butterbeer

These are amazing! More "masculine" leathers are definitely welcome, not just unisex ones. I'm checking out each recommendation now, thank you so much!

I don't really know how to word this, but a friend is looking for leathery scents that are more unisex or masculine. I've tried to look through threads about current scents, but most of them seem to have too many fruits or florals, and get described as "feminine" quite often in reviews. I'm looking for something that doesn't have that, or if it does, that it's more subtle and toned down. Think Villain as opposed to anything you'd describe as a feminine floral. Although anything that doesn't have any florals would be preferred, I'm told. Thanks!

Hi Butterbeer - This is fun. Someday I'll have to try it myself. In the meantime... Given all your interests and likes, Horreur Sympathique, Bordello, and Tombuer popped into my head. You mentioned your obsession with the sea - R'Lyeh and Y'Ha-Nathlei are both beautiful aquatics. Personally, I associate Aries with Le Lethe because two of my very good Aries friends got me hooked on the scent. Hope some of that is helpful. Awesome, thank you so much! R'Lyeh and Y'Ha-Nathlei sound fantastic, I'll go read the reviews -- I'm not sure if I can pull off very "light" aquatics but going by the names I assume those are a bit stronger. I'm really curious about Horreur Sympathique, Bordello, and Tombeur, because they would never have ocurred to me, so thanks for the suggestion. You should totally go ahead and post about your personality too!

I love the idea of this thread! I'm not replying to any of the old posts because I don't know if it's ok, since the posts appear to be several weeks old -- however, if anyone is still open to new suggestions feel free to say so. I spend a lot of time daydreaming and having FEELINGS about art, but you wouldn't guess this at first glance. I have all the traits of the stereotypical Aries. Additionally, despite the fact that I'm quite geeky at heart I would never call myself a "geek" and I have no patience for dry intellectual conversations. I wear a lot of black and dark colours in general and mostly dresses and heels. I'm obsessed with history, art, the sea (everything about it), poetry, wine, and decadent 19th century novels. I listen to almost every genre of music as long as it's enjoyable and interesting, but I have a soft spot for 1970s glam rock, post-punk, and cabaret-type music (and obscure twee bands but you didn't hear that from me!). Any ideas?

I don't know how long it lasts in terms of how long it takes to go bad, but when it comes to finishing a bottle it takes me a very long time. For imps, if it's one I really like it might last me between 2 months or 2 years, depending on the scent. For weaker scents I tend to need to apply them more but I also like stronger scents so I rarely use them as often as I do others. If it's one I like, my shortest time using up an imp was about a couple of months. I usually just dab some on my wrists and neck, and sometimes behind my ears, but how much I use on each application I couldn't begin to say -- I just do that until it feels "right", so again, strongers scents end up lasting longer for me. (Actually, the fastest I've used up imps has been less than 2 months, but that was when I mixed it with my conditioner or used them as room fragrance, so it doesn't count.) I don't have a lot of bottles but the oldest I have is about 2 years old and it's still going strong, but since it's a LE I wouldn't class it as something I use every single day.

On the bottle -- Smells a lot like apples. It reminds me of a more or less generic shampoo smell. On the skin -- Still shampoo-y, though that's not particularly unpleasant. Very fresh. I'd wear this when outdoors in the Spring. Drying down -- It becomes richer and more balanced. The fig becomes more noticeable and while it's still very "fresh", it becomes darker. I like it a lot more now! I really, really like it! I'm not huge into fruity scents, but even though it smells a lot like apples, the fig and other notes cancel it out a bit so it's not too light, but not too heavy either. I never really expected to like this!

On the bottle -- There's something that smells a bit like dry wood in this, but it's still very tame and sweet. It reminds me of gardens. On the skin -- It's very soft and innocent. It's sweet, but not in a sickly way. I really like it. On drydown -- It very aquatic and very fresh, but still a bit sweet. I'm failing really hard at describing this scent! Maybe because it's so simple that it's hard to describe it, but it's very pleasant and elegant. It seems to fade more or less quickly on me, though, but then again I can't do most florals.

I love this. On the bottle is smells like amber and fresh fruits, and has a red-ish colour. On me, it's very very pleasant. I got a dark fruit scent (pomegranate?), then a soapy amber. The soapy-ness disappeared quickly, and it became a very warm amber with deep fruit. Then it turned soapy again, thanks to my terrible skin chemistry. Still, it's very pleasant and a great Winter oil.

This came as a frimp in a pack of imps I ordered for my sister. It's an oil I've been curious about, so I had to try it. In the bottle: I can't decide. It smells like talcum powder, light florals and incense all at once. On my skin: At first, it smelled a lot like vinegar. A soapish vinegar that reminds me of the classroom of Cathecism school. I decided to stick with it. After a while, it turned into talcum powder. Just as I was about to complain that my skin chemistry hates anything that isn't woodsy, it turned into a very pleasant, clean floral that reminds me of a clean bath or a walk through the park in the morning. It also grew a slightly sad note, exactly what I'd expect from an Ophelia perfume -- an explosion of flowers, with aquatics and some sadness. Love it!

