smallvoice

Mabon is exactly as beautiful as it sounds. Oddly enough, the blackberry wine behaved quite nicely on my skin, rather than turning into urine, the way other wines with berries (Montresor, MB: Closet) have in the past. I only tested a sniffy of this, but it is stunning and subtle. The woods balance out the fruits to make it a complex and deep scent. Oddly enough, I don't know that I would use it enough to warrant seeking out a bottle.

The woods in this are slightly spicy, and somewhat reminescent of Arkham. The coconut manages to be there without adding a tropical flair; like it's not quite ripe, or it's really just the bare meat. Vetiver is probably what's adding the spice to the woods, which are the most prominent note to me. This doesn't strike me as being fruity, per se, but I can smell the plum and berries, and it gives the King a wonderfully rounded scent. As it dries, it sweetens even more, which I really like. There is a green note to this, and I'm not sure where it's coming from, but it all blends really well. This is a beautiful creation, to be sure. I'll just have to see if it's something I reach for, now.

 

If you like: Purple Phoenix, Arkham and Hamadryad, you may like King of Spades.

The rose is the dominant note in this from start to finish. However, it isn't exactly agressive or in your face, it's just central. It's a lovely rose, but I can't decide if it's a little too strong for me. However, I can smell the other components very clearly and I love them all. I wish the honey was just a tad stronger, but I do love the ylang ylang and the light fruitiness of the apple blossoms. It's pretty, but it's not one that I think I would wear a lot, which is unfortunate. It's just not my type of scent.

This is a very non-offensive white floral with a sweetness from the ginger. I definitely smell white musk, and it's giving this a depth that I really love. I wasn't expecting to really like this when it first went on, but as it dries it is wooing me. I am quite impressed. Come spring, I may have to break this one out a lot. It has the potential of being passed over for scents I simply love, like Alice and Whitechapel, though. This one works for the dredges of winter, so I may have to wear it more. Very nice scent overall.

Oddly enough, I too get the root beer and a hint of wintergreen. It must be something in how the saffron mixes with the cedar on my skin? I don't know. It's really peculiar. As it dries, I get a hint of pencil shavings. This is really a strange one. I don't know what to make of it, but it's not for me. It's not so much the root beer itself as it is the fizzy foam at the top of a really good one. Huh. I really think it is tied into the saffron, though.

 

Tried it again today. Uh. It smells like smoked meat. With a hint of mint.

I wore Alice for Christmas, because I wanted to smell lovely and Alice always leaves me feeling happy- Alas, the only comment from my husband was, "Hmm. It's pretty, but it doesn't really evoke Christmas." I knew I should've gone with a spicy scent, but... eh. I think I will wear Et Lux Fuit on New Year's Eve in hopes for a bright year to come.

Since I'm always so nosy about butting in and giving advice about scents to try, I thought I might ask for some advice, myself.

 

Patchouli hates me. It wishes I would die, a dirty, sweaty death. It wants to strangle me. And yet, somehow, I still long for its approval. I guess we all do, in some way or another. Anyhoo...

 

I've found florals for people who can't do florals, and vanilla that smells divine on me, and I've even discovered the occasional sandalwood combination that works on me. Has anyone found a patchouli blend where it's not just that you can't really smell the patchouli (which is what Mme. Moriarty ended up doing on me, more or less- but it's the closest I've come), but that it behaves and smells beautiful where it would otherwise make you a smelly, sweaty death-bunny? Any patchouli blends out there for people who can't do patchouli? I know that some notes are just out of the question, but I would love to find a patchouli I can wear.

 

Here's where I'd ask the poster what all patchouli blends she's tried. Um, yeah. I don't know, exactly. Snake Oil, Voodoo, Namaste, Mantis (which I don't recall being heavy on the patchouli, really), Malediction, and probably others. Sorry for the lack of help there, guys!

This was meant to go here- Aglaea really smells a lot like Fruit Moon on my skin.

