filigree_shadow

Based on the notes, I thought I'd like this, so I bought a bottle of it unsniffed a long time ago because it was on eBay for a really good price. I had the bottle for quite a while but I only wore it once, so I sold the bottle. There's nothing at all wrong with this scent -- it's a lovely, deep scent that smells exactly like you'd think it would from looking at the notes. It's a little bit incensey, a bit exotic, and a bit woody. Nothing offensive about this scent in the least. But for some reason, I didn't find myself reaching for it. I think that if I'm in the mood for an incensey scent, I'll go for Al-Azif, and if I want something exotic I'll put on Scherezade. So I think that although I like this one, I have others that are sort of like it that I like better.

I love Dragon's Musk. It was the first bottle I ordered from Ars Draconis. I would say that it's definitely in the Snake Oil family of scents -- it has that musky sweetness that Snake Oil has, but instead of vanilla it has sweet resiny dragon's blood. It's also not as strong as Snake Oil is; it's more subdued. It's an enticing, softer scent, rather than being so in-your-face. I usually find dragon's blood scents to be comforting, and this one is definitely not an exception. It's kind of a calming, centering musk scent for me. Very nice. This one and Dragon's Milk are my favorites from Ars Draconis, but I'd be hard-pressed to choose between them for absolute favorite.

A rich, bold blend of imperial rose, carnation, lush jasmine, lily of the valley, dark musk, amber, bergamot and gilded tangerine. This smells like some sort of jasmine-scented hair spray on me. Really horrible. Sorry, but that's the truth. I was really hoping for something in a nice musk, amber, bergamot, and tangerine combination, but that's not what I got. At all. Edited to add description.

When I first put this on, I thought it was an odd scent. I also thought it was STRONG. The orange blossom is overwhelming in this, and the chocolate is doing that weird funky chocolate thing on me. Chocolate and I don't usually get along even in the best of circumstances, and orange blossom isn't really the best of circumstances. I'm glad that other people like this, but on me it smells like tootsie rolls and orange blossom. You might think that sounds good in theory, but it doesn't really work as perfume.

I don't really get any leather out of this. But the roses do smell... sleek, somehow, so I think the leather is subtle but there. I'm normally not a fan of the rose scents, but as rose goes, this is one of the better ones. It smells like naughty roses. The best kind.

Well, whaddya know. I have had this imp for quite some time and never bothered to try it because I usually don't like rose, and I almost always can't stand gardenia and jasmine. But I just tried it, and strangely it smells like vetiver and leather on me -- two notes I like. There are some florals in there too, but nothing overwhelming. Oh, wait... as it's drying the florals are coming out stronger. Not the kind of floral scent that I like, either. The leather is still there, but I don't like the florals much. My husband just tried it, and it smells too floral and feminine on him. So... too masculine on me (leather and vetiver) and too feminine on him. Guess this one's for swaps.

Curses! Is there oakmoss in this? Dirt? Earth? Is that what mandrake smells like? Cuz really, the only thing I get out of this scent is something that smells like oakmoss and dusty dirt. Maybe a teeny tiny bit of currant. I wish my skin would not amp the earth notes so much. They really overpower. When it's dry it smells not just like dirt but like something rotten too. I am really not getting along with this scent at all.

I like the fullness of the florals in this one (not heady or cloying), and they're backed up by something hazy and dark. The floral aspect of it almost disappears after it's dry, and I'm left with a sweet, deep incense scent. It smells a little bit planty -- I'm guessing that's from myrtle leaf or cypress. All in all not a bad scent, just not something I'm likely to wear.

This smells too strongly of jasmine for me to like it, but I think it's nicer than most jasmine blends. There's something almost dewy about it -- not watery, but kind of fresh and sweet. Must be the midnight flowers... I usually like night-blooming florals better than the regular ones. Not bad, but still too floral for me.

This is the 04 version -- I'll add a review for the 05 version later. I think this is the perfect foody scent. It doesn't turn into the fake plasticy scent on me like Egg Nog did, and it doesn't smell like burnt sugar like Sugar Skull did. It's got a little bit of spice to it (nutmeg? it's not cinnamon) but not so much that it drowns out that yummy warm cookie scent. There might be some rum in this, but it's not prominent. Mostly this smells like warm cookies, and I think it's great. Very comforting scent.

