Little Bird

Fairy Lobster Foam makes me want ambrosia salad because that's exactly what it smells like. My mom used to make a version of it with cottage cheese, Cool Whip, marshmallows, maraschino cherries, and bits of canned pineapple and mandarin oranges, and that's totally what this smells like on me. Cool and creamy, marshmallowy, with whiffs of cherry and juicy fruitiness. I actually don't like the scent of maraschino cherry because it just smells sickly sweet to me, but this is like a refreshing, juicy cherry in this mix. I love the creaminess so much. I actually think that I'll wear this a lot over the summer because it has a refreshing, cool quality to it. I'm glad that I took a chance on this one. It makes me feel very nostalgic.

At first, I think that this smells like a blackberry scented saltwater taffy for some reason. Tangy, sweet, berry-like fruitiness, a creamy and chewy quality, and whiffs of vanilla and salt, but very mellow and smelling realistically like taffy. It gives off a clean impression from the spa-like salt note, but it isn't soapy, and then has the fruity, candied, creamy qualities to round it out. I expected some caramel from the 'golden' in the description, but there is no caramel. As it dries down, it becomes a dry, herbal, savory type of scent that makes me think of a spice rack, like I'm smelling salt and dried herbs. This sits very close on my skin and only lasts 1-2 hours, tops. It's a bit odd, but I like it, though I probably wouldn't have full sized it if I'd tried a decant first. It's not as sweet as I thought it might be.

I wish that this were buttery and creamy on me, but it's the dry, powdery, honeyed goat's milk note on my skin and nothing else. It actually smells very close to bpal's White Larry blend, but this is a bit sweeter. It's like wearing a honey scented body powder, but a little more dusty.

First applied, the tea leaves and vanilla bean remind me a bit of Dorian and more of Paper Phoenix, going on in a burst of happy, sugared, lemon tinged vanilla tea. It's like a less complex Paper Phoenix and slowly shifts into the incense smoke part over the course of an hour. The smoke comes out like cigarette smoke at first, but then quickly turns to more of a burning nag champa incense and notebook paper type of smoke, which makes me think of angsty teenager me and the incense scent of Hot Topic and burning journal entries to hide them from my mom.

Ghost Dragon's Mama was the Singularity blend that I was most excited for this year and it does not disappoint, although it is very different from what I was expecting. I expected a lot of dragon's blood and more of a fierce, protective, dominating scent for a dragon mama, but the dragon's blood is very subtle on me, more of a red, slightly floral-incensey, sultry glow underneath the other notes. It's more mama happily cuddling her babies than angry mama defending her babies. I got several compliments the day that I wore this (mostly from the family and friends that I was with on my birthday, but one from an actual stranger). I usually don't love bpal's pink bubblegummy lotus note, and that's very strong here, but mixed with the sugared vanilla cream and hint of soft, creamy floral with the glow of the dragon's blood, it all rounds out the lotus and turns it into something altogether creamier and more perfume-like than simply candied. I also don't get the watery or rubbery tone that I often get from the lotus note, just the pink, bubblegum, candied floral part. I feel like this is the sort of scent that I would wear if I were around small children because it is pink, cuddly, playful, and sweetly appealing, but it also still has a sophisticated floral edge and the sultry quality from the dragon's blood, so it's more mature and pleasing to me. It has moments where it reminds me of Dragon's Milk, but it feels more complex, well rounded, and full bodied.

I recently won a bottle of Voodoo Queen on the Lab's ebay and have been wearing it a lot lately and I don't think that Haunt 2021 smells anything like Voodoo Queen. To me, Haunt 2021 is crisp and cool toned with lots of Dorian and it doesn't seem to share any of the same notes or feel as Voodoo Queen. Voodoo Queen is like a warm, spiced, earthy scent with hints of moss, sweet resin, and classic perfume. It reminds me of a slightly less sweet and more complex and sophisticated The Wild Men of Jezirat Al Tennyn more than anything else in the bpal catalogue. I was actually pleasantly surprised by how strong the Dorian component is in Haunt 2021. When I've had other Dorian blends, the Dorian aspect seems to disappear under the other notes, but it sticks around strongly in Haunt 2021 for about 4-5 hours of wear before the whole scent starts to disappear from my skin. The 'dead leaves' are the variety that I usually don't care for, like wet green leaves and cologne, but they take on a creamier, sweeter, more pleasant quality here because they're mixed with the Dorian and lavender, which both smell chilled and creamy to me. They make the green leaves smell almost candied on my skin, like if the crisp scent of green stems from a florist's fridge were turned into a creme savers candy. The Snake Oil and woodsmoke come out in the drydown with a hint of powder from the amber, but the Dorian with hints of lavender and green leaf also stick around. This is actually one of the nicest Dorian + Snake Oil pairings in my collection because the Dorian doesn't pull a disappearing act and really meshes well with all of the other notes. Cool Dorian vanilla musk intertwined with Snake Oil's darker, slinky musk with hints of sweet, green stem, creamy lavender, amber powder. The woodsmoke gets a little stronger on me over time, which I would normally dislike, but it brings out the incensey character of Snake Oil and does more of a sweet, exotic smokiness than a sharp one. I really like this and I wasn't expecting to.

