sunshinedaisybliss

OK.. I just have to quote this from Beth's prose: So the next time someone tells you that you smell like an unwashed hippie, Patchouli, just smile your enigmatic smile. The enlightened know how amazing you are. Dude, I am enlightened. I AM SO FREAKING ENLIGHTENED THAT I AM A GLOWING ORB OF BLINDING LIGHT. This is the patchouli to end all patchoulis – the one patchouli to rule them all. It's the kind of patchouli that makes dogs fart on command, startles old ladies, and makes babies cry. The kind of patchouli that even the stinkiest hippie would say is a bit too strong, then hang their head in shame and go home to have a good bath and a nice cup of tea. It's the kind of patchouli that if you put more than a drop or two on your skin, follows you around for hours and hours and leaves little remnants of itself in every atom of the air that surrounds you. This is not a patchouli for mild-mannered young ladies who are afraid of being noticed - this is a patchouli that enters the room before you do and says SMELL MY MAGNIFICENCE, MOTHAFUCKAS. Just like that, all in capitals, because Sumatran Red Patchouli doesn't give a shit if it offends people. As soon as I took the lid off my bottle, I knew I was in for a treat as I felt the warm wafting gnarliness of hot feral patchouli hit my nostrils. Resisting the urge to just tip the bottle upside down on top of my head and let this liquid perfection drizzle down all over me, I gently dabbed a little bit on to my wrist, leaned in for a good sniff, and then had a moment of total bliss as this wondrous scent enveloped me completely. Wearing this is like getting a hug from a grizzly bear – it's warm, it's snuggly and cuddly, but it's also slightly terrifying. I love that this patchouli is so warm and earthy and feral, but there's also a delicate smoky sweetness playing around in there. I don't mind a dirty patchouli, but this isn't really that fully dirty kind.. it's definitely more on the earthy/leathery end of the patchouli spectrum rather than the hempy/dirty side. For such a gnarly patch, it's actually very clean – if this were a liqueur, it would be right up on the top shelf... this is the good stuff, the real deal. Completely beautiful on its own, but a fantastic base for layering – so far I've tried it with Araña (amazing, glowing, gorgeous) and Gelt (unff, wanted to eat myself), and Spanked (don't try that one unless you want to be ravaged)... but the experiments will be never ending because this really is *the* perfect mixer. So yeah, I love this Sumatran Red Patchouli – which, incidentally, actually smells just like my memories of walking around in Sumatra and Indonesia through the haze of incense that's always burning everywhere – but I suspect I should have bought more bottles. I am definitely wearing this the next time I travel back in time to 1969.

OK - who stole all the coffee and spices and incensey goodness out of my bottle, and just left me with Turkish Delight and rose? I was really hoping for that thick, rich, gnarly coffee smell - you know the one, the type of coffee that when it's brewing the whole street knows about it. I was kinda hoping for not-too-much cardamom, because it tends to turn into eau de curry powder on me - so I guess it's good that I'm not finding any of that at all in here, and I reallyreallyreally wanted the buhur to give everything that gorgeous eastern incense-y tone. The one thing I didn't want - a rose explosion - is exactly what I got, although in the bottle I can smell the dark sweet coffee, the hint of spice, the swirl of incense smoke - it's my skin that's messing this up (as expected, because rose hates me and the feeling is mutual) If the rose would just GTFO of the way for a moment, I know the coffee is there - I can *almost* smell it, but no... rose has to take over everything. Screw you, rose - I've had enough of you ruining all my BPALs. In here, the rose is making everything a bit cloying and overly foodyish - it's like sickly sweet sugared rose. BOO! Overall, and very sadly, all I get for about an hour is Turkish Delight and rose... but then... but then!!! yes - the rose does finally calm down and let the coffee and buhur peek through... and this is when I think for a moment that maybe this will turn out OK. But even then, I don't really like it - the Turkish Delight smell is still there, and it's sweet in that urinal cake way which is never a good thing. But I stick with it, because I am stupid hopeful - and once I manage to make it through that unpleasant stage of feeling like I've been trapped in Barbara Cartland's bathroom, I find that it's dried down to a weird and equally cloying smell that gives me hints of stale coffee and baby powder. I'm just not sure this will end up being a keeper because although the rose mellows, it never really goes away and it's just not playing out very successfully on my skin. It's actually giving me a slight headache edited to add label photo:

