ivyandpeony

I wasn't sure if I was going to click with this demon-spawn or not at first. I love red musk, but mango and I have a contentious relationship. However, I saw the label art and laughed so hard, there was no way I was going to pass up the chance to get my hands on a bottle and try it. It's gorgeous! Now, I'll warn you that it is one of the strongest perfumes I've ever tried in the BPAL catalog. I dabbed a spot on the top side of my lower arm (doing that must-try-five-at-once thing) and I could smell it through the long sleeved heavy cotton shirt I was wearing. But it was such a sexy smell, I didn't mind. Sweet, slightly fruity, slightly spicy red musk - what's not to love?

I'm a person who doesn't get too excited about cake and cookie scents, and who usually runs the other way at the word "strawberry." but despite all of that... even I FELL IN LOVE WITH A FLOATING BRAIN! The cake here seems to be heavy on the vanilla, instead of heavy on buttery notes, which may be a key to why it works so well on my skin. The strawberry is the most natural and genuine strawberry note I've smelled in any perfume, and its sweetness is balanced by the grapefruit and carnation - I don't so much smell those two notes distinctly as perceive their tempering, complementary effects on the strawberry. There are so many beloved strawberry scents that ultimately didn't work on me - Pink Moon, Strawberry Moon, Beaver Moon 07 - I think the only strawberry scent that worked on me until now was Maenad, and I wonder if the spicy, dry carnation and poppy are the factors that make it calm down. Since the iffy-on-strawberry me loves this blend so much, I think anyone who loves strawberry will need a bottle (if not two or three ) of this scent.

"awaiting shipment" is a CCNow term, not a Lab term - "shipment" in this case is when CCNow sends a batch of orders to the Lab. (I understand that the Lab works those into the production queue based on the order date itself, not the date they receive them from CCNow, so that customers will not be at a disadvantage using CCNow instead of PayPal, particularly at update time when there's a rush of orders.) So as far as meaning nothing, that is true in the sense that it has no connection to when you are going to receive your order. The actual wait time on orders seems to be running pretty consistently with the time posted on the Lab's welcome page, which is currently 14 to 21 business days. I usually watch the CnS thread in BPAL Chatter to see what dates the Lab seems to be shipping. Right now I'm seeing a lot of orders from the time period November 11 through 13, which falls about 16 to 18 business days back. There are always exceptions - if you are waiting on an order from significantly earlier, it would probably be worth e-mailing customer service to find out if there's a problem - but between the Lab's posted turnaround times and the CnS data people post, you can get a pretty good feel about how fast things will be moving.

Oh, you will never bore the regular Recommendations crowd, we LOVE this stuff and ask for it by name. You will recognize sassafras when you smell it - it's the dominant flavor in root beer. It goes really nicely with vanilla, even has a little bit of a vanilla quality of its own. It's a note that I amp until I smell like a root beer bottling plant, so I don't often go for blends that have it, but I've smelled Stimulating Sassafras Strengthener on a friend of mine and it was gorgeous on her. So I've put on my thinking cap this morning, I have some theories. It sounds like the sweetest vanilla scents aren't working for you, they need something that balances out the sweetness, and florals can amp on you, so they aren't a complete "no" but the strong ones will kill off the vanilla. It also sounds like scents that only have one or two notes to accompany the vanilla are letting it go wild, so maybe blends that are a little more complex will let the vanilla shine but will offset any weird things it wants to do on your skin. Can you wear cocoa notes at all? Velvet might be nice on your skin, the sandalwood and myrrh are such a nice complement to the vanilla and the cocoa is on the dry side as opposed to the rich and sweet chocolate scents like The Candy Butcher. And there are some people who have found Boomslang is great even though Snake Oil wasn't their holy grail, so it might also work out as your Snake Oil scent. It is pretty sweet, though. In fact, if you haven't explored the Snake Pit, it might be worth seeking out some decants in time to try them and pick up bottles before CD leaves. Western Diamondback is so popular and there's tonka bolstering the vanilla, which might work nicely on your skin. If you can do vetiver, Death Adder would be worth trying. I love the mossiness of Banded Sea Snake - it isn't a strong vanilla scent, the vanilla would probably be on a par with Mr. Ibis. Habu might also work for you, Snake oil with musk and woods. Mr. Ibis ultimately became a little too manly on my skin, but the vanilla note in it reminded me of the vanilla quality in Victoria (from Stardust). I know they sound like they are worlds apart, and there are some florals in Victoria to contend with, but they are pretty soft and delicate, far from the gardenia family. If you are tempted by Sugar Cookie - try Chimera. And don't let the honeysuckle note scare you, most people barely smell it if at all, I think there must be only a drop in this blend. It's a beautiful spicy vanilla. I've had this secret theory that people who can't wear Chimera can wear Eclipse and vice-versa, so if Chimera doesn't work, try Eclipse It's a lovely vanilla-cinnamon blend too, with a hit of almond and heliotrope. A few other GCs that might need to go on your wish list - Perversion (smoky and dry vanilla/tonka), Lyonesse (vanilla, musk, sandalwood, ambergris, very complex and pretty), and The Antikythera Mechanism (rich teak and vanilla).

