windbourne

Good lord, this is incredibly strong. It's dark, a little dirty, and very thick, with throw and lasting power for days. Black musk often has a slightly lemony tinge to me, and that aspect is present here; the combo of the musk with the myrrh and motor oil is very intense. I'm learning (slowly) that oil notes are a bit iffy for me at times, and this isn't really increasing my confidence in it. Once it's dried and has been on for a while, the motor oil fades and I like it a lot more, but the oil makes me almost a little queasy while it's damp. It's odd, because the throw is captivating. What I smell from a slight distance is absolutely fantastic, but when I sniff close up, blergh. It's like, on me, it's a scent that was meant to be smelled by someone else. And it lasts forever: it lasted through a shower, it beat my fairly strong lotion into submission, it wore through the night and was still strongly present when I woke up. It's just a beast. The only thing I can think of that I have that begins to compare is Minotaur, which is also black musk & resin, but that one is a baby compared to this, and the other notes mellow it out a lot.

Starts as a burst of rosy sandalwood, much like The Little Wooden Doll, but fresher and brighter and better. This one is very harmonious on me, everything blends well and feels intentional. There's a mild citrus-like aspect to it, making it one of the cleaner scents from this series, and the geranium is pleasantly herbal but not bitter. I really like it! Elemi can develop a slightly peppery note as it dries, and that's what happens on my skin, buoyed by the geranium & violet leaf & not-quite-coniferous frankincense. It's not a deep scent, it's not thick or rich or heavy at all. It's light, but not airy -- it kind of....echoes? I guess? is the way I want to describe it. Like, when you walk into a open air temple? I've only been to those in Japan, and this isn't a Japanese scent at all, but it has that sort of feeling. It clears my head. Throw is very mild, I can't smell it unless I lift my wrists near my face, but it's got a surprisingly decent lasting power. Late drydown is just a wisp of sandalwood. I'm not really shocked that this one doesn't, overall, have great reviews, but I enjoyed this slightly spare, softly resinous scent journey, and I'll wear it again for sure.

This reminds me quite a bit of L'Heure Verte, but that one is strongly absinthe with a bit of rose and this one is strongly rose and carnation with a bit of absinthe. Both feature opium, though, and both have a heady, brooding aspect that evokes a similar time period and aesthetic. I do prefer the lilac in L'Heure to the carnation in SBK, but unlike many carnation scents that end up too sweet and unpleasant on me, that note is tempered by the rest. The mercury note is very low-key on me, lending a silvery cast to the whole experience without standing out. It's got a fairly significant throw -- I can smell it without bending my arms at all, and my SO has commented on it from across the room -- and lasts several hours. I like it a lot, but I have to be in a Mood to wear it. I used to wear velvet blazers and ruffled shirts more often and this felt just right. :3

I went through a very long phase where I was absolutely obsessed with beeswax scents. I still like quite a few, but I've discovered that it doesn't always work for me anymore. Even a few scents that I went berserk over a few years ago are now surprisingly cloying on my skin. I don't think it's the scents aging, I think it's my tastes (and possibly skin chemistry) shifting. 😕 Anyway, this is one of those. I wore it a lot shortly after I got it and loved it to death. Now, it's stickier to my nose and I'm not as in love with the particular leather -- it's not the softer worn-jacket leather of Adam or the fuzzy suede leather of Ian -- it's smooth, brown, and ...well, it does smell like libraries. Old books, slightly musty. Unfortunately, the blood is on the sweeter side as well, and the salt isn't quite enough to counteract it. The ink is nice, lending a blackened swirl to the scent, and the way it dries down is still beautiful (especially once the leather settles down a bit)....but it's no longer a favorite. It doesn't have major throw and lasts 4-5 hours. I don't get the incense until about the midway point, at which point it's mostly a slightly smoky, dusty haze.

I really wish this were something I liked and wanted to wear, but I just don't enjoy cedar or teak and those are the strongest notes on my skin. The rose otto and oudh are there, but this is almost entirely pencil shavings, antique store, and sadness on me. Low throw, doesn't last too long on me, better for those who like *waves hands* that sort of thing. Don't get me wrong, I'm not against wood & rose scents, but I really prefer sandalwood or pine or rosewood or literally anything other than cedar or teak. Later on it becomes mostly rose oudh, which is fine and I like much more, but I also have Elizabeth of Bohemia, which is that from the get-go and skips the parts I don't like. ^^;

It starts out a bit sharp and very distinctively inky (with a hint of parchment, perhaps?), but that fades pretty fast. Mysore sandalwood is often sweeter than other sandalwoods, and here it is very sweet & creamy, backed up by some not-terribly-sweet benzoin, aged fabric notes, and ink, with just a tiny hint of marjoram. It seems a little smoky to my nose, slightly diffuse and very old. I really love it. It's largely a skin scent, with minimal throw, unobtrusive but so pleasant to huff. It keeps my interest and is pleasant to wear, and lasts for several hours while fading gracefully. I've worn it several times over the last few years and each time I pull it out I want to sigh happily. Calming, complex, ancient, mottled green/brown, evocative.

