Shadowdawn

This is an extremely beautiful, gloriously elegant, hyper-feminine perfume. It smells like a true perfumer's parfum, but with that special little BPAL something in the background. It's gorgeous, it is beautiful, and smells delicate-- very creamy, and softly floral all over. However, the rose is very breathy, and very subdued, not harsh or cloying at all. This isn't an old school "grandma" type of floral, or a screaming white floral (the jasmine behaves); it's young and sweet if anything. But it is also just exceedingly beautiful and elegant in general. I do get heaping tons of gossamer vanilla from this, in cottony billows (as opposed to the foody vanilla, or the dark bourbon/woody type), a light crystalline amber, and the two florals in the background. The mallow I'm not sure I'm getting unless it is contributing to the overwhelming creaminess of this blend. Straight out of the bottle I'm almost reminded of the likes of Katrina Van Tassle in this one, but it's definitely not a white rose but a deep and super lush red rose in the rose element. This smells "juicier" somehow. Unfortunately on me it very sadly does that thing that often bpal amber does (mainly when combined with cream and/or musk notes), and goes to baby powder on me, on the drydown. At least it is a skin-musk type of baby powder with some super powdery vanilla left over. It does make it smell fabric-like in a sense. Not sure if I will keep it for a decade or so and see if the baby powder thing mellows out. But with such a delicate and soft blend I worry about the baby powder drydown going full plastic too, sigh. I love this so much in the first hour/half hour of application. It almost makes me think of a late winter wedding scent, full of romance and soft, creamy sensuality.

Hmmm, interesting. I sniffed and tested before reading what it was meant to be, and so I am reviewing just based on scent for now and not magickal purpose. I also thought it was referencing either a movie-rental shop (now long defunct lol), or just a popular movie/Hollywood situation lol. So... immediately in the bottle, candy. Very tootie fruity. Like some kind of fruit flavor gummy candy.... and grass? Citrus? Hubby said Mike n Ikes, but I don't know what those smell like, so maybe. I didn't really love it at first sniff, but at least it was interesting. When it started calming down all of the upfront sweet, syrupy preserved fruit notes died down and I did get some red-hots type of cinnamon peaking through. And then sadly it somehow turned to dryer sheets? I don't know, but that "fresh" component from the initial sniff test must have surged again to create the linen/fresh washed sheets type of "clean"/ozone type smell. Which I truly don't care for. After sitting for a while and getting half washed off it did begin to remind me of shampoo actually. Between the mystery herbs, resins(?), and fruits, somehow (at least fresh in the vial) it's making a vaguely bubblegum scent. Then I looked into the purpose and what this IS. Thinking about it I can understand the cinnamon, but I struggle to place the fruit and "clean" smelling fresh component. Maybe something like apples or berries mixed with specific herbs (not sure which ones though, perhaps something minty or camphor-like), lemon, and verdant greens or "air" of some type? I will try it ritualistically however and see how it does as anointing oil or maybe in candle magic or something similar to that. Overcoming obstacles and manifesting positive change, as well as enhancing mental attributes makes me think of the air element, so maybe some of the notes here tie to the air element. There also might be a water or aquatic quality in it. The greenery-- maybe new growth or cleansing? Is it an evergreen component? The candy/sweet/syrup component could be possibly honey, which can be great for all the mentioned purposes associated with this blend as well as attraction and prosperity. I will say it's familiar smelling but I can't figure it out exactly. I think this is meant to be more purposeful than yummy smelling.

