leptonpyr
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Cosmic Criquet is an INTENSE floral on me, with some impressive projection. It smells like I am standing in a greenhouse, surrounded by humid air, giant tropical blooms, and rich black soil. I wish I could identify which florals I'm smelling, but alas, I am too unschooled in florals to be able to differentiate. I can probably safely assume there's some orchid, based on the scent notes and @patina's review. I cannot overemphasize what intense tropical-greenhouse smells I'm getting from this blend. I'm getting that almost uncomfortably musky intensity of hundreds of tropical flowers in full bloom soaking the air around me. It's so intense it's almost melon-like, bringing to mind juicy, sweet-but-musky overripe melons splitting on wet soil. It's honey-thick, almost syrupy. If it isn't clear, I am so into this. I feel like it would be an absolutely insane scent to wear on a hot summer day, and I kind of want to. It lasts a good 5-6 hours before it calms down a lot and recedes quite close to skin, but once it does it's still a really beautiful floral, just more like flower clippings sitting in a vase in your house than a whole dizzying greenhouse experience. I feel like I don't have enough experience with BPAL's moss note to know whether I'm getting the moss; it's hard to pick out from everything else going on in Cosmic Criquet. I definitely never got leather though.
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I tried about a zillion dead-leaves variations this past Halloween, and while I enjoyed them for what they were, none of them were truly redolent of that sweet, vegetal decay I associate with piles of actual autumn leaves, and is one of my favorite smells in nature. Fallendes Laub is the closest approximation to what I had been hoping for all autumn long; it really smells like taking a stroll through the woods on a late October afternoon, so much so that putting it on made me a little melancholy when I opened my curtains this morning and still saw snow. A little melancholy, but also joyful to get to experience a sweet rush of autumn in the dead of winter. The other dead-leaves blends I tried were a bit sharper than what I'd been hoping for, but Fallendes Laub is a wonderfully complex incarnation of autumn leaves. It actually has that quiet, soft spice-sweetness (I agree with @patina that there's almost a hint of anise) of an autumn wood. There's something almost nutty here, in a way I'm finding hard to describe. A few hours in, most of the wonderful leafy complexity fades and I'm left with a lovely soft, clean, "perfumey" musk, that very much smells like the Lab's dead leaves accord does as it fades. There's something just a touch powdery too, which is making me wonder if there's an amber in this? Or perhaps orris? Not sure where the powder is coming from (I feel like probably not orris), but I'm fascinated. Its last stages are not as beautiful as its opening, but if you enjoy the Lab's dead leaves accord, it's still quite lovely. I am delighted to have found that platonic ideal of autumn leaves I'd given up on finding from BPAL, even if it took me till February, and will 100% be snagging a bottle. The Lab absolutely nailed it with this one. Fallendes Laub the perfume oil smells *exactly* the way the painting looks! 🍂
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Going on, I'm getting quite a fruity amber--or possibly BPAL's fruity snow accord, or maybe both? It's also very much a sweet balsamic. I hesitate to compare another aspect of it (possibly the birch bark, or part of the snow accord, or both) to wintergreen because it doesn't quite smell minty, but I'm getting just a whisper of something mentholic, leaning a little towards pine, albeit the light, citrusy kind (is "terpenic" the right word here?). I'm not sure if I'm getting any beeswax, but apparently beeswax can sometimes be quite balsamic, so it could be contributing to that aspect. As it dries down about a half hour in, I start getting a distinct touch of warm resinous spice too, which might be the frankincense or more of the peru balsam. Snowy Landscape strikes me as oddly fresh for a wintry scent, there is something about this blend that is very fruity on me, with some pine-forest vibes in the background. There's also something about it that feels very very clean to me, almost soap-like, or some kind of masculine-leaning cologne I associate with clean freshness. It actually reminds me quite a bit of Thalassa, it has the same warm-balsamic-spice thing going on, but I'd have to do a side-by-side comparison to really test that. I don't think this is one I'll be reaching for all the time, but I'm very interested to see how it goes for me. (Normally I wait for my thoughts to cohere a little more solidly before reviewing, but I thought I'd get this up now since this blend will be coming down in a month. If something coheres a little more for me the next time I try this one, I'll update here!)
