Dymphna

I haven't tried Bulletproof (yet--I really want to), but the Antikythera Mechanism was what jumped to my mind, too. However, if you find that it doesn't work for you and end up layering to get the same effect, I wanted to recommend a possible layering component: the Forbidden Foyer. It's an LE, but it probably wouldn't be too hard to find a decant and it is the most gorgeous scent of dark, old wood. Just gorgeous.

I think I'm gonna go put some on, actually.

Okay, I realize this is a long shot, but has anyone here tried Aria by Missoni, and can you recommend a BPAL scent that resembles it? My mom was given a big bottle of it when I was in junior high and I promptly stole it and wore it constantly. It was so beautiful, people would stop me in the street to ask me what I was wearing.

The notes, according to Fragrantica, are:

Top notes: pineapple, banana, raspberry, peach, bergamot and lemon

Middle notes: carnation, tuberose, jasmine, ylang-ylang, lily-of-the-valley and rose

Base notes: sandalwood, tonka bean, amber, musk, vanilla and cedar.

Of course, not all those notes were apparent. I remember it as predominantly fruity-floral with a base of sandalwood and musk. The fruity top was heavy on the raspberry, peach, and bergamot, and the tuberose was really the standout floral. It was GORGEOUS.

The best match I can come up with, BPAL-wise, is Tamora, and that's slightly similar, but not too much. I did a search for "peach and tuberose" and got Philommeides, which I think I remember trying, but it obviously wasn't similar enough to ping my radar. And now, of course, I don't know where the decant is to try it again. Eh, it had osmanthus, which means it probably didn't work on me anyway.

So...anyone?

So I'm also wondering about something that might smell similar to B&BW's Sea Island Cotton or Japanese Cherry Blossom.

Wensleydale seems to sound like what I get from Sea Island Cotton- more of a soapy, fresh, clean scent.

I was looking for scents with notes of cherry blossom but reading the reviews of them seem like that particular note isn't as strong as some of the others in that blend.

For Sea Island Cotton, you might also want to try The Pool of Tears (from the Mad Tea Party):

A sea of salty tears drowning out Alice's light floral perfume.

It's not an exact match--Sea Island Cotton smells almost exactly like clean, wet cotton laundry that's been washed in Tide to me--but it does have that laundry-ish vibe to it. Despite the description, it's not a typical aquatic because I can't generally wear those but this works beautifully on me. It does have a bit of saltiness to it, but it's not distracting. And it's not all that floral, either. It smells like clean laundry that's been lightly spritzed with lavender water.

As always, though, your chemistry may vary.

If he likes leather and Snake Oil, he might like Crowley. It's got leather, plus red musk and vanilla like SO:

Infernal musk, red patchouli, lilac cologne, mahogany, lemon rind, oakmoss, leather, and vanilla husk.

I have always wanted to make suggestions in this thread because I love the idea of it! (I kinda wish we had one for old-timers, too, it seems like fun.) I didn't see anyone reply to ChipNoir yet, so I'm going to do it.

Can someone make a suggestion for me?

Small, bi-masculine oriented male, cute tendencies, Small, quirky, geeky, horror enthusiast, tea connoisseur, manga otaku. I'm very high energy, and I love all things spooky, and at the same time I also adore cute, high energy things. Retro cartoons, anime, 80's pop. A lot of people refer to me as "Perky Goth."

 

Not sure if thats anything worth going by. But I guess I'm looking for sweet scents, but ones that lean more towards masculine?

When I read this, I immediately thought of the Picnic In Arkham line. Specifically, Night-Gaunt (scary name, yet quite an "up" scent, perfect for a Perky Goth! ), Brown Jenkin (cute and creepy at the same time, and some folks find it sweet and cuddly), and Shub-Niggurath (a very sexy yet cozy scent, and ginger is definitely a high energy note).

You might also want to check out the Mad Tea Party (Cheshire Cat = darkly mischievous) and Marchen lines for more scents in a similar vein. MTP especially has plenty of sweet scents.

I was stumped at first because the Irish-themed scents are usually too green for me. But then I realized that the scent I've been wearing all week has a (kinda) Irish name: Banshee Beat. So that's what I'm wearing.

I would have gone with Dana O'Shee, but it always puts me to sleep so I save it for bedtime.

My experience with this scent is similar to the first two reviews. Granted, it did just arrive and I only gave it about ten minutes to sit and warm up before I just had to test it. Just a dot from the lid, but it was enough.

