illuviel

(No one has asked, but for the sake of future forum searchers:) Peach Chypre (DragonCon-launched Activism LC)'s softer little sibling is Fae

First Try, which I mistakenly did on a day when I sampled *all* the new scents from my order: I really wanted this one to work on me, as I like all of the notes in it. On that basis, it's been on my wishlist for a while. In the vial: I'm not sure what this is. It smells discordant and disappointing. Maybe it will work better on me than in the imp? Wet: The clove overpowers everything, and clashes with my own chemistry, sadly, and... something that I can't pick out in the rest of it. Other reviewers have said it's the tonka -- could be. I can't pick out any violet here, and only the notes in the incense that don't roll under the clove. Drydown: I didn't make it to that point. I had to wash it off, and once I did, I could smell the lovely violet, tonka, and incense blend that survived scrubbing my wrist. Good longevity, if I could tolerate it through the drydown. 😕 Conclusion: This has gone to my son to put in his new swap box. Second Try, with a fresh nose. I asked for this back from my son to try again. I really *want* this to work, if I can get the clove to behave with the other ingredients (I generally really like clove as a scent and a flavor, and used to use the clove soap from Kama Sutra, so I know it *can* work on me.) In the vial: I didn't smell it in the vial, or wet. Wet: I used a miniscule amount and layered it with Bruised Violet Compound to give it an initial boost to the violet. The clove and incense notes are still strongest, with the violet present as a sweetness that lightens up the other notes. I can't pick out the tonka yet. Drydown: Half an hour later, the clove has calmed down and I can start to smell the violet, tonka, and incense in harmony with the clove becoming a background warmth and spice. It passes the Mr Spouseman sniff test. (He does say it doesn't smell enough like moss or dirt for him to associate with me, but that it does smell nice.) Conclusion: I'm glad I gave this another chance. When I can ride out the initial uberclove, this is worth it. Layering it with Bruised Violet Compound was a good choice for me. I also want to try it with Mokey, to see if it rounds out the sweetness of the lilac that comes along with the violet in it that makes me layer it with darker, more grounded scents.

There's also a lot of lilac in Mokey, but paired with violet, which you noted as an 'enh' note. I'm glad I can parse it as a lighter, sweeter BVC because if Mokey didn't work for me, I'd be an awfully sad Jim Henson fan. I haven't tried any other of the Fraggle Rock scents other than those two. I bought the bottle of Boober for my kid who I called Boober as a babe, but they live in a household with scent aversions and allergies so I kept it until I can pass it on to someone else. As for TTLB: you said, " I'm leery of most non-citrus fruits in my perfumes" -- there is melon in this, but it's blended in with all of the other notes pretty well and doesn't shout "MELON" at one.

@Greensleeves We do have a lot of notes in common! and I definitely think I would enjoy Gaueko. Yes, I can do other herbs, but seem to do better with spices, as a class. Based on what you've written in this post and the linked content in your .sig, I think, beyond the ones I already posted from my favorites, that you might enjoy: Famine being on your wish list makes sense. I really enjoy it and think you would too. Ditto Vicomte de Valmont and other fougeres. Have you tried Jareth? It's a lilac-based fougere to compare Villain's lavender base (both are currently on my wishlist -- which I'ven't posted [yet]). Sherlock is "a fastidiously clean scent, with a dash of pipe and cigarette tobacco". You may also enjoy: Boober - laundry and lilac, you say? This is that. freshly-washed laundry, linden blossom, soap suds, and a sprinkle of vanilla Bayou , maybe? - clean and green watery herbal, but does have white flowers that may be a turnoff for you. Twinkle, Twinkle Little Bat - smells nothing like Boober but seems like it belongs in a box with it. Green tea, melon, mint, lime rind, and champagne grape with lemon balm, mullein, and toadflax Tiefling Therapist - I know I wrote about it above, but think it bears mentioning again here for a good nag champa incense note, if you like that kind. Chimera -- cinnamon, myrrh, honeysuckle, & copal

