sqwook

@Lyanna - HI! I didn't reply earlier since I haven't tried most of those you've listed -- hopefully somebody else has & can talk about them. Of those you've listed, I've tried only Paris, Bastet, & Bengal, which are nothing like each other. One thing I'll say is that you definitely don't have many "forum faves" on your list - I'd at least consider adding Snake Oil to see what people are talking about.

Sweet clove, ginger, and spices at first. Over time this becomes a lovely creamy lightly-apple scent, sweet but not overly sugarly, warm, soft, wonderful. I don't like many of the foody things, but this is really nice. Definitely pondering a bottle.

Wet: Nuts and cough syrup. Totally chaotic and not good when wet. As it dries, it becomes really wonderful - a soft blend of smooth nuts and berries. It reminds me a lot of Eden actually - which, interestingly, is also really not great when wet, though I love it when dry. With the apples and berries, Pomona is slightly brighter and fruitier than Eden.

I love Lambs-Wool! Harvest spices that dry down to a lovely creamy apple scent, sweet but not overly-sugary, warm and soft, really wonderful. Not *too* literally apple-y. Pomona is nice but it has a lot of other stuff going on, so it doesn't read as an 'apple' scent to me. It reminds me a lot of Eden, actually.

I amp pine too, so I totally understand. They always smell good, just not on ME. Yggdrasil is AWESOME - a fabulous deciduous forest scent, and the best thing ever for wearing out-of-doors, yet I don't get any dirt scent from it if that's what he's looking for. But he should try it anyway. Oooo - you know what? Two Monsters is just like what he's looking for -- while it is wet, especially, much less so when it has dried down. From my notes: "Mossy, trees, earth, the whole forest. Dries to a oakmoss/leather." For a dry woods (late fall) perhaps Danse Macabre, Aureus, or Fire of Love. There's no green-ness in those, though. Maybe Omen, though it went powdery on me.

Totally agree on Manhattan most of all. Also Bat-Woman (recently discontinued though) much more than Yvaine. I also use Death & Life Completed for this. D&LC is warmer where Bat-Woman is cool. I like Salome for strength & confidence but I find it less business-like. And one that I've recently fallen in love with that also has this feeling is Death on a Pale Horse - it's so not like it's macabre description, so don't let that deter you - kind of like an alpine meadow on a crisp fall day (which is a really energizing powerful feeling for me), and the more I read your description, the more I think you should try it out. And maybe Antony. Curious to see what you'll like!

Hi! Hm, light musk & vanilla -- have you tried Lady Una yet? It's totally awesome! Also Lyonesse. And Defututa. I've seen some people mention they can rock Mouse's Long & Sad Tale, though it doesn't end up sexy on me personally. For carnation, lots of people like Morocco. If you liked Dorian, have you tried Antikythera Mechanism or Haloes? For foodiness, you might try Shub Niggurath.

"yeahbutnobut" often compares scents to other scents, which I find super-helpful. And super-enabling! If you search for Bastet, with only user yeahbutnobut, and view the results as posts instead of topics, these scents come up on the first page out of six results pages: Morocco - this is the only one in this list I've tried, and I find it much stronger than Bastet, but certainly worth a try, it has many followers! Mort de Cesar Sea of Tranquility Glowing Vulva at Ryogoku Bridge Bilquis

The almond-cherry fades pretty quickly on me with Bastet, so definitely let it settle for a half-hour and see what you think later in the day. Queen of Sheba is quite similar to Bastet, but they share almond. Also in the same soft-sexy category is Defututa, Eden, Hermia, Hetairae, Mouse's Long & Sad Tale, Lyonesse. Also, you could read the review for Bastet & see what else people compare it to, and do a search for "Bastet" in the reviews thread in general, to see in which other reviews Bastet was mentioned. I do this a LOT with scents I like.

You might try Mag Mell - warmth of amber, the puissance of white ginger and the clarity of verbena, with fresh green grass, lush sage and cleansing droplets of summer rain.

I have combed through the reviews, and this is what I have discovered: (Other than I MUST add this to my wishlist...) like Morocco meets Black Lace Perversion Hod Antony A smoother Tombstone evocative of both Tombstone and Golden Priapus Like a partnership between Tombstone and Dorian kinda like Dorian and Loviatar together. more woodsy, less salty cousin of Jolly Roger (when wet) If you liked Dorian but wished it had a little more menace, you might try this. Dorian – only BETTER like Golden Priapus rubbed against a vanilla-guzzling De Sade like La Fee Verte mixed with Dorian in the woods like Antique Lace, De Sade, and Snake Oil had a threesome on my wrist like the bastard child of an orgy between Golden Priapus, Dee and Les Infortunes de la Vertu...I'll give you my crown of conquest, baby.

I'm another one where aquatics generally are bad, but I thought Lightning was the aquatic I'd wear, if I were to wear an aquatic.

Wet: cinnamon Wet on skin: Cinnamon, fading to ... what? huh, that's so weird... something is barely there under lots of yummy spices... Ah, somebody else up-thread hit on it: 'gummy, yeasty bread dough'. That's the closest I can figure. Dry: Cinnamon and other non-foody spices. It does indeed remind me of chai. 5 hours later: Holy crap, what am I wearing that smells so delicious?!?!?! Oh, right, Silk Road! It's not just cinnamon now, it's... amazing. A complicated blend of dry exotic spices and possibly egyptian musk in there? amber? i can't quite parse it, but man is it good. ETA: I'll echo others' thoughts- people w/sensitive skin beware, I don't normally react, but there's something in here I was getting slightly sensitive to, and I *don't* think it was just the cinnamon, because it was not just the standard burn feeling, it was different, and I was worried for a moment there that things were not going to be pleasant. On me, the feeling was very shortlived and it was probably because I applied it right after a shower, but just, heads-up.

