Amoraexcena

Echoing what Little Bird said - at first, I was honestly a little disappointed in this when I first got it, especially because I got two bottles blind. It was really cloyingly sweet, almost caramel-single-note. It's such a good reminder to never judge a scent by its just-shipped-cover. Now that it's settled down for a month or so, it's got a LOT more depth and chewiness. I get a well-balanced blend of leather and tobacco smoke, sweetened just enough by vanilla-caramel-musk. I don't get much floral, and it's not going to scratch my OG Antique Lace itch, but that's okay (I just wore some of my preciously hoarded OG AL yesterday - I'll just continue to treasure each drop of that). I'll definitely add this to my rotation for autumn scents. I think I might like it even better than Clockwork Couture: Female. This is a lovely, sweet, well-blended leather scent and I'm definitely looking forward to seeing how it continues to improve with age.

Definitely Boo-adjacent! Sweet milky candy with a pretty hefty dusting of slightly powdery light amber. Lately I like my amber with a bit more oomph and depth, but this is very pleasant and youthful-feeling. If I don't wear it much, I might gift it to my younger sister.

Strangely, on me this is 98% floral - and not very similar to the tobacco flower I love in Zorya P or To a Wreath of Snow or Pediophobia. It's rather... austere? It definitely smells WHITE, almost clinically so, on my skin. This black tea is definitely has 0 sugar added! It's more "fougere" than tea (and I suspect there are other florals in that fougere that I'm amping, though I can't quite tell what they are). I'm going to let it age for a while in the hopes that I get a touch more warmth from the amber.

I didn't realize I hadn't reviewed this one! I knew from the notes that this was going to age magnificently, and it really has. It's the sweet amber-oudh of my dreams, with hints of cola (vanilla and light spices and an almost lime-rind undertone). It's thick and chewy and warm, it's comfortingly dark, it's great. The only sad thing is that I had a rare spill with this one and I lost a third of the bottle I so cherish.

A very sophisticated, cool-toned floral. I amp rose, but it's not getting out of control here (thank goodness, I have enough rose-forward blends to last me several lifetimes). The florals are well blended and I wouldn't be able to pick out a specific one here without notes, I think. I was also a tad worried about almond blossom (almond loves to go bitter cherry on me), but this is most definitely not bitter almond, but the gentle flower. I wish this was a tad sweeter for my personal tastes, but it's beautiful - something I'd wear to a very "grown-up" gathering, like a black tie party in a private yacht. As mentioned above, fans of Ava should definitely give this a try.

It's always really interesting to me how different scents are from skin to skin. On me, Cat Churning Butter is creamy, salty butter that's been slightly sweetened by powdered sugar. Butter is definitely the spotlight here. It's not really what I was expecting or hoping for, but I adore the label art and I think I'll occasionally feel like I need to smell like buttery sugar cookie dough. The label art alone makes me smile.

Testing the frottle the lab generously included in my last order! It's peaches and berry port jelly when wet. Very sticky-sweet. The tobacco is subtle and gentle and only emerges after fully dry on my skin. It definitely gives summer fair vibes!

To a Wreath of Snow was my favourite of the 2020 Yules, and I'm overjoyed to see it return. I hope it's going to come back often! 2023 version is identical to what I remember the 2020 version was when fresh. It's got a bit of cool, almost-minty freshness in the bottle, but blossoms into a sweet and salty floral grounded with oudh. Someone in BPAL Parlour mentioned that this perfume is a "beautiful chord" - and I think that imagery is perfect. This is a harmonious minor chord played on the piano, a little melancholy, and heart-achingly beautiful. The ambergris is slightly stronger in the 2020 version now, with a little added depth from aging. I think the blends are pretty much identical, and any slight difference is either age or batch variation. Speaking of batch variation - I got 5 bottles of this perfume (and have already finished off a bottle), and one of them is noticeably more lavender than the rest. It's also less sweet - it feels like the lavender has swallowed the tobacco flower for this bottle. It's almost closer to The Air and the Ether. This is the bottle I'm using as a sleep scent, that's for sure! For the other bottles, lavender is a supporting note to the tobacco flower, which is one of my favourite notes. It works as a sleeptime scent for me, but my favourite use is wearing it when on walks in frosty winter air.

I got this in the hope that it's a little like To a Wreath of Snow, and while it's not similar really, the vibes are there. They're both scents that work super well on me in biting, cold North-American-winter air. This is a little less floral and definitely less sweet on me than WoS. While WoS is pure, soft white, this also has a bit of a green edge I attribute to ti leaf that reminds me of the scent of our rainforests after snowfall. It doesn't really have a woody scent, more resin-y, evergreen needles crushed underfoot. I'm surprised that the white sandalwood isn't turning into pencil shavings on my skin as it tends to. It's an intensely WINTER scent of slivers of deep green herbaceousness encased in pale ashy resin and layers of ice. It's already very nice and wearable, and I look forward to seeing how this ages. This is definitely going into my winter rotations, especially for walking my dog!

