Argentwolf

I was interested in this at first purely because of the name, but once I had heard the full, charming story behind it, and how it reminded the Labbies of meet and greets in the Before Times, that clinched it for me. In the bottle: It's a bit strident! There is definitely a chemical, solvent-like scent with a greasy feel to it. It can be a little daunting. But! Upon application: A brief shock of that chemical smell. It is sharp, still oily, but it quickly coalesces, congeals into the smell of chocolate chip cookies, where they are fresh out of the oven, the pan is still hot, and the chips which had managed to touch the metal have been burned, while the rest of the cookie circles them in crispy circumference. It's really nice! And unlike some foodie sort of scents, it never gets cloying. It's just a good, warm sort of smell, of a tasty reward waiting for you after a long day at work. At the end of the day: As it fades, a note of vanilla becomes more dominant in the cookie-smell. It really is worth a try if -anything- about it appeals to you. Come for the novelty of the title, stay for the strange, delicious magic which has made these notes combine into such an enjoyable scent.

This definitely has a sweet, grassy aroma to it, and it's pretty steadfast -- what you smell in the bottle is pretty much how it will smell on the skin. It makes me think of a flower crown made of herbs and wildflowers twined around long blades of grass that is nearing the end of its life cycle, but still has more green than brown to it. This is a 'freshly harvested' sort of scent with life in it. It's quite pretty, but even with slathering it on, it has all but faded by the end of the day.

It's been a minute since I last acquired BPAL oils, and it only occurred to me to read the reviews of this after I had made the arrangements to get a bottle. I admit I was wondering what I was getting into by the time it arrived! In the bottle: There's a sweet, almost floral quality to it, that shifts now and then to reveal a warm woodiness, or...something more pungent. Just a tiny spike in the nostrils at first, but it's easy to dwell on it, and it does smell a bit...earthy, and unpleasant. So I can understand why so many people get that indole vibe from it. On skin: Thankfully the sweet, floral scent is what lingers and asserts itself. Phew! Leather notes smell sweet to me, so I can only assume that the components in this are blending into one whole that transforms them into something my nose translates as 'flowers'. There is a warm quality to it, though -- like the essence of sitting and nuzzling up to someone, and being able to smell their perfume on their skin. Over time: It is not retiring or subtle -- maybe that's the oud's gift to me. This went all day long on me, and I was constantly getting whiffs of myself and thinking gosh, I smell good. The day's application was a dab on each wrist, so a modest amount goes a long way. It pretty much retains that floral quality all the while, maybe getting a little woodier over time. For me, at least, this perfume minds its manners and is very classy. Go figure! I'm a fan of this.

For once I do not instantly get leaves and nothing else at first. Instead the frankincense seems to be what come out, first. There is a brief flare of very beautiful smoky copal. After a while, they seem to mingle together into a soft smell of incense. Like the other DL scents, it hugs very close to the skin, and while durable, does not present itself; you have to seek it out. It's very surprising to me, considering I thought that all of the scents in this line would have very prominent notes. In any case, I think this is a pass, for me.

Like the other DL scents, this starts off for me as a mix of dead and green leaves. As time goes on it balances out into something nice and warm, a nice mix of the vanilla and myrrh although neither note stands out more than the other to my nose. Does seem to have slightly more throw than the others I've tried so far, and is as long-lived as the rest -- these scents seem to be the kind that will gladly just hide out on your skin all day, for you to come to and have a sniff to enjoy whenever you need one.

Right away there is a spicy note of powdery, dusty pepper like kakiphony has mentioned. I like that a lot, but curiously up close on my skin, the pepper rapidly disappeared and the leaves predominated. All the same, they were more the dry, rustling sort of leaves one might expect from the name. Even curiouser, though, is soon after, when I go to smell it, the green note, like this were a mix of dead leaves and living ones, is what now dominates the scent. I'm not getting any sandalwood, really. Very little throw. Can't say that I like it as much as DL and Tobacco.

