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Scents I've Tried

SongOfStark

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I'm putting together a list of scents I own/have tried! Not necessarily from BPAL, but hopefully this will help me start to see a pattern in what notes I enjoy :) Highlighted/colored ones are the ones I feel very strongly about (in whatever category they may be in). Underlined are full bottles I own :)

BPAL Scents:

Liked:

  • Jareth - BPAL - Masculine as heck, but still my favorite perfume. Nothing like getting whiffs of leather and musk throughout the day :) Ethereal lilac fougere and gleaming leather with ti leaf, tonka absolute, white musk, and oudh.
  • Satyr - BPAL - Another super masculine scent I adore. I hear snake oil is more of a feminine version of it, so I'm thinking that might be buy #2 since this is maybe a little too masculine for me to wear normally. A ferociously masculine scent: sexual, vigorous, and truly wild.
  • Florence- BPAL - For some reason, on first application this scent reminds me of... something! I have no idea what, but I KNOW it smells like somewhere I've been! I've never been to Florence, but it definitely smells like... maybe a candy I like. Kind of like those violet mints. Elegant iris, bright berreis, gilded amber and velvety spices.
  • Snake Oil - BPAL - Like there was any doubt I wasn't going to love this ;) The vanilla peeks through ~10 mins after applying and, mixed with the spiciness of it, is soooo good.
  • Lady Lucille Sharp - Crimson Peak - BPAL - I want to smell like this FOREVER! It's the perfect gap between old lady rose perfume and young Victorian Woman rose perfume. While it does smell vaguely like my great grandmother, she also had great taste in perfumes (it's genetic, clearly). On my skin it's somewhat sour, in a good way, while wafting around me is the scent of lilies. It's truly a scent made for it's namesake. Faded red roses and a glimmer of garnet with black lily, ylang ylang, smoky plum musk and black amber.
  • Ghosts - Crimson Peak - BPAL - This is extremely floral, and I'm surprised I like it! It remains floral from the time it goes on to well after dry down... definitely that chrysanthemum popping through. But it's not overpowering. I don't smell any of the incense, but that's OK because I find it usually seems to drown out everything on my skin! Chrysanthemum petals, crushed violet leaf and funeral incense.
  • Blood Moon 2008 - BPAL - This is way sweeter than I expected but phew, is it delicious! The feral scent of the heat of the chase, deep woods, undulating musks, brushed by forest flora, swirled in the incense of the anointed cherub that covereth and touched by blood-dimmed lunar oils.
  • Shoggoth - BPAL - Candy goodness! This smells like the perfect mix between my lemongrass tea and some hard candies I've had in the past. White amber, green coconut meat, iris, palmarosa, Chinese peony, water lily, snowdrop, muguet, lemongrass, osmathus, wisteria, glassy musk and hinoki.
  • Envy - BPAL - This smells like when I would spend the whole day as a kid at the public pools, in a good way! Grass and water and suntan lotion all mixed into one. I thought I wasn't a "green" fan, but this is really SUCH a wonderful, summery scent! Green herbs slithering through mint, lime and lavender.
  • White Rabbit - BPAL - Yummy!!!! Finally a foodie scent that I like!!!! Oh, it smells milky without being baby-powder-y. This is definitely all I ever wanted in a Wonderland scent! Strong black tea and milk with white pepper, ginger, honey and vanilla, spilled over the crisp scent of lean linen.
