Nia

Thanks, everyone! Out of the ideas mentioned, I have: High John, that I will keep for the interviews, and other magical blends that can be appropriate like Temple: mother, Charisma, or Catalyst; and then for the motherly/protective aspect of things I have thought about:

 

Chanukkiyah - it's a cross-cultural thing: here, we associate foodie scents with teenagers. I don't want to smell of vanilla, but this one has a nice "Mediterranean sweets deep-fried in olive oil" that just might work.

Jasmine Cottage - smells of a clean house with a garden and it's my wedding scent.

Paris - sweet lavender.

Emathides - musky lavender.

TKO - vanilla/lavender.

The Gladdener of all hearts - out of the Lilith scents, my favourite. And one of my favourite bedtime scents so it will help me be relaxed.

Harvest Moon. I don't know why but I like the idea.

 

Antique Lace, Bastet, or Hope would work if I had them. Also, any blend with baby powder.

When you thought that every possible situation that requires perfume is already included here, there's one more.

 

I'm a high school teacher. One of my students, a boy age 16, extremely shy, soccer fanatic, lives in a foster home that is being dismantled. My husband and I are in the proccess of applying to foster him, and we are getting to know each other outside school. Tomorrow will be the second time we meet socially. He's coming for dinner.

 

I plan to scent the house with Bastet's Laughter (smells a bit fruity-spicy). Now, any recommendations for my perfume? What about blends to go to see the Foster Children Office and convince them that I can be trusted with a boy who's not even 20 years younger than me?

 

Thanks!

I forgot to come back after my wedding to say that Jasmine Cottage fitted the day perfectly. It was the right perfume for me, maybe not for others, but after it happened I couldn't imagine getting married in any other.

Oh, yes, please post it!

 

I forgot to say, I have asked the groom to wear Aelopile because it's so sexy on him. And it's fitting. If our wedding has a theme, it's "boys do Science, girls do Humanities" (yes, it sounds very cheesy, but in our case it's true and the theme is very subtle) So his perfume is named after an engine and mine is named after a novel.

I think that for my wedding I'm going to have two different scents.

 

I'm going to perfume myself with Jasmine Cottage because the groom requested "light florals and/or jasmine". Jasmine cottage doesn't smell much like jasmine on me but the only other jasmine blends that I have are Theodosius, that gives the wrong vibe, and a Posset LE, Coo, that is too sweet. I like of Jasmine Cottage that it's light, fresh, the description is a bit like our current home (the rented house aspect, not the cute cottage aspect) and besides, very important!! The photos!!

 

Our photographer often starts albums with a collage of "bits and pieces that form the bride/groom dress" I need a photogenic blend for a picture of my perfume and out of my bottles, that meant this, or Sagittarius.

 

Now, scent two: For some reason, since I discovered BPAL I wanted gardenia scent on my wedding and what I'm going to do is, my bouquet is made of ribbons and I'm going to perfume it in TAL White Light

I detect three layers. First, there's a foody note that feels a bit burnt or nutty; many BPAL scents that include foody ingredients smell exactly the same on me. It's a note like buttered toast and hazelnuts. This is, I guess, the "smoky vanilla". It's a pity because I'm not a great fan of this note and it's one of the very few that my ashmatic and allergic partner can smell well - and he hates it.

 

Secondly, there's a complex mix of gentle sweet scents. I tested this without the description and I thought "kind of like honey but it's definitely not honey". This must be the sugar cane/rice wine/ vanilla/grapefruit/light musk. Nice, but spoiled in combination with the toasted note.

 

Finally, what saves this scent for me is the herbal layer. I have no idea what's in it, but it is discreetly there, very sober and not sweet at all.

 

On the drydown, the second layer is the most prominent and long-lasting one.

 

My plan was to use this for ritual purposes, and that's what I'll do, as it is a very pleasant smell but too sweet and foody for every day. I understand the people who say this is the summer version of a Christmas foody but the top layer makes it too heavy as perfume.

Aargh! The computer ate my review! I'll try to re-build it.

 

I haven't posted a review in ages, but I think this is worth it. I've made three swaps in the last month or so and I'm not entirely sure of who swapped me this. It must have been a frimp because there's no way I would have asked for it. Some of the BPAL notes that fail more spectacularly on my skin are red and black musk (amp up like crazy, go sour sometimes, and eat up any other smell), myrrh (old-ladyish and tends to spoilt anything else) and vetiver (bitter, too strong, sometimes gives me a headache). Czernobog only needs cedar and lilies to be The Bpal Blend From Hell.

 

And instead of two thirds of my personal BPAL kryptonite, what do we get? First of all, a herbal note that feels more medicinal than bitter. Others have said pine; I get more eucaliptus. Very strong, in any case. After the initial shock there's animalistic sweetness underneath, and as the medicinal aspect calms down, here it is, our old friend black musk stealing the show. But somehow, the herbal note, which by now is recognisable as vetiver, keeps the musks under control.