Eos! How did I ever end up swapping it?! I got it back and it is fresh warm morning sunlight in a bottle :-D *hugs little impling* I should give my Aureus another try...cedar's been less pencil-y on me of late.

 

Oh! I forgot to mention this in my post. I think somebody else said it too, so I second or third this one. A gorgeous, soft sunshine feel.

The Lion is the scent that is most evocative of sunshine and warmth to me. It is, as I've told others (Ms. Betty, I think), like wearing my own magnificant mantle of glorious sunshine. Or something incredibly superlative like that. So let me add my voice to the chorus of recommendations there!

 

The Mouse's Long and Sad Tale made me think a lot of summertime and light-heartedness. It has a very delightful and childlike tone to it. Brisingamen is another one that is warm and like sunshine, to me, as is Bastet, to a lesser degree.

 

Amber tends to be a very sunshiny note. Good luck!

At first it's this very complex blend on me that is evocative and strangely beautiful, and then my skin sorts it all out. There is a note that is in every BPAL blend I've tried with "snow" in the name- pine and something extra- that does not work for me, and that note is what all of those scents become. Somehow, Djinn got his hands on some of this snow and it is burning merrily away. I don't know. There's also something sort of herbal or fruity there, and it's just not good. Actually, it now smells like a men's body wash, which makes sense. I bet my husband would smell fantastic in this. Hmm. Off to plot.

Chemistry is so freaky! I would not have thought of Dorian as a comparison to MLST in a million years. This doesn't smell like Dorian on me at all, obviously. Then again, I don't think I would have made a connection to baby products, but it does remind me of them on my skin. Oddly, in a very comforting way. I've gotten ahead of myself, though.

 

I didn't want to try this one because sandalwood is a Very Bad Note for me, but I've heard so much good that I recently swapped for it... and promptly put it in my imp box.

 

Today it came out- and such a surprise! I can actually smell the sandalwood and it's not bad. It has that creamy goodness- I think it's taking it from the vanilla. I do love amber, and sweet pea is so delicate... it's a very girly, delicate scent. It is like summer and dresses and giggling. I don't think I compare scents to colours the same way other people do, so don't get freaked out over this if you're not a "white scent" sort of person usually. It's not striking me as a pink scent, though- more like a white lacy scent.

 

I really like this. I think I'd like to have a bottle someday.

 

EDIT: January, 2008: I do have a bottle, and it's six months old, and let me tell you- aging is a wonderful thing. It turns into this incredibly sweet incense-y smell that I adore. Fantastic! Someone recently compared it to Death Cap (Christine Daae, I think?) and I was thinking that earlier today when I pulled my bottle out. Lovely!

Amber and fruits? I'm SO there. Except... all I can smell is the sandalwood. It's just not very pretty on me, I'm afraid. It smells like dusty, slightly sweet amber. It isn't rancid or anything, it's just not my favourite blend. I think I expected this to be juicier than it is.

Could somebody who's tried Fruit Moon and Treat 1 tell me if they're at all similar?

I was surprised to find that, on first application, I really like this scent. It is fairly simple, but I love the lotus in it! And, joy, it has the bubble gum note that I just love! (No sarcasm, seriously.) It's more of a fruity note than the old fashioned pink sort, but it balances the roses very well. I wish I could describe it better, but it really is quite lovely. I'll update again if it changes on my skin for the worse!

How is it that I have not yet reviewed this scent? Euphrosyne is the blend that convinced me that I really AM a floral person. Or, at the very least, that I can be. It smells amazing and not heavy and the vanilla lends a sweetness without being too sweet, and how strange is it that it has rose and gardenia AND jasmine in it, yet I still love it??! It's really a masterpiece, that's for sure.

Because the lab does updates so often, the search engine is a bit behind, so I decided to search the forum for mentions of opoponax in the reviews section, and here are blends that came up as a result that sound like things you might like: Horreur Sympathique, the Music of Erich Zahn, Satan and Death With Sin Intervening, Schwarzer Mond (g'luck finding it, though!), Geek, Doc Buzzard (see note on Schwarzer Mond), King of Spades (A lot of hard to find scents keep popping up!), and Noir. And, of course, Venom.

