gwynethr

Oh, reading this has been very informative. I couldn't figure out why this wasn't what I expected -- it's not at all pleasant to me, very store perfumey/powdery, but the comments about osmanthus (which I could not remember what it was for the life of me) make total sense. I can catch vaguely the other notes, but they're overpowered by the one I don't like. I think this is a more... traditional scent, I guess, than I was expecting.

I definitely love this smoky blend -- it reminds me a lot of Mad Meg, which I love, and the Philosopher in Meditation, although definitely less sweetness than the latter blend has. I think this is one of the few blends with vetiver that didn't make my nose wrinkle in sharp disgust. I've always liked the smell of smoke, of camp fires and brush fires and lanterns that have just gone out, but I know that's a fairly unusual taste. I'm glad for the smoky scents like this one.

I don't get the orange note at all, but that's okay, because the beeswax more than makes up for it. I absolutely love that scent (there's a lovely French soap made with royal jelly that I love because of the smell, but I've never been able to find anything where that's the predominant note), so this makes me very happy. Beeswax candles and smokey goodness. Very cozy, as someone said above.

Dang. I think my decant is mislabeled, because I smell nothing like any of these posts make it sound -- good or bad. I can barely smell anything at all, in fact. I may have to hunt one down because it sounds like a perfect scent for me, but I can't pick up much of anything from the decant I applied. Even in the sample bottle, it's barely discernable.

I had a feeling this would be a favorite, and I was right. This has shot to the top of my list, right under Mme. Moriarty, which it reminds me of in some ways because of that divine plumminess. And the gorgeous mahogany of The Red Queen! Divine. The patchouli and frankincense round it out with more favorite notes, giving a nice ground to the tart raspberry. This one is above and beyond. Carnavale scents have had most of my favorites since I discovered BPAL back when it opened, and it continues to offer the most magical scents. I'm going to have to get multiple bottles of this one.

Ooooh wow. And also, oh crap. I have been able to avoid buying many bottles lately, and I didn't even get many decants for the Act IV, because so many things had notes that go crazy on me. But this and a few others of the Act IV scents are glorious, and now I have to buy bottles before it goes away. I don't know if I can identify ambergris, but everything in this seems to settle in lovingly on my skin (what a nice change!). I love the soft peach, which is most prominent, and the honey, balanced with the spice of the patchouli and neroli bite. I don't smell the cocoa much, but that could just be that the peach is so prominent on me it doesn't come out. I'm definitely not complaining, foody scents generally overpower me. I love, love, love this. Even more than the other peachy scents I adore in the Salon! Fabulous.

Vanilla orchid, Monoi tiare, gardenia, and light incense. It's a good thing that I really, really like gardenia. Because that's all she wrote in this one. I know there are other things in here, which I smell when in the bottle, but on me, it's just intensely floral and very Lady of Shalott. I think it'll be good to put in shampoo or lotion, but it's sadly not as special as I had hoped.

I've never smelled Cheshire Moon, so I can't compare it to that, but this does remind me a lot of Monster Bait: Bloody Mary. Fruity and bright. It isn't at all what I imagined it to be. Maybe because it doesn't really smell tropical, and I was expecting that? Not sure. At least it doesn't bite my sinuses like the King!

Gah. I'm heartbroken. I had such hope for this, and for all the Luau Lounges, but none of them have turned out to be what I wanted. As usual, I get no coconut. It's weird, I get coconut from almost anything else coconutty out there, except BPAL. I don't know why, but it never shows up on my skin, or even when I smell from the bottle. It's as if the note doesn't exist or something. Mostly I'm getting only the sharp wood smell that Ventriloquist Dummy turned into on me -- initially it was a favorite scent, but something in my chemistry changed, and it went very bad on me. Tiki King is doing the same nasty thing.

I'm not sure what to make of this one. I can't quite pick out any notes individually, even the patchouli, which is weird. It's a very seamless blend in that respect. I'd hoped that the wood notes and currant would beat out the rose and amber, but apparently not even the mighty patchouli can soften those up for me. Yet I don't dislike it. Just maybe not what I was hoping it would be, or expected. I think it'll be a good one to let sit for a long while and come back to with some aging.

