Lunasariel

In the imp: I don't have a good scent profile for fig IRL since I absolutely hate how they taste, so I'm afraid I can't speak to that. This is a creamy, sweet, fruity scent - I think this may be the same fig as in Nasty Woman, which I adore. There's something I can't quite put my finger on complicating the scent, cutting the sweetness and giving it some gravitas. I can't say whether it's a woody or green scent like the description says, I just know it's there. Wet: It does almost a complete 180 and becomes an incredibly realistic forest scent (I believe I'm getting pine and/or fir) with a faint but distinct darkly fruity-sweet note winding throughout. Somehow, taken all together, it feels unsettling - a haunted forest with poison fruit ready to drop. Dry: More green-woody than woody-green, still with some ineffable creamy sweetness hanging around. I could do with either less sweetness, or just a different kind, but I am and will always be a sucker for green scents, so I'm calling this one a winner!

The scent of a pirate's bumboat, overflowing with stolen wares: tea leaf, cassia, cinnamon bark, clove, allspice, sandalwood, tobacco, peppercorn, and nutmeg. In the imp: I was anticipating a SPICEBOMB! going off in a wooden cupboard, but instead, I get straight-up baked goods. Spice cookies, yeah, but cookies nonetheless. Or cake, maybe? Point is, flour, eggs, and milk were definitely involved in this at some point. It's warm, delicious, and exactly what I need on a frosty December day. If there's any sandalwood or tea down there, it's fairly well-buried. Wet: Ah, there's the sandalwood. I still get cake/bread/cookies wafts from afar, but up close, it's much more pure spices, with cinnamon and/or cassia being especially prominent. The tea note takes a while to appear, but it eventually becomes a fairly major player. Ah, now I get the masala chai comparisons! On me, the spices and tea are a little more distinct from each other, if that makes sense, and they come to rest over an increasingly faint woody background. Dry: The sandalwood comes to dominate. The spices, now aromatic rather than "spicy", and more omnidirectional than cooking/baking spices, provide an accent rather than being main players themselves. Now it's a soft, cuddly, woodsy scent - low throw, quite comforting. I still do miss the yummy baked goods stage, but this ain't half bad.

(Mods, please delete/merge this thread if it's a repeat - I've checked around and I didn't see anything, but I could definitely have missed it.) I've just started a new job, which is wonderful in so many respects: it's in my field, it's in my hometown (er, home-county), and all of my coworkers are incredibly kind, thoughtful, and intelligent. ...That said, there's an informal no-scented-products rule, as one of my coworkers is sensitive to strong smells. I would love to find a way that allows me to indulge in my BPAL habit, while making sure that my coworker is safe and comfortable. Pertinent information: - I've seen her get stuffy and congested when another coworker used a synthetic aloe-scented hand sanitizer, but a cucumber-scented EOS hand lotion I use seems to be ok. - Coworker and I share a workspace, although we do have our own desks. - We work in a sort of mega-cubicle with an open top and several entrances/exists, along with three other people. Does anyone here have any advice, either from an office veteran standpoint or a scent-sensitive standpoint (or both!) on how to find a happy medium? Should I apply something the night before to decrease its throw? Scent lockets? Stick to lighter scents like Embalming Fluid? Thank you for any and all advice and input!

Thank you so much for your advice/input/brain-offerings! It sounds like the way to go is: lighter scents, apply early so they have a chance to settle in, and remember that every person's allergies/sensitivities are different. I already have a father and a brother with hyperosmia, so I'm fairly familiar to people who have a naturally low tolerance for strong smells, but allergies are a whole other ball of wax. Norsowideasachurchdoor, I especially appreciate the perspective re: not sticking to the same thing too often - I would never have thought of that, but that's a really good thing to keep in mind. LizziesLuck, thank you in particular for that very extensive list! "Freshly showered" or "just naturally smells nice" are excellent words to keep in mind. Unfortunately, I do tend to lean towards the wood/leather/rum/amber family of scents, but you've given me some great starting points for others. Again, thank you everyone for letting me pick your brains!

