Assimbya

I really adore this one and am so so happy I decided on a somewhat profligate whim to blind bottle it. This is definitely a hair gloss for lilac lovers only, but for those of us in that category it's an absolute delight. The lilac scent here may be pale but it is also full and billowing and a little intense; I'd agree with @tajana's description of it as slightly indolic in their lovely review above; it's unabashed in that quality, heady and intoxicating. The moss is very much a grounding green undernote, sinuous under the waves of floral. Excellent longevity and strong throw, just barely on this side of being too much lilac for polite company. This has quickly become a very treasured hair gloss for me; I love wearing it with one of my lilac perfumes for a full lilac experience (it subtly contrasts beautifully with both Eusapia and Lorrainna, bringing out each of their nuances), and am enjoying starting to try pairing it with other perfumes (it was lovely matched with Datura Blossom last week).

I love this very, very much, but have been struggling to write a review of it! Partly because so many reviewers in this thread have articulated it so beautifully already, and partially because my experience of this perfume is so ineffable and difficult to put into words. It most definitely has a shimmering quality, golden but as once translucent, almost opalescent; it feels a bit paler and cooler than sunlight to me, like a film of light over skin. As it goes on I get a sweetness from the vanilla and honey, sharpened and given shape by a gently woody cedar which never takes over, and with a citric edge which is almost lemony but not quite. As it dries down, the skin musk and olive blossom combination is definitely at the center, and it's utterly stunning - at once sensuous and elegant, bodily while also feeling clean. I agree with previous reviewers who described this as extremely Hellenic, and I love that about it, though for me I'd say it doesn't so much evoke the beach as it does the feeling of sitting on sun-warmed stone in a high place, sparsely forested but with cedar and gray-green olive trees with their tiny yellow blossoms. I'm still not great at picking out orris butter as an independent note, but triangulating with other blends I can definitely track a continuity with From Whose Eyes as They Glanced's orris butter-skin musk combination, which is very distinctive and also, for me, very difficult to describe. Whatever that combination is, I love it, and I love that it's a version of sensuality I feel able very authentically to inhabit. I am so glad to have this perfume in my life; I'm trying to keep it as something I wear for non-work days to keep to the association of leisure, but I love it so much that I may have to let go of that intention eventually. I have been trying to avoid buying backup bottles of things, but with this one I am definitely tempted.

Fully agree with previous reviewers that this is a very gentle and pleasant scent. On my partner, whose skin amplifies sweet notes, this leans almost unwearably foody (he described it as "the platonic ideal of porridge"). On me it's much more balanced - soft but distinct almond foremost, perfumey honey, and smooth milk; the grains are present but more in the background. Reasonable longevity for such quiet notes. This is lovely and I'm happy to have an imp of it, but I don't imagine it's one I am going to wear often enough to want a bottle.

Thank you so much @BetteNoire and @topazphoenix! I have an imp of Dirty, so I'll have to test for that, and now I would love to try Xiutecuhtli! For anyone who might be reading this thread in the future, I'll share that I have now tried Delight and unfortunately didn't get much plumeria from it, so the quest continues!

Milky! So milky! The milk scent in this one is intense, and I agree that it's distinctively scorched milk, with that sweet but not caramelized nearly burnt quality which anyone who has had experiences of trying and failing to heat milk over a stovetop can recognize. It's a strange and almost disconcerting scent to have in a perfume, but I'm finding I really enjoy it in its strangeness. I definitely get tea, flowers, and musk as well, giving subtle sweetness and complexity, but I can't make out each of them so precisely (though I'm not all that familiar with iris or mallow flower yet), and they meld into a vaporous whole, gray and cream and enveloping. This is far more milky than any of my other BPALs with milk or cream notes - it bears a faint resemblance to White Rabbit, but without White Rabbit's distinctive crispness. I've tried a few of BPAL's recent tea-adjacent scents which haven't quite worked for me (Angora was too astringent and Rose Milk Tea too sweet), but this milky floral tea feels more intriguing and wearable for me personally. It has more throw than one might expect for such smooth gray notes (my partner kept being ever so slightly weirded out by the milk scent!) and decent longevity. I'm glad I went for this one, and love the suggestion above about wearing it reading indoors during thunderstorms. This feels like a scent for staying inside and letting oneself stay with some fogginess for a little while.

