Little Bird

First on, this was like perfumey jasmine, smoky incense, and just an overall dry, sultry, exotic feel. Unfortunately, within five minutes on my skin, it turns into soapy jasmine, harsh smoke and baby powder

Starts off with a wallop of big, heavy, waxy, tropical, white floral tuberose and undertones of sweet pear (which smells artificial and bubblegummy on me). The opoponax starts to come out quickly in the drydown, and smells sweetly resinous, slightly smoky, and slightly peppery. Tropical white floral + opoponax. I don't get any milk, oakmoss or carrot seed and the scent isn't as interesting or complex as I thought it might be. It settles into tons of sweet, resinous opoponax with a hint of white floral after about a half hour. ETA: I just realized that this reminds me of the GC blend The Death-Horse. They're almost identical in the drydown.

I ordered this mainly because the name and artwork made me laugh. But bpal's aquatics/ozones almost always turn to soap on my skin, and this one isn't an exception. I wasn't sure that this would even be aquatic, based on the note list (ambergris, oakmoss, petitgrain and frankincense sounds awesome), but it is. I get nothing but dry, sharp, heavy soapiness from this, reminiscent of dryer sheets. I can't pick out any of the listed notes

Delight & Consternation must vary a lot, because the bottle I received is about 1/3 full of the sludgey cocoa absolute, and some people got bottles with no cocoa absolute. Even with the tons of cocoa absolute, though, this doesn't really smell very sweet or chocolatey on me (and I mixed it well before applying). I bought it mostly for the vanilla and custard accord that's supposed to be in it, and was hoping for a vanilla & rose scent. I don't get any vanilla or rose, though. This is tons of funky smelling skin musk and sour lemon blossom on my skin. It reminds me of rest area bathrooms and floor cleaner, like someone tried to cover up something dirty with lemon floor cleaner. Turns slightly baby powdery in the drydown. This is another one for my sale page

Antique is mostly a sour, sharp pine/evergreen scent on my skin. It smells a little artificial (like the pine tree shaped air fresheners for cars) and starts to give me a headache after a while. There's a little hint of dry, woody oakmoss that reminds me of the oakmoss in the original version of Luperci, but otherwise it's all evergreen on my skin. It's bitter and slightly medicinal smelling on me. Not a keeper.

This starts off smelling like cherry cough syrup and cherry Kool-Aid on me, and dries down to somehow reminding me of prune juice. I can't really pick out the chocolate & anise, but they might be adding a darker tone to the blend. Really light and fades super-fast on my skin (doesn't even last a full hour). Light and fruity...

Testing this year's box of chocolates has been a letdown. The Banana Cream chocolate smells like lemons, the Fig & Avocado smells like lemons, and this one also smells like lemons. This one starts off sweeter than the previous two. It smells exactly like Lemon Pledge wood polish on me, actually (which is a smell that I really like for my house). But the lemon verbena is just a little too much on the sharp & sour side for me as it dries down and the sugar and chocolate notes fade away. I love this scent as a household cleanser, but not as a perfume.

This starts off similar to Cerberus (they both have notes of chocolate, fig, and cubeb), but a little more perfumey and with a hint of a smooth, green note that must be the avocado (a little like the lab's bamboo note on my skin). Unfortunately, unlike Cerberus, this quickly dries down to a vague, light, simple scent. It smells like chocolate and sour, lemony cubeb. No more fig or avocado to keep it interesting, and the lemony scent is too sharp for my tastes. The drydown is actually similar to White Chocolate with Mate, Hazelnut, and Banana Cream, which was also disappointingly lemony smelling on me...

I was excited for this scent, because I love the banana cream pie scent of Splatter Comedy, but this is a huge letdown for me. I smell banana in the bottle and for about five seconds on my skin (a powdery, fakey banana candy smell), but then it quickly morphs into tons of mate with a hint of chocolate. It's a tart, intensely sour lemon smell on me. Kind of reminiscent of tea, but dry and sour. With a very light undertone of chocolate scented markers... This is really strong and was lasting well on my skin, but I scrubbed it off after the first hour. Too sour/sharp and lemony for me. I don't often like lemon scents, unless they're sweet/foodie, but this one is especially unpleasant and sharp.

On me, this starts off as unpleasantly perfumey, sharp rose soap. I get some of the powdery amber and sweet, resinous myrrh in the drydown, but it's still too much on the perfumey floral and soapy ozone qualities for my tastes.

I feel bad reviewing this, as I seem to be the only person so far who hasn't loved it. It's mostly a bold, dry smelling red rose, but I hate cinnamon paired with rose, and the cinnamon amps up on me more than I would like. I can smell hints of the other notes that seem to swirl in and out of the scent for me (dark, smoky tobacco, buttery coconut, perfumey magnolia), but it's mostly rose and cinnamon on my skin. The drydown is dry rose, powdery musk and warm cinnamon...

I haven't found any keepers in the Lupercalias this year (still have to try the chocolates and a couple things). I'm fond of lily, but narcissus and osmanthus both turn really sharp, perfumey and headache inducing on me, and I think the Egyptian musk here is turning sort of funky and sour on my skin. I can't really pick out much that reminds me of lily (which is usually creamy, cool, soft floral on me). The Lilies is too sharp white florals and something sour... this is another one that I wound up scrubbing off.

