Little Bird
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Everything posted by Little Bird
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I always love bpal's Harvest Moon blends, and this is another winner for me. The apple reminds me of Lambs-Wool, which is one of the very few apple blends that I enjoy (I wrote this before reading doomsday_disco's review, so I totally agree on the Lambs-Wool comparison 😊). It's a warm, baked apple that's been sprinkled with sweet clove, topped with a dollop of sweet cream, and drizzled in a tiny bit of honey. The earthy patchouli and dry hay mixed with the clove give it a Samhain-esque backdrop. I can't pick out the cornmeal and roasted oats exactly, but there is something unique, warm, and flour-ish (but not so dry) here. It's like Lambs-Wool and Samhain had a baby that's a little more gourmand and a little more hay rides and corn mazes. Oddly, it never veers towards being cologne-like on my skin. It holds on to the earthy and sweeter notes. Another love for me.
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This is such an odd (but wonderful) blend. In the bottle, I can smell the musk and forest part and it's beautiful. It has a creamy, sweet, white musk scent, the sweetness of chilled night air in spring, and hints of wood and green sap. I smell it and think of a beautiful red stag standing at the edge of a tree line while the sun sets. On my skin, the candy part immediately amps up and I also get the scent of black pepper. Black pepper and a creamy, somehow vanilla leaning mix of warm toffee, sweet caramel, and smooooth chocolate. The pepper calms down after about a half hour and some of that cool, creamy musk comes back, lingering underneath the candy. I get the forest impression in the bottle, but on my skin, it's a Halloween party in someone's slightly haunted basement with lots of candy, a few fake cobwebs, a sputtering fog machine, and a chill that slowly starts to unsettle everyone. I'm not used to the Lunacy scents being this playful (except for the beloved Beaver Moons, of course), but I really love this creamy, sweet blend with a spooky undertone. It could easily be too sweet, but the other notes keep it from being cloying. I'm considering at least one backup bottle.
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For me, this is in the same family as Boo and Traditional Sheet Ghost, which I think is cool. It has a soapy, clean laundry to it (that I see no one else has mentioned, but it's so prominent to me for the first half hour), hint of sweet lemon, and sugary, creamy candy corn that leans vanilla-y and not at all waxy like actual candy corn (more like buttercream frosting). I don't get the plastic at all, but there's a warm, slightly powdery, snuggly amber note in the drydown. The sweet, vanilla-y note is the strongest to me. Overall, though, this is a light scent on me, only lasting a couple hours with low throw.
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I'm confused by A Doll's Doll. I was hoping for sugared carnation, but this blend isn't sweet on me at all and I don't smell carnation either. The whole thing is so sour, slightly soapy and dry. It's like intensely sour grapefruit pith and soapy, dusty aldehydes. I didn't enjoy it at all
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I don't get most of the listed notes, but this smells like a cup of hot, green tea, a splash of lemon, a spoonful of sugar, and tons of honey and cream. Very much a warm, cozy, comfort scent. Tea scents are usually too astringent for me, but this one has a really appealing sweetness and creaminess to it.
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The first half hour of this is so lovely on me, making me think of the sweet bubble bath that I had as a child and clean pools of beautiful, chilled water. Then it starts to shift on me and it makes me so sad, because it turns into a sharp, dewy, slightly green, springtime white floral (more snowdrop than iris) and dry, powdery sandalwood. I love the watery opening, but the drydown is like the water has dried up and disappeared. Conceptually, I do think it fits its artwork, though. Like it starts off with the cool, clean fountain pool and then you notice the owls and flurry of dry, slightly powdery smelling wings. Then snowdrops. So much snowdrops.
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I got a partial bottle of A Melancholy of Goths, but I'm going to order at least one more full size for myself before it goes out of stock. It is exactly as advertised, I can pick out all of the listed notes, and I feel like it captures its artwork and concept so perfectly. It is the gothiest of goth perfumes from bpal. The clove cigarette smoke mixed with the champaca incense and hint of hairspray is a whole mood, with the beautiful plum note adding a hint of sweet and sour juiciness that's mouthwatering to me. I even get the 'velvet' because there's an undertone of something here that smells like plush, old fabric. It reminds me of Romanti.Goth, but is still its own unique, wonderful creation. Sweet clove cigarette smoke, the foggy, slightly grape-y, hazy smokiness of champaca incense, the spark of slightly metallic hairspray, laying in a heavy draped room on an old, plush, velvet couch, with slices of dark, juicy plum on a tray next to you. An amazing scent.
