Can I use BPAL to train my nose?

[Vega]

I'm a newbie to perfumes in general, and my sense of smell is rather abysmal... (I've been known to stand in a garden full of roses and say "hey, something smells nice!" that's how dismal I am! ) I know BPAL is renowned for its complex blends -- which I'm loving so far! -- but I wonder, can I train my nose to tell florals from incenses from woods, and which floral is which for example? Not counting those rare single notes, what are BPAL's simpler scents that are "single-note dominant"?

 

I've looked through the recs forum, but I'm wondering if this could be a useful thread to collect BPAL's simple scents. Thanks

[hkhm]

i thin by simple blend you mean a blend with only a few notes?

 

you might start off with carnal or depraved (only two notes each) and then move on to something kabuki (three notes).

 

it's tough to recommend something without a good idea of what you like, but those are some of my (simple) favorites.

 

my personal favorite bpal of all time (i think it's even my favorite perfume of all time) is imp and it only has four notes.

[Scribens]

Reading the reviews on this forum is what helps me most to develop my sense of smell. I'm still a beginner, though. Sometimes I read a scent description, sniff the scent on my wrist and think "Oh, that's what ____ smells like! Ha!". Sometimes I'm just confused.

Here are some "easy" scents (with one or two dominating note(s)) to get you started (some of those impressions might depend on my skin chemistry):

 

Two, Five and Seven for the rose garden.

 

Squirting Cucumber is cucumber (and a bit of grass).

 

Yvaine for lavender and magnolia.

 

The Dormouse or Shanghai for tea.

 

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Bat has many notes listed, but on me it's pure melon.

 

Pink Snowballs: soft roses and vanilla.

 

Queen of Sheba is mostly almonds.

 

Either O or Womb Furie for honey.

 

Embalming Fluid aka lemon.

 

Bensiabel for plum and lilac.

 

Penitence and Cathedral are different simple incense scents.

 

Other simple scents: Faustus, Glasgow, Eat Me, Persephone, Regan, Carnal.

 

In my experience, it's easier to recognize foody notes, because you've smelled and tasted and put a name to many of them before.

[silvertarna]

Blood Amber is another good two-note blend.

[strahlend]

I think Scribens advice to start with what you know is a good idea. So how you develop your nose depend on what you're already familiar with. I can't tell you how many times I've made notes that said, "I don't know what ____ is, but it must smell like this because __, __, and __ don't usually smell like this". Process of elimination, right? I give similar advice to people who are learning to cook - start with what you know and build on that.

 

[Blood onmy hands]

Some blends that don't have a lot of different notes:

 

Akuma - blood orange, neroli, and raspberry.

Baron Samedi - bay rum.

Bliss - chocolate.

Carnal - mandarin and fig.

Death Cap & Destroying Angel - dirt scents.

Depraved - black patchouli and apricot.

Dirty - linen.

Dragon's Blood - dragon's blood.

Dragon's Claw- dragon's blood and sandalwood.

Eat Me - vanillas and currants.

Glasgow - blackberry and heather.

Hurricane - rain and vetivert.

The Lion - amber.

Penitence - frankincense and myrrh.

Persephone - pomegranate and rose.

Grand Guignol - apricot.

Grog - rum.

London - tea rose.

March Hare - apricot and clove.

Pain - lavender and pennyroyal.

The Rose - rose.

Sea of Glass - aquatic.

Sloth - vetiver and myrrh.

Squirting Cucumber - cucumber and grass.

Twenty-One - the lab's gin note.

Whip - rose and leather.

[skyelyric]

Kumiho is a good example of ginger. This was actually one of my a-ha! blends, because I picked up Sudha Segara and went 'this smells really familiar...ooo...Kumiho! Ginger! Got it!'

 

Tombstone is a good drywoody blend to get a feel for. Dracul is good for piney-type woods.

 

I'd say Phobos is a more straight-up lemon than Embalming Fluid.

 

Ultraviolet is very strong on the violet (go figure) if you want to try for that flower scent.

 

In general too, remember the old standard 'your mileage may vary.' Some things smell very distinct but not like they're supposed to due to skin chemistry. You might start recognizing notes by realizing that X and Y perfumes both do something absolutely godawful on you. I found out what white musk was when Katharina, Phobos, and Whitechapel all turned into the same nauseating haze around me.

 

Mostly it's a good idea to test and cross reference, figure out what has a similar smell, then look at the notes, and start figuring out what they have in common.

Edited April 23, 2010 by skyelyric

[hkhm]

In general too, remember the old standard 'your mileage may vary.'

 

very true. as for me: ultraviolet is not very strong violet on my skin. the raven however: such a beautiful, strong violet.

 

i found that when i was trying to track down a note, i'd gather a few blends and test them in succession to narrow down the scent of a specific note.

 

[skyelyric]

very true. as for me: ultraviolet is not very strong violet on my skin. the raven however: such a beautiful, strong violet.

 

<runs off to look up the Raven>

 

Body chemistry is some crazy stuff...Like on me, Bastet is a lovely rich spiced almond, Asp Viper's a good almond too...Queen of Sheba? Corn chips.

 

/hijack

[Vega]

Thanks everyone for the recs and wonderful advice! I'll try them out for sure. I've definitely been taking copious notes of my impressions and comparing everything to each other, like wearing similar scents on each wrist. (Sheol and Summer's Last Will & Testament are both bright and golden, but quite different; that same cloying-sweet fragrance in Chimera and Hermia must come from honeysuckle, etc etc...) Yeah, it's been a lot of fun.

