icing

I found Temple Viper to be pretty similar to Snake Chamer, but then I really amp labdanum, plum, and other sweet resin and fruity smells (which means Bathsheba smelled pretty identical to Snake Charmer on me, only with the addition of carnation).... the discontinued Nahemoth was also pretty similar, except for the traces of rose.

Aside from Zarita, I get really lovely cream notes from Snow White ’07, Midway Resurrected , The Candy Butcher, and Eat Me (and sometimes Love's Philosophy, Death Adder, and O).

Zarita almost always equals compliments, the instant I walk up to someone. All Souls fares pretty well too.

Sugary, faint, ginger candy, with a juicy, wet, green depth I can taste in the back of my throat (I believe it’s the white grapefruit, aloe, and the woods, if they’re ‘green’). Hungry Ghost Moon is quite unique from the blends I usually try (I don't dislike wet/juicy/green blends, but I don't actively hunt them out), and I really, really enjoy sniffing it.

Ginger and thyme time, all the time. Ick. ...And I'd coveted this for so long. Pout.

Euphrosyne's a little awkward on me from time to time... rose rot in the beginning sometimes, and some green banana stages (gardenia), but it's a delicate, sweet, sugary, slightly vanilla, light floral in the end.

I knew Yemaya would be everything I loathe. I knew it could make me gag and cringe. Yet I tried it. (Who knows? I've met with some very nice surprises this way.) Ugh. Icingbane. Foulness incarnate. Cantaloupe!Cantaloupe!!Cantaloupe!!!Cantaloupe!!! hard candies, with a touch of sweet, salty seaweed, candied grapes, maybe a touch of delicate, sweet flowers and Cantaloupe!!! which will. not. scrub. off. I hate the smell of cantaloupe, even when I'm just walking by it in the grocery store.

Long before I fell into the world of BPAL, I had been searching for the perfect vanilla, buttercream, saffron blend…. When I first found out about Monster Bait: Underpants, I’d had high, really high hopes, but alas, the sandalwood in that blend attacked with epic strength, the vanilla fled, and I was forced to continue my search. As you can imagine, there was, ah, great elation when I read Love’s Philosophy’s description, when the Lupercalia 2008 update struck. Now, vanilla still tends to vanish on my skin, so this blend is more often than not an… ‘are you…. actually… there?’ faint kind of scent, and my inconsistent chemistry is constantly altering the dry-down, but, what I can smell is worth every bit of that squirm-in-my chair and almost squeal glee that hit, when I first read the update announcement. One version is a subtle, creamy (just enough for a slight hint of richness and depth, in what would otherwise be lightly, hint-of-vanilla scented skin), with that same light golden glow of warmth, peace, and satisfaction that I picked up from the saffron in Underpants. Another version I pick up features an ice cream vanilla (the kind with actual vanilla in it, along with the tiny, dark flecks of seeds) that sort of floats above my skin, but if I actually put my nose to my skin, I smell that almost leathery, slightly alcoholic, dried, but slightly moist vanilla pod smell. And yet another version, that’s not as faint as the above two, but is still somewhat light, projects a deeper, smokier spice scent than the one in the ‘saffron glow’ dry-down. I’m not sure what spices I’m smelling, and the smoke melds so perfectly, but it’s ever shifting, and this dry down is so beautiful and intriguing, it’s everything I had imagined Snake Oil would be like (I have gotten hints of a spicy vanilla in Snake Oil, but most of the time, SO’s mostly sugared amber on me). Other times I get a dry-down that smells like the sugared, raw-dough smell of Midway: Ressurected…. Which is devoid of vanilla, but still nice, so needless to say, I’m quite pleased with this blend… I’m infatuated with it for the glorious dry-downs, I still enjoy it in the less complex ones, and amazingly, no matter what my chemistry does to it, it still smells great. I’ve mixed some of my Love’s Philosophy into an unscented body lotion, and whenever I’ve dabbed one of my other adored blends over my lotion rubbed skin, they seem to develop more when layered with LP then they did on their own, and if it’s a chemistry day when Love’s Philosophy is strong enough, the notes of the layered blends meld together gloriously, and just sing at a whole new level of amazing. (Think, ‘what is that awesome smell?’ ‘…oh, it’s me!’) Love’s Philosophy is a definite favorite, that I never want to be without!

