tinyvulture

Cotton Phoenix 2003 - Snake Oil (vanilla and red musk and spices) plus almond. I am not picking up any Snow White but that’s cool with me. Maybe a little marshmallow, but Snake Oil is generally very sweet on me anyway so it’s hard to tell. I could not pick out cotton blossom in a crowd but after this dries down, I THINK it’s there? It’s a very light, white, fluffy scent, cheerful and sweet.

Strawberries and Honeycomb - Summer in a bottle! Fresh, sun-ripened strawberries bursting with ripeness, and a drizzle of lush golden honey. You can never go wrong with a strawberry blend in my opinion. I’ll be needing more of this -- I’ll wear it all spring and summer!

A whispery vanilla rose, gentle saffron, and I’m not really picking up any lavender. Ethereal. Very light and pink like the qualities of a rose quartz! A little bit like a shampoo note but not bad. Like a chic spa as Happicuppa noted. Sadly my daughter spilled about ¾ of the bottle but I’ll be rationing what remains!

This one is so sweet and fun. I want to say it’s like the milk left over in your cereal bowl from Fruit Loops or Fruity Pebbles. But it’s a little more layered than that. There’s the milk of course, and the white chocolate is definitely noticeable - one of my fave notes. The marshmallow and honey dust are also there. Others really noticed the vanilla cashmere, but I didn’t pick up on it. It’s all so well-blended, though. The overall feeling is just sweet, foodie, happy, childlike. Spoopy milk for adorable little ghosts.

Here’s the lab’s snow note which has been around for a long time, think Snow White...slushy and cold, intensely sweet, but with a sharp sour evergreen needle aspect. Now...with marshmallow! So, the sweetness and creaminess of the snow note is really compounded and intensified here. Which is nice! If the evergreen or floral concentration of Snow White is too intense (it is for me!), maybe try Marshmallow Snow if a sweet winter slush seems more to your liking.

I’m getting a spicy leather, although the notes tell me otherwise. As much as I love this scent because I'm an Austinite and we have a lot of judgmental Longhorns around here, the spiciness is so intense, it makes me sneeze and gives me a headache -- I think it’s the hay absolute. I am just always having problems with hay. Smoky vanilla and amber are in the background. I wish I could love this, but thanks to the hay it’s off to swaps!

I love having a wide variety of lavender blends to use as sleepytime scents, and this will surely be one. But really, I’ll wear it anytime. The calming lavender is a lovely contrast to the creamy white chocolate and buttery cookie notes. I got a bottle but I may need a backup! Also, I’m dying to make real lavender-white chocolate madelines now!

MBW you had me at jasmine + smoke. The jasmine note is in my face right off the bat, and also the smoldering leaves and pinewood smoke. I’m not really picking out the patchouli or sage. Honestly I could do with a whole line of smoked floral blends after getting this one.

I definitely get the bookcase analogy, with the dusty old pages and leather. It also smells earthy, organic -- like you’ve got mushrooms and moss growing on the aged volumes. Maybe a little vetiver? It’s not Lemon Pledge on me at all as others have noted. After a few minutes I do get a slightly soapy clean, polished wood note. I notice the mahogany and sandalwood. They weren’t there at first. Overall, well, my daughter’s very into “goblincore” and it has that vibe to me. A goblin’s library, where snails and fungi hang out. I dig it.

It’s cool how these are all haunted house blends, but they are all different and have their own vibe. Rickety staircase is clean, polished wood (oak?) and soft, warm amber. It’s not screaming “old and abandoned” to me, more like well cared for but still spooky. You feel the elegance but sense something’s a little off kilter. Others mentioned the aldehyde fizziness and maybe that’s it. Maybe it’s cared for by ghosts.

The thing is I don’t even like black licorice, but I still wanted this. The sharp anise bite of the licorice pairs so well with sugary Smut, a perfect contrast to its sweetness. Love it.

