blu°

Wow, I really love this one. I had tested it before, years ago, when I was still smoking cigarettes and I did not like it. At all. But it's beautiful. The violet makes it powdery but not too dense or scratchy. More like a silky minky light blanket. The teeniest minty undercurrent in there. The lilac gives it a honeyed marzipan feel, a hint of waxiness. I cannot discern the tuberose but I guess it adds sweetness and body/weight to the blend. I can't believe how well it is playing with my skin. There's no sharpness or soapiness. It's softly sweet and warm and very spring-like. I'm not a dainty feminine person at all, but this definitely makes me feel like one. One thing, though: I have only applied the tiniest drop and it is getting quite loud. Tiny drop is definitely the way to go with this one. I've become so sensitive to fragrance that I end up washing off most blends I try these days. I'm glad to find that there are fragrances that I can appreciate better now than before. I'll be checking out more violet blends. Next day: Ok, I have to rate it down a little. The remains of Nocturne on my sweater sleeve got on my nerves a lot later. They had nothing of the warm honeyed fresh blossom scent to them but were screechy scratchy floral perfume only. It kind of put me off the blend. It might be wearable as a tiny drop on my ankle in summer maybe. But just from remembering the scent on my sweater sleeve, I will probably not reach for it anytime soon. Sad since it started out so nicely.

This is quite lovely. I have to be careful around vanillic cotton-y blends, but if I apply sparingly, I can enjoy them. Champagne Lace goes on a subtle cotton-y cloud, with only a little tangy sparkle. The tanginess grows on dry-down, but stays close to the skin. I think it is pretty, not like sour grapes, but crystalline and sparkly. The throw is mostly vanillic cotton with an edge from the cognac/champagne, but the tanginess doesn't fully reach there. If I don't stick my nose to my wrist, this is mostly soft vanilla cotton with lots of depth (hi there opium) and a little sparkle on top. Very lovely. I will keep the decant for festive occasions.

Subtle Snake Oil and a dry, sophisticated leather. Since there are comparisons to Western Diamondback, I find this to be more reddish-black where Western D has a golden-brown touch. It is less rounded and even less sweet, more airy and a bit hollow as leather scents can be. I think the leather must be black or red. It really tempers down the SO sweetness and I think it smells a little like the leather in Krampus. A worn and wheathered black-red leather that had snake oil worked into it in its years of wear. It is very nice and wearable, more wearable than Snake Oil itself, I think. More subtle. I like this quite a lot. Will have to wear it a couple of times before my final verdict, but I think I'd like to own a bottle or two.

This is WAY more perfumey than I had thought it would be. Yes, the mosses are kind of aquatic. I don't get that from oakmoss, which to me is more of a brownish dark green than these sharper notes in here. Something in here reminds me of Falling Leaf Moon. A component of the leaf note + something aquatic? I can't do the leaves note, it smells like my grand uncle and auntie's bathroom to me. When I wore this the other day, I had to wash it off. Trying again today. Right after application, it is AQUATIC, rain and green. A bit later, it is not as bad as last time, I think. Close to the skin I can smell the warmer oakmoss, which I love. Farther away, I get aquatic + oak, and it is not something that feels right on me, really reminds me of Falling Leaf Moon. The amber is hiding underneath for now. I am really disappointed by how perfumey this is. I had hoped for a more earthy, forest floor scent. Maybe it'll get closer to that with aging. I'll update after doing grocery shopping. ETA: Re-reading the other reviews, especially the early ones, I wonder if this is a batch variation. It might just be me amping green notes (I generally don't wear those well.), but it seems strange that this blend is sharp/green/aquatic for later reviewers and warm/golden/sweet for those who tested it early after the update. ETA2: I did not wear it to grocery shopping, but washed it off with oil and rubber alcohol beforehand. It made me feel too uncomfortable. Greens. I can wear oakmoss, pine, and a few others green notes, and I thought I would have been safe with the mosses in "The Forest in Winter at Sunset" as I love Zombi and Thanatos, which have moss. The greens in Antony are also fine. But The Forest in Winter goes wrong like ivy and tea go wrong on my skin. Sharp, almost chemical, very perfumey and unnatural. I am happy for everyone that gets warm golden forest from this blend, but sadly that is not the case for me.

