Nightmare

I had thought red musk when I first sniffed it in the imp, but I don't like red musk very much, and I didn't really feel like it came out on me. Instead, it mostly just smelled like a sweet cinnamon and not much else for most of its life. Once it got to the base notes, the spice faded. It was still sweet and had grown faintly musky, kind of a clean musk if that makes any sense. Almost vanilla? It's kind of a quiet scent on me, but nice.

Looking at the reviews, I'm mystified. I have no idea what my body chemistry did to this one, but it's not good. In the imp, it's mainly that sweet Irish coffee note that I love. I wear Irish Coffee Buttercream all the time (although thinking about it, that one doesn't have much staying power on me either, probably relevant). Unfortunately, it doesn't stay like that on my skin for very long. In a very short time, it's almost all "dusty tomes" with just a hint of oak and coffee. But it's not a nice book smell on me, it's really like... wet dust and ash. The faint sweetness of the coffee and the oak kinda combines into something like a popsicle stick, and it's just suffering from there. The only thing that happens after that is that it tamps down a bit (thankfully).

Haha, Dorian is another one of my most used scents! I go through Dorian really fast because it has no throw on me for whatever reason, but it smells so good. Thank you so much! These all sound like good directions. Not sure why I didn't think about Jareth before (it's already something I've been wanting to try for a while). I really like a lot of the other notes in the ones you've mentioned as well, so I must try them all. Also not sure why I didn't think about combing through bergamot scents instead of just looking sadly at the grand total of 2 earl greys. :v

Can anyone recommend scents similar to Theodosius? I panicked a bit when it was sold out because I love it dearly and wasn't sure if it would be back. It is now, and I'm going to get an extra bottle or two when I have the $$, but I want to keep my options open, haha. It happens to be the only scent categorized under "white fougere," jasmine leaf, and one of two under earl grey (the other being a limited scent already sold out)... not even sure where to start. Edit: I guess I mentioned this in the last post I made here, when it was sold out, and entirely forgot, lol. I didn't see any suggestions though, so still definitely seeking them.

Just a quick impression of it wet- this is a sweetish, smoky scent with something sharp about it, almost sterile- maybe the benzoin and/or the cypress? I'm still not sure precisely what that smells like. It reminds me of Agrat-Bat-Mahlaht, except for that added sharpness.

Nice, thanks! Seems like a good direction to go in if it's still available later.

Thank you! I just thought to run a search through the Peacock Queen review thread for Whip and found multiple people comparing them, so I'm thinking that one is a very likely contender! Although now that I've had a chance to look over all the limited collections that are available right now, I feel like I should get something more different from what I already have first. :v I'm really interested in Bear Prince and may end up with it. Still, if Peacock Queen and Rose Red are still available when I have cash next time... I'd be especially interested in hearing from people who've tried both of those and Whip! I also have another question, come to think of it... I just realized I should see if Theodosius was still in stock since I've used up at least half of my bottle. It's not. :c I absolutely adore Theodosius and would like to know of anything similar.

Would this be the place to ask about other BPAL perfumes with a similar rose note to Whip, or should I make a new thread? I searched and found a thread or two about rose, but nothing that specific... at any rate, some roses (like the one in Between Your Heart and Mine, and some others I have from different companies) go veeeery powdery on me. Whip does not. Whip is perfect. I want everything with that note in it. :v

In bottle: I want. To eat it. Or drink it I guess. Whatever. I promise I won't, but I want to. Such a pure lovely citrus blend, with the grapefruit at the forefront. I could sniff this all day. Wet: The individual citrus notes are more apparent. Mmmmm, yuzu. What a good layering this is. Dry: Calmer, and the white musk is there. Still clearly and wonderfully citrus, though they become less distinct over time. If you like citrus... get this. Really. It wasn't even a question for me, since I love citrus and I love white musk, and this delivers exactly what it promised. Edit: As I wore it out a few times, I found out that whatever white musk it has really, really doesn't agree with me longterm. Once it gets to the base, the white musk is super strong and makes me feel a little ill. I have no idea what's up with that because I have plenty of white musk scents from here, and none of them do this... :c The scent has become kind of unwearable for me, which makes me sad because I love the way it smells at first.

