Chrysantza

Body Time in Berkeley is closing down so no more China Rain perfume oil. It's a light musk with white florals and a green top note. Anyone familiar with China Rain and BPAL who has any recommendations?

This smells a LITTLE like the planetary oil Sol - being a Leo oil, I would expect some of the same ingredients. I get the frankincense and some other spices (orange? cinnamon?) in there, as well as something more minty/herbal. The minty note I detect in the Empress oil also, so it's probably the Venusian herb.

 

I used it on my chakras and got no irritation so it must be light on whatever irritated me about the Sol oil. It also smelled spicy, herbal and really nice on - the minty note didn't take over.

I got Marguerite because it has three of my favorite notes in it - rose, tuberose, and gardenia.

 

I am happy to say that the myrrh in this blend behaves itself on my skin. This scent joins Bastet in being one of the two myrrh blends I can wear that doesn't go all horrifying, burning-pepper VOLDEMYRRH on me. This stays a very sweet and gentle herbal floral with just a tiny bit of sandalwood. It's very garden-y, there is really no other way to put it - it is like going outdoors and smelling roses and crushed rose geranium. It's not as tropical as I expected with the tuberose and gardenia, but it is a beautiful floral that I am going to add to my warm-weather collection.

I've been wearing and working with this because one of my main deities is the Archangel Michael, and there is no angel-specific TAL. This one covers the bases anyway.

 

It smells wonderful, rather like Rose Cross, a "flincense" floral incense. I've been anointing my front door and altar and wearing this on pulse points and (upper) chakras, and it makes me feel good, protected, and looked after. I will report back when I do a big ceremonial working, but using this just mindfully to keep angelic forces around me, I feel like this works. It's like White Light on steroids almost!

One of the scents from this year's Novel Ideas for Secret Amusements - Bean Man and Bean Woman Prepare To Attack the Vagina - is very orange-blossom on me. It also has wonderful wonderful skin musk.

 

I love orange blossom, neroli not so much as it is too green/sharp for me.

I ordered a Lupercalia/Novel Ideas scent, Bean Man and Bean Woman Prepare to Attack the Vagina, and OMG is it Tropical with a capital T! It has skin musk, coconut, and orange blossom in it, and smells like sunshine, beaches and tropical blooms to me.

 

In the GC - if you are looking for tropical florals, in the "Hawaiian Ginger" type of mode, try Pele or Hi'iaka (specifically Hawaiian-evoking scents) or Euphrosyne (gardenia and vanilla) or Regan (stephanotis and vanilla orchid).

BPALs don't last on me, either. One exception is Spellbound - it's overwhelmingly strong, and lasts forever. You have to LOVE rose though - really, really love rose.

 

Does it ever! And yes, you had better just love and adore rose if you want to wear Spellbound. If you want a GC scent that lasts and lasts, and you really and truly are a rose fan, then Spellbound is your scent.

 

Other scents that last and last and have great throw on me - and I am practically world famous for having scent-eating skin:

 

Khajuraho - throws like a mofo and lasts forever

 

Brisingamen

 

The Lion

 

Bastet

 

Salome

 

All Saints 2005 (I wore this to my graduation on a hot day and probably stunk up the whole entire auditorium)

 

In my dry-skinned experience, resins, especially amber, make a scent last and help its throw. You will notice that Khajuraho, Brisingamen, and The Lion all have amber.

And another equivalency - Bean Man and Bean Woman Prepare To Attack the Vagina is a lot like Pele.

Out of the bottle: Clean, sweet, with a slightly sharp overtone (the ylang-ylang?). It's mellowing out to - OMG! Stop the presses! I think I have a summer BPAL to eke out my Dreamland with! This smells like clean skin with orange blossom and just the slightest hint of coconut. I sniff my wrists and it evokes my visit to Kauai, complete with entire days spent on the beach. Aah!

 

Another one I'm going to have to hoard! This is so beautiful!

 

ETA a few hours later: I still love this and want to hoard, but it has already faded. YMMV, as my skin is notorious for eating scent. This will probably be a warm-weather scent for when I want something lighter.

Having tried both, I think that The Harp of Cnoc l'Crosgair (and I am darned if I can spell it) is very close to Brisingamen. If you like the Harp, you will like Brisingamen, and vice versa.

I ordered a bottle unsniffed for the amber and tiare.

 

LOOOOOOOOOOVE. It's indescribably sweet and warm, like a sunny spring day. It's a combination of rich and woodsy, resiny, and sweet sweet tiare. It's also grownup and sophisticated for me to wear to work, etc. Mmm, sandalwood, amber and tiare form PERFECT alchemy.

 

I think Brisingamen lovers would also love The Harp.

 

I wish I had bought more than one bottle!!! This is up there with Khajuraho and Gypsy Queen as one of my new favorites!

So am I the first to review this bad boy, who just arrived in my mailbox <20 minutes ago? I guess I am!

