Jammies

Did anyone else mention Nanshe? That's my favorite Lab clove because it also has orange!

This is perfect, from sap to leaves to petals to the hint of bitterness. If you rolled around in a meadow full of dandelions (or, tbh, my front yard), this is what you would smell like.

At first there was a hint of fruity greenery plus sandalwood, then just sandalwood. A happy-with-my-decant scent for me.

Oh, wow, I adore this scent--it's a really dark, rich, well-blended green scent. On me, it's more forest than garden, a forest full of trees in full leaf, a few shy blossoms near the ground, and a sharpness from autumn chill.

This starts off with a lovely astringent zing of pink grapefruit, but by the time the perfume has dried, I'm left with a swampy, dank note from the moss and a powdery note from the orris.

This is just gorgeous--I get mostly carnation, with varying pops of coffee, leather and tobacco leaves. Definitely unusual as well as beautiful. I might get a backup of this one!

On me this is almost entirely strawberry sugar. If I stick my nose against my skin and inhale, I can smell the pine, otherwise it's just pure cotton candy.

Definitely golden apple, it's very crisp and juicy and fresh. I also get a strong whiff of ginger, the tiniest hint of clove from the carnation and a sugary sweetness which is probably the hibiscus.

Initially, a blast of boozy apple, then a waft of cinnamon, and then the brown sugar takes over and that's all I smell.

Initially, this is an apple-pear scent, but then the black musk takes over, and I get a dry, bitter, powdery scent. Interesting, but not me.

This is a very dark, very rich berry scent. I think it's the mulberry that cuts the overwhelming sweetness pomegranate can have sometimes. Definitely a bottle purchase!

This started off as a really sweet blended fruit scent, like canned fruit cocktail, then the violet leaf and tea rose came out and it wound up smelling like gardenia at the end.

I get a wisp of pomegranate, a wisp of a heavy floral like rose and a big strong punch of high-quality dirt. In fact, this reminds me of Ace Hardware's store brand of topsoil, which is the best I've found in 15 years of gardening. It's certainly evocative, but since I can smell like this by rolling in one of my flowerbeds, I won't be buying a bottle!

The bitter scent of decaying leaves plus the scent of dead and dried leaves. The bitter part reeeally made me think of romaine lettuce that's gone bad--so weird!

I was really hoping for the carnation in this one to be strong, but no luck. The sandalwood predominated, but while this is not the same musk as The Zoom, which makes me think of clean baby skin, this also dries down to a soft musk on me, very dry and powdery.

I love Lemon-Scented Sticky Bat, Skytyping with Chemtrails and Geek.Goth (of course, all of them are LEs, sigh).

I get that sweet lemon scent also, but when it starts to dry a rich tobacco leaf scent joins the lemon. I love this and am having to sit on my hands to keep from buying a backup!

I'll second the recommendation for Frumious Bandersnatch--it's one of my top 10 scents. And Daiyu from the Carnaval is a lovely, sexy berry with undertones of jasmine.

On me, this is just a gorgeous floral, and smells exactly like Lush's The Olive Branch without the orange. I'm definitely getting the tobacco flower and the gardenia, but no noticeable geranium.

 

It is very strong, so I'm really debating whether I need a bottle, because I have a feeling my decant will last a lonnnnnnnnnng time.

How did I not ever review this? It's one of my favorite scents! Definitely fizzy, sparkly, fruity, fun with a little naughty booziness. This has become my winter go-to scent when I want to dream of summer days.

jayne,

I enjoy fine things. Art, jewelery, food, wine, clothes, shoes, and yes, perfume. I have some very wonderful and unique perfumes by major houses, as well as BPAL. My love of unique fragrance began with Caron's Aimez Moi due to the different feel that it provided with the anise. I have searched for unique fragrances ever since. I love Chanel and Prada. I also love BPAL. While not every BPAL fragrance speaks to me, not every Caron, Chanel, Prada, or Bond does either.

None the less, many BPAL are still on par with the fine perfume houses. Perhaps unrefined noses that have been damaged by years of sniffing overly alcohol based eau de parfumes, instead of real perfumes cannot identify the nuances to truly fine fragrance.

Please be aware that prices also vary due to overhead operating costs that include, but are not limited to, advertising, facilities, endorsements, packaging, etc.

Darling, give it a try. Perhaps they will speak to you, perhaps they won't.

 

If you are looking for recommendations, as it seems you are now, please post a thread in the Recommendations forum that can be found here: http://www.bpal.org/index.php?showforum=10

 

 

Jayne, you really do need to try the perfumes on before you make a final decision. I do wish you had asked here before you made your order, because I think Gaueko in the Excolo category is the perfect smoky lavender!

Picture a vital, beautiful, zaftig woman making cookies with her lover. She's sweating a tiny bit because the kitchen is warm, and as she pulls out the last tray of cookies, she notices a burnt one on the outside of the tray. She slides the rest of the cookies onto a cooling rack, but lifts the burnt one to her mouth. Her lover watches as she devours the sweet, spicy cookie, all but one tiny blackened crumb which falls to rest against her skin, just above her bra. Her lover licks a finger, picks up the crumb, and brings it to her lips.

 

This scent smells like that blackened cookie crumb with a slight overlay of warm skin musk.

In the bottle: very rich, very spicy carnation--a lot of clove and very little floral.

Wet on skin: the same carnation note and a sweet white grape note which reminds me of Titania.

Dry on skin: baby pink carnations, sweet and soft. A good perfume for a day when I want to smell carnations but don't want my co-workers asking who got flowers.

In the bottle, this is all lavender.

 

Wet, the geranium starts to peer out.

 

Dry, it's definitely an embrace--dark, cuddly lavender and geranium with a pure, sweet note saving it from being completely herbal (which I would have liked as well, but the sugary part was unexpected and gorgeous).

 

Somehow, it makes me think of sugared flowers on a very fancy cake, and I may need two bottles.

I wanted to love this, as I adore all citrus scents and am crazy about geranium. Sadly, in the bottle I got lemon cleaner, and dry on my skin, it was a savory, herbal lemongrass. Good on poultry, not so much on Jammies.