Little Bird

A lot of the TAL blends have smelled really lovely to me. Determination is not one of them, lol. At first it has a rather pleasant resin smell, goldeny and myrrh-like. Then, after a few minutes, it smells like intensely powdery and overwhelming vetiver. And it is _strong_.

Florals and aquatics often don't work with my skin chemistry; a lot of florals give me headaches and aquatics tend to smell like dryer sheets on me. Still, some people mentioned lotus in this one, so I was hopeful (I like the bubblegummy scent that lotus has on me). First on... smells like sweet tarts. You know, that oddly powdery, tart candy-fruitiness that doesn't smell like real fruit at all. I'm not getting any lotus or aquatics though. 15 minutes later. Dryer sheets, sweet tarts, and a vaguely powdery floral scent. Maybe a bit of super sweet jasmine in the background as well? It's warmer than I thought it would be. Pisces is very light and I can barely smell it at this point though... and it's entirely gone before I reached the half hour mark. Sadly, no lotus for me

So much thanks to 1demondog for an imp of this one In the imp, Storyville smells warm, sweet, and light... sort of like a gentle waft of gingerbread cookies. On me... gingerbread cookies, a cool and humid breeze, and a hint of smoky incense. It smells misty and cool to me somehow, like being under a waterfall where particles of water are crashing and floating through the air. But, mostly, this is foodie and spicy on me. After a few minutes, the sweet gingerbread scent fades to the background and this is mostly smoky incense and something musky. After a half hour, Storyville smells like insanely sweet vanilla, bonfire smoke, and smutty musk on me. Unfortunately, the drydown is kind of making my head ache I love the way that this smells in the imp and on my skin at first, but the drydown isn't something that I could get away with wearing. It's too smoky, too sweet, too musky. I'm grateful for the chance to try this... and maybe I will try to use the rest of my imp up in a scent locket and see how that goes.

Aquarius is very menthol-eucalyptus on me. Sharply medicinal. After a few minutes, I think that I smell some powdery sandalwood behind the eucalyptus. I'm not getting the loud lavender or drydown of resins that others have mentioned, just an odd powdery woods and menthol fragrance. It's pretty light, and I am am thankful for that. Strange, medicinal, and simple on me... I can't see myself ever wearing this one.

I think that Lionheart has amber in it, because it smells like baby powder on me (BPAL's amber notes often go to powder on me). Also a hint of something sort of soapy and green. It's not great on me scent-wise, but it's not that strong on me either, so I don't notice the scent too much after applying.

Aged Bliss actually smells a lot like Lump of Coal on me, I've realized. In the drydown, I can barely tell them apart if I put them on separate wrists. Gluttony was hyper sweet and more maple syrup-candle on me than chocolate.

I'm one of the people who thinks that Ochosi is an excellent Buck Moon substitute . Actually, Ochosi smells like what I wanted Buck Moon to smell like. Buck Moon went soapy on me, but smells rather creamy and lovely in the bottle... Ochosi on me is like Buck Moon is in the bottle. Perhaps with a bit more honeyed sweetness than Buck Moon. Ochosi has been a 10 ml purchase for me. But that's just me. Coyote wasn't very similar at all on my skin.

The smell of this one kind of reminds me of orange soda, sweet and effervescent. I'm not fond of orange scents, but this one is sweet and pleasant to me. My insomnia issues lately have left me completely wired and out of it at night, and then tired all day when I have actual things to do. I rubbed on a bit of Energy to help me through a few hours of shopping for a mother's day gift and studying for my mid-exams. I did feel a bit more energized, and I liked the zingy citrus smell, which was surprising because I usually dislike orange and lemon fragrances. My sister-in-law loves this one though, and ended up stealing half of my imp to sprinkle around her apartment. It helped her stay awake while she was finishing up a hundred baby shower invitations. She is currently on the last month of her pregnancy and I've promised her a full bottle to help her out after the baby arrives. She really loves Energy as a room scent. I don't know if I'll spring for a full bottle for myself, but I have stolen back my half imp and intend to keep it around for emergencies.