In the imp: I thought it would be very similar to Morocco or Sin, but this is exactly the scent of Yin Yang, a hippie/New Age store in my hometown. Hellooooo, memories! Wet: The clear intention is sensual, but to me, this smells incredibly comforting. Red musk is first and foremost, and there's a spiciness that's not nose-biting - no cinnamon or cassia that I can detect. Instead, this is the scent of Sebastopol, CA, circa 2005 (pop. ~5,000): comfortably aging hippies, co-ops with barrels of spices out front, jewelry made up of little coins, and incense everywhere. Dry: Gets a little spicier, but the drydown is pretty linear. I'm not sure whether anyone without this specific scent memory will love Scherezade as much as I do, but as it stands, I went through the whole day wrapped in the warmest, loveliest cloud of nostalgia.

In the imp: Fresh, candy-sweet, springtime violets. Wet: Yep, still violets. I think it's the mint adding that particularly fresh, outdoorsy, breath-of-fresh-air element, but it quickly burns off, leaving the sweeter aspect of the violet to dominate. Dry: Violets all the way down. Luckily, these ones don't go too too overly-sweet - the fresh, springtime element even re-emerges after a little while. This is probably my new favorite violet scent - not crazy sugary or complicated by any other notes. When I want to feel like an Edwardian lady, this is what I'll reach for.

In the imp: Smooth, omnidirectional sweetness. Sometimes I think I can pick out hints of all the listed notes, but sometimes I think they're so well-blended, I'm just trying to smell what's listed. It's difficult to describe, but right now it's a little floral, a little creamy, and even a little smoky. A pale, gossamer scent indeed! Even ITI, it's elusive, making you want to lean forward and find out more, like a gauze veil trailing behind a famous courtesan. Wet: Wowwwwwwwww. Still an elusive scent, but now in the sense of a gauze veil set with stars. Still too well-blended to distinguish any notes with reliability, but I think I'm getting a little more vanilla now? It could be ambergris making the scent meld with my skin so well - ambergris tends to go "your skin but awesome" on me. I'm also getting a breath of flowers and amber, my first and truest love, at the base. Finally, and most intriguingly, there's almost definitely a curl of tobacco (flower?) winding through the blend, giving it an elusive, unexpected smokiness that takes it from merely something lovely to something truly unique. I can see why this is the one everybody has been raving about! Dry: More vanilla-centric, but still an elusive, gossamer vanilla. I can see the comparisons to both Mouse's Long and Sad Tale, and to Lyonesse (which happen to be two of my favorite amber-vanilla scents) - less floral-sweet than the former, and less ambergris-forward than the latter, but definitely a relative of both. The tobacco flower is also a little more noticeable, and that fascinating, unique smoky element is a little more prominent. Boy, does this one *last*! I applied one swipe to my wrists and one to my collarbones around 7:30 this morning, and by 10 PM, it's soft but still noticeable. Beth, you really knocked it out of the park on this one.

In the imp: Creamy jasmine, with the addition of a fresh, floral-green note that both emphasizes and uplifts the jasmine. Most of my jasmine scents are slinky, languid, boudoir-on-a-hot-summer-night kind of scents, but this is much more of a springtime scent. Wet: This is a capital-W Woman's scent. Curvaceous, yeah, but the word "voluptuous" also springs to mind. Fresh springtime jasmine, in the early morning with the dew still on it, is still the most prominent note, but the honeysuckle is also becoming more notable as itself. From afar, I get a creamier jasmine and less honeysuckle. Right now, it's light, uplifting, and absolutely lovely, but not frivolous, if you know what I mean. So many of my floral scents feel giggly and carefree, and while this one does make me smile, I could absolutely believe that this is the scent of a goddess. A kind goddess, and not an asshole like a lot of the others in AG, but a being of immense power and strength nonetheless. Dry: This reminds me of the drydown of Cave of Treasures, another fresh, creamy floral. The creamy note comes to dominate over time, and the florals lose that fresh, green element. Instead they become softer and more languid - while I can't say I don't miss the outdoorsy, spring-like feeling, I'm also liking what it's growing into.

