Succor

[parrot_suspect]

Relaxation, calm, finding center.

All I got from this one was a very strong, almost unpleasant, jasmine absolute. Sort of a "dirty jasmine" smell, sharp and biting. I didn't find it pleasant.

[ohm]

I am so confused -- people get a scent out of this? Mine was like olive oil, only thinner. Of course, I applied descreetly. I had lost something, and needed to think of where it was, and put this on to aid my crunching

[malabar]

Olive smell right out of the bottle - possibly osmanthus, which is narcotic and smells like olives. On me, it stayed olive-and-salt - I smelled like a relish tray, but a calm one.

[Little Bird]

Succor was a rather light scent on me. It started off smelling like goldeny olive oil and then slowly takes on a smokier quality. It doesn't smell like woodsmoke though, more like the soft scented smoke of incense.

 

And then after about fifteen minutes the entire blend turns into baby powder on my skin. It is VERY light though. I can barely smell anything at all, not that it was strong in the first place.

 

This is a scent that really sinks into my skin and disappears.

[littlewhitebunnie]

Olives! Salty green olives! I wore this one to bed a couple of times and found that while I slept very well for a while, I would wake up restless a few hours later. I find it does calm me though I am not sure why it disturbs my sleep. Will give it another try later on, perhaps during the day.

 

Edit: Tried it again last night & slept like a baby

Edited October 8, 2005 by littlewhitebunnie

[Eros]

Huh, nothing even close to resembling olives. Hard to describe...kind of a light, sweet cinnamon candy sitting in fresh, green herbs. On skin it lightens up considerably and there's an added smokiness to it. This has gone so light I can hardly smell a thing unless I plaster my nose to my wrists. But it's not *completely* gone. I think....maybe....a hint of olives.

Very nice and definitely has a calming effect

[b234f]

For some reason I think burnt purple when I smell this out of the bottle, and when wet. LOVE the smell when wet - wish it lasted longer

 

Dry, I can just barely smell it, and get that olivey smell people keep mentioning.

[allidavie]

Hmm, my skin did not like this baby at all. I interpreted the smell as burnt pickles, but Darkling you are a genious and indeed, after some reflection, it does smell exactly like the olive salad you put on a muffaletta. I didn't get any amber at all from this, just olive salad and some sort of wood/resin. This just didn't do it for me, but in the vein of the old joke "the food is terrible and the portions are so small" this one was very long-lasting on me. I put it on before bed and woke up to olive salad.

[Pave.Gurl]

I didn't order this for scent use at all - I ordered it specifically for its properties, for which it has worked astoundingly well.

 

Case in point:

 

My beloved Grandmuzzer has been very ill, and I was meant to be helping clean/ pack her house so we could move her into an assisted living facility. I had not been sleeping well, and was completely at loose ends. I dabbed Succor on after I got to her house, and within the hour, I was able to focus and move calmly through the house working with my family to get things taken care of.

 

I don't care what it smells like - it helped me get through what could have been a majorly bad day, complete with panic attacks, in relative calm. I put it on not expecting much of anything because I was already freaking out and having tightness in my chest from wanting to spaz. This really helped me focus and find a center.

[alicia_stardust]

There's something in this that's very sharp, crisp. As it dries down, I get more of a calming effect, and then there's a touch of something light, green, and herbal. I can't tell what it is. And I'm not sure if it's the oil or my body chemistry but it seems to have almost a sour or bitter note to it. I keep wavering between liking this or disliking this. I will have to think on it for a couple of hours.

[hangingfire]

In the bottle: a rich, herbal scent that reminds me of Lucia's Garden, a magick/herbal store I used to go to in Houston. Which is a very calming memory all by itself.

 

On, wet: Sweet and herbal. Faint, though. I rub my hands together briskly and hey, there's that olive smell that people keep talking about. It is indeed a sharp, tangy, green, and fruity note: in short, olives, or olive oil. After a while, the sharpness fades, leaving behind a mellow green herbal smell, in which I'm hard-pressed to identify any individual notes.

