DoktorDandy

Wet: Green is my first impression. Fruity, then swiftly lime, almost musky lime peel, but keeping light light light. Definitely rind rather than the fruit. Goes grapefruit pretty soon. Most definitely grapefruit, real grapefruit- and I can't decide if it's white grapefruit for the crispness or the red grapefruit, as that always had a lower, more musky, sweeter smell to me at least. Ghostly floral, little white blooms far away. Not bad. I like this, if it doesn't change too drastically. Yeah, I like this just fine. Dry: Goes soapier. I seem to like clean soapy smells, so this doesn't upset me. Nice enough. Not complex. After a jog: Candied grapefruit rind, but weirdly not too sweet, and with the freshness still mostly intact. Strong impression of that Suave hair detangling spray that I used as a kid- came in a green spritz bottle, smelled of strange apples and had an octopus on the label. Didn't smell jollyrancher apple- it had a thing of it's own, and it's here. My guess is that it's the soapyness and the sweetness combined with the floral that might be apple blossom? I'll keep the imp, but I probably won't be getting a bottle unless it endears itself a little more to me as the summer goes on. Doesn't have much staying power at all.

In The Imp: Vague, lemony, hard to pick up on anything I recognize, and nothing is standing out. Pleasantly neutral. Not much of an impression. Wet: Green and limp. A green-colored Popsicle of unknown brand and flavor, gently melting in the distance, but attracting no bees. Something that should be masquerading as lemon Verbena if it shook it's tailfeathers and put forth a little effort. Flaccid citrus. Almost disappears from my skin within about 20 minutes. After some exercise: Briefly and pleasantly perks up to a mellow impression of glass marbles and lemon drops & and a lazy, smooth green MEH. Despite how this review sounds, it's a laid back, friendly, endearing and entirely un-challenging scent. Warm weather appropriate. Looking at the notes for the first time I'm delighted to say that the tea and aloe make so much sense! Their inoffensive presence IS there but they get along really well and are unobtrusive, almost to a fault. I will certainly keep this friendly little imp though I'm not sure I'll be getting a bottle when it eventually runs out? Although this is nice, I think I want something with a little more drama as a personal scent.

Oh man, I really wanted to like this one as Nyarlathotep is my favorite Lovecraftian elder god, and although it didn't quite work out, I'm going to let it rest a little more, then try it again and see what I think. In the Imp- Curious, green, citrus-y scent, green and curling. Fragrant green sensation, like pinching fresh lemon verbena. Wet: Lemon lemon lemon, like biting into a lemon, lemon rind rubbed on your gums. Lemony and old lady, oh no. Completely unexpected powdery note. Something like soft, demure violets sulking in the background, but the citrus doesn't want to share. Pointy, spinky, yellow scent. Nothing like the description on me.At least it's clean and springy. Dry- Fades and then sulks some more. The citrus starts to wither up and there is a murky, amber colored note now.,Swirly, hazy, indistinct. Citrus reminds me more of orange now, or rather, bitter orange. There's a weird, shy, leathery note, slightly dusty and half hidden. Sort of... furry? Couple of hours later: Fuzzier still, more floral blooms hidden in there, somewhere. My skin seems to be eating it, though the green is making a little of a surprise comeback. Many hours later: All that's left is the faintest sort of warm, fuzzy incense, sweet and very faint.

In the Imp: Greeny, fruity, very alarmingly powdery. Almost my hated baby powder smell... Uh-oh... Wet: So. Fruity!. Green fruit, sweet but not cloying. Is that the honeydew? It seems to be off the mark. Bubbly then- green champagne? This is a strange green, not grassy, not ivy, not plant-like-green. Not muscat even. We'll see what it does... Dry: Wugh, the changes come thick & fast. Green is still the color of the day, but 51 goes soapy, very quickly, and not in a way that I think I like very much. Almost a chemical cleaner smell, though not as distinctive as one with citrus in it. A little bit floral and headachey on the edges, not quite paperwhites or lily, not sure what this is. No sign of the wood- that's disappointing. Not bad when the florals are present for a while- might be the freesia coming out on me? It mutates too quickly. Final thoughts: Ended up really not being into this one. It settled eventually into exactly the scent of the liquid soap in my middle school's public bathrooms- not a very lovely thing. Not for me. Was the first BPAL I've had to wash off after a few hours. Not for me, unfortunately- kind of a shame. Will probably end up swapping it or giving it away to a friend or family member.

