Little Bird

When I first put this on, I asked my husband if he liked it and he said, "It's okay. Smells like cheap strawberry candy or a cheap strawberry candle oil." Which impressed me, because he can never pick out the notes in anything and I actually didn't think that it smelled like strawberry at first, lol. It starts off smelling like sharp, medicinal lavender to me and then dries down to a sour fruit + something that reminds me of red licorice. After a half hour, I can smell what my husband was smelling in this one... I really wish that this were a more realistic strawberry note, but it has that plastic-y, burning strawberry smell that I get from a lot of cheap strawberry oils that are supposed to be used for soap and candle making. It's more sour than sweet on my skin, though it has an undertone of weird sweetness, and it does have a very cheap, plastic-y oil smell on me, unfortunately . Cheap, soured strawberry oil...

I'm not a fan of bpal's opium scents (the opium note smells like cheap hairpray and sharp, white smoke on me) and I kinda like the bamboo, but it always turns a bit too soapy on me. It's like wet, pulpy greenery mashed up and mixed into dryer sheets. So that combo is very high-pitched and soapy to my nose. I was curious about the white sand, blue musk, oudh and myrrh, but the opium & bamboo part is too strong for me to really pick out the other notes...

I expected this to be a heavy rose & resins blend, but it's mostly a faint, soapy lily and hints of dusty, dry frankincense on my skin. It dries down with more of a sour, perfumey rose scent, but is still pretty light on me. It's mostly a light, perfumey, slightly soapy floral.

My decant of this is definitely strong on the jasmine, and it's the sour, dirty, perfumey sort of jasmine that I don't care for. As it dries down, it's sour jasmine with a background of something that smells like PineSol to me. I was hoping for a mix of fruity & earthy, but this is sharp, sour floral on me.

I really like Konditorei, but my husband hates it (says it smells like burnt coffee and butter to him.. two of his least favorite scents). I think that this smells awesome, like a fancy coffee shop that sells (obviously) coffee and hot chocolate over an amazing dessert counter. I definitely smell sweet cherry and the apple strudel, like a tray of delicous fruit pastries, with a bit of a caramelized, brown sugary sweetness to them. It's a warm, cozy, fun scent to me.

I'm trying to catch up on all of my neglected atmosphere spray reviews, but I'm surprised that I haven't reviewed this one yet, because it's one of my favorites. I was so thrilled when I managed to track down the perfume oil and atmosphere spray on ebay. The scent reminds me of hot apple pie with sweet, dark clove more than cinnamon.. warm, dark, decadent, gooey-sweet and clove-spicy sort of pie smell. The room spray almost has a caramelized sweetness to it. But it's not just foodie or spicy or sweet, because the dark, dry wood notes and dark clove give it a resinous, almost leathery, sexy feel that makes it more of a dangerous, sensual scent. It's really complex and interesting. I love fragrances that pair dark, non-foodie qualities with a foodie sweetness, so this is perfect for me <3. I'll be sad when my bottle runs out.

I spent a long time tracking down a bottle of this and don't really get the comparisons to Midway and Monster Bait: Underpants (which are both in my top 3 of favorite bpals). It has too much of a cinnamon spice cake and gingerbread cookies feel to it for me, and I don't get spices from Underpants or Midway... it's a buttery, spicy baked goods smell to my nose.

I don't have good luck with bpal's honey notes as a perfume, but I love them in the room sprays. I have several bottles of Lupanar (notes of honey, myrrh, ylang ylang and almond) and I think that Candlelight has a bit of the same feel of a sexy, dark, honeyed scent. This is like a sweet, creamy honey & vanilla with a hint of smoke. Sweeter and not quite as complex or rich feeling as Lupanar, but it still works for me. It would probably be too sweet for me as a perfume, but I really like it as a room scent <3.

I like this, but it's so spicy and strong that it gives me a headache after a while. The cinnamon and cassia are intense, dark, and spicy with a bit of sweetness. It sort of has a dark & mysterious spice cabinet feel. I don't smell much of the vanilla or musk. I'm already passing my decant on to a friend who loves spicier scents, as it's a bit much for me.

I really like this one and am glad that I was able to track down a decant. Apple Orchard is like a mix of sweet red apple and clean apple blossom with hints of dry woods. I'm glad that I'm not getting any spices from it. Simple, and maybe not the most unique and original scent, but I love apple and will happily use up my decant <3.

Weird. I don't get any of the clove or incense that a few other reviews have mentioned, unfortunately. My sample of Lich's Lab smells mostly like sour, damp moss, a bit of dirt, and something like soapy men's cologne.

