Little Bird

The Faces of the Heroine & I are not getting along so well. They've been too classical-perfumey for me and too reminiscent of the drugstore perfumes that I try to stay away from. I was hopeful for Svadhinaopatika because I love red sandalwood and currant. Of course, I can't smell either of those notes in this blend (drat, drat I say!). On me, this is a powdery amber and lashings of a perfumey and slightly metallic honey. Baby powder and perfumey honey. A rather light and unchanging scent on me.

I loved the idea of this blend's crazed little doll-girl. I was also excited because of the 'sugared cream' part... and I've been having better luck with the lab's carnation and orange blossom notes lately. In the bottle this is almost sickeningly sweet, with a bit of the soured cream edge that reminds me of Haloa (Haloa is haunting me lately in blends, lol). Thankfully, the comparison to Haloa vanishes once this hits my skin. On my skin, the foodie part of this takes on an interesting complexity... it reminds me a bit of creme brulee with a burnt, caramelized sugar edge, yet there's still something very creamy, a soft sugar. I catch a hint of sweet orange blossom underneath and cream and caramelized sugar. Unfortunately, within 5 minutes, this is dominated by iris. Zarita winds up being a very simple and blunt scent on my skin. Conceptually, this is wonderful. Like the doll girl, you first see her and are blinded by the perfection, imagining her to be so sweet and childlike... then the true form comes out and it's all sharp edges and straighforward animosity. As a perfume though, I can't wear this. It's like a singlenote of a sharp and unpleasantly perfumey floral. The foodie part fades away for me within minutes and I'm left with this strong blast of floral that lasted 3 hours before I scrubbed it off. I wish this had been strong cream with hints of spicy carnation and sweet orange blossom... alas, it is a sharp and perfumey iris on my skin. I'll keep my trading card, but the bottle will be finding a new home.

Vasakasajja kinda smells like a cliche fruity-floral for me... the sort that has been springing up at department stores in full force over the last year. Orchid sometimes smells juicy and fruity on me, so perhaps that is the culprit. The fruit here smells something like mango on me though. Tropical fruit. Tropical fruit with a clingy, perfumey musk and hints of sweet vanilla. It doesn't seem very original or unique to me. This isn't a bad scent by any means, it just seems very common to me and isn't something that I would ever really want to wear. Juicy, sweet tropical fruits... perfumey musk... slight vanilla sweetness. Makes me feel nauseous and headache-y after a while (which is why I can't wear a lot of the usual department store offerings).

I don't often like cinnamon or smoky notes, but this 'cinnamon bark' note is lovely on me. Priala smells like a peppered, dry woods with the sexiest cinnamon spice ever. In the drydown it has a soft nutmeg-like smell to it. This is so unbelievably sultry and sexy. I hate that I'm never able to adequately describe the blends that I love the most. It's almost as though there was an explosion of a wooden barrel full of nutmeg and the sweetly scented powder is now falling softly all over everything. But then you have to throw in the slight, sensual warmth of the myrrh and a feeling of smoldering sexuality. The Human Phoenix is the sort of blend that I'd wear and instantly feel exotic & enchanting, like I was the most interesting thing in the room and any man would fall at my feet in an instant. It's that sort of good. <3 ETA: My later bottles of Priala smell nothing like my original bottles (my review for the two early bottles that I purchased is above). My two more recently purchased bottles smell like a heavy, earthy vetiver and harsh smoke. Not the same at all

I admit that I just bought this blend for the "orange pulp, vanilla, blackberry" bit. This is moreso one of those blends that you can't pick a note out of though, very complex and a result of the blend more than one or two notes. Opening the bottle, this has a dark and airy quality... but is also very wet and woodsy. It made me think of peering into a dark cave and being hit with a gust of cold wind, carrying the scent of chilled water and something green and piny. There's something cold, dark, and very clean about this. On me... almost dryersheet clean, but not that bad or that simple. More like the clean, wet, airy notes of blends like Buck Moon. Only Faiza is much darker and deeper than Buck Moon. In the drydown, this still has a dark and damp feel, but now with an added slightly powdery woods and hints of something like a sharp man's cologne. It's almost like a sharp floral perfume, which I would normally hate... but something about it is manly and so sharp that it suddenly ceases to be sharp (erm, I'm not on drugs, really). After a half hour, this has calmed down and lightened considerably. Powdery woods, a slight sweetness and spice from the ginger, and still with that dark feel of sharp, heavy men's cologne. It's beginning to give me a headache at this point as it turns a bit more powdery on me and my brain is registering some of the sharper aspects of the scent. I agree with the previous reviewer... this is unisex, but leaning more towards being masculine for me. I won't keep my bottle of this one, but it was interesting and one of those scents that I'll remember trying.