Delicious!! Absolutely one of the yummiest gourmands of all time. I don't always go for the heavily gourmand scents because I worry about them being too sweet/buttery/cloying in some way, but I am beyond thrilled I decided on this one! It's fantastic. I also adore coffee in all its forms, especially with cacao, so I really had to jump for this one. I think it's far more wearable than "pie" would suggest or denote in a fragrance, but the focus is really on the dark chocolate first and foremost, then the coffee, then the creamy sweetened vanilla ("pudding like" I'm guessing, but it doesn't really smell like pudding to me). Thankfully I'm not really getting the cookies either and the whole thing, while sounding like a total sugar bomb, is actually remarkably grounded and not overly sweet at all! Even fresh out of the bottle it's one of the yummiest dark chocolate cacao and coffee fragrances I've ever smelled in my life, with a gorgeous bitterness in the freshly ground coffee bean/freshly roasted coffee note. The silage is good but the bitter coffee bean softens down and gets enveloped by the sweet, thick vanilla in the dry down, letting the scent of warming, steaming hot cocoa, or perhaps a good mocha, prevail. As time goes on honestly the vanilla just seems to thicken and develop more and more, but the coffee and chocolate are keeping it earthy and "dark" and definitely not a candy-bar type vanilla. At no point did it smell like pudding, thankfully, more like a skin-musk bourbon vanilla bean.

Hearth is very interesting, extremely well rounded, and straight up delicious--both in a sexy/spicy/sultry way, and an edible way! I adore it. Hubby adores it. We both love it on ourselves and on one another so much that we can twin with this scent 😄. I will say, for some reason, though it is not listed, we both get a strong, ultra-dark chocolate out of this. A dry, deep, resinous, dark cacao type of chocolate. Especially sniffing the bottle. It almost smells like cacao absolute. But the funny thing is, on the skin, on hubby it turns into pure leather with a hint of spicy smoke in the background with barely a dusting of cacao wood type notes. On me, I amp the "chocolate" like element completely and get almost no leather. Maybe more of a smoked lapsang cacao situation. Which is nearly mouthwatering as far as we're both concerned. I wouldn't call it sweet or overly gourmand, but well balanced for sure, and quite deep and moody, borderline gourmand. 9/10 Edit to add: In the final ultimate dry down the sweet cherry wood finally emerges and holds on until the end, become more and more incense-like as it fades. This is truly very beautiful.

If anyone is looking for something similar to Carner Barcelona RIMA IX, honestly, I find it to be very similar to beloved Morocco, if anyone was interested in anything that felt like it was in the same family. Supposedly it has vanilla, cardamom, cinnamon, amber, saffron, black pepper, mint, coriander, jasmine, and cedar.

Fresh imp from the lab: Astringent menthols with a hint of soapy floral in the background anchored with an odd, sweet spice, but generally reminiscent of honied earth and grass or sap perhaps. Quite strong and heady in general. Kind of reminds me of some poisonous plants, the stems in specific but maybe even the flowers, though I can't point to which ones. I think it's the dark pepperiness working with the green notes that makes me think of bitter, black-stemmed murder flowers.

Herbal, medicinal, resinous; dirt, dirt, dirt, soil, topsoil, potting soil, earth, ground, grass, and some kind of strange bitter sweetness like from mashed up evergreen with sap? Very acrid in general. Maybe would work as a winter cologne on some, but it's just so sweet and earthy and bracing.

Tested on my hubby: Oh my, oh my, oh my. Incredibly lovely, addicting, and downright sexy men's cologne. It is SO alluring and charming I am hard pressed to find anything that smells so good on his skin as this does. Holy hells, what a beautiful, fresh, aquatic, well rounded cologne. There are also yummy colognes that are to the spicy/musky/sweet side as well, but this could wear any time day or night, anywhere, and be delicious without being too overpowering or heavy. I would agree that it is an aquatic citrus with the verdant hint of minty woods that brings a certain mouthwatering earthiness to the forefront. Clean and nothing like soap or detergent, but mouthwatering, refined, elegant, classy--classic without being at all too "mature" or dated. There is definitely a playful, evocative element here 😉.

In the shortest review I may have ever written, I can sum Chaotic up in one word (and I'm not the first to mention it) -- Gain laundry detergent. Maybe the "Moonlight Breeze" variety, but still definitely 100% good ol' Gain. I never noticed how Gain smelled vaguely of grapes, musk, mint, and purple blooms, but here we are.