In the bottle, this is very sweet, like fruit-flavored candy or sugared fruit. There's just a tiny hint of creaminess from the cheesecake underneath.

Once on my skin, it's very much like fruit candy--artificially flavored hard candy, all sugar and bright colors. The strawberry and peach go back and forth for a bit, and then peach wins. It settles down and starts to smell a bit more like real fruit, and I have glorious visions of a peaches and cream-scented perfume. Then it goes back over to the strawberry candy side. It reminds me a lot of Bordello, which smells like a red Jolly Rancher to me. I guess it's the "glaze" that's going all candyish.

There's also a weird, bitter, almost plasticky undertone that I get on and off. I think it comes from the peach when it's being more fruit/plant-like rather than candy-like.

I'm just going to hang onto this and hope that the cheesecake note makes its presence known more as time passes, and that the candy notes settle down some.

Hmmm, what shall I wear for Halloween in Brooklyn?

It doesn't smell all that great on my skin, though, so I'll either wear a bit in my hair or in a scent locket. And some Samhain, as usual, of course.

For November 1, I'll probably either wear a bit of Rose Red (for my grandmother, who loved red roses) or wear it in a scent locket. And probably Dia de los Muertos on my skin. And I will definitely be wearing my BPTP Dia de los Muertos shirt, I just have to find it.

In the bottle: Wow, this is not what I expected. It's a light, almost citrusy scent that reminds me a bit of orange blossom minus the acrid, nostril-burning smell I usually get from orange blossom. So...a light, not too sweet citrus. On second sniff, it does remind me of the original October (haven't tried this year's version), but not as overwhelmingly cologne-y as that one was to my nose. It's definitely the same or very similar light, citrusy "dry leaves" note as in October, as opposed to the smokier one (which I love) in Falling Leaf Moon. Right behind that is a creamy note--not buttery, but a sort of organic, vegetal creaminess like in a pumpkin, apple, or pear.

Wet: There's the citrusy scent and the creamy note, and right behind that is a gorgeous, warm, glowing spice. It's not medicinal clove of doom, as I'd feared. It's really beautiful, just sweet, well-blended spices that compliment the creamy and citrus notes perfectly.

Dry: Just completely gorgeous. Imagine spicy, creamy pumpkin pie custard, but with a dose of bright orange to keep it from going too creamy. Not buttery at all to my nose--not that I mind buttery pumpkin notes, but I know some do. This reminds me a lot of a less feminine Pumpkin Queen, minus the more perfumey notes like the Egyptian amber and plus some darker notes that make it more gender neutral. The darker green and brown notes, the cedar and juniper and fir and ivy, are keeping this from turning foody. It's just perfectly autumnal, the kind of scent I can imagine wearing to go for a walk on a blustery autumn day. For those who like to use oils in a burner, this one will work wonderfully as a room scent, too.

I almost didn't order this one and I'm so glad that I decided to get it!

i have this dress which i love but when it comes to wearing a scent that matches it and how i feel in it i seem to fall flat if you get what i mean? i thought bright red fruity scents but they aren't sexy enough and then i thought red musk but i think most scents i have with red musk in are too heavy for the dress since its cotton..... i feel i over think.

 

http://www.waynetippetts.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/070gfw_wt09wp.jpg

It's funny, I looked at the picture first and my immediate thought was Hollywood Babylon. And then I saw that you mentioned red musk, which HB does have (which is why I haven't tried it). The combination of red musk, which is apparently sexalicious on people who like it, and strawberry, which is sort of innocent yet cute and flirty, seems like a good match for that dress. Which, by the way, is adorable.

I'm going to a party in a couple of weeks. I'll be in this dress, and wearing these in my hair. My boyfriend will be in this (sorry about the watermark).

 

The desired effect is very much that of a . . . femme fatale. Any suggestions? The party will be at night, with a strong fetish/BDSM theme, if that helps at all.

Well, Whip would match the theme and the color combination (black leather, red rose). Loviatar also, obviously, if you've got it. Black Lily is also a very dark red and black scent to me. And of course Perversion has "wear to your next fetish ball" or something like that right in the official description.

Oddly enough, though, my immediate reaction was to recommend Red Lantern. Well, I guess it's not that odd, there's the whole red thing.

That dress is beautiful, by the way!

