leptonpyr
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Everything posted by 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.
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I'm in agreement with @feyofthefellwood that this reminds me of a classic "feminine" perfume. It's a very soft, crumbly-powdery vanilla orris, and it's a sweet vanilla. I was surprised I never got lavender from this, or rose. Ambergris is very prominent on me when first applied but it recedes to the background after about the first hour. The Woman behind It reminds me a bit of Porcelain Bat, which is not surprising considering the number of notes the two blends have in common (orris, ambergris, vanilla, even the "plaster dust"), but I don't think it comes together quite as well on me. If The Woman had *any* sharpness (like, say, lavender...), or a bit of an edge of any kind, I think it would be beautiful on me, but unfortunately it's so entirely soft and sweet it feels kind of flat and one-note. It's possible that aging may bring out the individual notes a little more clearly, but for now I'm finding this blend a little too powder-room for me. That said, as an interpretation of some pieces of The Yellow Wallpaper, The Woman behind It is perfect. The too-soft-and-sweet, too-powdery, too traditionally feminine (for me anyway!) quality encapsulates the feel of a woman with postpartum depression trapped in a disused nursery, infantilized and dismissed by her husband, whose authority she lives under. It's brilliant as a work of art, if not a scent I think I actually want to wear.
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A warm, bright, buttery balsamic. Forgive the indulgence, but the best way I can think to describe this scent is: if this scent were a color, it would be the soft orange glow of cheerful windows seen from a distance at night, or of that particular warm orange glow of a specifically winter sunset. On Friendship is terpenic and resinous, with a round, sweet, almost waxy nuttiness and butter from the bread accord, and it's lightened by just the smallest breath of bergamot, barely detectable but adds a lovely, gentle citrus lift. It really does feel like a warm meal shared with friends! It's undeniably woody but smells more of smoked or roasted chestnut to me, slightly vanillic, than pure woodsmoke, which is really just lovely. I'm finding it another delightfully cozy scent to curl up in for colder weather.
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2025 version. This blend goes on with what I'm now familiar with as dead leaves' big flare-up / immediate die-down, then I get a whiff of warm, dry, smoky spice, which gives the impression of a burning pile of leaves. It's a sweet hay-like tobacco/smoke mingling with spice that reminds me very much of the spice accords in Circe Transforming and A Dance to the Music of Time. There's something in this, I think probably the amber, that's lending a sort of round smoothness to the blend, softening what might otherwise be sharp edges of spice, smoke, and dead leaves. Around two hours in, The Death of Autumn coheres into a pretty harmonious blend, where I have difficulty picking out individual notes, more like the experience @gentle-twig described. I wasn't able to detect any florals, but given how well-blended this one is, I wouldn't be surprised if they were in there adding some subtlety I can't name. About average throw and longevity, and nothing goes sharper on me towards the end of the day as is often the case with other blends. The Death of Autumn fades away quite gently, like the last plume of smoke from a friendly autumn campfire.
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This opens with the macadamia accord, enveloped in rich, roasty, woody fireside hearth-smoke. It actually reminded me quite a bit on On Friendship (which would make sense, as On Friendship lists chestnut in lieu of macadamia), only a sweeter, nuttier, fattier, vanillic version. Extremely cozy, VERY much get the impression of chestnuts roasting on an open fire. I think some of the fattiness is coming from the beeswax. The leather does not stand out as a note in its own right, it's more that Dark Macademia is leathery in that kind of smoky way, lending an additional undercurrent to the atmosphere. It's very much just the hint of faded, older leather you might get from walking past a shelf of "time-worn tomes", not the total saturation of freshly tanned leather. About 4 hours in, much of the sweetness fades away and it becomes more prominently roasty and smoky. I know this is a Halloween release, but I was actually quite glad I didn't get to try it until December; it feels absolutely perfect for winter, really cozy and warm in a dark, rich way. It's definitely a gourmand, but it's not *overly* gourmand; the smoke and wood balance out the sweeter notes to keep it in more of a savory territory. I don't know if it's quite special enough for me to buy a whole bottle, but I'm happy to have this decant to get me through this winter.
