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Air and Sunshine Galore Home & Linen Spray
Invidiana replied to doomsday_disco's topic in Atmosphere
Despite the overwhelming decay in this story, Air and Sunshine Galore is a breath of clean air in an open room flooded with amber sunlight. It is a a sunny and uplifting type of yellow which rushes in with a welcome breeze of citrus and aldehydes that carries the scent of heliotrope petals. Behind the yellow is just a hint of gleaming metal that has been touched by the sun and is not ominous in the least. It is what the smell of that house is supposed to be like before must and mildew start to creep in. -
This is indeed a yellow smell, browning at the edges like peeling wallpaper. You can almost feel the thick golden beeswax, honey and amber oozing from those haunted walls where that wallpaper, with its yellow curlicues of hay and saffron, is coming unglued to reveal scorched wood with an undercurrent of sweet fig. The sweetness is not sickly sweet, just evocative of decay that would be. It's something you actually do want to get in your hair.
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So, which band does he want me to name three songs from? Bauhaus? Sisters of Mercy? Rosetta Stone? Cocteau Twins? The Cure? I could go on. For an undead record store dickhead, he smells amazing. You know the smell of pleather when you smell it, plastic but leathery plastic. There is just something tactile about it. In his bony hands are several fresh vinyls, and behind him, rows and rows of vinyls. Somewhere in the back of that record store sweet, dark nag champa incense is burning. Ghostly tendrils of smoke surround him as he flashes a grin while trying to decide whether you're worthy of entering his domain.
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A crimson corset unlaced in candlelight. Rain against stained glass. The slow heartbeat of desire beneath black velvet. Dark rose steeped in spiced wine and blood orange, tangled with clove and plum, while a pulse of smoky labdanum and black vanilla drapes the air in velvet shadows. A perfume of ruin and rapture crafted for lovers who haunt each other through centuries.
- Today
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Lace curtains tremble as candle wax tears drip onto the edges of faded love letters. Love that lingers beyond the grave: violet shadows blooming in chilled air, the hush of moonlight on marble skin, a tremulous veil of moonflower petals, and sandalwood incense smoke drifting through cracked glass.
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Black Butterfly Moon: Vanilla and Tobacco Flower
bheansidhe replied to doomsday_disco's topic in Duets & Menage A Trois
I used to grow nicotiana; the blooms have a syrup-sweet scent that I don't find here at all. As doomsday_disco noted, there seems to be a lot of gritty loam anchoring this blend at first, but I find the initial snootfull of dirt wears off. What I'm left with is a woodsy vanilla that's more like tonka bean (without the more cologne-like qualities of that note) over some kind of dry woody resin. It's not a foody or floral blend in the least. It smells like "tobacco flower" in that someone took twists of whole dried tobacco leaves and shaped them into a decorative paper flower (which would make an AWESOME fall table decoration, now that I think about it). It's autumnal, dry, sweet in a woody and resinous way, trailing vanilla bean and pipe smoke in its wake. When I adjust my expectations, I find this a really nice gender-neutral fall blend; it's warming and cozy and low-key. -
Ah, happy scents ❤️ I think my happy scents are most often sweet, a bit tropical or candy like and usually "summer scents" - light, fruity and airy. For example just naming few, Pink Moon 2024 (sugar-swirled strawberry milk with frothed marshmallow cream), Machu Picchu (sweet tropical fruits burst through deep, wet rainforest boughs, enormous steamy blossoms, over thin mountaintop breezes, mingled with the soft, rich golden scent of Peruvian amber), Stoned Bunny Blow Mold (a sun-faded, plasticky shell of rice milk and marshmallow illuminated from within by 420 watts of weed-wafted glowing green amber) and The Serpent in the Berries (strawberry-infused Snake Oil with a froth of marshmallow fluff and a hint of vanilla sugar).
