Balame

Nooo! Wanted so much from this one, but it's not working. The cashmeran and amber combo is very musky, powdery and perfumey. Makes me think of a sweater that's been dowsed in cologne and then left to sit in a closet for months. Wanted something that was more woodsy with a hint of coziness, but this is too heavy and traditional. I've liked other blends with a cashmere note: Autumn Overlooked, Unicorn and Ram. Even Hoiru, which didn't jive with me, didn't smell overpowering like this. The combo is reading as old-fashioned and oppressive to me.

You know that "feels good" meme where the dude has his hands on his face with his eyes closed and he's totally blissed out? This one? That is me wearing Danse de la Mort. HOLY FUDGE BALLS. This is sex on a pogo stick unfff. I love it, and want to marry it and want to do naughty things to it. Instant top 5 BPALs ever for me. It's just. Like. If you take BPAL's sinuous, sticky, sensual opium. And BPAL's chewy, rich, seductive tobacco. And mix it all up with some sweet, thrumming amber and witchy-woodsy sandalwood? That is Danse de la Mort. Aaall of those things are big "heck yes"es for me, so this is just killer. You get a whiff of this on someone and it doesn't matter what they look like, your head turns and your instant thought will be, "DAMN THEY FINE." This is absolutely a must for lovers of any of the notes listed, except maybe amber since it plays a supporting role here. DdlM is like the forest-dwelling sorceress/sorcerer (yes, I think it's unisex) who's suddenly decided to come out of their hermitage and dress up in the best finery for some monarch's ball because they need to seduce someone to save the world. Or something. If you know the game Dragon Age: Origins, it really makes me think of Morrigan's character. To sum up: Yeeeesssss.

This is not what I expected. Syphilitica starts out in a sort of "sweet cherry cough syrup" territory, which is not fun. Then it takes a right turn at the "woodsy" junction and almost reminds me of nag champa incense, but much lighter than the real deal. Still with a backdrop of the cherry cough syrup though. I guess the culprit is the red sandalwood? And maybe whatever type of oudh/oudh accord was used (which typically works on me)? Kinda' sucks because I normally love sandalwood, but this is very medicinal, and feels at once airy and oppressive. That's all I get. Sadly, not working for me at all.

I should enjoy the notes listed here, but the problem is that I'm only getting two of them. It smells like suuuper oily... wrongness. It's like a leather rag lying in a puddle of coconut oil. I should add that it's not actively "repellent" or anything, but it doesn't feel like BPAL so much as a mess made in the kitchen. Honestly not getting any of the other notes here except a hint of sweetened black tea. And something that vaguely reminds me of licorice. As a whole this is a really light, inoffensive fragrance, so I'm not running to wash it off or anything. But I'm not digging the "oily leather scraps" effect.

The iris really isn't liking me. It's super sweet and sharp and just... unfriendly here. I actually don't have any problem with the oudh turning rank, thank goodness, but the iris is so overwhelming that it takes me to headache territory. Especially combined with the metal, it feels very astringent but cloyingly sweet.

Conflicted on this one. I enjoyed My Baby and a Baby Goat for the rich milk note, but it was just too heavy and single note on me overall. When I first put on Maiko, it was literally all goat milk. For hours. I had given it up as a lost cause until finally, after about 7 hours, the honeyed carnation + coconut peeped out. It's really beautiful at this stage - a soft, sweet and breezy carnation. Even better than my OG carnation in St. Germain thanks to the lickable additions. I just don't know if I want to wait that long for the drydown every single time. Will probably let it age for a while to see if the complexity arrives sooner, but if not, it seems like the goats milk drowns out too much.

I’m the odd woman out and didn’t like this blend. In the bottle it smells like sweetened patchouli fairy floss, which is great. But once it got on my skin the lemony note came forward and turned it into a weird, patchouli-lemon cleaner. Worse still, there’s a muskiness in the background that drags it all down and makes me think of muddy, dirty fur. I guess the fuzziness is good for evoking the “bat” aspect, but it felt like the poor little guy got dragged through lemon Lysol and funky twigs. Not for me, but I’m glad I got to share it with others who have more cooperative skin chemistry.

This smells absolutely fantastic in the bottle and for the first few minutes on. A rich, luscious raspberry jam with a hint of buttery glazed pastry behind it. For some reason though it fades very quickly on me, first turning into a bland, plastic sugar before disappearing completely. Upset about this one because it is sooo delicious early on. Not sure whether to just sniff from the bottle and hoard it forever or pass it to someone who could actually wear it. Probably the latter. Sigh.

