gentle-twig

I've had this for a while and never reviewed it. I tried it when I first got it as a frimp a few months ago and liked it but didn't much of it. Retested today and I'm so glad I did because this has to be one of my favorite BPALs I've tried yet. It starts out with a typical BPAL vetiver flash of smokiness, but the vetiver dries down to a deep, bitter, green earthiness. The myrrh appears immediately after the smoky vetiver moment is over as a sort of cedar-adjacent wood and dries down to such a nice, broad, sweet but dry resin. There is something so sophisticated in the simplicity of this blend. There are only two notes but I've had it on for 8 hours at this point. The two notes combine to form a deep, dark scent without either note dominating. Late late LATE in the game a little smoke comes out again. I would recommend this to anyone who likes either of the listed notes, as they are both very much present, as well as to anyone who got into BPAL, as I did, to learn about perfume notes. This blend really shows off both vetiver and myrrh to their best advantage and I will probably be buying a bottle of this in my next order.

This starts out very green and bitter. I think it is the ferns (which I am not familiar with) mixing with the black currant, which I blame for turning Bordello a little too bitter on me. However, once this dries down, the bitterness all but disappears and the greenness steps (slightly) aside to let the lilac shine aided oh so subtly by the rose. I find that rose doesn't work well on me as the main note in a blend but can be a great supporting player (see also: Spooky Action at a Distance) and that is certainly the case here. The greenness sticking around almost feels like I layered this scent with The Dormouse, to give a comparison. I'm not sure that I can detect the sugar or the absinthe at all. Lilac and rose both tend to be sweet florals and that is true in this blend, as well. However, this isn't really any sweeter than I would expect it to be and the ferns keep the sweetness from being overwhelming. Absinthe may be a part of the slight bitterness that remains in the background, but it definitely isn't identifiable (not that that would be a bad thing, for me). This isn't really my thing, but I'm glad the lab sent me the frimp and I'll definitely wear it when I need a dash of heady springtime air.

i literally don't know how to review aquatics but this is the saltiest aquatic i have tried. it doesn't really fit the inspiration for me because this feels happy and playful, but that's not a bad thing. probably my favorite aquatic i've tried, but that's not saying much.

this starts out all sake. i understand the lemonade comparisons because there is a sharp tartness here that is reminiscent of citrus. there is actually almost nothing else at first and after the blast of sake there is almost nothing going on after a few minutes. however, after a while the musk really starts to bloom. i have always thought the other skin musk blends from the lab smelled somehow damp and indeed this is a sort of wet, delicate, slightly sweet musk. i don't really detect the ambrette seed, but a little research tells me that ambrette seed used to be used as an alternative to musk, so it's possible that it is blending in with what i would interpret as the skin musk. i would guess that it is sweetening things up just a little bit here. the sake thankfully sticks around and has almost the effect of a dry wood (even thoug i know that sounds crazy), really keeping things from getting too sweet and musky. so in the end i guess this smells sort of wet and dry at the same time, which is exactly what i would want from a boozy blend (this is my first). i'm not sure how much i will be wearing this before the weather warms up, but this feels like a great, refreshing, clean-but-interesting blend for warm weather.

I know exactly what you mean about the green stems. Yes, this is a salty aquatic, but the wateriness of it along with a vague botanical feeling reminds me of the water from a vase of flowers. I've had this for a while and at first it really didn't work on me. It turned into some sort of a cat pee-adjacent scent. After a few months, though, this is really a nice, somewhat straightforward aquatic with just a hint of something else along the edges adding a bit of complexity. This is very much not my kind of scent, but if you like aquatic and clean scents and are looking for something with a touch of darkness and mystery, this is for you.

the grave pig!

(2014) i spilled some of this while putting it on yesterday and ... wow what a wild ride. this starts off SCREAMING sufganiyot. not being one for foodie scents, i was a little disappointed. within minutes the doughnutiness of it all died down a bit and the olive came to the front. olive sometimes goes funky on me and unfortunately that was the case here (although if i weren't wearing so much it may have been a nice delicate fuitiness). luckily, the fig and pomegranate came out, brightening the olive, and followed by the candlewax. the candlewax in combination with the fig and olive created a nice deep fruity sweetness with still a bit of juicy brightness. after about an hour the amber /finally/ came out and it was all smiles from there. on my sweater today (two days later) the amber and sufganiyot are still very strong, but smell great together. this is kind of a strange scent. not quite fruity, not quite a typical amber scent, not quite fruity, but it is nice and would be especially good on someone who gets along with olive. i should also add that the amber in this is an incredible, bright amber on me. not powdery at all. definitely worth a try if you're curious.

