ivyandpeony

figured I'd cross post this one over here, since most of the DC discussion falls in this thread - any suggestions for this newbie?

I love the smell of this shampoo too! It hasn't inspired an "OMG this reminds me of ______" moment like some products I have tried (but to be honest, that doesn't happen to me that often). So when I wash my hair tomorrow, I am going to concentrate on the scent and try to see what it reminds me of. (And this stuff is so worth the price for making your hair color last, and last, and last. If that's an issue for anyone who happens to be reading this thread, you should really try it - although it is a very rich and moisturizing shampoo that's not good for oily scalps.)

I am in lust/love with the patchouli Beth used in Crypt Queen. It is so smooth and velvety and feminine.

Although they are fictional characters from a different time and place, "the air of conflict and regal backstabbing" immediately brought to mind the Vicomte de Valmont and Marquise de Merteuil. I don't know if the scents would otherwise appeal to you, but they seem to have a lot in common with Eleanor & Henry.

We just had our first cool autumn-is-coming! day here in the South... so I am in the process of swapping out some of my lighter summery scents for some good transitional ones (I keep the bottles in frequent rotation in a box on my dresser, others in a drawer). Hermia is going to be fantastic for fall. It's got awesome spice and resins going on and just in the couple months since my bottle arrived, it's really developed nicely in the bottle. Kind of like a friend you didn't see over the summer, then when you showed up for school in the fall she was 6 inches taller and had boobs and all the guys are like

Now that my bottle of Crypt Queen has arrived, I can definitely add it to the list of blends to try if you love Prada. It's no dupe, of course, but it's got that sweet, "fluffy" patchouli that I love in Prada's original fragrance (minus the nasty sinus burning alcohol, of course!). Crypt Queen's notes are : pomegranate, raspberry, gardenia, plum, and rose with patchouli, black pepper, rose musk, and a hint of blood accord. So maybe it's the fruitiness and the patchouli that have me drawing the comparison. There's just a certain kind of patchouli that I especially love - the kind I smell here and in Prada, it's in Lush's Blue Skies bubble bar and Karma, too - it has a powdery quality (I think of it as fluffy) that many dark, earthier patchoulis don't seem to have. Although, given the differences in our body chemistries and sniffers (just look at all the different things that we seem to pick up in this one perfume!) I fully expect 75% of you all to be thinking, "Cuckoo!"

I don't have my Halloween order yet (I was a little later than the crowd getting it plotted and ordered) so I don't have an answer for you, Browneyes - but I do have all three of those coming. I will make a mental note to come back and check to see if anyone's responded, and give you my take on them. Samhain soap from the Trading Post has a fabulous campfire smoke note in it, to my nose... so I am speculating that this year's version of Samhain, the perfume, has it too. So it's gone on my wishlist! I would love to hear any comments about it here - I am off to read reviews.

Even though I am late to this party - I vote for Pink Phoenix! Girly, sophisticated and a little mysterious.

You might find this thread helpful - Oils for studying, learning, and exams. I find the mental alertness that I need to learn and practice a piece similar to what I needed for traditional academics - although of course, piano is millions of times more fun and rewarding! I am having some issues with the search engine today - I've reported them to shriekingviolets & QS - but I think there may be topics on inspiration and creativity that could also yield a few good suggestions for you too. When I do find links, I will post them (and of course, someone else may pop in here who happens to know right where they are). Interesting topic!

