Apple

Hi. I'm new to everything, but have pinpointed BPAL as the place where I WILL find that elusive "perfect scent" I've been seeking for years. I have spend hours reading descriptions, rating them, choosing my favorites, but have yet to order any because I'm not sure they are what I want. I was hoping that some of you out there who have similar tastes can help.

 

I am looking for the the scent of a walk in the woods. Of course, there are myriad notes to such an event, but they would include dirt, moss, leaves (both fresh and decaying), wood, perhaps ivy or mushrooms, etc. I am extraordinarily sensitive to smells, and very particular. I don't like very floral scents, or sweet ones, or aquatic ones. I like woody and musky smells, like sandalwood or cedarwood or patchouli, but want a fresh, green element to be added to them to make them more like a forest. I don't really want pine or yew, those are too wintery. I'm looking for a late spring venture into a thick, deep green and brown forest.

 

Any ideas?

Here are some other threads you might be interested in browsing:

You'll probably need to do some layering to get the effect you're going for, but you might like:

These are all general catalogue scents that are available in imp-form from the Lab. If you want to try to swap for or buy decants of limited edition and "unimpable" (e.g., Salon, Gaiman, Carnaval Diabolique) scents, I would also recommend:

ETA: I forgot about Yorick!

I'm not supposed to wear perfume to yoga, but sometimes I put a wee little swipe of Obatala on my wrists before class. Sometimes.

I definitely understand why many yogis ask that you not wear scent to group practice (I'm sensitive to scent and have even been distracted by the strong scents of other people's deodorants!), but I don't think there's anything wrong with a teeny swipe that's just for you. I find Sudha Segara to be wonderful during yoga. It's very gentle and fresh - both invigorating and calming - and very non-intrusive. It's light and sticks close to my skin, so I don't have to worry that it's affecting someone else's mindfulness.

One time I made the mistake of going to an afternoon yoga class with the remnants of that morning's BPAL still clinging to my wrists. The Candy Butcher was not a good choice... very distracting, and not in a pleasant way.

I often wear Alice at martial art training - it's not too sweet and not too soft, and works well with sweat.

You know, I've been doing this as well. It's very fresh and keeps me feeling clean, even when I'm literally drenched in sweat and dragging myself across the mats.

O and Bengal have both come with me to martial arts and stayed for the whole class and the drive home. The amber and honey notes seem to be really durable.

I find honey to be extremely long-lived and good for counteracting sweaty funk, too. Bengal makes a great underarm deodorant, as do White Rabbit and Alice.

Let's seeeee

I have an aged bottle of Sudha Segara (I don't even know how old it is... at least two years) but I should probably try it fresh. I get something like mild ginger tea from the aged version (still lovely).

 

I tried Zephyr about a year ago and it went straight to men's deodorant on me, which was beyond weird.

 

I know I have an imp of Alice somewhere around here. I'll try to dig it up. And Kuang Shi sounds like something I absolutely have to try. I love all of those notes!

 

Thanks!

I also find that aged Sudha Segara smells like mild ginger tea... that's when I like it best! But when it's fresh, it's much more citrusy-zingy-assertive.

That's interesting about Zephyr; I've heard that complaint about white musk scents sometimes, but it's not something I've personally experienced. I tend to amp anything sweet, vanillic, or "girly," though (much to my dismay).

You could also try layering a vanilla scent like Mouse's Long and Sad Tale with something like Severin (pure bergamot on my skin) or Croquet...

Fresh Sugar!

 

- Top: bergamot, lemon, Brazilian sweet orange

- Heart: petitgrain, heliotrope, white lily

- Base: caramel, vanilla, marjoram

 

It's a little crazy, cause I usually amp the heck out of white florals and caramel goes to a weird coffee on me. However, this one works out somehow. I love the vanilla/bergamot combination, and that's primarily what I get, along with a little hint of citrus.