I was so happy when the lab made Bitter Moon, since I've been longing for a good blackberry blend... then I was heartbroken when the poppy in Bitter Moon ruined the blackberry. Thankfully, I was happy again when the lab released more blackberry blends The Oblation is a dream blend for me. The lab's blackberry note is fantastic... not fakely sweet at all (which is what I get from most companies). It smells like real, tart blackberries to me with something of their almost earthy quality. That gorgeous blackberry note is the main part that I get from this fragrance, with a bitter and slightly astringent lavender accompanying it at first. In the drydown, the lavender calms down a bit (loses its harshness and sweetens up), but I don't get much of the honey that I can pick out. Overall, this blend smells exactly like a real blackberry patch. My grandmother in Arkansas has over an acre of blackberry bushes that I've spent plenty of time in. The Oblation transports me right back into the middle of those bushes. Such a great smell. Fruity, but still earthy and almost tart & bitter, but not unpleasantly so. The lavender in the drydown is so lovely too, summery and flowery sweet. I'm so glad that I have a bottle of this one. I'm loving BPAL's blackberry.

Tiresias (the blend that I've just been calling "Manboob") was my most coveted of the new releases. Currant, patchouli, caramel, and red sandalwood are all some of my absolute favorite notes from the lab. Sign me up. In the bottle this is sexy-woodsy in a way that reminds me of Luperci, my most favorite perfume EVER. Tiresias is like Luperci with a slinky, sexy caramel licking at its edges. It has the same honeyed, edible sweetness, the same SEX bare hint of an almost woody patchouli, and the same overall sex-in-the-woods vibe. I wish that I could describe this better. Why is it that it's always easier to describe something that I don't like? This blend is so sexy and gorgeous that it stuns me. It is like Luperci with caramel, even on my skin. But the caramel here isn't just plainly sweet, foodie, and one dimensional either. Sexy caramel. Honeyed, caramel woods... with a slap of the most exotic and sexual something. If you like Luperci, try this one. This has shot straight to the top of my favorites list. Luperci & Tiresias are total aphrodisiacs to me, they scream sex and just melt into my skin so beautifully. And there are no florals here in sight to muck anything up. It's heaven for me because it seems to combine Luperci (my favorite) with a strong, warm caramel note. Love. Did I mention that I love this blend?

I love cassia (love Underbed) and Shub Niggurath (though Shub doesn’t smell ultra spicy on me – more like lightly spiced cookies and a hint of a wet, mouthwatering citrus-esque note … oooh I love Shub). I don’t usually care for cinnamon, and can’t wear it in heavy doses. Saw-Scaled Viper is much, much too much cinnamon for me. I was hoping for a Snake Oil with licks of cassia, but this blend is all burning red hots cinnamon candies on me. It’s too strong and gives me an awful headache. I could only keep it on for a half hour before it started burning my wrists and I had to scrub it off. I can’t pick out any cassia, ginger, or even any Snake Oil in this blend; it’s just loud, screaming, burning cinnamon.

I grabbed up a decant of The Sailor's Den in the hopes that it would work on my boy. Of course, I had to try it on before sending it to him, lol. I don't really like the lab's leather or tobacco notes, but I did like the blue lilac singlenote. Anyhow. I also get a bubblegum-esque sweetness when I first put this on. Rum fragrances always smell like bubblegum to me. The sweetness wears off after a bit and the dark woods & linen come in to play. It's a bit soapy on my skin. Half hour later. The dark woods have faded and I can smell hints of the sweet blue lilac & coconut underneath the clean, soapy fragrance. Surprisingly clean/soapy, light, and sweet on my skin. I'm not sure if this would be a good masculine fragrance after all. The generous slather that I had applied to my wrist was gone after a bit over an hour. Thankfully I didn't really smell the leather or the tobacco here, though the blend does go soapy on me.

