question for my scented-oil-loving friends:
do you know of anything that smells like myrrh, cinnamon, dragon's blood, cedar, cloves, and maybe a touch of vetiver? that would be my purrrrrrrrrrrrrrrfect scent. I'm practically swooning just thinking of it. If you don't know of that exact blend, any recommendation that's strongly myrrh and/or woodsy-with-a-little-snap would be appreciated. Or any combination of the above that doesn't include floral or vanilla notes (ugh). I've already tried BPAL's "Serpent's Kiss" and "Bloodlust" -- I like them but want to try something new.---
with myrrh:
Rumpelstilzchen -- patchouli, cardamom, nutmeg, black pepper, tonka, vetiver, myrrh.
Priala, the Human Phoenix -- Three deep, dark myrrhs, smoke, cinnamon bark. (I want to try this RIGHT NOW)
And There Was A Great Cry In Egypt -- Dark myrrh, white sandalwood, amber, hyssop, frankincense, honey, cypress, red musk, cardamom, saffron.
Aeronwen -- Fig, dark myrrh, amber, redwood, nutmeg, tarragon, black musk, sweet orange.
Omen -- oakmoss, juniper berry, myrrh, patchouli.
Sed Non Satiata -- myrrh, red patchouli, cognac, honey, tuberose, geranium, musk.
Voodoo -- myrrh, patchouli, vetiver, lime, vanilla, pine, almond, clove.
Masabakes -- Thick black currant with the darkest, deepest myrrh, bitter mimosa, mandrake dust.
Laudanum -- Nutmeg, sassafras, black poppy, myrrh.
Malice -- Ylang ylang, clove, Indonesian red patchouli, dark myrrh.
Eshe, A Vision of Life-In-Death -- black myrrh, white sandalwood, black orchid, paperwhites, tomb dust, Moroccan jasmine.
Wings of Azrael -- Warm myrrh, violet, Lily of the Valley, juniper, cypess, cajeput.
Dance of Death -- Dry, bone-white orris, black musk, serpentine patchouli, our murkiest myrrh.
Nefertiti -- Egyptian iris, olibanum with red & white sandalwood, soft myrrh, a breath of North African herbs.
with white ginger:
Mag Mell -- amber, white ginger, lemon verbena, fresh green grass, sage, summer rain.
The Coil -- Ozone, eucalyptus, mint, purple orchid, passionflower, white ginger, purple lotus.
Spider -- White ginger, artemesia, vetiver, nutmeg, King mandarin, bergamot, lime.
The Lady of Shalott -- bold gardenia, crystalline musk, muguet, water blossoms, aquatic notes, white ginger.
woody/smoky scents:
Black Forest -- Thick, viscous pine with ambergris, black musk, juniper, cypress.
Two Monsters -- Oakmoss, vetiver, black musk, champaca flower, leather, patchouli, ginger, Japanese pittosporum, ambergris, white pepper.
Yew-Trees -- Piercingly sweet berries over evergreen boughs, deepened by the tree’s sacred wood.
Hanging Gardens -- date palm, ebony, fir, pomegranate, plum, two pears, quince, fig, grapevine with plumeria, gardenia, dry rose.
Slobbering Pine -- Dewy, wet, whiplike, sticky.
The Great He-Goat -- Haitian vetiver, Egyptian amber, carnation, black musk, pomegranate, patchouli, smoked ginger.
with cinnamon:
Inferno -- cinnamon, bitter almond, neroli.
Sin -- amber, sandalwood, black patchouli, cinnamon.
Saw-Scaled Viper -- Snake Oil with cinnamon, cassia, red ginger.
Eau de Ghoul -- blackened ginger, cinnamon, mold-flecked dirt, with cumin, bitter clove, leather, dried blood.
Tiresias, the Androgyne -- black currant, patchouli, tobacco, cinnamon leaf, caramel, muguet, red sandalwood.
Uruk -- bitter almond, night-blooming jasmine, saffron, cinnamon leaf, red patchouli, river lilies, bergamot, fig leaf, the sacred incense of Inanna.
other:
War -- Red ginger, black spices, patchouli, honeysuckle, three blood-soaked red musks.
