Apple

Thanks for the super-fast replies! I haven't tried The Smiling Spider yet, but it's on my wish list. I'll have to make it more of a priority!

Bumping this thread, because I am desperately in search of such a scent. I've seen Perversion recommended, and although it's a sweet tobacco scent, it doesn't capture that clove-y goodness, and I get no leather at all from it. I tried layering Perversion, De Sade, and some clove bud essential oil, and although that was yummy, it's not quite what I'm looking for, either. Have any new scents been introduced that capture the scent of clove cigarettes being smoked by someone in a leather jacket, with or without a hint of autumn (cold crisp air, dry leaves) in the background? Something without other fruits, flowers, cinnamon, or dragon's blood, ideally just a pure tobacco + clove + leather (preferably black leather), with a hint of smokiness. Things I've tried: The Smiling Spider, Perversion, March Hare, Port-au-Prince, Hellfire, Havana, Madrid, The Wild Men of Jezirat Al Tennyn, Blockbuster, Dracul, Mad Meg, The Clod and the Pebble, Valentine of Rome Things I haven't tried yet: Three Witches, Blood, Blood Kiss, French Creole, Formula 54, Count Dracula, Wrath, Al Shairan Recommendations? Edit: Added to the tried/haven't tried lists.

I know the post quoted above is old, but the first sentence just killed me. I have to agree that none of the BPAL musks smell animalic to me, but my characterization of the various "colors" of musk would be exactly the opposite. On me: Black musk = clean babies (baby powder, in fact). Red musk = unclean women covering up their funk with grape-y incense. White musk = clean men, unless it's combined with vanilla (in which case it smells like a locker room full of preteen girls) or white florals (in which case it can smell very light and feminine, if a bit soapy). Looking over my notes, it appears that I like "dark musk," although none of the scents containing it that I like smell particularly "dark" to me... they're all very light and fresh (e.g., Bewitched, Robin Goodfellow, Cheshire Cat). I had thought dark musk would be similar to black musk, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that it doesn't turn into baby powder the way that black musk does. Bastet is one of my all-time favorite fragrances, so perhaps I also like Egyptian musk. I didn't like Salome, but I'm pretty sure it was the jasmine that killed it for me. I definitely don't like vanilla musk, or scents that combine vanilla and musk (e.g., Zephyr, Dorian). I think that "infernal musk" is actually a type of red musk, and I suspect that "blood musk" contains dragon's blood resin, and I don't care for either. I am less clear about the myriad of other musk descriptors here: Arabian, Chinese, African, skin, warm, golden, green, pale, blue, crystalline, rough, glassy, creeping, gilded, sexual, body, lilac, deep, warrior's, ornery hedgehog...?!

I wanted to add my vote for C. Auguste Dupin as the leatheriest of the leathery. I love the scent of leather, and I've tried the following other BPAL leather blends: De Sade, Loviatar, Perversion, Coyote, Dragon's Hide, Jolly Roger, The Black Tower, The Bow & Crown of Conquest, Whip, Wanda, Iago , Casanova, Severin, Hellfire, Manhattan, Les Infortunes De La Vertu, Calico Jack, Mary Read, Crowley, Spanked, Torture King, Tezcatlipoca, The High Priest Not to Be Described, and Havana. Many of these did not smell at all like leather to me, either in the imp or on the skin. I have a preference for black leather, so sweet brown "English Leather"-type scents like Coyote, Crowley, and Havana don't wok for me even though they contain a pronounced leather note. My favorites are The Black Tower, Spanked, De Sade, Jolly Roger, and C. Auguste Dupin (of course). I think I would have liked Whip, too, but I amp rose and the rose just drowned everything else out. I love Perversion but get no leather whatsoever from it.

Ooooh, I love cilantro......smelling and eating it. I'll be stalking this thead, you betcha'!! Me too, me too! I love cilantro and have searched the BPAL forums and Lab website high and low, to no avail. I'll definitely be camped out here in the hopes of some new arrivals for spring...

