Why do scents turn to baby powder on me?!

[Electra]

I probably wouldn't recommend Antique Lace, even though it's vanilla and you like vanilla - it does have a powderiness to it that you might think is a bit "baby's bottom"

 

Rose always goes straight to dryer sheet on me. Amber can go powdery, as well. Those may be notes to avoid.

[ciannait]

Avoid Snake Oil.

 

It dried down on me to smell like baby powder.

[ivyandpeony]

I love the original title of this thread - "i don't want to smell like a baby's bottom..."

 

I just altered it slightly, though, so if people are doing a search by thread title it will be sure to turn up.

 

I had a happy experience recently with Enraged Bunny Musk! When I first tried it, shortly after receiving my package from the lab, it was nothing but a sickly-sweet baby powder on me. But since I am a terrible packrat and procrastinator, it went into the BPAL drawer anyway. I figured, well, I will try it once again before I swap it away in case it's my hormones, something I ate, a bug flew up my nose...

 

Tried it again a few months later and hooray! It is gorgeous linden blossom and white musk - like a longer-lasting, stronger cousin of The Unicorn.

 

So there can be happy endings to the baby bottom stories.

[Punkylarue]

I have this problem where scents are turning into baby powder or playdoh on me. So far I have had to bail on Snake oil, Morocco, and O. This saddens me because they sounded perfect in the reviews. Does anyone with this same problem know what ingredient causes this or have any recomendations for warm, resiny, spicy scents that don't turn like this? Dorian was really great but the only problem is it doesn't throw like I would like it to. I have heard people say that amber causes this but I wear patchouli amber all the time and it is wonderful. Oh yeah, the Scherezade that is supposedly so similar to Morocco did not do this so whatever the different note is between the two may be it.

Edited September 8, 2006 by Punkylarue

[Dinerdulcinea]

Hi! I feel your pain.

Snake Oil goes totally baby powdery diaper table on me.

 

I am afraid it my be this particular vanilla, but I am not sure.

 

I LOVE vanilla and it smells great on me in other products.

 

I'll be peeking in on this thread to see what people say.

[minilux]

I bet it's musk. A good number of musk scents (especially black or dark musk for some reason) turn to baby powder on me. A good number of scents from my first order turned to baby powder, but they didn't have any common notes that I could tell, so I emailed the lab and Beth said it was probably musk. Snake Oil was definitely one of the culprits. To this day, the one thing my boyfriend can say that is guaranteed to make me cringe is "do I smell baby powder?"

 

I would also advise reading reviews before ordering. If lots of people are saying something smells powdery, then I stay as far away from it as possible.

[forspecial_plate]

Black musk turns a little bit powdery on me. And something in Black Phoenix is very powdery (the notes aren't listed so I don't know what it is). But powdery doesn't bother me so much. I still like Mad Hatter even though the black musk is a little powdery on me.

 

It could be musk, but keep in mind all the different musks there are in Beth's blends will behave differently on anyone's skin. I have found that the white musk in F5 works really well on me. So I guess it's just a matter of experimenting and finding out what works for you!

[minilux]

Ha! Black Phoenix was one of the other culprits I asked Beth about, and I believe Spellbound might have been the third. White musk generally does not go powdery on me at all. If anything, some of the white musks are a bit too masculine, but I'll take masculine over baby powder any day.

[klavierbarrette]

yeah, you have to find out what musk works for you...my skin likes white and dark musk, but red musk = no.

 

bengal, if you haven't tried it, is very lovely.

[theseagrows]

snake oil did that to me too, and other bpal scents containing vanilla, so i think that could be it? i can only do bpal vanilla when not very prominent and that makes me very sad.

 

ive heard amber does it to some people, but bpal's amber works really good on me, like it does on you, so maybe vanilla doesn't work on you either.

[Ghost_Light]

Something in Blood Rose turned into a rose-powder on me and Bess can as well. I'm guessing at least one of the rose notes is not my friend.

