Little Bird

Bluebeard smells like nothing but violets on me. Extremely strong violets. The violets were sickeningly sweet and cold for the first two hours that I wore this. Then they became more and more powdery over the next six hours. When I finally got home 8 hours later, I had to wash this off. It was still going strong though. So... if you're looking for a violet scent with insane staying power... try Bluebeard.

On me, Thalia is mostly pear with a light touch of floral. Very fruity. Very summery. In the drydown, the 'champagne' offers a sort of effervescence to the blend. It's not as bubbly as champagne notes usually are. Overall this is fruity with a touch of floral. Light, innocent, and pretty. Sweet and juicy. And entirely not me. I'll be passing it on to a friend of mine who loves fruit scents.

I really should just give up on the Ars Draconis line. The lab keeps sending me freebies though, and I can't help but try them on. I'm helpless to resist. Dragon's blood does not work on me. It smells like sickening sweet rotten wildflowers. Like you put a bunch of wildflowers in a vase and then left them for a month. In the drydown, rotten wildflowers and leather. I don't find leather smells really appealing unless they are far in the background and held there by other good scents. The combination of dragon's blood and leather leaves me nauseous. This is already heading to my swap pile.

Golden Priapus has been a favorite for me since I first tried it in 2005. And I haven't noticed it varying as much as a lot of bpal's other scents. It's a misty, masculine evergreen sweetened with the creamy vanilla and warmed up by the amber. It smells like a traditional men's scent, though the vanilla turns a little too sweet & dominant on my husband. I wear this myself and my hubby loves it on me <3 says it smells like vanilla and trees.

My husband really likes Casanova, but I don't think that it smells particularly unique or interesting, and it's too sweet for my tastes. When the hubby wears this one, he amps up the tonka, bergamot, and lemon, so it smells very sweet and clean on his skin. It actually smells better on me at first, in my opinion, lol. On me, I get lots of sweet, candied lavender, creamy tonka, and a smoky leather dirtying the whole thing up. I can't ever pick out the patchouli. As it dries down, the leather dies off (unfortunately) and I'm left with sweet, cool lavender and sweet lemony cologne. I love the lavender, but the whole thing is too sweet and too simple to be a keeper for me. Casanova is pleasant and worth trying, of course. I'm just disappointed that it smells better on me than it does on my hubby, and the simple, sweet drydown doesn't do much for me at all. I wish that the leather note were stronger.

Laudanum is a very hard to pin down sort of scent. It's edible and foodie on me, but not in the usual sense of 'this smells like a bakery'. It smells like a kitchen with old fashioned wooden spice racks and all sorts of exotic spices everywhere. Definitely woodsy and spicy. The sassafras comes out after a few minutes of wearing this and smells like root beer on me. Spices, woods, and root beer. Very odd. I'm not sure that I will ever wear this again. It reminds me of the kitchen in my old house, growing up before my mom and dad divorced. The wooden pantry. My mother's exotic spice racks set up all over the kitchen. It's unsettling. I don't really want to smell like that. It smells old and a bit dusty in the drydown. I can practically feel that awkward silence of my parents' strained dinner conversation all over again, being caught in the middle of all of the bad feelings. Very unsettling for me. Amazing how a scent can bring back what the mind tries so hard to forget.

This is my least favorite of pine scents that I have tried thus far. Something about this is very medicinal and off on me. It's sharp rather than spicy and earthy. I never get any lemon out of this blend. It stays a sharp and bitter pine for about an hour and then suddenly disappears. After my bad experience, I tried this out on the boy... he didn't like it either, and I don't care for it on him. It's just too astringent.

Arachne is a very light and pretty scent on me. At first it smells like sweet grass, but it dries down into more of an aquatic scent with what I believe to be sweet lotus. Something about it is innocent and girlie to me. Comforting, even. It has a sweet, cool smell that I love. It's very faint and lasts only a couple hours on my skin, but I don't mind reapplying. I'm surprised that I actually like Arachne. It's going on my list for future 5 ml purchasing

Black Forest smells like a very spicy evergreen forest on me. It has an overall cool, dark and lost feeling to it. Like being lost in a forest as the sun is setting. This reminds me a lot of those car fresheners. You know the ones shaped like little pine trees that people hang on their car mirrors? I like it. I like Skadi and Mistletoe a lot more for pine scents though.

I love patchouli and frankincense. Sandalwood is okay too, not my favorite but I have nothing against it, lol. I was expecting to really like Anne Bonny. BPAL's Indonesian red patchouli just sometimes goes very off on my skin, and it's very bad in Anne Bonny. The best way that I could think to describe this fragrance would be that it smells dirty to me, in a sweaty and in need of a bath sort of way. On me... I smell like I was working in a lumber yard all day in the sweltering heat... sweaty, woodsy, gross. And this is insanely strong and has amazing throw and lasting power. This is one of the few patchouli blends that I don't love (or even like).