In the imp: The exact sensory experience of walking out into a riotous vegetable garden on a summer evening, when all the plants are releasing their aromas after the heat of the day. A very, very green scent - mostly vegetal (I think I can actually pick out the slightly spicy tomato vines and wet, fresh cucumber in there), but a little herbal, and I think I can pick out the soil, too. (Unless that's the vetiver.) Wet: I love green scents, and I have a lot of them, but this is truly unique. Most of my greens are "mage's pouch of herbs"-type green, but this is the purest gardener's green I've ever smelled. Sam Gamgee would smell like this, along with some wool and pipeweed smoke. Dry: Dammit. Like so many promising green blends, this one ends up as pure soap before half an hour has gone by. I think I've narrowed the culprit down to either dead leaves (which would be an unlisted note, but I would believe it's in here, thematically speaking) or moss. Dammit, dead leaves and/or moss! Perhaps this will work better in a scent locket, or as a room scent.

In the imp: Uh. I really have no idea what's going on here. A sour, bitter, vaguely green (while not resembling any plant I can think of) scent? Resinous, maybe? I don't really get much wood or stone. Wet: More definitely sour resins. Frankincense tends to go sour on me, but not *this* fast. The wood also puts in an appearance, dark and aged. Dry: The sour frankincense backs off, and the aged, resinous wood comes forward. Like King Haggard (another frimp I received in the same order), it's still not exactly warm and inviting, but it is... interesting, in an austere, regal kind of way.

In the imp: A big ol' snootful of ashes and dry, charred wood. After a couple of sniffs I'm getting the balsam as well, which helps to round out some of the sharpest edges, but this definitely puts the bitter in bitter balsam. Wet: Fairly linear, if perhaps even more smoky and bitter than ITI. Woof - it actually made me stick my tongue out and say "blech!" Right now, this might be a good room scent for a certain type of D&D game. After a few minutes, it settles down into very aged cedarwood and balsam. I agree with renfair - an austere, regal scent, but not an entirely pleasant one, with hints of a younger, less bitter, self. Dry: Better and better. Cedarwood and balsam, or occasionally vice-versa - aromatic, resinous, and sometimes spicy. Never a warm, cuddly, inviting scent, but somehow a sternly appealing one.

In the imp: Definitely a green scent, and even more definitely a dark green one. Maybe I'm just susceptible to the copy, but I have a lot of green scents that feel fresh or spring-like, but this is indeed a dark, untamed forêt sauvage. Perhaps a touch of vetiver? Wet: A brief moment of over-ripe, carnivorous flowers and rotting vegetation, before it settles into lush flowers. The fruit follows soon after - I kind of want to say black cherry. Dry: Huh! When reading the description, and when first sniffing the imp, I would never have guessed that this one would resolve itself into a soft, subtle black cherry and musk. It's actually quite pleasant, even office-appropriate. This one doesn't last long, maybe five hours or so. I wouldn't mind finding a way to kick it up a notch, but as it is, I was surprised to enjoy this quiet, competent, grown-up scent so much.

In the imp: Dry cedarwood, with just a touch of warm sweetness. Wet: The cedar comes out swinging, but is swiftly tamed by a lovely, spiced bourbon vanilla. The "warm brown fur" isn't as prominent as it was in Coyote, but I am getting a snuggly, comforting feeling overall. Oooh, this is going to be in heavy rotation this winter! Dry: The cedar steps back to become an accent for a lovely, spicy bourbon vanilla. It stays this way for a good six to eight hours, eventually boiling down to an oddly plastic-y vanilla. Hmm, maybe aging this will help, or pairing it with Bast. (Now there's an idea...)

