ivyandpeony

I am a huge amber fan and Inez does not disappoint! My only fear was the cedar note, which I can sometimes amp into the world's largest pencil sharpener to the exclusion of everything else in a perfume. But it seems that the cedar and sandalwood just serve to anchor Inez and add to the amber's spiciness, which thrills me. I get a little spicy carnation and sweet vanilla, but the amber and musk steal the show here. This wasn't the longest lasting scent and didn't have a lot of throw - I'll be curious to see if that changes as my bottle ages, though. I know my bottle of Jacob's Ladder 2005 is thick and yummy now and much more intense than it was when it was fresh.

This scent is drop dead gorgeous. In the bottle and wet, the pine-pitch note is prominent. It's a really interesting note, not sharp evergreen, but very resinous with a spicy hint of pine. It calms down immediately and The Illustrated Woman becomes this delicious, ever-so-slightly-smoky, sweet skin musk scent. I agree with the first couple reviewers that the skin musk is the star of the show, but to my nose it's inseparable from the honey, vanilla and resins. This is a blend that I'd really encourage you to try, even if there's a note in there that scares you, because I find it so well balanced. In my case, I love honey, vanilla, patchouli and skin musk, but tobacco can be a bad note on me, the pine pitch scared me, I had no idea what to expect from the Indian resins or just how "smoky" the vanilla would be (and I don't like a lot of the scents that are described as smoky). The result? You will pry this bottle from my cold dead fingers

I am officially in love with this scent and so glad I ordered it! I do love resins, but I have a complete arsenal of smoky and incensey ones. I was hoping for a delicious, resinous base with a little bit of the spice that seems to come naturally to the amber, some sweetness from the orange, lilac and ambergris bouquet, and frankincense that is happy to be a supporting member of the cast. And this is exactly what I got. I even find this sweet enough to skew to the feminine side. If there is nothing sweet or slightly floral about a blend, my chemistry will make it dry and amp the woods and masculinity, making it as swarthy as can be. So I am thrilled that I don't get anything remotely manly from this combination of notes. I think this is going to become one of my most beloved amber blends.

ooh, I second the Fairy Market! And Jasmine Cottage, IMO, fits the bill perfectly - but I do understand the hesitation about ordering unsniffed bottles because I have it myself. Although the poem and imagery don't seem like they'd fit your request, The Reaper and The Flowers has a nice green quality and the chrysanthemum and carnation give it a spicy, stemmy vibe that I associate with wildflowers. I think Amsterdam would be worth trying to see what your chemistry does with it - some people get aquatic from it, but since it's a GC you can order or swap for an imp fairly easily. I like the lab's tulip note, it seems to have a bit of green in it regardless of what it is used with. Now, if you take the plunge into searching for LEs in the swap forum, there was an LE from spring 2005 called Flower Moon that I'd definitely recommend. I haven't tried the 2008 version of Beltane, but the 2005 and 2006 incarnations both were very meadow-y to me.

Welcome to the forum! I'll give you my impressions of the ones that I've tried recently enough to remember (never tried Xanthe, I suspect the guava and apple blossom combo in that one will do me in) Gennivre, L'Artiste du Diable - honeyed mint tea with a bit of tartness, but not a lot of fruit. The Hanging Gardens - very rich and sweet, heavy fig, so very fruity on me Katharina - lots and lots of apricot, so apricot lovers must try it Lolita - more floral than fruity, but with a lot of sweetness from the heliotrope and honeysuckle Tanuki - incredibly fruity! It was nothing but fruit on me, although it had a little bit of a crisp feel to offset the sweetness. Titania - Lots of sweet fruit in there, but the floral notes are nicely balanced with it and make it pretty and feminine. Good luck! It's kinda hard finding BPAL blends that have no musk, patchouli, or vanilla, isn't it? I'd suggest that as you go along, be brave and try some scents with lighter musks - things with white, blue, green, skin musk - and avoid red, dark, animalic and things that are described similarly. The musks don't always dominate, and you may find that you can wear some scents where the musk note isn't dominant.

