celestia

♔ Glittering Apple of the Stars In the Bottle: Green apple and white musk Wet: I’m mosting getting tart green apples from this. It kind of smells like SGA without so much the white soft snow note. It’s chilly, crystalline and made bright from the white musk, and even though the description reads crystalline vanilla, I don’t get any creaminess nor anything vanllic from this. the apple is gradually getting juicier on my skin, but sadly still no vanilla. Drydown: Ok, so the drydown does bring out the vanilla. Only I can barely even call it vanilla... it just smells like the white meat of a creamy white apple. The florals in this aren't strictly present, but I know they are there because it's not purely apple, vanilla and musk. TL;DR: Slightly creamy, crystalline white apple against a faint white floral backdrop.

♔ Titania In the Bottle: Juicy white peach, dewy silver pear, and floral nectar Wet: Unf… this is one of my fruitier floral favourites. I can smell white musk tempering an otherwise very dewy sweet pear, white peach, and light, almost pale frosty grape, all juiced into a delicate fae nectar. The ‘iced’ component listed is actually more dew-kissed, sugared-dust and crystalline than any actual snow or ice note. Frosty without being cold at all, ! It’s whimsical, ethereal and delicately fae! This fae-like blend is so dewy, shimmery, and juicy that it's almost aquatic- perhaps misty is a better descriptor? Drydown: The dewy grape note dries down to a sugared plum after the wet stage settles- and reminds me of Sugar Plum Fairy, the light dusting of frosted sugary powder is also here too. The sweet pea and moonflower harmonise well with the pale fruits, affording the blend a fresh and juicy feel. It's on the same level of sweetness as Yemaya. I wouldn't say it sparkles like aldehydes- but it glimmers like dripping, dewy nectar, so so youthful. TL;DR: Sugared white fruit nectar and dewy sugary pastel-coloured, dewy petals.

I try not to torture myself this way but the thought does cross my mind, especially when the reviews seem divided into two different scents! All the wonderful scents we would never know we could actually be missing out on

Scents selected from this list were taken from my Top 44 icon wall located on my Forum Profile. BPAL Amaterasu v3 Antique Lace (+1) Aristocratic Couple Ava Battle Fairy in Training Black Lace (+1) Blossoms in Springtime Bride, The Butterflies, Flowers, and Jewels Attending Cascading Blossoms Cave of Treasures Celeste Chastising Your Dragon Clockwork Couture: Female Closet Raid Dorian Elf v4 Eve (OLLA) Fairy Market Fruit of Paradise, The Girl, The Glowing Vulva at Ryogoku Bridge Golden Hour, The Haloes Hime Gyaru Joyful Moon Kwamie Cotton Lady Lucille Sharpe Like Father, Like Daughter L'Estate Lyonesse Midnight on the Midway (2006) Monster Bait: Bloody Mary Monster Bait: Closet Morocco Mouse's Long and Sad Tale Mother Ghost Pele Reflected Vulva Regan Resin Cast Meat Skull Serving Fish Snow White (2007) Spirit of the Komachi Cherry Tree Stekkjarstaur Sticky Pillowcase Strawberry Sufganiyot Titania Tilt A'Whirl Volcano in Springtime Zorya Polunochnaya

♔ Love and Sleep In the Bottle: Creamy floral bubblegum Wet: This smells like analmost blush pink bubblegum. As a colour I'd describe it to be a blend of fruity pink and pale orange. Sweet and creamy, yes- but I smell neither fig nor milk as components, not the kind I'm able to detect usually anyway. I get more of a syrupy sweet, artificial, creamy and juicy nectar. It’s certainly a lot more thicker and heavier smelling than milk (which to me registers more watery and less rich- with the exception of macadamia milk), but not as rich and heavy as cream notes. I feel like Love and Sleep smells more like a creamy and juicy floral and bubble-gummy blend than one that calls a distinctive fruit to mind…. I mean it’s there, because the blend IS fruity- but as a background note with a supporting role- and something I would identify as “fruity” rather than “fruit”. Drydown: I can pick up the vanilla orchid more as the blend settles and dries. The vanilla used doesn’t really remind me of other vanilla orchid blends either, such as Regan or Cascading Blossoms, as they smell much more perfumey, heady and musky. I would even distinguish the vanilla and orchid as separate notes. It’s lush and tropical, but also tinted by the same bubblegum sweetness present during the wet stage, kind of milky- a milky orchid. The vanilla here in this blend, instead, smells a bit like vanilla sugar. And honestly, even together with ylang ylang, which is quite faint and I barely detect, it still doesn’t translate to much of a floral blend. In the final drydown stage, I do get the more unified presence of vanilla orchid as a single component, that beautiful, perfumey, slightly musky, and vanillic floral comes out- but that bubblegum sweetness is disturbing the blend for me. TL;DR: Syrupy, creamy, fruity bubblegum nectar