Seriously... if there's any of these left (or of any TP Halloween LE soaps ) go get them now! This is the first of the four that I have actually tried but ooh lah lah. It's quintessential autumn. My entire upstairs (1000+ square feet) smells of Pumpkin Guts now because half of a bar is sitting unwrapped on my dresser and the other is in the shower, where it delighted me to no end - soft, super-fragrant lather, kind of pink from that red clay in it and I like pink. =) Babylon's description of the scent as a pumpkin single note is pretty smart - it's very pumpkinny, without the buttery component of Jack. But I do get a hint of burnt leaves & spice too, kind of a shadowy scent reminiscent of BPAL Samhain. It could be described as Pumpkin Queen when she was just a baby princess, mostly just a pumpkin with a tiny hint of all the autumn splendor to come. I am a huge fan of the soaps Silk Road Trading Co. produces for BPAL and for their own label, and Pumpkin doesn't let me down - it shares all the qualities I love with its brethren of the soapy variety. It lathers very nicely, has lots of fragrance but isn't overwhelming (I like my scented soaps to be of medium intensity in general, Pumpkin is actually pretty strong for my taste but I still love it) and leaves me feeling clean but soft, not dry. Yummy yummy!

I found Malkuth unique - it had a lot of spicy patchouli for me, but also a big slap of vetiver that scared me away. I'd try some spicy patchouli scents and experiment with layering too if you don't get the right combo to your nose. I was thinking Arachnina (black currant, poppy, red and black musk, lilies, nicotiana, and patchouli), Umbra (East African black patchouli, cedarwood, vetiver and a dribble of cinnamon), The Great He-Goat (Haitian vetiver, Egyptian amber, carnation, black musk, pomegranate, patchouli, and smoked ginger), Malediction (red patchouli and vetivert).

Did you know that you actually can get liquid Prozac now? (I found out that fun fact as I was planning to discontinue Effexor earlier this summer - some people find it helpful when getting off another SSRI to add Prozac as they are weaning themselves off the other drug, then wean themselves off the Prozac really slowly to avoid any withdrawal symptoms, which is where liquid comes in handy for minute doses.) Since you don't really want liquid Prozac I like the White Light suggestion. I am really fond of White Light for the way it seems to attract positive energy as well as emit a little of its own for you, and because it's one of those TALs you can use on yourself as well as on objects you might want to anoint. I've anointed candles with it, I've worn it as perfume, and I've used it in my car scent-ball air freshener.

I will have to put on my thinking hat to come up with some more herbal blends for you (and right now I'm not in good thinking mode ) - I was just going to mention that Harvest Moon '05 doesn't strike me as herbal at all. It has more of a spicy autumn feel to my nose, almost to the point of foodiness. I think of herbal blends as more "green" in nature. I just thought I would mention that - you can read the reviews for it to see what the consensus was and decide if you wanna take a chance on tracking down a bottle of it. Probably the most straight-up herbal I've smelled is Ides of March, both the '05 and '07 versions. It's gorgeous if you love herbal scents. There are a number of blends with rosemary which really jumps out on my skin and makes the entire blend into a green herbal garden - check the search engine there. ETA: CaptainEcchi, I never knew there was an herb called bergamot and always thought of it in terms of the citrus plant. Thanks so much for passing on that information!

Hellion - Urd comparison: on me, they are nothing alike. I get overwhelming grape & nag champa from Urd which, on my skin, is just intolerable - like the Kool Aid guy's seductive love den. Hellion's beautiful on me, patchouli with dark plum notes. Since Urd's a GC and you can pick up an imp, I would highly recommend that you try it yourself, though! You truly never know how something is going to work until you try it on your own skin, you may even have to try it more than once - I find that's especially true with blends that are more unconventional, like Urd. And there are tons of people who find it gorgeous on them. Alice-Zarita comparison: Alice is really well balanced on me (and one of my all time favorite blends), so it may be that you amp carnation. I also happen to love, love, love BPAL's carnation notes. Consider those caveats, but I don't find Zarita especially heavy on carnation. I find it predominantly a creamy, sugary blend with no single floral note jumping out at me, they're just adding something a little different to the sweetness I am smelling. Now, Pink Moon 07 is about half spicy carnation, half Zarita's cream & sugar - but Zarita to me is about 80-90% creamy sweetness.

