Little Bird

Testing this again, the spice is much stronger and I'm not getting any of the vanilla icing that I liked initially. I get a blast of something like spree/sweet tarts candies (fruity, tart, slightly powdery candy) with a spiciness that reminds me of potpourri. My husband really hates this (said it was buttery and gross) and asked me to wash it off...

In the bottle, this smells like red cherry with a hint of buttery pumpkin and gingerbread spice. On my skin, it's gingerbread cookies and a sharp cherry note from the almond. And then it's like my skin just completely eats this scent. It goes through a phase where it's like a much lighter version of Pfancy Pfefferneusse, with the addition of cherry. So it's like warm shortbread cookies + tons of sour cherry. And within fifteen minutes I'm just left with this blah, extremely light, sour cherry smell. This was the Yule blend that I was most looking forward to, so it's a major disappointment for me. The only note that didn't sound good to me was the almond (as bpal's almond always does this wonky cherry smell on my skin), and it's the strongest note on me. I'm not getting any licorice or coconut at all. Light, sour cherry. I don't know if I got a messed up bottle of this or what (as that seems to be happening to me a lot lately), but I hope that this gets better and less sour cherry with age...

On me, this is a perfumey white floral sharpened with a cold, slightly soapy ozone and white musk. I wasn't really expecting this to be floral at all, but it smells strongly of something like tuberose/drugstore white floral on me. As it dries down, this thankfully softens a lot into more of a creamy, cool, perfumey white musk and slightly powdery amber with a floral-ish sweetness. I'm not getting the fir or grassy notes that others have mentioned. Winter Heavens is a strange scent...

The Phoenix at Midday is my favorite of this year's Phoenix blends, though I don't like it enough to purchase a full bottle. I get mostly a watery, sweet blood orange, herby-spicy geranium, and warm amber from this one. The amber doesn't go to full-out baby powder on me, but is a soft, dusty, warmth to the scent. It's pleasant, but pretty light on my skin. I prefer The Haunted Palace for an amber & blood orange blend, as it is heavier and sweeter.

Honeyed fig with a bit of rosewater sounded good to me, but this is a bit too sweet on me, and then ruined by the clean, slightly soapy jasmine smell in the drydown. I get lots of intensely sweet honey and a lightly spiced fig dessert smell at first, with a touch of perfumey rose. I like bpal's fig note, but the honey is cloying on me. It does remind me of Hony Mone, with the honey mixed with soapy floral, though this is less floral and more sweet. I'm not getting any of the patchouli.

In the bottle, The Phoenix at Dawn reminds me of bpal's Champagne blends, sort of like cleaning fluid mixed with fizzy booze. On my skin at first, this is like dry citrus candy and a shot of fizz with a creamy floral note to it. I liked it for a bit, but then it started to get sharper in the drydown, more like sharp rose perfume and sour lemons thrown into a mess of old champagne. This one is also really light on me, and only lasts on my skin for about an hour. I get mostly perfumey rose and sharp citrus from this one, with an undertone of booziness. I wish it had more of the creamy orange blossom and vanilla.

This smells like white floral perfume and white bars of soap over a bed of hay, with whisps of sharp, citrussy green tea and sweet honey that fade in and out. It's very soapy, sharp, and odd on me... I wound up having to scrub this off after only about a half hour, because it was giving me a headache. I usually enjoy wisteria notes, so I'm not sure what was so harsh and perfumey on me here.

I usually hate bpal's black musk, iris, and jasmine notes, so I wasn't expecting much from this. This actually starts off pretty nice on me, though. It's mostly orris at first, which is like a sweet, cool, powdery violet smell on me, with hints of something like green plants. Then, after about five minutes, the sour jasmine and sharp, perfumey iris come in and take over. The jasmine note has that sourness that makes me think of dirty bathrooms, unfortunately, so it winds up smelling like cheap white floral perfume spritzed in a rest stop bathroom... The Phoenix at Midnight winds up being too sharp/sour floral for me.