  • Dirty - BPAL - Mmmmm. I've always loved a good clean linen scent in my candles, and it seems to work well on my body, too! This smells like vacation at a fancy hotel. Brand new, high thread count sheets! <3 A fresh, crisp white linen scent: perfectly clean, perfectly breezy.
  • Bordello - BPAL - I smell just like sugary homemade jam!! I love this!!!! I'm thinking plum might be one of my best scents so far- it's also in Lucille. While this is a very DIFFERENT plum, it's still amazing. Bawdy plum with amaretto, burgundy wine and black currant.
  • Hymn - BPAL - Oh, this is definitely something I'd wear to church if I went to church. Maybe next time I'm visiting my Catholic friends on a weekend I'll bring this along. This would have been amazing for exploring the churches in Germany - would have really set the scene. The rose is held down from doing it's usual weird thing by the other scents, and the frankincense doesn't shove everything out of the way like it normally does!! Perfect rose absolute and Palestinian Lily of the Valley with olibanum, labdanum, frankincense and myrrh.
  • Venus Verticordia - BPAL - DANDELIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Fickle dandelion florets dancing through honey-drenched wildflowers.
  • Ode on Melancholy - BPAL - A gorgeous mixed floral that's not overly sweet and powdery! Love the little bit of sandalwood in there. Lavender and wisteria, heart-wrenching pale rose, desolate white sandalwood and thin, tear-streaked white musk.
  • Morocco - BPAL - Not something I'd wear, but I do like it. It reminds me of one of my grandmother's perfumes. Kinda coconutty? Arabian spices wind through a blend of warm musk, carnation, red sandalwood and cassia.
  • Zombi - BPAL - Ooh, now this is an interesting one. I do smell the rose above all else, but there's something there that tames it. Very earthy. Is it the moss or the earth I really like? Only way to know.. try more moss scents :D Dried roses, rose leaf, Spanish moss, oakmoss and deep brown earth.
  • Chuparosa - BPAL - Okay, this I might have to give another go later because it seems to maybe be burning my hand??? Can't tell if it's just dry skin (most likely) or the perfume. But either way it smells really, really good!! It's a floral/clean linen-y scent. The Hummingbird of Love, the Rose Sucker. A potent, benevolent, merciful love blend.
  • Nuclear Winter - BPAL - MMM. This totally smells like total atomic annihilation. A very "cold" scent... It's something I would wear when I'm breaking up with someone ;) The ice, desolation, and barrenness of nuclear devastation shot through by a beam of radioactive mints.
  • Cathode - BPAL - I'm always afraid mint is going to explode on me, but so far, it seems to be working well. This is a sweeter mint than I'm used to, it definitely smells "electrical". The longer I wear it, the more I keep sniffing my arm. I do really think this might go up into my favorites... Ambergris, spanish moss, oakmoss and three electric mints.
  • Old Demons of the First Class - BPAL - Ooooohhhh this is so good. I don't actually know what any of the notes smell like individually, but the mix is amazing. Siberian musk, black clove, opoponax, tonka, black pepper and neroli.
  • The Waltz - Crimson Peak - Champagne musk, ambergris accord, white rose, rosewood, and vanilla amber.
  • Fairy Tales and Lies - Crimson Peak - Lilac water and rose petals swirled with a gleaming amber chypre and touch of Italian bergamot.
  • Between Your Heart and Mine - Crimson Peak - Heartwood bois de rose and vanilla-touched rose.
  • Courtney - ParaNorman - Tanning lotion and (very) pink bubblegum.



