Little Bird

Out of all of the Yule 2011 imps, this one smells the most accurate to me. It is exactly as advertised on my skin - a sweet, golden, realistic honey and spicy gingerbread. I have trouble wearing honey and spices, so it's not a dream scent for me, but it's simple and smells true to its name.

This one is so weird on me. I usually like bpal's snow note, but this is like an extra aquatic, slightly soapy snow note with a weird, plasticy sweetness. Reading the reviews, I guess what I'm smelling is the coconut, but it's not playing nicely on my skin. Strange, and I'm not liking this one at all.

I only had a couple drops of this one to test, but I don't get much of a cookie smell from it. Smells like a sugary, tart raspberry hard candy sort of scent. Too sweet and fruity for me.

I got an almost-empty vial of this to try, so there wasn't enough to slather and this is pretty light on me. It reminds me of chocolate scented markers... chocolate and something just slightly chemical-y and off.

Already some great recs, but I'll add: *Black Lily (Rappaccini's Garden) - "Breathtaking darkness, a vision of grace in shadow." I've gotten two different versions of this one, but when it's good, it's a creamy, dark, almost vanilla-y lily with a hint of green stem. *Euphrosyne (Excolo) - "Gardenia, tea rose, vanilla and jasmine." *Marie (Diabolus) - "A blend of sinuous violet and elegant tea rose: the chosen scent of France's Demigoddess of Debauch: Marie Antoinette." *Oleander Honey (Rappaccini's Garden) - like a pretty white floral sweetened with honey *Queen Gertrude (Illyria) - "Imperial violet softened by wisteria and chrysanthemum, but edged with the regal iciness of delphinium." *Veil (Bewitching Brews) - "A perfume of mystery, of whispers, and of secrets behind secrets. White sandalwood, lilac, gardenia, violet, orris, lavender and ylang ylang."

This one just doesn't work for me at all, probably thanks to the 'salty spray,' as I tend to have trouble wearing bpal's aquatic and ozone blends. It smells like intense, dry, heavy soapiness with an undertone of sweet, perfumey honeysuckle. I find it suffocating at first, but it does get a lot lighter and more subtle as it dries down. It reminds me of dryer sheets and floral scented febreeze.

The Fairies is mostly apple blossom on me, and it's a note that reminds me of shampoo (soapy-clean, fresh, apple and floral with a touch of green). It's soapy on me, but not unpleasant, probably because it's so light and subtle. Light, clean, floral and apple sort of scent. Pretty, spring-like, and breezy.

My decant of this one has already been handed over to my hubby, as he loves pine scents (and I love leather, earth and spices on him, so it's a win for everyone, lol). I get mostly sour pine, dark and manly leather, and undertones of soft, earthy oakmoss and light, clove-y spices, but the scent is less sour smelling on my hubby. The drydown is less evergreens and more spiced leather. Manly and foresty. Not my favorite leather or pine scent, but the decant is a keeper.

Bpal's rose scents tend to amp up near rose single note territory for me, so I'm not surprised that Theotokos is mostly rose on me. It's a sharp, perfumey sort of red rose with a bit of grassy greenery to it at first. Dries down to rose perfume with more of a dry, powdery, slightly spicy, golden incense feel. Starts off strong, but fades a lot and is really subtle after a half hour. I have incensey-rose scents that I like more than this one.

You might want to read through this thread, as a lot of variations and issues have been brought up here: http://www.bpal.org/topic/3142-different-smellscolors-same-perfume/page__st__500

I'm pretty sure that Pumpkin Patch 2005 and 2006 were the same (as they have 05 and 06 on their review titles). I have a set from 2005 and it's the series of labels like Zorra posted (the mostly black labels with pumpkins and a bit of greenery). There were five in each series. The 07 ones are these here that portalkat mentioned: http://www.bpal.org/gallery/image/1599-pumpkin-patch-2007/ ETA: Pumpkin Patch 1 05 with the cider has eyes and a smile that are jagged and almost look like flames. Pumpkin Patch 2 05 with cocoa has a big grin. Pumpkin Patch 3 05 with pomegranate has one eye (in Zorra's pic). Pumpkin Patch 4 05 with sandalwood has long vertical lines for its mouth and almost looks kinda unhappy, lol. Pumpkin Patch 5 05 with woods & galangal (my favorite <3) has swirly eyes and a sort of toothy grin. If you look at the first page, first post of the pumpkin review threads, they have the label pics in them.

Villainess has a very different feel for me when compared to bpal. I own the Supervillainess fragrance and it's really unusual (smells good to me in the bottle, but the cilantro turns into an evil mess on my skin, lol). The closest I can think of for bpal scents with a slightly similar feel are: *Tezcatlipoca (Excolo) - "Deep cocoa laced with patchouli, leather armor, ritual incense, and a touch of Xochiquetzal's flowers." And as a really long shot, Tombstone has a similar warm foodiness + old woods and herbal spice: *Tombstone (Wanderlust) - "A rugged, warm blend of vanilla, balsam and sassafras layered over Virginia cedar."

The mint and eucalyptus smell like mint mouthwash, the ozone turns slightly soapy, and the amber adds a touch of baby powder. I should hate this, but it's rather light and actually inoffensive on me. Clean. Reminds me of a little bag of travel size toiletries, lol.

