portalkat

I just got my bottle today and it was from the second batch shipment.

I put some of my neck and I think that the heat from that part of my body is releasing more of the beeswax note, because that is what I am smelling swirling around me. I also get hints of the clove and cinnamon, but the strongest note is the beeswax. The blackened vanilla just pulls everything together. I'm going to try some on my wrists next time and see if it will tone down the beeswax note a bit so that I can smell the spices a bit more.

You shouldn't have any problems. I just got a package from Future Primitive in the UK last week with 13 5mm bottles of oils and a large bottle of hair conditioner.

Don't use the word perfume. The minds of postal workers can't conceive of a perfume without alcohol. I always send mine as "bath oil - no alcohol".

Yes, the key word is "perfume." Either mark it as Bath & body or cosmetics.

Can anyone help re international shipping. I was recently informed by Royal mail that I will not be allowed to post BPAL anywhere outside the UK due to international prohibited goods policies etc. I am wondering if anyone IS still able to ship internationally or even to the EU from the UK. Does this apply vice versa in that I cannot buy from the US or internationally anymore either?

 

As far as I am aware BPAL has no alcohol in it, which is why other perfumes/oils etc are prohibited as they are flammable. I just don't understand

I actually get oils from the UK all the time. I buy through the forum or from one company in particular, Future Primitive and even Lush, UK. I just looked at one of the boxes from Future Primitive and they mark the customs paperwork as bath and body products. I usually get 1-2 packages from them a month with no problem.

ZZ's review at the top of this page is what made me order a bottle of this. Now, I don't really recall what a Lush store smells like, but I wanted to smell like one.

The first sniff from the bottle has me worried because "red" anything always smells harsh to me and red sandalwood is no exception. When I put some of, the change is drastic and the harshness is gone. I'm finding the peach note to be stronger than the champaca and I think that I would have liked it better the other way around, but I'm hoping that with some age behind it, that might change. The drydown is soft, fruity from the peach with just a hint of floral behind it. The red sandalwood keeps this from being too cloying and changes it from being just another peach blend. I love it and I'm actually considering a backup.

I think that I'll hit the Lush store tomorrow and see if it smells like me.

I'm looking for some recommendations for vanilla florals (florals with tonka or benzoin are also good). I'm okay with most flowers, although orange blossom/neroli and heavier roses can be troublesome sometimes.

My first thought was Lyonesse, but you probably have already tried that one.

I hadn't been drawn to the anise scents until I met a girl who told me that she wears a single note of star anise. She mentioned soap making and that it was one of her favorites. On her it smelled very spicy-herbal and earthy - almost like a subtle patchouli (delicious...!). I was really surprised when she said it was anise because it didn't smell like licorice candy to me. Are there any scents in the GC like this? Black Annis? Or maybe Absinthe?

Thanks!!

I just wanted to say that star anise smells nothing like licorice or regular anise to me, so that is probably why you did not recognize it. It is one of the main ingredients in Chinese 5 spice powder, so you can acquaint yourself with the smell. I know that the lab has used it in some things, but with the other notes added, it might not be that noticeable.

I will need a backup of this. I love amber, but sometimes it just seems a bit too much. I love how the other notes give it depth and complexity and temper some of the sweetness. I am also getting some deep woodiness in there, which I know will not please some, but it floats my boat.

When I first tried this at the CBLDF party, it smelled a bit cologny. I really wanted to buy it in order to support the CBLDF, so I bought a couple of bottles of it. I tried it again when I got home from the party - I only work 10 minutes away from the Con. It was still strong on the cologne smell, but from the previous application, I could smell the dry paper note and a bit of leather. I tested it more that night and the next day and it seems to have developed in that short period. Now it opens up with that sweet leather note, the paper note follows and then it ends up with the sweet smoke smell. This is actually something that I would wear, but I wasn't sure from the initial testing. I'm glad that I was able to get my hands on a bottle.

BPAL champa blends for me are Urd, Panther Moon and Temple Viper.

I do not get the men's cologne which is a good thing. This opens up with the rosin note with a bit of dry dusty wood in the background once it starts to dry down. The one thing that I have not seen in any review is that the drydown for me is a very strong beeswax note. I am loving this a lot. Thieve's Rosin for me is rosin, light wood and a generous helping of gentle sweet beeswax.

(Sorry if this is a duplicate.)

 

I know it's been a holiday weekend, but should I be worried that I made a large order via Paypal on the 20th and it hasn't been acknowledged in any way? I know I'm of course not going to get a CnS for some time, but when one orders through Paypal, is there any kind of confirmation that the Lab received the order?

Do you mean acknowledged by the Lab or by Paypal? If you mean Paypal, then yes, you should get a notice. I ask this because on my last couple of Lab orders, my PP notifications were delayed as much as a couple of days. I've never gotten an acknowledgement from the Lab.