Well far out, bean sprout! I didn't know there was an 'original' CN label style.. I don't think I've seen any of those in my travels! Thanks for the info, Little Bird

Yep - your bottle is the original - nice! That's one of my favourite labels I think sometimes decants get labelled just as 'Midway' without the 'Resurrected', so it's possible that your decant is the Res. version maybe? Also - I've heard people say that oil ages more quickly in a decant than in a bottle (something about the smaller volume, can't remember now what the reasoning was) so that might be why the oil in your decant smells different to the oil in your bottle? But then you said that your decant smells more 'right' than your bottle.. so, well - I don't know! Curious and curiouser Anyways - as long as you like them all, then it's all good! PS I remember reading somewhere that the old(er) BPALs were more prone to batch variation, because the Lab did more small-batch lots back before they had the large customer base they do today, but I'm not sure how true that is... and I can't say I've noticed it in any of the old/older BPALs that I own.

I think they're either exactly the same, or very very similar - the original is more aged, obviously, so to me it smells less 'fresh' and the sweetness is more mellow - but the difference is subtle. The labels are completely different though - if I remember correctly the original had a paper label with a big ferris wheel on it, and the resurrected version looks like this:

The embodiment of heart-wrenching loss, torment, of mad, obsessive cruelty and chilly revenge. This is the scent of a frost-limed wedding bouquet, frozen forever in time. I was making up packages today, and saw this on someone's wishlist.. then remembered I had a half-decant of it! But I had never tried it, so before sending it off to its new home, I tried a little dab. Yeah.. I can see why people find this one so alluring - it's a beautiful ghostly floral blend that dries down to a very soft memory of the gentle smell of walking through a garden of roses, lillies and clean white flowers. It's not a heady floral, nor is it sweet - it's more aloof and distant.. like it stands back from you slightly, so that you have to go find it. It turns a little powdery on me, and slightly soapy, but retains its mystery beautifully.

This is the one Bat's Day blend that I thought was doomed to failure for me, because... well... florals just aren't my friend. But I have freesias growing wild through my garden at spring time every year (here's a tip for the young gardeners out there.. plant bulbs!) and they smell amazing. But bourbon vanilla - amber - ylang ylang - saffron - these are all good, very very good, so I figured I'd give it a chance. So - let's see.. Serotine Bat. What's nice about it is that it turns fruity on my skin - not floral at all. But not fruity like FROO-TEE, just a hint of fruitiness. The peach blossom is so light and fluffy that you really have to pay attention to realise it's peach, and the freesia has a beautiful waxy sweetness without being all floralpants about it. The saffron here must be in very small quantity, because it's not something I pick up strongly as an individual note - it's just adding a gentle golden glow to the overall feeling of the fragrance (as others have mentioned.. I recognise the saffron from Love's Philosophy but here it's way less obvious). But the stars of the show are the vanilla, amber and ylang ylang - what a heavenly combination! Last year, the big winner for me was Silver-Haired Bat with its gorgeous shimmery golden ambergris+oudh+amber combination, and strangely enough.. Serotine reminds me very much of SHB - and by "strangely enough" I mean.. aside from amber, they have no common notes - but it's a feel thing, not a smell thing. Where SHB is like being inside a sleeping bag of warm salted caramel, Serotine is like being inside a sleeping bag of warm fruity caramel. Not that nasty brown-sugar type caramel, but the soft light-brown chewy caramel. They are both silky smooth and luxuriantly sensuous... this is the BPAL that Carolyn whatsherface should have had on when she married John Kennedy in that white satin sheath dress. Or Charlize Theron wearing that gold dress in that ridiculous bloody J'Adore commercial for that stinky Dior perfume. Not that I want to marry a Kennedy, or wear a silky gold dress and pout around speaking French - oh no, no I don't - but this is definitely a BPAL worthy of screen goddesses and women-who-marry-Kennedys, should one be inclined to aspire to either of these things. But the best thing of all... where SHB lasts for less than an hour on my skin, Serotine sticks around for two hours before I notice it starting to fade. And it doesn't morph or mess around at all - it stays the same from dab to disappearance. Wait - I know what this is! Serotine Bat is like Silver-Haired Bat meets Monsterbait: Underpants. It's drop-dead gorgeous and I am now going to embark on a mission to find at least one backup bottle. And maybe a Kennedy Edited to add label photo

