anastasia

On me this is a jaunty scent! It is my first Shunga and I am impressed with the way that it utilises Japan smell lexicon instead of America smell lexicon. This is one of the things that makes international travel utterly disorienting at times. The consensus reality of smell is completely different from one county to another. This fragrance is defintitely a morpher in that it starts with a kind of raw ingredient scent of ginger, red sandalwood and pepper. Among other things it passes for me into a phase that is deliciously and mystifyingly floral - I keep thinking, 'was there some rose in this?' This must be the combination of cyclamen and orange blossom - like no other orange blossom I have known. There is a hint of the taste of Botan Rice candy, a hint of Bee and Flower Sandalwood soap scent, and scents both darker and lighter like a blackened wood spice drawer and a dessert made with lots of sugar and rice. Throughout the experience this smells expensive, like older Japanese gift shops in Seattle's International district. The final drydown is sweetly gourmet and carved sandalwood. Super warm fuzzy! In spite of the name, this seems completely gender neutral. It is snowing where I live but the scent keeps making me feel that it is rainy outside. On me this is a very happy cosy warm indoors in rainy spring kind of smell.

this is very soft and evocative. it reminds me of Beth's Eric sold at Dark Delicacies and also of Sarah from the Vampire series and after i have worn it a while it is like Eric went to live in The Black Tower. The smoke is like smoke from a very low fire - maybe a peat fire... it is soft and blankety on me. like being able to spend a night on the moor on a night warm enough to just lie down and sleep on the ground in your clothes with the fire as a well banked pile of coals maybe slow roasting some potatoes. it makes me think of soldiers in their down time - just keeping watch.

The first red musk to really stand up and talk to me has been Lucy Kissed. And now she is all gone. Any recommendations?

i attempted a search but am duncelike and did not locate this tho I feel certain that it has already been tabled so feel free to direct me if need be. Otherwise, has anyone got any recommendations to replace Lucy, Kissed. I am curious and flexible so similarities and comparisions are welcome!

i am definitely saving up for the end of summer fragrances this coming year. i only got two this year and they are both perfectly evocative. i am not a summer person. fall is my favorite. but this smells like when i was a child and i was standing on the grass in the evening and everyone had gone in and i could feel something slipping away, day into night, warm into cool, presence into isolation. that summer evening slipping away feeling. in a bottle.

i tried this once before and nobody had any responses but i am really looking for something to take the place of Perchta when i run out of it. To me it is a chilly smelling light woodsy floral. heavier would be fine. i love pine but the thing that stands out about Perchta is that the snow/mint is so light. i was thinking maybe Prague? My friend has Cloister Graveyard and the mint is too strong and makes my stomach feel like i am on a car trip with my Gramma and we are chewing Wrigleys....

I love this. This is what I thought hellfire would smell like. The alchoholic qualities seem closer to good cognac than cheap whisky and just add elegance to it without smelling like there was a drink spilled somewhere. The leather is the leather of a really old good leather chair. It is a salty brown leather. The tobacco is complimentary like the liquor smell without taking over. I think this is well balanced, primarily leather and makes my house smell like a victorian man's library - one who only drinks moderately and smokes little but reads a lot and maybe naps in his chair. this is my absolute number one, top favorite black phoenix leather scent.

could someone compare Dee, Aziriphale, and The Buggre Alle This Bible?

I spent a lot of my childhood in backstage settings. Onstage too but sooo much more time is spent backstage than on. This really does smell backstage!!! The kerosene smell is awesome. It is oily and good. There is a bit of a sweet floor polish thing which may be what smells clean to everyone. It is an institutional sweet smell but in a good way. And there is kind of a dusty drape thing too. Not too much dust to this though which is cool because Miskatonic University is almost all mildew and dust on me like rotting choir robes and I was afraid maybe I amp those smells since everyone else got buttery coffee... I think this really does smell like an empty theater. This is kind of woody, neutral, spacious. The resins don't really come across as incensey at all. More like polish or wax or rosin for ballet shoes. My fella likes it too. I think he kind of wants some. This is very evocative of the book character which is good cuz I read and loved the book long, long, ago in grade school and did not love the following theatrical manifestations...

