Little Bird

Wow. Lysander is quite possibly my biggest perfume disappointment ever. I *love* the lab's blackberry, and I'm a big fan of tonka, lime, and lilac. I didn't think that there was any way that this couldn't be awesome. It really does have something of a burnt rubber and chemical smell to it though (which isn't like any tonka I've ever tried). At first there were hints of something like a burnt caramel sweetness (scorched creme brulee) to the overall sharp, chemical fragrance. I wore this all day in the hopes of it mellowing out and morphing into something else. At best, this is a cheap, slightly powdery, musky, men's cologne fragrance on me. It's sharp and unpleasantly smoky on my skin. Mostly, Lysander makes me smell like I got into some bad chemicals. It is nothing like what I've come to know from any of the listed notes. So strange, and so disappointing

This is another Salon blend that goes to generic floral perfume on my skin. At first there's a sharp citrus-like note and a hint of spicy-green carnation. After a couple minutes, this dries down to floral perfume. Perfumey, sharp, chemical-florals with an undertone of dry powder. Bleh.

Banded Sea Snake is one of the only BPAL aquatic blends that has really worked on me, so Kiyohime didn't have much of a chance on my skin. Kiyohime immediately turns to a sort of wet laundry & dryer sheets smell on me, with a sweet floral background (oddly, I don't get a fruity impression from this). It's like laundry washed in some sort of spring garden detergent, with a splash of something like sharp citrus. I don't like soapy or floral scents, so I'll be finding a new home for my decant of this one.

I'm not a fan of this blend. BPAL's pomegranate is sorta evil on my skin. It's very tart, heavy, & loud - like sweet tarts on steroids. Plus, it goes a touch powdery on my skin, in a dry and unpleasant sort of way. I get that heavy pomegranate for the first fifteen minutes or so and then the florals come out and this dries down to a chemical, department store floral fragrance. Sharp and perfumey. Definitely not a blend for me.

I haven't had good luck with many of BPAL's sort of Asian themed blends, but I was hopeful for this one. I love their Blue Lilac single note and my skin generally plays very well with cherry blossom, white sandalwood, and pear. I have a hard time with honey, but I even loved the honey & lavender combo in The Oblation. I had high highs for Spirit of the Komachi Cherry Tree and it really doesn't disappoint. On my skin, the beautiful cherry blossom and lilac are at the forefront. The lab's cherry blossom smells so sweet and cheery on my skin, like honeyed flower pollen and sunshine. The blue lilac is just like falling into a bunch of sweet lilac bushes. Together this is a floral that I can actually wear - sweet, sunny, happy. I actually cannot pick out any of the pear in this blend, but I get a touch of the powdery sandalwood after an hour or so. I also can pick out hints of a sweet lavender every once in a while. This is such a lovely blend to me. I'm generally a floral-hater, but the florals here are sweet and summery and not at all perfumey. I definitely want a full bottle of this one, and I'll need a bottle for my mum as well, since she loves lilac so much.

In the sample vial, this smells like dryer sheets and I was instantly put off (ozone pretty much always does that to me). Surprisingly, this isn't a heavy ozone on my skin though. I do amp up a smoky, dark leather though, which isn't something I really love either. I don't know what half of the notes in this should smell like, but I can definitely pick out the leather. After a half hour or so, a very clean or coldly metallic feel pops up behind that leather note and the aggressive smokiness calms down. Macbeth and the Witches isn't as strong a scent as I thought it would be. It dries down to a light leather and cold soapiness on me. I'm not picking out the heavy ozone or spiciness that others have mentioned, but maybe my weird skin chemistry amps up the leather and twists the ozone into soap.

Incense blends are pretty hit or miss on my skin. I love the spicy and powdery feel of Priala, and I love the smooth, sweet darkness of Midnight Mass. Those two, along with Cathedral, have ended up being my true keepers of the incense/resins. I dislike those types of blends when they have a sort of bright sharpness to them. I seem to do better when the blends are more on the simple side as well; I end up not liking resins that have extra fruit, musk, or floral type notes in them (Minotaur, Lycaon, & Haloa are some of the blends that were duds on me). I am on the fence about Philosopher in Meditation, but this probably won't be a keeper for me. I'm not sure why it didn't dawn on me that this would be fruity. It has that grapey-sweetness that is similar to Urd (which I thought I loved, but that fruitiness made me sick after a while) layered with a sharp smokiness. In the drydown, a smoky, sweet honey seems to take over the blend. In the background I can still smell that dark fruitiness and something of a smoldering, woodsy incense. I actually might like the soft, almost powdery woods here, but I have a hard time wearing wine and honey notes. Philosopher in Meditation is, I think, a little too much on the smoky side for me, and perhaps a bit too sweet.