I really can't think of a fully-marshmallow BPAL that doesn't have something else with it.. I would have suggested Marshmallow Poof, but you've said it may be too sweet for you (plus, it's pretty hard to find) so I'm going to suggest checking out Starring Fragrances... I've tried a few of their marshmallow-ish blends, and they do those kinds of things really well. And they sell samples. They do single notes - and they have one called Puffed Marshmallow - White sticky marshmallows, nothing else! - which could do the trick Good luck with your search!

Thank you to the lovely Klepz for gifting me a decant of this Yep... this is very 'sun' like - it's fresh and clean, and the colour association for me is definitely yellow. It smells like a fancy shampoo on me. I can't really pick up the individual notes... it's just... shampoo.

Huge to my friend Klepz for gifting me a decant of this! So yeah.. it's all been said already - this is one of those BPALs that smells exactly as you expect it's going to Because I amp rose like a boss, that's pretty much what Love ends up smelling like on me - at first it was all fluffy marshmallow, vanilla and strawberry deliciousness but then... dun dun dun... out comes the rose, and that was the beginning of the end. Over time, the rose just got stronger and stronger until it's all I can smell. BOO! As far as rose goes, it's pretty nice - quite soft, and sweet, but still ROSE. It reminds me of Pink Snowballs, but with strawberry added and less vanilla. If that whole rose situation wasn't happening, I could really enjoy this scent because the marshmallow + vanilla + strawberry combo is really gorgeous but.. yeah, rose

Here is a pic of the original, and the re-release. The original Black Lace had the teal-toned label (on the left) and the re-release has the black/grey one. Hope that helps!

Jeepers man - when I first slap this one (yes, slap - dabbing is for pansies)... it smells just like cherry cola. C - O - L - A COLA /TheKinks Dude, the almond. It's almond overload. Or perhaps I should call it almond overlord - it's that evil. On my skin, almond = cherry cough medicine, it's kind of nasty. "Oh almond husk will be soft and woodsier", I told myself when I read the notes before buying it... "it won't smell like aaalllllmonnnnnnd" I said. HA! I'm a fool, for I was wrong - on me, this could be an almond single note for the first ten minutes. OK so yes, it does get better. Ten minutes in, and the almond has calmed down a little. It's calmond. HAHA I can't help myself. This review is making me nuts. Geddit? Almond? Nuts? OK. Anyway now that the almond has faded the leather makes an appearance, and it's definitely a black leather - not a snuggly/soft brown one, this is the smack-you-in-the-nose shiny black leather from Fetish Goth, De Sade, Whip etc - it has some sting behind it, and a very subtle smokiness. The patchouli is pretty mild at first - sitting nicely with a soft earthy feel that's a good counterbalance to the sharpness of the leather - they're lovely together in the early stages but I find the patchouli comes out over the leather at about the twenty minute mark. That pesky cherry almond is still hanging around, but it comes and goes so it's not always immediately noticeable. What about the oak leaf? Well... I can't find it in here at all. And the bourbon vanilla isn't really a major player - it's just giving everything a nice warm, slightly rich tone but it's definitely not foody. Ultimately, it's the patchouli that ends up being the most dominant note here for me. This really is a beautiful blend - if only it didn't have that stupid almond, it would be perfection for me. The patchouli+leather+vanilla combination is heavenly... just the right mix of dark, naughty, earthy and sweet. But that cherry almond is just killing the mood. I will keep my bottle and hope that the almond mellows out after some aging.