In the Imp: Syrupy, Tingly, Exotic. Looking forward to it, as I love Dragon's Blood incense and other such things. Wet: Sweet, almost fruity, red-fruit- swiftly changing. Pure, warm scent, hard to pin down and perplexingly familiar. Engaging, fierce but almost friendly. Dry: Quickly settles into a stubbornly red scent, and stays that way. Runs with it's theme, and has a deep purple underbelly and red-orange scales. It's cleaner than it is dark, and it's purring warm tones are comforting rather than hyper, the fires don't blaze about wildly. Has an incense or amber like tone, hiding somewhere, but not at the forefront- it's own notes are the center. Feels like sandalwood's well-traveled brother. Exotic, round, and clean- like a rich, exotic soap, wrapped on pretty, textured, scented paper. Puts me in mind of being in shops that sell pretty carved wood Indonesian creatures with tusk-like fangs and eyes like targets, painted in gold leaf and bold colors. I'll keep the imp, but not sure I am getting a bottle? On another try: I had one of my worst days at my new job, and the next day, on a strong impulse, I put on Dragon's blood. I am happy I did, I swear it brought me luck and comfort. It could have gone badly, but it went very well, and it was a friend and a sure source of strength giving and a small smile. My further diagnosis is that this scent is long lasting enough to be grounding and earthy and soothing through a difficult work day. Recommended if you want a friendly boost, I think.

Going to post here on a complete whim. I've never tried to summarise myself before... hum. But I am very curious about what anyone might say. I'm a painter and an artist- that takes up most of my life and has made me a vaguely shy introvert who people tend to peg as standoffish before they talk to me. I'm friendly and empathetic when I speak to people and have something in common with them especially. My dark sense of humor surprises only people who don't know me very well, and dark sensibilities have followed me my whole life, without my intention (my aunts called me Wednesday when I was very little for good reason, whoops). My life is ruled by a Jekyll and Hyde like existence, and my friends sometimes liken me to an absent minded professor- all intellectual book knowledge to the point where I forget where I put things or forget that I'm even a person. People only realise that I have a squishy romantic bit of me when I cry watching Dracula or somesuch. I have a real love and sympathy for a certain kind of villain, and it comes across in my paintings. I have an auful lot of watercolors of tall, gaunt men with scary eyes done in dark and psychadelic colors with a dandyish sensibility. That type acts as my muse, hence the screename. I am bookish, nervous, sardonic, kind, temperamental, obsessive, creative, awkward and full of nightmares. I am a Sagittarius in the western zodiac, a dragon in the Eastern, and I would be the type of Slytherin who has has select friends in other houses. My tarot card has always been the hanged man and although I am not quite spiritual everyone who is very sensitive is always worried about me. If I had a dollar for every time I was told to never use a ouija board, haha.

This was my third scent ever from BPAL and I can blame all my subsequent loss of funds on it and it alone. I will type up my roller coaster of thoughts here... In the Imp: Wow- a lot going on here. Enthusiastic, hyper, sharp. There are sticky herbal notes and something that makes me nervous to try it. I can't pull apart the notes from one another to identify them. Something in here makes me very nervous to try it- worries that it will become powdery or something. Alcohol sort of scent that's hard to place and something reminiscent of conventional men's cologne, though a very good one. Wet: Bright, green, sharper still. The powdery worry falls away completely leaving this keen-edged beauty. The sticky quality turns into a beautifully fresh, wicked astringent tang. Bright, prickly, smart and sharp, sharp sharp. Too green to be masculine or feminine right now, it's a lovely androgynous creature. Dry: The sharp quality isn't lost! It fades to something gentled, more dignified- it's calmed in the presence of others, remembering it's manners and something boils and purrs underneath. Distant memories of expensive men's colognes return. Something darker is lurking in this gentleman's distance and a floral note is here, ghost like, hovering just out of sight but making it's presence known. Green and white phantom florals, distant neon dreams in the night-time. Final thoughts: I love this. Adore this. I unquestioningly want a bottle of this, and soon. It's so fresh, so clean, and that wicked keen quality is heavenly. There's a rich green velvet under the hybrid citrus-like spines, and there's a glassy, effervescent quality. It's elegant and masculine at once- just what I adore, even if it surprised me by being far lighter than expected. It's comforting despite it's headiness, with a distinctly classical quality to it. Overall, charmingly slippery, tricky and urbane. I will wear it to the office with a smirk.I wish it lasted longer on me- but I will try to apply it with more confidence when I cross paths with the Vicomte again.

