Fish That Swims

Strangler Fig smells a little like a fruity Jersey Devil to me?

I've been in love with this one for about a year.

A very rich spiced cream over a rich deep smooth musk. The tea, pepper, and leather all melt together and I think it's what's making the somewhat licorice-like spice. Not sharp at all. It only occasionally reads as licorice to me, but I know what people are talking about. (I like licorice anyway.) The pie brings sweetness and a bit of a buttery feel, but despite that and the cream, it's not a gourmand fragrance.

I do think of it as a holidays/wintertime fragrance but I think the soldier is a delight any time of the year.

Rich, smooth, and sultry in a masculine way.

Ahh, Port Royal. My first BPAL love, as it really blooms on my skin....

In the bottle: A rich, bright, spicy, cedar-like wood. Sexy. I get a definite hint of an aquatic freshness. A tiny bit of booziness, but the rum is mostly spices.

Wet: Strong. More spicy woods. A little bit more "sea air". I'm really not an aquatics fan but the salt in this holds it down.

Drier: Fresh, salty, woodsy.

Dry, later: A faint floral perfume blows in. I think this is my favorite stage. An airy hint of perfume, spicy woods.....warm, salty, sexiness. Leans masculine.

It's also pretty strong and lasts good 5 hours. I've had my bottle for 5 years and it's still half-full after pretty regular use.

Blind-bottled this when it was first released, but basically put it to the side because it was kind of, well, boring. An astringent sort of citrusy woods, with some clean but mellow musk blurring it a bit.

BUT! I've been reaching for it consistently over the past couple days in the summer heat. Refreshing, friendly, approachable, clean, and really quite pleasant.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone~! I've only tried Amsterdam, which didn't really work on me, and Titania, which was nice but too fruity and sweet. I'm definitely going to have to throw a couple of the others in my cart when I place my next order.

Resurrecting this thread because I'm suddenly craving a perfect Easter morning scent. Something with warming earth, new greens, dewy florals (fingers crossed for early spring bulbs like daffodils, hyacinth, or tulip)...maybe even with a hint of candy? Fresh but not high-pitched, loud, or (god-forbid) soapy. Early reviews for "Qui Aime Bien Châtie Bien" look promising but I'd love other suggestions!

I'm really really hoping Wulric the Wolfman (cocoa absolute, French vanilla, birch tar, lavender, bourbon vetiver, wild musk, cardamom husk, clary sage, and cistus) will layer well with Lycanthrope Brown HG (ochre musk, oudh, coffee bean, cacao, and patchouli). I'm planning on getting a bottle of each unsniffed and they sound great individually but I would absolutely love it if I could wear them together. Because wolfy matchy-matchy.

Has anyone tried Haus Amber from Haus of Gloi? It works wonderfully on me and I would love to find any BPAL's with a similar amber.

A very soft, gentle, slightly furry musk. On me it smells almost identical to Coyote. (All I get is a light musk from that one too.) No sugar, no booze, no smoke. Fades quickly. I'm hoping with a little more time this one will develop more.

Bought a bottle off the Lab's Etsy!

First off...in the bottle this is intense! Rich, dark, sweet, woodsy, "meaty". Mmmmm fantastic. Buttery spices, a dark caramel-ly chewy beer, and a warm comforting woodsiness.

On skin, a lot of the buttery pie note recedes. The woods bring a tiny bit of fresh coolness forward with the rosin. Still spicy--cloves, which my skin is good at finding.

I LOVE this. Festive but mellow, evocative and complex. This scent feels like it has a history. I don't think of a lively ball, rather an old low-ceilinged pub where good friends have gathered for a pint for centuries: warmth and comfort within, cold winds without.

(Edit: bpal's scent description)

In the bottle, this is unexpectedly savory! I get a spicy, hot milk. Plenty of peppery cardamom.

On skin, the astringent tea comes forward, but it's underneath the spicy gingery creamy layer. I'm not really smelling the pumpkin, but it's always a hard note for me to pick out. I think it's there anchoring the creaminess though. I don't get any sweetness. Yummy milky spices, but no sugar. Warming and comforting.

Welp. I got this hoping for juicy, tasty, realistic apple and honey.

In the bottle I get a sweet, high-pitched, almost hairspray-like perfume. It's definitely a fruity sweetness, plus a slightly deeper golden one. Wet on skin, the hairspray quality tones down a ton. It's a classy, sophisticated kind of scent. A smooth golden musk does come out. Not gourmand at all. It's not at all what I was expected, but I'll be reaching for it often. Makes me feel fancy.

Just got this in the mail this morning. Gosh! It's exactly the coziness scent I was hoping in it would be. In the bottle I am getting a warm, slightly spicy musk that if I inhale very deeply goes a teensy bit sour. On skin, a little bit sweeter, a little bit warmer. Not picking up leather, the cardamom is very very tame--nothing here that I want to eat but very fuzzy and cozy.

In the imp/off the wand: urgh, dirty sort of citrus on wood, kind of like furniture polish? I do not love it.

Wet: still somewhat unpleasent, but warmer, and slightly cleaner

5 min: woodier, "ruddier" maybe, but still astringent, becomes rounder and moister after 10 minutes the astringency goes away. Now I can smell a nice fat vanilla and wet sort of tobacco, underneath a dusty wood.

Dry: ooh the vanilla is gaining a carmel-y momentum. Nice. It keeps getting warmer and smoother and 30 minutes in is downright lovely. The woods and tobacco (I think?) are weaving in and out over the vanilla.

You know what? I actually like this. I received this as a frimp at least a year ago and couldn't stand it. I've gotten it out to sniff it a few times but never really had the patience to leave it for the 20+ minutes it needs to bloom on my skin. I probably still won't have the patience to reach for it often but I'm glad I have it.

2011 Version

In the bottle: very sharp, bitter, and green smelling. like wet crushed leaves or green stripped bark. somewhat harsh

Wet: chillier, still very sharp, astringent....almost medicinal? Like something a forest witch might use. not unpleasant really, but not gentle enough to be very wearable for me

Dry: much much mellower, and ahhh there's the smoke, or maybe... dust? there's something very faintly sweet hovering in the background, could be the sap

So I'm not a huge fan of the initial stages, but it's worth it for me to wait til it calms down, and on the whole, very interesting and evocative

I'm looking for a scent that smells like a lit jack o'lantern: candle smoke and wax, plus lots of raw pumpkin... (except maybe for that little toasty bit that gets burned by the candle flame)...other outdoors-y type notes would be welcome too

but, please, nothing spicy or foody if it can be helped. It's so hard to find pumpkin without the spice. (plus I tend to amp anything sweet to high heaven)

so sorry if this has been posted before...i've been through pages of pumpkin recs but didn't find what I'm looking for

thanks!

Imp: Buttery, artificial pumpkin, very sweet

Wet: The spices are coming out, but not quite strong or distinct enough to offset the sweetness. The pumpkin still smells artificial

Dry: Mmmm...cloves, definitely. And...hot wax? Unfortunately, there is still something off about that pumpkin, although it's mellowing. I wish it wasn't so dominating, because the spices and the sweet buttery waxiness are lovely.

Overall: Warm and nummy, with a good long wear time, but my skin does something weird to the pumpkin, so the whole thing is a bit too sweet and artificial.