cinderfallen

I think I like black musk--it always strikes me as clean skin, I think. I think I need to more aggresively try more things with musk in it, as my skin LOVES them, and my nose loves them, too! I really love the white musk in Dorian. There's a couple in there, but one of them is the exact same "crystalline" musk I adore in Ice Queen. The other white musk is the very one I love in Queen Mab. So...basically, I love musk.

Apparently, I amp litsea cubeba, AKA the lemon flower aka May Chang from Carnaval Diabolique, because that's mostly what I get from this scent. LOTS of a spicy, herbacious, sharp lemon...which turns into a slightly softer and sweeter herbacious lemon. And maybe something slightly resinous underneath. But mostly, this smells like Carnaval Diabolique before the musk, tuberose, opium--basically, the rest of the notes kick in. Maybe I'll try this again another time.... Tried again--oh, this is nice. Lots of resinous musk coming through, reminescent of The Lion, with spicy saffron that works very well with the sharp brightness of the litsea cubeba. The cedar just offers a hint of golden wood quality, smooth and harmonious with the resins. I'm pretty sure I am loving the golden musk the most, and the rest I could take or leave. But yes, herbacious lemon flower, sappy green notes, grounded by resins, with a diffused "furry" and golden musk. Still too spicy for me as saffron takes the front stage and *then* it's the lemon flower. (Don't be afraid of the cedar. I've found that when people say they smell "cedar" or "hamster cage" they are really referring to red sandalwood!) On the other hand, it makes the Carnaval Diabolique I have on my other wrist smell mostly of sweet flowers and vanilla in contrast! The blast of lemon flower knocked my nose right out for the comparatively softer lemon in CD!

Can you not report it, and can the mods NOT move it, actually. It was a natural digression and it makes more sense to spread information instead of locking away and merging conversations into a specific place that's hard to find. It makes conversation way too stilted and is bad for the forum. Back on topic: Reynardine--that sucks about your brother and his wife. =/ I'd say just buy your in-law a department store perfume and "impress" them with your "good taste" in a way that fits their worldview. THEN you can start the enabling in earnest. =)

I think the forum FAQ was copied from the website, and then the website FAQ was revised to reflect accuracy. Nothing has been changed to the formulas.

A lot of essential oils are not skin-safe, so they must diluted in a carrier oil before they can be applied as perfume. Some are also highly concentrated and pungent and just wouldn't smell very nice unless it's at a proper dilution. No responsible perfumer would offer 100% undiluted essential oil perfumes.

Oooh, Noche Buena sounds good. It's funny because I don't even remember that blend--my eyes just glance right over. Looking at it now is like, whoa! Sounds interesting! Privilege wasn't really a tuberose blend. It was really light and my chemistry did funky things with it, sigh. And the tuberose, osmanthus, honey musk sounds very much like it would be a Salon blend if it ever came out... I can only hope.

Well, what does it smell like to you?

My first thought was Tamora: 'Amber, heliotrope, golden sandalwood, peach blossom and vanilla bean' - no musk, but many other notes in common. I've never tried Burberry for comparison, however, so that could be well off! I don't know if this is the one, but one of the Burberry scents REALLY remind me of Morocco, but with all those notes like sandalwood, amber, and musk, I think your sister would enjoy Morocco anyway.

UGH. TONS of hazelnut and caramel and other bloated-sweet things, mostly nuts. It lingered in my nose for hours after I tried to wash it off.

