Kytha

This is so lovely -- a lightly floral, shimmery honey that doesn't go to powder. It evokes the image of sunlight dappling across water -- the Bordeaux (I guess it's a white wine in this one, I had expected perhaps something reminiscent of Kisses for Us All) makes this feel clear, light, and like the honey is suspended in something that keeps it from becoming cloying and sticky, like some honey perfumes can be. It doesn't have a huuuge amount of staying power on me, with how delicate it is, but it also means i can slather it without regret!

When I first tried this on, the blackened lilac was a little too dark, but trying it again after it's had a chance to rest... The image this perfume gives me is of a sumptuously dressed woman who's stepped out into the cool night air to take a discreet smoke break before getting back to the madness. Some BPAL scents really like to throw a party, but this one doesn't, tending to stay close to skin despite the strength of it when you actually give it a sniff. It's 'weighed' down,' so to speak, which matches the contemplative moment it evokes. This is an extremely lilac-forward blend, supported by the tobacco and opium that keeps the florals grounded and subdued instead of springing up all over. I don't get the snow distinctly, but as BetteNoire mentioned, it definitely feels like a 'cool' scent. Once the floral of the lilac fades, the opium sticks around, slightly sweetened by the fruit. It also lasts, it lasted through the night and the next morning when I put it on a few hours before bed. A good thing I love how it smells, but if any of the notes are iffy for you, be aware that it will stick around for a while.

A sideways ode to Hitchcocks Psycho, by way of Bosco Chocolate Syrup. In the bottle: chocolate syrup, sweet and sticky and overpowering. I almost put this down, but decided to give it a go anyway. Wet: A light, milky chocolate that makes me think of a hot fudge sundae, honestly. It's pleasant, but not overpowering. The chocolate is there, and a bit of sugar and vanilla, but it's still overall that cheap sweet chocolate smell. Dry: It develops a lot more complexity beyond 'chocolate,' but it's hard to pin down. The chocolate loses prominence very quickly, but a 'warmth' remains -- some kind of musk, I think, but tempered so that it's still faintly sweet. All in all, it lasted about 2 hours before I had to reapply. Turns slightly powdery at the end. In sum: I'm a fan! It's a surprisingly less foodie scent than I initially expected from a sniff, but I'm a big fan, as someone who normally doesn't go for food scents at all. I wish I had a better nose to pick out some of the other scent stuff going on here.

Purchased a bottle of this from the Lab on Etsy, and no regrets. It's a tart, fruity tea with a touch of floral, perky without being overly effervescent. I like it quite a bit and I'm sure I'll be reaching for it a lot as a pick-me-up during the cold winter months.

I've had this for a couple of years now and while it didn't make an impression on me on initial testing, I've fallen in love with it to the point I'm considering investing in a second bottle. This is not a pom-forward scent -- what comes across most strongly on me is the honeyed incense and oudh, sweetened with fig and an impression of fruit. Others have commented that this is a well-blended scent with stuff that's hard to pick out and I'd have to agree! It's 'golden' without being a 'hot' scent, if that makes sense -- some of the lab's 'fruit' scents evoke pastry and warm ovens, but rather than an impression of warmth, I find myself thinking of iced, candied/spiced fruit, lovely and cooling on a warm day. Concentrated but not overwhelming sweetness, with a bit of bite.

Starts off not very impressive -- a high-pitched, non-specific white floral, which isn't really my jam at all. As it warms up and dries down, though, it's indescribably lovely -- the white chocolate note comes out and softens all that harshness and it becomes an absolutely lush, creamy bouquet. I have a hard time picking out specific floral scents on the best of days, but I'm very much getting the lilac and tuberose, I think. To my nose, this shares a quality similar to Playing Tag in a Garden Full of Gods but the chocolate really warms it up and rounds it out into a scent I just wanna bury my nose in (more like two of my other favorites, The Witches and even a bit of Love's Philosophy, though those veer more heavily on the 'cream' than chocolate). Needless to say, I like it quite a bit, and would definitely consider it a keeper. Glad I hopped on that Etsy train while I could.

