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I think The Rose will actually be the closest to Whip that you will find. Peacock Queen was much sweeter and less sharp. More like straight rose oil, it was lacking the fresh element of Whip. Victoria is tea rose so I don't think it will smell anything like Whip plus the vanilla musk will make it too innocent. I hadn't been able to pinpoint it myself, but I did want to say I think The Rose is too green. The rose in Whip is all petals, no stem, sap, green or leaf. I do agree that Peacock Queen was too much in the other direction, though. 2-5-7 might be a good middle ground.

Obatala is probably one of my favorite oils for summer - ever. I love it on beachy days, and last summer I blended an imp into an ounce of sparkly Skin Milk lotion and enjoyed slathering it for months. - I've never smelled another BPAL that was really like Obatala, it seems really unique. ELEGBA - the first imp of this I got I gave to a guy friend, because it smelled so delicious on him I thought he definitely should have it. I've gotten myself one since. It's second fiddle to Obatala, but different enough I'm saving an imp for summer. As for the others: OCHOSI - have somehow missed this one, never tried, needs to go on wishlist. OGUN - haven't tried it, but the notes scare me. OLOKUN - aquatics don't work on me. OSUN - I should add this to my wishlist since I've decided to give honey scents another try. OYA - dunno. SHANGO - bananas . . . I hate bananas. . . this smells of bananas. .. YEMAYA - I'd love to get a tester of this, the aquatic scares me, but the other notes sound yummy! PORT-AU-PRINCE - I have it marked on my xl sheet with red, which means "get it away from me as quick as you can - aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!!"

I found Marie very "perfume-y" and over powering, but I liked it, so I just diluted mine into 3 oz of unscented shampoo. Was quite lovely then.

Peacock Queen may be a bit heavy if I'm understanding you correctly. It's very lush and deep and more like what I think a commercial rose smell would be like. Pink Snowballs is OK, but a bit of a disappointment as it's not a balanced Rose Red + Snow White, it's more like 75% Snow White and 25% Rose Red. So, if the main note you want is rose, it's going to fall short. However, my FAVORITE rose BPAL, because I've never liked rose scents or rose perfumes, but I ADORE my Mothers rose garden with antique English roses and their smell, I like "The Rose" under Marchen. It smells the most realistic out of all the rose BPAL's I've tried. You really get the smell of a real, fresh, antique rose bush - yes, the whole bush. To me, it's the end all be all for the most true-to-life rose smell. oh, and for those considering Rose Red from the LE line, the difference between Rose Red and The Rose is *very* negligible. I believe Rose Red has *slightly* less "bush" and more "flower", but you'd really have to have them side by side to hash it out.

I will start out by saying. .. LOOOOOOVE! This was the only scent from the District that sounded like it might even potentially work and it did not let me down! This may be my new "go to" scent. In the Bottle: Fresh southern peaches with just a drizzle of honey and a backing of a summer warmed magnolia somewhere in the distance. Wet: The magnolia is stepping up and the honey is almost too much to overpower the peaches which have taken the backstage now. This is really heady. Dry: Peach has stepped back up to the front, and is ripe and juicy with just a hint of warm honey, the magnolia is probably at it's strongest now, but is soft and warm and just lovely. Depending on how the wiff hits me, it trades places back and forth with the peaches for dominance. This thing has some THROW and some staying power. When I was gifted with my BPALs, I had a bad sinus infection and couldn't smell a thing. This was the first thing I was able to smell (that, and then my parents' ancient basset hound's farts -ack!). It is definitely one of the most potent oils I've ever tried, but not in a bad way, and not at all cloying. Reminds me a lot of real magnolia trees, you can smell them for what seems like miles, but it's never "too much."

Bottle: it's like strawberry candy with something really wrong about it. The kind of strawberry candy that would make you go "YEAH! - hey wait a minute. . . " like the drugged candy of bad strangers in vans with no windows. Wet: Still very candy-strawberry smell, but not nearly as concentrated in it's syrupy-ness. I guess I don't really know what mimosa is supposed to smell like (drink or flowering tree?) Dry: It's still candy-sweet but starting to get a bit more balance to it. I'm a bit undecided at the moment, it's nice, but I'm normally not one to smell like candy.

I like the analogy of Mom's purse. Wet, it's soft, reminds me of Puff's tissue packets with the smell of old pennies and maybe a hint of old candy/gum? Not getting any leather. Dry, OK, I'm getting that hard to define "old lady" smell, and the smell of old corroded pennies, it's not just metallic, it's coppery. There's still something Puff's-like as, despite the corroded penny smell, it's stills soft and vaguely powdery. Corroded pennies wrapped in tissue?