This scent, on my skin is a mess of flower hash. =_=; It's not surprising, I don't get on at all well with most of these big white floral fragrances. I have a moonflower SN from another company, and a similar note is very much present. I can tell the warmer notes are under there -- the slightly sweaty costus (and a need to give it a full chance) is about the only thing keeping me from just washing it off because that note is like catnip for me -- but mostly this is about pungent white florals. The hilarious thing about this perfume to me is that it encapsulates an experience I would love. Being in gardens full of night-blooming flowers is a wonderful experience and I treasure many of these notes as actual flowers. I just don't love those scents on my skin. Late, late drydown, I do get a hint of tobacco, and the whole experience is probably sweeter because of the tonka and vanilla notes, but overall, very fragrant white floral. Big throw, but I can't comment on weartime because I washed it off. ^^;

Woodsnresinswoodsnresins -- okay, but seriously though. For a mellow, meditative incense blend, this one is difficult to beat. Starts a little sweet, then dries out until it reminds me of a soft drift of incense smoke curling off my wrist. It's just complex enough to reward deep huffing; I can tease out just a bit of the labdanum after a while, but it doesn't ever overtake the pale sandalwood & frankincense. It does fall into the category of scents I think of as 'antisocial' in that, when I wear them, I prefer to be alone and not have to talk to anyone. Most of those scents are cold or have chilly notes, but this one is soft and warm. Gentle throw, lasts forever, clean, patient, holy.

Compared to many of the other character scents in this series, Ian is so simple. Leather, sweetened (but not spiced) rum, bit of very distant, slightly dirty patch that gets stronger the longer it wears. ...and that's it. No surprises, no oddities, just a simple perfume for a simple boy. I've worn this a few times over the years, but I'm not actually that fond of rum in perfumes as it usually ends up pretty cloying on me. It's not bad for cooler weather, but it's a bit dense for late spring according to my tastes. ^_^; The leather reminds me of a fringed buckskin jacket I thrifted in high school, slightly musty and worn, sueded, not smooth or dry. The patchouli is also rough & woody. It has moderate throw, and I probably wouldn't wear it to work, but it's nice.

Mildly funky jasmine backed up by woods and a whole lot of sweet, sticky honey. The overall effect is a deep but still translucent amber with black flecks. It has a lightly toasted aspect to it -- Leo '07 has a little of that on me as well, so I suspect the saffron is playing into it -- but not burnt. I agree with a number of other reviewers, tbh: this shouldn't work on me, but it's absolutely beautiful. This one is good times, sexy and warm and not too much, at least on me. It only lasted a few hours and didn't have a strong throw.

I've never been able to make up my mind about this particular scent. It's simultaneously beautiful and nauseating on me, full of both notes I hate and notes I enjoy, and all of them are present. It wavers between something I like to wear, a rich, spicy patch with a backing of red musk and champaca and other good things and a rather indolic jasmine with bitey black pepper and strappy leather. Later drydown (because of course this lasts a long time, of course it does) is mostly woody patch and musk and champaca. Oh, you know what -- ...I smell like going to a club, like, everything about it. The sweat and the way decades of smoke have seeped into the walls, the kind of gross toilets that you don't care about after three or four drinks, the low lights and and close whispers and grinding on the floor with someone you don't know, and they sure are wearing leather pants and that's hot, but also you can practically taste their perfume, which is neat but also a bit much. Nothing's going to come of that dance-that-isn't-really-dancing, but it's pretty intense while you're in the moment. Yeah. Anyway, that's what Funnel of Love is to me. ^___^;;; An experience I don't regret, but would be pressed to say that I really enjoy.

I always feel a bit bemused when my favorites are everyone else's faves. 😂 But honestly, in all ways, Eve is my favorite from this series. It's a beautiful perfume, complex and both deep and bright; herbal, resinous, woody, and rosy by turns. It shifts and flickers on my wrists, with different facets coming out throughout the fairly long weartime. It doesn't have strong sillage, but every so often I catch a whiff of it as I type. I have '14 on one wrist and '18 on the other and they're pretty much indistinguishable. I love it as an interpretation of the character, as a scent completely divorced from the source material, and for the way it makes me feel when I wear it. It's great in all weather, for most occasions, and I could wear it to work without offending anyone. This, as they say, is the good stuff.

