alterosen

Orange water & thick musk to start, then gets all incensey but not in a way that appeals to me

The rose wasn't apparent to my nose but may have contributed to the heaviness of the musk in the beginning.

Autumn!

It's a little hard to find because it's a Retail-only Salon blend but I totally get some apples mixed in with the rose & spicy fallen leaves of Autumn.

Sugar Skull, of course!

It smells like someone's just started making candy & is melting sugar on the stove (before the caramel stage) with a hint of fruit (maybe pear?)

It's a Hallowe'en LE that's been released several times so it appears in the sales/swap thread on occasion.

Mr Nancy seems to have a similar base with the addition of lime & La Befana has a bit of violet & berries over the sugar.

I find the chocolate scents are quite different from one another & you really have to try them for yourself to see if they work. Most are not intense enough for me (exceptions being Boomslang, Velvet, Tezcatlipoca & some of the 13's).

For cake-like scents, you should have a look at this I want to smell like a bakery thread.

Cockaigne & Chimera are ones that are mentioned often - I personally like Shub, Saw-Scaled Viper, Gingerbread Poppet, Sugar Cookie & Cake Smash when I'm in a foody mood.

Necrobump!

Any more recent recs for bergamot goodness?

Ever since I started buying BPAL, I've been on the lookout for that 'perfect' rose scent. Something sweet, nothing dark or too green. I've tried Maiden, Persephone and Kurukulla, and they all end up morphing into the same weird fruity-rose scent. Bleh. Then I tried Pink Snowballs, and it was PERFECT. For for like 30 seconds, until it turned to play-doh. Stupid skin chemistry.

 

I'm thinking of hunting down a decant of Hope and Victoria, but if anyone has any suggestions of a scent ... that would be great. Thanks!

You might want to try Viola from Illyria (gentle tea rose, lilac, Calla Lily, and Somalian Rose layered over golden Peruvian amber, Spanish moss, red sandalwood, rosewood, and myrrh, with the lightest touch of Mandarin)

There's a lot of notes but I found it to be sweet & pretty with kind of an innocent feeling (& decided it didn't suit me, lol).

Pink Snowballs reminded me a bit of Katrina von Tassel so that might be another one to consider if you can do the cream note.

FWIW, Seance was very woody on me (so much that I don't tend to think of it as a rose blend) as was Snooty Rose but I tend to amp the woods (though not in Viola, strangely). The Rose was like a lighter version of Rose Red. I was unlucky with Victoria turning soapy, too. Two, Five & Seven was wretched on me (sharp rose in a pet food store )

My favorite for pure tea rose is London with Peacock Queen as second choice being slightly less sweet (if I remember correctly - I traded it away a bit prematurely).

I am really loving the retail-only salon Autumn right now. For me, it's the perfect autumn scent!

I really like this one, too! It doesn't get nearly as much love as it deserves, IMO. Smoky leaves & slightly fruity roses...

My other Autumn faves are Samhain (especially '05), Devil's Night, Harvest Moon '05, Pumpkin Queen, Shub-Niggurath & Pumpkin #1 (05/06 apples & mulling spices). I love spicy apples so I'm really looking forward to trying Lamb's Wool & Pomona.

I love this one! It's Sugar Skull with berries & a little violet. Yummy!

I couldn't understand how I missed it when it came out but I see there's no berries in the description

& I was probably afraid of the lilies. Thankfully, I don't notice them or the chimney dust.

This is a new favorite!

I really like Dorian for sleeping. There's just a touch of lavender & the vanilla is lightened by the citrus & tea. I'm also not adverse to a bit of musk

I found the lavender in TKO & Lilith Victoria really strong & astringent & the vanilla aspect too heavy & cloying. TKO actually makes me a bit queasy (but, strangely enough, does work, so I use it if I'm desperate).

You might want to just try something you find comforting, whether it has lavender in it or not, sometimes that'll put you in the right frame of mind for relaxing or sleeping.

I'm always amazed at how subjective people's responses to the rose scents are - even if someone recommends many of the ones I like, invariably they'll also include one that I really don't.

Just goes to show you have to try them on yourself!

So for what it's worth, I find London to be a very natural smelling tea rose but it may be a strong candidate for soapdom because of its simplicity.

Have you tried any of the rose & resin blends?

I adore Parlement of Foules (LE). It's sweet rose & raspberries on me & probably my favorite rose blend. Rose Cross is another nice one; very warm & resiny. There's also Tabula Smagdarina & the Blasphemare Reliquary from Carnival Diabolique. The Grindhouse's Marguerite might be worth trying, too, if geranium isn't an evil note on you.

This year's Lupercalia also had many scents with roses in them, especially Eustephanos, Symmahkia & Pothon Meter.

Happy hunting!

I'm not crazy about this one.

The herbs, roots & spices combine to form something like a light fruity red musk with a background of brown sugar. A bit of chocolate comes out thinly on the drydown.

I was so hoping for major chocolate-covered ginger but instead it's brown sugar & jam with a dusting of cocoa powder & bitter ginseng.

I love the Lab's blackberry note & this one does not disappoint!

I get a faint whiff of cherry on first applying this & think that may be the orange blossom asserting itself briefly but then the scent changes to a deep rich blackberry with boozy overtones. No cat pee or other weirdness, but also no detectable mint or sandalwood.

I don't mind - it's lovely & sultry. My husband even commented on how much he liked it - big bottle for sure!

