Little Bird

At first, this reminds me of the Templum Victoriae room spray. I can smell what I think is resinous frankincense and something sweet, dry, and herbal, but this doesn't have Templum's honeyed, beeswax sweetness. It makes me think of dusty marble, resins, incense, and old wooden benches. After about an hour, I kept thinking that Thousand Pillar smelled a lot like Midnight Mass with a hint of Cathedral. It smells like a sweet, smooth, midnight incense scent, with a little bit of brighter resins and wood added in. The husband and I both love resin/incense blends, so this is a big hit in my house. I'd get another bottle if it were ever released.

In the vial, this didn't smell like much to me. Sort of a pale, clean smell. On my skin, it instantly turns into sharp, soapy, chemical florals. It smells like a spritz of sharp, cheap, floral perfume over a soapy dryer sheet. After about fifteen minutes, the scent calms down a bit, but I'm still not loving it. It's a little bit sweeter and creamier, perhaps thanks to the gardenia, and the sandalwood/amber comes in making things smell powdery and dry. Whirling Wind Moon is mainly perfumey, sharp floral, dry soapiness, and powder on me. The drydown is lighter and not as sharp, but it starts to smell like baby powder. All in all, this is very not-me. My decant is headed to the swap pile...

This smells like tons of cypress and a bit of warm, powdery, golden amber on me (which I guess is the styrax). I don't smell anything fruity or plum-like or anything like lettuce. The cypress note smells dark green and sort of murky and bitter on me, though it softens in the drydown. It's a little bit like pine, but I get more of a dark, dry wood note from it and the greenery smells darker to me too. I thought that this would be too dark and too much on the bitter side of things, but the powdery, warm, resinous drydown is nice. It still smells dark, woodsy, and green, but the golden, powdery quality makes it warmer and more wearable. I don't think that I can wear this well, but my husband loves evergreen type notes, and I think that this would smell wonderful on a guy. It's like a darker, murkier version of Golden Priapus.

Iron Phoenix is my least favorite of this year's Phoenix blends. It smells all mismatched and wrong on me. In the bottle, this smells like menthol and bitter spice. On my skin, it smells like menthol-y juniper (no clue where that smell is coming from), red cough syrup, and a dark, herbal spiciness. I also get a hint of what smells like dry cedar in the drydown. This blend smells like it should be in a medicine cabinet. Iron Phoenix is too dark, medicinal, and bitter for me.

In the bottle and on my skin at first, this is sour lemongrass and cool mint. Lemongrass smells kinda off on me when I first put it on (sort of like dead fish and herbs :/). I was expecting this to be soapy, thanks to the ozone, but the blend doesn't go soapy on me at all. I think that I can smell the "pale metals," as there's this cool, metallic edge to the blend that's actually very soft and pleasant. I don't generally care for lemongrass, but the note does get sweeter, creamier, and more pleasant on me in the drydown, as its sour/gross edge disappears. As this dries down, it's a very gentle, cool sort of scent that's unlike any of the other metal scents that I've tried. The cool, air-y, metal smell here is really beautiful and interesting... it really smells like cold air somehow. I don't like the initial blast of lemongrass, but the drydown of this is beautiful. I think that I'll keep my decant, and maybe set Tin Phoenix aside as a scent for my husband to wear.

I usually hate lemon verbena scents, but I find myself enjoying Gold Phoenix, even with its strong verbena note. Lemon is strong and center stage on me, but the other notes really soften its edges and keep it from going sour. This is a very golden, sunny smelling blend. The amber and heliotrope go powdery on me, and something in this smells slightly herbal and keeps making me think of wildflowers. Verbena is usually sharp, sour lemon on me, but something in this turns the lemon into a sweet, lemon dessert type smell. In the drydown, Gold Phoenix smells like sweet lemon, sun-warmed wildflowers, and a touch of powder & sweet resins on me. It makes me think of laying in the sunshine in a field on a hot summer's day with a glass of lemonade. I expected to hate this, but I'll definitely be keeping my decant

I really love the mix of apricot and sweet orange here <3. It smells juicy, sweet, feminine, and summery to me. I think that it's actually reminding me of the peach wine note in Aglaea. The fruity notes are strongest on my skin, but the other notes sort of linger in the background and smolder in a warm, sensual way. My skin usually ampa up rose, but I don't smell any rose here. As this dries down, it's less of a juicy fruit scent, but I can still smell sweet fruitiness mixed with dry, warmer notes. The amber amps up and goes very dry and dusty on me, but this is still a nice scent. It's like dust, sweet fruits, and a dry, woodsy spiciness. I love this a lot more in the beginning when the fruits are all juicy and dominating the blend. The fruits make it a very cheery, uplifting scent for me. The drydown isn't as good, but it's still a nice enough scent. I don't need a full bottle of this, but I'll keep my decant.

