lookingglass

Fae, Hippie Ghost, and White Rider are my "light" BPALs. My skin eats scent like, woah. Morocco lasts on some people, but not me, sadly...may be worth a try.

The Book. Unisex, romantic, intellectual leather. Hippie Ghost for a light, apricoty suede.

Where is the love for The Book!? It's brilliant, hauntingly lovely, and spot on!

I can do Kali, Jezebel, Pink Snowballs, Whoso List to Hunt, Alice, the Knave of Hearts, and The Rose. I used to be able to wear Phantom and various white rose scents, but now they go all pickles on me (glad to know I'm not the only one!). Some of the GC "girly" rose scents, early on in my BPAL testing, went all "scented tampons" on me-it was horrible! I'm sorry that I missed Love! I must go hunt some down! I have yet to try Rose Red and Peacock Queen for fear of them going all pickles...I would love a big, lush, red rose BPAL... (*off to Swaps!).

I'd recommend the Doormouse, Fae, and Mouse's Long and Sad Tale.

I. <<<LOVE>>>> THIS!!!! Oh! OH! It smells like...putting my face in the handiwork of a master gardener on a grand estate at the perfect time right after watering or a light rain, so that my feet aren't wet, but the flower bed IS, and when I go to smell the flowers, my face doesn't get wet EITHER, but the blooms are just PERFECT. Like...EXPENSIVE, hybrid daisys...like...the rich people that own the estate want their gardens to look kind of earthy, and they like the idea of the humble, innocent, fresh daisy, but need really GOOD smelling ones that are also BIG...like FANCY daisys...daisys in TECHNICOLOR. After a bit, I realize there is still a bit of sticky, slightly spicy marmalade on my hand from the tea we just had! I don't even like orange scented things and I'm GAGA over this! It's not very orangy at all, really. Just a tink, but it gives GREAT lift to the whole composition and Wonderland experience. YES, YES, YES! I can totally see the scene of Alice falling Down the Rabbit Hole, dress soiled, and after a bit, finds a jar of jam on the shelves that line the hole, sticks her dirty finger in, and takes a swipe. It's DELICIOUS and makes the house smell so fresh...like I actually had been working in a garden and brought a bit of the outside in.

Oooooh-hooo-hooo-hooooo! This is good and SPOOKY smelling! I really do love orris: I often describe it as "scalpy"...smells like a head to me...kind of like a baby head, kind of like your lover's unwashed hair...HUMAN...creamy...somewhat disturbing, and very pale. It's center stage in this blend. I don't usually do vetiver, but it's used with a light hand here-just enough to drop the bass and more than a touch of startling darkness. The daemonorops, or dragon's blood, makes the blend slightly sweet (a scent kind of like a natural cherry incense), but undeniably sinister. I was wondering how this scent would capture the Other Mother's Hand without a metal note, but it WORKs. Dark scent lovers will dig this.

This is a pleasant, summery patchouli- transparent, light, almost floral (this would be ghosty, clean fabric), with the earthy notes adding some interest, a velvety softness, and tenacity. If someone told me this was a white patchouli note (a la Tom Ford and Maggie's Farm), I would believe them. The suede has that apricot skin subtle musky sweetness, that I've smelled in some other niche fragrances...Serge Lutens Daim Blonde comes to mind. It has a very pale, neutral colored scent...the palest greige...there may be some orris in there...I wouldn't say it's soapy, though it does have that "patchouli for mass appeal" quality of some designer fragrances (like Cocoa Mademoiselle); I think it would appeal to a wide audience. This is NOT a dark and dirty, dank, musty, sweaty kind of patchouli...not that there's anything WRONG with that! I have many of those in my heavy rotation (I'm looking at you Goblin, Depraved, and Banshee Beat!). It feels like kin to Fae, with a fun, breezy, almost indescribable, "white noise" kind of top note, with a deep, earthy, kind of natural sweetness on the drydown. This scent is not nearly silly as its name or character; it's an intelligent, complex, and well composed perfume. It needs to see more love! Common, people!!! Try it! You will see! I love it.

Bittersweet, fresh orangeblossom over an O like vanilla amber. It's clean, soft skin dried down...creamy, slightly tangy, very low profile. I could easily slather this one.

I kicked myself in the pants back in the day for never getting a bottle of this. Well, I found a sniffie. Glowy golden sweet...saffron infused vanilla cream...lightly spiced wood note, all snuggley warm...It's really that good. Ya know what it smells a lot like...? Hesiod's Phoenix.

Love those icons, Teaker! Oooh, Katharina...if you want to see if you CAN do apricot, try her. Just apricot and white musk. She's lovely!

