Diesis

Hi, I’ve been buying BPAL a long time but only got into hair gloss in like… 2019? I have a shampoo that is mint & lavender & smells amazing but it vanishes once rinsed. I was POSITIVE there was a lavender mint hair gloss but can only find a past juniper mint one mentioned. Am I crazy? Is there one similar I can’t find? Any recommendations are helpful!! Thank you!!

This is gorgeous. It’s still fresh from the mail, a few days. But it’s got this mysterious aura to it. The Smokey scent isn’t overwhelming, it’s this strange sort of herbal smoke scent. The ritual incense note is not something I can pin down, but it’s lovely. I don’t get the linen note, but the others sort of swirl and merge together in this melange of secrets and seduction. I love it. It’s a skin scent, no real throw. Lasts about 5 hours (less on more sensitive skin like my neck or inner elbow; works best on my hand or forearm, oddly). I feel properly witchy with it on. 10/10 will wear too much.

Still a bit new from the post, but gosh this is sumptuous. The glowing amber is like warm beeswax on my skin. It’s so rich, it would make amazing hair gloss. But it’s very pretty and soft. It reminds me of these old candles my great grandmother used. They were ivory coloured and carved and they were for fancy dinners. They smelled… so close to this and I’d forgotten bout them until I smelled this. The cinnamon & molasses never really materialised, but maybe as it ages? However I’m very happy with it, though it is a heavier scent on my skin, so it’s not an everyday wear. 9/10 so nice! I feel like a glowing candle.

So, as a preface… I did not think I ordered the “creosote” fragrance. HOWEVER, I’ve tried to pick one fragrance when I place orders that sound neat, but I would normally think not to. Mainly because I had been selling bottles that didn’t work out (may still do once we’ve moved). The creosote one stuck out because I’d read the Halloween scents to my family in the car & all of them went “CREOSOTE!? In a perfume??” So I put it on my Wishlist & forgot about it. But I think reviews sold me on trying it. I’m so glad I did! For me, while wet this smells like creosote . Like natural, strong, wood tar creosote. My mum said the same. But it wasn’t bad. However, after 20 minutes or so, it dries down into a nice wood tar & blood resin scent. It becomes subtle & strange & I really like it. May continue to buy one outlier as the last two now have been awesome.

Wow, this has no reviews? Shame, it’s a beautiful & light scent. It’s very meditative to me. A soft sand Le wood with notes of florals. The slight hint of aquatic notes hide in the background (which was shocking; I tend to amp them but this might be the water lillies so it’s just burbling softly behind the florals. Somewhere there is incense burning, it feels distant but near in the scent. It reminds me of the very luxurious incense sticks my mum used to get from a friend who’d bring it back from Japan. Over all, this is a very pretty scent & would be lovely for spring or going out to fancy tea. It also would make a good napping scent. I’d wear it to sleep, it’s light enough & zen.

This is a pretty scent, not my usual. It may end up in the destash pile, it’s hard to define the scent. The main dry down notes were the stone & vetiver. So a very dark, Smokey scent. The musk & the close are there off & on. Almost like the distance changes it. I’ll update if the impression changes. But for now, this is definitely more of a slinky night out scent.

Posted in another thread August 21st (will update this review as I wear it more): I normally avoid mint, but I've gotten every single one of the stone series from HM (including those inspired by them) & so I decided the worst case was I'd have to drop it in my sales page if it was terrible. But it isn't! It's actually gorgeous on. In the bottle, the mint is a bit more punch you in the face than on (wet). However, the earthy scents mellowed it enough to not scare me. It's still fresh from the mail, so it may morph yet, but gosh it is pretty. It feels a little otherworldly (which, given its creation, seems on point), but the mint is not a camphorous one but more of the scent found in a garden of it (we use it as ground cover & this smells like when we have to walk through it). The patch, moss, & fig all blend in to reinforce that garden mint feel (maybe because we also have a bitch patch plant in with our mint, it smells like home). The resins come out a bit later in the drydown, with the blackberry never to be found. I look forward to seeing how it does after it settles & then after it ages.

Much like Estamets above me, I thought this had mint or eucalyptus. I was hesitant about buying it for that reason but the lava label (2023 version?) was awesome (plus good cause). In the bottle, it’s like a high end spa or in lotion real fancy resorts. I didn’t really get any individual notes, which I love when a BPAL stumps me & blends so seamless, but more a general sense of calm & cool. Wet: The lavender is threatening to go dryer sheet, but it’s not done it yet. The little “sliver of ice” is not quite camphor, but not quite not. It’s actually pleasant. That perfect balance. I have high hope for this aging/settling more. I have a notion it’ll be a fantastic sleep scent.

Fresh from the mail, but gosh it was too pretty in the bottle to wait! In the bottle, the myrrh & opopanax jumped out. Once on, still wet, it is smoky. Hard to pick out the notes, but it's like a smouldering ember & ash of peppercorn, myrrh, & a whiff of patch. It's not what I expected based on the bottle sniff, but honestly, it's one of the more unique scents I have now (skin chem did not pull a fail today). Saying something smells like ash & smoke may not seem like a compliment, but it is. This is a very unisex, but sexy, smoky resin. It feels like being in a swanky club, not booming music type but more like an early 1900s secret club. Really glad I panic bought this. It's well worth it.

