Little Bird

Just bought a bottle of this (July 2016) and it smells like it has gone bad. It goes on with an overwhelming menthol and chemical pine, so that it smells just like Vicks VapoRub and PineSol on me. Chemical, medicinal, sharp, and sticks in my throat, making me want to cough. As it settles, I start to smell fireplace ashes, sharp black pepper, and a sickly-sweet, powdery incense that's like a hint of Midnight Mass. Mostly it is chemicals and smoky ash. I can't stand how smoky and sharp this is.

The Grendel scents have all been a letdown on me. They're all some of my least favorite bpal scents, which is a shame, because I do like the story and own a bunch of Grendel comics. I really want to like these. Cyborg is tolerable, at least, and doesn't have the weird 'off/soured' quality of the previous four in this series. But this isn't really good on me either. I'm not getting the leather from this at all, just the 'metal,' which translates to a musky, bright, sharp, slightly citrussy men's cologne. Reminds me of the thin, simple, musky scents that a lot of boys wore in high school.. which I didn't really like back then either. I prefer Kroenen from the Hellboy line for a leather and metal scent. It seems more complex and well rounded.

I don't like this as much as I enjoy Fee (BPTP LE) or Yemaya (GC - Excolo) for melon scents, but I'll probably still keep my decant. I don't love the honey (which gives a sour, slightly off feel to the candy-sweet melon at first) or the green musk (which is a bit too perfumey in the drydown), but the melon note is lovely, and a good mix of candy-sweet and cool and fresh smelling on me. The green musk does give it a bit of a commercial, artificial, perfumey edge that makes me feel slightly headachey, but it's mostly a pleasant, sweet honeydew melon.

Tanuki No Amiuchi turns weird, sour, and dirty smelling on my skin the matcha and tea notes give it a citrussy sharpness that doesn't go well with the patchouli for me (and it's reminding me of the dirty, sweaty smelling patchouli that was in occupywallstreet). It starts to turn slightly powdery and incensey as it dries down, but I scrubbed this one off after only a half hour. It just smells overall unpleasant on me.

I love apple scents, but most of bpal's don't work on me (either seem to be sharp & artificially perfumey smelling or soapy, where I prefer a crisp, juicy, sweet apple scent). Tanuki No Doke Daruma is sort of in-between for me. It's not quite sweet enough, but it's not bad either. The red currant makes it slightly sour on my skin, the apple blossom has that soapy apple shampoo smell, and the tomato leaf and grass give it an herbal, green edge. The overall feel is like a clean, green, herby apple... maybe like apples in an orchard that haven't fully ripened or been cut open yet. Light and clean-ish. I might keep my decant of this one, but don't need a full bottle (I prefer Arcana's Avalon for apples and greenery, and Violette Market's apple scents in general).

This smells pretty much just like almond extract on my skin, which smells like red, syrupy maraschino cherries to me. Kinda reminds me of Ghoulish (Halloween 2010 LE: 'black cherry and coconut amaretto confection gently laced with saffron').

I only have a decant of this one, so that might be why it seems lighter to me than some of the other atmosphere sprays. I'm not getting any red musk or orange from mine; this is pretty much all perfumey, yellowy jasmine to my nose. It's not as heavy and overwhelming as the jasmine and florals in Cathouse, but it still makes me feel a bit headachey.

I only had a couple drops of this one to test, but I'm not getting the blueberry from this scent. I agree with the reviews saying this one is reminiscent of the Lick It series. Reminds me of peppermint mouthwash.

Out of all of the Yule 2011 imps, this one smells the most accurate to me. It is exactly as advertised on my skin - a sweet, golden, realistic honey and spicy gingerbread. I have trouble wearing honey and spices, so it's not a dream scent for me, but it's simple and smells true to its name.

This one is so weird on me. I usually like bpal's snow note, but this is like an extra aquatic, slightly soapy snow note with a weird, plasticy sweetness. Reading the reviews, I guess what I'm smelling is the coconut, but it's not playing nicely on my skin. Strange, and I'm not liking this one at all.

I only had a couple drops of this one to test, but I don't get much of a cookie smell from it. Smells like a sugary, tart raspberry hard candy sort of scent. Too sweet and fruity for me.

I got an almost-empty vial of this to try, so there wasn't enough to slather and this is pretty light on me. It reminds me of chocolate scented markers... chocolate and something just slightly chemical-y and off.

Already some great recs, but I'll add: *Black Lily (Rappaccini's Garden) - "Breathtaking darkness, a vision of grace in shadow." I've gotten two different versions of this one, but when it's good, it's a creamy, dark, almost vanilla-y lily with a hint of green stem. *Euphrosyne (Excolo) - "Gardenia, tea rose, vanilla and jasmine." *Marie (Diabolus) - "A blend of sinuous violet and elegant tea rose: the chosen scent of France's Demigoddess of Debauch: Marie Antoinette." *Oleander Honey (Rappaccini's Garden) - like a pretty white floral sweetened with honey *Queen Gertrude (Illyria) - "Imperial violet softened by wisteria and chrysanthemum, but edged with the regal iciness of delphinium." *Veil (Bewitching Brews) - "A perfume of mystery, of whispers, and of secrets behind secrets. White sandalwood, lilac, gardenia, violet, orris, lavender and ylang ylang."

This one just doesn't work for me at all, probably thanks to the 'salty spray,' as I tend to have trouble wearing bpal's aquatic and ozone blends. It smells like intense, dry, heavy soapiness with an undertone of sweet, perfumey honeysuckle. I find it suffocating at first, but it does get a lot lighter and more subtle as it dries down. It reminds me of dryer sheets and floral scented febreeze.

The Fairies is mostly apple blossom on me, and it's a note that reminds me of shampoo (soapy-clean, fresh, apple and floral with a touch of green). It's soapy on me, but not unpleasant, probably because it's so light and subtle. Light, clean, floral and apple sort of scent. Pretty, spring-like, and breezy.

My decant of this one has already been handed over to my hubby, as he loves pine scents (and I love leather, earth and spices on him, so it's a win for everyone, lol). I get mostly sour pine, dark and manly leather, and undertones of soft, earthy oakmoss and light, clove-y spices, but the scent is less sour smelling on my hubby. The drydown is less evergreens and more spiced leather. Manly and foresty. Not my favorite leather or pine scent, but the decant is a keeper.

Bpal's rose scents tend to amp up near rose single note territory for me, so I'm not surprised that Theotokos is mostly rose on me. It's a sharp, perfumey sort of red rose with a bit of grassy greenery to it at first. Dries down to rose perfume with more of a dry, powdery, slightly spicy, golden incense feel. Starts off strong, but fades a lot and is really subtle after a half hour. I have incensey-rose scents that I like more than this one.

You might want to read through this thread, as a lot of variations and issues have been brought up here: http://www.bpal.org/topic/3142-different-smellscolors-same-perfume/page__st__500

I'm pretty sure that Pumpkin Patch 2005 and 2006 were the same (as they have 05 and 06 on their review titles). I have a set from 2005 and it's the series of labels like Zorra posted (the mostly black labels with pumpkins and a bit of greenery). There were five in each series. The 07 ones are these here that portalkat mentioned: http://www.bpal.org/gallery/image/1599-pumpkin-patch-2007/ ETA: Pumpkin Patch 1 05 with the cider has eyes and a smile that are jagged and almost look like flames. Pumpkin Patch 2 05 with cocoa has a big grin. Pumpkin Patch 3 05 with pomegranate has one eye (in Zorra's pic). Pumpkin Patch 4 05 with sandalwood has long vertical lines for its mouth and almost looks kinda unhappy, lol. Pumpkin Patch 5 05 with woods & galangal (my favorite <3) has swirly eyes and a sort of toothy grin. If you look at the first page, first post of the pumpkin review threads, they have the label pics in them.

Villainess has a very different feel for me when compared to bpal. I own the Supervillainess fragrance and it's really unusual (smells good to me in the bottle, but the cilantro turns into an evil mess on my skin, lol). The closest I can think of for bpal scents with a slightly similar feel are: *Tezcatlipoca (Excolo) - "Deep cocoa laced with patchouli, leather armor, ritual incense, and a touch of Xochiquetzal's flowers." And as a really long shot, Tombstone has a similar warm foodiness + old woods and herbal spice: *Tombstone (Wanderlust) - "A rugged, warm blend of vanilla, balsam and sassafras layered over Virginia cedar."

The mint and eucalyptus smell like mint mouthwash, the ozone turns slightly soapy, and the amber adds a touch of baby powder. I should hate this, but it's rather light and actually inoffensive on me. Clean. Reminds me of a little bag of travel size toiletries, lol.

I have good luck with lily, white musk, gardenia, white rose, orris, white sandalwood, and magnolia, so I thought that this might be a bpal floral that I could actually pull off. Unfortunately, the white florals here travel into sharp/perfumey territory and give me a headache. Sharp white floral perfume, a touch of green, and a touch of soap. Definitely not as sweet and creamy as I was hoping it might be.

Sour lemon with dry, green herbs, powdery violet and a hint of bright rose. Dries down to something like a sour, herby lemongrass with perfumey rose. I thought that The Doom of Beauty sounded potentially pretty, but the sharp/sour qualities in this one give me a headache.

Senelion isn't as dark and sexy as I was hoping it would be. Mostly this is just baby powdery on me (reminds me of Playful Wooden Mallets, so not sure if they have a similar black musk that smells like super powdery + a hint of vetiver), which is either the black musk or amber at play, or maybe both. Light, powdery, and slightly reminiscent of vetiver :/

I really don't like rose when it's mixed with chocolate or spices, so I was hoping this would be more on the side of the rose, vanilla and resins. But no, this is mostly a perfumey rose sweetened with spiced chocolate. It feels like eating chocolates and accidentally getting perfume oil in your mouth, and the warm spices just smell wrong mixed with the rose for me. For a while, I get a bit of tart pomegranate, but then it settles into a spicy rose perfume scent. Only lasts about two hours on me, at least.