smallvoice

Vinland was 100% Irish Spring, to my nose. It's discontinued, but shouldn't be hard to find.

That's interesting- I do have a beloved bottle of Vasakasajja (Marked "V" on the top of the cap), but it doesn't remind me at all of Tiki Queen- I loved it because it feels very similar to Chaste Moon to my nose. How odd! I love hearing these recommendations, because it's so interesting to hear how differently things react.

But isn't Chaste Moon pineapple and butterscotch?

 

Not even a little bit... it's soft (slightly buttery) vanilla over pale, sweet flowers, on me. It's a little bit like a less icy Snow White.

 

For a Bakeneko approximation, maybe Dorian and Shub, or Dorian and Katharina... but I don't know. That one was quite unique on me. Men Ringing Bell With Penises has the same tea note I remember, but lacks the fruitiness and the throw.

That's interesting- I do have a beloved bottle of Vasakasajja (Marked "V" on the top of the cap), but it doesn't remind me at all of Tiki Queen- I loved it because it feels very similar to Chaste Moon to my nose. How odd! I love hearing these recommendations, because it's so interesting to hear how differently things react.

The gin is totally there, making me blink, and my nose wince. I love the blueberry note, so I put a drop of this on, and...... it dries down to almost exactly what Midway smells like on me- which, while this would be a good sentence for most people to utter, it is not good for me. WTF?? It's dusty with a hint of sweet fruitiness- there's fizz to this one, where there was just dust in Midway, but... woah. There's something wrong with my chemistry. What a strange drydown! Will update if things change.

I ordered Tiki Queen at the last minute, so by the time I received my order and discovered it was my favorite BPAL scent ever, it was too late to order more. :D

 

Since in the past I've avoided florals (most smell like old ladies on me), I have no idea what GC scents might come close to the divine Tiki Queen. Also, what do people layer TQ with? I'd like to be able to stretch out my supply as long as possible, since I'm using it up at an alarming rate by slathering it.

 

I've never found ANYTHING that smells close to the gorgeousness that is Tiki Queen, but I would love to hear if anyone else has, as well.

 

 

Also? This thread has convinced me that I need both Galvanic Goggles and Antikythera Mechanism. And I apparently need a bottle of Antique Lace to layer with everything.

This immediately smells like pine and smoke on me, which is unsurprising. Once I get over my initial flinch away from pine, because it always smells like pine sol or car air fresheners to me, it actually does resemble being out in the woods, camping.

 

And then something strange happens. It's threatening me with soapiness- man soap, if you know what I mean- and then... eventually, in the drydown, the opaline notes from To Helen show up, and nonchalantly act as though they belong there. To Helen goes camping on my skin, folks. And she takes a dip in the river with the soap she brought... yeah, that's what this smells like on me. I'm such a freak of nature!

Valentine of Rome is ALL wrong for me. That's why I didn't order it. None of it appealed to me. The notes sounded too dark for my tastes... it was just not me. Then reviews came in, and the things I read about it made me wonder if I could be wrong. It's happened before, after all! So up it went on my wishlist. And then I scored a bottle in a swap. And it is amazing from the first bottle sniff to the hour later drydown. This is a treasure. The spicy note keeps making me think of Chimera, and I think there's some almond... or is it something else? It reminds me of Eclipse, too. I love it. I am SO glad I tried it.

In my mind, Indiana Jones wears Mechanical Phoenix when he's "teaching" "archaeology", and Western Diamondback (Yes, a snake) when he's "gathering artifacts."

My favourite lavenders are Villain and Wulric... and I don't usually like lavender.

Just going to add my support for Katharina as one of the all time best apricot blends out there. I love it. I also really love Yerevan, and it is in a completely different category to me than Katharina is.

I'm in the minority of people who didn't like Underpants. It was NICE, but nothing that I wanted to sell my soul for. I don't do well with sandalwood, however.

 

Love's Philosophy, though, has a really rich cream soda scent to it and it's on my top 10 list of LE's. So... I don't think they're similar at all. I do think Tombstone is really close to Love's Philosophy, if you've tried it.

