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- Today
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Ylang ylang and moonflower are a real match made in heaven, they're bringing out the best in each other, and the stargazer lily is a graceful addition. Overall, it's a nectarous nocturnal floral with a sweetly spicy edge to contrast with the lunar glow. These spice-like and skin-warm and eerie ghostly qualities mingle under a fine honeyed glaze that quietly meets the sun-baked earth, a bit dry and crumbly, a little bit reminiscent of some sun-dried desert plants. Flower Moon nimbly side-steps all the pitfalls some of the more controversial notes can bring - there's nothing over-ripe about the ylang, nothing funky going on with the honey, nothing mushroomy about the earth. The perfume is such a lovely match for the label art, a reminder about the hidden world of bats as pollinators, fuzzy velvety little fairies nuzzling into glamorous night-blooming flowers. The earth and balsamic dark amber merge into an enticing, complex incense accord that lingers long after the finely defined florals dissipate into an ambiguous moonlit glow. Somehow this is simultaneously very "natural" and very "perfumey," which I love. Gorgeous!
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I'm sorry for even writing this. I really thought this was going to be a winner and it was great in the vial. But something unholy happened on skin and that funky note others are mentioned turned to, let's say, butyric acid. Just a little, under the surface, making you keep sniffing and wondering if you're losing your mind and then NOPE no you're indeed smelling that.
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Definitely a subtler, more delicate scent on me. I get a lot of agave, which is a thinner, sharper sort of sweetness than the lab's lush and perfumed honey note, and some pale, cool-toned florals, I think primarily ylang-ylang. As it dries I get the dry earth in the background gradually taking up more space. I don't know how bpal gets the sun-baked quality but it feels distinct to me, with the dirt note dusty with that warm heat from the sun and a light herbal quality. The dustiness of this almost makes it feel like it should be tickling my nose, and the sharpness edges on uncomfortable for me. It's a sophisticated, complex scent that I find really interesting, but not precisely pleasant to wear; I was hoping for a lot more florals than I got on this one.
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This--is truly a high quality scent. I normally pause at buying ambers because it usually isn't my vibe at all, but I love lemony gourmands and had to try this. When I first opened the bottle, I immediately get a whuff of a golden, nearly soapy scent that reminds me so much of my grandmother's chestnut-leaf scented soaps (these soaps are I was only ever able to find in family-run pharmacies in Spain. I've no idea what they're called or what's in the actual soap, but they do give a golden, slightly herbal smell). This note then accompanies thick, golden honey (not the acidic acacia types, but like rawberry/manuka like honey), and I can then smell frothy vanilla cream, and a zesty, sweet lemon peel scent. This is how I pictured Chanel No. 5 would smell when I was a kid. It smells vintage, pretty, but it also smells like a pot of frothy Bon Maman mousse with near-caramelly honey. A perfume that nails its theme and makes you want to take a trip to St. Severin street.
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Bury me in spooky cereal!! Dry, pumpkin spicy goodness with a whiff of sweet cocoa underneath. The milk note is the drydown. This doesn’t have a serious throw to it, it’s more like if you sit near or hug someone that they will most likely notice you smell like some childhood favorite breakfast cereal that they can’t quite indentify. I bet it will age beautifully!
- Yesterday
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This is a delicious smoky cloud of cacao, mascarpone and vanilla. The fig syrup showed up in the beginning but afterwards left the party. Very good... contemplating a bottle
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Carnation petals, not overly potent, just the right amount. I can also detect a woody spicy backbone.
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We've created a perfume oil to accompany the latest Century Guild publishing campaign, for Alphonse Mucha's 1897 fantasy/romance book Ilsée. You can add it on to any pledge tier for $27/each: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/centuryguild/alphonse-mucha-ilsee-the-far-princess-rare-1897-art-book? ILSÉE Ancient and unhurried, warm and resinous incense smoke curls through a palace that has stood since before the dawn of history. Amber sparkling like Byzantine beadwork, poppy petals, sweet frankincense smoke swirling into ornamental flourishes, feathery white orris. Gilded with ancient tales, this perfume dries into something akin to the inside of a forgotten reliquary box: sacred objects, old wood, petals pressed flat by the weight of centuries.
- Last week
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In the bottle this is lightly floral and sweet. When I first put it on it went to a lightly floral baby powder, not unpleasant but not something I usually like. After an hour or so it is now more musky amber with a hint of spice and I quite like it. I will have to try them layered next.
