MamaMoth

I'm currently trying to enable a friend of mine. She's intrigued by the site, but a little overwhelmed by the selection. I thought it might be helpful to point her toward something similar to her favorite perfume, which is Fendi. I looked it up, and the base notes listed for Fendi are: "ylang-ylang, rose, jasmine, iris, carnation, nutmeg, patchouli, vetiver, sandalwood, cedar, amber, oak moss and musk." I also found this description: "Fendi is a chypre floral fragrance with woody and spicy notes." Unfortunately, I've not smelled Fendi, and that huge list of notes doesn't give me a clear idea. Has anyone tried it, and do you know of a BPAL in the same family? I'm not looking for a dupe, but something her nose will be comfortable with to get her started.

This is my first exposure to pink pepper, and it is delightful. My first impression was of something kind of sweet and gingery, but it's much more than that. It really is peppery and zingy, but in a sweet, gentle way. The amber gives it a dry, resinous kind of smell underneath that pepper. I guess it is the florals underneath that giving it a sweet, slightly sticky base, but I think it's held in check by the amber and pepper. Based on my usual reaction to florals, I never would have guessed Hermia contained any prominent ones. (I'm very nose-sensitive to florals, and I usually amp them to high heaven.) As it dries and settles in, it gives off a waft of what I'd almost characterize as mildly orange-gingery, with an almost holiday feel to it. In fact, I'm tentatively slating Hermia to be my Christmas party scent. The throw is kind of minimal on me, it stays close. But what she lacks in presence, Hermia makes up for with personality. She's sweet and unique, and a bit girly (but not annoyingly so.) Also of note is the consistency of the oil: it's thick and orangey-golden, but it's not very oily at all! It's actually kind of soapy. It hardly clings to the imp-wand, and it soaks into the skin almost immediately.

This starts out with so much nasty, nasty vetiver. It's thick and burnt and I can taste it on the back of my throat. It makes me feel nauseous. :| It stands at a testament to the faith I have in BPAL, that I let this get anywhere near me. I dabbed on a tiny dot with what I'm sure was a comically horrible grimace on my face. Applying cat urine to my skin could not have felt more repulsive. Have I accurately conveyed that I did not like this very much when it was wet? Good. Moving on... As it dries, the vetiver starts to ease off, thank god. I can smell the amber start to come out, then the carnation joins it. I can sense the muskiness, but couldn't tell you what kind. (I would have guessed black.) After about 30 minutes, the vetiver is just a smoky base for faintly spicy, dryish amber. It never goes powdery on me. I cannot believe this, but it actually turns out pretty nice. After all that yucky vetiver, it morphs into something kind of subtle and spicy, a touch resiny, and faintly smoky. That said, I'm not sure if I can get past the opening stages. My morning perfume application is kind of a ritual for me. I open various bottles and sniff to see what I'm in the mood for. And unfortunately, I don't know that I'll ever sniff this in the imp and say "Yum! Gimme some more of THAT stuff! Hell yeah!" We'll see. Maybe I can train my nose to.. well, probably not like vetiver. Maybe ignore it until we get to the good part?

The Dragon’s Isle: smoke and fire, earth and wind. The rage of the elements blasting over a primordial paradise. A very unusual scent. The dominant note is moist, rich earth. I also smell something sweet and spicy, like cinnamon candy. There's a very faint whiff of something fresh and greenish, like mint or eucalyptus. (The oil feels very cool on my skin while wet.) Moist earth + cinnamon candy cane I don't know if I'd ever wear this, but it is nice. Probably my favorite use of the dirt note that I've smelled so far.

Oh wow, I'm glad you said this. I initially tried a sniffie decant of SW 07 and I really liked it. It seemed like the notes never changed, so when I tracked down a bottle and it was 05, I snapped it up. But I don't like it as much. I was thinking I just perhaps don't like it aged, but I loooove coconut, so that may be why the 07 decant appealed to me so. Ok, sorry to contribute to the derail.

Or you could procure an empty bottle of something snazzy-looking she hasn't smelled, and fill it with a BPAL/alcohol dilution. When she raves about how wonderful it smells, THEN you can spring it on her! bwaha!

I can't help you with your search, as I haven't tried Milk Moon, but I thought I'd point you in the direction of how to search within this thread. Right above the first post on each page is an entry box with a "search topic" button beside it. I entered Milk Moon and got quite a few posts with comparisons. hth, and good luck!

