Little Bird

I was a little mad when I first got this in the mail because the wisteria completely overpowered the honeysuckle and came off all aggressive, sharp and clean smelling. It just needed a couple weeks to settle from the shock of its international travel, though. Now it's bursting with the sweet, creamy, vanilla & honey goodness of honeysuckle. The wisteria, I think, just lends a cold, airy note and a hint of green stem under the creamy, sweet floral. It reminds me of sipping on honeysuckle flowers by the creek as a child. Sweet and gourmand-esque. It reminds me of my beloved Honeyed Honeysuckle atmosphere spray, which is wonderful.

I think this is my favorite single note / simple mix ever (next to my hoard of Bulgarian and French Tobaccos, of course). I love it so much that I ordered two backup bottles already. When I first got it in the mail, the mango had a delicate, clean scent to it that reminded me of sweet mango scented shampoo and luscious, lightly sweet, super creamy rice milk. After letting it settle for a couple weeks, though, it has lost that shampoo edge and is sticky, ripe, juicy mango slices swimming in a chilled, sweet, creamy dream. The other bpal blends I've had with rice milk, the rice milk faded fast under other, heavier notes, but this is strong rice milk and ripe mango. I don't usually enjoy fruity scents unless they're very creamy and vanillic, but this is all sorts of sweet, juicy and creamy. It's wonderful and feels like you're smelling an actual dessert; it has a natural and refreshing vibe to it. It's been a summer staple for me.

UNE FOLLE ENTREPRISE A mélange of silvery musk, iris, licorice root, black currant, apple blossom, patchouli root, violet, heliotrope, anise, and tonka bean. Un mélange: musc argenté, iris, racine de réglisse, cassis, fleur de pommier, racine de patchouli, violette, héliotrope, anis, et fève tonka. The musk is the star player for me here, but it's not a sharp or perfumey sort of musk, thankfully. This blend actually reminds me of Candy Phoenix (a more subdued and gentle Candy Phoenix, perhaps). First on, this is comforting, fuzzy-furry, slightly powdery, sweet musk. A gentle sweetness. I can pick out hints of anise if I really look for it, but it doesn't scream black licorice at all, and the anise disappears entirely on me after about fifteen minutes. There's a hint of patchouli and vanilla-y heliotrope at first that also doesn't last into the drydown on me. In the drydown, this is still mostly musk, but there's a candied black currant (like berry candy) that comes forth pretty strongly (and reminds me even more of Candy Phoenix) and a pale, cool, sweet violet. Une Folle Entreprise is rather light on me, clinging close to the skin and only lasting about 3 hours, but I do find this very pleasant and comforting. This is the sort of scent that I'd wear just for myself, or for a quiet night cuddled up with someone. A candied, gentle musk.

It was getting late. He was hungry, and when he realized how hungry he really was, he pulled off at the next exit and drove into the town of Nottamun (pop. 1301). He filled the gas tank at the Amoco and asked the bored woman at the cash register where he could get something to eat. Jacks Crocodile Bar, she told him. Its west on County Road N. Crocodile Bar? Yeah. Jack says they add character. She drew him a map on the back of a mauve flyer, which advertised a chicken roast for the benefit of a young girl who needed a new kidney. Hes got a couple of crocodiles, a snake, one a them big lizard things. An iguana? Thats him. Through the town, over a bridge, on for a couple of miles, and he stopped at a low, rectangular building with an illuminated Pabst sign. The parking lot was half empty. Inside the air was thick with smoke and Walking After Midnight was playing on the jukebox. Shadow looked around for the crocodiles, but could not see them. He wondered if the woman in the gas station had been pulling his leg. Cedar shavings, a swirl of booze, a flattened French fry, and barbeque sauce. I expected this to smell like the lab's one variety of vetiver that always stinks like smoky mesquite bbq and cedar planks, and this does have a little of that scent to it, but mostly I'm getting a really lovely cedar from this atmo. This smells like the spicy, woody, natural scent of dry cedar, like the kind used in old cedar chests and hamster bedding. I've always enjoyed that scent. The booziness adds a dark, slinky, smooth, masculine touch that makes me think of black leather jackets. The sweet bbq scent is strong at first, but settles into just a touch of a sweet, spicy note after a couple minutes. I'd recommend this if you want a sweet & spicy, dry cedar with hints of sweetness and that dark, masculine edge. I just recently had the pleasure of staying in an old, well-kept, wooden cabin full of wooden furniture out in the country, and this atmo smells a lot like walking into that home. It's very much a cozy cabin in the woods, where you've gone to just sit around the lake and drink with good friends.

