mooncityminx

In the bottle it smells almost fruity like strawberries, but as it dries it looses the fruit and it smells almost exactly like a bag of marshmallows freshly opened. Mmmm. I get the powdery smell that everyone is describing but on me it smells like vanilla and sugar. It sort of reminds me of the vanilla in a creme brulee. Oh Gods. This is my favorite of all of the Trick/Treats I have smelled. I loved the concept enough to seek out a bottle unsniffed, but I was rewarded generously. I too get some plasticy-ness from Tokyo Stomp when it hits my skin, but that doesn't happen with the Poof at all. *huffs wrist*

I am super serious about pumpkin so I was deliriously happy to have been tricked with Pumpkin Smash. At first it was straight pumpkin. Perfect perfect pumpkin. Similar to Jack, but not as heavy. As it dries it becomes smokey but not in a strong way. It's more like distant wood smoke from someone's fireplace or a candle that was blown out ten minutes ago. It reminds me exactly of a Jack-o-Lantern and Halloween. I think I might layer this with Jack in order to achieve the pumpkin and smoke at the same time. I'm not getting any beer or beeswax, but that might be my skin chemistry. In short, I love!

This is staright up fruit punch. It reminds me a lot of Fae which I love love love, but this seems to last a lot longer. It's very sweet and light and slightly floral in the background. The floral is so faint that it's almost not there at all. Swank and the Hamptons and Pruno were all fruit punch scents that didn't quite work on me, so I'm super happy about this one. Yay!

I've been trying to enable my mom for about a year now, and she recently confided in me that she loves a scent called JIL by Jil Sanders. Not Jil Sanders, not Jil 5 or whatever, just Jil. Apparently it's really hard to find in the states. I promised her that I could find something similar. The closest I could find using the search function is Santa Eularia Des Riu. citrus, jasmine, herbs, lavendar, and orange blossom. There are only two BPAL blends with freesia. Swadhishana has bergamot, oakmoss, sandalwood, and other stuff. I've never smelled Jil, so I don't know what it really smells like. Any suggestions?

On me SM goes sort of cola-ish and the only other BPAL that does a similar thing is Dragons Bone. They're not exactly alike or anything, but if you were willing to layer, I think Dragons Bone would be a good component.

I'm going to have a hard time trying to describe this one, because on me it was so headache/nausea inducing that it's really hard to analyze it objectively. I was actually expecting the smell of firecrackers that I am familiar with, and this was lacking that smell. I still would have expected to like it though, because generally dark smokey scents work for me. Most vertiver goes candy on me. Not so with Agnes. Please understand that Agnes doesn't smell bad, it just makes me sick. In the vial it is dark, smokey and leathery. On my skin the leather amps and amps. I get some kind of smell that is medicinal, almost minty. Super super smokey. At that point it amps and amps and amps. I washed my arm three times and didn't manage to get the smell off until I put lotion over it and washed again. Getting headaches/nausea from BPALs is extremely rare for me. There are some that I don't care for scent-wise but they don't cause a physical reaction. The only other BPAL that made me feel ill had wintergreen in it, and wintergreen usually has that effect on me. I say, if it sounds like something you might like, go for it. It's certainly unique. But for me, I will be staying far far away from this decant. Maybe I got blasted by a cannon ball in a previous lifetime? My instinct from this smell is to curl up into fetal position and clutch at my abdomen. I'm going to go with past-life-negative-scent-association.

It's amazing just how well Beth can capture "dank" in such a positive light using only plant oils. The first impression is wet rocks, cold wet stone in the dark. That has to be spearmint, smells exactly like my grandma's yard. She had rows of mint all around her house. But it's the smell of the bruised greenery of the plant itself and not as a chewing gum flavor. As it dries it becomes a light sweet musk. It's heavenly. Even my husband likes this, and that is really saying something.

To me Boomslang is the ultimate. Gluttony is gross to me. Bliss is nice, but not wonderful. I didn't care for Candy Butcher. Wulric is quite nice if you're okay with a lot of lavendar. To me the Boomslang's chocolate has a good staying power and I love Snake Oil. I think they are the perfect pair.

You ask for fruity but it doesn't look like people are mentioning the great citruses BPAL has. The sweet citruses go icky on me so we might have similar tastes in citruses. Enbalming Fluid - I didn't try it until they frimped me with another order, because the name doesn't sound yummy, but it is my favorite citrus in the catalog. Very refreshing and energetic. Shanghai - Very similar to EF but less tart. They are both very good. Aizen-Myoo - More fruity, more tropical than either of the others. I also detect a floral that the other two do not have. I love Fae. I don't get oakmoss from it at all. I didn't even know there was any in it. It's all honeysuckle and fruit punch to me. Yep, I keep trying other fruities but these are still my favs. Good luck ETA: Yemaya! It's sweeter than some of the others I mentioned but it's melony so in a different way.

