Why do scents turn to baby powder on me?!

[Lorna Brigid]

I'm glad I found this thread! I was about to make a "Those of us who cannot wear Snake Oil blends Unite!" thread.

Although I have to admit, I've not tried original Snake Oil.

BUT, I just got to try Boomslang thank to a lovely forumite. I wanted to see what all the fuss is about before dropping the $ on a bottle from the lab. Thank goodness I did. I LOOOOOOVE it in the imp and the first minute it is on: it's like spicy incensey chocolate. I can see why so many love it. However, after 1 minute it goes powdery and diaper smelling on me.

I know I cannot wear BPAL orange blossom. I've learned that lesson with Love Me, Jezebel and Vixen. They broke my heart.

I don't have the amber problems, because there are plenty of blends with amber I wear successfully.

I'm truly beginning to wonder if BPAL's vanilla hates me.

 

Does anyone else who cannot wear Snake Oil and Snake Oil blends know which note is the culprit? (I suspect we may have similar chemistries compared to those lucky people who wear them with joy). Have you found similar scents you CAN wear instead?

 

On a side note, my favorite non BPAL of all time is Angel, which I have yet to find a BPAL equivalent of. But the chocolatey scents always make me think it might be close.

[Icekitten]

When i tested Monsterbait Closet it was really strong... cooking like (not my scent) but now it's powder.... how weird is that.

[Cocoa]

I have the amber curse everything with amber goes powder on me .

I love the way the scents smell on the imp or bottle as soon as I put something with amber puff baby powder here we go.

The other day a friend of mine told me something has a strong smell like baby powder, then she smelled me and yes it was me

so sad .

[werewolfguy]

Hey all!

 

I've sampled a few dozen scents from BPAL but keep having the same problem. They smell great in the bottle/ vial but once I put them on they just smell like baby powder. This happens to me probably 90% of the time. Does anyone else have this problem? Any recommendations out there?

[het4377]

Which scents have you tried, specifically? It might be a common note that's killing the blends for you . . .

[Numanoid]

Well, I have been into BPAL since this past July and so far, thanks to being on this great forum, I have gotten to try easily 60+ scents, all general catalog ones, and none of them seem to like me. I am with you on the fact that they smell great in the vial, but once on, they seem to go funky...I wouldn't say baby powder on me, but just weird. So, seems to me, my personal favorites that seem to work are, of course, the limited edition scents. I did well with the Halloween ones and so far, I have had luck with the Yules. Normally, foody scents don't work, but BPAL's limited edition foody scents work great because they end up staying true to scent from bottle, on, and later. Hope you find something you like...have you tried other brands like Arcana or Conjure?

[AEris]

I heard this rare complaint from one other forumite many years ago. I think it could be your chemistry reacting to the carrier oil that BPAL uses. Do other people smell the baby powder too, or is it just you?

Using a scent locket is a great way to overcome the complications of your chemistry interacting with your scent. You can wear it under your shirt to get it extra warm, and the scent will waft out gorgeously!

The Trading Post has the most amazing ones:

Locketz

[werewolfguy]

@haley: I'm beginning to think that it might be the floral notes that are causing the baby powder smell??? I seem to do best with the traditionally masculine blends although I would really like to find something more on the androgynous side. My favorites that stay true to the original smell and work well with me are Darkness and Absinthe. I'm also still trying to figure out if I like Penitence and Baron Samedi if that makes any sense.Hahaha

 

 

@Numanoid: I haven't even heard of Arcana or Conjure. I'll have to check them out.

 

I still have a few imp's ears at home that I have yet to use. Hopefully those will work out. I'm really excited to try Event Horizon and 51.

[Little Bird]

There are a couple companies that I can't buy from, because most of their scents turn powdery on me, like they all have a weird base smell. With bpal, I find that scents with amber or sandalwood tend to turn baby powdery on my skin (which is unusual, because I love amber from most other companies). So, yeah, as has already been said, it might be an issue with a note or with the carrier/base that bpal uses.

[parrot_suspect]

Werewolfguy: You might want to have a look at this thread for some thoughts on why certain oils smell like baby powder on some people.

[werewolfguy]

Thanks for all the help.