I haven't tried it, but Caliban is supposed to smell very ocean-y, so maybe it's got a "salty seawater" scent. (I've found that scents with kelp/bladderwrack listed as a note do have that salty smell to me.) As for citrus, I'm wondering if maybe there's some lime in that soap, since lime + salt is a classic combination (margaritas!).

So maybe you could do a search for blends that list lime, possibly grapefruit or yuzu, and kelp as notes, and then experiment with layering.

Dorian, Dorian, DORIAN! That dress is gorgeous, I love the idea of ivory lace over champagne, and Dorian has always been a very golden/champagne colored scent to me. And I think it would be perfect with that dress because it's such an elegant scent. Plus, it's a good scent to wear for a wedding in any case, sweet and romantic but still refined (and a bit sexy).

Another very golden scent to me is Sudha Segara. And if you don't feel it's too warm for August, Morocco is THE golden scent.

(And FWIW, my immediate thought for the first dress was Black Dahlia. Something about that dress screamed "Southern gothic" to me.)

ETA: Oh! PELE! It's an incredible white floral with a delicate, pale apricot (the color, not the note) richness to it that still feels light enough for summer...like that beautiful dress.

And Katharina is another "white with a hint of pale golden apricot" (the color and the note) scent, plus it's got orange blossom which is a traditional wedding flower.

Okay, I'll stop now.

My original, color-coded and much annotated spreadsheet was on my old computer, which died. So I just downloaded the latest version (thank you, Hackess!) and now I've got some work to do.

IN THE IMP: Smells delicious! Cardamom and chocolate, with a hint of ginger.

WET: Still good, mostly cardamom with a little bit of chocolate. Not as delicious as it smelled in the vial.

DRY: Ugh, the cardamom turns all sour and funky and this ends up smelling almost cheese-like. I had to wash it off…scrub, actually. I usually love cardamom, I don't know what happened, but my skin destroyed this one.

IN THE IMP: Soft, worn leather, which I love, but there's a high-pitched chemical scent, too. I didn't realize that the "polished wood" note meant furniture polish, but I think that's what this is. It's citrusy, but with a screeching chemical twang, almost metallic. Not so much as a hint of olive oil.

WET: Oh, yeah, this is leather and furniture polish. Ugh. It's no longer "almost metallic" now, it's almost like biting into a sheet of foil. Did I mention that metal notes give me a headache? Yeah.

DRY: Oh, hey, there's the olive oil. It's mixed with the furniture polish and gone rancid. Good times. Yeah, I'm gonna go wash this off now.

IN THE IMP: This smells sooooo good in the imp. I love leather and that's the dominant note at first sniff. At second sniff, I can smell a bit of cedar, but that's it. I honestly can't detect anything else--not even lavender, which usually jumps right out at me.

WET: Mmm, leather, cedar, and sage. It seems like a perfect balance of the three, or maybe the leather is a bit more in the foreground than the other two. After a few seconds, I can smell a bit of something fresh and almost cologne-like. Almost minty. I can smell the white musk, too, but I don't think that's what's responsible for the cologne-like scent. I want to say it's the sage, but sage and white (or very light) musk are in Aeval and that doesn't smell at all cologne-y to me. Hrm.

DRY: Okay, well, whatever it is that's doing the cologne thing has turned this into a men's cologne with leather as the main note. It smells good, but distinctly masculine, and thus not something I want to wear. I'm definitely going to try it on my husband, though.

IN THE IMP: Black leather (yum!), plus something that smells clean and sweet in an almost snowy way. Looking at the listed notes, I can't think what that could be, but it's really nice.

WET: Maybe it's the opoponax, which is sweet myrrh, that's giving this that sweetness. It's not so snowy-clean now, it's got more of an herbal/resinous sweetness. Something in this is reminding me of Anubis, which I liked but didn't love when I first tried it (and the imp leaked so I never got to give it a second try).

DRY: This turned out to be such a soft, comforting blend. Totally not what I expected, but the black leather and opoponax, two notes I absolutely LOVE, dried down to something soft and warm and so comforting. The tobacco didn't amp to high heaven, the amber didn't turn to powder (I'm starting to wonder if maybe black amber is okay on me), and the leather kept the opoponax from turning *too* sweet, as it does when teamed with sweeter, less forceful notes. I'm so, so happy that the Labbies sent this along as a frimp as I've been longing to try it and it exceeded my hopes!

IN THE IMP: I mostly smell the amber and rose. They smell good, but in a powdery perfume sort of way. It reminds me of some kind of perfume that I remember smelling when I was a kid, but I can't figure out which one.

