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Garg is mostly oak/oakmoss on me, with the rest of the notes serving as warm, glowy, oh so flattering stage lighting for that star note. Not getting much incense or cedar, blackened or otherwise (granted I prefer my cedar to be punchier than most) so I assume these were lighter versions, or, once again, oak is stealing the show. I find myself missing them. Nonetheless, this handsome beard oil is charming and comforting, and would be right at home in the Steamworks line. Edit: Memory unlocked; Garg could be the cousin of Gloom Meeting HG from the 2020 weenies. 🧟♀️
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Spicy, Smokey incense and Patchouli, no honey to my nose. the spice is almost foody to my nose.
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jolarocknrolla changed their profile photo
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I also immediately compared this to Mornings in New Orleans. Coffee with soft powdery spice. The difference is the rose peeking out. And yeah it’s a Turkish Delight rose. Pretty sweet. Or maybe that’s just incense. Unlike other reviews I don’t necessarily get black coffee from this.
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Beaver Moon: Lime Blossom & Amber Sugar
roseus replied to doomsday_disco's topic in Duets & Menage A Trois
In the imp, crisp pithy lime with a coating of sugar and a blossom-y headiness. On my skin it is like candied lime peel, zesty with a bitter edge. The amber really rounds it out. Gorgeous! -
In the imp creamy rice and a hint of cardamom. Cozy rice pudding. On my skin I get the honey, and a bit of a Snow White-type snow but it isn't the main event. I find this to be very rice-forward. Musky, creamy, slightly starchy-powdery, with a halo of sweetness and spice.
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Wet: Grape cough syrup! After the surprise Dimetapp fades away a few seconds later, I am left with an interesting olfactory knot to untangle. We’re dealing with a lot of rawhide suede, and there's a Snake Oil I barely recognize — way more vanilla, and much sweeter and drier than I remember. Still has the same Snake Oil vanilla & crotch musk thing going on (I can never shake it), but with the doeskin leather from Coyote turned way up, and the dry vanilla of Tombstone. So if you took out the sassafras of Tombstone, added the leather from Coyote, and dunked it in vanilla ice cream and musk you’d have it. I think. It’s confusing me and I know I can’t wear it, but it has a voluptuous cowgirl aspect to it that I seem drawn to regardless. Yee haw.
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Finally got to try the Snoot! Turns out, I’m in the camp that can’t smell any leather, and I can typically detect leather by the ppm. What I do get in spades is a big punch of spicy-sweet clove/black amber/cinnamon incense and the powdery, purple cloud of a fresh pack of nag champa. The patchouli hangs back a bit at this stage, but is holding everything together with a subtly grounding earthy note. One of my favorite record-shop incenses smells just like this (hello, Fire Goddess!) and it also reminds me of the first time I tried Urd, almost 20 years ago. Snooty Bat is driving the time machine and we’re going way, way back. As it wears in and warms up, things shift around a bit. The patch finally blooms and I feel like I miiiiight be getting some leather (wishful thinking?). The florals of the champa recede at this stage and it becomes slightly more masc-leaning, which is a fun surprise. I still find myself wanting more leather to balance this out so it doesn’t read so much as strictly incense, but I ALSO still find myself going back in for more. Absolutely huffable, and I’m sure would be glorious on a lover after a night out. If you’re in a particular kind of mood it absolutely will fit the bill: It’s moody, it’s broody, it’s snooty.