♔ Muse of Fire In the Bottle: Effervescent citric dust and sugared florals Wet: Well it’s evident that by ‘explosion’ this scent meant sharp citric perfumey florals similar in the way of Viktor & Rolf’s Flowerbomb (haha flowerbomb..explosion, geddit?).. This compared to other effervescent sugar dusted florals like Butterflies Flowers and Jewels Attending, Fairy Market, Juliet, Midnight on the Midway in that it has the same sparkly fizzy note without actually being spirited with bubbles. It’s similar to the champagne note used in the lab- but toned down a lot, with a lot of floral sugared sweetness veering it more towards Flowerbomb territory than beverage land. The only thing that differs slightly in comparison to BFJA which it shares great resemblance to, is that it has this distinct, sugary candied citrus note. Muse of Fire takes on the reds, ambers and yellows instead of the rainbow petals listed in the description. Amanatsu, lemon, clementine, grapefruit, kumquat, yuzu, tangerines, blood orange? Certainly not all but perhaps some of these must have been chosen for such an intricate medley of citrus and if not (as I actually suspect) then florals which most closely mimic the scent these give off. I mean it’s a wonderful rainbow of colour- just from one limited spectrum towards the far left. Could magnolia grandiflora be in this? Winter honeysuckle? Lemon verbena? Stephanotis? Orange Jessamine? Choisya? Orange Blossom? I feel like freesia must also have taken a role in this (also present in BFJA), perhaps even tuberose similar to that in Ava. I don’t smell any jasmine (not even jasmine sambac), red rose, lilac, or phlox as many have come to identify- but whatever petals, they have been dusted in this sharp citric-sweet effervescent dust. Drydown: The fizziness calms down a great deal in the drydown phase, and it smells a little like sour citric candied florals, but the fragrance of these florals is much softer, more delicate – and a little more commercially sweet and fresh. More of the florals come out – I’m guessing orange blossom, freesia, tuberose, magnolia, and winter honeysuckle because they tone down a great deal when dry, unlike red rose, violet, lemon verbena, geranium or late summer jasmine- where they amp and can become strongly fragrant on skin leading to a distinct, dominating note… much of it is still crushed and blended all too seamlessly that it’s still difficult to discern the origin of each “rainbow” petal that must have gone into this blend. I like it, but I don't "multiple bottles" like it. TL;DR: Effervescent sugary candied citric florals

I have a batch variation with my two bottles of L'Autunno- both released and only available during the same limited timeframe. One is an orangey red, and the other is clear, slightly yellowed. The orangey red version is deeper, darker (heavier on the smoke, myrrh and patchouli), and smells more cologne-y masculine, while the slightly yellowed one is closer to a 2008 empty (of the same perfume) I have. They both dry down similar, but the journey to get from wet to dry is wildly different... so much that one bottle is unwearable while the other is wear-all-the-time material. It kind of makes me wonder there are other scents I should gamble batch variation on and just try again, ahh neverending cycle. You think youre done with a scent, but then learn that's never the case <__>

