bpalscentsual
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Everything posted by bpalscentsual
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Interestingly enough, this went on me like evil bubble gum. I think it must be the sweet spiciness of the carnation. Wearing it, I get a hint of coffee and leather, but mostly carnation and tobacco. I'm starting to suspect that I amp tobacco to high heaven, and the carnation is... strange. I'll have to wait and see how this performs during the day, but I have to say that I'm happy with the partial that I have.
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In the bottle, there's an astringent bite to it that confuses my nose. Wet on my skin, this is very strong, with mostly gardenia and a little jasmine. However, it's not pure floral, and I can get a hint of the pollen-like honey sweetening everything up. I can't wait to see how this dries, but I'm not sure I need a whole bottle with how strong this is.
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Thanks to your suggestion, I just downloaded an iPad app called Itemizer. It set me back $2.99, but it also has the ability to attach photos taken directly on my iPad. I think I can also upload a CSV to it... but we'll have to see if my spreadsheet cooperates. Right now it's unwieldy and slightly intimidating. The iPad app will be nice when I'm on the go (ie at work) and can't get to my spreadsheet right away, though, and the ability to add photos (label art! fill levels!) is especially nice.
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So realistic of an autumn mulled cider scent that my mouth has been watering ever since I put it on. Why did I only discover this after the deadline for Weenies? This is what I was hoping Pomona would be -- the perfect warm mug of cider. This is amazing and fantastic and I'm glad I have another decant coming my way because I want to slather this all over myself.
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This went on exactly like berries and cream. I am impressed that the oil's retained its integrity this long! The middle stage was a very sweet, sugared strawberry (I suspect the lotus is doing that). There's a lovely green tea note that lurks in the background until the last stages of drydown. At that point, there's a hint of something that might or might not be sage. I am so, so glad I slathered this on this morning. As a fruit and/or tea scent lover, this is right up my alley. I smell delicious. This is probably going to act as my 'backup' for the fruit-and-tea-heavy Mi-Go Brain Canister. If you loved that, you'll love this!
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I want a BPAL that smells like Bath & Body Works...
bpalscentsual replied to sihaya09's topic in Recommendations
Unsolicited musings: To me, TKO v3 is identical to Bath and Body Works' aromatherapy scent Lavender and Vanilla. So if you've been lusting after TKO in spray/candle/bath foam/doodads/what have you from the Trading Post, this might be able to hold you over in the meantime. The candle scent, in particular, is divine. And I just realized why Embalming Fluid is my one true GC love: It's very reminiscent of a scent that Bath and Body Works had when I was in high school called White Tea and Ginger. I used to spray it on my hairbrush, then comb it through my hair. Embalming Fluid, with its green tea and lemon, is extremely similar to this. Just my two cents. -
Limited editions equivalents in the general catalog?
bpalscentsual replied to Absinthe's topic in Recommendations
Reviving this to let you know that you're not alone and that I, too, am pining away for Orange. Specifically, I want to know where else in the BPAL catalogue I can find that Orange-Crush-esque bit to Orange that I got. I know there's already a thread for orange blossom (which I'm scouring!) and I had recommendations for outside-of-BPAL, commercial-brand perfume, but I am on a hunt for the perfect Orange-y orange. -
Where is my order? What is Click N Ship? How long does this take?
bpalscentsual replied to Snow White's topic in BPAL FAQs
So I placed an order through CCNow on 2/8/12 for three bottles of The Vine and one of Gelt (had to squeak it in before the Yule cutoff on the 10th!). When I ordered, The Vine showed up in red text, but I figured it was because I was ordering multiple quantities. Today my package from this order arrived with Gelt... and only one bottle of The Vine. I double-checked, and CCNow charged my card for the full amount of the purchase, not just for two bottles. So where's the second half of my order? Is the Lab just having backlog issues? I assume that my other two bottles will be sent out in a second shipment and I won't be charged twice for shipping, but I've never had this happen to me before. Is this usual, or at least not unusual? Or should I e-mail customer support asking for an explanation? I don't want to be alarmist, and the last thing I want to do is take up their valuable time! -
For people who are scared of mint but want to get their toes wet with the Lab's mint notes... where do you even start? I'm deathly afraid of becoming overwhelmed (bad things happen to me when I smell mint) and don't want to scare myself off because I'm afraid of one or two notes in a blend.
