ivyandpeony

I thought I would resurrect this since we've had new scents come along and new members join since the last post. I love the rose in Silentium Amoris, but the ylang ylang overwhelms it for me. It makes me so sad. It's a really beautiful, simple but elegant blend though... I hope lots of people get to know it and love it now that it was resurrected for the Lab's anniversary.

Those of you who love fig and have not yet tried TREAT #2 need to go ahead and sell a kidney and get your hands on a bottle. Here's the description: A fine confection for discriminating trick or treaters: a fig meat, coconut, and buttercream bonbon rolled in orange rind, mint leaf, cardamom, clove and ginger, dipped in milk chocolate. This is one of the most beautiful fig scents I have ever tried... and one incredible BPAL blend. It does smell like a bonbon, but somehow more sophisticated than I expected it to. And it is fig-fig-figgy!

Thought I would bump this - the title is different because there actually was an existing astrology thread here in recommendations. I merged the more recent thread with it rather than merging it with the one in BPAL Chatter. Feel free to carry on your discussion!

I just saw the new Yule labels this weekend, although I haven't received my Yule scents yet - I think they're beautiful and understated, and I like seeing them as a consistent set since we've had such dramatic and varying artwork we've the CD series, the 2006 Lunacies, the Salon of course... But of course, I do understand the disappointment of opening the box and anticipating new artwork, then not finding it. I'm guessing that the decision was made to go with the simple black and white design since Beth and Macha were both spread extremely thin the past few months, and they've done all the label art and design for the lab in the past.

No problem, Mrs. Black - I just merged them so it will be bumped to the front page and you may get some new suggestions.

Jessie, here's the thread about astrological signs and favorite scents. It's in BPAL Chatter, not Recs, although it did pop right up with a search of the whole forum for "sign." I remember putting some thought into this topic (I may or may not have posted, I don't recall) - I'm a Virgo, so you'd think I'd love earthy stuff. But it took me forever to develop an appreciation for patchouli and there are only one or two blends that I like that have Beth's "soil" note in them. I do love patchouli and resins now, but until BPAL I was all about light musk and girly florals. And one of my best BPAL buddies is also a Virgo, but there are tons of blends that she loves that smell anywhere from unremarkable to downright nasty on me, and vice versa. Personally, I think that planetary influences are either far enough removed from us physically or not concerned with such minute detail that they aren't going to affect our scent preferences or the notes that work on us. Every birth chart is going to be unique (until you meet that person who was born at the exact same minute as you in the same hospital as you, of course ), which illustrates the many, many elements that make you the unique Gemini, Cancer, Virgo, etc that you are. So it seems to me that identifying just one scent family or group of notes for each sign, and expecting everyone born under that sign to like it, would be impossible.

Graveyard Dirt or Dead Man's Hand. But since those aren't readily available, something cacophonous that manages to smell great too, like The Caterpillar or Jabberwocky. Shelldoo, you owe us pictures!!

Although both have jasmine in them, I find them completely different. Love Me is warm and spicy with a floral component; New Orleans is very floral, predominantly honeysuckle to my nose. You should definitely try both, though - they are each beautiful in their own right!

Oops, I didn't see your specific question when I first responded... sorry about that! First, speaking as moderator of this section , don't ever apologize for bumping an old thread if it addresses something you are interested in! There are always new scents that have debuted since that old thread fell pages away into the depths of the forum... and of course, we all want to avoid the dreaded duplicate threads. I'm pretty lenient in here about letting anyone start a thread to get specific recs, but I usually merge anything that I can (and I rely on the reminder/warning system in those cases where it's apparent that someone didn't do a search, didn't look at the pinned threads to find links to the common recs threads, etc.). Now, for the scents you asked about. Maenad is a scent everyone should try, IMO - it doesn't smell like what you'd expect it to - but I don't really get dominant carnation from it. There's a lot of sweetness from the berry & orange blossom but it's tempered by the spicy and woody notes. Desdemona is one of my favorites from my very first order and is a beautiful floral, but it doesn't have a dominant carnation note to my nose either. I really love carnation, so one of my favorite methods of amping up the carnation in my BPAL is to use Lush's Potion lotion (it was discontinued, but is available through UK mail order - you can usually get in on a group order on the Lush forum, or pick up a bottle through the swaps area there). I forgot to mention Bathsheba as another one of my favorite carnation scents. I just pulled my bottle out since it's gotten cold here, since I find it a little heavy for the hot and humid weather. Carnation and plum are really pretty together - spicy and sweet.

