Little Bird

This is a nightmare pairing of leather and orange blossom I'm not sure why the smell of leather in perfumes seems to turn my stomach. I like that new car leather smell (in the car) and I like cuddling up to a boy wearing a leather jacket. I just cannot stand that strong 'I'm wearing a leather perfume' smell. It's cold and bothers me. That said, Les Infortunes de la Vertu reminds me of De Sade when it is first on. Sharp, pure leather. Then the orange blossom comes out and it smells like leather and burnt orange peel. This has a lot of throw too. After about a half hour the amber comes out and goes to baby powder on me. Then the rose is bitter and sharp. Everything that could go bad here with my skin chemistry does. I love the leather and rose combo in Whip, but here it just smells funky... mixed with burnt orange and baby powder. I'll be passing along my imp of this one.

I was happy to swipe a quick testing of this one while over at a friend's house. I was not around BPAL when Harvest Moon '04 was released, but I did buy a bottle of '05 and am curious to see how different they are from each other. First on this is a buttery cornbread and candy corns sort of smell. It's very light, but I like it. I wish that it would stay in this stage. I'm really loving buttery smells lately. Unfortunately, in the drydown this is overwhelmingly floral and smoky. It's making me kinda sick. I don't get any fruits of pumpkin or ivy. Just this funky burning wood smell and perfumey florals. I ended up having to wash this off after about an hour. I'm not a floral sort of girl at all. I really hope that Harvest Moon '05 isn't floral like this, or I'll seriously regret grabbing a bottle.

First on, aquatics and pine, and I am in love. This reminds me of being in the pine forest behind my house and looking at the lake there, hidden in the trees. In winter it would be smoky and frosty around the edges. That's what this blend reminds me of, that smell and image. However, in the drydown, this is pure evil on me. Super musky random florals. I can't pick out any sort of specific floral, it just has that headache inducing sickening smell that florals get on my skin... This was so nice when I first put it on. It crushes me that it turns floral and is ruined...

First on this scent makes me think of rain. Light, spring rain. Where it's barely drizzling and the sun is actually out, making the water droplets shimmer. It's not what I'd expect for The Hanged Man... so pretty, fresh, and light. After a few minutes a sweet bubblegum-ish note comes out, and I'm guessing there's lotus in this. I like the mixture of sweetness and soft rain. This isn't really fruity, spicy, or floral on me as some others have said. I'm glad for that though, I'm loving this 'lotus in the rain' scent. Sadly, this fades on me after about an hour. I like this a lot though, so I'll definitely be holding onto my decant. It's a great scent to wear when I just want to relax and be alone, I think. It's calming.

Embalming Fluid is my first love-it scent in the Funereal Oils category. It's the same green tea and lemon scent that I loved so much in Shanghai... only stronger, better, smoother and with more throw. I love green tea. Embalming Fluid is a bit more crisp and green than Shanghai. Not quite as lemony as Shanghai. The aloe and white musk make it smooth, with an almost powdery (but not baby powdery) softness. ETA: This was a smoother scent back in 2005. In the 2016 frimps I've gotten of this, it's very soapy and sharp, like generic, chemical, white soap suds, and the powder is definitely reading as funky baby powder on my skin now.

I don't get the patchouli or amber from this; it's all lavender fougere with hints of cool, creamy tonka and sour rosewood. The lavender fougere is slightly soapy and has an almost bright, tea-like quality to it. Sometimes I get imps of this that have more of the sour quality that reminds me of vomit (like an imp heavier on the sour rosewood), and other times it's a soapy lavender sweetened with tonka. I don't find it to be a very consistently blended scent, but there are lavenders that I like more than this one anyhow.

Mmm. I love Black Opal. I can definitely see the comparisons to Pink Sugar when I first put it on, but it's lighter and softer than Aquolina's version. It smells more like Skindazzles' dupe than the original Pink Sugar. This almost reminds me of Numb in the sense that it is powdery and cool smelling. But there's a lovely vanilla sweetness here. For me, Black Opal is a cross between Pink Sugar, Numb, and Snow White. It's a musk that actually isn't giving me a headache. Yay! Possibly a 5 ml purchase. Definitely keeping my imp.

Chaste Moon starts off as a clean, soft vanilla cream, sparkly musk (not fizzy or anything, just a sparkly impression), and hints of dry, golden, sweet floral. It goes through a brief phase that's sharply musky and then settles down into mostly vanilla and warm florals with light musk. It's a very soft, light, classy, vanilla musk & floral scent on me.

Xiuhtecuhtli goes horribly awry on my skin. I suppose it's for the best though. I couldn't properly pronounce the name of this to save my life. First little disclaimer: I do not like the smell of orange. Or the taste of orange, in most cases. Xiuhtecuhtli smells like sweet orange juice on me for a good 15 minutes into wearing it. I hate that. Then some perfumey white florals start coming out on my skin. I hate white florals. This reminds me of some department store perfume that I dislike. And then after about an hour a smell like burning leaves comes out. Is that supposed to be the incense? I was so excited about the description of South American incense and jungle blooms. On me that apparently translates to white florals and burnt leaves. Blech. I'll be giving this one away.

