Assimbya
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Everything posted by Assimbya
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Sich Aufstützender Weiblicher Akt Mit Langem Haar
Assimbya replied to doomsday_disco's topic in Limited Editions
Agreed that this one feels very clean. It goes on quite soapy on me, in line with @KarenWalker's experience; as it dries I can pick out the notes a little more. There's a woody smoothness which I think is the sandalwood and tonka, a slight sweet fruitiness which is probably the mimosa, and this almost mentholated fresh quality which I think is responsible for the impression of soap, though I can't identify it for sure with any particular notes (a combination of the iris and mimosa?). It's pleasant and very well-blended; the cleanness gives an inoffensive quality which reminds me of Embalming Fluid (though the actual scents are not particularly similar), but the ambiguous complexity of it makes it feel more sophisticated and adult than it otherwise might. But at the same time, it's not grabbing me. I'd like it to be more something - more distinctly floral, more leaning into the skin sent quality which a musk, I'm not sure. I can see it being very lovely on someone, perhaps someone who wears a lot of beige silk and their hair in a French twist (this got very specific suddenly, not sure where that came from, sorry everyone!). But I don't think that someone is me. I want to spend some more time with this scent to understand it better; I also imagine aging might make this one more exciting, perhaps bringing out the vanilla which right now is undetectable. But I'm, to tell the truth, all that let down by not falling in love with this one - I wanted to try it because the note combination sounded intriguing (and I don't have a mimosa scent and am obliged to ravenously go after all florals), but I am not a Schiele fan and that idea of ending up with a bottle with his art on it made me a little uneasy. So perhaps it just was not meant to be! I think there will be people for whom this is the perfect scent, and I hope that it makes its way to them. -
This is a very pretty lily of the valley scent, with some citric tea rose in the background and a depth and sophistication from the orris and ambergris. I don't get a lot of the plumeria, which disappoints me a little - I'm still searching for a plumeria-forward scent! - but it's really lovely for what it is and would be great for a setting in which I want something understated and pulled together. I enjoy wearing this with a sweeter, more sensuous hair gloss (Glowing Vulva today, or Hair Loosened & Soiled) to complicate the primness of the lily of the valley. I have a low partial of this, and feel okay with that quantity, I don't think I need to desperately search out a full bottle, but I'm glad to have what I have.
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Black Butterfly Moon: Black Orchid and Crushed Berries Hair Gloss
Assimbya replied to doomsday_disco's topic in Hair
I had been wary of this one, since BPAL's red fruit notes do not tend to do well on my skin and the type of berries aren't specified here! But my partner wanted a decant and I'm very glad that we ended up with it - while I suspect this one probably wouldn't work as a perfume on me due to my skin chemistry, it's truly beautiful as a hair gloss. I can't manage to pick out what type of berries these might be after all, but they are complex and beautiful - there's a sharp, dry quality which melds with the orchid into a sort of dark richness, almost creamy without being at all lactonic. At the same time, it has a vividly atmospheric quality, with an edge that makes me think of a forest floor, some kind of quality of woodiness and greenness behind the berries. I definitely agree with @VioletChaos that this far more complex than its two notes makes it sound. I've been wearing this all day alongside the main Black Butterly Moon perfume oil, and they complement one another beautifully; while Black Butterfly Moon on its own will always feel like goth girl to me, with the hair gloss its suddenly a dark forest nymph or fairy, powerful and ever so slightly ominous. It doesn't match with most of my usual perfumes, so I feel reluctantly okay with just having my decant, but it's beautiful and special and I'm glad to have it for the right moments. -
I tend to be wary of oud and this didn't sound like my style, but I was determined to try the whole Erl King collection and I'm very glad I did give this one a chance! On me it's dark, regal, imposing, and very cold, like deep black ice. There's strong incense and a complex woodiness given a sense of sophistication and remove from the ambergris and icy notes; the eucalyptus increases the chill, clean feeling, but does not pull it too herbal. This feels very effectively atmospheric to me - I can picture some kind of dimly lit, icy throne room for a dark woodland king, redolent with incense - but at the same time the muskiness of the ambergris keeps it feeling like a perfume, like something belongs on skin. I am fascinated with this one, which seems to be a reaction I've had to a number of scents in the Erl King collection. I want to spend more time with it, and this review feels a little premature for that reason, but since there are so few reviews of this one it felt worth sharing initial impressions. I don't think it's one I will find much occasion to wear often, so I doubt I will need more than a decant, but I feel very struck by it and glad to have the chance to try it.
