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I am IN LOVE with this. It is wonderfully uncomplicated. You get honey, you get champaca. You get Honey Champaca. It’s my favorite lab honey note, too; sometimes honey notes can start off almost sour and quite pungent to the point of a good nose wrinkle, or they can lean overly sweet so that a whiff makes my mouth water a little to protect my teeth from incoming sugar. But this is the perfect balance. Then that champaca is just chewy and ambiguous perfection: Is it floral? Is it spicy? Is it woody incense? Nope, it is nothing and everything, a class unto itself. In short: Y’all, this is damn good. (I’m also making a full disclosure that this review is based on using the HG on my body, alongside an unscented body lotion. This way, I have more control over how much of the scent I use—more lotion vs more HG per palm-full as I apply—and if I really want to slather it on I don’t have to worry about what my short, fine hair is going to do with too much product.)
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I agree, this one is definitely marshmallow-forward! Dare I say, it went on* a little like Boo though while Boo feels somehow like “poofy marshmallow” this scent is grounded by the honey. It’s interesting, though, that it isn’t really identifiable as honey per se. It’s a really nice scent that can be worn alone or with various other blends without clashing or interfering. No complaints here. (*Since cutting my hair short again, I’ve started using HGs on my body most of the time. I typically squirt a simple, unscented lotion in my palm, then add a spritz of the HG and slather. It’s divine.)
- Today
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This is a sour, funky honey blend. I think it has a bit of a russet patchouli happening. It went too far into funky town for me.
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I took a chance on this one, knowing the oud might kill it. If not for the oud, I would need multiple bottles. It's creamy nutty praline goodness up front, but unfortunately the dry down brings out the oud so it's a no from me, but probably a yes for lots of people
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Agreed with @wilhelmscream. The longer I have this bottle, the more the blueberry comes out. It's a beautiful, unique cardamom scent so if that is your thing, rejoice!
- Yesterday
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Matcha & Pumpkin Rind.
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Spiced Rum & Dark Chocolate.
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Folk horror, but make it breakfast cereal: dehydrated pumpkin marshmallows and blackened cocoa corn puffs in sugared milk.
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Wet, the almond comes out to play first. It’s a sweet almond, like body oil, bright and cozy. I agree it’s almost like amaretto, and I don’t hate that. As it warms up, I get the gardenia and cherry - the cherry is tart, and the gardenia is bright. The cherry gets spicier (maybe the carnation starting to work its magic?) and it becomes this very sophisticated, perfumed experience. I am not a fan of tonka bean (that was a risk to this decant buy), and I’m grateful not to get anything like it in my experience so far. I agree that this is a mysterious, “going out” type of scent, but as it dries, the tea comes out and makes it lighter - I don’t know if you would want to wear this in warmer weather, but the florals from the gardenia and that white tea lift make it almost like a springtime scent, so maybe it’ll work in the coming months. I am having a nice time wearing it but it doesn’t feel like me.
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Gentle creamy blueberry, not super strong, but the juiciness stands out against the cardamom, which is heavier for cardamom than I remember cardamom being. The cream is heavy, so maybe that’s what’s working with it. I don’t get any kind of a chilled factor here, just warm and sleepy vibes. This sits really close to the skin. I wish the blueberry were stronger.
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2026 version: Getting zero tea or boba out of this one. The wet-on-skin phase gives me CREAM, and once it dries down you can sense the rose petals floating on top. Definitely a gourmand, but not for me, as I'd hoped for tea to cut through the richness (much like it does with White Rabbit).
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I agree with Galahad, the wet initial stage is very minty cool, which was a surprise. It shifts into carnation for me (a favorite), and I get a sense of the crystallized ginger, but it melds beautifully with the carnation so it’s hard to ID without knowing the scent notes. there’s a floral, shunga quality that has got to be the peony (I get a lot of Bpal peonies this time of year), and that keeps it light and gives it that springtime quality I love from the shungas. as it wears on my skin, the red amber and and scarlet silk come out, but I can’t say to what extent it is red and scarlet. I have purchased several red ambers over the years from Bpal, and I can ID that note, but the silk here is very gentle. disappointingly, I get no ube or persimmon right now, and also surprisingly, no lavender. This is still very fresh from the mail, so we’ll see how it ages. I’m glad I have a decant of this one!
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Lovely date and hyacinth blend, the sticky-sweetness of the dates and the sharpness of the hyacinth complementing each other very well. As it dries I get some sweet violet as well, and a woody, sun-dappled skin musk underneath very slightly reminiscent of Like the Very Gods, though the date and hyacinth remain the main notes. This evokes a hazy spring afternoon in the Greek countryside, Apollo and Hyacinthus under a tree together eating dates. I don't get much of the other notes, and would like them (especially the lilies!); I imagine the amber in particular might come out more with age. This is really lovely and balanced; I like it a lot though would personally prefer if the dates were a little quieter and the florals more intense.
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There’s a stereoplasm scent called taro milk tea. This bpal shares a very similar dna with its ube note - sweet, coconutty, a little deep and earthy. The red bean paste keeps it from getting too dessert-like, though it absolutely is still a gourmand scent. when comparing it to the stereoplasm scent, I can’t say I am getting any candyfloss; this is all starchy sweet on me. I like it a lot, but I wish there was more dimension somewhere in the dry down. wait, actually, the more I huff it, the more I get the same - sugar? I don’t know - in my old beloved, Velvet Unicorn. That had a combo of spun sugar, merengue, and cherry fluff, a relative to candyfloss, and with that link, I can kind of grasp it lying underneath the earthy ube and red bean. this scent fades faster than many sugared bpals I own, which is a shame.
