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BPAL Madness!

wordortwo

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Everything posted by wordortwo

  1. wordortwo

    Leather

    I find both The Black Rider and The White Rider to be un-sexy. This may be a silly way to frame it, but they both smell exactly as described, and I find both of them soothing. The Black Rider is smooth black leather sweetened by oppoponax, amber, and tobacco. White Rider is dry sandalwood and pale leather; the leather is particularly strong.
  2. wordortwo

    Night

    In the bottle, Night smells like a dark chocolate liqueur. The oil separates rather quickly, with what I am assuming is cacao settling at the bottom of the bottle. I recommend spending some time mixing this before applying. On the skin, there is no chocolate here - it is bitter, earthy cacao with a swirl of smoke. It truly does feel like an enveloping darkness, but in the sense of stepping outside in the middle of the night. A light sweetness rises, which I interpret as tobacco and resin, and it's run through with a cool floral. It settles into the skin as rich, earthy cacao with a hint of smoke. As others have said, it is velvety, lightly floral, and just sweet enough. Night is strong and incredibly long-lasting - I can smell it on clothes for days. (I also have a tendency to slather it on, so take that with a grain of salt). One of my favorite BPAL fragrances.
  3. wordortwo

    Le Lèthè

    This is a warm, dark bedroom, heavy with the lingering scent of bodies. Incense mingles with musk. The nutmeg prevents a syrupy quality from becoming cloying sweet. Sexy, brooding, a little melancholy. One of my favorite frimps. It lingers a while but I don't find it to be a super strong or long lasting fragrance.
  4. wordortwo

    The White Rider

    You're walking down a small town Main Street on a hot summer day. As you pass a shop, the scent of leather draws you inside. Standing in the center of the small shop, the sun-warmed wood blends with the leather and you forget all about wherever you were headed. I received this as a frimp and tested it without looking it up. It is recognizably, no-nonsense pale leather and sandalwood. It is bone dry, potent, and mesmerizing. I can't quite speak to the longevity, but it stuck around after I washed my wrist. It has medium projection.
  5. wordortwo

    The Poinsettia Gown

    Poinsettia Gown is well outside my comfort zone, but I adore it. It feels elegant and sophisticated yet playful and cozy. It opens with rich and warm and big florals. The jasmine slowly settles and the fragrance becomes a sweet, floral-laced cloud of whipped cream. Cloud may be the wrong word if it suggests this is an ethereal or subtle scent; it is not - it has projection and staying power. Overall, it makes me feel cheerful and warm.
  6. wordortwo

    To a Wreath of Snow

    A beautiful multi-faceted opening drying down to simple sweetness. In the bottle and wet on the skin, a fresh and sharp lavender hovers above a creamy, chewy, nutty scent. As it begins to dry, I smell a rich, slightly spicy floral; I don't know what tobacco flower smells like but I think this is it, as it has that same golden syrup edge as good tobacco. The overall effect is a bit melancholy but bright. As it dries down on my skin, the pieces that make it wonderfully complex fall away -- no more nuttiness, spiciness, or lavender. It becomes a sweet and creamy skin-close scent. As someone above said, it is like sweet vanilla without being exactly vanilla. In this phase, it sometimes smells like rubber or plastic to me. (I should note that, on my skin, many cold or "white" scents sometimes smell a bit like plastic and all fragrances sweeten much more than expected.) I have tried this fragrance several times over the past month and half and I have yet to find it particularly evocative or interesting after the lavender fades away. However, as time has passed, it does seem the lavender is lasting longer, so I am curious to see how it changes.
  7. wordortwo

    Call it a broken heart, a break-up, heartache...

    @katharina The description sounds spot on, and those notes are definitely up my alley. @feyofthefellwood I've had my eye on that one.
  8. wordortwo

    Call it a broken heart, a break-up, heartache...

