BPAL review: Golden Priapus

[telophase]

Golden Priapus

BPAL description: From the Love Potions collection. Insatiable lust, unending vigor! A truly carnal, energetic men's blend: vanilla and amber with juniper, rosewood and white pine.

In vial: Soft smooth warmness with hints of pine

Wet: The rosewood starts coming out, with almost a minty smell (but not the cloying mint of Spooky). Sort of the sharp note of fresh-cut wood.

Dry: Faint vanilla wood. I rather like it.

Notes: The cat sniffed quite intently, but then went back to sleep. This seems pretty nice - after a while it's just subtle vanilla and amber. I think I shall keep the imp and try it again, or see what happens when I slather. I think it's making my nose stop up a bit, but I can't tell if it's this or if my nose was doing that before. I know I'm mildly allergic to at least some evergreens, so that may be it.


Review roundup

Comments

[moonlit-page.livejournal.com]

i reviewed your roundup. you have a problem, my love. a very serious problem. *huggles* i wish i could also play in this madness, but i have zero cash to experiment with perfumes, and my only girly vice is shampoos. still . . . *pets you*

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Problem? No problem! :D

The best part of it is that once you manage to get a starter set, you just swap for more, so you're mostly out postage.

And if you're really out cash, make up a big wishlist (http://www.blackphoenixalchemylab.com/welcome.html) and go post on bpal_wishlist because sometimes people are nice and send newbies free imps. :D

[kintail.livejournal.com]

Ooo...!

I'd been trying to resist being pulled into the BPAL fandom, but your posts reviewing scents have been so fascinating that my willpower has steadily been wearing down... and now I find there's a wishlist comm?

But I don't like perfume! (No, I don't like cheap drugstore perfume, which is usually all I can afford.) But I can't afford it! (No, financial security has been coming together, slowly but surely, I am no longer in poverty and I deserve nice things too.) But...! (And I do like sniffing essential oils and high-end aromatherapy products and those little vials of perfume oils sometimes sold in stores that sell exotic knick-knacks and sarongs and such.)

*bookmarks* Just in case. Yeah. *^_^*

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Perfume works like shoes for me. I used to think I wasn't a shoe person. Then I moved to Denver and realized that my lack of interest in shoes wasn't that I'm not a shoe person, it's that previously I lived in a place that only sold crappy shoes. (but now I'm in Fort Worth and I resolutely resist going to shoe stores because I DON'T HAVE THAT SORT OF MONEY.)

Same with perfume. I don't put on very much - if someone farther than 2 feet from me can smell it, I've put on too much - but I like it, and I like having several options to choose from.

[kintail.livejournal.com]

Good point...

Now I just have to figure out what kind of scents I might generally like and which I probably won't, to put together a starter wishlist...

And yes, I think perfume should be applied to be a very intimate thing, just for me and someone in my personal space.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

I match your cute Goku icon with my cute Goku icon! XD

I thought foody smells sounded kinda good, but didn't realize how well they'd work on me. I truly had no clue how awful musk would go on me, or that myrrh would work so well.

I'd suggest a variety for your first imps, avoiding anything you know you're allergic to, so you'll have a bunch of different options. I tried a lot of florals at first, even though I don't especially like them, because I figured I'd *have* to like some of them - and discovered that it's the foody florals that I like, go fig. XD (Cherry blossom, orange blossom, probably apple blossom if I find any)

[kintail.livejournal.com]

Yay for cute Goku icons! I need to redo my own one of these days.

I think it's easier to start with picking foody smells I might like, because they're more familiar. With florals, I really don't know what most of them smell like, beyond a few basics like rose and lilac and lavender. I wonder, does jasmine smell like jasmine-scented rice? And that brings me back around to foody smells. ~_^

I'm also really wondering what "Dragon's Blood" smells like, since it seems to be used in many blends but never gets really described anywhere. Of course I'll have to try some, given that I've finally stopped resisting and hiding my fetish for dragons....

*goes back to adding possibilities to a wishlist*

[telophase.livejournal.com]

If I remember, I've got one blend with dragon's blood in it that I haven't tested yet, other than popping the cap open to give it a sniff. I don't remember, except that I thought it was fairly strong.

Jasmine - doesn't quite smell like jasmine rice to me, but it's been a while since I had the rice. The rice struck me as more flowery than the jasmine essential oil is, but then again I think it's jasmine that makes my nose stop up, so I may not be able to smell it correctly.

Amber is ... sort of almost vanilla-y on me, with a bit of harshness to it. Amber comes from evergreens, but there's no evergeen smell to it. Sandalwood is incense-y but smoother, and myrrh is a darker, deeper incense but again not harsh on me. Neroli is a citrus, but it's bitter and nasty on me. Oh - the citruses don't stick around for long, since they're volatile. You'll smell them in the vial and on you for a bit, but they wear off fairly quickly. If you like lemon, the sleep/dream blend Nanshe is pretty good - it's mostly lemongrass to me, which turns into lemon Pledge for a bit, then goes back to a soft lemon. There's lavender in it, but I don't get that at all once it's on me.

