sunshinedaisybliss

Ooh.. great choices! I hope Snake Oil works for you - it's one of my faves If you enjoy Snake Oil on your skin, try dabbing a bit along your hairline behind your ears so that it rubs into your scalp and hair a bit (where you won't see it, because it will make your hair oily) - it's gorgeous when you move your head/hair around and get wafts of the lovely vanilla spices.

Hmm.. I would have suggested Midnight Kiss too. And I completely agree about Countess Willie - she is lovely. I'm guessing you've tried Black Temple Burlesque Troupe already - that's a nice musk + chocolate, although black rather than red musk. Apart from those already suggested, I can't think of anything that's quite what you're looking for. Have you tried layering something chocolatey with a red musk blend? Something like Infernal Lover might make a good base, or if you can find the prototypes BB2 or BB3 - they were very strong on the red musk for me. Oh.. and Cerberus - that has musk and chocolate, amongst other things - on me it's like a musky/incense-y dark chocolate.. it might be worth a try for you. As a side note, I'm disappointed to hear that Pom IV was a fail for you, knowing you love cognac, I haven't received mine yet but I have high hopes that it will be a winner!!

I'm another recipient of the famous #55! Thank you to the lovely Edens Sixth Day for sending me a tester OK.. so yeah.. it's really not very nice. The oil itself isn't really an oil at all - it's more like sludgy goop, and it does NOT dry - it stayed sticky on my hand for an hour, which is as long as I could leave it on before hitting the shower. The smell is interesting - not quite as heinous as I was expecting. There's an underlying tone of sour fruit, mixed with a bit of rancid honey and sour milk. As strange as this will sound.. it's not really that bad. I wouldn't choose to wear it, but I'm glad I got to try it! But here's the weirdest part - when I got out of the shower, I glanced at my hand and noticed a little patch of discoloured skin.. exactly where I had smeared the oil. When I rubbed my skin, it came off! Yes, my skin came off!! I now have a little patch on my hand with a layer of skin missing

Mmm.. this is divine! Arrrrrr.. I loves me some pirates!! In the bottle, it smells very heady - quite woody and balsam-y - and there's a slightly tangy air to it,kinda like the chemical smell you get with some paint products - but it's not offensive, it's just.. there. When it hits my skin though, it's a whole different story - the balsam is up front at first, and the grass is pretty strong too.. it's kind of clamorous for the first five minutes or so, until the notes get their groove on and start to balance out. Then it turns all soft and yummy, musky and leathery and woody, with the lime dancing along the top layer. At first it's quite bright and the notes really pop, but on dry-down (after about 15 minutes) it's changed into a gorgeous close-to-the skin scent. A soft powderiness eventually emerges, but it's not baby powder or 'old lady' powder - it's pirate powder! If pirates were clean and fresh, smelling of sea air and leather (rather than BO and unwashed hair and clothes as I suspect most really do) then this is how I imagine they'd smell. About one hour on, that powdery lime-i-ness has pretty much gone and in its place is a soft leather with a slight background of musky wood. I don't see this as a masculine blend at all - it probably smells wonderful on the guys, but it's definitely wearable for the gals. I was actually hoping it would be a little more ballsy.. the leather here is similar to the one in The Blockhead - very soft and subtle - and the other notes like date, tobacco, ebony, palm etc are surprisingly light as well.. the overall result is pretty light and soft. It's the sort of smell I associate with being at the beach on cool summer nights, when the breeze is coming in just enough to carry the ocean spray with it.. and when you get home, you smell slightly salty but fresh and clean and slightly lime-y. My only issue with this one is that it fades pretty quickly on my skin, so I want to keep slathering it! I'm going to need a few gallons of this one, methinks

Aren't they just! I like how they're obviously part of the same collection (ie Weenies) - it looks like Sugar Skull and Golletes are related thanks everyone for the photos!

Hmm.. green musk, herb-ish, almost a lavender-ish kind of feel, and some salty freshness - I wouldn't say aquatic as such, but in that vein. It develops into quite a brazing cologne-type of fragrance, along the lines of Wilde. I'd imagine people who love these herby/salty fresh cologne types of smells would really enjoy this one.

