dronzeka

In the imp, I get pretty florals covered in ice. On, initially I get flowers and ice and the berries come out as well. This first stage is really lovely - someone above compared it to Knecht Ruprecht, which I agree with - at this point the Snow Maiden is like Knecht Ruprecht's little sister. I thought, "I will HAVE to get a bottle of this." Alas, ylang ylang is not a good dominant note on me, and as it dried, the ylang ylang started screaming. Oddly enough, Ice Maiden got more masculine and in fact, turned into aftershave! Knecht Ruprecht stays beautiful pine-berry-snow on me (even if it's a little masculine), but his sister turns into a drag queen? After a couple of hours, the smell on my arm has calmed down and softened quite a bit, but it still smells like I'm sitting amidst a cloud of aftershave, even if it's gone from my skin. It's a really strong scent on me with good throw - just not really quite what works for me. Oh well - one fewer bottle I need to buy!

I got this as a frimp since, from the notes, it's not something I'd have ever chosen. But when I discovered I had it, I figured I had to try it. And you know what? It's not as bad as I'd have thought! (There's a ringing endorsement, right? ) In the vial, I smell the lichen and oak leaf, I think - it smells like a dark, damp cave - definitely wild and deep, but not dirty (except in the natural sense! That is, dirt-y, not dirty. ) There's a hint of anise. On, the mossy smell backs off in favor of the ANISE (which seems to be fond of shouting). And I'm not sure how, but it's really clearing out my sinuses! Someone earlier mentioned the medicinal herb smell of vetiver, and I haven't tried enough notes yet to be able to identify vetiver on its own, but I'm suspecting that the vetiver is what's combining with the anise to create that kind of pungency. What I was really worried about was the civet, which in Fire of Love wavered back and forth pn me between dark and striking, and cat pee. Which, you know, ick (I have plenty of access to cat pee without putting it in my perfume!). But I'm really not picking out the civet particularly. It might be contributing to the almost bitter tang here, but it's not going cat pee (at least, not yet. I haven't had it on for hours yet). Being fond of light and pretty or warm and pretty scents, and not especially fond of anise, I can't see myself really wearing this, but I'm glad I got the chance to try it, and to discover that it's not horrible. So I can kind of understand the Black Annis lovers, but I'm not one of them! (Edited to add: as time has passed, it's actually dried down into a sort of powdery anise, and dare I say, it's almost pretty? Kind of like an old woman who comes off kind of scary initially - harsh and unforgiving - who turns out to be a lot nicer once you get to know her. Still probably not my favorite, but a fascinating scent.)

I used this for the first time yesterday. I'm not much of a one for formal ritual, but I like the idea of using the oils with intent. I put it in a diffuser (one of the candle things - I never know what to call it) with a couple of candles on either side, and breathed it in for a few minutes, concentrating (heh!) on what I needed to be doing. Then I sat down to work on an essay that's overdue - and it definitely helped. I've been having a terrible time concentrating lately, but I did get into my work (so much so that when my youngest cat knocked something off the kitchen counter I jumped about three feet!). This is just a decant (thanks, VelvetFlyTrap!), so I may need to buy a big bottle soon. As for smell - it is a refreshing kind of lemongrass/mint combo. Light but strong, if that makes sense. I wouldn't wear it as perfume (even if it were that kind of oil, which it's not), but it's a very pleasant scent, rather than pungent.

Goodness, this is a sweet, pretty scent. I primarily smell peach, but I can also get the grape and a variety of florals. Like someone mentioned above, it's actually quite strong for a floral - I feel like I'm wafting a cloud of peach around my wrist. It's all very well balanced and blended, everything merging into, well, a peach-colored glow - bright and sweet, but not light, if that makes any sense. I think for me, it's just overall a little too peach-y - I like peach, but I'm not fond of smelling like things to eat. It's really a lovely peach, not sickly or artificial at all, and more perfume-y than food-y, but somehow peach is not me. But if you like peach, or fruity florals, you will probably love this.

