Little Bird

I first tried this without remembering the notes, and thought that it smelled like really good pencil shavings (must be the woody oudh) and melting dark chocolate. Opoponax lends a thick, dark, resinous sweetness. I smell hints of black pepper, but it's mellow and rich rather than sharp, and I don't get much of a patchouli impression, but perhaps it lends to the richness of the cacao. This winds up smelling like a more rich and dark chocolatey version of Velvet on my skin, or a plum-free version of Tarantula Fascinator. I quite like this one.

Goes on very green, pulpy, refreshing, and wet smelling. It smells like the lab's bamboo note and reminds me a bit of the original Banded Sea Snake. Sweet aquatic cologne, wet greenery, and an overall men's cologne feel. This has a huge note list, but I don't smell amber, cinnamon, incense/resin, blood, rose, or honey, and I don't think that it's particularly floral. After about 15 minutes, I agree with the reviewers who mentioned ozone, because the greenery fades and it's more of a high pitched, sharp, dry soapiness.

Reminds me of "Numb." Like the scent of a cold shower (not exactly minty or mentholic, but somehow like cold, refreshing water) and mountains of that fluffy, white, generic men's shaving cream (that my dad always used when I was little, so I love that scent). I think that I will buy a full bottle of this at some point. Simple, clean, slightly masculine, smooth fragrance. This is my favorite clean type scent from bpal.

On me, this smells like honey musk with an extra dose of white musk, very sweet and perfumey and powdery, and a hint of something almost like soapy aquatic, which is perhaps the 'oak leaves.' I'm kind of disappointed that All-Father smells so powdery and sickly-sweet... I wanted and expected something more dark, complex and powerful. This is more girly and tween perfume-ish on me. It's strange.

If you liked the strawberry in Diligent Instruction for the Bridal Night, this is the same thing, minus the creaminess that Diligent has in it. It smells like the original Bath & Body Works' Sun-Ripened Raspberry and Sugar Plum Fairy lotions - a very tart, slightly perfumey/musky, slightly plasticy berry. It's basically the berry single note version of Diligent, and I don't like it at all without some extra vanilla and creaminess to round it out. Simple and reminds me of the girls' lockerroom in middle school. Aggressive and overwhelming fake fruit. I find it to be too strong, tart and sour for my tastes.

Mithras reminds me of the original Chaste Moon. A milky, clean, creamy floral sort of scent. I was expecting dragon's blood and something like Dragon's Milk, but it's nothing like either of those. I keep thinking that I smell dry tea leaf and something like craft store cinnamon potpourri in the drydown, lingering underneath the creamy, sweet, milky white floral. Drydown starts to give me a headache and I'm thinking there's some sort of white musk in this. Overall, Mithras isn't as foodie or sweet as I was hoping for, and leans towards being clean, musky and white floral on me more than anything.

On me, this is herbal, bright, white musky smelling honey (I like a creamy, sweet honey). Sort of an herbal, slightly soapy, wildflower honey. Golden amber always turns into an overwhelming splat of baby powder on my skin, and that's what it does here as well. I can see the cocoa, but I can't smell it, no matter how much I shake up the bottle. A little cardamom spiciness in the drydown. Mostly an herbal honey (reminds me of dried, savory chamomile and honey after a while, which reminds me of the Sachs perfume). Too powdery for me, and I don't like the honey note, and maybe I don't like this bourbon vanilla, because it reminds me of Sachs, which I also disliked.

I full bottled this immediately, because I love cardamom, vanilla and cedar, and it has a cat on the label. Cat on the label will always win (along with bird on the label). Thankfully, this oil is gorgeous and one that I'm going to be wearing a lot. I am absolutely crazy about Solstice Scents' unfortunately discontinued 'Attic' fragrance, because it had the most realistic and beautiful cedar in it, and the cedar in The Small Brown Cat is that type of cedar. It smells like true, dry, spicy cedar wood chips with a tiny hint of green to it. The vanilla adds the creamy, delicate sweetness and the cardamom a hint of spiciness that just makes it more true smelling. I don't get any musk or powderiness that I usually get with 'fur' notes. I think this is a great fragrance, and a perfect kitty scent. Outdoorsy, but sweet and warm.

Nope. This is sickly-sweet and powdery on me. I like a few of the lab's paint and plastic scents, but this is like sweet, maybe lime scented, carpet powder, a hint of cucumber-y freshness, and wet paint. It's cloying, but also weirdly sour and dirty. It smells like someone used scented carpet powder to try to cover up a cat pee smell after a while. Dirty, dusty, horrible carpets and cloying powder...

I like spooky, haunted house, atmospheric scents. The Hall's Foyer at Dusk is one of my favorite atmosphere sprays for this feel. When I wear The Center, I keep thinking that I smell like I'm staying in a hotel, especially when first applied. It does smell like paint and old, cleaned-a-million-times-but-not-enough carpet. I like that smell. It's not dirty or dusty or moldy smelling to me, but it's worn-in and definitely plasticy (like the scent of opening rubber pool toys). Where Roadside Attractions stays as sweet paint, carpet powder and fresh cucumber scent to me, this dries down with a warm, smoky undertone that's something like dry, grassy vetiver and clove with old, warm wood and hints of clean, plasticy paint. I don't exactly get booze or beeswax, but I think they're combining into that softly sweet, glowing, warm, old wooden floors feel.

