#20 Love Oil

[Veronica]

A potent, enticing love formula, favored among Louisiana courtesans.

This is a light scent on me. A little spicy/herbally with a rose background. Interesting and not unlikable, but not really my style. Edited October 15, 2009 by delighted

[mazaru]

This is very golden, mellow, bright floral, sophisticated, adult. It doesn't feel very me at all. It sort of reminds me of Steamworks because of the golden sheen to it.

[theandorran]

I was looking forward to this because I loved the name... I think I need to learn right now that the Conjure Bag scents are too herbal for my tastes before I go through trying them all and end up disappointed and short of money.

 

In the bottle: Herbal and a little plasticy. This is the impression I get out of a lot of light, herbal scents. I always wonder if that's the notes of the perfume or if I'm smelling the imp cap, because the smell of plastic always seems so strong to me. Already not wild about it, but I'm going to try it on just to see.

 

Wet: Still herbal, but suddenly it's really sweet. Like, sugared herbs? Not that anyone sugars herbs, but I don't know how else to describe it.

 

Dry: Okay, now the sweetness is gone... It's like that note appeared and then evaporated when it hit my skin. Now I'm getting a kind of sage and rose mixture, maybe a hint of lavender. Very floral and herbal at the same time. It smells like these air fresheners that my church used to have in their bathrooms. Not a pleasant association.

 

I can see why other people would like this, but really, it's just not for me. :-\

[het4377]

In Bottle: herbal fruit with a hint of mint and pine?

Wet: cherry and almond with a distinct herbal twist to the mix.

Drydown: Woah, that's rather turned to a very astringent dried herbal green cleaning product scent in less than a half an hour. Lets see where this takes us as it continues to dry . . . maybe it will be more wearable.

 

An Hour In: it's all lemon-y cleaning products and dry herbs. bleh.

More Changes as Time Elapses: Ok, lemon's gone now, it's just a mossy, green, dried herbs. Not really that appealing.

 

[ouch!]

I'm not really a fan of this one. I get Almond & Cinnamon forst off and then the blend very quickly settles into a powdery rose.

Not a very outstanding scent in my opinion. It's kinda just normal. If you like rose though.. go for it!

 

 

[HKB]

This smells like carrot and some unidentifiable flower. I don't know why I get carrot, it's almost like vegetable broth...? Strange! Not appealing.

[starfish327]

I was really excited to try this blend. I really liked the concept, and in reading the reviews I hoped that I couldn't be one of the ones that got nothing but rose.

 

No. Unfortunately, it fades down from a sharp green herbal to nothing but cloying rose. As it's fading it's not too bad, there's a balance between all the herbs that I get in the imp and all the rose. After it dries down though, all I get is a really intense cleaning product rose scent.

 

I think that this can be a real love/hate blend, but on me, I have the same air freshener effect that I get from a lot of the herbal/rose blends.

[wendyb1063]

I received this as a frimp from the lab (thanks!!!), and was excited to try it.

 

On me, I smell mainly roses, with a hint of cloves/carnation? I usually like all of these components, and this is a nice scent, but not something that I will be slathering myself with on a regular basis.

 

Note added later: it reminds me a little of Black Phoenix, which I really like. I don't get any almond from #20 Love Oil, though, which I usually do with Black Phoenix. Still on the fence with this one.

 

[thebirdofhermes]

In the imp: ...Herbally plastic play-doh. Rather like the scent of Lush's Dream Cream. For the record, I can't stand that scent.

 

Wet: ......OH GOD IT'S THE SAME SCENT HEAD FOR THE HILLS. ::deep breath and steels self to wait for it to dry::

 

15 minutes later: ....Oh hey. Now that's nice. Warm, spicy sort of herbal. Reminds me a bit of the scent of a loose chai tea I've got, only really warm and slightly sweeter. Has medium sort of throw to it; I pick it up about six inches from my wrist. Not quite my cup of tea, but it's very nice and I can definitely see myself holding on to the imp.

 

As to the efficacy of it as a love blend, I wouldn't really know. No one to test it out with, you see.

