Little Bird

Großvater Tanz reminds me of Huesos de Santo for the first fifteen minutes or so. It's like a yummy orange cake with frosted glaze, very creamy and sweet. As it dries down, it goes through a phase that I'm not crazy about. The cakiness smells very dry, the orangey smell fades away, and there's a sour note creeping in that reminds me of a tea or tobacco note, but one that I don't particularly care for. But then, letting it sit for another fifteen minutes produces a scent that I rather enjoy. It smells sort of like a peaches and cream dessert on me, but darker and with a warm feel from the clove as it reaches the one hour mark. It reminds me slightly of Thierry Mugler's Virgin no 1 (which is a scent that I worship and adore, but Großvater Tanz isn't *quite* that good and doesn't have as good of staying power... still, a similar scent in the longer drydown). So, I like this at first and then it has a half hour where it's not-so-good, and then I like it again as it starts to fade away. It has decent throw and staying power on me for about 3 hours. I might try to track down a couple more decants of this one, as the slight similarity to Virgin no 1 delights me.

I love bpal's fig note. It's like a sweet, dry, slightly wooden sort of fruitiness that's very sensual, in my opinion. In the bottle, A World of Fools is that lovely fig, but smells slightly creamier and a bit sweeter. Yummy. On my skin, this is much the same at first, and then goes spicy in the drydown. It's like the gorgeous fig that I love in Intrigue, but all wrapped up in a decadent sweet cream and dusted lightly with some holiday spices that warm the blend up. As it dries down, the spices amp up and get a bit sharper and cider-like (and my wrist is red and burning where I applied the oil, so I'll have to be careful in the future), but I still like this blend. I still much prefer Intrigue for a fig blend, but I'm glad to have a partial bottle of this one for when I want a sweeter, spice-heavy fig.

I always want to try any fragrance that mentions smelling like mud. Sadly, Christmas Eve on the Moor turns to soap on me (which is like the opposite of mud, really). It's like sharp, white, dry soap flakes and sour, bright green moss that reminds me of bpal's spanish moss note. As it dries down, there's something like a hint of lemony men's cologne in the mix. But mostly it's soap on my skin, and a bit too sharp for my tastes.

I don't get any cheesecake or peach from this, which makes me sad. Beaver Moon 2010 starts off smelling kinda like that creamy, pink bubblegum medicine that I was given when I was little. As it dries down, it's more of a strawberry hard candy smell, heavy on the cloying, artificial sweetness. I ordered two bottles, but this is too sickly sweet on me, and I was hoping for more of a cheesecake and peach scent...

I think that calivianya's review and comparison to Cathedral was perfect. The two blends are definitely very similar. Cathedral is a bit sweeter and smoother where Dreadful Death has a spiced woods quality and a touch more of a dry, dusty feel in the drydown for me. I prefer Cathedral's smoother, calming feel, but this is still a good resins & wood blend.

The Last Unicorn smells a lot like Bath & Body Works' Sea Island Cotton on me at first. It's like Sea Island Cotton (watery-clean with powdery floral and sweetness) with a touch of creamy, slightly earthy white chocolate. I like it for the first five minutes or so, and then something starts to smell off here. The scent takes on a perfumey-floral sharpness that starts to give me a headache and something turns strangely spicy-sour. It's like a good smell with a lingering, sour, rotten something lurking underneath. I wound up having to wash this one off after about a half hour. This has an odd combination of notes that isn't quite working on me. I'm hoping that this one gets better with some aging somehow...

The Butterfly is all baby powdery amber and a bright, sweet, lemony bergamot. I was curious about the "fuzzy brown tonka bean," but I can't pick out any tonka here. It's pretty enough, but too powdery on me, and simple and not all that unique. This one is also rather subtle and only lasted about an hour on my skin.

I ordered a bottle of this right off the bat, because I normally love clove, and black currant tends to do beautiful things on my skin (juicy, sweet, purply fruitiness <3). Unfortunately, this is all "dusty clove" on me. I actually opened my bottle and said "oh crap," because it's like Fledgling Raptor Moon is back to torment me. I wasn't sure what it was in Fledgling Raptor Moon that went so badly on me, but it must be this particular clove note. It's slightly spicy somewhere deep down, but mostly has this weird baby powder, dust, wood chips, and sickly chapstick smell on my skin . I can't pick out anything fruity or anything like black currant at all. Arachne of Lydia is like a Fledgling Raptor Moon clone on me, which isn't good in my case. I love the story of the little spider and had high hopes for this blend, but the oil isn't working for me...