Fresh Imp from the lab: Oh boy Jasmine. This smells like walking through a field of pure jasmine under the moonlight, it's so strong it almost smells like a single note accord of night-blooming jasmine, and can't be mistaken for anything else. There is a slightest, tiniest hint of something plastic-like in the background tempering the sweet dewy scent of jasmine just a tad. Sadly within ten minutes it turns to straight floral soap on me. I never do get the rose but I wonder if the myrrh is the "slightly plastic note" bringing down the dewy nectar of pure jasmine.

Oh no, this is so sad for me. Woooh she stonky. 😵 On me and to me nose what I get is patchouli. Really heavy, dark, aged, dirty, acrid, astringent patchouli. I adore brown sugar, cacao, vanilla, and cardamom so I had hoped they would star, with a drop of grounding green or lightly spicy patchouli in the back. I somehow get burnt soil from this and I'm not really sure how. Sniffing from the bottle (so that my skin chemistry doesn't come into play) I do get some hint of molasses sweetness (bitter and sweet) and heavily toasted spices. I would say the brown sugar is extremely dark, and the toasted cardamom is blackened toasted. When I sniff past the initial "this is very perfumey" stage I do get a resemblance of strong, heavy gingerbread crisps. Not sure how, but the cacao and vanilla are drowned, for me. If anything it may be described as a foody black patchouli. Not sure if should attempt to swap or age it for the next 10 years and see if it turns into something heavenly and delicious... Perhaps of interest, I had the SO sniff without sharing any of the notes and he gave me a one-word review: Chocolate. Very sweet, artificial, but not like chocolate syrup. So take that as you will.

Oh my, this is intensely beautiful and also very nostalgic (for me). I completely agree that it's a very close match for Katrina Van Tassel (which was a bottle in my very first order from BPAL ever and a reigning favorite for years!). I find it to be a brighter, slightly more fresh and more complex version of KVT. I had thought perhaps I outgrew KVT, or at the very least some dairy notes stopped playing nice on my skin (doesn't appear to be any in this-- and yet it's unbelievably creamy, on the dry side). But this is just comforting and pretty to wear. Fresh enough to not be overly sweet or cloying, but creamy and dry enough to not be at all astringent. I know it doesn't say white rose... but it definitely smells like white rose to me in this blend. Either that or very pale pink; light, creamy, and not obtrusive at all. The sugar, musk, orris, amber, and vanilla are an incredible balanced symphony upholding the rose (they seem to create the perfect non-foody cream scent imaginable) and while it remains light it somehow also has a touch of complexity I thought KVT lacked. 2024 Edit: A year and a half later I found this bottle I had stashed somewhere, and having completely forgotten the notes tried it on. I think it must have changed some while aging. based on what I said about it before, and how surprised I was at how it smelled this time. I will say it's a little less creamy, a little less KVT on me now. A little more woody, resinous, and dry. Although there is a red fruit scent in it somehow that I can't place? I don't really understand it, but sniffing it from the bottle I got a strong fruity top note, jammy almost, and even on the skin-- fresh especially, but even in the drydown, some kind of red fruit note, maybe currant or something like that, persists. Most strongly manifesting now is Orris and skin musk on me however, it seems. In the final stages a warm, toasty, yummy ultra-dry amber comes out with just a hint of floral left.

So, immediately upon sniffing I got... baklava for some reason. I absolutely get the comparison to almond cake that's been talked about. But for me my mind went to baklava. Once on, it smelled like baklava with dried fruits (or maybe a nutty version of Turkish Delight) and a depth of familiarity that I was struggling to put my finger on... until I did... Milk Moon (2007, but probably other iterations too). Is it the fig creating that undertone of dry fruit? It is actually quite light on me and fades fairly fast, for a cake-like smell, which usually sticks to me. I somehow have once again missed the vanilla (and also the oats this time). After some time: The foodiness and indeed nuts in this settle down and take a back seat, morphing into something lovely and slightly less sweet. It becomes more powdery (vanilla silk?) and almost a little floral (blossom honey?).