This smells like clean laundry and lightly honeyed, damp, fresh smelling flower-fragrance to me. My husband likes this scent, but it is just alright for me. Butterfly Garden reminds me of some of the spring floral candle & room scents you can find at the grocery store. It's nice enough, but not something I need to track down more of. I seem to prefer darker and sweeter room scents, though.

Autumn Lace smells like cheap, chemical-y hairspray (opium note?) and cloying maple syrup on me . Strangely, when I smell this, I get a taste in my mouth that reminds me of when you accidentally lick your fingers after handling coins.. sort of dirty and metallic. The drydown is like cheap, metallic hairspray smell poured over maple syrup and a whiff of black pepper. I had high hopes for this, because I love Black Lace and Antique Lace, but this is pretty awful on me... Black Lace was an absolute gem and I feel like each of its flankers have gotten less and less.. good?

My decant of Ice of Kocythos is mostly ice, white tea and eucalyptus. Surprisingly, this actually isn't turning soapy on me (which I expected from the 'ice'), but the tea and cold menthol-eucalyptus does smell clean and slightly medicinal to me. As it dries down, it does seem to get sweeter, but I can't really pick out the ginger or spice that others have mentioned. This one is light and fades quick on me for some reason...

I think the lab switched to the new GC labels in late 2008.. because I think I remember ordering The Little Sparrow (released October 2008) and being surprised that it still had the old style white label. But I might be remembering that totally wrong :/

The red, heavy, dark musk notes tend to be overpowering on me, so I'm surprised that this doesn't have much of that feel to it. Satan Talks to Sin & Death is more of a perfumey floral scent to me, with the bright, crisp, clean white tea as a backdrop to the florals. It turns into more of a clean, perfumey, classic floral perfume smell on my skin with not much of the darker, headshoppy feel at all.

The white sandalwood and white musk give this one a clean, creamy, powdery woods quality, and the incense/resin notes sort of hang out behind the sandalwood, just making things a bit sweeter & darker. It's mostly powdery sandalwood on me, but I do like this one and will probably keep my decant. It smells calming to me.

I love every note listed for this, so I don't understand why it just smells like laundry soap on my skin . I can't pick out any of the listed notes, it just smells nondescript and soapy on me. Boo.

Tonka, clove and dark vanilla balsam sounds dreamy to me, but my dreams fell apart by the time I got to the almond and rum portion. I hoped that the almond and rum would be pretty much nonexistent, but those are the only two listed notes that I can actually pick out with this blend. I would never guess that this is supposed to be tonka. It starts off with the cheap, cherry/almond extract smell on me and dries down to a faint, boozy, kinda bitter, caramel-ish rum note. After five minutes, it's like a whiff of butterscotch and baby powder on me, and disappears entirely before it's even been on for a full hour. Overall, it's pretty underwhelming for me...

Buen Viage is mostly smoky vetiver on me with sharp black pepper and sharp cinnamon that reminds me of potpourri. It's a heavy scent on me and was really strong for the hour I wore it before washing it off (was starting to give me a headache.. I'm really sensitive with spice & smoky notes).

I was hoping that this would be strong leather and wine with hints of rose & honey musk and no powder, but it's pretty much the opposite of that. It's sweet honey, baby powder, and perfumey rose on my skin, with a whiff of fruity wine as it dries down. It's sweeter and not as dark as I wanted it to be, and I'm not a fan of the powdery qualities.

Lemurian Ghost is pretty and subtle on me. I'm not sure I can pick out any musk, but I do get the soft, delicately powdery, slightly sweet moonflower mixed with a cool, gentle mint and watery, green lettuce. It's a gentle, clean type of scent on me, cool and slightly powdery. It only lasts about 2 hours on me and doesn't have much throw, but I might try to track down a full decant of this one.

On me, this is like a really soapy men's cologne (the water and stone, I think) with an undertone of weird, sickly sweet fruity-floral. As it dries down, I get an extra sharpness from the opium. This one is a scrubber for me.

This is watery, slightly soapy greenery (kinda reminds me of lettuce) and a hint of dirt that dries down oddly perfumey on me, like a white floral. It's a clean, perfumey, green and white scent with not much throw or staying power on me.

Red musk always smells somewhat fruity and reminiscent of red wine on me to begin with, and I definitely get that feel here (maybe a little sweeter and more grape candy-ish from the actual wine note). I don't like this at first, as it starts off with the red musk and an herbal, green note, but it dries down to pretty much nothing but red musk on me. Warm, fruity-incensey, heavy red musk. I was hoping for more rose and ambergris, but I can't even smell the rose, which is usually a strong note on my skin. I already have so many bpals that are mostly red musk, so this isn't a keeper for me.