cinderfallen

There's the pear. There's the vanilla. Yup. The vanilla isn't rich or decadent, more icing vanilla and some pear glaze. I was lured by the rarity of pear notes in the catalog, but ultimately, it's not very exciting.

It's apple full blast at first, followed by a ton of guava+passionfruit and spicy carnation--so much carnation that at I was initially afraid this was going to do the craftstore candle route. Nope the tonka must give enough grounding because the scent reins itself back and becomes a really clear, creamed fruit scent. My pulse points make the scent a lot more vanilla while my cooler forearms retain that crisp fruitiness--probably due to the carnation which gives that edge. I think the combination of sweet pea and sugarcane is acting almost like honey in this, giving a soft nudge to cushion the fruitiness. The apple recedes enough that it's reminscent of apple peel, and the end of each fruity waft is softened by that tinge of cream. I love that this a very soft scent, not too much of anything, and not too little girl at all. I get wafts of soft cream, gentle carnation, and very blended + harmonious fruits. Lasted for hours and hours.

This was very briefly lilies on me and then turned into a lot of woods, faintly sweet.

I remember being super disappointed when I got my bottle of (fresh) Morocco because I was like, "WTF this smells exactly like Antique Lace." For what it's worth.

You might find some more recs in this topic thread for generic "skin"-type scents: http://www.bpal.org/index.php?showtopic=11721 Perhaps aged Illustrated Woman applied with a very light hand?

Does anyone have any recs for a scent not overtly floral/fruity/incensy? It just kinda sinks into into your skin and mhmm...it's just you. Fairly subtle, just that quick whiff of warm skin when you peek over someone's shoulder. I tried O, but it's a bit too much like food... (Also, I don't really like vanilla.) Not too fond of incense, either... Is there any hope for me?

I get this vibe a lot with the Salon/Retail scents than I do with anything in the LE/GC catalog. I think because these are meant to really be perfumes. These are the scents I would gift to people who are used to upscale juice. Madonna: Hyssop, pomegranate, Angel’s Trumpet, Indonesian patchouli, iris, white orchid, and frankincense. Dark Delicacies: devil's trumpet accord, black orchid, tonka, coconut meat, fruit gums, osmanthus, smoky resin, myrtle, and Indonesian patchouli. I find these two smell very much alike at first--it might be the devil/angel's trumpet, which is a very striking and darkly aggressive floral. They're both supported by an herbal and elegant patchouli, and rounded out by other things that smell extremely expensive. Madonna has a very gentle and refined finish in comparison to Dark Delicacies, which remains a power scent through and through. SCHLAFENDE BAIGNEUSE -- NO I can't spell this. =/: Skin musk, white cream, honeycomb, yellow rose, King mandarin, chrysanthemum, golden amber, honeysuckle, and wide-throated yellow monkey-flower accord. Sweet and gentle and soft, and really pretty--but expensive. The one that has and always will be outta your league. Judith and Holofernes: Skin musk, honey, carnation, French magnolia, patchouli, sandalwood, and immortelle. A few words to really describe this scent is "collected," or "balanced," maybe. Very self-assured, feminine, with a subtle grounding provided by the patchouli and sandalwood that never approaches intrusive. I'd gift this to someone I admired.

This is an extremely elegant perfume. There are a lot of novelty scents in the BPAL catalogue that really evoke the concept, but few true perfumes. I love the execution of this and would really recommend this as a gift for someone who's not into BPAL. Woody sandalwood supports the subtle floral, and the honey is just a touch of syrup to the airy magnolia. It's the same magnolia as in Yvaine, actually and it really works to act as the transition note between the sandalwood and the carnation.

This is quite pretty. It smells very much like Dark Delicacies at first--with the overlap of Angel/Devil's trumpet, white/black orchid, and patchouli, I wonder what it could be? I'm going to go with the Angel Trumpet as the sharp, sinister floral scent that eventually calms down into a softer, sweeter, flower scent with the hint of tart pomegranate. The end result is as aquatic as I'll ever be able to wear for my tricky skin chemistry, very soft and serene. The morph is very aproppriate of the painting of a dark Madonna.

This almost works on me...but it's really wishful thinking. Something has soured/powdered on me but above that there's something that smells almost like coconut and lychee.

I totally mangle the rose, and probably the moonflower as well. Super sharp and sour and unpleasant. It's somehow powdery and soapy and almost moldy at the same time. Wow. It's bad.

This smells a LOT like Khajuraho to me, where all I really get is champaca, a super pink and sugary candy scent. And...that's it, really. Not much of Snake Oil at all to tone it down unless I stick my nose into my arm--and I think that's only because the high-pitched champaca has knocked out my nose functions.

