Layering over Tiger Balm

[KissleMeNow]

Hello! I am a n00b dipping my toes in the waters of BPAL (or oils, as it were? ), and I was hoping for some advice. Due to some chronic joint problems I wear Tiger Balm Red almost every day, so my person/sheets/clothes all eventually start to carry a whiff of it. For anyone who doesn't know Tiger Balm, the Red stuff has camphor, menthol, clove, cassia, cajuput, and "dementholised mint oil", whatever that is. I find that I smell the camphor, cassia, and clove most of all, although my nose isn't as sensitive as some people's. Anyway, I was wondering if anyone could recommend something which would layer well with existing camphor/spice notes? I like some of the "spicy" BPAL scents, but feel that, say, lingering Tiger Balm+Bengal would be overwhelming. So I suppose what I'm looking for is something that would accomplish a sweet/other note over existing spice/camphor?

 

I would love to hear suggestions, and please let me know if you need any more information.

[portalkat]

The one jar that I have by the bed right now is one of the white ones, so I can only go by that, since I'm low on the red. I kind of like the way that vanilla and berry scents layer with it. I like vanilla with anything and the berry scents go well with the

clove. I noticed this layering combo one night when I had a cough and put some on my chest after I had slathered myself in Dark Kiss from B&BW. I thought that it smelled really pretty.

 

That said, I'm thinking in terms of Red Lace, Bordello, Lady Macbeth, Kabuki - you get the picture.

Edited January 5, 2012 by portalkat

[Teaotter]

Some of it will depend on your tastes and body chemistry, but I've done it myself a few times, so here's what worked on me:

 

Elf - added a lot of sweetness and some freshness

Belladonna - This went to spicy and medicinal, which I love but may not be your cup of tea

Snake Oil - honestly, it mostly smelled like Snake Oil with just a hint of the camphor in the background

 

I would assume O might work, too, but it never worked on me by itself so I didn't try it.

 

I also tried Chimera (which usually goes with everything for me) and Sugar Skull (for sweetness), but those went really weird with the leftover Tiger Balm smell and really didn't work.

 

Good luck!

[aniemel]

For the red Tiger Balm I would go with a woody patchouli with a slight spicy, sweetness. Like Sin, La Mano del Destio and #occupywallstreet, there are so many others but I can't think of them right now. For some reason(because the red is so heavy) I think anything too sweet would make it cloying and would probably go better with the white TB, that could just be me though it really does depend on what you like. I would recommend getting a bunch of different imps/decants and playing with them, sometimes it's hard to know what work until you try it. Good luck!

[ivyandpeony]

I would second Tea Otter's suggestion of Snake OIl. I've had people tell me that Snake Oil reminded them of Carmex lip balm, and Tiger Balm reminds me of Carmex. I find Snake Oil to have more sweet/musky/woodsy elements than spicy ones, at least when you're thinking of cinnamon, cassia, ginger, clove type spices, so I don't think it would be overwhelmingly spicy.

 

And I agree w/ mel85 that Sin might work well w/ the smell of Tiger Balm. The notes listed are amber, sandalwood, black patchouli and cinnamon, but at least on me, there's barely a touch of cinnamon. It's much more resiny and woody to me.

 

I'll be sure to post again if anything else pops up in my mind!

[SultryWolf]

This is a very interesting thread!

 

I'm wondering if something with dragon's blood would be nice, kind of like a Chinese shop?

[KissleMeNow]

I would just like to say thank you to everyone who's replied, I'm writing your suggestions down.