Little Bird

This is my favorite of the Horrid Novels series. It smells very rich, dark, gothic, and sensuous - like velvets, incense, cold earth, and bitter wine. It reminds me of The Zadok Allen Vinyard (though this isn't as heavy on the booze or as sweet) and Romanti.Goth. Pomegranate is usually bitter and overpowering on me, but it just adds a tart, fruity hint to the wine here. And the scent has just enough sweetness to be wearable for me, but it's not a sweet fragrance. The "mossy earth" smells like cool, black dirt on me, but in a sexy, perfumey sort of way. And something here really smells like dark, sultry incense smoke on me (maybe the blackened woods?). All in all, this makes me smell dark, sensual, and mysterious, and I love it <3. ETA: I wound up selling my bottle of this recently, as it didn't age well for me. With age, Horrid Mysteries smells like sour, too warm wine and fades very quickly into a faint, dusty, sour fruitiness.

In the bottle, Mysterious Warning is a very sweet, cool, vanilla-y sort of lavender and a hint of dry, dark floral. On my skin, the floral aspects go slightly more perfumey, but this is a dark, poisonous sort of floral that doesn't strike me as being really girly or feminine. As it dries down, this reminds me of that slightly soapy, but still dark, dry, and gritty tobacco flower note in The Lady on the Grey. This is sort of like sweet, cool, vanilla-lavender scented dryer sheets + tobacco flower on my skin as it settles down. I wanted this blend mainly for the leather note, but I don't smell any leather here. There are lavender scents that I prefer over this one, so it's not a keeper for me...

I actually like Stimulating Sassafras Strengthener a lot more than Anti-Saloon League for a root beer float type of scent. This isn't nearly as creamy or sweet as SSS. I get a little bit of a root beer type of smell for the first five minutes or so on my skin, but not much after that. There's a sharp, perfumey, sour edge to this that goes to baby powder as it dries down (and it has a brief stage where it smells like dry wood chips). It's sort of like a heap of clean baby powder and a hint of something sour. It reminds me of Hellboy more than anything else. I'll stick with Stimulating Sassafras Strengthener for a root beer scent. I don't find Anti-Saloon League to be really sweet, foodie, or soda-like at all after a few minutes on my skin.

You might want to try Tzadikim Nistarim (notes of frankincense, olive, spikenard, hyssop and galangal) and No. 93 Engine (notes of Balm of Gilead, benzoin, frankincense, balsam of peru, beeswax, saffron, galbanum, calamus, hyssop, mastic, lemon balm, and white sage). I think that both of those have a feel that is similar to Templum Victoriae.

I was hoping that this would be a floral incense scent, but I don't get any of the incense. The amber & sandalwood go creamy and powdery on my skin, and the other notes blend together in a way that reminds me of fruity-floral, perfumey, department store fragrances. Kaidan is fruity-floral perfume, a bit sharp, and baby powdery... too floral, perfumey, and powdery for me.

First on, I get something like tart grapefruit and herbal lavender with a touch of sweet mint. It's very clean and spa-like. As it dries down, this starts to smell more green (the juniper?) and the cedar amps up. It's like dry wood and tart, perfumey citrus with a cool, green edge from the juniper and mint. I like it more initially; something about the drydown is a bit too tart and perfumey for me.

This smells like it might be good in the bottle, where it's smooth, cool, golden incense (reminds me of Midnight Mass) and a hint of girly, sweet rose. On my skin, however, this turns to powdery doom. I love amber from pretty much every company but bpal... bpal's amber turns to baby powder on me, and I get tons of baby powder from this, with a bit of cloying, perfumey floral behind it. Not good times.

Night's Bridge smells like a fresh, clean, zesty, ozone&citrus man's cologne on me. Like sweet lime zest and a tiny hint of mint, all wrapped up in a clean, cool aquatic/ozone scent. It reminds me of a lot of the men's colognes that are available in department stores right now, that are all clean and vaguely citrus-sweet. I like it, but it doesn't smell terribly exciting to me. I could see this being a good, safe gift for a lot of the men in my life, though.

