Diana

This is amazingly divine. I'm surprised I don't wear it more often!

Wet: very sandalwood-y. It's powdery and has a bit of an amber note to it.

Initial dry: some of the spice, namely the saffron starts to peek out. Still mostly sandalwood.

Drydown: This gets better and better. The mandarin, musk & rose start to add to the depth of the warm sandalwood/amber combination, and just enough of the spices give it a little extra layer.

If you like Sin, Scherezade, or Seraglio, give this a try!

I hope I'm doing this right, please feel free to move the thread if this is in the wrong place. ^^ *is newbie*

 

I've just discovered BPAL recently, and I'm on the prowl for a new signature scent. My current scent is Dior's j'adore, but I'm starting to get a bit tired of it. I'm not very scent-savvy, so I'll try to describe it as best as I can~ it's a light floral, apparently a tiny bit spicy and citrus-y as well. The top notes are Champaca flower, mandarin, and ivy leaves; middle notes are jasmine, orchids, violet, Damascus plum, and rose; base notes are Amaranth wood and blackberry musk. Can some kind soul recommend a similar BPAL scent that I can try? Thank you!

This goes in Recommendations, not Suggestions... so it might get moved.

One way to go about finding a similar oil is to do a search on the forums on J'adore Dior and see if that brings up anything similar. Doing a search, I found reviews that liken it to Kitsune-Tsuki (which contains Asian plum, orchid, daffodil, jasmine and white musk) and Shattered (with white champagne notes, grapefruit, lotus, slivered mint and crystalline aquatic blooms.)

Another way is to do a search on the engine on the blackphoenixalchemylab site for one, two, or more of those notes and see what you get. I know Champaca flower is not used very often, and is usually reserved for Limited Edition oils, but jasmine, orchids, violet, plum, and rose are very common ingredients, and there are a lot to choose from! Once you've done that, you can order a few imps ears and see if any of them work for you.

I should note that Beth doesn't know of a lot of commercial perfumes (why would she bother!), so most BPAL scents are realllllly unlike anything you'd find at a department store.

Hope that helps!

You know, I really do need about 12 more bottles of this.

Wet: OMFG. It's vanilla. It's saffron. It's rum. Fantastic.

Drydown: The vanilla stays really creamy and nice, and some parts of the drydown smell kind of similar to Antique Lace. The saffron kind of fades more quickly than I'd like, but it's replaced by the sandalwood which mingles with the vanilla beautifully.

This doesn't last as long as I'd thought it would, but I was pretty sparing with it. It's really beautiful. Like the lovechild of some weird amalgamation of all my favorite BPAL perfumes. SO brilliant!

Hmm. I think a toddler's skin might be a bit sensitive to a lot of the oils. A lot of these are 85-100% essential oils.

As far as soft baby-ish scents, I think Dana O'Shee or any of the milky-type ones would be most appropriate. But I'd wait until he was a wee bit older to let him wear much.

Hope this is the right place. In a swap, among lab labeled imps, I recieved a decant labeled "Night Blooming Jasmine." Is it possible that this is a SN that was never reviewed? If not, does anyone know who might have created this oil? It's pretty awesome!

I'd ask the swaper. Sometimes I get fragrance oils in swaps that are from Skindazzles, Darkswan, etc. There may have been a SN from BPAL, but at this point, I think there'd be reviews for it if it existed.

General Catalogue:

Twenty-one: martini scent

Swank: pomegranate martini

The Hamptons: Cosmopolitans

Grog: pirate rum

Bon Vivant: strawberries & champagne

Grand Guignol: apricot brandy

Juke Joint: mint juleps

Jazz Funeral: rum & bourbon notes

Bordello: amaretto note

Perversion: rum & chardonnay notes

Wanda: merlot notes

Lady Macbeth: wine notes

Athens: wine notes

Delphi: honey wine notes

Madrid: more wine notes

Port-au-Prince: rum notes

Tintagel: mulled wine notes

Elegba: rum notes

Ogun: gin notes

Thalia: white champagne

Limited Edition:

Egg Nog: rum notes

Spooky: rum notes

Sugar Skull 05: smelled like whiskey to me!

