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BPAL Madness!
jaeyne

Recommend the most herbal scents, please

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Do ya'll have any herbal scent BPAL recommendations? I've seen that there is Harvest Moon '05. Looking for Bergamot (sp) notes. Thanks

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Hmm, right away I thought of 3 from the Salon.....Orpheus, Garden Path With Chickens, and Les Anges Dechus all smell very 'herbal' to me. Antony is another herbal scent, and you could even get a sample of that one (the Salon samples come in sets only).

 

Now when you talk about specific herbs, it might be easier to just do a search on the Lab's website. For example, a search for bergamot turned up no less than 26 results! Lavender would probably bring a lot of results, pennyroyal at least a couple (Mad Hatter is a good one, smells kind of minty with lavender and musk), ginger is in quite a few (Shub-Niggurath is a must try for ginger fans if you ask me) and the list goes on....

 

Hope that helps a little, I know the lab's catalogue can seem daunting at first!

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Do ya'll have any herbal scent BPAL recommendations? I've seen that there is Harvest Moon '05. Looking for Bergamot (sp) notes. Thanks

Are you looking for only bergamot or also for other herbs? I just wanted to be clear on what you are wanting because bergamot is a citrus and not an herb. Here are some blends that contain bergamot. You can go to the lab site and search for the notes that you are looking for. :P

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Thank you!!! :D ! I was wondering how to do that. I always associate begamot with herbs, wrongly, I guess, because I used to grow orange bergamot mint :P Thanks for teaching me something new

:-)

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Actually (not to be pedantic or anything), bergamot is both a citrus AND an herb. :P

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bergamot

 

Bergamot orange, which goes in Earl Grey, is citrus. The Latin name is Citrus aurantium subsp. bergamia

 

Bergamot is also an herb with the Latin name Monarda didyma.

 

When I think herbal scents, I always think Wolfsbane, though it may be more musky than you want.

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I will have to put on my thinking hat to come up with some more herbal blends for you (and right now I'm not in good thinking mode :P ) - I was just going to mention that Harvest Moon '05 doesn't strike me as herbal at all. It has more of a spicy autumn feel to my nose, almost to the point of foodiness. I think of herbal blends as more "green" in nature. I just thought I would mention that - you can read the reviews for it to see what the consensus was and decide if you wanna take a chance on tracking down a bottle of it.

 

Probably the most straight-up herbal I've smelled is Ides of March, both the '05 and '07 versions. It's gorgeous if you love herbal scents. There are a number of blends with rosemary which really jumps out on my skin and makes the entire blend into a green herbal garden - check the search engine there. :D

 

ETA: CaptainEcchi, I never knew there was an herb called bergamot and always thought of it in terms of the citrus plant. Thanks so much for passing on that information!

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Actually (not to be pedantic or anything), bergamot is both a citrus AND an herb. :D

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bergamot

 

Bergamot orange, which goes in Earl Grey, is citrus. The Latin name is Citrus aurantium subsp. bergamia

 

Bergamot is also an herb with the Latin name Monarda didyma.

 

When I think herbal scents, I always think Wolfsbane, though it may be more musky than you want.

Thank you for that! :D So, perhaps jaybird is looking for the more herbal as opposed to the citrus. So, I went digging through my imps and pulled out Arcana *Frankincense, rosemary, lavender, neroli, and lemon verbena* and Nephilim *Frankincense and hyssop in union with earthy fig, defiled by black patchouli and vetiver, with a chaotic infusion of lavender, cardamom, tamarind, rosemary, oakmoss and cypress* Both were herbal in different ways. Arcana, on me, was strong on the lemon verbena and I like it so much that I might have to order a bottle! :P

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Singing Moon is very herbal on me with lots of moss too. Like a witch's cottage in the woods by the sea!

Edited by sionnac

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Calliope had a lot of herbiness on me, especially thyme/rosemary. Most of the herb blends either go sweet (like nearly all BPAL, sigh) or "generic men's collogne" on me. But Calliope stays pretty sharply herbal. Wolfsbane also was a nice herbally blend on me that stayed true, but its not only herbal, there are some other elements to it.

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a few different types for you to choose from!

 

Green and fresh-type herbal: The Apothecary - Tea leaf with three mosses, green grass, a medley of herbal notes, and a drop of ginger and fig. (category Illyria)

 

Spicy herbal: Silk Road - A panoply of cultural treasures, spanning the herbs, flowers, oils and balms of the Romans, the Byzantines, the Mediterranean, the Levant, Northern China, Eastern Europe, Iran, the Bulgar-Kypchak, Mesopotamia, the Crimean Peninsula, Anatolia, Antioch, and North Africa. (category Wanderlust)

 

Autumn herbal: Verdandi - Deep herbs and apple with black amber. (category Excolo: The Norns)

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I really enjoy Anubis for a more golden, rich herbal scent and Ochosi for a lighter, more creamy one. Also, as far as mint scents go, Cathode is really quite nice, too :P

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Lear is INCREDIBLY herbal on me. And now, I love herbal notes in my perfume, but Lear was unwearably herbal to me, so you might want to check that out.

