rix

I think I’m going to go with imps, and decide from there.  Thanks all!

So I'm stuck.  Trying to decide on an order and I'm finding myself hopelessly stuck between 2.  I love salty, beachy scents and I'm looking at Halite Phoenix and My Country.  I've read the reviews repeatedly, and every time I think I've decided, I read another review and change my mind!  So I decided to throw it out to BPALers and see who can give me the best reason to buy one or the other.  Anyone?

Wow, I’m so jealous of all these reviewers who are getting the dusty rose oudh from this!  On me?  Maple syrup.  Strong, cloying maple syrup.  Think it maaaybeee lasted 4 minutes before I had to scrub it off.  Just really unpleasant.  So sad, I wanted to love this but no go.

Fizzy citrus that immediately made me smile.

Light and uplifting, this will be great on hot, sweaty days or on gray, dragging days. I’ve only had it on for 5 minutes but I think I might need a bottle.

Thirding the rec of Sea of Glass-how can you not love sitting on the beach in a bower of lilies? Next, I’d choose either Obatala, cool coconut summer goodness, instantly refreshing in the heat, or Imp, every time I put it on I go nuts, I remember how wonderful it is and decide I’m only wearing it from now on!

Hope that helps! But these refs are probably just going to make you order more, More, MORE!

Wow, this is some STRONG cinnamon!

A few months ago, I received an imp of Silk Road in a package from the Lab. I was surprised, and I loved it. Hoped that meant it was coming back, but figured it was a lost one found in a drawer. Next thing I know, Silk Road Resurrected was announced, and of course I ordered immediately.

This is not the same, because of that strong cinnamon, which is a note I hate. Underneath, it smells similar, but I can’t handle the spice, it’s overwhelming, not really allowing any of the other notes to show their stuff. For the short time I wore it, the cinnamon didn’t settle down. Ended up having to scrub it off. I may put it away to age, or I may swap it away. Oh well.

Yes! Citrus-mint-snow, I thought Id hate it. Refreshing yet mysterious, it doesnt quite smell familiar, yet individual notes keep popping out. A little ozone, a little fresh laundry, strong at first mint, lemon underlying...I love it. You guys give the best frimps!

2018 version. I get a touch of cedar with an airy powdery floral on top. Was hoping for some lilac realness, but got gentle powder instead. Oh well.

Don't forget The Forest Reverie! That's the one that convinced me I love opium scents.

I'm sure it says something about me on some deep level that, when I think of perfume, I think of sex. I've always been drawn to scents that give me that musky, spicy, salty, tangled in the bedclothes slink. So naturally, one of the first BPAL categories I was drawn to was Ars Amatoria. But what scents do all of you find sexy? The scents that end up in tearing off the lingerie, right here, right now lust?

Bathsheba is a big hit of sexy to me, as was Spellbound. Lately, Ravenous and Hunger have been calling to me (even though Ravenous the name immediately makes me think of that awful movie about cannibals in the Old West!). Rapture, Whip and Scherezade are demanding attention, too. Uh-uh, I think I see an imp order coming! Thought I have to say, I smelled Gucci's Guilty Black and the only thing I could say was "That smells like sex." I've been afraid to sample it again, because there is no way it could smell THAT GOOD!

So what notes or combinations have you found that really put you in lust?

Gee, everybody else gets a beautiful scent and I get...honey incense burning in a headshop. Why oh why? Banished to the swap list!

I love coconut! Try Obatala for coconut goodness!

I love fig, so was reading over this thread from the beginning and now I'm just stuck on the word "fig". You know how you keep repeating a word and it just loses meaning and becomes a strange sound? Fig. Fig. Fig fig fig fig! Of course, it is 2:10 a.m., and I'm just...figged.

