Little Bird

In the bottle, 13 '06 smells like an amazing blend of cocoa, creamy vanilla, and a really clean something that reminds me of lavender and white musk (though I know there's no white musk in this). Lovely. My favorite candy is Dagoba's dark chocolate lavender. This smells exactly like that wonderful chocolate on my skin. A cool, sweet lavender and lashings of bittersweet cocoa. I can't pick out any of the other notes exactly, and the lavender and cocoa stay dominant (yay), but there is a complexity of other notes that come out to play over the hours as I wear this. I think that I'm smelling amber and nutmeg as it warms up a bit. Beautiful. I like this one even more than the original version, and I wish that I'd purchased more than one bottle. ETA: I've been wearing Thirteen the last few days and after three hours or so, it dries down to a wonderfully cool, sweet scent... like the vanilla drydown of Lick It & Underpants.

In the bottle... this smells like wonderfully creamy strawberry cheesecake (which I'm guessing is the grapes + cakes). On me... a flurry of rich, golden resins and a creamy vanilla. This has an almost aggressive sort of spice to it as well. It makes me think of offering cakes and resins in a golden temple, where everything is too expensive & perfect for you to even think about touching. Very rich. Halôa is very complex and hard for me to explain. BPAL has done a lot of cake + resin sort of blends lately, but this doesn't really smell like any of them. There's a spicy dry wood, a sweet cheesecake, and the rich olive & resins rounding it all out. It paints a vivid temple picture for me. It's an interesting blend, though perhaps a little too interesting and unusual. Sometimes when I wear this, it smells really sour and odd on my skin... other times, a pleasant sweetness oddly paired with some resinous woody notes. ETA: And Halôa smells just like the limited edition Lycaon on me as well.

The Temptation smells heavenly in the bottle, like soft peach and a creamy, almost milky floral note. On my skin... this is much like it smells in the vial. Juicy, soft peach and creamy florals. The florals here actually remind me of the cool, creamy florals that are in Snow White. Of course, the drydown completely ruins this for me . Sharper, perfumey florals and some perfumey, smoky musk notes run to the front and completely smother the pretty notes. The juicy, beautiful peach blossom tries to hold out, but is continually beaten back by sharp musk. This morphs from a juicy, milky-sweet blend into a sharp, classic floral that I hate. *sigh* So sad.

Yay! A citrus blend that I actually like . Mania is such a lovely blend. Red musk itself always smells slightly sweet and fruity on my skin, so it meshes very well with the other fruity notes. The red musk plus the sweet strawberry leaf help to calm down the grapefruit and keep it from going sharp on my skin. The grapefruit's zesty citrus, in turn, keeps the other notes from going overly sweet. The grapefruit and strawberry balance each other perfectly. And all of the notes are wrapped up in a blanket of creamy, clean white musk. Heaven. This will be a 5 ml bottle purchase in my next order, and I'll be hoarding my imp until then. It's sweet and creamy enough for me, & citrussy and clean enough to make my boy happy.

In the bottle... Horreur Sympathique smells like grape bubblegum and sugar. On me... grape bubblegum, sugar, and some goldeny sweet, warm honey. It loses some of its bubblegum sweetness after a few minutes, and then just smells of sweet grapes and honey. It's lighter and more upbeat than I was expecting. 15 minutes into the drydown... rather perfumey honey. Honey musk and tooth-aching sugar notes. A rather simple, sweet musk sort of fragrance. The honey is really dominating on my skin. Horreur Sympathique isn't a blend that I'll ever find myself wearing, but I'd recommend it to anyone who is a fan of BPAL's honey.

Love-Lies-Bleeding actually reminds me of some of the Turkish Delight fragrances that I've tried from other etailers. Sort of a foodie chocolate-rose scent. A bit powdery and pleasantly sweet. In the drydown it makes me think of powdered sugar, tea rose, and chocolate shavings, perhaps with a bit of a berry wine thrown in. This strikes me as a sort of romantic, thickly foodie scent.