Cinnabar and silvery liquid droplets of mastic, white sandalwood, elemi, and lavender. In the bottle, this is tons of creamy, herbal lavender. It reminds me of LUSH's Dreamtime bath melt, which I love. I wish that the lavender were stronger on my skin. On my skin, the sandalwood instantly comes out to play. Lavender over dry woods. It's a very soothing, calm scent. Then, as this dries down, a spicy, masculine cologne smell takes over. It's like a man wearing too much cologne just stumbled into my relaxing spa day and ruined everything. This has a musky/perfumey/cologney sharpness to it that I don't like at all. It starts to remind me of cheap hairspray after a while. That spicy cologne smell really takes over and kills the other notes on my skin too. After a half hour, this is really strong & obnoxious, and I can't smell the sandalwood or lavender anymore. Quicksilver Phoenix is on the masculine side of things, but it's too sharp for me to want my husband to wear it. It starts to give me a headache after a while...

In the bottle, this smells like violet, but a very cool, pale, soft, juicy, sweet sort of violet. It makes me think of a single violet bathed in silvery moonlight next to a pond. On my skin, this doesn't change much. It's a pretty, pale violet. Violet can sometimes go soapy on me, but it's sweet here (perhaps the sweetness of the pear). As this dries down, I can smell the moonflower and it starts to remind me of Evening Star. The moonflower goes slightly powdery on me, but it's not a baby powder smell, more like a cool vanilla powder. Silver Phoenix smells like cool vanilla powder, creamy moonflower, and sweet violets on me. It's very pretty. I don't normally like florals, but I like this. It's a cool, ethereal, night-time scent...

When I first tried this, I kept thinking that it smelled like rose and cough syrup. After reading the reviews, maybe that off, slightly fruity smell is the dragon's blood, and I'm getting something like mint or eucalyptus that makes this seem medicinal. At first it's like sweet red rose mixed with a handful of dying flowers and a drip of red cough syrup. It dries down to a sweet, powdery rose on me. My skin amps up rose-y notes like crazy, so that's to be expected. I definitely don't need more of this blend.

I thought that I'd love this prototype, but it goes all wrong on me. It starts off cloying, almost like vanilla cake batter and buttercream frosting scented candle. As it dries down, it smells like vanilla buttercream candle and melting plastic. It's way too sweet on me, and has this warm, odd, chemical smell that's not too pleasant. This fades really fast on me too. After about 20 minutes there's just a faint, sugary vanilla smell left on my skin.

In the bottle, this smells like a sexy, smooth men's cologne and a bit of masculine spiciness from the bay rum. On my skin, this is swoon-worthy. It's definitely masculine, but it's comforting and sexy smelling at the same time. As it dries down, this is mostly dark, smooth incense that's reminding me of blends like Cathedral and Midnight Mass, and a dry spiciness from the bay rum, all wrapped up in a manly cologne feel. The 'dry spice' gets stronger for me over time.

I'd recommend trying The Rose from the Marchen category if you want a fresh, red rose smell. London is also good (from the Wanderlust category), but strikes me as more of a dry red rose.

I don't have much to add about this scent. It's buttery orange cake on me and dries down with a little bit of spice. It smells delicious and, as has already been said, reminds me of Huesos de Santos. After an hour on my skin, the scent has faded a lot and sort of smells like vanilla frosting and a bit of spice. I like it well enough, but I have other citrus-cake blends, so I don't need to try to find a bottle o' this one.

I love apple scents (even though bpal's apple blends rarely work on me), so I was super-excited to get a partial decant of this. When I first opened up the vial, my hand shook, and I promptly dumped most of the oil down my laptop keyboard :/. It smelled wonderful, like tart & juicy green apples. I was horrified, and then my husband came in to rub salt in the wounds and started telling me that my perfume smelled amazing and apple-y. Then he realized what had happened and gave me a lecture about being more careful around the laptop. *sigh* It does smell amazing and apple-y, and I just wish that I had more of it. It reminds me a bit of Possets' Pomona fragrance. It's like crisp, honeyed apples, slightly sweet & clean/perfumey smelling at the same time. I think that this is the only prototype that I've really loved, and my husband really likes it as well. I hope that I can get a full bottle of this at some point...

