Ashmedai

I really have to try that. I skipped right over it since I concluded "cherry" and "honey" (both not good on me), I never would have guessed tomatoes - lol.

 

 

I just tested an imp of Jerusalem Cherry Infused Honey and find it to have a strong vegetal note. In fact, the honey pretty much disappeared on me after the first 15 min, something the lab's honey notes have never done before. jerusalem cherry is a plant related to evening nightshade and tomatoes I think - the green note is more like tomato leaf than anything else I can think of. Not at all herbal to my nose. It was a 2010 LD but I think I have seen it out there from time to time.

I tried that one, it was too aquatic for me and missed that deep, rooty soil/growing things I love. I may have to re-test it though, since my scent preferences have expanded the more BPAL I tested, and I tested this one years back. Thanks!

 

 

Squirting Cucumber!

It does sound like it - definitely putting out a wish for a decant or tester. How did I miss this one? *scratches ear in befuddlement*

 

Thanks!

 

 

Has anyone mentioned Gorg's Garden? I don't know how that would be in terms of soil prominence/dominance, but it sounds like it might be your kind of thing.

I can't wait to try Karme. Fortunately I've seen this or that decant up for swap or sale if I love it as much as I think I will.

 

Hmm, chocolate can go either way with me, but I give every BPAL a chance and I have to say these do sound very intriguing. Thanks!

 

 

I was going to mention Karme as well!

I have not tried these others, but thought I would mention them. Of course if you don't like chocolate, they likely won't be much help .

 

Dark Chocolate with Sun-Dried Tomato, Pink Peppercorn, Thyme and Comfrey

and to a lesser degree

Dark Chocolate with Tulsi, Tumeric and White Ginger

 

Hope you find lots of wonderful smellies!

Oh yeah, that's on my ISO list already and a definite planned purchase if I don't find it in a swap. I had a tester recently gifted to me and loved it immediately.

 

 

Hagsgate is one of my favorites for a veggie scent (from The Last Unicorn series): "An accursed bounty: rich black soil and hay, cucumber, tomato, red lettuce, summer squash, black eggplant, arugula, grape vine, artichoke, and a tangle of herbs marred by an undercurrent of vetiver, patchouli, and black moss."

That sounds fantasic, and it's going right on my ISO list. I've been dying to try Karme, and was lucky to swap for a decant with a great forumite just last week. Can't wait to try it, but I already have a feeling I'll be looking for more. Thanks for the recs and for good luck wishes!

 

 

DEFINITELY check out the witch's garden...i know it lists morning glory vines, but i got literally NO floral at all from this...it was all green and herbal. "Morning glory vines twisting around a patch of rampion, carrot, and parsley, with monkshood, hemlock, elfwort, sage, wormwood, and mandrake."

 

http://www.bpal.org/topic/50716-the-witchs-garden/

 

also maybe karme, if you can hunt down an imp..."Sun-warmed squashes, peppers, salad greens, snap peas, radishes, green onions, and silphium."

 

http://www.bpal.org/topic/75407-karme/

 

good luck!

Oh wow - that sounds right up my alley. I haven't seen much of that around in swaps or sales, but one can always hope. Thanks!

 

 

I think Planting Moon just may be perfect for you. The notes are -Budding summer squashes and pole beans, tomato leaves, upturned earth, May's wildflowers, and sun-warmed herbs. I don't get much soil or floral from it, mostly warm green herbs.

Yes I want to smell like a vegetable garden.

 

From last year's Halloween and Yule updates, I ordered Garden of Death, Mandrake Charm, Breathless Horror and Solitary and Abhorred. All of these have vegetable notes, and I've gone absolutely bonkers over them. From the GC I've also found Mandrake, Beer From the Marshwoman's Brewery and Garden Path With Chickens, which I love just as much.

 

I'm curious if there are any other vegetable garden scents that have gone under my radar, ones that can (but don't have to) contain herbs as well, preferably ones where the soil note isn't all that prominent, there are no fruit notes and where any florals are muted or not present. Eh - that may sound a little nitpicky and too specific, but I'm open to any suggestions. Thanks!

