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Got a frimp of this with a recent order. I can smell the tea most clearly. There's a hint of crisp citrus as well. The musk is a very soft background note. It really is a lovely, clean smell without smelling soapy! I feel like it would make a great scent for a shower gel, or a light lotion to use in summer. I can see myself wearing this more regularly when the weather warms up. It's not one of those scents that feels like it was made for me, but it's pleasant and light and uplifting.
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I got a frimp of this with a recent order. It's not one I would have ordered for myself. It smells NOTHING like what the listed notes would suggest, to me. It's very floral. Someone on the BPAL website described it as smelling like lilac, which seems almost right, but it has a weird funk underneath the initial light floral smell. It almost suggests rot or something. That kind of ruins it for me. I'm washing this off. It makes me sad, because I like it initially.
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Once again, we're closing down the site in solidarity with nationwide efforts to demand that I.C.E. get out of US cities (I mean, the list of demands is pretty long at this point, but that's the most recent impetus!) 9am - 5pm our website will be in maintenance mode. Last time we did this, it forced everyone to reset their password afterward in order to log into their accounts We're hoping to avoid that this time! Also, this seems like a worthy opportunity to remind everyone that we're working up to a major website relaunch. When the new site arrives, your transaction history and any reviews left on the main site will be evaporated. Poof! If that info is important to you, please slay your procrastination demons and gather that info ASAP. Thanks, one and all!
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Full disclosure: I'm pretty new to BPAL, only really started trying them out early last year (before that had only blind bought a bottle or two in the initial stages of my (indie) perfume journey while I was still trying to figure out my preferences so wasn't having great luck) and now after a little under a year I am starting to understand what works for me when it comes to BPAL. This perfume, Black Lily, is one that really works for me and is currently the only GC bottle I own. Lily is my favorite floral and Black Lily is one of my top picks for a lily perfume. I don't know exactly how to describe it except to say it is a bit mysterious. Yes it's mainly lily and you have to like lily for this, but it's deceptively beautiful and not JUST lily. For me, there's a sort of danger lurking underneath. I would call it a dark floral, sometimes it seems like it has a sort of incense element in there as well. It's quite potent, a couple dabs will last me most of the day. I definitely recommend giving this one a try if you love lilies like I do!
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Fried dough and mystery! jam. On reflection, that's probably the honey. Also waxy chocolate and probably some pumpkin spice going on but there's so much here it's hard to say. If you ever wanted to smell like a sufiganiyah and honey with a little smushed chocolate candy debris now is your chance. It's pretty rich.
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As a longtime fan of Bah!, I purchased this within seconds of its release and have periodically worn and treasured it ever since. I cannot believe, therefore, that I never reviewed it! As is true of a good portion of single notes, one of the nice aspects of this scent is that it stays pretty close to form from first bottle sniff, all the way through to dry down, and long passed that point. And for me, that means a flawless coffee candy scent. I agree with the prior poster that it's more brewed than bean, but I don't think that hurts it in the least. It's also lightly sweet, which I welcome, as it removes the sometimes-present edge of acridity (not acidity) that can occur with coffee notes in perfumery. It's a wonderful, comforting daytime scent on its own, but can definitely be used to enhance other fragrances that might be spruced up with a bit of layering. In all: while I wound up getting rid of the majority of my SN's over the years, this one will always be a keeper
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Bombastic Subtropical Turquoise Cream Pie
Smelly_Swede replied to doomsday_disco's topic in Gifts with Donation or Purchase
I can feel the crust. I don't get any fruit, but a bit of a weird sweetness that sort of lingers. The first thought that came to mind for me was some kind of curry dish. There is something in this that feels a bit dirty to me, but it's unclear to me what it is. It feels like the notes sort of take each other out. -
BPAL: (in the singsong call of Marco Polo) "Leath-errrrrrrr" Me: "Com-ingggggg" (in the singsong answer of same) Freshly tanned leather, not too dark, mixed with what smells like a slightly yeasty cinnamon bun with a light drizzle of apple tinged flood icing. Somehow, even on skin, the cinnamon doesn't really ride in hard at all. Not spicy, not dank, not cloying. Just hide and baked fluffy dough. Dare I call it a Leathermond? Sits close-ish to skin, doesn't evolve much (but doesn't need to), still tossing random wafts of scent my way close to 7 hours later. The word "genderless" comes to mind, which I mean more of in the sense that this will smell really good on you (I hope!) no matter how you identify. I haven't been so quickly enamored of a leathermond scent since Three Pairs of Shoes. I bet it will age like a dream!!
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Seasonal perfection - what an exceptionally well blended, joyful, memory conjuring scent. Wet in the bottle are fir needles and forest-worn frocks that are a bit musky from Father's effort of dragging the tree inside on a slightly damp December day. On skin, these notes combine with the fabric of Mother's dress and her dried wedding bouquet hanging faithfully above the hearth, a symbol of other celebratory times. Her honey scented face powder has put in a hard day's work decorating the house, but still leaves a lingering waft of sweetness as she tenderly bends over to kiss the children goodnight on their foreheads. These scents meld together to make a bouquet unique to their family, the season, and this moment. This is another stunner that is so textural and multifacted that my meager imagination springs to life to manifest a vision to accompany what I am smelling. I'm mentally transported to a middle class Victorian home, seated next to a Noble fir tree. As always, the fabric notes here are perfectly tuned. Moderate projection and just under 5 hours of wear before it fades away. Perfect for that day you decide to do the family Christmas cards, decorate the tree, or sing the songs of days gone by.
