forspecial_plate

2023 - This year's Sugar Skull reminds me of pastel fruity marshmallows.  It's light and fluffy, somewhat like past versions but lighter and more fleeting on my skin.  I compared it to the 2007 version and that one has a presence of scorched sugar + incense that is not in this year's scent.  

I like this.  I think we moved back closer to the past years but it's also kind of updated.  This one seems more "safe for work" but carries on the spirit of the older ones.  I feel like it's a reformulation rather than an aging thing.  Sugar Skull is one of my favorite bpal scents and I love smelling all the different variations year after year.  ❤️

Weirdly I don't smell a lot of dead leaves in this dead leaves scent (but I know that's how it goes sometimes), I'm getting the slightly bitter light smoke note that I recognize from some other bpal smokey scents, a little bit leafy perhaps, with a kind of old paper note in the background.  Also weirdly I get some flashes of bright lemon here and there.  After some time the smoke fades and I think the paper comes out stronger, at least I think I recognize it from Bookcase Passage.  If you love the paper aspect of that, you might do really well with this.

Overall it's less burn-y than Burning Book single note or even Dead Leaves On Fire, it's a little more comfy-cozy to me but still spooky and atmospheric like the reviewer above mentioned.  I like it through all stages and I enjoy how it dries down, not sure if I need to upgrade my decant to a bottle but I'll be thinking about it. 

This is nice, I really like it!  I got a decant on a whim but I actually like this more than the original Perversion.  It's a sheer scent on me, light, sweet, and airy.  I really don't get much leather at all.  I think mostly I smell the caramelized tonka and black musk.  A really nice surprise, and yet another one I'm considering upgrading to a bottle.. And I haven't even received my bigger batch of decants yet!!  *cries*

Well, it's pretty simple, Bpal's pumpkin note with a realistic gasoline note.  I was feeling brave this morning and put on a good amount for testing.  In the very beginning there is something about the gasoline note that is earthy, like there's a tiny bit of dirt in it.  But really it's pumpkin and gas.  And I like it??  Seriously after about a half hour I grabbed my decant and put on more.  Like, a full real amount, more than just a test.  I like this!  It's so weird.  It doesn't really smell scorched to me, it's almost - medicinal maybe?  Kind of like tiger balm?  But again, it's pumpkin and gas, it's just that simple.

It doesn't have nuclear strength like some pumpkin scents can have on me.  It fades a lot after a couple hours.  But I think a decant will be enough for me because I'm not sure I would wear this very often, even though I do like it.  I'll see how often I end up reaching for it.  

This was the Bat most likely to win for me, and I was right!  On me it is on the lighter side but it's a bit of a sexed-up Cathedral.  At first I didn't think it smelled like Cathedral at all, but today I compared them, one on each arm.  Cathedral has always been a little woody, and a little waxy to my nose, with the rich incense notes swirling in the background.  Well, Batty Cathedral is strange because I get very little leather, but I smell a weird (unexpected) fizzy note like champagne.  Maybe the leather is just playing tricks on me?  But it reminds me of the sweet fizzy note from Visiting the Temple from way back.  So maybe it's the incense I'm smelling?  

Whatever is going on here it is fabulous on me, it's like Cathedral has a chic cousin, with a gin and tonic in hand.  It's a lighter scent as I mentioned before and after a couple hours it's more of a skin scent on me, so I may have to upgrade my decant to a bottle.  Which maybe I should have done in the first place, lol. 

This started out as a nice, warm scent with a lot of dead leaves, but a little sweet and spicy too, and I was enjoying it.  But slowly over time, after an hour or so, an aftershave-like note or notes started creeping out, and got stronger and stronger until it was just too much and unfortunately a little obnoxious on me.  I don't know if it's my skin or nose or what, but in this case I will blame the oakmoss, I know it has turned on me before.  I had only tried on a small amount but the aftershave feeling really amped up and this one just isn't for me.  

It seems in the past, when this happened to me with a couple other scents, they were pretty popular with other reviewers so I think this one will find its fans too!

