HamletsKeeper

I'd just put on Amsterdam today when my swapped bottle of this arrived. How karmic then that I should just be thinking whether or not to order a full bottle of Amsterdam when this turns up at my door. To put it short and sweet, this is Amsterdam with a fuller bouquet, longer lasting but the same beautiful aquatic quality. If you are a floral aquatic lover this a good one. Bottle Sniff - same as Amsterdam it smells like handcreme\shampoo in the bottle. My nose never picks up many notes from a bottle sniff. It needs to warm up on my skin to bloom. Wet On Skin - rose comes up first, then greens and something powdery, reminiscent of white musk without the edge. There are many unfamiliar notes in this bottle so I can't really guess at what that is. The rose in this isn't a lush cultured rose, it smells more like the wild rose in Her Voice, slightly green, woody and not at all sweet. Dry Down - I get a fuller bouquet that has an ever so slightly powdery edge but never goes to powder. It's sweet and warm where Amsterdam is cool and green. But the aquatic base it sits on is identical. Many notes have the same appeal here, they are both tulip heavy, and the rose in this one is just slightly warmer than the peony in Amsterdam. The iris is a minor player in this one so if iris turns to soap on you this may be a fragrance you can wear. For some reason I keep smelling a soft white musk here, which is fine because I'm fond of white musk. Overall I love Amsterdam but it's inability to last or throw on me has prevented me from buying a bottle. And just today I was wondering if I could find a scent similar to it with more lasting ability. Hello! I've got a bottle of that in my hands right now. I've decided I love tulips and aquatics in the same bottle. Wonderful swap for me and I'm so glad I decided to take a chance on this one. I will be wearing it often, possibly daily.

Hmmm...I'm finding not all aquatics are equal. My skin absolutely loves Amsterdam. It's not soapy just beautiful soft perfume. It just doesn't last real long on me and I want to find a stronger scent with that same kind of aquatic note. I've smelled salty aquatics (Lyonesse, Calico Jack and a few others) and don't think that salt water is for me. It's too briney and murky. So what are the freshwater aquatics, with lasting power and a floral bouquet like Amsterdam? Oh! I just received Poisson D'Avril in a swap and while it's slightly less aquatic than Amsterdam it is a similarly styled scent. Yay! I guess I just answered my own question...

I'd love a DM Yule scent or lunacy....yes I can dream too.

Well I just tried Dragon's Musk. There is no way I would have ordered this off the description but lets just say the universe arranged for this one to fall at my doorstep, in a 5ml. Ever adventurous I slathered it on anyway. Oh my! I had no idea musk was such a glorious scent and pinched in there with DB, it's to die for. I am a die-hard light florals with touch of sweet only kinda gal....edit that. I used to be that gal. But I LOVE swimming in the sea of deliciousness which is Dragons Musk. I am also one afraid of anything called "dark musk" but this is heaven and on me becomes sweet, exotic and yes very sexy. Who would have thought? Not only will I buy anything with DB in it, but also I'm going for the heavy musks too. They last on me! DB IS the spice I can wear, whereas actual spice I find too cloying. I'm also going to order Dragon's Claw unsniffed from the lab, I would love a bone dry DB scent.

This scent was straight up pure love within seconds of touching my skin. Bottlesniff Wood with a hint of floral. Wet On Skin Very dry with a high wood note, powerful and I'm loving it. Drydown This softens very quickly and the orris morphs more into a floral smell although the crisp woods maintain an astringent note. It's an ethereal scent on me that is both sweet, dry and astringent all at once. As it ages on my skin it morphs a lot and I get dry woods and oddly an aquatic note wafting up every now and again. Pure and beautiful scent that makes me want to bathe in it. If I could smell like this everyday I would be in heaven. It does have a slight tendency to just hint at soapiness every now and again without ever going there fully. I don't mind that and it's something I do get from all bulb flowers anyway, it must come from the orris. This is a skin scent for me, and it's very feminine. I adore it though. I think I may just end up buying the entire Ars Draconis line.