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This is a delicate, simple spring floral. I get all three notes clearly; the wisteria is probably strongest on me, but the sakura/cherry blossom and ume/plum blossom temper the wisteria's sharpness, balancing it out very nicely. This feels like a rare blend in which I can really get the sakura and ume notes without the fruitiness of cherry and plum proper, and I enjoy getting to revel in that. It definitely has a perfumey quality that for me differentiates it from the lab's more photorealistic florals, and I would prefer if the notes felt slightly fresher, though some of that I imagine is its age. This feels to me like a scent for a fancy daytime garden party, if you wanted to smell like flowers but also hold a sense of formal self-presentation. It feels like pale pink with just a hint of purple. I acquired a very low partial of this, just about little over an imp's worth, and I expect to enjoy and use all of it, especially in the warmer weather, but I don't think I am heartbroken at not having a full bottle.
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I agree with the general consensus that this is very predominantly lavender - almost a lavender single note on me as it goes on, with just a hint of mead-like depth behind it. I would also call it an herbal lavender, though it's wearable and balanced in a way that a lavender essential oil wouldn't be. As it dries, it sweetens, though I still don't get a distinct honey note, just a richer, sweeter lavender. This is very pleasant and likable, but not what I was hoping for; BPAL's wine and honey notes both tend to show up beautifully on my skin, so I was disappointed not to clearly get them here. It also had extremely short longevity on my skin, so much that it had almost entirely faded after ~2 hours. I do imagine the longevity might improve with age, and that the honey note might come out more as I have seen BPAL's honeys consistently do. I'll certainly keep my decant and possibly use it as a sleep scent as @doomsday_disco suggested, but I won't need more than a decant and I doubt this will be a frequent one for full day wear.
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I received this as a frimp from @artisjok who must have very thoughtfully looked at my GC wishlist! Thank you! I adore bpal's skin musk note, and that is indeed what this is - sensual, slightly sweet, subtly fruity (apricot or melon?), gently floral, doing beautiful things in alchemy with my skin chemistry. I love having this, and it immediately made me better understand the skin musk note in all the other scents where it shows up. I think this will be a great one to wear on its own at times when I want to wear something clean and subtle, or of course for layering. My partner has immediately gotten into layering it, especially with duets, and we are now running through our imp rapidly! We'll be getting a bottle of it.
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I was doubtful that this one would work on me, since any and all bpal red fruit notes seem to do unpleasant things on my skin, but I was determined to try all of the Erl King scents and so gave it a shot! And I'm glad I did; it's a pleasant, lovely scent which I enjoyed. On me it starts strongly as apple, but a pretty soft, round-edged apple scent reminiscent to me of Sjöfn (so perhaps that the apple blossom-like apple peel @Saeva was identifying); I got some faint florals behind it, but little except the apple. As it dries, there's an almost haylike grassy floral sweetness which I think must be the meadowsweet (a new note for me! though I think I may have smelled them in the wild) and then the violet comes forward and becomes the center of the blend. There's still apple, and a more diffuse fruitiness in the background, but it neither takes over nor goes artificial as the red fruit notes historically have. My partner compared it on me to Black Butterfly Moon which I didn't get at first because the floral notes strike me so differently and this one does not have the gothy exuberance of that lunacy, but I can see it if I squint; something about the purple floral of the violet mingling with the fruit, but none of them being overly sweet. There's a softness to this blend, though it isn't overly sweet, and a sense of the florals as distinctly wildflowers, unexpected flashes of color or scent in the middle of the forest rather than something cultivated and showy. Possibly I'm just being suggestible because of the inspiration, but there's something of the Northern European woods to this one, which I also felt in The Woodland So Wild. I can make sense of this in the context of the accompany lyrics, an alluring trap meant for a child made of fruits and flowers in the natural environment. I liked this a lot more than I expected to, though it's not quite my style and I can't see myself wearing it often; I'll keep and probably use up my decant, but will not need a bottle. It also made me curious to try more scents with meadowsweet as a note!
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This is definitely an orris-forward scent to me; the orris-leather-vanilla combination brings to mind Porcelain Bat, but the leather is a lot more prominent in this one, and with the woodiness of the cedar and the heaviness of the tonka and red amber, it lacks Porcelain Bat's softly comforting energy. As it dries down, I get hints of the floral notes, but can't make them out specifically. This has a solid presence, but low throw; though it's not musky, the cedar-orris-vanilla creates a skin scent effect that reminds me of Like the Very Gods, though The Woodland So Wild is nordic and forested and pretty substantially masculine; the similarity is one more in the category they fill then in the nature of the scent itself. Though Porcelain Bat somehow managed to keep the leather from taking over on my skin, unfortunately I get more of it here than I like, and the whole skews far too classically masculine for me. I really like it on my partner (who likes and wears perfumes across all gendered associations), but it's not for me.