This has aged into thick & sticky territory (as in, the oil has thickened), which is kind of neat. I've barely touched it, which is slightly odd considering it's fairly solidly in my wheelhouse of scent types I like. The bottle sniff is a bit sharp and myrrh-heavy, almost sneezy, but on the skin it blooms beautifully. It's an interesting contrast, both heavy and light in almost equal parts -- woody and resinous with a vanilla-esque sweetness and dim background salty skin-like undertone. It doesn't have huge throw, but it lasts for hours and as always, the last note to go is the ambergris. I think I know why I've mostly ignored it, though -- the immortelle almost pushes it into sickly territory at times and doesn't (imo) mesh well with the other notes on my skin. Once that fades, I love it a lot, but it takes a while to get there.

This fragrance has always been stronger on the sweet, sticky shisha tobacco & spices on me. The coffee note is there, and it's darker and deeper than most other BPAL coffees I've tried (except for The Turkish Village), but it's not and never has been the most prominent note. It's very atmospheric in that it doesn't smell like coffee and tobacco smoke, it smells like you've been in a hookah lounge, surrounded by people drinking coffee and smoking for hours. I find it calming. The late late drydown is a dark-roast coffee bean sort of scent, but it takes quite a while to get there. This is one of the few OLLA bottles I've made a noticeable dent in. ;3 I'm not usually that into tobacco, but this one's really lovely.

...I'm kind of surprised at how many of the reviews, especially the early ones, aren't pegging this as mostly dragon's blood with a bit of the Lab's frost/frozen note, even though a lot of people are describing it the same way that DB always gets described: slightly floral, fruity, reminiscent of red musk, etc. It has that distinctive BPAL dragon's blood hint-of-sweetened-lilac on me, plus the slightly piney version of cold. The frozen aspect wears off pretty quickly, maybe twenty minutes in, and it starts smelling more like dragon's blood incense. There's probably some actual red musk in there as well, or the blend that comprises blood musk, as it does get muskier & thicker as it wears, then tapers off until it vanishes. Man, IDK what else to say about it; this one feels pretty 'does what it says on the tin'-ish to me. It's nice, it suits the theme, and I like it, but I've always found it difficult to wax poetic about dragon's blood.

This was never going to be a favorite of mine because I cannot stand tuberose. 😂 Buuuuut it's not bad and I don't hate it. It's a somewhat thick vanilla musk at first -- I have a very, very old ('95 or so) vial of Moroccan Vanilla Musk from a long-gone local oil blender, and it reminds me of that at first -- but then it lightens up and becomes the tuberose-vanilla very modern concoction that I expected it would be. I don't find either mandarin or almond as separate notes, it all blurs together into a sweet floral Perfume Smell. It's a bit impressive to me, tbh, that Beth can make all the wonderful weird atmospheric and unusual blends, but still be able to construct the ones that wouldn't feel out of place spritzed out of a fancy glass bottle and representing a first big splurge into the wild world of adult perfumes for some young person. For me, personally, it's fine. I could wear it, but it's not really very me.

Leather and ambergris -- like the leather in Peter Quint or Kvothe or Hatta, soft and worn, but sweeter & more complex than any of those -- gently laced with dust, wood, wool, and chemicals. It doesn't sound that pleasant, but for me, it is. It goes on leathery, but it backs way, way off fairly quickly, until it's more like the memory of wearing a leather jacket, not necessarily a classic moto, but a leather blazer that might have been in a closet for a long time. The ambergris is surprisingly present early on, along with the magnetic tape scent, and a slightly earthy note. I suspect there's a bit of costus in this for the wooly note. It's not a very strong scent, nor does it have powerful throw, but it smells so nice up close. As is usual on me, the late drydown is dominated by wispy ambergris. Good stuff, great interpretation of the character.

