Little Bird

The Little Sparrow didn't sound at all like it would smell good to me, but my fiance always calls me his "Little Bird," so I had to buy this little bird perfume, lol. In the bottle... this smells surprisingly like a soapy shaving cream or aftershave that my father had when I was younger. I was expecting Little Sparrow to smell brown and dusty, but this smells clean, soapy, light green and white. On my skin, I have no idea what this smells like. It's sharp and sort of a tangy smell. It still smells soapy, but there's a strange something underneath the soapiness. A dry, slightly powdery something. Perhaps it smells like a small brown bird trapped in a box of laundry soap? I expected this to be powdery with the amber, with a dry woods from the sandalwood and seeds... but it's not. In the drydown, it smells like bright, cheery soap. The hint of powdery something didn't even stick around. It reminds me of soap that tries to smell like green meadows with a clear, chilly spring running through them, but it doesn't smell like meadows or water at all (it smells like soap), if that makes any sense, lol. It's 'refreshing' soap. So, The Little Sparrow is a very clean, bright soap scent on me. It doesn't smell anything like I thought it would. I really wanted to love this, but I'm not sure if I'll ever wear it again. I so rarely wear these clean, soapy-type scents.

Badger was the first Willows scent that I ordered. I love galangal and myrrh. In the bottle, this smells like a cross between King of Clubs and Destroying Angel. It smells like damp earth, oakmoss, and touches of almost spicy resins lifting it all up. On my skin, the earthy notes instantly begin to smell dry rather than of damp soil. I can definitely smell the galangal (a warm, almost chai spiced wood smell on my skin). In the drydown, this smells like paper, tree bark, and earth. It smells like sitting underneath the cool shade of a big tree in the summer, writing in a journal with black dirt scattered across the pages. The myrrh adds a bit of sweetness. It makes me think of trees and earth, still and comforting. In specific, it makes me think of sitting underneath a huge oak tree at recess when I was small, writing in my notebooks and playing with acorns in the dirt. This is a very faint scent on me, clinging close to my skin and not giving off much throw, but I really love it. I'm definitely keeping my bottle.

I'm not generally a fan of herbal scents and I have a hard time pulling off most floral blends, so I wasn't expecting much from Larentalia. This starts off as sharp, perfumey floral on me. It quickly mellows down into a soft, green herbal smell with hints of perfumey, clean florals. The herbal aspect smells strangely dry to me. It's a mesh of dry, green, herbals and clean, sharp florals on me, and I can't pick out any one note (but then, I'm pretty bad with florals and herbal notes). It reminds me of a lot of the Ars Moriendi blends... striking me as a sort of depressing, cool, nondescript floral.

It was the "frozen black berries" that excited me about this scent, even though bpal's amber is generally awful on me and I tend to like less complex rose scents. In the vial, this smells like musky fir. On my skin, this morphs instantly into a sharp, unpleasant musk and something minty & strange? Maybe I'm getting the "frozen" part and no blackberries. Sandalwood often goes smooth and slightly powdery on my skin, but bpal's amber notes turn to baby powder. The combination of sandalwood and amber here makes the drydown a powdery, dusty mess on me. I think I smell a bit of dry cedar as well, but it's not helping in this case... Lines just doesn't work with my skin chemistry. It's all musk and powder and no berries (no rose either, and I often amp up rose). It sounds pretty, and would probably be gorgeous on someone else, but it's not for me.

When I smell this in the decant vial, I'm instantly transported to being a small girl, helping my mother stain our deck. Something about this smells like the stain that we used, and reminds me of glossy wood. When I shake off that memory and force myself to try to pick out specific notes, I think that I can smell a gorgeous, golden sort of amber, the rosewood, and a sweet, dark incense. On my skin, it's much the same, but I'm getting an impression of something purple and almost fruity-sweet (the lavender, perhaps?). I don't smell any poppy, which I am grateful for, but I can smell the spicy, almost herbal rose geranium poking out from the dark incense and amber. I'm really enjoying the sweetness of this scent. I'm really intrigued by On Darkness. It smells sweet, dark, thick and yet airy. The amber isn't turning to powder or dust on me as it usually does. In the drydown, it smells of sweet, dark resins and incense, rose geranium, vanilla-amber, and something like the darkest, softest plum note ever. I'm definitely going to upgrade my decant of this to a full bottle or three

