superpopkid

This is the 2009 Samhain. I'm not sure if this leaked slightly, because the level was high and the label was flawless, but when I opened up my package of decants, I could smell this one through the wrapper. In the imp, it has a very strong mulled-cider smell. Sadly, this is reacting very poorly with my skin. I'm not getting the pumpkin, clove or fir notes, just a cloying and unpleasant cider scented candle smell, like sticking your head into a plastic bag full of them...and I hate to say it, but there's a slightly urine-esque whiff about it. I put this on in the morning before heading to work, and decided to give it time to settle and see if it changed for the better. Should have just washed it off; hours later it's a milder version of the same gross scent. Can't wait for a shower.

This my first ever 'weenie! Wet, this was a green smell with a slightly chemical edge, a bit like rubbing alcohol. This is the second time a new scent has done that to me, but fortunately the edge wore off quickly. Dry, it's a pleasant sweet green smell. I don't know enough to recognize the individual notes, but it smelled more like wet herbal-y plant greenery than trees. There's a lot of sweetness in it that strikes my untrained nose as floral, too. I didn't get the darkness or heaviness that other reviewers did at all. Instead, Carlin gave me the impression of a damp green garden with pink flowers. (why pink? I don't know.) To me, this feels much more like a spring scent than a fall one. It didn't seem to change much throughout the day. Throw seems very good. It's been 10 hours since I put it on and I'm still getting mild wafts of sweet green. Overall: it doesn't seem to have a lot of depth, but it's a soft, lovely scent.

It's probably just my lack of sophistication at picking out the notes, but to me, Carlin is a dead ringer for Demeter's Wet Garden scent. Uncanny!

Since this thread got bumped back up, I though I'd give an update. (My very first post was a request for recommendations for green scents, and I got a deluge of awesome suggestions.) I'm sorry it won't help septima_pica, since I don't think any of them quite fit what they're looking for. So far of the ones folks suggested, I tried: Hemlock - as advertised, very green and fresh. I've only tried this once, so I'll be testing it again. Strangler Fig - struck me more golden-brown than green, but after a couple of wearings is now one of my three favorites. Mag Mell - only tried once, but it was on a day when I was already headache-y from the sun, and the florals in it didn't help. To be re-tested. Some other green/fresh scents I've tried that were not suggested: Cathode - minty, fresh and invigorating, but after a second wearing revealed a bug-spray-ish note that I'm not loving. Burial - Camping in a damp forest. the trees, the dirt, a hint of flowers. Septima_pica, this is the one I wish I could suggest for you, but it's all conifers, unfortunately. There are a whole lot of suggestions on this thread that I am looking forward to trying. Thanks again for all the recs!

This was a frimp from the lab. Obligatory new-ish to BPAL, not super-great-at-this-yet disclaimer goes here. Wet: a soft, sweet, muzzy patchouli. I'm not sure if some of the sweetness I got from this was the coconut, as I'm really much more familiar with the sunscreen variety than the real thing. Oddly, Goblin reminded me of Strangler Fig. None of the notes are the same, but still, to my totally untrained nose, it's like if Strangler Fig is a picture done in bright oil color, this is the same picture in soft chalk pastels. I don't think this changed much on me from wet to dry, yet for some reason I enjoyed it more after a couple of hours. Overall: it's a nice warm, fuzzy brown throw blanket of a smell. I liked it, but I'm not sure if it's a keeper.

I love citrus and tea in non-perfume contexts, so I was quite excited to try this one. Usual disclaimer. I'm new at this and am also unfamiliar with the varieties of citrus in this blend such as yuzu and satsumi. First off, I definitely need to revise my preconception that I don't like the smell of oils in the bottle, because this smelled GREAT to me in the imp - a deep rich almost candied-gingery grapefruit. When I put it on, I realized what was making me think of candied ginger - it smells like these wonderful sweets made of dried grapefruit that they have at certain candy stores. It's tart, a bit sharp, bright, sweet and a wee touch spicy. I can't pick out the tea but that may be my inexperienced nose. It stayed a strong and sweet grapefruit for a couple hours, (I slather, so that may have contributed to the 'strong,') then faded down to nothing. I wish it stuck around longer, but it's lovely while it lasts. ETA I've worn this a few times since then and had to update this because now I TOTALLY smell the tea. It's a delicious black tea note. I don't know what my problem was the first time around! It also seemed to have fantastic longevity this time - I got a wonderful cloud of citrusy tea that lingered all day. There a Japanese tea shop here that has wonderful flavored iced tea with freshly-squeezed fruit juice in it, and this reminds me of their grapefruit tea. This scent is beautiful and a very effective mood brightener.