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musk and brimstone with a cologne edge, maybe ink underneath when wet. Goes brimstone for a while then settles very musky, dark and reddish
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I get both coffee and rose but applied I have to wonder if it’s even the right scent because it’s overwhelmingly lemony.Surely it’s not Barraquito? But no, I thought I smelled rose in the bottle. Maybe it’s like my mom’s Queen Elizabeth tea roses, just a lemony rose? But it really is far more like coffee and lemon candy. Not a bad combination but not at all what I thought
- Yesterday
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Okay, I'll bite! I'll be the first person to leave an inadequate review, so hopefully someone else sees this and is moved to write up a better one. I have no idea what Unquiet Slumbers is doing on my skin, but it doesn't feel like it's quite having the intended effect. The first note I'm hit with a super powdery sweet musk, tinted with something else I'm finding hard to pin down--something a little sour? Bitter, perhaps? On drydown, I swear I get the faintest whiff of peppermint, something very clean. Throughout the day it just goes poof and becomes 100% powdery musk with something slightly herbaceous that vaguely reminds me of Opal Crown. I'm going to let this one rest and see if it comes together for me in a month or so. In the meantime, any takers for that review gauntlet?
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When I first tested this it was all tomtegröt on me and I thought this was another gourmand fail. Now it has thankfully improved. The porridge note is still overpowering for the first minute or so, and I am disappointed that it seems to be made out of oat rather than rice on my skin. But soon the scent becomes much more complex and compelling. Lingonberry is the strongest note and I also get something akin to date (maybe part of the tomtegröt accord). Along with the bright lingonberry, there is an elusive cool note, smoother and less obtrusive than other BPAL frost notes I have encountered. Next the frankincense and woody branches appear. I don’t read the frankincense as such, it just provides a slight incense touch to the spindly woods. As yulween dries down, it shifts from cold to warm on my skin. There is still a hint of porridge but I largely get a warm dry wood, reminding me a little of the inside of a sauna. This is still too gourmand for me to desire a full bottle, but I will enjoy using up my imp on days I want something warm and cozy but with a little bit of gauntness.
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Friends, I can’t stop laughing about this scent, because… I am a rare book cataloguer who works in a back office where pretty much all that happens is we catalogue old books and drink a lot of coffee, and in the vial this oil smells exactly like work. EXACTLY. The coffee is strong and sharp, and under it is something like a few hundred years’ worth of books that have been lying around. Sometimes with book scents I feel like they land in “inspired by” territory vs. exact reproduction, but this? I’m telling you, this is dead-on a big ol’ heap of old books and a long sequence of daily pots of strong coffee. After drydown I can pick the leather note out a bit more on my skin, and a hint of the foam. It’s still very dry overall — definitely unsweetened espresso. Am I going to wear this during the week so I smell like work while I’m at work?!? On the weekends to remind myself of the office?!? I don’t really know, but at least for today I’m wearing it to go to the Mütter Museum!
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Terrible Moon: Pistachio and Vanilla Buttercream
PresterJoan replied to doomsday_disco's topic in Duets & Menage A Trois
This scent goes on with lots of almond-scented pistachio and a lactic, very-slightly-tangy vanilla. As it's wearing, the almond extract quality fades and the accord becomes one that's nutty, but not identifiable as any particular nut. The tang of the buttercream fades, too, to where it's just a creamy vanilla. I'll need to test it a couple more times before I decide whether it's worth a FS, but I like it very much. - Last week
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Wolf Moon: Amber & Grey Musk
vixen of pie replied to doomsday_disco's topic in Duets & Menage A Trois
To me, the amber note is resinous and golden. The grey musk reads as a very light, smoky incensey sort of scent on clean cotton, as if someone has left a metaphysical store and the scent lingers on their clean clothes. It's a very cozy scent that feels warm, fuzzy and muddled. -
keenjeangreen changed their profile photo
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For me, the “ruby-tinged amber sunlight” comes through first, both on my skin and when I try this scent on a testing strip. The scent has a slightly wan warmth and an expansive feeling that makes me think of being outdoors. As it dries, the woods come forward for me, though I never really pick up anything green. I suspect bergamot is in here helping to drive my positive reaction, although I can’t pick it out from the blend — but many of my favorite scents have that note. I love the way scents can capture a feeling or a story, and this definitely smells to me like watching a sunset outside near a fragrant woods. When fresh, it has significant throw, and while it disappeared from my skin after eight hours, after 24 hours on my testing strip, it’s still going strong.