 

Drydown: A smell like a beeswax candle, just blown out, mixed in with the sweet herbals.

 

Not really a scent for wearing, but for the aromatherpeutic purposes, definitely. It pulls up some nice memory-associations for me as well. So I think it's definitely a keeper.

[blu°]

In the bottle and freshly applied this smells like nothing really. Maybe a slight warm amber. Makes me think of O a little, but not sweet and cloying like that one was to me.

I certainly don't get anything sharp or crisp, nor anything green from it at first.

 

Having read the other reviews: Yes, there might be olive in this, but it's not sharp smelling to me. The whole scent is buttery soft without smelling like butter, which I loathe. A herbal, ambery, creamy softness. There's frankincense? Or olibanum? I find olibanum to be a bit sharper smelling than frankincense. Like more high pitched. There could be a hint of that in here. Still, the overall effect is soft and warm. Slightly burnt woods, yes. Soft resins. Velvety smoke.

On me it develops some faint sweetness after a while.

There is a herbal vibe, but I wouldn't call Succor a green scent. To me it's rather smoky, maybe pale green like salvia leaves are.

Now, I get strong olives, but to me they are not offputting or overly foody at all. I actually think this smells rather elegant. I guess, I'm the complete scent weirdo here, but I really like the way Succor smells and would wear it as a perfume as well as for therapeutical use.

 

I have now only worn this for about 20 minutes, so might update later.

 

ETA: about 30 minutes later: This takes a looooong time drying. The spot on my wrist where I put it is still shiny and all. However, just as I took another sniff, I've noticed two things:

1) It has developed a similar vibe to the strange sweetness I've found in Brimstone now.

2) I do get something like fresh mushrooms? Freshly picked shroomsies, yes, with some wet earth still clinging to them. Quite humid.

No further comment for the time being.

 

ETA (again): That mushroom impression might be connected with pine, as I did get mushrooms from Burial, too. I thought it was the combination of earthy things with rose in Burial, then, but now as I'm thinking about it, it might well be the pine scent mixed with something else, maybe a floral, that I perceive as mushroomey. Maybe there's olive in Burial, too.

Edited December 21, 2005 by blu°

[Voleuse]

This is muddy and sharply green on first application. It reminds me, actually, of walking in a park in the rain. And olives, which I happen to loathe. I waved my arm frantically, trying to dry the oil, hoping this was just the first stage of the blend.

 

Alas, it stays strongly olive on me, though it takes on a smoky aspect I think I would like, if I liked olives. It reminds me of pitching in to cook dinner with my friends, when I inevitably get stuck with the task of making something I'm not going to eat. Fun, but mostly in anticipation of other people's enjoyment, not my own. It's calming in that way, I think, but it's not something I'd want to smell like.

Edited January 7, 2006 by Voleuse

[siddal]

This one did not love me. It was almost like saffron, with the undercurrent of olives that many of you are mentioning. It dried down a bit softer and seemed to lose the saffron. It then had more of a green and herbal tang, with the olive predominating. I will probably just use this "medicinally" (as it is a panacea, after all), and will keep an imp on hand. But not big bottle for me.

[joans]

I received an imp of this just as I'm contemplating an unwelcome move. I'm not very good at picking out notes, but I bought a braid of sweetgrass last weekend, and to me it smells a lot like that...down to the dust from where the braid had been on the shelf. I don't get the olive/brine scent that so many others do, but it smells wonderful to me, and it's certainly working

 

ETA 2nd day: The smoke just appeared...dunno where it was yesterday, but it's quite strong. Perhaps I used a different soap and they interact differently?

Edited May 5, 2006 by joans

[HennaFairy]

bottle:

very dry

 

wet:

not much scent at all, very dry, a little green

 

dry:

a very empty scent, not much to it.

