Little Bird

I've put off reviewing Hi'iaka because I have trouble describing florals. This one is light, slightly perfumey, a touch soapy, and an overall tropical fruity-floral mishmash to my nose. I don't like scents that go perfumey or soapy, but somehow Hi'iaka actually isn't unpleasant. I probably wouldn't ever wear it, but it's still a nice, clean, tropical floral scent.

Huh. This doesn't remind me of Pumpkin Queen or Jack or really anything I've tried from bpal before, perhaps because I amp up the cinnamon in this like mad. Pumpkin Cheesecake does remind me a bit of the Child Star's Trick R Treat scent from Starring Fragrances though, which makes sense since they both have the pumpkin pie and graham cracker crust going for them. This is less complex and more spicy on me though. I was afraid to try this blend because I didn't like whatever rancid cream cheese/cheesecake note was in the original Beaver Moon, but I don't get a soured cream cheese note from this at all (a good thing). I seem to amp up the spice in 'Pumpkin Cheesecake' over everything else though. It really does smell like pumpkin pie loaded with brown sugar and cinnamon. In the drydown, I get a hint of dry, sweet graham cracker underneath the spicy pumpkin pie filling. This is a great blend if you like a spicy pumpkin pie sniff and have to have a BPAL interpretation of that concept. As it is, it's too spicy for me. I amp up the cinnamon and it starts to give me a headache after a while.

This one is too hyper sweet and simple for my tastes (and I -love- Midway) with an odd fruitiness on my skin. If I sniff this up close on my wrists, it smells like tart fruit punch and weird, plastic-y vanilla. If I don't press my nose up against it and let it sort of waft about, then it smells like vanilla frosting and marshmallow fluff. That weird fruit punch and plastic really puts me off, though. I actually really wish this smelled like sugary play-doh on me, lol. I'd love that. Play-doh is good memories.

I so wish that I could pull off aquatic blends. I wish that I had the sort of skin chemistry where they smelled more natural. Mary Read sounds so beautiful on so many other people. I would love to get salt soaked logs and sea breezes from this. On me, though, Mary Read smells like salt soaked soap and a clean leather with some sort of spiciness in the drydown. The soapy leather is definitely not my sort of fragrance. This is a pretty strong scent on me too, with lots of throw. This would be gorgeous on someone who can pull off aquatic blends, I think.

Murder of Crows was probably my biggest disappoint of this year's Halloween goodies. I love crows. I think that they're so intelligent and beautiful. Next to owls, they are my favorite animal. This scent just doesn't seem to fit my impression of them in any way. It's perfumey, lemony, slightly soapy, and sharp with a drydown of sharp lemons and baby powder. Something about it gives me the impression of used lemonsoap dishwater. It's not dark, complex, or 'smart' enough for me. Too simple, chemical, and clean. I want to be able to wear crows but at least my little 1/3 decant will be enough...

The notes in this don't play very nicely on my skin. I like certain fruity blends (peach, apricot, apple, and melon notes seem to be my fruity bpal favorites), but I have a hard time with grape and pear scents for some reason. On my skin, this is mostly a sickly sweet pear and the grape kind of smells like grape bubble tape on my skin, before drying down to an almost fizzy grape soda. Something in this gives off a clean, crisp feel in the drydown and that might be the pear calming down a bit or the jasmine tea coming into the picture. The pumpkin in this blend is more buttery than it was in the other patch scents (at least on me), but it's also lighter. It's like a hint of buttery pastry and a light touch of spice underneath the crazed grape and crisp tea or pear. Mostly this is sweet grape on me, but it has hints of a crisp, clean something and the buttery pumpkin spice. It's a strange combination that, unfortunately, also smells rather strange once it's on me.

I put off trying this Pumpkin because I was afraid of the tobacco in it, but I don't get any tobacco from this at all. This is really a lovely scent, and one of my favorite of this year's Halloween offerings. I love the lab's carnation note, and though this isn't quite like some of the other carnation blends I've smelled, it's still wonderful. Rather than smelling like a fresh cut carnation, this is more of a dry, warm blend on me. In the vial this smelled like straight buttery pumpkin, but on my skin it morphs into something like dried flowers and a hint of pumpkin. I think it's the combination of the champa flower and carnation that I'm loving. On my skin this smells almost like a sweet floral incense and a spicy, dried carnation mixed with a warm, buttery pumpkin note. Really nice. I might get a full bottle of this

I am strangely attracted to the concept of this scent, but it really doesn't work on me. This reminds me of being 15 years old and at a bonfire party, irritated when some drunk woman spilled beer on my shoes. I really don't like a lot of boozy scents, and beer just isn't something I want to smell like. Bonfire Night has that cheap, dirty, gritty smell to it. I get tons of woodsmoke from this (that smell that clings to your hair and clothes when you spend too much time by the campfire), with an undertone of cheap beer. In the drydown, the booziness fades off and I get a heavy burnt sugar note from this. It's crazy sweet and, like Sugar Skull, ends up being way too sweet for me to handle. I do get something of a hazelnut coffee smell from this, as others have mentioned, but it smells as though its been drowned in burnt brown sugar for me. Bonfire Night is too smoky and too sweet for me.

