torischroeder9

Wondering how folks are feeling about another simple blind bottle swap right about now? I'd probably do the same format as last time -- simple questionnaire, aiming to send 5mL of BPAL perfume in the form of 1 bottle or a couple of partials. I would happily do any tweaking, but I think the summer one ran pretty smoothly.  

Bottle received from swap. I don't see a year on it, so I'm guessing this is the first (2005) version. I could be wrong, though. 

In the bottle: Yup, candy pomegranate over creamy, buttery pumpkin. It's simple, but it's good. 

On my skin:

Wet, it's the same as in the bottle. The pumpkin rounds out and supports and softens the pomegranate in a way that is really nice. 

This doesn't morph or get more complex on me, and I'm totally okay with that. I love the pomegranate-backed-by-something-less-fruity that is Pomegranate Grove: Snake Oil. While this isn't as complex a scent as that, it definitely serves as a way to highlight the pom note without it being too candy-like or cloying. 

Bottle received in swap. 

In the bottle: Mostly funnel cakes, with a hint of the dang of cedar and just the evocation of sawdust. Like, it feels sawdusty, even though I cannot say the sawdust has a specific scent. 

On my skin:

Wet, it's definitely very woody, a lot like the Celestial Jupiter was on me, though Please Scream Inside Your Haunted House is much softer in its woodsiness. As it dries, the funnel cakes come back out, so it's a lovely mix of sweetness and just a little fried cake and soft, dusty woods. 

Given more time to develop, the funnel cake becomes the top player, with the woods just barely detectable on me. I suspect the woods are mainly acting to cut the sweetness of the funnel cake because such notes are apt to become cloying on me, and this one is not. 

While I don't like this as much as I like Please Scream Inside Your Snake Oil, I do like this a lot more than I thought I would. Enough that I am definitely keeping this bottle. Enough that I'm probably done testing and reviewing scents for today because I just want to keep smelling like Please Scream Inside Your Haunted House.

Edit 9/5/2021 -- Turns out I had occasion to don mosquito repellant shortly after I finished reviewing this. Although I tried to avoid where I applied the perfume, that seems to have been sufficient to overwhelm the scent, suggesting that it may be a short-lived and/or skin-close scent on me. But that is definitely something I can find out with future wearings. 

In the decant: Mostly soft frankincense, barely detectable ginger. This is like ginger root that hasn't been shredded or cut in any way. 

On my skin:

It's slathered, and wet, it's just frankincense on my inner elbow. As it dries, the ginger becomes vaguely detectable, like a bag of ginger tea that's still in its paper wrapper. 

Yup, frankincense with very faint ginger. 

Now Snake Oil LCXXIII. Decant received as a frimp in a swap. 

In the decant: Snake Oil plus something smooth and a little spicy and a little airy and a little fuity and a lot sexy. You could convince me of vanilla, cardamom, amber, and currant or pomegranate. 

On my skin:

Wet, there's a lot more pom or currant-forward. It's not unlike the early stages of Australian Copperhead on me. As it dries, something slightly oud-y creeps out. 

The oud fades out after about an hour (from initial application, not from initial oud appearance), and then I'm back to something that's reminiscent of Australian Copperhead and Pomegranate Grove Snake Oil, with Snake Oil plus a tart red berry. Given that I am trying hard to hoard my PGSO and failing utterly, I will definitely be making use of this decant! 

Received a decant as a swap frimp from someone who clearly has an excellent understanding of what notes I love. 

In the decant: Lightly spiced champaca. I would guess that the spice is clove based on the description, but my nose can't directly identify it here. 

On my skin:

Wet, it's very, very champaca, which I certainly don't mind. As it dries, the leather creeps out a bit, cutting the champaca's citrusy floral sweetness. 

Ultimately, this stays mostly sweet champaca with a subtle grounding of leather. It's nice, but it's nice in the same way... Matthew (Something:Something, the one with honey and chapaca) is but without the more structured grounding of that blend's sandalwood. I wish I got the clove more with this, but as it is, I'm not sure it's sufficiently distinct on me to merit keeping. 

In the imp: I can pick out orange blossom. Everything else is vaguely sweet and swirly. 

