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Ahh.. smoky vanilla.. how I love thee. You, patchouli - not so much, but thank you for being quiet in this one. The ginger makes my nostrils tingle as it always does, I *think* I can detect the saffron and sage, but honestly can't say I am getting any berry out of here and the myrrh is also doing a pretty good job of hiding. After drying down and being on my skin for about 30 minutes, the patchouli has come to the front a little more and the vanilla has deepened its smokiness, and the spices seem to have warmed up.

In the sunshinedaisybliss make-believe filing cabinet of BPAL categories, this would be sharing a file with Hellhound, Raven Moon, Sunbird - maaaaybe Le Pere Fouettard (if Le Pere didn't have licorice) - they're some of my dark, mysterious and smoky loves and although this one is really not exactly like any of those (closest match for me would be Sunbird) - it definitely has that same

sexy kickass thing going on. Personally, I'm with the men on this one - I love the darkness rather than light

First up.. big goes out to Cinderfallen for grabbing a bottle of this for me!

This is the weirdest thing! At first it really does have a glue smell to it.. all the hot chocolate and marshmallow goodness is there, but with a layer of glue over the top. That gloopy white glue you use for.. err yeah, gluing eyes on to puppets! This must be the puppet-making stage.. when everything smells a bit new and glue-y type smells linger in the air.

But then.. BUT THEN... this becomes all soft and delicious hot chocolate and marshmallows.. definitely pink, not white marshmallows. The glue thing never quite goes away completely, but it keeps things interesting on my skin.. oh there's the glue! No wait, it's gone. Mmmm chocolate. Oh glue's back! No, it's gone! etc. As angelicruin and Lycanthrope both said.. weird, but I kinda like it

It's not overly sweet, it's more powdery - but not in a soapy way - just soft and yummy. The cocoa is not quite like any other BPAL cocoa I've encountered.. if I had to compare, I'd say it's most like Gelt, if you can imagine Gelt without the amber - just that same powdery, dusty cocoa.

This is a big winner for me, even with the glue

This is feminine and pretty, soft and ethereal, light and silky.. very apt for its name.

I'm thinking.. skin or perhaps white musk (very light), something in the pale pink floral range (also very light), and a slight hint of perhaps champagne or white grape (very very light).

Whilst this is definitely very lovely, it's not a "me" scent - I think Beth does these ethereal/elusive soft florals beautifully and there's a lot already to choose from. So I will enjoy this decant and be thankful that I'm safe from needing to find a bottle of it

<snip>most of us have found S-F to smell like SW plus a gentle mint, so if you're okay with mint, you can get your hands on some S-F right now and see if you like it.

I just happened to get a decant of Snow-Flakes today and you're right.. it *is* very similar but for me the mint is quite prominent and is actually getting stronger the longer it stays on my skin.

(By the way, while there may be batch variations from year to year, I've never heard about any actual note variations in Snow White.)

I was querying this in another thread, because I just LOVE my Snow White '05, but figured it wouldn't be easy to find more of that same year so I wanted to know what people thought about subsequent releases. Responses were varied, but most people did say that some years ('07 in particular, I think it was? apparently has a really strong coconut thing going on), and were completely different to previous releases. So I think the jury's out on that one but it does seem that they are indeed varied from year to year.. but I'm inclined to agree with you that it's batch rather than notes, because I think that if the notes changed then that makes it a different thing.. kinda like how we've had different Milk Moons and Blue Moons through the years.

But back on topic.. I'm going to try layering Bliss over Snow White and see what happens!

I love Candy Butcher, which I did not discover until long after it had gone out of stock. Fortunately, I found that Snow White has a note that appears to be in common. I've seen speculation that it is a lily musk or vanilla musk, or perhaps some cream note that they have in common. If you know the note I mean, please, please, point me in the direction of other perfumes that share this note! It is my holy grail of scents.

Thanks!

I don't know why I didn't make this association before now - I love Candy Butcher (as you know ).. and also Snow White - but I've only tried the 2005 version of that and I believe other years have different note combos.

So on the surface, they appear to have nothing in common - "dark chocolate with a heavy cream undertone" vs "virgin snow, crisp winter wind and the faintest breath of night-blooming flowers". But you're right - they are similar.. however I think the similarity is more a sensory than olfactory thing. Having said that - I know many people report a floral tinge to Candy Butcher, which personally I don't get but I can see how others might.

