forspecial_plate

Unearthing this discussion because, for some reason, I've been "craving" berry scents a lot in the past 2-3 weeks.

 

I skimmed through this thread, and I'm pretty sure I have imps of Lampades and Lady Una....and a couple others mentioned, like Bewitched and Prunella. Now I can't wait to get home from work, so I can have my own berry sniffing party! : )

 

Since the thread has been inactive for a few years....anything newer I should have on my radar? Any other berry-lovers out there?

Hey I was hoping some help finding a BPAL scent similiar to a couple old favorites of mine that are discontinued.

 

Crabtree and Evelyn Gardenia Eau de toilette, not to be confused with their Eau de parfume by the same name. The scents are different. I know the main notes are tuberose and gardenia and the finish is white, powdery, and long lasting.

 

Philtre d Amour by Guerlain - The original millennium special edition was as follows. Top notes are lemon verbena, bergamot and amalfi lemon; middle notes are myrtle, jasmine, neroli and petitgrain; base note is patchouli. It starts sweet and finishes powdery

 

I can't remember much about Philtre d'Amour, I only had a little sample of it. BUT.....

 

I would recommend The Caterpillar, it always makes me think of 'old-school' Guerlain, specifically L'Heure Bleue. Might be worth a shot since it does have jasmine and patchouli (from memory), and does have a powdery feel, in my opinion.

If you like Shalimar, you might like fresh Snake Oil. If you like L'Heure Bleue, you might like the aged one.

I agree with the Shalimar comparison.

 

The Caterpillar always reminds me of L'Heure Bleue, especially after it has dried down for a while

DCCXCIX (799)

Previous review by stellans:

http://www.bpal.org/topic/47311-chaos-theory-iv-edge-of-chaos/?p=1212571

 

My review:

Clean musk with a hint of vanilla, a hint of citrus. I get the ozone vibe stellans mentions. She was reminded of Twisted Oak Tree, but I am reminded of November, lighter and sweeter. It's really nice and I like it a lot. Very clean and sometimes too close to soapy but there are times I'm in the mood for this kind of thing.

Premature Burial - which is an older Limited Edition oil, and maybe hard to find (sorry).

Here are the notes for those 2 sub-series......

 

Visions of Autumn I - White cedar, black pepper, golden amber, bay leaf, and 4-year aged oudh

Visions of Autumn II - Gurjum balsam, rose geranium, opoponax, violet leaf, brown leather accord, and patchouli

Visions of Autumn III - Bourbon vanilla, aged patchouli, honey, and Ceylon cinnamon

Visions of Autumn IV - Somalian myrrh, orange blossom, champaca flower, and verbena

Visions of Autumn V - Haitian vetiver, tea leaf, Himalayan cedar, and apricot rind

Visions of Autumn VI - Oakmoss, lavender absolute, petitgrain, rockrose, white patchouli, and sage

Visions of Autumn VII - Tobacco absolute, myrrh, opoponax, black sandalwood, and black pepper

 

and the Dead Leaves series:

Dead Leaves and Tobacco

Dead Leaves, Black Pepper, and Sandalwood

Dead Leaves, Bourbon Vanilla, and Myrrh

Dead Leaves, Frankincense, and Copal

Dead Leaves, Honey, and Oudh

Dead Leaves, Red Musk, and Neroli

 

.....again, I didn't try any of these, but they all sounded pretty good and I think they were variously popular

The whole Visions of Autumn sub-series, from Halloweenies a couple years back, sounded really great but I never tried any of them. That's only because I wanted all of them and couldn't narrow down my choices! I'm sure others here can recommend specific ones.

 

Not sure if you like the lab's dead leaves note, but there was another sub-series in the last Halloween update that was all dead leaves scents. They're all called "Dead Leaves and..." with other notes. Again, I couldn't narrow down my choices so I didn't pursue any of these.

