Recs for those who can't do sweet perfumes?

[TheDarkMother]

My 7 year old son would bathe in Jack if I let him. A lighter male scent is Whitechapel, Dracul is great, but rather heavy, more in line for your husband. Dragon's Bone is very good, Tombstone may be an idea as well. Iago is another masculine scent that seems to work very well on young men.

 

I hope he likes what you pick out:) I'm sure he will. I know how it is with a young boy that suddenly is starting to get into cologne and oils.

[fallow deer]

I'm just thinking what lovely mummys we have on the board!

 

[Neko]

I would have to suggest:

 

Lightning (a sharp ozone scent)

Jolly Roger (a clean aquatic scent).

Whitechapel (a light citrusy scent)

Mad Hatter (a fresh lavender-minty scent)

Jabberwocky (a bright, pine-citrus scent)

Hellfire (a warm resiny scent)

Scarecrow (a dry grassy scent)

Golden Priapus (a subtle wood-vanilla scent)

Jack (a yummy butter-pumpkin scent)

 

 

Dragon's Bone could be a good choice, but I've noticed that dragon's blood resin tends to become very fruity on me (it smells a lot like cherry chapstick). It also becomes fruity on several of my friends. If your son doesn't like fruity scents, this might be one to avoid. I would say the same thing about any scent that has dragon's blood in it. Of course, it can be different on other people.

 

Zephyr is also quite nice, but I found the scent to be quite feminine, and my boyfriend says it smelled "very perfumy". That might not be good for a 13 year old boy.

 

I haven't tried Coyote, but it sounds absolutely wonderful, and the notes in it seem fairly gender neutral.

[luxuria]

13 isn't THAT young. O and Dragon's Milk are definitely girly, you don't want to emasculate the poor boy maybe Dragon's Heart, but then again dragon's blood can smell kind of fruity and you said he doesn't like fruity smells.

 

Wilde is definitely a masculine scent, but not deep, or sexy..it's very pleasant.

[kimmer]

While I like it on me, I think O would be too sweet.

 

For mellow sandalwood, I'd say Velvet; for masculine vanilla, I'd recommend Tombstone. Morocco might be another not-too-heavy option.

 

Let me know if you'd like samples--I should be getting an order soon.

[feline.by.design]

I second the vote for Jabberwocky. Tombstone is one that my boyfriend likes, so that gets my vote as well. Wilde would also be a good choice.

 

My word, you'll be the BPAL family!

 

-doreen

[feline.by.design]

Villain, Vicomte de Valmont and Wilde would be good ones to try if he likes fresh scents. Also try Embalming Fluid, as that one is lemony and a very clean scent. He may also like Mad Hatter and Jabberwocky. Both of those scents are nicely herbal, with Mad Hatter being more like a pale mint and Jabberwocky has pine and eucalyptus and orange. Good stuff.

 

Severin and De Sade are also good masculine scents, although they tend to be a little bit darker, yet they don't have any of the woody connotations. I'm not keen on cedar myself, so I wasn't too thrilled with Lear on my skin (my boyfriend is the opposite, so he has the imp now).

 

Yes, Azazel rocked, didn't it? At the moment, Namaste is the only one with lemongrass in it, and it has cedarwood (ack, no!!) and rose. Let's hope the Lab will come up with a few more clean lemongrass scents.

 

-doreen

[hemogoblin]

Hi there,

 

I've tried maybe 15 different BPAL scents, and so far everything smells like candy on me. I've avoided ones reviewed as being particularly sweet and tried to stick to things described as fresh and clean, but still most scents on me could give you cavities. Lightning is the only thing so far that doesn't rot my teeth.

 

Anyone have similar problems? I'd love some recs.

 

My tastes trend away from floral and food scents, more toward rain/ocean/water and earthy mossy flavors.

 

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

[Monster]

The same thing happens to me, except I like it lol

 

My favorite resiny blend is Urd, but that one may turn sweet on you (it defintly sweetens up on me, but not in a foody way).

Masquerade is another nice resiny blend (without being, or turning sweet on my skin). To me, it's the more masculine version of Urd.

 

I have an imp of Urd I could send you if you'd like to try it out Just PM me.

 

Cathedral is another gorgeous resiny blend you might want to try.

 

Good luck! I don't have too many reccomendations for you as I like to stick with sweet smelling scents myself. But Masquerade and Cathedral are both winners!

[MissAnthropy]

Hi there,

 

I've tried maybe 15 different BPAL scents, and so far everything smells like candy on me. I've avoided ones reviewed as being particularly sweet and tried to stick to things described as fresh and clean, but still most scents on me could give you cavities. Lightning is the only thing so far that doesn't rot my teeth.

 

Anyone have similar problems? I'd love some recs.

 

My tastes trend away from floral and food scents, more toward rain/ocean/water and earthy mossy flavors.

 

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

 

 

So you'd probably like 'Ozone/Marine/Fresh'' scents... you can look for those in the search engine by that scent family listing.

 

You might like 'Embalming Fluid'. Or how about 'Sea of Glass'.

 

Or 'Danube' which isn't floral AT ALL for me, but mostly fresh and watery.

 

 

 

Namaste,

Leslie

[sophia_helix]

I feel your pain. Sometimes it's like I'm made of sugar.

 

I'd recommend against trying to "balance" by getting super-resiny, woodsy, etc. scents. I tried that for a while, and all that happened was I ended up getting disgustingly sweet resins and woods. *g*

 

I've had luck with aquatics. Phantom Queen and Sea of Glass were both very nice on me, and scents with lemon (like Embalming Fluid, Szesspassony [can never spell that], Storm Moon) get tarted up and lose some of the sugar.

