splendidissima

2020 Winter version! I almost didn't get this, because I wasn't sure about the beer or the lavender - I don't do florals much! But my academic fields are medievalism and folklore, and I do like sweet and foodie scents, so I finally had to! Everything seems so well blended: it's a sweet, rich, hearty cake, with hints of nuts and grains - baked grains, or oatmeal, like an oatmeal cake-style cookie. The lavender's sweet and fruity here, a sort of purple berry scent. It's a delicious cozy scent, and I think I'm starting to be won over to lavender!

It's definitely sweeter than With Consent - more sugar in the sugar/peppermint/vanilla combo! It's exactly what it says it is, and it's lovely. This version seems to stay very skin-close on me - I think some previous years have had bigger throw - but it's delicious.

I love pumpkin and I like a good cocktail, so I definitely wanted to try this! It goes on very boozey and bourbony, with cinnamon the next strongest, and then some glowing pumpkin with hints of orange. It's almost too much booze - I'd love to drink it, not sure I want it on my skin! But after a few minutes it settles down and becomes more blended. It's not as sweet as I was expecting - there's some sugar, like a brush at the rim of a glass, but the booze/cinnamon spice is louder. I like it, but I don't know if it'll be in heavy rotation - for one thing, I'm pretty sure I shouldn't wear it to teach! ?

Sweet and light, sugary and fruity! I feel like this will be a good spring/summer scent - like I could sip a cocktail of this while sitting in the sunshine somewhere. After a while it gets a little bit of a powdery note, not in a bad way - like the crushed edges of Sweet-Tarts or something. It's very light on me, but very pretty, so I'm glad I got to try it!

A brand new 2021 imp! I had an older one, from years ago, which I liked but didn't love, I think? I love berry scents, but musk can be tricky. On wet: ooh, I like this! Berries, plus something dark green and sort of wild - it's not a tame forest. I like sage - my high school scent was BBW's lemongrass sage, in fact! - and I'm liking it here too. After a couple of minutes: less berry-sweet (still present, but less strong!) and more....balanced between all the notes? Juicy blackberries and dark green leaves and sage, the herbal hint of dryness cutting the sweet. Awesome Husband, being asked to sniff my wrist: "I can't smell anything. Oh, wait...like...soap? Nice soap? Fancy soap?" ...drat, now I can't shake the association! Argh.

Oh, this is so interesting! I kept going back and forth about getting it, but I thought I might regret it if I didn't, so... It's very much like Loaf from the Liliths, but I think I like Unsubtle Euphemism better! It's the same savory toasty bread note, but sweeter and with a milky creamy layer. I don't really get spices, unless it's a bready sort of spice, like a rye or caraway. It's still very savory - but I think if I'd bought this first, I wouldn't've bought Loaf. I do absolutely want to eat my arm; it's savory-foodie, like I've been baking all day!

I'd never bought anything with lotus or lotus root before, but I like mallow and vanilla cream - jasmine doesn't work well on me, so I can't do Poinsettia Gown, so I was curious about this! In the bottle and wet: creamy sweet flower petals? Not FLORAL-floral, but like...the scent of petals on the wind, by a sugary lake, or something like that. After about twenty minutes: oh, that's pretty! sweet vanilla cream with floral confectionery fluff - like some sort of sugared or candied petals atop the cream. The petals do read as 'blue or green' to my nose - that is, it's not a pink or red or warm hue at all. I like it, though I'm not *in love* with it, but it's a delicate creamy-floral-sweet spring/summer scent, I think. Low throw, but so far it's lasted several hours! Awesome Husband: "it's very...clean?" He has no idea of the artwork... ?

This was also surprisingly harsh on me! I'd blind bottled it thinking I'd love it - I like honey and orange, and I like the scent of orange blossoms in the grove near where I teach. It was pretty but not as sweet as I expected in the bottle. But then....something just went...weirdly wrong on my skin. Something bitter, astringent, and...almost...cleaning product? I tested it three different times, hoping it'd get better, and I kept thinking, "almost...maybe...maybe THIS time..." But I just couldn't convince myself to like it. Ironically, I ended up liking the Honey & Bordeaux - which I'd thought I might give to my mom! - way better! So I actually kept that one and let her try on this one, and on her it was a light orange-y honey, soft but pretty. So I gave her this bottle instead!