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Mmm, this was beautiful on me all day today. It was like some kind of currant/blackberry jam inside an almond shortbread cookie. I'm not getting any of the caramel, but it still feels somewhat like a pastry under all that dark, sweet fruit and sharp almond. It has more of a liqueur feeling, though. Amaretto, probably, since almond. Simply amazing. Very rich without being spicy in the slightest.
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My favorite 'comforting' scent right now is Severin, and the only way I can think to describe that kind of leather is a very buttery, well-worn leather. With the bergamot and tea, it feels like a well-loved chair in a study with a hot beverage next to you. I'm very new to this, but I suspect the same leather note is in some of the other 'leather' blends discontinued around the same time. Can anyone point me towards the same 'type' of leather as in Severin? I'm not talking whip leather or fetish leather, more of a comforting-leather-chair leather.
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Sugar, sugar, sugar, sugar, sugar, and then an earthy, fruity bit underneath. I smelled, to put it evocatively, like a Fig Newton all day. Really. I smelled like figs, or perhaps plums/prunes, just one of those deep fruit notes but candied with crystallized sugar. The sugar itself is very 'fresh' and cane-like, as if you were getting it from the wild instead of just opening your baking canister in the pantry and sticking your nose in it. Not sure how much I'll wear it given everything else I'm in love with, but this is definitely a nice one.
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Apple skin. This smells like apple skin. There's apple trying to get out from underneath, but it's been sprayed with pesticides. I suspect it's the mulberry interacting with everything else, because something in here is just bitter and astringent and off. This is a very potent blend, too, just a dab'll do ya. Great throw, for so little, and I've been smelling it all day, but this is very unlike some of the other apple blends I've tried from the Lab, so it's most likely the berries making everything sharp. And, due to a clerical error on my part, I find myself to be possessing two bottles and not just one. Huh. Okay.
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This Berry Moon started out slightly astringent on me, a lot like Lune Noire did. I was convinced for a few moments that it had the 'traditional lunar oils', but now I'm starting to think that hey, this oil is a few years old, it needs a little TLC and perhaps a little shake in the bottle before I start to wear it. Now that it's been on my skin for a few hours, it's wonderfully berry and juicy. Golden musk and I sometimes don't get along, as I'm finding out, but I think the orange blossom honey is keeping everything in check. The honey makes the berries sweet, like a summer bowl of fruit glazed with sugar, and I can even catch what's acting like a floral in here. All in all, this is amazing. We'll see how often I wear it, seeing as my other go-to fruits right now are The Vine and MI-Go Brain Canister, but it's an interesting addition that gets into the berry families in a way that other BPAL scents don't.
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To me, this is a very dry, floral blend, with something that hints at a woods in the background (is that you, pencil shavings?) I suspect that it's due to the aging process that I lose a lot of the juiciness of the fruits, but this turns out floral, sweet, and soft, almost powdery. This is absolutely lovely, more of a "grown-up" perfume from a perfumier than what I normally associate as a "Lab blend", but there's something about this that's truly rich and indescribable, with no vodka aftertaste that some major perfumes have on my skin. In my opinion, this is too old for me, or rather, I'm not old enough to wear this yet. I'm going to set this aside for later and hope I grow into it a little more, because this is truly gorgeous.
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This is the perfect sugary-lavender-vanilla blend. It's truly beautiful. I have no frame of reference for the TKO Panacea that's been released, but for me, this smells exactly like B&BW's "Lavender and Vanilla" aromatherapy line. Because of that, I really don't need to keep this, but it was an amazing experience wearing it today. I felt soft and feminine, and since I associate the smell with B&BW bubble bath, I also felt very clean. A wonderful blend.
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Egg Nog 2011 For me, this scent was accurate, if a little heavy on the booze. Unfortunately, something about dairy notes from the Lab just doesn't go quite right on my skin! That being said, this is truly eggnog, the kind you make at home... more of when it's warm on the stove instead of fresh out of the fridge, though, because of skin heat. I'm not in love with this, but may keep a sniffie just for a pick-me-up.
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Gelt 2011 Very, very powdery and soft. My goodness. I know what cocoa powder smells like, so the resiny-powdery-nearlyfloral-golden note in there must be the amber, and I am in love. At first, earlier in the day, I thought it was doing some funky stuff -- then realized it was because I a) was eating semi-sweet baking chips, thus distorting the chocolate in Gelt, and 2) didn't shake the bottle before applying. I'm sure there's delicious cocoa that settled in the bottom that would bloom on my skin even more. During this application, I would say it was 2/3 amber to 1/3 cocoa, but if I mixed it a little better, I'm sure it would even out. Backup bottle of this it is! The amber in here makes me feel feminine, and cocoa is a comforting scent for me.