A very generous forumite gifted me with a frimp of Harikata in a swap. Yay! While wet, Harikata smelled strongly of pink bubblegum on me... and not in a good way. Fortunately it doesn't stay in that phase very long, and soon the honey and osmanthus are peeking through. It reminds me a little of Sed Non Satiata for awhile (which is nice), but then the vanilla and the musk start doing bad things to one another. I think that combination simply does not work with my skin chemistry (Dorian was a disaster); it ends up smelling like wintergreen. I get a hint of melon, too. And after the bubblegum note burned off, I also thought my mother might like this scent... perhaps for Mother's Day!

Why, hello there, Monster Bait: Ventriloquist Dummy! These two scents smell very similar to my nose. I suppose it's not surprising: they both contain dry woods, fruit notes, patchouli, and caramel. On me, they both smell like butterscotch poured over cedar shavings... which is not nearly as unpleasant as it sounds. Unfortunately, it does set up an endless loop of, "Dessert! Hamster cage! Dessert! Hamster cage!" in my brain.

Me too. It smells so wonderfully woody in the imp that I allowed myself to hope that the rose would behave itself... alas, no. Within a few minutes of contact with my skin, the rose rushes forward and turns sharp and ammonia-y... and it stays that way for hours before becoming pleasantly soapy. Oh, sandalwood! Oh, cedar! Oh, clove! Why hast thou forsaken me?

Yes... yes... the scent in the imp and while wet reminds me of this banana split-scented bath powder I had when I was a kid. As it dries, I detect some notes in common with Ra: sort of like orange blossom honey with a hint of cloves. It's very soft and sweet; I don't really get sandalwood or vanilla per se, but they are hinted at with a powdery sweetness.

Yes, this blend has that stomach-lurching quality I associate with red musk. It's a shame, too, because I smell something kind of nice trying to peek out from under the cloyingly sweet "English Leather"-like scent. I haven't tried Dee yet, but Crowley reminds me of Loviatar and Coyote (and "English Leather" by Dana), so if you like those, you will probably like this. Very sweet brown leather man-cologne. Not my thing.

I really like October, even though it smells nothing like the description nor my own impressions of what the month of October smells like. To me, October is a dead-ringer for the Cartier fragrance "Declaration". The description of Declaration on the Sephora website reads: "tangy top notes of bergamot and bitter orange are soothed with earthy notes of rosewood, coriander, oakmoss, and patchouli," and the notes are listed as: bergamot, bitter orange, birch, oak, Moroccan artemisia, cardamom, musk, and vetiver. Both scents are bright and crisp, citrusy and unisex. To my nose, they are very clean, green, and sharp fragrances, and I like them a lot. I only wish October had smelled more like, well, October. Which is to say, dry oak and maple leaves, dead grass, brittle twigs, and brisk breezes with a hint of snow in the air. But it is nice enough in its own way.

To my nose, this is very similar to Kill-Devil (another favorite): the rich scent of sugar that's just begun to caramelize cut with a crisp acidity. In Kill-Devil I smell a squeeze of lime; in Chanukkiyah I assume it's the pomegranate in this role. Wet, the sugar comes on deliciously strong. As it dries, some mellower, un-sweet notes (perhaps the olive oil?) surface along with a hint of spices and dried fruits. There's a slightly weird phase for about 30 minutes, and then it's back to deliciousness. When fully dry it returns to a rich, deep sugar scent. Although it doesn't seem to have much throw, it lasts forever. Love it!

For me, it's more like Hawaiian Punch with a dash of black pepper, and it isn't a very pretty combination. Although I can smell the woods in the imp, they disappear on my skin and all I get is a strange, sweet fruity-ness. Not what I was expecting at all, and not a pleasant surprise, either.

