RoseThornAndOak

Another blend of ye aulden BPAL days I passed on before, that now is suprisingly nice and more wearable then I remember it being. It starts out with a darkened blast of evergreens, like an atmospheric or candle blend. Has a strong waft. However the final drydown is very intriguing to me. It is like a nice, almost leafy, oak-like fougere, like if a fougere was an autumn shade of soft brown. I don't remember this from years ago, and I like it enough to keep the imp this time.

Wanda was one of the first BPALs I ever tried back in 06-07. I came across another imp recently, unsure of the date. It is like I remember, a deep, dark reddish purple fruit with tons of sugar on top. Goth fruit. I dunno, lol. Final drydown a bit airier but maintains its sweet fruitiness. Fruits go a bit sour plastic on me and so does this one slightly. Would be gorgeous on the right skin. It's unlike most others, maybe fans of Jaillbait would enjoy it.

A pretty, heady, clean white floral for summer, like a pale, gossamer Pele. Slightly indolic, reminds me of a nice jasmine cleaner somewhat. I enjoy Pele more but still like this. For fans of Pele, Lady of Shalott, Shattered, and Boober.

Ozone + evergreen over dark woods with thankfully no leaf note. This has incredible staying power. Creepy and atmospheric. For fans of Cloister Graveyard in The Snow.

Ruddy Daggerwing is a nice chocolate orange blend with dry tobacco and woods and an almost green note that comes across as musty or somewhat herbal. It could read as stale or mildewy to some, but is more reminiscent of oakmoss than mold, kind of that dry, green, slightly powdery vibe. It lifts the blend from being straight chocolate orange into something more outdoorsy and brings to mind soft natural things like moss, fuzzy caterpillars, and butterfly wings. It's a "strange and unusual" blend that steps juuuust outside my comfort zone enough to be a unique, beautiful, and fun blend to wear. Also dude WTH. This blend will bring random butterflies into your life. After receiving Ruddy Daggerwing we saw the first butterfly we had seen for a long time. The day I wore it, I bought two glittery Claire's butterfly necklace sets at the pharmacy on a complete whim, not even connecting the two. I never, ever buy this type of jewelry, they're not in my usual wheelhouse at all, but like Ruddy Daggerwing are also unique, beautiful, and fun to wear. Completely random action, and I didn't connect the two until I got home. Beth and her magic. ?

An aged frimp. This is light, understated floral, kind of like the top floral notes you catch a whiff of when you open your sample box, mostly orange blossom and white rose. I don't get lemon balm either. Final drydown is nice and light floral, not screachy, just unassuming. I like it enough to use it up.

Welp, its that quintessential musky floral BPAL smell, but lighter I suppose. It is wearable on me but don't see myself getting a bottle.

Had an older imp I don't remember liking as much. This newer one is a nice unassuming floral, with a blast of cherry like almond upfront. It's very nice. I'll use up the imp for sure.

I don't get lemon cleaner but I do get pencil shavings for a bit. Dries down to a bright but turning sour woody blend. Like when oud/agarwood has an acrid scent, but not as bad. Meh. I'll let it age and see.

Smells like really nice floral laundry. Pretty but will probably use it as a spray.

Oh vetiver, just stop it already. Ohh, okay thanks. Yep, at first it was a blast of vetiver, and I wasn't a fan. Thankfully it recedes to the background as a grounding note to these apple but mostly ginger notes, like an Extra Extra strength Reeds Ginger Brew (a strong, rooty natural ginger ale). I really like it! Hanksite went a bit dusty, old school ginger ale on me, while this went strong and dark. I agree with Mag, it's a fun scent. Perfect for late summer and fall road trips to the countryside, maybe hitting up country stores and eating locally made apple donuts and going on a hayride. It really is nice for any season, though. It's always a good time for a good, natural ginger brew tonic. Also, it has great throw and wearlength. I'll be getting a ton of mileage out of this!