This is more light and soft than I was expecting - the gunpowder and smoke never really come out on their own, but they do provide a nice blanket for the sweetness of the magnolia and apple blossom. The frankincense and chamomile are quite noticeable on my skin, and together with the beeswax they're making this slightly waxy and dusty. I let this settle for a while before giving it my final verdict - I wanted to wait and see what the notes would do.. but ultimately everything melds together in a way that makes it difficult to pick up anything in particular. It ends up being kind of a waxy floral that's kinda flat and unimpressive on my skin.. very light, and it's a touch soapy. Not for me, which is a shame because magnolia and apple blossom should be a gorgeous combination but my skin is just amping the chamomile and beeswax too much for the more delicate notes to come through.

I definitely see the Snow White comparisons here.. and since SW is one of my all-time favourite blends, that makes me very happy! This is like Snow White's Hawaiian cousin - the coconut is sweet and mellow but definitely cold - it reminds me of a coconut icecream milkshake. Plumeria is such a pretty note, and combined with the other ingredients in here it mixes with the coconut and becomes a gorgeous tropical cocktail. I have nothing more to add - the other reviews say it all.. this is beautiful, soft sweet and cool. I really am astounded at its likeness to Snow White though - I see not everyone agrees with that, but on my skin it definitely has a similarity.

2008 version This is like snow and berries with a fresh lemon layer. It's not really 'powdery' for me - it's more fresh and 'wet'. A nice blend but definitely girly and not really my kinda thing.

Sublime peace, ecstatic joy, and thunderstruck awe: terebinth pine, patchouli, brown musk, linden blossom, honey, mallow, blood orange, heliotrope, and golden amber. On me, this was all brown musk and amber with a background of pine. The blood orange isn't very obvious - I have to really go looking for it, but the honey is that gorgeous rich dark kind so it's not going powdery/icky sweet on me.. that's a bonus! After about half an hour, this goes a bit weird - it's smelling very earthy and a bit like damp wood. I'm not sure what to make of this one - I think it's just a bit too brown for me :smile;

At first this reminds me of Pink Snowballs, but with musky violet in place of the rose. The snow is the forest type - it definitely has a feel of pines and dark green leaves about it. As time goes on, the violet gives way to the other floral notes and the musk also deepens - it's now more complex than the violets+snow combination that I had at the start. It ends up being mainly about the snow, with a blue/purple florals feel, and a layer of musk moving through it. It's quite evocative of the snow-filled forests full of big tall old pine trees and wild winter flowers that I used to tromp through as a child in England.

Brimming with native fruits and flowers, but also imbued with the power of native earth magicks: apricot and pomegranate with deep plum, wild roses, two Middle Eastern pale musks, white orchid, iris and sweet roots. I've just got a really old Lab imp of this (the old 'flying witch' style imp label), so it's probably quite different from how a newer imp/bottle might smell, but that said.. The oil is a rich golden apricot in colour, and when it first hits my skin it gives off a lovely throw of rich apricot syrup. My first thought was that it reminds me very much of my aged Queen Mab. I can also smell some plum behind there - the same rich and deep plum as Hellion has. There's also something that reminds me of Sugar Cane here, but I don't see that as a listed note so maybe that's coming from the way the florals have merged with the musks and sweet roots over time - it's a very 'waxy' but musky sweet base. 10 minutes in, and that initial wave of apricot syrup has faded and now the pomegranate is here - lovely, rich and deep but not overly sweet. I'm picking up more rose now too. Half an hour later, and this has faded greatly - it's still the same as it was at 10 minutes, but everything has softened and loosened up. The apricot has gone into the background a bit. Then after just over an hour, I'm left with mostly rose and pomegrate with a slight layer of apricot and plum. It smells very 'real' - like those things were actually sitting in a bowl in my house, exuding their various aromas. Very soft and pretty, almost Victorian feeling - definitely a feminine blend but it also has a quiet strength.

