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Flower Moon: Calla Lily and Purple Musk
Assimbya replied to doomsday_disco's topic in Duets & Menage A Trois
I don't really understand what this one is doing with my skin chemistry, but whatever it is I don't think it works for me. I don't really get anything at all identifiable as lily; there's the suggestion of a floral, but it is overpowered by a strong spicy-fruity incense note which I suppose must be the purple musk. It's hard for me to pick out any more specific notes than that, but I definitely get the impression of incense burning in a palm-reader's shop, with a beaded curtain hanging down and tangling in your hair when you pass through it. It is very definitely not for me, but that's okay since the Lupercalia Honey-Gilded Calla Lilies & Golden Amber turned out to be such a success with my skin chemistry. I'll pass on my decant of this. -
Petrichor
Poenari replied to doomsday_disco's topic in Single Notes, Layering Scents & Simple Blends
My imp arrived the other day, and I can never let anything rest for too long so I'm testing it today. I'm not feeling very descriptive today so I'm sorry if this isn't very helpful. First impression is that this has to be a note that's in one of my favorite atmo sprays, Skoocoom House, even though petrichor is not listed in that description. But the chill of damp mossy ancient stone is what I get here. I think it's the perfect single note for petrichor! - Today
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Sumptuous is a perfect descriptor for this. It truly feels velvety, like well loved antique furniture. I think the amber here is somewhat similar to the amber in Inyo Gozasso Nozu. It has a similar classic/polished vibe to me. At first, this one is nice but not wow but me but as it dries it just gets better and better and after an hour or so, it is glorious. It's not overly smoky but more like velvet drapes that hung near incense for years, absorbing the residue of rituals. Rich crimson and gilt accents.
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(Pasting a review I posted elsewhere.) I picked this one up as a candidate for my wedding perfume but it was Way. Too. LOUD! The dominating note here is a full-throated shout of rhubarb. It's fresh! It's tangy! And it's taking no prisoners! If you don't love rhubarb, GTFO of town because you don't wanna smell me coming towards ya. The strawberry & red currant are just the rhubarb's groupies in this, but backing up the red, juicy vibe of this perfume. Sea salt fights valiantly to be noticed in this sea of tart red fruit. There is undeniably a summertime seaside vibe to this, but it's wearing a massive floppy hat and drag makeup while posing in the sand. She is the loudest B***h you know and you love her. And yes she WILL be wasted by 4pm, at which point you can enjoy the soft spoken leather, coconut, and tonka in her entourage.
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I have second-guessed myself for years that I never bought the OG Red Rose perfume back in the day. I think I hadn't yet discovered that Beth DOES make rose blends that don't turn to soap on me. So when this reappeared as a hair gloss, I knew I had to get a bottle. It's so good that I'm contemplating a backup bottle, even though my linen closet has a full shelf of other hair glosses! Spicy dried roses with incense and musk. I love this. Going to wear her as a body spray in addition to in my hair.
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An oh-so-gentle, plush, and clean white floral accompanied by a bit of a creamy, floaty, starry musk. Inviting and delicate. Ohhh it's pretty! Not indolic, not cloying, not soapy. If you like a dreamy, *creamyyyy* white floral then this illithid is your nanny. Could be the most gorgeous wedding scent or a luxurious sleep scent. I am surprised by how much I'm loving this one!
- Yesterday
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Flower Moon: Calla Lily and Purple Musk
Invidiana replied to doomsday_disco's topic in Duets & Menage A Trois
Gauzy twilight shrouds white lilies that had been gazing wistfully at the sun. Shades of dusk cast their spell. Adulterated by purplish shadows, the aroma of lily petals changes from the pure white of innocence to something darker and more mysterious, smelling faintly of incense smoke. She who was once a flower girl has blossomed into a courtesan, her lips stained. The lilies have been bewitched. -
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cross-posting from fb, as someone over there was asking about 'the perfect 90's hippy store incense', and then i realised that even though scherezade has been one of my big favourites so far, i've never written about it here! i answered: one of my favourite bpal scents and is very incense-y to me, even though it doesn't explicitly list the specific notes others have suggested [that comprise this incense/hippy store smell]. when i first opened the bottle it reminded me straight away a lot of my very free-range childhood - children's yoga workshops, going on holiday to festivals and to communes i didn't realise were communes, shops with organic chocolate before this was a big thing etc. i wasn't sure if this was something i wanted to smell like, as i remember all those hippy shops smelling quite heady and overwhelming!!, and i don't really think that's who i am as an adult, but on the skin it dries off and becomes truly gorgeous and, rather than just being a nostalgic flashback, i find it very womanly and sophisticated. the spices are very very soft on me, not at all 'sharp' as i can sometimes find them. scherezade came to me as a frimp in my very first order back in january, and i was really impressed by how well the lab had chosen my frimps to match with the notes in the things i'd ordered myself (spellbound, othello, and the rose also came to me that way as unexpected freebies, and all three also have remained enduring faves). i found it such a touching level of attention and really guaranteed i'd be bound to find something i liked!