Faiza, the Black Mamba -- black amber, caraway, oakmoss, green sandalwood, bergamot, jasmine sambac, gardenia, orange pulp, vanilla, blackberry, black musk, white honey, ti leaf, ginger.
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Also, am I the only one that fucking HATES most of BPAL's descriptions? telling me that something is the scent of sexual coercion (rape), such as in the description of Ifrit, or "the joy one finds in another's pain," etc. is NOT going to make me want to get it! (I don't mind the 'rotting corpse' type descriptions though I find them very silly) In fact, the only way I could get such a scent would be if I cleansed it first and even so, some of the descriptions are just so awful I can't get the scent. I try my best not to read them but some phrases stick out to my ever-questing-for-words eyes.
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would love even as a single note: myrrh, cinnamon, dragon's blood, cedar, white ginger, mimosa
love in mixes/moderation: clove, vetiver, cardamom, almond, pine, sassafras, sandalwood, cypress, redwood, juniper, gardenia, amber, honey, honeysuckle, patchouli, pepper, nutmeg, lime, iris, lemon, grass, smoke, musk. (I can ONLY tolerate crisp, citrus-y floral notes, and then only in moderation)
I love simple, pure scents more than combinations of many.
My favourite perfumes are Querlain's Grape fruit, Mandarine Basil and The Body shop's Strawberry, Dewberry and I used to love their mango when they still had it.
I also love LUSH's Karma perfume. It's quite spicy but I like it. I'm not usually that much into spicy scents.
I also have a Pineapple-mango-salsa perfume which I like quite a bit.
Oh and I love the scent of pine & fir resin, bentsoe, amber and some other sweet scents with a beautiful natural twist. :)
My favourite scent is actually just patchouli and musk, but I would like to find something that combines these two with some other things..maybe magnolia would be nice in there as well!
(Actually, I had a look around for you, and found a few things that may or may not work for you! Sweet Anthem makes a perfume called Dina - cinnamon, dragon's blood and ginger. Mythos Mixtures has one called Fire Imp - cinnamon, ginger, berries, myrrh and amber. Violette Market also does Vamp Lounge - leather, clove, red sandalwood, vanilla, coconut, patchouli, cinnamon leaf and dried tobacco - and Vintage Beekeeper - honey, resins, clove bud, cinnamon bark, vanilla and wood. You could also look up Ginger Snapped and Birth Rite from Villainess. Wow, I need a life!)
If all else fails - look up Loreto (http://loreto.etsy.com) and have her make a custom perfume for you. :)
I don't mind BPAL's descriptions - they're supposed to be disturbing. But more and more I find myself skipping the description altogether and just looking at the notes!
My favourite scent will ALWAYS be BPAL's Greed - patchouli and oakmoss heaven, warmed by copal! Dionysia and Cleopatra Testing Poisons on Those Condemned to Death come close second. My favourite notes include patchouli, moss, myrrh, frankincense, honey, cinnamon, cardamom, plum, and fig.
Ohmygosh, I have too many favorite scents to name! I've been collecting perfume oils for years and have hundreds of samples and bottles, all told. It's kind of a crazy addiction, once you get started~ I've always thought of it as adorning your body's temple, and it makes me so happy. I smell like something different and bewitching every day of the year~
(Speaking of bewitching...scents by BPAL that I loved enough to have full bottles are [off the top of my head]: Bewitched, Snake Oil, Ephemera, Peitho, Gunpowder...I can't remember the others! I usually just use imps, since I have a huge bag of perfume in my purse, and they're much easier to carry. The bottles I keep for the weekends~ :)
Lilith’s monstrous dragon steed: dragon’s blood resin, patchouli, pomegranate, myrrh, mimosa, cassia, blood musk and smoke.
cassia = cinnamon, so it has 4 notes from your first set :) The cinnamon is pretty primary when I wear it, but the other notes do come through.
Avoid Dragon's Milk as it goes VERY vanilla. Dragon's Bone is sandalwood as strong as I've ever smelled it.
The Smiling Spider in The Salon is my favorite clove scent. I haven't tried it, but Plunder looks like it might have several notes in it you like.
I also have sin, and I love that one as well! I recall it being a little more subdued than Inferno with more of a woodsy note on me, but for you it will probably come out a bit different.
