Caltha

I tried to search but I didn't find any similar topics so I hope I didn't start a duplicate thread! Anyway, my question is, which BPAL scents are the most natural smelling and the least perfumey? I know this is subjective but I'm just curious... It's not really a matter of which scents you like the most, it's simply a matter of which scents are the closest to natural outdoors scents to you. Even if that natural scent is something disgusting like "compost pile" I'm also curious about which scents are the most original, which scents are unlike anything commonly found in perfumes. Here's my list so far: Kumiho: fresh green herbal citrusy grassy Nosferatu: wet, cool earth with some herbs/grasses Penny Dreadful: dry autumn leaves and earth Amsterdam: fresh spring flowers and grasses, natural smelling but quite common in perfumes Ulalume: compost pile New Orleans: rottening trampled petals of heavy smelling, large waxy flowers Zombi: earth, decay and dried roses By the way I'm especially interested in knowing if you've come across any scents smelling truly like: deciduous forest moss earth mushroom lichen fern bog/swamp/marsh/mire/tarn stone grass rain/mist trees (living trees rather than cut wood) fallen leaves jungle/rainforest Yes I'm a nerd for natural scents and I can't give up trying just because the green/woody scents never work on me...

Carpathian Mountains When I started with BPAL I thought I was looking for the perfect green and natural scent. I gave that up a long time ago. I really don't like the way most "green" scents smell, that sort of cool and watery and sometimes almost sour or musty quality. Carpathian Mountains is pretty much everything I don't like about "green" scents: herbal, plasticky, minty, with pear or apple schampoo vibes... It's also stale. A stale quality I recognize from several other scents although I can't recall any names. Almost play-doh, almost rubber, definitely stale.

R. M. Renfield Renfield is an odd one. I was curious, but afraid of the pear. And yes, it's there to give an odd, watery, fruity, schampoo-ish quality to the scent. Other than that it's spicy and warm and sweet and quite musty. Musty enough for rotten or mouldy pears, I'm afraid. And a bit soapy. It's not as bad as it sounds, I'm more indifferent to it.

Count Dracula I really thought I'd like Dracula, lots of great notes, but alas (or thank god my wallet) no. It feels familiar - yet another scent with a "vintage" vibe to it. It reminds me a bit of pine needles (dry) and other that that it's sour, sharp, powdery, sweet, warm, and unfortunately soapy. In my hair it's a nice enough sweet, buttery leather, something like Torture King but sweeter I think, but on my skin mostly soapy.

Jacob's Ladder I swapped for Jacob's Ladder to see if I needed to get a bottle of it this year, but while I do like it I think my imp is enough. It starts out very nice, with an almost citrusy freshness, a boozy sharpness that almost makes me tipsy and a powdery touch. It's a very warm scent, but not warm and dry despite the powderiness. More like warm and soft and round, with a boozy kick. It dries down milder and sweeter and almost a hint plasticky. Still a cosy scent but not as great as the opening. Edit: Oh, and yeah, it's STRONG. One of the stronger BPALs I've come across, just touching the imp makes the scent stick to my hands.

All Saints Based on a venerable French pontifical incense blend: monastic frankincense and myrrh, Damascus rose, Russian gardenia, cassia, and lily of the valley wafting on a chill Autumn wind. A celebration of the glory and suffering of the saints and matryrs of the Church. All Saints is not for me, which is no surprise really. I guess I was hoping for the incense, but I get none. All I get are scary florals, a huge, nectar-sweet cloud of lilies which sour on the skin to a more soapy version of themselves. If I appreciated insanely sugared white florals at all I think I might have enjoyed the first stage, before the soap kicks in.

Mme Moriarty Mme Moriarty is sweet and strong, but it's a somehow fresh sweetness and for a while I'm amazed to smell real, wild strawberries. In the drydown the berry scent turns more plasticky though, like plasticky pomegranate. It's not just berry sweetness though, it's a pretty fullbodied and bozy and somehow "dark" scent, perhaps a bit like Red Phoenix? In the end, to sweet and plasticky for a berry-hater like me.

