ivyandpeony

Don't feel bad, there's no requirement that you be a member for X length of time to buy a forum-only scent

Usually when the Lab leaves an LE up beyond the date that they previously announced it would come down, it means the scent's still available and they will honor orders. So if those scents are still live on the forum-only page of the Lab's site and can be added to the CCNow cart, then you should be able to order them successfully. I've ordered lunacies under the same circumstances with no problems. The Lab will always contact you if there is an issue - and if you are really nervous about it, you can always e-mail customer service first.

Oops... wrong thread.

My issue belongs with the LE's, not the disco'ds....Sorry mods!!

The Velvets is actually considered a GC blend, as are all the Neil Gaiman scents - so this is the right place I moved your post over here for you! It's no big deal if a post gets put in one thread but really belongs in the other - I move posts back and forth all the time when I spot them.

For all members, not just Lorna Brigid, I know it can be confusing -but if you think of our goal with these threads is for fans to easily find comparisons to their favorites, it helps you visualize the best place to put your posts. Here are the rules of thumb that I use.

Scent requests:

If you are looking for something that is similar to a limited edition, use the LE thread to ask.

If you are looking for something similar to a GC, use this thread.

If you are looking for something similar to a discontinued GC, use the discontinueds thread.

Scent discussions:

If you notice that any scent, GC or LE, resembles an LE scent and want to tell the world, it's best to put it in the LE thread. That way people who are looking for something similar to that LE can find it there. (If you are posting about an LE scent that resembles a discontinued GC, you might also want to crosspost to the new Discontinued GCs thread so that people who are pining for that DC blend will find that info.)

If you notice a similarity between two (or more) GCs, this thread is the best place for it.

If you find something that seems to be a good replacement for a discontinued GC, the discons thread is the spot.

And of course, you can just answer questions wherever they have been asked and recommend BPAL scents from any category when you do . If there's been confusion & the discussion belongs elsewhere, I can always move it to the proper thread.

Hopefully that makes sense - again, it's not a big deal, definitely not even something you would ever get reminded/warned for

ooeh im getting snake oil for sure guess mm moriarty is an LE?

Mme Moriarty is an LE but it's still available in the Carnaval Diabolique section of the website - http://www.blackphoenixalchemylab.com/cdiabolique.html

It's a gorgeous red musk, vanilla, plum & patchouli blend.

ISO = In Search Of Around here, that's shorthand for posting in the Wanted section of swaps.

I may have to think on this pumpkin pie question a little bit more - I haven't pulled out all my pumpkin-y stuff yet because we still are having some warm days in the South. I'm thinking that layering may give you the effect you really want more than a single scent, though. The most baked-good, edible pumpkin scent I've tried is Pumpkin Cheesecake, but it does have those creamy notes that make it cheesecake instead of pie. The Pumpkin I scent from the 2005 & 2006 Pumpkin Patches - pumpkin w/apple and mulling spices - has a lot of spicy pumpkin dessert feel for me, so layering it with something that gives you a little buttery vibe might work. A pumpkin blend layered with Lambs-Wool might be an option too. I get a lot of creamy, dessert spices from it.

I haven't tried Pumpkin Pie Bath Oil from the Trading Post, just sniffed it, but it definitely hit the mark - and reviewers seem to love it. I like to use the bath oils as after-shower moisturizers and they usually give me a lot of scent. So whatever you might want to try, using it for a base might be a good start. Or you might even find that you get enough scent from it to suit you.

From the PacSun website:

Nollie Live! (pink) fragrance comes from a blend of pineapple, cassis and juicy pear with apple, passion fruit and freesia to create a fragrant bouquet scent.

Nollie Real! (purple) perfume features Pink Cyclamen blended with a mix of Crisp Red Apple and Red Currants combined with a floral mix of Star Jasmine and White Lilies along with Diamond Orchid. The fragrance is also rounded out by Tonka Beans and White Musks.

Nollie (green) combines the scents of sweet fruit & light floral undertones with hints of pink rose petals& white jasmine.

Nollie Shine! (orange) perfume features Mandarin and Grapefruit blended with Cassis and Pear with a splash of fruity florals. The background is blended with Jasmine, Cyclamen Strawberry and Apple scents and is finished with Sandalwood, Cedarwood and Musk.

