mrsveteran

Have you tried "Sexual Energy?" It's almost pure cinnamon to me. Yum!

Thanks, I added that. Ooh, I also just found that Tarot: The Star smells almost identical to TAL Concentration! At least to me. Still trying to pin down "Joy," though ...

A friend's review really made me want to try this out, as I love "edible" scents, but this one turned out not to be very edible at all. In the imp: A hint of cedar along with a sweet-scented something else that smells rather unfortunately like the urinal cakes my husband refers to as "Toilet Mints." Wet on skin: A little bit of the vanilla and sassafras are starting to come out, and the cedar is stronger. Still a bit of "toilet mint" in there, but it's not so sickly sweet as it was in the imp. Drydown: The sweet scents and wood scents are starting to blend together more nicely as they all settle down together. It's actually rather pleasant, but a little heavy on the cedar for my taste. One hour later: Now it's just a sweetish scent which is more "toilet mint" than anything else and mostly cedar on top of that. Grr. I really wanted to like this, but I don't see how that's possible. I don't mind cedar in drawers and closets, but it's just not me. Plus I can't get over the sickly sweetish smell. Throw: A bit faint. I can't smell it at all unless my nose is very close to my wrist. Verdict: Not buying a bottle and the imp is off to the swap pile. :-(

In the imp: Ooooh, apricots, but very sweet -- almost like the way canned apricots in nectar taste, but in a good way. Wet on skin: The apricot is a little fainter, and something spicy is coming out like a touch of cinnamon but it must be the clove. It's all very subtle. The sweetness almost seems like almond at this point. Drydown: It's a Peach Jolly Rancher candy! It's divine! I want to eat it and I cant stop sniffing my wrist! One hour later: Ahhh, Peach Jolly Rancher candy with a hint of clove. These blend so well together it's hard to see where one leaves off and the other begins. It's a fabulous mixture. I just wish the throw was stronger. Throw: sadly, a bit faint. I can't smell it at all unless my wrist is a few inches or less from my nose. While typing, I get a very occasional faint whiff of it, but that's all. Verdict: Definitely buying a bottle! I realize that a lot of people say "Jolly Rancher" about scents as though there's something wrong with that, but I absolutely adore scents that smell like tart, tangy candy. Since March Hare is just that on me, I am all over it.

Thanks Ah Xia and theseagrows! I've added those to the list. Milk and Honey is one I'd like to find an equivalent of as well. I'm one of the people that it's very lemony, but sweet lemony, not like, say, Whitechapel. I really enjoy the scent. I'll have to try it again (I've been keeping it for when I might need it) and see if it rings any bells now that I've tried other things. I also know for a FACT that TAL Joy smells familiar, but I haven't been able to match it to anything yet. Grr.

I've just updated the top post with the current list of similarities everyone has posted. I also just found that Three Witches (discontinued, darn it!) smells almost exactly like Sexual Energy to me, that Silk Road smells a lot like Blessing of Isis, and that Whitechapel smells a lot like Concentration, so I added that as well. Hopefully, more people will contribute their smellalikes! Keep them coming! MV

Chaos Theory 3: MCLXXXV (1185?) I got a frimp of this from the fabulous Jheya, and wow, am I grateful! In the imp: This is what I'd imagine Shill would smell like: pure buttered popcorn with a hint of sweetness -- almost like a popcorn-flavored Jelly Belly bean. I'm drooling already! Wet on skin: Still the sweet, buttered popcorn, but with a tangy note coming out like nothing so much as caramel apples! Drydown: Now the buttered popcorn has given up the ghost in favor of the apples, and I do love me some apples. This just gets better and better! An hour later: It's turned into a spicy, almost incensey smell. I seem to smell cardamom, nutmeg, perhaps a teensy bit of clove, all overlaying a faint hint of apple. Verdict: I absolutely adore this, and I'm devastated that this imp is all I'll ever have of this blend. It's another absolutely fabulous oil, almost like a cross between Shill, Verdandi, and ... Mama-Ji? I don't know for sure, but I know I love it!

*sneaks off to put Debauchery on my wishlist* Interesting, thanks for that note! I actually found a bottle of my YSL Opium, and unfortunately, Cottonmouth and Snake Oil aren't really even close. (Sorry, Arcticwolf. I honestly didn't remember.) I'll be interested to see what you think of Horreur Sympathique, Anathema, and Darkness. Arcticwolf, will you post back here if you find one that's sufficiently Opium-like? MV

In the imp: Fresh, crisp, red or yellow apples. The scent of when you first bite into one. Very clean and crisp! Wet: Oooh, yes, the apples. I don't really detect any other notes but crisp, ripe, apple juice. Lovely! My mouth is watering and I want to eat my wrist! Drydown: Hm. Something strange is happening. The apple scent seems to be morphing into some sort of floral ... oh my Lord ... that couldn't be rose, could it? Please, no, not rose! Dry: ARGH! Yes, it's rose. What the heck? Where did my apples go and where did this rose scent come from? Darn you, skin chemistry! One Hour Later: At this point, the throw is almost nonexistent. However, when I smell my wrist, the rose is gone and all that's left is spices and something just a teeeeeensy bit on the sweet side. Again, I reiterate: What the heck? Verdict: I adore the wet phase and the scent in the imp, but I can't abide rose, and the spicy leftover is nice but far too faint so this one is not for wearing. I'll keep the imp and maybe use in a scent locket, but I don't think I'll be buying this one. [Edited to add the "One Hour Later" morph.]