I received Anne Bonny in a swap yesterday and tried her on straight away. She smelled "gritty" (but not unpleasantly so) and I caught a whiff of patchouli lurking in the background. I like patchouli as a grounding/blending note but not on its own, so I hoped that it would back off - and it did. Overall I found the blend to be nice but not particularly remarkable, and there was a weird note that reminded me of petroleum jelly. I figured it was probably off to the swaps with Anne Bonny, but I decided to give her a second try later in the evening. I was snuggling up to my partner when he asked if I was wearing new perfume. I said yes, but that I didn't think it was that great, and I offered him my hand to sniff. He immediately glued his nose to my hand, clutching it tightly and inhaling deeply, with a half-crazed look on his face. Me: "Uh, I guess you like it?" Him: "YES. THIS IS VERY GOOD." Me: "Hmmn. I didn't think it smelled that great on me." Him: "YOU'RE WRONG. IT'S DELICIOUS. IT'S LIKE... HONEY... AND SALT... AND WOOD." ...and so on in that vein. Mind you, through our entire exchange he never once let go of my hand or stopped sniffing. And then there were attempts at ravishing and the admonishment to not wear Anne Bonny to bed if I actually wanted to sleep. So yeah, she's a keeper.

I can see that... it definitely smells more like a spice sachet than a perfume. On me, Queen Alice is very apple cider-y when wet, with something indefinably "not nice" lurking underneath. Thankfully that unpleasant under-smell burns off, and what remains is the scent of those spiced apple rings that have been dyed hideously red and come in cans/jars. When completely dry, Queen Alice smells very much like cinnamon potpourri. And yet, I find it intriguing. It's not unpleasant, but not really how I want to smell.

I approached The Black Tower with both fear and hope. When I discovered BPAL, it was one of the first blends to go on my wish list. But then I tried several other blends containing wine and/or leather and discovered that the BPAL versions of these notes don't always work very well for me. I guess my skin swallows leather, because I usually can't detect it even in the leatheriest blends (e.g., De Sade), and wine has a tendency to turn into disgustingly sweet grape candy on me. By the time I finally got around to trying The Black Tower, I was filled with trepidation and certain it wouldn't work on me. But I was wrong! Wonderfully, gloriously, fantastically wrong! The Black Tower smells just like its description; the fragrance is incredibly evocative. It is a black and green scent... smoky black leather entwined by sharp green ivy and splashed with rich red wine... it has many layers and is deep and piquant, dark and bright. The effect is far from desolate or sepulchral, though - it's sexy! It reminds me of Nosferatu, but with leather instead of moss. ETA: Cross-posting this from the "Aging BPAL" thread: Ugh, The Black Tower does not age well at all. After a few months it loses the wine note and develops a very sharp, medicinal quality... with an undercurrent of funky sweat. Ewww. I had read reviews wherein people mentioned smelling something medicinal, or hyper-masculine, or sweaty, and I would always think, "Huh? What? Not my beautiful smoky-sexy-winey-unisex leather!" Now I see what they were talking about, and I have to wonder how old their samples were. It's obvious that the wine note degrades, but I'm wondering what is amping up all sharp and sweaty...? I haven't noticed this with other leather or sandalwood blends (if anything, aging seems to improve them), and I would assume that ebony and teak would get better with age. So I'm guessing it's the galbanum, ozone, ambergris, "burnt grasses," and/or English ivy. In the future, I'll be sticking to imps fresh from the Lab, rather than buying bottles or swapping for imps of unknown age. And I'll be using up those imps promptly!

Finally got my hands on some Spanked! I love it! Out of all the (hundreds of) BPAL scents I've tried, Spanked is the closest to the commercial fragrance that was my "signature scent" for several years: Bulgari Black. According to the Bulgari website, the notes in Black are: Lapsang souchong tea, smoke, rubber, resin, amber, and woody. To me it's always smelled like sweet, smoky leather, and that is how Spanked smells after it dries. There's even that (pleasantly) rubbery top note like there is in Black. Perhaps there's a ball gag to go with that leather flogger? On the way to this delicious finish, however, there is a brief detour through PSYCHOTIC CINNAMON CITY (from the cardamom, I'm assuming), but thankfully the spice doesn't stay amped up for too long. Now, how will I ever find more? ETA: Bizarrely, several hours into wearing Spanked, it morphs into a dead ringer for a former Bath & Body Works fragrance: "Sandalwood Rose". It's not unpleasant, but rather utterly unexpected and a trifle confusing.

