SmellsPrettyGood2Me

In the bottle, an astringent tea, a murky lavender, and a bit of that watery rain note stand out. On skin, the top notes burn off in about 10 minutes, leaving the iris and lilac standing there awkwardly looking at each other. Like Donkey's Tail, the musk moves in quickly, sitting here next to the muted, aquatic rainy moss. Very soft sillage, and only about 4-5 hours of noticeable wear. I'm usually pretty well aligned with the BPAL Hive Mind on popular scents, but like Donkey's Tail this doesn't do it for me at all. I very much get sad, musty old lady vibes here, despite generally liking iris, lilac and lavender as notes in other Lab offerings. My search for an offering in The Hundred-Acre Wood collection that hits continues!

YES. I feel so fortunate that this scent returned for the 2025 Yules collection, because I had never tried it before, and she's an absolute stunner. I have to think anyone who was lucky enough to get this in the initial release carefully guards their precious stash and never lets it go! The sweet, oaty incense in the bottle is intoxicating, and it only gets better on skin. Although I know it's a pseudogourmand, it doesn't give "edible"; instead, I'm in a Portland, ME bar on a cold snowy day, sitting with a gaggle of girlfriends having a catch up over a late brunch next to a fireplace. The one sitting next to me smells like a combo of incense and a bowl of lightly honeyed oatmeal, comforting and a bit seductive at the same time. She's a little older, much better traveled, and has an impeccable sense of chic Euro-bohemian fashion. I secretly wonder if she is the illegitimate offspring of a Roma traveller and a Bavarian duke, because she moves so easily in any company she keeps. On top of being supremely cool, she never gatekeeps the amazing things she has come across in life, and when I mention how nice she smells she reaches into her vintage velvet patchwork satchel and hands me a bottle, telling me to keep it. Every time I open it and put some on I feel like a little bit of the magic she has collected in her adventures briefly casts a spell on me. My only very minor complaint is that this fades faster on me than I would prefer, peaking around 45 minutes in and quickly falling off a sillage cliff from there. By the fourth hour post dry down, it's largely gone. I'm infatuated with this, and need at least 2 more backup bottles (and, pretty please, a lotion, hair gloss, and atmosphere spray as well 🙏🏼🤞🏼💛).

That first deep sniff is all brown musk and spice, with a touch of sweet dark molasses lurking below. Applied to skin, cinnamon, clove and a bit of sugar surge to the forefront and dominate for the first 25 minutes, right about when the patchouli starts to make its first appearance. The booze note here is powerful and present, but the brown musk itself stays quiet until around an hour in when the spices start to burn off a bit. I am not getting as much of the molasses note on skin as I did from the bottle, but I expect it will emerge more as it deepens with time in storage. Medium to strong sillage (a bit potent for small workspaces and places), lasting just under 7 hours before fading away. Not blind buy safe if you are sensitive to cinnamon in particular, but otherwise very enjoyable to wear now, and likely to get even better as the spices mellow out with time. Perfect transition scent from pumpkin spices in Fall to gingerbread spices in Winter! I suspect that people who may not be paying close attention will sleep on this vs Gingerbread Snek, but I think it has standalone merit and will end up being a cult favorite.

VERY strong butterscotch rum wet in the bottle, cloying and synthetic. Coming in hard behind that is an oily hazelnut with just a touch of astringency from the white oak. First impression is overwhelming, and I am not optimistic. On skin, even with an electron sized dab, the butterscotch rum screams and the hazelnut wails. There is no subtlety here; the scent swells and expands with time, becoming more potent. I got 6 hours of nuclear wear, 2 hours of modest wear, and 4 more hours of faint wear, even though I considered scrubbing it off several times along the way. There is a cream note lurking in here somewhere that I've not really liked in other BPAL scents, and I'm getting hardcore Yankee Candle vibes from the butterscotch rum. Overall impression is that this is too potent and artificial smelling to be enjoyable for me. I will keep it to see if it smooths out as it ages, but can't imagine wearing it again anytime soon.