March 1: Deathly Pride -- Starting the month with a Naughty result from an Inquisition. For some reason, when this was live, I completely overlooked it, even though it is composed entirely of things I like a lot. Later, I got a decant and realized my mistake. Now I have one and a half bottles. ^__^ March 2: Mitzvah -- And ending my BPTP bottle week with a Nice perfume. This was a legend I was pretty sure I'd never get to sample as well, but I found it in a blog sale a few years ago along with my biggest discontinued GC lemming, Empyreal Mist. It's simple, sweet, and charming. I feel like a lot of these ancient perfumes have lost their mystique in the wave of newer perfumes that share similar notes or vibes, but I've been a fan long enough that I still feel that little thrill of "Omg, I have this" about them. March 3: Irrelevant and Disturbing Surreal Crawdad Dream '08 -- I decided to poke into the Liliths drawer of my decant collection (I keep my LE decants in an old Vosges chocolate advent calendar that has perfectly decant-sized drawers) for the next nine days or so, and I'm starting with this one, which is a sort of pre-Lilith-Lilith. It's the scent that Beth released when she was pregnant with her, and it's definitely a bit of an oddball perfume, as you might expect. Since then, I've often wished I'd bought a bottle, but at the time my finances were much less consistent and I *really* didn't know how I felt about the notes. It's pretty nice, though red currant is not great on me and it's pretty strong to my nose. ^^;;;;; March 4: Cake Smash '09 -- I always expect to like this one more than I do. I've had the decant since '09 and every so often I sniff it because it smells really good in the vial, but on my skin the cupcake almost disappears under the Dorian/Doc Constantine/Snake Oil. It's not bad, by any means, but it isn't great on me, either. Textbook 'keep the decant, don't need a bottle' situation for me. March 5: Lilith's Feel Better Flowers '13 -- This is a great bedtime scent. However, I have quite a few of those (one of my all-time faves is Gladdener of All Hearts, with which this shares a few notes, and that one reads far less soapy on me), so I never felt compelled to buy a bottle, but the name and story are so cute that I never gave up the decant, either. ^_^; March 6: A Very Pink Surprise Cake '14 -- So! Very! Pink! Quite accurate to the smell of strawberry-ish-flavored cake. It does remind me just a touch of Golletes, but that one is drier and I like it more, hence why I never bottled this one. March 7: A Vast Similitude Interlocks All '15 -- ...Wow, mixed feelings about this one. I like aquatics, but usually darker, grittier ones with lots of seaweed, kelp, or brine. My main exception to this is Selkie, which is light and watery and full of greenery. This is neither of those. It's very bright and salty and beachy, but with a distinctly perfume note from the amber. It's not awful, but it's a very not-me perfume, and I can't imagine actually wearing it out. March 8: Heel '16 -- In a turnabout, this is mostly things I don't usually like (jasmine and grass), with only one note I'm okay with (honeysuckle), but I like it pretty well. This is another from the "I don't remember testing this before" file. I don't even remember buying it, but I'm happy I did. ETA: well, it vanished within two hours. So, er... March 8b: A Vigilant Eye At Heaven's Center '20 -- When I first tried this I didn't like it at all, but after chilling in my new decants box for a few months, it's much nicer. It's still a mass of green with a slightly funky undertone, but the mint is much brighter and it feels mellower. March 9: Rose Quartz Bedroom '20 -- Well, it does feel very translucent and pink. The white musk is pretty strong here, giving it a very clean, laundry-esque quality. Again, not bad, I'm not feeling the urge to wash it off or anything, but not very me-appropriate. March 10: Sentence First, Verdict Afterwards '20 -- Last one for this theme for now. ;} Finishing it off with a bouquet of very woody & clove-y tea roses. It's pleasant, though tea roses are my least favorite kind and I wish the red or white were a bit stronger to my nose. I'm not sad I tested it, but I'm glad I didn't blind-bottle. It's good, but doesn't hit me as OMG GOOD the way some other roses-and-woods scents have. Nice to see the thorny note again, though. I bought a bottle of Thorns (the dc'd Marchen, not the clove ciggies [though I do have that too]) not long ago and really enjoyed it. March 11: Serpent's Kiss -- After mentioning Thorns yesterday, I decided to pick out seven dc'd GC bottles for this week. Man, this stuff is strong. The vetiver has mellowed out a lot since I bought this (2014, just after the dc announcement), so it's not as smoky, and the dragon's blood is much stronger and more floral. It's still a brutal scent, both cold and spicy. March 12: L'Ecole des Filles -- Still one of the prettiest orange blossom-forward scents I've ever tried. March 13: The Little Sparrow -- Soft, fluffy, beige, but so pleasant. It took me a long time and a few misadventures to get this one. I've also accumulated probably six or seven imps of it, so I doubt I'll ever run out. March 14: Thorns (Marchen) -- This and Serpent's Kiss have similar openings -- vetiver & dragon's blood, very intense -- but this one dries down softer and woodier, with a bit of that lovely salty tears note. I really love the later drydown, when the blood has mostly faded and it's soft saltwater and wood. This was way too much for me when it was first released, but I've learned more about my tastes since then, and I'm happy Ajevie had a bottle of this in the charity sale. March 15: Ides of March '12 (proto)-- WELL, YES. This is one of those bottles I dig out once a year and smile happily about, then tuck back away and forget about. It's pretty nice, though, herbalish and almost sweaty by turns. Costus root is a fascinating note; Beth doesn't use it very often, and I usually don't like the things it gets paired with, but it's not quite like anything else. I'll go back to my dc'd gcs tomorrow. ;} (ETA: The drydown on this was just gorgeous. I really ought to pull it out more often.) March 16: The Unicorn (Mad Tea Party) -- Aaah, this one is so lovely, a barely-sweet, misty-pale floral. I like linden about half the time, and the other half it makes me think laundry thoughts. This is one that does not leave me with that impression. I really love the Lab's misty scents. Too bad they get discontinued fairly often. 