Obscura

Oh yeah, forgot about Hunter Moon! Definitely one of the best scents I have for fall/winter.

Definitely Samhain '08, The Shattered Pumpkin, Pumpkin IV and V '08, and the big one: Fearful Pleasure! They all smell so awesome after aging a year. I can't wait to to get the Halloweenies from this year.

Personally I'm leaning more and more against naturals. They are very environmentally unfriendly, especially given the high volume of plant/leaf/tree/root needed to procure such tiny amounts of EO. Deforestation wasn't that big of a deal back in the glory days of modern perfumery, but really we as consumers should be mindful of our responsibility to the planet. For example, Rosewood Oil (Bois De Rose) comes from the rosewood tree, most of which is categorized in the global threat (endangered status) category. Linalool, a perfectly suitable and convincing synthetic, is my preference these days. I know this is a touchy subject, but I think the whole "natural is better" thing is a bit overdone. Technically, no perfume is natural.. even perfumes made from "all natural oils" produce a manmade scent that is not naturally found in our environment, thus making it a synthetic byproduct of natural ingredients. Edit: for more info on the Rosewood fiasco: http://www.aromamedical.com/articles/rosewood.htm That's a really good point, definitely something to consider when buying "all natural" things, perfume or not. One of the main problem I have with synthetics is that many of them are tested on animals before being sold to individual perfume makers and companies.

A couple of things I wanted to add to this already well discussed thread.. First, I don't know too much about chemistry; I am a C student in chemistry and especially don't know much about perfume making. The most I've done with that is mix a couple of EOs together in high school, before the wonderfulness of BPAL. I am a vegetarian and do not like to buy things that have been tested on animals, or use a lot of animal products (many perfumes do both). When I discovered BPAL, that was my very first concern. When I found out they use natural ingredients, I was thrilled. But you know what, if they do use syntetics I'm not 100% against that. One thing to be aware of, which someone said above, is that not all natural things are good for you, and not all synthetic things are bad. One of the major problems I have with synthetics, and other similar chemicals, is the potential danger they may have on the environment. When you wash yourself with soap, etc that stuff is going down the drain. Though we have a pretty good water filtration process here in the US, since a lot of companies won't give their entire "ingredient" list, not everything bad can be filtered out for lack of information. The point I'm trying to make is that, in regards to environmental concerns, if I wash a perfume off or decide to throw it away for whatever reason, I don't want it killing other creatures. When it comes to perfume, anything you put on your skin is getting absorbed. On the chemical level, not everything will get absorbed at the same rate or consistancy. This is part of the reason I tout being safe with perfumes, lotions, etc. In my opinion, if synthetics are going to be used in the perfume industry, whether they are combined with natural derivitives or not, they should be tested in the lab AND on human beings until there is absolutely NO DOUBT whatsoever that they are safe to put on human skin. Not animal skin. We have different kinds of skin chemistry than animals, and what animals do you know that wear perfume? Anyway, I'm not 100% against synthetics, and if BPAL decides one day to use them instead of natural bouquets, I would definitely try to make sure Beth has found out the details from the company she was using before I bought them. Also, I would like to think she'd mention it on the website.. which ones were 100% naturall derrived, and which were not.

Currently, my "sexy" scents are Inez (almost 5 months old, better than new!), Snake Charmer, and O. I'm going to have to run through this thread and get some new ones to try!

My two favorites with heavy vanilla are Snake Charmer and Inez. Snake Oil is yummy too but not as complex on me.

A lot of people have pretty much summed up how I feel about Inez, but I'll put my 2 cents in anyway. When I first got the bottle, sometime in fall 2008, I opened it and WHAM, some sort of nut smell hit me right in the nose. I could smell wonderful notes under that, but it was just too nutty. I tried it on anyway, and after a while the nuttiness fell away just enough to let in the amber, myrrh and sandalwood peak their heads up. I couldn't smell the cedar at all, and barely the vanilla. There was something about her that made me keep the bottle. I just tried her again this morning and wow, yum. The nutty smell is still there a bit when I sniffed the bottle, but after 5 min of having this on, it was smooth, warm amber and vanilla with a touch of incensey smoke. It lasts a pretty long time (about 6 hours before a touch up for me), close to the skin but enough throw for someone to notice how awesome you smell. I still don't completely smell the cedar, but there is a slight sharpness to this after it dries, so perhaps that's it. My advice: let it age for at least 4 months, if not 6 before wearing it. I'm definitely going to be buying a back up bottle.

Oh! O would be a good choice, didn't think of that one!

When contemplating which one to wear, I kept going back to my spicy scents like Sin, Snake Charmer, Lust, Hell's Belle... stuff like that. I don't want to wear anything too heavy or foody because it will make me ill while drinking.

I haven't quite decided which scent I'm going to wear to ring in the New Year, BPAL style.. I'm thinking Snake Charmer. What about you?

I don't know, Beth, maybe you could just sell empty bottles labeled, "Do It Yourself" and we can do this: Oh my, that really made me

Yay another Atlantian! Isn't the weather awesome right now? It's cooling off a lot faster than last year! Anyway, my Autumn scents... Fearful Pleasure (going to need a second bottle for sure), Samhain '08, Pumpkin IV (reminds me a lot of Thanksgiving), and The Wild Men of Jezirat al Tennyn on all on the top of the list this year. I have started understanding what people mean by having scents for different times of the year. For instance, Pele (one of my faves) just doesn't feel right in the fall/winter months. I want deep, dark scents.

Definitely agree with you on New Orleans. I don't usually like the florals, so I can't help you much more than that!

Ooops, I didn't know about this thread before I posted my own topic! Sorry ladies. I'll put it in here as well. I don't wear perfume other than BPAL, and the occasional Bath and Body Works spray, so I need some help with this one. Here is the description pulled from the Ann Taylor website for Possibilities: A delicate and classic fragrance, possibilities is a bouquet of Bulgarian Rose, Waterlily, Blue Rose, Peach Musk, and Exotic Woods. Trying to find BPAL scents that would be similar, as a birthday gift for my co-worker/work friend. I haven't smelled this before, at least not to my knowledge, and I totally do not want to go up and smell this woman. So if anyone wears this perfume, or knows which imps I can get her that would be similar, please let me know! Thanks.

Every February there is a convention here in Atlanta, GA called TribalCon. This year was my first year attending (as staff nonetheless!) and after 3 days of close contact with ladies from all over the country, about half of them that I talked to had some degree of obsession with BPAL. Here is my question... If BPAL were to be sold at TribalCon, would the lab team actually have to come over to Atlanta to be a vendor? I'm assuming that is the case. I would LOVE for them to be at this convention, not just because I'm selfish, but because they would likely make a good profit and have even more well deserved exposure.