Scylla

Day of the Skulls has rose in it?

You could have fooled me (or my chemistry!) I usually amp rose to the nth degree, making every blend with rose in it extremely rose-y and "Grandma-ish" as my husband would say. This doesn't do that!

On me, from start to finish Day of the Skulls is mostly frankincense, sandalwood and tobacco with some florals in the background that I can't quite place. I can see (smell?) the comparison that someone else made to Diwali.

It has a lot of throw and lasts a long time. I put it on at 6:00AM and it's now almost 10 and I can still smell an aura of Day of the Skulls. I hope I'm not wearing too much!

I'm sad. This smells so lovely in the bottle, but my chemistry turned it into powdery amber, dried cemetery flowers and cigar smoke.

White Rabbit actually reminds me of, well, rabbits!

I could have SWORN I reviewed this! I bought a bottle of Midnight on the Midway polish when it first came out. I thought it was pretty durable, chip-wise, but I use a good top coat on top of the polish. Top coat is often the key.

The color is fantastic! I have gotten so many compliments on the color--even a cashier at the local grocery store who spied my nails while I was scanning my credit card while checking out. I also brought it with me one time when I got a mani/pedi and the woman next to me asked me what color it was because she wanted it, too. (But I was selfish and didn't let her use it) I will definitely buy another bottle when this one runs out!

First sniff: sugary and sweet; similar to Sugar Skull, but with a floral edge

Wet, on my skin: Super sweet maple syrup with an smidge of alcohol.

On drydown: Still pretty darn sweet, and then it morphs into the Attack of the 50 foot Bouquet topped with burnt sugar!

Sadly, I'm not getting any of the wood or fruit notes. On my skin, it's all sugar and flowers. Some people may like that, but this is just too floral and sweet for me.

At first, Irrelevant and Disturbing Surreal Crawdad Dream is all blueberries, currants and benzoin. A berrylicious pancake topping! Maybe I'm crazy (or my nose is), but on drydown it smells just like Eisheth Zenunim! And there are no notes in common!

This is my Carnival wishlist:

 

Gennivre; Hyson tea leaf, pale mint, sugar cane, orange blossom, lemongrass, and honey.

Xanthe: Guava, orange peel, white pepper, spun sugar and apple blossom.

Candy butcher: Dark chocolate with a heavy cream undertone.

Theodosius: Earl Grey tea leaves, a white fougere, jasmine leaf, pearlescent white musk, and vanilla bean.

Zarita: white carnation, iris, orange blossom, and sugared cream.

Agrat-bat-mahlaht Amber, cream accord, white honey, apple blossom, skin musk, caramel, and teak.

Daiyu: Moroccan jasmine, chrysanthemum, tea leaf, white musk, and acai berry.

Eisheth Zenunim: Honey, ambergris, neroli, white peach, patchouli, and cocoa absolute.

Gwyneth Rose otto, tonka, orchid, Calla lily, skin musk, coconut, and Spanish sage.

Torture Queen. White amber, vanilla musk, white tea, ambergris, gardenia, and chrome.

 

The carnival will be over in roughly six weeks. At the time, I won't be able to justify spending $200 in perfume, so I need to reduce this list. Can you tell me which of these are similar enough to a GC scent, or too similar among each other, in order to leave them out? For example: is Theodosious too similar to Dorian?

I have smelled all of them, and I honestly can't say any of them smells like a particular General Catalog scent. Sorry! What you might want to do is post an ISO on the Wanted section of the Swaps forum and see about swapping or buying imps or partial imps of them so you can try them before you invest in bottles.

I love spicy scents, and Three Witches is one of my very favorite BPAL scents. When I saw Pickled Imp in the Wunderkammer, I was so excited! It seemed like it would be right up my alley. Alas, the combination of the cinnamon, clove and pine goes really weird on my chemistry. On me, it is super clove-y with cinnamon and pine, and I think there may be some ginger in there as well. It was spicy without being foody, if that makes any sense! I don't get any vanilla at all.

It's not going to be something I will be able to wear due to my wonky chemistry, but it will be terrific in a scent locket or oil burner.

You may want to check this pinned thread for further recommendations:

http://www.bpal.org/index.php?showtopic=28...mp;hl=men's

In the vial, I smell pine and sharp musk. I'm a little scared! On application, it is Attack of the Pine Tree--at first. After just a couple of minutes, the pine pitch steps back and the patchouli, musk, vanilla and resins take over making The Illustrated Woman a lovely, "can't stop sniffing my wrist" kind of scent. I have an imp and I've almost finished it, and I'm feeling a little panicked because I Must. Have. More.

Of all of the Carnaval Diabolique scents, this is definitely in my top 3!

At first sniff, it smelled both papery, green and tropical which led me to think that Licwiglunga was a South American artifact. Then I did a little research and realized my error!

During the next stage it gets fruity, a bit herbal and then the fennel takes center stage. It is a really unusual and interesting scent, to be sure. On drydown, it smells very pleasant, fresh and clean. I have an imp, but I'm going to need a bottle!

Whoa! Moai definitely is evocative of volcanoes! It is smoky and earthy at first, but it quickly begins to morph. As it starts to dry down, I can smell the green of the palm and vetiver peek out. As it dries down further, I detect a manly cologne. Not for me, but I think I'm going to have to try this on my husband--if he makes it past the initial volcano smell!

