Little Bird

Bauble seems to have some of the champagne note in it that's in the three champagne blends from last year. It's bright, fizzy, clean and boozy smelling. The note really does smell just like champagne. I like this more than I liked the previous champagne blends, though. This is softened and balanced by some fruity notes and smells less like I have booze spilled on me and more perfumey and clean. This smells like a sparkling, champagne spiked fruit punch and a hint of perfumey musk to me. It was also a bit dryer-sheet-fresh at first. It's not a sugary, cheap, red fruit punch smell to me, but a lighter and more naturally fruity smelling punch, if that makes sense. I don't know if I can really pull off the boozy champagne note, but I kinda like this. It's fun and festive and makes me think of new year's parties...

Spare Change smells like a mix of Numb and something like House of Mirrors to me. I get that polished, metallic, clean, rich smell plus the foamy, soapy shaving cream smell of Numb. It's very cologne-y, kinda masculine, and clean.

In the bottle and on my skin at first, this smells fizzy and really sweet, like some sort of cola. As this dries down, it's much the same, except it starts getting smoky. It's like fizzy cola, a hint of spiciness, and a background of woodsmoke. I don't like the strongly smoky phase, but I like this when the smoke calms down again, and I think that this scent would be too sweet without that smokiness cutting through it. The fizziness also starts to fade after an hour, leaving me with kinda flat cola, a hint of spice, and a hint of woodsmoke. All in all, it smells sort of dark and playful, sweet and warm, and with the hint of spiciness making it seem appropriate for the winter weather and the holidays. It reminds me slightly of Te Po.

I think that the only chocolate mint scents in the GC right now are Schrodinger's Cat and How Doth the Little Crocodile. The Cat is more citrussy and I know a lot of people don't get the chocolate peppermint from it at all. Little Crocodile definitely is more chocolate & mint and on the foodie/creamy side of things.

I don't know what to think about this scent. My husband didn't like it in the vial or on me at first (he said it smelled like butter, then caramel popcorn, and then dead flowers in the drydown, lol). Doodad smells sugary, golden and warm to me, with something of an odd, metallic-ish edge. I keep thinking that I smell something metallic and clean and slightly smoky, sort of like the gold smell that I get in El Dorado and Leipreachan. As it dries down, the scent smells slightly fruity in addition to the warm, golden sugar, so it's like a cherry glazed pastry plus a golden metallic. I get a little hint of foodie spice after a while as well. This is an odd foodie scent, but I like it.

Talking Doll just goes all wrong on me. It smells like overripe, freezer burned strawberries that were left to unthaw and rot in a kitchen sink. Not good. It smells like strawberries that have spoiled. So, Overprotective Possessed Talking Doll is rotten strawberries on me . It's both too sweet and oddly sour and off... I'll see if this gets any better with age, but it's definitely not wearable for me right now. I have some trouble wearing strawberry notes (though I love White Chocolate & Strawberry and like Floating Brain), but I've never had one go quite this bad on me before.

Comforting Plush Companion smells a bit better in the bottle than it does on me. In the bottle, the musky parts of this keep the scent from being too sweet. On my skin, this is a sweet, honeyed vanilla and a soft plum smell. My skin usually amps up rose, but I don't get a lot of rose from this. Sometimes I think that I smell rose, but that might just be because I'm looking for it to pop up somewhere. It smelled a bit like fruity candy at first, but dries down to a soft plum with sweeter notes. It's not bad, but the sweetness turns almost nutty smelling and cloying on me. This one is just a little too sweet for me. It makes me think of little kids with sticky hands covered in candy.

I love this bath oil. The name alone makes me feel awesome when I'm using this, lol. One of my favorite perfumes ever is Wylde Ivy's "Neroli Creme" (which is orange blossoms and vanilla cream), and Oceans of Love and Millions of Kisses smells a lot like that perfume. I love using this as a moisturizer and then spritzing on the Neroli Creme. I don't get a lot of honey from this, just a hint of a floral-y honey in the bottle. In the bath and on my skin, Oceans of Love is all creamy, cool, sweet orange blossoms. Orange blossom smells like creamy, cool floral and orange candy on me. Lovely. This makes for such a gorgeous, girly, romantic bath experience.

Joyeux Noel smells like minty pine, menthol, and berries. The pine is sharp and unpleasant at first, but it softens a bit as it dries down, and the berry note is pretty strong. It's a little too clean and sharp smelling for me, and it starts to give me a headache after a while. It seems more like an air freshener scent than a perfume scent to me.

This room spray is my new favorite home fragrance. It smells just like snow and a hint of Christmas trees to me. It's a simple, crisp, clean smell that I just love <3. It makes me feel like I'm in a pine forest in winter or that I at least have a real Christmas tree in my house. Sooo pretty.