I am so deeply obsessed with vintage bpal. 2004 to 2006 is like *my* era where I first got deeply into studying and reviewing perfume, I was super into bpal, and I was in high school. The nostalgia is strong for me. I keep buying up almost everything that I see from those years. A few years ago, I had to sell off a bunch of my collection and got swaplifted by someone who claimed to paypal that they mailed my items back when they didn't, so I've spent the last couple years rebuilding what I've lost from that awful time period. Voodoo Queen was one of my lost bottles, but I recently won a new bottle in the Lab's ebay auctions and I am so delighted with it. It smells different than I even remember, richer and deeper and spicier. You know what current scent actually smells quite like Voodoo Queen? The Wild Men of Jezirat Al Tennyn, with its sweetened cloves, rich amber, hints of moss, and earthiness. Voodoo Queen is this picture of dried red dirt, a well behaved something like red musk (but not fruity at all), sweet cloves and gingerbread, and hints of earthy, slightly sour, slightly green moss, with an elegant, perfumey floral waft that floats around the scent. It makes me think of cemeteries, for sure, with the earth and clinging moss and ghostly perfume, but it's warm and rich too. I'm so happy to have this new bottle. I know people make fun of the lab on places like IMAM for selling these vintage bottles, but I'm grateful that they offer them and that people like me have a chance at reliving the fragrances.

I do not really like the scent of Catalyst... my little half imp has a strangely soured lemony quality to it. On my skin, it smells somehow dirty. Herbal-dirty. Not earthy in a good patchouli sort of way, but somehow makes me feel like I need to take a hot shower when I'm wearing it. Maybe a funky clove scent underneath the soured lemon. I don't much care for this one. It's like fresh scent meets spicy, and it just rots with my skin chemistry. I didn't really feel inspired to start up any of my essays or projects that are going to be due in a week. The smell was actually a bit distracting to me.

Was given a brief chance to try Nihil out while visiting my imp pimp (<3) and actually ended up having to wash it off. This is a sharply perfumey floral on me. I am crap at picking out floral notes, but it smelled like a medley of headache inducing blooms. I didn't get the fruity or minty notes that others have, but did get a strangely sour note. Mostly it was just FLOWERS and PERFUME in a loud sort of way. Nihil is definitely not a floral scent that I could ever pull off

Enraged Bunny actually smells kinda bubblegummy on me at first. You know that hard, cheap, powdery bubblegum that you sometimes get from bad Halloween trick or treating sessions? It smells faint and powdery like that. After a few minutes, it also smells a bit like lemonhead candies, but only a bit. I don't really like lemon, so I'm glad that the note isn't very strong if it's here at all. In the drydown this becomes a nondescript cool, powdery, and sweet fragrance. I can't pick out any one note after a while. And, after a half hour, this is just a little too powdery for me and starts to give me a headache. I wish that it stayed as softly green and fresh as it is in the bottle.

Oh my God. I love this one. Underpants makes Closet and Underbed seem foul and plain in comparison. Strange, because I was expecting this to be my least favorite of the bunch (sandalwood, vanilla, and saffron are all notes that are pretty 'eh' on me). I slathered Underpants on right before the boy came over, and he could not keep his hands off of me. Major neck nuzzling and cuddliness. This reminds me so much of something that I cannot place, perhaps some other amazing perfume from my past or... I'm not sure, really. Something about it is cool and fresh on me at the same time as it is sweet and sexy, like the way that air smells right before a chilly spring rain. There's wonderfully soft sandalwood here, smothered in oodles of buttery vanilla and exotic spice. After about an hour, this also takes on something that smells like lemon cookies on me. It's not overly sweet or foodie at all, but it's so damn sexy. A cloud of the most gorgeous and complex vanilla-y fragrance ever. I'm so glad that I went crazy and purchased four bottles of this. It is my new scent for major sex appeal.

This smells of sweet bubblegummy lotus, candied citrus, and something like honeyed apricots to me. Perhaps with a hint of smoky-sweet incense in the background, or maybe that was just the natural waxy smell of the candles..

I am currently in desperate need of new opportunities, so I was excited and slightly cautious about wearing this one. New opportunities could also be a scary thing. I put some Road Opener on and tried to think about what I want out of my life or what I wish were slightly different... and nothing has really come to me yet, but I'll keep trying. I suppose that if I think about it enough, answers will work themselves out in my mind. I was hoping to get the mint chocolate fragrance that others have mentioned from this... and while I get a soft mint, this doesn't smell chocolatey on me. Soft mint and something cool and powdery (perhaps roses gone to powder on me?). Not my sort of scent but it is sort of grounding for me and helps me think a bit more outside of my usual passive/pathetic sensibilities.

I still cannot get over how similar Ochosi and Buck Moon smell on my skin. And I'm liking Obatala a lot more than Milk Moon now, though they are both similar. The new catalogue scents are so drool-worthy...