I took a chance on this as a swap, because I haven't met a BPTP spray yet that I haven't liked.. but I really didn't expect to be too excited about this one - I guess I was expecting it to be one of those flowery bathroom spray types of smells. Since my fave sprays are the more "dark" ones like Bah! Humbug and Doc Constantine and Mahogany Hall, this one didn't sound at all like something I'd want my house to smell like. Soooo.. I'm glad I chanced it - this is really gorgeous! The ginger lily is the most prominent note that I get - but it's more ginger than lily.. lightly spicy and sugary. I can smell the floral notes, but they're not at all FLORAL as such - they're just soft and sweet and very pretty. The musks are clean and bright and just a touch powdery from the amber. The end result from two spritzes is a kind of musky bubblegum - as others have said, it's a candy type scent with a musky edge. And if I walk through the room after spritzing, my clothes pick up the scent and I smell lovely too!! Oh.. and it lasts really well! When I spray in the morning before leaving for work, I come home 9 hours later.. open the door, and get greeted by a waft of sweet clean air. I still prefer the more intense/smoky/dark BPTP sprays, but this makes a nice change - it's the one I use when I just want the house to smell fresh and clean and.. just.. nice. It's a shame this was such a limited run, because I would definitely buy another bottle if it were available.

Here's how The Night-Raven went for me, in sequence: Open the vial - hmm.. rose soap? Dab on skin - eek.. rose soap! Lean in 10 minutes later - rose soap, oh hello - is that you, plum? Geranium, nice to see you. Lean in 20 minutes later - rose potpourri of the cheap and nasty variety Take a big whiff 30 minutes later - rose soap, pongy geranium and stinky jasmine. Reminds me of those awful fragrance cake things you find in gas station bathrooms. 45 minutes later - time to wash this off. Such is the tale of rose and I. Bummer - what happened to the wild plum, I never found that at all. I was hoping the patchouli and musk might have won the good fight against the rose. But no - nuh uh, rose wins. And when rose wins, I lose. I'll be saying bye-byes to The Night Raven. Edited to fix rose-induced spelling errors. Yes, rose hates me that much it causes typos. . .

Ooh! This really does smell of mushrooms! Not in a fungus/yeasty/mouldy kind of way though - just in, err.. a mushroomy kind of way The fig is lovely - fig typically goes a bit chocolatey on my skin, and it's doing that here. So the fig in combination with the oakmoss and patchouli works beautifully for me - overall I get a lovely earthy, natural smell out of this, without it turning to a dirt smell. It does fade a bit, but not quickly, so it eventually dries down to a nice smudgy organic kind of scent that sticks pretty close to my skin. The fig wafts up every now and then - HI FIG! - but everything is so nicely balanced in this blend that it doesn't really bother me when it does - actually, it's kinda nice. The patchouli never goes all snarly - it's quite soft and mellow in this one which will be a relief for people who have trouble with patchouli being too strong. And the mushroom thing fades more than any other note - it was by far the most obvious note when I first applied the oil, but now it's faded right into the background. A very interesting scent - one I tried more for curiosity than because I thought I was going to love it.. and I won't ever need a bottle, but I'm glad I tried it. I'd say it's a must-try for anyone who loves these kinds of BPALs.

GAH! It took me ages to find this conversation about Pacifica's Spanish Amber, since it's been merged into this new thread! Annnnnnyway... I got mine! I actually received it over a week ago, but I've had a ghastly cold and no ability to smell anything, so it's taken this long before I could try it! And my verdict? Well... Yes, it does smell like Spanked - they really are very similar indeed. I completely agree with what was said earlier - they don't smell exactly the same, they kinda feel the same, but there is definitely a likeness in the scent. I did a two-arm comparison (Spanish Amber on the left, Spanked on the right - of course Spanked completely stomps all over the Pacifica - it's just way more rich and deep and complex. I bought the little tin of the solid perfume version, because that was the cheapest option for international shipping, and it's got a lovely texture plus the tin is cute. However.. as others mentioned.. the scent itself is light, and doesn't last long on the skin, so I'd probably go through this little tin pretty quickly if I were wearing it daily. But if you're really craving Spanked, this certainly is a decent stand-in