I didn't think that this would work on me. I love the smell of carnation, but it tends to give me a headache, and grape usually equals grape bubble yum on me, which I don't want to smell like. I was expecting fresh carnations and grape candy, and it's not that at all. It's more of a pretty, dry, perfumey type of scent. On me, this smells like dry carnation dusted in a sparkling sugar. I don't get a strong grape or wine note on my skin (though it smells deliciously fruity and slightly citrussy in the bottle). This actually reminds me of High-Strung Daisies, but a more grownup and perfumey version. Dry, sugary, perfumey floral, with a tiny hint of something that smells slightly citrussy in the drydown. It smells like edible flowers, but also a lovely, enchanting little perfume. I think that this is a good scent for a slightly haunted dollhouse, and a great scent for me . My husband also gave this one a 9 out of 10 rating, which doesn't happen very often.

This is exactly what I had hoped it would be like. I can smell all three notes in the bottle - a spicy, kinda masculine kick from the bay rum, black licorice, and creamy coconut. I think it's funny that this was described as mostly coconut by one reviewer and mostly licorice by another, because it's mostly bay rum on me, lol. I don't smell a lot of coconut for the first few hours that this is on my skin, it just lends a sweet, creamy feel to the other notes. The black licorice reminds me of the sweet, dark, rich black licorice in Le Père Fouettard, which I adore. The bay rum is like a spicy, sexy men's cologne note. I would never have thought to mix the three things together, but they're a gorgeous combination. After a couple hours of wearing this, it's still a lotta cologney, spicy bay rum with the sweet black licorice, but I can define the creamy sweetness as coconut. It makes me think of meeting a rugged, sexy, mysterious man on a tropical island... There's no way that this could go wrong on me. I tend to love all three of the listed notes, and the type of coconut used is really lovely, I think. This smells great on my husband as well, but I think I'm keeping it for myself. I love so many of the inquisition blends from this set, but this one is a definite favorite.

Bpal's amber almost always turns to baby powder or dust on my skin (though I normally love amber notes from other companies), so I wasn't expecting much from Dreadful Lies. This actually smells gorgeous on me, though (and yay!). This reminds me a bit of Arcana's Nepalese Amber layering note. It's like a golden, sweet, smooth, vanilla-y sort of amber. It's warm and smells almost edible and creamy. I don't smell the cognac or tagette at all, as far as I can tell, just a beautiful amber. It has decent staying power and throw on me as well. Dreadful Lies is a beautiful, wearable amber. It smells exotic, sensual, and comforting. I wish that I could wrap myself up in it <3. And I wish that I had gotten a few extra bottles of this one...

Sniffing this in the bottle, I thought that I smelled clove, but then it suddenly just smelled like bubblegum. On my skin, this smells like orange blossom and a bit of pink bubblegum. Is orange flower the same as orange blossom? It has that creamy floral and orange candy smell that I get from orange blossom. It has a happy, candied feel. As this dries down, Frivolous Wheeled Footwear is orange sweet tarts candies, spicy clove, and a touch of something warm and perfumey (almost like there's a hint of heated red musk in here somewhere). It mostly reminds me of sweet tarts candies, though. I was hoping for more of the fig and patchouli, but I can't pick out either of those notes at all. This is like a silly, warm, candied scent trying to dress up and be serious & sexy, but failing at that. I hope that it gets more earthy with some aging.

I expected to love this, and it's not so great on me. It reminds me of Dark Chocolate and Pepper-Smoked Caramel in the bottle. There's a lot of thick, dark, cocoa absolute oil in here. On my skin, I was hoping for a complex, earthy, resinous scent, but this smells a lot like Monster Bait: Ventroliquist Dummy, which is one of my least favorite bpal blends. I get tons of really dry wood (pencil shavings :/) and a hint of chocolate. And that's how this stays on my skin - pencil shavings and a hint of sweet cocoa. The wood notes are just unbearably dry and sort of bitter smelling on me. I'm hoping that this improves with age.

In a Crowd smells so unbelievably gorgeous in the bottle. It's all creamy chocolate and a light, golden, cakey smell. On my skin, I get the burst of weird lemon that other reviewers have mentioned (maybe there's lemon in the hot tea, or the berries are going really sour). It's a sharp, sour lemon smell. Thankfully, it calms down after about fifteen minutes and the cake and creamy chocolate notes come dancing back on to the scene. It smells more like a lemon poundcake and hints of creamy chocolate as it dries down. It also has a smooth, warm quality that keeps this from being really foodie (I'm guessing that's the golden musk, though I don't get a strong musk feel from this). This smells really pretty in the bottle and in the drydown, but I wish that it weren't so lemony at first. Still, I like this, and I can see myself wearing this one a lot. It's warm and comforting. And I love the little lion on the label . I'm also interested in seeing how this ages.

