splendidissima

Oh, gosh - this one is exactly what it says it is, so if that sounds good to you, grab it! I don't really even know how else to describe it - it is, yes, a sweet (not specifically sugary, just sweet), warmly vanilla, floral honeysuckle. Despite being an October release, it feels very springtime to me, or maybe the-end-of-winter-verging-on-spring - cozy vanilla sweetness and sweet flowers unfolding. Good throw and lasting nicely, so far!

My bottle got here a couple days ago, so here goes! On first application, I get a lot of sandalwood, bergamot, and palo santo - no rice milk or cream in this opening! But my skin has tended to turn sandalwood up to eleven lately, so that might be a me thing. I was hoping it'd be a bit milkier/sweeter (gambling on the 'cream' aspect and the rice milk here) but it isn't, very. About 20 minutes in, there is a soft creamy note emerging, faintly - the other three notes are still the loudest, but they're being gentled and tamed by milk, like adding a splash of milk into strong tea. It's also quieted down a lot in terms of throw; it's definitely still there, but closer to my skin. It's interesting; I do like it but I don't know if I love it; I really was hoping for more of a balance with the creamy notes. Maybe we'll see how it ages, and also see how it works on my mom, who is also a BPAL person. 🙂

I almost didn't grab this one because rose doesn't always work for me, but I love sugar and spice, and the reviews were tempting, so I gave in! And I'm glad I did. It's a spicy-sweet, warm pink scent - not very heavily rose, really well blended, lots of warm buttery sugar cookies and carnation spice. The Lofthouse cookies mention up-thread is spot-on; it's that soft fluffy pale sugar cookie, definitely *not* the snickerdoodle vibe that the Lab's Sugar Cookie often has! Big initial throw, but now it's dwindled down a lot, though I also didn't put very much on, because it does go on big! Oddly, or maybe not oddly, I feel like it's a good winter holiday scent: cookies & carnations!

Ooh, I really love this! It's absolutely a Frostbitten Strawberry - icy, frozen, freezerbox strawberries! It might be the same 'freezer-cold' note from Cold Moon, which I also loved? It's a *little* sweet, but not overly sweet - a strawberry popsicle, but a really good, gourmet, organic kind, if that makes sense: nothing fake, only real fruit, frozen! I feel like this would be good in hot weather, when icy strawberries are just the thing, but also great for some sort of New Year's or winter party: chilled fancy drinks, fresh berries, sparkles.

I agree that there's something coming across as floral here! It's very...pink apples + light sugared floral, on me. I don't really get cassia or anything woodsy, which is fine - I was here for the apples and fruit! I would've liked the mango to be a little louder, I think - I like juicy fruit-basket scents! But this is very pretty, too. It's almost a springtime scent, if springtime apples are a thing: pink, pretty, floral, sparkly apples. Good throw, so far!

Fuzzy, herbal, and cuddly! It's definitely a kitty-cat. This isn't my usual wheelhouse, but I love the art and there weren't any notes I outright can't wear - and we've got a black kitty here at home, so I wanted to try it. It's definitely a soft furry sort of scent: black-brown fur, dried herbs, soft spices. It smells like a witch's...not quite kitchen, but store-room, perhaps, with dried ingredients and a small cat curled up on a chair to keep an eye on anyone coming in. It's a fun autumn scent, I think!

This has been one of my favorites since I got into BPAL! It's sweet, dark, ginger - heavy on the ginger - with warm cookies/pastries/something sweet and rich that's playing oh so nice with the spices. Not sharp at all, just dark, warm, gently spicy. I bought a new bottle this year, and I still absolutely love it. Also, we visited my grandparents this past weekend, and I was wearing my new bottle, and I hugged my grandma, and she said, "oh, you smell so good, were you baking?"

Like Doomsday_disco, I get that upfront boozy blast! I'm not sure what's doing that, but it's definitely a booze punch, like maybe a rum? I actually wondered at first if there was some mix-up and this was the Rum Cake! A couple hours later, it's much more bread-y and pumpkin-y - like a canned pumpkin, like, well, like a pumpkin bread! It's not really very sweet - it's closer to other Lab bread scents, if you've liked those. It's a calm baked-bread skin-close scent, very home-y. I'm not really getting any chocolate, unless that's somehow transforming into the initial booze wave. Overall, I like it, in a gentle autumn-kitchen sort of way, especially once it dries down.