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Tried the search bar but couldn't find anything similar, but please let me know if somebody else already asked this 😀 I am pretty new to Bpal and scents in general, and did not realise how much scent can improve your mood. One of the scents I tried is Shango, and it makes me so very happy. I already heard about Aunt Carolines joy mojo making people happy, so now I will have to try this scent as well, but I wonder (And I realise this will mean different things for different people): Are there any scents you have tried that make you extra happy? For me, I think the pineapple scent note is what does it, but it could also be the sweetness of Shango in general, I am not sure. I just know this scent has been improving my mood a lot and I have had lifelong anxiety (Long story), so anything that makes my everyday life happier and more relaxed means a lot. (I know I could just continue using Shango, but I also like to try out new things, so I just want to know what scents makes you happy and why you think it makes you happy). Thanks 😄
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This scent is a fall day at a New England apple farm stuffed in a bottle. First sniff from the cap gives me almost all freshly pressed, photorealistic apples (somehow green to my nose, rather than the golden ones mentioned in the notes) with a little bit of some newly hewn cedar shingles that were used to patch the barn roof. Applied to skin, I start to get an amberish sweetness that smells like juice changing into something more concentrated as it is pasteurized into cider. Once the transformation to cider is complete, it's time to take a tractor ride around the farm, and the smell of sunshine comes through in the saffron, as does an ephemeral waft of oud hinting at a pasture earthiness rising to your nose when a breeze catches it. Now the sun is starting to set, we're unloaded back into the parking lot, and it's time to go home. The various smells of the day have all melted together on our skin to form a layer of happiness. Five years on, this bottle has lost none of the cheerful top notes that give such a strong apple open, but the base notes don't stick around particularly long (less than 3 hours) and not all listed notes manifested for me; in particular, I got no orange blossom honey at all, and barely any vanilla outside of a brief appearance in Act 2 during the drydown process. There is no spice to provide depth or interest, and in the end it goes a bit sour wood-ish before disappearing. An interesting journey - these same notes in different ratios may have yielded something more continuously appealing for me to reach for, and wear. Aging did not materially alter it for the better to my nose; my favorite part of the experience was the first 30 minutes. May see if I can turn this into an atmo spray or otherwise use it somehow other than on my physical self to enjoy it that way!
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Dead leaves and a dry patchouli, beautiful. I hadn't thought of it until I read Poenari's review above, but yes, very much like Autumn Leaves and Haitian Patchouli HG, one of my absolutely favorites. After a while some dark sweetness emerges from the dried plum. Kind of hippie, kind of goth, exactly what I want to wear in October.
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I really never get snake oil out of this one. I get dead leaves and a lot of neroli, which is always a bully with my skin chemistry, and they continue to be the main players on my skin here. No amber, cardamom or smoked vanilla, just neroli, dead leaves, neroli. I wish this worked on me!
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I think this must be a decant @Teamama gifted me as it would have been foolhardy for me to order something this violet-forward, even though all the other notes a good on me. But when there's violet involved, I barely make out the other notes. Between the violets and the plums, it's very purple, and I do get an opium note underneath and a vanilla sandalwood note on top. Still, everything pretty much ends up getting subsumed by violet, and it's not a note that works well on my skin.
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Medieval Fool Breaking the Fourth Wall
artisjok replied to doomsday_disco's topic in Limited Editions
Uff, this is a strong Medival Fool, no joke. The milk makes it gourmand, and there is a scorched note that brings in bitterness. The musk is heavy and smooshed in it are the fruits and rose petals. It’s breaking some walls, all right, and I’m both intrigued by it and kinda despise it. Perfume-y gourmand-y powerhouse. -
When first applied, there's a woodiness that makes me think more of the shell than the chestnut meat, with something a little sweet and fresh that piques the nose. As it dries down, it becomes smoother and creamier, and the chestnut meat steps forward as the woodiness fades out. After it fully dries down, it's a gentle and subtle blend of chestnut, cardamom, and vanilla. A comforting autumn / winter scent that I am looking forward to wearing as the weather gets cooler.
- Yesterday
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A rich bourbon cream skin musk, formulated to announce and enhance whatever version of oneself is currently coming forth.
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A rich bourbon cream skin musk, formulated to announce and enhance whatever version of oneself is currently coming forth.
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A rich bourbon cream skin musk, formulated to announce and enhance whatever version of oneself is currently coming forth.
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The Blood Moon launch has arrived! Not only have we added a nail polish to our monthly trove of themed items, this Lunacy has brought another round of Rarities and B-Sides. https://blackphoenixalchemylab.com/product-tag/lunacy-october-2025/ And there seems to be a recurring theme among this month's Ars Anni scents as well, not sure if I can put my finger on it...
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KeiKei changed their profile photo
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Strong, definitely white musk scent. Smells clean and "light". I get quite vivid thoughts about this being almost like a nice floral, yet musky flower. Pleasant. I don't wear white musk scents much, but I can definitely see myself wearing this one more often. Maybe in a scent locket though. Something about the oil makes my skin itch. I haven't had an allergic reaction to this one, but I suppose the thickness of the oil makes my skin itch?
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I'm a bit wary of chocolate notes but the milk chocolate here is pleasant (and very recognizably milk chocolate) with almonds! The almonds became more pronounced on skin and veered almost into cherry territory before it sunk back under the milk chocolate. I agree with wolf_truffles- I swear there's just a light dash of cinnamon here! It conjured up childhood memories of adding cinnamon to my hot chocolate mix. It's not super spicy or anything, it's more like the cinnamon sugar on churros than straight ground cinnamon in a jar. It dried down to a 60-40 almond nougat + milk chocolate on my skin. Fun!