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Frankincense Smoke goes on strong, but no stronger than to be expected when experiencing it in its most highly concentrated form. It very quickly mellows out into something much gentler, an absolutely lovely, incensey scent, perfect for winter. It's mostly a soft incense, but it's warmed by a lovely fatty, sweetish beeswax. I can pick out the frankincense too, doing its beautiful, slightly citrusy thing. Overall it gives a very gentle, comforting impression; I was a little worried this scent would end up much too heavy based on the description, but I'm happy to report it isn't at all, it's just what I was hoping it would be, soft and incensey but not overpowering, and I can pick out all the individual notes. Later on in the day I started noticing it's a little woody too, so that might be the cedar peeking through. It is in fact so gentle that I put on A View from the Window just now, only to find that my perfume is totally overpowering my hair gloss! Oops. I'm brand-new to exploring hair glosses, and I don't have a good sense of what pairs well with what quite yet. I'm going to try pairing Frankincense Smoke with On Time next, which is very very light scent, and I think will make for a gorgeous combination.
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This is such a lovely, golden scent--I put it on and it felt like springtime! Super photorealistic clover honey, and definitely CLOVER honey, not orange blossom. I'm a little amazed at the specificity. I'm not sure how to articulate the difference between clover and orange blossom honey if you haven't tasted both, except that clover feels a little darker, more ambery and more nuanced. "Darker" might not quite be the right word here, because I wouldn't describe If Bears Were Bees as "dark" AT ALL. It is so deeply golden and very, very bright. I swear there's something lemony and marmalade-like that's also quite prominent in this, a jammy sort of lemon-rind. I can't remember the last time I smelled mead, quite frankly, so I suppose that could be the mead for all I know. The last BPAL mead note I've tried was quite fruity, so maybe it is that! I'm definitely not getting anything fizzy though. Not getting anything smoky, exactly, but there's this almost caramelized, burnt-sugar edge to the honey as well, so I'm wondering if that's what the woodsmoke is doing with the honey on my skin. Hard to describe what the pollen is doing--it's absolutely adding a soft lightness (not powdery at all though), and a very very faint flowery touch. The total effect is really just lovely! I just got in from digging out my car from the most snow my area has seen in 10+ years, and it feels wonderful to feel like I'm basking in my own personal little bubble of golden springtime everywhere I go as I'm cozying back up inside. There are SO many BPAL bottles I've been meaning to buy, so I'm not sure if I can quite justify buying a bottle of this one as well, but I am wishing I had a bit more than a half-decant! I suppose I'll see how I feel about this come spring, if I decide I really must have more. (I know reviews are not strictly the place for this, but if you're looking to destash a half-bottle or partial of If Bears Were Bees, do please feel free to DM!) Haven't tried it yet, but am very curious to layer this one with Lines Written by a Bear of Very Little Brain. Will report back here if I do!
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2025 version. Well, for someone who doesn't really like gourmands, I sure did order myself a pile of gourmand decants! In my defense, I wanted to try this one because every note *except* sufganiyot sounded wonderful to me, but you'll never guess which note was all I could smell. A sweet cakey sufyanigot, and something that went weirdly fruity-but-plasticky (?? I don't even know what this could be. Is this what the olive notes did on me? I will be very sad if that turns out to be true). Later on in the day I got the butterly BPAL baked-goods note that reminds me of popcorn, which I really don't care for, and maybe a bit of soft, slightly powdery beeswax, or maybe amber, I honestly couldn't quite tell. I never got anything that smelled like fig or pomegranate at all. I will let it rest for a month or so to see if the sufganiyot calms down and makes room for literally anything else, but if it doesn't, this one will not be a keeper for me.
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2025 version. Well, I'm pretty bummed to say I seem to be someone for whom Snow White goes "Play-Doh." It was *very* faint, hardly any throw at all, and mainly smelled weirdly plasticky, with a bit of sweet vanilla and the faintest suggestion of indoles. Sadly it never improved. Whatever indoles there were faded very quickly, and the vanilla eventually went powdery (not in a nice way, more scented baby powder). The plastic note got...slightly less offensive, but I still sort of smelled like a vanilla-scented plastic doll. I did see a review of an older version of this mention that allowing it to rest brought out something a bit greener and made it wearable for them, so I'll keep this around and retest it in a month or two. If it doesn't improve, I'll move it straight to the sales/swap pile, where hopefully it can find a more appreciative home.
