Myrrha

Oh dear, I had such hopes for this one.

Wet: a blast of red musk. It is very strong and there is a cherry smell with it. The cherry plus red musk is not a nice smell at all and reminds me of public bathroom deodorizer. Almond and anise come out as secondary notes. I love almond but it is really overwhelmed by the other notes.

As it dries: The red musk lightens to tolerable levels, the almond disappears and for about 20 minutes it smells like fruity red musk with a twist of anise which is interesting but not something I want to smell like.

Dry: Straight fruity red musk. The fruit note is no longer recognizable as cherry.

I am starting to think I should just avoid the strong red musk scents. It is probably much nicer on someone with a different skin chemistry.

Wet: At first there is a bit of green along with the coconut and fig

As it dries: The green gets lighter. It is mostly gentle almond, coconut and fig.

Dry: Sweet but not cloying. I like it very much but it seems very light on me. I can only smell it when I put my nose up against my wrist and I put two dips of the wand on my wrists. I may try again with another imp.

I tried this again after falling in love with Vice to see if I like it better than the first time I tried it.

Wet: The chocolate note is sweeter than the chocolate in Vice. I like it.

As it dries: The vanilla, a soft creamy note, and the Snake Oil (sort of like Shalimar) come out and waft around.

Dry: Unfortunately the rich chocolate note fades quite a bit and I'm left with something like Shalimar but sweeter and rounder. It smells OK, but not really wonderful. Other reviews have said there is patchouli in this and usually I don't like patchouli at all but here it must be blended in really well because I don't notice it. Is there tobacco in this? It reminds me of those chocolate cigarettes.

Very little throw, medium lasting power. This is one that I can imagine other people might think it smells like baby powder.

oops! duplicate post

Me:

Not anywhere near as creative and interesting a life as the other posters on this thread. I'm an Electrical Engineering gal which in practical terms means I'm a cubicle creature who spends the majority of her days communing with the work computers over the placement of millions of multicolored rectangles in 3D. While my body lives inside a small, padded box my brain often floats free in escapist fantasies. I'm a big sci-fi/fantasy geek and also like some historical fiction, and am a HUGE bookworm. My approach to music is the same. I like to listen to music that takes me to a place and time I've never been to, so I listen to a lot of international music and medieval/renaissance music. Well, except for days when I want to listen noisy noise and then I listen to the Pixies and Soundgarden and TV on the Radio.

 

I'm an introverted person and don't talk much to people I don't know, but once I get to know someone, I will talk their ear off if I'm in the mood. I have a very dark, cynical, sometimes morbid sense of humor that I can never turn off, no matter how inappropriate. This is inconvenient. In spite of the fact that I'm introverted, I tend to dress colorfully. I'll wear retro 60s, 70s styles, or bright colors, or frou-frou confections of laciness, embroidery, and poof.

Maybe Florence or Venice? Both of these really smelled like scents from another time to me and might be nice to smell while you listen to renaissance music. Rosalind or others in the Ilyria section might appeal to you. Dragon's Reverie or Dragon's Heart might be nice for your cubicle. If you put a few drops on a paper towel and put that near your computer you will be able to smell it but it won't scent up the whole place.

The part about colorful 60's and 70's clothing, bright colors and frou-frou is paradoxical, maybe Queen Alice? It is a bit quirky but still somehow serious.

for me: I'm a literature lover, was a teacher, but now I'm a stay at home mom -- mainly because I dont know how to balance things. Its all or nothing for me. When I taught I was damn good at it, but not good at anything else. I tend to do alot of creative things - writing, painting, crochet, sewing, and I dabble in the perfume arts. I'm scared of my closet, although that seems to be better now that I have a baby to occupy my overactive mind -- maybe I cant be bothered with that stuff now that I worry for her! I love computer games, like the fantasy MMO's and the Sim games. I'm a blue jeans girl, although I like to dress it up with jackets and boots. I worry that I dont stand out enough, too average - brown hair, brown eyes, and I tend to avoid bright colors and flashness in general. Wow, seeing yourself summed up like that is hard!