A new frimp from the lab! Oh, this is interesting - I don't usually gravitate toward aquatics, but I love the ocean, so let's try! It's a light, bright, sea-salt...citrus? I don't really get florals, but then again I don't tend to do florals much, so maybe that's just reading as 'light and white' to my nose. Someone up-thread mentioned a candle that claims to be a beachy scent, and I think that sounds right. It's not sweet; it's got that salt-spray edge; but it's lightweight and sort of glittery, like light on water, and it's refreshing. I don't need a bottle, but the imp will be a good summer scent for hot weather, I think!

A frimp from the Lab! Not one I'd've necessarily picked for myself, but I'm not opposed - some of the Lab's roses work well on me, especially if they're sweeter/sugared types, but sometimes they turn soapy! Let's see... Both in the imp and on me, I get strong full-blown rose alongside a resin-y, incense-y warmth - something's reminding me a lot of Parlement of Foules, in fact, which I do have two bottles (different years, both partials) of! Good strong throw. I think I like PoF slightly better, though I'm not sure why - different roses? - but this is pretty. I'll wear and use the imp, especially when I'm teaching medieval literature courses, but I probably won't need a bottle.

Oh, gosh, am I the first? All right, let's try to do it justice! I love the novel - I have a signed edition, and I have four of the original BPAL Last Unicorn scents (Molly Grue, The Butterfly, The Amorous Tree, and Arachne), but sadly never got my hands on the original Unicorn, so I can't quite compare, but the listed notes seem to be the same except for the addition of white gardenia. I don't tend to do pure florals much, but I do like fruity florals or scents like White Chocolate and Sugared Violets, so I'm hoping this will go well! In the bottle: a sweet...watery...floral + leafy scent? Having a hard time picking out individual notes, but that's the overall impression. Wet: it's delicate and pretty! It's a lot like the bottle, but I think I can pick out some more specifics - lilac, and gardenia, and some sort of "general light floral", plus something green and misty and maaaaybe a little minty in a chilly herbal way, not peppermint but mint leaves (maybe the "frosty" note?). I don't get white chocolate as much as a sense of something sweet lying over everything and, well, sweetening it up a bit. Dry: it's getting a bit sweeter now! It's very soft, ethereal and diaphanous - very low throw, but it's nice on my skin. Something, oddly, is making me think of Titania, which I also like, so that's not a bad thing! I think it's settled into a cloud of soft, light, pale florals (I think they've blended together now), with a good amount of sweetness, and something green and shimmery and misty and interesting in the background, like fog in the lilac woods. I don't really get coconut, unless that's swirled into the sweet white chocolate, and I think the lettuce and oakmoss are contributing to the "green and watery" background note, but they're not as upfront as the light floating sugared florals. I do absolutely get the sense of magic in a misty forest - it's so evocative, and the background notes make it interesting and complex, like the Unicorn herself. About half an hour later, I'm having a really hard time finding it on my wrist, to be honest! I have to shove my nose against my arm and sniff, and then I go, "oh, okay, still there," but it's very faint. Still pretty, but I think I'll have to slather this to make it last at all, which makes me a bit sad. But at least it should be easier to get more of now? I like it a lot and I'm glad I've got a bottle, but I'm afraid I'm going to go through it fast! Awesome Husband's thoughts: "...sweet...plants? I liked that other one you got better." (The "other one" might mean Rice Milk & Mango, or Peach Vulva, or Burnt Sugar & Blackberry - all came in the same order! Unsure which one he meant... ?)

This is so soft and pretty! It's exactly what it says it is - creamy rice milk, and sweet mango. It's a light warm scent, more milky than mango, though the mango is present, just very soft and cuddly. Low throw on me, but I keep wanting to sniff that arm, over and over. If this scent were a mango pudding, I'd absolutely be devouring it. I feel like it's a springtime sort of scent, but it'll be nice for summer too, when it's too hot for something heavy!

