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BPAL Madness!

marared

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About marared

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    1/32 too few
  • Birthday 07/24/1976

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    Apex, NC
  • Country
    United States

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    marared
  • Website URL
    http://anathemaproject.com

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  • Pronouns
    She/Her

BPAL

  • Favorite Scents
    BPAL: original Dionysia, Banshee Beat, Mad Meg, Lady Una, Mead Moon 08, Morocco, Two Sheep & Two Goats, Penumbra, Medb. Other: Tom Ford Plum Japonais, Serge Lutens Sidi-bel-ebbes, Hermes Un Jardin Mediterranee, Tokyomilk Bittersweet & Everything and Nothing, L'Occitane Labdanum

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  • Chinese Zodiac Sign
    Dragon
  • Western Zodiac Sign
    Leo

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  1. marared

    It Was Folly to Grieve, or to Think

    This is an aged decant that I found in my ammo box while I was looking for something else and decided I wanted to try it. I love orange blossom, but it can turn pretty obnoxious on my skin so I tend to be a little cautious of them, Straight out of the imp, this is thin but effervescent ginger, which is presumably the champagne and diamonds - which I feel must include some kind of labdanum. The ginger gets stronger with time, but then so do the blossoms - but they're slightly powdery (as orange blossom does), especially on a deep inhale. I think I caught a hint of the peach early on, but it quickly goes away. At this point it smells like Mediterranean Tourist Shop Soap, and not really my thing.
  2. marared

    Beautiful Macabre: Salome

    I ordered this because I felt like it would be a sister to Dionysia, with leather instead of mahogany. The opening salvo is mild and sweet leather, with vanilla and labdanum on a really deep inhale, and the saffron starts to bloom after a few minutes on the skin. I can detect the plum if I really think about it, and it reminds me mostly of the note in Marshmallow & Black Plum but not as noticeable. The cardamom and myrrh lend a warm glow to the overall scent, and the patchouli isn't really even detectable. It does not have much throw (although I have not tested this with body heat), and I have to put my nose very close to my skin to get past the leather, but it's very lovely once it has a chance to warm up. I would classify this as a warm and cozy scent, even appropriate for canoodling.
  3. marared

    Snooty Bat

    I've been trying to figure out how I feel about this blend for months. The leather is pretty scary when it's fresh if you're not a fan of that note. But now that I've had it for 4-5 months, it's finally calmed down a little and let some of the other notes out to play, primarily the sugar and the nag champa. The patchouli is almost nonexistent, and the clove just barely there. The sugar is the questionable note for me now, and I'm not sure if it's turning a little bit on my skin - I can't wear Sugar Skull for that reason - or if I'm just not a fan. Otherwise it's a nice, calm, gothy scent.
  4. marared

    Dragon's Blood Incense

    For some reason, this gave me leather vibes when it was fresh out of the mailbox a couple days ago, but now that it's had time to settle, it's more like ... suede. I was a little ambivalent about ordering this because red musk can be pretty pitchy on my skin, and even champaca can turn into one-note Head Shop, but both of them behave. The amber is very low-key, present in the background but not too powdery. It's a somewhat dry scent, which is appropriate to the "incense" part of the description. It's calm, warm, and glowing. Very inviting. You have to let this one sit and meld with your chemistry for a little while - while it's not super loud to begin with, it draws closer to the skin over time, and it levels out around 20-30 minutes. It does last quite a while; I put some on yesterday morning and could still smell it when I got home almost 12 hours later.
  5. This doesn't smell ANYTHING like I expected - it's unpleasantly medicinal. It's the same strawberry in Strawberry Moon, but it smells like a cough drop or strawberried Vicks vapo-rub. Very high pitched mentholated zing to it. Labdanum is usually pretty fun and effervescent and I do not smell it at all in this. It's SO weird, and I very much have ragrets at ordering this. It gets a little less medicinal with time, but it's still kind of a cough drop strawberry. Eventually, it mostly fades and the labdanum starts peeking out, but the end results are not worth what it takes to get there.
  6. marared

    Plague Doctor v13

    Frottle! This is a weird and interesting scent. In the bottle, it's dark and herbal: pine and musk are the first impressions. On my skin, I get mint, but it's planty mint, not sweet mint. Something else in this reads to me as ... myrrh? It's not very strong, but it gives a dark, cool, resinous quality underneath the green plants. There's a spice in there too, but I can't decide what it is - it's one of the baking spices. Probably not cinnamon as I amp that pretty hard, maybe nutmeg? Dark fruit, too, although it's way down there in the mix. Definitely one of the more unusual BPALs I've smelled.
  7. marared

