paperdoll

Initial Sniff: Sun-baked, grassy... I don't know how this scent manages to be both dried out and fresh, golden and green at the same time, but somehow it does. Even more surprising - it works! Wearing: I am in love with this scent for the first half hour. It is all sun-baked fields in late summer/early fall, when things are growing and dying side by side. I obsessively sniff my wrist, then the unthinkable happens... Body Chemistry. Something in this scent goes completely acrid and I smell like burnt battery acid. It is just awful. Final Impressions: Hopefully this one will agree with the boy and I will be able to obsessively sniff him, because I LOVE this scent!

Initial Sniff: In the bottle, this smells like sickly sweet citrus. I fear a cleaning product scent. Wearing: This is delightful. It is warm, fresh, and inviting. I'm not a huge fan of predominantly citrus scents, but this is really nice. I don't really get a cinnamon/spice note, but there is something besides citrus in there - possible a touch of amber? Final Impressions: I am really pleased with this scent - it totally suits my summer sun-bunny side! I can see wearing this one in the summer - just for fun - and also in the winter when I'm a little short of sun in real life.

Initial sniff: I have no idea what this smells like. It's a little woody, a little herbal, a little fruity. It definitely sparkles. Wearing: This shifts from dominant wood/herb notes into a slightly sweet unidentifiable smell with slightly herbal undertones. I think this must have amber in it as well - it behaves like an amber perfume on my skin. Final Impressions: This is a lovely, balanced scent. If I were more into tarot, I would be very excited to use this scent to further my understanding of the card. This one is on my big bottle list!

My guy likes Noir (and it smells fabulous on him!) However, I will never reveal to him that it is not on the list of traditionally masculine scents!

Have you considered having Beth do a custom blend for your wedding? I know someone else mentioned that in another thread, but it might be a really special way to remember the day - every time you smelled it, you would be transported to your woodland fairy celebration!

Envy is a clean, fresh scent, and Desdemona is a very clean, light floral.

Initial Sniff: Spicy! This smells like a kitchen in an exotic land - the window is open and the perfume of mysterious flowers mingles with the smell of unfamiliar foods. Wearing: This stays fairly true on my skin, only becoming a tiny bit sweeter as it dries. Final Impressions: I like this one, but at the same time I don't. It is very distracting to wear, but not good distracting. Forunately, it fades quickly.

Initial Sniff: The rose is very prominent - a very heavy floral in the bottle. I can tell there is someting interesting underneath all those flowers, though. Wearing: Again, the rose is in the forefront when wet, but this quickly fades to a warm floral with woody undertones. The effect is slightly spicy and very feminine. Final Impressions: This is a pretty floral with warm, slightly resinous undertones - a combination that works well for me. I think a big bottle may be in my future...

I'll second Envy!

It sounds like we have fairly similar tastes, Morrighana. I would recommend: Dragon's Milk: it is kind of uber-sweet, but it is still nice - I layer with this one a good bit. If I'm not crazy about a scent I layer with Dragon's Milk to see if that helps! Black Lotus: though not technically a gourmand scent, the combination of lotus and myrrh smells a little foody to my nose. Wrath: warm cinnamon goodness! I have discovered that the scents that contain lime really end up working well on me, making scents that are normally unwearable gorgeous with my skin chemistry (though I can generally never smell the lime once it is on!). The other end of the spectrum is cherry, which can turn even the best notes into... well, cherry! I would suggest experimenting with a few different elements and see what works for you!

Definitely The Caterpillar, and Saturn to some extent.

I haven't been able to convince my man to try too many, but Omen is very spicy/earthy. Noir works really well with his body chemistry, too - not floral or girly at all.

Sin Dragon's Milk The Caterpillar

The Caterpillar is totally calming. I wear it when I KNOW I'm going to have a hard time staying patient at work and it's like my own little chill pill.

Initial Sniff: In the bottle, this smells like wine tempered with honey and a bit of spice. This embodies what I think of as Old Athens. I can totally visualize a beautiful Greek palace swarming with folks in togas... this is the smell wafting gently through the air. Very nice. Wearing: As this dries, the wine and spice dissipate very quickly. I never get a strong floral from this either. What it smells like is fresh wildflower honey, warmed in the sun. Lush fans- this is B Never shower gel in long lasting oil form. And it does last - we're on hour 11 now. Final Impressions: Fans of honey scents will adore this. Rich, golden, warm, and sweet.