😕 March 17: Three Witches (Illyria) -- While I do have some of the Bards of Ireland series, I'm sticking with my theme today. ;3 This one's a great layering scent, but quite pleasant alone, too. I like wearing it during colder weather. March 18: Empyreal Mist -- It took me seven years of missing or being outbid on ebay and sales posts to finally manage to catch a full bottle, but I finally did. I had swapped and sold for several imps (and a bottle of v3!) and would have been happy with a partial or empty, but I finally managed it, and now it's one of my personal BPAL treasures. I just really, really enjoy that mist note. It's so nice. March 19: Sara Pezzini (Witchblade) -- I picked out seven collab/licensed scents I have bottles of to play with this week. Much to my surprise, considering that I usually don't think I like it that much, four of them have leather as a distinct or primary note. This one definitely does! It's very sexy scent, moreso than I usually go for. I don't wear it often, but I'm happy to have the low partial I have, because it's amazing. March 20: Sweets to the Sweet (Clive Barker) -- Tart, sugary, conspiratorial. I blind-bottled this and have never regretted it. It's got commonalities with the March '20 13, but it lacks the depth that the darker sugars add. It's a bit hypnotic, and almost, but not quite, floral. March 21: The Book (Paranorman) -- I have a low partial of this, which is good, because I'm not sure I've ever worn it before. ^^; I have a few other book-type scents I like a lot (Ü is my favorite!) and this one has a musty quality I'm not very into. March 22: Channel Snow (Kabuki) -- It's mellowed some since I bought the bottle (2016), but it's still that gorgeous galbanum fuzz it was when I first tried a decant of it. Love love love. March 23: Jareth -- What even needs saying about it? ^__^ There was no possible way I was going to not buy this, even if it were somehow composed of every note I hate, but luckily I think it's pretty great. March 24: Alcie (Pandora) -- I distinctly remember disliking this, but testing it now, it's not bad. It still smells very soapy until it's completely dry (green musk, you are not my friend), but afterwards, it's very nice. March 25: Liz (Hellboy) -- The first couple of times I sniffed Liz I thought I was safe forever, but at Will-Call in...2018, I think? I skin-tested it a bit and discovered that she was beautiful. I deeply suspect that this scent has a few batch variations, and I would definitely want to sniff it in person before buying. But the sweet, smoky, leathery, vaguely floral drydown is so worth it. Seriously, though, how did I end up with so many leather scents? It's not a note I thought I was especially fond of, but ...perhaps I was mistaken. March 26: Monsterbait: Underbed -- I'm doing a decant countdown to April Fool's this week. ;} IDK if the Lab will do an April Fool release this year, but I love them and enjoy seeing what shenanigans they come up with! I got this a long, long time ago, thinking it sounded pretty amazing, but it was one of two or three attempts to be friendly with the Lab's cassia note that didn't go well. It's fine, I like the rest of the notes, but I'd like it a lot better if it were normal cinnamon instead of cassia, which smells slightly of dirt on me. 😅 March 27: Velvet Nudie -- Super-simple, but very interesting. The throw increases over time, so I can barely smell it at first, then my SO is asking me what I'm wearing after two hours. I'm not sure I'd want a bottle (I didn't get any bottles from the Velvet Salon, though I have or have had decants of all of them), but I'm definitely keeping this decant. March 28: Teatime in Roswell -- This is very confusing. I tested it twice, and the first time it vanished without a trace, to the point that I forgot I'd put it on and put on something else. The second time it was definitely cucumber sandwiches at first, but then later it shifted, becoming almost floral and very nice. I went into it thinking I'd give it one last chance and probably toss it in the swap box, but instead, I think I'll keep it. It's just weird enough to keep my attention. March 29: Opuhi -- So, funny story, I opened the vial to sniff this and it smelled weird, off, not at all the beautiful pale tropical glory of Opuhi I know. The label was fully wrapped around and taped, so I cut it open and there were barely two drops left in it. I've definitely noticed that the lower the amount of oil (hence the greater amount of air in the vial), the more likely an older scent is to go strange, so in the spirit of adventure I just dumped those last two drops on my arm to see how it actually still smelled. It was pretty close to fine! I have a bottle of this as well, and I may return to it again this year -- it's a gorgeous summer scent -- but this imp is now empty. March 30: Knockout Drops -- The notes for this, on paper, are a list of a bunch of things I love, but the actual scent on me is reminding me why I never sought out a bottle. It's kind of clean minty lemony vague and a little vanilla, no absinthe to speak of. I'd blame age, but it's always been like this. It's neither good nor bad, it's just kind of ...there. The reviews indicate that I'm not the only one who got this impression, and I'm a little jealous of the folks who get a more distinct fragrance. March 31: Tiki King -- Really nice, woody, dark, coconut. I like this a lot, tbh. I'm a little surprise I never went for a bottle, though to be fair, it's a little darker than most of the coconut scents I really love, and more suitable to my tastes now than around the time it was available. I'm happy I have this! (eta: This also lasted f o r e v e r. I could still smell a bit of coconut incense-ish on my wrist twelve hours later -- tbqh, it reminded me a lot of the drydown of Deathly Pride!)

