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Bombastic Subtropical Turquoise Cream Pie
Smelly_Swede replied to doomsday_disco's topic in Gifts with Donation or Purchase
I can feel the crust. I don't get any fruit, but a bit of a weird sweetness that sort of lingers. The first thought that came to mind for me was some kind of curry dish. There is something in this that feels a bit dirty to me, but it's unclear to me what it is. It feels like the notes sort of take each other out. -
BPAL: (in the singsong call of Marco Polo) "Leath-errrrrrrr" Me: "Com-ingggggg" (in the singsong answer of same) Freshly tanned leather, not too dark, mixed with what smells like a slightly yeasty cinnamon bun with a light drizzle of apple tinged flood icing. Somehow, even on skin, the cinnamon doesn't really ride in hard at all. Not spicy, not dank, not cloying. Just hide and baked fluffy dough. Dare I call it a Leathermond? Sits close-ish to skin, doesn't evolve much (but doesn't need to), still tossing random wafts of scent my way close to 7 hours later. The word "genderless" comes to mind, which I mean more of in the sense that this will smell really good on you (I hope!) no matter how you identify. I haven't been so quickly enamored of a leathermond scent since Three Pairs of Shoes. I bet it will age like a dream!!
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Seasonal perfection - what an exceptionally well blended, joyful, memory conjuring scent. Wet in the bottle are fir needles and forest-worn frocks that are a bit musky from Father's effort of dragging the tree inside on a slightly damp December day. On skin, these notes combine with the fabric of Mother's dress and her dried wedding bouquet hanging faithfully above the hearth, a symbol of other celebratory times. Her honey scented face powder has put in a hard day's work decorating the house, but still leaves a lingering waft of sweetness as she tenderly bends over to kiss the children goodnight on their foreheads. These scents meld together to make a bouquet unique to their family, the season, and this moment. This is another stunner that is so textural and multifacted that my meager imagination springs to life to manifest a vision to accompany what I am smelling. I'm mentally transported to a middle class Victorian home, seated next to a Noble fir tree. As always, the fabric notes here are perfectly tuned. Moderate projection and just under 5 hours of wear before it fades away. Perfect for that day you decide to do the family Christmas cards, decorate the tree, or sing the songs of days gone by.
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The Devil volunteered to make something for his neighborhood bake sale, and this is what his house smelled like for a full day afterwards. Crisp cinnamon spiced cookies and sinuous tentacles of swarthy patchouli tickle their way from the bottle to your nose. Applied to skin, the molasses arrives, getting really deep and broody. I swear I'm catching a whiff of the parchment paper that the cookies were baked on? Sin's amber and sandalwood don't have a chance to play until about 35 minutes in, when the cinnamon finally relents a bit. Now I'm getting the impression of some granulated turbinado sugar sprinkled on top of the cookie. Is there a little bit of leather dribbled in here? I'm getting spank-me-very-much vibes. Delectable. Moderately strong projection, with 6 hours of good wear and another 1-2 of the remaining whispers of patchouli. Buy a bottle for this year and two to stash away for safe keeping!
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This one is kind of the inverse of what I expected: a snowball with a shadow of wood and incense rather than a frost dusted branch. In the opening I get the same aldehyde frost as in other Yules like The Crumpet-Fanlight Expedition and Snowman Beatdown. Here it is subtler than in the other two scents, scrubbed quite clean by eucalyptus and given heft by ambergris. I would say this is an ambergris-dominant blend, and it is doing a kind of gourmand frosting thing on my skin that I don’t care for. There is a supporting sizzle of opoponax and at times I get a dry splintery wood, not something I would necessarily recognize as oud. Over the life of the scent, the wood gets stronger and there are moments when it really does conjur rime-coated branches. At these moments this is a love for me, but they are too fleeting. I know from other blends like Lace Lichen that the particular effect of the ambergris that I dislike here is likely to fade with time, so I will hold onto my imp but so far this is unlikely to inspire a full bottle purchase. Overall, a chilly, chiaroscuro scent but with an emphasis on the bright white notes. I would recommend for people who are looking for a frosty scent that isn’t just a blast of ice.