Wow, this is some WINE. A really dark, woody red wine, the kind with lots of tannins is the first thing I smell when I apply, dirtied by something almost skin-like, plus a hint of clove. Drying down, the mimosa rises to the top, which is a very sweet, fresh-smelling thing that floats over the initial scent. Eventually, they all seem to be intermingle, but unfortunately, this specific combination (fresh topnote, rich clove base) is really reminding me of a candle. And not a very good one. Ah well, the intial scent was interesting enough to make up for it.

Seaweed, ambergris, and sea buckthorn berry with exotic herbs, incense smoke, ship wood, and Burmese musk. Male berry cologne, to put it simply. It's rather sharp and bracing, with that "cologne" blast, with an almost minty berry note on top that sweetens it up. It's not anything my chemistry can pull off, and i think it's stuck between a cologne and a candle on me. Recommended for the guys, perhaps.

This is easy to review for me as it went straight to a spicier Snake Oil with lily (as in Black Lily). The very creamy, almost waxy floral base note is still lingering after my shower. Really. I know this was a lovely fantasy floral in the bottle, a bit faint, and quite nice on others--a subdued floral with an aquatic tinge, very proper and pretty, but...I wonder where the heck that went on my skin? ETA: This definitely has a base of golden amber as I've discovered *ahem* that my skin loves to amp this. Which is why it smells like Snake Oil, et. al.

It goes on like orange citrus, a little floral, but nothing too special. A light pretty scent. It's steadily getting a bit deeper, though, not as light and cheerful and actually getting a bit aggressive--in a good way, if this scent had a personality. The sweet orange turns smoother, more integrated with the resins? Which are smooth and creamy, and sophisticated. A huge morph! And yet even as it turns more sophisticated, more light, pretty, sweet aspects turn up in the top notes which are undercut by the sharper orange pulp, and the spicer resins. It really does do a balancing act between two sides as it constantly evolves. I haven't had a BPAL do this before at all! Now I'm getting more spiced orange juice cake.... Wow, I love this. Very pretty scent throughout. It dries down as the adult orange creamsicle scent I've been longing for, where it doesn't smell like candy, but there's a muted orange, there're the sophisticated resins pulling it down, there's a creamy skin musk undertone, and a wonderful complexity of the hint of flowers at the edges. Recommended for those whose skin digs the resins--it'll really rein in the other notes!

Also try Dark Delicacies for a subtler kind of dark--not heavy, a little watery even, but with distinct resins and coconut that back up the floral.

I've been really looking to try the East, but timing never seems to be right for swap/sale'ing for it. Le sigh.

Everyone knows the story. The wait. The anticipation. And then the bitter, bitter letdown when you've got 5+ mLs of an entirely different perfume than the one you fell in love with. :evil: That happened for me with Anubis, which was so, so, so GLORIOUS, sweet but with with this plant-y sap note holding it back... The bottle of the stuff was just saccharine sweet in comparison. That delicateness wasn't there. And I take my bottles seriously.

Hmm, morocco is the vanilla sandalwood (hint of carnation) I reach for. mouse turned into plastic, underpants was very in your face, and love's philosophy was too vanilla ice cream for me.

Seraphim is one of those blends where I blink and go, Huh. I have NEVER seen mentioned or have recollection of ever entering my mental register. But it's very pretty and sweet, and smelled charming right out of the vial. It reminds me a lot of Queen Mab, maybe it's the white sandalwood? This smells like a creamy floral with wooden undertones, and refreshingly a bit tart on top. The floral itself isn't a dominance battle between the players, and at points I get a bit of young yellow rose that peeks its head out a bit farther than the other florals, except for maybe the wisteria which is the note that's slightly tart? I've never smelled it before. Underneath, I can't tell whether it's a powdery note, or a charmingly woody note that tames the sweeter parts of the scent and grounds them. Not wood as in trees, but maybe more like sandalwood, but more homegrown, like a dried twig or branch, that almost dusty plant smell, dry and palate-cleansing for its simplicity. The smooth floral tartness is a good counterpoint to this. I've got sinus congestion, so I'm not sure if my perception's accurate. I'll be back to edit the review if I remember.

