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Why have I not reviewed this?! I got a bottle back in the day and sometimes just CRAVE it! It smells like the fall of my childhood...piles of leaves, smokey, crisp air, sweets, and salty popcorn. It's SO good!  I'm almost out, so I hope we get something similar in 2021!!!

As an artist and lover of bpal spooky concept and dusty scents, I just had to try this. It's terpenic, yes, but tries out to be a very wearable, balsamic amber, quite different from others in the catalog-not nearly as sweet. There is a bit of dusty/powderyness with the lampblack and fabric notes on the drydown, and a creaminess reminicent of the texture of oiil paints mixed with cold wax medium. I can easily imagine many seipia tinged, cracking colors. It wears close to the skin and I'd say it leans masculine in that the resins smell quite fresh and sharp. Definately an interesting and evocative blend!

I am in love with this one and may just need to hoard it. It is so evocative of my neo- Victorian childhood, quite like Picture Books in Winter in composition: sweet and dusty with a lacey bit of whimsical lift. I know it's a Ween I wore Toy-Stewen Attic while I was preparing for Christmas and it was just perfect...romantic Nightmare Before Christmas vibes...spooky yet unobtrusive...a scent of memories.

Wet, I get an almondey leather note...a bit like As Above at first. Then, a hint of dusty florals, like the tea rose bath cubes my grandmother always seemed to have on hand, slightly amplified by a metalic twang...not too much metal, and I'm glad of it, but it does make it more masculine smelling, I'd say, compared to Picture Books in Winter...a bit more like a cologne, which may also be from the very dry wood notes, which are not overly dominant. There is a slight vanillic scent of old paper, but with the faded florals also really smells like fabric...all dry and white...yellowed and sepia tinged with age. A sweet, waxy, white greasepaint note in the drydown holds it close to, and melds with the leathery note and my skin. Everything is covered in dust. It's just brilliant...really smells like antique toys without being too musty...

Toy Strewn Attic is absolutely BPAL magic...the kind of unique blend that really sets the brand apart. A true gothic romance of a scent, it's more of a mood than even a smell. It could be worn anywhere but gives a tone of being well kept but slightly forelorn. A thousand times...love.

 Hillarious, really, how this smells like melty fudge and Smut. It's a really fun version. So chocolately, especially right out of the bottle. Usually the red musk and booze of the Smut plows through but the chocolate is really the star of the show here. It's warm and milky for quite a while...undeniably chocolate. Drying down the chocolate gets a bit dustier but Smut's musks keep it nice and round. Super cozy! It makes me want to eat my favorite chocolate cake all snuggled up with my partner!

Daaamn. This is Ah-maaa-zing... I think my favorite of the Smuts this season, too (that Candy Corn Smut though...!). The honey note right out of the bottle is downright bawdy; bright, liquid gold, flowing out of the comb...nearly an indolic floral but undeniably honey, especially with the extra musk & booze from the Smut. How can this be more honey-ish than even O or Womb Fury?!  It quickly darkens a bit, but only down to a honey whiskey, with the addition of a bit of smoke along with a dense chewiness from sugary taffy. Dare I say this is even smuttier than the origional Smut? It's brighter, has more sillage, and the golden warmth of it dries down to a honeycomb skin scent. Divine! 

I haven't smelled BPAL's candy corn note before...that I know of or remember...but I DO LOVE candy corn, especially the harvest corn variety which this REEEALLY reminds me of. I could not be happier!!! Harvest corn has been increasingly hard for me to find, but it's honey and chocolate flavored candy corn. I begin to hoard & snack on it every year (particularly yummy mixed w/peanuts). Mixed with Smut ... it just makes me smile! The red musk and booze gives a zingy little lift out of the bottle, but there is dark, yes, mocha like note (especially when compared to Chocolate Smut) that dims it down. It's sweet...oh, yeah...super sweet, and kind of gummy, but with a earthy, roasted kind of depth. It lasts and lasts on my skin, which is always a plus. It's SO GOOD! Sexy candy corn! 

