ShadowEtienne

Cthulhu is one of my favorite and most reached for GC scents, and I was thrilled to see it become available in beard oil format! I have a lot of beard and I have found that BPAL's beard oil formulation works very well on me. The scent is very true to its perfume oil counterpart, and I'm going to quote my description of that here: The beard oil scent is very similar, but it is a touch more mellow and a touch more herbal. I am happy that it is a beard oil with a reasonable amount of throw and scent strength (not too much, but enough to be a pleasant experience for me). I predict this is rapidly going to become my most reached for beard oil. I'd love to see more of the Picnic in Arkham scents as beard oils as well!

I'm not sure that I ever would have taken the chance on testing this if I'd not been gifted an imp in an order from a lovely forumite. I'm really glad to have gotten the chance to try this though! The white tea, angelica, and angel's trumpet are definitely the leading notes on my skin. It's a lovely fresh and airy white tea that ties the anise adjacent sweet angelica and slightly heady true to the flower angel's trumpet together. (I love anise and anise adjacent things, and heady is a good thing here for me.) Because of the white tea, it's not too intense or sticky of a smell. Behind those airy floral-tea elements, there's a rich woody, spicy resinous scent that is definitely most recognizable as olibanum and basalm to me, but is drawing elements from sandalwood and oude almost certainly. There is a tiny waft of violet hiding in the background that is a lovely addition to the other florals, and smells very fresh on me. This is lovely, and I may seek out more when this imp runs out!

I was very excited for this in the bottle, and it got even more magical upon hitting my skin and settling in. It's very fresh young ginger and green cardamom pods forward on my skin, backed by a soft creamy tea sort of note. I definitely see then comparison to Thai Tea, but the focus is very much on the two spices for me, so that's not quite where the balance lies. I absolutely adore this and am so glad I got the chance to pick it up from a lovely forumite!

I got a decant of this from @crystaltongue (so same bottle as review above). It interestingly is quite different on my skin. In the bottle/decant, I have a similar impression of the light floral soaps that were popular in the 90s, though also of a specific Chinese rose soap that was wrapped in floral pink paper that my foster family often had around as a kid. On my skin, it turns into a hummingbird garden in full bloom, quite appropriately. Honeysuckle and lilac and a delicate rose and some sort of lily and trumpet flower and lotus and wisteria and honestly just an immense array of blooming flowers. I imagine a garden filled with hummingbirds and butterflies and bees. There is a wetness to this scent like it has just rained, and it brings out the green nature of the stems and leaves of the plants. Through the magic of skin chemistry though, this has quite a bit of throw on me and isn't fading pretty much at all over the time I've had it on, which is not what I was expecting considering other reviews. Granted, I do tend to amp several of these flowers that I'm getting. This is very much a springtime scent to my mind, so I'll probably wear it more then, and I have other things in this genre that I like the balance of better, but I'm very glad to have my decant and will definitely be wearing it when the weather is a bit more in line with the scent.

This scent reminds me of coastal wetlands, the water more fresh than salt, but there is a touch of biting salinity there, some of it coming in on the air. Rich sweetgrass and florals, reminding me of all the blooming things in the coastal wetlands in spring, blur together to a pleasant, aquatic floral with some distinct greenness to it. The basalm is a quiet background note that helps balance out the sharpness on me and give a light woodiness to the scent. This does evoke something lovely and melancholy and just a touch sinister. It's a beautiful aquatic, and more on the freshwater side than many of my favorites which gives me some nice variety. I'm definitely glad to have my half of the bottle I split with a friend.

