Upstart Crow

I don't get rose from this at all, just the resins and what I think is mallow. It smells a bit nutty to me (as in nut-like). Not something I dislike, but not something I'd reach for to wear if this were a perfume. But it does make me feel comforted and mellow when I put it in my oil burner, which is what I hoped it'd do. 

I got a decant of this as a surprise. I used to be very wary of salt (due to terrible experience with a perfume where salt was one of the notes), but it's one of my favorite notes now! This is just incredible. Sea salt with a hint of rosy amber. 🤤

Going to try to see how this works with a man I'm interested in but who I'm talking to online...will update you. I like how it smells!

ETA: 6/6/20

Hm. I'm not sure if this is working, but it's doing something interesting. It's making me feel not just more confident in my interactions with him, but, interestingly, less gender dysphoric?? I didn't expect to have it start to make me comfortable with my "feminine side" (for lack of a better term), but there it is. 

Just got this out of the package and it's smelling like pure chocolate tootsie pop on me.  I'm hoping that will change as it settles down, because I'm so not a foodie person (aside from coffee beans).

Oh, Crowley, my Crowley. You're gorgeous, both you and your scent, but why do you just turn to some sort of sweet muddle of confusion on my wrist? It's a very wonderful muddle of sweet confusion, but I just can't pick out many notes aside from the musk and the vanilla--but musks of all kinds tend to turn into single-musk notes on me, so that's probably why. Still, though. I really wanted you to do what you do for so many other people. 

But you are very, very nice in my oil burner (especially with Aziraphale). 

This is TKO with a slightly diabolical undertone--something just a little bit "off," a bit smoky and a tiny bit too sweet (but not in a cloying way that makes this unbearable). It comes across as an olfactory portrait of someone trying to sleep but not really understanding how sleep works. Perfect for what Crowley ultimately does in the book. 

Great bedtime scent if you want something a bit more unconventional than TKO.  10/10 from me!

This is the only way I can describe it:

Having a sexy lurk through a churchyard at night. 

I'm sorry, I really tried to describe the notes here, but I just can't. This is just an incredibly sexy blend. One of the sexiest BPAL has done.

My favorite so far of the Dead Leaves room sprays for this year! Sweet hothouse floral with the slight astringency of moss. Definitely worth a full bottle if you like florals!

Delicious, sweet chocolate blended with cinnamon with just a hint of cologn-y dry leaves. I'm not much for foody scents, so I think I'll be happy just using my 2ml decant, but this is quite nice.

I can never say no to pomegranate--even if I was so burned by the oudh in one of 2017's dead leaves blends that I've all but sworn it off. But there's no poo-poo smell in this gorgeous scent! I'm just getting pomegranate, lavender, and a little sweet, ripe fig--but mostly pom and lavender. If I shove my nose against my wrist, I think I get a hint of the oakmoss. Just lovely. I'll need another bottle.

I have bottles #25 and #20. They just arrived, but I am an impatient person, so I opened them up.

#20 Is just incredible. The dead leaves note is the strongest, and it's bolstered by what smells like lemon and orchids with a little autumn frost. A keeper!

#25 is a bit less polite. It smells fruity--cherries, perhaps? Something red and juicy. It's really the first perfume I've ever had that turned to stale urine on me! Sickly sweet and acrid. I'll let it calm down before trying again, but I have a feeling this will be swapped for another blend or sold.

I only got this because orris/violet is my favorite scent ever. Blackberry is meh to me (Dead Leaves and Blackberry smelled like overdried blackberries on my skin ) and salt is a constant no. It turns into puke on me. So I figured this would be a horrible trainwreck but wanted to try anyway.

I'm really glad I did! The orris is dominant on me, and the blackberry just enhances it and sweetens it in a way that makes it amp, rather than being too fruity. I don't get salt at all, only a little aquatic coolness.

A beautiful, bottle-worthy blend!

[No additional description provided.]

 

Mercy! I'm the first to review a Dorian scent?!

 

This just arrived this morning, so I haven't given it time to settle yet. But I couldn't wait to try it and review it, because I love Dorian and I love pomegranates.

 

Unrested, this is very much the tea-and-vanilla Dorian we love with a very red, very sweet pomegranate blanketing it. As it dries down, I get more of the vanilla and tea. Wonderful take on the blend, and while I think Frostbitten Dorian will always be my favorite Dorian of all, this is a close second. I'll update when it's had time to settle.