My experience of this scent starts like Jenjin’s then ends worse. At first I get a fruity, sort of orange SweeTarts scent from the petitgrain and cream. Since I’m not big on “candied” scents it wasn’t very appealing. As it dries it retains the citrus vibe, but also adds a musky yet resinous layer with an extremely dry and dusty note lingering in the back. I would almost swear it was BPAL’s moss because it gives such a chokingly dry vibe, but I suppose it’s the coriander really flaunting its spice. For me this smells as if someone spilled cooking spices and orange Kool-Aid on a wood table… bleh, not for me at all. (Didn’t help that my imp broke and I spilled 1/3 of the decant on my hands. Was washing for a while!)

I love desert scents so much that I made a thread about them here, but have yet to find one that evokes the full heat and "desolation" of the landscape. So I was hyped when Djed was announced, thinking it was going to be so hot I could cook an egg on it. Yet the journey continues, as I don’t find it very barren. For me this is yet another "desert before/after the storm" blend. I say "another" because I swear I've tried like 5+ scents that all aim for that ozonic, sparsely herby, damp sand feel. They do well at it! But I’m not looking for wet desert. Djed isn’t as ozonic as those other blends, but it smells like the herbs have been drenched in a heavy rain. (In comparison, the boniest, driest scent I’ve ever smelled is Dance of Death and this is not even close.) The sweetgrass and sage themselves are beautiful. They provide a gentle sweetness that’s both soothing and meditative. There’s a bit of soft dustiness to them, like if you crumbled the leaves… but again, this is offset by the watery feel. I honestly don’t know what’s contributing to that, maybe just the roundness of the notes? I can’t find the sandalwood (maybe a hint of woodsiness in the background?) or “sand” so this is primarily an herbal scent. It reminds me of a deeper Lear. So to me… Djed’s dead, baby. Djed’s dead. (Sorry I had to fit that terrible pun in somewhere.) It’s good but not what I wanted. I have enough perfumes that do “fragrant desert herbs” that I can safely pass this one on.

Darker blends like Smokestack and Oblivion: Iago - Malevolent, dark and shadowy: sinuous black musk, wet leather and vetiver. Kroenen - Shining black leather, gleaming metal, labdanum, and myrrh. Haunted - Soft golden amber darkened with a touch of murky black musk. Morocco and Al-Azif (Note these don't necessarily have the same scent profiles, but give me a similar "vibe" with the creamy or resinous feel.) Tombstone - A rugged, warm blend of vanilla, balsam and sassafras layered over Virginia cedar. Black Pearl - Coconut, Florentine iris, hazelnut and opalescent white musk. Kubla Khan - Serpentine opium smoke and amber tobacco, golden sandalwood, champaca, tea leaf, sugared lily, ginger, rich hay absolute, leather, dark vanilla, mandarin, peru balsam, and Moroccan jasmine. (The jasmine is not heavy in this.) Velvet - Gentle sandalwood warmed by cocoa vanilla and a veil of deep myrrh. Dorian The Serpentine - Dorian, Liliths lavender, snowdrops, and soft vanilla. Kumiho - A sharp, biting blend of crisp white tea and ginger. Eldritch Dunken Constellations (LE) - Eucalyptus sap, white tea leaf, and ambergris foam. Iulia, L'Artiste du Diable - White tea, sugar cane, orange blossom, rockrose, lemon balm, white mint, and honey. Strangler Fig The Grave-Pig - ​Fig, oakmoss, mushroom caps, and patchouli. (This is a really pretty scent despite its name. ) Intrigue - Black palm, with cocoa, fig and shadowy wooded notes. Nephilim - Holy frankincense and hyssop in union with earthy fig, defiled by black patchouli and vetiver, with a chaotic infusion of lavender, cardamom, tamarind, rosemary, oakmoss and cypress.

This is surprisingly cool and fresh. My impression is of a spiced, airy beeswax with a predominantly medicinal lavender. Based on the description I was expecting something warmer and sweeter, but I find this to be a little on the sharp side. I wouldn't call it offensive, but it feels more... sterile? Than I'd hoped. Like a bath & body shop in the mall instead of a cozy little witch's hearth.

Sheol is super smoky to me, but very floral instead of leafy.

Dorian + Go to Sleep Darlings/Snow White + I Am Tired of Tears and Laughter. Much love. Very sugar. So fluffy. Wow. This has rocketed to my favorites list. The Serpentine has a candied sweetness to it, but it's not overbearing or synthetic-smelling. Count me among the people who like Dorian but aren't crazy about it. Here... it's just fantastic. There's bright tea with a soft, sugared lavender and the ethereal/cool/almost tropical vanilla of Snow White and GtSD. It kept reminding me of a princess, and I thought and thought about it and realized - it makes me think of Usagi from Sailor Moon. This is pretty and sweet and innocent, but somehow so relatable. It's the beautiful, nice, popular girl in high school who you're so in love with but instead of being arrogant she's down to earth and loves playing video games with you and talking about how you're both going to become pop stars in college. And to top it off she's a g-damn princess y'all!! Even if you typically go for the fierce blends you can literally hate nothing about her; you can hate nothing about this blend. Gimme more.