 

I guess when I see my notes saying "is that floral? woody/spicy?", I get a bit impatient wanting to know what it REALLY is. (That's the want-to-know-everything-NOW intellectual speaking out now... ) Lightning was the first BPAL scent I ever tried, and now that I know what ozone smells like I can pick it out from a complex scent like Tin Phoenix. So maybe if I smell something "single-note" it'd start jumping out of a blend like that?

 

(I really like ozone BTW - it's such a singular scent, and doesn't seem to be turning rancid or dryer-sheets so far. )

[skylarkza]

What I have found is that you don't need to start with "basic" scents. While the more complex ones may be more frustrating at first to pick notes out of - your nose will get there with time (I find that the lack of OMG PERFUME ALCOHOL makes it MUCH easier to pick up on things).

 

But yeah - start with what you know and what you like. One of the first scents I got hold of was The Magi (in an imp) and I just LOVED it. It smelled just like the frankincense and myrrh stall that the local holistic fair had. Oh, there was more to it than that - but that instant connection was AMAZING (and sent me off on a hunt for a bottle). So I would suggest giving us a hint of what kind of smells you like normally - even if it is every day stuff, and maybe some smart bpalers will be able to point you in the direction of those scents. Then go and have a look at the reviews for them.

 

Ozone, huh... have you tried Hurricane? Or looked at the Phoenix Steamworks selection?

[Klepz]

very true. as for me: ultraviolet is not very strong violet on my skin. the raven however: such a beautiful, strong violet.

 

<runs off to look up the Raven>

 

Body chemistry is some crazy stuff...Like on me, Bastet is a lovely rich spiced almond, Asp Viper's a good almond too...Queen of Sheba? Corn chips.

 

/hijack

 

Yes! I'm not the only one! Queen of Sheba went corn tortillas on me, I thought I was just a freak.

 

Also, I love keeping a spreadsheet of everything I've tried with my comments on them. That way I can search a particular note and see everything I've thought of it in different blends.

 

But on the subject of "training my nose," it wasn't until I had tried Smut that I recognized the scent of red musk. Which is funny, since I've worn plenty of Scherezade, Mme. Moriarty and some Mircalla. There was a similar feel/scent to them, but it finally clicked when I wore Smut. Suddenly that "feel" or vague scent was clear. It took weeks for me to smell something other than red musk in my old bottles, once I knew what it was

 

Sorry for the hijack.. it was still sort of related!

[Vega]

Ozone, huh... have you tried Hurricane? Or looked at the Phoenix Steamworks selection?

 

I just got frimped with Hurricane, and I'm slowly working my way towards the Steamworks scents -- they all seem to be things I'd like. So far I've been reading reviews 'til my eyes ache and getting what looks most interesting. Gravitating towards ozones/aquatic, spicy, light incense and fresh/piney -- but it's because the floral and heavier scents don't seem to grab me as much so I haven't gotten many of those yet! *heh* I'm definitely still in the "honeymoon phase" of liking most that I've already tried, because they smell so gorgeous and "new".

[Vega]

Oops, double post!

Edited April 24, 2010 by Vega

[odalisque]

Yours might be a case in which hanging on to every imp that crosses your hands might be a good plan. I know I tend to clear things out quickly, which can be inconvenient when I smell something in a new blend that reminds me of another blend I smelled in the past. My solution is to keep notes of what I smell and the note I guess it to be, but it would be handy to be able to pull out that other imp and compare them to determine what the familiar note is.

[thebirdofhermes]

<snip>

 

But on the subject of "training my nose," it wasn't until I had tried Smut that I recognized the scent of red musk. Which is funny, since I've worn plenty of Scherezade, Mme. Moriarty and some Mircalla. There was a similar feel/scent to them, but it finally clicked when I wore Smut. Suddenly that "feel" or vague scent was clear. It took weeks for me to smell something other than red musk in my old bottles, once I knew what it was

 

Sorry for the hijack.. it was still sort of related!

 

You too? I absolutely could not figure out what made Scherezade smell so nice on me, since up until that point I assumed red musk was bad since every other red musk scent went all sorts of wonky awful on me. I assumed it was the saffron (which is actually one of my favourite notes and always a winner on me). Then I got Smut and it reminded me so much of a sweet Scherezade that I had the, "Oh DUH" moment of it being red musk.

 

 

 

Back on topic. Vega: my advice would be to get a bunch of scents with the same note. Preferably ones with less notes, since the more notes, the more the scent will change. Some notes will just jump out at you after just one or two scents tested. I actually first picked out the Lab's currant in Lurid, which is mostly ozone and sweet currant on my skin. Others may take some time to get to that aha! moment. Like, it took a lot of different scents to figure out that juniper tends to go bad on me... as does orchid. For florals, I'd look into anything with a flower name. Hairy Toad Lily is very true to the scent of lilies, if perhaps a touch sweet. Shadow Witch Orchid is how I figured out that orchids just don't work for me. And trying a lot of scents with rose listed is how I figured out I can't smell the rose note, in general.

[ModderRhu]

I second trying Imp:

Devilishly playful: white peach, amber, golden musk and patchouli.

 

Another one of my favorites is Urd:

Muscadine, black and red patchouli, cereus and nag champa.

 

Haunted(just two notes!):

A mournful, poignant scent, thick with foreboding. Soft golden amber darkened with a touch of murky black musk.

 

happy sniffing!