Muppetk

Going through an imp box that I haven't looked at for a while, and I've got a full decant ofsomething labeled:

"WMO AJ"

And my response is wtf??

A quick sniff smells lovely - woods and resin & maybe a dark musk? Definitely smells like bpal. help??

I have few to no skin problems with bpal oils, but you got me thinking. I haven't heard of anyone else getting acne from perfume... I wonder if it's actually an eczema. Eczema often looks like little fluid filled bumps, like many pimples, and is an allergic reaction. And allergic reactions to oils *are* pretty common.

Maybe it's time to test out scent lockets and/or putting oil in your hair where it won't cause visible bumps?

good luck.

Wow! This scent was tonight's surprise winner! I have no idea why I held onto it this long... I got it direct from the lab when it first came out (which I can now see is 3 1/2 years ago!), and tried it a few times. Each time the lotus note had been overly aggressive bright pink bubblegum dominating everything else. Tonight though I tried again -- and it's gorgeous! The lotus was aggressive and pushy for about 3-5 minutes and then settled down in to one small note among many, for a final result that reminds me of a more ambery & non-foody gingerbread poppet. It's GREAT. I love gourmand scents, but hate when they go outright foody and this has become absolutely LOVELY.

Very pretty. Starts out slightly sharp citrus but quickly dries down to something lovely & warm and fuzzy - an orange-y version of Litha 2006 on my skin. Quite lovely... though having 2 bottles of Litha 2006, I don't think I need to drive myself nuts looking for more of this. But It does make me want to layer something citrus-y with my Litha.

Oh! This is surprisingly nice! Starts as sugared grapefruit and dries down to a grapefruit-blossom blend. It doesn't last that long, but that's actually a bonus in one way -- I can put it on when I need a perfume hit before work without worrying about wafting a lot of scent about in front of patients. Most of my favorites are deep & heavy & I *can't* wear them while working. This is a nice one to have! Very different from my others.

And also, I totally want to try layering this over snake oil.

Wow. Dammit. This one completely shattered my expectations. I've never liked anything with coconut notes before, but this is beautifully blended... I think I need a bottle of it!

wet: citrus?? smooth creamy citrus. How?? where did citrus come into this?? does white amber have a citrus note???

drying: this takes a loooong while to dry, and it's creamy citrus with a very fresh coconut - not the overwhelming suntan oil I've gotten from other coconut blends - with just a smidge of oakmoss underlying making it beautifully fuzzy - and yet it's a *decidedly* femme oakmoss blend! I haven't run into too many of those!

dry: The amber comes out and rounds it out just a bit more. It's gorgeous.

Overall - it has great throw while wet, but much less so when dry. Methinks I need to try it again on my hair to see if that amps it, as this is beyond gorgeous and I'm huffing my wrist nonstop! Three thumbs up!!

Can't comment on the effect quite yet, the candle I lit for a friend undergoing surgery is still burning & the surgery in question is still going. But the ritual came together very nicely - with a really good energy of love & joy.

The scent itself though... I think I may be more inclined to use a different one next time. While wet it's okay -- sharp citrus & litsea (litsea smells like a furry lime lifesavers to me, and litsea EO tends to cause a feeling of warmth on skin, which this oil does) without being overly sweet. I can work with that. But dries down to that same jasmine-note I get from most of the voodoo blends. And jasmine just really goes bad on me. Really bad. And I can't get it off my fingertips. Feh.

Next time, I'll try using Radiance of Ra instead, if it seems appropriate, (and if I can find it when I need it.) because I do greatly prefer the scent of that.

Wet: dark cocoa with a wee pinch of something interesting underneath. This is decidedly my favorite cocoa bpal note yet -- it's the first one I'm actually excited about! (I don't usually do foodie)

Drying: still dark cocoa, with the leather starting to come out. Not really crazy about leather notes. This particular one smells, well, kind of band-aid like. *crosses finders* Actually, I wonder if one of the flowers is narcissus. That one usually turns straight to band-aid on me. Phooey!