Hey, thanks for the help, guys! I appreciate it. So I started listing, not just the 5 bottles I want, but the the 9 bottles I actually own, to see if I could isolate some notes I like. At first I thought it seemed like I like blends that are 3-5 ingredients, strong and simple, like Aristocratic Couple, The Wet Nurse and the Old Monk, and Our Hearts Condemn Us. But then I noticed the ringers, the complicated ones, with 6-12 individual notes, like June 23,1868, Serpents with Glittering Eyes and Forky Tongues, and Sol Invictus 2000. (2000? Am I reading that right?!!? It was one of the first bottles I bought.) 6-12 different notes- florals, fruits, woods, spices and incense. And there's still not much in common between them:

2 Frankincense 3 Lilies

2 Musks 3 Sandalwoods

2 Champaca 3 Vanillas

2 Orange Blossoms

So this is surprising! I LOVE vanilla and coconut, but only have 3 and 1, respectively, and I don't find any of the vanillas to be particularly strong, not that I'd notice it. I've always liked woods and incense, so that's not new, but I didn't know I liked lilies so much, or orange blossoms at all. I've always liked fruit, peach and apricot especially, but while I loved it in Aristocratic Couple, I hated in in Depraved. I like sandalwood, I like rose, and I like patchouli, but Rakshasa just did not work, and that's the only 3 notes in it. I'm not even sure what champaca is, (some kind of incense-y wood?) but I seem to like it!

Going by the numbers, 9-5 in favor of the simpler blends, I think Paramatman is my perfect scent, since it only has 3 notes (Orange Blossom, Sandalwood, and Champaca), and all 3 are on the recurring list. It did blow me away at first scent, so, maybe.

So I guess I'm going to be staying up late, making notes on ...notes!

Oh, for completists...the other 3 bottles I own are Ask the Nearest Hippie, A Forest Reverie and In Templum Dei, which at least are consistent in having a hemp/cannabis head shoppy scent, opium smoke and smoky liquidambar. My Evil Twin must be a pothead!

Sonnet 2015

I like the opening burst of leaves. Not as overpowering as some of the other Dead Leaves this year, not as dead, either! Seem to have a little moisture, makes it softer. But after that...? No real development from that, and then gone completely in less than 10 minutes. I had high hopes upon smelling the opening, but no luck. Off to swaps with you.

This is a really interesting topic, and it started me thinking. (Uh-oh). I'm a real computer idiot, can't to spreadsheets and things like that, but I broke my wish lists down into 4. Things I want to try, things I've tried and was OK with, things I've tried and hated, and things I've tried and loved. Only 5 scents have made it onto my Need a Bottle list: Bathsheba, Uruk, Obatala, Sea of Glass, and Paramatman. And that's the problem! They seem to have absolutely nothing in common! Does anybody see something I'm missing? I'm just baffled!

(I'd add the descriptions, but that's computer magic that's beyond me. Off the cuff, what I remember is:

Bathsheba-Carnation, plum and musk

Uruk-Almonds, saffron and jasmine

Obatala-Coconut meat, shea butter, and fresh water

Sea of Glass-no notes listed, but I get Lilies

Paramatman-Orange blossom, sandalwood and champaca

This smells exactly like Pepperidge Farm Santa Cruz oatmeal raisin soft cookies. A gorgeous and evocative scent, but not something I want to wear.

Pine. Wet pine. Then...candy? Yes, candy-coated marshmallows (do those exist?) An hour later, it's strawberry.

What a weird series of changes! But I kinda like it. Just have to decide if it's what I want on my skin on a regular basis. So far, a definite maybe.

Sometimes I use Q-Tips,(for ones that maybe need a little more product), but lately I've been using plastic toothpicks. For some reason, I have a jar of plastic toothpicks-don't know how or why they ended up in my kitchen. But they are all different colors, so I can color code the bottles. ( i have a terrible habit of leaving the toothpick on the shelf where I keep my perfumes, but the color reminds my what I've been wearing)

I love the scent of Casablanca Lilies.

It's listed as a note in OLLA's June 23,1886. I just got a bottle of that yesterday, it smells like a gorgeous floral, but I'm not (yet) getting my beloved Casablancas. I'm hoping time (whether in dry down on my skin, or aging the bottle as a whole), will bring it out. In the meantime, I got to noticing that it's not listed anywhere else in the Lab, and wondered why.

Any suggestions for scents that come close to Casablancas?

I remember a candle by the name of "Saltmist Rose" that I adored. Always wanted that ozoney, beachy rose in a perfume. That same (unknown, but I want to say it was Yankee Candle from decades ago) company did a "Beach Plum" candle that I also loved.

Got this frimped, smells interesting in the vial.

Musk. Musk, musk, musk and--hazelnut? A hazelnut that starts going maple syrup, and doesn't go away. I HATE hazelnut!

This is going in the swaps pile.