sunshinedaisybliss

When I first put this on, I got a huge blast of sweet almond-y marzipan! Whaaaat?!? Let’s forget that happened, and move on. The muguet here is a heady and rich white floral, as expected, but it’s gentle – like catching its smell in the breeze on a warm summer’s night. The white ginger has a gorgeous exotic sweetness, and a fairly strong spicy vibe (like cinnamon-y), which keeps this from turning all Big White Floral on me (thank you, white ginger!). The ‘green’ aspect didn’t come out for me until about 30 minutes in, but when it did – I was taken back to a trek I did many years ago through a rainforest in Bali. It was a super hot and humid day, and the air was thick with the smell of tropical flowers. Pele is that in a bottle.

I put this on without knowing the notes, and my first thought was a dark purple plum with a nag champa vibe – heady, smokey, radiant. So now I have read the notes… “garnet-tinged haze” makes sense. It took a few minutes for the leather to emerge on my skin, but when it does… mmm, it’s a beautiful soft snuggly leather. I can pick up the warmth of the dragon’s blood, but it isn’t a standout – it’s just adding a lovely resinous base. The amber is very dry, and there’s definitely some muskiness but also some earthiness going on in here as well. A half hour in, and the leather is now the main player – it’s not quite as soft and snuggly as before, and that dark purple feel has faded, but the overall smokiness has also stepped up quite a bit. This is quite exotic and mysterious, slinky and sinuous and chewy. It’s a beautiful blend for those who love their BPALs on the resiny / smokey / darker / musky spectrum.

I found this one started with a strongly herbaceous lavender, exactly how it smells to hold a big handful of freshly cut lavender stems and flowers. Then the lemon myrtle comes through – waxy, with a bright lemony tang. I’m very on the fence about ylang ylang – it doesn’t always play nicely for me – but here it adds a pretty tropical vibe and a bit of sweetness to the lemon and the lavender. I couldn’t find the tangerine at first, and to be honest I wouldn’t say it’s a standout note here, but it kind of adds a subtle orange-y top note. I don’t think the sandalwood is obvious here either, but it’s laying down a nice warm base and also helping to mellow out the brightness of the lemon. Unfortunately, I also got the furniture polish experience after about half an hour of wear. So overall, this was an interesting one to try but not something I would reach for because it’s just not my thing.

Having written a few reviews lately where @doomsday_disco has posted theirs before me, I am beginning to think we may have some kind of skin chemistry DNA in common! I agree completely with this, because I too am basic sometimes when it comes to my favourite notes. So for me, this one announced its arrival with a big blast of black cherry and blood orange – you would think it impossible for them both to be so ballsy together rather than one dominating the other, but it’s quite magical how they each hold their own. And they were magnificent – dark, juicy, intoxicating.. like a rich liqueur – so good! However.. five minutes in, the black cherry and the blood orange have blurred together, and now the florals are here and – this makes me very sad to say – all I can smell is potpourri. Waaah. But it got worse. After about 10 minutes, it smelled like I have walked into a bathroom immediately after someone has done A Very Big Poo and tried to cover up the stench with one of those air freshener sprays named something heinous like “Fruit of the Forrest”. WHYYYYYYY IS THIS HAPPENING?!?!? I know exactly why. That little bastard jasmine is the culprit. Every now and then I get a jasmine that plays nicely on my skin, but mostly it comes out as A Very Big Poo and here it is, doing exactly that. And because of the Very Big Poo Phenomenon from the jasmine, nothing else stands a chance – the beautiful black cherry and blood orange have run away from it like “OMG let’s GTFO this smells BAD!!”. But then I waited another 15 minutes, and summoned up enough courage to go in for one more sniff because I refuse to give up hope, and the Very Big Poo jasmine has calmed down! It hasn’t disappeared completely, but now I can pick up the slightly peppery tuberose and the warm glow of the amber. The vanilla is subtle but smooth, and yep there’s the musky sweet labdanum too. A full hour in and I have a lovely warm amber with a hint of black cherry and blood orange, and a teensy tease of silky vanilla, which is actually very nice but overall quite faint. It’s not what I was loving at the start with that luscious big heady wallop of black cherry and blood orange, but I’m going to keep this for now and see whether aging it for a while will change anything. .