Feb 1: Pothôn Mêtêr -- It is, in fact, my birthday, it is nearly Luper season, and so I have pulled out one of my all-time favorite scents, from any company ever. I love it so much, and wear it pretty regularly and yet somehow, miraculously, it is barely below the shoulder. Magic. Feb 2: Gingerbread Zombie -- I have three gingerbread-and-mint combo scents now, including this one (matcha & raw mint and peppermint candies are the other two), so apparently this is something I'm really drawn to. Good thing that they are all very distinct from each other! This one is the softest and sweetest, and dries down to gently spicy chocolate. Feb 3: Endless Corridors -- I went through a phase of wanting to buy ALL THE BEESWAX scents pretty early on, so I have quite a number of them, and this is not my favorite. It does smell like dirty, smoky wax, which accomplishes the atmosphere for sure, but is not something I feel like wearing on a regular basis. It might make a nice room scent, however, or like, as background scent for a tabletop rpg session. Feb 4: Flickering Lights, Fluttering Curtains -- Oh, no I love this. It's lovely, and the white amber is only very gently soapy. It does remind me of some of the Lace scents, but it feels so airy compared to most of the ones I have. It's interesting; it feels like many of these haunted house scents should be layered with each other. Like, I may try adding Endless Corridors to this, though I may end up with something resembling a lighter Young Edith's Bedroom. Which...appropriate, no? Feb 5: The Cherry-Tree Carol -- This was the one I laser-focused on from the Winter collection this year. I'm not sure why, exactly, since I don't generally gravitate towards, and usually avoid, cherry scents. This one is cherry, but it's also woody and resinous and slightly floral and yeah, I really like it. ^___^ I always seem to have luck when I go with my gut on a particular scent! Feb 6: The Icebergs -- Peach & pine! ....I'm not sure how I feel about this one. It's very odd. I can pick out a lot of the notes, but right now it's blending together on my skin in a way that reminds me of pine-scented cleaning products and clay. ...hm. May have to give this some time and test it again later. (eta: it dried down lovely. ) Feb 7: Rose-Tinted Mirror (TAL) -- I'm giving myself a sort of mental spa day today so this felt both thematically and emotionally correct. It's very soothing and pretty. Feb 8: 13 (March 2020) -- Sugar sugar sugar!! It's hard to believe this one's less than a year old! But it's already one of my favorites from this series, and completely different from all the rest. I really enjoy the journey through the various sugars on my skin. Feb 9: Sugar Skull '08 -- I'm going to test a week of old Weenie decants (including one I full-sized), because why not. ^__^ Kicking it off with a classic. It's not one of my faves, and the only bottle I have is a very low partial of '04, which is dark and sticky and more brown sugar than this one, but it's weirdly nice. It hasn't made an appearance in a few years, but it was a solid presence in the Weenies for quite a long time! It's good for when you want sweet and fruity but not foodie, if that makes sense? I like it, but I don't find it compelling. (Lol, it's there this year; I forgot to check. ^^; ) Feb 10: Frosted Pumpkin Spice Cookie -- ...yep, that sure is what it is. I've gotten a lot less enamored by pumpkin-y scents as time has gone by, but this is still pretty nice. Extremely autumnal and very distinctively frosting-y; I can almost taste it. I'm happy I pulled this one out! It's delicious. Feb 11: All Souls '07 -- How to put it. This smells like a box of BPAL imps. Incense, slightly sweetened, but mostly just blurry, vaguely curranty, incense. I don't think it's turned, it still smells like what All Souls smells like, but the age and leakiness of this imp may mean it's time to chuck it into my freebies box instead of putting it back in the collection. I'm not sure I'm likely to wear it again after this, I have scents with both incense and curranty cake notes that I like much better. (eta: LOL, joke's on me. It dried down absolutely gorgeous and lasted for hours. This is what happens when you have too much perfume, folks. You forget.) Feb 12: Dead Leaves, Chamomile, Red Roses, & White Tea -- I'm not a huge fan of the Dead Leaves series. It's not bad, but every time I try one I just feel kind of eh about it. This was one of a few I picked as decants in 2016, and I still feel pretty eh about it. I like the Lab's chamomile note a lot, and it's very present, but I do not love this scent on me. Feb 13: Perilous Parlor '07 -- This was my first pear scent and I didn't love it. But in early 2012 The Vine was released and I suddenly discovered that I adored pear. But PP was re-released that fall and ...I still didn't love it, and didn't buy a bottle. It had a dusty, slightly perfumey quality to it (to my nose), even fresh. That said, this decant is perfectly pleasant, and I won't be pitching it post-haste. Feb 14: The Bride (Luper '16) -- Well, it's Valentine's Day, it would be more thematic to pick a Luper, right? This one is so light and lovely and romantic. I love magnolia as a note and it really shines here. Feb 15: The Changeling -- Back to the Weenies for two more days. This is a decant I don't actually remember ever trying before. I probably did, at the time (it's from 2011, when my collection was much smaller and I tried every decant I got as soon as I got it, covering my arms in dots of oil!) but I have no memory of it at all. ...And it turns out it's great. It's pumpkin without spices, plus pale wood and a soft linen note. Reading the reviews makes it sound like it was pretty rough going when it was fresh, but the passage of ten years has made this one smooth and beautiful to my nose. Thanks for the present, past-me! Feb 16: Ooky -- I was a little surprised to find I still had this decant, because I used about half of it in less than two weeks and promptly bought a bottle. ;3 I love almond on my skin -- when I was a kid, my mom let me use vanilla and almond extracts as perfume, and that association has never quite gone away -- and this is a delightful little nostalgia bomb of pumpkin and marzipan. Feb 17: Volcano in Springtime -- It's Luper week! I hear rumors they're due to go live soon. This one, from 2016, is pretty meh on me. It's very faint, fairly sweet, and not very interesting. The cream note in it smells a bit chemical on my skin. I do like some of these light, pale, pretty scents, but this one is not a good one for me. Feb 18: Venus Victrix -- Pretty roses and red musk and patch and sandalwood. I think, if I had been newer to BPAL when this came out, I would have really loved it, but it came out in 2015, and I already had several blends in this general wheelhouse by then. Dried down very nice, but still not something I'd have bought a full bottle of. Feb 19: Lady in Speckled Pink Kimono -- Once again, pale, pretty, though fairly distinctively pink. Starts sugary, ends floral, not much else in between. I had to look up the notes and reviews because this was another one I couldn't even remember trying. ... It's fine, I guess? It's funny, for how much I love a number of Lupers and how much variation there is within any given release, I managed to grab a random handful containing a few similar scents and at least two of the remaining four I know I didn't like. ^^; Feb 20: Pontia -- A little while back I finally identified bergamot as one of the notes that makes me think 'soapy' on my skin, so this one really just smells like an exquisite hand soap to me. Welp. ^_^; Feb 21: Inganok Jewelers -- This is one of the two I don't like. I am not really a fan of the 'stone' accord (seen also in Night's Bridge and 13 Hours) and tend to want to wash it off pretty quickly. Adding silver (which I have liked in other combinations) doesn't make me like it any more. I'm putting this one on before a bath because I know it lasts forever and I don't want it to be around later on. Feb 22: Milk Chocolate, Raw Ginger, and Butterscotch -- Pretty nice, no surprises here. It is, however, a little too buttery-sweet and I love this ginger note more in other things, particularly Mother Ginger and Vespertilio Proterus. I know why I kept this decant, and I also know why I didn't buy a bottle. Feb 23: Love's Philosophy ('16) -- This was one that became somewhat legendary because it didn't come around again for 8 years after its first release. But I hated the first release and got rid of my first decant fairly shortly after getting it. I picked it up again when it finally reappeared just to see if maybe a slightly more adjusted nose would find it more pleasant, but nope. It's very odd, because all the notes (vanilla, saffron, cream) I have enjoyed in other blends, but somehow, all together in this one, they are awful on me. So, verdict from Luper week is that I have four decants to put in the swap/sale box and three to put back into collection. Cool. Feb 24: Licorice Bats -- I think I'll spend this week exploring some of my BPTP bottles. (also I have a migraine and this scent is very mild, which is very necessary right now) This li'l guy is soft and soothing and very gently fruity and doesn't do anything weird on me. It has better throw and staying power than it did fresh, which is nice. It's not one I go for terribly often, but when I do, I'm glad to have the full bottle. Feb 25: Crypt Princess -- Yes, I do have her coffin somewhere in storage. This takes a while to settle on my skin, and the first few minutes are pretty terrible, but then it's pretty good, though still a bit tart, as you would expect from the pomegranate. Definitely related to Crypt Queen and King (I'll get to them later this week), but a bit more floral. Feb 26: L'Estate -- I got this in an Inquisition just a few months after really getting into BPAL. I actually bought two sets, this and L'Inverno, but ended up disliking the latter and sold the full set (perfume, atmo, bath oil) off at some point along the way. This set I kept (and later ended up picking up L'Autunno secondhand) but I never understood until now why it wasn't quite what I wanted it to be, and why it was so lightly soapy for so long on my skin. The answer is lily. ^_^;; It's still pretty nice, but I prefer the bath oil/atmo spray, neither of which have lily. (As a sidenote, the Four Seasons Inquisition was absolutely brilliant. Three [technically four, since there were also extremely limited matching soaps] iterations on a theme, all working together in a delightful whole.) Feb 27: Crypt King -- I'd kind of forgotten how much of a fuss there was about this one until I read the review thread, though checking my email, I actually bought it a few months after the initial release, sans coffin, but direct via the BPTP Etsy shop. It's quite pleasant, that lovely earthy pomegranate with more masculine, cologne-ish notes. I'm pretty happy I have all three members of this royal family; I should pull them out more often! Feb 28: Crypt Queen -- Started the month with one fave, ending it with another, though I still have two more days in my BPTP theme week. This was something I originally got as a decant very early on and didn't like, but a few years later, someone gifted me a low partial of it and I fell in love. It's one of those ones that defies all my usual likes and turns them into a deep love. Everything about it is beautiful.