I feel you! It hasn't been quite a decade for me, but a good number of years all the same. Turns out, I have discovered, that my chemistry and scent preferences changed wildly in the interim, and I suppose as I'm getting older! It's been crazy, I think I'm going to love things I could never wear, and some of my old favorites I find I just don't care for as much anymore. As far as what's new with real florals blended with some light aquatics, honestly, Sunyashniki is awesome. Incense and Leather; well, cannot go wrong with Perversion (even though incense isn't a listed note), it is blended so well IMO. It's an oldy though.

I have recently gotten a chance to have a sample of Sandalwood in Oak (from Scents of Wood): Sandalwood, Guaiacwood, Burnt Sugar, Smoked Sage, Pink Pepper, Iris, Vanilla Bean. Omg I have never been so obsessed in my life, and of course, it's expensive as all hells, with apparently no dupes anywhere. Is there anything like that? I will say, to me/on me it is mostly the creamy vanilla and pepper with the soft woods/resin notes in the background keeping it grounded. It's apparently aged in oak barrels but I wouldn't say the oak note stands out most strongly. The sage I don't get at all, thankfully.

This smells so, so, so sweet. Syrupy sweet even, and yet incredibly green and fresh and plant-like. Leafy I guess. Sap perhaps from plant stems. Not at all for me, but it does remind me of some men's cologne for the somewhat astringent quality. I don't think there is a candy element or a woody element to it, it just smells ~ sweet ~ . And then green. I couldn't detect any berries in specific, but it's heavy on leaves. Actually reminds me of some of the fall dead leaf scents if they were way, way too sweet and doused in syrup. Also less musky/damp/moldy than the dead variety. More completely fresh and mashed until bitter. Which is a bit hard to detect over all the syrup, I suppose. I really wish I got any kind of hint of holiday scent with cedar and pine, cranberry, all that good winter stuff, sigh.

The whole thing definitely smells like digging a deep hole in a sopping wet yard. Very, very astringent and honestly smells truly like actual freshly turned soil. That's about the very first thing that blasted my nose until I coughed. This must be the scent of druids, fantasy or otherwise, or maybe necromancers. The scent of an old school vampire rising from the fresh grave? Or maybe just innocent gardeners who have been toiling, creating new soil beds with their bare hands for eight hours. As for the rose geranium, yes, it is there and smelling exactly like a holistic anti-mosquito candle... along with maybe mulched lawn grass somewhere in there with the dirt. Actually it becomes a little bit woody and spicy on the drydown. The acrid quality of dirt does definitely die down, revealing more of the geranium (which always reminds me some of citronella). Night digging in summertime, what can I say, I think the bugs might actually be repelled if I wore this outside.

I am starting to think that in the last couple of years my body chemistry has completely morphed making the previously unwearable wearable, and very concerningly, possibly the opposite too. I recall having an imp of this over a decade ago but it seems as if I didn't comment on it at all at the time. I've just received a fresh frimp from the Lab and decided to give it a whirl (without reading the notes beforehand). At first sniff I got strong fruity/floral vibes, kind of making me think of Herbal Essences from nearly 20 years previous lol. It definitely smelled a lot like "fresh" scented shampoo of some kind. Kind of like a garden orchard mix, in a way. Sweet/fresh, almost aquatic, instead of sweet/edible. Reading the notes I can see where I got shampoo/soap vibes from but I can't really pick out the individual apple, rose, and lemon. The apple and lemon may be adding themselves to some sort of sweet citrus note, but if so it's definitely an over-ripe red apple. I think it's just that I like my apple scents spiced pretty much all of the time. Maybe a hint of dry, powdery lemon? Not fresh zested lemon oil or anything like that. The rose is likely morphing everything else into a sort of homogenous "fruity floral" ensemble because to me this could be any combination of flowers in the garden mashed together. As time goes on it just gets too, too floral, kind of dry and cloying as an old bar of soap may, and a little headache inducing.

