SmellsPrettyGood2Me
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Everything posted by SmellsPrettyGood2Me
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An aldehydic peach, kissed by incense and slightly sweetened by amber, sits cheerfully in the bottle. On skin, the bergamot joins the chorus. I like the fact that the peach is very light, and that the floral notes aren't really that flowery at all. For me the predominant note is the frankincense, which I really enjoy. Very low throw and only about 3.5 hours of ephemeral, lilting wear. Pretty for summer time, day or night.
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Lines Written by a Bear of Very Little Brain
SmellsPrettyGood2Me replied to doomsday_disco's topic in Yules
Spicy raw, green cardamom and milk laden rice pudding wet in the bottle. I could swear I am getting a touch of cinnamon in there as well? On skin, the rice gets a chewy, stewed quality and sits beneath the cardamom that surrenders much of its sharpness about 15 minutes in. This is about when I get my first whiff of honey and amber starting to rise to the surface. The snow note is soft and forms a general impression of cool fuzziness rather than bone cold chill; it reminds me of the smell of powdery sweetness on a white Tic Tac right before you pop it in your mouth. It's the one element that keeps this from being another breakfast-y scent for me like Edward Bear was. Thankfully, it does not go lactonic at any point in time. Projection settles down into a low thrum after drydown and gets progressively more and more delicate over the next 4 hours. Very enjoyable to wear - cozy and comforting. I do wish it lasted a bit longer! -
Tuberose, Wild Tobacco Flower, and Red Clover
SmellsPrettyGood2Me replied to Seajewel's topic in Duets & Menage A Trois
A beautifully creamy, clean trio that perfectly portends the transition between spring and summer. All three notes appear in the bottle in equal strength, but the waxy tuberose takes center stage on skin right away. About 10 minutes in I start to get the grassy green sweetness of the red clover and another pale white flower that must be from the tobacco. The balance here between the notes is exquisite; if all florals were this well constructed, I'd like a heck of a lot more floral fragrances! Medium projection and reasonably good longevity at just under 6 hours of wear. Very likely on the fringes of workplace and small space safe as long as it is applied with a light touch. My partial, secondhand bottle is from a less BPAL-centric period of my fragrance journey, which is unfortunate because I would grab 3 extra bottles of this now if I could. The gentle, creamy sweetness here somehow reminds me of another beloved discontinued favorite, Armani's Si Fiori. I will be saving this for special occasions like spring or summer weddings while I hope for a Trio Comeback Tour. -
2022 version! This is a gem worth cherishing. Time has aged the musk from red to a deep purple that fills your nose with each sniff from the bottle and goes jammy on skin. I'm getting vanilla sugar crystals and a touch of amber as it dries down. The booze is either a port wine or fruit cordial, high proof but not overtly alcoholic. I do also detect the vegetal Snake Oil musk here. Perfect for both days and evenings in every season except summer, when it might be just a bit too much. Big, bold projection and 10 good hours of wear on my skin. Will return to review 2024 and 2025 versions in good time...
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The petrichor here is absolute perfection. It's watery and deep in the bottle, and transitions to skin in a gloriously clean (mildly cucumber-y) burst of freshness and renewal. It's now less classically aquatic and more a little bit mineralic, not salty like an ocean note. The silk and vanilla notes appear promptly, within 5 minutes, and the scent shifts from the cool spring rain to the smell of the forest nymphs frolicking in dewy woods. Per usual, the Lab's fabric accords are award worthy and the silk note shimmers in the air. The vanilla is sweet, powdery and dry. Despite being delicate, projection here is moderate and lasts a good six hours. This is a fragrance for a gentle mood, whether it's present already and needs a scent to match, or if one needs to evoke feelings of mental escape into an outdoor woodland fantasy. Ideal also for an intimate, bedtime perfume.
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The Inexorable Finger
SmellsPrettyGood2Me replied to caith_bpal's topic in Black Phoenix Trading Post
2025 version! Sweet, sticky and dark in the bottle, it goes on skin a purple-y grape scent and gives Big League Chew vibes for the duration of the wet open. The oud is there, barely, but gets a bit stronger as it dries down. I don't think the patchouli is as strong in this iteration as in past seasons; it takes over an hour to present and does so a lot more gently than expected. Projection is relatively bold and longevity is very good at 8+ hours. It must be the obsidian note that is leading the charge in this version. While I like it, I think it could benefit from a good rest. -
I love reading when a scent really hits for other people; it makes me happy for them and excited to try it for myself. I went into this wearing experience with high expectations, but I did not have the same love-at-first-sniff as everyone else. What I got, mostly, was Honey Nut Cheerios in a bowl of vanilla almond milk. Tasty smelling, more oats than toasted bread, with a bit of sweetness from the amber and the vanilla. Projection was strong and it lasted over 8 hours on my skin. I like it, but it has to be kept aside for days when I want to smell like breakfast.