I love a lot of Picnic in Arkham scents, and I was curious about this one for a long time, but too nervous to get my hands on it because vetiver and I usually don't get along, and black amber can be iffy on my skin. I was able to do a quick test of it on my skin at a sniff things party with local friends recently, and the vetiver didn't immediately hate me, so I was able to take home a spare imp from a friend to give it a more thorough test. On my skin, the tangerine and saffron dominate. The tangerine is sharp and bright, and a little sour, with both the oils of the skin and the juice playing roles. The saffron is a delightful light spice that wafts over the tangerine. The other three notes create a backing that is dominated by the cedarwood, my favorite of the three. The amber is present in this being a more resinous note, but not distinct. The vetiver brings a smokiness to the cedar, but is itself subsumed into the cedar. Overall, I'm glad to have the imp, and I'm going to be less reluctant to at least skin test vetiver in the future even if I know it often doesn't work for me. I'm not going to reach for Azathoth often, but the tangerine and saffron combo is awesome!

With those notes as something that he likes, I do suspect that Azathoth would have potential to be a good fit! There's some overlap tangerine & orange zest (bright citrus) and both have cedarwood. Doing a bit of research, it looks like Ambroxan is a compound used to give ambergris as a note. Obviously, BPAL doesn't do top/middle/base notes, but I've found that ambergris tends to be a sort of aquatic creamy resinous note that other things build nicely on. A few other GC scents that seem like they'd be in the same genre as the scent you know he likes: - Vicomte de Valmont (Ars Amatoria) if he likes mint - A Countenance Foreboding Evil (Diabolus) - Caterpillar (Mad Tea Party) I hope you are able to find some scents he really likes!

There's quite a few threads on this over in Recommendations, some of which are fairly new. I'm a guy, but I'm not sure I'm great at answering this question because I'm very much lost on the idea of scents being gendered. Couple of questions to help narrow down what might be a good fit for your boyfriend: - What genres of scent has he liked in more mainstream colognes? - What are some scents he seems to like in daily life? The impression that I get is that a lot of "classically masculine scents" fall into aquatic, resinous, woody, and more musky/less sweet ranges. But again, I'm not sure that I know what someone means when they say something smells masculine or feminine (there are many scents that both my sister and I love and wear). If he likes aquatics, might be worth checking out some of the Picnic in Arkham aquatics, and honestly that collection in general for some scents that at least probably won't intimidate someone who does care about the idea of masculinity in scents. They're GC, so easy to get as imps. My favorite Picnic in Arkham scents that might be worth a look (there are others in the collection that might suit but aren't for me, and others I like but seem like they might not suit here): - Cthulhu - Y'ha-nthlei - Ry'leh - Nyarlathotep - Azathoth (not aquatic, but I think maybe people read this one masculine) Also, check out the Beard Oils section for scent profile ideas! Those in general are going to read more masculine probably, and could give you an idea of notes to look for. A lot of them also come as GCs that you could get as imps (there are a few GCs that come as beard oils that don't show up there like Cthulhu, where you can find the Beard Oil listing in the main listing drop down). https://blackphoenixalchemylab.com/product-category/body-beauty/beard-oil/

@comebackqueen Some LEs with aquatic elements that you might want to look into: - To Lallie (I don't like this one for vanilla, but it is lovely on my sister, and has an excellent creamy aquatic if you like roses) - Conception By The South Wind - Mocking The Invisible World With Its Own Shadows - Sea of Tranquility - A Little Silver Scimitar** (like an evergreen forest by the sea, but definitely has some of that beautiful creamy aquatic) My sister adds that you might enjoy Collumns of the Temple of Neptune. Other things with that creamy-coconut thing going on that might appeal in recent LEs include The Hound and the Milk White Doe** (not inherently aquatic but shares some traits) and Mysterious Techniques in Lovemaking (has a lot of commonalities with Obitala but more floral). Ambergris, orris, and coconut might be notes to look out for with that creamy aquatic scent it sounds like you like. **LEs still available for purchase (Halloweenies this year)

