DiesMali

In the bottle: Plummy, musky, dark floral.

 

Wet on my skin: Beautiful wildflowers over dark, smooth, lovely musky plum and patchouli. I REALLY like this from the moment it goes on.

 

Dry: I think this has dethroned The Night-Raven and Black Moths as my favourite dark floral + plum/patchouli scent. It's a slightly lighter cousin to Black Moths, in particular. It could easily be placed in the Crimson Peak lineup, I think. There is an almost fabric-like, smooth, silky note that comes out as this dries, and it honestly smells like the exact kind of black silk/lace a vampire princess might wear. The plum oudh, blood musk, and patchouli are the main players closer to the skin, giving the whole perfume a deep, dark, lush "purple" quality, the vanilla I think helps to smooth it all out, and then over the top (particularly in the throw, not so much on the skin) are these beautiful, lightly-sweet wildflowers. I think there might be gypsy rose and cornflower in the floral notes, and not sure what else. Possibly crocus or tulip. It's all so well-blended that it is difficult to pick out any particular floral note. The lavender doesn't really show up at all as its own note, but rather joins the rest of the flowers in the wonderful cloud of purple now surrounding me at my desk.

 

I love this. I really think it may be in my top BPAL florals ever.

In the bottle: Smells just like an apple pie, heavy on cinnamon.

 

Wet on my skin: CINNAMON. With a little bit of baked tart green apple, and after a minute, sugary dough.

 

Dry: Okay, so I don't normally react to cinnamon, but this one burns my skin if I put it in the crooks of my elbows or the base of my neck. Not badly enough to avoid wearing it, and it goes away within 10-15 minutes or so, but those with a cinnamon sensitivity will definitely want to avoid it.

 

That out of the way...this is soooo nice now that it's had a week to settle! It's definitely cinnamon and apple-forward at first. The apple is tart cooking apple, maybe even Granny Smith or the like, but it's a very foody apple whatever colour it is. The funnel cake dough doesn't have much presence until it's been on my skin for 10-15 minutes, at which point the whiff of raw dough from the wet stage becomes something very like pie crust. It's now dough and apples, sprinkled with cinnamon sugar, and with just a bit of creamy strawberry on the top. The strawberry isn't really a note in and of itself, but I can tell there's a hint of fruity, creamy sweetness helping to restrain the cinnamon bully. This is a foodie scent through and through, and I hope the pastry/dough note comes out even more as it ages, because it's making my mouth water. Yum!

In the imp: Eye-watering fruit.

 

Wet on my skin: SWEET. Almost sickly-sweet fruit and gardenia at first. I fear I have made a grave mistake. I KNOW what gardenia does, and I know what anything in the orange family does about 3/4 of the time.

 

Dry: This...dries into something that's actually rather nice, even if it's not quite to my personal scent tastes. The gardenia poofs, probably because of the musky-woody base, which also keeps the fruits from totally spiraling out of control. It ends up smelling like a delicious fruity dessert pie for about an hour, then fades to tart, juicy blackberry jam over spicy musk. I'm gonna keep the imp, because this is SO far out of my usual scent profile and yet somehow works anyway.

In the bottle: RED. Spicy, red, bloody musk and amber.

 

Wet on my skin: This goes on very similar to The Deluge of Blood. The musky, earthy, spicy blood has an almost cave-air like quality at first, and the dragon's blood is definitely not the sweet, floral sort.

 

Dry: I bought this because of the previous review comparing it to The Deluge of Blood, and I am not at all disappointed. It's in the same scent family as that, Ketkrokur, and Ill Omen. Dark, spicy, resinous, earthy, and bloody-musky sweetness that is at once sensual and just a little bit disturbing, in the same sort of way that a vampire sucking on a freshly-bitten, utterly-willing neck is both sexy and taboo in polite society. If you like DARK resins and spice, this is a blend for you. The dragon's blood is neither overwhelming, nor of the floral sort, and it plays quite nicely with the other notes tempering it. It softens after some time (2-3 hours), with all the notes still present and in play, but now they're like like the fuzzy, waning red of a late sunset instead of THE WALLS ARE BLEEDING.

 

I am so glad to have a bottle of this. It's SO good.