This isn't golden on me, either - a sort of siena color, maybe... like many others here, I'm getting pure wood, I think mostly cedar. On me that goes sharp and musty at once; it smells like the attic over at my next door neighbor's, growing up, where my sister and I explored lots of old junk. It makes me nostalgic, but it's not anything I want to smell like. After about three hours the cedar's finally softening a little bit, and it's getting nicer, but it's not worth the three hours of smelling like an attic. So I will have to find someone else who will appreciate it more!

This intrigues me. In the vial I smell the almost pine-y forest scent of the laurel, with some of the lily (and possibly peony?). On, the laurel backs off, and just lends a deep undertone, anchoring the florals. I end up with a peppery lily with a kind of deep olive-green base - it's a darker floral than some. The pepper lends it a neat little zing to distinguish it from ordinary florals. I'm probably thinking this because of "Grandmother," but it does make me think of someone old and wise - not old-lady-roses-and-powder, but the kind of ageless ancient-ness of lilies in the depths of a green forest. I like it. I don't know if I'd buy a big bottle, but I'll certainly use this.

Like so many others, I LOVE this scent, and wish it lasted a little longer. It's a beautiful lemon-y iced tea spiked with ginger - sweet, light, refreshing, making me think of sweet tea on a hot day, when the glass is dripping with condensation and the ice melts in it almost instantly. It's a very light, clear, clean scent. It's BEAUTIFUL. But despite having slathered it on, it's fading relatively quickly. I may have to try it in a spray to see if it lasts longer that way, because it's just gorgeous.

I get the nice sort of rosey-herb that others have mentioned, but I wanted to agree with previous reviewers who smelled dill! I keep having the rose teeter back and forth on the edge of dill for me. Although that sounds really strange, it's still actually quite pretty - or at least interesting - and seems to work. I get the image of a sunny English garden, with roses and an herbal border, all wildly overgrown and mixed together, and a black cat threading his way through the tangle of stems and leaves - now you see him, now you don't... occasionally exploding upward to chase butterflies. ETA: I wanted to come back and edit this, because after that first time I've never smelled dill again (must have been an odd time of the month), and this has become one of my favorite scents: rose, fresh, green, light and playful. I really like it. And I find it's got spectacular wear on me - it stays true and fresh for well over 8 hours, which never happens to me! And I think it does generally cheer me up and make me somewhat light-hearted when I wear it. So let's hear it for Black Cat!

Despite being allergic to just about everything that grows outside and all animals (including cockroaches!), so far I haven't had any problems with BPAL. (That's not saying much, I haven't been using this stuff very long.) Then again, I didn't usually have any reactions to commercial (i.e. with alcohol) perfumes either - the only thing I've had skin reactions to is lotion of various kinds, and I've pretty much figured out/decided that it's lanolin, so that's easy enough to avoid. But the sad news is that last night I was trying out some new scents and my husband ended up developing a KILLER, nasty headache. As in, he had to go lie down and try to go to sleep so as not to throw up, headache. (At the time he was like, "You have to put ALL THOSE THINGS [my imps] away and never take them out around me!!" but this morning he rescinded such drastic measures!) The scent I made him try (that is, stuck my wrist under his nose) was Black Rose, and I'm bummed, because it was GORGEOUS and I loved it. (That deep BPAL rose! amber! what's not to like?) But I'm really hoping it was that one because although I will sob to have to put away my BPAL roses, there are other things I like better and I want to be able to wear them still! (I guess here's the one upside to a long-distance relationship - b/c the husband is about to start a job many miles away: when he's gone I can wear whatever I like! )

Okay, so I know it's a voodoo blend, and so it has a purpose just beyond smelling pretty, and to be completely honest, I bought this kind of hoping that it would accomplish what it's intended to accomplish... but I don't think I'm going to be able to give it enough time to find out. In the vial, I actually thought that it smelled a lot better than I had suspected, given people's reviews - warm, spicy, intriguing. When I put it on, I get a kind of cinnamon-clove-ness. BUT - then comes what must be the civet that others have mentioned. And you know, it's really kind of an interesting scent - it sort of moves back and forth between one thing and another. And the one thing is a kind of sharp, deep, black note that's really striking. But the other thing is cat pee. I haven't had it on *that* long, so I suppose it might improve. But even so, given that I'm a citrus/floral/amber kind of girl, I don't think this is ever going to be something I want to smell like. (and the husband didn't like it either, which doesn't bode well for its voodoo purpose! Although I kind of influenced him by sticking my arm under his nose while saying, "I think this smells really vile." )

