Little Bird

I love all of these notes, but they play out strangely on my skin here and this scent isn't at all what I was expecting. Somehow this smells like a chocolate bar studded with sour herbs and the watery, fresh quality of ambergris. I expected something much darker and heavier. As it dries down, it smells like a cup of watery black tea with a little sugar and honey and a backdrop of the leather, patchouli and tobacco melding together in a gritty, masculine, smoky character. Having tea with a man in a leather jacket with the scent of smoke clinging to it (a bit like cigarette smoke, but not that harsh or sharp). A half hour in, I'm still getting that watery and clean impression and the smoky new leather jacket. I wanted this to be sweeter than it is and I don't get any of the red musk, which I love and which my skin usually amps up. It's overall more clean and bright than I was expecting.

I smudged the smallest amount of this on my wrist and my partner was complaining for hours that it was too strong, so it has great throw and longevity on me. ? I really love the opening of The Red Ribbon where it's sweet, warm, sultry red musk and a thick, honeyed cream scent. It starts off very gourmand, but that stage fades quick on me (about 5 minutes) and then it becomes more of a muddied, brown scent with a much heavier, slightly powdery amber and hints of dry wood and patchouli. The amber has the quality of a traditional perfume and feels very fall-like to me (reminds me of wearing Shalimar and walking through crunchy dead leaves). After an hour, The Red Ribbon settles into a sweet red musk and dry, heavy amber that's very dark and deep in feel with an edge of powdery sophistication (not baby powder, more an edge of dusty, powdered incense). The musk and amber blend together so seamlessly, like a chunk of amber that's glowing red. Bpal's ambers are usually baby powdery on my skin, but this one isn't, and it feels very full bodied and complex. So. Yeah. I love this too.

I love all of the Lupercalia white chocolate & strawberry blends because the strawberry in them smells realistic (tart, sweet, juicy, refreshing) rather than sickly sweet, artificial or candied. I was worried about the calvados/brandy here because I don't tend to enjoy boozy scents, but this is just super creamy and smooth. It reminds me of a fresh strawberry and vanilla milkshake that's milky and icy and not overly sweet (though this is still quite sweet). I smell this and can imagine a strawberry cream drink in a martini glass, the sort of alcoholic drink where you can't really smell or taste the alcohol, but the flavors and scent are more grownup and sophisticated. That's what this scent is like <3.

Olisbokollike is another blend that I am going to have to hoard multiple bottles of. It's definitely a savory *and* sweet scent. It's like rye bread's distinctive, savory spiciness next to a batch of Hawaiian sweet rolls and olive tapenade (salty, olive oil-y, herbal, rich and mouthwatering). I love bread scents and this one is so unique and strong and really makes me feel like I should be sitting in front of a delicious selection of fresh baked breads and flavored olive oils for dipping. I can definitely smell the sweet cream as well, but it melds into the bread to just enhance the bread and make it smell moist and lightly sweet and very realistic. I had a friend smell this on me in the drydown and they said I smelled just like Hawaiian rolls. So I smell amazing I love it when I find a gourmand fragrance that is something new and surprising, and this one is so enjoyable.

Bright honey turned into a crunchy, hard toffee that's burnt around the edges. There's also a floof of powdered milk that smells clean and fresh (and less powdery, more milky in the drydown). It's like LUSH's Honey I Washed the Kids was made into a slightly fresher version that's a bit sharper, but this definitely does remind me of HIWTK, especially in the sweeter, creamier drydown stage.

This was the easiest blind buy of my life (I love vanilla bean, love marshmallow-y vanilla even more, and I adore vanilla + resins). I ordered two bottles initially and I'll definitely add a couple more bottles into my next order. I have and love Stekk and different ages / variations of Antique Lace, but Vanilla Bean, Marshmallow and Vanilla doesn't remind me of any of my other bpal fragrances. If anything, this reminds me of the sweet, shadowy vanilla and benzoin base in Guerlain's Spiritueuse Double Vanille, but with a realistic marshmallow instead of SDV's more complex top notes. It's so good and really blooms and warms on the skin. Shadowy like whisps of incense and cocoa powder underneath a smooth vanilla cream and realistic marshmallow. This blend is simple, wonderful, and beautiful. It smells of high quality vanilla and the benzoin is a little spicy, a little incensey, and resinous, adding so much depth to the vanillic tones. I love this one so much!