Oh my word - so much fizzy champagne! To the point that I'm wondering who ate my pumpkin cheesecake! I like the Lab's champagne note, so I'm not mad about it, but honestly it's almost a single note of that on me, especially at first. After it dries there's a hint - it really is a *hint* - of a little creaminess at the back. I got it yesterday, so I'm going to leave it for a couple of days and see if the pumpkin stops being shy - I do also *really* love pumpkin, and I like sweet cream type scents, so I was hoping for a balance of notes here, so in that sense I'm a bit sad. But, again, I like the champagne, so that's okay too - not complaining! Maybe I'll try layering it with something more pumpkin or cream-forward...maybe Ghost Milk? Or my old partial bottle of Pumpkin Cheesecake?

In order of strength, I get: coffee, apple, and a dark sweetness - caramel/brown sugar, I think! With a kiss of cinnamon. It's not as sweet as might be expected from the notes, because the coffee is so up front and the sugar is dark brown. I can't pick out any oatmilk, which I was kind of looking forward to, unless maybe it's just smoothing things out in the background. But that's okay; this is still fun, and I don't have anything else quite like it in my collection! It really does smell like something I'd want to drink on a grey chilly morning, while wrapped up in a cozy blanket - or maybe even getting a jolt of caffeine for braving the weather to run errands!

Oooooh. This one's for chocolate lovers! Rich, dark, creamy chocolate - I agree that it's creamy, like the mousse or even the mirror glaze in the description, and not cake-y at all! And then there's a swirl of nuttiness - hazelnut & praline. The fancy Nutella description is a good one! It's a big decadent scent - I can see this getting a lot of wear in cold weather, or at cozy holiday parties. 🙂

This is very much spiced apples and pumpkin spice on me, and I'm not complaining! The husband took one sniff and said "that smells like fall," and I agree - like standing next to a cauldron of spiced apple cider while also holding a spiced pumpkin hot beverage in one hand. (I don't want to say PSL because I don't really get coffee at all - just warm pumpkin + more spice!) As it dries it alllllmost gets to be...too much spice? Hinting at Cinnamon Apple Spice Candle? But in the end it's not quite too much - there's some sweetness from the candy corn and some booze-sweet-darkness from the bourbon that keeps it multilayered and intriguing. Good for autumn nights!

I'd actually bought this one to give to my mom, but I think I might like it... It's a warm, tropical, lush floral - I agree that there's something not-quite-fruit in there, like walking around someplace tropical, where there're giant colorful blooms but also big floppy green leaves and also maybe some pineapple or coconut drifting on the air. It's staying pretty much exactly that - I don't really get ginger, unless that's just contributing to the 'warm' feel. It's wonderfully atmospheric - evoking scent and place memories of tropical vacations.

Hmm - this is very sandalwood on me, to the point that that's mostly what's dominating! After quite a while - like, an hour - there's some sweetness adding itself, and it is a very pale-pink sort of sweetness, if that makes sense? Like little pink marshmallows, but also with a lot of sandalwood? I'm starting to think sandalwood doesn't work well on me, so maybe it's a me thing! By which I mean... I *loved* Gingerbread Mummy, and so I thought, okay, this is fine, especially with sweet notes like the white chocolate and mallow flower! But then - Every Day Is Halloween (last year's) was very sandalwood heavy on me, and now this one is too! I don't dislike it as such - this is perfectly fine as a sweet sandalwood, especially as it dries down and a bit more of the sweetness emerges - but I'm not loving it as much as I hoped I would? I shall let my mom try it in two weeks when she visits, and see what she thinks!

Grapes! Such grapes! "Heady" is the right word - it's a big, swooping, purple, thick burst of grapes as it goes on! It's odd - it doesn't read 'wine' to me as much as 'grape juice + booze,' if that makes sense? Like someone put alcohol in the grape juice, rather than "wine" as such. Which is nice, especially if you like the Lab's grape note. At first, it's actually not as sweet as I was expecting, though now - about half an hour in - more blackberry is creeping out and adding a little fruity berry-sweetness. Perhaps a good scent for early autumn nights, all indigo and bronze and velvet folds.