Neutral:

  • Odin - BPAL - Good and spicy, but too masculine for me. I like the woody scent of it. His scent is dry elm bark, amaranth, warrior’s musk, and Odin’s Nine Herbs of Power
  • Voodoo Lilly - BPAL - This was an instant no for me straight out of the bottle.The dry-down is actually pretty good, but I can't get over the initial smell in bottle and on my skin. A breathtakingly exotic, wild, and grossly erotic spicy gold, purple-black, and burgundy lily.
  • Midnight Mass 2014 - BPAL - It smells just like incense, which I love, but not so much on me. Traditional Roman Catholic sacramental incense.
  • Ossa Arida - BPAL - Once again, my skin explodes the incense and covers everything else up! Gah! Frankincense, golden amber, bourbon vanilla, gurjum balsam and Bulgarian rose.
  • The Manuscript - Crimson Peak - BPAL - I desperately want to love this. DESPERATELY. Thank goodness for imps, I almost bought it blindly. It really smells like an old book, but there's something else that peeks out on my skin that gives me a headache. I WANT TO LIKE IT. BUT I CAN'T! Leather and paper and splotches of ink, with a hint of ghostly chill.
  • Love Makes Monsters of Us All - Crimson Peak - BPAL - It's not awful, it's just not a scent for me. There is a sweet decay quality about it which is neat, but not something I want to wear. Soil and rot and the heat of rage, blood-smeared musk and sharp decay.
  • Wicked - BPAL - A nice scent, but not something I can see myself really wearing. I struggled between "like" and "neutral" for this, but in the end, the rose starts to smell weird on me, as usual :( Rich myrrh and jasmine draped in the subtlest rose.
  • Hades - BPAL - I don't really know how to describe this one? It's good, and fades into a sweet heat sort of scent, but there's a hint of something underneath it during the dry down I'm not a fan of. I need to try this again, though, on dry down it's starting to transform... Maybe when I have a fresh nose, haha. Black narcissus and cypress, stephanotis, opoponax, labdanum, onycha and ambergris.
  • Mme. Moriarty, Misfortune Teller - BPAL - I couldn't quite tell what was off when I put this on, but I saw someone describe it as "cherry lozenges" and that's definitely what I'm getting. I ordered this before I knew that patchouli doesn't agree with me, and there's just enough of that weird funk it releases plus the medicinal smell that I'm really not fond of. It's not BAD, just not great. Red musk, vanilla bean, pomegranate, black currant, patchouli leaf and wild plum.
  • Quintessence of Dust - OLLA - BPAL - Something in this is good, but also not super desireable. The dust is REALLY strong. I'm still debating on whether or not to keep the bottle. Maybe it's the beeswax that I like/don't like at the same time. It is a very book-y scent, one that's better than the Manuscript, though! Beeswax and smoke, yellowed paper and well-worn leather books, droplets of spilled ink, faded incense, blood-tinged salty tears, and the metal of the knife that skewers that illiterate zombie philistine's portrait.
  • Dracul - BPAL - Somehow I smell anise despite that not being a listed scent? It's a pretty good scent but not something I'd probably ever wear. The tobacco isn't quite what I want on my body. It's a bit too cabin-man-masculine for me- I think generally the "masculine" scents I like are dark leather. Like biker chick 8) Black musk, tobacco, fir, balsam of peru, cumin, bitter clove, crushed mint and orange blossom.
  • Dragon's Hide - BPAL - It's a nice scent, just not overwhelmingly so. Dragon's blood, leather, and a hint of smoke.
  • Machu Picchu - BPAL - Eh. It's soapy. That's about all there is :( No fruit, no amber, no nothin. (Okay, update: the fruit does eventually come out. But barely!) Sweet tropical fruits burst through deep, wet rainforest boughs, enormous steamy blossoms, over thin mountaintop breezes, mingled with the soft, rich golden scent of Peruvian amber.
  • Endymion - BPAL - Oh! The pear is so lovely. But pear and rose are NOT playing nice on my skin. They're mingling into a weird, soapy scent. I definitely need to look into a pear scent that's not fighting with florals, I bet it would be amazing on my skin!! A sweet, wistful blend of d'Anjou pear, Lily of the Valley, bois du rose and white musk.
  • The Sea Foams Blood - Blood rising through an ocean wave.
  • Ghost Revelry - Damp mosses, fallen leaves, and soft woods siwrled with an ethereal mist of white sandalwood, lilac, orris root and moonflower.
  • Adam - OLLA - This smells exactly like my grandfather used to, which is somewhat startling to be honest. Black leather, pale sandalwood, ambergris accord, Victorian fougere, guitar wood, bow rosin, musty wool, the plastic/metal/magnetic tape of his reel-to-reel, and the dust that permeates everything.
  • Eve - OLLA - Irish moss, yarrow, hawthorn, honey, myrrh, calamus, frankincense, damask roses, white sandalwood, Moroccan saffron, rose water and a swirl of incense.