I swear to god I smell something... minty in here. I can't figure out what it could be. I guess either the leather or the coconut, both of which often do not react especially well on me. But I like this quite a bit, I wish the vanilla was a bit more prominent just because it might help mitigate whatever that minty or vetivery smell is. I seem to have off reactions of some of the most popular scents. Waaah.

I hadn't worn this in a while, despite really liking it, but put it on today and I'm reminded of how much I do really like this. It's a lot like Fortunato on me, but slightly less sherryish. Wine scents haven't been my favorites, but berry/currants usually are. It also reminds me a bit of Bordello, like some have mentioned, but Bordello on me comes off very cloying and can nauseate me at certain times, while LM does neither. I wouldn't necessarily wear this to a job interview (!), but it's a great one for going out, I think.

MMMMmmmm, hazelnutty goodness. I smell Frangelico!! There are also other notes, not all of them I adore, but I can't pinpoint them and they seem to hold off on this enough so that I can enjoy the hazelnut/vanilla scent. Unfortunately that part doesn't last as long as I'd like. It has a soft throw, and short wearlength. That's the only part that's holding me back from getting my hands on a bottle, I think. It'd probably be gone in a month from slathering so much.

I wish so much I had smelled the vanilla and tonka so many others had. Instead, the lily of the valley and amber kicked it into old lady drugstore perfume for me. I was so disappointed. I'm having a lot of trouble with the other notes in vanilla scents, I realize now. They are almost always overtaken by other notes on me, and the vanilla is what I want to smell most.

Good lo' , this is gorgeous! I get that same almost nutty scent at first whiff in the decant that someone else mentioned, and then it settles down a bit. I wouldn't really call this foody, either, but it almost teeters on the edge of that. The fae spices, whatever they are, bring it back from foodyness and give it a roundness that's really pleasing to my spice-loving nose. This one's a total wow factor for me and I'm definitely going to have to get a bottle.

Wow, I love this! What a pretty sccent for such a name. I don't really smell lilac either (pity), but the other notes blend beautifully. I don't really view things as masculine or feminine, I guess because I tend to like things everyone calls masculine and I always wonder what that says of me (I love my girly cosmetics). To me this seems like anyone could like, it's almost fruity but not quite, has that lovely spice of the frankincense, and that beautiful tea that smells more like tea than any other tea leaf blend I've tried. Kind of a medium throw, and the wear length is also sort of medium. It definitely softens up after a short while. Beautiful!

I felt kinda funny buying this when someone put a bottle up for sale recently, because it's such a sought-after scent and almost seems like you should have to run through some kind of gantlet to earn the right to get it. But I was miserable and figured it would make a nice birthday present to myself. I think if any of my friends knew I spent that kind of money on a scent I'd never even smelled, they'd bombard me with criticism, but BPALers understand. I hope! I really don't regret it, either -- I love this scent and can see why it's so popular. It reminds me of many of my favorite BPAL scents -- there's that wonderful, gorgeous quality I get from Mme. Moriarty and Snake Charmer (which smell of a kind to me), the dry, not-too-sweet cocoa of Candy Butcher or Underbed, and that lighter, not-too-sneezy cassia of Underbed, as well. I also pick up the perfect vanilla/light sassafras of my beloved Tombstone. I feel like there's a tiny note of musk, sweet along the lines of Smut, but I don't know. I'm not sure it has any of those notes, but I love it all the same. It's a perfect scent for when I need a pick-me-up -- it smells wonderful and knowing it's rare makes it all the more special. I'm really grateful I had the chance to enjoy this one.

The most interesting discovery for me when I got into BPAL was my love for patchouli. I thought all my life that I hated it, I guess tramatized by nasty incense (when I get around burning incense, I sneeze uncontrollably for hours and hours and my eyes get swollen and itchy) growing up in the era of hippies. (The second biggest discovery was that I actually liked musk, especially red musk. Another note I thought I disliked, but in BPAL, it was something wonderful.) Goblin sounded like a perfect fragrance for me -- coconut? Always good. Patchouli? My new favorite friend. Benzoin? Love it. And it's turned out to be as perfect as I expected. This is a tough little goblin with some bite, but a nice, sweet side that lingers long after the fangs go away. He's wonderful!

