oakmoss

Try Marquise de Merteuil.

Opulent galbanum and amber, glistening peach, and a bouquet of French florals, with a merciless undertone of jonquil and heartless vetiver.

It's delicious new and ages beautifully.

Alas, my much beloved notes of currant and carnation are lost in sharp jasmine and eleni, resulting in a "perfumey" scent that is oddly dusty and dry, like an old bottle of perfume found at the back of the bathroom cabinet. I envy those people who got the sweetness and purpleness -- curse my chemistry! This one is going to swaps. :-(

Like Lycanthrope, I tend to amp jasmine, and not in a good way. But this blend stayed fruity and sweet on me, a very refreshing summertime scent. The words that came to mind were "tutti-frutti". Epibulia is a floaty soft fruit dream, with minimal throw and a brief life on the skin (my skin, anyway).

Yew Trees and Yggdrasil might have what you are looking for. Looking over my notes, I'd suggest you use Yew Trees delicately to get that quality of woods without PINEPINEPINE blast.

This blend is a morphing maniac for the first half hour or so. In the bottle, I thought it was going to be the orange blossom scent of my dreams -- almost a single note scent. The orange blossoms of the groves of my teenage years, ahhhhhh! And then it hit my skin. And turned into gloopy soapy something or other than I could not really identify. Another fifteen minutes or so, and the gloop went away, leaving a soft powdery scent that was like burning a stick of incense next to an open window with the warm orange blossom wind blowing in at night. I'm thinking this might age very well, that slightly sharp orange blossom note blurring even more into the resins and smoke.

Love this. Love love love this. Love it.

Slightly lemony, drying to soft sugary lemony floral, with an undertone of vanilla. I don't find it as candy-sweet as some of the other reviewers do. I was expecting lemon blossom, not lemon, so the citrus note was a surprise. A light and lovely scent for summer.

Try looking in the Wanderlust section for scents that are evocative of warmer climates, and just surrender to the hot spicy goodness. For example:

Baghdad: Amber, saffron and bergamot with mandarin, nutmeg, Bulgar rose, musk and sandalwood.

Bengal: A sultry and unruly blend that emulates the ambient scent of the markets in ancient Bengal: skin musk with honey, peppers, clove, cinnamon bark and ginger.

Morocco: The intoxicating perfume of exotic incenses wafting on warm desert breezes. Arabian spices wind through a blend of warm musk, carnation, red sandalwood and cassia.

Sri Lanka: Indian sandalwood and cedar, and the dry incense smoke of olibanum, gum mastic, patchouli and myrrh.

I've found that if you stick with the "dry" spicy or resiny scents, they work in hot weather too. It's when they get buttery or foody that they seem overpowering to me.

The scents that have brought on the most universally positive responses when I am attempting to enable people are Alice, Penitence, and Prague.

Chaste Moon 2005 is a favorite of mine, and while I know Beth warned us that 2010 was not like 2005, since the descriptions were identical, I had some hopes (and kind of wonder, if they aren't the same perfume, why give them the same name, same description, same listed notes?). ANYway... my first impression in the bottle was... nothing. Literally nothing. It could have been a bottle of water. But I believe in the BPAL magic, so I dabbed a bit of the water on my wrist to see what might happen. After about five minutes, a very faint lily of the valley scent began to emerge, very quiet, very small, like holding ONE sprig of lily of the valley to my nose, with maybe a blade or two of grass to give it some greenness. It's nothing like Chaste Moon 2005, but it's pleasant. It will be interesting to see how it ages, if any creaminess comes out. Some other milk/cream blends do amp the dairy as they age, so we shall see.

This was just rose rose rose on me, a veritable rose parade. I like BPAL's rose perfumes, and this is a nice one, but I was hoping the coconut and orris would add something new -- alas, not on me. I may get a bottle just for the name alone and hope that age brings out the other notes, as orris is one of my faves.

Maybe Prague? I think of it as sheer rather than sparkling, but it's a really lovely, light floral.

Yup, definitely try Prague. It doesn't get much mention around here, but everyone I know who has sniffed it falls in love. It has a very light sweet aquatic undertone with fresh flowers. Not perfumey at all, just delicate and springlike.

You might also like Burial (and it's GC, so you can get an imp). To me, it is very evocative of a damp redwood forest.

Try Pink Snowballs (quickly, before they melt away!). Very similar in essence to Antique Lace.

Oh, pretty pretty pretty! I tend to like most of BPAL's rose blends, so I'm always happy to try a new one. As others have said here, this is Snow White's identical cousin (they laugh alike, they walk alike....) but she has a softer accent and fades into the corners a bit more. Gentle rose sweetened with vanilla and the faintest hint of the snow note, not edging into the mint zone. If you like Black Opal, Mouse's Long and Sad Tale, and Antique Lace, you will probably like this as well. I am delighted, as almost every other blend I've tried this year has not worked on me -- either too sharp or too musky or just too weird, though I enjoy sniffing things even though I can't actually wear them. This blend is lovely, and I look forward to giving it lots of wrist time in the coming months.