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I was very pleased with this one as someone who isn't into gourmands but wanted to give a pure gourmand a chance. It mainly smelled of a very beautiful lavender, and a touch of almond that faded pretty quickly. The cream isn't super heavy or sweet, on me it really just added a really enjoyable slight vanillic touch. I don't think I ever got sweet buns, or curiously any cardamom, but I enjoyed this one a lot! A very yummy vanillic lavender. This is weird, but towards the very end of the day I could've sworn it almost smelled like cocoa (?!). It was really more the suggestion of cocoa than anything that truly smelled like chocolate, so I don't know, maybe that was the buns. Or maybe it's some combination of notes doing something odd, but it was really nice without being sweet or overly gourmand. Average throw, super short longevity on me, MAYBE 4hrs, if that.
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This goes on all rich, dark, velvety coffee beans, extremely photorealistic. It reminds me more of espresso, actually, because it is just *so* rich and velvety. Yum! I was worried the coffee smell would be too intense for me (do I really want to smell like an espresso?), but fortunately about the moment it touched my skin, a surprisingly bright, citric rose started to fold itself in. The combination is just gorgeous! Before too long (maybe half an hour), the rose starts to dominate on me, and the coffee beans start doing more work backing the rose, adding a really lovely layer of dark, rich warmth, rather than standing out on their own, which I was very happy about as a lover of rose and someone who isn't particularly interested in gourmands. As the hours went on, the coffee faded more and more, but never entirely, although by the end of the wear it was so subtle I wouldn't have been able to pick it out if I hadn't known it was there. The last stage of rose for me was this absolutely gorgeous lush-powdery note that had the same lush-powdery texture as orris butter! (Except of course it smells like rose instead of orris.) The rose never went soapy on me at all, much to my delight, so I suppose Bulgarian rose will be another note for me to look out for! I genuinely wasn't sure if this blend was going to be as pretty as I'd hoped it would be; I knew there was a chance I'd find the coffee overpowering or off-putting, but it truly surpassed my expectations. Not 100% sure whether I'll be reaching for this quite often enough to warrant a bottle, but I am a bit tempted. Luckily I have a few months to think it over! I predict this will see some serious wear in February, it feels absolutely perfect for Valentine's Day. Had some throw at first but receded much closer within the first hour or two, pretty short longevity before it mostly faded (4-5hrs, probably more like 4).
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The cardamom is beautiful going on, and very prominent! I'm getting BPAL's rice note quite prominently as well, which I find hard to describe other than...it smells like rice! Like steamed Basmati rice, which is a smell I've always loved. (I find BPAL's rice note to be extremely realistic.) The honey is there too, a little sweet but not too sweet. It really just smells wonderful, definitely gourmand-leaning but not a pure gourmand. It's oddly very nostalgic for me, although I couldn't tell you why. The amber is a very light amber, barely detectable if I didn't recognize it from other BPALs, but I think it's anchoring this scent and keeping it from crossing into pure gourmand territory. It's light and subtle under the cardamom and rice, and very pretty. It's verrrry lightly resinous in an almost-but-not-quite fruity way. It's a very delicate amber, feels almost...floaty? I am having a hard time describing things today! Around 2 hours in, Lines Written by a Bear of Very Little Brain gets a bit sweeter (still not too sweet for me!), the cardamom recedes a bit, and I get more of the milky musk, which is truly a milk-scented musk instead of pure milk, and it's very gentle. This blend felt very warm and cozy; there is something about it that feels very charming, like if it were a person, I would be delighted to be in their company. Average-to-short longevity for BPAL, the top notes were decidedly my favorite part but I enjoyed this very much the whole time. I don't think it's quite interesting enough to me to want a full bottle, but I'm really happy to have my decant, and it makes me excited to look for other cardamom-forward blends. Not sure if I ever got anything I could identify as "snowy slush", but I'm still not very familiar with BPAL's snow accord (yet!).
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2025 version. This review is basically redundant at this point, but I am so in love. When I opened my decant, I actually said out loud "oh my god, this literally just smells like a rose?" It does! And on my skin: the same! It doesn't smell like a rose perfume, it smells like a bouquet of real, freshly cut red roses, green stem and all. Really just absolutely stunning. I can identify notes *of* rose itself for the first time: it's a little citric, maybe a bit of apple, very fresh and a bit green. Just totally gorgeous, and keeps unfolding. All the more stunning for me: I'm someone who adores rose, but tragically most of my previous BPAL rose ventures have turned to soap on my skin. (If you have this problem too, in case it's useful to note: BPAL's "wild rose" note tends to work for me. But I only have that rose in other blends with other notes at the forefront; this is the first of any rose-dominant BPAL I've ever tried that works on me at all.) My only caveat is that, as if a commentary on the ephemeral nature of a rose, this perfume fades very fast. It gets really faint within the first few hours, then fades almost completely. Could barely detect a trace of it by the time I got home from work. I know florals are top notes, I know! If this is the price I must pay for the freshest, most perfect photorealistic rose perfume I could've hoped for, then I will take it!