Huh. This actually isn't as overwhelmingly floral as I was expecting. I get a burst of greenery at first that reminds me of moss and trampled vines with an undertone of zingy sweetness that I'm guessing is coming from the berries. It's a bit sharp on me and then morphs into a powdery floral stage before it dries down to a tangy ozone. Within a half hour this is like sweet, floral soap and dryer sheets on my skin. I'm not getting a heated warmth from this like I did with Bayou. I was hoping for a darker, nighttime version of Bayou, but this winds up being more like a clean floral when its faced with my skin chemistry.

I tried this on thanks to a dear friend (<3) and wasn't wowed with it, though it is interesting. The cognac in this doesn't work for me, but thankfully it isn't very strong either. There was a hint of nailpolish remover-like alcohol fragrance underneath a dry woods note for the first 10 minutes or so on me. When that disappears, this is pretty much a simple woods smell. It's a bit too dry and dusty for me, and also has a hint of something smoky to it. Over time, it gets a bit more musty and earthy. The impression that it left with me was of a dusty, musty woods and earth blend. Not a foresty scent, but more evocative of a rundown building, as its description goes for. Interesting, but not something I'd wear.

I love tea rose and I'm fond of certain types of violet, sandalwood, and lavender. Calla lily smells like soap and dryer sheets on me though, or at least it did when I tried it in single note form. In the vial, this smells disappointingly sharp and perfumey with an undertone on soap. After giving the Atrocious Attic a moment to settle on my skin, the sharpness calms down a bit and the soapiness disappears entirely (yay). The tea rose hops to the forefront for a few minutes and tea rose is one of my favorite lil scents. It always smells like a bit of a sugary-sweet rose on my skin. There's still an aged, almost-musky perfuminess that I'm not crazy about, but it doesn't overwhelm the lovely rose note. The lavender creeps around a bit in the background, smelling a bit astringent and herbal. And then the powdery notes come in. Sandalwood and violet both have a tendency to go to baby powder on my skin, and they amp up like mad in the drydown of this scent. This winds up smelling like a dry, dusty, nondescript sort of floral bouquet with a background of baby powder on me and just a hint of rosy sweetness. I don't get the chocolate or cocoa that a few other people have mentioned. It does have a feel of a dried wedding bouquet and aged floral perfumes with lots of dust and powder. Interesting, but I probably won't wear this much.

I was interested in the red clay note in this, but really nothing else in its description appealed to me. I have a hard time wearing wine and blood notes, and vinegar isn't something I've ever aspired to smell like. I agree that this smells similar to Centzon Totochtin and The Tell-Tale Heart, which are both blends that didn't work on me. I wonder if this has the same blood musk that Tell-Tale Heart does? This starts off smelling of sharp, rotten fruit (oh yay, wine) and a really perfumey, warm, dry musk on my skin. Then this blend quickly morphs into an incredibly dry baby powder and dust scent on me with an oddly metallic undertone. Sometimes I think I catch hints of a fruity something that actually isn't too bad, but this is way too dry and powdery overall for my tastes.

On me, Pumpkin Queen smelled like a yellow spice cake with orange cream cheese frosting. It's one of my favorite Halloween foodies, so I was excited to see that Pumpkin #5 has so many similar notes. They do smell a bit similar in their bottles to my nose, but Pumpkin V is less sweet & creamy and has more of a spicy kick to it. At first on my skin, I worried that this would turn into red hots candies. It has that sort of hot, almost cinnamon spiciness to it. Thankfully this never smells as obnoxious as red hots candies, lol. The drydown of this smells just like gingerbread men on me, actually. The ginger is smooth and spicy, but not overly spicy, and it's really calmed down and mellowed by the other sweet notes. Pumpkin #5 smells like gingerbread men on me in its drydown. Spiced cookie, vanilla frosting details, and orange candies for buttons. The amped up spice makes it very different from Pumpkin Queen, I think. It winds up being a smooth and creamy spice on me that I actually like and could see myself wearing from time to time. This blend has potential to give me a headache from being so spicy, but I think I can get away with wearing this on days when I'm actually craving this type of fragrance. Next to Pumpkin #4, this is my second favorite of the Halloween blends.