Thank you! I'm a bit bummed out, but after I read that the Yule LE will be up until January 22 I felt a bit better. It's understandable that they keep the orders separate, though. Thanks!

I just e-mailed TAL about this, but does anyone know if TAL shipping can be combined with BPAL? I never order a lot of stuff at once, and my shipping costs end up being almost the same as the order itself. Since the price is the same up to X items, I was wondering if TAL and BPAL would do this? Does anyone know?

This was the scent that made me finally jump in and order from BPAL. Probably because I often joke about one day studying Classical Languages at Miskatonic, ehe. Not to mention, the description sounds totally something I'd like, as I really like old books and coffee. And university *does* have a scent! Everyone thinks I'm crazy but it's true. Miskatonic is WAY strong. I accidentally spilled some and had to keep the imp in a separate place, and now my make-up bag smells of Miskatonic. On me (if I recall correctly) it fades fairly quickly, but it's definitely very strong. It's an AMAZING scent, though! It scents of coffee and caramel. It's not something I'd wear just everyday, though, because it's so strong. Miskatonic is really warm, though, and I mixed in some with my conditioner (which previously had a very faint scent and now smells awesomely). It holds well in my hair, it smells nice but it doesn't really scent everything in a 20 miles radius. GORGEOUS scent! ETA: I went to try it on my skin again today. It didn't fade as quickly, but after just a bit turned into... coconut. A spicy Thai coconut.

I had to get this one on the name alone. In fact, I didn't even remember if the description listed the notes or not. In the bottle: Smells like almonds. Especially almond paste. And then something else, really light and airy. My first thought was "wind in the trees", which is exactly what this perfume was supposed to smell like. On my skin: The first time I tried it, I felt like it turned into a baby scent almost immediately. I was really disappointed. The next morning, I woke up and smelled my wrist, and the scent had changed. It was really faint now, but it smelled different. Yesterday I tried it again, and it turned very powdery at first, and then morphed into a smell that (according to my mother) is like an almond skin cream, it smells very perfume-y and the almond is very sweet. On the drydown: It's hard to describe what it smells like on the drydown, it reminds me of a friend's perfume and something else. It doesn't dry too quickly, and it has a nice scent. I love it!

When I saw this line, I *knew* I had to order at least one imp. It was hard to choose, but I eventually decided to pick Wolfsbane as my first. I think the lore around it is fascinating, and I'm a Medea nerd (I just found out there's a whole Medea-themed BPAL perfume! I'll have to order an imp next time) so I picked it. In the bottle: Smells awesome, a bit poisonous and sharp but at the same time very light. On my skin: It has a very woodsy, resin and peppermint smell. I can imagine a dark wood with occasional sunlight, with wolves and poison lurking around. My skin chemistry seems to have really liked it, because it lasted very very long and without turning too powdery. It's a scent that I find hard to descibe, but definitely my new signature!!

One of the Biblical Cities on the Plain, destroyed by God with fire and brimstone because of its people’s pride, prosperous ease, deceit, hedonism and indolence, and their callous, uncharitable hearts. A gritty, sordid and languid scent: ripe fig, date and currant with black herbs. In the bottle: This smelled a bit like hospital and sex. Weird combo, I know! On skin: It scents still very much like medicine, rubbing alcohol and old wood. It's vaguely sexy, but at first it seems like it smells horrible. On drydown: My skin chemistry must be horrible! It turned into old wood very quickly, and now that's mostly what it smells like. It's also turning powdery and fading very quickly.

In the bottle: This smells like vinegar. I'm alarmed. If I didn't know which of my (very first set of 6!) imp's ears to try first, this is a good reason to check it out. On my skin: It smells a bit like old wood and patchoulli. After a while, it has this really warm and cozy-but-seductive scent, at the same time sexy and intelligent. A bit like reading and having an intelligent discussion by a fireplace. I can't decide if that's just me, so I keep sniffing my wrist and hope my temporary roommate won't think I'm insane. On the drydown: I can't smell it much from afar, and when I smell my wrist it just has a very faint powdery scent but quite warm. Overrall, this was very good! I liked it and I think I'll wear it when I want to impress smart people.

Anna D., thank you so much! That was super-helpful, I suspected wand caps were what I imagined they'd be but I wasn't sure. That really helped, thank you especially for the links! findaghost, we're icon twins siblings!

I've been reading through this topic, so I apologize if it's been asked before but I must've missed it if it was (and the "quote" code isn't working properly for me so all quotes show up awkwardly). What's the difference between a wand cap and a reducer and so on? What *are* they? I've read on a couple of posts that you can request your bottles without a reducer or buy a wand cap with them. If so, is a reducer the default? What's the extra cost of a wand cap? What's better for someone clumsy who is also a total noob? I guess what I'm asking is, can anyone give me a Types of Caps 101? Especially because I'd never even thought about most of things before, total n00b as I am. I'm doing my first order soon and it'd be a disgrace if I just spilled it all over my bathroom the first usage... thanks!