♔ VILF In the Bottle: Generic musky, slightly smoky cologne Wet: Whoah, I get a lot of smoky cologne from this, but then opening up almost immediately, is this honey and chemical leather ..what? I wasn’t expecting that, lol. There is a lot of heat in this scent, combined with something peppery- but it smells more like a red pepper than a pink. The red musk comes in during the drydown and amps quite furiously, it smells like a very peppery, sharp gingery, dry red musk, tinge of sweetness from the honey, but nothing I can write more about. It’s less honeyed than Bright Red Dildo or Infernal Lover. Drydown: I never get much of the vanilla, at least not in the way I usually enjoy it, The florals come out more during the drydown but they are distinctly masculine when combined with the leather- even though now it is a sweeter leather with some of the ‘new’ chemical smell burnt off. There is definitely a woodsy note I can detect but it smells more like a hardwood than a sandalwood to me. TL;DR: Peppery red musk, sweet chemical leather, and smoky woodsy cologne.

♔ L’Autunno In the Bottle: Sweet spicy floral apple and woodsmoke Wet: This is one of very few apple blends I treasure enough to keep, which is rare, because I don't like the smell of apple that much. This is a warmly spiced fruity floral with two parts apple, one part fig- all tempered by a woodsmoke musk Drydown: Drying down, L’Autunno smells even more like a spiced perfumey apple and unsweetened fig sitting atop of an extinguished bonfire, the woodsmoke wafting with warm spices makes this so incredibly atmospherically autumn. The patchouli isn’t dirty, gnarly or particularly earthy – at least not the kind I can usually detect fitting of such a description- but it does bolster the impression of an earthy patchouli...only it doesn’t smell like patch. In fact, I wouldn’t have been able to identify Indian musk from this either and it seems quite honestly, to have blended entirely into the woodsmoke. TL;DR: Sweet honeyed autumn apple blended fig and warm spices

♔ Mrs. Bunce In the Bottle: Dry, and slightly sweet, golden tobacco musk Wet: This is a rich, chewy, somewhat woodsy tobacco with a sweetened amber musk. It’s not sugary sweet, or creamy sweet- it’s a dry kind of sweet. I’ve recently found out- I do not like the strong smell of tobacco and this is *heavy* with the stuff. If I did, this would be a glorious scent to have in my arsenal. The amber in this is creamy and takes on a bit of the woodsy note. There’s a lot of musk in here, it’s super rich and syrupy thick to my nose. I’d say the sandalwood smells more like a golden sandalwood- or a polished sandalwood- the woodsy notes are a lot more prominent than what I find in lighter sandalwoods (like white sandalwood)… it almost makes me think that blonde sandalwood is trying to allude to some type of sawdust. Drydown: The hay sugar comes and it’s dry, straw-like, and complementary to the other notes. A little brightness to break up all the rich, dark woodsy tobacco amber I’m getting. Though, I feel like if this tobacco had been an incense or lighter, warm dry spices, I’d be all over this. TL;DR: Sweet golden tobacco musk infused woodsy amber

♔ Mermaid I got frimped some of this by a lovely seller who I can no longer track down T_T Thank you, whoever you are! In the Bottle: salty sweet, aquatic florals Wet: This is a pink aquatic scent. I get gentle pink salt, somewhat powdery, creamy tropical florals, and a faint trace of citrus- wha? I cannot individually pick out the orange blossom, or the lotus..or the tiare. I can’t even isolate the gardenia- it does smell like a tropical bouquet of non-descript white florals, but try as I might, each floral goes under-represented. As a matter of fact, the florals in this are actually quite soft against the pink salt note (the pink seaweed and sea salt), but given the sheer amount of florals present, they all somehow manage to combine into equally dominating half of the blend. Drydown: Although I do pick up some citrus here, it dies back down relatively quickly, leaving way for the salty sweet aquatic florals to return to the forefront. I can detect the vanilla better more into the later drydown stage, and the salty notes have settled down. In the final stages, I get the impression of a powdery vanilla dusted over tropical white blooms, with a light sweet, salted sea spray blowing in its direction. TL;DR: powdery vanilla, salty sweet dew, and aquatic whiteish pink tropical blooms.

