Little Bird

I love the aged 06 version of Hungry Ghost Moon (which has gotten smoother and sweeter over time). I loved this 2011 version when it first arrived and smelled like creamy vanilla, soft, warm, cozy rose and hints of grapefruit and sweet incense. Unfortunately, the 2011 version did not age well at all and turned very sour, like the grapefruit went rancid. The 06 is still great, but this 2011 version seemed to go bad very quickly.

Gnome smells similar to Polynesian Pop in the bottle and on my skin at first. It's like fizzy citrus soda. Except where Polynesian Pop was smooth and a bit vanilla-y sweet, this has a heavy dose of soap . It's like having someone hand you a cold glass of Sprite and then dump a cup of laundry detergent into it. I was excited about the black pepper, woodsy balsam, and smoky metallic part of the scent description... but there's nothing spicy or dark about this scent on my skin. Sharp citrus soda and heavy soap. I'm majorly disappointed in this scent. ETA: With age, this is slightly less soapy. Now it smells like sharp soda fizz, a hint of soap, and a lot of burnt tire rubber. Still really strange and disappointing. Gives me a headache...

Elli's Song reminds me of some of bpal's Halloween scents at first (Samhain and Samhainophobia, mainly, but not as sweet and well rounded as either of those blends. Elli has a verrry sour and unpleasant edge on my skin). Initially, Elli smells like digging through bits of moss, dead autumn leaves, and black soil. For me, the moss is a bit too sour and bitter, and makes this scent hard to stomach. The drydown isn't much better, as the ash part seems to amp up, and that makes me smell like I smoked a pack of cigarettes and then rolled through the ashes. I usually like patchouli, vetiver, and moss, but this blend is too sour, harsh, and smoky for me.

Brood XIX is exactly what I was hoping for - smooth, creamy, delicately sweet nuttiness with a hint of wood and perfumey amber giving it some depth. The sweeter aspects are creamy-vanilla-like and gorgeous on my skin. I was worried that this might be too earthy or bitter, but it's more of a foodie scent on my skin. Gentle, creamy, and foodie with a suggestion of trees and dry autumn things. The end result is a scent that smells like autumn to me, in the best way possible - autumn treats, autumn trees, and a whiff of autumn perfume. I find this to be very wearable and multiple bottle worthy...

Blue Morpho is a cool, clean smelling floral with a powdery edge from the amber. I get mostly lily, orchid, and pikake. It's sort of soapy in the way that Dirty is soapy, where it's very reminiscent of a floral laundry detergent. I think that this is pleasant enough... it conjures up images of spring time and clean laundry... but it's not my sort of scent. It makes me feel like I've rolled around in laundry soap after a while.

I really should hate this scent. I don't usually like bpal's plum or opium notes, and this starts off with a strong blast of opium and dries down to mostly plum. But it smells so good to me for some reason. Dark and plush. Swallowtail is a bit iffy for the first 15 minutes, but the drydown is like an expensive, polished, elegant sort of perfume that I really like. The opium has that sharp, perfumey white floral smell that I hate, but it's really softened by the sweet, dark, dry smelling plum. And, after a half hour, this is mostly a very sophisticated smelling plum. It smells like a rich woman's perfume on a night where she's all dressed up and attending a stuffy charity event... but in a good way? lol I get a blast of lime in the bottle, but none on my skin. On my skin, this is loads of plum and a touch of floral opium poppy. I don't think I'll ever go through a full bottle of this, but I'll keep my partial bottle.

This is a fuzzy/cute smelling scent to me at first. It's like clean, springtime floral dipped in sweet honey and sprinkled with brown sugar. It sounds like that would be intensely sweet, but the almost-soapy-clean quality of the florals really cuts down on the sweetness. As it dries down, the tobacco comes out and adds a hint of dark smokiness. Over time, this starts to get more and more baby powdery, which I don't love, but it's tolerable and the other notes are still very pretty. It's rare that I find a bpal honey scent that I enjoy, but I like this one. Creamy, honeyed floral and a hint of smokiness, finished off with a dusting of baby powder.

:love!: Goliath Birdwing seems to have something similar to the cool, watery, cologne-like something that I love in Plague Doctor v10. It's so amazingly smooth and slightly chilly (makes me think of water and the smoothest, almost incensey sandalwood), with a hint of sweet lemon. I expected to hate this, because I don't usually enjoy sage or lemon, but the beige musk must *really* be working for me. I'm going to buy a couple bottles of this, though I'm not sure whether I'll wear it myself or slather it on my husband all summer... it's an amazing, summery cologne smell to me.

