grifyn_whiffs
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Everything posted by grifyn_whiffs
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This started out as beautiful, warm sandalwood, but the ozone note (like it has several times before) killed it for me. After about 20 minutes, it just smelled like a herbal remedy and went dusty on my skin. I never got the sweet that happened for anyone else. Not for me...
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Something I've learned from BPAL: Lotus scents = bubble gum. Well, to START, anyway. The bubble gum phase of this one was over within the first five minutes. From there, it was slightly sharp and spicy for a moment and then... frighteningly soapy on my skin (Amber, I see what you did there). The soapy amber goes away, though, and for a blissful hour, I got a gorgeous waft of smooth silky lotus every time I shifted or put my hand through my hair. Really, really pretty. Even now I get the faintest trace of it on my skin. Not long lasting on me, but really pretty.
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A very grown up honey! I layered this with Lush's HIWTK, and it really was a sweet tooth kind of day. I got the wine note on dry down, but not the myrrh so much. I think the flowers were kind of folded in (to my nose) with the honey. The throw was nicely wafting, and I think it stuck around for 2-3 hours (this is a long stint for me!). I may like this just as much as Sudha Segara!
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This scent is surprisingly wearable! It's also sweeter than I imagined it would be: the woods that open up are soft and pretty, and then I smell the violets and phlox. I was expecting something a bit more ominous! It goes a bit powdery for a few moments (I'm not sure which note did the deed), but evens out on dry-down. Unfortunately, about 20 minutes after dry-down, all but the faintest, prettiest, warm floral whiffs are gone. But, it was definitely worth re-applying throughout the day.
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I was eager to try this one after hearing so much about it. The initial whiff is very promising -- it smells like a crystalline blanket of snow and delicate flowers. Unfortunately, like Snow-Flakes before it, my skin had eaten it within about fifteen minutes. There's something about the pale white florals that my skin just soaks up. I have to assume it's the floral notes since I've tried snow storm and snow notes by themselves and had them turn out beautifully. I don't get the almond notes or vanilla. I do get a faint edge of mint (I love mint, so that's fine), but mostly "small white flowers poking up through slushy snow." I'm curious to smell this one on someone else. I'll bet it's brilliant on someone whose skin behaves for the notes.
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I had no idea how much I would adore this. It's absolutely breathtaking. Why have I never heard of Candy Charcoal before this, seriously? Black smoky candy and violets, with lilies rounding everything out. I love everything about this... that poof of chimney dust makes it smell so different from anything else in my collection -- it's wintry, cold, pretty and sweet. I can definitely see where it would be an acquired taste, however... that smoky note's not going to be for everyone. But for me, this perfectly blends my love of sweet florals with sweets and smoky resins. I know they're here until January, but I MUST order some now!
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Scent like Partylite Hokuspokus / Abracadabra
grifyn_whiffs replied to Antaria's topic in Recommendations
I did a little Googling last night -- and ended up mostly on eBay auctions. The description I kept seeing was, "A delightful scent of secrets... with a surprising twist." I guess the twist is not fragrance related (the yellow candle morphs to green), and the delightful scent... well, no one seems to be talking. I came across one description that described it, very briefly, as "citrus-like", but I'm not sure how much that helps you. Edited. Message cloned itself. Weird. -
I'm testing this one and The Death of Autumn at the same time, thinking of them as cause and effect scents, BUT... not caring for October so far. There was an astounding "that's a red leaf" feeling as I started sniffing, which makes me wonder how the lab can sometime capture a COLOR in the bottle. It sets my synaptic firings all a-tingle. This goes a little too man's cologne on me, as well. The only thing that keeps the smoke from taking over is the sap, which I like... a faint woody sweetness in the back. But, too far in the back. Is it weird that going back and forth between this one and The Death of Autumn makes the bitter clove in the latter REALLY pop out to my nose? Nice... evocative, but not really my thing. Will add to swap/sell list.
