Little Bird

I love every note listed for this, so I don't understand why it just smells like laundry soap on my skin . I can't pick out any of the listed notes, it just smells nondescript and soapy on me. Boo.

Tonka, clove and dark vanilla balsam sounds dreamy to me, but my dreams fell apart by the time I got to the almond and rum portion. I hoped that the almond and rum would be pretty much nonexistent, but those are the only two listed notes that I can actually pick out with this blend. I would never guess that this is supposed to be tonka. It starts off with the cheap, cherry/almond extract smell on me and dries down to a faint, boozy, kinda bitter, caramel-ish rum note. After five minutes, it's like a whiff of butterscotch and baby powder on me, and disappears entirely before it's even been on for a full hour. Overall, it's pretty underwhelming for me...

Buen Viage is mostly smoky vetiver on me with sharp black pepper and sharp cinnamon that reminds me of potpourri. It's a heavy scent on me and was really strong for the hour I wore it before washing it off (was starting to give me a headache.. I'm really sensitive with spice & smoky notes).

I was hoping that this would be strong leather and wine with hints of rose & honey musk and no powder, but it's pretty much the opposite of that. It's sweet honey, baby powder, and perfumey rose on my skin, with a whiff of fruity wine as it dries down. It's sweeter and not as dark as I wanted it to be, and I'm not a fan of the powdery qualities.

Lemurian Ghost is pretty and subtle on me. I'm not sure I can pick out any musk, but I do get the soft, delicately powdery, slightly sweet moonflower mixed with a cool, gentle mint and watery, green lettuce. It's a gentle, clean type of scent on me, cool and slightly powdery. It only lasts about 2 hours on me and doesn't have much throw, but I might try to track down a full decant of this one.

On me, this is like a really soapy men's cologne (the water and stone, I think) with an undertone of weird, sickly sweet fruity-floral. As it dries down, I get an extra sharpness from the opium. This one is a scrubber for me.

This is watery, slightly soapy greenery (kinda reminds me of lettuce) and a hint of dirt that dries down oddly perfumey on me, like a white floral. It's a clean, perfumey, green and white scent with not much throw or staying power on me.

Red musk always smells somewhat fruity and reminiscent of red wine on me to begin with, and I definitely get that feel here (maybe a little sweeter and more grape candy-ish from the actual wine note). I don't like this at first, as it starts off with the red musk and an herbal, green note, but it dries down to pretty much nothing but red musk on me. Warm, fruity-incensey, heavy red musk. I was hoping for more rose and ambergris, but I can't even smell the rose, which is usually a strong note on my skin. I already have so many bpals that are mostly red musk, so this isn't a keeper for me.

I haven't liked many of bpal's Halloween-time offerings this year, but The Soul of La Traviata is probably my favorite of my decants. It's mostly sweet, dark, jam-like black currant and plum on me, with a little zing from the grapefruit and a bit of a pretty, perfumey, womanly quality from the jungle orchid. Black musk usually smells like overwhelming masculine cologne to me, but I'm not getting that feel from this. I also don't smell any of the neroli. It's sweet, dark fruits with hints of sexy orchid perfume. I might be tempted to get a bottle, but $23 per 5ml is more than I'm willing to commit, lol.

Red currant tends to be really sour smelling on me, but I was hoping that the caramel and bergamot would sweeten it up enough to be wearable. But this whole scent feels sort of strange and mismatched on my skin. It's like sour, bitter, lemony-bergamot laced currant with spicy, slightly powdery clove and whiffs of smoky, burnt caramel. It's sour and kinda all over the place for me, unfortunately.

This is a very perfumey scent on me, with the orchid amping up into a sharp, musky, perfumey sort of white floral that's grounded in the baby powdery amber. It gets sweeter and sweeter as it dries down and the honeyed qualities get stronger, but it's still too perfumey and powdery for me.

On me, this is like a dusty, sweet incense mixed with something salty and sharply clean (almost metallic smelling), plus a little bit of something dark and murky that makes me think of mud (but it doesn't really smell like dirt, soo..). It's actually not bad on me, but it's not really good either...

This reminds me more of Pumpkin Latte than Miskatonic University - roasted, almost burnt smelling coffee and lots of spices, only here it has an undertone of clean musk, sharp greenery and powdery woods on my skin. I don't really like the mix of spice + clean on me. After an hour, it's mostly a faint, clean, musky cologne smell.

Pumpkin III is my favorite of this year's pumpkin blends, though none of them are really keepers for me (they're all too spicy on my skin). This one is like cinnamon potpourri with sharp black pepper and hints of spicy carnation. There are just a lot of black pepper and carnation blends that I like more (mainly aged Clemence <3).

