annemathematics

I was drawn to this because so many of the listed notes are new to me and my nose. I wondered if I would smell of girly nachos (maize?!?!) yet never once did I worry I would smell bad. wet and in the imp I smell cocoa and vetiver. nutty and chewy and yum. as it dries down a lovely creamy almost custardy white floral[?] rises up. the cocoa dries down to a more liqueur-y cacao and is a player in the base rather than a stand-out attention whore. if I huff my wrist looking for the maize, I can find it. more of a soft, wet masa mix than straight up corn or chips. when I assume a civilized posture, the maize, like the cacao, blends in. in fact, the whole thing is a straight up lovely blend, bright and sweet and clean at the top with a warm rich base. this scent more than any other bpal I've encountered shifts dramatically based on what I wearing with it. if I'm wearing something deep or resiny, it holds it's own. but if I sniff it next to or after something girly or floral, then the top notes disappear and the base notes turn sharp and bitter. it shifts between a fluffy white pampered kitten and a hissing, mangy stray in a piss-soaked alley depending on its neighbor. I do very much like this scent. fun, lovely, educational. I would adore it also as an atmo/linen spray. eta 6 months later, this is one of my most-reached for GC's. this was a pretty smooth blend when it arrived, but it's come together so much more. it has the best elements of a foodie scent or a floral blend, but with this combination it is neithr of those at all. strange, wonderful and unique. a very wearable chocolate/cotton/resin perfume.

I love vetiver, so I was excited to get and try this. wet and in the imp I get candied dark lemony sweetness. on my skin the lemon is a supporting player (not as over the top as the lemon was for me in incantation) the vetiver comes out to play more on my wrist. at the elbow it's all dirty black musk. I know patchouli isn't listed here, but this is reminding me of smells in an indian spice and beauty shop in a way that I am imagining patch/sandalwood/neem/etc where there is black musk. this is a warm cologne from a warm faraway place, spicy and musky but with a lightness to it as well. I would say that the throw is between light and medium and balanced perfectly with the strength of the notes (leaves me enjoying what I have rather than being overwhelmed by the strength of it). this is a fun one. I won't reach for it everyday, but I will revisit it and will smear it upon willing friends to see how it shifts on different chemistries. eta 8/2016 to say that my initial imps aged divinely and this was upgraded to a beautiful big bottle. the black musk and honey combo is absolutely stunning. I can't pull off every bpal honey note but whatever is in this one is lovely on me.

this was the bpal honey that gave me an epiphany as to why one would wear a honey scent in the first place. it is strong, has a throw that will reach out to a passerby and draw him/her in, and it lasts. warm and strong, floral and musky and sexy. close to the limit of over the top. this is probably what kathleen turner's characters wore in body heat and the man with two brains. I wore the out on the town, and it brought several people to me nose first. other honey scents I tried seemed to stay true to their scent and not shift, while this one really blends with my chemistry. I wouldn't wear this all the time, but I'm glad to have it in my arsenal. I've got a bottle on the way with a possible back up on my mind. rip chestnut honey!

kitty smells like the strawberry sister of mouse's long and sad tale. the strawberry is strongest in the bottle and when wet, then drops back to blend in more in the drydown. there's a subtle touch of spice to the sandalwood. a nice, sweet, berry scent.

still waiting on my imp to try, but maybe ekhidna is another option. and I love boundless Vista. more tide-pool than swamp to my nose, and crazy delicious. edited to say that Faeu Boulanger is on etsy!

I didn't find La Befana's candy charcoal to be at all licorice-like. it's a light, sweet violet floral. if the yule's are still up tomorrow (my payday), I will prob get a backup. it's a very pretty perfume. not a tremendous amount of throw, but my favorite bpal violet scent to date.

it's so new and reviews are just coming in, but there's the clive barker sweets for the sweet that might be sugary enough for ya. and lemon-scented sticky bat is another sugary smell.

I was drawn to eldritch drunken constellations by the name and description, but assumed from seeing eucalyptus listed among the notes that the scent itself would be too pungent, camphoraceous, or medicinal for me to enjoy wearing it. I was wrong. completely off-base. this is bright and beautiful. the eucalyptus is gentle and, ah, strangely creamy?? and lightly citrusy. the scent is well-blended and I'm not really smelling the notes so much as I am the wonderful whole. energizing and refreshing. a little salty. not too much, just enough. it has a nice throw and lasts. bright and clean and swirling and lovely. my favorite surprise from the yules. I want to wear it on explorations and adventures.