This one somehow feels very fancy to me; there's a sharpness which I find quite pleasant, but which definitely on me makes me think about wisteria in a vase beside a polished staircase, not in the open air in a garden. The wisteria has a distinct purple tinge which skews almost grapey in its sweetness, balancing out the musk. The sense of fanciness nearly pulls it into expensive hotel lobby territory to my nose, but the freshness of the floral pulls it out again. This has a gentle throw, not quite as strong as some other hair glosses I've tried. I'm liking this for work, and for times when I want to feel pulled together and grown-up. Still playing around with perfume matches, but it seems to go well with white and purple florals and other more perfumey or white musk scents.

This is a deceptively simple yet gorgeous scent. While I haven't had the chance to try O, to which I see this is often compared, I find this combination of honey and layered musk very distinctive and memorable, and it has strong throw without being an overpowering scent in itself. The honey note has the surprising depth that I find BPAL's honey notes frequently do, and the musk adds a sensuous bodily warmth. It's definitely sexy, but not distractingly so.- to me it feels appropriate to wear to work and other settings. Of the hair glosses I've tried so far, I find Hair Loosened & Soiled to be one of the most versatile; it pairs well with almost all of my perfumes. I'm still playing around with combinations, but I've been enjoying the way that it can highlight honey or musk notes in perfume blends where those are not so foregrounded. It also has crazily long longevity - I keep catching hints of it the next day even after washing my hair.

From this I get a sweet rose vanilla, with an indefinable hint of something almost fruity, and some depth that I think must be coming from the cognac and silver; fortunately no alcohol note, which I was a little worried about. I definably get something powdery and doll-like as other reviewers have noted, and I'd say that for me the vanilla-lace note is the central one, though I can certainly track the rose. This skews quite sweet on me, sweeter than these notes might as a perfume oil where they'd have my skin chemistry to contend with, and I'm finding that some days that sweetness is too much for me, and the overall effect too youthful. But on others it feels pretty and just right for what I want - it particularly pairs well with my floral-vanilla perfumes (absolutely perfect match for Millarca from the Carmilla collection) without overpowering them, which is rather what I hoped it might do. I'm not in love with this as I am with the Peacock Queen HG (stupendously beautiful! perfect rose hair gloss!), but I'm enjoying it and happy to have it in my hair gloss rotation.

I was playing around with looking up this question on my spreadsheet recently, so was glad to find this very old thread! I think it's an interesting way of looking at preferences and would be curious to read others' answers; I'm keeping the number of favorites I'm pulling from high to better see trends. Unsurprisingly for myself, something like 85% of my favorites out of the scents I've tried so far are florals of some variety. The exceptions are a small group of fragrances which I find to each be doing something very specific and unique (ex. A Robe All Red with Dripping Gore; Seven Inches of Blood; White Rabbit). But the 12 most common particular listed notes among my favorite BPAL perfumes: Rose (17) - this is a staggering number to me! Some of these are really rose-centric blends and others are ones from which I barely pick out the rose at all, but it's still a lot. Musk (16) - keeping this one broad since musks are often labelled so idiosyncratically, but it was pretty evenly divided between white musk, skin musk, and red/crimson/blood musks (more of the latter than I expected probably because of all my vampire scents), with a couple of black musks. The scents that were right on the edge of being included in the favorites list also mostly had musk, so this number/proportion could get higher over time. No Arabian or Egyptian musk scents made their way into my favorites. Honey (13) - higher than I expected! It's a note quietly present in a bunch of blends, as well as those that center it. Amber (10) Vanilla (10) - when I started wearing BPAL I had no idea that I would like vanilla as much as I do now! Jasmine (6) Honeysuckle (5) Osmanthus/Olive blossom (5) Tea (5) - all types Milk/cream (5) Sandalwood (5) This was a really fun exercise! It's certainly skewed by how frequently certain notes show up in the catalog - I've tried a lot of sandalwoods which really really didn't work on me because BPAL has just so many, but it's good to remember that there several which in fact work very well. A number of my very favorite floral notes don't make it onto this list because I have only a couple of favorite perfumes with those notes (lilac, orange blossom, magnolia), but I love those few very very much. It's interesting to see which flowers do make the list, though some of that is certainly about what has happened to make its way to me or what shows up in blends that tend to intrigue me. Similarly, there also are a number of others kinds of notes which I think of myself as being really into because I have a couple of favorite blends which really showcase them, but in reality I only really wear them in those perfumes. It confirms that my taste skews very much to classic florals and musks, often with an amber base, but I do clearly really like some gently gourmand notes when paired with non-gourmand elements. I'd be curious to try the exercise again over time, and see if my list of favorites shifts with more familiarity and length of wear - I wonder if I'm including here a number of perfumes which are more similar to one another, and if my opinion about them will change.

