Different smells/colors, same perfume

[monsteralice]

Question about Sophia: I have sampled Sophia from two imps and the smell has been radically different, what could have happened? Has anyone had a problem with Sophia turning into licorice?

 

The first imp was a very nice lavender blend, but the second was straight anise (yucky, yucky - I never liked licorice).

[sookster]

Question about Sophia: I have sampled Sophia from two imps and the smell has been radically different, what could have happened? Has anyone had a problem with Sophia turning into licorice?

 

The first imp was a very nice lavender blend, but the second was straight anise (yucky, yucky - I never liked licorice).

 

 

i have a well-aged bottle that is at least 2 years old and it is all lavendar & spice...i checked to see if i had an imp and

indeed i do...looks like it has been around the block...it is all completey lavender & spice too...

[Elizabethm]

High john just did this to me!

 

I had this imp from a bpaler that I really liked. It smelled fresh and clean and pleasant.

 

Recently I got another imp from the lab and VETIVER. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

[fireflower]

Hmmm.. the frimp of Mouse's Long and Sad Tale I just got from the lab smells nothing like the imp I ordered a few months ago. I kinda like the new one better, though I do like both. The new one smells like it has more sweet pea in it or something.. it's more perfumey than creamy like my old one was.

[Court Analyst/Strategist]

I just received a fresh 5ml of Severin from the lab and there is nearly zero resemblence to how my aged bottle smells. If the fresh bottle wasn't labelled Severin, I wouldn't know it as such, the oil smells kind of off, both in the bottle and on the skin, reminding me sadly of something faint, sweet and gummy. For comparison, my aged bottle smells like earl grey and tea leaves with a little leather in there (even fresh, my original bottle had dominant tea and bergamot notes, the main differences were that the notes were less distinct and the throw was lighter). I was thinking the difference could stem from this batch being more leather-heavy, but the scent doesn't smell like leather, it actually smells more akin to really faint chewing gum on the skin.

 

I don't particularly mind past the fact that I'm going to have to order a third 5ml because my original is getting low, I just thought that the contrast was so odd I would post about it. I just really hope that the next bottle is like my original .

 

Edit: I received a fresh lab imp and it smells just as I remember my first bottle did when newly purchased from the lab. So just the second bottle is the odd one out, just as I figured. Strange!

 

Court

Edited January 3, 2008 by Court Analyst/Strategist

[Wwindy]

Oooooh, am I ever disappointed.

 

A little while back I got a decant of Heavenly Love & Earthly Love and adored it -- I was sure I'd finally found my One True BPAL Scent! The bottle I ordered just arrived, though, and it's *nothing* like my beautiful ambery, warm, sexy decant; it smells (to me) like hairspray and stale florals!!! I could cry...

 

Anybody had a similar experience with HL&EL, or another RO/Salon?

[tartchef]

Mwahaha, stalked you

 

I'm the decanter in question, and I thought I'd share what I just PMd to Wwindy... long PM short, HL & EL separates out like no other oil I've seen. I'd decant, and barely a minute later the heavier darker oils would slide to the bottom of the imp. I didn't realize this til I'd decanted a few vials & shipped them out, so it's very likely that Wwindy got a badly-blended imp. Bad decanter! I'm hoping the color of Wwindy's vial will help us figure out if hers was an earlier or later decant, as thus heavier on the ambergris/sandalwood or the teak/frankincense/myrrh. (I'm betting the latter)

 

Aging may well have something to do with it, too - IIRC, I decanted for Wwindy back when the RO oils were first released, so her oil's had the benefit of a few months of aging...

Edited January 18, 2008 by tartchef

[Wwindy]

Mwahaha, stalked you

 

I'm the decanter in question, and I thought I'd share what I just PMd to Wwindy... long PM short, HL & EL separates out like no other oil I've seen. I'd decant, and barely a minute later the heavier darker oils would slide to the bottom of the imp. I didn't realize this til I'd decanted a few vials & shipped them out, so it's very likely that Wwindy got a badly-blended imp. Bad decanter! I'm hoping the color of Wwindy's vial will help us figure out if hers was an earlier or later decant, as thus heavier on the ambergris/sandalwood or the teak/frankincense/myrrh. (I'm betting the latter)

 

Aging may well have something to do with it, too - IIRC, I decanted for Wwindy back when the RO oils were first released, so her oil's had the benefit of a few months of aging...

 

Hee hee! Sorry, I probably should've waited to hear back from you before I posted, but I was just so pouty this morning after oil application...

 

I'll go home tonight and check the color/consistency of my decant vs. the new bottle. I definitely didn't think to shake the bottle this morning (I've never encountered the separation problem before), so that might well be part of the problem.

 

Got my fingers crossed for more of the loveliness and less of the hairspray!

[Wwindy]

So, here's the update!

 

My decant is gold (warm but not very dark -- sort of a medium saturation) in color, and seems relatively viscous.

 

I don't notice any separation in the bottle when I look at it, but rolling/shaking does seem to make a difference! The scent is now closer to the decant although still not identical.