Anyways, you've got me thinking.. I'm going to see if I can think of any other blends with a similar vibe to these two. Uhmm.. just off the top of my head - Antique Lace, maybe? If I come up with anything, I'll report back, but I'll be very interested to see if anyone else has ideas!!

thanks! Definitely adding The Great Sword of War.... the 5 conflicting herbs in its description scared me off initially, but I'll try it! Thanks<3

Oh yes! I forgot this one!! I heartily second this recommendation - definitely grab yourself some.. it's fantastic, however I must agree with paperrose that it's much nicer with a bit of aging. Have fun with your testing!

Ah yes.. tonka, lovely sweet smooth tonka..

From the recent Literary Vampire series, I thought Mircalla used tonka nicely. I also think that it's the tonka that gave Lilith vs The Giant Crab its lovely sweet waxiness. And from the Retail Salons - Haloes is a gorgeous tonka - stunning if you like rich wood-y golden notes (Oak, tonka, vanilla, white sandalwood, lily of the valley, white ginger, amber, and apricot).

Hmm.. I just realised those may be difficult to find. So from the GC - you've already mentioned Perversion (Smoky rum and black tobacco with a whisper of steamy leather with a splash of crystalline chardonnay, layered over a sensual, sweet, and deceptively magnetic base of tonka) and I'd definitely agree with you on that one, it's a must-try!

I guess it depends how you like your tonka mixed, but you could try using the advanced search option - use the keyword 'tonka', select just the 'Reviews' sub-forum and then check the button for 'Search entire post' - that should bring up any reviews that mention tonka.

My skin can handle soft, delicate, barely-there kinds of rose, but for me.. Aphrodite v7 is ROSE. Sharp, strong, rich, ROSE. So my skin goes "Oh HELLO rose! Just one moment, I'll turn all the amps up to 11. There we go!".

There *is* dark greenery in there, and maybe a hint of jasmine, but really it's just ALL ROSE.

What a bummer.. I won't be keeping this, it's just too much rose. And wouldn't ya know it.. even after attempting to wash it off (yes, sadly, the rose was *that* strong on me).. I can still smell it. Why is it that the notes you can't wear are the ones that refuse to wash off?!?

Sorry Aphrodite, you are beautiful but not for me.

Hmm.. very green and salty, and definitely evocative of that incandescent mist that you get on the ocean - I think its more a winter's day mist, rather than that early morning mist you get on the ocean - something about this is almost winter-y and cold feeling. On my skin, it's very "fresh" and clean smelling.. definitely not the icky kind of sea breezes that carry odours of seaweed and nasty things. One hour in, and it's softened up beautifully, but the green & salty is still definitely there.

I'm not sure I will wear this very much, but it really is a very lovely scent and quite unlike any BPAL I've tried before.

Very, very nice - it is a little heavy at first but then the spices come out and it leaves a lovely dusky, warm and exotic scent in the air. I would describe it as an "old-fashioned" kind of scent, something like you'd find in a 17th century sitting room full of opulent velvet chairs and intricately woven Persian rugs where a lot of pipe smoking gets done by gentlemen with fancy waistcoats.

So.. like Catseyes before me.. I'm celebrating the resurrection of the lovely Hod and also realised I haven't put a review in. So I just had a good slather!!

Mmmm.. this really is a tough one to try and pinpoint what's in it. I do think carnations is right (so that's not floral, not sweet, but slightly peppery with a faintly nutty undertone), and my next guess is tonka - creaminess with a slight wood-y tone, maybe a dash of teak in there? Something very musky - like Hellion but WITHOUT the plum, there's a gold/brown velvet-y thing going on.

I'm not sure if I'm detecting amber like others have mentioned (no soapy thing or powderiness which is usually a sure sign of amber on my skin), and I also can't pick any honey or milk or almond.

I put this in the "rich and complex but subtle and sexy" category, which if it were part of my BPAL filing cabinet would also hold Hellion and Glowing Vulva. Not that Hod smells anything like either of those, but to me they all have that velvety creamy thing going on.

Anyway - if you're on the fence about ordering Hod now that it's become available - at least grab a decant, it's definitely worth a try and who knows.. maybe you'll love it as much as I do

I smell like a pumpkin pie

doo dah

doo dah

Pumpkin pie does smell like I

ohhhh doo dah dayyyyy

Try Detestable Putrescence (melty vanilla ice cream) its probably the closest to a vanilla only scent we're gonna get..