I just did a sniff comparison with most of the bottles listed here, and I'd say the closest scents are Mouse's Long & Sad Tale and Black Opal. Which is nice since they are both GC and you can get imps for them to sustain you until Antique Lace comes back.

Typically, Beth will post an announcement in the Announcements subforum. And in her announcement, she'll include a link to any forum-only special scents there are. This time, the announcement was, "Holy moly! It's an update!" and the link to forum-only scents is the same, I think, as always? (Not too sure about that as I haven't been around too long in the BPAL world.)

 

Forum-only link: http://www.blackphoenixalchemylab.com/forumonly.html

 

I joined a year ago and that link has been the same for the Forum Only scents. I think there's been around 4 or so!

I have 11 listed in my database, but there may have been more I didn't record because I knew I wouldn't be ordering. The ones I have listed are:

Agape

Cake Smash

E Pluribus Unum

F5

Gladdener of All Hearts

Irrelevant and Disturbing Surreal Crawdad Dream

Lilith Victoria

Lilith vs. the Giant Crab

Lilith and the Jarocho

Mlle. Lilith, Fortune Teller

Tabella

Trying this without reading the notes, I detect a berry-rich fruitiness, with melon wafting underneath. Prickling through here and there is what my mind's nose interprets as pink pepper -- reading the notes now, I have no idea what that might be. Two hours after applying, all fruit is gone, leaving a faint trace of musk. Nice, but I don't love it. Something to play with now and then in imp form.

Musk is my enemy, but I wanted to try this anyway, for the name, for the other notes, and in the spirit of eternal hope. Alas, as with most scents that include musk, this one goes toward generic perfume on me, though still pleasant. I was reminded of both Wings of Azrael and Wilhelmina Murray, which I like better, but all three have that sense of melancholy memory... a scent that is almost fading already when you put it on, fading into a memory of dried flowers. If you can wear musk, this is probably a good bet for you, as the other notes do fight to survive and I'll bet they are lovely on someone without my chemistry!

I love the idea of aquatics, but they rarely work on me -- they go sharp or soapy all too often. Exceptions are Selkie, Sturgeon Moon, and The City in the Sea. Sea of Glass was one of my biggest disappointments, and I still buy an imp every now and then in hope I will have magically become able to wear it.

Since my mind's nose is always so easily influenced, I like to try on new scents without going back to read what the notes are first. Last night I applied some of Alice's Evidence at bedtime and then spent the next half hour being distracted from my book trying to figure out what the heck I was huffing on my wrist. It was so familiar, but elusive.... autumnal, spicy, apple-y... dreamily thinking about Alice's evidence, the stolen tarts... but this scent isn't buttery (thank goodness!) or nutty, as so many baked goods scents are. Finally it hit me -- this blend is exactly like mulled apple cider. Not apple juice and not boozy or thick like rum, but tart, spiced, warm, rich but not gooey. It's the perfect autumn scent, the one I've always hoped some of the Halloween blends would be, but weren't quite. My verdict: I need a bottle of this!

Loved the idea of this, and really looked forward to it, so I bought a bottle right away. In the bottle, lovely rich spicy resin, with a bit of rose. On my skin, again, that delicious resiny goodness -- it reminded me of my beloved Penitence with a dash of rose.

For about 30 seconds.

Then the musk or something began a chemistry experiment on my wrist that turned into awful rotten stems that have sat in a vase for weeks. Really unpleasant, all traces of spice gone, just dankness and sourness. It's off to swaps (I wrote "swamps" which is about right) for this one, alas.

HeavenlyRabbit said above that this is violet for people who don't do violet. If you DO do violet, like I do, this may be a bit of a disappointment. I'm getting a very faint whiff of violet somewhere in the background, but it's clearly been bound and gagged by the other notes and is barely able to squeak out its violetosity. The brusque quality is there, though -- this is a rough around the edges, dusty-musty scent, rather brown and dry. It's not UNpleasant, I'm just not sure if it's actually pleasant. I'll wear it a few more times and see if the violet manages to wiggle free of the gag.

Debauchery.

WOW, that was quick. Thanks so much!

So, I'm cleaning up my database, and under Bewitching Brews I have a perfume listed called Debauchery, but the description is for Dee (which is right below it), so I went looking for Debauchery at the Lab and here in reviews, and can't find it anywhere. My database says I own a bottle and an imp, but that's just more delusion on my part. Can anyone clue me?

I didn't get much scent at all in the bottle, which surprised me, since the other BPAL bath oils I've tried have been very strong indeed in the bottle. I put in three small squirts (maybe a tablespoon) and it was more than enough, filling the bathroom (and beyond!) with scent. Alas, the only word I could come up with for Ysabel's bath is "perfumey" -- I couldn't differentiate the carnation or the frankincense (who of my fave notes) at all. It wasn't unpleasantly perfumey, but I did spend most of my bath trying to figure out what I was smelling. As always with BPAL baths, it dispersed beautifully and felt great on my skin. I dabbed on Ysabel's perfume when I got out, and they do indeed go well together. I'll certainly use this oil, but may try to combine it with something else to amp the incense or the carnation or.... something other than "perfume."