VetchVesper

I recently bought the aged dregs of Yurei off a decanter, so maybe it's the aging or maybe it's just my skin chemistry, but I get a lot of sandalwood at first along with vetiver. After a while, the amber starts to make itself known, blending with the dusty sandalwood. Something with a soapy edge appears, and this starts to remind me a bit of Indulgence, which leads me to suspect that Yurei's "pale Japanese flowers," are elemi. A few minutes later, the white tea starts to come out along with a tart sweetness from the hibiscus. There's still plenty of sandalwood and vetiver though. I can see what other reviewers mean about it smelling sort of like BPAL's snow note, but it's not the minty kind. I REALLY think there's elemi in here. Medium weight, sorta soapy incense on me w/ a tart sweetness. This one's ALL over the place and I like it! It still reminds me a bit of Indulgence, which I loved, so this might be a good GC alternative. I will consider another bottle once this one runs out.

In the bottle, Edith smells like something you could frost a cake with - warm, sweet, deep, buttery vanilla. There's even an alcoholic undertone. Putting it on, the resins start to come out on my skin, bringing down the foodiness level and blending seamlessly to create a lovely, warm, sweet vanilla musk with a soft wood background. Vanilla usually doesn't excite me, but this is just gorgeous and has a wonderful wear length. I have purchased a bottle for slathering purposes. I will say, this one is VERY sweet, so if you tend to amp sweetness, be forewarned, but for me, Edith is a perfect vanilla fragrance.

Yay! Glad to help and happy sniffing.

Roseus - You might try The Lion. It's a soft, warm, spiced amber w/ a similar vibe to Morocco and MLST. PrinceofcatS - I just bought a bottle of Lucille myself. It's lovely and not quite the same as anything else I've sniffed, but it did remind me a little of Black Rose, which is a dark and velvety rose. You might also try Spellbound and Black Lily. Hedylogos smells like honey and roses to me, which might be similar to A Young Woman Appealing to a Witch, and Elf reminds me of Egle in that they are both bright, sweet, florally forest scents. ETA: You might also check out Sheol since it seems you like lily and it shares a copal note with Penny Dreadful.

I definitely get a vaporub vibe from this in the bottle, but there's also a minty sweetness and the bright, clean scent of the white tea which lighten the fragrance and make it wearable. I kind of like it at this point. Unfortunately, after it's been on my skin a few minutes, the eucalyptus and mint die back and the elemi becomes more prominent, and the whole thing goes odd on me in a way that's not horrible, but not to my liking. This actually reminds me of Embalming Fluid, with its bright tea note and a lemony muskiness from the elemi. Just add some snowy eucalyptus. I am not a fan of EF, but if you are, The Snow at Noon might be worth checking out.

It sounds like your tastes might be similar to mine. You like a foodieness to the smell, but not strait up gourmands? Cheshire Cat has an almost candy like citrus sweetness on my skin. Other blends you might try are Aizen-Myoo, Fae, and Megeara. They are less bright/sharp citrus and more soft and sweet. You might also try Pere Noel, which is a lovely true orange candy smell, not hard candy orange. For Snake Oil, if it's the vanilla you like, I'd second the Morroco recommendation, but if you're a patchouli fan - Goblin, Imp, Vixen, and Desire have a foody sweetness, but are predominantly resinous blends. Oblivion and Dance of Death are more resinous, but have smooth, dark sweetness to them akin to Snake Oil. Satyr smells like a masculine SO. You also might try Tezcatlipoca which has cocoa and patch. and Masquerade which is a spicy orange and patch. Can't tell I love patchouli, can you? ;-)

This is only a review of the in bottle smell as my decanter was kind enough to include a sniffy with my imps. This smells like strawberry yogurt, strait up, sweet and creamy. I could eat this with a spoon. It's pretty amazing. I had never thought of wearing my yogurt as perfume, but BPAL has me considering the possibilities.