I'm reviewing the 06 version here. It smells oddly like fruit on me at first, which I didn't expect. The leather is stronger in this than I was expecting, too. On my husband, it smells like cherry tobacco smoke. He has a few bottles of the 05 version and likes to wear it. I like the way it smells on my hubby better than on me -- it's too masculine for me. Also the 05 version is better than this fresh 06 oil, so I'm pretty sure this is one of the ones that improves with age. Here's a little personal story, too: The scent reminds both of us (my husband and me) of his father, an older German man with a white beard who is quiet and gentle and makes gifts for us in his woodshop. He also smokes a pipe -- he likes cherry tobacco. It tugs at my heartstrings a little that this is a perfect scent for Herr Drosselmeyer and is also a perfect scent for my husband's father.

At first this smelled very "perfumey," but then it settled into a much prettier and deeper scent. It seems like mostly orchid with a little bit of rose, not too spicy from the carnation, and not too sweet either. The red sandalwood is very nice in this -- gives it a deep grounding. This is feminine without smelling girlie -- I would say womanly. Unexpectedly sexy. I like this quite a lot.

For some reason this smells spicy on me. Kind of like spice cookies with an itty bitty undercurrent of bay rum. The lime is not prominent on me at all -- in fact I can't really even smell it. This is a warm and comforting scent to me, and I like it a lot!

The aloe in this really amps on me -- to the point where this doesn't smell like musk or sandalwood or anything except GREEN. It smells like soap. And after about 10 minutes I can barely smell anything. I'll give this bottle to my husband and see if it works better on him.

The first time I tried this I thought it smelled exactly like baby powder on me. Now I'm trying it again, and although I don't think it smells exactly like baby powder, it sure is powdery. Kind of like an orange-scented powder. I like the orange part but not the powderiness, so I won't be keeping this one.

... Deep cocoa laced with patchouli, leather armor, ritual incense, and a touch of Xochiquetzal’s flowers. Lots of cocoa in this, and it's fantastic with the leather and incense. It's sweet and deep and rich. This is really a great scent, and it smells even better when it's aged.

At first it's so sweet it smells like Pez. The tangerine is strong but powdery (because of the amber?). As it dries it becomes a darker scent, and the cedarwood comes out, but not overpoweringly so. It's an unusual and interesting scent. So far I haven't been able to decide how I feel about it because tangerine and vetiver seems like a strange combination to me, and I'm not sure whether or not I like it.

I mostly smell vetiver at first, loud and strong. Then it takes a backseat, and the whole blend starts smelling extremely perfumey. Almost metallic. Then it turns into kind of a strange acrid dark smell. I'm not really getting any China rain out of this. Just a strange kind of sour vetiver.

I was really looking forward to Silk Road -- it was one of the first BPAL oils I tried. I didn't understand at the time why it didn't smell very good on me but other people in the thread thought it was so wonderful. (That was before I understood about skin chemistry.) I kept trying it, thinking I must be missing something, but I kept not liking it. I like the spicy part of it just fine, but there is some grain note or something in this that makes it smell kind of like bread. Only... not good bread. It doesn't smell like moldy bread or anything, it just smells off somehow. I'm not sure what note that is, but it doesn't work on me at all.

I like this a lot. Musky leather (not sleek black leather, but more like comfy broken-in leather), a sweet tobacco, and a little bit of smoky incense. The combination works beautifully -- it all goes together nicely and smells wonderfully comforting. Like a warm blanket and a good book on a snowy day. I can't wait to get a bottle of this. I can't believe I don't have one already.

In the bottle: A deep, rich, foody scent. Initial impression when wet: So much cardamom I can't smell much else. Maybe a little bit of caramel. When it's drying: It turned into a spicy, dark scent. Occasionally I get a big whiff of cardamom again, and from time to time something about it smells burnt. This is not as caramel/vanilla as I expected it to be, it's a lot darker. The only part of the scent that I can detect from the usual "throw" distance is cardamom and a little bit of caramel. I wish my skin wouldn't amp cardamom so much. I think I'll have to try this later because bread is baking about 10 feet away from me, and I think it's distorting my perceptions of this scent.