I'd have to check out my collection - I'm horrible at remembering a lot of the names, but there are quite a few I love~
You're welcome to my imp of Lady of Shallot. It just does _not_ work on my skin; turns powdery. *sad* Smells so amazing in the bottle though.
Also, for clove, March Hare smells like clove and apricot. It's like a spicy dessert. I don't know if that's quite up your alley. Also, Tweedledee has white pepper in it and is pretty interesting (I've got an imp of that too that I wouldn't mind sending your way). I think I also have something with gardenia in it that doesn't work with my skin...I'll get back to you with a full trade list when I'm home (if you're interested)?
And yes, I *heart* BPAL
way too much. My favorites as of now are March Hare, Amsterdam, Prunella, Two Five & Seven, and Kitsune-Tsuki. There are some reviews in my blog if you're interested, but it sounds like you and I have fairly different taste in scents. But I'd be happy to send you some of my imps. Lady of Shallot for sure.Currently my favorites are:
Turquoise by Ralph Lauren: a mixture of cassis, night blooming cereus, and patchouli
Halloween: iris, lime blossom, gardenia, mimosa, rose, lavender
The Tea: I found it at Anthropologie a few years ago and they don't make it anymore. Boo. It had a bohemian kick to it - sort of musky/patchouli.
I do like some floral scents, but am moving more and more towards "heavier" smells like musks/patchouli/clove/sage etc. I think BPAL will be a good place to experiement with this stuff. Someday!
I'm going to seatch for BPAL, but what is it? I've never heard of it but am so loving the blends you listed and want to pick up some...
My faves from the list: Aerowen, Voodoo, Malice (I will get this for sure!), Slobbering Pine, The Great He-Goat, Tiresias the Androgyne, and War.
If you want a blend you can't find, or a single note, msg me your address with what you want and I'll send you a care package :)
I really love Victoria's Secret: amber romance
I'm actually just a hound for fruit in general, so it's no real surprise that it's how I like to smell. :-P
I also like fruity, fresh scents. I don't know how to describe other than something that smells all dewy and green.
At the moment I'm wearing a jasmine body spray and omg it smells so good! I love the scent of jasmine.
There's no struggle, no saying 'no,' no trying to escape, so consent is assumed. I don't boycott BPAL over this because it is no worse than your average sex scene in a movie. I find it offensive in the same way I find every description of sex in any book or movie offensive -- because consent is assumed and/or unimportant. The cultures sees force/coercion as sexy. I'd have to boycott just about everything if I boycotted all companies that are linked with that sort of advertising... as it is, I just avoid the specific products with that sort of ad.
As for orientalist, I don't know. Is it orientalist if they have scents named after myths from many cultures and books? (I haven't looked carefully but I know they have greek, hebrew, and egyptian myths also) I think my taste in scents might all run in the same direction, so the names of the ones I'm interested in might seem skewed that way. Here's the website: http://www.blackphoenixalchemylab.com/welcome.html
you have a description which is clearly of rape, which you recognized as rape, but then say your 'average person' wouldnt recognize it as such. you then go on to basically apologize for it by saying you should have said 'sexual coercion - (rape).'
if you believe the average person wouldnt find that offensive then why wouldnt you take this great opportunity you have, to speak to so many people on such an easy and accessible resource, to tell your average person WHY thats rape. and not apologize for it by prefacing it with 'sexual coercion,' which is ridiculous in itself because sexual coercion is rape. if you think the average person finds a difference between the two maybe thats something else you should clear up for your friends on your list.
