eoifemacbeth

I didn't get any juniper at all from this one, actually, and I'm really thrilled about that! The gin/vermouth basically smells like the champagne note in the Christmas '08 Champagne &... scents (not so much the Bon Vivant champagne, which I find totally different). It's like super-fruity, slightly sour champagne on me. It's actually what I was really hoping Bon Vivant and Swank would smell like. I need to grab a bottle of this when my funds refill from the Strawberry Moon update

I looked at the description of this, and said, "Nah, that's too much fruit and flowers and sugar. It'll be terrible on me." I AM SUCH A FOOL. In the bottle: Vanilla cream, maybe carnation, and a little fruit. Yum! Wet: POW, apple! Apple and vanilla cream. That is some all-American apple pie there, y’all. Actually, that is stunningly delicious. Dry: There’s… *sniff* guava… and… *sniff* sweet pea… and *sniff* apple again… and *sniff* cream… this is a real morpher! It’s delicate and pretty, very playful, and juicy. Oh---and THERE'S my carnation! Plus, it's one of the most thoughtful Forum Onlies ever (I had such for Beth when I read the little message before the scent description!) and, come on, my forum skin is the Just Ask Alice! I think I need to hunt down a bottle. I REALLY like this, and I’ll be busting out my decant this spring for sure. (I just tried on six scents at once, and washed all of them off but Agape... and I can't stop huffing! It's love!)

In the imp: Fruity fruity fruity winey winey winey flowery flowery flowery! This is strong stuff. On my skin, wet: Mmmm, the currants are coming out, kept summery and fresh by the dandelion... I think the honey MIGHT not be turning on me! This is totally a first! On my skin, dry: This is staying very balanced, and just lovely. Definitely a springy scent---I might have to upgrade this to a bottle!

In the imp: This really smells delicious and sweet... I'm definitely getting the pear very very strongly, above everything else. On my skin, wet: Definitely pear, but I'm not running away yet. The fig starts coming out a bit, and I feel like the cream might be softening everything. I remember not liking this stage very much while testing it, so I'm really just waiting for the drydown with bated breath! On my skin, dry: ...still waiting for the drydown I remember. Dammit, where is it? Two hours later: THERE IT IS! It smells lovely, a touch floral but mostly fruity with cream and fig notes. I'm not sure if that's worth the two hours of not-so-awesome... we'll have to see how it ages.

I wore White Rose for St. Paddy's today, as it felt appropriately Irish enough. Plus, it smells really similar to Selkie on me, and I was sad at not being able to wear Selkie today until I realized that!

Yes, this exactly! The less crap is in something, the better my body responds to it. (I've just found out I can't actually be on birth control due to the hormones not being naturally in my body---I have a really hard time introducing anything to it without it panicking, and the more natural the things I bring in are, the better I feel.) I hadn't been able to wear perfumes before BPAL, and I've found I can wear BPALs, Arcanas, and the occasional Posset with zero problems. That speaks to how natural they are more than any website statement, to me.

Try White Rose! The rose is very evenly balanced with the sweet (but not cloying) notes and there's not a snip of greenery anywhere. It's just gorgeous.

I say Dorian or O with a chic, simple A-line dress to the knee (with a sheer, light cardigan or wrap over the top for arm coverage---try the dress in a jewel tone like rich purple or indigo, wrap in an ivory or pale grey). Pull your hair half-back (if you have length), wear pretty earrings and sandals, and voila!

I'm officially declaring White Rose my sophistication scent. I feel so classy and ladylike when I wear it!

Dark chocolate and pepper-smoked caramel. This smells exactly like Miskatonic University on me. Which is tragic, because I really dislike the slightly-burnt-breakfast smell that Misk U (and now Dark Chocolate with Pepper-Smoked Caramel) makes on me. I didn't have very high hopes for it, but I'm sad it went so wrong.