I get very little pumpkin from this scent, or if I do, it's faint enough not to bother me (as pumpkin isn't a scent I typically enjoy). It mainly smells like honeyed, sugary cream, like dulce de leche or sugary condensed milk with vanilla bean mixed in-- definitely a gourmand scent, but not an overwhelming one. Cream doesn't always work on me, but this one does, and it lasts and lasts -- the throw is decent enough in the first few hours that I find myself wondering 'whats that great smell? oh it's me!' and even long after it's dried down I'll bring a wrist up to my nose to get a sense of it. Cream can sometimes go sour, or otherwise be completely underwhelming, but this for me is just perfect.

Reviewing the 2020 version! Someone upthread said this is a rose scent that makes you feel like you belong in the Renaissance era -- I submit that it makes me feel more like I belong in a Dutch Golden Age painting -- this leaves me with a sort of golden, rosey terracotta impression that doesn't really morph that much. Just a purel, plush rose scent I want to sink into. I also have the hair gloss version of this, but I prefer the perfume oil -- the poo/toilet quality comes forward a bit more in the HG version, while the rose stays dominant and lovely n the perfume oil.

This is much fruitier and 'juicier' than the description would imply. Incense can normally be overwhelmingly smoky on me, but in this blend, it mainly adds a quality of depth to the fruit. The 'oud' here isn't really the 'poo' or 'dirt' smell you can sometimes get, but it's like a smudge of dust in the background. The throw on this one for me was very strong, but in the best way. 'Haunting beauty' is a good description for this -- it's not at all dark or malevolent on me, as the scent description might suggest. It just smells lovely, bewitching, and faintly wicked, and I'm definitely getting a full bottle of this.

The opening of this blend is low-key and almost forgettable -- it has a spiciness I associate with, of all things, opening a sealed pack of beef jerky. It has a similar, close to the skin spicy/salty/meaty comination. That doesn't last long, though. As the scent dries off, it becomes something lush and 'jungle-y', with a tart fruit that smooths out into a sweet, purple floral. I would say this doesn't really have lily in it at all, but something more like the lab's orchid or lotus note? I will say that this is a scent that I like much better in my hair than on my skin -- the 'meaty' opening is almost nonexistent when its applied to the ends of my hair first, and I just end up with a cloud of spicy-limey-florals that I keep catching a whiff of as I go about my day. But on the whole, it's wonderful, and I'm glad to have it.

This is my favorite of all the Luper hair glosses I've tried so far (enough that I'm seriously considering upgrading my bottle). If you love honey and tonka, or gently gourmand scents in general, I can't recommend this enough! It has that lightly spiced sweetness of clove honey, that gets rounded out by the toasted-nut/vanilla of the tonka. It's a simple scent that doesn't morph much, but it's extremely warm and comforting -- its a soft, summer day of scent that I just wanna snuggle up in.

The white musk and the oud here interact in a way that I'm really not sure I'm a fan of ... I guess this is the dreaded 'baby diaper' effect I've heard here and there on the forums. The lavender and salt work really well together when I can catch them, but the oudh and the white musk just sort of keep wandering in and out offensively like a cat going in and out of a room, not letting this ever meld together or settle down. I might have to stick to using this as an atmo or a linen spray.

