surlygurl

After reading through this thread, I think that I actually really like the slightly sweet, powdery musky smell I get from some oils.

It's possible that since I always use powder after I shower, I equate that smell to just showered, slightly musky skin.

 

I recently was frimped Queen of Sheba and I love the musky, almondy, slightly foody, powdery scent it dries to.

I also noticed a lot of my favorites dry a little powdery on me:

 

Snake Oil

Boomslang (prob. from the Snake Oil)

Australian Copperhead (again from the Snake Oil)

Black Phoenix (prob. from the black musk, but I find black musk to have a slightly crisper sharper powdery scent on me)

Scherezade (gorgeous red musky powder)

Haunted (I think this is the only Amber that has gone powdery on me)

Smut (a little powder on the drydown)

 

I'm looking for recommendations of more like these?

It's so funny you posted this today! I'm wearing / comparing Anathema on one arm & Sybaris on the other. Both dry down to a lovely powdery scent - Anathema a powdery honeysuckle opium and Sybaris a powdery violet vanilla. I love them both

This is an interesting one. It's so Not Me, but I really like it!

 

It starts off a slightly bitter myrrh (musk?) & chili. It's a touch... metallic? It is shimmery, but in a mournful, heavy way. As it starts to dry the vanilla comes in and, well, sweetens is the wrong word. Lightens? it up. What this reminds me of is a thick fog rolling through the marshes as the morning sun struggles to come up. Eventually the fog starts to lift and you can see a bit of sunlight reflected on the water in an otherwise gray & somber landscape.

 

I catch whiffs of this from time to time, but it smells best in cool weather. When it does sneak into my nose/brain, I feel grounded & calm. Definitely a keeper.

If it's any help, port-au-prince smells - on me - like a rich bay rum, but sweeter. After an initial blast of almond that eventually fades.

I got a decant of this because, well, radishes? Gotta try it. Novelty scent at it's best.

 

Fresh on my skin, it's: Holy crap! This is delightful! I feel like a 4 year old running around chasing butterflies in the garden. I get sweetness. Waves of sweetness, probably from frankincense, cucumber, chamomile, and spikenard (I recognize this from other scents). There's a tiny bit of juniper dancing around, which gives the impression of clear & strong. This stage is crazy good.

 

As it dries, the sweet backs off a little and a soapiness comes in. Not a bad store bought soap, but what soap root might smell like - something natural. Sniffing up close I still get the crazy sweet smell, but the (very limited) throw is less sweet & a bit soapy/earthy. Still, I like it. Unfortunately, the scent is a fast fader. The soap does go away/ blend in eventually, but the throw is less and less until I barely catch faint whiffs when moving my arms. It's an absolutely lovely scent; I just wish it lasted longer. Do I need a bottle of a scent that fades this fast? But it's so pretty!!!

 

This was a bottle purchase from the get-go because I Love Gold Scents. Truly I do. When I think of gold scents, I think of Mr. Jaquel & Faustus - scents that are resin heavy & deep. So I applied from my Gold Phoenix bottle:

 

When I first read the description, I thought "hey! This sounds like Sol Invictus!" and it kinda is. If you take sol invictus, remove the saffron & any other 'exotic' bits, and then add in lemonade, you get this scent. As it dries it softens. Less overt lemon, more lemon-tinged amber. It's very light and clean. A 'fresh out of the shower after using lemon scented soap' clean. But it's not gold. It's a powdery yellow.

 

I like it & will definitely use this in the warmer months.

On my skin, this starts off with a high pitched floral and something fruity. The 2 merge and other florals come out to play. The blend of scents do combine into something light & airy, with a little moss holding it all close to the earth. This is still a high pitched floral, but it's playful like small gusts of wind that blow your hair in every direction on an otherwise calm day.

 

This starts out as Proshitapathika light - *super* herbal lemon. As it dries the herbal lemon lighten up & make way for a clear metal & ozone notes. There's something keeping it grounded. This will be lovely in the summertime.

Now, ya see, I've never smelled TKO, so I can't compare, but I'll assume there's lots of lavender. I do like the soft bpal lavender smell, which this has. This scent would be a winner if it weren't for the cologne aspect, which is really all I get after it starts to dry down. While I do like masculine scents, this reminds me of the job I had at a bookstore where teenaged boys would slap on cheap cologne & stroll into the porn mag isle (because all grown up men smell like cheap cologne. Such a clever ruse.)

This was the scent I thought would be the big loser, the OMG-get-it-off-me! scent. Boy was I wrong!

 

On my skin the dragon's blood shows up, but a cowed & humbled dragon's blood in the company of Big Ginger. Myrrh sweetens this right up. Sweet clove cozies up to the ginger, pushing the dragon's blood even further in the background. (I have a hate/hate relationship with DB, so I'm obsessing). On drydown the basil pokes through, lending some dark green into the swirls of red & brown.

 

I love this.

 

eta: on extreme drydown it gets quite sweet from the dragon's blood. I prefer the earlier stages, but I still love it.

Fresh on the skin I get astringent cypress and herbs. Then little bits of plum come out and are joined by tobacco. The other notes are just names to me so I can't identify them. But through all the variations of the dancing herbs, I get that sharp cypress smell that's threatening to give me a headache .

This is a really pretty luminescent blend. But silver? Try 'frosty violet', because that's what I get. Choward's Violet candies and some sort of powder. The florals keep it from being straight violet (does orris=violet?). This scent glimmers & shimmers in a demure sort of way. It's really quite pretty; it's just not a 'me' scent.

Looking at the scent list, I thought this would be a lovely blend. When I put it on, I got fruit. Lots & LOTS of fruit. And incense? Yeah. All the little nuances that others describe were just not there. Instead, what I got was fruity incense, like the kind you buy at 7-11. It didn't change much as it dried. I'm glad it works on some people.

