The Amber Dawn

Can someone post pics of the BOX OF CHOCOLATES (new ones)? Thanks.

Miss Twilight has them on her Flickr.

Milk Chocolate, Raw Ginger, and Butterscotch

White Chocolate, Mango, Buttercream

Milk Chocolate, Cassia, and Bacon

Dark Chocolate, Lime, and Chocolate Mint

Dark Chocolate, Fig, and Tamarind

White Chocolate Martini

I've loved all of the Rappaccini's Apiary scents that I've tried (Daphne, Deadly Nightshade, Yellow Jessamine, Tobacco).

 

And I'm surprised not to see more love for Door in this thread. On my skin it's an incredibly rich, huffworthy golden honey made just a bit austere by the addition of the herbals -- nicotiana, blue cistus, chamomile. Mr. Mirasol refers to it as a "fancy" smell when it's wet, and when it's dry he just finds reasons to nuzzle me.

Actually I'm surprised now that you mention it, that I haven't professed my love for Door here. I sure have in every other thread it seems.

Well here's a snippet of what I had to say about Door in the hidden treasures thread:

Even though she's got positive reviews overall, she's never been posted [in the hidden treasures thread] and for me Door is just absolutely perfect and beautiful in every way.

 

Sometimes I find it hard to test out new scents when they arrive, because I would rather be wearing Door.

 

Whenever I do find another scent-love, and I begin to think,

 

"Maybe Door isn't as good as I remember. Maybe it's changed. Maybe I don't really like it as much as I think I do."

 

I try her on again, and fall in love all over.

 

She is my signature scent, the only BPAL my SO can recognize by sniff, and everything else is just for the sake of exploration, and variety (which she tolerates, as long as I always come back to her).

I'm a relative newbie to BPAL (just sent off my second order) but the first scent I fell in love with was Gluttony and I'm looking for something to replace it now that it's been discontinued.

Not a specific scent recommendation, but Lupercalia is coming soon, and there is a history of sweet, chocolate-centric scents being released, so something in the next update may just do it for you. For example, year before last they had one called "Dark Chocolate and Pepper-Smoked Caramel".

Other than that, maybe Anne Beany? (Forum Only, discontinued, you'd have to find it in the Sales or Swaps forum.) I haven't actually tried it, but it sounds very sweet and somewhat similar. The notes are: Rum cheesecake with a hardtack crust, topped with rum ice cream and a drizzle of butterscotch topping.

I was wondering, recently there are these new honey scents in the rapaccini's garden, and I was wondering, what are the differences...

Can someone give any recomendations as to what to order...

I've heard that the Chesnut Honey is very nutty, but, what if one is looking for something smokey, fruity or floral?

Tobacco Honey is pretty much what it says on the tin to me.

Deadly Nightshade Honey is almost a dead ringer for Door, or was when I first tested it.

Black Hellebore Honey if I recall correctly is very green.

Those are the only one's I've tried so far.

Mouse's Long and Sad Tale for Christmas Eve.

The First of the Three Spirits for Christmas morning.

Not sure what I'm going to wear for Christmas dinner.

I actually HATED patchouli until I tried Banshee Beat It taught me that I should try everything because you never know!

Oooh that's good to know! Now to get a hold of some. (That and all the other ridiculously impossible to get ahold of vanillas.)

I've been pretty good about trying everything that comes my way at least once. Some of them are so disastrous, but some really do surprise me.

My vanilla favorites are Love's Philosophy, Mouse's Long and Sad Tale, Dorian, Snake Oil, Joyful Moon, Cake Smash, Hellhound on my Trail, CC:Female, Morocco, Antique Lace, and Under the Harvest Moon (which doesn't read vanilla on my skin at all but is beautiful nonetheless).

 

I recently was super disappointed with The First of the Three Spirits- it lists "voluminous vanilla" as a component, but on my wacky skin there was none to be found.

 

I personally find three types of vanillas (at least)- the "creamy" Snake Oil/Tombstone/Hellhound/CC: Female/Love's Philosophy kind, the "sugary" Antique Lace/Dorian kind, and the more "watery/aquatic" type like Sachs/Lyonesse/Pink Snowballs.

Yeah alot of the one's you listed that I haven't tried yet are on my eventual wishlist.

Though of course they are rarer ones. I also really want to try The First of the Three Spirits, even though all the reviews say there is little actual vanilla that comes through.

But I definitely do love alot of the foodie-sweet scents like Cake Smash, Boo, that may or may not have vanilla, but are close.