I like Hoggle. It starts off with a blast of pumpkin, cinnamon and other spices (slightly burns, not too much) with dark yet dry backing notes. Then dries down to a Fall spice version of No Man is An Island: dark, woodsy, tobacco with a nonoffensive leather that supplements without taking over (not new car smell, just soft). I don't get a fermented vibe, plus the pumpkin doesn't stay around much, at least not fresh from the Lab. This is great. I'm kinda wishing I tried it years ago, but grateful it is here now. ❤️ Great throw and wear length, a dab will do you. Gender neutral for sure. For fans of Antikythera Mechanism and No Man is An Island

Oof, this is gorgeous. Alkemia used to have a jasmine tea blend called Haiku, which was really nice, but it was just missing something. However, I might want a backup or two of Happy Couple, it's an on point jasmine tea. It goes Play-Doh for all of maybe 10-15 minutes, then quickly dries down to a beautiful floral tea with maybe a super light Earl Grey (not sharp or tannic, just fresh and light). Not much cucumber, however there is a bit of greenery in the opening and an overall cooling vibe. Perfect on a Spring or Summer day. Where Lazy Daisy failed on me (the cotton/linen note), this stepped up and worked beautifully. I wish there was a bit more bergamot, but absolutely love this just like it is. ❤️ Edit: Tried again. More of the jasmine today. I still love it but probably won't be hunting backups. I'll be okay. Still lovely. Aged two years: the jasmine and play-doh have calmed down considerably. This legit smells like jasmine tea. Beautiful!

This briefly went into a pretty, soft, vanilla musk on me, similar to Antique/Vanilla Lace. Then the white musk went to soap, tramping on the pretty bits of lace. I smell clean at least, lol but was hoping for a bit more complexity. I'll age it, but will probably be reaching for Vanilla Lace more often.

In bottle pretty, juicy red musk. Skin chemistry sours it a bit as with most fruits, drydown red musk with some florals and subtle spices thrown in. If fruits go wonky on you I would look for a different blend, but if they work I could see this being a nice, effervescent, juicy musk with ligh florals and spice thrown in for sophistication. Not for me but glad to have tried it!

Ehhhh this didn't work on me at all. It starts with a blast of pink yummy bubblegum, reminds me of hating softball and all the preteen shy awkwardness that went with trying and failing to socialize with a bunch of spoiled pre-bimbos. No you twat, I'm not kissing your dirty shoes. I'm going to the snack stand and getting bubble tape! lol. Yep seriously this is such a realistic bubblegum it will invoke memories of youth, no joke. On my skin Bubble Tape tonsil honkeys Big Red *hard*. Stop it y'all, it's getting to hot in here on my elbow. Just no. The duo give me this sour-puss look for the remainder of the afternoon, sulking. I knew I shouldn't have invited them over. They've now decided to play "Let's Get Sticky and Twisted" in my hair, so off they go, and I could swear one of them smoked a wet cigarette earlier and is desperately trying to cover it up with a "clean" smoke smell dispelling candle but dude I'm not buying it. Bunch of brats. And screw you Bubble Tape for laying Big Red on me and losing your innocence in such a based fashion in my elbow house! They did it on my elbow! In my hair! What's this world coming to? So sour smoky pink cinnamon bubble gum febreze screw you chemistry basically.

Pele was love at first sniff many years ago, but it faded so quickly I never went for a bottle. I retested it recently, and decided on a full because it's just too gorgeous to not have around. It is the lack of base notes I think that makes this blend fleeting, however the crux of the elbow provides pretty decent wearlength, more than before! Also the Lab filled the bottle up high. Thanks Lab. Lush, tropical blooms, straight up. It reminds me of jasmine mostly, or what I want jasmine to be, not powdery, just petally, dewy, tropical evening blooms. It's so beautiful. I had a little plastic solid perfume locket when I was a little girl, and it had a scent similar to this, sweet and innocent, gorgeous florals. I loved that little thing. Perfect for Spring/Summer. This would layer beautifully with dirt or green notes. If this was a color palette it would be blue, purple, white, with a little bit of green. Try Pele if you like Grief, Mab's Court Gardenia, Bluebonnet SN, Alkemia's Haiku, Paradisiaca, or Blue Ridge Skyline, The Little Book Eater's Claire Fraser, or Deep Midnight Perfumes Highclere.

I'm trying to figure out what the heckedy heck lotus smells like. I get a blast of lavender in the opening, very nice, drying down to something spicy. What spice is this? No idea. Posh Spice. Sophisticated chill spice. I think I get the bubblegum others get from lotus, it's not overt, but reminds me of the sugar dusting on bubblegum, soft and sweet. I like it! Fades after a few hours, but pleasant and classy.