I would like to second Prospero as being extremely grape-y. *shudder* I hates the grape.

When I sniffed Anubis in the imp, I got a whiff of something really unpleasant... almost reminiscent of cat pee. Needless to say, I was not too thrilled about that, and I put off trying it. Thankfully, once applied to the skin there is no trace of whatever that note was. On the skin it's all powdery-musky-ambery, very strong and with a ton of throw. I find it pleasant, but a bit overwhelming. I think it's the balsam that's getting me. I love the scent of balsam, but I find it makes me feel sneezy and lightheaded, and Anubis is kind of doing that. When fully dry, Anubis is similar to both Bastet and Leo (2007): amber with a hint of nuts and fruits.

THIS. IS. IT. This is the leather scent I have been searching for since discovering BPAL! I am ecstatic. I have tried every leathery blend I could get my hands on (De Sade, Loviatar, Perversion, Coyote, Dragon's Hide, Jolly Roger, The Black Tower, The Bow & Crown of Conquest, Whip, Wanda, Iago , Casanova, Severin, Hellfire, Manhattan, Les Infortunes De La Vertu), and eventually developed a fear of all BPAL leather notes other than black leather. So many of these blends were sickly sweet, and even the ones I love (De Sade and Jolly Roger) don't really smell like leather to me, either in the imp or on the skin. But C. Auguste Dupin is perfect. Very leathery at first, the lavender-lime notes bloom briefly but then recede quickly, leaving just gorgeous, gorgeous LEATHER. Crisp, clean leather.

I had a similar experience with Singing Moon, which was kindly frimped to me as a sniffie in a swap. I found the opening to be unpleasant and vaguely ammonia-y, then sort of floral and clean. After a bit, a menthol/eucalyptus scent (of which I am not a fan) emerged, and then it finally dried down to a pleasant sweetness. When it is finally and thoroughly dry I like it quite a bit - clean and sweet - but it takes too long to reach that stage. I haven't tried Selkie yet... might have to look into that!

I received La Belle Dame Sans Merci as a generous extra in a swap. I didn't find this to be a green scent, nor did I detect any rose (which is good, because the other two rose scents I've tried both turned into ammonia on me). To me, this was a soapy white floral: Lily of the Valley and/or gardenia. It started out very floral, became herbal briefly, and then returned to floral and stayed there for hours. Very long-lasting and not unpleasant, but not my thing.