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I have the 2024 version, but realized I never reviewed it! My dearly beloved Peacock Queen! Peacock Queen is the rose perfume of my dreams - deep, lush, smooth, rich, and purely itself. I experience it as very red. Unfortunately I can't wear Rose Red, which turns to acrylic paint on my skin, but Peacock Queen's beauty more than makes up for this. My other favorite BPAL (nearly) pure rose scent is Two, Five, & Seven, which is very different, but these complement one another so well - Peacock Queen is the winter rose to Two, Five's summer, the nighttime to its daytime, the sensuous elegance to its playful brightness. I love it and feel so lucky to have both. Unfortunately, Peacock Queen tends to fade pretty quickly on my skin - its longevity has improved noticeably with aging and I'm hopefully that it might continue to do so, but I do have to reapply if I want to wear it all day and I treasure its accompanying hair gloss as a longer-lasting way to experience the scent (I'm intrigued by the lotion this year for the same reason). I am finding myself often wanting to wear it this winter, when I don't feel as pulled during the summer, and it shows up beautifully in the cold, vivid and stark as a proud red rose holding on when the other flowers of the season have faded.
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When this goes on, it reminds me intensely of the Ars Anni Equivalent No. 314, to the point that I think I probably could be fooled into thinking it was the same blend if I hadn't put it on myself - there's no milk note, but there's a definite creaminess, and whatever the florals are in Erl-King's Pale Daughter must remind me really intensely of the iris-mallow flower combination in 314. I wonder if perhaps there also may be ambergris in this one. As it dries, the differences between the two scents become clearer, though there's still a distinct resemblance. The Erl-King's Pale Daughter starts to show its aquatic features; there's a watery translucence which feels elegant and eerie, and something a little bit briny without being overpowering. It find it hard to identify the florals here; I can maybe get lilies if I try, but that might be my imagination based on the listed notes; I wonder if this may be the lab's waterlily accord which also showed up in last year's Cold Moon. Though there's no vanilla here, the creamy-musky-floral aquatic sensibility reminds me a little of Lyonesse, but made much more ghostly. This is a being who lives in the depths of still ponds, not in the ocean. I find this really lovely, and enjoy the elegant eerieness quite a bit; I could see myself wearing it a lot especially in warmer weather. There are also things I can't quite make sense of about it, and it's a perfume that I feel I need more time with to really understand. I might go for a bottle of this one, though it might too similar to 314 for that to make sense. But definitely glad to have my decant.
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Wet on my skin this starts as pretty much entirely blackcurrant, very fruity and inching towards feeling artificial, as fruit scents unfortunately often can on me. As it dries, it becomes much more centrally a myrrh blend, and a lovely myrrh it is too - it feels to me like the same one from Black Butterfly Moon, and the effect with the still strong blackcurrant is similar to the blackberry + myrrh in that other blend, but without the florals which are a big part of Black Butterfly. The labdanum tar seems to be adding a sticky resinous depth and a bit of darkness, but overall this is all about the myrrh and blackcurrant on me. For that reason, it's a much more friendly, approachable blend than the description would suggest; it has a contemplative feel, but it definitely does not evoke a dirge to me. I enjoy this, and would recommend it as a relatively straightforward dark fruit + resin blend, but I have enough beautiful myrrh scents already. I would be more interested in this probably if it were a little darker and more uncomfortable, which it might be if the labdanum tar note were turned up a bit; I wonder if aging might bring that out and will keep my imp to find out.
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This goes on mostly coffee beans to start, close to photorealistic and smoky, with a chocolate-y warm depth. The rose shows up first as a floral sharpness underneath the coffee, and deepens for me over the course of wear, gradually unfolding in vividness. I've been trying to identify which of the lab's other rose blends this note reminds me, since Bulgarian rose specifically doesn't tend to show up all that often in listed notes - it's in Two, Five, & Seven, but along with so many other roses that it can be hard to pick out! This Bulgarian rose notes feels related to the lab's tea rose, but deeper, lusher, and more adult, if not as deep as the Peacock Queen rose - I'd say that it's pink rather than red. This is a duet which does what it says it's going to do, and if you want rose and coffee beans then you should go for it! I was intrigued by the idea of the combination (I'm not a coffee drinker but do enjoy the smell of coffee beans), but the experience of actually smelling like coffee is not one I think I'm going to want very often. Our decant will stay with us, but I won't need more of it.
