemon Pledge. Ick. Drydown/dry: The lemon and lime fall back a bit and let the florals through. There is a creaminess underneath that must be that green coconut. Every time I smell my wrist I get something new. Sometimes all soft floral, sometimes coconut, sometimes yellow green citrus. "Ever changing, protoplasmic and primordial" indeed! I like this. I will definitely use up the imp, and may consider ordering a big bottle. I think this will be even nicer in warm weather.

In the bottle: Apple-y goodness...overlaid a bit with the caramel. There's something else there that's a bit murky (in a good way)...must be the rum. Wet: Pretty much the same as in the bottle. The apple scent intensified a bit. Dry: It's funny, because I smell mostly apples, but not raw apples--apples baked with a bit of butter, maybe. I asked my son to sniff my wrist without telling him what the scent was supposed to be and he said, "Mmmmm....caramel!" So my nose gets the apple, and his gets the caramel. I like it. I think it's a little too light for wearing by itself, however. This could be a nice after bath/before bed scent, or layered over something else to give it a bit more sweetness. Either way, I'm glad I got a big bottle of it.

I got a testable sniffie of this in a purchase from a fellow forumite. My review: In the bottle: Sugary pink things...like a mixture of strawberries dipped in sugar and candy floss. Wet: More of the same, but with a nice creaminess in the background, which is probably the vanilla. Dry: STRAWBERRY! CAR FRESHENER! it screams on my skin. I don't know what happened...it started so pretty, pink, and light...then morphed into this icky plastic fake strawberry on me. I'm almost glad it didn't work--one less LE I have to pine for.

These are all great recommendations. I actually have some Tarot: The Star on its way to me now because I read it's very coconutty (and I adore coconut), so if it's minty coconut I might wet my pants. In joy. I'll have to look at the others. I never thought of a scent locket! I'm generally not a big jewelry person, but I'll give those a look, too.

Hi folks. I'm new to the forum and semi-new to BPAL. I've tried 2 oils so far and have a bunch more heading toward me in the mail. I love Gennivre wet on my skin. Does anyone have any recommendations as to an oil that would approximate that smell? On me it's all bright mint, muted by what smells like the tea and honey. I like the drydown, but I really really prefer it wet. Any help is super appreciated!