OK, so I know I've got a few BPAL addicts on my friends list, and I think I want to find out what all the hubbub is about!
However, I have “issues”:
Item the first: I'm a complete klutz when it comes to all things girly. I read the descriptions on the BPAL site and I'm completely lost. I read reviews such as
Item the second: The husband,
Item the third: Due to the second item, I haven't worn perfume since 1999. Actually, I didn't really like a lot of the perfumes I tried, but there were a couple I did really like. One of my favorites was Sunflower . Another I liked was Avon Soft Musk. I liked Mary Kay's Acapella.
So, my question for you, dear BPAL friends, is can you recommend some scents for me to try? I've decided to take the plunge and order 6 imps from BPAL. I really don't know enough about my preferences to say “I prefer musks… floral… whatever”, because I just don't know. I know what I like when I smell it of course, but I don't have the words to describe it. I believe that I can say that patchouli makes me choke. Living here in Austin, I'm assaulted with it on a regular basis.
So. Anyone?
My grandmother hated cheap perfumes because of all the alcohol and whatnot they use in them. Does your other half know of specific scents that bother him? Like, some people react to cassia (cinnamon) or other such things. Also note, if it’s the processed chemicals that most perfumes have in them that bother him, BPAL has none. It’s just plain perfume oil.
You can search for specific notes on the BPAL website, and in searching it’ll take you to the page for the reviews of the scent.
I’d recommend Embalming Fluid, under Funereal Oils. It’s light, and although it’s a perfect summer scent it’s lovely all the time. It’s neither floral nor musky. It’s like bottled sunshine.
The best way is to take a good look at the listed notes, and sit down with your honey to figure out what’s good. If you like fruits, for example, Cheshire Cat is a lovely grapefruit / citrus scent.
I’d recommend you steer clear of Gomorrah and Anne Bonny, at least at first. A lot of people who hate patchouli love BPAL’s patchouli, because Beth is so masterful at blending it. Some still hate it even with Beth’s blending.
It’s really trial and error. But good luck, and if I can help at all let me know.
Thank you!
Yeah, I’m thinking it’s more the chemical cocktail that bugs the husband. I figure it’s worth at least trying some of these fancy oils, to see if I like them, and if they don’t bother him.
Thanks for the tips!
My advice, in as much as it’s worth a dead rat’s ass, is thus:
The facts.
Nobody knows what the fuck they like in terms of BPAL until they’ve tried quite a few scents. About 20, and you have a good yardstick to go by. Even if none of the first batch grab you, try to stick with it. If you think an ingredient isn’t working on you, try that same perfume again later at a different time of month, and never give up on an ingredient completely. I can’t wear violets, for instance, but there are blends that do really well on me that have violets in. Generally, if you can wear most of the notes in a perfume, odds are good that it’ll be at least okay on you.
Based on you liking musk and light florals, I can make a few recommendations.
Dorian: musk, vanilla, tea, and lemon. Sweet and yummy. Utterly inoffensive.
O: Amber, honey, and vanilla. A classic, and for a reason.
Aglaea: amber, musk, PEACH, and a little myrtle. I cannot get enough of this one.
Fae: musk, PEACH, bergamot (orangey citrus), florals. Aglaea’s cousin, so this is an either/or thing. Also beautiful. The BPAL peach note is AMAZING. Obviously if you don’t want to smell like peaches, back away slowly.
Black Phoenix: indescribable; warm, sweet almond, a little sugar, incense, spice, and a faint whiff of citrus. Amazing.
Scherezade: musk and spices. If you can do musk, do this.
Morocco: musk, spices, and incense. This one and Scherezade are in the same category, but they go about it differently. I love them both.
Tintagel: winter’s coming. This is the best holiday scent ever. Wine, spices, a little leather . . . in my top 5. And it’ll tell you whether you can or can’t wear the wine note. Give it a few minutes to settle.
Blood Kiss: honey, spices, cherry, musk, and a little wine. Utterly decadent, if a bit heavy. I’m so sorry I didn’t try this one earlier.
Seraglio: roses, almonds, incense, and a little citrus. Lush and sexy.
Kali: do not judge her by the smell in the bottle. Chocolate, flowers, wine, and incense. And it works. Try it if you’re feeling very brave.
Bastet: musk, myrrh, and spices. A huge hit with almost everyone. Wonderful!
Harlot: three roses, and cinnamon. If you like roses, it’s worth a shot.
Rapture: rose, jasmine, myrrh, and musk. YUM.
Hollywood Babylon: a little bit of everything . . . musk, sweet strawberry/cherry, vanilla, amber, and heliotrope. Actually really works.
