nikkoblue

Litha: Bottle: I can smell the honey mead, most definitely, and some unidentifiable herbs and florals. Skin: on wrist, i'm getting a definitely lemony scent under the honey. BPAL's honey is usually horrific on me, but this one is OK....still not my thing, but OK. The florals are balancing the honey and lemon...... Drydown: still honey honey honey, with a touch of lemon. I can't identify what's coming out behind it....I don't think it's honeysuckle I'm smelling, but maybee daisy. All in all, my skin turns this into Luden's Lemon Honey Coughdrops without the menthol.....it's actually very pretty, but not on me.

Fresh snake oil, only worn becuase my son picked it out of my BPAL box and insisted I wear it (he has very good taste): Wet: mmmmmmmmmm non spicey resin, heavy vanilla. On my arm, this starts off heavy on the baby powder vibe, but a baby powder with an extra shot of madagascar vanilla and some yummy patchouli and amber. After an hour some spice starts to peek out from under the vanilla and amber. Gorgeous, strong throw, I think if I'm loving it now I'm be adoring it in a year. I'll use my imp for now, and my 5 ml will age...... I bought 2 bottles of each snake pit i got; i think I'll age 1 of each of them....it'll be interesting to compare them, and to see how the aged snake oil smells with all the other notes.

I'm going to be trying to get pregnant again soon, and I found this on aromaweb....apparently theses oils have a 'reputation' of being 'generally' safe during pregnancy (or course, no guarantees etc and they're not responsible etc etc use with caution and understand you are taking a risk)..... The list below is a compilation, the lab recommends not wearing scents so I probably wouldn't. If you have any quesitons, check with your doctor or an aromatherapy specialist. Benzoin Bergamot Grapefruit Lavender Lemon Neroli Orange Patchouli Sandalwood Spearmint Tea Tree Vetiver edited to add list i found of things to definitely avoid on naturalbloom.com: Basil Cedarwood Cinnamon Clary sage (OK during labour) Clove Cypress (OK after 5 months) Fennel Hyssop Jasmine (OK during labour) Juniper Lemongrass Myrrh Parsley Pennyroyal Peppermint Rosemary Sweet marjoram Thyme I've been pregnant before and didn't change too many habits; I know I couldn't even stand any scents until i was about 4 or 5 months pregnant......I'll probably use a scent locket and go for scents with the above ingredients if I get pregnant again (many of which are my favorites anyway.....) It's definitely true that society tends to make pregnancy almost like a debilitating condition (probably for legal reasons.....the US is just always suing people for their own decisions or actions)......it's important to be careful but you don't have to stop doing everything.

bottle: Warm cocoa'd dragon's blood.....this smells a lot like Freak Show to me in the bottle. Arm: cocoa, spice, the merest touch of vetiver, and some dragon's blood. Dry: Verrrrrry much dragon's blood with a hint of cocoa and spice. I love dragon's blood and it smells great on me, so I'm not complainin'. I actually get hungry, like a pure gut reaction, when I sniff this. MMMMMMMMmmmmm. I'm actually pretty annoyed that this was an LE.....I got it off ebay and I know it'll be a pain to get more I'll just have to use it sparingly......

Super pretty in the imp..... Wet: minty, ozoney, and musky. Cool and beautiful! Drying: same as above but the mint is becoming more subdued. I can barely sense the frankincense. Dry: This scent holds those same notes until the drydown, when it becomes pure ozone and musk. Actually, when dry, it smells exactly like Szepasszony on me. Half hour later: OK. I put Szepasszony on one arm and this on the other. The initial scents are completely different, but the drydown, with my skin, is exactly the same with just a light touch of mint in the cloister. This is the second salon that smells exactly like a GC on me (Satan & Death vs. Hades...but I digress). Alas, Cloister, I love you but Szepasszony is cheaper and I already have a full bottle. Still, a gorgeous cold scent. Beautiful!