I don't especially like the Lab's cassia note. It's like cinnamon, but not quite, a little bit earthier, and it sits on my skin very strangely. I do like coconut, cocoa, and cake, however. This starts CASSIA, then drops back down into light, coconutty cake with a soft cocoa powder note plus CASSIA. After a while, it's mostly just fluffy coconut-laced cake with a hint of cocoa dust and cassia. Much later and it's earthy cassia powder with a li'l touch of cake. Hours later, it's just a hint of mildly gritty cassia. Sooooo Underbed is not something I need to hanker after. Whew. ;} Disclaimer: I've had this half-decant for probably ten years and tested it once or twice with similar results. If you have a more full decant or, better yet, a bottle, and, most importantly, you like cassia, you may have a different experience.

A base of bitter dark chocolate with thirteen baneful and beneficial bits including pimento berry, pink pepper, tolu balsam, bergamot, golden honey, tobacco absolute, champaca flower, and paprika. Woo! A new 13! The last three were terrible on me, but this one stands a good chance of supplanting the June 08 as my new favorite. The bottle is lovely, too; instead of just being a colored label with a number, it has a very nice vintage 'dance with Death' image. As for the scent: In the bottle, it's quite bitter and spicy, definite peppery and balsamic notes. (On a bad day, or with a slightly less sweetened base, it could almost smell like salad dressing. :} ) It becomes much sweeter once it's on the skin, with the honey and chocolate kicking it up. There's a nearly waxy aspect to it as well which I find pleasing. As it dries, it goes through a tooth-achingly sharp-and-sweet phase where the spices completely disappear on me. They come back after a while, though, and this ends up a pleasingly spicy honey with only a tiny bit of chocolate. This is possibly the -least chocolatey- 13 I've ever tried, and I'm completely fine with that. Throw is significant, and it seems as though this will have some decent staying power. Nom. ETA: Latelate drydown, the tobacco and champaca really pop up and start throwing out waves of deliciousness. This is very lovely, though not something I'll be able to wear to work.