In addition to Alice and Maiden, Morocco is one of my favorite carnation scents. Spicy carnations + Moroccan spices = delicious!

Now, it may not be the *exact* spicy fruity thing you described as the object of your quest - but the Phantom Calliope is one of the sleeper hits of this first group of Carnaval Diabolique scents. My review of it is here - although in all fairness you should read the other reviews too, just to see if there's something you might hate about it. I think it is going to be a gorgeous winter scent, dark decadent fruit spiced with cardamom. You don't really smell the verbena in it, it just keeps it from being too one-dimensional and dark (the way you might add a splash of lemon juice to a really rich sauce to give it a hint of brightness).

I get the strongest black tea note from White Rabbit - but Spirits of the Dead is my second favorite. I love Kumiho in the summertime, and Dorian is sweet and vanilla-y tea nirvana. I need to wear Gennivre another time or two to get a good feel for her - I smelled all 15 bottles in my CD order in quick succession and haven't made it back around to giving Gennivre a day to herself. For refreshing green tea, nothing beats Shanghai for me. I don't get any tea at all from Sudha Segara though - just creamy honey and ginger.

I just tweaked the title of this thread a little bit to make sure it's searchable - I think it's really a helpful topic for the section and appreciate all the contributions to it.

JI, I am sorry that I somehow missed this question back in August! I certainly don't mind if there's some overlap discussion in this thread. There is a thread in Beyond Perfume that's completely devoted to all types of home fragrance-making devices, if you haven't discovered it in the two months it took me to notice your question. March Hare, I think anything categorized as clean, fresh, foresty, or even minty might help with the smell of smoke. You can do a search for those categories in Recommendations. I thought that Euterpe414's suggestions were really good so I am quoting her here:

I would start by trying some jasmine scents - pick out some that have other notes that you like, too, and just go to town. BPAL jasmine can be bossy and dominating sometimes, especially when your imp or bottle is fresh from the lab. That's when I get the Youki-Hi vibe from jasmine blends! (I am not a Y-H fan, so I like my jasmine blends to mellow for a while). Melisande is the latest one that I do love, but I am hoping that the jasmine will relax and let some of the other kids play with the ball. There's a thread here in Recs discussing jasmine blends. As you'll see, here are several types of jasmine that Beth uses and of course, every blend is going to have a different proportion... and your chemistry will be the final judge, too. Good luck!

Cordelia and Queen Gertrude are both favorite floral scents of mine (I love Ode on Melancholy too). I can't really say that any of those three are dominantly wisteria, but they are all lovely and very well balanced. I have tried the BPAL wisteria single note, and it is very intense - almost too intense for me! So I prefer wisteria in blends and of course, in its natural state.

I'd add to the great advice here - don't get discouraged if you aren't falling in love with things instantly, don't be upset if one blend doesn't meet your expectations, and just keep in mind that this is something you're doing for fun and pleasure. When I discovered BPAL I thought I only liked floral perfumes and hated patchouli and musk. Gradually I learned the differences between different floral notes, some of which I adore. Others are apparently members of a mutual hate society I didn't realize I had joined. BPAL patchouli is different from any patchouli I'd tried before - not that every blend with it was a winner, but I was delighted to realize that it was actually a beautiful scent in many incarnations. I discovered notes that I had never really thought about in perfumes, like ginger, honey, cream & milk notes, chocolate, oakmoss, and different types of woods and resins. IMO, there's a big adjustment to be made just getting used to the difference between perfume oils and the alcohol-based perfumes that most of us are accustomed to before stumbling down the BPAL rabbit hole. Keep that in mind as you're trying things, too - you may be sniffing a more intense, pure version of the note that you thought you loved and finding it a bit overwhelming at first. Lots of people have experienced this with florals in particular, especially jasmine and rose (and there are quite a few different jasmines and roses that are used in the many BPAL blends that contain them). It is an ongoing education, if the bug bites you. If it overwhelms you or you lose interest, don't beat yourself up - there are only about ten million other hobbies you could choose from. You don't have to buy everything today. You can swap something away and decide two weeks from now, or a year from now, that you want to track down an imp of it again. You can keep detailed notes or you can jot down "LOVED IT!" or "HATED IT!" Most of all, if you're not having fun, take a break - or come here and ask for advice.