Doc Constantine I had high hopes for Doc Constantine, lots of great notes. I found it good, but not great. It opens with an interesting sweet/sharp/dry accord, like evergreens and pine needles and lichen with perhaps a hint of mint. It dries down pretty much the same, perhaps a hint vintage-y and/or soapy. A warm and cosy, somehow almost fiery or smoky, dry forest scent.

Theodosius Theodosius does remind me quite a bit of Dorian, but more plasticky and less masculine. I actually don't get the men's cologne association at all, it's far too sweet for that. It reminds me more of the coconutty/minty sweetness of Spooky or perhaps The Star. Also, I get the white, shiny, slippery, semi-see-through plastic visual association I get from Alice among others. It has quite a lot of throw even though I only put a little on my wrist to try. Unfortionately I like the skin scent better, it's a little less plasticky, with a hint of green tea or fougere. It's also a powdery scent. Staying power is good, but that doesn't help much since I don't care for the scent. This is a little girl, not a gentleman.

Black Phoenix Black Phoenix is a real morpher. It starts out slightly medicinal and spicy like cinnamon and bitter almond, much like Chimera. After only a few minutes it turns sharp ans soapy though, like some soapy floral, dragon's blood maybe. I get this spicy soapiness from a lot of BPAL blends but I'm not sure what's causing it. In the drydown I get a hint of sweetening vanilla too but still too sharp and soapy and flat.

Pink Phoenix Pink Phoenix is a suitable name since it's a sweet bubble gum scent. I get that from quite a lot of BPALs, especially fruity ones, and in comparison Pink Phoenix is quite a nice warm, full, almost spicy bubblegum scent. Almost boozy or woody and with hints of cherry, which is a berry I enjoy. It also has a plasticky note however and it's not likely I'll keep it.

Vishuddha Herbal and medicinal, with a citrusy freshness and a musty sweetness common to many BPALs. If I did use scents for magical purposes I would keep it, since I like the properties listed, but as a perfume I won't.

Shill Shill does smell like popcorn, but only a little. It smells more like butter, or should I say butter-flavour? I don't even like the butter powder they put on popcorn in movie theaters, I prefer my popcorn with just salt, freshly made (not in the microwave, on the stove). My sister said it smelled like a coconut dessert, not popcorn. Well, I can see that, it is sweet and buttery like that.

Smut The first time I tried Smut I thought it was mostly a kind of plasticky butterscotch scent, but now when I'm retrying it in my hair it's lovely. A warm, exotic, rich, powdery, golden scent, powdery like the red musk and saffron in some of my favourite blends (Scherezade, The Great Sword of War...) is powdery. I'll definitely cling onto the few precious drops I have.

Desire Apple scents have never been my friend, they sound good in theory but I always find them horribly artificial. In Desire I get such an artificial apple note (is there even apple in it?) and the soapy sharpness of some spicy/herbal florals. And the musty sweetness of a powdery vanilla. Not my cuppa. At all.

Evokes sheer, unadulterated carnal lust. An undeniably warm and sensual scent. Black narcissus, orange blossoms, and vanilla. Hunger Hunger has a herbal/floral bitterness, the sweetnes of perhaps some berry, and a touch of patchouli or incense, something resinous like that. The result is sort of vintage-y and not unlike sweet and sour sauce. Yes, it does smell like chinese cooking, which I guess is weirdly appropriate for the name...

Blood Kiss I don't know about "blood", I'd say "dessert kiss", but still a kiss, yes, pretty naughty. I get mostly honey, cherries and perhaps red musk. It's toothachingly sweet, but in an adult way, like liquor-drenched cake. On my skin it's more powdery, like cocoa powder almost, while in my hair I get mostly honey. Actually, it's almost a single-note honey but not a wimpy sugary honey, rather a dark, boozy, syrupy honey of a reddish hue. It's strong too, a little in my hair that is very short and hence very still envelops me in a cloud of sweetness and I'm almost afraid to nauseate people sensitive to sweet and cloying scents. As for me, I enjoy it, it's the type of adult sweetness I can stand.

