CathedralOfRoses
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Everything posted by CathedralOfRoses
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This is a giant champaca bomb, and I love it. The fruit notes come out a very tiny amount as it dries, but the champaca and subtle honeyed tobacco are the stars of the show here. It's a gorgeous, creamy white incense scent.
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I don't know how Beth managed to literally capture the scent of warm dust, but she did. This is a pile of old, worn books in front of a window, sunbeams breaking through the panes and illuminating dust motes floating in the room. On skin, the incense aspect of this is the strongest on the skin, which leans almost lemony, which makes me think there might be a bit of frankincense in here. The leather smells worn and old, and the paper note smells faded and yellow. The sunny dust mote vibe is still there, but it's more in the background now. This is a beautiful, bright take on a book scent.
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I feel like this must have either been reformulated or there's just a heavy batch variation with this scent, because this has no powdery aspect to it at all like it did around 5 years ago when I first tried it (it was a baby powder bomb back then). The wood notes are strong, dry, and beautiful in the new bottle I have, followed by inky incense notes and parchment. This is more or less what I wanted this scent to smell like years ago. Very wizardly and bookish, true to the name. This reminds me very heavily of the Clockwork City in Elder Scrolls Online.
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Wow, this has some crazy throw. The second it hit my skin, it bloomed. The wood note reminds me of Mouse Circus, but the gunpowder, spices, and charred aspect of the wood (and maybe a tiny drop of honey) really come out on the skin. I get a bit of the metallic note from the nails too, which I recognize from Wayfaring Stranger. This is an odd scent, and it reminds me very strongly of walks down leaf-strewn autumn sidewalks. The spices remind me of the gingerbread chais I bought way too many of last year. This is a lot cozier than I was expecting it to be.
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All Souls’ Day (Hedwig Cemetery)
CathedralOfRoses replied to doomsday_disco's topic in Limited Editions
The hyacinth is trying really hard to be seen, but it gets overshadowed by the other floral and herbal notes. This is a stunning overgrown cemetery floral; the marble note is front and center, smelling stony and cold. The rose notes and lilac are strong, as is the nightshade berry. Somber and contemplative to a T. -
The cognac note featured here is absolutely gorgeous and is the same one in Cognac-Stained Sheet Ghost. I get a little bit of the champaca and white musk in addition to the cognac, and something that almost reads as minty without the mentholated aspect of mint; sweet and slightly herbal. This definitely has a glittering quality to it and smells very elegant. There's something about this that I can only describe as "swirling" too, which is fascinating. Beautiful scent overall.
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It is fucking crazy how much this smells like freshly-developed photographs to me, and it's so nostalgic. I get a very distinct floral in here, which I think is gardenia, along with something deeply purple-smelling. This is such a weird, specific caricature of time captured in scent form, and this kind of thing is exactly why I love BPAL so much. There's a distinct wetness to the scent when it's worn, like soggy photographs. I can't get over how fascinating this is. It smells very melancholic and gothic too. This was an instant new favorite.
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In the bottle, this is a dead ringer for animal crackers. On skin, it's less animal cracker-y and more spicy. There's a tiny bit of coffee in there, but it's mostly about the beignet note. For what it's worth, I have no idea what chicory coffee smells like, so I can't speak to the accuracy of that, and the spice I'm getting may be from that. Either way, this definitely evokes imagery of eating some sort of warm, vanillic pastry in a cafe, so I'm not complaining at all. It stands out from the other coffee-centric scents I have and is a unique take on it. I love how warm this smells too, and it would be a great pick for a cold day.
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Adam is somewhat reminiscent of Rogue to me, but definitely cologne-y. The ambergris is quite strong here, and my bottle smells more masculine, clean, and bright than the bottle I'd previously tested (I have no idea which year the bottle I tested was from, but it definitely wasn't this year). Not a complaint by any means, since I don't really care about smelling masculine. The rosin and leather notes are dreamy and slightly sweet, and it does bring to mind a caricature of a tortured vampire musician.
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(2026 version) This is very clove heavy, which I love. There's a bit of a smoky note in there as well, which I'm assuming is the creosote. It has a creaminess to it, which could maybe be the datura (I'm not familiar with what BPAL's datura note smells like on its own, so I can't say for sure). This is really lovely and just about fulfills all of my Fallout: New Vegas scent dreams. In contrast to the decant I have of this from an undetermined year, the OG decant is very green. It smells more leafy and almost herbal. I don't get the clove or the smokiness much at all from that, and if you told me that these were two completely different scents, I'd believe you. They don't resemble each other at all, really. In the late drydown of both, they smell vaguely similar, but still very different. I like both, but I think I like the re-release more.