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Boozy white wine mixed with glowy musk and jammy peach. The peach here is warm but not stewed or grilled. Instead, it's a gently oven-toasted peach half with a golden glowy amber syrup drizzled across it to amp up that sultriness. A gorgeous GORGEOUS peachy amber with a winey bite to it. This is one of my favorite BPAL peaches AND BPAL ambers. Every time I smell it I smile 🥰💕 Sexy, inviting, and fun 10/10 no further notes (;
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I love Fae! It's juicy and bright and fun. While wet, this reminds me Amos 4D peach gummies. The white musk keeps this feeling fresh and flirty. As it dries and the “peach gummy” features die back, the herbs bloom on my skin and make it feel like a totally different fragrance for somewhere between 10-30 minutes. But then the peach and white musk appear again, shimmery-sweet and oh so darling. It quickly becomes super fun and summery and fresh. Fae does warm up and become more complex throughout the final drydown phase, too, which is quite nice 🥰 This is one that I believe requires at least a few hours of wear before one can fully judge it, the morphing it does early on is pretty dramatic on my skin, and maybe it will be on yours too~
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Lives up to its name! Very fun and morphs a ton throughout wear. Upon application, a red musk thunders forward, incensey and glorious, hand-in-hand with a nose-clearing fresh note I at first suspected was some sort of Strange Mint From Another Planet. Not really mint, but cold-ish and makes my nose feel OPEN and CLEAR like mint does. I bet you can guess what that is from the notes (; A floaty floral lazily rolls out as this scent blooms on skin, joining the chaos with a smug lil smile on its face. Floaty and floofy, it plays such a fun foil to that W A S A B I I I I. Some resinous warm sweetness glows underneath, not overwhelming. I believe there's also my favorite BPAL black musk in here, with its incense dancing delightedly in the fray. Chaotic does not stay all-caps CHAOTIC for the entirety of wear, though. Warm, somewhat sweet, cozy notes are this cutie's base. I associate the base notes in this one with warm fuzzy brown coat, comfortably worn in, nice quality. The warm notes are the majority of the wear experience! That mélange of musks be mélangin' and I do be enjoyin. This one is definitely worth trying, even if it doesn't seem like your type of fragrance because it really is unexpected in how it smells, but in a fun way!
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This is nice. Dry, subtle, lightened up by the blueberry which isn't really super BLOOB for fellow fruit scent-eschewers. Unsure if I will upgrade to a bottle but it's very nice.
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Record of Women’s Treasures of the Way of Elegance Day and Night
bheansidhe replied to doomsday_disco's topic in Lupercalia
This becomes a kissin' cousin to Snake Oil on my skin: nutty, a little peppery, pleasantly dusty, ending in a faint waft of incense smoke. I'd say the balsam and labdanum dominate overall. The coffee note is perceptible at first, but only for a few minutes. -
PUMPKIN SPICE. CINNAMON AND CLOVE. A little hint of milk. After about a half hour the PUMPKIN SPICE mellows down a little and lets the milk and cocoa shine through. I think I'll like this a lot in the fall but it's not a very spring/summer scent.
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Wowwww. I’m gobsmacked. I love it. Back in 2018, I was very low on funds and missed out on this release. Lucky me, I came upon a forumite selling all of the ones I had wanted and I was able to secure the 3 that had escaped me! In this blend, all of the notes are generally a win on my skin and I am happy to report this is a big win of a blend. Wet on the skin, all night blooming flowers sans no spice. Once it warms up, the clove takes front and center (spice amper) for a while. I love the whole journey so far. What a beautiful blend!
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I was hoping this would be the hair gloss version of 2019’s Honey Marshmallow bath oil. Sadly for me, while it’s similar (I’m pretty sure it’s the same honey note), it’s a much lighter, softer marshmallow than the bath oil’s thick, creamy goodness. It’s similar to Marshmallow and Candyfloss hair gloss, except warmer and not quite as sweet. I still like it, if not as much as Honey Marshmallow bath oil (although, to be fair, that’s like saying “this author is not quite as good as Shakespeare”). I just wish it were stronger.