After a BPAL break that went on for too long I got this one more on principal than actually for the notes. Since I normally totally avoid blends with a lot of the listed notes (looking at you Neroli) this is not something I really knew what to expect of because I don't smell these combos a lot. So wow, um, yeah. Wild! To me anyway. It is floral but far, far from a single note predominantly floral thing, and not a pure "white floral" by any means. It is a little heavy. Honestly it does smell like expensive department store perfume, especially on the drydown. Like perfume that smells like ~perfume~, if that makes sense. It's quite elegant and somewhere between an older classic and newer brightness/freshness. To be completely honest I think this is making me think that Chanel (the OG eau de parfum) was lightened up a tad with a summery, golden vibe that does evoke sunflowers actually. It does carry the whole "old timey perfume" heaviness that makes me think of the 20s and 30s (and for some reason Chanel No5), but then it also really makes me think of summertime breezes in an almost topical kind of way. It is a floral bouquet way too complex and well balanced to pick out any one flower. I was concerned about the addition of leaves as well but there is no hint of greenness to me, thank heavens. It's a citrus floral in the sense that it feels like "Yeah, this is a perfume", and less like there is a bowl of lemons somewhere with flower petals strewn over it. I'm thinking it's all the musk and amber coming through. That is probably where the old school vibe is coming from as well. There is also something in the combination of sweetness and cedar that smells familiar to me, both from BPAL and other scents, specifically cologne. Sticks very close to my skin, for some reason I eat this one up although a heady, strong, old timey floral would usually follow me relentlessly for days. By contrast my skin amps Nightingale like crazy and wearing them together had muted Sunyashniki. I don't know about joy necessarily, but there is a clean element after the drydown. I fear the neroli might be manifesting in its full power, but there is still somehow a tropical note going on. Or maybe summertime in the Mediterranean? I'm settling in on "Chanel, the summer vacation edition" with this one. Longterm dry down: Upon another, completely isolated, day-long wear I have to say.... it both morphs completely, and beautifully, after a full drydown. From first application until the end of the day Sunyashniki stays very light on me, close to the skin, and barely noticeable. I do have to huff my arm to pick it up after twelve hours, but, what lingers is absolutely gorgeous. It goes sweeter, and creamy, on me. All potentially soapy notes, strong florals, old lady spice, etc. completely vanish (possibly due to the lack of a heavily resinous base to fall back on), leaving behind mainly a gorgeous, perfect blend of soft, sweet golden amber and light white musk with the barest breath of petals.

Long story short life happened and it's been some time (years) since I've had a sniff of any of my beloved BPALs; this blend gave me nostalgia like no tomorrow, instantly transporting me home. It is unspeakably comforting and familiar to my nose in a way that smells just, like, well, BPAL, and nothing else in the world. I can't even describe it. Actually in normal circumstances it isn't a perfume I would ordinarily go for at all because it has the foody death note in it that makes it a dead ringer for several other (extremely popular) heavily foody scents I've tried (that don't work). One or two in specific, although I can't think of them right now. I want to say some of the latte and cake type ones. I adore cardamom, spices, vanilla, and cream notes and was hoping with all my might that this would be dominated by them in a more "spice market" sense, but instead this is pure cookies (must be oats acting as cooked flour). Baked goods, that sort of thing. The spices are light and gentle and definitely take a major back seat, I struggle to find them. The vanilla is *the* 100% edible vanilla vanilla. Baking vanilla? What I get is toasted, toasty, toast, toastiness and butter, evoking the cookies. Also something that smells heavily like toasted almonds, for some reason. For a second I thought there was black cherry pudding but that's instantly gone. Wearing this on one side and Sunyashniki on the other has been very, very interesting. Drydown impressions: About an hour in it has settled remarkably, the butter, toast, and cookies mellowed quite a bit into a cream and spiced honey angle and the oats are strong and prominent. Like a bowl of really well made oatmeal. Maybe sprinkled in almonds, but it could just be the extreme nutiness of the cooked oats. Edit to add SO's impression: Instantly upon smelling the dried down version (and having no clue what was supposed to be in it) he said it was super yummy and dessert like, smelling of sweetness, vanilla, and cream most heavily. I applied some super fresh and he sniffed that and said "pecan praline candles!" And also that it made him want to drink it, lol.

