ivyandpeony

I've been very surprised this summer at the two scents that are hanging in there for the long haul. You'd think that Snow Angel and Eden would be light, floataway blends, but with both, I am smelling them on myself the morning after I apply them until I shower. No complaints about that, it's just that I've always expected my summery scents to fade quickly (yes, Sudha Segara, I am looking at YOU).

I wouldn't think you had developed a true allergy to a spice or some spices, since you aren't experiencing skin rashes or welts, but you didn't mention whether you'd tried these on your skin yet. But I do agreee with HonorAlexandria, I think all the oils you mentioned all have spices in them that may be the common element. I remember when I first tried Silk Road, I described it as "Snake Oil Lite." Bengal raises welts on me, and I don't react to much. And I do find Morocco and Scherazade spicy too. I think that the descriptions of all these either list specific spices or the general term "spices" too. (I have suspected cardamom as an itchy-maker for me - Alone, Bengal, Al-Shairain all make me bumpy and red.) Do things that trigger headaches in you come and go, or do they tend to always cause headaches once you've smelled them? Do your common allergens trigger headaches too? Sounds really frustrating - I'm sorry you are having these troubles!

Of course you ordered them all. Maybe someone will post some photos of them for us soon. My (6 1/2 year old) computer has decided it doesn't recognize my memory card reader anymore, and after wrestling with it for hours over the course of a couple of weeks, I'm just biding my time til we buy a new computer. Besides, I just have the two Salon scents and that's not very exciting.

Isn't there a politer way of saying that, or at least explaining what you don't like about them? The artworks that each Salon scent is based on are featured on the Salon page of the Lab's site. I only have Orpheus and Lucretia, but each artwork is on the label - or really, a small portion of it, since it's hard to make a beautiful label with just square millimeters to work with. Are any of the others different? I love that the artwork is featured on the ones I have so I can be reminded of it when I wear the scent, and I didn't find anything wrong with the labels aesthetically at all. Also, as Macha's reminded us a few times, Beth also designs a lot of the special labels, so they may have been Beth's concept.

That is a good call, GypsyRoseRed! I personally can't describe the notes in White Light (I'm sure some of the reviewers have done a good job!) but to me it's somehow bright and soothing at the same time.

I have been through phases like that, Dinah, so I totally sympathize. Moxie, which is a panacea blend, has lots of orange-tangerine family citrus in it as well as some type of ginger. It is very invigorating and motivating - I love it! Since the Origins scent that's helping you is also orangey, you might want to do a search for some of the orange-based or citrus perfumes you haven't tried and see if they give you a similar effect. I haven't tried the TAL blend Brass Balls yet, but from the description - hey, just from the NAME - it might help you. If you want to see some of the BPALs others have found calming, there's a thread here discussing some chill-out blends for stressful times. Hope you start feeling less stressed and more confident soon.

I merged a number of threads asking for "clean" recommendations - some with qualifiers like spicy, woody, green, fruity, etc - so I thought I'd bump this one up. Clean seems very popular this time of year!

Hi jewelbug! There's a discussion of some lavender recommendations here that you might want to skim through, too. (That doesn't make yours a duplicate topic - my philosophy is, everyone should be free to start a thread in here to ask for specific recommendations when they need help with a decision! I just reserve the right to archive outdated ones and/or merge topics that relate to other ones of general interest to everyone. Just in case anyone was wondering how things work in here. ) Good luck with your project!

This happens to me, too. I'll move this over to the label discussion thread, though, since I think more people will see it and therefore you'll likely get more input and ideas.

As you all may be able to tell, I just merged a whole lotta seperate threads about sexy scents into a bigger discussion about sexy, seductive, provocative scents. I think it's much tidier to have them in one thread. So if you are wondering where any lascivious discussions went, I'm sure they are in here!

Harlot!

There hasn't been a topic that covers blends with both longevity AND throw, but you can check out this thread for a discussion of those with the strongest sillage, and this one for the longest-lasting BPAL oils. Chances are that there's a good bit of overlap. I'm not inclined to merge the two with this thread, though, since I find those qualities can be separate and distinct... otherwise, wouldn't there just be one term that meant "it lasts forever and you can smell it for miles?" But if anyone has a differing opinion on that, please do let me know - I'm all for keeping the place tidy.

I have smelled a lot that didn't work on me... but the hippiest one that I actually love and wear has got to be The Caterpillar.

New Orleans is my holy grail honeysuckle scent, too!

Death Cap smells extremely mushroomy and earthy to me. And Tarot: Temperance has a very green-outdoorsy field scent, like the dandelion note in Roadhouse if you have tried that.

