jarvenpa

So, I am fairly new to BPAL, and thoroughly hooked, and have given my 20 year old bright artistic daughter my imp of Jester (which she loves; it works well for her), but she has mentioned her great love of daffodils and the fragrance thereof. For me narcissus and daffodil have slightly different fragrances, but then I have an odd nose. I looked to see if there was a thread for this (forgive me if there was, and move this, dear mods). Any recommendations for a scent with daffs? I think maybe she's seeking a sunny spring sort of fragrance.

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...)

Disclaimer: I have the most naive nose in the universe and never seem to figure out what I'm smelling with any accuracy. But I have a wild imagination and a lot of glee. Ordered this quickly and unsniffed (because for some reason...don't remember why...maybe because I'm a writer and bookperson and the concept was "Yes!" to me). First hit: my goodness, I have just smeared chocolate covered cherries all over myself. Very expensive, high end, chocolate covered cherries. Possibly ones with booze added. Yum. Very strong. And there's...spice? Something kind of spicy and delicious. My thought was "this scent combines all the forbidden things that are bad for you but...soooo good". There's a whiff of...tobacco smoke? I love this fragrance. It settles down to a very sexy, spicy, sweet but naughty sort of smell.

Frimp from the lab (thank you, I keep meaning to try more of the Wanderlust scents because they are fascinating). I always test without reading notes in the vain hope that someday I will actually be right about what I think I am smelling. First sniff, wet-daubed on wrist: virgin olive oil; I actually see green transparency. With a bunch of wine. Okay, wine dark sea and all that, makes sense, but...am I going to smell like tossed salad?...oh, wait, here's honey. Lots of honey. Honey on my skin is an iffy note, but I will ride this out. For the moment--and it at this point has been about 5 minutes--the scent seems to be fading away entirely. Hello? Athens? Are you there? Walk dog in rain drenched graveyard (now, that would be an interesting scent for Beth: wet dog, mud, daffodils, cold stone). Sniff wrist: okay, honey is still there, but now there are spices of some sort. Guess wildly what they are. Reject all guesses. But spicy. The scent clings very close; I really don't think it has much throw. After a few hours it is a faint, pleasant, sweet spice. Rather pretty, interesting progression of scents (and now I am going to go look and see what's really in this!)

A frimp from the Lab. Because they are obviously psychic or something, and always include something I would never in a million years pick out for myself, but which.... So, dark, dark oil in the little imp bottle. I took a tentative sniff of the wand, because I was expecting something all Oh The Patchouli People Are Here and They Brought Animals along with them. It smelled to my unsophisticated nose very sweet and dark. And I like sweet and dark. Conservatively I put a bit on only one wrist. Usually, I have to say, I kind of dump quantities everywhere. Satyr?? And it smells on me like red musk sweetened and darkened. Maybe amber--something that goes a bit powdery and haunting (trying to recall--maybe red musk does this on my skin?). It is kind of like Mme Moriarty, which is lovely. Long lasting, comforting, sexy. I could see where, if my partner would wear something other than sweat and book dust this might be good on him. But it is great on me.

Belle Epoque was my seduction scent. That is, the scent that, given me by a friend, introduced me to Black Phoenix. She said the scent reminded her of me, though she personally didn't much like it. I liked it a great deal (though of course I wondered what about it brought me to her mind) But I'm not sure I'd call it a pure lily of the valley scent at all. And La Belle Dame Sans Merci, which I also like a lot, smells to me more like small wild white roses. Tiger Lily is very pretty, but warmer than lily of the valley (which always seem to me a bit crisp). If you find a true lily of the valley please let us all know!

Wait, I didn't review this?? And I don't now recall if I had an imp and was raving about it somewhere, maybe in the "what do you smell like?" thread or if Gypsy Rose Red just had an epiphany of goodness and delight and intuition...but a while back she very generously sent me a bottle of Bayou. And I love it. (I guess I must like aquatics? You are in the presence of the most clueless nose in the forum: I am soooo easily amused, and everything is "oh, this is wonderful!". Except for the one that smelled like cat box on me, but...that was years back). Bayou smells to me like flowers and darkness. It is strong, and it is sure, and it is very sensual. I've been wearing it a lot, and it suits cold days and sultry hot ones equally. It's a huge bouquet of sweet white flowers, but not innocent flowers. Flowers that know something. It's the perfume of a woman who knows a few things. It's proud, and edgy. And did I mention strong? Incredibly beautiful fragrance. A (vegan!) furcoat of fragrance. So lovely.

So, I came across an imp of Tavern of Hell yesterday, in one of my random boxes of imps, and thought--gee, did I ever try this? I am pretty reckless when in the mood to try something new, so I slathered. And I was...confused, but delighted. I hadn't read the description, and I didn't know the notes, but this was an exquisite swirl of flowers and darkness and depth. I love it, it is one of the best I've tried (and I have a lot of loves, I do). So I went today to see what was in it--I would have guessed jasmine (not gardenia, which is funny, I love gardenia) and...then I would have been lost. The big surprise? ambergris. I would tell you I can't wear it, I hate it, it does gruesome things, and so forth. Here it is a deep, oldfashioned, very sexy perfume. It kind of reminds me of the drops of some dark perfume in the pretty cut glass bottles on my beautiful mother's dresser. But..sexier for sure. There's a haunting moment about halfway through the dry down when there is just a sudden rush of flowers--almost an innocent rush. and then, heh, despoiled. So amazing.

The thing about violet fragrance in real life from flowers is that it surprises you. It is there, it is not there, it is there again. I love the scent of violets, but the only BPAL that I identify as really violet are Ultraviolet (with mint, right) and Sybaris. Didn't get violet from Hells Belle, or the Serpent (though I love the Serpent, and Hells Belle is sexy). I really like Faustus, but for me the resins overwhelm any little shy flowers around. (and I yes, want to try the new Violet scents!) *back to packing for move*

oakmoss, that's exactly the scent I've been seeking as well (and it rained only in front of my bookshop Friday, huge hot raindrops). I think maybe there would be some ozone in the right scent, and something with coumarin (probably not the way you spell it--sweetgrass, that vanilla part of grass drying, woodruff has it also when dried)--but just a bit--and stone and wet, yep. If anyone could create it, Beth could.

Mama Ji You really must try Mama Ji.