Little Bird

Half Queen smells like she could have been a Halloweenie scent and I can see myself wearing this a lot leading up to Samhain (or even using it as a spooky home fragrance). I almost didn't buy this one because I don't like cigarette, ash, or smoke smells and the Lab's tobacco flower tends to go soapy and sharp on me. The tobacco flower plays really nice here, though, smelling cool toned and amazingly like heavy, misty fog - clean yet hazy. The smoke reads very much like a room full of grey incense smoke with a little extra smolder and warmth. Cold fog, grey incense smoke, and warmth from the coals in a dying fire. Very atmospheric to me. The damp and heavy fog impression is what really draws me to this blend.

Pulpy, juicy, wet greenery that's similar to the Lab's bamboo note, but more like freshly mown grass that's fallen into the edges of a cool, clear pond. I get more cherry than strawberry and it's a juicy, lightly sweet, creamy fruitiness that works really well with the sappy, sweet green and cool water. Fresh, juicy, ripe cherries and marshmallow. It makes me think of spreading out a blanket for a picnic in the shade on a freshly mown, green lawn, next to a decorative pond full of koi fish. It's not wild and swampy like Bayou. It's a carefully curated green lawn and ornamental pond with sweet, creamy elements that make it very pretty overall. I'm glad that I ordered a bottle of this before the series went out of stock.

The cannabis is green and herbal-spicy (similar to the way tomato leaf smells), the ti leaf is strong and sharply green tea with a hint of citrus, the lavender is soapy like a barbershop cologne, and the lime and grapefruit add a bright pop of citrus before the grapefruit does its thing and turns weirdly sweaty and reminiscent of body odor on my skin. It dries down to mostly the funky, sour grapefruit and clean lavender cologne, like one is trying to cover up the other. I usually enjoy white tobacco, but the powdery sweetness of it after a while isn't really doing me any favors here. I was hoping for more of a sugared citrus and creamy marshmallow.

I should have ordered a bottle of this instead of getting just a decant, but I told myself that I have enough Strawberry and Pink Moons to keep me in strawberries forever, and I'm not even a huge fan of strawberry scents. I really love the cool, dark green ivy, the dry earth, and the clean, cold stone note, though. It reminds me of my childhood where my parents actually had a huge strawberry patch in the front lawn and ivy climbed up the stones on the shadowy side of our house. The hint of tart, sweet, sugar musk dusted strawberry is just something fun in the dreamy country cottage scent of it all. It only lasts about 3 hours on me and has lighter throw, but it feels appropriate, like a fleeting summer memory.

I don't smell the OG Embalming Fluid in this one, but it's a yummy, sweet, tropical fruit cocktail on my skin. The pineapple and coconut are strongest on me, but I can pick out the mango and lime, making the scent more interesting. A pina colada with a hint of mango and a generous squish of tart lime. I usually dislike pineapple (acidic and sharply sour), but the coconut mellows it out with creamy, rich sweetness and the mango and lime are fun and unique. I want to wear this on a beach somewhere...

Creamy, realistic lilies on a table set with crisp, clean, white linens (a hint of breezy, slightly soapy, clean laundry). As it dries down, I can smell the tea notes and I get a bright, slightly lemony, green tea and a hint of metallic, smoky, astringent black tea. Pretty and clean yet sort of stark and austere. I think I need more sweetness in my tea, some sugar and cream.

I like the smell of violet, but I find that violet fragrances all tend to smell rather similar to me and so I find them somewhat boring and forgettable. When I do wear violet, it's always Arcana's Tess (violet set in sweet cream and paired with amber). Violet Behemoth is just okay to me. The plum, raspberry, and musk don't stand out the way that I had hoped they would. I just get a violet hard candy with a whiff of tart, slightly sour, nondescript berries. It's pleasant and simple, but probably not something that I will wear again.

In the bottle and for the first 10 minutes on my skin, this is lovely, spiced apple pie goo (reminding me of Lambs-Wool a bit) and warm, sweet pie crust with a super ripe and juicy smelling peach, like you took the ripest peach you could find and baked it in a little brown sugar and now have this delicious, thick, dark peach syrup The bourbon part isn't really boozy to me, but adds to the dark sweetness, I think. In the drydown, unfortunately, it loses the complexity and smells more like sharp fall spices mixed with brown sugar and the fruitiness disappearing under the spiciness. I'm still glad that I ordered this one, though, because I really want to use it in my electric oil warmer this fall and have it as a home scent.

