Different smells/colors, same perfume

[Wwindy]

Hey, all!

 

I have a quick question about one of the Lupers. I ordered a bottle of Body, Remember (unsniffed) when it first came out, as all the notes generally work well on me. But sadly, when I smelled it in the bottle and then tested it, it smelled nothing like what I expected. Since I'm new to BPAL, I thought maybe it was my skin chemistry that changed it, but the sweetheart that I swapped with had the same reaction (unfortunately).

 

The Lupers will be coming down soon, and I'm really thinking about trying it again based on the glowing reviews it's received. But being on a student budget, that's sort of a tricky situation.

 

Has anyone else had this issue with BR? And do you think I should risk it? I don't know how common batch variations are, but I desperately want that beautiful oil that everyone else is getting!

 

Thanks!!

 

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?

[Glambie]

Hey, all!

 

I have a quick question about one of the Lupers. I ordered a bottle of Body, Remember (unsniffed) when it first came out, as all the notes generally work well on me. But sadly, when I smelled it in the bottle and then tested it, it smelled nothing like what I expected. Since I'm new to BPAL, I thought maybe it was my skin chemistry that changed it, but the sweetheart that I swapped with had the same reaction (unfortunately).

 

The Lupers will be coming down soon, and I'm really thinking about trying it again based on the glowing reviews it's received. But being on a student budget, that's sort of a tricky situation.

 

Has anyone else had this issue with BR? And do you think I should risk it? I don't know how common batch variations are, but I desperately want that beautiful oil that everyone else is getting!

 

Thanks!!

 

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?

 

 

Hey, there! Thanks for the reply! Now I realize that I should've been more specific about the issue! Really, it was more of a "YUCK!" response, both when sniffing it out of the bottle and after the wet/drydown phases. It was almost like the smell of my pursue being soaked in beer after a wild concert. Not at ALL like the description!

 

I thought I liked ambergris, since it's in my HG oil (Lyonesse) and another one that I can't remember. Hmmm...no telling what the issue was!

 

Hope that extra info helps!

[Wwindy]

Hey, there! Thanks for the reply! Now I realize that I should've been more specific about the issue! Really, it was more of a "YUCK!" response, both when sniffing it out of the bottle and after the wet/drydown phases. It was almost like the smell of my pursue being soaked in beer after a wild concert. Not at ALL like the description!

 

I thought I liked ambergris, since it's in my HG oil (Lyonesse) and another one that I can't remember. Hmmm...no telling what the issue was!

 

Hope that extra info helps!

 

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.

[redderz]

I posted on the page before about my friend's bottle of Bon Vivant smelling odd - I bought her another one after and that one was just perfect! She actually sent me the other bottle of odd BV to smell, and it really does smell just like lemonade! There's no strawberry in it at all! Ah well, I'm keeping it for the novelty of it. Hahaha!

[Blood onmy hands]

I just got a lab order in the mail today where I purchased two bottles of Black Lily and the two bottles are completely different from each other. In the same package. One is pale yellow (almost clear), like the imp that I loved, and smells perfect. The oil in the second bottle is *orange* and smells nothing like Black Lily (it smells like roses, honey and warm spices - none of which are in regular Black Lily)...

ETA: Contacted the lab about this and got a refund for the messed up bottle. So if anyone else gets a bottle that's clearly not the right oil, it's worth sending them a message, if even just to let them know that bottles are getting filled wrong at some point in their process.

Edited March 9, 2012 by Little Bird

[lohengrin]

I can't seem to find any descriptions of what "Neutral" from the RPG line is supposed to *look* like. I'm never surprised when scents *smell* different on me than on others--my chemistry and nose are clearly very odd. But the oil in my imp of Neutral is bright red, which seems a bit odd for a skin musk scent, but if it's normal then no big deal. I'd just like to be sure, because normally I like skin musk.

[mspixieears]

I just got a lab order in the mail today where I purchased two bottles of Black Lily and the two bottles are completely different from each other. In the same package. One is pale yellow (almost clear), like the imp that I loved, and smells perfect. The oil in the second bottle is *orange* and smells nothing like Black Lily (it smells like roses, honey and warm spices - none of which are in regular Black Lily)...

ETA: Contacted the lab about this and got a refund for the messed up bottle. So if anyone else gets a bottle that's clearly not the right oil, it's worth sending them a message, if even just to let them know that bottles are getting filled wrong at some point in their process.

 

This is interesting given I feel this has just happened to me and the Lab told me that there was nothing wrong with the fragrance in question. My bottle of The First Encounter DOES NOT SMELL LIKE THE FIRST ENCOUNTER but I haven't been offered a replacement or a refund - I was told by customer service that they have no quality control over decants.