Yup, like other reviewers have said, this smells rather nutty to me. Almost a burnt, woodsy sort of nutty at first, paired with a sweet citrus smack of mandarin. In the drydown, this is mostly all musks and florals on me. Nothing special, but not bad either. It has something of a bright and cheery sweetness as the orange scent dances about. After fifteen minutes, this is something of a boring floral-musk perfume that I could find at any shopping mall. Not really my style.

I knew that the Three Gorgons would smell awful on me. I'm not fond of BPAL's tobacco fragrances and I can't wear Egyptian Amber at all (it smells like lemony, BO-infused baby powder). On me... nasty, soiled baby powder and a blur of sharp citrus notes. In the drydown I'm getting the golden sweetness of tobacco (which is a smell that I kinda like, but don't want to smell like or sniff for too long) mingling with hints of a smoky, earthy vetiver. Lighter than I was expecting, but just as bad as I was expecting. This isn't a smell that I would ever warm up to, even if it were on someone else. Something about the tobacco, amber, and vetiver is just a very dirty smelling combination to me.

I love the lab's Lily of the Valley. It smells like a real bouquet of creamy, fresh flowers and green stems to me. Unfortunately, Calla Lily goes intensely soapy and perfumey on my skin. Together they're like a mix of lovely, fresh, soft lilies and sharply perfumed dryer sheets. For about an hour on me this is a very strong floral blend, and a bit too sharp and soapy for my tastes. Then this softens to a lighter and more powdery floral with hints of spice behind it. I like gently spiced, darker themed lilies, but the soapy Calla in this blend is too strong on my skin.

The Ecstasy of St. Theresa is hellish when mixed with my skin chemistry. I get powder and soapy floral; not even the frankincense can save this blend for me . I love the lab’s chamomile and frankincense, but this doesn’t work with my skin chemistry at all. I’m just getting perfumey baby powder and a hint of something herbal & soapy. It reminds me of something like a grandmotherly, sharp, floral dusting powder mixed with baby powder, with some nice hotel soap thrown in. In the drydown, some of the sharpness and heaviness fades away and I’m left with a sweet, light powder. Still… floral-esque powder. I strongly dislike powdery scents, so this isn’t working for me at all. I ended up trying to wash this one off after about a half hour. I just couldn’t take this much powder and cliché, fake floral-smell. ETA 2016 frimp review: First on, I'm getting a big blast of golden, dry, herbal chamomile, slightly sour and medicinal. Dry, golden herbs over a big, baby powdery amber with hints of golden frankincense and creamy, soapy white florals. In the drydown, the sour qualities and soapiness fade, and The Ecstacy settles into a church-y, sweet, smoky frankincense with bold, waxy, creamy white floral and just a hint of amber powder. Very much a church fragrance, which is pretty cool. I think that this, out of all of the bpals ever, is most evocative of a church as it dries down.

The Arrival at the Sabbath & Homage to the Devil is a lovely caramel-sandalwood blend. The caramel is sweet, warm, and buttery-soft. The sandalwood just adds a sort of calming, grounding element to the caramel that also helps to balance out its sweetness. Every once in a while, a sharp floral note pokes its head in to muck things up, but the floral fades in and out. So far, I think that this blend and the Cloister Graveyard are the only Salon members that I truly enjoy and would find myself wearing a lot, with Chickens being a once in a while wear. I would love this one a lot more without the floral notes, but they're tolerable and fade out most of the time. Beautifully soft caramel-sandalwood when the florals aren't trying to edge their way in. I'll definitely be keeping my bottle of this one. ETA: Perhaps I lied when I said I'd keep my bottle. The more I've tried to wear this, the more the sharp floral notes are annoyingly present. I want to enjoy the lovely caramel and the beautiful sandalwood, but the sharp floral seems so out of place and distracting. I wanted this to be my perfect caramel blend, so I let that cloud my first judgment... in reality, this is too much sharp flower oddly paired with the gourmand aspects. Weird and rather unpleasant. ETA: 2016 Frimp. No caramel or vanilla at all anymore. Sour, sharp, nondescript floral and a really unpleasant, ashy, dry patchouli (and I usually love patch and black patch) with generic soapiness. Carnation comes in soapy and strange, like spices, shaving cream and dried out flowers that someone set on fire. Nope. Scrubber.