 

Honestly not too much to say here. Without a list of notes it's kind of difficult for me to analyse what I'm getting. I imagine there's definitely rose in here, possibly carnation but that could also be a spice, and probably High John, given the sort of blend it is. However, I really am not good at interpreting notes without a guide.

[childoftime]

In the imp, this was allllll almond, with maybe a hint of herbs. Once on my skin, I got the same almond-y smell, and as it dries I'm starting to get the deep, peppery smell of dried roses. Normally I can't wear any kind of rose, but this is really nice. My wife is a total rose queen, and likes to hoard anything rose-scented, but she may not even recognize this one as rose. It smells like smashed rose petals, oregano (maybe sage?), and other herbs I can't pick out. It reminds me of the bedroom I used to sleep in when we stayed at my grandma's house as a kid. Not sure whether that's a good thing or a bad thing, but my memory is insistent, so I included it here.

[Banyangirl]

I'm getting... um... some sort of citrus fruit that isn't quite orange but close. And clove. And herbs in the background. It's a smooth, happy summer scent. Love!

[angelicruin]

Almond and herbs. Sharp & bitter. Smells awful on my skin.

[NaiadOreiad]

Herbal like lemon balm tee. This takes me back for some reason drinking lemon balm tea at a historical reenactment place. So fresh and feminine. i am wearing it in the house, but I wouldn't be surprised if this worked in public to attract people. it smells intriguing.

[surf-tormented]

It's a strong herbal on me that reminds me of anise or fennel once it dries. It's a tiny bit buttery but spicy. Not hot in a cinnamon type way, but yummy spicy tea type spice. I put this on, but didn't have any intense love reaction from my boyfriend.

[cupcakegernade]

In the imp and wet on my skin, this is soapy and sweet roses. But something is odd about these roses, they don't smell quite right and frankly, they are giving me a headache. As this dries down it becomes easier to tolerate. It still is sweet roses, but the soap has subsided to the background. The rose has become smooth and velvety, and there is something very green and fresh in this. There also seems to be an herbal edge to this.

 

Not quite sure if I like this one or not.

[Altaira]

Strong herbs right out of the imp, most likely lemon verbena and thyme. There is some rose and something spicy - almost like nutmeg - and a bit of sweetness like vanilla. I like this more than I thought I would.

[zagadka]

I got this as a frimp from a forumite!

 

In the imp I was certain I wouldn't like it, it was very sharp and medicinal. If I breath in deeply it almost burns my nose. I can't pin point what it is, but it makes me think of a distillation of pungent herbs, wood, and such. Its very earthy and soapy at the same time.

 

Then out of no where, you get this gorgeous bouquet of roses. Now, I always thought that I hated rose until I got Dance of the Mirlitons. Now, I kinda like it! My mom is a florist, and it reminds me of walking into her studio when she was doing a wedding in the summer. Its like the smell of greenery, roses, and magnolia on a humid sunny day.

 

The rose hangs around for a while, and it settles into a white/ skin musk sort of a scent and drifts away. It had pretty good staying power on me, rose usually does.

 

Normally I would never ever go for something like this -especially with the top notes, but this was really fun. Very feminine.

[Gin]

Wet, I didn't care for this. Lavender and something slightly cinnamonny. Dry, it's herbal (still lavender) and rose. Surprisingly pretty!

[cherrycherry]

I'm not sure what goes into #20 Love Oil, but whatever it is I cannot get along with it AT ALL.

 

I first tried it last year and disliked it right from the off. I let it sit and then tried it again today - ouch, still hate it. I'm not sure what note it is in particular that I can't stand, but it makes me feel so nauseous I daren't go for the skin-test.

 

Definitely not one I'll be using again :/

[angelamaria]

In imp: very herbal, tangy, and sharp. There is a slight citrus note as well as a slight woody note. It's a clean, green scent.

 

Wet on skin: green and herbal, very citrusy as well. I can get the sandalwood in the background, and the lemon (lemongrass?) note is sometimes topmost. It's quite refreshing, and as it dries, the spiciness is coming out for me.

 

Dry: spicy and slightly woody. It's also a bit powdery, but not overwhelmingly so. Faintly citrusy--it's faded in the background though, I'm not sure what it is, exactly. It feels ticklish to my nose, not all-out fizzy.

