starbrow

Very pretty and sheer. This is not aquatic, but I can picture the swirl of fallen cherry blossoms on the surface of a stream, and the light creaminess of muguet (lily-of-the-valley). No drier sheets (some people get that from white musk), yet I could see how some might get "fancy soap" from the combination of cherry blossoms and clear white musk. I almost get a cottony vibe from the drydown, when the cherry blossoms have faded and the muguet/musk is left. It's not entirely my vibe - I much prefer the combo of notes from last year's Right Atrium - but it's a better cherry blossom than you'd find at, ahem, certain mall stores .

Mmm...juicy-sweet blackberry citrus iced tea with lots of sugar! That impression is very consistent in the bottle and fresh on the skin for the first few minutes. Tons of fruit and a noticeable white tea herbalness, a blend that could fit right in with the Mad Tea Party collection. A lot of times, blackberry is paired with other dark fruits or something else that darkens it, but in Couple Reading Erotic Scroll, blackberry gets the chance to really strut its stuff. YUM. Minutes tick by, the scroll unfurls...to reveal the most beautiful soft rice notes, a little creamy and a little papery, with wispy curls of blackberry and bergamot trailing down the sides. The throw stays close to the skin after the initial burst of fruit, but it is so pretty. I just had to pick myself up a bottle.

These are not shy-sounding notes! But wow, somehow they blend into an almost delicately pretty scent. I don't know that I've ever specifically smelled lemon blossom, but there's definitely a sunny, citrusy floral weaving into leaves. If they are maple, I can't really tell; I can tell that they are not Dead Leaves, and that for me is a great thing. I'm really loving the combination of the beeswax and honey musk, which together form a very warm-and-fuzzy version of honey. I really would love to see them as the star of a blend, without the brightness of the lemon blossom washing them out. This would be beautiful with a bunch of different notes. I might even try using the drydown of Chushu to layer with. Decant-worthy, even if it's not yet earned a bottle for me.

What a morpher! In the bottle, I get a cool, sweet green tea with no herbiness. As soon as it hits the skin, juniper hits the stage all decked out in CHRISTMAS TREE pineyness. The berries are more fir-needly than normal, really bright and coniferous. I wasn't expecting the juniper to be such a wild, spiky top note, but I don't mind it at all, I like conifers a lot, and it will be fun wearing this in the middle of summer. BUT THEN. The winds of change, hours later, bring a whole new perspective: the prettiest, coolest green tea and sweet bamboo, backed by pale wafting incense. The juniper has almost completely faded, leaving the soft loveliness of the other notes to shine through. I realized too late that I need a full bottle of this, since I love green tea blends and Cooling Breeze is both unique and delightful. What's so unusual to me, besides the perfection of the bamboo shoots in combo with the other more common notes, is that the sweetness doesn't seem to come from sugar or honey notes but from the herbal plants and woods themselves, the way aloe can sometimes smell sweet. Cooling Breeze won't spike your blood sugar, but it will calm you out, the way A Balmy 26 Degrees can. Incredibly beautiful. Bottle, bottle, bottle!

The Amorous Bat Demon must be in the same genus as whatever dark-feathered creature flapped its leather wings around All the Meaner Things (from the 2019 Weenies). Salty dark resins permeate both, and the whiff of leathery animal skins. Dalliance leans heavily in the direction of the honeyed patchouli, supported by the woods, making it both sweeter and more pungent than Meaner Things. It's just as 3-am-dark, though, and just as evocative of unseen beasties prowling about; Amorous through woods, Meaner by the harbor. This smells fantastic on a dude, by the way, although its darkness can easily be worn by any gender who embraces the night. Don't fear the honey here, it's very smooth and treacly around the richness of the patch. Dalliance would make a perfect pairing with the Devils of the Pit Hair Gloss (also from the 2019 Weenies), and might even tickle the fancy of Revenant Rhythm/Banshee Beat fans.

Egoyomi starts out as THE peaches-and-cream to end all peaches-and-cream. Like, I can smell the can of peaches opened up, the sweet syrup floating around the halves, the frothy richness of the cream. It's so, so evocative. It's only later that the honey and sandalwood come out, once it's dried down for hours. Part of that drydown is spicy-honey dry incense, and part of it is....corn chip. Eep! I can still smell the peaches and cream swimming around, and it's actually one of my favorite peaches so far. (I'm not even big on peach scents, but I've been digging Imp a lot!) I would not mind a decant of this at all, though I would never go through a whole bottle of peaches and cream myself.

