mari4212

Thin mints.

 

In the imp, and wet on both me and my mother, this was so totally thin mint cookies. Which, you know, I'm not objecting to at all. It's like getting a girl scout cookie fix without having to pay out the wazoo for a box that'll last maybe three days in my family's house. And that's only if my dad isn't aware that the box has been opened for the first two days.

 

As it settles down, there's a bit more woody undertone that serves to ground the scent. Hello there, cedar, make yourself comfortable. It takes the scent out of the straightforward foodie place that it was to start, but keeps it low and comforting.

 

After an hour or so, the mint is gone completely, and the chocolate has faded back into an undertone. The cedar and a sweetness that is probably the vanilla kicking in take center stage. Still lovely, but a complete 180 from the original presentation of the scent.

First sniff in the imp: a creamy butter with grains of white sugar mixed throughout.

 

wet on skin: this is the smell of bread crusts. From a home-made loaf, after it's cooled, this is the smell of the crust. I can see the loaf before me when I smell it on.

 

Initial dry-down: The sugared butter returns, but it's in a bowl next to the bread, not on it, because the bread still smells dry.

 

After an hour: The butter and the bread have finally blended. This is a soft scent, sweet and homelike, and very comforting. This is something to wear when you don't want to be at all intimidating. I can see someone who doesn't like perfume liking this.

In the Imp: sweet and light spice, reminds me a bit of Alice. That must be the carnation there.

 

Wet on skin: This is blooming with the same vanilla musk scent as Antique Lace on me, but with a hint of spices in the backdrop. The carnation from the imp is hidden under that vanilla.

 

Drydown: Yep, this is a doppelganger for Antique Lace on me. No carnation or spices here, just the warm musty vanilla sweetness I got from Antique Lace.

 

On balance, this wasn't really what I was hoping for out of this blend, as I wanted something with more of the carnation and spice, but this is still nice. And now I know what to get Mom when she wipes out her imp of Antique Lace in a year or two.

 

ETA: Darn it! I tried it on Mom, and she gets the edge of carnation that I so wanted on me. And of course, she'd probably prefer the straight Antique Lace that I get.

Wet and on: This starts out with a hint of leather and green woods, with something light and warm underneath.

 

As the dry-down starts, the scent continues to warm, and I see where people are pulling out the image of a sexy geek in the library. I've been re-watching Angel recently, so the image which pops into my head is of a Wesley Wyndam-Pryce tucked away in his office surrounded by old books. So, you know, not exactly a bad mental picture.

 

15 minutes into wearing: The incense is peaking out. That must have been part of what was warming this up. And I'm getting hints of sweetness, what may well be the tonka. Ummmm.

 

I love this scent. I'm not sure I can wear it that often, because it's a lot more masculine than I normally go for, but I need to at least keep the imp so I can smell it and enjoy the scent associations.

They aren't kidding when they say this oil is thick and very dark. I rolled it rather thoroughly trying to get everything blended well.

 

I was all set to try this out, and then I spilled an imp's worth of the bottle down my skirt because I was careless when I was trying to put it on. And apparently, I had rolled it enough, because what poured out was evenly colored throughout.

 

After a bit of work patting the oil off of my skirt and putting it in the wash, I finally let myself actually concentrate on the scent.

 

People are right when they compare it to well-aged snake oil. I don't get the harshness and the tang that make fresh snake oil unwearable for me. It slips straight into the warm, spiced vanilla goodness that is snake oil after a year or so's worth of sitting. And then there's the chocolate undertone. On me, the chocolate is definitely an undertone, not the main attraction. It sits under the snake oil, warming and sweetening it somewhat, and helping everything set together nicely.

In the imp: Yellow cake batter, with an extra cup or so of sugar poured on overtop. This is very sweet. No wine or honey apparent.

 

On wet: The extra sugar vanishes, and it's just rich yellow cake batter, the scent that rises over the mixer after you've added in the last of the vanilla and flour, and you're just giving it another few turns to make sure that everything is incorporated.

 

Drydown (two hours later): It's still yellow cake batter, but it's softened somewhat, and I'm picking up on a mild spice. So mild of a spice that it doesn't register as spicy, but enough to somewhat shift the flavor of the cake.

