Snake Oil

[mari4212]

By far, our most popular scent! Magnetic, mysterious, and exceedingly sexual in nature. A blend of exotic Indonesian oils sugared with vanilla.

Snake Oil is one of those object lessons in listening to the other forum members.

I got my imp of it about a year and a half ago, after reading all the comments on how it was fantastic vanilla spicey greatness in a bottle.

I tried it once, wrinkled my nose, and wondered whether the majority of the forumites were insane. (Okay, so the answer to that is yes, but in a good way.) It wasn't awful, but it didn't do anything for me. So, remembering how much people were emphasizing aging Snake Oil to make it smell better, I figuratively tossed the imp onto the back burner and forgot about it for about six months. Tried it on again then, and I was still shrugging. It was better, but still not this liquid gold that I'd heard about.

After that, I'd try it every few months, waiting for this incredible transition to occur. Finally, I pulled it out last week to try again. Yummmmm. I was finding any excuse possible to bring my wrists past my nose to smell it.

This last batch of waiting seems to have done it. Snake Oil still hasn't knocked out Chimera or Mouse's Long and Sad Tale out of my top two, but it's definitely hit my personal top five in terms of scents. I just have to buy it and then forget about it for a year and a half first. At least, for an imp. It'd probably take longer for the bottle to age to the same level of greatness. Edited March 7, 2010 by Shollin

[theandorran]

I knew I had to try the most popular scent eventually, the one everyone raves about, the one that everyone SWEARS is so amazing. So I bought an imp from the lab (I wanted to compared fresh vs aged) and slathered some on.

 

Everyone says the transformation is amazing, and maybe that's so. Fresh, Snake Oil is not for me. It smells like a head shop to me. Must be patchouli. And I HATE patchouli. Patchouli and vetiver are my two notes of doom, the ones where, no matter how amazing the rest of the blend is, that's ALL I smell.

 

So, I'm going to keep Snakey here in my imp box and while away the time. We'll see if the evil patchouli monster ever goes away.

[Janegodzilla]

This isn't the most complex scent, but it's definitely a solid one! I get so much tobacco from this that it's not even funny, so it's probably a good thing that I really like tobacco notes. This is another one of those oils where the scent is different depending on how close you are to it (or maybe it just depends on where I'm applying it...I'm not sure!). On my wrists, it smells like herbs and tobacco leaves, with barely any sweetness at all, but when I'm not trying to sniff it directly off my skin it's a cloud of exotic, spicy vanilla. I was holding off on trying any of the Snake Pit scents because I wasn't sure I was going to like Snake Oil, but Snake Oil's awesomeness is making me fear for my wallet.

[MinxyMinou]

I can see why this is so popular.

 

I have no idea how aged my bottle is as I got it from a forum sale...however...Yum.

 

From the bottle it's just an interesting mix of spices.

 

On though.. delicious! Lovely, soft vanilla with the wonderful spices coming through to give it a mysterious smoky depth.

 

Excellent throw and staying power too.

Edited January 14, 2010 by Shollin

[Invidiana]

I know a lot of people out there are terrified of Snake Oil, and some plain disgusted by it, but I love this stuff. On me it's like exotic musks, almond and vanilla, sensual and delicious. It doesn't come out very patchouli or head shop on me at all, but I do have the type of skin that amps sweet stuff so I'm definitely amping the sweeter elements. But I love it in Cake Smash and I love it alone too. Hey, if you don't want it, just send it here!

[SugarCookie]

Aged Snake Oil is fantastic. It's unique and dark and sexy. I love many blends that include Snake Oil as a component. I actually prefer Snake Oil in Boomslang, but the original is a beautifully crafted perfume in it's own right.

[Lupin1]

Snake Oil came out smelling EXACTLY like Vixen on me. I love Vixen, so that's not bad, I was just surprised by it. It's a deep, dark, spicyness. I love it.

[Gael]

Ok. Have ordered various oils for a few years but never tried this. So the time arrived to coincide with Christmas and it's a hit.

 

My very first impression was to travel back to my hippie days in the East Village and the magic that was the head shops during the late 60's. So cool, so transporting and otherwordly. For me Snake Oil is a good thing. AND I find it to be a clean scent with none of the often annoying plastic notes I've found in some oils I've ordered.

 

It seems incensy, clean and transporting. Snakey...my new best friend.

[Coldfire]

 

 

 

Decant: Getting a boozy vanilla feel

Wet on me: now I get the sugar over the vanilla over a boozy vibe

Drying Down: I keep getting faint ghosts of this. This is amazing. blending to a vanilla booze haze. heady in the best of possible ways. Not cloying at all.

Dry: I feel like sex personified when I wear this. total va-va-va-voom woman.

 

[smgudan]

one of my favorites!!! smells like vixen, but wayyy darker and sexier ))

[impolight]

This scent is fantabulous...This is dark, mysterious, exotic and forbidding.

It would be something that would come as no surprise that it had to be snuck through customs and several men died under mysterious circumstances in their efforts to get it here.