This was my favorite of the Aphrodites. I can't stop sniffing it. I could have sworn there was ginger in this - the pepper is combining with something else in a really interesting fashion. It's spicy but not terribly sweet or foody. I don't really notice the rose or berries except in the background once dry but I like the whole combination of notes. I definitely see a bottle in my future

Anyone looking for a nice, bright blackberry blend should definitely try Couple Consulting an Enpon. I really got the blackberry note in that one!

I agree! I got a very rich, almost jammy blackberry with a hint of booze from this. It's scrumptious & my DH likes it, too! (Unsolicited compliment, not me saying: "Isn't this nice?" )

This one & Lady Una are my favorite blackberries.

CMXVII (917)

I got this from Midnight Aeval who described it as earthy rose. I agree there's a soft rose present as well as a spicy rich floral that is probably lilies. This kind of rose tends to go a bit powdery on me & that's exactly what happens though the lily is still very true.

It's not really my style, so off to a new home it goes!

Previously reviewed by whiterosepetals.

Crawdad!

And Titania - I guess fruity does it for me too!

The Lurid Library seems nicely woody though there's none in the description: Incense-tinged scent of forbidden tomes & the musk laden remnants of infernal servants.

And you have to love the name

I'll also remark that the teak note that everyone loves in Antikythera Mechanism and Glowing Vulva is the same one as in Pumpkin #5 (2008), in which (crucially for me at least) it appears without vanilla.

I think you meant to say Pumpkin #2 ('08) (black musk, leather accord, tonka, oppoponax, teak & orangewood) since Pumpkin #5 ('08) was the fruity one with strawberry. Just to confuse things, Pumpkin Patch #5 from 2005/06 was a woody scent (pumpkin with five woods, English ivy & galangal) & is well worth seeking out. It's not very sweet & the pumpkin is definitely a bit player.

I'll second the Pumpkin Patch #1 ('05 & '06) - my favorite apple.

It has more spice than Fearful Pleasure & smells more like baked apples than cider (FP is maybe juicier smelling? I don't get smoke so much as a lot of oakmoss).

Jack is definitely worth trying, too.

It's a shame about the patchouli because Samhain is a nice spicy apple with dry Autumn leaves. On me, I don't sense the patch in it at all.

The LE Rose Red is one of the least sweetest rose scents.

It's very intensely rose & has a distinct earthiness that evokes stems & leaves.

You should be able to find a decant easily since it's been available the last couple of Yules

A good general catalogue equivalent would be The Rose from the Marchen section.

While not as intense or long lasting, I find it quite similar.

I liked the dandelion note when I tried Roadhouse - green but not too sharp.

Fairy Market is an interesting floral with hints of fruit & greenery. The candy doesn't make much of an appearance.

Other than that, I'm not much help cause I like a fair bit of sweetness!

You might want to try Velvet:

It's the ultimate warm cozy sandalwood scent - starts out strong on the cocoa, then the subtle spiciness of the myrrh comes out, followed by sandalwood with a hint of vanilla.

I love it in cold weather & at bedtime

There's no floral notes in it at all so you should be safe from Shalimar-likeness. Stay away from Dragon's Bone as it has a strong orris note (which smells a bit like violet to me). Brown Jenkins also has both sandalwood & orris but is more subtle.

My favorite spicy blends are Clemence, Plunder, Bengal, Shub-Niggurath, Saw Scaled Viper, Phantom Calliope & Pickled Imp.

And I would give Morocco & Snake Oil a try, anyway, just to judge for yourself. You can always trade 'em away!

I immediately thought of Pumpkin Patch #5 ('05 &'06) - Pumpkin with five woods, English ivy & galangal root. It has nice spicy wood notes with light pumpkin & is not that sweet.

Pumpkin Patch #4 of the same years (Pumpkin with sandalwood & orris ) is one of my favorite comfort scents, but it reminds me of baking bread rather than pie. I get a sort of sweet yeastiness from the orris & sandalwood combination. YMMV of course

I believe CoopieCat & mspixieears are talking about the 2008 Pumpkins both of which are not terribly foody & have many masculine components:

Pumpkin II: black musk, leather accord, tonka, teak, opponax & orangewood

Pumpkin IV: white sage, cherry tobacco, honey, smoky vanilla, cedar & pine

Good luck with your enabling!

I really like this one.

I mostly get sweet snow, a bit of pine/juniper & well-behaved berries.

Very pretty. I'll have to dig up my Skadi decant to compare but I think this one is quite a bit softer with less evergreen. On my skin, it stays close but sure lasts nicely (9 hours so far).

I was really on the fence about ordering this because I was iffy about a lot of the notes but I'm sure happy now that I did!

Have you tried Phantom Calliope (black cherry, patchouli, cassis, cardamom & verbena)?

I don't really notice the patchouli - it's a deep dry spicy cherry on me & lasts forever.

One of my cold weather favorites.

What about Bengal (skin musk with honey, peppers, clove, cinnamon & ginger)?

I definitely get cinnamon & musk from it but the other spices are present, too - many people think it smells like chai tea.

Pickled Imp is also very cinnamony but not as sweet as you might expect. Maybe you could layer it with something musky?

Parlement of Foules is one of my faves, too. It smells like roses & raspberries to me.

Katrina von Tassel is very soft, sweet & creamy.

If we stretch your parameters to 19th Century literature, there's a bunch of things in Bewitching Brews:

Coleridge - Kubla Khan

Dickinson - I Died For Beauty

Keats - Ode on Melancholy, La Belle Dame Sans Merci

Shelley - Ozymandias

Swinburne - Hymn to Proserpine

Yeats - Ephemera

That's just in one category - I know there's many more

I'm feeling too lazy to check dates to see who qualifies as Victorian.