This scared me in the bottle, and I normally love most of the listed notes. It smells like damp, moldy earth and the sickly sweetness of rotting garbage. I smell it and feel sick to my stomach and kinda nervous. But I moved forward and put this on my skin, and it's actually not so bad once it's on, if you like dirt scents (which I actually do). Once on, this scent is subtle and barely there on my skin. I get a cool, creamy sandalwood and what I'm guessing is the "earthy patchouli," but what really smells like dry, brown dirt on me. It has a slight sweetness to it and also smells cold (not minty or menthol or anything like that, but like cold, dry dirt) I think that if you like Death Cap (or blends like Death Cap), you might really enjoy this as well. It also reminds me of Badger. I probably won't keep this one, because I have other earthy/dirt scents that I find more wearable, and I honestly can't get over how creepy and odd this smells in the bottle. This scent unsettles me :/

Floating Market is very refreshing and heavy on the lemongrass. I've found it to turn more sour and lemony smelling over time. There are a lot of exotic notes listed for this, but it actually smells a lot like lemongrass + tomato leaves on me (spicy-green). Herbal, very lemony, slightly sour, green...

Anesthesia is so wonderfully calming <3. On me, it's like equal parts sweet, chilly peppermint and cool lavender (and the sweet lavender here reminds me of TKO). I love TKO, but I sometimes find it too sweet, so I think that Anesthesia will be my go-to blend for a relaxing sleeptime scent when I don't want so much sweetness. I think that this is too minty for me to wear as a perfume, but it's definitely one that I'll like dabbing on before bed to help me relax.

My first thought was that this reminds me of the tobacco flower note in The Lady on the Grey (clean, cool floral with a slightly gritty, sharp edge). It's like that floral + sweet honey. It's a little too clean and sharp for me, and I like a lot of bpal's other honeyed floral scents a lot more...

Black musk is usually bad (cheap, musky men's cologne) and overpowering on me, but I love tonka and geranium, so I was excited for this scent. Aaand... Mr. Croup isn't as good as I had hoped for or as bad as I thought it might be, lol. The black musk here is strong and masculine, and smells slightly dark and smoky on me. The geranium adds a bit of a spicy, green feel underneath the musk. And I don't smell anything like tonka or porcelain, but something smells like dry wood chips underneath the musk. That dry wood smell gets stronger on me over time. Mr. Croup is a little too dark, musky, and smoky for me (and then smells too dry after a while). I tried it on my husband and he said it was okay (gave it a 6 out of 10 score), but neither of us really like this enough for me to justify keeping it.

I don't get any sort of wine scent from this either. My bottle is mostly a sweet, dry tobacco with a light, spicy clove and a cool, damp feel from the fog, I think. It reminds me of fall's crunchy, spicy, dead leaves and crisp, damp air. This isn't quite what I was expecting (I was expecting a heavy, sexy scent, not crisp and earthy), but I'm still happy to have a bottle.

Something in this is very syrupy-sweet on me, like a sweet, resinous-woods. Maybe the massoia bark? I get that strong sweetness with a hint of sharp, smoky opium. It's pleasant enough, but the drydown (after about 45 minutes) is when it gets really gorgeous. It still has that heavy sweetness, but a warm, dry, soft spiciness (yay bay rum <3) also creeps in and I can smell the dark leather note as well. My husband said this is too sweet for him to wear, but this is something that I can see myself wearing quite a bit. It's a rich, dark, heavy scent on me, very sweet and not overly spicy, with just enough opium and leather to keep it interesting.

Volt is all sweet, candied mint with bracing menthol in the bottle and on my skin at first. It's like a very sweet peppermint candy. I can smell hints of a refreshing lime as well, and it makes me want to lick my arm. As it dries down, this takes on a fresh, watery-spicy men's cologne sort of feel that reminds me of The Sea Rat for some reason. In fact, Volt is like Sea Rat Lite on me somehow, with the refreshing mint and lime making it light, summery, and cleaner smelling. The leather adds a subtle, smoky darkness that I wouldn't even be able to identify as leather without reading the list of notes. I really like this, though I do find it very masculine. Sweet, watery men's cologne with bright mint and lime, something spicy, and hints of smoky, woodsy leather. I'm going to hand over my bottle of Volt for my husband to wear this summer.

In the bottle, this has a sweet, pleasant soapiness that reminds me of Tony. On my skin, this turns suddenly sharp and perfumey. It's like sweet floral soap with sharp chemical hairspray layered over it. I don't smell anything like blood or ashes. And then after letting this settle for 15 minutes, the sharpness is mostly gone and I'm left with sweet soap. It's not quite as creamy, smooth, and pleasant as Tony, but it's almost identical on my skin. I was really intrigued by the thought of clean soapiness layered with the lab's blood note, so I'm really disappointed that this is all soap on me...