 

Unfortunately, this fades down fast, and three hours later, I need to have my nose practically smashed into my wrist to get a faint whiff.

 

In comparison with Eat Me, Eat Me is the scent of baked cakes recently frosted, and lasts longer on me. Cockaigne is cake batter, and fades faster. I'll use up the imp, but I think I prefer Eat Me for the long term.

reconditarmonia, In addition to Maiden, I'd also suggest Alice, White Rabbit, and Mouse's Long and Sad Tale from the Mad Tea Party collection as good summery oils. They're all light florals with something more underpinning them, and they don't get heavy or oppressive the way that resins or spices can feel on me in the summer humidity.

 

I'd also suggest Dragon's Eye in the same vein, as the lilacs make it perfect spring florals on me, with the dragon's blood resin just acting to lightly anchor the scent.

 

Shanghi on me was straight green tea, no citrus or honeysuckle. It works well as a fresh clean scent. Others in that same category include Dirty or Zephyr, though I haven't tried either of those two yet, they're supposed to be very light, more like wearing something that smells like fresh air and clean clothing than wearing an actual perfume.

This was a frimp in my last order.

 

Wet and on, this starts off smelling like fruit punch spiked with port wine. I think that has to be the dragon's blood and wine combining, as dragon's blood tends to go very cherry-fruit on me.

 

After the initial dry-down, the spiked fruit punch fades back, and the rose makes its way forward. It's very definitely a juicy red rose, and the wine and dragon's blood just add a fruity undertone.

 

After a few hours, it fades down to almost nothing, and what I'm getting is a powdery sweetness that might be Blood Rose in its final incarnation, or might just be the tail end of the Lyonnesse that I was wearing before.

 

This is a bit stronger of a rose blend than the other two blends I have (Rose Cross and Harlot), but I'm not as crazy about the dragon's blood as I was about the frankincense or the cinnamon, so I don't think this will end up in heavy rotation.

dagger, I've tried my oils on my mother and my sister, and they tend to smell very similar on all three of us. We just have differences of opinions on certain smells.

Mouse's Long and Sad Tale, which is lovely, warm, and sweet without being overpowering.

Eat Me, for the foody but still light

Velvet, on me goes cocoa powder and sandalwood, warm, soft, and dry

Dorian gets a lot of rave reviews, and was very nice on me, and it's a good intro vanilla scent.

 

I loved Chimera, The Lion, and Haunted from first sniff, but they tend to be more autumnal in scent, and the cinnamon in Chimera is a note that some people have reactions to, so I wouldn't start someone out with it.

 

Morocco tends to get rave reviews from the forum, though I haven't tried it yet.

 

I'd definitely hold off on the Snake Oil, unless you can get someone on the forum to decant you some after it's aged for a year or so, because it really is one of the strong morphers, and smells so much better after it's been sitting for a while.

If that perfume retailer uses alcohol as a base for his/her perfumes, they might be referring to how the alcohol is highly volatile and the heat from friction can cause certain aspects of the perfume to bleed off faster than otherwise.

 

But for the perfume oils, oils are somewhat less volatile than alcohol, so I don't think the slight heat from friction is going to do too much. Not anything more than applying perfume right after a hot bath/shower, or after you've exercised, both of which will also raise your body temperature.

 

If he's talking about oils, he's probably basing the idea off the fact that all oils have long hydrocarbon "tails". Actually, oils will have kinky tails, caused by two or more of the carbons having a double bond, which causes the tail to bend slightly, and thus stay liquid at room temperature. He must be thinking that the rubbing friction will cause the tails to split, changing the nature of the oils. But chemical bonds don't separate out that easily, and shouldn't be harmed by your rubbing in of the oils.

 

If you really are worried, I'd suggest trying a simple experiment. Next time you put on one of your favorite BPALs, just swipe it on lightly, without rubbing, and smell after five minutes or so to see if the dry-down smells any different to you. I'm betting it won't.

The Cat's Meow:

Black Cat

Schrodinger's Cat

Cheshire Cat

Bastet

... and the Mouse's Long Sad Tale

 

This made me giggle like a madwoman.

 

You could also probably add in The Lion.

I wanted to love this one. Really, I did.

