lady_pandora

Cicuta is not really a morpher on me--I get mostly a lovely soft rose and frankincense throughout. I can't really identify beeswax or saffron, but something is making it a little sweet, and something is making it just a bit spicy and exotic, so they're here. This is a beautiful classic incensey rose. I get a visual from it--this is in a cut-glass bottle on your grandmother's vanity, if your grandmother is a stone fox. I think maybe Hymn is a little like this, but it's been yeeeeaaaars since I smelled it, so who knows. Anyway, I really like Cicuta. It doesn't smell like gnarly nosferatu at all. It smells like old-fashioned glamour.

It is, and I'm bimodal too! I seem to have at least two big categories, which I might overgeneralize into Spicy Vanilla and Incensey Rose, and then I have some randoms that don't fit either category, and sometimes they appeal to me because they're like nothing else I own. And you can put a little citrus with either category too.

Smells like someone poured lavender oil into my bottle of Undertow. I get lavender, lotus, and I think some mint. It feels very "cooling" and refreshing. A bit medicinal. Gradually, the mint fades out some, and some other green herb comes in--maybe thyme? This is a little more herby than what I prefer in my perfumes, but I think this would be a smashing sleep scent for hot nights. This imp is staying with me.

MANLY MEN'S COLOGNE OF MANLINESS. POUR HOMME. OK, I hate to sound so gender essentialist, since of course anybody can wear anything they want, but perfume is so much about scent associations, and this is, for me, a giant whomping whiff of "DUDE." In my earlier BPAL days, when I thought I hated vetiver, it was because I didn't like vetiver in this type of incarnation. It's super aftershavey and super strong. It's well-blended and I can't really tease out all the separate notes, and I can step into my objectivity shoes and see that this is a classic cologne scent and wouldn't be out of place in any department store, but it's not for me. TTP mentions Drakkar and I think she's dead right. I can connect it to Stoker in that Dracula would wear this when trying to pick up women. That and it's a classic type scent that probably existed in some form during Stoker's lifetime.

Never tried either this or One to Tie, but you might try an imp of Roadhouse--some people didn't get the booze notes at all, and it just smelled like grass and dandelions on them, going by the reviews.

Voodoo Lily is such a weird scent! At any given point, I'm never sure if I like it, but I feel the urge to keep it around. First things first, this doesn't really have anything to do with the scent Voodoo or with the practice of voodoo, it's just the name of the plant. But if you google them, YOWZA, you can see why they have such a suggestive Latin name, Wet, Voodoo Lily is floral and something weirdly savory but also sweet, like sweet pickles? There's a bit of incense too. The skin scent is more pickley while the throw is much nicer and more of a "normal" floral. But there's something "off" about it. And it turns out that one of the voodoo lilies is the plant known as the (spoiler cut for imagery you might not want in your head): ...which I have never actually smelled, but have heard a lot about. It does make sense for there to be an "off" quality, then, and I guess I should be glad Beth didn't make it any more naturalistic! It dries down to a floral that is odd and a little discomfiting, yet strangely pleasant, that's sort of spicy-nectar-lemon-honey, and I can't pin it down any more closely than that. It gives me a slight headache, so maybe I should swap it, but I feel like it needs more time to get to know it.

Frimp from the Lab. I really hoped to like this one as I have some attachment to the Greek gods of death, and I did end up liking it quite a bit. It was not without its weird stages--I actually physically moved it into and then back out of my swap compartment in the middle of testing it. It starts out dark green notes and something cleanser-y. It reminds me of a cleaning product my mom used when I was a kid but that I don't use--like maybe Comet powder. I have no idea what note is causing this impression. It develops into rose and myrrh and cleaner, and then eventually just rose and myrrh without the cleaner. After an hour, it's almost all myrrh. It reminds me of a (non-BPAL) single note myrrh oil I have and sometimes use in ritual. Really pretty, and appropriately somber. And then later there's sweet smoky wood to go with the myrrh. After an inauspicious beginning, it ends up really nice. I was reading the Phoenix update while testing this, and kept forgetting this was supposed to be Thanatos and not a Phoenix scent. It's certainly smoky/resiny enough to be one. Smells sacred and temple-y.

Wolf's Heart starts out smelling like spices and incense, and then turns to honeysuckle or linden (I can't really tell these two notes apart). It smells amazing, frankly. I've used it a couple of times when trying to work up the nerve to have difficult conversations. Both times, I did manage to take the leap I needed: the first time, I was able to stand up for myself when placed in a difficult situation at work, and the second time, I was able to overcome my nervousness to make a phone call I was stressing about. That second time, I didn't manage to reach the person, but I count it a victory that I was able to call at all, because I'd been freaking out about the prospect. Definitely keeping this puppy around.

The oil is kind of pink, which I think is really charming! And really, charming is how I'd describe the whole composition. I get mostly white wine and soft rose. It's a little like Symmakhia, which I thought it might be. I can kind of pick out the "fizz" of the champagne too, and a little wood in the late stages. It isn't super strong on me, hovering close to the skin. It's soft, pretty, and elegant. I want to try layering it with something like Lights of Men's Lives to evoke the candle in the scene.