if this description 'is no worse than your average sex scene in a movie' then whats the problem with boycotting it? because then youd have to boycott 'just about everything' ... so what ? see, whats bugging me is that once the power of rape as a tool of systematic degradation and occupation of women as a result of misogyny is understood people should be horrified. people shouldnt have to find it a pain to boycott stuff that promotes, people shouldnt have to think about it, people will be automatically repelled by it, people wont WANT to read/see/hear about it and will end up essentially boycotting those things without realizing it. if you think books and movies do the same thing as this description then find new books and movies. you would NOT have to boycott 'just about everything' ... i watch movies, i read books, but i wont tolerate anything that includes anything like what youve described above. its not that im a hardass and refuse to watch it, its that i physically cant. its that i see how awful it is, ive learned how it adds to cultural tolerance of rape, it makes me ill to even think about it. what does it mean that you recognize it but can still stomach to promote it ? thats whats bothering me. if you didnt know anything, then who am i to judge? ill think to myself she hasnt had the opportunities to learn about what this means, and that wouldnt be your fault, its a failing of the culture. but clearly you KNOW, clearly youve learned, so how is it you can know but still not just deal with it and instead promote it? how does it not make you sick to your stomach to see comments from 21 different people that overlook or apologize for rape? i dont understand. i dont feel like there is room for gray on this issue. you support rape or you dont. end of story. being horrified at rape while promoting it isnt something i understand, and isnt something im willing to understand. we're at war, simple as that. if people want to find some middle ground in that then theyre traitors.
as far as orientalism...
'Is it orientalist if they have scents named after myths from many cultures and books? (I haven't looked carefully but I know they have greek, hebrew, and egyptian myths also)'
... yes. it is. do we not have the same understanding of orientalism? i mean egypt IS part of the orient! and semitic people who speak hebrew originate from the orient and have not been immune to orientalism! as far as greeks, its not the same as the middle east, but sure, you dont see how greek culture has been stolen and twisted around to fit into a nice package for american consumers?
its like the rape description above, that there is a plethora of orientalist shit this company produces should be upsetting. it SHOULD be upsetting. but its not, and instead by posting it within a positive post its normalized even more.
I don't really know much of what you mean by orientalism, but I think it is a problem if someone from one culture sells another for the purpose of making a profit off of people they've no intention of helping, but if they're drawing from all different cultures I see it more as celebrating various cultures -- it's not JUST the "exotic" it's anything that is mythical or fairy-tale-ish, like Alice in Wonderland and such things.
as far as orientalism, i dont know why to say. i cant have a discussion about how orientalist that shit is if you dont know what orientalism is. its not a difficult concept, nor is it all that rare.. especially in feminist literature. i was going to find stuff but you can google as well as i can. what youre discussing is absolutely horrifying and offensive. it scares me that you think its okay. i think if you read saids book youd think a lot differently about this kind of stuff. i dont need you or anyone else in the west 'celebrating' my culture, or anyone elses culture in the middle east. no one needs the west 'celebrating' their culture. you guys have 'celebrated' our cultures long enough by colonizing, stealing, defiling and destroying our culture. we dont need the west stealing concepts they know absolutely nothing about to 'celebrate' them, go celebrate your own cultures. i mean how is azrael "mythical or fairy-tale-ish" ??? do you even know who that is? its silly to even ask, because if you knew who azrael was you wouldnt call this stuff "mythical or fairy-tale-ish" unless youre comfortable calling one of the worlds major religions "mythical or fairy-tale-ish." our cultures are not similar to alice in wonderland, they are not exotic, they are not fantasy, they are not there for your enjoyment. we arent the result of the wild imagination of some englishman from the 1800s. our cultures are the result of thousands of years and generations of understanding, evolving and teaching. maybe if american 'culture' had the same kind of background americans wouldnt be so quick to steal bits and pieces of other cultures they mistakenly believe are 'exotic' or 'mythical' or 'fairy-tale-ish.' maybe if they had the same sort of background they wouldnt NEED to steal bits and pieces of other cultures because theyd have their own to keep them occupied. whatever the case, im tired of it. go call your perfumes jesus and mary and king louis III and king henry V instead of faiza, nefertiti, azrael and uruk.
As far as orientalism, I just fail to see how it is stealing. I've looked up that book you mentioned and I will check it out -- maybe if I learn more I'll understand what you mean. I don't like the ideas of boundaries of culture, but I'm open to the possibility that they are valuable.
i hope one day my people will do the same.
and as far as boycotting, yes, you are totally right.. if you want to work 100% within the system boycott whatever you like as long as it doesnt interfere with whatever else youd like to do. feminism shouldnt get in the way of real life! if you realize though that the SYSTEM is flawed then you need to rework the system. if rape horrifies you, if the idea of people promoting rape makes your stomach turn then we wouldnt even be having this conversation. you would have never posted that entry. i think i just misunderstood. you told me you liked dworkin, i assumed that meant you liked dworkin... or at least were familiar enough with her writings that what im discussing wouldnt be so far fetched to you. we are at war. if you decide to hang out with SOME of the enemy but not the REALLY bad guys.. well.. ill let you figure out what side that puts you on.