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I got decants of all the Erl-King scents out of love for the poem/song, but was specifically hopeful about this one because both the lab's milk and honey notes tend to work very well on me. Unfortunately, something about this one goes very weird, almost sour on my skin; it doesn't smell like either of those notes usually do from bpal, and since trying it first the other day I've been trying to puzzle out what it does smell like to me. There's something that maybe could be a caramel, though @ND¢'s identification of rose petal jam or yeast both sound more plausible with what I'm smelling. Honestly, it maybe smell sort of fermented to me? Whatever it is, unfortunately I don't think it works on me! I'll give it a while to rest and retest it, but I am alas not hopeful.
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I'm adding my voice to the chorus on this one - this is such a soft, gentle, beautiful perfume; very very much pale purples and grays. On me it goes on mainly a pale, crumbing mix of lavender and lilac; as it dries down the iris starts to come through along with musk and lots of distinct fabric notes, and the florals blend into something very gentle and pretty. I can't specifically track the tea or moss and am unfamiliar with the thistle note, but I do have a sense of them as a base notes grounding the scent and keeping it from just dissolving into a diffuse cloud of melancholy. Lovely and very soothing, but also holding its own. I am seriously considering a bottle of this one, despite having an inordinate number of lilac scents already; the florals + fabric combination is so pretty and special. I like lavender but don't find myself wearing it very often (except for the GC Twilight, which I use as a sleep scent), and this scent as at once elegant and comforting, the way the lavender is balanced out, feels like a lavender that I actually want to smell like all day. Definitely a standout from the Yules I've tried so far this year!
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Full, rich, unapologetic floral. On me this is primarily jasmine and honeysuckle, in rather equal measure; lilac comes out more on the drydown, but is definitely secondary to the other florals for me. This is gently indolic, but mostly just very deeply floral; I can only detect the amber as perhaps adding a resinous depth. Sophisticated, billowing, and creamy. I very much enjoy this and am so glad to have obtained a partial bottle secondhand; it pairs especially well with Persephone's Ascent, but I love it with all my jasmine/honeysuckle/white floral perfumes.
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Cool green grass with dew-touched lilacs peeking through, and just a hint of wood from the trees in the background; very very true to the description. There's something about this which feels rather sparkly to me, something in the cool wet greenness of the floral. Appropriately enough to the inspiration, this feels like an animation of an enchanted wood, the colors just a little brighter and more technicolor than the thing itself would be. I think this would be a good starter floral for someone who's scared of florals; the grass really gentles out the lilac, though they are distinctly and beautifully there. It's really delightful, but I personally don't often find myself drawn to wear it over my other BPAL lilacs (4! I am so lucky), all of which are rather more intense in their florals. I am really glad to have my decant and also to know that this is in the more permanent collection, as so many BPAL's gorgeous lilacs are LEs. For now I don't need a bottle of it, but I could see my feelings on that changing in the spring (and also if I ever run out of Blue Lilac & Lily of the Valley, to which it's probably closest of the other lilacs I've tried).
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Daffodils, Narcissus, Paperwhites... and Hyacinth
Assimbya replied to jarvenpa's topic in Recommendations
Resurrecting this thread as I continue on my floral completionist quest! I am now searching for a hyacinth-dominant perfume; the only bpal one currently available is Dawn: Mourning Victory, which I am up for trying, though there aren't many reviews for me to get a sense of how prominent the hyacinth is. (There's also the Erebos atmosphere & linen spray which I am curious about though, being a linen spray, it does not fulfill this particular wish of mine.) I'd love to hear if others have thoughts on the hyacinth note in that one, or if there are other hyacinth bpals from the past for which I should keep an eye out, as I certainly shall for those already mentioned in this thread. -
You're welcome! As a dedicated lover of florals, I am happy to help in this arena. Given this context, I would definitely suggest Lorrainna and/or Nocturne for your mother, which are both pretty pure florals; Lorrainna in particular is so special. If you try Faustus for yourself, I hope you enjoy it!
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From the GC, Nocturne (deepest violet touched with lilac and tuberose) is a lovely violet and lilac scent, with a delicate, ethereal sensibility. I was frimped it recently and have been really enjoying it! If you're looking for both of these notes together, I think it would be a great choice. Veil (white sandalwood, lilac, gardenia, violet, orris, lavender and ylang ylang) also looks intriguing, in a similar vein, but I haven't had the chance to try that one yet. For lilac, I cannot say enough good things about Lorrainna from the Skull Maskerade collection (an early 19th-century Italian perfume dabbed on black satin and lace – magnolia blossoms, lilac, orris root, and ambergris accord), which has become an absolute favorite of mine. It's elegant, smooth, with clear, resounding floral notes (both lilac and a gorgeous magnolia) and a depth underneath from the ambergris and orris. Lilac is one of my favorite notes and this is one of my favorite bpals with it that I've tried. The Lilac Wood (ageless trees, everblooming flowers, brilliant grass, a flicker of fireflies, and soft shadows) is also beautiful - as the name suggests, it's a greener, woodier lilac note. And the duet Black Lilac & Black Tea is still up if you want a darker lilac! I don't wear a ton of violet, but my partner frequently wears Faustus (frankincense and cinnamon, darkened by violet), and it's gorgeous on him, a darkened, mysterious, spicy violet note.
