Juushika

I looked, but didn't see a thread for it... Recommendations for oils which smell like the Atmospheric Linen & Room Sprays, please! I'm most interested in Down the Rabbit Hole (daisies and dirt with a hint of orange marmalade, dry leaves, and crunchy old sticks), but it might be nice to gather a list of wearable oil alternatives to the various sprays (which aren't based on preexisting oils).

In the vial: Almost-burnt sugar and musk, a dry spicy reddish scent. On me: Rooibos as it hits the skin, dry red herbal, not quite spicy but warm. The burnt sugar/musk comes out again with drydowna combination similar to Smut, the alongside rooibos it's entirely unique; nor is it sweet, despite the impression is sugar. The scent has a good body without being too heavy, a feel of golden woods/resins; it's a dry, warm, and red: gender-neutral edging towards masculine; warm and lovely, but too dry to read as sensual. Needless to say, a distinctive if difficult to summarize scent, and has a smoothness that makes it feel more like a distinct smell than a well-blended combination of notes. Verdict: I find myself reaching for Chaotic far more than I expect. It's too unusual to be called understated, but it has an unassuming smoothness that belies surprising warmth and distinction. I admire it more than I love it, but sometimes it's the perfect thing to wear, and I'm glad for my decant.

In the vial: Dark, tart pomegranate, perhaps a touch of rose. On me: Soft, dusty rose balancing out pomegranate's tartness; a rich, dark scent, round with fruit, overlayed with patchouli and a bit of spice. Rose amps on me, but this one stays pleasantly in check; plum does likewise, and this one gets a touch too distinct for my taste but also stays reigned in. A well-blended scent on the whole, dark and round with fruit and spicy-sweet, yet gentle. It's strongly reminiscent of Queen of Clubs, but I prefer that scent. Throw is moderate low; wear length is moderate high. Verdict: Queen of Clubs wowed me with its wearable rose and dark, dirty fruits; Crypt Queen is in many ways similar, but never passes from "good" to "great"—whatever magic marks QoC, it isn't here. And that's fine! It's a beautifully realized scent on the whole, dark and round and complex, but I'm not in love and don't need to keep my decant.

In the vial: Surprisingly sweet, with spices (peppers more than clove). On me: Dragon's blood and pink pepper, but basically: spiced bubblegum is spot on (not lotus's sharp bubblegum sweetness, but a just-opened stick of the stuff, still dusted with powder. A sweet, pink , full-bodied but slightly powdery scent, with nothing of the darkness that I'd expect from a number of the notes. Throw is moderate. Verdict: While not actively unpleasant, this is far from my style; I washed it off. I wasn't expecting such a sweet scent; as it is, it's full-bodied and tolerable despite my avid dislike of everything it stands for, but, no, I don't need to keep my decant.

In the vial: Red musk and honey, a blushing and thick scent but not too bright or cloying. On me: What is says on the tin: warm red musk; red, dry, spicy carnation; myrrh which leans towards incense, brown and slightly powdery; thick smooth honey which offers more texture than sweetness. The carnation is strong when it hits the skin but dies down during wear, which is my only big complaint; it is such a promising, bold carnation at the start. Three of these notes (all but the carnation) often go sweet on me, but La Passion keeps itself in check—perhaps because three of the scents (all but honey) tend towards powdery, and the two aspects balance one another. The result is a red scent, tending a bit towards pure red musk (which I amp), but exhibiting all its aspects: warm, spiced, leaning towards but not quite reaching dry, palatable and quite lovely. Scent color is (surprise!) red; throw is high but not overpowering, and wearlength is moderate to long. Verdict: Carnation is my beloved, so I'm sad to see this one fade; red musk amps on me, so La Passion reads a bit like every other red musk blend. Nonetheless this is lovely: the notes are beautiful in concert, and the scent is a warm red beauty. I'll keep my decant, but don't need more.