Mmm. I love this blend. Pumpkin #4 is my definite favorite of this year's pumpkin patch. I'm not too surprised, because Pumpkin V from the first Pumpkin Patch is my all time favorite pumpkin blend (five woods, English ivy and galangal root). It smelled like a natural pumpkin patch in fall to me, and Pumpkin #4 is definitely in that same family. This is like Pumpkin V's sweeter, southwestern cousin. In the bottle, Pumpkin #4 has a similar crisp-fall-air-over-dead-leaves smell to it at first that I love in Pumpkin Patch V, but there's also a green, herbal tone to this that is a bit sharp, though not sharp enough to bother me. On my skin, a smoky sage wafts out and dominates. I normally hate smoky scents and I loathe sage from the bad childhood memories it brings me, but this manages to smell sensual and comforting to me. It brings to mind the burning of a beautiful and exotic incense to for the first 10 minutes or so. I wanted a true dead/falling leaves fragrance this year and this blend comes the closest to that idea. I'm glad this plays so well on my skin and that I don't amp up the cactus blossom. On me, this is a beautiful blend of all of its listed notes, and all of the notes are playing verrry nicely. The cactus blossom and the pumpkin seem to sweeten up on me and lend a creamy touch to the whole blend. The sage becomes less smoky but still adds a sensual bit of magic in the drydown and keeps this blend smelling rather dry and fall appropriate. The sweetgrass just seems to chime in with what smells like a hint of dying meadow grass. All together this is just fantastic on me. I think this is my definite Halloween love of this year. Creamy, sweet floral and pumpkin, dry and sensual sage, and a dose of dry meadow grass. I'm really happy that this works so well on me

Pumpkin III reminds me of a less nauseating, smoother version of Jack in the vial with its strong, buttery pumpkin notes. On my skin, this doesn't remind me of Jack at all though. I was afraid of the pomegranate in this blend because BPAL's pom tends to smell bitter and overly tart on me. Surprisingly, the fruitiness in here actually strikes me as a mellow raspberry more than what I usually associate with pomegranate. I get a raspberry-like fruitiness dominating the blend with a good dose of something that smells like brown sugar and a hint of sweet spice (perhaps the pumpkin and caramel playing well together?). I really wish that more of the 'cream' note was apparent on my skin. Pumpkin III is probably a bit too fruity for me, but this is still a really lovely blend of sweets, spice, and fruit.

The Lurid Library was favorite of mine from my initial sniffing of my decants while they were still in their vials On my scrambled notepad from when I first tried it on, I wrote that it smelled of antique perfume, aged books, and old antiques that have recently been polished clean. It's not so lovely on me though, which is heartbreaking. On me this is like a sharp, white floral perfume of the variety that gives me migraines. I immediately thought of sharp tuberose or opium poppy when this blend hit my skin. Perhaps it's the musk that's go so intensely perfumey on me. After waiting this out for a half hour there are hints of something wonderful underneath that sharp perfume, something that truly smells like aged paper. The boldly perfumey notes just kill the greatness of this blend. The Lurid Library is like bottled headache for me

In the vial this is a hypersweet pear, almost like some sort of pear candy that was rolled around in extra sugar crystals. It's a bit sickeningly sweet to me. My boy loves candy scents and even he said it was too sugary. However, on my skin, the pear instantly vanishes without a trace. No matter how much I slather, the pear does not translate over once the oil touches my skin. On me the vanilla obviously takes over, but it's incredibly light and turns to baby powder. It entirely disappears within a half hour. For a powdery scent, I actually don't hate this, but it's too light and disappears too quickly for me to splurge on a full bottle of it. The Perilous Parlor is lacking any actual pear, but it's an okay vanilla powder fragrance.

I normally love all of the notes in Libra, so I'm not sure why this isn't awesome on me. In the vial and at first on my skin this is a sharp, heavy rose (almost sour, but not unpleasant to me) and thick cherry cough syrup. After 15 minutes or so the medicinal twist wears off and I'm hit with a strangely tart, sharp something that smells just like lemonhead candies on me. The rose stays dominant and reminds me a bit of the bold, spicy sort of rose that is in Whip, but then the whole blend just goes to a sharp soap after about a half hour. I can pick out the heavy rose, an awful cherry note, and something that smells lemony before I'm left with nothing but heavy rose soap.

I wanted this for the red leaves and sap, hoping that it would be a true scent of fall trees with the dead leaves and the sweetness of real sap. This is green, grassy, and smoky on me though. It brings to mind a meadow with grass that is just starting to die, but it has a sharp sourness to it that also makes me think of sweat and freshly cut lawns. It's a pale, odd green on me. The 'touch of smoke' dominates the drydown and I smell like I've wandered through a bonfire. I don't like smoky scents or the way this goes sour on me, so October is one for my swap pile.

In the bottle I get a definite punch of vetiver, and it's the kind of vetiver that I hate. It smells smoky and off, like charred mesquite bbq. On me, this is like a bad mixture of the mesquite vetiver in Azathoth and the wet ash of Brimstone. I suppose that this could be evocative of a campfire setting with the bbq and rained out bonfire smell it has on my skin, but I really don't like this one. I was hoping that one of the autumn blends would smell like actual fall to me with the true scent of dead leaves, but this doesn't do that for me.

