Aldercy

Okay.... I will come back and edit this into a real review in a day or so, but-- just to vent my excitement-- I bought a decant of Nonae Caprotina and also got the empty bottle. When I opened my package today and pulled out said empty bottle, I caught a whiff of the scent, and... Mother of God, I'm already in love. This is one of the most unique scents imaginable. If my skin chemistry destroys this, I will literally cry. Alright, two days later after I've calmed down: Veeery interesting. This is the most bizarre perfume, but rarity is not the only thing that makes it good. It was a little sour for about two minutes when I first applied and I was crossing my fingers and gritting my teeth, hoping it wouldn't stay that way. It was a little like cheese and straw for a second there. It has now, very quickly, started behaving. Soothing, natural milkiness that is just really breathtaking. I imagine soft grasses and oatmeal in the background of the goat's milk. It's a bit buttery, but not strongly foody or sweet. The fig (fleshy, rich, warm fig) is there in a supporting role. I can't say that I can pick out the myrrh, but there's a slight darkness to the overall scent that really grounds it. Nonae Caprotina is a super earthy and humble scent-- if you're all about glamour you pretty much already knew this wasn't for you. Also, a little goes a long way-- the scent is a clingy one and doesn't have a far throw, but I definitely don't want to overwhelm myself with it or it threatens me with that cheesy straw foolishness again. This is largely a dabbing scent, so it'll probably last me forever, but I still almost certainly need a bottle.

I'm sorry. When you brought it up I became all enthralled myself. I might get a Snape Six Pack too! lol. Me three! I love Snape to an almost embarrassing degree. I think Les Infortunes de la Vertu strikes me as more Lucius Malfoy than Snape (it's a little too refined to be Snapish, but that's only my take), but so many of these are great suggestions. I foresee a Snape six-pack in my future. Oh, and Aldercy, I LOVE that you included the Shivering Boy, because yes. Re: Les Infortunes de la Vertu. True that. Rose and "French florals" probably do belong on someone more aristocratic and deliberately fashionable. So good call. But it still strikes me as a "Slytherin" scent. Re: The Shivering Boy. Yay! That one kind of came a little out of left field, so I'm glad someone liked it. And, yes! I think "House Elves" was what I was trying to go for with my vague White Rabbit/"morning at Hogwarts" association, but you expressed it better.

I'm sorry. When you brought it up I became all enthralled myself. I might get a Snape Six Pack too! lol.

Okay, I'm about to reveal the full extent of my insanity here. (I heart Snape, too). A fair amount of these are LEs, and I've only personally tried about half, so some may just sound good... The Winter of Our Discontent: balsam, dark myrrh, mandarin orange, bitter clove, artemesia, rosewood, nutmeg, dark musk, smoke and cypress. Laudanum: nutmeg, sassafras, black poppy and myrrh. Old Moon: snow, evergreen, juniper, winterberry holly, bayberry, Viking black chokeberry, hemlock, yew, and lunar herbs and flowers. The Apothecary: tea leaf with three mosses, green grass, a medley of herbal notes, and a drop of ginger and fig. Bat: dusty amber, grey musk, red orchid, moonflower, night-blooming phlox, stock, honeysuckle, English ivy, toadflax, and purple salvia. Okay, I mostly chose that for the name. The Contract of Theophilus of Adana: parchment, Siamese benzoin, infernal incense, black musk, brimstone and daemonorops. Hellfire: a swirl of pipe tobacco, hot leather, ambergris, dark musk and lingering incense smoke. Chant d'Automne: dried leaves, charred wood, blood musk, amber, kus and Nicotiana tabacum. The Shivering Boy: frozen, dormant vineyards, bitter sleet, and piercing ozone, hurled through labdanum, benzoin, and olibanum. Casanova: a rakish blend of leather, anise, lavender, bergamot and amber with tonka, lemon peel and lusty patchouli. Definitely anise. For serious. The Robotic Scarab: polished metallic notes, glossy leather, frankincense, star anise and thin oils. November: autumn leaves damp beneath the first snowfall. The Black Tower: chill wind, white bone and blackened steel: white sandalwood, ambergris, wet ozone, galbanum and leather with ebony, teak, burnt grasses, English ivy and a hint of red wine. Hexennact: German fir, forest herbs, incense, bonfire smoke, infernal flora, glowing amber and skin musk. Les Infortunes de la Vertu: leather, oakmoss, orange blossom, amber, rose, French florals and a hint of austere monastic penitential incense. Black Annis: cave lichen, oak leaf, vetiver, civet and anise. There's a Certain Slant of Light: tinny ozone, frankincense, white sandalwood, white amber, hyssop, bitter violet leaf and smoke. Dracul: black musk, tobacco, fir, Balsam of Peru, cumin, bitter clove, crushed mint, and orange blossom. and, obviously... Severin: dry black teas, Earl Gray, and leather. Also, I found this thread in Suggestions. It's Harry Potter speculation in general, so it relates to this whole topic. Lots of thoughts on what perfumes suit what. Not that I necessarily think they should be merged.