If you watch movies and also practice what you preach, which studios have you boycotted?
and you know what? yes. you SHOULD have already known. im tired of making excuses for people. you want to use other peoples cultures? then learn about them. realize what youre doing. realize what youre taking. why should i give you a chance to learn about something that youve already been doing? YOU chose to believe and use and do the things you do. if youre starting to question if theyre correct or not maybe you shouldve considered the consequences before beginning. maybe you shouldve been more careful with other peoples cultures (that is, cultures that you are NOT a part of and that DO NOT belong to you and thus were NEVER YOURS TO USE!)
i dont watch american films. does that help you any?
im being stubborn about the orientalism, but i dont care, because its clear youve been using our cultures for a long time without thinking twice about it. im NOT being stubborn about rape though because youre the one who told me you were a radical feminist and into dworkin. i was dumb for ever buying it. im done. im so done with all of this. im done with orientalists and im done with people who cant understand how their actions support rape. i hope you figure things out for yourself, but im through with it. have a nice life.
How have I been using other people's cultures??? specifically, how have I been using YOUR culture??? Your culture is not ancient Egyptian, which is the only culture besides American and (very briefly) Irish that I've ever even spoken about, much less anything else. And I actually put thought, time, and effort into learning about that and certainly didn't claim it as my own, so if you consider that to be orientalism/disrespectful then I really don't care.
Inferno is one of my favorites. So is Tiresias the Androgyne.
Check out Bastet! It's yummy!
Unfortunately I'm not too well-versed in scents myself, as I tend to stray away from them as much as possible. In my childhood I found myself absolutely overwhelmed by the scent of my mother's perfume. She wore a sort of rose scent early on in my childhood, and I found it anything but comforting. When she switched to vanilla, I ended up with headaches every morning from being made to stand around her as it was applied. The entire experience turned me off perfumes and oils for quite a long time. Now that I'm working with children who by and large have their own sensory difficulties, I choose not to wear perfume out of respect to them.
With my job coming to an end shortly, I'd love to experiment with different types of scents and find what I might like the best. I can tell you what I preferred from those that I received this Christmas to give you an idea, but this isn't something I've considered too terribly much, so do be aware.
Hemlock - This has no description on the website, but to me it smells herbal, like lemongrass and pine mixed with rainwater. It's sweet and fresh and crisp, and I am sadly out of it now.
Lurid - Bulgarian lavender and white musk with a dollop of thick resin and a voltaic charge of ozone notes.
Debauchery - Mingled heady civet and red Egyptian musk, thickened with opium.
Black Hellebore - Hellebore resembles the wild rose, but does not belong to their family. The scent is a pale green herbal, darkly rooty, with a faint rose and peony-like overtone.
Those above are scents I have already experienced. On my wishlist are:
Jabberwocky - An earthy yet buoyant scent: pine, eucalyptus and orange.
Crossroads - A chill twilit garden of blooms over dry earth and mosses, heavily laden with incense and offertory herbs.
Bayou - Spanish moss, evergreen and cypress with watery blue-green notes and an eddy of hothouse flowers and swamp blooms.
BPAL is a difficult one - I want to order from that website often but I have a hard time finding a scent that smells good on me. Sweet scents don't smell good on me and I've found that sometimes a scent that doesn't sound sweet winds up smelling sweet and it winds up in the oil burner.
I don't wear scents much - I can't for my job - but when I do, I wear your run of the mill Victoria's Secret "Heavenly" because it's the only perfume I've ever owned that actually smells good on me. We have an apothecary store out here that I'm meaning to investigate...I keep hoping to find something else that smells good on me.
Once I peeled an orange and the scent lingered on my hands and I received more compliments that day. Maybe I should just do that from now on. :/
Good luck!
Admittedly, my favorite scents are sweet. Vanilla, rose, cinnamon, florals. I'm terribly picky about the sweet scents, though... it can't smell artificial or be too saturated.
Mmmm. It smells divine. I'm turning to BPAL for all my aromatic needs, now!