 

And speaking of Halloweenies, La Femme de Satan was my favorite from the last Halloween update: "Red musk and cacao with clove, caramelized tobacco, aged patchouli, red currant, black leather, and vanilla-infused amber". Definitely suitable for a man or woman!

 

And finally, Bram Stoker is worth a try, and it's in the general catalogue in the Inspiration section: "Bourbon vetiver with opoponax, Italian bergamot, and hay absolute". I enjoy it quite a bit.

 

I might think of more later on....

Off the top of my head...

 

The Seekim...challenging but rewarding

Pallas Athene

 

Ooooohh I had another one, I forget now. I'll think of more. I'm guessing you're ok with LE?

 

Welcome back!

There's nothing wrong with that at all. Those are my favorite scents, the ones that at first I don't like, but they grow on me and I end up loving them. There have been quite a few. A great example for me is Dzongkha by L'artisan, I didn't like it at all at first, but I kept thinking about it, and wore my sample over a stretch of time, and ended up falling in love with it and bought a bottle. And have received compliments on it.

 

The thing about bpal - I think the majority of the scents could be worn by a man or woman (as has been said many times). Just because something is flowery or powdery, doesn't mean a man can't wear it. It's just because of traditions or mindsets or whatever - once upon a time all men smelled powdery, and women's scents were more mossy and thus could perhaps be considered masculine by our modern standards. I wear what I want although sometimes I am a little more self-conscious if I'm wearing a very floral scent, but in the end it doesn't matter - most people passing you in your day-to-day life aren't going to think more than once about what scent you're wearing, and if they think you smell like a woman, maybe they think you just hugged a woman or something. But really, forget about what other people think, especially if you love it, just wear it for yourself! Langour is a great scent and you should wear it if it makes you happy.

 

And the weird thing about "powdery", is that different people are going to have different perceptions about what is powdery and what isn't. I have one friend who, whenever I wear Snake Oil he says I smell like baby powder, and I'm like....hmmm, ok, I disagree, but in the end I don't care, because I'm wearing it more for me than for anyone else! And I personally like scents that are a little "powdery", but that grew over time, I didn't always like that.

 

I ordered Palmyra but haven't received it yet. Can't wait! I love cinnamon and it always catches my interest.

 

thank you Forspecial Plate

You're welcome - I tried LLaM again last night, and thought of a couple more recommendations.

 

Absinthe - "An intoxicating blend containing wormwood essence, light mints, cardamom, anise, hyssop, and the barest hint of lemon"

 

Absinthe and Lace - "A scent of dissipation and ennui: green cognac and icy absinthe, louched, spilling onto lace that is drooping with neglect and darkened by tobacco smoke"

 

These are a little more obvious because of the anise, especially Absinthe and Lace - that one has a sugary aspect that might be more like LLaM. I think the "lace" note in that whole series is a kind of sugary cottony linen. I noticed last night that LLaM has a more sugary sweetness than what I remembered.

 

Also,

 

Black Annis - "a mixture of damp cave lichen and oak leaf with a hint of vetiver, civet and anise"

 

Black Annis is a lot more earthy and mossy, without any sugary sweetness, but it does have a big anise note going on that you might like.

 

I stand by Mad Hatter because I think the "gentlemen's lavender-citron cologne" part, and the cool herbal pennyroyal note, are reminiscent of LLaM. Good luck, hope this helps.

I'm looking for a BPAL similar to Lolita Lempicka Au Masculin by Lolita Lempicka :

From Fragrantica : Top notes are violet, ivy, basil, anise, licorice and wormwood; middle notes are sandalwood, tonka bean, rum and almond; base notes are vanilla, vetiver, cedar, praline and labdanum.

 

Thanks for your help

 

I have a mini-bottle of this, and a full-size bottle of the Leau version. (I also have a mini of the feminine one, just wore it yesterday - man that stuff lasts and lasts!)

 

Mad Hatter is the first thing that comes to mind, even though it doesn't have the licorice or anise note, it has a similar clean-musk vibe.