She's definitely witch's familiar! This kitty has been rolling around in her witchy human's incense again, the naughty thing. I don't reach for black musk too often, but this is really nice. The fluffy fur + musk + sweet incensy amber is making me want to play Cult of the Lamb again.

So I made my big Weenies and Yules order, and I was all excited to try all the new shinies. Then I sniffed this in bottle and I HAD to skin test this first. This is the soft, sweet sandalwood scent of my dreams. It reminds me of the fresh, milky-sweet skin scent of a baby. The sandalwood is super gentle, with only the lightest hint of wood. The vanilla is also a kind, sweet-but-not-foody one, and blends seamlessly into the sandalwood. For such a simple note list, it feels well-rounded and complete. It's not a strong scent, but it's got respectable throw considering its gentleness for an hour or so. After that, it stays very close to the skin. I want to keep reapplying, it's so good - I'm having a hard time resisting, even though I do want to test my other shinies!!! I absolutely love this, I'll need to get backups.

My friend generously gifted me a bottle of this as a wedding gift. It's probably the Lace that's closest to OG Antique Lace, as noted above. The tea rose is the main floral I smell, especially on my rose-amping skin, making it feel like the lovechild of Antique Lace and Sybil. "Phantasmagoric" is a great descriptor for this - it really has the ghostly feel of OG Antique Lace - I think it's the coconut+musk+cream that's causing that. I think OG AL, Sugared Lace, and this one are my top 3 favourite Lace scents now. This is beautiful.

I was hoping to love this, as I adore most of the notes in it... unfortunately, not my thing. It was surprisingly not very sweet at all on my skin, very sharp and powdery - I think perhaps the combo of dry sandalwood and musk took over. It reminds me of how I felt with Reapers Gonna Reap - when I think of sandalwood, I think golden sweet resin-y goodness, but some varieties are really sharp on my skin and doesn't work out. Luckily, this is beautiful on my friend, so it's off to a good home!

This is a lush, sweet floral in the bottle. Like Dancing Raven, to my nose I get honeysuckle as well (maybe it's a component of the honey musk?) On my skin, the honey amps - but it's thankfully held in check by everything else. Beautifully blended. It's rather strong, I only need a light dab of it. I think it's my favourite magnolia blend to date. It's a sugary, fun magnolia party. It's a little like Gucci Flora Gorgeous Magnolia, though I like The Bride better! This scent screams spring or early summer floral to me, so I'll be putting it away for a month or two (it's middle of winter now, and it feels blasphemous to be wearing now haha).

Hopefully it's okay that I'm starting a new thread, I did do a search to see if this existed yet. I've lately really gotten into the "pale tobacco" scents, with tobacco flower or white tobacco - To a Wreath of Snow, Pediophobia, Zorya P... I'm wondering if I've missed any GCs that I should try/LEs to hunt down. Hag Grey Hair Gloss seems really popular, is that a must-try? Any others that folks love?

I see, thank you for the recommendations! I'll have to keep an eye out for them! I missed out on Hag Grey as well, sadly... They resurrected To a Wreath of Snow, so maybe we'll one day see this one again as well (or something similar!)

Ohhhh, I had overlooked nicotiana - is that the same (or similar) to tobacco flower?

Gosh, this is such a beautiful blend. I'm so, so lucky to have had a generous Parlour friend hook me up with this. Wet, it reminds me a little of Midnight on the Midway minus the ozone and night-blooming jasmine. A little less floral, more sugar. Not the same for sure, but some similarities. A cousin twice removed. In terms of the Laces, definitely closest to original Black Lace, as Little Bird mentioned above - with more bourbon vanilla and sugar added. Dry, the sweet floral incense blooms. I have a beautiful handmade Witcher 3 Yennefer cosplay, and I definitely want to wear this perfume when wearing it. This scent is exactly that dark, sensual, powerful witch in my mind (though no lilac or gooseberries). Dry, a few hours later, reminds me a lot of original Black Lace drydown, a soft dark incense with more vanilla sugar, faded florals. Solid throw and longevity. It's just a shame I can't buy 11 more bottles of it. I'll treasure every drop I have!