On my skin:

Wet, it's more orange blossom and sweet. As it dries, the strawberry becomes more prominent, then the carnation as well. Happily for me, more time makes this perfume more carnation-forward, though it's never a particularly strong smell. 

Gah! Unfortunately, orange blossom is doing its usual wafting thing on me, but it's somehow latched onto the strawberry note to waft. So there are times when it's this perfectly lovely carnation-based scent, but other times when I get whiffs of orange blossom and strawberry, the combination of which is just... odd in itself and particularly jarring when I was expecting the carnation. 

In the bottle: Black tea, apricot, honey, and apple blossom. 

On my skin:

Wet, it's very honey apricot, like Katharina meets Khajuraho. As it dries, the apricot dials back, and some of the ginger root comes out, cutting the honey's sweetness. It stays very pretty until it disappears rather quickly on my skin (not, like, crazily quickly -- just a scent with lower longevity for me) -- which is how I know it's tea-dominant.

I like this a lot, but I'll have to see if I like it enough to figure out how to make it last longer. 

Received as a frimp decant in a swap. 

In the decant: Sweet spices and a note that's not cake or cream or leather. You could convince me it's the metal in the padlocks, though. 

On my skin:

Wet, yeah, it's a sweetness that's muddled. Cream and metal for sure. At this stage, it's odd. Not outright unpleasant but not pleasant, either. 

As it dries... there is a Mad Tea Party scent... Rocking Horse Fly? Bread and Butter Fly?... that smells like rum raisin on me. This smells a lot like that. Given a little more time to develop, the leather comes out, so now it's rum raisin leather, which is honestly a little nicer than just rum raisin since the leather provides a good non-foodie grounding note for me. 

This is not bad, but it's definitely underwhelming on me. 

Boomslang is probably my favorite, but I surprised myself with how much I like Cottonmouth (not usually a florals person) as well as Coral Snake (not usually an apple person). 

In the decant: Leather that's like the inside of a used and new tack shop. It's new, sharp, clean leather. It's faded and worn used leather. It's cheap leather and plush expensive leather. All together. A second whiff gives me smoke and sage. 

On my skin:

It's gonna be a minute. First impressions are leather, then smoke, then tobacco, then sage, then prairie flowers. This is all within the first fifteen seconds. 

After fifteen minutes, it's back to complex tack store. I cannot say that I mind. 

Which is good because complex tack store is where it seems to stay on me. I don't swear that I need a bottle of this, but I'm definitely keeping the decant and keeping an eye out. 

In the bottle: Red musk and amber, and definitely thyme, though I don't detect a strong "scorched" element at this stage. I mean, it smells like herbal dried thyme but not like I actually burned it in a pan or anything.

On my skin:

Wet, red musk floats up immediately, followed by amber, followed by something... almost citrusy floral that I can't discern based on the notes. If I didn't have a note list, I would have guessed champaca (and been wrong, obviously), which is at least a pleasant, if inaccurate, association. As it dries, the red musk dials back on me -- alas! -- and I'm left with the same red amber that I like in Fragment 38. Where that is sweetened by olive blossom, though, this is dry and herbal spiced. I still get the dried thyme, along with flakes of dried red pepper. 

I am getting very little sweetness from this, such that I do wish for a bit more. That said, I am testing this when I am freshly showered and when the desert has produced summer thunderstorms outside my door. I wonder what would happen if I tried this on on a sunny, dry, sweaty day. 

Another I could have sworn I've reviewed. I've tried, I know, but not written down my thoughts. 

In the imp: Almond extract, the kind made with real alcohol. 

On my skin:

Wet, still almond extract. As it dries, the almond extract fades entirely, and I'm left with very bay bay rum. That is, rum spices are present, but bay is really at the forefront of the scent right now. The more it sits, though, the more the rest of the spices become predominant. I like this spicy rum stage, though I don't know how unique it would be in my collection at this point. 

Ultimately, I think that this is where the baron ends up on me. I love these spices, but I do have them in other scent blends. And the fact that Baron Samedi does not contain a markedly sweetening note on me (not that I think it should, to be a good interpretation of the namesake) means that in terms of general wearability, this is probably not my choice-est scent. 

I feel like I must have reviewed this before. I think I've tried it at least twice. But apparently no review. So. 

This imp came direct from the Lab. 

