elissamay
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Everything posted by elissamay
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So, "serpent scale accord" is in A Sorceress, and I wasn't a fan of it there, full disclosure. This isn't what I expected. First applied, I get wet leather and red berries. The lemony frankincense comes in behind those notes, and the sweet myrrh as it warms and dries. It's very close to the skin, and a little unsettling. I want to keep sniffing it to see what happens next. I don't know the scent of spikenard, but after a quick look-up, yes it's here. It's a little bit barnyard, a little off-putting. BUT, wrapped up in the leathery scales, berries, and frank & myrrh, it's not the star of the show. It's there like a warning, but you're taking a deeper look anyway. This is weird and somehow wonderful blend. It sweetens as it dries completely. Sacred and definitely profane. Note: I'm testing this fresh from the mail since these are only available for a limited time, so ymmv!
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Beautifully grassy while wet. There's a sweetness below, and the vaguest impression of distant blooms. A gentle and fleeting blend while wet on the skin. As it dries, it gets sweeter and a little fuzzier. Like fur that's been running through dew-kissed grass. The stones come through as it dries, a little mineralic quality. This hare is popping in and out of its lair, checking for danger, bringing the earth below and the grass above together on its paws. A really lovely, gentle blend. Deceptively fragile with lots more to offer under the surface. Note: I'm testing this fresh from the mail since these are only available for a limited time, so ymmv !
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This is wet and juicy, like the smell of the sensation of squishing wet grass beneath your feet. Cool, earthy, but infused with this luscious green muskiness. There's an element of cologne-ish vibe here, but darkened. A little sinister with the oud. This toad looks harmless enough, but get too handy and it packs a wallop. As it dries down the cologne elements settle, letting the green musk and mosses shine. Note: I'm testing this one day fresh from the mail since these are only available for a limited time, so ymmv!
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A feral burnt offering take on Satyr, with an almost metallic crackle of red labdanum, deep vetiver, and just a hint of herbaceousness from the rosemary while wet. The amber comes to frolic during the dry down, entwined with the musk. If you love, love that primal, animal musk vibe, you'll enjoy this, especially because it takes something you love and elevates it with offerings of other notes. It's sex musk, but make it witchy. Later in the drydown, that charred sandalwood makes itself known. Paired with the musk and amber, it almost reads as sweet leather. Sex on four legs! (Four hooves?) Note: I'm testing this one day from the mail since these are only available for a limited time, so ymmv!
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Licorice but drier, maybe more akin to fennel in that it's licorice without being cloying, sugary sweet or candy-like. Root, not confection. A realistic sweetness from the earth. Wet it's a blast of this beautiful anise-y sweetness with dark amber unfurling from the middle. I don't find the patch or the incense while it's wet. It's intoxicating. I keep coming back to this shiny, shiny spot on my wrist, coveting it. Drying down, the resinous incense comes through. It's deeper down, below the amber. The patch begins to appear, a whisper on wings in the background. It's a sweet patch, perfectly paired with the licorice root. This is like nothing I've ever smelled. Enigmatic and endlessly fascinating, like the familiar that inspired it. I can't stop going back for another inhalation. I couldn't wear this regularly, but when I do wear it it, I will embody it. Late stages, the licorice root soars away into a sweet cloud of incense. Almost vanillic. Note: I'm testing this literally fresh from the mail since these are only available for a limited time, so ymmv!
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Must. Love. Clove! From the moment you open this bottle, Cinderpaw is no shy kitty. Bold, smoked clove with a sort of rooty, mildly medicinal undercurrent while wet. It's all about the smoked clove here, though. It's so potent as to give that incredible almost numbing quality when you give it a nice, deep inhalation. As it warms and settles in, the smoked clove is still the dark and slinky star, but a fuzzy muskiness shows up to sort of blur the edges. Not a strong musk; just enough to add some softness. The rootiness of the patch comes through more as it dries down, too. Not a brash or hippie headshop patch. It's just enough to notice, and like the musk, just enough to help tame this fierce and ferocious smoked clove familiar. Note: I'm testing this literally fresh from the mail since these are only available for a limited time, so ymmv! This is a big HELL YES from me, an admitted dark and smoky clove fiend. I'm gonna need some coffee to allow my nose to smell ANYTHING else after this one! 🤣
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This myrrh reminded me of Streets of Detroit immediately. Sort of if you took that myrrh and lit it on fire with the kick of the red peppercorn. Really sexy and perfectly spicy.
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Candy corn and boozy apples. Almost a little pipe tobacco.
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Like realistic and straight-no-chaser buttered popcorn at first, but when dry it goes to buttery, spicy, coconutty pumpkin cake.
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Triggered a scent memory of vintage, bright-green Palmolive dish soap in grandma's kitchen. Way more floral in the opening than expected with two kinds of musk in the blend, but it settles down to a flowery skin musk that lasts for hours and hours.
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Big, bold, jammy berry and candied violets or, more accurately, violet hard candy. The indigo musk comes through up close, but the throw is all purple candy. Very fun.
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Fresh from the mail, this is a warm blend of smoky-sweet spice, grounded by sacred woods and resins. Utterly beautiful and wearable, but certainly too precious to waste, much like time itself.
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At first this reminded me a lot of a Lunacy fav of mine, Black Goat Enjoying a Pink Flower (but without the flowers). That tart creamy goat milk note is really enjoyable, and adds some kind of olfactory "umami" to it. Something for your nose to ponder and analyze a little. As it dries down, there's a woody smokiness along with a tobacco sweetness like pipe tobacco. A real winner if these are notes you're into, which I am! Also might be echoes of The Red Ribbon without red musk.