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Goes on a little smoky, but more of a sweet, amber incense haze and charred resins rather than the woodsmoke or burning coals that I was worried the brimstone might be. The pepper and leather are smooth and warm. The whole scent smells warm and cozy to me. As it dries down, more of the black leather comes through (and I love bpal's leather notes) and it makes the scent smell darker. The leather and smoke have a sexy, dangerous vibe to me. It also turns a little sweeter on me over time, reminding me of a charred marshmallow. The spice/peppercorn isn't strong on me at all; I can barely smell it at all, especially in the drydown. Black leather, resinous amber, incense smoke and charred myrrh, and sweet marshmallow char. I don't tend to enjoy smoky blends, but I love this.
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I full bottled this because I have an obsession with yard flamingos (and flamingos in general; they're so cool), but I wasn't feeling overly optimistic about the mix of grapefruit and black licorice. Skelemingo is great on me, though. The pink grapefruit is sugared and juicy, sitting on a base of black licorice that smells like it's melting into a puddle of exotic, black sugar. It's quite sweet, but the refreshing quality of the juicy grapefruit keeps it from being too sweet. It's a very fun, happy scent that has a slightly tropical feel to it. It makes me think of fresh, ripe, sweet citrus served on a black sand beach. I'm glad I ordered a bottle of this one 💗.
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Ylang Ylang, Raw Sugar, and Clove
Little Bird replied to Silvertree's topic in Duets & Menage A Trois
No sugar and clove to me, just tons of ylang ylang, which I don't exactly love when it's one of the sweeter, powdery varieties. It's like a bouquet of rotting tropical flowers that is turning sickly-sweet with powdery undertones. I was hoping for the sugared clove, but don't get any spiciness. -
The sandalwood and orris make this very baby powdery and sickly sweet on my skin (I keep thinking I smell a cloying sweetness like rotting violets). There's a hint of something like pulpy, green, aquatic plants, but the greenery doesn't last on my skin. I get baby powder, rotting violets, and maple syrup, which doesn't smell good to me at all. I don't understand why it's turning so sweet, but it's massively cloying on me.
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Barely swampy at all, but the amber, pumpkin, and oud are so good. The pumpkin isn't spicy to me, but very buttery and sweet at first, reminding me of good buttercream frosting, all wrapped up in warm, grounding, resinous amber, on a base of sultry, dark woods that lean incensey and plush. It's a very rich, satisfying scent. The swamp part is just a hint of elegant moss. I love oakmoss (dry and vintage perfumey) and Spanish moss (a little sour and aquatic in the best way) and I keep thinking that I smell hints of both in this blend. After about an hour, some of the gourmand sweetness fades (though not all of it) and the pumpkin smells more like an authentic pumpkin patch, like an interesting, creamy gourd scent and dried vines with a whisper of buttercream treats. The amber and oud stay strong, warm, glowing, and sweetly resinous. It's rare that I love a pumpkin blend because I don't like the smell or taste of pumpkin spice, but this is creamy, woody, and resinous rather than spicy. There is a spiciness, but it's more a hint of vanillic, soft, clove-y goodness (like in The Wild Men, one of my other favorites). I just love it so much. It's like a beautiful, woody-resinous, lightly clove touched men's fragrance with a gourmand twist, strolling you through the woods and a pumpkin patch in autumn.
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I was worried about the opium note, which tends to be very sharp, white, and soapy leaning on my skin. I was hoping that the other notes would envelop it and make it less screechy, though, and thankfully they do, in the prettiest way possible. Got The Morbs has an effect like a huge, cold, sparkling, white diamond in a black velvet box, opened to you in a room that's warm with clove spice and sweet incense smoke. The dark, velvety musk, sweet and spicy clove, and sweet, incense smoky myrrh over the opium tar meld together into a really gorgeous perfume. It smells warming and lively to me rather than melancholic or morbid, which I prefer anyhow.
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I wore this last night and it was such a strange experience. I don't like bpal's green dead leaves note that smells like sharp green pepper, and that's all I smell for the first hour. Then it starts to smell sharp green on a base of musky men's fragrance.. and butter. Buttered lettuce mixed with musky, clean, darkly tinged, men's cologne. I love buttery scents, but this one doesn't mesh well or make sense to me. On the other hand, does it smell like a man turned werewolf, running through green grass, and also, for some reason, buttermilk? Yes.
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When I first got this bottle in the mail, it was a really cloying, sugary, vanilla buttercream type of thing. I decided to wear it again today to finally write a review and was surprised that it's much softer, less sweet, and more complex now. It still has a sweet vanilla cream, but I wouldn't call it sugary or cloying or reminiscent of frosting anymore, and it has the noticeable 'aged' notes of Antique Lace. It makes me think of pulling an old wedding veil and love letters out of a trunk and smelling the ethereal, gauzy, soft, vanillic tones that are in aged paper and old (well-kept) fabrics. It smells romantic. I don't pick up on any of the leather, but the caramel musk is there, and surprisingly not as sweet as it sounds. It just adds a hint of warm, caramelized goodness to the edge of the vanilla and the musk isn't anything sharp, dark, or overwhelming. I think the musk adds to that lacy, gauzy, white veil impression for me. Romantic vanilla and sweet memories. I actually like this more than my bottles of re-release Antique Lace.