Devil's Night: boozy notes

Stardust: champagne notes

Miskatonic University: irish coffee

Fortunato: sherry notes

Montresor: wine notes

Imp of the Perverse: Cognac notes

Formula 54: cognac notes

I might have missed something, but that's a pretty thorough list!

'05 formulation

Bottle: floral concoction

Wet: very wet, fresh cut flowers. slightly zesty, like there is a bit of lemon balm in there. it's very green and lush and yellow. Bright, happy floral notes. I can't pick out anything in particular, though I think I can smell jasmine & honeysuckles.

Dry: I can smell the jasmine a bit more, but it's still not overpowering everthing else (score!). It's still very floral and happy and wild and totally appropriate for today. It smells even better in the sunshine!

Wet: This is a mish-mash of floral notes, but with something resinous and golden in the background.

Initial dry: The flowers are omnipresent, but they are all ones that I'm rather fond of. Something goes a little sour on me, kind of like Red Phoenix did, but that only last a few minutes.

Drydown: The incense aroma intensifies, and the floral notes are pushed to the side. This reminds me a lot of Sybaris, but without all the violet. Very nice!

As to how much civet is in Black Annis, I'm sure only the lab knows. I've never tried it myself, so I can't even guess.

Most of the civet blends have been discontinued. The only other GC scent with civet is Debauchery, which also has red musk.

You can still get your hands on Morella, which was rereleased as part of the Maelstrom, but I can't smell civet in it at all.

Here's some other civet perfumes that have long since gone away, but maybe you can find an imp or something in trade:

Puck - rereleased fairly recently as a Limited Edition, the civet note (at least in the resurrected) was pretty tame. Oakmoss, sweet sage, juniper berry, civet and a drop of grape.

Allegory-A sinuous, vibrant scent, striking in its boldness and complexity. Juniper and white cedarwood entwined with orange and raw civet.

Deimos-Son of Ares, twin to Phobos, Deimos is the personification of dread. Murky ambergris and civet with dark musk, sharpened by orange, bergamot and frankincense.

Entropy-The perfect distillate of decay, death, and damnation. Blood red patchouli saturated with black poppy, civet and a hint of rose.

Glasya-Created in honor of the fiery, vicious Princess of Hell and bloodthirsty general who governs thirty-six legions of infernal warriors. Her lust for bloodshed and manslaughter is matched only by her love of the classical arts and sciences - definitely a woman that we respect. A seething, fiery blend of dragon,s blood, deep myrrh, red and black musks, civet and thick red patchouli, glistening with drops of rose and ylang ylang.

Pulse Points-A profoundly erotic, lascivious scent. Black poppy, narcissus and civet.

Bacchanalia-A boisterous, belligerent, festive blend that lends to mad revelry, overindulgence and excess. Perfect for a weekend bender. Earthy musks combined with a beastial civet bouquet, a hint of sweet grape and orange blossom.

In the bottle: berries. fruity something or other.

Wet: waxy smelling, berries. Like berry potpourri and berry scented candles. And berries. The heliotrope is kind of berry-smelling to me too.

Initial dry: Oddly enough, this starts to smell like ecclesiastical incense. But fruity. It's almost like a very dry frankincense infused by wild berries.

Later drydown: It still smells like berry candles + church incense, but it smells a little less like it may contain frankincense, but rather like it has a lot of dark resins. It has a dry spicyness to it, most likely the amber + carnation combination.

This is quite funky. It's not what I expected it to smell like, but it's nice. If you like dark scents with a twist, you should hunt some of this down & give it a try.

In the bottle: cinnamon-ish aroma

Wet/application: omg! MINI COFFEE CAKES. Spongey cake with cinnamon crumbles on top. That is exactly what this smells like.

Initial drydown: the coffee cake aroma is still there, but just a smidgeon of the coconut peeks out. it's like a platter of coffee cakes & coconut macaroons, all blended into a cakey vanilla smell. It has a really nice cakey throw. Yum. I wonder if my perfume is making strangers think about dessert.