The Book from the Paranorman GC collection is my all time favorite book scent (soft leather bindings, dry, sweet vanillic pages...so realistic...deep & swoonworthy). I get a similar sense in the drydown here, with a bit more dust and polish. Initally, this has a bright lift from the lemony polish note, which reminds me of a beeswax wood cleaner. The wood notes here are also freshly cut, giving the scent a more masculine vibe. I gave it to my husband who found it invigorating, and said that it would be nice to wear at a fine art and craft fair, where he would want to smell clean but like he'd been involved in important endevors; I agree!

Wet, I get sweet yellow jasmine and smoke, quite strong and realistic, like walking past a bonfire in a blooming southern garden. The tea and leaf note add a twang together like the night air,  the smoke quickly softening in the background. I love the patchouli and sage drydown...it somehow reminds me of a dark cousin of Fae...sitting close and creamy, yet fresh on the skin. It's a lovely floriental, perfect for the end of summer when it's hot and I want to keep that just-out-of-the-shower feeling but also want something kind of spooky... or when I want a temporay lift  from the gooey depths I do so generally love in perfume! 

In the bottle I smell a very faint milky sweetness, like when making carmel but it hasn't come to a full boil. On the skin, I smell a ghost of Milk Moon, which is the happiest way cream could go for me; the flecks of caramel together with vanilla husks may be playing the role of dates here, and the white sandalwood is light and fresh, adding almost a crisp note to the cream. On the dry down I get a note that reminds me of the popcorn note that used to be in Miss Dior Chere before it was reformulated; it's a subtle, buttery, toastiness that makes me want to layer this with strawberries, which MDC also has. It's a soft, dreamy skin scent, like the memory of rocking happy babies to sleep.

Another gourmond for the win! Wet, I don't think "sugar cookies"; I wouldn't say this is "foody", though I do love BPAL's sugar cookie note. I'm reminded more both of AntiMech, as mentioned, (but much gentler), and Halos (without the fruit, but just as resonate). It's a soft, yet freshly cut woodiness that dries down warmly sweet. It just glows on the skin. I imagine it is exactly what one's hands might smell like after both eating sugar cookies and shooting off a ballista! Delightful, evocative, and oh, so wearable! 💘

Sniffing this I immediately smiled; my inner child absolutely loves it, and the sentiment is darling. I imagine this is what a spice cake scented My Little Pony might smell like. It reminds me of a more playful version of the beloved (Not So) Penitent (Mini) Mag; there's a crystaline sugary opening with a sepia tinged, slightly waxy drydown. It's a delicious gourmond, wearing close to the skin and sure to be a crowd pleaser. 

I thought that this was going to be a darker, goth club rose, but it's a darling baby bat 👶 🦇 of a fragrance, which makes sense, cuz it's a Lil! Wet, the roses flash like a pair of red patent leather Doc Martins, and there is an equal shock of snapped green stems, full of life and vigor; that kind of floral is, indeed, "sword sharp" to my nose, but I don't get a sense of thorns, which I expected to be woodier. Drying down, it calms, the roses blushing pink with just a touch of a blood note. It ends up soft and jammy, wearing close to the skin. 

I usually like dark, sweet orientals but I also adore Snow White and Pink Snowballs for their coziness. 

I'd recommend O, Defututa, Fae, and Inez.

There is something about earthy gourmonds that really do it for me: grounding, slightly edible, and sophisticated; I feel ready for anything in them! Who needs top notes?

(sniff)...What. A. Managé! I'm so glad I picked this up and I'm gonna need a back up!

I imagine cacoa beans drying in the hot sun. it gives me a similar deep, brown, tropical feel, though the notes are different, to Goblin (whole coconuts with patchouli); AVCWS is drier and hot with the white sandalwood, where Goblin is more warm & creamy (with the benzoin).

I also envision AVCWS as a sauna dusted with cocoa power, or made of cocoa wood (does that even have a scent? In my fantasy it does!), or lying there with a cocoa face mask, or tiny eye bags filled with cacao (like the ones filled with rice/herbs presented in some yoga classes...I don't know if cacao versions of these are a thing, but how else does cocoa function so well in a sauna?! I'm open to other suggestions...). It's such a HOT scent it's nearly anamalic...like I've been enveloped in the finest cocoa incense. It's SO. GOOD! 

I can't wait to try wearing the White Rider (white sandalwood & leather) in the morning and putting AVCWS on in the evening.

