sophia_helix
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Everything posted by sophia_helix
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I think I officially don't like dragon's blood. It's always too sweet/fruity; this at first smelled exactly like the fake cherry of Dramine (and thus triggered a conditioned response of feeling like throwing up, since I used to take that stuff when I was an extremely motion-sickness-prone child). That fades after a while, but it's still too sweet. The two good things were 1) a whiff of Blood Moon-like spices at the beginning, and 2) the way it looked like I'd slit my wrist when I put it on, because it was bright red and so viscuous it didn't absorb until I blotted it. But it's still too cherry for me to really love this.
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In the bottle: Some violet, but also a lovely fresh ocean note. Wet: Like everyone else, it's that overwhelming soapy Numb scent, although somewhat tempered by aquatics. Still, definitely too perfumy, and kind of headache-inducing. Drydown: OK, the perfume note is fading a bit. The aquatics are stepping up and quite intriguingly salty. I'm really not sure how I feel about this one, though, because I've still got that lingering headache and memory of violet-soap. I wish there was a little more wood, or something else earthy. Will have to think about this one.
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Oh, yeah, seconding that. Smelled just like Embalming Fluid on me. I don't actually LIKE lemon in my BPAL, so I remember the lemony scents pretty well. Why do we always have a better memory for scents we hated than scents we liked but didn't love?
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Seconding Rosalind -- there's a sweet floral component, but also a very strong fresh grassy scent. And, um, good luck with landing a Sweet Grass single note. I've been kicking around for six months and never managed to snag a SN of any scent, partly because I can't afford it. You'd be best off checking Ebay or the "alchemylab" community at Livejournal, although be prepared to pay through the nose.
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Apothecary is definitely herbal-lemon. Embalming Fluid was closer to true lemon, and I haven't tried Shanghai or Phantasm but a friend whose favorite scent is EF also loves Shanghai. You might want to give Severin a try, since it was pure lemon iced tea on me.
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Oh, this was really adorable for the first hour or so. It had that chocolatey sweetness of daffodil, with the juicy plum and a hint of musk (not too much, thank goodness). Eventually, though, it turned as candy-sweet as Pink Moon, which is like an artificial sugar and almost makes my teeth ache. I love the scent of daffodil, though, so I'll try it again to see if I can make it play.
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I found this incredibly hard to describe. In the bottle, I think I mainly smelt laurel, since it reminded me of Delphi (that slight sourness). Wet, it was muskier, but it quickly developed something that reminded me unpleasantly of body odor. That went away, and there was a lovely balance for a while -- laurel, pepper, and lily -- before the florals started taking over and sweetened this up too much. Very unusual, and I think it would work well on someone whose skin isn't so apt to amp up sweetness.
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BPAL blends that remind us of Chanel perfumes
sophia_helix replied to Rocky_Mountain_Home's topic in Recommendations
I like those types of scents myself, and also love The Lion (the others mentioned didn't work on me for a variety of reasons). I know it's not BPAL, but you also might want to try Bath and Body Works' "Rose Sandalwood" essential oil. The sandalwood is like nothing I've smelled before, wonderfully warm and spicy. And oops! I meant to say that I'm trying out Grandmother of Ghosts right now, and between the laurel, the lily, and the pepper, it's hitting all my happy notes. -
Dark pine at first. Wet, cinnamon shows up. It's very nice in a room-scent way, and virtually disappears on my skin within an hour. It would probably be good in a burner, so maybe I'll give that a try, but it's not knocking my socks off or anything.
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I avoided this because for a long time I thought I didn't like orris, and I thought orris = iris. Now? Iris = HEAVEN. I loved Florence, and this has got that same richness. Instead of the woody amber tempering it, it's deliciously sweet, with the coconut and hazelnut, and the musk is playing very quietly in a corner, the way I like it. It's almost foody in its yumminess, but not quite. I forsee myself wearing this quite a bit in the future!
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The description is a list of all the notes that everyone else loves and I have to watch out for -- rose, amber, vanilla, musk, etc. It's lovely for the first minute, but then it got pretty cloying (damn rose/amber!) Later it evened out to something with a little more sophisticated softness, but it's very faint. Sadly, a swap, I think.
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This sounded a lot like Hellfire, which I liked and then swapped away for some stupid reason. Sadly, on me this was a weird combination of honey and wood -- the wood straight out of Misk U, fresh-cut planks rather than live trees. It made me sort of sick to my stomach, and for once, I didn't want to wait for the drydown to see if it changed. I like the theory, but it doesn't seem to work on me in practice, probably because my skin sweetens scents like mad.
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In the bottle: A very sharp evergreen scent. Wet: Yes, definitely an evergreen tree. I think there's probably some juniper in here. I don't get the strong pine notes that everyone else is talking about, at least not in comparison with Dublin, Skadi, Nocnitsa, etc. It's just incredibly green and sappy, almost a little worrisome. I want some sweetness to make it more wearable. Drydown: Sigh. Be careful what you wish for... The berries showed up after five minutes, and had a wild party on my wrist. These aren't the herbal berries of Bewitched or Baneberry, however -- and not even as well-matched as the berries in Skadi. No, they're sugary sweet fake berries, and after a minute or so, it's pure Christmas candle, waxy scent and all. Which would be nice in an oil burner, if I didn't already have three million Christmas candles. Foiled again by my sugary skin chemistry!
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I haven't actually tried this on, because I let my mom test my imp, and it smelled so good I gave her the imp AND bought her a bottle for Christmas. On her, at least, it was delicious blackberry, with a wee bit of greenery, not too sweet or fake. I tend to make sweet scents sweeter, so I'm a little leery about trying it, but it really was delicious on her.