Dry: dark cocoa melds seamlessly with smoky non-sweet incense! Ooh! Band-aid scent faded but not gone! *has fingers crossed that over time this will go away*

Dry after an hour or two: the bandaid scent seem to finally be gone, and I do love what's left. Still, it's an awful lot of time to wait. Will have to experiment more.

verdict: (Mixed.) Wow. I'm not a foody, but I suddenly must try all the other dark cocoa (not sweet sounding) notes in the catalog. I had NO IDEA that chocolate could be so good in perfume! (I generally shun things like Bliss or candy butcher because they make me hungry. This just makes me want to stuff my wrist up my nose.) Until the bandaid note fades out on me completely, it's doesn't *quite* work, but without the bandaid its incredible -- of course, by the time the bandaid is gone, some of the gorgeousness is too. grrf. Whodathunk bitter chocolate & patchouli... like boomslang without the sweetness. Sigh. This is a layering experiment to happen - need to try mixing it with other scents that are patch heavy to see if that drowns out the bandaid...

Oh! Too bad this one is disappearing. It's one of the more subtle dragon's blood blends -- I tend to find the BIG ROUND CHERRY-ROSE of most dragon's bloods a bit over the top, (used to love 'em, then my chemistry changed, sigh) but this is lovely! It's like a drier, smoother, less sweet, more elegant chimera - having subtle dragons blood & spiciness grounded and smoothed with woods and patch. Really quite nice. I won't kill myself trying to find a bottle of it, but will appreciate the imps I have.

Oh! How could I forget: Also, if you find you like Snake oil, even a bit, check out the snake pit scents. They're technically LEs, (they're part of Carnaval Diabolique) they've been up for a couple of years and should be up for at least a few more months. The snake pit scents are all variations on snake oil (my guess, because people discovered that snake oil layers beautifully with EVERYTHING.) And a frequent foodie favorite is Boomslang composed of "snake oil, cocoa, teak wood and rice milk."

Snake pits here, about 1/3 down the page: http://www.blackphoenixalchemylab.com/cdiabolique.html

The only suggestions I have of the near-foody variety that haven't been covered are: Dragon's Milk & The Antikythera Mechanism. (The former is a wonderful honeyed vanilla, the latter is like a deeper, darker Dorian, which I'm sure has already been recommended to you multiple times.) They're not quite technically foody, but they straddle the foody-nonfoody borderline.

I'd also suggest grabbing a few things that sound appealing that aren't foody. BPAL can really surprise the heck out of you. Be open to experience.

And usually, I'd say skip LEs initially, but the Halloween LEs are generally the foodiest of the year & they're up right now. See if you can acquire samples from forum members, but you probably will want to try some of them.

Ohhey, as to non-foody must tries that no one else has mentioned: The Lion (amber & dry spices), Shub-Niggurath (which to many people is foody, it was originally nicknamed spicy gingersnaps). (EDIT: aha! someone else mentioned them -- you! I think they're definite must tries.)

And here's a link of forums favorites: http://www.bpal.org/index.php?showtopic=51153 (Che the second list - it's all currently available scents. Only the first has LEs on it.)

in the imp & wet on me: citrus and sawdust. Not promising, but I know my favorite notes of this blend (amber, oud) are slow to come out.

drying: well, the verbena is starting come out a little more. And the pencil shavings are dying down a little. Marginal improvement.

drying longer: (this one seems to take a while to dry!) okay, so the saw dust has died down almost completely, and it's now a nice, sweet round citrus (with some base notes peeking through). IT reminds me a wee bit of an etrog (a citron), which I assume is the verbena sweetened by amber.

barely dry: (srsly, this takes forever!) This is an entirely golden fragrance. The citrus/verbena melds perfectly with the amber and there's a deep furry undertone that I think must be the oud. It almost strikes me as a deeper, heavier, darker version of Khrysee. Maybe it's the Winter Queen to Khrysee's Summer Queen? Actually.. no, not that dark. It'a more like the auburn autumn version of Khrysee's summer. Yes, I know that misses the concept of the Aelopile entirely, but dammit, that's what it says to me. *nods importantly!*

dries further: aw... I liked the golden stage. This is nice too though. The cedar comes back up, just a tad, making this a drier scent & the amber becomes more powdery. It's like the golden fusion is separating back out into its components. There's also a lightly burnt scent (I suspect the oud, it does that). The resemblance to khrysee isn't *entirely* gone, but it's more like a cousin than a sibling. It's got the magical mechanical thing going on now. It's definitely nice. But it doesn't have the rich glory of the barely dry phase. IT also feels like it has the potential to grow on me. Definitely worth trying again.

