Little Bird

The boy and I love pine/forest scents, so I snagged a partial bottle of this one for him. On me, this starts out a somewhat sharp evergreen, and then mellows down to a sweet pine sap for a bit (I love this stage) before drying down into nothing but woodsmoke. It's way too smoky for me to wear, and I'm not a fan of the smoky-cedar smell. It just makes me smell/feel dirty. It works out well for my boy though, because he wanted this simply for the 'woodsmoke' in the description. He has been dabbing a little bit of this underneath his other colognes (mainly Givenchy Pi, which is one of his favorite pine scents) and it just adds a sensual, foresty smokiness. It makes him smell like he's been out camping overnight, only cleaner, lol. I'm glad we have a couple mls of this one. It smells delicious on the boy when it's layered underneath some of his other colognes. It's not one that I would ever wear, and the boy said he wouldn't want to wear it on its own though. Still... very fun for layering purposes .

This blend reminds me a little bit of Dirty's sweet, almost-floral laundry soapiness. It is like Dirty covered in heaps of grass clippings and dandelions. Green, a pleasant bitterness, and a sweet soapiness. It does turn a bit more soapy on my skin than I would like, and it fades fast on me. My boy really loves this one for himself, but says that the poor staying power keeps him from wanting a bottle. Wish it lasted longer.

I love tonka, but I can't really pick the tonka out of this blend... and I'm not sure what exactly hops smell like, but this is a rather bitter, dry blend on my skin. In the drydown it gets a bit sweeter, though I wouldn't pick out cherry or tonka. A Bold Bluff is a dry, sweet tobacco on me. I'm not crazy about this one.

I expected this to be such a dark, heavy scent, but it really does have Buck Moon's soft, sweet musk. It's light, creamy, and almost reminds me of vanilla or tonka. With the leather, it reminds me a bit of Perversion (which is a blend I love on the boy these days). A Bachelor's Dog is a pretty simple scent with the soft musk and leather. I might enjoy this, but I really don't care for the smoky cigar scent that dominates in the drydown. I have an awful time wearing tobacco notes though.

Something about this smells exactly like green olives on my skin - sour, damp, very salty, and with a pinch of sweetness. It makes my mouth water. And it stays like that on my skin. I can go and sniff a jar of green olives in the kitchen, and that's exactly what Riding the Goat smells like on me. If I sniff very deeply, I can get hints of sweetly smoky something underneath it all. After 15 minutes... whoa. Now it has gotten a bit too sour. This smells a little like... pee... on me. Still, very salty and pungent. How strange. This doesn't smell like any BPAL I've ever tried before. It doesn't smell anything like any of the incense blends that I have. Something in this goes very soured on my skin. I definitely need to smell this on someone else.

Okay... this is going to sound weird... when I was little, my mother had these taco scratch-n-sniff stickers that she gave me... and that's exactly what this smells like in the vial and on my skin at first. Spicy taco stickers, lol. I kind of wish that it would keep that smell. In the drydown, this is a bit much for me. The slightly soapy rose mixed with dirty tobacco and cold leather makes me a little nauseous. I can pick out all of the listed notes, and it goes soapy and cold on my skin. Over time, this just gets sharper and more soapy as the rose water and 'perfume' amp up even more. Boo. The Dogs don't seem to agree with me

New Year's Eve in Dogville is interesting at first, but not at all wearable for me in the drydown. In the vial it does smell rather grassy, wet, and clean. It's like a lawn at night, covered in chilly dew. Something in here almost reminds me of cucumber or melon, but it's not as strong a note as either of those things. On me... this quickly morphs into the sharp musk from hell. It is the generic perfume scent of my nightmares; like my mother's old, musky perfume bottle that always smelled strangely off to me. Or like the heavy, cheap perfume that my sister-in-law uses to try to cover up the smell of her drunken binges. It smells like a very aggressive, sharp, cheap white musk. New Year's Eve in Dogville is one of those musks that makes my eyes water and will give me a headache pretty quickly. I had to scrub this off after fifteen minutes. Um. I hate this one.