I think there are different vanillas that the Lab uses, definitely, and some are creamier or butterier, some are sweeter, etc. And then the combination of ingredients they're used with can play up those characteristics even more. Which vanilla blends do you like the most? Are there any others that have had the same effect as Antique Lace for you?

My favorite saffron scents range from hard to impossible to find more of these days - Love's Philosophy and Monster Bait Underpants. Saffron can be a little sharp to my nose, but I love the way that it helps balance both of these scents which could be way too sweet and creamy without it. I don't know what I would think of a vanilla-saffron combo in my food, but I love it in my perfume! The saffron note really seems to make Baghdad shine, too. I think it makes it something much more special than the average rose-sandalwood type of perfume.

International orders do take a little more time, but if you're checking the CnS thread and seeing that the Lab's moved beyond your order date, then you shouldn't feel like you're bothering the Lab by e-mailing customer service. =) A lot of international folks do seem to receive CnS notices or some sort of notification. Be sure to check your spam folder carefully before deleting everything, I have heard lots of people say they've discovered them in spam (they come from the USPS, not from the Lab). And there are some glitches with the CnS system. A friend of mine - another mod, who's ordered from the Lab for 4+ years - said she stopped getting CnS e-mails at some point recently. Her orders just started showing up without them and she can't figure out why. They aren't going into her spam folder. It seems to happen to other people, too. Hopefully yours will start showing up the way they are supposed to, though.

I am really fond of White Phoenix too. When I saw your question, at first I was thinking that there probably isn't anything that's even very similar - it's a unique combination of notes (they are frangipani, magnolia, cotton flower, osmanthus, crystal musk, ambrette, white orchid, sugar cane, davana, white sandalwood, petitgrain, lavender, and lotus root). But I did a little poking around w/ the search engines and it got me thinking of a few things that you might want to try. I didn't run to my BPAL box to sniff and compare, and of course your skin is the ultimate judge! Dark Delicacies, the original exclusive blend the Lab did for the DD store, has some of those heady tropical flowers with a sweet base like White Phoenix, but it's much darker and smokier. (the notes are devil's trumpet accord, black orchid, tonka, coconut meat, fruit gums, osmanthus, smoky resin, myrtle, and Indonesian patchouli.) Eshe, from CD, is another blend that I get a lot of heady white flowers from at first but over something darker and sexier than White Phoenix (embalming herbs, black myrrh, white sandalwood, black orchid, paperwhites, tomb dust, and Moroccan jasmine). My love for Hetairae knows no bounds! And I agree, it is one of the sexiest scents in the whole catalog. Although I can't slather it, it seems to have a ton of notes that I amp.

It might be that you're reacting to more than one ingredient, i.e., the list doesn't necessarily have one note in common - but most of the ones that I am familiar with do have some sort of spiciness, even if the description just lists "spices" without naming exactly what's in there. Queen of Sheba and Silk Road don't list the spices they contain but both are spicy blends to my nose. I've reacted to blends with cardamom before, and that is listed as a component of both The Phantom Calliope & Bezoar, for example; there's pink pepper in Hermia, and cassia in The Dodo. Inferno and Saw Scaled Viper are notorious skin burners - they both have cinnamon, and SSV also has cassia. Anyone who has a hint of sensitive skin should avoid those two, I speak from experience! =) (I haven't tried Bensiabel or Libertarian, although from Bensiabel's description, it doesn't seem like it would be spicy or burny - and Urd has me stumped too, it didn't smell spicy to me. Reviews are suggesting there's clove &/or ginger in Libertarian, which would bolster the spice theory, but only the Lab could tell you for sure.) Anyway, other than those few really odd ones, it sounds like you could be reacting to a variety of spices. I'm sure that if you have specific questions about components, the Lab can help you as long as you are patient about getting answers during the busy holiday season. In the meantime, I'd be careful about pepper notes, cardamom and cassia in addition to cinnamon. Maybe check reviews before ordering and commit to an imp or decant first before splurging on bottles if something sounds iffy. Those old standby tricks - being sure to moisturize to give your skin a bit of a barrier and also allowing ample time after a shower or bath before applying perfume - really help me. I've had my share of spice-induced itches and welts, though, so I know how frustrating it is! Good luck - I've had my share of spice-induced welts and itches and it is frustrating!