I've tried a good bit of the catalog , and I'll recommend some of my favorites, since you like some of mine! I second Lights of Men's Lives! It's AMAZING-creamy, sweet, yet neutral. Yes, try it if you are on the fence about honey. It's honey like without the funky sour/green thing that honey can do sometimes. 'Just lightly golden, soft, sexy sweetness. It stays close to the skin but lasts and lasts. Detestable Putrescence is listed as melty vanilla ice cream, is VERY creamy and thick, and is all vanilla all the time. It's quite intense-deep and rich. You may like it mixed with Neutral. I'd say Lurid for a daytime lavender (Bulgarian lavender and white musk with a dollop of thick resin and a voltaic charge of ozone notes). It has a nice roundness from the resins to balance out it's clean notes. I don't really like lavender, but I like both TKO and Lurid! Also, if you want a more masculine/headshopy lavender, Gauko (Blackened sandalwood and misty lavender, with curling wisps of smoky tobacco, nag champa, and labdanum)-it doesn't get enough love. It's headshopy, but pretty woody, too...you might not want to start with that one. Sweet headshop awesomeness? Goblin. It's liquid gold! Black coconut, gnarly patchouli, and sweet benzoin. 'Very boheme sophisticate, and my second favorite sweet patchouli in the catalog (Snake Oil being first-don't give up on her, yet. It's probably the dark musk that's going "powdery" on you...you may learn to like it ). It reminds me of a sweet patchouli I used to wear in my college days, that I got in a headshop, but waaaaaaay better. I'm really picky about patchouli. I love the sweet kind, but don't really like it all dry, stinky, leafy, or woody. If you wanted to like Snake Oil and like orangey notes, you may want to try Hunger (Black narcissus, orange blossoms, and vanilla) and Vixen (The innocence of orange blossom tainted by the beguiling scents of ginger and patchouli). It's really weird, but they are in the same family! Hmmm...if you want a very RED scent like Mme Moriarty, you're out of luck! JK! There's nothing else like her. LOL! But, if you want sweet/deep red musk, red fruit...you might want to try Dragon's Heart: dragon's blood resin, red and black musks, a throb of fig and a sliver of black currant. It's not creamy like Mme Moriarty, though. Dragon's Milk...red dragon's blood with vanilla and honey? Lust may be another red scent, if you want to try a bit of floral: red musk, patchouli, ylang ylang and myrrh (but myrrh can go "powdery"). Fae is pretty but not too innocent (A brilliant, ethereal scent: white musk, bergamot, heliotrope, peach and oakmoss). I see you like light musks, and she's my current favorite in the GC (Antique Lace, RIP, was my favorite). I know you got scared by Depraved and his apricot, but he's quite a character-don't write off patchouli and/or apricot because of that ol' brute! (Love him in small doses, though!). If you wanted to love apple, and kiiiind of like O, I'd say try Brisingamen: A glittering mantle of rich golden notes: five ambers, soft myrtle and apple blossom, myrtle, and carnation. Mouse's Long Sad Tale reminds me of the pinkishness of Enraged Bunny Musk, though it's creamy amber rather than pingy musk, aaaand it's kind of sweetie/foody...I just recommended it to someone who was looking for a cotton candy scent: Vanilla, two ambers, sweet pea and white sandalwood. It's not really woody, I PROMISE! Have fun on your BPAL journey!!!

Mouse's Long Sad Tale is pink and fluffy...not quite cotton candy, but similar.

Pandy: fresh white musk, honeycomb, sweet apricot, elemi, orange blossom, and mischievous pink pepper. I don't think it's overly musky or powdery (though I love those things!).

Defututa may getcha a similar feel.

Just stalk me! LOL! Some of my favorites from the GC: Snake Oil, Sin, O, Dance of Death, The Other Miss Forcible, Ekhidna, Le Lethe, Medea...

TKO

Let's add the newest addition: Love and Sleep, from 2014 Lupercalia update: fig milk, vanilla, orchid, ylang-ylang...can't wàit!

Yes, much like Snow White, but not as rich and creamy. It's a soft, buttermint scent...cool, but not mentholy. It stays close to the skin and is very soothing. I see myself wearing this on hot nights.

Phantom Wooer smells like the green life of summer, to me. Goblin smells like hot bodies by the pool!

I got this as a frimp in my last order. It's now my favorite green scent, and I need a bottle. Wet, it's damp moonflowers, freshly bloomed at nightfall: lemony, in a way, yes, but not at all sour...distictively moonflower...I grew them for years and they totally tug at my heart. I smell their pallid greeness and can hear crickets...feel the humid air...walking home, breathless...in love with the shadowy, dangerous night, and excited by my solitude. The other florals are a faded yellow, and honey sweet. This moss note is divine: so velvety soft, earthy, and wet. I love how alive it smells, how floral, yet is a believable skin scent. The powdery drydown is a earthy, musky lullaby. It's to be my summery Whoso List To Hunt. Swoonworthy.

Y'ha-Nthlei

White Noise Fragrance Above is the link to an article from Perfume Shrine, that claims to coin the term "White Noise Fragrance". From the article: "Contrary to "skin scents", a term loosely used by numerous perfume aficionados to denote either a subtle scent that hover over the skin or mimics the latter's living, heaving aura, White Noise Fragrances do not attempt to appear any more "naturally occurring" than static. You can perceive them all right, they expand and detract minimally, just like an equal power signal with fixed width, always at the realm between comfort and annoyance...White Noise Fragrances project at a steady, perceptible, above the skin volume which you can almost taste, but their buzz is sotto voce, unwavering, yet forceful like an inner bleeding that is pouring with no apparent source and no outlet." Exploring and discussing White Noise BPAls with others, Snow White, Antique Lace, The White Rider, The Red Rider, Violet Ray, Lurid, Lightening, Namaste, St Germaine, Katharina, and Luna Negra came up. What are your favoirtes? Let's compile a list here!

At first I smell something bitter and earthy, drying down quickly to a crush of herbs and green, fresh honey. Then it totally morphs into a scent that reminds me of childood: my gramdmothers's clothes! She always used Downey fabric softener and wore sweet, musky perfumes and powders (Shalimar, Chantilly, Cody Wild Musk, Tea Rose), that melded into a scent that was just HER... here, her arms a full of the pale pink and white peonies that she proudly raised in the rich earth of her back garden. I ran and played in that garden...I felt happy and free in my white lace dressses and sturdy brown shoes. I can burry my face, even now, in those giant blooms, her soft, loving embrace all around. She's been dead for years...this is like a resurection stone of scent for me. Oh, thank you, Labbies! I want to go try straight up Black Hellebore now! I'd been craving a peony scent that matched my darker sensibilites! This is more than I could have asked for...

This SMELLS like abundance! Rich, golden, sweet wood...it reminds me a bit of a Variety of Pleasing Amusements. I'm thankful for my imp, and wish it was GC!