I don't know how I overlooked this blend originally, but I recently purchased a bottle on ebay and I really enjoy how rich it is. It starts off reminding me a bit of Shub Niggurath with the addition of earthy, deep, patchouli that blends into the spices in a seamless, sophisiticated way. I feel like I can smell the sweet molasses and spices in this moist gingerbread. It's 90% spiced baked goods and only 10% earthiness, though both parts are discernable. In the drydown, it's much the same, but the gourmand aspect starts to remind me of those hard, spiced oatmeal cookies with the hardened frosting glaze on them. I used to love dipped "iced oatmeal cookies" in milk because the cookie part would soften and the hardened icing would stay kind of crunchy. I have a lot of gingerbread scents from bpal, but this one might be my favorite. Yummy gingerbread with hints of icing and the spices make the hippie patchouli into a spicy-earthy, slightly incensey perfume undertone to the gourmand part. Very good!

Florentine orris butter, red sandalwood, white patchouli, leather accord, and ambrette musk with a drifting eddy of King mandarin, wild bergamot, bourbon vanilla, and gold-limned saffron. Mythological Scene reminds me of a lot of the Phoenix anniversary blends at first, in that it has a warm, glowing feel underneath darker notes. In the drydown, it reminds me a bit of Morocco. The red sandalwood is prominent, giving off a warm, almost incensey woods note, with the mandarin giving it a sweet, citrus brightness. The patchouli and leather add a dark, earthy hint, but that's barely there on my skin, and I have to really search for the leather, especially in the drydown. In the drydown, this is mostly vanilla and sandalwood on me, with the orris giving it a plush, powdery softness. Woody, warm, red sandalwood and creamy vanilla with a hint of powdery orris. I smell a soft, white, suede-like leather every once in a while, but mostly this is a soft vanilla-sandalwood.

I hope that the Sheet Ghosts become a recurring collection because they're my favorites from the 2021 'Weenies and they have a fabric-like quality, subtle sweetness, and sophistication that makes me think of Black Lace and its series of flankers. Traditional Sheet Ghost, in particular, really reminds me of Black Lace (and Boo, but nowhere near as sweet as Boo). If you like sweetened cotton scents like Black Lace & Boo, I would definitely recommend giving this one a try. Traditional Sheet Ghost is more clean smelling, but in the same family for me, and it's a really beautiful perfume. Traditional Sheet Ghost conjures up images of white sheets hung to dry in a cool breeze with the scent of powdery lily and sweet, milky, cool vanilla clinging to the fabric. On me, the frankincense gives off just a hint of something darker, like a whisper of church incense weaving through the clean fabric and delicate sweetness of the larger scent. As it dries farther down, I get the lemony facet mentioned in the description and it starts to remind me of the way that magnolia flowers smell, like floral scented lemon and vanilla cream. Clean laundry scented with sweet lily and lemony magnolia, vanilla cream, and a whisper of church incense. I don't like soapy scents and this is clean without smelling like I outright rolled in laundry soap. I really love this one.

Snake Oil's slinky, dark musk and smooth, almost spicy vanilla baked into a sweet bread and topped off with brown sugar that's starting to caramelize. I love gourmand Snake Oil blends and gourmands with a twist, so this is wonderful to me. I find it interesting that all of the Sugar Cookie blends in this series smell a little different to me. This one comes off more bread-like, Sugar Cookie Snow White has a very realistic cookie-browning-on-the-edges scent, Sugar Cookies & Popcorn Garland is much more on the brown sugar and caramel scent, and so on. The only negative is that this only lasts about 2 hours on me before it's disappeared into a hint of brown sugary skin scent, so I'm hoping that the Snake Oil part gets stronger and more tenacious with age.

