Different smells/colors, same perfume

[Gale]

I have a bottle of Morocco that's probably about 10 months old. I loved it when it was new, and I love it even more now. There's definitely a creaminess, but I can't exactly call it vanilla. It's sweet and spicy, but softer now that it's older.

 

If you get a new bottle that doesn't smell as beautiful as your imp, just tuck it away for a few months.

[harmonyfb]

O.K., I've tried to read all I can from discussions of Morocco to figure this out, and I'm still befuddled.

 

Has anyone noticed lately what new bottles have been like? I ordered another this morning because it definitely seemed worth the risk, but I'm just wondering what people's experiences have been lately with Morocco.

 

 

I got a brand new bottle in June. It was a little different than the imp I'd been using, but it was obviously just a little sharper because it hadn't had enough time to marry together. The notes were the same, as far as I could tell (sweet/spicy!), just a little different in tone.

[Beatrice33]

Thank you everyone for all the input on Morocco -- it's giving me much hope for my pending bottle. I'm definitely in Morocco heaven today, slathering on my little imp. It may not last the day at this rate.

 

I will tuck this new one away if it arrives and doesn't smell quite how I want it to, but I have high hopes that it will!

[cranberry]

I don't know if this should be here or in the aging thread under BPAL Chatter, maybe both....

 

I just finished off my 5 ml of Dragon's Milk tonight scenting lotion. I felt really secure in doing that because I just got my 10 ml order and Dragon's Milk was one of the big bottles I got. I tested my lotion and found it a little weak, so I confidently pulled out my new 10 ml and poured a little in. Instead of the deep red color I know so well and associate with the Ars Draconis line, it was kinda orange...when I apply most of the AD line, I can see red oil on my skin. This, you can't see. And it smells more like ylang ylang than the Dragon's Blood I know so well. Is ylang ylang in Dragon's Milk?

 

I don't know if this a component thing, if the bottle I got a while back was already old, or what. I won't surprise me if the scent deepens, marries and becomes more vanilla w/age. I expect that w/vanilla scent. But the color has be off. Does dragon's blood change color? with age or with batch?

[Bratkat]

Thank you everyone for all the input on Morocco -- it's giving me much hope for my pending bottle. I'm definitely in Morocco heaven today, slathering on my little imp. It may not last the day at this rate.

 

I will tuck this new one away if it arrives and doesn't smell quite how I want it to, but I have high hopes that it will!

 

My first 5ml bottle of Morocco smells so different from the imp I got long ago - the bottle has a very sharp, almost metallic/tinny aspect to it, it really puts me off.

 

I'm attracted to the creamy, almost spicy vanilla element in the imp and was so disappointed with the bottle - but I'm glad to read it's a common issue and aging the oil seems to be the answer. Now I will go read about properly aging the oils.....

 

I shall be patient during this wait time...and be a little sad everytime I see my empty imp (I'm keeping it just to sniff and enjoy now and eventually use as a refillable, portable Morocco for my purse).

 

Also, I JUST discovered Antique Lace and will get a bottle at the next will-call....it sounds like Morocco lovers enjoy AL as well. Sounds hopeful!

[forspecial_plate]

I have 2 imps of Dragon's Milk that are completely different. One is decanted and bright red in color, and smells very subtle, faint, in fact when I wear it it's 'barely there'. The other is a frimp fresh from the lab, sent very recently, pale orange in color, and much more potent in scent. Seems like the opposite of the aging effect...the newer one is much more powerful. *shrugs*

[Seraphiel]

This may be the wrong place for this, but here goes:

 

I've gotten a bottle or two of Black Lotus before, and it's one of my favorite scents.

 

So when I heard they would be doing away with 10mls I ordered several bottles, one of which was BL. The others seem fine, but this bottle of Black Lotus smells just... wrong.

 

There's mint in it, and it smells *nothing* like the other bottle of BL that I have.

 

Not sure what to do with this. Is it mislabeled? Is my nose schizophrenic?

[Ohmaude]

This may be the wrong place for this, but here goes:

 

I've gotten a bottle or two of Black Lotus before, and it's one of my favorite scents.

 

So when I heard they would be doing away with 10mls I ordered several bottles, one of which was BL. The others seem fine, but this bottle of Black Lotus smells just... wrong.

 

There's mint in it, and it smells *nothing* like the other bottle of BL that I have.

 

Not sure what to do with this. Is it mislabeled? Is my nose schizophrenic?

 

 

I am having the same problem with a bottle of Hamadryad I just received from the lab. I understand some components change, but there is no similarity at all between the imp and the bottle. The bottle smells like vaporub. What should I do?