 

overall:

nice but not much scent at all on me.

 

rating: 5/10

[edenssixthday]

Panacea Elixir II: Succor – When I was a teenager in New Orleans, I went to an all-girls high school where we prayed every morning and every afternoon to “Our Lady of Prompt Succor” (hasten to help…) Whenever I hear the word “succor” I am instantly reminded of morning and afternoon prayers and the strange old but lived-in scent of the school building and the musty scent of ancient nuns. I must have somehow subconsciously thought that this Panacea blend would smell like my alma matter because as soon as I applied it, I was surprised that the scent reminded me of anything but what I think “succor” would smell like. It smells like the inside of a cabin in the woods that has a fire burning in the fireplace. It’s predominantly smoke and fresh-cut wood, and the scent doesn’t appeal to me in the least. It’s not a scent I would ever wear for pure fragrance purposes and well, I find “relaxation, calm, and finding center” from a few other BPAL blends. Not to mention that within 30 minutes the scent has almost disappeared from my skin. So into the swap pile this goes.

[yellowrose]

This decant is circulating as part of the General Catalogue Swap.

 

Wearing this on a day when I could use a little centering.

 

Wet: This is odd. Olives? Green olives?

 

Drying: Still with the olives, but there is also a hint of smokiness. Very odd. My friend likes it. As it gets even drier, there is a change it makes to ... Aveda Shampure. The other Panacea I tried did this too. What's the deal?

 

Conclusion: perhaps worth trying again for those days when centering is need, but not necessarily for use on the skin.

[Jerre]

Succor:

 

I was very surprised when I got this: I couldn't smell anything.

 

Two days later I tried again. In the Bottle: again nothing, nothing at all. I couldn't believe it so I put some on my wrists and the outside of my arms, where scents tend to throw for me. After a few minutes I sniffed them again, and there was a slight hint of smoke, pipe smoke there. That's it!

 

Hours later, I still only detected the pipe smoke smell. No more Succor for me!

[fairy]

I *really* wanted to try this one because who couldn't use a little relaxation in their lives. I chase a 3 year old all day...give me succor please!

 

It's not very pleasant smelling in the vial...smells kind of like muted medicine. Once applied it completely vanishes. Very very faint scent. I have to really sniff to smell this. But what I do smell, smells rather nice. It's clean. Nothing harsh. So I guess it lives up to its name. I'll try putting some on tomorrow when my daughter tries to eat cat food again and see if it works

 

But scent-wise only, it's nice. I just wish it was a tad stronger and more noticeable. Perhaps thats the point though. To make the effort and take the time to smell for it. That's a little relaxing itself and forces *you* into a mini timeout...which I certainly need sometimes!

Edited August 7, 2006 by maddi

[Cariad]

oh, wow. I can't say much about the scent of this one, but it really works. I ordered it as a little extra to make the postage on another imp worthwhile. I'm up to my eyeballs in MA dissertation at the moment and finally got round to trying out my imp when I realised I'd been staring blankly at my computer screen for several minutes.

 

Sniffing my wrists, I feel much more clear-headed and able to think my way out of whatever mental cul-de-sac I've worked myself into. It has really stemmed the rising panic. I wouldn't wear it for the scent alone (burnt olives!) but I'm definitely keeping this imp - at least until September!

[puredeadthingy]

Perhaps my nose has been infuenced, but it just smells unpleasant. My calming pills' scent (yes, I realise that's the point.) It's not for me.

[Miseraya]

I'm so glad I'm not the only one who got the olives thing. From the imp, to drydown to the time it faded away, this smelled like green olives to me. Pimento included.

 

[sofiaviolet]

My mother says it smells like a rotten flower. It gets a bit briny on my skin. Ew ew ew.

[ND¢]

A very unusual scent. Olive-y and gentle. Very faint, and quite relaxing. But yeah, it was almost like smelling green olives in olive oil for me, too.