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BPAL Madness!

joyfulgirl

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Posts posted by joyfulgirl


  1. oh this is lovely.  warm, sweet, rich and creamy coffee.  unfortunately, it doesn't last very long on me.  a few hours later and i only smell a vague sweetness where i applied it.  it's shark week for me, so maybe hormones burned it off?   i'll try it again in a week or two, because the first hour is amaaaazing!


  2. this is just gorgeous - i think this is my plum HG!  juicy and warm and sexy and sweet.  all the things i want in a plum blend.  it could be a softer, more innocent, work-safe cousin of mme moriarty.  strong throw and for me, bottle worthy for sure!


  3. Lilith learning the art of spycraft at Deutsches Spionagemuseum.

     

    A pre-teen superspy’s secret identity: white pear, apple pulp, golden musk, and fossilized amber.

    

    this unfortunately went all wrong on me from the beginning.  in the imp, it smelled like a really soft, fruity body spray, which was...ok.  nothing that was blowing me away.  when i put it on though, it turned to pool chlorine - wtf??  i'm going to wait until my period is over to re-test this and see if it was a chemistry thing.  


  4. Lilith at Petersfriedhof, the oldest cemetery in Salzburg. As the bells of Stift Sankt Peter tolled around us, we wandered through the graves and the catacombs that date back to Late Antiquity.

     

    Benedictine incense drifting on a frost-chilled December breeze.

    

    this is lovely.  the description is dead on.  it's an almost nag-champa type scent on the drydown for me...the frost-chilled breeze isn't sweet or creamy, it just lends an ethereal vibe to the incense.  low to medium throw on me.  very pretty - i may consider adding a bottle to my beloved incense blend collection.


  5. Honestly, there are a lot of smells in any given airport that I probably shouldn’t translate into a perfume, but this particular scent was inspired by this radiant ribbon tree at Heathrow and the joyful little girl standing in front of it.

     

    Sparks of snow-white musk dotted with shining bulbs of blackcurrant, plum, and lavender.

    

    this is very pretty, but i think i was hoping this would be sweeter than it is.  something about the snow + white musk reads as ambergris to my nose.  it's lovely and cold, strong but not overpowering and definitely not foody - the blackcurrant and plum add more of a purple herbal vibe to it than *FRUIT*, and the lavender compliments it nicely.  medium to strong throw.  it's not something i would reach for often, but it's very sophisticated and really well blended - i may have to go for a bottle!


  6. well wow. i love incense and resin blends, but this is the first one i've smelled that is EXACTLY the same as the incense from the roman catholic church i attended as a girl. so evocative and absolutely lovely. initially the throw was a little overwhelming (almost like i was in church with a censer clanging in front of me) but it's dried down to an almost crystallized version of that experience, with just a tiny bit of dry, crumbling sweetness.

     

    it's absolutely stunning. as an incense lover, i may have to snag a backup bottle of this.


  7. oh wow - a HUGE rush of jammy fruit right off the bat. after opening the decant to sniff, my husband, across the room, asked me "did you put on something with strawberry in it?" - and it does kind of remind me, initially, of sweet strawberry bubble gum.

     

    super delicious, juicy and sweet, it's kept slightly in check by the buttery, flaky pastry note underneath, which comes out a tiny bit once it's on my skin. the fruit is quite dominant though.

     

    it's SLIGHTLY reminiscent of monster bait: closet, which i'm not mad about. it's got great throw on me. staying power is so-so on my skin, i would imagine it would stay quite true if i ran a bit through my hair.

     

    this is a bottle buy for me!


  8. oh this is glorious. sweet, sugary vanilla poofs with a muted chilly fir note underneath. i use it as a body oil after my shower and it stays true...a sweet, fresh, green base on my skin all day.

     

    i've paired it with snake oil and elf. it's a gorgeous complement for both - snake oil to amp the sweet and elf to amp the green/fir/pine. (so maybe that's actually aspen, since that's the note in elf?)

     

    in any case, i'm super glad i snagged a blind bottle of this. well worth it - a lovely winter holiday scent.