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Sugar Cookie 2011 This started out beautifully. So beautifully that I slathered this everywhere. A very dry, powdery sort of cinnamon crusted on top of a sugar cookie. More like snickerdoodles than a pure sugar coolie, but not complaining. Then, about a half-hour ago, I got this pervasive smell of vinegar that turned into something just plain wrong... Turns out that this went pretty much straight to Play-Doh on my skin after two hours. Oh, jeezus, get it off me! This is the only scent so far that has required me to wash it off at work, and since I slathered on my neck, well... I don't think this is a skin chemistry issue either. The other bakery scent that I love is Ops, and it did nothing like this on my skin, even though it started off very similarly. Since I can't get to it from where I am right now, I'll have to edit this post after I dual-test this tonight to make sure that it's not me or odd hormones, it's Sugar Cookie. How odd. Two hours and it was fine, but now it's downright gross.
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Empty sniffie of this with just enough left on the wand to rub on the inside of my elbow? Yes, please. Not a comprehensive review because I have to wrap my arm around my face to get this scent, but oh my goodness, I can see where the hype was coming from. This is Orange Crush. Straight-up Orange Crush cut with a splash of tangy, pulpy orange juice, and yes, I can smell a promise of orange blossoms and orange zest. Orange, orange, orange, orange, orange. It's freaking delicious. I feel so awed just being able to try this, knowing how high the demand was for it. And now I know why. This is fantastic in so many ways. I can only imagine what it would have been like with the imp of Dark Chocolate!
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For the first hour or so, I was getting medicinal Snake Oil cut through with honey. And I swear I could actually smell a difference in the honeys, too. It was great, if a little strange to be getting that much detail with such an astringent, herbal background. Then, the drydown turns this into... patchouli? Patchouli with a hint of something sweet, but not a lot. The only other real patchouli reference I have is #occupywallstreet, but this is the same note that was in there, just less intense. Probably because of the vanilla and honey. Still, I'm amping patchouli, and that's really all I'm getting when I put nose to wrist. No honey, no vanilla, nothing. Patchouli and I don't get along, obviously. Note to self: tread carefully around Snake Oil blends! I know a lot of people say that aged Snake Oil is better than Snake Oil straight from the Lab, but I'm not sure I'm willing to wait in case it becomes even more patchouli-ish with time. I had hoped for such a winner with this one...
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Multi-post. Sorry!
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... There was anything else other than osmanthus in this one? What I got from this was a very strong, nearly soporific white flower tone. It was like gardenia-magnolia, but those two actually play nice on my skin, whereas this one was so HI I'M A FLORAL that I was headachey if I got too much of a whiff of it. I'm sorry to say that I didn't get anything else out of this, unless the golden musk is what's vamping the floral up and making it revolt on my skin. Overall: This is The Osmanthus Show, and I'm not its number one fan, so off to sales it goes.
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Hazelnut and pineapple. At first I thought it was milk chocolate and mango, but that scent description by someone who doesn't 'do' BPAL and then another sniff from me and I knew this was what it was. The pineapple is actually very juicy on me, but it burns off faster than the hazelnut, which sticks around all day. I smelled delicious. All day. Like most fruities, I want to slather this all over myself and smell like this all the time. The hazelnut-chocolate bonus at the end doesn't hurt, because it turns out very comforting and warm to me. Somehow, those two notes work together very well, and it ends up something like a slice of fresh pineapple coated in Nutella. Very sweet and dessert-like. Definitely in the 'keep' pile for now and I feel very fortunate to have tried it!
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Smut 2012 This scent does exactly what it says in the description. Extremely musky, but I didn't get a whole lot of sweetness to lighten it up, mostly alcohol notes. That being said, because of the musk and alcohol, this turns straight into man-smell on me. I tested this alone yesterday and found it to be a bit overpowering, so today I tried layering with Detestable Putrescence. It's just very potent and very strong. I like this scent as a concept, but it is not playing well with my skin: way too much throw/staying power/sex appeal for what I'd normally wear in a white-collar office environment. (It isn't called Smut for nothing!) Overall: Great execution, but it's not for me. Sales it is.