♔ Spirit of the Komachi Cherry Tree Whoah! no review since 2013? Either this blend has become ridiculously scarce, or is being silently hoarded and kept as a well guarded secret! This is easily one of my top scents, so I had to make sure I was doing it justice when it came to finally reviewing it. In the Bottle: Sweet, fruity cherry blossom nectar Wet: I feel like cherry blossom in this blend is enhanced immensely by what smells to me like floral sugar cane and white grape. Although I can tell it’s the pear aspect of the blend turning it fruity, I have to admit that the pear really lends itself to the lilac and cherry blossom, so much that it loses its profile as a fruity pear and takes on the profile of a rather floral pear. it actually reminds me of the somewhat sweet, sugared iris note in Pip and is almost identical to the peony note in Lady in Pink Speckled Kimono. The honey isn’t distinctly present- it blends in so well with the cherry blossom and blue lilac that it smells more like a floral nectar- and consequently smells like it improves the olfactory profile of the florals, much like the role honey has in There is a Garden in her Face. Together it kind of smells like sugar cane nectar. The honey here, barely powdery, definitely floral and super faint but detectable like dewy droplets forming over a petal… I don’t get lavender from it at all. Though, this honey is blended so well I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s had a major part in making this blend smell like some juicy floral nectar. If it does, then holy it might just be the best honey I have come across. Drydown: Seriously though, even well into the drydown stage, the cherry blossom in this is so fragrant and juicy, and so goooood.. Little to no morphing. Of course, full disclosure- it's not a simple cherry blossom scent- it's an enhanced-with-bells-and-whistles kind of cherry blossom scent. It’s like they mashed all the other notes together to recreate an expertly blended, well-executed capture of cherry blossom trees- that is, how delicate, dainty and fragrant they are- rather than how they actually smell. It may not be my perfect cherry blossom scent, but it’s so absolutely divine that even when I do, this will still remain one of my top scents. It’s an absolute, divine masterpiece. I don't get much sandalwood during any of the phases, it's mostly pear, cherry blossom, and lilac all the way, all the time. TL;DR: Sugar cane nectar, almost-sugary lilac, and rich, sweet, flowering cherry blossoms at the height of a warm, spring season

♔ The Fruit of Paradise 2007 In the Bottle: Sweet, tart pomegranate SN Wet: Fruit of Paradise is an incredibly underappreciated blend. Ruby red seeds crushed into a delicious juice. I can’t get over how exquisite the pomegranate note in this smells. It’s not candylike at all but it needn’t be- bittersweet, tart, faint traces of warm spice. It was in my first round of scents ordered from a decant circle and I loved it so much, I gifted a bottle to my twin. Even though it’s a gently sweetened and fruit-centric, there’s a deeper undercurrent of sinister darkness implied. It’s bold, sexy, and alluring- tempting, even. Drydown: There is little to no morphing here- other than it picking up more darkness to ground it- Something akin to a spice or incense, it gets a little muskier and deeper, richer, fruitier… buh.. IT’S SO GOOD. I cannot fathom why this scent never gained momentum or collected the hype it deserved, but that’s okay. Some treasures aren’t meant to be spoilt to those unwilling to find it. TL;DR: Bittersweet, tart, ruby red pomegranate juice

♔ There is a Garden in her Face Cherry Blossom is a weakness of mine. and although, I've tried almost all of the ones released by the lab and post, I have yet to come across one that really speaks to me. In the Bottle: Ah! Sweet, soapy cherry blossoms, and a backdrop of what smells like almost juicy pink roses Wet: I mainly get beautiful sweet, feminine, pink roses with soapy cherry blossom petals, and a hint of green lily. It’s fresh, dewy, sweet and natural. An underappreciated blend. The honey peaks out towards the end of the wet stage, it smells like a thinly veiled white floral honey, almost smeared on, rather than drenched in amongst the florals. It reads like a soft smelling light monofloral kind of honey, it’s gentle, plush and nearly velvety in olfactory texture. Drydown: The cherry blossom and pink rose actually become juicier and remains dominant throughout, it may be because of the harmonizing nature of both scents- they seem to lend properties to each other. It almost seems like they fuse into one note. The honey remains sweet, light and fragrant. Altogether it smells a bit like a pink rose infused cherry blossom nectar and slightly soapy, white honey powder. The clean powderiness isn’t the kind you get with failed skin chemistry, it’s high-end, and gives the impression of a white Victorian styled dressing table, laden with bright pink, pale pink and creamy white florals, a powdery rose blush laid out on one side, and a sprig of cherry blossoms standing in a small clear vase on the other. A very feminine, pinkish white, and delicate floral and powdery-honey scent. Very springlike, extremely wearable. Dries down to a powdery pink rose and white floral honey, maybe a hint of juicy sweet sakura. TL;DR: Clean cherry blossom and pink rose petals with powdery white floral honey.

