Little Bird

I love all of the listed notes in this and Dorian is one of my all time favorite scents, so I was so excited to try Jareth. Unfortunately, this turns cloying sweet on me and is like a lighter, sweeter Dorian with a weird leather note. Jareth does smell a lot like Dorian with the sweet, vanilla-y, musky quality to it, but this is even sweeter than Dorian, which makes it smell kind of sickly on me. There's a whiff of dark, smoky leather underneath all the sweetness and it just doesn't feel right to me here. It's almost a bit off and sour. Reminds me of Dorian layered with Perversion + extra sugar. And that sounds good to me, but it feels mismatched and is too sweet in reality. I'm glad I got a decant of this before going for a full bottle. I'll stick with Dorian.

All of the Fraggles seem to have a strange, artificial sort of quality to them (like a mix of candy and soaps), and Wembley has a strange plastic-y feel to it. Pineapple sometimes has a plastic-y, waxy edge on my skin, and I think that's what's happening here. Starts off as plastic-y pineapple and powdery banana candy, and dries down to a light, kind of powdery honey, mint, and whiffs of tropical fruit candy. Doesn't have much throw on me and only lasts about an hour overall. Of all the Fraggle scents, I only really enjoy Gobo and Uncle Travelling Matt, but they have no staying power to them

Lilac, violet sugar, and orris sounded like a dream blend for me, but Mokey isn't working out on my skin. I think the stephanotis and osmanthus are giving this a sharp, perfumey quality, and something in this turns weird and soapy. It winds up smelling like lilac scented laundry powder after a while, a bit too harsh and headache-y for me

In the bottle, this smells like very sour roses and dry, earthy dust. On my skin, this is dark, masculine-ish, sour, dirty and strange. It reminds me of a soiled barn smell (almost like smoky vetiver - cigarette smoke, hay, leather and feces :/). And it's very strong and intense. I wound up scrubbing this off after only about fifteen minutes, which is rare for me. This is definitely going in my top ten of least favorite bpals.

This is a pretty, perfumey scent on my skin. It's like a sharp white floral center, surrounded by the sweeter honey and vanilla, and darkened with a bit of dragon's blood. I normally have trouble wearing bpal's dragon's blood, but it smells incensey, dark and exotic here (rather than the rotting flowers scent it usually has on me). White floral perfume smudged with dark incense and sweetened with honey powder and perfumey vanilla. It's a little too floral on my skin after a half hour, as the honey and dragon's blood notes fade a bit, but I do like this one. Dragon's Milk is one of the only bpal dragon's blood scents I enjoy, and this is more dry and perfumey smelling than Dragon's Milk is on me, and Aegypti isn't as sweet. I'm happy to have a couple decants of this one, but I don't need a full bottle.

White Chocolate & Strawberry is my all-time favorite bpal blend, because it smells like real strawberries and creamy vanilla. I've found their other strawberry blends to either be too sweet/artificial or too green. Strawberry Moon 2012 is on the too sweet/artificial side of things. It smells like strawberry hard candy and strawberry scented dolls (tart and powdery) with an undertone of perfumey floral. I don't get the vanilla, grass or dandelion notes at all. Oddly, as this dries down, it kinda reminds me of Bath & Body Works' Sun Ripened Raspberry blend. Sweet, tart, perfumey, artificially fruity scent.

All of the Fraggle scents are kinda simple and artificial smelling, but I actually like this one. It smells like pear gummis, a little bit of tropical fruit, and a prickly, woodsy edge from the fig (almost a little like cedar to me, but I love the lab's fig note). I can't really pick out the chocolate. The only problem is that this seriously only lasts about five minutes on my skin, even if I slather.

Red is mostly red currant and cranberry. It's like wearing sweet tarts candies mixed with sour, red fruit punch. As it dries down, the musk gives the scent a perfumey edge, but it's still a very simple, kind've boring scent for me. Too tart/sour for my tastes.