There are some really beautiful GC aquatics worth trying! Here are ones that I personally like: - Sea of Glass [Sin and Salvation]: Upon the Sea of Glass, glowing with the perfection of spiritual union and the radiance of true wisdom, rests the throne of God. A scent of inimitable purity, crystalline grace, and limitless light. (My take - Soft floral aquatic to me.) - Cthulhu [Picnic in Arkham]: A creeping, wet, slithering scent, dripping with seaweed, oceanic plants and dark, unfathomable waters. (My take - sea spray and that ozonic storm smell and flowers blooming in amongst the sea grasses that blanket the headlands. There's the smell of seaweed in the ocean air, but not the way it gets weird when on the shore too long) - Y'ha-nthlei [Picnic in Arkham]: A great undersea metropolis located below Devil's Reef. A swirling, lightless, effervescent scent: the deepest marine notes with bergamot, eucalyptus and foamy ambergris. (My take - cousin of Cthulhu as a scent but creamier and softer) - R'Lyeh [Picnic in Arkham]: The sunken city of the Great God Cthulhu. A hellishly dark aquatic scent, evocative of fathomless oceanic deeps, the mysteries of madness buried under crushing black waters, and the brooding eternal evil that lies beneath the waves . (My take - also a cousin scent to Cthulhu but giving more ocean depths) - Lightning [Bewitching Brews]: Lightning slashing the midnight skies over the endless reaches of the ocean. The electric tang of ozone, marine notes, and a drop of sharp rain. (My take - beautiful fresh aquatic if you are also down for ozonic) There are a lot of really beautiful aquatic LE scents over the years, but those might be some good starting places for what to look into. I can tell you about all the LEs I love too if you want.

This is almost overwhelmingly coconut cream on my skin. Now I like coconut cream, but the only thing holding this scent back from being something that would make me chew on myself (because I like coconut cream, but it's a food) is the light waft of a slightly floral aquatic somewhat reminiscent of Sea of Glass. I think that I will pass this frimp along to someone else, but I'm glad I gave it a proper test. It's leaning dangerously close to being a scent that makes me chew on myself.

On my skin, the rose is delicate and airy, adding a floral gentleness to the scent. The lemon is also delicate, adding just enough tart brightness in conjunction with the other notes. The apple is the star of the show, but it too is a light, fresh note. It's the note released when biting into a perfectly ripe, not too sweet, pink lady or similarly juicy and fresh pink skinned apple. Overall, this is light and delicate and not too strong. But it's a lovely fresh scent that makes me think of springtime.

This is lovely and entirely floral on my skin, the sandalwood never showed up and I'm not mad about it. The neroli is the beautiful rich neroli that I love (not the sad sour one that occasionally jumpscares me and keeps neroli out of my very favorite notes reliably), and the ylang ylang is is tart and bright. This is basically a two note on my skin, and if this was readily in stock, I'd definitely consider getting more of it.

I was lucky enough to get a bottle of Yuki-Onna Vintage (Amber Bottle) as a gift on my order from a kind forumite. I'm going to be really interested to compare this to my sister's blue bottle. On my skin, the lemon verbena absolutely runs away with the scent. Now, I like lemon verbena, this is not a bad thing, but most of the rest of the notes never even stood a chance. The sandalwood and bergamot have in no way shown up to the party, and the jasmine is the faintest of background breaths. It's a really pretty jasmine, and I really like jasmine, so I would have appreciated a tad more of it deciding to be present on my skin. I think that it's not balancing quite right on me, but I like it all the same. This is a beautiful nearly single note lemon verbena on me with just the slightest hint of jasmine. I'm going to want to try wearing it a few more times before I reach a final verdict, but I think that my skin may not be doing this bottle favors even if it's still nice.

The beautiful sappy-resinous evergreen in fall scent of spruce and pine are the backdrop of this scent. It's a very fall sort of smell for the trees to have for me, fitting this scent in general. Camellia and moonflower give a haunting floral element that wafts over everything and makes the space that these trees are in seem almost unreal. There's a dewiness here that makes me think that it has either rained recently, or there was very heavy dew or mist that morning. The other notes don't come out particularly strongly on my skin, but I can sort of feel the shape of them in the scent. On me, this is a fairly delicate scent, definitely a fall floral. I definitely want to give it some longer wear tests and see how it behaves with a heavier application.