the 2013 version sweet and bright and crisp and clean, like old-fashioned violet candies. one of my favorite yules and favorite bpal violet scents. a gentle scent. not a tremendous amount of throw and needs to be reapplied throughout the day. I don't get much of the dust or cypress. just beautiful candied flowers shining prettily from my skin. win!

this was my first ever bpal cookie perfume. I was intrigued by the lovely label and curious about caraway, I spice I love when it's not in rye bread. (I also love rye without the caraway, not that you asked.) huffed fresh from my mailbox, the caraway and orange stand out nicely over a background of gently sweetness. it's beautiful and beyond what I could have hoped. now that the perfume has settled a bit, the caraway and orange scents are no longer as bright and distinct. in the bottle yule cookies now has a tang to it, like the liquid that comes off of yogurt. orange buttermilk buttercream. on, it has a nice throw and smells like breaking open a warm-from-the-oven snickerdoodle. sweet, warm, tender, comforting, with a suggestion of spice. it lasts from before breakfast past lunch and I'm craving pastries the whole time. delicious! edited to say that I cannot stop huffing my wrist.

my nose isn't tuned enough to really describe this in the detail it deserves. I can't distinguish the notes enough to be more helpful. it is bright and sweet and there is a nice deeper element balancing it all out. it is playful and not half as weird as I was expecting/hoping. I adore this scent. a bottle now half empty, another one for backup. this is a beautiful and wearing it makes me happy. puts a spring in my step. I have noticed the deeper/muskier (fur chains smoke??) part come out a bit more as the weeks have passed. I feel like this is a dirtier, stranger la befana, even though the sweet notes in each are different.

a scent of candle wax warmed by flame filling a small, insidious room. this wax is the wax from House of Wax, texas chainsaw massacre, any creepy, low-budget or classic dramatic old horror film. it's unsettling and evil and I'm glad to have tried it but too timid to wear it again. this would make a brilliant room scent in a haunted house. pretending to be cozy and trying to hide the threat of danger coming to get you.

I'm so glad this exists. winter night bottled up to be enjoyed in any season or at any time of day. I blind bought a bottle, drawn to it by my love of nights outside under winter skies and my curiosity about a perfume featuring mugwort. for the first few weeks, it was as though the mugwort and the musk were two singers on the same stage, singing different songs and completely ignoring what the band was doing. the mugwort was funky and sticky and in my face. it reminded me a little of fresh white sage. the background of mandarin and rockrose and snow was surprisingly elegant. each part seemed unaware of the others. it was actually very nice (discordant, experimental, downtown 80's nyc) but left me wanting more...which time would so gracefully provide. the mugwort in the bottle is fresh, not dried or moxa-ish at all. I have to remind my self that there is musk in this. it doesn't stand out on me and doesn't go powdery. now that winter stars has settled, all the players have come together and the scent really is like being under a clear sky on a crispy, chilly night. the mugwort brings about a strong sense of calmness and clarity, reminding me that she's often used for divination and meditation. there is a slight hint of mugwort being herby-funky-medicinal. this witchy aspect, along with the beauty and elegance of the scent as a whole and it's power to invoke a long, clear winter's night make Winter Stars my future winter solstice smell of choice. sorry, to juan!, this is more my jam.

I blind bought a bottle of this, my first bpal book scent, because of my absurd devotion to picture books in all seasons. when it first arrived, the smell in the bottle was so buttery sugary that I couldn't bring myself to try it. this settled down within a week, and has completely changed several weeks later. (if anything I wouldn't mind a touch more of it returning) first applied, there is a light clear frosty sweetness (more like birch sap or maple candy than caramel to me) that doesn't stay full time. it goes away but returns now and again. what comes next is warm, familiar leather and paper. it doesn't smell identical any of my old picture books, but evokes them nonetheless. the scent is clean and cozy and beautiful. I get all of the excitement that comes from cracking a good book with the coziness of knowing that one is in a place safe from the severe weather and terrible conditions outside. this has come to be my favorite bedtime scent. I love reading to it and falling asleep to it. it's completely gone from my wrists by morning, but lingers nicely on sheets, etc (hellllloooooo trading post linen spray yes please). love this one. xxxoooxxx

I feel as if I've stumbled upon a tide pool filled with oozing rockrose and coconuts. the air is salty but not briny or fishy at all. the coconut provides a creamy texture and light sweetness rather than anything sunscreen- or cocktail-related. and the labdanum is thick and rich and gorgeous. this is one of my favorite of the yules and one of my favorite bpals. it has a good throw and lasts a long time. it smells completely new and entirely familiar at the same time. it's delicious to my nose but not at all foody. I love love love this one. I completely agree with bonebone24 when she says, "This is the kind of BPAL scent I absolutely love. It’s completely peculiar, it’s transformative, and somehow it manages to make the scary smell good." and with alphakitty's assessment, "I feel like a true Lovecraft scent should be weird and almost indescribable, which this definitely is. Not a scent for everyone, but my wrist ends up attached to my nose when I wear it."