♔ Dorian This, along with Antique Lace, was one of several GC blends I fell really hard for as a BPAL noob.I’ve recommended this to so many people.. I could have sworn I had already reviewed it too. Nevertheless! In the Bottle: Vanilla tea with a squeeze of lemon Wet: On skin, I get a vanillic citrus blended tea note. I love this so much! After all these years, it’s still one of the only blends containing lemon I can actually admit to loving. The lemon itself, and this is important to note, is seamlessly infused with the tea, invigorating, even lifting, the overall profile of the blend. It’s not a sour lemon, it’s a sugared lemon…yes! a sugared lemon tea. If you’ve ever dipped both sides of a lemon slice into a tray of sugar and eaten it, this this smells like how that tastes. I also want to say it’s creamy but it’s the vanilla. Sugared vanillic lemon tea! Drydown: As it settles, the lemon and tea fuse together with the vanilla into a beautifully bright sugary lemon and vanilla musk. For the longest time I couldn’t pinpoint what was actually making this blend so appealing to me. I have concluded though, that it might be because of the way the blend itself (both sugar and tea) transforms the lemon. It’s nothing like candied lemon, lemon sugar, or lemon candy. Nor is it anything like normal lemons or citrus notes hinting the freshness of lemon- but it’s so realistic all the same…the way the sugared slice of lemon interacts with the vanilla and tea is so experiential…such that it goes from something I’d never wear into something I cherish wearing. TL;DR: Sugared vanillic lemon tea

♔ Mrs. Valentine In the Bottle: Dry vanilla musk, hints of sweet marshmallow Wet: Huh…? Ok. fruity red wine that dissipates almost immediately into full blown red musk. The vanilla has turned somewhat medicinal on me but I can still manage to detect a sweet sugared mallow underneath, along with a husky-dry, white, and powdery vanilla…the vanilla is not sweet. Drydown: The dry white vanilla note comes out a bit more toward the early drydown phase, and seems to have absorbed a little of the sugar sweet mallow. It’s still quite powdery, though a little too sharp to be mistaken for the powdery scent marshmallows usually present when popping open a bag. They remain very separate components. The medicinal note carries a somewhat sterile element which I feel doesn't belong, almost out of character. Red musk always fades quickly, but for some reason it’s lingering this time, and smells a bit like red wine incense. By the drydown stage, I’m still left with faint traces of it which I feel stomps all over my experience of an otherwise incredible scent. I generally can’t cope with any amounts of red musk which I don’t like smelling. I’m quite nose-sensitive to it and can sniff it out easily. I was hoping a drop to be a drop, but alas I have amped it beyond so. I can’t say I love it now, but it does show promise. I’ll have to retest this when my chemistry is back to its usual self where red musk does burn off quickly into a more wearable musk. TL;DR: Dry white vanilla musk and hints of sugary sweet marshmallow – blanketed over red wine incense

