maija

Thank you for your reply I'm happy to hear that the differences are more likely to be caused by aging than batch variation. I'm still quite a newbie and I haven't owned any bottles for more than two years so I don't have much first hand experience in how they will change over time. I like the fig note in Eden, so it would actually be really nice if it comes more forward with aging.

Thank you for your reply. She was asking me about it last weekend because she wanted to buy some new scents but was afraid they all will cause allergies. I know the notes in description aren't everything in them and that's why I was wondering if there was spicy element in Blood Countess that wasn't listed (or if some of those flowers could cause the skin irritation). It's likely that the smoky part is causing problems then. I also suggested diluting. I think I'll send her few non-spicy/woodsy/smoky imps to try before buying.

I didn't read the whole thread through, but anyways.. help please? My friend would like to wear more bpal but can't because all she likes seems to give her rash. She hasn't tried many blends, but has bottles of Velvet, Eclipse and Blood Countess and can't really wear any of them (atleast without diluting them first). I understand that Eclipse has cinnamon and that can irritate skin. Maybe Velvet has something similar too. But Blood Countess doesn't really have any similar notes listed? (Description for Blood Countess says: Corrupted black plum, smoky opium and crumbling dead roses covered by a deceptive veil of Hungarian lilac, white gardenia and wild berry.) Can anyone pinpoint if these three have something in common that could cause skin irritation? She does have sensitive skin and has had trouble with lots of cosmetics. She still can wear some commercial perfumes (like some Body Shop perfume oils) and some essential oils even undiluted so I find it hard to believe that bpal in general would be too harsh, so maybe it's just couple of unlucky ingredients that are causing problems.

This is the only batch variation I've encountered: I got two imps of Black Pearl that I got fresh from the lab. Other smells quite floral and lotiony and pretty much how I imagined it would after reading reviews. The other has this sort of toasted smell straight out of imp, quite similar to Eden. It did have the same florals at the background but it is like they had all different coconut in them. But maybe it has something to do with age? I don't remember if there was color differences and I was about to check but I think I've given the other one away since I can't find it anymore. The toasted coconut -one seems a lot smoother now (although it still reminds of Eden). And speaking of Eden.. How much different to they smell? I'm also curious if there are big batch variations. I only have one about year old imp of it and I love the greenness. I've been planning to buy a bottle and I would be quite saddened if it would be anything like the imp. But I must add that luckily I have never been disappointed with bottles I bought because I liked the imps. Only noticeable differences (to my untrained nose) have been ones caused by aging.

Thank you guys for all your recs! Especially Mictecacihuatl sounds good

Oh, I definitely need to test that one. Thank you!

Sorry if there's already a topic about this, I was wondering if there are many bpal cactus scents? The only ones I've come across and tested were Santa Muerte and Urd. What other blends would you recommend?

Boo 2010 I've never had any problems with milk or cream notes besides them being very faint and often completely overpowered by other notes. So I was a bit shocked when I testes Boo for the first time - it was so sour. From the bottle and on skin sour vanilla-flavoured yogurt or buttermilk all the way. It did mellow a bit after a while, a bit more vanilla and bit less sour milk. But still.. yogurt. Since I was testing it straight out of mailbox I thought I should let the oil settle for some time before testing again. From the bottle it's still quite sour vanilla milk. On skin the sourness mellows quickly and I can actually detect some cotton/linen too. Now the cream is so much more soft and pleasant. It's very sweet but also clean smelling vanilla whipped cream. Some milky scents don't seem to last very well on me and stay very close to skin but Boo has lots of both throw and staying power. I am not sure if I've found my perfect milk scent yet but I'm glad I gave it another go. I can see myself reaching for Boo quite often.

In the imp and while wet Eden smells strongly of toasted coconut and almonds. What's weird: to my nose it kind of smells like cornflakes. As it begins to dry it reminds me of more woodier Dana O'shee. Then juicy green fig emerges and adds more depth. I got the imp because of almond milk and coconut sounded so tempting but actually I like it much more after the nuttiness fades and fig and sandalwood come forward. Eden has a relaxing vibe and it's very reminiscent of its name. I got my imp last summer, liked it but was not sure if I needed a bottle. My only complaints were the cornflake phase and that it faded really fast. I don't know if it's because of aging or colder weather but now it seems to have much better staying power. I think I actually may need a bottle.

