sunshinedaisybliss

This one is another reminder to me that less is more. I feel like when a BPAL blend has only two or three notes, there’s less that can go wrong. This.. is perfect. The vanilla is indeed gentle, slightly sweet but it also has a subtle smoky tone that’s very smooth. The sandalwood is clean and dry, quiet but not demure. Together, they create a lovely cloud of vanilla sandalwood goodness.

Hm. I kind of don’t know what to make of this one. When I first slurped it on and leaned in for a sniff, I was very confused because I could hardly smell anything – totally not what I was expecting! But just a couple of minutes later, and there it was. A slow bloomer. This is a woody, deep patch – just as it says on the tin, but I would describe it as raw and earthy rather than snuggly – and that’s what dominates on my skin for the first stage, but it does eventually soften into the background. As much as I am a patchouli fiend, what attracted me to this one was the vanilla / amber / golden musk which I thought would be something special. But I cannot find any vanilla here at all. The amber is there, but its usual golden glow is completely flattened by the patchouli. I never got any musk either. Overall this is nothing remarkable on me, nor is it particularly different to my many other patchouli forward BPALs. Also, it faded away very quickly and ended up smelling vaguely soapy and a little bitter on my skin. I am envious of the previous reviewers who got all the good things from this – sadly, my experience has been very different and I guess it just doesn’t vibe right with me. So yeah.. hm.

(2024 version) On me – this has a really beautiful sweet, soft incense-y vibe that’s somehow kind of melancholy but also comforting. I feel like there’s two layers here – one is an underblanket of fuzzy earthy softness with hints of smokiness, then dancing on top of that is a clean and soft gentle sweetness. The two layers are distinctly separate if you really pay attention, yet they come together beautifully. Then there’s the sandalwood incense, which I think is what holds everything together – it wraps the two layers up perfectly in a warm dusky cloud. The key word here is soft. No one note stands out individually – every one is there, but blended so harmoniously that the overall feel is just soft and smooth. It’s definitely a close to the skin one – it doesn’t have a lot of throw, but that just adds to the mystery. I keep breathing it in, trying to figure out what makes it so intoxicating, but I can’t.. it just is. I’m really not sure how else to describe it, and this review is probably not helpful if you want to know how it actually smells. But if this one’s calling to you, and you think you might like it – well, that was me. And I’m so glad that I took a chance on this, because I love it.

When I first slathered this on, I got a big blast of beautiful warm sticky chewy sweet fudgey vanilla marshmallow and patchouli and I almost fell off my chair. My first immediate thought was OMG this is Banshee Beat with marshmallow in place of the hemp and I was so happy, I may have peed my pants just a little. (Anyone who knows me knows my love for BB has no bounds, and would understand why this happened and will not judge me for the pee situation.) Unfortunately, that beautiful chewy marshmallowy goodness didn’t stick around for very long for me. The balsamic, woody undertones of the benzoin, together with the blackened patchouli, create a slight bitterness but there’s a lovely earthiness which balances that out. I wouldn’t say this is as gnarly as BB, but it definitely belongs in the stinky hippy family of patch blends. I just wish that initial chewy marshmallow had stayed, because ultimately for me this dried down to pretty much just a nice woody / earthy patchouli with a hint of sweetness. I also found it to have low throw, and not much staying power. But with all that said, I will definitely enjoy wearing this one. Also – the sentiment behind its creation is magnificent, so I give it five blue ticks.

I was really hoping for the same experience as @Invidiana with this one – I wanted glowing amber-cherry! Alas, that is not what I got – once again, my skin has betrayed me 🙁 When I first put this on, I got a blast of bitter sourness – it reminds me of all my previous encounters with BPALs containing something “fizzy”. I think it’s a champagne-like note? (champagne hates me) If anyone remembers Geek Goth – this is the same lemon-lime fizzy, which I should have remembered because GG was also bad on me. Half an hour in – the bitter sourness has faded but not fully gone away. I am not picking up anything grenadine-y at all, and the cherry is very faint. Amber? Nope, not here yet. One hour in, and finally the bitter and sour vibe has gone. I can smell the lemon and lime now, but they’re very faint. Still no grenadine, and the cherry is just a wisp. I still really can’t smell any amber in here but there’s now a nice soft duskiness to everything, so I know it’s there. Overall, I am disappointed with this one but I think that’s completely because of the “fizz” factor. Were it not for the way that goes horribly wrong on my skin, I think this would have been very nice.

