sarahmarie

Wow, thanks everyone! I do find that strong scents are a bad thing if I'm not careful. Sweet scents sometimes bother me, as do florals. I can wear all of the above sometimes, if I'm feeling good, but perfume is sadly often a gamble. (Someone mentioned apple - I think that one bothers me too. Samhain went all sweet and apple-y on me, and gave me a headache. Sniffing lots of different things one right after the other can do that too.) Cinnamon seems to be safe for me, and I think the suggestions of ginger and lavender could be good too. I will try the lavendar essential oil, and look into perfumes with lavender in them. It's also nice to know that I'm not the only one here with a passion for BPAL and frequent headaches and migraines. Sometimes they really don't go well together, but I am trying my best to work around it.

The Unicorn, Endymion, and maybe The Dormouse, or Juliet.

Blood Kiss is a sweet scent with vanilla in it. I love it, myself

Gluttony has chocolate!

Hi everybody I am prone to migraines and tension headaches. When I have a migraine or when one is brewing, I get very sensitive to scents. They can make me sick or make me feel worse, and they seem more intense. So, there's a lot I'm afraid to wear because of migraine-inducing tendencies, or because I'm afraid a migraine will put me off them (which has happened with foods as well as scents - if I experience them with a migraine, I may not like them for a long time). But I was thinking - I know there must be some oils that might help people with migraines - aromatherapy and all that. I could just google it (and I will), but I want to know if any of you have found any particular BPAL scents helpful for headaches or migraines. Any that make you feel better, help ward them off, or even ones that smell good/comforting/calming when you have one. Recommend some to me? Thank you!

I love Decadence! On me, it smells strongly of oranges and almonds when I first put it on. I don't like orange at all, but there's something different about this orange, to me. It's a little lighter than other orange scents I've tried, somehow, or maybe it's just the blend...but I don't mind it. I am glad, however, when the orange dries down to something much gentler. This is the first scent I've tried that morphed so completely on my skin. It starts out all almond and orange, and 5 minutes later, there's hardly any almond or orange and tons of cinnamon all of a sudden! As a big fan of cinnamon, this excites me. This is a drier, brown cinnamon, like cinnamon sticks, that I really, really love. There's still a hint of orange, but it's in the background now, making the scent bright without being outwardly orangey. There's a hint of sugar and booze in this too, but it's also a background to the cinnamon. I wore this on Halloween night. It's so bright and fun, very festive and perfect for cold weather. I want more!

This is very sweet on me, but in a way that I like. It's very deep and complex, and I do think it's very sexy. I think I will need to apply it sparingly, as it is rather strong and sweet on me. At first, the cherry is very strong. It's a black cherry, very dark and sweet. It also smells like chocolate at first on me, oddly enough. As it dries down, the vanilla comes up, and what I get most strongly is a deep cherry-vanilla scent. It's almost creamy, and still reminds me slightly of chocolate and cherries, even though it is most definitely a vanilla/cherry/honey smell. I get just a whisper of musk and clove, which works out well. The sweet fruity creamy aspect of the scent keeps it feminine, while the background of darker, muskier things balances out the sweetness, adds to the deep complexity, and brings out that little tinge of sex. I love it!

I have a hard time describing scents, as is probably evidenced by my reviews. But I will try. Without reviewing the notes, I couldn't really remember what was in this one. What I could pick out before looking at the notes was sweetness, incense, a spicey sort of floral, dry leaves, and something chocolately underneath. And hey, look - that's about right! I like this one, possibly a lot. It's sweet, but it's balanced by the incense and leaves and that spicey floral scent, so it's not too much for me. It changes on my skin, too - sometimes, it will smell smokey, then it will turn and I'll smell the leaves most or the chocolate-y scent. I like that it changes, it keeps things interesting and I get to keep noticing, which is fun. This one really does feel like fall to me, and I think the description really hits the nail right on the head. It's very evocative of a Day of the Dead celebration, I think - and I've never even experienced one! It just smells right. Oh, also - the floral notes scared me, but they actually work on my skin! They are not perfumey flowers, if that makes sense - the scent is more of a dry, hot, spicey floral. I'm really glad I got this one! ETA: Wow. I've had this for a while now, and I've been wearing it almost every day. It took a little time, but now I am completely in love! It's just so warm, complex, and evocative...I'm so glad I got this. I hope it comes back next year!