I hoped that Cancer would be a green, damp sort of scent from the wild lettuce and wild pear. I had visions of it smelling like a wild garden of sorts. Unfortunately, this is allll sweet pea on me. It's a very soft scent that clings close to the skin, but it did last for about six hours on me, so it has decent staying power. It just turns into a sickly sweet, perfumey, girly floral on my skin.

I like this more as a room scent than an actual perfume. It's clean (slightly soapy), sweetened by the honey, watery like melons & cucumbers, and has some fresh florals playing about. On me, the florals or something turn sharp and overwhelming (chemical-esque like cheap hairspray), but in the oil burner they seem to stay calm and just add a crispness to the blend. In the burner it reminds me of clean laundry just taken out of the washer and not yet dried. I like it well enough to use up my decant as a room scent, but I don't like it enough to try to find more of Selkie. I wish that I were getting the leafy greenery that others have mentioned.

To be fair, I generally dislike BPAL's tobacco and black musk, so I wasn't hopeful for this to begin with, lol. On me at first this is black musk and lavender. It's very herbal and very cheap, musky men's cologne. Dark, herbal, musky. In the drydown (after about an hour) the tobacco comes out smelling thick and smoky. It's very masculine to my nose and very not-me. I was excited about the dark vanilla, but this is just musky and herbal on my skin.

I went with a half decant of this blend, just because I can't wear BPAL's amber notes and I'm not a fan of ozone. I don't know why, but BPAL has the only ambers I've come across that turn to pure, heavy baby powder and dust on my skin. The amber makes this unbearably dry and powdery for me, and the ozone lends its usual dryer sheet presence. Oddly, this doesn't strike me as aquatic or rainy because it turns so dry on my skin. Thunder Moon smells like dusty dryer sheets on me .

I get dragon's blood, a warm musk, and way too many florals from this blend for the first half hour or so. I really don't like the lab's dragon's blood note because it smells sickly sweet on me, like flowers rotting in a vase of old water. I get that impression strongly from The Unheavenly City – lots of rotting flowers. In the drydown the floral aspects of this seem to calm down, and I'm left with a slightly spicy, warm musk that goes more powdery over time. I'm kind of glad that I don't love any of this year's convergence blends, saving myself from hunting them down on ebay, lol.

I was so excited to try this, since a few people have described it as a wet stone smell. I'm always looking for something that smells like wet stones or wet pavement. Unfortunately, I don't get that impression from Shanghai Tunnel, so my quest for wet pavement scents continues. I digress. In the imp I can smell a sharp, almost metallic aquatic and the chill of eucalyptus/menthol. In the drydown it's something of a dark, chilly, menthol & juniper on my skin, with more of green, sharp moss and dry woods coming out over time. Shanghai Tunnel is cold, sharp, and masculine on me. Not a favorite.

Temple: Goetic smells very floral to me. Primarily, this smells like jasmine and lotus. The jasmine here is sweet, heady, and has a slightly herbal edge, backed up by the bubblegummy lotus. The jasmine has an almost smoky quality to it. This is a sweet floral. Unfortunately, jasmine is one of my least favorite floral notes, and it gives me a headache in this blend.

I'm crap at picking out floral notes (perhaps because they often turn to crap on my skin, lol) so I'm at a loss as to exactly what flowers are in this. Lots of people have mentioned jasmine, but this doesn't do the usual strange turn that jasmine does on my skin. It has that unbearably sharp, headache-inducing, chemical scent that I get from 'white floral' blends. In the drydown, Lydia becomes a bar of unbearably sharp, floral soap. Not a blend for someone who doesn't like sharp florals.

On me, Crumpet Rebellion is like the blackberry cobbler of Closet (but sharper, more dry, and tart smelling) with the addition of Eat Me's hyper-sweet currants, and more of a buttery-caramel-crust smell to it. It is *very* buttery on me for several hours, and thus my boy hates this oil. I like buttery fragrances, but I don't like the strange twist this takes on my skin after an hour or so. The fruitiness seems to disappear and a heavy, caramelized-sugar note is popping out, but there's a sharp note underneath it all that doesn't seem to be meshing on my skin. Almost a sharp, dark muskiness or a perfumey resinous note? This is an okay scent. It has great staying power on me, but not a lot of throw. I wish I were getting the spice or cream that other reviewers have mentioned, instead of that weird muskiness. I guess I'm thankful that I'm not in love with this (I don't even want to know how much I'd have to pay for a bottle on ebay ). I own a lot of similar enough scents that are much better on my skin. I love Closet, and Eat Me has also grown on me a lot with aging (becomes less crazy-sweet and more creamy). My ultimate blackberry pastry scent is still Child Star's Berry Best from Starring Fragrances though. I'll be passing along my half-decant so that someone else can try it.