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Virgo 2007 is an extremely green, gardeny, herbal scent - I'd label it the herbal blend for people who think they don't like herbal blends, although those people probably won't ever read this thread :P It is unique among BPAL blends, I can't think of anything I've tried that it is similar to.

 

The notes are fennel, valerian, maidenhair fern, carrot seed, honeysuckle, and myrtle. They're extremely well balanced, the notes that made me pause don't stand out at all (like the fennel and valerian). And it doesn't seem to be impossible to find like some LEs, I see it in the swaps forum fairly often.

 

Black Hellebore is another scent that I found to be very green and herbal without smelling like cooking herbs - herbal in a plant-y, green stems kind of way instead.

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ivyandpeony beat me to it! Virgo '07 is the most garden-herbal to me. I almost put it on today and then opted for The Passionate Shepherd because I wanted something more in that vein.

 

I haven't really found my herbal dream scent yet, oddly enough -- I'd like something that was straight-up sage and basil. I do find that anything containing sage as a note makes me pretty happy though.

 

Beneath the clear, light woody notes, the herbs in Yggdrasil do come out nicely though. And for bergamot, I want to say that the Apothecary, Dormouse and Severin seem to ring some bergamot/earl grey bells for me.

 

Ditto on Lear being kinda herbal too, if you don't mind cedar (I love cedar, so Lear is one of my faves!).

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Even though it's pretty hard to find, Corazon is worth mentioning. It has sage and lavender, but it's the softest, warmest herbal scent I think I've tried. The red musk and fruit give it a glowing sunset quality, and the herbs just blend in the most gentle way, not sharp or anything.

 

At least....that's how it behaves on my skin. And I got some so it's not impossible to find!

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If you're up for hanging round the sales threads then I recommend Allison Gross (my favourite herbal scent - it's green herbs with a bit of woods and a tiny touch of sweetness). The recently discontinued Melpomene is a bit drier and also worth hunting down. The current limited edition Valentine of Rome has something in it that goes a bit too herbal for me, but may be your thing. If you can find Ides of March anywhere then you should definitely give it a go - I get a distinct bergamot note in there (NB it came out twice and I got the earlier version - I haven't tried the later one).

 

If you're looking for GC scents then Pontarlier is a fresh green herby scent like greenery just after a spring rainstorm, and The Apothecary is herbs with tea and fig - quite a sweet scent but very pretty.

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I had forgotten about Alison Gross - it really reminds me of the original Herbal Essence shampoo from the early 70s. I haven't worn it often, but the few times I've thought about parting with it I have tried it on again and just have to keep it.

 

I wish that sage didn't amp and turn into a crazy, burnt rubber smell on my skin. Out of the more than 30 BPAL scents that contain it, I can count the ones that work for me on one hand and have fingers left over: Croquet, Noche Buena, and Tenotchtitlan. I need to give Green Phoenix another whirl before I decide if it's hit or miss, but it's the only possible addition to the club - I've tried pretty much everything else that lists sage as a note and it has not been very pretty!

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Somnus and Oneroi are incredibly herbal. Of course, they are recommended as night time oils. should work as daytime though, if you are sure you'll never need them to help you sleep!

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Singing Moon is very herbal on me, a kind of warm, autumny, grassy scent. Yggdrasil is also very lovely, as is Tintagel.

 

Singing Moon: Moonlight over grave grass, meadowsweet, marsh hellebore, rock sea-lavender, Irish Lady's-tresses, melancholy thistle, and wood bitter-vetch, with the scent of autumn fires in the distance, sprayed by wind howling over the Atlantic.

 

Yggdrasil: The World Ash. Nine woods, nine leaves, and three herbs each for Ratatosk and Vidofnir, with three final herbs to placate Nidhogg.

 

Tintagel: Spicy mulled wine flowing through the musky heat, warm leather and bright clash of armor, the damp branches of Cornish hawthorn, blackthorn, juniper, English elm and bayberry, and the magical tingle of dragon's blood resin.

 

 

Are Leanan Sidhe, Bewitched, Mag Mell, Odin, or Ochosi nice as herbal scents? As you can see from the above, I like herbal scents that aren't just sharp green scents, I don't mind some floral or berry or aquatic notes with them.

 

Bewitched: Deep, luscious green and berry scents that evoke images of woodland witchcraft and the raw power of nature: blackberry, sage, green tea, wild berries and dark musk.

 

Leanan Sidhe: Her perfume is a crush of Irish herbs and flowers, Gaelic mists, and nighttime dew.

 

Mag Mell: The warmth of amber, the puissance of white ginger and the clarity of verbena, with fresh green grass, lush sage and cleansing droplets of summer rain.

 

Odin: His scent is dry elm bark, amaranth, warrior’s musk, and Odin’s Nine Herbs of Power.

 

Ochosi: His ofrenda is the soft shea he shares with Obatala, forest herbs, and sprucewood arrow shafts.

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Leanan Sidhe was soft floral and herbs on me - you should definitely give that one a go. And if you like it, try Aeval, which is floral and sage.

 

Bewitched was pretty much all berries though - if you want a blackberry scent anyway, go for it!

 

I haven't tried the other scents on your list - but I'm sure you'll soon hear from someone who has :P

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