erehwesle

Everyone is ignoring Scarecrow! One of my favorite Autumn scents, and even a good late summer one...

On me it doesn't smell as burnt as in the bottle and a lot of the florals come through, but in a mellow sweet way.

Dries down nice too.

suggestions on a strong, long-lasting scent that the odds are good I'll actually be able to appreciate? I don't want my perfume to offend or annoy others, but if the smell is too light or subtle I probably won't be able to smell it at all. I don't just mean aggressive or dominant scents, but also floral/candy/sweet/girly ones that have enough kick to them. If anyone would like some guidelines, I really like the scents of lilac, cucumber, and LUSH's Snow Fairy shower gel and Demon in the Dark soap, and as an ancient history major I'm in love with all the ancient world scent descriptions at BPAL - like Nefertiti, Kyphi, Gomorrah, Bathsheba, and Hanging Gardens. (Small aside - in my recent ancient Egyptian religion course I did a term paper on the role of scent - perfume, incense, oils and aromatics - in Egyptian worship, and got a really good mark! It was my favourite essay to research, too). I don't like rum or other alcoholic scents. Other than that I am a complete scent newbie and open to trying anything!

OK, first of all, I'm a guy. Different body chemistry, Your Mileage May Vary, all the disclaimers, etc... These are scents I like, that I've liked on girlfriends, or want to try on someone!

Belladonna This is a strong scent, good throw, and one of my favorites. It is floral and deeply vegitative (complexly floral), with a hint of lavender and earth. Try this it is very floral and it seems to, in my limited field trials and the reviews, come with a bit of candy on women. Do read the reviews on this one. I higlhy recommend it. Also belladonna was one of the main ingredients of witches ungents, should tickle if not your ancient religion fancies, your old religion ones if you have them ...

Severin This is is a real guy scent, but I've also heard a lot of women like it. Leather and citrus.

Black Forest Another heavy floral scent with some dark notes, particularly moss. This smells dark, floral, and candy all at once on a woman. Think Black Forest Cake. very good, and good staying power and throw. Try it.

Those three are my small suggestions, and they may be a little unusual but they are good, trust me! Do look at the reviews, always great.

Oh, and welcome to the madness. Are you really aware of what you are getting into?

These folks are the bestest people ever. Trust them.

Welcome again,

Todd

Whitechapel rocks.

If you have a guy in your life, run don't walk, and get Neo-Tokyo. It is one of my favorite scents, right up there with cathode in the sort of modern smelling electric type scent stuff scene (that so made sense in my head I swear). Minty electric goodness with a hint of musk. It is a fantastic guy scent.

No votes for Havisham? That is totally drool-worthy.

And my #1 is embalming fluid. Man, my last girlfriend started wearing that at my 'suggestion' (i.e. I slathered her with it every time I could get her to sit still) and man, that rocks. It also is a fine daytime scent.

Jolly roger was one of those scents that I had such high expectations for that it could have smelled like unicorn sweat and happy roses, and I wouldn't have been pleased.

On a sniff, I got a lot of sweet notes, and a cologne like smell (sorry that isn't descriptive is it? but the every cologne in the world note, I guess I think of it like, and I mean the store-bought cologne not BPAL) It is a masculine scent, but a bit bland

First on, however is very different. Spicy with the rum and wood notes everyone talked about. There is also a hint of mint, kind of like Cathode, another fav, that creeps in.

On wear it is very aquatic. After the initial spicyness dies down a bit (never goes away) the sea notes sneak through and it smells a little maritime and salty

It is on the die down that the leather starts to come through for me, and is my favorite time with this scent.

Well, despite what I said, I am pleased, it just took me a bit to get used to the quirks of this one.

Ahh Dorian, young Dorian, what can I say? I wanted to love you, that I did.

I was excited to try this scent, and bought a 5ml due to the buzz, and the reviews. It seemed like a 'have to' have scent for me.

Now, I'm not yet sure it isn't. But I have waited to review until I'd used it a couple of times, here's the scoop:

Preconcieved notions:

A refinement of Saint-Germain, but with a citrus note, and more tea.

In the bottle:

a bit muddled, but with heavy lavender and tea smell, a bit of vanilla

First on:

beautiful, complex citrus bite, musk with touch a tea and vanilla undertone. great throw as well.

first fade:

I would have loved the scent if the musk and tea had stayed, but my body chemistry seems to eat that up quite quick, suddenly the lavender along with vanilla comes to the fore.

after a while:

the lemon fades out, leaving lavender and vanilla, which together get rather powdery.

