Resurrected Version - 2008
Sensual, sibilant, sexual and hypnotic: Arabian musk and exotic spices slinking through Egyptian amber, enticing vanilla, and a serpentine blend of black plum, labdanum, ambrette, benzoin and black coconut.
On, wet, this smells exactly like (aged!) Snake Oil on me. Aged Snake Oil lacks the note that goes extremely medicincal on me. I really like Snake Oil - but for the patchouli. It's much too dark for me.
So, Snake Charmer smells exactly like that, minus that medicinical note. Good so far, but nothing I'd wear because if I did, I'd wear Snake Oil, ね?
Drying, the scent gets lighter. The vanilla comes through now. There is something powdery lurking in the background (amber I guess), but I start to congratulate myself for buying this.
Now, a couple of more minutes into the drying process, the vanilla is dominant. Now, what does this remind me of? Ack! I guess I still get the Snake Oil vibe, but... different. Hm! I start thinking this is really like I hoped it would be: Snake Oil, without the dark patchouli vibe. There is hope! It smells so eerily familiar but I can't convince my brain that this is the Snake Oil I'm smelling. My brain tells me that it reminds me of something else but I just can't come up with WHAT. It's vanilla, dark vanilla now. The darkness comes from something I'd say is the patchouli but without the cloying attribute to it. It's just dark, exactly right. Hah!
Need
GC:
Bengal
A sultry and unruly blend that emulates the ambient scent of the markets in ancient Bengal: skin musk with honey, peppers, clove, cinnamon bark and ginger.
Sounds good no? I need something spicy without being heady.
Baghdad
Amber, saffron and bergamot with mandarin, nutmeg, Bulgar rose, musk and sandalwood.
Huh, amber AND musk....
Embalming Fluid
A light, pure scent: white musk, green tea, aloe and lemon.
I think I might hate it. But as sooo many people love it, I should at least try it. The lemon is a real dealbreaker, though.
Harlot
Based on a Romany incense blend reputed to induce sexual dreams: Somalian rose, Moroccan rose and Bulgar rose with a sultry dribble of cinnamon. Roses and cinnamon? I'm almost sold just by that.
Hollywood Babylon
The essence of innocence shattered: glittering Egyptian amber and heliotrope, infused with the sweetness of strawberry and vanilla - dragged into debauch by lusty red musk and a dribble of black cherry.
Supposed to be sexy as well. Strawberry, vanilla? Interesting. I can imagine this to work great but it highly depends on the strawberry used. Also - it has red musk. Hum. Undecided.
Jack
The scent of warm, glowing jack o'lanterns on a warm autumn night: true Halloween pumpkin, spiced with nutmeg, glowing peach and murky clove. New Formulation.
Sounds good.
Lyonesse
Golden vanilla and gilded musk, stargazer lily, white sandalwood, grey amber, elemi, orris root, ambergris and sea moss. I love the thought of this, I'm a sucker for everything Arthurian. Is described as O without the honey. Vanilla and amber. Hm! Amber can turn into powdery mess on me.
March Hare
A twisted teatime tart: apricot and sweet clove. Apricot clove and cinammon sounds like a hit. Doesn't seem to have a lot of throw, while other people say it's strong? I loved every Mad Tea Party scent so far.
Morocco
The intoxicating perfume of exotic incenses wafting on warm desert breezes. Arabian spices wind through a blend of warm musk, carnation, red sandalwood and cassia. Supposed to have a lot of throw and similar to Scherezade.
Mouse's Long and Sad Tale
Vanilla, two ambers, sweet pea and white sandalwood. everyone seems to love it. I'm scared by the sweet pea though, and again, amber.
No. 93 Engine
Balm of Gilead, benzoin, frankincense, balsam of peru, beeswax, saffron, galbanum, calamus, hyssop, mastic, lemon balm, and white sage. beeswax! I loooove how beeswax smells.
Obatala
Obatala’s ofrenda is soft, white and pure: milk, coconut meat, shea butter and cool, refreshing water.
Regan
A deceptively sweet orchid vanille with a faint trace of stephanotis.
Sounds a bit one-dimensional if you ask me.