CURSE YOU, YLANG YLANG! I was always on shaky terms with ylang ylang, which used to do weird things on me sometimes, but it had been years since I'd tried anything containing it, and all the rest of the notes in this were made of win, so I bought a blind bottle of Lucille Sharpe. And I do like it, but the ylang ylang is making it into something much different from what I expected. Wet, I smell rose, ylang ylang, and maybe red fruit. Plum really makes itself known a few minutes later. And then the ylang ylang kicks into high gear and dominates. One of the weird things the YY does on me is that it smells kind of 80s, hairspray, alcohol-y (though maybe the lily is involved in this too? IDK). It has kind of a nose-stinging edge to it. I think this maybe reminds me of a perfume that some adult wore when I was a kid. It's mostly plum and sharp ylang ylang, with a little more rose returning about an hour later, but still mostly those two things. Waaaay into the later hours, it becomes really amazing, when the YY loses its sharp edge and smells almost fruity. I do like this, but it's not "my" Lucille; it's maybe Lucille reincarnated as a bad-girl rocker (now there's a plot bunny!). It just comes out distinctively 20th century on me (and I do mean 20th, not 21st). It makes me feel really badass and sultry, for sure! I think it will be a good going-out scent. ETA: And lots of staying power. I can still smell it after showering the next morning and putting on a different scent. ETA 2: I let Lucille cool her heels for a few months. Wow, this is just amazing now. The ylang ylang has calmed down a bit and the amber has restored order. It's now a well-balanced, well-blended fruity-floral with a honeyish amber holding it all together. If it were a color, it would be dark purple shot through with gold.

When i first opened the bottle, the first thing I thought of was Mini Magdalene, because like Mini Mag, Edith is all sweet syrupy vanilla in the bottle, like huffing the bottle of vanilla extract. On my skin, it turns quickly to vanilla/light musk and doesn't really morph a lot, though I pick up a little more sandalwood as the hours go on. But mostly vanilla/musk. It's like a smoother version of every vanilla musk perfume I wore in the 90s, which actually is perfect for the vibe, because Edith feels very innocent and nostalgic to me, and as golden as the light Del Toro lights her in. I wish I got a little more sandalwood, or any oudh at all, but this may come with age. I like this now, and hope to love it more in a year or so, therefore it's a keeper.

In the bottle, I smell vetiver and rose. Once I put it on, the vetiver morphs into woodsmoke, though this is a strangely (beautifully) soft woodsmoke; this isn't Djinn, it's not acrid at all. Over that is a haze of plum and incense. I can't pick out the patchouli individually, and I can't pick out the opoponax or tonka individually either, though I think they're what's rounding out the vetiver's edges and making it so wearable, and creating the incensey feel. Like OctoberGwen, I get the incensey rose late in the scent's evolution, it's like evil!Spellbound. This is gorgeous. It was the longest shot of all my CPs, and I bought it in the hopes of finding the gothy scent I was dreaming of for fall, and Black Moths nails it. This. This is what I wanted.

Well, variety is good too! I have some favorite notes and note combos, but I like to also have some stuff around that's totally different, for different kinds of moods.

This smells, like, I think, pepper and detergent? Think the pepper note from Bengal, warm and spicy, not the pink pepper note from, say, High-Strung Daisies that's bubblegummy. Anyway, warm and spicy laid over something cooler and kind of soapy. It sounds like an odd combo, but it's comforting and grounding, like being in your grandma's kitchen if your grandma were a witch high priestess. I used it tonight in a ritual to Hecate, and felt a kind of tingly energy after using it. I don't have a lot in the way of tangible results to report, but I will use it again, and will update if new insights result from it. ETA: Later, when I went to bed, I had the same issues getting to sleep that someone else mentioned, and "saw" spooky images in the abstract patterns on my bedding? Odd...I'll make a note of that.

Yep. And I've also done a lot of falling in love with the concept behind the scent but not so much the scent, or loving a scent I wouldn't have tried on my own because the concept doesn't really do much for me. (Frimps are great for the latter!)

The best might have been Monster Bait: Underpants back in the day. Of the ones I actually have, maybe (Not So) Penitent (Mini) Magdalene, or maybe Sinus Amoris, which has a lot of other stuff going on too, but the vanilla/sandalwood combo in it is just awesome.

Oh, you're making me wish I had that "already tried" list. It feels like it might be a bit too late at this point. It's a very good point about the vanilla. I wonder about that sometimes.. it must be difficult to create so many scents. You have to make things that aren't to your taste and still trust that they're good. Otherwise everything would be the same notes. Yep! It actually took me a while to realize vanilla really is a strong positive for me, in and of itself. Because it is in so many things, and because I had mediocre associations with it originally (like, cheap candles), I didn't really give it much thought for a while, but it turns out it's a divine elixir that can make all sorts of things work on me, and I like the scent of BPAL vanilla in itself too. (Amber can do this too.) I've had to do some thinking about note combinations too. Like...I like citrus, but it's got to be grounded somewhere--a scent with nothing but citrus will be forgettable to me, but put that citrus in with some amber and florals, and now we're talking. Or, I figured out I could wear vetiver, but I like it better combined with some things than others. And vanilla/sandalwood is almost a master key to my heart apparently.