Eat Me has been a long-term favorite comfort scent of mine (I’ve adored it since my very first order). However, it’s an ever-changing, tricky little blend on my skin. Sometimes it’s ATOMIC-SUGAR-CRYSTAL-COVERED-CURRANT-GUM-DROP Single Note (I really amp sweet and fruit notes, and few notes can rival what my skin will do with a red currant), but other times, it’s a rich, creamy Beaver Moon base, with a touch of currants, and sometimes Snake Oil’s spices mixed in. …Other times I get the angry, shave foamy-almost-baby-powdery-musk that Snake Oil gives me on the wet stages (which, terrifies me), but then it backs down to one of the previously mentioned scents… and other times it takes on a slightly honeyed and/or brown sugar note mixed with one of the above renditions… which is something I’ve sometimes picked up in the Snake Pit blends as well. …and, take any of the above combinations, and throw in a that light, elusive cake base, and maybe, maybe a twist of vanilla (vanilla is something that will rarely ever even make the slightest of appearances on my skin) that’s the rarest of Eat Me experiences I’ve had… but definitely my favorite. …and something new: lately, I swear I’ve been getting a touch of lemon (or some sort of sweet, but naturally sweet, not sugared or candied yellow that reads as citrus), which has helped tame the currants and tie the blend together more, and it appears as a new twist in any of the renditions I’ve already described. When I apply this oil, I don’t always get the scent result I’m hoping for, but the majority of the time, it’s still highly enjoyable – and I am absolutely thrilled it’s a in the General Catalogue.

I tore open a bag of rinsed salad after putting a drop on the back of my hand. Then I smelled something. I started gagging, serching though the bag, I was convinced there was a dead, rotting mouse in there. No. It was Love and Pain on my hand. What’s worse (and horrifically stupid)? I re-tested. Just to be sure. Pain, in-freaking-deed.

I’m ashamed of this : In the time stretching from November 2006, ‘til today, I’ve made it though eight 5mls, and I’m not sure how many Imps. My skin drinks oils, that’s the main reason I move through them so quickly, but I’ve also put some in lotions and leave-in hair conditioners. I really envy those who can make a dab last - please bottle and share your powers!

Alice starts off as sweet, pink, spiced carnation candy on me (for a few cherished seconds), much like the lovely carnation note I picked up from Hod (before the rest of Hod turned to powdery dead skin and urine on me), then she pulls out the stale but slightly sweet rose, stabs me in the eye with it’s stem, and leaves it there as a single note flag that will. not. fade. evar.

After deciding to re-start my quest for something similar to Joy of Jelly, I pulled it out of the freezer, sniffed it, and… realized, it smells a lot like my the cause of my first BPAL order, and number one BPAL love: Midnight on the Midway. Both have a very similar sweet, musky jasmine smell, but MotM has a little a bit more sugar in place of JoJ’s almost fabric-y soap and synthetic musk smell (that ‘fabric-soap’ scent eventually fades into something candyish, but it never has that dusted-sugar smell of MotM)… and of course, there’s that nag champa bit in MotM that eventually kicks in. Still, they are a lot alike on me. Edited in an attempt to make more sense.