[ChupaChup]

This may be the wrong place for this, but here goes:

 

I've gotten a bottle or two of Black Lotus before, and it's one of my favorite scents.

 

So when I heard they would be doing away with 10mls I ordered several bottles, one of which was BL. The others seem fine, but this bottle of Black Lotus smells just... wrong.

 

There's mint in it, and it smells *nothing* like the other bottle of BL that I have.

 

Not sure what to do with this. Is it mislabeled? Is my nose schizophrenic?

 

 

I am having the same problem with a bottle of Hamadryad I just received from the lab. I understand some components change, but there is no similarity at all between the imp and the bottle. The bottle smells like vaporub. What should I do?

Email the lab!

Sara is so sweet and always ready to work with you on any problem you might have.

[Ohmaude]

Email the lab!

Sara is so sweet and always ready to work with you on any problem you might have.

 

Thanks, I have never emailed the lab before, that's probably better than me sitting here and scratching my head.

[LadyKitsu]

So...I just had my first run in with the differant smell thing....

 

I just purchased my second partial bottle of Shub (because my husband loves it...damn him). It does not smell anything like the first one...at all!

 

But...both of them sound like they are lab direct based on all the reviews I was reading (both people I purchased from swore they got them from the lab directly). One bottle smells like fresh ginger ....the other smells like gingerbread.

 

Anyone run into that before?

[citharadraconis]

That happened to me too, with the Shub. I got a 1/4-imp sniffie that smelled like fresh, dark, spicy ginger, fell in love with it and purchased an imp off eBay that was much mellower and foodier, less to my taste. I have a bottle on the way right now and am hoping it smells more like the sniffie. :\

[LadyKitsu]

That happened to me too, with the Shub. I got a 1/4-imp sniffie that smelled like fresh, dark, spicy ginger, fell in love with it and purchased an imp off eBay that was much mellower and foodier, less to my taste. I have a bottle on the way right now and am hoping it smells more like the sniffie. :\

 

 

Yeah...I was so crushed I'm not a foodie type of person <chuckles>

[fiddledragon]

Does anyone know if Tarot:The Emperor was reformulated in the past year or so? The earlier reviews all describe it as this intensely masculine scent, which certainly makes sense for the name. But then the imp I have matches the last page worth of reviews in smelling like girly bubblebath. Really *nice* girly bubble bath, I should assure you -- I'm certainly putting it in a bath or shampoo at some point -- but I was kind of confused. I suppose this isn't quite the right place to post this, since I haven't smelled the oil the earlier people were reviewing, but the fact that practically everyone's reviews changed made me wonder if they had a weird batch or a reformulation or something.

[ebbtide]

This may be the wrong place for this, but here goes:

 

I've gotten a bottle or two of Black Lotus before, and it's one of my favorite scents.

 

So when I heard they would be doing away with 10mls I ordered several bottles, one of which was BL. The others seem fine, but this bottle of Black Lotus smells just... wrong.

 

There's mint in it, and it smells *nothing* like the other bottle of BL that I have.

 

Not sure what to do with this. Is it mislabeled? Is my nose schizophrenic?

 

 

I am having the same problem with a bottle of Hamadryad I just received from the lab. I understand some components change, but there is no similarity at all between the imp and the bottle. The bottle smells like vaporub. What should I do?

 

I just got a 5mL of Hamadryad and I am SO DISAPPOINTED. The imp I got a year ago smelled like spicy dry cinnamon. This one smells like wintergreen tic-tacs. Color me an unhappy bpal'er.

 

The 5mL of Moscow smells the same, though. But I was really looking forward to having more Hamadryad-- it was my favorite and I used up the imp to the last drop.

[Jishin]

Wow, so it's not just us on the Hamadryad, then? My friends and I ordered an imp, and it does smell like Vaporub. I was very surprised since the description and reviews were nothing like that. Wonder if it was a whole bad batch?

 

So we should contact the lab and ask? OK. Thanks to the folks who suggested that. I'm glad I found this thread!

[Electra]

There have been a ton of posts about the wintergreen Hamadryad phenomenon -- try running a search for "+wintergreen +Hamadryad" . There are a bunch in BPAL Chatter. It seems to have started around December 05/January 06.

 

Someone did contact the lab about it and was told that Hamadryad has always been minty. My imp and 5 mL of Hamadryad were decidedly NOT minty (I got just about straight cinnamon), but maybe the cinnamon version was actually the anomalous batch variation. :shrug: Who knows? Some people have said that there are woods, like birch, that can smell minty -- it's possible that one of Hamadryad's "seven woods" is a minty smelling one, and that for a while that component just wasn't as strong? (Just speculating.)