 

This is the way a werewolf is supposed to smell. I smell like a very sexy man. I feel a bad guy. And it's a very strange but pleasant feeling.

None of the notes smells soapy on me. Why, oh why then Nutcracker smells like some sort of bitter incensey soap?

 

There is zero fruit on this one. It smells a bit green and like men's cologne when it dries down. It feels like a good incarnation of the tale's hero, but it's certainly not for me.

BPAL blends with fig normally go very weel with my skin; Carnal (fig & mandarin) is one of my all-time favourites. But this one was a big disappointment because, first of all, it's not very figgy. And secondly, the holly note(s) smell more medicinal and bitter than herbal. A bit like the blends that contain cedar or cypress.

 

The dry down is a bit less bitter, but still, it's mild and herbal. off to the swap bag.

Thanks!

So, a while ago, probably on the last SW round, a forumite said she had created an online database so that we could keep our collection in order. I created an account and forgot all about it, and now I can't remember the name of the website. Does anyone know what I'm talking about?

Let's see....

 

it smells a bit like shower gel (according to The Boy) in a way that reminds me of cool-aquatic blends. It's like an aquatic blend without the lotus.

 

There is mint, but not a lot of it.

 

It's a very distant relation of Snow White and it's not creamy at all.

 

Overall, it's a very elusive scent. It smells clean and kind of "empty". It gives the feeling of a snowfall but it doesn't smell like one at all.

Snow Glass Apples is not much better than The Hesperides. Actually to me all apple blends fall into two categories: fresh apple = Hesterides is always nicer. Spicy apple = Ladon is always nicer.

 

 

Out of the BPAL blends that resemble commercial perfumes, this is my favourite. It does seem simple, flat, as the description says, "without substance". Still, it is very pleasant and sometimes I just want a perfume that won't make my coworkers say that the staffroom smells of churchy incense....

 

It has a perfect blend of freshness and floral. I swapped for an imp because I love tuberose and tiaré and I was curious about how they would mingle. Tiaré is generally much sweeter than this perfume, where it is nicely balanced with the citrus and the lemon tree blossom.

 

It's a pity that this is a LE. It's like the BPAL equivalent of white shirt and blue jeans.

Wet, on first sniff, I thought this smelled like a slightly less sweet Undertow ("lotus and juniper with a hint of mint"). So, it makes me think that there is some juniper among the "green herbs" here. As it dries down, the mint remains very fresh, accompanied by a herbal smell that feels somewhat edible.

I don't perceive any lavender or lime.

These are some similarities I have found:

 

Pollution - Paco by Paco Rabanne. Probably close to CK One, too.

Amsterdam - Sunflowers, Elizabeth Arden.

Casanova - similar (and better than) Cacharel Pour Homme.

I second Wanda and any other blend with red wine like Madrid and Lady Macbeth.

 

The latest 13, if you have it.

 

Any blend with coffee, such as Mata Hari.

 

If you like fruity blends, Black Pearl is a lovely floral with coconut. Sounds weird but it does feel black to me.

 

French Love. The least sweet of the ylang-ylang based blends I've tried.

 

Maybe Kali, if you like sweet blends.

 

If you don't like foodies or florals: Alecto (Olive leaf, raspberry leaf, vetiver and cedarwood), Black Forest ( Thick, viscous pine with ambergris, black musk, juniper and cypress.), Black Opal, Black Phoenix.

 

 

 

 

 

On the bottle, it is extremely sweet and just a tiny little bit fruity. But on my skin, it turns into cough syrup. A synthetic sweetness covered up in something bitter and slightly dusty. It has nothing to do with other dandelion blends I like. A complete disaster.

Wet: a countryside-like smell, like hay and fruit and the sweetish smell of very mature compost. The Boy says I smell like rotten fruit.

 

Later, it improves a bit. I do smell like overripe fruit (apples?). One of the swaps.

I'm not a very good detector of individual notes, so this doesn't smell to me very different from Concentration, at least when wet. I do notice it is milder.

 

I loved the smell of concentration but not its effect; it worked like a coffee overdose. I wanted to try something similar-but-different, and lilirose sent me an imp of Clarity. Today I've used it for the first time. The Boy and I had had an exhausting couple of days, with illness, work, drama: a lot of unpleasantness and also a lot of things not necessarily unpleasant but very draining. In the evening I asked him which of my TAL collection sounded more promising to him. He was undecided between Clarity and Anthelion.....

 

I put some Clarity on an oil burner. It does smell like a softer Concentration! Quite soon, the mood in the room was lighter, and I could finally stop revolving bad thoughts in my head. No small feat, considering how many intense feelings I was trying to process. Quite good.

Bottle: melon

Wet on Me: Melon.

Drying Down: Floral Melon now.

Dry: mostly floral with melon. Never got any citrus, or anything else.