Dead Blonde makes me think of Tippi Hendren and her life in film (and being subjected to so much abuse by Alfred Hitchcock, yet still coming out so strong and speaking her truth). I admire her a lot. Dead Blonde smells like a strong, empowering scent to me. I love bpal's tea rose and white rose because they smell like being in a garden full of the most perfect, fresh, slightly dewy roses. Nothing sharp or musky, just the sweet, dewy character of real roses. And I especially love those rose notes when they're paired with some sweet notes. I was a little worried about the lip gloss and suntan lotion in the description because I don't tend to enjoy a waxy or oily scent and that artificial coconut in suntan lotion is one of my least favorite smells. I don't get that artificial quality from this scent at all, though. The honey and coconut add a creamy sweetness to the roses, but don't really scream honey or coconut. After a couple hours, the honey (I think) goes a little powdery, like a bouquet of beautiful white roses dusted in honey powder. I think that this is a beautiful, sophisticated scent.

I enjoy this fragrance so much! It doesn't remind me of Fruity Pebbles at all because its not that sweet, artificial or simple smelling to me, and it doesn't have that citrusy sweetness of Fruity Pebbles or Froot Loops. I think that it might be similar to Crunchberries (but more natural and not as sweet), but it's been a long time since I was around Captain Crunch, so I'm not sure how accurate that memory is. It reminds me a bit of Villainess's old Birth Rite fragrance as well, which was berry frosting over a light spice cake and some resins (this is like that light berry/vanilla frosting and a softer bakery/grain note). The strawberry, cream and milk in this are so lovely, not overly sweet or sugary, and the cereal adds this nice, warm, airy grain scent. It's like fresh strawberries sliced into whole milk with puffed cereal. Delicately sweet and very natural smelling on my skin. I love milky scents and this one is just so good. Dies Patribus is my favorite bpal release of this year so far.

Smucker's strawberry jam with the strawberry overcooked and way too much sugar added in, with a hint of milk chocolate scented markers that's strong for about ten minutes and then it disappears. I don't get an impression of cheesecake, ice cream or florals (a little breezy, cool, floral bluebonnet in the bottle, but none on my skin). Sugary, artificial smelling strawberry jam.

This was my favorite of this year's Lupercalia blends and the only bottle that I'm keeping from my orders. A Vision smells surprisingly mainstream, like a fluffy, pretty, sweet, pink fruity-floral and vanilla celeb scent from a department store. There's something pink, almost fruity, and vanillic about it, and something like a cuddly, slightly powdery, creamy, vanilla musk scent. It smells a lot like bpal's Pediophobia as well (one of my favorites). I wonder if they share a similar tobacco note that doesn't exactly smell anything like tobacco, lol. It has a warm, spicy quality to it as well without smelling exactly like clove or cinnamon or anything of the sort. A sophisticated yet comforting scent that I really like for the current chilly fall weather. Pink florals and a hint of sweet, pink fruitiness with creamy-powdery vanilla musk. A bit reminiscent of cosmetic powders.

I normally love every note in this, but this is a musty, powdery, heavy and gloomy scent to me. It makes me think of heavy, dust colored drapes and mildew. There's a hazy, sort of white smokiness that reminds me of sharp opium incense. I get no hint of anything like rice milk, rice flower or frangipani. The drydown has an odd spiciness.

I always want to try anything that lists vanilla and patchouli, but the heavy and baby powdery sandalwood ruins this one for me. It's cloying, sickly sweet vanilla with a hint of earthiness from the patchouli, and tons of powdery, warm, heavy sandalwood. Very dry, slightly dusty smelling.

Mostly hay absolute with a little sugar. Hay absolute has a lemony scent to it, like fresh lemons sliced over dried grass, leaning sour. There's a tiny edge of extra sweetness from the sugar. I was most excited for the rice milk (I love Nocture Alchemy's rice milk scents), but I don't pick up on that aspect at all.

I like a sweeter jasmine that smells like the bushes that I've planted in my backyard (NAVA's EA Purple and Ghost Velvet being my go-tos lately). I can't really pick out the honey or vanilla notes in this, though, which I think would have actually made this smell more realistic and wearable if they'd showed up to the party. This is a sharp, perfumey jasmine on me, leaning a little to a generic white floral smell on my skin.

I only enjoy strawberry scents when they have the juiciness and tanginess of real strawberries. This smells like strawberry flavored nerds candies to me. It's very tart, intensely sweet, and artificial. It also goes a little plasticy and burnt/metallic smelling on me in the drydown. There's a hint of cream, but I wish there were more creaminess.