I can’t pinpoint the exact bit that makes this so beautiful to me, but it’s a gorgeous blend that has an edge of grief & sadness in it (this is probably because of a personal connection than anything else). Wet, as well as in the bottle, it’s like an odd baked clay incense scent. Which was unique & strange but I enjoyed it. Dry down had it morph more into a sort of dry, sun-hot dirt in a garden of herbs & earthy flowers. The easiest way my brain identified it was as the smell of one of my beloved (passed away in 2017) cat’s fur after he’d lay in a little patch of dried dirt under our big thyme plant. It was a smell unique to him but this comes close. I’ll assume you never smelt my cat, so to be a bit plainer: it smells like sun-baked clay with the comfort of black tea with a herbal component that might remind you of rosemary, fennel, or barley. Dosed with a dollop of wild honey. I think the pelanon takes the lion's share of base notes, while the thyme, hyssop, & spikenard are hard to pick out individually unless you really try (or your skin chemistry is much different to mine). The myrrh & clay blend in a strange sort of resin I can’t pinpoint but it’s a very nice backdrop. While I thought I’d be more disappointed about the loss of my beloved myrrh in this tiny symphony of sun-filled days, I can’t say I am. This blends to a scent I can’t match any other bottle to (closest I have is Columns of the Temple of Neptune at Paestum & even then, it’s more the vibe of sun-baked nature & some form of incense/resin) & I have really enjoyed wearing it. I’d have to say this is pretty unisex & has a low throw but long wear. I highly recommend it.

I both really like it & simultaneously want to put it up for sale because once on my skin it is SO STRONG. This hardly happens to me but it’s causing a headache that is making me teeth hurt. I think this need to be left alone for a bit & I’ll try again. But I do agree with the Peacock Queen comparisons, though for me this is very much a red rose with water drops & a mess of briars, vines, & some unknown blossom hidden in there (something that makes me thing of carnation)

The dry sandalwood & the sand note morph into an odd ash scent. Smokey but pleasant. It reminds me of desert camping trips & the campfires. The sweet grass & sage seem barely there but might be what’s a sort of mysterious under-note I can’t place. Either way, this is a fantastic scent that I don’t really find in other BPAL I own. It might still morph out, but for now I’m really enjoying it! (As an aside, there was a spot I overlayed it on Lorraine Cross yesterday & it was a weirdly delightful smokey rose.)

I blame @ghoulnextdoor for my desire to own this. It was totally worth it. 100% in love. in the bottle & wet it’s “HEY I THINK THERE IS ROSE IN THIS” which I do not mind as I really love a good rose. As it dries down the rose blends into the myrrh so perfectly. The sandalwood gives it a softer, peaceful feel. Like a comfy blanket. I wish I could smell more of the rockrose, but in truth this whole mix of notes is amazing & beautiful. It may have just knocked Rose Red of its perch of perfect red rose.

I had a similar experience to @LavenderCoffee & find this extremely comforting. Wet it was very "old school BPAL" feeling, but the dry down is gorgeous. I've been wearing it more frequently than I thought & was so thrilled to get this as a gift from a friend (she got one for herself too from the Etsy offering). I don't have much extra to add beyond previous reviews. Definitely worth getting if you can.

I’m shocked no one has reviewed this. Wet: Incense that is trying to explain what a violet smells like, but it’s getting nervous & sweating a bit. But it’s mostly right. (Smokey lilac with a frankincense undertone & a sort of skin musk… but not quite? Incense musk? I dunno…) Drydown: It got the hang of violet! But it burnt the petals a bit with the incense. Still good though, still a violet! The musk is either gone, or boosting the resin left behind (it’s not really apparent which resin it wants to be, but it smells lovely & reminds me of the incense I burnt while I was in high school [like 20 sticks for a buck & no one knows what it was trying to be; aka head shop incense without the weed smell]), or red musk gives me the impression of linen? That may not be accurate but something clean & soft (not soap). It last a few hours on me & doesn’t have big throw (if I put my arms down at my side, I can barely smell it & that might be because I know it’s there). The longer it’s on, the less I can pick it apart. It’s mostly lilac headshop incense (that’s my new band name) with a subtle note of laying in a bed that has freshly cleaned sheets (unscented detergent though). Overall, I really like it. If I didn’t already have a massive rotation of scents, I’d buy a back up. But I’m pretty sure it’ll last awhile as a little goes a long way for me. It’s neither cologne leaning or perfume leaning, so I’d call this an easy unisex scent. It’s a bit more smokey like on my brother, but otherwise not much change (lasts longer though). (As an aside, a few times it smelled like a little backyard fire, in a fancy little fire pit with some scented sticks/logs, but it only happened once or twice during dry down. Not sure why, may have been when it was warmed up)