sqwook

Meliai is not what I expected… I was thinking it would be something sweet, soft, with smooth honey, and if anything, would fade away and be pleasant enough but non-descript. It is not any of these things. In real life, Meliai is an extremely bright loud green scent, almost astringent, with something like pine or sour lemon in it. I tried it twice since I thought my expectation was coloring my opinion of it too much. After all, I *love* green scents, and pine, and lemon, and herbs, and trees; sometimes it just helps to be expecting them. But alas, this is too … something … for me. Might be better on a guy?

Wet: OMG love bright green-golden with blossoms - beautiful Dry: Stays a bright yellow with tinge of green & hint of yellow floral when dry. I do wish it stayed stronger longer, but even still, it's so pretty. The scents this reminds me of is seriously like a who's who of my top favorites of all time: Yggdrasil, Sunflower, Embalming Fluid, Litha06, Et Lux Fuit, Mag Mell... The only thing I'm trying to figure out is do I need a bottle since I already *have* all those, or do I need a bottle *because* clearly I love this type of thing. <3

I have totally been craving this too! Some ones I like: Garden Path with Chickens Little Bird - available now! You should try this! Rosalind Orpheus - more grassy than floral but very very green And less the new-grass-spring-meadow-with-flowers but in a similar sunny outdoorsy theme: Sunflower - this is more meadow in summer sunshine, seriously great Antony Apothecary Mag Mell Yggdrasil possibly

I love this scent! Green, and light springy flowers, and a zingy warmth of berries. And, unfortunately, (and I don't think I have ever had to write this about any other scent among the hundreds of bpals I've tried) it completely faded away on me within an hour. I'll retry, because.... it's just so odd; this has never happened before.

Couple ideas: BPAL forum top ten list from 2009 or 2008 Maybe a theme scent, like if you know she likes Alice in Wonderland, something from that category? Maybe an imp pack, so there's more a range she can try? There's a massive Best-Bet Must-Try enabling thread with lots of good ideas, and, later on in the thread, a specific discussion of what newbies would like vs what you "grow into" It would be interesting to know if there's some scents that maybe not everybody LOVES, but nobody HATES. Maybe Fairy Market?

Mag Mell for spring! I love it.

Mag Mell has a wonderful brightness to it. I love it for its lightly sweet zing!

Hi! Do you know for sure it's the almond that caused the reaction? Eclipse also has cinnamon, and many people's skin reacts poorly to cinnamon. Either way, if you confirm what caused the reaction, before you buy scents from the lab you could also ask the lab about any scents you're concerned about - tell them you're allergic to almond & ask if a particular scent you'd like to buy includes it or not. Recs: I find that sometimes almond scent smells like cherries, so maybe you could check out things that have cherry as a note? I wonder if Black Phoenix has almond in it (the notes aren't listed but I got an almond vibe from it). Dana O'Shee smelled like light almond on me and doesn't list almond as a note.

My favorite that lists balsam among the notes is Faunalia - it's pretty awesome!

Sweet! I mean, the updated list. Not the demise of Loviatar.

For me, Eden & Snake Oil.

You might think that with a name like Flora, she'd smell devastatingly flowery, and that is just absolutely not the case here. Flora is a beautiful fruity-floral, with everything well-blended so that nothing dominates. I feel like the the wet fruits may be a hint of peaches, perhaps. But I think it's the Egyptian musk and sandalwood that's really making this such a knockout. It reminds me of Bastet without the almond. Really amazing, warm, and luxurious. ETA: My favorite out of the entire District!

Try Mag Mell - it's wonderful! (Is it even floral? um... well, if it's not, then forgive me...) I really like Maiden for hot weather and I don't get rose from it at all - I cannot wear rose. And Yvaine is always mentioned when the world ethereal comes up, so I'll put that out there now. Bat-Woman would be beautiful if you can find it. Fairy Market might be another good option, much sweeter though.

