Your Salon Must-Haves!

[bellumed]

I haven't tried any of the Salons yet, nor have I bought any bottles of BPAL at all yet, but apparently there's no time like the present as far as that's concerned. I absolutely must try The Arrival at the Sabbath and Homage to the Devil, but I think I can only afford one more. I'm hemming and hawing endlessly over whether to get Lucretia or Judith Victorious.

[Monday]

I tried a few Salon blends, two or three at the most. I have a couple that I want to try though. My first list went up to 10 scents this morning but I really don't have 300 bucks right now. I have now narrowed it down to 8...

 

Lucretia

Orpheus

Three Brides

Melancholia

Three Gorgons

Bat

Love and Pain

Sunrise with Sea Monsters

 

I'll need to reread the reviews on those carefully.

[Monday]

Hm Melancholia is disconned so that's one less I guess. Too bad though the notes look amazing, must try to find some.

[ami226]

Apparently I haven't really tried many from the Salon. These ones interest me though:

 

And There Was A Great Cry In Egypt: Dark myrrh, white sandalwood, amber, hyssop, frankincense, honey, cypress, red musk, cardamom and saffron.

 

The Arrival at the Sabbath and Homage to the Devil: Bourbon vanilla, benzoin, caramel, Mysore sandalwood, aged black patchouli, carnation, and iris florentina.

 

Three Gorgons: Egyptian amber, mandarin, tangerine, black pepper, tobacco, and vetiver.

 

Cupid Complaining to Venus: Apple blossom, fig, white peach, honey absolute, red sandalwood, and wild thyme.

 

Sunflower: Sunflower bouquet, black amber, creeping black moss, wilted greenery, and scorched, dry stems.

 

Resurrection of the Flesh: Frankincense, hyssop, heliochrysum, ylang ylang, copal, angelica, and rose geranium.

Edited July 28, 2012 by Catseyes

[jizatt]

I havent been buying anything lately, but the demise of the Salon requires my attention! The first thing I need to know is the retail only Salons - my Haloes! I dont have backups of anything, and that might require my first.

 

Some of my absolute favs from the Salon:

Cloister Graveyard. This is my single favorite snow scent ever.

Kiyohime. Favorite aquatic ever.

Bat. so grey, dusky and night musky

Parsifal. retail only, love love this sweet ozone scent.

 

what I'm wishing I had right now:

Sunflower. I tried this when I was a brand new newbie, and my impression was burnt. I'm dying to try this again.

 

Judith Victorious. At one point this was on my top ten. Its golden and sophisticated and my chemistry changed somewhere and all I got was chestnut. I'd like another shot at it before its gone.

[CreamyJade]

I'm sad to see the Salon go, just I was sad to see the Carnival go dark, as both were darker, resinous, heavy-centric collections (and not "flower-centric"). The darker themes that inspired both of these collections were more to my tastes than others categories.

 

One of my first BPAL purchases was And there was a Great Cry in Egypt (Dark myrrh, white sandalwood, amber, hyssop, frankincense, honey, cypress, red musk, cardamom and saffron), which I adore completely. I've had a backup aging for a few years now (from before the Salon price raise) and I think it would be worth having one more. The other Salon blend I love is Carceri d'Invenzione (Redwood, red sandalwood, black pepper, blonde tobacco and frankincense), which I always thought was never getting enough love on the forum. I'm glad to see the love for this blend here! I think it's a very "red", dry but sweet resinous blend.

 

I've owned a couple of retail exclusive Salon blends, but neither Haloes nor Wezwanie/Hold passed the test of time in my collection, even though they're both beautiful blends. My boyfriend really enjoys Heavenly Love & Earthly Love and wears it from time to time.

 

I'll be getting Philosopher in Meditation for sure. I'm quite surprised I've never even noticed it before, as I've dissected the BPAL website many times!

[neptuneanblues]

I haven't tried any of the Salons yet, nor have I bought any bottles of BPAL at all yet, but apparently there's no time like the present as far as that's concerned. I absolutely must try The Arrival at the Sabbath and Homage to the Devil, but I think I can only afford one more. I'm hemming and hawing endlessly over whether to get Lucretia or Judith Victorious.

 

Prettymuch exactly what you said (EDIT: well, I've made BPAL orders before, I'm referring to what Salon blends I'm interested in)! Great minds think alike?

Edited July 1, 2012 by neptuneanblues

[bellumed]

I haven't tried any of the Salons yet, nor have I bought any bottles of BPAL at all yet, but apparently there's no time like the present as far as that's concerned. I absolutely must try The Arrival at the Sabbath and Homage to the Devil, but I think I can only afford one more. I'm hemming and hawing endlessly over whether to get Lucretia or Judith Victorious.

