ljaylh

Honestly.. I think you should wear whatever makes you feel good - what you enjoy, what you think smells good! Sure, you need to consider other people and avoid wafting really strong perfume fumes all around you - but that's more about how much scent you wear rather than which scent you wear.

But having said that, I think the BPALs more likely to get up other people's noses would be the more resinous, incensey, 'dark' blends.. and also very strong florals. If you're concerned about it, ask a couple of your friends if your perfume's overly smelly and they should give you an honest answer

Can that be? Can the scent in the imp and the bottle scent differ quite a bit? who has experience?

Yes.. it sure can be. It's actually quite common

You need to be especially careful with scents that contain certain notes. For example; cocoa tends to sit in the bottom of the bottle - if the decanter doesn't 'blend' the oil in the bottle properly before making up the vials, you will get a decant that has less or more cocoa than what was intended when the mix was made at the Lab. I've noticed some booze notes like rum also don't always distribute themselves very well through an oil, so that could be the problem with your decant of Egg Nog - maybe you got one that came from the top of the bottle rather than the bottom (the rum tends to hang down the bottom of a 5ml). Hellhound on my Trail is well-known for having dark globules in it, like a lava lamp, and as far as I can tell by investigating my bottles.. it's the rum in the globules! There's also the whole issue of batch variances - like the infamous Infernal Lover red musk/no red musk bottles... so that also needs to be considered.

I just want to add that what I said above about decants is in no way a criticism of decanters!! Having done many many decants myself, I know how difficult it is to get cocoa and other things out of a bottle and evenly distributed into vials

I think imps are generally more susceptible to imbalances in the notes - I guess if you think about it mathematically.. in a 5ml you've got five times as much oil so the chances of all the notes being perfectly mixed is better than in an imp, which holds only 1ml.

Oh - and just one final thought.. Snake Oil is a bad one to compare imp vs bottle, particularly if your bottle is 6 months old and your imp is fresh.. the oil in your bottle would have changed through aging

Edited to add - there's actually a whole topic here about different smells/colours, same perfume that might give you some extra info!

.

I'm not familiar with that B&BW fragrance, but I think the best cherry blossom scent I've found in BPAL would have to be Voyeurs Among the Cherry Blossom, which came out with the 2009 Lupercalia collection. The notes are soft moss, vanilla musk, and cherry blossom, and you can find reviews here.

It doesn't have any pear or apple, which are probably quite present in the B&BW blend if they're listed as top notes - it's just a lovely soft/smooth cherry blossom scent - not overly sweet or 'fake' smelling at all and the 'soft moss' gives it a slightly woodsy feel - so I think would work beautifully as a layer over or companion to your B&BW fragrance. I know it's bad form to recommend a Limited Edition blend, and that one may be a bit tricky to find because it is quite sought-after, but I'm sure you could track down at least a decant to try if you hunt through the For Sale area here on the forum

The Phoenix In Spring, a more recent LE (notes are dandelion florets, cherry blossom, spring wildflowers, and myrrh) also got good reviews for its cherry blossom but I haven't tried that one myself. Reviews are here.

In the GC range, you might want to check out Kyoto (a gentle, soothing blend of cherry blossom, white sandalwood and star anise) for a nice dusky cherry blossom blend, and also maybe Aizen-Myoo (yuzu, kaki, and mikan with cherry blossom and black tea) which has a nice tangy fruit element. For layering something completely different that would work nicely with the cherry blossom in the BB&W blend, you could look at Morocco for a touch of spice or Lyonesse for a nice soft amber.

I hope that helps - good luck finding The One!

Has no one mentioned Gore Shock?

Oh.. I wouldn't say Gore Shock is quirky or bizarre.. it's just downright disgusting. Dead flesh, rotting things, stale vomit and unflushed third-world toilet. It's the only BPAL everthat has made me actually gag.