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i am discovering there's nothing more agonising than finding a scent i really like, only to find my skin eats it up and it disappears straight away! it doesn't bother me if i sample something i turn out to be not that keen on and it doesn't stick around, because i know it's not for me anyway and i don't feel i'm missing out on anything. but this could have been truly wonderful and i'd have tried to get hold of a bottle if only it lasted!! ô rage, ô désespoir. in the imp and wet, it's very lavender-forward, to the point i couldn't pick out much else except a little bit of the almond peeking out. at that point it was more like straight lavender rather than lavender cream. i am very fussy about lavender; sometimes i love it but sometimes it dominates everything else too much, and i was worried that would be the case here, but then as it dried off it transformed into something that appealed to me much more. the lavender softened and the creaminess came through. like others, i also got a really pleasant vanilla (from the cream? the buns?). the almond definitely feels like almond paste, similar to the almond cream i've come across in other scents, rather than 'dry' almond, and i'm really glad i'm now discerning enough to be able to tell what's what. cardamom was the only thing i didn't really get. but i don't have much time to enjoy all this; it all vanishes right away. i really regret it fades so quickly, but will keep trying my decant and enjoy it for the brief ten minutes it lasts, as they will be a delicious ten minutes.
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I expected a scent called Scarlet Petals to smell RED!!! so the actual experience was an adventure. A nice one. It’s hard to describe, though, because the smell of this blend is mostly about what it’s not. The floral note is there if I look for it, but I think the gardenia (which tends to smell “high pitched” to me) is grounded nicely by the slight spice of carnation. It’s almost more like a soft waxy night blooming jasmine (which, of course, isn’t jasmine at all), and I love it. The black cherry is mostly jammy (no cough syrup here!) and the almond has no overt bitterness. This smells mostly creamy and nutty to me, and complicated, with a top note of something ever-so-slightly fresh, which I think is the white tea. Everything about this blend feels like a surprise and I wish more people were noticing it, but how do you market something when you have to say “forget everything you think you know about those notes and just try it already”? 😆 I’m glad I found it, I might need a bottle.
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My friend decanted some of Hearthflame and Incense for me and it's been very good to me so far! I'll have to look into Witches Burn back thank you! I'll have to keep my eyes out for those in the swaps! I've tried some other brands pine pitch notes and really enjoyed them, but not any burgundy pitch notes yet. Thank you for the leads!
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Ok. Rescued this imp from the mailbox a couple of hours ago. I'm gonna try to describe this one as it happens. Wet: WHOA. MUSK and Johnson and Johnson baby oil cologne. I can taste this. A little unctuous and, while clean and pleasant, not well differentiated. Semidry: It's a sexy "man fresh out of the still steaming shower." Musk forward and still very clean. Dry: There's a transition from heavy black masculine aquatic (like Neptunite Phoenix without salt and overt floral) to lily and water anchored by a solid base of musk. The musk is lurking, not preceding everything or loudly announcing itself like when it was wet. "Defiled" is an apt descriptor. There may not be a sexy man anymore but I probably rolled around with him while he was still damp. Actually, I'm sexy and dangerous on my own. Edgy more than pretty. I could see this being interpreted as more unisex when dry. Not sure how big the throw really is (I'm by myself and I have to get very close to my skin to smell it) but for now I would characterize this as intimate distance. I will wear this again.
- Last week
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Dusk falls in deep spring. Petals of ylang ylang, moonflower, and stargazer lily, gilded by the last honeyed drops of sunlight, unfurl in a symphony of night. Spectral moths fluttering above them forget their longing for the moon as they and the bats that hunt them are lured in by the nectar of agave flowers. A lone honeybee that strayed far from the hive, its legs dusted in pollen, slumbers in one of the blossoms. What is an ending for the bee is dawn for the bats and moths and night birds that sing to the encroaching shadows. Somewhere, dark incense plumes rise, a shroud over the earth that dreams below.