51- because it's beautiful and a good gateway scent And then we break it down into what people think they like: Spicy Morrocco Shub Foody/Vanilla Dragons Milk Snake Oil O Foody/Fruit Yemaya Fae Blood Countess Bordello Citrus/Refreshing: Enbalming Fluid Shangi Aizen-Myoo Envy Mad Hatter Yemaya Woodsy Fenris Wolf TZ Yew Trees Sexy/incensey Vixen Dragons Bone Snake Oil Dragons Heart Decants to Try Mme Moriarty Spirit of the Komachi Cherry Tree Boomslang Arrival at the Sabbath OOF UGH TKO

In the bottle: aquatic with white flowers and a weird note that I can't identify Wet: Ooo. I am getting that green stem that others are talking about but to me it's like a wilted white flower's stem. Those white florals that can sometimes go soapy are behaving and staying light. It's at once very fresh and unexpectedly sweet. The sweetness is a green plant-like sweet that almost gets too sweet and then backs down again. This reminds me of White Moon's little sister. It's lighter and more playful but with similar characteristics. Dry: The notes have begun to blend in a way that makes it difficult to discern one from another. Very fresh and green with a slight sweet kick. I'm detecting a hint of white musk. It's very clean smelling but not at all soapy. If this were a big brand perfume and not a boutique blend, it would have a commercial featuring little girls running through a wildflower field and a model with her hair pinned up walking slowly in a romanesque or modern white gown. Then she'd look up into the sky as rain fell on her face she'd smile and close her eyes. This blends so well with itself that it reminds me of 51, not because it's similar in smell, this one lacks the fruitiness, but because they both are so well balanced.

Is it the freesia? Ambers usually go all powdery on me but not white amber apparently. Maybe it's the guava and the mandarin? Hi Tempest I love the 51 icon you made, and I love 51 too. I ordered a bottle of it the day that the order with my imp of it arrived - I could not wait 51 is one of those blends where I think the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Usually guava and honeydew are disgusting on me and neroli has to be blunted with something creamy. I think I would describe it as a fruity-floral light musk (light modifying the noun musk, not the entire description, you know?) Its complexity also reminds me of the complexity of all the Salon blends. Now, our chemistries could be really different (as far as the other notes go, I adore ambers of all types, I can wear lighter woods but not heavy ones like cedar, light musks are awesome and I love mandarin too. Oh, and I absolutely worship Beth's freesia.) Some blends you might want to try: First, some LEs... Ace of Hearts (Purest white lotus, white rose, rain orchid, rose gardenia, freesia, and Bulgarian rose, but I swear there are some other magical things in it too ), Budding Moon (Plum blossom, peony, lotus root, Chinese musk and a hint of white ginger), Stardust (champagne, hyacinth, tuberose, ylang ylang and flashing white musk with jonquil, tobacco flower, white sandalwood and a pale poppy) A few Salons: Bat-Woman (ratkirani, calla lily, moonflower, honeysuckle, night-blooming jasmine, French lavender, verbena, grey amber and nighttime air), Schlafende Bagneuse (skin musk, white cream, honeycomb, yellow rose, King mandarin, chrysanthemum, golden amber, honeysuckle, and wide-throated yellow monkey-flower accord), Spirit of the Komachi Cherry Tree (cherry blossom, blue lilac, lavender monofloral honey, white sandalwood, and Asian pear). And from the good ole GC, Kitsune-Tsuki (Asian plum, orchid, daffodil, jasmine and white musk), Cordelia (lilac, lemon, green tea, wisteria, osmanthus, white cedar, and Chinese musk), Endymion (d'Anjou pear, Lily of the Valley, bois du rose and white musk). *takes notes* I think I have a few of those GC imps in my vast collection. I shall try them today. Oh thank you Ivyandpeony!

One of the reviews for Love and Pain (one of the new salons) says that it is a lot like American Cream/Flosty Gritter. I really want to try it now! I've been searching and waiting for a BPAL vanilla + lavendar.

I'm trying to figure out more scents that are similar in feel to 51 because I love it. I don't even know how to categorize it except that it reminds me of something that a department store might sell except way better. Is it a fruity floral? A lot of florals go soapy on me but not this one. I can't figure it out. Is it the freesia? Ambers usually go all powdery on me but not white amber apparently. Maybe it's the guava and the mandarin?

