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In the bottle: Resinous, tobacco-tinged vanilla with some spice. Wet on my skin: This is already fantastic, ooof. The Snake Oil isn't super apparent at this stage, unless I inhale deeply. Rather, it's this gorgeous, smoky, rich blend of vanilla, tobacco, ambergris, and oakmoss, with the SO supporting everything with that familiar base of sensual spice. Dry: This looks like it's my favourite of the Lupers I have ordered so far this year. There is a detectable base of Snake Oil beneath a masc-leaning and absolutely fantastic haze of smoky vanilla, tobacco, black amber, ambergris, oakmoss, and oakmoss in that order. They're all detectable if you search for them, but blend so beautifully in the throw that it's a delight for the olfactory sense. It's all rounded out and pushed to the masc side by the oak, oakmoss, and ambergris, with the oak providing something more of a supporting "polish" to the other notes rather than being a main player in its own right. Now that it's been on me for a bit, I think I can say that this is a bit like if a bottle of Snake Oil and well-aged (not fresh) Hellfire had a baby, wearing a hat made out of Antikythera Mechanism. If you like at least two of those three scents, you'll probably like this one.
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An aparche for the Eleusinian goddesses: a crystalline, uplifting blend of white pomegranate, golden grapes, apricot, black fig, and lemon and orange rind. This post is merely a placeholder for future reviews. Whoever is first to review, please report this post using the report button below, so a mod can merge it with yours. Thanks!
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Coffee is fairly short lived for me. I second Soupytwist's recommendation as well as trying it over an unscented moisturizer...
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This is lovely! I just mistook my sample for an atmosphere spray and sprayed it in my living room. Gorgeous soft, rich green notes and dry dead leaves. It smells wonderful sprayed on my arm but It is very light. I might use it as an atmo or on scarves since it seems to last longer that way.
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The Mournful Influence of the Unperceived Shadow
Pinewoodtea replied to themerrybaker's topic in Halloweenie
The image I get, wearing this: You're braving a night in an ancient cathedral, long abandoned. As the night drags on, you could swear the walls drip black, sticky tar, but it disappears into mist when you touch it. You brought along a gold censer of consecrated incense, sitting in the reach of its warm scent is what keeps your resolve alive. You take a deep breath, assured that you'll last until dawn. -
So my experience with Ice seems to be different from most. I smell everything but the ginger. The eucalyptus blossom definitely has a gentler quality than plain ol' eucalyptus and the mint is light and sweet. This whole fragrance is quite sweet on me in fact, and the musk mellows it and gives it a wispy quality. I get the coconut note others are mentioning, though I'm not sure it's ACTUALLY coconut. It strikes me as a quality of the musk. Ice smells less sharply cold than I expected and very aldehydic. I get no soap, although aquatics often do that on me. I get why people say cologne, but it's too sweet on me to read as masculine. I get more of an androgynous leaning feminine vibe. Tilda Swinton could wear this in a white suit. I actually quite like it, but I don't if I'd have cause to wear it often. It has a polished, modern, professional feel. Not sharp, but slick and synthetic. It reminds me a bit of The First Time I Saw a Ghost and Snow White. Maybe sticking the two together and taking out the floral notes? Glad I got to try it and I'll enjoy having the imp.
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On me at least this was a watered down dorian, or on me at the time, a weaker version of Paper Phoenix. Lovely, but in comparison to the other two, just not the same throw or potential. Off to the swapping pile it went, but hey, I figured slapping a review could remind my later self not to try this again.
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Michelle Turner Rangel changed their profile photo
- Yesterday
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Overprotective Possessed Talking Doll
donkehpoo replied to cfrancesca's topic in Black Phoenix Trading Post
Wet: Strawberry hard candy! There's a slight sour-floral note as well, but the strawberry is the dominant note here. Dry: Less of a strawberry candy scent, and more of just a naturally-sweet strawberry. The sour-floral note is still there, but the strawberry is balancing it nicely. I think I would throw this in the "pink and girly" category. -
Wet: Vanilla orchid and a hint of ginger. (There's definitely some kind of tropical vibe going on here, even though it's a pretty short scent list.) Dry: Warm, creamy vanilla-floral with ginger. It's really, really pretty, and I tend to wear this a lot on warm summer nights. It's just.. good.
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It started out lemony on my skin then turned into baby powder. That's a "no" for me, I guess. That's a bummer cause I like the name a lot!