I sent Nella an email on Friday as well (about my 2/7 order) - I'll let y'all know when she gets back to me! Quick response from Nella - I heard back from her today!

Initial Sniff: Mmmm... cinnamon and clove. Warm and spicy - definitely red! Wearing: Very cinnamon spicy at first, but fades very quickly... when dry it almost smells like carnation, a light spicy floral. Final Impressions: When wet I find this oil distracting, and when dry it's nice, but... well, it's almost gone at that point! I liked it, but not enough to order a bigger bottle.

Initial Sniff: Earthy, resiny (resinous?), incensey. It's very masculine and powerful - definitely a force to be reckoned with. Wearing: For the first hour or so, I smell like dirt. I point this out to my boyfriend, who sniffs me and says "yes, but it's a spicy good dirt," which is true. It warms up very quickly, and as it dries the spices come out more and more. Also as it dries, a sweet background note appears and becomes more and more prominent, and the "dirt" factor lessens. It ends up a beautifully sweet spice. Final Impressions: I drove my boyfriend more nuts than usual yesterday - telling him repeatedly how good I smell and making him sniff my wrists over and over again. I don't know much about planetary energy, and I'm not sure the oil fit the "description" for me, but it smells fantastic, and I will definitely order a bigger bottle!

Check out this thread for pics. ETA: the only pic in that thread of bottles was from QS, and it's not showing up on my computer, so I don't know how helpful that is! If you check out the perfume storage thread (pinned at the top of BPAL Chatter) there are some pics there as well.

Initial Sniff: In the bottle, the lavender scent is most prominent, with the cinnamon not far behind. Definitely odd, but I'll give it a try. Wearing: The cinnamon is what I smell the most - but it is definitely the actual spice (slightly woody to my nose) - not Red Hots. I kept trying to figure out the weird scent underneath the cinnamon... after about 30 min, I finally figured it out. Chicken. On me, Mercury smells like Cinnamon Nutmeg Chicken. Blarghh. Final Impressions: In addition to the unfortunate chicken smell, this one also caused irritated red patches on my wrists. I've not experienced any irritation with other oils, so I agree with the above posts - if you are prone to sensitivity, dilute or stay away!

I would definitely agree with Vixen and Sin. Rakshasa is beautiful if you like sandalwood (it didn't work with my skin chemistry, but it is flippin gorgeous in the bottle). I love The Caterpillar as well, but it might fall into the "too heady" catergory because of the incense. Good luck - and i think it's great that you've got an open mind about trying something new. Beth's certainly got a way with these oils - they've convinced me that I love sandalwood and that musk can be a good thing, even though I've always thought that i hated those scents!

Initial sniff:An angry red scent. Even in the bottle, it smells HOT. Wearing: This one morphs from a spicy, cinnamony, peppery scent that is slightly sweet into a warm sweet scent that is slightly spicy. It does fade a little quicker than I like, but I just reapplied and really slathered - we'll see if that makes a difference. Final Impressions: When dry, this scent is not even remotely wrathful (which is not a bad thing!). I've recently tried 3 scents that contained dragon's blood resin, and my body chemistry loved every one of them - if I can get this one to last longer, i'll definitley order a big bottle!

Someone with more tarot knowledge than I can confirm or deny this, but perhaps the Empress from the Tarot series would be a good choice?

Initial Sniff: Totally interesting. I smell pine and cherry with something else almost minty - pennyroyal? Very sweet, yet almost astringent at the same time. Very contradictory. Wearing: This smells like Christmas to me. Sweet minty pine... Unfortunately, the cherry quickly overpowers everything else, and i end up smelling like I washed with pinesol then dowsed myself in cherry slurpee. The drydown is simply sweet cherry. Final Impressions: I'm learning that I can't wear cherry scents because the cherry overpowers everything else. While this is interesting, it doesn't work for me.

Initial Sniff: Wow! Powerful stuff indeed. This is all heat, with something almost sharp behind it. I can't pick out any individual notes in this one. Wearing: This is almost overwhelming when wet, but quickly dries into a dark, hot, spicy, sweet... prescence is exactly the right word, to quote Morrighana. I would also agree that it makes me want to bite something! This scent does not become a part of me, instead it walks beside me (or in front of me?), and it has a lethal weapon, a temper, and an attitude. Final Thoughts: I'll definitely buy a bigger bottle, but probably not until fall. This one is too hot for summer.