In the imp: Primarily dry, spicy, unsweetened cacao (the real stuff, before they add sugar or milk to turn it into chocolate) and aged, resinous cedarwood, perhaps a chest or incense. The sweetness of amber/honey/bourbon vanilla is there, but buried way deep down - maybe shut up in the chest? So far it's a seductive scent, but a reserved, mysterious one. Wet: All the dry, resinous scents come on strong: cedar, myrrh, and cardamom. A straight-up oriental. After a little while, the cedar begins to veery in a worryingly dry, sharp, plywood-y direction, but is saved by the advent of the bourbon vanilla. After a few minutes, it settles down into a resinous, aromatic oriental up close... but from afar, I get whiffs of an almost O-like amber/vanilla/honey blend, complicated by something spicy that may be cardamom. Oh, now *this* is what I'm talking about! Unlike Shadow, which I loved but didn't match my mental image of the character at all, this is so very Bast - refined, elegant, but a bit reserved until you take the time to get to know her, and then she hits you with the unabashed sensuality you knew was coming all along. Dry: Mostly myrrh and cacao, with just a little bourbon vanilla and/or amber for sweetness. There might also be just the ghost of the cedar and cardamom hanging around to provide a hint of aromatic-ness, but mostly I get myrrh and cacao. Oooh, this one is *nice*!

In the imp: A light, elegant, sexy cologne. The amber (a light, summer-weight amber, like in Lyonesse) is most prominent, followed by oudh and bay rum, mostly in that order. The bay rum, too, is lighter and breezier than I'm used to. But on a summer day like this, I'm grateful. Wet: Ooh. Ooooooh. This scent opens like a flower (although decidedly not a floral) to become deeper, richer, and headier, but still essentially itself. I almost want to say there's ambergris in here, as it's doing that "your skin but better" thing that ambergris does on me. All the elements are still there, and in roughly the same proportion, but this is more of a summer night perfume than a summer day perfume, if you know what I mean. Still refined and subtle enough to wear to work, but this is definitely date night-appropriate. Dry: If ITI was a summer day and wet was a summer night, date night, this is after-dinner drinks and dessert at his place. It settles in and becomes, as galahad says, downright cuddly, while still being extremely sexy. The bay rum warms up, becoming more distinctly boozy and sugary, and develops a slinky, sexy aspect. The amber (and what I still swear is ambergris) become almost vanillic. Right now, it reminds me of Haunted - a soft, spicy, musky amber. But while Haunted is unisex, this leans distinctly masculine. I'm not sure this is quite Shadow - it's a little too suave and debonair for how I imagine him - but it is a damn sexy masculine scent!

In the imp: Apple-y booze, but in the best way possible. These apples are sweet, ripe, and juicy, and the alcohol is the *really* good stuff that evaporates in your sinuses. I'm also getting hints of my old friend amber and something softly, subtly smoky - I can't tell whether it's the "bonfire smoke" or the tobacco. If there is vanilla at this stage, it's blending wonderfully with the apples. Wet: An... unpromising opening. I was a bit worried about the cognac and "wine" half of "apple wine," since boozy notes that aren't dark and sugary (i.e. rum, bourbon, etc.) tend to go sharp and sour on my skin, which is what this one is doing. I'm still getting fruit, but sour, fermented fruit - maybe even pear or something instead of apple. It still smells strongly alcoholic, and almost effervescent to boot - it reminds me of a fizzy drink that I tried once and didn't much like, the name of which escapes me at the moment. Dry: And the day is saved! There's still a fruity effervescent thing going on, but it's at least equal with a soft, elegant, cream-white vanilla that's especially noticeable when sniffed from afar. An herbal, aromatic edge comes out over time, as does a resinous base that goes so golden and glorious on my skin, it must be amber. And last but not least: this must be the lace note that everybody is talking about! This is my first experience with any of the Laces, and oh boy is it lovely. Clean, airy, and slightly vanillic. Overall, I get the feeling of walking through an apple orchard on a summer evening wearing a lacy, breezy white dress. The fruit is full and ripe, and there are aromatic grasses under my feet. Keep in mind, this has had less than a day to settle since it arrived. I'll let it sit for a few days, re-test, and then come back with any changes I notice. Here's hoping that unfortunate opening will fade, and it'll be drop-dead gorgeous from start to finish!

These are all PERFECT, but most particularly Soldier 76. And McCree. And Mercy. And Mei. And... (you get the point.)

Oh, and Toph would be somewhere between Fighter and Yorick (or whatever your favorite earth note is).