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Hi!! I am also super into the smoky goodness. Hearthflame and Incense is a good one for sure, the only sweetness in that is from the pipe tobacco which is rather cozy. Bonfire Single Note is a banger, has a sharper leaves and pine sort of slant to it. Die Flamme Reinigt Sich Vom Rauch is nutty and smoky. and my faaavorite is Burn Pile, just unabashedly smoky smoke delish with background resins. these are all limited editions that you might be able to find secondhand. for currently available items, Witches Burn Back is a gorgeously resinous smoky scent, less of the outdoors to that one. Djinn has a bit of ambery sweetness which makes it a more polite smoky scent. my imp may be older tho, so idk if it has lost any of its intensity. Beth also does incredible pine pitch and burgundy pitch notes you might enjoy, which also turn up in the firey smoky scents.
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I threw a bottle of this in with my last chance Weenie order. The previous reviews did not lead me astray! I am smitten It starts out very dead leaves, and I was worried it might not stand out from my other 'autumn detritus' blends but the dry down takes an abrupt turn to a lovely dry spicy earthiness that really does smell like fall where I'm from. Fallen camellia blooms browning in the sun, crisp azalea leaves rustling in the breeze, a warm autumn day instead of the usual cool weather vibes. It becomes less a perfume and more atmospheric as it dries. The clove here is really nice, soft and cuddly. This is really nice and, I think, a perfect match for the inspiration.
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I haven't tried too many realistic smoky perfumes but Hearthflame and Incense is the smokiest BPAL I've ever found. It's a Yule scent and maybe bit tricky to find right now, but I have it from 2024 Yules and it's very realistic tar and woodsmoke with only a hint of sweetness from the incense. It's not a sweet scent in any way though. I haven't tried it myself but I've heard Witches Burn Back is smoky scent too.
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Hi all! I'm relatively new to indie perfumes and have found I'm incredibly fond of birch tar and woodsmoke notes. I am in search of the smokiest, least sweet scents BPAL (and possibly other brands) have. Current smoky favorites are Morari's Am I the Baddie?, Heretic Poltergeist (I know it isn't indie but it has the BEST non sweet birch tar I've found yet), and For Strange Women Fireside Story. I have heard Krampus' Shadow is good but discontinued.
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Very smoky at the start, then some deep leather, as well as a brief hint of an aquatic note. Some sort of spices, incense & pepper, then a bit of moss & everything anchored by smoky amber. Though I'm not getting any dragon's blood, this evokes a very dangerous fiery beast before it dries down to a pleasant warm cologne.
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Flower Moon: Fossilized Amber and Wildflower Nectar
Invidiana replied to doomsday_disco's topic in Duets & Menage A Trois
Golden and nectarous, this takes the nectar of Jurassic flowers blooming in humidity and immortalizes their perfume in amber that has survived millions of years. There is a honeyed aspect of something that is temptingly sweet but not quite honey. This is honey in its most naive form, the pale gold that lures insects as petals unfurl under a morning sun. It merges with the depth of amber that remembers scenes from an unspoiled Earth. Prehistoric insects that had just fed on nectar and landed on tree trunks must have spent their last moments luxuriating in the afterglow of sweetness and precious sap that would fossilize and preserve them for eternity. -
Oh man, this is really pretty. The rose is bright and purely floral. It reminds me of a rose bath oil I had years ago. It's not Rose Red or Peacock Queen but more... Pink? Without being the lab's pink rose note. The patch is soft and fuzzy in a dusty earth way. The oak moss is the dry earthy-mossy variety, not cologney or soapy to me at all. Overall to me, this smells like dried floral arranging supplies and rose oil. I was fairly certain I would love this, and I do! I'm really enjoying this At The Root collection!
