zmulls

I got some Havana myself a couple of months ago, and tried to test it, but it felt so *wrong* in cold weather. Everything about it wanted to be smelled in a hot and steamy summer day. I put it away and plan to take it out again soon, as it's finally heating up. So, I can't imagine that scent on Ned Stark, as he lives in a perpetually cold climate. Havana is a "hot" scent to me. Ned Stark would have to wear a cold-weather scent, like Old Demons of the First Class....

ladymeag and I continually vie for masculine scents. Dark *and* Elegant is a tough one. You have your dark scents (iago, Czernobog) and you have your elegant scents (Dee, Antikythera Mechanism, Robotic Scarab) but I have trouble bridging the gap. Dracul is one I tried until a lady friend told me I smelled like Shalimar. I think Satyr is a good pick as well. I might suggest Djinn, as it has regal eastern spices mixed with a scent of fire. It's heady. One scent I enjoy is Old Demons of the First Class -- it's very unusual. I think of it as a winter scent, but it certainly has the qualities you are looking for.

I'm going to second "Intrigue" -- it was lovely and dark but I couldn't carry off the fig in that context. I passed it on to a gal pal -- definitely a feminine sort of shadowy.

It does depend on how you're defining, or "feeling," the aloofness. You might feel it as a sharp, isolated scent, or you might feel it as a chilly, cool scent. One "leave me alone, I am mighty and thinking evil thoughts" scent is Czernobog. I was in a play last year as a murderer and wore Czernobog every night. Three different musks (though I don't know if black is one of them). My favorite "chilly" scent is Old Demons of the First Class. It's what I want to be wearing walking alone on a snowy day (that or Rumpelstilzchen, but Rumpeletc. is a friendlier scent).

It's not exactly *cheery* but I always reach for Van Van when I am feeling a little rocky. Often when I wake up having indulged a bit the night before. I use it for 'purification' and it always makes me stand up straighter. (On the above, my Middle School son wore Gnome to the dance last Saturday....)

Oh, I've tried Nosferatu, and I did get the wine. I also got the earth, dankness and decaying bones, so unless I were going to a goth ball or Vampire: The Masquerade night, it wasn't something I'd wear. I've certainly tried Juke Joint and Twenty-One, they smell so very boozy, it's hard to carry them off. It's possible to smell drunk without smelling good-looking. Nobody mentioned Absinthe in all this time? That's a lovely boozy anise scent. I wouldn't grab Ogun for the gin/juniper -- that's strictly a backnote to the MELON. One of my favorite hoarded LE scents is Enkhespalos, which is a blend of leather and cognac. It's sheer heaven. My favorite dress-up scent.

Seriously, you might look at Aziraphale, in the Neil Gaiman section ( Ethereal musk, blonde woods, and dusty Bible accord.). It doesn't have your tobacco, you'd have to layer that in. But it has a very nice library feel.

I think it's high time to lobby Beth to create a 221 Baker Street series, either for the GC or for next year's Weenies. Wouldn't you like a Holmes scent? A Watson? A Moriarty and a Baker Street Irregulars? How about a speckled band? Not to mention smelling like the Hound of the Baskervilles....

Yup, it's a year after my first imp and Czernobog is one of my very favorite scents. I have two bottles of it so I won't run out. Earlier this year I played a suave murderer in DEATHTRAP, and wore Czernobog every night as my character scent....

Sure sounds like it. But I'm so mightily resisting having to invest in another line when I just got my collection to a manageable level....

I like coming back to this thread now and again. I finally got myself a partial bottle of Dee and it is tremendously nice. It is the "nicer" leather and will please the gentleman who doesn't like the gnarly man-scents, without being flowery or perfumey. I agree that half of the Arkham line is aquatics and you either like them or you don't, but the other half is other kinds of dark and worth exploring. The two lines that I'd suggest men go through for ideas (other than Steamworks, and yes, any man who tries Antikytera, Robotic Scarab and Galvanic Goggles and doesn't like at least one of them.....!) are: Marchen and Excolo. Excolo has a lot of male gods, many dark and sinister, with good masculine tones. Marchen has a lot of dark foresty stories, with grim (and Grimm) subject matter, and has a lot of darker male scents.

Interesting. This doesn't smell like vetiver on me, not specifically, and I like vetiver. But it must be there, underlying. This scent is just gorgeous on me, the vetiver loves my skin, and it propels the mimosa and tamarind forward. It smells like a cool weather scent, for autumn. I don't have tons to say because it's discontinued, and I have 1.5 imps of it, and one more on the way. I'll use them sparingly so they last.

Death on a Pale Horse is a pretty chilly scent...

Ogun has a fruit, not floral, top note, but I find it bright and still masculine. The melon is the main note, but has tobacco and gin/juniper underneath. I wear it when I do yoga. Highwayman is a Manly smell with floral accents. I always think of it as heavy vetiver, but I spilled half a bottle of it (waaaah!) in my sitting room and my wife walked through and complained about the flower smell. So obviously the floral components make themselves known. Have you looked at Casanova? "A rakish blend of leather, anise, lavender, bergamot and amber with tonka, lemon peel and lusty patchouli." I don't get much leather, and I get a hint of the sea (which isn't listed). But you do get the florals and herb in a masculine way.