The pine in this reminds me strongly of Dublin, because it has a misty sweetness to it rather than a sour tone. Kind of like those pine tree shaped car fresheners. The smoke is much less than I thought it would be, thankfully, as I don't enjoy overwhelmingly smoky blends. This smells like it has black musk and incense smoke in it, not really outright woodsmoke or bonfire. I don't get blood musk or dragon's blood at all. Dries down to what smells like black musk (slightly powdery, dark, incensey, masculine, slightly black leathery, musky) and sweet opoponax on me with whiffs of sweet, smoldering incense cones. Only a hint of sweet pine in the drydown, but it's there and gives some life and lift to the blend. "Pitch" usually equals woodsmoke, but this is all sweet incense smokiness. Masculine. Pine-y, but sweet. Mostly warm, but with a touch of coolness from the pine. I'd love this one on a man.

Very dusty, bone dry, splintered, oddly bitter smelling sandalwood, mixed with a dry, herbal, savory sage note. I was curious about the 'sand,' but this is more dusty and baby powdery than sandy/earthy to me. Very faint throw and fades quickly.

… rib cages and fire-eyed skulls stared and stuck and jutted from the flames, sputtering trace-element colors into the night, greens and yellows and blues—was flaring and crackling and burning hotly. Sparks of red peppercorns, blue-white eucalyptus leaf, and daemonorops draco against smoldering red amber and a copper sulfate-green licks of flame. This smells very craft-store-at-Christmas-time to me. I can't really pick out most of the listed notes, and was expecting a warm, peppery dragon's blood type of scent, but this smells like a big blast of cinnamon chewing gum (Big Red!) and plasticy, craft store wreaths. There's a slight, airy chill from the menthol/eucalyptus note, but mostly I can't figure out why this smells so much like cinnamon. I do kind of like the hot cinnamon mixed with that airy, cold feel. Smells like walking into a craft store full of cinnamon candles, cinnamon oils and plastic wreaths, with the frosty outside air following you into the warm store.

I was so disappointed when I first got my bottle of this. It was a dusty, powdery, bland thing. I love American Gods, corvids, Odin, Huginn and Muninn, and really want to love this scent. I put the bottle away for a week and wore it again today and am relieved that it seems to have settled from its mailbox shock or whatever weird skin chemistry thing was happening with me previously. Opoponax and myrrh can sometimes have that thickly sweet, resinous quality that makes them smell like cola, and I'm getting that here, along with an almost fizzy, bubbly violet. So this smells like violet flavored cola, which is so unusual and fun. I like it a lot. I usually don't notice a difference in perfumes from aging, but this is one that I think might become earthier. I love black patchouli, and am hoping that it might get stronger in this over time. Right now, though, this is bubbly violet cola on my skin, and I'm perfectly happy with that

The eucalyptus/menthol note in this is strong and medicinal, like huffing VapoRub, and the aldehydes add a bit of dry soapiness. I don't smell any of the resins.

The grapefruit and blackberry in this are very sour on me, to the point of being unpleasant, and the grapefruit takes on that strange quality that it sometimes has where it smells like sweaty body odor. Mix that with a dry, sour moss and mulchy earth and this is gag-inducing on my skin.

Soapy, sharp, perfumey white floral with an undertone of artificial, screechy, tart berries. Reminds me of a Bath & Body Works fruity-floral. Goes all wrong on my skin...

Buck Moon 2017 reminds me more of the original Falling Leaf Moon or Samhain than the original Buck Moon (the GC 'Ochosi' reminds me of original Buck Moon). I actually don't get much greenery from this blend, other than a whiff of sweet pine at the start. Mostly this smells like spicy, dry, crunchy fall leaves and a soft, furry animal musk that's slightly powdery and vanillic with just a hint of dirtiness. It has that spicy, dry patchouli that's in blends like Samhain, to my nose. The musk reminds me of a toned down Smell Bent's Commando. I'm really loving this blend.

Dark, super powdery, resinous black musk with hints of dry herbs and a gritty, earthy, slightly smoky and ashy note that I think is the tobacco. The herbal notes go a little sour and savory on me, and I actually don't smell any dragon's blood. I don't really like this one. Powdery black musk with sour, dry herbs and ashy tobacco.

I think that this is my favorite of the Zodiac blends, but I like red & spicy. The red musk is strong, warm and sweetly musky (and fruity smelling, always makes me think of red wine). It has a red, glowing, floral edge from the dragon's blood. As it dries down, I can smell a sharp spiciness from the black pepper and a warm, dry wood from the sandalwood, but it's mostly a lovely swirl of red musk and dragon's blood.

The lab's champagne notes are always too sweet and a little sickly (pukey) smelling on my skin, and that's what I get from this blend as well. I can't really pick out the honey, but the champagne itself is like a fizzy, sugar saturated booze.

This was guaranteed baby powder on me with the amber and sandalwood notes. I get that bone dry powder. I also thought this would be spicy from the cassia, but it doesn't turn spicy on me at all. I do get a sour, perfumey, red rose and herbal lavender. It reminds me of the rose and lavender scented powders and bath salts that my grandmother used to keep in her bathroom. Clean, herbal, perfumey rose with lots of powdery, dusty tones...

I get nothing but dry, sharp, dark cinnamon from this. I can't even smell a hint of the buttery pumpkin note.

I like Splatter Comedy and The Twelfth more for banana cream pie scents. There's not really anything creamy about this Banana Cream Pie. This smells like those powdery banana flavored sweet tarts candies with the hard outer shell coating, and the pie crust reminds me of a buttery version of golden musk. So this is like perfumey banana flavored sweet tarts.

The perfume oil version of this is tons of cinnamon on me and irritates my skin, so I'd be afraid to use this as a bath oil. The bath oil smells the same as the perfume did to me - a fresh, perfumey apple with lots of cinnamon, reminding me of an apple cider scented fall candle.