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It's always funny to be testing scents from very long ago because so much history has accumulated since then! For instance, when I first opened this bottle of King of Clubs, the earth, fig and greenery notes have combined to remind me of Laura (American G-ds line), which of course came way later. After application, it doesn't take long for this King to shift and change and bloom in all kinds of interesting ways. The earth note stays present, which I really really appreciate. The dark musk, oakmoss and amber form a stellar trio that are distinct enough that I can pick them out of a lineup, but really work together to form a cohesive whole. I can detect leather in the mix but luckily the note is doing deep background and not amping, which it likes to do on me with annoying frequency. It may well be due to the years upon years of aging, but whatever the cause, I'm definitely not mad about it. This is essentially where the scent settles itself. Even after all these years I am sometimes surprised (and pleased!) with what aging can do for a scent. Given the notes, there's an excellent chance I would not have gone for this scent when it was first released like twenty years ago. But those decades of aging have made this scent a real treasure. I'm so glad I finally get to add him to my OG Tarot collection. Long live the King!
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I got Tiki King! when It was first released but for some reason I cannot fathom, the Queen didn't come up on my radar until this year. I am delighted to have the opportunity to snag a bottle of this now, after so long! Of course I've no idea what this scent was like fresh but certainly, I can echo much of what others in this thread have mentioned: this scent is a gorgeous, heady, indolic floral/tropical mix. It's all sweet, beautiful warm-weather florals for me and I am absolutely delighted with it! I'm quite picky about florals, they frequently don't play nice with my chemistry but Tiki Queen is an absolute dream for me, lush, fragrant and surprisingly close to the skin given the notes involved. This scent is sensual and just SO beautiful. I am absolutely smitten!
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You receive an invitation to attend a grand celebration at the home of Gelt and Obatala, a lovely couple known for their lavish parties and exquisite cocktails. You RSVP with a “Hell yeah” because you recently bought a fancy new pair of trousers that you’ve been dying to wear, and this seems like the perfect occasion. The big night arrives! As you walk through the front door you’re greeted by Gelt, who gives you a big warm chocolatey hug, and Obatala who leaves a hint of coconut in the air as she leans in close and whispers “Hello, I like your trousers”. Feeling quite pleased with yourself and your sartorial choices at this present moment, you saunter over to the bar and order your drink, casually munching from a bowl of roasted hazelnuts while you wait and feeling very smug about your trousers which obviously – judging by the admiring glances coming your way – are making your ass look great. Spotting some friends standing with Gelt and Obatala over by a rather impressive fruit bowl, you stroll over to mingle. As you stand there, cocktail in hand and a few crumbs from the aforementioned hazelnuts adorning your hair (which clearly you don’t know are there, because how embarrassing), every now and then you catch a hint of lemon in the air and wonder where it’s coming from. Ah it’s the fruit bowl! you think to yourself, quite pleased that you were able to solve that little mystery as it would otherwise have bothered you all night. Licking a bit of sugar from the rim of your glass, you smile to yourself and think how fortunate you are to own such a great pair of trousers.
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I've waited ages for this and it was worth the long process to secure my own! In in the bottle and for about an hour after application, I most get that nice rich loamy soil note that I am so desperately in love with, in scents like Penny Dreadful amongst others. Even in the bottle, though, the earth note is not alone, and throughout this first period I get the dips and dives of myrrh and currant and incense. Nothing stays steady here except the earth note. Later on, there's some shifts, with the soil retreating to the background (not gone, but definitely well-faded. Myrrh and amber vie for top spot with the fruit notes coming in behind. I can see the parallels some have made to Crypt Queen- both scents share a vibe of ancient-tomb-wisdom. As with all the OG Tarot scents, there's an overall feel of this being more about the sum than the individual parts. Since I collect the Tarots, this one would be permanent in my collection no matter what. That said, I do rather like the crone-complexity of this scent and am delighted to finally welcome Her home.
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Milk Moon: Pumpkin Spice & Condensed Milk
VioletChaos replied to doomsday_disco's topic in Duets & Menage A Trois
I also sometimes have issues with milk notes going wonky, but figured since it was condensed milk there wouldn't be cause for concern and my gamble paid off! In the bottle and after initial application, the condensed milk is of the "sweetened" variety, which was as I hoped. It's more forward of the two notes during these stages, with that lovely Lab pumpkin spice note coming up from the rear. Once it's achieved full drydown, the note prominence reverses, with pumpkin spice out front and the milk note settling more into the background. In all, I found this to be a lovely "Summerween" version of the classic pumpkin spice scent- it's softer, more mellow, and stays closer to the skin. I anticipate wearing this over the next three or four hot months primarily to layer a little extra spice into my favorite warm-weather blends and probably starting in August to help me ramp up to all the autumnal delights that will soon be following. 🧡
