If I like Bloodlust, Whoso List To Hunt, and Rapture...

[Bonehill]

Yesterday my boyfriend asked what I'd like for Christmas, and I just had a thought today - maybe I can ask for my first full BPAL. As far as I know though he doesn't know much about perfumes, so I want to give him a selection of perfumes that he could buy me one from (that way, it's a surprise which one I get, but I know I'll probably like them).

 

Back in January I ordered seven imps (which I have since misplaced, which I am very sad about): 51, Bloodlust, La Petite Mort, Lyonesse, Rapture, Whoso List to Hunt, and Malignant Dreams of Cthulu in Love.

 

In order, my favourites were:

1. Whoso List To Hunt
2. Bloodlust
3. Malignant Dreams
4. Rapture

 

The notes for Whoso List To Hunt, Bloodlust, and Rapture are:

• Dragon’s blood essence, heavy red musk, Indonesian patchouli and swarthy vetiver with a drop of cinnamon.
• Sensual brown musk, rich amber, English rose, oak bark, and moss.
• Moroccan rose, Sumatran rose, mandarin, Egyptian myrrh, night-blooming jasmine, bergamot and neroli thrust into Arabian musk.

I couldn't find Malignant Dreams' on the BPAL site.

 

Given those, what perfumes would you recommend, please?

[Haltija]

I recommend looking at:

 

Blood- A vital, bold scent, throbbing with sensuality. Essence of dragon’s blood resin, thickened with myrrh and cherry, with a trickle of clove.

 

Dragon's Heart- A scent pulsing with vitality, warmth and insurmountable strength: dragon’s blood resin, red and black musks, a throb of fig and a sliver of black currant.

 

Wrath- A scent aflame with rage, swirling in the red haze of hatred: dragon's blood spiked with black pepper, clove, and cinnamon.

 

Fenris Wolf- The raw, untamable power of chaos. Rosewood, amber, red musk and a dribble of red sandalwood.

 

Le Lethe- Red musk and sweat-damp golden skin musk with labdanum, golden amber, nutmeg, tobacco absolute, black orchid, and hemlock accord.

 

War- Red ginger, black spices, patchouli, honeysuckle, and three blood-soaked red musks.

 

Iole- A serious, studious scent: fig, night-blooming jasmine, red sandalwood, bourbon vanilla, oak bark, leather accord, and black amber.

 

Spellbound- Perfectly enchanting! An irresistibly sexual, utterly rapturous blend of three roses, radiant amber, and sensual red musk.

 

I hope I was of some help

Edited October 4, 2014 by Haltija

[Bonehill]

Thank you for those suggestions! I particularly like the sound of Wrath and War, and Le Lethe sounds intriguing.

 

(Maybe I'll ask him for Bloodlust, Wrath, and War, and then I can scare people when they ask about my perfume collection : P)

[Haltija]

Thank you for those suggestions! I particularly like the sound of Wrath and War, and Le Lethe sounds intriguing.

 

(Maybe I'll ask him for Bloodlust, Wrath, and War, and then I can scare people when they ask about my perfume collection : P)

I like both War and Wrath a lot but I do admit I reach for War more often. I reach for Le Lethe VERY often. It's sexy and still dark and so wonderful. Teehee some of the funniest things are when someone asks "What are you wearing" and you have to tell them the name and they scrunch up their face like "What in the world"

[keileya]

Your likes sound very similar to mine, with the exception of Rapture (too flowery for me)! I've tried most of the Lab's dragon's blood scents by now -- it's one of my favorite notes -- and I love vetiver. Things you might want to try:

 

GCs:

 

• Sin (Sin and Salvation): "amber, sandalwood, black patchouli, and cinnamon". I expected to hate it, because I dislike patchouli and it dislikes me, but I tugged open the imp to sniff it before tossing it in the giveaway box and ten minutes later had to fish it out because the imp spit on my fingers smelled so damn good. It's warm and fuzzy, well rounded with a hint of velvet. My wife called it a "date night" perfume and she's totally right: it's grown up, sophisticated, and sexy.
• Fire for Thy Stepmother's Daughters (Marchen): no notes listed, but from what I can tell, there's a heavy dose of dragon's blood underpinning this, and the Lab uses vetiver in a lot of their smoke/fire/burning scents and this one is no exception. To the best of my ability to figure it out, though, there's also lotus in here, which gives it a sort of, hrm, bright and chilly overlay to it -- the whole thing comes out as sort of the sense-impression of long-cold ashes. (That sounds less appealing than it really is. It's the sort of perfume you don't necessarily wear to be alluring, and I think some people would find it prickly, but I found the whole thing very comforting.)
• Rogue (RPG): "Soft, well-worn black leather, hemp, and rosin." Pretty much exactly what it says on the tin. It's definitely a black leather, and it's definitely well-worn and soft and completely broken in; the hemp rope is very very new-smelling. The rosin is a little bit piney, and depending on how your skin chemistry works might be a dealbreaker -- every friend of mine who's tried this one has loved it except one for whom it turned into hamster shavings -- but it's still a fabulous leather scent. I described it as "the very best kind of S&M dungeon".
• Djinn (Diabolus): "The scent of black smoke, of crackling flames, and smoldering ashes." Another vetiver-containing smoke/fire scent. This one starts out as a bit cold and austere, then takes a left turn into being this glorious smoky herbal/sweetgrass smell with a hint of vanilla underneath. A lot of people in the review topic called this one acrid or unpleasant, but on me it's not at all: it's more "mankind's first tool" fire than uncontrolled wildfire. I find it very warm and comforting.
• Brimstone (Bewitching Brews): no notes given, but it's another vetiver-heavy smoke/fire scent. My review of this in my sniff log is really hysterical, because I spent an hour trying to figure out just what the fuck I was smelling. (There's a sentence in there that sums it up nicely: "I'm having real trouble describing this one. It's a dozen different scents over the course of five minutes and I'm still not sure if it's something I'd wear, but gosh is the performance fascinating.") Definitely start with an imp first and not a bottle, since this is something of an acquired taste, but on me it was wet wood and baked-dry dirt and long-burning campfire and the faintest hint of something green and growing after the wildfire. As I noted by the end, "everything is still on fire and I can't stop smelling myself and this perfume confuses me. A lot." All of this is probably not selling it very well! But despite being really confused by it, I was also fascinated, and I keep coming back to it -- it's incredibly compelling.
• Iago (Illyria): "black musk, wet leather and vetiver." Newly-tanned brown leather boots with green and growing things underneath, confident and cocksure.
• The Black Rider (Marchen): "Black leather, oppoponax, tobacco, and black amber." This is a very outdoorsy and resinous scent without being at all green or herbal or floral. It smells a bit like riding through an old-growth forest at sunset in late autumn. It's rich, thick, warm, and golden, and I love it to death.