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This scent is so beautiful, it paints a vivid picture in my mind: A bowl of warm, rich, melted chocolate sitting in a kitchen window that's been framed with cedar. It's a homey place, lots of gently polished wood worn from use. Whoever's cooking just turned around to shred some mint to infuse, but all the focus is on that bowl of chocolate. There's a vanilla pound cake baking in the oven, and outside the window the summer heat is softening everything, the little bit of wind ushers in a hint of the forest into the kitchen. Everything is drowsy and calm, like a memory slipping out of focus before one falls asleep for a catnap, the taste of a chocolate chip cookie still on the tongue.
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STRONGLY floral and sweet. I get lots of orange and orange blossom and heady jasmine at first. The jasmine is intense, but it's nice. Sometimes the note goes chemical on me. I'm not getting a distinct rose smell, but I think its obscured by the other notes, mainly the orange which is still very potent. I'm getting the smell of the peel. The rose does become detectable once the orange calms down, but jasmine is the floral that reigns. The myrrh and musk serve more to bind the other notes, and don't smell prominent to me. I'd have to be in a very specific mood to wear this one. It's so unapologetically heady - like Jezebel on steroids. That orange is very nice up front though, and if you if you really like jasmine ....
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Pinewoodtea changed their profile photo
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Bottle from 2011 This has a few notes that take turns coming forward: there is a vanilla-like note, the light gold amber, and a slightly sour note that must be the rockrose. The first time I tried it it seemed too powdery but now it seems light, warm, golden, delicate, really gorgeous. I do wonder if other people's noses would interpret it as baby powder though. For the first half hour it is very wafty, it stays closer to the skin once it dries. The rockrose adds a slightly sour/bitter floral aspect that I love.
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Pinewoodtea joined the community
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Amanda Hardy changed their profile photo
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I was hoping that this would be a white rose (from the 'pale' descriptor), with a dewy backdrop going on, in the sense that it could be similar to Moon Rose (or at worse, Katrina Van Tassel without the creaminess). Alas, with time, I've come to realize that I think the reason I love Moon Rose so is not for the rose in it, but for the moonflower in it. I am also coming to find that regular roses aren't really my jam. That said, this is definitely one of the prettier roses; it's not dark or red in any way. It is closer to Katrina Van Tassel than Moon Rose, for sure, the rose is much creamier/sweeter (and it lacks any competing notes), maybe even a white rose (but without a 'cream' component it feels a bit stronger than some other white roses), and the aquatic mixed into it is definitely giving off a slightly soapy edge. Not a horribly plastic/dryer sheet soapiness, but a nice, pleasant, expensive soapiness. It is very fresh smelling. Sweet without being honeyed or sugary, and very nice for those who would be fond of an aquatic. I guess the trade off for the soap is avoiding the 'baby powder' that rose blends with musk or honey in them tend to do to me. Still, meh.
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Such a fantastic rich honey! The carnation is really spicy in this one, and balances the sweetness very nicely.
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I too am getting a bit of a honey floral incense vibe, but not burning incense more that sweet, sort of powdery smell of the stick. The wildflower honey is rich and sweet and exactly what I hoped for. We have a lot of broomflower here (gorse) and I'm getting that sweet-coconutty floral scent. It mixes well with the gardenia, and the scent doesn't go too tropical or heady. Iris/orris doesn't generally do well on my skin, but here it is just a soft powdery (in a nice way) touch.
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This is how I wish Litha smelled on me: golden, sweet but not cloying, pulsing with life, vaguely ethereal. It smells like the world waking up on a golden morning. It's beautifully blended, so everything is present but nothing particularly leads the show. I think a blind sniffer would always pin this as a honey scent, but may not be able to ID everything else. This is a scent I could (and probably will) keep in my purse as an all-purpose option for when I'm running late and don't have time to choose a perfume at home.
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Gently, Gently Bath Oil! A great, warm hug of relief: snow-dusted carnation and sweet clove. This 2017 Yule has become one of my favorite bath oils (I use them as after shower moisturizers). The carnation is what comes out the strongest on me, the clove is spicy but not as strong, and the scent is so lovely and sweet. It's just wonderful for carnation lovers. I pair it with Alice and walk around in a sweet and spicy carnation cloud all day. ❤
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Coffee doesn't disappear on my skin, but I might recommend you try Guatemalan Coffee Bean and Spiced Rum Buttercream Coffee. Zonked has the same coffee note from Café Mille et un Nuits, so whatever that did on you, Zonked probably will as well.
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Does anyone else have the disappearing coffee note experience, as I do? The coffee in Cafe Mille et Un Nuits and The Jeweled Spider both vanishes in moments, and just felt like a big hole existed amidst the midst of the other notes. *sigh* I want to try out Zonked in Paris (gah, the reviews! Yum!), but don’t want it to vanish! Does any one know of a coffee scent that might stick to me?