Hunting for an Opium blend...I found out much too late that I love When Nothing Was and now I'm looking for something close that I can actually get my hands on

 

Evil from the GC is more complicated than When Nothing Was, but at least on me, the opium note in Evil is the predominant note, and it's that same sweet, smooth, little bit smoky one from WNW.

In the bottle: Misty blue. I dunno, that's what it is.

Wet on my skin: I have no idea what this is that I'm smelling. It's REALLY STRANGE but I also can't stop sniffing the crook of my elbow. It goes on smelling a bit like a nice herbal shampoo, but quickly loses that and settles into something I can honestly only describe as "misty blue" as it dries.

Dry: This is a very, very unusual, atmospheric, and honestly just WEIRD scent. It's definitely in the Oriental family, with soft woods and resins lending a lightly golden backdrop to the rest of the notes. The blue amber, orris, and ylang ylang just do this THING, though, and I'm having a hard time describing it in terms of actual notes, because it's exceptionally well-blended and one of those scents that is more than the sum of its parts. It's the colour of the blue-grey mist that rolls over the Midwest in the early morning, as the sun just begins to rise. Cool, soft, a little bit powdery, and very, very smooth. I haven't ever smelled anything even remotely like this before, but I already know that I like it.

In the bottle: Sweet, fruity red wine and a dab o' sweet, fruity red musk.

 

Wet on my skin: Starts out a bit grapey, but then...it smells like The Top and Chinoiserie from Luper 2015 had a love child. WINNING.

 

Dry: This is definitely a sibling scent to Chinoiserie, cousin to The Top, Obsidian Widow, and Lilith. I am absolutely ecstatic that it smells like the former in particular, because that is one of my top 5-ish scents and I was gutted that I missed getting a backup bottle! Now I can wear them both more often without being terrified of never finding another bottle!

 

The prominent notes on my skin, as this dries, are the opium wine, myrrh, and musk (it's more like indigo musk than red, on my skin) then all the spices in the background. Again, it's very like Chinoiserie in top notes, with the sweetness coming from wine and honey instead of wine and roses. The spices give it an incensed quality, like temple incense, and oh that musk and myrrh just make the wine so velvety-burgundy-smooth and sexy. My skin tempers most spices a bit, so they remain supporting notes instead of running wild (sorry to all the cinnamon-ampers). I'm in a happy cloud of sexy wine, resiny-spicy incense, and velvety-smooth musk. I'll probably get a second bottle at some point, because it is SO GOOD.

In the bottle: Lots of honeysuckle and jasmine!

 

Wet on my skin: Oh, this is niiiice. Realistic, greenery-tinged honeysuckle and jasmine. Definitely a green edge to it.

 

Dry: This is a scent for sitting in a pretty white gazebo in a pretty green garden, with honeysuckle and jasmine growing up the lattice/columns around the gazebo and a lush, green, dewy lawn wherever there aren't flowers and trees. It's a scent for the pretty ladies who are drinking tea and having a merry time as they wear their flower-adorned hats and lace-trimmed Easter clothes as the children run around finding brightly-coloured eggs hidden amongst the pastel garden. These aren't innocent young maidens, though--they're curvy moms who are probably waiting for the kids to tire themselves out so they can break out a few bottles of wine and let their hair down, so to speak.

 

Springlike, fresh, clean, womanly. The ripe honeysuckle and jasmine get smoothed over by a gentle skin musk and a hint of fresh, sweet milk, and the overall effect is that of a youthful yet mature, womanly, slightly sexy-naughty perfume. I really enjoy this, especially for it being a floral-forward blend.

In the bottle: Thick, rich, sugared black musk and coffee.

 

Wet on my skin: Same as in the bottle, but my skin almost immediately starts playing nicely with the musk and toning the coffee down a bit.

 

Dry: This. Is. GORGEOUS. Unf, it's so good, and I can't wait to see what a bit of aging does to it if it's this good a week or two after arriving. The coffee is somewhat short-lived as a foreground note, fading after half an hour or so and then providing a sexy, dark-roast coffee undertone to that thick, sugar-sweetened black musk. This is entirely unique in my BPAL collection, and I might have to get a second bottle before the Carnival goes dark. I might also have to see how it smells on my friend, who looks exactly like the guy on the bottle...

In the bottle: Smells a bit like sweetened condensed milk with a hint of fresh blood.