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I... smell like a bowl of oatmeal? With honey and condensed milk. I'm not sure what I was expecting given the listed notes, but I think I was hoping the carrot leaf, vetiver, and lemon verbena would balance out the more straightforwardly gourmand notes to make something more on the side of woody and herbaceous. Sadly on my skin this was not to be. I remembered liking the milk note in Equivalent No. 314, so I had no misgivings about milk, but it didn't occur to me that that was kind of a weird milk note, whereas condensed milk was likely to be extremely sweet (and it was). I never got any tea either, which is quite sad, as tea is one of my favorite BPAL notes. I got a tiny amount of a lovely lemon while applying, but it evaporated pretty quickly, almost on drydown. The first thing I noticed was sweet toasted oats, and that is exactly what stuck around for the next ~4-6 hours until the fragrance faded. I imagine that if gourmands were my thing, I'd find One Has to Be Careful to be warm, cozy, and comforting. If I were to smell this fragrance in, say, a scented candle or from standing in the kitchen while someone was making sweetened oatmeal, I'd find it warm, cozy, and comforting. I, personally, have no desire to *be* a bowl of oatmeal. This was just never on my list of aspirations in life. I think I'll hang onto this one in hopes that allowing it to rest brings out some of the other notes I was hoping for; if not, into the sales/swap pile it goes.
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I was initially a little put off by how strong the leather note was on me when first applied, but this blend has really grown on me. There's a lot of leather at first, yes, but it settles down before too long into something really beautifully complex. The leather is the predominant note throughout, but underneath there's something like burnt caramel, something golden that's both honey- and hay-like. There's just a trace of something pine-like and resinous, and even more faintly there's something soft and a little powdery coming from the amber. I kept trying to pick out the myrrh but couldn't pinpoint it; there's too much going on in this blend that's smoky and dark. After a few hours of wear, it reminded me a bit of woodsmoke, but with a thrum of something more complex underneath, resins, just a touch of burnt sweetness that feels very surprising each time I notice it. If The Fall of Anarchy were a person, it would be someone who puts on a big show of bravado as a kind of smoke-and-mirrors act to distract from the depth of their inner life, who makes it easy to overlook their intricate complexities if you aren't paying close enough attention. I think this is due to come down this month, so I know I don't have a ton of time to decide, but I'm sort of tempted by a bottle: I would LOVE to see how this ages, something tells me it will only get more beautiful and its nuances more pronounced.
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I definitely get smooth, sweetish beeswax from this, but I also feel slightly insane because I SWEAR up and down I am also getting carnation! Like, a lot of carnation! It reminds me of Morocco. And none of the other reviews from what I can tell (granted I haven't looked exhaustively) seem to mention this carnation-bomb. It's definitely a waxy scented-candle version of the flower, not fresh or photo-realistic, but I would go so far as to describe this as primarily a powdery floral scent. It reminds me a bit of fancy soap, it smells powdery and clean. Not getting any trace of smoke at all. It certainly isn't bad, it's just not what I was expecting from "millions upon millions of candles illuminating the walls of Death’s shadowy cave: some tall, straight, and strong, blazing with the fire of life, others dim and guttering." Who knew Godfather Death was so enamored of carnations! I suppose they are a flower popular at funerals... (Seriously, if anyone can corroborate my carnation-dominant experience, please feel free to DM me, genuinely I'd love to know if anyone else has experienced this!)
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This is a GC that doesn't really need any more reviews, but I was wearing it today and I can't help but want to sing its praises! Katharina is stunning, how it's so simple yet so, so gorgeous. A very photorealistic orange blossom pairs beautifully with a very photorealistic apricot (I seriously feel like I'm putting my nose right up to the actual fruit), the slight sharpness and bitterness of each ingredient complements the other perfectly, and the apricot is almost juicy, but in a kind of dry way. Katharina is what it says in the tin, basically, but in the best possible way. It doesn't morph at all on me, and it wears pretty close to the skin. I have never noticed white musk in this; I really can't overemphasize how purely this smells of orange blossom & apricot to me, bright and clear, sharp but soft and lovely. It felt especially lovely to wear such a bright, clear scent in the middle of winter; it really buoyed me through the cold and the grey today.