In the bottle, this smells like Lump of Coal plus Gluhwein... which is to say it smells like fudgey brownie batter and spiced wine. On my skin, it smells like rich chocolate brownies with a dusting of sweet spice, and a hint of something like the wine in Gluhwein. It smells very warm, rich, heavy, and decadent on me. I would probably get a bottle of this if it were available, though it seems a little too sweet for me at times.

In the bottle and on my skin, this is a sour, red rose and powdery white sandalwood. I wanted to love this, because I love the idea and sentiment behind this fragrance, but this is probably my least favorite rose scent from bpal. Sour, sharp, slightly soapy rose and equal parts powdery, dry wood. I smell it and think "bad, cheap, chemical-y perfume." The Little Wooden Doll gives me a vicious headache. I had to scrub this one off after an hour, because it was making me sick...

A lot of green grass type scents are too sharp and bitter for me, or I like them, but don't find them very wearable as a perfume. I find this to be very soft and wearable, though. I had my husband smell this without telling him the notes or name, and he said it smells like pretty dandelions and pink flowers. It reminds me a lot of Garden Path With Chickens, but less floral. I get a similar, sunny herbs and sun-warmed green grass feel from this blend, and just a little bit of a sweet wildflower scent. It's both outdoorsy and pretty & girly smelling to me. I like this a lot.

This definitely doesn't smell like books to me. It's kind of gross, actually. It sort of smells like the salty olives and dry woods of Bezoar plus a sickly sweet perfume (sort of creamy, sweet, musky, girly perfume). The drydown smells a bit like woodsmoke. It's really weird and unpleasant on me overall, with the mix of unusual, harsh notes and the generic pre-teen girl perfume smell. Conservatory Tableaux smells very mismatched and off on my skin... Story Time at Dark Delicacies will remain my favorite book/library scent.

I expected this to smell more interesting, but it's just a sharp, soapy, salty aquatic in the bottle and on my skin. It's like wearing dryer sheets and laundry soap. It's very soapy-clean and sharp, and I don't smell anything else going on, just a strong, soapy aquatic.

My skin is sensitive to cinnamon notes, so there's no way that I'd actually use this in my bath. I tested a tiny dab of this on my chest area and it turned red and itched like crazy. I'm too afraid to slather it on or use it in the tub, so this is just a scent review as I tested on my wrists. At first, this smells like a cloud of sweet, bakery cinnamon. It's not a sharp, red hots cinnamon to me at all. It smells like pumpkin pie spice at first, heavy on the cinnamon, and then dries down to a bread-y sort of scent. Pumpkin spice bread. It's a warm, cozy, comforting smell. I wish that I could use this in the bath, but I know that the cinnamon would be painful...

This smells like thick, sweet buttercream frosting, something dark & dirty, and a hint of cocoa. The dark/dirty part to this reminds me of the soiled, dark, musky smell in Czernobog (which literally smells like feces on me :/). I've worn this several times now, trying to convince myself to enjoy it. I feel like I should love the foodie, frosting smell to this, but it's often just too sweet for me to handle, and the dirty smell can make me nauseous when I first apply the oil. The drydown of this isn't so bad, though. After about an hour, this smells like buttercream frosting dropped on to a dusty, dirty floor (maybe a dusty amber note? I dunno). I want to love the buttercream/cupcake scent, but I may not be able to pull this one off. It's a bit too sweet, and the odd, dirty note bothers me a lot on some days...

Like slave1, I don't smell anything cherry-ish from this (and my skin usually amps up cherry notes to the point of being obnoxious). In the imp and on my skin, this is a musky, sweet, golden honey. It reminds me of the honey note that's in Hetairae. It's like a sexy honey dust type of scent...

Knick-Knack smells like sharp orange sweet tarts, dry, dusty wood, and clove, both in the imp and on my skin. It gets a little softer after it's been on my skin for a while, but I keep wishing that this were sweeter. The orange is too sharp and the whole thing smells too dry and dusty for my tastes.

In the imp and on my skin at first, this smelled like warm sugar cookies, a hint of sweet spice, and frosty pine. Then, within about five minutes, it dries down to something less pleasant. Tcotchkie starts to smell like spearmint mouthwash (very menthol-y and medicinal) and woodsmoke with a hint of black pepper. It's too much menthol, and the scent just smells odd and medicinal to me...