My favorite smells-like-it-was-expensive perfumes from the Salon are Bat-woman and Death and Life Completed.

Really lovely! The vanilla is not overly foody, just sweet and warm and beautiful. The florals are barely-there, which for me is a good thing, and they add a lightness to the scent. This might be a good scent for those who like the vanilla of Snake Oil but find SO's other components to be 'too much'. Certainly every vanilla-lover should try this, stat. It's so not me, yet... here I am, not tossing it into the swap pile yet... hm... Overall: calming, warm, and pretty.

Ooo, I totally agree about Nemesis, and Gomorrah is in this same category of fig-spice-herbs-resiny-fallness.

On me: Smoky burning sage. Exactly the smell of a smudge-stick, white sage. Like the smoke itself, but not a flame, the smoky airy dry smoke spiralling in the air in billows. It feels powerful - like you would not want to mess with me. It's not something I think I'd wear as a perfume, though I can imagine wearing it if I were a spell-caster. I feel like I have a different Oya than most others are reviewing. I get no sweetness, no almond, no cherry, no plum, no fruit, no floral. UPDATE: Ok, I *did* wear this as a perfume today, and it's great. It does still have a very powerful, don't-mess-with-me feeling. I liked it when I first tried it but thought I wouldn't wear it; after giving it a try, I'm now in love with it.

I've just tried Oya thanks to a lab frimp (thx lab!) and OMG exactly like burning sage. Exactly.

Xiuhtecuhtli I always want to love, yet I find it's too sweet for me. I still keep it, retrying it every so often, because it's so lovely in every other way! So, since you like sweet scents clearly more than I do, might be a good one to try! (edited to correct formatting)

Green! Here are some of my favorites: Yggdrasil - clear, green, sweet, woodsy, like a deciduous forest Mag Mell - I used to think of it as green, though now it seems more sunny-yellow to me. Really beautiful Garden Path with Chickens - fresh, green, herby *** This is the one I recommend most for you Antony - amber with green-ness The Apothecary - a clear day in a green field Bayou - Green, wet, damp, trees and moss Phantom Queen - green like aloe and sweetgrass The Unicorn - green and linden-flowers Ochosi - somewhere between herbs and forest There are lots of other "greens" that involve pine/evergreen/fir, and they're great, I just don't like wearing pine as a perfume. Also, for me, BPAL's eucalpytus, when it *is* there, burns off very quickly as I wear it (like within 15 minutes or a half-hour) so don't discount something entirely if you smell eucalyptus when it's in the bottle. Also check out these threads: The most natural or lifelike scents?, forest, earth, rain, water, grass, moss and so on... Recommmendations for Green Scents Fresh, green grass

Well, it always cracks me up when I can read a whole list of "dark" words: gritty, sordid, languid, black herbs... and then on me it just smells nice and not foreboding at all. Yes, when wet, the herbs on me are 'dark', I suppose, when compared to other herbal scents that are often light and airy. Most of the "darkness" fades away as soon as the oil is dry on my skin. And then it dries down to a lovely almost-spice, almost-warm-fruits that seems like it would be just stellar in the fall without being a super-literal "i am fall potpourri" scent. I wish it were a bit stronger because the drydown is so nice, but very close-to-the-skin. I'm totally hanging onto this, and I don't smell like someone about to be destroyed by god. Perhaps like someone who raked the leaves and then baked a pie. In this family: Hanging Gardens, Verdandi, Eden after an hour or so, The Apothecary. And others that I can't place.

Interesting - my brain went a completely different route. I was picturing the dusty, sandy planets, and thought of Coyote and Tombstone for Luke. Leia I see as strong and confident, no-nonsense, with a warmth, not a coldness. Scent recs... hmm...something grounded, perhaps with woods. Maybe... Peitho, Grandmother of Ghosts, Salome, Hymn to Proserpine, Phoenix Steamworks, Danse Macabre.

Perhaps -- Mag Mell - bright and golden Sundew - golden and richer than Mag Mell (not foody ata all, or overly heavy) Yggdrasil - Green and herbs like the forest in the sun Iambe - floral and amber, a bit much for summer but worth trying in fall Miss Lupescu - for a warm spice that isn't foody Lady Una - warm honey, berries, and a hint of leaves/greenery

Envy is worth trying, though the mint didn't last for me. If you like amber, Cathode might be worth a try, it's not a "cool" mint. (Neither of these get precisely to the out-in-the-garden feel.) Edited to add: And if you like violets (given your name) you should definitely at least try Ultraviolet. The eucalyptus is strong at first, and then it becomes a lighter-than-air floral.

Hi! These have probably all been suggested, but thought I'd corroborate others' suggestions for clean/laundry scents: White Rabbit Dirty Sudha Segara Phantom Queen The Sea Foams Milk The Dormouse Sea of Glass Anubis (more like a clean spa than normal laundry, nice though) (Full disclosure: I HATE the clean/laundry scents with a passion. But that means I can be relatively good at identifying them!) I really like Embalming Fluid - bright zingy lemon. And I totally second Dee - great scent, some women can pull it off and it's GREAT on a guy. And Snake Oil is worth everyone trying. Something your husband might like in the house if he likes cranberry-orange -- hmmm, I haven't had great luck finding a good orange. But Tintagel would be a great spicy scent in the fall/winter. Or something with cinnamon, like Bengal or Al-Shairan. For berries, maybe something like Bordello? (Totally not as... bawdy..? as the description makes it sound, at least to me.) I also totally second Apple's recommendation of getting sample-sized "imp" testers, which you can order directly from the lab is you wish, so you can try lots of different scents to see what you like best. It can be hard to find that page on the website, so here's the link; there's a link from the FAQ page.