In the imp:  Gentle florals and soft ginger. I cannot identify muguet specifically, but the floral note is delicate. 

On my skin:

Wet, it's all white floral, though nothing is soapy or harsh. As it dries, the muguet becomes more of a distinct note, though the ginger and other floral notes keep it soft and not screeching on me (which is a problem I sometimes have with lilies of all varieties). Given even more time, the ginger bounces back a bit so it's definitely a gingerly floral. 

It's beautiful in the same way that Vixen is beautiful (translation: I love it) though it's much cleaner and softer, lacking Vixen's grit. I think I need that grit to really want it in a perfume oil, but Pele bath oil or atmo spray would certainly get my monies. 

Imp direct from the Lab. 

In the imp: Verrry rosy rose soap. Like, rose sometimes goes soapy on my skin, so I am a little afraid to try this on, it's so soapy already. 

On my skin (for science):

Wet, it's more rose and less soap. Whew. As it dries, I get a touch of something citrus, either bergamot or tangerine. It's still pretty rosy, though, and more than a little soapy. 

Finally, the soap dials back, as does the rose, and a bit of carnation, amber, and musk appear. It's still a rose-forward scent on me, but now it's backed by other notes that give it additional depth. 

This ends up being a deep and sophisticated rose -- "imperial" in the scent description is apt -- but alas, it is too much rose for me. Still loads better than soap, though. 

Okay, I'm going to do imps only, with a justification being that there's so much variation in individual skin chemistry. For every "surefire winner" BPAL has, there's someone who finds it just doesn't work for them. 

1. Snake Oil -- I think it's fair to include it just because the Lab calls it their signature scent. I also happen to love it. There also happen to be a number of SO variants, so I think it makes sense to include the base scent in a starter pack. 
2. Dorian -- Another BPAL classic, this time of the more clean and sophisticated variety. This also happens to be The One that smells AH-mazing in the imp for me but that my skin chemistry turns to mediocrity. 
3. Spellbound -- Though you could convince me there are better BPAL roses and better BPAL red musks, I've seen this work for a lot of folks who didn't think they could wear rose (like me) and folks who didn't think they could wear red musk. (I don't know if I've seen it work for folk who list both of those as ungood notes, though.)
4. Vixen -- This works as a "Snake Oil-like" scent for a lot of folks for whom SO doesn't work. I also love the way it uses orange blossom and ginger. First, I love that this is such a rounded three-note perfume. Second, I love that I never would have pictured these particular three notes together, but it does create a beautiful whole. 
5. Zombi -- I feel like this is BPAL's most "beginner-friendly" scent with a dirt/soil/earth note, which is also something I want folks new to BPAL to experience. (I haven't found it yet, but someday, I intend to find the BPAL with just the right amount of dirt on me that it smells like something while it's growing in soil. I'm not there yet, but I think Zombi probably started me on this quest.)
6. Iago -- For me, this is a scent that's fairly raw, without any smooth edges. I think it's very stereotypically masculine, and I'd want to include something with that evocation to get beyond the idea that perfume oils are predominantly oriented around the feminine. 
7. Katharina -- This is probably my favorite scent of the light and airy floral variety.
8. The Antikythera Mechanism -- Tobacco is another note I think the Lab does extremely well, and I feel like this is the most accessible GC tobacco scent. By "accessible," I mean that it has few enough notes that the tobacco stands out but enough notes that it's not likely to go Tobacco SN on anyone. 

In the imp: Ginger, grass, and sage, with a little brightness I could attribute to verbena, though I can't distinguish it as a note. 

On my skin:

Wet, it's mostly white ginger, though with a lightness and airiness that probably comes from the amber. As it dries, the grass comes out, though it goes back and forth a bit with the ginger as the starring note. Settled, it's very gingery but also grassy, backed strongly by the sage. Amber, as it often does on me, is acting as a strong base from which to feature these other notes. 

I like it a fair bit, though I feel it's maybe a touch more herbal than I'd want as a regular wear perfume. 

Received a decant (is that what it's called with HG? it's much larger than a perfume decant but smaller than a FS hair gloss) in a swap. 

In the decant: I definitely get black amber and something that is woodsy and mossy. It's light on the dead leaves, which, since they often go to bell pepper on me, I don't mind. 