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Batty Snake Oil's sugared vanilla bean and soft cowboy leather remind me of a warmer toned Quincey Morris (a perfume that I've been missing for years now), all smooth and sweet, but Snake Oil's more sensual vanilla, subtle spiciness, and hint of earthy, warm patchouli and dark musk come out to round out the leather and sugared vanilla after about an hour. It's a perfect perfume to me. The leather is a soft, well-worn cowboy leather and I just adore it. I love all of the notes and don't feel like any aspect overpowers anything else; it stays complex and blends together so seamlessly. It's vanilla'd cowboy leather with all of the dark, sensual undertones of Snake Oil. So amazing. I buy from so many different perfume houses and the Lab has always made my favorite leather blends, by far, and Batty Snake Oil is one of those best of the best leathers. As a bonus, it also has really strong throw and great staying power. Batty Snake Oil and Snootier Bat are hoard-worthy for me. Love love love.
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I don't think that this smells anything like Cathedral, unless Cathedral has been massively reformulated away from my older bottles. Batty Cathedral is intensely, oddly fizzy with a sharp citrus edge, and it smells just like bpal's champagne note, which I dislike, because it always has an edge to it that's sickly sweet and pukey smelling on my skin. Then there's a note that smells like dust. Tons of champagne sprayed over dusty floors. I was really disappointed in this one because I get no Cathedral, no leather, and no incense. I even let it rest for two months because it was so unexpected and confusing, but it has stayed the same.
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Oh, Slug. I've worn this 3 times since the bottle arrived and it has smelled different to me every time, so it's been a confusing journey. First time (right out of the mailbox and still cold, lol) was a bitter, medicinal, herbal honey and I actually washed it off after an hour and let the bottle rest for a while. Second time was delicious, buttery cream infused with a wonderful sweetness from the honey on a bed of golden, deserty, Egyptian musky, slightly clean yet still earthy/sandy amber. Today it's medicinal honey again, drizzled into lots of lovely sweet cream, and the amber base still smells the way it did before, but also now has a very strong, dry spiciness to it. More perfumey than outright gourmand. I can say that there's nothing slimy, sebacious, or scary about it. It actually leans dry and sophisticated and reminds me of some of the Egypt inspired fragrances, but it is Slug and it is growing on me.
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The new formulation of Dorian doesn't smell much like the OG Dorian to me or the mid-release version that was more clean and sharply musky. OG Dorian is perfectly unisex, so incredibly smooth, cool toned, vanillic and creamy, just absolute perfection. It's not a dry or powdery scent at all. I'm so sad that it had to be reformulated and that it no longer exists for people to experience in its original form, and I'm glad that I paid some of the higher prices to hoard up on the original because it's one of my all time favorite fragrances. The new version of Dorian smells like a warm, pink tinged vanilla musk, powdery and dry, and it definitely gives off a traditionally feminine impression to me rather than being unisex. I don't think that I would connect it to the OG Dorian at all if I didn't know it has the same name and inspiration behind it. All of that Dorian rambling out of the way - The Picture of Dorian Sufganiyot is like a warm vanilla musk scented powdery floof covered in shimmering sugar crystals and infused with a hint of lemony tea. The pastry or donut scent isn't really there for me. I do like this more than the new formulation bottle of Dorian that I have because I get more of the lemony tea from this blend and it's sweeter. It feels more cheerful and bright. The drydown has a bit of a good vanilla frosting creaminess as well that I enjoy. I like this blend, but it also makes my heart ache for OG Dorian.
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I love Lavender Rosemary Baguette. Lavender is iffy for me, but I never pass on a bread note, and I've wound up loving this so much that I already went back and placed an order with most of the other lavender desserts. The rosemary is barely there, but adds a little aromatic, green sparkle to the scent at first, smelling very Christmassy to me, almost like sweet pine. It's most noticeable in the bottle and for the first few minutes on the skin, and then disappears to leave the bread and lavender to do their dance. I get a scent of bread that's like dry, brown bread crusts, cut open to reveal the softest, richest, milky, creamy bread interior. I don't know that I've ever had milk bread, but perhaps it smells/tastes like this and is what Failmingo also described. It actually smells like a rich, milky cream is infused in the fluffy bread, wrapped in hard, brown crust. Then the lavender smells cool and creamy, melding into the bread and milkiness. It's a sweet, cool toned, super creamy lavender that gets stronger and stronger over the hours of wear, keeping that rich creaminess and hint of brown bread crust. Amazing and unique with great staying power and throw.