Marae smells quite a lot like Euphrosyne on me.

 

Anactoria smells quite similar to Black Lace- sweet musk. It lacks the tobacco and that hint of vanilla, though.

 

There's little chance of Snake Charmer ever coming back. We got Midway this year, so who knows if she'll ever resurrect anything else from Carnaval Noir. It's so well loved that maybe she'll have mercy and bring it back for an anniversary. (Every year, one discontinued LE is revived. If we don't get it for that anniversary, we'll probably never get it.)

 

The anniversaries actually are usually blends that were discontinued from the catalog- Midway was a (welcome) anomoly.

So, this smells remarkably like Dr. Pepper in the bottle... if somebody added almond liqueur to it. And burnt it. I was SO worried. It really does smell fizzy.

 

On my skin, though? It's so strange. I love it, though! It has really good lasting power, not a ton of throw.

 

I totally get the Doc Buzzard comparison... but this is so much better. It smells like cigarette smoke a little bit, but expensive cigarettes. Then it's warm and spicy, a little like Port Royal, and then I smell cotton candy. Seriously. Don't ask me how that got there, because I don't know. It doesn't smell like cotton candy trying to smother me, I just catch hints of it from time to time. The rest of the time, it's a rich, warm, lovely blend that is absolutely gorgeous, and absolutely nothing like I would've expected.

This is sort of sharp in the bottle- probably the parsley. White rose, apparently, loves me more than red roses. It is smooth and soft. I was worried the huckleberry would be sharp or that the nicotiana would be heady (due to unfamiliarity with it, maybe?) or that the rose would be overwhelming. It's none of those things. It's a soft, happy blend. It's like being curled up on the couch in the arms of someone who loves you with a warm blanket while it rains outside and reading a favourite book or watching a favourite movie. It smells like contentment, to me. And I must agree, the label is stunning.

Imp (Diabolus) reminds me a bunch of Smut! (I've only tried 06 year fyi)

 

Gennivre (Salon) reminds me of Litha.

 

Persephone (Excolo) reminds me of Libra 07.

 

Kali (Excolo) has the same rose note as Peacock Queen 07, but is much more complex.

 

The Apothecary (Illyria) reminds me of Ebisu.

 

51 (Wanderlust) reminds me of Pollution (retail).

 

Tweedledee (Mad Tea Party) reminds me of a less foody version of Diary of a Lovestruck Cannibal.

 

Robin Goodfellow (Illyria) reminds me of Buck Moon.

 

Sea of Glass reminds me of Archangel Winter.

 

A couple of quick corrections, if I may Gennivre is from Carnaval Diabolique and Pollution is from the Good Omens collection.

 

And a comment on the one I know of: Persephone and Libra may be in the same scent family, but for me Persephone is a whole lot more wearable. The rose from Libra still has a hit out on me, I think. Also, I need to check out Imp because IIRC, there's no red musk in it, and it may be something in the Smut family I can actually wear!

I totally get the comparisons to Love's Philosophy. This, on me, is like a less sweet version of Love's Philosophy, but still wonderful. I remember sniffing this in '06 and wrinkling my nose and thinking, "Eww! Cedar!" as I tend to do. Cedar has a habit of going pencil shavings on me. It seems to work nicely in this blend, and I may have to wrangle up some Antique Lace to see about layering the two. It smells like spiced cream soda. It lacks a bit of the creamy quality of LP, and some of the richness, but quite a good comparison- and really, an excellent scent.

 

I would love to find more scents in this family!

I really do not love lavender as a note. In fact, in BPAL blends, it is commonly known to make me sneeze when it's at the forefront of a blend. I am well aware, however, that when it comes to BPAL and my chemistry, the only hard rule is no red musk... and I am awaiting the day even that will be misproven. All that said, I love the scent Villain, which features lavender quite prominently, and as I was mulling over if I wanted to swap for Wulric or not, I came across a review that said Wulric was a richer, more complex Villain. I was sold.

