Wwindy

No, someone actually compiled poll data so you could cross-reference on an actual chart -- in other words, if you like Cathedral, you could look on the chart and see that people with the same favorite also tended to like Coyote but hate Titania, for instance (random names there, I don't actually remember any of the correlations off the top of my head!). It was limited to standard catalogue scents only.

Does anyone remember the thread that wound up creating the fabulous chart of popular blends and the *other* blends that people who like those blends also tend to enjoy? I can't find a link -- does anyone know where it is?

This is absolutely lovely -- somehow it manages to be rich and luscious without being overly sweet, foody, or heavy at all. Mostly I get a warm, almost chewy (but like I said, not sweet!) fig and amber combination, with a touch of bright sharp citrus and light woody undertones plus hints of spice and musk. Normally I amp myrrh like crazy, but this "dark myrrh" note must be different, since I'm really not noticing it all that much.

I acquired this bottle quite a while back and remember thinking the scent was faint and didn't last long -- it's gotten better on that front with some aging, but still needs to be reapplied moderately regularly. Definitely worth it, however! I get lots of compliments on this one.

This is a little bit of a long shot depending on how much your skin sweetens things up, but maybe Minamoto No Yorimitsu Cuts at the Earth Spider (Toasted sandalwood, tobacco flower, teakwood, castoreum accord, bourbon vanilla, and patchouli)?

Congratulations, zmulls! How did it go?

I always used to wear Romanti.Goth for band performances (we're going for a pagan-ish goth-y neo-medieval thing, and I thought RG was both appropriate and amusing), but lately my daughter's been objecting to that one. The last time we played and I wore scent, I chose Piper at the Gates of Dawn (on which "appropriate and amusing" front our bagpiper agreed with me!). We did play last weekend, but I was just coming down with plague and couldn't cope with any perfume, unfortunately! I think next time we perform, I might try Harmonices Mundi...

Lots and lots of strong, crisp, herbal lavender while wet. As it dries down, the clean haze of the opium and musk start to come out, softening the edges of the lavender; the oudh adds an utterly gorgeous exotic, mysterious resiny note (I'm on such an oudh kick these days -- the note really works on my skin, and I'm so glad Beth's been using it so much lately!). I don't know what the shamama attar is supposed to smell like, so I don't know if I'm picking up on it or not, but I'm definitely not getting much by way of the rose. Overall this winds up as a calming, peaceful lavender incense, not too sweet. Very nice!

Liaison (Moroccan black musk, white tea leaf, Indonesian black sandalwood, frankincense, honeycomb, jonquil, and clove) just came down (it was one of the Lupercalias), but that's definitely one that went instantaneously to powder on my skin -- and I notice several other reviewers said the same thing.

A few others I took notes on when I tested them:

Brisingamen -- "very powdery amber"

Tamora -- "powdery and sweet"

The Little Wooden Doll -- "rose-infused sawdust plus powdery amber"

Also, Delousing Powder!

A few of the reviews described Aperotos Eros as having an "Indian temple incense" aspect. It's exotic incense + musk + evergreen, and might be worth checking out if you want a change from sandalwood and spices.

Oh, I can see that! I'm wearing AE today and there's something about it that reminds me a little of the Krishna Musk solid perfume "eggs" I used to buy.

Goblin Mage: Fizzy sharp ginger, rich warm dragon's blood, a ton (as you might expect) of juniper-y woody notes, and just a hint of smoke. I really like this combination! The only drawback is that neither element seems to last long on my skin, and after a while I mostly end up just smelling faintly of gin. High-end gin, at least...

I wore Hunter to the midnight premiere of the Hunger Games. Seemed like the only fitting scent for Katniss.

Heh, that's awesome. I was actually wearing Half-Elven Ranger when we saw it on Friday, but not on purpose (I thought we were going to see John Carter!), so I don't know if I can claim any credit for that or not...

I don't normally go for light fruity/floral blends in general, but I *love* Eclat in the spring!

Straight to powder on my skin, much to my annoyance! With the possible exception of the jonquil, everything here should have worked on me, but it really doesn't -- this is nothing but powder from the moment I apply it. *sigh*

In the winter, I like to layer Cathedral and The Lights of Men's Lives -- this reminds me so much of that combination, but a lighter, springier version! It's perfect for this time of year.

This blend is a little jumbled-smelling in the vial, and definitely takes a minute or two to settle on my skin. While wet, the creamy beeswax and the sharper resinous/woody notes fight it out for a bit until everything dries down and opens up; once that happens, I mostly get the clean, sharp, dry sandalwood and the warm, round waxy note, rounded out by a touch of crisp greenness. This is really, really lovely after drydown -- it has a very well-balanced, clean, upscale feel while still being pleasingly resinous (oudh gets me every time! mmmmm).

I really hate to even suggest it, but... is it possible that it's Daya? That had a lab label on it, and the color is right. For me personally, Daya has a smooth creamy resiny feel with some plummy/fruity brightness, a light clean sandalwood note, a hint of spice, and an even fainter hint of something floral (maybe champaca). We don't have a note list for it, so people have made guesses all over the map about what the fruit and resin elements are!

And btw, if it does turn out to be Daya, you have my sincerest sympathies.

Heroine, in the Sachs & Violens category.

Hey, there! Thanks for the reply! Now I realize that I should've been more specific about the issue! Really, it was more of a "YUCK!" response, both when sniffing it out of the bottle and after the wet/drydown phases. It was almost like the smell of my pursue being soaked in beer after a wild concert. Not at ALL like the description!