 

The decants I got were from two separate sources and they are identical! The bottle's liquid isn't even the same blooming colour as the decants! What do I do?

[wishingwell]

This is interesting given I feel this has just happened to me and the Lab told me that there was nothing wrong with the fragrance in question. My bottle of The First Encounter DOES NOT SMELL LIKE THE FIRST ENCOUNTER but I haven't been offered a replacement or a refund - I was told by customer service that they have no quality control over decants.

 

The decants I got were from two separate sources and they are identical! The bottle's liquid isn't even the same blooming colour as the decants! What do I do?

 

I'm not sure if this helps at all, but.. does yours smell very heavily of jasmine and something a little like salty wood? Mine did not smell at all like any of the reviews of sweetness and fruity florals. However, as far as I know the person who took my bottle off my hands was quite pleased with it, so maybe there was a batch variation that didn't work as well with certain people or something like that? (If that's true, then I am sad I didn't try it again while I still could.. because it had all the possibilities of a favorite for me.)

 

(Side note: Tee-hee, I said salty wood. Yes, I am 12 at heart.)

 

And here's something unrelated that I noticed with Blossoms in Springtime -- I got myself a backup and accidentally reached for it instead of my first bottle last week. My first bottle is nearly clear oil and the scent clings pretty close to the skin no matter what I do. My second bottle is golden/amber in color and, while the overall scent is the same, it has more throw and amps like woah when I step out into the sun and get all warm. So instead of labeling it as my backup, I've labeled it as "strong" so I can use it when I want something a little heavier.

Edited April 13, 2012 by wishingwell

[mspixieears]

This is interesting given I feel this has just happened to me and the Lab told me that there was nothing wrong with the fragrance in question. My bottle of The First Encounter DOES NOT SMELL LIKE THE FIRST ENCOUNTER but I haven't been offered a replacement or a refund - I was told by customer service that they have no quality control over decants.

 

The decants I got were from two separate sources and they are identical! The bottle's liquid isn't even the same blooming colour as the decants! What do I do?

 

I'm not sure if this helps at all, but.. does yours smell very heavily of jasmine and something a little like salty wood? Mine did not smell at all like any of the reviews of sweetness and fruity florals. However, as far as I know the person who took my bottle off my hands was quite pleased with it, so maybe there was a batch variation that didn't work as well with certain people or something like that? (If that's true, then I am sad I didn't try it again while I still could.. because it had all the possibilities of a favorite for me.)

 

(Side note: Tee-hee, I said salty wood. Yes, I am 12 at heart.)

 

And here's something unrelated that I noticed with Blossoms in Springtime -- I got myself a backup and accidentally reached for it instead of my first bottle last week. My first bottle is nearly clear oil and the scent clings pretty close to the skin no matter what I do. My second bottle is golden/amber in color and, while the overall scent is the same, it has more throw and amps like woah when I step out into the sun and get all warm. So instead of labeling it as my backup, I've labeled it as "strong" so I can use it when I want something a little heavier.

 

lulz @ salty wood!

 

Alas, no, no jasmine at all present, it smells more like a deep, woodsy, resiny, musky dark rose? It actually reminds me of The Balcony or a woodier Tabula Smaragdina. It's gorgeous but I'm super super certain it isn't The First Encounter at all. I've contacted customer service about it but it hasn't been a particularly fruitful exchange - to date

[imaginepageant]

I've got two imps of Van Van, acquired from different sources (I believe both forumites, but one might have been a Lab frimp). I just noticed that the oil in each is a different color—one an almost clear yellow, one a darker orange—so I sniffed both to compare. And they smell completely different: the lighter one is fresh and lemony, while the darker one is strong vetiver. Looking through the review thread, it looks like this isn't just a case of an imp gone bad; half report lemongrass and vanilla, half report vetiver and patchouli.

 

So, what's the deal? Was this blend reformulated at some point? Was there a run of bad batches? Or are there supposed to be two variations?

 

(I'm sure this has already been discussed, but due to the limitation of the search function to only search words with four characters or less, I'm unable to search for it. Searching Van* doesn't help, either, since it pulls up every single mention of vanilla, which you can imagine is a great deal.)

[Honey]

I cannot talk for Van Van per se (although I have two imps - will check whether I have "two versions" as well), but the same thing happened to me with Kuang Shi: one is a beautiful mango-mandarin-sandalwood (my bottle from 2007), one is tart orange, very cologne-y and rather meh.

[cuervosueno]

I've noticed this on Van Van oil too--even some of my old imps vary in scent.