In the decant vial this is high pitched and sharply herbal with a cold mix of medicinal menthol. On my skin, The Twisted Oak Tree reminds me a bit of Hurricane at first. It has a bit of powdery-sweet earthiness mixed with something like fruity berries as the undertone. The drydown of this is really strange on me though. I love woodsy scents and ivy and I can find neither of those things in this blend. I find myself wondering if I've got the same blend everyone else does. I accidentally rubbed some menthol-vaseline-lip balm on my hands a while ago (thought it was my cuticle butter) and this smells just like that unpleasant experience before going oddly smoky to my nose. After 5 minutes on my skin I thought that this smelled like menthol and a dirty ash tray (smoky, dirty, and not-good). My boy said he didn't get the ash tray comparison, but that it just smelled like "vaporub" to him. This will be making its way to the swap pile for me, it definitely doesn't agree with my skin or my nose.

It's almost not really fair for me to review this. I hate tobacco, leather, jasmine, BPAL's opium, and most of the amber notes that the lab uses. They're notes that just don't work on my skin or with my nose. I hate smoky scents, powdery scents, sharp florals... There was no real way that I was going to like Kubla Khan. I think that my friend just gave it to me as some sort of evil joke. The jasmine definitely goes soapy on me in this blend. Opium is as bad on me as it always is, an incredibly sharp, stinging, burning sort of chemical-ness that reminds me of cheap hairspray, but worse. I also catch hints of a sharp citrus in this, but everything about this blend on my skin is sharp and cutting. Soap, hairspray, and a splash of orange citrus. Tea leaf, sugared lily, hay, and dark vanilla would be amazing on me, but I can't find any of those notes in here. To be fair, I only wore this for 45 minutes and it still hadn't mellowed out enough for me. This was starting to get a bit sweeter, perhaps thanks to the vanilla notes, but not enough to save Kubla Khan. I just can't wear the opium.

I was most excited about the Cat because I love chocolate-lavender pairings, but I honestly don't get any chocolate or lavender from this blend at all. Once I got over that initial disappointment, though, this is a fantastic, cheery little citrus blend. My first thought was that this reminds me of Croquet (probably because of the lime and pink grapefruit that they share), but Croquet went soapy on me and Schrodinger's Cat stays citrus and lovely. This smells a lot like some sort of juice that I'd love to drink. Citrus has a tendency to go sharp on my skin, but this blend stays juicy and sweet on me. I get mostly the sugary lime and sweet pink grapefruit. The sweet grapefruit reminds me of Cheshire Cat, but where Cheshire is smoothed out with lavender and chamomile, Schrodinger's Cat is smoothed out with a soft, green moss giving it a more grounded, earthy, herbal-green feel. I get a hint of cool mint every once in a while if I try to pick it out, but it smells almost watery and subdued. Mostly this is tart, juicy, sweet citrus on me that actually doesn't go sharp or soapy. Hints of a fuzzy, green moss and watery mint lurk around in the background. Like Cheshire Cat, this kitty is another citrus blend that I can actually pull off. Plus, I think I need a full bottle of this one just for the adorable label .

I like Incubus at first. I get a sticky-sweet, warm, gooey caramel beaten down by a chill of mint and a hint of an herbal sage note. The other notes cut the sweetness of the caramel very well. I normally hate the smell of sage, but it's a pleasant addition to the caramel and mint here. Then this dries down to exactly what I was afraid of, a scent dominated by tobacco. The tobacco just smells dirty to me, not like something I would want to personally smell like. Mix tobacco with the caramel and I get an overpowering, sickly sweet, caramelized, dirty tobacco smell. It reminds me of the chewing tobacco my father used to have laying around constantly. The black musk pops out in the drydown as well and strengthens over time, giving off that chilly, smoky, men's cologne musk that I'm not fond of either. I think that Incubus could be really sexy on the right guy. It has potential to be a great gourmand, masculine blend. My boy doesn't like the tobacco smell either though, so I'll be swapping this one.

I opted for a decant of Aeaea (which I cannot pronounce at all, lol) because of my history of having trouble wearing ozone or aquatic blends, and my fear of snowdrop as a perfumey, sharp, white floral note. I loved the thought of the aloe and woods though. On me, this is fruity dryer sheets. It reminds me of those tropical breeze laundry soap items. Aeaea goes softer and a bit more powdery for a bit, almost subtle enough to just be a clean skin scent, but then snowdrop rears its perfumey little head and the blend takes a sharp turn. Over time this takes on more of that musky, sharp, nondescript floral perfume scent that I hate. I might recommend this to someone who likes clean, white floral blends.