Butterbeer at the Three Broomsticks. And, yes, that is a great suggestion. Actually, I second all your suggestions. It's hard to recommend scents since I have no idea what may or may not be to your (or your swap partner's) taste scent-wise, but here's some thoughts. I will also keep to the General Catalogue to make things easy on you (but if you wind up addicted to BPAL yourself, there's probably a ton of other suitable things that will merely be a little harder to come-by). Schrodinger's Cat: tangerine, sugared lime, pink grapefruit, oakmoss, lavender, zdravetz and chocolate peppermint. This just makes me think of Honeyduke's. It's so chaotic and sparkly and full of sweets. Wrath: dragon's blood resin, black pepper, clove and cinnamon. Dragon battle in the Triwizard Tournament? Dragon's blood resin always screams magic to me, but not everyone loves it. Jester: huckleberry, red currant and neroli. Weasley's Wizard Wheezes or something like that. Fun and buoyant. Though I really should have tried to find something with gunpowder thrown in. Serpents with Glittering Eyes and Forky Tongues: green herbs, red currant, lemon rind, green musk, lime and skakeskin. This scent should be called Parseltongue. Phoenix Steamworks: burnished gold and bronze, Abramelian incense and sage. Sounds like cauldrons, embers and herbs to me. Seems very antique and wizardy. Horreur Sympathique: blood musk, honey, black wine, champagne grapes, tobacco flower, plum blossom, tonka bean, oakmoss, carnation, benzoin, opoponax and sugar cane. Brings to mind the spoiled, dark decadence of Grimmauld Place. Seems to have an "old money," Death Eater feel to it. The Lion: golden amber and spice. Good (though obvious) alternate suggestion for Gryffindor. But, really, it's bravery in a bottle. The White Rabbit: black tea, milk, white pepper, ginger, honey, vanilla and clean linen. Just feels like a morning at Hogwarts. Sounds very English. The Witch's Garden: morning glory vines, rampion, carrot, parsley, monkshood, hemlock, elfwort, sage, wormwood and mandrake. Many great potions ingredients in there. Plus it reminds me of the Burrow. It's a little more floral than it sounds and it's what I imagine when Harry smells the Amortentia and senses "something flowery that he thought he might have smelled at the Burrow" (which is really Ginny). Um, that's all for now, but I could probably waste a ton of time thinking about this.

Oh hai toothpaste! Pennyroyal doesn't seem to be the friendliest of mints on me, which sucks. I was hoping for spearmint/lavender/musk awesomosity from Mad Hatter, but I do not think it is to be. My left eye socket is threatening migraine... this may be one of the few BPALs that triggers a headache. Definite toothpaste, very chalky with a baking soda streak. There's also a kind of powdered rubber gloves thing going on. Dentist's office in a bottle, so far. But let's see... 20 minutes and Mad Hatter is decidedly smoother and sweeter. The mint is still pretty wacky, but it's a a bit silkier, perhaps even tempered by a little vanilla. No citrus, no lavender. The musk has made a shy appearance, but it's not the pungent dark musk I suspected. It's so gauzy and cloudy. Faint but intoxicating. The scent is still pretty medical though. Maybe now it belongs in a sexy dentist's office. Oh, sadface. Mad Hatter rallies some toward the end, and I can recognize some of its merits, but I can't imagine this working on me. The off-putting introductory notes and the threat of headache are relegating this to the swap drawer.

Ooh, not what I was expecting. Much darker. Crimson Christmas is very smoky (hearty smoke from sap-soaked logs) with sooty, spicy undertones. I also get the gore! This is very realistic blood-- hot, coppery, with only a little bit of tart fruitiness (a little like pomegranate, a little like the berry note I get in Old Moon, and a little like cherry). The... texture... of this scent is quite rough. It's full of sparks and sharp, sudden hooks that lead off in different scent directions. I get no mint, slush or ozone whatsoever! Strange. I was hoping for a little peppermint. I'm going to try this in about three or four days (it's a stupid time of the month to test oils), and see how things go. I kind of feel like I like this one despite myself. It's very weird though. Two weeks later: Oh, this has improved some. It's fruitier and fuller. It's still very smoky (a little vetiver streak perhaps? I normally run like mad from vetiver, but I think it's okay) and rough. Somewhat masculine, but good. This is definitely a fall or winter scent. I like it, but I still have to say I'm glad I didn't spring for a 5ml unsniffed. (Also: it's shockingly stubborn-- I just took a long, hot shower and I'm still catching little whiffs of it!)