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love! rose isn’t a favorite scent note of mine but this one was so interesting i had to pick up a slink of it from ajevie. this one has a LOT of projection and i can definitely tell it’s in my hair. i think this would’ve been a safe blind buy for me (was a little iffy about the cognac) because it’s great! it’s a lovely powdery rose backed up by a very prominent lacy vanilla note. i didn’t really like other lace spin offs i’ve tried such as, harlow’s lace and batty lace because they were wayyy too sweet. probably due to the caramel and honey in them, but this one is just right for me! it’s like powdery rose candies dusted in extra powdered sugar. i can’t wait until my bottle of millarca arrives! i think they will be simply phenomenal together.
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Black.coffee, absolutely. With syrup and the ghost of burnt hash browns lingering. On remembering that there’s clove I can smell it.
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This is an ethereal veil of snow and white musk, starting out with a blast of bitter cold that gradually softens into a white blanket whose chill clings close to the skin. Everything is white, white and more white. Chionophobia is not so much snow itself as it is the phantom of snow that haunts those who fear it.
- Yesterday
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All frosty aldehydes—the kind used in sport colognes like Polo Sport, and more recently and intensely in CdG’s Odeur 10–and a little bit of sprightly sage. Great staying power and moderate throw, an easy breezy chilly scent. Yes, it goes cologne-y. That is part of the charm here! If you are looking for a cold, soapy, (now) classic masculine profile, with a little cheery herbal twist, this is definitely for you. It is very simple and enjoyable. With simple scents like this it’s hard for me to know whether I will continue to simply enjoy them or get bored—time will tell!
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Something in this isn't playing nice on my skin. The coconut smells flat and kind of dusty, and it almost reads as soapy but not quite. I'm blaming coconut, it doesn't always work for me. I'm jealous of what the other people smell!
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Frankincense Smoke goes on strong, but no stronger than to be expected when experiencing it in its most highly concentrated form. It very quickly mellows out into something much gentler, an absolutely lovely, incensey scent, perfect for winter. It's mostly a soft incense, but it's warmed by a lovely fatty, sweetish beeswax. I can pick out the frankincense too, doing its beautiful, slightly citrusy thing. Overall it gives a very gentle, comforting impression; I was a little worried this scent would end up much too heavy based on the description, but I'm happy to report it isn't at all, it's just what I was hoping it would be, soft and incensey but not overpowering, and I can pick out all the individual notes. Later on in the day I started noticing it's a little woody too, so that might be the cedar peeking through. It is in fact so gentle that I put on A View from the Window just now, only to find that my perfume is totally overpowering my hair gloss! Oops. I'm brand-new to exploring hair glosses, and I don't have a good sense of what pairs well with what quite yet. I'm going to try pairing Frankincense Smoke with On Time next, which is very very light scent, and I think will make for a gorgeous combination.
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Bottle sniff was milk and honey and gourmand. On skin it’s very bubbly like a carbonated drink. I see what Bpal is doing though, it very much reminds me of their Peach Milk, Sugared Peach Milk, and Rose Milk all of which have a fuzzy-carbonated feel to them. So if you loved those you’ll might love this one as well! It’s not something I see myself reaching for so off to the swap pile.
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i wonder if i got the same oil as everybody else! while i love bruised violet compound it doesnt stick on me as a dark and sultry smell. i smell a bright and wet flower thats earthy not in a dirty way but a refreshing, alive way. on the outskirts of it i still get the wet imp smell which to me is a very sweet purple candy like those fizzy grape soda candies that come in little cans at the arcade. the slight wet greeness is more alike to a stem or leaf than moss and enjoyable even to me who usually doesnt like a green smell. i get no red currant but thats at no detriment to the blend imo. very sweet wet living violets!
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I got this last year when it came out but for some reason forgot to review it! I'm happy to do so now as I've just broken this out again in anticipation of this year's Luper drop! I'll start by saying I've actually never tried the original Red Rider, as I'm not much of a leather fan owing to the fact that leather notes, except under extremely rare occasion, tend to amp so intensely with my chemistry that it blocks out whatever else might be happening with the scent in question. That said, I blind-bottled this because so many of the other notes were deeply compelling and I am especially find of the Lab's gorgeously tangy / creamy ruby chocolate note! I don't recall what this smelled like fresh, but in classic BPAL fashion, this scent has aged beautifully. I don't get leather at all, at any point- at least not directly. It's possible it's there in the background, but if so, it's doing some deep undercover work. I get a big-throated melange of the red musk, red mosses and balsam for the first solid hour or hour and a half. During that time it's consistent from first sniff all the way through dry down. As I get deeper into the second hour, the red berries come into the mix and the other notes start to mellow considerably. For the long haul, there's a medium-low throw where that tart-creamy ruby chocolate is like the Sun, and the other notes are the planets orbiting around, sometimes more in the mix, sometimes less. Knowing myself, I probably didn't think much of this scent when I first tested it, because I remembered precious little about that experience. But past VioletChaos knew enough to hang on to the bottle to retest later and today VioletChaos sure is pleased about the sagacity of that decision!