I'm in love with DB but this is not a love scent for me. Bottle Sniff Not much surprisingly. Mostly dragons blood. Wet On Skin Leather, leather, metallic and acrid leather for the first 30mins. I'm really getting a nostril hair curling experience here and that's not a good thing. Drydown After about 25mins there's a brief span of time where its DB & leather and that's really pleasant and if it stayed like that I'd buy a bottle. Sadly shortly after the good phase the leather was gone and I'm left with what I imagine is pure DB. Nice enough, but I wouldn't buy a whole bottle just for that. This one alternates between smelling slightly soapy and slightly metallic. Weird. I'm beginning to think that perhaps leather is not a note I can wear. It seems to amp, spike, go metallic then disappear.

This is what aged snake oil would be like on my skin. All spice, a little sweet and absolutely amazing. I've not had the pleasure of trying aged snake oil yet (only fresh), but I have to say in the dry down both are very similar with Dragon's Musk being the more beautiful, complex and alive of the two. If you can't wear snake oil, try this instead. Bottle Sniff Surprisingly floral and sweet. I had never smelt DB before and this is not what I expected at all. Beautiful ambery rose coloured oil. Wet On Skin Musk hits me fullforce and smells tainted with feralness. I am fearing at this stage that it will go to animal pee and I will never again smell the amazing scent in the bottle. My fears were baseless as it turns out. Drydown I really don't like this scent a great deal until extreme drydown (about 15mins+) but that's the same with many BPALs. In the beginning it's too sharp, animalic and the DB is drowned out by the musk. Once properly settled and heated by my skin however it's what people rave about snake oil being. Spicey (without screaming cinnamon), deep, warm and a whole lot of vanilla (even though there's none in there). This is skin musk times 10, bottled and aged into a fine liqueur. There's only a hint of something floral, in the manner of carnations. It doesn't scream flowers, but every now and again you think are there flowers in this? I love this scent and think I probably won't bother ordering a full bottle of snake oil now, this is everything snake oil is without needing the aging to make it wearable. An excellent Snake Oil alternative... Overall I think I've found love note #2 - Dragons Blood.

Oh thanks! RE: Patchouli, as long it doesn't smell the way it does in The Caterpillar I'm happy with it being in there. It's just that the Cat reeked of septic tank to me and drowned out every other note in the blend. My skin doesn't amp it or anything like that, I got the sewer smell straight out of the vial as well. Hmmm....as IF I needed any further encouragement to pick up LEs off the forum.... PS - Thanks mods for merging, I did a search on Vetiver but it didn't bring up this thread for me

So I did a random thing today while making my usual batch of body butter, I dumped a heap of vetiver essential oil in it just to use up the bottle. The result? Vetiver smells amazing on my skin in large doses. I don't get any smoke from it at all, just this lush deep earthy scent I really like. So I did a BPAL search and found 44 scents that contain vetiver. But which ones have vetiver as a feature note? And my next question, are the dirt scents vetiver heavy? As I love the smell of dirt and am thinking of going in that direction too. Sorry to ask for so many recs, it's just that I keep finding new avenues to explore. Scents of interest to me now in the vetiver category are.... Highwayman Prurience Voodoo Death Adder Anathema Fallen I don't want anything with noticeable patchouli in it though (I'm looking at you Caterpillar) which tends to make me retch.

This smells foody to me, very apple. Bottle Sniff Apples, but not a green fresh apple, apples muted with something else. But still lovely. Wet On Skin Very light scent that's vaguely fruity. I really hope this one morphs because so far it's just meh... Extreme Drydown It takes a good 30mins for this scent to blossom on my skin, and when it does I get a spiced apple. The SO isn't apparent but it's there just giving body to a scent that would otherwise fade in minutes. If you want to smell SO then give this one a miss because you won't get it to any degree. I don't smell any gardenia at all, nor blood orange and only the tiniest hint of lemon. It's a nice scent with promise to be amazing. But at the moment it's just too faint and I'm hoping ageing it will allow the SO to give a bit more depth and longevity to it.