Is there a BPAL blend that smalls like Aquolina Pink Sugar?

I have not been able to find it here I live, and I can't really have it shipped because I am in Europe. I haven't smelled it, but all the reviews i have read sound amazing. I have Plastic Pink Flamingo, but I am looking for something a little.....more.

Any suggestions?

You reminded me, there's actually a whole thread about Pink Sugar resemblances here. Feel free to bump it if you like!

Joyful Moon smells like Avon Soft Musk to me. But not just Avon Soft Musk...Soft Musk on my ex-step-mom. It always smelled different on her than on anyone I've ever smelled wearing it....beautiful, cozy, sexy, safe, warm. She's gone now and to have something that reminds me of her? It's wonderful.

that's so sweet.

So I was curious whether anyone who's tried Pumpkin Latte could compare it to some of the other coffee scents for me. I seriously love Pinched - it's perfectly balanced for me, not too sweet, the coffee isn't too strong. Sadly Misk U. gets way too caramel-y and sickly sweet on my skin, and El Dia Reyes is almost coffee single note. And I like Bah! but it isn't something I reach for that often. I don't think I skin tested the Pumpkin Patch scent w/coffee from last year for comparison purposes.

...

Edit: Thanks for moving this! I don't know how I didn't find this thread when I searched fennel on the boards.

I just edited the title of the thread - the only term that was in the title before was "aniseed" and all of the other terms were in the subtitle, so that could be why it wasn't turning up. Right now the search engine isn't picking up terms in subtitles. I think that might have been a software tweak and if so, perhaps we'll be able to get it back eventually.

The periodic bump!

...

I'm one of those people without a mail-able street address, who has to get their mail from a PO Box. Which is all well and good, except for when you're trying to prove where you live - as, in my case, in the event of trying to get my driver's license. So, I decided I was going to order something online, get it shipped to the street address, and thus would have my proof of address and something spiffy for myself (...I never buy myself anything, like... ever. I hate spending money).

 

Problem is, I see BPAL, like almost everything else I've looked at, ships via USPS, which... would end up either going to the PO Box, or never arriving due to mail not being delivered to my street.

 

Is there some way around this? Can I send a request for custom shipping, or... otherwise achieve my goal without causing too much bother to anyone?

<3

You may want to check with your Department of Driver Services (or whatever they may be called where you live) to find out what they will accept as proof of your residence. Usually they want something like a utility bill, which would have to include a physical address where the service is provided regardless of the address to which it is mailed. Paying for power, cable TV or water at a physical address is much more definite proof that you actually live at that address than receiving packages at that address. If you are a renter, a copy of your lease will often work; if you have purchased, you should have some documents that show the address of the property. I'm not saying that they won't believe you if you show them a package you have received, I really do not know - I just think you should find out exactly what they will accept before you go to too much trouble to obtain any one item for this purpose.

I do think Liz & CC Female have a similar, soft leather note - but I also thought Tombeur had that note. So I was surprised when I saw the note list (well, not completely surprised because I think there's a bit of vetiver in most of Beth's leather bouquets - and only the ones with the very lightest touch are the ones I can wear). I think I remember you liking it at will call, but don't remember if you got any leather or vetiver from it.

Hopefully this is the right place to post this...

 

I have multiple bottles of both Inez and Priala. My older bottles don't really smell much at all like the new bottles that I ordered (and I've ordered them all directly from the lab). Old Inez is sweeter and warmer and the new Inez has a weird, sharp, musky, almost masculine thing going that I've never smelled in the earlier bottles. My older bottles of Priala have always smelled resinous and spicy, and the new bottle smells like it has vetiver in it. It's really dark, earthy, and smoky. The oil colors of the old vs new bottles also aren't quite the same. Were these scents reformulated at some point?

I don't recall seeing an announcement, etc. about reformulations of any of the CD scents - but there could always be something I missed out there. It seems like true reformulations have been announced in the past. Although I wasn't around for it, there's been a notation in the description for Hellfire as long as I can remember, and I could have sworn there was one for Lady MacBeth too.