I have good luck with lily, white musk, gardenia, white rose, orris, white sandalwood, and magnolia, so I thought that this might be a bpal floral that I could actually pull off. Unfortunately, the white florals here travel into sharp/perfumey territory and give me a headache. Sharp white floral perfume, a touch of green, and a touch of soap. Definitely not as sweet and creamy as I was hoping it might be.

Sour lemon with dry, green herbs, powdery violet and a hint of bright rose. Dries down to something like a sour, herby lemongrass with perfumey rose. I thought that The Doom of Beauty sounded potentially pretty, but the sharp/sour qualities in this one give me a headache.

Senelion isn't as dark and sexy as I was hoping it would be. Mostly this is just baby powdery on me (reminds me of Playful Wooden Mallets, so not sure if they have a similar black musk that smells like super powdery + a hint of vetiver), which is either the black musk or amber at play, or maybe both. Light, powdery, and slightly reminiscent of vetiver :/

I really don't like rose when it's mixed with chocolate or spices, so I was hoping this would be more on the side of the rose, vanilla and resins. But no, this is mostly a perfumey rose sweetened with spiced chocolate. It feels like eating chocolates and accidentally getting perfume oil in your mouth, and the warm spices just smell wrong mixed with the rose for me. For a while, I get a bit of tart pomegranate, but then it settles into a spicy rose perfume scent. Only lasts about two hours on me, at least.

Black musk and Ceylon cinnamon. I don't get any cinnamon or anything like spice from this at all, and spices are usually really strong on me. The black musk smells like baby powder and dark vetiver on me. I wasn't sure what people were talking about with the mentions of lemons in this one, but my husband smelled this on me and instantly said, "Lemons, but really perfumey and strong." I thought that it smelled like intense baby powder, which my hubby doesn't get at all (though he said it reminded him of baby oil after a while). Not for me... I don't really enjoy anything about this one. Reminds me of a powdery, simple vetiver. I thought that spice and black musk would be sexy, but this doesn't smell like spice or black musk on me...

My bottle of this doesn't have any blobs of chocolate absolute, but it does have a strong, sweet, dark chocolate smell to it. I get a fresh little burst of the ginger at first, like lemon and gingerbread cookies, but it quickly dries down to something like dark chocolate, dry, dark wood (like a dark sandalwood almost) and hints of dry, herby thyme and what reminds me of dry oakmoss. A very dark, woody, masculine sort of chocolate. I really like this one on my hubby.

I was hoping for something like White Chocolate & Strawberry (my all time favorite bpal blend) with a bit of dry, spicy carnation. I don't get any strawberry from this, though, and I can't really pick out the white chocolate either. Pink Moon 2012 actually reminds me a lot of High-Strung Daisies, but without the clean/breezy edge that Daisies has. It's sort of like pink bubblegum mixed with dry, potpourri-esque carnation and perfumey florals. The drydown is like dry floral and sugar with a touch of fluffy shaving cream soap, less pink. I prefer White Chocolate & Strawberry for, well, white chocolate and strawberry, and I prefer Hod and the previous Pink Moon for carnation scents... this is just oddly reminiscent of cheap, dried flower potpourri on my skin. Something just artificial and slightly off about it on my skin.

Ecstatic Revelry is a mess on my skin. Powdery amber, a weird and savory spiciness (smells like tacos on me :/) and a dirty smokiness from the tobacco and patchouli. As it dries down, the honey sweetens things up, but nothing about this smells right on me.

Calligraphy Practise reminds me of a bunch of other scents (Templum Victoriae atmosphere spray, Light of Men's Lives, Thousands of Lights, Luperci, The School). It's lots of slightly powdery, warm, woodsy sandalwood with a creamy, sweet beeswax and hints of bright, sweet resin & herbs. The beeswax and opoponax are a little too sweet on me, but I might keep my decant of this one for aging. Powdery sandalwood, sweet beeswax, resins and clary sage.

This has a bit of that green, herby, dill-like rose geranium note that I enjoy in Kostnice. The drydown is like a big, creamy, damp white floral (gardenia? lotus?) with hints of dill and rose geranium (sadly, the green/herby parts only last for the first fifteen minutes or so). I'm just guessing at the notes, of course, and I'm not the best with picking out floral notes. It's creamy, delicately sweet, slightly perfumey, slightly soapy, white smelling floral. Reminds me of Marc Jacobs' Blush. After a half hour, this smells like a floral, clean laundry sort of scent. Soapy floral.

Yeah, I think the 'cassis' was supposed to be 'cassia' in the description for this one. This smells a lot like cassia on me, in any case. Cassia is similar to cinnamon, but darker and with an earthy/woody tone to it. The Hell of Great Heat smells like tons of cassia and hints of dry, earthy patchouli. I agree that it's reminiscent of Sin, but this is spicier on my skin and makes my skin red & itchy.

This is a really intense, strong, soured rose perfume (the stuff that smells distinctly of perfume and not like real roses). It has a little sweetness to it at first, but mostly is a musky/perfumey, sharp sort of rose. I catch small hints of a darker note every once in a while, like smoky black vetiver or black leather, but mostly it's a loud rose perfume. Like 98% harsh, chemical-y rose and 2% something dark and smoky. And it gets worse and worse the longer it sits on my skin, turning sharper and more harsh smelling. It starts to give me a headache and that weird nosebleed feeling after a while. And it has tons of throw and vicious staying power on me, unfortunately. I find Peacock Queen to be softer, smoother and easier to wear for a simple rose perfume (and The Rose for more of a fresh rose scent). This might be my least favorite of bpal's roses, actually. Sharp, intensely sour, and harsh...