The main notes I get from this once dry are lilac, bergamot and cereus. The cereus adds some sort of....I dunno, liquidity? to the scent. The bergamot tempers the distince floral of the lilac note. I barely sense the frankinsence and cedar hanging way in the background, but I get no lily at all (good thing, because lily is one scent that I don't like). I wasn't expecting to like this as much as I do. It's a pretty, non-overwhelming floral that's not soapy on my skin, and holds a bit more complexity than most of the florals I've tried.

THis is one of those scents that really works on me, but I'm so temperamental about rose that I don't know if I could ever buy a bottle of it. Imp: Stale over roasted coffee bean and roses. intriguing! After working for a coffee company for 3 years and working at the roasting facility, the smell of stale coffee is kind of comforting to me. Initial, wet on arm: The coffee's fading fast the rose is really asserting itself. It's not pure rose though (maybe the jasmine is tempering it?). The coffe is keeping the rose from being cloyingly sweet though, which is nice. Dry: This is turning very sexy and pretty on me. I'm not getting any coffee anymore......the rose and jasmine are popping up at different moments. I don't think I want a full bottle, but I'll most likely use my imp.

I liked this one in the imp..... Wet: I'm getting orchid, apple blossom and hawthorn. i'm a huge hawthorn lover so this is a plus for me. Dry: pretty, but very floral in a slightly generic and overpowering way. The more it develops, the more floral it gets with the brightness of the apple blossom fading. 1 hour: uggggh. soap soap soap. Most things don't turn to soap of me, so I'm kind of surprised. Not for me. Too bad, it started off very nice.

This is really so beautiful. It doesn't morph on me; what's in the bottle is just a sharper version of what's on my skin. It's warm and musky and saffron-y with incense-y spices that I associate with head shops in the U District here in Seattle. Unfortunately, my husband hates it. Fortunately, he works a lot, and travels often, so I'll get lots of Scherezade-wearing in when he's not around. It makes me feel

This is what I was hoping (and am assuming that it doesn't, because this is saw scaled viper) that Shub would smell like. This smells in the bottle very much like Red Phoenix in the bottle (which I also love)....however, whereas RP turns into a incense-laced melange of yumminess, this turns into pure, cakey delicious buttermilk gingerbread on me. I can't stop sniffing my arm. No sensitivity here, which is surprising as everything makes my skin fall off I'm ordering a second bottle. There's no way that this is going to go away without me having backup. ADDED April 8: I reviewed this when I first got it, but I feel it merits another review, as this bottle has now aged a couple months.....when new, the cassia was there but it didn't kill me. Now: The cassia is truly overwhelming, almost nauseatingly so, for the first 5 minutes it's nothing but bitter cassia.....and I tend to be OK cassia, but this is too much. *****However, just like Red Phoenix, give it a few minutes.....******* About a half hour later, the cassia isn't really noticeable but there's still some pungent ginger. But an hour later, oh my. It's the best snake oil I've ever smelled, very vanilla and rich, almost like a sweet bourbon vanilla, with light gingery spice. I'm not getting any cassia now. This has become something GORGEOUS and I've gone from almost swapping both my bottles to wondering if I should buy a third. THis is a blend that does not give you instant gratification, but with a little patience the payoff is huge. I also did the 'Child Test'. I let me son sniff my arm the first few minutes and his whole face wrinkled. An hour later I told me 'new perfume, smell!' and now he keeps grabbing my arm. he loves the vanilla.

Swapped with someone as the description sounded intriguing and I'm All About Incense. Bottle: Bitter cocoa with a touch of spice....but there is no sweetness in this. On, wet: Peanut butter. Slightly rancid peanut butter. This continues for about 15 minutes and I consider washing it off. Dry: Ohhh. There's the incense. The peanut butter is turning into leather. Though leather is sexy, it's not very me. This is really a nice blend though. Very dry, 1.5 hours: incense. This even lasted through a shower. It's rich and beautiful but I find it very masculine. Leatttthhherrrrrr. It's interesting that I got NO patchouli out of this, and no cocoa after the initial note. Patchouli usually shows up on me pretty vividly.