The quirky and bizarre thing about it though, is that some people (albeit only 2 or 3 that I know of) actually like it

Hmm.. this is WAY softer than I was expecting! I did one spray up in the air, and couldn't smell a thing!! So then I did a second spray... and there it was

The leather is definitely the star of this show - it's a gorgeous soft, snuggly leather - really warm and lovely. The brandy adds a top note of sweetness, which doesn't really smell boozy at all - just a warm rich sweetness which mixes nicely with the sultry pipesmoke smell. I'm not sure where the 'crackling firewood' comes into play - I don't pick up anything 'smoky' as such in here at all.

This will be positioned right next to my main man, Doc Constantine, as my 2nd favourite leather spray

To my nose, this is mostly spicy coffee.. with a touch of candied fruits, but the 'fruit' aspect is overwhelmed by the sweet spices which I presume are coming from the 'apple strudel' bit. The apple is there, but pretty well melded in with the coffee. Overall, Konditorei reminds me very much of the Gooey Pillowcase atmo spray from the '08 Halloweenies.. which is kinda weird, since they have no common notes, but I really am getting a very strong brown sugar/caramel fragrance from this one.

Unfortunately, I can't distinguish any hot chocolate - that's what I was most hoping for, so it's a bummer that I'm not getting any of that at all. This is a lovely spray if you like your room to smell like spicy coffee

Mmmm... Moroccan musk is a favourite, and it's gorgeous here with the opium poppy and clove - dusky, sweet and sliiiiiightly spicy. Orris is not often my friend though, and it's not working for me in this one. Overall, this ends up smelling like a rather generic commercial perfume - it's lacking the depth and complexity that I enjoy about the BPAL oils. In the end, all I get is a kind of bland red/smoky scent on my skin.

uhm... mouldy dirt with bitter pepper on top. I'm not sure what I expected this would smell like.. but that certainly wasn't it. Not a keeper

Oh honey, honey you fiend, why do you hate meeeeeeeee?

This would be beautiful, if only the honey would GTFO. Combined with the amber overload (I love amber, but there's a LOT of it in here), the honey is powdery and cloying. I can barely pick up the other notes because they are being smothered by the honey, but they are beautiful. BEAUTIFUL.

Damn you, honey.

For something that's more 'manly' sounding in its description, I'm finding Tony to be quite un-manly! As everyone else has said.. this is the smell of clean laundry - that 'busy day at the laundromat' fragrance of warm soap and clean towels. The smell of a bathroom after someone's just had a shower and the room is still a bit warm and foggy and soapy clean smelling.

It's a bit more complex than that though.. I swear there's something floral in here - lilac maybe? A hint of violet? I dunno - it's a pale and slightly sweet floral, not a herb-y one on me. Iris? Orchid? Gah - this is going to make me nuts, trying to figure out what it is!! What's also driving me nuts is that Tony smells very much like another BPAL that I've encountered.. but I can't remember what it is.

When I first put it on (and I confess, I did slather rather a bit) - it was a bit too heady and overly sweet, and I was concerned that it was just too much of a good thing. But it calmed down within about five minutes, and has now settled into being a lovely warm and snuggly soft scent. It's almost got a baby powder fragrance about it - not that it's powdery at all.. it just smells a little like baby powder. And I'm pretty sure there's a skin musk of some variety in here. Good throw, and excellent staying power.

I think I will wear this one quite a bit - it's one of those BPALs that don't really have a distinct or obvious fragrance.. it just smells good. Oh.. and I'm adding my voice to the chorus of "this would make a great room spray". And although I did say that I don't think this is a particularly manly smell.. if more men actually did smell like this, I certainly wouldn't be complaining

Hi willrollinsnow Welcome to the forum!

There's a couple of topics in the Recommendations topic that you might find helpful:

Best winter blends

Best snow scents

But in general, the best snow/winter/ice/frost etc blends come out in the Yule collection each year, so now's the time to check those out since they're still available at the Lab here - just scroll down a bit and you'll see the 'Yule 2011' blends listed. For a crisp/sweet candy-cane type vanilla mint, there's the 'Lick It' series - this year's is called Lick It Discreetly. For a lovely windy mountain snow, there's Ondurdis, and Snow White is a huge favourite for many.. it's a lovely vanilla with a cool wintery vibe. You could also check out the reviews for Yules gone by here - you'll see that some do contain a pine-type note, but there's lots that don't

the ones im keen on purely from comparing their descriptions fitting this criteria right now are:

