Little Bird

Somnus is a sharp, clean, cool, white-smelling lavender. It almost has a bit of a soapy edge that reminds me of cleaning fluid. I like my lavender notes to be sweeter & creamier/milkier smelling, so this isn't working for me. After about a half hour, this smells like a weird, perfumey floral soap (maybe jasmine-y). This is way too sharp for me and gives me a headache after a while. I love a lot of lavender blends & single notes, but this isn't a keeper for me.

This is all Marshall Fields floral on me. That cliche overly perfumey white floral that gives me a headache. The lilies here are going sharp and perfumey on me rather than soapy as they usually do. In the drydown this gets a bit more of a smokier smell to it, but it's still mostly still just department store floral on me. Very blah and makes my head pound.

Umm... add me to the list of people that Czernobog went very, very badly on. First on this smelled like sharp medicinal menthol and maybe a hint of lime. I really like lime, so I thought that maybe it would be okay. It was luring me into a false sense of security. Slowly this begins to take on a bad smell. Reminding me of, um, feces. Dirty and nauseating. I wanted to wash it off at this point, but I was only five minutes into wearing it. I waited it out for 15 minutes before washing it off. It started to smell like a mechanic's shop. Oil, grease, car parts. And still feces in the background. This is so odd. My friend said that it reminded her of Satyr, but Satyr is one of my favorite BPAL blends...and it didn't smell anything like Czernobog does on me. This is awful, so awful that I don't even want to swap it to anyone. I think that I'm going to send this to a guy that I don't like anymore with a note about how sexy it smells. I'm sadistic like that. Retrying an imp of this in 2016 and it is (or I am) completely different. I smell misty, cool evergreens, like rained on juniper bushes, paired with a black musk and sweet myrrh combo that's really quite nice and conjures up blends like Snake Oil and Snake Charmer. Slinky, sexy, musky, dark, resinous, forest blend.

I was hoping that this would smell like some of my other favorite churchy incense blends (Kostnice and Cathedral - 2 of my favorite BPAL scents)... I love spicy resiny scents. Unfortunately, this isn't much in the same vein as Kostnice or Cathedral in my opinion. In the bottle and first on my skin, this has an almost buttery caramel smell to it, held down by a smokiness that reminds me of a campfire. Burnt buttery caramel. That quickly fades away and this takes on a soapy floral smell, most likely thanks to the lilies. I hate lilies... they always turn to dish soap on me. 15 minutes later this is a *very* light floral incense smell. Like walking into a room where incense was burned an hour or two ago. Over the course of a few hours this gets to be a sweet powdery flower smell. It's too light and too floral for me to love it. I'm going to try the remainder of my imp as a room scent and see how that goes.

Reading all of the reviews about tobacco and chocolate and incense had me really excited to try Dia de los Muertos. Unfortunately, I am one of those unlucky people that this went floral on . Jasmine is my most hated floral, it seems to always give me vicious headaches... and that's actually what I'm smelling here. I can't believe that this doesn't have any jasmine in it, I would have betted my life on it... I digress. On me, this is all heady headache-inducing florals. Smoky jasmine and other nameless florals swirling around that I cannot place. Maybe I am smelling some incense smoke here in the drydown. Either way, this is way too strong and overwhelming for me.

I'm glad that I managed to snag a imp-size decant of this one, since I cannot justify purchasing another sugar-foodie scent (with the 7 bottles of Midway in my room ). First on, Sugar Skull reminds me of the treat my mother always makes for my brother for breakfast. It is basically pancakes smothered in butter and brown sugar, and then rolled up and sliced into pinwheels. It's odd. She calls them brown sugar pancakes. I can smell the brown sugar and butter here, and the whole thing has been drenched in maple syrup. They make me sick when I eat them because they're just too sweet. And that's how Sugar Skull smells to me too, just a bit too much sugar. In the drydown the maple syrup edge dies down a bit and a hint of rum comes through. Boozy brown sugar. It's rot your teeth out sweet. I'm glad to have an imp, but I don't think that I'll need a bottle.

I've put off trying Cordelia for a while now because the only notes that I really like in it are the lemon and green tea... and I already have a bottle of Shanghai (the best green tea scent ever). Cordelia smells nothing like Shanghai. I don't get tea or lemon here at all, sadly. First on I smell a sharp smoky cedar and then this dries down to something floral. I can't pick out any individual flowers, it just smells floral. The musk comes out after about a half hour and it's a light musky floral. Not much throw, I forgot that I was wearing anything after a while... but I didn't really like it when I was smelling it either. Cordelia is just another floral blend that doesn't stand out on me. 2016 frimp review: I can definitely pick out the lilac in this now. Sweet, true, honeyed, blue lilac. The drydown turns sharper with clean musk, spiky, dry, slightly bitter cedar, and a sharp lemon & green tea. Goes just a little bit soapy. Lilacs swirled into lemony green tea on a cedar table, with a sharp musk perfume wafting about.

