holborne

In the bottle, this smells exactly like radishes. If you like radishes, as I do, this is a good thing.

 

Wet on my skin, I get far less of the radish smell, and much more of a dirt smell. That's not meant to be a criticism; it's a fresh earth smell, and kind of reminds me a little bit of Demeter Fragrance Library's Dirt cologne.

 

As it dries down, I'm afraid it gets a little less pleasant on me; it turns into a scent very much like the sharp smell of laundry detergent. A little of the dirt scent still lingers there, but unfortunately, I get almost none of the radish scent once this is out on my skin.

 

If this smelled on my skin the way it smelled in the bottle, I'd probably buy two bottles, as it's a lovely, unusual scent. But it doesn't work on my skin, I'm sorry to say. In addition, it fades very quickly on me; my skin seems to eat it and I smell almost nothing there after about 15 minutes.

Wet, this oil is very warm and spicy, although the "spice" could be from the orange zest. As it dries down, it turns into honey -- not a very sweet, light honey like orange blossom, but one of the darker honeys like buckwheat. I actually adore this one and am very sorry I didn't order a bottle when I had the chance; it's one of those scents I feel really pretty when I'm wearing.

In the decant, I can't really pick out any notes in this one; it just sort of smells to me like undifferentiated perfume of some sort.

 

Wet on my skin, it's mostly strong skin musk, which is a scent I Do Not Like.

 

The skin musk smells a little more faint to me as it dries down, and I get a little more of something, but again, I can't quite pick out a note; as others have said, it smells a bit like laundry soap. I get no tea rose whatsoever, although I think it could use a bit of floral to make the soapy scent less um soapy.

 

On the whole, not terrible or anything, but definitely not something I would ever wear. If you like laundry scents, I might try it, but otherwise, I would give it a miss, especially if it's the tea rose you wanted.

I was a little apprehensive about trying this one, because while I love violet, I really, really, really do not care for gardenia. Unfortunately, my apprehension proved to be well-founded: I do get some of the violet, but on my skin, this is mostly just a heavy gardenia smell. If me, you don't care for those heavy white floral scents, you might want to give this one a miss. Into the swaps pile.

Sticky Pillowcase is a candy scent; you can find it on ebay relatively frequently. Aunt Caroline's Joy Mojo is also candyish and bubble gummy.

Oh my goodness, Seraglio sounds delicious!

 

Holborne: Yup! He's my favourite poet.

 

Mine too!

Seraglio is a good choice! I actually wouldn't have thought of it, but now that you mention it -- yeah, it does kind of remind me of carrot cake.

 

On another topic: whitsunweddings, are you a Philip Larkin fan?

In the imp: a lot of patchouli and wood, mostly wood; it's a sort of a soft scent.

 

On me, wet: Very earthy and sharp; the wood really amps and it's a bit overpowering, and a little too close to a chemical smell for my liking.

 

On me, dried down: The sharpness goes away, leaving the softer patchouli scent in its place. The balsam is still lingering, but quite faintly.

 

This would be nice for someone looking for a unisex scent, I think. It kind of reminds me a little bit of a log cabin. I don't think I'll need the bottle, but I'll certainly use the rest of the imp. I would probably only use it if I could let it linger a bit before I left the house, though, because although it's very nice when it dries down, I'm not really insanely crazy about the top note.

In the imp: Sort of a wine scent. Or maybe it's cake. Or maybe...wine cake?

 

Wet, on me: A lot less wine and a lot more cake. Sort of a buttery cake.

 

Dried down: Wine is gone; I get a sort of pound cake caramel sort of scent. Oh my god, I'm in love!

Smells pretty much like orange Charms, with a dash of fig. Very nice, although not exactly the first thing I'd think of when I think of the word "carnal."

In the imp, this was sort of a fruity smell, not quite identifiable to me.

 

On my skin, alas, it's pure unadulterated YUCK. It doesn't smell like pomegranate to me -- just sort of a soapy, fruity, slightly juniper scent. Mostly soapy. Off to swaps, I'm afraid.