Well, I should have expected it, because it's what all the reviews have said, but: yes, this smells exactly like a candy cane! Fresh, sweet, peppermint (no wintergreen or spearmint, both of which go foul on me). On, it's strong sweet mintiness, like a sticky half-sucked candy cane. As it dries, however, the vanilla comes to the fore, turning into something much softer, something that still has a hint of mint but no longer screams CANDY!!!. While the candy-came stage is really quite lovely and fun, I'm not sure I'd have wanted to smell so much like one on a regular basis. This pretty vanilla-mint, though - this is MUCH nicer. It's a very creamy scent, in texture and in color, for me. (I haven't tried Lick It, so I can't compare the two, but I can report that if you get it on your lips as you greedily sniff it out of the imp, the peppermint oil definitely tingles! Um, not that I would know anything about that, of course. )

I nearly passed on the chance get hold of this, but then I thought, What the hell, and I'm SO glad I did. I'm no good at picking out the different individual notes yet, but in the bottle it smelled golden - I'm coming to realize that's the amber, and that I really like it. Very wam and glorious. On, I smell the amber and some florals, a little spiciness that's probably the frankincense. I don't actually get a lot of citrus, which is kind of a shame because I'm a citrus whore, but it's a beautiful sweet sunniness. I get the sense of an overwhelming goldness, like the sun going down in late autumn over a harvested field, gilding everything, when the light is blinding, yet mellow and not at all harsh. (Hmmm, not a very Yule-y image - oh well!) Someone earlier said they thought of sunflowers, and I did too; another compared it to Et Lux Fuit, which also I agree with - they're very similar for me as well. I think I will have to get a bottle of this!

Wowza, this is my first really foody BPAL and as a scent, this is pretty amazing. I don't get any chocolate at all, it's all hazelnut, toffee, pralines, and caramel. Someone earlier in this thread mentioned hazelnut-flavored coffee, and yeah, it is quite a bit like that. It's VERY sweet and buttery. For what it is, it's really amazing, and it doesn't have any of that kind of artificial sickliness that often shows up in more commercial foody perfumes. Unfortunately, it's also making clear to me that I am not really a foody scent person. (I didn't really think that I was, I just read the description and couldn't resist trying it!) So I don't think I will be keeping it, but I'm glad to have tried it!

Oh, this is so lovely. The only other BPAL rose I've tried so far is Parlement of Foules, and I find that really sharp, somehow - I think it's the sandalwood on me. Rose Cross, on the other hand, is peaceful, sweet, and lovely. It's definitely ROSE, but there's no icky cloying fake drugstore rose here - just something very pure and clear. In the bottle, I smelt pretty much nothing but rose, but on, as it's dried, the frankincense is providing a lovely bottom note that balances out the sweet airiness of the rose perfectly. It's not really something I can pick up on its own, but it adds that lovely depth to the rose. It (Rose Cross, not the frankincense) has got quite a lot of throw, too. I feel so serene wearing this.

Please be kind... this is my first review. Anyway, I got hold a lovely sniffie of Knecht Ruprecht which had just enough left to test, and I am. in. love. In the bottle, I smelled pine and almonds. Wet, I started off with quite a lot of almond as well; there also seemed to be some cherry, although that may be because I associate almond with cherry b/c my husband likes them both. As it dried, the pine softened and the almond shifted into a wonderfully round fruitiness. (I think I got a whiff of apple for about 5 seconds, but that's it for the apples.) It's definitely a wintry, even Christmas-y scent, but in a lovely, sophisticated way; it doesn't smell like pine-sol or potpourri, but what those things *want* to smell like. The pine and fruits balance wonderfully. My only complaint is that it's faded fairly quickly. Anyway, like I said, I am in LOVE with this scent - but not for me. To me, it's a masculine scent (though I wouldn't consider a woman weird for wearing this - it's just not for me). What I'm salivating over is the prospect of getting my husband to wear this!