jarvenpa

It's ORANGE. It's very very orange. As if you are being plunged into a vat of freshly squeezed orange juice. Which is really quite nice and refreshing. And then it is Orange with a touch of tan (which seeing the notes is obviously the hay and tobacco). It is a very visual sort of scent for me, the colors seem quite clear. And it is also quite a refreshingly pretty scent--but you really must like the scent of oranges.

Oh my. You know how when you order a perfume untested, based on whim or because the signs are right...you know how you are always hoping it will be one of the ones that is absolutely amazing on your skin, one you immediately want to get more of, because heaven forfend you should run out? This is one of those. My nose didn't immediately recognize anything, not any note at all (and I didn't bother to check the notes before evaluating it). It was simply a matter of "yes, oh yes, definitely yes". It is classic, sweet, sultry, and perfect. Now, checking the notes I realize I was crafty in ordering this because tobacco and vanilla both are great on my skin. But this is beyond great. Must immediately get more.

So...in the bottle, it's pure grapefruit to my nose. Like when you slice open your breakfast grapefruit and it squirts you in the face. I assume that is the yuzu fruit going on. And wet on my wrists...yep, still A Lot of Grapefruit. But that's good, because I happen to enjoy that scent...and then, on drying, a bunch of shapened pencils and a stir of grape Koolaid. It's really a complicated scent and one I find confusing but genial. And very layered in physical space--I mean, it is as if the pencils are down at my wrist and the grapefruit is levitating and someone is spritzing the air with something gentler and sweeter up about at my neck level. Very swirly.

Went back in this thread to see if perhaps I'd reviewed this before (nope) because I do have some ancient imps thereof, and like this scent so well I got a bottle of it last autumn (after lamenting to a friend that I couldn't find it listed anywhere...I was looking in Ars Amatoria). And having read this thread I was puzzled. Cause what prompted me to come review was the heart's comfort feeling of those drops from an aged imp: very creamy, very musky, with spice. But not the Cinnamon!! reported here. So I went to my newish bottle and tried some of that. Yep, there it is, the cinnamon. I'd say this ages spectacularly, so don't give up if your first impression was all omigod it's redhots. Me, I love it. The creamy underlay (amber? musk), the drift of spices, the very long lasting and delicious scent...great. I'm afraid I can't report on the, um, bedroom effects.. But it is a scent that combines confidence and comfort. One of my very favorites.

I'm an Antique Lace hoarder myself, so figuring maybe we might have overlapping tastes, I'd consider Morocco, Gladdener of All Hearts, Lilith Victoria. Perhaps Phantom Calliope. (there are many on your list I haven't tried). Whatever you choose, I would also take just a drop--the barest drop, of Dixie Love Perfume and put it either at the back of your neck, just beneath your hairline and/or in your cleavage. But only the very slightest drop, mind you. It will do wonders, trust me.

Yeah, ordered it because what a great selfish way to support the protests (and have more perfume, Marie Antoinette would have been proud of me). But also...vanilla was mentioned, and vanilla on my skin can do no wrong, whatever sort it is. In the bottle...wow, that's certainly patchouli, omigod. Wet on my wrists: well, that's really strange, it smells of asphalt and tar and puddles and yeah, that's certainly patchouli. Very bitter, very dry. It's not a comforting scent, that's for certain, but it is provoking, yes it is. And after some hours...that's odd, is this cedar? sandalwood? It's gentled down a whole lot, and I really like it. Doesn't seem like patchouli so much as something very woody, very deep. I think it would be awesome on a guy, but I'm liking it for my elegant self as well. This is likely to age really, really well.

Infinite thanks to the dear soul who picked up a bottle of this for me and then who said "I hope you like red musk" (she said this seemed to be the most talked about and adored scent at NYCC). As it happens, red musk, like vanilla, can do no wrong. My skin loves it (and so do I). I didn't read the scent notes or description when I first tried it, and what I thought was caramel/vanilla, with a sprinkling of seasalt (you know those yummy caramels with just a few grains of sea salt, coarse, on their shiny, sweet surface?). And then...whoa, so sexy. It reminds me of Snake Charmer, but I only smelled a drop of that (and had a drop on my wrist, long, long ago)...so maybe this is a false memory. It doesn't really remind me of Snake Oil, but has some overtones of some of my other favorites (Snake Oil is not one of my favs, btw). It is delicious and makes me feel wonderful. Lasts very very well, and seems to have a decent but not overwhelming throw. (even my partner, he of the "at least it doesn't smell like flowers" nose, likes this one)

I've cheated and looked at your favorites and your reviews, and Unveiled seems to fit. The dress (very pretty) does seem to call for some fruit in the blend, and a bit of playful lightness.

Morocco is very pretty, but nothing like Antique Lace on my skin. Black Opal is nice (very Shalimar) but doesn't have the throw or the lasting quality. must try the Mouse, I don't think I have, but.... I suspect the only scent like Antique Lace is Antique Lace. excuse me while I go and quietly weep in a corner.

Where is The Snow Storm? I've searched. I also tried to search "snow" as a note, but...um 781 responses later, no...

Okay, every so often I wistfully think of the gifted tiny bit of Skadi someone sent me in my early, innocent BPAL days. I don't think I even have a drop left now, but I recall it as being woods (as in firtrees and such) and mountain air and snow and probably other things. I loved it, and eagerly went then to try to get a bottle--but of course it was gone, even before I smelled my little drops thereof.j So, anyone ever find a Skadi equivalent?

I feel like I now and then come to the vanilla thread and say "Antique Lace" and leave for months. But Antique Lace (besides being maybe my favorite BPAL in the world, though I dally with a lot of others) is on me sweet pure vanilla. Maybe with marshmallows. But very vanilla. So, copagirl, if you haven't tried that do. (and if you have and hated it, well that's fine, more for me!) I am a vanilla lover, so just about anything with vanilla is a yes for me, and might not be for others. Anyone else get vanilla from Haunted? it's been a while, but I seem to recall it was vanilla/musk-ish, sort of Shalimar in feeling (which surely dates me).

Well, I guess some BPAL is so strong a toothpick would do it. But I am a slatherer, and I do the put-wrist-to-bottle-and-tip-bottle routine. Only--a word to the wise--if you do this, do not then wave your hands about with uncapped bottle still in one, as you gesture to bookstore customer. Cause if you do.... well, I have a lot of Antique Lace scented stuff around my desk right now.

portalkat--no, I haven't, and reading the description I am wondering why not (I love benzoin and frankincense, jasmine can be iffy with me--either wonderful or not so wonderful). *puts down on mental list* I have tried Ulalume; it was nice but not one of those "omigod, I must sell my firstborn child now to get money to buy more* scents.

Wearing Moana at the moment, which made me think once again that a lot of the scents I like turn out to have an aquatic note (of scents listed in this thread I have loved Skadi and Bayou, for instance). The aquatics I've loved have all come to me as gifted or frimped imps...like 51 (I love 51, had to get a bottle thereof). And when I realize they are described as aquatics I'm always "oh. gee. I didn't know". So--anyone who has more experience and a wiser sense of things, anything else I might love from this group? (sorry not to know a Moana-equivalent, chais...)