levelek

Found a potential scent twin: Gwydion. To try: Vicomte de Valmont Dragon's Musk Perversion? Robin Goodfellow?

I've been looking forward to this scent so much. It turned into a near obsession. And lo, today Yvaine graced me with her presence in a decant! In the vial: strong lavender, with sweet magnolia twirling around it - it could be heady but I can sense the cool, crystalline night. This is going to be just as gorgeous as everyone said! On the skin: lavender soap. Yep, that's it. I am heartbroken!

In the vial: what I think is the iris, with incense and some sandalwood warming the blend. Wet: Very similar to the vial. It feels somehow sugared on top, and yet it is not sweet. Dry: the scent suddenly bloomed! I dabbed it on the inside of my elbow, and I can smell it as I am typing! The strongest throw of any Bpal blend I have tried to date. It feels more herby-green if I sniff right at the elbow. From about 30 cm away, it smells like a fresh regal purple-green floral, anchored by something warm and creamy and almost ambery and slightly dry. I am so grateful it is not screaming incense! It reminds me of Anactoria, but much less heady and more regal. It is the scent of a composed, feminine and beautiful woman. It is mature and young at the same time. I have not had it on for long, but so far: love. ETA: fifteen minutes later, the sandalwood emerges more strongly. The floral still has a strong presence.

My Pepper decant has finally arrived! I am going to write this without re-reading the other reviews. In the vial: not what I expected at all! The first impression was a dull, low-lying note resembling tobacco, with something juicier and fresher playing around the edges. It brought Kali to mind, of all things! As I kept sniffing, the rose notes peeked out. On wet: again, not what I expected! All ginger and pine resin and pepper, with perhaps some faint bergamot. The pepper is tickling the back of my nose, and the overall impression is clearing my sinuses a little. Not a hint of the vanilla, the honey or any sweetness. Dry: Becoming sweeter - but still not sweet, not that I'm complaining - and the flowers are asserting themselves. The pine and the ginger are closely intertwined. After a few minutes it turns a little soapy. Then the soap thankfully recedes, and it's florals and ginger and pine again. I will come back and add how Pepper continued to behave. So far, a surprise and a definite morpher! It captures the spirit of a tomboyish little girl very well.

I'm amusing myself here because I am not a new agey person, but there you go. I would love some recommendations as per above. I need to find a sixth imp to complete my very first order directly with Bpal that I am soon going to place (finally!). I will also take non-impable recommendations. The two scents that I have come across so far that seem to fit what I am looking for are Yvaine and The Star, Yvaine not being impable and the Star seems to be discontinued. I strongly dislike aquatics and also prefer to avoid incensy and smoky scents. Not the greatest fan of amber, either. But please share whatever fits that description for you, even if it's an aquatic amber scent dunked in incense smoke The rest of my order will consist of: Boomslang Detox, TKO (gifts for others) Imps: Antikythera Mechanism Zephyr Scherezade High John the Conqueror Croquet

An entertraining entry I found while tracking down the various scent components of Heavenly Love and Earthly Love. And a carol it links to - Quelle est cette odeur agreable?

I am really enjoying this discussion and the recommendations! Thank you. I am looking up the descriptions of all the scents with which I am not familiar. I emailed Kathy as parrot_suspect suggested. She confirmed that with the exception of the Temple blends, all TAL oils are tools that can be used by any belief system that is comfortable with them (that has a use for such tools). I thought I'd report that here in case this is helpful for others as well. She also suggested Middle Pillar for this purpose. I don't really have any scent memories that I am conscious of that would evoke associations along these lines. The church scents would be closest to that, I suppose, but I do not like incense scents on my body (helpful, I know).

Tzadikim smells like melony bubblegum to me But thank you for the suggestion, I am sure it will work for other people! I know what you mean about branching out to scents that evoke associations, as opposed to containing notes that you normally like. I hope you find what you are looking for, too!

Thank you for all the suggestions! That's why I love this place, such a good way to come across scents I had not considered. In terms of what appeals to me - I love warm, creamy, spicy but not foody scents in general. To go beyond just calming down and feeling comforted, I expect I'd find what I'm looking for in a different scent category. "Serene" and "Elated" were the closest words I could think of to capture what I'm after. What I liked in the Yvaine reviews were descriptions along the lines of "effervescent", "a calm lake of repose", "smoothing and cooling magic", "cool and sparkling". It sounded like it also contained just enough warmth so that it nevertheless doesn't feel like a chilly scent. On the White Light page, the "strong oil for physical, spiritual, psychic / mental and emotional purification", "warm and comforting, positive and balancing" also appeals to me. I am not sure if I should research the TAL oils further before taking the plunge. They seem to come with a "not to be used lightly" warning. I would be comfortable using them with intention within my own belief system, but I am not pagan and I do not do magick so I am a little apprehensive about that.

Wet, the predominant note is amber. On drydown, it becomes deliciously creamy - must be the honey and the musk. Then it goes through a baby powder phase (sadly, it goes completely baby powder on my left wrist). All along there is some grassy kush in the background, blown in the hot wind, and drawing ever closer. Overall, a touch too sweet for my taste, but it's still one of my favourites that I've tried. Very sensual. Could be a great skin scent.

