Klepz

So I wore this last night and yep, definitely black leather. Black leather and a myrrh-heavy amber that blend seamlessly together. Very powerful! A little dab had enough throw to get me a compliment from well outside my personal space

I can't tell if it's because this is mallow blossom rather than mallow root, or because of the sugar, but this reads a bit different (sharper?) than Stekk for me. Instead, it's a sweet strawberry marshmallow that reminds me a lot of Plastic Pink Flamingo. I find it softer and more wearable than PPF, though, and I'm definitely hanging on to my bottle!

This is mostly tobacco, with a definite anise note that other reviewers have mentioned. I can't tell if it's anise cake, or the tea playing tricks (in some blends, most notably White Rabbit, the tea does a surgical glove thing that smells sort of like licorice). The anise/tea calm down rather quickly and the tobacco takes over. Does anyone else get the tobacco note from Black Lace from this? Because they smell remarkably similar on me. I'll keep my decant, but won't be needing a bottle.

Cocoa and snow, sitting in a tree~ K-I-S-S-I-N-G First comes WHOAOMGFIRTREE then comes ooooh, white chocolate then it becomes the strangest scent ever. But that's not all~ that's not all~ Then comes something really amazeballs. Last night I dabbed it on very lightly because HOLY FIR but then it settled into something so gorgeous. So I dabbed a little more.. and a little more.. and today my desk still smells like a thousand pine trees with a mug of chocolate hiding somewhere. At first, the fir is incredibly overpowering, but that dries off fairly quickly (10 minutes?) into a scent that's equally fir and white chocolate. I could only smell a hint of aquatic snow in my cleavage, but that could also have been the fir playing tricks with me. It's strange but pleasant. While at first odd together, the fir and cocoa really mingle into something that makes sense. They become truly beautiful. When dry, it's no longer discordant, but a sweet, creamy fir scent that feels like gourmand winter. I love it. I woke up eight hours later and my wrists just smelled like creamy sweet winter.

I mentioned this in the BPAL Chatter weenie thread, but the Lab's dead leaf note usually ruins blends for me. Most of the time, it ends up being an overpoweringly perfumey wet grass smell that takes over a blend. Here, it isn't. It's PERFECT. This is a juicy, syruppy blackberry - it doesn't smell like candy at all - laid over crunchy brown leaves. I wasn't sure if I loved it at first, and then it hit the drydown. Wow. This is stunning. It's an elegant, deep autumnal berry. It's exactly what I wanted Abduction of Prosperpine to smell like. Amazing!

2014 I have tried many Samhains and while I loved them, I didn't fall head-over-heels enough to keep any. I've tried 2004, 2008, 2009, 2012, and 2015. Most I found too pungent; there was something in them too sharp, too brittle, and, in 2009, too candle-y. I wish I had taken better notes on them in my spreadsheet and plan to get my hands on them again to do a multi-year comparison However. I recently got to try 2014 and this one is fantastic. It's not sharp; this is all smooooth woods and herbs and apple and soft, soft pumpkin. This one has a creaminess that mellows out whatever I didn't like in the others. It's smooth and cuddly and amazing. It has a sweetness on my skin I didn't pick up in other years. I wish I knew if my skin chemistry has changed these kinds of scents also, or if 2014 is just that much more amazing.

This starts off floral - but, floral-hater that I am, I love it. It's not sharp; rather, it's oh so so very soft, with white musk-marshmallow mellowing it out, teaming up with a cozy lavender (that reminds me of Lilith Victoria and Meus Amor Aeternus) softening those flowers into beautiful velvetty petals. I don't get any apricot. Far into the dry down, the florals have gone away and I'm left with a white musk and marshmallow scent rather like a musky Stekk. I love the whole ride

This is a soft red musk and clove in equal proportion. There's a soft hint of the nag champa mentioned above, but this is a much tamer scent than Scherezade ever was on me. The woody spice and red musk are surprisingly soft, sweet, and wearable.

Oh no! I picked this up from a lovely forumite hoping it could stand in for my long-gone bottle of Lick It Softly. Straight from the bottle, the scent is more bracing and a tiny bit sharper in a medicinal way, but still quite similar. The longer it sits on my skin, though, the stranger it gets. Lick It Til It's Sticky smells strongly of menthol, not candy canes, and by the time it's completely dry, I feel like I've rubbed Vicks Vapor Rub all over myself. I ended up getting quite anxious while wearing it and had to wash it off. Kind of devastated

The patchouli and wood smell beautiful in this - it smells like dry (almost dusty), lightly-caramelized vanilla-wood. I can't really smell the carnation or iris, but I imagine they're what keeps it light, so that this smells like a sun-dappled vanity chest. I was expecting more of a foody scent, but was pleasantly surprised to find this is a barely-sweet sandalwood and patchouli.

Pere Noel. How do I begin a review for this scent? His notes are so simple, yet that very simplicity creates a scent that is paradoxically complex and so, so beautiful. Santa was love at first sniff, before I even opened the decant. Despite this, straight out of the mail he was more of a bitter orange scent and a few days rest allowed him to mellow and smooth out beautifully. He's all bright, cheery and juicy orange and tangerine - like sunshine, and light, and happiness in a bottle. For a second on wet, the citrus has a bitterness to it that disappears quickly enough. The candy I was so afraid of brightens the citrus and sweetens it around the edges so that there's almost a dusty vanilla pudding halo around the scent. So it adds a pinch of sweetness without making the scent smell like hard candy. It's definitely bright fruit. The anise is right up there with the citrus. It's not dominant, and it's not overpowering, but it is ever-present from the wet stage to the drydown and it's what makes the scent so stunning. Pere Noel is bright, happy, and utterly unique. He is tied for my favorite BPAL of all time and I hope he will be back for many Yule releases to come. Thank you for making this Beth. Thank you for putting this beautiful scent out into the world. I have no words for how grateful I am.

I was gesticulating with an open decant of Pere Noel this morning and spilled some on myself before my run. It is an amazing workout scent! That orange

I've spent my winter break streamlining my perfume collection and improving all of my spreadsheets. Best break ever! After retesting and re-organizing according to my changed taste in perfume, the list above is still mostly sweet spices, but there are only 3 milk/cream blends my skin can tolerate. I wonder what happened. Thank goodness Egg Nog is still one of them (thank you, booze notes?).

This is cinnamon and chocolate, without being particularly foody or spicy. Instead, it is very soft and dry. The cocoa reads as cocoa powder, like a dusting of dry dark chocolate, while the cinnamon adds bark-y, subtly-spiced depth to the cocoa. But it's also so much more. It's powdery in a way that reminds me of some dusty amber scents. It's cocoa and cinnamon, elevated. Unfortunately, my skin eats it and it completely disappears. Don't let that deter you from trying it, though; my mom bought a bottle as well and ten hours later she still smelled like this amazing dusting of cocoa and cinnamon scent. Overall, this is soft and pretty, a lovely perfume for those who want to enjoy cocoa and cinnamon without smelling like food.

WOW. That is.. so helpful. I can stop pronouncing "Stekkjarstaur" as stegosaurus, and Giljagaur as Gil-Jaguar. Bookmarked!