Well, I hope you all have noticed this is a very liberal area of the forum when it comes to duplicate topics - since most posts are uniquely tailored for one person's requests, I usually just watch for duplicates of things like a commercial perfume smell-alikes, recommendations for a single note like vanilla or lavender or rose, etc. And I think the majority of topics here are started by brand-new forumites and we're always lenient with people who are learning the ropes. Nerd that I am... I went through my Word document of scents with descriptions because I knew I could search for "ivy" there. In addition to Litha, The Black Tower, and The Ghost, the following all included ivy in the list of notes: Dissipation - Strands of bacchanal ivy wind through sweet wormwood, pungent poppy, and a sliver of murky sassafras. Harvest Moon 2004 : The autumnal blooms of clematis, chrysanthemum, narcissus, sunflower, sage and lily twined with Dionysus’ sacred grapes and ivy, a bounty of apple, pumpkin, and ripe berries, and the amaranth and lingum aloes of Janus, all touched by a gentle breath of festival woodsmoke and sweet wine. Harvest Moon 2005: The autumnal scents of gladiola, chrysanthemum, aster, dahlia, anemone, bergamot, marigold, sage and verbena dust a blend of wine-soaked apples, plums, and red pears, mulling spices and brown sugar, the ivy leaves of Dionysus and Janus’ amaranth and lingum aloe. Mabon: The Autumnal Equinox. The Second Harvest of the witches: a celebration of rest after labor, and repose after the rigors of Initiation. This is the mark of the completion of the Harvest and giving thanks for the previous season's abundance. In ceremonial magick, this is a time to begin the search for one's Higher Self anew, to celebrate rebirth and new life, and to revitalize the spirit. It is an Osirian time, contractive and catabolic. At this time, the Eleusinian mysteries were observed, celebrating the drama of Kore and Demeter. Blackberry wine and apple cider with hops, apple blossom, English ivy, hazel, sage, oak bark and myrrh Ophelia: Wistful and vulnerable: lotus, water blossom ivy, stargazer lily and white rose. Pumpkin Patch 5: Pumpkin with five woods, English ivy and galangal root. I'm sure that one of the green smelling blends is probably the best match for the pure scent of ivy when it comes down to it, but that's a more complicated project for me.

Although the forum search engine wouldn't pick up "ivy" because of the four-letter minimum thing *trouts search engine* believe it or not, I have read this entire subforum. And we haven't covered this! I need to go through and revisit a lot of my super-green scents and figure out which ones remind me the most of ivy if I am going to contribute anything of meaning to this conversation. My house is surrounded by ivy so I am very familiar with the scent of real ivy - it's quite distinctive. You don't really smell it until you walk through it, cut some of it, let the dog in after he's been running through it... It's very green and a little sharp, something I wouldn't really like alone. I remember Dissipation (long discontinued) listed ivy as a note, but it was overwhelmingly sassafras on me.

So... I love this thread, but I was thinking about changing the title so it would be easier for people to find if they're poking around the forum and/or using the search engine. And my brain isn't working quite as efficiently as I like it to. Does it need the word "sexy" in it? (I might want to merge some other older threads about sexy scents with this one). And although I love the imagery of being knocked off your feet, not everyone in this forum wants to knock a MAN off their feet. Remember too, that the search engine won't find words of three letters or less. Any suggestions would be appreciated

I can't wait for my bottle of Mousie to get here! I had a sniff and a dab at Convergence and it is fantastic. PS, I am jealous that Aeval smells so good on you... sadly, my chemistry amps sage like crazy. So Aeval and Corazon had me smelling like a yummy Thanskgiving turkey.

You're right on the money... the threads I merged were both started by people who didn't usually like florals, but wanted some recommendations for florals that might work on them. After reading a couple of the responses that I think you were referring to, I wonder if it might just be a function of some people picking up a floral note or two from what might be considered "non-florals" like Hamadryad, Shanghai, Dragon's Milk, etc. Or maybe folks are just throwing in their non-floral faves in case nothing else works out! I'm an absolute floral nut, so I probably am not a lot of help with this one, but Ulalume does come to mind... earthy and foresty, deep and woody with just a hint of lily.

What other scents have civit in them? I tried to do a search for civit on the BPAL site (with Google, since the Lab's search function is not very good), and didn't find anything... Thanks! Try spelling it "civet" - that's the correct spelling. You should get lots more results.

I merged a number of threads asking for rose recommendations and discussing the differences between different rose blends. I hope you guys find it helpful - as always, please feel free to PM me if you are having trouble finding anything in Recommendations or if you have forum questions in general.

I merged two very similar requests here as I was tidying up the forum - just in case the OPs are scratching their heads about this thread. Hope you both have had some success in finding some florals that work for you!

I've been going through old posts and tidying up the Recommendations forum, and I stumbled on this old topic. I thought it was really interesting, especially since Beth released the Elementals for the Lab's anniversary in November 2005. So I thought I would bump it so we could talk about it - there are so many new scents and new forum members that have come along since April 2004, it's practically a new topic. ETA: and whaddaya know, as I continue to weed through this forum, I found the same topic from about a year ago. So I merged that one in for a little more fun.

Golachab is very smoky and fruity in the bottle and when wet. It mellows and blooms once it's on the skin, becoming very complex -- creamy, fruity and a bit floral, but with a woody base. I find it absolutely stunning. I can't compare it to anything I have smelled before, it's unique. I found myself ordering a bottle without much debate! Like aidenraine, I have been reading a bit about the Qliphoth as well and had the same fears about attracting negative energy at first, but after some thought it seems to me that these oils are be used to confront and overcome the negative qualities that each Qliphoth personifies, rather than to attract and nurture those negative qualities. I honestly couldn't picture Beth performing rituals to charge such beautiful oils with negative energy, nor releasing them without some caveats if they could bring you harm in any way if used without great knowledge and skill (as she has a number of TALs).