I love Sudha Segara and agree that it is both citrusy (the ginger is very lemony in it) and creamy. Have you tried Zephyr or Alice? I get a lot of vanilla out of both:

For a straight-up citrus + vanilla scent (it smells just like an orange creamsicle), try:

Thanks so much for the help, and thanks for putting the descriptions, too. I am printing this out for future reference, maybe I will find some decants to buy. I've had my eye on Inez, and Hod sures sounds fabulous!

I tried Stimulating Sassafras and smelled no vanilla, it dried down to smelling like toothpaste on me. Weird. Do you think Dorian is more vanilla-ish than O or Mouse's Long and Sad Tale? I get so confused reading the reviews because of course it is different on everyone.

You know, it's funny that you mention smelling toothpaste... some BPAL vanillas end up smelling like wintergreen on me. Sadly, Dorian, The Illustrated Woman, and Love's Philosophy (and Inez, to a lesser extent) did that to me. I could definitely smell vanilla in all of them, but as they dried, this horrible minty smell would come out and ruin everything.

On me, Mouse's Long and Sad Tale was a quiet, mellow vanilla. It didn't have much else going on, and so I found it a little too bland. That being said, you might like its straight-forward vanilla-ness. I found Lyonesse (Wanderlust; Golden vanilla and gilded musk, stargazer lily, white sandalwood, grey amber, elemi, orris root, ambergris) to be similar, just a gentle vanilla without much complexity. O was more powdery and just... not very nice to my nose.

I should have included the caveat that I tend to amp vanilla, so your experience may be significantly different than mine. (Although I don't get vanilla from Snake Oil, either.)

Are you trying to limit yourself to a single imp?

I know this thread has millions of recommendations, but I have a question. I want to order an imp with my order I will place today or tomorrow, and really want to find the PERFECT vanilla! (Doesn't everyone...)

I want a very heavy smooth creamy vanilla, maybe a little spice (carnation would be perfect) with NO fruity or very little floral in it. It could have a tad of cinnamon, or amber or incense, as long as the vanilla is very dominant. All the ones I have tried are not vanilla enough for me. I usually smell citrus, or it's all so faint I can barely smell. Guess this is what they call my skin's chemistry. Okay, well I'm ordering Snake Oil, and I have an aged imp, but honestly I don't smell vanilla. I have tried Morroco, Black Opal, Tombstone, and was thinking of trying O, Mouse's Long and Sad Tale, or can't think of what else. I do want to order from the lab, so does anyone have any recs?

From the general catalogue, I would recommend:

Unfortunately, most of the super WHAM-POW vanilla/vanilla-spice scents that I would recommend to you are limited edition/unimpable:

And I feel bad even mentioning this one, it's so hard to get (but so delicious!):

I'm afraid I'm not familiar with Tyrian, but for soft floral/musky vanillas, maybe try:

These were all very vanillic on me, but a soft, gentle, non-foody vanilla. I personally found them rather bland and boring as a result, but they might be subtle enough for your husband to appreciate.

Black musk is rather loud on me and turns to baby powder. The blends that did this the most were (i.e., these were all powder, all the time):

Since you're leery of patchouli and more traditionally masculine blends, I'd recommend Haunted.

Have you checked out the "Rose is a rose?, an inquiry into all note variants" thread? It might give you some clues...

/sigh still looking for that delicious black tea scent. I do love White Rabbit but the tea note disappears on me as well and Dorian and I did not get along.

I'm in the same boat. I love White Rabbit, but it doesn't smell like tea on me, and Dorian was just wretched. I was hopeful that Ichabod Crane would be the answer, but alas, no. And so the search continues...

I wanted to know if anyone could recommend a light, springtime floral with a kick of green. I recently tried out Rapunzel, and I really like it! I think the green note that I like is the wild lettuce, which I haven't seen around a lot.

Have you tried Amsterdam or Rosalind?

There was a BPAL package in my mail box today.

I gleefully ripped it open and was immediately greeted by a very unpleasant aroma.