 

archangel winter,

nuclear winter,

snow-flakes,

and house of mirrors

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but all of those are old Limited Edition (LE) blends, and they're going to be hard to find Some of the others in the longer list you posted are also either past LEs or no longer available so it's not going to be easy to find them all. I would suggest you stick to current LE blends and/or General Catalogue (GC) blends for now, until you have a better idea of what you like/don't like - there's so many scents to try, and looking for old LEs can be frustrating. I've seen a lot of the current Yules up for sale here on the forum - look for decants, or even half-decants (those are a great way to try a bunch of things without spending quite so much).

Oh, and to try and get as many imps/decants as you can at once - you could post an 'ISO' (In Search Of) in the 'Wanted' topic here - hopefully someone who has a whole bunch of your wanteds will be able to help you out. Good luck in your search!

Oh.. oh my

That ^^ was my first impression. I did one of those 1870's type swoon thingy when I opened the bottle and was greeted by a sensuous, heady blast of leathery patchouli and oudh.

On my skin though, I got something completely different - lime! Err.. what? Wait a minute - maybe it's not lime, it could be orange. No.. it's neither - it's like a mix of citrus-y something-or-other that smells like orange+lime. So this is the matcha tea, I'm guessing - I'm not a tea connoisseur at all, so I confess to complete ignorance about what matcha tea smells like, but I see previous reviewers have said it's got citrus tones. And at this stage I can also smell the rose - it's dancing around there in between the sharpness of the citrus - and the narcissus is also noticeable, along with the frankincense which almost always goes citronella/lemon-y on my skin and is totally doing that here. OK.. this isn't what I was hoping for, so I leave it alone for five minutes to see how it develops.

Five minutes later - WTF? All I smell is lemon. This is not looking good. Let's give it another few minutes.

At the 10-minute point, I start to worry that this just is not going to work for me.. it's still all lemon but the rose has perked up and amped quite a bit. And it's faded a lot already - it's now very powdery and faint. Where is the oudh, the patchouli, the star anise, the leather? WHERE?!?!?

But I will not give up.. so it's now 20 minutes since I first applied the oil.. and finally, Leather Phoenix is rising. There's the oudh - smoky and slightly sweet, and there's the patchouli - dark and rich but also slightly sweet. And the leather - well, it's more of a top note here than how leather usually is on me, but it's definitely come through. The star anise isn't really featuring, but I can tell it's there. The lemon/rose thing is still a bit too dominant for my liking, but it's not bothering quite as much now that it's mellowed into more of a sweetgrass sort of tone.. and what's really strange is that the whole scent has come back in full force when ten minutes ago I thought it had almost faded away - it came back with a pretty decent throw. But that only lasted for a short while before it disappeared again.

It takes about 30 minutes on my skin before I really start digging this, and that's probably what will see Leather Phoenix ultimately ending up in my swaps box - I didn't enjoy the early stages of it at all, and even when the leather/oudh/patchouli finally does come out it's still not really winning me over, and that lemony/rose thing never really goes away. If I had my Note Removal Machine^TM and could take out the frankincense, rose and matcha tea.. oh, that would be perfect! But alas I have not, so I can not. I know I'm being selfish here, but I kinda wish Leather Phoenix had stuck to being one thing or the other.. I just don't think that citrus tones partner well with woodsy/earthy/leather tones in general, and they certainly don't on my skin at all. Overall, I'm bummed

VioletChaos pretty much wrote my review for me! We must be skin-twins

YUM YUM YUM - it's HOT BUTTERED RUM! Boozy, smutty, hot, buttery, gluggy - it's all good. I guess I expected this would smell like.. you know, hot buttered rum, but I'm surprised at just how much it actually does smell like hot buttered rum.

Is that my most useless review ever? Yes! I think it might be!

Sadly, the initial YUM YUM YUM thing dries down to the awful smell of burnt brown sugar and melting plastic, as these kinds of things tend to do, so it ends up being not so great.

Big to the always lovely Dark Alice for sharing this with me

Sweet, buttery pumpkin.. with an undertone of orange candy.