I grew up just south of San Francisco, and I spent a lot of time in my childhood and teens in SF - Chinatown, both Pacific and Bay Side waterfronts, the Castro, Golden Gate Park, and just walking all over The City. Fall in SF was always one of my favorite times. This scent launches me back to rainy days walking all over the city in the early to mid 00s in my teens. There are sodden fallen leaves, a mix of yellow and still green just starting to yellow but ripped loose by the wind. There's rain falling, starting to wash away the fog, which still lingers in sheltered spots. There's the two distinct salt air smells of the Bay and the Pacific that mingle into a uniquely SF ocean air scent up on the overlooks and hills. I'm emotional over this scent. It reminds me of some really good moments in a really hard part of my life, and also just some moments of peace and clarity found in The City of my early years. It makes me want to see SF in the fall again, with fully adult eyes, to go back and tell The City where I felt there was at least a chance of being accepted for who I was that yeah, I made it out OK, and it's not my City anymore, but it will always be an important city to me. While my melancholy and nostalgia does not stem from the same place as that feeling in the description, I think that this scent managed to gather those feelings well. I'm so glad that I have this bottle, I'm not sure that it's a scent that I'll be able to wear often though because too many emotions.

This is a review of the 2008 version. This is a very calming, meditative scent. Nothing is too sharp or loud, but it does have a pleasant amount of throw on me. When first applied, the strongest notes are the savory herbal notes of thyme backed by other herbals that are harder to distinguish but I kind of feel like I might be able to replicate if given a full array of kitchen herbs to work from and sniff. The flowers take a little bit longer to build, and the crocus is definitely the most distinct on my skin (I really like crocus, this is not a problem), I can smell the gladiola in there, and the florals sacred to the Silent One of the description seem to fit a lot of the labs white florals (especially those with more somber connotations). I'm inclined to say "not lily" because lily usually amps on me, but probably more accurately - if there's lily in there it's not a lot and it's very well balanced by other things. The cypress is a lovely backdrop. It never quite keeps up with the herbal and floral notes that are the strongest on my skin, but it is present and adds the sense of forest to the back of the scent. I think that the overall scent would lack depth without this note. Overall, this is a lovely scent that falls into my calming/meditative range. It's restful and soothing, and I think that it fits its description well.

This really does smell quite like stepping into a florist shop, but one in a slightly otherworldly dimension, or perhaps, as the name suggests, an enchanted wood. There is a blend of many different fresh cut flowers. I'm getting lily (amps on my skin), daffodil, and other more vague white florals (a similar floral blend to Night-Gaunt as someone else mentioned). Probably some fruit blossoms in that mix. There are crushed moonflowers underfoot, but none fresh cut. There's a dewy note and a greeness that reminds me of fresh cut flower stalks, which perhaps comes from the grass note, but for once, grass commits no crimes on my skin. It's not as sweet as I would have expected from the description, and there is a faint hint of something woody in the background that I can't quite distinguish. This is a florist's shop that I would want to frequent for the aroma alone, and I'm happy to have this in my collection to wear.

I was very excited to get a bottle of this to split with my sister. Cala lily is an absolute favorite note, and I'm very fond of water lily and jasmine as well. Roses can be lovely but are more my sister's thing than mine, but I tend to like them as part of a floral blend. Amber is the only thing in this notes list that is hit or miss for me. Once fully dry, a slightly sharp cala lily is the dominant note of this on my skin, pretty closely backed by a fresh waft of jasmine and semisweet slightly aquatic water lily. Rose and a tiny hint of powdery resinous amber are only a background whisper. It does take a bit to get there on my skin though and during the first 15 minutes goes through a very worrying moment of the amber being very loud and too sweet. Fortunately that only lasts a few minutes on it's way to smelling lovely.

This is soft dewy moonlit lotus in its pond on me first and foremost. There are breaths of other florals and some soft background of wood and resin, but only in the sense that this feels like the lotus pond is in a well tended garden. This is beautiful and peaceful, and the lotus is not at all the candy like lotus note that sometimes happens. I'm definitely going to keep this bottle in my rotation of soothing scents.

