Little Bird

Only commenting on the scent with this one, from a partial decant - this smells like lemongrass, chamomile, and maybe sage on me, which are all notes that I tend to dislike. It's like sour lemons and bitter, sharp herbs with a hint of smoky sage.

I like ambergris, but I can't pick it out of most of the bpal blends, and I don't smell it at all in this one either . Rose amps up on me and the sandalwood goes baby powdery, so this is pretty much a rose powder on my skin. It's like a warmer and more powdery Shadowless Like Silence.

I think you'd have to like lavender to enjoy this one, as I get mainly lavender from it (which I happen to love). It smells sort of like a clean and creamy lavender was mixed with the sticky, dark sweetness of opoponax and black currant. For having so many heavy notes, the scent fades within 3 hours on me and isn't as strong as I was expecting it to be. I think that the 'violet musk' comes through quite a bit in the drydown, rather than the dark musk, ambergris, or resins, because the blend turns more light and perfumey. Creamy lavender, clean & perfumey violet musk, and a touch of fruity, sweet currant. Not as dark or incensey as I was hoping for, but I might keep my decant of this one.

I love mulberry and pomegranate, but apparently not in perfume form. Together, the two notes just smell awful and overwhelming on me. Pomegranate tends to smell like sweet tarts candy + something bitter on my skin, and the mulberry seems to add a darker, bitter, slightly plasticy edge to the whole thing. It winds up making me smell like a cheap fruity candle with a sharp edge that I hate. I did't get any mint or myrrh while I wore this, but I wound up scrubbing this off after about an hour. Regina Erebi gives me a headache...

I was expecting a loud, bright pomegranate and rose mix from this (two notes that tend to amp up on me), but I can't really pick out the pomegranate at all, and the overall scent is lighter & more quiet than I thought it would be. The lilac musk is like a more perfumey, clean, light, not-as-sweet version of lilac on me. The rose and honey mingle together and add more of a sweet floral edge to the lilac musk, and the frankincense is a hint of dry incense. The Nymphae Avernales is like a sophisticated, perfumey floral that smells a bit exotic & sensual on me, thanks to the honey and frankincense. I don't think that I'll go through a full bottle of this, but I'll keep my decant. My husband is a fan of florals (on me, not on himself), and he really liked this one.

The Night Hag starts off heavy on the pine and sharp woodsmoke, and I thought about just scrubbing it off immediately. But as it dries down (after about fifteen minutes), the incense notes start to strengthen and add a warm sweetness to the smoky pine. After about an hour, I'm left with mainly a smooth, creamy sandalwood and frankincense, but the fragrance is really light on me by then and it takes too long to get to this stage. The pine and woodsmoke are just too sharp for me initially.

This goes on as mainly magnolia, skin musk, and a hint of patchouli on me. It's perfumey floral and slightly powdery, clean musk with a hint of dry earthiness. As it dries down, the honey/beeswax and vanilla add a sweetness to the blend, but it also goes more baby powdery on me. It's a soft, light, musky-powdery-clean scent with swirls of dry patchouli and vanilla-honey... More powdery than I would like, but the overall scent is light and inoffensive on me. It only lasts about 2 hours on me and clings close to my skin.

I love black patchouli (love it in Depraved, at least), red sandalwood, and ambergris, and I have mixed results with vetiver, dark musk, and balsams. The Triumph of Death is like smoky, dark vetiver, a harsh and musky blast of men's cologne from the black musk, and something oddly green, herby-woods, and sour (the balsam?). The overall feel for me is a bitter black-green scent. I don't care for this scent at all, and it's really strong on me. It winds up being too sour and dry smelling, not sweet or smooth enough for me to find it wearable.

I've only tried out about half of my Halloween decants, but my favorites so far are The Wiley Grasser, The Ta-Ta, and Halloween: Las Vegas. ETA: Finished trying out all of my decants for this update, and those three are still the only keepers for me.

I had hoped that a mix of lime, cedar, and dragon's blood might be like an exotic, spicy, tropical drink, but this is more of a warm, powdery floral and citrus cleanser type of smell on my skin. It winds up smelling very dry on me, and fades quickly.

I love Blood Moon 05, like 2010, and didn't care for 2008. Unfortunately, this is more like the 08 version than the spicy, incensey versions. I didn't remember the list of notes in this, so I was confused when I first put it on and it smelled like strong baby powder, wet leaves, and cool aquatic. I don't get resins or tobacco at all. It's really strong and long lasting, but I don't really like smelling like baby powder and cool water...

I love gardenia, but the narcissus and white musk here make this too sharp and perfumey for me. It has a good dose of creamy, tropical gardenia, but it just doesn't work for me with the added perfumey floral notes. I was curious about the white cognac, but don't smell anything boozy here.

I love this when I first put it on. It's like freshly sliced, delicately sweet, juicy apples laying over a beautiful, smooth blue musk and cool, creamy vanilla. And then after about ten minutes, the white musk comes out and it turns into a sharp, dry, perfumey mess. The apple disappears and the vanilla drowns under the sharp musk. And the whole thing only lasts about a half hour on me. I don't think that any of the apple scents are keepers for me, but this one starts off great and then breaks my heart

This is a fun scent, though it's a bit too tart and sweet for me, personally. It's like someone threw a handful of fruity sweet tarts candies into a glass of Sprite and then tossed a few flower stems into the mix. I actually find it to be rather lemony-fizzy, with the pomegranate doing its usual thing and turning to sweet tarts candy smell. After about a half hour, it smells just like lemonheads candy on me. Fades away entirely after about an hour and a half.