In the bottle, this is the soft orange note that others have mentioned and a waxy, sweet, warmth. I was expecting my skin to amp up the olive oil and smoke in this, but I actually don't smell any olive oil and I can only pick out a tiny hint of smokiness. Hanerot Halalu is a very light scent on me. It fades fast and doesn't have much throw. Still, it's a nice, comforting smell on me. It's a honeyed, warm, golden, waxy candle smell with just a bit of smoke in the background, like a candle that's still warm and has just been blown out. I think that my favorite candle wax type of scent is Thierry Mugler's Salon Rouge. Hanerot Halalu is probably too subtle and simple for me to wear it much. I might keep my decant and try layering it with other scents, though.

In the decant, Frau Holle smells like pine and soap. Thankfully, the soap disappears once it's on my skin. On my skin at first, I get sharp pine, sweet snow note, and perfumey musk. In the drydown, it takes on some medicinal, herbal tones. All in all, I don't care for it. I usually enjoy pine, but it's sharp and off for me here, and the musk and medicinal notes aren't helping it. Frau Holle isn't going to be a keeper for me.

I really dislike the way this smells in the vial, but it's even worse on my skin. In the bottle, it's crazed, sharp grapefruit and something 'off' that's reminding me of rotting fish (grapefruit perfume oils often smell rotten to me). I think I can smell a strange wood note in here as well. On me, this is insanely sour. Sour mess, burning wood, and rotten grapefruits. I was hoping that the violet would be a star player in this blend, but it's nowhere to be found. In the drydown, this smells really salty and sour and awful on me Mourning Moon is in the top five of my least favorite scents, I'd have to say. The label art is awesome, but the scent is a horrible mess on me. Blech.

Sniffing this in the bottle, I can definitely smell the soft, clean peach, neroli (which smells almost like tangerine to me), and a tiny bit of honeyed cream smoothing everything out. It also has a bit of green leaf type smell to my nose, and reminds me slightly of Eden. On my skin, unfortunately, this starts to go plastic-y. I recently had an issue with another company's peach oil turning to clean plastic smell on my skin, and that same thing is happening here. The other notes try their best to round out this scent for me. I can smell and love the honeyed cream and the sultry gardenia, but they're wrapped around a base of clean plastic . The gardenia here is gorgeous and strong, but my skin chemistry ruins the peach and gives the whole blend an odd, plastic smell that doesn't go away. I'll keep my bottle, because I love the label art for the Willows series, and hope that this ages a bit better for me.

I was a bit worried that this would be too spicy for me, but it's gorgeous and not at all overwhelming. This smells like the best, fresh baked sugar cookies, rolled in cinnamon sugar. It's not really boozy on me and I don't smell any almond or orange that I notice. This is perfect - just a gorgeous, spiced sugar cookie . Sometimes spices (especially cinnamon) give me a headache, but I'm loving this blend, even though it makes me crave Christmas cookies. I'm so glad to have a bottle of Butter Rum Cookie, and I'll be buying at least one more before it's discontinued.

In the bottle: cherry cough syrup, the extra bitter adult kind On my skin, it's even worse. It morphs into cough syrup and the sharp, chemical jab of cheap hairspray. It also smells strangely dry. And it's strong and headache inducing. I had to wash this off after about 15 minutes because it was making me and my fiance ill. It reminds me a bit of the Stardust blend, if Stardust were high on cough syrup and cheap wine. I'm definitely not keeping my decant of The Head of Holofernes, though I'd probably recommend it to people who love Stardust and wine blends. This blend is just very not-for-me.

Gelt 2008 smells NOTHING like Gelt 2010. I have both and was hoping the 2010 would be more like the 08 after some aging, but they're just not alike at all. Gelt 2008 smells like rich chocolate fudge and a sour, hay-like sort of amber note. It doesn't make me think of gold coins at all, but the amber cuts through the chocolate sweetness in a way that's rather appealing (and I normally don't care for bpal's amber notes). The 2010 version smells like baby powder, vanilla powder, and a hint of soap. The chocolate just isn't there at all, as far as I can tell. It's more of a powdery mess... I wish that bpal would be more clear & upfront when something is so heavily reformulated.