I would also second VioletFemme's suggestion of Banshee Beat, which I find the strongest and most rich of the vanillas, on my skin. For me, a lot of times the vanilla doesn't get a solo until much later, after the other scents have burned away (e.g. Black Lace smells tobacco-y/boozy with a bit of vanilla at the beginning but at the end of the day or sometimes the next day, there's this amazing vanilla scent that lingers).

 

Also, if you're hunting down rares, XCDL13 is very vanilla to me as well

I am interested in Banshee Beat, but the patchouli worries me... I don't know if it works on me.

I know I love Vanilla, I've always loved Vanilla, but I am having such a hard time finding the perfect one!

So far I've tried Mouse's Long and Sad Tale, White Rabbit, Gluttony, Dorian, Bow & Crown of Conquest, Wezwanie/Hold, Haloes, Lyonesse, Hollywood Babylon, Defututa, Her Voice, The Antikythera Mechanism, Inez, The Illustrated Woman, Thirteen (13): November 2009, Black Heart, Unveiled, Ü, Narkissos, Clockwork Couture: Female, Gypsy, Rosy Maple, Tombeur, Calaveras, Candy Corn Coated Candy Apple, Dragon's Milk, Velvet, Mata Hari, Blood Kiss, Peitho, Euphrosyne, Tamora, Le Serpent Qui Danse, and Snake Oil.

I've got Black Lace and Terpsichore but haven't tried them yet, and Sachs and Eat Me are in the mail.

The ones that were close (but not THE ONE) so far were Mouse's Long and Sad Tale, White Rabbit, Dorian, Lyonesse, Tombeur, Calaveras, and Dragon's Milk.

Is my chemistry just not playing nice? Am I doomed to be perfect-Vanilla-scent-less?

Amber Dawn, you might like Against Idleness and Mischief, maybe. I can't speak to its similarity to Door because Door was all cistus on me, ack, but Against Idleness is wonderful honey and chamomile with tonka, which is apparently kind of like vanilla. (Vanilla doesn't work on me either - too sweet - so this may not be helpful.)

 

Then again, depending on what other notes you don't mind having in it, there are a couple of milk'n'honey blends with other things in, I think - like Alice of Dawn: Maiden, which have rose, carnation, blah blah blah.

Thank you very much for your input! Any help is much appreciated.

I've tried Against Idleness and Mischief with mostly positive results (having a disheartening time trying to figure out what I like because just when I think I've got it sorted, my skin chemistry/diet/hormones/what have you throw a wrench in things! I fall in and out of love with scents daily it seems...). Dawn: Maiden... Let's just say I can't trust my skin so I'll be trying it again, but the first go was not good (which broke my heart!). Alice was interesting, but SO wasn't impressed..

Hmmm. The search continues...

I've been wondering this for a while, and I figure I'll just see if any of you know.

Is there something like Door, but sweeter, like with Vanilla (or/Milk/Cream/Sugar)?

I've tried Deadly Nightshade Honey and Mead Moon, which are dead ringers for Door. I've tried Tobacco Honey which is the bitter side of Door. Now I'd like to add some vanilla/sweetness, if it's out there.

Is there anything like that?

I haven't done a side-by-side, but I just tried Velvet today, and it smells surprisingly similar to Boo 2010 to me.

Okay, found some notes for L'air du Temps:

The floral-spicy note of the carnation is in centre of its composition. Bergamot and rosewood support the development of the carnation theme, refined with the notes of rose and jasmine. Violet and iris give a powdery nuance, and create a harmony with the woodsy notes of cedar and sandal, while sensual musk and amber add the final feminine accord to the composition.

Any suggestions?

Ah! I tried keeping my own spreadsheet, but I kept forgetting to update it, haha. Scentbase is just easier for me. And I agree about the new Price Cap Database. It also makes it really easy to quickly look up reviews for a scent because each category is in alphabetical order (I especially like using it for LEs ). I guess that doesn't really relate to keeping track of what I've tried, but it sure does help me figure out what I want to try much more quickly than searching through all the pages of reviews for one scent.

I may keep my internet browser open at all times, with the first two tabs being Hackess, and my spreadsheet.

Obsessed? Heaven forbid. I.. I just need them. Always. Why bother closing them when I'll just need them again, every second of the day?

(I'm pretty proud actually, I've just passed the 250 mark and I'm still keeping it nice and current.)

And YES OMG. For real, finding reviews before the Price Cap Database was a HUGE pain in the patoot. This way is much improved.

I've seen Scentbase, and I'm just too OCD to use it.

