parrot_suspect

Lots of good recs in this thread. My feeling is that if you want to smell like a headshop, you need patchouli. Urd is my #1 "headshop" scent, but others that fit the bill would include: Vixen Sin Fenris Wolf Aureus The Coiled Serpent Spellbound Sri Lanka Of all the scents that have been recommended, I'd say Scherezade has the strongest nag champa note (it's a gorgeous fragrance, too). Have fun sampling!

Have you tried Aeval? To my nose, Mouse is like a cross between Antique Lace (fuzzy vanilla musk) and Aeval (soapy, fresh, lightly floral musk). Aeval and Mouse both contain sweetpea as one of the main notes. Mouse is like taking Aeval and adding a dollop of vanilla and a drop of amber. They're all gorgeous scents, and not what I'd consider "foody" by a long shot. Eat Me, as the name would suggest, is a foody vanilla; kind of like a lighter Gluttony. It doesn't smell like Snake Oil or Snake Charmer to me.

Yet another Salon blend that perfectly captures the essence of the artwork. Bat-Woman is cold, slightly floral, slightly musky. Dark, but not dusky or powdery -- it really does bring to mind a nighttime sky, with plenty of stars -- but no moon. Just crystalline night air. Almost soapy. I never thought I could wear florals, but this, I could pull off. Elegant, remote, and a little disturbing -- it would be the perfect scent to wear with a black cocktail dress.

Oooh! This scent is beautiful, just beautiful. I was expecting something dark, woodsy and peppery. Instead, it's sort of a sweet, reddish, warm, round, feminine scent. Very complete and whole -- elegant, even. Yes, it's woodsy, but not in a dry, dark way...I guess this must be the redwood note making it smell so sweet and fresh. It's hard to describe this scent, quite honestly, and I don't know what to compare it to. My first impression was a feminine scent, but I think this would smell equally gorgeous on men and women. Just get it -- you won't regret it!

Masculine and dark. I'm finding that my skin really amps up vetiver, and that comes across as a masculine note on me. The opoponax and mahogany give this scent incredible depth and a dark, almost mournful feel. I say "almost" because the brightness of the orange blossom and tea notes help balance the blend and keep it from being all doom and gloom. Still, this is not what I'd call a cheerful or upbeat blend...it is deep, dark and thoughtful, almost religious. (I know that sounds odd, but I don't know how else to describe it). I keep thinking of candles burning in a darkened church with incense wafting around the wood pews and a basket of oranges as an offering on the altar.

This scent perfectly captures the image of the art. Orpheus is a dark and brooding scent, but not pitch black...more like a greyish-green. It's more masculine than feminine. It's somewhat powdery, a bit herbal and green, but low-key -- it's not a high-pitched, fresh, crisp green. I don't find it at all similar to Ides of March (just sniffed them both side by side). Ides is more sharp, fresh and astringent. Orpheus is soft and relaxed. It reminds me a bit of the men's cologne Grey Flannel.

Floral, herbal and a bit fruity. This scent is rich and Baroque -- multifaceted and gilded. I can definitely detect the ylang-ylang. The frankincense and copal don't take center stage, but they do help "anchor" the florals and give the scent some depth. It is well-blended and very different from other floral BPAL scents I have tried (this is coming from someone who's not a big fan of flowery scents). I would place this in the "heady floral" category of fragrances.

To my nose this is definitely a masculine blend. In some ways it's almost similar to the finest commercially-produced men's colognes. It smells like something a wealthy investment banker would wear on his extracurricular excursion to a fetish club A bit spicy, powerful, commanding, confident, yet slightly corrupt. And very, very sexy. I'm going to try this on my DH.

I bought this unsniffed because the notes sounded so lovely. I sometimes have to watch it with scents that contain violet or citrus notes, because my skin tends to amp them up. Lucretia, however, is so well-blended that no one note stands out. The notes meld into a dusky, sexy, ethereal, come-hither sort of scent...lazy and seductive, but not rich, floral or heady. It whispers; it does not scream. It's sort of along the lines of Fallen and Sybaris, if that helps at all. The drydown is soft, powdery woods. I am very pleased with Lucretia.

