Salsa Shark

Having tried Zarita and loving until the iris kicked in ( ) I was hoping to find some other blends with a fairly prominent milk/cream note in them. Unfortunately pretty much everything I could find in the GC with milk listed also had honey in it - my skin amps honey like crazy and has turned all but one blend I've tried with it into pure Honey SN within the hour. So is there anything out there sans honey? An old LE, or a blend hiding away in one of the GC categories which doesn't list notes?

Does anyone know of a BPAL similar to the new North Pole soap? I am in love with the peppermint/cedar combo

The earthiness of the sandalwood definitely makes itself known while wet. It gives the blend a much more masculine feel than I was expecting given the floral notes, but it's nice, especially once the sandalwood dries down and softens a bit. The florals definitely feel more 'floral' than green to me though - pale grey/purple kind of thing rather than full on white floral though. To me the blend has a similar kind of feel to Bow & Crown of Conquest and Doc Constantine - that cold masculine edge, just not as strong or as sweet. It's got a much more subtle, ethereal feel; a shroud of cold yet comforting earthiness.

This is like some mad victorian scientist had recreated their own glittering clockwork replica of Priala. It's the same thin, sweet smoke note, but instead of myrrh and cinnamon there's oil (which is fascinating, especially with the sweetness of the rest of the blend) and light pale wood. If you like Priala and the steampunk scents, and don't have issues with the labs smoke notes, there's a good chance you'll love this.

Very pink and very sugary, but there's something in here that doesn't agree with me. It feels more like a floral note going sour than a foody note though, and I think it's either iris or something behaving very much like it. I'm also sure I can detect some carnation in the throw, which I think is what's giving the sugar such a 'pink' feel - although the throw does have a predominantly foody feel, while the florals are sat much closer to the skin.

The first thing I smelt in the imp was red musk. Thick, heavy and sweet. On the skin it calmed down a bit, but there was that definite bubblegum fruitiness from the lotus and dragon's blood. The scent didn't change much on my skin for the first hour or so, but in the throw there was a light floral note mingled in with the sweetness. Close to the wrist I can detect a sharp, dark note which eventually evened out, but by that point the red musk had returned and gradually took over the scent, so that it just smelled like an airier version of Lust.

It's hard to find a way to describe this other than 'beeswax and smoke' but... that's what I get I like the smoke note in this, and it holds out well against the beeswax, which usually turns to pure thick honey on me. The smoke stops the beeswax from turning too sweet or cloying, and gives it a nice dark edge. It's a nice simple scent that'd be perfect for honey/beeswax lovers. Unfortunately, I'm not one of them.

This is absolutely divine. Rich, creamy and sophisticated base of honey, magnolia and skin musk with a deep, dry spiciness from the carnation and patchouli. It blends perfectly together; it isn't really floral or musky or incense-y, but you can get a sense of each of the individual components. It's definitely a strong woman scent. Unfortunately my skin chemistry amps honey up so much that after about an hour it's pretty much all I get.

This scent isn't at all what I expected, since I was expecting something a lot darker and resinous. Instead, the blend was something sweet light and fruity - mostly fig (LOTS of fig) and sweet powder from the black musk with a bright halo of orange. The fruits stick around for ages and do very little morphing, though after a couple of hours into the dry down the nutmeg does start to make an appearance. It's a nice scent, the fruits are just a bit too loud for me to really love it, especially when I know they're squishing down the notes I really want to smell.

As soon as I put this on, I notice that sharp scent a lot o people were calling 'mint'. It doesn't smell green to me though, more like the sharp medicinal edge that some vanillas do when they're not working that well with the added bite from the saffron. It does warm up after a while, and thankfully doesn't go that plasticky. It's a nice, soft creamy vanilla. Definitely a light skin scent - the throw is minimal and it's nowhere near as rich or warm as Glowing Vulva. It's a great simple everyday substitute though.

This scent was so close to being wonderful. Wet and in the throws it's sweet, dark sticky resins floating through a cloud of black musk. It reminds me a lot of the later stages of Shub. It's a beautiful sweet myrrh scent, more than anything else. On the skin though, there's a a weird flat sour note that I think might be the galbanum. It's not overpowering, but it's there enough to be noticeable if I have my wrists near my face, which is a real shame, and it's definitely comparable to the herbal/green thing that other people mentioned.

For the first few minutes of this I rather bizarrely get those marshmallow teacake things - creamy coconutty with a bit of dark fruit. It's nice, but god only knows where I'm getting coconut from. The bamboo and pear eventually emerge, and while these are two scents I usually love, they turn the bend into a confused mess, the sweet green clashing loudly with the deep plum and white musk. There's also a hint of violet in the throw, and altogether the blends just a bit too powdery, sweet and unsettled for me. And for some reason I'm still picking up coconut

This scent pretty much encapsulates being sat out on a sunny porch full of white flowers with a pot of green tea and lemon slices. It's a clean, fresh blend - crisp tea, wih a citrus edge softened by the honey suckle. A perfect fresh summer scent.

This blend, along with Penthus and London, is one of the big reasons why I really wish I could stomach wearing Rose as a note. Unfortunately I can't, and it breaks my heart. In the bottle and wet, this is very heavily rosemary. In fact it takes a good 15 minutes for the other notes to beat it into submission enough to make an appearance. When it does, it's mostly the bitter, spiky wood of neroli and an almost burning warmth of saffron, tied together by the black musk. It all melds together beautifully, and for about an hour it's a glorious dark floral incense which really does make me feel strong and grounded. But then the rose starts to amp up, all sour and soapy.