Dust of Snow is really light on me and only lasts about an hour on my skin, which surprised me with all of the strong floral notes. This mostly smells like bpal's snow note (slushy, sweet, cool, almost minty, a hint of pine) with a hint of lightly soapy lily and greenery. There's a bit of perfumey sharpness from the iris as it dries down. It's like clean floral perfume and snow note, but a little too perfumey and clean for me.

Jezebel reminds me of O with honeyed roses. I think the honey is similar and the sandalwood has that same powdery feel as O's amber for me. Jezebel - "A gloriously decadent blend of honey, roses, orange blossom and sandalwood."

Forum ate my first review, so here I try again... I don't think that Ondurdis smells much like Skadi or Snow Moon, which are two of my favorite winter/snow scents (though Skadi hasn't aged well for me). This is sharper, colder, and perfumey to my nose. It goes on like bracing menthol, a perfumey-chemical musk, and a little bit of sweet snow and sour pine. It's not sweet enough for me, though the drydown does sweeten up a bit, with perhaps a bit of a berry note to it. It mostly smells cold, clean, and perfumey to me. The scent starts off strong but has faded a lot within fifteen minutes.

I usually enjoy violet, lilac, and lavender, but Insupportable Misery turns soapy and sharp on my skin. I don't know that I'd pick out the lilac and violet, as it's more like lavender soap and a spritz of sharp floral perfume on me. It smells like lavender soap and sharp iris perfume on my skin, which I'm not loving. The whole thing fades a lot within an hour, leaving behind a vague, clean, perfumey floral smudge.

I love blue musk and have good luck with lily, carnation, orange, and geranium, so I had high hopes for this one. Initially, I get a burst of citrussy tea, but the drydown of this is all sharp floral. The only note that I'm really getting in the drydown is the tuberose. Sorrowful Affection smells like sharp, perfumey, chemical-y white floral on my skin. Sharp, harsh and slightly soapy.

I try the Lick It blends every year, hoping that they'll be more like the original Lick It 2005. Lick It 2005 is cooling and lovely, but still sweet... it really smells like peppermint hard candy to me, a perfect mix of mint and candy. This is more menthol/mint and reminds me of mouthwash more than candy. A little too intensely minty and not sweet enough for me. I do like the cooling sensation, but dislike the scent...

I like the name of this, but it's pretty much everything that I dislike in a fragrance. It's baby powdery, sharp, chemical-y perfumey, and not much else. It just turns to baby powder, sharp chemical musk (like cheap hairpsray), and a touch of soap on me. Blech. I usually like most of the floral notes listed in this, but I can't pick them out here...

Leather Phoenix isn't as bad as I was expecting it to be from the reviews. Thankfully, I don't get an overpowering or noticeable rose note. My bottle is mostly a dry, dusty leather smell with the matcha reminding me of the lab's bamboo note (pulpy, green, and lightly citrussy). Like cowboy leather with green citrus. I like this well enough to keep my bottle and see how it ages. It's really light on me now and fades within about 2 hours, but it's not unpleasant. I can't pick out any of the listed notes other than the faint, dry leather and greenish matcha.

I only got an imp-sized vial of this to test, as I was curious about the stout part (the bath oils make me break out when I use them in the bath or as an all-over moisturizer, because they're so heavy), so this is mostly just a quick scent review. As for the fragrance, I get mostly super-sweet honey and red hots cinnamon that burned my wrist where I applied this. I had a red, itchy welt where it touched my skin. I wouldn't use this if you're at all sensitive to spice notes.

I got about 2 ounces of this in a swap and used the whole bunch in a bath last night. The scent was like cake batter mixed with baby powder, but very light in the bag and then nonexistent in the bath water. I didn't notice it do much of anything once it was in the water, though it did make some bubbles when I turned on the jacuzzi jets. The fragrance isn't strong enough, and I prefer my bath stuff to be a bit moisturizing.