A peep into a springtime garden: a swirl of fresh florals on the breeze and unpicked strawberries, still green on the stem. These are pretty florals! Even the gardenia and lilac play nicely together, lightly heady but gentle and cool; perfect springtime blossoms. I don't notice a lot of bourbon vanilla, but there is a lovely tinge of strawberries that are not yet ripe, not very sweet at all, a huge contrast to many strawberry blends that are uber-sweet-candy-shortcake. Though light, the throw is kind of perfect for florals like this, just softly wafting around rather than in-your-face. And the strawberry is one of the most unique that I've smelled, almost strawberry-leaf. Florals and strawberries aren't my lovely cup of tea, but for someone who does enjoy them, you can't really go wrong with Ehon Karanishiki.

I love cherry blossoms (Right Atrium!) and red sandalwood (Anne Bonny!) and some blends with cognac (Dark Lace!). Rose and I have a precarious relationship, usually "off-again". Of course, Enjoyment is alllll roses for me. It's the perfumey, slightly fruity rose from Wild Rose and Cherry, with just a dewdrop of cognac recalling the foregone eras of Laces. I get neither of the other notes, and that's a real shame. I think this would be a beautiful blend if it was more in harmony the way Kisses For Us All (2019 Weenies) managed to harmonize rose with everything else. Enjoyment of the Rose Breeze! Rose lovers, rejoice!

Dark musk, how I love thee! The collection of notes in this blend was very appealing to me, a black musk fan. I've enjoyed the smoky oaky wood of Hinoki in previous Shungas (Visiting the Sumida River, Woman Dragging Her Aroused Lover, Exhausted Sailors), but it's almost always been in an aquatic setting of some kind. Here, the Hinoki wood warms up the foodiness of the brandied apricots, not intensely boozy but quite vividly fruity: smelling this, I can almost taste the sticky-sweetness of dried apricots surrounded by wood, like standing in an oak pantry nibbling on dried fruit and tippling a little brandy. The presence of dark musk or more vanilla would definitely have tipped this into bottle territory for me, but sadly, I didn't get much of either note. I still think apricot fans or Hinoki wood lovers will enjoy this immensely!

Amber creeeeeeam, this is your party and we're just all guests here. Inhaling both bottle and on skin, I'm surrounded by a very strong cream with some golden cologny vibes, no doubt aided by the bergamot (a classic ingredient in men's cologne) and the earthiness of the ambrette seed. The throw and intensity is substantial, as subtle as the ten minutes after a Florida sunrise. (Not subtle at all ) In many ways, it's the perfume oil equivalent of Dead Leaves, Cream Amber, and Lemon Peel, with citrus and musky/soapy notes supporting the starring Amber Cream. In several years of BPAL now, I've been drawn to amber cream in several blends, only to find it more and more cologne-headache-ville as my nose develops. I almost blind-bottled Golden Sunrise, but I'm glad I didn't and got a chance to try it first. For those who haven't experienced amber cream, it's quite different than regular amber. There's a piercing quality that cuts through the way jasmine does, the cream like a heady cloud of in-your-face perfume rather than dairy-ish cream. I don't think it's a note that works well for me anymore, but this is a beautifully blended perfume in spite of this, and I highly recommend it to amber cream fans.

Just opening the bottle is like stepping into a wind tunnel of JASMINE BLOWING YOUR HAIR BACK. This is Jasmine Sambac to the max. The whitest of florals, strong strong strong, cream amplifying its megapowers. It overpowers the honey, the vanilla, and of course the sandalwood. A drop of cognac boozes up the joint very faintly with expensive cologny liquor. Trying to detect anything in the jasmine cream maelstrom is a trick and a half, though! The throw of these Women is massive. It cuts through plastic, through a room, almost through the bottle. You won't need much of this one to be noticed. If you are at all sensitive to jasmine, it'd be wise to give this the sniff test before jumping. This is the jasmine cream that somebody has been searching for. Probably if you liked The Poinsettia Gown from the 2019 Yules and weren't a fan of the rose, you should give Women Copulating a whirl!

In the bottle, this Lovebird smells AWESOME. Total cakey goodness, sugary and fluffy, with a hint of spice. I get maybe the barest little smidge of the cotton candy I loved so much in She Sauntered Vaguely Downwards....I would love like, 5 more sticks of that spun sugar. Then once it hits the skin, ole Pinky goes into cardamom mode, the cakiness slowly disappearing into something more like cardamom cream. In fact...it dries down into a dead ringer for Cardamom Cream Pumpkin Cake's drydown. This is great news for those who love cardamommy sweets, but I was really looking for that cake-pop vanilla confetti deliciousness to linger around more. I very much expected to walk away with a bottle of Pink Lovebird, however I think I will look for a decant first and test this more.

