Lycanthrope

I always love a challenge, and I'm generally terrible at picking apart any kind of 'garden,' melange of green, planty things. So here goes.

Solanine as the oil itself is a faint, quiet and unassuming light green.

On the skin and wet, it's immediately a blade of snapped, crushed grass, and I get a tiny bit of wet, crunchy lettuce-like notes. This must be the sappy mucilage. It remains in this very heady grass headspace for a good 3-5 minutes. It's like someone cut the grass, and you laid down upon it and are getting whiffs of the fallen blades. I also do detect a tiny hint of charcoal/woodsmoke, lingering about in the background. It's akin to the Steamworks Smokestack, but only a tiny hint. As the scent starts to calm down, the initial grass and green tropical rubbery leaves recedes. So far nothing with the fungus or mushroom family, as that's usually a dealbreaker for me, although the rubberiness could be built into the smoke. Now there's a veritable cacophany of 'PETAL' but which PETAL? I don't know? Perhaps, Everything Twists and Agony Lies. I am trying to get the wisteria, roses, but the classic florals are not leaping to the forefront for me. I am getting a very 'Funereal' bouquet vibe, although this isn't like funeral parlor lilies and baby's breath. It's a twisted bridal bouquet cinched with drippy poisonous vines from tropical plants. With a bit more time, I'm getting something like Le Fleurs de Mal, a combo rose/wisteria coolness, but still supported by and primarily a sappy green thing. The color I'm getting, for some weird reason, is a faded yellow cream streaked with blops of green.

Low overall lasting power on me, but I'm also in arid Colorado, so your mileage may vary.

This would be great for any Rapaccini's Garden fans. If you're a plant person, do try this.

Wet, this is pine, and a hint of the slushy delicious wintry notes of Beth's Yules.

The comparison for sure would be to Snow, Glass, Apples, which this does have some relation to, but the pine is definitely present in this scent. It doesn't make it masculine, but it does take the scent from a purely poisonous, translucent apple (SGA) to a more grounded, earthy kind of scent.

On me, the snow/slush note goes more into the 'sweet snow' note, similar to the room spray Christmas Present, so not the spearminty/eucalyptus snow present in things like Nuclear Winter/Country of Eternal Light. This is a cold scent but illuminated by an unearthly warmth, even if the lady's skin is pale white you know beneath it there's blood, pulsing, purring. The apple note is also not a green/winesap type of scent, but rather the fleshy, slightly mealy (in a good way) red delicious, one that gives way under the teeth a bit too well and lets your incisors rend through its flesh. I don't get a huge amount of lemon peel, or the rose part of rosewood. I think the osmanthus and rosewood are lending a bit of complexity to the scent but not overpowering in any way.

This reads most forward as a top note pine/forest that segues into a snow-kissed apple resting on an ornate perfume box carved of rich, brown wood, sparkling with devilish, cold intent.

It's strawberries!

 

But not too artificial - this is the smell of gooshed strawberry pulp when you're hulling just a few too many to put into a pie. Fingers stained a bit red, and this kind of moist fruitiness, aura of seedy berry.

 

Over time it gets a tiiiiiny bit candy like, but it's still excellent.

 

No green/leaves/sap here.

I was very excited about this, being kind of an ur-mythology, mixing all these different divine tropes together and into a jumble of tumultuous divinity, swirling and such.

Here goes!

This smells interesting in the bottle, like a tiny touch of green, sappiness, a little snow note. I get a hint of the clay-snow slush from Kumari Kandam, but then it veers off a bit.

Wet, this is still pretty sweet, still green-ish, and musky. There's a bit of an ozone snap but it's not terribly strong. Reminds me a touch of Lightning. And then there's a subtle bump of aquatics, salt? Then honey - followed by a touch of a papery, dry note. All still over the rocky base. The amber starts to hum here, midway through, and what was once initially very elemental, swirling with leaf, thunder, water, elevates into a resinous honey with incense, and then reminds me of Anubis - golden, glowing, yellow thrum of incense. I'm primed to look for 'blood' as a note, which is usually grungy and kind of funky, but I don't get that at all. Near the end of the major drydown, I think I can get a touch of rose petals, but it's not terribly overpowering or strong.