[Trish]

It would appear I'm another who's skin chemistry turns amber into powder, at least some of the time. The Lion turned to spiced powder after an hour, and Juke Joint was pure baby powder within 20 (and I'm still sulking about that one). Juke Joint doesn't have amber listed, but reading the reviews a lot of people detected it in there.

 

However other ones that do have amber listed are fine - Sin, Fenris Wolf, Baghdad and Bastet (mind you the almond smothered everything else and refused to fade). In fact Sin is one of my faves! So I don't know whether it's different types of amber, the amount in the blend, or the combination of notes.

 

I haven't found anything else that goes powdery on me thankfully. Sandalwood and musk (especially red) love me, and rose just amps a bit. Sassafras immediately turns into burnt plastic though - yuck!

Edited September 9, 2006 by Trishek

[Punkylarue]

Well I said Scherezade didn't go powdery but I am taking that back. So far about all of my first order smells like powder. I am sooooo bummed. I waited so long for it to get here and I can't wear any of them. I have two babies and smell powder all day so I wanted to smell like a woman, not a mom. Well here is the offending list for anyone else with this problem.

 

Snake oil (very strong Chantilly type powder)

O (honeyed baby powder)

Morocco (coying spicy baby powder)

Dorian Wonderful at first. (Lemony beautiful goodness. Dry down= powder)

Scherezade Beautiful and incensey at first, (dried down to a White Diamonds type powder smell)

Blood Rose (wonderful rosey, wine then dried down to powdery rose)

 

Sigh~~~~ I hate my chemistry.

[Torrilin]

Well I said Scherezade didn't go powdery but I am taking that back. So far about all of my first order smells like powder. I am sooooo bummed. I waited so long for it to get here and I can't wear any of them. I have two babies and smell powder all day so I wanted to smell like a woman, not a mom. Well here is the offending list for anyone else with this problem.

 

Snake oil (very strong Chantilly type powder)

O (honeyed baby powder)

Morocco (coying spicy baby powder)

Dorian Wonderful at first. (Lemony beautiful goodness. Dry down= powder)

Scherezade Beautiful and incensey at first, (dried down to a White Diamonds type powder smell)

Blood Rose (wonderful rosey, wine then dried down to powdery rose)

 

Sigh~~~~ I hate my chemistry.

 

That sounds like musks go to powder on you. You've got pale musk, skin musk, red musk, and some mystery musks in there (Snake Oil has musks and it's a matter of some debate which ones are in there). You may also turn amber to powder (O), and roses to powder (Blood Rose). There may be unlisted musk in those tho, as Minilux alluded to.

 

Since there's something like 20 musk descriptors used on BPAL's website and IME, they do behave differently, you may yet find a musk that will work.

 

Kalli

[Punkylarue]

Well I have used egyptian goddes with no problem and I use patchouli amber too. Those are the two that seem to be okay on me. I just get tired of using the same two since I have been wearing those since highschool. I am assuming the musk in EG is egyptian musk? After reading through this thread I have found that alot of the scents I wanted to try all go powdery on someone so I may just be doomed to those two. I was wanting something warm, resiny, sweet, exotic, or spicy because fruit and strong florals give me a headache. I gave Morocco to my mom yesterday and she smelled fabulous! At least I have enabled another to take my place in the bpal run.

[clover]

Yeah, it's defnitely looking like musks are your culprit to me.

 

It's funny, when I got my first BPAL order, I remember thinking that all of the scents smelled powdery on me. Now, I think hardly any of them do. Sometimes I wonder if there's a bit of a learning curve with BPAL. I think it may be best to start out with crisper scents until your nose gets used to them...look for notes like citrus or tea, or crisp florals. Avoid notes like musk, amber, resins & rose. They're just softer in general, and tend to read as more powdery.