At first: Samhain reminds me of candy corn at first, with a little bit of spice and apple behind it. It's very sweet and almost buttery. As it dries down on my skin, the apple comes out more. It's almost a candy apple, very sweet and very red. I smell a teeny bit of the pumpkin, and the spices warm up but stay very close to the skin. Later: Samhain didn't work out for me - I loved it in the bottle, and at first on my skin. But after a while on me, my skin turned it too sweet. It became very unbalanced - everything but the sweetness just dropped out. I never got any of the woods or fir needle. It's my chemistry's fault, it just didn't agree with me. That's not to say I don't like it, because I do - it just didn't turn out to be very "me". But I am really glad I got the chance to experience it, and I bet it's great on other people's skin.

I ordered an imp of this for a friend for Christmas, but I couldn't resist trying just a teeny drop first. It is so good! I'm really glad I tried it. On me, I definitely smell the tobacco, but it's tempered by the soft sweetness of...something, I guess that's the tonka. There's also a tingley chardonnay note in there, and it lifts the scent just perfectly. I smell like I've been somewhere smokey, but my skin also smells sweet and warm and that chardonnay makes me want to lick myself I'm so happy to have found a scent that isn't fruity and isn't incense-y that I can wear well! I like fruit and I like the other stuff I can wear, but this is just so different. I love it. Now I'm going to have to get my own imp or bottle ASAP!

This starts out so nicely - it's beautiful in the imp, and at first, it's even more beautiful on my skin. It's perfectly balanced and blended, very smooth - fruity without being too fruity, green and damp without being all about that, and floral - yes floral - but not too floral. It invokes beautiful imagery, and it's bright, but not loud. But, as is the way of florals, it turns to floral soapiness on my skin after a while. I will give it one more try, but I bet I'm going to have to swap this to someone whose skin does not hate flowers. Why me?

A few seconds after I put this on, it smells very strongly (and nicely) of lemon verbena. Then the cedar shows up, and it makes me think of a creamy or buttery lemon. I guess it also makes me visualize a lemon on a very smooth wooden table, or a lemon made out of smooth wood...one way or another, the cedar makes the lemon very smooth on me, and it's nice. I love lemon verbena, and I forget how refreshing it smells until I put this on. This isn't my favorite scent ever, but I will still be sad to see it go.

Okay, this scent is really creepy and everything, but I have to say that it makes me giggle. I mean, it's just so uncanny - it smells *exactly* like a freshly dug grave with a bunch of dried roses. It's freaky, in a way, but for some reason my reaction to smelling it is just to laugh. It makes me think of Bertie Bott's every-flavor beans (as they are in the HP books, I've never actually tried the ones Jelly Belly makes ). All that said, this is exactly as it is described, and I like it much more than I thought I would. I don't know how often I'll wear it, but I definitely like having it around.

I am Ms. Bad Luck With Florals, so I have some ideas for you Wrath (Sin and Salvation) - A scent aflame with rage, swirling in the red haze of hatred: dragon's blood spiked with black pepper, clove, and cinnamon. Wrath is, I think, my favorite BPAL scent. It's really spicey and warm, and quite cinnamony. Mmm. I also really like Alecto and Tzadikim Nistarim from the Sin and Salvation section. In Bewitching Brews, I've had good luck with: Swank Blood Amber Eidolon Intrigue Kali (despite the floral notes - this one isn't very floral on me at all) In Love Potions: Aizen-Myoo Bordello Kabuki Harlot (despite the rose, oddly) Mad Tea Party: The Red Queen Illyria: Lady MacBeth Wanderlust: Old Kathmandu Tintagel Of course, my experience is fairly limited and there's plenty more choices than that, but those are ones that work for this non-floral person.

I loved Alice in the imp, and I loved it when I first put it on. It's just perfect - I can smell each note, but they blend so well and it's such a great scent. It made me feel good to smell it! But...then the rose came out. I like rose well enough, but my skin seems to hate it. It turns rose sharp and sort of...bug spray-like. It's not horrible, but it's not right either. And I'm so sad, because I love Alice! I may try it again just out of blind hope, but it seems Alice will not work on me because my skin's bad relationship with rose. I'm really disappointed, because this is so nice...but I do have lots of new imps to make me feel better.

On me, this is a very nice, sweet-cedar-smoky scent. The cedar comes out a lot on me, as cedar tends to do on my skin, and the fig comes out well also, balancing the scent and making it more warm and comforting. I love the smell of cedar alone, but the fig gives it a great balance. If I sniff my skin directly, I smell a smokiness in there that reminds me of Old Kathmandu - but it's more subtle and earthy. I can't really smell the cocoa...although I kind of think I can pick it up if I focus on it. I might be imagining it though. I really like this scent. I find it comforting, and I can imagine having nice dreams if I wear it to bed. It also stays on my skin more than some other scents do, and I can smell it around me, which is nice.

