minilux

If you just want something soothing and not necessarily magical, then I would recommend Embalming Fluid. It's incredibly soothing to a frazzled mind, sort of a lobotomy in a bottle. Otherwise, maybe one of the voodoo blends like High John or Van Van.

patchouli + vanilla =

I've been searching for a perfect lavender scent for ages and for me Nanshe is the one. Nanshe somehow manages to actually smell like a lavender plant, it has the slightly spicy, herbaceous quality of the plant that usually doesn't appear in lavender scents. Quietude isn't bad, but it's somehow too soft for me. Some people complained about Nanshe being too lemony which I never noticed in my imps, but did notice in my bottle, but the lemony aspect fades pretty quickly and seems to be changing with age as well. My only warning is there is something in it which sometimes irritates my skin a bit, but I've resolved that problem by streaking it through my hair instead. If you're in the U.S., I'd be glad to decant you an impsworth and send it to you.

ETA: If you're looking for a sharper, straight-up lavender, you should try Baku. It was a bit too sharp for me, but it's definitely lavender.

Hey, I just got a new imp labeled Hamadryad (which I've had several previous imps of) and I put some on yesterday and it smelled nothing like I remembered, in fact, it smelled overwhelmingly of apples with a touch of caramel. I kept waiting for it to morph, but I'm convinced it's actually Hesperides in an imp labeled Hamadryad. I also can't remember for sure, but I was also fairly certain it should have been a darker in color.

Holy hell, this is one sexy scent! I usually avoid amber, but wanted to try this because adore Beth's carnation. I often don't even take a whiff before I test out a scent, but the scent of this from the imp was so gorgeous, I couldn't wait to try it. Wearing it, the amber of course turns a bit more powdery than I like, but it's still incredibly intoxicating. In some perverse way that probably only makes sense to me, I consider this the sexy younger sister of Dance of Death, which to me is a sexy dark Chanel No. 5 sort of scent. If you like amber, get your hands on some of this as soon as possible. I never thought I'd say this about an amber scent, but I might actually need a bottle of this.

I'm glad I'm not totally crazy, because it smells like olives on me, too. Not pickled at all, but like olive oil, warm and golden green. Very mellow. I do have extremely corruptive chemistry, though, so I wouldn't be surprised if few people get the olives.

I may be paraphrasing someone's review of Moxie, but I agree that it will probably kick your ass right out of bed. I never thought I'd say this, but Moxie is actually a bit too citrusy for me to wear, but I put some in my oil burner yesterday and it made an awesome room scent.

Gomorrah is definitely the closest to Hunter Moon that I've found. On me at least, Gomorrah has the exact ripe fruitiness of Hunter Moon and actually seems to have a bit of the smokiness, too. And it's not turning into an overwhelmingly sweet fig like the other BPAL fig scents have done on me. It's lovely!

Gomorrah is definitely the closest to Hunter Moon that I've found. Hexennacht shared the smokiness, but was considerably sweeter than Hunter Moon. On me at least, Gomorrah has the exact ripe fruitiness of Hunter Moon and actually seems to have a bit of the smokiness, too. And it's not turning into an overwhelmingly sweet fig like the other BPAL fig scents have done on me. It's lovely!

ETA: They don't smell anything alike out of the bottle, and Gomorrah is missing the sharper tinge of what I assume is the wine mixed with fruit. But I still think it's the closest to Hunter Moon. Lady Macbeth was way too sweet and Hexennacht was smokey without the fruitiness and a very different sweetness.

This may not really help since it's another LE, but something in Hexennacht definitely reminded me of Hunter Moon, but without the juicy wine aspect, so maybe it was what other people refer to as smokiness that was similar.

Does anyone have a good suggestion as to what (regular catalog scent) smells like Hunter Moon?  I see someone mentioned Lampades before, and I am about to eagerly order it in hopes that it will come out very close on me.  But, I was wondering if anyone else had more suggestions?  I just got an imp of it yesterday and I am horribly, horribly upset that I won't have a chance to get more of this, because it is probably my most favorite scent at this point.