When I first put this on, the dominant notes are woody and peppery. As it dries down, it gets far more floral; I don't care much for very heavy floral notes like gardenia or tuberose, but I do love a lot of the lily scents and this one has a gentle, dry lily note that doesn't overpower. As it dries down, the peppery note falls away and all that remains is the lily; it reminds me, I kid you not, of Bounce dryer sheets. I realize that observation wouldn't constitute a ringing endorsement for most people, but I happen to love the smell of laundry, so I love this one.

 

Although I see that a lot of people say this one doesn't last on them and is very faint even soon after application, I have quite a different experience; on me, it has a medium-strong throw and it lasts for hours. I put it on hours ago and I keep catching a whiff of it and going, "Ooh, what is that heavenly smell? Oh, it's me!"

 

This is one of my early BPAL loves; I have a 10 ml bottle. But I'm just now getting around to reviewing it.

I was a teeny bit dubious about this one because I don't love apple scents; I ordered it mostly because of the opoponax, which is one of my two or three favorite notes. I'm really glad I did, because I adore it. On me, it has a non-cloying sweetness, and the sweetness is mixed with just enough resin-y warmth to make it lovely. It's one of those scents that I keep catching a whiff of and going, "Ooh, what is that lovely smell?" and then I realize it's the oil. I ordered a back-up bottle.

Does anyone know what I am talking about? I'm not talking about Disney, but it was a perfume and makeup line for children.

 

I remember! And I love that you're asking for it! I'm afraid I can't give any suggestions, but the minute someone does, I'll probably buy a bottle.

This started out smelling like a sweeter version of Bread and Butter-Fly on me, which is a very very good thing, as that's one of my favorite GC scents. After a little drying down, it smelled a lot like Dorian, which is probably my very favorite GC scent. Sweeter Bread and Butter-Fly drying down to Dorian -- now that's something I can get behind.

 

I am madly in love with this scent. NEED BOTTLE.

 

ETA: I've been wearing this a lot lately, and it's probably the longest-lasting of all the BPAL oils I've tried. I put it in early morning and it lasts well into the afternoon.

Ok, this one makes me think that perhaps I'm insane, or have the most screwed up body chemistry in the history of the world.

 

I actually broke out into a big smile when I sniffed this one in the bottle: it smelled, as expected, like a delicious vanilla cupcake. But. I put it on, and I got no cake or vanilla smell whatsoever, and I do mean none. It smelled to me like that sort of icky Del Monte fruit cup -- syrupy, artificial sweetness that kind of suggests real fruit but actually isn't. (That smell also has a bad association for me because I hated that stuff; the slimy consistency of the fruit made me ill, so it's certainly not something I want to smell like.) It also made me think of Robitussin. After an hour or so of drying down, it smelled a bit like boxed chocolate cake mix -- not unpleasant, but certainly not a vanilla cupcake. I also got a whiff of marzipan at some point, which is just wrong wrong wrong on me, and I generally won't buy an oil if one of the listed notes is almond, marzipan, or amaretto.

 

Seriously, if this one didn't actually smell like cake in the bottle, I would have thought that the Lab accidentally put the wrong oil into my bottle by mistake, since it not only didn't smell like cake to me, but seemed to come from a universe where cake doesn't even exist. Big, big, BIG disappointment on this one.

On me, this started out green green green, like freshly-cut grass. I didn't get any berry, honey, or poppy -- just green, like Demeter Fragrance Library's Grass scent.

After about an hour, though, it did dry down to a definite red flower. I got a tiny whiff of honey after the drydown, but frankly, if I hadn't known this one was supposed to have a honey note, I probably wouldn't have been able to pick it out.

 

Not bad at all, but for me, not interesting enough to be bottle-worthy. I'll probably use my imp and that's all.

Ok, I have to say I don't quite understand this one. Lily of the Valley and Opoponax are, honest to god, my two favorite notes. But I don't get either one in this. It smells to me like dirt or some sort of root. If anything, it smells like vetiver to me. I might let it age and see how it does in a month or two; maybe this is one that doesn't do so well right from the Lab.