For me, this scent isn't really integrated very well. I get 30mins of mint medicine then on extreme drydown pure snake oil. I'm hoping that ageing will help that to some degree. BottleSniff The greens in this really don't pop out at me in the bottle, just a cool sharpness. I've discovered much to my disappointment that BPALs mints are less actual smells and more a feeling. I was hoping to find a lush, wet green mint like a sprig of mint freshly picked. Instead I just get ice. Wet Minty bandaids. Yep smells like antiseptic to me. Although I'm led to believe that it's because the SO component is pretty fresh so ageing may soften this aspect. The green parts of the scent are interesting enough that I'll leave it on to see how it morphs. Extreme Drydown This scent doesn't change on me until about an hour in. By that stage all the greens are entirely gone and I've got pure snake oil which I describe as spiced custard, and my sister describes as cake batter. I'm holding onto this one at least for 6 months to see if ageing it will bring forth the promise of something more coherent. At the moment the notes in this bottle feel like a jumble that's really uncomfortable with itself. Nothing seems to be working together. Lets see if it changes. I'm glad though that I've gotten to try the infamous SO, in interesting combinations.

I will say straight up this would probably have been the last scent I would have ever bought for myself. But there had been so many recs for this scent I at least had to give it a hearing. I'm glad I did.... In two words this scent is for me....Lavender Cream. Sweet, luscious and vanilla tainted. I have no idea what magnolia smells like as a scent but it does a wonderful impression of whipped cream with vanilla essence and a touch of sugar on my skin. I don't get crystalline, night or anything remotely starish from it but it's beautiful nonetheless. So much so that lavender (which is usually damp & musty to me) is clean, sharp and exactly what lavender should be. Bottle Sniff Lavender but not your garden variety. This one is less herbal and very clear and high. No cheap soaps or potpourri here. Underneath it you can just get a whiff of something else, it's soft and luscious and adds depth. Wet on skin Typically lavender takes centre stage and pretty much stays there for the first 10 minutes. I really encourage you though to let it get past this stage. Drydown The lavender is balanced out by the magnolia and they begin a peaceful cohabitation. As I said before the only words I have to describe the result is whipped lavender cream. A very unusual scent and not even remotely like any other lavender scent you may smelt in your life. For me it's a winner, not only because I like the way it smells but also because it has incredible staying power. I could still smell this clearly several hours after application. Revisited This scent shines in extreme drydown, it's pleasant enough in the beginning but about an hour in is where the magnolia's bloom and I get that creamy lushness with just a topnote of lavender which creates a very exotic scent you almost can't place. If someone didn't tell me what was in it, I wouldn't be able to pick it. I think magnolia is a love note for me and overall I do enjoy this scent incredibly. It has great staying power for me and just seems to amp and throw more as it ages. I wore it to bed last night and had a beautiful sleep but I really enjoy it as a daytime scent too. I can see myself buying more of this and I want to hug the person who frimped it to me

I've not tried AL but check out the vanilla thread because it's mentioned a lot there. Mouses Sad & Long Tail is most often compared to it as having similarly strong and pure vanilla. But you might also want to try any strongly vanilla blend. Vanilla Thread

Ok, so this may be a weird way to go about picking a scent but I've done my head in going the traditional route of "which smells do I like". Time for a new approach. I want a scent for work. I work in a closed, small environment in a public facing role. My primary reason for being is safety but the public face of my job is service. My scent can't be cloying, wafty or overpowering. But neither do I want it to be insipid. Here's what I want to convey in scent... Poise and beauty - the beauty of a woman not coming from the set of her features but from self-confidence and complete acceptance of herself. Meticulous - everything she does is done masterfully, from the way she presents herself to noticing the smallest detail about the most trivial thing. Yet she does this without you even being aware of it. It's such a natural part of who she is. Approachable and detached - you feel like you can ask her anything but you know you can't cross a certain line. You might lose your cool but she never will. Words are unnecessary - she could either put you at ease or unnerve you without saying anything at all. Relaxed authority - you naturally look to her for direction when things become unusual or erratic. She never needs to make a point, or overpower, because she leads by example. You are comfortable following where she leads. I also want a scent that's recogisable as a scent yet doesn't scream "look at me". I guess I'm looking for a scent which encapsulates a woman you respect utterly because she is both hard and soft in exactly the right ways. Anyone want to have a go at this?

