gentle-twig

This is mostly about the citrus for me, perhaps mixed but mostly LEMON! The amber and heliotrope sweeten it up and I get the impression of a lemon cough drop, only with more depth and complexity. I think the amber is really keeping this from going into commercial cleaner territory despite its subtlety. The aldehydes make this feel open and airy where it could go all sticky otherwise. At times they read a touch soapy but mostly they just make the scent feel bright and make this one pretty addictive for me. I have been loving using this as an air freshener in my bathroom, where the squeaky clean elements feel right at home. I don’t get anything metallic at all.

Agree with others about the greige/pink vibe of this scent. The dead leaves are there but staying in their lane, not pulling citrus but feeling light and fluttery and just a tad husky. As far as DL blends go it reminds me of October or October 32 but in a musky vanilla direction that opens cool and airy and dries down to something like a felted millennial pink frosted cookie on a wooden table. Cooler and thicker than October; leaner, more outdoorsy, and less soapy than October 32. I thought this lacked interest at first but the more I wear my decant the more it is growing on me and feeling more complex and interesting in its surprising woody nuances.

This one is really nice. The dead leaves don’t really read as such to me here. The Néroli/petitgrain that is in that accord comes to the fore in wonderful harmony with the creamy lilies. There may be a hint of something brown and toffee-ish that I get from many of the “browner” dead leaves blends, but it might be a facet of the beeswax at play. The beeswax is definitely a major player, but I wouldn’t necessarily be able to pin it down as beeswax. Nothing funky, just round, slightly creamy sweetness. Dead Leaves, Funeral Lilies, and Beeswax Candles actually reminds me a lot of Elizabeth Taylor Sparkling White Diamonds, only less sharp and warmer. I think this is totally viable as a personal scent on clothing, but I have also enjoyed it as a warm, golden, yet creamy floral room scent.

I previously received a mislabeled decant that was supposed to be zombie flash but was (probably) pumpkin trash bags. The decanter kindly replaced that decant but I find Zombie Flash puzzling even now. This is definitely the right scent now, the mushrooms and ink are clearly present. But otherwise Zombie Flash is quite surprising! In the opening I get something quite sharp that I struggle to identify, possibly a “shampoo” style musk wedded to a subtle floral? The ink is there as well, and clashes discordantly with whatever that sharp note is. There is also a deep sweetness present that recalls decomposition and just a hint of moss, giving an impression of mildew. I find this jumble quite unsettling, and it could almost belong to this year’s Yellow Wallpaper collection but for that dark ink note. Soon I get something almost indolic before the ink and mushroom really start to come into their own. This was the point at which I thought “yep, this is definitely the right one this time.” The sweetness starts to come to the fore while also smelling less off-putting. Now there is a distinct tart fruity quality. I had wondered whether brains might be a gummy candy accord before I tried Zombie flash, and this is the closest ZF comes to that preconception. The scent begins to get mossier around the edges but never really loses that fruity quality. It kinda just gets softer until it fades away. Overall, well, I don’t like ZF that much. Its clean facets and decomposing facets come together in a way that is just too uncanny together. I was hoping for graveyard dirt and ink, but this all about the mushrooms and brains. I hope that more people try it and review it because I have a hard time making sense of this one and I hope it is a more coherent and beautiful experience for others !

I previously received a mislabeled decant that was supposed to be zombie flash but was (probably) pumpkin trash bags. The decanter kindly replaced that decant but I find Zombie Flash puzzling even now. This is definitely the right scent now, the mushrooms and ink are clearly present. But otherwise Zombie Flash is quite surprising! In the opening I get something quite sharp that I struggle to identify, possibly a “shampoo” style musk wedded to a subtle floral? The ink is there as well, and clashes discordantly with whatever that sharp note is. There is also a deep sweetness present that recalls decomposition and just a hint of moss, giving an impression of mildew. I find this jumble quite unsettling, and it could almost belong to this year’s Yellow Wallpaper collection but for that dark ink note. Soon I get something almost indolic before the ink and mushroom really start to come into their own. This was the point at which I thought “yep, this is definitely the right one this time.” The sweetness starts to come to the fore while also smelling less off-putting. Now there is a distinct tart fruity quality. I had wondered whether brains might be a gummy candy accord before I tried Zombie flash, and this is the closest ZF comes to that preconception. The scent begins to get mossier around the edges but never really loses that fruity quality. It kinda just gets softer until it fades away. Overall, well, I don’t like ZF that much. Its clean facets and decomposing facets come together in a way that is just too uncanny together. I was hoping for graveyard dirt and ink, but this all about the mushrooms and brains. I hope that more people try it and review it because I have a hard time making sense of this one and I hope it is a more coherent and beautiful experience for others !