I don't have any children either but have nieces, nephews, godchildren and many other beloved kids in my life... when I think back to babyhood TKO definitely strikes a chord. As others have mentioned, it's predominantly lavender and vanilla and the variety of vanilla in it seems extra sweet and sugary - it's very comforting. I find Old Scratch a little similar to TKO although it doesn't have a sedative effect for me (yes, put some Devil perfume on your baby! ) But seriously, the lavender, vanilla & patchouli in OS are light and mellow, and if you find TKO too intense for the little one, this one could be a good alternative. I echo the recommendation of Safari as another good lavender blend, and Quietude is gorgeous if you tire of lavender. With a baby or toddler, I think I might lean towards making a sachet or a linen & room spray, or maybe putting a few drops in a nice jojoba or almond oil for bath or after bath, especially using those super-strong Panacea blends.

I'd go with the Mock Turtle's Lessons for the fruity-aquatic feel - of course, you'll miss the mint but I think you'll really like it. If not, you can swap it for an imp of Shattered!

If you happen to need Andrabell's assistance or are waiting on a reply to a PM you've sent since August 3, she has been on an unplanned hiatus due to a sudden illness. She is now on the mend and is starting to get caught up on things here, but wanted me to mention this in case you are wondering why she hasn't answered you. Please feel free to C&P a copy of your PM to her and forward it to me - I'm helping her as needed and can coordinate with her to get your questions answered as quickly as possible.

Oh good, I see the thread's active already - it got locked by accident earlier! We mods have a few buttons and options that regular members don't have and somehow the close thread action got activated when a mod was viewing the thread. Our apologies to fatalbellydance and to anyone who wanted to comment earlier!

Tristessa - do you have allergies in general? Here's why I'm asking - hope the history doesn't seem too much. I have had a very strange turn since this spring - I've been allergic to pollen since I can remember, but it got much worse since I moved to Atlanta, GA in 1999 (apparently there are lots more things I am allergic to here: deciduous trees, grasses, molds... I finally got tested and also found out I'm also allergic to dust, cats, and dogs. I sleep with one of those and refuse to give it up .) I don't have food allergies, my skin historically has only been slightly sensitive for the most part, but I do take Zyrtec daily for these respiratory irritations. I don't know if it is extra stress, for example my husband's new job, some family issues, having my house on the market at a bad time, or my age (41), a combo of all these factors or something mysterious - I should have followed up with my allergist by now - but this spring I started having bouts of hives and dermatographia (where you feel mildly itchy, aren't usually even aware that you rubbed or scratched at yourself, but it looks like you have been attacked by wolves. A mild scratch, or just bumping up against something as you're bustling about the house, can leave a monster welt that starts to itch and swell. I had only had hives a couple times in my life - the first I recall in my 20s when I had an allergic reaction to penicillin, my first to that drug. The others were mystery episodes with widespread hives everywhere, one during law school exams and one while closing on our house and moving here. Anyway, my thing about hives - my only BPAL reactions have been local, and they were to blends that I now know contained cinnamon or other strong spices. They are small welts that feel hot and burn vs. itching. The types of hives that I get on my legs, back, upper arms, etc. don't seem to be a local reaction & would be very difficult for me to link causally just to my perfume use. If the hive reactions that you are having are local - across wrists, crooks of elbows, etc., even though delayed - then I would be wary of applying BPAL, and you should track things very carefully. Test everything from now on with just a dab and write it down as you go: "back of L hand: Bordello," "L wrist: Kumiho" etc. so if something gives you a reaction, you will know to avoid it in the future. Avoid cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, cassia and anything else that seems to be a common irritant. If you are getting hives all over, it would be worth talking to an allergist or dermatologist and getting some advice. Obviously we aren't doctors here although we like to play them on the internet.

I had to bump this, because Thalassa is such the perfect personification of a mermaid to me. Feminine, but somehow salty and oceanic at the same time.

