itchypixie

The desolation of the desert: white as bone, forbidding. Dry white sandalwood & sweetgrass, California white sage, and sand. My bottles arrived yesterday! Usually, I let them settle for two days before trying anything beyond sniffing the bottle, but was too excited to wait. In the bottle: The sandalwood and sweetgrass were the strongest notes for me, with just a hint of something dry and grainy. Wet/Drydown: The sage is coming to the forefront, much stronger than any hint of it that was there in the bottle. There's also something that just a hint spicy in there, though I'm having a hard time identifying exactly what it is. It's not warm, but hot and a tinge smokey. It reminds almost of stepping into the spice aisle at my local Indian grocer, but without smelling "foodie" at all. *Barely five minutes later note - CUMIN! That was the spice I thought I was picking up and couldn't identify. Huzzah for ripping apart my spice cabinet and sniffing jars like a madwoman. It's not in the notes, but that certainly explains why it reminded vaguely of making turkey chili in my old apartment. Dry: Whatever it was that I was picking up as cumin is still there, albeit in a much softer way -- which I consider a good thing, because after an hour or so of wear, I was honestly starting to find it unpleasant. The sage note is by far the strongest now, and sandalwood has not really come out to play except in the very faintest of whiffs, which I find a bit disappointing given that the sandalwood note was really what I was hoping would predominate. Wear: Nine hours, with significant drop off after the first hour or two. Recommended if you love sage. Not recommended if you're looking for a strong sandalwood note. All in all, it wasn't an unpleasant scent, but given my personal tastes, this is nowhere near one of my favorites in my collection. I'll probably try it again later before deciding if I want to try and age it to see if the sandalwood note strengthens at all or if this will be my very first BPAL resale.

So a friend of mine is currently lamenting her long lost LUSH, "The Smell of Freedom". Anyone know of any similar scents from BPAL? Notes: lemongrass, neroli, jasmine, ginger, fire wood, clove, black pepper, sandalwood, oud, and orris root.

I, too, enjoy the lab's amber note. Have you tried Oblivion? Same base note as Morocco, but with a very different set of top notes. I have not! It's good to know it's the same one as Morocco, though, because Morocco is lovely on me. Jacob's Ladder has left me a bit wary of picking up anything with amber in it now because that one went STRAIGHT to fancy baby powder on me -- and then proceeded to have an exceedingly long wear time, probably out of spite.

In no particular order, my Top Five Scents are: 1) Brisingamen 2) Morocco 3) Edith Cushing 4) Pediophobia 5) Blossoming Vulva (because I had a hard time picking a #5, and this is the one that got me into BPAL) For what it's worth, I also really like Snake Oil (who doesn't?!?) and the four Snake Oil-based scents I've tried -- Womb Furie, Boomslang, Saw-Scaled Viper, and Temple Viper. My death note is rose! And while I really like most of the lab's amber, I've recently discovered that Jacob's Ladder and I absolutely do NOT get along. Wise forces of the BPAL forums, I unleash you!

2016 Version This is the only version of Jacob's Ladder I've tried. After all of the glowing reviews, I was really looking forward to this one, but I have the exact problem with it that it appears everyone else is saying they didn't have -- the amber in this went straight to baby powder on my skin. Fancy baby powder for a baby with a fancy bottom that needs fancy scents to keep it dry and comfy in its satin nappies, but definitely baby powder. And I don't want to smell like a fancy baby's fancy bottom. None of my other BPAL ambers have done that to me. How disappointing!

This is probably a long-shot, but it's come up on the Facebook sales group for discussion lately: Is there anything in the GC -- or even other LEs that are easier to find -- that is similar to Lucille Sharpe?

THREAD NECROMANCY! (But hey, admins. At least I didn't start a new one, right?!?) So, lately I've been completely and utterly in love with Yankee Candle's jar scent, "Napa Valley Sun", which is unfortunately all sold out! Their site lists the notes as: Fragrance Notes: Top: Ozone, Fresh Cream Mid: Musk, Rose, Jasmine Base: Vanilla, Patchouli, Sandalwood On the one hand, I'm not at all surprised I love it -- musk, cream, vanilla, patchouli, sandalwood. Those are all pretty much my jam. But ozone? Not really my thing. Rose?! DEATH NOTE. I never, ever thought I'd love something with rose in it. Does anyone have recommendations for a BPAL that smells pretty much the same?

I bought a decant of this recently, prior to seeing a full bottle of it go up on eBay. Whoo, boy am I glad I got that decant! Initially, this had a strong, fruity sweetness to it on my skin -- a sticky sweetness, with the white honey note being noticeable, but not overwhelming. Now after dry-down, I smell... honey. And honey. And more honey. There's no hint of the fruits, the florals, or the cognac. Everything else has faded away. It's not unpleasant, but with such a strong, single-note fragrance, I can't imagine that I'm going to wear it very often. Keeping the decant for now, passing on the bottle.

Perhaps this is a silly question, but I've yet to place my first order with BPAL and am trying to figure this out. At the time my friend recommended the site to me, I was a bit shy on cash (silly vet bills!) and it seems that many of the items I'd hoped to purchase have since sold out or been discontinued -- specifically, the Shungas and some of the character themed scents from Crimson Peak. Is there any chance of these coming back? When I searched the forums for the shungas, it looked as though they've been brought back a few times over the last several years. Does that mean they're seasonal? Or, being that they're now in the In Memorium section, are they just gone? Thanks for the help, and sorry if I missed something!