In the bottle... this smells like pine, a squeeze of zesty lime, and a misty sort of aquatic note. Very pretty. I had high hopes. On me... laundry . I smell like a sweet laundry soap. Slobbering Pine becomes a slightly sharper, darker version of Dirty on me. Strong and soapy, with a very cloying sweetness. Headache inducing soap, with a sweetness that's rich enough to make me gag (and I normally love sweet scents). I wish that this had been more of a natural, piney scent

Devil's Claw is defintely funky, evil, rotten, dirty, gritty... well, not good on me. This is the funky vetiver that was in blends like Azathoth. Kind of reminds me of burnt BBQ, charred cedar, and dirty ash tray. It has that ashen smokiness that I've gotten in blends like Brimstone & Djinn.

I’ve noticed the whole tar and burnt rubber trend showing up in a lot of perfumes this year. I don’t really like that tar sort of smell, and I was expecting it in Black Ice… but this is more of a clean, sweetly floral scent than the earthy or ‘asphalt’ one that I was expecting. If I were to guess at the notes in this, I would have guessed for black musk, a chilly aquatic, and some sort of sweet floral (I'd never be able to pinpoint any one flower; I suck at picking out floral notes). Black Ice sort of reminds me of a smoky men's cologne or slightly soapy aftershave. It becomes less floral and a bit more minty or menthol in the drydown. I'm not smelling any vetiver on my skin (which I was kinda looking forward to). Overall, this strikes me as a masculine sort of aquatic. Not for me, and not really what I was expecting.

In the bottle, Yule smells like smoky juniper and a strong dose of sharp, sour lemon verbena. Figures that the main note that I was most worried about is the strongest in the bottle. On my skin at first... LEMONS and a hint of evergreen. It smells like LEMONS and a hint of green grass, actually, more than evergreen trees. Very sharp and unpleasant. 15 minutes... sharp, sour, biting, bitter lemons. I love green scents, I love resins, I love every note in this except for the verbena. Why is this happening to me? I don't even smell any greenery in this. Half hour... Pure Lemon Verbena (with whiffs of something like a rotten berry every once in a while). I was hoping that Yule would smell like Mistletoe or Skadi (two of my favorite BPALs), but this is all insanely sharp lemon. I can't wear this one. It's so sharp that it's giving me that nosebleed sensation.

I've been playing around with my bottle of last year's Lick It, eagerly waiting until I could compare it to this year's. In the bottles... Lick It Again smells like a slightly lighter version of Lick It. They're *very* similar though. I probably wouldn't be able to tell them apart if I wasn't actually trying to note a difference. On my skin... the mint here is sharper and less sweet than Lick It was. I'm not liking this so much. Lick It had a vanilla sweetness that really rounded out the peppermint for me... Lick It Again has a cold sort of menthol bite instead of the sweetness. Peppermint and menthol. Boo. After 15 minutes or so, a dusty sort of sweetness is coming up behind the icy, sharp peppermint. It's (sadly for me) not as sweet as Lick It. There's something of a dusty, light vanilla here though. Mostly it's still a very sharp mint, and the whole blend is fading really fast on my skin. Lick It Again is like Lick It Lite for me... minus the rich vanilla, and with a heavier smack of biting peppermint. I'll be hoarding my bottle of last year's and swapping away this one

I wanted so much to like The Darkling Thrush, because I love the poem that accompanies it. In the vial, it smells like ice covered violets (dusky and slightly sweet) and a hint of powdery resin. Unfortunately, the notes all go horribly awry the second that they touch my skin. So many of BPAL’s snow blends smell similar on me. Cold, slightly soapy aquatic. Only… with this one… the cold aquatic is accompanied by baby powder, as BPAL’s amber notes and the violet goes powdery on me as well. Baby powder and icy, soapy aquatic. Not the frosty violets and warm, rich amber that I was hoping for.

As far as florals go, Lilium Inter Spinas is not as bad as I thought it would be. Mostly it is a honeyed-sweet apple blossom and lashings of creamy lily. Definitely a bright, spring bouquet. After a half hour or so, what I'm guessing is the green fig (but it doesn't smell like fig to me, really) comes out to play. It's a very dark, bitter green underneath the sweet florals. After an hour or two, this starts to go a bit powdery on me and fading into a rather boring, sweet floral. I actually kind of like it during the first hour though. It's not a scent that I'd find myself wearing a lot, just because it takes a very remarkable floral to catch and hold my interest, but this one is rather pretty and not suffocatingly perfumey on me.