That part about not standing out enough... if you could find something that is very distinctive but also quite wearable, something not attention-getting in the snake oil sense but that people will remember, and then wear it frequently you might feel more unique. Blue jeans dressed up with jackets and boots... so many would go with that. Have you tried Haramise? It seemed really distinctive and elegant to me but chestnut isn't for everybody.

I'm still deciding on what my very first six imps should be so unfortunately I'm not very helpful with recommendations at the moment...I want to see what you all think and help me out if that's okay.

 

I major in illustration. I like working in clay, pastels and colored pencils (mm, pencil wood!) coffee and tea have been my companions for most nights and a part of my artwork too.

My hobbies are kayaking, hiking, traveling overseas, cooking, reading and collecting old books, dumpster diving, making figurines

I can be very introverted unless I'm with my friends then I just act goofy and outgoing.

I like relaxing, I hate conflict but I'm capable of defending myself if I really have to.

I'm easily bored and my taste in interests like music changes a lot (i.e. from glam rock to ska).

I usually wear dark or muted colors. I don't like attracting attention plus it feels cozier.

I'm a picky eater and drinker (most alcohol does not love me)...I feel weird talking about myself. Um, I think that's about it.

 

Any recommendations will be much loved <3

Have you tried Chimera? The part about dark colors feeling cozier made me think of it. It is a comforting cinnamon scent made into a perfume with myrrh. Others that might seem cozy and comfortable are Dragon's Heart (although on some people the dragon's blood can be a bit attention-getting), Yvaine (comforting for those who find lavender relaxing and very much an introverted scent). The Apothecary might go with your outdoor hobbies and it would smell nice without attracting a lot of attention. I think there is tea in it. The part about your artwork and illustration made me think of The Tree of Knowedge of Good and Evil. It is complex and sort of subdued and bright at the same time. It is fruity but the fruits aren't really recognizable. Something creative about it. You will need a bunch of scents anyway since you get bored easily.

For me:

I'm pretty introverted. I do warm up a bit with friends but often would rather be alone. I like to talk and think about serious things, like the next world, spiritual life, finding meaning in life, but I'm not intellectual or academic. I try to lighten up a bit and I do appreciate humor in other people. I draw and paint but am not a professional artist. I love tarot, renaissance illuminations, calligraphy, angels, indoor plants. I listen almost exclusively to opera and metal, especially the heavy, dark slow styles. I am very polite (a great defense) and try to be kind to other people but it is difficult sometimes. Beauty is important to me, both in the abstract sense and in trying to look my best. I often feel unsuccessful at this.

I have chin length curly dark brown/black hair and brown eyes, wear mostly black, grey, blue, dark magenta, jeans almost all the time with blouses or nice t-shirts and jewelry.

Any recommendations appreciated.

Wet: a light, understated lilac scent with a bit of purple fruit. The fruit does not get fake and plastic on me.

As it dries: the leather comes out and the purple fruit becomes a background note.

Dry: Something about this tickles my nose. It is a nice, light, feminine scent but with a bpal twist. The leather keeps it from smelling very young or like a typical fruity-floral. There are so many really special and outstanding BPAL scents to choose from, I feel like this is nice but not as wonderful as many other scents in the GC. If you are specifically looking for a fruity floral but want something more grown up and elegant this might be one to try.

Wet: at first it is very sour on me, I suspect the pineapple. The seltzer is really there and really fizzy. How strange! The sourness goes away after a few minutes.

As it dries: I think the “hazy amber” in this blend is the same or quite similar to the “grey amber” used in Bat. It is a bit sweetish and gives a depth to the scent.

Dry: Now it is strongly floral with fruit. The amber really is a bit hazy and adds interest. Basically it is a warm, golden fruity floral.

The fruits and amber are adding up to something a bit too warm and sticky smelling for me to enjoy.

Rats! I was really hoping to love this one.

I like rose scents and can never understand why others don't. This is why. The rose note is deep and rich, which is good, but it also smells somehow harsh. It tickled my nose. I guess it is just too strong.

Frankincense is not the best note on me. Here it just adds more fume-y dryness to the already harsh rose.