This was the one anniversary blend I was immediately drawn to, but I almost did not order it, thinking I might have been mistaken for some reason. I wasn't. Poetry is soft and sweet, very well blended, no one note that overpowers all the others. The jasmine is noticeable, but so is the orange flower. They are both softened, nestled into a fluffy incensey bed of saffron and frankincense. I don't really smell the benzoin, balsam and vetiver, because I've just had a cold and my nose is still a little stuffed. I guess those latter notes are there, balancing out the composition. Poetry is a high-end quality floral incense. Sweet and intriguing top notes and a deep, mysterious base that will only grow deeper and richer with age. I really like this and am glad I decided to buy that bottle. Kinda wished I had bought two or three. ETA: I am enjoying this blend a lot. It reminds me of something, some time when I must've worn jasmine. Nothing specific, but it makes me happy together with the first very subtle hints at winter being almost over in the air outside. Seriously, this blend is mysterious and deep yet soft and fluffy. No sharp edges, nothing that hurts my respiratory system (I'm very sensitive to fragrance and lots of cosmetic smells make me sick), just softly sexy incensey flowers. It is a bit light. With most BPAL I only apply from the rim or the cap, but that didn't last long with Poetry, so I applied a bit more generously later in the day. It really makes me happy like smelling the first blossoming buds in spring.

I've loved this oil ever since it came out, but never had more than a decant until now. I also didn't feel like wearing it all the time, since it IS quite masculine and I'm not always in the mood for that, but when I wear it, I really, really love it. Enyalios is warm and cozy and basically, an anti-perfume. It smells so natural, and it has none of the things I hate about men's perfumes (ozone mostly). It's all forest floor in the sunshine. I think I might amp oakmoss. I love oakmoss, but the right dosage/percentage of it in a blend is essential. I always feel it gives that hint of dry earth and woods having baked in the mediterranean sun. Warm, spicy, outdoorsy. Enyalios has just the right amount of oakmoss for me and it is framed by the perfect companion notes, too. I might not want to wear it to the office, especially since it is a bit strong and I have let my colleagues know that their perfumes and deodorants trigger my scent allergies (they do, not shitting anyone.), but also because it is more of a favourite blanket type of scent. I wanted to say it is also a blend for going into nature, but really, I have found that the best thing to wear into nature is no perfume at all, so you can better smell the trees and flowers and such. Anyway, Enyalios is perfect. I'd love it on a man just the same. Such a beautiful, natural and wild yet warm and cozy blend.

Recently, I ordered from the Lab and from TAL, they were so kind as to combine the order. Same as my last package, which was a combined order from the Lab's Etsy site, the TP Etsy site and the Lab itself. BPAL customer service really is incredible, and it never hurts to e-mail and ask, or put a request into the Paypal notes to the seller. I did pay shipping on each of the five orders, but I was refunded promptly since the orders were combined. I sympathize, I'm international too and often missed out because of the shipping costs. Ok! Thanks. I never, ever would have asked, just took it as a rule that it wasn't possible. I don't think I'm all that comfortable with asking. Not saying that the lab staff isn't super-nice, just that I don't like to ask for exceptions from a rule and depend on favours. Maybe if I actually could afford to place several orders including shipping, from that position, it would be easier/less awkward to ask for the favour of combining, since, if it was declined, it wouldn't be so bad. I guess I don't want to be in the situation where the favour is declined and I take it personally and am forever cross with BPAL.

I would like to know about the combinability of orders, too. A member in my group order came up with the question, and I thought it wasn't possible (BPAL & TAL in this instance), but I saw some people report that they could combine their orders in the past. It would be awesome, if that was indeed possible. I cannot count the times that I did not get a TP or TAL item because I just couldn't afford the extra international shipping. And then there's ebay and Etsy, too. And different Etsy pages on top of it all. It's a little complicated.

My first thought when sniffing the decant was: White Light light. Caelestis is less stable and dense, leaving more room for morphing and in between its aquatic top note and the warmer resin base, but she must share some notes with WL. I'm guessing, blue lotus and franincense for sure, maybe more. The second thing Caelestis makes me think of is some old-fashioned kind of fabric softener or something. I'm sure I know or knew people whose washing smelled like this, or maybe even my mom used something like this. It's that kind of fluffy-clean scent that seems just made for sheets, that makes you think your sheets have been air-drying on a string on a meadow with the fresh air breezing through them and a day's sunshine getting soaked into the fabric. I totally agree on the color association of blue-grey turning into more of a steel grey as the blend dries down. The longer the oil is on my skin, the more the lotus seems to melt into the warmer resin base, and in the end the cool colours have almost faded. A hint of freshness, of that 'clean' scent, remains, but it is very fluffy and natural-smelling for an aquatic. Soft, warm, even a bit sweet. My skin turns many things sweet, though, so that might just be me. I find this blend really intriguing/interesting and am having a bit of a hard time making up my mind if I need more of it, me not being an aquatic person at all, and all that. I'll have to test-wear this to work to see if I feel comfortable with it when out of the house. But I do like it. I really think, it is quite beautiful. <3

All of this. All. Super-juicy and deliciously sweet. Dewy fresh but with a few almost indolic depths and lots of sun/warmth. This is a very happy yet relaxed and comforting scent. Crying wallet and all.

