Electra

I think you'll like Shanghai. I didn't like Embalming Fluid, which surprised me (I expected to like it a lot, but something in it just smelled too harsh and strident), but I thought Shanghai was lovely. Green tea and lemon verbena. Very nice for hot weather. Dorian is...well...neither clean nor fresh. It's very, very sweet. On me it tends to smell of gingerbread cookies. It does have a bit of lemon to it, also some musk. By all means try it, if you've read the reviews and are interested in it, but it's not in the category you're describing . Lightning is a just-out-of-the-shower ozone. Can go soapy, but definitely clean. Some people don't like that scent family. I happen to like it a lot. Kumiho is quite nice. It was one of the first imps I ordered from BPAL, and the first one I actually really liked. It's a bit sweet, but still a very nice hot weather scent. Quietude is a nice, somewhat powdery (at least on me) lavender. You have to really, REALLY like lavender to like this one. I adore lavender and I still probably wouldn't wear it as a day perfume (I wear it to bed). I do wear Safari as a day perfume sometimes, though (and that's pretty much straight woodsy lavender), so YMMV. Two more that I would recommend that aren't on your list - Olokun and Storm Moon. Olokun is general catalogue so you can order an imp from the lab; Storm Moon was limited edition so you'd have to swap for it (but it wasn't that popular, so maybe you'd be able to get some without much problem). Olokun is a gorgeous fresh, bright, happy marine scent. I adore it. It's the best hot weather scent I've come across from BPAL. I have to give the caveat that ocean/marine scents are my favorite scent family of all time and always have been, but this scent is amazing. It's one of the few scents that I tried from the imp and ordered a 5 mL immediately. Storm Moon is an ozoney aquatic. It's very, very fresh and clean. I like it a lot; a lot of other people didn't. Olokun seems to be more to people's tastes in general as far as I can tell from the reviews . Good luck!

I think I'll probably wind up imping them in my next order, whenever that happens to be . I already want Ochosi and Coyote, so I'm almost up to a full six-pack, then! lol....they actually made a point of telling us NOT to wear perfume to the exam! Not that I was going to anyway, but I thought that that was really funny.

Er... *scratches head* Yeah, I don't get it. lol. Thanks for the input, everyone!

I probably wouldn't recommend Antique Lace, even though it's vanilla and you like vanilla - it does have a powderiness to it that you might think is a bit "baby's bottom" Rose always goes straight to dryer sheet on me. Amber can go powdery, as well. Those may be notes to avoid.

Can someone talk to me about Antique Lace vs. Eat Me vs. Mouse's Long and Sad Tale? I know that some of you foody-vanilla girls have tried all three! I'm not a food-scent person at all. I usually run away from anything with vanilla listed as a note. However: 1) I actually have and like a 5 mL of Antique Lace (vanilla, but somehow does not smell like either food OR generic "vanilla perfume." This is most mysterious to me.) 2) I heard a rumor on the Recommendations forum that Eat Me smells like a lighter Snake Charmer/Snake Oil. I like Snake Charmer (though I don't really smell any vanilla in that one on my skin. I mostly get plum, and what I guess must be some musk). 3) Monster Bait: Underpants was awful for me. That's way too foody. It made me feel queasy. So there's your reference for vanilla that's "too much." 4) ...and Mouse's Long and Sad Tale is just in this question for good measure . So what do y'all think? Too close to AL to need to try if I'm not really a vanilla person? Too foody? Or worth a shot, even given my non-vanilla-anti-smelling-like-dessert tendencies? Edit - er, actually, perhaps the Recommendations forum is the more appropriate place for this post. I'll notify a mod and see what they think. Sorry if this was a snafu. *sheepish*

Given that this is called Dixie Love PERFUME, I'm working on the assumption that it's one of the TAL oils (like Amor) that's actually meant to be worn as an intent-driven perfume. (I'm sure it would be good for anointing candles as well, but I haven't used it for that so I can't speak to that use.) It smells fabulous. I can't really describe it. It reminds me of sweet incense, somehow...but whatever the scent is, it's so sexy that I want to ravish myself when I wear it. At any rate, I'm pretty impressed with its effectiveness. I've only worn it out in public once, after doing a quick "increase my magnetism" visualization, but the day I did I was approached by a very cute boy who I'd met once, briefly, about two months before and hadn't really seen since then (we'd been in the same class but he never made any attempt to come talk to me after that first meeting). The day I wore Dixie Love, he suddenly approached me out of the blue - twice - and was extremely attentive and chatty and flirty. I'd forgotten I was wearing it, actually, so I was like "WTF?" because I didn't look particularly cute that day. Score one for Dixie Love . I'll have to road test it some more, but so far so good!