I'm new to BPAL so I have no idea what to order. My favorite scent is Kat Von D's "Saint." On me it smells like vanilla with a bit of musk, a sophisticated, grown-up vanilla. So I was just wondering if anyone recommended something similar? I hate florals or fruitiness as well. Thanks!

There is a thread here with BPAL recommendations to commercial perfumes. I saw that someone asked about Saint, but I did not find any replies. You might want to look through there, though.

That person also listed the notes for Saint -

Mirabelle Plum and mandarin are top notes. Tiare flower and caramel with jasmine are the mid. And vanilla combines with a cream type musk with sandalwood for the base.

So, even though you might not like florals or fruity perfumes, you might not want to rule them all out.

Be warned though...I used to wear Penumbra during my anatomy labs, but then I couldn't wear it ever again without the association with death/formalin! I had to swap it away after that.

Yep, I was going to say the same thing. Don't use something that you love, because you might associate the smell with death or whatever you are trying to not smell.

 

have you tried Cathedral? if so, what did you think? really considering it. thanks for all the help, btw.

Here is part of my review from 2006 -

 

"This scent brings up so many images and memories. The first thing that I smell is the wood note, perhaps cedar. It reminds me of a church, but not a cathedral. It reminds me of the churches in the missions in Southern California. I can smell the San Juan Capistrano and Santa Barbara missions. It smells old, but not dusty, just old wood, aged old wood. I can smell the incense notes behind it and it conjures up images of monks in prayer in earlier centuries.

 

I also had an image of the woods down along the Little Sur River. I could smell the wood of the trees and the sweet smell of the leaves. The Big Sur area is like a cathedral of sorts."

 

It doesn't have the benzoin and vanilla from EM and I haven't tried layering them yet. On its own, it's very different from EM, but it is one of my top 10 BPALs.

 

 

If you can get your hands on silver haired Bat, that is pretty much benzoin and cedar on me - if you layered this with cathedral, it might get you closer!

 

... Or layer Banshee Beat with Cathedral to add the Van/Patch element.

 

I've never smelled EM, but based on the notes and your descriptions, it might work!

!

I happen to have a bottle of Silver Haired Bat thanks to my lovely faerie, so I pulled out Banshee Beat and Cathedral and tried layering them with SHB, but they are all too sweet. Encens Mystic is not very sweet. The closest I've come so far is layering a tiny bit of SHB with Empire from Haunt. Encens Mystic is just so different from anything else that I have ever had and it really does have an incense quality about it. I think that I just need to order a sample of CdG Avignon to see how it compares.

okay- i'm trying to find something, ANYTHING that smells like Encens Mystic by Crazylibellule and the Poppies (which seems to have gone under). another signature scent of mine bites the dust. sigh. simply, it smells like a midnight mass in france. but here are the notes:

 

Top Notes

Clove, Cedar

 

Middle Notes

Incense, Myrrh, Benzoin

 

Base Notes

Patchouli, Vanilla, Musk

 

does anyone know the scent and have a similar alternative?

 

Have you checked EBay? I have found many discontinued perfumes and cosmetics on there...

There has only been on one ebay for the last couple of years.....trust me on that.

Another LE, but Pumpkin Patch III from 2009 had tomato leaf. The description is: Pumpkin, fir needle, pitch, rosemary, and tomato.

I love it. It's one of my favorite pumpkins because of the tomato leaf.

I'm a recent Villainess fan. Only I love the Extraits more than the soaps. I guess I've been using body wash too long.

 

Anyway, reading through this thread has been extremely informational - for example now I know why I fell so completely in love with Trauma at first sniff - I'm a big fan of Imp.

 

Also, if Neisthai smells ANYTHING at all like Glasgow, it'll be on my next Villainess order! Glasgow is one of my all time BPAL faves.

 

If this is a not allowed question or just plain stupid, let me know, but is Jai Mahal anything at all like Snake Oil?

I haven't smelled Neisthai, but IMO, Jai Mahal does not smell anything like Snake Oil. I find it to smell like sweet, a little boozy, cardamom wood. I love the way that Brooke does wood, resins and smoke and I have most of her extraits with those notes.

 

have you tried Cathedral? if so, what did you think? really considering it. thanks for all the help, btw.

Here is part of my review from 2006 -

"This scent brings up so many images and memories. The first thing that I smell is the wood note, perhaps cedar. It reminds me of a church, but not a cathedral. It reminds me of the churches in the missions in Southern California. I can smell the San Juan Capistrano and Santa Barbara missions. It smells old, but not dusty, just old wood, aged old wood. I can smell the incense notes behind it and it conjures up images of monks in prayer in earlier centuries.

I also had an image of the woods down along the Little Sur River. I could smell the wood of the trees and the sweet smell of the leaves. The Big Sur area is like a cathedral of sorts."