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At 16 years aged, there's no nutmeg here anymore; both in the bottle and on skin is just the quietly creamy black sandalwood, the sweet benzoin and vanilla adjacent tonka. Throw is low, and soft, but beautiful. Like others, I only got two hours wear, but it was really nice. If you are like me and love getting to experience a piece of BPAL history, this is worth a grab if and when you see it.
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Big honey cream, the woodiness of the mahogany, and the crinkle of red silk are present in the initial wet sniff from the bottle. Upon application, the earthiness of the lotus root and a the smallest whiff of a lightly tanned leather emerge. The red sandalwood here reads like the "red" in red musk, but doesn't otherwise leave much of an impression. Moderate projection and a good 6+ hours of wear. My favorite parts of this scent are the red silk note (I bow once more to BPAL's fabric accords) and the mahogany. Unfortunately, the honey cream somewhat curdles on my skin and just doesn't hit right, giving "who has cheese in their pocket" vibes that refused to quit me.
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Almost a decade aged, the lavender leaps out of the bottle, less a thread and more like a ball that rolls up into your nose with a big smack. On skin, it amps up quickly like a flash round before fading just as fast, largely gone about 35 minutes later. The ambergris is briny-sweet instead of briny-stank, and the amber is indeed present with a very light hand. My experience is similar to others in that it doesn't last long (about 2.5 hours for me) but it's very pretty and airy while it's around. Perfect ethereal summer bedtime scent, despite being one of the Yules!
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Ceaselessly By My Side the Demon Stirs
SmellsPrettyGood2Me replied to doomsday_disco's topic in Limited Editions
Quite a dusty sweetness in the bottle; is that the vetiver root and amber? On skin it gets even softer and fuzzier, with a counterbalance of light spice (cinnamon?) from the non-tannic tea. If the tonka bean is smoked, it's with incense and not campfire. I'm having trouble detecting any vanilla or patchouli at the 1 hour mark, but I keep checking for it. There is most definitely a yin/yang thing going on between the sharper and softer notes, but rather than competing with each other they sit nicely next to each other as if one is there for each side of your nose. The "brownness" is actually pretty prominent for me, and I agree with others who mention it seems fabric-like. I like it, but have to figure out where it fits in my rotation from a season and mood perspective. I can see putting it on before bed to both induce relaxation and act as a talisman against bad dreams. -
Hmmm, this smells a lot more oud-y in the bottle! On skin, the eucalyptus leaf and ambergris bring out an aquatic coldness that hangs around in watery pallor for an hour. The incense gets it's turn next, with the woodiness of the oud getting somewhat washed out by the remnants of the ambergris. Projection is low to moderate, and it lasts just under 5 hours on skin. I was not familiar with the poem that inspired this scent, but I can see how it fits. As soon as I put this on, my first thought was "Winter is Coming". This is a very Ned Stark coded scent to me, evoking a vision of bands of masculine travelers roaming around the countryside.
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Beautifully dusty honey and deep, chocolate-y patchouli in the bottle. Applied to skin, the honey gets even lighter and more floral, while the patchouli almost seems to have a bite to it (not animalic, but with a smooth pungency). I used the tiniest dab from the cap to apply it to my wrist and it filled quite a scent bubble around me. Please apply sparingly and mindfully if wearing in public spaces! Lasted well over 9 hours. This is a gorgeous, perfume-y scent that begs to be worn with leather, tightly pulled laces, and come-hither 5 inch stilettos. These Blood Milk scents have all been a big hit, well worth the slightly more premium pricing.
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A true pleasure to wear such a beautifully aged scent! Soft, clean, lightly fuzzy sage, sweet sandalwood, a warm incense, slightly soapy muguet, and a very unassuming patchouli all meld together with delightful results. I'm not much into florals and find the intensity of them here to be just right. I can't recall if this is the first scent I have tried with Balsam of Mecca as a note, but I love it. Despite starting off quietly, the intensity and projection increases significantly as it dries down. I put this on mid-day and could still detect it 10 hours later at bed time. Catching a whiff of myself while wearing this was a joy every time. Time has only made it more lovely, perfect for all seasons and situations.
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Smells completely different between the bottle and skin! Wet in the bottle is the somewhat dank stickiness of the opium tar mashed up with the lightly sweet earthiness of the patchouli root. Applying to skin completely transforms the scent; floral, fragrant, sweet berries are front and center, intermingled with a powdery backdrop. Wow, this smells amazing!! Reminds me of a premium early 90's perfume in it's sophistication. I normally don't care for opium as a note, but it blends well underneath the overall caramelization. This patchouli root isn't stinky or particularly potent at all. The berries stick around for quite some time, and the scent as a whole lasts 8 good hours. I can easily see this as a daily wear option in cooler months, and I desperately hope it returns some day so that I can grab a few more bottles.