I've found that it really pays to investigate different varieties of a note, because where some will be an evil stench on my skin.. others will not. Coconut is a good example - regular coconut is not always good for me because it turns to super-sweet suntan-lotion-type, but black coconut (as in Body, Remember and also Red Lantern and Death Adder) is pure joy. Coconut husk also works well for me. Rose is generally not good for me - it amps horribly, but I've found tea rose can work (as in Sybil), pink rose can sometimes be OK, and damask rose can also work. I really love vanilla, but some kinds are just too 'foody' and Madagascan vanilla is not my friend (as in Celeste, and the recent SN). Black vanilla is the very best kind for me. Two others that come to mind are jasmine - there's several variants on that one, and of course musk with all its different types (brown, black, Egyptian, golden, white etc). I also know that 'white' anything is a big no-no for me... sandalwood = YAY but white sandalwood = BOO. White florals, white musk, white grapes etc are all just nonono. So another thing to look out for is whether you have a 'colour' profile - for example, I'm usually good with things that are golden, brown, burgundy, purple, just dark in general - not so good with anything white, green, blue. And also watch for descriptors - eg if it says things like 'dark' or 'deep', 'rich' etc then I'm in... but any mention of 'bright' or 'sparkling' or 'fizzy' usually means it's a no. But sometimes even stenchly notes can work if they're in combination with something good - like BPTP's Lucy, Kissed for example has rose and violets *shudder* but it said 'blackened violets and funeral roses' so that was a good hint that those two weren't going to be the 'standard' floral variety of violet and rose and maybe could work, and it also has patchouli, oude, amber which I love - plus it's got 'diabolical voluptuousness' in its description - so I was confident it would be OK and yep - turns out to be one of my most favourite blends so that's a good example of one that was a winner despite having a couple of bad notes for me. So yeah, short version - it's definitely worth trying a few varieties and considering the overall 'mood' or tone of a blend before writing off a note completely

I just looked up "awesome" in the dictionary, and look what I found: So it's official... this atmo spray smells awesome It's smells like the light of a silvery moon, with gentle hints of soft orange blossoms drifting by on a silky breeze. The amber is warm and luscious, and the champaca gives everything a gorgeous golden and exotic glow. It smells rich, expensive, luxurious and gorgeous. It sparkles like diamonds, but feels like your comfiest oldest pyjamas. Really, really beautiful.

Hmm - Atrous, there's a lot of Bedbug imps floating around - if you really really love it, you could post up an ISO and see if you can get hold of a bunch of imps.. if you get enough, you could make your own bottle of it! But for alternatives.. hmm... if I remember correctly, Bedbug has a slight orange-y like flavour to it? I can't think of anything that's an exact match, but here's a couple you could try: Mother Ginger (reviews here) - gingerbread, French vanilla, sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, and marshmallow cream - this one has a lovely creamy sweetness, and I got a slight citrus-y kind of tang from it, but is definitely all about the gingerbread. Mother Shub's Gingerbread Temples (reviews here) - reviews on this one are mixed, and I can't remember if I've tried it, but it sounds like it could be worth a shot? Those are LEs, but shouldn't be too hard to find... and aside from those, I second Shub from the GC but Gingerbread Poppet is probably the most gingerbread-cookie-esque BPAL I've come across. In case you haven't seen it - there's a whole topic here about ginger, and one here about baked goods (including cookies) so you might be able to pick up some ideas from those Edited to fix a wonky link.

OK that sounds the same as my little fattie bottle of Absinthe, which as far as I know is from 2004. The label goes almost all the way around the bottle, and has the old-style flying witch on it (sadly, my bottle also leaked a bit): I love the cobalt bottles too! Here's a regular 5ml, a little fattie squat bottle from years ago, and a 10ml for comparison in case anyone's curious: I think the old squat bottles may have come in green glass at some stage? Or am I thinking of a different perfumer? sarandipitee - thanks for posting that pic! The label on The Cat is cute, and I do love those TAL labels

Does it have a regular-type black plastic lid? If so... I'd say your bottle is from around 2004. Niice find! Monday - thanks for posting those pics... the SN bottles are lovely in their simplicity, I think. And I still love the old cobalt bottles, the blue glass just appeals to me so mch more than the brown.