I was wondering- my favorite sent so far, by FAR out of the dozen or so I have tried has been Vicomte de Valmont by a landslide. What other scents, especially those that can be found in the GC, have a similar profile? I can't identify what I find so heavenly about it, some notes are unfamiliar to me and don't seem to match the list of notes, but it's glorious.

Dorian was the 2nd BPAL I tried, and was also somewhat of a letdown, after all I have heard about it. In The Imp: Interesting, sweet, sugary, a little strange in an unidenifyable way. Promising but no dark notes that I had expected. Wet: Sweetness! Sweet, creamy. Lower range of sweet, more like custard rather than the delicate high sweetness of a cookie or a cake. Nothing dark, no tea, nothin'. Dry: Auugh, no! No leather, no cologne, no lavender, no dark tea, no lemon, even. Only sweetness and vanilla! Did I get a dud imp or something? Was it mislabeled? Drops away to a dry, baby-powder like note then suddenly retreats meekly, almost dissapearing into a demure little vanilla dissapointment. Citrus never showed up to the party, and I had been so looking forward to the tea, but nothing even remotely close to that ever happened. Dorian was a vanilla and baby powder smelling fop that had a tantrum and tired itself out, rather than the sweetly dashing, dark haired gentleman I had been promised. I like foppish things. This however, smells like a pretender. Final Thoughts: I'm very happy that I tried it out, and I will see if something different happens as it ages. I'm really hoping 6 months or so in a box with turn the vanilla into a syrupy glower and will bring up the dark and masculine notes that other people speak so fondly of. Maybe this would be fine if I was more flouncy or feminine but I'm really not. I didn't come to Dorian looking for a light, feminine, appetizing foody sort of smell. I will save it, and try it again at a later date to see if it's changed...

This sent was my first BPAL sent ever, and will be my first review here. In the imp: The first impression is a strong, strong dark leather sent. There's something deep, very dark and wet-smelling. It may be the Vertiver. Overall, powerful impression, but not what I was expecting somehow. Leather is all I can sense. Wet: Honestly, the first impression when it hit my skin was a slight lurch of nausea. The sent is strong, very strong at first- like a hand over the face. The blow to the senses is like the feeling when you get a burn- everything falls away, and all of your attention is fixed on the strong, strong sensory input. It demands all of your attention. I can't think of anything else for a moment, and it causes an automatic grimace. Leather and something sickly and strange are all I can detect. Dry: Iago on me is a strange sent- pleather. Schoolbus seats. In turns it is interesting and sniffable, then mildly nauseating again. It's dark in color, green-black, leaning towards black. Pleather though- an artificial tinge keeps haunting this. I got none of the sandalwoody, floral sort of notes that my mother got when she tried it on simultaneously. It was really not bad on her, and she loved it, and may end up with the imp eventually. She said something in it reminded her of Narcisse Noir and a few other perfumes from her childhood that she can't find anymore. Very different than what happened on me. Overall/later: Iago is a comforting sent, and unsettling at the same time, like unpacking something with memories attached, maybe clothes or toys and then finding that they do not smell the same as they once did. I really wanted to like this one, as it is my first sent, and I loved what I heard, but I am on the fence about it. It's a contradicting smell- there's something old about it, almost musty, but something very new and sharp with uncomfortable edges- like brand new leather, plasticy and bright, gleaming black. Strangely, It seems to actually leave a bitter taste in my mouth- no clue as to why. It faded fast on me, though it's haunting the edges of my attention- I get a whiff now and then when I least expect it. I'll be keeping it, aging it a few months at least and trying it again. Without a doubt interesting enough to keep and try again. I worry that it ultimately won't work out though... I'll be sad if that happens. I want to be able to wear this.