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Okay, so the general waft of this is the red musk and white amber, musky plushness with a shimmery, silvery lining, but when I sniff my wrists I get a dirtied up, postcoital scent that has me verging on blushing. I’m thinking the musk + honey + saffron may be giving this effect. Uff! I was so excited about this scent, both for the notes and the theme, but I’m not sure it’s to my taste at the moment….😅 Holding onto it in hopes the myrrh & frankincense come forward more, and perhaps I’ll actually come to crave the more lusty perspective of the sacred joining. Will have to position myself near my Red King to see its effect on him, as well. ehehehee
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Star Trek, Star Wars, and the Stories We Need
eldritchhobbit posted a blog entry in Eldritchhobbit's Blog
It was a delight to talk Star Trek, Star Wars, and storytelling on The Lorehounds podcast! Star Trek, Star Wars, and the Stories We Need - A Conversation with Dr. Amy H. Sturgis View the full post. -
Record of Women’s Treasures of the Way of Elegance Day and Night
Lyahdan replied to doomsday_disco's topic in Lupercalia
I'm finding that I love sweet+patchouli (all the honeyed ones in recent years are a hit). I don't usually like coffee bean. But here, the bitter blends with the peppery note and really gives the earthy sweetness some sexy bite. The cardamon is a hazy, cozy warmth once it dries down. Liking this one way more than I expected. -
2025. Pretty! Unfortunately. I knew that pumpkin and leather could be tricky, since leather can overwhelm me and pumpkin can feel too gourmand, but the reviews and description gave me hope -- I do tend to be into incense, patchouli, and cologne-y. I think this strikes a beautiful balance between 'semi-gourmand pumpkin' and 'leathery masc', like someone who loves collars and also baking, but personally I would prefer it skewing harder in one direction than the other.
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Oh my god, I’m in love. My favorite, cherry, comes in hot at the forefront (juicy and candied, reminding me in the best way of gummies but also not) with a creamy coconutty base, and strawberry brightening it up for more fun. The mango comes out as it dries, and it reminds me of the mango scent in the bag of dried mango pieces, the good kind. I wish I got more halo halo but I’m not mad at this at all. As it lays on my skin it reminds me more of an ice cream scent, which doesn’t scream halo halo but I don’t hate it. It also still feels very familiar, and I’m definitely okay with that. I’m so glad I picked up all these Filipino scents, they are so comforting!
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I told myself to wait until this settled, because snake oil. But I couldn’t help it. the ruby chocolate note shows up right in the wet stage, overtaking that new snake oil scent. I’m pleasantly surprised. I haven’t had the lab’s ruby chocolate note, and it’s like a fruity version of their white chocolate one, which is great news for me, because the white chocolate note gets weird on me. the creamy fruit aspect of it plays wonderfully with the spice of the snake oil, and it reminds me of a younger sister version of Asp Viper (Snake Oil with King mandarin, myrrh, and almond). I would love to get a FS to see how this ages.
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What a journey! It opens reminding me of banana, I’m guessing that’s the Suman, and silly me, I wasn’t expecting it to be in the opening, since it was listed last in the description (i can be very literal like that). Then the coconut comes barreling through right after, and for a minute, it also gives me the impression of peanuts. after that, it becomes super smoky - like, “whoa did we get transported to a fire pit?” Smoky. I sort of get the fruitiness of the pandan, somewhere in between the coconut and smoky stage, but am still waiting for the sampaguita (jasmine) to show up. The oud is a lurker, mingling now with the pandan to give it a really interesting base. As I sit here huffing my arm, it feels very familiar to me as well. It reminds me of standing downwind of the sweets section at the Filipino bakery, the part where all the sweet rice cakes are.
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I was so excited for this one, but as I huffed my elbow crook, I am disappointed by some note causing it to go sharply floral. I just took a look at the notes once I got here and I see now - it’s the apple. I forget that I have a love-hate relationship with the Bpal apple note: it’s always too floral on me. That said, the sweetness in here is really putting in overtime with my skin chemistry, and the longer I wear it, the more it settles into a really comforting apple base, with some creamy playful overtones. I will see how this ages but I’m conflicted about getting more, since I can’t tell how I feel about it.
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I’m so confused by this one. wet and into the first stage of drying, all I get is the familiar lab cacao (like from the 13s), which I don’t hate at all, but I was disappointed for it to start in such familiar territory. That said, the dry stage is very interesting - this has got to be the black tea steam, and it’s reading very…floral? I don’t know how to describe it, but I think it may be that lotion quality that doomsday is describing above - it feels less gourmand and more like a perfume, and especially like the dry down of a hotel lotion scent. I don’t hate it, but I’m not sure what I was expecting in the first place getting this scent, haha. I guess maybe I wanted the idea of a cup of strong black tea with the depth of an earthy cocoa powder? This definitely isn’t that, but this sample is fresh from the mail, so I’ll see how it ages.
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Okay so fresh and wet on me, the skin musk reads extremely intimate and sexual haha once it dries, the fruitiness of the pink pepper peeks through, and then it settles into a lovely floral aquatic quality, with some warmth - I agree that this is a clean your skin but better scent. I recently got a few of the Sea witch scents from Astrid, and this scent is very much a sibling to them (it feels related to sea bones and offerings, and knotted and bound, especially). I like this a lot but can’t really justify having three of the same scent family, but if you love the idea of a salty, warm, aquatic, definitely grab this.
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This is lovely and perfumed, very upscale for being an oil. I agree it is rose forward, sweetened by being a cordial and backed by the cream. I’m not getting much berry, but perhaps it’s lending some depth I’m not sophisticated enough to pick up on. I am very surprised by how much I love this one, and I may FS.