Showing up really late, but I'd welcome feedback if anyone's interested in giving some feedback. Five favorites, in alphabetical order - Antikythera Mechanism: Teakwood, oak, black vanilla, and tobacco. Oak works really well on me. - Bruised Violet Compound: crushed violets, red currant, patchouli root and spanish moss. I heart this and am interested in more violet-centric scents. Sybaris, The Raven, and The Velvets are on my wishlist. I have and enjoy Mokey but wish I'd been able to get an imp of it and had gotten a full bottle of BVC - Fae: white musk, bergamot, heliotrope, peach and oakmoss. Tied with its bolder sibling, Peach Chypre: red labdanum, oakmoss, 3-year aged patchouli, Italian bergamot, and peach. - Famine: black tea, tobacco leaf, frankincense, lilac, and white musk - Lizardfolk Park Ranger: pine needle, oak bark, sweet birch, stream-polished stones, lichen, dark mosses, nootka, hazelnut, rivulets of amber, and blackcurrant bud. Tied with BVC for current favorite - Peach Chypre: red labdanum, oakmoss, 3-year aged patchouli, Italian bergamot, and peach. Currently wearing Tiefling Therapist: incense of various types works well on me (but the moss blend in The Caterpillar takes over and I can't smell the incense on me for quite some time). Notes that work include violet flower and leaf, musk, tobacco flower and leaf, incense, spices (clove, nutmeg, cardamom), peach, hazelnut, wood (pine, oak, oud, sandalwood, cypress, rosewood), lavender, vanilla, petrichor, resins (dragonsblood, frankincense, myrrh, amber), vanilla, orchid, orris, iris, Things that *don't* work on me and why - The Caterpillar: The moss and/or vetivert turns to mildew and completely overpowers the lovely incense notes -- I'd be interested in more incense like in this one, if combined with other notes that worked (or on its own). Sadly, everything else in the Moss imp pack turns on me in weird ways, too. Why the moss notes in my favorites don't do this &/or why these do, IDK - BPAL's cedar turns to "pencil" on me - coconut: my spouse loathes it - rosemary: I'm allergic to it. Ditto mint. (Which is why Brusque Violet is not on my wishlist, nor a number of the fougeres in the catalog.) - Most commercial "women's" scents turn into laundry soap on me. If I want that, I'll wear Boober, which at least doesn't make me wheeze 😆 (but it does work better as a room scent than a personal one, IMO) - cinnamon: sensitive to it, both skin and respiratorywise - white flowers: gardenia, jasmine, orange blossom can all take over and turn sickly /rotten-sweet on me.

Hihi! I'm looking to replace a discontinued scent from Sunshine Scented Oils (later Sunshine Spa Oils): Woodspice. For reference, it smells almost exactly like unburnt sticks of HEM's Forest incense (without the charcoal scent of the base sticks). I've perused this thread on forest scents and have a few options, but I hope to find a reader familiar with the incense who finds it's spot-on for XBPAL. My current favorite forest scent is Lizardfolk Park Ranger, which is likely my go-to for a full bottle if nothing else is closer. Thanks, all, for this community resource.

I received this as a freebie with my Hexennacht decant. In the imp: Vetivert! Patchouli! Very dark, solid and earthy-smelling without smelling like actual earth. Behind that, cedar. As a whole scent, it smells vaguely of pencils (graphite and cedar), which in itself is not a bad thing. On, the earthier notes fade a little into the background (which is good, as I'm not a fan of the patchouli, and my spouse definitely isn't), and spicy cedar comes more to the fore. It's definitely a warming scent for me; I feel a distinct, physical flush of warmth while wearing it. It also reminds me of sunwarmed, clean guinea pig, freshly bathed with Wella Balsam shampoo and set in a bed of clean cedar shavings. Given a little time to settle in, it's still very sharply pungent vetivert and cedar, equally strong, and a little peppery to the nose, though I don't detect any actual black pepper. It's a little butch for me (very solid, very ... sharp? no-nonsense? adjectives fail me, but 'butch' works), but I'd love this on meinen Mann ... if I could convince him to try it, even though it's got the dreaded "P" word in it. I also layered this with Hexennacht in an attempt to redeem that scent for me -- I like it better 'anchored' with the earth and forest scents in Malediction than on its own and may be able to get away with this, though it's still powdery and 'sneezy' on me (until later in the evening, then mrowr. Much better then, if I could get through the sneeziness).

I received a decant of Hexennacht in the mail today. I had high hopes for this, based on the intent, description and glowing reviews. I really wanted to adore this one. Unfortunately, this scent isn't one that works for me at all. In the imp, it smells like someone wearing a Guerlain perfume I can't quite name walking through a botanica or occult bookshop's incense and oils section to pick up a bottle of Lucky Money Drawing floorwash -- complex, incensey, powdery, piney, commercial. It reminds me more of sitting with the ladies' circle at a bookshop discussing Brocken Mountain than dancing on the heath atop it. Unfortunately, this first impression only deepened with my interaction with the scent. On the second or third sniff, my eyes started watering and I started sneezing, giving me a tightness in my sinuses and a slight scratching at the back of my throat -- something in this does not agree with my system. Maybe I'd get over that as soon as my nose calmed down from the complex scent? I swiped the wand across my wrist and rubbed my wrists together. On me, it smells quite artificial and does not blend into my skin well at all. Ten or so minutes into wearing, it's still piney incensey voodoo floorwash that makes me sneeze and my lips and throat itch. I washed it off, glad that I had purchased only an imp, and not a full bottle, of the oil. I hope I have better luck with other BPAL scents. (I did, as my review of Malediction will show.) Edit to update (and to tighten this up a bit): Layering this over Malediction anchors and earths the scent for me, making it less commercial-smelling and almost wearable, though it's still 'sneezy'. Later in the evening I was able to compare Malediction, Hexennacht + Malediction and the remnants of Hexennacht alone. Of the three, I prefer the blend; it's lovely stuff layered, post-drydown, sharing notes and qualities with a long-discontinued, mass-market scent I adored, Ultima II's Maroc (the wood + incense). There are notes in this combination I hope to find in other blends.