stellans

I've just had a hankering for something oceany/salty but unfortunately the ones I would have chosen are discontinued or out of stock.

 

The feel I'm after is wind-blown tropical island, but salty rather than fruity.

 

Does anyone know of dupes for these ones?

 

Caliban = The scent of the salty seas, bittersweet wine, palm and tropical ferns.

Windward Passage = Breezes blowing off the waters of the Caribbean, marine accord, seaweed and bladderwrack.

Calico Jack = Sea air, driftwood, waterlogged kelp, and the memory of plundered spices etc.

Have you tried Pirate Moon? It and Anne Bonny are my favorite salty sea blends.

Bumping to say that White Fir single note (still available as of this post!) is just beautiful. It smells like crushed fir needles and a bit of pitch, and has the warmth of the wood notes as well. Totally sates my need for an evergreen single note in my collection.

I have to say I'd sort of planned to skip this one because of so many evergreen blends I love, but with this endorsement, I had to give it a try! Thanks for the bump!

I'm in the midst of the 13 Days of Halloween Swap and it's really fun! But yes, hoping to be in SW to guide me through the fall

SW Halloween 2015 is live!

 

[respectfully shortened]

The only major hole I have found in the original spreadsheet you made available is Cabaret Goth. I think it's an event exclusive from a con, but I'm not sure what year. I put it in D*Con from 2010, but who knows if that is right.

 

The -Goth scents, including Cabaret Goth, were part of the Bats Day 2011 event.

--stella

Well, I had to look it up but now I can pronounce it (TROWER VOR schpeel), and what's more, I like it. In the bottle, I was a little unnerved that there was not much "there" there, almost as though I had received a bottle of RPG Neutral by mistake or something, but once on my skin the lovely notes of champaca, vetiver and tea bloomed. The oudh, which normally my skin amps above all other notes in a blend, didn't begin to show up until dry-down, and even then it didn't trumpet its arrival as normal - it merely slipped in, made itself at home, and played nicely with the others.

I like this blend very much, and it just might enter my Top 10 list if it ages as well as I think it will. So far, this scent has earned 4 of 5 stars from me. Well played, Beth, well played!

Here it is:

I keep track of mine in an Access database that I designed myself. I can search fragrance descriptions as well as personal notes on a scent. Very handy, especially as I've added filters for owned/unowned. Looking for a scent with patchouli? Easy. If anyone is interested in seeing it, they're welcome to ask, but I haven't added many scents yet. Just ones so far that I'm interested in.

One of the best things I've ever done in Access.

I do the same with Bento, and there's a Bento iPhone app (of course), so I can check my personal stash on the fly!

Is there a picture somewhere of the January 2012 13? I can't seem to find it. Thanks!

I use Bento, which also has an iPhone app, and I can synch the laptop database with the iPhone app, so anything I buy while out somewhere (as in the Will-Calls) I can add to my database right away, or check to see if I already have it or whatever. Plus, I can add label art and my icons to each entry.

My favorite comfort scent is Western Diamondback. Something about the combination of leather, sage, and Snake Oil just makes me feel everything's going to be all right.

Have you tried Yew Trees, Nocnitsa, or Black Forest? These are all great pine/fir blends! Each are just a teensy bit different, so you might try to find imps for sale/swap on the forum to see if any are bottle-worthy for you. The description of Yew Trees says something about 'sweet,' but I never got anything but evergreens from it on me.

Well. Let me just begin by saying this blend scared me to pieces when I sniffed it the very first time. I think it was probably I had applied that day's scent -Whoop, which is a sweet, almost foody blend- only a hour or so earlier, and I think it was that which made my Leather Phoenix smell quite unpleasant. My heart sank into my stomach and I felt ready to cry, "This isn't fair!"

But then. I'd baked a lot of holiday goodies and felt hot and sweaty, so I took a shower and tried my new Leather Phoenix again. I love this blend. Obviously, I have a new member in my Leather Collection, and it is amazingly kick-ass! There is something about this blend which reminds me of both the earlier leather releases, Sacrifice and Rivet.Goth, but yet it is still unique in itself.

