VetchVesper

Huh.... The Deep Ones was one of the first BPAL scents I ordered. My husband is a huge H.P. Lovecraft fan, and he wanted to know what such squelchy abominations would smell like. When we got the imp, it smelled like... soap. I've gotten frimped several times over the years with TDO's and it's always been ... soap. But NOT today. TODAY I smell lotus, ambergris, and a teeeensy weeensy bit of soap, which is really odd. Is my chemistry changing? Am I smelling stuff differently? Has lord Dagon finally called upon me to join him in the briney depths?! No idea, but it's certainly interesting to smell this the way other's who enjoy it might be smelling it. Soft, clean, sweet, salty, and a bit reminiscent of foamy sea froth. Not a love, but certainly a like.

Have you tried Fae? Endymion, Aeval, and King of Hearts had the same white musk in their dry down on me. Aeval especially reminded me of Fae, which I guess makes sense. I don't know if the other notes appeal to you, but you might try those.

I received this as a frimp from the lab last year and found it pleasant, but didn't pay it too much attention after the initial few sniffs. This spring, I'm really enjoying it. At first, I mostly smell white tea, which always has a citrusy quality to my nose. Then I smell lots of sweet, bright vanilla, but beeswax reads as vanillic to me, so I'm not sure if there's vanilla AND beeswax I'm picking up, or it's just the beeswax. It's pretty and gentle. I don't really get anything "lilac" in this, but I could see how it might have a floral smoothing down the edges. Mostly, this is just a sugared, beeswax and white tea scent. It smells almost candied without being gourmand. I wish I'd had a chance to check out the finished version. C'est la vie.

This makes me think of a young girl, in her Sunday dress, at an Easter egg hunt. It's simple, sweet, bright, happy, and soft. IT'S VERY FLORAL. If your the type of person that goes around in the spring, sniffing all the tulips, daffodils, narcissus, and yes, pansies, and you want to smell like you belong right along with them, check this out. It's honestly a bit too much for me usually. I like my florals mixed with something. BUT, when I get in the right mood, like now, where we've had spring rains the last 3 days, it's nice to know I have an imp of this one. I don't have any issues with chemical smells, powderiness, or soapiness. This is just all flower, all the time. That said, I generally, can wear florals w/out chemistry issues.

New Orleans and Obsidian Widow have Nyx's jasmine note, I believe. For florals along the lines of Kitsune and Fae, you might also try Titania, Elf, and Endymion, Aeval, and La Bella Donna Della Mia Mente. These are all GC's. I'm also a fan of Kitsune-tsuki and am hoping Qui Aime Bien Chatie Bien will have a similar bright floral quality, but I haven't tried it yet. It's - Daffodil petals and lavender tulips, blonde woods, freesia, and a touch of pale honey. Eshe, A Vision of Life in Death has both jasmine and orchid and is a beautiful, heavy, exotic floral. Lady Lucille Sharpe is also exquisite if you can find it.

On me, this is a demure, pink tea rose. It’s not fussy or opulent or soapy. It’s youthful and pretty, and falls somewhere between London and Hope. The lily and vanilla musk come out more as it wears and serve to deepen the rose note. Lily sometimes goes soapy on me, but this one is behaving itself, and something about it mixing with the vanilla musk reminds me of heliotrope. Close up, I get complexity, but the throw is all girly rose. Very nice. If you want a light weight, pretty rose scent, this is a really good bet!

I am wearing this on one wrist and The Sea Foams Milk on the other. As others have said, they are in the same scent wheel house, so I thought I'd compare them. The soapy aquatic note is the same, but this has bookoos of citrus at first. I'm thinking grapefruit. The citrus calms down, and now I'm getting the nose twitchy phenomenon that I associate with lily of the valley or white florals when they aren't going to work on me. It's actually kind of a pretty lily of the valley soap, but it's irritating my sinuses. As it dries down, a mossy note starts to perk out on my skin that reminds me of the note in Jazz Funeral I couldn't stand. It does away with any of the prettiness I was enjoying in the lily of the valley. This is definitely not my thing.

Me and aquatics rarely get along, especially of the "salty" variety. Bad aquatics always turn to soap on my skin, but the rare good aquatic makes me think fresh water grotto or spa. The Sea Foams Milk falls into the latter category. It's slightly soapy, but in such a creamy, clean, inoffensive way, that I can't help enjoying it. It's like stepping out, freshly scrubbed, from a spa bath with extra bubbles. The aquatics (soap) is most prominent on my skin, but there is a creamy cool backing of coconut milk and something softly floral. I'm enjoying this now, while our weather in the south is just starting to warm up to around 80, and I anticipate this will be lovely in the summer when I just want to smell clean. The other rare GC aquatics that have worked for me are Vial of Holy Water, Lady of Shalott, Egle, Kumari Kandem, and Y'ha-Nthlei.

