I've never been a perfume wearer. I've never worn it, and have had enough encounters with headache-inducing stenches to convince me that artificial scent was. Not. My. Thing.
But lately I've been reading starcat_jewel's series of reviews of something called BPAL, and though it sounds an awful lot like perfume, I confess I'm intrigued by the descriptions and the kooky product names. Couple of nights ago I asked her for more info, followed some links and found that BPAL is Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab, manufacturers of fine perfume oils. Hundreds of perfume oils. All with kooky names and luscious descriptions. And they sell sample sizes!
If the company name and website design didn't show me that these folks cater to a rather esoteric clientele, I would have known it when I discovered they have a line of scents dedicated to the Tarot trumps, another line for the sephiroth, and another called "Springtime in Arkham." No sample sizes available for any of those, alas.
Never having worn perfume, I really have no idea what I'm going to like, or if I'm even going to like wearing artificial scent at all. But I do have some ideas of what I don't want. I dread being like that woman who works on the 2nd floor of the HKB building, and wears such strong perfume that the elevator reeks for half an hour after she disembarks. (I'm not exaggerating. It's really that bad.) I also spent enough time working for a hippie bakery/restaurant to loathe the smell of patchouli. I don't want anything overpowering or too perfumy. Or anything too sweet or fruity. I don't want to smell like a cherry pie. Or like any kind of pie for that matter.
Luckily BPAL has an active forum for customer reviews. I spent a couple of hours browsing, searching for words like "clean," "light" and "summer." Steered clear of scents with heavy ingredients like amber, musk, sandalwood, leather, spices or (ugh) patchouli. And immediately rejected any scent which was described by any reviewer as smelling like "hippie shop," "old lady scent," "lemon pledge," "cotton candy" or "sex." Even if they meant it as a compliment.
Even with all those restrictions I ended up having a hard time narrowing it down to 12 samples (they come in packs of 6). If anyone reading this is familiar with BPAL, here's what I ordered:
Kumiho
Dirty
Old Shanghai
Embalming Fluid
Endymion
Twilight
Szepasszony
Envy
Snake Oil
Sea of Glass
Amsterdam
Xiuhtecuhtli
I tried to pick blends that sounded light, fresh, good for summer (Yes, unlikely though it seems, Embalming Fluid is supposed to be a light, crisp scent that's a favorite for summertime. I've never actually smelled embalming fluid though I have been in an embalming room. I have the mental association of embalming fluid smelling like disinfectant, which is what the room smelled like. I hope the perfume doesn't smell like that). Also I ordered a couple (Snake Oil and Xiuhtecuhtli) that were a bit darker and spicier, so that not everything would be in the same range. And I already regret passing over one that sounded really odd and intriguing (Ultraviolet, they said it smelled metallic).
So who knows where this will go. Maybe I'll decide that perfume isn't for me after all, and end up using them as room fresheners or giving them away. But it will be fun trying them. Makes me feel all girly. Now I'm just anxious for them to arrive! The website said all the perfumes are made to order, and therefore it takes weeks for each order to be filled. Guess I'll just have to be patient.
9 Comments
Of the ones you've ordered that I've tried, here are my brief impressions:
Kumiho -- very strong tea, a little sharp; gave Russ a headache. Apply lightly.
Shanghai -- lighter tea, my favorite to date of the tea scents.
Dirty -- this also smells faintly like tea to me. It's an extremely light, pleasant scent, you should like it.
Szepassony -- nice light citrus and ozone.
Snake Oil -- VERY strong vanilla & incense, you may find it too "old hippie"-ish, and forghodsake only put on a teeny-tiny bit! The first time I tried this one, I seriously overdid it; fortunately, I was also spending most of the day outside, so I didn't become the Perfume Lady From Hell.
Amsterdam -- a nice medium floral, pleasant enough but just not me.