This may not help a lot, but I found somewhere that listed the notes in Opium as follows: Cinnamon, Pepper, Orange, Pimento, Carnation, Jasmine, Rose, Ylang-ylang, Vanilla, Benzoin, Patchouli, Opoponax. Horreur Sympathique (Diabolus) has "blood musk, golden honey, thick black wine, champagne grapes, tobacco flower, plum blossom, tonka bean, oakmoss, carnation, benzoin, opoponax, and sugar cane" and so has several notes in common. Satan and Death with Sin Intervening (Salon Exhibit I) has "Opoponax, benzoin, orange blossom, mahogany, karakarounde, white tea and vetiver." I haven't actually smelled either of these, so I don't know if they'd be close or not. From the notes alone, I'd be more optimistic about Horreur Sympathique, but there's no way to know how those notes are mixed until you actually smell them. To me, YSL Opium is Vanilla and spices with just a hint of patchouli. Possibly Snake Oil or one of the Snake Pit scents would be close. I haven't smelled YSL Opium for awhile, but my tormented memory says that Cottonmouth may be similar. If I find some Opium and it smells like anything I know of, I'll post back here. In the meantime, you might just look for things with notes in common. Hopefully someone else here has Opium and can give you a solid answer. :-) MrsV ETA: After some searching through the reviews part of this forum, the following are BPAL scents that people have specifically said smell like YSL Opium to them: Anathema (Sin & Salvation) Darkness (Ars Moriendi) Scherezade (Bewitching Brews) Maybe you could get some imps of those to test out if no one else responds here. Good luck! MV

In the Imp: Tart, tangy, almost grape Jolly Rancher. Wet: Oh yes, this is very sweet and tangy. Candy-like. It smells like nothing so much as just-add-water Grape Kool-Aid mix -- when you eat the powder, or perhaps a grape or strawberry Pixie Stix. Dry: Now it's Strawberry Bubblicious bubble gum! I love this so much! It brings to mind memories of being a kid and getting that rare piece of candy or pack of gum under Mom's watchful eye. It's the scent of summer, and school's out, and popsicles in the freezer! It's the scent of going berry-picking in the woods and having a picnic later with Strawberry Shasta Soda! I can't detect the neroli at all, which is a good thing as I don't care for neroli. This is all tart and tangy candy fruit and is so delicious I want to chew my wrist off. I'm glad the lab sent a frimp of this, because I don't think I'd have tried it otherwise. This is definitely going to become a bottle purchase. ETA: About an hour later, I can vaguely detect the neroli. It's still fruity goodness, though, with the neroli giving just a teensy hint of bitterness behind it all. That just serves to add a bit of depth, in my view, and is no detraction from this scent.

I received a frimp of Lampades in a swap with another forum member, and I bless her heart every time I wear it. In the imp: Heavy, sweet fruit with a bit of sharpness. Wet: The fruit is there with a bit of a tang. I do not smell any spices or musk. It's a bit like tropical fruit bubblegum, perhaps the sugar-free kind. Dry: The fruit becomes sweeter and heavier, but still no spices or musk. It's a bit reminiscent of a "Dragon's Blood" room scent I had once, but is still fruit punch and maybe bubblegum. Throw: This maintains a decent throw on me for about four hours. After that, I have to lift my wrist to smell it. The next morning: Now I'm finally smelling a bit of the spices, and the fruit has gone down quite a bit. Verdict: I honestly cannot explain why, but I am absolutely head-over-heels in love with this scent. I have a huge pile of swapped imps waiting for me to try, and I haven't even looked at them because I adore Lampades so much. Tropical fruit bubblegum and red fruit punch is nice, and all, but I can't explain how amazingly fabulous this scent is. I want to eat it. I want to wrap myself in a blanket doused with it and go to sleep in the sun! I have to put a drop of it under my nose, because I can't be smelling my wrist all day and I am addicted to this. The fruit doesn't say "cranberry" to me, but it does say "red." I just think of red fruit punch, like Hawaiian Punch. Bought a bottle of this, and may buy more.

Just repeating this post because this is a huge problem in general for a lot of people. Many email providers have a sort of automatic spam or junk email filter and so you may receive messages that go directly into a Junk folder before you see them. I've had problems with order confirmations from various places getting "Junked" simply because so many spams pose as order confirmations. So ... before you say "I never got an email," check the Junk folder. And "boo" on CCNow for showing "shipped" on the order status when the order hasn't actually been shipped. I can't believe this has been going on since 2004 (according to this thread!) Isn't there some kind of mail-order law in the US that you're not allowed to actually charge the person's card until the item has shipped? I know that many online retailers may do a card authorization (to make sure you have enough money) but they don't actually collect the funds until they ship. CCNow seems to have completed the transaction and pulled the money, and is showing "shipped," but since it was showing "shipped" three days after I placed the order, I'm pretty sure this is still a glitch and not a note that I'll be getting my BPAL in a couple of days.... MV