I thought I'd repost Igloogirl's question in this thread, and I did some searching for coconut scents to see if I could contribute anything. And as I was looking at the "coconut" results I had an epiphany - how it took me 3+ years to figure this out, I don't know. I amp coconut like crazy! Shoggoth is nothing but coconut on me. Eden, nothing but fresh green coconut. Spooky? Coconut that just brushed its teeth. But I think that if there are enough "dark" things in a blend, the coconut will just sweeten it a bit and I can wear it: King of Spades , Dark Delicacies, Snake Charmer. I'm going to give Tiki King a couple more tries before I give up since so many people are passionately in love with it, and I'm really hopeful for Ashtultum. (Gwyneth, too, but sage could be a whole 'nother story, maybe I should go post in the Confessional thread about it ) Anyway, I'm really jealous of you people who can wear everything with coconut, especially Shoggoth and Eden

There were a lot of tropical scents in the Tiki series that came out for April Fools this year - tropicals, and particularly scents heavy on coconut, aren't very good on me so I'm not the best source of recs on this one. But Upa Upa from that series has pineapple, coconut, vanilla and spiced rum, and it's really delicious. There's probably a little overlap between this thread and the one devoted to coconut scents, so be sure to take a peek there and see what you find.

I had a bath this evening with Fantasy Bath's Bayou Voodoo bath-fizzy stuff and realized that I had recently smelled a BPAL that was similar. Put on my thinking cap and realized it's Tupapau. I checked the notes and the Fantasy Bath stuff has sandalwood, vanilla and oakmoss with a little jasmine and plumeria - Tupapau's notes are white sandalwood, pikaki, 'umi'umi-o-dole (a type of moss), and plumeria. So if you're a fan of Tupapau, I definitely think you'll like FB's Bayou Voodoo bath products.

Pepper (from Good Omens) is just full of that delicious pink pepper that I smell in Hermia and Teenage Cannibal. In the bottle and when it's wet, I can't even smell anything else! It's such an awesome note, it's got a certain pungency that makes it almost chewy when it's wet (do I sound like a pompous wine critic? ) I'll be excited to see the role that the black pepper plays in Clemence (from the Grindhouse update a couple days ago).

paperrose, did you ever get a chance to try Chiroptera? I think it's pretty difficult to find these days, but I do remember a lot of honeysuckle in it (I, unfortunately, amped the lemon balm and sage in it until I smelled like some sort of delicious kitchen concoction instead of the floral delight that I wanted to be. Those who get an overall floral vibe from it love it though.) Schlafende Bagneuse from the Salon is very pretty - the honeysuckle doesn't completely dominate, but the notes in it give it an overall "bright yellow" feel and complement each other wonderfully. (The notes are skin musk, white cream, honeycomb, yellow rose, King mandarin, chrysanthemum, golden amber, honeysuckle, and wide-throated yellow monkey-flower accord).

No problem but thanks for letting me know! The stuff that I would like to avoid here is more of the "Oh, you must go buy Bottle X from Arcana - MMU - Dawn Spencer Hurwitz - Chanel - Bond No. 9 - etc., it's the best (insert note, category, mood) scent out there." We've either got newbies asking for BPAL recs here and the BPAL catalog is confusing enough for them, or we've got members who have learned the forum well enough that they can explore Retail Therapy and learn about some other companies if they're interested in exploring perfume even more thoroughly. Although I wasn't here at the inception of the forum, when it was organized this section was put under the Lab discussion umbrella, so for that reason and for the sake of clarity, as I took over this section and the forum reached 10,000+ members I felt that it was important to emphasize those points. It's not that I want to stifle discussion, and it's kind of hard for me to explain it without sounding like that is the result anyway... I hope you guys understand where I'm coming from? As I've said before, drop me a line if you want to discuss this or any other issue around here. Back to the question at hand, I'm no help on the cave suggestions. I amp that earth note so strongly that everything the lab's ever made with that note, whether it's earth, soil, grave loam or what have you smells like a cave on me. So I could tell you Zombi, Madeline, Queen of Clubs, because they all smell like wet potting soil on my skin and your guy could then end up smelling like a total girly-man.

