Monster

I don't know why it's taken me until now to try this one! Got this frimped to me in a swap Out of the imp: Cocnut and incense, very reminiscent of Goblin out of the imp. On skin: Ok...now on my skin this has shapeshifted into All Souls. Hopefully it stays this way, if I could have a GC blend similar to my beloved All Souls, that would be fantastic! Dry: Yep, this VERY similar to All Souls on me...a nice church incense mixed with sweet, delicious things. I'd say this is a bit more "dusty" smelling than All Souls but incredibly similar! I'm going to have to do a side-by-side comparison later on. A winner for me!

Out of the imp: Chocolate covered cherries! On my skin: BAM! Red musk right away! It's mixing with the cherries and patchouli to create a of cherry incense sort of effect. The chocolate is almost compleltey gone at this point, the resins are dominating over it. Dry: It's sort of ended up a sour, old cherry smell mixed with incense with dried, spilled red wine (you know the scent of it spilled on your clothing...dried...1 day old when you're about to throw it in the wash.) Overall: I'm not so sure about this one. Based on all of the notes, I SHOULD like this but the combination of them all just isn't working for me. I think this would be perfect if the cherry and wine notes were removed. Oh well. It's not bad...just not for me.

Out of the bottle: This is a dark (yet sweet) figgy smell. On my skin: Very complex! I'm getting smoky woods mixed with a sweet herbal scent. This is rich and mysterious smelliing. I'm detecting a bit of a powdery amber note...but it's not going completley baby powder on me like some ambers do. Dry: The black musk is more apparent now, it's settled in as a nice, dusty base note mixed with myrrh, redwood and a pinch of sweetness from the tarragon. There's even something fresh and clean smelling about this...along with being dark and smoky. Very unique! Overall: Another winner for me! So far all of these Gridhouse ladies are fantastic smelling. Aeronwen particularly stands out as being very unique and mysterious. This something I'd wear to an evening event or when I'm feeling especially sexy.

Hehe. First of all, I love Trollgirls review. I too, play a Troll in WoW (Shaman to be more specific). Blood and thunder! Troll the perfume.... Out of the vial this is a subdued vetiver with something else...not sure yet. On my skin this is surprisingly mild! I'm getting a teeny teeny bit of vetiver mixed with basil. This such a unique scent! I don't think I've smelled anything quite like this before! There's a spice cabinet feel about this, not something you have in your kitchen though...like an old wooden box kept by an old witch who lives alone in the woods....she keeps her fresh herbs and spices in little glass jars. It's a natural, earthy scent...not something you're likly to find around your own home. This is otherworldly to me. As this dries I'm detecting a bit more vetiver (which is great since I love me some vetiver!). I think the basial and cumin are playing together to give this a slightly sweet quality. This is suprisingly mild and wears as sort of a second skin. Troll skin! (sorry couldn't resist ) I am in love this one. I can't wait to see how it ages, I'd love for it to get a bit stronger and have more staying power. Even with it's short life, I love it just the same

Moon Rose is a big whopping smack in the face with moonflower and rose. I'm not detecting anything herbal or aquatic to this, it's just a very strong floral blend on me. I can see why people would like this, it's very pretty, femenine and something I can see a lot of different types of people wearing. It's a good "every day" type of scent. This sort of reminds me of this rose body butter I tried once at an upscale boutique. It even reminds me a bit of Philosophy's Amazing Grace perfume. This is a "Mom" scent. I can appreciate this, it's very very pretty but just not for me.

Dab a bit behind each ear, and you'll be instantly inspired to alter street signs, shake fruit from your neighbor's trees, and hide your roommate's car keys. Black coconut, gnarly patchouli, and sweet benzoin. Out of the vial this is sweet patchouli. On my skin this is a glooorrriooouusss patchouli blend! BPAL has THE best patchouli on Earth. Really. Goblin pretty much stays the same from beginning to end. This is a sweet, coconutty patchouli smoothed out by a balmy smelling benzoin. I would recommend this perfume to someone who feels patchouli is usually too strong for them, but really likes earthy scents. I think this one would work well. It's a tame patchouli and won't make you smell like you're trying to cover up dirty body funk. I am immediatly in love with this one. This is something I can wear every day, through all seasons.