Woods smell like, well, wood. I havne't figured out what aquatics really smell like, despite having tried several aquatic blends. Ozones smell like laundry to me.

[kintail.livejournal.com]

Mmm, I know I like sandalwood, and I think I like Myrrh and Neroli but I can't really remember since it's been quite a while since I found an essential oils shop and just hung out sniffing things. I do like lemon and lemongrass and lavender and I always have trouble getting to sleep, so I'll be adding that Nanshe to my wish list.

Thanks!

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Nanshe is supposed to heighten psychic sensitivity in your dreams, but if so then all I think I managed to predict last night is an episode of CSI. XD

The dream blends are all heavy on the lavender, from what I understand. Somnus is supposed to help you sleep, and Oneiroi is supposed to give you intense dreams. Check the reviews at www.bpal.org in the Somnium section - people list what they smell in them, even though there's no official list on the BPAL homepage. If you use the Search function, the result links to the relevant review forum on the bpal.org site.

If you like myrrh and sandalwood, and chocolate sounds good to you, I recommend Velvet. I can decant some and send it to you, along with a few others, since you sent me the DVDs and all. XD (Er, you may get less than a full imp of Velvet since it's OMG MY FAVORITE and I've decanted an imp for someone else and am jealously hoarding the rest of the bottle, but it'll certainly be enough to try it out a few times.)

[kintail.livejournal.com]

I can decant some and send it to you, along with a few others, since you sent me the DVDs and all. XD

Ooo, that sounds awesome -- thank you!

I'm open to trying pretty much anything, except cherry scents (they make me ill) and lilacs (they make my partner's head explode). I'm not keen on almond "flavouring" in foods, though I like the nuts themselves.

Do you have my address from the DVD package, or should I email it to you?

*bounce*

[telophase.livejournal.com]

I've still got the package, and the address is legible, so I'll use that. :D

I'll avoid sending you Bordello - it's very cherry. XD

[kintail.livejournal.com]

Awesome!

This is much more fun than trying to resist the temptation. ^_^

[telophase.livejournal.com]

The first hit is always free! XD

[kintail.livejournal.com]

I'm doomed, aren't I?

[telophase.livejournal.com]

YOU WILL BE ASSIMILATED.

[kintail.livejournal.com]

Yay!

I mean, woe...

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Got a package all wrapped up and ready to go into the mail tomorrow, muah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!! And I won't tell you what's in it besides Velvet and Dragon's Milk!! You're getting one LE (limited edition) decant, and a couple of other decants. And a warning to open the decants that I did - they're labeled with stickers that have Mello's face from the icon I'm using now - over the sink or something, because the vials I bought tend to have the caps be extra-tight and it might be kinda easy to accidentally splash it all over the area and yourself. The vials from the Lab and those that other people have decanted - the BPAL imps from the Lab have labels that look like the three in front on the picture in this eBay auction (http://cgi.ebay.com/Lot-of-7-BPAL-imps-4-LE-decants-3-reg-catalog-scents_W0QQitemZ5624172695QQcategoryZ51008QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem) - are much safer than mine. :D

[kintail.livejournal.com]

Ooo! Thank you so much! Hooray for surprises, xmas comes early for me!

*bounces with anticipation*

[telophase.livejournal.com]

It's in the mail! Not sure how long it's going to take because the customs service have been known to be wack about it, although they're usually wackier about stuff going from Canada to the US rather than the other way around, from what I understand.

I did what everyone recommended I do and put "Non-alcoholic perfume oil samples" on the customs form, so we'll see what happens there.

[kintail.livejournal.com]

Yes, the customs rules for sending things from Canada to the US have gotten pretty extreme. For the last few years it's been illegal for anyone outside the US to send any food item into the States (even a single sealed chocolate bar or a tin of homemade cookies for xmas) unless the individual sending the food goes through a huge amount of paperwork registering themselves as a food exporter and having all shipments pre-approved. It's put a serious cramp in my care-package sending to friends in the US.

Thanks again! I'm really looking forward to getting it!

[telophase.livejournal.com]

That reminds me in a totally roundabout way that I'm going to have to see where I can track down some maple candy (er, the softer stuff, not the hard candy). A Canadian friend once brought some down and I fell in love with it, and I never remember to look for it except in the dead of summer when sending soft sugar-based products to Texas is not the smartest of choices. I think I tracked down someone in Maine who sold it, but I don't remember...

Er, sorry for the digression. XD

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Just tried Dragon's Milk, which turned "meh" on me, so I'll send it along to you. :D

[kintail.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Correction: bpal_wishlists

[bpggle.livejournal.com]

Glad you finally tried it! It's still my favorite scent, although that could be because I'm so addicted to it that I'm not really trying many any others at the moment. XD

[telophase.livejournal.com]

XD I have to force myself to try a few every night for the next couple of weeks, just to get through the box and swap or sell them.