This one did not morph much once the frankincense came out. I washed it off after an hour.

I have to slather, because (even with lotion applied before oils) my skin eats up BPAL. I decant oils I use into imps that I refill from the bottles, then just glop on a few drops from the imp onto one wrist, smoosh my wrists together, and then swipe them over my neck and chest to distribute the oil. Probably not the "right" way to do it, and I use A LOT, but these oils really do disappear on me quickly.

 

I have always been wary of wand caps, swizzle sticks or toothpicks, and this seems like a good time to ask what others think because it does seem like an easier way to apply the oils than what I do! I haven't been using anything like that because, don't you transfer oils, salts, bacteria and so on from your skin into the oil if you dip a wand cap into the oil after you've used it? I have wondered this because I know in medicine, a sterile instrument is immediately non-sterile the second it touches anything unsterilized. This made me wonder about wand caps and such, and keeping oils really "clean", so I wondered what others think (I even hope I am wrong, since it does seem like a practical way to use the oils).

If I'm applying right from a bottle I use a toothpick or decapitated q-tip. I only dip the q-tip into the oil once, and then swipe it onto my wrists or neck. If I dip the toothpick deeply into the oil there will be enough on my wrist that I can transfer some to behind my ears, cleavage, underarms wherever. Plastic q-tips are hollow and some oil gets in there like a little pipette and you can blow it out into a puddle on your wrist and then put it anywhere.

The oils I use most often I decant into imp vials and just use the imp-wand as this is easier and the bottle is less likely to be spilled.

I am a great believer in inverting the bottles and even imps a few times and taking two minutes or so to gently roll them every which way. Before I started rolling the imps I noticed a couple that smelled one way at the start of the imp and a completely different way toward the end (Black Lily was one and another was House of Night). I also suspect that a certain amount of the changes people ascribe to aging are actually from the oils not getting mixed properly each time they are used so some components settle to the bottom and aren't used up as quickly.

I do notice a difference with some back up partials I've gotten in the swaps where the oil doesn't smell as fresh as my own bottle even when they are the same age. They just smell a bit more blended and the fragrance looses definition. I thought this was people applying right from the bottle and introducing skin oil into the bottle but i could be wrong.

Thank you to ChaosKitty for the tester.

On me wet this had a delicate citrus-y orange blossom scent combined with what I think is the tea. Usually I like orange blossom but this one has more of an orange scent and combined with the tea it does something strange. Or is it the karakarounde which according to other reviews is a flower of some kind? By strange I mean... there is a note here that is unusual and sort of seductive and repellant at the same time.

Once it dried the rich wood note and the opoponax (I think I recognize this note from Death of the Grave Digger) come out. I like the light incense feel of the scent.

The strange note mellows into something a bit like nag champa and this becomes a light incense/floral scent. I like it. There is something very sensual about this scent but it is still light. It is gently, persistently seductive and nothing at all like a mainstream perfume.

At first I can smell the slightly violet-like orris along with the plum note. The plum is phony at first but plastic note goes away.

Then the grapefruit becomes the standout note. At this point I think it is too much citrus. Maybe I'll save the imp for the hot days in summer.

After about a half hour everything blends together and it becomes a wonderful sweet-tart, slightly powdery-in-a-good-way, elegant scent.

After wearing it most of the evening I thought it was too sweet and sticky. The plum in Megaera dries down to something similar to the pomegranate in Fruit of Paradise but Megaera is a sweeter and somehow more syrupy or sticky scent. I prefer the fresh tartness of Fruit of Paradise.

Honey-sweet but not the smooth sweetness of Les Bijoux. It might be the labdanum or slightly sharp ylang ylang that gives this sweetness a more interesting slightly acrid quality.

It is very strong and the first few minutes it was on it reminded me of bathroom deodorizer.

Once it is dry I like it much better. I actually like the harsher sweetness. It is a very sexy scent but more casual and less obviously sexy than, for example, Sed non Satiata. I'm not sure I would want something this sweet often enough to buy a bottle but I do like it.

EDIT: I've been wearing this every day since I tried it. It is amazing. I need at least a couple more imps of this, possibly a bottle.

