Little Bird

The Thirteens never smell the way that I imagine they will when I read their lists of notes. I expected this to be resin heaven, but it's mostly sugar and dark, rich chocolate with a sad whimper of dusty amber on my skin. Dark chocolate with a black, burnt sugar edge and hints of dusty, warm amber. I really wanted and expected this to be more resinous. I enjoy the chocolate note and it smells delicious, but I wanted myrrh, copal, olibanum, benzoin and dragon's blood, and I don't smell any of those notes at all. This lasted for over 6 hours (before I showered) and was strong, dark chocolate all the way through. I'm going to keep the two bottles I ordered, because I do like the chocolate, but I'm really going to hope that the resins take over with some aging.

I like geranium to be more spicy and herbal, where it's green and sharply rosy here, and has a definite soapiness in the drydown. I can also pick out the sweet peach, lemony-sour bergamot, and carnation spice. It all melds together into this sweet, perfumey fruity-floral, though, with an edge of soapiness and sour, sharp rose. I'm not getting any patchouli.

I wish that this smelled like Chanel's Coromandel on me, and I'm jealous of people who are getting more of the white chocolate note . I seem to be getting more of the white peony, iris and vegetal musk. It's a sharp white floral and clean, almost soapy, spring fresh floral type of smell. Sort of a clean laundry feel. There's a bit of powdery amber in the drydown, but it's mostly clean and not really earthy or gourmand on my skin at all.

I wanted more neroli from this, but it's mainly a sharp, citrusy, bright, almost sour white tea on my skin. Cool and refreshing, but sharper and more clean smelling than I generally enjoy.

The pink pepper smells sweet on me, kind of like pink bubblegum and cinnamon, mixed with powdery sandalwood and perfumey, dry, floral osmanthus. A very dry, spicy scent. I actually don't get much of a tea impression from it.

On me, this is soapy rose and cool evergreen, drying down to a soapy lavender and powdery sandalwood with a hint of sharp rose. Too much soap for me.

I love orris's soft, powdered sugary, vanilla-violet thing as much as I hate iris's sharp, perfumey/musky, cheap white floral smell. On me, this is a pretty even mix of both, and I can't pick out the coconut or pear. The sharp iris ruins the sweeter, creamier elements for me.

I'm not a fan of nag champa incense. It always smells cheap and headshoppy to me. I'm not a huge fan of this single note, either, but I wasn't really expecting to love this one. It has that powdery, dusty, sweet, almost grape-candy tone to it that I get from nag champa incense sticks. The drydown is a bit less sweet, more golden powdery and clean floral, but mostly it smells like a new age shop selling dusty incense sticks.

A potent attraction blend. Can be used alone or in conjunction with other oils to amplify their power. This is only going to be a commentary on the scent, because I really love the fragrance and haven't used Magnet enough yet to have formed an opinion on its effectiveness. When I first got my latest TAL order box, I could smell Magnet before I even opened it. Then I had to open and sniff at all of my bottles to find out where the beautiful smell was coming from. I'm not sure how to describe this... it's almost a sweet, creamy sort of citrus, with a slightly herbal edge. I normally hate citrus, but this reminds me of a lemon sherbet, but with a creamier edge. My sister-in-law said that it smells like creamy lily of the valley and a sweet citrus. My boy just said that he likes it. I'm crap at picking out floral notes, so pehaps it is lily. After about an hour, it also begins to take on a sort of sultry, spicier incensey quality on me. Whatever it is, Magnet smells very pretty.

Overview: Hair gloss is a heavy, oily spray that quickly overwhelms my long, fine hair and makes it look and feel very greasy. I can't use this product anywhere but very sparingly on the ends of my hair, or else it makes my head look like an oil slick. I'm really careful with my hair and the products that I use on it. For a while, I was using this to fragrance the ends of my hair, but I find that it makes my hair fall out a lot, either from the high fragrance oil content, the heaviness of the oil itself, or something else. I wanted to love these and wanted them to work, because of the fragrances, but now I only use the hair gloss as a body mist on my arms and legs, not actually on my hair. Fragrance review: I like the Banana Cream Pie hair gloss a lot more than the perfume oil. I didn't get much banana from the perfume oil. The hair gloss smells like I took a real banana, green peel and all, and mushed it into my hair. I often think of a smoothie made with banana, ice and rice milk. It's a cool, milky, fresh banana. Then every once in a while I catch whiffs of powdery banana candy (just like banana runts candy) and musky, golden pie crust. It's really good, but I don't know if I'd ever wear this one much. I'm obsessed with Dorian hair gloss or heavier, earthier glosses... this is fresh, golden, milky, fruity.