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I love it! I definitely would agree with other reviewers that this is somewhat heavier on the carnation than the perfume oil version, but it's still recognizably Alice, with the other notes coming through clearly, playful and cheering and with a hint of a sharp wit. The throw and longevity are both strong. I was frimped a decant of this one, and went to buy a bottle very quickly as I knew I would quickly go through my tiny decant (and I like to save hair gloss decants to travel with) - it pairs well with so many of my perfumes, and its playfulness makes it a very appealing hair gloss choice for everyday wear. As a lover of florals and musks, my favorite hair glosses have ended up often being very elegant and sexy to me, which is a delight and I so much love having all of them, but it means that Alice really fills a gap for (I previously tried Razors in a Doll's House for this niche, but it ended up being rather too sweet for my taste). I am so happy to have a bottle of this now.
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Glittering, aldehydic, pale amber; I agree with previous reviewers that it has an enrapturing salty-sweet combination to it which is both pretty and slightly mysterious. I suspect this would go sharp on my skin, so it's lovely to have it in hair gloss form, where it can shine alongside my amber-centric perfumes, which all have more sweetness or floral to soften them. This doesn't have quite so much throw or longevity as my other bpal hair glosses; it's a little subtler, but quite lovely. I ordered a squirt of this from the lab with my last bottle order, and am very pleased I did, though I am going to need to wear it some more times to decide whether I will get a bottle of it. I go through hair gloss so much more quickly than I go through perfume and so the bar for buying a bottle is much lower on these for me; I can tell this one is going to pair well with many of my perfume collection, but I'm not quite sure it feels a niche I need.
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Black Butterfly Moon: Vanilla-Infused Frankincense and Raspberry
Assimbya replied to doomsday_disco's topic in Duets & Menage A Trois
There's something about this one which just isn't working with my skin chemistry, and I don't know why - the combination of notes comes off as peculiarly artificial in a way that I find pretty off-putting, partially like candy and partially, with the woody frankincense and sweet vanilla, like a commercial room spray. Probably it's my skin's dislike of BPAL's red fruit notes, except I didn't know whether raspberry would be counted among them. Alas! -
I really love this one; it's elegant and dark and gothy without being heavy, overpowering, or cloying. @VioletChaos's description of this as 'goth girl' feels right on target. I'm wearing it right now to rewatch some episodes of Penny Dreadful, and it feels like a perfect match, and not only because there's a pivotal scene involving orchids. 💜 I definitely agree with previous reviews that this one morphs quite a lot! Wet on me it's dark, juicy blackberry with just a hint of myrrh and floral, but as it dries the blackberry fades and the orchid note becomes central, with that dry, sophisticated edge that I find BPAL's orchid note always has; it mixes with a sharp, potent myrrh, thin enough to be slightly bitter as it grounds and blanches the florals. I can definitely track the tea rose (and I adore BPAL's tea rose note), and maybe a hint of tuberose if I look for it, but I would call the orchid the main floral note of this one. When I first wore this I thought I wasn't getting the vanilla at all, but now that it's rested for a while I think I can identify very dry, somewhat smoky, not at all sweet vanilla, which I imagine will get even better as this ages further. Black musk encircles all of it like a cloud, but isn't possibly to pick out quite individually. This feels in the same scent-family as some of the Carmillas from last year, but with a particular complexity all of its own; I'm glad that I blind bottled it, and will be delighted to continue wearing this one.
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Wet on my skin this is very sharp, paperwhite-like narcissus; as it dries, orange starts to come through; on me it feels bitter and like the fruit or rind, not the flower; the narcissus remains very much dominant. I get a very thin vanilla undercurrent, but definitely subtle by comparison with the narcissus and orange. It's interesting that the description for this one describes it as warm, sensual, and lustful - for me the sharpness and bitterness of the notes evokes the name in a different kind of way; a grasping, envious kind of hunger. This is vivid and fascinating, in an unsettling kind of way; I appreciate the intensity of it, but it nearly turns my stomach, and I don't find it very wearable. I'm going to keep my imp around for a little while in the hopes of making sense of the strangeness of my reaction to it, but I don't think it's one for any kind of regular wear on me.