I don't think I've tried Ostara (light, fruity florals are really not my thing) but some GCs that come to mind are: Twinkle Twinkle Little Bat - A sparkly, batty little scent: green tea, melon, mint, lime rind, and champagne grape with lemon balm, mullein, and toadflax. I find this one more fruity than floral - the melon and lime are the standouts - but there is a soft floral tone behind the fruits. It's really zingy and refreshing and... nice High-Strung Daisies - Daisy, pink carnation, pink pepper and sugar This isn't as sweet and/or pink as it sounds - on me it's a really pretty soft floral with a nice fresh feel Kitsune-Tsuki - Asian plum, orchid, daffodil, jasmine and white musk. This one's light and breezy but the plum gives it a hearty fruitilicious base. Zephyr - Lemon, lemon verbena, neroli, white musk, white florals, white sandalwood, China musk, bergamot and a drop of vanilla. The lemon here was way too much for me, but if your skin handles lemon OK then this would be worthy a try. Embalming Fluid - A light, pure scent: white musk, green tea, aloe and lemon. On me this one is pretty true to the noets - clean, fresh, just a hint of soft citrus. And although it's an LE... Flower Moon is pretty much spring in a bottle - a bouquet of vivid, sexy blooms, coated in thick, golden honey... wisteria, swamp jasmine, honeysuckle, daffodil, rhododendron, phlox, and a mix of California wildflowers - the florals here are sweet and almost fruity-like. I'm not sure how hard-to-find it would be, though. Good luck finding the one! And enjoy your spring time

This is just... a mess. I suspected it would be, because lemongrass always creates a stench of epic proportions on me, but somehow the coconut and anise just take it to a whole new level of wretchedness for me. I think the vanilla orchid and mimosa have run away in horror, because I can't find either of them here at all. And just to top it all off, the balsam is adding a layer of sharp greenery that really isn't helping at all. Is it lemon-scented fly spray? Lemon-scented tanning oil? No! It's a mixture of both!! This smells like some perverted genetic scientist somehow managed to cross a lemon with a coconut to produce a pungent balm that he plans to market as a beauty product for stripping the hairs out of the inside of your nostrils. There's something very unpleasant about the lemon + anise + coconut combination, but it's unpleasant in an I-still-want-to-smell-it way.. kind of like how really foul farts are hilarious because they smell so bad. But no - I just... don't want it on my skin any longer and must go wash. This is not Rigorous Love. It's Vigorous Scruboff.

Ooh yes - how could I have forgotten Goblin!! It's like a naughty, sexy dirty beach romp

YAY! And don't worry - your advisor will be unable to hate you when you're smelling so good You should take a look through the For Sale section here on the forum - you'll find people with big long lists of imps for sale, so you should be able to find a nice selection of things to try without sending yourself broke Happy sniffing!!

Hiya RunnerInPink It's been said already, but definitely Obatala. It's a gorgeous fresh coconut - it doesn't really have an 'ocean' aspect to it, but it smells just like 1970s style coconutty suntan lotion Sea Foams Milk and Sea Foams Glass - yep, I would definitely second those recommendations too

