Cinder and Smoke

I had to blind bottle this because a variation of this painting (by the same artist) hangs in the National Gallery in London, and is one of my favorite paintings in the whole gallery. This is a lovely scent. If anyone remembers the Trading Post's Frankincense, Myrrh, and Rose Petal Beads Bath Oil, this smells very similar, but with the added dimension of conifer trees giving it a 'church in the woods' feel. The first note I detect is the frankincense, with the myrrh and woods commingling behind. After drying down a bit, the rose starts to come forward, though it never really makes it to the foreground. Sometimes 'evergreen' notes can read as bathroom cleaner to my nose, but this does not do that. Instead it lends a nice woodiness to the resins, grounding it a bit. It does get that hint of powderiness that resins can have, but it doesn't bother me. The scent as a whole is, in my opinion, subdued and meditative like the painting that inspired it, which is exactly what I was hoping for.

So first a disclaimer: I neither have a very refined nose, nor do I have any idea what oakmoss is actually supposed to smell like. However, I quite like this scent. It doesn't really smell like moss to me. Rather, it's a very light and clean scent that reminds me of fancy bath soaps, but not the 'grandma' kind. It's green without being too sharp or overpowering, and I think it's a nice break for when your nose is a bit tired of super heavy, dark scents. It does seem to get a bit powdery on the drydown, but not too badly.

Ah thanks, I tried to do a search before I posted because I knew someone has probably addressed it already, but I couldn't find it. Sorry for making a redundant topic.

Ever since I started BPALing in '06, Laudanum has remained my favorite scent. My first bottle of it was all deep myrrh and incense smoke with a hint of spice, and it was gorgeous. I never understood the reviews that described it as 'medicinal' or like 'root beer'. My second bottle was more myrrh and less smoky, but I chalked it up to being fresh, and hoped it would pick up some of the incensey smokiness as it aged. Well, 2 years later, it's still much 'lighter' and more perfumey than my first bottle. Fast forward to yesterday when I received a frimp of Laudanum with my SN order. Oh sweet, thought I, free Laudanum. But wait, holy crap, what is this? Rootbeer and...something akin to chalky conversation hearts and ... bandaids?! Nothing like the Laudanum I know and love. What even IS this? Even on my skin it remains root beer and chalky candy. Now I'm desperately clinging to the last couple of milliliters in my bottle. What if my next bottle is bandaids again? It's like Russian roulette. Harlot was similar for me. My first imp was all deep, wet, decaying rose. No cinnamon to speak of. I decided to order a bottle on a whim, and when I sniffed it, BOOM, fresh red rose and a cinnamon kick in the FACE. I like the bottle better, though, so it's a win. Has anyone else experienced wide scent variation from bottle to bottle?

Okay, I'm glad I'm not the only one getting apples from this. I get the feeling this might be several notes combining to make accidental applesmell, but this definitely starts off kind of juicy, like peeled apple slices with some light woods and faint incense in the background. As it dries down, the apples kind of fade into the back and I just get a kind of vague fruity sweetness along with what smells sort of like sandalwood incense. The pine finally comes through halfway, and the scent ends up a rather pleasant sweet, woodsy incense.

Mine has hella sludge. Like, my imp is basically black. Definitely getting chocolate dusted lemon custard out of this. It's interesting, but goes sour on my skin after a while. Not for me.

This is almost tropical on me. It reminds me a lot of a citrusy facial sunscreen I purchased from Bath and Body Works long ago, only without the orange scent that the sunscreen had. It's a very bright sweet ginger with sugary fruits in the background, and a hint of something earthy. It isn't foody though. Usually I can very clearly pick out the honey note, but for me, the honey is very subtle in this. I don't amp honey, though, so your mileage may vary.

Oh this is lovely. To me it smells just like strolling through a green house in early summer, minus the soil. On me it starts off very green with a splash of carnation at the forefront. As it dries down the tea rose comes through, lending it some sweetness without being overpowering. I met up with a friend today while wearing this, and in the car he commented that I smelled like flowers. "But not fakey grandma flowers," he said. "It's like you've been literally tromping through a big green field, Sound-of-Music-style, getting pollen on your lederhosen. The hills are alive, muthaf***a!" ...So take that as you will. As for me, I love this. It's perfect for cool Spring weather. The downside is it didn't last very long on me. A couple hours tops.

I use bath oils as after-shower moisturizers In the bottle: A musky kick in the face with black leather peeking through underneath Wet: The musk pulls back a tad and allows the leather to shine through, and a whiff of honey wafts through every now and then Dry: I can finally detect the rose. The musk and leather have the most throw. I only really get the sweetness of it when I put my nose close to my skin. Thoughts: I can't wear this every day. Musk is one of those notes that I just sort of tolerate--I don't really like it per se, but I don't hate it either, so I have to be in a certain mood to put it on. I think I'll don this when I want to smell like a badass in leather.

After some waffling, I bought a bottle of this unsniffed. I LOVE black tea and spices, but rose is one of those hit or miss notes for me. I WANT to love all rose scents, but in practice some of them scoot over into headache territory. In the imp: Lovely black tea with dry spices underneath, and a hint of dusty rose. This is wonderful! On my skin: As it dries the rose moves to the forefront and stays there, but it's not a cloying sweet rose. The scent is 'dry' to me--as if I were sniffing a box of tea leaves blended with dried rose petals and spices. The rose gets kind of loud for a while, so I have to avoid directly sniffing my wrist to keep out of headache territory, but it starts settling down after 20 minutes or so. Drydown: Everything dials back a bit, and I get mostly dried rose petals with tea and spice hanging out in the background. A very nice, comforting scent.

So a couple weeks ago, I was peeling an orange for a snack, and the smell of the fresh peel was so heavenly, I thought man, I wish I could figure out how to scent my house with this. So naturally I squee'd when I saw King Mandarin in the update, and immediately purchased a bottle of it. This smells so fresh! It definitely has the twang of orange peel/zest rather than just the sweetness of the fruit itself. ...aaaand directly into the oil burner it goes!

Everyone is comparing Siberian Musk to Snake Oil, but for me, this is straight up Old Demons of the First Class. When I sniffed the SN bottle, I realized that the note in Old Demons that I had originally attributed to an amalgam of black pepper and other spices was actually Siberian Musk. Old Demons is a tad spicier, but the two are so similar that I may not keep both bottles.