This started off whirling, rotating, turning, and ends up drying down into a supremely smooth amber incense, with moderate chewy sweetness from honey, and a little spice and earth.

Smokey in the bottle. Rocks. Gray gravel.

On, wet, a weirdly sweet, dark, biting caramelly resin. The topnotes of the resin recede a bit and I'm getting a bit of the burnt/dried leaves note, but not much, and it's tempered by a dry woodsiness. There's a depth beneath this all with the patchouli and myrrh lending a soft, but solid base. I was hoping for a bit more front-forward violet, but I'm not getting that as much with the initial drydown. Over time, the resins/woods unify and turn more towards a very excellent, subdued but dark patchouli, with a touch of rockiness - not Black Opal rockiness, but... still a huskiness. There are whispers of violet petals but don't be afraid if you're not a floral person. This is just enough to lend a glint to the feathers.

I will not F this blend! It's quite good!

Wet... this smells like... chocolate? A waxy kind of chocolate scent? And then maybe the... touch of a cookie-like vanilla. It's surprisingly foody but then also registers as 'weird floral.'

 

On me, the color of the oil is a faint slippery translucent green.

 

As it first dries, I definitely get a mishmash of leafy... chocolate... malt?... This is giving me flashbacks to Chaos Theories of past.
Is that... caramel? No... I ... what.

This is like the equivalent of nose static. I can't identify any one thing, but it just smells... pleasantly everything, but nothing. So it's not super sharp or overbearing.

I keep saying 'wafer?' Like those square wafer cookies you can buy, Manner, I think. I smell crunched up Manner cookies, but like the same slightly neutral powderiness. If you've had those wafers before they're pleasantly bland but not terribly powerful in terms of their flavor.

Oh. Bother. I think I'm getting a hint of... formaldehyde??!?! That can't be right, but it's like the weird mishmash of all smells merging into a vaguely rubbery everything.

Oh GOD, why is it doing THAT.
As a former medical student, how is THIS the smell I'm getting?
Holy cow.

Yikes!

Oh... a little more time and the chemical scent starts going orange/citrus?

Man, I'm so confused.

Starts off foodie, then goes totes chemical, then... fruit rinds?



I can't even.

I'm not getting much vanilla at all. Mostly a kind of sappy/stemmy green, with a light airy yellow-gold floral topnote. I think I get maybe a little hint of like a bourbon sweet vanilla, but still very planty, not very rich. It's nice... not sure I'm going to hoard it, although I did grab two. It's nice. Have to play around with this one and blending.

Nom nom, smells like a dark blue-purple jam, grapey-blackberry. Applied wet, a big burst of the blackberry fruit which dries out and I get a chunky burst of patchouli! It's a drier one, and it doesn't stick around long since the fruitier notes re-emerge and keep the scent light. It's vacillating between the patchouli and the dark fruits. I'm definitely getting a sharp wine-y like scent but it's only the top schmears from a medium toned wine. Over time it becomes a bit more husky. I feel like this scent is on the tipping point between gritty and dirty, but keeps getting pulled into a jammy seedy fruit pulp aroma, smooth fruit.

 

It's ok, but I'm not sure this is working with my skin chemistry.

 

I think this may be a similar drier, not as dark patchouli like in Wild Woman with Unicorn, which I do like, but since it was balanced with green-ish wildflowers, in this situation it's a bit too much sweet and dark for me.

More of my wisteria kick! I love the note. My favorite is in Night Scene, although that gets a touch lemon-citrussy, and Cordelia is another one of my favorites, although it's a bit cedar-y and dries sharply musk on me.

 

Bottle impressions, more wet tuberose with maybe a hint of the wisteria aura (that kind of shimmery-sticky gauzey smell). A touch of green in the background. On me wet, very tuberose forward. Wisteria is a side player, giving this a bit of a different vibe than some of the more tropical tuberose blends, or things like Muse, which are citrus/lime and elevated by the tropical tuberose. I'm not getting much moss at all while still wet and drying. As it dries, the waxiness of the tuberose still remains, but deep chuffs bring up droopy wisteria petals. I'm really not getting much oakmoss, unless it's quietly binding everything under the surface.