Verdict: puzzled. In no hurry to ditch the imp, but neither am I panting for a bottle, like I might've been if it stayed Khrysee's sibling.

Spices and musks. Very smooth & lovely. But except for the wet stage where it's light, the rose is almost invisible. (in-nose-ible?) Am starting to think of this as more of a layering scent. Have tried it two different times of the month, so it's not my skin chemistry monkeying with me. How odd. I've never had this un-rosey a rose scent before. The throw is certainly respectable about, I'm getting wafts while just sitting here at the computer... But again, no rose. Methinks it'd layer beautifully with a light & fresh rose. Maybe Eustephanos or Pothon Meter (sp?) or maybe Rose Red. *snicker*

I officially need to start layering this with numerous floral scents!

In the imp: mostly fresh (actually, almost unripe, the brown variety - the one with the rougher skin, not smooth, I think Bosc) pear, and that smooth amber-patch-musk that seems to be a bpal signature.

Wet: slightly less pear, slightly more musky-incense. Yummm.

Drying: pear continues to dwindle, fading into the rest of the lovely amber-patch-musk yumminess. I think I could live without the pear in this, so won't be horribly sad if it disappears. Oakmoss is starting to come out now. OH -- I think that distinct Bosc Pear scent is actually ordinary pear + oakmoss.

Dry: The scent is stabilized but surprisingly light. I'm thinking this might be a good one for my SO to try on as he's truly a first degree slatherer and it might overcome the faintness. Funny that this scent is supposed to be of a jester. It strikes me very much as a Green Man scent -- a great powerful scent of a deity, if only the Green Man were from the Pear tree rather than Oak.

in the imp: wood polish and slightly masculine cologne. Huh. Not quite what I was expecting.

wet on me: The sharper notes back off a bit but the cologne doesn't. Maybe this is "black vanilla" I'm getting?

drying: a bit sweeter, and the man's cologne is backing off a bit.

Dry: OH! I get it! This is like a darker, slightly more masculine version of Dorian. Huh. Not sure how I feel about this. I know that teak likes me - it's in a favorite of mine. But there's that pinch of "just a little too masculine" that I usually associate with rosewood but I think might be the oak note in this. OTOH, dorian layers beautifully with a number of things, so maybe this will be too. This is one for experimenting with. Ooh, or getting my swetie to try!

in bottle: fresh cut grass! slightly sharp green.

wet: GREEN! Not sharp, round, and a very familiar green... it's actually reminding me a bit of Tarot: Strength when fresh. Or maybe it's Ides of March. I certainly see where the other reviewer gets the comparison.

drying: ooh, the resins start to come out! I luff this. If it stays this nice, it becomes roller-bottle worthy!

dry: where'd it go? It's incredibly light, almost none of the basenotes are present... *scratches head* No wait, it's back. Ooo... and it's gone again. *looks at wrist funny*

It seems to be gorgeous, but fleeting. Which doesn't jive with the listed notes. I wonder if the oil separated... I think I need to swirl it & try again with a larger amount.

Second try, more oil: okay, the round resin-fig undertone comes out more strongly though its blended so well that I'm hard pressed to pick out the fig. Sadly, no tobacco on me. Still very pretty. I think I like this better than Ides. It's rounder. It's also fairly gender neutral & I could see this working well on a light hearted guy as well. *snicker* Not my SO the scorpio though.