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This was a little overpowering on the initial sniff, but having put it on my arm TWICE now from my decant, I am overjoyed. This is a such a dry, brisk breath of autumn-turning-to-winter. Each time I check the drydown, I like it more. I love how the dark amber, rather than making things seem powdery (amber misbehaves on me) makes everything seem dry, brittle. The dead leaves here are magnificent -- brilliant shades curling and browning at the edges, rattled by the breeze. There's some smoke drifting through the background. It strikes me that this blend has nowhere to go but UP, as these notes all strike me as ones that age gorgeously. Also, this blend morphs gorgeously. GUH. There's saffron... not 100% in love with how my skin handles saffron, so I'm relieved when it morphs into the blend and isn't so discernible. I'm not really sensing or picking out the florals, which is fine by me. This is beautiful. I may just have to score a bottle of this... dammit! My potential next order list is getting longer and longer.
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I get the astringency when I first sniff this one, too. I suspected from the notes that this one wouldn't work on me, but I do like how that faint linen note is behaving with the dry florals. I'm really liking both the rose and violet in this, so it's useful to know that these notes are similar to those in Hope & Faith. This one doesn't really "work" for me. Conceptually, it's a nice floral, not "atrocious" at all.
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The description for this one scared me, too. Vinegar? Get thee hence! BUT, I am so stunned: This is the blend I WANTED Centzon Totochtin to be. CT went "off" on me (something about that rum note, I think), but started out so beautiful, and so does The Chilling Cellar! The blood musk is so unbelievably gorgeous on me! Admittedly, I don't get anything Eeeevil from this blend, but maybe evil is in the nostrils of the beholder? This is perfect, perfect, perfect! It's right up there with the Perilous Parlor for Haunted House blends that will require a bottle buy!
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The description for this one scared me almost as much as any of the others. Smeared fungus? Rot? "I don't know about this..." But I wanted to see if BPAL could do a scent that made me think of a long-abandoned, haunted foyer. At first, I swear I can smell the fungus/mildew. BLEAH. After about five minutes though, this is WOOD. WOOD and more WOOD. Old, dark wood, a little bit of varnish I swear. If it weren't for the faint trace of cognac, this would smell like opening a bureau drawer or a new bookcase. When I give it a bit more time to dry down, it takes on this very OLD feel. Very masculine and dusky. Not my favorite room of the Haunted House thus far, but still an interesting experience!
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I am in awe. This smells exactly the way I would expect a wet, poisonous, dangerous garden, with bright blooms to ensnare small children, to smell. I can smell wet, sweet blooms, viscous green vines and stems, and something underneath that says, "No, don't do it!" An aunt of mine had a patch of deadly nightshade in her front garden, and she had planted a bunch of chrysanthemums and rhododendron around it. I just remember walking WIDE around her garden, wide-eyed, not wanting to touch ANY of it, thinking it was going to get me. I don't know if she liked it, couldn't get rid of it or was afraid to get near it like me. I used to have dreams that it uprooted itself at night and would come after me... This scent is such a reminder of that garden.
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This is my favorite of all the Haunted House blends I've tried so far! On me, it's a SLIGHTLY spicy, fresh pear, and then the vanilla comes out. This isn't the same pear to me as the one in Titania, which is a syrupy sweet pear, but a more true pear, peel and all. It's closer to the pear in Endymion, but I like this one more. I agree that it's the same vanilla as Tokyo Stomp -- a warmer, creamier vanilla. Thankfully, this vanilla has behaved on me so far. The drydown just gets better and better, and the pear doesn't seem to fade on me at all! A bottle of this just might have to find its way into my collection. ETA: Two subsequent tests found it fading on me, leaving just a whiff of pear after about half an hour. Damn, I really wanted this one to work for me.
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At first, I only smell a light incense. When it dries, it occurs to me: This is the scent that I wanted Dee to be! Dee went herbal on me, but this stays old, magical incense. I'm not getting the nefarious notes here. The tomes do not seem to be forbidden, nor the past servants infernal. It's just a wonderful old library under thick dust. There is something floral, but my skin eats pale florals, so all is well... it's just a nice, sweet note very much in the background on me, blending with the dustiness for that "old book not opened for centuries" scent. I wish the incense were a bit more pronounced, though. Maybe my skin is eating a that, too?