 

With further time, there's tickles of the oakmossy note like in Fae, a slightly dry greenish powder behind a primarily tuberose base.

 

This is certainly pretty - can't quite tell how people will react when I say it's Consoling Pussy...

I was most excited about this scent as I love wisteria, and lilac is also one of my favorite notes. I am a bit wary of benzoin, since it tends to turn into a sappy sour vanilla on my skin in general. But here goes!

Bottle: Whiff of wisteria, more than lilac, but certainly that type of airy glow that hovers around both spring flowers.

Wet: Whoa! That's definitely a strong wisteria, and you can detect the more sharp lilac underneath. I definitely am getting a stronger pepper vibe, too. It's not a sharp high pitched warmth but it's like crushed peppercorns between the fingers. Over time, the pepper stays pretty consistent. The sharper petals stay very light, airy, purple, light purple. It's spicy, warm. Yet also blushing light violet? It's a very interesting scent at this stage.

Over time, as it dries, it's staying a kind of overall neutrally warm scent, with the pepper staying stable, I think that I get a whiff of crushed incense, that's probably the champaca. The floral component of the champaca seems to be melding with the other two florals. It's veering towards wisteria as the dominant floral, as I'm getting a bit more sweetness and powdery purple. I'm not getting a straightforward 'clove,' and the benzoin is slightly souring the blend (not in a bad way, just adding a hint of chewy resin)...

As it dries, my overall impression is: fascinating spicy, neutral to warm purple floral, with gray incense smoke trailing upwards. Deep huffs bring forwards wisteria blossoms and occasional airier kisses of lilac.

Hmmm. Intriguing!

This is a very pleasant, light incensey scent that reads primarily as a soft violet. It's not as lush as in Sybaris, per se, and definitely not as 'chewy' as Fleurette's Purple Snails, which was a robust, unfurling PURPLE violet.

On the skin it's sweet, gentle violets, mixed with maybe a wisp of light sandalwood. The star jasmine I guess reads as a hint of misty floral, but this is not a jasmine-forward blend at all. It's mostly a slightly dewy absolutely beautiful violet, and I must get tons of it. Light overall throw, but it's delicious.

This is a really floofly magic cookie bar on my skin, veering towards white chocolate fudge and marshmallows. Definitely foody, but a yummy foody. I like it. May need a few more bottles... medium throw.

Well, I don't have much to say...

This is going to one of those pop-up christmas tree stands set up in an abandoned Sonic parking lot, where the tree-monger is bundled up in two layers of coat and has an old, weatherbeaten touk that has seen better days. He's trying to be cheerful, but hours of standing on hard concrete with demanding hipsters who are bemoaning the lack of symmetry in the trees or the haggling down the price of his long-harvested, patiently grown crop wear at his soul.

You overhear an innocent family conversation between two trenchcoat, tweed-scarved gentlemen and their fully REI-clad daughter, Ava.

"Richard, honey, don't you think Ava would love this little threadbare tree, it's so Charlie Brown."
Todd pats the top of the diminutive, skanky little tree. It shudders and loses a few needles. Richard's eyebrow raises.
"Todd, you know I want something a bit more grand, more traditional."
Richard gazes lovingly up at a magnificent but utterly impractical seven foot Douglas. Todd rolls his eyes, it's always about size with Richard. Looking just a bit miffed, he turns to his daughter and asks her,
"Hmph. Ava, what would you like?"

The little girl wearing the poofy purple Polartec that she'll outgrow in two months blinks up at all the trees towering overhead. A little snow, but just a hint, is flurrying into the square. The man with the touk coughs impatiently. It's possible he only has one functioning lung at this point.

Remembering the artisanal hot chocolate she had at Vosges as part of her fifth christmas celebration with her fathers, her eyes light up and she knows exactly what she wants.