Absolutely gorgeous, and my favorite of this year's Yules that I've tried so far. I love me a good carnation note, and this one glimmers at the very top of the bottle when you take that first, long sniff. The peony is a little sweet, the vanilla subdued, the orris restrained. All together, the effect is soft, familiar and familial. On skin, the red musk and leather finally show their faces, but instead of shoving their way to the front they linger mid-stage, present but not overpowering the softness in the lead. Eventually, the red musk moves forward and the other notes move to the back. I agree completely with other reviewers who said that this orris is not at all powdery. Overall, it is a very well balanced scent. This wears closer to the skin on initial application, but really blooms in strength when the red musk takes over post dry down - take care not to over slather and then become a bit overwhelmed when it gains strength as time goes by. I had a full 8 hours of wear and enjoyed them all. Will be buying a back up bottle as I expect this will age like a dream!

Wow! Three years aged, this scent has really deepened and evolved into something pretty fantastic. Wet in the imp is a dance between a cocoa-y chocolate, a tanned brown leather, and a hint of a fir needle that has dried out but remains fragrant. On skin, it's mostly chocolate and leather for a good half hour until the amber and vanilla start to emerge. I start to feel a little uneasy at this point, as I'm getting that woodiness that sometimes accompanies some vanilla scents; it lingers for about a half hour before mercifully fading away. The fir needle has also left the building. What remains for the next 3-4 hours is a dark vanilla chocolate. Projection is on the low end of moderate, with a total wear time of about 6 hours.

Knowing how beloved the perfume oil version of this scent is (by me, and so many others) I thought it would be best to give my impressions as a stand-alone product first, then compare it to the OG fragrance. Here we go! Although not explicitly stated anywhere, I like to shake my hair oils prior to application to ensure that everything is properly mixed. I have fine, untreated hair that is oily at the scalp and drier on the ends; I aim for the mid-back part of my head and brush down from there. Two sprays on mostly damp hair was enough to provide good coverage, and everything distributed evenly and nicely. First whiff is overwhelmingly green cardamom, very snappy and spicy, followed by the vanilla chiffon that almost smells marshmallow-esque. The orchid petals are there, but not very "floral" in tone. As it dries down, the sugared amber pops up from a nap in the back seat, looks around, and lays back down again. There is a light resinousness that accompanies the dry down which could be called incense smoke, but it isn't "smokey" like a campfire or woodstove at all. The cardamom abandoned ship pretty quickly and left the vanilla chiffon steering the way. Very pleasant, and lasted a good 8 hours before I either became anosmic to it or it largely just faded away. (The former is probably true, because I got a whiff of it the next morning when the water hit my hair in the shower.) This hair gloss formulation has cyclomethicone and botanisil, two synthetic silicone type molecules that coat the hair to give it shine. I noticed that this texture benefit seemed to persist even after shampooing my hair the next day, even though the fragrance itself washed away. How does this compare to the perfume version? Much chirpier, brighter cardamom leads the way in the hair gloss format, and fluffier, mallowy vanilla carries it the rest of the way, with much less amber and orchid. It smells exceptionally good, but not an exact note experience match to the perfume in real world wear. I like to think of them as fraternal twins, easy to tell apart although clearly sharing a lot of DNA.

Incredibly fabric forward! In the imp, the silk note is the most prominent, followed by the cotton. The grey musk is also there, but surprisingly little lavender or vanilla. On skin, I feel like in the wet open the silk note has elements in common with the satin note in White Satin Hearse; there is the impression of a soft sheen. The French lavender appears, barely, in partnership with the grey cotton note, almost like a freshly laundered hand towel. The grey musk is more potent on skin, showing up as fast as 20 minutes post application. I couldn't tell you what silver thistle smells like, because there isn't anything particularly distinctive about it. Maybe there is a hint of a lace note in here too? The bourbon vanilla almost seems like dried baking extract remnants stuck to a measuring spoon that didn't get washed right away; no boozy, alcoholic or particularly dark undertones are present. The musk is a little sweatier than I had expected, and (to echo and affirm another reviewer) the whole scent gives post-warm up, lightly perspiring ballerina vibes. Delicate, low sillage and only about 5 hours of perceptible wear. Freebies are generous, much appreciated, and fun to try, but I don't think I'd be tempted to buy a full bottle of this if it was available.