Heavy incense notes waft lazily through a mix of carnation, jasmine, bergamot, and neroli over a lush bed of dark mosses, iris blossom, deep patchouli and indolent vetiver. Hm. I'm not getting any floral out of this at all (for which I am grateful, lol). Usually the florals are very strong on my skin chemistry, but I'm getting no flowers from this blend. I have loved the complexity of all of the Mad Tea Party scents and I love The Caterpillar as well. This is such a green/herbal scent on me. It does remind me of caterpillars. Kind of clean, kind of earthy, definitely green. It has a sort of golden smell that is reminding me of dry hay as well. Interesting. I don't know if I'd get a full bottle of this, but I'm very glad that I had the chance to try it.

The pinnacle of wealth, luxury, self-indulgent pleasure, voluptuousness and sensuality. Bright violet with sweet clove, Mediterranean incense notes and tonka bean. Violets tend to either be sickly sweet and cold on my skin or they go soapy. They are sickly sweet in Sybaris. Smelling this leaves a bad sweet taste in my mouth. The clove starts to make its presence known after a while, adding a light spiciness under the sweetness of the violet. After 15 minutes, Sybaris smells like soap and bubblegum on me . It is mostly faded after an hour. When I smell my wrist closely, this smells very watery. Like a swimming pool filled with chlorine. Sweet, cool, and wet. I wonder if this is just the violets doing odd things with my skin chemistry? I never smelled tonka or incense. Very odd.

First on, Machu Picchu is fruity like sno-cones and fresh like dryer sheets. It's an odd combination, and the clean smell is just a bit too harsh and soapy for my liking. After 15 minutes, the dryer sheet smell has softened and this is more floral and aquatic on me. The flowery smell is sweet and not perfumey at all, it's a floral that's actually not giving me a headache. An hour into wearing and this is a very lovely and not too specific scent. It's more of a clean fragrance than it is anything else, but I can definitely smell florals, aquatics, and fruits here as well. I don't like that it smells fruity, but I can't think of any fruit that it actually smells like. It's anonymously floral and fruity. Machu Picchu is a nice scent, but it's just not me. It smells clean and bland on me. It doesn't remind me of a rainforest so much as it reminds me of doing laundry.

I loved Hurricane when I first got into bpal, but it doesn't smell at all the same if you get a sample/bottle today. It used to remind me of blackberry bushes soaked in rain, very real and evocative. Now it smells like cheap, soapy ozone airfreshener and a hint of waxy watermelon flavored lip smackers. Gross and disappointing...

When first on, Burial is a very strong pine forest scent. The juniper is sharp and the patchouli lingering and earthy in the background. It starts off with so much throw and strength that I thought this would be a very heavy scent. Surprisingly, after only a couple minutes, this fades away to almost nothing on me. 5 minutes later, I'm pressing my nose to my wrist and not smelling much of anything. That pine scent is gone and I don't smell any patchouli. I can almost smell something that reminds me of very light myrrh. Then after about fifteen minutes have passed, Burial gets stronger again. Only now it smells like bug spray . Sharp and unpleasant. This isn't working with my skin chemistry at all... it's still rather faint, but I know this smell and it reminds me of going camping with my mother and her slathering bug spray on all of her children. I don't want a bug spray perfume, so this will be going up for swaps to someone who has better skin chemistry than myself...

I've worn Regan 3 or 4 times now to try to give it a fair and proper review. It's odd because it starts off rather perfumey and strongly white floral on me, which I hate, but it quickly dries down into something light and almost edible. It does get powdery. It's not a bad powder though. It smells like a creamy vanilla dusting powder. With perfects some musky floral lingering in the background. It's very light and comforting. This is a 'wearing sweatpants and watching TV curled up with the boy' fragrance for me. Lazy, comforting, and ready for a nap.

I have a hard time wearing flowery fragrances. Floral blends often smell cheap and musky to me, sharp and headache inducing. I often do okay wearing rose blends, but it's rare that I have a floral love. And, as far as florals go, I actually don't mind Midnight. This is a pretty night-time floral without any white floral sharpness or heavy musky/perfuminess. The moonflower is the strongest note on my skin. I love moonflower's chilly, soft sweetness, and it's almost powdery soft here. Overall this is a sweet, slightly powdery floral that's dominated by the moonflower. It's enchanting and lovely. Cool toned and sugary. The LE "Midnight on the Midway" scent smells just like this Midnight with some fruity cotton candy added to it. Midnight is also a suitable replacement for "The Evening Star." The strong moonflower note makes them all smell very similar.