"I want the little tree!"
Richard's lips pull sideways in a tight line. Todd knows exactly how to get his way. Just like his mother. He's reaching for his wallet when Ava tilts her head to one side and adds jubilantly,
"I want the little tree dipped in white chocolate!"

Both men look a bit stunned.
The treemonger coughs again.

Todd says, "Wait, what? Honey, you know that's not-"

The treemonger puts up a single gloved finger to silence the dads, lets out a great big sigh and trundles towards the shed, where he keeps his economy vat of 50 pounds of white chocolate simmering exactly for this purpose.





... TL:DR

This is a super unique scent. Very weird. Wet, it's all fir, very realistic needles, the very slight powdery resin rubbing off on your fingers if you inadvertently touch a glob of sap, leading to stickiness and much cursing. As it dries, the chocolate starts to rise to the surface, but the scent retains its needly-fir essence. In the end it's still predominantly a 'nature' scent, it doesn't veer to me into foody territory, but neither does it avoid it completely. There's a richness, cocoa-butteryness, almost shea-butter depth beneath the fir so it's not a pure essential oil type scent. It's definitely not unpleasant, but it's... super weird. Like exactly the type of strange hipster thing that may happen with a bit of off-the-wall imagination. It totes smells like a bough of a christmas tree coated in white chocolate drizzle. Tickling at the edges is a hint of maybe a eucalyptus like snow-note, but as above... just a slight sprinkling. That may also be the top-notes of fir... but I can get a bit of a cooling note mixed in here and there.

Has no one reviewed this yet? Whoa.

I bought one out of my really strange 'orphan BPTP/BPAL' thing where if something has no reviews or hasn't been as popular, I tend to adopt a bottle, lol.

It smelled kind of jasmine-y from wet sniff, probably the lily skatoles. It's definitely very creamy, maybe not pink stargazer lilies, but white ebony funeral home lilies. The frankincense does add a sweet resinous glimmer, but it's not super resinous. I think there's probably a touch of a fabric or linen note but it's not like, super lacey. It's predominantely a strong white floral, pleasant. It has only light power though, otherwise it's me getting used to the floral scent really quick. I think it's nice, definitely will use up the bottle but it'd be real strong for bedtime. Unless I use my coffin, then I guess that'd be just perfect!

Huh. This is very, very similar to Snow Bunny to me, maybe just a hint on the sweeter side and even less pine-y than Snow Bunny, but it's still a predominantly slushy snow note. It is the Nuclear Winter / Spearmint-y 'sweet snow' note. The mint really is a wisp. Not bad, but I think I can forego stocking up.

[No additional description given.]

So, fiber optics have a special place in my heart because I've always had a little crow in me - love sparkly things, shiny things. And now I do flow arts, many of which glow and sparkle.

The bottle is adorbs, with the red BPAL icon struggling to peek over the giant paragraph of text in the name.

Wet, it's definitely a pine, spruce-y type of scent. I'm trying to detect if there are other notes, nothing is abjectly metallic or tin-like, so not detecting the 'iron note'. On my skin, this is not exactly straight up pine, because I'm getting a... strange tiny edge of like sparkliness. Good god, I'm terrible at this hah hah! But it's certainly not like a cacophony of fruits, or other 'bright' notes that will occasionally represent multiple colors in the BPALverse.

Drydown, it stays a lovely Christmas pine scent, without much deviation. Mild throw, so you won't destroy coworkers.

If you love pine and spruce notes, this is a straightforward, but wearable, pleasant scent.

This is surprisingly foody on me - more so like the vanilla-snow note (Kind of like Waltz of the Snowflakes), mixed with a hint of berry. The currant is not strong, but the overall scent does read a bit as 'soft snow berry tart,' which is wonderful. I think the sandalwood is adding the kind of crusty note that makes me think of pie. The violet leaf is not strong. This is soft and close to the skin, but would be great for anyone who enjoyed the soft vanilla-snow type note Beth uses.

Oh bother.

 

It's a trouble that I love oceanic scents and marines, but now I think some of the 'beach' scents or anything with 'sea salt' does the dreaded tortilla on me. The corn-chippy like smell starts off amping on me and I can't move much past that. Eventually it becomes a sweeter, less corny atmospheric light sky-aquatic, which is nice, but I just have so much trouble with the 'sand' or 'sea salt' note... sadness.