Nothing particularly impressive, unfortunately - to me, this type of buttery pumpkin has been done already in previous pumpkin-related blends so this just doesn't stand out as anything special. It's not horrible or anything - it's just.. nothing new.

Usually I can discern individual notes, but with Senelion I'm finding it's just so well-blended that it's difficult to do that. On my skin, the amber is very noticeable (dry, dusky, slightly powdery but in a nice way) - and the combination of musks also gives a very soft/snuggly and dry tone to the overall scent.. so the amber + musks together lay down a beautiful foundation that really does feel like a dusky velvet night sky. The red musk is definitely there, and I would say that Senelion overall fits in the red/warm category, but it's not all HI I'M RED MUSK like it sometimes can be - the black musk is toning it right down. I was worried about the chamomile, which generally goes horribly wrong on me, but I'm not having any problems with it here.

On the not-so-wow list - I was hoping the star anise would be more of a feature, but it's really not all that noticeable at all once the oil has dried on my skin. The cedar is adding a slightly sharp/bitter tone, as cedar tends to do on me, but I know that it will tone down with some aging so that's OK. I'm also picking up something flower-y and earthy here - not floral as such, but just a general kind of smell - I guess that's the lotus root, orris and zdravetz influence. The red musks are definitely the most dominant here.

Side note - Senelion reminds me of Glowing Vulva but without the cream... also it's similar to Elephantine Colossus but without the sweetness/foodie factor of the root beer.

Overall, this is a lovely scent that stays pretty close to my skin - minimal throw, but it smells good up-close. And as others have said, I'm sure this will get even more sensuous with some age on it.

Edit a few weeks later.. my earlier comparison to Elephantine Colossus still holds true - except where before I said it was similar, now it's more than that - it's almost the same on my skin. And where before I thought the red musk wasn't too strong a player.. I was wrong about that (or possibly just these couple of weeks of age have changed the musk balance). I'm beginning to think that red musk might not be a good note for me

.

.

Hi chewy

I'm not an O lover myself (the honey doesn't work on me ) but some suggestions for that similar warm/snuggly feel:

Bastet - luxuriant amber, warm Egyptian musk, fierce saffron and soft myrrh, almond, cardamom and golden lotus.

Dana O'Shee - milk, honey and sweet grains.

The Lion - a golden, spiced amber, proud, regal and ferocious.

Werepuppy was a forum-only blend from 2010, so you would need to look for a decant in the For Sale area, but I think you might like it - it definitely has the 'snuggly' thing going on. The notes are: a fuzzy brown honey-dusted musk covering freshly-washed baby skin and a howl of milk breath. In the background, there's the barest hint of upturned soil and dew-covered squished stems from a trampled flowerbed. I would also second Victory's recommendation for Comforting Plush Companion, but that one may be hard to find.

Good luck with your search!

So, again, sorry if this question is in the wrong spot, but I have a bottle of Candy Corn Coated Candy Apple with a label with a witch in red sitting next to a cauldron and a bottle of Sugar Skull with a label with a dark haired woman with a chain on her wrist standing in front of flames....can someone tell me what years these are? I wish the review pages would include pictures! thanks anyone.

OK.. so your Sugar Skull isn't 2008, or 2010 - those looked like this ('08 on the left - photos from TwilightEyes' flickr page):

So yours must be from 2004, 2005, 2006, or 2007. I had some old SS bottles, '05 and '06 I think they were, and if I remember correctly both were cobalt bottles, however I swapped them away ages ago and I can't remember now what the labels looked like but your description does sound familiar. Is the bottle blue or brown?

ETA: I searched the Sugar Skull review thread, and found this description in a review for the 2005 bottle: "a lady, arm aloft ~ standing amongst flames... with bars in the background " - is that your label? If so, you've got the 2005 one!

Edited again to add this, because it might be helpful for future queries - I found that post by opening up the review thread for Sugar Skull then typing 'label' in the search box (search within topic).. the search results then brought up any review in the whole thread that contained the word 'label'

.

.

Did anyone else have trouble with DeSade but otherwise adore leather scents? DeSade smelled incredibly strange on me <snipped>

Yep! Meeee!!