De Sade: everyone deserves to know if the leather note speaks to them. That’s all this is. Maybe not with your first order, but at some point be sure to try a shot of the pure stuff. And for leather, De Sade and Iago are the ones to beat. Err. Well, maybe the other way around. (Wanda and Loviatar are first rate strongly leather feminine scents, but I prefer my leather straight-up.)
Phantom Queen and Aeval both defy classification for me, but they’re wonderful scents, not too heavy on any one thing. Check out the descriptions. PQ is more wet and rainy, heathery. Aeval is more sweet-pea floral. Both are great, and they get overlooked a lot in favor of scents with sexier names. Oh, and Peitho, too. Great scent, bad PR.
I’m bad with florals which all smell pretty much the same to me, but Hades, Fallen, Goneril, and Zorya were all tolerable even on me. I loved Twilight.
I consider rose scents in a different class altogether, and would recommend Zombi for a darker, dirty rose, Lucy’s Kiss for a light, soapy rose, 2, 5, & 7 for sheer rose overdose, and Spellbound for an overpoweringly sexual musky rose. Black Rose and Blood Rose are both beautiful in their own right as well.
Hope that’s not all too confusing. Like I said, you have to try quite a few before you’ll know what the hell is going on. But it sure is fun!
That was really long. Holy crap. I’m sorry!
Long, but good; I’m a BPALer as well and all that was really well put.
Jen, especially note that you can’t judge something in the bottle. Kabuki and Red Queen are two of my all-time favorites. They smell heavily of cherry in the bottle, but due to my particular body chemistry, cherry tends to fade quickly when I put it on. This leaves Kabuki with a mild cherry scent and a very bright, perky anise tone, and Red Queen turns into a ridiculously sexy mahogany. Both those scents from something that smells like cough syrup in the bottle/imp.
Thank you! And I second that.
You can’t go on what you smell in the bottle — ever. I LOVE most florals in the bottle, but on me, they turn to baby powder or used stripper makeup sponges. If there is an antithesis to sexy, that’s gotta be what it smells like.
And some stuff, especially heavier scents that have leather or chocolate or lots of smoke (a la Iago, Kali, and Brimstone) really need to breathe for a couple of minutes even on the skin. I HATED Gomorrah until it dried, and then it was utterly fantastic!
Are we confusing you yet?
*giggles like whoa at “used stripper makeup sponges”*
I totally had that “Gomorrah” experience with Polyhymnia. I opened it, sniffed it, and informed Bryan that evidently the Goddess of Geometry smells like lemon Pledge furniture polish. I put it on anyway, and it is now a favorite of mine. The lemon definitely needs to breathe for a minute before it dies down.
YES.
Sadly, for me, Polyhymnia needs to breathe on someone else completely. It was really stifling, what with the smell of lemon-fresh disinfectant.
The scents that don’t work are almost more fun than the ones that do. It’s boring to say “Oh, I love this scent!” Saying “This smelled like a rat cage!” or “Holy crap! Grandma’s eating pickles!” is way, way more fun.
Though the Great Cat Pee episode that was Wilde was not so fun. My eyes were watering!
Yes, but hey, I was expecting that! ;)
Yeah, well, I’ll answer questions if you got ’em, so it’s all good. :D
No, it was perfect!! Thank you very much, it’s a big help. :)
Having no sense of smell, I understand even less than you, but holy crap, that’s a cool website! We have the opposite issue here; Rusty LOVES smelly stuff. I can’t smell and some of it still manages to make me sneeze. O.o
Yeah, sneezing ’cause of the way you smell is not good. :)
I command you to email me your address. hillarygayle at gmail dot com. I shall pick out a couple of imps to send you, based on those scents; I think I have a couple of things you’d really like, and I’ll make sure to send you contrasting ones so you can say “I do like this but not this” and that would give you a basis to start from.
Do you have the BPAL spreadsheet yet?
Wow
You are the best, and I thank you muchly!! Email to follow.
BPAL…. spreadsheet?!? Oh gawd, what am I getting into???
Re: Wow
Like that’s any worse than Animal Crossing
Re: Wow
Oh, you hush. :P
One of my best friends is a bpal freak as well. She got me the “Salome” once. When I wore it people I was completly platoic with asked me if I would like to go have sex……no I mean it, they asked me things that brazen.I’m talking about sevral people of various genders, martial statis and age gaps.My only issuse with it that it only lasts about an hour before you have to reaply.
HAHAHA! That’s awesome. Don’t tell ! ;)