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Glittering gold and loss beyond understanding: antiqued amber, English lavender, vetiver, and tea rose. Time has burnished this scent down to a faded dried bundle of lavender and dribbles of vetiver in the bottle, evoking a "past life" type of nostaglia. highly remniscent of a Victorian era gentleman. On skin, this impression persists with the arrival of the tea rose (almost rosewood-esque, that must be connected to the antiquing quality of the amber). It sits softly close to skin, with a light, glimmering echo of copal giving it some warmth. Reading historical reviews, I think the scent packs much less of a masculine punch now that it has rested well, although it still leans that way. As a person of the female persuasion, I think it smells pretty nice on me, too. Although it is a Yule, there isn't anything specifically winter or holiday coded about it.
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"Intoxicating" is the first word that comes to mind when sniffing it from the bottle. There is a dark, plummy, purple sweetness from the black kyphi that dominates, and the myrrh swims alongside it. On skin, the scent blooms and becomes even jammier. The red musk and indigo oud are present, but restrained. Two hours later, the overwhelmingly beautiful sparkle of the scent is largely gone, leaving behind a sweet, dry woodiness. This gives an incredibly premium, sophisticated open that was truly incredible to experience, but then pretty rapidly disappears. For the sake of comparison, I applied a dab to a tester strip to see if my skin was the culprit in chasing it away. Although it took a bit longer for the top notes to fade (maybe another 30 min) the end result was the same. The quick retreat of intensity makes it a little challenging to wear; your choices are to apply more liberally and risk overdoing the open, or to reapply more often not to lose the bloom entirely. I rarely wish for a scent in EDP format, but this may be one of those fringe cases where the blend needs a different base to "stick" a bit better. Truly a gorgeous blend, just needs a bit more enduring potency. 9/10, highly recommend. (Note: The label and official Blood Milk website spell the scent name "Bhelena".)
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Much more coffee forward on skin than Pumpkin Spice Espresso Latte, the punkier latte cousin of this year's Yules. There is definitely some perky, frothed, high fat milk in here, along with a somewhat fruity, floral vanilla that smells a lot like the recently released Patchouli and Smoked Vanilla lotion (which smells nothing at all like vanilla or patchouli to me, RIP). There is a slight, acrid undertone to the coffee, like the oil in the beans went a bit rancid before they were ground up for brewing, that wafts up from time to time. I get more simple syrup than brown sugar from this until it is fully dried down. Do I enjoy this? Will I wear this? The answer is not so clear. The blessing and curse of such an expansive BPAL Scentverse is that, because there are so many things to love, it doesn't always feel like there is enough room to just LIKE something (or even sit with it long enough to find out, before the next thing comes along that also needs trying). To be continued...
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I think BPAL Nation is sleeping on this one. She's the perfect blend of sweetness and spice, leading with the toasty roasted chestnut and cardamom in the bottle, even though all notes can be teased out with the right sniff depth and concentration. Once my skin gets ahold of her, the allspice races to the front of the line for a few minutes before politely returning to the rest of the group. And then, poof! She dials her whole self back from a 9.5 on the intensity scale to a modest, demure 6.5-7 (depending on which way the air is blowing) after only 20 minutes in. The amber and caramel start to appear with cozy, almost powdery warmth, and they carry the scent alongside the chestnut for the next 5 hours or so. This is a November 18th to December 31st scent that you won't have to think twice about putting on when you want to feel snuggly and festive. Another Yule 2025 offering that begs for multiple backup bottles so that you never have to let these feelings go!
