cherryberryice

1. The Unicorn (my ultimate grail)

2. Whip

3. Boo

4. Hope

5. Candy Phoenix

I've never gotten a the opportunity to sniff The Unicorn, but Boober is a lovely, clean linden blossom with sudsy vanilla. Spirits of the Dead is another sweet, clean scent with linden, but to me it's cooler and more dry.

On me, Self Portrait with Puffy Stickers was a sweet rose with undercurrents of strawberries and clover, so maybe that or Love, which was rose with marshmallow and vanilla.

 

As for me, hmmm.

 

1. Kumiho

2. Lilith's Feel-Better Flowers

3. The Lilac Wood

4. Holiday Moon

5. The Unicorn

They share no notes that I'm aware of, but Holiday Moon and Sea of Glass have a very similar feeling to me -- they're both cool and clean and crystalline. Sturgeon Moon was another clean, watery aquatic on me, with greenery. Boo Bam has been on my to-try list for some time, too.

Lilith's Feel-Better Flowers makes me think of Fairy Bites. And I've never gotten a chance to try The Unicorn, but Boober and Spirits of the Dead both have nice linden. The Boober is warmer, sweeter, and has vanilla, while Spirits of the Dead is cooler, dryer, and has more tea.

Oooh how fun! I'm not much good at recommending, there's still a lot I haven't tried (plus I'm truly awful at picking out notes).

 

My top 5 (hard to pick just 5!) in no order are:

 

1. Midway Resurrected

2. Follow Me Boy

3. Lionheart (TAL)

4. Sprinklecake

5. Monsterbait: Bigger Critters

Mouse Circus! It's primarily peanut brittle on me, which is something I would have never expected to work as well as it does. Uncle Brian also has a lovely helping of cotton candy. Plastic Pink Flamingo is strawberries and marshmallows over greenery. I haven't tried Eat Me, but it would fit right in.

My top 5 right now are:

 

Braving The Ice

Sweet Lavinia's Dread Puddings

Ooky

Shortbread Snowflakes BO

Dorian in the Pumpkin Patch

 

I would love to hear more foodie recs!!! Also check my collection link to see other bottles I have so you don't recommend scents I already own. Thanks!

A Game of Yes and No is a lovely marzipan and mulled wine scent. I haven't tried Eat Me, but it sounds like it would be right up your alley. Dessicated Frostberry Pie Filling might also be worth checking out.

I recently got to try some new scents, so here's my new Top 5 list (of the moment):

 

1. Love _{Marshmallows and rose sugar with whipped vanilla cream and a hint of strawberry.}

2. Mariposita _{Her hair smells like soap and lavender, her skin smells like honey and sunshine, and everything is touched by the scent of the strawberries she's always eating.}

3. Coraline Jones _{Dry grass, clean skin, and a little bit of mossy berry.}

4. Velvet Unicorn _{Spun sugar, sparkling rainbow candies, strawberries, merangue, and cherry fluff.}

5. The Last Unicorn _{Frosty lilac petals, iris pallida root, orris, violet leaf, white chocolate, coconut, wild lettuce, white sandalwood, and oakmoss.}

 

All recommendations are appreciated! I would particularly love GC blend recommendations (they need not be too similar, just about the same vibe) so that I can go a little easier on my pocket from time to time. c: But you know, I like a challenge, so bring on the LEs as well!

For Coraline Jones, you could check out The Apothecary! Other ones that on me have a similar low-key clean feeling are Nostrum Remedium, Sea of Glass, F5, Holiday Moon, and Sturgeon Moon. For strawberry in the GC, you could try Bon Vivant, though it's somehow rose on me. If you're looking for sweet, candied fruit (orange/tangerine) +vanilla, you could try Gobo.

Thank you so much for all of the lovely recommendations, folks! I actually haven't had something work on me since the Tremulous Song update so I'm so looking forward to trying all of these out.

Pink Plastic Flamingo (dandelion pink yumminess)

Yemaya (melon-y clean smelling)

Olokun

Plastic Pink Flamingo is actually another one of my favourites! Yemaya and Olokun sound nice, too!

They may not be the easiest to find, but I would track down Lawn Gnome, Pink Lace, L'Essence De L'Engouement, Kitty, and Velvet Unicorn.

Unfortunately, the patchouli in Lawn Gnome rules out something that otherwise sounds great, but the others sound like they'd be worth the effort!

Have you tried Kumiho? It's not got the citrus feel of Embalming Fluid (which is actually one of my warm weather faves) but it has the same light clean vibe to it. Shattered might work as well.

 

Ogun has a distinct melon note just like Twinkle...Bat, but the other notes might disagree with you--I can wear Bat but not Ogun.

 

For Boober, maybe Dirty? Or Paranorman's Salma (Crisp linen, a smudge of ballpoint pen ink, soap-touched skin, apple shampoo, and effervescent science fair experiment residue)? And for one more random fruity thing, how about Bon Vivant (effervescent blend of crystalline champagne notes and sweet strawberry)?

