Lucchesa

It may not just be the amber -- on my skin, pine notes, and maybe evergreens in general, tend to soften and sweeten over time. (I happen to like this effect.) I think all three of those are good to try. Yggdrasil has a wintergreen feel that didn't work on me, Thanatopsis starts very foresty and does that softening I mentioned, and it may be that the eucalyptus in Loup Garou keeps it a little sharper. You might also consider The Jersey Devil and Robin Goodfellow, or even Troll if you like dark smokiness with your woods.

These are all great suggestions. Because you like citrus, I would also add Mad Hatter, Villain and Whitechapel, all of which are unisex trending dudely with a citrus component. This recent thread has some other good GC suggestions: https://www.bpal.org/topic/95327-recommendations-for-a-single-man/?tab=comments#comment-2773104 I cannot agree more with the advice to try a lot of GC imps and learn what you like. And it will change. What I thought I liked when I started trying BPAL and what I know I love now overlap but are by no means identical. Enjoy the journey!

I think this may be my favorite of this year's lupers (though I haven't finished testing all my decants). On me, I Die of Love is not a manly leather at all. In fact, as I was sniffing my wrists and making mental notes on the bus today, I decided it was an unusually femme leather. Like mauve driving gloves, maybe. Very soft leather, a haze of lilac which is one of the few florals that work on me, the softest musky bay rum. Cubeb is usually very lemony on me, but here it's just a little bit of zing. This has nice throw, which I rarely get with my skin chemistry. Gorgeous.

When I put Tricuspid Valve on, it was all oudh. Stinky oudh. I couldn't even remember oudh being in the components, but when I looked there it was, in one of its aliases: agarwood. I would guess black oudh, from the way my skin was amping it. In the imp I can smell the patchouli and oakmoss, but it's all oudh on me. It settles down in a couple of hours, but my decant will go to someone who can wear oudh more successfully than I can.

Frankincense! The frank is the dominant note on me here. I had A Woman Practicing Calligraphy on my other wrist, and while that is definitely a rose scent on me, the rose component in Gargoyle Junk is much fainter on my skin. (Plus I'm not really sure what rockrose smells like.) This is a lovely ecclesiastical frank that twines together with a dry patchouli and the cool stone note. I think it captures the medieval architecture feel very well.

I was hoping A Woman Practicing Calligraphy would be mainly an ink and moss scent on me, but of course it's mostly a rose scent. It's a really beautiful one, and the rose stays true, kind of a deep purple rose, or maybe that's red rose plus black ink. At any rate, there's no sourness to it whatsoever. I don't need a bottle because I don't wear rose-forward scents that often, but if rose is your jam, this is unusual and compelling.

So I get gingerbread -- not the heavy, blackstrap molasses kind but a light honey spice cake -- and mead. Cakes and ale. Curiously, it takes about an hour for the roasted nuts note to emerge on me, so it's not almond, which always shows up at the beginning and burns off quickly. Maybe roasted walnuts. Super nice, rich foodie and quite long lasting, too.

Excellent Pancakes reminds me of the phrase "comfort me with apples." BPAL's cooked apple note works better on me than fresh apple, and this is warm comfort food of a scent, caramelized apples and baked goods (a note which is never great on me, but fine here) and maybe berry jam -- when I applied there was a hint of red fruit I wasn't expecting, and I checked the notes and that's my best guess. The spices are really mellow, and I'm not getting a cream note from the mascarpone. Medium wear length on me -- I wish I got doomsday_disco's longevity! Very foodie, very warm and comforting.

Snakes Slithering doesn't smell swampy to me but more like a meadow in April. It's very green in feel -- the GC I'm reminded of, though I haven't sniffed it in quite a while, is The Apothecary. I can barely make out the Snake Oil at first. This is a fresh springtime snake, slithering through that almost violent green first growth of grass. Because it's fresh and gently outdoorsy, it's work appropriate. If sweet greenness that eventually mellows into pale green, very soft SO appeals to you, this is your snake.

I don't know if I'm getting any intercession from Cito. I am definitely getting honey, slightly floral honey with warm, mellow spices. And the red musk is being such a team player here! I can smell it now that I know it's there (tested without looking at notes), but it's definitely in the background. I would not have picked it out, nor the ginger specifically. I don't get the huge throw everyone else is mentioning, but I never do. Sigh. Rich warm honey, though. Very nice.

I received some Smoke and Lace in a swap with a super generous forumite, and I might have put a little bit too much on this morning. Wet, it's strong. I don't usually get much throw from any scent, but I felt like I was walking in a cloud of smoky, leathery cologne for the first 45 minutes or so. Then it dialed back to low throw and eventually my usual skin scent, but I bet a lot of you would get terrific throw from this. It lasts really well, too. Scent-wise, smoke and leather are the dominant notes. The leather reminds me very much of Pleasures of the Imagination II, which is also described as white leather. With the opium smoke, it's also reminding me of Marquis de Carabas. I'm not getting much in the way of clove or, thankfully, fruit, and the vanilla is quiet but more and more discernible the longer it wears. This is pretty fantastic, but if you can't get your hands on any, Marquis de Carabas scratches a similar itch, and it's GC.