Oddly enough, when wet and while drying, this reminds me staggeringly of Selkie. Seriously. I have no idea why---but it's almost the exact same topnote scent on me, plus rose. Which is pretty much awesome, as I gave my only bottle of Selkie to my best friend (it's a long story, but it just really needed to be with her more than it needed to be with me), and have been looking for a replacement for it ever since! In the bottle: Creamy tea and rose and maybe a sniff of vanilla. It's gorgeous in the bottle. On my skin, wet: ROSE OW, I thought people said they weren't getting a lot of rose out of this? A couple of seconds later, the rose backs off just enough so I can smell Selkie Selkie Selkie! That same melony topnote, with light herbs and tea, that Selkie does on my skin. Exactly. I mean, I'd have to hunt down some Selkie to confirm that 100%, but it's seriously, seriously close. On my skin, finally dry (took like an hour): The rose has been tempered by the vanilla tea and just a touch of frankincense is making it smell almost fuzzy, like how incense smoke looks. There's a touch (a TOUCH) of coconut that I have to sniff really deeply for. It's actually making me think of if the Queen of Clubs had a little baby princess daughter. The rose + resins + vanilla, but lightened and made girlier by the tea and coconut (as opposed to the dark richness of the pomegranate, currants and incense). Five hours later this is still present, smelling kind of like the smell of a week-old baby's head. (You know, the most amazing smell ever.) I'm definitely dubbing this one "Princess of Clubs." I love it! The scent-color of this is a pale, girly pink. If you like this, try: Selkie (I'm serious!), Parlement of Foules, Dorian, Queen of Clubs.

In the bottle: A sweetly flowery amber vanilla... Hunger's or Katharina's orange blossom, most definitely, mixed with what might be a young version of the Snake Oil vanilla. Oh, I'm so excited to put this on! On my skin, wet: The orange blossom really blooms for a second... I used to have mad chemistry problems with orange blossom but since changing my birth control it's become a beautiful, but fast-dying, note. On my skin, dry: The amber is taking over. I'm really starting to get into an amber phase---it's never powdery on me, but really rich and soft, like expensive velvet. The vanilla is supporting the amber quite nicely, and eventually becomes equal to the amber in a really gorgeous, simple blend. This will age unbelievably fantastically. I'm frantically checking my finances trying to find room for at least two more bottles of this!

Try to hunt down a bit of Beaver'versary! It smells like cheesecake and cupcakes, and my boyfriend (who usually isn't a foodie) loves it.

WOW! That sounds really neat - And to wear your grandmother's suit - How awesome! It was a blast! My husband is a Naval Aviator and I volunteer with the Civil Air Patrol as flightcrew for search and rescue operations, so I can't imagine a more appropriate way for us to spend Valentine's Day than dancing to big band music surrounded by gorgeously restored (most in flying condition, as evidenced by a breathtaking P-51D flight demonstration earlier that afternoon) World War II-era airplanes. Jacob's Ladder 2008 evoked just the right mood for me--I felt classic and classy without crossing the line into "old lady perfume." That is SO AWESOME, Nali! There was a Gilmore Girls episode like that once, and I remember thinking how awesome it would be to do that. I'm a musician, so I think the music would be the hit of the night for me for sure, but I love era-themed parties---my best friend's dance company hosted a Gatsby-era gala a few years ago and it was probably the most fun party I've ever been to. I'm totally jealous of you! Back on topic, I wore Snake Charmer layered with lashings of Snake Oil. The boy loved it.

THIS! I'm not in love with the Charmer, but for some reason his hold on me isn't lessened by that fact. In the bottle he smells amazing, like Snake Oil with plum and delicate amber. On me, wet, it's all weird slightly fake plum... it might be the plum + Arabian musk, which may smell a bit weird to my nose. Eventually, it dried down to something pretty nice, but overall the bottle needs aging. Weirdly, though, as veronicafranco said, I get the urge to put Snake Charmer on all the time... and when I do, I'm kind of like, "Oh, okay... gross." Last night for Valentine's Day, though, I wore a couple of dabs of Snake Charmer layered with slatherings of Snake Oil... the Charmer seemed to really enhance Snake Oil, amped up the vanilla, and sweetened the musk, and it was really just gorgeous. I'll keep my bottle just for layering purposes if necessary.

Yeah, man, the stuff a good perfumer can do with a few drops of oil? Suddenly you'd swear the vial had Captain Morgan in it, or encapsulated sunshine, or Pacific saltwater. Bouquets seriously blow my mind. I will never understand how people come up with that kind of thing.

Yeah, I'll probably be wearing Snake Charmer.

