Jump to content
Post-Update: Forum Issues Read more... ×
BPAL Madness!

All Activity

This stream auto-updates     

  1. Today
  2. roseus

    A Woman in Front of the Setting Sun

    Warm and soft like candleglow. A round, gentle almost honey-like sweetness. Balsamic, almost woody at times. Something reminds me a bit of Little Wooden Doll. Absolutely lovely.
  3. roseus

    King Haggard

    Slightly bitter, ashy cedar. Rugged, austere is a good word too. Agreed that it feels like a good DND scent
  4. ArtemisSelene

    Caramel Apple Ginger Ale Float

    So yummy! In the bottle I get a blast of fizzy ginger ale and caramel Wet the ginger ale comes out full force but also settles into the background rapidly Dry for me the caramel is the strongest note with a hint of apple. Almost smells like a caramel apple scented candy opposed to an actual caramel apple. I would say medium throw. Absolutely perfect for fall!
  5. roseus

    Cat Sleeping on an Armchair

    Sweet coconut cream. Get a little fluffier and airy on my skin.
  6. roseus

    A Snug Corner

    Fresh on me this smells like applied pie. The bread note melds into the apple and smells like the crust. It is lightly spiced, lightly sweet, and utterly cozy. More bready and cinnamon-y as it dries. Makes me think of a fairy tale cottage.
  7. “Men love a prop so well, that they will lean on a pointed poisoned spear…” Mary Shelley, The Last Man (1826) View the full post.
  8. Liquid Sword

    The Witches Have a Fire Again

    I got this from a decant circle in ‘23. I usually enjoy pine, I love it in Dior Granville and Serge Lutens Parole d’eau, so I’m surprised when I didn’t like this. It’s been sitting for a year and still somehow smells like oysters? It’s mineralic. It’s possible it was labelled wrongly.
  9. samanare

    The Fading Crimson of the Sky

    The lime leaf, violet leaf, and oak combine into a sour, sharp woodsy note that dominates the scent. I cannot pick out the bergamot, but I think it's adding to the lime leaf. But this is not a citrus scent at all, the lime is noticeable, but it's especially green and woodsy, almost herbal. The sandalwood provides a smooth oud that sits in the background and gains strength with time. I was really surprised how un-citrus this scent is, despite being lime forward. Instead, it's a very green, leafy, woodsy scent.
  10. samanare

    Smiling Melancholy

    The heliotrope dominates the florals and while the floral notes are pale, they are not especially delicate on me. The florals just slightly dominate the cashmere note, the latter of the two does get stronger with wear. The white musk can't quiet be picked out on its own, instead creating the mentioned chilliness to the scent. I like the description of absence of warmth in the previous post. It reminds me more of hard glass than cold. The inspiration of a forced smile that does not reach the eyes comes through.
  11. samanare

    Mircalla, Countess Karnstein

    Resin and velvet on me. I do not get any of the fruitiness of the blackcurrant or the floral of the rose. Both instead I think are lending to a more resin, almost woodsy quality of the scent. It reminds me of labdanum more than anything else. The velvet slightly dominates the scent, so it ended up being a very dark, smoky velvet scent on me.
  12. samanare

    Candied Apple

    As an apple lover, I really wanted to like this one, but this scent is not for me. The apple ends up being noticeably mushy smelling on me. And the syrup note is especially sweet on me, to the point of being chalky and reminding me of an especially artificial hard candy. And the combo of the sugary hard candy and mushy apple did not mix well to my nose.
  13. samanare

    Ruins of Karnstein

    I got more of the moss and greenery. The woodsy elements dominate on me, but register to me as a cedar. Reminds me of a very fragrant walk through a deciduous forest, fresh cedar heavy, with a lot of greenery.
  14. samanare

    The Stuff that Dreams are Made Of

    The various florals and creamier notes combine to make what I could have sworn was an especially smooth orris note. This did not smell particularly floral on me. Instead, I'd describe it as far more of a soft, creamy, more musk than sweet scent. It ended up being a little simple on me, smelling more like an orris or smooth musk single note. The inspiration of soft, inscrutable dreams comes through, but did not end up being very interesting on me.
  15. samanare

    Dead Leaves, Black Tea, and Bergamot

    The black tea noticeably dominates on me. The DL note is clearly present, but sits in the background. And I can barely pick out the bergamot on its own, it mostly supports the black tea note. The tea note here is very crisp, almost sharp, and has noticeable lemon undertones, especially with the bergamot. It's pretty strong, almost reminding me of bergamot tea flavoring. Overall, ends up being an especially crisp, black tea dominated duo with dead leaves.
  16. samanare

    Darling, Darling

    The sugared pear and violet dominate on me, combining to make what to me reads as sweet-sour bubblegum. The other notes come out more with time, but the very sugared pear and violet combo stay in front.
  17. samanare

    Knave of Pumpkins

    Pumpkin tarts. In comparison to the original, the rose is even less noticeable on me and the pumpkin makes it less sweet, while still being very much a foody scent. It still has a candy quality I recall from the original, reminding me of tart candies, and thus almost chalky. I agree it's not overly pumpkiny, just enough to be noticeable and make the scent almost creamy.
  18. Yesterday
  19. Elspethdixon