Locomotive doesn't smell so good on me. It smells weird in the bottle and on my skin at first, sort of like vanilla mints, dust, and taco seasoning (why, I do not know). As it dries down, this smells like the purse of someone who smokes. It smells dirty and ash tray-esque, like someone who tosses cigarettes and mints into their purse to get knocked around and crumbled. It gets a bit of a medicinal edge to it as well, and my hubby said it reminds him of cough syrup. It smells dirty and unpleasant to me .

I like this blend a lot more than Marshmallow Poof and Plastic Pink Flamingo. The marshmallow note in Poof and Flamingo goes oddly tart and fruity on my skin, but the marshmallow note here really smells like white, sugary, fluffy marshmallows <3. First on, I get lots of marshmallow, lemon sugar, and something like bubblegum from this. The drydown is like a glass of iced tea with lemon and a drop of golden honey, next to a plate of homemade vanilla-y marshmallows. The lemon is sharp and I normally hate sharp lemon notes, but it works for me paired with the sweetness of the marshmallow. The notes really balance each other well, and the tea scent makes it smell summery and refreshing. Chewing Little Bits of String smells summery and cheery to me. It's an awesome tea blend

Sniffing this in the bottle, my husband said that it smelled like cinnamon and celery. I can definitely smell the redwood in the bottle, like a soft, sweet woods smell, and also something spicy, with a little bit of cucumber. I don't get that spiciness once the oil is on my skin, though, it just has a nice warmth to it. On my skin, I get lots of dry, warm, almost incensey woods, sweetness, and cucumber. The coconut note is sweet without smelling at all like a dessert or suntan lotion, and the tonka adds more of a perfumey sweetness than a foodie one. I *really* love the cucumber note in this. It adds a fresh, crisp, pale green edge to the blend that's so pretty. The cucumber really lifts up the other notes and calms down the sweetness. Warm, soft woods, perfumey sweetness, and a sparkly, fresh edge from the cucumber. Boneshaking Antique Velocipede really well-blended, unique, and lovely. My husband said that it smells pretty, like clouds, on me, lol.

I wasn't sure if I would like this. I don't usually enjoy beer or bonfire scents, but I do like cake and incense. Thankfully, I don't really get a beer smell from this, and it's not really smoky either. Feeding the Dead is mostly a sweet, creamy, grainy sort of smell on me. It's not as sweet or dry smelling as cake scents usually are to me, and it doesn't smell buttery on me either. It's very pretty. In the drydown, I get a hint of incense and what smells like just the tiniest touch of wet ash. It reminds me of the Bonfire Night room spray a bit. I'm glad that I got a bottle of this before it disappeared .

Peach Moon doesn't smell like peach or peach blossom at all to me. I get lots of white tea (which smells sharp, clean, and citrussy on me) and cool, slightly powdery musk, with hints of fruity-floral perfuminess. It's a very light, cool, clean, perfumey-sharp scent on me. It dries down to a light, clean powder after ten minutes and disappears entirely before I've even worn it for a full half hour. I thought that I would really like this, but it's not so great on me. It's a little too sharp, clean and perfumey at first, and it has awful staying power and throw on me. I was hoping that it would smell something like peach :/

This goes on smelling like bitter, sour black coffee and a hint of dry spiciness. It dries down to soapy, sharp florals and a hint of bitter black coffee on me. The husband told me that it smelled like burnt coffee and soap. I only had a tiny drop of this to test, but I think that'll be enough for me, lol.

The White Rider is the softest leather scent that I've tried from bpal. It's a little like Quincey Morris's well worn, sweeter leather note, but simpler and better in my opinion. It's like butter soft suede. Sandalwood can sometimes be too dry and powdery on me, but it just adds a cozy, warm feel here. The most comforting leather. I like this for a cozy, sophisticated leather, where The Red Rider is my intense and sexy leather scent.

I'd definitely recommend trying The Antikythera Mechanism (notes of: Teakwood, oak, black vanilla, and tobacco). It's a really gorgeous, dark vanilla-tobacco scent. Also: Intrigue - "A sultry, exotic scent that inspires devious plotting and clandestine affairs. It is a scent painted in artifice, veiled in deceit, and slithering with whispered secrets. Black palm, with cocoa, fig and shadowy wooded notes." Centzon Totochtin - "Bittersweet Mexican cocoa with rum, red wine, and a scent redolent of sacrificial blood." And Miskatonic University is probably your best bet for a coffee scent right now (note: The scent of Irish coffee, dusty tomes and polished oakwood halls). You would probably love Pinched With Four Aces, but that was limited edition and practically impossible to find now :/ (notes: Colorado Maduro tobacco wrappers, cinnamon bark, coffee bean husk, and dry woods). If you're interested in picking up a limited edition, El Dia de Los Reyes is currently available and has notes of "Hot cocoa with cinnamon, coffee, and brown sugar."

The phoenix labels are awesome <3. I'm so glad that I have bottles of all of those coming to me.