    Things Are Fine

    In the bottle: a light, calming spa-quality scent that's not quite fruity and not quite floral, but somewhere in between. On my skin: hinoki-sandalwood incense, with the white tea giving it an airy quality. It's funny how different this is from the bottle, but I love this. If you like Embalming Fluid, I would highly suggest checking this one out - they don't really smell anything alike, but the tea is refreshing in the same kind of way. I would love this in an atmo spray or a hair gloss.
  8. marared

    Gingerbread Snek

    Freshly applied: a blast of ginger and patchouli, and then Snake Oil with a touch of molasses right behind it. All I smell is the spice; I don't really get any cookie/pastry out of this until much later into the drydown stage. At that point, it's basically Snake Oil with extra ginger and a little molasses. I do get the red musk - with the caveat that I amp red musk in general - but it subsides fairly quickly. The patchouli is still quite present, though, This is one that I'm going to have to put away and test every six months for a couple of years and see what changes - I have a dodgy relationship with Snake Oil in general, and have found that if I'm gonna like it, it needs at least two years of age.
  9. marared

    Blackberry Apple Sufganiyot

    I love Pomegranate Suf. I hated Raspberry Apricot Suf. Blackberry Apple is a “like” - mostly low-key apple with a touch of spiced pastry and just a hint of blackberry, which is odd because BPAL blackberry is usually VERY LOUD - but this is still not quite as delicious as the pomegranate. After about ten minutes, I'd say this has way more noticeable pastry scent than the other two, as well - the others were very strongly fruity, but this is much doughier.
  10. marared

    A Nocturnal Visitor

    I have not really worn this since I originally got it. With a year and a half of age, it's bright blood orange and labdanum - the peach is there, but this is distinctively more tart-citrus with the labdanum making it quite effervescent, and the sandalwood is a nice smooth base. Within ~10 minutes or so, it loses a lot of the brightness, and at this stage I like it somewhat less. I don't dislike it, but not sure this is something I will reach for again.
  11. marared

    Mandarin, Black Vanilla, and Patchouli

    I don't know that I would have bought this on a blind sniff. BPAL mandarin is a chilly sort of citrus here, rendering the bottle very cool and honestly a little intimidating. On my skin, it takes a little while, but the mandarin recedes to the background, the black vanilla warms things up, and makes them almost a little toasty. The patchouli never really comes out to play - it's there but it just grounds the scent and adds to the overall toasty impression. Don't get me wrong, this is not gourmand or foodie-sweet at all, or even particularly cozy, but I went to sleep with the test dab on my hand, and it was really nice when I woke up. I'll have to try it again in a few months and see how it's changed.
  12. From the "I Forgot I Bought This And Should Probably Test It" files. In the bottle it's a dry and spicy chocolate, definitely a Mexican hot chocolate scent as has been mentioned by others. I don't really get the chipotle or the honey, just cocoa and cinnamon. On my skin, it's much less chocolatey, gets even drier, and there's the chipotle peeking out. If you liked Caramel, Smoked Chili, and Black Vanilla, but wanted something less SWEET but still gourmand, this would be a great one to try.
  13. I completely forgot that I ordered this, until I went through the upper shelf while looking for scents I don't wear as often. It's had a good six months to age, which is why I think I put it up there in the first place: to let the florals calm down a little. At this stage, it's a sticky-sweet, feminine, white-gold floral. Sharp at first, but it softens over time. The honeysuckle is there, but it takes a back seat to the mallow flower and vanilla - it's too flowery to be marshmallowy to my nose, but it's definitely sweet and summery. The scent is loud on my skin, and it's got quite a lot of throw even without being activated by body heat.
  14. marared

    Horn of Malediction

    Dirty hippie scent is right up my alley! The patchouli is calm and self-possessed, not fresh and stanky, the vetiver joins the frankincense and myrrh in giving it more depth but none of the vegetal or scorch that most people hate nor any of the powderiness that the resins can leave, the labdanum perks the whole scent up with just a hint of effervescence, and then amber just kinda blurs through the whole thing adding warmth. It's a very grown up, give no fucks kind of scent. If you hate vetiver, I don't think this will change your mind, but if you're on the fence, I'd give it a try.
  15. marared

    White Silk Chrysanthemum

    Piercingly sharp white floral, I'd classify it as almost aquatic. Mums are usually much richer than this, but the aldehyde is so harsh that it puts a damper on the flowers. The whole scent puts me on edge and not in a good way.
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