(2024 version) When I first dabbled this on and leaned in for a sniff it was like someone had picked me up and thrown me into a huge lavender bush and as I was landing, I crushed all the flowers and leaves so I found myself face deep in freshly smooshed lavender and that’s all I could smell. After about 10 minutes the lavender calms down a little, and now I can smell the sage and a hint of the honeyed patch. It’s kind of… balm-y. Wait no, it’s minty? Wait no, it’s menthol-y – I wasn’t expecting that! 15 minutes later the lavender is less dense but still there, and I’m getting something a bit like dirty socks. A slight tinge of sweaty skin. Like someone decided not to take a shower when they really should have, and instead slapped on some lavender scented body cream thinking that would hide their body odour and it almost does, but doesn’t really. (I blame the honey for this unfortunate situation) I’m happy to report that after the weird BO stage passes, I get a soft but still menthol-y lavender and a nice warm sweet patchouli. The bourbon vanilla never really showed up at any stage, but now I get the “safety and security” vibe – it’s quite comforting, but for me the menthol aspect is interrupting the serenity. I’m glad I got to try this – thank you to the lovely @bheansidhe for sending it my way! I don’t think I will wear it though, because it’s just not my jam, but I know it’s well loved by many so I will definitely pay it forward as its maker intended.

I do love my dark rich vanillas, but I am fast becoming a huge fan of tonka bean! Where regular vanilla is generally sweet and simple “Oh hiiiiI! I’m cute and yummy like a frosted cupcake! *flips hair and twirls*” – tonka bean is a more complex version of vanilla “Oh hey hold my leather jacket while I roll up a smoke *winks*”. Meanwhile, my love for pink pepper continues to grow. I love how it’s soft and pink and pretty, but also a little peppery and spicy and it tickles my nose. It’s like getting punched in the face by a fairy wearing a pink tutu and Doc Marten boots. So of course I was going to love this duet. The soft woodsy spicy vibe of the creamy smooth tonka bean is the perfect partner to the sweet zing of the pink pepper. It’s not super strong, I would say low to medium throw, but it lasts well on my skin and doesn’t really change from start to finish. It’s a winner for me! Wear this when: You feel like a face-punching pink fairy.

Previous reviewers have covered this pretty thoroughly, so I don’t really have anything new to add, but I’ll share my thoughts anyway! This starts out as a very juicy ripe and warm peach – fruity and syrupy, but not sweet – it’s bright, but not loud. I get a pastry smell from it at first, similar to the pastry vibe in the Sufganiyot blends, but that faded pretty quickly and then I got brown sugar toffee instead which I think is the mix of the toasted cream and the marshmallow.. it smells like toasted meringue. Yep, peach meringue pie. The vanilla bean here is really good initially – not too sweet, just doing a good job of bringing everything together and balancing the flavour. Overall – I enjoyed this one more in its early stage, when the peach was juicy and warm and bright, but it faded quickly and within about 20 minutes all I get is a dry / flat vanilla with just a hint of gentle peachy sweetness. It’s nice, but not a “wow” for me. But thank you, Matilda – good girl for spitting out the pits!

This is dark, velvety, mysterious, and intoxicating! For me, it starts out with a blast of rich black cherry all HEY I’M CHERRY, CHERRY IS HEEEERE!! But then, along comes blood musk with its hazy sweet vibe. I swear I am getting something citrus-y as well, like a dark blood orange.. huh? But wait, 15 minutes in and here comes the patchouli – soft, woodsy, warm. The black rose isn’t super obvious, nor is the jasmine, but that’s all fine with me because neither of those usually play nicely on my skin. It’s definitely giving off a lot of sweetness though at this point, which is probably coming from those two. Where’s the amber and the saffron? I can’t find either of them until about an hour later, after the sweetness has dried out and allowed some of the softness to shine through. This is definitely one of those blends that kinda grabs you and holds on – it stayed strong on my skin for several hours. It also has a fairly big throw – it’s not for anyone who doesn’t want their scent to be noticed. If you love those dark purple / burgundy, heady, velvety perfumes like Dior’s Poison – or you enjoy BPALs like Dark Lace; Lucy, Kissed; Callidora the Vamp or even Snake Charmer; Hellion or Mme Moriarty – don’t let this one pass you by!