I echo the watermelon jolly ranchers. I don't like the taste of those as a candy and don't really like the scent of them either, as it turns out. It's a very simple, sweet, artificial watermelon scent.

I'm not getting any Lace/Black Lace vibes from this scent. The coconut and vetiver smell dry, dark, toasty warm, and leaning towards coconut husk to my nose, and there's something cologne-like and slightly soapy here as well. As it dries down, it gets a little powdery and sweeter on my skin, but it fades before it reaches the one hour mark.

I didn't care for this at all. Tart, verging on sour, dry, candy peach and a mouthful of soapy, high pitched smelling dryer sheets.

I've been loving Bpal's monthly painting inspired fragrances. I've learned a lot about different artists and history by always looking up the paintings that intrigue me and I think that they have resulted in some of bpal's most elegant and interesting perfumes. News From Afar smells incredible in the first five minutes where the oakmoss and cypress have a juicy, vibrant, almost tropical fruit juice quality to them. I've been cooking with pine lately and this is the sort of evergreen that smells edible and mouthwatering. I love the vibrant and aromatic opening stage, but it moves quickly to a drydown of amber and cream, which is still beautiful, so I'm not too sad about it. The amber silk leans powdery and clean rather than warm and deeply resinous, and the cream is not a sugared or sweet vanilla, but something more like cold milk without any of the sour or buttery tones that milk can have. I think the cypress is adding a cool, airy freshness and foresty sweetness as well without smelling distinctly like evergreen anymore. It makes me think of opening a cabin door on a cold day in the woods after a while and just that.. clean air scent (but not fabric softener or soapy clean air). I really like that this is clean without being soapy, powdery without being too dry or reminiscent of baby powder, full of rich amber that isn't the usual woody, vanillic, or deeply resinous variety of amber, and that it has a noticeable rich cream note that isn't sugary or sour. It smells cool, calm and collected. Refreshing like a chilly morning in the country. Really beautiful.

I usually enjoy the lab's wine blends, but this one isn't playing nice on my skin. On me, it smells like a hellish concoction of cheap, tangy, red fruit punch that's been spiked with cherry cough syrup. Leans medicinal and sour.

I'm very glad that I grabbed a bottle of this before the Lupers went away. It makes me think of lilies in a misty, cold florist's fridge and really gives off this moody, cool, rainy day in a ghost story vibe, looking out the rain streaked windows of an old mansion on to foggy grounds of green, rolling hills leading into an old graveyard full of damp stones and grass. The pulpy, cool green scent is really wonderful and unique, sort of like the lab's bamboo note, but colder. The lily scent might be a creamy variety of white musk, but it's creamy and vanillic on my skin and feels very proper and elegant. A truly gorgeous atmospheric scent.

The 2023 isn't my favorite version of Pink Moon. I find this one to be less complex than the others and it has low throw and fades quickly on me. It's a sweet strawberry and something sharply musky on my skin (perhaps a floral note going department store levels of perfumey). The strawberry isn't realistic/fresh to me, but something more distinctly artificial and sweet, yet not quite reminding me of candy either. I wish that the carnation and vanilla showed up on me, but they don't, and I was hoping for something cotton candied and intense from the pink sugar, but it doesn't go that way either. Light, artificial, musky-floral and strawberry.

I wore this yesterday and it lasted a solid 10 hours before I took a shower. The opening is like golden, floral musk (Juicy Couture vibes) and rose dipped in powdered sugar. The drydown after about an hour, though, is absolutely addictive to me. It's rose and vanilla, which is a combo that bores me to tears lately, but I love this one. It's like rose dipped in powdered sugar, drizzled in vanilla frosting, and then dusted with glittering regular sugar. A super sweet vanilla with sugared rose. So very sugary vanilla on my skin and lasts all day. I'll never be mad about lots of vanilla.

One of those masculine leaning scents that immediately makes me think of a dark, stuffy office full of dark, polished wood, hints of cigars and whiskey melded into everything, and a fireplace full of wood ashes and the memory of smoke. Something here also turns creamy, sweet, and lemony on me, and is especially strong in the drydown, and it totally reminds me of Lemon Pledge. The fur is warm and adds to the stuffy impression, like heavy, dusty drapes and a wool tweed jacket.