The honey, vanilla, sugar, cream and pumpkin in this all meld together into the best pancake breakfast ever. It smells like good maple syrup, warm and melting butter, sweet pancakes, creamy & eggy French toast, and walnut and cream studded struedels. It's all drenched in syrup and cream, drizzled in honey, and with the pumpkin adding a very subtle, buttery spiciness, as though one of the French toast pieces was dusted in a hint of cinnamon (and cinnamon usually amps up on me, but it stays quiet here). So much yum. As it dries down, I think I smell caramel coffee as well. This is definitely a sweet sugar rush, but I love how creamy and buttery this is, and I love that it smells like a dream breakfast buffet.

I love this when it's first applied. It smells like black earth, dark moss and soft heather poking through a layer of melting ice. Very natural and evocative. This stage lasts only about 3 minutes on me, though, before the honeyed red musk amps up and takes over. Slinky, sexy, warm red musk (like dark, grapey wine and nag champa incense sweetened with lots of smooth, golden honey and a hint of clean, cool perfume from the white musk and ice. Very pretty, but I miss the earthy opening.

In the bottle, this smells like powdery banana candy, and was so artificial and dry that I didn't even want to try it on. But I always try everything on, compulsively, so on it went. I was hoping that this would be like Splatter Comedy (my dream banana cream scent) minus the metal note, but this is a lot more artificial and chemical smelling. Starts off as banana candy and dries down to a warm, musky vanilla sugar and golden pie crust thing. Something about this is reminding me of chemical-y scented markers and keeps making me feel like I'm going to cough and it's getting stuck in my throat when I smell it. It's also so overwhelmingly sweet; it's definitely cloying. It's kind of a big, warm, sugary, heavy mess on my skin, and I can't smell the banana at all after about ten minutes. It's also not creamy at all to my nose, but rather very dry smelling. Dry, golden pie crust, heaps of musky, cloying sugar, and a sweet scented markers thing...

This is amazing in the hair gloss (brownies, marshmallows, cookie dough, and melty chocolates) and not so great for me in the perfume oil. The hair gloss has tons of throw and staying power, where the perfume oil only lasts about an hour on my skin, and the perfume oil version has a clean, plasticy quality that ruins it for me, and a kind of powdery drydown.

Overview: Hair gloss is a heavy, oily spray that quickly overwhelms my long, fine hair and makes it look and feel very greasy. I can't use this product anywhere but very sparingly on the ends of my hair, or else it makes my head look like an oil slick. I'm really careful with my hair and the products that I use on it. For a while, I was using this to fragrance the ends of my hair, but I find that it makes my hair fall out a lot, either from the high fragrance oil content, the heaviness of the oil itself, or something else. I wanted to love these and wanted them to work, because of the fragrances, but now I only use the hair gloss as a body mist on my arms and legs, not actually on my hair. Fragrance review: Bpal's chocolate scents are hit or miss on me. They either smell realistic and amazing or they turn to powder or plastic on my skin. The Marshmallow Cookie Pie perfume oil turns plasticy on me and fades rather quickly. The gloss turns just a little plasticy and lasts a lot longer. To me, this smells like fresh, moist chocolate cake, boozy chocolate liqueur, and sugary, vanilla-ish cookie dough. It's more of a really sugary, super-sweet marshmallow after about an hour, like that marshmallow paired with an underbaked, gooey, oozing with chocolate brownie. I find this to be rather cloying and a bit too much at times, but sometimes I'm in the mood for this sugarbomb. Brownies, cookie dough, marshmallows, all sorts of gooey chocolate goodness, just a little plasticy and fuzzy-scented-marker-ish... lots of fun

Snake Oil perfume oil is awful to me (smells like unwashed, oily, sweaty hair with baby powder in it). It's the same no matter how long I age it. I'm just not a fan of the stuff at all. I don't find it as horrible in the bath oil, but I still don't get the appeal. It has a chemical smell to it, almost like the smell of wet paint. Then maybe a dark musk and sugar? If I apply it directly to my skin, it starts to get a little of that funky, dirty hair and baby powder thing happening. In the bath it's a weak, musky-ish, dark-ish, chemical smell...

The jar I got of this was very oily, and smells like sugary fruit juice (apple and white grape, maybe) and gummi bears. Sugary, nondescript fruitiness. I was hoping for more rose and vanilla. It's too fruity for me.

Key Lime is my favorite pie to eat, and this is my favorite of the bptp pie fragrances as well. A lot of the other pies went to a generic spice smell on my skin, but there's no spice here at all, and it's so complex. Tangy, sweet key lime juice in a cold, vanilla custard with hints of a graham cracker cookie crust. I love that this somehow smells chilled. It's perfect, and it smells just as amazing as a key lime pie tastes. I'm really glad that I got this in perfume oil and in hair gloss form. This is one of my favorite foodie scents from bpal. Like in my top three. Mmm...