  9. i'm super happy with this. in the bottle, it was all eucalyptus/camphor and cold mint. not super pleasant. but i tried it on. very cold, pine-y, minty. almost headache inducing. but after a while that burnt off and i was left with a lovely, cool, fresh vanilla. the initial blast of cold softened up so very nicely. i completely agree with comparisons to go to sleep, darlings. my only complaint is that it seems to have worn off fairly quickly, even in my hair - and i'm a slatherer!


  10. when i first put this on, it smelled strongly of cigarette smoke to me, and i was initially pretty turned off. but it absolutely blossoms on my skin and becomes gorgeous - perfectly balanced and blended. the lab's oudh is just fantastic, and this is a warm, cozy, comforting scent. definitely the sleeper hit of this year's liliths for me. :bunnyluv:


  11. i definitely got the SUUUUPER sweet grape in the bottle and initially on the skin - to the point that i was slightly worried, but like everyone else, the incense comes out in front very quickly. it has a tiny bit of "old lady" stage on me, but it dries down to a very nice, slightly sweet incense blend. i dig.


  12. wow, this - to me - smells EXACTLY like shining dimple of love (Vanilla orchid, vanilla absolute, and black tea leaf) from 2014 lupercalia. aka: DELICIOUS! sweet, deep, rich, vanilla-y tea. the tobacco adds a darker, more luxurious dimension than dimple, but i suspect that these will layer GLORIOUSLY!

     

    it definitely reads as anise in the bottle, but on my skin it warms and opens and becomes something truly magical. i'll definitely be snagging a few bottles before this goes away!


  13. 2012 version. this is so sweet and rich. it turns super thick, eggy french vanilla on the drydown for me, which is awesome. i also get the touch of coffee mentioned above when wet, but it disappears on the drydown. medium throw, and medium staying power. a generally awesome holiday choice for me. deliciously foody without being cake-y. :yum:


  14. this frankincense is (to me) a dead ringer for the one in hope and fear set free. this blend is a bit quieter than hope and fear, but is just as lovely. it sits close to the skin, for me and the notes are well blended into one harmonious chord with the delightful frankincense as the base.

     

    completely gorgeous and i cannot wait to wear it for a yoga class.


  15. when i smelled this in the bottle, it smelled too perfume-y. i was sure i wouldn't like it. i almost threw it in the swap pile. but i dabbed a bit on anyway, and i am SO GLAD i did. it just absolutely blossomed on my skin to something warm, sweet and very comforting. it's a little bit outside my normal "love" zone, which i'm attributing to the fougere, but i'm actually enjoying the slight changeup. the rest of the notes are right in line with what i usually go for, so it's been a lovely way to try something a little different.

     

    i have a suspicion that this will age AMAZINGLY and i kind of wish i had bought two bottles, as i'll definitely love the one i have! :)


  16. another vote for rogue. it's my go-to unisex scent, and my ex loves it so much he has his own bottle.

     

    maybe leather phoenix as well - IF you can find the leather-y version: matcha tea, wild frankincense, champaca, petitgrain, star anise, aged oudh, rose taifi, narcissus, Himalayan cedar, 11-year aged patchouli, and black leather accord.

     

    it's got some notes that sound floral, but in execution the versions i have smelled are very complex, sophisticated and decidedly unisex, leaning masculine, i'd say.


  17. a sudden invitation (from last year's lupers) is light and spring-y on me - that said, i usually wear heavy, dark, musky or foody scents.

     

    Sandalwood, plum, white mint, and agarwood.

     

    the mint keeps things nice and light...however, it also has fantastic staying power - i can still smell it in my hair from yesterday. :)


  18. The variation in Hesiod's is really much more of a sweet/woodsy/deep vs pale/thin/bitter than a specific note like vanilla. I managed to track down several decants that happened at the beginning (decant circles on here that all ordered and shipped around the same time) and they are identical.

     

    It makes sense that the first lot of 60-70 bottles is the same, since the reviews all seem to be about the same for the first part, and then a different lot, with different concentrations or something, happened and the next lot has that chemical smell and is just different. I mean, I can tell they are _supposed_ to be similar! but they just aren't.