Ok so, the oil is dark, earthy red in color. I know I'm going to like this one Out of the vial is warm, red musk and sandalwood. On my skin I smell more amber and a lot of rosewood. This is a delightfully woody/resinous blend. Some people have said this is really masculine but, when I think of masculine I think of sharp lavender scents or scents decribed as "smoky". I guess this could be described as unisex but to me, this is a femenine perfume. When I wave my hand a few feet away from my face I smell pure, amber and sandalwood incense (not the headshop variety...it's more of a warm, smoldering wood smell.) The final stage isn't so different than the top and middle...maybe a bit more sandalwood but this is still a harmonius resin/wood perfume. I love this! Great find, I will certainly be using all of my imp

Out of the bottle this smells fresh and very herbal to me. Not sharp, herbal but soft and gentle. On my skin there's something in here that's reminding me of Arkham Revisited....it's like if Arkham Revisited took a tropical vacation, it would probably come back smelling like this. As this dries, the lily and gardenia stand taller than the rest of the floral notes but don't completley dominate. This is really pretty, very floral and I surprisingly like this a LOT! When I wave my hand about a foot away from my face I smell a sweet mix of flowers and something honey-like....I think the peach blossom is also standing up with the gardenia and the lily. I'm really not getting any sandalwood in this at all. To me, this is a sweet floral blend. This reminds me of Easter morning for some reason, going to church with my Mom when I was a kid surrounded by all sorts of beautiful flowers. Very pretty! I took a chance with this one and am really glad I did.

Out of the bottle this is BAM! Citrus! On my skin I smell grapefruit and lemongrass first with a faint background of delicate (not overpowering) florals. Citrus is always something that's short lived on my skin so, as this begins to dry the floral notes take center stage. At this point, the citrus is only a soft whisper in the background. The fruit/floral combination in this is very nice! This is a nice floral blend for the girl who generally doesn't like floral scents. It's not headache-inducing or too strong. I'm really enjoying this one The final drydown is a soft, pretty fruity floral. My skin has completley devoured the citrus leaving a sweet, fresh and pretty "pink" smelling perfume. This sticks close to the skin and makes me feel really girly. I can see myself wearing this in the summertime with a sundress...or now in the middle of winter to help me daydream of warmer days.

It was definitley more blue than green. It was pale but still very noticably blue when I put it on my skin.

Nope, we don't have any blue oils and never have. ?? o_O I'm not sure if the bottle I got was direct from the lab or from a swap but I did have one and I swear the oil had a blue tint to it. Also, in this post, [LINK] someone describes the oil (in a Chaos Theory blend) as looking pale blue in color. There is also another one here... [LINK2]

I've gotten several frimps of Water of Notre Dame since I started buying bpal in 2007 and the ones I've received have been a golden yellowy color. Very odd. The bottle I had was purchased back in 2005. Maybe the formulation changed? I know there are essential oils out there that are blue in color. Hmmmm The imp I have also doesn't smell as powdery as the bottle of WoND I had back on '05. Very strange. *scratches head* Maybe I'll e-mail the lab.

I posted this in the BPAL question free for all...nobody has responded yet so I'm gonna try here Anyway... Water of Notre Dame. It used to be blue, right? The actual oil used to have a blue tint to it....or am I crazy? I just received a frimp from the Lab recently and the oil color appears to be a light, golden color now. It smells similar....but....I dunno, I'm confused. Anyone order an imp or bottle of this recently, any Water of Notre Dame fans out there? I owned a bottle of this a couple years ago and I swear it used to be blue! Or, maybe it's just a case of a mislabled imp? I swear the oil color was blue!

This was frimped to me by a lovley forumite...I am so thankful because I LOVE this scent and wouldn't have tried it on my own since dragons blood is listed. Thankfully, the dragons blood in the blend is very tame and doesn't give me a headache at all. On my skin this has an almost juicy red quality to it. It's warm, sexy, and mildly sweet. The cinnamon and ginger play well together giving the red musk a spicy backdrop without completley overpowering this blend at all. Beth has a magical way of including cinnamon to her scents in way that DON'T make them smell like room spray or potpourri which always impresses me. As this dries the red sweetness comes out to play even more...possibly the tobacco or even *gasp* the dragons blood? I'm not even sure what I'm smelling anymore, everything seems to be so well-balanced. I feel like I'm straining too hard to make out the details of a mirage lifting off warm desert sands at sunset when the sky is firey red....but that's the point, I can't see the details and when I try too hard it loses it's magic (if that makes any sense ). This is just that, a warm, elusive mirage evaporating off the desert. Just one, warm moment. I love this stuff and I will be purchasing a bottle for my collection!

First sniff out of the vial this is a fresh, herbal mens cologne. On my skin this is herbal, sharp, masculine with a nice warm, woodsy feel. I can't stop sniffing my hand. As this dries I smell something a bit more floral coming through (still very masculine)...like a fresh airy breeze carrying a whiff of distant flowers. There must be some sort of musk in this...the base has a very musky feel to it. Toad Hall is a very masculine scent but works really well on me. It's clean, bright, breezy and makes me want to just sit down, sniff my hand and daydream of the images this brings to mind. Beautiful! I'd have to say this is one of the more unique BPAL scents I've tried.