I got an imp of this both because I am searching out rose/jasmine combinations and also looking for a frangipani heavy scent. Unfortunately I don't think it's quite for me on either count. On me the rose is the strongest note, and it seems to be the same rose note that shows up in a number of the GC blends - Fleurs du Mal, Lucy's Kiss - and which goes a little sepia-toned on me, with a hint of ammonia. It's a rose note which reads to me very much as the idea of rose perfume rather than rose itself; not unpleasant by any means, but a little disappointing to me by contrast with the much brighter, more intense rose notes in other BPALs. I can also pick out a dry jasmine, and fruity tuberose. The frangipani is quite subtle on my skin. This is a reasonable floral perfume with nothing objectionable about it, but it's just not exciting me. I'll probably keep my imp, but I'll continue my quests for a frangipani scent and also for a creamier jasmine.

I was a little wary of this, as heavily fruity blends often don't work on me, but Aizen-Myoo is lovely and I'm glad I ended up with a free imp of it. The citrus notes are very fresh and bright without being overpowering, letting the cherry blossom shine beside them - this is a distinctly cherry blossom scent without being cherry, which is delightful. I would agree with other reviewers that the tea note feels more like green tea than black tea. Overall it feels floaty and gauzy and cheerful. This isn't enough my style for me to want a full bottle of it, but I will use and enjoy my imp.

This was given to me as a free imp - it's not one I ever would have gotten for myself, but I love white musk and was willing to try. Wet this is dusty, herbal, and slightly woody on me - primarily sage, with a strong note of cedar and some hint of extremely dry, non-floral lavender. As it dries, the leather absolutely takes over on me, and I find myself unfortunately reminded of car seats with a cedar air freshener. If I really search for it I can still get a little of the sage. On me I get absolutely no musk, vanilla, or carnation. This would have felt way too masculine for me even if the notes came off in a more balanced fashion on my skin, but as it is the amplified leather note is really quite unpleasant by my taste.

I got this just before the Halloweens went down in longing for a good orchid blend! And I think that it may be what I was hoping for. Wet on me this is primarily almond - I can see the comparison to cherry above, but for me it feels like the same almond note from Hecate, with the cacao adding a powdery bitterness. It transforms almost completely as it dries into a dark, silky orchid, headily perfumey but with a gentle throw, fuzzy and sweet with musk, only a hint of the almond and cacao. The dry down stage of this feels very elegant to me - I would feel good about wearing it to the opera. It fades pretty fast on me, though I'm hoping that might change with aging.

Apparently my skin chemistry is opposite of all other reviewers' on this one and I am not pleased about it! On me, Jennie Rogers is primarily tobacco leaf; when wet there's some peach and a pretty hint of the vanilla chypre, but those fade quickly, and it's just tobacco with the peach as gilding. I get no rose, jasmine, or bergamot. Unfortunately, as I strongly dislike tobacco, this is very definitely not for me! I scrubbed it off rather vigorously within 10 minutes. Wish I could trade experiences with those above who wanted tobacco out of this and didn't get it!

I definitely second @roseus's beautiful description of this as "looking at the sun glittering on the sea in the distance on a cool, crisp day"! It's a very distinctly blue scent to me; the well-blended combination of mint/spruce/eucalyptus is the central note on me, but it's distorted, edges blurred by the salty floral notes like ripples of seawater. There's a nebulous fruity quality which might be from the musk or lotus, which intensifies as it dries but doesn't ever overpower the scent. It's less earthy than Ogygia, more a fantasy of perfectly blue sparkling water than Ogygia's more physically grounded island. Though I often amplify astringent notes, the mint/spruce/eucalyptus combination stays soft and gentle on me, balanced nicely with the other aspects of this blend. Celestial Beings feels like it comes right up against the boundaries of a very conventional aquatic scent, but veers slightly to the left into something lovelier and a little stranger, while at the same time remaining very pretty. I like this rather more than I thought I might, though I don't think it's one that I'm likely to wear often and so I probably won't need more than my decant. I think this could be a nice transition scent for someone moving from mainstream fragrances into BPAL - it's more unusual and distinctive than, say, Embalming Fluid, but maintains a friendly bridge to general aquatics.