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I just realized that I never formally reviewed this. Well, that must be corrected. I get so much snow from this blend - a sort of piney, bracing BPAL snow note, which might just be a very cold version of the white musk. This particular cold white musk /ozonic/airy note is not my favorite, but boy does it capture the feel of winter air in your face. It is not camphoric or minty, if people are wondering about that. White oud has been in previous Lilith blends and I love it. Oud never does the dung thing on me. Maybe I just cant smell the animalic qualities, but to my nose it always smells like exotic woods and a hint of forest decay. Complex, a little rotten, but also clean like rain and beautiful in the way an autumn leaf pile is rotten. Wait, does that make any sense at all? Moving on. This oud soft and gentle, like if an ancient tree was also a fuzzy blanket. But most importantly, this blend has black rubber, a realistic black rubber note, which is hilarious and it made my day to know that this was in perfume. I actually love that smell, the way some people love the smell of permanent markers or gasoline. New tire stores are my jam. The only thing stopping me from snapping up a bottle (or multiple bottles) is that darn wintery snowy white musk thing going on. With very few exceptions, BPAL cold and frost blends tend to not play well with my skin chemistry (disastrously so). (The Snow-Storm, Frostbitten Jack, Berliner Dom Antics, and Krampus have been the only exceptions, if anyone was wondering and wanted to compare notes). I went through a whole multi-year phase of wanting to try all of the 'cold' Yules in hopes that one would steal my heart. I went through so many decants during the Winter Salon...ahem. Anyway. Many dozens of tested blends later, that experiment ended in rueful disappointment. So I am still on the fence about this one. It is wonderfully unique. It is playful and humorous, which is an important quality in perfume. And it is wonderfully cold. Do I brave the cold and try aging a bottle to see what happens? Trying to decide has been a toboggan ride I tell ya. For lovers of BPAL's cold and snowy notes, and lovers of perfumes that evoke the experience of the seasons and the outdoors, and for people who love the techie-steampunk perfumes that reflect the man-made world of metals and leathers and concrete - if you love any one of these things, the decision should be easy. PotzDamer Platz Toboggan somehow brings together these different worlds of perfumery, and does so quite elegantly.
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Blind ordered this as a pick-me-up scent when I have to work long hours during tax season. Fresh on it’s strong lemon - I agree with the fancy lemonade comment. I can’t pick out any of the other notes. Just zingy lemons. Very bright and uplifting. I really like this! My only complaint is this doesn’t last. My skin eats this up and after an hour or so *poof* it’s gone. However, as aromatherapy to quickly give me jolt me at work, this scent fits the bill perfectly.
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I got this as a frimp with my last order. I really like it! It really does smell like sweet candles with hints of smoke. If Within Temptation's song "Candles" had a scent, this would be it. 🕯️🕯️🕯️
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Sniff: Strangely sweet clove Skin: Yummy clove. Lots of a mixed spice vibe to this. Heavy cinnamon. Strong high note. Dry: The wafts of this are where the clove reside. To me clove is a hard scent to smell, which is weird. But like vanilla, the best part of the scent is in the base. It has this airy creamy mellow quality that is so distinctly clove I love it. It has an airy or watery quality to it - like it's missing the middle or heart. Which I think is because it's a single note. It needs something in the middle to take center stage. Unlike the Carnation single note which can be a star by itself, this belongs with something else. And amusingly I'm testing Galbanum on my other hand - and the two smell fantastic together. I think this scent needs an earthy or heady or sharp something in the middle to round it out. By itself, it's a spiced clove missing something special. Verdict: Clove tea.
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Sniff: Dirt! Fresh twiggy half wild soil. Skin: Gets greener. Still has a dirty bite to it, something similar to patchouli in the DIRT note. But much brighter and higher than patchouli. Very green, mushroomy, and dirty. Dry: It loses the green element and turns more towards rotting wood. It's strangely pleasing to me though. Like hiking after a rain - where fallen trees are falling apart at the touch but there's still this element of life. Strong "mushroom" vibe still. I could see how this would be an interesting element in a blend. I've seen this pop up in scent descriptions before but I never knew what it was. Amusingly I'm testing Indonesian clove on my other hand - and the two smells FANTASTIC together. Like, omg amazing. So fun story there. While I don't like this scent on it's own, I am 100% open to this in other blends now. Verdict: Mushroom's wearing sandalwood.