 

Also maybe: Bow & Crown of Conquest

To me this is lots of red musk, with some sweet vanilla-like fougere that reminds me of hay or sweetgrass. Read on for the more detailed, long-winded review.... : )

 

I was confused by the impression of vanilla. So I looked up fougere again, and found that it would generally contain lavender and fern, plus some tonka/coumarin. Reading further I found that tonka and/or coumarin gives the impression of sweet grass or newly mown hay, and I thought "aahhh......that makes more sense". Also the tonka would be more of a base note, which matches what I am experiencing, the hay coming out later (rather than when first applied).

 

This doesn't remind me of the more 'masculine' or manly bpal scents that I've tried, it is more of an incense-y, red musk-heavy scent on a backdrop of sweetgrass or hay. On casual sniff, I would mostly pick up the red musk and it's very familiar to other bpal red musk blends. But the fougere does make this stand apart. I don't smell mandarin, so it must be just contributing to the overall feel of the scent. This is a winner and probably my favorite so far of the Halloweenies this year.

 

I've worn Eau Duelle, it's not too much of a stretch to recommend Snake Oil. Eau Duelle is a little woodier maybe.

Thank you for the rec, I have purchased a bottle of aged Snake Oil, can't wait to try it out

I just realized, Waltz Of The Snowflakes might be even closer. It has a cool woodsy quality that I get from Eau Duelle.

I've worn Eau Duelle, it's not too much of a stretch to recommend Snake Oil. Eau Duelle is a little woodier maybe.

First impression: strong white floral, reminds me of the little bathroom soaps that are for decoration only (soapy, but really nice soap). I didn't like it at first.

After a couple minutes, when I bring my wrist up to my nose, I can smell a very strong booze note, the cognac I suppose, that worried me at first. After a while, the booze faded back a lot, and I get a balanced floral/booze/patchouli combo. I don't think the patchouli is super strong, but I like patchouli and sometimes don't even notice it. It's here but just giving an earthy base to the powdery floral and chilly booze notes. If you amp patchouli and don't like it, there might be enough here to turn you off.

I was hoping for a little more sweetness from the tuberose and jasmine, but it's mostly austere orris and lily to me. I think the tobacco flower is contributing to the soapiness.

Summary: chilly white floral with booze, soapy and a little powdery, with an earthy patchouli base. I wish it was just a little sweeter but it is very ghostly, reminds me of something else from bpal - maybe Sepulcher? But I couldn't wear that, it was just too high-pitched and soapy. This is more balanced, I like it.

Someone gave me a sniffie of this somewhere along the way. Dry, dusty leather. It's somewhere between Geek and Brom Bones and Velvet Bandito.

 

Leather, dry, dusty, woodsy, and a hint of soapy-ness. I like it, but since I have decants of the other three I compared it to, I don't need to go nuts trying to find more Sacrifice.

I sweat so much that 'clean and light' is GONE on me within 1 hour, especially if I'm at some kind of outdoor gathering or event.

 

I went with Snake Oil, just because I haven't worn it in a while, and I wanted the full Snake Oil experience! : )

Reading back through this thread a little bit - I see I'm not the only one who likes musky scents in the summer heat

 

I love red musk in the summer, something about it just works so well for me in our humid weather. I'm going to a potluck tonight and it's going to be hot and sticky. I'm thinking one of these:

Snake Oil (I don't know if it specifically has red musk but it's great in the summer)

Snake Charmer

Cottonmouth

Infernal Lover (I have a decant of the red-musk-heavy version)

Midnight On The Midway

Fenris Wolf

Kabuki

 

......or maybe:

Hungry Ghost Moon (I have a decant of the older one from 2006)

Ulalume (I just discovered that I love this)

Carnival Diabolique

Mad Hatter

Voodoo Lily

Black Lotus

Red Moon

 

I don't know.....I probably won't decide until the last minute : )

 

Animalic number 86

 

Okay....I can't identify exactly what's in this. But I have some guesses. (and I like it)

 

The top note for about 5-10 minutes is almost pure cardamom. But that doesn't last long - the cardamom fades into the background pretty quickly.

