gentle-twig

In bottle: Someone said this reminded them of paint thinner and I have to agree Wet on skin: Cloves and a dark, smoky background. Not campfire smoke, but something more sinister. Dry on skin: A rich clove scent (not husky or dusty) sweetened with frakincense with a barely there dark bitterness in the background. I'm not familiar with tobacco tar, but this must be it. It doesn't smell like anything i know as tobacco. Later: The bitterness gives way to what is indeed a recognizable tobacco note, which merges with the other notes to form something seductive and slightly sweet but so far from foody or cloying It gives me kind of a feminine vibe, which I'm really surprised by, but I think that a man (like me!) could also pull it off. I'm testing this at the same time as Dead Leaves and Tobacco and SN Bonfire and this is definitely the sexiest of the bunch and, I think, my favorite. This scent is intense -- intensely dark and intensely seductive. Certainly a bottle to be reserved for special occasions, but I am so happy to have one. Frankincense can be iffy on me but this blend really makes me a believer. Enemies of clove need beware, I'm afraid, but luckily I adore cloves in all forms. The tobacco is really a supporting player, so if you are a fan of frankincense or clove, I'd take a chance on this incredible blend.

Not lavender, but I always use Lenus Mars as a sleep blend and it opens with a very strong chamomile, although as it dries down the ambergris begins to dominate (no complaints here about that).

How about: The Cat: Sleek, black, dark, and clever: benzoin, honey, cedar, and dark musk. I find it to be light but long lasting, an anamalic and slightly incense-y honey. Benzoin is a note you might like since you like vanilla! Lysander: Lilac musk, tonka, wood violet, and urbane lime rind, with a Venus-kissed tangle of myrtle, blackberry leaf, and benzoin. Lilac and Benzoin are the stand-out notes on me, both of which seem to fit the bill. The lime is present but not overwhelming and dries out quickly. Also, I would suggest tobacco scents in general if you haven't tried many! I find tobacco to be sweet but interesting and usually long-lasting.

This is an almost foody cinnamon blend. Actually, it is foody and I just need to make peace with the fact that there is a foody blend I actually enjoy. At the same time, it's clear that you're not actually smelling cinnamon rolls, just something that suggests them. The cinnamon is the main player but doesn't dominate and the copal and honeysuckle merge to form a sweet, golden, slightly resinous backdrop. The myrrh is nowhere to be found on me, which is a shame, but Chimera doesn't really suffer for it. This doesn't morph at all. I find it layers well with Anne Bonny to bring out the resinous quality of the copal.

This starts off as a very ozonic absinthe. It's very interesting and slightly unpleasant. The laudanum (opium) emerges, bringing the voltage down just a bit. It's becoming a little more my speed as the ozone gives way to the depth of the laudanum. Eventually a resinous backdrop appears, grounding the other notes. There is something strangely appealing about this blend to me.

This opens as a smooooooooooth, creamy, slightly husky (from the clove) musk, but is quickly brightened by what must be the neroli and maybe a bit of a woody bite from the opoponax. This is the only blend I've gotten from the lab with Siberian musk, but I would compare it to brown or maybe red musk. Alas, the black pepper is nowhere to be seen on me! As it mellows, the musk backs into harmony with the opoponax and neroli, creating a warm but slightly bitter bouquet with just a hint of that same mysterious brightness. Pretty gender neutral, not too heavy and not too light. Definitely lighter than I was expecting, given the notes. This is nice, but not exciting enough for a bottle since I already have some similar blends that have a little more edge. However, if you're looking for a dark, slinky musk but are overwhelmed by, say, Satyr, this might be a good option! ETA: After about 4 hours this gets strangely smoky?? I'm not sure why. But afterwards it settles back into a subtle, smooth musk.

Perhaps: Tamora? Amber, heliotrope, golden sandalwood, peach blossom and vanilla bean. or Belle Vinu (currently out of stock)? Red sandalwood, vanilla, rosewood, osmanthus, and white peach

Titania (A nocturnal bounty of fae dew-kissed petals and pale fruits: white grape, white peach, iced pear, musk rose, sweet pea, moonflower and snapdragon) is the closest thing I can think of. I haven't tried either Titania or L'eau Cheap and Chic, though.

The Cat is a gorgeous honey-tinged slightly musky incense. It's the only honey scent from bpal that I have been able to wear. The only thing I can compare it to is O, but it is somehow simultaneously darker and less heavy/soporific than O. ETA: @Fury - this might be a good O alternative! Three of the four notes that seem to respond very differently on different skin (honey, dark musk, and cedar -- benzoin seems to be a safer bet for a lot of people), but on me it is the closest blend to O that I have tried.