Do not mistreat or oppress a foreigner, for you were foreigners in Egypt. Myrrh, red currant, opoponax, and blackberry. Such a somber topic, but such a sexy, beautiful, sultry summer scent! I've always had a love for BPAL's activism scent lines, and I knew I absolutely had to have one out of this specific series. I picked the bottle quickly, almost on a whim, and have no regrets. It's gorgeous! 4/5 smelly stars! I think a drop of mint or spice would have totally made it, but it still pairs beautifully with mint heavy scents. For a "fruity" scent, 22:21 still manages to be very balanced in terms of not being too sweet, or foody in any way. It must be all the resinous myrrh keeping the ripe, dark fruits in check. There is a hint of tartness initially, but barely. It has an almost smoky or wood-like quality. Upon initial application, it's all bursting, ripe, crushed summer blackberries, with an effervescent (almost champagne-like) quality poured over. But as soon as I rub it into the warmth of my skin, it immediately mellows into something much deeper, darker, and creamier. A spicy element of some sort pops up, making me think of sex musk. This is truly how I imagine "dark fruits", or a gothic summer to smell. Within minutes, the fruit is no longer distinguishable in the least. It's all perfectly blended together into something like a bittersweet incense stick and the sun-warmed skin of someone you quite fancy. Barely sweet, deep, and dark. Mature, while still retaining a playful air somehow. Ancient but powerful, and (to me) deeply feminine, yet grown. The dry-down is one of my absolute favorites as well. It turns resinous, soft, and creamy after the blackberry has been gobbled up. Dry blackberry wine and deep kisses come to mind. No plastic or soap here! I have a feeling this one is highly dependent on skin chemistry though, because it morphs quite a lot.

[No additional description provided.] Hmm... this is... interesting! Actually, it smells so, so very much like another BPAL perfume that I once had; almost exactly the same in the drydown (but of course I can't think of it now, though I think I ended up swapping it). If I think of it, I'll come back and pop it in here. But, alas, this didn't turn out as I would hope on me. I was really hoping for a strong golden amber, with a peppery dark fruit undertone, and a hint of smoky honey. However, it seems that the 'honey' note from the lab only works on me half of the time, perhaps less. Because this turns full on baby power/plastic/rancid on me. Disappointing drydown aside, upon first sniff (and first application), all I get is honey. Really, really, really powerful honey, along with a sharp fruity/fruit loop (the currant). I detect no amber at all, personally. It's devoured by the swell of a honey tidal-wave. It's not really very complex at all. The sharpness of the fruit dissolves into nothing pretty quickly and the whole thing goes to plastic dusted with baby powder, where it pretty much hangs out until it dies. Off to the swaps. *sigh* For what it's worth, my cat couldn't stop trying to lick it all off my arm though.

First, I have to say the poem here is beautiful! And secondly, if not for a lovely frimp I probably would have never even tried this--first because it seems like it's going to be a heady, wet floral, (soap), and because it has a couple of my death notes in it. However, testing it and not knowing what was in it at first, it was a real surprise! Much more modern, bright, and classy than I would have guessed, with a much, much nicer drydown than I could have imagined. It actually smells quite unique, even amongst the BPAL lot. Sniffing the imp, I got straight up moist, green grass, and almost put it immediately back down. But breathing in deeper, I picked up on something behind that, something that made me think of mints and the old Undertow. Still not normally my thing, for being too 'wet' and fresh, but it suggested something deeper in there and I tried it. It is certainly one of the most crisp florals and clean smells I've ever scented... for a 'harlot's house', this is more of a pre-coitus scent for sure. A few minutes in and it smells just like clean, freshly washed skin and hair, maybe from a soak in a flower bath. It really does smell like very nice shampoo in a way and makes me think of 'bamboo' and other vaguely green (but not grassy) scent elements. Or just getting clean in general (springtime, perhaps). It's relaxing, brings to mind fluffy towels, and tea time, because the tea note starts to emerge powerfully over the initial floral/aquatic perfume feel of it, and dominates with a slight sharpness. The violet is also really pretty in this, and the oakmoss/balsam (death notes normally) must be barely there because I don't pick them out distinctly. It smells a bit like a citrusy/floral cup of white tea. But as it dries fully, all that white sandalwood (and something else; earthy, dry, woody, maybe a little resinous) comes to the forefront and lingers around gently, evocatively, like a memory of a good time. In the final stage, it actually seems to dry down into a clean, simple, light musk.

