Jump to content
Post-Update: Forum Issues Read more... ×
BPAL Madness!

reconditarmonia

Members
  • Content Count

    697
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by reconditarmonia

  1. reconditarmonia

    Fruits & Passion: Clementine-Lavender

    Off the top of my head - check out the (discontinued, so maybe not helpful) Muses. Clio is definitely citrus-lavender (with parchment), and I think some of the others were too.
  2. reconditarmonia

    Hellcat

    Hoooo boy, this is strong. In imp: Hazelnut. On skin: Sweet and a bit spicy, which is probably the honey mead (the sweetness being the honey and the spiciness being the booze - because I got the same sort of thing from the cognac in Arcana's Caffeinated Death) - with a sort of nutty undercurrent. After a while, it's still sweet (seems like more than just the honey; perhaps the buttercream, or sugar from the rum?), but less spicy and more nutty. This is the second time I'm trying it, and I'm not getting any of what made me dislike it the first time (it lost a lot of its sweetness after a few hours and was rather unpleasant) - hormones? settling? That said, I'm just not sure I'm a fan of foody scents, and while I may finish this, I won't be buying more.
  3. reconditarmonia

    Ephemera

    Starts out floral (violets? lilies? muguet? I don't know, but it's not the tea rose) and dries down to a very faint, less sweet, different floral (violets? lilies? muguet? I don't know, but it's not the tea rose - maybe some chamomile and leaves). Wet it's nice enough, though I'm not mad about whatever it is, but I like the drydown less. Sorry I can't identify very many florals... (This was a frimp from about a year ago that I just got round to reviewing.)
  4. reconditarmonia

    The Ghost

    Bland floral. Not unpleasant, just bland and whitish. (I don't have the experience to identify a lot of notes, or I'd go into more detail.)
  5. How similar is Anesthesia (from the non-impable Neverwhere line) to Baku (from the impable Somnium line)? It's lavender/peppermint/bergamot/mandrake vs. lavender/mint/anise, and since I'd rather try an imp than get a bottle unsniffed if they're mostly the same anyway, I turn to you all...
  6. reconditarmonia

    Mimosa scents?

    Aah, I didn't know about that.
  7. reconditarmonia

    Mimosa scents?

    There are four mimosa scents currently available from the Lab, but unfortunately none are impable (three are CD and one is Salon). Marianne: Red musk, bergamot, black currant, mimosa, orchid, patchouli, and lotus root. Melisande, The Puppet Mistress: Jasmine sambac, dark musk, violet water, vanilla bean and mimosa. The Grindhouse: Florentine iris, red musk, mimosa, magnolia, Damascus rose, clove, and vanilla bean. Monna Vanna: Russian rose, mimosa, gardenia, bois du rose, parma violet, calla lily, red currant, ambergris, and bourbon vanilla. I can easily imagine that you might like any of these (note that Marianne has blackcurrant, and Melisande and Monna Vanna have violet).
  8. reconditarmonia

    Morocco

    I'm starting to think BPAL vanilla* is just too sweet for me. This and Dorian are similar in that they're almost cotton-candy-like in their sweetness. I get a little of the sandalwood too, but no spice or carnation - I'll try it again, perhaps elsewhere than my wrists, but this might not be a keeper. *If this is vanilla. Not listed in the notes, but everyone else seems to be getting it, and musk has worked just fine on me in other blends.
  9. reconditarmonia

    Dragon's Tears

    Starts out very salty, and dries down, rather weakly, to what I imagine is dragon's blood*. Not for me; I'll probably trade or give away my imp to someone who can appreciate it. *I've never smelled it before, couldn't describe it well (though having been told it's like lilac, I can sorta imagine that), and probably couldn't identify it. It won't put me off a blend, but I won't leap for it.
  10. reconditarmonia

    Against Idleness and Mischief

    Pollen-dusted honey, diligent tonka, steadfast chamomile, and goodly hyssop. This smells like sunshine on me. I'm not much for the images, beyond color, but this is like sitting in a field of yellow flowers. Floral honey with tonka to ground it. edit: when I talk about my perfume, I've come to refer to this as the "happy bees" scent.
  11. reconditarmonia

    Dee

    Tons of leather - smells very like The Bow and Crown of Conquest on me, so perhaps I amp the leather in both. If I bury my nose in my wrists, I do get some parchment (and maybe other components too, but it's too light to tell), but this is mostly leather. Edit: I put this on in the evening without washing off Against Idleness, which I'd worn during the day, and either Dee grew on me very quickly or it's improved by layering. I may try it with some of my other creamy-type oils (Morocco, Hod) to see what happens.
  12. reconditarmonia

    The Bow & Crown of Conquest

    Starts out with a lot of sage - I smell like a seasoning! Luckily, it dries down to a leather/vanilla/lavender/cedar (?). I like it.
  13. reconditarmonia

    London

    I can't believe how beautiful this is. Strong, pink-smelling rose. There's a sort of translucent feel to it.
  14. reconditarmonia