It doesn't have the benzoin and vanilla from EM and I haven't tried layering them yet. On its own, it's very different from EM, but it is one of my top 10 BPALs.

okay- i'm trying to find something, ANYTHING that smells like Encens Mystic by Crazylibellule and the Poppies (which seems to have gone under). another signature scent of mine bites the dust. sigh. simply, it smells like a midnight mass in france. but here are the notes:

 

Top Notes

Clove, Cedar

 

Middle Notes

Incense, Myrrh, Benzoin

 

Base Notes

Patchouli, Vanilla, Musk

 

does anyone know the scent and have a similar alternative?

Nothing smells like Encens Mystic IMO. I love that stuff and I'm glad that I have a couple of tubes of it, but I have never found anything that smells similar. There is just something about EM that smells more like church incense, or incense period. The notes are similar to a lot of blends that I have, but the proportions make it smell so different. I think that I may need to try some layering to see if there are any combos out there that come close. I haven't really tried before, because I had the real thing, but those won't last forever.

 

my last tube is running woefully low. i thought i'd just be able to buy it forever! it was so popular at sephora. i wondered what happened to the company. i was going to write them directly about encens mystic, but the websites are down.

so the two alternatives i was given are:

 

+bpals 'ave maria gratia plena'

 

+comme des garcons 'avignon'

 

any opinions?

 

is there any way we can send a sample of encens mystic to bpal and see if they can maybe create a viable likeness? do they do that? seriously, i need my encens mystic.

In answer to your last question, no, BPAL does not do customs.

I saw a review for Encens Mystic where someone mentioned Avignon, so I might order a sample from Luckyscent so that I can try it. I think that it is not as sweet, so it might need to be layered with something.

I am testing Ave Maria Gratia Plena right now and I'm really finding it to be mainly a floral.

I'm wondering if some of the woodier blends layered with something might work. I will start playing around with things tonight. Maybe Aureus or Cathedral layered with something with vanilla or a sweeter resiny blend. Ugh, so sad that Encens Mystic is gone. I bought a couple on line for $5/ea, but I didn't realize that they were disc, or I would have gotten a lot more. =(

okay- i'm trying to find something, ANYTHING that smells like Encens Mystic by Crazylibellule and the Poppies (which seems to have gone under). another signature scent of mine bites the dust. sigh. simply, it smells like a midnight mass in france. but here are the notes:

 

Top Notes

Clove, Cedar

 

Middle Notes

Incense, Myrrh, Benzoin

 

Base Notes

Patchouli, Vanilla, Musk

 

does anyone know the scent and have a similar alternative?

Nothing smells like Encens Mystic IMO. I love that stuff and I'm glad that I have a couple of tubes of it, but I have never found anything that smells similar. There is just something about EM that smells more like church incense, or incense period. The notes are similar to a lot of blends that I have, but the proportions make it smell so different. I think that I may need to try some layering to see if there are any combos out there that come close. I haven't really tried before, because I had the real thing, but those won't last forever.

LOL, I think that I could have written filigree_shadow's review word for word. Every single one of the notes in this blend is a favorite of mine, but the result is something so odd that, although I am slightly repulsed, I find myself sniffing my wrist repeatedly. I'm not sure which combination is making this weird for me, it's possibly the currant, orange flower and the pepper. Whatever it is, the result is a sort of jarring, sour, sharp note that I have never really experienced before. I'm thinking that aging will not really do the trick, since it is already 3 years old, but I have not really opened this bottle that often and sometimes the air and oxidation will help to mellow out a blend. Short of that, I dunno.......maybe layer with Banshee Beat? That might be the ticket!

When this is wet, I get mostly the banana leaf, a hint of the coconut and mostly the candle wax. When dry, the banana leaf note recedes and I'm left with the candle wax and a hint of the lilies. This is mostly candle wax on me with just a hint of the other notes. That said, it is very evocative of a room where candles have been burning and vases of lilies and banana leaves still stand. It reminds me of BPAL's Manila, not in the notes, but in the images and feel. I'm actually quite liking this.

So sad.....Some of my huge favorites are from the Salon. I have always been meaning to get bottles of The Smiling Spider and Cleopatra. Favorites that I do have bottles of are Carceri D'Invenzione, Love and Pain, Madonna, and Philosopher in Meditation. I should also probably think about Arrival of the Sabbath, The Great He-Goat and Satan and Death. I love deep dark resiny blends and the Salon has a lot of those.

Re: Honey, I would email the lab to see if they actually use honey if you really want to wear it. Some places do, some use frag oils.

The lab uses honey. This is from the FAQs page:

"Are your oils vegan? Do you test on animals?

With the exception of our honey-based products, everything that comes from BPAL is vegan, and we abhor animal testing. Black Phoenix does not test on animals, and we do not work with companies that utilize animal testing. Black Phoenix is entirely cruelty-free, as our four dogs, many fish, and resident cat will attest. All products are tested on staff, family, and friends."