Ha! I actually debated quite a while on what to wear yesterday for the family Thanksgiving get-together, glad to know I wasn't alone in my perfume-dorkiness. I ended up choosing Falling Leaf Moon, but right before I left I felt it wasn't quite cozy enough, so I layered some Shub over it. The effect was perfect.

Heh. As if Snake Oil needs any more reviews. But here goes. When I first tried Snake Oil, I was a little disappointed. I can detect vanilla and red musk, but can't really place anything else specific. It has a very medicinal, almost bitter smell when it's wet, which continues about an hour in. But during that time a spiced vanilla starts creeping in, and it sweetens up considerably. As the "medicinal" smell starts to dissipate, it gets a little powdery. But that doesn't last for long. What I'm left with after that first hour or so is a gorgeous, rich, heady, resiny-spiced vanilla. Deceptively simple, but utterly lovely. Now, that opener initially kind of turned me off, even though I greatly enjoy how it smells a bit later. I bought a bottle unsniffed just because I felt like I owed it the chance, based on how much I love BPAL, figuring I could cellar it for a while if I didn't like it, and sell it eventually if it just wasn't for me. But in all stages it is compelling and almost addictive, and I am blowing through this bottle so fast that I'll have to pick up another to cellar, so I can experience this aged Snake Oil phenomenon eventually.

I thought for sure I'd already reviewed this one. Ah well... Brown Jenkins smells wonderful, but so bone-dry that it makes my nose tickle a little. The coconut gives a little sweetness, but it is the dry roughness of coconut husk, not the moist creamy flesh. The sandalwood is really dry and a little cedary as usual for me, () But it seems to be held slightly in check by the coconut and musk. I'm not familiar with orris root, but I've read that it is really dry as well, so that is probably adding to my overall impressions. Overall, Brown Jenkins smells really great, but its dryness keeps me from reaching for it as often as some others. It stays pretty true on my skin, and the throw and wearlength are outstanding. (8+ hours)

In the bottle, straight-up pine cleaner. Yowza, that's harsh. I almost didn't try this one on, it made my eyes water. But I've vowed to give every imp that comes through my hands at least a small skin test, sooo.... Wet on skin, more of the same for a few minutes. Then it starts to morph, and it starts getting better and better. The pine becomes a really soft evergreen smell and fades waaay into the background. I can still smell it, but just enough to enjoy it. Up front, it's now sweet and creamy, but in a fresh way. I can't believe it, but Yew Trees turns into something really nice. This may weasel its way onto my bottle list. It really is reminding me of Brown Jenkins in some ways. Perhaps it shares the coconut-husk note?

What a pleasant surprise! I never would have thought to try this, which just proves the genius of frimpage. This is what I kept trying to urge Eden into, but it never bent to my will. Creamy, sweet, earthy, green, figgy, woodsy. There's no bitterness to this, it's so smooth. This is the bizzaro mental image I get from Strangler Fig: A creeping vine, covered in fat, fuzzy, green pods. If you were to pierce one of the pods, a thin, milky substance dribbles out. If you could sniff that substance, it would smell like Strangler Fig.

This is a fairly straightforward spicy amber. It's a little cinnamon-heavy at first, but that backs off quickly, and settles into a nondescript but very nice general spiciness. It stays clean, and never goes cloying or powdery (as amber can for me sometimes.) At about one hour, it almost gets a orange-pekoe-tea-like quality. Very nice. Unfortunately, it has very little throw, and a very short wear length for me. After two hours, with my nose pressed firmly to my skin, I just get a faint, generic "spice" vibe.

A lovely expensive-vanilla-beeswax-candle scent. The honeyed sweetness of the beeswax is somewhat prominent when it's wet, but as it dries the vanilla gets a smoky tinge and the sweetness backs off a lot. After trying on a lot of complex (but beautiful) scents lately like the Lunacies, this is pretty and uncomplicated and cozy. It's like my favorite fuzzy socks, but for my nose. Lovely on its own, but also rife with layering possibilities.

I like the new ones best, too. They do match the bottles well, and I like how they look aged.

This is one complex blend, it's hard to pin down any individual elements. The black musk gives it an oily, almost soapy quality when sniffed close to the skin, but when married to the resins and the chili, it produces a dark and glittery throw. The dried chili is really cool as a perfume note; bright and spicy but somehow somber. Resinous, musky, spicy. The mental image I get is of an oil slick on black pavement, refracting iridescent strange rainbows. This is lovely, and I can't wait to see how it ages.

