Mountaingrrl00

I like TAL Lionheart for both the intent and the scent. Take a look at the reviews - I think it might suit you.

Phantasm smells lemony at first, a nice clean herbal lemon. When the lemon mutes, the fragrance turns to luxury guest soap - soft, powdery, expensive Spring florals with an exotic green-tea twist. It doesn't have great throw, but it's strong up close. A little dab'll do ya. I think this would be a good scent for feeling clean on sweltering summer days.

I enjoy this fragrance a lot. It starts out with some floral notes - rose, and maybe tuberose? A hint of violet? It's soft, feminine, elegant. Something else in here reminds me of Lionheart, and that could be amber. It's light and a little bit almond-like. Maybe there's heliotrope too. Whatever it is, it brings a warm, lightly earthy base to the airy flowers. I can't report yet on how this affects others, but I felt good wearing it - a mellow, content kind of good - and I was sniffing my wrist a lot for a couple hours.

Some great recs here - I'll be following this thread myself! You might want to try using the BPAL search engine to look for saffron, too. That spicy note turns up in several of the dark and musky blends, including one of my favorites, Oblivion.

Ditto what GypsyRoseRed said - and I'd suggest trying Morocco, Baghdad and Tenochtitlan for autumn scents.

Since you like Manila and get a headshop vibe from that, I'll recommend Intrigue, which has a similar woody/incense note - the narra, I think. Sri Lanka smells the most like headshop nag champa to me.

Mmm, this is nice. Sultry cinnamon with hints of smoky wood and something animalic and the barest whisper of yellow flowers. It's warm and inviting. It smells grown-up, worldly. I don't know yet if it increases my sexual magnetism and potency, but I'm hopeful. The spiciness certainly is stimulating and uplifting to me. I'll wear it as perfume for my own pleasure as well as more devious uses. :-)

I'd suggest sending him to the site and getting him interested in the literary descriptions of the scents. That might be a good approach with your cousins, too -- even if they like smellies, the descriptions will give them something to anchor their sense impressions once they sniff what you bring.

I'd try layering Sri Lanka with Djinn for a Lapsang Souchang effect.

I put this on today and realized I hadn't reviewed it yet. Quite an omission, as this is one of my favorites! It's not a strong or showy scent, but it's so beautiful in its subtle way. I put this on when I want to be cheered up by its sweetness and elegance. The amber here is warm but not super-thick. I like the way it blends with the benzoin to make something familiar, but a little different. The effect is resinous without being at all heavy - just a lovely, golden glow of a scent. I've found that Jacob's Ladder is a wonderful scent for layering, as well as standing nicely on its own.

I smelled this at a meet & sniff back when it was a discontinued scent and fell tragically in love. I'm a sucker for grapefruit topnotes. When it was resurrected I bought an imp. It may not be everything I imagined from that love-at-first-sniff experience some months ago, but it's definitely an enjoyable, refreshing scent. Cheshire Cat is sparkly at first, like a grapefruit soda with a twist of currant. The chamomile and delphinium give it a soft sweetness that's just slightly powdery. I think the lavender adds to the coolness and tartness, but its astringency is tempered by the other notes. The soft-sweet element of CS sticks around the longest, and reminds me quite a bit of TAL Lionheart. (Does delphinium smell like heliotrope?) Overall, this is a light, summery, fun oil that's sweet and comforting without being at all cloying.

Try Greed! The listing of notes (copal, oakmoss, patchouli, heliotrope) wouldn't lead you to think it would be an edible scent, but I find it yummy, smoky and spicy in a decidedly non-sweet, non-cinnamon way.

This is at once dry and refreshing. It's got a dry heat, like a wooden attic, but there's also a breath of flowers and herbs that makes me feel cool. There's a bit of green sharpness - thyme may be it. The sandalwood and cajeput are the most readily identifiable notes. The other notes blend well and give me an overall grassy-herbal impression. I really enjoyed wearing this on a hot, humid day. It's light, not too sweet, different and somehow just right.

Quietude and Severin are two of my favorite fresh scents. I second the recommendation on Aizen-Myoo. You might also like Cheshire Cat (grapefruit, chamomile), House of Night (smells to me like ivy, pine and night-blooming flowers) and Peony Moon, which is an LE you might find an imp of on swaps. Of the Somnium blends, I'd most recommend Temple of Dreams for a clean lavender. Oh, and definitely try Whitechapel for the lilac of Sea of Glass plus a fresh taste of citrus.