WET: Wow, yeah, really powdery. I was expecting this to be spicy and sexy, and instead it smells like a floral powder. Oh! This smells like my grandmother's bedroom. When I was growing up, she had this crystal dish of dusting powder on her dresser, with a big puff, and her whole bedroom smelled like that powder.

DRY: Okay, so…this joins the very small group of BPAL blends that remind me of my grandmother and make me cry. Not what I was expecting at all, but I love it anyway.

IN THE IMP: Cherries! Juicy, sweet, red cherries. I can smell the mahogany in the background, but just a bit. I love dark wood notes, so I'm hoping it will bloom on my skin. Mahogany and cherry sounds like such a good combination. I've been wanting to try this scent forever.

WET: Cherries, sweet cherries, and then...

DRY: GONE! I have to press my nose to the back of my hand to even find where I applied this. When I do find it, it's this very, very faint generic red fruit scent. It's like I splashed a drop of fruit punch on my hand and wiped it off and can kind of smell it a little bit. I know that sounds weird, but that's the only way I can think of to describe it. This was supposed to be such a deep, rich, dark red scent. WTF, skin?

IN THE IMP: Mostly honey, some vanilla, some jasmine.

WET: Mostly honey, the kind in Honey Moon, not the kind in O. Creamy vanilla and light jasmine in the background. A bit of champaca (also light, and a little bit juicy) starts to show up as it dries. And I think I'm getting the olive blossom, too, but it's mellow and blends with the honey. I'm very happy so far with the way the florals are NOT taking over.

DRY: The olive blossom and champaca combine to make a fruity floral with a hint of olive oil behind it (no, really) that just takes over the other notes. It doesn't amp like crazy the way champaca sometimes does on me, but it's dominant enough that I can't smell much else. If I sniff up close, I can still detect the honey and a bit of the vanilla, but they really can't compete with the fruity-floral-olive scent.

Oh, wow. I thought I was okay with just getting a set of decants for the Ode to Mars scents, but now I wish I could afford a full set of bottles. Those labels are incredible. Thanks for the photos, Lycanthrope!

Wow, that's another one I'm just hearing about now. I need to stay current on these things, but I admit that I don't pay close attention to stuff that I'm not likely to get a chance to try. Which means I miss these awesome names.

I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask, but I recently saw someone asking for a scent called

 

Dragon Pecker

 

and I'm curious what notes, etc are in it, but I can't find it in the reviews section and was wondering if anyone could help me out?

 

 

There's actually a thread here: http://www.bpal.org/index.php?showtopic=50003 that's made specifically to find scents!

 

Dragon Pecker was a proto released during one of the trunk shows last year. You can find it under the event exclusive scents, I believe.

 

Update: Oh, also, since it was a proto, there aren't any official note listings, but the reviews say there's dragon's blood resin with some woodsy sweetness to it. http://www.bpal.org/index.php?showtopic=62884&hl=Dragon

If there were a scent that smelled like freshly brewed coffee--no milk/cream, no sugar--I would snap it up immediately. I didn't have the funds for last year's Inquisition, so I missed out on the chance to try Bah! (much to my Scrooge-loving dismay).

Actually, one of my dream scents involves all dark notes: black coffee, black leather, opoponax.... nothing sweet, creamy, or soft. And, since it's *my* dream, nothing that would smell bad on me, like black musk, amber, or patchouli.

But really, at this point I'd try anything that had non-sweet, non-creamy coffee.

Disclaimer: Although I do remember a floral undertone to Candy Butcher, it didn't smell anything like Snow White to me. So I'm basing this purely on Snow White.

I can't remember if this came directly from Beth, but I believe Snow-Flakes has the same lily musk as Snow White.

I *think* someone reported back from Convergence...maybe?...back in 2007 that Beth told them Snow White would be back that year but Snow-Flakes would not because she couldn't source enough of the components for that musk to release both blends that year. I remember this because I was in the minority that preferred Snow-Flakes and was so disappointed. We got lucky this year!

Anyway, most of us have found S-F to smell like SW plus a gentle mint, so if you're okay with mint, you can get your hands on some S-F right now and see if you like it.

And if for any reason you can't get Snow-Flakes, I find The Macabray to be extremely similar, and I've seen others

mention Cloister Graveyard In The Snow being similar, too.

(By the way, while there may be batch variations from year to year, I've never heard about any actual note variations in Snow White.)