 

After it dries, there is almost certainly either white or black musk, or maybe both. There is something else in here - some kind of sweetness but beyond that I can't tell what it is. This scent is mostly musk and something a little sweet. It's a cool sweetness, almost like an herbal musky scent. Cool and grey, I think.

 

I also thought I smelled a bit of leather, something grassy, maybe a little citrus? My boyfriend smelled leather and triaminic (cough syrup). After he said that, I thought maybe I could smell some grape or wine. Power of suggestion? Maybe.

 

It smells like it's related to some other bpals. I am reminded of Hunter Moon (the newer one), Nyarlathotep (without the strong citrus), and possibly Dorian, as strange as that sounds. It's the musk, this is very musky which is good news for me. Just what I was hoping for!

I don't know which variation I have, but this is Steam Iron Single Note.....which isn't a bad thing! I smell the lavender somewhat, but that's the only thing I can pick out from the description. It goes on without changing for a long time - very linear.

Hi!

 

I've been reading the reviews and it seems they are all over the place. Some of them seem to fall outside their category. So - if your taste is across the board, you are in luck because you can't really be sure of what you're going to get. There's no way to pick exactly what your Chaos Theory is going to smell like. For me, that's the whole point and that's the fun of it! But not everyone wants to gamble.

 

I went with Animalic and Floral. If these had come out a year or two ago, I definitely would have gone for Woods and Oriental first. But I feel like over time, my tastes have changed and I also have a little bit of a better understanding of what works for me. Both of mine are great, really interesting and unusual.

 

I want to get a Gourmand one because so many of my favorite scents have some kind of gourmand element. And I think I want another Animalic, that category just intrigues me. Floral is more of a gamble for me but there's the possibility that it could be something I really like (and I do like the one I got).

 

I don't know - I guess it's more of a gut feeling, reading the descriptions and thinking about the scents I already have that I love, and going with my instinct on the categories. Then the rest is up to chance. It's a fun experience.

 

edit to add: Also, there's a whole discussion in Bpal Chatter about the recent Chaos Theory update, where people talk all about the different categories and give mini-reviews of the ones they got - follow this link:

 

http://www.bpal.org/topic/86879-the-golden-apple-has-been-thrown-lacus-bonitatis-chaos-theory-vii-are-live/

CLVI

 

Another cool, herbal scent, a little earthy, smells 'grey' to me. I can't guess what herbs or what on earth is in this. It reminds me somewhat of Iris Silver Mist, and someone else mentioned a 'rooty' aspect, which I agree with. So maybe it has orris root.

 

There are a couple other reviews of this but I am not sure how to link to them. But.....I didn't like this very much at first. I've had it for quite a while. But now, I can sort of see myself wearing it on a cool rainy day. It's kind of meditative. Like another Chaos Theory that I have, this smells more like an aromatherapy blend than a perfume. That other one is more stoney but this is more rooty. Maybe they would smell good together?

184

 

Papery white amber, just a hint of saltiness. This has to have the same white amber that's in Court of Honor, and maybe white sandalwood too. It's very light, so it's hard to tell what's in it. For all I know, it could be white amber single note. White amber, maybe some very light wood, and who knows what else. Thumbs up. It's a low-level partial, so that means I got it from another forum member, but I can't remember anything about buying it (like if there was a description).

146

 

Cool grey herbs. Not mentholated, not minty, but still somehow cool, like damp stone or something. It's almost like sassafras but that's not it. There might be a little grey amber in this. And there might be a little iris or orris. It smells more like an aromatherapy blend than a perfume.

142

 

Cedar and crayons.

 

It's very woody with some incense, but I always think 'cedar and crayons' when I put it on, so that's what it is to me. It's in the same family as Aureus and Cathedral, there might be some patchouli but it's hard to tell behind all the cedar. I like it.