 

Wet on my skin: It's a soft, delicate, gently-sweet and rather youthful scent. Milky, bit of honey, still that hint of blood. No oil while it's wet.

 

Dry: This is a tiny bit similar to Alice on my skin, at least the milk and honey part of the scent. It's like...smelling sweet offerings from afar, rather than being at the altar where they're given, if that makes any sense. Sweet, creamy milk and a drop of honey, a drop of olive oil, and a drop of blood. It's a very soft, delicate, surprisingly nuanced scent. Sticks very close to the skin. There is a powderiness to this, kept in check by that slight bit of underlying tangy-sweetness from the blood, but I can see how some people might amp "baby powder" if their skin doesn't work with this one. I think the oil is olive oil, and only just a hint until it's been on an hour or two, at which point the oil overtakes the honey and blood to become the second-most prominent note. At this point it becomes a slightly less delicate scent, on my skin, and while it's not quite masculine, it's definitely no longer as 'youthful' as it was when I first put it on.

How is it that I've not reviewed Nasty Woman, seeing as it's become one of my favourites? My bottle's aged a few months now, and it's absolutely GLORIOUS. I'm going to have to pick up a backup at some point, because I never want to run out of this.

 

In the bottle: Thick, rich, chewy-sweet patchouli and fig.

 

Wet on my skin: I, too, am one of the people who gets chewy, fruity, rich tobacco from this blend, and I LOVE IT. It's like sweet tobacco and fig with a bit of vanilla when wet.

 

Dry: This dries into a gloriously spicy, rich, maroon/brown and warm gold cloud, and I wear it when I want to make a statement in more than one manner. Patchouli is one of the best notes for my skin, so this just takes it and runs with it. It does the tobacco thing throughout most of the wear, and it's very well blended in that there's no one note that's totally dominant on my skin. I can pick out the patch, Turkish delight, honey, amber oudh, and fig if I inhale deeply, but this is a perfume that is more than the sum of its parts. For those who are iffy about rosewater in the loukhoum: it's hardly noticeable on my rose-loving skin - I get the sweet chewiness, and I can tell there's a teeny bit of rosewater in there, but it's such that this isn't at all a rose blend on me. Warm, rich, resinous, sweet, and a little spicy.

In the bottle: Rich, thick, creamy chocolate. Mmmmmm.

 

Wet on my skin: Rich, thick, creamy chocolate with a dash of cinnamon. Dry, spicy cinnamon.

 

Dry: This, like the other chocolates, is gorgeous and I love it so much. It's thick, rich, creamy chocolate front and center, with a kick of spicy cinnamon and a little bit of coffee that comes out and darkens the scent a little as it dries. I feel it important to note that the cinnamon in this is like a fresh cinnamon stick, dry and spicy and not like sweet red-hots cinnamon. If you made the best, richest, creamiest Ghirardelli hot chocolate with whole milk and a half-shot of espresso, and stirred it with a cinnamon stick, that's how this tastes. It's amazing and delicious, and I would eat an entire box of chocolates in one sitting if they tasted how this smelled.

In the bottle: Juicy blueberry and some lotus.

 

Wet on my skin: Wet, juicy, sweet blueberry and lotus, and now there's a bit of what specifically smells to my nose like jasmine green tea.

 

Dry: HAH. A berry that works on me! I love this. It's so unlike anything else I have, and it's a lovely spring blend that I'll be happy to wear...when my blueberry-hating S.O. isn't around (he took a whiff of it and made a very sour face at me). The sweet blueberry musk and green tea combine perfectly, with the lotus wafting around in the throw and not so much close to the skin. It retains the "jasmine green tea" that it had while wet, too, and I love that. That's my favourite sort to drink when the weather is getting hot, since it's lighter and a little sweeter than typical green tea. This is definitely one of the non-chocolate hits from this year's Lupercalia release, at least for me. Glad to have a bottle.

In the bottle: WISTERIA.

 

Wet on my skin: HI, I'M WISTERIA. WISTERIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA~!

 

Dry: Whew, okay. That was a lot of wisteria, but it calms down quite a bit as it dries. There's a waxy tuberose incense that joins it, and a bitter green oakmoss deepening everything so the flowers don't go soapy. This is a mature, elegant, almost tropical blend of wisteria and tuberose incense in equal measure, and they switch dominance seemingly with every sniff. The moss remains a green grounding note all the way through, and lends the whole thing a mildly aquatic herbal feel.