 

When I opened the bottle, all I could smell was that sharp, bracing lavender that I don't like, with a hint of sweetness underneath. I rolled the bottle, having been warned that this was one of the blends that will separate, then took another sniff. Chocolate-y lavender. Hmm.

 

Once on my skin, the lavender takes charge immediately, and then is told to sit down and shut up, because the other notes are tired of being bullied, and they're not gonna take it anymore! So it sits down and makes nice with everybody, and voila! A cohesive team.

 

It is gourmand, not foody, on me. I love it. It's like Villain wrestled a Death Adder, then took a bath in Boomslang. But there's something even more- it's just very complex and deep. Seems like it could be worn most any time of year, really.

 

EDIT: A lot of people seem to be confusing CISTUS with CITRUS. Cistus is the actual ingredient; there's no citrus in it.

 

Similar scents: Villain, Bliss, Boomslang, Death Adder, Lump of Coal

51, Mag Mell (give it some time to dry), Regan (as previously mentioned), Bewitched, Katharina and Mouse's Long and Sad Tale all come to mind.

Mag Mell does not smell good to me in the imp. It's sharp and perfume-y... almost cologne-y, really. Astringent. Piercingly so. And it smells like that on my skin for about 3 minutes, maybe less. Then... I can actually smell the rainy scent. Rain on grass- it's like being a kid on a cool spring day, laying out in the grass in bare feet and it's not incredibly warm, but it's warm enough that it signals the coming summer months, which were always the best ones... And then it's a warm bit of rain that comes down for a few minutes; long enough to leave a rainbow and the scent behind. It dries down into this lovely, warm, inviting scent. It's quite pretty. I'm going to see how much I use my imp before I decide if I need to put it on my bottle waiting-list or not.

 

I'd list scents that have a similar feel, but the only thing I can even begin to come up with is 51... maybe Bewitched.

Port Royal smells AMAZINGLY close to what I remember Hamadryad smelling like when it was cinnamon-y.

Huh. This smells like dragon's blood. It's a light floral with a touch of sweetness. I get just a HINT of the smokiness some of the other reviews reference, but... it's mostly just dragon's blood. Weird. As it dries, the notes in it come forward- I can pick out the orchid, for example, and a little teensy bit of benzoin- but my nose is still insisting that it's dragon's blood SN on my skin.

I do believe the sandalwood is the sole problem with this scent on me. If I ignore it; don't huff it, rather, it smells light, flirty and fitting for Spring, and maybe Summer. I do like it, and could see myself wearing out the imp in the coming months... but I don't think I will need a bottle. I've been wrong before, though. It smells lovely as it dries, don't get me wrong, but when I smell it, there is this overwhelming feeling that I'm also wearing powder. The sandalwood and the amber have conspired to bring about this powdery scent. I can usually wear amber beautifully, but the sandalwood has corrupted this one. There are enough other scents that I love that are close to this blend, however, that I'm not too sad.

 

Scents with a similar feel: Fae, Aglaea, Katharina, Brisingamen, Et Lux Fuit, Imp, La Vague

This smells exactly like Hony Mone on me. EXACTLY! So much so that if I didn't know better, I would have suspected a mislabel. And yeah, it has honey in it, but there's other stuff! It has that same richness... it's just the same. So, hooray for not needing a bottle. But so strange that it's the same scent!

Dragon's Milk, Beaver Moon '05, Boomslang, and The Perilous Parlor get all the compliments on my chemistry.

You absolutely must try both Hope and Faith from the Carnival.

I also recommend Alice, Euphrosyne and though I've not tried it yet, I also have to toss in a vote for Lyonesse, which people have said have the same creaminess to it.

 

I find that Snow-Flakes is very similar to Snow White, but it's harder to come by.

 

ETA: Tiger Lily, Dragon's Milk, Eve, Sudha Segara, Mouse's Long and Sad Tale, Cockaigne, and Eden came to mind. Oh, and Pink Moon 2007!