I had that Barbie and loved that perfume as a child, lol. I always thought that it had a sweet, bright, tropical rose sort of scent. The closest thing I've found to that fragrance isn't a bpal scent, so I can't mention it here (against the forum guidelines to mention non-bpals in the recs), so I'll message you the name... the smell brings back such good memories for me <3.

A fiery, passionate cursing blend. Use as a focal point for your hatred and animosity. I hate what I had written here before, so I'm editing this down to a scent review only. It's a bracing, cold, medicinal peppermint... simple and chilly.

There are a couple companies that I can't buy from, because most of their scents turn powdery on me, like they all have a weird base smell. With bpal, I find that scents with amber or sandalwood tend to turn baby powdery on my skin (which is unusual, because I love amber from most other companies). So, yeah, as has already been said, it might be an issue with a note or with the carrier/base that bpal uses.

Bpal usually doesn't smell like mainstream cologne to me. Bpal blends seem simpler and the notes tend to just smell... different. Hard to explain. You may not find anything with those exact notes or that smells exactly like you're hoping, but I'd suggest checking out these blends (for woodsy scents with some similar notes): *Golden Priapus (Ars Amatoria) - "Insatiable lust, unending vigor! A truly carnal, energetic men's blend: vanilla and amber with juniper, rosewood and white pine." *Troll (Diabolus) - "This is a gruesome blend of ghastly greens and blacks: vetiver, pine pitch, troll musk, black basil, clove smoke, and scorched cumin." *Hunter (Neil Gaiman - Neverwhere) - "Leonine amber, tanned hides, clove, and clary sage." *Tintagel (Wanderlust) - "Spicy mulled wine flowing through the musky heat, warm leather and bright clash of armor, the damp branches of Cornish hawthorn, blackthorn, juniper, English elm and bayberry, and the magical tingle of dragon's blood resin." *Greed (Sin & Salvation) - "Base and earthy, yet glittering with golden notes: patchouli, heliotrope, copal and oakmoss." *Rocking-Horse-Fly (Mad Tea Party) - "Shellacked wood, sap, sawdust, and privet." *Ranger (RPG) - "Untamed wilderness: buckskin accord with Terebinth pine, Russian birch, black ironwood, elder bark, hay, armoise, juniper, patchouli, galangal root, Spanish moss, and cabreuva." *Rogue (RPG) - "Soft, well-worn black leather, hemp, and rosin."

The bottle I got of this is mostly coconut and beeswax at first. I like coconut sometimes, but this is like a cloying, heavy, tropical scented candle on me. As it dries down, I get a bit of soapy floral coming into the mix (sort of chemical-y and harsh, a bit like the smell of cheap hair spray). A little whiff of incense smoke creeps in after a while, but this just smells all off to me. This smells like being in a dorm room, overwhelmed by a mix of cheap suntan-lotion-coconut, novelty incense, and cheap hair products... just sickly on me.

Casanova was my first thought for those notes, but you might also check out: *Wilde (Bewitching Brews) - "A sophisticated traditional gentleman's cologne, with just the slightest taint of patchouli's passion, tonka bean's decadence, the philanthropy of bergamot, moss' cynicism, the sharp wit of lavender, and the hopeless romantic longing of jasmine and thyme." *Mad Hatter (Mad Tea Party) - "A gentlemen's lavender-citron cologne unhinged by the feral pungence of black musk and a paroxysm of pennyroyal." Maybe Cheshire Cat (Mad Tea Party) if you like a citrussy lavender: "Grapefruit, red currant, dark musk, Roman chamomile, delphinium, and lavender."

I'd recommend trying The Obsidian Widow if you haven't already. It smells red & black to me, and is really complex and interesting. The Obsidian Widow (Steamworks) - "Pinot noir, dark myrrh, red sandalwood, black patchouli, night-blooming jasmine, and attar of rose."