This Yule, I am becoming aquainted with the lab's "snow" note and finding that it's not really my thing, but if it IS your thing, you might want to check The Snow Shower out. It starts out very minty in the bottle, with a hint of menthol bite lurking in the background. I can smell the florals, but to me, they aren't really identifiable as anything but sweetness. On my skin, the scent starts to evolve. The mint softens and blends and becomes "snowy" smelling and the florals come out more, though not enough for my tastes. The sweetness has a sugary quality to it, and the snow almost seems aquatic, but not quite. Actually, this reminds me a tad of Kumari Kandem. The final stage on me is a cool, sweet blend, which is light and fresh and does evoke a sence of night sky and snowflakes. This one also has good throw and a decent wear length on me. Again, snow - not my thing so much, but a pleasant and evocative blend.

Poor Monkey is heavenly in the bottle, like rich, golden fig syrup. I catch the bourbon vanilla sweetness and a faint hint of sandalwood in the background. This smells almost like something you'd drizzle over a dessert, but it's not foody in the traditional sense. On my skin this loses some of it's foody quality. The resins start to balance out the sweetness. I can still smell the fig but it smells softer. Khus is apparently vetiver, and I can smell it now, but its the sweet warm kind vs. the smoky, charred kind. This is very smooth, soft, sweet and incensey on me. I like it, but not as much I did in the bottle. I will enjoy my imp of this, but probably not spring for a bottle. It's very pleasant, but just lacks oomph on my skin.

I bought a decant of this for the novelty and out of curiosity. I was thinking it might have vetiver in it for the meat smell and something sort of brown sugary, which might have dried down to something pleasant on me after the initial "haminess," but this ham is honey baked. Honey, something salty, and oddly, something soapy underneath which I'm guessing is the kind of musk that goes dryer sheets on me. It's a really odd combo that doesn't repulse me, but definitely doesn't attract me either. It's actually less hammy than I expected. My cats were not impressed, so I guess if you REALLY want to smell like ham, you'll have to shove some in your trousers the old fashioned way. Edit: It is worth noting, my husband, whose general reaction to all perfumes is "it's better than poop," (therefore it smells ok) literally recoiled when I put this under his nose. He then cringed when I tried to put some on him. I relented and he made his escape. So I guess to some, it really is THAT bad.

When I initially tested my Lucille decant a few weeks ago I was disappointed. I got a rose heavy floral which did smell Victorian but also kind of generic. That said, I don't know if my nose was overwrought or Lucille just needed a few weeks of aging to bring everything together, but I've just purchased a bottle. I still get a lot of rose, but the scent has much more complexity. The lily balances out the rose, the ylang ylang adds a heady sweetness, and the black amber lingers in the background adding depth and softness and binding everything together in a shroud of dark luxury. Surprisingly, the plum isn't prominent on me, though I do get subtle hints of it upon deep sniffage. I can see the comparisons to Dior's Poison, though that always came off as "grapey" to me and Lucille doesn't. Lucille also reminds me of Black Rose with it's unmistakably dark, velvety, floral vibe. This is the perfume of a woman of power, seduction, and wealth. She's not sweet or nice and she doesn't care if you like her, but you WILL notice and obey her.

It seems like this one is not too popular, which just means more bottles for me! Of the 11 Crimson Peak scents I tried, this is the only one I will definitely be getting a bottle of. My mom also really liked it though it smells a bit different on her. Yay for shared nose genes! Indulgence is very different from any other BPAL I've smelled and hard to describe, but here's my best. In the bottle there is a very cologney, alcohol quality to the scent with a woody backing. It is sharp, harsh, and somewhat masculine, though I tend to like that. It's very well blended and I don't get any one note popping out. I was worried about tobacco flower, b/c tobacco is iffy on me, but it's fine in this, though I'm guessing it adds some of that harsh edge. Once on my skin, Indulgence loses its sharpness and becomes kind of smoky and nondescript when I stick my nose on it, BUT... ... the WAFTING. This one wafts wonderfully, and perfumes rarely have throw on me. I keep catching whiffs of smokey nag champa with a sort of lemony soapiness. Not quite lemon, another no go for me, and not aquatic soapy or old lady floral soapy - just weird cologne/ clean soapy. It's really odd, and I love it. Though I'm not familiar with elemi, I read that it has lemony and pine resinous qualities to it's fragrance, so I'm guessing that's the lemon I'm picking up and the green others have mentioned. Anywho - on me, gender neutral, unusual incense blend with good throw and long wear time (12 hours). 5 Star lurv.

You're welcome Lizardskin. Happy sniffing!

