Maxinux

Hi everyone! Been obsessed with BPAL for awhile but haven't revisited this site in some time. My boyfriend and I are both naturalist/scientists; career-wise, he is actually something like Jane Goodall, and is constantly exploring the natural world (watching ants or birds takes precedence over most things). I'm making something like a vintage-y explorer's kit for him for Christmas (old leather-and-canvas messenger bag, a beautiful pocket magnifying glass, maybe a handheld telescope, notebooks and pens, maybe even a copy of Borges's Book of Imaginary Beings), and was wondering if some dashing male-suited BPAL scent could fit into that theme. Any ideas? I was gravitating towards something in the Wanderlust series, but not sure what's male enough there; also thought Dee, but to be honest I don't like Dee much!! Turns a little sickly in my experience. In terms of what he likes, I know he wears Cerruti Image, described thusly: "Top notes are plum, banana leaf, pear and pepper; middle notes are cypress, fig leaf, jasmine and guaiac wood; base notes are sandalwood, amber, patchouli, tahitian vetiver, musk and cedar." It's sweet, musky, and woody. Thank you, BPAL-lovers!!! EDIT: Going back through my favorites I think Jolly Roger may be appropriate, since we're doing mainly marine biology, spend a lot of time on boats, and it's one of my old favorites...it's not quite in tune with the explorer theme, though! =)

Ooh. Thank you. I've heard wonderful things about Miskatonic, and I think the description/theme on Odin would really resonate with him.

Whoa! I expected to like this...but I like it way better than I expected to. When I put this on, it instantly made me grin, something that's never happened with another BPAL. (And really great right now, after getting some discouraging family news.) Smells like...lemon candies, but a lot more mature and complicated. It smells bubbly and enthusiastic. Optimism pours from this smell. LOVE that!! There's some sweet floral in there, as well, and as it starts to mellow the initial blast of sticky playful citrus (which I like a lot, but maybe don't LOVE in the same yummy way I've loved other BPAL citrus scents) mellows right down, and now I have something musk-patchouli-white flower, with a slight tang of citrus. Delicious, and sophisticated. But I'm afraid my skin is eating it. Unexpectedly beloved! Nice!

Really happy I got this one. I wore it to bed last night--it's that kind of scent. In the bottle: Say it with me now: Very. Fucking. Comforting. I swear this smells exactly like the interior of some...room that I can't quite remember...I think it was an art gallery, or museum...art gallery might make sense, because an old boyfriend's parents owned an art gallery, and this might smell like their store. That was a very comforting relationship, by the way. It's soft, a bit sweet but not terribly, calm, with a touch of quiet bite. On, immediately: I quickly smell like underwater. Like...when I'm scuba diving, it doesn't really smell like that, but it evokes it. And quickly it blooms into something...lemony, citrus-y, maybe lavender, some purple-white quiet flower, and a bit of stemmy green. And calm still water. All of these being smells that I adore. And that bite earlier is still around, I think it's aquatic saltiness. Drying: The flowers bloom a bit, lending a drippy, but not overwhelming, sweetness. And now there's even more of a tang...sort of dry, woody citrus? God, this is lovely. Reminds me a bit of Shanghai, in fact. Which is my favorite BPAL of ever. My color association for this: Something in a range of green-blue-purple, but with enough white added to make it a wet light wash color. Freaking delectable. I think I need a bottle of this here smell.

This stuff has been my favorite cosmetics smell for about a bajillion years now, which is approximately how long Marriott has been using it for its room soap, shampoo, conditioner, lotion, etc. Whenever we stay there, my mom and I pocket as much as we can: http://www.shopmarriott.com/category.aspx?category1=BathCollection&category1Name=Bath&category2=BathBody&category3=OrangeGinCollection&categoryLevel=2 I'm guessing there are some BPAL devotees who have smelt this luscious potion, and I'd love to know if there's a perfume out there that approximates it. PS: Just made my first EVER (!!!) BPAL purchase today. Never worn perfume because it often gives my mother a headache, but now I'm out of the house...some of the most influential women in my life have had signature scents, and I love the idea of having my own =)

This is how much I love Envy: I just put a droplet under my nose. Yep. Right under my nose. Because I want it up in my sinuses. I'm a BPAL noob, but I've quickly bought enough imps to know that 1) I love green scents, and 2) true to its name, this is the greenest green I've gotten from a perfume so far. It smells not quite like flowers, but like the crushed stems of flowers and herbs. As usual with BPAL scents, this is doing different things on different parts of my body. On my wrists, it's very like my mother's expensive Rusk shampoo that she gets from salons. Inside my elbows, where I guess it's a bit wetter, it's a darker, mustier smell, much more redolent of the mint and lime--though the mint doesn't announce itself too loudly, as I had feared it would. I'm happy that it's where it is, a note of brightness in the mix. All throughout my life, whenever we'd pass a lavender plant, my mother would always tear off a few leaves, crush them and sniff them, and then hand them to me, saying something delightful and motherly, like, "I have a present for you!" Lavender is such a positive smell for me =) And Envy is soaked in that crushed lavender smell, with a few delightful complements that actually make it smell a bit more...Asian? Aquatic? Something. And I love it! EDIT: The boyfriend smelled this on me today, and said, in a cheerful voice, "You smell like a pool!" I guess aquatic was right! Or...chloriney? =P Whatever it is, I love it! I was wondering if I could find an aquatic-ish smell with lavender and citrus. I think this is it =)

