minilux

Le Serpent Qui Danse is violet, vanilla and gardenia.

I have very corruptive chemistry, too. I don't know if it's acidic or not, but at least 90% of the scents I try do not work for me, and the most popular scents seem to be the worst on me. I e-mailed the lab at one point, and it turns out a lot of the scents have musk in them even though musk is not listed as an ingredient. In my case, musk seems to be the ingredient that morphs scents into a hideous baby powder smell. I end up kicking myself every time I go ahead and try a scent with dark musk, because it happens every time. Once you've tried all your imps, you may want to e-mail the lab and ask what they think. Beth is always very generous with info of this sort.

I got Chaos Theory XXXVI and I'm afraid it's an instant headache scent for me. My first thought was that there was something floral in it, but then I realized it smelled very familiar, like something I had recently tried. And then, I realized it's very similar to Old Glasgow which also gave me an instant headache. I think there may be moss in it, though I'm not sure if it's Spanish Moss or Irish Moss or if I'm mistaking something floral for moss. Anyway, I'm going to have to swap or sell it.

You might also like Velvet. I just tried it for the first time the other day and it was amazing. Once you get past the initial blast of cocoa powder, it morphs into the most amazing warm scent. It only vaguely reminds me of seance in thes sense that it has a sweet, creamy aspect to it that is not foody at all. It's a very mellow, warm sweetness.

Seance is one of my favorites, too. Ouija and Zombi have rose in them (at least I think Zombi does) and rose is a big no-no for me, but if you like rose, then you should definitely try them. I saw your comments on Seance smelling like vintage clothing and I think if you like that aspect of it you will definitely like Zombi. Voodoo is a much wilder ride, I don't think there's anything remotely like Seance about it. At the moment, I've been really enjoying some Seance and Masquerade I mixed together. I also can't help thinking that you might like Perversion, as long as you're not totally averse to sweet scents, though I consider it quite restrained in its sweetness.

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]

This reminded me of not only band-aids, but Bactine and Off! bug repellent. It immediately took me back to my childhood of suburban summers running around with a pack of other kids after dark. It makes me want to go play kick the can or flashlight tag. Even though I doubt this is what was intended with this scent, I will keep this imp for these memories alone.

I had the same trouble with Azazel which has bay in it, however it only seems to cause a rash in my cleavage area. It's fine on my wrists for some reason. I even tried using a good slather of lotion first, then a tiny bit of Azazel, but still got a pretty bad rash that lasted for 2 days. Guess the skin is just more sensitive there.

This turned out to be something very different than what I was hoping for (a nice, rich, slightly smokey black tea), but I ended up liking it anyway for very different reasons. Others have said that Arcana smells like lemon curd which I didn't get from Arcana, but am most definitely getting from Severin. On me, it's a thicker, richer, creamier lemon smell which I like very much. I'm not getting leather at all unless it's the wisp of something ever so slightly smokey that I catch every so often. Unfortunately, doesn't last very long, but I don't care, I still want a bigger bottle!

I'm thinking there's some cedar in here too. I usually do not get vivid image associations with scents (other than Lolita being a red lollipop), but this one threw me for a loop. When I tested just a dab of it last night (along with a few other scents) I really liked it. When I decided to wear it to work today, I immediately started getting very conflicting images in my mind of a woodshop and/or a banana split. I don't really want to smell like either one, but it was my strangest BPAL experience so far, so I had to report it.

Wow, this one really took me by surprise. I am not a fan of sweet scents, but I got this as an extra imp and I always try every imp because with BPAL you just never know. Anyway, I tried it and immediately thought it was too sweet, but then as time went on I found myself unable to stop sniffing my arm. It's not too sweet at all, it's really quite amazing.

I think Venom is very similar to Poison, or at least has a lot of the same good elements that I associate with Poison. In fact, that's why I alway keep an imp around. I wore Poison in high school and love to catch a whiff of it every so often

Amazing peppery goodness. Definitely a fire scent. I don't know what's in it, but the only scent I might guess at is frankincense, but this is so much more peppery, it's a mystery for me. There's also the slightest hint of something almost medicinal lurking in the background. For me, this would be a fall/winter scent. It would make a great candle and I would love to take a bath in it on a yucky cold winter day.

Yes, yes, yes! This is a bit more masculine because it's lacking the soft powderyness, but it has enough of Villain's good qualities to make it a must have for me. I'll definitely be getting a bottle of it. Whitechapel is horribly underrated.

I didn't even know that you let people add on to orders. I can see why the lab might decide to combine orders if they see that the same person has more than one order in the same time period, but I don't think they should have to allow add-ons.

What a brilliant excuse for a monthly order! Only 7 1/2 days to go...

I second Embalming Fluid. Kumiho would also be great, or Arkham, though it's a bit more masculine, but very light and refreshing. Baobhan Sith is also a nice summery, light citrus floral.

I got Loviatar as an extra with my last order. I probably never would have ordered it on my own, but I'll try pretty much any scent at least once. It started out as one of the most fascinating BPAL scents yet, but I had the same misfortune as Effluvia and it quickly became more and more powdery, rapidly progressing to baby powder.

After the initial blast of eucalyptus, this mellowed into a nice bright foresty smell. The orange sweetens it a bit, but in the end the pine was just a bit too masuline for me to wear as a fragrance. However, if Blackrayne & Beth conspire to make a Jabberwocky soap, I'll definitely be getting some.

I'm going through a major episode of May/June gloom right now. We've had so much rain in recent weeks, thunderstorms again today. At least everything will be lush & green.

 

I know what Ted's talking about, though. Once it gets hot, rainy days are my happiest summer days.

Hooray! But poor Brian, you guys are gonna be slammed with orders.

I was so excited to get my wayward February order, because I was dying to try Villain. It is as delicious as I hoped, but unfortunately the musk did its usual dirty trick of turning to baby powder on me. So, now I have hopes for Whitechapel which is in a recent order, though if that doesn't work, I may ask Beth if I can commission her to make a Villain without the musk (maybe a Rascal or Scalawag).

I don't know how Beth does it, because this smells exactly like a dandelion. Pure summery backyard goodness, and as it dries down there seems to be a touch of something spicy. Very nice!

I can't remember, do you like carnation. I just got an imp of Masquerade and I like it very much. Normally patchouli does not work on me at all, but in this one it does.

I must have the complete opposite body chemistry of almost everyone on the forum, because civet actually smells smoky & sexy on me (whereas anything with even a smidgen of musk turns to a hideous baby powder smell). I don't smell any grape in this one, unlike Puck, which I liked until it overwhelmed me with grape. This is an almost incensey smokiness that reminds me a bit of Chanel No. 5. I like it very much and hope it doesn't turn to cat pee or baby powder (which is actually worse than cat pee in my opinion).