In the imp: my favorite dessert wine! Bartenura Moscato! (NTS: Do not drink the imp!)

wet on me: Bartenura + a pinch of rose.

drying: ROSE SINGING BAWDY SONGS, FLUSHED NOSE, WITH THE BOTTLE OF WINE IN ITS HAND! WHEEE!

[Author's note: omg, this has throw!]

almost dry: Rose is in the corner, aggressively making out in the corner with Lily of the Valley, and clearly wears the pants in this hookup. The bottle of wine is discarded at their feet.

[Author's note: where the heck is my ambergris??? wannit!]

just dry: Orris quietly snuck in to take blackmail photos of Rose & Lily. [The scent is getting a little more rounded, but not what I was expecting, very FLORAL with a little powdery undertone.]

dry longer: Rose has calmed down a bit and has decided to engage in a more equal partnership with Lily. Occassionally ambergris wanders over, gasps with shock at the floral goings on, cries "EEEK" and runs back out of the room.

Finale: Rose & Lily are going to have a hell of a hangover. They're also not entirely sure what happened; fortunately, Orris has photos.

(Nice enough I guess, but not what I was hoping for at ALL. Swap pile!)

OHHAI THAR LAVENDAR! I SEE WHUT YOU DID THAR! YOU HAD A BERGAMOT BUT YOU EATED IT.

SRSLY.

imp: fresh AND dark with a slight undertone of burning!

wet on me: same as in the imp. I *think* I like it. There's something in it I can't quite decide on yet...

drying: and there goes the fresh! IT's definitely getting deeper, rounder, and I'm definitely getting the orchid and currant to stand out a bit over the more general bpal-basenote-fuzziness. (yes, this smells like and orchid and bunch of currants are sitting on top of my bpal imp box.) This is nice. Well. No. I like it. But "nice" is definitely the wrong word. The burning note is gone, but I'm not sure that's a good thing...

Dry: And it's all melded together and smells like the inside of my imp box. Y'know, the one with about 100 imps in it. I'm amused.

In imp: huh... almost slightly masculine cologne. I'm thinking that has to be the soft mosses. Anything moss always smells like really GOOD aftershave to me.

Wet on me: more gender neutral. Light. Slightly mossy, very slightly sweet & cherry. Very smooth, well blended. Cherry notes have a tendency to make me go EEEEW, CANDY, but this gentle cherry blossom is distinctly not doing that.

dry: not too different from wet. This is a very nice, gender neutral scent. It's light in feel, but not in scent. I'm sniffing it easily, not going "huh, where'd it go??" I'm even getting some wafts from my arm while typing, so the throw exists. But it feels light. It's not the more usual bpal club-em-over-the-head-and-drag-em-into-the-bedroom scent. I'm not sure that's a plus in my book but it's quite nice.

VII:

 

Previous owner said it was like "spicy grape soda" and I think that's an apt description. I've never smelled Penitence straight, but this indeed smells very like grape, that sort of grapey-wine note that many BPAL blends have. It burns off quickly but it is an awesome initial blast of FROOT.

VII: Did someone say FROOT?

in the imp: HOLY GOD IT'S GRAPE DIMETAPP!

wet on me: GRAPE DIMETAPP, slight incense undertone. I'm inclined to say it's a dustier incense than Penitence, but then again, the OMG!GRAPE may have blasted my ability to detect sweet.

drying: the incense comes up a wee bit more... still mostly DEAR GOD IN HEAVEN, THE GRAPE! IT'S COMING STRAIGHT FOR US!

freshly dry: welllll, the penitence comes out slightly more, though I swear it seems awfully dry and even maybe a touch smoky as opposed to its usual sweet self, and the grape is tamer, it's true. It's still way too reminiscent of dimetapp on me for me to be able to enjoy it as a perfume. I give this 10 more minutes before I scrub and seek it a new home.

10 min later: not only does it still smell the same, but it makes the other lovely things I've tried on smell WRONG. WAAAAAH! Paging the prior reviewer, STAT.