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Oh maaan. I get more rose on my skin initially, a big gorgeous heady bloom. Different than the rose of Peacock Queen, sweet and slightly fruity without being an overly sweet, jammy rose. As it dries I get a beautiful toasty coffee note supporting the rose. They dry to a beautiful harmony.
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Terrible Moon: Cardamom and Black Amber
roseus replied to doomsday_disco's topic in Duets & Menage A Trois
In in the imp I get a soft amber with a almost mentholated cardamom. My skin turns this to a generic men's shower gel unfortunately. -
Beaver Moon: Green Tea & Cookie Dough
roseus replied to doomsday_disco's topic in Duets & Menage A Trois
Slighty buttery cookie dough with a gorgeous jasmine tea. Slightly vegetal and not citrusy like some green tea notes can be. Fresh but cozy. A beautiful gourmand-ish. -
Such a soft, sweet comforting scent. Toasty bread (there is something oaty too), sweetened and bit by the honey and amber and a bit creamy. Just a hint of soft, clean (but not overwhelmingly laundry-y) cotton underneath.
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Immediately in the bottle and on the skin, this smells fizzy, bubbly, and playful. Like when a carbonated drink tickles your nose. I'm actually shocked there isn't a listed note of champagne, aldehydes, something. Regardless, this is wonderful. I don't get much mandarin, but the melon is quite strong, especially in the bottle and first upon application. Later, it dries down into a creamy tuberose scent with melon layered on top. It's wonderful as a spring and summer scent, and I'm very glad I have a bottle.
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The Donkey's Tail
kinneret_rising replied to doomsday_disco's topic in Gifts with Donation or Purchase
I received a tiny sample of The Donkey’s Tail dripped onto a little cloth heart. I liked Gloomily, Gloomily, which smells to me like a drizzly lavender meadow. For me The Donkey’s Tail also evokes a meadow, but it’s full of wildflowers and strange herbs and is somehow exciting and unexpected. Is it the bourbon vanilla that’s so surprising? I would be tempted to get a full bottle of this if it were available. -
From the store description: The new discovery of “Table Moving,” by means of an unseen power from the human hand, has only been introduced into England within the last few weeks; but it would be difficult to dingle out any scientific subject which has with such rapidity, taken so extensive a hold of the popular mind. If we travel by railway carriage, steamboat, or omnibus, this is the universal topic of conversation. From the aristocratic saloons of Belgravia to the “Parlours” of Whitechapel – the Green Park to the Cat and Mutton Fields, “table moving” is all the rage. From the Royal Institution, where the secretary pokes his head through a forest of electrical apparatus, to inform the audience that the facts are established, down to the humblest Mechanics’ Institute, all are full of it, and the tables, to quote the words of the old song – “are all a moving, move, move, moving,” – Every evening party must of course have its experiments; accordingly, gentlemen come provided with very elegant chapeaux for the occasion, and many an innocent flirtation occurs consequent on the proper arrangement of the little fingers of some of the fair operators. As “sweet eighteen,” with her blue eyes and golden locks, gracefully links her little finger with Charles’s, in a retired corner, what wonder if the hat should tremble? And Charles, being of course fond of poetry (his very name is a guarantee for that), cannot resist softly breathing into Lucy’s ear, that exquisite line from Waller, on his fair one’s harp – “Touched by that hand – who would not tremble too?” And after a little more conversation of a strictly scientific character, they feel quite satisfied with the success of the experiment. Mamma, who has been watching the progress of the magnetic influence at a distance, “has no patience with such nonsense, and wonders young men and young women cannot find something better to do.” She forgets that there was a magnetic influence at work about twenty years since, and what little trifles served as conductors then. – Table Moving, its causes and phenomena: with directions how to experiment *** I was charmed by the story that came with this scent, of romance blooming in the presence of supposedly scientific spiritualist experiments. I tried the oil on a testing strip first, and wet, I smelled cool, airy white florals and green apple with a bit of honey. After leaving the strip to dry overnight, I found it eight hours later still going strong, but with the orange blossom forward. On a skin test, for me the orange blossom came forward immediately. This scent has significant throw, and I am smelling it strongly even when my hand is a good 2 feet away from my nose. It’s surprisingly intense and I like it a lot, maybe enough to look for more than this decant.