 

I thought I liked ambergris, since it's in my HG oil (Lyonesse) and another one that I can't remember. Hmmm...no telling what the issue was!

 

Hope that extra info helps!

Aw, sorry! That doesn't sound good! I think you might need someone who's smelled it or has a bottle to compare yours against to know for sure... but I did just see OctoberGwen say that Body, Remember went to "funkariffic FUNK" on her (in the "What are you testing today" thread), so it's possible that it's not just you.

Hey, all!

 

I have a quick question about one of the Lupers. I ordered a bottle of Body, Remember (unsniffed) when it first came out, as all the notes generally work well on me. But sadly, when I smelled it in the bottle and then tested it, it smelled nothing like what I expected. Since I'm new to BPAL, I thought maybe it was my skin chemistry that changed it, but the sweetheart that I swapped with had the same reaction (unfortunately).

 

The Lupers will be coming down soon, and I'm really thinking about trying it again based on the glowing reviews it's received. But being on a student budget, that's sort of a tricky situation.

 

Has anyone else had this issue with BR? And do you think I should risk it? I don't know how common batch variations are, but I desperately want that beautiful oil that everyone else is getting!

 

Thanks!!

What was the reaction/issue, exactly? It is possible that you got a variant or even a mislabeled bottle, but it's hard to speculate without knowing whether you're thinking something like "Hmmm, not as much coconut as I was expecting" or more along the lines of "Why do I smell vetiver when there isn't supposed to be vetiver here?!?"

Also, I haven't tried BR yet, but... ambergris seems to be one of those notes that are really problematic for some people. For me, I don't really *notice* it as a scent, but anything that has ambergris in it disappears really quickly from my skin! Have you done well with it in other blends?

This is kind of a long shot, but what about Piper at the Gates of Dawn (terebinth pine, patchouli, brown musk, linden blossom, honey, mallow, blood orange, heliotrope, and golden amber)? It's a woodsy-spicy orange patchouli scent on my skin...

Ooooh, interesting! To my nose this is Vechernyaya's musk and poppy crossed with The Smiling Spider's strong not-sweet clove, with a bit of Morocco to round things out. It feels like the scent wants to be rather dry and dark, but after drydown my skin chemistry winds up sweetening it up somewhat. As others have noted, the throw seems fairly low.

I like the mysterious dusky vibe of this -- I just don't know if I need a whole bottle. But do think about checking this one out if you miss Vechernyaya (or found that one overly white musk-y for your taste)!

Or you both have imps/decants from the same incorrect batch. For instance, I have a Lab bottle that's labelled "Pais de la Canela," but what's inside is actually Paris. In that case, it's pretty obvious (and understandable) how the error happened -- in this case you could try to hunt around and see what else starts with D and might explain what you're smelling.

Alternatively... it *does* sometimes happen that the Lab has a mishap in the blending process.

Returning to say...

In addition to the above suggestions, The Night Hag Visiting the Lapland Witches turns out to be fabulous with this soap! Yum.

Winter Heavens for last night -- I was thiiiiiis close to going with "The Moon Gazed On My Midnight Labours" (hah!), but chose sentiment over title. I don't know yet what to wear today!

Yeah, I think it's my body chemistry and it's probably just going to be a process of elimination as to what I can and can't wear. I'm gonna stay away from amber, honey and sandalwood because those seem to be the main offenders with people on here who have a similar problem. Thanks again for all the helpful suggestions.

 

For me, the notes that most often turn to powder are Honey and Black Musk. Also, Pomegranate just disappears, taking the rest of the blend with it.

 

I have the same problem with most mints. I LOVE the smell of peppermint but it disappears on me in seconds.

I have it with ambergris! Anything with ambergris in it fades *much* more quickly than it should...

Triumph of Death and Expressive Head were both very vetiver-heavy on me.

Natural ingredients aren't homogeneous like synthetic ones are, they can vary a lot with the location or the particular conditions of the time in which they were grown. It's like with wine. The same grape varietal can be grown in the same plot of land year after year, but the 2010 vintage will inevitably taste, smell and possibly even look different from the 2011 vintage. It doesn't matter if the same winemaking process was used on both, made with the same equipment, same hands. The nuances of the grape are shaped by the conditions they are grown in, and different weather and soil conditions can wildly vary the output of a particular harvest. Maybe it was colder one year, maybe there was less rain. Those variables will make a difference in the final product, and you'd be silly to expect two years' crops to produce identical wines. So why would you for perfume made from organic material?

I agree with the basic philosophy here: in a way it's one of the charms of BPAL that you can never step into the same scent river twice. To be fair, though, winemakers use a very elaborately detailed system of nomenclature so that buyers know exactly what vintage they're purchasing and can do the research to determine what the characteristics of any given vintage are likely to be. I understand and am fine with the idea that no two batches of a blend will ever be exactly the same -- but given that, I think a lot of people would really appreciate it if the Lab would acknowledge when there are extreme variations and give us a little warning when scents come out as "the apple-y version" or "the really sharp patchouli version" or whatever. It's *understandable* that it happens, but it's also understandable that it comes as a huge shock to most people who are accustomed to more traditional perfumes -- or, really, any consumable product where you're pitching a particular esthetic quality.

Sure, I know the Martin Codax Albarino 2009 is going to be different from the 2006, but how would I be able to decide which I would enjoy drinking with my dinner if they didn't have dates on the label or the maker hadn't released flavor profiles for the respective vintages for me to compare?