CCCXLI - 341 This could be a Panacea blend like Quietude, or a sleep blend like Nanshe. It definitely says "relaxing" and "herbal". The lemony-lavender topnote is beautiful - refreshing as well as relaxing. There's something else floral-herbal and a little deeper - geranium maybe? Something also reminds me of Val Sans Retour when the oil is dry on my skin - there's a green, almost evergreen freshness. After awhile, there's a lovely green-wood smell, like willow branches, mixed with an older-wood smell, like teak. I'm really impressed with this blend in every phase. I'll be experimenting with its aromatherapy applications. I think I'll be keeping most of this bottle, though I might swap a decant for something really special. ETA: On a second application, I think I can pick out bergamot, maychang (a lemony evergreen), linden and teakwood.

In the vial, Alice smells to me like milky Earl Grey with a lot of honey in it, along with a rather strong almond note. Once I apply it, my skin quickly eats the foody elements, leaving me with a soft Rose Milk lotion-smelling drydown. That evaporates pretty fast too. Maybe it's the weather, but Alice vanished on me faster than any other BPAL I've tried.

I received Blood Kiss as a frimp in my latest order. I'm glad I did. I would not have ordered this based on the description, as I generally don't like wine fragrances. Cherry jumps out at first, along with a delicious honey smell. On me, the other elements blend to give a spicy depth to the honey. It actually reminds me a lot of Bengal, which makes sense since they share honey, skin musk and spice notes. I don't get a lot of vetiver from this blend, and I can't detect the wine at all. You know, I don't get the opium either - just a general smokiness that's probably a mix of the darker elements in this scent. It has excellent throw and pretty good staying power. I only wish that the frimp I received had not come with a cracked cap, because now I'll feel the need to slather when a little dab'd do me. Guess I'll have to order one myself!

I thought I'd get some recs from you guys by now, but maybe I didn't give you enough info .... Anyway, I decided to go with Lionheart, Road Opener and Snow Bunny.

Lionheart smells pleasantly sweet and not particularly herbal - more like a BPAL perfume oil than a TAL oil, initially. There's the vanilla note that's in Snake Oil, the amber and heliotrope of Hollywood Babylon, something that reminds me of Coyote, and a little something almond-like. It's creamy and sweet and comforting. I want to carry this around with me just to smell! That said, I can already tell it's helping with my courage. Since receiving Lionheart this afternoon, I've been able to accomplish some tasks I was avoiding, and my outlook on my circumstances has improved. I have a feeling I'll be back to edit this with more positive experiences.

I'm in for a weekend of intensive traveling. I don't have the obvious - Safari - on hand. What else might work? I do have a few imps that have lavender in them. I've heard that geranium and mint are good for travel. Any other components you'd recommend? Particular BPAL oils?

Intrigue and Manila have a similar humid-wood-and-fruit-thing going on. I prefer Intrigue as I'm more into fig than banana.

Umbra would be another good one, with patchouli and cinnamon.

When I sniffed this in the vial, I couldn't distinguish it from Titania - it was sort of a generic "iced fruits" scent. It really warmed up on my skin, though, and the pear scent is beautiful - ripe, autumnal, maybe even a little bit spiced. It doesn't have much throw. It just sticks around for a long time and allows me to keep sniffing my wrist and smiling.

The first couple of times I tried Hymn to Pan were pleasant enough, but nothing special happened. These times were for music performance situations. Then I used it to anoint my studio, and I really did have a wild burst of creativity. I stayed up late working on a writing project and it turned out very interesting and different from anything I've done before. As someone else has mentioned in a review, I too woke up feeling a bit as though I had a hangover. Still, I had coffee and breakfast, dabbed a bit of Hymn to Pan on my notebook, and went back to writing. I felt more willing to experiment and work by feel rather than rules. There's something fizzy about the aroma - I definitely get the "herbal cola" association, or possibly ginger brew. There's also a hint of flowers. When I apply it to my palms, the scent vanishes quickly. Perhaps that's why it didn't work for me previously. Also, my experience with it so far has been on the more introverted side, which I don't associate with "rock star debauch". Personal variations aside, this works wonderfully for me, and I expect to use it more in my work and play.

I am finding Road Opener very helpful so far. It gives me a cooling sensation that's very pleasant and inspiring, even tingly. It makes me want to get out and explore. As another example of an almost-too-literal interpretation of "Road Opener", when I've used the oil I have driven down different streets and always have found new and interesting places. On one of these trips I met a fellow musician who told me about a new music equipment store that had everything I've needed and hadn't been able to find locally or affordably. The alone opens a lot of paths for me. I can think of many other uses for this terrific oil. Oh, and as far as how it smells, for me it's strong, sinus-clearing mint. There might be some menthol and eucalyptus. I get pennyroyal, too - minty/bitter/metallic. It's strong enough to work just applied to my palms and smelled, although it does not have a great deal of staying power there. It seems to work particularly well when it's also applied to the back of my neck, where I can feel a skin-tingling push.