this smells of camping in the woods. rich, fertile soil. the aftermath of a campfire. it's comforting and beautiful and I don't get a sense of terror or death. no desolation or despair. just dark, moist, lightly smokey, gently perfumed earth. this is a great scent for layering as it adds depth and richness to whatever else I'm wearing. I love it combined with winter stars and rose scents.

the vetiver, myrrh and oakmoss combine a rich, grounding, beautiful base. the ravinsara and verbena provide dizzying notes that fly about in a chaotic flurry. the madness comes from the pull between these two. I love this scent but I have noticed that wearing it puts my mind in a rather agitated state. it's brilliant. I imagine that listening the music of erich zann would be a similar experience, and please note that I have only read the story, never smelled the bpal scent, so I'm not comparing perfumes but commenting on the balance of beauty and crazy. horror unthinkable and unexpected provides both.

yay for Picture Books in Winter love. that is also a Yule favorite of mine.

lick it now is delicious sugar, vanilla, sugar, peppermint and more sugar. I acquired a decant just for the novelty and ended up buying a bottle because I love it so much. it is a beautiful blend. it was my gateway to bpal sugar scents, and led to me also snagging a bottle of go to sleep, darlings. la befana has a candied sweetness to it that is lovely, but not as strong as the other two. I can't wait for the carnival to come as I expect there will be a couple of crazy sugar blends.

I haven't tried any of the scents listed above (although I have a tko in my near future). one of my favorite yules, picture books in winter, has become my bedtime scent. it starts out gently sweet and then soft leather and paper scents emerge. there is to me a coziness and comfort in books-esp picture books--that this scent evokes so perfectly. I get pretty stressed out and anxious about everything, and this just wipes all of that away for me and replaces the worry with feelings of security and wonder and sense of calm. zzzzzz. before I'd ever tried bpal, I used to rub a drop of spikenard essential oil on my collarbones before bedtime. and drink a tea of licorice, lemonbalm and valerian. good luck!

one can go crazy staring at the reviews! reading them...searching for clues, guidance, answers...rereading them...closing the window and then opening it again and reading the reviews again. and again and again and again and again and again

I've only come to this whole bpal craze recently, but I think you should take the risk and go for the one that is calling you. usually one's gut KNOWS THINGS when reading the descriptions/forums/etc and MSUPC has the cream note that is also in the braving the ice that you are enjoying. for what it is worth, last night I went out to a show (metal bands in a warehouse!) wearing the lick it to test it further, and it had very little throw in that environment. I would get wafts of it now and again but not as strong I wanted (it's such a delicious smell that I want it loud and proud and obvious in my nose at all times). I wanted to be a candy-scented streak in the pit but the notes just hid in my hoodie. so follow your gut on this and get the one you most look forward to seeing when you open your mail. yum! please don't forget to review!

thank you so much TheIceMaiden for answering my question. Ichigo, I received on thursday a decant of LIN. I put a small drop on one wrist friday morning when I woke up. it sadly disappeared within the hour. I hopped on my bike and rode to work and that little bit of physical activity revived it enough that it was back up in full glory and it was still going 6 hours later when I put something else on over it. it was a perfect pure peppermint/sugar/vanilla that I didn't know I needed in my life until then/now. I'm in love again. it mostly hung out in my aura. didn't travel across the room. I would love to compare it to MSUPC. I've had mixed luck with cream/food notes on me, so might just get a bottle of this. EXERCISE. I'm going to try this with all of the oils that quickly fade on me. edited to say that this morning I tested a gingerbread scent that was fine on my wrist but made the skin in my elbow ditch red and tingly. I applied a drop of LIN and it cooled the skin instantly. three hours later and I can still smell the mint/vanilla/sugar. seems to have overpowered the gingerbread's notes rather than combined with them.

I wore both of those scents today. The mint faded out fast on both. Lick It Now lasted, in total, about an hour on my wrist. Peppermint Creams lasted about six hours. I've also been craving a mint scent! theicemaiden, I know LIN is more mint with sugar/ vanilla, and MSUPC has almond, but could you describe the difference between the mint aspects of the scents? are they both peppermint or does one venture into wintergreen/ spearmint/ etc territory? is one sharper/ milder/ brighter than the other? thank you!