Mmm... I am definitely loving Thanatos. This might even be a 10 ml purchase in my future. Moss always has a sort of spicy goldeny-dark green smell on my skin. That's definitely here at first, along with a pleasant rose scent. It's not a sharp or perfumey rose, more like rose water. Light and clean. In the drydown I am getting more incense and woods. It's just... good. The rose has faded considerably, I think that I smell faint traces of it every once in a while, but it's not prominent. Mostly I am getting spicy woods, incense, and dark green moss. I cannot wait to try this out on the boy. If he doesn't like it, I definitely have no problem using up the imp myself though .

The Chariot starts off smelling like cherry cough syrup on me. Very medicinal. In the drydown it smells like juicy fruit gum and black licorice. Two candies that I absolutely despise. This one is a definitely not a winner for me.

This is the Tarot Oil of my nightmares. Super strong jasmine and musk. My skin always amps up jasmine, but in this it's even stronger than usual. The Moon = strongest jasmine EVER. After wearing this for about five minutes I got a vicious headache and was nauseous from the smell. Florals have made me sick before, but this was an especially bad experience.

The World might be my favorite Tarot Oil yet. It starts off a mouthwateringly good blend of cinnamon and sandalwood. Woodsy, sweet and spicy. Next a bit of menthol eucalyptus and foresty pine or juniper comes out. There's also some fruity citrus like lemon in the background. And it smells sort of aquatic. Still there's definitely cinnamon and sandalwood here. I think that I might be smelling some beloved patchouli as well. All of that mixed together, one would think, would be disgusting... yet it's not. It's like being outside in the summer, in a fruit orchard, next to a pine forest, after it has rained. The World . Warm spiced earth is the main thing that I get from this. But there are so many other things going on here as well. One second it's fruity, then aquatic, then green, then floral. It's primarily earthy though, and I love that.

I'm going to edit this, now that I have my own bottle ($476 on ebay for a less-than-half-full-partial bottle? why yes, I am insane). Now that I can actually slather this oil at my leisure, sit with it for a while, and really study it, it's not as amazing as I once thought it was. Actually, it's pretty fantastic in the bottle and not-so-great on my skin. In the bottle, it's mostly boozy, and reminds me of champagne, with hints of darkness behind that crystal clear booziness. In the bottle - Champagne (maybe with a hint of sour black cherry in the boozy mix), a hint of dark red, damp rose, and a sense that there is something dark and brooding underneath the scent. When I think of 'cognac,' I think of the awful Imp of the Perverse blend, but I love the boozy element in F54. On me, the booze (which I actually like *a lot*) disappears and the perfumey black musk and tobacco smoke jump to the front of the stage, with the slightly sour rose hovering in the background now. Over time, the clove and tobacco flower seem to mellow into something like slightly spicy, dry tobacco leaves. Mostly it's just perfumey black musk with a dry, bitter spiciness underneath. It's actually an incredibly smoky & musky blend on my skin. I want the rose and cognac to stick around and sweeten things up, but I get nothing but warm smoke swirling around black musk after a half hour or so (and black musk is one of my least favorite bpal notes). Still, I'm really happy to finally have a bottle. It'll be fun to decant out and I'll save the bottle in memory of this rarity

I agree with those who likened this to the smell of awapuhi shampoo. It has that same tropical blossom sweetness with a slight aquatic edge, but definitely smells soapy. In the drydown this gets a bit too soapy and perfumey on me. I'm not sure if I'll keep my imp or not. I think that I like Bayou more for my tropical floral yearnings.

Smells like Vice if Vice were to have a LOT of pepper added to it. Vice smelled like stale chocolate covered gummi bears on me... I'm not fond of it. Queen is peppery stale chocolate covered gummi bears. This gets pretty musky on me in the drydown too. So much musk that it gives me a headache. Queen is definitely off to the swap pile. ETA: 2017 version I just received smells completely different. Like a mix of herbal and sweet floral soaps all covered in dust, with a weird, Sprite-like fizziness. Reminds me of dust covered, generic, hotel bar soaps and that cloying fizziness is just strange...

I don't smell any juniper berry or patchouli in this. Oberon is a feminine, floral, soapy scent on me. The orchid is very perfumey, sharp, and smells of department store white floral perfume, and the bergamot is strangely soapy, like lemon dish soap. Too sharp and soapy for me.

I was very excited to sample this at a friend's house, just because I am always excited to try a LE blend that is no longer available. Unfortunately, I was not familiar with the notes in Red Moon and realized too late that it has dragon's blood in it. Dragon's blood hates me. First on this was very sharp orange citrus. Then the dragon's blood comes out behind the orange and smells like rotten fruit, rotten flowers, and that odd metallic smell that it often turns to on my skin. It was very strong and bothering me on the ride home, then the amber started to come out and this went powdery on me. Red Moon, sadly, is everything that I hate. Orange citrus, dragon's blood, and baby powder. Oh well, at least now I don't feel so bad for not having a bottle, lol.