Seconded! Fortunately I don't suffer from the dreaded vanilla-turning-into-plastic syndrome.. so Detestable Putrescence for me is a gorgeous soft and creamy sweet vanilla (despite its name suggesting otherwise) - just like melted vanilla icecream. I've seen both bottles and decants for sale here on the forum, and it's also still available to order from the Lab here

I put this on my wishlist because I'm determined to try BPALs that don't necessarily appeal to me.. in the interests of expanding my horizons and all that.. but really, this had a high scary quotient.. skin musk, pink musk, white amber, and ICK star jasmine - it all sound just a bit too girly la la for me.

So.. consider my horizons officially expanded. This is absolutely gorgeous! Had I not read the notes, I would have said Vasilissa has orange blossom in it - I'm getting a lovely waxy almost orange from it, but I suspect that's the pink musk blending with the sandalwood. Jasmine in any form usually turns immediately into baby poo on my skin, but all it's doing here is adding a sweet top note - I do know it's there, and I would probably prefer it not to be, but it's not overpowering at all.

It's very feminine and pretty, the creaminess is just gorgeous. It has a similar feel to The Girl, I think. If you're reading these reviews and still having trouble making up your mind about Vasilissa - I'd say definitely give it a try, you may be as pleasantly surprised as I am.

Thanks to nrl1978 for the frimp of this!!

First up, I want to thank the lovely nrl1978.. I initially turned my nose up at Raven Moon (me + Lunacies = poor success rate) and then the reviews started coming in from Will Call and I thought hmmm.. maybe I need to get me some of that. So I put out an ISO, and she popped up and said she'd grab a bottle for me.. and now here I am.. smelling fabulous!!

*ahem*

So, back to the review. Well - what can I say that hasn't already been said.. this is a beautiful blend - like many others have said, I wish I had bought more than one bottle. No particular note stands out above the others - the smoky vanilla is dark and smooth (not at all sweet), the musk and patchouli are deep and velvety, and the benzoin is present but not to the point where it's pushing anything else out of the way. Although I can sense the nutmeg and chili they're not making this spicy as such - just adding a bit of oomph to it.

Raven Moon actually reminds me a bit of Hellhound.. weird maybe, since there's really no common notes between the two, and it's not even that they smell alike - it's just that this has a similar feel in terms of being dark and slightly menacing - but where Hellhound has a tobacco & rum kick, this has a smooth velvety caress.

I bet this is going to smell even better after some aging... but I'm not going to stash it away - it shall be worn, and often! And I shall now engage my ninja stalking skills so that I can lurk around the sales threads and find another bottle

What a strange one this is! At first I thought for sure it had patchouli in it - it goes on very strong when it first hits your skin. That went away, and I had baby shampoo on my arm for a while. Seriously.. what's that about?!? Then it went very cologne-y, and into some sort of soap/aftershave limbo for a while. Finally - 1 hour later - I have this faintly dirt-like smell left, still quite strong but completely different to how it started out. I'm pretty disappointed in this one, to be honest - I was hoping for a nice warm golden resinous glow kinda thing, but that never happened.

I don't want to smell like this, and I wouldn't like a man to smell like it either - it just smells.. cheap (I hate having to say that, but it's my honest opinion). Yay for those of you whose skin played nice, but I'm beginning to think copal is not my friend.

I'm so glad I got to try an imp of this, because I was actually going to buy a bottle unsniffed. But not now, this just ain't my thing.

The whole "snow" thing is a bit strange to me.. because I live in a part of Australia where it never snows, and at the time of year when it's snowing in the US it's usually around 100 degrees here! So I've generally avoided the whole snow thing in BPAL, with three exceptions...

Snow, Glass, Apples - I know this is hard to find, but definitely worth hunting down - it combines the icy cool you'd expect from snow and glass with the crisp, sweet tartness of apples and is really lovely.

Snow White - a favourite for so many people, but a new discovery for me. I've got the '05 version and I really LOVE IT - soft, sweet, cool, just gorgeous.

Snowblind - chilly vanilla.. this *does* have mint, and quite a strong mint at that, but after it's warmed up a bit on your skin the vanilla balances out the mint quite nicely and sweetens it up.

I don't mean to hijack the thread, but can any of you Snow White aficionados tell me whether all the Snow White releases are exactly the same from year to year? My chances of finding another bottle of the '05 version are slim, but I'm reluctant to buy the others in case they're different.