 

That said, Van Van is an old hoodoo oil and there are many recipes. Some are heavy on lemongrass, some on vetiver, some use entirely different notes all together. I've seen some that are almost all lemongrass (which I don't think is a good recipe for this oil). Personally, I like the vetiver, but.....I had one favorite imp of Van Van that had an almost powdery feel to it that I quite liked.

 

I don't know if there was a reformulation--Beth usually keeps people informed of such things--but I imagine over the years the supplies have changed and even using the same oils but from different places might effect the scent. Also it might be there that has had to be a change over the years, who knows? I know Beth changed the names of the section they were in--it used to be Voodoo blends, but Beth (rightly!) changed it to Conjure Bag, which more accurately reflects the history of these oils.

 

So, yeah, it could be a lot of things....

[Blood onmy hands]

You might want to read through this thread, as a lot of variations and issues have been brought up here:

http://www.bpal.org/topic/3142-different-smellscolors-same-perfume/page__st__500

Edited May 6, 2012 by Little Bird

[Monday]

Hey there is a variation in Blossoms in Springtime . I have a couple of bottles of it and the first one I purchased has a colorless oil while the other ones are a pretty red. Did anyone else notice this?

[valnillarose]

Hey there is a variation in Blossoms in Springtime . I have a couple of bottles of it and the first one I purchased has a colorless oil while the other ones are a pretty red. Did anyone else notice this?

 

Yes! I bought a bottle right after they went up, then bought a back-up right before they came down, and there's a definite difference in color. I haven't tested them side-by-side, but if there's a difference in scent I didn't pick up on it when wearing them separately.

[angelamaria]

Hey there is a variation in Blossoms in Springtime . I have a couple of bottles of it and the first one I purchased has a colorless oil while the other ones are a pretty red. Did anyone else notice this?

 

 

Hey there is a variation in Blossoms in Springtime . I have a couple of bottles of it and the first one I purchased has a colorless oil while the other ones are a pretty red. Did anyone else notice this?

 

Yes! I bought a bottle right after they went up, then bought a back-up right before they came down, and there's a definite difference in color. I haven't tested them side-by-side, but if there's a difference in scent I didn't pick up on it when wearing them separately.

 

This was raised in the LJ comm as well, and made me really curious about the lighter oil one--some have said it's a somewhat orangey oil as opposed to red. Is there any marked difference between the two? Both bottles I bought had red oil (I bought a second one later, hoping just in case I get the other variation!), and to me it reacted rather the same as how red musk reacts on my skin. I passed it off as the amber when I skin tested my first bottle. The second bottle is the same.

 

I'm quite~ curious as I was super sure this was going to be a winner for me based on notes, but was quite disappointed at the result (i.e. powdery red musky sort of scent).

[Monday]

Hey there is a variation in Blossoms in Springtime . I have a couple of bottles of it and the first one I purchased has a colorless oil while the other ones are a pretty red. Did anyone else notice this?

 

 

Hey there is a variation in Blossoms in Springtime . I have a couple of bottles of it and the first one I purchased has a colorless oil while the other ones are a pretty red. Did anyone else notice this?

 

Yes! I bought a bottle right after they went up, then bought a back-up right before they came down, and there's a definite difference in color. I haven't tested them side-by-side, but if there's a difference in scent I didn't pick up on it when wearing them separately.

 

This was raised in the LJ comm as well, and made me really curious about the lighter oil one--some have said it's a somewhat orangey oil as opposed to red. Is there any marked difference between the two? Both bottles I bought had red oil (I bought a second one later, hoping just in case I get the other variation!), and to me it reacted rather the same as how red musk reacts on my skin. I passed it off as the amber when I skin tested my first bottle. The second bottle is the same.

 

I'm quite~ curious as I was super sure this was going to be a winner for me based on notes, but was quite disappointed at the result (i.e. powdery red musky sort of scent).

 

Good to know I'm not imagining things .

The lighter oil is really almost colorless and you can see through it in the bottle the other one isn't see through at all in the bottle. They both start out smelling pretty much the same. Dry, the red version ends up smelling a bit like orange blossom . It's definitely sharper than the colorless version.The colorless version smells more of honey and vanilla. Though I must say that the differences are rather small on my skin.

I can see where you get the red musk from Angela. I was checking for it too when I first smelled Blossoms in Springtime, I guess it's the antiquated amber...?

[sunlitgarden]

I had the very dark Blossoms in Springtime. Unfortunately, it went kinda funky on my skin (I blame the amber) and I sold it. It did smell kind of red-musky to me, but I'm not sure if it's actual red musk, or just the amber.. I know all the other oils I have that are that color do have red musk in them.