So oddly enough, the longest lasting note is one of the florals. This starts out and stays like a quintessential BPAL blend, similar to what your box of imps smells like, a smorgasbord of powdery, heady floral honey and darker resinous and wine notes. It's pretty but just kinda meh. The next day, this gorgeous floral similar to Wildberry Lilac (my signature scent) shows up and it's gorgeous! If anyone has smelled Wildberry Lilac incense, this is what the final final (8 hours later) drydown is like. I would describe it as lilac but much less powdery and more voluptuous, almost a tropical bloom. Gorgeous. I'm curious which note is doing it, possibly the hibiscus? Slippery Poppy Tincture does something similar. I'll have to scope out more of the flowers in this blend!

Oh my gosh I forgot to review this! Hanksite is a fun scent. It reminds me of Reeds Ginger Beer crossed with Jarritos Mandarin Soda, which to me always had an earthy/orange peel/gritty type taste. So this is mostly bubbly, earthy ginger beer with a but of citrus. I don't get much fougere/green aspects, other than the slight earthiness. Vetiver isn't going peanuts on me either, it's lending to the dry earthy/natural feel (not like graveyard dirt, more warm, desert-like). I feel like it could be brighter and I'm not sure how often I'll wear it, its just out of my comfort zone enough to be playful and fun and unique. I really like it and recommend it if you like ginger and fizzy blends. ?

I wanted to love this, but it might have to be a locket only blend. It starts out very pretty floral red musk, similar to Moriarty w/o currant and plum, but sadly this does what some musk and oud blends do (especially black musk) and went burnt/toxic/acrid. There are many ouds and musks that don't do this, but more and more I have been noticing this in not just bpal blends but from other perfumers. Jiaolong did the same thing, as well as Colemanite Phoenix, oddly enough. It's sad, really. You can detect that note in the vial sometimes, but it just goes crazy once it hits the skin. The next day this was a gorgeous floral musk again with nuances of sweetness and spice, but overall this scent was a dissapointment on my skin. I'll probably hold on to it for the locket and see how it develops from there. =[

This was mostly bubbly champagne and honey on me! The champagne was a bit bubblier and brighter wet on skin, but the scent largely stayed the same start to finish. This didn't come across as fruity, just more about the fizzy aspect. I'll be keeping the imp!

Fresh frimp from the Lab (in an imp pouch, no less!), two weeks aged. This was one of the first BPAL'S I tried back in 06-08 somewhere, and its vaguely familiar from what I remember. It has a very bubbly aspect to it, like Bon Vivant or what's the other one? London? No, hmm one of the Wanderlusts I think. It smells like champagne, pretty flowers, and dryer sheets to me, an odd mix indeed! Something in this is making it go sour on my skin, probably one of the fruit notes (dangit again skin chemistry Arggghhhhhhh!), but I'm not ready to part with it because I love the champagne note! I'll try it again in a scent locket. For fans of Bon Vivant, Lazy Daisy, The East, Deep Midnight's Lace Parasol

I got this as a frimp from a forumite (aren't they the bestest? ) Thank you so much! I get the spice, too. It's spicy in the way carnation or ylang ylang is. Very reminiscent of clove. I don't get lilies at all, not in the way that I am used to in lily dominant blends like Lush's Death and Decay (or the Queen Bee Apothecary dupe: Grim Reaper) or my favorite lily blends from Deep Midnight like Last Breath or Mourning Glory. This is almost a completely different flower! No funeral lilies, if you were worried! It's taking on a Yorick like papery note, which I was fond of in Yorick, but it is going sour here sadly. Irghhh. This will be a pretty carnation like blend in a locket for me looks like, but I won't need to seek out a bottle since I have a lot of those. Still, I like this enough to keep because it is unique.

2 weeks straight from the lab frimp, in first ever purple velvet imp pouch! ❤️ Thank you Lab friends! Debauchery is an almost vetiver musk on me, kinda dirty smelling, the vetiver smells nutty yet softer than usual. I do get a bit of opium. When I sniff close I get a Spencer Gifts type incense note. I'm getting flashbacks of being a teen in the early 00s, buying cheap ankh necklaces, claw rings, and incense and rocking out to Opeth, Lacuna Coil, Stabbing Westward, and The Queen of The Damned soundtrack. No sh*t, man. That's freakin' wild dude. I like it. These things are usually best aged, so I'm definitely holding on to and enjoying the imp so far, especially for the memories. Oooo hours later, I'm getting something powdery sweet, in the way that incense or dragons blood can dry down sweet. Nice! June 30 retry: About the same. Vetivery red musk. It's alright, but I like other red musk blends better so won't be upgrading to a bottle.