I have really liked Hypnotic Poison since it first came out. They used to make a bath oil and when I worked in a department store I would take home samples and one bath would scent my whole apartment for hours. I actually retrospectively find it to be a BPAL like scent. It seems more "real" to me than a lot of the department store fragrances. I have not tried it yet but from the scent description have been thinking that Salome is going to be my best bet.

I have Perchta and the bottle is starting to get low. On me it is kind of a snowy pine with flowers in the background. Is there a Salon, Carnival, or GC that I would like?

I looked for this but could not find it and started this new thread. I KNOW that Beth really does amazing things with the smell of paper but would love to hear people weigh in on types of paper smells and compare and contrast all the paper scents. The one I have tried is Miskatonic U which on me smells almost entirely like mildewed paper. So much so that even though I love it I kind of get psychosomatic scratchy throat. It thrills me because it is so real and so creepy but there is kind of a hint of rotting choir robes in there and scary church. On me it is extremely Lovecraftian but as far as more everyday wear, I am looking for old books that are not so mouldy. I have been leaning toward Aziriphale or The Buggre Alle but just thought I might as well ask about the range of paper because I love hearing people's recommendations.

I never thought of that but I am definitely in the running with a bit of a hot engine category. I actually have a slightly higher body temp at all times and am definitely tightly wound. With department store perfumes, I definitely got feedback on smelling good which means that other people could smell what I was wearing but no complaints or mandates to wear less or no fragrance. I actually like the BPAL experience because it seems more personal. I have only ever had someone notice what I was wearing right after I applied it. The rest of the time I am aware of it but nobody else seems to be which is fine with me. It seems more like a part of my internal mind. And of course if someone gets really close to me which is fine. I also use unscented hand lotion and add BPAL to it before rubbing it in throughout the day. Lotion seems to definitely amplify the fragrance and lock it in so it lasts. I do this a couple times a day sometimes with the fragrance I am already wearing that day and sometimes with complimentary BPAL. I work in a cubicle and can smell my hands and keep my brain stimulated. Fellow slatherers may want to take note of the lotion tactic. It really helps me to use less.

I, too must slather. And people do not complain about me. But the way I would like to apply the scent from the bottles would be to get naked, pour it into a wading pool and roll around it it kicking my legs in the air!

Violet ray is like worn, clean, ironed, cotton. Bruised Violet Compound is like chartreuse colored crushed velvet with random tie dyed swirls of brown and dark green and a violet embroidered in the corner somewhere. Neither of them were as fully violet an experience as I was looking for but I like them both a lot. I am still looking but have a bottle of Bruised Violet Compound and am wearing it more and more. I cannot quite figure it out so it is intrigueing. I found Violet Ray to be kind of antidepressant. Both seem really good as we head into spring. sorry, just looked at posting dates... better late than never?

Thanks for the recommendations! I have a rose list because I like rose anyway I just really want a rose or an assortment of roses that smell like they have been doing crazy bad things all day. I am thinking I may have to mix and match myself. But Seance and Whip are on my list.

well - weird. I think this is hugely oakmoss. I love oakmoss but was shopping for violets. I have this sense that wood and violets will be great and I kind of don't like violets with other flowers so this seemed like it would be a good thing. I can tell they are under there... when I first get it on it is actually sweeter and there is kind of an old time lozenge thing and then it goes through a minty olive oil stage. but I can't stay away from it and have been wearing it to bed and there seems to be kind of a mirage smell that is never there when I put my nose to my skin but has inundated my bedding and just kind of wafts by me periodically where I totally get the violets and it is sweeter and I get the currant and it is sophisticated and wonderful. so - weird. I bet I end up getting another bottle. I am on pretty comfortable terms with weird.

I think all the rose opinionators went on vacation...

