brwnpaperhag

A long time ago, I fell in love with a proto I bought at BPAL’s brick and mortar, XCDL13. I decided to try finding a sister scent to it, and went back to the reviews on that. Lo and behold, there were some comparisons of it to the OG Antique Lace. Cut to me buying a bottle of Batty Lace, and I figured if anything, I may just get a nice warm carmelly scent. While the leather and caramel do warm it up considerably, this is very much a sibling to XCDL13. It has that same scent that I identify as a heady vanilla, but where Batty is unmistakably a relaxed, cozy, brown scent, XCDL13 is much more awake - sweeter, louder. Taking Batty as its own scent, I amp a dry leather note that isn’t as sharp as bpal’s black leather, but it keeps the sugar in Batty from being too much. That doesn’t stop Batty from having a soft throw of golden, burnt sugar. Having never owned the OG AL, but two scents reminiscent of it, I can see what other reviewers identify in each to be the beloved AL. Highly recommend this one for anyone who like cozy and/or complex gourmands.

Honey notes are usually pretty shrill on me, for lack of a better description. However, the oats here are toasty and buttery very similar to the bread scent bpal uses, but the oats don't get plasticky like the bread note does. The honey plays with it nicely, brightening it up and keeping the oats and cream from getting too artificial. The bourbon vanilla gives the whole scent a smoothness and depth, and the cardamom and cream add a sweetness that makes it feel cozy and kind. I really love this scent and it will be wonderful to use whenever i need an olfactory hug, which is extremely apt for the cause and purpose of this fundraiser scent.

Oh wow, this is a really nice myrrh scent on me, which is great because that is one of the things that made me blind buy it. I agree that this is creamy and has a sweetness to it; it's extremely sensual but not overwhelming. That said, it is incense-y, you can't ignore the myrrh, but it is woody and sexy and deep. As of now I am not getting much ginger or currant, but i know it is balancing out the amber and myrrh, I have just a hint of sweetness now that it is dry. I am seriously huffing my wrist - this is so calming yet interesting. I can't wait to see how this smooths out over time. I can see how this is masculine for the people who amp the deep scents, but if you can also get the amber and cream on you, this will be a very sexy spring scent. Added 2/5/24: nearly a year of aging has really changed the scent composition for me! This is now extremely black currant forward, with the myrrh and amber smoothing it out and adding some complexity to the fruity top note. I suspect the red ginger cream is at the heart of it, keeping it lively and holding everything together, but nothing is exactly creamy or ginger on me. This screams exotic springtime and I absolutely adore it. It is a very deep but feminine scent.

I just got this yesterday, but I was too excited to wait and longer than a night to test it for the day. A very nice floral...I think I'm getting a lot of plum blossom, and the orange/tangerine/king mandarin comes out at the very start, keeping it bright and juicy. As it dries, it settles into something more aquatic, but I have no idea where that is coming from, and I don't have any other lunar blands to compare. A couple hours in, the pine resin and cypress have come to play, rounding out the floral vibe and keeping it interesting with their depth. It feels very springlike and feminine, but I can see anyone liking it for its clean feel. I hope as it ages I'll be able to get more of the rice cake. In general I'm happy I have a bottle of this, and the label is so pretty! Happy Year of the Tiger!

As soon as I saw the recommendation of similiar "pretty and girly" scents like Velvet Unicorn, I ordered a bottle 😂 This is a beautiful gourmand floral. The oil is like many of the dark chocolate scents I have from the lab, in that it is very dry and I find that I have to nearly pour the oil out in order to get the slathering effect I usually do with other scents. However, that's great in that the dry dabbing really helps with the powdery quality I'm about to describe. The cacao is powdery, dark and deep, and wet it is rich and wonderful. It is immediately followed by a heady and sweet rose. As it dries, the two meld together into a wonderful floral chocolate that I cannot stop huffing. It's as if you took fresh rose petals and dipped the tips in warm chocolate. Once you try to slather the oil, you get a lot more of the rose. I love doing this when I start my day, because it takes on more of a greener effect at the start of the fragrance. This is more like eating a very fragrant box of chocolates in front of your rose bushes. Absolutely love this and will cherish it for as long as the bottle lasts.

