elissamay

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.

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.

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

I don't know the Lion, but I really, really want to after smelling this gorgeous blend. Warm, radiant amber, chilled. The velvet flank of a lioness basking in the elusive winter sun, dusted by and sparkling with snow.

This isn't a funky oud. If oud can be fruity, this is that oud. Fizzy labdanum with the tangy raspberry is a fun combo with the spicy carnation, and the tobacco is the adult in the room, keeping it all together.

I am a sucker for musk, so green musk was a little new to me but something I had to try. And I'm glad I did. Green apple tangy tartness grounded with sweet musky and vetiver vibes and a lovely earthy patch. I find the matcha in the early stages if I look for it, and it works so nicely with the apple.

I finally understand the champagne note hype after smelling this gem.

Simple, sweet, and fizzy af. 

Vetiver sweet tea! Must love vetiver, and it probably helps a lot if you're good with almond and oud, two other polarizing notes. The lemon peel adds a bitter brightness to a lot of heavier, more grounded notes.

I love this one because it's unapologetically chock full of vibes that you either love or hate, kinda like me.

Bloody, bloody pine. More pine bough than pine pitch, so if you prefer pine boughs and usually find pitch or resin, pick this one.

Aqua-Net and clove cigarettes with whiffs of that gasoline/motor oil sort of vibe that I really shouldn't love so much. No idea when I would wear this, but it's a whole ass mood and memory.

My favorite from this set of Halloween scents. The perfect melding of evergreens and magick.

The patchouli keeps it solidly on the forest floor, while the musk and frothy ambergris are a ghostly, clinging fog infused with the whiffs of resins burned at ritual earlier and cooling in the cauldron.

Spooky, dark, a little funky, but freshened by the evergreens. Love!

This is so perfectly spot on to the description, both OOB and on the skin.

If you love the smell of campfires, or you want to experiment with favorite scents *but make it campfire,* pick this one up. You cannot go wrong if the smokey, resiny, woodsmokey vibe calls to you.

My fiancé claimed my bottle so it looks like I'm getting a second!

I really am a big fan of the peppercorn note in blends. It hits here as you breathe in all this vibrant musk swoon with that tingle, numbing quality that tickles the nose just so. 

This reads as red musk, but it also reads as honeyed, and I'm guessing that's a combo of the honey musk and mimosa, maybe some of the benzoin sweetening.

I didn't know choya ral, but I think I am getting it as a sort of dry amber quality. The frankincense is so necessary here, and has a lemony brightness that lifts everything up. I honestly don't find the rose at all.

This smells like flame without heat or smoke. Like the essence of the light and play of the flames. Beautiful.

I don't know where to begin with this one, but I am really glad I added it to my Lunacy/Luper 2.0 order.

At first, the frankincense is the star, lemony and sort of smoked, but it melds into so much beautiful amber, resinous warmth. Again, evoking warmth, heat, maybe even the liquid heat of the blood imagery from the incredible poem (but not truly what I'd consider a "blood" scent). I haven't smelled Lion, but from Snow Lion I imagine it to have that kind of radiant warmth that brings warm bodies to mind. The lion speaking in this scent's full description is warm, sinewy, radiant today as they muse on growing old.

As it dries and settles, the vanillic benzoin appears with the mugwort. It's a faint herbal thread, not too camphor or astringent; not sure I'm finding the oak yet, but there is a sort of groundedness to it which feels like wood.

Truly beautiful and evocative. Something BPAL is the absolute best at!

Update: With just a bit of time, the mugwort has really blossomed. This one is just perfect.

I haven't smelled Katrina Van Tassel; I'm a newbie.

This is making me think of a grown-up, sex-positive Alice. There's an innocence and playfulness of the rosebud, but I agree with the image of going out to a carnival from @RoseThornAndOak

Like Alice in her 30s dressed up in an Alice dress and went to ride the ferris wheel and play Skee-Ball, all whilst seeing whom she might take home as a prize.

Very wearable and I think it will be a favorite. 

Hot damn.

This is really giving me Snake Oil, but if Snake Oil had red musk.

It's spectacular, sexy, dark, and addictive. 

P.S. - I'm not a huge fan of rose. If you are also not a huge fan of rose, but you do love Snake Oil and/or red musk, I would counsel you to give this one a go. The rose is there but it isn't overwhelming to those of us who just aren't that into it.