The Gentleman reminds me of Whitechapel, which is not surprising, as they have mostly the same notes (white musk, lime and lilac). Like Whitechapel, The Gentleman smells masculine, but turns too powdery from the white musk and too sweet from the lilac and lime to really be masculine for me (my husband refuses to wear either of these, saying they're too sweet). This is a bit lighter on the citrus and has a slight earthy note from the tobacco, but otherwise smells really similar to Whitechapel.

This starts off very weird and medicinal on my skin, like menthol and bitter, sharp herbs. The drydown does have a strange grease, earth and burnt rubber feel to it, but I don't find it pleasant or really wearable. I was hoping for more of a clay and stone natural scent. It comes off as rather pungent and chemical smelling. I'll stick with Kinnabari v4 for my earthy, wearable clay scent (that one really does smell like red clay to me).

I was curious about the plum in this, but the Egyptian musk and jasmine come off as a very perfumey, sharp, cheap smelling floral. Dries down with a bit of soapiness. I scrubbed this one off after only a half hour, as it was giving me a headache. Doesn't smell fruity to me at all.

I actually really like anise. I find it kind of odd in this blend, but not unpleasant. I don't normally like lemongrass, but it works for me paired with the sweetness of the coconut and perfumey, slightly powdery vanilla orchid. The lemongrass starts off too strong, but it quickly settles down on my skin. The coconut almost has a plasticy, slightly clean feel, but it all works out to something rather nice. Sweet & clean coconut, perfumey vanilla orchid, sour lemon, and a whiff of dark, smooth anise. Only lasts about 3 hours, but I like it well enough. I doubt that I'll track down more of this, but I'm keeping my decant. I think it'll be a nice summer scent.

This is a very fruity, warm, wine-like sort of red musk. When I first put it on, I smelled nothing but red musk for about the first 20 minutes, but the honey, citrus and mint do start to come out after a while. Unfortunately, the mix reminds me of cough drops and cough syrup. Honeyed citrus and mint just reminds me too much of medicine.

Lots of herbal, sharp lavender paired with a perfumey, slightly smoky smelling mix of orchid and opium. It's a dark, perfumey, herbal-floral scent on my skin. As it dries down, I get a little bit of the dark, dry earthiness from the patchouli. I sort of like the sultry floral qualities of this, but the lavender & opium turn a bit sour and sharp on me. Lady of Pain is probably too perfumey/sharp for me to wear often, but I think I'll keep my decant of this one and see how it ages.

Noh Mask & Maple Leaves goes on smelling like sour green grass and soapy aquatic on me, and dries down to baby powder, a whiff of spice, and dry woods (reminds me of sandalwood). It's weird that it starts off soapy and green and finishes off powdery and dry smelling. So far, I think that Falling Leaf Moon is the only one of bpal's leaf scents that has worked on me.

Vivamus is intensely perfumey lavender and the same mate that ruined the Banana Cream chocolate this year, lol. It smells like sour, dry, icky lemons. Then there's the cool lavender that's cloaked in a mishmash of perfumey qualities.. it reminds me of when I try to mix my own perfume oils and put too many mismatched notes together and just get this vague, indescript, sharp perfume smell. The mate gets stronger and stronger over time and I'm left with sharp, dry, tart lemon and that perfumey blah. I'm surprisingly not getting the red musk.

On me, this is a perfumey, slightly soapy smelling jasmine (I think the osmanthus is making it sharper than usual). The drydown is a bit sweeter and powdery thanks to the amber and orris, but it mostly smells like jasmine soap and perfumey, sharp floral.

It's weird how mixed the reviews are for this one. I'm not getting any plum or mint from my decant. This is a very woodsy scent on my skin, with a dry, slightly powdery sandalwood and a darker, almost resinous smelling wood note that I think is the agarwood. It's a nice, gentle, slightly powdery, incense-woods scent on my skin. It's very light and doesn't have a lot of throw on me, but I think I'll keep my decant anyhow.

There's something harsh about The Sound of Insects that makes me think of citrus scented cleaning fluid, though I can pick out the lime and red currant if I try. The red currant note smells sour and dry (almost like pomegranate). I was hoping for more of a refreshing, watery tea smell scented with juicy citrus, but this smells more of a dry, tart citrus. The drydown is like lime & berry lemonade drink powder, but not quite as sweet, with a hint of soapiness. Too much tart citrus & currant for me, I think.

I usually love the lab's apricot scents, but honey is iffy and the cayenne pepper didn't sound great to me. Still, this scent was surprisingly disappointing for me. It smells sort of fruity, but I don't think I'd pick out apricot, and the spice and honey is really strange on my skin. The honey smells sort of herbal and the cayenne pepper is sharp and somehow dusty smelling, though it sweetens up in the drydown to kinda remind me of cinnamon and pink pepper. It reminds me of craft store potpourri more than anything, which doesn't work for me as a personal scent.

Spring Pleasures starts off with a green, herbal scent mixed with honeysuckle (lightly sweet, slightly sharp smelling floral) and dries down to more of a warm beeswax and powdery amber scent with just a hint of floral. I sort of like this one, though it might be a bit too powdery on my skin after a while.