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BPAL Madness!

brwnpaperhag

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About brwnpaperhag

  • Rank
    evil enabler
  • Birthday September 17

Location

  • Location
    CA
  • Country
    United States

BPAL

  • BPAL of the Day
    Alice
  • Favorite Scents
    Ever: XCDL13, Banshee Beat, Rosy Maple; Weird: Lawn Gnome, Lilith vs. The Giant Crab; Gourmand: Mr. Nancy, Snake Milk, 13 (July 07), Bite Me!; Other: Dorian, Trinket

Profile Information

  • Interests
    If it's holographic and/or lipstick, I probably want it.
  • Mood
    Happy/Joyous

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    Nothing Selected
  • Western Zodiac Sign
    Virgo

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  1. brwnpaperhag

    Scarlet Petals

    Wet, the almond comes out to play first. It’s a sweet almond, like body oil, bright and cozy. I agree it’s almost like amaretto, and I don’t hate that. As it warms up, I get the gardenia and cherry - the cherry is tart, and the gardenia is bright. The cherry gets spicier (maybe the carnation starting to work its magic?) and it becomes this very sophisticated, perfumed experience. I am not a fan of tonka bean (that was a risk to this decant buy), and I’m grateful not to get anything like it in my experience so far. I agree that this is a mysterious, “going out” type of scent, but as it dries, the tea comes out and makes it lighter - I don’t know if you would want to wear this in warmer weather, but the florals from the gardenia and that white tea lift make it almost like a springtime scent, so maybe it’ll work in the coming months. I am having a nice time wearing it but it doesn’t feel like me.
  2. brwnpaperhag

    Fritsu

    Gentle creamy blueberry, not super strong, but the juiciness stands out against the cardamom, which is heavier for cardamom than I remember cardamom being. The cream is heavy, so maybe that’s what’s working with it. I don’t get any kind of a chilled factor here, just warm and sleepy vibes. This sits really close to the skin. I wish the blueberry were stronger.
  3. brwnpaperhag

    Triumph in Vermillion Silk

    I agree with Galahad, the wet initial stage is very minty cool, which was a surprise. It shifts into carnation for me (a favorite), and I get a sense of the crystallized ginger, but it melds beautifully with the carnation so it’s hard to ID without knowing the scent notes. there’s a floral, shunga quality that has got to be the peony (I get a lot of Bpal peonies this time of year), and that keeps it light and gives it that springtime quality I love from the shungas. as it wears on my skin, the red amber and and scarlet silk come out, but I can’t say to what extent it is red and scarlet. I have purchased several red ambers over the years from Bpal, and I can ID that note, but the silk here is very gentle. disappointingly, I get no ube or persimmon right now, and also surprisingly, no lavender. This is still very fresh from the mail, so we’ll see how it ages. I’m glad I have a decant of this one!
  4. brwnpaperhag

    Nanggigigil Ako Sayo

    There’s a stereoplasm scent called taro milk tea. This bpal shares a very similar dna with its ube note - sweet, coconutty, a little deep and earthy. The red bean paste keeps it from getting too dessert-like, though it absolutely is still a gourmand scent. when comparing it to the stereoplasm scent, I can’t say I am getting any candyfloss; this is all starchy sweet on me. I like it a lot, but I wish there was more dimension somewhere in the dry down. wait, actually, the more I huff it, the more I get the same - sugar? I don’t know - in my old beloved, Velvet Unicorn. That had a combo of spun sugar, merengue, and cherry fluff, a relative to candyfloss, and with that link, I can kind of grasp it lying underneath the earthy ube and red bean. this scent fades faster than many sugared bpals I own, which is a shame.
  5. brwnpaperhag

    Chikinini

    Oh my god, I’m in love. My favorite, cherry, comes in hot at the forefront (juicy and candied, reminding me in the best way of gummies but also not) with a creamy coconutty base, and strawberry brightening it up for more fun. The mango comes out as it dries, and it reminds me of the mango scent in the bag of dried mango pieces, the good kind. I wish I got more halo halo but I’m not mad at this at all. As it lays on my skin it reminds me more of an ice cream scent, which doesn’t scream halo halo but I don’t hate it. It also still feels very familiar, and I’m definitely okay with that. I’m so glad I picked up all these Filipino scents, they are so comforting!
  6. brwnpaperhag

    Ruby Chocolate Snake Oil

    I told myself to wait until this settled, because snake oil. But I couldn’t help it. the ruby chocolate note shows up right in the wet stage, overtaking that new snake oil scent. I’m pleasantly surprised. I haven’t had the lab’s ruby chocolate note, and it’s like a fruity version of their white chocolate one, which is great news for me, because the white chocolate note gets weird on me. the creamy fruit aspect of it plays wonderfully with the spice of the snake oil, and it reminds me of a younger sister version of Asp Viper (Snake Oil with King mandarin, myrrh, and almond). I would love to get a FS to see how this ages.
  7. brwnpaperhag

    Bakyâ

    What a journey! It opens reminding me of banana, I’m guessing that’s the Suman, and silly me, I wasn’t expecting it to be in the opening, since it was listed last in the description (i can be very literal like that). Then the coconut comes barreling through right after, and for a minute, it also gives me the impression of peanuts. after that, it becomes super smoky - like, “whoa did we get transported to a fire pit?” Smoky. I sort of get the fruitiness of the pandan, somewhere in between the coconut and smoky stage, but am still waiting for the sampaguita (jasmine) to show up. The oud is a lurker, mingling now with the pandan to give it a really interesting base. As I sit here huffing my arm, it feels very familiar to me as well. It reminds me of standing downwind of the sweets section at the Filipino bakery, the part where all the sweet rice cakes are.
  8. brwnpaperhag