I didn't think I would like Le Serpent Qui Danse. Gardenia is a note that I can rarely pull off, and my skin tends to really amp up violet. However... I applied a few drops and was intrigued. A heady, floral, intoxicating scent lingered for about an hour. It was gorgeous, sultry, come-hither, and even a bit sinister, but I kept wondering, "Is this really me?" Shortly thereafter, it moved to the drydown phase. The gardenia receded to the back burner and I was left with a beautiful, rich mixture of vanilla and violet. One of the best drydowns I've experienced in quite some time -- simply stunning. I couldn't stop sniffing my wrist. Definitely full bottle worthy.

Utrenyaya is the perfect "starry night" scent, to my nose.

Al-Shairan comes to mind for something exotic and spicy. Spellbound, Lust, Bordello and Debauchery also strike me as good choices (heavy, rich, sensual) for bellly dancing.

I've received some compliments (at work) on Scherezade. It's "clean" enough to wear to work but has a sexy edge.

I'm not a big fan of florals, so I don't have long list of recs....but three that come to mind that are floral and not green are Nuit, Regan and Juliet.

Try Ode on Melancholy -- it's somewhat similar.

Oh my God. This has got to be the ultimate resinous blend. It starts out woodsy, then dries down to powdery, musky, amber-y incense. It's one of those scents where the notes are blended so beautifully it's hard to pick them out individually. But if you like incense, powder, resin, amber or musk, you will not be disappointed with this blend. It's gorgeous!

Gaueko is a lovely, calming, wonderful-smelling blend. I like all the notes in it, so it's not surprising this works on me. This is great to wear to calm yourself down or meditate in the evening, without being a traditional "sleep" blend. The notes are just so relaxing. I get a lot of lavender at first, but then as it dries down, the nag champa and sandalwood come into play. Very smooth and mellow. I've got this on order and am looking forward to receiving it.

Coyote is one of my favorite blends, and has been from the moment I sniffed the imp. I'm just about to finish a 10 ml of this. On me, Coyote is a sweet-ish, skin musk-y type of scent; more feminine than masculine. It starts out a little bit green (the "grassy" scent) but the drydown is all about the musk and amber. It's one of my all-purpose scents -- this would be appopriate for just about any occasion. It's not so "earthy" that you couldn't wear it to work; and it's not so "perfumey" that it would be out of place on a camping trip. It's just a nice, smooth, warm, musky scent that works with everything. Definitely one of my staples.

This is a beautiful fragrance, very evocative. It's smooth and sweet, calming even; yet somehow remote and "cold," like a star. I'm not normally one who goes for florals, but this works on me. It's not suffocatingly floral. All the notes seem to blend easily into a smoothy, musky, sweet scent. I've ordered a bottle of this and am looking forward to wearing it on starry, clear summer nights.

When I need to get a scent off my skin, I generally swab the area with rubbing alcohol then liberally wash it with soap, sometimes repeating until the scent is gone. It always does the trick.

Yes, it's a newer scent. I've got an imp on order myself -- it sounds wonderful. My favorite Dragon's Blood blends are Dragon's Musk and Dragon's Milk. Dragon's Heart and Dragon's Hide are nice as well, as is French Love (I feel certain there's some Dragon's Blood in that blend!).

Vixen! If you like Snake Oil, you'll probably like Vixen -- it's long lasting and has great sillage. Same goes for Urd and Scherezade.

Today Greg (my DH) has a job interview. He's probably being interviewed right now as I type this. Please, please let them make him an offer. He's been out of work since November, and our cash flow situation is not good. This company told him they were in a "hiring frenzy," so I feel I have reason to be hopeful. If he doesn't get this job, he's probably going to have to look for a job -- any old job, purely to bring in some income -- outside his field (he's in a very competitive field), and that will crush his ego. I'm tired of worrying about money and health care (we are currently paying $1,000 per month to COBRA). I just want things to be settled. If he can't get a job here in Chicago, he'd like to try his luck in California, which is a much better market for his kind of work. I don't know, though. I've never been to California. Heck, I'm such a sheltered Midwesterner, I've never been west of Iowa. He's also up for a job in Seattle. I think I might prefer Seattle to L.A., if I had to move, but it's hard to say since I haven't been to either place. Have any of you ever moved across the country for someone else? If so, was it a good choice or a bad one?

Amen, sister. You said it better than I could have. This kind of crap (an online community or board set up for the sole purpose of bashing another online community) happens all the time, unfortunately. If you read MUA, you probably know about beautybash.net, a board set up for the sole purpose of making fun of MUAers. The mind boggles, does it not?

I give you extra points for using the word "wanker." Whenever I hear or read that word, it reminds me of "This is Spinal Tap."