PumpkinGuts

Lightly spiced cake with a smear of Dorian-infused cream cheese frosting. I'm not getting much Snake Oil, but I believe it's lending a subtle spice. This smells similar to Beaver'versary, but so much better. Unfortunately, Cake Smash is suuuper faint on me, probably due to age. It's one of those oils I never really wear, but take out my bottle to sniff every once in a while. Can't seem to let this one go -- it's an important slice of (cake) BPAL history.

Oh my, this really is magical, and everything I'd hoped it would be. Mostly mallow flower and pale sandalwood, a few poofs of pastel peony blossoms floating in a dish of cream. A touch powdery, like enchanted dream dust. I've been getting into floral scents lately, particularly creamy florals, and this scratches that itch. A true fairytale floral, just exquisite. I must find a bottle! This reminds me of the song Audrey dances to in Twin Peaks. "Isn't it too dreamy?"

I received a frimp of this from a generous forumite, thank you! 💜 I am clueless as to what notes are making the wet stage smell like a mechanic's garage, but I get that with chalky cacao. I enjoy chalk notes, but I'm really not digging the combination of chalky rubble and chocolate. After it dries and the cacao calms down, my beloved chalk note melds with the vanilla, amber, and tobacco in a most delicious way. We were off to a rocky (rubble-y?) start, but it seems patience has paid off. My decant should get some good use, but I'm undecided whether I'll need more.

This is Blood Countess' mother, who happens to run a vampire brothel. Quite an overbearing scent, this is a woman who knows what she wants and how to get it. The dominating winelike fruits rest on a bed of red musk and smoke. I can pick out the rose, but it's really well blended and not the type that goes sour on me. No vanilla to speak of. I can see why this is so popular, it does have that classic BPAL feel about it, but I think this is just too much for me.

As others have noted, the drydown on Oak Moon is incredible. It's still an oak tree, but the seasons have changed, and it's started growing marshmallows on its sturdy branches. This went from strong, powdery oak that veered slightly masculine, to the most beautiful musky, oaken vanilla smell. I find it so comforting. Also, this has one of my favorite bottle labels.

This is my first experience with griotte, in fragrance and otherwise. According to Mr. Google, griotte cherries are red, but smelling this gives me a distinct image of sour pink cherries with squeeze of lime. The perfect balance of sweet and tart, the white musk stays in the background supporting the fruits. This is not an effervescent scent, but I can see a comparison to bath bombs, specifically bath bomb dust. I worked at LUSH many moons ago, and this reminds me a little of cleaning the giant bins that held the products. Fun, delicious, kinda sassy. With such prominent top notes, I didn't expect great longevity from this -- my skin almost completely devours this within an hour. I'd say it's worth reapplying, though!

While I haven't been fortunate enough to try the coveted Katrina van Tassel, I do agree with the posters who mentioned the similarity to From Whose Eyes. This is the same kind of rose, but less sweet and more grown up. To Lallie hits me with a cloying honeyed rose right off the bat, but it's soon tempered by the beachy ambergris (and presumably the amber and benzoin, I just can't smell them here). I also get a light splash of coconut milk, adding to the creaminess of the blend. It's a subtly sexy summer rose. A good scent for people who normally have a hard time wearing rose. I really like it, and am considering a bottle. Truly beautiful stuff.

Gorgeous, creamy lilac and beeswax with light incense. Why didn't I try this while it was still available?! I adore it. This reminds me of Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris, one of my favorites. Now, this is way more delicate, but they're in the same family for sure. Cathédrale is a heavy, stony, gothic incense and candlewax scent. Second Sight is an old, potentially haunted château with overgrown lilac bushes, wax from spent candles, and a memory of incense smoke lingering in the air from decades of seances. Average throw on me, but it lasts a crazy long time. I could still smell a light smoky beeswax on my wrist after 12 hours. I'll be seeking out a bottle, this is 100% my kinda vibe.

I've had my decant since this batch of butterflies was in its prime, but never got around to reviewing it. Passion Butterfly is a warm ambery mandarin for the first hour or so. Then, the mandarin recedes and makes way for big daddy petitgrain, so much that it's almost a single note. This petitgrain lacks the sharpness most orange blossom scents tend to have that makes it a death note for me. Mimosa only ever made itself known during the wet stage, and I never noticed any grapefruit or copal. Surprisingly long lasting for having so much citrus. Not my kind of scent, but I don't dislike it.

Freakin' amazing. I'm enveloped in a swirl of spicy floral sex. BPAL jasmine rarely works on me, but this is so well balanced with the cinnamon and smokiness. Honey lends a touch of sweetness, but by no means cloying. This is my perfect floral and easily slipped into my Top Ten. If you like Chimera, give this a shot!