 

I actually own Peach II, it is really pretty; Tamora, sadly, like most of the female Illyria scents, ends up shampoo/hairspray for reasons I can't figure out.

Kumiho is quite lovely on me, but unfortunately it disappears very quickly. I want to love Dirty, but it turns into a very high pitched floral. Ogun sounds like it might be worth checking out an imp -- the juniper/melon/chilli/honey aspect sounds quite interesting. Salma as well!

Bon Vivant is probably my biggest BPAL disappointment -- I don't get any champagne or strawberry at all, just rose shampoo. I actually tracked down a second imp to make sure it wasn't mislabeled.

I'd second Velvet Unicorn and suggest Candy Phoenix, Dirty, Shang Hai, The Unicorn and Titania. And Wensleydale for the clean, fresh scent, even though I personally haven't tried that one yet.

Awesome, thank you! Shanghai is another once that's lovely on me but has no lasting power. And Wensleydale is one I've been dying to try, and I think I've just found a decant.

I also have to rec Kumiho if you like Embalming Fluid! I love both of them, but I love Kumiho slightly more, and I can't put my finger on why, exactly--maybe it just feels crisper to me. The recent Yule Eldritch Drunken Constellations was also fantastic in that vein if you like ambergris at all (it adds a sort of warm and salty foamy quality to the brightness of the tea that might be comparable to the warmth of musk). Herbert West is also very similar to Embalming Fluid, in my experience, with a slightly more astringent cologne-y quality that actually really works. And Shanghai is the sweet flowers and green tea equivalent.

 

For Twinkle, Twinkle Little Bat, Bon Vivant also springs to my mind, they both have that awesome champagne note. Twenty-One had it, too, to my nose, along with some of that herbal quality. And then maybe 51 (green and melony and fruity and fresh) or the (sadly) soon to be discontinued Ehecatl, which is tea and hibiscus and white musk with that zingy zesty quality of lime. For an LE in that vein, Tanuki no Hikifune has that warm fresh melony quality, I think! For Strawberry Moon, I found Self-Portrait With Puffy Stickers from the Tremulous Song update to have a similar . . . quality, I guess (and some similar notes).

 

Anyone who likes sweet springlike candylike florals should probably check out Reflected Vulva from the current Shungas, too--it's very sweet, very sugary, very nice almost fruity spring flowers and SUGARY sugared cream. But sweet scents can sometimes be too much for me, and it wasn't. Lovers in the Tea House was also sweet and fresh and smooth and springlike and really nice, though a lot less sweet (still sweet, but more fresh and with other qualities).

Oooh, so many, thank you! Eldritch Drunken Constellations sounds kind of fantastic, and Herbert West could be neat. I think I might actually have an imp of Twenty-One lying around somewhere, and I'll have to dig it up. 51, unfortunately, went haywire on me, and smelled like every commercial perfume in a store sprayed at me at once. Ehacatl and Tanuki no Kikfune sound lovely, and I do love Tanuki no Orai. Self-Portrait with Puffy Stickers was largely rose on me, unfortunately. I wanted strawberry/clover/grass! I'll have to check out Reflected Vulva as well.

I second Yemaya for melony goodness. If you want more dandelion, you may want to check out Roadhouse, though the rest of your notes might not be your thing. Also, Aurelia and Stentor from last year's Song of Nature series, for berry, tea, and mint.

Oooh, nice.

If you like bright fizzy scents with fruity aspects, maybe Bon Vivant or Croquet? The Phoenix At Dawn would be good if you also do florals.

I am forever sad that Bon Vivant is rose shampoo on me. Croquet and Phoenix at Dawn both sound entirely lovely -- except for the patchouli. Even Tweedledum turned into single note patchouli on me that lasted for 36 hours. The reviews for Phoenix at Dawn compare it to a bunch of my favourites, however -- maybe white patchouli would be bearable on me. I know white sandalwood works much better on my skin than other types.

Maybe Shoggoth? I find it similar to Embalming Fluid, but with a sweeter/fruitier kick from the lime and coconut meat.

Oooh, I do love lime and coconut.

I'd suggest Titania especially, also Bon Vivant and 51, and for LE's Lilith's Tea Party, Earth Ox, and maybe Selkie.

Titania is definitely going on my list! BV and 51 are, alas, not meant for me. The LEs you've suggested all sound worth looking into.

Thanks again, everyone!

I seems to favour a somewhat different scent profile than most of the people already playing along, but what the heck:

1) Spinning Multicoloured Metallic Pinwheel

2) Embalming Fluid

3) Boober

4) Strawberry Moon '09 (with the grass and dandelion sap)

5) Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Bat

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

skyeleric:

Based on Aglaea, what about Peach II or Tamora?

DJ Sin:

A Thought From Propertius was mostly bubblegum and honey on me, so these might be a little off, but you could look at Door or Jailbait.

Thanks so much for the recommendations!