A very juicy fresh red apple with a hint of scorch or cooked skin that must be the "black" part of that note. The pomegranate isn't terribly prominent, but gives a slightly deeper sweetness and tone to the scent. The pink pepper only emerges on skin after a few minutes, smelling like whole peppercorns, papery and piquant in ways that aren't entirely pleasing. I'm in an uneasy truce with it for an hour or so, until the apple and pepper both fade away and a faint hint of dried pomegranate juice is all that is left behind. By the end of the second hour, it's 90% gone. At the four hour mark, it was as if nothing had ever been there at all. This trio is inoffensive if you like peppercorns (and even if you don't, it won't torment you for very long).

Big, fat, wet lemon peel that smells juicy in the bottle but gets a little pom skin pithy once it is applied on skin. As it wears, the scent softens barely 15 minutes post application into something a lot more airy and ephemeral. The white musk has a touch of vanilla to it that emerges around 35 minutes in and brings a subtle sweetness. I wish the pomegranate rind wasn't so enduring; it's a little too bitter and intermittently throws the balance of the scent off a bit for me. By hour 2, the musk is all that is left. HUGE open, moderate dry down and soft wear for a total of about 5 hours before it fades away. Work and small space safe after the first 15 minutes. This scent is Sally Struthers on All In The Family, sitting cross legged on a yellow shag carpet, playing a guitar.

Juicy, fruity, mandarin and pear in the bottle. There aren't any other dominant notes, but a deep sniff gives me just a faint hint of ink lurking and swirling below the surface. These fruit top notes continue their domination when applied to skin. Finally, a citrus that doesn't turn my stomach when it hits my skin! Cursed with a citrustank microbiome, I've generally learned to avoid anything grapefruit, orange, lemon, or lime. But mandarin, by some anomaly, seems to be not only ok, but actually enjoyable. The benzoin and tar come in next around 40 minutes later and give the scent some depth. Surprisingly, the mandarin sticks around for quite awhile, defying my usual experience with top notes. I don't get much incense until about 2 hours in, and it's more of a waft than a plume. The ink remains very indistinct through dry down and ongoing wear. The scent projection overall is pretty strong, and lasts almost 9 hours. By the notes description, I would have passed this over without thinking twice. Having tried it, I really like it a lot. It's a hidden gem for people who don't like many fruity scents but want something a little brighter sometimes. Wearable for all seasons!

I'm genuinely surprised not to see more comparisons to the GC gem Morocco here, as to my nose this shares at least 50% of the same DNA both wet and in drydown. The two differentiating notes feel like the olive blossom and the orchid, which give a more green floral vibe to this by comparison. Although a bit sharp around the edges on the wet open when applied to skin, it dries down to something pleasantly fragrant. Moderate to strong sillage, with good staying power as I can still smell it 8 hours later. Most people seem to not like this, but I do!

Very pretty! As an only-sometimes-under-the-perfect-conditions violet wearer, this was an unexpected hit. I think I recognize at least a couple of the elements here; the violet is the same as in Bruised Violet Compound, and the "sugared" note has also appeared in other scents (the sugared amber in Dahlia, for example). There is a dry, powdery element to the scent that keeps it from being too sweet. After 2 hours it started to get a little woody, which means there is also a touch of vanilla in there as I've gotten this undertone a few times before (but can't seem to pinpoint exactly which vanilla it is). I appreciate that there is nothing that gives "artificially flavored candy" at any point in time. Medium throw and very good longevity at about 7 hours at nearly full strength.

**Warning: Anne of Green Gables spoiler** "Wan" is the perfect descriptor here. Barely perceptible, orris forward scent in the imp that makes a half-hearted attempt to perk up on skin but then collapses into a velvet chaise while weakly fanning itself. I'm reminded of Ruby Gillis in the Anne of Green Gables series; this is the perfume of her dried funeral flowers after she tragically dies of consumption. Delicate, subdued, and a little bit haunting, with very low projection and only about 4 hours of wear.

On the open, apple, rose, and something a bit sour. I am also getting that waxiness that others have mentioned. VERY pulpy. Vanilla and cacao are very late to the game, appearing about an hour later. The patchouli must be here in only very small parts, as I can't pick it out of the lineup. Medium throw and decent longevity at about 6 hours. I'm glad I had the chance to try it, but I will be passing this on. Someone who likes the combo of roses and apples more than me is sure to love it!