This is reminding me strongly of my grandma's bathroom when I was little. Creamy, cool, powdery, lavender soap. Clean and crisp and lightly sweet. The lichen has the sour tones of Spanish moss, but it's also dry and perfumey like an older perfume with a good dose of oakmoss. Very comforting to me because it smells like my grandma ❤️

Floured wooden cutting board, acrid woodsmoke, and really sharp mulling spices with a tang of sour, red wine. Dries down to sharp cinnamon-ish smelling spices (reminds me of bad potpourri) and a woodsmoke note that I find off putting and a little suffocating.

Reading other reviews, I was expecting a stronger patchouli and cedar, but this is very caramel dominant on me. I'm surprised at how much I love this blend because strong caramel notes are almost always too sugary for me or else they smell fake and candle-like, but this is just dreamy. I immediately went and ordered a full bottle after spending the day with my decant. This starts off smelling like a caramel coffee (with several extra shots of caramel) spilled over a cedar chest (dry and kinda spicy cedar) and the patchouli shows up as a tiny hint of chocolatey 'chouli. As it dries down, the caramel actually gets stronger on my skin and reminds me of melting blocks of caramel on the stovetop. A very thick, very sweet, intense, strong, warm, realistic caramel. The cedar and patchouli are a barely there whisper in this stage, drowning under the caramel, and smelling like a hint of spicy, dry, dead leaves note. It feels very Halloween to me (candy and a rustle of dead leaves). A half hour in, it's much the same, but the smokiness starts to come out. It turns into thick caramels and a pile of dead leaves that's been set on fire and starting to smoke. I love this stage where it smells more like crunchy, spicy dead leaves and a hint of sweet, sappy smoke. Then, around a full hour in, the cedar and patchouli are nonexistent on me and there's no impression of dead leaves or smoke. It's thick, sweet caramel with powdery undertones that come off as creamy and elegant rather than dry or baby powdery, and a hint of bright, sugary muskiness. It's basically what I always wanted Prada's Candy to smell like. Authentic, realistic, rich caramel, elegant powder, and pleasant, non-screechy musk.

Nutty scents are so iffy on me and this one is going really weird on my skin. It starts off with cherry almond extract and sweet vanilla and then shifts into an awful, weird, bitter mid-stage that smells like.. burnt nuts and rusty metal? Then, right when I was about to try to scrub this off of my wrist, the vanilla takes over again and smells like a rich, buttery, sweet vanilla cream with some powdery undertones. It smells sort of like a sweeter Love's Philosophy at that point.

A pretty mix of all three notes and I wish I'd full sized my decant before it went out of stock! I really hope that the avocado note shows up in more blends too. It sort of reminds me of a mellower, lighter, creamier type of bamboo scent. It gives the whole blend a soft, green feel to me and, mixed with the lemongrass, has spa-like vibes. The lemongrass is sweet and lemony and is a scent that sometimes smells creamy and pale green to me even on its own. I was worried about the white musk because it's a note that can smell sharp and dry to me and often gives me a headache, but it doesn't make this blend too dry for me and I think adds more of a clean skin musk hint to the whole thing. Pretty, spa-like, delicately sweet, pale green, lemony, creamy, clean.

On me, this is one half salty, cold, aquatic cologne with the black musk making the oceanic tone feel deeper, darker and more sinister to me (cue the thalassophobia), and the other half a sharp, perfumey, jasmine scented soap. It reminds me specifically of a jasmine scented scrub that I had recently that was soapy and had a lot of charcoal powder in it; Neptunite reminds me of the scent and feel of that scrub. I think that I would really like this without the floral notes, if it were left as a kinda spooky, darker, salty aquatic cologne. The black musk smells a little smoky on me in the drydown, like someone starting a fire off in the distance on the rocky shoreline. I usually really appreciate scents that smell both traditionally masculine and traditionally feminine to me and mix elements of both, but the florals are just going a little too sharp on my skin. Still, I enjoyed experiencing this one.

Like everyone else has aleady said, I was expecting a dark resin, carnation spiced, earthy tobacco thing, but this is all about the raspberry and light woodiness on my skin. Light, tart, a little sour. I wish that the raspberry were coming across sweeter and juicier than it is here. I might be smelling some oud or woody type labdanum in the drydown. Reminds me of not-quite-right raspberries on the woody brambles, just out of reach. Not much throw on my skin, but stuck around for about 5 hours.

