ivyandpeony

Thagirion is difficult for me to describe, but if it were a color, it would be a bright apple green! At first sniff it's very light and fruity, a bit grapy with lots of herbs and a hint of mint. As it dries down, it reminds me of a distant cousin of Snowblind - imagine that Snowblind had a cousin who was the Heat Miser to its Snow Miser, who filled the place with everything bright and green about summer with just a little room for a minty-vanilla-y memory of Snowblind. It's very uplifting and bright, just what you might need to overcome the negative qualities associated with this particular Qliphoth. I ordered a bottle and have a feeling that this will be a favorite this summer when the heat and humidity are cranked up to 11 here in Georgia.

I agree with cupide430's assessment: This one reminded me very much of La Fee Verte without so much "verte," after its initial herbal top notes have dried down on my skin. And since I adore LFV, Samael found its way into my heart very quickly. At first sniff, there's a little bit of light floral floating around, but this becomes a lightly resinous, musky honey once it's been on my skin for a little while. It's just lovely - I inhale this deeply from my wrist and think, I can confront and overcome any nasty qualities I have if I can just keep smelling this.

This is probably my favorite of all the Qliphoth blends. At first sniff and while wet, I definitely was reminded of Hellion - there's a lot of fruity plum in there. As it dries down a bit, Nahemoth seems more resinous and a bit sweeter than Hellion to me, although I do detect some patchouli that they seem to have in common. This blend is very complex and multi-dimensional... every time I sniff the crook of my arm, it seems to have morphed just the tiniest bit, so that it's a wee bit fruitier, or muskier, or earthier than it was at last sniff. It's a fabulous scent and a wonderful interpretation of its concept too.

Ghagiel is very light and springy - it reminds me of what I call "bulb" flowers (like tulips, narcissus, and hyacinth). On my skin it definitely has a lot in common with Eos, but it's got something spicier and woodier, more substantial underlying it. Although it is light in character, it has good throw and staying power compared to what I consider a light BPAL blend. It's quite beautiful and I decided that I needed a bottle of this one.

Although it isn't listed as one of the notes, I think there's civet in Forbidden Fruit. Civet has a certain, unmistakable and unique smell on my skin that shouldn't be present based on the notes that Beth does list in the description. And a little animalistic muskiness would definitely have a place in a scent that idealizes your first time, right?

Here's a thread located in FAQ discussing reactions people have had in general to certain oils. As you can imagine, cinnamon and its relative cassia seem to be the biggest bullies when it comes to irritating skin. Black Pearl, Hellcat, Danse Macabre and Gluttony all list hazelnut in their descriptions, as did Pumpkin Patch #2 (one of a set of 5 LEs available last Halloween). Chestnut is listed in the description for Hearth 2005 (Yule LE). I did find a topic someone started on this subject in 2004 with no responses - I'm merging the two threads just to keep the clutter down. The term "nut" wouldn't show up in the search engine since it's only three letters, and I believe that subtitles don't show up either - that may be why you didn't get any results from your search. I'm a terrible enabler, but I think you should get all three of the LEs you have listed. I wouldn't be able to choose between them myself.

Storme, some people find it very floral, but on me Mi-Go Brain Canister is very fruity. It was an LE, but I think it's a bit easier to find than Fruit Moon. You might want to experiment with some layering - try Akuma & Aizen-Myoo together for example, or a combination of some other fruity blends.

I was lucky enough to snag a bottle of the SN Egyptian Amber and it is the most heavenly thing ever, I could just breathe it in all day and never get tired of it. This is pure speculation on my part, based on the way that the amber in these blends reacts with my skin - but I wonder if the amber Beth uses in Sin, The Lion, Black Lotus, Baghdad, and Jacob's Ladder might also be Egyptian amber. However, these blends seem to have some spicy components that could be mimicking the spiciness that the Egyptian amber has on its own. I'd give them a try anyway, if you love amber - I know once I realized how much I loved it I had to try everything with amber in it.

This one is really, really lovely. It starts out as honey turned up to 11. As the honey dries just a bit, fresh green notes begin to emerge. If I close my eyes, I'm sitting outside in a garden - the kind of garden where I'd grow my own flowers, herbs, and vegetables, and I'd care a lot more about how abundantly things grew than about how they looked, but I'd always want to drag a chair into the middle and sit in the sun to read a book or just enjoy the world around me. This seems to be a very organic scent and it definitely has "that BPAL smell" that we all associate with certain blends - just something about it. It seems to be a very fitting tribute to Osun.