I bought an imp for my bf, and on him it's gorgeous. I get warm spices (mostly cinnamon) and glowing red musk. (And I do love lab's red musk ) Satyr is sexy and inviting. I too associate this with color red. It has quite strong throw and it lasts very well. Too bad bf is more into clean citrus and aquatic blends, I really love Satyr on him. I haven't really tested it on myself yet, but it's surprisingly unisex so it might just work. But still, I think I'll save my imp in case someday bf warms up to Satyr.

I'm reviewing the 2008 version, it's the only one I have tried and I don't know if it's now different because of aging. I recently bought Gelt second hand from a forumite out of curiosity. I haven't tried Bliss, I have once tested Velvet (but don't really remember what it smelled like) few years ago when my friend got herself a bottle. All of the few BPAL chocolate scents I have tried have been more like bitter cocoa powder than actual chocolate. (which isn't necessarily a bad thing at all. For an example I adore Centzon Totochtin.) So I was expecting slighty bitter cocoa powder, maybe with bit of incense. But that wasn't what I got and I'm still surprised how much I like it and how I reacted to it. In the bottle and when first applied on skin it's all delicious and realistic milk chocolate with a hint of something almost vanillic. After drydown I can also smell a really nice amber along with the milk chocolate. I think the amber note actually smells a lot like of Maroma amber incense sticks and smelling that in Gelt brings back some happy memories from many years ago. These scent memories togethter with the chocolate make a great mood booster for me, like bottled happiness. This scent has ok throw and it lasts for hours, staying pretty much the same all the time, smooth milk chocolate in the front and hints of amber in the background. It's sweet, realistic but still wearable chocolate scent. And to me it was completely unexpected new favourite.

I bought my bottle of Candles Moon 2010 originally from forumite makahanights. I wanted to give it a try since lately I have been obsessed with milk/cream scents. Brigid is also my favourite deity from celtic mythology. This was also second lunacy blend I've ever tried. From the bottle I can mostly smell cool ozony snowyness and a little bit of blackberry. On skin the snowy coolness backs down a bit (but doesn't disappear) and the scent sweetens. Milk note is light but detectable. I don't own many berry scents because most of the ones I've tried smell very synthetic on plasticy on me - but in Candles Moon berries seem to behave. I can't really smell beeswax but I guess it adds to overall smoothness of this blend. I think I'm also picking hints of evergreen. It stays equal parts cool, milky and fruity. Despite milk and berries it's not super sweet or foody, more like fresh, clean and smooth spring time scent. It makes me think of melting snow and first signs of greenery in spring (although it doesn't smell like grass or flowers or aquatics). I really like Candles Moon and I'm curious how it will work in warmer weather.

I blind ordered Strawberry Sufganiyot right when Yules went live. While I was waiting my order to arrive I started to worry if I would even like it since I don't really like many super gourmand scents (Butter Rum Cookie and Sugar Cookie actually make me kinda nauseous, so does the butter note in Jack.) and berries often end up smelling like plasticy scented candle. Turns out I had no reason to worry. Strawberry Sufganiyot starts with realistic jelly doughnut smell. It's foody for sure, but not so foody that I would feel weird wearing it. The strawberry jam is amazing, juicy and not at all synthetic. I feel I can almost taste it as I keep sniffing my wrist. It's quite doughy and yeasty at first but as it dries down powdered sugar comes forward. Final drydown is sugary strawberries and doughnuts in the background. Lasts for hours on skin. I'm so glad I got a bottle.

Here's few CG suggestions. Mage from RPG series is nice smooth balsam and resin scent (gurjum balsam, Sumatran dragon's blood resin, olibanum, galangal, oleo gum resin, and frankincense). If you like cherry: I don't think Blood (Essence of dragon's blood resin, thickened with myrrh and cherry, with a trickle of clove.) from Bewitching Brews is floral at all. It's rather spicy but I think myrrh makes it also incensy.

I've also noticed that honey scents usually have great lasting power. And I too recommend Against Idleness and Mischief. To me it smells like chamomile tea with a big spoonful of honey. Hellcat is like boozy marzipan with honey mead. So yummy. Lights of Men's Lives is awesome, a pure beeswax scent, just like beeswax candles. Skuld is lots of honey with ylang ylang and musk. Defututa is very similar to O + spicy florals.