This was the first Neil Gaiman book I ever read, and it's still got a special place in my heart. Mr. Croup was a particular favorite, and probably the only one of my faves whose scent description appeals to me (sorry Marquis :,v), so here's a quick review. In bottle: Disconcertingly leathery, though there is a clear herbal tinge. I'm not fond of strong leathery scents, and the description didn't mention leather, so I'm mildly alarmed. Wet: Still pretty leathery, but I am able to detect different notes. It's hard for me to sort them out and identify them, though. Maybe a bit of the geranium is coming through. Dry: The leather is much tamed. It's still hard for me to identify specifics, but there's a good mix here, and the bourbon geranium is still there. There's also a sharpness that might be meant to be the porcelain. Funnily enough, the lingering scent on the finger I used to apply this with is in a rather different stage: much sweeter, and the porcelain is way more distinct. If it goes in this direction on the rest of my skin, I'll welcome it. I enjoy masculine cologne scents and will definitely be wearing this. I also look forward to seeing what this smells like in my hair, but my hair still has a bit of Lamb's Wool left from yesterday. Somehow I don't think these would layer well.

I'm not in love with all of the bottles I have, and I also don't have a lot of imps I'd consider favorites at the moment, but there were a few commonalities. Hopefully there will be some new faves in my next order so I can update it more. White Musk 4 Gardenia 2 Ginger 2 If I include both unspecified tea and Earl grey under one, that's also 2. There were about 25 other unique notes. Anyway, surprise, surprise. I love all three of these so much, lol.

Thanks! Ahh, Pepper, Faiza, and Lady Una all sound good too. If only I could afford everything, lol. I wound up waiting to do my order and am glad I did though because I'm definitely getting Pallid Bat. In addition to it sounding wonderful, I also love bats. :v I also gave Apothecary a few days of wear, and I think I gotta get a full size. Edit: But, oh, darn, I missed The Eternal Queen. Equivalent exchange, I suppose.

Thank you for all the recs! I will absolutely check out The Eternal Queen, I hadn't spotted it before and it sounds wonderful. There was a point I looked through every gardenia scent available and wound up going from imps to full bottles of Highwayman and Lady of Shalott, but it was a while back and I hunger for more. Will keep an eye out for Now Winter Nights Enlarge! I know what you mean about wearing a cake, I have an imp of Eat Me and although I like the scent, I rarely ever wear it because it really does feel like I'm just smearing cake on myself. I'll probably get imps of Eclipse and Dragon's Milk! Maybe of Jack and Bastet too. Not sure if Spiced Rum Buttercream Coffee will be a purchase this time around or not, but I'm definitely interested both in the scent and the cause. I am considering buying a bottle of Port-Au-Prince and Shub-Niggurath flat out, lol, they sound very promising. Queen Alice also sounds lovely, thanks for letting me know about the fruit and apple scents! On that note, I am definitely eyeing some of those apple weenies...

Hello! I'm thinking of putting in another BPAL order and would love some recs because I'm feeling super indecisive right now. :,v Anything available currently is on the table, including weenies. I'm especially interested in scents that are both sweet and spicy, and I prefer varied, multilayered scents to ones that hit a single note really hard. My absolute favorite scents are Incubus and Theodosius and would love more like them, but I don't mind whether a scent is more feminine, masculine, or androgynous. All are welcome. Beloved scents are caramel, honey, tea, cinnamon, ginger, bergamot, gardenia, white clover, musks... but I'm really open to a lot of things! Florals, woods, fruits, bring them on, just as long as it's got that balance of sweet and spice. However, I do not like scents that are heavy on leather, smoke, metal, patchouli, or that earthy forest floor type smell (so I checked out this thread but wasn't sure what to make of it ). It's alright for these notes to be in the scent, mind you, I just don't want anything dominated by them. I'm actually in love with The Highwayman (the smoke dissipates on my skin quite quickly, so it just leaves spicy gardenia goodness ). I have a bunch of imps here too, so let me go through the ones that sound like they could be what I'm looking for and see... - Chimera is okay but kind of too sickly sweet and too cinnamon-y, it kind of just smells Red Hots to me - Lust I don't really like, probably too patchouli-centric - Spellbound is okay but not a fave... maybe I'm not so into red musk? - RPG Series Good is wonderful, possibly full purchase-worthy! was something I liked wet and on first application, but after a little more testing, I didn't really like it, lol... it changed on me fast - The Apothecary is nice, definitely very green and sorta understated on me, but this is a good direction - Anathema is nice but lacking something, maybe - Kitsune-Tsuki is beautiful and probably worth a purchase sometime, but lacks spice ofc- still, absolutely a scent I love, delicious florals and musk - White Rabbit I actually have a bottle of and like, but it wasn't the spiced tea scent I expected at all, it mostly just smells sweet to me Alrighty, hopefully that's not too much text... looking forward to any recs!