SHUB-NIGGURATH
Iä! Shub-Niggurath! The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young, the All-Mother and wife of the Not-to-Be-Named-One. The lust incense of a corrupted Astarte. A blend of ritual herbs and dark resins, shot through with three gingers and aphrodisiacal spices.
everybody loves it, goodness knows why, has been compared to Red Hots
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.
Sudha Segara
Named after the primordial ocean of milk where Lord Vishnu reclines upon the thousand-headed Naga. Sweet milk and warm, healing ginger with a touch of golden honey and our blend of Ambrosia. Supposedly calming and soothing. Just the thing that I'm going to need this winter for sure. Doesn't seem to have a lot of throw or staying power, meh.
Velvet
Envelop yourself in the soft, sensual embrace of gentle sandalwood warmed by cocoa vanilla and a veil of deep myrrh. everybody loves it – and I love the cocoa in Tezcatlopica or how you write it.
Water of Notre Dame
Brings peace to the spirit, a sense of calm and fulfillment, and attracts the aid of beneficial spirits.
Limited Editions:
Love's Philosophy
Vanilla, saffron, and cream. sounds good but is supposedly boring
Snake Charmer
Sensual, sibilant, sexual and hypnotic: Arabian musk and exotic spices slinking through Egyptian amber, enticing vanilla, and a serpentine blend of black plum, labdanum, ambrette, benzoin and black coconut.
Three Witches
If it gets ever back
10/1 - Parlement of Foules
10/2 - Psyche; Gladdener of all Hearts, Lilith Victoria, Bon Vivant - test drive
10/3 - random smell I never tried before - The Deep Ones, Night-Gaunt, The Phantom Wooer, Tezcatlipoca - test drive
10/4 - Viola, Scherezade
10/5 - random smell I never tried before - Hi'iaka, Athens
10/6 - Kajuraho
10/7 - White Rabbit
10/8 - exam day - Lilith Victoria to the party in the evening
10/9 - Antique Lace
10/10 - Samhain 07
10/11 - Kurukulla, Magus
10/13 - random smell I never tried before
10/14 -
10/15 -
10/16 -
10/17 -
10/18 -
10/19 -
10/20 -
10/21 -
10/22 -
10/23 - departure
available BPAL:
1 Alice
2 Antique Lace
3 Athens*
4 Black Cat*
5 Bon Vivant*
6 Dana O'Shee
7 Dragon Moon
8 Dragon's Milk
9 Enraged Bunny Musk
10 Fae
11 Gladdener of all Hearts
12 Hearth*
13 Hi'iaka*
14 Inez
15 Kajuraho
16 Kurukulla*
17 Lilith
18 Lilith Victoria
19 Magus*
20 Maltese Cross
21 Marianne
22 Night-Gaunt*
23 Parlement of Foules
24 Persephone
25 Psyche
26 Samhain
27 Scherezade
28 Snake Oil
29 Snow White
30 Tezcatlipoca*
31 The Deep Ones*
32 The Phantom Wooer*
33 Viola
34 White Rabbit
(* scent I never tried before)
I got a CnS last Saturday (9/20, unexpectedly early even!) which said my stuff was going to be sent out on Monday 9/22. I know that 5 days might not be enough for the package to arrive but the USPS status still says "Shipment accepted" so I worry if my leettle package is still laying around in Hollywood. I mean, it's nice in Hollywood I'm sure of that but... can I please get my baby scents?
I am positively sure that I am going to love them so much that I will never use them out of fear of running out of them. So I figure I should get backups, but since no one knows when the update is going to come down, it could be ANY DAY. I'm a bit anxious... but I'm still sane enough that I'm not going to order backups for something I haven't even tried yet.
So, let's see what the mail-woman brings today.
That explains it...
Later that same day:
No mail for me at all!
And one day later, 9/27:
Still no mail for us. Or rather: as I was typing this, the mail-woman came. At least that because yesterday we received no mail at all. Who needs to receive mail everyday anyway?
Anyway - no mail for me. NOTHING. Three packages on hold and none comes in my greedy little fingers. I don't want to get them all at once, I want to get them one after the other. NOW. Gah.
9/30:
GAH. GIMME MY BPAL ORDER. NAO!
The generous Medvssa sent me a couple of imps and they arrived today. I HAVE TO TRY THEM ALL.