I'd only ever seen the notes for this blend and none of the reviews, so I was really surprised by this blend. Like quite a few others I'd expected something darker and smokier. Straight away there's a blast of opium/poppy smoke. Sharp and sweet, but not as strong as I've found it in other blends. Then it lightens out into something fruitier - I can definitely see where other got banana and pomegranate - with a candied edge from what I'm assuming is the ginger, since it's very similar in feel to Hungry Ghost Moon at this stage. It gets a mellow, smokier feel as it dries down, but it retains that candied fruit scent, with a heady haze of opium floating around. There's no wood or pepper present to my my nose though, which are the two I was hoping for most. With the champaca added it does seem like the youthful, somewhat stoned love-child of Hungry Ghost Moon and Dia De Los Muertos. It is a lovely scent but, like HGM, not one I'd ever really wear.

The Gibbous Moon has cucumber listed as a note, and it's definitely noticeable, even against the florals.

Does anyone have recs for spicy scents that aren't predominantly clove/cinnamon? As much as I love the spicy sweetness, I'm currently in the mood for something a bit more... dark and savoury, I guess? Saffron, cardamom, pepper and the like. I had very high hopes for Scherezade, but that was pure red musk on me, and I was completely in love with the saffron/black musk combo in Khandita until it got swallowed by the rose. Any recs for something of that ilk would be wonderful!

I passed up on this when it was first released, because as much as I love dandelion I don't get on so well with clove, but enough people mentioned that the dandelion really stood out for me to cave in and hunt down a decant. Unfortunately, my first instinct was right. The only real hint of dandelion I get from this is a faint peppery bitterness well into the drydown, where it ties the other ingredients together and gives it a more perfumey feel. Before and aside from that, it's a very buttery sweet herbal. The clove and fig give it a sort of juicy warmth, while the sage gives it a clean edge. I've never come across balm of gilead before, but I'm assuming that's where the weird buttery note is coming from. As others have said, it's a warm, clean comforting scent and I could see it being a great body lotion or soap. As a perfume it's just very much not my thing. I'm glad I got a chance to try it though.

LE-wise, Night Thoughts, Virahotkantita and The Gibbous Moon were all very night time like, but the GC scent Zorya is still the perfect starry sky scent to me.

This is a really lush, tropical scent. In the imp and for the first hour or so of dry down it's all tart fruits and fresh green plants and a hint of light florals. It's light and sweet without being cloying or sinus tickling. I never really pick up any amber, even though my skin tends to hold onto those notes well. There's almost certainly something citrussy in here though - the fruits are too well blended for me to identify any specific notes, but after about an hour or so there's that strange flat sour smell that some citrus notes like grapefruit and lime become on my skin. It does fade after a few hours, as a citrussy top note would, but it does hang around for a little bit too long for me to wear the blend over, say, Pele or Xanthe. On someone who didn't have my citrus issues though, this would be a perfect high summer scent.

In the bottle and wet, this is mostly powdery cotton and sharp, screeching smoke with a hint of burnt plastic vanilla. It mellows out as it dries, and the tobacco and cognac start to make an appearance and for a while it's a nice mature perfume, and funereal elegance is the perfect way to describe it. My skin seems to drink it up though, and it doesn't take long for it to become a simple but faint dark vanilla musk, sort of a softer, girlier Snake Oil. I can imagine on someone with the right chemistry this would be divine, but there isn't really any point where it'd be an "omgmusthave!" for me. Were it a GC scent I'd probably keep a hold of the imp, but I certainly don't feel bad about sending the decant I've got off to someone who can give it the love it deserves.

This doesn't morph on me at all - from beginning to end it's a soft, glittering white musk. The peach is just a supporting element, giving it sweetness and depth, while the bergamot adds to the airy, ethereal feel. It's the nicest white musk scent I've ever tried, BPAL or otherwise.

At first this is almost exactly like Akuma - bright sweet fruit and dark woody orange blossom - but without the powdered candy fakeness that blood orange turns into on my skin. The other floral elements start to become stronger, although they're blended so well I don't think I'd be able to pick them out without having seen the notes before hand. There's an element of spice from the carnation, and I'm fairly sure it's the orange blossom giving the strawberry it's tart, bitter edge. I really like this, and luckily it doesn't go to fake plastic strawberry on me at all, which a few other strawberry blends have done. Even better, after a few hours of dry down it has that dark, peppered fruit feel of my beloved Xanthe.

On wet, this is very decisively sweet almond and jasmine. It's a nice jasmine as well - sometimes jasmine can go very loud or soapy, but it never does that here. The almond disappears completely within minutes though, leaving behind a light, sweet musky jasmine. It's a simple scent which clings closely to the skin, but pretty. The oakmoss never makes an appearance. Once it dries down the sandalwood starts to make an appearance and I get a nice jasmine incense scent. It fades really quickly though. After an hour and a half it's only barely detectable on my wrist. Which is a real shame, because otherwise this would have been a perfect jasmine scent for me. I'll keep hold of the imp though, and just slather more than usual.

I get no green from this at all. To start with it's mostly a white floral scent, though nothing really stands out as a specific note and it's fairly pleasant, which rules out iris. There's also a dark, spicy smoke scent wafting around which was initially strong enough for me to think was patchouli, though it loses that expected earthiness and smells more like myrrh as it dries down. The floral and the dark elements meld beautifully together and although it's faint, it's very pretty. After about an hour though, I just get honey.