In the vial: A dark, smoky, dry, spicy, reddened scent. On me: Well-blended to the point of seamlessness; dry and with no trace of sweetness, which keeps the notes in check. Warm, smoke over cedar and colored by cinnamon, dark but not heavy, almost understated but, on skin level, not at all shy. Scent-color is a smoky, hazy bistre. Throw is moderate to low, but occasionally reaches out longer tendrils of cinnamon. Verdict: I'd half expect a blend like this to have some sort of booziness or sweetness to give it counterpoint or punch, but Umbra's beauty is that it lacks that; instead, it's a pure smooth worn-wood darkness—the cinnamon gives it color and interest, but the scent on the whole could almost make you think it was understated, a background note, which belies its well-blended depth. It doesn't stand out, and I doubt I'll remember to reach for it frequently, but it's an accomplished not-quite-a-background scent that I'll be happy to have around. I'll keep my imp.

Resurrected/2008 version. In the vial: Snake oil's vanilla and spices in an astoundingly thick out. On me: It goes slightly dirty as it hits the skin, cigarette smoke/bourbon vanilla-esque, atop vanilla and spices. Once it dries down, however, this is pretty much what Snake Oil ought to have been, except that Snake Oil disappears on my skin: it's a dark spicy vanilla and a touch of amber, a subtle and deep and sensual scent, sweet but smooth, spicy and dark, warm and brown. I get plenty of resins a little dark fruit, especially in the throw, differentiating the scent from virgin Snake Oil. Throw is low, but the scent shows no shyness at skin-level; wear length is very long. Verdict: Considering my tumultuous relationship with Snake Oil, I'm pleasantly surprised how much I like Snake Charmer (Resurrected); it's not love, but this is what I'd always hoped Snake Oil would be, in spirit if not in every letter, and so I appreciate and will keep my decant.

In the vial: Lemon, with some background notes I can't pin down. On me: The sharp oils of lemon and orange; mint hiding beneath, I thinka sharp, citric scent. The sharpness wears off during drydown, revealing something sweet and familiar beneathgrape and florals, soft, sweet, and almost frosted; a pale, slightly powdery scent. There's a hint of rose, but surprisingly it doesn't overtake everything else in the blend (I usually amp rose). Verdict: Nicer than I anticipated, but not at all my style. A sweet, cool fruity floral, Bess is unusual and I suppose palatable, but I washed it off and will trade away my imp.

In the vial: Currant; a dark red scent, not too juicy or tart. On me: Juicy and tart to the extreme as this hits the skin, backed up by slightly bitter woods. The two aspects balance out during drydown: a rich base of nonfoody woods topped by slightly subdued dark red fruits. It has moments when the fruits get too strong for my taste, which doesn't surprise meI have a love/hate relationship with that note, which I like in theory but in practice is often too powerful for my taste, especially since my skin amps currant. But on the whole the woods ground the scent and keep the fruits in line. A warm, red, smooth scent, rich and royal. Scent-color is dark rosewood/mahogany; throw and wearlength are both moderate verging on high. Verdict: Like but not love, enough to keep the imp but not half enough for a bottle. I imagine aging will do good things to this scent, maintaining an even better balance of wood to fruit, but honestly I'm surprised to like this so much as it is: I find that red fruits are often only a theoretical desire, but these are unique and well-balanced, and quite lovely.

In the vial: Surprisingly sweet, almost Jack-waxy pumpkin. On me: Goes on strong pumpkin, midway between earthy and waxy, with something chemically sweet in the throw. The waxiness of the pumpkin dies off during drydown, leaving behind an understand and earthy pumpkin rind. There's a chemical/medicinal/herbal note at the heart of this blendfennel and spices and licoriceand I just ... don't like it. Most rooibos I've encountered is an herbal equivalent to red musk, but I get nothing of that warmth and color hereit's just a spiced, curried pumpkin. Verdict: Pumpkin Masala Roobios is effective as a non-sweet, non-traditional spicy pumpkinherbs and unusual spices over a savory pumpkin base. But the spices always seem a little off and unpleasant to my nose, and I just find nothing to like here, none of the warmth I was expecting, nothing palatable in the blend. I'll trade away my decant.

In the vial: Dark, a bit bitter, a bit dry. On me: The bitterness blossoms as this hits the skin—clove and orris root, maybe, a dark sharp scent. The musk comes out with drydown and the bitterness fades; the scent transforms into a warm, dark spice with a red/purple shift. It's a dense, dark scent that hovers close to the skin, spicy and hot, a bit powdery, musk with clove thorns, sensual and dangerous in the same scent. Throw and wear length are both fairly low. Verdict: I'm not head over heels, but I am solidly won over. The Moon Gazed on My Midnight Labours is what I would expect from the notes, dark and warm and spicy; it doesn't try to play nice by offering up any sort of sweetness (even though musk is usually sweet on my skin), but is gorgeous in its own right. I expect it will age well, too. I'll hold on to my decant, but I don't think I need a bottle.