The High Priestess is very much Pine Sol cleanser on me. Piney and astringent, slightly minty. I'm actually not getting any almond, which surprised me because my skin usually amps up almond to disgusting intensity. It's crazy. I feel like I have a decant full of Pine Sol. I smell like I just cleaned my house in it and my clothes are soaked in the cleanser. Good thing that I like the smell of Pine Sol.

Nyarlathotep really doesn't work well on my skin. First on it smells like burning incense and grapefruit. Grapefruit often smells nasty and a bit dirty on my skin. It makes me sneeze. The incense disappears after a few minutes and this turns into strong ozone with grapefruit in the background. Now I smell like dryer sheets and dirty grapefruit This is one for my swap pile.

I actually rather like Ace of Pentacles. Maybe not enough to buy a full bottle, but I definitely will cherish my decant. When I was little my family lived in the middle of a pine forest in Missouri. My parents planted flower gardens all along the edge of the woodline, so that you'd have to walk through the flowers to get into the forest. This is what that smells like to me. First on it is earth and sweet florals. The floral isn't bothering me, the dirt smell and floral are balancing each other out so nicely. In the drydown I *really* like this though. The patchouli, pine, and moss scents really come out and this becomes a spicy forest scent. It gets a bit powdery after an hour or so and fades quickly after that, but it is still pleasant while it lasts. Thankfully, no almond ever made its presence known for me. Almond smells like boozy cherries on me. This is a nice earthy blend.

Wearing Graveyard Dirt was an interesting experience over the weekend. I put it on before going out with my sister... and my sister HATES the smell of dirt. She is very anti-outdoorsy. She even gets angry when it rains because she says it stirs up the soil and makes the world smell dirty. Yes, I find her odd too, lol. Anyhow. I thought that she was going to beat me and throw me out of her car when I wore this. Honestly, it made me a bit sick to my stomach as well. It was like sticking my head into a bag of moist black potting soil. It's not that I dislike that smell, but I don't want to smell like potting soil... and I don't want to be smelling dirt for hours on end. This is really strong and has a lot of throw on me too. Very rich soil and decaying matter. It gets a bit mossy in the drydown. This is just very not-me. I ended up giving my decant to one of my male friends that I don't see very often.

I love civet and hate florals... so I'm happy to report that this smells mostly like civet and I didn't get any florals. On me this is musky animalistic civet with a hint of spice in the background. The spice might be cinnamon, but it isn't as sharp as cinnamon usually is on me. I'm so amazed that this is musky yet is not giving me a headache. In the drydown this smells like civet and dill pickles. Is it gross that I love this? Figures that I'd like a perfume named The Devil. This reminds me a bit of Satyr though (only I like Satyr a LOT more), and I have a 10 ml of Satyr... so I think that I'll keep my decant of this one, but I won't need a full bottle.

I am not fond of The Fool. I don't really like mint for some reason. It's just something that I associate with toothpaste and that's about it. Something about the smell is very off putting to me, and I hate smelling minty (I prefer to be spicy, lol). The mint stayed strong for 3 hours before I washed this off. In the background was a sort of creamy vanilla and berries smell. The mint isn't so sharp in the drydown, more like a sweet/powdery spearmint. I would say that this is a happy and playful scent. It just isn't something that I would wear as a perfume.

ETA: This is another bpal scent that smells nothing like it did back in 2005. I think that a lot of things have been reformulated. I love the 2005 Black Tower, but the recent imps I've gotten of this smell nothing like the 05 (and it's not just a case of aging, they don't smell the same as they did/do fresh). Recent Black Tower gives me a headache and smells like cheap spice potpourri mixed with cigar smoke. I don't really get the leather, wine or ivy from the newer versions, but there's a weird sourness to it and something that smells like dead leaves. Spice potpourri, cigar smoke, dead leaves and soured fruit. My older bottle of this still smells great, but the newer ones are unwearable... -- Old review: First on I am getting the red wine and ivy. It's an odd mixture of boozy berry and green. I am enamored with andrabell's review of ivy trailing out of a challis of wine, so that is the mental picture that I am getting now. I am amazed at how well the description captures the scent. This does remind me of wandering desolate castle grounds overgrown with ivy and long dead spirits. There is a burst of ozone in here, like a chilling breeze, and then it is gone to make way for leather, sandalwood and amber. The warm powdery amber over the cool leather is making my pulse race. I'm starting to think that this would be a really sexy scent to force the boy to wear, lol. I like that it does get a bit warmer and spicier in the drydown over a few hours. Conclusion: I like this one. It's one that I'd love on myself or the boy, though it has a more masculine feel. --