I haven't tried that particular conditioner, rymorg2, but I am going to be looking for it next time I'm at Whole Foods - honeysuckle rose sounds wonderful. There are only a few blends that contain both honeysuckle and rose - first up, the only one that's currently available from the Lab is Schlafende Bagneuse, from the Salon. The notes are skin musk, white cream, honeycomb, yellow rose, King mandarin, chrysanthemum, golden amber, honeysuckle, and wide-throated yellow monkey-flower accord. It's a gorgeous blend, but I have no idea how much it might resemble your conditioner =) Her Voice, an LE from early 2008 (Lupercalia update), has hyacinth, beeswax, wild roses, vanilla amber, lily of the valley, tiger lily, honeysuckle, carnation, and heliotrope. Bearded Lady, an older LE from 2005/2006, is getting hard to find - the notes in it are Turkish rose, stargazer lily, violet, honeysuckle, amber, star jasmine and vanilla. I was surprised that so few blends combine these two notes, but then again, both can be very assertive notes - BPAL honeysuckle seems to be a cousin of jasmine. Maybe some of the jasmine/rose blends might be fun to try to see if they are up your alley too.

This is a little bit of a "BPAL similarites" kind of post... but I find Versailles, Moscow and Three Brides (from the Salon) to be cousins, maybe because they all share a combo of various rose, amber and citrus notes that Beth takes in different directions. Of the trio, Three Brides most resembles a traditional perfume and might be worth trying to see if it matches up with those old school favorites. I am not familiar w/ Xia Xhang but vaguely remember Emeraude from my childhood, and recall it as a dressy, "formal" perfume, and I'd definitely characterize Three Brides that way. For comparison, the notes: Versailles: Gilded red and gold citrus with amber, ruby roses, jasmine and orris. Moscow: Imperial rose, carnation, lush jasmine, lily of the valley, dark musk, amber, bergamot and gilded tangerine. Three Brides: Moroccan rose, king mandarin, red sandalwood, Egyptian amber, orchid, carnation, benzoin, tonka, calla lily, vanilla flower.

I thought I picked up her vibe, based on the illustration on the Graveyard Book page and the awesome Sleepy Hollow labels! Outstanding job, Jennifer I agree with oakmoss - as much as I like Dave McKean, the GB illustrations didn't click with me the way Jennifer's artwork does.

The only thing on your list that I know for sure is in Snake Oil is patchouli - but for Midnight Mass, I would bet on frankincense.

You can find Namaste in Bewitching Brews.

Perversion is a good one, icing! Tonka can be very vanilla-y depending on the variety, the other stuff in the blend and your skin chemistry. So that might be another note you'll want to explore, crebbsgirl. I am surprised that there is not a tonka thread in Recs - so it's a topic that is ripe for starting and discussing around here.

You know, I find Snake Charmer to be a kind of musky, smutty vanilla scent. On me, the vanilla is pretty well balanced with the resins and the musk, and then there's a little bit of fruit from the plum - but you definitely smell the vanilla.

I had the same problem with Huesos de Santos - and I just don't care for anise in my perfume. The closest thing I have tried so far is Cheshire Moon (which of course, is an LE from earlier this year - but it does turn up in swaps every now and then). Cheshire Moon is a delicious citrus cake on me.

Of the ones that have been suggested, Alicia, Masquerade and Voodoo would definitely be on my list! Urd smells incredibly head-shoppy in the bottle, but my skin turned it into a super-purple, grape Bubble Yum single note. The Caterpillar is my headshop scent. I have heard of men wearing it, although the behavior of the jasmine would be the critical factor. On my skin, the mosses and vetiver really balance out the feminine elements (it is the ONE scent with vetiver that I can wear!) Anne Bonny was surprisingly masculine on me, so I definitely consider it appropriate for men and women, and it has a nice dose of patchouli. There's something a little head-shoppy about The Illustrated Woman to me. The one that was in my old neighborhood would sometimes burn the piney incense that comes with a little log cabin incense burner, so maybe it's that slight piney-ness that invokes it for me. I don't know if you were planning to give a bottle or imps, though. And of all the incense scents, Sri Lanka has the hippie-est, head-shoppiest vibe to me. So that might be a possibility, too.

Bumping this thread because I wore Jacob's Ladder all weekend - amber lovers who don't have it in their possession need to go order bottles. Right now! I'll wait for you... I'm still working on my original bottle which is the 2005 version, although I only have about an imp left in it. It has aged (and aged well) but it's not dramatically different from what it was originally, just richer. I have another bottle of 2005 waiting for me, but I definitely am going to grab a new one while the Yules are around so I know I will have more in the stash for when that's gone. We've talked about Jacob's Ladder being similar to The Lion in the LE-GC comparison thread so I thought I'd do a side-to-side sniff test and report. They are very similar (my bottle of The Lion is pretty aged too, it's an old cobalt one). I find Jacob's Ladder to be more complex, maybe because of the multiple resins, and it has more throw and staying power. I love both of them though.