CIX: Snake Oil base, on top of which I got honey or skin musk while wet, with something delicately leafy and green in the drydown stages to finish at a pleasant plummy fruitiness that hasn't gone bad on my skin. Hooray for fruit that doesn't go overripe! It reminds me of one of the Odes - Makhanitis.

CIX:

Definitely not honey. My skin amps honey like nobody's business. Funny, on me, I barely get any snake oil from this one, but a lovely, light plum w/foliage scent with an underlying something sweet, I think a skin musk. (The note reminds me of something I've smelled in La Petite Mort, and in there it's described as "warm damp skin".) I wonder if the oil separated slightly before being decanted in the circle since I've got almost no snake scent at all (it only barely starts to emerge 20 minutes in) & the oil color itself is slightly lighter than my other SO chaoses. I may actually layer this one with some regular snake oil, because it is quite lovely. It's also far lighter and more delicate a scent than I would ever have presumed to expect from Snake Oil.

And oh yeah, definitely a keeper.

CLIII Ginger Snake! Definitely got the spicy playfulness of ginger, with what I think is a creamy copal dry down, mixed of course with the spicy smoothness of Snake Oil. What a keeper!

CLIII:

This one is Very Snakey. Like 90-95% snake oil. I think aedes was right on with the notes. I think it has some ginger, but I can only say for sure because of the faint burning the back of my nose feel to it, though no lemonyness though so perhaps it's black pepper? And there's something sweet/smooth incense in there, definitely not frankincese... copal is a believable description! But it's hard for me to tell over all the snake.This one is definitely yummy, but not terribly different from SO itself. Though I could be confused, my "regular wearing" SO is about 4 years old, so I think my sense of SO is warped. I'll try it other times of the month to see if it brings out the other notes more.

wet: OMGFOODY buttery caramel with rose and something fresh in a headlock.

dry: thankfully, the caramel has backed the heck off. Now I can smell the rose which has merged nicely with the red berries, the "something fresh" appears to be cognac (and it's very fresh, not boozy at all, I managed to identify it only because I've smelled cognac absolute before) with a bit of fuzzyness & muskiness underneath which could be the pepper combined with the benzoin. This is nice. I don't know that I need any more of it, but I'm certainly not going to fling away my partial imp in disgust.

Then again, I'm not sure that I have a FRESH and sprightly (as opposed to fresh cut) rose scent... it does make a nice change. I need to test this again. I might need more after all... actually there are very few "fresh" scents that I like at all. Interesting.

dry a little longer: the notes are melding together a bit more and I think I'm liking this one more. Nice.

Verdict: undecided, needs more testing. But leaning towards "acquire a half bottle or so."

Having just fallen IN LURVE (as in omg I want its babies in LOVE) with Black Lily, I decided I had to try out the other new lilies...

wet: a plant that grows buttery spice cookies?!?? God. This reminds me of Pumpkin Queen or the convergence scent that everyone was nuts about... I think Storyville?

drying: oh thank GOD the buttery notes disappear, and most of the foody ones. Now it's more of a lily-Sugar Cookie blend.

dry: what a change! It now reminds me a bit of mum moon is you replaced the chrysanthemum with lily. It's lily with a dark, smooth subtly spicy undertone. All of that scary foodiness from the begining is gone. It's not as dark & lovely as Mum Moon, but it's quite nice on its own & does seem like it'd make a hell of a layering scent. Then again, I need to try this again. I was intimidated by the OMG BUTTERY FOODY from the vial and only tested a wee tiny amount.

Two thumbs up! And I think 4 out of 5 stars.

This is officially a winner. To my nose, it's a Lily floating in a glass of red wine to me. (more wine than lily) It strikes me as a kickass layering scent and I want to try it with EVERYTHING. A little lighter than I'd like though. OTOH, will need to retest for strength of scent when I wasn't silly enough to put something obscenely strong (SN Frankincense, quite aged) on the other wrist.

4-5 hours later I cannot stop huffing my wrist. The long delayed drydown has a beautiful, slightly sweet amber with a pale hint of the wine from before. Still love this. Still need a barrel. (Still thrilled -- it's been a while since I've tried a new GC scent that I loved!)