I was a little surprised; none of the bottles I ordered should have smelled like that. It was a sickening sort of scent that reminded me of red musk and smelled a lot like Satyr, both of which turn my stomach. The Lab had generously gifted me with several frimps, and I hurriedly rifled through them to find the source of the stench. I spied two with that tell-tale red musk coloration: Loviatar and Lust. I'd tried Loviatar in the past and while I didn't like it, I didn't remember it being this foul. I picked up the imp of Lust and tentatively sniffed it...

...and almost lost my lunch. Even with the cap still on, the pungent combination of red musk and civet was too much to bear. A cloying sweetness overlaying a sweaty funk... grape incense covering up the scent of unwashed bodies and animal excrement wafting around a headshop... oh god. I feel bad writing such a negative review without even doing a skin test, but I can't even bear to have the imp in the same room with me. I'm actually considering throwing away the imp just so I'll never have to touch it or smell it again.

I should qualify that I am a red musk hater, and ylang-ylang and civet are not my friends, either. If you enjoy strong red musk scents (e.g., Scherezade, Sin, Snake Oil, Vixen) or nag champa incense, or if you like the civet-y aroma of Satyr, I would encourage you to try this.

I do so wish I got the super-sexy vibe so many of you seem to get!

*****************

Edit:

My husband also hates this one. I left the imp in my home office this morning while I went to work for the day. When I saw my husband in the evening, I mentioned that I had gotten a particularly nasty imp that was so strong that I couldn't be in the same room with it. He said he thought he smelled something unpleasant throughout the whole house today. I asked him if it smelled like hippies, and he nodded grimly and said, "Wet hippies."

This ended up smelling like a hybrid of Hurricane and The Music of Erich Zahn on me, which is to say that it smelled like charred wood with a citrusy edge, Play-Doh, and baby powder. It was... not so good.

As always with any blend containing vetiver, the charred wood smell came roaring out first and foremost (I will forever be grateful to blood type thread for explaining why this happens to me - why yes, yes I do have Type A blood), although it stayed in the background on my husband. The citrus note (neroli) was present on both of us. The sandalwood smelled light and clean on him, but began turning powdery on me almost immediately, like someone was trying to put out a campfire with baby powder. Underneath it all, I could smell a weird Play-Doh note on both of us. Eventually the vetiver died down, and the scent became sort of a powdery clean one, but rather strong.

I tried this right before bed, and the next day the scent was entirely different but still quite strong. It was much more fresh and dryer sheet-like. I found this stage more pleasant, but not so engaging that I'd be willing to wait through several hours of charred powder. It was much more successful on my husband, but I didn't love it on him either.

One to Tie, Two to Win (2007 Dogs Playing Poker) - description currently unavailable

The description appears to be missing, but it's supposed to be grass and dandelions, and it definitely nails it. Unfortunately, it's rather hard to get a hold of.

The description is "Dewy grass, summer breezes, and dandelion clocks."

Muchas gracias!

I'll second the Roadhouse and Fairy Wine recommendations:

For limited editions, check out:

You might also want to browse these threads:

My favorite summer scents are:

That said, on *me* Eclipse turns out to be close to the skin but surprisingly almondy for ages... last week I dabbed some on at after breakfast, and when I offered my wrist to my boyfriend to sniff late in the evening... I was wearing a completely different scent further up my forearm that I had applied much more recently, but he immediately said I smelled almondy with a bit of cinammon and incense!

*jealous* Where is the green-with-envy emoticon?

Out of the gates, Eclipse is almost perfect, but it turns soapy and powdery on my skin very rapidly. I tried it on my clothes and it stayed better longer, but eventually it turned to soap there, too.

So far, I'm having the best luck with a frimp of Dana O'Shee that I received in a swap. It's still not as potently almond as I would like (and a little too vanillic), but it's nice. I had tried it previously (fresh from the Lab, I think) and didn't like it - it was too sweet and sharp. I guess maybe aging helped mellow it?

I still yearn for a long-lasting almond extract scent, though.