Well, isn't this yummy!! =) New BPALer--psyched to be trying the famed one! =) And, like everyone else, I really like this. It's a crazy morpher. In the bottle and wet, this isn't too appealing--it's musty and sharp. But after about 10 minutes of drydown, sugary vanilla sweetness whooshes out of it and tempers the bitterness. I have it on two wrists and it's doing different things on each. On one, the sweetness never really got anywhere, and it's a bit of a dark, complicated smell. My other wrist, though, smells exactly like Twinings Lady Grey tea! My favorite tea!! Which is hysterically funny. I've tried a few of the lab tea scents now, because I like lighter scents, and nothing has smelled as much like actual tea to me as this! I love it. It's sweet and complicated and sophisticated. I give a breezy, leafy brown for color. I think, with my uneducated nose, this is what I hoped Dorian would be, believe it or not!! Fabulous =)

Oh WOW. I guess this means I like BPAL's beeswax note. Like, a lot. This is very sweet on me (which I suppose might not be the beeswax, but whatever it is I really like it). And there is a soft background waxy scent. It's actually somewhat floral...bad at IDing, it's a very feminine floral...It has a buttery richness to it, a soft yellowness. I'm surprised that I like it so much. There's a lot of vanilla-ness, too--and though I don't love vanilla, I can live with this! =D EDIT: WHOA yessss on the drydown there's a hint of a tangy thing coming out too--HOORAY.

Oh dear! I just put this on and immediately really dislike it...wet, it smells like a mix of almonds (ew--hate artificial almond smell), maraschino cherries, like others have said (ew), and gas station bathroom air freshener (EW EW EW). As it's drying a bit, that last one is what's really coming out, too. Not for me. I can see how others would like this smell, actually, but for me I have too many icky images that go with it.

Interesting...just put this on. Now the insides of my elbows and wrists are red and itchy--this is the first BPAL oil I've ever had a reaction to. Hopefully it'll quit in awhile. When it was wet it was a little overwhelming, but now it's mellowed out a lot and the throw is very little. There's a very strong ORANGE smell, almost an artificial orange smell but not quite--it's pretty good. Then a bit of spiciness, I guess from the clove and cinnamon. It's a very Christmassy wintry smell. Citrus and such. Not really me, unfortunately. And now I think I'm gonna go wash it off because I itch. Meh! EDIT: Instead of washing this, on impulse I layered it with Dorian. Others may not agree...but I feel like a genius! Dorian needs a bit more of a bite on me, and this gives it one. Woo!

Frimped by the wonderful, incomparable AmandaKay!! <3 This is unbelievable. I want to drown in this smell. I want it to be a blanket to wrap up in. When I first put this on, it was sweet, clean, bright, with just an edge of sea-bright saltiness. The sweetness is almost floral, but terrifically clean and watery. It's an overwhelmingly good-natured smell, with a hint of mischief--like that best man friend who has a wicked and kindly sense of humor, but is also really steadfast when you need them to be. This is perfect for me. I've been scuba diving since I was ten, and want to do my PhD on marine mammal behavior; the sea has been a guiding entity in my life. This scent, for me, evokes the image of leaning off the side of your boat in the Caribbean, and trailing your hand through the water. As this dried down it stayed watery-sweet, but a little bit of leather-smokiness and wood emerged--just a touch. A new image: a pirate who's just taken a dip in the water, and who has now climbed back on board and settled down near the rim at the prow of his ship to let the sun dry him. This is excellent! =D

Frimped! Thanks, BPAL! I didn't think I was going to like this, but I'm pleasantly surprised--I don't dislike it, certainly. When I was younger, I kept a bottle of lilac essential oil in my bathroom that I would wear sometimes, and this reminds me of that--sweet, floral, purple. It's very, very feminine--a little too feminine for me, in fact, which is why I don't love it. Also very strong with a good through, which is worth remembering because some of my favorites are lighter and require slathering. This is a bit incensey, also. It's very...purple. And I love purple, but royal purple and burgundy. This verges on pink. Will wear when I'm feeling utterly and uncompromisingly feminine and playful, but for normal use I'm looking for something more dry and sophisticated. EDIT: I may have posted too soon. This suddenly morphed completely and got hella complicated. That came from left field. It's soapy, but OK...not so sweet anymore. Greener, spicier. This is nicer. That was impressive. Of the several imps I've tried on this first order of mine, none of the others have morphed so impressively, nor into something that I like better than the wet phase.