Allegorically speaking, Snake Oil was created when coconut oil, harvested from a grove of the most sacred palms, was stored in a dark Mahogany rum barrel with crushed Sugar Cane, Vanilla beans, a dusting of Cinnamon, Mace, a single peppercorn, and what seems to be either Mandarin peel or shavings from a Ginger root...

The barrel was hidden in an incense factory for a number of years while a Holy War of sorts ensued, before being smuggled secretly to a hide out where, guarded by Illuminati, it aged divinely...Wow...

Snake Oil hit the pulse points on the wrist and leapt into the room like dancing smoke. This is SO incredible! The woodiness amps, giving the whole effect an otherwordly gleam.

For those who are fans of the Steamworks Research Facility, Snake Oil would pair RATHER well with Antikythera Mechanism. Snake Oil could be worn by a noticeable couple; while smelling similar enough to be inextricably linked, yet compellingly unique in their own way.

Snake Oil is dark and spicy brown. It is sweet, sultry and wholly manificent...

A briliant unisex fragrance capable of turning every head in the room.

Bravo!

[Beckiemort]

I absolutely <img src="http://www.bpal.org/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wub2.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="wub2.gif" /> this scent. One of my friends described it as positively made for me - a little fruity a little sweet and certainly spicy.

 

In the bottle: fruity - a little like dragon's blood actually (and dragon's heart was a complete disaster on me which was a little worrying), there is definately a sweetness as well and a little kick of spice.

 

On: This is a complete morpher on me. At first it smells exactly like it does in the bottle on, which is nice, but nothing super special. Then it starts to go powder-y and floral (which makes me think there is dragon's blood in it as it reminds me of dragon's heart, but not enough to make me take it off) with a little sweet vanilla, but mostly powder. About 15 mins or so later the powder recedes and there begins to be a balance of vanilla, incense and spices (personally get a foody type of spice like cinnamon). Eventually as I continue to wear it it ends up as a spiced, vanilla with a little incense in the background (this last phase is my favourite and it is undeniably sexy).

 

Wear time: FOREVER...it feels like the scent was made for me as it just attaches itself and won't let go. I have put just a little dab from the bottle top on one wrist and then spread that between my wrists and neck/cleavage and elbows at about 7:30 in the morning and it lasts through 4 hours of dance classes and I can still smell it at the end of the night at about 11 pm. I am sure it would stay on if I didn't shower at that point.

 

This is in my top three scents (with Dorian and Sin)and I find myself craving it all the time. Plus if I love the scent this much and it is practically brand new I can't even imagine how amazing it will be aged.

 

ETA: I still have this bottle from early 2010 and it has become even more amazing - if that's possible. The scent has become smooth and velvety and has lost the powdery effect I used to get at the beginning. It is still in my top 3 and is the scent I go to when looking for a bit of a confidence boost.

Edited September 7, 2012 by Beckie

[Lorelai1945]

Crazily enough, the first time I tried Snake Oil I thought it smelled like herbs and didn't like it. It was a lab-fresh imp, and it wasn't until I tried some that had been aged a few months that I fell in snakey oily love. This is a deep, rich, unique vanilla unlike anything I've ever smelled. It is sweet and spicy and exotic and damn sexy! This is the scent I go to when I go out on a hot date with the BF. I have tried various ages (everything from lab fresh to 3 years old), and I have to say that my favorite stage is aged a few months, although I love the long-aged as well. If I could only have one Bpal (the horror!), this would probably be my pick.

[doublehelix]

In the imp: spices, vanilla and lots of booze

 

wet on skin: spicey booze. I smell something musky, too

 

dry on skin: MUCH more vanilla, thank goodness!! I love the way this dries down.. it IS very dark and sexy... i'll have to give my boyfriend a whiff later and see what he thinks.

[DeltaCat]

Just amazing. Creamy vanilla spice. So sexy and just awesome.

[Lill]

After trying a few Snake Oil incarnations (a Chaos Theory, a couple Snake Pits) I have come to the conclusion that I love just plain Snake Oil the best. I haven't tried it aged, but I love it just fine fresh. It's spicy, smokey vanilla loveliness. Sometimes I get an almost pipe tobacco-ish note from it as well. I definitely understand why some people find it medicinal at first, but I kinda like that part too. My husband loves it, which is saying a lot because that man is not a fan of fragrances in general. Lasting power is so-so, but it lingers forever when I put it in my hair, and I am hoping that the lasting power on skin will increase with age. My very favorite oil yet

[girasol]

I fully expected not to like Snake Oil. I mean, I know practically everyone loves it and all, but I tend to go for light, fresh scents. When I see things described as spicy and exotic, I hear 'this is going to make you smell like a drawer full of incense, run for the hills!'.

 

But Snake Oil is BPAL, right? So you have to try it. I was provided with an aged imp by a kind forumite. At first sniff I was still wary, it was a little whoa! in the bottle, and the rich colour stained my whiter-than-white skin like iodine! Within a few minutes though, I was in love. Rich yet soft, sensual and spicy without being overpowering, and so so so delicious.