First up - sorry to hear things have been so rough, I hope they get better for you real soon There isn't really *one* scent that I reach for when I'm feeling blue.. although I do find TKO makes me kinda happy, for me it's very relaxing. I made a little room spray up with TKO, and a few spritzes of that through the room seems to mellow me out a lot. Sometimes I want to wallow in the feeling of depression, I hope you'll know what I mean by that, cos I know it sounds crazy - but sometimes I just want to "enjoy" it for what it is and let it stay with me a while - usually when I'm like that I will reach for more 'dark' smells like Crowley or Hellhound or Snake Oil or Lucy, Kissed.. something about those deep, sensual smells is very comforting. Other times, I'll want something bright and cheery to lift me up - that's when I'll reach for something like Mouse's Sad and Long Tale, or Snow White or Antique Lace, or a vanilla/foody type blend. I have to be in the right place for that though.. if I try those kinds of smells when I'm not really ready to be cheered up then they annoy me with their happiness (again, hopefully you'll get what I mean there). BUT! I do have one thing that never fails to cheer me up.. my box o'smellies. I have all my GC imps in one box, and all my LE decants in another. Sometimes I just like to get one (or both) of the boxes and go through them - trying things I haven't worn in ages, imps I haven't tested yet, reacquainting myself with old faves - I can spend ages doing that, and I find it takes my mind off of just about everything. So that would be my suggestion - maybe it will work for you too. Finally.. one more for you

Gwydion - the reviews for One to Tie, Two to win are here If you use the GRAY skin, you'll have access to a good search via the 'Advanced' link next to the Search field. Although I don't think even that would have helped with One to Tie, since the forum search needs more than three letters to find something.

I think part of the reason why leather is so elusive for you in your BPALs is because you're so familiar with the smell that when you encounter it blended with other notes, it just doesn't smell right. Just a guess, or a thought The best leathers I've found in terms of the leather being dominant over other notes, and being a "real" leather smell would be: Soft/suede type leathers - Sacrifice, NGG023 prototype, Rivet Goth, Nanny Ashtoreth Dark/hot type leathers - Spanked, Crowley, The Black Rider, Brom Bones, Western Diamondback, Iago Old/worn type leathers - Clockwork Couture: Male, Hunter Sharp/fresh type leathers - DeSade, The Traveller Red/brown/raw type leathers - The Red Rider Sweeter type leathers - Liz (flowery/vanilla leather), The Blockhead (bubblegum leather), Dee Clean/fresh type leathers - The White Rider, Liz (again), Clockwork Couture: Female Unfortunately, many of those are either rare or very hard to find, but if you do some hunting around you should be able to find most of them. Leather tends to vary a lot on different skins, so the trick is to try as many as possible - what's soft and sweet for one person can be completely different for another. The good news is.. there's loads of leather blends in BPAL land, so there's plenty to try! It's worth reading through the leather recommendations thread too, there's lots more there to read about. (Actually this discussion will probably get moved there by forum mods, I think) Good luck with your search!

I have a similar problem with rose as you, starfish327, and I don't like it when it's in floral blends. But I think you might really like Lucy, Kissed. These are the notes: Diabolical voluptuousness, a siren song from the grave: juniper and yew brushing against blackened violets and funeral roses, red musk and hot blood, veined white marble and icy, brittle musk, all pulsing with the sinister, hypnotic scent of patchouli, amber, oude, and cubeb. And reviews are here. It was an LE from BPTP last year, so you may have to hunt around a bit to find some, but it's a stunner - the rose is that 'dead' type of dark sexy rose, and as you can see.. all the other notes are anything but floral or girly. It's rich and sumptuous, dark and sinister - I'd definitely recommend it for you

Reviews for Pruno are here. I can't begin to tell you how nasty it smelt on me.. but for some people it was gorgeous, so I hope it works for you!