I didn't keep my decant of Priala, but thought it might be worth mentioning that I'm a huge vetiver amper, and Priala smelled like it had vetiver in it when I tried it (it has been a couple of years). A number of scents with smoke notes, but not all of them, have had that effect on my skin. If there is some vetiver in Priala, I wonder if there could be a batch variation in the vetiver itself, making it stronger in comparison to the other notes in your new bottle?

My Inez is definitely warmer and richer now than it was when I first got it. There are times it seems to me that BPAL amber falls into two categories - one's golden, sweet and spicy, and the other is thinner and more cologne-like, if that makes sense? Inez seemed to fall a little more into that thin/sharp category for me at first and I wasn't even sure if I would keep it (I love amber, and my HG amber scents are stuff like The Lion and Jacob's Ladder which I'd put in the former category). Anyway, I'm kind of rambling and probably not lending much insight but despite the big difference you are seeing between the old & new Inez batches, I wonder if a little age will make a difference in the sharpness. Regardless of the reasons, it is a bit of a bummer when a new bottle of a favorite seems so unfamiliar. I hope that age will bring both of them around for you.

I think it's subjective too, and that you should wear what you love and what works with your skin chemistry. BPAL scents tend to stick a lot closer to you than commercial perfumes so I think they're much less likely to stun other people with their throw in hot weather. With resinous, spicy, &/or heavy scents, you might find that you are applying less in hot weather than in cold - although in your case, Kiraze, since it's hot all the time, there may be no difference!

And with every category of scents, there's a scale of intensity. There are some resinous, spicy, &/or autumnal scents that are much lighter than others. Witchblade is the lightest red musk scent I've tried and I really love it. Silk Road is also a summer favorite of mine when it just seems too hot for something like Snake Oil (we have really hot and humid summers where I live - days can be in the 90s and humidity can be in the 90-ish percentiles). I also have layered spicy scents like Bengal with Sudha Segara or Kumiho to lighten them up on my skin.

A lot of BPAL fans love to wear the icy winter perfumes in hot weather, so you will be in good company there. I don't have a lot of recommendations for you there because ice, snow, and mint notes are rarely compatible with my skin - and many of those are limited edition, and I don't like to send even a relative newbie tramping off to the swaps forums first thing Some GCs that have a cool feel are Absinthe, Shattered, Lightning... wish I had more recs for you.

There may have been rules about daytime/nighttime perfumes and seasonally appropriate perfumes back in the days when your shoes were supposed to match your handbag, you were supposed to wear a hat to church, never wear white before Easter or after Labor Day, etc. but I don't think too many of us observe any of those rules either. There's a thread discussing the general concept of "perfume rules" in BPAL chatter if you want to read through it or participate there as well.

Sweet-tart pink candies with delicate florals floating about - really pretty and summery. I don't find it as neon-sign sweet as Candy Phoenix, Sticky Pillowcase or some other sweet candy scents, if the candy descriptions are scaring you off. The lemon blossom and acai seem to give it a little tart note to offset the sweet notes.

And I'm not one to generally think of insects as cute (move to Georgia, you'll see what I mean), but Rosy Maple Moths are pretty darn cute, all fuzzy and pink and yellow. I wouldn't have known that if it weren't for BPAL!

I am not sure if you can successfully search for it on the forum, the search engine is funny about terms of three letters or less - it's just that it's one of my favorites so I knew exactly where to go

You'll find 51 in Wanderlust - forum reviews are here.

Beautiful dress, sophiecedar - and congrats Have you tried Gypsy Moth yet? It really is a very "white" scent to me without being too sweet and innocent.

This was absolutely beautiful in the bottle and wet, bright fruit with spices, and my skin then immediately turned it into cloying fruity spice with sugar that was on the edge of burning. I call this the caramel curse and it happens with certain sugar notes as well as caramel. Ah well - if you are free from the curse, chances are you will love this one.

I'm finding this to be one of the more unusual note combos Beth's put together for the Metamorphosis series, but I really like it! Although it's creamy and sugary, on me this coconut has a toasted edge which I think could be from the black pepper. And the angelica is super-subtle but it's giving me the faintest reminder of licorice instead of the usual stronger herbal-with-a-hint-of-licorice or fennel smell I associate with it. Overall, it's kind of like I have a summer version of Humbug - a sweet creamy foodie base iced with a little licorice. (I will mention that I get just a little licorice and lots of vanilla from Humbug, so don't go nuts if you're a licorice/anise/etc. freak and want a strong scent. I'd almost call it an "afterscent" as in "aftertaste," if that makes sense.)

