sprout

Wet, this starts off like fruity wine coolers, overly ripe fruit and cheap wine.

 

Fortunately, it quickly rights itself to bubbly champagne with apple flavor dominant and melon just at the limit of detection. I only appreciate the melon note with my nose because my eye spied it reading the notes. This is lovely: fizzy, just sweet enough, and lasts much longer than I would have predicted. The throw is less than average but this isn't a skin scent only.

 

Despite having many Apple scents, I'll be getting a bottle of this as I don't have anything like it. Tres magnifique!

This is vanilla kissed lavender with a hint of clove for me. This differs from TKO in being more sweet, less herbal, and more ethereal (soft, fuzzy). I am hoping to hoard this as a sleep scent: definitely shooting to my top 5 favorites.

Hearth 2005 for me is very smoky

This is perfect! I wish I'd purchased a big bottle of this. It smells like Pumpkin Spice caramel popcorn! The creaminess of the butter or cream accord balanced the spice notes. As an atmosphere spray, my skin doesn't turn the cream into spoiled milk. Be warned, it made me crave popcorn and so I had to pop some right away.

No egg note detected. This may be my favorite of the Weenies I've tried this year.

Well, like the eponomymous Pumpkin Spice Latte, this was mostly Pumpkin Spice without the actual gourd itself at the start but all strawberry cream in the dry phase. The red currant helps the strawberry pop and contributed to the juicy quality at the heart.

 

To be honest, I was hoping for more strawberry and more throw but I'm willing to cellar it to see if that helps. This smells more like strawberry cream hard candies (think Lifesavers brand) than cotton candy. No regrets, I'm keeping my bottle. This is my first Pumpkin Floss to try and I'm looking forward to acquiring more!

This was predominantly cardamom for me although the orange and mango were more in evidence when I first sprayed it. If you are worried about the neroli taking this into masculine territory, it doesn't. For such a fruity sounding blend from the notes, it's surprisingly dry smelling.

 

More spice than fruit. I really like this. The musk is delightful too. It isn't a red musk, it's more golden

This starts with a strong Dead Leaves note, bell peppers is how my nose reads it but no matter it quickly settled into something resembling dead leaves. The leather gives it a pungent edge.

 

For the record, my skin noms leather, so if there is any present, it never had a chance.

 

Drying the balsam lends a hint of green and resin but orris is the star. This is Bone dry but sweet and ethereal, like a ghost hug.

 

The Dead Leaves aren't too sharp or screeching. The balsam suggests evergreens were once present. This evokes dry bones rattled by ghostly drafts in an abandoned barn. I couldn't pick out the mums or leather but I think they add to the impression of high Plains.

 

Concept nailed. If you enjoy orris, this will likely satisfy, but if you wanted leather, there isn't much here. I can layer, as I have more than a few cowboy leather scents so I'm okay with that. It takes a metric ton of leather to detect it on my skin so I'm not surprised but I do wish this had a touch more.

 

I will be keeping my bottle and besides, the artwork is adorbs.

Oooh thanks everybody! Lots of good stuff here. I have tried Black Forest, Dracul, Yggdrasil, and The Jersey Devil. The last two were close but not quite sweet enough! I'll see if I can't track down an imp of Przeczucie!

I should have mentioned this earlier but Organ Grinder is actually my favorite sweet pine scent. I prefer the new one but try aged: it's a not quite gourmand but sweet pine with tobacco. Also, Doc Constantine is sweet foresty Musk, but it's fir not pine.

 

And, I almost forgot about Jupiterian Phoenix.

 

Other, wild card recs are Gacela of the Dark Death, Ronde du Sabbat, Voodoo, Blithe Hollow, Moons of Jupiter: Metis, Arkham, Thanatopsis, This is Your Wilderness.

Jersey Devil or Golden Priapus are sweeter forest scents

Troll is quite sweet on me, but you must be agreeable to the clove

Prezeczuci is lovely sweet pine with a hint of smoke

Ranger is quite foresty as well

Alright folks .... I'm looking for something similar to Montale Dark Purple for a friend of mine, and I swear the scent notes read just like a BPAL LE I have (but I'm at work and can't go through my spreadsheet right now).

 

Scent Notes for Dark Purple, from Fragrantica.com

 

Top: greedy plum, fresh orange

Heart: rose petals, geranium bourbon, patchouli, red fruit cocktail

Base: grey amber, teak wood, white musk

 

I swear this reads like one of the Lupers ....

Shares some notes but not all:

Purple Spotted Swallowtail

Purple Phoenix

Red Phoenix

Phoenix at Dawn

Penumbra

Hellion

Fire Pig

Lunar Eclipse

Queen of Spades

I thought I didn't like berry notes but I just realized today that some of my favorite BPALs have a hint of berry in them:

 

Autumn Overlooked My Knitting (red currants)

Beautiful Death (belladonna berries)

Coraline Jones (mossy berry)

 

Any recommendations for other BPALs with just a hint of berry in them?

