abejita

Huh. This is interesting. My first bottle of Black Lace was good, but not spectacular. It should have been awesome on me, but just not quite. I aged it and it's nicer now, but still not what I was hoping for. However, the new batch is exactly what I was hoping for. It's not an aging thing, I don't think, it must be a slight batch variation. This is more like the dark Antique Lace I'd been wanting. The vanilla cream is sweeter, the tobacco and incense contrast perfectly. Now I finally get Black Lace.

I agree with hackess. Hazelnut. It's very warm, sweet, and comforting. I wonder if there is some kind of fruit note in here. I detect a hint of something red (cherry?) at the beginning, but it's not present on dry down. Hazelnuts and warmed brown sugar.

On me, this is so close to Boomslang that it's not worth having a bottle of both. The chocolate note is identical on my skin. Boomslang has the added benefit of a Snake Oil background, so it wins. Nice scent, but not for me.

"Traces of caramel?" Really? I don't have a huge problem with amping certain scents. Now and then I find something, but caramel hasn't generally been an issue. Until now. Yikes. I get nothing but burnt caramel. I really wanted to perceive the other notes, but caramel is upstaging them all.

This scent should be awesome on me. However, something in it is amping sweet like nothing ever amps on me. Holy moly. I usually have cooperative skin chemistry and smoky vanilla is one of my favorite things. But I'm getting nothing but a sickly sweet note. Pimento berry? I have no idea.

I suddenly understand why people kept insisting Shub is citrus/lemony. I never interpreted the cubeb in Shub as lemon, but in Crib Girls, it's super-tart. Right now, this is not the most balanced blend. The cubeb is the strongest note, drowning out the honey partially, and the cardamom entirely. However, I am pretty certain aging will temper it. As it is now, I actually really like it, but I'm looking forward to more honey and cardamom.

This one was instant love for me. I immediately went and found a backup bottle, and I am really not doing that much these days. It smells like the color red, which happens to be my favorite since before I could speak. Regal, rich, velvety-textured, stately red. Super-saturated and intense. Carnation and clove dominate, which is fine by me. The musk and incense give it depth while the pomegranate balances the rose. I love it.

This may be one of the best BPAL scents ever. The vanilla, musk, spices, etc, are so very smooth and rich. I don't know what I could say that hasn't already been said. I ended up wearing this to my wedding, despite having to use the last of my tiny stash of it. I am hoping very much for a re-release.

I'm pregnant and I still wear my oils. Things smell a little stronger to me, but nothing is triggering nausea. My "morning sickness" (such a lie, it's all damn day) is more the reflux variety than puking. I feel like I should be "good" and not wear perfume, but I liiiiike them. Maybe it's time to just haul out the scent locket. I have Miss Lupescu on right now.

Nepalese amber, vanilla infused amber, golden musk, sandalwood, orange rind, ginger, frankincense, and cardamom. I can't believe no one's reviewed this yet. This spray is much like the L'Estate oil. Just subtract the florals and add spice. It has the same dizzyingly bright, sunny, high noon at high summer feel to it. I usually balk at citrus, but the orange rind is perfect here, especially coupled with the ginger. I've never tried any of BPAL's room sprays before, and if this one is indicative of their quality, I'll be buying more of them. My only small regret is that I like this so much that I wish it had been the perfume instead of the room spray! I love the perfume, don't get me wrong, but the spice and resin here is strikingly beautiful.

I'm getting married at the end of September. It's going to be casual, just friends and that kind of thing. I'm going to wear a knee-length intensely RED silk dupioni dress. I'm thinking that whatever BPAL I wear is going to have to be anything but tender blossoms and lilies. Ha.

By now, I know what BPAL will work on me or be to my tastes, and which won't. But every now and then, something surprises me. This should be an instant favorite for me, but my skin is doing something terrible. Something about the dark musk and vetiver are combining to make this smell not only overwhelmingly amp-y, but cheap and cologne-y. My skin chemistry is usually very cooperative, but every now and then a vetiver or a black musk will go off horribly on me. This is one of those times. I'm so sad, because, hello, opium, tonka, and frankincense should be the perfect blend on me.

CXX It took me a minute to realize what was in this one. It's very heavy on the myrrh. Asp Viper is one of my all-time favorite oils, and this is very much like Asp Viper sans almond. The oils are even the same color and consistency. I am a huge myrrh fan, so this is perfect. I can't wait to get more CTs. Making these based off beloved GC oils was a wonderful idea.

This has a note in common with Crumpet Rebellion, and has a breath of Shub Niggurath. I absolutely love this rendition of 13. It's the best one yet and I'm a little regretful that I only ordered one bottle. It's absolutely not a chocolate scent. This is all spice, all the time, on a brown sugar (perhaps slightly burnt, in a good way) base. Yet, not foody. I've worn it three days in a row, and I so rarely do that.

This is a round, ripe, voluptuous scent from the juicy berries and figs. The leather grounds it (and makes it dirrrrty), the cream smooths it, the cognac classes it up. I can get every note, but at the same time, the blending is perfect. I know that sounds impossible, but it just is. I am absolutely in love. I am not a huge fruit lover, unless it's a really dark fruit, a la Snake Charmer. But this is just naughty. It's such a sophisticated, seductive scent. Wearing it makes me feel very womanly and very powerful. Color me surprised. My next order will have a backup, as this has shot up to my top ten.