Sharp and slightly citrussy ginger, backed by cinnamon and spice. Try as I might, I can't detect any dark resins. It starts off with the fresh bite of ginger beer, but turns into cookies after about 30 minutes and stubbornly stays that way. It smells very good, but I was hoping that the resins would put in more of an appearance. I'll hang on to the imp for when I want a cozy, lazing-around-the-house kind of scent. But I'm not much of a foodie person, so this will be plenty for me.

Oh my. I've been bouncing off the walls for this one since I found out about it because, besides being a longtime patchouli addict, I've discovered that I am really fond of BPAL coconut. This is a gorgeous, SWEET, creamy, patchouli+. Here is this beautiful patchouli that I saw in Depraved, but without the apricot which turned me off thoroughly. Goblin is incredibly rich. If this were a food, it would be something amazingly decadent, and you'd only be able to eat a small serving. I wish the sweetness were dialed back just a smidge on it, but overall this is really beautiful and unique. If I ever get around to compiling a top 10, Goblin will have a home there.

I don't like strawberry, but if I did, this would be a strawberry I might like. It's rich and musky, and the strawberry smells fresh and non-fake. Not too sweet, not too musky... a good blend. If you like strawberry. (Which I don't.)

How odd. I'm left wondering if my imp was mislabeled with this one. It smells like florals to me. Magnolia maybe, or lily. Not what I was hoping for at all. :\

Thanks for the info MamaMoth, I posted a link to this post on the "Postal rants and raves" thread so that it would get more exposure. Oh thanks Portalkat! I was trying to think of where to post it to get it seen, and I completely forgot about that thread. D'oh!

Hi guys, just a quick heads up, in case anyone finds this helpful... I started getting antsy today, as I haven't yet received the order from my 10/16 CnS, and the DC # still isn't in the system, so I called the post office. They are having a problem with the DC system lately, but told me that if you prefix your DC# with the digits "94" when you do a search, it should bring it right up. Worked for me!

Oh good. I was just coming in to ask that. Got a CnS Friday (10/16) that still isn't in the system.

This oil contains the innocence of the Garden, coupled with the Truth and Erudition found in the fruit of the Tree of Evil: fig leaf, fig fruit, honeyed almond milk, toasted coconut and sandalwood. Although not my usual style o' thing, I decided I wanted to try this because it seemed like it would be a light, fresh, alternative to my heavier favorites. I got the imp in a package that also included what is now my favorite BPAL scent (Mme. Moriarty, in case you were wondering,) so everything else got a bit overshadowed by my immense Moriarty squee. I remember skin testing just a dab, thinking it was nice but kind of boring, and tucking it into the "don't trade yet, but maybe in the future" pile. Well, today I was in just such a mood, and I dug around until I found my imp of Eden. Here was me: *dab dab* *tentative sniff* *dab dab dab* *stronger sniff* *waits a few minutes, sniffing every so often* *SLATHERS* Yes indeedy, this is exactly what I was hoping for. It is primarily a fig and coconut scent to my nose. I'm so happy with fig as a note. It's earthy but fruity, sweet enough but not too sweet. And the coconut is definitely toasty. Probably the sandalwood is adding to this impression, but I definitely get a drier, woodsier, grounding feeling from the coconut... not fresh coconut meat. The almond milk is smooth and creamy without being sour (like some milk notes can turn on me.) There is a definite green note when it's wet that is almost too much, but it dies down very quickly, and the transition is fun to smell. Even with all these food elements, it doesn't feel like a foody scent to me. Very calming and soothing. It makes me think of lying in bed on crisp white sheets that are cool and soft to the touch, and napping for a few hours in the afternoon as the sun slants in through a window at the foot of the bed. I'll be needing a bottle of this.

2008 decant I would have bought a bottle of this unsniffed if it were available, that's how sure I was that this would be a home run with me. I love incense, and wax, frankincense and myrrh. On me, this amps beyond all control. It feels like undiluted frankincense, pine, and cedar resin. Waaay too sharp, waay too woody. Insanely strong and not pleasant at all. I tried putting the tiniest little dab on and rubbing it around to cover my whole arm. Still amping out of control, and giving me a headache. And my arm got really red and blotchy. YIKES!