Wet, it was very much like true orange peel, or bitter orange with some dry, unsweetened spices to it. It was nice, and very much NOT a sweet scent. Dry, most of the citrus has buggered off on me and left a very warm and strong blend of a couple of dry baking spices. Clove is a definite, but I'm also getting some Mace in mine as well. There may be a faint back note of dried orange peel, but not much for me.

When I read your post, my first thought was "The Snow Maiden" but "Pink Snowballs" would also be good if you like rose. I haven't gotten to try it yet, but I bet the Macabray would be lovely. Ultraviolet and Violet Ray (steamworks) might also both fit the same profile.

I'm with you, I don't like those smells much at all! Do you like things more simple or more complex? For simple, I really dig Carnal (mandarin and fig), there's just something about the blend that doesn't come across as fruity-fruity-fruity but more "nom nom nom, must eat own wrist" Recently, for a much more complex scent, I've been getting a fairly sexy-ish vibe off Lady Una (Honey musk, green tea leaf, blackberry leaf, vanilla bean, and fae spices.) of course, I also think really seasonal, and Carnal was more of a summer thing and Lady Una more of a fall thing (haven't really found one that jives with winter) Spring, I love last years Shungas, especially Tissue (white gardenia, raw honey, rice paper).

I was excited, but skeptical about this one. I love a good citrus blend, but there were some other notes I wasn't sure about. In the bottle: definite bright citrus with some flowers in the background wet: bubblegum. bright, fruity, bubblegum. :-( dry: Fruitstripes Bubblegum. I even asked the girl subletting my roommate's room to sniff me, she said I smelled like one of the fruity flavors of Bubblicious. le sad.

I had read a lot of the reviews saying it was like Snow White + Rose Red, and got all excited. In the bottle: I'd say totally Snow White, maybe a little hint of greenness in the background Wet: I can smell the Rose Red in there, but it's kind of like in the comic book "Fable" Snow White is definitely the dominant sister and hardly anyone ever remembers Rose Red. Dry: Powdery, soft, sweet, Snow White. . roses? .. I can't find them *le sigh* and I'd had such high hopes. I wonder what would happen if I could layer it with a little The Rose to restore the balance so it doesn't end up *just* like last years Snow White on me.

'09 version: in the decant: fruit and flowers sweet, almost no hint of "cold" like a lot of the other "snowy" scents. wet: Very sweet. There's now a kind of powdery, soft, cool-ish scent to it as well (powder not the Baby Powder of Doom). More fruit than flowers now, but I can't quite name that fruit. dry: much more of the powdery, soft and cool-ish now. It's still sweet, but there seems to be something at least attempting to cut the sweetness, I don't think it's pine, exactly, but it is evergreen-y. I'm uncertain of this one.

in the decant: peppermint citrus! I swear, it reminds me of when we used to stab orange halves with the old style soft peppermint sticks to suck the juice out through their hollow centers. Not quite that sugary-sweet, but I get a bright citrus right at the front of this one. wet: OK, it's pine, not citrus, but it's not like the normal pine that I really dislike in BPAL oils, it still smells a little fruity, like pine needles dipped in citric acid. The mint is mellowed a lot and I smell more of the floral notes .. dry: cut off the last one because this sucked dried fast. I really like this, the notes are very well balanced, not at all like what I expected from first sniff, however. Cold, please forget that I'm mint - mint, some distant flowers adding sweetness, and a very different kind of pine tree that could probably grow sour oranges. Muy Bueno!

'09 in decant: sharp and sweet cold mint. I can see how this could eventually age to smell like my bottle of Nuclear Winter 05. wet: There's almost something candy-ish, but just barely, about the mint. It's not nearly as candy or sweet as any of the Lick It incarnations, but it's sweeter than I thought from the decant. This is very cold as it hits my pallet as I sniff deeply. dry: this is a good one, I think, if you just want cold. I get that frostiness and definitely mint, but there's a bit of a powdery edge (but not Baby-Powder-of-Doom), it's not sharp-stabby cold any more.

