sarahmarie

These are cold, sexy vampire apples, indeed. In the bottle, it's very appletastic, with a little ozone-type scent and something that is reminiscent of musk, but isn't particularly musky to my nose. It makes me think of the other apple scents I've tried, but it works so much better on my skin than any other BPAL apple I've experienced. It's bright and just the right balance of sweet and tart, with a cold, cold heart. As it dries, it becomes very light - I have to sniff my skin now, a few hours later, to smell it at all. It's gentler, less apple-y, and it is reminiscent of Snow White in its cool softness. I love the cobalt blue bottles and I love the label...and the chapbook, oh my goodness. I'm really glad I got a bottle of this.

This is the first time in a while that I've been able to wear a blend that features amber and myrrh. I am so glad that it works on me! This is a really great scent. I've tried it on a couple of times at Healthy Living in Burlington, VT, and loved it both times. I succumbed and bought a bottle of it today. Wezwanie/Hold is very hazlenutty, but not in an overpowering way. The hazlenut has the forefront, but it's warmed and sort of...spiced by the amber and myrrh. It's not overly sweet on me, just a bit - mostly it's warm and comforting and gently sensual, and it wears well and feels right even at a time of year when this isn't the sort of oil I'd generally find myself reaching for. I am really digging this scent, people, and I encourage you to go find some and put it on.

This is a pretty awesome, extremely distinctive scent. It's not something I expected to like, since metallic, ozone-y things generally wear very sharply on me and bother my headaches...but I'm really glad I tried it, because Steamworks really didn't have that effect. It's metallic, but in a bright way, not a sharp way. It's also beautifully blended with notes that make it warm and bright and interesting rather than cold, sharp, and piercing, which is how similar scents have made me feel in the past. It's perfumey, but not in the way I don't like. I think it can be interpreted as feminine or masculine, and works very well either way. This scent is unlike anything else I've tried. Even if you've never liked a metallic scent before, I suggest you give this one a try - it's really quite something!

This is a strange one, but it turns out that I like it! I was hoping to really smell the wasabi, but not so much - it's more of a perfumey tea scent at first, and as it dries, it develops a richness from the honey - but with an interesting edge from the wasabi that saves it from the fate of other tea and honey scents on my skin (generally, turning either really sharp, perfumey, or sickly heavy). It's light and unobtrusive but *interesting* and unique. It's a good one, nice for daytime and work especially, I think.

I love it! And I don't often love the fruit-and-booze scents, so this is particularly impressive. It smells like gin-soaked fruit - a little bit sweet, but light and lively. I honestly thought I smelled pineapple in this, though it turns out it isn't there. It's just a really happy, almost effervescent, vacation-y scent. Very tropical, very fruity, lightly boozy - just right!

Fresh out of the bottle, this is very heady and sweet, full of orchid and gardenia blending to create a richly feminine, tropical floral. 30 minutes later, it is still very heady and strong - I will only need to wear a teeny bit of this one. It's funny, a lot of people are mentioning it vanishing on their skin - but in my case it is very strong and seems to be maintaining that level of strength. 4 hours later it has faded to a lighter, closer-to-the-skin floral, but it has sharpened a bit, too. The jury is out on whether I'll hang on to this one, but it definitely has beautiful qualities. If you like rich, heady tropical florals, definitely give it a try!

This wore disappointingly on my skin - sort of sharp and perfumey, not what I was hoping for. I don't really have anything else to add, since it stayed pretty consistently...not a good thing.

This one smells a bit sweeter to me than the version I have, which is the original Smut. I got a sniffy of it with a purchase on LJ, and it's sitting on my desk making my corner of the room smell particularly nice. This is a strong scent that I have to be in the mood for, but it's *so good* when the time is right for it. Delicious and very sexy.

Sometimes amber can be a bit overwhelming on my skin, but not in this blend. Glowing Vulva is very well-blended and it works very harmoniously on my skin, becoming a soft, warm, glowingly sexy scent that lasts a long time. It's got staying power, but it isn't in-your-face - it's really quite lovely.

The grapefruit/jasmine blend is decidedly awesome, actually - the jasmine gives the scent depth and roundness, while the grapefruit keeps it from being too heavy and floral. It's brilliant, and it smells very nice. I don't know, however, if it's me. I'll hang on to the imp and see how my skin chemistry plays with it over time.

I love this one. It's amazing. It smells just exactly like I hoped it would - autumn leaves all over the place, with a fresh air forest backdrop, and a hint of smoke. It's just beautiful, and it smells incredibly good on my husband. On me, it fades quickly, but while it lasts, it's amazing. I cannot say enough good things about October, and I'm very, very happy about that. I'm an October baby, and I was hoping to feel this way about this oil.

I have tried this one nearly every time it's come out, and each time it just doesn't work for me. It's obviously something I would love to love, but it wears very heavily on my skin and kind of turns my stomach over time. This year's is a little softer, somehow, and a bit fruitier, but still very heavy on me in the end.

Traditionally, Beaver Moon is named thus for a very obvious reason: during this time of year, beavers are hard at work building their dams and preparing for the onset of winter. However, we at BPAL rarely let an opportunity for sleazy campiness pass us by! For your pleasure and amusement, we present this year's incarnation of Beaver Moon: wild cherry with vanilla cream accord, and a hint of strawberry. It's super cherry wet - dark cherry, not tart - with a whole lot of buttery cream. Wet, this is not my style. As it dries, though, the butter goes away, leaving a creamy backdrop to the dark, sweet cherry. It tarts up over time, too, on my skin. Now that it's dry, it's settled down to a tart strawberry-cherry scent that wears a little bit funny on me. Strawberry notes always smell a little off on my skin, sort of vaguely plasticky, and this one is suffering that particular fate. I didn't really expect this one to rock my world, and it doesn't really work with my chemistry - but if you like cream or cherry in your scents, and strawberry doesn't hate you - go for it!