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Wolf Moon: Snow & Oak Bark
SmellsPrettyGood2Me replied to doomsday_disco's topic in Duets & Menage A Trois
This is a minty, mentholated snow in the bottle, cold, tingly and fresh. The oak bark has what seems like a touch of humidity to it, perhaps with some lichen growing on the surface that has been lightly covered by a dollop of freshly fallen white powder. On skin, the menthol snow REALLY kicks up in a pseudo-medicinal fashion. I feel like I can taste it in the back of my throat as I bring my nose up to my hand, and there is a bit of physical warming on my skin as it dries down as well. I spend the next 30 minutes patiently waiting for the scent to settle; it is bracingly atmospheric. The bark has a wet, heavy, almost dirty quality to it. As dry down is happening I feel like I get the smallest whiff of dried wildflowers and anise sweetening things up from underneath it all. Moderate projection that lasts around 6 hours total. It's not bad, but I don't want to smell like the first hour of this as a pre-requisite to enjoying the next 5 hours of it. A more patient soul than mine would likely delight in it. -
Despite the label imagery evoking a cavalry of sorts, this really isn't an overwhelmingly masculine scent. In the bottle, the tea is what presents most strongly, followed distantly by the coffee, then the cocoa. On skin, the tea note unfurls even further, with sight ferment and maybe even with a touch of cinnamon there in the background. The hay gets it's moment to shine as it dries down, sweet and airy, alongside a very toasted chestnut note and a dry tobacco. It takes a good hour for me to be able to pick the vetiver out of the lineup, but I never fully experience the cocoa absolute or the coffee as individual notes, once applied, even after dry down. Two hours in, there is a powdery, slightly furry musk that sits at the base and lingers on for another 4 hours more. Olfactorily, this is both pleasant and complex. I'm not sure exactly how to describe it, but there is almost a HAPPINESS to it. I found it very comforting, and even thought about wearing it again the next day after testing because I liked it so much. Very glad I let my love of BPAL's hay and tobacco notes lead me here.
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Opening the bottle and taking a whiff, it really does smell like winter sunshine warming a scene. There is nothing minty, but I do catch one of the traditional BPAL "cold" notes. There is a sense of your breathing being slightly arrested by the temperature of the air. I catch the tiniest, most fleeting sense of the beeswax, alongside the sweet, almost-but-not-quite-piney frankincense note that is generating much of the brightness. On skin, it's somehow both warm and cold at the same time. The beeswax really starts to liquefy, and I get a slightly astringent woodiness from the birch bark. The Peru balsam also comes into it's own about 25 minutes in. Much like in nature, this gets less "frozen" as time goes on, settling into a golden sweetness. Moderately strong projection, with the most scent force in the first 3 hours, followed by 4 more of light sweetness. I would call this a playful cold weather atmospheric, which, despite it's sweet bottom notes, never ends up feeling heavy or overbearing. I like it very much; a dribble of sandalwood would make it perfect, so I anticipate layering it with a sandalwood single note when I want to deepen it a bit.
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Very robust, dark coffee dominates the scent while wet in the bottle, with the usual BPAL pumpkin spice note, and a hint of creaminess from the nog. On skin, the spice and coffee notes switch places, and the brown sugar syrup appears in the background. There is definitely a thick, non-lactonic dairy element present that reflects custard as well. By about minute 30 that oily, silky coffee note has pretty much disappeared completely. The nutmeg and cinnamon are perfectly balanced, and the brown sugar syrup gets even nicer post dry down. Projection is quite bold, so apply carefully. I could still catch whiffs of it over 10 hours later! If you're wary of coffee fragrances, this one didn't smell like coffee for very long on me at all. All of the notes were extremely photorealistic, which was refreshing because I recently had a not-so-great encounter with a butterscotch note that sent me reeling. What really made this fantastic was the eggnog note; it smoothed everything out and tied the whole scent together. I can see wearing this nonstop between October and March, it's that good!
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It Was But the Wild Blast As It Sung Thro’ the Trees
SmellsPrettyGood2Me replied to doomsday_disco's topic in Yules
They promised comfort, and it brought comfort, like a trip to Grandma's prairie cottage in the first 3 weeks of November where fall and winter sometimes overlap. In the bottle, all of the scent notes are individually detectable but also blend together like a dream. On skin, the hay and oats dominate in the open, yielding to the hazelnuts and the clove as it dries down. The clove continues to amp up for an hour, and a slightly musky wool comes alongside and gives cozy sweater vibes. I do wish the hay note hung around a bit longer, but not much is going to outlast a spice or nut note when they're present! The honeyed oats were there from start to finish and reminded me of Amber Incense & Honey Cakes, which I also love. Bold in the open, but does not stay there long. Most of it was gone within 6 hours of application. I went back and forth on this as I was reviewing my cart, and I think I even took it out entirely at one point. Very glad it made it in the final cut as this will get a lot of wear when I need a warm scent hug. Would not mind it in lotion format as well! -
Wolf Moon: Amber & Grey Musk
SmellsPrettyGood2Me replied to doomsday_disco's topic in Duets & Menage A Trois
So pretty!! Wet in the bottle and on skin there is a sunny, buttery, chardonnay-like tone, giving it a light sweetness that counterbalances any woodiness that may come from the grey musk. Not powdery or sugary, and the musk is non-animalic. It stays completely lovely for just under 5 hours before I can no longer smell it on myself; Mr Smells says he can still catch it every now and then just over 8 hours later, so it's one of those that you lose track of, but that other people can still detect. What a great your-skin-but-better scent - I love it. Very work and small space safe, and while fantastic on it's own, it probably also layers beautifully to add depth to scents that need a little "something". Getting a backup bottle is a no-brainer.