I just posted that very thing in the notes you'd like to see more of thread, lol. BPAL's lime is awesome I wish I could get more of it. Lime is the only citrus that I personally *love*... it was really strong in Trick #1 for me (yay!). I think that I'll dab on Doc Buzzard this weekend on my next date, and see how the boy likes that one. And I'll retest The Sun as well

This is a perfumey, fresh, sharp, clean sort of floral on my skin. I was hoping for something that smelled like real flowers and a bit of grass, but I don't smell any grass or greenery from this at all, and it's definitely floral perfume as opposed to the smell of real flowers. The only note that I can pick out for sure if a perfumey rose. It has a little floral spiciness to it, but it doesn't really smell like carnation spice. And there's a very clean undertone to the whole blend that's almost soapy, but not quite, like a high pitched white musk. Perfumey, musky, chemical white floral headed by rose. This isn't my sort of floral (the heavy, perfumey qualities start to give me a headache after a while).

I was so excited to finally get a wee drop of this single note (I love odd perfume notes, lol). I'm not really sure what fresh basil smells like; I was comparing this to the smell of the dried basil that I cook with. The single note has more of a crisp, green vibrancy to it than the dry spice that I'm used to. But it's still that wonderful herbal-ish smell... a slightly sweet & slightly peppery sort of spice. I love it. Antony is the only blend that I remember trying that had basil in it, but I liked the herbal-spice tone that it gave that fragrance (until the leather devoured it). I wish that basil were used in more blends, actually. I think that it would smell especially yummy on a man.

With as many BPAL scents as I have tried and reviewed over the last year and a half, I did not think that I would need to ask for help. And then a conversation tonight with the love of my life completely turned me upside down. After being together for over 3 years, he just now informed me that he doesn’t really like sweet or foodie scents. I blinked and said, “But… that’s… what I… wear all the time.” “I know. It’s not really a big deal.” But it’s a big deal to me. Owning over $50,000 worth of perfume and being obsessed with fragrance… it really matters to me. And it horrifies me to think that this conversation happened after he’s been smelling me slathered in vanilla cake for years. He has complimented me on so many things, but now I think he must have just been trying to be nice, because he obviously didn’t really like the scents. The only BPAL that he has been really enthusiastic about was Tweedledee, which I wore on a total whim to see if orange scents really do turn men on (apparent answer: yes). So now I’m dealing with the fact that my boy doesn’t like really sweet scents, doesn’t like foodie scents, and doesn’t like vanilla (exact words were that they make him kind of nauseous >_<). That seriously takes out about 99% of my perfume collection. I’m all about foodies and rich orientals. Common Ground: The boy has admitted that he now loves Tweedledee and Snow Angel. I also like both of those. I can’t handle really sharp, bitter scents. I’m very unfamiliar with citrus in general, because I always write them off as ‘not for me.’ So my question is, what scents would be good for both me and my boy? Any recs for citrus blends that aren’t really hyper-sweet? I can't handle heavy floral blends. Any suggestions will be much appreciated. I'll have to add a few citrus blends in with my next order... and I am really out of my element here, lol.

The Penitent Magdalen smells intensely perfumey in the bottle, and like sharply perfumey florals on my skin at first. I hate the beginning stage. It becomes more wearable and less sharp, but still not a favorite, after 15 minutes or so. The drydown settles into a very powdery floral, but it's a warm and sweet powder as the honey comes out more. It still has that classic/cliche floral perfume feel to me though. I'll be swapping my decant.