Boober smells like spilling laundry soap liquid all over yourself in the laundry soap aisle. This is obviously soapy and has a tart, powdery floral note to it that just smells like generic 'spring flowers' scented laundry soap on my skin. I try to avoid the laundry soap aisle at the grocery store, because that strong, artificial mishmash of soapy scents just makes me ill, so Boober is basically a headache in a bottle for me. I was hoping for more of a delicate, realistic floral + vanilla.

In the bottle, Doozers smells like black dirt and nailpolish remover. On my skin, it's black dirt and a spicy/herbal tone that reminds me of horseradish, which I'm guessing is the radish note. As it dries down, this smells like horseradish, white bar soap, and dust or baby powder. So.. Doozers is pretty awful on me at least it's light and fades quickly on my skin.

I was so excited when I first smelled this in the bottle, as the patchouli & amber/resins really remind me of Schwarzer Mond. It sort of smells like a more mellow, slightly less sweet Schwarzer Mond. I was so sure that this would be the rare lunacy blend that actually works on me. On my skin, unfortunately, all of the notes seem to go suddenly wrong. Bpal's amber does its usual thing and turns to baby powder, the wood smells charred, and something smells strangely of tortilla chips on my skin. Powdery woods and something strange and unpleasant... so disappointing

I like a lot of bpal's dirt and veggie scents, but this one isn't working for me. It smells like wet dirt with a very sharp edge to it (perfumey aquatic-ish) and a hint of something sickly sweet that reminds me of rotting vegetables :/. But mostly it's just that weird, sharp, perfumey, musky quality that gives me a headache. I don't smell anything that reminds me of radishes here.

Gobo starts off heavy on the 'sugared pink grapefruit,' but quickly dries down to more of a vague, sweet citrus where I can't pick out any one note. I can see the comparisons to Sticky Bat, though I don't find this to be as lemony. I guess it's mostly tangerine in the drydown, with a sugary, creamy edge. This is a really nice scent, but it fades super fast on me (disappears entirely within a half hour) and I have vanilla/citrus scents that I like more (Lavanila's Vanilla Grapefruit is my go-to lately and is really strong on me for 6+ hours). ETA: With some aging, this has become one of my favorite bpals. I don't know why, but it's lasting a lot longer on me now. I usually smudge some of the oil on my jacket and the ends of my hair and I can smell it for 6-8 hours pretty strongly. It's sort of like marshmallows, salted vanilla cream and tangy lemon and tangerine custard. A fun, simple scent that makes me happy when I smell it. I've stocked up on a couple bottles of this one now.

I seem to be in the minority, but Great Vampire Bat doesn't really work on my skin. It's a light, soapy, perfumey floral smell with whiffs of powder and sweet incense. It's the type of scent that would normally give me a headache, but it's light and subtle enough that it doesn't bother me in that sense. Within about 15 minutes, this has almost entirely faded on my skin into a hint of a floral scented laundry powder smell. Not for me.

This scent is really strange and all over the place on me. It's fizzy, spicy, sour, tart, and powdery-creamy, often all at the same time. I love the idea of creamsicle and gingerale icecream floats, but this smells strangely dry, warmly spicy, and sour on my skin. Some of bpal's scents turn powdery and blah on my skin rather than sweet and creamy, and that sseems to be happening here. The other notes chatter around that powdery smell and this just doesn't work for me at all... Vespertilio Proterus smells like sweet tarts candy, baby powder, spicy ginger-nutmeg, fizzy ginger, and woody fig... which doesn't sound so bad to me, except for the sweet tarts, but the mix of all of those things together just makes me nauseous.

This is such an odd scent, but I find myself craving it lately. It smells like dry wood, candy and mushrooms to me. Almost like sandalwood coated in pink hard candy, but a little musky and oddly earthy. So weird, but I find it addictive. My husband doesn't think it smells like candy or anything sweet at all. Every time I ask him to smell it on me, he says "it smells like a wooden cutting board. Just dry wood."