MeiLin, I've been using Perfoom, and it's really nifty! Nice clean design that's easy on the eyes, too. Thanks for the resource. There are a lot of scents in there, but I've added a few, too. I think it'll get even more useful as more people begin to use it. It just needs to reach critical mass! SurrealReality, that wiki looks awesome. I'm looking forward to playing around with it.

Standard new-at-this disclaimer goes here. This is the only oil I've tried so far that actually smelled good to me in the imp - sweet, cool and herbal. Wet, it's a slightly medicinal herbal. I think it must be the mix of anise and sandalwood, but although I know and like the smells of them individually I can't pick them out here. This stage lasts for about an hour and then the herbals are pretty much gone. There's a sweet, clean aura in the background that comes to the forefront for the next few hours. This must be the cherry, but it's a whisper of cherry rather than a shout. I've never smelled cherry blossoms, but I imagine this must be it, like the smell of swedish fish without the cloying candy. I never got the straight-up licorice I was hoping for from the anise, but I still enjoyed this scent a lot. It's cheerful, feminine and fresh but still grown up and subtle. I feel like this belongs on a content woman reading the paper in her pin-neat minimalist kitchen, the kind of person who always has a fresh flower in a bud vase on the table. For colors, I'm getting a soft gray, antique pink and white. Overall: delicate, calming and fresh with a light throw. Nice!

Standard disclaimer: I'm still new and still struggle with identifying notes. In the imp, all oil smells harsh to me, so we'll skip ahead. Wet: a strong minty herbal with a spicy element. This stage lasts for a half-hour to an hour. It's reminiscent of a quality mouthwash, like Tom's of Maine. The spicyness goes down after that, and then there's a long stretch where it's just soothingly cool and fresh in a soft and slightly sweet way. If Cathode were a color, it would be apple-green chalcedony. I should mention that I wore this on an especially grungy day that involved a lot of lifting and stress. I wore it on my wrists and behind my ears, and Cathode projected a convincing halo of FRESH and CLEAN over my grody hair. Every time I moved my hands I was treated to a perfect little minty breeze. It's still faintly there about eight hours later. It is freshness in a bottle. I love it!

(Standard new person/grain of salt disclaimer goes here.) A little spicy, a little warm, a little woodsy, a little sweet. Sadly, this all added up into...a little. It turned into a nondescript men's deodorant/cologne smell on my skin. A nice one, just not the kind of deep green scent I was hoping for. This wasn't especially potent or long lasting on me either. It sounds like this one can be wonderful on other people, just not for me.

Standard new person disclaimer: I'm not great at picking out notes yet. Also, in the imp, all oils smell harsh and strong, so let's skip to the wet stage. Strong resin-y smells and an intense sweetness. After a few minutes the resin settles down but the honey sweetness of the beeswax is intense. For the next couple hours, I smell like a church filled with lit beeswax candles, which is how I wanted to smell, but unfortunately the beeswax is still an overwhelmingly sweet and very cloying smell on my skin. After about four hours, it has settled down, and I can smell a sandalwood-y, glowing kind of smell behind the sweetness. I could stand around and sniff beeswax candles all day, and the description sounded like it was made for me, so I wanted to love this one a lot. Unfortunately my skin amps the sweetness of the wax, or the oil just mixes poorly with my chemistry, so it's unpleasantly sweet for the first couple hours. I may try layering it with a woodsier sent to cut it a little. UPDATED I gave this another try on its own, and I'm so happy I did. I've worn this several more times since the first test and now I LOVE it. For whatever reason, the cloying sweetness I got the first time settled down considerably. (It's possible I over-applied, or it just needed even a wee bit of aging - the imp was lab fresh when I first tested it.) As this warms up on my skin, I get all the wonderful complexity suggested by the notes; herbals and metal along with the hot beeswax, which itself now has plenty dimension beyond "overwhelmingly sweet." I should also add that this is a perfect cool-weather scent. I'm looking forward to wearing it like an extra layer of glowing warmth against the Massachusetts winter. Overall, No. 93 is absolutely gorgeous and I think it may be my first bottle purchase.