Ugh. I'm so upset that this was discontinued before I got my decants. I love Mr. Fezziwig's Ball and would have stocked up on the perfume oil and the room spray. It sort of smells like dark, boozy, sexy apple cider on me at first, but without that bad potpourri spiciness that a lot of apple cider type scents have on me. And the wood notes just make me swoon. This dries down to spicy (sweet clove-ish?), masculine, dark, insanely sexy wood with hints of booze and spiced pie with anise. It makes me think of dark, polished wood in a dark pub, lusting after the sexy, mysterious musician playing in the corner... after an hour, it's back towards more of a sweet, boozy cider again. I'm sad that I can't get more of this one; I'll have to hoard my decant for special occasions.

The First of the Three Spirits has an incredibly creamy, decadent sense about it. It's cool and powdery, and a touch on the sweet side, though the vanilla definitely isn't of the foodie variety. This mostly smells like very dry, delicate woods on my skin (which I'm guessing is the amber), a dab of powdery vanilla adding some sweetness, and a mix of creamy white musk and soft, dry floral giving the whole blend a womanly, sophisticated feel. It's a little like bpal's The Girl on me, but more powdery and not as sweet. This is definitely pretty, but it goes a bit too dry and too much to baby powder on my skin after a while. I prefer The Girl and Perle von Mauren for similar type scents. This does have really great throw and staying power on me, though.

My favorite version of Lick It is still the 05 version, which had enough mint to be cooling and soothing on my skin, and enough of a sugared hard candy smell to still be pleasant enough to wear. This year's version is like Lick It 05 on steroids. It's very peppermint-heavy and cooling and tingly on my skin, which I like. I don't really get the sugar side of it, though. It's all sharp, frosty mint on me, more medicinal than candied. I might get a bottle of this one, as I like that tingly, cool feeling.

I thought that this was going to be instant top ten material for me, because I like red musk and LOVE vanilla, tea, leather, and foodie scents. Unfortunately, the red musk here seems to devour the other notes. Leather is usually super-strong on me and I can't smell it here at all. I wish that I got the anise/black licorice that others have mentioned, but this is all red musk and hints of sharp black pepper on my skin. The red musk here has that slightly fruity/wine-like, heated scent that it always does on my skin, but something about it is slightly more earthy/incensey than usual. I get more of a sweet, creamy, foodie feel from The Infernal Lover (which I have hoarded several bottles of). I hope that The Soldier gets better with age, because it's pretty 'meh' on me at the moment.

I was excited for this scent, because I love the lab's French vanilla note. Unfortunately, I'm not getting any vanilla from this blend . It goes on smelling like sharp, bright evergreen and then dries down to lots of sour fruits on my skin. Bitter, dry, slightly powdery, artificial fruitiness that reminds me of sweet tarts candies. After a half hour, this is like sweet tarts and wood chips, which I'm not enjoying at all...

I use bpal in oil warmers all the time and have put them in humidifier type things before as well, and they work great and have lots of throw. My favorite for use as a room scent right now is Horse Chestnut Honey, which is a good mix of crisp & outdoorsy and foodie. Versailles is a very pretty, decadent mix of jasmine and rose. I've used Follow Me Boy as a room scent before as well, and I find it to be very jasmine-y and sensual. The Rose is (obviously, lol) a really good, fresh rose blend that makes a great room scent. If you want something earthy and sexy with rose and jasmine, there's The Obsidian Widow. I haven't used it as a room scent yet, but I love it as a perfume. Voodoo, Sin, Zombi, and Hetairae are also favorites of mine for sensual-earthy room scents. If you like spice, I'd also recommend trying Bengal, and Cathedral or Faustus for a calm, protective scent if you enjoy resins at all.

Blood Moon 2010 is closer to Blood Moon 05 than the 08 version, with the dark spiciness and incense qualities. What this really smells like, though, is Interfector. I tried them both on at the same time (on different wrists, of course) and I could barely tell them apart after five minutes. The only difference is that Blood Moon 2010 starts off spicier and has a hint of spice to it in the drydown that Interfector doesn't have. It smells mostly like dry wood, heavy, sweet, dark, slightly smoky incense, and a hint of cassia spice.

I love the released version of Snow White, so I'm glad that this proto didn't make the cut. Snow White v2 actually reminds me more of Ded Moroz. I get a powdery mint and pine tree smell mainly, and not so much of the vanilla or almond that others have mentioned. It gets a bit sweeter and creamier smelling after about a half hour, but it disappears quickly after that.