I think the strangest ones I own are probably the vegetably-type blends, like Mandrake, The Mandrake Charm, Garden of Death and Solitary and Abhorred. They remind me of the smell of my great-grandmother's root cellar with its earthen floor, crumbling wooden beams, and the smell of piles of winter vegetables, dried herbs and leathery winter apples. I absolutely love them for that "organic" smell I've only found in places where the produce still has the soil it grew in clinging to it, and the fruit comes from ancient trees.

 

Also Cleopatra Testing Poisons on Those Condemned to Death. That one smells absolutely toxic. *gg*

I really love the Lab's "dry leaves" notes (as in Falling Leaf Moon, October, etc.), so I'm thinking of adding Autumn and Winter to my next order. Problem is, I'm afraid of that "winter wind" note, thinking it might make Autumn and Winter smell too similar to Sonnet d'Automne or November (where the mint/ozone/snow/whatever it was notes turned it to a screeching cologne on me). Can anyone tell me how they compare, and if it might be better to skip this one?

Wow! Gorgeous patchouli and peru balsam, with the latter dominating more and more over the former as it starts to dry, this is a very resiny blend that reminds me of old, gnarled black wood with a hint of vanilla and olives from the balsam. Dried down, the carrot seed complements it perfectly, adding something earthy and vegetal (something that makes me think of root cellars...I love that smell). I don't get much white tea, but tbh, I don't miss it either. Friends of Mandrake, Garden of Death or The Mandrake Charm will probably love this one, and it's softer, less pungent and less "green" than any of them. Not the patchouli-heavy blend I expected, but I think it's gorgeous and wouldn't change it one iota from what it turned out to be.

Wow - this is different, and fantastic! Initially I get mostly orange zest, geranium and blue musk, behind that a bit of green tea. Very energizing and lively without being sharp, a real stress-buster scent. As it dries, the orange zest takes on a much sweeter note, almost like candied orange, but the geranium and green tea keep it from becoming sickly-sweet. I don't tend to amp florals, but I do smell lily of the valley and tuberose, but they're so well blended with the other notes that they only accentuate them. Final dry-down is a sweet musk with orange and geranium, a hint of tea and very subtle florals. There's something very sweet and sugary about this blend too, but that's a plus since it makes it festive and unique. I get no sharpness at all, on me it's very sweet, very mellow. I like this a lot!

Sweet honeyed rose initially, in a neck-on-neck race with fig, and with jasmine trailing just behind that. Night-blooming jasmine is the kind that often turns sour on me, but here it's prevented from doing so by the very prominent honey and fig. White almond doesn't make an appearance until final dry-down, where it tones down the rosewater and jasmine. It's a nicely creamy, sweet blend with a lot of honey that almost reminds me of warm milk with honey, almond, vanilla and fig, kept from going foody by the florals. There's no vanilla listed, but either my nose is playing tricks or it's there. It reminds me of very aged (and more complex) Sudha Segara; different scent but same vibe. Really cozy, and I like it!

Pine and birch, and a wallop-o-sugar - a previous review mentioned that, and it's spot on. This is sugared pine the way Hope is sugared rose and Faith is sugared violet, and I immediately love this blend. The pine note becomes more subtle on dry-down and the birch becomes more prominent (sugared birch, mind you), behind that, other wood notes that do smell warm and dark (is there a bit of oak in this, and maple?). This is definitely a chistmas-sy scent that put a huge smile on my face because it's just that good. It almost has something magical about it, and it's impossible to be in a bad mood sniffing this. Definitely wanting a back-up bottle!