Of all the dragon's blood blends, this is my least favorite. The dragon's blood smells sickeningly sweet, like rotting wildflowers. The musk smells very bitter and perfumey, like cheap hair spray. This is the sort of scent that gives me a migraine. Extremely harsh and perfumey on me.

Euphrosyne was not at all what I was expecting from this. It was... not good on me, not good at all. At first this smells like very sharp citrus (lemon bathroom cleanser?) and perhaps perfumey white musk. I'm not getting any florals. And for the first time in my life, I actually wish that the florals would come out. This is truly foul. After about 10 minutes I am getting a slightly spicy floral scent and a very oily/plasticy vanilla coming on strong. Something about this blend is just very off with my skin chemistry. I never smell the tea rose or jasmine, and they're usually pretty strong on me (especially the jasmine). I'm getting mostly bathroom cleanser and plastic out of Euphrosyne ----------------- ETA. I wonder if my skin chemistry was just having a really off day when I first reviewed this. Euphrosyne has become one of my full bottle purchase BPAL scents. In any case, I take back all of my earlier bad comments about this one. This is a wonderfully creamy and pleasant scent. Very strong and has a lot of throw, so a little dab goes a long way on me. At first it is sort of perfumey, but it settles down considerably after about five minutes. I think that the floral that I smell here is mostly gardenia. It smells very sweet and, again, creamy. And I adore the drydown of this one as well. The vanilla becomes strongest on me over an hour's time, and it is a deliciously sugared vanilla. It almost reminds me of what melted white chocolate and powdered sugar smells like. 8 hours later and I still smell like delicious, rich vanilla. This is more sweet and foodie on me than it is floral, and I am very fond of it. Definitely a playful, girlie fragrance.

Lush parlor rooms draped in thick velvets and gilded in gold, unearthly whispering in the distance, fleeting flashes of wraithlike figures rushing just outside your vision, the chill of a phantom presence brushing by your cheek, the inscrutable knowledge that disembodied eyes are peering at you from darkened corners… this is the essence of Victorian-era spiritualism: rosewood, oak and teak notes with wispy blue lilac, tea rose, dried white rose and ethereal osmanthus. Ouija is a very unique scent. It reminds me of being in my grandmother's attic. Old furniture and cloth, all covered with a thin layer of dust. The rose comes out after about 15 minutes, but those also smell dried and dusty. A bit powdery. Ouija is a lovely mixture of old wood, dried roses, dust, and powder. I'm not sure if I'll wear this a lot, but it intrigues me enough that I'll keep the imp around.

When first applied: Jasmine. 15 minutes later: Jasmine. 1 hour later: Jasmine. 1 1/2 hours later: Washed the jasmine off. Yup. This is nothing but extremely strong and smoky jasmine on me. I swear, that flower loves me. I just can't meet it halfway. It gives me such bad headaches.

I've recently tried this one on again, and my impression is entirely different... it's not green or white floral on me now. This is a VERY clean and pleasant smell. It makes me think of wispy white linens floating in a cool breeze. And that's what it smells like, sheets that have been washed in a floral laundry soap and hung out to dry. It reminds me a bit of Dirty, but lighter and more chilly. I actually might need a full bottle of this one.

I wanted to try Ephemera for the 'autumn leaves' part of the description. Unfortunately, this does not smell leafy to me at all. Autumn or otherwise. Perfumey white florals attack my senses with this one. At first the tea rose comes out and it is a nice sweet rose, but the perfumey florals are backing it up and giving me a headache. After about 15 minutes this fades considerably. I'm left with a light powdery violet scent. It's pretty much disappeared before I've even been wearing it for a full hour. It is a very fleeting scent. Probably a good thing on me, because it was starting to give me a headache before it faded away.

Ylang ylang smells very golden, warm, and herbal on me. I can definitely see where it might be part of this blend. But, on my skin, Seduction smells like it has a lot of jasmine in it. I'm not sure if I'm insane or if my skin is just once again amping up the jasmine or what. This didn't do much to seduce me or the boy. Actually, it made me very grouchy because the smoky florals started giving me a headache. Then I started snapping at the boy and... well, it had the opposite of seduction going on, lol. The boy's opinion on this one was to tell me that, "You don't smell like you." Yeah. I am not a girl who does well with florals.

Unlike everyone else, I do not know this scent, lol. Flowers tend to escape me in their appeal... most of them just smell like flowers to me. On my skin, most floral blends take on the same generic perfumey quality that makes me feel like my throat is swelling shut. This smells like my least favorite type of floral, a white floral. In the drydown it seems to be trying to go powdery *and* soapy on me. Baby powder scented soap. This is what my personal hell would smell like, now that I think of it.