    Cordelia

    Wet: Lilac! *dances joyously* Dry: Mostly lilac! (I don't know what wisteria and osmanthus smell like.) Something that is probably green tea. Not getting the lemon, which is a little sad. But I mostly bought this for the lilac anyway. Quite weak on me after the first few minutes. Goes through a stage where it doesn't smell as true and then fades almost completely. Edit: Gave it another try, as I tend to for anything I like at all, and I get more of the lemon/cedar/tea when it's wet. Dry, it's well-blended (it's hard to pick out anything but the lilac and maybe tea), but still very faint. Caveat: I can't identify musk.
  15. reconditarmonia

    Lurid

    I get mostly blackcurrant and ozone, with what may be resin or musk. Disappointing, as I got this in the hope of finding a lavender blend, but apparently lavender is not very strong on me at all. Still pretty, but not what I was hoping. Edit: Okay, I get a bit more lavender in the drydown. This blend is quite weak on me, but for what I can smell of it, I like it. Edit 2: Apparently not as weak as I thought, I keep getting whiffs of it.
  16. reconditarmonia

    Somnus

    Jasmine jasmine jasmine. Apparently I amp jasmine! Who knew? (Maybe there's lavender in the drydown, but I didn't wait. It would probably have been unsuccessful anyway, as lavender hasn't shown up strongly on me in any of the lavender blends I've tried.)
  17. reconditarmonia

    Plunder

    In imp (and in the package, as one of the two imps I ordered of it broke): candy cinnamon or other spice Wet on skin: Pepper, tea, clove, allspice. Darker, less sweet, and less realistic-dry than Bengal. Dry: Sandalwood is coming out, otherwise mostly the same. Sort of an odd "clean" undertone, but that could be me anticipating an undertone, not finding one, and smelling the skin of my wrists. I prefer Bengal for spicy scents; it's richer and doesn't fade as quickly.
  18. reconditarmonia

    Bengal

    In imp: Sweet spice. Wet on skin: Dry, realistic cinnamon with sweetness that may be honey or clove. Lighter in "color" than Plunder, sweeter, and the spices are drier in feel. Dry: Mostly the same. Dry spice with underlying sweetness; identifiable notes are cinnamon and musk. I like it a lot; it'll go on my bottle list (which is not official, it's my list of things I'd buy if I had an infinite amount of money - but still).
  19. reconditarmonia

    Limited editions equivalents in the general catalog?

    The Lion is really similar to Hod on me - perhaps I amp amber?
  20. reconditarmonia

    The Lion

    In imp: I can't smell much, but I have a fairly weak sense of smell, so that doesn't mean much. Wet on skin: Amber! Dry on skin: More amber! (I'm actually wondering if there's amber in Hod now, because they're kind of warm and creamy in the same way. This seems less white, though.) I like it. Mmm. *purrs* Edit: Tried it again, and still don't get the spice. In fact, not only do I not get the spice, I layered it with Plunder to try and approximate what everyone else is getting, and minutes later all I could smell was amber. It's pretty, and I think I prefer it to Hod - it's just not what I thought it would be. Edit: I just spilled half my imp over my hand. *screams* And I was thinking of trading Hod because I had an amber scent that was better. ...I can smell the spice on my hand, though! Maybe I should try what little remains on non-wrist parts of my body and see what happens. Son of Edit: Came back to this (on wrist) almost six months after I first tried it so I could compare it with another amber blend, and O HAI SPICES. That took a while. Lovely combination. If only I hadn't spilled it.
  21. reconditarmonia

    Maiden

    A very fresh, rather juvenile carnation-rose. Dries a bit warmer, but not very strong or exciting. EDIT: "Fresh" note identified (from Kumiho) as the white tea.
  22. Dorian is seriously sugary and cotton-candy-like on me - I get the vanilla, sugar and musk but none of the tea or fougere.
  23. reconditarmonia

    Athens

    Starts out OMGWINE in the imp but dries into something very unpleasant. Myrrh?
  24. reconditarmonia

    Dorian

    Not getting the fougere, not getting the tea - just an almost sickly sweet vanilla-musk-sugar. Almost like cotton candy. Not for me. (Which is good, since it's, er, not for me - this is a sneak test of an imp I bought for a friend.)
  25. reconditarmonia

    Ode on Melancholy

    In imp: N/A (the imp of Plunder in my order broke, so everything smells like that) Wet on skin: A floral I don't recognize (which may be the wisteria, or a combination of the other notes that comes over as unfamiliar), seems aquatic initially Dry: Rose with something that sweetens it, reads as blue-purple, and is probably the wisteria. Not getting the lavender, which is disappointing since I bought this in the hope of a nice rose-lavender blend. Verdict: Pretty. Probably not bottle-worthy, but I'll definitely use up my imp. I'm glad this works on me, since I love Keats. Edit: I still don't get lavender, but what I've been identifying as wisteria is similar to Crabtree and Evelyn's lavender hand lotion. Neither smells particularly like lavender to me, but I guess that's the lavender.
×