Little Bird

Mercurian Phoenix is pretty much lemongrass singlenote to my nose. It's sweet, bright, slightly herbal lemon. It doesn't have a lot of throw and only lasts about an hour on me. This one is pleasant enough, but not something that I'll need more of.

This is an odd scent. I can usually pick out most of the listed notes, but this melts together into a strange, slightly soapy, cloying floral. It sort of reminds me of floral scented fabric softener sheets (where they are, if you smell them up close, a mishmash of sweet, soapy, tart, overwhelming fragrance). Cassia and spice notes are usually overpowering on me, but the cassia here just adds a hint of cinnamon-y warmth in the drydown. For me, Saturnian Phoenix is a bit too soapy, a bit too powdery, and slightly cloying... not something that I can pull off wearing.

In the bottle, this smells mostly like a heavy, floral dragon's blood and black pepper. On my skin, the peppermint comes out in full force and this just smells awful on me . The mix of mint, pepper and dragon's blood here is intensely bitter and medicinal on my skin. Like really bitter cough syrup. As it dries down, something smells like a whiff of body odor (the cumin, I think). I wound up scrubbing this off after about a half hour. Definitely not for me.

Peter Quint sounds like a dream blend for me, but my bottle smells like bay rum and nothing else. I don't get the leather or ambergris at all, which makes me very sad. On me, this is all masculine, spicy bay with sort of a musky, aftershave-esque quality to it. Smells like a very warm, spicy, slightly musky type of men's cologne as it dries down. I don't really like this on its own, but it might be nice for layering with some other scents.

I love myrrh, but I'm glad that I just went with a decant of this. I like the myrrh scents that smell sweet, almost dark and syrupy, and this has a high pitched, perfumey quality that smells bright & sour on me, and (as others have mentioned) a powdery edge to it that I really dislike. I prefer a lot of bpal's GC resin/incense blends to this one (Sloth & Cathedral are my go-tos for myrrh & resins lately, Brotoloigos for a LE).

Bitter, herbal green that reminds me slightly of Pine-Sol. As it dries down, it has more of a dry wood undertone to it. It's very heavy and lasts a long time on me (even with the small amount I tested), but I don't like the sharp & bitter qualities to it. Green, woody and kinda earthy smelling...

Since you like moss and Jazz Funeral, have you tried Zombi? It's in Ars Moriendi: "Dried roses, rose leaf, Spanish moss, oakmoss and deep brown earth."

I got a frimp of this in a recent bpal/ebay order. First on, it has something like a powdery, honeyed almond feel that reminds me of Dana O'Shee with a whiff of green grass. As it dries down, it quickly loses that green edge and is reminiscent of blends like O and The Lights of Men's Lives. If you were to put this on me and ask me to guess what it was, I would have said it's The Lights of Men's Lives. Side-by-side comparison, this is actually both sweeter and smokier than The Lights, and has a lot more throw and better staying power on me. It smells like beeswax candles, honeyed vanilla, and smoky resins, mainly. Dark, but very sweet.

When I first put this on, I asked my husband if he liked it and he said, "It's okay. Smells like cheap strawberry candy or a cheap strawberry candle oil." Which impressed me, because he can never pick out the notes in anything and I actually didn't think that it smelled like strawberry at first, lol. It starts off smelling like sharp, medicinal lavender to me and then dries down to a sour fruit + something that reminds me of red licorice. After a half hour, I can smell what my husband was smelling in this one... I really wish that this were a more realistic strawberry note, but it has that plastic-y, burning strawberry smell that I get from a lot of cheap strawberry oils that are supposed to be used for soap and candle making. It's more sour than sweet on my skin, though it has an undertone of weird sweetness, and it does have a very cheap, plastic-y oil smell on me, unfortunately . Cheap, soured strawberry oil...

I'm not a fan of bpal's opium scents (the opium note smells like cheap hairpray and sharp, white smoke on me) and I kinda like the bamboo, but it always turns a bit too soapy on me. It's like wet, pulpy greenery mashed up and mixed into dryer sheets. So that combo is very high-pitched and soapy to my nose. I was curious about the white sand, blue musk, oudh and myrrh, but the opium & bamboo part is too strong for me to really pick out the other notes...

I expected this to be a heavy rose & resins blend, but it's mostly a faint, soapy lily and hints of dusty, dry frankincense on my skin. It dries down with more of a sour, perfumey rose scent, but is still pretty light on me. It's mostly a light, perfumey, slightly soapy floral.

My decant of this is definitely strong on the jasmine, and it's the sour, dirty, perfumey sort of jasmine that I don't care for. As it dries down, it's sour jasmine with a background of something that smells like PineSol to me. I was hoping for a mix of fruity & earthy, but this is sharp, sour floral on me.

