Nia

My first impression is that it smells like a forest. I asked for a ml in a decant circle for the name alone, because I was scared of the pine smelling synthetic, medicinal, or like house cleaner, but fortunately it is not like that at all!

 

The warm and sweet ingredients control and balance the pine. When it's completely dry, the pine almost disappears and what remains is extremely evocative of a forest. I love linden tea and this smells quite a lot like it. The feel is similar to Robin Goodfellow and Oberon, or like Yggdrasil without cedar.

I wanted so much to like this blend, but after a initial, brief explosion of orange, there's just a strong, medicinal, bitter smell. The final result is orange-flavoured cough syrup. Horrible.

Just a word of warning in case someone is ever in my situation.

 

I don't have sensitive skin and I don't have a problem with any BPAL ingredient, except maybe repeated use of blends with lemongrass. The other day, I put on some Erato or Chuparosa, I can't remember which. And late that day, I went to a shiatsu session in which the therapist applied moxibustion (local heat). After a while, I had a swollen, itchy red track on the areas of skin where I had applied perfume. It lasted for three days.

 

So, remember: BPAL and local heat don't mix.

Out of the blends with apple or apple blossom in the lab's description, I have tried almost all of them: Brisingamen, Desire, Lilium Inter Spinas, Ladon, Delirium, Hesperides, Agrat-bat-mahlaht, Coral Snake, Eve, Terpsichore (discon), and Eden. Verdandi and Mock Turtle lesson are probably the only GC with apple I haven't tried yet.

 

Nothing beats Ladon. Lovely, spicy apples with a hint of caramel.

I find that Long Night Moon is the only perfume I've ever tried that smells of night-blooming jasmine, which to me is the exact smell of summer nights.

 

Yvaine is also a good pictre of a quiet, clear night. Like an airier Zorya.

This is my Carnival wishlist:

 

Gennivre; Hyson tea leaf, pale mint, sugar cane, orange blossom, lemongrass, and honey.

Xanthe: Guava, orange peel, white pepper, spun sugar and apple blossom.

Candy butcher: Dark chocolate with a heavy cream undertone.

Theodosius: Earl Grey tea leaves, a white fougere, jasmine leaf, pearlescent white musk, and vanilla bean.

Zarita: white carnation, iris, orange blossom, and sugared cream.

Agrat-bat-mahlaht Amber, cream accord, white honey, apple blossom, skin musk, caramel, and teak.

Daiyu: Moroccan jasmine, chrysanthemum, tea leaf, white musk, and acai berry.

Eisheth Zenunim: Honey, ambergris, neroli, white peach, patchouli, and cocoa absolute.

Gwyneth Rose otto, tonka, orchid, Calla lily, skin musk, coconut, and Spanish sage.

Torture Queen. White amber, vanilla musk, white tea, ambergris, gardenia, and chrome.

 

The carnival will be over in roughly six weeks. At the time, I won't be able to justify spending $200 in perfume, so I need to reduce this list. Can you tell me which of these are similar enough to a GC scent, or too similar among each other, in order to leave them out? For example: is Theodosious too similar to Dorian?

Ouch. French is really not good for English-speaker-friendly phonetics.

 

Belle Époque is roughly "bell eh-poke"

 

but

 

L'Heure Verte is really hard to transliterate because it's got that gargly French "r" in it. Roughly, "loor vairt". However, both the "r" sounds are the guttural "r" like you never find in English, almost like an "h" or very soft "k" in the back of your throat. Sorry I can't be more useful here.

 

More Bell eh-pock, I think.

 

I'll give a try to explaining l'heure verte. Try to say "leg vegt". But the E in "leg" is long and you round your lips. And for both G's, give the sound some... extra vibration. as if you were trying to say gggg and a rolling R at the same time.

Cordelia: lilac, lemon, green tea, wisteria, osmanthus, white cedar, and Chinese musk. I find that lemon and green tea amp each other, and who knows how sweet and creamy lilac and musk will turn on you.

 

I hate Delirium, but it does smell lemony. You could layer this one.

 

Embalming Fluid is soft, and good for layering.

 

Twedledee: Kumquat, white pepper, white tea and orange blossom. Smells exactly like lemon cream pie on me.

wow, what a lot of quick suggestions! Thanks!

I know there are threads for cooling scents, citrussy scents and relaxing scents. I hope this thread isn't a duplicate, as I'm looking for suggestions about an intersection of those.