Oh wow. As others have noted, this is more like a mix of dead and green leaves, which threw me off quite a bit at first. I was not expecting something so fresh. Over time, though it turns drier and 'browner', and then the tobacco starts to come out and -- oh holy hell, it's sexy. Like sweet, rich pipe tobacco, a bare hint of caramel, with the dry leaves now very contentedly in the background. There is like -no- throw to it, which is disappointing, because I could basically just live in a cloud of this all day very happily, if I had to. Dabbed behind an ear or somewhere else you want a special someone nuzzling, though, and I can see the, um, possibilities. So nice.

2015 version: It starts out sweet, but not like fruit to my nose, at all. More like something woodsy -- like amber -- in fact the scent smells deep red-gold to me, if that makes any sense. An hour later and if I huff deeply, I get smoky, resinous notes that are very pleasant -- my kind of incense notes. Indeed it really just does remind me of warm, golden incense, and for some reason I keep wanting to come back to dragon's blood. It is not as strong now, but is still pretty detectable, so probably has decent longevity. It has a small amount of throw, but nothing too strident, to my nose.

2015 version: At first application, there is white tea and violet leaf, very dry and almost spicy. As time goes on, there is something deeper to it, but also sweet. The myrrh, perhaps, mixed with the olibanum? And probably also the red musk. Hmm, actually yes, there's a bit of a...nutty tone, that's very faint? I wonder if this is the 'peanut butter' note that people talk about with red musk. And just a few inches away from my wrist, as I lift my hand, there is a nice, crisp blend of floral scents coming from my skin. I do like this as a floral. It seems to be fading already, though, so I don't have huge high hopes for its longevity. ...Yep, an hour later and it's already fading quite a bit. Ah well!

Like LizziesLuck, I didn't get 'cold' or 'frozen' so much as 'wet' from this, but then I don't usually go for 'cold' blends so that may just be my inexperience. It really just kind of reads 'pretty, white floral' to me, and while it does evoke the thought of a lovely bouquet, there will probably be other floral-type scents that are able to grab my interest much better. It has a very minor through, and was gone by mid-evening (I applied it right before I went out to some friends' for the night).

To me, this starts out as a fresh, dewy scent, and then I can smell the honeyed lilies. Very pretty. Over time, it grounds out into something slightly deeper and earthier, though it's not the deep dark dirty earth of patchouli. I can smell some of the cognac, I believe. It hugs the skin and has already faded considerably after an hour. Pretty, though my tiny sample may be enough to enjoy.

2015 version: Starts off as a refreshingly-sweet and fruity aroma, then goes through a phase of just vague sweetness. About an hour later, it has mellowed down into an almost musky scent that does remind me of dark sugars mixed with lighter ones, with just enough fruit around the edges -- though now it is like a candied fruit, much deeper and richer, not as high and sweet as before. It seems to have decent staying power and a slight throw. I enjoy it at the stage it is right now -- dark and rich -- though I do not know if I need a bottle.

2015 version: Initially this was quite startling -- a blast of vanilla and cocoa, yes, but with something that just amped the heck out of it. Now that I think about it, that would be the 'minty' tone that people are talking about. Something like ozone, or wintermint, something definitely very white, for that 'shivering' aspect. About an hour later I now notice that amber and a bit of a dry leaf note have come out to balance it, though that strong, bracing vanilla-smell is still present. It smells very traditionally-perfumey to my nose. It appears to have pretty decent staying power, but stays close to the skin. Overall it is pleasant, if not a must-have for me.

This starts out sweet, in a light, almost airy way -- so there's the pomegranate and currant. About an hour later I notice now that it has taken on a more golden tone -- amber, there. And I really like it, at that stage. I don't get any patchouli really, or anything terribly earthy, but perhaps this one is just a very slow morpher? It stays -very- close to the skin, but seems to have decent staying power.

2015 version: I had tried Samhain before, and hadn't been impressed -- it had just seemed like sweet cider and nothing else. This year's blend is also very cidery; however, there's a note that is both earthy and sweet, the way that incense is sweet -- patchouli, no doubt -- that helps ground this so that it's not just runaway candy-sweetness. Either that or my tastes have just changed. But I enjoy this blend quite a bit. It has been going strong for about an hour now and therefore seems like a scent that will be fairly enduring. I think I will move this to my short list.