I love the lightness and ethereal whiteness of this scent. However there is a sharp note from the "white resins." The resin scent is a little bit like very faint turpentine with a slight citrus. I wonder if it is elemi?

Edite to add: Trying it again on a very warm summer evening, I notice that the floral notes come out much more strongly after about a half hour. It is a very interesting transluscent white floral but the sharp resins keep it from having anything cloying about it. I can't stop sniffing my wrist. Love this one!

I tried this one on a weekend morning before showering because I suspect I will not want to wear it all day. The imp was fresh from the lab.

Wet: All I can smell is vetiver. I am not a vetiver fan and it is hard to make out any other notes.

As it dries: OK, it is vetiver and fig.

Dry: Something lovely and very sweet comes out. Sweetened vetiver and fig (might also be smelling the tamarind because there are lighter somewhat tart whiffs too). I can smell the frankincense now but only because I'm looking at the notes. I don't get the "dirty feet" smell that is usually there in blends with patchouli.

20 minutes or so: It lightens up a bit. I actually like this more than I thought I would. Once fully dry it doesn't seem so masculine. It is very earthy though. It makes me feel very grounded and calm. I don't get any sinister overtones from the scent, but that fits with how I view the Nephilhim. I'm going to hang on to my imp because it just might end up being something I wear in the fall.

On me this is a very balanced scent at first, I can smell the rose, the coconut and the orris. After about an hour the rose fades into the background and it is a lovely coconut orris with a tint of rose. Very beautiful.

It is a very smooth, soft scent. There are no rough or sharp notes at all. Lately I've been enjoying florals that are a bit more crisp so I'm not sure about this one. I feel I might get bored with roses and pearls, with the niceness and sweetness of this blend and start looking around for a snake or a toad.

It made me feel relaxed and beautiful, maybe this is the "vacation" feeling scent I've been looking for. I will try it again before deciding on a bottle.

Edit: On trying it again the rose notes did not seem to be working so well on my skin.

I received a frimp of the Ghost and scent-wise it is my absolute favorite. LOVE. However, like a ghost it disappears quickly and completely. Is there anything similar in the catalog? I do have some Witching Time of Night which seems a bit similar, and had a decant of Bat last summer, am planning to get some more soon. Is there anything else I should know about?

thanks!!

The first time I tried this scent I thought it was gorgeous dark roses and beeswax. Now, trying it again, it seems lighter and sweeter.

As it dries it goes through a phase where it feels flat on my skin. Either the frankincense or the beeswax is not working quite right. Then it dries down to a sweet and slightly powdery resin scent with rose in the background.

It is a a little similar to Lilith except that Lilith is quite a bit darker. Parlement of Foules is also similar. The beeswax and frankincense make St. Foutin warmer than either of the others, a slightly golden fuzz of powdery resin with roses and a little wine. I like this one.

Wet: At first it is just an OK smelling, feminine scent with a bit of an aquatic feel, nothing special.

As it dries: About four minutes later I am surrounded with the most incredible, delicious scent, the combination of cherry blossoms and delicate fruit with tea.

Kaki is a Japanese persimmon, Mikan is the Japanese name for those tiny Satsuma mandarine oranges and Yuzu is an aromatic citrus.

The scent doesn't smell like citrus to me at all, the vague fruit scent combining with the cherry blossom isn't sharp or orange-y. The tea is noticeable for a moment but then it combines with the other notes.

Dry: It is a sweet and feminine scent, delicate but not high-pitched. The combination of fruit, flowers and tea is very wearable. I think even people who don't like floral scents might like this one. The scent is just magical but very light. It only lasts about an hour on me.

It doesn't last long but this might be nice in the summer when I want something very light for frequent re-application.

This is one of the most beautiful BPAL scents I've tried. Many thanks to Edensixthday for the frimp.

I've gone through a couple of the little squirts that were around before this spray was released. This is the most wonderful scent. It is the kind of rose that is in the Caswell-Massey rosewater and glycerine soap: a light, almost watery tea rose. Along with that there is some light powdery scent, probably the orris? Or violet? It is delicate, cool and PERFECT. I am sad to hear from previous reviewer that the released version is different. Maybe they just made the released version a little stronger?