I absolutely love this blend. This is even better than Snow-Flakes! Haha, well. I say this probably because that and Winter Chrysanthemums have a lot in common. WC is not as aquatic and slushy as Snow-Flakes is, and is more subdued. It reminds me of late afternoon light cast on an expanse of powdery snow. It's the scent of cold air and a frigid water source full of sweet water. It's perfect. At first the mint is prominent, but that's just wet and doesn't linger long. As it dries down, it becomes the glistening quality of ice crystals forming on frozen flower petals. There is no heaviness to this blend at all, and not even any of a real floral aspect. The chrysanthemums are slightly spicy, and make only the suggestion of flower petals--not a true "floral" perfume at all. The amber--what kind of amber is this that can remain so translucent and delicate? It feels like a delicate ice floe supporting the rest of the notes. I absolutely love When the Winter Chrysanthemums Go. I love it especially when I don't want to broadcast the fresness of Snow-Flakes. It is a distant cousin to Snow White with the snow note, as many of the Yule line is related to each other. This is in my top 10 scents of all time, for sure. Unique. I usually can't do aquatics like Sea of Glass, Lady of Shalott, etc., but the Yule slush note is different. I love them!

In Winter In My Room reminds me so much of Aizen-Myoo when I first apply it! It's not nearly as piercingly citrus, but very smooth and sweet, but it totally smells like the almost buttery-sweet Asian persimmon (kaki) and yuzu blend in Aizen-Myoo. Then the peony pops its head out, so it's a bit more floral-astringent. I don't think people should be afraid at all of the "tropical flowers" because the tuberose is very well behaved here (sadly--I LOVE tuberose) and it only serves to give luscious body to the blend. I think it's the violet leaf that's giving a bit of the "fuzzy" quality to the top, and then the pikaki kicks in a bit, with its slightly waxy tropical feel. The tonka mellows everything out, creams it, so nothing is high-pitched, and the frankincense only serves to restrain and mellow out the scent. Sweet and slightly tart, it's a softened Aizen-Myoo with a gentle flurry of waxy-sweet flower petals. It reminds me more of the Asian blends than the outright tropical Tikis. It's actually shot up to become one of my all-time favorite BPAL blends. (My other favorite is Tiki Queen.)

In the bottle, I can see how someone could draw a likeness to Black Lace. There's something reminescent of the cognac/cologne type scent that I smelled in Black Lace, though the comparison doesn't wash when actually applied. I can tell this is one of those blends that will turn really stunning when it ages, due to the harshness of patchouli when I first smell my arm. When that adds to this blend? Oh man. It turns into a milky spiced tea, comforting. I can see why people like it so much. It reminds me of Bakeneko--not the exact scent, but spices. Tea. Comfortingness. I didn't like either particularly, but it seems that trends don't lie.

Oh man, Dreamland sounds PERFECT! I'm definitly putting out an ISO.... I hope I can find a bottle!

Haha, that's already a bottle! =) I absolutely loved it at Will Call. So pretty, isn't it?

WHOA! Blast from the past! I made my first BPAL order after angsting for months, with Ingenue first on my list--the day it was announced that it was going to be discontinued. It was the scent I was the most excited about, and I've kept my imp around for nostalgic reasons, and decided to revisit it. I guess I got one of the very last imps, but I am just so surprised by the date! '04! Geez, does that mean my 6th BPAL anniversary is coming up? But Ingenue is quite a charming scent. It reminds me of the low-key prettiness of the Salons or the Retail scents. Clover and melon is the first to bloom, then the sugared violets and "wooden notes" which are very subtle and smooth. It's also the very soft, young, creamy rose that doesn't go sharp on my skin. Overall, this is a sugared blend, with a flower-petal softness at the core. Almost aquatic. Reminds me of Impressionistic paintings of water lilies, done in soft blues and greens. It's too soft and delicate for my personality, actually, but it smells pretty nice. For someone who wears cardigans and pastels and pearls.

Pele is what you're describing to me. =)

Mhmmm, tuberose! Gardena, tuberose, and lots of something spicy--spicer than cinammon, perhaps cassia? More like the bark than baking cinammon. The combination lays lightly on my skin, with those three notes balancing each other out. The gardenia is a lush, cream floral, which is encased by the cooler, waxier tuberose, and the whole thing restrained by the spice. Really interesting, though I need to learn not to stick my nose right at the application site on my arm as my nose hurts from breathing the cinammon bark fumes! LOL. ETA to say: lab-fresh imp!