Smells like mint, with hints of lemon scented dish soap. Mint and lemony citrus both happen to be notes that I find really... well, not good. I know that these blends aren't used for perfume or fragrance, but if something smells bad to me, it really distracts and depresses me. So, for my personal hangups, I think that I applied this a little too heavily the first time and it actually ended up distracting me more. I'm not getting the "wow" that most people seem to be getting from the TAL blends (with the exception of Charisma and Blinding Glory of Love - they've worked very well for me). I have found myself having trouble focusing lately, because I have a lot going on... coming off of my psych meds, 6 straight hours a day of intensive group therapy, taking 3 college courses, and trying to maintain a healthy relationship with the boy all at the same time is kind of killing me. So, I thought that I would use Clarity to help me in a mad panic to finish a bunch of my homework on time. I did manage to pull out 5 pages worth of homework questions for my religion class in the hour that I wore this (applied with a light hand the second time), but I was still slapping myself to stay focused. Perhaps a blend like Concentration would serve me better.

Was it just the one person that thought it smelled of baby powder or all of your coworkers...? Maybe it was just the impression of the one girl. BPAL's amber notes almost always either smell like baby power or dust on me. Booo.

What exactly do you think sex smells like? Like, what sort of notes would embody sex for you? I am curious, lol. People always tell me that things smell like sex... and it's not what I think of at all. I duplicated with BPAL the way that my current boy smells (I'm weird, I know), but isn't the sexy smell different for everyone? O smells like chocolate covered cherries on me and Snake Oil smells just... oily, dirty, and bad on me. Neither one of them made me think about the smell of sex though. The mixture that I made to smell like my boy is really personal to me, and probably wouldn't make other people think about sex, but it makes me swoon. I'll stop rambling now.

It's been entertaining to read how different everyone's reviews for this are. I wish that Zero were fruity or foodie on me, but it's not working so well. First on... perfumey white florals... then it dried down to a light dusting of baby powder within 15 minutes. It had faded away entirely within a half hour. It's exactly the sort of scent that would give me a headache if it were stronger... as it is, it's so light that I barely noticed it. I'm already passing along my decant... I'll be interested to see what the actual notes in this are and if it changes any if it's ever released though.

I tracked down a decant of this one for a friend and tried it out on him, after much of his begging. He hoped that it would make him more popular with the ladies, which did not happen, but it still smelled pretty nice on him. It had an animalistic musky note to it, along with a green pine sort of fragrance, and a slight hint of woods. Maybe a bit of earthy patchouli? Very appropriate for a masculine forest blend. My male friend loved the smell and wants a full bottle, he said that it made him feel more confident and 'manly.'

First on, I think that this might have myrrh in it, as I'm getting that sweetly golden resin scent that I get from myrrh. There's also a smoky wooden note that might be sandalwood. After a few minutes, this is a spicy-herbal with smoky incense and a burnt orange peel sort of smell Orange blossom often smells like burnt orange on me, so I wonder if there's some of that in this blend. I'm not getting any lotus (which I actually like), but this has morphed into a smoky incense, herb, and burnt citrus scent on me. I probably wouldn't wear this one... it wreaks havoc with my skin chemistry.

Milk & Honey really reminds me of tea. My mother used to drink this hot tea with honey and lemon in it, and that's what this smells like on me. Slightly herbal, sweet honey, and a burst of lemon. I'm not so sure about effectiveness. My romantic life is not lacking, but my finances still are, lol.

Much thanks to my imp pimp for letting me try this one Hakkotsu is a rather simple fragrance on me, and I think that I favor the more complex blends. First on I can definitely smell the sandalwood. It's a dry, slightly powdery woods. After a few minutes, a citrussy bite comes out that I figure is from the bergamot. Lemony sandalwood on me. After about a half hour, the lily starts to come out and add a soapy twang to the whole thing. It's nice. It's like an incredibly clean/soft sandalwood blend. Hakkotsu isn't really one that I would wear a lot though, it almost smells too simple to me. Plus, I don't often wear citrussy-clean blends. Still... nice.

I've never tried Flowerbomb, so I can't be sure, but some scents with similar notes that you might want to try are: *Namaste (sandalwood, jasmine, rose, patchouli, cedarwood and lemongrass) *Wilde (patchouli, tonka, bergamot, moss, lavender, jasmine and thyme - though I never really get patchouli from this one, and it's one of my favorites) *Iambe (amber, patchouli, rose, gardenia, gladiola and white tea)