The original Wulric didn't work for me, and I'm not loving this year's version either. 2016 smells very similar to how I remember the original smelling, but I no longer have a bottle to compare it to directly. The lavender, clary sage and musk meld together into this dry, herbal, bright, sharp, perfumey/musky scent. I like sweeter, milkier smelling lavenders, but this is the sharp and herbal variety. I get a little cocoa absolute in the drydown, woody and chocolatey, and some smokiness from the vetiver and birch tar. I always want this to be a foodie lavender, but it's not very sweet on me at all, and is more of an herbal, earthy, smoky scent with clean, sharp muskiness.

Overview: Hair gloss is a heavy, oily spray that quickly overwhelms my long, fine hair and makes it look and feel very greasy. I can't use this product anywhere but very sparingly on the ends of my hair, or else it makes my head look like an oil slick. I'm really careful with my hair and the products that I use on it. For a while, I was using this to fragrance the ends of my hair, but I find that it makes my hair fall out a lot, either from the high fragrance oil content, the heaviness of the oil itself, or something else. I wanted to love these and wanted them to work, because of the fragrances, but now I only use the hair gloss as a body mist on my arms and legs, not actually on my hair. Fragrance review: This is the best hair gloss and maybe the best thing at the Trading Post, period. It is unbelievably cool, smooth, sweet, and perfect. Sweet, but fresh, and soooo smoooooth. Just the perfect vanilla. I've gotten variations of Dorian perfume oil that were very musky and unpleasant, but the hair gloss is milky, creamy, perfect, cool vanilla tea. It somehow manages to smell clean & innocent, naughty, and well put together all at the same time. My husband follows me around nuzzling me and telling me that I smell amazing every single time that I dab this on. It smells amazing.

Overview: Hair gloss is a heavy, oily spray that quickly overwhelms my long, fine hair and makes it look and feel very greasy. I can't use this product anywhere but very sparingly on the ends of my hair, or else it makes my head look like an oil slick. I'm really careful with my hair and the products that I use on it. For a while, I was using this to fragrance the ends of my hair, but I find that it makes my hair fall out a lot, either from the high fragrance oil content, the heaviness of the oil itself, or something else. I wanted to love these and wanted them to work, because of the fragrances, but now I only use the hair gloss as a body mist on my arms and legs, not actually on my hair. Fragrance review: I don't know why, but this smells almost exactly like The Antikythera Mechanism to me (making me wonder if mine was mis-bottled or something after this went out of stock and had to be refilled). When I asked my husband to smell this, he said it was "really dark, heavy wood, men's cologne and vanilla." I love the black patchouli in blends like Depraved, but this doesn't smell like patchouli to me. It smells like oak, and lots of cool vanilla cream (it actually kept making me think of a root beer float with vanilla icecream). A little powdery, a little buttery-smooth, very creamy vanilla. I would have guessed it has sassafras and oak rather than cardamom and patchouli. Not my favorite hair gloss.

I love the way that this smells. It's a buttery, warm, marshmallowy vanilla that reminds me of making rice krispies treats (and now that I'm reading over the other reviews, I see the rice krispies thing has already been mentioned ). Simple, buttery marshmallow goodness. Foodie heaven. I think this is my favorite bath oil ever.

This reminds me of blends like Parlement of Foules and Pulcinella & Teresina (but this is softer and gentler). Sweet rose and soft, dry woods with an overall resinous, incensey tone. The vanilla cream isn't very strong, but has a Love's Philosophy type smell to my nose. A bit baby powdery. Resinous, dry, woody rose with a bit of powdery vanilla sweetness.

No one else gets any spice from this? The first time that I wore this, I got confused and thought that I somehow applied Monster Bait: Underbed by mistake. I love Underbed, so that's not a problem *at all.* This smells exactly like Monster Bait: Underbed and Dark Chocolate, Whiskey & Cognac Truffle had a baby... so lots of chocolate cake, an understated but still very present cassia/cinnamon thing, and a silky, dark, boozy liqueur. It smells like a wonderful, creamy, moist, dark cake. Maybe a little espresso powder and hints of smooth vanilla buttercream in the drydown as well. I love this stuff.

I was really sad when I missed out on ordering this, but I finally won a bottle on ebay and am so happy with it. I agree with Akurarei's review. This reminds me of the original Thirteen, minus the florals (though I do get an orangey tone from this for some reason). The chocolate in this smells like a creamy white chocolate on my skin, which must be the vanilla and chocolate, and I'm getting something like a citrus flavored tea note as well, along with golden, sweet, honeyed sugar. I might smell a sugared violet in the drydown as well. Creamy, sweet and delightful. I love the strong chocolate smell in this.