In the vial: Warm, citric amber. On me: It goes on as orange zest—the bright, volatile, almost bitter oils of orange peel—over amber. Much of the orange, in particular its brightness, dies off with drydown; what's left behind is a faint, warm amber, slightly powdery and slightly vanillic, perhaps a bit floral, touched by orange. It's a pale, light, warm scent, glowing rather than shining; it has almost a white cocoa sense to it, a more-than-skin-scent atmosphere of gentle and pale but distinct sweetness. (Bourbon vanilla usually goes dark and dirty on me; if the sweetness is just vanilla, it's much whiter than I'm used to.) Scent color is opaque, pastel orange. Throw is gentle but surprisingly high. Verdict: A Wonderful Light is reminiscent of Khrysee, but drier and more pristine than Khyrsee's fleshy amber; it's also reminiscent of a white chocolate Gelt, sweet and powdery and dry. It's perfectly pleasant but doesn't move me—the scent texture is too dry, and it's a little too sweet for my taste, and I don't need to own it.

An old, dried-out empty; I don't know how representative it is of the true oil. In the vial: A familiar fruity sweetness; light, sweet, not too full-bodied. On me: The same light fruity sweetness, eventually tempering out with a bit of herbs or teaeither way a drier, more herbal scentand losing the aggressive sweetness which could easily be white chocolate. The fruit remains, tangerine with a touch of mandarin but not much currant, a light and bright fruit, not juicy but aromatic. The scent doesn't last long, an hour or three. Verdict: Nothing to write home about, but then I'm not a fan of white chocolate or predominant fruits. This is a light, bright, colorful sort of scent; the initial sweetness is a bit oppressive, but without it the scent is just straightforward, if pleasant, bright fruits. It's not to my taste, and not something I need to seek out in any quantity.

In the vial: Sharp, warm, slightly medicinal; I feel like I should be able to name the note, but can't. On me: Powdery amber and rose as it hits the skinwhich does not bode well, as my skin loves rose a bit too much. As it dries down, there's a medicinal edgeperhaps bergamot, but more herbal and dry. It casts a sharp, herbal shadow over an otherwise traditional spectrum of amber and rose accompanied by musk and sandalwood, and there's also a touch of warmth in the saffron. Until this point the rose stays in check, but post-drydown it peers its head up and then there's no stopping it: next it's a powdery, tame rose with a backing of herbs and warmth; then it grows into rose, rose, just rose, fleshy and red and especially potent in the throw. Verdict: Blame my skin, which almost always amps rose to terrifying levels. What Bagdad is until that happens is only okay, but I honestly can't judge the true nature of this scent. This is one for the swaps.

In the vial: I'd hazard sandalwood, orris, and muskit's a familiar scent but hard to name, brown and organic. On me: Goes on cologney and sweet, and has a frankly unlikable drydown period which takes too much from the coconut and hardly matches the description. When it does dry down, this is a barely sweet, fuzzy brown scentmore orris, sandalwood, and husk than musk, so there's not much of rats or mice here and instead the scent leans a bit vegetative; it's not as powdery as I had expected, but the coconut husk in particular well matches the scent-texture promised in the description. Scent-color is a moderate brown, not too dark or saturated. Throw is moderate. Verdict: I get almost nothing in the way of musk or incense, but I want them thereI think they'd provide welcome balance and darkness to the scent, and lean it back towards animalic instead of vegetative. What I get from Brown Jenkin instead is only okayI like it, but not nearly as much as I want to. I'll hang onto my imp for now and hope that aging brings out those other notes and improves the scent.

