patina
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Everything posted by patina
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Thanks, I see. Opium Poppy isn't there. Though two now-availables are so maybe it has been dc'ed and just hasn't been announced yet.
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This is more about GCs, but how do you tell the difference between simply out of stock GCs and permanently discontinued ones?
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I'm lucky that this comes off as a realistic dewy white floral on me. I missed that this had moss in it and for once the moss isn't smothering. In fact, it might be balancing out the white floral elements. The scent's faintly powdery, but in a cool limestone way. The honey myrtle is lovely. I assume that's the faintly lemony element. This is one of my favorite summer scents. it's low key, appropriate for most settings, and makes me feel I'm somewhere less sweltering hot. EDIT: Just now, reading the poem behind one of my favorite scents was...weird. It made sense, though. This scent might be seen as a little creepy and wistful. (Probably the faint trace of menthol other reviewers noted.) Not at all a "black cats and little black dresses and darkness and Halloween" creepy but in a "come away o human child" sort of thing.
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I got a hint of pink marshmallow under layers and layers of grainy burnt sugar grapey myrrh. Now, I absolutely love myrrh and amber. I love sweet scents. But this is ultimately just too much for me. Way too sweet with nothing to balance it out.
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Blood Rose was probably the first BPAL I tried. The dragon's blood (powdery incense) gives it a dirty hippie feel to my mind. It may be dark and sensual but this feels like a carefree summertime scent as well. Maybe that's why other reviewers have used the phrase "days of wine and roses." The juicy rose wine below is lovely, but sadly all of that vanishes and eventually all that gets left behind is pink rose.
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Opium generally has a sort of latex/bandaid quality to it. This opium is lighter and sweeter than some. The comparison to tobacco flower is apt too. I can understand why it might be perceived as a white floral but also as dark. Narcotic, hypnotic, but soft around the edges. This is reminiscent of some old fashioned perfume while being less formal than most. This has been one of my favorites for a while now. It's a summer goth scent, even better when layered with Black Lily.
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GCs might be best at first since they're easier to find. Snake Oil is great, though very strong. I'd call it more overpowering than dark. I'd recommend Velvet, Haunted, Black Lily (though lily goes to soap on some people the scent feels like black silk), and Event Horizon. Maybe Bastet. You might want to try some lighter but haunting scents that catch your eye as well like Nocturne or The Ghost (if you like florals).
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I don't really get snake oil, either, though this is new, so who knows what it'll do later. I get a fruity, spiced red musk and roses. Think Lust with roses. This is softer than Lust, though. The vanilla may be calming it down. I could compare it to Black Rose, though my super aged bottle turned strident. I get the comparison to The Elephant is Slow to Mate, only this is like talking normally compared to screaming. I have no idea how this will age, but it should be interesting. EDIT: Two weeks later, it's settled down some. The rose feels silky (amber?) There's still a spiced red musk, but I can smell vanilla when I sniff up close. Better!
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I'm getting the cake, pretty much immediately. It reminds me of Two Frames and Peppermint Cream Cupcake, you know, except without the peppermint or lavender. I also get strawberry flavored spun sugar. There is cardamom here. The whole thing reminds me of a strawberry flavored powdered meal replacement drink, which really doesn't smell as bad as it sounds. Verdict: Cardamom, strawberry, vanilla shake with maybe a slice of angelcake. Also spun sugar.
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First applied, this is soft vegetal leather and dust. The beeswax is present but understated. There is golden amber as well. This immediately makes me think of the Ninth house from the Locked Tomb series: an ancient and kind of shabby place intended for meditation. Though this doesn't have any bone accord, of course. Amber appears to be winning. It smells like a dim study trapped in amber now. On drydown it's a bit more of a wood cologne in an amber lighted study.
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What are your favorite GC BPAL scents (IE: Recs for New Collectors!)
patina replied to clockworkcrypt's topic in Recommendations
It's been a long time, so Foodie/Vanilla: Lyonesse Eat Me Perversion (Not sure what to call a wine/tobacco/leather. The drydown turns amazing on me.) Snake Oil Floral: The Rose The Phantom Wooer Resins: Anubis Cathedral Sloth Blood Wood: Half-elf The Forest Reverie Earth (Weird): Black Annis -
The other reviewers got it right. This is a light citrus beeswax mellowed with old paper. I'd wanted a beeswax Frankenstein scent forever and here it is. While it's not not dryer sheets, the beeswax helps with that considerably. There's a faint bitterness from the paper and ink. This seems appropriate for a cool spring day. Throw is slight to moderate.