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This perfume develops differently on my skin both indoors and outdoors. Indoors i get a green honeyed tea, I'd say the green variety but very restrained and dainty. Outdoors, it's more vibrant, well blended and multifaceted, and i get the hay, the sweetened tobacco/ tea melange, and also something akin to suede, although it's not listed. It's airy and vividly aromatic and sweet in a refined way. Nothing about screams manure or saddle leather or whatever olfactive associations you may attribute to horses.
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Beaver Moon: Green Tea & Cookie Dough
bellumed replied to doomsday_disco's topic in Duets & Menage A Trois
First? Oh, boy! The bottle scent makes me think of fancy ice cream, which I suppose makes sense. I don't think I've ever had a green tea ice cream, but I have had an Earl Grey one (shout-out to Van Leeuwen), and that's what this reminds me of - bittersweet in a balanced way, not strongly one or the other. On skin, I get more of the scent of raw cookie dough, still with the tea leaves keeping it from going sugar-sweet. No chocolate chips here, just the dough. If you are foodie-curious but find them excessively sugary or just generally prefer a subtle scent that is only slightly sweet, I highly recommend this! -
I received this as a frimp from @artisjok who must have very thoughtfully looked at my GC wishlist! Thank you! I adore bpal's skin musk note, and that is indeed what this is - sensual, slightly sweet, subtly fruity (apricot or melon?), gently floral, doing beautiful things in alchemy with my skin chemistry. I love having this, and it immediately made me better understand the skin musk note in all the other scents where it shows up. I think this will be a great one to wear on its own at times when I want to wear something clean and subtle, or of course for layering. My partner has immediately gotten into layering it, especially with duets, and we are now running through our imp rapidly! We'll be getting a bottle of it.
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2025 version My skin tend to amp sweet scents and fruits. This is an apple perfume with patchouli and a little smoke. I don't get any fir needle. The apple has been cooked in some spices. Like an apple tart. It fades away after about five hours and leaves a similar patchouli base to other patchouli perfumes they do. It's nice but not that impressive compared to other patchouli perfumes I have from bpal. I will probably not buy it again but I will buy other apple scents in the future.
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This one is mostly about the dragon's blood (an incense-y variety, not a spicy floral one!), musk, and pom on me, with a dash of clove, and surprisingly, very little tobacco or patch. The dragon's blood is the dominant note at first, but the musk gains strength over time and eventually becomes the dominant note on me. I get great longevity and throw from this. Layered with the Clove and Sweet Incense duet, it really amps up the clove and incense aspects, and the duet reigns throughout wear, backed by the main notes of the moon. I don't need a bottle of this one, but I'll probably hang onto my decant.
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Blood Moon: Clove and Sweet Incense
doomsday_disco replied to doomsday_disco's topic in Duets & Menage A Trois
I finally reached near the bottom of my to-test decant pile, which means it was time to finally get around to testing this. I was putting it off because I kept feeling like it smelled farm-y in the bottle. And yeah. There's clove as the star of the show, backed by a slightly funky incense note. Eventually, the funk goes away, and the clove calms down, so that it is mostly incense backed with a bit of clove. I still don't love that dose of farm I got, though. 😅 Layered with its moon, I mostly got incense and clove sans farminess, though, backed by dragon's blood, musk, and pomegranate. - Last week
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When David Bowie and Bing Crosby sang The Little Drummer Boy in The Year of Our Lord 1977 AD, it brought together two classic voices in a brief, but glorious, intersection. So, you can imagine that when I saw two beloved BPAL classics combining forces in a single scent for a limited time only, a mental parallel was drawn. I had to know, would it be just as magical? Opening the bottle, the photorealistic Rose Red rose we all love is there, strong, vibrant. The green stems are there, too, but there is something a bit...off. I kept sniffing, and those frost bright petals and winter air smell a little rancid. I closed the cap, put the bottle down for a few hours, then picked it up and brought it into another room with less "smell pollution". No difference. Gah! I eyed the label suspiciously, looking for a hint of what may have gone wrong. Of course, there was no visual clue. I drank some water, took a deep breath, and put it on skin. Today was not our day for redemption. That same decay I smelled in the bottle came along for the ride, and despite rose riding hard in the front of the pack, there was a fetidity that was too legit to quit. As the rose faded and the Snow White elements took over it got a bit better, but it never smelled GOOD. I scrubbed it off after two hours with no regrets. All things being subjective, this pairing was confusingly disappointing to me. I love the individual scents deeply as solo artists, but neither my nose nor my skin could reconcile them as a duet.