I started with Brisingamen because this was the scent I looked forward to the most. In the bottle it smells beautifully golden sweet, just so great.
On my skin, though, it morphs into a really dry, perfumey powderey scent, and after it has dried - it's GONE! I mean, GONE. No! I know that my skin is prone to eat scents but that's really extreme.
Samhain 07 - in the imp, it smells GREAT. My nose only tells me yay or nay, nothing more distinct, though. Wet on the skin it's sweet pine. Pine with apples. Very fresh and very green. More apples than pine. Oy I love the apples!
Now as it is slowly drying, the apples fade and something biting, sharp, comes out.
It's gone now again. Again, all I can smell is apples. Sweet apples. Oy. Yum!
Seance - ugh wow that smells really... dusty. Interesting, I didn't know that a perfume could do that. I really don't want to smell like that but that's really interesting.
Rose Red 07 - that smells EXACTLY like the smell you get when entering a florist. This greenish smell of cut flowers. Exactly like that. Now I understand what the people mean when they say Rose Red smells like a "freshly cut rose". Emphasizing "freshly cut" and not "rose" here - because I don't get much rose, just a very faint hint of it. It's almost too sharp.
Good throw.
Two, Five, Seven That smells almost like The Unicorn to me. Very fresh and green. The rose comes out as soon as it starts to dry. The green freshness is still in the background.
Has almost no throw though, and starts to fade now.
Parlement of Foules 08 - It IS Rose and soft resins.I can smell exactly that although if I wouldn't know that there is rose in it I couldn't tell. Smells nice and sweet. If that is what white rose smells like, then I'm in love!
It also has enough throw that I don't have to sniff only my wrist.
Whip - whoa! That reminds me of... something. It smells... manly. Like some men's shower gel. I'm guessing this is the leather? It smells really nice - I don't get any roses. It's not me, though. I can see this working nicely on a handsome guy.
Western Diamondback - wow that is a thick oil! Sniffing the imp, I can immediately pick up the medicinal note Snake Oil had on me before it was aged. Dark, sweet, spicy vanilla, NO, Marzipan hits me after I apply it to the skin. MARZIPAN. Whoa! That smells nice. I can almost imagine someone confusing bottles and not filling Western Diamondback ("Snake Oil with leather, tonka bean, red sandalwood, and sage") in there because it doesn't smell like the description at all. I get sweet vanilla marzipan almonds. I guess it's the tonka? Oh if I could just compare to Dana O'Shee - because this smells like my memory of Dana O'Shee is.
Ah now the medicinical note comes through. Sigh. Ah, and there is the leather.
The order:
1. Katrina van Tassel
2. Fearful Pleasure or Samhain
3. Maybe a Snake? Cottonmouth? Western Diamondback? Asp Viper? Snake Oil?
4. Inez or Marianne?
Yules:
5. Snow White
Rose Red if I like it
I'll have to see if I like Brisingamen. I really have to restrain myself concerning Lyonesse - buying a GC unsniffed is stupid.
I pondered Snake Oil but since I'm going to get Lilith Victoria, which basically is a Snake Oil sibling, I don't think I need to.
Uh. That's not much I want...? What's wrong?
Re: Fearful Pleasure vs. Samhain
I lean strongly to Fearful Pleasure because of ivyandpeony's advice, but I'll see how I like last year's Samhain first.
Oh okay since I love Samhain... maybe I just get both?
Cottonmouth vs. Western Diamondback vs. Asp Viper
Cottonmouth seems similar to Antique Lace and has Linden, which I adore (-> The Unicorn). The ever so generous Medvssa is going to gift me a decant of Western Diamondback, so we'll see.
Asp Viper has Almond and is supposed to be a child of Dana O'Shee+Queen of Sheba+Snake Oil. If that isn't enough to want it? I wonder, though - is Asp Viper very similar to Wester Diamondback then? I don't need a Dana O'Shee sibling. And I don't need a Antique Lace sibling either.
Cottonmouth
Snake Oil with linden blossom, calla lily, passion flower, and narcissus.
Asp Viper
Snake Oil with red mandarin, myrrh, and almond.