I've tried it and have an imp of it, a generous frimp. Although I have no interest in the scent itself it's very vanilla & cream with a hint of pale flower.

Oh and another I just got yesterday which is pure love and also soft and petally is Amsterdam. It's also surprisingly strong and long lasting on me too.

Bottlesniff Fruit punch, smells like passionfruit, orange & mango Wet on skin Grapefruit and what I think is the amber smell exactly like tropical fruit juice. I'm really wondering why I bought this... Drydown Thankfully that fruit juice is calming down and I'm getting a more grown up character beginning to develop. But it's still got that passionfruit thing happening. Overall A sweet fruity flavour that's lacking in much character. Might be a good scent for a teenage girl but nothing to inspire me. Grapefruit burns off pretty quickly and despite the dark sounding notes it's very light and fruity scent.

Bottlesniff Brandy Wet On Skin Pepper, nutmeg (sans any sweetness) and something vaguely cola-like. Weird and kind of unpleasant. Drydown If you've ever drunk a Chinese herbal tonic then you'll recognise that smell. Bitterness, pepperyness and a hint of spice. Smells like a chinese herbalist shop. Overall Bitter, peppery and medicinal. Inspires my gag reflex from the last time I had to drink a tonic brewed out of strange herbs. Definately not something I want to smell like.

Bottlesniff - Bracken forrest with a hint of fruit. Wet on skin Astringent notes immediately leap to the fore and mix with berries to create a dried-leaf BO kind of scent. Then it goes astringent, astringent, astringent. Great for clearing the sinus' but not something I want to waft. DrydownGoes very menthol on my skin. Overall Evidently astringent greens are not for me. They never soften and just amp like a tub of Vicks.

Bottlesniff Delicate citrus herbal. Wet on skin Immediately turns to medicinal tea. Ginger once again does it's ginger thing on me. I am now convinced beyond all doubt that ginger must be avoided. And there's a slightly nauseating note in there which I'm assuming is fig as I haven't smelt it before. Drydown Theres a lovely sweet citrus in this (bergamot) which I adore that's overpowered by the medicine tea. I smell no grass at all nor any moss. Overall Smells nothing on me like any of the reviews here. I don't get green or herbs or any of that. I get powerful medicine tea thanks to that "drop of ginger".

Bottlesniff Toothpaste, a very old tube of toothpaste that's had the cap left off it. More the old-fashioned flavour rather than the candy-like flavours we know now. Wet on skin The mint gives way to a strong green rose and the two hold their own side by side. I don't dislike it, but it's just not interesting enough at this stage. White mint is a very astringent note that's like iced water . It's not green smelling at all, what I am smelling that's green is the stems of the rose. This is not a sweet rose either, it's quite thin, high and dry. But that mint is overpowering it again. Drydown It's all menthol mint on me. The rose has lost it's blush and disappeared and I'm left with sugar-free fox mints. Overall This is a glacial scent. If you don't amp mint or find it fades fast on you then it might be a good scent to try. The rose is a delicate one and you really want to be amping that and the sandalwood to get the best out of this scent. I didn't get anything of the other notes in this scent.