 

Updated June 2012

I decided to try this one again, since I was expecting to love it and I hated it. This seemed so wrong to me -- my two favorite notes are lily of the valley and opoponax and I figured maybe I was at the wrong time of the month or something. So I tried it again and had a totally different experience.

 

This time, Death-Horse started out as a kind of a weird floral-resin hybrid, really neither lily of the valley nor opoponax. As it dries down, it goes right from that to lily of the valley; I don't get a whole lot of opoponax. For me, this is fine, because if I had to pick out a single note to wear for the rest of my life, it would be lily of the valley; opoponax would be my second choice (truly -- Death-Horse was basically made for me). If you're looking for a scent that's got a heavy resin note, this may not suit you, if your skin chemistry is anything like mine.

In imp: Smells sweeter than I expected, given the notes listed in the description.

 

On wet: Still smells pretty sweet -- a lot like Red Hots candy or Atomic Fireballs.

 

Dry: The cinnamon and clove really comes out strongly. It's not too bad a scent, but frankly it feels a little bit timid to me. I also think it's oddly misnamed, because it still makes me think of Red Hots, which is not really a smell I associate with wrath, but more with summer camp or Halloween when I was in third grade. It's sort of a polite version of wrath. On the whole, it's a pleasant enough scent, but not in a way I find all that interesting.

I generally don't care for apple scents -- they're always artificial smelling to me -- and I'm afraid this one was no exception. It started out as a very strong red apple note, with a faint note of something sort of rooty and moldy, which I take to be the hemlock. Not very complex, and definitely did not work at all for me.

Wet, Port Royal is extremely spicy; I get the impression of cinnamon and cardamom and not all that much else. When it dries, it's far more woody than it is wet, although the cardamom note is predominant on me. It doesn't smell like rum or wood to me so much as it does a spice rack. After about half an hour, I can detect a faintly salty note, but frankly, I probably wouldn't have identified it as such had it not been part of the Lab's description.

 

To me, this is a rather masculine scent, although a woman who liked unisex scents could certainly wear it.

I admit I was a little worried about this one, because lemony scents tend to smell like Lemon Pledge on me. But this one is lovely. When wet, it smells mostly like tea (can't quite tell whether it's green or white tea) with a bit of sugar and lemon added. It dries down to a mostly tea scent; the lemon doesn't linger.

 

Its only drawback, really, is that it fades very quickly on me. I could detect it after a couple of hours, but only very slightly. Rather subtle throw, as well.

I kind of fell in love with this one the moment I put it on, and I think it's pretty much a must-have for anyone who likes wine scents. It starts out a little sweet, but dries down to a honeyed grape scent, leaning toward spicy rather than sticky sweet. It has a good throw, and it lasts forever; I could still smell it hours after I put it on.

 

I definitely need a bottle of this one.

In the bottle: Bitter dirt. Really -- bitter dirt.

 

On, wet: Even more bitter than in the imp. The bitterness sort of reminds me of a mouthful of unsweetened chocolate, or maybe that bitterness you sometimes get with blackberries. I'm not at all sure I'm going to like this one.

 

Drydown: The bitterness fades, and turns to dry earth. Eventually after about an hour, the earthy scent turns to a dark floral. The description says magnolia, although I get something far less sweet than magnolia -- perhaps a very dark version of it.

 

I love this way this one dried down and developed, and I'm glad it was included as a frimp, as I probably would have passed it by, thinking it wasn't for me. I started out thinking there was no way I was going to like it, but I loved it by the end of the drydown. The best part was how it took its time revealing itself -- intense bitterness, followed by earth, followed by gentle dark flowers. It really is like a funeral and the ensuing mourning. Gorgeous.

I love honey, so I was looking forward to this one. However, I didn't smell any honey note at all. Oddly, I got orange instead of honey, and to me it smelled sickly sweet. To be honest about it, the smell I got was orange marijuana -- it had that same sick sweet smell that pot has. Not a good scent, to me. Off to swaps.