Boneflower is tuberose as far as I know, and that's the most obvious note on me, freshly applied. Just behind that is the olive blossom and white sandalwood. Fifteen minutes later, the sandalwood is most prominent, along with a musky note and a bit of the clary sage. At this stage it's very sweet and woody-herbal. On final dry-down, the tuberose comes to the forefront again, so much so that it overshadows the other notes. I don't get any oakmoss from this blend at all, the cedar doesn't appear as more than just a hint, and I'm hoping aging will bring those out more. All in all, it's a rather feminine tuberose/sandalwood blend that reminds me of a very classic, classy perfume - in fact this would be freaking gorgeous on a woman, but it'll probably end up being too feminine for me even with some age on it.

Thanks so much for all the great replies, everyone! Also, as I mentioned, while I am a guy, I certainly don't need anything that is Man Scent or anything like that. In fact Cheshire Cat and The Dormouse are two of my favorites, and they don't strike me as particularly masculine. Anyway, on to the individual replies. But then again, Fenris Wolf might be my favorite, and that strikes me as a fairly masculine scent, though this could be dead wrong since I admittedly know nothing of scents or perfume/cologne.

 

I also think The Lion might work well with the coffee shop smell.

The Lion looks FANTASTIC. I am definitely ordering one of those in my next imp order. Thanks for the rec!

 

Antikythera Mechanism & Port Royal would be worth trying - they're both assertive enough to stand up to the coffee without being overpowered & have a little bit of sweetness to them (admittedly, they are also among my most favorite scents on the men-folk so I would probably think they smelled great regardless )

Antikythera Mechanism looks quite nice and my GF (who I just introduced to BPAL after digging out my imps and surprising her by wearing Fenris Wolf to her first opera) loved the idea of steampunk-themed scents, so I might have to try this.

 

Atlas - Mallow, oak bark, coffee bean, hinoki wood, and khus. Or Boomslang - cocoa and Snake Oil. I think Banshee Beat's vanilla would hold up well with coffee (but might be too sexay for work.)

 

So, tell us, Galkar, what are your imps that go with coffee and still smell good after six years??

After doing a couple of swaps way back when I bought these, I have imps of:

White Rabbit

Kostnice

The Dormouse

Morocco

Viola

Tweedledum

Malice

The Jersey Devil

Magus

Cathedral

Chimera

Incantation

Bengal

Snake Oil

Fenris Wolf

Bon Vivant

and Cheshire Cat

 

I'm not really sure if any of these would go well with coffee though, except for maybe the spicy ones. As I said, I just dug them out so I haven't had a chance to test them all out yet. But they all still seem to smell about how I remember them except for Snake Oil which has gone slightly powdery/play-doh-y, and Morocco which seems to have completely lost all of its scent (though this may just be because I loved it and so used it the most, causing there to not be a whole lot left).

 

Great recs here! I think anything with woods, especially oak, would be fantastic with coffee shop smells. Besides the ones already mentioned, I'd also rec Storytime at Dark Delicacies, Oak King v4, Tree of Life and The Gorroble. The last three are LE, but I've seen bottles and decants around. Also there's Dorian from the GC and Al Azif, which has a great woodsy, maple-syrup type note. Edit: oh, and Miskatonic University too.

Thanks for the ideas! I already plan to buy both Dorian and Miskatonic U in my next imp batch!

 

I'd go for cinnamon or cocoa/chocolate. Cinnamon especially often makes me follow my nose straight into bakery and coffee shops. I suppose that's why they use cinnamon in bakery goods in the first place.

 

Don't know if maybe Chimera is not masculine enough for you. I'd say it's gender-neutral, but a tad on the sweet side. Delicious cinnamon that makes heads turn.

I love Chimera and I don't have any problem with it's masculinity or possible lack thereof. And yeah, cinnamon seems like a potential winner in this case.

 

 

And a couple of unrelated questions if anyone would care to answer them related to the age of my imps. Do these scents change much with time? As I mentioned above they all seem to smell how I remember them, but I don't have the best nose or memory so who knows. Also do different oils tend to have different consistencies? I've noticed that some of my imps like Morocco or The Dormouse seem pretty flowy and not very viscous, whereas some like Snake Oil and Cathedral look like maple syrup in the bottle because of how thick they are. I wonder if this is just a natural difference in the oils or if it has something to do with their age.