This goes on fresh and brighter than I expected, not bad, kind of pleasant and spring-like on first impression.  Later on it settles into a perfumey powdery scent that is disagreeing with me.  It reminds me a lot of Witch Birds, perhaps it's the same sandalwood note?  I don't know, something is rubbing me the wrong way.  I'm glad I got to try it, but this was an unfortunate fail on my skin! 

Well, this is beautiful.  I'm getting a soft cypress, blackberry and myrrh scent.  The cypress note is stronger out of the gate and it's a little pine-like, but that quickly takes a back seat to the blackberry and myrrh.  It's mostly a blackberry and myrrh combination that is soft, pretty and quiet.  The woodsy/rooty elements must be very subtle.  It goes on that way for a long time, and I love it!  Could be kind of a softer cousin of Blackberry Moon.  I might have to get more of this. 

This works pretty well on me!  When I first put it on, it does remind me of a fall themed candle scent.  I think I'm mostly smelling the fig note at first.  But after a while more of the amber comes out, and the candle impression fades.  

So, it's mostly fig and amber on me.  It is a light scent.  A couple of times I thought I smelled a "band-aid" note, but that's not there today.  Also yesterday I would have sworn I smelled a faint campfire note, maybe that was the leaves playing tricks on me.  This does make me think of DL, Vanilla Bean, Pink Fig and Brandied Dates from last year, but I have NOT compared them directly so I could be wrong.  But it does seem like a similar fig note, to me. 

This is a beautiful lightly fruity tea scent on me.  It reminds me of a fall cousin of Moon Blep.  If I tried this without knowing what it was, and someone said "it's Witches' Tea", I would say, Yes! That is just what it smells like.  I don't really get a strong blackberry note, it's more of a vague fall fruit & tea scent.

After a while I think I'm getting a very light vine or wood note, unless that's just the power of suggestion and my brain is searching for something thorn-like. 

This is my favorite so far in my first batch of Halloweenies.  The only downside is that it's so light it mostly disappears after a while, on my skin.  I do love lighter scents, so I know there will be days when that is just what I want.  

This one was an unfortunate fail on my skin. It goes on and reminds me of a crisp, clean, myrrh and linen scent, not bad, I kind of liked it.  There's a little bit of violet, no plum.  But when I sniff up close I'm getting a faint hint of something sickly sweet, more on the exhale, that's like - I don't know, rot or something.  Kind of similar to Little Bird's experience in the above review.  Once I noticed it I couldn't ignore it, and eventually had to wash it off because it was giving me a queasy feeling.  And then I could still smell it!  I don't think this scent is for me. 

There's some funkiness for a while but it's not like... bathroom funkiness, it's more like the typical funkiness I get from ambergris (which to me smells different from oud's infamous funk).  Also somehow I'm picking up a bit of a narcissus feeling here even though it's not one of the notes.  Maybe THAT'S the oud, I'm not sure. 

But later on it smooths out a lot and it's more of the wistful seaside salty breeze that I was hoping for.  It is an herbal woody ambergris scent, like you would expect from the notes, but very smooth at this point.  I think I would enjoy even more salt in this and might play around with some layering options.  I do like this and I'm glad I took a chance with it.  

It does remind me of Bedroom a lot, I might not need both of them, I'll have to try them a few more times. 

This might be my favorite "version" of Samhain, of the ones I've tried.  It's very familiar, definitely recognizable as Samhain, but this one has something lighter and airy going on, makes me think of a light myrrh note in the background.  Later I get some of the fuzziness someone else mentioned except for me it's a little more fizzy like cola, makes me think again there might be some kind of resin note like myrrh or opoponax. 

I don't think I get as much apple as the other folks mentioned.  Maybe more of a baked apple or pumpkin note.  And I don't get as much patchouli as I am used to from the later versions.  Overall this is lovely, looking forward to wearing it again when fall truly starts coming in. 

