mspixieears

Initially, smells like evening primrose oil, and possibly neroli. It reminds me of the fresh pollen on flowers in a garden on a warm day, possibly in the morning. It’s a very relaxing fragrance, very subtle and unfortunately dies down too much upon drydown. A gentle, feminine, floral fragrance. Perhaps a little too subtle and floral for me (and nothing is often ever too floral for me!). It does become a lovely powdery floral after an hour and I think I warmed more to it. Might actually take this out of my swap pile for a retest.

This really does smell of clean, freshly washed laundry! I swear I smell a hint of peach (which I’m totally digging in my BPAL scents). I wore it over Wylde Ivy’s Black Tea Jasmine which I love as a clean smell and they go so well together – they really ‘continue’ the fresh, clean scent. This melds very well with my body chemistry as it begins to drydown but it’s a tad too fresh – may need to test it without anything underneath to do it proper justice.

Fruity! I get the tangerine, mandarin and orange – the citrus in this blend is very zesty rather than antiseptic. After a while I think the gorgeous kumquat even makes an appearance to my nose…wonderful! This reminds me of a Fyrinnae fragrance (Selkie, perhaps?) I’ve tried but one that Beth got done so much better. There is so much more depth and warmth. When it dries down and the citrus has faded a little, it begins to get a little more innocently floral, yet still flirty in a way because it hasn’t poked up enough to be super-prominent. This is utter delight for springtime and reminds me of a softer, more floral Bathsheba but with more breathtaking notes. You bet I got a bottle!

I wasn’t liking this so much after applying a rather liberal amount of it to test (silly me!) – it made me smell like the spices of an Indian food stop (which you understand, I’m all about the eating, rather than the wearing!). Turmeric or something but there was something underneath all of it that smelled most pleasing indeed. The musty spices faded pretty soon (I’ve tested so many BPAL scents and still am having trouble with that thing called patience! BPAL does wonderful morph things, after all!) and then I get something like orange blossom and sandalwood. My imp is near gone which kills me so I bought another as soon as the opportunity arose. This went from being very ack! to oh-so surprising in a wonderful way. That’ll teach me…I'm a convert to this, for sure!

Edited to add: I've tried it and can vouch for its reputation of easing heartbreak. I feel more 'solid' and strong when I wear this and it seems to do a world of good in terms of my mood (excellent news for someone who is afflicted with severe depression). I think I may need to invest in a bottle.

Naturally, as a sleep blend, this has a lot of lavender! I love the massive spike of jasmine in it. There is another herb-like presence in this but I’m not sure exactly what it is. Despite being lavender-heavy, I find this a lot more pleasant that I expected as a fragrance, however, for its therapeutic properties, I must commend it highly – each occasion I’ve used this when riddled with insomnia, it’s totally knocked me out and induced a highly peaceful, uninterrupted sleep. I would buy a bottle of this based on its aromatherapeutic properties – though it making me smell wonderful in bed is totally a fab bonus!

How can something be so sweet and manly at the same time?! The tonka kills me with its sexiness. Maybe it’s the rum but I swear I get dark berries or something similar from this. Nevertheless, it’s stunning and I can see why it’s so popular. I love it!

At the beginning, a slightly medicinal smell – that could be the labdanum? I get a hint of the gladiola and the other florals which seem so similar to my nose – I can pick most of them out and as they begin to dry down they gradually amplify in strength. I would prefer for the tonka to be more prominent, and for the composition overall to be more sweeter. That initial woodsy medicinal smell has calmed down but still not as much as I’d prefer. Something pleasant came out after a while, not sure exactly what it is but it could be amber-ish…it happened after I got all hot and sweaty! Alas, otherwise this is a tad too masculine for my taste and off it goes in the swap pile.

What a delicious nectar-like scent! I instantly pick up the honey, apricot and tonka and it makes me want to sniff my wrists uncontrollably! As it starts to dry down I can get some of the blood orange and gardenia. This is one of those gourmand-floral amalgams that I so adore! Based on a quick sampling I would buy a 5mL of this immediately if I had the money. As it begins to fade I can smell the ylang ylang which delightfully sings with the apricot. Blissful!

When wet, this is freshly cut flowers and their pollen…then later green apple of the Golden Delicious variety emerges, mingled with evening primrose, or something that reminds me of this. This is a very green-yellow scent on me and I can’t say I really like it, sadly. I also get a hint of saffron and later on, detect the thyme. I thought it might morph into something nicer but alas no, it only seemed to clash further with my body chemistry so it’s definitely not a keeper.

At first, this is pure jasmine, then later with musk and clove. A minute later it begins to settle and the vanilla starts to shine through. The clove in this is a tad too strong for me – something about the scent sort of threatens to give me a headache (which is exceedingly rare in BPAL scents, indeed one of the things I’ve so come to love about this company – even when the scents don’t work!). I’ll retest it because I do so adore the jasmine but I might not be able to use up my imp which would be a great shame.