All the Snakes that tempt me seem too similar to something one way or the other. Australian Copperhead has apples and cloves and stuff but I'm sure it'll be too similar to Fearful Pleasure to warrant buying.
After all, I want Snake Oil minus the Patchouli and not something else.
Rose Red vs. Day of the Skulls
The generous Medvssa is sending me imps of Rose Red and Parlement of Foules. Parlement of Foules apparently smells similar to Day of the Skulls so if I fall in love with it ...
Of course one could question oneself why I need a FOURTH rose scent when I have Alice, Persephone and Katrina? I guess the answer this time actually is: I don't and I won't.
Well yes of course BPAL are amazing so that is reason enough.
But the reason why I started my addiction again is - of course - the hottest, cutest, smartest guy on earth.
I believe in the power of scents. We all know how strong a memory of a scent can be, and I want to tie this relationship to my boy closely to a scent. I need a signature scent. Something he will associate with me and whenever he smells it will make him think of me (okay there is no relationship - YET! *knocks on wood*).
So, without knowing what he likes, what am I to chose?
I think it has to be a GC scent, because if I'm ever going to run out of the scent... that'd be dreadful.
I'd love to make Snow White my signature scent (it's SO ME) maybe I'm going to make an exception for her, depending on if she turns up this Yule again or not. My bottle of 2005 is still almost full but I was very reluctant to use it, I guess if I used it daily that would look differently...
Bunny Musk and Dragon Moon are out, as are the LEs that are on the way to me.
I can choose from:
Dragon's Milk, Antique Lace, Alice, White Rabbit, Persephone and Dana O'Shee, and maybe Snow White.
I wore Snow White on our first date, but he didn't say anything to it and I don't know how much of it he got to smell. It does have good throw on me, but still. Still, that's a point for Snow White.
Dragon's Milk is the scent my ex-ex-bf chose for me, so that's out. In addition to that, Dragon's Milk stains everything bright red so it's not easy to handle.
Antique Lace is nice. But it is also boring. It is a comfort scent and the scent I use whenever I don't really know what to choose. I think Antique Lace is the only scent that ever got me an unsolicited compliment (from a male), but I MIGHT confuse it with Snow White, here. Also, additionally Antique Lace is never described as being sexy. Hmmm. A maybe here.
Alice - Alice, oh I love her. At the moment, it's the only scent I need. However, the imp I have is an aged one and I think the fresh Alice smells a bit differently. I also don't quite know how Alice works in the summer, because it is a really warm, snuggly scent. But then - it's roses, so maybe it works in the summer as well. And, again this is not a scent described as sexy. But - I think the scent is very, very me. Another posivte aspect is that if Katrina van Tassel is as beautiful as I hope it will be, and if it is as similar to Alice as I think it will be, I can use Katrina if I want something different and still stay in my scent range.
White Rabbit - a very beautiful scent as well. It is similar enough to Alice that I can say that I'm going to choose Alice over the Rabbit. The Rabbit isn't feminine enough.
Persephone - hum. I really like her but she is so fruity and fresh and thus best suited to Spring and Summer and not Autumn and Winter. Persephone is described as really sexy, though. Still - I don't think I want to wear her everyday, at least not in Spring and Autumn.
Dana O'Shee... Hmm. A very nice scent. But I remember it to be 100% Marzipan. And that's a bit too much for everyday wear.
Dragon's Milk, Antique Lace, Alice, White Rabbit, Persephone and Dana O'Shee, Snow White.
We haven't talked about scents that are on my "I need to try them" list... because, yeah if I start that I'll get overwhelmed. I'm very partial to Alice at the moment so that might sway my judgment. Now it pays that I'm staying so close in one scent family - let's say I make Alice my signature scent, then I smell like sweet creamy roses. Now, if I wear Persephone, that's a different rose but still a rose. If I wear White Rabbit, I smell like sweet and cream... and so on. So I smell similar, regardless of what I wear. Yeah.
Oh and of course my lone imp of Love Me will get put to good use as well.
I can't find an area where I can type my scent personality... so it goes in here, as does everything else.
I know people who know me probably won't describe me the way I am going to describe me now. I have a very different outward appearance from the way I really am. People who know my "online personality" will recognize what I'm going to write here much more easily as this is where I show my "true face".