    Maasikas

    I was so excited for this one, but as I huffed my elbow crook, I am disappointed by some note causing it to go sharply floral. I just took a look at the notes once I got here and I see now - it’s the apple. I forget that I have a love-hate relationship with the Bpal apple note: it’s always too floral on me. That said, the sweetness in here is really putting in overtime with my skin chemistry, and the longer I wear it, the more it settles into a really comforting apple base, with some creamy playful overtones. I will see how this ages but I’m conflicted about getting more, since I can’t tell how I feel about it.
  9. brwnpaperhag

    Cacao and Black Tea Steam

    I’m so confused by this one. wet and into the first stage of drying, all I get is the familiar lab cacao (like from the 13s), which I don’t hate at all, but I was disappointed for it to start in such familiar territory. That said, the dry stage is very interesting - this has got to be the black tea steam, and it’s reading very…floral? I don’t know how to describe it, but I think it may be that lotion quality that doomsday is describing above - it feels less gourmand and more like a perfume, and especially like the dry down of a hotel lotion scent. I don’t hate it, but I’m not sure what I was expecting in the first place getting this scent, haha. I guess maybe I wanted the idea of a cup of strong black tea with the depth of an earthy cocoa powder? This definitely isn’t that, but this sample is fresh from the mail, so I’ll see how it ages.
  10. brwnpaperhag

    Sal Y Pimienta

    Okay so fresh and wet on me, the skin musk reads extremely intimate and sexual haha once it dries, the fruitiness of the pink pepper peeks through, and then it settles into a lovely floral aquatic quality, with some warmth - I agree that this is a clean your skin but better scent. I recently got a few of the Sea witch scents from Astrid, and this scent is very much a sibling to them (it feels related to sea bones and offerings, and knotted and bound, especially). I like this a lot but can’t really justify having three of the same scent family, but if you love the idea of a salty, warm, aquatic, definitely grab this.
  11. brwnpaperhag

    Malinka

    This is lovely and perfumed, very upscale for being an oil. I agree it is rose forward, sweetened by being a cordial and backed by the cream. I’m not getting much berry, but perhaps it’s lending some depth I’m not sophisticated enough to pick up on. I am very surprised by how much I love this one, and I may FS.
  12. brwnpaperhag

    Snow White Rider

    I bought this bottle blind because I had a version of Snow White where the flowers hit the perfect balance between powder and bright floral. It was gorgeous, and in general I am never one to stay away from a leather note, so how could this not work on me? Snow White rider leans more powdery on me, but it’s comforting with that leather base. I can’t say this screams sandalwood to me, but my skin tends to amp sweetness and that may be why my nose is thrown off. Throughout the day I get little puffs of powdery vanilla with some depth, and it’s just such a soft, pleasant experience. I would say the coconut-y vibe is accurate, it truly feels like there’s a creamy note that I can’t place, but that’s the beauty of the Snow White floral, I think.
  13. brwnpaperhag

    Committing Every Artistic Sin

    The sum of its parts is so gross and manages to convey the hate and disgust from its inspired paragraph. I love this story so much (good memories from school!) but knew none of these scents were “me”; I got this imp for the love of the project and a hope that this would be the least terrible to my nose. it’s been on me for maybe 20 minutes and has settled into an indolic jasmine with rotting citrus and dry plaster. It is breathtaking how dirty and musty it is. I can’t stop smelling it and feeling grossed out, it is such a weird scent to have been made. the marigold is slowly starting to peek out, making it sweet, and maybe the vanilla is there too, but that jasmine really makes that first part such a bad experience for me. i love it for what it represents, but I don’t think I could ever wear it, haha
  14. brwnpaperhag

    Green Lovebat

    This opens to all sugary apple and it makes me so happy. It’s not at all medicinal or herbal, as some apples tend to get on me. the mint gives it a cool iciness that tickles my nose and as the scent settles onto my skin, the milky notes keep it grounded. I absolutely love this one, it’s cuddly and bright.
  15. brwnpaperhag

    Sugared Peach Milk

    Fresh from Ajevie! I am such a fan of bpal’s caramelized milk scents, and after reading up on BPAL’s “regular” peach milk from 2022 Dragon Con, I decided to go for it. In the bottle, I get a really sweet, fresh, juicy peach that reminds of those Asian gummies that look like large Sunkist fruit gems. There’s a slight note of milk as well, and it makes me think a little of the milk in snake milk, but the juiciness covers it up. On my skin, the milk note opens up and it’s very toasty, very caramel. It’s gotta be the same milk note from snake milk. The sweet peach is here too, and balances it out nicely. As it dries, like with snake milk, the milk note gets stronger and it feels like if Nestle made a peach flavored milk and you made it into a custard for a pie. yeah, that scorched milk note is prominent. I love this because I love snake milk and what it does on my skin, but if there was anyone here hoping for a second chance at this when the 2022 peach milk didn’t work, I wouldn’t get your hopes up. I really love what the sugar is doing here, it makes that peach really bright, but comparing my experience with everyone’s 2022 peach milk reviews, I wonder if it differs at all from that scent.
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