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Sweet, a bit fruity, juicy, and punchy at first, featuring many complex florals I’m not familiar with. At least one is reminiscent of tuberose. Definitely an air of lush, expensive soap or shampoo, as another forum member pointed out. I get delicate, watery, aquatic freshness from what I believe is the calla lily, and an airy, herbal quality may represent the ivy. From what I’m reading, the note of peach or apricot is the osmanthus. A citrusy, green-apple-like component (probably the gladiolus) offers a unisex impression of fresh, cool, clean cologne, and the white iris lends a powdery feel. As noted by other reviewers, I also detect a hint of melon and/or cucumber, and there is a green quality. The fruitiness combined with the chalkiness another reviewer mentioned give the impression of Flintstones children’s chewable vitamins. Crisp, cool, tart, soapy, reminiscent of Bath and Body Works’ Sweater Weather. A bit vampiric (Bram Stoker’s Dracula garden or Corpse Bride wedding bouquet vibes), and definitely scratches the itch that was considering getting There’s Water Here. I can also imagine it having been part of the Crimson Peak series. Lab-fresh, fades down to a barely-sweet, chalky note on skin over the course of a full day of wearing (the ivy?) but tart, mouthwatering freshness sticks better to clothing. #22!
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Dark, with a bitter edge, mysterious while remaining fresh. Classic lily, sweet and powdery and beautiful, a bittersweet, multifaceted blossom. Deep and indolic, a spooky beauty reminiscent of jasmine tea. This one hits all the deep notes and is at once simple and complex, soft and subtle while powerful and expansive, as elegant, elegiac, chthonic, and vampiric as 20 years of reviews have faithfully chronicled. Very long-lasting on fabric. My third BPAL starring lily; I knew I had to have her after loving The Hourglass and June 23, 1868. Fades smoothly over the day into faint, vanillic sweetness over nearly twelve hours. BPAL #21!
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I ordered a sample of this one expecting a sticky-sweet gourmand (given the caramel and praline + cacao). Instead, the amber and oud give it a cool, sophisticated vibe that reminds me of a sweeter, lighter cousin of Courtiers and Cats. There’s a fuzzy quality to it, and I also get the hint of something leathery geminirubyshoes mentioned. This one is the rare caramel scent that might still appeal to gourmand-haters.
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The copal and frankincense are clean and lemony (to the point that I misremembered the copal note as palo santo when I first applied this - during the wet stage it has the same clean, fresh, slightly sharp/resinous quality palo santo does to me) and somehow they combine with the beeswax to smell like… furniture polish? Like, I cannot stress enough how much the freshly applied/wet stage and early drydown smells like fancy furniture polish. Tangy, sweet, beeswax-based polish that gives me nostalgic memories of dusting and polishing the antique chairs in the parlor when I was a kid (Weirdly, I think I like it - I’m sad that it appears to be pretty short-lived on me and is gone after only an hour or so) ETA: I definitely like it. If it lasted a full day I’d be buying a bottle. I want to smell like Beth’s luxurious antique furniture polish for hours, not a mere sixty minutes.
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Em- changed their profile photo
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Nexthobbyplease joined the community
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Strawberry Moon: Wild Strawberries and Inky Musk
nikaida replied to doomsday_disco's topic in Duets & Menage A Trois
Ohhh, yummy~ sun-warmed juicy ripe strawberries, fresh and soft and bordering on jammy. Think fresh strawberries macerating with granulated sugar and you've got a solid vision of the strawberries here 🥰🍓. The inky musk was quite present when wet but on my skin w/ my nose the heart is strawberry-forward. I swear for a moment early on I got something that reminded me of a lightened-up Siberian Musk (BPAL), but then the strawberries took center stage snd I'm struggling to pick out the musk(s?) in play here. Around hour 3 of my wear test the strawberry started to die back, and by hour 5 it is mostly the musk(s???) that is being used. I don't really slather perfume so it is pretty faint by this point, but what I do smell is very lovely--a refined, dry musk that isn't terribly sweet and has low projection. I compared near a wrist dab from my bottle of Siberian Musk and it does bear a resemblance to the lighter, husk-like notes in Siberian Musk but not the deeper or more amber-like qualities. Somewhat paper note qualities in there. I love strawberry fragrances, they feel so summery and fun, and BPAL has so many FUN FUN FUN strawberry accords 🍓 I can see the connection that others are making to the wild strawberries and amber hair gloss. This and ws&a are going to be fun to layer together! I love the full wear experience 🥰 -
Coziness in a bottle - the sweet bread pudding studded with dark cherries, a touch of whisky or cherry liquor blended into the butter- and confectioner's sugar-laden bread pudding glaze (just a touch) balanced by the gently steaming herbal tea. The tea note is distinct and the blue chamomile reads almost like an Earl Grey bergamot, but milder, snuggly like a sweater. I'd say the blend was dominated by blue chamomile tea, then cherry, and then bread pudding as a note in the background, making it more of a sweet afternoon pause than a sugary gourmand.
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Sparkling punchy grapefruit in the vial and wet. I can even get a hint of rose. But on me, it dries down to a pink powder. Just a big powder bomb. I want any of the listed notes 😭