I like this a lot at first, as it goes on mostly white sandalwood (creamy, lightly powdery dry wood smell) and a sweet, warm, resinous frankincense. But the drydown loses a lot of the sweet incense/resin feel and more of the dirty patchouli and herbal sage come in, turning the blend a bit sour on my skin. Sort of a desert-y dry woods and sour, dry herbs blend.

Jasmine is an iffy note for me. It almost always turns strangely sour and unpleasant on my skin, but sometimes it surprises me and smells like a sweet, sunny floral that reminds me of honeysuckle. The jasmine here is that pleasant, sweet variety (or else the vanilla and other notes are working wonders for me). Silkmoth reminds me of blends like Follow Me Boy and Yellow Jessamine Honey, but more complex (and with a bit of the humid, slightly sour moss that also reminds me of Bayou). I can actually smell almost all of the listed notes for this one. It's mostly a perfumey/musky-ish, sweet jasmine and vanilla, but it has a background of bright orange, warm and incensey smelling benzoin & oudh, and the swampy moss that make it more interesting. It's a warm, rich, complex, incensey floral on me. I'm happy to have a partial bottle of this one <3.

This kinda reminds me of Bella Lucce's Thai Coconut Lemongrass lotion. I don't really get any of the almond/cherry or coriander. It's just a creamy, sweet white chocolate and light, slightly herbal lemongrass. White Choco Lemongrass doesn't have as much throw or staying power on me as most of bpal's chocolate blends. It fades quickly to a light, sweet, lemony-herbal scent that only lasts about an hour and a half total on my skin.

Narrow Opening is mostly a sharp, perfumey floral. The rum and resins make it smell warmer and sweeter in the drydown, but I'm not really getting any of the leather and vanilla, which is what I was looking forward to. I get champaca flower (which smells oddly like iris or tuberose to me here), rum and frankincense...

This is such a weird scent. I was expecting mostly resins and rose (as those are the notes that would tend to amp up on me), but I can't really pick out any of the listed notes from this. Maybe the absinthe, as there's a bitter, herbal, green quality, but it doesn't really remind me of bpal's other absinthe scents. Sort of sour and powdery, green and herbal...

In the bottle and on my skin, this is very heavy on the ozone. It's sharp, high-pitched, soapy and dry, like huffing a box of laundry soap powder. As it dries down, I can smell a bit of the cool cucumber, and it smells like cucumber melon scented laundry soap. Sickly sweet and soapy. Juniper Hairstreak is way too sweet, soapy, and dry smelling for me. It smells so much like a box of overwhelmingly scented laundry soap, and it gives me a headache (I get a headache if I stand in the laundry soap aisle of the grocery store for too long, and that's totally what this reminds me of). I don't get any of the musk, which is the note I was most curious about.

I had high hopes for this (spicy pumpkin, leather, and darker, earthier notes = yes, please) and was hoping that it would be strong on the leather, but this is almost no leather on me . I get spicy pumpkin and the weird sweetness that others have mentioned - sort of a maple syrup and boozy caramel sweetness. There's a bit of sharp smokiness in the drydown that I'm guessing is the tobacco, but mostly this smells like a cloying spice candle on my skin.

Fairy Bites starts off as herbal lavender and herby, slightly bitter smelling chamomile. I was worried about the peppermint, but I'm not really getting any mint from this one. And I was hopeful for the raspberry note, but I'm not getting anything fruity either. On my skin, this quickly settles into a warm, perfumey floral with dry, herbal undertones. I guess the floral notes are amping up on me.

I love vetiver when it smells of dry grass and light earthiness, but this seems to be that smoky, charred vetiver that reminds me of burnt bbq. The opium poppy is sharp and harsh (always reminds me of cheap hairspray) and slightly soapy. The opoponax sweetens things up in the drydown and gives this is a bit of an incensey feel, but mostly it's a harsh mix of smoky vetiver and sharp opium. I don't get anything fruity or plum-like here.