Oooh, this is fun! I'm so glad I last-minute threw in a bottle of this, in my recent order! I think I'd agree with VioletChaos that it's almost a toasted marshmallow note - like, it's *not* marshmallow, but it has that...toasty sweetness, if that makes sense? On me that note is a little stronger than the blackberry, though the blackberry is definitely also there - it's like someone took that toasty sweetness and poured it over a bowl of fresh blackberries. It's not a huge throw but seems to be lasting a good long while on my skin, too. Also, for some reason my head immediately instantly associated this with autumn, even though it's 95 degrees here today! Something about...bonfires? berry-picking? The 'colors' for this scent in my head are...autumn leaves, russet and crimson and brown and gold, and also a deep rich berry-purple. But I feel like it's also a good late-summer scent, berries and sweetness, deepening toward fall, anticipating. ?

Just out of the mailbox, but I couldn't wait! It's a warm glowing peach-apricot scent - fuzzy, fruity, summery! The rice milk really just makes it a little softer and maybe just a touch creamy - not much, just enough to be there. There's a hint, just a hint, of spice and frankincense at the back, especially if I sniff my arm very closely. But mostly it's peaches and apricot - we used to have a peach tree, growing up, and this smells like going out to pick peaches, breathing in the scent of them all around the tree, touching them, seeing which ones were ripe enough, feeling the fuzzy sun-warmed skin, and then bringing them in and putting them in a bowl with some apricots! And maybe later there'll be some cream to dribble over them.

This is so well blended that I'm having a hard time picking out individual notes! It's a soft warm cloud of sweet vanilla cream, and it stays that way from start to finish. It's a close to the skin scent, but long-lasting - I put it on in the morning and could still smell it at 8pm if I sniffed my wrist!

This is one of my favorite BPAL scents ever - I can't believe I hadn't reviewed it until now! It's all juicy tart-sweet red berries, bursting out and up, swirled with luscious rich cream. The cream has a little hint of tang - like someone mentioned above, maybe a really nice yogurt, like Icelandic skyr? Just the edge of that, so it's not a *cream* note exactly - it's goat's milk! The whole scent's really lovely, milky and lush, mingling with juicy berries. Good throw, and decent wear time! I wish I'd bought a second bottle, but I'm treasuring mine!

2018 version! I thought I recalled this being more tart and a little almondy on me, so I hadn't been wearing it much - it was fine, but not really a go-to. But the aging has done something really nice to it - it's a sweet, creamy, juicy dark cherry dessert. Like pie filling, almost, minus any pie crust element - just the filling, with a side or swirl of sweet cream. I don't really get blackberry, just the delicious cherry cream. I very much like it in this incarnation, but my skin just devours this - ten minutes later I couldn't even find it on my arm! I have a partial bottle, and I'll definitely use it - but I think I'll go through it really fast!

From the reviews, I thought this one might be more Thin Mint / chocolate mint ice-cream - but it's very white chocolate, creamy mint, cake note, on me! Which is fine and lovely; I just thought it might be a 'colder' sort of scent, and this is oddly warm and friendly on me! The chocolate isn't terribly strong; it's a sweet mint cream ice-cream cake. I'd say it's more similar to a baked-goods or cake-batter + mint scent, versus something like the Lick It series, which are colder and mintier to my nose. (I do like those too, though!) And if it's ice cream, really, it's the melted sort - like you've swirled a big bowl of mint chip around until it's warmed up and become more ice-cream soup, and then poured it over some buttery cake - but that's not a bad thing at all! I honestly really like it, but I do generally like mint and sweet. Awesome Husband: "it smells like...like a marker I once had, as a kid. like, a good one! one of those scented ones. like the mint one." me: ..........

Exactly what it says - rich thick honey and almond marzipan! I like it, but it's also A Lot: sweet and heavy and chewy. Huge throw, too. It's nice, but a little goes a long way - I think this would be great for colder weather, but it might be overwhelming as we head into a hot summer! I have a bottle, and I'll keep it, and it should last me a very long time. ?