Wet: starts off with quite a bit of musk, sandalwood and rose. It is a perfumy, dry scent.

As it dries: the rose note blends with the musk/sandalwood. At this point I can’t really smell any distinct flowers, I guess it is rose and jasmine together blended with the other notes.

Dry: It has calmed down a little bit and it is just a blend of the rose/floral scent and the musk/sadalwood. This faded quite a bit after two hours into a sort of sandalwood/floral scent. It actually smells like a much more natural, toned down and less overtly floral version of Joy. Not as exuberant as Joy but someone looking for a reserved, dry, understated rose scent might like this one.

Wet: Yum! I can smell the chestnut, a little bit foody but in a woody way. It smells sweet but refined and elegant at the same time.

As it dries: It is a clear, light scent but with the round note of chestnut. It doesn’t have the thick rich buttery-ness of Judith and Holofernes. It feels comforting but at the same time elegant.

Dry: (about 20 minutes) It is more perfumy now as the florals have come out. I think I can recognize the osmanthus and magnolia but the scent doesn’t scream “floral” at all. The chestnut doesn’t stand out as much but blends with everything else. There is a delicate powdery note, maybe the rice powder? It smells like a terrifically elegant expensive perfume- not from a department store but from some small boutique in Japan where they sell high-fashion clothing in neutral colors. The throw is light, definitely a scent that invites someone to come closer.

Wet: A high, thin floral scent. It is like the smell of the glass flowers sold in the fairy market, precious and fragile.

As it dries: Nag champa floats in, but it is very light. With it is a very faint scent of sweet pastry like a fairground treat. Now it is almost like two perfumes coming from two separate places, like scent in stereo. Sometimes I get the flowers and sometimes the sweeter part of the scent. It is like they float in on separate breezes.

Dry: Mostly a delicate floral scent on me, with elusive wisps of incense/pastry. Lovely but too ethereal for me to wear.

I’m impressed once again with Beth’s artistry. How does she get that “stereo” effect? It is interesting to compare this scent to Midnight on the Midway which also has nag champa and a note of fairground pastry. Fairy Market is much more ethereal, delicate, and smells like a longing for something unobtainable. Midnight on the Midway is much sweeter and fuller and the nag champa is more recognizable as a familiar incense.

Wet it smells like a very mixed floral. There is orchid in here but it doesn’t stand out and let me experience it in detail like it does in Regan. There is gardenia or tiare,but it is delicate. This is a higher, thinner scent than Shadow Witch Orchid. It is very warm which can make a scent seem overly-assertive to me. I love the banana or pineapple note here making a creamy backdrop for the florals.

As it dries: A green note and the moonflower come out and it is no longer a warm scent but balanced. The floral notes calm down a bit a bit. I can't smell any ginger or rose.

Dry: The moonflower is even stronger now and balances with the other florals. It doesn‘t seem as explicitly tropical at this stage, just a feminine summer evening floral with creamy fruit background keeping it from being too dry. I like it very much but will see how often I end up wearing this in the summer as it seems like a more dressy scent.

After an hour moonflower is the dominant note still sweetened with the fruit. After 1 1/2 hours it was pretty faded and I applied a tiny dab over what was left. The result is perfect.

Wet -- at first it was all lotus, sweet and floral but different, not a boring floral. Then the rose came out. For a while it was just rose. I think I can smell the white roses that are in Parlement of Foules and also some darker pink roses. Then the lotus came back.

Dry -- The roses and lotuses blend and balance but at times it seems more one than the other. I really love this. Lotus is a moist almost aquatic floral so the effect is almost juicy. The scent is sweet and full, but it isn't a sugary sweetness. The lotus is an unusual note so it doesn't smell generic or like just another floral. I think the simpler scents can have a big effect on your mood because there aren't many competing notes so each one makes an impression. This scent makes me feel optimistic, confident, beautiful. Medium throw.

Later -- it finishes as mostly lotus on me. I tend to re-apply after about four hours because of my bpal eating skin. This is a new favorite.