 

Foggy blue-violet clouds with wisps of pale seafoam green.

In the bottle: Harsh, cold, minty cypress.

 

Wet on my skin: Harsh, cold, minty-snowy cypress and a whiff of a dark, cold musk.

 

Dry: ...I kind of love this. It was a last-minute impulse bottle, because I wanted to step out of my comfort zone and get something totally unusual that I might not have otherwise tried. As Little Bird said, it's reminiscent of a darker Ded Moroz, without as much sweet warmth underneath the chilly forest. This is a dark, icy evergreen with cold, black musk, a whiff of sweetish-salty animalic ambergris, and just a hint of resinous warmth from amber and opoponax. It's actually more like what I'd hoped a couple of my snowy forest Yule scents would be, which is very nice and very welcome. So glad I sprung for this on a whim!

In the bottle: Sharp and green.

 

Wet on my skin: The dead leaves and fir combine to smell very much like a sappy, crunchy, freshly-picked dandelion salad, flowers and all.

 

Dry: This smells like green dandelions and a bit of fir well into the drydown, but the honey musk starts to join them as its own note instead of adding a bit of sweetness after 15-20 minutes or so. The greens steadily fade into soft, dead brown leaves and a remaining bit of fir, and after about an hour on my skin, most of what is left is an absolutely beautiful sweet, soft musk. It's close to the skin most of the way through its wear, and just as I start getting tired of the greens, they dry and just add a bit of brittle "brown-ness" to the musk for a while. Definitely a scent experience as well as just a really nice thing to wear. I look forward to seeing if this ages as well as I think it will.

In the imp: Green and herbal.

 

Wet on my skin: Bright, green, dewy-fresh herbs.

 

Dry: This remains green and herbal the whole way through, though it softens partway through the wear and smells a lot like a fresh, sappy dandelion salad. I don't get any beer from it, sadly. Not a "me" scent, but might make a nice room scent.

In the imp: Deep, fruity rose.

 

Wet on my skin: Deep, velvety, fruity rose - the lotus is taking it to the fruity side of things, I think.

 

Dry: This is similar to Blood Rose on me, with a fruity and almost winey note from the lotus. It's a purple-red, rich, and sweet floral. Gooey in texture, almost. Not terribly complex, but pretty and surprisingly unobtrusive given how loud rose can be. This would be a good scent to wear somewhere that needs a traditionally feminine, almost old-fashioned scent that won't offend a slightly older crowd with either its throw or its name. I won't need a bottle of it, but it's nice enough to keep, even if it wouldn't be worn often.

In the imp: LEMON LIME

 

Wet on my skin: This goes on similar to the zingy lime-floral of Whitechapel.

 

Dry: I was hoping the citrus in this would be lime/lemon (which often work) and not orange/mandarin/grapefruit (which usually do not). Thankfully, it's zingy, bright lemon-lime similar to that in Whitechapel, and the orange blossom isn't quite "there" enough to send it into cleaning fluid territory - it does threaten it, early in the drydown, but gets over it pretty quickly. This is a bright citrus with soft springlike florals underneath, with a "clean" feel from the lavender. It's a slightly less unisex cousin of Whitechapel, with soft jasmine rather than lilac and lavender as the "clean" note rather than white musk. Pretty! I won't need a bottle since I own one of its cousin, but will certainly keep the imp.

 

In the imp: Strong oleander and ylang-ylang.

 

Wet on my skin: Soft patchouli and SICKLY SWEET OLEANDER with some ylang ylang.

 

Dry: Okay, so I have somewhat unpleasant scent associations with oleander, and I've always thought it smelled poisonous even before the events of the summer that made me associate it with Bad Things. I knew I was taking a chance in putting this on my skin, but my personal policy is to test ALL imps because you never know what will or will not work until it's on your skin. I can see how it might be nice on others, and it's almost nice on me, but the oleander is just not something I think I can wear. There's just enough of its sweet poison mixing with the bitter neroli that it's dredging up all the bad memories and turning my stomach a little if I sniff it closer to the skin. The throw is actually rather pretty, making me sad that the scent association and close-to-skin scent are so poisonous to me. I know someone who loves these notes and who'll appreciate this, though, so it will find a good home.