I can't believe that this isn't getting more love. This is the most coffee-ing coffee scent that ever did coff. Seriously. It makes Misk U look like a few drops of spilled coffee on a library floor and Pinched with Four Aces is totally just Folger's Crystals and cigarette butts in comparison. This scent takes me back to Christmas in Germany. There are a lot of Turkish immigrants in Germany running cafes that serve Turkish coffee. I've only had it once, and this is an absolutely perfect representation. It's thick and *just* barely sweet. I am not getting any booziness or harshness from this at all. I smell absolutely delicious. This is one of those oils. I will never get tired of this and I am willing to bet that when I leave the house today, I will turn heads with my deliciousness.

Dry? Dry?! Ivy, darling, you are a crazy person! Okay, so the description says dry olibanum, but still! Scattered Gloom is rich and smooth. When I put the dot of oil on my hand to test it, the oil seemed thicker than most BPAL, with a consistency a bit like Candy Butcher. I made my plea for this one in particular because it had two of my absolute loves, opoponax and opium (not the floral!). Olibanum and black currant are also winners on me. I couldn't be any happier with this blend. It's a beautiful showcase for opoponax and the opium. The currant is not at all fruity, but adds a deep, dark sweetness that is absolutely NOT candylike. I'm in love. Try this if you like Schwarzer Mond, Chrysanthemum Moon, Penitence, Lycaon, the Minotaur. Try this if you wanted to like Masabakes or Ligur, but didn't.

I got a decant and I tried it on the man I'm seeing these days and it was instant love. I'm not a leather fan, but somehow this is so warm and rich with the musks that it works. He thought so too, he inhaled and immediately mentioned Xmas presenty goodness. I ordered him a bottle tonight.

This one is for aging. I get almost entirely Dorian from it at this point, with a pale lavender character. No Snake Oil in evidence. My bf smelled it on me and informed me, "You smell like girl." He commented that there was a baby powder smell, too. I think he's smelling the white musk. I like it now, but I think it will be much better after a few months.

Every year I try the pumpkin patch and every year I trade them away. I love pumpkin, but for some reason, none of the PP blends ever stand out to me as remarkable or particularly wearable, even. I got decants this year because they looked very different from previous years and I had some tentative hopes. This is it. This is the Pumpkin Patch blend for me. I am so not a fruity blend person, but this is luscious. Something about the myrrh and coconut binds everything together and smooths it all out. I don't get the mango and persimmon as distinct scents, though I'm very familiar with both notes. They are just a bright, sweet/tangy fruit. The pumpkin does have a buttery aspect, but it isn't overwhelming and seems to dissipate awhile after drydown. I wore this around my bf and his parents and as soon as I walked in the room they commented on a nice, spicy-sweet scent.

This is a scent that I should dislike. As my likes with BPAL have evolved, I've migrated firmly away from the fruity (with a few exceptions-- none of which are apple) and I've never much cared for cold scents. This is it. This is everything I dislike, made good. It smells like snow, glass, and apples. Really. The sweet/tart of the apple is utterly not candylike. It's crisp. The air/snow is crisp as well. And there is definitely something crystalline about it, though not mineral. This is a BPAL classic and I'm so glad to have it.

Wow, these labels are so much prettier than last years! DXXXII = 532 This smells so familiar. I swapped away my bottles, so I can't do a side to side, but I recognize some notes in common with Hungry Ghost Moon and Tamamo No Mae. There's a high, effervescent gingery-candy-fruity note, as well as something deeper tying it all together. This is very nice, but it's not the kind of scent I would reach for. Off to the swaps!

This one lived up to my expectations in every way. It's dry, warm, and clean. There's something comforting and lazy about it. It makes me think of fat bumblebees and buzzing cicadas. I'm not getting the insect repellant thing other people are mentioning at all. This isn't a huge smash hit, but it's different enough from my usual scent stash that I will hold onto it and wear it. I'd really love to smell it on the boy, though.

I don't know what it is with me and myrrh lately. It sees like anything with myrrh is just extra special good. This is a clingy skin-scent, the kind that sends bursts of scent as your body warms. I get mostly the myrrh/amber/vanilla/wood thing, but it's very warm. Something about it reminds me of the texture and heft of chamois cloth. The spicy carnation adds just the right amount of bite to the whole thing. It's another of my beloved golden scents, with a burst of red from the carnation. I predict that this will work on 1/2 the folks who get it, and they'll be madly in love. I'm one of those people. Try this if you like O, L'Estate, and Haloes. Or try it if you wanted to like any of those, but they just didn't work out on you.

The comparisons with Haloes are very apt here. Where they differ is that Haloes is drier and woodier, while L'Estate has a more fuzzy, earthy kind of warmth. I've discovered that, while Egyptian Amber will always be my one true love, Nepalese amber is a close second. The two ambers meld beautifully. The synesthesia is fun, I perceive the ambers as having a nubby texture, like raw silk. The sunflower reminds me of one of the top notes of Et Lux Fuit, which is absolutely fine by me. I am not the hugest fan of lily, but I'm finding that in blends like this I enjoy the note. The golden musk seems to make this scent heat up, melding it to my skin. This isn't just the pinnacle of summer, it's high noon at high summer, reveling in its glory.