On initial application, this really isn't anything special. The oud and burnt cocoa bean come to the fore, giving it a flat, chalky/bark-smelling quality not dissimilar to unsweetened baking chocolate. Not offensive, but nothing exciting either. Six hours (and a good sleep) later, this turns into ... a beautiful, mildly boozey vanilla. It's kind of what I hoped for out of La Coucher de la Marie, which is 90% smokey vanilla on me with a bit of citrus -- this is just a deeper, textured vanilla without being overwhelmingly smoke. My mind strongly associates this is a 'pink and brown' kind of smell. Not something I'd wear every day (and I don't feel the need for a full bottle) but lovely for sure. EDIT: Time makes liars out of all of us, since I've decided I like this enough to get a full bottle after all, and my decant ran out. 😂 It retains the 'dusty' quality I associated with it initially, and I think that's why I keep reaching for it ... it doesn't go sickly or overpowering, which is what I want now that the days are growing warmer. This is not a scent for wearing out, but it's absolutely a scent for staying inside and huddling under a blanket...

Having never smelled the original Bright Red Dildo as a perfume oil, here's my quick and dirty (heh heh) impressions. It's penetrating red musk, warm leather, and honey. It's quite strong on me, which is no surprise, since I amp both leather and honey notes. This has similarities to the honeyed patchouli in last Halloween's Devil's of the Pit hair gloss, but this is more intense and mercurial than that. Even an hour after application, the red leather dominates, but sometimes I'll turn my head and catch the warm, sticky smell of honey. Not sure it's worth upgrading to a full bottle, but there's just something about this that feels wonderfully ... raunchy. I'm into it!

On me, this smells very much like a masculine aftershave, refreshing and clean. I believe that's the mint and the wood combining together to create that effect, with a 'dryness' I associate with sandalwood. Actually, giving it some thought (and a good sniff) I might even say it's like a cousin of Irish Spring. A slightly more traveled cousin, but still certainly in the same family. That's not in and of itself a bad thing; I just know I'll need to be in a particular mood to wear this and not have that association come up immediately.

'Orange cough drops' is pretty dead on accurate for Only A Sip, at least for the first 30 minutes or so -- it has that sharp, faintly medicinal quality of a newly opened package of Tang, if you've ever smelled that. Once that fades away, a gently minty rosemary comes to the fore, the orange becoming more of a lingering spritz in the air. Clove is largely a supporting actor in this scent, lending some of the depth and vibrancy to the orange. I have a limited experience of the orange scents in BPAL's repertoire, but I can say this is perhaps one of the more unique (and certainly invigorating) scents I've tried. Summer in a bottle. It's a bit too strong for me to enjoy using it on myself, I think, BUT ... putting it into a scent atomizer really softens the intensity of that orange. This one is more of a scent locket/essential oil diffuser kind of scent for me.

Wet and in the initial application stages, it has a bit of an old-lady powder smell, something almost waxy like lipstick. My best guess is that this is largely because of the honey note, which may be of the type that usually turns to powder on me. About 2 hours after it dries down, though, it becomes extremely pretty -- it's not 'sophisticated' per say, but it smells warm and affectionate, and it feels younger and sweeter and somehow fresh. 'Pink' is a good scent image for it. It's an odd transition, like watching the archetypical Mother reverse-age back into the Maiden. It also starts to have a bit more throw at this point, though it never really amps up. But I really, really like it.

I'm painfully working my way through the various laces, and received a bottle of this off a purchase in the forum. I'll preface this by saying lavender can be a kind of hit or miss on me -- I like it in Frostbitten TKO, Serpentine, and in Mysterious Warning, but don't particularly care for it in Lurid, The Mountebank, or Hypnotize Me. It seems to depend heavily on the other notes it's paired with, and for me Lavender Lace sadly falls into the latter category of scents for me. All that being said ... my 'BPAL of the Day' review/first impressions of Lavender Lace was: "this smells a bit like 'muddy' florals -- likely because of the 'smoke' that doesn't often work well with my skin, in combination with the lavender and cognac. None of the notes sing or harmonize, they just kind of come out in a dissonant chord all at once." Someone for whom lavender (or any of these other notes) works with greater consistency may enjoy this blend more, but I know for a fact that I amp anything 'smoke' or tobacco a LOT (and sometimes it's great -- huzzah Red Lantern -- and sometimes it's terrible) and that likely interfered with how the other parts of this blend came off.