In decant: Very clean and very cool smelling. It's not as sweet as a lot of the other "snow" scents from the Yules this year. I'm going to say I'm getting a lot of ozone out of this one. Very clean and sharp and thin, reminds me of pre-storm weather. Wet: instantly sweeter, I'm actually getting a little soapy scent here, like really clean, slightly cool/sweet soap. I'd probably love to wash with this soap, but I'm not sure I want my perfume to be this soapy :-( Dry: Fresh, clean, soapy, cold, linen sheets. *sigh*

The scent of frozen, dormant vineyards, bitter sleet, and piercing ozone, hurled through labdanum, benzoin, and olibanum. In the decant: This is horrible of me, but it reminds me of a joke in an old "Drawn Together" episode (first season, since that's the only season of it I ever saw). In it they make a joke about making mentholated grape pencils. Yup. That's what I'm getting. Mentholated grape pencil. Wet: It's sweeter, and less woody right off, but mentholated grape, nonetheless. Dry: Cold woods, not so much mentholated as just crisp and woody, there's a lot less grape, it's kind of gone into the background and is playing much nicer with it's friends. I could swear this has either pine or cypress in it now. Not for me, but it might be nice on a guy.

crap, what I get for reading the forum FAQ instead of the website FAQ (forum FAQ has the same list of percentages, but at the bottom had added that BPAL was 85-100%, but that was 2004. . . http://www.bpal.org/index.php?s=&showt...ost&p=50554 ) of course, now I'm going to wonder if the forum FAQ was always inaccurate or if there was a change in the past 5 years to weaken the formulas.

confused, seeking clarification of above: "and the Lab's scents start at 15% perfume oil and go up to 80% perfume oil. " I thought BPAL was 100% essential oils and natural accords? No dilution, no thinning, no synthetic fragrance oils." ??

Smells OK, but seems to be a complete loss on me. I've tried it a couple of times, anointing candle and myself along with meditation and focusing on what the oil is suppose to help generate. Two very different outings (both at bars, though one was a dive bar the other was a swanky theater bar); the first one I got the same reaction from everyone that I always get, no effect; the second one I got even less attention than what I'd consider usual. Had someone tell me I smelled like incense, not necessarily in a good way. Not a scent I'd wear if it were *just* a perfume, and it does seem to be *just* a perfume to me. ------ EDIT: Tried it one more time, this time adding a red colored candle instead of just plain white, and including a piece of rose quartz on the alter. Worst. Night. Ever. Ended up crying in the ladies' at my favorite bar because this guy came up and decided he could steal my chair if he said enough upsetting things to get me to leave. Not crude, or inappropriately sexual or like Dixie was being too powerful, no, hurtful, mean things. So I went to the upstairs part. No matter where I went, if people came up to me, it was to be mean. I finally got tired of everyone just throwing all their negativity and anger on me and went home. NEVER USING DIXIE AGAIN!

In the imp: at first I smell the woods, right up front, then there's this really nice fruitiness, but I can't deside if it's the blackberry jam or the strawberry juice. . . definitely mandarin in there too. . .I can't smell anything watermelon-like or gardenia-like. The berries are a bit elusive in the imp, keeps getting overwhelmed by the woody notes. wet: damnit! who said bubbleyum? I smell bubbleyum. *grumble* yup, that's all i can smell/think of now, is original bubbleyum gum. dry: at a distance, I smell a kind of mandarin-watermelon mix that drifts up now and again, away from the other notes. Up close, there's still a little woody background coming back, and the fore still smells like bubbleyum, it's a lot milder and less screamy-GUM!!, but it's still what I'm getting.

In the imp: MELON! woooo-boy, MELON! maybe a hint of citrus (lime rind or lemonbalm??) if I try and pick out notes. wet: still melon! little bit more on the citrus end now, maybe something slightly floral? wait? no. . no that's just more melon. dry: getting a more blended scent now, still starring melon, but now I'm getting softer hints of other notes, I'm getting the sparkly, champagne grape, mintiness now. love this! note: some throw on this thing! receptionist around the corner noticed it. Ha!

In the imp: strong violet, but something very dark and murky, I'm thinking the opopanax wet: lighter, more floral, but not sweet. There's a dry, earthiness which I would assume is the orris root and violet leaf. I am completely unaware of any hint of mint. dry: violets in the woods, that's what I'm getting. I wasn't sure I'd like this from my first sniff in the imp, the opopanax worried me. But now it smells like the powdery dust from the underside of tree bark in the background, and really beautiful violets in the front.

In the bottle, to wet to the skin to dry much later, all I smell is Girl Scout Thin Mint cookies (not that I'm complaining) The part of the scent I identify as "cookie-ish" oddly reminds me of Nuclear Winter 2005's somewhat underlying "vanilla-ish-ness" Do love!

In the bottle: lovely bright berries, a little honey, it's very fresh and sharp. Wet: musk and honey, and where are my berries fading to??? Dry: myrrh, musk, and powdery, dry, resinous, myrrh. It must be the musk. *weeps* Please hope that a few days of settling will fix this! I wanted the bottle everyone else is reviewing!