First on, this smells like grapejuice and cherry cough syrup. That medicinal cherry smell quickly fades and the grape moves to the background. Now I'm smelling a sort of honeyed myrrh scent with a touch of clove. Golden and spicy. The grape smells sort of off and boozy, but it's covered up mostly by the spice. I don't know if I really like this one. Grape and spice is an odd combination for me... I'll probably keep my imp and try it a few more times to see if it grows on me. I don't think this will ever be a bottle purchase though.

First on, this is slightly aquatic and slightly green floral. Kind of cool and reminds me of spring. In the drydown... this is sharp white floral and a slight twinge of soap to me. It's not as bad or strong as florals usually are on me, but it's not something that I would ever choose to wear. My mother really likes this one though. She says that it is very ladylike. ...I don't know what that indicates about me, lol.

Othello is very perfumey and acrid on me (I'm blaming the musk). It smells sort of like burnt roses, cheap hairspray, and an oddly dirty spice. It makes my stomach churn. I've had bad experiences with "arabian musk" in the past. Musk usually just makes me think of cheap hairspray when it hits my skin. And it's *so* strong. Othello, sadly, is another Illyria blend that just doesn't work on me at all...

None of the notes in this blend are scents that usually work on me. Lily and white musk are especially evil towards me. As I feared, this is mostly a lily blend. And the lilies go very strong and soapy on me. Paired with the bitter white musk, this blend gives me a quick and lasting headache. I'm not getting any pear or honeysuckle here, though I think I catch whiffs of the sweet pea every now and then. Another note that I'm not fond of. Juliet is off to the swap pile.

Medicine Show reminds me of my dad. To start with, it smells like tobacco and something green and woodsy. It has a hot, damp feel to it, like you would feel in a misty greenhouse filled with tropical plants. My dad used to chew a very sweet tobacco. The tobacco here smells sweet and golden like that. The smell of rose comes out for a while in the middle stage of this. It's rosewood though, so not bitter or overpowering as rose usually is. I really like the way it smells mixed with the tobacco too. In the drydown it smells like tobacco, a hint of spicy rose, and something else. Overall it's reminding me of a spicy man's cologne. This is where it reminds me of my dad. Wearing a slightly rugged spicy/musky cologne and chewing tobacco. I like this a lot. I'll probably wear it as a comfort scent...

I have trouble with minty fragrances. I don't like the smell or taste of mint unless it is paired with something else that is very sweet (like vanilla). Nine Mysteries is one of the harshest mint blends that I have ever tried. It smells like I snorted mint toothpaste up my nose and then drank some mint mouthwash. It all smells very... dental to me. No florals come out at all on me, I just smelled like insanely crisp minty toothpaste for about 4 hours. This is one that's headed straight for my swap pile. Mints are just not me.

Lucy's Kiss is a nice rose blend on me. The rose is light and sweet, not bitter as rose usually is on my skin. The spices remind me of another BPAL blend that I cannot quite place. I think of lemon/cream spiciness everytime that I smell this. Perhaps it reminds me of Van Van? Pretty. But not me. Most floral perfumes give me this same feeling. I don't feel like myself when I'm wearing them. I feel like a little girl trying to play elegant with her grandmother's old perfume.

Antique amber frames a series of distorted, eternally warping clear crystal and glass notes. House of Mirrors was one of the CN blends that I was looking most forward to. I've never tried Sea of Glass, so I can't make any comparison there. I don't smell any citrus or any amber here. Oddly, the first thing that I think of when I smell this is glass. It's not a lot of ozone or a lot of aquatic. It doesn't smell soapy. It doesn't smell like anything that I've ever tried before. It's a soft clear note that reminds me of pressing my face up against the window after a cold rainstorm. A sort of cool, fresh feeling. Overall, House of Mirrors smells very pretty and clean. For me it's the most accurately named CN blend. It really conjures up the image of glass or mirrors in a pristine 'fun house'. Elusive and cool. I love this one.

Wow, this is sharp at first. A very dark blue and ominous scent to me. It starts out as very strong mint and dries down to a sweeter mint, juniper, and a berry that I cannot quite place. It's a berry that I've eaten before (perhaps one that I shouldn't have eaten?). It's conjuring up a memory in the back of my mind that I cannot quite put my finger on. It's driving me insane. The mint stays true to this blend for hours, with the juniper coming out more in the drydown. I don't normally like mint, but I like this. In the drydown is a cool, sweet mint. The hint of berry-fruitiness in the background is still familiar but I can't place it. Very interesting. I can't see myself wearing this, it's too cool... but I still like it. I'd probably love this on a guy.

