oakmoss

I tried this without going back to read the description and see what notes were in it, so without any preconceptions, my nose first detected a foresty smell in the bottle, rather like Yggdrasil, one of my favorites, with a sandalwood undertone making it slightly spicy. On my skin, the forest scent disappeared -- coming out of the forest and through the door into the abbey itself -- leaving an evocative incense blend with very faint notes of stone and damp. If you love Penitence (and Midnight Mass, and The Pit and the Pendulum) as much as I do, you'll love Carfax Abbey.

Titania and Fae are both lovely, but my favorite peachy scent is Marquise de Merteuil. Don't be afraid of the vetiver -- my skin amps vetiver like crazy and I loathe it, but it's really not present here, except in some magical invisible way that makes the whole thing more potent. This is a sophisticated and beautiful blend.

I was a bit apprehensive about this one on first sniff, as it was quite buttery, and butter amps on me in a particularly horrible way. But I bravely tried it on, and ahhhhh, the butter disappears almost immediately, and what emerges is a soft rose incense, slightly powdery with an undernote of gentle spice and old wood. Gorgeous!

To me, wisteria has a very PURPLE scent, so you might also look on this thread. Even if the wisteria note isn't present, there are scents that have that sweet purple essence -- for example, Morgause or The Raven.

Opening this one in the car in the post office parking lot -- I couldn't remember what the description was, other than I had been looking forward to it. First sniff and my head is blasted backwards from the STRONG caramel-foody smell, wowzer! But since I know better than to buy scents that have nuts or butter listed, I figure this must morph into something I like, so.... dab dab in the closed warm car and WOWZER, it's a nuts and butter extravaganza. Waving my wrist out the car window on the drive home, hoping it will drydown into a scent I can love, but alas, on my skin Cockaigne is like being dipped in a big vat of butter, with some nutty bitterness for good measure. If you like Jack and Gingerbread Poppet, this may be for you.

A lot of people here say they can smell orange in blends that contain orange blossom, so you might do a search for those and see what YOU smell. (I can only smell the blossoms myself.) Moxie is a bright vivid orange scent and might be what you are looking for. Since you like orange, you might also look for scents with peach or apricot, which have a similar sweet-tart thing going. Marquise de Merteuil is particularly nice.

White Light has a lovely scent.

Alice is gently cheering, my first choice for a bad time (other than TAL blends). Other blends I find very comforting include Penitence, Dragon's Milk, Black Opal, Blood Pearl, Obatala, and Chaste Moon, if you can find any. If you like Gingerbread Poppet, you will probably like all or most of the Pumpkin Patch, too.

Besides Honey Moon, the scents that have been the strongest honey on me are Dana O'Shee, Hetairae, Jezebel, La Petit Mort, O, and Sudha Segara.

There actually was a Yule blend called Sugar Cookie. Maybe you can get someone to sell/give/swap you an imp.

One of the new dragon blends, Tanin'iver, is supposed to smell smoky. Also, not an oil, but Femaledictions' Tea Time incense is very autumnal and burning-leafy.

A tart-spicy fruitiness like walking by a roadside fruit stand in autumn, with all the apple varieties side by side with ripe plums and late apricots, and the sun warming the bales of hay stacked in a picturesque way for the real down-home country autumn feel... And then you keep walking and *poof* the scent disappears. The staying power of this blend is very short on me. But it is oh-so-delicious while it lasts!

If your friends find Alice too sweet, perhaps their tastes tend to run to what are often called "perfumey" blends? Something like Zorya, for instance.

In no particular order, these are the ones I remember people loving on first sniff: Prague Alice Obatala Midway (LE) La Bella Donna Della Mia Mente Gypsy Queen (LE) Morgause

Determined to power through some things that have been stacking up and bugging me for WEEKS, I dabbed on some Determination, over my heart chakra. Man oh man, do I hate the vetiver. But like some foul-tasting herbal tinctures, sometimes yumminess is not the point. My focus stayed on point and my energy stayed high, without falling into spaciness or discouragement. This is not a blend that is conducive to quiet thoughtful work, perhaps, as I felt a restless energy that wants to be moving and doing. Next time, though, I think I'll try it on a candle or in a burner, especially since vetiver is very determined to not wash off my skin!

Frumious Bandersnatch! It's fruity and spicy, and I believe some of the reviews compared it to scented candles. I think it's very autumnal, too, if you're getting in that mood.