I would like to second Sprout's recommendation! Lenus Mars is just great. On me it is a little more animalic than herbal (the musk dominates and then gives way to ambergris), but the chamomile sticks around in a supporting role.

I have fallen in love with several of BPAL's simpler blends. I do have a few more complicated favorites, but I find that trying out blends with 2-3 notes is great for figuring out the personality of each and how that can change in different combinations. Plus there is really just a poetry to the complexity that some of these blends conjure from 2 oils. Some favorites: Sloth - vetiver and myrrh (probably my favorite bpal!) Malediction - vetiver and patchouli (a little abrasive but so interesting in an almost anti-perfume way, even though these notes are both classic perfume staples) The Cat - honey, dark musk, benzoin, and cedar (a little more complicated, but still has the personality of some of the lab's simpler blends for me. each note is clearly discernible and the interplay between them is captivating) Sometimes simple blends can be a little underwhelming for me (as in the case of Anne Bonny), but often they are just magical.

Spooky Action at a Distance is a great "floriental" -- rose tinged resins, with a bit of a dusty vibe. A gorgeous take on "old lady" perfume, to be honest. I'm testing Chimera as I type this. It seems to get a lot of love around here and I can see why. It's about as close to a traditional oriental as I have encountered from BPAL. I honestly don't get a floral note, but many people do get the honeysuckle based on reviews. I get mostly copal warmed by cinnamon with myrrh hanging on in the background and maybe the faintest touch of floral sweetness. A really smooth and spicy, slightly floral oriental.

This one doesn't excite me. It starts out an austere sandalwood and is slowly warmed by the frankincense and patchouli, but these (with the exception of the frankincense for just a moment) never really come into their own. Not by any means unpleasant, but it doesn't seem like a stand-alone scent. I do think it would be good to add a little depth to other oils that could use it, though.

I am not the person to be giving you recommendations based on your favorite/unfavorite notes but I'm testing the Cat right now and it's a pretty interesting animalic honey (+benzoin, which you don't list but seems like it would fit in with your other favorite notes, also cedar) if you ever want to get ~experimental~

Posting in case anyone ever happens to be looking: I tried a sample of Dior Homme Intense today and although the online reviews tend to emphasize the "lipsticky" iris opening, on me this is really an ambrette bomb. It reminds me of the ambrette in the recent Luper Seated Couple Leaning on Hips. This is the only ambrette scent I've tried from the lab, but here are some others that are currently available and might be similar to DHI: Aperotos Eros: benzoin, Indian musk, massoia bark, myrrh, ambrette seed, galbanum, bergamot, and fir. Bilquis: Honey, myrrh, lily of the valley, rose otto, fig leaf, almond, ambrette, red apple, and warm musk. Hal: Saffron-infused bourbon vanilla, blackened honey, Kashmir wood, Atlas cedar, ambrette seed, hay, and Egyptian jasmine absolute.

Opens with florals forward, with rose and champaca being dominant on me. Frankincense peaked its head out and I was expecting it to take over but then it disappeared completely, yielding to the balsam. Something mildly vanillic comes out (?) and then this seems to dry down to a myrrh and juuuuuust detectable florals (still rose, but now hyssop and maybe narcissus are there, as well). At first I thought this was a definite no, but upon my second test I decided it's okay after all. I love myrrh, but whatever kind is used here is not exactly the deep, brooding resin that I'm used to. Still, it is nice, actually beautiful and majestic. I can understand the religious/mystical character of this, but it's less church incense on me and more like a vision of a goddess in a classical epic. Not for me, but it could be for you if you can pull off a very serious/solemn (without being dark), moderately feminine rose/resin blend. ETA: After some brief research, I realized that cananga is another name for ylang-ylang, which, now that I think about it, is definitely what is reining in the myrrh. Also, my fellow enemies of rosewood (palisander) should have nothing to fear from this blend.

I actually haven't tried any in your top 5, but something tells me that Ava probably smells something like the white musk/floral/fruit combination of Katharina, which, like Tamora, contains orange blossom.

I've had this for a while and never reviewed it. I tried it when I first got it as a frimp a few months ago and liked it but didn't much of it. Retested today and I'm so glad I did because this has to be one of my favorite BPALs I've tried yet. It starts out with a typical BPAL vetiver flash of smokiness, but the vetiver dries down to a deep, bitter, green earthiness. The myrrh appears immediately after the smoky vetiver moment is over as a sort of cedar-adjacent wood and dries down to such a nice, broad, sweet but dry resin. There is something so sophisticated in the simplicity of this blend. There are only two notes but I've had it on for 8 hours at this point. The two notes combine to form a deep, dark scent without either note dominating. Late late LATE in the game a little smoke comes out again. I would recommend this to anyone who likes either of the listed notes, as they are both very much present, as well as to anyone who got into BPAL, as I did, to learn about perfume notes. This blend really shows off both vetiver and myrrh to their best advantage and I will probably be buying a bottle of this in my next order.