LOL, I was expecting rankness from some of these reviews and I was kind of looking forward to being grossed out, which didn't really happen. The oil smells pleasant to me, actually, but that may be because I'm congested? In the vial, the musk isn't so much animal but sleep-warmed skin. Wet, I get the opium and can discern the red musk, as well as the civet note beginning to come together. On drydown, Debauchery smells mostly like Scheherezade carried by a very rich and robust musk (civet, probably) that doesn't so much announce itself as just give the red musk/spices a lot of body. Sort of like that "absence" of scent when you try and smell your own skin? But that indefineable warmth/presence? That's the kind of invisible musk that elevates the rest of the blend and creates a radius of warmth. There's some kind of spice as a top note that's an amped version of the kind in Scherezade, but I'm not too familiar with those. Something like...saffron/nutmeg with a bite like cinammon? This smells like the perfume version of Scherezade, actually, which I think smells more like an old bookstore's New Age incense, louder and more wanting to be noticed as a hippy. Debauchery smells like something you'd wear if you want a slight opium-tinged, smoky oriental-spiced musk perfume. I may change my mind when I finally get back the full use of my sinuses, however.

There is a soapy intro, but judging by the way the scent settles down, it looks like a bit of aging will take care of it. It smells nothing like what it does wet to dry. Settled, this reminds me of a stripped down Salon--SCHLAFENDE BAIGNEUSE. ...and ohhh, of course, that makes sense doesn't it? Where Schlafende Baigneuse is richly gilded with various delicate and creamy florals, Nudie keeps to the basics--the rich length of skin musk, and what I associate to be the same yellow rose note, sweet and charming, velvet soft, with a slight hint of fresh tartness to befit a young bud. I think I actually prefer Nudie to the Salon, because the sleeping lady's perfume is a thing of fine-wrought elegance, as soft and pretty as it is. Nudie is that wonderful, on-the-go instant comfort, especially on the days I want to feel pretty but not announcing any attention to myself. Makes me feel like my skin has turned into the petals of a creamy-fresh flower petal. In terms of sex appeal, I'd say this reminds me of the perfume in Suskind's novel, Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, or specifically, what I imagine Virgin #1 smells like, from the perfume coffret created for the theatrical release of the film. The scent of Before, beguiling. Specifically, Christophe Laudamiel (perfumer) in this interview says: “Ah, we used to have have a botanist at IFF, B. D. Mookherjee, who would analyze flowers through headspace technologies. One of his experiments involved taking this technology from the navel of a young virgin, it was all done with her parent’s permission and had a lot of criteria involved such as diet, etc. and we recreated his technology for the odour Virgin. It was the scent of clean skin. This was only one facet of the scent, the innocence came from yellow plum Schnapps.” I get the same feeling from the skin musk and yellow rose. From Basenotes:

REMEMBER TO SHAKE/ROLL/REBLEND THIS SCENT!!! When I first got my decant from when it was first released, I coughed from the overwhelming pine and cologne-scent. Trying it again about 9 months later? OH MAN. The pine backs off a LOT and the cologne feel goes away. I love what I'm left with, even though I don't know how good a *perfume* Illustrated Woman makes. It doesn't smell *beautiful* but it's arresting, charismatic, the way you just want to continue sniffing where you put it on. There are prettier scents that I like because I know it's likeable, and others will also find it pleasant, but Illustrated Woman is something I put on because I personally just want to smell it, not necessarily smell *like* it. But you know, if I were to smell like it? This, more than any other BPAL scent I tried, is the thing that screams SEX to me. The skin musk just melds with my chemistry, and the smoked vanilla and earthy pine/resins and tobacco dirties everything up--yeah, it really works with me. There's definitely the smoky vanilla that rises to the top, but not in an obvious way--it works to reign in the pine, tobacco, and resins, and they combine to make a soft warm, soft patch of scent that rises a couple inches off my wrist. The honey is a very light touch, where you can just make out that golden lilt of it, just to the side of the pine's interesting character, the lightest glaze to the vanilla. The pine itself can be a punch at first (not straight pine--once everything has a chance to settle down and age, the *characteristic* of pine sticks around, not the pine itself, if you can follow what I'm saying)--but in a couple minutes, even that warms up and softens up with the resins. The vanilla is not foody, but it's lush and warm and tones down the brassiness of the perfume a lot. Once dry on my skin, the aggressive characteristic of the scent softens considerably, and the scent is a glow of warmth and soft sensuality. I like how the pine gives the scent some backbone without becoming overwhelming at all--it gives it edge, and the softer notes all fall in line with it. I never thought I really LOVED this scent? But my decant is almost gone, so I thought it was time to order a bottle. I think this is one that calls for some aging, so the sooner the better to get a bottle.

I figured out what this smells like: driving through dirty, dusty LA when I was little, windows down, fresh from the beach, slightly chlorinated, a bit of smog and ozone from outside, cold and refreshing wind wafting in something slightly sweet from outside, maybe a bit of greenery from fresh-cut trees or a bit of someone's perfume.