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The Devil volunteered to make something for his neighborhood bake sale, and this is what his house smelled like for a full day afterwards. Crisp cinnamon spiced cookies and sinuous tentacles of swarthy patchouli tickle their way from the bottle to your nose. Applied to skin, the molasses arrives, getting really deep and broody. I swear I'm catching a whiff of the parchment paper that the cookies were baked on? Sin's amber and sandalwood don't have a chance to play until about 35 minutes in, when the cinnamon finally relents a bit. Now I'm getting the impression of some granulated turbinado sugar sprinkled on top of the cookie. Is there a little bit of leather dribbled in here? I'm getting spank-me-very-much vibes. Delectable. Moderately strong projection, with 6 hours of good wear and another 1-2 of the remaining whispers of patchouli. Buy a bottle for this year and two to stash away for safe keeping!
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This one is kind of the inverse of what I expected: a snowball with a shadow of wood and incense rather than a frost dusted branch. In the opening I get the same aldehyde frost as in other Yules like The Crumpet-Fanlight Expedition and Snowman Beatdown. Here it is subtler than in the other two scents, scrubbed quite clean by eucalyptus and given heft by ambergris. I would say this is an ambergris-dominant blend, and it is doing a kind of gourmand frosting thing on my skin that I don’t care for. There is a supporting sizzle of opoponax and at times I get a dry splintery wood, not something I would necessarily recognize as oud. Over the life of the scent, the wood gets stronger and there are moments when it really does conjur rime-coated branches. At these moments this is a love for me, but they are too fleeting. I know from other blends like Lace Lichen that the particular effect of the ambergris that I dislike here is likely to fade with time, so I will hold onto my imp but so far this is unlikely to inspire a full bottle purchase. Overall, a chilly, chiaroscuro scent but with an emphasis on the bright white notes. I would recommend for people who are looking for a frosty scent that isn’t just a blast of ice.
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love! rose isn’t a favorite scent note of mine but this one was so interesting i had to pick up a slink of it from ajevie. this one has a LOT of projection and i can definitely tell it’s in my hair. i think this would’ve been a safe blind buy for me (was a little iffy about the cognac) because it’s great! it’s a lovely powdery rose backed up by a very prominent lacy vanilla note. i didn’t really like other lace spin offs i’ve tried such as, harlow’s lace and batty lace because they were wayyy too sweet. probably due to the caramel and honey in them, but this one is just right for me! it’s like powdery rose candies dusted in extra powdered sugar. i can’t wait until my bottle of millarca arrives! i think they will be simply phenomenal together.
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Black.coffee, absolutely. With syrup and the ghost of burnt hash browns lingering. On remembering that there’s clove I can smell it.
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This is an ethereal veil of snow and white musk, starting out with a blast of bitter cold that gradually softens into a white blanket whose chill clings close to the skin. Everything is white, white and more white. Chionophobia is not so much snow itself as it is the phantom of snow that haunts those who fear it.
- Yesterday
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All frosty aldehydes—the kind used in sport colognes like Polo Sport, and more recently and intensely in CdG’s Odeur 10–and a little bit of sprightly sage. Great staying power and moderate throw, an easy breezy chilly scent. Yes, it goes cologne-y. That is part of the charm here! If you are looking for a cold, soapy, (now) classic masculine profile, with a little cheery herbal twist, this is definitely for you. It is very simple and enjoyable. With simple scents like this it’s hard for me to know whether I will continue to simply enjoy them or get bored—time will tell!
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Something in this isn't playing nice on my skin. The coconut smells flat and kind of dusty, and it almost reads as soapy but not quite. I'm blaming coconut, it doesn't always work for me. I'm jealous of what the other people smell!
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Frankincense Smoke goes on strong, but no stronger than to be expected when experiencing it in its most highly concentrated form. It very quickly mellows out into something much gentler, an absolutely lovely, incensey scent, perfect for winter. It's mostly a soft incense, but it's warmed by a lovely fatty, sweetish beeswax. I can pick out the frankincense too, doing its beautiful, slightly citrusy thing. Overall it gives a very gentle, comforting impression; I was a little worried this scent would end up much too heavy based on the description, but I'm happy to report it isn't at all, it's just what I was hoping it would be, soft and incensey but not overpowering, and I can pick out all the individual notes. Later on in the day I started noticing it's a little woody too, so that might be the cedar peeking through. It is in fact so gentle that I put on A View from the Window just now, only to find that my perfume is totally overpowering my hair gloss! Oops. I'm brand-new to exploring hair glosses, and I don't have a good sense of what pairs well with what quite yet. I'm going to try pairing Frankincense Smoke with On Time next, which is very very light scent, and I think will make for a gorgeous combination.