I think this will go on the re-home pile.

 

I agree with everything except the last line That is: this blend smells very strongly of melon. Up to now, I have tried many BPAL blends with a note that I classified as "melon-candy". Earth Rat, Fairy Market, Dian's Bud... this is the first time that a blend smells of real, fresh melons. To me, that's not a bad thing as it is fresh enough to use in summer.

 

This is the OX:

Peony, bamboo, plum blossom, tangerine, orange, lychee, pine resin, kumquat, quince, narcissus, King mandarin, peach blossom, oakmoss, plum, tobacco, dragon's blood.

 

And the RAT:

Peony, bamboo, plum blossom, tangerine, lychee, orange, pine resin, golden kumquat and quince, narcissus and King mandarin, coconut, candied melon, dragon's blood.

 

There isn't a lot of difference, so I guess that unless you're a collector, or the greatest fan of fruity scents, you're not going to really appreciate the differences. To me, the ox is simply fresher than the rat, and the rat is just a bit sweeter. I'm glad to have a bottle of each, but then, I haven't tried a fruity BPAL I didn't love.

This blend is one of my greatest disappointments. It's ok, it's pleasant, but less than the sum of its parts. I just don't get it: myrtle appears in some of my favourite blends (Aglaea! Wanda! Brisingamen!!), pomegranate has a very distinct smell, "aquatic" shouldn't smell perfumey... and that's what I get, just a generic floral. Off to the swap pile.

 

 

I'm a big fan of lotus scents and Undertow is probably my favourite, because I can wear it in more occasions than the rest. I amp up lotus, which can become bubblegum-like on me if it's surrounded by any other sweet note. Besides, it lasts forever and ever. So, lotus blends are definitely not work-safe (I'm surrounded by teens and I want to smell like an authority figure, not like a candy shop!). Here, the lotus becomes much milder and certainly aquatic thanks to the mint and the juniper.

 

I have no idea of how juniper normally smells because it is too often combined with cedar, cypress, patchouli or dirt/soil/loam/earth, notes that don't work on me at all. So, here, the usual dark and sober character of juniper is perfectly balanced with the happy, sweet lotus, with mint for freshness. A perfect sweet/herby balance.

 

If you don't like aquatics but you like BPAL descriptions and you want something related to water or the sea, this is perfect.

 

Reading this recomendations I find out that I have been a chypre fan without knowing!

 

Aelopile: a sexy, classy man's blend. Very woody and slightly spicy.

 

The Piper at the Gates of Dawn: it really smells like a forest. If this is chypre, other scents in a similar line are Robin Goodfellow, Oberon, Black Annis, maybe Hamadryad (I can't really say as my skin hates cedar), maybe Burial (strong on the patchouli), and maybe Caliban (like a forest.... near a beach).

 

Oakmoss & musk = Crowley. (it has very strong musk). Also, = Salome.

 

Faiza is wonderful. Do yourself a favour and buy a bottle. It is the most unclassifiable smell in the whole catalogue. Floral? Fruity? Herby? Spicy?

 

I would only recommend The Emathides if you like lavender very much.

 

No. 93 Engine is nice but the frankincense is probably the most dominant note.

 

If Vicomte de Valmont is chypre, I guess tat then Casanova is too. Valmont is cleaner, Casanova is sexier (it must be the leather).

 

St Germain = amber & moss. It's very much on the Valmont / Casanova line.

 

Fae might smell too fruity to feel chypre, and at least in my case it didn't last more than a few seconds.

 

Pollution smells very fresh. It is probably the freshest of all the scents in this post.

 

Have fun sampling!

Scent: Ouroboros has a fresh, citrussy beginning, and when it dries (on skin) or warms up (candle, etc), vetiver comes out. It doesn't smell in a way that could pass as perfume; you could anoint yourself or an amulet in White Light and just get about your day, but I don't think you'd want to do that with Ouroboros.

 

Use: I have used it a couple of times to make spiritually and ritually mine an object previously used and "charged" by another person, in one ritual to end a bad habit, and in another ritual to give an end to several months of on-and-off illness. The first ritual didn't really work; I didn't focus enough, wasn't ready, or didn't have the right intentions. The second ritual.... I did it a couple of days ago. I anointed a candle, did work related to my health such as stretching for more than an hour, wishing the pain away, anointed my chakras and all pain points and took a long shower with a soap that was a get-well gift. The ritual was supposed to involve only me, but the next day, a problem in my relationship with my partner came to a head and exploded. So, now two problems, and two phases in our lives, are over. On the one hand, my health is a lot better. A lot. Overnight. On the other hand, the undercurrent of discomfort in our life as a couple is hopefully over.

 

So, my conclusion is that Ouroboros works best in concentrated, somewhat ellaborate ritual and it can have effects in more areas in your life than the one you are concentrating in. In my experience, its use on its own it is not enough to overcome addictions or change bad habits.