I'm really enjoying my psychology class. It's Psych 110, just the basics. I resist the temptation to play amateur psychologist armed with only half a quarter of 100-level knowledge (because it ANNOYS THE HELL OUT OF ME when college kids think they're an expert on a subject after taking one semester of it), but my professor has a PhD in cognitive psych from the University of Chicago and she's a damn smart woman to boot, so I trust what she says. Last night we were talking about motivation and emotion. She was discussing the various reasons why people are motivated for certain behaviors, and she briefly touched on compulsive shopping and hoarding. Her explanation was that people use this behavior to fill the void in their lives that is usually caused by depression. If someone experiences a sadness mood, they are motivated to change circumstances in their lives. Some people misdirect this motivation into changing material things in their lives (selling a bunch of their own crap on eBay and then buying a bunch of other stuff) rather than changing the things that SHOULD be changed (i.e. their partner, their job, whatever). Ultimately this makes the person more depressed because they've just racked up a bunch of new bills and the new material things didn't make a difference to their depression. I was all set to get defensive and huffy about this because I hoard perfumes and bath/body stuff, and I also sell stuff I don't want and buy things that other people didn't want. I don't think it has anything to do with trying to fill a void that's caused by depression -- I actually LIKE swapping and hoarding. I feel very pleased and happy when I look at all my BPAL bottles. They're little bottles of beauty, and I'm glad that they're in my life. If I feel particularly sad one day and I try to soothe myself by buying a BPAL bottle from somebody's swap post, I don't think I should feel bad about it from someone telling me that I'm screwed up psychologically for doing this. Dammit that perfume DOES make me feel better, and I love the anticipation of waiting for some lovely BPAL to show up in my mailbox. So as I was feeling all defensive and ready to raise my hand and tell the professor "You're WRONG, I indulge in retail therapy on occasion and it's not due to depression it's because I LIKE IT." And then she said, "People who exhibit this behavior will buy 40 sweaters in one day and never even take them out of the bags, they'll stash the bags in hiding places around the house so that their significant others won't see them. They get no pleasure from actually having the things they bought, they just feel a compulsive need to buy something. Then they'll have no money when it's time to pay the rent or the electric bill or the car payment, so their depression becomes even worse." Oh. THAT kind of compulsive shopping. Um, yeah. That's not the kind that I do.

We're OK! If the warning signs of a bad behavior are that you buy just to buy and you don't really like it, you overspend and can't pay bills, and that you stash bags of stuff you've bought all over your house -- we're in the clear. It's interesting because in the last chapter we were talking about cognition and intelligence, and one of the things the professor mentioned is that people with high intelligence often collect things (stamps, coins, etc.), which seems to conflict a bit with what she was telling us about what depressed people do. I think a whole lot of education goes into being able to figure out what characteristics/behaviors indicate certain conditions. Like, what's the difference between a hobby collector and a compulsive hoarder? Or an interest and an obsession? I can't tell where the line is, I just know I haven't crossed it. I'm glad there are people out there who have had 8 years of education and can tell. And about the college class = expert syndrome, I always have this urge to say, "You're quoting that out of context" when someone offers her "expert" opinion that's based on something she read in a textbook. The context she's missing is any sort of real-world experience. I remember when I was doing a public relations internship my last semester of college, and it was humiliating to realize that all that spouting off I'd done to family/friends about what PR is like was completely false. I mistakenly thought that the textbook was like the real world. Wrong, wrong, wrong. I was so completely disillusioned that I never worked in PR again after doing that internship.

I've been kind of grappling with that same thing in the past couple of years. I don't live in the city any more either, haven't been shopping in the Clark/Belmont area in ages, don't get up and roll out of bed and roll down the street to the coffeeshop and just hang out like I used to... It's weird sometimes when I see 20-something people walking down the street because inevitably there's a young woman who's walking with them who reminds me of the way I used to look, and I think, "That used to be me." I miss that. I liked being that person. I'm not even sure what happened. I'm 35 but I don't have kids and I'm in school. It would be very easy for me to have the same lifestyle I had when I was 25 -- but I don't. It's different now, somehow. Kinda feels like that boat has sailed. A couple of months ago my husband asked me if we were free the next night for dinner with some people, and I said, "Tomorrow? Tomorrow night?" I sat there feeling dumbfounded that someone was asking for dinner tomorrow because I'm used to these conversations going like this: "Are you free on the 24th? Oh, wait, I can't get a sitter that night. Well it looks like we're going to have to do it in March, what do your March weekends look like?" It suddenly hit me that 10 years ago people would call and say things like, "Hey, I'm thinking about going to such-and-such for dinner, if you can be ready in 10 minutes I'll pick you up." And I'd go. When did this change? And why didn't I notice it? Wow, I'm really rambling. Sorry about that. It's not that I don't like my life now, but it used to seem like it was a lot more fun. Maybe I need to do some redefining too.

I'm very glad to hear that she got back in touch with you about this and that it will soon be resolved!