 

You mentioned that you like spicy and exotic scents - you might try something like Sin or Bengal or Love Me. I believe they all contain cinnamon (or cassia)...which is a nice spicy ingredient that probably won't read as powdery.

 

A couple of other suggestions - don't try the scents in too quick of succession! Your nose will get tired and start to read everything as similar. And, if you find that a whole bunch of scents aren't working for you at one time...it might be hormonal. Wait a week or two and try them out again.

 

Don't give up! You'll find the perfect scents (or scents!) if you give it a chance.

[minilux]

Hey Punky, if you're not a patchouli-phobe, you might want to try Masquerade and I'll second clover's Sin suggestion. And if you're looking for something clean and fresh, you should try Embalming Fluid. I think it was Embalming Fluid that finally broke my massive losing streak of powdery scents.

 

ETA: You might want to try Perversion, Urd and/or Sudha Segara as well. (I've only just had my first cup of tea, so my brain is verrry slooow)

Edited September 9, 2006 by minilux

[Punkylarue]

Thank you so much for those suggestions. I figured I will try one more order before I throw in the towel so I will look those scents up. Also The suggestion to space them out and wait a little while is a good idea. I am going to try that too.

 

(edited because I type like a doofus)

Edited September 9, 2006 by Punkylarue

[cfrancesca]

After reading through this thread, I think that I actually really like the slightly sweet, powdery musky smell I get from some oils.

It's possible that since I always use powder after I shower, I equate that smell to just showered, slightly musky skin.

 

I recently was frimped Queen of Sheba and I love the musky, almondy, slightly foody, powdery scent it dries to.

I also noticed a lot of my favorites dry a little powdery on me:

 

Snake Oil

Boomslang (prob. from the Snake Oil)

Australian Copperhead (again from the Snake Oil)

Black Phoenix (prob. from the black musk, but I find black musk to have a slightly crisper sharper powdery scent on me)

Scherezade (gorgeous red musky powder)

Haunted (I think this is the only Amber that has gone powdery on me)

Smut (a little powder on the drydown)

 

I'm looking for recommendations of more like these?

[surlygurl]

After reading through this thread, I think that I actually really like the slightly sweet, powdery musky smell I get from some oils.

It's possible that since I always use powder after I shower, I equate that smell to just showered, slightly musky skin.

 

I recently was frimped Queen of Sheba and I love the musky, almondy, slightly foody, powdery scent it dries to.

I also noticed a lot of my favorites dry a little powdery on me:

 

Snake Oil

Boomslang (prob. from the Snake Oil)

Australian Copperhead (again from the Snake Oil)

Black Phoenix (prob. from the black musk, but I find black musk to have a slightly crisper sharper powdery scent on me)

Scherezade (gorgeous red musky powder)

Haunted (I think this is the only Amber that has gone powdery on me)

Smut (a little powder on the drydown)

 

I'm looking for recommendations of more like these?

It's so funny you posted this today! I'm wearing / comparing Anathema on one arm & Sybaris on the other. Both dry down to a lovely powdery scent - Anathema a powdery honeysuckle opium and Sybaris a powdery violet vanilla. I love them both

[cfrancesca]

It's so funny you posted this today! I'm wearing / comparing Anathema on one arm & Sybaris on the other. Both dry down to a lovely powdery scent - Anathema a powdery honeysuckle opium and Sybaris a powdery violet vanilla. I love them both

 

I'll have to try those two out, Sybaris especially, I love vanilla and violets!

[krissstephens]

antikythera mechanism

[cfrancesca]

I just tested Iago and it's dries to a powdery musky vetiver with just a hint of leather. I'm surprised I like it.

[Invidiana]

My skin rarely turns things powdery, but it decided to play that game with Ivanushka, which thankfully made off to a happy home a while back.

 

Unfortunately Iago is all butch man leather on me.

Edited January 28, 2010 by Invidiana

[doublehelix]

Spooky RES was delicious on my skin wet, but dried down to a barely there powdery mint