♔ Butterflies Flowers and Jewels, Attending Ah, BFJA! Amoraexcena, my beloved twin, suggested I get this as my first scent upon returning from my many years of hiatus. Only it was kind of hard to find, and I resorted to buying Ava first which proved to be a lot easier (and more affordable!) at the time. I was lucky in finding a bottle before it saw another price hike, though! In the Bottle: BFJA smells like an effervescently dusted, intoxicating, fae bouquet of slightly sugar dusted (but not candied) pink, purple, blue and silvery florals. Wet: To the untrained nose, it smells almost identical to Ava, and before Ava entered the picture, BFJA was *the* comparative dupe for Viktor and Rolf’s Flowerbomb. They both have a similar, take on effervescent fae dust over florals. BFJA smells sweeter compared to Ava, is a touch more complex when wet, and has more of a floral bouquet going on with its medley of notes. Sometimes I get a hint of an unlisted citric blossom like honeysuckle, but that (thankfully) burns off rather quickly. Often, I do prefer this stage of BFJA to Ava because of its afforded complexity and sugariness. Although I can confirm Ava and BFJA are similar, like other reviews, Ava veers more towards a pale pink and silvery, creamy-white olfactory colour- whilst BFJA dips towards the pinky, periwinkle and silvery end of the spectrum. Both have pale musks, some sort of floral vanilla- and tuberose. BFJA has a sharper freesia note (I wouldn’t call it delicate as per the description) and equal strengths of tuberose (and even though the description is different, it smells akin to the sharp-ish tuberose note in Ava). It is also similar to other effervescent, fae florals, such as Midnight on the Midway, Fairy Market, Juliet, and Muse of Fire- though MoF has a much more explosive burst of citrus, with a spectrum of reds, oranges and fiery, bright yellows; Fairy Market is shades of light green and pastel with a more boiled-candy and fae grass; MotM is shades darker, with cotton candy incense with warm, Fairy-Market like air, and Juliet smells like a creamy white, tinges of pale pink and soft green with its choice of pale florals and effervescent, almost crystalline, sugared pear. They all reside in the same relative family, but each have their own nuances and evoke a different spectrum of colour. Drydown: A lot of the listed florals blend well into each other- too well, even. I can’t pick up the jasmine sambac, nor the orange blossom. Likewise, white patchouli, provence rose, vanilla orchid and delicate spices don’t really translate into individually identifiable notes on me, though I can pick distinctive aspects of each note. BFJA might easily be mistaken for, and can be passed as a fresh, effervescent. commercial floriental perfume. I’m so fortunate that my chemistry loves both BFJA and Ava. Some days it likes one more than the other, and so both are heavily rotated with each other. I do get less vanilla with BFJA than with Ava on the drydown though, so I often preference Ava a little more when favouring something a little creamier. TL;DR: Fae, sugar-dusted, effervescent bouquet of pink, purple, and silvery white florals

♔ Amaterasu v3 In the Bottle: Creamier, sweeter and more vanillic L’Estate. Wet: Upon, I get a non-foody, creamy floral vanilla infused with what I can only describe as bright, sunlight-caught amber. Definitely similar to the Nepalese amber and vanilla-infused-amber in L’Estate, but sweeter and creamier- and after testing alongside some newer additions, it kind of reminds me of a cross between L’Estate and the whipped vanilla cream note in Volcano in Springtime . It therefore also makes sense that it brings to mind the vanilla and teak combination from Glowing Vulva at Ryogoku Bridge. Amaterasu v3 is very golden and perhaps a little incense-y – tinges of white sandalwood with hints of warm, dry spices…sort of like a glowing vanillic amber-centric musk. It’s so overwhelmingly beautiful, both regal and radiant, and reflective of the way your eyes might squint had you been in this Japanese sun goddess’s presence. Drydown: Altogether, it smells like a classic perfumey creamy golden amber. It’s kind of bright and glowy, somewhat sweetened, beautifully creamy and vanillic. The scent dries down gracefully, and becomes a little powdery, but the kind that is extremely wearable. I also pick up a faint cherry blossom during the drydown stage, lending a very delicate, almost watery pink floral note to keep the almost powdery like profile of the amber from being too overwhelming, and I also get a light leather note that is faint and soft like that in Clockwork Couture: Female. It’s so so SO beautiful. I would liken this phase of the scent to the sun setting; the amber becomes more resinous while taking on thin fadey streaks of pink, bright creamy sunlight flashing behind transcalent setting clouds, glowing more furiously and deeply golden as it takes the sky down with it. TL;DR: Regal, radiant, vanillic golden amber-centric musk…with creamy pale cherry blossom petals and faint traces of soft leather.