October surprised me. I don’t get anything cold or cologney, just a classic DL (perhaps a little sharper than average) over sap and light spices. The sap is doing that resin buttery thing and is slightly sweet. I suspect that there’s styrax at work here, but it’s also more complex than just styrax. This is one of those scents that you apply and then forget about and then an hour or two later are struck by its beauty! By then spices start to sizzle at the edges of the scent and it is just an atmospheric, autumnal delight. There is a definite family resemblance with Samhain, but October is leaner, lighter (in both hue and weight). It feels perfect for those sere autumn days splashed with slanting light. In my collection, I already have last year’s Dead Leaves, Black Tea, and Bergamot, and October 32. I don’t think I would reach for this over those, but if you have tried October 32 and didn’t vibe with the clean sweater accord there or found the amber too cloying, October is your girl.

I love witch flash ! It sits in that frizzly place where incense and spices come together, with a little extra earthiness and tattoo ink to make things a little edgier. The tattoo ink feels a little bit sharper than the ink note I’m used to, but it’s definitely related. Otherwise I get sandalwood, patchouli, and a little frankincense that gives it that spicy “sparkle” overlap with the warm spices that are also here. There’s other stuff going on too, and it definitely has some mystery notes in common with GC Baba Yaga. That scent is one I keep an imp of around because it fascinates me but ultimately feels unwearable for me. THIS on the other hand feels just beautiful despite some elements (almost industrial ink, bitter spices, gnarly patchouli) that threaten to go harsh. And it makes me feel more like myself. The definite winner out of my weenie decants.

Starts with graveyard dirt, surrounded by that cool glow from Dorian and warmed by Snake Oil’s spices. Their shared vanilla then comes to the fore. I love the combination of cool vanilla and spiced soil ! As it progresses there is a gradual darkening and warming of the vanilla note, while the clean fougere aspects of Dorian come out to play. I always think there is a clean aspect to graveyard dirt’s moss, and this just amps that part of the scent up. But there is still an undercurrent of ever warmer vanilla and spices. Eventually the warming element here becomes legible as musks and patchouli and for a moment I love it. The patchouli in particular is deep dark and sultry, but somehow retains a lot of what I like about lighter versions of this note that I’ve encountered in other SO variants. I notice the ambient musks start to turn a little weird and then—horror of horrors—something in Hiss and Hearse turns sour. I’m talking vinegar level, almost ammonia sour. NOOOOOOO!! As an enjoyer of Dorian and Graveyard Dirt this was checking a lot of boxes for me before things went south. I am gonna hold onto this decant and hope things improve !

This one is much more than the sum of its parts. It is at once recognizable as a “perfume” of a familiar genre (spiced amber) and also evocative of the landscape in the poem, replete with dead grasses and leaves, and stiff, blackened seed heads. I don’t even really want to discuss notes here because none of them dominate, but I suppose the most important are the black amber and the khus on my skin. There was some combination up top that was momentarily unpleasant, probably the dead leaves with the chrysanthemum. But even that felt very reminiscent of a damp, dying landscape. The rest is straightforwardly gorgeous, deep but not overwhelming. I find this to be one of the driest (in terms of sweetness) amber blends from BPAL I have tried: a dark brown amber with almost bitter spicy, incense, and green elements. It is all melancholic beauty that is difficult to put into words. — My boyfriend immediately asked what I was wearing when I walked into the room he was in and told me he really liked it. So I guess there is a lot of throw right off the bat. He also said that it reminded him of magazine perfume strips from the 90s (?). Maybe CK Obsession ? — As this has settled, an unlisted musk has emerged and it is now reminding me of several “masculine” leaning green (and imo also musk) blends I have and love from the lab—like a warmer, more outdoorsy and less overtly masculine version of “Mars and Venus” with its amber and stealth “velvet” musk or an ambery, again less overtly masculine version of “Lu Zhishen Pulls the Weeping Willow Upside Down” with its pillowy musk topped with just-bitter green notes. So, yes, I definitely enjoy this one as well, but there may be too much overlap for me to keep it around. If you enjoy those blends but found them too harsh and cold, or want a little bit of spice or dried leaves and grasses instead of moss or wood or patchouli, this one is for you.

