porcelina

i was really surprised that i had yet to review the infernal lover. if you like red musk: this is for you. it is the smoothest, most glorious, sensual red musk imaginable. there is a creamy feel and it is quite sweet, with the beautiful honey note blending seamlessly with the musk. beautiful!

autumn fancies is pretty similar to an old favorite of mine, hay moon, with the dry grass and amber combo. autumn fancies adds black musk to the mix, which kind of overpowers everything, but not in a bad way because i really like black musk! i agree with previous reviewers that there is a touch of citrus to this blend, which adds to the golden feel. it is nice but may be too similar to other scents in my collection (hay moon especially).

clean dirt, dead leaves and fresh green vegetation, kind of crisp and cool. like i'm out in the garden harvesting the last pumpkins of the season on a crisp, sunny day. bpal's autumn leaves note tends to give me kind of a masculine cologne feel and this is no exception, although the dirt helps to tone that down a little bit. i think this would be great for my husband but i don't know if i will wear it very often myself.

the foodie pumpkin/currant combo is reminding me a bit of the knave of hearts but without a non-foodie scent to help it work on my skin. this is all warm sweet pumpkin and fruit. it is VERY VERY sweet. and then the fruit mostly fades and it's just sweet sugary spicy pumpkin that smells a TEENY bit too "autumn candle" for me to wear, really.

The first thing I notice is the hay/pepper/patchouli combo, which is a bit sharp and gives The Seekim a masculine cologne feel to my nose. At first, the pepper actually makes me want to sneeze! Under this is the gorgeous, glorious cacao which is rich and deep and a light sense of faded incense. This hits quite a few of my favorite notes and I like it a lot... until... oh god... like gasolinemonk just above me... the hay. The hay starts to smell just. like. furniture polish. I am going to attempt to rescue this by layering with something musky or amber-y (hay works on me in Hay Moon, for example!) because it is too nice to go this way. Note: the cacao absolute tends to separate, so be sure to stir this one up before testing!

wooahhh i don't know about this. it doesn't really remind me of mead, but it is dark and boozey with hints of spice. the longer i wear it, though, the pumpkin starts to go waxy and candley and it just doesn't work on my skin. disappointing.

such a snuggly-soft sweet little scent! it wears very close to the skin, a honey-tinged musk with wisps of lavender. it reminds me a little of tko. i don't get a lot of dorian but i think it is added to the overall sweetness. capax infiniti is sooo nice and i think it would make a nice scent for a comfy lazy day or bedtime!

APPLES! omg, such sweet, juicy, apples- so sweet and juicy that they might just be cider. a beeeeautiful apple note with green moss and a little bit of dirt but not nearly enough for my tastes. i might need to layer this with graveyard dirt!

this is such a cute idea for a scent. when i first apply, the lavender dominates a fresh herbal background. i smell a little carnation peeking through, and a teeny hint of mint, and the sweetness of the honey smoothing everything out. i wish i got some ginger but i am just not picking up on it. this is something i would like to wear on a beautiful, fresh spring day!

picture books in winter is a very cuddly, cozy sort of scent to me. it is not terribly strong and wears close to the skin; i have to really slather it on! there is a buttery-caramel foodiness that permeates the whole blend with touches of dusty old leather and crumbling paper. it is pleasant but i am not sure i NEED a foody component to the "old books" scent that i love so much in other bpals. it is unique, though, i'll give it that!

whooooa. this is so dark and sweet and… mmm. the jasmine/honey combo makes me think of lush's flying fox shower gel, but hal is more complex. (i also have to say that i love that shower gel.) it's a beautiful honey scent and then you have a hint of sweet vanilla and it's all grounded by gorgeous wood notes.

the crazy complexity of eve puts me in mind of other scents like maybe the fairy market that combine lots of different notes into a gorgeous, cohesive whole. the main focus here is incense, mainly sweet smoky resins with soft roses in the background. i don't think you would immediately be able to pick out a single note here without reading the description; it is so layered and everything works together beautifully. i could sit and smell this for ages to try and pick out all the different notes. it is lovely. overall i would describe it as sweet incense perfume- beautiful resins with light florals.

i can't stop sniffing; ian is so intriguing. i love the leather and rum combination, omg. this kind of rum note does not often work on me and can be kind of weird and foodie BUT i think the patchouli here is helpfully stopping that from happening! so instead i have a delicious leather note with a big hit of sweet rum and quietly earthy patchouli. mmmm.

i have no idea how to describe this. salty, yes, and aquatic, yes, but… at first my nose got really confused and was picking up something that smelled almost foodie?! what i think it is is the "moon stones-" an earthy, mineral note that is confusing my nose and brain. this is a dark marine aquatic, brooding and salty. unfortunately, it is not for me.