I love Yggdrasil - though it's less pine-y than Black Forest. Nero is another one to try - let it dry down before deciding because I found it kinda weird when wet. Loup Garou Nephilim (oddly) smelled like pine sap on me, so maybe it's worth a try. Also, do you think you like lighter musks instead of "black"? If a lighter scent might work, I love Faunalia and Fascinum - and I feel they hold their brightness well. I found Golden Priapus too vanilla-y, but many love it. And Antony is more field than forest but really wonderful. And an anti-rec: The juniper is Wings of Azrael fades away even QUICKER than black forest - perhaps nice enough in its own right but like you I was looking for more woodsiness. Also check out the forests thread for a fabulous source of (way too many) ideas.

Crib Girls!

Lemony-honey at first, though a rich, warm lemon - like smooth delicious lemon bars. Over time the lemonyness fades away, leaving a really nice honey scent that stays close to the skin. This is really nice. It reminds me a bit of Cairo.

Haven't tried this one either, but I hate seeing people not get suggestions! A search of the forum turned up only one comparison: La Mort Qui Danse. It's definitely peppery, and I also got a light floral and something slightly green, and it's very unique (translation: you may hate it ). Have you tried that one yet? Has anything you've tried come close, except "xyz"?

I haven't smelled the perfume you're asking about, but the notes list makes me think of Belle Vinu, Les Bijoux, The Temptation, Loralei, Rozpustnica... Or if it's more green, maybe Sunflower, The Unicorn, or Orpheus might have a similar feel.

On me, this smells much like The Snow Maiden - pine, perhaps cinnamon, floral, but better than all of that - as I said in my review of TSM, like Christmas & the first of spring all rolled into one. I don't mind the similarity - I think it'll "enable" me to get a bottle of each without feeling like I'm hoarding. I love this.

The Emathides is definitely one I hadn't thought of - thanks, Ahania! If anyone else has ideas too, let me know!

In the bottle: Sweet, slightly fruity (fresh ripe apricots) On me: Light, sweet, smooth. Completely blending together into a fruity honey over a warm sandalwood. There are no hard edges at all - the patchouli, pepper, and anything else that might have made this a "spicy" scent are simply lending depth, not overpowering it. Really beautiful. As I wear this, I start to recognize the sandalwood, as a grounding wonderful almost-spicy base. Oh, I bet this would be simply amazing on a sultry summer day. Note for rose-haters or ampers: I am generally too. Do not shy away from Copper Phoenix - I get no rose here so far. If you like this, you may also like: Belle Vinu, Hetairae, Hermia, Pepper, and perhaps All in a Golden Afternoon UPDATE: Okay, when dry for about 3hours plus, this is really just fantastic. It is much more rich & complex than the others I'm testing it against (Belle Vinu, Hetairae, & Hermia) - in fact it loses its resemblance to them - and it's just resinous, slightly peppery, soft, warm, and amazing, kind of the way Inez gets that warm spicy soft scent after several hours. Hmm... to bottle or not to bottle?

Hi! Have you tried any BPAL scents on your search yet, which ones, & what did you think? In particular, did you try BPALs Snow-Flakes and what did you think? It doesn't have pine, juniper, food, cider, or trees. But it does have vanilla I think, which might go foody on you. Other good ideas might be Ultraviolet, Yvaine, Bat-Woman (now discontinued unfortunately but may be possible to still find), Sea of Glass. Good luck!

In the bottle: Foody- Nuts and sweet fruity honey On me: The wallop of nut scent dries away to an oat-nut-berry scent. Sweet and cozy, creamy, comforting. If you like this you may like: Eden, which adds a green-ness (but DO NOT try them side by side like I did. Eden, which I love, turns into a green astringent mess next to Sleipnir somehow. )

In the bottle: Weirdly foody. (I say weirdly because with these notes, that surprised the heck out of me! Also because I was a bit disappointed, as I don't generally go for the foody ones.) Caramelly vanilla nag champa. On me: Warm sweet maple-syrupy. Almost cake-like. A slight hint of musk & incense grounding it. I've read all the reviews, and I think what's happening is that everyone who would love this scent hasn't tried it because of the listed notes, and everyone who loves the notes is flummoxed by how foody it manages to be. We need to get the people who *would* love this to actually try it!

Red fruity candy!