This is so soft and pretty! Powdery amber, sweet apple blossom, and a hint of carnation. Wears close to the skin. It's not very "me" but I did enjoy it (as well as its Norse inspiration) and I'll keep my imp.

I don't know how, but this went very, very wrong. I love fir and musk, and woodsy scents in general. Guys, it smells like band-aids and dank BO, and never gets better. 🤢

I hated this wet. It smelled oddly of syrupy almonds and neroli. It dries to a musky patchouli teak with a hint of vanilla. Apple and rose are AWOL. This just dies on my skin, I can barely smell it after 10 minutes.

The only icicles we get at home happen when we have a fridge malfunction. Plucked from the walls of Hohensalzburg Fortress: a glassy frozen snowdrop with whipped cream and glacial musk.  This smells like Pink Snowballs, but with snowdrop instead of rose. The musk and whipped cream end up giving it a shaving cream vibe, which is incredibly nostalgic for me. Subtle. I'll stick to wearing this as a bedtime scent since I find it relaxing, but I don't necessarily want to smell like it.

Allspice? ALL SPICE is right! *slaps knee* Ahem... Once the scary, burning spices go away, the most delicious creamy ginger milk emerges. It's light, but so, so lovely. This is one of those Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde scents that I keep around just to wait for the transformation.

2014 version: I've enjoyed all of Beth's Dia de los Muertos-themed scents; this is no exception. The cake is tan and bready with caramel, but not to the point of being buttery. I'm really loving the balance of food and incense. No beer here, but I don't drink the stuff, so maybe I can't detect it as well (on second thought, maybe the bread I assumed was from the cake was really the beer?) Wears close to the skin. I'm not sure I need a bottle, but I'm glad to have my decant. This stuff is yummy.

I expected this would be a sibling to the sought-after Mme. Moriarty, but they smell completely different to my nose. The high-pitched, fruity tang of the pomegranate that I get during the wet stage really reminds me of Lampades. Pom, red musk, and amber dominate the scent the first couple of hours, with just a suggestion of rose. It dries down to mostly (a fantastic) myrrh on my skin. It should be called The Red Witch! Red fruits aren't really my thing, but I can see this being popular.

Yep, this is the same ozoney, piney snow note from Yellow Snowballs, but with plum instead of citrus. Strong, sweet, and fizzy. My skin is apparently hungry for fruit, because after a short while I'm left with nothing but dryer sheets. My favorite snowballs are still pink.

Snow White came to mind right away. It has kind of a creamy, coconutty vibe to it and the florals are well-behaved. I bet it'll come back this year! Definitely a soft and cozy one. As for GC scents, maybe Titania (A nocturnal bounty of fae dew-kissed petals and pale fruits: white grape, white peach, iced pear, musk rose, sweet pea, moonflower and snapdragon). I read that you like peach and pear, and this is really pretty. Fae (A brilliant, ethereal scent: white musk, bergamot, heliotrope, peach and oakmoss) is a bright peachy floral, and one of my favorites. I really dislike florals, too. They have to be well balanced with other notes for me to wear them at all. Best of luck!

Egads! I had to close the imp immediately after catching a whiff. Needless to say, it didn't make it to my skin. Hands down, my least favorite BPAL. An accurate description. That is some sharp rosemary. I also intensely dislike orange blossom, so this was never meant to be.

Honeyed almond with LOTS of sugar and booze. Where has all the rum gone? Right into this here blend. I can't detect any hazelnut. Too sickly sweet for my tastes, but I can see foodies all over this.

Starts with a blast of sinus-clearing pine and bright berries that lasts no more than five minutes before my skin eats it. The result is a faint cedar and something tonka-like. That was weird! I won't be needing to hunt down a bottle.

It burns usss! It freezesss! No, really, my skin is definitely tingling. First BPAL skin reaction, and I've been testing imps for five years. Acrid is right. I get both red-hot cinnamon and icy menthol with strooong smoke and some vetiver. I can't even. A scent like this is for a total badass, like Mr. T.

Before the drydown, this smells utterly wrong on my skin... a damp sweetness that could only be the lichen does not play well with the other notes. Once that horrific phase has ended, it's all smoky vetiver and anise. As a licorice fan, I find it quite nice. I don't see myself using it much, but it was fun to try!

Nocnitsa is a rather feminine and sweet conifer scent: fresh dew and soft breezes in a fir forest. Nothing dark about it! It wears pretty close to the skin. I'd prefer it was a bit more dank and earthy, but I love it, nonetheless! I wish I'd sprung for a bottle while it was still available, but my younger self favored foodie blends. Elf is similar, and will do for now.