minilux

The perfect scent to wear to your next bondage ball, dungeon adventure or sojourn to your favorite pleasure dome. Smoky rum and black tobacco with a whisper of steamy leather with a splash of crystalline chardonnay, layered over a sensual, sweet, and deceptively magnetic base of tonka. Mmmmmm....perversion. This one had definitely caught my eye when Beth gave us a sneak preview of upcoming scents, and I was blessed with an imp of it in my latest order. I confess to being a coconut freak of sorts, but it's hard to find a coconut scent that isn't horrendously sweet. Somehow, the sweetness of the vanilla and coconut is quite restrained and there's a subtle spiciness underneath. It's absolutely divine. [added description ~qs]

Swank and the Hamptons smell a lot like fruit punch to me. Carnal might be worth trying as well.

Caliban or Severin are what first come to mind. Maybe Kumiho for a crisp, clean ginger if you haven't already tried it. For something a touch warmer and spicier, Sudha Segara might work. Good luck!

You also might want to give Tezcatlipoca a try. The Tez is awesome!

I totally amp vanilla and rose, so I know what you're going through. If you amped vanilla in Dorian, I would not have high hopes for White Rabbit and I would probably stay far, far away from Snake Oil (and if you do give in and try it, try just the teeniest, tiniest drop for starters). As for the rose, I think you have a good chance of doing okay with Thanatos and Wanda, because I actually don't get overpowering rose from those. And you might want to try Seance if you haven't already, because oddly enough I don't get any rose at all from it and other people are always saying how rosey it smells, so I don't know what's up with that, but Seance is one of my favorites.

Uh oh, this doesn't remind me at all of the original version and it seems to contain the dreaded baby powder musk, so this is a no go for me. With its sweet, soft, smokeyness, I can see it being incredibly popular and fully expect to see a zillion ISO Hunter Moon! posts in the swaps.

Lupelele - Since you like patchouli, you might also want to try Greed, Crowley and/or Masquerade. I personally don't find them "dark", though, because I think it takes a little extra something to cross the line into what I would call dark territory.

Hmmm...I guess it depends on what kind of notes you generally like. If you like patchouli, I would suggest something like Dance of Death, or if you like florals, maybe something like Black Rose or Black Dahlia. Recently I tried the Smiling Spider which might also be along the lines of what you're looking for. Mme. Moriarty is also lovely, though I find it to be a bit sweet from the vanilla. I'm interested to see what other people suggest...good luck!

Hmmm...if there's even the tiniest bit of sweetness in something, it will come raging to the forefront when I wear it, so for non-sweet I would have to say: Severin - I guess it could be lemony sweet on someone with even more powerful sweetness amping capabilities, but for the most part I just find it to be perfectly clean Thanatos - Mossy, incensey with a touch of rose, I don't recall there being anything sweet about it Amsterdam and/or Danube - Fresh and clean, I don't remember getting any sweetness Belladonna - Bitter and green, I wanted to like it, but it was ultimately too bitter for me, but it's definitely not sweet Incantation - Another one that's definitely not sweet The Coiled Serpent - I'm a patchouli freak and unfortunately most of BPAL's patchouli has other notes that make the whole thing too sweet on me, but Coiled Serpent is awesome, almost peppery, patchouli ETA: some of the more masculine blends like Tristran and Vicomte de Valmont are definitely not sweet, but could be too masculine for some people

Have you tried Vicomte de Valmont?

Wow, Hunter Moon is gorgeous!

I'm afraid I don't have the answer to the ultimate forest scent, but I suspect I know who does: sarada! She is without a doubt the queen of the foresty, earthy scents and I always rely on her reviews to guide me.

Mmmmmm...moss... Since you don't like fruity, sweet or spicy, here are some floral/moss combos that might work... Thanatos I Died for Beauty Urania Viola Jazz Funeral (this one might be too sweet, but if it isn't, it might be a good choice)

I've never tried L'Occitane's Vetyver, but I have tried many other commercial vetiver variations and don't think I've ever found a BPAL that focuses on vetiver in the same way. Though, I'm also thinking that if it stands out, the nutmeg alone in the L'Occitaine is going to make it different from most commercial vetivers. I perused the various BPAL vetiver scents and based on the notes, you might want to try Nephilim or Muladhara. I also have to say that if you like the nutmeg aspect, you might want to try one of my favorite commercial men's (though I would say unisex) scents, Cacharel pour l'homme (Top Notes: Lavender, Lemon, Bergamot , Middle Notes: Nutmeg, Geranium, Carnation, Base Notes: Sandalwood, Cedarwood, Vetiver, Musk). Good luck!

the more I see this thread, the more I want scents named Owl Baby and Little Crow

You might want to give Umbra a try. I need to try Malediction again, because patchouli is so frequently devoured by other notes that I'm not sure there is such a thing as too much patchouli for me, which is why I often just wear it straight up. ETA: You might also want to try Sin or Masquerade, which is my favorite BPAL patchouli, actually the only one I really love aside from the single note.

I remember a friend saying they loved putting Baku on their son(s) (now I can't remember if it was the baby or the toddler or both).

Ultimate librarian literally could be Casanova, but if it's too masculine, you might want to try Clio.

Puck is very mossy! Unless you have money to burn on heartbreaking scents, you might want to try to find an impsworth of Graveyard Dirt to try it first, because no matter how many times I tried it, it never lasted more than 10 seconds on me. The initial whiff of it was lovely though. And while on the subject of moss, I can't help mentioning one of my favorite lotions from Common Sense Farm. It's wonderfully mossy and I can't stop sniffing myself when I use it. ETA: You might also want to try Omen.

I guess I've been permanently scarred by growing up in the 70s, because ever since I read the question, part of my brain keeps telling me she'd wear Jean Nate or Charlie. Blasphemy, I know!

I'm thinking something like Rosalind maybe, definitely fresh and clean, definitely not sweet, powdery or vanilla-y. ETA: maybe Amsterdam, too, I'm sure more ideas will be popping into my head since Nancy was one of my childhood heros

Haha, you ordered him! I love it!

There was an intoxicating smokey sweet floral phase of Fairy Market that reminded me of Poison.

I tend to like a masculine scent more than the next girl, so out of all the new Gaiman scents, I was most psyched to try Tristran. Unfortunately, I'm getting a manly soap smell, perhaps a high end Claus Porto sort of manly soap smell, but a manly soap smell nevertheless. This is one of the handful of BPALs that I actually consider too masculine for me. I think it must be the mint+wood combination. Stupid mint! ETA: The drydown of this is absolutely gorgeous, for lack of being able to pin down the notes, I would say it's chypre or fougere-like and I would love more BPALs like this that are free of sweet things like vanilla. Unfortunately, because of the soapy initial stage, I really can't see myself wearing this on a regular basis, maybe if I was going to work out in the yard or something, but I wouldn't want to subject the rest of the world to the soapy smell.

Holy smokes! I may have to rethink my intense hatred of red patchouli, because this is delish. On me, I don't really find it masculine at all, but my skin amps sweetness, especially vanilla, so I'm gonna blame the vanilla for the demasculinization (ok, now I'm making up words ) of Crowley. Ladies, if you're gonna let your male significant others wear Crowley in public, you'd better be accompanying them unless you're trying to get rid of them!