 

Since opoponax is a sweet myrrh (which I only just now found out), I thought I'd recommend some blends with myrrh that sound sweet. (Am I stretching this too much?)

 

Blood, Velvet (which I expect to be absolutely nothing like Poison, but sounds like something you'd really dig), Bastet, Thanatos, Viola, Athens and Sri Lanka.

Hades is the only catalog blend I can find with opoponax listed as a note, so you may look into trying that one.

 

I would also recommend Blood Countess, as others have already suggested.

 

Others you might like (some I've tried and some I have not): Dee, Libertine, Florence (this seems like a very good one, and I have tried and liked it, too!), Eclipse, Lolita, Hollywood Babylon, Mme. Moriarty, Blood Kiss, Nephilim, Alecto, Highwayman, and Jezebel. Hope that helps!

 

This is based on the notes listed for Poison here. (You have to scroll down to P rather than using the links to the left.)

As so many others have stated, this one MORPHS. It's a good thing my swapper warned me or I really would have been confused at how this evolved. It does smell a lot like Red Lantern just mated with Beaver Moon right there in the bottle. I was worried that the wine/booze would be like Montresor or MB: Closet but so far, it is not at all. This is AMAZING. To think that I almost turned down the swap. I like it when it first goes on, because it's a lot like Beaver Moon. There is a hint of sugared incense underneath once it calms down, and what I can only assume is the olive leaf kicks in to ground the super-sweet scent. This evolves into a very balanced scent that should make it accessible to both foody people and non-foodies alike. This smells like what I was hoping for from All Souls' and Midnight on the Midway. It's not exceptionally boozy on my skin, either. I do feel a bit perverse wearing this blend to Christmas events, though! Orgies and phallic shaped cakes abound! If it goes horribly wrong on my skin, I'll update to reflect that, but for now it is really quite lovely.

I don't even know how to begin to categorize this one, but it is stunning! I love the cocoa, I love the fruits- the pomegranate from Swank became too fizzy and bright for me, but I love this mixture. The fig is brilliant with it and the vanilla is beautiful and it's really just gorgeous. I wish this one had caught my attention when Carnaval Noir came through town earlier this year! I leaned towards the flashier Midway, instead.

I can't think of anything directly, but layering would probably be your best bet. You may want to start with something like F5, which has a sea spray foundation. After that, just sort of pick and choose. Sorry I'm not more help!

Urd is in Excolo, under the Norns. I would strongly second Mme. Moriarty!

 

If you like the red musk, I'd encourage you to try Hollywood Babylon and Hell's Belle. Hollywood Babylon is fruity and musky and Hell's Belle is a spicy musk that didn't have a whole lot of floral on my skin, as I recall- just light floral and my review reminded me that it was what I'd hoped Scherezade would be, so there must be some similarity!

 

ETA: I almost forgot! I came back to recommend that you try Devil's Night! It's not like Scherezade, but it seems like something you might like.

I've never smelled the VS scent, but for vanilla florals, I must recommend Euphrosyne and, particularly in this case, Regan.

 

I also second Dorian, Snake Oil, Antique Lace, and Black Opal.

Bengal is the first thing that comes to mind, followed by Baghdad. Serpent's Kiss might work for that one, too, depending on how you do with vetiver. One you absolutely must try is The Lion- spicy ambery wonderfulness. Tanin'iver is great if dragon's blood works on you- it's a bit sweeter than Scherezade, but it's still a great spicy blend. Good luck!

My skin amps the hazelnut buttery-ness along with the coffee so I smell like a latte. I really like it, but my husband says that all he can smell is butter, and not in a good way. Still, I think it warms up really, really nicely on my skin... and I do see what all the fuss is about. I would love more blends with coffee in them!