I would love this if the citrius, musk, and tea stayed. I'm going to leave it a month, since I have a 5 ml, and see if it mellows in, believe it or not, this made belladonna a very different scent for me, and given the popluarity of the scent I imagine it is fresh as new mown grass. I still have high hopes for this scent, it is sooo good when first on, and then dies a bit on me, sooo quickly.

*sigh* if I could just re-apply every 30 minutes... Until then, my poor Dorian, you just seem to be Saint-Germain's awkward younger brother.

Well, this is another in the series of 'I have a 5 ml of, and am finally writing a review'.

Anyway, I always lose the mint or, I guess, the three mints, in this scent. For me I always smell the ambregis and cloves, and this is my good 'clearing scent' not that I ever layer it, but it is a clean scent after a shower if I've been too much in the past using bpal. Mayhaps I don't smell mints? Cathode always is lime, ambegis, a bit of clove, but is, well, I do see, what people were saying about a 'negative scent'

Anyway, Cathode is a neutral scent for me, but always has a bit of edge about it, I think cathode is what I think about when I think of bpal, spicy about the edges.

selah.

T-F

*edited to add review to my opinion*

I have a 5 mil of this, that I bought becuase I liked the imp enough. And I am strange.

Scarecrow starts out as burnt cinamon scent, and ends up smelling on me, like wet straw. but with a hint of cloves, and charcoal. I will say it smells sweeter in a 5ml than in an imp, for some reason, but can be almost cloying.

Scarecrow always to me smells a bit burnt and charred, and that works, with the strange sweet smell it has, sometimes I do want to smell, well, a bit fieldish or fiendish. I don't want to overemphasize the charred and burnt. It is subtule. Scarecrow is a hard scent to describe, and is why I like it. This is a scent I'd actually, if you even can tolerate an imp, I'd suggest a 5ml of it, as it is hard to understand in an imp.

Well, I wear it when I feel very, very, ambivelent.

OK, this review is done. turn off the cameras. stop taking notes....

*oh tons of changes*

Thinking, and really thinking about my past, I don't think i've ever ordered imps.. a little free,leave a bit open at the moment, I may have rounded upwith a good money order, and ended up with some expreimental imps. Thinking of something that SHINES...

Given the tone of this, what do you want form imps. glorious new soariend scents?

we trade imps but they are gifts. Heck, I usually give out 5mils, and I give them out like imps, even if they weren't my best, I send them out with one condition two words, suprise me.

I've never been dissapointed.

Its kind of a bet, that the folks around here are at least as interesting as I am.

Enough stroking my already swolen ego. I'd look towards 5mls, and well, ask for what you want.

I use 'the lab' too for most mental correspondence

Also Saint-germain is 'the saint'

and fennris wolf, is 'wolf'

belladonna, is, always, the green lady.

here ends the shorthand lesson

Yeah, the 10 has a slightly larger diameter than the 5. Proof to this? I have both, and a 10 ml cap will screw onto a 5ml body, but the reverse doesn't work. A 5 ml cap doesn't want to screw into a 10 ml body. Definately different. And now my Severin smells vaguely like Fennris wolf, and vice versa.

Hmnn. I just said screw a lot.

Anyhow. Anyone ever use a fancy bottle? I like the one below, as a guy, though, well probably shouldn't have elaborate perfume oil bottles about. Enough that I have my box of BPAL. I didn't get the fourmula fifty-iforget-the-number. But look at below, isn't it pretty? Doesn't say, though, how big it is... Lord to get a gallon of DeSade? I'd have to wait for years.

Someday, if I get a girlfriend, and can determine a BPAL she loves, I'll work a year in advance, and deliver a known scent in a pretty bottle, and won't that be nice? I imagine if I ask them nicely the lab would fill a arty bottle.

http://www.mesart.com/artwork.jsp.que.artwork.eq.3513.shtml

I'm sleepless tonight, so I thougt I would ask, because I still reek of Belladonna.

What scents for you have 'throw', and by throw I mean both staying power, and effect at a distance.

we all know there are some scents here that are best appreciated by a lover, or another intimate friend, and some, that, well, everyone who would share an elevator with you can enjoy.

for me, the heavies:

belladonna

fenris wolf

mabon

De sade

Severin

and the mediums

saint-germain

cathode

*fill in the blank* moon

neo-tokyo

shattered

lightning

overall, what do you think? do you want a scent with striking distance, or somthing subtle for someone who gets rather close to you...