I love Violent Gesticulations from the 2017 Weenies, and when I saw the notes for this, I hoped for something similar but that may be a bit less high-pitched (which is perfect for Violent Gesticulations! But I didn't want a carbon copy). I got pretty much what I hoped for in this lovely scent. The pomegranate is darker and heavier, less punchy and more mellow--a bit like the kind in September Midnight. The mint and juniper berry blend in a way that accentuates the best parts of both--the crisp menthol of the mint and the woodsy, slight pungency of the juniper. Very well blended, but each note still manages to stand out even while balancing each other. Definitely a keeper! Glad I trusted my love of pomegranate enough to get a bottle.

 

 

Smoky vetivert and dead leaves with just the slightest hint of vanilla to it. I love it, but it smells almost identical to my bottle of Death of Autumn, so while I'll keep the decant, I won't need a bottle .

I wanted this to work so badly because I love plum and clove and it smelled so delicious in the sample, but the oudh made it smell like plum feces on me. I wish I was kidding.

 

Hard no from me.

[No additional description provided.]

As a lover of violets, sugared florals, and dead leaves, I just had to get a bottle of this without sampling.

It is everything I hoped it would be. A sweet floral that edges more on the sugary than the floral side with a gasp of cologny-dead leaves behind it. It's an unusual fall scent, and I think it could be worn year round, really.

 

Another violet winner! Definitely pick it up if you think even one of the notes would appeal.

These are still settling from the trip to me, but I just had to review. I'll change this if the scent changes when it settles down.

This is an incredible violet, iris, and lavender blend. Dark and spectral at the same time. The iris and lavender blend so perfectly that while I can smell both, I can't tell where one ends and the other begins. The violet (which I assume is also orris here) gives it just a hint of sweetness, but it's a darker and smokier violet than I've encountered in any BPAL violet scent other than Bruised Violet Compound. In fact, this is like a lighter but slightly menacing version of BVC.

Throw length seems to be about average on me, but my skin likes to devour oils, so ymmv. Definitely pick it up if you like any of the three notes. It showcases each of them really well.

Okay, I have a nasty cold so YMMV. But wow, this is exactly as described. Vetivert with plastic and strong chemical smoke. I love "unusual" and vetivert-heavy perfumes, but this one makes me slightly gag when I smell it up close. I'm going to hang on to it, though, to see how it ages.

I avoided getting a bottle of this one for years, even though it was on my list. I normally don't like frankincense and sandalwood is meh, but they're just gorgeous in this blend. I get an ozone, ethereal, incensey violet with just a hint of amber (which really fleshes the scent profile out) and a hint of smoke. Wow.

I got this mainly to help the ACLU and was expecting to either like it okay or to dislike it if the coffee was too strong.

 

It's now one of my top ten favorites BPALs. Wow!

 

On me, the coffee is strong for about five seconds, then settles down behind a slightly aquatic traditional cologne with leather notes that come out to play as the blend settles. I think men who prefer more traditionally "masculine" scents would really dig this (I, however, am not a man and will wear it regularly.)

 

Yay! First

I just got this out of the box, so it's probably still a bit unhappy from travel and in need of rest, so I may update later.

This is a beautiful aldehyde scent. When it goes on wet, it's got that lovely astringent floral scent that is classic aldehyde, but it's laced with a sweet note that almost reminds me of pink bubblegum. Not in a cloying or foody way, though. It blends really well, with whatever it is. It is a very green, bubbly scent that morphs quickly into something floral and a bit oily and starchy. I don't want to say french fries because it's not that smell, but it gave me an impression of it. Still not unpleasant.This fades and the sweetness returns.

Interesting. I think I'll keep it and try it on again when it settles to see what happens.

I'm getting coconut and chocolate? I should probably let it rest a bit after being mailed to me and try again.

First reviewer? Nice!

Unfortunately, my review isn't going to be glowing. I'd hoped for something chilly, snowy, aquatic, and maybe just a bit salty.

What I got in the sample container was a loud, vaguely noxious shriek of something citrusy that smelled like salted vomit when I applied it. I scrubbed it off immediately and layered the skin over with something I liked to take the pain away.

This is only one of two BPALs I've ever deeply disliked. Both had "salt" as an ingredient. I think I've found my death note .

I'm not at all sure what to make of this.

 

In the bottle: I get minty, rainy graveyard dirt.

 

On me: I get peppermint/spearmint, light aquatic, Graveyard Dirt, and...grass?

 

Yes. On me, that is definitely the grass note from Blade of Grass!

 

Awesome evocative scent, but it's kind of jarring to my nose, even though this fades into a minty/dirty smell after a while. I will probably sell or swap my bottle for a Yule that is higher priority.