Dragon's Tears is perfect for Zuko! It smells like HONORRRRRR. Iroh is a tricky one! Venus Genetrix (black amber and jasmine tea with 7-year aged bourbon vanilla absolute) might make a good candidate. The notes sound very feminine, but to me, it reads rather unisex - a soft, subtle tea scent with a sort of quiet strength about it, and the bourbon vanilla is almost smoky. My notes have "this scent will offer you a cup of perfectly-made tea and an afternoon of delightful conversation if you're nice and break you over its knee if you're not." I wish there was a scent that included both tea and dragon's blood! A few other likely-looking ones are: The Great Sword of War (mandarin, tonka, saffron, black tea, cocoa, tobacco leaf, sanguine red musk and five classical herbs of conflict) - for his Dragon of the West period. Nostrum Remedium (black tea leaf, invigorating wasabi extract, sweetened by honey) - it does alleviate "much despair and suffering" which Iroh definitely does. Koito and Sashichi (green tea, tobacco, and agarwood) - IDK, it seems like an uplifting, calming kind of scent, and I can totally see this being the scent of his tea, his pipe, and his pai sho table.

In the imp: Unusually, I can smell every listed note quite distinctly. The pear is the main note, wet and juicy and very sweet, but I also get sort of pre-soapy vibes from the lily of the valley (which has *never* failed to turn to soap on my skin, so that's the scent I associate with it), more rose than rosewood, and a dusting of white musk. Oh boy, white musk takes sweet scents into overdrive on my skin, and this is already pretty damn sweet... Wet: For about 30 seconds, it's a light, pleasant, almost jasmine-like floral, with the pear taking a huge step backwards. And then the lily of the valley does its thing, and I have a light, pleasant, jasmine-like floral soap. It's not bad, as soapy scents go, though - still noticeably floral and a little fruity. Dry: Luckily, the soap burns off within an hour or so, leaving something very similar to that initial light, pleasant white floral, albeit with some omnidirectional fruit adding a bit of kick and lushness. Even later, it settles down into a soft, musky rosewood, which is a heck of a surprise. White musk almost invariably goes screechy and sweet on me, but this is subtle, feminine, and very lovely!

In the imp: A resinous, woody scent, perhaps cedar, with herbal, aromatic overtones. Wet: Ah, there's the lemon! But it's a complicated, herbal lemon, like a really fancy cocktail (minus the alcoholic tang) or artisan lemonade - rosemary popped into my mind, and my boyfriend said he smelled lavender, both of which I could easily believe. The aromatic elements remain, although toned down and blending beautifully with the lemon, and the woody note that's almost definitely cedar pretty much gone entirely. It's fresh, uplifting, and intriguing. I think this one is going to be in HEAVY rotation this spring and summer. Dry: The lemon burns off and a mellow, resinous scent creeps back in over time. I'm guessing this is the cedar, although it's not as distinctive as ITI. More like cedar sap/resin or amber (or even, as others have noted, honey). There's also an almost powdery sweetness - I'd believe that this is chamomile, although it's not doing the bubblegum hyper-sweetness that it does in other blends. Woot!

In the imp: A thick, spicy, syrupy-sweet scent. I'm reminded both of fairly well-aged Snake Oil and Red Lantern (or at least the 2015 version, which is my favorite). I can't pick out any particular notes; it all blends together into a red-gold sweetness. Wet: The individual notes are a little more discernible now, especially the honey, musk, and kind of the spices. I can't say anything like "oh! There's saffron and cinnamon in here," but the "spiced Moroccan unguents" feel very much like the "exotic Indonesian oils" of Snake Oil. The base remains omnidirectional sweet, golden resins. Dry: Aromatic rather than spicy, but otherwise still very honey/benzoin/red musk-forward (more or less in that order). TBH, I'm surprised the caramel isn't putting itself forward more, since I tend to amp sweet scents like caramel. Hmm, maybe it's just melding with the honey, or I'm mistaking it for a facet of the honey. Overall, this feels like a cool-weather, date-night kind of perfume. It's sexy, slinky, sultry, and all those other fun s-words.