On me this is a very barbershop lavender, kind of poofy and a little soapy (not a bad thing).  I can detect champaca orchid but it doesn't take over the scent like champaca sometimes does on me.  

I think after a while the rose starts to come out but it's polite.  I think the cypress comes out some more too, a softer woody note.  But overall the scent doesn't change a whole lot over time. 

I think this is a gentle and cozy lavender scent, like samanare said above.  It's not too similar to other bpal lavender scents I've tried.  Also it reminds me of a non-bpal scent called Antiheros, which makes me happy because I always wanted more of that but never got around to it (I have a little bit of a sample left). And this is actually better.

On me this is almost all champaca, a note I love but I was actually hoping some of the other notes would come out more (another note that I get along pretty well with).  I think the ashes come through a little.  I don't smell vetiver at all which is kind of amazing.  Either there is very little of it, or this is the smoothest vetiver ever and it's just blending with the other notes.  There is a hint of something tart, maybe the petitgrain.

Can't say I'm disappointed, I'm not, since I do love the lab's champaca note.  I think maybe I should compare this directly with Champa Resin, Charcoal and Tobacco Absolute, because in my mind they're very similar, but I bet side-by-side the differences would stand out more.

I couldn't resist trying this simply because of the artwork, I had to know what it smelled like (same with Angelvs Domini).  I wasn't buying decants for a while but started again because of these Paintings scents.  

*Edit because this did some kind of fruit-adjacent wine thing for the first few days I had it, but it's not really doing that now.  Now it's more white musk with some greenery and a hint of woods. 

After about an hour I start to get the white musk note coming in more (or maybe the pale amber, or both) and overall it becomes a little more "papery" to me.  It's overall a lighter scent through all stages but at this stage, it becomes closer to what I expected based on the notes.  It's basically the colors of the painting in scent form. 

It's a lovely scent and I particularly like how, if I stop trying to smell it and just go about my day, it kind of teases the air and makes itself known in a very subtle way.  I can't really say that I ever smelled wood or anything like rose.  There's a subtle green element but it's not like the dead leaves Halloween scents at all in my opinion.  It's nice and refreshing in the summer but I think if I wore this outside I would sweat it off before I even got to wherever I was going.  In a/c it lasted about 4 or 5 hours before it was mostly gone and I put on something else.  (That's about normal for me) 

Edit: I compared this to Meadow Elves and AoM is more woody than I originally thought.  I have to decide if I want a 5ml bottle of this, it's so great for late summer...

13 minutes ago, ScentCollector said:

Hey all, 

I want to get some bpal for a gift for someone that I know likes CK1, any recommendations?

The older version of Drag Is For Everyone smelled just like CK1 to me, but I haven't smelled the newer current one.  : ) 

I would describe this as a soft scent, about half blackberry and half perfumey haze.  I started loving the lab's blackberry note recently and this is like a soft, pillowy blackberry scent.  

I can't really pick apart the iris root and amber, except I do get a hint of something kind of rubbery that I think must be the iris root.  It adds a little interesting edge to the scent.  

Overall it's on the lighter side and lasts about 3 hours on me before it becomes just a skin scent.  I love it, so I'm happy to reapply.  It doesn't really change much, if at all, over time (except for fading).  I'm calling this a chic, elegant, blackberry scent.  

I'm having a similar experience to LavenderCoffee above.  When I first got this there was a sour chemical aspect that I couldn't get past, I really thought I didn't like this scent, and I put it aside for a while.  

Now it's like the sour aspect is still there, but it's not bad.  I'm actually liking it today.  Somber is the right word.  I think I'll enjoy this on rainy chilly days in the fall.  Right now I have an Animalic Chaos Theory on too, a sweeter scent that I think has some cardamom, and it's helping to balance out the austere sour aspect of Death Moon.  

As far as notes, I think I mostly smell resins with a hint of rose.  The rose isn't very strong but the presence is there.  It's a little herby too.  I'm glad I took a chance, this could be one of those scents that started out badly but grows on me more and more.