Disturbing and Irrelevant Crawdad Dream and April Fool both contain my favorite berry, a hint of it, huckleberry!

I'm looking for more feminine scents with a light leather note and a competing vanillic component. Anyone with recommendations beyond Liz, Amaterasu v3, and Clockwork Couture: Female?

 

The only things I'm not keen to smell with these two notes are anise/sarsaparilla/liquorice and anything too woodsy, piney, minty, nutty or citric. I also am not too keen on masculine scens (such as Disrespect for Established Authority).

Witch Riding a Dragon?

Ganymede is a beautiful floral (noncamphor) lavender straight out of the gate. Sniffing from the bottle I detect a bit of a "icy metallic " too.

 

Drying, the lavender leads and dominates but the ice note slowly comes forward. This is familiar Ice, colder and crisper than the Lab Snow note which signifies Yuletide at BPAL. It has a metallic edge but doesn't quite become man Cologne, as many metal blends have done. This remains androgynous or slightly femme, owing to the floral quality of the lavender.

 

Late drydown the oudh shines and helps prolong the lavender as well. Lavender typically burns off and poofs after about 90 minutes for me but I think the oudh is lending it staying power. This never went dryer sheet or soapy for me, everything is balanced with a slow unfolding of the listed notes. The icy aspect was the only aquatic character. Not sharp or headache inducing like some aquatic blends can do.

 

8 hours later this is all oudh, the "butter" given off by a tree.

 

This is perfect and I wish I'd had the foresight to purchase multiple bottles because this is a perfect, mellow, cooling sleep scent!

Tiramisu and a pinch of coffee in the bottle and wet. The cream note is prominent, butter like.

This goes sharp and bitter but the cake and coffee are still recognizable. I can make out the cake part, the cream, and hint of almond and even the powdered cinnamon of the topping.

 

Early dry phase, say 20 minutes after application, it gets weird. I think this is supposed to be amaretto, but it smells chemical and almost floral. Something between the hairspray note of Stardust and the odd floral in Shill v1. The coffee disappears rather quickly. I am left with cake and odd synthetic notes.

 

Still drying, about an hour or longer, it smells like baby powder. Late drydown it becomes a slightly sweet and powdery vanilla. I quite like the drydown.

 

I am not sure about this one. It initially nails the concept accurately but the odd morph it does in the early drying phase is not something I want as personal fragrance. I have had this type of issue work itself out with a bit of aging so I plan to retest in a month or so. Maybe this is one for a scent locket because it's gorgeous in the bottle/wet phase. Then again, maybe someone else's skin would do it more justice? This experience prompts the search for a skin locket or bracelet with lava beads...

 

This was a close to the wrist sniff for me, not much throw but it's relatively young and this also improves with age in my experience. It's lasting 4 to 5 hours for me, a light vanilla powder.

Fruity top, as to be expected from the notes, predominantly citrus, lemony for me, but I can appreciate the red fruits and lime too.

Drying this becomes woolly like the wool in Stekkastaurjar or Sticky Pillowcase or the more recent Unicorn and Ram. There's mallow in here too. A less sweet Stekkastaurjar with fruit!

Later on the frankincense makes an appearance with the slight Lemon vibe recurring or maybe thats from the Frank itself.

Vanilla husk is evident on the later drydown, it's sweet, woolly, with a meld of mallow, frankincense, Vanilla and the fabric note. Maybe a hint of musk? No spice for me, just soft and fluffy with sweet. The vanilla isn't foody or buttery/custard like, it's husk of the flower, dry.

This is woolly and snuggly and a little bit sweet but nothing over the top. It's a close skin scent but I want to keep huffing it, it's compulsory.

In summation, it nails the concept accurately and reminded me of a Sticky Pillowcase with fruits instead of candy. I'm hoping aging gives it some sillage but I will happily keep and utilize the bottle.

La Bella Donna Mia Mente

13 Hours

Alice's Evidence

Jersey Devil

Voodoo

Nosferatu

Dracul

Hellcat

The Witch Queen

Goblin Cider

Brisingamen

Bewitched

Hoggle

The Forest Reverie

Santa Muerte

Jack

Verdandi

Les Bijoux

Coral Snake

Pure Applesauce

Ladon

Poisoned Apple

Agnes Nutter

Scarecrow

Blithe Hollow

Troll

The Old Goblin

The Black Tower

Old Demons of the First Class

Blood Kiss

Have you tried Lyonesse? Watery, Vanilla, ambergris. Seems in the same vein as Shadwell , but I haven't sniffed Shadwell yet, he's on my list to try.