2005 Blend

Considering it never snows in the part of Australia where I live, it's really not surprising that I haven't dabbled in many of the BPAL snow-related blends. That is.. until I discovered Snow White '05.

I realise This is going to sound very weird, but have you ever come back from a day at the beach - basking in the hot sun, swimming in the cool ocean.. and smelt your skin afterwards? I don't know about you, but for me this is one of my most favourite ever smells - I love how my skin smells when it's been at the beach all day. No.. not all salty and suntan lotion-y, but musky and warm. Well, that's how Snow White '05 goes for me. This might actually be the best match for my skin chemistry that I've found so far in all my BPAL adventures.

There's an almost smokey vanilla kinda thing going on, slightly cake-like but not at all foody or sweet, and a slight tinge of something that's a bit like honeydew melon. Just YUMMY. It actually reminds me of hot summer nights when you can smell sweet tropical flowers and the blossoms of fruit trees in the air. Did I mention this is going to sound weird? It's supposed to be a winter blend, right? Yeah.. well..

Anyways - this is a definite winner. It just works for me. I'm going to have to try this year's version and see how it compares.

Edited to update - Ok, so I tried two newer versions - '07, and '09. Results - '07 was bearable, but very sharp and fake smelling.. I didn't really like it. But oh dear me, the '09 one was unbearable - it did this weird mint/rotting flowers thing on me, then dried down into a smell of burning plastic. In both cases, I could still smell 'my' Snow White in there, but it was all wrong. So my conclusion is that I can only handle SW when it's aged.. and this has been confirmed by getting a bottle of the '04 version, which is just as lovely as my '05. So.. there ya go! For me, it's gotta be vintage only

This is a very impressive blend.. diabolical voluptuousness indeed!

It starts off quite heavy on the patchouli, juniper and oude, very earthy and feral smelling. Then the red musk and blood come out, and it sweetens up beautifully but the patchouli is still there keeping it dark and mysterious. After about 30 minutes on my skin, I get the rose (this would be a deep red velvety rose) and that's mixing with the blood & red musk to give it almost a fruity vibe - I'm guessing it's the violets messing around with things that's creating the sweetness. Then it changes again and goes back to being all dark and mysterious.

This is a scent that throbs. Throbs? Yes, throbs. As in.. it's very alive, it keeps changing and getting more and more interesting as it wears. I agree with previous reviewers - this doesn't seem like a day scent, it needs to be worn at night with your sexy vamp gear or most seductive corsetry.

I think this is exactly what Lucy may have smelled like and I'm quite sure this will have hypnotic properties if placed strategically on the neck

When this first went on, it was nasty NASTY get this offamenowaaaaaaggghhhhhhh! How nasty? Kinda like a mixture of peanut butter, poo, and rotting meat. Uh huh. Like ND¢ before me.. I too made such a face.

That mostly went away, leaving behind a weird kind of boozy, honey-ish rose with a teensy touch of something slightly rancid lurking in there.

Errr.. not for me. Interesting, though.

Hmmm.. I have weird skin.. on me, this is like Monsterbait Underbed had a secret tryst with Orange, made little babies and decided to call them PX117.

Spicey orange yumminess!

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I'm seconding portalkat's excellent suggestions - the only problem with Midway (and/or Midway Resurrected) is that it can be hard to find. However, Detestable Putrescence is sooooo similar to Midway, and currently available! I think you should definitely give that a try for your vanilla fix

I finally got Scurvy!!

I was worried this would smell like either fake lime-candy, sharp sour lime, alcoholic lime.. or a combination of the three. But nope - thankfully my skin is treating this with some respect and giving me a lovely soft and natural lime.. exactly like a fresh lime when you first cut through it. After it's been on my skin for a little while, the initial blast of lime softens up and goes a little creamy, slightly waxy and almost musky - perhaps it is sandalwood as others have mentioned.. it's hard to say, but there's definitely something more grounded that's lurking behind the lime.

With summer coming up in this part of the world, I know I'm going to be wearing this a lot. I may need to hunt down a second bottle - I think I'll go through this fairly quickly.. it doesn't stay on my skin very long, as others have mentioned.

Huge hugs go to parrot_suspect who used her stealth ninja skills to hunt down this bottle for me

This is a beautiful soft, sweet orange. I'm sure there's something else in there, but I'm not getting any sense of creaminess or musk.

On my skin, it's not as rich/deep as the Gaiman orange, nor a creamy candy type like Albedo, it's just a lovely soft sweet orange. Oh, I said that already