    Suffragium

    Wearing Suffragium for Election Day and just realized I’d never reviewed it. Wet/in the imp: Sweet and slightly paper-y, with a hint of wood. There’s an almost coconut like quality to it. Freshly applied: Once on the skin, the palo santo and cedar come forward, still with that coconut-like sweetness underneath. There’s an oddly musty element to it for a few minutes before it settles into a gentle, serene palo santo-dominant incense with hints of cedar underneath (the scent description doesn’t specify what type of cedar it is, but it smells more like atlas cedar than Virginia cedar to me - it’s spa-like rather than cedar-closet/chest-like). I don’t get the cola-like fizzy quality I usually get from labdanum - this is almost entirely palo santo/sweet white sandalwood/cedar. It’s light, cool, and airy. Suffragium fades off my skin pretty quickly unless I reapply it, so I don’t have an accurate read on the later drydown (other than “faint palo santo and cedar”) because I keep layering new applications on top of it.
  20. Ceux

    Moroccan Pumpkin

    Warm and soft buttery spices and a lovely sandalwood, with a touch of pumpkin rind to it. Wearing it feels so cosy, it's perfect for this time of the year when days are getting shorter and colder. Medium throw and very long wear.
  21. skyturtles

    Lemon-Scented Sticky Bat

    Ugh, I almost wish I didn't love this as much as I do. But I do. Lemon & sugar, what more do you need?? It's like the fanciest lemon drop you'll ever have the pleasure of encountering. I know I should probably save it for the summer months or something, but I can't help reapplying it now in November.
  22. The Magician's Apprentice

    Insulation Board Tombstone

    This is truly a wonderfully bizarre concoction. Having first sniffed this in the bottle, I was a little worried about Insulation Board Tombstone not living up to its highly promising name - the scent of fir and something lemongrass-like, at least to my nose, were very easily distinguishable, which took away some of the fantasy of PVC pipes, spray paint and gloom. On the skin, however, the fir and the citrus disperse into an indistinct sharpness but which definitely no longer belongs to nature, resembling more something that I can only describe as melting plastic. A little burnt; definitely artificial. According to my boyfriend, the resulting scent is that of his PC overheating during summer, nostalgic - to me, it’s definitely like hours spent inhaling various fumes in a badly ventilated garage. Although the above may sound off-putting to someone differently disposed than I, Insulation Board Tombstone surprisingly settles into something furtive on the skin: the throw’s very intimate - insulated, you might say - thus you won’t be leaving those walking past wondering if you’ve been dipped in a vat of mystery chemicals before leaving your house.
  23. Liquid Sword

    The Sea Foams Blood

    To me this is just a white bar of soap, from the bottle to the dry down. If I’m really reaching, this might have a drop of The Body Shop’s Spa of the World Brittany Coast Algae Shower Gel?
  24. Moonbell

    Loup Garou

    In the imp: Definitely getting the eucalyptus and maybe galangal? I'll admit I had to google what that smells like and people compare it to ginger or mint and I'm definitely getting something along those lines. Doesn't smell very woody. Wet on skin: Same as in the bottle briefly, then the cypress starts to reveal itself. Dry on skin: It really does smell like I've been in the woods!! There's a woody element to it - someone in the early comments mentioned pencil shavings and... kinda that, but in a good way, when I was little my grandad bought me a handmade wooden trinket box as a present, and I loved to sniff the inside of it because 1) I was clearly a very normal child, and 2) it smelled lovely, and something in this blend smells exactly like it. But the juniper and cypress are still there so it's not just wood, the material, this is the woods. Surprisingly, at least on me, this doesn't seem to have an awful lot of throw, but I don't have a problem with that.
  25. Moonbell

    Czernobog

    In the imp: Green, spicy, earthy, and I think I'm picking out the myrrh, which I've figured out I sadly don't enjoy in perfume so I was a bit apprehensive. Wet on skin: Even greener, and surprisingly the myrrh mellows out. Dry on skin: It's really interesting. My skin tends to sweeten a lot of perfumes and this one is no exception, which seems weird for this blend but I quite like it. Some people have mentioned a vanilla-y note at this stage and I kind of get it too - not actual vanilla, just a hint of its sweetness, which I think is just my skin chemistry. Above it there's still a touch of spice and greenery, it feels somewhat feral and sexy at the same time. Not my usual fare but I definitely like it and there are definitely occasions when I'll be using this.
  26. starryeyes

    Portrait of Princess Marthe Bibesco

    A very basic review of this is that it is SWEET! If anyone is familiar with "Eilish 1" perfume, it's similar but with the vanilla sweetness turned way up. In the bottle it smells like a butterscotch liquor. On the skin it's very, very sweet, a strong toffee scent for me as others have mentioned, with a warm vanilla and some musk. I feel like I'm eating dessert while wearing it, lol. It has decent staying power on me, and while I usually amplify florals, the white rose petals take a while to come through and I'm not sure what the silk note is since all the sweet notes take over. If you like sugary gourmands, this one is great. I have to layer it a tiny bit with something a little fresher and simple like "The Rose," though it also works really well with "Hexennacht" or "Queen Alice" if you find it to be too blindingly sweet. I'll have to see if some maturing will bring the rose and silk more forward. Overall happy to have it!
  27. forspecial_plate

    Dead Leaves, Burnt Marshmallows, Clove Cream, and Whiskey

    On my skin the clove stands out strongly, but it's a cozy clove so maybe the cream part is coming through a little bit. I can't specifically pick out burnt marshmallows but after a while, I'm reminded of a sweet and salty treat of some kind. The dead leaves are at about "medium" level in this one. And I can detect the whiskey but it's a background note for me. Sometimes clove can be tricky on me and this does teeter on the edge of "aftershave", but never quite topples over. It just keeps going and going, reminding me of a cozy baked sweet treat that's maybe a teensy bit salty. Or maybe a sweet and salty taffy of some kind, almost like licorice (it doesn't smell like licorice but somehow I keep thinking of it). I only bought a decant but I keep bringing my wrist up to my nose, and I'm thinking about upgrading to 5ml.
  1. Load more activity
×