This is so interesting. I'm extremely sensitive to almond notes, and therefore to cherry notes. But sniffing Wild Rose and Cherry blindly, I would not have guessed at all that there is cherry in here. Instead, I would guess that this is rose petals and rose geranium. That slightly spicy geranium note is kicking here! How did it slip in? It's really distinct to me, and it really does smother any cherry note for me, except for a hint of fruity cherry at the very beginning. So this cherry bomb is really more floral bomb with perhaps a tiny drop of fruit.

You know how certain scents are just classically Shunga/Luper to your nose? Whatever that might mean to you? Right Atrium is that for me. White tea in creamy, Asian-tinted glory, all its notes in richly elegant harmony, so that when I wear it, I feel that is Lupercalia season. Amber is always something that warms and glows in the background of blends that I wear, and so it is here; it's the tea-light beneath the teapot, keeping it all snug and cozy for you. The white tea will be instantly recognizable to any fans of it in other blends, and the cherry blossom a fragrant Japanese floral that says "soap" to some, cool sweetness to others. But the cashmere wood is a note that swirls the rest with creaminess, with gently resinous depth, that is wholly unique in my experience with white tea blends. Nowhere to be found is the sourness that milk-cream notes can sometimes take on; this is resin-cream, and it is woolly-sweet throughout its wear. Soft when it came out last year, Right Atrium has gained some intensity with age but is still a beautifully wearable scent for the office or working with those used to more "innocent" scents such as Bath and Body Works. Someone who loved their Japanese Cherry Blossom, for instance, would find this very soothing, more rich and complex. White tea fans should run, not walk, to this atrium.

I'm always happy to find a red musk variation that's unique, and Left Ventricle pumps out the goods. This is classic sexy red musk, with heady orange blossom (like Chordae Tendineae) whose citrus is given a little more kick from the bergamot. But what really makes Left Ventricle stand out for the rest is the crush of mint, fragrant and crisp like freshly muddled leaves of mint just picked from the garden. It freshens the red musk for spring, enhanced no doubt by the eucalyptus blossom (which I haven't smelled on its own, but rest assured there is no mentholic blast of eucalyptus here). Overall, the effect is so much more buoyant and cheerful than red musk blends tend to be. If red musk always stomps all over everything for you, Left Ventricle won't change your mind. If, on the other hand, it plays nicely and you're looking to try something red musk dominant with a (literally) fresh twist, this is the heart valve for you. I love this blend for spring and summer, something sultry and yet also deeply rooted in the garden and warmed by the sun. Delightful!

Unf this is so huffable. I can't believe I didn't review it yet, I ended up backup bottling this 2019 Lupercalia, it was that good. It's all the good parts of Dead Leaves, Cream Amber, and Lemon Peel HG minus the bad parts (mainly, dead leaves ). Thick, creamy resin swirls into sweet lotus (like honey but less sharp and more watery-floral) and the light herbiness of white tea for a creamed/lemoned/sugared tea effect. It's strong, luscious, with excellent throw. Like Snake's Kiss without the snake oil that can be problematic for some, Humorous Copulation is a flamboyantly happy cream with just enough sugar and lemon to make it a very indulgent cup of tea indeed.

Clove lovers, this is your jam. Apparently, what gets government officials all riled up is some sweet clove, strong and vanillic, with the tannins of tea wafting in the air. This is boldly spiced and wonderfully reminiscent of a tea house turned profoundly sensual. I don't get any blackcurrant or specific vetiver notes, but there is a lot of warmth and depth and richness that I am guessing these notes lend to the showy top notes. If Cat Event Exorcist is the more sanctified clove, this is the erotic clove, ready to make love to your senses.

A conglomeration of every possible happy note ever, a party in the nose, wild and full of spring fever. It's a little bit of everything: some sour green apple jolly rancher, some currant tea (those two notes definitely fuse together in my nose), some sprightly sweet pepper. Even a year later, I don't get any cacao, and the lemon peel is very subdued, contributing just a sunny brightness rather than any specific lemony note, which I appreciate. A few hours later, this baby is all soft patchouli. If you want a joyous spring blend that is very unusual and not floral at all, here's your ticket. It's strong when you put your nose up to it, but the throw is very small, so it's quite good for office settings etc.

Heady and gorgeous, like all the vital things of life wrapped into one. And the strange thing is....blindly smelling my bottle from last year and even more so one applied on the skin, Chordae Tendineae is reminding me of certain parts of Florida life, specifically beach trips. It smells like red musk on skin warmed golden in the sun, like salt and sand, like the echoes of suntan lotion, and like beach grasses and distant orange blossoms. Rest assured, there is no aquatic note whatsoever, you aren't going to get ocean from this heartthrob. It's all the heat of amber and gilding of honey and the orange-spice of florals giving all these illusions of salt life. No ordinary red musk here, this is stunning. If you can find a bottle, you won't be disappointed.