OH GOD WHAT IS THAT IT BURNS GET IT OFFFFFFFF Do not want, most definitely. Which is sad, because the enticing amber-vanilla-sandalwood waft from the bottle made me think I'd like it. God, what IS that smell I can't get off my arm? I bet you it's myrrh.

There was a This American Life episode about this phenomenon once... they called it something like "Modern Asshole"? Whatever it was, it was hilarious, and definitely something we're all guilty of at one time or another. I personally don't believe in belittling one person's beliefs or loves in comparison to mine, so that post from the CB fanboy did really make me mad. I've only tried a few things from CB, and they were nice (a couple of them were even pretty amazing---Burning Leaves, I'm looking at you) but it was quite clear that what Christopher Brosius does and what Beth does, while both being a kind of perfumer's trade, are so wildly different that they may as well not be compared at all. Contrasted, perhaps, but compared, to the extent to decide who is "better"? Heeeeell no. And that dude needs to calm down the condescension. As Forspecial Plate said above, people HAVE tried to emulate BPAL's scents, and have failed miserably. I know this topic is kind of old, but it was a good read for me, and I definitely agree that I would love BPAL no matter what they put in it---the fact that it's made from natural ingredients (if not essential oils) is just a bonus. Also, buhhhhh, cupcuke totally not okay with that idea...

I find that nine times out of ten, about an hour after I get into the store, my nose kind of goes dead and I can't really smell much of anything. That could absolutely be the reason. And OMG breaktheranks, I LOVE Bon Bomb---I'm definitely going to have to re-try Kuang Shi! My new question is: anybody find anything that smells like Porridge? I'm hands-down convinced that this is the best soap Lush has made since Twas the Night. I need it in perfume, lotion, shampoo...

Hey kyaatje! I'm a Lush SA too! The only perfume I can wear to work and still smell is Snake Oil. I find that I can still smell the spices after a while, as not a lot of things at Lush are super-spicy, and if they are they don't really float around like the fruity, florally, vanillay things do---but since SO is grounded by vanilla, it blends really well too. Just my two cents! (BTW, I love smelling like a Lush store too---do we have the greatest job on the planet or what?) It is the ultimate best job !! imo that is, I just love it ! And I do have an imp of SO ! I'm going to try that tomorrow ! Great suggestion ! I do love vanilla ! (are you guys getting all the new vanilla stuff to ? Heavanilly, vanilla mountain ...) Good luck with the SO! I think I'm going to wear my new Snake Charmer tonight to see if I can smell that through the fog. I don't know when we're getting the new vanilla line... I hope it's soon! [/hijack]

Hey kyaatje! I'm a Lush SA too! The only perfume I can wear to work and still smell is Snake Oil. I find that I can still smell the spices after a while, as not a lot of things at Lush are super-spicy, and if they are they don't really float around like the fruity, florally, vanillay things do---but since SO is grounded by vanilla, it blends really well too. Just my two cents! (BTW, I love smelling like a Lush store too---do we have the greatest job on the planet or what?)

Yes, I was definitely thinking QoC when I read the OP. It does have pomegranate, though it's definitely a smoother fruit, not too tart. Give it a shot if you can find some!

Yay another Atlantian! Isn't the weather awesome right now? It's cooling off a lot faster than last year! Anyway, my Autumn scents... Fearful Pleasure (going to need a second bottle for sure), Samhain '08, Pumpkin IV (reminds me a lot of Thanksgiving), and The Wild Men of Jezirat al Tennyn on all on the top of the list this year. I have started understanding what people mean by having scents for different times of the year. For instance, Pele (one of my faves) just doesn't feel right in the fall/winter months. I want deep, dark scents. Hey all you ladies from the ATL The weather is totally awesome right now! I wore a coat today! A coat, a scarf, and Samhain 2003... there is no better match made in heaven or earth.

Hi! I love Princess too, and I found Haloes to be Princess's awesome older sister. It has that pretty vanilla fruity love but the oak and apricot gives it a very comforting, warm feel. Definitely stay far, far away from GSoW and Carnival Diabolique, they are both very dark, gritty, incense-heavy blends. Privilege looks like it would be good, too, judging by the notes, but I've never tried it. Definitely Haloes, though. Hope she likes it!