Brown sugar is becoming a death note in perfume for me. It's too cloying, too warm, too much, and too often turns to a weird maple syrupy scent on my skin. It's turning to maple syrup here, sprinkled with spicy nutmeg, and I think I'm getting a mix of the blackberry wine and tart, sour red currant. It does giive off a tart fruit punch scent, but doesn't really smell juicy, it's more dry and candied. Fades quickly to a whiff of plasticy red berry scent on my skin.

I've been missing Quincey Morris for years now (notes of tobacco, vanilla, white pear, cedar, rugged musk, and saddle leather), and Three Pairs of Shoes has finally filled that empty space in my heart and in my perfume collection. I haven't tried Morris in years, but was instantly reminded of it. The sweet vanilla with incredibly smooth, dark, warm tobacco and the most beautiful, soft, supple leather note. I think that bpal does the most wonderful leather blends and this one is so soft, sweet and cuddly. And I mean soft in feel and impression, not throw, because it lasts all day on me and has great throw. I'm considering backups.

The pistachio smells like a whiff of sharp cherry/almond extract on me at first. The vanilla bean is beautiful and creamy, but delicate and light. Then there's a little dusting of powdery cocoa. The cherry-ish smell fades away fast on me and I'm left with a light vanilla and lighter hint of chocolate. Doesn't last long at all on me, maybe an hour, tops.

Pineapple is not my friend. The bromelain and acid in the fruit really irritates my mouth and throat and, in perfume, it also tends to turn overwhelmingly sour, sharp, and acidic. I like the coconut in this, it feels creamy and chilled with a slightly green, fresh edge (the ti leaf?). The pineapple ruins it for me, though, coming in all sour, sharp, and acidic, like an unripe citrus note, just like it does in its true form, lol.

This year's Bobbing scents are so apple dominant on me that I struggle to pick out the other notes in the blends. This one starts off like a sugary candied apple that's slightly perfumey/musky (but not darkly musky like Smut) and dries down reminding me of a red apple soap that I once had from Bath & Body Works. Smut is usually so strong to me and I just can't pick it out of this blend. I guess maybe I'm getting the extra sugar from Smut, but none of the dark musk or booze.

Bpal's leather notes can do no wrong for me. I don't like the fresh, green, wet dead leaves note, but I even enjoy that note here when paired with this soft, well worn boot leather, like it's so soft and well worn in that I just want to touch it. It smells like springtime with fresh, new leaves and spring rains and a cowboy pulling on his favorite boots and walking across a field. A little cologne-like. I've been wearing Three Pairs of Shoes lately and this is like a colder, cleaner, not as sweet leather surrounded by greenery. Both soft boot leathers, but so different in character and supporting notes. I might full size my decant of this Dead Leaves.

This one is weird on my skin. I get the clean aquatic cologne dead leaves for a bit and then there's more of a woody nuttiness and plasticy vanilla caramel thing. I think I expected a stronger caramelized note. The sheer vanilla comes off a little clean, sharp and white musky on me in the drydown, I think. Low throw and doesn't last long on me.

Jack, at least the older bottle that I have, is more buttery than spicy, and Bobbing For Jack is very spicy on my skin. This goes straight into cheap holiday candle territory on my skin, with the air freshener apple, plasticy peach, and sharp, dry cinnamon. I only lasted about a half hour before I washed this one off.

Tart, juicy apple sweetened with a small drizzle of realistic, freshly squeezed from a plastic bottle type of honey. I actually don't smell any of the leather. The Bobbing scents this year tended to be way too apple-y for my tastes, even Bobbing for Blood Kisses (which I full bottled because I love Blood Kiss so much) didn't have much more going on other than the apple.

Yum. I usually enjoy bpal's fig notes, and this one is gourmand and creamy with no noticeable spice notes, so I am really enjoying it. A hint of earthy, sweet dates, a bit of creamy sweetness from the vanilla bean, and a woody-sweet fig that somehow really does smell like an idealized version of fig's creamy, pink, candied fruit. I don't really smell the dead leaves at all, and I'm fine with that.

My favorite of this year's pomegranate blends. It's more syrupy sweet pom and less tart, powdery and dry in comparison to the other pom blends. I usually hate the scent of brown sugar in perfume, but it isn't in-your-face brown sugar even though the blend is quite sweet. I don't get the tobacco at all. Sweet, bright, pomegranate syrup.

White tea tends to be sharp and lemony on me, but it has more of a dry leaf feel here and not as much lemony tones, freesia is usually sharp and air freshener-y to my nose, but I don't really get the floral aspect in this blend, the pomegranate is tart and sweet, and the white amber goes powdery, especially in the drydown. It turns into a sort of tart, pom fruity, powdery amber incense that sits close to the skin.