This strikes me similarly to Horses from 2021 Yule (an absolute favorite), but with honey. It's resinous in a way that feels radiantly warm, but instead of just an amber resinous warmth, it's a honey-vannilic amber resinous warmth. The Bushman's candle is what I'm guessing I'm reading as emphasizing that vanilla note and feeling "amber-esque," and it's gorgeous.

I agree that it moves toward beeswax, but to me it never quite gets there. Maybe the warm puddle of melted beeswax as the candle burns, since there is an ever so slight touch of smokiness, too--that may be the pepper. But if it's wax then it's warm wax, liquid wax, not a dusty candle on the shelf.

So pleased with this one, and what I tested I could smell all day and into the next morning. Can't wait to give it a full application and wear.

This one is ALL BITTER ALMOND and gorgeous OUD right out of the gate. If you don't like almond, stay away, but if you do like almond (like me), then COME HITHER.

I need to give this one some rest, but initial impressions are that it's a beauty of an oud surrounded by the almond, and as WoolyBee said above, the spices come out as it dries down.

I tested this one pretty much right out of the mail, but since it's one that so many are excited for I wanted to do a quick and dirty (lol) review.

Initially when I applied a touch of this oil, it smelled very much like sweet coconut to me. I think that's the combination of the milk, almond, and honey reading as nutty sweetness, but either way, it is very warm and pleasantly sweet -- not cloyingly so. The amber brings the warmth like it is apt to do.

I don't get incense in a smoky way, but I can catch a resinous hum in the background bringing some depth to all the sweetness.

I will give this one just a little rest before testing it again, but based on my first impressions I am anticipating this one being a very beloved sweet semi-gourmand fav from this year's batch!

Freshly cut red roses and crushed stems with a cloud of that weirdly gorgeous gasoline/motor oil note that I love. It's atmospheric and evocative of exactly what the description says -- you can breathe in deep and just see the battered bouquet damp on the ground, buds kind of crushed and greenery askew, all in a parking lot puddle shimmery with petrochemicals. A very anti-Valentine creation.

Potent, potent, potent! I couldn't wait to rest this one, so fresh from the mail I tested a single cap drop on my arm. A heady rush of red musk, but with a cherry undertone and amber warmth. I don't get the "wood" of the cherrywood until drydown, and the amber or musk (or both) here remind me of what's used in the similarly precious Light Betwixt the Horns. The cotton candy comes through for me as a "sugared" quality to the musk, but it isn't cloyingly sugary or in any way foodie. An absolutely stellar red musk lovers blend.

Note: This one may need an occasional shake, as mine appear to have some resin settling at the bottom of the bottle.

This is cozy, wooly, musky, forest-y goodness. All of the greens are prominent while wet, and they stick around into the drydown, but as they fade, the wooly, fuzzy, musky blanket surrounds you. There's a somewhat unexpected sweetness to this one even with the musky base. It's really just a perfectly Yule scent.

Ugh, everything said above. I have had this since release but just cracked it open today. Pairs beautifully (malevolently?) with a couple of drops of Man in Black beard oil smoothed on the ends of my hair. 

Ignore how this smells OOB and test it on the skin, first of all. OOB it smells completely different and almost alcohol-medicinal and mildly unpleasant.

On the skin, this blooms into something that is so close to aged Raven Moon, IMO. There's no chili here, but the darkness and deepness has so many similar echoes to my nose. (I'm smelling it for the first time in a 2014 aged bottle since it's currently out of stock.)

My first encounter with Oblivion was in Bobbing for Oblivion, which combines with the black apple notes. (And is another gorgeous variant blend!) I had to get my hands on the OG to see where all that sexy darkness was coming from in that blend, and this did not disappoint!

This just smells good. Like, wholesome, warm, and good.

I forgot mandarin was a note until I came here to write this, and its presence for me was a tartness or a tang (not sour) that I couldn't identify, cutting through all the fuzziness to bring balance, like a necessary dose of acidity in a rich meal.

The hazelnut is the star, and I'm really loving the recent pepper or "peppery" scents I've picked up. The pleasant little nose tingle from the peppery musk also adds to the balance the mandarin brings.

If these notes are your jam, definitely add this one to the collection. 

ETA: This one separates in the bottle (at least my bottle does), so shake before applying!