On me, the following blends smell like they are from similar scent families: Bien Loin D'Ici, Scherezade, and Snake Oil (and to a lesser extent, Morocco): these all share a common note, which to my nose smells like grape-y Egyptian incense. They are all supposed to be spicy blends, too, but my nose gets fixated on that incense note. Note: I've discovered that it's red musk that is contributing that grape incense scent. Sin was also spicy and incredibly heavy on the red musk, and Vixen should also be noted as a member of the red musk family. Nosferatu and Jazz Funeral: both have a delicious mossy base. Nosferatu is spicy berries + moss; Jazz Funeral is almost like a light, spicy aftershave (bay rum) + moss. I find both to be unisex fragrances, but Jazz Funeral is a teeny bit more traditionally masculine. Ironically, I prefer Jazz Funeral, and my (male) partner prefers Nosferatu. Leo (2007) and Bastet: Although both smell fruity when first applied, the fruitiness from Bastet vanished almost immediately, but Leo's hangs around for a good long while (and oh, how I wish it wouldn't). When fully dry, however, both are delicious, warm, golden, sweet, spicy amber scents. Adding Anubis (another ambery incense with a hint of fruit and nuts) and Cleopatra Testing Poisons on Those Condemned to Death from the Salon (sort of like Bastet + peach, but the peach fades quickly). Devil's Claw and Hurricane: for the vetiver lovers. Both open with a rush of smoky, almost burnt smelling vetiver and then soften. A eucalyptus/menthol note surfaces in Hurricane before it turns into baby powder on me, whereas Devil's Claw becomes more herbal, smelling like a mish-mash of essential oils. It calms quickly and there's something slightly sweet (in a good way), something sort of citrusy, and something leathery under all that vetiver. Adding Umbra for those that love vetiver. It was all vetiver, all the time. Agnes Nutter opens with a blast of vetiver, but dries to a gorgeous gunpowder scent. Shub-Niggurath, Gingerbread Poppet (2005), Port-au-Prince, and Ra: spicy, with ginger, cloves, and bay rum. Shub and Port-au-Prince both dry down to an aftershave kind of scent reminiscent of "Old Spice" by Shulton/Proctor & Gamble. Ra is Old Spice-y in its middle stage but turns into almost pure clove when fully dry. Adding Euterpe and The Sportive Sun, which both smell like delicious gingersnap cookies on me. Tristran and Hellfire: I like Tristran but do not care for Hellfire, but they share a weird, sweet musky quality. Coyote and Loviatar: These two are similar to Tristran and Hellfire with their sweet muskiness, but I find both Coyote and Loviatar to be cloying and overpowering. They both remind me strongly of "English Leather" by Dana. Adding Havana and Crowley, which also have that super-sweet brown leather note. Omen and Robin Goodfellow share a sweet/soapy/woody powderiness when dry. Alice and Masabakes also smell very similar when dry: honeyed spicy rose. Adding Black Phoenix to this category. Although it smells like almond extract at first, it dries to the same sweet rosey scent that Alice and Masabakes do. Penitence and Anne Bonny: must be the frankincense. Adding Cathedral to this category. All three are so similar; I'm going to have to do a side-by-side sniff test. (The Pit & the Pendulum, which is an LE, also smells similar to these three.) Eclipse, Bengal, and Hecate: sweet and powdery, these smell similar when dry. Olokun and Jolly Roger: salty breezes. Lightning, Tempest, and Szepasszony: ozoney aquatics - salty dryer sheets! Windward Passage is also similar, but with added spice. (And Archangel Winter, which is an LE, would fall into this category.) Deep in Earth and Zombi: ROSE and mossy earth. Edited to add new discoveries.

Initially, this smells similar to Eat Me, but Cockaigne is more buttery and less fruity. As it dries, it becomes very different from Eat Me... it's *very* buttery. I feel sort of like I rolled around in butter cookies or used a pound cake instead of a loofah in the shower. And although that's totally something I would do, I'm not sure I want my perfume to betray my perverse cake-in-the-shower activities. Later: Actually, it's more like I used a pound cake loofah and crushed sugar cookie exfoliating scrub and then slathered myself in butter instead of lotion. It's a bit much. Even later: When completely dry, it smells like one of those shops in the mall that sells roasted nuts and caramel corn and popcorn balls. And it lasts FOREVER.

I also love black tea, both as a beverage and as a fragrance. Of the BPAL scents with black tea, I've tried: Dorian Dormouse, The Severin White Rabbit Severin was all bergamot on me with no leather and very little tea. Sort of a super Earl Grey. It was pleasant, light, and refreshing, but only lasted about 15 minutes. Dorian, The Dormouse, and White Rabbit all open with the same wonderful black tea note (that unfortunately never lasts on me), but then the three rapidly diverge. The Dormouse scampers off into tea + clean linen (which is how White Rabbit smells initially), whereas Dorian moves quickly into sweet vanilla land (which is how White Rabbit finishes). To me, White Rabbit is the best, and the other two smell like fractured versions of it. E.g., neither Dorian nor The Dormouse contains White Rabbit's milk and ginger notes. Furthermore, Dorian does not contain the fresh linen scent common to The Dormouse and White Rabbit, and The Dormouse does not contain the vanilla note common to Dorian and White Rabbit. On the other hand, neither The Dormouse nor White Rabbit contains Dorian's wintergreen/menthol/eucalyptus note. (I know none of these are listed as notes in Dorian, but my nose definitely detects something akin to them.) Still, I find White Rabbit to be more full and interesting and more pleasing to my nose than the other two. Dorian is too overpowering; it's sickly sweet and eye-wateringly vanilla-minty, whereas The Dormouse is too light and clean and delicate. White Rabbit strikes the right balance for me, although I know that milk note isn't for everyone. That's my three cents.