Nia

At first, I smell like a mixture of fruit cookies and salad dressing. Then, I smell like a light, not too buttery cake. It's nice, but a bit too foody for me.

Alice smells of nothing, literally zero, on me.

 

Dorian is vanilla-lemon tea, and Bengal is extrasweet chai. My own chai would fall somewhere betwen the two.

Iago = Determination.

 

Van Van = TAL Block Buster.

Dragon's blood can go really bad or really good on me, depending on the rest of the ingredients. I feel a teensy bit of Cinnamon, serious loads of clove, and some Dragon's Blood: The Dragon from Mars. It smells like something very grand that died two or three thousands of years ago, like ruins in the desert.

It must be on the reviews; Drink me seemed to me too sweet and toasted-like to notice the pineapple. Tzakidim Nistarim smelled like pineapple sweets. Macchu Picchu was similar to Nistarim but less sweet: my review said "if Nistarim smells of tropical fruit candy this smells like real tropical fruit".

I like the idea of a scent that complements or combines with the groom's scent. He likes Raven (and I looove it on him ) and I have several favourite violet blends (La Serpent qui danse, for example). Or Valmont (bit of jasmine) and I, Eos (loads of jasmine). Or he can wear Belladonna and I, 51 (both are fresh and green).

Few BPALs give me a sinus headache, and they don't seem to have a lot in common.

 

I detect a very similar, sinus-attacking note in:

 

Jack and Vampire Tears.

 

And pain, but not necessarily from the same note, in:

 

Panacea: Succor.

 

Odin.

 

Sophia.

 

Tristran.

 

Do any of these have anything in common that I should avoid in the future?

This was on my wishlist and it came as a frimp from the lab. Thank you!

 

All I knew was that it smelled like soft vanilla, and I don't detect anything else. It smells like an Yves Rocher or Body Shop vanilla, with a small difference that's hard to pinpoint. A little dusty, a little soft, not as sweet as a commercial "vanilla single note" perfume. There are zero flowers.

 

What I like the most is that it is soft and has a lot of throw at the same time. I dabbed a dime-sized area on the back of my hand about an hour ago, and I can smell it as I type!

I call it Bee-Pahl too. When I am not calling it "THEE presh-usssss," that is.

Is that anything like, "kittens and THEE glitz" I say BEE-pal too. In fact, I kinda assumed everybody does.

Well, I thought it was pretty simple but this was what I found at the beginning of this thread:

I saw the title of this thread and thought - well, s'easy... Bee-Pee-Ay-Ell

And then thought that maybe I was the only one who saw "BPAL" and thought "Bee-Pal" instead of "Bee-Pee-Ay-Ell". :-P I'm a silly.

In my mind it's Bee-pal, but then, I'm Spanish and we read acronyms as word as long as it fits our sound system. I say in my mind because if I ever speak to anybody about the lab it's as "los perfumitos" or "las muestrecitas": the perfumies, or the samplies, like "the doggies" "the kitties".

How is R'lyeh pronounced?

I'd say RR-lee-eh. If you can read French, kind of like R-lié.

My skin swallows tea, or amplifies everything else. I never isolate the tea note although sometimes there is a certain indefinable "something" there. Green tea turns to lemon or lemongrass. Is the leather note in Severin very strong? It's one of the very few scents with tea I haven't tried.

I wonder if there's this in the lab: a rose-jasmine-neroli (or orange blossom in another shape other than neroli) scent without much else. Especially, without lilies or myrrh.

hello

i´m pretty new & i would like to know if there is a chocolate scent that isn´t too foody.

 

Any and all incarnations of 13. It's a LE that's only available around each Friday the 13th. Each formulation is different and they all have chocolate plus 13 other ingredients (or is it a total of 13 ingredients including chocolate?). Next 13 will be June 2008 (YES, that's the sort of 13 fan I am ) and it's not hard to find imps of the latest edition or two on the swaps forum.