I love layering Bengal with summery scents - I have to layer Bengal no matter what time of the year it is because the cinnamon & pepper in it give me little burnie marks. But would that stop me from actually wearing it - hell no! Devoted BPAL addict, or competely insane? Anyway, Bengal is sublime with Sudha Segara. And I just discovered a new Bengal companion that makes me drool and speak gibberish: Dorian and Bengal. It's like honeyed cinnamon vanilla sugar cookies with lemony tea. I also love Inferno, which I have to dilute and then layer over something else! Anything that's got lots of honey, citrus, vanilla, tea, or amber seems like a good companion for those hardcore cinnamon scents - lightening them up for summer and diluting the spice for my fragile skin. For summer scents without any additional alchemy at home, Bakeneko has a bit of cinnamon but to me, is light enough for hot weather because of the tangerine & tea. Uruk has a nice hit of spice even though it's paired up with some lighter notes (it contains bitter almond, night-blooming jasmine, saffron, cinnamon leaf, red patchouli, river lilies, bergamot, fig leaf and incense). And I am completely behind the recommendations of Chimera and Silk Road! Silk Road actually reminds me of a lighter version of Snake Oil, I remember noting that in my review of it when I first tried it. Chimera is a really light sunny scent on me - I've often thought that people seem to fall in two camps, Chimera or Eclipse, where one smells fabulous on you and the other one reeks. Eclipse hates me.

I bet there are differences from batch to batch &/or brand to brand even with patchouli essential oil - anything that comes from plants can vary wildly depending on the soil where the plants are grown, the part of the world where it's grown and other environmental factors, the cultivar of the plant, the method used to produce the oil, and I'm sure other variables I'm not even considering. I agree with your observation on the aging of patchouli, fsp - I think it gets yummier and yummier with time. Just perusing the patchouli blends in the BPAL repertoire, I found in addition to "patchouli" with no modifier that several types have been included in the Lab's descriptions: red patchouli, Indonesian red patchouli, Indonesian patchouli, black patchouli, aged black patchouli, East African black patchouli, Indonesian black patchouli, Haitian patchouli, North African patchouli, and patchouli leaf. There definitely has to be a difference in intensity and smoothness, I think, between different types - whatever is in Old Scratch and in Oberon seems very soft, whereas I'd be willing to bet the patchouli in Anne Bonny (red, I think) is a good bit stronger so it can play along with the sandalwood and frankincense in that blend. It would be fun to get to sniff all those varieties, like a wine tasting for your nose.

I would have to do some searching to find the posts/series of posts, but BPAL does not use synthetics. The discussion has flared up from time to time with people snarking, "There's no such thing as cotton candy essential oil," etc. (i.e. Midway), but the last statement I recall Beth making was that she may begin using some synthetic components when the Lab introduces some aldehydic fragrances she is working on. The recs subforum is not the place for the discussion, but I thought I would answer the question since it popped up here. I believe the previous discussions can be found in FAQ or possibly in BPAL chatter if you're interested in reading up on it.

Hi Meshuganah - welcome to the forum! If you don't find what you're looking for in the previous posts in this thread, give us a few more ideas for what you're seeking in a patchouli scent and I have no doubt that you'll get a full run-down from our helpful members. As far as relieving stress, the blends discussed in this thread are likely to help - feel free to bump it by posting your specific needs and the discussion will pick up again.

Here you go, Vanille - a thread all about chocolate recommendations! I'll leave your request separate for a week or two so you can get some current responses, then I'll merge it with the chocolate thread so discussion can continue in one place. I'm with Olympia - Boomslang is probably my favorite chocolate BPAL blend. If you are looking for one that's chocolate with no interference, you'll need to choose from Bliss (milk chocolate), The Candy Butcher (darker creamy chocolate), or track down the elusive Lump of Coal (brownies!). I think I prefer my chocolate with some other notes, which is why I love that spicy, heady Boomslang. I also love 13 - the original incarnation, with the white chocolate note, is just gorgeous, the October '06 one with the deeper cocoa is great too - and I just got my bottle of the newest 13. It's fabulous! White and dark chocolates combined with sweet fruits, like eating chocolate dipped tropical fruit while sitting outside with orchids, hibiscus and other hot-weather flowers very subtly scenting the air.