    This is a very old thread, but I'm gonna bump it because I'm seeking a scent for heartbreak. Not a scent for getting over heartbreak, but one that smells like heartbreak - sadness, anger, grief, longing. A scent for feeling your feelings. This search started as a distraction and has now turned into a bit of a creative and intellectual exercise, lol. I'm currently wearing Night, which has the sort of wistful, brooding edge I'm seeking, but I'm wondering what ideas others have. (And many of the suggestions in this thread are discontinued).
  9. wordortwo

    Altarpiece - No1 - Group X

    This is a stately, golden, glittering scent. When it is wet on the skin, it is a mix of sharp citrus, fresh wood, and powdery, spicy resins. There is perhaps a sliver of floral poking through. I love the long-term dry down, which is warm and sweet yet still clean and bright. It lasts many hours and has a surprisingly broad throw. I mean, that's all well and good, but really, I'm not quite sure I'm describing this scent accurately. It does kind of smell like an art museum, like the first reviewer says. I could also say it smells like a sunbeam. Or a golden demigod. I'm happy to smell like any of those things.
  10. wordortwo

    Bien Loin D'Ici

    I never would have thought I would wear a perfume with a caramel note, but this is one of my favorite fragrances. A sweet, warm incense-honey musk that lingers on my skin all day. This is languorous, sultry, and a bit sly. I find it relaxing, but it is powerful stuff - it has quite a throw.
  11. wordortwo

    Psychodynamic Discharge

    Wear this to let your id do the talking. Black leather and vetiver growl beneath pulses of fiery spices, as the scent gathers itself into a murky, smoky swirl dotted with dried rose petals. As the smoke settles, a creamy coconut core reveals itself. That's all to say... Somehow, this scent is exactly what it says on the label. As reviewer above said, it demands attention until it decides it is done toying with you. The overall effect is like dancing in a writhing crowd for hours and then collapsing on the floor for a feverish night's sleep in your sweaty, smoky leather jacket. It is a very strange delight. (As a side note, it seems to make my skin a bit sensitive.)
  12. wordortwo

    La Petite Mort

    Testing a frimp from the Lab. Le Petit Mort is sweet, powdery, and lightly musky. When wet, it has a rich floral note, which becomes quiet on the skin. When I sniff it up close, is has a ticklish powdery quality. However, it has little throw and creates a soft, sweet, sultry halo. This is not as sensual as I would have expected, but it is a pleasant sleep scent.
  13. wordortwo

    Scent Recs based on your PERSONALITY!

    Oh I want to play this game 🙂 I'm looking for a perfume that brings out the calm, competent, and confident side of me. I'm an introverted and genderqueer person in my mid 30s. You might describe me as goofy, sincere, sensitive, talkative, or funny. I am sometimes full of indignation, righteous or otherwise. Nevertheless, people find me empathic and talk through their problems with me. I enjoy poetry and artsy film and much as videos of baby animals and pop music. I wear black every day and I'm not very stylish about it. I spend as much time as possible in the woods. I love walking. Ninety percent of my reading for pleasure in the last year has been Neil Gaiman audiobooks. I'm a cat person, in temperament and practice, but I also love dogs. Depending on which system of classification you're into, I'm either an Aquarius or a Tiger. I would love to hear your recommendations from the GC!
  14. wordortwo

    Yule Cat

    2020 version. This opens crisp, bright green, like winter underbrush crushed underfoot in New England woods. A musky sweetness joins in, and the scent is striated for a while -- the the green layer hovering above the white, fuzzy layer below. The vetiver must be of the grassy variety. After a few hours, it dries down to juniper, musk, and something sweet (most perfume dries quite sweet on me). That phase lasts a long time -- I reapplied at 6:30 pm yesterday and woke up smelling like Yule Cat. This is both warm and cool, soft and crisp. My partner, who didn't know the name or the notes, described it as "peppery." I don't find this animalic, which was initially a disappointment for me, but I love this scent just the way it is. A unique fragrance.
  15. wordortwo

    Crowley

    This is the scent of Crowley's Bently: a swirl of musk, vanilla, polished wood, and the lingering scent of worn leather. In the background, there is a slight acidity mingled with a light floral. This blend is sly and smooth. I love this, and I went through a frimp in just a handful of wears — but part of that is because it does not have the throw or longevity I would like from it. It stays close to my skin and fades fairly quickly. ETA: Crowley's trying to prove me wrong - it really lingered this time.
  16. wordortwo

