BPAL Post

[d_aulnoy]

So, as I mentioned several weeks ago when I was just beginning to be intrigued by the Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab reputation, I've never really been much of a girl for scent. (Shout-out to the days of yore: A Girl For Scent?  Follow-up album to The Typing Elbow's debut hit classic, Aggravating My Leprosy.)  This might be partially because, well, uh, most perfume smells bad, and, adding insult to injury, is abused by its wearers to to the detriment of air quality in general, and partially because, well ... perfume, it's a luxury.

People who know me are probably giggling right now.  Me, thinking of something as a luxory, and thus denying myself its benefits?  Me, with my viciously expensive shoes and my taste for silks and velvets?  The thing is, though, most of those things probably qualify as luxurious necessities: one needs to be shod and clad in something, and, well, if you're going to do something, do it right.  The same goes for home decor, and also for drink (which, really, is not at all a necessity ... unless you're an academic, in which case, oh baby, is it ever), although I tend to treat food like fuel most days - canned beans are too a nutritious dinner!  Ramen?  Is delicious, kinda ... - and tend to skimp on things like regular haircuts (hence the long hair).  Scent has always struck me as being a kind of an extra: so long as you do not actually smell bad, you're fine.  Smelling nice is a ... bonus.  I've always been a sucker for Crabtree and Evelyn skin products, but, again, necessity, and I also don't think of lotion as traveling far beyond the inner circle.

So why did I get sucked into the BPAL hype?  Was it just the fact that so many people I knew and respected (if only by proxy, on the f-lists of others, or through the myriad-degrees-removed of LJ in general) were mad for it?  Well, maaaaaaaaaaybe ... but what really got me was the conceptuality of it all.  Tell me that a perfume will make me smell like a flower, and I'll sniff in derision.  Tell me I'll smell like Hecate, and I'll be your best friend (or customer, as the case may be).  So, thus far, I've bought myself Hamadryad, and Laudanum, and Snake Oil, and Alice, with O pending.  The funny thing is, I'm finding myself liking the perfumes that I buy based on concept more then I do the one based on my knowledge of their ingredients ...  because Alice, the most recent addition?  Is described thusly: "Curiouser and curiouser.  Milk and honey with rose, carnation, and bergamot."  I would not have thought of myself as liking any of those ingredients, much less their combination.  Yet, it's delicious, and thus far, nudging out expected top contenders such as the cinnamon-y Hamadryad.  Surprise, surprise ...

Anybody want to tell me about their favorite unexpected delights, BPAL or otherwise?

Comments

[savageseraph.livejournal.com]

I can't tell you non because I just ordered my first BPAL scents today. Soon I shall have imps of the Pumpkin Patch scents and a bottle of Morgause heading my way this week.

[d-aulnoy.livejournal.com]

Morgause? Oh, that is *perfect*. Just from the description, I can see how she would suit you ... I'll look forward to hearing if the night-blooming violets live up to their reputation!

[iconoclam.livejournal.com]

Do BPAL scents smell significantly different than conventional perfumes? Or do they just have sexier names? 'Cause my problem with perfumes isn't so much the threat of potentially smelling like a flower as the fact that I really don't like it when people smell like flowers.

[d-aulnoy.livejournal.com]

Feel free to try mine out anytime you like - from reading a bit in some of the review communities/boards, I get the feeling that a lot of reactions to these are wholly subjective. That said ...

Yesterday, I tried spritzing myself with a sample of commercial perfume at a store. For the first few seconds, all I got was alcohol, just because I'd gotten used to the alternative. These feel richer (as they should, being pretty near pure perfume), but what I really love about them aside from the cool concept(s) is the unusual combinations ... you might have a "rose" scent, but it will be three *different* roses and something totally unexpected.

P.S. - If you don't love the flowers, which smells do you prefer? Because I would never have put myself in the floral category before (more vanillas and cinnamons and cooking spices then anything else), but I think that I'm being assimilated ....