Diane Bass

My first thought upon initally opening my bottle of Hal, "This smells like BPAL boxes!". I had to double check that later, when I didn't have a shipping box sitting beside me to be certain. And sure enough, wet Hal evokes sense memories of BPAL boxes in the mail. That was a happy coincidence, and I revel in it every time I open it up Limited notes on this one, so general impressions only. On me, Hal is a touch musky, and little woody on top. I think the Amberette Seed and Cedar are the strongest notes on me, with Kashmir Wood acting as a solid support. But there is a lovely warm exotic spice at it's core, and the Jasmine/Vanilla/Honey blend lend it a soft feminine feel (though this would probably wear just as well on a man). Unlike some other reviewers, the Saffron and Jasmine play in the background to give an exotic, spicyness. While the Bourbon Vanilla and Honey soften the edges and blend everything together. Luckily for me I don't detect the Hay note, because hay and I do not play well together. Actually, that note is the only reason Hal wasn't in my first round of OLLA buys. I have dubbed Hal my 4th favorite of all the BPAL's I've tried, I think that's accurate but it's a very close call (they're all so darn good!). Random factoid: I have a gender identity issue with this scent. I have a distinct tendency to give scents named after characters gendered pronouns. Why, I have no idea. So, I am always tempted first to refer to Hal as a she, because I immediately think of Yasmine Hamden singing in the movie. But then I think about Henry IV, and realize that Hal is a male name. So I looked up the Arabic lyrics and google translated. حل (Hal) means 'solution'. Not a name at all. Maybe now I can stick to it pronouns...

Wet: Soft and sharp? Can that happen? Smells like lush white flower petals on the wind. It’s bright and clean smelling with a slight undercurrent of musk. Sadly, I detect no dew or berries. 2 hours in: I’m afraid my skin just gobbled this one right up. I occasionally get a hint of something pleasant, but it’s not strong enough to pin down if its a floral note or a sweet one. Verdict: Not for me, too pale and not worth the effort. I suspect the sharpness I was getting from the wet stage was actually grass notes. I'm terribly allergic to many grasses, so maybe my brain was saying, "stay away"? Could be a psychosomatic thing. It is a lovely scent nonetheless, it just needs to go on someone else.

This is an unneeded review, as there is so much love for Anubis up there ^^, but I'm cleaning up a worksheet so here I go. I'm technically reviewing aged Anubis (sorry, I don't know how old, but it's a slightly vicious, pale amber oil). Wet on: Warm, golden myrrh with herby, green undertones. There is a hint of sweetness that isn’t quite fruity for me, like citrus’ dark cousin. :30 in: Still golden-green, herbal myrrh, but now it’s perfectly blended and I can’t separate any single notes. It’s powdery, but not baby powder (I swear I despised all powdery scents on or around me until I discovered BPAL, but BPAL powdery notes are delicious). 2 hours in: Honey-sweetened, herbal myrrh, with a slight smokey shade. Verdict: Not sure I’ll spring for a bottle, but I’ll be using up this imp I’m sure. It doesn’t last as long as I expected, five hours in and I have to really breathe deep to get a whiff. but it’s still wears beautifully. Edit: I’ve come to realize that Anubis is one of the few BPAL I’ve tried that really affects my mood (granted, I’ve yet to experience TALs). It’s a really grounding scent for me. It’s a go-to for days when I wake up feeling scattered, or when I know my work load is going to be overwhelming. It layers really well too. Hmm…I wonder how this would play with Embalming Fluid? Maybe an experiment for tomorrow!