Oooo... I like a lot of these too. For Aizen Myoo, try Nightgaunt. They share the yuzu note, but Nightgaunt is a little less sweet and bolder on me. For Elf, try Egle, another bright, light, foresty floral. For Morocco, I've heard Light of Men's Lives is a must try for vanilla lovers, but I've never sniffed it myself. And for Bard, one of my favorites, you might try The Witches' Kitchen. It has a sharp, berryish/herbal blast at the beginning, but dries down to something very akin to Bard on me. Also, I don't know how you feel about rose, but Hedylogos has a really nice, warm, light honey smell.

When it's cloudy and rainy, I like to wear things that more blend with the weather. Cathode has such a mossy coolness to it, and Bruised Violet Compound is earthy, and soothing. Both these scents seem to go with cloudy days for me.

I'm kind of amazed no one's mentioned the Fraggle Rock line. Maybe I just missed it? Seems right up a kid's ally along with the Paranorman scents. Aunt Caroline's Joy Mojo reminds me of being a kid. It smells just like fruity scratch and sniff stickers to me, and Shoggoth smelled like a little girl's perfume to me, surprisingly. Fruit cocktail and bright, happy flowers.

When I think hippie, I think warm incense, and those are the scents I love! But I'm guessing you like more herbal notes? Just looking at the other Shampure notes, you might try Black Cat - it's slightly rosey and minty but there's a bunch of other stuff in there. Fresh, clean, and a tad soapy b/nice. It's also a voodoo blend, so it smells like something that could be homemade/ hippie. The Apothacary - haven't tried it yet, but it's supposed to be a warm, complex herbal blend Bess - haven't tried, but is a complex herbal that shares several of Shampure's notes Gaueko - heavier and incensey, but lavander gives it an herbal bite, and it has a hint of a caramelly warmth to it without being foodie. Definately complex. Reminds me of dead leaves and smoke. :-) Paramatman - Orange blossom and light, wafty Indian incense. A bit on the sweet side, but not candyish or cloying Destroying Angel - an unusual sent. Dry, white, earthiness to my nose. If you want "earthy" though, this has bpal's "loam" note without any pineyness. Also, you might try some of the Dead Leaves blends, if you're willing to spring for full bottles. Some of the decanters might have some imps left over. It's kind of a dry herbally backing to whatever it's added to. Hope that helps!

v2015 In the bottle, I get mostly violet, patchouli, and red musk, but it changes significantly when on my skin. Actually, I tend to get different notes each time I wear it. Wet, the pomegrante comes to the forefront with red musk adding sexiness in the background. I think I smell the rose too, but it blends with the pom to bring down the overall fruitiniess. I wouldn't call this a rose scent. This lasts a good while with different notes swirling in at different stages, the last being a very sexy amber and vanilla. Overall, I'd say this is a medium weight incense blend, but the tart pomegranate really takes it up a notch. I bet it will age well too. Probably gonna need a bottle, darn it.

2015 Version I haven't sniffed the other two versions of this, but I really like this one. Mostly, I smell well blended gardenia, narcissus, and lily of the valley. The sandalwood and musk bring down the sweetness of the florals and add some weight to the scent. I'm not really familiar yet with ambrette and davana, so I'm not sure what they are bringing to the table. Overall, I'd say it's a lovely white floral with a bit of murkiness to it. Very classic. It has a pretty good wear length on me for this type of scent as well, 6 hoursish, and no soapiness. I probably won't be getting a bottle of it this year, but only b/c of limited BPAL funds. I'm having to be really picky. I hope they'll continue to bring it out though, because at some point, I would like to pick up a bottle.

I wasn't a huge fan of this one. I was expecting a light and heady floral, but what I get is a big blast of mintiness. I guess that's the "frozen" part, but it really takes over on me. Reminds me of floral toothpaste. No thanks!

Weeeeeird.... O_O In the bottle it's oddly synthetic, soft, and really not something I want to put on. Upon deep sniffage, I think I'm getting... corn oil? On my skin, the synthetic oddness starts to evaporate and is replaced by a soft, clean floral I can't quite identify. I'm guessing there's some light musk in this. The fragrance that's left is perfectly wearable, though not really me. The whole experience is pretty cool though, with the way the scent disperses really evoking images of those gossamer strands being stretched out. This is synesthesia at its finest. Edit: Ya know what? I am getting some cucumber too, in the dry down. Just... weird.... Edit again: This actually ended up as a clean, creamy cucumber on me with whiffs of it remaining for 12 hours. I'm not a fan of cucumber/melon, but this is really lovely. Really glad I took a chance with the imp.

