I Feel Stupid [FYI for other Perfumistas]
I saw someone searching for Solstice Scents' Spellbound Woods...and since I wear Jojoelle's Spellbound Woods, I thought THAT was too close to be coincidence. I asked the ISOer what it was supposed to smell like, since SS's Etsy shop is down right now
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I've occasionally been sent to various fun sites where there are perfumers offering a MASSIVE load of perfumes with cool scents like cotton candy, marshmellow fluff, etc., and I always suspected there might just be one or two real suppliers of any scent that is diluted and repackaged by others who wanted to have a huge general catalogue of scents.
After all: Big catalogue sort of makes you think they're established.
But "Spellbound Woods" was not quite a generic name, so to suddenly realise it's really a generic blend that 'everyone' sells surprised me.
What also surprised me (but I haven't commented upon or posted it here because of fears of backlash) was a line of thought that came up in one of the Natural Perfumery groups I belong to. Most of them are alcohol-based. Someone was designing a vampire series of perfumes to go along with the "True Blood" TV series, and it set off a real storm of people dismissing most of "...those incensy-gothic fragrance oil-based imitation perfumes that try to appeal to..." and what followed was a really, really awful description (well, DISMISSAL) of 'a certain type of female customer' that tends to buy these things. They were vicious in their condemnation of how they viewed these perfumes, and then there were a lot of links posted to past examples of misuse of advertising and the whole argument of if they are "Natural versus Artificial"... I was shocked to see how BPAL was singled out and they cited various arguments that have appeared online in forums like MakeUpAlley and others. I remember back when I started into BPAL the website stated it was 'all natural'...and they pointed out this came down a long time ago when Beth got into arguments with other perfumers in the field.
Long story short--I guess BPAL started out as a dilute-and-repackage online store until Beth went into somewhat more original perfume designing...but she definitely uses aromachems and fragrance oils along with more natural substances. (I followed all the links and read a lot of stuff that supported the arguments, including rebuttals from Beth, etc.) Others who have started up their own 'handmade perfumery' sites that use gothic names are regularly trolled by fanatic BPALers who stomp all over them about stealing their scents from BPAL, etc., etc. It all rather opened my eyes!
But I guess what I've really taken away from all of this is that there are a lot of fakes out there (I could list a bunch of etailers, but that WOULD get me shot!) and while it seems fun to be able to buy 'new stuff' from various places, I wonder if we all wouldn't be better off making our own in some cases!
Still...the stories about a Certain Etailer who literally buys stuff like "Spellbound Woods" and then simply RENAMES them before she dilutes them and jacks up the price gave me the creeps!
Grey :)
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I've watched how you've dealt with the various thumps and bruising from all the fakery out there and have been regularly impressed with the way you handle yourself.
RE: Bulk Oil Suppliers. Yeah, I think I remember something about one of them trying to order stuff from you by pretending to be an individual buyer, right?
Mind you, I still love BPAL, but I wouldn't want to be Beth! She's got a lot of headaches alongside her fanbase and those out to steal her custom.
The more I delve into perfumery, the more I'm glad I'm not motivated to make mega-perfumes and have a huge catalogue! I'd much rather do unique stuff with all-natural materials (and oils I've macerated/instilled myself) and leave the big marketing to those who desire it. I know I'd get bored if I had to constantly bottle the same scent over and over!
Grey :)
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