Little Bird

Doing a side-by-side comparison, I like this more than the released version of Lust. This doesn't have the sharper, perfumey, floral qualities that ruined Lust for me. This smells like sweetened red musk and an earthy side in the drydown that smells like a dry, rich patchouli. I agree that it does kinda remind me of Snake Oil, but SO itself turns awful on me and this is like a nice, earthy, sweet red musk. There are so many red musk blends available that I probably don't need a bottle of this, but I think I'll hoard my partial decant for special occasions wearing.

Titania and Lampades both kinda remind me of Fae, and Cheshire Cat's sweet grapefruit reminds me of Night-Gaunt.

O, Bordello, and Hunger are all really strong and long lasting on my skin. Of the ones on your list, I find that scents with red musk, black musk, vetiver, rose, red wine, and dragons blood all tend to have decent throw.

My first thought for cocoa + red musk was the LE Midnight Kiss, with notes of red musk, cocoa absolute, Nepalese amber, red sandalwood, aged patchouli, nicotiana, and blood wine. I think that it might still be available? http://www.blackphoenixalchemylab.com/shojobeat.html There's Pomegranate IV available now with pomegranate, cognac, red musk, cocoa, tobacco, anise, and thyme. Countess Willie has notes of chocolate plum musk, red musk, amaretto, candied fruits, and red ginger.

This scent only lasts about an hour on me, and it's mostly pomegranate while it sticks around. I get that bitter, tart, dry, sweet tarts note from the pom. As it dries down there's a dry spiciness from the mix of carnation and black pepper, and I think the amber might be making the pom more powdery and dry smelling than usual. I can't pick out the vetiver or opium at all, which surprises me. I'm not a fan of the lab's pomegranate note, so this isn't awesome on me...

AlphaB1tch: *Florence - "The pearl of the Italian Renaissance. Elegant iris, bright berries, gilded amber and velvety spices." Because I feel like someone with a love for travel should have a Wanderlust blend, and Florence reminds me of beautiful old cities. *Voodoo - "A midnight scent, evoking images of flickering golden firelight reflecting off the sheen of glistening skin and the jerking shadows of bodies suffused with spiritual ecstasy. A deep, powerful, resonant blend of myrrh, patchouli, vetiver, lime, vanilla, pine, almond and clove." Voodoo is always what I think of when I think of 'a dancer's fragrance.' And it's very sensual and fits with your love of the woods as well. And some scents that I think of as passionate, rebellious, and womanly: *The Illustrated Woman - "Skin musk, smoky vanilla, pine pitch, patchouli, Indian resins, golden honey, and tobacco." *Liz - "A light, feminine vanilla floral perfume and a swirl of smoke and leather." *Countess Willie also sounds like a potentially good fit: "Sophisticated, dramatic, well-traveled, glamorous, and worldly, Countess Willie V. Piazza, owner of the French Studio, was a trendsetter in style and fashion. Countess Willie was an educated woman, a patron of the arts, and possessed an impressive library of rare volumes. She featured many historic jazz musicians in her House, including Tony Jackson and Jelly Roll Morton. Unlike many of her counterparts, she was known for having a kind heart and a generous, loving nature. She was fiercely protective: when a patron of her establishment, the nephew of a prominent New Orleans cleric, committed a heinous act of sadism against one of her ladies, Countess Willie shot him dead. Chocolate plum musk, red musk, amaretto, candied fruits, and red ginger."

Victorian Garden is herbal lavender (not the milky, creamy, sweeter variety that I prefer, but a more medicinal, mentholic lavender on my skin) with soapy greenery. I can't really pick out the honey, though it might be making the blend a tad sweeter in the drydown. The drydown is less green and more generic floral on my skin over time, which I'm not loving. I think that I'll still reach for TKO when I want a lavender aromatherapy blend...

The Decrepit House isn't as dark and earthy as I was expecting it to be. It's more of a woods blend than an earthy one (I can't smell much of the oakmoss, leaves, or patchouli, especially as it dries down) and the black musk gives off a smoky feel. I would have guessed that there was teak and pine in this, but that's probably the mahogany and cypress that I'm smelling. It's a dark, slightly sweet, slightly powdery woods scent. It reminds me of The Antikythera Mechanism a bit, if AM were less sweet and more smoky. I like this, and my husband really liked it as well and is probably going to steal the partial bottle from me...

San Francisco has a green note in the bottle, but that disappears on my skin and I'm left with a nice, cool, aquatic cologne. It smells similar to Sea of Glass, but lighter and simpler somehow. It makes me smell clean, but it doesn't turn outright soapy like most aquatics do on my skin. It's not bad, but I prefer Sea of Glass for a similar scent with better staying power...

