Caper

Licorice is a note I just dislike. I know it isn't listed, but I can definitely smell it in here. When I first tried it on I got licorice and lemon. I had to check the notes to find the mate, which can read lemon to me. After it settled down, I got black tea, which is another note that just doesn't work. So, licorice/lemon/black tea. I agree with the reviewer above that said it seems like a watery cardamom. I was hoping for some more support from the cedar or tonka, but this is a thin reedy scent and I'm going to pass it on.

This definitely starts out strong on the patch, which is fine with me, because I love patchouli. It definitely softens and lightens one the patch as the vanilla comes out and sweetens (slightly) the blend. The vanilla is definitely of the dry variety, and not overpowering at all. I'd say that this is really a nice vanilla/patch blend with a bit of smokiness from the oude and a bit of spicy from the pepper. Normally champaca is not good on me, but this blend doesn't seem to emphasize the champaca at all. It there for sure, just lightly. I agree with Balame though, I have blends that out patch it, and blends that out resin it, so I'll keep my decant for a bit, but I'm not going to get a bottle.

I just want to start with the fact that I love thyme in perfume. It starts with a beautiful blend of citrus alternating between sweet orange and bitter grapefruit. The blue cedar is lurking underneath and the hinoki wood is nowhere to be found. I do get the thyme from time to time (sorry) and it adds an interesting element to an otherwise citrusy blend. It increases in prominence as the citrus fades. The white musk holds it together with the cedar, but isn't overpowering like it sometimes can be. This is by far my favorite of the butterflies and if I didn't already have a gazillion bottles of perfume I'd grab one. As it is, I'll keep my decant and stash it in my summer collection. After one more sniff I think I'm going to put out a swap request for this one. Yum.

This one reminds me of another BPAL like crazy. It might be French Tobacco, but I passed my decant on ages ago so I can't retest. I wish it had a touch more vanilla, or something, I'm not quite sure what. I'm pretty meh about it. In that it isn't a bad scent at all, but I'm not really drawn to tobacco as a note and while I was thinking the leaf aspect might be a bit greener, it isn't. I'm sure lots of people will love this one though.

I, uh, whoa. In the decant, this was woodsy and a little sweet. Fairly simple and did remind me a touch of Atlas. As soon as I put it on, I got a straight Harris Ranch, the dreaded section of I-5, nothing but cowpies. So weird! I tried sniffing multiple times, but nope. It was to gagging levels. It did settle a bit to a woodsy ickiness, but then I scrubbed it off. This one is definitely not for me.

I get a weird Zest/ Irish Spring vibe from this. I like the vetiver/ambergris/myrrh combo, but I think I need that without the floral note. I might mix my decant into an atmo spray, since it is very clean smelling to me.

I was thinking this same thing about the Lupers. I don't think I'm going to get any bottles this round because I already bought multiple decants of the ones I want and I don't think I need to upgrade. I also didn't realize that component amounts were so limited. It must be hard trying to buy enough to make the bottles you need, but not so much that you have it sitting around. I sometimes wonder about the random supplies of fragrance materrials, like where would you even find someone selling them? There must be this whole unseen supply chain that ends up going into BPAL.

This is SO weird! I have a decant that I received with an order, it is very heavy on the amber, and smells almost like the tobacco sn. I finally swapped for a bottle and it is all florals, with a nod to amber on the drydown. I'm not sure if I should try to layer it with something more tobacco heavy (since that is what my awesome decant reads to me as- le lethe is close), or try to find a different bottle?

I should know by now that I can only wear dark or white chocolate, and this isn't it. This is the chocolate of Gelt and El Día de los Reyes and it is powdery and chalky and dusty. I do eventually get the Lust notes, but the milk chocolate takes a long time to dissipate.

I get coconut at first, plus that sometimes weird thing that coconut does (like Elegba) and it hits this weird celery-like note. Then I get a strong cherry blossom and a hint of sweet pea, then it goes sweet and creamy. This is really pretty and it reminds me a LOT of Snow White. I will probably skip a bottle, but my decant is staying for sure, and I hope I don't regret not getting a bottle in case this ages into something more beautiful than it already is. ETA- the dry-down is nice, but I'm passing on my decant, mostly because I'm overwhelmed by my decant collection lately.

It is very astringent in the decant, and I can't tell which note is causing that, maybe the cypress? I do get a hint of sweet apple and oak, but it quickly fades into dirt. I was hoping for more woodsy/apple with a hint of brightness from the cypress, but I'm getting more soil and woods with a touch of apples. Cypress completely fades, leaving the soil and greenness behind. Not exactly what I was expecting, and not bad, but not bottle-worthy either.

Whoa mint! I love mint, so this is nice for me. Next comes an edge of citrus, and I love citrus, so this is also nice for me. Ten minutes in and the mint is still going strong; I'm not getting a lot of morphing here and it is staying a bright orange/mint blend. About a half hour in, the mint has stepped down and the orange is moving into a gentle blend with the white musk, this is awesome, and pretty much exactly what I was expecting. Luckily the lemon-y green tea isn't overpowering, but just part of the citrus.

Sea buckthorn berry, salt musk, white nectarine, kelp, oakmoss, green musk, and elemi. Yay!! I have been waiting for a review of this one since people first began posting, and now that I've received my decants, I'm going to get a review up! There have been several blends over the last few years that have had the sea buckthorn berry/kelp/moss trio in the notes. Octopus: Pale moss, white kelp, sea buckthorn berry, ambergris accord, Somalian frankincense, rose geranium, and salt. Alcie: Just a hint of gorgon blood: bright nectarine, honey, sandalwood, green musk, sea buckthorn berry, and oakmoss. I've enjoyed both of them but the rose geranium in Octopus, and the honey in Alcie just weren't working for me. Carp and Octopus doesn't have the same level of nectarine as Alcie and it is less salty than Octopus. It wears close to the skin, and starts off with a light freshness that reminds me of an expensive alcohol-based perfume I can't remember. It settles down into a gentle sea scent with a hint of fruitiness. All in all, I really like it, and I would recommend it if you liked Octopus and were looking for something less salty, or if you liked Alcie but were looking for less fruity/sweetness. There is a hint of soap at the end, but I think that is a typical interpretation of these types of scents and it doesn't bother me a bit.

Okay, so I'm going to be the dissenting opinion here (and pat myself on the back for waiting for my decants instead of springing for a blind bottle), but this smells like licorice and root beer to me. It settles down after about five minutes into a soft coffee scent, but the strange hint of florals is just making this weird. I really think it is the champaca that doesn't work for me. I should know better by now, but everything else in this is full of win so I thought it wouldn't matter. It isn't necessarily _bad_, and as it dries it softens into a sweetish coffee scent, but it definitely isn't grabbing me when wet and mostly just okay when dry. It could be because I just swapped for IXHV4 and I'm loving the strong creamy coffee so much that I'm a touch disappointed by the softer more gentle coffee that I'm getting here. ETA- about two hours in I'm really liking this. I'm still not going to get a bottle, but I will be keeping the decant in the hopes that the weird start mellows out.

This one went weirdly sickening on me. Something in it reminded me of being queasy asmes I had to wash it off. I did not smell root beer, just sickly sweet yuckiness, sorry!