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Bottle sniff was milk and honey and gourmand. On skin it’s very bubbly like a carbonated drink. I see what Bpal is doing though, it very much reminds me of their Peach Milk, Sugared Peach Milk, and Rose Milk all of which have a fuzzy-carbonated feel to them. So if you loved those you’ll might love this one as well! It’s not something I see myself reaching for so off to the swap pile.
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i wonder if i got the same oil as everybody else! while i love bruised violet compound it doesnt stick on me as a dark and sultry smell. i smell a bright and wet flower thats earthy not in a dirty way but a refreshing, alive way. on the outskirts of it i still get the wet imp smell which to me is a very sweet purple candy like those fizzy grape soda candies that come in little cans at the arcade. the slight wet greeness is more alike to a stem or leaf than moss and enjoyable even to me who usually doesnt like a green smell. i get no red currant but thats at no detriment to the blend imo. very sweet wet living violets!
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I got this last year when it came out but for some reason forgot to review it! I'm happy to do so now as I've just broken this out again in anticipation of this year's Luper drop! I'll start by saying I've actually never tried the original Red Rider, as I'm not much of a leather fan owing to the fact that leather notes, except under extremely rare occasion, tend to amp so intensely with my chemistry that it blocks out whatever else might be happening with the scent in question. That said, I blind-bottled this because so many of the other notes were deeply compelling and I am especially find of the Lab's gorgeously tangy / creamy ruby chocolate note! I don't recall what this smelled like fresh, but in classic BPAL fashion, this scent has aged beautifully. I don't get leather at all, at any point- at least not directly. It's possible it's there in the background, but if so, it's doing some deep undercover work. I get a big-throated melange of the red musk, red mosses and balsam for the first solid hour or hour and a half. During that time it's consistent from first sniff all the way through dry down. As I get deeper into the second hour, the red berries come into the mix and the other notes start to mellow considerably. For the long haul, there's a medium-low throw where that tart-creamy ruby chocolate is like the Sun, and the other notes are the planets orbiting around, sometimes more in the mix, sometimes less. Knowing myself, I probably didn't think much of this scent when I first tested it, because I remembered precious little about that experience. But past VioletChaos knew enough to hang on to the bottle to retest later and today VioletChaos sure is pleased about the sagacity of that decision!
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This perfume develops differently on my skin both indoors and outdoors. Indoors i get a green honeyed tea, I'd say the green variety but very restrained and dainty. Outdoors, it's more vibrant, well blended and multifaceted, and i get the hay, the sweetened tobacco/ tea melange, and also something akin to suede, although it's not listed. It's airy and vividly aromatic and sweet in a refined way. Nothing about screams manure or saddle leather or whatever olfactive associations you may attribute to horses.
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Beaver Moon: Green Tea & Cookie Dough
bellumed replied to doomsday_disco's topic in Duets & Menage A Trois
First? Oh, boy! The bottle scent makes me think of fancy ice cream, which I suppose makes sense. I don't think I've ever had a green tea ice cream, but I have had an Earl Grey one (shout-out to Van Leeuwen), and that's what this reminds me of - bittersweet in a balanced way, not strongly one or the other. On skin, I get more of the scent of raw cookie dough, still with the tea leaves keeping it from going sugar-sweet. No chocolate chips here, just the dough. If you are foodie-curious but find them excessively sugary or just generally prefer a subtle scent that is only slightly sweet, I highly recommend this! -
I received this as a frimp from @artisjok who must have very thoughtfully looked at my GC wishlist! Thank you! I adore bpal's skin musk note, and that is indeed what this is - sensual, slightly sweet, subtly fruity (apricot or melon?), gently floral, doing beautiful things in alchemy with my skin chemistry. I love having this, and it immediately made me better understand the skin musk note in all the other scents where it shows up. I think this will be a great one to wear on its own at times when I want to wear something clean and subtle, or of course for layering. My partner has immediately gotten into layering it, especially with duets, and we are now running through our imp rapidly! We'll be getting a bottle of it.
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2025 version My skin tend to amp sweet scents and fruits. This is an apple perfume with patchouli and a little smoke. I don't get any fir needle. The apple has been cooked in some spices. Like an apple tart. It fades away after about five hours and leaves a similar patchouli base to other patchouli perfumes they do. It's nice but not that impressive compared to other patchouli perfumes I have from bpal. I will probably not buy it again but I will buy other apple scents in the future.
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This one is mostly about the dragon's blood (an incense-y variety, not a spicy floral one!), musk, and pom on me, with a dash of clove, and surprisingly, very little tobacco or patch. The dragon's blood is the dominant note at first, but the musk gains strength over time and eventually becomes the dominant note on me. I get great longevity and throw from this. Layered with the Clove and Sweet Incense duet, it really amps up the clove and incense aspects, and the duet reigns throughout wear, backed by the main notes of the moon. I don't need a bottle of this one, but I'll probably hang onto my decant.