Just received in the mail, and definitely not rested, but I couldn't help myself! Wet, this is very green and bright. The osmanthus is more citrusy than I'm used to, but I really like it. It feels very singular at this stage. As it dries, it stays tart and bright, but it does feel like a bit more woody, with more depth and body. Just a hint though. To be honest, I'm really glad it isn't oud-ier, since I can get that stanky, poopy smell sometimes, and I think this is a good limit. We'll see how it goes as it ages, but if the oud does come out I will be interested to see how my skin takes it, this osmanthus is quite a fighter in comparison. I only did some light dabs to try this out, so I can't tell if this just normally wears close to the skin or if I wasn't generous enough. But I keep huffing myself and it is a mood booster! In general, this is a very simple but interesting scent. It's great for hot days when you want something but can't worry about it fading or doing anything funny as you go about your day.

When I bought this last year I was so disappointed with how it developed on my skin. It was most of the notes, but all the wrong parts of them, and no cotton candy. However, I decided to give it a whirl today because I wanted a chocolate that didn't stay chocolate, and knew this scent could give that to me. Hoo, boy, I don't know what's happened in the last few months since wearing it, but it is exactly what I always wanted: it starts as a milky sweet chocolate, rounded by cinnamon and a cookie-ish sweetness, but after a few hours it settles into a cotton candy that keeps from being too kiddy by being tinged with some metallic tang. I actually had forgotten that this was a cotton candy scent and had to come here to check the notes. It wears close to the skin and feels so fun but cozy.

13 is significant, whether you consider it lucky, unlucky or just plain odd. Many believe it to be unfortunate because there were 13 present at the Last Supper. Loki crashed a party of 12 at Valhalla, which ended in Baldurs death. Oinomaos killed 13 of Hippodamias suitors before Pelops finally, in his own shady way, defeated the jealous king. In ancient Rome, Hecates witches gathered in groups of 12, the Goddess herself being the 13th in the coven. Concern over the number thirteen echoes back beyond the Christian era. Line 13 was omitted form the Code of Hammurabi. The shivers over Friday the 13th also have some interesting origins: Christ was allegedly crucified on Friday the 13th. On Friday, October 13, 1307, King Philip IV of France ordered the arrests of Jaques de Molay, Grand Master of the Knights Templar, and sixty of his senior knights. In British custom, hangings were held on Fridays, and there were 13 steps on the gallows leading to the noose. To combat the superstition, Robert Ingersoll and the Thirteen Club held thirteen-men dinners during the 19th Century. Successful? Hardly. The number still invokes trepidation to this day. A recent whimsical little serial killer study showed that the following murderers all have names that total thirteen letters: Theodore Bundy Jeffrey Dahmer Albert De Salvo John Wayne Gacy And, with a little stretch of the imagination, you can also fit Jack the Ripper and Charles Manson into that equation. More current-era paranoia: modern schoolchildren stop their memorization of the multiplication tables at 12. There were 13 Plutonium slugs in the atomic bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki. Apollo 13 wasnt exactly the most successful space mission. All of these are things that modern triskaidekaphobes point to when justifying their fears. For some, 13 is an extremely fortuitous and auspicious number In Jewish tradition, God has 13 Attributes of Mercy. Also, there were 13 tribes of Israel, 13 principles of Jewish faith, and 13 is considered the age of maturity. The ancient Egyptians believed that there were 12 stages of spiritual achievement in this lifetime, and a 13th beyond death. The word for thirteen, in Chinese, sounds much like the word which means must be alive. Thirteen, whether you love it or loathe it, is a pretty cool number all around. In some theories of relativity, there are 13 dimensions. It is a prime number, lucky number, star number, Wilson Prime, and Fibonacci number. There are 13 Archimedean solids. AND There were 13 original colonies when the United States were founded. Says a lot about the US, doesnt it? Its been a tough year all around, so this take on 13 utilizes scents geared towards an influx of joy. While we may not always possess good fortune, may we always hold onto the laughter that will bouy us through the tough times. Smoky cacao, with thirteen jubilant, uplifting companions: white carnation, pimento, whiskey, Madagascar vanilla cream, sugar cane, almond, coffee bean, perigord truffle, tea leaf, nutmeg, cardamom, orris butter, and coconut. I couldn't wait. The bottle came in and I think I let this settle for about 20 minutes before diving in In the bottle, I get the Mother Shub fudge note from the Nov 13 a while back--I'll have to compare the drydown on this to that one when I have a moment. EDIT Aug 05 '18--Now that I can compare side-by-side, the fudge note in the Nov 13 is extremely similar, but the notes obviously lift it different ways. Their bases make them feel related. Wet, it is very smoky on me. This isn't surprising because I have found that I tend to amp smoke notes, and it balances the chocolate out nicely, which does not keep much of its fudge-ness on my skin, yay. As it dries, I get a bit...more, but what, I can't say. Everything feels well-blended, but it also could be the fact that this bottle is so fresh. I do get a hint of a sweet creaminess, which could be carnation and sugar cane, or the vanilla cream, but honestly my nose can't detect any of the other notes (yet, I hope). EDIT Aug 05 '18--The carnation is definitely out now, and it is creamy and spicy. I can also make out the cardamom, which makes it brighter. I'm hoping the other notes will come out as it ages, but for now these prominent notes (cacao, smoke, carnation and cardamom) are wonderful. All in all, the impression is a smoky yet happy scent--it makes me feel cozy, safe, and cheerful, even though I'm wearing it in the middle of summer and in 90° weather --maybe like how happy most people get walking into a chocolate shop, even in summer. I can't stop sniffing my elbow crook! This scent also wears fairly close to my skin, and if i do catch a whiff while walking, it has that fudge-y vibe, like it does in the bottle. I really like this.