Disliked:

  • The Red Queen - BPAL - WAY too sugary sweet! Deep mahogany and rich, velvety woods lacquered with sweet, black-red cherries and currant.
  • Tweedledum - BPAL - It's a Houdini scent! It totally disappeared a little after applying. If I really stick my nose to my skin I can catch it, but it's barely there! What little remains is great, but would need constant re-application. Green mango, fig, patchouli and green tea.
  • Veritas - BPAL - Starts out as something AMAZING on my skin. The frankincense really shines through. Then, tragedy, as it fades into something ozone-y. I have no clue what makes it smell the way it does on dry-down but it's really upsetting because I thought for a while I had a winner! Frankincense, white carnation, angelica, chamomile and heliotrope.
  • Poisoned Apple - BPAL - Starts off with an awesome apple scent, then fades into something powdery on my skin. It disappears fairly fast, too! Red apple, narcotic opium, oleander, hemlock.
  • Black Moths - Crimson Peak - BPAL - Blech, something is off. I have no idea what half the scents are but it might be the vetiver or tonka, which haven't always agreed with me in the past. Maybe the patchouli? Wild plum and blackcurrant with aged black patchouli, vetiver, red rose petal, tonka absolute and opoponas.
  • The Coiled Serpent - BPAL - All I can smell is patchouli. I like it on other things, just not on ME! This would be a great atmo if it is one, though. Or something to spray on my clothes, maybe.
  • Lust - BPAL - In the bottle; ooh, I think I'm gonna like this! On my skin: GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF!!!!!!! I'm choking!!! Body, what are you DOING!! Red musk, patchouli, ylang ylang and myrrh.
  • Golden Priapus - BPAL - Eugh. This smells like someone rolled around in pine needles with a bad cologne. And eventually it just becomes pine resin. Vanilla and amber with juniper, rosewood and white pine.
  • Schrodinger's Cat - BPAL - How can such a cool sounding scent with notes I like go SO WRONG???? AUGH. I put this on, sniffed, and immediately coughed. My trust was betrayed! I blame the chocolate. Tangerine, sugared lime, pink grapefruit, oakmoss, lavender, zdravetz, and chocolate peppermint.
  • Ouija - BPAL - First sniff: coughing. Second sniff: Smoke, like cigarette smoke. And something like a mean mint coming through. Not a good clean one like I enjoy. I thought I liked woody scents! What's happening! Rosewood, oak and teak notes with wispy blue lilac, tea rose, dried white rose and ethereal osmanthus.
  • Kill-Devil - BPAL - I was worried I was going to love this and then regret not finishing my application for an internship at Kill Devil Hills. Thankfully, my "not-a-foodie" nature saved the day, I guess. I smell like a moldy cake. Always with the mold! It's so unfortunate. I can smell the sweetness under there. Sugar cane, molasses, oak wood and honey.
  • Miskatonic University - Ugh, too foodie. Irish coffee, dusty tomes and polished oakwood halls.
  • Queen of Sheba - Golden honeyed almonds and a whisper of African and Middle Eastern spices.




Common Brimstone:

Liked:

  • Court of the Fox Maiden - Common Brimstone - A mix of Court of the Dragon and Fox Maiden. Super spicy on me, I LOVE it! Benzoin, dragon's blood, violet, Chinese musk, mandarin, plum, and cherry blossom.
  • She-Wolf- Common Brimstone - The cranberry is SUPER strong on me, while the apple comes out on my mom. I love that it's got a slightly sour, crisp feeling to it- a very wintry perfume! Red apple, pomegranate, mulberry, cranberry, pink pepper, autumn leaves, spice
  • Paradise Regained - Common Brimstone - This is summer in a bottle! I can't believe it got discontinued. It's everything I ever wanted. Pomegranate and coconut are definitely top players. Pomegranate, pikaki, passion fruit, dragon's blood, cananga, coconut
  • Strange Bright Fruit - Common Brimstone - I would own a full bottle of this, but it's a little too much like Paradise Regained to buy it until Paradise Regained runs out! A sweet, summery scent. Lime, watermelon, coconut milk, pink sugar, freesia
  • Sun Catcher - Common Brimstone - I got a little carried away with the summer scents in the middle of winter. Another one that's similar to Paradise Regained, but there's just enough of a difference. I don't really know how to describe it. Fruit salad? Sweet? Aloe, cucumber, pineapple, raspberry, satsuma, honeydew melon



Neutral:

  • Bastet - Common Brimstone - I originally really liked this until someone told me it smelled baby powdery. It started off as milky but now all I can smell is baby powder! Not awful, I just don't particularly feel like smelling like I'm near children all the time. Honey, shea butter, chai tea, saffron, rose, coconut milk
  • Avalon - Common Brimstone - This is SUPER lavender-y smelling. That's not even a note listed in it but all I smell like is flowers. It's alright, I like flowers, but way more overwhelming than I expected. Apple blossom, grape, grass, storm, water, pear blossom
  • Druid - Common Brimstone - This smelled great the first time I wore it. Then I bought a bottle and now all I can smell is soggy pencils. Which, to be fair, has it's charms on a rainy day. But only rainy days. Opoponax, labdanum, oakmoss, poppy, fig



Disliked:

  • Unbirthday '15 - Common Brimstone - AUGH!!! NO!!! I smell like the worst cake! It's so good in the bottle, on me, it's moldy :( Green tea, buttercream, almond, hazelnut, white chocolate.
  • Abhaile - Common Brimstone - Moldy cake once again! carrot cake, hot chocolate, cinnamon, chestnut, French vanilla
  • Selkie - Common Brimstone - A little too ozone-y for me. lilac, lily, ocean, fresh water, air
  • Odezia - Common Brimstone - It's not AWFUL. It's just not really something I like. blackberry, clove, amber, sweet pea and sage.
  • Sphynx - Common Brimstone - A musk that doesn't agree with me! I feel betrayed! Egyptian musk, turmeric, cumin, pink lotus, nutmeg, orchid, lily, hibiscus
  • Cybele - Common Brimstone - This smells somehow foodie to me? Not sure. The vetivert I think is what's throwing it off. smoky notes of vetivert and animalistic musk, softened with just a touch of vanilla and made bright and wild with lime and frangipani
  • Petite Mort - Common Brimstone - I can't smell the leather, honey, or rose at all on me! caraway, cardamom, leather, honey, rose



Haus of Gloi:

Liked:

  • Persephone's Descent - Haus of Gloi - Okay, I'm starting to notice a pomegranate trend here. And musk! It's just subtly fruity. EDIT: OH MY GOD I GOT THE OIL SAMPLE OF THIS AND I WILL KILL FOR IT. It smells SO much better on me as a straight perfume oil than the other products I was using!!! It's SO fruity!! Pomegranate, pale musk, narcissus blossom and black amber.
  • Cozy Sweater - Haus of Gloi - It smells like all sweaters should smell like! The musk is soft and comes out well with the amber. Pale skin musk, faded perfume, Egyptian amber, softly burning nag champa incense and a fine aged vanilla.
  • Imp - Haus of Gloi - My tropical obsession comes out again. I need to stop ordering scents in the winter. Peculiar passion fruit mingling with sun cured apricots, perfectly pink grapefruit juice and innocent whispers of wet mimosa blooms.
  • Moon Dog - Haus of Gloi - I don't really have the vocab to describe this, but in the bottle it's mediocre, and after drying on my skin, it's FLAWLESS. A more water-y scent. Solar storms erupt: cracked coconut, dry sandalwood essence, heated with nutmeg and clove.
  • Risque - Haus of Gloi - This is like the female Jareth! I love it! Leather for days! Red musk, leather, black vetiver and red rose.
  • Depravity - Haus of Gloi - Ooh, this is pretty good. At first I thought I smelled chocolate, which I don't like on my skin, but that quickly vanished into something sensual and spicy. For some reason, it reminds me of a summer camp I used to work at. Maybe one of the other counselors wore something like it? I mean, it WAS a hippie camp, so everyone was wearing SOME type of oil, haha. Clove, nutmeg and coconut on a bed of rich golden amber, sandalwood, and spilled wine.


Neutral:

  • Three Treasures- Haus of Gloi - It's a little too incense-y for me. Sacred gifts of frankincense, myrrh and gold. Smoldering with warmth and brightened with a touch of mandarin rind.
  • Old Cider Haus- Haus of Gloi - The notes kind of mish-mash together so they fight rather than harmonize. Apple and hay with a little vanilla is mostly what I can make out. Still pretty dang good, though. Old oak, sweet drying hay fields, crushed apple pulp and vanilla husks.
  • Rose City - Haus of Gloi - I love the smell of "old rose" but it doesn't necessarily love me. Plus it's a little overwhelming on it's own. Red roses and the earthy wet scent of aged patchouli.
  • Ruth - Fresh strawberry, green patchouli, rose geranium and crushed violet leaf.