Fig, oakmoss, mushroom caps, and patchouli. figgy figgy piggy the fig is really strong upon application, but the patchouli and some sort of soft earthiness (not sure if this is from the oakmoss, mushroom caps, or both) are definitely present in the background. this isn't much of a morpher. the fig fades back into balance with the patchouli, but all of the elements noticeable upon application are present throughout the drydown. great last. i have been having a lot of luck with simpler bpals recently and this is no exception. this is not really anything super remarkable, but it is playful, pretty, and very wearable. a nice, cozy, figgy, patchouli. also, my favorite jacket smells like iago permanently because i wear it all the time and these two play /well/ together

Hmmm this is not what I expected. This starts off very sweet. A combination of the oppoponax and the tobacco, perhaps? Although, elsewhere the tobacco is barely perceptible, maybe only adding a little bit of a smokey edge to the leather later on. As it dries down, this becomes an amber-dominated leather scent. The combination of amber and the sweetness I mentioned earlier makes this feel very scrubbed up. It's nice, but not what I was looking for and not really me. I was hoping for a repeat of the success I had with Iago, but there is nothing here I can't get from that blend. I'll keep it around and hope it gets a little darker/more leathery with age, but for now I'm happy with Iago as my go-to dark leather scent.

i really wanted to like lysander and it is nice, but not really my think. however that is precisely because it dries down to a slightly musky tonka and it is too soft for my tastes. tonka lovers should definitely give it a try, though! the opening notes are great (even for someone who is generally more drawn to woods/leather/musks): very floral (lilac/violet) and a little bitey because of the lime.

I am very bad at identifying animal scents at the moment, so this probably will be supremely unhelpful. Definitely very animal with a little spice. It reminds me of that sweet smell that rivers sometimes give off in a forest. Upon application I thought it smelled like a mulchpile, but in a nice way. Great last and sillage. Ultimately a little darker and heavier than I would like (it's like there are /NO/ top notes), but it might be nice to layer with a green/floral scent that needs some grounding. Edit: I've been wearing this regularly over the past month+ and decided that I love it. To me it feels spicy and musky (perhaps it's civet? it smells akin to but not exactly like the other musks I have from the lab) but also strangely neutral and wearable. Definitely getting a bottle with my next order. I also don't really think this is masculine at all. I get more of a femme fatale vibe if anything.

On me, Gaueko = tobacco + sandalwood + lavender period. It's not necessarily bad, and I think the lavender is a nice note to lighten the whole thing up, but I wish the different elements would play with each other in more interesting ways. This isn't really a morpher on me. The sandalwood gets stronger as time goes on, but the lavender and tobacco are still present the whole time. Not bad, but given how much I love tobacco and resins, it is a little disappointing.

Opens with a nicely bracing black pepper over a warm and cozy tobacco note. As it dries it settles into a more resin-dominated place, which is just gorgeous. I need to try a few more of the lab's tobacco/resin scents because this is just incredible. Out of my collection I guess it is most comparable to Gaueko, but this is much greater than the sum of its parts, which I can't say for Gaueko. Nice last and sillage. It makes me feel like I'm enveloped in golden light all day. Edit to update 5 months later: This is definitely one of my favorite BPAL blends that I have. Now that it has settled, the tobacco has backed down a little. I like tobacco, but I'm happy about this because I also like sandalwood and ADORE myrrh and now these two have a time to shine. The tobacco sticks around, though, and keeps things from getting too dry. The black pepper also has been sticking around after the wet stage, adding a bit of spice, which I'm happy about. Stunning.

This starts out all orange blossom and fir on me, with the tobacco adding a little warmth in the background. As it dries, the tobacco note becomes dominant, rounded out by the fir and balsam. There is a little spice coming from the clove and cumin, but I don't think I could have identified those notes specifically. The mint is nowhere to be scene on me, which is okay by me.

Not exactly a pure floral, but I love Lysander (Lilac musk, tonka, wood violet, and urbane lime rind, with a Venus-kissed tangle of myrtle, blackberry leaf, and benzoin). On me it is a nice warm tonka scent that the wood violet and lime really help to brighten.

I am not too familiar with many of the notes in this blend, so this probably won't be that helpful. I wanted to try this blend because I am really into the concept of florals but not that into the actuality of most floral scents. This is a unique, somewhat masculine, restrained floral blend that really fits the bill. Straight out of the imp it smells like sweet florals brightened by the lime. Over time the tonka and lilac musk become more dominant. The only problem is I wish it lasted a little longer on me. I might try to just wear a bit more next time, or else find another use for it (perhaps in the bath?) because the scent itself is just fantastic.