Sarada, you know you don't bathe. Admit it! Now I'm interested in trying Eat Me! I wasn't interested in it at all, because it sounded sickeningly sweet (I'm not a vanilla-frosting girl), but a lighter Snake Charmer sounds goooooood. May have to imp it.

Morocco and O smell nothing like Snake Oil to me. At all. I always think it's interesting when people say that - noses and body chemistry are so different! Snake Oil was WRETCHED on me. Hollywood Babylon, though VERY fruity, obviously shares a note with Snake Oil because it has the same unpleasant funkiness on my skin that Snake Oil does - so that's one possibility. Sin shares the same note (or at least the same funk ), so that's another. Scherezade, if I'm remembering correctly, is a third. And surprisingly enough, Lampades may have been a fourth that went weird in the same way on me, thus leading me to believe it shares the same note (though I tested it so long ago I can't quite remember). I'm not sure if any of those have vanilla, though. But for a wearable Snake Oil variant, I'd recommend Snake Charmer if you can get your hands on some. I really like Snake Charmer.

If nothing else, Obatala is noteworthy on me as "the first time that coconut has not turned to evil plastic." I generally can't wear BPAL coconut. This is an exception. I definitely get the Milk Moon comparisons - except Milk Moon was unwearable on me (plastic again), and this is not. The description of this scent as "heavy cream and suntan lotion" is bang-on. It's buttery and milky and white and very beachy and summery. It's nice, and very evocative of the season, but I doubt I'll need more than an imp. It's just such a casual scent that I can't see myself reaching for it all that often.

This is a totally bizarre similarity, as they smell nothing alike in the early stages, but Storm Moon and Whippoorwill have the exact same (several hours in) drydown on me.

Morella is beauiful. I thought that Berenice was going to be the hit of the Maelstrom collection for me. Not so. Berenice didn't work on me at all, and I like Usher a lot, but I love Morella. I'm going to be total crap at describing this. All I can really say about it is that I don't pick out any specific notes, and certainly not civet. They blend together really seamlessly. The overall scent is clean, somewhat sweet, and a bit powdery - not baby powder powdery (which I don't like), but gentle. It's a soft, inoffensive scent - would work well for office wear - but it's PRETTY. Morella is one of the few scents that's made me think "I wish I smelled like this naturally." Final note - unlike most BPALs, it wears off on me very quickly. Almost every other oil I've tried lasts all day on me. This one I can apply at 9 AM and have to reapply at 3 PM because it's completely gone.

I really don't know how to review this. I don't smell dirt, or flowers, or rum, or bourbon, or any one of the notes in particular. I know that this scent is supposed to smell like New Orleans, but it smells EXACTLY like Savannah. I guess that's not terribly surprising. Savannah and New Orleans are both coastal southeastern cities, and magnolia/spanish moss/bourbon/rum are all present in abundance in Savannah. But I wasn't expecting it, and it blew me away. I can't describe the scent. It's a bit earthy, a bit sweet. It's wonderful. I have to have a big bottle. This one is just...amazing.

Fruit, but without being fruity. I dislike fruity scents, but this isn't the type of fruit that you'd smell at Bath & Body Works. Malkuth is dark and jammy and spicy. A wonderful, snuggly, oddly sexy cold weather scent (why I'm wearing it in April is anyone's guess).