 

Prettymuch exactly what you said! Great minds think alike?

 

Most definitely! I love the painting Judith Victorious, and I'm intrigued by the description, but Lucretia also sounds so interesting and gets glowing reviews. Ack, what to do?! Of course my id is screaming "GET ALL THREE!" but Weenies isn't far off...

[Alia Kaitan]

Great Cry in Egypt is the only Salon I own right now, and I looove it. Have been coveting Philosopher in Meditation for a while now, too, so I tagged that onto my Singing Moon order. There's a handful I'm considering grabbing by July 30, but my brain is divided: One half says BUY THEM NOW OR THEY WILL BE GONE FOREEVVVAAAR and the other half calmly assures 'There Will Always Be New Smells To Love... You've lived this long without them, I think you will survive.'

 

Anyway. Internal dialogue aside, the ones I'm coveting the most are among the retail exclusives, so getting them will be dependent on some fortunate arrangements.

 

The Black Swan - I normally don't seek out aquatics, but if there were ever an aquatic I would wear, I think this would be it. Deep and dark. Yes plz.

Lucifer - I've coveted this for a while for the imagery, but even moreso in the last few months since I've discovered my love of patchouli AND vetiver. Unnngh, I want this so bad.

Heavenly Love and Earthly Love - Every note in this is win for me. And I love love ambergris and benzoin.

Bat - Apart from the SUPER CUTE bat, I love night time florals, and the addition of amber and musk? Omg. Want.

 

I would also love to try Haloes, Lucretia and Satan and Death with Sin Intervening, but I'm not drawn to the notes enough to spring for whole bottles.

Edited July 1, 2012 by kaitan

[zankoku_zen]

Hrm, having tried all of the Salon at some point, the ones that stand out in my mind are:

 

• Lantern Ghost of Oiwa
  
• Bat
  
• Garden Path with Chickens
  

 

I enjoyed both Bat-Woman and Silence, but both were discontinued....

 

I've been meaning to re-try the Cup of Death, as I remember that being an excellent peach/sandalwood blend. Oh, decisions.

[angelamaria]

Okay, I've been going through the reviews section after having narrowed down the blends that are promising. After going through the Salon list again I actually had thirteen (13!!! omg) blends, but thankfully I was able to remove five from the first pass. Although that still leaves me with 8 (the number I started with).

 

I was able to remove Arrival at the Sabbath (too foody), Cupid Complaining to Venus (too fruity), Love and Pain (too lavendery), and Kiyohime/Sunrise (both too fruity-aquatic).

 

I do have a question on Orpheus though.

 

There are a lot of "crushed green stems" reviews for it, which I like the smell of but don't like smelling of. However, blends like The Unicorn and Berenice have been mentioned, both of which are keepers and The Unicorn being in my top three. Worth a chance?

 

(Also, is it greener than Garden Path with Chickens?)

 

P.S. Other Salons I've liked are: Parsifal, Haloes (both retail exclusive), Tree of Life (Klimt LE), Silence (disconned).

[OctoberGwen]

Well, I've ordered my bottles of There Was A Great Cry In Egypt and Cloister Graveyard In the Snow.

 

Farewell, Salon.

[Lorna Brigid]

Losing Haloes?!?

 

I DO need to try Three Brides and Spirit of the Komachi Cherry Tree though.

[Monday]

 

I do have a question on Orpheus though.

 

There are a lot of "crushed green stems" reviews for it, which I like the smell of but don't like smelling of. However, blends like The Unicorn and Berenice have been mentioned, both of which are keepers and The Unicorn being in my top three. Worth a chance?

 

(Also, is it greener than Garden Path with Chickens?)

 

P.S. Other Salons I've liked are: Parsifal, Haloes (both retail exclusive), Tree of Life (Klimt LE), Silence (disconned).

 

Argh I had just crossed Orpheus off my list. But really, Beatrice and The Unicorn? Darn.

The Sailor's Den also didn't survive the cut, I fear it'll have too much tobacco. (actually most of the salon blends have/had three of my death notes: frankincense, tobacco or tea.)

[jiggahava]

My absolute favorites are:

 

Cloister Graveyard in the Snow

The Death of Sardanapal

The Pentinent Magdalene

Cupid Complaining to Venus

Garden Path with Chickens

The Lantern Ghost of Oiwa

and Philosopher in Meditation

 

all beautiful, for different reasons.