Even though the whole incest thing was a bit of a turnoff, I felt that I had to have a bottle of this blend. I love black patchouli and skin musk, and I'm definitely a little more than fond of incense, saffron, myrrh, and tangerine. The other notes are okay. I had high hopes for this one working on my skin chemistry. In the bottle, I can smell the dark, earthy patchouli underneath a seductive musk and tart, sweet lemon. It's almost like sexy lemonhead candies wearing leather and rolling around in some black soil (black patchouli has an almost leathery soil quality to me that I lurve). On me... I sometimes have trouble wearing citrus scents, but this is like candied citrus peels and a citrus creme. Perhaps the musk is giving it that sweet, creamy smell. It's really not at all as dark as I was expecting it to be; it's moreso a bright and cheery sort of scent. The patchouli doesn't survive at all on my skin, though a sweet and smoky incense blend makes its presence more known in the drydown, along with something that smells kinda like grape candies. For the most part, Lot & His Daughters is a sweet citrus blend with smoky wafts of a sweet incense and candied grapes. It's better in the bottle than it is on my skin. I like this, but I'm not sure that I'd actually wear it or if I'll be keeping my bottle...

A monstrous, brutal, and bloodthirsty blend: blackened myrrh, crushed olive leaf, black musk, spikenard, frankincense, cypress wood, opoponax, white ginger, and patchouli. In the bottle and on my skin, this does smell like a very dark and ominous sort of blend. It has a charred, blackened smell to it like slightly burned wood and burnt resins. There's an overwhelming sweetness here that's making me a bit sick too. In the drydown... I recognize this blend. This smells a lot like Haloa on me. Actually, if someone had dabbed Lycaon on me, I would have said it was Haloa without much hesitation. It's very sweet, but with a soured edge and some woody-resin notes. After a half hour or so, this smells *exactly* like Haloa does on my skin. I guess they do have quite a few notes in common... still kinda disappointing though.

In the bottle, this is like smelling a grassy yard with tons of amped up, tart, sweet-ish florals. A swirl of sweet, clean floral notes, an herbal something that makes me think of dandelion, and a crisp and almost citrussy sort of grass note. This is a blend that I can sniff and actually pick out pretty much every note (except a couple of the specific flowers) from the medley. A tiny dab on my skin (this has a lot of staying power and throw on me) and this blooms into a garden of sweet flowers, dandelions, and an herbal greenery. The grass and ivy are lightly in the background, lending just enough of an authentic ‘green’ smell to the fragrance. It’s a sweet floral that isn’t going at all sharp or generic on my skin. It smells much like what I would imagine the place in the painting smelling of. Not a haughty and overly tended flower garden, this one has herbs and a few weedy dandelions creeping in - but it’s a healthy and sunny sort of garden nonetheless. The perfect playground for a couple o’ chickens. I normally hate floral blends, and I genuinely like this. The flowers are verrry sweet (almost sweet tart-esque after an hour) and the wee hint of herbs and greenery along the edges make this one unique. It's really strong though, so I'll have to be careful never to overapply or the florals would still give me a headache. And I would love a bottle of Enraged Chicken Musk

Blends with ylang ylang in them often end up smelling metallic on me, but that might just be a strange skin chemistry issue, lol.

The Lantern Ghost clings very close to my skin and disappears quickly, itself ghost-like in its fading and thinness. The fragrance is a crisp tea and cool mint with the light, clean, sweet touch of cherry blossom. Very white, but with a softness and sweetness that make it bearable for me. In the drydown, the lily comes in and goes a bit soapy. The Lantern Ghost makes me think of sitting underneath a tree with a snowing flurry of blossom petals falling down, inhaling the sweet aroma of mint tea. It’s not a very me scent and it completely disappears within a half hour, but it’s still very pretty. I like the mental images that this one paints. I actually might use up the rest of my decant in my oil burner

Life everlasting is just a flowering herbal plant-thing as far as I know, lol. It's supposed to have a light smell, and I think that someone once told me that it smelled like chamomile. I don't know a lot about plants though, so I'll leave it at that. Les Anges Déchus is definitely an earthy, masculine scent on me. It has a strong leather note dominating the blend, so I couldn't wear it myself, but I might like this on some of my male friends. Black leather, crisp moss, and some foresty notes. Rather earthy and dark, but with a sweet warmth to it that might be the tobacco. I'm not smelling any currant that I can pick out. I will probably give my decant of this to a male friend. I don't love it enough to give it to my boyfriend, but it's a nice man-scent if you like leather and earth notes.