Juke Joint Juke Joint is a sweet mint scent, more like peppermint sticks than a drink. I enjoy it as such, much as I enjoy Spooky, unlike the cool mint of men's colognes. However, as it looses its mint fraicheur in the drydown mostly a powdery/plasticky sweetness remains.

Cairo Khyphi, this? I love DSH's Khyphi but Cairo is just bubblegum sweet to me. A plasticky childish sweetness, like candy scented incense or candy scented soap.

Incantation A profound and entrancing potion. Deep, wispy, and unfathomably dark: vetiver, dark woods, crumbling and burnt black sandalwood and a drop of lemon rind. Obviously I had to try this one since Torrilin said in her review I must. I'm afraid it, like most green/natural/foresty BPALs, didn't work for me though. I agree with other reviewers that it's not a dark scent like the description says at all. Rather, it's a fresh, green, herbal scent. Artificially fresh, like herbal schampoo. Even though it's so light and fresh it's rather strong - I just put a little in my hair, that is cropped short, and I still feel it all around me. Feel it as in taste it in the back on my throat, like when you inhale schampoo vapours, I'm afraid. This is just the type of cool and clean and synthetic scent I try to avoid.

In Hermetic alchemy, brimstone is one of the Three Heavenly Substances, one of the primary alchemical Priciples. It represents the strength of will and the vigor of passion, and it is a symbol of the process of fermentation. A smoky, gritty blend, husky and gray. Brimstone Brimstone is harsh and grey and bitter like heavy smoke or cold ashes. Yes, cold ashes, it is not a warm or fiery scent. Perhaps even wet ashes, though I would describe it as a dry scent since it's so harsh. Burnt or dusty. However, it also has a resinous or herbal bitterness that is almost vetiver-like, much like Scarecrow which was only herbally bitter and not at all hot or fiery on me. Not long ago, that would have condemned it to the swap pile, but my tolerance for resinous/herbal bitterness seems to have increased as my taste has evolved away from foody sweetness. In the drydown, however, Brimstone gets a hint of sweetness too and become less dry, more bittersweet. Quite intriguing.

Red Phoenix Red Phoenix is a very sweet and comforting scent and yes, very red. I'd say something like red musk with strawberries or other sweet berries, or berry-scented incense. It reminds me of The Caterpillar I think, but, well, redder. It's quite powdery and perhaps boozy. I enjoy it, but it is a little on the sweet side and since it's a LE I think I'd rather make someone else happy with it than keep it just in case I'd ever reach for it.

I recommend Kumiho and Shanghai. Kumiho is a very strong green, fresh tea scent. The ginger gives it an extra citrusy kick. Shanghai is a little milder and sweeter but still very fresh. Dorian is not fresh at all on me, but I like it. It's more of a sweet, cosy, nondescript scent. Dublin wasn't fresh either, on me it's very sweet and quite strong, lots of pine/fir. Severin is light and fresh with the bergamot tea, very dry and severe, not at all sweet. You might not like the leather note, but on me it's not a dirty or animalic leather, more like grey cardboard actually, a "clean" and dry leather.

I don't get a lot of orange blossom out of Vixen, I think Vixen is similar to Siren which has none. My best orange blossom recommendation would be Succubus. I find that to be a wonderful, oriental, slightly spicy/resinous/incensey orange blossom, quite heady. Tarot: The Lovers was a single note orange blossom to my nose, but I didn't like it. I do think orange blossom smells like oranges or citrus though. Not exactly, but a very related scent. For example, the orange blossom water you use in oriental cooking smells like sweet, synthetic orange flavour to me.

The Lovers ORANGE BLOSSOM! Nasty, strong, air freshener/cleaning fluid orange blossom. Dries down a little more sweet and mellow and floral, less citrus-aggressive.