I had to have this, because The Yellow Wallpaper is my very favorite short story. Then I read the 'urine' descriptions and was kinda worried. But I actually think that this smells really good, even in the bottle. It reminds me of sweet, honeyed, slightly herbal wildflowers warmed in the sunshine. It makes me think of picking flowers when I was little <3. I can't really pick out the honeysuckle or balsam. The scent just smells very sweet and very yellow in a way that I can't quite explain. It 's floral, but not perfumey or fake-floral like I get from most floral perfumes. It's natural florals, heavy sweetness, and sunshine in a bottle. I think that it fits the story very well too. I love rereading the story and wearing this perfume... and this is something that I can actually see myself wearing a lot. Very sweet, very warm floral.

Los Angeles smells smoky, dark, and sweet. It's like smelling coca cola, a pile of burning leaves, and pine. I usually don't like smoky scents, but this isn't sharp or heavily smoky, and the thick sweetness keeps the smoke in check for me. Of the Halloween scents in this series, this is the one that smells most like Halloween to me (growing up in the middle of pine forest in Missouri), reminding me of bonfires, pine forests, and heavy sweetness...

I ordered two bottles of this (directly from the lab) after liking my decant, and both bottles smell different from each other. One is similar to my decant, with a creamy, sweet, almost vanilla-y sandalwood and delicate, clean white floral. The other is herbal smelling (a bit like dill pickles, but more dry) with a dry, soapy smell that's like laundry soap powder. With age, the difference has become more pronounced. The herbal/soapy bottle has turned even soapier and now gives me a headache.

I thought that I would like this scent a lot more than I do. I was expecting a complex, rich scent, but it falls sort of flat on my skin. The only note that I can pick out for sure is the lavender (which has an odd menthol/medicinal edge to it) and a fruity note that doesn't smell as sweet as blackcurrant usually does on me. As it dries down, the amber lends a dusting of baby powder over the weak, fruity lavender. This has a lot of notes in it that are usually really strong on my skin (rose, black musk, myrrh, geranium), but I don't smell them at all. Weird. Odd Portents is a light, baby powdery lavender and a hint of fruitiness on my skin. Not for me... ETA: This has gotten stronger on me with age, but not necessarily better. It's even more baby powdery now, and I mainly get the black currant and myrrh (which I normally love), but they're just sickly sweet paired together in this blend. Like fruit syrup and syrupy resins poured into a tub of baby powder. The rose, black musk and geranium are still nowhere to be found.

I think that pink pepper might smell like spicy pink bubblegum on my skin :/. Very sweet, very pink bubblegum with a slight, spicy zip to it. I smell a light, bitter chocolate note way underneath the bubblegum. Something about the whole thing smells chemical-y to me as well, like scented markers. I expected this to be darker and to have more depth to it. I expected honeyed tobacco and wood notes. What I get is a mix of bubblegum scented markers (pink!) and a chocolate scented marker. It doesn't smell like a good perfume scent on me. I think that this is my least favorite Thirteen ever

Somehow this smells like peach & sweet lemon to me at first. Juicy, tangy peach (not candied or canned, but the actual fruit), a hint of sweet lemon, and slightly sour, slightly aquatic, bright green Spanish moss. On my skin, the scent warms up over time, turns perfumey, and starts to give me a headache. It's like sweet peachy something with perfumey white floral or aquatic and a sour edge from the moss. Sweet fruity-floral with a cheap, sharp edge that I'm not enjoying. New Orleans is headed to my swap pile...

I like red musk, but it's usually really strong and overpowering on me. It smells like a warm, dark, juicy, fruity (almost red wine-like), animalistic musk on me. The red musk here is strong at first, but settles down after about 15 minutes. And I actually don't get a strong honey note. It smells like vanilla cream with a dash of honey on my skin, and a background of sultry red musk. I'm pleasantly surprised at how creamy and gentle the blend is. I expected intense red musk and super-sweet honey, but this isn't aggressive or heavily sweet at all. It's creamy, warm, cuddly, subtle, and lovely <3.

Sabir, hiding your emotions and being hard to read made me think of Intrigue, as people who are a bit guarded always seem mysterious to me. Your description also made me think of Ogun, since you are loyal and others see you as strong and courageous. Also, The Lion, just because I see that as being a strong, quiet scent with a loyal warmth to it...

The Creeping Mist is like a mix of watery white floral and sharp greenery on my skin. It keeps threatening to go soapy, but never quite makes it. The drydown has a sweeter floral to it, which I'm guessing is the lotus and orris, though I can't pick those notes out specifically (and lotus usually smells like bubblegum on me, which I'm not getting at all from this blend). Mostly it's a perfumey, watery white floral that doesn't really stand out for me...