Hello again everyone! I posted this query months ago on the 'favourite perfume' thread, but I didn't receive any suggestions there. I'd be very thankful for some expert help here! I am looking for something similar to a perfume my brother used for a while. It was a sensual, somewhat masculine, somewhat woody but not too heavy smell, with a well blended jasmine that didn't scream. I found one online description of the perfume that may have been it, which gave the notes as 'bergamot, lavender, vetiver, woods and jasmine'. I think the woods include sandalwood, maybe with a touch of cedar. Any recommendations will be gratefully received!

Thank you very much for the replies, mejuxtaposed and sqwook! The scent I am looking for was definitely warm and tending towards dry. The wood and the bergamot definitely predominating over the other notes. Nothing aquatic or fruity about it, so Faiza seems to be out (based on the reviews). Also definitely no note of osmanthus or frankincense. I am reading through the rest of the recommendations now!

I received an imp of this as a gift. In the imp: perfumey. I don't like it much. Upon further sniffing, an osmanthus-like note emerges strongly. Must be the olive. Left wrist: pale melon. Too sweet and fruity for my taste. Right wrist: Melony osmanthus blended with frankincense, with a very faint sharp echo from the hyssop. Very interesting. As I strongly dislike both melon and osmanthus type scents, however, this one is not for me.

I would truly love to know what resins were included in this blend! In the vial: a lovely rose scent. Wet: chimney smoke! Dry: smoke from a pile of rosewood. My skin chemistry had a field day with this.

I'm not sure which vintage I am reviewing here - I got a second hand imp before realising that different versions seem to have been released. Helpful, yes? In the vial: smoky, incensey, sweet. I'm guessing this is the champaca! Wet: the incense dials down a little, the florals open up more, the vanilla peeks out, and the honey asserts itself firmly on the whole lot. I'm getting a hint of the tuberose. It smells warm and a touch musky. There is also a soapy note and I'm really hoping it's not going to turn all soap on me in a few minutes. Drydown: honeyed vanilla! This is quite the morpher. Dry: spicy, honeyed vanilla, with a whisper of wood. No trace of the smoke left. If I were going for a vanilla scent, this would be my choice! ETA: on second wearing, sniffing it from a little further away, the two-word summary is: Vanilla Fudge.

In the vial: nag champa and sandalwood, with the faintest lavender hint. Wet: sandalwood and nag champa with a very perfumey slant - I'm not sure where that is coming from. I thought there might be some patchouli in the blend! Dry: Sweet (but not sugary) sandalwood, powdery nag champa. The perfumey slant is now smelling like amber to me. Lavender swirling around the edges and blending seamlessly with the whispers of smoke from the tobacco, to cool the whole blend a touch. Overall, too incensey for me to wear, but a great room scent.

Initial application: very woodsy, sweet. Drydown: the woods and the tonka envelop a sweet, warm patchouli core, with whispers of the coriander and sweet mint. Once again, I am amping the sweet notes! A few minutes later, it smells more citrussy, although the sweet wood continues to dominate. Warm and bright. One of my favourites so far.

Incense and sandalwood - a wonderful blend for lovers of these notes. On drydown, the overall effect on my skin is baby powder.

In the vial, before reading the ingredients list: an unpleasant, grey, rough-textured note jumps out from the left. Definitely the tobacco! Sniffing Kali in the vial put me off so much that I only tried it on my skin days later. Wet: this is a whole lot more pleasant! The tobacco isn't screaming as much, and the blend is much sweeter and complex. Drydown: I like this, I like it a lot more than I thought I would! The honey takes over, but retains a smoky edge that keeps it from becoming cloying, with the florals hiding in the background. There is a hint of acquatic - I think it's the hibiscus that I am warping here; I am not getting any wine. A little later, the chocolate becomes stronger, as do the florals. Thank goodness the osmanthus is behaving. There is a hint of soap but I have yet to find a BPAL perfume that my skin doesn't turn to soap. The aquatic has disappeared, it's all a dry, warm stone now.

I really wanted to love this, and I got an imp of this before I realised that I cannot stand the smell of osmanthus. I have a bag of osmanthus tea, and I can tolerate it on some days, but I really dislike it on others. Well, Harikata is all about the osmanthus, all the way! It is beautifully blended, and I can appreciate the artistry of the oil, so if you like its apricotty, distinctive smell, you will love Harikata. It has a sexy aspect, too. It is also far too sweet for my tastes, but that won't be a problem for many people here

In vial: it smells exactly like lemon drops. Wet: sweet lemon drops. An energising scent. I am not getting any lime. Dry: the lavender comes out to play. It also becomes a warmer, drier scent, but still dominated by a fainter lemon. After a few minutes: I detect a soapy note. The citrus is now hiding in the background. This fades fast!

Sorry I didn't specify what it smells like! I need to build my scent vocabulary, but basically it's a sensual, somewhat masculine, somewhat woody but not too heavy smell, with a well blended jasmine that doesn't scream. It's marketed to men, but I would love to wear something like this myself. It comes in a cigar shaped bottle and I wouldn't have been suprised to find a note of tobacco in there too, but it doesn't appear to be in the description.

I'm looking for something similar to a perfume gifted to my brother many a moon ago. It was from the Cuba line, but I am not sure if it was Orange or Gold. The notes in Cuba Orange are jasmine, cedar and sandalwood. The notes in Cuba Gold are apparently bergamot, lavender and vetiver, blended with woods and jasmine. I'm a total newbie and waiting for my first batch of imps to arrive, so recommendations will be gratefully received!