 

Wet on skin, it blooms into a quiet rose scent, lightly laced with cinnamon. Counter to all of my expectations, this one starts out demure, lady-like, and almost innocuous. I do like this stage, but it's a very faint skin-scent even on first application. Normally BPAL rose scents waft nicely on me, and cinnamon has always been relatively prominent on me when it's in a blend. And yet the two combined, instead of having a definite presence, seem to diminish each other.

 

And after about an hour, Harlot fades into nothing.

 

I'll keep it around, to see if aging strengthens it at all.

My first two thoughts:

 

Mouse's Sad and Long Tale, for the amber you have listed as a favorite scent, and the general pinkness most people get from Mouse.

 

Persephone, for the fruitiness and warmth.

 

Or in general, I'd just go with whatever scent makes you feel bubbly and cheerful, because that's what that dress seems to call for, really.

In the imp, and on wet, I'm getting a mix of amber and vanilla, with something wet and vaguely generic perfume underneath. That might be the lily, or the musks like hitting me, as florals tend to go generic perfume on me really easily, and I don't have much experience with musks to be able to pick them out.

 

As it settles, it fades into a nice vanilla overlaying a more conventional perfume scent. It's very soft and gentle, and I think it would work nicely for me as an innocuous perfume, one to wear around a workplace, or when I'm going to be interacting with a lot of people I don't know well/don't know their likes and dislikes about scents.

 

I think I'm sort of damning it with faint praise by calling it nice, but that's basically how it turns out on me. Not overly foody, not really floral or aquatic, just light and pleasant and relatively traditional.

 

I'll have to see how it ages, but for right now, it's a like, not a love.

 

Edit

 

Tried this again today, and it's improved so much. It's very much not the golden vanilla/amber scent I think I was picturing originally, which might be why I now like it better, I don't have the disconnect between what I was imagining and what it actually smelled like distracting me.

 

This is vanilla on a rocky beach early in the morning, wreathed in mist. It's all shades of pearly greys and blues, peaceful and a bit wistful. The generic perfume smell is gone completely.

First one of my new imps. I know I should wait a bit and let the oil settle after traveling, but I'm being impatient and in need of instant gratification.

 

Opening the vial, and on wet: This smells like making chocolate cookies, the stage where you start adding in the cocoa powder and the blades on the mixer send some of it up to float in the air. It's a very dry cocoa powder scent. I'm already in love.

 

Drying down a little (3-5 minutes on): The woods are coming out more, and the cocoa powder has settled back down to earth, like a light dusting over a sandalwood table. Not bad.

 

And that second stage is what's staying around. I'm not finding much at all in the way of vanilla here. Not great at picking up myrrh, but that's probably what's sticking with the sandalwood and providing the base for the cocoa.

In honor of the new movie, I pulled out Alice today, even if it really is a bit too cold outside for me to normally want to wear this scent.

On me, it starts out a spicy carnation with a touch of smooth creaminess underneath, softening out the edges of the carnation.

After it's on for a while, a hint of the rose will emerge, but it stays light. The honey and bergamot never show up on their own for me, but the honey is probably adding to the creaminess of the milk.

This is a light scent, and it's not one of the ones that I can make last all day. It's perfectly suited to warm spring and summer days, as it stays light, fresh, and not overpowering at all.

I bought this one as a combined Christmas present for my brother and myself. He hadn't been sleeping well, and he hated how sleeping pills made him feel, especially if he couldn't fall asleep with them, as he then felt incredibly loopy for eight hours.

 

Unfortunately for him, TKO doesn't send either one of us to sleep. It just makes not being asleep smell fantastic.

 

To begin with, it blooms very lavender. I don't normally think of lavender as harsh, but this edges towards it at first, especially when I bring my wrist up towards my nose to smell. From a little distance, it begins to sweeten out with the vanilla sugar.

 

After a short amount of time, the lavender and the vanilla sugar blend into this amazing, softly sweet scent. And that beautiful second stage lasts forever, and smells wonderful.

 

I love this scent, but as just that, a perfume. I could wish it were more effective as a sedative for my brother.

The Lion is the scent that made me realize I loved amber.

 

This is a beautiful warm scent, sweet and spicy without ever becoming pungent on me. Definitely one of my favorite scents to wear throughout the cold season, because it makes me feel warm and cozy whenever I wear it.