This one's really interesting -- on me, it very much comes out as a honey-drenched red rose in bloom, and I think the reason it succeeds in this is because the other notes lend it a depth that otherwise wouldn't be present. The clove and neroli spice and thicken the honey, while the red musk darkens the rose beyond just being a general floral. The overall effect is sensuous, faintly malevolent, and extremely forward. For comparison, The Best Lies is another 'honey and rose' scent that doesn't get as dark, aggressive, or seductive as this one, but they have similarities in how honey and rose unfold as the perfume dries down. This might be the 'dark twin' to TBL's 'light.'

Exactly as advertised: a cold, sugary peppermint. This didn't have any averse reactions on my skin from the peppermint, but I did distinctly feel 'cooling' upon application. The peppermint throws a big ol' party for itself for a good thirty minutes, then pops away.

Received a frimp of this that says it's from 2016(?) as part of a purchase from the FB sales group. Quick impressions... Normally I amp wood a lot, but there's something in this blend (the lotus? I've not tried scents with it before) that largely reads of 'bubblegum' to me, but not as sugar-forward. Mildly fruity, milky bubblegum ... actually, it reminds me of a yogurt-flavored Hi-Chew (or some other similar chewy fruity yogurt candy). After a bit, the bubblegumminess calms down and it just becomes a sweet, 'juicy' candy smell that I like a fair bit.

I've never been as enchanted with vanilla Snake Oil as a lot of posters on the forums -- there's usually something about it that's too heavy for my skin, which means it struggles to properly unfold and stays closer to its out of the bottle smell more than anything else. That said, it hasn't stopped me from trying to sample new combinations of Snake Oil. I received this one in a blind bag buy, and I have to say ... I kind of love it! It starts out as maraschino cherries, as everyone else has described, with a hint of the dense vanillic/almond tang of Snake Oil underneath. As it dries down the simple syrup and cherry give the normally dense Snake Oil a 'fluffy' feeling (for lack of a better description). This really opens up the scent and lets me finally smell that gorgeous Snake Oil ... now I can finally see what the fuss is about. This is probably for people like me who 1. like cherries in sugar, 2. find regular Snake Oil or even honeyed Snake Oil blends to be generally stubborn about drying/having much throw, and who don't mind a sweeter, lighter blend of it. I can see the strong cherry beginning being offputting to people who aren't fans. I also find that this doesn't have a huge amount of lasting power before I have to reapply.

This is a light, fruity scent that I think I'm going to need to test more to decide how I feel about this. Although it's initially 'juicy' on application, it does become more candy-like over time -- perhaps it's my own experience with mango that shapes this impression, but this doesn't smell very much like fresh mango to me at all, but a more generic 'fruit without being a berry' scent. It's possible that frankincense may be the culprit for that slightly dry impression of sugar I get in the background (this is sugar-dusted fruit) but truthfully I'm not familiar enough with frankincense to pick it out. Throw and wear is minimal -- I don't get any moments of sniffing myself and thinking 'oh my gosh, that's me' like I do with some other BPAL hair glosses. Overall, I'm glad to have tried it and know I don't need a larger bottle. This would be a lovely scent for a spring or summer day -- I get the strong impression it really wasn't meant for winter.

Out of the imp, it’s shocking how medicinal this reads at first, but it quickly settles down into a minty-herbal lavender. I swear I catch a whiff of something like camphor or eucalyptus, and it retains a fair bit of that medical quality to it. Refreshing but with the lavender you’ll really catch yourself dozing off.

This amps on me a bit too much when I spray it on dry hair, but when it's sprayed on damp it dries down into a perfect, marshmallow lemon-mint confectionary sugar kind of scent that I love. It may be up to your own personal scent preferences, but this really went wonderfully with the Goat and the Vine -- I imagine any similarly 'bright,' or 'green' smells would complement it nicely.