This one has smelled a little different each time I’ve worn it, but I’m sensing enough consistency that I am gonna wager a review. On my skin this is distinctly an amber blend, but kind of amber+. There is tea deepening and balancing what could be a too toffee sweet amber note, and to that is added a really effective use of the lab’s dead leaf note, here reading brown and crunchy instead of green as they often do (although they are recognizable BPAL DL). Around this amber, we have a variety of paler, more atmospheric notes. The sweater is a scratchy wool accord that I can’t sense most of the time, but to it clings a gardenia perfume (some may say drier sheets, but I welcome this wonderful flower, a similar gardenia can be found in GC Crossroads). In my first test, I also got a distinct mothball note, which made me laugh. Luckily, it has subsided. The cream is a subtle but real presence, and I think there is also some aldehydes here, furthering the “who’s wearing that perfume” vibe and also giving a sense of openness and airiness. The impression I get is of big, crunchy brown sycamore leaves against a bright but overcast sky. Perfect for November ! I have been jokingly calling this Odeur 32 in reference to Comme des Garçons’ Odeur line, because it’s kind of like a BPAL version of those airy harmonies of offbeat notes. This is doing some of what Dead Leaves and Tobacco did back in 2014, but better. It is not very similar to last year’s Dead Leaves, Bergamot, and Black tea or to the other tea and amber blend in my collection, A Cup of Tea in the Verandah. Glad to have this one, especially as it provides that craveable BPAL gardenia in a more wearable package than I’ve encountered before.

I may not be the best person to post the first review this home and linen spray, as I have never tried the classic perfume version and this is only my second atmo, maybe a decade after I used up my first. But here goes. I figured this was a safe blind buy for me because I love the lab's dirt notes in more complex blends, but even so I was alarmed at the realism here fresh out of the mail. It smelled not only dirty, but distinctly damp. I was worried that as a room spray it may read as mildew. Still, there was something very appealing about this fragrance. I thought as I sniffed it that I would certainly never spray it on my bed linens, but then the next day I couldn't resist. Now that the bottle had some days to settle, the damp aspect is less prominent. It certainly smells like potting soil right away, but the "grave loam" seems to really be more of a top note, as it yields to a drier, dustier dirt note underneath and a good dose of moss. In between, there is the briefest moment of an unexpected but not unpleasant buttery impression (perhaps a resin of some kind?). I actually find this moment a great relief because that moist top note still has scared me with every spray! As for the less ephemeral experience of the scent: there is something about moss notes that always reads as clean to me, from the sometimes soapy vintage oak moss, to the now more ubiquitous tree moss that often reminds me of the scent of crisp winter air. I can't say for sure, but I feel that the moss here leans in more of a contemporary tree moss direction, although I may also be reading the inkier aspects of oak moss as part of the soil accord. Anyway, the moss here is the secret ingredient for me. It adds a sparkling impression and transforms Graveyard Dirt atmosphere spray from mere humdrum and possibly unpleasant realism into the realm of perfume fantasy to me. Yes, dirt. But glamorous dirt! A forest floor you can happily lounge upon without fear of scuffs and stains. As for strength, I think this is just right. Again, it's difficult for me to say how it compares to other home and linen sprays from the lab. A few sprays will fill the room momentarily, but the lingering scent is more subtle. This definitely plays well with other incenses and candles I might be burning, and has a persistent, pleasantly subtle presence for days on rugs and fabrics. But I also have been indulging in additional sprays whenever I do a little cleaning task in my bedroom. I'm obsessed. As is my boyfriend. I was wary of spraying it initially because I wasn't sure how he would feel about it, but he loves it and I'm now considering getting him a bottle of the perfume version for his birthday.