I put Uruk into a rollerball with jojoba oil, and it stays almondy for hours.

Uruk was hearbreaking on me... all nasty jasmine! Salomé, too.

I'm waiting to see how Ms Lupscaru (sp)does...

Yes, I have high hopes for Miss Lupescu and am hoping to score a decant at some point. Fingers crossed.

For your first request, I'd recommend sniffing out an imp of:

It's languid and very "Southern". You might also try:

(Oh, and FYI - For tea olive scents, try searching using the term "osmanthus".)

It seems that every blend I try that had a strong almond note, starts out smelling AMAZING- like sweet amaretto or almond extract, but after a few moments, it disappears completely. I've had this happen with Eclipse, Baron Samedi, Hellcat, Port-Au-prince, and Queen of Sheba. I'm not sure if it's just my skin sucking it all up, but which blends best retain their almondness instead of playing hide and go seek?

I have the same problem and the same desire... I love almond! I've tried using almond-y scents in my hair or applying them to my clothes, but that only helps a little... that beautiful, delicious almond note is still so fleeting! Please do tell if you know of a blend where it stick around.

From the general catalogue, you might try:

If you don't mind tracking down limited editions, I would recommend:

I've also heard/read good and cakey things about the following blends, although I haven't tried them personally:

For buttercream, you might give Hellcat a whirl:

And if you don't mind spices with your cake, go for:

I've been looking for a not very foody, honey scent...

But I've been severly "burned" by Lush's Honey I Washed The Kids, and Villainess - Canaan.

It smells more of tofee than honey to me, both do... and even if I do like the soft tofee of Canaan, I would really like a smell that is indeed honeyed.

I really like the scent of white honey (clover honey), and wondered if it existed, even in some combination...

Thanks...

I don't use Lush or Villainess products, so I'm not sure what Honey I Washed the Kids or Canaan smells like, but I do think that BPAL's honey notes smell distinctively of actual honey. The one that I find to be the most "honeyed" is White Rabbit:

It starts off a little weird (almost fruity-floral), but it dries to a lovely warm honey. I do amp honey, though, so your mileage may vary. Otherwise, you might try some of the limited editions suggested by ivyandpeony upthread, particularly:

The beeswax note is very pronounced, warm, and honey-ish. And these two Stardust scents are crisper, sweeter (too sweet for me), and un-impable, but they might be worth tracking down decants to test:

Hey, bumping this thread with a question ^^

Okay i am looking for something kinda specific.....

An oil with cream, or honey (though both is okay too) tones that does NOT smell foody in any way, exclusing Katrina Van Tassle (who is already my favorite but i am looking for something new ^^)

The first thing that leapt to mind in the GC is Alice - have you tried that one yet?

A similar scent from the Carnaval is:

I also find Dana O'Shee to be very similar to both Alice and Zarita, but I think that it might be too foody for you:

For something different, I would recommend Blood Kiss. It starts out with a blast of cherries and vetiver (the vetiver really keeps it from smelling like food on me), but it dries down to a creamy honey scent:

Others to consider:

Oh, and I forgot:

The beeswax note in this one is divine and gives it an orange blossom honey-ish feel, especially when aged.

In the general catalogue, the strongest, sweetest, foodiest blends I've tried have been:

You might also try:

And a non-GC scent that is currently available that I would recommend is:

Has anyone ever, ever smelled anything like Thai iced tea? (And maybe with a bit of coconut?)

Ooo... good question. I love Thai tea! I'll have to think on this one a bit; nothing is leaping immediately to mind. Maybe one of the chai-like scents layered with something coconutty?

Oh, and, as this is the "Tea" thread, does anyone know why the tea scents (I think I've tried all of the BPAL ones) disappear? (Or in my case, never appear.) Is it something to do with creating a 'tea' scent--i.e., the oils used to create it--are less potent than others? Am I coming from left field?

I have no answer to this, but I have the exact same problem... so you're not coming out of left field, at least not to me.