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2025 version This went on SO heady it was totally overwhelming, almost nauseating. I believe the first thought I jotted down in my personal spreadsheet of perfume notes was "oh my god what the fuck." It definitely smells like a thick, syrupy-sweet tropical kind of dessert, largely banana. Not raw banana, definitely the dessert, cooked banana of turon. Maybe a touch of yam, too, although I had a difficult time picking out individual notes in this one; there is just so much going on I felt like I was swimming in it! I noticed the gourmand notes first, but it wasn't long before an extravagant efflorescence started to bloom. I definitely got jasmine and silky, tropical, fatty ylang ylang. Santan I'm not familiar with, but the descriptions I found online (supposedly santan flowers have some kind of tropical fragrance, close to gardenia, probably indolic, with a hint of citrus blossoms) seem to check out. I'm not 100% sure "everlasting flower" is the same as immortelle, but I kind of assume so, and I wonder if it's partially responsible for the honeyed, syrupy, dried-fruit quality of this blend. There's definitely a rice note in here somewhere, although it's hard to pick out with everything else that's going on, and I'm not sure I would've been able to recognize it if I hadn't happened to smell literal rice cooking in my kitchen. Araw Ng Mga Patay got much prettier as the day went on, and actually wound up reminding me a little of Interminable Grotesques without the almond. It definitely shares the big bouquet of strong, distinct florals and the honey, but Araw Ng Mga Patay is (obviously) much more prominently gourmand and tropical. I had a lot of fun with this one and will definitely wear it again, but/and if you saw all those notes and went "wow, that's a LOT", you are absolutely right; this one is A LOT! "A cheerful, raucous celebration of life and death" is a wonderfully apt description.
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Dead Leaves, Green Tea, and Tahitian Ginger
leptonpyr replied to doomsday_disco's topic in Halloweenie
Like others have already noted, this is mainly about the green tea on me. As I'm finding is usually the case with most dead leaves blends I've tried, this one goes on EXTREMELY green, big flare-up and subsequent die-down of dead leaves, and then the tea scent blooms and really takes center stage. I think BPAL's green tea note is softer than their black or white tea. I was looking *hard* for ginger, for spice or something citric, I *may* have picked up on something a little citric, but that also may have just been the tea. I'm really not sure I ever got ginger. This wears very close to the skin and has pretty short longevity, it was mostly gone after about 4-5hrs in. If I pressed my nose right up against my skin, I swear what's left of the scent is an unlisted white musk note. This is a light, pretty, calming blend, but ultimately I'm not sure if I need a slightly greener version of Embalming Fluid. I like green scents and I like Embalming Fluid, but I can't see myself reaching for this one when I have so many much more interesting blends to wear. -
2025 version I had to go for this one, being both a huge Dickinson fan and a dedicated fall girlie, but I found it a little disappointingly indistinct. Going on, I got the dead leaves and something that reminded me a bit of neroli, a little sharp/spice, a little fruity. I think the wool might be a slightly earthy spice, because I recognize it from Old Woman with Cat, and I believe the lace is a soft, powdery vanilla. It was almost more of a gourmand vanilla than I'd anticipated, very sweet-leaning, almost marshmallow. It really did feel like being enveloped in a soft, cozy sweater! (I'm also not the most familiar with BPAL's fabric accords, so, you know, naturally I decided to go for the one with three different fabric accords listed.) I can't be sure, but I think there might be a bit of amber in here too, just a light one. Warm, slightly fruity, a touch powdery. I was never able to pick out the red currant (although I'm sure it's contributing to the fruitiness and sweetness), which I was hoping would add a bit of tart bite, or the ambergris, at all. Although seeing @LavenderCoffee's review now, I am wondering if perhaps the ambergris was blending with the other notes in a way that was doing something I couldn't recognize. I'll have to give this one another try at some point and see what I can pick up on. (I also feel like this one is extremely similar to October 32nd, it had the same dead-leaves opening, followed by a touch of amber and some powdery vanilla, but I'd have to test that one again to be sure.) eta: I'm almost hesitant to mention this, because I don't know that I've ever knowingly encountered this note on its own, but I'm wondering if the neroli-like thing that's going on with the dead leaves is petitgrain? Apparently petitgrain is extracted from the leaves and green twigs of the bitter orange tree, rather than the flowers, and it's described as having a "greenish woody orange smell", which feels dead-on (excuse the pun) for dead leaves.