[moosue]

I didn't see myself liking this one, to be honest. I'm not a big fan of spice or incensey scents, but I had to try it because its so popular.

 

In imp: Huh. Lots o' vanilla (I wonder if this is aged, it's quite dark and viscous, but it was a lab frimp) and spicy scents.

 

On: Reminds me of the exact scent of a hair salon where I grew up. Burning hair (not in a bad way), products, and a mingling mix of scents and perfumes. Very grown up smelling. Still vanilla and spicey resinousness (if thats a word). I like it, but it's not very "me". The longer it's on, the more vanilla it's getting, which is no surprise because I amp vanilla like nothing else.

I'll keep and age my imp, and probably reach for it occasionally, but I don't think I'll need a bottle.

[lahdeedah]

I never would have thought myself to be hanging with the popular crowd-- I'm an iconoclast, right? I go my own way. Well, Snake Oil is definitely proving that wrong. I wouldn't say I LOVE the stuff, a more accurate assessment would be that I'm infatuated, obsessed, flat out crazy about it. I want to bathe in it. I never want to be without it. This is crazy.

 

I don't have much to say about what it smells like-- dreamy, spicy, sensual, musky vanilla. (By the way, I've learned through BPAL that musk is my new favorite word, and vanilla is probably an extremely close second). Both are full of win. Anywho, I first encountered it fresh, and I'm pleased with it fresh, though it does start out a little, well, vanilla is a good descriptor. Nothing to write home about. But it seemed to age fast in my imp, and/or Beth puts a certain amount of crack in it that makes me crave the smell of it nearly constantly. You're a pusher, Beth! I placed a bottle order from the Lab along with some other goodies and am anxiously awaiting it's arrival, but was fortunate enough to win a bottle of Snake Oil on ebay aged from 2007. WINWINWINWINWIN. It is richer, deeper, sexier, and more addictive if such a thing were possible.

 

I'm pretty sure this is the longest review I will ever write of a BPAL. If you've read this far, you a) really like reading, and/or b ) probably love Snake Oil too. If neither of those two are true, then you must not have tried it, and what can I say but give it a shot. If you hate it, you're welcome to send it my way! To conclude my praise of this scent I will say that not only do I love SO by itself, it is really great with just about everything. It's sort of like bacon in that respect-- great by itself, also makes whatever you pair it with that much more awesome. Truly.

 

 

 

[lavender84]

I wanted so much to love this but I guess the snake here doesn't love me.

 

Tested fresh and now about 1.5yrs later, I still can't get much vanilla out of it which I'd have liked.

 

Oh sigh.

 

Edit: My imp's gone weird... beautifully so! Okay its probably hit the right age or my skin's chemistry just changed but one thing's for sure, more of the vanilla's coming out and together with the spice this scent is lovely.

 

I thought we were not meant to be but Snake Oil is charming with age. So glad I decided to give it another try. :love!:

Edited March 15, 2010 by ScentedDreams

[fieryredhead]

I was able to snag a 3 year old full bottle from someone that had it as a backup for my first Snake Oil experience. After reading all the reviews about letting it age I figured I'd skip that part. Was VERY happy that I did; Snake Oil is WONDERFUL. Creamy, spicy vanilla if it came in incense without the burning part.

 

I think I need to get another bottle from the lab to let it age while I use up this precious one!

[summertimecrime]

The infamous Snake Oil

 

In the imp: Whoa, did I just step into a headshop?

 

Wet: smokey honey and incense, with plasticy vanilla coming through.

 

Drydown: the honey has now turned to powder, as I have encountered with nearly every BPAL oil with honey in it. It has a strange musk to it, too, but the incense is too strong

 

Overall, a disappointment. The honey in BPAL just does not translate well onto my skin, which is a shame. I was drawn in by the overwhelming popularity of this oil as well as the sugary vanilla. Will try again in a few months when it has had time to age a bit!

[SophieCedar]

On first whiff I said.. this is what all the hype is about? Uh oh.. is my nose broken from too many tests?

 

The in imp and wet part scared me because I have a history of not getting along with the lab's vanilla. I think my skin makes enough vanilla stink on it's own and when provided competition from an outside source, sprays the intruder like a skunk.

 

Anyways, it mellowed down and became a lovely spicy vanilla concoction. It's growing on me... Uh oh.. I guess now I'll be dreaming of aged bottles like the majority of bpal'ers now.

[angelicruin]

How is it that I have never reviewed Snake Oil? On my skin, snake oil is spicy vanilla that just gets better with age.

 

As it ages, it seems to thicken and the scent grows stronger for me.

 

This is one of my favorite BPAL scents to layer with other scents. Almost anything layers well with Snake Oil. Definitely worth the hype and rave reviews.

[HKB]

I thought I would love this, and in the wet stage the vanilla is quite nice. It reminds me of Hunger. On the dry down it smells like total baby's ass. A little urine-y and covered in baby powder, with a hint of vanilla. Yuck!