Bottlesniff Pale, greenery with a slight tang Wet on skin That tanginess is amping and smelling very musk. I don't know if "dew" = musk but I don't think I like it. Drydown Oh yes now I now what that mystery aquatic BPAL note is that turns to rotting feral melons on me. Mental note to self anything called "dew" is feral and rotting on my skin. As this ages it does sweeten and that rancid tang settles down a bit but it never fully goes away. Alas BPALs dew note is anathema to me... And I'm stupidly attracted to the word "dew" in descriptions. Overall Glad I got this and found out once and for all what BPAL note I need to avoid like the plague. Other than that I really can't help you with the smell of this scent as it's obviously gone to a place it goes with no-one else.

Bottlesniff One of the least inspiring scents in the bottle. Very faint kind of non-descript wateryness. I almost didn't bother putting it on. Wet On Skin Surprisingly powerful, I smell bulb greenery and an aquatic note. It's a very non-florally floral. If you are looking for a floral that doesn't punch you in the face with it's bouquet or go powdery this would be a good choice. It has that fresh, watery, airiness about it. There is no astringency or sweetness to this scent. It's got that very faint almost-soap edge that all bulb blooms have. Drydown Well I have to say this is a somewhat strong scent with excellent hold. Not at all what you would expect from the notes. I didn't expect to like this one but it seems to be very true to the concept on my skin and is surprisingly strong. I feel like I'm doomed to only being able to wear florals and fruit. It keeps its character well and much to my chagrin smells great on me....*sigh* Overall Although this doesn't smell like Kenzo's Flower its of the same style. Airy, strong and non-sweet floral. If you like that style of scent then I highly recommend this one. The longer I leave this on the better it smells and it's got great throw from the tiny amount I'm wearing. I didn't expect to like it at all but it looks like I may in fact be purchasing a bottle of this. It's just that good on my skin. It's now wafting a very exotic, fresh aquatic from my skin that doesn't smell in the least bit floral. Attention aquatic lovers...on extreme drydown you wouldn't know this was a floral at all. Second Wearing I often find my true feeling for a scent the 2nd time around. And on this one I have to say it's the first BPAL I'm in love with. It lasts and lasts on me. The notes are perfect and it's a smell that's got me burying my face into my cleavage when no-ones looking. Today I'm not getting even a int of soap, just fresh beautiful crisp aquatic. It actually reminds me very much of a favoured scent that's now out of production, only a much, much better version of it. I would never have picked this scent for myself but just threw it in with another order and it's the only scent from that order which I like. If you like Anais Anais and other similarly soft florals then this is one you should try.

Bottlesniff This is actually one of the most promising that I've smelt so far. It smells like an exotic woody perfume in the bottle. Excited, just a little bit. Wet On Skin Berries, sweet and tart berries that's really quite powerful. It's all I can smell for the first 10 minutes. Drydown Berries retain in the topnote and add a kind of syrupyness to this. It's not overpowering sweet, more like a dash or syrup to sweeten what is a very strong herbal bouquet underneath. I can wear woody and herbal so this doesn't smell medicinal on me but it would have that tendency on certain people. Overall It's pleasant enough but the exotic qualities of this never really come alive on my skin. It all too quickly drys down to a generic herbal tea on me. The kind of thing you'd use for detox. Sadly I think ginger is one of those notes that never work for me no matter what the blend is like. I'm blaming the ginger in this for taking it away from spice and into the herbal medicine category. Smells like what I imagine an ancient pharmacy would have. It's a very storng scent with enormous hold (not even soap and warm water get it off) so if this smells spicey on you then it would be a winner.

Bottle Sniff Almonds, strong almonds Wet On SkinAlmond varnish, the old-fashioned highly fumey kind. The kind you seal boat brightwork with. Drydown The fumey aspects of this are taking over. Very acetone like. Almond scent lasts only about 5-6mins on me. Smells like almond nail polish remover. Overall I can't imagine what's in this that gets that noxious fume thing happening. Myrhh has not done that in other blends I've tried containing it. It must be the dark musk, which I expected to go feral and has instead gone chemical on me. Definately not a keeper for me. Yet another musk which is a no-go for me. Dark musk = corrosive chemical on my skin.