I gave this one a few months to settle, but it still isn't working for me. I usually love the lab's fig notes and vanilla is my favorite scent ever, but Waltzing Matilda is sharply fruity (like sour blackberries) and soapy on me. It makes me think of tart fruity-floral shampoo and sour berries. Reminds me a little of Miller Vs. California, but soapy and sharper.

This is my favorite trio. I've been enjoying floral scents a lot more in these past couple years and I really like bpal's Wild Honeysuckle note. This scent has a gleeful quality that makes me think of running around outside as a child and picking flowers, the scent of green sap and sweet petals crushed in my hands. It smells like a beautiful day outside. It has a bit of a sharp, perfumey bite to it, but it does also smell like actual jasmine, honeysuckle and wisteria flowers, full of breezy sweetness. The pale lilac of the wisteria really comes through in the drydown. Mostly wisteria with a good dose of honeysuckle and a hint of sweet jasmine.

The first time that I wore this, I thought that it smelled like a chocolate orange candy. Now I'm getting more of a bright, lemony scent from it, closer to the scent of Lemon Pledge furniture polish (which I actually enjoy, but not so much mixed with chocolate). Chocolate bars + Lemon Pledge isn't quite mixing for me, I think, and I don't ever really pick up on the amber. A very strong fragrance that leaves sort of a scratchy feeling in my throat.

I don't get any of the lemon and this winds up smelling like a bracing, minty toothpaste on me.

I have the opposite experience of some of the other reviews. I get no cream or anything milky or vanillic. Starts off like a sweet blueberry candy and dries down to all cardamom all the time.

Mostly a very powdery sandalwood on my skin with a hint of vanilla. Like a lightly vanilla scented dusting powder.

I like this one, but it's a very heavy, dry scent that's like a simplified vintage fragrance full of patchouli, oakmoss, sweet labdanum and a little hint of tropical floral ylang-ylang. Resins can sometimes have a cola or Dr. Pepper type of smell to them, and this one reminds me a little of Dr. Pepper (and similar to bpal's Schwarzer Mond with its patchouli and sweet resins). The ylang-ylang gives it a hint of a sophisticated floral-ish tone that's quite nice amongst the heavier notes. Dry, earthy, resinous, yet perfumey.

I wish that I got more lemon from this, but the orange is a lot stronger to my nose, and it's a syrupy, artificially sweet orange more than orange blossom. Very sugary, kind of cloying. It does remind me of Froot Loops in the drydown, with the sweetness dialed way up. Artificial citrusy tones and sugar.

I ordered this hoping that it would be like Midway, which I loved and ran out of long ago now, and it's unfortunately nothing like Midway. I wish that the description had listed cinnamon, because then I would have known not to buy it. This smells a lot like cinnamon sugar dumped into vegetable oil on me. Oily and something slightly sour about it. Drydown has tiny hints of something like banana bread and pancake syrup. The labels for the Please Scream scents are so cute, but I'm going to pass on the rest of this series. Oily cinnamon scent.

Reminds me of red musk with lots of sharp, perfumey, strangely dry white florals and an undertone that smells like a mix between bonfire ashes and cigarette tray ashes. Dirty, sharp, sour. The drydown has more of a noticeable rose note that's sour and soapy.

Russet amber and orange blossom honey, red labdanum and wild plum, golden musk and a rustle of patchouli root. Mostly orange blossom honey and patchouli in the bottle, and it's a lovely, creamy, sweet orange blossom and dry patchouli. I wish that this is the scent that showed up on my skin, but that's not to be. On my skin, this actually gets sweeter (a bit cloying) and more powdery than I would like, and the patchouli instantly disappears and never returns. There's a weird, slightly funky soapiness that makes me think of rest room soap, and I think that's the honey note going a bit urine-like on me, and the orange blossom trying to clean it up. The amber and musk form a powdery, perfumey cloud around the intensely sweet honey and slight funkiness. No plum or patchouli for me, unfortunately.

Someone sent me a partial bottle of this as a gift and I'm very thankful. This has a lot of my favorite notes in it, but it didn't show up on my radar for some reason. It's like having a creamy sandalwood that's been dipped in golden resins, with one of the most beautiful drydowns ever. Whenever I wear this, I keep thinking of frankincense with it's golden, sour-sweet character. It has a really good, non-powdery, labdanum/amber richness and warmth, on a bed of just slightly earthy, sour, dry, sophisticated oakmoss. After about 3 hours, this reminds me of some of my favorite shops full of solid resins and old, vanillic books, with a slight, clove-like warmth and spiciness. I love it and actually don't find it to be too powdery (I strongly dislike it when amber and sandalwood go powdery - this is more creamy and resinous).