styro

So many of the scents described as "dark" or "evil" don't feel that way at all to me: Nephilim was one of the first that I found genuinely unsettling (while still appealing, in a mood-evocative way). It makes me think of cold stone and corrupted spirituality--a real Jacobean-tragedy scent.

If you can carry off a heady floral, I'll add Midnight to the suggestions you've received above: it's very retro-glamorous to my nose (think Veronica Lake).

I second the recommendation for Eat Me. Much to my dismay, Snake Oil doesn't work with my chemistry at all. Eat Me is what I wanted Snake Oil to smell like on me.

I prefer Eat Me as well: to my nose, it's as if someone took a drop of Snake Oil and enrobed it in fruity vanilla goodness. On my skin, Eat Me layered with Snake Oil is more like what I expected from Snake Oil than Snake Oil alone.

I'm looking for a scent that is green, but not pine-green or woody-green, more like fresh flower stems green, with some floral notes

Kitsune-Tsuki comes to mind--to my nose, it's yellow-green and springlike, with a fresh, plant-y, nectar-y vibe to it.

Best of luck!

For a scent that combines your two loves, check out Lampades: to my nose, it's a cranberry version of Scherezade.

Can anyone recommend any other foody scents that don't have this effect!

Try Eat Me--it's a perfume-y foody scent rather than a buttery one. (Just don't confuse it with Drink Me, which I believe also contains your problem note.)

Do any BPALers have anecdotes/info/suggestions to offer regarding eye irritation that may be related to certain notes?

I've been reading back through this thread and have seen Czernobog, Midnight, Snake Oil, and Tears/Hurricane/Lightning mentioned as oils that have made their wearers' eyes water and/or redden. Personally, I recently had a reaction to the TAL oil Hand of Hermes that took a couple of days to subside (though I should mention that my eyes are extremely sensitive right now due to various non-scent-related issues).

Are there any other scents that BPALers with easily-irritated eyes (e.g., dry, allergic, contact-lens-wearing) have found problematic? Are there any specific notes that you find you consistently have to watch out for? Or are there just certain days or times of year that you find you have to stick with uber-light scents?

Are there any strategies you've discovered for alleviating scent-related eye irritation, e.g., does keeping the oil on your wrists and away from your cleavage/throat help?

Thanks in advance for any info or suggestions!

Now I'm afraid to try other blends with cinnamon, including my beloved Tintagel, which, so far, has caused no problems.

I react to many of the cinnamon blends as well--no huge welts or anything, usually just a more or less obvious reddening of the skin--but so far I've never had a problem with Tintagel (knock wood).

Maybe I'm just overly literal... but I bifurcate the incense/resin conundrum (oooh, look at those big words! I've had wine and I'm trying to compensate for my resulting stupid) along tactile/sensory lines:

 

Incense - airy, smokey, dry

Resin - rich, sticky, wet

 

And that probably only makes sense to me.

 

In my scheme, something like Al-Azif would be an incense; things like Sloth or Jacob's Ladder would be resins.

No, that does make sense and it would certainly simplify things imagistically to focus on the idea of a resin in its "sappier" state. And that would explain why Jacob's Ladder keeps coming up as a favourite in the "resin" scent family: besides being a lovely scent, it really exemplifies that idea of rich wetness.

I'm going to have to go back and re-sniff some of my favourites--those that fall into the confusing centre of the resin/incense/spicy/woody Venn diagram--and really pay attention to what I'm smelling and what the dominant notes are to my nose.

I'm so glad to see this thread pop up! I ran into a bit of incense/resin confusion myself just yesterday while reading the favorite scents by scent family thread and trying to figure out my own.

In a case where the scent description doesn't include any helpful "incense" or "resin" keywords, and the notes involved are resins that can be used in incense...how do you decide whether a scent is "resiny" or "incensy"? Do you go by the "feel" of the scent (e.g. brighter/more translucent vs. smokier/more solid)?

To return to TroubleDoll's original question...

I love earthy, second-skin scents. I love warmth and mystery, like a room full of heavy drapes, golden light and dripping candles. (I hope that makes sense, I am very visual) I also like churchy scents.

I'll second the rec for Aureus, then. I haven't tried it myself, but if you check out the reviews of it, you'll find that they draw on exactly the imagery you're using here.

I just wanted to pop back into this thread briefly to thank everyone again for their suggestions: along with the better-known scents recced here, there were definitely some I hadn't considered before (most notably, Morgause among the women's scents and Jabberwocky among the men's).

I've been reading back into previous enabling suggestions now that this thread has been merged (thanks, mods!): I see Queen Mab comes up a lot, and from my own experience so far, I suspect that's going to be another scent with good crossover appeal.

I'll just add that my friends and I recently tried the fabled Snake Charmer, and it was nice on two out of four of us...but the real hit of the evening? Frumious Bandersnatch, which smelled fabulous on everyone.

Go figure. :-)

If your friends find Alice too sweet, perhaps their tastes tend to run to what are often called "perfumey" blends? Something like Zorya, for instance.