Oh no, huge disappointment here! The notes looked so good. Rose and teak were the only caveats, so of course that's what I'm getting a ton of. Behind them, apple and something powdery, sweet like drugstore chocolate, chalky and a little fake. The neroli is not behaving nicely with that; it turns the citrusy floral a little sour and I'm not jiving with it. Why is this failing so badly on me? For the record, I adore black musk, neroli, and vanilla, and I enjoy patchouli, bergamot, and some apple. I thought this would be a slam dunk, and it is just clearly not my cup of tea. I'm not even sure who to recommend this to, it just is an odd little bundle of scents. Black musk fans - look elsewhere, these are not the droids you're looking for!

Juushika nailed it - this is "BPAL box", classic old-school Lab resins, gothy and incensey, nice and rich, with a cinnamon note that stands out among the rest. Fortunately or unfortunately, the other three notes are such staples of BPAL blends that this one kind of ends up smelling like the drydown of every resiny BPAL ever, with a little cinnamon from Satyr or Chimera thrown in. Both of the blends I just named end up having more personality, I think. Sin is good, and I will wear my decant for sure, it's just not unique enough for a bottle for me.

Sometimes playfully walking with the Fool, sometimes tugging on his stockings, sometimes attacking in a pack, sometimes tearing the ass out of his pants, sometimes chomping him right on the nuts: feral and tame, guardian and hunter, loyalty and opposition. Sometimes guiding the Fool off the cliff and other times warning him of dangers ahead. A warm canine musk, trampled grass, a gleam of ivory-white fang, cardamom pod, and crushed yew. Ridiculously charming, in a cozy outdoorsy kind of way. The 'canine musk' is light and appealing and really does make me think of freshly-washed puppy. A thread of sunny grass and maybe the crushed yew is giving it the romping-in-a-field vibe, I think. I'm not sure what fang is supposed to smell like. Maybe it's what gives this blend its pale quality; this is not a 'brown' kind of fuzzy scent like Wulric, but very white-washed and lovely. I'm not sure I can detect the cardamom, but the overall effect is exceptionally snuggly. The only thing that is keeping me from buying a bottle? It has exactly zero throw. The fade is so fast on my skin! I'm going to try turning my decant into an eau de parfum and see what happens.

The first whiff on the skin was very ghostly indeed, like the ghost of black musk and resins...and then that orris went POOF and blew powder all over me for hours. Powdery deodorant is very, very apt. If I was looking for a scent to replicate that, this would definitely do it. But not really a fan of it as a perfume. Black musk is nowhere to be found!

This is still really fresh, and I can tell Wolf Moon will deepen and darken with age. But here are initial impressions: Those sacred pines are really popping. Top notes are all about the pines, bright and needly, with some herbacious berry notes (the mulberry), that combination inevitably bringing to mind thoughts of Christmas and winter. As it settles on the skin, the spices of this Wolf begin to emerge, with cassia, date plum (it really is more "sticky" and dark like dates!), and fig standing out to me if I think hard about them, but overall it's a mulled effect, the resins and fruits swirled together in a single spiced-wine-in-the-forest feeling. Picture the wild berry-streaked Ranger drinking a skin of Harvest Moon 19, and you'd have a pretty good inkling of what Wolf Moon smells like. I actually got a lot of the same feeling from Flame of the Bear (Yule 2019), but Wolf Moon is a little sweeter and stickier, whereas Flame is a pretty prominent bayberry, a tiny bit smokier because of it (since it makes me think of bayberry candles). I'm really enjoying Wolf Moon in its fresh stage, and looking forward to what it morphs into with age.

This is totally the hidden gem of the Weenies. This is what red musk would smell like if it was playing dress up in black musk's trunk, trying on Streets of Detroit and twirling in it, plopping Jiaolong's hat on its head and adjusting it at a jaunty angle, playing with its No. 93 Engine and staring out the window at the giant Smokestack in the distance. Red musk tends to be a very distinctive note, but here, it is shrouded in all the mystery and shadow of its black musk cousin. I don't smell burning leaves or actual fire elements here, but it is quite dark and murky, smoothly blended like Pumpkin Musk and Black Oud was in the 2018 Weenies. The notes may sound scary in this Song, but believe it or not, they come together in an appealing, even (dare I say) sexy way. If Streets of Detroit was your jam, and you don't have any objection to red musk in general, I dare you to try this one and see how it goes. Something that should be gritty and offputting is somehow incredibly intoxicating, and I'd hate for anybody to miss out on that experience.