I think I'm both.

anyone else making these categories? and scents that are in the first list, what do you recommend? Let's have a list of scents with 'throw' that strike at a distance

OK, so my boyfriend and I are on my bed, just cuddling and kissing and enjoying the fact that he could be over at my house for about six hours and that I had it all to myself. Yay.

So I decide to be a little wicked, and I put on some Blood Rose.

 

DAMN. Let me tell you- it WORKED. I haven't been kissed like that by him in MONTHS. I put a bit of Ravenous on later, on top of it.... wow.

 

I am going to have to be very, very careful about what kind of BPAL I wear around him!! But I must say... that was nice!

 

Anyone else had this happen to them?

 

~Diamond~

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

notation to self, lust engendered by blood rose, while fun, may be problematic.

end note.

I have a whole story on why DeSade is unfair to wear to a wedding, but, the moral is, we have to use BPAL's powers for good!

Glad it worked for you and your boyfriend, have you considerded scenting, well... lets say there are a lot of places to put blood rose, and men are creatures of habit, OK?

T-F

It is rather new, but I can't help but suggest Saint-Germain

It's a favorite of mine, a good male scent, but not overwhelming.

Do try.

If you need an imp I'll decant. PM me.

Saint-Germain is a gentleman's fragrance: self-contained, utterly charming, and unattainable by seduction.

 

It's the sort of man who, if you placed your hand on his knee, would smile at your folly, return your hand to you with some gallant compliment, and leave the room.

 

I've sprayed my husband's linen handkerchiefs with Saint-Germain. Should keep the other cats off him nicely...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Splendid Molerat, have we met? Am I your boyfriend? If I was, you'd tell me right? Or mayhaps I'd never know, are you the type to show up on occasion, cook a dinner and let me cook for you, and before I know you'd just be there, a drawer somewhere would be filled with silken things that smell of lavender, fresh flowers in the dining room, a new kind of soap in the shower, and I never do see any of it coming. I should warn your husband, but heck, he likely knows if he carries a handkercheif.

In truth I prefer wisteria on my handkerchiefs, or lavender. It sooths my nose, though I often put De Sade on the second one, you know the clean hankercheif I carry in case of woman's need.

Well onto Saint-Germain. I've been excited about this scent since it was announced, and receiving it, am blown away.

Citrus, Moss, and spice in the bottle, but this is a scent that immediately works well with my body chemistry.

Strangely, after playing with imps, a sect of scents that really, and I wouldn't have imagined, work for me, are the electric scents, Cathode, Lightning, etc...

This seems on me initially to have the good parts of those (a 'bite' to them) and the benefits of the 'leather' scents like De Sade.

on, it immediately gives me a citrus bite and distinct Amber and ambregis. As it mellows, it gets complex with subdued mossy and green notes. Excellent persistance and throw as well. This is a scent people comment on with me, and always to the positive. It fits my usual mood though, the one who lives in corners and shadows. Our splendid mole is right, it is an offputting scent to a degree. Wearing De Sade I have had many, well *interesting* introductions and encounters. With Saint-Germain, well, let's just say it reinforces complexity and leave it at there.

The Compte de Saint-Germain is one of my heroes, I'm glad I love the scent, and I'll be ordering it in 10 mls.

I did meet him once, in Russia, the far east in 1991, but that is another story. I think he would approve.

ADDED Jan. 4:

Saint-Germain, once I got it on my skin, was a revelation for me - this scent is a "wowser!" as my mother would put it. The lavender note just out of the bottle led me astray.

 

I had no idea that carnation and lavender could combine like this. It's such an interesting and beautiful blending that I really had to think about what the notes might be. With the green touch of moss, I felt like I was in a grove of lime trees for just a minute.

 

Dry down is just as surprising. The lavender asserts itself a little more, and the carnation fades into light spice, but this isn't a floral scent. It's amazing how crisp Saint-Germain is, considering the liquid warmth of amber - and this is definitely a scent with heat.

 

Incredibly masculine. Incredibly refined and masculine. I wish this worked as well on my other half as it works on me, but he and I get very different vibes from lavender. Very nice, and very well worth the investment of a bottle if you like to share BPAL with the man in your life.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

See! thank you JJ_J.

All of you do this is a near-perfect guy-scent. As a actual real guy I promise.

Heck, I thought De Sade was good....

Heck, I've been told lemon juice and salt even cleans venal sins.