♔ Battle Fairy In Training In the Bottle: Sugar rich, sweet, cottony candy. slightly minty Wet: I smell artificial, but sugary sweet, and slightly tart strawberry candy in this. Not fresh like Strawberry Moon v5 or 2009, and not quite jammy like Strawberry Sufganiyot…and certainly not powdered and milky like the strawberry in like White Chocolate and Strawberry. I also get a bit of the blue lollipop blueberry which may be where the ‘blue’ in the blue cotton candy is coming from. It seems to have added a slight dimension to an otherwise straightforward fruited candy blend. Drydown: The crushed candycane-like mint element burns off quickly by the drydown phase, thankfully and the sweet and tart strawberry note fuse effortlessly with the cotton candy. Although this is certainly a candy blend when wet, it smells almost ridiculously realistic, rich and cotton candy-like, in the drydown ! I remember beginning my hunt for a strawberry and cotton candy blend all the way back when I started this hobby (safe to say I've tried them all, lmao), and though the wet stage is not my absolute favourite, the drydown is easily my holy grail strawberry cotton candy blend, It hits all the right notes for me, it’s vanillic, rich, sweet, cotton candy-like and very realistic…down to the slightly feathered, almost burnt sugary exterior from the second it comes off the machine and onto your tongue. No mint anything in the drydown. Effing love this! TL;DR: Duo coloured blueberry and strawberry cotton candy with a faint trace of light mint candycane dust.

♔ Lune Noire In the bottle: soapy white floral Wet: smells like a sweet aquatic white floral, quite juicy- probably from the pear, even though the note doesn’t sing as it usually does in other fruity floral pairings I’ve gotten. It’s a little peppery...hmm I'm not sure how much I can really say I like this. I definitely don't feel like I smell black orchid... it smells more like white floral on me. Drydown: I’m getting something woodsy and resinous that’s also a little dry- the olibanum? It could also be reacting badly with the clove which is starting to take over..welp. wasn’t very impressive even while the rest of it lasted. Never got the pear. TL;DR: Unmemorable aquatic and gently sweetened white floral

♔ A Little More Tea In the Bottle: Milky earl grey tea and buttery biscuits Wet: Immediately upon application, there is a strong pulse of citrusy lemon present. It kind of reminds me more of bergamot in its sharp, slightly floral sweetness- compared to the lemon dropped tea I get from Dorian. The biscuits (or cookies, if you're American) are instantaneously nearly lost on me even though they were very strong and sugar-cookie-sans-the-sugar in the bottle. Drydown: The dry down smells more like lemon squeezed honey tea with crumbs and traces of biscuit. I can pick up a creaminess from the crumbs- rather than in the tea, but this has a lot more lemon-citrus thriving on me..more than I’d have liked. The biccies remind me of the ones in Teatime in Roswell during this phase. TL;DR: Lemon honey tea and biscuit crumbs.

♔ Bright Red Dildo In the Bottle: Red musk, warm leather and dry honey Wet: Immediately upon application I get hit with sweet dry red musk and honey infused leather. I can’t really say it smells particularly soft or well-worn, but it’s somewhat thick, coarse and warm. Drydown: During this phase I get more of the red musk and it behaves much like Smut does on skin. It’s sultry, raunchy, and a little playful. Though... the red musk and leather leave a rather dry combination lingering around. I can’t really say that's my thing. In the final stages of the drydown I get a really lovely sugary sweet, light leather- if this was what it smelt like from the initial phase, I’d most certainly be all over it. Alas, it is not to be. TL;DR: Sweet, dry red musk and a touch of thick, warm leather.