It does smell sweet on me. I even have an imp of the SN red musk and I think it has a sweet quality. So I can definitely see how anyone who really amps sweet might find it overwhelming. Even though I don't amp sweet in general, I amp caramel so much that it will drown out every other note in the bottle and more often than not, I morph the caramel to an icky burnt sugar. It's funny how we all have notes that we think we can't wear though - leather's one of mine, tonka sounds like one of yours - and every now and then a blend comes along that makes it work. (Spanked and Trick #1 are my leather blends Of course, mine just had to be super-rare and hard to find, but they WORK!) A lot of people who can't wear or just don't like Snake Oil have found something they love in the Snake Pit, which I think is really fun too.

I wish Western Diamondback had worked on me! I love the name and the list of notes made it sound like it would be delicious. But for my skin, the leather was going to be the decider and it decided "no." People really do love it - Western Diamondback and Boomslang both made the top LE list that was just compiled in BPAL Chatter. I've mentioned this before so people who have read lots of my posts will find it repetitive, but my chemistry seems to lack anything that will amp sweetness, so if a blend doesn't have any sweet elements at all, it will often be really dry and unbalanced on me. Western Diamondback sadly turned dusty, pungent and leathery with nothing to offset or round it on my skin. I have smelled it on others and it's fabulous! I know I have hundreds of other scents that work on me - literally - so it is silly to be disappointed when one doesn't, but I do wish that this one did. Of all the Pit, I think Boomslang resembles Snake Oil the most - at least, comparing the final results of each of those on my skin. Some of them surprised me at how different they are from Snake Oil, like Banded Sea Snake and Cottonmouth, which seem like really distant cousins to me. Temple Viper and King Cobra have both aged really nicely. I think my Snake Pit bottles are about 18 months old now. The big winners for me were Boomslang, Cottonmouth, Banded Sea Snake, Temple Viper, King Cobra and Saw Scaled Viper (although that one had to be diluted to go on my sizzling tender skin). Those aren't necessarily the ones that I had predicted were going to be my true loves. So I think anyone who's waffling or wondering should get on the hunt for some decants and try these slithery delights so they can update their shopping lists. We've been lucky that the Carnival's stuck around so long but when we do get that final date when it's coming down, there will be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth!

I don't have a perfect answer - but I think the description of Fae as a pale cousin of Glitter is spot on. Heliotrope is a weird note for me, so many scents with it haven't worked on my skin, Glitter and Fae included, but I think maybe exploring some heliotrope scents might get you headed in the right direction. Have you tried Lolita? I'm thinking the verbena might give you some of the tartness (it was very orange-blossomy on me, though, so it's not one that made it into my permanent collection.)

I find Wezwanie/Hold (from the Retail Salons) really nutty. The notes are hazelnut, vanilla bean, red sandalwood, amber, myrrh, and honey - it starts out very hazelnutty and keeps a nutty tone even through drydown. It's a really yummy scent without being extremely sweet &/or foody. On a mod note - I tweaked the title a bit to add some search terms. There is a separate thread for almond scents already but I thought I'd list some of the more commonly searched nuts to the title.

This time of year seems to bring out my cravings for evergreen notes - seems like Beth is more prone to use them in the winter LEs as well. I wish everyone who loves Dublin had as much of it as they could ever want *sigh* It's definitely my favorite and the scent that first opened my eyes to the fact that I could wear these notes! I really like the way that Beth's worked that resiny pine pitch note into a few warm-n-fuzzy blends lately, too. I associate so many pine scents with cold winter and snowy woods, but I really find that bit of piney goodness in The Illustrated Woman and Pickled Imp delicious. So, those of who've been able to try 2008 Yules and Wind in the Willows blends, any standouts in the evergreen department? (I'm thinking the pine and juniper in Moon of Small Spirits are going to make it just lovely, and I haven't ordered anything since the Harvest Moon update! So this little bottle can't travel by itself!)

Orange blossom is a note that I don't like if I just sniff it as a single note - whether I like a blend with it is always completely up in the air until I try it. But I have been smitten with Jezebel (honey, roses, orange blossom and sandalwood) since I first tried it 4+ years ago. Hunger is a dark and sexy scent - I usually associate orange blossom with lighter, airier florals, so your friend might like trying something different (it's vanilla, black narcissus and orange blossom). Tweedledee's a fun scent, bright & spicy tea with orange blossom (kumquat, white pepper, white tea and orange blossom).