 

Sadly, I hadn't realized how often I was wearing it, because I'm almost out of my imp! I've still got Haunted, though, which is, on me, a virtual twin of the Lion, so I don't need to immediately rush out and get another imp.

Frimp in my latest order.

 

On me, for the first ten minutes or so, this is incredibly noxious. I'm guessing that's the vetiver, and it definitely does not like me. The first time I tried this on, I was wondering if I was going to need to go wash the oil off, something I've only done with two other oils before.

 

Luckily for me, the wet stage passes quickly, and the vetiver goes away and doesn't come back. What does stay is a very light rose, with a juicy-green water smell, which is probably the cactus flower.

 

Dry-down is okay, but nothing spectacular for me. I think, as far as a green rose, I'd do better going for Two, Five, and Seven, which skips the vetiver stage and produces a stronger bloom on me.

Tombstone was pure rootbeer on me as well, and I think it would work well for a boy. White Rabbit's already been suggested, and that was very gender neutral on me as well, with a peppery kick to clean linen scent.

 

The Lion and Haunted both worked nicely for me as amber/spice, not overwhelmingly heavy, and relatively gender neutral, though they might be a bit old for young boys.

 

My other suggestion would be to look for some of the more gruesome sounding names, because from what I remember of boys of that age, the grosser it sounded, the better.

 

For young people and boys, I also tend to think about green scents and citrus notes, so you might look for scents along those lines. They're not my forte, so I'll leave recs to those better at it than myself.

*grins*

 

I've worn this about three times, and I can tell it's going to be one of my "I'm having fun" perfumes. Great to wear when you're just going to be hanging out with friends, and so on.

 

The first half-hour or so is a very straight root-beer scent, which must be the sassafras kicking in. After a while the vanilla shows up and somewhat mutes/modifies the root beer. It goes from straight root beer, through to vanilla-flavored root beer, and then the vanilla dominates, and I get mostly vanilla, but with a fun background note of that sassafras.

 

The basalm and ceder never show up to my nose.

You're so right. I was hesitant to say what I've liked in the past because I'm open to pretty much anything. As long as it's not too heavy. So far my favorite is Bewitched.

 

So, looking at the scent description and the reviews, that one was a more fruity/herbal scent? I would suggest looking through the berries rec thread here.

 

I'm not seeing a more herbal rec thread, but one I've often heard recced as being somewhat herbal is Aeval: A judicious yet powerfully sensual blend, a mingling of justice and sexuality: sage, sweet pea, bold pale musk and warm tonka. I haven't tried it myself yet, but it's gotten good reviews, and it has the same sage note in it that Bewitched has.

 

Tonka and Vanilla smell very similar, and both tend to be good sexy/sensuous notes for a lot of people, so you might also look there. And avoiding scents that list patcholi, nag champa, or dragon's blood will probably help you skip the headshop scent.

Automatic rec number 1: O. Amber and honey with a touch of vanilla. On me, it's a sweet warm scent, but not overly heavy. And it's a scent I've seen recced a lot on the board for being seductive.

 

For anything else that you might like, I'd want to know more about what notes/scents you like. Because in my experience, what makes a scent sexy is that you personally like it and feel attractive wearing it, and that attitude transmits itself very clearly to all around you. So for me, my all-time "I smell good" scent is Chimera, which is warm and spicy-sweet. Not as classically sexy as some others, but it works well on me.

Oh, this is just lovely.

 

I've been trying out a few different rose scents since I first came to BPAL. With this last imp pack, I was debating between this and Harlot, and ended up switching to this one in the last minute.

 

...That was a very smart decision on the part of my gut. Really, I should have tried this one out a year or so ago, given how much of a church girl I am.

 

At first it blooms very strongly rose, almost single-note rose for a half hour or so. That seems to be standard for me and rose blends, as both Marie and Two, Five, and Seven did so as well. But while Two, Five, and Seven dried down to include a very green/grapey note as well, and Marie muted down almost entirely, this just softens, and adds in the woody incense note that I loved from the rare times we'd pull out the thurifer at church.

 

My one complaint is that the rose dies back a bit more than I'd want when it's on my skin. I'll have to try a bit on my hair as well, to see if that will keep the rose stronger longer.

 

Unless something else from my new pack knocks this out of the running, I know what I'm wearing Christmas Eve!