the gatekeeper smells like old, leather-bound books. that's it. paper and leather. please note: i am NOT complaining. this is lovely and i agree with dark alice in the comparison to old moon 2011, but that one is more musky to me- this is dry and you could call it a single note: "old dusty book," haha! i love it!

dry woods, ink, soft benzoin, a hint of dried herbs. i wasn't sure what to think when i first sniffed kit, and this scent is fairly unique… but it may be in a family with things like dee (minus the leather), maybe even the lurid library as there is something here (maybe it is the sandalwood, or whatever notes comprise the "waistcoat") that makes me think of paper. the marjoram is maybe a little sharp, on top of the soft dusty feel of the other notes, but it works. i like this very much and kit has a place in my collection for sure!

can you GET more halloweenie than samhain- IN A PUMPKIN PATCH?! the warm, delicious pumpkin softens the intensely spicy, woodsy samhain and makes this autumn in a bottle. 9 months of aging means that the fir and the spices have mellowed. samhain has lost some of its outdoorsiness. instead of being in the wild forest, you're in a cozy glowing cabin in the wild forest, baking a pumpkin pie. it's a little creamy, a little sweet and still a lot of spice. it's very, very nice and a MUST HAVE for fall.

helpful crone smells dark, nutty and sweet. it's woodsy and not very herbaceous. i very much like the tobacco/honey combination but i am not sure that i care for the nuttiness i get at first. as it dries, some of the acorn fades away and i am left with a woodsy tobacco honey scent- but this is darker and more primal than other sweet tobacco scents (like my beloved antikythera mechanism). it is not polished; it's dark and a bit wild. i like it and will wear it again for sure.

i wouldn't describe peach ii as smelling like champagne grapes, but straight-up champagne! it's so fizzy but is lighter and drier than the similar peach champagne. but… oh no. the tangerine. the tangerine and the champagne fizziness, combined, make this smell strongly soapy, like a cleaning product, as the scent dries on my skin. it was so fresh and light and fun at first but now i smell like strong, citrus-scented cleaner. nooo!

peach iii… ooh, at first, this is a sweet and rich peach scent. it's VERY VERY sweet, almost syrupy, but there's a pleasing booziness. is peach wine a thing? if it is, that's what this smells like. drinking peach wine, or maybe eating really sweet, ripe peaches and drinking a sweet red wine, and on the table is a bouquet of fresh roses. the floral notes lay low but they help turn this into a perfume and keep me from smelling like i took a bath in peach schnapps and wine. some of the sticky, syrup-like qualities die down as it dries and i am left with a soft peachy floral with a hint of sweet red wine.

i got bakeneko from the bpal etsy shop a while back. i imagine my bottle is rather well-aged, especially since i myself have had it for quite a while! something seems to have gone a bit powdery (amber, probably), although it's not terrible. the scent is a light powdery amber with a good amount of cherry blossom, dry spices and tea leaf. there's not much tangerine or musk. i love the way the cardamom, cinnamon and black tea work together (i would so drink that tea). this is a very soft, dry scent, with great spice notes. it isn't at all what i expected (more fresh citrus and floral) but it's nice and i think i can see myself wearing it in the autumn, especially.

initial reaction: "eugh eugh eugh get it off" this is one of a very small number of bpals i have tried and just... totally instantly straight-up hated it. this goes so terribly wrong on my skin. i don't know if it's the coconut (which has not been very kind to me lately; i don't think i can wear it anymore) or the "vanilla cream" or a combination thereof but it smells sickly-sweet and rotten... with a hint of lime. and yet my husband loves it, even on me. it makes no sense! i'm normally a hoarder even of bottles i know i'll probably never wear but i might just sell this one.

here was my reaction when i first applied and sniffed The Mahogany Tree: "holy $%@&!!!" after sniffing lots of mostly-good bpals this afternoon but wondering if i was going to find any that i really loved, here comes mahogany tree. first, this is a gorgeous rich wood scent. and it's definitely a wintery scent with the soft minty feel of "christmas snow," the woods, the red currants and wine, but the delicious tonka and amber and gorgeous labdanum are so warm and resinous and keep it in personal scent territory (as opposed to a room scent). swoon-worthy, and i will wear this a lot during the winter.

ooh i love that autumn leaves note, the same one as in October and some other autumnal blends. the ashes lend a smoky quality that makes me think of a cool fall day. there's a small bit of sweet frankincense. the amber lays low and i don't think i smell it at all. it does start to smell a bit cologne-y as it dries, but i still like it. this is more of a fall scent than a winter one, for me, and i think i will have to wear it as the days get cooler in the next couple of months.

Achluophobia is a THICK, DARK scent. It lives up to its name and description very faithfully. It has this amazing heavy resinousness and some yummy black musk. And tobacco! At first I thought, "…maple?" But then my nose corrected itself and i realized it was a delicious delicious tobacco note, which becomes the dominant note on the dry-down. Rich tobacco backed up by musk and dark sticky resin. It has great throw, too. I love it!