I'll be wearing Miskatonic U. Butterscothcyness = butterbeer Dusty old books = Hogwarts

You may want to hang onto that Misk U imp for a while to see if you like how it ages. It starts smelling more and more like a library

Woah. I had no idea. I will start doing Paypal instead of CCNow ASAP! Maybe I should put something about it in my sig?

Anyone have any suggestions for Coco Chanel? I love Coco. I think maybe something with leather.

I could use some help in converting someone. My husband's best friend, and a good friend of mine as well moved to China to marry a woman from there. I want to send her some BPAL as a present as I hear she has a love of perfume, but I want to make sure and pick things that will be close to what she already likes. She wears Chanel No. 5, Christian Dior Diorissimo. I don't know what any of those smell like. Whatever we pick for her doesn't have to smell exactly like what she already has, I just want it to be similar in feel. I think Lily of the Valley is the main note. I know how to do searches I just know that some of you may be particularly aquainted with these perfumes and might have some fabulous suggestions. Edit: I'm thinking maybe Belle Epoque for its Lily of the Valley, Red Sandalwood and Mandarin Loralei for its Ylang Ylang, Neroli, and Sandalwood?

I've never smelled that hair stuff, but it sounds like you might really like Velvet. It's chocolate and sandalwood and very deep.

In the bottle: berries! booze and something wet and green. Sweet vanilla butteriness. On the skin: orange peel, boisenberry and some rich fruit that I can't place. Is that bayberry? Creaminess. I think there is blackberry as well but to a lesser degree. Dry: Just like a crumpet buttered and smothered in orange marmalade and topped with heaps of berry jam. It's amazing just how much this smells like that exactly. I get a mapley whiff every once in a while. I have to disagree with the Gluttony comparison, because Gluttony is evil on me and this didn't smell anything like it. But I think the comparison comes from the slight butteriness in CR. I can't compare the butter with any other oil I've tried from the lab so far. Mmm. I'm gonna go have toast with butter and jam! ETA: I figured out the distinctive berry smell and it is in fact Black Current. I recognize it from the soda Ribena Spark from the UK. I love that stuff.

I just got my bottle in the mail today while I was walking out the door to get a haircut so I didn't put any on initially, I just twisted off the lid and sniffed. We did not have a good first impression of eachother. BiggerCritters said, "Hello, I'm Jasmine and I just came from the pachyderm house." And I said, "Pleased to meet you Jasmine, won't you wait in my purse for a while and then I'll introduce you to my swaps pile." But the story doesn't end there, because I know that oils smell different on skin than they do in the bottle. Thank goodness. On first application there is a butter note. Like Gluttony, but before it gets to that evil stage that Gluttony does other vanillas take over. Why hello vanilla-from-Antique Lace! What a nice surprise! Then the Jasmine amps big time. Whoa. Then it settles down and the gardenia comes out to become sugared vanilla cookies with a sprinkling of dryer sheets. In a good way. It's so light and clean for such a vanilla sweetness! This is what I had hoped Antique Lace would be like. To me it ends up very sugared. I am noticing a similarity to Pink Moon because they are both light and sugary with florals. I love biggerCritters! ETA: In my scent Locket biggerCritters is a lot like Midway plus grapefruit. It's very orange creasicle. Amazing!

The Reaper and the Flowers was almost single note carnation on me, if that's the spiciness you are after. Unfortunately, I haven't yet tried Pink Moon '07 so I can't compare the two. I have Hod and Pink Moon but they are only somewhat similar to me. Morocco is much closer to Pink Moon IMO. Maybe if you mixed Morocco and Hod. I don't have an imp of Morocco at the moment or I'd test that out for myself.

Someone gave me a sniffie of this in a swap but I didn't give it much of a sniff until months later. I fell instantly in love with it. The smell of Anthelion is mostly lavendar and clove. Just like everyone else has said before me, they come together in a beautiful and complex way. It suggests to me that there is much more to this oil, and that it was expertly blended. Magically and aromatherapily it's like a big soft hug. I know sometimes I really feel like I need a hug and when I do, this is what I will be reaching for. It's a fragrance that I wouldn't mind my apartment smelling like most of the time. It's a peaceful and grounded. If it were perfume I would seriously consider making it my signature scent. As it is a powerful magical force, I will instead invoke it's spirit whenever I feel down. In short, this is awesome.

Sultana is the same as Blackberry Bath Bomb, and as I recall the blackberry note in BPAL is very similar. I believe that the floral in the two is frankenscense. I would do a search on the BPAL site for blackberry. Samhain smelled very similar to me when it was fresh, but aged it is very different.