When I sniffed this in the bottle, I got so much cassia that I was very surprised. However, it calms down on the skin immediately. I found that all the elements really came into balance and I agree with Shelldoo - the effect once you're wearing it is not screamingly foody. It's more like the scent that wafts out of a bakery - all sorts of delicious things are being baked and you are smelling cakes, chocolate cookies, coconut pastries, and can't really pinpoint one single goodie out of the melange. Warning - this is foody enough to make you crave something sweet, though! After being so happily surprised by this and by the Closet monster bait, this former non-foody fan is being converted and drooling in anticipation of teh UNDERPANTS

So yummy! All in all, a delicious, creamy blackberry cake I'd like to roll in. Blackberry can get a little sharp, "planty" smell on me sometimes, and I did pick this up momentarily, but honestly? That makes it smell more authentic to me. I am not the hugest fan of foody scents, but I really love this. It's sweet and creamy without being cloying or sticky. So the foody fans should go bonkers - and I'd suggest that others like me give it a try, you might just be surprised at what this combo does on your skin.

I thought I'd love Peony Moon and I was right! It's big, pink and fluffy without seeming frail, just like a freshly cut peony. It does remind me a bit of Budding Moon, but if Budding Moon = bright fuschia, Peony Moon is a pale, but substantial, pink. I find it to be a very intensely scented oil though - just a dab and I'm floating in flowers. I have loved all the 2006 Lunacies and Peony Moon has just kept the streak alive!

It's sad that my favorite minty blends are LEs, but Frost Moon, Tulzcha and Nuclear Winter somehow all have a combination that I love AND that stays fresh and invigorating. I love Snowblind, but it's creamy and comforting in spite of the mint and would probably keep me on the couch or in bed. Blends with evergreens in them also tend to wake me up, like Snow Moon, Snow Bunny and Talvikuu. (What's with me and the LEs?) Interesting thing I just noticed as I wrote this response, too - everything that's wakey-wakey to me is something wintry, and winter is definitely my hibernation time (although every morning I'd love to sleep more, no matter what time of year). How convenient!

So, I haven't smelled this one but next time I am in Sephora it will be a priority - I love Anna Sui's designs and her first 2 (?) perfumes were really original. I know you said on LJ that you didn't like Mi-Go Brain Canister, and that was the first thing that came to mind when I saw "fruity floral." But it sounds like this has more than just florals and fruit, and is maybe a little more substantial because of the base notes. So I put some more thought into it and came up with a few more that you might want to try, some GC and some LE: GC: Blood Countess - Corrupted black plum, smoky opium and crumbling dead roses covered by a deceptive veil of Hungarian lilac, white gardenia and wild berry. Florence - Elegant iris, bright berries, gilded amber and velvety spices. Titania - white grape, white peach, iced pear, musk rose, sweet pea, moonflower and snapdragon. La Belle au Bois Dormant - Plumeria and white pear, Damascus rose, tuberose, magnolia and evening dew. Siren - White ginger, jasmine, and a touch of vanilla and apricot. Kitsune-Tsuki - Asian plum, orchid, daffodil, jasmine and white musk. LE: Carnivale - sweet wild berry, spicy carnation and heliotrope layered over deep amber and musk. Good luck with finding a good BPAL companion for your new fragrance!

I'd say Eden's my favorite coconutty scent - it's very green, figgy and fresh. I am one of those who do not get coconut from Snow White, although it's one of my favorite blends ever. I get a creamy floral that is reminiscent of almond, but definitely not almond, if that makes sense. But since so many people *do* get coconut, it would be worth a try for any coconut-heads who haven't experienced this legend of BPAL legends.

See if you can land a decant of Montresor - or just buy a bottle. It's the Edgar Allan Poe of cherry scents, dark and evil.

I have to put some more thought into some specific recommendations, but I do wear Sudha Segara all year long - it's gingery, but it's that bright, citrusy type of ginger, so I find it light enough for summertime, but spicy and warm enough for winter. There's also a good discussion here on "breaking the rules" that dictate that we save our heavy, dark scents for winter and the light and airy ones for summer.

I am an amber junkie - and what's really funny is that I didn't really have a grasp on what amber smelled like when I got started with BPAL. I get tons of amber from Jacob's Ladder, probably my favorite amber LE ever, although The Haunted Palace is really a gorgeous rosey-orangey-amber on me. Sin, Mantis and the Lion are my favorite GC blends with amber. I also love Aglaea, which is a lovely musk and amber blend with a touch of peach (which I was convinced I hated before trying this blend). Moscow and Versailles are similar to my nose and on my skin, but both are amber-floral blends that have a more formal, "perfumey" vibe - something to put on when you're going out vs. a regular work day. They're both very regal and beautiful and the amber really anchors the florals. Although I love, love LOVE O, it smells like vanilla and honey on me - hardly any amber! Brisingamen enticed me so that I ordered a 5 ml unsniffed, but finally swapped it away because it just disappeared into my skin in the oddest way. A couple months away, I thought, "I'm going to try it again!" and ordered an imp... but the same thing happened. Watch me order an imp again this summer. Spellbound and Tamora (peaches again) are two more amber-heavy blends that don't work on me but have huge numbers of fans.