IBT has been my fave hair gloss for ages but I'll be damned if Hag Grey did not just put her saucy little arse right up against the Tyrant. This is NICE. I'm probably going to have to cough up the dough for another bottle of this. The ambergris is definitely the star. Sweet and rich with that odd sparkly-salty thing it does. (Hard to describe the "salt" aspect... it's that beautiful twinge of fresh sea air minus dank/fishy smell, of course.) The tobacco is indeed "white" and seems a much lighter variety than say, French Tobacco. It serves to deepen the scent and make it a bit more cuddly. As time passes the bleached woods get stronger and overtake the ambergris in prominence, but I like it. It kind of smells like pale woods with a layer of ozone on top. Ozone can get obnoxious, but since the two other notes are so sweet it prevents it from becoming harsh. I feel like this is some badass hag with beautiful silver hair and she like, rides on a giant eagle over the craggy shores of her beach and kills bad spirits that try to sneak in. It's sweet with a bit of sharpness so you know not to mess with her. Beautiful!

Holy crap this is glorious!! It's everything I wanted and a million times MORE. Sweet yet elegant maple syrup and rich honey with a hint of saffron. It's sparkly yet sugary and kissed by the woods. It literally smells like an enchanted fairy forest at dusk, with Titania and Oberon presiding over a party, decadent cakes spread all around, and rich gold and red light filtering through the trees. Wowowow. So glad it's possible to literally bathe in this. It's a fantasy dreamworld I never want to leave. It's literally everything I like in a blend. Creamy yet woodsy-smelling with a dappling of delicious gourmand notes. I'm so flipping sad this is ONLY a bath oil though because I do find they lose their potency over the years (meaning I'm forced to use it all and can't save any for eternity). I would horde a million bottles of this if it were an oil.

I think this is the first blend I’ve ever been courageous enough to blind bottle twice over after years of being into BPAL. Happy to say I wasn’t disappointed! I was hesitantly excited when I put this on and was reminded of my true love, Atlas. Same smoky-sweet vanilla loveliness, but lighter and less resinous. It quickly changed gears into a period of odd fruitiness, where an almost berry-like note slipped its way in. No idea what contributed to that, but then Himalia bloomed into its unique golden beauty. I absolutely agree with Casablanca in that before I even got to this thread, my final impression was of oatmeal! But this is certainly not plain old breakfast oatmeal. This is the oatmeal of the gods, blessed by mystical fae and drizzled in ambrosia. The nuts really aren’t front and center, only deepening the “toasted” feel of the scent, though I do notice the vetiver, and it’s lovely. I’m a fan of regular ol’ vetiver, but here it serves to give a little bit of that dry harvest smell in the background. It makes me think of a wheat field that’s been left baking in the sun juuust a bit too long and has a hint of crispiness to it. But that’s all washed over by the mélange of milky vanilla, honey and hay, so the layers of liquid sweetness mix with the “burnt” feel to create a beautiful, not overwhelming play of opposites. I would say the vetiver is swallowed up fairly quickly, since about half an hour in I couldn’t find it anymore and it was all smooth gleaming oatmeal. A stunning gourmand blend that I think is only going to get better with age.

You’d think I’d learn by now that musks and I generally don’t get along. This starts out very muted. Where the notes would typically lead you to think of a snarly but sweet forest, which is sort of what I wanted, you instead get the impression of light, wet woods behind a mist. There’s a touch of powdery coffee lingering behind that. It’s unexpected but intriguing. Then the ochre musk goes all rabid on me and turns the wolf into a whimper, because it goes powdery-plastic in about 15 min. The forest melts into a puddle of fake home décor plants and cheap cologne. I really wish it worked because my husband is a huge werewolf fan, but even he thought it smelled too much like a commercial scent after the initial pleasantry. If you like musks, go for it, but I can’t just get the buggers to work for me.