In honor of the news, I pulled out my old bottle of this one! At first it's all green leaves and soft woods - like walking through a fern-drenched forested section of a botanic garden on an overcast day. That's really pretty - not my usual (I like foody/sweet/berry/mint scents usually), but it's nice. As it dries down, I never exactly get rose, but I get a soapiness coming to the forefront - it's not bad as such, but it's taking over and conquering the pretty woods. Now I just smell like I've scrubbed myself really well with some sort of expensive luxury soap, or gone to a very upscale spa, or something like that! Awesome Husband: "You smell like fancy soap!"

This one was a surprise hit for me! I got three of the Honey Pot (this one, Marzipan, and Sweet Orange & Orange Blossom) and this was the one I was most ambivalent about, because I don't do florals that much, but I like honey, and I figured I could give it to my mom if it didn't work on me. Well...as it turns out...this one's my favorite of the three! (The Marzipan is almost too sweet on me, and Orange Blossom did something funky and weird that turned into cleaning fluid. ?) The rose is very subtle on me - the whole thing is just this beautiful glowing golden honey. Kytha mentioned sunlight on water, above, and I'll second that: it's light and clear and warm and gilded, sweet without being cloying, almost weightless. It's gorgeous and radiant and summery. It doesn't last very long on me - basically, one 45-minute episode of a tv show later, I could barely find it on my arm. That's okay. I'll slather myself in it and be happy. ?

Dug out my old partial bottle of this! Blueberries, tea, and ginger in a big burst, at first! Then it calms down after a few minutes and gets a...sort of powdery edge? Not in a bad way, but less juicy than the first minutes, more like sniffing the blueberry-ginger tea leaves rather than sipping the tea. Awesome Husband immediately said, "baby powder!", which makes me a little sad, because that's probably quite nice for some people but not a thing I personally want to smell like! Still, those first few minutes are lovely. Wonder if it'd work better in a scent locket, or some sort of diffuser...

After all the reviews, I had to go back and get a bottle of this, and I'm so glad I did! It's a huge billow of gingerbread and marshmallow cream on me - like a big homemade sandwich cookie made of two soft spicy gingerbread slabs with a fluffy rich heap of marshmallow creme filling. I want to roll around in it and also lick my arm. Not really getting sandalwood or specifically *bourbon* vanilla - I think that's all just folded into the deliciousness. Nice throw initially, but it also fades quickly - after about an hour it was super-faint, and then barely there at all, even with my nose right up on my arm. I might go through this bottle quickly... Awesome Husband comment: sweet gingerbread! Like a cookie. I like gingerbread. ?

I was a little hesitant about this one, but I'm so glad I got it! I don't do lavender much - I associate it with my grandma, and that's nice and nostalgic, but I'm not sure I want to smell like her house! - but I love baked goods and chocolate notes, so... In the bottle and on first application: herbal lavender over a hint of sweetness; hmm, this may not go well... Just a minute or so after that, on my skin: ooh, lovely white chocolate and vanilla cookie, blossoming upwards! And a hint of sweet purple-hued lavender that keeps it from being purely a white chocolate-cookie scent. I actually really like this on me, so far! After watching a couple of episodes of Castlevania: mmm, it's soft and sweet and lasting nicely - I wouldn't say huge throw, but every so often I move my arm and a little waft of sugary vanilla cream lavender sweetness billows up for a sec. This is really pretty and somehow soothing, and now I'm thinking I might be a lavender convert if it comes with these sweet creamy notes - maybe I should've also tried Two Frames! Awesome Husband comment: "you smell like a cookie! that's a good thing."

Juicy sweet strawberry jam! I really like this, and it's lovely for the getting-warmer weather! Huge throw initially, but after a couple hours it dwindles down to a close-to-the-skin scent. Very nice! Awesome Husband: ...it's like kids' fruit snacks! You know, the little gummy snack pack kind! The good ones, though, with a lot of fruit flavor. A fancy name brand.