This decant has been hiding out in my stash for several years, and I tested it without checking the notes first. ^_^;; Unfortunately, for me this was a scrubber. It's 3/4 notes I can't wear or don't like and stays true to that on my skin. Copal always turns into a particular brand of flea shampoo on me, lily of the valley is high and shrieky, and violet leaf smells like dust, so what I ended up with for the ten minutes I was willing to bear it was a high shrieky soap with a pretty heavy throw. I'm pretty sure that if I let it dry down fully the tobacco and patch would probably take over and it would be pleasant enough, but I can't deal with the rest of the notes. Welp. (I'm not concerned that it's gone off after 8 years in my imp box. I have BPAL much older than this li'l guy that still smell fine and are wearable. This one just isn't for me. ^_^!)

I wish I could add more to that, but I had exactly the same experience as brineydeep. 😂 It's a lovely light incense with a hint of chilly, gently greenish snow and a very slight sweetness. It doesn't throw very far, but it lasts a decent amount of time and I found it detectable even after washing my hands a few times. It faded to a very pale sweet sandalwood. I wasn't expecting to like it as much as I do, but I'm really happy I blind bottled it, and can see myself wearing this a lot this winter when I want something serene to wear that won't draw a lot of attention. I think this will make a really good work scent.

I had my bottle of KoH handy, so I applied that one to one wrist and this one to the other. This year's Frostbitten scents (I got three) are definitely a cold, slightly minty frost note to my nose. As Torikitty commented, Knave, unfortunately completely gets overtaken by that note for most of the wear time. As it dries, I do get more of the base, a little cold rose and some fruitiness, plus a little bit of pastry. It dried down to a softer, almost dryer sheets-y version of the base scent. I like it, but I wouldn't consider it an essential unless you're absolutely obsessed with both parts. If you haven't tried KoH, the notes are "crushed roses and blackcurrant tarts", and it's pretty delightful, imo. This one didn't do a whole lot for me as a separate scent, but if I couldn't find my bottle of OG KoH, I'd be reasonably happy with it.

TKO (sweet lavender, possibly marshmallow?), but it dries down to a minty snow note. Similar in throw (moderate), wear length (long, with a slow fade), and just as soothing, but I found it gently jarring to wake up and smell a cool frosty note instead of just lavender. ^_^;; Worth getting if you think you'll like it, but otherwise zero surprises.