I have worn this one several times and am still not sure about it. I think it's my skin chemistry - the marshmallow doesn't quite set up to smell like marshmallow in the end, it has a little bit of that play dough thing, and it's just sort of not *quite* right. But it's sweet in that white sugary way, and I like it in theory enough to want to keep trying it. I think I will be decanting some of this out to trade for other Inquisition scents, and seeing what happens with the rest of it.

This smells very pretty, but my skin sort of messes with it. The pear goes a bit..well, you know how sometimes you get a mealy pear? It kinda made me think of that. On my skin, the pear is very sweet and combines with the other notes in a way that is very light, but still kind of cloying. I don't think I like it, but I think it's my skin's fault.

The frimp that inspired a bottle purchase! This one is sextacular. It starts off a little sickeningly sweet to my nose - I get overwhelmed easily by sweet, musky scents. But lemme tell ya, if you apply this lightly, it settles down into something really tasty. It is like Mme. Moriarty in that it is a sweet, red musk scent. But there's something a little more...teenaged about this one. I actually just put the Mme. on my other wrist, and am comparison sniffing. Next to Midnight Kiss, Mme. Moriarty smells sort of deeper and spicier, and the fruitness is more subtle. Part of that is aging - I think Midnight Kiss is going to age very nicely - but part of it is the scent characteristics. Midnight Kiss smells like red musk and wine, sweet and sexy, with the other notes giving it a complexity that's really nice and keeps it from being too...rich? Anyway, many words later, I mean to say that I like this one a lot. It has great staying power and a little goes a long, long way. I think it's going to be very popular. Get some, and enjoy!

I always get all excited over champagne notes, but I really don't think they like my skin. It makes it sort of hard to review the oil itself, since I think the champagne is the problem - it goes all sharp and plasticky on me, mixing poorly with the perfume-y quality. This one just doesn't work on me, but based on the scent in the vial, I can *imagine* it being festive and fun - on the right skin.

Green-o-rama, very grassy. Somehow, it manages to feel warm and sunny, rather than cool, the way greens often do to me. It's fresh and light, great for summer. It makes me feel like I should be sneezing, since cut grass does that to me, but of course, this is not the same thing. I get to smell cut grass without allergies! It doesn't have a lot of staying power and it goes just a hair soapy on me as it wears, but the wildly evocative grass scent is worth it to me, for sure.

I thought I reviewed this once, but I guess not! LaFlamme is very, very sexy. It's largely red musk on me, but with a warm, spicy brightness that really smells wonderful. I haven't had wild success with it in terms of function, but it definitely sets a mood - and I think I may need to focus my intent a bit more when I apply it. I often wear it as perfume without really focusing on the sexual aspect, but will update when I do!

Croquet is seriously fun. I don't always do well with the fruit-n-floral thing, but this works really nicely for me. It's happy, it's perky, it's fun! The fruit keeps it sparkley and sort of tangy, and it's quite springy. I love it!

I actually really like The Dodo. It has notes that please my skin - red musk wears very well on me, and cassia = awesomeness. The fruit still comes out though, making this less sexy and more fun. I really liked it, though I need to wear it again to really get a handle on it. I will edit if on second wear, my impressions are wildly different, but I think I'll definitely be enjoying this one.

Wet, this was very cherry! But it quickly dries to a light, lavender-spiked scent. I'd call it sort of cologne-like, vaguely masculine, but also totally suited to a woman. Okay, so in the end, it's really very much a unisex scent. But it has a classic perfumey/cologney quality to my nose - nice, fresh, groundedly floral with a hint of fruit. I can also see it being a lovely soap. Great if you like a sort of classically perfume-like scent. I'm not sure how much I care for it, but it's definitely a nice scent.

I didn't smell roses in this blend at all, really. Wet, this oil smelled buttery, which freaked me out - buttery can be very bad news for me. BUT! After just a minute, the butter went away, leaving a spiced, fruity baked good. This one wears close to the skin, but it lasted all day on my wrist. I really enjoyed sniffing it all day long. This one is a winner! Lots of fun, and highly recommended if you like spicey baked scents.

Citrusy, clean, and spicy. It has a classic cologne-y quality, but so much nicer than that. I smell like a very sexy man. I am totally in love with this scent, and I;d love to get my husband to wear it too. OMG. Sorry, I know this review lacks description and thoughtfulness, but I just can't stop sniffing.

Headache relief. Sodium bicarbonate, citric acid, shea oil, coconut milk, henna leaf powder, witch hazel, eucalyptus essential oil, peppermint essential oil, Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab's Elixir blend. Wow, first to review - I don't think I've ever done this before. I used Grr when I came home from school exhausted, mildly headachey, and yeah, kinda stinky. I drew a bath, dropped that sucker in (what a plunk!) and KABOOM. Awesomeness. It smelled very uplifting and pleasant - minty, mostly, with a generally refreshing and light vibe. It was a very calm scent though, very relaxing. I got in the bath and was stunned at how *soft* the water felt - just delicious, really. I relaxed almost instantly and just lay there and absorbed the goodness. My skin felt great and my headache eased, though it has returned due to lack of timely dinner. I am completely in love with the fizzyBOOM, and I really dug this particular concoction. It was really the best bath I think I've ever had, and I'm looking forward to trying the other bombs I ordered.