Most of the usual methods have been related

Lemon juice works for me.

Smells are important though,and BPAL hard to delete.

I've seen imps and I've seen 5ml bottls. One thing I wonder, Do you want me to send empties back? I assume you all at BFAL do... How shoud I send? Oh, and I don't have an empty 5ml, yet...

T

My lords and lovelies, you haven't overlooked the wolf have you?

This is a good cross of belladonna with de Sade, leather and greeenery. a great male, but still green scent. the smell of fall, all the dying trees, and a bit of burning, but a whif of green under all.

One of my favorites, I'm suprised there isn't a better review.

The fennris wolf eats the sun, eventually....

DeSade, but I'm going to wear my priest shirt, so it should be very interesting.

Well, of course the first smell, cough drops, but how many scents do we hear that about? Every sweet scent BPAL has...

All the guy notes aside, was rather nice on me, mellowed quickly to a cinamon and clove vibe with a bit of musk. It is liked for the moment next to Iago, the green lady, and the wolf.

rather difficult, a scent I hate initially, but love after an hour or so.

I do like it.

To whit, intially it is too sweet...

actually smells a bit like cough syrup.I still smell cherry.

on edit though, I doubt the cherryy will last, more a bit of leather, some sweet molasses,and a slight bit of smoke.

a

I'd be happier if there wasn't a snell of fruit...

ADDED Oct. 1:

well, I'm going to expand on my last input.

This is a great scent, unfortunately I have to give it an hour, with my body chemistry.

This is rather literal, I've had people 20 mins after applying asking me, what the hell I was up to.

In an hour the people were literally nuzzling, and asking what I was wearing.

And those that would think it was my charming personality, no! different people! I swear.

EDIT: Merged with followup post --Shollin

Nobody wants to slather? OK, I'm slathering....

I have a difficult time isolating scents, particularly due to the slathering.

Too much candy inintially. there's a bright of leather that is promising.

ADDED:

I'd be rdelly tempted at the moment to mix this scent with neo-tokyo.

Not sure that would be a good idea, but it seems to make some sense...

EDIT: Copied the ADDED part from a post immediately following this one, and archived that post. --Shollin

I've been waiting for this for a while, my first 5ml, and my first review of an official BPAL order (thanks Beth et al!)

I hear what people are saying about the NYquil thing on the first sniff, in the bottle it has a sweet face that belies its intent, as I expected my green lady to.

On me it gives a quick sweet note when wet, with a touch of woodiness, almost cedar. Overall green, but light.

As it mellows and dries, though, it is a scent that really works with my body chemistry. I end up with a slightly bitter, but complex woodsy green scent.

Overall, the shadow in the trees, the shade of night. And I give beth a lot of credit, this smells pretty much like actual belladona when burned.

Overall, the impression is that night in the woods in early spring at dusk, where you move from place to place looking for that perfect site to set up camp for the night. Always though there is something ahead that looks more appealing. A vague suggestion, a hint, untill you realize it has become quite dark, and you don't know where you are. But all around you is the smell and feel of the woods.

ADDED March 19:

Just to mention, overall, I love this scent, and, everyone here is right, in that is green, or:

Greeny green green,green grreen Green, green green, greeny geen, green and green, with, green green greeen green green, and a side of green. Of course, sometimes, green.

I have heard 'cough syurup' used to desccribe the scent, which I kind of agree with on first application. Mellows for me to almost a spice, but I'm also a guy, and works kind of well with the smells guys make on our own.

Anyway, one of my favorites, did I mention, it makes a green smell?

Well, when I say 'a green smell' it is, well, I was going to give an example, but better to just give a wink;) and a nod, I think.

yours,

T-F

This was another good one on me. It smelled very berry like in the bottle, couldn't smell cedar all that much at all.

First on, a berry note with a hint of sharpness to it.

It mellows on me fairly quickly, though, as the cedar comes out. Ends up smelling dark and green, with a woodsy undertone and a bit of a bite.

Made me smell almost comforting. I had a trauma nurse in a bar tell me a long involved story about her day involving car accidents and other mayhem, and eventually wonder out loud why she was telling me this, she never talks about work. People held open doors.

This probably won't be an everyday scent for me, as I think dissapation might, but definately is right for if I'm in a mood. It is on me a social, gregarious smell with just a hint of the woods and an edge of bite. I smell like someone you'd feel comfortable talking to, but gradually realize you're not quite sure where you ended up, or how you got there.