 

Again thanks to everyone for your great replies and I would love to hear some more input as well! This really is a wonderful and helpful community!

 

EDIT: Another unrelated question that perhaps you guys could help me with: is there any place that has a description of what every individual note smells like? I am a total fragrance newbie and so when I read things like vetiver and civet and myrrh and I have no idea what they mean

 

I only know about essential oils because I've worked with things like aromatherapy a lot, but from what I understand, BPAL oils are made up of (mostly?) essential oils. These do change with time. Some, like resins or woods, actually improve with age and become deeper and more harmonious - they just smell a hell of a lot better aged. Others, especially citrus oils, tend to fade with time. So it depends on the oil - some get better, some fade, but I wouldn't worry since they don't fade very fast, so if you're constantly using the imps, they'll be used up long before they go bad. In fact I have a few citrus blends that are six years old and they still smell good, if a little bit less "citrussy". In general I've noticed BPAL oils just start to smell really good after the six-month mark or thereabouts, which is why I always let lab-fresh bottles sit for 6 months to a year before I use them regularly. HOW they change depends on the blend, but usually the wood or resin components will become deeper and citrus or floral components will blend into the scent more with time.

 

Yes, different oils have different consistencies. Floral or citrus essential oils aren't usually "oily" at all, they're very thin and watery as pure essential oils. Resins or woods, or oils from cocoa, patchouli, etc. are much thicker (vetiver, tolu balsam or oakmoss essential oils, for example, will become almost a solid paste over time, and some are even gummy and pretty solid to begin with. Not talking about the BPAL blends themselves, mind you, just the pure essential oils - there's a huge difference in their consistencies. But that's why BPAL containing thicker EO's will be more thicker, and things like fruit or floral blends will be quite thin).

 

I'm not sure if there's a thread about how each oil smells on its own. I'd check the internet, and sites like these (which I found typing "essential oil scent description" as keywords in a search):

 

http://www.auracacia.com/auracacia/aclearn/ar_directory.html

http://www.aroma-pure.com/eodescriptions.htm

 

These are very basic, though. For specific or less common components, I'd probably use "what does XX smell like" or "XX scent description" as keywords in a search.

so yesterday i had an allergic reaction to something. i was wheezing and my eyes started swelling and itching. i couldn't figure it out because there's no pollen or anything in the air, it's cold and clear here.

 

so i showered and this morning i was fine. i decided to test the oils i wore yesterday (oak moon and a torrent of light) and i started with oak moon.

 

i breathed it in from the bottle (smells SO good!) and waited a few minutes and my lungs started tightening up.

 

i generally only have allergies to seasonal pollens and things, never to any other bpal or perfume or scent. i found some other posts about contact allergies from cinnamon or headaches, but nothing like this. has anyone ever had an allergic reaction to a specific oil? do you think i can e-mail them to find out the components so i don't buy anything else with the same ingredients? i hope it's not lunar oils.

 

I once had a similar reaction to a retail exclusive oil called "Autumn" (which lists "Dry leaves, osmanthus, sandalwood, and rose absolute" as components). My lungs tightened up, sneezing, watery eyes, the whole deal. I'm guessing it was something in the "dry leaves" note, which I assume is an accord made up of several notes, but I'm not sure. I've never had a reaction like that to any other oil, though, and scents like October, Elegy IX and other dry-leaves scents are favorites - and so are some others that contain sandalwood, osmanthus or rose. E-mailing might be worth a shot, but I didn't because I figured if the culprit was one of many components that make up a particular note, it wouldn't be helpful anyway, unless the Lab started listing every single component they use to make a certain note (e.g., more specific than just "dry leaves" or "bark"). I doubt it's possible to do that, for one because that encourages manufacturers to copy-cat the blends. So I guess for those of us with seasonal allergies who like essential oil fragrances, it happens that once in a while we encounter an oil that makes us wheeze - lol. Like I said it's just been one blend so far for me, so...knock wood. But yes, it happens.