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Absolutely gorgeous, bright smoked lavender in the imp that leans more smoke and less herbal as it is applied and dried down on skin. I also get the fenugreek / maple-y undertones others mentioned around an hour in once the lavender has settled, and I am completely smitten with it. The nag champa and tobacco ride together for a good 3 more hours in a lovely sweetness before fading away. I do wish it lasted a bit longer, but have no issue with reapplying. As someone who battles some significant and occasionally debilitating anxiety, I feel like this scent is a talisman of sorts. I often keep lavender EO handy for comfort in difficult moments, and Gaueko is like an elevated level of self-care to wear. I was not expecting it to have such a profound effect on my mood especially with just one small dab on each arm. Adding this to my top 10 favorite GC offerings, immediate FS + backup bottle to keep with me at all times.
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How now, brown cow? Cocoa, musk and hay announce themselves in a sweet, shaggy trio wet in the bottle. Whether the power of suggestion or an actual element of real hay is here, I promptly sneezed 3 times (into my sleeved arm, with my head turned away, because nobody wants or needs my germs even in our current pre-apocalyptic hellscape of a society). Satisfied that this was The Good Stuff, I proceeded with a gentle dab on skin. Here comes the labdanum, tonka, and the barest smudge of vanilla! There is a hint of dust, but it's sunwarmed and not musty. On drydown the cacao continues to be prevalent, and then once the hay burns off the amber comes to the front and things get even sweeter. Throw is low, cozy, and steady for about 5 good hours, and detectable for another 2-3 when given a close sniff. I love it! I grabbed a nicely aged secondhand partial bottle of this during what I like to call my "Oh, hay!" phase, where I basically wanted to smell like a field of grain or stalks or something reminiscent of Little House On The Prairie. With that imagery in mind, I've decided that this could easily be either what Pa Ingalls would smell like if homesteading men in the 1860s bathed more than once a week, or what James Taylor smells like when he plays Sweet Baby James and talks about cowboys and their cattle on the range. Others have suggested this could be a good gift for a masculine leaning person in your life, and I wholeheartedly agree. This is another perfect gateway scent to introduce your Messers young and old to the magic of BPAL.
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With the coffee and tobacco, I was expecting something in line with Pinched with Four Aces. I also felt mildly concerned about the leather, as that frequently amps on me to the exclusion of all others. Instead, this is most carnation. In the bottle there's some promise of the other notes. But once applied, there's really just carnation on me, with a verrrrry delicate melange of the other notes doing deep background work. I have -and adore!- Spanish Carnation SN, so I like this scent and can also tell that *something* else is going on here than just the carnation. But it's more like Spanish Carnation is a fresh cut flower and this is more like that same flower several weeks later after it's dried but still has quite a bit of scent.
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Lightning Moon: Violet and Hay Absolute
VioletChaos replied to doomsday_disco's topic in Duets & Menage A Trois
I concur that this could be a relative of Violet and Vanilla Chiffon, though perhaps more like a first or second cousin rather than a sister In the bottle and when first applied, this is straight up violet flower in all its glory. It gets through warming and over to dry down pretty quickly, which makes sense as a duet, as there are less moving parts that must arrange themselves. This is still mostly violet as mentioned in the previous review. The hay doesn't read as hay in this blend to me, which is a surprise, as normally hay amps at least somewhat with my skin, typically. No, what's interesting here is that the hay only adds a slight touch of sweetness, making this violet less of a direct flower and more of a soft floral essence. Honestly, the thing this scent reminds me the most of is my very first Violet BPAL love, Faith, from Carnivale Diabolique, that sweet, sugared violet confection. This scent is like Faith grown up. Whereas Faith was very much about the interplay of the SUGAR with the violet, here is the same violet note, but the sweetness, though present, is scaled way, way back. It's like running into a childhood friend years later- you can still see the second grader in there, beneath the refined bones of adulthood. I am *delighted* to add this to my collection of violet fragrances 💜 -
I got this as a frottle from the Lab and double thanks- both for sending me a treat with my order and also sending something I might not have tried but am glad I did! In the bottle and when first applied this is straight up summer salad on me- literally it smells like the cucumber salads I devoured as a kid, fresh cucumber from our backyard doused in a generous portion of Italian vinaigrette. YUM! Once it's had a chance to warm and really go through dry down, the lime mellows considerably (this was what read as "salad dressing" in earlier states) and the freesia comes out, balancing the cucumber in equal measure. A very light, fresh scent, I would recommend this for warm weather daytime wear for sure, and for those that need their food or florals to be on the delicate side of things. 😃
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