I skipped this when the bottles were offered because <good reason> foody scents aren't really my thing </good reason> and <dumb reason> I didn't like the name </dumb reason>. But my curiosity got the better of me and I finally bought an imp (thank you, sookster!). On first sniff, all I could smell was vanilla. Warming on my skin, the spiciness came forward to blend with the sweetness, but still it was mostly vanilla. I had a friend smell it and she said it was like Midway, but not so gooey, which I think is a great description. I was also strongly reminded of Antique Lace, though I have NO idea why, as they really don't have anything in common. All in all, I'm glad I have the imp and I'll definitely use it up, but there are so many other vanilla/sandalwood scents that I love that I don't feel deprived for not having a whole bottle of Underpants.

I haven't tried this yet with BPAL scents yet (and I don't really want to go put some vetiver on my fingers to test it! ), but it works for onions, garlic, fish smell, etc., and those are also oils: Just rub your skin with a steel item. Real steel (like on an old knife blade from a sterling silver or silverplate set) seems to work better than stainless steel, but that will probably work too. Instantly removes the scent, in some magical way. Let me know if it works for perfume!

According to Juliet's nurse (and she should know), today is Juliet's birthday! "Come Lammas-eve at night shall she be fourteen" -- or rather, on THIS Lammas-eve she shall be... ummm... 425. So I was going to find my imp of Juliet and wear it in her honor, but lo and behold, a BPAL order appeared and the very first thing I saw when I opened it was a frimp of Juliet! That kind of "coincidence" warrants a bit of a review, for sure. In the imp, this is a strong, sweet floral, like burying your face in a big bunch of fresh sweet peas. It's not a little girl scent, but it is innocent, in the sense of not being cynical yet about love and romance and hot summer nights filled with the scent of blossoms. There is a slight aquatic note that reminds me a bit of swimming pools and suntan oil and memorizing "Romeo and Juliet" when I was 13 and wishing with all my heart that I was Olivia Hussey. On the skin, the musk adds darkness and depth, and the flowers just get more intense, with a very faint hint of the pear somewhere underneath. A suitable scent to evoke a young Italian woman who passionately defied her family for true love one hot summer's night, only to kill herself in despair days later. No, NOT a little girl's scent at all....

Not exactly curry, but maybe some that you will like: Aureus Baghdad (don't be scared off by the rose) Bengal The Lion Ozymandias Sin Sri Lanka Sudha Segara (a bit sweeter than the others, but not TOO sweet)

I suspect he's hopeless. He probably likes the idea of perfume, and when a woman smells like perfume, he thinks that's nice, but he's probably one of those people (many of whom are men!) who can't distinguish scents very well. It's a hunter/gatherer thing, I suspect. (Waiting for Lycanthrope to throttle me. )

Searching for scents that will work in hot weather, I'm reaching for all my fruity favorites. In the bottle, Yerevan is mostly pomegranate and plum, a red-fruit smell, sweet and warm -- maybe a little TOO warm for summer wear. But on the skin, the higher notes of apricot and rose lift and freshen it, and then it all blends together into a perfume that isn't easily picked apart for individual notes anymore. Musk seems to do that on my skin -- it's rather like it smudges everything together like rubbing over a pastel drawing. What's left with Yerevan is a soft fruity-floral, inviting and subtle, and good for year-round wear.

I grew up among the orange groves, so orange blossom/neroli is a favorite of mine, too. I don't get any orange scent from any of BPAL's orange blossom scents, though others seem to, and I wonder sometimes how much this is power of suggestion, which is powerful indeed! I highly recommend Bess, which doesn't start out with orange blossom as the top note (at least for me) but blooms into a passionate orange blossom blend, very evocative. Lolita is orange blossoms lifted and brightened by a bit of lemon verbena. Masquerade is orange blossoms warmed by incense. I also like Succubus, but not as much as these others.

Oh. Oops. What can I say.... it's hot, I'm cranky.

Not too sound too defensive, but I grew up in the desert and my family still lives there, and one big difference between that and what's happening now is that in the desert, you're prepared for it. Homes and businesses are air conditioned or have swamp coolers or both. Here in northern/central coast California, we normally only have a short period of very hot weather and it usually comes in late summer, and we cope just fine. When it's over 105 degrees **inside the house** and no way to cool it (air conditioners are sold out everywhere, with a 2-week waiting list), and people and pets are literally dying, I think it's justified to do a little complaining.