No, that's OK! It WAS indirectly helpful. Normally I do know how to search forums- but turns out this one is smarter than I'm used to, and does global forum searches AND subforum specific searches. Figured it out now, I promise. I hadn't realised that I was exclusively searching an incorrect subforum. Used to much clunkier forum setups. Fairy Market sounds interesting and sort of like a lighter ghost of Poison, and Dark Delecasies and Giallo would be amazing, but I am scared of that patchouli note like nobody's buisness. So far, I'm going to try out just one patchouli-laced scent, brr. I will add them to my risk-taking scent possibilities. But Horror Sympathetique wasn't on my radar at all- I've added it to my lists, and may be feeling out an imp from a forum member. Sonds lovely! I'm going to have to check out all your reccomendations for Nvulgari Black Flying Fox and Dzing! Some of them were on my radar, and some I haven't read about yet! Thankyou! aw, man. I used to love dzing! it was my last big bottle of alcohol based perfume that I ended up gifting away when I turned fully to the perume oil side. pathetically, i can't remember how it smelled enough to think of a comperable bpal right now. I'll have to sneak into a department store and try it again and see what I can come up with. regarding the flying fox, the trading post has a bath oil that was an LE last spring but still comes up on their etsy site. it is called Seblstverliebt and it is a vanilla jasmine, but it tickles the same spot in my brain as flying fox (selbstverliebt is similar to--and honestly superior to--the lush tender is the night massage bar). there was also a single note, sampaguita, that might work for you. also not an exact match, but Lily, the prostitute from the pretty deadly line, has a similar sense of jasmine to lush's flying fox and godiva shampoo. Ah, man- I wouldn't know how to explain Dzing! to people because of what it does on me- I think it's a little different than what it does for others. I can wear a lot of perfume so far- Hypnotic Poison was the only one to ever go weird on me when I tried it in a store (in 10 minutes it became salty playdoh, exactly, what the HECK). I'm curious why people completely give up alcohol based perfumes and entirely switch to oils? I've seen some others mentioning that too? If you get another whiff of Dzing, let me know what you think is similar, BPAL wise! Thanks for the possible flying fox reccomendations! I will miss the weird pot/musky thing that it does on me so much! But maybe I can find something I like even better...

Hi there! Very very new (as in, waiting for my first scents new) and I was curious if there was anything similar to some of my favorite scents. I've been looking through the directory.. but just in case... any suggestions? Bvlgari Black- Super incredible, favorite perfume ever, I'd love to have 'varieties' of this sort of profile but with BPAL. lapsang souchong/rubber (yes it smells like rubber at first! it's great!) is dominant, followed by settling into beautiful leather and vanilla. Other scents hidden in there- bergamont, green tea, sandalwood, musk, jasmine, cedar, oakmoss, amber, rose. This stuff sings on me, and I hope I can find something else like it. Dzing! (L'artisan Parfumeur). On me, beautiful clean, warm almost sweet smelling soft leather, a little .. I want to say blonde wood and a musky clean horsey sort of smell, almost a sweet floral note, not quite. Officially it's usually toted as "leather, ginger, tonka bean, musk, white woods, caramel, saffron, toffee, candy apple and cotton candy." and was made to invoke the circus. I don't get things like candy apple at all on me, and there's no cotton candy or toffee or ginger or the caramel note people talk about? I love what it turns into though. Poison by Dior- It's been a long time since I was even allowed near this stuff- it gives everybody around me besides me a headache. I'd love a substitute- or something just as obnoxious. It's a frankenstien, judging by what I just looked up? I was never able to pick out individual scents before, and I'm not surprised, it has a ton of scents I like or love. Plum, tuberose, Incense, jasmine, heliotrope,orange flower, anise, vertiver, musk,opoponax, cinnamon, carnation, sandalwood, cedar, white honey, amber, rosewood, coriander, vanille, wild berries and rose. Whew! Edit: Forgot to add the shower gel that I'm being forced to slowly phase out (stupid SLS ingredients...) Lush's ridiculous Flying Fox. I adore this and wish they had it as a solid perfume or something. Does BPAL have something in the same spirit? 3 kinds of honey, jasmine, jasmine absolute, ylang ylang oil, cypress oil, chinese angelica, burdock root, palmarosa oil and some very tiny hints of geranium/rose/lemon oils, but I can't detect them at all!