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Where has this been all my life, and why is every Bloodmilk x BPAL blend I own so effing good?! Silky Bat's much darker, broodier, and much more strange and unusual sibling. That same chewy patch is here, with a gorgeous fizz from the labdanum, sweet resiny myrrh, smokiness from the tar, and a spiciness I attribute to the awadh. I adore it!
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OOB this is all dry, mildly smoky cacao. As it dries down, there's a lovely bit of bite from the galangal and a warm and fuzzy musk. I don't get a lot of patch, but there's an earthy quality to the whole blend. It sort of begins to move toward a best-version-possible of cologne vibe as everything comes together. Would work for any gender but there's a ruggedness to this that would pair well with that kind of energy. Someone who's fancy enough to wear scent but will chop the shit out of some wood. Update: This one lasts all day, and it kind of takes on a bit of a creamy feel, which paired with the bite of the galangal almost reads as plain yogurt. Not sour milk, to be clear, but an unsweetened creaminess. I'm interested to hear if others get this from this one.
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I love this one. There are echoes and shared notes with another of my absolute favorites, Streets of Detroit, so maybe that's why I enjoy Czernobog so very much. The mullein and vetiver bring this into a different direction, though. Mysterious, a little disturbing. Dark af. If you like Smut and vetiver, also try this one.
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If leather isn't your thing, this one is going to scare you. I like leather in blends, but I don't seek it out as a primary note. That said, how the eff was I not going to pounce on SNOOTY BAT? Obvi. OOB and while wet, this is intensely black leather. There is 100% no getting around it and no getting past it. And if that's your thing, you will probably really love this part of our programming. But, this leather note doesn't hang around at this intensity for long. In fact, it mellows out really quickly into a very much in-the-background hum as this one dries down. Once the leather calms down this is a beautiful blend of spicy-sweet clove incense. The patchouli is there, but it's not leaping forward to make this feel like a primarily "sugared patch" scent, like its assumed AI-fuel cousin Silky Bat. It's very well blended and smooth, with all of these classic BPAL notes melding into a cloud of Gothy, vampy, dark, yet sweet vibes. If you love clove and incense, and you dabble in patchouli and leather, this one is most definitely something to put into your cart. If you're looking super STRONG patch, that's not really what this Bat is, but you have lots of options for that vibe already (see Silky Bat above). If you love both of these things (like me), then snap up this haughty-ass mammal now before he's gone!
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Cherry Tootsie pop when wet, but it shifts into a cherry-spiked red musk drydown. Stealthily sexy.
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This is the kind of lavender I enjoy. Very realistic and herbaceous, and wrapped in warm amber and musky ambergris.
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Everything @MamaMoth said, I echo! Several BPALists raved about this one, and I was anxious to get my hoardy little hands on it. I could swear there's labdanum in this, but alas, none listed. There's a fizzy cola quality for me in the beginning, but it smooths out into this incredible amalgamation of sharp and sweet, musky and woodsy, charred and resinous. None of the notes are screaming out individually (maybe the red musk, just a little, but this is a young bottle), so this blend is truly a magnificent sum of its parts.
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Deep, rooty, indeed! When first applied, there is no patchouli to speak of (for me). I get the herbaceous, almost floral influence of the herbs and magickal plants listed, but the patch and the soil take a backseat. OOB and while wet, this is all green, herby, and maybe a bit of petrichor. But when it dries down, oh. The patch blooms into the patch of dreams. It's reminiscent of the chewy patch in Silky Bat or maybe Revenant Rhythm, but this isn't sugared at all. It's sweet, but it isn't sugared. It's rooty, dark, forest-floor funky patch, but sweetened with age and the wisdom of ancient mysteries. Maybe that sweetness is the "tar-like" descriptor, because it feels condensed to the essence of aged, sweet, and deeply intense patchouli. Staying power is epic, and the throw is probably epic as well, so apply this treasure sparingly. I applied just a drop from the cap, and it stayed with me for hours and hours, into the next day. The hoodie I wore smelled like that spectacular patch just from me applying a drop to my wrist. I cannot wait to use this as a signature scent for circling! So many thanks to the fairy who made it possible.
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Honeyed red musk and lots of spicy carnation. The peppercorn tingle is present, but not as notable as in other blends. The ginger lends a bite to cut through some of the sweetness to balance it out. Fans of The Red Ribbon would probably enjoy this. At the end of the work day, still very strong and nice throw.
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This smells so innocent, it's as if the person who passed this heart across the table was blushing with cheeks aflame, eyes darting away, and lashes aflutter. Wet there's some coconut, but it's got a sort of green and ever-so-slightly cologney vetiver vibe surrounding it. I've never smelled a BPAL "lace," so I don't know what to look for, but there's a sort of sheerness, a gauzyness to it all. I wasn't expecting a greenness to this one, but it really works so nicely with the coconut. Who knew a "fresh" vetiver coconut would be a thing? There's sweetness to the coconut with the sugared note, but it isn't cloying. It's fresh and sweet, and, yes, brimming with innocence. A voyeur in training, perhaps. Will be a really nice choice for spring and summertime.
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OOB: 100% red, scarlet, berry wine. I don't find the patch at all. If you love wine scents and berry scents, this is absolutely the definition of those notes. Definitely a sweet red wine like the port listed, red berries crushed and macerating. Not something dry, and not something spiced. A ruby red wine you drink for dessert at the culmination of a cold winter's day, settling in for the long night. On the skin: Still very much deep, dark, red port with juicy, crushed and macerating berries. Red wine and berry sangria, almost (but no citrus). The patchouli finally comes out to play when on the skin. It's there, but it is subtle, which is kind of bizarre considering it's patchouli, one of the most un-subtle of notes. It just lends a kind of bass line to this blend, but this is absolutely first and foremost a wine scent, for wine lovers, and for red wine and berry-forward blend lovers in particular. Hours later: Super potent, big throw