For all of these, remember that they are OILS, not perfumes; if you apply them like perfume, they'll be overwhelming. When testing a new oil, I usually put 1 dab on my left wrist, then rub my wrists together, then put another dab at the base of my throat. That's enough to give me several hours of evaluation time.
If you find yourself wanting to get more, there are always people on the Forum and in the LJ alchemylab community who have samples for swap or sale, which cuts the wait time considerably. Sometimes you can also find "decanted" samples from things like the Tarot oils which aren't available direct as samples.
Feel free to e-mail me directly if you want to talk more about all this. Enabling is fun! :)
oh my gawd! i just glanced at the web site and that stuff looks amazing! i can't wait to see what your samples smell like.
i think the trick is to take breaks from the scent so your sense of smell doesn't get used to it and start tuning it out.
also, if you have a mister (i'm guessing the samples won't) i think you can spray it into the air and walk through it.
Lee: That's a bummer that Kumiho was too strong for you; I was really looking forward to that one. Then again, "White Tea & Ginger" is my favorite Bath & Body Works scent, so maybe I'll like Kumiho.
I think Dirty was the one that a reviewer described as "what clean laundry smells like in heaven." That sold me!
I had a feeling Snake Oil might be too strong for me, but the website said it was far and away their most popular, so I thought I ought to try it.
Thanks for the tip on applying oils sparingly! I think I would have done that anyway just because I've never worn scent -- when you say "don't apply them like you would perfume," I don't even know what that means :) Anyway I'll start with just a dab.
So the delay, how bad is it? If I wanted to send some of these as a birthday gift, how far in advance should I order?
Lisa: I know, those descriptions are seductive aren't they? I kept reading them and thinking, "I want to smell like that!"
That's a great suggestion to use a mister! I should get a couple for the scents I really like.
actually, what i said about the mister only works for perfume, i think it would not work for oil. (lee's comment didn't show up until after i posted mine, so i didn't see her warning about oil vs. perfume until it was too late.)
Someone else mentioned it, but for a while I had the LJ group alchemylab on my friends' list, and it was interesting seeing people get all excited about BPAL, trading "imps" (small sample bottles, I surmise), etc. I never bought any, mostly because I control spending better by whole category than by limiting each purchase. I'll be very interested in follow-ups from you on this.
Lisa: that's weird because someone on the BPAL forum mentioned putting Dirty in a spray bottle and using it on her linens. They have a forum for ideas on how to use the scents; I'll have to check it out.
Nellorat: That's really interesting that you read the LJ group but never bought anything! When I saw the "Springtime in Arkham" line, the first thing I thought of was you :) BTW, if you are particularly interested in those, it's a limited edition that they stop selling at the end of this month.
Embalming Fluid: In the days when I was a chemist, that used to be Formalin,a solution of formaldehyde in water. It's pretty nasty stuff, with a very purgent odor. I expect it would crosslink skin, since, in the days before digital photography, formaldehyde used to be used to harden the collagen used in photographic film, so I would apply it very sparingly!
Followup on perfume oil in a mister: Apparently you use a mixture of alcohol and water. Maybe the alcohol prevents the oil from separating? There's a special perfumer's alcohol, but vodka works just as well, except it's illegal to use vodka for some bizarre reason.
I found this web page with proportions for various blends: linen spray, eau de toilette, cologne, perfume. I could definitely see using one of the crisp, citrusy blends as a linen spray.
I tried to post the link, but my own comment spam blocker rejected it. Hm, I wonder if this very website has comment spammed me at some point in the past? This page is a helpful forum thread about making perfume spray: http://www.bpal.org/index.php?showtopic=1191
My dear, take a look at Mandy Aftel's site; www.aftelier.com She makes fantastic REAL perfumes using only natural ingredients- not perfumed oil, but essential oils from around the world. Get the real thing and you shouldn't have any headaches or reactions. Also, she's written a fantastic book on the history of perfume which includes some recipes: "Essence and Alchemy". Highly recommended!