 

I've also tried to go wtih fresh scents that have some natural sweetness, but not too much. Glasgow, The Dormouse, Bewitched and The Apothecary were all pretty decent on me.

[Diana]

My tastes trend away from floral and food scents, more toward rain/ocean/water and earthy mossy flavors.

 

Hmm I did some searches for "aquatic" "ozone" "marine" "rain" in the database and came up with some Aquatic/Ozone varieties you might like:

Tempest

Nyarlathotep

Hurricane

Szepasszony

Danube

Ulalume

Bayou

R'lyeh

 

Earthy/Mossy:

Burial

Nocnitsa

Nosferatu

Thanatopsis

Greed

Fallen

Crossroads

Omen

The Apothecary

 

hopefully some of those work out for you.

[sookster]

ultraviolet would be a great aquatic/ozoney blend to try out!!

[sophia_helix]

ultraviolet would be a great aquatic/ozoney blend to try out!!

 

Oh, that one was very nice on me, but it has lots of violets and I don't know how the OP likes florals.

[sookster]

OP??

 

sadly the violets barely came through for me on ultraviolet which is why i suggested it...

it was all ozoney and aquatic....but very rough around the edges...like a tide i suppose...

 

chemistry surely is an amazing thing......

[Diana]

OP??

 

sadly the violets barely came through for me on ultraviolet which is why i suggested it...

it was all ozoney and aquatic....but very rough around the edges...like a tide i suppose...

 

chemistry surely is an amazing thing......

 

OP - original poster

 

Ultraviolet was very violety on me. And a tiny bit of eucalyptus. And not really any aquatics. Crazy, eh?

[sophia_helix]

Sorry, using a bit of old-skool messageboard lingo, I guess.

 

I mentioned about the violets just because it sounds like my chemistry is very, very similar to the original poster (I'd be curious to see her reactions to some of the same scents we've tried), and I've found that if there's anything potentially sweet in a scent, it'll find ME.

Edited October 3, 2005 by sophia_helix

[valentina]

CourtneyLynne beat me to recommending Urd, but I shall second her recommendation. I think it is the most gorgeous scent. I also like Anne Bonny and Tezcatlipoca a lot. All of these scents are patchouli-based, so keep that in mind if you're patchouli-adverse.

 

I tend to amp florals to diabetic-coma-inducing levels of sweetness, but I'm able to wear Kali. While it has florals, it also has chocolate and leather and tobacco in it to counterbalance the sweetness. It's the first blend that worked on me without having patchouli in it. Yggdrasil is a woody/leafy/herbal scent that isn't especially sweet, but smells really fresh. It's not in my top 5, but it comes close.

 

Thanks for starting this thread, I always enjoy reading other recommendations that might send me off on new BPAL explorations! (As if I need the encouragement! )

 

valentina

[Rheliwen]

Ulalume: aquatic and earthy!

[zenvodunista]

there's a woman on the forum (i can''t remember her name, her icon is a picture of her nuzzling her cat, and her hair has streaks of white in the front...) who has a tendency to sweeten blends up. she gets around it by wearing a lot of traditionally male or the "gender neutral" scents.

 

that said, i'd try Perversion.

 

good luck!

 

n.

[stardust]

First, "Hemogoblin" is a great name.

 

Now. I also frequently can't stomach sweet scents (although I do love amber, which is a bit sweet). I love woodsy, mossy, and musky scents the most, so what I often reach for is:

 

* Cathode- mossy goodness! There's mint, which scares some, but I find it refreshing. The mint also fades pretty quickly.

 

* The Apothecary- another great moss scent. Has fig, which does sweeten it a tad.

 

* Embalming Fluid- clean and fresh.

 

* Yggdrasil- fresh woods, herbs, and mosses.

 

* Coyote- this one does have amber, but it is nicely tempered by grasses and a nice golden musk

 

* Absinthe- slightly woodsy, with lemon and anise. I love it myself, but I do have some unusual favorites.

 

* Xihutechutli (I will never learn how to spell this properly)- this one has a floral component, but I don't really detect it. I normally hate florals. Orange, citrus, and humid forest floor, to my nose.

 

* Wolfsbane- has rose. But it's mostly piney, woodsy, mossy wonderfulness.

 

* Ulalume- has lily, which is usually wretched on me. Smells like camping during springtime in Washington state (without the campfire).

 

* Scherezade- spicy musky sexiness.

 

Good luck! I'll probably think of more...

[darklorelei]

zenvodunista is talking about Lynx, I think. Don't remember if there's more to her name or not.

 

I'm very sweet. I tend to go for things that balance and compliment, rather than covering it up. Incidentally, musk leads to tears.

 

I like citrusy and fresh ginger scents. Fruits with herbs also work well.

[minilux]

If you're looking for moss, I would suggest Thanatos. And even though it didn't work on me, I would also suggest Bayou. I have the same problem with my chemistry amping anything remotely sweet into unbearable levels of sweetness, so I wish you luck. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the boozey fruit scents like Swank and Grand Guignol somehow manage to be fruity without being sugary sweet, so I look forward to eventually trying Cosmopolitan, too.

[shriekingviolet]

zenvodunista is talking about Lynx, I think. Don't remember if there's more to her name or not.

 

 

Miss Lynx perhaps?

 

hahaha and so that is a cat on her avatar! for some reason, it kept looking like a seal to my eyes. I think it's because the whiskers are so long and with the cat's head bent and out of sight, the neck looks like a muzzle!

[Galen]

After a few hours (e.g. waking up next morning), most BPAL oils that I enjoy have turned sweet on my skin, even the ones that don't start out that sweet.

 

Mind you, my skin turns tobacco notes sweet, so many oils are sweet on me even if not on anyone else...

 

Luckily, I like it that way.