Tau - I'm sorry, I haven't tried any of your LE's. Have you tried Water Ghost though? It has a cool freshness mixed with more masculine woody notes that reminded me of The Old Goblin. Unfortunately, neither worked well for me, but perhaps WG would perform well for you. WTFRandom - for Obatala, you might also try The Sea Foams Milk, it's got a similar cool, clean, and refreshing vibe. Giljaguar was a Yule scent from 2015 with a beautiful, slightly foodie, creamy coconut. You can probably still find some of it on the forum. Zealotry - For Port Au Prince, you might try Voodoo or Neverwhere's Marquis de Carabas. If you like foodie almond and cinnamon, Inferno is yummy. Hecate and Black Phoenix are also rich and almond heavy.

Mmmmm... I got to try all the gingerbreads this year, and even though I'm not much of a foodie fan, these were all winners for me. I just had to decide which ones to get since buying 6 gingerbread scents in one year would be crazy, right? RIGHT?! This one is nice and spicy. I get more ginger and clove than cinnamon. There's a sort of soggy green/herb smell mixed with the gingerbread that's actually a lot more pleasant that it sounds. The gingerbread is not super sweet. The matcha and mint smell like a good, strong cup of black tea to me, more so than the lab's tea notes normally do. I like the lab's tea notes, this just smells more realistic to me, like the olfactory experience of drinking hot tea while eating gingerbread you've been dipping into it. Lovely.

Aptly named - this is killing me with florals. The grass is a dull and dusty green to me rather that bright and wet. It smelled predominantly of lily to me at first, but I do smell the rose once I'm looking for it. I love carnation, but I don't get it here until the dry down. It's more the sweetness of carnation without the lovely spicey quality I adore. It's a nose tickling, dry, white floral that makes me think less soap and more big formal bouquet in a dusty drawing room. Not me.

When I first smelled my aged imp of Malice, I was not overly impressed. It smelled like many other incense blends that I liked better, and it smelled more baby powdery to me than most. Granted, it was evil baby powder, but still, not too interesting. Recently though, I've been revisiting some of my neglected imps and am finding a growing appreciation for this scent. It still starts off as evil baby powder to me, but then complexity starts to surface. Ylang ylang floats above adding sweetness to the resins, which are thick and dusty. Something musky and lived in lurks beneath, like the human smell a person leaves on their perfumed shirt. Malice becomes a presence, quietly demanding my awareness. Someone described this as "brooding" and I agree. This is an incensey thunderhead, a soft and snugly blanket waiting to smother you. I might need to keep an imp of this around.

You know, ChummyJinx is decanting Agnes Nutter right now on the forum.

Wore this to bed last night in honor of Luper Stalking 2017. WhewHoo! Anywho, it's still going strong this morning, so it gets a review. Definitely almondy, definitely vanilla creamy. I can see what others mean when they mention "powdery," but that's not how I would describe it. It's not baby powdery, violet powdery, amber powdery, or any other such typical "powdery." The mimosa just creeps in and softens the syrupy sharpness of the almond and cream, making it very sweet, but not quite foodie. It's very pretty, and I would say, if you like almond, this might be worth getting your hands on.

RobberBaroness - For Snake Oil - any of the Carnival Diabolique snake scents that appeal to you would be worth a try, or Vixen, which is GC. For Baobhan Sith, try Kumiho, Aizen Myu, or Ladon (for the apple blossom). If you are feeling adventurous Cherrophobia from the Yules is a happy, creamy, sweet citrus, or perhaps Pere Noel. Lillice - For Outlaw, Doc Constantine's Stimulating Sassafras Strengthener! Also, Tombstone. For Dee, Jolabokaflod from the Trading Post is really nice and cozy, and made me think of Dee, b/ I haven't done a side by side comparison. Djinn reminds me of Smokestack. Prurience is another nice vetiver, but can lean masculine. I wear it though! I haven't smelled Unicorn and Ram, but I know Marquis de Carrabas also has a "wool" note, and smells lovely before I put it on MY skin, which apparently hates wool. Whew! That's a lot or recs! Hope it helps. Do let me know if I'm way off base on these.

I love both Dragon's Bone and Melisande. <3. Try King Cobra from CD if you haven't already. It's a beautiful, incensey orris, plus it's got copal in it like in Tlazolteotl, which I also like. I haven't tried Vice, but Bliss was good enough to get my non foodie self slathering like a fiend! Also, you might be interested Signor Dildo? I actually haven't tried it, but it sounds like it might be up your alley. "A scent of pearls and ivory: orris, violet leaf, narcissus, and Madagascar vanilla."