#1 Tip: REMEMBER TO SHAKE YOUR BOTTLE. The benzoin sinks into the bottom of the bottle and makes for a completely different scent if unmixed. This goes on exactly--and quite unpleasantly--like pink bubblegum. Then it tames itself into something sharper, a little citrus, and slight sweetness from the pear, and a little salty tang from the ambergris before I get the slight creaminess from the benzoin. I agree with what others have said--this reminds me of of the slightly herbal-vanilla of American Cream with a slight citrus tang.

At first, it smelled like Eat Me without the currants/raspberry glaze. Then it turned into Snake Oil and I guess Doc Constantine + a little cream cheese frosting, that vanilla powdery-tangy subtle sweetness...plus some dirt. I get the same earthy scent as I did with Beaver'versary, except this time it's not taking over, thankfully--it eventually dries down. I think there's a slight bit of--cassia? in this? I guess to simulate the cream cheese frosting, but I tend to amp spices and while the spice isn't apparent, the fume hurts my nose a bit. Mostly earthy, a deep vanilla, chocolate cake combo with something spicy/sour/creamy tickling my nose at the top. More like raw cake dough than anything else. It's...all right, but either the blend itself is kind of wonky or it's not playing super well with my chemistry. I think it'd get better with aging, but at this point, I wish I just had a bottle of Eat Me instead.

For anyone who missed out on Ingenue, try Nocturne. They have the same feel. Edit to note that this is when Nocturne is on wet. On drydown, Nocturne is darker.

It's a rush of magnolia, extremely lush and fragrant, and then the more powdery-flat jasmine coming up behind to counter it. I was really disappointed they're so evenly matched because I really wanted a more pure magnolia scent. The amber grounds this, but that amazing white floral haze gets flat within half an hour, and I really think it might be the rose causing something to smelly powdery--as if that it was meant to, actually, but it dates the perfume to something like a costume scent, or one meant for more mature women.

This smells like a traditional perfume in the best way. It smells expensive like a rich, red brocade. At first it's a hit of all red musk, and it's here I get "CRUNCHY GRANOLA HIPPIES" like I do from Scheherazde. But from there, the musk calms, and the amber and the roses step forward--roses I can wear? It's gorgeous in this phase, when it's not a slap in the face with the red musk, but big red roses with a base of amber and musk, uplifting the flowers. Oh, and there go the roses, sharp sharp sharp. Ahh well, pretty while it lasted.

I loved this the first hour, when it was balanced between the smoke and leather and under that, very pretty hint of creamy flowers, but eventually, the leather began to dominate everything else. But while it held that balance, this was a really evocative scent--sexy, dangerous, tough--all of it. A really great concept blend that felt like wearing a piece of Liz costume.

First off, this is STRONG. Wow strong. I did a couple imp swipes on my wrists and forearms and everyone could smell me coming. Resins love me, but this is serious freakin' adulation. I like this blend for not being so heavy, despite the gingerbread comments. The almost citrus aspect of the spicy gingers ward off the heavy bakery connotations, so it doesn't feel like I smeared buttery pasteries all over myself. But yeap, reminds me of pumpkin spice lattes and fall! This smells like all the stuff you add to pumpkin to make a pie. Perfect for Halloween! =)

The Girl shares the same "opaline" white amber/vanilla note from To Helen, sweet and almost a little ozone-y vanilla--may it have the lightest, *lightest* touch of anise?, and it spins off into very subtle florals. On the crooks of my elbows, it stays mostly like this. However, on my wrists, where it evaporates faster, I get a lot more birch, and the delicate notes settle themselves into a warm aura of vanilla musk with a pale pink tinge, which reminds me of Bath and Body Works' "exotic amber" blends. I get no floral notes. It kind of reminds me of a cross between Morocco and To Helen. Very mainstream scent, nice--gentle, soothing, and calming. Lasts all day and then some on the crooks of my elbows.