Electra

Osmoz.com is another good site for this type of search.

I didn't much care for this one when I first got it, so I put it away for a few months. Now it's awesome. It's one of my favorite hot weather scents. Cool watery mint with a strangely gingerbread-y drydown. Odd, but addictive. Very cooling and refreshing.

Temple of Dreams. Every single time I wear it, I have incredibly vivid dreams (and NOT nightmares) with an unusual level of recall. From my review: I didn't have any luck with Oneiroi or Somnus - the first didn't do anything and the second actually gave me screaming insomnia every time I tested it, and I gave it a good number of tries. Go figure. I really like both Safari and Quietude (the first on my skin, the second in a burner), as well as TKO, but none of those have any effect on my dreaming. Temple of Dreams is far and away my favorite sleep blend.

I think there may be batch variation, then, or people's noses may interpret Pain differently, because the pennyroyal is so strong in my bottle that it knocks me on my ass! I use it for migraines. It's great for that. But I can't really smell the lavender in it at all.

I also wound up with a rash from Mme Moriarty - I still have a rash over 24 hours later, and I washed it off *right* away. I wonder what it is in there that I'm allergic to - I pretty much never have skin reactions to oils. Huh.

I've said this before, but Samhain smells like Poe's "Haunted" to me. I can't separate the two in my head.

I agree, Quietude is wonderful in a burner. *Wonderful.* As for fall scents, my favorites (non-BPAL - gasp!) are The Body Shop's Pumpkin Nectarine (particularly love this one) and Brandied Apple, both of which I've been burning in the fall for about eight or nine years now. BPAL equivalents would probably be Pumpkin Queen, Jack, any of the Pumpkin Patches, Punkie Night, any of the Harvest Moons.

Have you tried any of the Panaceas? Quietude is a soft somewhat powdery lavender with some citrus to it (smells like lemon balm to me). It's gorgeous in my burner. I prefer Safari on my skin, but that's a more robust, woodsy lavender. Still very round and smooth, though. Not at all harsh. TKO is a *very* soft lavender under a sugary note. It smells like herbal poundcake to me.

1. Snake Oil (like everyone else's list ). I know Black Phoenix is technically the lab's signature scent, but I always think of Snake Oil as the signature. Like Urraca, I don't like Snake Oil. I don't like it fresh, I don't like it aged, I've been a BPAL customer for 3 years and have tried it numerous times over those three years and still don't like it (so it's not a case of my nose just needing to "acclimate" to BPAL - I'm acclimated. Snake Oil just isn't for me). But if you're trying BPAL, you HAVE to try Snake Oil. 2. Morella. I can't count the number of times I've heard some variation on "ewww, CIVET..." on the forum. Morella should be in the pack to demonstrate how feminine and stunning a blend with civet can really be. It definitely converted me. I'm not scared of civet anymore. 3. Black Opal. Another scent I don't love (though I don't hate it). But I think it should go in the pack because it's such a cool conceptual scent - the mineral note underlying the vanilla is like nothing I've ever smelled before or since. 4. Whippoorwill. Because it's f*cking awesome. Again, I have NEVER smelled another perfume like this. No one puts this kind of scent in a bottle. Whippoorwill is unbelievable. 5. Miskatonic University. There should be at least one foodie in the pack (even though I dislike them as a general rule) because BPAL does a lot of them, and IMO Miskatonic is one of the best. 6. Snow White. Because it truly is a BPAL classic - and really does somehow capture the bite that you feel and smell when you walk outdoors on a really cold day. 7. Samhain. Another true BPAL classic. There's a reason it keeps coming back year after year. That's all I've got for now, but I'm sure I'll edit later and get it up to a dozen .

I don't have any kids myself, but I think The Unicorn would be wonderful for a young girl (or boy )...I remember calling it a "pretty pretty princess" scent in my review.

I smell like pencils. Damnit. Stupid body chemistry.

My review of Danube reads "I smell like rain." Flowers in the rain, really. But still.

The drydown of Manhattan smells like cinnamon Hamadryad on me. It's less spicy and much less in-your-face, but it's very similar in feel. My review is the only one that says that, though, so I may be crazy. But I've worn it three times, and it's done it every time.

Rhododendron and bellflower petals swirl through deep, cool, dark aquatic notes. I smell like rain. Or to be more precise, flowers in the rain. And it's STRONG. So pretty.

I find Safari incredibly soothing. It's a gorgeous lavender. It calms me down when I'm really, really upset. I'm going to throw in another vote for Miskatonic University as well. I'm generally not into foody scents, but this one is like wearing a hug.

My skin is eating this scent for breakfast. I haven't had a scent go this nonexistant since Pele. It's definitely a skin scent - in other words, I can barely smell it even when I slather it on and jam my wrist up under my nose. That's not to say that I don't like it. It's really rather pleasant. On me, it smells like a whisper of completely non-foody golden vanilla mixed with a salty oceany tang. If I could actually smell it, I'd consider buying a bottle. I may let the imp age a bit and see if it gets any stronger.