A glorious parasite! Once the seeds of the Strangler Fig find root in the bark of a tree, snakelike roots erupt and reach graspingly at the sky. The Strangler Fig then sprouts numerous epiphytic vines that strangles and surrounds its unwilling host, and finally snuffs the life from it. Rooty, woody, with deep green tones. Obligatory new person disclaimer: I'm still getting the hang of this and have a hard time picking out notes. All the oils smell harsh just sniffing out of the bottle, so we'll skip to the wet stage. Wet: It's a mix of something sweet and unpleasantly astringent, almost like rubbing alcohol. The sweetness in kind of nondescript and seems overwhelmed by the astringent smell. After about five minutes: the alcohol has turned into something that smells a lot like cedar to me, but may not actually be cedar. The sweetness has gotten spicy and warm, but not especially deep. I can't really identify it as fig. The alcohol smell is still there just a little. After about twenty minutes: the alcohol smell, if that's what it was, seems entirely gone. I tried burial last night and there are echos of the same woodsy smell, but there's a much drier, warmer, spicier feeling to these woods. After an hour: the sweetness has gotten spicier and creamier and is blending beautifully with the wood smell. It's like sitting at sunset by a pile of freshly wood, smelling a baked dessert from a nearby window. It's a golden-brown, late fall afternoon smell. Edited to note that this had lots of staying power. I put on sometime early afternoon and I still smelled woodsy and sweet the following morning. Overall: I really didn't enjoy this at first, but it got richer, fuller, and more pleasant with time. I wouldn't buy a bottle but I'm keeping the imp. UPDATE - After two or three wearings, and testing a bunch of other scents, I keep coming back to strangler fig. I'm not noticing the astringency I did when I first tested, (maybe because I know what's coming next - that warm, creamy woods-y smell. I really love it now!

This was a frimp from the lab. All oils smell just sharp and awful to me in the imp, so I'll skip to wet... Boom. On a camping trip on a damp grey morning just after dawn. Damp dirt, woods and herbs. As it dries I get a wisp of something floral in the background, but the main impression is still damp grey woods and a musty tent. I'm getting powerful sense memories of all the camping trips I've been on when its rained in the night, and I've woken up and gone outside to stretch before starting the fire for breakfast. With the name "burial" in mind, I start to imagine a funeral on a grey morning deep in the heart of the woods. During the drydown stage, there's a slight...minty-ness? that seems to come out, and the floral note gets slightly more prominent. The scent seemed to fade altogether after about three hours. It's a very somber, shivery scent on me.

Ooh ooh, pick me! I'm brand new too, but I am loving Megaera. the notes are supposed to be grapefruit and plum, but I'm not good enough at this yet to pick 'em out. It's juicy, slightly spicy but extremely soft. Totally romantic and lovely.

First review! Eeep. This is only the fourth scent I've tried. It's also the runaway favorite! I don't have the ability yet to pick out different notes, at least not in this one. But the sense impression I get is of light through a pinky-purple silk lantern. It smells round, if that makes sense. Fruity, but like a watercolor painting of fruit. Extremely soft and warm and feminine. It's been about two hours since I applied it, and I can still smell it without huffing my wrist, but its intensity has gone down considerably. It's just like a lovely bit of silk trailing behind me. "My Favorite Plum" by Suzanne Vega came up on shuffle while I was wearing this...how perfect!

Oh, I'd like to be doing that right now! Thanks for the suggestion. I will keep that one in mind. Thanks! My humours have been acting wonky lately. I can't lie.Really though, that sounds great. And sinus clearing.

Another great batch of suggestions...you folks are awesome. Thank you!

Thank you for taking the time to suggest and describe these! Strangler Fig's had several recs by now, and looking at the reviews, it's sounding more and more tempting. I'll be sure to update this when I finally make a decision. I think I may have to get a set of imps to compare and contrast : )

Wow, thank you for taking the time to compile this! The chicken one is appealing from the name alone, so that coupled with a strong rec might just be our winner. off to read the reviews of these before I commit. (Also, I apologize if I created a redundant thread...I didn't notice the other green-related threads before I got started. Thanks also for pointing that out in a gracious way : ) ) Rappaccini's garden definitely seems like the place to be for green! Thank you for the suggestions. Cool! I didn't even think to consider the discontinued-but-still-circulating scents out there. Ohh, neat - do you know if it's a floral-y note or more tree?

Oh, interesting! I probably wouldn't have considered that one on my own just going by the name and description. Thanks so much for for the suggestion!

Hello all. This is my first post and I'm completely new to BPAL too, so please excuse any blunders. I've never seen anything quite like the Alchemy Lab. I've been poring over the scent descriptions and member reviews and recommendations. All the descriptions sound enchanting and it's extremely difficult to choose! But maybe you can help me. There's a particular smell that I fell in love with a few years ago. If I can find something similar I will die and go to smell heaven. One lovely spring day I picked off a fuzzy bud from a dogwood tree and broke it open - I've never smelled anything quite so pungent, alive, and powerfully green. (As great as it smelled, I never did it again, because I felt bad about harming the tree.) Are there any BPAL scents that kick you with vibrant GREEN in quite the same way? One request for the request - I'm not fond of a heavy dose of eucalyptus, so I probably wouldn't be keen on a smell that was dominated by that. But almost every other green smell is welcome. Thank you so much for any suggestions!