[Ahania]

@haley: I'm beginning to think that it might be the floral notes that are causing the baby powder smell??? I seem to do best with the traditionally masculine blends

 

Carnation is one of the more common florals used in masculine scents, and it's a spicy-powdery scent to me.

[TheFrenchWaffle]

Are you taking any medication (birth control,ect)? They can have an effect on your body's chemistry too.

[ziggystardust13]

I have the same problem. Honey is my death note. And amber tends to turn powdery. Have you tried perversion yet? That is by far my favorite. Its masculine too. No powder!!! Just amazingness! I put it on my guy too and it smells so great.

[werewolfguy]

Yeah, I think it's my body chemistry and it's probably just going to be a process of elimination as to what I can and can't wear. I'm gonna stay away from amber, honey and sandalwood because those seem to be the main offenders with people on here who have a similar problem. Thanks again for all the helpful suggestions.

[Altaira]

Yeah, I think it's my body chemistry and it's probably just going to be a process of elimination as to what I can and can't wear. I'm gonna stay away from amber, honey and sandalwood because those seem to be the main offenders with people on here who have a similar problem. Thanks again for all the helpful suggestions.

 

For me, the notes that most often turn to powder are Honey and Black Musk. Also, Pomegranate just disappears, taking the rest of the blend with it.

[werewolfguy]

Yeah, I think it's my body chemistry and it's probably just going to be a process of elimination as to what I can and can't wear. I'm gonna stay away from amber, honey and sandalwood because those seem to be the main offenders with people on here who have a similar problem. Thanks again for all the helpful suggestions.

 

For me, the notes that most often turn to powder are Honey and Black Musk. Also, Pomegranate just disappears, taking the rest of the blend with it.

 

I have the same problem with most mints. I LOVE the smell of peppermint but it disappears on me in seconds.

[Wwindy]

Yeah, I think it's my body chemistry and it's probably just going to be a process of elimination as to what I can and can't wear. I'm gonna stay away from amber, honey and sandalwood because those seem to be the main offenders with people on here who have a similar problem. Thanks again for all the helpful suggestions.

 

For me, the notes that most often turn to powder are Honey and Black Musk. Also, Pomegranate just disappears, taking the rest of the blend with it.

 

I have the same problem with most mints. I LOVE the smell of peppermint but it disappears on me in seconds.

 

I have it with ambergris! Anything with ambergris in it fades *much* more quickly than it should...

[Invidiana]

Apple blossom often turns into the cheapest, nastiest sort of baby powder on me. While everyone else was raving about Eve v5 I was sneezing.

[Akimi Oneko]

Funny how 'baby powder' seems to be the most universally undesirable scent result of bad chemistry. I hate the smell of baby powder, it seems to be orris/iris that is usually responsible in my case. Lily of the valley kind of does it too, with added dirty nappy and pee. If I have children I'll just use unscented talc on them, I really can't stand the bp smell. Why couldn't it smell of roses or heliotrope or something nice instead? :/

[pznivy]

Yesterday I finally received my imps that I ordered.

 

I got:

 

Cheshire Cat

 

Alice

 

Thalia

 

and two free imps:

 

Velvet

 

Elf

 

 

So far I've tried on CC, Alice, and Elf and all three have turned into baby powder on my skin. I'm super nervous to try on Thalia and Velvet for fear that they'll also turn and I'll have a bunch of Imps that smell terrible on me.

 

Does anyone have any suggestions? Musk/Patchouli don't smell good on me. I'm just so disappointed...

[witchling]

the same exact thing happened to me when i first started trying bpal scents. i tried quite a few imps and almost all of them went straight to baby powder and i was so sad! i thought, maybe something is wrong with my skin and it morphs everything into baby powder oh no!! but i kept trying and then i found many that dont go baby powder at all. i really like musk/patchouli scents the best so i dont really have any suggestions other than not to give up! you will eventually find scents that you love.

and im still pretty new so maybe someone else can give you better advice

[Beckiemort]

I'd suggest retesting them once they've settled as right out of the mailbox they often smell different. Honey smells baby powder like on my skin and iirc both alice and elf are honey based.

 

ETA: I wouldn't give up - I was lucky I liked two scents from my first order of imps to purchase bottles. You do learn what types of scents your skin likes and then sometimes you'll get a frimp that blows your mind because you don't think it should work on you but it totally does.