     

    The only issue for me is that I'm then reselling/swapping something that I know is different. Like how I paid $22 for Beaver Moon 2011 and then sold it for $10 because it had no lavender or cheesecake and I didn't feel right selling it knowing that it was an off bottle. The same thing happened with Pumpkin Masala Rooibos because I bought a bottle from someone that let me know it was a "woodsy" version, which sounds fine, but when I got it, it smelled nothing like my decant or the other bottle I had and was basically a SN Fennel.

     

    Since we can't return bottles to the lab, even for something really off, we end up either eating the cost of the completely different bottles, or passing something on to someone else that is expecting one thing and ending up with an unmixed bottle.

     

    I'd love to be able to say that spending $23 on something that is not right is not a big deal for me, and tbh, it's less of a big deal than it used to be, but $23 down the drain does matter.

     

    i totally agree with you. the lab was willing to refund my bottles of hesiod's (i tearfully had to accept that they didn't have any more laying around) - but that doesn't change the swap scenario, especially if someone swaps or sells something to you without realizing the extent of the variation. it's a pretty serious risk - and i'm NOT a gambler...so i'm not sure where this leaves me for future purchases.


  19. It's disappointing because BPAL oils, on my small budget and those of lots of us, are expensive. Not saying it costs more than it's worth when it's consistent. Definitely not. But when it isn't, I understand why people look to other small companies (Conjure Oils, Blooddrop, Solstice Scents) for what's sometimes lacking in BPAL.

     

    that's kind of where i'm at. after i was heartbroken by the bottles of hesiod's phoenix (which smelled nothing like my decants), i went online and found a bunch of scents with the same notes from different companies and bought a whole bunch of different things - i even purchased small sizes of single notes from some places that do that so i can fiddle around myself with blending. i love BPAL and the forums and i hate to even LOOK anywhere else, but i so badly want just 5 freaking ml of something that smells like that decant.

     

    for what it's worth, i found a very similar scent and am very happy with it. i'm just bummed that it's not bpal. :(


  20. holy moly, has anyone tested a new (like recieved within the last week) bottle of hesiods phoenix??

     

    I had a decant that I was obsessed with...it was perfect. so I ordered 3 bottles, which arrived on Friday. I let them rest a day then opened one up - I was heartbroken. instead of the sexy warm sweetness I got from my decant, the bottles (all three) smelled like sour chemicals and alcohol. it's not even recognizable as the same scent to me. I am so sad...I've had batch variations before but nothing to this degree. it doesn't even smell like a bpal - it smells *bad* - like spoiled. :cry: this was supposed to be my new HG. :(

     

    eta: i decanted one of the bottles into vials to do some further investigation - the oil is the same color as what's in my decant, but the oil from the bottles is cloudy and full of a really fine sediment. and when i smell them side-by-side, it's like they're not even remotely related. it's almost like one of the components in the bottles went totally bad. ugh.


  21. wow, i'm reviewing this because i finally got my bottles. i initially had a decant from FragranceLush and i BLAZED through it - it was so amazing and gorgeous and perfect for everyday but still sexy...all the notes played together perfectly and it lasted forever. i figured it was my new HG scent.

     

    so i ordered three bottles and let them rest overnight. none of them smell anything like the description or the decant that i have. they smell like alcohol and chemicals. :cry2: i put some on thinking that maybe it would blossom on my skin...no. nothing. just powder and chemicals. i'm so sad. :(

     

    smelling the bottles next to the decant - they smell NOTHING alike.

     

    i'll give them a week to calm down from their traveling and see if they open up at all...maybe open one up to let it "age" a bit (i've had ok luck doing that with snake oil and cleric).

     

    but overall, i am pretty shocked - i've never smelled batch variation to this degree.

     

    eta: i decanted one of my bottles into vials and compared them side-by-side with my original decant. the oil from the bottles is a similar color, but clouded and heavy with sediment. i did another skin test and the chemical powder smell persists. i am absolutely heartbroken. testing the bottle oil and decant oil side-by-side on my skin is just depressing. :( what happened to that beautiful scent from my decant that everyone is talking about above? :cry2:

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