I was worried about the wool and silk because fabric type scents tend to smell too dry or powdery or soapy for me, but I'm buying all of the cat blends (and all of the ones that I've tried so far have been incredible). A Girl Knitting is another winner for me. The drydown reminds me of a slightly more grownup Boo, like it's slightly less sweet, but still lots of chilled sweet cream and breezy fabric, and the cream takes on a hint of a caramelized edge after about an hour and it's just so good. The fabrics are like clean sheets hung out to dry after the wash, like they're clean and brightly refreshing, but not overwhelmingly soapy. It's the sort of scent that's snuggly and I want to bury my face into it. I'm glad that the hint of cream really amps up on my skin because it's wonderful.

The reviews scared me away from Snooty Bat at first, but then I figured I love all of these notes and the Lab makes my favorite leather fragrances, so this scent couldn't possibly be bad on me. Nag champa is the only thing that can be iffy and cheap smelling to me, but it's luxurious and sweet here. I don't really get the patchouli or any earthiness, but the sugared aspect melts into the dark, smooth nag champa incense. The nag champa has a fruity/grapey tone to it. It reminds me of the sugared incense in Midnight on the Midway, but darker and heavier. The leather is also barely there on me and doesn't show up at all until a couple hours into the drydown. I have some leather bracelets that have been soaked in perfume and after several hours, Snooty Bat makes me think of those soft leather bracelets infused with sugared incense. I can't pick out any clove either. As a bonus, Snooty Bat is really strong on me, making it about 8 hours before I showered it off, and it has really good, strong throw without being overwhelming. My new favorite nag champa scent.

I kept waiting for reviews of this one and finally just took the plunge and ordered a bottle. I'm really happy to have it because it smells amazing on me. Watermelon jolly ranchers, a very deep, wine-like, slightly musky cherry, and a beautiful jasmine that is sweet and vanillic like honeysuckle, but with a clean edge that makes me think of good shampoo as well. It feels like a great, summery blend to me that's a good mix of warm and sultry, playful and sweet, and clean. The drydown is like eating tart cherries and drinking cherry wine in a garden full of jasmine and honeysuckle. A whiff of that refreshing watermelon candy every once in a while too. I love this so much.

The lotus smells like a white floral gardenia mixed with pink bubblegum, swimming in a pool of buttercream frosting. Sweet, but gauzy and freshly floral. The wood and resins aren't really coming out at all on my skin (maybe the tiniest whiff of what reminds me of sugared nag champa in the drydown if I really reach for it, but mostly floral and sweet vanilla).

Always reminds me of The Bow & Crown of Conquest (and Francis Kurkdjian's Masculin Pluriel), even though the only note they share is the sage. This really smells like it has vanilla, barbershop lavender and black leather in it, though, and has a polished, cool, smooth, upscale, clean cologne vibe. I think the vetiver gives me that cuddly black leather impression and perhaps the peach gives it the bit of sweetness. The sage and oakmoss lean towards the elegant cologne spectrum more than dry moss and herbs. It's dreamy and is exactly the sort of scent that I find immensely appealing on a man. The only problem with it is that it doesn't even last a full hour on my skin. It starts off strong, but fades quickly.

A powdery, tart peach, especially at first, like a peach flavored sweet tarts candy, but it does have a syrupy, carnal edge to it as well, like a dribble of overripe peach juice. There is a note that does smell oddly like flaky vanilla wafers at first, but I'm not sure that I'd ever actually pick out that impression on my own. I think I only search for the wafers because of the title. It's definitely more of a powdery, tart, peach candy, and the drydown smells like a peach & vanilla body spray scent that I would have picked up from Wal-Mart as a preteen. It has a perfumey, artificial quality to it and a powdered sugary vanilla. That weird bit of nostalgia and innocence is actually kind of charming to me. Sticks rather close to the skin and doesn't make it a full two hours.

Medicinal, bitter honey in the bottle and on my skin at first, but quickly settles into a super-sweet, vanillic honey and creamy beeswax scent. The dragon's blood is barely there at all in my aged bottle, just a teeny hint of red, glowing, warm incense underneath all the honeyed sweetness.

The patchouli is very nice, with elements of smooth, dry cedar, black leather, earth, and cocoa. The pink pepper smells like a mix of sweet cinnamon and clove. Spiced, woody, cocoa sweet patchouli with an almost resinous, sweet myrrh type of edge in the drydown. I really like it and love how complex it is with only two notes. Reminds me of Tezcatlipoca, in a way, but spicy.