I hate the taste of black licorice, but I think it smells so sexy as a fragrance. In the bottle, Le Père Fouettard is a slightly smoky, black leather and a sweet black licorice. It reminded me briefly of Spanked, perhaps because it has the whip leather paired with a sexy sweetness. It's like the licorice has an extra, vanilla-esque sweetness to it too. On my skin, the sweet black licorice comes out in full force. The leather just clings to it lightly, barely even there, adding that smoky black leather hint to the overall blend. And that's how it stays on me, like black licorice sweetened with extra vanilla sugar and some smoky black leather. I love this. I'll definitely upgrade my decant to a full bottle or two before the Yule blends leave town.

In the imp and on my skin at first, Perchta is all pine. It's a bit sharp. There's also a sweetness here that reminds me of maple syrup. After a few minutes, the snow note creeps in and covers the pine, sweet and chilly. In the drydown, florals and musk take over, making the blend go soapy and sharply perfumey on my skin. The florals and musk in this are pretty sharp and perfumey, so this blend starts giving me a headache after a while. Soapy florals and musk with a hint of snow. I'm not a fan of this blend.

In the vial, this smells like very clean, cold, black pepper, though I'm not sure where I'm getting the pepper from. It smells very dry. On my skin, this is soapy and dry, and my skin definitely amps up the ozone. It has almost a sweet, fruity sort of smell to it at first, and I can smell the violet. 5 minutes after first applying this, I'm left with soap. As far as soapy scents go, this one isn't awful. It has a chilliness to it that I like, almost like bpal's snow note wrapped into a bar of soap. It only lasts about an hour on my skin, and smells like a creamy bar of snow scented soap, laying in a pile of dryer sheets. I also get a hint of smokiness before it disappears. Slant of Light isn't really my sort of thing, but it's nice for a soft, clean sort of fragrance. I amp ozone and have a hard time wearing it, but this is softer and more wearable to me than most ozone scents are.

A lot of the room sprays have been scents that would smell awful on me, but I wind up loving them as home fragrances. Samhain doesn't work on me at all as a perfume (morphs into something like stale cigarette smell), but this spray is really wonderful. I don't get any apple from the perfume oil, but there's a lovely apple cider type smell in this spray. There's a good amount of spiciness to this without smelling like crazed cinnamon and giving me a headache. It has that dark, dry, cool sort of spiciness that I love in the perfume oil before it touches my skin. I can smell the dry spiciness of fallen leaves and an autumn chill in the air. It really does make me think of jumping into a pile of dried, autumn leaves too (and right now it makes me sad that there's 4 feet of snow outside and no leaves to be found, lol). My picky, foodie-hating fiance loves this scent as well, so that's also a plus

I just had a drop of this to test, but I don't think I'll need more (thankfully). I get lots of buttery pumpkin from this, with an almost warm, amber type of smell, and perhaps a bit of light greenery for the first half hour. There's also a hint of soft, sweet lemon and dried grass type smell that I loved from Hay Moon. I can't pick out anything metallic, but it does start going slightly powdery on me over the hours.

This starts off as very buttery pumpkin on me, but I can't smell any of the pumpkin in the drydown. This is mostly tart, sweet, red fruitiness on me, with a red warmth from the musk. It's also a little bit incensey and has hints of sweet floral that seems to fade in and out. Every once in a while, I'll smell this and be able to pick out the carnation or rose in specific, but thankfully none of the jasmine comes out to ruin the blend for me. I like this. It's rather complex and I like how red it feels to me. I'm glad to have a few decants of this one

Ah'Duno is all cinnamon and dragon's blood on me, in the vial and on my skin. The cinnamon here isn't a pleasant, sweet, sugared cinnamon either. This is a sharp cinnamon. The dragon's blood isn't very sweet here either, but it does its usual rotten flowers thing on my skin. Rotten flowers and sharp cinnamon.

