Little Bird

I death matched this with bpal's Bliss and The Other Hot Chocolate, and NAVA's Devil Cake. Bliss is more woody and not as strong, but pretty close to Chad (except Chad is richer and kinda makes me think of dark chocolate brownies with a thick caramel swirl on top), and The Other Hot Chocolate really has more of a marshmallow scent to it by comparison. I initially like Devil Cake more and think it's more of a true chocolate cake smell, but after 3 hours, Devil Cake is gone and Chad still smells like fudgey, sweet, caramel swirled brownies. Will need to full bottle this.

White musk, black musk and amber work together so beautifully in this blend. Black musk can be too harsh, masculine, and veer towards being ashy, white musk can be sharp and perfumey, and amber is often baby powder on me. This is powdery and creamy and lovely on me, though. The white musk is that slightly sweet, creamy variety, the amber powder doesn't go too dry and has a warm, woody, resinous presence to it, and the black musk smells like dark incense and dark musk with no ashiness or growly, too much-ness about it. Warm and surprisingly creamy fragrance on me.

Patchouli, and it's a kind of woody, sharp, reminiscent of body odor variety, which I usually don't get from black patchouli. I do get a hint of the black, trampled, damp earth that reminds me of black patchouli, so maybe it's actually the oudh that is turning funky on my skin. Dry wood, dirt covered roots, and a sweaty man's sour body odor scent...

I really enjoy this and keep thinking about getting a full bottle, but I don't know if I'll actually wear it all that much over the hundreds of scents that I already own. It's pleasant, but not even in the top 100 for me, I guess. I like the sweet myrrh, love the posh, cool, golden, metallic cologne thing that always smells so sexy and manly to me, and I enjoy the whiff of sweet cigar smoke and ash. I love that it's cool and metallic, warm and spicy, and sweetly resinous, all at once. Has a bit of a sweet lemon balm lilt to it in the drydown. Golden and compelling, but I probably won't need more than my decant...

Another American Gods that I expected to be heavier, but I can't smell the opoponax or resin at all. I get a crisp, lemony, pine-y sort of scent that I think is the elemi, along with some extra, medicinal, menthol chill from the eucalyptus. It's bracing and a bit masculine to my nose, but it doesn't have a lot of throw and fades quickly.

Starts off reminding me of wet grass and bamboo, sort of green and pulpy. I don't get the spiciness of frankincense that others have mentioned, but this does lean sort of white floral and soapy on my skin, like wet grass and wet laundry hung out to dry. It doesn't seem to to work magic on my skin as it has for other reviewers, as the ozone is still sharp and leans soapy on me, with a green background and sharp floral tones.

A sharp, perfumey/musky, floral explosion that gets a little sweeter in the drydown. It smells primarily like a big, waxy, sharp, white floral to me, like gardenia and tuberose, with hints of sweet honeysuckle and sour, red rose. A jumbled mishmash or fake-floral scents, like a cheap department store floral. Very strong and gives me a headache after a short while.

This is the same sort of horrible that God's Own Country is (I guess the descriptions are kind of similar, as that one is 'circuit boards, cathode rays, exhaust, frankincense, myrrh, soil and blood'). Metal filings, garage full of dust, old oil and grime, just a putrid, dirty scent to my nose... where God's Own Country flips towards actual, rotting blood and dirty hospital smell, this one flips to more of a smoky, heavy smog that's probably the tar and exhaust. I actually like the smell of chlorine irl, but this is chemical and harsh and all over just bad... I can't wear this one and had to scrub it off after a half hour.

I liked the idea of dirty patchouli mixed with clean soap, but somehow the patchouli and nag champa just don't show up to the party at all. This is like generic white bar soap, but harsh rather than creamy, and I don't get incense or earthiness at all. I wonder if there are batch variations, because my decant is nothing but soap, and I love patchouli. I like The Forgettable God more for a soap scent from this line, as it has a creamy, fluffy quality and watery tones, where this is more industrial handsoap...

The new version doesn't smell like the original, which I have some bad feelings about. I don't think it's really right to sell something with the same name as a highly sought after blend, at a marked up price, when it's not actually the same fragrance. Original AL and this new version have the same name and both have vanilla in them, but that's where the similarities end as far as I can tell. Original AL lasts all day on me and is really strong, and it is powdery and has an old fashioned, dried florals and vanilla dusting powder with heavy vanilla cream thing going on. Almost buttery vanilla as it dries down, with the vanilla powder and dried flowers... there's also something like a hint of clean, starchy fabric. It makes me think of old wedding dresses, love notes and dried flowers in an attic. New version AL has none of the powder, old fashioned, dried floral or heavy vanilla... this is more like a bright vanilla musk and burnt vanilla sugar. It's quite similar to Bath & Body Works' Warm Vanilla Sugar, actually. It has a clean, plasticy edge to it as well. New version AL also doesn't have very good throw or staying power. I can barely smell it past the one hour mark and it's definitely gone by two hours.