In the vial: Warm, golden, sweet, with a touch of boozy fruit. On me: Spice as it hits the skin, over a rich round peach; initially, this scent is round, bright, golden, and fruity counterpointed by a spicy, smoky warmththere's something exotic about it, perhaps in the incense, and it's lovely. The fruitiness amps during drydown, and cinnamon triumphs over the clove, patchouli, and incense; the scent resolves to something pretty much matching the description, a bright, thick, sweep, warm fruity scent rouged with red spices, but it lacks the dark counterpoint of clove et a. Scent color is golden, yellow and red. Throw and wear length are both moderate. Verdict: I want the cloves, patchouli, and incense to stick around. They're what makes the scent a successthe contrast they give to the bright fruits is tried and true but no less brilliant for that, and the incense gives a unique and exotic edge. But those notes die off, and what they leave behind is just cinnamon over fruit; it's vivid but lacks depth, and is too bright and fruity for my tastes. All in all this isn't a keeper, however promising its initial stages.

In the vial: Thin and sweet. On me: There's a strange fruitiness in this as it hits the skin, and it develops smokiness on drydown. It's a smooth but strong smoke over just a hint of something white and vaguely sweet: what it says on the tin, but I underestimated just how burnt it would be. The crusty exterior is a smooth, practiced vetiver, and the marshmallow beneath is surprisingly full-bodied with that lingering impression of fruit, but the combination lacks punchI think the marshmallow wants more sweetness, to sell itself and to contrast against the smoke. Scent-color is gray. Throw is low. Verdict: The Gorobble has more smoke than I expected, but I can rearrange my expectations to accommodate itbut even when I do, it doesn't quite work for me. The marshmallow beneath isn't quite convincing, and the contrast between fluffy sweetness and burnt exterior isn't as dynamic as I want. It's not bad, but I keep retesting and waiting for the scent to win my heart, and it's just not happening. One for the swaps.

In the vial: Fruitiness (cherry?) and chocolateof the El Dia de los Reyes variety, powdery and milky. On me: Starts out a bit bitterwhipped butter, not sweet enough to be icing, with a ghost of red fruitiness and a bare implication of powdery chocolate. It takes about half an hour for the scent to grow into what it's meant to be: a sugary milk chocolate haze, with a touch of powder and a hint of cherry, and some buttery richness at skin level. The chocolate is akin to the cocoa in El Dia de los Reyes. It's pretty accurate but not particularly enjoyablethis isn't handmade buttercream; it's a tub of premading frosting. Scent-color is milk chocolate. Throw is moderate to high. Verdict: I hate milk chocolate and dislike frosting, so even at its best it's unlikely that Milk Chocolate Buttercream would have worked for me. Post-drydown, the scent is pretty accuratebut personal taste aside, it doesn't quite have the luscious indulgent quality I'd expect; the chocolate leans powdery, the butter can be stale, I have no idea where the cherry comes from, but most of all it doesn't have a handmade, high-quality buttercream feel. This is a one for the swaps, in the hope that it'll work better on someone else.

In the vial: The dark scent of leaf litter and smoke. On me: Resins and saffron come out on application, followed by smoke and clove—and then dead leaves, and a touch of floral. It's a spicy, dark, organic scent, cloves and leaf litter, warm and smoky, with something almost citric, golden and sweet, at its heart. The citric/floral note makes for a more wearable scent, and well compliments the clove, but it also makes The Death of Autumn less deep and dark than it original appears, which is a little disappointing. After a few hours the scent grows more traditionally dark sweet autumnal BPAL: the cloves fade and there's a boozy wetness, dark and resinous and sweet; it's lovely, but not nearly as unique. Scent-color is golden brown. Throw is moderate high, and wear length is long. Verdict: The Death of Autumn goes on as a thing of beauty, a dark walk in an autumn forest, resinous and organic, smoky and spicy—but it loses itself along the way. The golden heat it develops is lovely, but not as dark and bold as its earlier stages; the resinous sweetness it has near the end is pretty traditional BPAL, dark and palatable, but familiar. Its not a bad scent on the whole, but I'm sad to see it morph. Still I think I'll keep it, and try to adjust my expectations to enjoy the bulk of the scent rather than mourning the loss of its drydown.

In the vial: Clean, dry woodiness with a hint of fruit/floral. On me: A thin, woody, masculine scent. When it goes on it's just barely touched by berry, but the berry amps during drydownwhich may be a product on my skin chemistry. It's a dry red scent, masculine, just a touch sweet, blonde wood and berrybut still redder and fuller than I'd expect from the inspiration: the berry is strong and out of place. At times there's a slight cologne-y aspect. Scent-color is luminescent red. Throw is moderate low, and wear length is short. Verdict: My skin loves berry a little too much, and that may be what sours Elf for me. It's too vibrant, too red, overshadowing the other notes and deviating from the inspiration. Regardless, this scent isn't my style. I'll pass along my imp.