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The Haunted House blends have me so excited. Even the ones I don't want to smell on ME, necessarily, I still want to smell just to ratchet up my excitement for Halloween and scary stories. What I get is burnt wood, initially... OLD burnt wood. The moss and green ivy come out to play after a minute... there's something slithering and green about that fresh vegetation note. Brrr! And while I initially thought, "not ON me", this one settles into a chilling, brisk little scent -- woods, greens and smoke, a potentially masculine blend, but it makes me feel like I'm in the woods on my grandmother's farm, out toward the edge of the acreage where we weren't supposed to go, as lured there by my older, wicked cousin. Oh, I love it! This blend is gorgeous, scary and so much fun. On me, this dries down to something beautifully mossy, with a touch of woodsmoke in the back, but the "rot" is long gone.... moss is not a note I would have thought "worked" for me, but this one does. It's wonderful!
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Another that was a frimp in my most recent order. First of all, I LOVE aquatics. Love them, and can't get enough of them. They give me the impression of being sort of clean and crystallized when I catch whiffs of them. Initial impression in the imp: Sort of lemony at first. Clean. AND... I already got a stain on the imp. DAMMIT! Impish little imps. The lemon note (to my nose anyway) is still there, but here comes the rain again ozone. FRESH. Like it's going to rain in the room. My skin is just piping up with lemon and more lemon, with some ozone underneath. Curiously, I started sniffing this one last night and was suddenly sleepier than I remembered. I sat down in the chair and fell asleep in it. So there's potential here to be one of my "calm down" blends. So, fast forward to this morning. This is now an aquatic ozone blend at its best. It hasn't gone all soap, or chemicals or only dried down to any floral components (all problems I've had with aquatics in the past). In fact, I like it better now, and can still smell it on my skin as if it was rather recently applied rather than almost 8 hours ago. I'm going to slather from my imp some more. I think a mood will eventually hit me for this one, but I can't say right now that I'm going to get a bottle.
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I ordered this in my last imp six-pack when Poisoned Apple disappointed me a bit. I've looking for that perfect autumn apple scent that wasn't the sometimes hard-to-get Punkie Night. At first, there's something abrasive, but bright. The minute it hits my skin, however, this is the most beautiful apple I've ever sniffed. It wafts up to my nose in small, sweet surges... just bright, fresh fruit, a clean "golden" smell, no sugary candy at all. And... my kingdom to sniff what makes up the "twilight mist" portion of this blend. I'm in love. You! To my bottle wishlist! At once!
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This was a frimp in my most recent lab order. At first whiff: Holy herbal blast, Batman! At once, I know what it is: it's the same immediate aversion I got when I sniffed my imp of Lolita (that feeling of CLOSE it, now!), which sends me scrambling to see what they have in common. Orange blossom. We meet again. Bleah. There's something about the orange blossom note that just has not been kind to me. Some of the blends that went the worst on me have it in common: Maenad, Hunger, Succubus, Vice (which I desperately wanted to love) and, obviously, Lolita. Orange blossom goes all powdery abrasive cleanser on my skin, each and every time. To the swap pile!
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I got this as a frimp in a swap. Looking at the notes, I’d have to say that it’s not something I would've picked out on my own, but sometimes those are the most fun. I smell it, and I'm eight again! Let me explain: When I was in grade school, an aunt gave me a perfume gift pack – four cute, etched glass bottles of single-note alcohol-based perfumes with those plastic "gold" tops. They came with a little mirrored display stand so you could feel grown-up putting them on your bureau or vanity table. They were perfectly acceptable and age-appropriate scents. Really. One was rose, but the other three were… can you guess? Lavender, jasmine and honeysuckle. And, Lo, I did bathe in them, to the endless chagrin of my mother. This isn't exactly like that combo, of course. I know BPAL uses more quality ingredients, but the effect is the same: a surge of familiarity, a floral toothache and then, a soapy finish. So while this was a grin-inducing, nostalgic sniff, it's not a keeper for me.