 

Verdict: an interesting blend, but it doesn't really jump out for me. I'll pass on this one.

[lavenderfrost]

Pretty much identical to Seraglio. I don't dislike it, but I'm not excited by it either.

[Ghost of a Rose]

Thank you for the frimp, labbies! This one was on my list to try, so I was delighted to get it!

 

In the imp: Very pale yellow, clear oil. Has an extreme piercing sharpness with an unusual fragrance that I can't identify - it's like a wood, but much, much sharper. Even a highly balsamic wood wouldn't be this sharp. There's a undertone of maraschino cherry/almond, but it is salty rather than sweet. Although I didn't pick up any rose directly from sniffing the imp, after I've stoppered the imp back up there is a cloud of rose scent lingering in the air around me and the imp even though I haven't touched the oil or applied any yet.

 

On me, wet: That sharp woody/balsamic(?) note is most evident, although thankfully it is not so piercing on my skin. There's also something that reminds me of lemon meringue, although it too is salty rather than sweet. The overall combination smells disturbingly similar to roach killer spray.

 

On me, just dried: Pretty much the same, although now I think I am picking up some lavender as well. That would explain some of the sharpness.

 

After 10 minutes: The bug spray note hasn't vanished entirely, but it does seem to be morphing into something closer to clove and cinnamon. The scent has settled down quite a bit and is already much softer. Again, I notice that cloud of rose fragrance all around me, although up close to my wrist, the rose is totally masked by the stronger notes. Interesting how the other oils are so much stronger than than the rose that they completely overpower it, and yet the rose has more throw.

 

After 20 minutes: The scent on my wrist is now mostly clove, with some rose now peeking through in a rather flirtatious manner.

 

After 1 hour: Clove and rose in approximately equal parts.

 

After 2 hours: Just the faintest hint of rose.

 

Wow, this is a complicated and intriguing blend! It seems to be a puzzling grab bag of notes from all over the board. I enjoy that - it is interesting and the overall fragrance is quite unique and mystifying. I'm ambivalent about the first 20 minutes of it on my skin. If I think about it one way, all I can smell is bug spray. But if I think about it another way - trying to analyze what notes are in it - then I rather like it. And I love the rose cloud that this surrounds me with. In any case, I definitely do like it after 20 minutes, when it is clove and rose. So all that makes it really difficult to give it a rating. It is a very confusing scent!

 

I'm surprised to see lavender included in a Love Oil (if I'm right about that, and I feel fairly confident.) In aromatherapy, one of the uses for lavender is to damp down the libido and to turn away any unwanted sexual desires that others might have for you. But I do love the fragrance of lavender, so I can't complain about its presence in any blend! And this is certainly a hot scent, which together with the rose, makes perfect sense for a love potion.

 

It will sure be interesting to see what affect this has on other people!. So far, I've only tried it at home, as I always do with new scents in case my skin chemistry does something weird with them.

 

My rating: 4 stars (with reservations)

[melrose]

First on, I'm in love with the beautiful cherry scent floating atop lemon.

 

Sadly, it dries down to oily lemon furniture polish.

 

No love for this oil.

[DahliaHayashi]

This reminds me of a haispray my mum used to wear when i was little. that beeing said i hated this hairspray. it was the 80s so my mom used a llooottt and she and the bathroom used to smell like it.

Smelling it i imediately started to cough and gag but i anyway gave it a try.

 

wet on the skin: stays hairspray on me.

drydown: the haispraynote gets sweeter.

after 15 min: it settles down a bit and the hairspray note steps back but is still prominent

after 1 hour: I was holding out long enough. the haispraynote (whatever it is) just doesnt fade. it gave me a headache. i will go and take a shower now and throw something on i actually like.

 

Verdict: I hate it as much as i hated my mums 80s hairspray. this one is not inviting or erotic to me in any way. just flowery old lady hairspray.

I will let my mum have it if she wants. otherwise off to the swap pile!

[JunkieCosmonaut]

I love love love this! It's blended perfectly, normally rose goes powdery on me, but not in this case. The only drawback is that it doesn't last very long, but I don't mind reapplying it.