Did you avoid buying this because you were scared of the vetiver? Big mistake. Big. HUGE. 🤭 For me, the star of this show is the lovely sweet clove. It’s exactly how it should be – sweet and spicy. But the vetiver is the perfect balance for the clove’s sweetness – it’s a beautiful soft dark earthy blanket on which the clove can just relax and live its best life. These two are BFFs who get along perfectly. V– “Oh clove, you’re so sweet!” C– “Aww vetiver, you give the best big warm hugs!” V– “I’m so happy we’re in this bottle together for evers!” C– “And we’ll get even more awesome as we age!!” See how they compliment each other? And also complement each other? It’s a beautiful thing.

So can you guess what this smells like? Vanilla cream and pear! Surprise!! With previous pear notes I’ve experienced with BPAL it’s been a more sweet juicy pear, but this one is quite dry. The vanilla cream is quite rich, but not overly sweet. As previous reviewers have said, there’s something floral coming through – like a white blossom-y kind of flower – but it comes and goes. I put a nice big slurp of this on my skin, but within 30 minutes I almost couldn’t find it – all that’s left is a kind of musky vanilla. I was hoping for more sweetness and brightness, I think – a bit more oomph. This is nice and all, but it’s just.. I dunno… ok.

@harps I am now stalking this topic, because I lovelovelove Tom Ford’s Lost Cherry! But ick to designer label perfumes, and at $400 a bottle I am only buying it if every time I open the lid a singing unicorn comes out of the bottle and performs a Led Zeppelin song. @ShadowEtienne gave some excellent suggestions – I would add Tobacco Absolute and Cherry Chypre (Goose Moon) to that list; along with Die Sweetly Die and also Black Cherry, Vanilla Bean, and Champaca. There’s also the Wild Cherry Chypre and Smoky Patchouli Hair Gloss which is amazing. BPAL released a Black Cherry single note back in 2005, but I have never managed to get my hands on any. My favourite cherry BPAL of all time is Gothabilly from 2010 (black vanilla, Egyptian musk, Rožolj liqueur, and black cherries) but it’s very hard to find now ☹️ Good luck in your quest for a Lost Cherry smell-alike! Let me know if you find it!!

Imagine your bottle of Snake Oil eats a huge slice of coconut frosted vanilla cake, then burps in your face. And instead of screaming “Eww how rude! Where are your manners?!?” you lean in and say “Mmmmm. Please do it again“. That’s it. That’s the review. I’ll see myself out.

As a patchouli fiend, and a huge fan of black vanilla, of course I wanted to try this! I really love the duets / trios, because the simplicity of just two or three notes really showcases the artistry and genius of the blending. And that’s the case here – the patchouli lays down a warm, earthy base; the vanilla sweetens that up beautifully; then the gorgeous bright mandarin dances on top. No one note dominates on my skin – they’re all just perfectly there together. Personally, I would have liked the black vanilla to be a bit more present but then I can imagine too much vanilla could have drowned out the soft patch and made the mandarin too sweet. So I’m happy with this just the way it is. After a few hours this softens and fades quite a bit and the lovely juicy mandarin loses its brightness. But the vanilla comes out more, which is a win! Love this – it’s perfect for those days when I want to wear a nice patchouli but not a full on in-your-face one.

I remember when I first got into BPAL, I was a huge fan of all the beautiful new Pumpkin blends at Weenie time – pumpkin pie isn’t really a thing here in Australia, so I didn’t have any idea about how it smelled – aside from in its vegetable form (yum, roast pumpkin!). I bought many different Pumpkin Patch blends over several years, and found many that I loved.. but the problem for me was that although they all smelled amazing, I didn’t really enjoy wearing them as a personal perfume. So I eventually quit buying them, and haven’t tried a new pumpkin related BPAL in many years. But then my dear friend @bheansidhe sent me this, and… well…. with apologies to Mr Simon and Mr Garfunkel… Hello pumpkin my old friend, I’ve come to smell you once again Warm and snuggly softly creeping Spicy goodness quietly peeping And the lemon that’s just lurking in the air, hardly there, within the pie of chiffon.

Uh.. nope, this is not for me. Sadly, it is not calming and serene, and it does not bring calm and joy to my heart nor peace to my spirit. But it’s not your fault, Namaste! This has my arch nemesis jasmine in it, and I totally blame that for the nope factor. I am getting some of the lovely sandalwood softness, the lemongrass is quite bright, and the rose feels light (white, or pink?). I really can’t find any patchouli or cedar wood specifically, but there is a hint of something earthy or grounded so that’s probably their contribution. But the jasmine is just so loud on my skin, and it’s turned poopy as well – it’s kind of giving me a headache. What a shame jasmine hates me.