bottle: lemon. wet on arm: there must be something wrong with my nose right now, cuz I'm getting pickles and lemon Drying: pickles going away. Verrrrry heavy on the lemon though. Good thing I like lemon! Dry: i'm gittin' nothing but lemon. Going to sniff some coffee. OK, back. alright. the lemon is starting to subside. My right wrist, which didn't get a direct application, is more musky/vanill-y-smokey/touch of lemon. The right wrist is still lemon with musk, and slight pickle....I think it's the opium that i'm translating here. Dill-emma aside (har har har) this is a nice fragrance and I'm going to try it again tomorrow when I'm starting fresh..... EDITED: next morning, 12 hours later: still there. no pickles. musk and something slightly smokey. Will definitely give this one another shot!

got this as a frimp. Wet: watery.....slightly musky and aquamarine, but no astringency, just clear. On arm: oooo, pretty! It doesn't have that sharp note that a lot of aquatics have that remind me of aftershave. This smells like water with some sweetness, like the humidity in the air before a storm. half hour: losing its sweetness a little bit and getting a little more of a dusty musk scent. It's still nice though. I like this. I don't know it it's a full bottle purchase but I like my imp. I also like this better than Tempest, of off to swaps with my tempest 5 ml!

Bottle: creamy......a slight hint of something like condensed milk, but less rich. OK, like creamy angel food cake. nice! Dry on arm: where'd it go? Ah. THere it is. plastic. Oh no. Dryer on arm: hmm....i'm getting a little bit of lunar oils, and a mild vanilla with a hint of floral. Forgotten, 1.5 hour later: oh, THERE's chaste moon! very mild and pretty vanilla, but a BRIGHT, calming vanilla, with a touch of some type of sweet tree blossom (barely noticeable) or something. This is very pretty, but I don't know if its me....plus there's a note in a lot of the vanilla-y BPALs that turns to plastic on me and I think Chaste Moon contains it....it fades away but I don't know if I can deal with the hour or so of it. Potential swap.

Got this today, fearing the vetiver kick....vetiver can go either way on me, and so can coconut. So......this was a leap of faith. Ahem. Wet: eeeeech. Vetiver, but not like a musty vetiver....a living, green root-of-the-grass-from-which-it-came vetiver. Now, i've never had snake oil before and the vial I have is fresh, so there's some balancing notes in the background that are keeping the vetiver from kicking my butt. Onward. Skin: boooooooff. Vetiver. But it's being kept in check. And no coconut that I can sense, thank goodness. There's also something soft holding it together; I'm thinking it's oppoponax, which I always seem to like. OK. Dry: hmmmmmmm. vetiver's there, but it's not overpowering. I'm getting some milder notes including the oppoponax and vanilla. I like this. If I were somewhere and some person was wearing this I'd be leaning over ever-so-unintrusively to sniff it. Probably more so on a man as it seems to be masculine sexy...however, I do like this on me. Yay! first snake adopted and kept.

Wet, in bottle: fresh dirt with rotting leaves after rain in spring. i'm a gardener...this smells like my flower beds in February with an extra dose of bitterness. Wet, on arm: cold, dirty, and musty......teeny tiny faint hint of cocoa. 15 minutes: cocoa. dusty flowers. 1 hour: Dry cocoa with just a hint of sweetness. This is the second time I tried this; first time it almost ended up in swaps but now I'm starting to like it. It's very much that bitter cocoa smell you get from baking unsweetened chocolate with a tint of floral. nice!

Wet: reallllly overly limey and kind of weird. i have my 5 year old boy sniff it, he says 'It smews like skittles!' Dry: i'm bothered by this one......it's limey and floral and reminds me a bit of my Trader Zen counter cleaner......do I like this? Do I not? My magic 8 ball is saying'no'. Dryer: I'm too lazy to wash it off, so it sits.....and now it's getting pretty (it's been about an hour). The lime has gone away and I'm left with musk and citron, which is translating as slightly clove-y on me. Maybe this IS a keeper. Luckily I have an imp AND a full bottle so I'll work through the imp first and see if the bottle's a swap or not.