I think you should be happy because you created such a fun thread! I guess I could read people's happy recommendations for days whether I agree with them or not... I agree that Has No Hanna for reasons not aesthetically related to how it smells, really seems to clear unhappiness. I find it an odd smell but it really does clear depression for me. I burn it in an oil burner and wear it but you could sure start with an imp. Also Aunt Caroline's Joy which truly smells wonderful to me and I burn in the oil burner because it is often what I want my house to smell like. Aunt Caroline's is like being full of joy and sharing it and Has No Hanna is like being able to breathe freely when you weren't aware that you couldn't. I have smelled Aizen Myoo and also agree with thatas a happiness selection but the citrussy smells are pretty chipper for me in general so that would just be personal taste. Whitechapel is one of those for me. I have to add that Cocoa and Lavender are supposed by some to be naturally antidepressent scents and are blended beautifully in Wulric The Wolfman. I find that to be a quiet, safe, peaceful, restful, happy scent. But really, BPAL makes me happy.

I think this is very valentiney. In the best way. I think this might be fig, cream, paper bag, currant, cognac and leather on me in that order. When I was in grade school we all made a piece of fake leather to draw a map on by taking a piece of paper grocery bag and crumpling it and smoothing it flat and crumpling it about a million times. It became this soft drapey thing that was suedelike to touch. For some reason this reminds me of that. It is very soft. It is definitely fruity but in a subtle way like fruit that is smothered in whipped cream. I think the leather and cognac give it a little strength and keep it from being too light. It makes me think of a sun faded burgundy leather book cover with something old fashioned and pornographic inside.

I like lavender but I have used it for years for depression and purification and it can be kind of utilitarian for me. This is my first of the bpal lavender blends and I am totally astonished by what happened in it! My favorite stage with this is when I first put it on and I feel like all the ingredients really jump out at me and it seems complex and sophisticated. It is very blended nonetheless so that I really am just impressed by how good it smells and not aware of each ingredient separately. I love the wolfman. I love Lon Chaney. This is very much a big furry guy in a plaid flannel shirt for me. I wear it on days when anything too bracing would make me even sleepier. Like Mondays. So it is kind of an antidepressant but in a very sophisticated way and not utilitarian at all. Cocoa and lavender together are sweet and smooth and blend perfectly with the other ingredients kind of deepening everything. I need to try other lavender blends now because I feel enlightened by Wulric but I may try to fund another bottle purchase before the Carnival leaves. It does seem unisex to me. The way a plaid flannel shirt is unisex. And it is sexy in a comforting way. I could wear it everyday but it is not necessarily an everyday fragrance. It seems very unique and special to me. On me the drydown is very bourbon vanilla like with just a little warm smokiness in the background. It is just great in all of its stages.

I guess I am a lucky girl because on me this smells a bit buttery and coffeelike when wet but then just turns into old old old books with the coffee smell in the background. There is a dusty mildew paper smell that is so very Lovecraftian that it gives me the wiggins. This smells like a dusty used bookstore somplace where it rains - A LOT!!! I had it on my shirt and took my coat off and got this huge waft of rainy day smell. I have high hopes now for all the Arkhams and for all the book and paper smells. This is hyperreal on me. I will have to wear this in my home which is an environment that morphs easily into the Lovecraftian reality. I am wearing it at work and it is kind of causing dissonance in my brain. I want to see things lurking in the shadows... no shadows. Damn!

I loved Pool of Tears and many people have noted they think it is the saltiest. I also really liked Thorns. I was wondering how Pool of Tears compares with Thalassa and how Thorns compares with some of the Draconis scents. I am definitely looking for the saltiest recommendations but interested in saltiest with florals and saltiest with wood...

I have always loved rose and really adore The Lab's rose blends but this week I have tried Ouija and just thought it was wonderful and I wore Black Rose and Miskatonic University together and had a great time. What is the darkest rose that any of you have tried? I am tempted to just order Ouija but hate to think I might be missing something else along these lines. Edit to reiterate: DARK ROSE?

I too have not reviewed yet but have been wearing this a lot. I don't know what to say about it because it really captures something for me and feels very personal. I guess it is kind of like on Jan 6th which is supposed to be Perchta's night, I stuck my head out my sliding glass door at about two in the morning. It was very cold and had been snowing but was not at that moment. It was perfectly silent and the sky had that really bright almost twilight illuminated quality that it sometimes does when it has snowed and that is what this fragrance reminds me of. It is solemn but illuminated.