Soooo much mint! I've now tried Jinx Removing, and I think I'll make this little new moon ritual a part of my routine each cycle. I've had kind of a crappy month as far as tension and drama and heartache, and it was really nice to take a moment and affirm that I'm washing it off and starting over with the new cycle. I'm not really a bath person, but I went topless for this ritual and applied the oil to my shoulders and arms, which is where I tend to carry my tension, in sort of a "brushing dust off" motion, while saying that I was brushing all that stuff off like dust. Then I put some on a white candle and lit it. I didn't expect to feel an immediate effect, but I did! First of all, it creates a tangible cooling sensation, but I also feel lighter now, maybe a little giggly. TAL is awesome!

Ladies of a certain age, and by certain age I mean your late thirties, do you remember wearing Sunflowers and that initial burst of citrus that was surprisingly bitter? 52 starts out kind of like that. It's fresh and citrusy and fruity but not sweet. It doesn't stay smelling like Sunflowers, but that's what it reminded me of early on. Gradually, I start to get some sandalwoody throw, perfumy with a touch of floral, and eventually it morphs away from the citrus entirely into the perfumy floral/sandalwood. There's something a little piercing to the nose here, too, that reminds me of "regular" perfumes. In the early stages, I would have said this was a summer scent, but in the later stages I'd say it's season-neutral. It's intriguing and has a lot going on; I don't think I've plumbed all its depths yet. And it's definitely unique. Right now I don't feel like I'll necessarily need a whole bottle, but I will use this imp.

There's been a lot of tension in my office lately, and today I tried wearing Euphony to calm that down. I put it on my heart chakra and said something like "May my heart be full of peace," on my throat chakra and said something like "may I speak peace," and on my wrists and said something like "may I act in peace." The scent is really beautiful. There's a slightly lemony thing at first, but that isn't lemon, and is subsumed before long (and in hindsight I wonder if it's a first appearance of the frankincense that dominates later). Then I think it's rose and maybe a little sandalwood in the middle stages. I'm not always good at telling the roses apart, but I feel like this might be white rose. It's kind of powdery at times, but not in a bad way. I would definitely wear this just for the scent if it were a GC rather than a TAL. After a few hours, all that drops away and I think this is just frankincense for the rest of the day and evening. The office was still kind of a horror show, I'll admit. But like Czarina, I found that it helped keep me from making snarky comments at several points, and even when things got tense, it felt like the tension wasn't burrowing as deeply into my emotionally as it usually does. I guess to affect the whole office I'd need to diffuse it all over--but of course you never know what allergies people have and so on. At the very least, though, it's useful at calming me and keeping me from spreading the drama.

The mandarin in Belle Epoque was super quiet on me, but YMMV! It definitely behaved itself.

See if you can get your hands on Fairy Thorn: "an eerie veil of vanilla musk twirled with tuberose, Siamese red benzoin, cassis flower, Irish moss, white sandalwood, plum nectar, violet leaf, and apple petals." It was an LE but not that long ago and I don't think it's rare. I also wonder if you might like Belle Epoque: "Sweet opium, Lily of the Valley, vanilla, mandarin and red sandalwood." (The easy way to Holy Graildom for me seems to be combining vanilla with sandalwood, so my recs may be a bit skewed in that direction. LOL)

It's one of the Steamworks and a handful of people have reviewed it: http://www.bpal.org/topic/78516-behemoth/ but it's not on the Lab page nor listed as discontinued, so you might have an unreleased scent on your hands.

I put off testing Brown Jenkin for a long time, I think because I irrationally thought it would actually smell like rodents. Spoiler: it doesn't. It starts out a surprisingly sweet nutty vanilla scent, on me, and then turns to incensey coconut. It kind of makes me want to eat my arm, and yet there's something a little unsettling in this stage, and I think it's the juxtaposition of the foody coconut with the very much not-food incense, like you're thinking "I want to eat this NO I can't eat this it's incense." And then finally it settles down to a waxy vanilla blended with sandalwood and some smoky spices I can't identify. This smells a lot like...um...Not So Penitent Mini Magdalene. I'm not sure if the comparison makes sense. They do have sandalwood in common, and I think there's unlisted vanilla in Brown Jenkin, and I guess the rest of the sameness comes from something unlisted among the smoke and spice notes. I haven't worn Mini Mag in a while, so I need to wear it again soon to be sure, but if there's a GC substitute for Mini Mag, that could be quite handy when I run out. Anyway, I like it a lot.

I was expecting an ozonefest, but this was not like that at all. It goes on cool, juicy cucumber. Now, I've never really been into the cucumber thing in bath and body products. It's not really "me." But I have to admit this is fresh and well done, and that it might make a good scent for a hot day. But then in the later stages, a powdery floral overrules the cucumber. I might not have correctly identified plumeria without reading reviews; I had been guessing it might be white musk or something. But it being plumeria explains why I don't like this later stage. I never really did like plumeria back in the day. Sadly, a miss on me.