Angelvs Domini reminds me of Sultana of Soap - not exactly like it but the vibe is there for sure, every time I've worn it I thought of SoS.  

I love this lots!  I can't really pick out any notes except for the suggestion of frankincense.  Right at the beginning I got a hint of spruce or something, but I think that could be from the frankincense.  The lavender doesn't stand out to me, like it did for bygraveyardlight in the review above.  I don't really smell lilac either tbh, but I believe everything is here blending into this one scent, and it's not really like anything else I have.  (I'm kind of new to lilac notes, so maybe my nose just isn't detecting it..)  

Clean and resinous, maybe just a touch fruity.  Almost like soap or a bath product but very comfortable for me and I think I'll be wearing this a lot.  (Edit..).  Actually every time I wear it, I think of Lush's Sultana of Soap, they're not exactly alike but the vibe is very similar IMO.

In moonarcana's review, 

I was the friend who said he didn't want to try this because it had a grape note.  That was waaaay back when I was a little more picky about bpal scents and my tastes were a little different back then anyway.   

Now I've learned to stop worrying and just love the Urd, and I can't believe I've never reviewed it in here before!  It is a little on the sweet side but that's not really a problem, it just means there might be certain days occasionally when I'm not in the mood for it.  

It does smell like a deep grapey incense scent to me, I really don't detect a lot of patchouli standing out, but that isn't uncommon for me, patchouli tends to just drift into the background and acts as more of a deep backdrop for the other notes.  

This is very different from Midnight On the Midway, another fabulous incense scent.  I think Urd is...darker, more subdued, even though it's not a quiet scent really.  

I hadn't thought about this for a while, happened upon an imp and put it on right away, and immediately put a 5ml bottle in the cart to include in my next order.  Love it! 

I've worn this a few times, and it's a weird scent, but a good scent.  It starts out smelling kind of funky.  I blame the ambergris, it can be iffy on me, but I'm learning it can sometimes do nice things.  At first this seems like too much ambergris and I'm kind of repelled but interested at the same time.  

After a short time it does smooth out a lot and I'm weirdly reminded of....birch beer?  Birch beer on the beach?  Herbal, a little earthy, and still kind of beachy.  It's not single note ambergris, but the other notes are doing weird things, not in a bad way though.  There's something I really like about it.  

I don't get much lily or sandalwood either but sometimes I can't pick out white sandalwood, so that's not surprising.  This smells clean, herbal, maybe a little woody like driftwood or something.  I'm glad I took a chance on it!  

Edit.. Perhaps what I'm smelling is mostly ambergris, but the other notes are making making it more likeable to me than it sometimes can be.  

I have mixed feelings about this.  At first, and for a long time, it is mostly cherry, but it's kind of a fake-smelling cherry that reminds me of a powdered cherry drink mix.  It was a little too strong and the cherry was just too much.  I really thought I liked bpal's cherry scents, I do love some of them, so this was surprising and disappointing.  

But then after 2 or 3 hours the balance shifts just a little bit, the cherry fades somewhat, and I really like it at this stage.  I think I can pick out all the other notes, even the blackcurrant is kind of distinct, and I'm loving the musk (makes me really excited to try the new Menage scent that has cherry and black musk).  

I'm definitely holding on to this and I just have to remember to ride out the first strong cherry phase for a while.  I think it's worth it.  And maybe aging will improve it to my nose. 

I guess I never reviewed this...might as well since I'm wearing it.  

Heavily applied from a very aged decant, I'm smelling mostly a warm sweet vanilla scent, with some of the ginger candy coming through.  I remember it used to be more complex and this decant has faded a lot over time, but the scent is still there, more than I would have expected. 

After a while I think the leaf and wood notes are coming out a bit more.  Still very vanilla forward.  I think I'm getting more of the complexity that I remember when it was newer.  I think I can pick out the rice wine, too.  

Wear your decants while they're young and fresh, if you can!  But having said that, this isn't bad at all.