I don't know of a blend that has all of those notes, but I think Juliet might be worth trying. It's a clean, sweet floral and it does have the heliotrope and honeysuckle notes. I don't care for very dry or for masculine blends either. And dragon's blood and leather are notes I can very seldom wear. Of the blends you haven't tried that I am really familiar with, I love Spectre (but it is incredibly hard to find, you'll fight like a madwoman for it if it pops up on eBay). Virahotkantita surprised me immensely and is a favorite, I usually amp cedar to the detriment of everything else but not in this one, so it turned out to be a lovely lilac blend for me. I also love Melancholia. Dragon's Eye is too dragon's blood-y for me; Ouija too dry; Himerus, Viola, Bad Luck Woman Blues, Villain, Crowley & His Station all ultimately too masculine for me to love. I don't find Famine to be lilac-y at all - it has a beauty of its own but as a smoky tea blend, not as a floral. It is just a wee bit on the masculine side while still being gender-neutral IMO. And some of the blends that didn't work for you are favorites of mine (Rose Moon, White Moon, Spirit of the Komachi Cherry Tree, & Pontarlier) although I wouldn't categorize any but Spirit as predominantly lilac either. Ultimately, no one has an identical chemistry to yours, so don't rule too much out completely.

just giving this its every-so-often-bump. Thanks for reading and drop me a line if you have any questions!

I'd just message the seller and find out where s/he got them. I think it is probably wikkidraven here on our forum, her etail site name matches the seller name on the auction.

Your meet and sniff may have broken up by now, just thought I would mention for any newer BPALers who are there. If you haven't seen that type of imp before, that's the original way that the imps were labeled... the world-famous tarted imp!

Beatrice33, I haven't tried L'eau d'Issey - but as far as lightly aquatic florals without sharp heavy floral tones that might match up, I'd recommend trying Szepassony, Amsterdam, Lady of Shallott, Desdemona, Ophelia, Moon Rose, Xiuhtecuhtli, Leanan Sidhe and Machu Picchu. There's a retail exclusive Salon called The Black Swan that seems like it might be up your alley too - the notes are water lily, peony, seaweed absolute, lotus, Spanish moss, violet leaf, and marine accord. (I don't care for aquatics much at all and I find The Black Swan to be gorgeous.)

You may have to do some layering of something vanilla and something almond to get exactly what you want, reina... A lot of people find Dana O'Shee to have a marzipan quality but if it doesn't have enough almondy oomph for you, I find Queen of Sheba to be very almondy. With vanillas, I have to rely on what they do on my skin and not what other people say they will do - it seems like one person's delicious and sublime vanilla can be another person's plasticky artificial vanilla candle. But I happen to get lots of dominant, creamy vanilla from Love's Philosophy, Opuhi, Egged Mailbox, and O. Not all of those are easy to find of course, but if you have any of them on hand they're what works for me.

sooo.... anyone who's tried Violet Ray and Bruised Violet Compound wanna compare and contrast them for the crowd? (I will probably order imps of both with the next update, but would love to hear comparisons of them from the violet connoisseurs around here.)

In addition, you can go to the top right of the page and enter the word "charmer" in the search box to get a concise list of all the mentions Snake Charmer has received in this thread - much easier than trying to read all 36 (or however many this number grows to in the future) pages. It's been a topic of conversation a few times, so many people love it!

Vetiver is a note that is usually really bad on me - and I can still recommend Azathoth to people. Ultimately it was too masculine for me (I'm mostly a girly-scents kind of person), but the tangerine and saffron give it a brightness that really brought out the fresh grassy qualities of the vetiver. I haven't smelled any of the L'Occitane versions mentioned here, but since Azathoth's now a GC blend it's a low-risk recommendation, no stalking of eBay or selling of kidneys required to give it a try.

I love purple scents. I will add to the love that Horreur Sympathique is getting in this thread, although I will probably put it away for warmer weather since it's very rich and heavy on me (just a matter of personal preference). I got a sniff of Violet Ray over the weekend and although I haven't tried it on my skin yet, I think it will be a great choice for purple-lovers who also love violets. New scents that I haven't sniffed, that I'm thinking could the Purple Pantheon, are The Coil (just read that description - Ozone, eucalyptus and mint with purple orchid, passionflower, white ginger, and purple lotus?!) and Bruised Violet Compound. On my skin it will depend on how much the minty-ozoney qualities dominate the coil and on how much the earthy elements are balanced by the violet & currant in BVC.