Melancholia is a crazy-strong floral to my nose. Pefumey, sharp, classic-perfume sort of floral where I can't pick out any one note, but it's giving me a headache and I keep thinking "fake flowers." Ylang ylang is one of my personal fragrance enemies; it smells really sharp and metallic/chemical-esque on me (sort of like a cheap hairspray smell). That sharpness is dominating this fragrance for me in the drydown. This is an unpleasant mish-mash of sharp, heavy florals. I'd recommend it for people who like heavy department store floral blends where you can still smell the sharpness of the alcohol even in the drydown. Unfortunately, this is way too strong and sharp for me, and ends up giving me a vicious headache. It took me a half hour to scrub it off.

First on, The Cup of Death is rather herbal and astringent on me. There’s strong, herbal lavender at the forefront, paired with an acrid floral note. Thankfully this sweetens up after a few minutes on my skin (yay) as a fruity floral fragrance creeps in. The florals are a bit soapy on me, but not overwhelmingly so. The overall impression is a clean, sweet, juicy floral paired with some greener, earthy something. The grounding sandalwood lingers attractively in the background. Overall, this is a decent floral blend. I would sum it up as juicy, clean florals with hints of herbal greenery and dry sandalwood. Probably not something that I would ever wear, but still pretty when I get past the sharp opening stage.

The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed With the Sun (woo - longest name ever?) would be fantastic on someone with better skin chemistry than I. The florals or something in this go a tad bit soapy and some of the notes (hello amber) go powdery on my skin. But I really do love the vanilla and sandalwood combo in this one, and I'm loving the overall spicy woods fragrance. It's sort of a woodsy oriental to me with spicy woods and a sweet vanilla at the heart of it. If something in this weren't giving the Dragon-Woman-Clothed-Sun an undercurrent of dish soap, I might love it. I'm actually fond of the lab's sweet pea, so I'm not sure if that's what is mucking this one up for me. If you like woodsy scents (or even if you don't like woods, this is mixed with a lovely vanilla and some sweet florals) and your skin does well with the amber and floral notes, this is a really great blend. As it is, my skin is picking up a little too much powder and soap and ruining this one for me

This reminds me of Les Bijoux, which makes sense when looking at the similar notes they share in common. Cupid Complaining to Venus is like a darker and slightly more perfumey version on my skin. The goldeny sweet, clean apple blossom is at the forefront of the fragrance. At first it’s a sweet fruity-floral blend. The apple blossom, peach, and honey all play nicely and remind me strongly of Les Bijoux. In the drydown, the woody fig and warm, slightly spice sandalwood come in to shake things up. The green herbal smack from the thyme comes in with a vengeance after 15 minutes or so of wear. It’s very strong and herbal on my skin for about a half hour and then seems to disappear. Cupid Complaining to Venus is pretty… but I like the initial stage more than the herbal/woody drydown that it is on me… Les Bijoux is like a longer lasting version of the best part of this for me, so I’ll be content with my 10 ml of that one.

I was expecting something light, clean, and sweet from this one… but it’s rather sharp and heavy to me at first. Very sharp, perfumey floral notes with a soapy undertone. I thought that the honey and sugar would sweeten this up, but I'm not smelling any honey or sugar. Hyper florals with a dish soap drydown, and it all smells very white and cutting on me. My skin chemistry hasn't agreed with many of the Asian themed blends, so I guess I'm not too surprised. After an hour or so of wear, this is just a light hint of soap on my skin with a slight tinge of sweetness. I like this barely here stage more than the aggressive opening stage, but I don't think I'll be holding on to this one or wearing it again.