Good heavens, this was unexpected! As only the lab loves to pull off Lol! So, I probably would have never gone for this one to try, ordinarily... but I was generously frimped, and I'm grateful to have the experience. Reason being that I really dislike dragon's blood--normally. Because to me it is just a hot, damp, floral that smells almost like too-sweet ylang-ylang. Upon first sniff, this is actually beautiful, and light, and flowery enough that I honestly thought there was a heavy dose of actual (fresh) ylang-ylang in it... then checked the notes, and no, it's really the soapy, cloying, floral scent of dragon's blood. And dragon's blood goes to straight old timey soap almost 100% of the time, on me. However, I went for it anyway because it smelled warm, and sweet, and pretty, and incensey/spicy (and I love spices). And the minute I applied it, as soon as it hit my skin (up until about the half hour mark), it was... delicious. Like... incredibly delicious. Like gingerbread cookies BUT without being at all foody somehow (I think because of the floral backdrop)! Magic! I don't know how else to describe it at first, other than a grown-up, non foody ginger spice (maybe slightly woody) biscuit/cake. It's definitely a dry, resinous spice cookie all right, but I'd say most heavy on the cinnamon to my nose. Which, I love cinnamon. I think the pepper and clove are just uplifting it here. And then.... and then... dragon's blood. So, all the spices die completely and I'm left with a summery jasmine/ylang-ylang smelling soap. It is actually pretty light though.... not giving me a headache or anything, and also I dare say slightly more dry, deep, and grounded than a real floral would have been. It's like a floral without the somewhat menthol/aquatic element many florals have. If only it would stay in the fresh stage, it would be divine! It fades more quickly than I'd expect wrath, or even dragon's blood to, too. I might wear this despite the soapy drydown just because I love the fresh stage so much. I think a really deep, rich, dark, dry vanilla (or vanilla incense) could have maybe saved this actually. And a teensy bit more lasting spice.

This is truly stellar! What a delicious (but not at all foody, this is definitely inedible) blend! I will agree that it is very similar to Love's Philosophy... and LP did not work out on me at all, sadly. It has some of the same, grainy, gorgeous, dry vanilla... but the saffron in it was far, far too potent, and to me smelled like insulin or certain types of plastics. Whereas I find the saffron amped astringently in the simpler LP blend... in this one, there is just enough oomf and complexity (plus, perhaps a darker vanilla) that the saffron has managed to keep to the back just perfectly! Here it's more of a spiced/grounding/earthy element. Even better, it fades off completely within the hour, leaving nothing but a dry, musky vanilla. I do feel like there's some form of white crystal musk in this, tempered by a gentle downy puff of something... orris, probably, adding that dry element. I love this... it is soft, deep, grainy/woody, inviting, refined, classic, sultry, grownup. There is definitely a gossamer/airy quality to it. Just delicious! What's unexpected is a hint of maybe a slightly boozy aged oakwood element. I imagine the woody stalk of vanilla might smell a bit like this. ETA: I realize this is many, many years aged now-- and so, if some of these elements (being less sharp, amping more softly, quieting of the saffron, depth, dryness, etc.) are all due to the ageing, then I can say it's aged beautifully!