Starts out with a big blast of chocolate and coffee, then simmers waaay down. I find this better than Miskatonic U because it's not as cloying on me, and the notes seem truer. The tiramisu is really nice, light but wafting a sweetened coffee note, while the "true" coffee is more of an afterthought (which stops it from being too bitter). There's a bit of a sharpness like others have mentioned, which verges on being boozy, but almost reads as a soft clove to me? Definitely a sense of spiciness in the background, but it doesn't overwhelm the sweetness. I really like this and have been wanting a wearable coffee blend, but it has almost zero sillage. Maybe I'll get more for cuddly days at home when it's less awkward to inhale my wrists constantly?

Pretty and refreshing. As much as I normally dislike florals, this smells fresh and white without pushing into cloying, cleaning fluid territory. The ginger blossoms are really smooth and there's some ozone and saltiness mixed in, but its washed over by the (very light) fruitiness. Definitely tropical and much more sedated than Tiki Lounge blends. It's like an island breeze with the suggestion of blooms and waves, instead of a lei smashed into your face. Highly wearable and inoffensive. Tobacco is low key and barely noticeable so don't let it scare you off.

I really wanted this one to work, but I think the ladies of NYCC are just too musky for me. The tobacco is rich and beautiful, with wafts of the gorgeous "hay sugar" trailing behind it, which smells exactly like you'd expect: warm, golden, a bit husky. Unlike Invidiana I didn't get any sandalwood, which was a bummer because I personally love it, but Bunce was nice. Things quickly changed for the worse, though. I kept sniffing my wrists wondering why the blend smelled so heavy and “wet.” None of the notes tend to be overwhelming on me, and although tobacco can be intense, it doesn’t tend to drag things down like I was experiencing. Then it hit me – the “sweet golden musk.” It pushed this into aggressive territory. What could have been soft and glowing, became extremely sugary and heady. Feels like I’m drowning in a vat of sweet, foggy perfume. Fine if you’re a fan of heavily sweet blends, but subtle this is not.

I'm typically not a red musk fan, but thought I'd give this a go due to how much I love all the other notes. While not my thing, it turned out nice. After Valentine dries I can pick out sweet vanilla and mallow behind the red musk, which is definitely the "leading" note, but smooth enough that it's not obnoxious. Hours later and I still can't find the sandalwood or oudh, however. It certainly smells like something a well-dressed Victorian lady would wear, voluptuous but riding the line between taboo and propriety. In that sense I give it an A+ for theme, but unfortunately the "drop" of red musk was enough for it to dominate, and I'm not so big a fan to feel right wearing it. Too powdery and typically "perfumey" as a whole for me. If you're a red musk lover, this is definitely a must-have, otherwise I'd recommend those on the fence to avoid.

Glad I'm not alone on the plastic train. Sadly this is just fake, oily, plastic chemicals on me. It starts out kiiinda' coconut? But then quickly devolves into artificial nastiness. A shame since coconut is one of my favorite notes, but notoriously hard to capture.

Paladin doesn't really "read" as incense to me despite the frankincense, but based on the blends you mentioned I can recommend a few! Al-Azif - Smells like frankincense, smoke and syrup, but lightly so? Some people read it as tanning lotion, and I get that, but it was in a good way for me. Heroine - Brighter than it probably sounds. Not too incensey to me, tart apple with a light musk and a bit of leather/amber. Jacob's Ladder - An LE but it comes back pretty frequently It's just... dreamy. Golden amber with a bit of dustiness and a little needed sharpness from the ambrette. Kubla Khan - I think this is the exact sort of thing you're looking for. Kubla is a light incense with the bright additions of tea, ginger and mandarin. Very pretty. Lyonesse - This is one of the most popular GCs, definitely an incense-y aquatic with vanilla. Vasilissa - I would put this in the same category as Paladin, but muskier. It's creamy vanilla but has resins mixed in (myrrh, amber, sandalwood).

Makes me think of a lighter, juicer version of what I wanted Lucifer to be. The stars here are the labdanum and vetiver. They remind me of a few fantastically dark/ashy incense blends I've gotten from Solstice Scents. While they might be too heavy on their own, the currant and plum lend a lickably sweet layer on top of the incense, while the patchouli takes this out of a temple and into a forest. It's sexy and elegant. The vetiver (khus) and patch here are not the typical fierce notes you might expect from their presence in other BPAL blends. If you're looking for a seductive but approachable "witchy" blend, I think this would do nicely. Color association reads as maroon with a deep mossy green for me. While I'll use my decant, I'm not sure if it's different or complex enough compared to Conjure Dark or Inquisitor from SS to give me a reason for a full bottle. There's also a slight bitterness, I think from the moss. Bittersweet in a swampy forest grove way (which isn't as bad as it probably sounds). I typically like notes that complement each other rather than contrast too much, and it sticks out from the smoothness in the rest of the blend. I'm on the fence about it, but the soft fruitiness is nice.