On my skin:

(Testing on skin as my hair does not love hair gloss. Also, it's 115 here, and my hair is kind of sweat-stinky, and I don't want it to bias my impressions.) 

Black amber, wood moss, slightly almost-smoky. Not like something is burning smoky, but like you walked into a room where someone had finished burning incense maybe an hour ago. 

I am super glad my skin is super dry because I am going to unapologetically wear this as a skin perfume until it's gone.  

Decant received as swap freebie. 

In the decant: I can pick out amber, chamomile, frankincense, and saffron. It gives the impression of a slightly sweet, lightly spiced... almost nutty? like almond, but not almond... resin. 

On my skin: 

Wet, I get the Egyptian amber and walnut bark (which, it just now occurs to me that that might account for the nuttiness of my first impression)... though in this iteration of the scent, the walnut bark is very much detectable as such. 

I missed a lot of the interim stages as I got busy and only have a tester, but this develops into something warm and sensuous on me. Definitely amber and saffron, and you could certainly convince me that walnut bark is deepening it as frankincense is lightening it. There's also a depth to it that I can't quite identify, which might be the chamomile interacting with the other notes. 

I like this quite a lot and would consider trying to acquire a bottle of it if I though that would be an easier task. 

Received as a frimp in a swap. 

In the imp: Delicate smoke and the soft resin of copal. You could absolutely convince me of florals here, but at this stage, none are distinct. 

On my skin:

Wet, it's still resin and smoke, though they separate here slightly. In the imp, they were swirled together, and I couldn't smell one without smelling the other. In the early stages on my skin, I get each in fits and starts. (That description sounds less harmonious than it really is.) As it dries, I can start to detect the sweet orange near my skin -- and it might be contributing to what I read as the copal further out in the throw -- but the throw is still mostly copal and smoke. It's a light incense smoke, though, nothing harsh or heavy about it. And it's totally possible that the plumeria and other floral notes are blending into what I'm reading as sweet incense smoke. 

The more the scent develops, the more sweet orange I get close to the skin, which is a little unusual for my skin chemistry. (My skin usually eats orange by this point in the wearing.) I like it, as it's a tropical vibe that's light but not too light and isn't overly sweet or cloying. I would also say there's something fairly gender neutral about this. It's light and sweet enough to be traditionally feminine, but it's also grounded and smoky in a way that's traditionally masculine. 

I like this considerably more than I thought I would based on the notes (I had imagined it being more humid florals), but I'm not sure I need  bottle. If I hadn't already amassed quite a perfume collection, however, I might think differently as this fits in a scent niche that my current other perfumes don't really provide. 

Received today in a Forum purchase. It's in a 5mL roller ball bottle, not the original Lab bottle, so I don't know if that will skew my in-bottle impressions. 

In the (decanted) bottle: Initially, it's just extra sweet Snake Oil, but not in the same way other sweetened Snake Oil versions -- Womb Furie, Snake's Kiss -- have been. After a bit, I can detect an element that's more like powdered sugar baked good than like cloying honey.

On my skin:

Wet, it's basically regular (aged almost a year) Snake Oil -- which, in my opinion, is fabulous enough in itself. As it dries, I get maybe a liiitle extra sweetness, but not necessarily more than I'd get from sultry, well-aged Snake Oil to begin with. 

Huh. For better or for worse, that's about where this stays on me, years-old aged Snake Oil. I'm a little disappointed that the finished product is not more novel on my skin chemistry, but since I love SO, I cannot complain. 

@Lucchesa, it's posted! 

12 hours ago, Lucchesa said:

I’d be up for a blind bottle swap!

I will post this probably by June 1, then. I think there's enough interest to do at least a small swap on this. 

5 hours ago, Greenwoodtree said:

Whats a blind bottle swap?

A swap where you'd swap BPAL bottles (I'm thinking 1 or the equivalent volume of 1) but where you wouldn't necessarily have any idea of what you were getting. (I'd plan a questionnaire that included likes/dislikes, but people have what they have, so no guarantees.) 

It can be a fun way to swap bottles, particularly for folks who've.... erm... amassed... a collection of a certain size.  

Coming back to re-gauge interest in a blind bottle swap. The semester got away from me, and I didn't want to try to organize when I didn't really know if I'd have time, but I think I should be good to do one in June/July if people are interested.