I do not do foody scents...but I like this one. Go figure. First on, it's strong, thick, sweet Irish coffee. Nothing but. I don't drink coffee because I don't really like the taste, but I *love* the smell. There was a coffee shop in the mall that I used to love walking past over and over again when I was a kid because they brewed flavored coffees and it always smelled wonderful in front of the shop. This is what that smelled like. After an hour or so, I get the dust dry-down - which on me smells a bit plasticky. I don't care. The plastic is only on my skin, while the Irish coffee scent stays true on my clothes - and the Irish coffee scent is such a comfort scent for me (the olfactory equivalent of a hug) that I'll deal with the plastic. I can't really smell it unless I put my nose right to my wrist anyway. This isn't something I'd wear very often - it's too strong and too sweet. I'll only wear it when it's cold out, and only when I need comfort. But it's so wonderful for that that I'm keeping my bottle. 10/19/06 - Unfortunately I have to edit my review. I tried Miskatonic again this morning. For the first three minutes I smelled like a delicious praline - and then I smelled so strongly of evil plastic that I had to scrub immediately and vigorously to remove the scent as quickly as possible. Sigh.

Usher is wonderful for spring - very clean and light. I'm expecting that Berenice, Morella, and Sundew will all be great spring scents as well (assuming they work on my skin - they're coming in my next order, so we'll see). Chiroptera is a beautiful springy herbal-floral, though discontinued. Chuparosa is another gorgeous spring floral. And funny enough, even though it's a Yule scent, I often find myself reaching for Snow White in hot weather. Go figure.

This is Roderick Usher: a faded genteel light musk and fougere, heightened by hectic white mint, gleaming mandarin, ethereal tea leaf and gritty blackcurrant brushed by the scent of the tarn that surrounds the House, and the gloom and decay of the walls that hold him. Usher is a very gentle, barely-there scent on me. Genteel indeed . It starts out as a lovely soft minty aquatic. Drydown is still vaguely aquatic, but the mint goes away and something fruity shows up - but it's so soft that I can't actually tell whether it's the mandarin or the blackcurrant. It's just a whisper. I never get tea at all. This is a wonderful hot weather scent - fresh and understated. Will be great for office-wear as well. I really like it.

Yeah, Pain will kick your ass. It's...invigorating. And great for migraines, as a side benefit . I don't like to wear it for perfume (except on bad migraine days, when who cares what the hell I smell like as long as it helps take care of the ice pick through my head), but a bit on a tissue or in a diffuser is great. Also anything really lemony - June Gloom is probably hard to get ahold of (past LE), but that one would work well, I would think.

I find the scent of Somnus remarkably unpleasant (that would be the jasmine, which does nasty nasty things on my skin) - but I wouldn't care if it worked. I didn't get it for it to smell pretty. Unfortunately it gave me screaming insomnia every single time I tried it. And I did give it a good number of tries. Sigh. Oh well. I'll stick with my beloved Temple of Dreams.

Somnus actually gave me raging insomnia every single time I tried it (and I tried it a bunch of times). Go figure, right? I love Temple of Dreams. LOVE. I also like Safari at night, though I don't know if it actually helped me fall asleep - it's just very soothing. It's a soft, found, woodsy lavender. Gorgeous. I still want to try Quietude as well.

This is crazy-ass strong lemon on me, which I guess is the way my skin is amping and distorting the mandarin, since there's no lemon in this scent. Lemon, lemon, and more lemon. That's all she wrote. Drowns out all the other notes.

This is totally unhelpful, because it's LE from last March and will be difficult to get ahold of, but Chaste Moon dries down totally pina colada on me. Edited - I was looking back over my reviews, and found this from my review of Tzadikim Nistarim: "Wet: whoa, pina colada!"

I don't get any citrus or lavender at all from Clio - lots of parchment and lots of woods. It's a surprisingly warm scent. Very appropriate to the concept - this is the scent of sitting in an old wood-paneled sun-drenched library with deep comfortable leather chairs. I really like it. Not enough to get a bottle, I don't think, but certainly enough to hang onto my imp.

Lick It smells EXACTLY like Black Opal + mint on me. And the mint disappears pretty quickly.

Sounds like Aeval, Annabel Lee or Chuparosa to me .

Morocco would be a good choice for clean spices. Also Whippoorwill, if you can get your hands on any (it was LE).