I thought that I would bump this thread - somebody started a duplicate thread looking for a BPAL blend similar to Clinique Happy right as the forum went down last week. Hopefully, they will see this one now and get some good ideas, or some of you who haven't seen this topic before will share your thoughts. Since we lost about a week's worth of posts, the duplicate thread disappeared... So I will just remind everyone, please do a search before you start a new thread if you want recommendations for something similar to a commercial perfume, even if you think it's something incredibly obscure or something no one else would have asked about. It saves me the work of merging and saves you a warning for the duplicate!

So beautiful! This blend is very floral on me, but I adore florals so I find that wonderful. Tuberose is one of my favorite notes ever, and I do pick that up, but there are other gorgeous floral notes here that I am not familar with. Most likely those are the davana blossom and champaca flower - the overall effect is a lush, tropical, white floral topnote. The florals are anchored by something sweet and a little woody - perhaps the combination of the amber, honey, sandalwood and vanilla. The effect is positively intoxicating. A multiple bottle candidate in every way!

I was concerned about this one because frankincense tends to smell soapy and sharp on me. But all my needless apprehension melted away the minute I sniffed this glorious stuff in the bottle. I really don't smell frankincense in this blend - perhaps it complements these florals so perfectly, or maybe it is a different type of frankincense than the ones I've tried in other blends. On me, Night's Pavilion becomes a beautiful, white floral with a smooth white musk base. The avatar that Ultraviolet made evokes the perfect visual for this scent - a romantic, exotic locale viewed in the moonlight. Swoonworthy!

At first sniff from the bottle, and when wet, all I get is jasmine. Pushy, bossy, dominating jasmine - but this jasmine smells different from the jasmine I have smelled in other blends, leading me to think that I haven't experienced Moroccan jasmine before. Some jasmines are too sharp for me, but this is sweet and lush. It takes a while, but the jasmine backs off and lets the fruity notes shine through, and this is a really pretty combination! I have noticed that several of the jasmine blends I love (Euphrosyne, Peitho) had very strong jasmine when fresh from the lab. After a month or so, they were much better balanced and the other notes were allowed to come out and play as intended. This jasmine is lovely and I'd wear the Perfumed Garden as it is today, but I will also look forward to seeing how this blend changes as it ages a wee bit.

At first, this one was nothing but caramel on me! As it dried down it has become a gorgeous, warm scent, sweet, spicy and ambery with a hint of something that could be coconut combined with the caramel. It is difficult for me to describe, but it is a really lovely scent, just as lovely as I had hoped it would be.

Embarrassing enough to follow a beautifully written review like ShriekingViolet's. On top of that, I guess I am Mary Poppins, because BPAL "sex" scents smell very sweet and innocent on me. O smells like honey vanilla loveliness... and Smut? It's absolutely gorgeous, but I am not getting hot smutty nekkid throw down sex. I'm getting sugary, spicy, slightly bourbony... Snake Charmer memories! That's right, Snake Oil ladies. I smelled Snake Oil in the bottle, but on me, it's much more the sweet, fruity spice I smell in Snake Charmer. But you know what? I am off to order another bottle because this stuff is incredible.

I am one of those who have to try every LE... it's just in my blood. Of all the Lupercalia scents, Luperci was the one I feared most, or I guess looked forward to the least. So I am so pleasantly surprised that I love it and want to order another bottle! For starters, it's much less masculine than I had anticipated. Not that it's girly, it's just one that I think is truly gender neutral. I don't pick up any juniper at all, which I find quite surprising since it's such an assertive note. I do get lots of oakmoss and patchouli, sweetened by the honey and musk. On me, I notice a loose resemblance to the scent of one of my favorite indulgences in the world - Tramp showergel from Lush. By no means am I saying it's a dupe, or that you will get the same results, but it has the same patchouli earthiness that's tempered with sweetness. It's also surprisingly light on my skin - I will definitely have to treat myself to a slathering, but today was all about a swipe here and a swipe there so I could post reviews. All in all, this one is beautiful and has me anticipating the greenness of spring!