This was a last minute "oh, I may as well get a decant". Glad I did.

 

Fresh on, it's POW! FIZZzzz... and baby powder. Mostly the labs fizzy cola note. I'm constantly sniffing my wrists trying to pick up the notes other reviewers have mentioned. There's a teeny tiny bit of forest, but no Ivanushka musk that I can tell. So I let it dry & sniff again. Hmmm... The baby powder is now slightly musky. Overall, it's really pretty but I don't need a bottle. I'll try it again, tho, just to be sure!

In the bottle, it smells pretty and light, like something a young girl would wear.

 

On my skin, I get pikake, citrus, a light mixed floral blend, aaannd...... soap. Is there moss in here? No? Don't know what could be doing it, then. This smells like very pretty soap. And there it stays. Oh well.

 

 

Last summer I was toying with the idea of swapping/selling this one away. I remembered it being heavy incense /resin that didn't work on me that well.

 

Now that it's winter, this is the most glorious scent!! Dark green cypress, yellow-green olive, frank & myrrh - a dream come true. Luckily, the blood accord must be just a rumor because I don't smell it. As it dries, the 'roman flora' comes out and I smell spices (?) but I can't identify the florals. They may just be there to color the resins. Gorgeous, gorgeous scent!

 

If you like the Penitence-type scents, you owe it to yourself to hunt down a decant of this.

In the vial, it's burnt sugar & plastic.

On me, it's fresh white sugar and a touch of plastic. Oops! There goes the plastic! And here comes something tart.... probably red currant. There is a leafy green in here, maybe strawberry leaf. Musk shows up a bit later to ground the scent.

I really like it. It's sweet/tart and pretty, like Tiki Queens prepubescent niece.

eta scent description.

This is very high pitched. Floral? White floral? Maybe lily of the valley? A teensy bit of violet? Light leather, like a purse. This scent reminds me of my mother. She used to wear (it's no longer made) this old-lady hand cream that ended up on *everything* - door knobs, remote controls, etc.. And her purse. OMG I smell like my mom!!!! I may put this in a roller ball with a carrier oil & give it to her for christmas.....

After much anticipation, this arrived in the mail yesterday. Three of my favorite notes blended together? Heck yeah! Travel shock (bottle) and headcold (me) aside, I tore into the package & tested it.

In the bottle: Coconut cream. Seriously. It smells thick & fat-laden and slightly floral. I'm familiar with all the bpal coconut types, and the only other time I've smelled coconut cream was in a chaos theory. It's not one of my faves. I also get a tiny bit of "bay rum" - I thinks it's allspice.

On the skin, this is mostly coconut cream. When I sniff up close there's a little allspice and an herbal black licorice kick. The licorice/bay rum compete for attention under the coconut cream for a while. As it dries, the bay rum & licorice fade into the coconut. There's not much throw.

I hope this ages into something less cloying, but I won't hold my breath.

eta: This is more like it! 2 weeks of aging & the coconut cream mellowed, the licorice took a big step up, and the bay rum is the 'glue' that holds it all together. I *knew* this would be a winner!

Oh wow! This is sooo pretty! Fresh on, it's "OMG Peach!!" A wonderful bright peach with smooth dark clove. Some sort of resin in the background keeps the scent from floating away. As it warms up, I can identify my nemesis, Red Musk. Damn. So, of course, the lovely peach burn off and red musk takes over the show. I can occasionally smell *other things*, but nothing identifiable. Just the big red musk. Pphhhhttttt. Time to buy a scent locket, 'cause this is lovely (just not on my skin).

Rose & I don't usually get along, but the name sounded so cute that I had to get a decant.

 

On my skin, it's 98.7% snow white - the remainder being the faintest pink rose. Maybe the rose in place of a different floral in snow white. Whatever role it plays, it's barely there. On me, it's not that big a deal. Oh well.

 

 

 

Ok. Now that I've read other reviews and am pretty sure there wasn't a decant mixup.....

 

On me this is snow white, but better. I get snow white plus some mint and just a tiny bit of eucalyptus. Cold, most definitely. Sweet florals from the snow white part are kept in check by the seriousness of eucalyptus. And it lasts & lasts.

This scent isn't as scary as I'd imagined. The eucalyptus & jasmine are nowhere to be found, and it smells clean & clear. In fact, ya know what it reminds me of? Knucklebones. Same transparent light brown not quite fizzy scent, but not as masculine. Like knucklebones' streetwise little sister. I like it.

Hmmm.... something like Nuclear Winter, with a touch of floral. Cold but very bright, even a bit sharp. It's pretty for a while, then just disappears. Not really me.

The first thing about this scent I noticed was the peppers. It smelled the way bell pepper seeds taste, that slightly bitter oil. Everything else here is an undefinable blur. This is closer to what I expected Raven Moon to be - shimmery & sleek. This does become something very unlike other bpals, something like department store perfume. But high end department store perfume. It's a bpal for people who say they don't like perfume oils.

I do like this - clean, unisex, not very sweet. Not (full) bottle worthy, but I'm definitely keeping the decant.

Doing a little testing today......

 

Fresh on: EEEEK! It's Black Annis without the delicious anise parts!

 

Moments later I get a sort of yummy musk thing coating the outside of the feral core. When I move my arms waaay away from my face, it's wafts of yummy musk. Up close, it's *scary feral thing*. I can't help compare it to eating a rancid peanut m&m. The coating on the outside is tasty, but that big ole rancid thing is the middle is just..... no.

 

Once it's dry, the feral bit goes away and it wafts a sweet soft brown musk. Then it disappears. Interesting scent, but something I'll save for, um, special occasions.