Ok, I wrote this down in my little BPAL journal before I knew what the notes were. This is what I wrote.... A sweet, boozy scent on the skin. There's something almost balmy and floral in the background. To me, this is boring and forgettable. This sort of smells like the bottom of a dirty purse after you pick sweet gum, throat drops, old perfume vials, pennies and pocket lint off of the bottom....makes me want to wash my hands. Oh well. I guess they all can't be winners!

A sweet and smoky scent against a background of crisp blue sky. As this dries, a scorched vetiver comes through. This is very masculine, smoky, soapy and sharp. I can appreciate this but I won't ever wear it. I usually can get away with wearing more masculine scents but this one is very very manly! This sort of reminds me of mens deodorant mixed with aftershave.

I don't have any recommendations (I'm not a floral person at all) but I would like to know which scent has the STRONGEST, most pure smelling Lily of the Valley scent. My future sister-in-law loves Lily of the Valley and I'd love to pick something up for her.

Out of the bottle this is fizzy tangerine. When I place the bottle further from my nose this smells very similar to a bathroom spray I once had >< On my skin, BAM! Tangerine watered down with tonic water. I'm not detecting any gin (which I usually pick up as having a pine-like scent) maybe the gine is mixing with the tangerine to create that bathroom air freshener smell I'm getting As it dries the bathroom spray scent is still there...just a fizzy, citrus bathroom spray. This is really unfortunate since I love ALL of the Tiki bar scents....this just so happens to be the only one that doesn't work for me. My husband is ESPECIALLY impressed with the Tiki bar scents and has found a love for reviewing oils with me so I need to quote him on his impressions of this as well. He says..."It really doesn't smell like bathroom spray, if it does it's only becasue it's citrus....a very bright, happy citrus scent." He likes it, I'll let him have it!

First of all....I am in LOVE with the theme of these oils First sniff out of the bottle is a strawberry sponge cake. As I rub it into my skin I smell a sweet cakey scent with strawberries and the faint hint of something spicy in the background. My first impression of this is "super foody!" but as it dries, it spices up (must be the carnation) and the grapefruit settles in as a gentle, citrus background note. Very pretty! This has a weak throw on me but lasts a really long time on my skin. The grapefruit (as always) fades completley after about 30 minutes leaving a sweet, gently fruity spicy scent. This is fun, quirky and pretty. Love it!

YES! This is a dead ringer for Lush Rock Star (which is my favorite Lush soap)!! First whiff out of the bottle is super sweet strawberry candy (with just a hint of pear). As it dries, the super sweetness calms down a bit and turns into a light fruity musk on me. I'm REALLY lovin' this perfume right now. I will cherish my bottle

Out of the imp, this is exactly as I imagined it to smell, cool, fresh snow, mashed together with fresh soil. This is earthy, herbal and aquatic all at once. On my skin I can actually feel the snow cooling my arm, the myrrh sweetens the dirt note up a bit and as it dries they all settle down, side-by-side together like a little work of art on my arm. I'm in love with this blend. This is one of those scents that evokes a lot of really intresting images....it makes me want to just sit here, sniff my arm and daydream.

I love all of the salon scents, every one I try surprises me, I think this is by far, Beths best line-up of scents Three Brides smells like a very expensive, rare perfume you would smell in a small boutique in Paris. This is what (I imagine) perfume used to smell like. This is a bouquet of spicy florals, I really can't pick out any one single floral note...they all mix together very well. As this starts to dry I smell something that resembles violet mixed with the warm scent of sandalwood. The final stage of this is a soft, spicy floral mixed with sandalwood. I can see myself wearing this on special occasions, it's a very grow-up, womany sort of perfume....very pretty! I didn't think I'd like something with so many floral notes but this is fantastic.

Thank you for the suggestions, guys! I've been meaning to try Mr. Nancy for a while now, I think I'll add that in with my next order....along with Detox (which will be my first Panacea blend). I have a teeny bit of The Star left in an imp but that's always given me a headache. Besides that, that closest lime scent I have is Geek which is a bit too masculine for me (my husband likes to use that one from time to time). Thanks again!

I'm on a lime kick (big time!) right now. It's the middle of the winter and I'm feeling tropical Anyone have any suggestions for "BAM! OMG LIIMMEEE!" scent? I have a pretty big collection and surprisingly I don't have any oils with a dominant lime note. I'd love a nice strong key lime or something like that. Anyone?