I'm very glad that this had time to rest out of the mail and I gave it time to settle in on my skin. Immediately upon hitting my skin, this one gave me a fright with a blast of acrid evil sodden leaves. Underneath though there was something promising, so I pulled my sleeve down over it, and intentionally didn't smell it for a bit. Fifteen minutes later, it was doing something wonderful. Soft peppery fallen leaves with a hint of being carved pumpkin are now the backdrop of the scent, and the tangy tart citrus from the blood orange and distinctly sour orange candy, with a fresh breath of floral orange blossom have taken the front notes of the scent. This is what I was hoping for, and I'm glad that each time I sampled it onto my skin, I remembered to give it time! The citrus is definitely what makes this work for me, and I have a slightly fraught relationship with dead leaves, but they work here! But only once they've had time to settle on my skin.

Liquidambar is a beautiful note on my skin, it's definitely one of the predominant notes in this on me. It's giving a warm resinous fall forest when backed with the sandalwood and labdanum. The cardamom enhances that spiced woody-resin of those notes, and is distinct on my skin, sharp and hinting at sweetness, there's something almost haunting about this cardamom. The jasmine is the main floral on my skin, wafting through those woods mysteriously. The plant is not in sight, but it's aromatic blossoms, which feel almost out of season add to the feeling of being gracefully haunted. The rosewater is a murmur of floral support that just adds to that haunting element. The coconut milk adds a beautifully soft, dreamy creaminess to all of this that soothes over any rough edges. Bringing the whole of it to elegant and haunting autumn woods with the memories of other seasons. I love this, and I love it for a fall scent especially!

The last black berries of the year drying on the vine and releasing soft syrupy notes into the air. Some of the vines have been cut back recently, adding a note of blackberry sap to the mix. All of this is smoothed over by an airy slightly sharp black tea. This is a lovely atmospheric scent, and I am very glad to have my own bottle now.

I've been trying to get my hands on some of the Springtime in Arkham scents for sometime because I'm slightly obsessed with BPAL's Arkham scents in general, and I love aquatics (especially Picnic in Arkham aquatics), so Kingsport was very high on my list. A kind kind forumite gave me the chance to purchase a bottle. I'm kind of in love with Kingsport! This is a stunningly beautiful fresh aquatic. There's a swirl of sweet and tart coastal flowers and a sense of morning fog that has rolled in over the coastal headlands where waves crash in throwing up salt spray. There's fresh seaweed out in the water near the shore, but also a sense of depth, like perhaps there are ocean caverns that undercut those headlands. This is going to become one of those scents that I would always be happy to get my hands on more of. I'm glad that I have Cthulhu and Yha'nthlei (and Nyarlathotep and Ry'leh) from Picnic in Arkham to fulfill some of the same slightly mysterious oceanic scents, because I would otherwise be very sad that this is a hard scent to get my hands on. Each of these scents is different and evokes its own mood, but they are very related scents.

I am fascinated with the various Arkham scents, and many of my favorite BPAL's are in the Picnic in Arkham line. I've had Springtime in Arkham scents in my wishlist for a bit, and this is one of the first two I was able to get my hands on. This is a fascinating scent! In the bottle, I was a little uncertain. It was a little cologney which while I like aquatics, isn't really usually what i go for. But on the skin, it does something strange and different. I'd almost say that my skin ate the scent, except it was still there, but in a strange and quiet way. I do love the description as being the scent of air and darkness, because I think it does capture that well. There is a subtle dark ozonic element in this that reminds me of Ry'leh (Picnic in Arkham), but it's distant and kind of still somehow. There's something subtly woodsy and almost spicy, that reminds me of coastal cypress in the PNW. But all of these notes are quiet and still. This reminds me of going out in the quiet night in coastal campground when it is incredibly dark and still. Specifically on a warm winter night. There's still the memory of chill, but the weather has suddenly turned warmer. There's the idea of the sea in that dark ozonic note, but it isn't right there, instead I am in a sheltered spot. There is no wind, no sound, just a tiny shiver of something disconcerting in the air. I love this more than I was expecting, and I love the description and how well this fits it!