If you love Velvet but want to go even deeper, get this beauty. If you love Death Adder, but want chocolate instead of vanilla sometimes, getcha some of this! If you love Boomslang, but want something drier...try Aged Vetiver, Chocolate & White Sandalwood.

Thank you, thank you, Beth! She's brilliant! 

Interesting. This does not come off dark or smokey on me initally. I'd say it's more kin to the White Rider than Tricksy.  It's a light, playful little amourous bat of a patchouli, perfect for warm weather, or when I want a little cheer for my dark, fuzzy heart. Wet this is almost lemony, which was a surprise, but I know it must be the honey, resin, and crisp woods just tricking my nose.  (Haunted smells lemony to me, too, but that's black musk and amber...). It reminds me almost of a snapped spring branch...bitter and not quite green, but alive and earthy.  Drying down there's less little sharp teeth and the benzoin starts to sweet up. In just a few minutes the patchouli's depth hums undernieth a subtly fresh sweetness. All the way through the dry down it's more more bright than smokey.  It'll be perfect for me to tuck into my summer purse and slather throughout the day and evening to freshen up.

This is just eye rolling gloriousness and my greatest Luper wish come true this year as I was craving a pure chocolate patchouli. In the bottle it seems nearly edible, like a decadent dark chocolate ganache. As it dries down it smells more like cocoa powder, losing some sweetness, and the patchouli really hums, deep and rooty. A tempting, witchy confection! 

Big. Heady. Indolic. JASMINE. I put on a turn of this oil and my partner, smelling it from across the room, exclaimed how amazing it was. This is the scent of a humid summer night, when you've showered, left the windows open, and you've accepted you will not get cool... nothing left to do but go to bed. The supporting notes to this jasmine don't really come into play for me until the drydown, where the sweet cream is there just enough to meld it into my skin, and the sandalwood and cognac add just a touch of a bookended earthy lift and sepia tinged base. This is not the jasmine ice cream of 
La Prostitution et la Folie Dominent le Monde. This is much, much more...it is jasmine personified as women. 

Ooooh...yes. This smells so good! Out of the bottle it's nice an clove-y like not many scent are. It quickly dries down to a soft, creamy, slightly dusty, goth skin scent. I have to get really close to my wrist to smell it but it's cozy, fuzzy, and warm. The sandalwood sweetens the oudh in a beautiful way with just a touch of anaimalic flair. The cumin and vetiver are not dominant to my nose. Overall it reminds me of wrapping myself in a blanket I wore wrapped around a night of hanging by a sacred fire. Nuzzle worthy. 

I love oudh in its many incantations: oud, aquilaria agallocha, agarwood...there are differences, for sure. Tricksy is my holy grail! I also love Gingerbread Oud, Nasty Woman, & Deuteronomy 10:18. I haven't tried the ones you've mentioned but I know Snake's Shadow's black oude, which may be in Pumpkin Musk and Black Oude, too, was stronger and funkier on me. First Morning in Paris has burgandy oude, which I don't see listed in anything else. It may also have to do with quantity and the other notes it's playing with.

Blood Kiss (has cherry but it adds a round red sweetness to the sexy darkness) 

Old Demons of the First Class

Such a wearable, sophisticated gingerbread! It's not too foody or funky. I find it to be like Shub light: kind of lemony with fresh ginger, incensey with dried ginger and other spices, and a little bit of woody depth that also kind of smells...human...in a cozy way. Medium sillage and wear length. Definately a keeper.

So delicate and lovely, like a faded white rose, the tips browning and curling in...the fresh green notes fading, growing earthier and softer. I love the plush hum of the oudh and moss supporting the fading flowers. Springlike and delicate without being girly. A keeper for me.

I'm digging the bitterness of the black rose juxtiposed with the fruits that are more milky sweet than tart and juicy. It reminds me a bit of the Burt's Bees Baby lotion but with a brooding rose note...like the Woman in Black or a ghost nanny. 

Why in the world does this scent not have more reviews?! Banshee Beat and Tricksy lovers, we got ourselves a GC to help us meet our sweet patchouli needs!!!  Round, sound, sexy patch, not too gritty or camphorous, just the way we like it. The caramel isn't too much...just a creamy, dark, sugary addition. So much YES!!!! Spray it all ovah and layer with everything.