Later drydown: the cinnamon is softer, the coconut is also less, and it becomes more of a generalized cake with just a bit of spice to it. The throw is lesser too now, but I can still easily detect it. This is what I wanted Sugar Cookie 2004 to smell like! It's like that, without the overwhelming play-doh aroma.

Later still: Hmm. The cinnamon is pretty much gone, but the coconut has come back a bit. Kind of like a bundt cake with creamy cononut filling. Yes? yes. The throw is a bit more noticable now that I've walked around outside & it's heated up with my body temp & the sunshine.

This? is love. YUM.

In the bottle: Warm, chocolately, spicey notes.

Wet: This goes on with a strong rush of the cocoa. The dragon's blood is definitely evident, adding a level of sweetness to the warmer cocoa. There is a very brief appearance of the vetiver, which lasts maybe 15 minutes, but it totally disappears after that (vetiver-haters take note!).

Drydown: The cocoa never lasts through the drydown on me, sadly. The chocolately goodness has been replaced by the blood musk, which is a bit on the perfumey side, but not bad. The dragon's blood has died down in intensity quite a bit, but it adds a powdery softness to the basenotes.

This is really pretty. =)

This is the first TAL I've ever really tried, and can I just say... WOW, This stuff WORKS.

The scent isn't that pleasant. I didn't buy it for the smell, though, so I am not going to comment other than it is earthy-voodoo-oil-smelling.

I actually only used a wee bit and anointed a few chakra points (throat & heart & head, for communication and being seen as a good person, etc... I was lazy and didn't do all of my chakra points, though). I wore it under other perfume because I really didn't want to smell like... that.

I wore this because I was meeting up with someone I know, but she's one of those "I-don't-know-if-she-even-likes-me" type of friends, because we live hours apart and don't talk all that often. She was also bringing along a few of her friends whom I haven't met, and I generally tend to be shy & reserved around new people.

All throughout the day, complete strangers were insanely nice to me, calling out to say hi or comment that I looked beautiful (not something I hear that often from strangers!), I had every makeup artist in MAC swoon over me, I saw Sarah from ANTM on the street, and tons of people complimented me all night. I had such a good day, all day. Nice coincidences and things that made me smile & feel good about myself. And I had a blast with everyone I met up with, and had a completely great time.

LOVE this stuff!

In the bottle: sweet, foody

Wet: Oh holy god. It's like a rush of sweet berries, lush red velvet and sweeeeeet. YUM.

Dry: The berries don't last too long, and the red velvet cake is replaced by a generic cake smell. But CAKE. I cannot loose with something that smells like my favorite food group!

I am thinking I need like 35 bottles of this, STAT.

In the bottle: This smells mostly of tea, but not very strongly.

Wet application: Tea, with just a hint of citrus. Barely a breath of mint is detectable.

Initial dry: This starts to smell like the "clean/herbal" types of oils, like Zephyr, Apothecary, Dirty or Embalming Fluid. The tea is weakening. I'm not getting much other than minty-very light tea.

Hours later: Just a soft mint, slightly herbal. It doesn't ever have much throw. It's a nice, clean scent, when you don't want something heavy or floral.

In the bottle: lordy, that's some jasmine

wet: yes, still jasmine

drydown: still jasmine. however, as it continues to wear, the jasmine becomes less screachingly sharp, and mellows out to a softer floral note. the juniper berries aren't as strong as i'd like, but they seemed to add a short-lived burst of something semi-citrusy.overall, this is way more floral than something i'd wear on a regular basis.

ah, jasmine. i love you, but i hate you.

In the bottle, it smells flowery. I don't have that much experience with peonies as flowers (my mom grew them, but I never really noticed a smell to them), so to me it's something like a tea rose crossed with freesia.

wet: very pink and sweet, full-bodied blossoms.

dry: as it dries, the super floral explosion dies down a bit, and it smells more herbal (probably owing to the reeds & woods). It's more of a muted pink at this stage.

Both stages are nice, but if you're afraid of the initial application scent, this dries down wonderfully to a much softer scent. Good throw, too.

