(no subject)

[mllelaurel]

If the last few weeks of my life were made into a movie, it'd be titled Not Another Damn BPAL Post.

That said, I have a question for you all. In my combing over the BPAL site, I keep running across certain notes and realizing that I have not even the slightest clue what they are, let alone what they smell like. These are the notable ones:

Dragon's Blood - nooo clue. My brain doesn't exactly go 'yum' at the idea of something smelling like blood, draconic or otherwise, but I thought I'd get my facts straight before I x-ed out an entire catalog line.

Amber - um, it's a color? I picture something warm and rich, maybe?

Tonka bean - is this anything like vanilla or coffee? I've never heard of it before.

Galangal
Labdanum
Galbanum
Jonquil

Help?

Comments

[theashgirl.livejournal.com]

Jonquil is a flower, unless I'm mixing it up with something similar. Dragon's blood and amber are resins - it's a type of scent that's kind of hard to describe, actually. They're very different depending on what they're blended with. I have a couple amber scents I love, though.

I think your best bet would be to go to the forum (bpal.org), register, and read the reviews and recommendations posts. They can help a LOT.

[ayalanya.livejournal.com]

dragon's blood: insanely sweet, fruity resin.

amber: also a resin, and...oh man...it's...i don't have anything with just amber in it, but i bet cyn and tory have things with amber *in* them.

tonka bean: like a cross between vanilla and sweet grass. it was used as a fake vanilla extract for a while, but apparently too much coumarin is toxic, or something. i have tonka beans somewhere if you want to smell them.

if you want to smell individual notes: go to aroma sanctum in salem! akuura rocks like whoa. everyone who works there is awesome, really. but she's the awesomest awesome. she made me a spicy resiny blend and knows the bpal crowd pretty well, since they'll sometimes go to her to remake a scent that bpal no longer makes (which i did with storyville - she lacked one of the notes, but did her damnedest, which i thought was quite good).

[mllelaurel.livejournal.com]

So that's where the forum is. Thanks!

[theashgirl.livejournal.com]

Yeah. It's very The Forum. It helps to have the address. :)

[mllelaurel.livejournal.com]

Mmm, yeah, I think I'd like to smell those tonka beans at some point. Whenever's good for you.

Cooool! I was looking for excuses to go to Salem sometime anyway, and this places does sound wonderful. Now, to figure out what transportation goes there...

[mllelaurel.livejournal.com]

Kind of like knowing the secret handshake, that.

[ayalanya.livejournal.com]

hooray! right now they're packed, but once i've gotten things a little less cluttered and less boxy...

as for salem, the commuter rail goes there from north station. it's the rockport/newburyport train. i bet a group could be gotten together at some point. ...eheh, i mean, i bet a group could be gotten together and it would involve the usual suspect, and i may be one of the usual suspects, and would like to go to salem, but i just realized how booked my july is, dear gods. though maybe i could make it on a weekday after work.

[ayalanya.livejournal.com]

unless a group of the usual suspects were to go on july fourth!

[ayalanya.livejournal.com]

mind, this is also assuming you want to go with other people, and not by yourself, which i've done before and it's also much fun.

also, i am going to stop babbling and go to sleep already.

[mllelaurel.livejournal.com]

I like other people! They make excursions more fun.

And yes. Sleep is goood. Get some sleep.

[phoenix-rinna.livejournal.com]

If no one's said it yet, I'm pretty sure jonquil is another word for daffodil. ^^

[mllelaurel.livejournal.com]

Gotcha. Thanks!

[indigoinks.livejournal.com]

Technically, a jonquil is a specific breed within the larger family of flowers that get called daffodils, but yeah, they're often used as interchangeable.

[indigoinks.livejournal.com]

Lessee~

Galbanum and Labdanum are both resins, and Galangal is apparently a spice used in Southeast Asia. Wikipedia says its earthy and piney.

Amber can often be sweet and powdery; Dragon's blood can often be sweet and fruity and quite dark; and Labdanum tends to be sort of dry and woodsy and occasionally leathery.
At least as I remember.

[mllelaurel.livejournal.com]

*makes note* Thanks!

[mllelaurel.livejournal.com]

Oooh, neat! Thank you!