In the vial this is verrry sweet coffee and something spicy, like peppered woods. On me... smells like lots of butterscotch, some coffee, and a bit of pepper in the background. After 5 minutes or so, this dries down to a very sweet, very warm scent. It's not in-your-face spicy, but it seems to radiate warmth. I can't really pick out any of the coffee. It smells like butterscotch and caramel with a background of spicy woods. I'm not getting the bitter, black coffee that others have mentioned at all. My skin seems to amp up the sweetness in this blend. I normally hate tobacco (smells just dirty & smoky on me), but I can't smell any tobacco in this blend. I think that I'm getting that peppery spice from the 'dry woods.' This ends up being one of those scents that I like and appreciate, but I'm not sure that I'd ever actually wear it. It reminds me a little bit of Tiresias, only sweeter and not as good or complex.

In the vial, this is one of the sharpest, soapiest scents I've ever come across. On my skin... the same. I wanted to know what 'wool' smelled like, but I don't think this is it. I asked my boy what he thought it smelled like, he said, "Cheap dish soap?" Then he refused to let me try it on him. I can't say I blame him. Kelly Pool is just awful on me.

I was hoping that this would be a dreamy blend for my boy, but it's not as smooth or creamy as I imagined it would be. White musk can either be crazy-sharp and reminiscent of cheap hair spray and chemicals on me, or it can be chilly, creamy, slightly sweet, and gorgeous. The white musk here is of that sharp variety to my nose. On me this is that sharp musk and cold leather. On my boy, it's pretty much just leather - cold and dark and very much not him. Where is the beautiful lilac fougere that I was anticipating?

Not at all fishy; rather, quite Springy! Innocence spiked with a little bit of foolishness: Lenten rose, crested iris, Virginia bluebell, primrose, moss phlox, blue crocus, daffodil, and dewy tulip with a touch of sugar blossom and honey. I keep trying floral perfumes in the hopes of finding ones that smell like real flowers. I especially cannot resist the daffodils; they are my favorite flowers and I love the way that they smell in real life. I like the smell of flowers, but I tend to hate the way they translate into perfume. Unfortunately, Poisson d'Avril is more perfumey, chemical flowers on my skin. I cannot pick out any of the listed floral notes, I just get a perfumey, flowery mishmash of scents coated in toothachingly sweet something. It does somehow still give off the impression of being bright and springy. I like this one more after a half hour or so on my skin, though it still isn't the sort of fragrance I'd personally wear. It lightens up on my skin and the sweetness calms down, taking on a sort of powdery quality. Powdery, light, bright florals.

I thought that I would adore Milk Moon 2007... I enjoy the original Milk Moon and I LOVE BPAL's fig note. Unfortunately, this is awful on my skin. I am not one of the lucky ones who got this to work with their skin chemistry. It really does smell like spoiled milk and overripe fruit. And it is sort of sharp and acrid like baby spitup. Really... really not something I want to smell, much less smell like. I wish this had been more like the original

I'm a Taurus, but I've never been fond of that whole 'May flowers' cliché that my birth month seems to get stuck with. I opted for a decant of this one after reading the list of notes, and I'm glad I did. The oil seems to have a psychotic episode on my skin, like it can't figure out who it is and none of the notes are working together. It's sharp, it's herbal, some mint is hopping around, it throws out some intense soapy notes... after 20 minutes or so, it finally settles into a sickly sweet apple blossom and soap, then it fades away. Thankfully, this doesn't have very good staying power at all on me. This definitely isn't a scent for this Taurus. Thanks for the decant anyhow, Cass.

Definitely get Tamora . It's one of the most beautiful BPAL scents I've ever tried... warm and sparkling. Very pretty. I also love Caliban (exotic rainforest scent) and Jester from the Illyria series. It'd probably be a good idea to read over reviews, see if your friend likes florals, and pick out a varied imp pack. But definitely get Tamora

I'm not crazy about cinnamon in general (it's normally overpowering and sharp on me), but Cockaigne smells exactly like cinnamon toast to me, in that perfect-pastry sort of way. I was just sniffing my two 10 mls of it this morning and swooning . It's worth a try if you haven't checked it out yet.