Pumpkin IV is mostly like a cinnamon potpourri smell on me, with whiffs of the powdery amber and darker, woodsy tones that fade in and out. Dry, spicy and slightly dark smelling.

I was excited to try this one, because I like Hay Moon, leather and a lot of the pumpkin patch blends, but this year's pumpkin blends seem a lot spicier than the previous ones ever were. I can't pick out any of the listed notes with this, it just smells like sharp cinnamon on me. Way too heavy on the spices

First on, this is sour pine with sharp lavender and citrus tones.. reminds me of PineSol. It's mostly pine for about a half hour and then the patchouli starts to get stronger on my skin, and I like the black patchouli (kinda reminds me of wet potting soil and dead leaves), but there's still an undertone of PineSol and medicinal lavender that I don't enjoy. I'll stick with Depraved for a black patchouli scent.

Wolf Spider is mostly tobacco, patchouli and chamomile on me.. sort of a dry, bitter, dirty, herbal + ash tray smell. I get a little bit of dry coconut sweetness after about a half hour, but I was hoping that this would be heavier on the sweeter elements. Starts off kinda strong on me, but fades quickly into a subtle skin scent. Dirty tobacco, bitter herbs and a hint of dry coconut.

This reminds me of Peony Moon and some of the asian themed Lunacies (Budding Moon, the original Dragon Moon). I definitely get the tart, sweet peony and a breezy, fruity blossom note that reminds me of plum blossom, but I suppose it's the freesia and white peach. It's a cool, sweet spring floral. Like spring flowers and cool breezes rustling through tree blossoms and laundry hung out to dry. I can't wear these clean floral type scents (the soapy edge gives me a headache), but I do like the sweetness of this. It's a very cheery, clean, sweet floral.

I thought this would be awful on me, because I haven't been enjoying bpal's patchouli scents lately, and honey rarely works for me. But this is gorgeous on me. The honeysuckle and French vanilla smell so delicately sweet and charming, with the earthy patchouli and honey giving off this sort of outdoorsy skin scent smell. It smells like a beautiful girl in a country song.. cowboy boots, lacy sundress, sunshine and flowers... it's outdoorsy, but in this pretty, classic, feminine way. Almost sort of airy and sunny rather than dark and heavy (which I expected from the leather and patchouli). The patchouli reminds me of Thierry Mugler's Angel a bit. I'm very glad to have a bottle of this one <3 ETA: This is another bottle from this series that seems to have gone off over the last six months. This totally smells like sour, funky jasmine (I guess it's the honeysuckle) and dirty ash tray on me now

Nymphes de Pave seems to have gone off with age. I liked it a lot more six months ago, but don't find it wearable now. It used to be a sweet, creamy red rose, golden beeswax and hint of fruitiness. It was a buzzy, sweet, playful-sensual sort of fragrance. Now it's more of a sharp, bland, perfumey rose with hints of real, sharp, raw honey. It's strange that it went from being such a sweet scent to such a sharp one in such a short amount of time.

Tea rose usually smells sweet & a bit fresh to me and white sandalwood turns to a creamy powdery smell. But somehow this reminds me a lot of Pulcinella & Teresina (notes of Labdanum, cedar, teak and red rose). The rose smells dark, intensely dry, crumbly, red and slightly perfumey, and the wood smells dark and sort of ashy and sinister. I was expecting a delicate rose with powdery undertones, but this is dark, intense and almost masculine-woodsy on my skin with an odd peppery quality

I loved this when I first got it, but six months later it has turned and is kind of awful on me. It used to smell like cosmetic powder (almost sweet & violet-y) and fluffy vanilla with perfumey floral. Now it honestly reminds me of urinals (sour, funky jasmine) and the cheap white floral perfumes at Walgreens. The jasmine and verbena are just sour, dirty and off smelling, the gardenia has turned very sharp and perfumey, and the vanilla seems to have disappeared entirely. The sweetness that I used to love in it is just completely gone. Almost all of the event exclusives from this round have aged really poorly for me. Really sad. I've already sold off my bottle...

I love black licorice and black currant, but they are completely buried by the spicy pumpkin. Nothing about this one really smells black or dark to me, actually, more of a maple pumpkin floss. Maple syrup and pumpkin spice...

I like this one, especially for the first half hour where the orange sticks around. The mix of sweet orange and buttery, spicy pumpkin smells deliciously foodie. It's kinda like the smell of a spice cake with an orange and vanilla glaze. After a half hour, the orange fades away for me and I'm left with sweet spices. I wish that this didn't fade so quickly into a bland spice blend, but I do still like this and will keep my decant.