♔ White Chocolate & Strawberry I remember when strawberry was a really hard to find note in BPAL’s blends- and most of the LEs showcasing it were highly sought after. When this came out, I immediately jumped on a bottle and it definitely wasn’t what I had expected. In the Bottle: Sugared creamy white chocolate powder and strawberry milk flavouring Wet: This smells like sugared strawberry pink chocolate. The strawberry is most certainly artificial but in a realistically creamy, powdered strawberry flavouring kind of way. It’s milky and a little tangy, not ‘fresh’ by any stretch of the imagination – the milky strawberry tang reminds me of the kind of white chocolate that’s been premixed with strawberry flavouring and bits so you get little chunks of freeze dried strawberries along with the strawberry flavoured chocolate. Drydown: The scent doesn’t really morph when dry, I still get this wonderful strawberry chocolate tang with white chocolate powder. If you have been fortunate enough to try Max Brenner’s Strawberry Float, the powdered white chocolate that they use tastes like how this smells. Though the strawberry component in this is a lot stronger to the nose by comparison of the actual dessert beverage. Delicious! Brings back memories of my home CBD and sitting at Max Brenner’s near Melbourne Central. TL;DR: Powdered strawberry chocolate with freeze dried strawberry tang.

♔ Ava In the Bottle: Strong perfume-y and airy vanilla musk with light, creamy sparkly and ethereal florals Wet: There is a reason this was one of the first scents I sought immediately upon returning from my many-year long hiatus. Ava is this pale airy ribbon of creamy, slightly shimmery florals fronted by some white/pale pink tuberose, and shrouded in a delicate-yet-somehow-fairly-strong airy vanilla musk. It smells like a more complex, richer, and fuller bodied version of Viktor & Rolf’s Flowerbomb, as no doubt been identified so many times before me. The sparkly, shimmery element that lends to an almost translucent quality of effervescence does not come from what I’d detect as the mandarin. I wouldn’t say it comes from the lab’s champagne or the lab’s citrus either- it smells almost crystalline without any iciness- something akin to the sweetness and sharpness from the freesia in Butterflies, Flowers , and Jewels Attending (BFJA). It also has the gentle creamy white vanillic floral I get from The Girl. I do agree with reviews suggesting it as the lovechild of BFJA and The Girl. I don’t get any white almond, and I don’t get anything remotely akin to citrus- not even to suggest mandarin. It honestly does not smell like much of its scent description at all. Drydown: Even on the drydown, it is absolutely breathtaking; an effortlessly contemporary classic. The vanilla musk prominent and still and lends to a somewhat sweet, powdery and airy-vanillic floral. It's not a buttery or foodie vanilla like in Edith Cushing or French Vanilla SN, nor is it a madagascan vanilla bean type of vanilla in Antique Lace. It's not a rich vanilla- but it's strong and blended with the florals, it excites the scent profile incredibly. Ava is an easily appeasing scent for the mainstream and therefore easily popular for the masses, because of its similarity to an already existing commercial perfume that is equally popular and well-received. And even though both scents might be considered ‘flirty’ territory, due to the richness, complexity, and depth in Ava, the scent affords a maturity that Flowerbomb does not. It is an elevation on top of what most of us know we like. TL;DR: Perfumey vanilla musk and shimmery tuberose, blended with nondescript creamy white and pale pink florals.

♔ Venom In the Bottle: Dark forest berries, silvery lime musk, and cologne white florals. Wet: Wow! Venom smells like what one would wear to and slinky dark, upscale lounge. I can smell forest berries hidden in a bushy hearth, along with some sort of tart lime juice. It’s not super sharp or tart, quite soft and a little powdery. And the white florals definitely do not have that distinct Jasmine note I get from sweet Jasmine blends like ‘Follow Me Boy’ or ‘The Flowers Cleave Apart’. Drydown: It’s slowly transformed into mint-lime forest berries- the florals have disappeared. It smells like a slow, seductive poison, almost hypnotic- there is a wafting darkness surrounding the alluring trap of nature’s sweet fruits, with the lime being the only tell-tale sign to run. The opopnax is not as dark as I’ve tried from other blends, the jasmine florals, lime and berries seem to have tamed it down quite a fair way. I get more lime towards the end of the drydown phase, sharp enough to be detected in a concoction of what has now become jasmine berries and lime fougere- similar to the role of lime in Adante Con Fantasia. Overall it’s alluring, even a little entrancing- but not for me, I ain’t no poison nub. TL;DR: Spiky forest berries with powdery lime and faint white floral.