Like other reviewers have mentioned, you really need to try this one because the list of notes alone just can't describe what it does - and honestly, a sniff of the bottle alone is NOTHING like this scent on the skin. This is the sleeper hit of the butterflies IMO.

I just received my order of imps, and I'm kind of wondering when I should try them. Some people are saying it's good to wait and let them settle, for how long? And what are my chances of it being completely different in the bottle? I feel like it kind of defeats the purpose of ordering a sample if it won't be the same, but I guess you get a general idea.

As far as "settling," I really just like to let things come to room temperature, that sort of thing, especially in seasons where there are temperature extremes. If I don't like something that I really expected to like, I will try it again in a couple weeks - but for me, that also takes into consideration hormonal ups and downs.

I think that your chances of a blend being completely different when you order a bottle are pretty small. There can always be subtle differences because the batch of amber, or patchouli, or carnation (on to infinity) could be a different one even though Beth will always use the same variety for that blend. So, for example, the tea rose for Marie is always a certain type from a certain supplier but because it's naturally sourced, subtle differences can occur. With the frequent swapping we do in BPAL communities, the biggest difference may be that you end up swapping for or buying an imp that's a couple years old and you love an aged blend, then you buy a new bottle fresh from the Lab and at first are shocked by the difference. Often, just a couple weeks of letting it settle makes it much more like the blend that you fell in love with, so just keep in mind if you're getting imps from the secondary market that different notes respond differently to aging. Citrus notes are notorious for losing brightness, patchouli, vanilla and resins become smoother and richer, that sort of thing.

Most BPALers find this stuff becomes part of the fun and find that true disappointments due to batch variation are rare. In cases where it seems like there's been a big batch variation, you will even see that factions seem to form - swappers in search of version 1 and version 2 I hope you will be happy with your imps!

Every reminder needs a bump now and then. And if you'd like a bit of a refresher in what's allowed and what's not:

You're free to contact each & every person who's posted stuff for swap or sale in the swaps forum - by posting there, they are tacitly giving you permission to do so. They're also indicating that these are things they want to get rid of and they have the time & inclination to communicate with other members about swaps or sales.

In contrast, you should not be contacting someone to swap or sell you an item on the basis of their negative review of it or an offhand comment they've made in the vein of "Off to the swaps pile with this bottle!" Until they list it on their swaps page, they aren't sending you those tacit signals listed above. So you are contacting someone without their permission about something they haven't said they want to swap or sell without knowing if they have the time or inclination to deal with you. That fits the definition of bad manners, and bad manners violate our guidelines. It's also a violation of swapping outside the swaps forums.

Although you might not be bothered if someone did it to you, many members have reported this happening to them and ARE bothered by it - enough that the mod team has had to make repeated announcements asking members not to do it and ultimately announcing that you can receive a warning for it. If it doesn't bother you, you don't have to report another member for contacting you - but be aware that you could be reported and warned for doing it to others. And if you are in a position where you've been suspended or banned from swaps and are using this technique to circumvent that, please be aware that it could result in a penalty from permanent banning from swaps up to and including banning from the forum.

Aureus came to mind for me - it's not identical but you could describe both as resinous yet light, with a bit of an herbal quality. Little Bird's recs are really good ones too.

I love this scent - I had trouble imagining what it would smell like from the description and it really is so unexpected. A red musk scent that somehow is light, clean and pretty instead of sultry, dark and heady really doesn't come along very often, but here it is. Unlike the reviewers who picked up a little vetiver, I get none - and I tend to smell nothing but vetiver when it's in there, and amp it like crazy, often to the exclusion of everything else in the whole bottle. Not saying there's none in here, just that it's some kind of super mellow vetiver if it is! Ultimately this is a resinous red musk blend that's turned on its ear and made into a light and airy, translucent skin scent by some sort of magical stuff that Beth put in it.