This starts out very green and bitter. I think it is the ferns (which I am not familiar with) mixing with the black currant, which I blame for turning Bordello a little too bitter on me. However, once this dries down, the bitterness all but disappears and the greenness steps (slightly) aside to let the lilac shine aided oh so subtly by the rose. I find that rose doesn't work well on me as the main note in a blend but can be a great supporting player (see also: Spooky Action at a Distance) and that is certainly the case here. The greenness sticking around almost feels like I layered this scent with The Dormouse, to give a comparison. I'm not sure that I can detect the sugar or the absinthe at all. Lilac and rose both tend to be sweet florals and that is true in this blend, as well. However, this isn't really any sweeter than I would expect it to be and the ferns keep the sweetness from being overwhelming. Absinthe may be a part of the slight bitterness that remains in the background, but it definitely isn't identifiable (not that that would be a bad thing, for me). This isn't really my thing, but I'm glad the lab sent me the frimp and I'll definitely wear it when I need a dash of heady springtime air.

i literally don't know how to review aquatics but this is the saltiest aquatic i have tried. it doesn't really fit the inspiration for me because this feels happy and playful, but that's not a bad thing. probably my favorite aquatic i've tried, but that's not saying much.

this starts out all sake. i understand the lemonade comparisons because there is a sharp tartness here that is reminiscent of citrus. there is actually almost nothing else at first and after the blast of sake there is almost nothing going on after a few minutes. however, after a while the musk really starts to bloom. i have always thought the other skin musk blends from the lab smelled somehow damp and indeed this is a sort of wet, delicate, slightly sweet musk. i don't really detect the ambrette seed, but a little research tells me that ambrette seed used to be used as an alternative to musk, so it's possible that it is blending in with what i would interpret as the skin musk. i would guess that it is sweetening things up just a little bit here. the sake thankfully sticks around and has almost the effect of a dry wood (even thoug i know that sounds crazy), really keeping things from getting too sweet and musky. so in the end i guess this smells sort of wet and dry at the same time, which is exactly what i would want from a boozy blend (this is my first). i'm not sure how much i will be wearing this before the weather warms up, but this feels like a great, refreshing, clean-but-interesting blend for warm weather.

I know exactly what you mean about the green stems. Yes, this is a salty aquatic, but the wateriness of it along with a vague botanical feeling reminds me of the water from a vase of flowers. I've had this for a while and at first it really didn't work on me. It turned into some sort of a cat pee-adjacent scent. After a few months, though, this is really a nice, somewhat straightforward aquatic with just a hint of something else along the edges adding a bit of complexity. This is very much not my kind of scent, but if you like aquatic and clean scents and are looking for something with a touch of darkness and mystery, this is for you.

the grave pig!

(2014) i spilled some of this while putting it on yesterday and ... wow what a wild ride. this starts off SCREAMING sufganiyot. not being one for foodie scents, i was a little disappointed. within minutes the doughnutiness of it all died down a bit and the olive came to the front. olive sometimes goes funky on me and unfortunately that was the case here (although if i weren't wearing so much it may have been a nice delicate fuitiness). luckily, the fig and pomegranate came out, brightening the olive, and followed by the candlewax. the candlewax in combination with the fig and olive created a nice deep fruity sweetness with still a bit of juicy brightness. after about an hour the amber /finally/ came out and it was all smiles from there. on my sweater today (two days later) the amber and sufganiyot are still very strong, but smell great together. this is kind of a strange scent. not quite fruity, not quite a typical amber scent, not quite fruity, but it is nice and would be especially good on someone who gets along with olive. i should also add that the amber in this is an incredible, bright amber on me. not powdery at all. definitely worth a try if you're curious.

Fig, oakmoss, mushroom caps, and patchouli. figgy figgy piggy the fig is really strong upon application, but the patchouli and some sort of soft earthiness (not sure if this is from the oakmoss, mushroom caps, or both) are definitely present in the background. this isn't much of a morpher. the fig fades back into balance with the patchouli, but all of the elements noticeable upon application are present throughout the drydown. great last. i have been having a lot of luck with simpler bpals recently and this is no exception. this is not really anything super remarkable, but it is playful, pretty, and very wearable. a nice, cozy, figgy, patchouli. also, my favorite jacket smells like iago permanently because i wear it all the time and these two play /well/ together