 

And the Ars Draconis category gets its own bullet points:

 

• Dragon's Musk (Ars Draconis): "Dragon’s blood and five deep musks." I've tried all the Ars Draconis scents and I liked pretty much exactly half of them; this isn't my absolute favorite but it's pretty high up there. The musk tames the floral end of the dragon's blood, while the dragon's blood sweetens up the musk and keeps it from being oppressive. It's a very well-balanced chord that just keeps getting better and better as you wear it.
• Dragon's Heart (Ars Draconis): "dragon’s blood resin, red and black musks, a throb of fig and a sliver of black currant." This one is very similar to Dragon's Musk, but a bit sweeter, very body-smell and animalic. I described it as "comforting, in the way that having a large dragon on your side can be comforting".
• Dragon's Claw (Ars Draconis): "dragon’s blood resin and three sandalwoods." Starts off as sweet and resiny sandalwood, sun-warmed and faintly smoky; picks up an iron/metallic note that smells like a draconic blacksmithery.
• Dragon's Hide (Ars Draconis): "Dragon’s blood, leather and a hint of smoke". Possibly my favorite of the Ars Draconis scents. Lots of subtle undercurrents; leather and smoke and tanned hide. An earthy, sexy smell that manages to be both warm and dry at once, like curling up against a big hulking dragon in sandy scrublands up against the side of a mountain cave. I think this is what Charlie Weasley (from the Harry Potter books) smells like!

 

And LEs/unimpables, if you want to try tracking them down/finding decants:

 

• Kit (Only Lovers Left Alive): "Mysore sandalwood, a tattered and patched 16th century waistcoat, inkstained, still scented with the marjoram and benzoin dry perfumes of his youth." The sandalwood in this is a very thick and encompassing scent, low-pitched and enveloping, with just the smallest hint of brightness from the benzoin and marjoram. I described this one as very aggressive and decisive: this is a perfume that knows what the fuck it wants and isn't going to let anything else stand in its way.
• Hatta (Century Guild): "Copaiba balsam, battered brown leather, and Ceylon cinnamon." This one is absolutely amazing on me, and all my friends who have tried it have also loved it. It's like an old battered leather bomber jacket that's perfectly broken in, that's been hanging up next to the spice rack. On me it's a close-hugging, snuggly scent that feels just the right amount of dangerous, like that bad boy/bad girl your parents never wanted you to date but who got your heart fluttering like nobody's business. One of my favorites.
• The Ifrit (Neil Gaiman/American Gods): "Desert sand, red musk, blackened ginger, dragon's blood resin, black pepper, cinnamon, and tobacco." This one really does smell like desert sand warmed by the sun: hot, dry, and bright, the scent equivalent of lying out on a big old rock in the summer desert heat and soaking up the warmth.
• Agnes Nutter (Neil Gaiman/Good Omens): "Gunpowder, charred wood, smoke, and rusty nails." This is one of those BPAL scents that utterly floor me with how precisely Beth can ping particular scents that you'd never expect to find in a bottle: this one really is exactly what it says on the tin. The wood is a sweetwood and the nails really are rusty, but it's a softer burning scent than some of the others, and the vetiver in it is the soft fuzzy version and not the sharp challenging version. This one also gets a shoutout for being the first perfume I've ever tried to contain a note that is exactly like what pistol blowback smells like on skin.
• Time's Infliction of Eternity (Century Guild): "A sanguine blend of Dragon’s Blood sedum and black tea." This is the resiny end of dragon's blood (as opposed to the floral end), counterbalanced neatly by the slightly-astringent note of black tea. Resinous but just a tiny bit sweet, a hint of tannin, a little bit of the fruity/floral end of dragon's blood in the background. It's probably one of my top five BPAL scents ever.