Baku is by far the most anisey/liquoricey oil I've ever tried. It's what made me start looking for it in other blends. It probably varies from person to person (many do get lavender from Baku, I got none), but if you love anise, you must try it. It was almost entirely gnarly, shadowy, excruciatingly beautiful liquorice on me. Kabuki is wonderful, but I think it is mostly dominated by cherry. Huesos de Santo is even better (the anise is soft, but in a good way). I only get a little of it from Absinthe (but that was probably a case of my skin blowing lemon out of proportion). Also, there's fennel in Lilith Victoria, Proshitapathika and Virgo 2007, but I haven't tried them. So yeah. Anise. P.S. Why do I always get red lines under "liquorice"? For heaven's sake, isn't that how it's spelled?

I love dragon's blood resin and continually test blends, but it's so strong that I'm starting to feel like they're all too similar. So I was searching for a really dark dragon's blood scent to mix things up, and thought Dragon's Heart would be spot on, but it's only slightly less bright than Blood Amber, I find. So there's nothing wrong with the oil in and of itself. It's sexy, juicy and full-bodied. It's fine wine. It's just not what I was hoping for. I don't get a whole lot of musk-- or maybe it's just very well blended. But I do notice the black currant. I'm beginning to worry that currant is not my friend because I get a very faint burnt plastic thing in here that I also got from Eat Me. It's not enough to destroy the overall lushness of the perfume, and if black currant doesn't do that to you, no worries. Moderately yummy. But the search continues.

Have you tried White Rabbit? White Rabbit (Mad Tea Party) - Strong black tea and milk with white pepper, ginger, honey and vanilla, spilled over the crisp scent of clean linen. The opening stages are different on me (White Rabbit is sweeter initially, Ichabod is more floral/lily), but the dry-down is nearly identical. For a slightly different but still similar vibe, you might give The Sea Foams Milk a whirl: The Sea Foams Milk (Marchen) - Milk cresting on an ocean wave. It's less sweet and more clean than White Rabbit or Ichabod Crane, and it lacks their spiciness, but the milk note is a common thread that gives them a similar feel. I have tried White Rabbit, and sometimes it smelled like laundry and sometimes much worse, unfortunately. I mean-- tea, milk, pepper, ginger instead of lily, honey instead of beeswax, and linen instead of wool? It should have been perfect, but it was evil. Alas. I think I'll look into The Sea Foams Milk, though. I wouldn't have thought of that one. Thank you for the suggestions!

Anyone know anything really close to Ichabod Crane? Anubis has a similar quality, but it's just not quite there.

Sandy shores and sweet fresh water, lichen, green algae, and whitestem pondweed, with benzoin, cyclamen, moonlit musk, cucumber, blue poppy, and agave. Hm, lots of cold green lake water, something like honeydew, silky aquatic weeds, and swirls of slightly bitter, musky silt. Just a tiny bit of floral/herbaceous sweetness. Interesting. Surprisingly, it feels like a close cousin of Y'ha-nthlei (which I love), despite the wide disparity in notes. I count this as an aquatic success for my skin because it's not soapy ozone dryer sheets of death.

I don't think women are instinctively, naturally better at picking out notes, it's probably just that (in general) they're more familiar with scents from all the lotion/candles/bubble bath they've been exposed to their whole lives. Like walking into a paint store, a typical man might say "I need a sort of off-white," while a typical woman might say "I need something between eggshell and ivory, but not too much like ecru." It's not that men don't know smells (or colors), it's just that women more often know and care about the names. Though I got into a car with way too much Dragon's Milk on one day and my dad was like "do you smell vanilla?" immediately. I was impressed. I don't think he knows what dragon's blood resin is, but he picked out the vanilla. lol. Anyway, back to the topic at hand: The Lion and Morocco seem to turn heads/inspire conversation. I've never had a stranger say "Holy crap, you smell great," or anything, but I feel like dusky, spicy, exotic scents like that (and Snake Oil) seem to be particularly attractive to men. Perhaps just because they're stronger than, say, a light floral. Or more unusual.