Manila, floral-wise, and Yemaya fruit-wise. They are very tropical in fragrance!

If you like Pele, then you will love Philosophy's Amazing Grace. The resemblance to my nose is astounding, and wonderful!

I heart muchly Euphrosyne - I read recs here touting it to be the truest gardenia in the BPAL catalogue and it truly is! I do like Thaleia too.

Sadly, I did not get the gardenia vibe from Le Serpent Qui Danse and Sacred Whore of Babylon.

You might like Pele but that is more creamy muguet, I think (to my nose it is - it smells exactly like Philosophy's Amazing Grace which does have a fair bit of gardenia and smaller bit of jasmine in it).

The first thing I think of when I apply this and catch a whiff is just how radiant it is – it’s a very ‘sunny’ fragrance. The drydown is a bit on the powdery side though I can also smell the slight hint of citrus. Overall, very uplifting. Beautiful and I can just pick up a hint of saffron!

Woah, I think this is sensory overload for me – it’s a tad too perfumey and floral for my tastes. Odd given that I adore florals. I might need this to dry down a bit at first though there was a beautiful fruity scent when it was first applied that sadly disappeared upon drydown. In about 2 hours, it’s down to a gentle floral scent. Sadly, pretty unremarkable to me though it is a nice fragrance perhaps for everyday and I might end up finishing it, not sure.

Very fruity – fresh and nectary, and reminds me exactly of the Asian melon sweets you can buy at Asian grocers. There does appear to be hints of peach and even fresh yellow-green apple. It’s a lot more pleasant and mouthwatering than I initially invisaged. Sadly, it’s gone in 2.5 hours – I do wish it had more lasting power as I love it.

This has the orange blossom/neroli scent I’ve been dreaming of wet! It dries down into something more floral and perfumey, and the vanilla isn’t really all that evident. I think the floral might be the stephanotis – it’s heady in an orchid-type way (which I love). I also get a hint of that perfumey powdery drydown – it’s a warming scent rather than pure powder. Beautiful.

Darkly fruity and very gentle on drydown. My nose seems to pick out a floral note in this before it settles down into being properly fruity. It’s probably more what I wanted Philosophy’s Falling in Love fragrance to be like on me except that this works with my body chemistry (sadly that fragrance did not). I can detect a fresher blackberry in this, perhaps the smallest hint of lemon and a light, floral musk. I’m extremely disappointed by the fact that this has hardly any staying power – why??? It’s so lovely.

Amber, a touch of vanilla or even chocolate! I thought I got something like orange blossoms and even honey. It smells similar to a lot of things I’ve tested and is not quite as remarkable as some of the other BPAL fragrances tried. I get the familiar powdery, resiny drydown. I can also smell something like sandalwood in the drydown.

I can smell the jasmine in this instantly from the bottle and wet on my skin but it seems to disappear as it dries, despite spilling a big drop of it on my pants! A bit disappointing…perhaps it doesn’t age well? I can’t detect much of this other than the jasmine but it does seem to be one of the more typical perfumey-type BPAL scents I’ve tried. This is nicest I found in hotter weather as it needs a lot of body heat to work with, and it did develop so that the jasmine became more prominent and true to its scent when the flower is in full bloom.

This is stunning in the same way that Endymion and Fae are to me – subtle, gentle, wonderfully inobtrusive everyday scents, or something I might like to wear to bed, at the end of a hard day. I can smell the rose, carnation and bergamot. I think the carnation made it go all violet-like on me and powdery. The staying power was quite short – on me, about two hours.

Beautiful yet gentle, subtle ripe pear – juicy but still incredibly sophisticated. Soft white florals underpin this making it a smooth soothing scent. The ripeness of the pear disappears as it dries down. What an elegant fragrance! Sadly, it is all but gone in three hours though there is the faintest hint of pear if you sniff very carefully. It’s worth noting this layered wonderfully with Wylde Ivy’s Black Tea Jasmine.

Definite black cherry, perhaps even a hint of musk. Possibly a hint of the antiseptic lemon verbena. A faint bit of chocolate, not sure? Not really feeling the love for this one. Ah. I detect something like liquorice! I let it sit a while but I didn’t really like it at all. A masculine scent eventually came up, making it even less attractive for me. Sadly, not for me.

A bit strong and overwhelming at first, it feels like this one has a lot of calming down to do whilst aging. The staying power wasn’t very long the first time I tried this but it seems to have more throw when worn in hotter weather. This is one of the more classical, typical perfumey-type fragrances I’ve ever tried from BPAL – not necessary a bad thing but I do think I was expecting something better. I think this may improve with age.

This is beautiful! I can smell the plum in this instantly upon application and it’s intoxicating! One of the few fragrances that smells like it is alcohol-based.It also reminds me a tiny bit of a fruitier version of YSL’s Yvresse and BPAL’s Bon Vivant. There is a slight spicy note and the carnation isn’t too floral as the plum is more dominant, which I prefer.