I like Hackess's spreadsheet for seeing all the different BPAL scents in one easy-to-navigate spreadsheet, but I like using Scentbase to keep track of everything I've tried and what I thought of it, without having to go back and find my reviews. Also, I haven't reviewed all the scents I've tried, so having that Scentbase list really is a lifesaver. It keeps my constantly-expanding collection organized, haha.

Ah, yes I was replying to tinytiki's question on search.

For keeping track of what I've tried, I keep my own spreadsheet.

So far, I chart scents in terms of:

How many/much I have. (Inventory.)

My rating

1 = Swap.

2 = Test again.

3 = Okay, but not chained to. Maybe keep, maybe not. Test before swapping.

4 = Like! May want more. Keep what I have unless swapping for something better.

5 = LOVE. Actively searching for more. Bottles are imminent. (I try to keep 4's and 5's under 20.)

Scent name. (Self explanatory.)

Status. (Do I still have it? Have I swapped it away? Or do I have it set aside for somebody?)

Incoming. (If I have any coming to me in the mail, how much, and from whom.)

Catagory. (Very loose, LE/GC/DC/Event/Etc just to help me at a glance.)

Also, all scents are color coded by rating, or incoming status. That way I can scroll my list and see what I have in my box that I haven't tried yet. Or easily see what else I'm still waiting on.

I also like being able to sort by rating, alphabetically, catagorically, or by swappers/sellers name. Of course, when I get frimps, I have to check them against my original purchase list, so they can be entered into the sheet.

If I need to know more specifics though, I look it up in Hackess.

For pricing and DC status though I really like the new Price Cap Database.

I prefer Hackess's spreadsheet. Ctrl-F for search, perfect for notes and perfumes. I use Google Docs to open.

Double post to (maybe) be more helpful...

 

Created by Jacqueline Cochran of PPI, a fresh floral-fruity and woody parfum with top notes of French marigold and lily of the valley, heart notes of ylang-ylang, tuberose, jasmine, vetiver and patchouli, on base notes of moss, sandalwood, amber and musk

 

From: Here

 

Now, the description shows up on this site next to the perfume named Niki de Saint-Phalle, which Jacqueline Cochran did not create. The smell seemed similar so I hope it helps

Hmmm! That does sound sort of like what the reviewer described.... Seems weird how little info there is on this scent. It's listed everywhere, but only as discontinued! Arg.

As for the 92$ perfume, I think I'll hold off and get her something else, as that is well above my pay-grade.

I'll have to check the BPAL catalogue for some of those notes though, and see if I can come up with something...

For the Cie, and this is totally just a guess, maybe she could try Sunflower from the Salon. Notes are: "Sunflower bouquet, black amber, creeping black moss, wilted greenery, and scorched, dry stems". When I wear it, the flowers are the strongest note, followed by the moss, and there's little if anything scorched that I can detect. I don't wear florals much but I thought it could be worth a shot if you happened across a sample.

Hmm, I'll definitely keep an eye out for that one.. I don't know much about florals either, and without a note list I'm kind of stumped.

Alright, I am hoping someone knows this one!

I am looking for a BPAL alternative to Cie by Jacqueline Cochran, released by Shulton (link one, two, and three). It was my mothers favourite perfume when she was 19 but it has been long since discontinued, and she would absolutely flip if I could find a replacement. Can't find notes, but it's described as a floral blend... EDIT: I found a review of Cie which describes the scent as "an Aldehydic Floral with a full white floral heart and mossy, Chypre elements. It's very elegant, understated, yet rich and voluptuous, sweetly golden-honeyed as well as fresh, woodsy and green. It's totally multifaceted, full of sunshine, warm, soft, natural and intelligently blended."

Barring that, her second favourite perfume is L'Air Du Temps by Nina Ricci, which is a spicy floral blend, once again I don't know the notes. Are there any BPAL that are similar to that?

Basically these are her two previous favourites, so I want to find her some similar scents, and anything in that similar scent vein is welcome! I want to surprise her as part of her Christmas presents.

EDIT: Oh and as a note, she's only tried Silenti, but she likes it, and wants something similar but lighter.

Thank you very much in advance!!

What BPAL blends have a honey note similar to that in Burt's Bees Thoroughly Therapeutic products? (in particular the honey in the body butter)

To me, Obatala smells exactly like the Thoroughly Therapeutic Hand Cream, I've never tried the body butter though, so I'm not sure if it's an exact match for you.

So, I am sitting here adding items to my cart, and I am on the Lab's site reading through every description of every scent looking for vanilla/sugar and violet.

That is all I want to smell like.

...

Does this scent even exist? LOL

Have you tried Le Serpent Qui Danse yet? I was definitely pleasantly surprised by this one!