    In Night When Colors All to Black Are Cast

    This scent is moody, mournful, and sensual, with a sort of interiority. It smells dusk-purple and thick. Wet on the skin, I understand it first as a musky floral. The resins then warm and rise. The resins and floral fight for dominance for a little while, and then settle into an intoxicating, languorous blend. During the dry down, the scent of beeswax-laced honey rises to blend with the resins as the florals fade. As @forspecial_plate noted, this all has an incense-like effect. Lovely. I think I'll be wearing this one frequently.
  17. wordortwo

    You Are Not Alone

    Pure, snuggled comfort. Slightly astringent lavender, like a handful of crushed buds, sparkles at the top then quickly relaxes into a lavender cream. This has a vanillic quality to it, one which I associate with the scent of worn paperbacks when the pages have gone soft. I may be catching a bit of paper pulp and a musk-touched soft cotton. It brings up a sense memory of quietly reading fantasy paperbacks in my childhood bed. This is a bottle of comfort. A new favorite. (Edited to fix typo.)
  18. wordortwo

    The Icebergs

    When I open the bottle, a ripe peach explodes out in a confetti of fir needles. This belies a complex and poetic opening on the skin: the peach splits open to reveal a blooming herbal-floral note, which then is run through with a spike of fir needles. From there, it settles into itself. In this phase, I read it as a fruity, herbal floral with a hint of conifers and a slightly bitter edge. It is quite a bit warmer than I was expecting. As it fades further, it becomes a clean, peachy musk, with a drier and cooler air. At about 5 hours since application, it is wearing quite close to my skin (though I should note I applied sparingly this morning). Still, I catch puffs of that peachy-musk and an occasional hint of juniper as I move about. I was expecting an icier scent, but this is beautiful. It does move through warm and cool colors like the painting on the label. Plus, the opening is a delightful experience - it actually made me gasp. I see myself reaching for this most in the muddy, grey days of late winter as spring just begins to unfold.
  19. wordortwo

    Gingerbread Invisible Man

    You're sitting outside on a sunny day, drinking ice cold Canada Dry ginger ale with half a lemon mashed in the glass. Between fizzy sips, you're snacking on iced lemon cookies. From the bottle, Gingerbread Invisible Man smells like sharp lemon and sugar syrup, with a somewhat yeasty edge. On the skin, it is crisp and bubbly with a tickle of ginger spice. It would smell clean were these sparkling qualities not grounded and warmed by the cookie scent. After a few hours, I catch wafting trails of warm ginger-lemon cookie. It doesn't necessarily read as food, but it does smell delicious.
  20. wordortwo

    Isychia

    Purpose: I purchased Isychia as anti-anxiety support for centering myself before helping others, and I appreciate it for that purpose. It gives me a sense of being grounded, fortified, and receptive. I keep this close at hand as a self-care tool. Scent: This isn't a heavy-lidded essential oil relaxation blend. Though floral, the scent is herbal and fresh in a way that can be sharp, bracing, and heady but never unpleasant. A little dab on the skin is quite strong at first and it lingers for hours. Over time, it becomes more floral and clean. Like Teamama above, I keep this on hand as a self-care tool.
  21. wordortwo

    R'lyeh

    I wore this yesterday and keep thinking about it, so I thought I would leave a review. I received it as a frimp a few months ago and was a bit sad when it was eliminated in the #TournamentofUnderdogs! I am not drawn to aquatics. However, I enjoy this beautiful and creepy blend. In the imp, the oil is molasses-dark. When I first apply it, it smells oceanic and salty, dark and brooding. There's maybe a little bitterness. As it dries, I smell something more mineralic, which brings to mind seaweed; this association is probably based on reading the scent description. Over the next hour, floral notes rise up and eventually take over, though the salty edge remains. By hour 8 of wearing it yesterday, it was a sophisticated, slightly sweet floral with a complex bitter edge. It lasts all day and has a medium projection. I'm intrigued that many people smell incense, spice, herbs -- my nose isn't interpreting it that way, for whatever reason! Though my first thought when sniffing it is not "melon," after reading reviews that mention melon, I can definitely understand how there may be a melon rind in here. ETA: Musky! Especially when wet. Also, this is the perfume Ursula from The Little Mermaid would wear.
  22. I know this is an older post but... I have been looking for something similar to Eve as well (so I don't finish my entire bottle in less than a year, lol). I've eyeballed Little Wooden Doll but didn't think of it as a cousin to Eve! Does anyone have experience with both perfumes? What do you think - are they similar?
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