If I could choose who to be, I'd be a wood fairy-elf with long, wild flowing hair hopping from flower to flower, and then falling asleep on the grass looking into the stary sky and sending a smile to the full silver moon, while pondering deep and important questions.
Thus I like the feminine, even girly scents, sweet, light, playful. I like comforting, close-hugging scents.
My deepest love is Alice, I absolutely love carnation, and its creamy sweetness mixed with a bit of rose is just heaven for me.
I also adore White Rabbit - I really like the scent of clean linen, the sweetness, tea...
I like Antique Lace, although I feel it is a bit "boring". I adore Snow White.
I know I loved Dana O'Shee but since my last meet with it was years ago, I won't say anything finite until I receive my bottle.
I really like roses - my mother always grew roses in our garden and they smelled sooo good. Same goes for lilac. And lavender. Good memories.
I don't like florals too much but that can be a phase - maybe in a couple of months, I come back to liking florals again.
What I really don't like is lemon or anything citrussy (maybe that's why I never ordered White Rabbit before - I can vaguely remember it has a citrussy note that is completely gone in my aged imp) - fresh is good, but not citrussy. I also don't like overly sweet things or foody scents. I mean, I really like to smell them but I don't want to smell LIKE them.
My skin does strange things to musk and amps it quite a lot, and in fresh Snake Oil there is a note that becomes extremely medicinical to me (in Queen of Sheba is the same). That note vanishes with aging, fortunately.
My skin is quite dry so many scents don't have much staying power or throw on me. Dragon's Blood is good, as is musk (see above). Problem with Dragon's Blood is the staining...
Honey - uh, oh. I just noticed with dread that my skin obviously can't do the Lab's honey note as well. Just today when reading through reviews of some honey scent I thought "hey - I'm lucky that I can do the honey!". But - I can't. It's why I hate Eden and Eve, it turns bitter and disgusting on me. Ugh. I have like a bazillion scents with honey coming right now?
What my collection still needs is a dirt scent (because I love the smell of wet earth so much) - not for wearing, just for sniffing - and a bedtime scent. Somnus is a candidate for that - rose is so soothing...
I placed my order on Saturday (9/6):
The Gladdener of Hearts
Lilith Victoria
Persephone
Alice
Dana O'Shee
White Rabbit
Can't wait until it arrives!
But of course I noticed that I HAVE to place a second order to get Katrina van Tassel. I HAVE to. It's a LE! And because I found my spreadsheet again, I notice how many scents I need to get too. Katrina of course needs someone to accompany her. Maybe a bottle of Snake Oil to age? 2 years ago I wrote in my spreadsheet how much I freaking love Scherezade. I can't find my imp anymore, though. I don't know if I should buy a bottle based on something I wrote two years ago? According to that spreadsheet I didn't care for Persephone either but wrote "rose. I don't do rose". Eh. Okay...?
Hah one hour into the forum and here I am already contemplating a BIG order.
I have to say that none of my bottles got really empty during that year and ALL my imps have aged beautifully.
I have to get the two scents the Lab made for Ted's+Beth's baby - they just sound too wonderful not to get them. Sweet, powdery baby scents are right my thing. I hated Snake Oil because it turned into something awful on me, but my aged Imp smells beautiful.
Then Alice, White Rabbit and Dana O'Shee tell me to finally buy them too. Persephone wants to come along as well.
Am I stupid - 6 bottles? That would double my stash
Let's see and compare notes:
The ones I have already:
Snow White
A chilly, bright perfume: flurries of virgin snow, crisp winter wind and the faintest breath of night-blooming flowers.
Dragon Moon
dragon's blood resin, tea leaf, bamboo reed, sandalwood and cherry blossom.
Antique Lace
A soft, wistful blend of dry flowers, aged linens, and the faint breath of long-faded perfumes.
Dragon's Milk
Dragon's blood resin and honeyed vanilla.
Enraged Bunny Musk
Soft cotton blossom, white musk, baby's breath, clover and pale powder notes.
Hearth
This is the scent of candied chestnuts, buttered, covered in brown sugar and honey, alongside the scent of cedar smoke and soft pine.
I hate Hearth, it's sickly sweet and smokey.
