whitemyrrh

I've almost managed an answer for this, here, but not quite, so I'm just going to ask exactly. I'm looking for a vanilla specifically reminiscent of a blown out old-fashioned vanilla candle. By "old fashioned" i mean one that hasn't been super-imbuled with fragrance, just a subtle warmth of fragrance--that real foody-buttery-powerful vanilla feels too modern to me. I want a more.... vintage--mysterious and gently warm vanilla, kind of smoky and retiring. The vanilla in O and Velvet are nice, but a little too strong for what I'm looking for, and Velvet tends to be more about the other notes for me--while O gets a little too sexual for the purposes I seek. Am I looking for Antique Lace?

YES! Me too. Did it sound like it, for you?

Could that be what I was interpreting as "chicken broth" in Hellcat? That's what I got the first time I tried my new imp. I haven't (exactly) got it in subsquent tries, but what a weird thing. Generally, I hadn't had problems with the dairy notes--but thinking about it, maybe I just haven't tried anything with that kind of butter in it yet....

There's a strong thread of fantasy fragrances based on music going on in the "Suggestions" thread, and it got me to thinking that I tend to want the same general atmosphere from a song as I do from my perfume on any given day. BPAL has such an extensive collection, I think it would be fun to do some recommendations based on someone's favorite band or song. There are even a few flat out same or similar names--for instance-- "The Catepillar," (The Cure) "Blood Rose" (Tori Amos) "Lucretia" (The Sisters of Mercy) "The Highway Man" (Loreena McKennit) "Magdalene" (A Perfect Circle) Sometimes the connection isn't there for me from song to scent, but other times it almost seems like the inspiration for both was drawn from the same place ("Blood Rose" really connects with Tori's "Blood Roses" for me, at least on those people I've smelled it on who didn't amp out the wine note as grape soda, like I did.) There are also more conceptual or atmospheric connections... "Jailbait" speaks of the Dresden Doll's "Missed Me" "Delirium" of Tori Amos in general (Neil Gaiman modeled his character "Delirium" after her in the Sandman comics and wow, good fit all around) "Black Rose" gives me general impressions of mid-to-late eighties era Sisters material (I'm a big fan of the Sisters of Mercy, surprise!) I'm betting that we're drawn to scents and sounds for similar reasons, so I'd love to see whatever thoughts others might have on this.

Wet, I was alarmed at how much Black Rose smelled like Wanton. Found myself wondering if there'd been a labeling issue! I really like Wanton, but hadn't quite gone over the cliff of rapture into the sea of bliss with it--it cools down to this matte porcelain texture and has all but disappeared from my skin by the two hour mark. Girl needs a little more time for the sea of bliss than that. Black Rose, however, changed significantly in the dry-down, and it sticks a great deal better. There is some porcelin texture there as well, but the fragrance doesn't vanish into it. I'd put a swipe of each on either wrist early on, and wow could I smell the amber and musk in BR if I sniffed it second, and wow, what a lovely evolution of this fragrance. I haven't tried Othello or Spellbound, yet, but I've heard comparisions all the way around this circle in this topic. I've noticed some.... family parallels, we'll say, in the Excolo line, of course amongst Patheons but in some less expected places, as well. Lilith reminds me of Hecate, but with an almost visibly fuming red rose presence (...think, like, glowy animated roses in the style of Disney's Sleeping Beauty, can you see it?) instead of Hecate's roasted almonds. Lilith is mid-July to late summer, Hecate keeps autumn. Bastet, meantimes, is very much like Kali with an almond lead, instead of K's wet fruit and wine. Depending on where I am in my cycle, after five or six hours, Kali and Bastet are nearly indistinguishable on me--B's got amber, and I turn the honey in K to amber. Not everyone has my freakish ability to transform every scent within a certain range to amber, though.... Bastet is more nurturing, Kali is more passionate--but by shades, in my chemistry. With Bastet, I miss out on the chocolate and tobacco wrap up from Kali, but the almonds work better on me than the wet fruit. I think. More research is needed. True or false: If I were to layer Dana O'Shee with The Apothecary, it would smell remarkably like Sudha Segara? I keep missing out on imps of SS, and if it were to smell like those two together.... I better just skip my butt to a 5ml.