I would love to enable a friend. She wears Very Irresistible by Givenchy (notes: rose, star anise, and a bit of verbena and red berries), ...and Hermes's Un Jardin Sur Le Nil (notes: lotus, green mango, grapefruit, calamus, sycarmore, and incense). Any recommendations for BPALs that correspond to those?

I'm kind of a Johnny-one-note on this, but Iago is far and away the rawest, ripest leather scent in the catalog. It's black musk, sweaty aged leather, and vetiver. It is to die for. I wear it whenever I am going out at night in my leather jacket. I will second the nod to Rumpelstilzchen. It's not leather at all, but the smoke/ash and the burnt spices are wonderful. It's a go-to scent for me on grey days. I hope Doc Constantine works for you --- it sure sounded like it was right up my alley but it just disappeared on my skin. I know it works on some people. Djinn is a lovely smoke scent...there are noble Arabian spices mixed in. If he's into those heavy masculine scents, I'd point him to Troll as well. No smoke, no leather, but burnt spices and musk/vetiver...

Come over here and say that.

French Waffle -- why stop there? I think we should demand an Ibsen series just as there is a Shakespeare series (Illyria). Although you could start with Old Demons of the First Class and Troll for Peer Gynt's Mountain King.... Shouldn't Judge Brack be wearing Whitechapel, or Villain?

That's an easy one. Emma Pillsbury would wear "Dirty: A wonderful antidote to an all-nighter oozing with drunken, addled perversion and debauchery. A fresh, crisp white linen scent: perfectly clean, perfectly breezy.

Sounds like you want a scent that stands up and makes people take notice, not one that makes them lean in too far. I'm a guy, and go for some of the stronger notes -- not sure if girl chemistry will crave the same things. When I hear a desire for strong, powerful notes, I gravitate for the "feels masculine" blends, which might not be what you actually want. But I'd suggest Czernobog (myrrh and three musks) for a real statement; and if your skin can handle it, Iago (musk, leather, vetiver). Anything with vetiver says "don't fuck with me" -- so it's just a question of whether you're one of the (many) people who run screaming from vetiver, or you're one of the people who revels in it. If you like the vetiver, and want to go full out, you can try Highwayman (vetiver city) or Malediction. If the musk/vetiver goes well on you, there's always Troll. I think, though, for a woman, besides Czernobog, I'd strongly suggest Djinn. You get the 'smoke of power' note right away, but there are some really ennobling spices that waft up behind it. It's a very heady, powerful scent. (And you could always go over to Twilight Alchemy Lab and get some "Bend Over" ritual oil, when you want to do more than suggest through scent) ETA: IMO, Bow and Crown of Conquest is not a "don't fuck with me" scent -- the carnation is strong and it feels very noble. At least to me.

I got an aged bottle -- 5 years -- and it changes so much over time. I agree the melon is very aggressive and dominating in this scent, though it works well enough for me. But while it ages, the melon settles down and the muskier elements -- the more masculine elements -- come up. It balances out during the aging. It would be hard to buy a bottle with the plans to leave it alone for a year or two, but that seems to be what it needs..... Maybe the lab should start making batches specifically to age, like scotch or bourbon or wine.....and sell them for a premium.....

Ah, well, for light scents I go to The Robotic Scarab, which is very bright and slick. And I hear a lot of people like Galvanic Goggles for a guy -- it didn't work on my (my chemistry is quite dark, so it's harder for me to find light scents that work).

See Invidiana's list of manly man scents above. That's probably a good place to start, without getting lost in endless choices. On her list, I wear Iago a lot, and Djinn on occasion, and neither is going to be mistaken for sweet or foodie. Djinn is definitely a "something's burning" kind of scent, but it's not overwhelming (like Brimstone) -- in Djinn there's smoke and fire and some noble spices lurking. Iago has three elements -- leather (the wet snarly dank men's room in a dingy bar kind of leather); vetiver (that strong uber-male scent that many women on these forums scream doesn't work on them); and black musk (not just any musk, mind you, but black as pitch). Nothing else that Beth feels needs to be listed, if there's anything else in there at all. I wear it six months out of the year (leather jacket weather), and it's a great guy scent. I predict he'll feel very, very sexy in it.

I have trouble seeing how much BPAL is in an imp -- I hold it up to the light and rarely can see "through" the label. I can usually tell when it's at the label top, and can tell when it's close to the bottom; but whether it's 1/3, or 1/2 or 2/3....I have trouble. Any hints on how to tell? And what is considered "FULL?" I get imps from the lab that are filled right to the label top, and not all the way up. To my eye, it looks about 2/3 full then -- but then I see that the applicator actually takes up some room at the top of the imp, so it's really more than that. Sometimes the oils are above the label but often not. Any comments welcome.....I have enough stuff now to do a real inventory of it, but want to know what I really have.

... Her scent is that of a lightless fir wood, nighttime air, wet forest mosses and upturned earth. I was really looking forward to this one. But it's a hot swampy forest, reeking of all sorts of decay, and a sharp citrus tang, and OMG, I just smelled my wrist again.... DO. NOT. WANT. I usually like a little dankness and darkness but Nocnitsa isn't even impworthy for me. Too harsh.