Oh, this is lovely. It starts out all boozy honey and woods. I thought I smelled pipe tobacco, too, but must be the booze and woods. The first impression was of a warm, boozy, snuggly-manly blend, but then a pastel-pink candyish fizzy note emerged, that smelled really lovely, too, and now my nose is hooked to my wrist and I'm trying to make sense of it. The fizzy note turned out to be the bay from the bay rum, I think. It became stronger and more recognizably spice. At first I thought it was cinnamon, but then I realized it was the bay. I've only had it on for 10 minutes or so, so not sure where it'll take me, but right now I am enjoying it a lot. And I usually shy away from foody blends. I think I get along with Bard because there is not cream or butter or anything terrible like it in here. Just spicy booze and honey balanced by the woods and metal notes and musk. ETA: Later on, the bay really dominated the blend, and it was all a bit much with the manly spiciness. It was pleasant to smell but is not a perfume I'd feel comfortable with on me on most days.

After finding this way too sweet and foody in the decant, it took me a couple of days until I finally tested this. Since then it won me over, and now I have two bottles coming my way, haha. The point is, it seems to be foody, but then it isn't. I am a little afraid, that if the sweet parts go even sweeter with age, it might end up something like Symmakhia which I liked at first, but which ended up being unwearably sweet for me, but somehow I think it will rather grow more incensey and resinous with age. Which is why I bought two bottles instead of one. I see great potential here. Anyway, it is a bit similar to Symmakhia at the moment. Somehow there is a red fruitiness, probably an illusion by way of the red benzoin, the honey-type florals and the coconut together. I also get a bit of a plasticky Wunderbaum type of coconut, but it goes away during dry-down and I'm hopeful for the blend once it has aged a bit. So, that's how it opens, almost foody, creamy-sweet with fruity red notes. In the course of dry-down, however, I start to get the loveliest whiffs of benzoe-vanillic/amber-y incense. The resinous aspect remains in the forefront during much of the wearlength and lingers on the skin a long time after application and long after the initial sweetness has subsided. I am still not quite sure what to make of this, and hope that it will age to less sweet, more resinous. Really glad I ordered a bottle. I was so intrigued by the name, too.

This is a really lovely herbal incense blend with a higher pitch. It feels like air and wood, dry grasses and herbs, natural potions and ritualistic incense. From the start I thought the blend reminded me of another, but couldn't figure it out. Then it occured to me that it smelled very similar to Gaueko. Again later, I realized that the note I recognized is nicotiana. I don't know if the notes listed simply combine to something that is similar to nicotiana/tobacco flower, or if it is a hidden note, but it's the main player for me. The frankincense is comparatively silent, and I can't make out any of the other listed notes, neither. This is a soft, incensey-herbal base with a nicotiana heart on my skin. I'm contemplating a bottle purchase, because I love how magical and forest-y it smells.

This is so much more aquatic than I would've expected. I'm not sure what makes this smell so juicy-fresh, similar to the way aloe feels on skin, but that's what I get. A fresh blueish green, not so much sweet but juicy aquatic.

I received a bunch of Anniversary decants yesterday and after a quick sniff test on New Year's Eve without notes at hand, this - unexpectedly - was the one that most piqued my interest. I got a high-pitched resins-woodsy-workshop vibe from it. I never knew myrrh was the main reason for the workshop vibe, but apparently it is, because this really is very heavy on the myrrh. If you tend to find myrrh too oily and gritty, don't let its mention scare you away, because in this blend it is surprisingly smooth and woodsy. Right after the myrrh is the rose. It is stately and elegant, and has a menthol-like character while retaining its depth. It is very beautiful, grown up and elegant. Maybe the cypress gives that menthol-like depth. It's not menthol-heavy as geranium, don't worry, just a light touch in that direction. Because of seeing the notes list I can sense traces of clove weaving the rose and resin together, and after a while I realize that the sweetness of jasmine is also present and playing its part. The whole scent reminds me heavily of something else, and I'm wondering if it's an old rose-resin BPAL love or maybe even something from Lush from back in the day when I still shopped there. I really like this blend on me, but am a bit hesitant because I had seem to have fallen out of love with so many former rose-resin favourites. Maybe I have just grown out of a certain type of them, and this might fill the vacuum Gothic Horror and Lucy, Kissed have left when they stopped working on my skin. After a while the clove gets stronger as does the jasmine. I wouldn't have recognized patchouli at all. ETA: After a couple of hours this has dried down to a really lovely, snuggly warm scent. Almost like some type of really elegant pipe tobacco, except none of the tobacco, no chewiness, just snuggly warmth, and still elegant and refined with a delicious rose-jasmine sweetness. I really, really like this phase.