Ichigo, my skin loves marzipan, so I'll definitely have to give it a go.

annemathematics: Treasure Ships Coming In sounds like a combination of pretty much everything I love! I'll definitely have to check it out. Lick It Now, unfortunately, disappeared from my skin within minutes. Green Tree Viper is likely a no on me, alas, due to the patchouli in SO. I amp patchouli to an almost unbelievable degree, even in SO. I'll have to try out How Doth the Little Crocodile even if it's not super minty, because it looks awesome.

Thanks again!

Bumping this in hopes of new minty recs!

I'd love to find a clean, fresh mint scent. Some sweetness is okay, but I'm not looking for an earthy/patchouli vibe, or anything predominantly menthol.

I've found Cathode is nice, but it goes mostly moss on me. Mad Hatter smells almost exactly like scotch mints candy, which is stickier than I'm looking for. Envy is (very disappointingly!) mostly herbal lavender. Aurelia was almost totally pine and cypress, and Stentor was trampled by the khus.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, thank you!

I've encountered an unfortunate difference in Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Bat. I've had a few imps of it - all of which have been a bright, sparkling and effervescent, somewhere between fresh honeydew and melon candies. I swapped for a bottle a little while back, and it's not sparkling or effervescent at all. It's much heavier and muskier, and smells quite a bit closer to Tanuki no Hikifune than the TTLB I've had before. Which is okay, but really not the deliciously fun fizz I was going for.

Has anyone run into this with TTLB before? Maybe it's an aging thing or a batch thing? I'm trying to figure out if I should order a bottle straight from the lab and see what happens.

This is a fizzy, fruity, magnificent melon. Somewhere between fizzy melon candies and fresh honeydew. There's something in here that adds depth without really tying it to the ground -- the tea and mint, I think, though I can't pick them out as individual notes. My colour impression is a pale, glittering green. Lasting power is only so-so, but I really do love it. Throw is relatively low, which is actually something I appreciate in a perfume. It's a definite bottle for me, and has found a place in my top ten.

The patchouli here would normally have been enough to warn me off of it, but all the reviews seemed to say that it's primarily fruit, with just a darker undertone form the patchouli. Mango, fig, and green tea sounded like a heavenly combination to me, so I decided to give it a try. I've been really hoping for a perfect mango.

I should have trusted my instincts here. As soon as it touched my skin, this blossomed into nothing more than dirty, oily wood. I didn't get any fruit or tea at all. (My skin chemistry is incredibly fickle, however, so take this balanced against the weight of the rest of the review thread.) I'm mostly posting this review because though I should have known better, the throw and lasting power were incredible -- which is great news for the people this would work on, but less so for me. I scrubbed with dish soap several times, showered, and could still catch whiffs of this on my wrist the next morning.

I really wish that I was getting what anyone else here was getting! I would love fresh cut wood, greeness, plants, garden hedges, or sap. I would even love sawdust (I have a lot of really good memories of shop class in high school, and it always smelled of sawdust). I assumed I was going to get some combination of the above, as I tend to amp most woods quite strongly.

Alas, after the first few minutes, what I get is high-pitched men's cologne, like a number of bottles from the department store were all sprayed at me at once in some sort of aromatic offensive. My unstable skin chemistry strikes again.

This bottle was a surprise win for me. I threw it on with an order on an impulse, and regretted it almost immediately, because I was just sure that it was going to be a floral mess on me.

I'm so glad that I succumbed to that impulse, because this is one of my favourite scents. I still feel rather new to perfume (and was even more new at the time I ordered this), but I credit it with really helping expand my horizons. This is cleanly warm instead of a cool clean, like I find most "clean" scents to be. I'm somewhat synaesthic, and to me this is a soft pastel, a sunny yellow. This is soft, clean, and incredibly comforting.

This is my very first review! I thought I should probably start with the scent that has turned out to be my absolute favourite, though I may not be able to do justice to it.

There's something about this to me that just smells like sunshine and happiness -- it's like the most cheerful, bright, summer's day, outside on the deck in the sun, with a rainbow of fruit ices while a tiny breeze ghosts across your skin and carries a sparkling suggestion of metal.

Sometimes, I just like to open the bottle and sniff, because it's a fizzy, fruity, cheerful thing of beauty that always makes me smile. There's a part of me that's almost afraid the effervescence will burn off -- that's how realistic of a fizzy scent it is.

I came across this because the reviews mentioned Fruit Moon (long before I actually got into BPAL, I was gifted an imp of that), and I figured I'd never get my hands on a bottle of FM: this is better. I'd told myself that I wasn't going to be a bottle hoarder, but I just had to get a backup of this, because it means I can wear it as often as I'd like without worrying I'm going to run out quickly.

Door! (Golden honey, nicotiana, blue chamomile, and cistus.) I was afraid it would be too floral for me, but it's like a lovely cup of honeyed chamomile tea. A lovely, surprisingly deep, cup of well-honeyed chamomile tea.