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I'm pretty sure the musk in this is ambergris, which caught me off-guard as it briefly flared as a top note for me, because I hadn't been expecting an aquatic touch in a blend inspired by a bat. It caught me off-guard, but it was not unwelcome! It's doing something really wonderful with the leather and the vanilla so that this actually smells *fuzzy*, it's somehow very softly and pleasantly animalic (I'm guessing that's the ambergris + leather, and I want to stress that this is like the softest possible touch of leather, like I didn't even know leather could go this soft...shall we say it's more like a brief flutter of leathery wings?) and feels, well, cuddly, with just a touch of sweetness from the vanilla. I don't know what bat fur feels like, but it very much gives me the feeling of nuzzling into soft, warm, dry fur, in a delightfully cozy way. Every time I try to pick out the orris on its own it eludes me, but I'm certain it's here, providing a powdery-lush backing that ties the whole blend together. I can see why @Mountaingrrl00 was reminded of something from their grandmother's generation; I wouldn't call it old-fashioned, but it's very orris-heavy in a way that was much more common in older generations of perfume. I know this was a Halloween, but I'm finding it a really lovely, cozy scent for winter too, and feel that I might even be appreciating it more now in cold weather than I did when I tried in the fall. If you've always wanted to pet a cute little bat and you'd like to experience that sensation in perfume form, this is the one for you.
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Realized I never got around to leaving a review for this gorgeous scent, and it's due to come down some time this month! I was surprised that it was described with only "the faintest touch of crushed blackberry skin", as it's primarily a gorgeous blackberry scent on me, just the right balance between dark fruit/berries and floral, backed by myrrh. Myrrh sometimes goes a bit too sharp on me, but here the "dusty" myrrh just gives this lovely softened undercurrent. Strangely it seems to *not* morph on me very much, it pretty much stays constant throughout the day as it gets slowly fainter, and I do get some impressive longevity from this one. This is my first experience with both tuberose and orchid, so I don't think I am quite able to pick out and describe those notes, but I've seen both florals described as sometimes vanillic or a bit lactonic, and I am absolutely getting those aspects from this blend. I've also seen tuberose described as sometimes a bit tropical, which makes me wonder if it's adding some lushness to the fruitiness from the blackberry. As usual, anything with "scorched" or "smoky" in the description never shows up as smoky on me. I have no explanation for this, but this blend is no exception. It gets a little less creamy as the day goes on, more focused on juicy, tangy blackberry and myrrh. I will for sure be buying a bottle before this Lunacy comes down, and if you're a fan of blackberry I highly recommend you grab one too if you can! If it's useful data for anyone, I'd also like to note for the record that a friend of mine who has never tried BPAL sniffed this one, and her eyes went a little wide and she said "...oh my GOD that is SUCH a good blackberry!"
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INTENSELY fruity going on, and aldehydic, like a shot of sweet champagne. Then the juiciest strawberry, guava, and sugared grapefruit. The strawberry-champagne combo reminds me a little of Bon Vivant, but Bon Vivant has always smelled more like soda than champagne or strawberries to me, whereas Hot Pink Hearse is Very Berry and definitively champagne. Not sure if I ever picked out the bergamot, but I think there's a jammy blackberry in this too. The berry/champagne combo actually reminds me of the berries and wine in Lady Macbeth, but this is a lighter, bouncier version, the hot pink to her blood red. Hot Pink Hearse: a lighter, bouncier version of Lady Macbeth...what a sentence. Overall a super fun, fruity scent that I predict I'll be reaching for more in the summer than in the winter. It had a fairly strong throw at first (my partner noted that the apartment smelled of Hot Pink Hearse right after I applied), but receded closer to the skin within the first hour or so. About average throw and longevity after that, which for me is like 4-6 hours. Stayed very faintly detectable for maybe 8-10 hours, but was pretty much completely gone without a trace after that. If you're looking for a happy scent to add to your collection, Hot Pink Hearse gets my recommendation!