The 2011 issue. In the vial: Spicy and almost fruity. On me: That hint of fruit persistsalthough it could be the full body of the booze, it almost has an apple vibe. There's some spicy musk hiding beneath and a distinct sweetness floating above, but the scent is remarkably smooth; I get nothing of the fires or spice I was expecting. This is akin to what I imagined Smut would be (except that Smut is unremarkable on my skin): smooth, sweet, carmelized, dark, warm, with just a touch of musk. Scent color is a dark, limpid brown. Throw is moderate high; wear length song. Verdict: I think I would like Devil's Night more if I hadn't expected something a little darker, smokier, and threatening; as it is it's almost too nice, warm and round and treading the line between sexy and playful. But if I look beyond my preconceptions, Devil's Night is pretty nice. The liquid boozy/fruity vibe isn't quite my style, but it's wearable and enticing. I'll hold onto my impand hope that with aging I may like it even more.

In the vial: A thin scent of dead leaves. On me: The musk/vanilla/cocoa/amber combination comes out when it hits the skin, followed by dead leaves. Once drydown is said and done, this is dead leaves on the skin, spicy dark organic and easily the strongest leaves I've had the chance to smell from BPAL, and a pale sweetish white cocoa in the throw, a lighter and more predictable scent which is almost but not quite foody. It has an impression of candied leaf litterand who knew that could be so lovely? because it is. Unfortunately it develops a cloying note within a few hours off wear, which isn't quite enough to sour the scent but comes close. Verdict: This is one to retest, to see if the cloying end note shows up each time. I'll be disappointed if it does, because Sonnet d'Autome is otherwise beautiful. It's the sort of unique scent I look for from BPAL: miles from a traditional perfume, evocative, unusual, but wearable.

In the vial: A light and airy apple cider. On me: This is surprisingly light when it goes on, a faint fruitiness with a touch of boozy fermentation and some sweetness, mostly an impression of light cider but not the scent itself. Post-drydown it gets strongerthe apple becomes more distinct, and this is a mild, warm, golden, thin apple cider. I never get much of the spices, but there is a hint of butterscotch. I was curious about Autumn Cider's similarity to Fearful Pleasure, and on my skin it's Fearful Pleasure's lighter and slightly foodier cousinwhere FP is backed up by dark woods, this has a glowing golden cast. Despite the absence of spices, it's accurate to the description: autumn cider, indeed. Throw is moderate, and wear length is long. Verdict: Autumn Cider is just what it says on the tin, but it's a little too light and simple for meI wish I got the spices. It and Fearful Pleasure are different scents, but there's a family resemblance and I prefer Fearful Pleasure's darkness, so I'll stick with that.

In the vial: ....floral? On me: Goes on as a dusty, dull, pastel floral. The rose opens up during drydown and only continues to ampas rose always does on mebut the other flowers add a powdery note on top, which softens but never quite complicates the rose. Not at all dark, this has a pinkish old-guest-soap-by-the-sink feel, a little powdery, a little grandmaish. Verdict: Rose is one of my death notes and predominant florals aren't my style, so of course this doesn't work. The other notes keep the rose from attaining screaming levels on my skin, but this is still all rose all the time. One for the swaps.

In the vial: Smoky lavender. On me: Goes on the skin with vetiver up frontthe sharp sort, not the smooth sort, more like cinders than smokewith a bit of almost sweet white musk in the background and lavender in the middle. The vetiver calms during drydown and then ramps up again in the first hour or two, giving the scent a warmer, more potent, and more threatening vibe, but on the whole this is a surprisingly lovely, subtly masculine, powdery floral. The florals (the violet comes out after drydown, and violet and lavender meld together) have a purple cast and a dried blossom feel; their slight powderyness makes Bluebeard more than another cologne scent. It's not a particularly complex blend, but the notes work in lovely tandem. At the tail end of wear it grows a little more like cologne, which is too badnot because it's a strong shift, but because it strips away what makes the scent unique. Throw is low, wear length is about four hours. Verdict: Well done, surprisingly subtle, unique, but not my styleBluebeard doesn't capture my imagination or my heart. It was nice to try, and now it's destined for swaps.