I bought my bottle based on the assumption the almond would be like in Bite Me, and also the fact that I've always liked Snake Oil but have never been able to wear it. The almond is wonderful in here just like in Bite Me, but its interaction with Snake Oil, cotton blossom and the milky bit gives off a cookie/bakery vibe. I definitely understand the connection with Dana O'Shee, which personally, I don't like because it's so...fuzzy. I don't know how to describe it. For me, Snake Oil and Dana O'Shee have the same 'fuzziness'. So TLDR this is fuzzy, like Snake Oil, but bareable. The almond comes right back in and keeps it sharp for the majority, and by the time it settles hours later it's quite rounded out and mellow. It wears very close to the skin on me with little wafts of almond/Snake Oil whenever I move. I really wish I got more of the Snow White in here; I can only hope it'll come out as it all ages. I don't experience any soapyness, but I also tend to amp any sweet--namely vanilla, honey, chocolate (basically RICH) scents, so that could be why.

I wore this today and kept getting wafts of it, putting a smile on face. I really thought I had put a review of this up before, but nope! Lawn Gnome is always gives me a metallic vibe at first--I think it's the cream and the moss mixing on me. It opens very sweet, very loud--thats from the molasses and red currant, no doubt. I've had cream go bad on me before (like Love's Philosophy) but the moss keeps it from doing so here. On the one hand, it gets metallic-y if I'm not paying attention. On the other hand, I welcome that much more than the doughy, plasticky note from Love's Philosophy. Whenever I catch a bit of it while walking I'm very aware that there is a green note that keeps it from being too much. It's a very well-blended fragrance, and I only get patchouli if I huff at it on my skin. It's there, lurking at the bottom, keeping the cream and fruit and sugar from being sickly. It's my favorite kind of scent: gourmand without being too one-dimensionally sweet.