[captainecchi]

I had a disappointing experience recently. I tried Tanuki no Hikifune in a decant circle, and fell in love with it. It was just this amazing melon smell that managed to not fade within five minutes on my skin. It was a perfect scent for the disgusting hot summer we're having here in New England, and I knew immediately I had to have a bottle. In the meantime, I pretty much used up most of my decant.

 

I decided to wait until July to order, for money reasons, and actually ordered a bottle on the last day it was available. After a very quick turnaround, it arrived--but it smelled very different from what was in the decant. It was clearly the same perfume, but this batch was a lot heavier on the honey and softer on the melon; it was cloyingly sweet for a bit, and then faded to nothingness almost immediately.

 

Understandably, I was hugely disappointed, but I'm not sure there's anything I can do about it...

[calivianya]

There is definitely a batch variation with Crossroads. I was just testing imps to put them up for sale, and I noticed I had two of Crossroads that were both frimps from the Lab - and one is goldenrod yellow while the other is light orange. I think the yellow one is missing the incense.

[White_rabbit334]

So... I wish I could include a picture, because this is the oddest thing I've ever seen.

 

I have here before me two imps of Mouse's Long and Sad Tale. In the left corner, we have a completely colorless oil, literally pale white. The one I stepped on before this was also the same color.

 

The oil I recently received from arsinoe9 looks....well, BRIGHT red. It looks like it's all red musk or something! I don't know of too many oils that are this rich of red, except for Sin maybe? My question is whether or not anyone else has MLaST that's this color. Does it turn red when it ages, or was it reformulated?

 

I have no idea what to make of this. x_X

[Blood onmy hands]

So... I wish I could include a picture, because this is the oddest thing I've ever seen.

 

I have here before me two imps of Mouse's Long and Sad Tale. In the left corner, we have a completely colorless oil, literally pale white. The one I stepped on before this was also the same color.

 

The oil I recently received from arsinoe9 looks....well, BRIGHT red. It looks like it's all red musk or something! I don't know of too many oils that are this rich of red, except for Sin maybe? My question is whether or not anyone else has MLaST that's this color. Does it turn red when it ages, or was it reformulated?

 

I have no idea what to make of this. x_X

 

I've seen red Mouse's Long & Sad Tale imps. I've gotten a lot of weird imps that were a lot darker or lighter than they used to be lately. Most of my comparisons to my older bottles smell slightly different as well (some very different). The color and scent variations seem to be common.

[White_rabbit334]

I can tell this one definitely has red musk in it; it smells.... Well, like Mouse's older sister, who is much more mystical, self-assured. It's like someone added a heady dose of incense to it or something, it just is.... deeper? I don't know how to explain the scent but it certainly is different from Mouse's, which is on the whole a paler, sweet scent... Delicate, I would say. This is much more robust, but the ironic thing is that the pale Mouse lasts a lot longer than the red. Weird.

 

I certainly enjoy it at least, but I'd be lying if I said it didn't mystify the @$(# out of me trying to figure out the 'new' secret ingredient. Like I said, *must* be red musk or incense or...something! Hmmm. I almost want a bottle of this; maybe I just have to slather to get it to last a while.

Edited March 4, 2013 by White_rabbit334

[Cinder and Smoke]

Ever since I started BPALing in '06, Laudanum has remained my favorite scent. My first bottle of it was all deep myrrh and incense smoke with a hint of spice, and it was gorgeous. I never understood the reviews that described it as 'medicinal' or like 'root beer'. My second bottle was more myrrh and less smoky, but I chalked it up to being fresh, and hoped it would pick up some of the incensey smokiness as it aged. Well, 2 years later, it's still much 'lighter' and more perfumey than my first bottle.

 

Fast forward to yesterday when I received a frimp of Laudanum with my SN order. Oh sweet, thought I, free Laudanum. But wait, holy crap, what is this? Rootbeer and...something akin to chalky conversation hearts and ... bandaids?! Nothing like the Laudanum I know and love. What even IS this? Even on my skin it remains root beer and chalky candy. Now I'm desperately clinging to the last couple of milliliters in my bottle. What if my next bottle is bandaids again? It's like Russian roulette.

 

Harlot was similar for me. My first imp was all deep, wet, decaying rose. No cinnamon to speak of. I decided to order a bottle on a whim, and when I sniffed it, BOOM, fresh red rose and a cinnamon kick in the FACE. I like the bottle better, though, so it's a win.

 

Has anyone else experienced wide scent variation from bottle to bottle?

[Gateau]

Nothing quite that wide for me yet, but I've had noticeable differences in bottles of TKO. The first one had a more distinctive lavender and the later ones had almost a lotiony note.