 

Here's the LJ post -- http://community.livejournal.com/alchemylab/3676914.html

 

And here's one discussion of minty Hamadryad on the forum -- http://www.bpal.org/index.php?showtopic=16...mp;#entry477901

Edited February 23, 2007 by Electra

[Macha]

If anyone ever needed proof that the Lab hand-blends their oils, this would probably be the shining example.

 

Unfortunately, the cold hard fact of the matter is that when you are mixing up oils from such incredibly remote locations and sources, that crop variations are...well...inevitable. I think Electra likely has nailed this in saying that one of Hamadryad's woods likely smells minty, and for some reason the batch that season was stronger than normal.

[akw]

Everything Macha said, and . . .

 

Essential oils are affected by growing conditions, soil composition, seasonal variations -- all that stuff that varies from place to place and season to season.

 

This is the beauty and the frustration of working with naturals -- that they come from living plants and can change with environment and conditions.

 

One of the reasons large perfumers switched from naturals to synthetics was for consistency that can't be guaranteed with naturals. Every now and then there are disappointments, but more often there are happy surprises.

Edited February 28, 2007 by KateW

[ouch!]

I have an imp of Aeval......When I first smelled it, I completley fell in love..and I mean LOVE!!!! So much that my first order from the lab contained a 5ml.....

 

My 5ml arrived and it's a COMPLETLEY different smell altogether...it's actually something that I would never have ordered. It's still nice but the love factor is not there. What the hell happened?

 

I'm hoping that the imp is the more aged version....so I can wait...but the difference is so extreme I don't have much faith. Eep!

[concrescence]

i just got a new bottle of high john the conqueror from the lab and it doesn't smell like my lab imp AT ALL. not one teeny tiny bit. my imp is a grapey floral and my bottle is very very strong cedar. i seem to remember having a conversation about this with another forumite that this happened to, although i can't find it in this thread. since she had the same scent change, it's obviously not mislabled, but i just can't figure it out. i know the official lab answer as to why there are batch differences, but this change seems like a lot more than a batch difference.

 

fortunately, i don't really wear this oil for its scent, but for its effect. unfortunately, i usually layer a tiny bit of it under another scent that i like a lot better, but this new high john the conqueror has such a strong throw that it's difficult to hide it under anything else. i smell like a hope chest or a freshly cleaned hamster cage. the effect doesn't seem to have changed, though. if anything, it has gotten stronger. i made a bucketfull of tips and seemed to impress my clients the last time i wore it, even though i was dog sick.

 

i just wanted to give a warning about the change, though, in case some people wore this oil just for its scent. it is not the same at all. if you liked the fruity floral but don't like cedar, do not order it for the time being.

[lyricalwaters]

I think this thread might be a good place to bring this up, but feel free to move if I'm wrong.

 

Is there a difference between the Springtime in Arkham scents and the Picnic in Arkham scents? Specifically I'm wondering about Miskatonic - since there's only one review thread I was assuming they're the same, but it seems like I see people talking about the scents differently (i.e. I usually see caramel mentioned in regards to the old MU but not the new one) - of course, that could just be a coincidence!

[smallvoice]

I think this thread might be a good place to bring this up, but feel free to move if I'm wrong.

 

Is there a difference between the Springtime in Arkham scents and the Picnic in Arkham scents? Specifically I'm wondering about Miskatonic - since there's only one review thread I was assuming they're the same, but it seems like I see people talking about the scents differently (i.e. I usually see caramel mentioned in regards to the old MU but not the new one) - of course, that could just be a coincidence!

 

 

As far as I know, the scents are the same formula. I'm guessing that aging in the old versions brought out different notes, and there's also batch variation, but yeah. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, though!

[naughteblonde]

Im not sure if there is a reformulation of Misk U - Ive got 2 5mls of the Springtime version and one of the Picnic version. The older one has an undertone of something creamy which might be what people are picking up as caramel. It isnt present in the recent Misk U Ive got at all.

 

I kinda always assumed it was the age difference.

[Shitow_Haruka]

The imp I got from the lab back in January of Ulalume knocked my socks off. The "dried leaves" note came out as some remarkable earthy note that I adored.

 

Unfortunately the 5 mL I got in April when up-sizing had a definite wintergreen note to it. I'm hoping this is an aging issue, and have tucked it away to revisit later, but I'm worried that they may never match up.

 

edited because I can't type and spell at the same time.

Edited April 29, 2007 by Haruka