The snow-covered foliage of the Black Forest and the fruit and woods of apple and almond trees. In the bottle, this is sweet and beautiful; i'm getting almost no pine or forest....or if I am, it's definitely deciduous forest in the cold..... Wet, on arm: a slight piney note is coming forward, and again with the slight orchard fruits and nuts. Dry: oh my. I'm almost crying, I don't know why. I love this. Dry, cold, beautiful snowy forest with sweets mingling in the background, and I have no idea why, but the slightest bit of comforting scent of a dark movie theater...like the smell of freshly popped popcorn kernals with no butter lingering in the background, all light and airy and fluffy......bizarre. This is really, really nice.

Wet: pine. wood. menthol. dry on skin: slightly sweeter pine wood menthol....wait. is it christmas? Dry: christmas on my skin.....all tree, no tasties. this is the most convincing christmas tree scent I've ever smelled, even though I don't think that was the intention. yay for creative blends! I don't like it on me, but oddly enough, I'm keeping this as a room scent.

wet: verbena. again, i like verbena so this is OK starting to dry: verbena, lavender, and a little musk poking through. this is a nice stage, very straightforward in a clean way. Dry: oo! nice. I've got musk with a touch of plum and verbena....the lavender has taken the background and i'm getting the slightest touch of the vetiver to soften all the brightness. I'm not getting any fig or coconut, but that's good. i don't really like coconut. THis is really nice! I got it as a swap and am oh so happy!

The Death of Sardanapal! Honey is one of the notes, but on me it was sheer, pure mesquite honey all the way. Unfortunately I don't like honey but out of all the honey scents this was the most realistic to me......

weeeiiiiird. I got a frimp of this and upon initial sniffing went' UGGGGH!' So... Wet: ew. I don't like this.......but let's try it anyway. on arm: Ylang Ylang. I hate Ylang Ylang. Drying: Ylang Ywhat? it's going away and there's something deeper coming out. It's PATCHOULI?!? Which I always hated.....until....now. Dry: Oh my word. My skin has somehow amped this fragrance until it's smelling like a strong, pretty incense on me. bizarre! My arm smells like a sexy confident woman about to take her man in any way she can. hmmmmmmm. i'm liking it. after: it lasted a full 8 hours on me and kept gittin' better. ***Purchased full bottle!

With the ingredients listed, I did not expect a fruity scent....but there it is. Wet, I smell heavy florals with a touch of fruit. As it dries, the musk starts making itself known with a sweetness that must be the vanilla but it's tempered by the tonka bean so it's not a straight-to-your-nose vanilla. The fruit is definitely not from the champaca, which is barely a trace as with the orchid, and I didn't think amaranth really had a scent....maybe that's the fruitiness? Anyway, it does tie together really well and there is a slight Fruit Moon tone to it without it being really fruity. It's very pretty and wearable and I'm glad I got a 5 ml, but probably won't be buying another (Proshitapathika on the other hand....) I'm really liking these Ashtanyikas....I think I'll buy some more before they get discontinued......

I'm not going to write an in depth review because I just can't describe this scent; it goes from obnoxious to calming in about 15 minutes......but the one thing that realllllly strikes me about it is that it smells exactly like this Greek sweet sugary cream that came in a jar that was mostly vanilla, slightly minty, and had a touch of herbal to it that's undefineable...... I don't know if I love it but it's definitely intriguing.......

Imp: I smell some floral, but mostly a very sweet fragrance, a bit like Pez. On arm (10 minutes): Grape pez interspersed with a just-defineable touch of linden. The thing with linden is that it's so darned sweet....I'm not getting balance here yet but the grape pez is cracking me up! On my left arm it's much more grapey, on my right arm it's more sweet linden with light grape. I don't know where the grape is coming from, but there it is. I'm thinking it's because I actually apply the scent to my left arm and then rub my left arm on my right....so the right's scent is a little more subtle and is perhaps closer to dry down stage.... Dry: 30 min: The grape mellowed but it's still there. There's no grape note in here, though....I really can't tell where it's coming from. There's a little linden and florals and though it's still sweet it's pretty and comforting. Probably not FBW for me but I definitely will use my imp!