Ok, so I like this a lot!

This definitely has almost a cool, Yule-like feel to it. It smells like mud, in a good way, kind of loamy and sweet, but not as pungent with mushrooms as Graveyard Dirt. So it's a bit rich, like Penny Dreadful-level soil, a grittiness. The wood is kissed with mint, but only enough to bring the snow/slush note forward. The tar component may be like a vetiver-ish smokiness smoldering under the surface. I can definitely detect the labdanum in the drydown, which mingles with the opoponax to create a pretty unique gummy resinous base. Over time it hovers in the air a smoky resin, more than an environmental scent, and it's a lovely darkness.

I really like this!

Fresh from the spray top it smells very sweet, almost honeysuckle-ish, altough that's probably the awapuhi/white ginger blossom. The gardenia also is apparent but not the front and center player. I can detect both the sweetness of vanilla and a slightly citrussy orchid floral mixing together, it's definitely an exotic mix. The coconut does start coming forward... I was driving in my car today and sort of thought about LUSH Alkmaar, with the coconut twang and meatiness. The white musk is probably there but I can't really say it's super prominent.

I'd love to save this for a tropical vacation.

I guess the closest comparison to this is The Woman in Black.

Sprayed, it's definitely very red-musky off the initial blast, and then it definitely gets a bit more floral and is lighter in spirit than The Woman in Black. The spices are a bit lighter, and the patchouli is not 'dirty,' it adds a nice leafy depth to the red musk. The carnations are definitely a tickling high, fainter presence so they're not front and center. All in all it's quite a nice, spicy oriental floral, with emphasis on the sweetness as opposed to the spiciness. It's like... uh, I guess part of the spicy part of Morocco but definitely more forward on the patchouli, so it's not quite as smooth as Morocco. I hope that makes sense.

Ok, this is always a challenge mode when there are no notes listed. I really love both the animals, and the story... The world is a scary place but there's so much love in the passage.

 

From the bottle, I get these three notes: red musk, cedar (soft), and a little bit of... maybe mint? A hint of sassafrass or chocolate?

Immediately wet on the skin, still musky, then I get something... like from Tzadikim Nistarim, like, uh, something reedy? Papery? Oh, wait, that left. Now I get more dryness, definitely the cedarwood or sandalwood coming to the midground.

About ten minutes in, it's still pretty musk/woodsy, definitely a ... burgundy brown color to me, is there pepper in this? No, it's not pepper, but it's warm... saffron?

About thirty minutes in, it's like... a gruff snake oil + fuzzy brown resinous fuzziness.

It's really good. I think it's kind of similar to WILF and Fenris Wolf but much deeper than Fenris and not as... uh, forward, as WILF.

 

Thanks for dealing with my weird notes and my train of thought rambling.

I really wanted to like this one, as I love and adore honeysuckle (it's a rare component in BPAL, it seems). I really really like the one in Liaidan and Curuthir, that sort of honey-sweet sparkling white-gold floral. Apparently in Heel, it's just too much! I put it on and was enjoying my little honeysuckle cloud, but quietly it started amping up on me over time and then everything became just too much floral. The grassiness was present but it was like the honeysuckle sweet turned up to eleven.

 

I may try to use it in a diffuser or as an addition to a bath but on my skin it does something really odd. A very potent creamy SWEEEEEET heady floral for sure.

I'm reminded a lot of a more lavender-y Bly. This starts off with a very nice, smooth lavender, definitely not terribly herbal or anything, probably offset by the white / pale musks. The drydown is a soft rain-lashed asphalt, very much like Bly with that quiet concrete grayness, mist, and it smells kind of like... rainstorms... the smell of the road afterward.

 

Yes, I totally go outside after a rainstorm in Denver to smell the earth.

It's interesting what our skin chemistries do to this scent, apparently mine eats cake.

This is like a very true cardamom seed essential oil - so for me tons of cardamom all the time with a teeeeeensy bit of cake.