I was hopeful for trying Sol Invictus; I’ve recently realized that my boy has a thing for sweet orange blends on me (which sucks because anyone who knows me will know that I have issues with citrus blends, lol). Unfortunately, Sol Invictus isn’t really sweet. This is the sharp sort of citrus that I hate, with a drydown that makes me physically ill. First on, the frankincense makes a very brief appearance (and yes, smells kinda like dill pickles on me, but I love that smell) and then quickly fades to make way for a bevy of bitter orange citrus notes. In the drydown, some of the amber comes out to play, and immediately goes to an intensely dry, powdery, dusty note on me. I don’t know what it is about BPAL’s amber that goes so viciously powdery on. Summing it up: Sour orange citrus (acidic and biting) and DRY dust & powder. It gets a touch sweeter after 15 minutes, almost maple syrup-ish. Mostly this is just way too dry on me though (like getting a mouth and nose full of dust). A half hour into wearing this... sickly sweet maple syrup and dust. The smell makes me really queasy. I’ll be giving away my decant.

I feared that this would be overly dusty and dry, but Krampus isn't so bad after all. I love the wood note when I first put this on. Like freshly cut wooden switches - almost a sweetly resinous sap smell and hints of spicy woods, with more of an herbal vibrancy added to it. Perfect for being whipped, lol. In the drydown, notes that I don't really like start creeping in and taking things over. Krampus morphs into a cold, dark leather and sweet (almost fruity smelling) red musk. It loses all of its resinous and wooden qualities that I admired. Still, it's not really dusty or awful. I'd like this if I were really fond of red musk and leather...

So many of the Yule blends have had really iffy notes as far as my skin chemistry is concerned (much thanks to all of my lovely friends who gifted me with decants to try <3). Winter of Our Discontent is a dark, bitter, sharp scent on me. First on, I’m hit with a masculine and smoky sort of musk (a type of black musk?). It strikes me as smelling like a man’s cologne that I don’t really care for; it’s perfumey and a bit cold. In the drydown, the clove, nutmeg, and rosewood come out to play. Rosewood takes on its usual acrid sharpness, and the spices are not helping to mellow it out any. The spice here isn’t sweet on me, so the overall impression is cold and bitterly acidic. Summing it up: Really sharp, overpowering rose-ish note with the aptly described bitter clove. Rose plus spice is a combo that rarely works on me. After an hour, this smells like molding woods and dirty ash tray with hints of sharp rose. Blech. This is another Yulie that I’ll have to pass on getting a full bottle of…

Snow-Flakes is a very faint scent on my skin. It starts off smelling like a really watery mint… lightly sweet but nothing wonderful. Then it dries down to a light, soapy something. I wonder if this has some white flowers in it that are going soapy. All that I can really pick out on my skin is that Snow-Flakes smells of watery mint and cheap soap that goes somewhat powdery after a half hour or so. Cold and bland. I wish that this were comparable to Snow White for me, but I can’t see a similarity between the two Actually, I wish that this smelled like Stephen King’s The Shining or Misery to me (I so love sixthsentinel’s review of Snow-Flakes). Snow-Flakes definitely doesn’t work well on me, but at least its light enough to not really become bothersome. It melts away and disappears entirely after about an hour.

Angry, herbal bitterness... might want to try the Panacea Bitch. Or, maybe not, it doesn't really have what I would consider a good smell, lol. But it's definitely a bitter, angry herbal on me. Antony & Lear might be good sage blends for you to try out. Masabakes has an earthy bitterness to it, but I still really like it. And I'll second the rec for the LE Count Dracula (or Dracul if you want a GC).

Peony is a note that rarely works on me in perfume. Still, I liked Peony Moon, so I thought that BPAL's single note might also like me. It doesn't. Peony single note is rare and unique in that this manages to smell both soapy and incredibly dry on me at the same time, lol. It has an almost papery, thin dryness that makes me think of poppy. And a strong undercurrent of dish soap. In the drydown, it becomes more watery and soapy. Still... dish soap florals.

I got a wee sample of this at my last sniffing party. I like lemon fragrances from a lot of other companies, but BPAL's lemon (and lemongrass) has a tendency to go rather sharp on me. The single note *does* remind me of real lemons. Like squeezing a fresh lemon slice into your tea or over some dish. Zesty and sour. After a minute or so on my skin, though, this takes on a sharp bitterness. I wish that it would go a bit sweeter on me.