On me, the leather note is uppermost (yay!), but the patchouli is there too - it isn't the 'dirty hippy' patchouli found in head shops, but a much smoother, sophisticated patchouli which would take one out for dinner and dancing rather than a rock concert.

The leather note is a rather hard one, almost the oiled leather smell of well-cared-for riding tack, especially a saddle (which is what put me in mind of Rivet.Goth, first but then Sacrifice as well), but it softens on my skin and blends with the aged patchouli into what is such an amazing blend, I wanted to sing!

Ever so slightly, I do smell something green and herb-ish (I'm thinking this is the macha tea), and it is this slight green smell which makes me think of Sacrifice greatly, because on me Sacrifice is a very herbal leather, with the leather almost playing second fiddle.

And lastly, there is a slight underlying incense-y note to the whole, not overly strong one but rather playing hide-and-seek with my nose. It's not exactly champaca the way I am used to smelling it, so perhaps the cedar and other notes are all contributing to this last impression.

The scent holds for quite a long time on me without fading, but when it does go, it is very quick. This wasn't the morpher on me it was on some reviewers, but rather a succession of discoveries in the whole. But in the end, when all is said and done, this is primarily a leather blend. Just from my perspective, it is a very unisex blend. I don't have my Mr. here to test it on just now, but he will be home soon. And then...oh, and then!

Four of 5 stars for this amazing new Anniversary Phoenix.

I agree with angelamarie to the extent that the two scents (Glittering Apple and Ladon) may have similar sounding components but are not alike. I believe the 'hyacinth' note described is most likely due to the Dragon's Blood resin in Ladon (which I adore, BTW), while there is no DBR in Glittering Apple (which I also love). Glittering apple is a crystalline apple, almost too sweet but it stops just short, to my nose, of overdoing it. But like Ladon? Not to my nose.

O.M.G. This blend is a patchouli-lover's dream come true! I love it, love it, love it, and now I'm happy I popped for 2 bottles. I rolled the bottle well, as others have recommended, and sure enough, the dark murkiness at the bottom blended into the lighter top portion. When I opened it up, patchouli was all I could smell though upon application, the cocoa absolute didn't take long to make its presence known. Not much tobacco nor bourbon vanilla yet, but I imagine with aging those two might show up eventually - though if not, I won't mind too much because...PATCHOULI! I guess I'm just an aging hippie pie-wagon chick after all, because I do love me some patchouli when it's well-done, and BPAL patchouli is always well-done. Four out of 5 stars for this very well-done patchouli blend!

I too like the 'personalized' spreadsheet method, only I use Bento for mine. I tried Google docs, but I couldn't make it sit up and beg for me like I can Bento. Only I don't have with Bento I have the one master sheet, and a few saved 'searches' with specific criteria, like Need to Try or Need to Sell/Swap, which update automatically when the master sheet is updated.

To say I was looking forward to this blend is an understatement; from the notes listed, this should have been perfect for me. To say I'm disappointed when applying this for the first time this morning is a massively wild understatement, because on me? Men's cologne. Only after dry-down, and at almost the end of its presence do I even smell anything else, and that 'something else' isn't even leather - it's coffee! Argh.

When I first tried a dab of this, it was sweet, so very sweet, that it almost made my teeth hurt. However, whatever upset my personal chemistry has evidently worked its way out, because today this blend is amazing. The musks work as well as always with patchouli, and for once the clove doesn't overpower everything else. I don't really get much of the other notes, except at the very last when a touch of bamboo and sweet vanilla peek through. I really, really like this, and plan on a bottle purchase for sure. I give this one 3 of 5 stars.

When I first opened the decant, I was afraid this Pickman's Gallery scent would be like another one, Expressive Head: all vetiver, all the time. I'm extremely happy to report that the vetiver so very apparent when sniffed in a container (decant) is just a minor player in the lovely drama which is The Triumph of Death on my skin.