I have found a few distinctly different types of 'leather' in BPAL blends - DeSade was sharp and harsh on me.. with almost a chemical-like udertone - like shiny new leather. I actually put together a list of leather 'types' that I have encountered about 18 months ago - it went like this:

Soft/suede type leathers - Sacrifice, NGG023 prototype, Rivet Goth, Nanny Ashtoreth

Dark/hot type leathers - Spanked, Crowley, Loviatar, The Black Rider, Brom Bones, Western Diamondback, Iago

Old/worn type leathers - Clockwork Couture: Male, Hunter

Sharp/fresh type leathers - DeSade, The Traveller

Red/brown/raw type leathers - The Red Rider

Sweeter type leathers - Liz (flowery/vanilla leather), The Blockhead (bubblegum leather), Dee

Clean/fresh type leathers - The White Rider, Liz (again), Clockwork Couture: Female

There's been a few more since then - I would add Fetish.Goth to the sharp/fresh category, and Captain Cully should be in there too - maybe in soft/suede or perhaps old/worn. But these are just my impressions - when you read reviews for all these blends, you'll see that the leather notes give very different results from person to person.

What I really, really want is a black vanilla, leather, musk (maybe with amber as long as it's not "golden" or "light") scent.

I would recommend Western Diamondback or Dee if you haven't tried those already, or try layering your favourite leathery BPAL with a little Snake Oil

phew I figured I did the work for myself... I might as well share and maybe save someone else some time

Great job archergrl - thank you!

I wore Snow White 2011 for Christmas day today. My Yule order happily arrived on Friday, but I couldn't resist wearing Snow White, an all-time favourite no matter what year.

Hey SNAP! I wore Snow White for Christmas Day today, too! Mine was the 2004 version though

Perhaps an odd choice when it was a beautiful summer's day today - sunny and quite warm - I chose Snow White because it just smells nice on me.. it's the BPAL that I usually grab when I don't want to smell of anything particularly, but want to just smell good

Tossing in another vote for Morocco! I think it's a great mix of 'pretty' with the soft vanilla and 'exotic' with the spices. Try dabbing some in places that are less likely to be right in the direct smelling zone.. like behind your knees, lower back - that way, the perfume won't be right in your/his face but there will still be an air of smellygoodness around you

From your list, the other ones I'd consider would be Boomslang, Snow White, and The Shadowy and Sublime.

I hope your date goes well! And I sure hope he isn't wearing Old Spice or Brut, after all the thought you're putting into how you want to smell

 

any guesses?

 

sharkdiver - that looks like the same style label and bottle as my GCs that I bought in early 2007, so my guess would be that your bottle is a vintage of somewhere around 2006/2007 - maybe even 2008. It's definitely at least a couple of years old though

First up - I must give some big love to mimers99 who gifted a little bit of this rare beauty to me

When I first put it on, I was in a haze of buttery spiciness - on me, it's not a popcorn-like smell.. it's just not that sweet. About one minute in, I realised it was reminding me of another BPAL so of course then I spent the next fifteen minutes trying to remember what I've smelled recently that's like this original Hellfire.

I think it's a lot like two BPALs - one is Paper Kite (which on me is a slightly burned cream and brown sugar-ish smell that I really didn't like at all), and the other is Bread and Butterfly (which on me, is buttered raisin toast). I also very much agree with the lovely cfrancesca's review above - it definitely has a similar feel to Hearth '05, and maybe even slightly Sugar Skull-ish (old SS, that is) - there really does seem to be some brown sugar element in here. After a full dry-down, it ends up being somewhere in between the two - buttery raisin toast with brown sugar and cream. Much later in the piece - a soft muskiness does come out and the 'raisin toast' vibe has significantly mellowed, but it's almost completely gone from my skin in less than two hours.