Bpal's amber often turns to baby powder on my skin (though I don't have trouble wearing amber from any other company). Hunter turns powdery, but oddly smells sort of like powdery violets on me :/. It's like lots of warm baby powder, a hint of violet, and a perfumey herbal twang from the clary sage. I can't really pick out the clove, though it might be adding to the warm feel of this blend. And I don't smell any leather for the first hour or so that this is on my skin, and then a light whisp of leather (reminds me of the leather in Liz) appears underneath the powder. Hunter is way too powdery for me... ETA: Retried my bottle of this recently and this is my updated review: Baby powdery musk and a whiff of new car leather. It doesn't make me think of a Hunter... it's not a wild and untamed sort of scent... smells very chemical and manufactured, actually. Baby powder, perfumey musk, and new car leather. The leather has gotten stronger with age, but it's not a leather note that I really enjoy, and this is still too powdery for my tastes.

This reminds me of another bpal scent that I cannot place, and it's making me crazy :/. I get a slightly bitter, almost soapy greenery that also smells rather watery (almost grassy, almost evergreen, almost cucumber, but not quite any of those things). As it dries down, this is sweet honey and a watery, green, slightly floral smell. The cool, watery aspects smell a bit like a man's cologne on me. I think that Deadly Nightshade Honey is my least favorite of the 4 current honey blends in R's Garden. It smells very strange and mismatched on me...

The lab's Hemlock blend smells oddly like sage, bubblegum, and a hint of medicinal eucalyptus on me, and I get that same smell here. The addition of honey makes it more enjoyable, but it also makes this blend a little too sweet for me. After about 15 minutes, this is almost all honey, with just a little bit of something medicinal drowning underneath the sweet, golden honey. Out of the 4 current honey blends in R's Garden, I find this to be the sweetest and most heavy on the honey note.

On me, Oleander Honey smells like someone dipped lotus in some sweet, golden, floral-y honey. Lotus smells soft, creamy, and a little like bubblegum on my skin, and so does this blend. Creamy, warm, sunny floral, a drizzle of honey, and a hint of pink bubblegum. It gets slightly more perfumey-floral and clean smelling in the drydown, but it still smells nice and sweet. The perfumey/musky-floral sharpness actually helps to keep this from going too sweet on my skin. I don't usually like honey scents (honey is often either too sweet or the note goes oddly metallic & bitter on me), but I really like Oleander Honey and Yellow Jessamine Honey. I can see myself wearing this a lot over the summer. ETA: Re-testing from a 2016 frimp from the lab. Thick, creamy, super-sweet honey. The creamy part makes me think of a generic white lotion smell and natural beeswax. I don't get the floral or much of that bubblegum feel anymore. Lotion and beeswax scented with a very sugary, thick honey. Cloying. Something sharp and fruity reminding me of maraschino cherries as well, but just a hint of that. Heavy, strong, cloying, sugar overdose of sweetness and creamy lotion and beeswax.

I liked this when I first got it, but it has gotten sort of sickly sweet with aging, and is starting to remind me of bbq. The opoponax is syrupy sweet and smells a lot like bbq sauce when mixed with the black pepper and smoky wood. The drydown is a bit off and sour...

On me, Witchblade is like equal parts red musk (which sort of smells like warm musk, earthy patchouli/incense, and a hint of something fruity like red currant on me), clean metallic cologne, and warm, golden amber. The mix of amber and clean metal reminds me of House of Mirrors, but the red musk keeps the blend smelling heated and somewhat earthy. I like this blend well enough, but there are red musk blends that I like more and metallic blends that I like more than this one. I do enjoy Witchblade more layered with Sara Pezzini, but that might just be because I love Sara P. so much.

The Curator seemed kind of masculine to me, so I slathered it on my husband when it first arrived. I was surprised at how much it reminded me of Priala on him. It smelled like spicy cinnamon and bright resins. It's spicier on him than it is on me. On me, this scent smells warmer and much sweeter (to the point that I find it rather cloying and sickening). I get light spices, myrrh-like resins, and a hint of something cool and herbal that doesn't last into the drydown. It's just way too sweet for me, like resins drenched in syrup and spices mixed with sugar. Too much.

I adore Sara Pezzini. I would fall instantly in love (or in lust?) if I ran into a lady who smelled like this. It's like the scent of clean, soft, pale skin that's fresh and cool from a shower, verrry lightly dusted with a sweet honey powder. In the drydown, the leather joins the mix and it doesn't smell like leather exactly, but adds this really sexy, slightly darker, almost smoky edge to the scent. Everything about this is stunning and sexy, but in a quiet, cool sort of way. It reminds me of Liz a bit, as though they could be in the same family of amazing, girly leather scents, but this isn't as sweet as Liz and it's more of a clean scent. Hard to describe, but Sara is *gorgeous.* I'm in love with this scent and need several bottles asap so that I can bathe in it