I was hoping for something similar to blends like Harimise and Horse Chestnut Honey (both blends that I love), but this isn't so good on me. I get a pine/spruce note at first, but it fades within five minutes. As others have mentioned, there's something smoky and sharp about this that dominates on my skin. It's like perfumey, sharp, white floral tuberose plus woodsmoke . The chestnut adds a hint of warm, toasted sweetness, but not enough to soften the blend for me. It's kinda just a sharp, perfumey mess on me

Everything about this scent smells very dry and sweet to me. The rose smells dead, sweet, and dry, the patchouli like bone dry earth and needles (makes me think of dead, brown pine needles without smelling like pine, really), and the resins almost dusty and sickly sweet. Like all of the Dawn scents, this one goes slightly to rose soap on me in the drydown (which is really weird, because bpal's rose notes don't often turn soapy on me), but not as soapy as the others. Between the myrrh and opoponax, this is intensely sweet and resinous, and almost goes a bit cloying on me. I can't really pick out jasmine or sage. After about an hour, the dryness is like a mix of baby powder and dust that I'm just hating underneath the super-sweet, resinous rose. None of the Dawn blends are good on me, sadly though Maiden is nice in my scent locket... I much prefer Rose Cross, Parlement of Foules, and Saint Foutin de Varailles for resinous rose blends.

Dawn: Maiden and Mother both turn to rose soap on me and this turns to manly, piney, herbal soap on my skin. The juniper and pine and strongest in the vial and on my skin at first. It's a cool evergreen scent that dries down with more of an herbal, dry green feel that starts to go soapy. I can imagine a masculine evergreen scented soap studded with dried green herbs. I expected this to be heavier, but it's rather light, green, and clean smelling on me. It only lasts about an hour. I prefer Golden Priapus for a manly pine with some more depth and sweetness...

Much like Dawn: Maiden, this is mostly a perfumey rose soap smell on my skin . I was hoping that the honey would sweeten up the rose and the frankincense would give it some depth, but I can't really pick out either of those notes. This is sharper and more perfumey smelling than Maiden. As it dries down, I get a hint of something like old potpourri spice underneath the rose soap. It goes all sharp and smells cheap on my skin...

Evening Star is my favorite moonflower scent from the lab; it's very strong and heavy on the moonflower. It's an older LE, though, so might be a bit harder to find. I get a strong moonflower smell from Midnight on the Midway as well, though that one has also just been discontinued...

Hurricane has a strong, interesting, woody, sweet vetiver to it that's not as dark or smoky as some of the other vetiver blends to me.

This reminds me of the wood/twigs in Down the Rabbit Hole. This obviously doesn't have the floral, dirt, or marmalade of Rabbit Hole, but it has a similar outdoorsy feel and makes my linens smell like I've rolled them through a garden and they should have twigs and bits of leaves clinging to them (which is a good thing, in my opinion). I don't normally like green scents, and this is very green, but it's sort of pulpy and sweet smelling and I really enjoy it. I don't get a strong dry leaf smell, but definitely a woodsy, crunchy dry twig scent. I like this one a lot <3. Autumn Grove smells great mixed with the sweetness of Nut Crack Night as well.

Sibyl is kind of like the tea from Dorian mixed with the tobacco stained linen of Black Lace, sprinkled with a sour rose perfume and then tossed into an ash tray. It has a sour, dirty, gritty quality that I'm not liking so much. I'm not sure what is giving me that sour tobacco quality, unless it is the 'prussic acid.' I expected something sweeter from the tea rose, vanilla, honey and tea, but I don't smell any honey here and the rose is more sharp & sour than tea rose usually is on my skin. This is definitely not the girly vanilla, tea and rose scent I was hoping for. I guess the cognac and prussic acid are giving this a sour, gritty, pukey quality on my skin.

I ordered two bottles of this directly from the Trading Post and they both smelled different from each other, and that difference has gotten even more pronounced as they've aged. When I first got them, they both smelled more like tart green apples and almost like vanilla-y popcorn, though one was sweeter and smelled more like candy (like apple jolly ranchers versus crisp, real apple). Now my one bottle has aged into spicy apples and the other smells like sickly sweet strawberry gummis. I'm tired of the huge variations between bpal scents, so thought I should mention this, and also that my bottles don't seem to have aged well