Imp exploded in my face when I opened it (cap was a little tight, applied too much force, cap went flying, spray of oil all over)-- that's never happened before. Anyway, all over my face is not where I want Kathmandu. Turns out I don't think this is really my type of scent. Serious, elderly cedar (perhaps a whole forest of it) with dusty, pale whorls of smoke, musty woods, and something burnished and metallic... like a slightly sour bronze. Not bad conceptually, but I feel like I'm dragging a novelty tapestry/incense/Buddhist statuary store around with me. It doesn't smell like a scent for a person, you know? Reminds me of a heavier, cedary version of Hay Moon, surprisingly. At least on my skin. Later: So, I went out to my vegetable garden and mucked around weeding and pulling radishes. Something about the addition of fresh air, sun, heat (and a dash of sweat?) made Kathmandu smell significantly better (much the same, just richer, mellower, sexier). The strangest variables sometimes seem to affect oils, and this is not the first I've come across that changes with a rush of extra warmth.

Rosewood and chamomile with bergamot, violet, red sandalwood, primrose and Arabian musk. Spiced rose, in a nutshell (not literally; nothing nutty about Libertine). Every once in awhile I convince myself to try a blend with a note I hate just to make sure I haven't stopped hating it. So Libertine was an experiment in rose and rosewood. Sadly, rose still has the potential to be my nemesis, but this oil is not particularly heinous. Libertine is a honeyed, slightly peppery, almost sandy rose scent, and I like the roughness of the red sandalwood. At first it was a little masculine (in an ornate, foppish way), stale (like musty velvet), and old-people-esque, but it lost almost all of that within ten minutes. Still old-fashioned and shamelessly opulent, but in a graceful, more aristocratic way. It's definitely 18th century and it's definitely well-off. It's powdered wigs and mahogany divans. I feel like I should be sitting (statuesquely coiffed and straight-laced) in Sir What's-His-Face Dalrymple-Thimblethorpe's grand parlour, playing whist and yawning because the Archduke's card parties are always sooo much more interesting and fashionable. Yeah, like that. So... not an automatic reject! That's somewhat of a victory in the rose department. I'll play around with it when I'm in the appropriate mood.

A good aquatic does grace me with its presence once in awhile-- I was worried this would be bland ozone/dryer sheets on me, but the chemistry seems to mesh this time. A certain aura of soapiness disappears within a minute or so, and the whole blend really richens up. I've been curious about ambergris for awhile, but my only other encounter with it was in Antony (where it is unfortunately smothered under half a dozen other-- perfectly good-- notes). Verdict: I quite enjoy it in Y'ha-nthlei. It's definitely somewhat animalistic and alien (with a kelpy, deep muddy something that is nevertheless striking and bizarrely fresh)... I've got my fingers crossed it will remain pleasant and musky and not mutate into anything weirder. And the bergamot is a clever addition; it makes everything a little more buoyant. The connotations of this scent are very... amphibian... to me (but in a good way). It's a streamlined, murky turquoise, stormy sort of scent. Androgynous, sophisticated and a little dangerous. Not like anything else, and very nice.

Wood notes (blackly sweet), dry evergreen, and a tinge of musky ozone/slush. Possibly masculine (some note keeps reminding me distantly of Calico Jack), but kind of ambiguous. Ochosi doesn't seem heavily herbal to me, and I don't smell much shea-- it's more water, incense, and northern forests. It's so fascinating to me that many people have found this oil creamy-tropical. Go figure. It feels very ancient to me... an ice age sort of scent (yay Cro Magnon perfume). I like it.

The Dark Side of Water: clean and purifying, yet menacing -- lotus and juniper with a hint of mint. A scent dragged up from the depths to the Stygian shore. I sometimes get one incontrovertible image in my mind that I just can't shake on first sniff of a scent. For Undertow it is, unexpectedly: amusement park at dusk. Um... why? If I force myself to dissect this impression, I think it's the fault of the juniper berry for smelling very much like the sky blue, huckleberry ice cream we, as kids, always bought right before the park closed. Logically, this oil should not smell like amusement-park-at-dusk, but you can't argue your way out of those childhood scent/taste memories. Anyway, other than that, Undertow has some lotus, but no mint that I can find. There's some strange airy notes that sweep in and out and a pale whiff of watermelon bubblegum. Not a dark watery scent to me, and not at all what I expected, but it's kind of fun. Going on a picnic today, so it definitely suits the mood.