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Both wet and dry, to me this primarily smells like camphor, which is used in incense to clear impurities from a space. I do pick up some green notes, but the astringent, woody notes overwhelm them. It’s too medicinal for me to use as a perfume, but I could definitely turn it into a spray and use it to freshen the energy of my house. Quite bracing!
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This is my ultimate cozy scent. My skin gets along with both vanilla and cedar very well, but I wasn't expecting the beeswax to be so beautiful. Each note is strong, but at the same time this is incredibly soft, creamy, and harmonious in its entirety. It starts out strong on the skin, but after a bit, it becomes a soft, sweet scent that stays close to my skin. Absolutely perfect.
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On Imagination was paired with this poem by Phyllis Wheatley to celebrate Juneteenth: Thy various works, imperial queen, we see, How bright their forms! how deck’d with pomp by thee! Thy wond’rous acts in beauteous order stand, And all attest how potent is thine hand. From Helicon’s refulgent heights attend, Ye sacred choir, and my attempts befriend: To tell her glories with a faithful tongue, Ye blooming graces, triumph in my song. Now here, now there, the roving Fancy flies, Till some lov’d object strikes her wand’ring eyes, Whose silken fetters all the senses bind, And soft captivity involves the mind. Imagination! who can sing thy force? Or who describe the swiftness of thy course? Soaring through air to find the bright abode, Th’ empyreal palace of the thund’ring God, We on thy pinions can surpass the wind, And leave the rolling universe behind: From star to star the mental optics rove, Measure the skies, and range the realms above. There in one view we grasp the mighty whole, Or with new worlds amaze th’ unbounded soul. Though Winter frowns to Fancy’s raptur’d eyes The fields may flourish, and gay scenes arise; The frozen deeps may break their iron bands, And bid their waters murmur o’er the sands. Fair Flora may resume her fragrant reign, And with her flow’ry riches deck the plain; Sylvanus may diffuse his honours round, And all the forest may with leaves be crown’d: Show’rs may descend, and dews their gems disclose, And nectar sparkle on the blooming rose. Such is thy pow’r, nor are thine orders vain, O thou the leader of the mental train: In full perfection all thy works are wrought, And thine the sceptre o’er the realms of thought. Before thy throne the subject-passions bow, Of subject-passions sov’reign ruler thou; At thy command joy rushes on the heart, And through the glowing veins the spirits dart. Fancy might now her silken pinions try To rise from earth, and sweep th’ expanse on high: From Tithon’s bed now might Aurora rise, Her cheeks all glowing with celestial dies, While a pure stream of light o’erflows the skies. The monarch of the day I might behold, And all the mountains tipt with radiant gold, But I reluctant leave the pleasing views, Which Fancy dresses to delight the Muse; Winter austere forbids me to aspire, And northern tempests damp the rising fire; They chill the tides of Fancy’s flowing sea, Cease then, my song, cease the unequal lay. – Phillis Wheatley This was my first purchase from BPAL and I fell in love! I have a hard time picking out the individual notes — they blend so well — but for me it is an airy, dynamic scent. I often wear it for work because it feels both clarifying and creative; it puts me in a focused but expansive frame of mind. On Imagination is light enough to be worn in hot weather, but it also feels substantive and complex. Although it has sweet notes, the airiness is what I notice first, like the olfactory equivalent of standing under a big sky. I put this on when I need a little inspiration.