This one really goes through ch-ch-ch-ch-changes. Every time I thought I'd got it made, It seemed the taste was not so sweet. For me, this one started out with a blast of fresh sharp lavender – very much like actual lavender smells when you have just fresh cut a bunch, rather than a soft gentle sweet lavender. And there’s a definite saltiness at the start too, which adds to the sharpness and tbh I wasn’t loving it too much at this point because it smelled kind of medicinal. But I left it on my arm for ten minutes – went back to it, and all that sharpness was gone. The lavender was still the main player but it’s softer now, and the salt had also lost its sharpness and gone just.. well, salty. And now I can also smell the rain, which wasn’t there at all in that first stage. It is exactly that smell when it starts raining – kind of airy and earthy. I can now say it truly gives me lavender, sea salt, and rain. After an hour, it’s mostly faded away to a barely there lavender with the salt and rain providing atmosphere rather than actual scent. It’s quite beautiful, but on me it stays very close to the skin and doesn’t last long. I did enjoy the experience though, because it brought back memories of walking along the beach in the rain which is one of my favourite things to do. 💜

I have the atmo spray version of this one, from the 2013 Lupercalias, and I have always loved it. In fact, I loveitsoverymuch seriously. So is the perfume oil as good? Well, yes — yes it is! The neroli here is the most obvious note for me, but it's not all NERRROLLIIIIIII shouty and loud — it's soft, sweet, and gentle (except at first, when it is a bit shouty and loud but that quickly goes away). The amber does indeed glitter, but in that lovely dusky way that amber does so well, and the vanilla silk is beautifully lush and smooth. This is like one of those perfumes that they hide behind the counter in those fancy stores because it's $11,000 a bottle — complex but also simple, sophisticated but not snobby, feminine but not girly, and sweet but not candy-ish. I personally think I enjoy this as an atmosphere spray more than as a perfume, because in the oil form it stays very close to the skin and it has low throw so I have to really sniff around to find it. Whereas a spray it's all there, everywhere around you. But that aside, this is completely beautiful.

Have you ever put on your bestest silk underwear then thrown on your favourite coat and hat that are both made entirely of soft dark green moss, popped some vanilla beans in your pockets and gone outside to sit in the rain? What do you mean "no, of course I haven't"?!? Well, honestly if that's the case — you haven't lived. But hey — the good news is, you don't need to! Just put on some of this, and you'll get the exact same experience. There's a beautiful deep green in here that somehow manages to be both fresh and earthy at the same time — that sits at the back of a beautiful gold warmth, like sun peeking through rainclouds. The vanilla is indeed sheer and wispy to the point where it's not a 'regular' vanilla at all — it's like the vibe that vanilla leaves behind after it's left the room, or that hint of vanilla you get when you catch a whiff of someone wearing it as they walk past you. This is the BPAL to take with you the next time time you embark on a journey through a mossy forest, because you'll blend in so well with all the other scents in the air that the animals won't even notice you're there and you'll be able to walk right up to an unsuspecting deer and gently stroke its back. It's really quite different to anything else I've tried from BPAL, and very lovely.

Hm. I was unsure about this one, because whilst I am a patchouli fiend — black patch tends to pull bitter on my skin (as opposed to red patch, which is always warm and smooth). But I thought maybe the inclusion of 'velvet' in 'black velvet patchouli' might mean this is a softer/smoother variety. What I was really hoping for was a nice earthy patch, a lot of dark amber, a nice rich bourbon vanilla, and a soft musk. On my skin, this starts out very bitter, and although that does dissipate after about 10 minutes, it never really goes away completely and it's getting in the way of everything else. I can pick up a very slight hint of amber, but no bourbon vanilla. And tbh I cannot recognise any musk in here at all. After about 30 minutes, it's dried down into... kind of nothingness really. Overall, this is an interesting mix of mysterious darkness but it's just not playing nice for me.

For me, this one opens up with a blast of burned marshmallow smell, but thankfully that goes away within the first few minutes. And what's left? sweet, pink candyfloss on a background of marshmallow-y vanilla. Big surprise, right? But this one is exactly what it says on the tin! Highly recommended if you enjoy spending your day with your head inside a bag of pink marshmallows. But without the risk of suffocation.

The hype on this was so strong and the raving so loud that I eventually caved and bought a bottle. Maybe my judgement is influenced by my little hoard of well aged (10+ years) Snake Oil, which is truly magnificent, but for me this does not live up to the hype. For one thing, it’s very light - I was expecting a much more ballsy blend. And I feel like the Smut has smothered the spicy musk and dark rich vanilla that I love so much in SO. I’m getting no leather and no patchouli - just a lighter, warmer Snake Oil. Disappointing, but not entirely unexpected. So I will do the only sensible thing, and put this away at the back of the drawer then see how it feels ten years from now.

Weenie Weenie on the wall, what’s the smuttiest ’ween of all? Well here’s the thing. At first this was ALL pumpkin - dark, boozy, oven roasted until it’s all caramelised type pumpkin. It reminded me of some of my favourite Pumpkin Patch blends from the very early days. But no Smut. And then.. half an hour later, it’s all sugary musky smutty booziness, not as swarthy as Smut on its own… so, Smut Lite. But no pumpkin. Eventually this balances itself out and that’s the sweet spot where the pumpkin and the Smut are there together. Musky, boozy pumpkin. But by then it’s not enough of either and nothing particularly exciting on my skin.

Disclaimer: I’m not hugely into florals, but this was kindly frimped to me, and I believe one should always test all the things, so here we go… On me, this is a strong white floral that leans slightly toward the sour side rather than sweet. It’s very soap-y and very perfume-y. As others have mentioned, the orris is subtle and doesn’t really appear until the oil has fully dried into my skin. Only then does the moonflower mellow out a bit, but it’s still very strong. So this is definitely not my style at all - for me it has no complexity, it is what it is but it’s not for me.