 

Soooo... is it oxidization, maybe? Should I leave the bottle open for an hour or two to see if that makes a difference too? Could it really possibly be the two or three times I touched the bottle mouth to my skin affecting the scent? I have to admit I'd been a little skeptical about the whole skin-"contamination" making a difference, but I guess maybe it's possible after all!

 

Would it be completely insane to mix what's left of my decant into the bottle? I have a feeling it would, but...

[moonstonemama]

I picked up a decant of Stress Relief Elixir, and it looks odd. it mostly smells the way the reviews suggest it should, it smells strongly of eucalyptus and rose geranium in the decant, then morphs into something soft an soothing after wearing it for a bit. But for the life of me, I cannot get the oils to blend totally. at first I thought it was just because it's cold here in Wisconsin, but it's been in my apartment with my other BPAL for almost a week, and there's still obvious separation, and the separated "bubbles" won't even join among themselves.

 

has anyone else noticed this with this blend? or is mine just off?

 

 

thanks

 

 

(also, if this isn't where this should be posted, please let me know. I've searched for days to figure out where to pose this question, and this seemed the most reasonable place)

[Dracoo9]

I got a frimp from the lab of Strangler fig and I was a bit nervous about trying it because of the earthy description and once i did it was strangley...sweet. It had an almost vanilla like sweetness and I went back and looked at the description and sure enough it was described as 'Rooty, woody, with deep green tones.' And then I looked at the reviews and am still a little unsure if the imp is mis-labeled or not but whatever it is its good! In the imp its a faint yellow-ey color. In the reviews they say it has a powerful 'fig' scent and slightly earthy tones. I dont really detect earthy and I dont know what the lab's fig scents smell like.

 

Does it sound like I still have Strangler fig? I dont want to order a bottle to find that what I have isnt really it (especially sence earthy scents really dont work for me ).

[azhriaz]

I think it's probably correctly labelled. Strangler Fig does have a sweetness to it, and I can see how you could think of vanilla. I don't put it in the woody or earthy category, but there's an undertone of green wood to it (I bought a bottle because I get just fig for the most part, which is one of my favourite notes and usually not noticeable enough for me in other blends). BPAL fig smells similar to every other "fig" scent I've smelled, in other perfumes and scented candles. (Haven't come across a fresh fig in a while to know if that's very accurate.. smells nothing like cooked figs). So if you've smelled any other fig scents it should be recognisable.

 

If you're still not sure, you could just get another imp before ordering a bottle to make sure it's consistent. Sometimes there can be variation even if it really is the same oil.

[bunnywink]

A month ago, I traded off my Fruit Cake imp for a partial bottle of Creepy (about one imp's worth left in the bottle) from the 2006 Halloween blends. I fell in love with it immediately~ Yummy, delicious, granny smith apples dipped in butterscotch and caramel. I loved it so much that I started a quest for more! I started searching for imps to top off my lovely bottle. I got my second imp from a lovely lady here on the forums and it smelled just as delicious.

 

So, I HAD to find myself another bottle. I bid on one through eBay and won! Just got it today. However, it doesn't smell like anything like my other Creepy. Same year, same label, but (for lack of better words) off.

 

My first two Creepy were tart and juicy and crispy granny smiths with butterscotch and caramel, but my second bottle smells... dark. This is in the bottle. I tested both out on my wrists, one on each wrist and I can still detect the difference. So sad... =(

[quartz]

I got a frimp from the lab of Strangler fig and I was a bit nervous about trying it because of the earthy description and once i did it was strangley...sweet. It had an almost vanilla like sweetness and I went back and looked at the description and sure enough it was described as 'Rooty, woody, with deep green tones.' And then I looked at the reviews and am still a little unsure if the imp is mis-labeled or not but whatever it is its good! In the imp its a faint yellow-ey color. In the reviews they say it has a powerful 'fig' scent and slightly earthy tones. I dont really detect earthy and I dont know what the lab's fig scents smell like.

 

Does it sound like I still have Strangler fig? I dont want to order a bottle to find that what I have isnt really it (especially sence earthy scents really dont work for me ).

 

Sounds familiar--I got a frimp of it a few weeks ago. Wet, the woody/earthy scent comes out; dry, it disappears and the smell is kind of like fruity marshmallows, very sweet and comforting.

[devilbunnyart]

When you're certain your bottle of perfume is an uncommon batch variation and you don't like it...Do you feel dishonest trying to swap or sell it?

 

It's sad for you because you spent money on something and now you're stuck with something you won't use. But it also sucks for someone you give the item to. If they're expecting the usual scent.

 

What do other folks do when this happens?

[tartchef]

When you're certain your bottle of perfume is an uncommon batch variation and you don't like it...Do you feel dishonest trying to swap or sell it?

 

Only if I were to try & pass it off as the usual scent I would certainly try to find a new home for it, but definitely be up front about your experience with it. A link to your review would be helpful, and folks could easily compare your bottle to the rest of the reviews... Don't think of it necessarily as a bad thing that your bottle is different - what made it not work for you might make it work beautifully for someone who'd crossed that scent off their list...

 

Can I be uber-nosey & ask which scent?