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Rain, rain, rainy rain. Lightning Strikes Literature has ozone in it but Lightning Strikes Cinema is powerful essence of dripping umbrella and soggy wool with velvet curtain in the background. I can't say it's not soap, but it's not painfully acrid like many soap scents either. I sort of get a vinyl or acrylic cloth note, but it's not offputting. This ozone actually makes me think of water for once. Maybe I'm easily influenced right now, but the scent evokes a cool movie theater with a raging thunderstorm outside. I'm concerned my perception could change over time, but we'll see.
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This smells like heavy ebony and Murphy's wood soap. Add some incense dust. Occasionally some hot metal, like a hot poker laced with the lab's blood note pops out, but that part is fairly subtle. You might like it if you want a dapper, moody cologne and you like wood.
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The Snake Oil musk is absolutely there along with flaky sugar icing and some pastry. I'm a little reminded of Snake Oil and honey blends I've tried before, except this isn't honey. This is straddling the foody-nonfoody line as other reviews noted. No noticeable jelly Oof. Okay. It's amazing, it does what it says on the tin. The musk is kind of screaming now but it should mellow with age.
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Frog murder initially smells like some kind of green gummy candy. I've never had Haribo Frogs, but I think this is what they'd smell like. I'd compare this to a less tart Black Apple of Saturn. Oakmoss can be choking on me, but for now its barely peeking out. This green poisoned candy apple has some sleek dark depths to it.
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This is a warmer perfume than I thought it would be. The cypress is almost gingery and maybe the beech bark and labdanum are adding to the effect. It's almost a dark birch beer. There is a trace of aquatic snow peeking out. Very pleasant but not at all what I was expecting.
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This goes on a woody cologne, but as it warms up the vanilla tar softens the whole thing beautifully and now I have a vanilla-patchouli resin cloud around me. I love wood scents and this is just so good.
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Portrait of an Unidentified Man Dressed as a Skeleton
patina replied to Silvertree's topic in Limited Editions
The licorice is very much there and like candy, the way I like it. The oud here is powdery. Like licorice tucked away in soft, patchouli wood. This is very good, but I think I prefer Black Licorice Smut and Black Licorice and Dead Leaves. -
Swirls of sweet dark myrrh and red benzoin. This is nothing at all like what I expected but I like it. There's a tart, hibiscus heavy tea called Red Zinger. This smells just like a heavily sweetened version of that. Below I think I can sense some dark myrrh resin, but not a lot. This hovers on the edge of being a red powdery drink mix smell, but it's better than that. I really like this.
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Re-testing my super aged decant is amazing. I didn't like it at first, since it just seemed too powdery, too much like suntan lotion too. Now it's sort of a faded Snake Oil plus brown suede and yes, traces of suntan lotion. I think the vetiver is muting the Snake Oil a lot, though this is not a low throw scent. This works for summer very well.
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Blackberry has a tendency to fail on me. Like a lot. It's high pitched and rather unpleasant but the musk and patchouli here is doing a good job of holding it down. Also, good news/bad news, it's sweet. Sweet, sweet, sweet. There's only a tiny bit of wine but it makes its presence felt. I feel like there's enough base to counteract the sweetness but your mileage may vary. This is like blackberry wine flavored Kool-aid for adults served in mysterious thicket. Also someone is wearing patchouli. Not the gnarliest patchouli and not a lot, but it's There.
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Oh, fun! It's a (mostly) strawberry smoothie, but it's slightly more complex than that. It's fresh and yes, moist. While I'm not the biggest citrus fan I really appreciate the white grapefruit etc here stopping things from being single-note berry. That grapefruit here gives the scent an aura that is clean and summertime ready. Good throw so far. Green musk sometimes goes to soap on me, but right now it's completely in the background. Verdict: Kermit raided a smoothie stand and smells great.
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it's like going outside and being hit by a blast of spring florals and rain right in your face. It's like having a bucket of lilac water dumped on your head. It's a lot, but it's perfect for summer. I'm not getting strictly red musk here because the bamboo and the oakmoss do a lot to deepen and hide it. Still, the musk is giving this a powerful base note that stop the florals from being too screechy. This is more of a sophisticated perfume than a natural scent. And as always, the wisteria is a bit wistful.
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This is a perfect amber scent on me. The Lights of Men's Lives was somewhat unimpressive wax on me, but this is amazing. It's more than a candle smell, it's also firey and glowng. It's sweet without smelling like straight up candy, it's spicy without smelling like a spice rack or any spice I can name. It's amber without smelling powdery or overly perfumy. It may change over time but right now it's just about perfect.