This blend is drop-dead beautiful. The jasmine note is prominent but soft and lush, not as bold or sassy as some of the other jasmines that Beth uses. The soft florals are anchored by a combination of woody notes, sweet musk and a hint of fruit - I don't get as much pear from it as Shelldoo does. The overall effect is of a chilly perfume, achieved without the mint or aquatic notes that I associate with "cold" scents. I didn't get a lot of staying power on my first try, but that's not unusual for me when trying a floral blend that's fresh from the lab. I also didn't apply much the first time too - I've now slathered a bit more to see what will happen. Anyway, that's why I'm not really reviewing the drydown... my skin drank up that first dab from earlier today!

In the bottle and wet, this one is very earthy - as earthy as a scent can be without distinctly smelling like soil, or mushrooms, or patchouli, or any note you'd specifically identify in the earthy family. It seems to be very dry, as opposed to sweet (not as opposed to wet). Once it dries down a bit, Schwarzer Mond becomes gorgeous and resinous, a wicked and spicy amber with a hint of the sweetness that was missing at first. This is beautiful and wearable now - and I am really looking forward to seeing how it ages!

Holly, this thread may have some good suggestions for you. I may merge this topic with it and tweak the title in a month or so, once you have had time to get some current recommendations. I hope you find some suggestions that help - I have only had a couple anxiety attacks but that was a couple too many. It's such a horrible feeling.

I knew I was forgetting something SIGNIFICANT... Aureus! It tends to go a little too woody on me but I have heard so many resin fans sing its praises. I haven't rid myself of my imp, though, which tells you something. I am really looking forward to Carfax Abbey, too. There are so many times that I have thought, "oh, I won't order that because it's too much like X" (last time? didn't order The Pit and the Pendulum because I thought it would be too much like Midnight Mass) only to regret it.

That's so true - just look at the way we're geeking out over this topic. And that's the royal "we." Hi Portalkat - I must have forgotten to make a note in your original post - but sometimes after a thread's gotten a bit older and I stumble upon it, I will edit the title to make it a little more searchable in case someone comes along and is looking for something similar. I do try to retain the OP's original witty personality - often, it's just a matter of putting the more general terms in the title and then the original title in the subtitle ('cuz the search engine won't pick up terms in subtitles, unfortunately).

This topic has triggered my Virgo instincts (I have so few, they reside in me like a vestigial tail). So I went through the search engine at spicybrains and made a list of blends that are supposed to be similar to incense, as well as scents that seem to have dominant resinous components (which makes this a little subjective). Don't ask me to do this for rose or something like that - I am not that much of a Virgo. Anyway, I thought it might make it a little easier and/or more fun to have it handy for discussion. And of course, please bring up anything that you all disagree with, or think should be there. Incense or Resin? Al Azif Al-Sharain All Saints Antony Anubis Bastet Cairo The Caterpillar Cathedral The Cracked Bell Crossroads Damnation Dee Delphi Dia de los Muertos Gypsy Queen Haunted Hexennacht Jacob's Ladder Kathmandu Kostnice Les Infortunes de Vertu Love in the Asylum Mantis The Masque Medea Midnight Mass Mystery Nefertiti Nuit Penitence Penthus The Pit and the Pendulum Rose Cross Seraphim Shub Niggurath Sin Snake Charmer Sri Lanka Storm Moon Tezcatlipoca Thanatos Wanda Xiuhtecuhtli

This is definitely advanced BPAL, not for beginners! Penitence is what I would consider nothing but resin, since it's described as containing only frankincense and myrrh. But to me, it smells like incense. And Beth's description for Midnight Mass described it as "a traditional Roman Catholic sacramental incense." I will have to think about what I consider "resin" and what I consider "incense." I think it's like one of those puzzles on the LSAT - the groups aren't mutually exclusive, there's some overlap between the two. For example, many of the churchy incense scents are going to include frankincense and myrrh. I tend to think of the incense scents as a little sharper, possibly wifh floral elements (All Saints, Kostnice)... whereas resinous scents I associate with deep amber notes or similar notes (Jacob's Ladder, Sri Lanka). (Frankincense is a note that always goes sharp and soapy, almost insect-repellent like on me, BTW - maybe there's a particular note common to resin/incense scents that does this with your chemistry.) You may just have to submit yourself to trying everything, TD, if you don't want to miss out on a potential love...

I have added some new links to Clover's original post here and will continue to do so periodically - hopefully this guide will serve as a helpful index for the Recommendations section. Do keep in mind that this index is not comprehensive - so please don't assume that the absence of a link here indicates the absence of an existing topic! Continue to use the search engine to look for existing topics to build on before starting a new thread, and don't hesitate to PM me if you have any problems finding something or if you have any questions/suggestions for Recommendations. Thanks!