I'm hesitant to try this. I love the second half of the description. It sounds heavenly. I'm worried about "five roses with soft jasmine". Anything with jasmine in it just turns into pure jasmine perfume on me. May as well be a singlenote. On my skin... smells like coffee. Not like a yummy Starbucks coffee smell with all of the spices and vanillas and extra goodies. Plain black coffee. The jasmine is peeking through under the coffee. Like I just spilled a cup of coffee over a vase of jasmine flowers. Weird. The jasmine and coffee are perfectly balanced... and I'm not so sure that it's a good pairing. After fifteen minutes... oh my God this is the most vile thing that I've ever experienced. Jasmine gives me awful headaches and I hate it more than any other smell in the world. Now it's gotten viciously strong and sort of rotten. Dirty jasmine that likes its coffee black and bitter. I hate this. I've practically bloodied my wrist trying to scrub it all off

Yggdrasil is a really hard scent for me to pin down. It reminds me a bit of Hamadryad... in that craft store sort of way. I smell it and think instantly of potpourri and dried flowers. But this has a spicier (sort of peppery?) and slightly greener edge to it than Hamadryad did. And it has a slight fruitiness to it after about an hour that reminds me of powdery juicy fruit gum. It's not bad... but I can't see myself wearing it. It gives me a bit of a headache in the way that being in a craft store and around too much potpourri makes my head feel stuffy. I think that I'll be swapping my imp.

I've wanted to try Rose Cross for a long while now, on my quest to find a nice incensey rose scent. I was pleasantly surprised to get this as a freebie from the lab today. It was good timing too. Today was my first day of college... the long classes were kind of overwhelming and I came home feeling dazed and oddly depressed. So, thankyou lab! I digress. This is such a happy/playful scent to me. I'm not really sure why, I smell it and imagine a young red rose, splashing about and laughing happily in a bath of frankincense oil. When I first put it on, I can smell both the rose and frankincense equally and it is gorgeous. A sort of spicy incense rose. After about 15 minutes, the rose strengthens and takes over. I was depressed that I couldn't smell the frankincense anymore. But it came back after about an hour and the two merged beautifully once again. The frankincense really takes away the sharp/bitter edge that I usually get from rose. This is very strong on me and has a lot of throw (maybe the strongest BPAL that I've tried to date). The only rose scent that I've liked this much is Whip... and I'm contemplating getting a full bottle of Rose Cross. Rose scents don't work on my skin very often, but this one does and it is *gorgeous*...

First on this smells like sharp herbal lavender. Then it shifts and I can smell cinnamon and a bit of clove, perhaps. It's pleasant, warm, and spicy. Then it quickly turns into baby powder on me . Within 5 minutes that's all that I can smell. Amber sometimes goes powdery on me, so maybe that's what happened here...

Black Cat is most definitely a shapeshifter on me. I think I love it most in its first stage. It smells like I took a handful of herbs and green mint leaves and crushed them in my palm. Very refreshing and lovely. In the drydown it starts to smell like sweet rose soap and musk. I don't like musk and for a while I feared that this would give me a headache. Then the musk fades away again and the mint creeps back in. Like sweet roses growing in a patch of mint leaves. It's odd and I don't know if I'd wear this frequently, but I want to test my imp a few more times. Sadly, I'm not getting any civet out of this and I actually like civet. 2018 review: Most every bpal fragrance smells completely different now vs when I first started exploring their catalogue in 2005. Black Cat now goes on reminding me of geranium (green, and herby) and lemon over a powdery, cold black musk. In the drydown, it has the harshness of generic white bar soap (the kind that strips and leaves a horrible film on your skin) mixed with old, dusty, rose scented soap, with the powdery musk and sharp lemon thing.

White flowers don't work on me. Aquatics and ozone aren't my favorites, but sometimes they surprise me. I was worried about trying Szepasszony because of all of the notes that would probably go bad on me. It wasn't that bad at first. It smelled sort of like a green meadow with some sweet florals and salty aquatics in the background. I like the smell of salt for some reason. It's light and pleasant for almost a full half hour before going soapy and bitter on me. After about an hour, this reminds me of laundry detergent and cheap hairspray . White florals always do this to me.

Maenad was too much strawberry for me to handle, even though it only lasted for about an hour on my skin. It was a bad hour. At first this smelled like something sharp and bitter layered over strawberry. Like a strawberry that was poisonous and had thorns. Then the sharpness fades and a burnt smell comes out. Orange blossom always smells like burnt orange peels on me. I can definitely see the strawberry incense scent that everyone described in the drydown... but I don't like it. It's sickeningly sweet and smoky on me. This is just too much fruity sweetness.

Queen Gertrude is a very dark and cold scent on me. Violets usually give me the impression of a cold floral, and this is mostly violets to begin with and then all violets in the drydown. At first I smell a dark greenery that reminds me of English Ivy with bruised violets lingering in the background. After about 5 minutes it is all violets. Lots of throw and very strong. They smell like loud angry violets, with a slight soapy edge after a while. Another perfume where the violets completely took over. They are strong little flowers.

Desdemona was a blah floral blend on me. It smells very plain. Light, soft, pristine florals with a slightly aquatic edge. It smells boring to me. Then the drydown is aquatic and soapy lilies. Definitely not a fragrance for me. I prefer darker scents with a spicier edge.