This didn't smell remotely cough-syrupy to me. For me, it was a very sweet cherry smell - overpowering and first, but then the wood came out and evened things up nicely. My skin seems to like to bring the wood out in things, and it works out well here. It's a very dark, very red scent, and I picture dark cherries in a bowl, on a table of dark wood, and a red dress in a dark room. This is due in part to the lab's description, but the scent really does evoke those things - it matches up very well. After a little while, this turns almost creamy on my skin. It's still woody and I can still smell the sweetness of the fruit, but it goes deliciously smooth and just slightly sweeter. It's very regal - I would want to wear this when I need to feel womanly or confident, and it's not really a casual scent to me. I think this is such a cool scent. I can't say yet whether it's something I want a big bottle of, but I'm going to keep using the imp and see what happens.

This is a little late, but Aunt Caroline's Joy Mojo smelled like cotton candy on me...at one point. (It started off sort of strawberry, then went bubble gummy, then it was chocolate for a litlte while, then cotton candy. ) So that might be a good one to try, too.

The cedar came out most for me, as it seems cedar likes to do on my skin. That's okay though, I like cedar. There was a touch of incense to the woody smell though, and that made it seem far different than the other cedar-y scents I have tried. It smells sort of high and clear on me, if that makes any sense. It made me feel focused and centered, and while it wasn't necessarily my favorite scent to wear, it evoked a sense of calm and relaxation as soon as I put it on. I will definitely keep the imp for those times that I need to feel peaceful and centered. It isn't really me (at least, in the sense that I wouldn't want to wear it every day), but it is beautiful.

I like this a lot! It's very tart and red, and it almost smells juicy. It makes me want to lick my arm. This scent seems both grown up and playful to me. It's very sweet at first, but then it turns into the sort of tart that makes your mouth water. It doesn't seem to last very long on me, but only a couple of oils have so far. This is going on the list of big bottles I want!

This starts out momentarily too strong and sweet on me, but it mellows very quickly. At first, it makes me think of berries - maybe strawberry. Then it turned into something that reminded me more of bubble gum. After a little while of that, I started to think it smelled like cotton candy...and then, I was sitting in class, and I kept smelling chocolate coming from my wrists - but just vaguely, and just for a few minutes. It settles into a mostly cotton-candy like smell, with something vaguely herbal somewhere underneath that only peeks out sometimes, mostly when I sniff my wrists directly. I changed my mind many times about what this smelled like - but all of the smells were happy ones, and it got me through a really boring, frustrating class. At the end of the class last week, I felt annoyed and impatient, but this week, I felt much calmer. Maybe it was the Joy Mojo at work.

Sadly, I had the same experience as feycat. Black Cat on me was incredibly strong, sharp, and soapy. It gave me a headache, and was very difficult to wash off. It sounds like such a cool oil, I wanted it to work out - but sadly, my skin didn't want anything to do with this one.

I love this scent, and I haven't even worn it myself. My husband put some on when it came in my most recent order, and it smells wonderful on him. I want him to bathe in it. It's such an inviting scent. I hope this becomes available for purchase in a bigger bottle soon, because I want to get more for him as soon as possible. In the meantime, maybe I should try it on myself. But I had to post this review preemptively anyway, because I love it so much.

In the imp, I wasn't sure about this one, but the moment I put it on, my mind started to change. It went right from sweet and overpowering in the imp to crisp, bright, and sparkley on my skin. I don't really smell what I can definitively say is booziness - I smell a sort of sparkle, a tingle behind the fruit that I assume is the alcohol. The pomegranate smell...well, it's been a while since I've smelled a pomegranate, but it reminds me of one. It's a bit orangey too, but not very much (I don't like orange scents, but I love this). And it appears to have more staying power and throw on me than other scents do. My husband came home and smelled me (a common practice in the last few days, since i just got my first two orders) and told me I should wear this one all the time. So it gets his vote as well. I will be adding this to the big bottle list. It just smells so bright and happy, and I know I'm going to want it around.

In the imp: this smells very...floral to me, which is funny since most people here seem to be smelling either the tea or apple-ness. It's pretty and light, and it seems very perky. Wet: Largely floral, still, with a fresh sharpness. It's still very light and peppy, and I like it. Drydown: as it's drying, I can smell the apple that some people are smelling, but only briefly. Mostly, I still smell a tickley floral smell. I guess it's peony, though it's been a really long time since I've smelled a peony. After a while: hmm, it's still nice and light and pretty, but it does what so many scents with floral components seem to do on my skin - the flowers jump out, overpower everything and dry down in kind of a sharp way that makes me feel like sneezing. I like this one at first, but I don't like how to changes on my skin. I'll try it again and see if it improves, but this is probably not going to be a bigger bottle purchase for me.