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Red Oakmoss, Cedarwood, and Sweet Patchouli
Little Bird replied to Jenjin's topic in Duets & Menage A Trois
I think that this is the strongest bpal that I own. It has massive throw and lasts allll day on my skin with the tiniest drop. I adore the lab's "sweet patchouli," will buy almost anything with oakmoss in it, and love cedar when it smells like actual cedar (I love both the dry chip scent of cedar and the green part of cedar). Given these notes, I expected an earthy forest blend that smelled like running through the woods, but this is more of a polished men's fragrance type of scent. I feel like this menage is the masculine, department store perfume version of those three notes, wrapped up in traditional men's perfume musk, spice and citrus. It doesn't smell natural or like rolling in earthy oakmoss and patchouli essential oils. It's more polished, manly musky, and tangy, reminding me of the Lab's blends like Wilde (but much darker), where it smells like a men's fragrance that you could get in a department store. I like that, however, and I've always worn a lot of fragrances that were marketed towards men. I get whiffs of dry, vintage oakmoss and the warm, grounding earthiness of the patchouli, but I also feel like this is a spicy, dark musk and hints of sweet, clean citrus, the kind that's in many men's fragrances. I love it, even though it wasn't what I was initially expecting. -
The lavender here is airy and cool, just slightly herbal, and also creamy and delicately sweet. It develops an undertone of powder as it dries down and has creamy vanilla facets to it that are really lovely. The leather is very soft, smooth, and suede-like. The chamomile gives it more of an aromatherapy impression and smells like a cup of warm chamomile tea. Sleepy lavender, chamomile tea, and suede. After about an hour, I can pick out more of the warm, musky, powdery, animalic tones from the ambrette and fur. A beautiful, cuddly, night time scent to me.
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This 13 starts off smelling like a sexy lumberjack with scents of the woods clinging to his clothes and hair (dry woods and oakmoss, green pine in the opening, and earthy tobacco), wearing a bay rum cologne (the spices and strong cognac), eating a gingerbread cookie (the sweeter spices and pumpkin). The chocolate is barely there in the beginning and, in the drydown, the sweetness is from a smoldering, warm, sweet myrrh rather than being gourmand or cocoa-y. It reads as mostly spicy and masculine to me with woodsy and resinous tones and then has more of a witchy feel to it as it dries down with the resinous myrrh, strong cognac, and spices reminding me of making my own bay rum 'waters' and mixing things scavenged from the woods with sweet resins, all beginning to burn and smoke (the tobacco and myrrh turning slightly smoky, I think).
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When I opened my latest Lab package yesterday, it smelled strongly of incense and I knew that something had gone wrong. I carefully unwrapped everything and found the culprit. My bottle of Snootier Bat has a cracked bottle top and it aggressively scented the entire rest of the package with itself. Snootier Bat clearly has too much snoot in it and it cannot be contained by normal measures. Thankfully, I love the scent and the rest of my family also loves it. I was surprised at how well it was received and how many "it smells so nice in here" comments it elicited because I didn't think that the rest of my family loved darker, incensey blends as much as I do. I'm currently stuck in bed because the nerve hyperactivity that affects my lower back and legs has rendered me unable to walk again. I got Snootier Bat all over my sheets and then the bubblewrap went into the trash beside my bed. So my whole room is Snootier Bat scented now. I have no complaints. Wearing Snooty Bat and Snootier Bat side by side today, I actually prefer Snootier, and I loved the original. Side by Side, Snooty Bat's leather and smokiness seem almost sharp and gritty and I find myself wanting to cuddle back into Snootier Bat. The leather in the original is sticking out a lot more for me. The description for this one says double the leather, but I don't find Snootier to have a strong leather; I think it's just subtly adding to the overall dark vibe of this scent. The sugared incense is turned way up, especially the sugar. It's not cloying at all, but it's almost like a nag champa cotton candy, but darker and heavier than cotton candy. I also keep thinking that this smells like a much nicer and more complex Smut or a Snake Oil flanker. Slinky, sugared, dark musk and the nicest nag champa rolling in sugary floof. I hope that this review makes sense. I just took another painpill and probably should stop writing.
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The honey and wax obviously make me think of beeswax candles and the pink labdanum doesn't smell pink to me, but does smell like a very powdery amber. Beeswax candles drizzled in extra sugared honey on a base of powdery amber. After a while, I can smell a bit of smoky incense as well. I agree with the review that said this made them think of O, but I prefer O because it feels more well rounded, dark, plush, and sensual to me where this is waxy and a little too sweet and powdery for me.