So realistic and beautiful! Like walking through the woods, the ground strewn with leaves and fir needles. I also notice the honey! It adds a surreal touch to the forest scene in my mind. I’m a forest scent lover, I’ve tried them all, and this blend is very special! I’ll have to track down a bottle.

Very soft, powdery champaca and rose. The amber is subtle, warm, and powdery dry. I’m not picking up any bergamot. Secret Lovers is delicate, feminine, secretive. It stays very close to the skin and it’s very pretty.

This is from 2015 so it may have gone off. All I’m getting is sour dead leaves note. It has a men’s cologne vibe like October. Wish I could have tried it sooner

Sweet slush, clay, and maybe dragon’s blood? Sweet but nefarious. Hidden danger. Sooooo extremely fitting.

Darkly sweet, succulent blackberries. OMG how gorgeous. The berry note is juicy and true, and the opoponax and labdanum are the perfect incense backdrop. Going on my buy-bottle list If you like sweet resins and fruit, definitely don’t pass this one up!

Wow, so gorgeous. Creamy, buttery vanilla. Not buttery in a foodie sense! Just rich and warm. Cognac is a note that’s always very delicate and goes into hiding on my skin, but also one that I love. I’m not picking up the davana or chamomile. I just get a light hint of soft florals here and there. Not floral to the extent of Antique Lace, although the scent is similar. Mostly, it’s the most amazing creamy vanilla, and I’m going to need a bottle.

At first this is all apple. After a few minutes, I get honey and vanilla. So it’s very foody for me. There’s a touch of floral from the orange blossom but it comes and goes. A sweet, pretty, summery scent, I might not need a whole bottle but it’s darn nice.

I love me some palo santo, I will order any BPAL that lists it as a component. And its smoky yet lemony, herbal scent is really the star in this blend. If you like “clean” citrus/herbal blends, definitely check this one out!

I love BPAL scent descriptions that cause me to have a Very Specific Scent Memory Association and here’s one! Going to Frontier City in OKC back in the day when they had Fright Fest going on, and standing in line forever to get into their rad haunted house, but it was OK cause the air was perfumed with funnel cakes and other deep-fried fair delicacies. So how is the actual perfume? PSIYHH is quite cinnamony, which I don’t really associate with funnel cakes but it doesn’t sound BAD does it? Sprinkle that bad boy with cinnamon sugar straight out of the fryer? Gonna give it a minute for the cinnamon to calm down...once it does (slightly), I get a bit of cedar. But it’s clear the cinnamon is really not going anywhere. And there’s a bit of maple as well? So rather than the buttery fried dough and powdered sugar I was expecting, we get pancakes with cinnamon sugar, which is cool, just different.

I love blends that really give me “haunted house” vibes and this is one of them. Warm polished woods, tea, clove, tobacco, dust, yes, those are present. But this blend also captures stillness, emptiness, an abandoned place with a past. And THAT is a vibe I love.

Dark wine, with a medicinal sharp note that I think is the yew needles, and a slight metallic blood vibe. This scent is bold and powerful. A victorious gulp of wine after a tough battle. Here for it.

A medicinal/herbal blend with a vetiver base, and saltwater. Vetiver can be harsh on me, and others found it so here, but this is lovely on me. A unisex blend, I’d like my husband to wear it as well.

At first, sheer tobacco, which is a no-go for me. (It’s not work appropriate and also makes me sneeze.) After 20 seconds I get a whiff of amber with it’s rocky, salty undertones. Opoponax is in hiding. After a full minute it’s more evenly balanced tobacco and amber. It’s unique, feels a bit sad, thoughtful, wistful to me? Glad I got to test it, just have to pass on the tobacco.

This is from 2017 and it’s pretty faded on me. I get hints of sandalwood, florals, and bergamot. It’s very pretty, cheerful, but sooooo soft and close to the skin. Off to swaps, maybe it will amp more on someone else.