I just put a short description of this one on Facebook, and realized that had very few notes on her, and had never formally reviewed her. Eve was in my first ever BPAL purchase (along with Adam), and a blind buy at that. Since I don’t really have notes on her (I’ve tried to take copious notes on all the BPAL I’ve tried), I can only assume that she is and has always been perfect. That of course means I can’t break it down by application and wear time. But I can give you my general impressions. Eve is well-rounded, with a slight, sharp hint, but somehow kind of airy too. She’s both comforting and subtly suggestive. The base is a sort of deep, church-y incense, more like the lived in remnants of the fragrance left in the drapes, rather than smoky, burning incense. It’s not quite like unburnt incense, it’s more aged than that, fuller. The rose note (and rose water, I suppose) is very apparent on me, but not at all powdery, and certainly not sweet. After a few hours I can sometimes detect something cool and earthy-green, I think it's the Irish Moss coming through. A couple hours in I occasionally get a sense of something creamy and “not-green” (that makes no sense, just go with it). Hawthorn, maybe? Honey mixing with something else? That’s it, that’s about all I can pull out. Overall, this mix is so well-blended, and multilayered, that I generally can only pick out individual notes for seconds at a time before they swirl back into the fold. Depending on the day OLLA Eve is my most favorite BPAL (Adam vies for first sometimes). She always works on me, and is the scent mostly likely to elicit comments “in the wild” (always positive). She lasts all day, probably 10 hours or more on me. The throw is…I’m going to guess about medium range, she’s not overwhelming, but it’s enough to grab attention if I move near someone. I’m a very, very happy camper that I gave into the impulse to buy her, and am working to collect the entire line (all of OLLA is amaze-balls as far as I have seen).

I apologize in advance for the length of this review. There simply aren’t enough words. Adam and I are so very deeply in love. Like long-haul love. I’m talking about the scent, of course (but if you run across the vamp feel free to point him my way). It sounds like my experience is a little different from a number of the other reviewers, which makes me think maybe I’m imagining some of it. But I’ve tested him out many times and it’s always a roller coaster of olfactory delights. Methinks he’s just a little bit fickle and is particular about who he really opens up to. Or maybe I’m just romanticizing again… I digress. This is this most mercurial of the BPAL oils I have tried so far, and it’s lovely at every stage. In the bottle: Ozone, plastic and a breath of rosin. The plastic-y note is never bad and is always nostalgic, for me it can range from a water bottle to too-warm vinyl records. Wet on: The rosin, sandalwood and ambergris immediately bloom on my skin, leaving the ozone and plastic scent to the background. Rosin and sandalwood seem to be duking it out a little to decide who gets to be center stage. After a short while the saltiness of the ambergris fades and a veeery subtle sweetness is starting to come out to play, I think it’s the fougère as there’s a tinge of green to it. 1 hour in: Mmm, ambergris out front again, followed closely behind with sandalwood or rosin (or both) with creamy fougère rounding it out and a paper thin layer of wool to tuck it all close together. At this stage, if I breathe deep I can actually taste this one, warm and a little spicy. I think the leather is just starting to peek out… 2 hours: Warm worn leather! Fougère and rosin have taken a back seat and all the other notes are currently playing hide and seek, blending with the leather to support it. I can almost detect each individual one if I try, but then one of the others takes over again. 3 hours: The fougère has stepped up to the front, with warm leather and ambergris backing it up. Now it’s creamy, earthy and a touch sweet. Sandalwood is popping out occasionally to say hi, but mostly hiding out still. And on and on… The leather note stays pretty prominent from this point on, but the other notes continue to dance around. One day I actually clocked this one in at 22 hours. I could still smell it after almost an entire day’s wear, only one drop between two wrists. I wonder how long it would last on me if I didn’t, you know, shower. Verdict: This was my first BPAL buy, and I bought a back up bottle within weeks of the initial purchase. I am still working through a very generous selection of scents from my evil enabler but I keep needing to take a break from new smells in order to swathe myself in Adam once again. I fully expect to one day find myself desperately searching for aged bottles to hoard. PS. OLLA Adam and OLLA Eve are absolutely stunning when layered together, I’m sure that’s no coincidence.

OK, first review here, but I have a lot of notes for this one so it seems logical to share In the Bottle: I definitely get motor oil, but sweeter, citrus-y. There is also something sharp like old school men’s cologne (Brut, I think) Wet: Something in here reminds me of visiting Marianna Caverns, underground, earthy, mineral. Also of WD-40 and Bullfrog Bug Spray (but less champhor-y). It's edging on powdery here. Occasional whiffs almost smell like honeysuckle, which would be overpowering if it was the mainstay, thankfully it’s just a featured player. This scent smells distinctly of hot summers to me. Dry Down: I’m not sure how to put this into words. It smells like yellow-brown to me. Like a workshop: metal, oil, wood, grease. Not exactly dirty, but tangy. Dry: Very resinous, but it does have a dark edge to it. Like Adam it's almost floral on my skin, but not at all girly (sweet notes amp up on me). I haven't decided yet if I can smell motor oil at this stage. Eventually it develops a kind of sweet rum note, yum. Verdict: Not an every day scent for me, but I will be keeping my bottle for sure!