Queen Butterfly is golden orange blossom honey on me, warm with amber. The patch is almost nonexistent, and the wild plum is tarter and less purple than the cultivated variety's note. It reminds me somewhat of A Wonderful Light (Three radiant ambers with honey, linden blossom, bourbon vanilla, and orange zest). Like many of the Lab's honey blends, this has good staying power on me, and it stays pretty true to the initial impression.

Pericardium is really gentle on me. Sweet vanilla rice milk and pale sandalwood dominate when wet, and then a very low-key frankincense comes out with the clove. Both of those can be quite prominent on me, but they are not loud here. The amber is quiet, laying down a warm background. I like this a lot but it is really a skin scent. I wonder if aging will make it a little stronger?

I had to try Perspective. First of all, I'm an art historian and occasionally try to teach perspective. Secondly, I had a very similar experience taking my own kids to Europe and having to explain basic Christianity in museum settings. But I didn't think it would work for me. Red wine almost never does. Perspective was a pleasant surprise, though. It doesn't go into grape juice territory as the red wine note often does on me. The cherry isn't overly sweet, either. And there's something else there that is the vermillion note. There's a little grit to this on me, it's definitely unisex, and I'll definitely be keeping my decant because it's an interesting scent that I don't feel like I have a handle on with just one testing.

Snakes in the Lemon Tree went on as a bright, realistic lemon, something I love but which has been elusive for me in BPAL And still is, because that fresh lemon smell did not last long. First the Snake Oil came out and then the vetiver, and the lemon receded to the background. So full drydown on me was a really beautiful vetiver over a slightly lemony Snake Oil. Even more lemon would be amazing, but this is pretty great as it is.

Cedary amaretto soda sounded excellent to me, so I got a partial of A Boar and a Goat. The label is charming, by the way. Wet, this is all almond, not bitter but sweet, with that cola-like labdanum underneath it and a sting of cedar. After a few minutes the frankincense comes into play, and after half an hour the initial blast of almond has receded greatly, allowing the fig and mandarin to be appreciated, so it's as if Carnal has come to the party. And it is a festive sort of scent. It doesn't last super long on me, but I'm happy to reapply.

I haven't actually tried any of those, but the description of Waiting made me think of Phoenix in Summer (which I had at one point and passed along): Nepalese amber, galangal, red musk, saffron, ozone, and the scent of hot rain striking pavement. I don't wear aquatics at all either, but totally adore a lunacy one I got frimped a tester of: Aegir. Languid lavender pacifying a tumultuous wave of salt water, guiac wood, and cedar. It's amazing.

"Zonked in Paris" is not really what I want to tell people I'm wearing as perfume. Nevertheless, I suspect I will have to because I expect to get compliments on this at some point. It's really good. Rich sweet dark coffee is almost all I smell in the imp, and the creamy vanilla emerges on my skin. Jiaolong did not work for me -- I got musky root beer instead of coffee -- but Zonked reminds me of the Guatemalan Coffee Bean SN and stays a much truer coffee note on my skin. I get a little throw and good wear length, though the balance tilts towards the vanilla the longer it's on. Delicious!

A Young Boy and His Brother Seated on a Goat is lovely dark woods on me. The teak does go a little sweet (I suspect it may be what is giving VetchVesper berries -- teak can turn almost cloying on my skin at times), but it's not unpleasant. The patch is warm and earthy but not at all of the stinky hippie variety. There's something very elegant and restrained about this scent, like a very exclusive wooden furniture shop. Totally gender neutral. No throw (which is normal for me) and average wear length.