The Byronic Antihero is a very dry, dark scent that's masculine, *spicy*, slightly earthy, and a bit musky. It has a strong spiciness from the carnation, but this isn't a fresh carnation like the one in Maiden. It smells old, dry, and trampled into the ground. The mix of patchouli & khus is also dry smelling. It makes me think of dusty earth and dead, brown pine needles. There's something like a whiff of woodsmoke and a hint of men's musky cologne in here as well. I think that this smells very well blended, complex, and rather sexy. I can imagine my husband wearing this a lot over the winter.

Pumpkin Latte is a pretty even mix of black, warm, roasted coffee note and pumpkin spice (mainly sweet sugar and spicy cinnamon) on my skin at first. I actually wish that the coffee note were stronger, but my skin tends to amp up spice notes. I can't smell anything like vanilla or milk, but the drydown is mostly sugar and cinnamon with a hint of dark coffee. It's warm, pleasant, and spicy. This is a really strong scent with lots of throw. It might be too strong and spicy for me (started to give me a headache after a while), but I'll keep my decant and might use it as a room fragrance. It's definitely a must-have if you like spice or coffee blends.

In the bottle, this is cinnamon. On my skin, still cinnamon. It goes back and forth between smelling like an explosion of sweet cinnamon powder to smelling like sharper red hots cinnamon candies. Maybe a whiff of something like spicy pie crust every once in a while. I don't get any candyfloss, blackberry, or anything fruity at all. It's all cinnamon all the time, and it made my skin red and itchy where I apply the oil. I'm not a fan of this. It's way too heavy on the cinnamon, so the blend is like a single note spice.

I love the smell of marigolds, so I was hoping that this would be a true marigold smell. It's a unique, interesting and pleasant floral, but it doesn't really remind me of marigolds at all. Flor De Muerto smells oddly aquatic and cold (reminds me a bit of Sea of Glass or Wylde Ivy's Bamboo Leaves), but thankfully doesn't go too soapy on me. It's like cold aquatic and tons of yellow flower petals (a little like jasmine or honeysuckle on me, but not quite). Clean and cold, yellow, and a bit sweet smelling. It doesn't quite remind me of any of bpal's other floral blends at the moment, but unfortunately doesn't really smell like marigolds either...

In the bottle, this is all cherry-almond. It smells like tart & super-sweet maraschino cherry syrup. I'm not normally a huge fan of cherry scents, but this has a gentle, sugar dusted quality to it that I'm kinda liking. As it dries down, I can smell a little touch of creamy, suntan-lotion-esque coconut underneath the sugared cherry. The cherry also takes on a fresh, breezy quality (reminding me of The Body Shop's Wild Cherry) and isn't so sickeningly sweet. I can't really pick out any of the saffron. Ghoulish smells surprisingly beachy on me. It's like cherry popsicles and a hint of coconut lotion on a warm ocean breeze. I'm not getting the cookie impression that other reviewers have found. I think that Ghoulish is the only bpal cherry blend that I've ever actually liked. It doesn't go tart or overpoweringly candied and fruity on me. My only complaint is that this only lasts about an hour on my skin. Still, it's very pretty and might be a full bottle purchase.

This is even more gorgeous than I was hoping for. Calaveras smells like sweet vanilla, dry cocoa powder, and a waft of gentle, warm, almost floral incense. It reminds me of a softer Tezcatlipoca, if you took out the leather from Tezcat and added in a soft vanilla note. Some of bpal's vanillas go powdery and smell blah on m skin, but this is a creamy, sweet, rich vanilla that I'm loving. Calaveras is beautiful - just a perfect mix of vanilla and girly incense with a hint of cocoa on my skin. I can smell a hint of the jalapeno spiciness as it dries down after about an hour as well, and it gives the blend a bit of a perfumey edge and a unique feel. The overall blend is a bit foodie, but not quite thanks to the incense and unique, dry spiciness. I'm going to need a couple backup bottles of this before the LEs go down.

In the bottle and on my skin at first, this is mostly rum (silky, caramel-like alcohol) with sweet, dark currant and just a hint of earthy vetiver. I'm pleasantly surprised that the vetiver in this isn't overpowering, as it usually takes over blends for me. As it dries down, the rum disappears into the background and it's mostly blackcurrant and a woodsy-spicy mix of bay and galangal. Black musk is usually really strong on me and smells like cheap men's cologne, but I don't get that impression here at all, thankfully. The Hag is mostly a sweet, dark, berry-like currant with smooth woods & spicy bay, and the rum giving it an exotic, golden sort of lift. This actually smells a lot like Cagliostro on me, and I'm really liking it . It's definitely not the scary, dark, earthy, masculine blend that I was expecting. I only have a decant of this so far, but I might have to upgrade to a full bottle.