When applied, the patchouli and musk seem to stake out their positions as starring roles, while the other notes (particularly the vetiver, ambergis and peru balsam) stay contentedly in the background. The sandalwood is almost an understudy: you know it's there, but it only comes on later, as if for the matinee performances. But it does make the last vestiges of this blend just as delightful as the initial ones, only in a slightly different way. I love how this blend deepens from the earthy patchouli into the incense-y sandalwood as it warms on my skin. This is going to be a bottle purchase. I award this 2011 Halloweenie 3 of 5 stars.

No fire, no booze, and no thuggery: there is only sugar. And this season --for whatever reason-- my skin is amping sugar to whoa levels. I can't wear this blend without inducing a severe headache.

I like this in the decant, but it changes strangely a few minutes after application into something I don't quite recognize. Gone is the lovely fruity pomegranate and the equally lovely rose. I'm afraid the star anise is making this not behave for me, unfortunately. I will hang on to the decant just in case it's a temporary anomaly, though.

Right away upon opening the decant, the lime note jumps out at me; that's just fine because I like lime best of all the citrus notes available, especially when it's a nice, well-behaved lime note. There's no harshness to this lime, and almost not enough acidity to keep it from artificial candy flavoring smell, but it makes the grade. There isn't but a touch of dragon's blood, which is regrettable because that's another favorite note.

HOWEVER... as this oil dries, the cedarwood comes roaring to the fore, in all its lead shavings glory and drowns out every vestige of anything else. Sadly, this is what happens practically every time I wear a blend with more than just a vestige of cedar. Pencil shavings. Ugh.

I had such high hopes for this one, because I love patchouli and champaca, and vetiver is usually quite nice on me as well. But some reason, this blend is all vetiver...only in the last vestiges of scent on my arm is there anything there but vetiver, and it's so very, very faint. I'm not sure I want to buy a bottle which is only enjoyable in its very faintest, last bit of existence. I'm going to have to think about this one. No stars for this one, but no "x" either. Yet.

Of all the Mnemosyne scents, this is by far my favorite, although Halloween: San Francisco is so close in standing, they're practically tied. OK, they are tied. I love them both so, so much, though for different reasons. This scent, which is of my beloved evergreens with the slightest hint (to me) of eucalyptus which is another favorite scent, and an even slighter aquatic hint, is so very enjoyable I can't stop huffing my wrists, but it's not weak so that I need to bury my nose in the wrist to smell. And even better, it doesn't change substantially on my skin so that it's also enjoyable in the Snow-Glass-Apples scent locket I wore. There was also an underscent (to me) of dead leaves, which is one of my favorite autumnal scents, making this really, really great for me. It is one of the few BPAL scents which doesn't morph too much from the bottle to my skin in smell, and it totally evokes Halloween to me. I envy people who live where this scent is everywhere!

Oh man. I was really, really hoping the other notes would overpower the incipient foodiness of this blend, because food is really only mentioned the once (icing) - well, maybe the wine could be considered food. But unfortunately, this blend is almost all cake to my nose right now. I was so hoping for champaca, the Snake Oil, and the Dorian! As with Halloween: Los Angeles, though, I am going to hang on to this one, and hope that aging will make it better for me.

Last year, I loved this blend. This year, it has changed drastically on me and I'm not sure why. Too many of my former Halloweenie favorites don't seem to be doing well for me this year, and the one thing they all have in common (besides that they are all Halloweenies) is that they have a sweet component. Unfortunately for me, for some reason my body chemistry is amping whatever sweet note (whether syrup, candy, or fruit) to an unbearable pitch which for me is headache and nausea-inducing, as though I had overstuffed myself on Halloween goodies. Not a good feeling, at all, and one I will not willingly seek out, trust me. I'm going to hang on to those blends --including Halloween: Los Angeles-- for another year to see if perhaps this body chemistry shift (for which I have no explanation this time: no change in meds, health, etc.) will swing back or again to a point where I can enjoy them again. Till then, I'm just a sad panda.