Chuparosa is fresh, airy, rain-washed roses on me to start out with, but some honeysuckle and, like, honey or amber or something also come into play later. I find it lovely, but from what I can tell Chuparosa is one of those blends that reeeeeeally depends on your skin chemistry. Othello is a light, summery rose on me, but if you amp musky or spicy notes this might not be the case for you. La Belle Au Bois Dormant is a very wet rose. The greenery is a little lighter than what you're looking for, maybe, but it really does bring to mind a princess bringing a bouquet of dew-covered roses into her house.

In the imp: Sweet cream; very strong. I want to say that I'm getting a breath of florals and/or amber under that, but the cream is unexpectedly assertive; I'm having trouble distinguishing anything else. Wet: For the first minute or so, the cream trades place with an unidentified, honeyed floral; there's also a distinct and fascinating edge of aromatic spiciness. Then it passes through an almost bubblegum-y phase (wtf, skin?), before settling down into, yup, pretty much a lilac single note. I don't have a great scent profile for lilac, since I've never lived in a place it grew freely, but this is lovely! A light, sexy-yet-demure, subtle springtime floral. After a few minutes, I start getting wafts of cream and cardamom from afar, while at skin-level it stays very lilac (albeit with a bit of amber at the base). Still a very soft, intimate scent, though. Dry: For a while, it's pretty much what I was thinking of when I ordered a blind bottle: lilac, spiced and complicated by cardamom and amber. Then, uh. On one hand, there's a delicious musky honey, almost woody, with the spicy/aromatic note remaining. It reminds me of Womb Furie (the 2016 version, at least) or Morocco. On the other hand, I kept getting whiffs of straight up baby-smell throughout the day. Milky and powdery (amber generally plays very nicely with my skin, but it looks like it's not doing so this time), and smelling exactly like a clean, very new, baby. Very unexpected, and if you're looking for a maternal scent, look no further! (At least, if your skin chemistry does the same weird things mine does.) That said, this is something I'm super not into. On one hand, the lilac is glorious - occasionally complicated by other notes and at other times completely and unmistakably itself. But on the other hand: new baby smell. No thank you.

In the imp: The words that first come to mind are rich, woozy, heady, and sweet. The bourbon vanilla and coconut are the main players at this stage, but I think I'm also getting some amber and/or tonka. However, despite all these notes that I normally associate with cuddly, warming winter scents, this is surprisingly light and almost cooling - could that be the tea leaf and/or the cashmere? This definitely feels like something in my wheelhouse of warm, rich, voluptuous amber-leather-booze-bourbon vanilla scents, but a more spring-appropriate version thereof. With scents like Gluggagaegir, The Antikythera Mechanism, Hellfire, and a lot of the Mars scents from the 2015 Lupers, I love them for about half the year, but if I wear them when it's warm out, I feel like I'm smothering. Hoîru evokes the same heady, sexy feeling, but without the heaviness. Silk instead of velvet, let's say. Wet: Wooo, now that's an experience! Upon first application, I got a waft of straight-up alcohol, but that faded quickly. Then it passed through a smoky leather-and-patchouli phase, with the smoke provided by the blackened tea leaf, with heavy emphasis on the "blackened" part. Then the coconut appears, albeit drier and less juicy/heady than ITI. Finally, it settles down into a soft leather/traditional perfume scent with unexpected coconut accents, and still with that lightness that I think is the cashmere(?). Wow. I bought this both because it seemed to be part of a scent family I love (see above), and as a celebration of BPAL including more queer themes in their releases, but I got WAY more than I expected. For one thing, I realized that, while I hate the taste and texture of coconut, I love it as an unexpected accent in perfume - Startled Toad from the 2015 Lupers is now a favorite of mine, and it looks like this is heading the same way. Dry: This is a scent that doesn't like staying in one place for too long. The leather-amber-perfume stays, but I keep getting unexpected wafts of different notes as accents - coconut husk, mellow smoke, and what I would swear is a light floral at one point. After a good couple of hours, it resolves into one of the softest, cuddliest leathers I've ever smelled, rounded out by amber and gentle resins. The coconut is still there, making this scent familiar yet unique. It still retains the fresh air/clean skin smell that must be cashmere. Boy, is this one a winner on my skin!