RoseMartyr - have you tried Tag Upon Avon or Hellfire (GC)? Jolabokaflod is also really nice cozy leather with some smoke, if you like chocolate. It's not a foody chocolate, more like dry cocao powder. TUA reminds me of a nice, family friendly Perversion, (hah) with a similar tobacco note and cookie bits instead of booze, and Hellfire is another beautiful unisex, leather and tobacco combo. Also, if you like that champagne note, the Magi is lovely, and Bon Vivant smells like pure champagne on me - like a spilled a bottle on myself. O_O The strawberry isn't super sugary sweet.

Mmmmm... forgot how good this one is. Yah know that thick, sticky residue that builds up at the bottom of your censer, or whatever you burn your incense in? That's what this smells like - smokey, tarry leavings - sweet incense sludge. I like it, but I can definitely see how some might find it off putting.

Hmmmmm... Lot's of lemoniness. I'm going to guess lemongrass b/c lemon verbena goes yuck on me. This is not going yuck, but it's very lemony. There is something darkly sweet and fruity I detect which I posited as "dates?" b/is probably what others say is wine. I smell myrrh. Mostly, I smell lemongrass at first though, over a sort of golden warmth that is hard to describe. It doesn't smell like incense to me. It's interesting and calming, but not really my type of fragrance. As this dries down, I begin to smell rose, it becomes less lemony, and a dry dustiness starts to come out that could be frankincense. I still wouldn't classify it as incense smell, but I could see saying incense is among the notes. I'm actually liking it more now and have decided to keep my imp. It strikes me as a well blended, calming scent, something I'd put on after a bath to relax and be clean - more like something I'd anoint myself with rather than perfume myself with if that makes any sense at all. It reminds me of Tzadikim Nistarim in that way. Pleasant, calming, serene, warm. Check this out if you like lemongrass or sort of ... zen scents.

Lots of lavender at first. Dapper, but in a more mature way than Wilde. There's a boozy undercurrent to the lavender, I'm guessing that's the tonka, but the wood and amber notes start to make more of an appearance in the dry down. By the end, this is a nicely balanced blend of powdery warm wood and herbal lavender, and it's very nice. This is masculine in an understated way, but I feel comfortable wearing it too.

This is aptly named. This is a dark, heavy, velvety rose scent. There's a dryness to it reminiscent of blooms long withered but still fragrant. Rose is a note that is hit or miss for me, but this is one I enjoy. Very elegant. ETA - I happened to put this on with Kyoto in another spot, and the overlapping scents, oddly, seem to work for me. An unexpected combination!

This is nice, very comforting, and it would be amazing on a guy. Not b/c it's overtly masculine, but b/c it's warm, comforting, not sweet, and smells like.... choooooocolate. I get leather and dry, dark chocolate in the imp. I think the leather in this release might go a little harsh on my skin, but in Jolabokaflod, it smooths out pretty quickly and the chocolate becomes a subtle backdrop. Mostly, this becomes a soft, worn, dusty leather skin scent on me. Unfortunately, it only wears for about an hour on me, but I enjoy it while it lasts.

Ew. No. O_O This... this is not for me. Waxy chocolate under something VERY acrid in the imp. I do not want to put this on, and that is very rare for me. I am not sure if it's the leather that is making this smell so harsh, or the mahogany, but it doesn't get any better on my skin. Very alchohol, burning, acrid, bitterness with a weird fruity sweetness underneath for like half an hour. Finally this settles into something that's not wholey awful - sort of an incensey, bitter tea smell. I still don't like it though. I will let this one settle for a bit and retest it just in case, but as of now, this is epic fail with my chemistry. ETA: Ok. It has settled down a bit and is not sooo off putting to me now, but it's still not a win for me. Leather and tea just is odd to my nose. To the SWAPMOBILE!

Pretty! I get spearmint and mint with an light aquatic sweetness - so snow and spearmint. The aquatic quality is becoming most prominent on me, but it's not soapy. I think this would pair well with In the Wild North. I could also see this being really nice in the summer when you want something cool and light and more like you just showered with fancy herbal products rather than you are wearing perfume.

Mmmmmm.... licorice.... This is less foodie than I was expecting. It's light and spicy and a little bit powdery. The licorice root reminds me of the licorice in Tympandium or the anise in Mary Shelley in that it's sort of cool and dusty. This does have a chilly stone feel to it at first. I must admit, I was kinda wanting ewey gooey vanilla licorice candy, cause even though I don't wear foodie scents much... I don't mind spraying them all over my house and drooling on all my linens. I like this and will enjoy my decant, but I can resist a bottle.