I only think of one of us as being able to wear the more traditionally "perfumey" blends...but I've learned never to say "never" with BPAL, so I'll investigate that, thanks!

Just to clarify, the three friends with whom I've been having BPAL parties for the past year have all been well and truly enabled--I've heard the "one out of three" rule cited as a reasonable expectation of success when just starting out with BPAL, and in practice, all but a few misfit scents have worked for at least one out of the four of us; I've just often been surprised, in the process, by which oils succeed with more than one of us and which ones strike out completely...so I'm trying to learn from that so as to better enable other friends in future. :-)

I've enabled probably the most with Dorian, which you've said hasn't worked out so well for you, so let me list a few less traditional ones that seem to appeal to a lot of people.

 

1. Jailbait-- I usually have to put it on me and let them sniff it on me to really catch them. I think it's the novelty of the way the scent develops. I've had a few people turn out to really love it.

Actually, Dorian's done pretty well, so far--I've enabled a couple of folks outside my regular group with that one.

Your point about Jailbait is excellent--there should definitely be at least one "morpher" in the enabling kit! Thanks!

Oddly enough, the two enabling scents that launched interest among a group of local women were Dana O'Shee and Satyr. I am not making this up. Those two IMHO show the contrast or extremes of BPAL. One of my friends ordered immediately after that -- and neither of those scents either, which says a lot.

 

A good rule of thumb, I'd say have a couple of light scents, a couple of spicy scents, a couple of dark scents, a couple of florals (rose and jasmine), a fruity, one with dragon's blood, and a foody. There will be overlap. I would also have what I consider the Lab's signature scents at hand -- Black Phoenix, O, Snake Oil, Dana O'Shee. YMMV. [...]

 

Oh, and LE? I'd have to say Snake Charmer. Hands down.

Satyr? Oh, my! I see what you mean about demonstrating the extremes, though, and I do think having a variety is necessary; I've just been wondering *how* to divvy everything up--I'll think about what I would slot into those suggested categories.

It's interesting to see so many recommendations for Snake Charmer as an LE--I may have a chance to sniff that one tomorrow and now I'm really looking forward to it!

Thanks, everyone for your suggestions--I'll definitely be checking them out! (And now I find myself very curious about Shub--oh dear, that's not going to be good for my sanity, is it?)

Everyone that I've ever tried to enable has absolutely adored Snow White. So that would be my one pick LE, if I had to pick one.

 

For the General Catalogue... Antique Lace, Dorian, Snake Oil, and Alice always seem to be really popular. Velvet is another one that a lot of newbies seem attracted to.

See, these are more of those "BPAL stars" with which I've had surprisingly disappointing results: I've tried Snow White on six very different people and it's worked on none of them. The same goes for Alice (everyone who's tried it has found it too sweet) and Velvet (reactions ranged from "meh" to "poopy"). Dorian's the exception: I've enabled two people (besides myself!) with it so far.

I'm beginning to think my friends and I must have very odd skin chemistry.

With women, I just keep tossing stuff at them until I find something they like

Hee! I suppose that's the BPAL equivalent of men's and women's different shopping styles--you have to grab most guys within the first few scents, or else they'll lose interest and wander away? Whereas women are more willing to browse...and browse, and browse? :-)

I'm curious as to which scents BPALers have found to be the most consistently successful for enabling.

I'm not talking about your personal favourite scents: I'm talking about the tried-and-true scents that you find yourself reaching for when you want to introduce someone to BPAL (someone who perhaps has no idea of their own scent preferences)--the scents that you've found to have the widest crossover appeal.

Over the past year, I've tried scents with a group of friends that includes a foody-scent-lover, a rosy/spicy-scent-lover and a clean/fresh-scent-lover. Often, the Lab's most popular scents (e.g. Snake Oil or Antique Lace) will appeal strongly to one of us, but not to the rest; only rarely has a scent appealed to all four (or even three out of four) of us. So far, Bordello leads the list of scents that I've found to have good crossover appeal; then Dublin, Empyreal Mist, (non-minty) Hamadryad, and Morocco; then Bewitched, Dorian, Dragon's Milk, Lampades, and Xiuhtecuhtli.

I've been keeping an eye out in the recs threads for scents described as best-bet enablers with wide appeal, but the only one I've seen mentioned as such is Prague.

So here's my question to experienced enablers: if I were trying to put together an "all-purpose enabling box" of a dozen BPAL general-catalogue imps--plus one LE scent just to introduce the concept of an LE--what would you recommend putting in it?

ETA: I'm specifying a dozen as a maximum because I've found that that's a good non-overwhelming number of scents for a newbie's first session--and I'm looking for GC scents because I'd like them to be as accessible as possible to my hypothetical newbie, should she find herself hooked.

(Note: I've been enabling both sexes lately, so I'd be interested to hear what you'd put in either a "men's enabling box," a "women's enabling box," or both.)

I threw things as varried as Underpants, Annabel Lee and Yog Soggoth at him and they smell the same??!! [...] Then I thought that maybe they weren't perfumey enough so I tried the more perfumey scents and even the ROSE of Peacock Queen but nothing seemed to take.