Io smells exactly like sweet tarts candies on me, even with their slightly powdery edge. It's a very tart, dry, candied fruitiness where I can't really pick out any one note. I hated it for the first fifteen minutes, but it does start to soften after a while (not enough to be really wearable for me, but better). It dries down like sweet tarts plus a very creamy mango... like sweet tarts and mango ice cream. But the artificial fruitiness still gives me a headache, unfortunately.

First on, this doesn't really smell like much. It's a light, sour lemon verbena. As it dries down, it turns into a bright, sweet, creamy sort of lemon, but there's still not much going on. I expected this to be heavy and resinous with the opoponax, myrrh, and beeswax, but it's just a light, creamy lemon scent that doesn't have much throw at all on me. I'm interested to see if the other notes come out with some aging.

I was really surprised to realize that there aren't any tobacco or woods notes listed for this. Brahmin reminds me so much of the sticky-sweet tobacco and warm, dark woods of Interfector. It's like Interfector plus a hint of dark red rose, which makes me think of Pulcinella and Teresina as well. The drydown is like rich red rose and sticky-sweet resins with a light spiciness to them and a hint of sun warmed hay. It smells exotic and very good, but it also smells like a lot of blends that I already own. I was curious about the mandarin leaf, black pepper, and vanilla orchid, but I can't pick out anything of those listed notes.

Atlas reminded me of something when I first got it, and I finally realized what that was - Villainess's Mudslide scent. Mudslide smells like creamy marshmallow and a hint of warm, nutty graham cracker that's been stomped into the ground. And that's pretty much what this smells like on me too. I hate bpal's oak note and coffee and khus are iffy on me, but this is creamy, sweet, and warmly foodie on my skin. The oak adds a hint of an earthy edge without being overwhelming for me. It's really delightful, and I definitely need a backup bottle. I think that people who like The Antikythera Mechanism will also like this a lot, as it's very reminiscent of AM as it dries down on me, but a bit sweeter and creamier and slightly less woody.

Sweet limes and rose sounded really good to me. I was hoping for a nice, summery, fruity rose. But The Amorous Tree is pretty awful on me. I pretty much get a bitter, sour, sharp, dirty grapefruit smell from this, with a hint of bland, dry oak, and a drydown that is awful. The drydown is like cheap, harsh, white bar soap plus a hint of bitter BO and citrus. I wish I got the lime and rose that others have mentioned, but this is a soapy disaster on my skin.

I can't smell any patchouli or orange/citrus from this. PPH08 mostly smells like buttery caramel and a touch of dry, smoky, herbal sage on me. There's a hint of something like sweetly spicy potpourri in here as well as it dries down. I think I might like this as a room fragrance. It's sort of foodie, smoky, and warmly spicy in a way that makes me think of Halloween.

I keep thinking that this smells like root beer, but not so sweet, with hints of black licorice and red cough syrup. That medicinal, bitter cough syrup gets stronger over time. There's a minty sort of coolness as well. I find it overall to be very medicinal smelling, and I wouldn't want to spray this one all over my house... it makes me think of a hospital where the doctors aren't really helping people :/ creepy and overwhelming. I think that this is the first time I've really disliked one of the bptp room spray scents (some were too floral for me, but I could still see their appeal - not so much with this one). I sprayed this on a throw pillow and had to take the pillow into the basement after an hour, because the smell was making me sick...

I wish that I got the cake batter and vanilla from this that other people have mentioned, but this smells like pure honey to my nose, and I'm not a huge fan of honey. I find it to be too sweet and simple. It doesn't really smell like Celeste to me, but is almost identical to Possets' The Girls Love Vanilla (which is also all too sweet honey and no vanilla to me). In the bath, this doesn't have as much fragrance as the Kitty salts (which, in this case, I guess is a good thing). It smells lightly of cloying honey and something like dust :/. I wish I'd just gotten two bags of the Kitty salts instead of the Celeste ones. Still, I'll use these, because I do like the formula of the salts. I can't really use the bptp bath oils, because they're so heavy that they make my skin feel oily and gross (and then I break out in hives), but these salts are very moisturizing without being *too much.* I hope that the Trading Post has some more salts for sale in the future. (and more scrubs! lol)