So funny. I'm in my first-ever round of BPAL testing (just got a first shipment of imps), and I've gotten my two favorites of the ones I bought down to Sudha Segara and Shanghai. I put one on each arm, and it's no contest: Shanghai wins! In the bottle: UHHHHMMMMM. I want to eat it. Sugary-sweet from the honeysuckle and biting sharp citrus. A perfect, perfect smell, I think. No green tea yet. On application: The tea comes out if I try to pay attention to it, but just barely. On me, this is bright lemon from the verbena and the extraordinary sweetness of the honeysuckle. It smells like playful cool sunshine. The colors I get are brightly soft plant-green and sunlight orange-yellow. Very citrusy, and sweet white floral. As the drydown goes, it's the honeysuckle that amps on me, followed closely by the lemon/orange. After awhile, softens to a gentle floral sweetness. It fades fast, within a few hours...hoping to get a bottle of this. BPAL scents have vastly different personalities, don't they? I'm beginning to find that I like white florals, citrus, ginger and spice (and really don't like dark fruits or flowers, unfortunately, since this excludes so much...but good to know what I like!). Within this, though, I have Sudha Segara and Shanghai so far. Sudha Segara is a comforting, civilized and slightly spicy smell. It's grown-up and gentle. Shanghai is more youthful--brighter, sharper, sweeter, more obvious. And a little more outwardly pretty. From these descriptions, I would have thought I'd've liked Sudha better...but Shanghai smells on me like a breeze of lemon sunshine. Delicious. Spring is coming =)

This is my second-ever review on BPAL, and I'm really comforted by this one--I've tried a few others so far and not loved them for one reason or another, but Sudha Segara and I just love each other. I'm beginning to find that I don't like overly sweet smells because they amp to ridiculousness on me. This is comforting, and soft, but not quite sweet. When I first put it on, it's a rush of beautiful green ginger (I love sharp, tangy smells, and this fits the bill perfectly). Over time, this fades gently into a light citrusy sort of play, but softer--creamier, like lotion. I posted something a little while ago asking what BPAL scents are the most like Bath & Body Works Orange and Ginger aromatherapy lotions, and this might be it. It's delicious, and calming. I find myself sniffing my arms and sighing deeply. Very calm, soft, but not wimpy--sophisticated and pleasant, like a beautiful and successful woman coming home from work, kicking off her shoes, and curling up in a comfortable chair with a cup of (sweetened ginger) tea and her favorite book. I came to BPAL looking for a signature scent and this might be it for me! =) The only flaw is that it's fleeting--nearly undetectable after an hour. Though maybe that's because I've been huffing my arms and my nose is desensitized. Hopefully at some point I'll feel like I have a steady-enough income to treat myself to a bottle of this =) EDIT: Had the bf sniff this today. His description: It's a very unified smell, very smooth, nothing sticking out. Cool =)

Guess what, guys? FIRST BPAL REVIEW EVER! For me, at least. After years of trolling these boards and wondering what all the fuss was about, I finally placed an imp order. So, here's my first review. I'm a girl but was cross-dressing this morning for a class skit, so I thought Dee would be a nice thing to bring out a masculine side of myself =) In the bottle: Woody, musty, spicy, strong, incensey. On: It's been a few hours since I slathered this on...I've had an interesting experience with Dee. I'm not sure what I expected, but I don't think it was this...there's some very sweet smell, much like rose incense, that really amps on me. I don't love it, unfortunately--though this is in fact the first real perfume I've ever tried, I don't think I'm one for sweet, red smells like this. I put a bit of this on before bed last night so I could sniff it while falling asleep--that was interesting. Still that sweet smell, but also a definite hit of smoke--very cool. The throw is sort of a complicated sweetness, musky and cobwebbed, a library like others have said. But a very perfumey one. Musty flowers? I like this, but I don't feel it's definitively me. Worth it, of course, for the chance to experience one of Beth's smell-pictures =) ADDED March 15: A more conclusive second try: Now that I've had a little more time with other smells, I think I shall say finally that unlike everyone else, not a fan of Dee. I got Dee because it sounded so interesting--because I love Victoriana, and libraries, and science above all. And I honestly like the smell, to a degree--it's dusty and murky, smoky with a hint of leather. It smells like men's cologne, a little gritty, floral, dry as a bone. Unfortunately, it has a powdery floral quality and the edge of the smoke gives me an instant headache. I don't do swaps yet but would like to with this. Will not be wearing it again, unfortunately. Ah well! Fare thee well, my dear John Dee!