This one is so strange. I have gone through most of an imp just trying to pin it down. Those broom twigs must be cinnamon, because the cinnamon comes on STRONG and dominates for at least half an hour or so, mingling with a strange pale scent that indeed evokes the color of moths, before yielding to a cold, soapy scent. I get subtle gardenia and yes a little bit of metal. I also think the moss is contributing to the soap quality. But there is more going on here, yielding something smooth, creamy, moonlit. But yes, in a nice way, soapy. I think there is also a touch of frankincense (could this be the “spell” doing the soaking?) and the whole accord reminds me of a softer, creamier, more overtly feminine version of Hermès Caleche at this point. As far as the patchouli goes, I can believe it’s there but it doesn’t draw attention. It’s more like a screen laid over the whole of the composition. I think if the cinnamon weren’t so redolent of seasonal candles and decor, I would like this much more. As it is, I remain ambivalent and intrigued. P.S. Definitely no pineapple for me and my closest BPAL association is Crossroads—that same gardenia note, but much more subtle here. I think I ultimately like Crossroads better but find Baba Yaga more wearable for myself.

Impressionistically: A wind blows over the desert. It is night, but the heat of the day lingers. Above, the stars shine, below the sand sparkles. You are a hermit, and you are French. The wind brings with it the scent of the formal garden in which you have ensconced yourself, turning a wild oasis into an ordered landscape of stiff hedges. More regular style: Puckery galbanum against a jet black yet somehow airy background. I get a weird peanut butter effect for about 5 minutes shortly after application (the woods and resins doing something weird?) but it dissipates without a trace. Further along in the drydown, the “airy” quality somehow reveals itself to be a play of amber and opoponax—how?! This is one of the lab’s lighter ambers, similar to some of the ambers that were deployed in this year’s Lupers (Lesbian Maidservants, Mars and Venus). And yes there is a subtle sparkly mineralic component, brightening the scent (along with the bright galbanum—black my foot). I would describe the overall mood of this as abstract, detached, meditative but with an active edge. Angular, architectural, but with an atmospheric quality. Slightly masculine, and I have been loving in hot weather. Definitely FB worthy for me, in part because it’s so unlike other BPALs I’ve smelled, almost in line with a CDG fragrance.

God help you now that the con is over, because I'm sorry to say I love this. I don't necessarily want my hair gloss to be doing the most. I mostly use it as a hair product in part of my wash routine, but gotta get the BPAL goodness wherever I can, right? Sometimes HGs really can overwhelm, though. This one doesn't. It's present but soft and will play nice with your other scents. And it is so lovely. Atmospheric, wistful, and interesting. I get a very modern misty veil of fir, sage, and salt, hovering in front of a more opaque vintage-y orris and moss. The latter accord is just kissed with the amber and cooled by the stone, recalling for me Mars & Venus from this year's Lupers if it were a take on a vintage women's perfume instead of a men's powerhouse cologne. That being said, the elements in question have long been co-opted by unisex and even masculine fragrances (Dior Homme, anyone?), so long-haired gentlemen need not feel qualms, especially with that fir, sage, and sea spray keeping things from becoming too boudoir. As a post-shower product, this is just right. Clean without being soapy, perhaps a touch of spa or salon but in a way that can also yield to the romantic visions of the inspiration. And yes, I do feel that this captures the idea of "glaucous," like the bloom on a grape or a plum, is it matte or glossy, light or dark?

Just a short review for this one — it’s not really for me but I can see it being for many other people. This is a skin scent that gives a matte, slightly sweet and buttery, taupe impression. In turns it is spicy, smoky, powdery. I was hoping for a distinctive oolong tea note, and while I can hunt for a kind of milk oolong nuance, it’s really a small part of a very unified blend. If you are looking for a subtle, versatile “signature scent” type fragrance and have tastes that veer toward sweet, powdery, creamy, ambers with subtle smoke and spice you will enjoy this. Even I enjoy it but I don’t find it inspiring. I will say I hate tonka typically and am totally fine with this blend. Huh!