Loviatar. My first and still most prominent love. I want to slather myself in it. I was to roll in it. I want to love it and coo at it and call it George. But I have only 1.5 imps, so it's a very very special occasions scent. Anyone have a suggestion(s)for scents that smell like it, or several scents that when layered smell like it?

 

Aged Krampus (I say "aged" b/c my bottle is from 2007, I think. I haven't tried any newer ones) smells almost identical to Loviatar on me, maybe a tiny bit lighter on the leather but not by much...and it seems to be a LOT easier to find.

Death Embraces a Young Maiden is the scent of old books on me, spot-on. Something about the way the sandalwood combined with the other notes smelled like old paper and ink. I'd been hoping to find a scent like that for ages and none of the "book" scents really had it (or there was too much other stuff going on), so it was awesome to find this purely by accident.

Great recs here! I think anything with woods, especially oak, would be fantastic with coffee shop smells. Besides the ones already mentioned, I'd also rec Storytime at Dark Delicacies, Oak King v4, Tree of Life and The Gorroble. The last three are LE, but I've seen bottles and decants around. Also there's Dorian from the GC and Al Azif, which has a great woodsy, maple-syrup type note. Edit: oh, and Miskatonic University too.

The Lilac Wood, definitely, it's so spot-on the scent of a lilac bush it's uncanny. Penis Admiration also has a great lilac note. It's a LE but I've often seen bottles around for sale or swap. Bensiabel (Plum juice, lilac, leather, and a smattering of herbs) is another one I'd rec for the lilac note.

Not at all what I was expecting. Initially, it's almost a dead ringer for Paper Kite, with the same pepper-coconut notes I smelled there (fortunately I love PK). I also get a bit of smoke, and definitely cinnamon and clove along with sugar (it sort of morphs into a sugary Three Witches at this stage...Three Witches is also a favorite just like Paper Kite, and if I imagined a cross between the two, it would be exactly this). Final dry-down is when I get a bit of marshmallow, and it really does smell like the outside of a marshmallow, when it's in that gooey, warm state with a browned, crunchy crust. But there's still that cinnamon-pepper-clove thing going on very strongly...it's Three Witches toasting marshmallows by the campfire.

Samhain 2004. I only use it on Samhain, and it gets better every year.

Apple, orange and lots of brown sugar and spice initially - and this has some throw...like woah; one drop can be smelled from yards away (in fact when I opened the box, I thought, bloody hell the Autumn Cider leaked. But it hadn't, I could just smell it clear through the bottle). Cinnamon dominates the spices, but I can clearly smell allspice and nutmeg, clove is more subtle. As it dries, the butterscotch liquor becomes evident, it gives the scent a nice, full-bodied and well-rounded feel, much more so than I recall from other mulled-apple-ish blends like Samhain or one of the Harvest Moons. This has a slight note of cherry-almond too, but maybe that's a component in the butterscotch together with the cinnamon and allspice? The red-hots cinnamon note becomes much more subtle when it's dry, blending evenly with the allspice, nutmeg and clove. It becomes a rich, butterscotch-y spiced orange-apple scent with a bit of effervescent sparkle, and for someone who doesn't care for fruity scents, I'm surprised I like it as much as I do. But it smells warm and perfect for autumn, and that butterscotch note is definitely delicious.

Dry leaves - this is everything I hoped October would be, but much nicer, much rounder and sweeter. After a few minutes I get the minty note most others are smelling, and while I'm normally not partial to minty scents, this could be the one that changes my mind because it's really exceptional. White cocoa and vanilla don't really appear until it's completely dried down, and they really tone down the minty aspects. But those are still there, alongside the scent of dry leaves. This is beautiful, it makes me think of a hike in the forest in autumn, and it's a scent I'm really in the right mood for at this time of year. Another winner.