Chibi Skull is my big win from my recent orders. I usually hate red patchouli (it tends to be the sort of patch that turns to BO on my skin), but I took a chance because I LOVE vanillic gourmand notes. On me, this is like buttercream frosting, whipped cream, and milky foam with a hint of lemon, poured over a wonderful, soft, smooth, almost chocolate-y smelling patchouli. I hope to get a couple more bottles of this one and if vanilla + patchouli is something that you love, then I'd definitely recommend giving this one a try.

Philopannyx is such a huge letdown to me. I should love this based on the notes. I love dark, resinous florals, but I don't get any resin or floral here. This is like black musk single note on me, and it goes super sour, dry, dusty, and powdery smelling on my skin. I get no florals, no myrrh and no patchouli. I don't know if something is off with my bottle or what.

I actually like this more than the original Pinched. I feel like this is more complex and the notes are more distinct in this blend. I primarily smell sweet chewing tobacco that's golden and thickly sweet, like it's flavored with tons of honey and a hint of butterscotch (the butterscotch-y sweetness is something I got from the original as well). The spices are very well behaved, coming through as light touches of pepper and earthy cinnamon bark. In the drydown, it's much the same, but I can start picking up on the coffee and more of the tobacco, giving it a deeper, darker, more earthy, roasted aroma, which just makes the whole thing even better. It verges on being too sweet at points, but I still enjoy this one.

I didn't see another review thread for this, and I tried searching for one... I ordered this bottle from the lab's etsy shop, hoping that it would be a more wearable version of The Ifrit, and it is that for me. NGIFR6 reminds me of blends like Priala, Sunbird, and The Ifrit - sort of warm, sweetly spicy, bright resins and that perfumey, slightly gritty sand note. It makes me think of gold, resins, and a mix of soft cinnamon and sweet clove. It has great throw and staying power, but stays smooth and doesn't turn sharp or smoky on my skin. It reminds me a lot of the earlier bottles of Priala that I own (the newer/latest bottles I have smell like vetiver rather than sweet spices and resins).

Sniffing this in the bottle, my brain immediately thought that I was smelling Boomslang with its ultra smooooth, creamy, dark, slinky vanilla, but with roasted coffee bean (warm, gourmand, toasty) instead of cocoa. I expected this to be intense on the pumpkin spice, but I actually don't smell the pumpkin spice at all. I love the first half hour of wear (Snake Oil vanilla and roasted coffee beans) and was thinking backup bottles, but unfortunately something in PSL starts to go baby powdery on my skin after that first half hour. It's like the smooth sweetness fades away to be replaced by powder and then the whole thing starts to fade rather rapidly.

Snow White has been one of my favorite bpals for forever now, so I wasn't sure if I'd enjoy the Sugar Cookie part or feel like it was ruining the perfection that is Snow White. This is a really fun flanker, though. I agree with the previous review in that this reminds me of Snow White whipped into a frothy, milky drink and topped with some snickerdoodle crumbles and a little bit of cinnamon sugar. In the drydown, the cookie part gets that really beautiful, caramelized smell that cookies get when they're just starting to brown/getting ready to burn on the edges. The Snow White is there, present and ultra creamy, full of cool vanilla and a kind of marzipan-ish scent (not cherry or almond extract, but the creamy, delicous parts of sugared almond). I'm really enjoying this blend.

This has a craft store potpourri smell on me, sort of plasticy and quite spicy, which surprised me. I guess the spice is coming from the carnation, but it smells like a cheap mulled apple cider candle more than carnation to my nose. The only other note that I can discern is the strawberry and it reminds me of strawberry gummi candy, very sweet and artificial. This has so many scents that I love in it, but it's a pretty big letdown for me

I've tried so many perfume houses at this point in my life and the Lab still has the best plum notes that I've ever smelled, so I knew that I was going to love this blend. I don't smell marshmallow exactly (this doesn't have marshmallow's creaminess), but I think that the marshmallow adds to the sweetness of the plum. This is like a dark, juicy, slightly tart, perfectly ripe plum that's been dusted in glittering sugar. I want to layer it with other things, but I also think that it's perfect on its own and I don't want to mess it up. Hopefully I can get a couple more bottles of this one before it disappears. It is worth hoarding.