I'm amazed, first of all, this hasn't gone VoldeMyrrh on me. It's not overpowering myrrh resin. Nor is it sickly licoricey star anise. The musk and the ambergris (I think) and champaca are making this really work well on me. It's sweet and powdery and almost - masculine, in a foppish way, kwim? It's resiney/musky combined with the sweetness of the champaca flower and is really very, very nice. A tamed pussycat panther rather than a wild one with teeth and claws. Definitely a keeper, and a prospective layer-er as well.

Glad I found this topic! Tuberose is one of my favorite flowers EVAH. I adore Dreamland.

 

You might also try Khajuraho, from past Lupercalia scents; it's discontinued but pretty easy to find. It packs a punch, though, I warn you - it's amber, honey, date, champaca flower, tuberose and rose. I happen to LOVE and HOARD Khajuraho, but it's a bit much for many people.

 

GC scents with tuberose: Delight - frangipani, rose, tuberose and jasmine; La Belle au Bois Dormant; Muse (love this one!), Sed non Satiata, Nocturne (I love this one - it's violet and tuberose), Carnaval Diabolique and Marguerite from CD; and Pepper from Good Omens.

Just a plug for my favorite scent (well, one of two) - Khajuraho. It's a "floriental" with fruity notes from the fig and date, and the champaca adds another fruity-floral note (if I'm not mistaken in the note, champaca flower smells a bit like bananas).

 

Khajuraho, though, is a very assertive scent and not at all delicate. I like this because light, delicate scents wither and die on me within 15 minutes.

Dreamland is beautiful. What I like about it is that it's a summery, cool, watery floral, yet it's sophisticated enough for a woman of my years and dignity. The musk is what gets it there.

 

I do have Bean Man and Bean Woman Prepare To Attack the Vagina on order, and it too contains florals and skin musk, so I'm hoping for something similar, but we'll see!

My favorite "pure" rose is The Peacock Queen. I heard there is a bit of oakmoss in there, which stabilizes it on me and keeps it smelling rosey.

 

For GC, I like Moscow for a blend, and Black Rose for a more pure rose scent - again, the resins stabilize it.

 

The much-vaunted Two, Five, and Seven smelled like a combo of toothpaste and PEE (!) last time I tried it. This was a while back, and my body chemistry has changed, I know, so maybe I will try it again.

Amber is a favorite of mine - Khajuraho has it, so does Brisingamen, the Lion, and Moscow. Back in the day, I would get amber distilled in jojoba oil from Body Time and wear that on its own.

 

I love the carnation note in Brisingamen, but it does go more ambery on me - however, my skin amps any and all resins.

I searched the thread and didn't find this; I asked on the Sin and Salvation LJ forum and no-one had a suggestion, so I'm humbly pleading with the readers of this thread:

 

Is there such a thing as a GC equivalent to Dreamland? This was part of the Poe-inspired A Demon in my View collection way back in '05, and I have about 1/3 of a bottle left. It's one of my favorite summer scents because it's so cool and sweet. Here are the ingredients:

 

osmanthus and tuberose over pulsating, heated skin musk, spiked carnation, night phlox and vesper iris. I think it's the skin musk that keeps it from going all dish-soap on me. I really hope it's not sui generis.

I found a bottle on the LJ BPAL Sin and Salvation forum. I couldn't afford a bottle when the Tiki Lounge set was live. Oh well. I have one now! I love tropical florals and this is a beautiful, very SWEET, creamy white floral. It is VERY like Euphrosyne. The vanilla, Monoi and tuberose come up strongly on me.

 

If you like Pele and/or Euphrosyne you will like Tiki Queen.

I got a bottle because it was discontinued and I figured MOST of the notes were good on me.

 

And all of the florals ARE good on me...but then there is the myrrh. Also known as VoldeMyrrh, the note that my skin amps up and enables to decimate everything in its path.

 

So on me Erato was sweetprettyflowersMYRRHMYRRHsweetprettyflowersVOLDEMYRRH. I'm not sure if I'm going to swap it away or not; the rose and sweet pea smelled SO good. If only the myrrh would not be quite so dominant.

This is a delicious, spicy carnation with undercurrents of tea. Mmmm! I really love this and covet a bottle - it's perfect for summer. The only drawback being that it doesn't last long.

This is very, VERY rose to me. Not a green rose like Rose Red but with more of an earthy, almost herbal undertone. As it dries down I think I detect a musk or resin undertone. I got this mostly for ritual/meditative use but I really like the way it smells.

I find this to be (as others have noted) more of a "perfume" than most BPALs. It smells like department store-designer perfume to me.

 

The first note I get is very green and wet, like a crushed stem. This then dries down to an aquatic floral which is a bit harsh and soapy on my skin.

 

I think this is going off to the swaps.

On me, this is very carnation with a cream undertone and a hint of sweetness from the orange blossom. I love carnation and orange blossom, so this is very good on me. I find it to be in the same family as Alice and Pink Moon - a very girlish "pink" floral.

Wet: Very sweet, strong jasmine to the pepsi max.

 

Dry: Still jasmine but a lot more complex - the violet comes in and the musk and vanilla anchor it. I really like this blend.