I'm sorry you are having such bad luck, Apple! If you get a chance to try Formula 54 without having to sell plasma, go for it - after reading about your experiences, though, my advice would be not to break your neck to get it. If you amped florals in Block Buster and The Clod and The Pebble my feeling is that you will amp the florals in F54 too. The clove in it is definitely a back-up player and not a dominant note, IMO, it's all about the rose and the musk.

I'm in the camp that loves Underpants and really likes LP. For me, Underpants is very complex - if you pushed me to classify it as a vanilla scent, I would, but there's so much more going on with it. The sweetness is balanced nicely with the sandalwood, it's very deep and sexy. On the other hand, I'd need no pushing to classify LP as a vanilla scent. It's a lighter, creamier vanilla ice cream scent. Saffron can be sort of medicinal to my nose at times, but I don't find it to be so in LP - instead it gives the vanilla a unique twist. If you have the opportunity to add both to your collection without selling a kidney to get the Underpants, you should go for it - you should have no problem swapping either for something that suits you better if you decide you don't like it. Underpants is holy-grail popular but LP ain't chopped liver, it has plenty of fans.

It's hard to have the patience to age Snake Oil - I am one of the people who likes it both brand new and ancient and in between, so if you do too, just use your bottle and enjoy. If you want to age a bottle, order one and stick a label on the top with the date on it, then put it in the back of a drawer for a while and take a sniff in a couple of months. And you'll never have trouble swapping away or selling a bottle of aged Snake Oil so if you find that you don't like it or have too much on your hands, there's an easy out. As far as Snake Charmer ever being released again, there's just no way to tell, but here's the lowdown on when and how the Lab has reissued the retired LEs that have reappeared temporarily. Since 2005, the Lab has resurrected anywhere from one to seven discontinued scents and offered them as LEs to commemorate its anniversary in November - but of all those scents, only one was originally a limited edition (Midway, in 2007) - so LEs coming back for that event are very rare. The rest have been general catalog blends that had been discontinued. The LE series that spawned Snake Charmer, Carnaval Noir, actually returned for a short period of time, the first & only LE series that's done so (it originally ran from June through September 2005, then returned for a very brief run in April 2006). If the Lab were to re-run an LE series again, it seems to me that CN would be low on the list since it's already been done, another "odds against Snake Charmer" factor. Most of the blends from the Springtime In Arkham LE Series, from the spring of 2005, surprised us all when they came back as additions to the permanent catalog the next year, also a first & only event. I don't think any other LEs have made it into the general catalog but if I am forgetting something, I am sure someone will remind me! Finally, there are the LEs that have appeared multiple times, but they are usually seasonal ones that return as the occasion rolls around the next time, anything from Beltane to Halloween blends to 13 to Yule blends - sometimes they're the same formula, sometimes reformulated (the lab is usually clear on that, using the same description if the notes are the same, listing tweaks if they've changed some things). There's a thread here that discusses why LEs are limited that may shed some light on things, too.

captainoats, here was one suggestion from just up the thread a little bit: Can't help with Lunar Eclipse, but the floral aspect of Cheshire Moon reminds me so much of The Unicorn, a misty, ethereal white floral scent. I'm not sure how to add the cake-y note without adding other notes as well. I too love Cheshire Moon, and although I havn't sniffed the Unicorn OR Eat Me, I'm wondering if Eat Me, The Unicorn, and Cheshire Cat could be layered or blended together to get something similar, since Eat Me has the cakey/vanilla, Unicorn has the floral, and Cheshire Cat has the fruit.. I think I'm going to try it out once I get some more imps. It might not work or be exactly the same.. but would proabably be yummy! A shortcut you can try to search longer threads (you may not find much for this particular search since Cheshire Moon's fairly new, but I like to throw this hint out every so often for newer members) - when you are in a big ole thread like this one and want to find just the posts where a certain term has been mentioned, go to the search box at the top right of the page. The default on most skins is set to search the current topic that you are in, so you can just type in a term and get all the posts that mention it. It can be very helpful for this thread, the GC similarities thread, the discons thread and the Lush thread - even the longer threads about certain popular notes like vanilla or rose.