This is a pretty nutty, 'brown' blend -- it makes me think of brown musk. It ends up drying to a faint and sweet aroma. It's not unpleasant, but it really doesn't also say 'beer' to me, either.

This has a nice, spicy and creamy scent -- solid enough that I can see 'cheesecake' in it. It actually reminds me a little bit of the pumpkin cheesecake my sister makes for Thanksgiving. Unfortunately my skin eats it and it wears off very quickly.

2015 version: This starts off as -very- leaflike, as if I were sticking my face in a cluster of leaves still on the branch. Then there is something sweet -- that must be the sap. As it dries, it gets a very dry and smokey feel to it. I definitely like the ambiance of it, though it does not throw much and seems to fade quickly. I enjoyed it more than Magnificent Autumn, however.

A scent that wanders through the Ages of Autumn, from the last green leaf to the first breath of winter. 2015 version: I got a kind of green, 'stemmy' sort of smell at first, and then something drier and yes, a bit spicier and a little earthy, that did indeed remind me of slowly turning autumn leaves, drying in the cool air. It's very lovely! Unfortunately, my skin eats it and it wore off within a couple of hours. Such a shame, as I would have liked to have gotten all the neat imagery that so many other people have from this one. Ah well.

A very sweet, fresh floral that also feels aquatic to me. I can smell a tiny hint of the cognac if I huff deeply enough, but don't get any sandalwood really. It's very pleasant and the decant is worth hanging onto, though it doesn't do enough for me to be bottle-worthy. Fairly strong and I imagine it will last for a bit.

Initial smell is -very- buttery -- I'm used to this from pumpkin scents and then of course there is supposed to be browned butter. Not long after being applied, I can smell the nutmeg. It stays nicely warm and spicy, sort of like a molasses cookie as others have noted. After a moment the cinnamon starts to blend with the nutmeg, which makes it smell really amazing! Then the cinnamon comes to the fore, so there is more of a hot sweetness to it. The cream cheese frosting is subtle but -there-...I dunno how it does it, but within a few minutes this really has morphed into the scent of a frosted cookie. It does tend to be faint, alas -- my skin seems to be eating it. A shame because this is a very nice scent.

2015 version: A nutty sort of cake -- so there's the beer and the foody part of it. A sweetly-earthy sort of smell, that gives me a mental picture of rich, chewy brown bread. A few moments later the incense appears as a warm, lighter, golden sort of scent. It's rare that I am able to detect all the notes in these blends, so this is a pleasant surprise. After a while they do all mingle together to become a cloying sort of sweetness, so I think this may not be a keeper for me. It acts like the sort of scent that will hang close to your skin and provide lots of long-lasting huffing pleasure, albeit without a whole lot of throw.

2015 version: Very light, almost wet floral -- the cactus blossom probably gives it that green sort of dewy scent to my nose. Then it gets a creamy edge to it. How very interesting -- as time goes on, it gets a warm sort of aura to it, like the glow of candles -- so I don't get any smoke out of it, per se, but there is still the impression of many offertory candles burning among bouquets. I have to huff very, very deeply to get a hint of chalky sort of sweetness that says 'chocolate' to me; otherwise I don't get any sugariness or foodiness from this -- it's predominantly floral. Pleasant and long-lasting.

2015 version: Initially there is a buttery sort of cake note, with incense already in the back, at the fringes. As time goes on, the incense comes to the fore. it is a sweet sort of incense, much sharper than the 2007 version of this which I have -- though I'm not sure if it will get the dark, smoky essence that I like about that older blend so much as it ages. After a while, like the older blend, it is pretty much just incense, with no more cake. It has a strong throw and lasts for quite a while. All in all it was nice to get a peek at that cake note that I had only heard of but never smelled in this blend, though in the end it always returns back to incense. I like my older bottle better, but it may be worth it to get a bottle of this year's and let it age.

I loved Tea and The Wrestlers. It's the first time that I've bought multiple bottles of a scent -- but I know they're not coming back, and just love them that much.