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At first, this was fruit and sour candy on me -- smelled like big sour cherry candies, complete with powdery coating. I took my arm away from my nose immediately -- too much! It almost made my mouth water, smelling it, the way that something sour would. But after a minute or two, that initial sour fruitiness sort of floats away (thank goodness!) The lime syrup and the cranberry make this a treat... I could see putting this behind my ears and in my hair in the summer. A happy scent with just enough tartness in the background to keep it from going overboard. It's the drydown that kills this one for me. Like all cranberries before it, it's powder after a few minutes. My skin has eaten most of what made the lime so sparkly, and now I'm left with something that smells like a fruity cleanser.
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This one has been on the short list of "Must try" imps for me, forever. I think I might have idealized it as a result? I was expecting a bubbly, fun scent. There's definitely a sharp ginger ale thing going on. Thanks, Blondiekins, I was trying to peg the familiar smell. I kept thinking, "Grapefruit? Citrus?" Unfortunately, the minute it hits skin, it goes really, hysterically W-R-O-N-G on me. It smells dirty and stale and bleah, I just want to wash it off. The first boozy BPAL to betray me. ::shakes fist dramatically:: Off to the sale post it goes.
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While Schrodinger's Cat was a "I must have that" blend, Incubus was tempting, but black musk has been horrible on me in the past. With the other notes listed, though, I had to get an imp. The Labbies sent me a very FULL imp, and now I have it all over my arm. Good thing I like it! I get the caramel and black musk right away, with only a hint of mint. The mint and "caramel-scented body heat" mingle in an interesting way, though I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't smelled it myself. Drying down: This is sensual with some sweetness in the background. BPAL rocks the tobacco notes, always. The one here is unbelievably sexy. After a few minutes on, this scent seems to merge with my skin, and smells like someone who is posh, sophisticated, refined... and inarguably bad news. You should meet this scent in a well-lit, public area. The throw on this is low, on the "lean in close" side. Little, seductive whiffs of it seem to float up like a sexy vapor. It smells like it would lend itself well to aging too. I now regret not buying a bottle.
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Sea of Glass has been on my BPAL imp wishlist almost since I got into BPAL, and one fascination or another bumped it down the list whenever the time came. There were no notes, nothing to beguile me... just a name that sends a lightning bold of imagery into my brain. It doesn't hurt that I'm a sucker for a good aquatic blend. I'm a Pisces, after all. It smells EXACTLY like the name. I mean, I never thought, "Sea of Glass will smell like _______", but once I had smelled it, it was an "of course" moment. A bright, clean, still and calm aquatic. It reminds me of Olokun without the salt and brine. There is something A LITTLE floral playing here, and I keep thinking I smell something pale and bubbly like grapefruit, but then it's gone again. I just can't peg it down. This one doesn't fade on me so much as it seems to absorb in. From there, the throw is random. I think it's gone, but I will get a calming whiff of it again. It's incredibly peaceful. I could see using this blend to help with meditation or maybe a little spritzed into a child's room at bedtime (note to self: buy a good spray base for this). I'm going to put some in a locket for stressful days. I can already tell the imp isn't going to last as long as I thought! This goes on my bottle wishlist.
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Samhain 2007 This was almost boozy to me in the bottle and, wet, is VERY strong. The clove-nutmeg-allspice, egged on by that black patchouli I think (which nearly kept me from buying a bottle), was a bit too much at first. On drying, though, I really get that impression of a damp, slightly chilly evening. The patchouli here lends to the darkness rather than going the "head shop" route (or is it just red patchouli that does that? I'm not really up on patchouli notes) or herbal route. The apple brings an open-air freshness and roundness to it and the spices just merge perfectly with it. All in all, very evocative. Quite a bit of throw on this one! My brain says it smells some moonlight... ETA: Wow... the spice amps, amps and amps again. Whee! With each phase of drydown, I like it more. I can see smelling this on my skin or in my hair the next morning and feeling comforted.