tinyvulture

First sniff - red wine and cocoa powder! And spiced coffee, like in Cafe Mille et une Nuits. It's pretty, just not love at first sight, er, sniff.

I get sharp, ripe apples, perhaps getting sliced and diced to be baked into cookies, but not yet baked. The ingredients are assembled - butter, brown sugar, oats. For bakers, this is the love of baking...the process, the time spent in a cozy kitchen, as pleasurable as the end result.

Indeed like a September night -- still warm, but with a dark, resinous raspiness that warns of chilly days to come. The pomegranate is gentle, carried on the night breeze. I didn't think I cared for pomegranate, but it's just right here. Like evenings walking home from the bar in youthful carefree days.

Austere, dry soapy floral. Iris and I'm not sure what else. It's not a strong scent. Hauty and detached, not a warm vibe. I'm not getting any leather or bergamot. Too soapy for me, off to swaps.

Was curious about the smoked lavender! I'm getting red musk, no surprise there since it always dominates on my skin. I also pick up leather and lavender in equal amounts. No plum for me. It is a smoky scent. It reminds me of Gaueko, it's got that same lavender + smokiness going on.

So I was hoping for more of a creamy grain blend like Risalamande. Here I'm getting a more generic "foodie" scent, like Eat Me. I know Eat Me is beloved, but it doesn't work on me because the different notes jumble together and it's just "baked goods" with no discernable specificity. Same here. The ginger is probably the easiest note to pick out, but this doesn't quite smell like gingerbread. Off to swaps.

Understated, close to the skin, cozy. The very softest sandalwood, like sandalwood incense. (Sometimes sandalwood gets more like cedar on me, very strong like walking in to Home Depot and smelling the wood shavings -- this isn't that!) Just a little spice from the black pepper. Again, very soft. Not going to make you sneeze. This is one of the nicest sandalwood blends I've had the pleasure to try, it's really agreeing with me.

OMG this is heaven. Might go in my Top 10. Basmati rice...dead on. It's rice, but it's also got its own floral, milky, powdery thing going on when you cook it, and that's all here. And then the honeyed champaca...I adore all honeyed florals the lab creates...and I'm saying,this is the best of all of them because champaca is so gorgeous. I just have no more words for this combination. Top 10 ever, yes.

Snowblind meets dank hippie patchouli! 😍 Sweet, cooling vanilla mint makes an intriguing combination with earthy, heart of the forest patch and cedar. I almost feel like there's vetiver, the patch/cedar are that dark and earthy. It's really a nice blend! A cooling patchouli scent is not something I already own and there's something comforting and cozy about it, like I'd wear it when I have a cold.

Alll leather! I don't own leatherbound books, so this doesn't have a bookish association for me. Just straight up leather, with a sweet astringent note like, well, remember ditto machines and you would sniff the fresh ink on the page when teacher passed them out? Showing my age? Ha. That's what I'm getting here, not old parchment but paper with fresh ink. That undertone. I might not wear this, but my husband might.

COMPARISON OF CELEBRATED BEAUTIES Vanilla cream, mimosa, and almond blossom. Vanilla cream, reminding me of Love's Philosophy, blended with almond. Sooo gorgeous, feminine, sweet. Will the mimosa appear? No. This doesn't have as much throw as my beloved Love's Philosophy though, it's quickly becoming faint.

So almond blossom is like a floral almond? I'd be interested in an almond blossom SN to see what I'm working with here. Because there is almond, but it's creamy and delicate, not cherry or boozy like the lab's almond note. More like the almond milk note in Organ Grinder. So here we have almond milk plus the sweet-slushy-snow-floral mix from Snow White. A pretty, creamy floral. The almond blossom is really so delicate it's pretty much faded and I'm left with straight up Snow White after a couple minutes.

I love BPAL's gingerbread. It's complex...notes of ginger, cinnamon, molasses, and a little orange zest maybe? So we have that here, dominating the coffee and vanilla which are having a little trouble standing up to that dank gingerbread. Reminds me of Shub-Niggurath, Gingerbread Poppet, Dia de los Reyes...so spicy and warming!

A wistful blend of rose petals with taffeta and silk. Soft and ethereal like the Lace blends. Not picking up the opoponax or frankincense, just soft funereal roses and the feeling of the fabrics which Beth somehow gets across in perfume form, not even sure how that works! This scent is VERY soft and close to the skin!

Gorgeous foody blend. Notes of golden toffee and butterscotch. The clove is not really noticeable but I get hints of it in the background. I'm not picking up coffee, nor cardboard as some have mentioned. I don't really get patchouli either -- it seems purely foody on me. And when it's this sweet and warm, that's fine! I wouldn't wear this in summer, it's a wintry, holiday, cozied-up-by-the-fireplace scent.

I had a stressful day yesterday and then this arrived in the mail, perfect timing! I was practically huffing this stuff! I love palo santo's dry licoricey sweetness, and I'm happy to have a BPAL scent that features it so prominently. It's perfectly balanced here with the church incensey frankincense. They both shine.

I love candied/vanilla florals. Candied rose...is this similar to Hope? I can't recall, I haven't sniffed that one in awhile. It's not screaming "cotton candy" in particular but there's definitely a sugary sweetness. This is a good one.

Oooh nice! Creamy orris butter, vanilla, warm amber, and a light citrus vibe from the bergamot. I would love this as a lotion. It's thick, heady, sexy, I love it! Kind of reminds me of Lyonesse.

Black oudh is fantastic. I'm just not picking up any carnation! I agree with other reviewers that it's similar to Streets of Detroit. Thick, viscous oudh. It's very cool and don't-fuck-with-me.

I'm not familiar with kadu leaf, but this is a clean, crisp, green perfume, softened by the ume blosson floral note. I'm not picking up any lavender, plum or cedar. Overall a green, exotic floral. Not my usual pick, but nice!

Unique and lovely! Rosewood is the dominant note, sweetened and warmed by amber and vanilla. I'm not picking up a lot of woodsiness from the oak or hinoki wood, but it's there. Very pretty.

A dry, masculine scent with strong notes of patchouli, raspy hiba wood, and bitter black tea. A cologne for a refined, sophisticated man. The tea note mellows with time and it's quite lovely!

A smoky, musky coconut blend. There's a sourness to it like sour milk, hopefully that fades. LATER: It didn't. Other reviewers also note the funky odor, so I guess it's not just me having a bad reaction to this one.

SUPER JASMINE! This floral is not for the faint of heart. Along wih the jasmine, I notice another floral...perhaps tuberose. I don't get any oakmoss. Just solid, strong florals. It's pretty nice, but I have other jasmine blends I prefer.

Even softer than Neuf...ghostly whispers of rose petals, with hints of vanilla and saffron. I'm not sure what the "ancient spices" are otherwise. It's a little too faint and delicate for me.