Halloween: Las Vegas is like a darker, sexier, grittier version of Cake Smash... like Cake Smash with more Snake Oil & smoke and less Dorian. The Snake Oil, tobacco smoke, and incense add a dark, slightly spicy, smoky quality to the foodie/sweet parts. On me, this winds up smelling like spice cake with thick vanilla frosting, left to dry out in a dark room full of tobacco and incense smoke. Which is actually rather awesome It's a sweet, smoky, dark Snake Oil. I really like how this one plays out on my skin <3.

Sonnet D'Automne is strange on me. I love Falling Leaf Moon and Nothing Gold Can Stay, but most of bpal's leaf blends haven't worked for me. Sonnet D'Autonme is reminding me of October, I think, sort of a mix of damp leaves, slightly green leaves, and dead grass. I get the mint that others have mentioned as well, but not really any of the vanilla. It's like damp leaves, mint, and powder on my skin (and bpal's amber and vanilla notes often turn to baby powder on me, so I'm not sure which is the problem here). It smells like it has a perfumey floral note as it dries down on me, but I'm not really getting the vanilla or cocoa. All in all, it smells too cold and perfumey for me, and not sweet enough.

Sentimental Initiation is odd on my skin, and not sweet enough for me. I always prefer 'sweet clove' over the 'bitter clove' note. First on, I get a blast of bamboo and mandarin, which is a pulpy, green, citrussy smell. But that quickly disappears and I'm left with MUSK and bitter clove. The musk really amps up on me, and the black musk smells cold, smoky, and sharp on my skin. The red musk tries to sweeten things up a bit, but after an hour I'm left with red musk, soap, and men's musky cologne smell. Not good for me.

I'm not a fan of this one, but my husband likes it and has adopted my decant. I get a sharp, cool, green fir/pine note from this, with hints of earthy patchouli. Maybe a bit of a dry woods scent as well after about an hour when the scent has mostly faded away. I like forest/earth scents when they have something to sweeten them up a bit, but I don't smell any of the honey or hazelnut here.

Red musk is usually super-strong on me, but I'm not getting any red musk from this. I get lots of white tea, which is like a sharp, strong, white smelling citrus, and clean floral. Too sharp for my tastes. My husband said that this smells like bathroom cleanser.

Autumn Cider smells like a mix of red Hawaiian Punch, creamed corn (yeah, I dunno, really weird), and cinnamon potpourri on my skin. I don't smell any apple, brown sugar, or butterscotch, which is what I was most looking forward to. I catch a whiff of orange every once in a while. This actually smells sort of gross on me

The Golden Apple smells so much like rest area toilet cleanser to me. Soapy and odd to the extreme. It's like soap, a touch of fizz, a hint of light, golden spiciness, and something that's just off and gross smelling to me...

I don't really get a noticeable apple note from this one. It's more of a clean floral scent to me, with a very light sweetness to it. Orris, moonflower, and lotus are usually very sweet on me, but the florals here are more clean smelling and subdued. The Silver Apple is reminding me of one of the floral DKNY apple scents (which also doesn't smell like apple, but maybe is apple blossom-ish) and maybe Marc Jacob's Blush. Reading over the other reviews, I can also see zombi's comparison to Bath & Body Works' Sweet Pea fragrance. Mostly a clean, soft, white floral sort of smell.

In the bottle, all I can smell is the cypress (pine needles and dry wood), but I can't smell any cypress at all once this is on my skin. On my skin, this is really lackluster and not dark or resinous at all, which is what I was expecting. It has a sort of mushy apple, apple juice, and a touch of herbs smell to it. It's slightly perfumey and definitely not a crisp apple scent. It has a muted sweetness and herbal quality to it. The drydown is much the same, but starts to get baby powder on me. I'm really surprised that I'm not getting any incense, resins, tobacco, or black musk from this, as those are all notes that are usually pretty strong on my skin. But this is a bland, herbal, mushy, powdery smelling apple on me. Not bad at all, but probably not something I'm going to wear again either.

There's a very dark, slightly musky, masculine leather to this that reminds me strongly of Brom Bones at first <3. I get that sexy leather paired with something like a hint of black pepper and a slight warmth & sweetness from the coffee & tobacco. The drydown is less leathery (booo) and more to the sweet tobacco side of things, but still very good. The drydown reminds me of Pinched with Four Aces. I've really been enjoying this scent, especially on my husband (and he hates coffee scents, but doesn't mind this one, thanks to the leather and tobacco notes taking over the coffee smell). I might need a backup bottle of The Ta-Ta.

I don't like this for the first few minutes on my skin, where the pine is sharp and pinesol cleanser-ish, but the drydown is really nice and balanced between sweet cotton candy and clean floral. The little bit of sharpness from the pine just makes the blend smell darker and keeps it from being cloying as it dries down. It's like Velvet Unicorn with a bit of bite & darkness to it. I really like this, and I'd say it's a must-have if you like cotton candy scents. I think that this is my favorite of the blends released in the Halloweenie update this year.