A Place of Seeing reminds me of scents like Morocco (but this isn't as powdery as Morocco is on me) and The Girl (but this is more sweet and creamy) because it has a slightly powdery, deep amber and sandalwood underneath an airy, sweet perfume. The lavender and marshmallow are strong on initial application and then dissolve quickly into this airy, sweetened lavender that is like a cool breeze over the ambered notes. I get no rose or bergamot at all from my bottle, and I'm fine with that. I expected more sweetness from the vanilla and marshmallow, but this is more creamy and lightly, elegantly sweetened. I love this one.

Snake Oil with oakmoss, sea moss, white moss, and olive leaf. The original Banded Sea Snake had a bright, smooth, non-soapy aquatic, earthy moss and lots of Snake Oil vanilla sweetness. Aged, it's a sweet, dark vanilla with clear, clean aspects to it (but not soapy). This new version veers into being soapy on my skin, and isn't very sweet at all. It has a light, clean laundry sort of smell with a hint of green moss. As it dries down, it's clean laundry, a nondescript green and cool feel (almost minty smelling on my skin, like mint plants mixed with moss), and the smokiness of Snake Oil rather than the vanilla aspect is amping up on me. After a couple hours, it's clean, soapy laundry smell with a hint of vanilla and smokiness. I don't like this as much as the original, but I do sometimes enjoy clean/soapy fragrances on my husband, so I'm going to try this out on him.

I was worried about the cinnamon, but it's well-behaved and lends a spiciness to the leather that actually reads more like bay rum cologne on my skin. I agree with the reviews that have said this is a brown saddle leather that feels well worn and a little dusty, but it also smells very cologne-like on my skin. Like a clean man that still smells of soapy aftershave and bay rum cologne with a sharp, gleaming metallic edge, climbing into a dusty saddle. More clean and not as deep and rich as a scent like Spanked (my forever spiced leather love). It gives off Drakkar Noir and Old Spice type vibes.

The Anise Swallowtail is a creature of wide open spaces. She flies through wide open spaces, over hills and through lots abandoned by humankind, dancing among dill, parsley, fennel, and wild carrots. Bourbon vanilla, star anise, cypress, juniper berry, a drop of blood orange, and bronze fennel. Anise Swallowtail reminds me of Golden Priapus with its smooth, cool evergreen notes and lots of creamy, lightly sweet vanilla. The cypress, juniper and fennel are green, frosty, slightly herbal, and slightly camphorous, without smelling like full-on menthol or mint or anything harsh. This reminds me quite a bit of Tokyo Milk's "Arsenic" fragrance as well, especially as it dries down (that one is notes of 'absinthe, vanilla salt, cut greens and crushed fennel'). Cool, green, and lots of vanilla.

I should love this, but I don't. It's sort of herbal and sour-metallic and reminds me of clary sage with a dusty, sharp cedar undertone. After a half hour, I can smell the vanilla and sweet, golden resin underneath the herbal, woody tones, but it's very faint and still has a strong, sour, dry, herbal quality to it.

Sickly sweet and very baby powdery. Orris, white sandalwood and Egyptian musk all go powdery on my skin and I usually love the sweetness of orris, but it's coming off rather funky in this blend, like rotting, damp flowers covered in baby powder and dust. Clean, white musk and baby powder smelling drydown.

Everything is well blended and swirled together. Hints of sweet plum, sharp white smoke, and patchouli that is both chocolatey and woody, with whiffs of pencil shavings and dry cedar. The oud gives off an edge of Off Deep Woods bug spray for a while in the opening. The drydown after a half hour is mostly white tobacco with smoke, powder, and dry woods. After an hour, still that powdery white tobacco and dusty wood, but I also get a weird vegetable oil smell from this.