lavenderfrost, I have a few more ideas. Part of my limitation is that two of the classes of scents you prefer, floral and aquatics, I wear rarely and almost never, which means i'm less help there than I might be. But there are certainly aquatics that are less feminine. Y'Ha-Nthlei is the deepest marine notes with bergamot, eucalyptus and foamy ambergris. Lightning and Sea of Glass might be good options too. The piratey scents often combine aquatic notes with spices, and are unisex, like Jolly Roger, Mary Read and Calico Jack; Plunder skips the aquatics and goes straight to the spices (so I can wear it). Chimera is a lovely, unisex spice blend too, though some people get skin sensitivity with it. In theme Chimera might embody some of your own shape-shifting, from work to caregiver to myth/history lover. The Raven is a floral that might be considered unisex. If you don't hate vetiver, Highwayman might jive with your love of the historical novel. You might look at the RPG blends, too: I love Elf and Bard best, but read through the descriptions and see if there are any that resonate with you. They are all gender neutral IMO. I also would love for you to look at the Conjure Bag, given what you've listed in the dark side of your personality. I find any BPAL that I click with to be mood-boosting and confidence-bolstering, but there are specific blends there aimed at combating some of the things that ail you. Aunt Caroline's Joy Mojo (juicyfruit sweet). Has No Hanna & High John the Conqueror (both too floral for me, but you might like that). Van Van (one I like a lot). Water of Notre Dame (I got lilies but that's one of the florals I wear). Wolf's Heart (dragon's blood). You might find something there that helps your soul as well as making you smell fabulous. Good luck! Janis, for you and your love of clarity, I would suggest trying some very simple blends. Some of my favorite GCs have only two ingredients. Haunted (Soft golden amber darkened with a touch of murky black musk). Sloth (vetiver over black myrrh). Penitence (Frankincense & Myrrh). I think of these all as dark and cool in tone as well, as you describe your wardrobe and demeanor, but a warmer version might be The Lion (A golden, spiced amber, proud, regal and ferocious) for the "glint of gold" you wear. Your rational thought processes also suggest that you might enjoy Sherlock Holmes (A fastidiously clean scent, with a dash of pipe and cigarette tobacco. Faintly beneath, you catch the fragrance of a smear of greasepaint, a stray horsehair, and a whisper of Moroccan leather and rosin.) And Wensleydale is An immaculately clean scent: well-scrubbed soapy skin and fresh cotton (unimpable GC, Good Omens). Finally, Veritas seems to fit your personality well: The essence of honesty, integrity, and veracity: frankincense, white carnation, angelica, chamomile, and heliotrope. There are a lot of wonderful outdoor scents to evoke forests, mountain paths -- see this year's Shunga crop in Lupercalia for the Japanese gardens. Elf, Druid and Ranger in the RPG blends. Thanatopsis, Black Forest, Jersey Devil, Robin Goodfellow, Theoi Nomioi (unimpable, in the activism section). This Is Your Wilderness from Only Lovers Left Alive. Golden Priapus and Antikythera Mechanism might be too sweet for you, but they're certainly unisex scents that don't lack sweetness/softness. I hope some of these suggestions feel reasonable to you.

One of my favorite BPAL categories is anything with candles in the description. And while the word isn't there, smoke and beeswax = candles, so this was a must-try. And it's ravishing. This is definitely lavender smoke, not the unadulterated herb; it's not hitting me over the head then disappearing like lavender usually does on me, but I keep getting wafts of incensey lavender over the next couple of hours. Lovely! (I typically don't get a lot of throw from most scents.) The beeswax is the base note here which the smoky lavender floats above; it's not nearly as sweet as in blends like Lights of Men's Lives. I'm not sure I really smell stone, but it might contribute to the generally cool, airy tone. It is sort of reverent. This is a wonderful, original addition to this category of scents.

Snake's Tongue reminds me of Snake Oil and Antikythera Mechanism. It's fairly quiet on me, lacking the va-va-voom of GC Snake Oil and many of its variants. SO, oak, bourbon vanilla and sweet tobacco are the main notes I can make out, and while it's perfectly nice and would be a great work-appropriate form of SO if that's something you're looking for, it's not particularly remarkable with my skin chemistry.

Foiled again by black oudh! I don't have trouble with some oudhs, but the black variety seems to be my nemesis, and Snake's Shadow when wet is all black oudh. To quote SophieCedar: "I'm one of the unlucky few for which oudh smells like a freshly popped septic tank, when wet." It took 20-30 minutes for the poopy oudh to settle, and then it transformed into something really deep and lovely and complex -- some SO, some sweet syrupy labdanum, a little vetiver. I never did get much patch. I suspect it will get much better with age, but that first 20 minutes was a hard slog.

I would add that Whitechapel is a refreshing lime scent that leans to the masculine side of unisex. John Watson, too. And you might try Molly the Reaper from Pretty Deadly.

lavenderfrost, the first thing that popped into my head from your description was Belle Vinu. The dutiful daughter, always putting others first. Red sandalwood, vanilla, rosewood, osmanthus, and white peach. Floral but not too floral. I haven't worn this much but remember liking it a lot (I'm also a gemini, which for me takes the form of wanting to try everything but rarely settling in to wear what I have) Along the same emotional lines, but in a Shakespearean vein, you might think of Cordelia. The essence of faith, love and devotion: lilac, lemon, green tea, wisteria, osmanthus, white cedar, and Chinese musk. I haven't tried it in a while but I don't remember the cedar being strong. Still in your beloved Shakespeare, some of the more unisex males might suit you: Othello sounds up your alley, rose, musk and spices, and Lysander is very nice, Lilac musk, tonka, wood violet, and urbane lime rind, with a Venus-kissed tangle of myrtle, blackberry leaf, and benzoin. (Whitechapel is in a similar vein on me, if you like lime.) White Rider I think of as cool and pale (white leather and sandalwood), and Black Rider might match your black wardrobe (Black leather, oppoponax, tobacco, and black amber). Both are gender neutral. I'm jet lagged -- just got home from a week out of town. I'll think about this more and check in again soon. Do you like Shungas?