I love patchouli, I love vanilla, and I love amber. I do not love honey. Well actually that's not really true - I do love honey, but only on my toast.. on my skin, it does nasty nasty things and makes me smell like baby's vomit. So I had only one concern witth FM&FMWP and that was.. you guessed it.. the honey. But here's the thing - it's OK! The patchouli in this is so dark and moistly grungey - it smells like a big block of hash I was once offered to buy in Bali, earthy, gooey, feral and scary. So what happens is that the honey tries to step up and be all sweet and sickly but the black patchouli says "fuck off, you stupid pile of bee barf" and the honey goes all quiet and sits meekly in the background. This makes the patchouli think it's all tough and manly-like so it starts puffing up its chest and swelling its testicles, striding around like it's the King of Stink, but just when you think ermahgerd this patchouli is going to strangle me - the vanilla amber shows up. And when I say "shows up", what I really mean is that it flies in on a golden unicorn and sprinkles dusky soft vanilla dust over the top of the black patchouli, instantly shrinking its swollen testicles until it gets all embarrassed and stops strutting around. The vanilla amber gets off its golden unicorn (whose name, incidentally, is Gerald) and settles itself down on top of the patchouli and honey, creating a blanket of soft ambery vanilla goodness. The patchouli - by now quite ashamed of its aforementioned display of testicle swelling and chest puffing - snuggles in on the vanilla amber blanket and sleeps peacefully, occasionally snoring but in a cute way. Who knew the patchouli would turn out to be such a big softie? Gerald, that's who - he knew all along. After about half an hour on my skin FM&FMWP ends up being a lovely dry patchouli with a soft amber overtone and just a hint of dry vanilla and honeyed sweetness, and it pretty much stays like that for a good few hours. The patch does retain a slightly bitter tone, which is why black patchouli isn't my favourite kind, but it's still lovely nonetheless. I really love these 'simple' blends with only a small number of notes - they're never any less complex than the multiple-notes blends, but I find that they allow each individual note to sing its own song and retain its own characteristics and that's definitely the case here. I can smell each note quite clearly, but at the same time I can enjoy the mix of them all together. I'm very happy with this one, and I am putting my 2nd bottle into a nice dark box to age for a while because I'm sure it's going to be amazing in a year or two. Oh, and for the record - I didn't buy the hash. It's very unwise to buy drugs from random Balinese people you meet on the side of the road - just a little travel tip for y'all

I only bought a half-decant of this, but my half-imp has about half-sludge and half-oil OK.. this one was a 50/50 chance for me - I love bourbon vanilla, I love cocoa, I love oudh.. but lemon hates me (lemon amps ridiculously on me), skin musk hates me (it goes bitter and sharp), and rose hates me (although white can sometimes be OK). The X factor was the custard - I don't think I've encountered that before in a BPAL so that was the one note which intrigued me. I have been waiting for years for Beth to make a bourbon vanilla + oudh + cocoa blend, so I figured this was as close as I'd get for now and decided to give it a shot. So the lemon is a main player here - but instead of amping up all over the place and being all HI I'M LEMON on me, it's a lovely soft powdery lemon, so win #1: lemon blossom is better than lemon. On my skin, it's like the lemon is there... but it's just dancing around the edges of everything else, and it adds a lovely fresh and clean tingle to the darker notes in the blend. I really can smell the custard - it's just like the smell of a steaming hot jug of custard that you're just about to pour over your apple pie.. delicious, but not sweet or foody. SO win #2: custard accord is awesome. The skin musk is something I definitely could have done without - it's sitting as a top note on my skin, and it's amping more than I'd like it to. And the rose.. well, where is it? I'm hardly noticing it at all, but I can detect a slight floral-ish waxy sweetness which I'm presuming is the white rose. OK - so those are the not-so-good bits.. the omg-crazy-good bits here are the vanilla+cocoa+oudh combination... it's sublime, dark and slightly smokey, and definitely cocoa rather than chocolate. This just makes me wish that all the other notes (rose, lemon, skin musk) weren't in here - once again, I wish I had a Note Removal MachineTM handy because I would rip that lemon and skin musk out of there! A half-hour after I first applied it, the scent has faded significantly and mostly what I have left is the lemon and skin musk, some residual hints of the custard, and the dry duskiness of the cocoa. The funny thing is.. on my right arm, it's quite floral + lemon custard with a clean/bright tone, but on my left arm it's more cocoa + vanilla + oudh with a musky tone . Curious and curiouser. So overall - very very nice. I'm a little disappointed that the uh-oh notes are the stayers - but ain't that always the way? I've ordered a bottle though, because I find that lemon and skin musk tend to dull and soften with age where bourbon vanilla, oudh and cocoa tend to deepen and get more rich, so perhaps in about six months from now this will be more to my liking. But for now, it's soft and pretty and clean and nice.. not my thing really, but very pretty nonetheless. PS this would make a wonderfful room spray. I might sacrifice my half-imp to make up a little spray bottle!