[devilbunnyart]

It's my bottle of Hellfire that I have up for swap. I go back and forth between mentioning the difference and not mentioning it. I'll go back to mentioning it.

 

My husband loves Hellfire and we've sniffed many imps and a couple bottles of it. This one bottle is very different. It's so sweet, it's almost...grapey? Not smokey at all like we're used to. Though I'll have to sniff it again and see if it's aged any closer to the scent we know and love!

[samarablackcat]

That happened to me with Schwarzer Mond. Got two different imps and both are yummy. Purchased a bottle off ebay and, after the drydown, the scent is very similar, but lighter. In the bottle, SM smells more like pine. I'm not displeased with the scent, it just takes longer to get there. However, I probably wouldn't have pursued it as hard had I know the smell wasn't exactly the same.

[mooncityminx]

A month ago, I traded off my Fruit Cake imp for a partial bottle of Creepy (about one imp's worth left in the bottle) from the 2006 Halloween blends. I fell in love with it immediately~ Yummy, delicious, granny smith apples dipped in butterscotch and caramel. I loved it so much that I started a quest for more! I started searching for imps to top off my lovely bottle. I got my second imp from a lovely lady here on the forums and it smelled just as delicious.

 

So, I HAD to find myself another bottle. I bid on one through eBay and won! Just got it today. However, it doesn't smell like anything like my other Creepy. Same year, same label, but (for lack of better words) off.

 

My first two Creepy were tart and juicy and crispy granny smiths with butterscotch and caramel, but my second bottle smells... dark. This is in the bottle. I tested both out on my wrists, one on each wrist and I can still detect the difference. So sad... =(

Okay, I don't know if this helps but I had a bottle I bought directly from the lab back in 06 when I was a newbie. For the first six months or so (maybe a year?) it smelled to me, just like caramel apples. It was sooooo wondeful! Then when I tried it again the apple started to do a weird thing where it would smell like dried apple slices, and that note would amp like crazy. I stored it very carefully too, but I wonder if for some weird reason or another blends sometimes age differently? Luckily I found someone who liked dried apple slices and swapped it at a meet-n-sniff, but I've noticed this with other blends as well. For instance, Miskatonic U is always sweet and happy when it is fresh, but sometimes when it ages it smells to me like those library books that stink. And if I put it on a bit of clothing hoping to smell like butterscotch I end up smelling like I stepped in something. But not all of them turn that way.

[Morrighana]

In addition to batch differences and aging effects, another thing to keep in mind is that decants (and bottles which have been decanted from) can be compromised in a number of ways, so they may not always be the same as a Lab-fresh bottle.

 

If the decanter does not roll the bottle between her hands (or otherwise stir or mix it up) before decanting from it, the component oils which can seperate a bit in transit may be sitting one on top of the other. When decants are created this way, they can end up having more or less of certain components depending on what level the decanter piped off.

 

There are also contamination effects, as not all decanters do things like using new pipettes for each scent (and, mistakes happen).

[penemuel]

My lab imp of Schrodinger's Cat has this bizarre sediment in the bottom of the imp now. I've been trying to warm it in my hand and roll it, but it's sitting there persistently. Has anyone else had this happen? Is it one of the heavier oils, perhaps the chocolate?

[angharad]

My imp of Schrodinger's Cat always had some dark stuff floating about, and I assume it was the chocolate.

[penemuel]

My imp of Schrodinger's Cat always had some dark stuff floating about, and I assume it was the chocolate.

 

Yeah, that's pretty much what I would have thought if it was floating, but this appears to be a solid sediment, so it's kind of odd. Might try stirring it up with a toothpick and see what happens... Thanks!

[tartchef]

Funky... I have an imp & a bottle of Freak Show, both nice & clear. I was frottled a partial from a dear forumite, and the oil is really cloudy... there's a funky film along the interior of the bottle, too. It's a warm spring day here, so I doubt it's something solidifying from the cold. It smells fine in the bottle, compared to the rest of my stash, and I'll skin test it tomorrow to make sure... I'm just curious if anyone else with older bottles has run into this phenomenon?

[phantasmmysteria]

I'm sure I've seen this idea discussed in various other topics, so if the mods feel it's appropriate to merg please feel free.

 

I think I've owned 3 different bottles of the pink-label 13 (I get one, swap it away, and then realize I actually liked its chocolatey goodness). So, I pulled out bottle no. 3 for... actually, probably the first time since I swapped for it, and decided to test it.

 

Only to find it's absolutely nothing like the previous two bottles I had. From bottle to dry, it's a really floral thing, with none of the cocoa, peach, honey, or starfruit that I love.

 

Now, normally I might just chalk this up to aging or skin chemistry, except it even smells totally different in the bottle, and cocoa isn't one of those notes that's known to disappear with age. It's really bizarre!

 

I recall last year's rendition of Egg Nog also having reports of different levels of throw/wearlength from one bottle to another, but I couldn't really tell myself.

 

I suppose my question is how common is this? Has anyone else experienced anything similar without it being caused by the age of the oil or skin chemistry? If so, what was the oil in question?