 

Velvet was a powdery chocolate on me personally, but it smells differently on my best friend so it really is just a matter of trying some.

Edited October 23, 2012 by Beckie

[whataboutprom]

I tried lots and lots of imps over several years before I figured out what works for me. The scents I was drawn to initially ended up being terrible on me. Some people have noses and skin that seem to love just about everything. I'm on the opposite end of the spectrum where a majority of scents turn bad on my skin, so it took a great deal of time for me to find wearable perfumes.

 

Another part of finding oils that work for me was training my nose. If you take time testing each imp and take notes of your impressions, you can train yourself to pick out more and more notes. Once you can do this, fewer things will seem to have that generic baby powder smell, which can be kind of a default when your brain doesn't know what else to compare a perfume to.

 

My recommendation would be to buy some more imps with different notes and to take your time with each one. Once you have eliminated oils that you truly dislike, you can swap them on this forum for new imps. This way you can continue to try more and more perfumes until you figure out what works for you. And try all frimps on your skin! The scent in the bottle can be quite misleading.

[sunshinedaisybliss]

Aww pznivy - how disappointing for you!

 

Hmm.. let's see - it's probably a particular note (or note combo) in those blends that's causing the baby powder effect. So... here's the ones you've tried so far...

 

Cheshire Cat - Grapefruit, red currant, dark musk, Roman chamomile, delphinium, and lavender.

Alice - Milk and honey with rose, carnation and bergamot.

Elf - Pale golden musk, honeycomb, amber, parma violet, hawthorne bark, aspen leaf, forest lily, life everlasting, white moss, and a hint of wild berry.

 

So the first thing I suspect is honey - I have trouble with honey myself.. it pretty much turns into a sickly/cloying powdery mess on me - not exactly baby powder, more like baby powder mixed with vomit. A charming description, I know - but that's really how honey is for me most of the time. I think you might need to do some experimenting with different musks - I find that black musk in particular goes quite powdery on me, but there's so many musk variants in the different BPALs that it can be hard to figure out the friends from the foes. Another note that's notorious for going powdery is amber - and there it is in Elf (along with musk and honey!) - I actually like the powderiness of amber.. on me, it goes beautifully soft and dusky rather than icky baby powder-y, but I know some people find amber = baby powder every time. I'm thinking that with Cheshire Cat it could be the musk + chamomile combo that's causing problems for you (and maybe the lavender, but probably not), with Alice I would blame the honey, and Elf would be the triple whammy musk/honey/amber combo. I could be wrong, of course, but those might be things to keep a close eye/nose on if they're in other BPALs you're testing.

 

Then there's the others that you have...

 

Thalia - Plumeria, pear and white champagne.

Velvet - sandalwood warmed by cocoa vanilla and a veil of deep myrrh

 

Thalia *should* behave itself - none of those notes are known offenders with the baby powder problem - I can't do champagne at all, it stinks something awful on me, but for other lucky folks it's sparkling and pretty - so hopefully it will work nicely for you. The plum and pear combo in Thalia is lovely. But ah... Velvet - if amber = baby powder, then sandalwood will almost certainly be the same for you. Amber tends to be a little softer/sweeter than sandalwood, but both have that dusky/powdery feel to them - and Velvet is definitely a 'dusky' one. So maybe give it a try anyway, just to see how it goes.. if you get the Powder of Doom, then it's a pretty safe bet that both amber and sandalwood are going to be problem notes for you.

 

Having said all that, skin chemistry is a funny thing - a BPAL that goes straight to baby powder on you one day might be all kinds of awesome on a different day - so don't give up.. just put those imps aside for now, and try them next week just to see how they go. Also, try your imps on different areas - if you tested them on your inner arm/wrist and got the baby powder - try a different spot on your arm, or your chest etc - just to see if that makes any difference. But don't write off 'problem' notes completely - it really does depend a lot on what they're accompanied by, and also how dominant they are in a blend. And don't give up - as others have said, it might take a bit of trial and error but you *will* find some winners eventually. I would recommend checking out the 'For Sale' section here on the forum - there's loads of imps for sale, at good prices, so you can grab a whole bunch of things and experiment - that really is the best way to do it.. the more you try, the more you learn about what works for you