I forgot I had asked about this. In the meantime, I bought Tokyo Stomp for The Boy (lover of a generic vanilla SN). It does smell like what I as thinking for, so once he gets it I'll ask him for a little imp It really is warm like Moroccan sweet mint tea.

Nia, do you do anything special to get Maiden to last on you? I have been testing Maiden over the weekend and the great spicey smell doesn't last on me. It's probably just my chemistry as with all other oils, but I thought I'd ask.

 

I agree that Maiden is a wonderful carnation scent though I'm now going to check out Alice, just in case.

 

I just apply it on my skin, my chemistry seems to like it. You could try applying it on your hair if you don't use any styling products.

Nidaba, Alice on me smelled of creamy air, if that makes any sense, and Maiden was the one that gave sense to the expression "spicy carnations". Maiden is THE carnation blend to me.

I would recomend anything minty or lavendery for colds. I love Lush Temple balm Dream Time when I have a cold with a sinus headache, and the closest BPAL to that scent that I have tried so far are Rome (because of the chamomile) and Somnus (because of the lavender)

Does anyone know of a blend that combines ylang ylang and vanilla? the lab's search function gives gove out anything, but maybe an old LE or something without the notes on the description contains both.

Are you sensitive to citrus, Nia? Or are the spots where you're using Phobos getting any sun exposure when you're wearing it? Citrus oils are notorious for causing photosensitivity and the grapefruit in Phobos may be concentrated enough to be causing problems for you, either combined w/sun exposure or because you're particularly sensitive to it.

 

The problem turned up on my wrists. I hardly ever go out in the sun, but I'll remember that.

Are the oils safe to put straight on to the skin then?

 

I have found that some BPAL's blends, while they're not irritant on first use, should not be aplied more than once in a while on the same skin spot. If I use, for example, Phobos, It has to be one day on my temples, one day on my neck, one day on my wrists..... Otherwise I get a strong itch that lasts for days.

Belladonna smells of slightly minty aloe vera;

Ave Maria Gratia Plena might work because it's lemony;

Cheshire Cat smells fresh;

Croquet has citrus and nectarine, but it smells basically of pink grapefruit and nothing else to me;

Phobos = lemongrass,

Leanan Sidhe is herbal and gentle.

Shanghai.

Yggdrassil.

Embalming fluid

Ultraviolet.

Pele is the only aquatic (in the "fresh" sense) floral I have tried that didn't have any sweetness.

 

Stay away from Odin. It smells like your work environment.

 

Good luck!

I have consciously avoided any salty or oceanic notes. I like light herbal scents, but I didn't like the idea of smelling of the sea. But Caliban is one of my favourite Shakespearean characters, so I had to give it a try. I'm so glad that it works so well on me.

 

It starts out scary, with a strong herbal bite that quickly goes away and leaves a fresh grassy scent for hours, It is quite mild, as if poor Caliban was in hiding. I think it would make an excellent masculine scent. Let's see what The Boy thinks.

The whole Rapaccini's Garden and A Picnic in Arkham categories are differently labeled than the regular GC as well.

 

Due to popular demand, here's Schrodinger's Cat accompanied by Aeaea and Dian's Bud (from Rapaccini's Garden).

 

I'0m tempted to get The Cat unsniffed!

Initiallyt is a sweet floral with a fittingly bitter, nasty undertone, but later it goes amazingly old-ladyish like only lilies can do on me. I don't know if it's the orchid, but this is just too strongly floral.

I have been searching forever, wasn't there a thread for BPAL similarities to TAL scents when we wanted the scent and not the magick??

It seems that every reviewer gets a different impression of White Light's scent. I will add a bit more to the confusion: It is a sweet floral, like BPAL's fruit and floral combinations. It smells a little bit spicy, "sweet" does not mean overwhelming. It's a sweetness like fig or lotus. I would love it if it was just a perfume.

 

I haven't tested its ritual uses much yet. I tried some to see if it would help me feel better when I was ill, and I had a tremendous crying fit the following morning. It's as if it makes me happy in the short-term and a cleanse-the-hard-way if it's given a few hours. Handle with care.