This is not at all what I expected from the above reviews, so either my nose is off, or the blend's pretty different this year. Upon initial sniffage, syrupy almond and orange and some lemon verbena. Very hard candy. Someone said Hawian Punch earlier, and I get that, but I ain't gett'n no cherry. On my skin the lemon verbena starts to take over and then *poofs* like it does on me. SB is still bright and sweet, but not as candyish, and a wierd sour/sweet note comes out. I'm not familiar with BPAL's blood note, but I'm guessing this is it. It's sort of off putting to me but not awful. After an hour or so, Stage Blood has almost a caramel smell and that's how it stays on me for hours. It's more foodie, less candy, and warm. I never got the cherry or dragon's blood I was hope'n for, so booooo for that, but it's still not bad, and I shall keep the imp. ETA: Really loved how this ended up aging. Wish they'd do a re-release. Anyone looking to offload a bottle, hit me up.

BPAL keeps rewarding my gambling habit with full sized, untested LE's. This is fantastic. I have been wallowing in it for the past few days and enjoying myself thoroughly. If you aren’t familiar with mimosa, it’s a soft, creamy, candyish floral. In this, it blends with the jasmine to make a lovely, sweet, floral with a bit of edge to it. On my skin, a definite smokiness blooms in the scent, I’m guessing from the musk. This dies back after a while, leaving me with well blended florals. The violet becomes more prominent, but it doesn’t go powdery on me (which it sometimes does) and in the last stages of dry down I get the vanilla bean, but it’s faint. It’s more like a lady wearing intoxicating perfume is sitting near you while eating a bowl of ice cream than a vanilla perfume. This actually reminds me a bit of Mata Hari, not because the notes are the same, but because their throws are similar and both are dark takes on classic florals with unusual background notes. I like this much more though. My mom and best friend both huffed my arms for uncomfortably long periods while I was wearing this. My mom actually smelled BOTH arms, just in case they were different! My only caveat is that my skin seems to soak this up after a few hours, but on my clothes it lasts all day. Overall, I would say this is a jasmine floral, but a dark, complex one with a sinister edge. An evil beauty in plum colored taffeta. Mmmmmmm… 5/5 stars!

I'm a gigantic fan of black licorice, so I was very eager to try this one. In the bottle I get a cool, cologne smell with a slight tinge of anise in the background. Once I put Mary Shelley on, the anise really starts to come out with a powdery mintiness. It's soft, clean, and light and makes me think of mint Lifesavers candy. On the dry down, the mint/anise settles back and the cologne starts to peak out more. I think I get a little sandalwood and maybe some very faint tonka. I'm not getting any florals, and I'm not sure what BPAL's ozone and lightning notes smell like, but this doesn't feel aquatic to me at all, which is good. I'm not usually a fan of aquatics. The soft, powdery sweetness of the anise in this makes me think of Black Anise, but where as that has a murkier, muskier quality, this is light, soft, and feminine, I could see this being nice in the summer. Unfortunately, it only lasts a few hours on me. I think I'll stick to Black Anise. 3/5 Stars

Hi Ishtar. Thanks for the recs. :-) I guess my wording was a bit weird. I meant I wanted LE recommendations since you have to buy the big bottle! I've smelled Anne Bonny, and it was nice but a bit too strait up patchouli for me. Kabuki is on my list & I'm not sure if I can find the older LE's, but I'll definitely look into them. La Befana sounds intriguing though! The Lab doesn't tell you those "holiday sweets" are licorice. Might have to scrounge for that one. I haven't smelled Golden Priapus, but it sounds a bit like Prosperous Flowers of the Elegant Twelve Seasons (LE), part of Lupercalia 2015. There's a sweetness to it, but also a woody/ resinousness that some people describe as cedar but reminds me more of sandalwood - and of course, the yummy patchouli. For your Snake Oil/ Arcana combo you might try Voodoo. (GC) The almond, myrrh, and vanilla give it a sweetness, but the background's very foresty.