[ReallyZeb]

Having said I wasn't going to look at the Salon blends, I now somehow have a list of 4 I'm thinking of getting ... I have no idea how that happened

 

Garden Path with Chickens

Cleopatra Testing Poisons On Those Condemned To Death

Lot And His Daughters

There Was A Great Cry In Egypt

 

If I'm going to do this at all, I really need to trim one or two off the list

[fireweaver]

Ok, speak to me of Schlafende Baigneuse. How rose like is this rose? I can't do rose for the most part. (it either smells HORRIBLE or I just don't like it on me). But most of the other notes are holy crap, amazeballs. help?

[stellamaris]

To me the rose in Schlafende Baigneuse is just like the rose in Snooty Roses or Seance. That said I am a huge rose fan. It is a sharp fresh rose, not a dried rose, like the one in Harlot.

[KittyHawk]

For me, the rose in Schlafende is very mellow and mixes well with the other notes. Rose is also a hit-or-miss note for me, and it's lovely in that blend. In fact, if rose wasn't a listed note, I wouldn't even know it was there; the entire blend is just a warm, lush, sunny floral with a creamy backdrop. If all the other notes are calling to you, I think you'll enjoy it.

[Alia Kaitan]

Oh noooes, I spoke too soon. I knew I should have just left it at my order for Philosopher and tried to forget about the rest... but I made the critical mistake of reading reviews! So now my must haves list has triplified.

 

I'm officially on the Cloister Graveyard train. After picking through last year's Yules and failing to find a cold blend that was just right, I kind of gave up and forgot about it. Then, like magic, I remembered! Ahh, the magic of the reviews section. (I'm justifying buying these on the grounds that I DIDN'T buy any yule bottles last year... )

 

Also Death of the Grave Digger. Yay dirt and snow.

 

Isle of the Dead. I normally steer clear of aquatics. Why? I have no idea. The few aquatics I've tried have been just fine, if not lovely, but not usually dark enough for my tastes. So, after talking myself out of this one, I read the reviews and realised there's nothing not to love here, and talked myself back into it.

 

Satan and Death.. etc. Again, nothing not to love. Opoponax, benzoin and vetiver are my homeboys, yo. Orange blossom is welcome to play, too.

 

The Three Brides and Spirit of the Komachi Cherry Tree I am less certain about, but definitely want to try, so while they will be the first to get cut if funds fall short, I am still going to hope for getting my paws on them. Three Brides I wonder if it will be a little too 'normal' perfume for my tastes? All the notes are love, though. Komachi is just outside of what I normally wear, but sounds intriguing and lovely.

 

Three Gorgons and The Great He-Goat: Intense! Dark! I know I love that - more than half my collection is INTENSE DARK. Do I really need more? Er. Yes. Probably. Of course I do.

[reconditarmonia]

I couldn't smell the rose in Schlafende.

[Monster]

Are the retail only salons being discontinued as well?

[Alia Kaitan]

Are the retail only salons being discontinued as well?

 

We've all been assuming they are, I think, as no word has come otherwise from the Lab. But, take the assumption of a bunch of panicked fans with a few grains of salt.

 

I know at least one person has asked the Lab directly, and I haven't seen that there has been a response yet. *continues panicking*

[KittyHawk]

I love, love, LOVE Haloes and find it perfectly evocative of its namesake art (perfectly golden and sweet with an inward strength from the wood notes), and Schlafende Baigneuse is really beautiful if you're a fan of light, yellow florals.

 

Aside from those two blends, however, I have largely ignored the Salon until now. I am a HUGE fan of the Lab's red musk, so Great Cry in Egypt is a definite bottle purchase, but I'm also really curious about Bat, Cloister Graveyard, Three Brides, The Sailor's Den, The Ecstasy of St. Theresa, and Sunrise with Sea-Monsters. I think Bat is going to be coming with Great Cry, but the gardenia in St. Theresa is calling to me too (but I shake my fist at you, iris!)! And then there's the boozy coconutty lilac in Sailor's Den; and the perfect snow note of Cloister; and an aquatic that may actually work on me... Ahem. I still have some decisions to make. Clearly.

 

Suffice that all to say that I'm so glad we have nearly a month to make our final Salon purchases.

[Helas]

I did send the Lab an email asking about the discontinuation of the retail-only Salons, but I haven't heard back yet. I assume they've been too busy with the Anime Expo to reply.

 

I need to make my own purchasing decision before the 5th of July, since I intend to get a bottle of Singing Moon before it comes down, and I won't be able to afford another order before the 30th of July. After sifting through the reviews, I've decided to get Cloister Graveyard in the Snow, since I recently discovered I love the snow note. I'm now waffling about adding a bottle of either Isle of the Dead or Sunflower as well. I've been loving complex aquatic blends lately, but Sunflower sounds so evocative and perfect for summer. This is tough! Neither of these blends seem very popular, so they're unlikely to be brought back with the Pickman Gallery.