I really like Konditorei, but my husband hates it (says it smells like burnt coffee and butter to him.. two of his least favorite scents). I think that this smells awesome, like a fancy coffee shop that sells (obviously) coffee and hot chocolate over an amazing dessert counter. I definitely smell sweet cherry and the apple strudel, like a tray of delicous fruit pastries, with a bit of a caramelized, brown sugary sweetness to them. It's a warm, cozy, fun scent to me.

I'm trying to catch up on all of my neglected atmosphere spray reviews, but I'm surprised that I haven't reviewed this one yet, because it's one of my favorites. I was so thrilled when I managed to track down the perfume oil and atmosphere spray on ebay. The scent reminds me of hot apple pie with sweet, dark clove more than cinnamon.. warm, dark, decadent, gooey-sweet and clove-spicy sort of pie smell. The room spray almost has a caramelized sweetness to it. But it's not just foodie or spicy or sweet, because the dark, dry wood notes and dark clove give it a resinous, almost leathery, sexy feel that makes it more of a dangerous, sensual scent. It's really complex and interesting. I love fragrances that pair dark, non-foodie qualities with a foodie sweetness, so this is perfect for me <3. I'll be sad when my bottle runs out.

I spent a long time tracking down a bottle of this and don't really get the comparisons to Midway and Monster Bait: Underpants (which are both in my top 3 of favorite bpals). It has too much of a cinnamon spice cake and gingerbread cookies feel to it for me, and I don't get spices from Underpants or Midway... it's a buttery, spicy baked goods smell to my nose.

I don't have good luck with bpal's honey notes as a perfume, but I love them in the room sprays. I have several bottles of Lupanar (notes of honey, myrrh, ylang ylang and almond) and I think that Candlelight has a bit of the same feel of a sexy, dark, honeyed scent. This is like a sweet, creamy honey & vanilla with a hint of smoke. Sweeter and not quite as complex or rich feeling as Lupanar, but it still works for me. It would probably be too sweet for me as a perfume, but I really like it as a room scent <3.

I like this, but it's so spicy and strong that it gives me a headache after a while. The cinnamon and cassia are intense, dark, and spicy with a bit of sweetness. It sort of has a dark & mysterious spice cabinet feel. I don't smell much of the vanilla or musk. I'm already passing my decant on to a friend who loves spicier scents, as it's a bit much for me.

I really like this one and am glad that I was able to track down a decant. Apple Orchard is like a mix of sweet red apple and clean apple blossom with hints of dry woods. I'm glad that I'm not getting any spices from it. Simple, and maybe not the most unique and original scent, but I love apple and will happily use up my decant <3.

Weird. I don't get any of the clove or incense that a few other reviews have mentioned, unfortunately. My sample of Lich's Lab smells mostly like sour, damp moss, a bit of dirt, and something like soapy men's cologne.

This smells like clean laundry and lightly honeyed, damp, fresh smelling flower-fragrance to me. My husband likes this scent, but it is just alright for me. Butterfly Garden reminds me of some of the spring floral candle & room scents you can find at the grocery store. It's nice enough, but not something I need to track down more of. I seem to prefer darker and sweeter room scents, though.

Autumn Lace smells like cheap, chemical-y hairspray (opium note?) and cloying maple syrup on me . Strangely, when I smell this, I get a taste in my mouth that reminds me of when you accidentally lick your fingers after handling coins.. sort of dirty and metallic. The drydown is like cheap, metallic hairspray smell poured over maple syrup and a whiff of black pepper. I had high hopes for this, because I love Black Lace and Antique Lace, but this is pretty awful on me... Black Lace was an absolute gem and I feel like each of its flankers have gotten less and less.. good?

My decant of Ice of Kocythos is mostly ice, white tea and eucalyptus. Surprisingly, this actually isn't turning soapy on me (which I expected from the 'ice'), but the tea and cold menthol-eucalyptus does smell clean and slightly medicinal to me. As it dries down, it does seem to get sweeter, but I can't really pick out the ginger or spice that others have mentioned. This one is light and fades quick on me for some reason...

I think the lab switched to the new GC labels in late 2008.. because I think I remember ordering The Little Sparrow (released October 2008) and being surprised that it still had the old style white label. But I might be remembering that totally wrong :/

The red, heavy, dark musk notes tend to be overpowering on me, so I'm surprised that this doesn't have much of that feel to it. Satan Talks to Sin & Death is more of a perfumey floral scent to me, with the bright, crisp, clean white tea as a backdrop to the florals. It turns into more of a clean, perfumey, classic floral perfume smell on my skin with not much of the darker, headshoppy feel at all.

The white sandalwood and white musk give this one a clean, creamy, powdery woods quality, and the incense/resin notes sort of hang out behind the sandalwood, just making things a bit sweeter & darker. It's mostly powdery sandalwood on me, but I do like this one and will probably keep my decant. It smells calming to me.