In the bottle this kinda reminds me of Midnight on the Midway. Crisp, citrus air, midnight florals, and some candy sweetness. The boy said "flowers and citrus" and "smells nice." I was worried about the florals & fruit in this... I dislike jasmine and grapefruit especially. To my surprise, I really love this blend though. The words that keep popping into my head to describe it are 'tart and fluffy.' All of the notes are on their best behavior with not one of them going off or offensive on my skin. The florals here are sexy and sweet (slightly creamy and tart) rather than being the perfumey florals that I fear. The pink grapefruit isn't sharp like most of BPAL's citrus; it adds a tart, juicy twist to the blend. And the vanillas are... The vanilla comes out more in the drydown (as the citrus juiciness fades) and this just gets better and better. This Monster Bait is a floral that I can wear. (As an odd aside, Too Faced's quickie chronicle makeup palettes have a similar tart fruit & candied vanilla smell that I get from this - and I always wished I could smell like those palettes, lol). I'm rambling. I always ramble when I love a scent. This is great stuff. I'm definitely getting several more bottles when it is more readily available. ETA: The drydown of this smells exactly like La Maison de la Vanille's "Vanille Divine des Tropiques" on me.

My wee drop of this is quite hateful. It's definitely a perfumey floral, going all musky and sharp on my skin. It also smells sort of dry to me. I won't be trying to find more of this one.

I try to review everything that comes my way, and I've had a decant of Black Poppy for a while now. I really dislike the whole poppy/opium scent. It's pretty much my least favorite note. It makes me ill. Putting that prejudice aside... This actually smells very white to me. White, smoky, and hazy. And it goes all sharp on my skin. It almost wants to be sweet, but I can't get past that sharpness (almost metallic, like cheap hairspray). I suppose it's a warm, smoky, cutting floral. Not for me.

I never used Gainful Employment with a purpose or any intent, so this is a scent review only. To my nose, this was definitely spicy... a medicinal clove and sharp cinnamon. Too medicinal for me to want to wear it, and it gave my wrists that burning sensation that too much cinnamon often brings on.

Huh. On me this smells kinda like lemons and soap. It's sharp and sort of musky... but mostly just soapy on my skin. It lightens up a bit in the drydown, but then it's almost metallic and perfumey. I'll be gifting away my decant of this one.

Temple of the Loas starts off very pleasant on me - a wet, juicy, fruity rose sort of scent. A tropical rose. Then the drydown after fifteen minutes or so just turns into a nondescript floral and starts to get too musky and sharp for me. I wish that it stayed as juicy and sweet as it was initially.

BPAL's fig note is amazing. It has a dull sweetness and an almost wooden sort of smell to it. I like Carnal, but Intrigue was my ultimate fig fragrance. Mmm. But this isn't about fig perfumes, so back to the soap... I wish that the Carnal soap had a bit of a stronger scent, but it's pretty light and doesn't leave any scent on my skin after use. It has a nice, creamy lather and a delicious fig with hints of sweet orange fragrance. It's still a bit drying to my skin, but I generally do need lotion after washing anyhow. Carnal is a good little soap, though I dunno if I'd ever buy another bar. It doesn't wow me enough to justify the price tag. I'm just in the camp of people who like stronger scents, I suppose, lol.

The bottle art has gotten so snazzy lately. I get just as excited wondering about what the labels might look like as I do wondering about what the oil will smell like on me.

Miskatonic University soap doesn't smell much like the actual MU oil to me or the boy (which the boy likes, since he hates the sweet coffee smell of MU). My bar smells like a nutty, milky something more than a coffee. I've found the scents to be very light in the soaps anyhow. This has a nice, creamy lather to it that worked well with its creamy scent... not too drying, though I still need lotion after using it. It's an okay soap. I do wish these had more fragrance to them.

Black Pepper single note barely lasts for fifteen minutes on my skin. At first it's a sharp, aggressive, hot blast of pepper that makes my eyes water. In the drydown, it's softer and smells like dry pepper in the cabinet. I was surprised at how it sweetened up and softened in the drydown though; it was much more pleasant at the end. Still, a very light spice. It's so light that I probably won't have much use for it. The pepper generally doesn't last long on my skin when it's in other blends either.