I took my 30ish bottle collection overseas, and I used plumber's tape and bubble wrap to make sure the 20+ hr journey was going to be okay. Since you don't have time, technicallly, packing everything in securely with foam or something should be okay, but I would definitely recommend taping up any bottles whose oil you'd miss. If I recall, the plumber's tape was an easy find at Wal*Mart. Take care travelling!

This is my first review in a looooong while, apologies in adavnce, but hopefully it's like riding a bike! I honestly have no idea why I never bought this sooner, especially since people have been comparing it to Gucci Rush, my one and only, for at least 10 years now. It opens with fresh, green orange--so sharp and clean! The bitterness and the zest are wonderfully surprising. It takes a bit to round out; on me, that's about 40 minutes. It slowly warms up into this gorgeous heady fragrance of plumeria (gentle, not at all loud like b&bw) and (I'm guessing) Copal. The fresh bit from the orange keeps it from going too floral, but the copal confuses my nose and makes me think I'm smelling something gourmand. If I keep inhaling like an addict, I almost get a popcorn vibe? Like, all buttery in the back of my throat. I read in one of the very early reviews that someone got chocolate from this, and I can definitely understand that--it's so warm. I don't get much smoke from this, and I can't tell if it's because I've only just opened my lab-fresh bottle or if that's just me--I've never really worn a scent with smoke in it. It wears close to the skin on me, but sometimes when I turn my head I get a nice waft and it's sooooo comforting. A slatherer would definitely be noticed if they chose this scent. I can't stop huffing my arm--it's exactly the same reactrion I had with Rush. I know people have said it before, but oh man--if you love heady but soft, big/loud/bright fragrances, this is definitely for you. I could roll in this forever.

While wearing Lawn Gnome today I decided I needed a little more masculinity to the scent and opened my bottle of Olisbos. After two and a half months of sitting in my bottle box, the olive oil has blossomed into some amazing orangy citrus, completely balancing out the heavy leather and lightening the wood. While it dries down into some dry, warm leather (I want to say the it would be white leather, not black or brown), the overall feeling is warm and supple, and the wood and orange in here are amazing and completely unlike any other scent I've experienced with bpal (or any other scent, for that matter.) The orange is perfectly bright and juicy, giving life to the wood/leather combo, which is both masculine and gentle at the same time. It's perfect for when I need to butch up a light fruity scent or darken a sweet foody scent. I am in love with its overall smoothness (huzzah to dildo inspirations!) and I'm so glad my waiting has given me such awesome results.

Dana O'Shee went all wheaty dust on me, The Hesperides was too chemical, and March Hare too tarty strong. However, Egg Nog 07, Bread and Butterfly, Bite Me, Boo!, White Chocolate and Strawberry, and July 07's 13 are all amazing on me. Also, if you like Caramely-Coffeeish scents, try the Salon's Homage to the Sabbath. It is a little more sweet where Misk U isn't, but I think they're in the same scent family. Also, if you can get your hands on some Dorian V3, give it a go---it's Dorian's tea with coconut.

So I moved my 25 bottle collection from California to Russia about three months ago, and at first, I was super paranoid that a) my bottles would break and/or b ) my suitcase would be lost. The lost suitcase situation was out of my hands, but I did try my best to make sure nothing could leak or break: I wrapped each bottle in thin packing foam/plumber's tape, then put it in my bottle box. Then, I wrapped my box in the packing foam, and nestled the box against an edge in my suitcase, with a layer of shirts to protect it. I kept three of my favorite oils with me, wrapped in tape and foam and tucked in a ziplock. All of my bottles made the journey, and last week, I went back to CA to visit the fam. I had ten bottles waiting for me, and this time, I didn't have all of the proper packaging with me, so I took a small usps box and wrapped my bottles in tissue paper--no tape, just paper, and when I closed the box I made sure nothing could move. This was definitely a more lax, cavalier way of doing things, but it got the job done, and my bottles were fine again. So really, it's up to you. I didn't even consider temperature because either way, it would be on the plane with me and planes are usually cold, be it in the cabin or in the cargo area. Hope my success stories help!