Thanks to the very lovely Klepz for sending me a decant of this one! Sniffing from the vial, it's all fresh green juiciness. Once applied, the first thing I notice is a slight earthiness - not quite 'dirt' as such, but definitely something organic. About five minutes in, and that earthiness starts to fade and the juicy green-ness that I smelt in the vial comes out - the initial stage of this is slightly soapy.. not in a bad way - actually it smells very much like the Jungle conditioner from Lush at this stage. Going back to it half an hour later, it's changed completely! Now the earthiness has mellowed down considerably, and so has the green element. Actually it's faded quite a bit now. I'm not sure what sort of 'green' this is - I'm not generally a big fan of these kinds of 'green' BPALs so I can't come up with any comparisons - hopefully someone else will come along later to add a review with more expertise in this area! But I'd say it isn't grass.. it isn't leaves or trees - it's just bright and clean like the smell of fresh air in your hair as you walk through a field on a sunny day. Oh, and it doesn't smell like Jungle any more now

Oh.. Obatala definitely has to be in your pack - it's a lovely coconut blend, without being too suntan lotion-ish. Goblin is another one I'd definitely vote for, although it's a black coconut so it's much less sweet and with the benzoin & patchouli notes it's combined with.. overall Goblin is a 'dark' blend but the coconut is truly lovely. Blood Pearl is gorgeous, the coconut in that one is soft and velvety. Shango is one of my faves but to be honest I didn't get any coconut from it.. same with Eden, coconut wasn't a dominant note in that one either. And Elegba is delicious but for me it was all about the rum and spices - the coconut was very subtle. I'm not sure if any of that helps, but I really don't think you can go wrong with any of those that you listed - they're all lovely!

First up.. I need to do a big and send huge to angelicruin for sending me a tester of this!! This Plum SN is completely intoxicating - as soon as I took the cap off of the vial, I was hit with the velvety richness of plum - I immediately thought of Hellion, then a split second later I thought of Snake Charmer. It's not a soft and subtle plum.. oh, no. It's a WHAM BAM THANK YOU MA'AM kinda plum - all dark and sexy and smokey, the kind of plum that saunters up to you with a juicy wink and wiggles its hips in a lewd fashion. A naughty plum! So I dab it on, and I'm enveloped in a cloud of purple haze, smokey sweet plum with a touch of spicy sourness. It is very musk and incensey - I agree totally with the previous reviews. Hellion is still on my mind - this is definitely the same plum that Hellion has. Not so much the Snake Charmer now, but more the Dionysia type plum. After about 45 minutes or so, the smokey sultriness and velvety smoothness that the plum initially had has worn off, and the sour undertone has crept more to the top. The muskiness has also faded a bit, the fruitiness seems more fresh now. The incense-y vibe is still there though, although it doesn't really smell like incense at all - it has that smokey feel about it. It's now been on my arm for about 90 minutes, and it's still going strong. This is a plum that lasts and lasts - it's faded and softened but it's still very present. It hasn't really changed much since the 45 minute point - it's still slightly sour but still very rich and incensey. Actually I think it's at its best now - it was kinda stinging my nose a little before, because it was just *that* strong. But now.. mmm.. lovely dusky plum. Very, very nice - I'm so glad I got to try this one!!

What an interesting topic to think about! I'm wondering also about the difference between one's natural hair colour and the colour you choose to make it - would there be a difference when it comes to characteristics, personality, and/or scent preferences? I'm a natural blonde, but I'm a very anti-bimbo kind of blonde... I guess I'm more of the beach bum hippy-ish kinda blonde And I love dark, mysterious, smutty and sensual smells.. my faves are things like Crowley and Spanked, and dirtily delicious vanillas like Banshee Beat and Snake Oil. But I also dig yummy things like Candy Butcher and girly things like Antique Lace. revinn - I guess I have a thing about ladies with dark black hair too.. I definitely envisage them as being on the the 'dark' side of smells. I think you're right - it does say a lot about our perceptions and/or pre-conceived ideas about certain hair colours