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Initially, this is a massive blast of pine or spruce, which I wasn't expecting at all. Eventually, some dragon's blood and a bit of fruit and spice come out, but it's mostly the coniferous note. I don't get any sort of smokiness like some previous reviewers did. Conceptually, I can see the inspiration and it's accurate, but in terms of being a realistic blood scent or having any sort of metallic undertone, it falls flat for me. I can't decide if I like this or not and need to test it further, as it isn't anything like I expected it to be. Not a bad scent by any means, though. The hunt for blood scents continues.
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This is remarkably similar to The Queen of May to my nose, to the point that they smell nearly identical until the later drydown. They're both very green, almost sappy floral scents, but this one is a bit less sharp and a tad more floral. I'm also getting some sort of violet-adjacent note hidden beneath everything else. I totally agree with RoseThornAndOak's recommendation for this if you're a fan of Alkemia's Blue Ridge Skyline or Summer Dandelion, and I'll add that if you liked The Queen of May and wanted something very similar to it, this is your gal. Solanine is definitely in the same vein as all of those.
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Forgive my crassness, but WHAT THE FUCK IS UP, DENNY'S?! This is a photorealistic diner scent, and initially, there's a very strong undercurrent of maple sausage in here. On skin, the meaty aspect of it tapers off, and it reveals a nice, deep coffee scent with maple syrup and a bit of clove supporting it. Absolutely wild atmospheric and true to its name.
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Sure thing! Here you go. There's definitely a chocolate or cocoa note in there, yeah. I figured it might be the 2011 version, but I have no idea. It seems like a lot of past 13s had chocolate/cocoa notes, which makes this a bit more difficult to figure out.
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This is such a glorious, damp, green floral scent with a beautiful incense base. I don't get the rose at all, but I do get a hefty dose of incense smoke and lots of dewy ivy with some other fresh florals to lighten it up a bit. It's very fitting of its inspiration and is one of my BPAL holy grails along with being one of the very first BPAL scents I ever tried back in 2019. It's a shame it's not readily available anymore, since Pretty Indulgent is no longer operational.
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Oh, this is incredible. It starts off as a citric, aquatic scent, but once it starts drying down, that's when the real magic happens. This smells like a cousin of Quintessence of Dust to me, which is one of my favorite bookish scents. Lightning Strikes Literature is definitely lighter in tone and more stormy than QoD, but the paper, beeswax, and ink notes are similar to my nose. I've tried so many readerly/writerly scents at this point, but this one stands out. The ozonic/aquatic opening is really different, and then it melds into a perfect olfactory portrait of a writer hunched over a candlelit desk, glancing up at a window streaked with rain. I adore this.
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Initially, it's a blast of cream, and I recognize that same cream note from Hymn to St. Brigid. The florals are pretty nondescript for me, but they're light, airy, and springy. Not soapy, not laundry-esque or air freshener-like. It's a really pretty, feminine scent overall.
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As it says on the tin! Looking for Halloween/Autumn scents that really channel the spirit of the season. Apple cider, pumpkin, bonfires, spooky atmospheres, witchy scents, you name it. Preferably restricted to scents that are currently available (they don't have to be Halloweenies). Thanks in advance!
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This one was nice, until it wasn't. It started out as a realistic rose scent but quickly turned into house paint or vinyl, both in the bottle and on the skin. My mother also got the same impression, so that's disappointing. I notice the same thing with The Rose a little bit, but not nearly as much. This one wasn't my perfect rose blend, unfortunately.
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I love Iago for leather. It's heavenly.
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I've no idea what genuine bluebonnets smell like, but this smells like a combination of dewy grass/green notes, hyacinth, and wildflowers to me. It's a beautiful ode to springtime and is more or less my HG hyacinth-adjacent scent.
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Suuuper sweet whiskey, and a very tiny amount of cannabis. I didn't get much cannabis from this at all, much to my chagrin. I didn't get more than a couple hours of wear out of this either, but I may just have to retest it after it's had time to sit for a few months. Edit: So after having rested for a good month, the weed is definitely more prevalent and takes a bit of the sweet edge off of the whiskey. Much more tolerable than it was initially.
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Scent Recs based on your PERSONALITY!
CathedralOfRoses replied to CiaoBonefish's topic in Recommendations
Oh, this sounds fun! I'm in my late 20s, female (but gender-apathetic. Most of my scent collection is unisex), sarcastic, witty, gothy (always swathed in black), caring, fiery, poetic, blunt, charismatic (apparently? I don't agree with this, but it's been thrown at me as a descriptor numerous times), passionate, and relatively dominant. "Do no harm and take no shit" is something I live by. I love all things spooky, vampiric (give me all the velvet, candles, and dim lighting), Victorian, and jewel-toned. Also a Leo, for whatever that's worth.