I love mints and Tulzscha is my all-time favorite. I have been away from BPAL for YEARS (as evidenced by my love of Tulzscha, lol) but now I'm getting back into it again. I have tried a few of the other mints from years ago - the one that comes to mind is Cathode, and they didn't work on me. I love how Tulzscha feels cold when I put it on. I've searched for an extra bottle of Tulzscha over the years and have never found one for sale so now I'm looking for a substitute.

Maybe Nuclear Winter and layer with a cucumber note. Squinting Cucumber?

 

Any recommendations for a BPAL oil similar to Cushing Manor atmosphere spray? I love it!

 

cushing manor is so good! well, maybe puddin has more accidental perfume labels and can throw some bottles on etsy??

 

the woods and booze in that scent remind me of some of the event exclusives.

warm boozy bottles: miss fanny phippany, bear in the cellar, brown thrasher

(maybe dew drop inn and tammany free and easy but they are also atmos)

sordid and unpleasant activities layered a carnation

 

I love the carnation in cushing manor; bpals with carnation that I like:

laura belle mcdaniel would layer nicely, but she won't cut it as a sub.

season of forgiveness? nice and warmly masculine?

leo 2016 is the warm desert garden of cushing manor (for the carnation and the warmth, no booze nor woods!)

grooming scene is the a soft, silky and feminine scent. perhaps the version of femininity that edith rejects for herself.

hudaskellir is a blast of christmas air at the manor

 

 

do you have an imp or prurience? that came up in a lab site search for carnation.

Thank you, I've been wanting to try Prurience. I need to find the right whiskey note to layer...

Any recommendations for a BPAL oil similar to Cushing Manor atmosphere spray? I love it!

I have never tried the Leger perfume but I wonder if Fairy Bites would be close?

I got berries from Mirrors of Spring Pleasures on Kites from this year's Lupers. I think there were batch variations where the berries were stronger than others.

 

From the GC, check out Lady McBeth,I get more berries than wine.

 

My favorite berry scents are limited but aren't too hard to find: Crawdad Dream and April Fool.

 

Very hard to find is the discontinued Jester.

I can't pick out the individual notes, this melds together very well. The leather is polished but the support notes keep it from becoming harsh or Uber masculine. The drydown is like lying on a bed of warm leaves in the forest, on a leather jacket with errant sunbeams piercing the canopy. The citrus is well behaved and gives that late afternoon warmth when the rays of the last sun are long and suffuse the forest with a warm Golden glow. It is indeed buttery but not foodie, woody, leathery, warm and slightly sweet with a glowing nutty and musky finish. This never became powdery but it has a soft Golden glow like many Amber blends do. I'd swear there was oudh here but perhaps that is the ambrette and leather together giving a incense without the smoke or fire feel.

 

If you were hoping for vanilla, I can't pick it out but as I said, this is fairly seamless. It lasted longer than most.

 

Can you tell I'm already plotting an additional bottle?

When first got into BPAL in 2012 I was only into foodie and rose LE scents. I literally never even tried Snake Oil. I've been gone for a couple years and feel like a total newbie all over again, trying all of these GC scents. I realized that my favorite scent ever in the world is The Lion. Words can't express how much I love it! I ordered a bottle and also a bottle of O, they're currently on their way to me!

I considered purchasing Jacobs Ladder from Etsy, but reading the reviews it seemed a bunch of people said it was masculine. Masculine is not my thing. Just wondering if there any LE's I might want to be on the lookout for that are warm ambery goodness like The Lion. Would love some good recs! Thanks!

Coyote is a great amber scent which is what I think makes the Lion so lovely. Lion is amber with a hint of Cinnamon. Coyote is amber with sweetgrass and a hint of soft, brown suede.

 

Is recommend Bastet as well. LEO is still available, I'd recommend you snag it quickly and thank me later. If you can find it, Sportive Sun is a wonderful, very leonine amber.

 

Jacob's Ladder is beautiful, I am betting you love it and I don't find it masculine, it's quite gender neutral to my nose.

 

Aureus is an imp I'd recommend trying, in the vein of the Lion, sunny amber.

 

I'm getting quite excited thinking about all this amber!

Are there any brown sugar scents in the GC? I have decants of The Witches and Marshmallow Cookie Pie but I am craving more sugar. If The Witches return this year I will get a bottle but in the meantime, I am looking for accessible alternatives.

Sugar Skull is mainly brown sugar on me, but I recommend reading reviews to figure out the year/vintage you will prefer. Some vintage are more sugar heavy and others more fruit. Enjoy!

 

ETA, sorry I just read you're looking for a general catalog version. I cannot think of one but Sugar Skull is easy to find on the threads or if you posted an ISO.