Wwindy

Oh, I can see that! I'm wearing AE today and there's something about it that reminds me a little of the Krishna Musk solid perfume "eggs" I used to buy.

Goblin Mage: Fizzy sharp ginger, rich warm dragon's blood, a ton (as you might expect) of juniper-y woody notes, and just a hint of smoke. I really like this combination! The only drawback is that neither element seems to last long on my skin, and after a while I mostly end up just smelling faintly of gin. High-end gin, at least...

Heh, that's awesome. I was actually wearing Half-Elven Ranger when we saw it on Friday, but not on purpose (I thought we were going to see John Carter!), so I don't know if I can claim any credit for that or not...

I don't normally go for light fruity/floral blends in general, but I *love* Eclat in the spring!

Straight to powder on my skin, much to my annoyance! With the possible exception of the jonquil, everything here should have worked on me, but it really doesn't -- this is nothing but powder from the moment I apply it. *sigh*

In the winter, I like to layer Cathedral and The Lights of Men's Lives -- this reminds me so much of that combination, but a lighter, springier version! It's perfect for this time of year. This blend is a little jumbled-smelling in the vial, and definitely takes a minute or two to settle on my skin. While wet, the creamy beeswax and the sharper resinous/woody notes fight it out for a bit until everything dries down and opens up; once that happens, I mostly get the clean, sharp, dry sandalwood and the warm, round waxy note, rounded out by a touch of crisp greenness. This is really, really lovely after drydown -- it has a very well-balanced, clean, upscale feel while still being pleasingly resinous (oudh gets me every time! mmmmm).

I really hate to even suggest it, but... is it possible that it's Daya? That had a lab label on it, and the color is right. For me personally, Daya has a smooth creamy resiny feel with some plummy/fruity brightness, a light clean sandalwood note, a hint of spice, and an even fainter hint of something floral (maybe champaca). We don't have a note list for it, so people have made guesses all over the map about what the fruit and resin elements are! And btw, if it does turn out to be Daya, you have my sincerest sympathies.

Heroine, in the Sachs & Violens category.

Aw, sorry! That doesn't sound good! I think you might need someone who's smelled it or has a bottle to compare yours against to know for sure... but I did just see OctoberGwen say that Body, Remember went to "funkariffic FUNK" on her (in the "What are you testing today" thread), so it's possible that it's not just you.

What was the reaction/issue, exactly? It is possible that you got a variant or even a mislabeled bottle, but it's hard to speculate without knowing whether you're thinking something like "Hmmm, not as much coconut as I was expecting" or more along the lines of "Why do I smell vetiver when there isn't supposed to be vetiver here?!?" Also, I haven't tried BR yet, but... ambergris seems to be one of those notes that are really problematic for some people. For me, I don't really *notice* it as a scent, but anything that has ambergris in it disappears really quickly from my skin! Have you done well with it in other blends?

This is kind of a long shot, but what about Piper at the Gates of Dawn (terebinth pine, patchouli, brown musk, linden blossom, honey, mallow, blood orange, heliotrope, and golden amber)? It's a woodsy-spicy orange patchouli scent on my skin...

Ooooh, interesting! To my nose this is Vechernyaya's musk and poppy crossed with The Smiling Spider's strong not-sweet clove, with a bit of Morocco to round things out. It feels like the scent wants to be rather dry and dark, but after drydown my skin chemistry winds up sweetening it up somewhat. As others have noted, the throw seems fairly low. I like the mysterious dusky vibe of this -- I just don't know if I need a whole bottle. But do think about checking this one out if you miss Vechernyaya (or found that one overly white musk-y for your taste)!

Or you both have imps/decants from the same incorrect batch. For instance, I have a Lab bottle that's labelled "Pais de la Canela," but what's inside is actually Paris. In that case, it's pretty obvious (and understandable) how the error happened -- in this case you could try to hunt around and see what else starts with D and might explain what you're smelling. Alternatively... it *does* sometimes happen that the Lab has a mishap in the blending process.

Returning to say... In addition to the above suggestions, The Night Hag Visiting the Lapland Witches turns out to be fabulous with this soap! Yum.

I picked up a bar of the Bee Folks' Eastern Spice soap, which is "ylang ylang, sandalwood, nutmeg, and cinnamon" (plus the honey they use to make the soap, I guess), and *love* the scent -- but I haven't had much luck finding a similar BPAL yet. The ylang ylang isn't really the strongest note for me, just a nice little hint of creamy floral on top of the gorgeous spices and wood. So far I've tried Baghdad ("Amber, saffron and bergamot with mandarin, nutmeg, Bulgar rose, musk and sandalwood"), which was all amber and rose on me and not enough of the other stuff, and Aeronwen ("Fig, dark myrrh, amber, redwood, nutmeg, tarragon, black musk, and sweet orange"), which was too musky and herbal/citrusy. I do like both of them, they're just not the perfect match for this soap! Anyone have any good suggestions?

Winter Heavens for last night -- I was thiiiiiis close to going with "The Moon Gazed On My Midnight Labours" (hah!), but chose sentiment over title. I don't know yet what to wear today!

For me, the notes that most often turn to powder are Honey and Black Musk. Also, Pomegranate just disappears, taking the rest of the blend with it. I have the same problem with most mints. I LOVE the smell of peppermint but it disappears on me in seconds. I have it with ambergris! Anything with ambergris in it fades *much* more quickly than it should...

Triumph of Death and Expressive Head were both very vetiver-heavy on me.

I agree with the basic philosophy here: in a way it's one of the charms of BPAL that you can never step into the same scent river twice. To be fair, though, winemakers use a very elaborately detailed system of nomenclature so that buyers know exactly what vintage they're purchasing and can do the research to determine what the characteristics of any given vintage are likely to be. I understand and am fine with the idea that no two batches of a blend will ever be exactly the same -- but given that, I think a lot of people would really appreciate it if the Lab would acknowledge when there are extreme variations and give us a little warning when scents come out as "the apple-y version" or "the really sharp patchouli version" or whatever. It's *understandable* that it happens, but it's also understandable that it comes as a huge shock to most people who are accustomed to more traditional perfumes -- or, really, any consumable product where you're pitching a particular esthetic quality. Sure, I know the Martin Codax Albarino 2009 is going to be different from the 2006, but how would I be able to decide which I would enjoy drinking with my dinner if they didn't have dates on the label or the maker hadn't released flavor profiles for the respective vintages for me to compare?

Thanks, guys! It's been ages since I pulled out Morocco and I hadn't even thought to try that one... and Seraglio sounds fantastic!

All Souls for me! Why have I never tried this before? It's delicious...

Mothballs. This smells like mothballs. I have *no* idea. Will let it sit for a while and see if it decides to play a little more nicely...

I ordered mine about three days after it went live, and mine is also clear. I can smell cocoa in the scent, but not particularly strongly.

Samhain '08 here! (Also, did anyone besides me wear Diwali on Diwali? I'm looking forward to All Souls, too... Nothing I like better than situationally appropriate BPAL! )

Ooh, nice suggestions, all! Thanks so much...