 

In the imp: ...there's no melon in the notes, but I could swear I smell a sharp, green, unripe melon.

 

Wet on my skin: No melon once it's on my skin. Now it's sharp, green, almost medicinal herbs with just a bit of soft shea butter.

 

Dry: Foresty scents usually range between decent and amazing on me, but I think the shea in this isn't quite working on my skin when combined with the green herbal and evergreen notes. I like my forest tempered by amber or patchouli, but this instead both sweetens and sharpens everything to GREEN for the first ~hour of wear. It's a bit medicinal and disjointed on me, and I think it would likely need a bit of patch or something "earthier" to temper the runaway GREEN. This had such potential, but the combination just doesn't do well with my skin chemistry. I am disappoint.

In the vial: Leathery, sweet tobacco.

 

Wet on my skin: Reminiscent of Perversion, but somewhat drier and smokier.

 

Dry: This is Perversion's somewhat more mature, slightly more no-nonsense cousin, at least on my skin. Glorious pipe tobacco and worn black leather combine with cinnamon, smoky honey, and benzoin to make a very sexy, slightly dangerous-feeling blend. The cinnamon behaves itself quite well, lending spice without being overpowering. The honey, too, lends its support without becoming cloying. Sultry and feminine, this is one classy dominatrix - one who smokes a cigarillo on a long holder and reads a favourite book while she's using you as her footstool. And she's so good at what she does that you keep coming back for more.

 

Ahem.

 

This really is a pretty great scent.

In the bottle: MYRRH and some tobacco.

Wet on my skin: Woodsy, dark vetiver-tobacco-spice...and something a little sour.

Dry: Okay, so I ordered this because my bottle of A Grievous Swarm is slowly getting lower and lower, and it's one of my favourite scents when I'm in the mood for something very unusual and dark. Some of the notes in this, and something about the description, reminded me of that and so I took a chance on it. I'd probably have ordered it anyway, but I just had a hunch that it would be a scent cousin to my beloved swarm of black flies. IT IS. This is a little more biting and sharp, with a slightly sour edge, but that gritty vetiver and tobacco is similar enough that there's a stupid grin on my face. The labdanum is stronger than the black pepper in AGS, and there's no vanilla here to smooth anything out - this is dark, woodsy, and gritty. I'm hoping the sour (turpentine-like) edge on that labdanum and/or agarwood goes away after it has aged and had time to settle, but otherwise it's a scent cousin, but not at all identical, to A Grievous Swarm. Vetiver and tobacco forward, then myrrh and labdanum, then chips of drying, aged agarwood.

In the bottle: Strong frankincense and labdanum.

Wet on my skin: This is sharp in the bottle, but it goes on smooooooth. I know that word is going to be used a lot in this review, sorry.

Dry: First impressions are that this is dark, dark, smooth, and almost sexy. I thought it was a close to the skin scent at first, but then I realised that there's a wonderful cloud of DEEP RED floating about me. Smooth red musk and black frankincense are on the surface, but this is a smooth and dark frankincense rather than the brighter, almost citrusy sort found in the more ecclesiastical blends. I have limited experience with the BPAL blood musk, but I think this is that - it's definitely not dragon's blood, if anyone was concerned about that particular note. It's a slightly coppery, almost earthy/salty musk. Labdanum is thankfully behaving itself, giving everything an almost leathery incensed feeling. This is a scent you almost FEEL more than you smell, if that makes sense. Dark, deep, smooth, like blood-soaked leather drying in incensed night air. Well worth the bottle purchase even fresh out of the mailbox.

In the imp: Frankincense! And a little carnation.

 

Wet on my skin: Something about this combination of notes makes me think of both a fresh-cut and polished wood, and oil paints on wood-handled brushes. Oddly nostalgic, somehow.

 

Dry: This is a very frankincense-forward scent on me, which is totally okay because frankincense is one of my favourite notes. Frankincense with a bit of spicy carnation and ritual herbs. It's pleasant and unobtrusive, a bit ecclesiastical in nature, and I think I'll keep the imp. Don't need a bottle, but I think I'd like to try layering this with The Light of Men's Lives, which is on the other arm and smells pretty great when I put them side by side so I get both in my nose.