Elf + Ranger: I wanted to try this, because Elf and Ranger are both pretty heavy on the pine. The addition of Ranger makes Elf smell more masculine on me, and it's like being beaten over the head with pine boughs. It dries down to a fizzy, sweet pine/juniper that reminds me of the lab's gin note. Don't know why, lol. Elf + Rogue: I love Rogue, and seem to like it layered with just about anything. Elf seems to add a cool, slightly foresty edge to Rogue's soft leather, and I can smell a sweet berry note as it dries down. Very pretty, and makes me think of a stealthy hunter moving through a forest at dusk. Elf + Paladin: My favorite thing layered with Elf, even though it sounds like something that I'd normally hate (as it goes a bit sharp and soapy-clean on my skin). It's like an electric clash of metal in the middle of a pine forest. Very evocative. Sexy and clean with an edge. I think I'll mix these two together in a spray bottle for my husband. It actually reminds me of blends like Snow Moon. For some reason, I have good luck layering the classes with the races, but the alignment scents don't layer well for me, with the exception of Neutral. Chaotic, Good, and Evil all tend to overpower the other blends for me.

This pretty much smells like bitter orange peel and dry, dusty hay on my skin, with something sharp and perfumey that comes out more in the drydown (reminds me of iris, but I see no one else has mentioned that, so maybe just something going sharp with my skin chemistry).

This is my favorite of the Nepthys protos (doesn't have the bitter citrus or dry, powdery, soapy qualities in the other protos), though it's probably still not something that I need a full bottle of. This is pretty much all light, sweet incense on my skin. I can't pick out any one note, it just melts into an incense and dry wood type of smell. It's pleasant enough, but doesn't have much throw and only lasts about an hour on me.

I get a bitter, slightly soapy, dry smelling citrus from this. It doesn't really smell like grapefruit on me, but a sort of nondescript, tart fruitiness. The drydown is a bit baby powdery and made me wonder if this had amber in it.

I wasn't sure about Molly Grue at first. The sweet spices go on a bit cheap smelling and remind me of craft store potpourri. But, after about fifteen minutes, the spices calm down and this settles into a nice foodie scent. It smells like pie crust on me, with sweet, woody fig, hints of toasted hazelnut, a touch of sweet spices, and a creamy edge from the rice flower. It's overall something like a sweet, spiced, nutty pastry with a light fig that sticks around in the background. The scent lasts all day on me, but doesn't have a lot of throw. I'm glad that the spices mellow out and aren't overwhelming. All in all, I'm glad to have a bottle of this, though it's probably something I'll reach for more in the autumn months.

I'm glad that I got a decant of this to try, but it's nothing that I'm going to need to search out more of. Benevolent Triple Conjuction is mostly a slightly herbal, sharp, lemony smell on me, and I'm not really fond of lemon scents (unless they're foodie and sweet). There's a bit of a perfumey white floral smell as well. I'm not getting the rose that others have mentioned, and rose is usually super-strong on my skin. Lemony-herbal-floral...

I really enjoy the Thirteen series, and this is yet another favorite for me <3. In the bottle, this is silky, syrupy dark chocolate and hints of dry spiciness (smells like black pepper to me in the bottle, but not like black pepper at all on my skin). On my skin, the cubeb amps up for the first fifteen minutes or so, paired with the creamy, dry sandalwood, a comforting, light spiciness, and hints of delicate chocolate. All of the notes smell very gentle and dainty to me, with nothing going crazy and overpowering anything else. It reminds me a lot of Cerberus at first, with the lemony/herbal Cubeb, sandalwood, and chocolate. As it dries down, this smells a lot like Gypsy Moth, with the dry, spicy cardamom and a vanilla-y sweetness. It's such a pretty, cozy scent, like putting on a soft, well loved sweater I can see myself wearing this one a lot in fall and winter.

I liked this at first, but my bottle turned quickly to a heavy baby powder type scent. It's one of the heavier RPG scents, but still smells cheap to me and doesn't do well with 'aging' over a couple months...

Moon of Horses reminds me of The Zadok Allen Vineyard. The red wine is the strongest note for me at first, but it smells a bit brighter/sharper than usual (but not so sharp that I find it unpleasant at all). And then there are hints of smoky resins underneath the wine, making it smell darker, sexier, and more mysterious. Over time the scent shifts so that the dark, resinous smokiness is stronger and the wine lingers lightly in the background. I love this scent. I'm really happy that I can't smell the cinnamon at all, because cinnamon usually amps up and ruins blends for me. This is all dark, sexy smokiness and decadent wine. It smells swoonworthy to me.