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Depending on how your body chemistry reacts to berries, I would suggest Lady Macbeth. Unfortunately, my chemistry amps up the sweetness of the berries to an intolerable level. Hunter Moon is what I had hoped Lady Macbeth would be.

I second the Belle Epoque. It's absolutely lovely.

Nanshe is the lavender scent that I have been looking for for ages. It has the herbal spicyness of an actual lavender plant which does not, however, appear in lavender essential oil. I do not get any lemon whatsoever, and I love lemon, so I probably wouldn't mind if I did smell lemon. I'm wondering if there's some bay in there to account for the spicyness. Whatever it is, I love it!

As for my dreams, I have been having some pretty bizarre and vivid dreams recently, but they also might be the result of too much cheap red wine.

I was positively drooling with anticipation for this one (thanks a lot Andra), and kicking myself for not ordering it sooner. I'm afraid the vanilla monster has struck again, however, gobbling up everything except maybe the tiniest smidgen of fougere. I don't get any tea whatsoever. I know this is my body chemistry which amplifies vanilla to the 10th power, which is why I usually avoid BPAL vanilla scents. I have some plans for adulterating it with some Severin in hopes of subduing the vanilla, so we'll see what happens...

am i weird?  when i read "bpal", i think b p a l.

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Me too. gimme a B, gimme a P, gimme an A, gimme an L

BPAL!!!!

Rum has a tendency to make me nauseous, and I'm fairly certain that all of the scents that have rum in them state in their description that they have rum in them. I don't think I've been surprised by rum appearing where I didn't expect it. As for the rose, I would absolutely avoid anything that states that there is rose in it, and for any other scents that interest you, I would read the reviews to see what they say. I can't stand even the tiniest bit of rose and it's definitely lurking in some scents where it is not a listed ingredient. I know for a fact that I am allergic to cinnamon, but I have been quite pleasantly surprised to discover that I can wear some of BPAL's cinnamon scents without any reaction whatsoever. I guess it will partly depend on just how strong your allergies are. I also second (or third or fourth) the above suggestions to e-mail Beth. she helped me out at the beginning when I couldn't figure out why so many scents were turning to baby powder on me. Turned out to be my arch-nemesis musk.

I just got an impling of this from clover and it smells so freakin' awesome I barely know what to say. It's minty in a light creamy way and I guess what's making it so yummy (meaning yummy in a non-foody way) is whatever spicy notes are under the mint. I am extremely grateful that I am not getting chocolate at all, since I think then it would definitely be a foody scent and I would not be this excited. This is my favorite minty scent by far and my favorite voodoo scent as well. If it brings some good luck and good vibes, then that's an added bonus. .

It was actually Miss Laurel's idea.

You all may have noticed how cluttered the Randomness area was getting with the many, many birthday greetings, so now they have their own subforum above. I plan on archiving the previous month's threads within the first week of the new month in the future.

I think musk is the primary culprit when scents turn to baby powder on me. When I got my first order of imps, I think it was Snake Oil, Black Phoenix and possibly Spellbound that totally turned to baby powder on me. There did not seem to be a common denominator among them, so I PMed Beth, and she said there was musk in all of them and that's probably what was doing it.

Hunter Moon is by far my favorite of the lunacy blends. It's gorgeous and dark and reminds me a bit of a slightly spiced wine. It's pretty much how I had hoped Lady Macbeth would be, darker and less fruity. Love it, love it, love it!

Wow! This smells so freakin' good, I don't even know what else to say about it. And I have the lab to thank for it, because I would never have ordered it since I'm allergic to cinnamon. It's amazingly delicious without crossing the line into extreme foody sweetness (if that makes any sense). I think I'm going to have to get a bottle of this, and venture onward into the realm of cinnamon scents.

Hey guys, I'm moving this thread over to "BPAL FAQs", where there's a thread about pronouncing the names of various BPAL scents.

here's an old thread about the almond/cherry debate:

http://www.bpal.org/index.php?showtopic=575&hl

Juju reminded me of Noir. I've only tried Noir a couple of times, but they both gave me an initial impression of gorgeous spicy floral, though somehow too sophisticated for me. Unfortunately, Juju turned way too powdery on me.