I ordered Faiza back when it first hit the site, fell in love, and could never figure out what to say in order to review it. Bear with me. All the notes come together, almost seamlessly blended. Almost – as in, I can’t always tell which is which, but each and every one seems to surface, for at least a moment… not in an amping or note-gone-awry, way, but in the way flecks of light can be caught in a wave, enough for a slight bit of shimmer and light to catch, before those molecules fold back into and amongst the others. Amongst all of this, there is a humid/wet feeling, not sweat, not something foul or stinky, or even something similar to that of a light clean sweat, but the sense of damp skin, coming from the thick, rich, warmth of the white honey - even when I can't quite smell that one (sometimes it's heady and rich enough to feel in the back of my throat, but it's not as sweet or sharp as golden honey)... I still sense an overall, humid, wet, hot, and slightly sweet scent enveloping the other notes, and it makes me I feel like I should pour the whole bottle over myself and meld with it. When Faiza’s working properly with my chemistry, the whole blend, ever-ever changing, manages to convey something dark, lush, tropical, and slithering…. Usually the dry-down (though ‘dry’ really isn’t a word I feel I should use for Faiza) is a liquid skin scent of honey and ginger over the jasmine and gardenia, and touches of the various green notes, but that still conveys what it is, very poorly. Maybe… imagine, the spicy, sweet, rich, and heady aspects of LUSH’s Flying Fox, tone it down in strength and sharpness, add a bit of complexity, and wear it like it is your skin, and that could start to touch upon how this blend smells to me. Still not the right words. Sigh. Despite the constant shifting of notes, and that thick white honey, Faiza is subtle. Maybe even light. It isn’t faint, and I don’t feel like it fits every occasion, but it’s a close-to-skin scent, that’s sweet, slightly floral, and slightly green, and doesn’t have a lot of throw. That’s a description that would normally chase me fast and far from a blend, but it doesn’t here. There’s definite bite, strength, and depth to this blend, and a wet skin sense that lends it a seductive feel. Faiza is a close-to-skin, liquid scent that lures you in, then grips you tightly. Faiza is gorgeous, so long as my chemistry lets it perform to its fullest potential (or at least half or even a fourth of the way, it is still amazing). …sometimes it will turn into a stick of slightly tart blackberry bubblegum, or scratchy green notes and honey, and after better experiences, that’s more than a bit underwhelming. Chemistry, what shall I do about you?

How about Manhattan?

Recently, I’ve fallen for Shisha. It’s not sickly, syrupy sweet as I would have expected, but to me, it still is a thick, dark rich mix of honey, tobacco, resins, and general incense, with jasmine floating amongst it all. I would love to find similar honey/jasmine/incense blends. Also, it smells more 'blue' and ethereal to me, and unfortunately, later sours or soaps, but Kindly Moon is vaguely similar to Chanel Chance on me (though that one feels more 'golden', bold, and vibrant to me, while remaining delicate. What complex, non-Lunacy blends feel ethereal or 'airy', while coming off as vibrant or 'regal' (Moon Rose, and Midnight are very faint and soapy on me), as opposed to calm and serene?

Is Shoggoth similar to the Star? …and what are the main similarities?

SUPER!Nutmeg stomping on a giant citrus gumdrop… I think the spices in the Wanderlust blends really like me.

Athens: Fruit leather and NUTMEG.

I really love the leather, vanilla, and honeycomb combo of Trick #1, the leather isn't very strong, but it adds depth and grounds the sweetness and hints of florals for me, and the vanilla's just softly in the throw after a few hours - and this is one of the only blends that's had really rich honey on me- are there any other blends with a leather-honey combo?

This is a bit late, but I’m really sorry you’re hurting. ): I keep finding myself resorting to Eat Me and Vice… though TKO is nice too (and I normally detest lavender). What types of scents do you find soothing?

Thanks! Ive got an imp of Suha Segara that Id never tested. Its a quite nice scent but doesnt have the deep green sort of thing Im looking for. Unfortunately both Habu and 51 have the dreaded musk that my skin amps like crazy. Hm, that’s too bad. Maybe Faiza? Or back into the lighter greens, unfortunately, Manila? What types of musk don’t like you?

I’m not sure if this fits what you’re looking for, but Sudha Segara smells something like Kiwi and Star Fruit Starbursts on me (sort of bright, but a creamy, chewy-candied 'green fruit' smell to me)… though there’s a hit of spice in the first second or so of the wet stage.

Beaver Moon screams massage bar to me, but it’s not too easy to track down. Snake Oil, O, Jezebel, Green Tree Viper, La Petite Mort, Scherezade, Eos, New Orleans, Phantasm, the Candy Butcher, and TKO might be nice though. What types of notes do you have in mind?

My skin tends to make cocoa notes vanish, but after the initial lavender clary sage assault, and temporary vanishing, Wulric turns into a very subtle, but long-lasting, soft vanilla-cocoa scent on me. Treat #2 was also pretty nice (but that probably doesn’t help much). E.T.A.: I wanted to throw in another vote for Velvet.