I really thought that I would love this, because I generally love all of the notes that it has listed in its description. In the vial, I could smell hints of the coconut and a fruitiness that reminded me of apple juice. On my skin, this is the most pumpkin-y of the pumpkin blends this year. It's a cloying, buttery, spiced pumpkin that holds its ground against the other notes. I agree with reviews that picked out a weird, maple syrup smell. Myrrh sometimes smells like a spiced syrupy scent on me, but I usually enjoy myrrh, and I'm not liking this blend too much. The fruitiness seems to morph into a sharp citrus in the drydown. Buttery pumpkin spice, 'off' maple syrup, and sharp citrus. I thought that this would be my favorite pumpkin this year, but no. (Pumpkin V is the definite favorite <3)

Sugar Skull and Samhain are both scents that I don't care for on myself, but I really like them as room scents. When I first spray this, it's almost like fruit punch with way too much sugar that's been spiked with some alcohol. The drydown is sexy, sugary, candy awesomeness. It's a little perfumey, a little spicy, a little fruity, and a lot sugary, in that almost-burnt, darker sugar sort of way. I'm glad to have a decant of this, and I might purchase a full bottle if I had the funds (alas, I do not). Even my boy likes this one, and was glad that it was a non-buttery sort of sweet fragrance.

I so hoped that this would be like a pumpkin spiced Perversion on me, but the black musk once again rears its ugly head and ruins a blend for me. On me, this is pumpkin spice candle plus cheap men’s cologne. Black musk always smells like cheap, cold, overwhelmingly musky cologne to me. That musk plus the hint of smoky leather smells like a man I’d never go out with... and now he's offering me a pumpkin spice candle. No thanks. I'm (obviously) not a fan of black musk, so this won't be a full bottle purchase for me. I might keep my decant in the hopes that the black musk mellows down, but I'm not hopeful. The black musk never mellows down for me, lol.

I so love the cute little imp label for this. I'm not really sure what to think about the scent, though. In the imp, it smells sharp and chemical to me (musk? really perfumey floral?), with perhaps a bit of unsweetened chocolate. Maybe a bit of wood or something nutty. I shook my imp up a lot, but the cocoa in it doesn't seem to want to rejoin the rest of the blend, lol. On my skin at first, this is musky, and it reminds me of a sharp, clean, frosty smelling white musk. There's a chocolate lurking in the background, and the oil is thick and dark like it's full of cocoa absolute, but this doesn't smell as amazingly decadent as it does in blends like Boomslang. I'm surprised that this actually isn't a sweet fragrance on me. 10 minutes later, I've got no chocolate and no caramel here (and no patchouli in sight). This is actually starting to smell like white mint and cinnamon on me. It's very pale and clean, and then has a hint of spice to it. Clean, pale, musky mint and a sharp little jab of cinnamon. And that's how it stays on me for about three hours before it disappears entirely. It doesn't have much throw on me, either. I'm not sure if this is something I'll wear again or keep my imp of. It sounds like it worked out better on everyone else.

In the decant, I smell this and my brain latches on to several different impressions (olives, warm wood, soft spice, and bubblegummy sweetness). And even with all of those odd impressions, I do think that this smells good. On my skin, this smells so familiar, comforting, and wonderful. It's also incredibly subtle on me; I have to press my nose up against my wrist to smell it at all. Bezoar is a warm scent that reminds me of some amber oils that I own - the sort of amber that makes me think of dry, aged woods heated in a sunbeam, with a touch of vanilla-like sweetness. And also, yeah, it smells a tiny bit like salty olives on me, lol. Thankfully, I really like olives. I'm glad to have a decant of Bezoar, and I'll have to think about getting a full bottle before the Carnaval leaves town .

I like foodie, sweet blends, but this Pumpkin goes way over the top on my skin. I love the sage and sweetgrass pumpkin from 07; and the original Pumpkin 5 blend with woods, ivy, and galangal might be my favorite fall scent. I had hoped that this would be along those same lines, with the pine, cedar, and sage. This blend is so syrupy sweet and cloying on my skin. I get buttery pumpkin, waxy vanilla candle, and a heavy zap of syrupy sweetness that I guess is the honey and cherry tobacco. It's very rich and overwhelming on me. I don't smell any pine, woods, or sage. This is crazy-sweet and buttery on my skin. I washed it off after a half hour...