Koukla

It's GC so you may have tried it before, but Cathode comes to mind. On me it was all moss and natural mint, and so, so very nice...until two hours into it my darned skin started amping the previously quiet ambergris into Play-doh, and ruined it for me. (I was so close - bad skin, bad skin!! ) But that might not happen with your chemistry...

Heaven is the one that's always been sort of an aqua/blue-green. I think Dream used to be in the light blue packaging, but now it looks like they've changed its packaging to fuschia and the newer Dream More has taken over the light blue color. Hope that makes sense. I've always really liked both Heaven and Dream, but on my skin Heaven wins. I'll definitely start hunting for some Xiuhtecuhtli. Thanks! Though come to think of it, when I looked up the Gap perfumes to make sure of which color was which, the description of Dream More sounded pretty appealing too. "Orange flower, Asian lily, purple freesia and soft wood". Mmm, soft wood and orange flower - I might also have to try that one next time I'm at the mall, to see how it compares to any of my bpal.

Hmmm, I'm not completely sure, but maybe Port Royal or Jolly Roger? Those would probably be good to start with. If those don't work out, maybe if you tried layering a couple? Hurricane with Kumari Kandam, that sort of thing? Good luck, and let us know if you find anything that works!

On my skin, Sudha Segara smells like a slightly lighter Samsara. Anyone who likes one might enjoy the other. Does anybody have any recommendations for a bpal similar to Gap's Heaven? Every boy I've ever dated has loved that scent on me - I'm starting to get superstitious about it...

I don't love coconut, but Brown Jenkins is really nice, especially if you don't like "average" coconut. Another blend I get a more summery-sweet coconut note from is Midway, though of course it's LE and hard to find. And I have to agree about Snow White smelling like coconut - on me it emphatically turns into one of the plasticky fake coconut scents I definitely don't like. I don't think it's just the "creaminess" of the scent suggesting that to me either, as I usually tend to associate that quality with gardenia or magnolia instead. SW is just full-blown bad, bad coconut on me. Ick! My absolute favorite of the ones previously mentioned is Red Lantern, but partly because I just don't get any coconut at all from it, hehe. With my chemistry, RL starts out caramel and morphs into this incredibly sexy blend of opium and amber, with the slightest whispers of leftover sweetness, blond tobacco, and spice. I wear it when I'm hunting for Boy, and it doesn't disappoint.

Hehe, I think we may have just been replying to two separate questions. Sophi-au, Anna D., and I were replying to Willowtreeling's q from back in May about GC bottle labels, and I think you, Silvertree, and Lunaratu were replying to Dragonofinfinity's more recent q about imp labels.

Willowtreeling, some of the General Catalog blends do have pictorial or otherwise non-standard labels. <snip> I'm sure there are other GC blends I've not mentioned, but these are the ones I can think of. <snip> The Neil Gaiman blends have their own labels. My bottle of Mr. Ibis has a picture of an open journal against a black background with a nib pen(?) and a bottle of ink resting on top of it, with the lettering down at the bottom. I think the Ars Draconis are different too. I know my bottle of Dragon's Milk has a black label with purple-ish lettering, and a red dragon with a little golden disk/ball with the lab's symbol in its claw. Very cool!

My skin eats. this. up. Seriously, it's like I applied water, and I have to wonder if this is supposed to be a zen exercise in asceticism through the absence of scent. Eventually, after the drydown, there's some sort of weird stinging (but still no scent?!) that I usually associate with cinnamon - a reference to the stinging lessons of life? Then long after that stinging fades and I've forgotten I still have it on, I catch a faint whiff of beautiful flowers when I cup my face in my hands. It's almost a full minute before I realize that's The Hermit finally showing his face. Damn - I wouldn't buy it as perfume, but as a meditation on the card itself, it's perfect.

So when I finally got around to taking a closer look at the smellie Shelldoo included among the already ridiculously generous frimps I got from her today, I almost peed myself. I definitely whimpered as the realization hit me. "Oh my fucking God...this can't be what I think it is...CAN IT!?!?!?" Uh, yeah, it was. After a few seconds, my brain jump-started and I went tearing into the bathroom to prepare for The Precious. For the record, scrubbing your arms furiously with nail polish remover, followed by a soapy rubdown, works quite decently when you're desperate to remove the last vestiges of any other scent and you don't have any rubbing alcohol. I followed that with unscented lotion, and I was ready to take notes for my very first review ever, of possibly the most coveted, and expensive, bpal ever. Soooo, here goes: My first sniff as I opened the tiny baggie gives me a very soft, gentle mint. It seems to have a very slight touch of sweetness to it, almost subliminal. I rub the swab against my wrist, and as it starts to warm up, there's a little bit of resinous sage that starts to come up, too. After a few minutes, though, that dies down leaving me with just the mint again, and I don't really get any sage again after that. Gradually, it warms up even more and gets mossier and richer and the woods and amber start to come into play as well. Oh, this is sexy! Oh, and now the chilliness is coming back, and the amber and the woods and what's now just a touch of moss receed a little. The chilliness isn't so much discernibly mint anymore, it's all bracing cold air on a sunny snowy day, or that soft dry powdery snow that actually insulates you from the cold, rather than cold wet snow. (I love that there are none of the slightly lemony notes that I've gotten from the other - admittedly few - snow scents I've tested. There are also no evergreen notes whatsoever. Yay!!) OK, and now the woods and moss and amber are back to the forefront. Wow, this bounces slowly back and forth between the two scent "qualities", but neither ever completely obscures the other. TMI Alert: And have I mentioned this is really sexy? I can't keep my nose off my wrist and I'm actually getting really turned on sniffing this and fantasizing about dragging a certain someone out of a sauna into the snow to have my way with! This is pure genius...this is what I've been looking for in a snowy, foresty scent!! Oh God, I can't believe I'll never wear this again!! *Ahem* Towards the end, Ded Moroz loses all its snowy chilly qualities, and becomes a nice warm powdery (in a totally yummy way) amber with woody undertones. Now I keep picturing being snuggled on a well-oiled redwood porch under a warm blanket watching the sun setting and turning the entire world gold for those few moments at the end of the day. Considering this was all from a slightly dried out cotton swab and it still lasted almost two hours on me, I think the longevity is good. I don't really feel able to comment on the throw as the amount I used wasn't much at all, but it's definitely a soft scent. Thank you from the bottom of my heart to both of you, Beth and Shelldoo, for giving me the opportunity to try this!!!!! It is absolutely beautiful. My only question now is, can it be my signature scent if I'll only ever have worn it for two hours out of my entire life? *shuffles off mumbling to self about the futility of trying to find a close second*