Vanilla, two ambers, sweet pea and white sandalwood. All I get from this is strong powdery sweet pea. The powdery part would be the two ambers, which apparently have decided not to play nice with my skin (as usual). I'm not picking up any vanilla at all. It's quite perfumey. Not offensive, but not something that makes me go "OMG, I want to smell like this!!"

Three white cakes, vanilla, and red and black currants. In the imp: ACK, butter. I hate buttery scents. Here goes nothing. On my skin: Well, that's interesting. I ordered this one because I heard a rumor on the forum that it was "a lighter Snake Charmer." I love Snake Charmer but it's a bit much sometimes. And what do you know...Eat Me IS a lighter Snake Charmer on my skin. Like Snake Charmer, I really don't smell that much vanilla in Eat Me. I smelled a tiny bit in the wet stages; none at all in the drydown. Must be my chemistry, I guess. I get mostly smooth spicy fruit. It smells like a lighter, gentler Snake Charmer (i.e. Snake Charmer minus patchouli), at least on me. I *definitely* do not smell like cake, which given my aversion to foody scents (haaaaate) is a good thing! I want to like this one. I think I do. I almost do. Every once in a while I catch a whiff of something that *might* be vaguely plasticky, and that's making me think it might not be 5 mL worthy. I'll have to test it again. If I don't get any plastic on another few wearings, I think I'll actually have to order a bottle of this one, because I like the idea of a lighter Snake Charmer for daytime/office wear. Eat Me really is rather nice - and quite a surprise to me, because it sounded like total Electrabane from the description!

Hamadryad. Cinnamon version. Full stop, end of story. At least on my skin. It's a lighter and less in-your-face, but it's Hamadryad. This makes me a happy girl, because Hamadryad was one of my first true BPAL loves, and I was really sad to hear about the wintergreen Hamadryad that seems to be the rule now - I'm nowhere near the end of my 5 mL, but I was upset that I might not be able to get more if I needed it. And now there's an oil that smells like a lighter Hamadryad on me? AND it's named for the city that I just moved away from after spending three years there (so I bought the imp on name alone)? JOY. Edit - and yeah, I know that my review is way different than everyone else's . But skin chemistry is a truly mysterious thing! And I did get some citrus in the wet stages...but the drydown is all Hamadryad on me. Go figure.

Bumping this because I'm trying Eat Me today - it DOES smell like Snake Charmer! Holy cow! It smells like a lighter, gentler Snake Charmer (i.e. Snake Charmer minus patchouli), at least on me. Like Snake Charmer, I really don't smell that much vanilla in Eat Me. Must be my chemistry, I guess. I get mostly smooth spicy fruit. Interesting. I *definitely* do not smell like cake, which given my aversion to foody scents is a good thing!

Found it . I knew I'd posted in that thread before. http://www.bpal.org/index.php?showtopic=31...mp;#entry275066 And I'm a broken record from two years ago, apparently, but Samhain still smells like Poe's "Haunted" sounds to me.

I really, really love Safari. Safari is a soft, rich, round, woodsy lavender. It's not sharp or astringent, as some lavenders can be - just deep and rich and gorgeous. Absolutely wonderful. It's also incredibly relaxing. I wear it both as a bedtime perfume (it doesn't actually knock me out, but it's lovely and soothing) and as a daytime perfume when I'm really upset and need to calm the hell down. Fabulous stuff.

Lavender with something citrusy to it - lemon balm, perhaps? Not quite strident enough to be lemon verbena. I also caught a faint whiff of something unpleasant behind it, but only if I really put my wrist to my nose. This went somewhat powdery on me. It's very long-lasting. I could still smell it quite strongly the next morning, ten or so hours after I had applied it initially. I prefer Safari, both for enjoyment of scent and for bedtime relaxation properties. Not bad, though. Reminds me a bit of the Henri Bendel Lavender Leaves linen spray that I bought from B&BW last year (and like very much). Editing my review to say that I tried it in a burner and like it WAY better that way than on me. That vaguely unpleasant note is nowhere to be found. It really does help me sleep in the burner, and it's a gorgeous scent when heated and diffused. I'll certainly use up my bottle this way.

Some people just aren't into this sort of stuff. *shrug* Even if they think it smells good on other people, they're not going to go head over heels for it themselves. I have a lot of friends like that. Most of my friends, actually. They may compliment me on the way I smell, but that doesn't mean that they're interested in trying my perfumes, or in wearing perfume themselves. Also, some perfume houses just do not work for certain people, no matter how hard they try. Case in point - yours truly and L'Artisan. I think they smell nice on other people. I like the descriptions. I love fragrance. Every single L'Artisan fragrance I've tested (and I've tried a lot of them) has been similarly horrific on me - and it's not for lack of trying to like them. I don't know what it is about L'Artisan that just doesn't work with me, but I can't wear it. Maybe something about BPAL doesn't jive with him. Or maybe, like I said above, he likes it when other people smell good but he's just not a perfume person himself. Cheer up! It just means more for you .

I got a very distinct beeswax note from Samhain 2004, if you can get your hands on any of that (LE, so could be difficult). Quote from my review: