sunshinedaisybliss

This is really beautiful - the peach is quite sweet and a bit full on at first, but within a few minutes it mellows down into a lovely soft musky peach and retains a gentle sweetness. But the standout here is the sugared amber.. gorgeous, dusky and just the right amount of sugar - this, combined with the peach - could have easily tripped over to candy land but the musk + amber together balance the sweetness perfectly. Unfortunately this doesn’t stick around for long on me - my skin just eats it up - but it’s lovely while it lasts ? ?

White musk is usually nasty bitter sourness on me, but not here! Yay!! This is quite lovely - the cognac is warm and rich, and the lavender doesn’t really stand out on its own, it’s just snuggled up nicely with the musk and cognac. There is a smokey vibe but it’s not a burning smoke - it’s more like a foggy, hazy, clean smoke. Everything here just works beautifully together. Definitely something different from the usual lavender blends, and a different take on cognac as well - it really is shadows and light ?

If only 2020 had actually smelled like this.. maybe we would have had a year of sunshine and rainbows, instead of a year of dumpster fires. Artificial cherry and raspberry that turns plasticky on me, and too much candy sweetness for my skin. If I could dial this down to maybe a 3 or 4 then perhaps I would enjoy it.. but this one goes to 11 and it’s just too much, I want to get off of this ride please, it’s not fun. Hmm.. very 2020, now that I think of it ?

Holy smokes, this is an interesting one! At first, I get a blast of sugar cookies (reminding me of Mr Nancy) and a smack of cassia-like spice. Whoa, I say... whooaaaaa, sugar cookie overload! But wait.. here’s the leather! On me, it’s a hot, dark leather but it’s not sharp or rude - it’s old leather, not the new and shiny kind. The lavender? Well.. I know it’s there, but it’s very subtle. This is is like Monsterbait Underbed with leather. Interesting, but not for me.

Nope, not loving this.. that asshole frankincense is screaming so loudly that I can’t enjoy any of the other notes. I tried talking nicely to it “Aww c’mon please, Frankie! Let the sandalwood and ambergris come out and play, please?” but it just laughed right in my face. So I tried a more direct approach “Look, Frank, how about you just fuck all the way off?” but nope, that didn’t work either - it just stayed there, stubbornly refusing to move. All the other notes never had a chance. It’s becoming very clear to me that Frank is a prick, and we will never be friends.

Frankincense overload at first, kinda sharp and loud. Then the tobacco comes out and ooh nice - very golden and dry. Eventually the vanilla wakes up, and then this blend really sings. It has a dark vibe, and isn’t overly sweet.. this ends up drying down to mostly tobacco in a vanilla blanket, with that pesky frankincense subdued but occasionally still yelling in the background. It’s nice, but not particularly remarkable, and it didn’t have very good staying power on me.

This is for the original unreleased version. I have had a decant of this for years, but never tried it because florals are not my friend. Well, that was a big mistake. BIG. This is.. amazing. It’s black velvet, snuggly and sexy. Yes it’s floral, but it really isn’t- there’s a beautiful dustiness to it that brings to mind dried flowers, but the orchid itself is dark and seductive. I really love this, completely unexpectedly.

To me, this is very Tweedledum like. But a strawberry milkshake version of it. Fruity, sweet, fresh, fun. And now I want a big bowl of Froot Loops.

this is very pretty, it’s all mostly soft dusky amber and golden apples on me at first. the oud adds a grounding element that stops it being too APPLE, and the vanilla husk lends a soft dry sweetness behind the scenes. I am not getting any cedar (yay, because cedar can be bad pee on me), and the orange blossom honey? That came out after about half an hour, and blended beautifully with the apple. this one doesn’t knock my knickers off, but it is very pretty. PS - I forgot to mention the saffron.. that’s because I can’t find it ?

I was really excited about this one, because it’s got globules! Cacoa globules! And black amber.. love it. But unfortunately the copal ruined everything. I don’t even know how to describe this.. vomit-scented furniture polish is what comes to mind. Not nice on me at all, and now I have a very large disappoint. Copal is a bastard.

This definitely starts off with a blast of heady pink carnation - fresh and peppery, but that soon steps aside for the patchouli to come forward. The patch ends up being the dominant note at the early stages, which I'm not mad about, but then suddenly the frankincense amps up way too much on me, adding a very lemon-y layer over the lovely carnation, which tbh I am a little mad about because I really wanted to enjoy that more than it let me. On full dry down, this ended up being pretty much all frankincense with a hint of soft patchouli and a teensy taste of pink carnation. Bummer!

I was a fan of the OG Queen Mab with her gorgeous dusky black orchid and sweet musky goodness, so although this lace has none of her notes I had to try it. For me, this opened up with a very rich almost butterscotch-y sweetness, which I wasn’t expecting! But then the honeysuckle and jasmine peeped through, and the vanilla was there too, and it was all heady creamy sweet florals - almost a bit tropical, but with a dark soul. But that moment was fleeting, because then it was all hello cognac and tobacco! And hey there’s the lovely inky musk and the gentle amber! Then suddenly all of these individual notes seemed to blend together into a gorgeous glow of slightly smokey sweet mystery. An hour later and it’s mostly the tobacco and cognac I can smell, but the vanilla is still there - with just a hint of the musk and florals. I never really got anything green, so I’m not sure where the grass or evergreen is, and the lilac never came through either. The honeysuckle and jasmine are very subtle, and there’s nothing honey/bee here either for me. It’s hard to pin down as a vibe - dark but light, fresh but ancient. Quite lovely ?

This one is a huge morpher on me! It started off as sharp, herbal lavender which I really didn’t love too much.. no amber or ambergris to be found - just LAVENDERRRRRR all up in my face. So I left it on my skin for about 15 minutes.. come back to it... and whoa - where did the lavender go?!? Now I’ve got a beautiful creamy softness, almost like a musky vanilla (but not sweet), with just the slightest hint of lavender behind it. It’s changed from herbal and medicinal into soft and fluffy.. and that is the magic of amber and ambergris, what a perfect pairing! Together, they create a cushion of delicate dusky softness through which the lavender is gently coming through. Unfortunately, this doesn’t have good staying power on me - it’s almost completely disappeared after about 45 minutes, but it was lovely while it lasted.

Wow.. this is really something! The standout note here for me is the tobacco - smooth, warm and golden, I recognise this as the French Tobacco SN from years ago. I am a patchouli fiend, but for me the patch is very much a background player at first - it’s there, and it’s a lovely soft one, but it comes out more at about 10 minutes and kind of throws a fuzzy blanket over the glow of the tobacco. A bit later on the tobacco and the patch lay down nicely together, but on me they keep switching out who’s on top - so it never turns into a flat merge, which makes this really interesting to wear because I’m getting a lovely waft of warm tobacco one minute, and soft fuzzy patch the next. The licorice root is very subtle, but it’s there. And the sandalwood.. also very subtle but there’s definitely a sprinkling of its lovely dry warmth through everything and it’s adding a very soft and warm almost-spicy element at the very base. This is a very clever concoction that stays alive on my skin for a long time, with good throw. Dark but glowy, soft but strong, it’s sophisticated and rich feeling - confident but stealthy, and also very snuggly and warm. Lovely!

All these years, I thought @SophieCedar was my friend. But why would a friend send me this? Surely you would only ever share this with someone you don’t like.. someone you hate, even ? And yet, here we are. Unfortunately, I did not read reviews before swiping a big slurp of this on my arm. I calmly put the lid back on the decant, then leaned in for a big sniff... and OH MY GOD I WANTED TO RIP MY NOSE OFF. This smells like a pile of soiled underwear that’s been out in the backyard on damp grass for a few months, vomited on several times by random passers by on their way home from the local $5 All-U-Can-Eat restaurant, and used by the neighbourhood stray cats as both a boudoir for midnight orgies and a bathroom for communal peeing. There’s also a blast of unwashed armpit and a waft of clammy balls, which together just take this to the next level. Beth, you are undoubtedly a genius but please never make this again. The worst part is, I can’t think of anyone I dislike enough to pass this on to ? PS sophiecedar, it’s ok I still loves you.

I honestly wouldn’t class this as an “aquatic” - aside from the name, there’s really nothing aquatic about it.. not to me, anyway. So what is it? ? First and foremost, it’s a beautiful creamy musk - clean and soft, but definitely ‘pale’ as per the description.. it’s got a beautiful silvery glow to it, but none of the screamy bitterness that I get from a white musk or skin musk. Second is the stunning ambergris - softly sweet and chewy, it lifts the musk into an almost linen-like cloud but without straying over into fresh laundry territory. Last but not least, the sea salt adds a crystallised feel with just a hint of actual saltiness. This is very evocative of nights by the beach, with a full moon reflected on the dark water. Very beautiful, peaceful and somewhat mysterious... just lovely ?

This is a lovely creamy, softly sweet blend with the vanilla melding perfectly with the bright warmth of the yellow carnation. There is a slight feel of spice to the carnation, but it isn’t really spicy at all. Definitely a happy, sunshiney one. just a note regarding reviews that mention a bourbon smell - the “bourbon” in the name “bourbon vanilla” is not anything to do with the alcohol “bourbon” - there is no actual bourbon in BV, the name is from where it was grown in the 1800s ?

For me, this is patchouli-lite, and surprisingly soft and pretty. The sugar sweetness reads as very ‘pink’ on me - like bubblegum pink, which is an unusual partner for patchouli! I think this would be perfect for anyone who finds patchouli a bit too much or too “hippie” etc, but I love a luscious old patch so Silky Bat is lacking that oomph for me - however; I feel it’s unfair to compare this with things like Banshee Beat because clearly this was never designed to punch you in the face with gnarly patchouli richness - the two are completely different. Silky Bat is quite lovely in its own right, and a very pretty patchouli that I’m very happy to have in my collection.

When I first put this on, I got lovely wafts of the vanilla, tobacco and cognac and I’m thinking ooh this is nice! Half an hour later and all I have is a cloying cloud of red musk following me around. Red musk, why do you do this? Sadly, this is not for me.. for the same reason I can’t wear Krampus itself - red musk is a big stinky bully ?

Reading previous reviews, I'm surprised about how this is on me... because I'm not getting all coconut all the time - instead, I get a beautiful deep fig with the smoked vanilla playing seductively over the top and the soft creaminess of the coconut in the background. The overall feel is smokey and rich, with softly sweet undertones. Nothing sharp, nothing plastic, nothing suntan lotion going on here at all - this smoked vanilla is the shit, really. For me, this is everything I had hoped it would be - and more. Simple yet multi-layered, just lovely.

This is beautiful! Simple, but really - there’s no need to be complicated, these three notes merge together perfectly. If you think you might like this, get some. It’s very, very nice. PS and if you’re craving Antique Lace, this is the closest BPAL I have found to AL to date - on me, anyway

Sweet baby cheeses, this is filthy, feral, and frightening! I am a proud member of BPAL’s Stinky Hippie family, but this one made me recoil a bit at first because you put it on, lean in for a sniff, and it slams itself right up on you like being hit with a face full of mud from the bog of eternal stench. Once I recovered from that initial assault, after about 15 minutes, I leaned in again and it’s still gnarly and fierce but not quite as terrifying. Half an hour later and it’s mellowed out and gone all warm and snuggly and earthy - still filthy, but in a good way. This is really quite lovely, and it definitely deserves a place at the Stinky Hippie family table.

You know how sometimes you open up a decant, slap some oil on your arm, lean in for a whiff.. and almost fall off off your chair as you temporarily get swept away by the gorgeousness of what you’re smelling? That was me just now, with Dark Lace. I’ve never been a huge fan of Black Lace - I do like it, but I don’t lovelovelove it. But this Dark Lace is a whole different beast. The BL base is there, but the added notes take it to a whole new level. It actually smells like Dior’s Poison on me, but 100 times better, more rich and velvety. and it has some oomph! I’m not getting any soil, moss or bitumen in any recognisable way - just rich vanilla, tobacco and cognac, and rich musky goodness, although a more earthy base does reveal itself after about half an hour. Surprisingly beautiful.

Dear Reader Does your skin chemistry frequently betray you by turning beeswax into straight up honey? And then does it amp that honey up to 11 so that you end up with a screeching pile of honey on your arm, and all around you, as if you had poured a vat of it all over yourself when in fact all you did was dab the teensiest bit of oil on? And did you, per chance, buy Loved to Death because you hoped it would be all about vanilla bean, blackened and smoked, with husky clove and cinnamon bark, wishing desperately that “a touch of beeswax” wouldn’t count? Well you should have known better, shouldn’t you! WHAT WERE YOU THINKING? We trust you find this information useful. To assist you in avoiding a repeat of this unfortunate experience, we invite you to subscribe to our free weekly email reminder service “Honey is not your friend”.

I have been away from BPAL for a few years while life got in the way, but when I finally returned to the forum.. this was the first thing I tracked down! What I was hoping for - a gnarly fig and patchouli mix all sweet, chewy and rich.. a hearty, syrupy vanilla.. a dusty, dry, woody amber and hopefully no overpowering honey or rose. I think I was taking the ‘nasty’ literally and expecting this to be a kickass blend. What I got - a soft, honeyed patchouli. It’s very dry and dusky on my skin, rather than rich and gnarly. I’m getting a slight smokey wood base from the oud, no rose, and only the slightest hint of the vanilla and the fig. Thankfully the honey is mellowed nicely here by the amber and patchouli - it actually reminds me a lot of my beloved Amber and Patchouli hair gloss, but sweeter. And to me, the patchouli here feels more golden than red or black so the throw is soft/warm rather than earthy/dark/warm. So as a patchouli fiend I’m kind of disappointed that this isn’t the gnarly, chewy, syrupy goodness I was hoping for - but also I’m kind of happy to have this soft and sweet patchouli blend in my collection, for those days when I want to be a snuggly hippie rather than a stinky one. Definitely a keeper!