Some people mentioned in their reviews of Huesos de Santo that they thought it came off as a different, more orangey version of Eat Me-- and I swoon with endless joy every time I sniff Huesos de Santo-- so I was hoping for a lot from this GC cake scent. Overall, I think I'm a little disappointed in Eat Me, but it had potential nonetheless. There's a slight burnt note that I think manifests for most people as incensey, but it's just a little too harsh on me. Beyond that, it's a thick, hazy bakery/berry scent that is quite complex. Not a bad oil, it's just kind of moody and fickle on me. Odd color, by the way. It's almost olive.

The Host of the Air has a heavy dose of slippery herbal notes (very much like Envy) without too much floral stuff going on. What flowers are detectable are very earthy and unassuming-- I'm really enjoying what I believe might be the sunny, milky scent of dandelion. Some grass and... catnip? Fuzzy new leaves and lush mosses. I'm not swept off my feet, but it's quite nice. It reminds me of one of my favorite herbal tea blends. And for about 15 minutes after application, I get this very unexpected (but pleasant) note that is like nutmeg/mahogany. Like fresh, shredded mahogany (I smelled a handful of sawdust and slivers from a recently poached tree in Belize in December and it was a very memorable smell). That spicy/woodsy scent fades from the perfume fairly quickly, but for awhile it lent some nice depth. EDIT: I find I like Host of the Air more every time I use it. It changes just a tad each time-- sometimes the highly-unlikely-nutmeg hangs around longer, and about every other use, I smell the bluebells. Curiouser and curiouser.

Succulent hyacinths (and a drop of white lilac?) with rich, golden pollen and a crisp, bubbly something... like mineral water. Coarse shards of salt. A touch of tartness. This is a very fine, uplifting scent that is kept from being over-the-top feminine by the sea water note (which is more salty/sandy than ozoney). And overall it has more body that I would have expected. Good stuff. My skin usually amps jasmine, but weirdly I'm getting none of it from Egle. Hm.

Kabuki is completely luscious. It's unreal, explosively red cherries at first, but that quickly quiets to a slow, delicious dribble of ripe cherry that isn't quite so saccharine or girly (though that first stage is actually pretty good). A glaze of licorice sneaks over everything and really polishes things up-- it's smooth... almost glassy or metallic. There's a slight, purple smokiness in the background and even a hint of rustling rice paper/parchment. It's very languid, deep and a little dizzying if used to excess. This reminds me not exactly of Japan, but of the idea of Japan. The Victorian fad of japonisme with ladies admiring imported painted tables and exotic woodblock prints. That's not a bad thing. Overall, I'm charmed.

Dragon's Milk is, as I expected, mostly BPAL's wonderful dragon's blood resin-- super smooth and satiny. This might even be a good stand-in for a single-note perfume if that's what you're looking for. But it does have a lick of creaminess (which contributes more to the overall texture of the scent as opposed to smelling overtly "milky") and a refined, crystalline touch of sugar and maybe benzoin? The effect is honeyish, but not quite like other honey notes I've encountered. This oil is beautifully blended, fairylike and buoyant. It probably surpasses Blood Amber as my new favorite dragon's blood resin blend as it's somewhat more graceful and not quite as strong. P.S. Uploaded Lobster's description of the sort of dragon this evokes is dead on.

Yes, yes, yes. Planting Moon is eerily spot on. I've wanted a good earth scent for a long time and none have worked until now. And I'd hoped for a wonderful tomato leaf note in The Jersey Devil to no avail. But this oil has both, and it is lovely. This is not a stylized, idealized version of a garden at all-- it is so, so naturally wonderful without any embellishment. The sweet earth note is tangy and fertile, and it's probably the most prominent thing going on. It's so real and yet not "dirty" at all. Laid over that is the incredibly distinctive smell of tomato leaf with some delicate mosses/ferns and fuzzy shoots and sprouts.... Watery, bronze sunshine casts some warmth over everything. Planting Moon isn't a striking, sophisticated scent, but it's rustically pretty and so very comforting and healthy. Glorious warm weather scent, and I think it would make anyone wistful for spring if whiffed in the dead of winter. Very glad I purchased this bottle. Freaking masterpiece. P.S. Today I got a very faint "pesto" note from Planting Moon, leading me to theorize that basil might be one of the "sun-warmed herbs" included in here.

All sugary lemon with only the slightest drop of powdery musk. Not a good match for me, I'm afraid. Phobos smells like sticky citrus candy and furniture polish. Alas.