This starts out as an overwhelmingly LEATHER scent on me. It's a little bit tough to get through this phase for me, even though I love leather, but after about a minute the vetiver starts to come out and add some subtlety. As Iago dries down, the musks become more and more dominant until I'm left with a delicate (this word is somehow inappropriate and yet totally not) mixture of musk, a slight smokiness, and the hint of leather. Honestly, I wasn't sold on this but my boyfriend loved it on me so I bought a bottle and now I am so glad I did. The overall result feels cool (as in both hip and frigid, which is unexpected for something this smoky) and cruel and basically makes me feel like a badass. I'm not sure if the makeup of the oil has really changed that much over the few weeks I've been using it or if I've just gotten used to it, but I basically love it now. It's not an everyday scent for me (too masc, I guess?), but it's great for the right occasion. EDIT: I forgot to add that this lasts FOREVER. I basically need to wash this off before I can stop smelling it on my wrists. For me, that is a plus.

this starts off smelling sooooooooooooo strongly of pine/eucalyptus/mint on me. very cool and astringent and not necessarily unpleasant but definitely not me. it starts to calm down and some more subtle wood notes come out... birch? sandalwood? it ends up on a soft but still cool and light sandalwood-heavy scent. clean without being uninteresting, it's nice but not for me.

Brimstone! I am not into foodies, but I feel like it captures the same warm spiciness that many winter foods have without smelling like anything you would actually want to eat.

We've finally caved in to years of requests for vampiric scents. As soft as grave dust and as dry as a breath drawn within a long forgotten crypt, this is Nosferatu: desiccated herbs and gritty earth brought to life with a swell of robust and sanguineous red wines. I have been testing out the imps from my first order and this is by far my favorite. On me it starts out very sweet (must be the wine?) with a faint herbal note in the background. As it dries it becomes very earthy and finally settles into something warm, sweet, and dusty. It definitely smells "old" in a certain comforting way. A lot of people here are finding that it only lasts a few hours, but yesterday I wore it and was catching wafts of it all day. That being said, it doesn't have very much throw. I kind of like that about it, though, it adds to the intimacy that the notes suggest.

these look great as well! i am trying to experiment a little with scents that incorporate subtle florals and a few of these definitely seem like they could fit the bill

It is more fun that way! These are all GC (general catalogue) and in order of what popped into my mind first: Dorian - A Victorian fougere with three pale musks and dark, sugared vanilla tea. Dee - soft English leather, rosewood and tonka with a hint of incense, parchment and soft woods Tavern of Hell - White gardenia, ambergris bouquet, lavender fougere, orange blossom, melissa, tobacco flower, coriander, ebony wood, ylang ylang, absinthe and aged whiskey. Half-Elf - White sandalwood, beeswax, white tea leaf, oud, and a hint of sophisticated urban musk. Dracul - Black musk, tobacco, fir, balsam of peru, cumin, bitter clove, crushed mint, and orange blossom. Faustus - frankincense and cinnamon, darkened by violet. Miskatonic University - The scent of Irish coffee, dusty tomes and polished oakwood halls. Smokestack - Creosote, coal, and industrial waste. Moscow - A rich, bold blend of imperial rose, carnation, lush jasmine, lily of the valley, dark musk, amber, bergamot and gilded tangerine Libertine - Rosewood and chamomile with bergamot, violet, red sandalwood, primrose and Arabian musk. Czernobog - A combination of three musks, with splashes of dark myrrh, vetiver and mullein Mad Hatter - A gentlemen's lavender-citron cologne unhinged by the feral pungence of black musk and a paroxysm of pennyroyal. wow so many of these sound great! i was already dying to try dorian but i will def be adding a few more to my list.

I'm very new here (waiting for my first order of imps), so I'm not in any position to make recommendations myself [sigh]. I'm a 22 year old guy (I guess? Idk I've been playing around with gender a lot recently). Sun in Cancer, moon in Taurus, Sagittarius rising. I'm very academically oriented in an "I'm interested" way, but not in an "I care about grades" way. I went into college thinking I wanted to study biology but came out with a German lit major with a smattering of Russian, history, and studio art for good measure. I am often going back and forth between the US and Germany. Right now I'm in Dresden teaching English. Even though I am very outgoing, I am often alone in foreign countries, so I try to convince myself I dig solitude as much as possible. I feel like a lot of people basically "get" me right away and it's very hard for me to conceal anything from them, but most people think I am a total mystery (which I do NOT understand at all lol). One time someone told me I reminded them of a chimney sweep. I am super into literature. Some of my favesies are Arthur Schnitzler (a Viennese author from the turn of the century who was the first to introduce stream-of-consciousness to a German-speaking public), Virginia Woolf, Thomas Mann, Toni Morrison, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, and Henry James. I'm also interested in film, esp. Polish film (Kieslowski, anyone?). In terms of music, I love twee (sort of gentle, sad punk), lo-fi, and pretty much any sort of bedroom pop DIY stuff you can throw at me. That being said, my favorite singer is Joanna Newsom, which might be sort of an anomaly. I guess my interests are somewhat arcane, but I don't think of them that way and that isn't what attracts me to them. Should I give you some of my favorite notes? Nah, I think it's more fun if I don't. I guess that's it. I am excited to explore BPAL and be a more ~active~ contributor soon!!