Not what I was expecting at all - from the description, I was hoping for a musky/spicy bourbon-ish scent with a smooth cream feel.. but nope, it's nothing like that on me. I'm really happy that I've been able to try this - as one of the BPAL unicorns, it's been on my wishlist for ages, but thankfully I won't need to sell a kidney or an eyeball so that I can find any more of it

Hmm.. I'm not familiar with the Ferrari Black fragrance, and that is an interesting mix of notes! So here's a couple of ideas that might be worth a try:

Mr Nancy - sugar cookies with bay rum, tobacco, and lime - not as sweet as it sounds, the 'sugar cookies' have an interesting slightly peppery/spicy smell, and the lime is really nice but not 'girly' or sweet. The bay rum and tobacco together give the whole thing a lovely woody quality. You can't get this as an imp from the Lab, but I'm sure you could find a decant in the For Sale area.

Casanova - a rakish blend of leather, anise, lavender, bergamot and amber with tonka, lemon peel and lusty patchouli the lemon peel will give you a similar citrus vibe, and the bergamot in this one is lovely.

Rapture - Moroccan rose, Sumatran rose, mandarin, Egyptian myrrh, night-blooming jasmine, bergamot and neroli thrust into Arabian musk - mostly for the exotic rose notes, but also the jasmine + bergamot with the musk are really nice here.

Baghdad - amber, saffron and bergamot with mandarin, nutmeg, Bulgar rose, musk and sandalwood - softly spicy but with nice deep florals and a warm/dusky feel from the amber and sandalwood.

Spider - white ginger, artemesia, vetiver, nutmeg, King mandarin, bergamot, and lime - gorgeous lime, softly spicy from the ginger and bergamot. Also not impable.. but again, check the sales area.

I dunno.. maybe those recommendations are a bit off, but check reviews and see what you think

Big hugs to my dear friend stargirl who sent me some of her SOHG to try

OK.. so I guess someone had to come along eventually to put a dent in the perfect record of rave reviews that have been posted so far.. and yes folks, that person is me

Firstly, I should tell you about my hair. It's very fine-textured and light, but I have a decent amount of it and it has pretty good shine in its au naturel state. Length is just above my waist at its longest point at the back. It's blonde - natural, not bleached or coloured (although a little sun-lightened in places, I think), and it's in good overall health although I do have some shabby ends. And it's naturally curly - depending on the day (weather, hair mood or whatever) it can be anything from soft waves to curls to full ringlets, and on days when it wants to be a bitch it goes stringy. It has magical abilities to form tangles and knots all by itself, don't ask me how.. it just does. Oh, and one more thing - I don't brush my hair. I can't brush my hair. Best I can do is run my fingers or a wide-toothed comb through it, but even that's asking for trouble. Brushing turns nice soft curls into floofy candyfloss mayhem.

Anyway.. on to the hair gloss. I received mine as a decant in a bottle not a sprayer, so I splotched about 6-8 drops into the palm of one hand and then rubbed my hands together until both palms were slicked with the hair gloss. Then I swiped it over my hair (slightly-damp almost-dry hair, not wet) very carefully to make sure I didn't get too much on. I concentrated more on the ends and sides rather than the top of my head or close to the scalp. I could definitely smell the Snake Oil, and the gloss has a nice slippery texture that isn't sticky at all.

Result - well.. to be honest, I didn't really get a result. I thought perhaps there was a bit of extra shine in a few places, but I'm not sure there actually was - I think I just wanted to see it. And even though I was really careful about applying it lightly, it went on too thick in a couple of spots and made my hair look wet/greasy. My hair did feel quite soft after I had first applied it, but it's usually very soft anyway.. then a couple of hours later it was feeling dry and looking really dull and my hair was just as tangled as it normally is so definitely no help there. The fragrance was very mild - I could smell it, but I certainly wasn't walking around in a little waft-cloud of SO all day. And when I tried to smell it again after about 8 hours, it was pretty much gone - I get better results from a couple of dabs of Snake Oil itself through my hair.

So I guess this hair gloss just isn't for me - I've tried it four or five times now, but I'm still getting the same non-results - I think my hair is just too fine/light for it. Maybe it's because I'm not able to brush it through my hair, or use it as a styling product - I dunno.. perhaps it's just my silly hair. I'm disappointed, of course, but not surprised - I know my hair pretty well and I was kind of expecting this would happen. I'm going to give it another try on damp hair, and use more of it, to see what happens. If the results are better/different, I will edit this review

edited for clarity

.