Disliked:

  • Picaroon - Haus of Gloi - I tried this scent because someone compared it to Salt Water from Firebird. Lies! It's fine in the bottle but does something funky on my skin. Sun scorched mahogany bough crusted with a crystalline sea spray. Faint plundered rare spices, lemongrass, coconuts, fine Mexican lime and Haitian bay rum.
  • Peach Mama - Haus of Gloi - While peach usually seems to work on me, something in this one doesn't. Maybe it's the labdanum? Peach nectar and a host of resins: offertory frankincense, styrax, copaiba balsam and ambered labdanum absolute. Warmed with cassia and a barely audible breath of black patchouli.
  • Who Needs Love - Haus of Gloi - Too chocolatey. A mahogany box filled with chocolaty orbs, coated in crystallized coffee, filled with a pomegranate and raspberry filling.
  • Absinthe - Haus of Gloi - I desperately want to like this! However it's maybe a little too... green?... for me. Wormwood and anise swim in a creamy green sea of lemon balm and soft glowing mints. A hefty lump of sugar and the tiniest drop of suggestive deep green moss.
  • Insalata Nocturna - Haus of Gloi - I'm starting to think "green" isn't my scent. In the night garden, green Bolivian lemon, rubbed tomato leaf, olive leaf absolute, black fig syrup and basil.


Firebird Bath and Body:

Liked:

  • Saltwater - Firebird Bath and Body - You can smell the salt! An aquatic scent that actually works on me!!! A non-floral, non-tropical ocean scent consisting of marine notes, cedar and myrtle, that softens and mellows on the skin and becomes ethereal and almost haunting.
  • Gingerale - Firebird Bath and Body - You can SMELL the fizz! This is basically ginger ale, I ADORE it! Bright Citrus, Fresh Ginger, Fizz
  • Woodland - Firebird Bath and Body - I'm so sad this was discontinued before I bought a whole bottle! It smells just like the woods, or the memory of the woods. Galbanum, moss, evergreen.
  • Sugar Maple - Firebird Bath and Body - Another one that's discontinued! This is a smokey maple. Maple is one of my favorite things in the whole world!


Disliked:

  • Woodsmoke and Vanilla - Firebird Bath and Body - Too smokey for me, but the title doesn't lie! Firewood, Fir Needle, Vanilla




Arcana:

Liked:

  • Breakfast in Hollywood - Juicy pink grapefruit shimmies up against a bevy of California citrus fruits, sparkling champagne and ripe strawberries. The indulgent essence of breakfast with a screen goddess.


Neutral:

  • Bawd - Bright red cherry, brassy tobacco, Anjou pear, and white amber.




OHWTO:

Liked:

  • Message in a Bottle - Salt water magnolia, sweetgrass, tempered by a hint of black agar and amber and brightened with a splash of citrus sweetness.
  • Dandelion Wine - Sweet green grass, Dandelions, Tobacco, a hint of Smoke, Atlas Cedarwood, Heliotrope, and a wee touch of Patchouli to ground it.


Disliked:

  • Sea Legs - Briny air, a steady Ocean breeze, salt-encrusted Wooden masts, and barrels of precious Ambergris collected from the lacy surface of the waves.



Possets:

Disliked:

  • Virginia (Rev 1) - ???? Honeysuckle??? Oh man does it smell like rotten honeysuckle though!!! :((((



Others:

Liked:

  • Lust - Lush - Jasmine! And nothing but. Love it.
  • Yellow Diamond - Versace - I have the roll on after smelling it in a little mail-in ad and falling in LOVE. I call this my "rich, successful business lady" perfume :) Like a burst of light, the fragrance gleams and glistens as it opens with notes of bright citron, a fresh pear sorbet, sparkling bergamot, and an accent of neroli. As its heart emerges, the rare elegance of orange blossom shines through the light of freesia and mimosa with the natural transparency of nymphea. The lingering base notes add a fascinating sense of sensuality with ambery woods, the sunny and vibrant character of palo santo wood, and the refined presence of musk.


Disliked:

  • Holly Jolly Christmas - Debauchery Bath - ?????





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