When autumn hits, I always gravitate toward the golden resins. A few years ago I went on a bit of an amber/resin spree - I wanted to find the "perfect amber" blend for me. I knew I loved Haloes and L'estate, but they weren't quite as resin-forward as I wanted sometimes. Hesiod's Phoenix and La Lugubre Gondola are the two syrupy-sweet, yet not foody, rich resins I like most. I adore the scent of Lyonesse, but it unfortunately burns on my skin for some reason. Hesiod's is a little less sweet than Gondola on my skin, a tad more woody-oudh-forward, but very much in the same scent family. As many have mentioned before, they're beautiful alongside Implacable Beautiful Tyrant hair gloss, which is my favourite HG of all time (and I heard Ted made some more recently, waiting on labels... I TRULY TRULY hope I can snag a bottle when they restock, because I'm almost out). Walking through the park painted in fall colours, dry leaves underfoot, with Hesiod's or Gondola + IBT HG gently wafting around me is such an experience.

I recently got myself a bottle of this. I tried a decant ages ago and wasn't the biggest fan back then. I'm really glad I'm now able to try it from the bottle, as it's different from what I remember. On my skin, CC:F is mostly the softest, gentlest suede, sweetened by tonka. It's got the slightest hint of some sort of metallic substance - the clay? it smells like copper, maybe - which reminds me of Antikythera Mechanism a bit, though this is much more wearable for me than AM. This isn't as floral or sexy as Liz, and they're pretty different, considering the similarities in notes. I want to wear Liz with a nice leather jacket and skinny jeans and red lipstick. CC:F is what I want to wear with a pretty cream-coloured Free People dress and suede belt and boots and natural makeup, if that makes any sense. I'm definitely enjoying both!

I'm so happy to finally get a bottle of Stekk! Here are some side-by-side comparisons... In the bottle and wet on skin, it's reminding me most of Midway, actually - it's got a bit of vanilla sugar tart/funnel cake similarity, it's quite foody at first. After drying down the bakery-ness of Stekk fades though. It's not super similar to AL imo, on my skin at least - definitely not like original, and not much like res either. Of the scents I own it's closest to Vanilla Bean/Marshmallow/Benzoin, though it's definitely more like true marshmallows after drying. Now I really want to try Marshmallow Chick to try and smell the difference! I love ALL of the above and I'm so happy to see more marshmallow from BPAL. Here's hoping for a Marshmallow Snek and Marshmallow Lace one day 😍

I amp rose a lot, and on my skin this is definitely a vanilla-sugared rose. Because of the rose prominence, I'm not getting quite a Lace vibe - it reminds me more of Joyful Moon 2010 and Sibyl. I like Sibyl the best I think, the tea rose in that one is a little more well behaved on my skin. I'll definitely keep the bottle and see if the rose tones down a bit. I was hoping to smell a bit more of the cream musk and marshmallow root, hoping they come out with a bit of aging.

Really enjoying this one. While wet, I get a bright, sweet lemon - I immediately think of pretty golden cat eyes. This stage doesn't last long, and the soft vanilla amber musk follows, reminescent of a soft cat's fur. The musk actually kind of reminds me of the gentle baby-musk smell of my cat. It's definitely a low-throw, close-to-the-skin scent, which is very appropriate I think - it's snuggled up on your lap. Might need another bottle, I like to slather this. Edit to add that yup, I need a backup of this. It's my favourite vanilla-lemon-amber scent now. It's a grown-up, sophisticated Sticky Bat with a touch of woodsy resin and sweet powder.

Doing a side-by-side comparison... Flickering Lights vs Antique Lace (original) Not that similar to my nose, though both are beautiful. Flickering Lights is more golden to my nose, more amber-y, almost beeswax-y. It has much less throw than original AL, which has incredible throw with the lightest application. Both are definitely sweet, lightly floral non-foody vanilla though so I get the comparison. AL original is just in its own class, imho. Whatever component it was that led to it being discontinued is hard to emulate, I'd guess. Flickering Lights vs Antique Lace (res) Again, not that similar. AL res is quite a bit sweeter, somewhat more foody/marshmallow-y than the original. Flickering Lights is more subtly sweet, subdued. Flickering Lights vs Tattered Lace This is definitely the closest lace that I own to Flickering Lights. Tattered Lace is a tad more cognac, a touch of woodiness, less floral, less sweet frankincense-vanilla (the herbaceous/green has calmed down a LOT with age). But if it wasn't a side-by-side comparison I'm not sure I could tell which is which. I love all of the above dearly, so I'm super happy to have gotten my hands on a bottle of Flickering Lights! This scent is definitely "Tattered Lace Curtains" in my books.

This scent has aged to perfection. Like a lot of reviewers, I got a surprising amount of citrus when I first bought this (okay, two bottles) and wasn't sure about it. But now it's definitely a pink-pepper-and-vanilla-sweetened Dorian. Like a bright, happy, effeminate Dorian. The white tea is also settled snugly into everything else. Gorgeous!