I get an almost-soda smell out of Black Phoenix when it's wet.

I thought this was going to be the dealbreaker of the Maelström scents. Actually, it's quite nice. I usually can't wear iris because it ends up overwhelmingly loud & screamingly cloying, but it's a nice soft floral blend. The iris I think is in part tempered by the softer, sweet, powdery orris, and there's just a touch of the herbal essence of the sage. I'm not really smelling civet at all, which is probably more here in a fixative sense rather than a scent component.

This is really nice & clean smelling. Not as fresh & wonderful as Berenice, but I can actually say that I would definitely wear this again.

In the bottle: it's powdery, sweet, mostly the sandalwood with a tinge of floral notes

Wet: ambery, sandalwood. It's warm and slightly powdery. There's a touch of the jonquil.

Dry: glorious ambery/sandalwoody/tobacco. Dry, warm, slightly incensey, with just a touch of sweetnest over the top. I can pick out the carnation a little bit better now, and just barely the rose. I'm not getting any patchouli really, so if you're afraid of that note, you might be able to wear this.

This is SO good. I want all the bottles I can possibly hoarde.

I had serious trepidation wearing this. I even bought a 5mL, so it must have /something/ I like in it... but I put off actually wearing it for so long.

Wet: sweet florals, vague sugary alcohol notes, mossy/earthy basenotes

Drydown: the flowers don't go too wild, nor does the alcohol. The alcohol smells less like booze after a while and the floral + sweet + dirt notes smells vagely like the Apothecary or some other more herbally brew, and it definitely has a memory-trigger type of effect. Overall, it doesn't seem to last very long on me, but maybe next time I'll try mixing it with perfumer's alcohol to see if I can get better coverage.

This was a bad experience for me. I had an imp, I thought I liked it, and bought a 10mL. I wore it and really couldn't remember what attracted me to it. It lists tons of things that I love to wear: rose, citrus, spices, almond and sandalwood.

This on me turned cloyingly sweet. The neroli didn't soften like it usually does, the rose & sandalwood and spices were no where to be found, and the neroli & almond teamed up with every thing else to turn into EVIL. And to top it off, I had a migraine the day I wore it, so I couldn't ever smell it again without thinking MIGRAINE. So I got rid of my bottle. Maybe one day I'll get an imp of it by chance, and I'll change my mind about it. But for now, this is one of the few BPAL scents I don't want anywhere near me.

My initial notes on this say "spiced champagne." I never really tested out again, or thought about it until I heard that it contains coconut. THEN, my friends, I was on a mission!

This starts out sparkly notes of alcohol (which is were I presume I got "spiced champagne" from), rum is the most evident. As the alcoholic notes fade away, it stays sweet, and the coconut and tonka come out to play, and there's just a wee touch of tobacco in the background. This is sweet, but sexy, and yummy all at the same time.

I think (hope) that now I've actually tried this, I've ordered a 10mL. I can easily see myself making a nice spray and layering myself in a coat of this stuff!

Another of my favorites that I've neglected to review.

What can I say? This is a blend of 4 of my 5 favorite notes (add red musk and I'd never leave the house). It's spicey. It's incensey. SEXY. Dark, mysterious, sultry. I love this scent. Most would consider this a wintery scent because of it's heavier & warmer notes, but I like wearing this all year round. In the summer, the scent just rolls off in dripping waves of luscious aroma. LOVE.

And? Add a touch of DeSade and you might just hump your own arm!

Two Ways to Smell like Bubblegum

by Diana, age 33.

First method: walk into a drugstore. Buy several handfuls of "Bazooka Joe" bubblegum. The kind wrapped in colorful waxed paper. Go home. Undress. Chew several pieces at once. Once all the gum is sticky and wet, rub it all over your body, paying close attention to the pulse points. Then, take the waxed paper, and rub it over top, making sure you get all that powdery residue off the paper and onto your skin.

Second method: Buy a bottle of Jailbait. Apply.

This is the smell of pink, juicy, wet, sticky, powdery bubble gum. Nothing more to add. It's a great scent when you're feeling especially girly or silly. =)