I was hoping for more carnation spiciness and resinous tones to this, but I don't smell them at all. This is a very perfumey (like department store white musk) rose with a soggy, green, plant-like something from the belladonna and yew. Smells like a Rappaccini's Garden blend, and almost none of those actually smell pleasant to me. It's a cold, artificial, musky rose and cold, artificial, soggy herb thing... incredibly sharp and, after an hour, has a strange, dusty sharpness as well.

I love this show and was so excited for the fragrance, and it does not disappoint. The black leather in this is that dark, slightly smoky, black whip leather. The strawberry is loud for the first minute or so and then immediately fades to the background where it becomes more of a creamy vanilla with a hint of sweet strawberry candy. It reminds me of the original Le Pere Fouettard, but with vanilla and a hint of strawberry instead of black licorice. I love the Nobodies, and I love this sweetened black leather scent.

Starts off as powdery, kind of bitter honey on my skin, with the whiskey smelling like alcohol spilled over a dark, polished, wood bar. The booze is a bit too sour for me. As it dries down, the 'gold' seems to come through as that soft, amazing, metallic cologne scent that I've enjoyed in a few other bpal blends. It's sort of sweet and cool and makes me think of gold coins glittering in green grass, and sexy man cologne. Still, the whiskey is too much for me here, and I think the blood note might be adding a rusty lilt to the scent in the far drydown.

Goes on smelling rather like pineapple on my skin, with maybe a warm, fuzzy amber note. Something slightly green, herbal and spiky smelling as it dries down (a little reminiscent of sage). Mostly very sweet with a clean, fruity freshness... and... all I can think is pineapple. It's not boozy or honeyed at all to my nose.

A very creamy, fruity orange blossom with golden, sweet honey. The drydown gets some powderiness from the amber, but I can't pick out oudh, and this is a pretty straightforward fragrance. Orange fruit, creamy and airy blossoms, sweet honey, and a powdery finish. A very soft orange blossom that lasts about an hour and then fades quickly on me.

A perfumey/musky sort of sweet, pink roses dusted with sparkling honey powder. It is just as advertised. I like creamier roses and fresher roses than this one is, as it leans more musky and dry smelling, but this is still a pretty, pleasant blend. Musky, pink roses and dry, sweet, bee pollen sort of scent.

Sour, tart red currant with swampy moss that reminds me of the Spanish moss note, and a little bit of dry, powdery sandalwood. Another American Gods scent with heavy notes where I can't smell the heavier notes at all. No vetiver or opoponax for me.

I get fizzy lime with a little bit of soapiness. Reminds me of some of the lab's champagne blends (was there a lime one?), but not quite as boozy smelling. Fades very quickly on me.

I put this on and get... burnt coffee and sweet lemon candy? Kind of a sweet incense, maybe, in the background. This doesn't have much throw on me for a blend with vetiver and dragon's blood, but I can't really smell either of those (unless the vetiver is doing the burnt coffee thing). The oil is a pale, almost clear yellow, so it doesn't have the usual red or dark brown color of those oils. Maybe that sweet, lemony tang is the frankincense and chamomile. Faint, lemon candy with hints of burnt coffee, wood and sweet incense. I can't get over that super-sweet lemon sorbet scent. It kind of reminds me of Gobo. Really strange.

Iris is always so unbearably sharp and chemical smelling to me. It's that sharp, artificial, department store white floral smell. Very screechy. Bpal's white tea also tends to be very sharp smelling to me, so it doesn't help matters here, and the bergamot is a sour, sharp lemon. The whole blend smells very cutting, cold and white. Drydown has a hint of soapiness. Gives me a headache.

The grapefruit comes off sour and smelling a little like sweaty BO to me, with an undertone of metallic, white musky men's cologne.

Warm, amber-y labdanum that turns just slightly powdery on me, with thick, animalic musk (like a warmer version of black musk with maybe a hint of civet) and straightup woodsmoke, like standing next to a bonfire. Starts off strong and growly, but dries down to mostly that powdery amber veil on my skin.

If I describe something as smelling like cigarettes, cigarette smoke, cigarette ash or dirty ash tray, that's generally a bad thing, but this isn't bad. It's more like the sweet curl of cigar smoke than the harsh blast of cigarette smoke. It does have a sort of melancholy feel to it, and you smell it and can imagine someone burning sweet incense and smoking cigarettes, lonely and looking out a window with nowhere to go and no one to see. I don't know why it comes off as so somber to me, but it captures the mood perfectly. Sweet frankincense and myrrh in a cloudy room full of cigar and cigarette smoke.

This is one of those rare fragrances that I put on my skin, leaned in to sniff, and recoiled in horror and had to choke back some vomit. It smells maybe like when my uncle came to our house to hunt one summer and was skinning deer in the garage where my father usually worked on cars and did metalwork, and there was just this stench of blood and filth mixed with metal and grime. This is, to me, not like bpal's idealized blood note (not dragon's blood or red musk or blood musk), but like a strange, slaughtered scent and filth. I have a really hard time smelling this at all. Maybe a little minty and antiseptic. A dirty hospital smell. I can't stand this at all.

This is too medicinal for me. The hint of mint mixed with powdery, tart orange just makes me think of vitamin tablets and cough syrup. I don't get the rosemary, but I can pick out a bit of bitter clove in the drydown.