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This is such a lovely, golden scent--I put it on and it felt like springtime! Super photorealistic clover honey, and definitely CLOVER honey, not orange blossom. I'm a little amazed at the specificity. I'm not sure how to articulate the difference between clover and orange blossom honey if you haven't tasted both, except that clover feels a little darker, more ambery and more nuanced. "Darker" might not quite be the right word here, because I wouldn't describe If Bears Were Bees as "dark" AT ALL. It is so deeply golden and very, very bright. I swear there's something lemony and marmalade-like that's also quite prominent in this, a jammy sort of lemon-rind. I can't remember the last time I smelled mead, quite frankly, so I suppose that could be the mead for all I know. The last BPAL mead note I've tried was quite fruity, so maybe it is that! I'm definitely not getting anything fizzy though. Not getting anything smoky, exactly, but there's this almost caramelized, burnt-sugar edge to the honey as well, so I'm wondering if that's what the woodsmoke is doing with the honey on my skin. Hard to describe what the pollen is doing--it's absolutely adding a soft lightness (not powdery at all though), and a very very faint flowery touch. The total effect is really just lovely! I just got in from digging out my car from the most snow my area has seen in 10+ years, and it feels wonderful to feel like I'm basking in my own personal little bubble of golden springtime everywhere I go as I'm cozying back up inside. There are SO many BPAL bottles I've been meaning to buy, so I'm not sure if I can quite justify buying a bottle of this one as well, but I am wishing I had a bit more than a half-decant! I suppose I'll see how I feel about this come spring, if I decide I really must have more. (I know reviews are not strictly the place for this, but if you're looking to destash a half-bottle or partial of If Bears Were Bees, do please feel free to DM!) Haven't tried it yet, but am very curious to layer this one with Lines Written by a Bear of Very Little Brain. Will report back here if I do!
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This one needed at least a month to calm down, straight from the mail it was quite sharp and biting. But now when it's rested it's much softer and lovely. Yup, there's clove but it's not dominating at all on me. Pomegranate is very evident now but it really needed that rest. I get a lot of dragons blood (I always get when there's some), clove, musk and patchouli and the pomegranate is giving juiciness and sweetness to the whole. This is dark, resin-y pom scent with some spice. This is going to age beautifully.
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I have been going through my collection of frimps and I have found what I suspect is the 2018 version. I was looking for something else to test and on a whim grabbed this in my handful. I suspect I might have hid this one from myself, lavender is one of my very favorite notes, and as this has been a very limited drop, I bet I was trying to avoid heartbreak. And heartbreak it is! This is soft and gentle and layered. Close to the nose I get a subtle sweetness, but the sage and lavender fall in subtlety sweetened clouds around me. Warm and cozy. Absolutely the vibe I have been needing recently.
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Unequivocally my favorite scent from The Prophet series so far. BPAL's hay notes are like catnip to my nose-brain; as soon as I opened the bottle and took my first deep inhale, I knew we had a winner. A touch of frankincense and a dab of cedar are there too, but this is all sweet hay (sweeter than, but similar to, the hay absolute in Judgmental Longhorn) in the initial whiff. Once on skin, the amber arrives, along with a background track of light beeswax such as you would find as remnants in a candle stick, as opposed to an actively melting, pooling liquid. The hearthsmoke is restrained, giving a slightly dry tone, and the frankincense is simply beautiful. Low projection, but 7 full hours of detectable wear. A work safe, blind buy safe, gorgeous skin scent type fragrance that could easily become a daily wear for me if I didn't have a bit of a testing backlog to get through first. I loved every minute I had it on and will be recommending this to everyone!