 

At some point, (I think when I threw out Gingerbread Poppet) I called bullshit and he said well no, that they didn't quite smell the same BUT that they all were fundamentally similar, claiming to smell an alcohol base???

I agree with what's been said so far about scent fatigue and the importance of trying the oils on the skin. I've found that twelve scents on the skin at one time is a manageable number for someone new to BPAL (wrists, forearms, and elbows, on the inside and outside of both arms) and for "palate-clearing" purposes, it helps to keep some ground coffee beans on hand for them to sniff between trying different scents. Psychologically, it also seems helpful to mark the different swipe-spots on the skin with either numbers or the initials of the scents being tried: it lets people put a mental handle on the scents, e.g., "Oh yes, I'm really liking 3 better than 4."

In addition to that, it might help to try some more specifically "masculine" scents on your male friend: some of the ones that I find have gone over well with male (gamer) enablees so far have included Jolly Roger, Bluebeard, Black Forest, The Black Tower, Yew-Trees, Nuclear Winter, etc.

On me, the bright woodsy outdoorsiness of Dublin is very clean and fresh: in fact, I'd say it's my favourite scent in the "clean and fresh" category. It's a strong scent, however: I like that about it, but if the subtle Neo-Tokyo reads as "heavy" on you, then I'm guessing you're a fan of the lighter scents.

I think you would enjoy Pele, which is a lovely super-light clean beach-y floral.

Of the other possibilities on your list, I'll just mention that Envy is more herb-gardenish and less lime-and-minty than I was expecting from the description--but you might enjoy the subtlety of it.

One of the friends I've been enabling is like you in being somewhat anosmic. What we've done in her case is to try to select oils according to her personality and the type of work environment in which she's usually going to be wearing them...and to bounce everything off her SO, as he's the one who's going to be around her most at home.

Her favourite scent so far is Dublin, which is strong enough for her to smell it herself, subtle and "clean" enough for her work environment (it's very fresh and outdoorsy), and pretty without being too "girly."

Best of luck fnding your own signature scent!

i like vanilla, sandlewood and spicy scents. i am not overly fond of florals (i don't hate them just not my favorite)

I have some issues with ambers going powdery on me as well. Tamora (Amber, heliotrope, golden sandalwood, peach blossom and vanilla bean) is one of the ones that didn't--it has some of your favourite notes, and comes across as more gourmand than floral.

I think you would also enjoy Morocco (Arabian spices wind through a blend of warm musk, carnation, red sandalwood and cassia). And definitely Snake Oil as well. ;-)

Though it might not be as autumnal as you're looking for, you should definitely check out the reviews for Urania (The Heavenly One is the Muse of Astrology and Astronomy, and guides all those who look to the stars for knowledge. [...] Her scent is that of endless, star-clad space: glittering, cool, vast. Moonflower, Moroccan jasmine, benzoin, white musk, iris, moss and a flash of ozone.)

Has anyone mentioned Love Me as a possibility yet? I haven't tried it myself, but I've seen reviews that compare it to Snake Oil on the drydown (after a cinnamon-y opening).

I also seem to recall some people who cannot wear Snake Oil can wear Golden Priapus. It's a masculine blend, but on my husband it smells a lot like Snake Oil should (Snake Oil does strange things on his skin from time to time).

Just to clarify--it's in the drydown that people have compared GP to SO. The wet stage of GP is very evergreen-y, but it goes much, much softer on the drydown.

This is a fascinating thread! I've really enjoyed reading everyone's suggestions.

My own favourite florals are quite green, so I don't have any personal recommendations for you, but I'll just mention that a couple of the recent Muse scents are non-green florals: Erato's been described in reviews as having a soft pink/yellow pastel feel to it, Urania as a pale, cool, airy night-time floral.

Also, if you haven't checked it out already, you might want to have a look at this thread asking for grassy/green scent recs, just to help you identify what to steer clear of. ;-)

I'll second the rec for Bordello, and add Bewitched as another possibility in the same vein.

Other possibilities would include Dorian and Kali (although the latter is a little more evening-oriented, it definitely works as a daytime scent as well).

Dublin, Glasgow, Tintagel, London.

Who, me? Anglo-Celtic? However did you guess? ;-)

Seriously, though, if I had to choose only one BPAL to wear year-round, Dublin would be that scent: it's outdoorsy, fresh, invigorating, pretty but not too girly. I'd describe Glasgow the same way; it's less woodsy, more meadow-y, and ever-so-slightly the more summery of the two. Tintagel is my "Christmas at a Renaissance Fair" winter comfort scent, and London--though I've only sniffed it--is a wonderfully evocative tea-shop rose (and I'm not even a rose fan).

It really varies from scent to scent. I'm another fan of Kali, Bordello, and Lady Macbeth--and Tintagel--in all of which, the wine notes are very well-behaved on me. Centzon Totochtin, however, went very weird on my skin.

If you find it difficult to pick out the wine note in a scent, try comparing it wrist-by-wrist to a similar but wine-free scent: doing this with Black Tower really made the wine note in BT "pop" for me, although I hadn't even been able to detect it prior to that.