 

I love to wear perfume when I go to bed, but it's really hot in here (we are hitting 100 F before noon and afternoons easily reach 110, nights around 80) and all I can think of is lemony, herbal stuff. Things that would no doubt wake me up if I wear them in bed.

 

I don't have any lavender blends around, and something like TKO "feels" too hot right now!

 

Do you have any recommendations of oils that feel fresh and relaxing?

 

ETA: I would use Catherine if I hadn't run out, and Belladonna would be good but not with my skin chemistry.

It's very, very nice, althou I don't detect any of the ingredients. Like others, I must be amping up the lilac, and a lot, because everything else is blending discreetly as the lilac's background.

Bottled Tarte Tatin.

 

Sorry the review is so short, but honestly, it's bottled Tatin. Maybe Tarte Tatin duing really dirty, sexy stuff on a Teak Table.

The first review nails it: this is a feminine and Asian Dorian. The acai berry makes it smell very fruity. The overall impression suggests lotus.

I can't believe that this combination of amazing, unusual ingredients turns into a simple, nice, generic fresh. no coconut, tonka, or sage, just lilly-orchid-rose, more or less in that order. It's nice, but not worth buying.

 

Thanks a lot to ahania for the partial!

Wet, there is a wonderful mixture of foody and floral. Maybe it's the beewax or the nectarine that makes it initially very sweet. Then, it settles into a nice-but-generic-floral. And then it fades, and that's all. It's ok, but I'm glad I got just a decant.

This was the blend that taught me, in a clear but painful way, that I amp up red musk in a way that kills any other element in a blend. It annoyed me, because the ingredient list sounds fantastic, but I get a little herby-chocolate flash and then it's red musk all the way. Sigh. At least I found out with a GC imp and not with a rare and much sought after LE.

Two discoveries:

 

Anthelion is, to my nose, a sweet lavender. TKO is a creamy lavender. They have a very close "bedtime scent" feel.

 

I think that gardenia is the most dominant flowery / sweet note in White Light.

 

Thanks, Nia. Wow, we've got a lot more than I thought we had. I added your take on Anthelion to the first post. Not sure what other BPALs have gardenia, though, so I wasn't sure what to put up with White Light.

 

MV

 

I make that comparison from fresh live gardenias, not from a perfume . There are many blends with gardenia as a note: http://www.bpal.org/search/index.php?term=...=1&search=1

 

I have tried eight out of thirty and none smell remotely close. I have hopes for Pepper (which I haven't tried yet).

Two discoveries:

 

Anthelion is, to my nose, a sweet lavender. TKO is a creamy lavender. They have a very close "bedtime scent" feel.

 

I think that gardenia is the most dominant flowery / sweet note in White Light.

People, there is a TAL /GC recommendations thread over here: http://www.bpal.org/index.php?showtopic=31901

This is one of the "happiest" blends I have tried. It smells sunny, happy and summery, thanks to the peaches, and bright, sweet and sophisticated thanks to the amber. Just like the previous reviewer says, it does smell golden. As it ages, the amber amps, so depending on how fruity you want it to be it's better to use it fresh. I keep it for bad winter days and it is one of my top ten BPALs; it's fighting the Top Fruity post with Bathsheba

I got an imp in a swap. Stress causes me muscular aches and I wanted to use it to help me ease them, not just with intent, but in rituals that worked as a "warm up" and as a "cool down" after massages with a therapist.

 

To me it smells of insect repellent. I know that TALs are not supposed to be used as perfume, but this is definitely something that does not work make you smell good, as opposed to, for example, the fact that you can anoint your chakra points with White Light and go out wrapped in its nice smell. On the other hand, a good point of Healing is that its citrussy smell doesn't interfere with sleep, so it can be used in bedtime rituals.

 

I have had massage once since starting to use it and the whole process went very well. The masseuse noticed I improved even as the session was going on. Let's see what happens in the coming weeks.

It's the first time, after trying about 300 BPAL scents, that I've gone "Ohhhhhhh!!!!!" after sniffing. It smells more complex than its three ingredients suggest, and when it dries there is an alcoholic hint. Absolutely delicious, I wish I had a bottle.

I second Maiden.

 

Other lovely ones are Aglaea (it's fruity and most obviously romantic blends are floral) and Euphrosyne. And if you like sweet and somewhat heavy scents, kurukulla.

A friend of mine thinks that O makes me smell of baklava.

 

Queen = Spicy honey.

Christmas Rose, which smells of hellebore flowers, reminds me of something and I can't remember what. Does it feel familiar to someone else?