I thought this was lovely the first time I tried it, with so many of my favorite notes, it's not a surprise. But then I went back to it after letting it sit for more than a few months, and it's even better. This is definitely a BPAL scent that ages gorgeously. It's so resiny but sweet, dark but bright, and strong but soft. I thought when I first got it that an imp would be enough, but I think I need a bottle now.

I haven't figured this one out yet. I don't seem to get any of the responses I've seen mentioned here -- and I can't put my finger on what it is I am smelling. I figure I'll have to try it at different times of the day, month, etc. before I can decide if it's a keeper. It's definitely on the aquatic side, but beyond that, I don't know!

Thank you, everyone! I really appreciate the search notes, too -- I must be the worst searcher ever, since I couldn't find the ingredients list myself. But I think I always knew that about myself. I will definitely try to share these with her when I get hold of them. Strangely, I had a decant of Peacock Queen, but I got rid of it as fast as I could. It didn't occur to me that my "rose is a rose" problem might mean that, yeah, the rose note in her soap would be the same old rose note in the oils. I actually have Harlot and Whip on hand right now, so I might bring those for her to test.

I know this is a long shot, but I figure it's worth a try. I have a friend who loves this soap from Hugo apothecary called Wild African Rose. She showed it to me last night and I sniffed, but it just smells like rose to me -- I hate rose as a note, so a rose is just a rose, unfortunately. Also unfortunately, they don't list their ingredients or give a hint of what essential oils they use to create the scent, either on label or on their web site. Has anyone ever used this soap, or know of it? Anyone have any idea if there might be a BPAL scent that would match this somewhat? My friend is really excited about possibly being enabled into BPAL, and she often comments on how great I smell, but the one imp I gave her, Rose Cross, didn't work for her. Searches haven't turned up any African rose (I didn't even know such a thing existed!), and of course, there are a gajillion scents with rose notes to choose from. Thanks in advance.

This is the first time I've got a forum-only scent on my own, and it's such a great one, I'm glad I did. It's very subtle, though -- like others, I can't pick out individual scents, and it's almost... quiet, considering the types of notes in it. I'm going to slather it like whoa next time -- the throw is quite light on me, almost invisible, and I don't want to miss out on any of it. Wet: It's very herby to my nose, almost sharp, and I had my doubts. Dry: It settles into something very softly resinous, almost spicy. I'm not getting coconut palm much at all, or leather (fortunately or unfortunately -- some leathers stink on me and some smell like heaven), and the woods are so soft and subtle that I can barely say it's wood. After a while I can barely smell it at all, but it lingers a little, like a good skin scent.

This was everything my vanilla and pear-loving heart had hoped for. But also a little less, in some ways. Wet: Bright, sweet pear to the max, with a hint of vanilla behind it. Dry: The pear has completely disappeared on me. If I stick my nose to my wrist, I can get a faint whiff of it, but it's mostly gone. I get light vanilla. Eventually, after it's almost all gone, I get... honey. Which is odd, but since honey's one of my fave notes, I can't complain. There's so little throw that I can't put enough on to smell without putting my arms toward my face. But it's still a wonderful scent, just doesn't last much in either direction. I have a feeling this may mean I'll be going through a lot of bottles.

I got hold of a decant of this and Montressor, and wasn't expecting to like either of them (wine smelling things just aren't my thing, usually). But this one really jumped out for me, much more pleasant aged port smell with that hint of orange Cointreau in the background, than the deep red Cab or sherry smell of its winey cousins. It really does remind me of sipping a very expensive, spicey, aged port, enough so that I went out and found a bottle right away, surprising myself a lot because I wasn't expecting to buy another older bottle of something I missed the first time around. I think that patchouli and hint of aged oak really give it some more depth than most wine scents. I usually hate anything that has old or dusty or aged in the descriptions, but this one works out just fine for me.