I'm terribly afraid of spiders, but I love bpal's spider-themed scents (this, Arachne, and The Obsidian Widow are all favorites). This is gorgeous, and it's especially amazing as an aged scent. I don't generally care for the black musk note (smells like cheap men's cologne on me), but I don't get a lot of musk from this. I get tons of sweet, spicy clove and a bit of dry, spicy wood. It's very rich and warm. It's a sexy, deep sort of scent, but it's also sort of cozy, like a warm hug. This smells dreamy on my husband, but he also loves the scent on me.

(First of all, I just want to say that I adore abejita's review for this blend, it had me laughing out loud ) I agree that the lavender is strong and dominating in this blend. Sadly, it's a sharp and astringent sort of lavender to my nose. I like lavender when it's sort of cool, creamy, and has a sweeter edge. After a half hour or so, this does calm down a lot and get a bit creamier. The orchid gives it a bit of a smoother, juicier edge, I think. The resins also creep in and give this a slightly darker feel. Unfortunately, I am fond of the drydown (resinous orchid = yum) but this fades really fast on me. It's very light and only lasts a couple hours. I'm glad that I got a decant of this one. I wouldn't need a full bottle, but I'll wear it every once in a while to experience the drydown stage again

This is another pretty nondescript floral for me. I can't pick out any of the listed notes. Usually I find myself liking 'skin musk,' but there's a sharp muskiness about this blend. In the drydown, it takes on a creamier aspect... but mostly it just goes to baby powder on me pretty quickly . After 15 minutes this is all baby powder, probably thanks to the fact that I have trouble wearing BPAL's amber notes.

When I first got this, it was perfumey rose with powdery violet and soapy lily. After aging, this has gotten a lot sweeter & warmer smelling. It almost kinda reminds me of hazelnut or chestnut and rose with a bit of powder and violet candy. It's okay, but not my favorite rose scent.

Hm. Am I the only person who *didn't* like Hungry Ghost Moon? lol. It ended up smelling like musky dryer sheets on me. Tamamo-no-Mae fairs much better on my skin than HGM did. Like everyone else has already mentioned, this does smell rather peachy on my skin, but it's a dried peach or candy peach sort of scent on me rather than a juicy one. Over time, this scent gets very musky on me, but I generally enjoy the skin musk blends. I get that light, dry fruitiness, creamy musk, hints of florals that I can't identify, and swirls of a light, spicy ginger popping up every once in a while. This is a nice, pretty blend... I don't normally wear these fruity-floral type of scents, but I'll keep my decant around.

I am fond of BPAL's rose blends (especially The Peacock Queen & Parlement of Foules), so I was saying for months that the only way I'd pass on Rose Moon would be if it had opium poppy in it... and lo and behold, lol. I also love BPAL's blue lilac and patchouli leaf notes. Of course, my skin totally amps up the opium poppy. Rose Moon is all sharp, harsh opium poppy with hints of soured roses in the background. I'm glad I trusted myself and just went for a decant of this'n.

I can barely remember trying out the original Blue Moon. I do know that I was rather fond of it (though it never fell into total LOVE for me, thankfully). I do know that this new version smells nothing like that old one. I remember the original starting out with a lot of crisp juniper and then drying down to something of a sugared floral, juicy melon-esque something, and lots of fresh cucumber. In the bottle it smells of crisp, watery juniper and some sharp florals. On me, Blue Moon 2007 starts out a sharp, intensely soapy floral and then dries down to a light baby powder with hints of soap. Thankfully, this doesn't have great staying power on me either. My decant is already getting packaged up and moving on to a new home.

In the bottle, Tokyo Stomp smells like wintergreen toothpaste and dry chocolate cookies to me. The boy said it smells like toffee... but he is possibly insane, so we'll ignore him for the moment. On my skin... yup, this smells just like those chocolate-mint girl scout cookies. It's definitely more a chocolate-mint than a vanilla-mint on me. It's a dry sort of chocolate and a crisp mint, with the mint taking over more in the drydown. Tokyo Stomp has poor staying power on me, but it's a nice, simple, happy scent while it lasts.

In the bottle and on my skin at first this seems to war between wanting to smell like cherry pie and wanting to smell like strawberry bubble gum. It smells hyper sweet at first, and then more tart and cherry pie-esque for a while. The comparisons to scented My Little Pony & Strawberry Short Cake dolls are pretty accurate for me. It does smell like cherry/strawberry scented dolls. It's simple and cheap smelling (almost plasticy or musky). This is definitely a fakely sweet cherry and cream rather than a true or decadent one on my skin. And I do find that strangely appealing, though I'm not sure I'd ever wear this. After a half hour or so, this takes on an especially cheap, trashy, musky sort of smell. Bloody Mary really makes me think of dolls. It kinda makes me want to put on some over the top makeup, wear something cutesy and doll-like, and sit around smiling like a mindless pretty-something. I don't know if I like this or if it's just scary.