My favorites of the bunch are Snow White and Dargon's Moon, so the list is going from favorite to hated. Bunny Musk is nice but the Musk is overpowering the whole scent, sadly. Musk tends to go very strong on me, apparently.
The ones I want:
Alice
Milk and honey with rose, carnation and bergamot.
White Rabbit
Strong black tea and milk with white pepper, ginger, honey and vanilla, spilled over the crisp scent of clean linen.
Dana O'Shee
Offerings of milk, honey and sweet grains.
Persephone
Pomegranate and rose.
I think I originally didn't order those because they fade so fast on me. But having aged for two years, White Rabbit is almost overpowering me at the moment. Beautiful.
I had Alice on my wrist yesterday evening, but it stayed very faint, sadly.
I cannot find my imp of Dana O'Shee - I know I loved the smell but I also know that it always made me crave Marzipan. I don't like to smell like food too much.
Persephone is going to be tried later.
My problem with the scents is that they all smell very alike so if I want to use perfume and have to chose one they all seem the same to me. Except for Persephone, which is fruity. I don't like it as much as the other scents so if I was to eliminate one of them, it would be her - but she is so different that it would be stupid. At the moment, everytime I want something fresh, fruity for hot days, I take Dragon Moon.
Without having smelled them:
LILITH VICTORIA
Snake Oil blended with Dorian, plus soft vanilla flower, lily of the valley, lavender, and fennel.
THE GLADDENER OF ALL HEARTS
Honeyed milk, baby powder, lavender, orris root, sage, carnation, angelica, frankincense, and rose otto.
I don't think we have to talk about them, I want to get both and I'm positive that I'm going to love them. Neither Dorian nor Snake Oil were favorites of mine - but mixing them seems a sure way to create a gorgeous perfume. Plus lavender? I'm sold. Additionally, the medicinical note I always got from Snake Oil is gone after aging, it smells REALLY nice now. I'm starting to sniffing my wrist more and more - wow, everytime I take a sniff I like it even more. Who knew aging could have such an effect?!
Gladdener of hearts has all I love: Milk, Baby Powder, carnation, Rose - I need to have it! I does sound a bit like Alice - so maybe I should leave Alice out? I love Alice, but I tried her yesterday and she disappointed me a bit by being very faint.
I have Snake Oil and White Rabbit on my wrist since maybe 30 minutes now - and White Rabbit is almost gone, after starting out very strong. Ugh! Persephone is a nice rose. I think I'm definitely get her, even thought she is almost faded after 10 minutes as well.
So, what about Alice, Dana and White Rabbit?
White Rabbit is preferred to Alice - it was my very first BPAL and even thought it fades fast at least it's much stronger on first application than Alice.
I can't remember anything about Dana... I calculated my total when I was ordering all of them, without leaving any of them out. The total is so high (gulp) that I wonder if the 15$ for one 5ml I could leave out isn't a drop into the sea anyway. Hmmm!
Advice? I have Snake Oil scent mixed with White Rabbit and Persephone in my nose... yumm.
You know I thought that I had overcome my addiction.
As you can see I'm already a member since 2005 but for the last two years I never even visited the BPAL homepage anymore. I still use my BPALs occasionally, but I didn't give it a second thought. I don't know why this is changing now, though?
For starters, here are the bottles I own (current list is here)
Regular scents:
Dragon's Milk
Antique Lace
Limited Editions - Yule 2005
Hearth
Snow White
April's Fool 2006: Enraged Bunny Musk
Lunacy 2006:
Dragon's Moon
I have a stash of Imps here, that I never gave a second thought to. But now I wonder why I never bought my favorite scents but the ones listed above instead.
I absolutely adore White Rabbit, Alice, Persephone and Dana O'Shee but never got around buying them. Why? I think I got distracted by all those LEs.
I think I should mend that now.
I'm sure there are other scents I love but never considered buying, I need to dig out my spreadsheet.
I've always had a problem with the scents fading too fast on me, which might be because of the kind of scents I like (the light, sweet, floral ones) - they don't have as much staying power as others do. I think that's sad because if I like a scent I want to smell it all the time without having to stick my nose to my wrist.
So - welcome back to the addiction, I guess.