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In the bottle: Yikes! The reviews weren't kidding -- this is super, fake, sugary pink. Bit of strawberry, but mostly just sugar. But it's making me smile. Wet: Now it smells like just like cotton candy. Sweet sugar and honey, more strawberry. Drydown: I didn't like Pink Moon. I love Strawberry Moon. This is somewhere right in between. It dances toward that artificial-sweetener bitterness that Pink Moon had, but never gets that saccharine. And the strawberry isn't as strong as Strawberry Moon. Instead, it's a sweet middle ground with a touch of pear and honey. The vanilla doesn't take over, thank goodness, and while I wish one of the notes would jump out more (since I love all of them), it remains a sweet, evenly blended, pink sweetness. And...I think I love it. It also lasts a long time and has great throw. And Macha's label rocks. Can I have some more, please?
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Last June I got my hands on an imp of Snow White. I immediately loved the scent, but felt like it was turning gross-metallic-plastic, so I sold it the very next day. I have since regretted it. Back then, my nose was totally unsophisticated, and I had no idea how to appreciate it. Worse, Snow White began to haunt me. I would get phantom whiffs of it, even when there was nothing at all to smell in the air around me. This went on for months. So I got a decant this year when it came back. And I have the biggest smile in the world on my face right now. It still smells a bit metallic. But I realize now it's an icy, chilly scent. I can't properly review this, because what I get from this is simple -- snow, cream, and apples -- except that none of those notes are even listed. This is an incredibly personal, evocative scent for me, and I'll be ordering two bottles the moment I have the Christmas money. I'm just so happy it's come back to me.
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In the bottle/wet: Amber, other warm/resinous notes, and a touch of citrus. (Benzoin? I am crap with the more unusual notes.) Twenty minutes in: This is almost a dead-on dupe of Snake Charmer (not surprising, given the similar notes), and honestly, it kind of feels superfluous. The main difference as far as I can tell is that it's less spicy once it dries down, and the coconut is vanilla (tonka?) instead. It's also giving me a headache and making me feel queasy; it's very rich and perfumey. Later: OK, it's finally departing from the Snake Charmer/Snake Oil scent that makes me think of oiled spices, and lightening up to be a little sweeter and more ethereal (probably the rockrose showing up). I like this better, but it's still somewhat heavy and headache-inducing for me. Later still: Yeah, this just doesn't feel different enough from Snake Charmer, AND it's starting to fade after less than an hour, AND what's left is still giving me a headache. To the swaps with this decant.
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In the bottle, this was mouthwateringly delicious cookie batter. I could actually smell the butter, sugar, and vanilla creamed together. It stayed that way for about a minute on my skin. Then, bleah, bitter, slightly burnt plastic. Sometimes very sugary-sweet scents do that to me, and this is no exception. Off to the swaps.
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Oh yes -- very similar to Skadi. In the bottle, it's piney with a sweet perfume beneath. Like Dublin, except the pine is more frozen/aquatic and not so rosy-sweet. At least not at first -- eventually it sweetens up on me and the girlie perfume is more evident. It's a nice compliment to the other two. I have a hoarded imp of Skadi, and my only 10ml is Dublin, so I'm definitely a pine fan. I'm going to have to try this some more -- I like that the pine is similar to Skadi's, with that chilled quality, but the "girlie perfume" isn't as nice as Dublin's rose, and it doesn't last very long on me. Edited to say: On second wearing, it's closer to Skadi than Dublin, and since I doubt I'll ever get my hands on a bottle of the former, I think I'll have to snag a bottle of Snow Bunny to make up for it!
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Yuck, yuck, yuck. This, Cathedral and Scarecrow all had a top note like an unscented candle burning. I don't like it, it's sweet and burnt-waxy and makes me kind of sick, and I had to wash this off immediately. I'm starting to guess that whatever the Lab includes as an "incense" note is very, very bad on me.
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In the bottle: Rose, and, yikes, an incredibly strong dirt note that makes me recoil. Wet: That dirt note is still there and still making me not want to sniff too deeply. But the rose is beginning to unfold, and I'm holding my breath that at LAST I'll find a rose blend that isn't cloying or gross... Drydown: Yes! This is a mildly-qualified success. It does smell, as promised, like sticking your face into a rosebush. That's even how my husband described it, and I teased, "Have you been reading the forums again?" It really is a pretty, lifelike rose, sweet and rich. The dirt fades, probably because I have sweet skin chemistry. The only caveat is that it fades a little quickly, but I didn't put much on. Are you someone who turns rose to cheap candle-scent? Believe me, this really is the holy grail-rose that WORKS. Hallelujah.
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In the bottle: Hm. Minty, but very similar to Tulzcha, not Lick It -- it's a green, watery mint instead of a bright peppermint. There's also a tang of something that reminds me of...chlorine? Wet: Oh, yes, definitely Tulzcha. Drydown: This gets less minty as it dries down -- I think my skin just eats mint. At one point I get a very odd impression from this: it smells exactly like using a mint bodywash in a hot shower. It gets more and more watery, and within the hour it's almost completely gone. What's left is still strongly reminiscent of Tulzcha, which I already have a bottle of, so I think I'll be moving this one along.
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BPAL rose and I are not friends. This started off smelling like a real rose for about five seconds after application, only to dry down to the cloying, candy-sweet fake rose I get from every BPAL rose blend. This one gives me a headache, for good measure. If you don't play well with rose, you probably already know it and will avoid this pure-rose blend, but in case you were holding out hope -- this is probably not the magical rose blend that will work for you.