My chemistry does bad, bad things to Ashlultum. Stupid chemistry! On me, there is no lilac, no hyssop, no vanilla tea, no tonka... It is almost single note, STRONG musk, tobacco and coconut, making it smell very manly! So bad, I had to go wash it off.

From start to finish, Torture Queen is a dead ringer for Snow-Flakes on me. I went to check the notes in it to see what the similarities were, and there were no notes listed for it.

I just don't know how to describe this. It fits the inspiration so perfectly - a desiccated hand, yellowed and rough with sinew, dripping wax, and the sulfuric stench of a lit match... The bark note is dead on. Independently of reading the notes, I was thinking that I smelled bark. Indeed! It grows smokier after a few minutes. The hand, full of unholy mischief, does more than light the way; somehow, a fire starts. Parchment and dry leaves go up in flame; black ashes and soot scatter.

Several hours later, the smoke and decay are gone, leaving behind a soft, mellow beeswax.

This is an eerie, disquieting scent and quite an experience to follow through its various stages.

I've read other people's reviews for other scents before that mentioned they couldn't smell a thing when they smelled a particular scent, and kind of secretly thought to myself, "What, are they nuts?!"

Well, I'm sorry for thinking that, because Bezoar smells like NOTHING to me! Might as well be an imp of Crisco (which I know it isn't.) Which is rather unfortunate for me, given the really great reviews! When I apply it, I can smell hay VERY faintly. But nothing else.

I really enjoy fresh and fruity scents during warm weather. Golden Wave has been one of my "go to" scents this summer. It's a really happy, citrusy scent. It's mostly tangerine and passion fruit, with juniper/gin in the background. Luckily, the juniper stays in the background keeping me from smelling like booze! I wish I had had the foresight to get at least one more bottle of this!

I got the whole Wunderkammer in a decant circle (thanks, SueDonym!), but I pretty much knew that Tabula Smaragdina wouldn't work on me because of the rose. To me, it smells like rose, amber and incense (which it's supposed to!) But my chemistry amps the rose and makes it Attack of the 50 Foot Rose Bouquet!

On application, The Two-Headed Goat smelled like a very masculine men's cologne on me. But then it morphed and the petitgrain took over and made it more feminine, with the pepperiness of the pimento berry singing harmony. I'm not sure which notes are involved, but on drydown it's kind of reminding me of that 70's standby Jean Nate!

I'm shocked to find that The Blasphemare Reliquary has rose in it! Usually I amp rose (in a bad way) like nobody's business, but not here!

This is my favorite of the Wunderkammer scents I've tried so far. It's difficult to pick out the notes in it, but I am loving this resinous/incensey blend. It reminds me of Lancome's Magie Noir when it is first applied.

I agree with savage_rose that Marcilla is a great transitional Spring to Summer perfume.

Marcilla is not a morpher at all on me. The scent stays the same from the bottle to drydown. It's a wonderful combination of light fruitiness from the apricot, light florals from the lily of the valley and the summery freshness of the bergamot and green tea, and none of the notes dominate. The beeswax is an interesting addition that sweetens yet grounds the blend. I don't detect any musk or ginger.

I have gotten quite a few "What perfume are you wearing?" compliments while wearing Marcilla.

I was afraid of the comparisons to Snake Charmer, too, because it didn't work on me. But Marianne DOES work on me and smells nothing like Snake Charmer, at least to my nose! Also, red musk usually doesn't work on me (but Mlle. Moriarty is one notable exception).

Red musk is the star of the show in this blend, and I definitely smell similarities to Scherezade (which doesn't work on me). The red musk and patchouli combination make Marianne a STRONG blend with lots of throw, so it should definitely be applied sparingly! It also lasts a long time--when I wear Marianne I can smell it on my cell phone and glasses for DAYS.

It is definitely a seductive "Do me. NOW!" kind of blend, and I'm sure it will be wildly popular for that reason alone! I also agree that Marianne will age beautifully.

In the bottle, Eisheth Zenunim smells of honey, peaches and chocolate. Neither of the notes really dominates. But I still wouldn't say this is a foody blend. It is, however, a SWEET blend.

Wet, on my skin it's still honey, peaches and chocolate with a bit of patchouli in the background. On drydown, the ambergris and neroli step forward and the peach almost disappears.

This is one of the most unusual BPAL blends I have tried. It's really like no other. And I like it!

I'm not a lover of overly floral blends and my skin amps rose like nobody's business, but I did obtain a decant of Marguerite just to satisfy my curiosity. Also, my husband HATES rose blends and says that I smell like and old lady when I am wearing them. But he actually didn't say that about this one, which is kind of surprising!

Marguerite is indeed a lovely, sophisticated rose-based blend. It strikes me as a very proper ladylike, old-fashioned English scent, if that makes sense!

In the bottle, it's a really lovely rose blend, and I can smell myrrh and gardenia in the background.

On my skin, as expected, it's rose to the infinite power!

If you love rose blends and/or sophisticated floral blends, you must try this!

Clemence is one of my favorite Ladies of the Grindhouse (behind Dionysia, of course!

In the vial: Spicy chai tea

On application: Patchouli and chai, a lovely warm and cozy combination. The kind of blend you want to wear on a cool, damp autumn day where you are wearing your favorite cozy sweater and sitting by the fire reading.

On drydown: What a morpher! The carnation really comes out during drydown and the chai and patchouli take a step back. But they're still there.

I don't think I'll wear Clemence this summer, but I have a feeling I will be reaching for her often as the days grow cooler.