VetchVesper

Dark Lace is similar to Black Lace and may be easier to find. Also, you should check out the current Shunga - A Vision of the Courtesan, if it looks at all interesting to you. The tobacco is beautifully smooth in it, and I think the creaminess might appeal to your Dragon Milk and Lace loving tendencies.

Vanilla crepe de chine, ruby musk, golden amber, frankincense, honeyed saffron, smoked cardamom, sweet orange, star anise, and bronze fennel. This is SOOOOOO good. When I opened my package from the Trading Post, this heavenly scent wafted up to me and I knew I had done well. "Portrait of a Young Woman..." Is extremely well blended, and I really have a hard time seperating the notes. What I get most is a light sweet orange resting gently over a luxurious bed of rich amber and velvety red musk. There's a sort of smokiness to the scent that I find intriguing and something almost comes across to my nose as a dry cocoa note. Little wafts of vanilla trickle in at dry down, but over all this is just a beautiful, incensey, musky masterpiece. So glad I splurged on this one! ETA: I really just love this. One of my top 10, and strongly considering buying a second bottle, which I do next to never. Also, I work at a job where I do lots of physical labor w/my hair up, but this stuff lasts through all of it for days. When I let my hair down, it's just a blanket of heavenly descending.

Pear, white musk, and lily of the valley - without looking at the notes. Hmmm... Ok. Not lily of the valley, but a gentle, somewhat soapy floral note created by a melange of other blossoms. I think I can detect sweet pea peaking out, if I look. Lily usually smells sweet, almost honeyed on me and avoids soap territory. This is behaving better than most lily of the valley, but it's still very reminiscent. The pear is made dry by the white musk at first, but after a few minutes, the musk and florals take over and pear becomes barely discernible. There's a powdery softness to the blend, and an underlying creaminess, and the white musk refrains from going screechy. It's pleasant, but very not me. This seems like it fits in the family of Queen of Hearts, Endymion, and King of Hearts. Check it out if you like lily of the valley, sweet pea, or your florals with aldehydes or white musk. I was hoping for something more juicy and lush, and I'm disappointing I can't detect the heliotrope or honeysuckle.

A burst of honeysuckle, right up front, with a spicy richness underneath. The scent is juicy and green. I can smell the fir needles, but they're the bright new needles of spring, not last year's Christmas Tree boughs. The forest scent becomes dominant, but there's still a thread of honeysuckle underneath which is lovely. I never get "honey." It's not golden or sweet enough for that. My nose reads this and strait up BPAL honeysuckle note. That's ok though. This is wonderfully reminiscent of a sunny forest frolic.

What about A Woman Practicing Calligraphy on Her Lover’s Erect Member? I haven't tried it, but no leather and people seem to smell the ink. Does this work as a bookish scent? Anyone with first had knowledge?

I've avoided reviewing this one for a long time because, even though I like it, it's a hard one to pin down. Lots of notes and lots of morphing as it dries down. It last quite a while on me, though I wouldn't say it's a strong fragrance. This is the 2016 version, so it's had a while to age and come together. It's warm, gently wood, slightly spiced, and sweet in the bottle. Pleasant, with no notes standing out. It smells similar when I dab it on, but strengthens. The lemon verbena floats to the top, along with the hyssop, I think. Something powdery, herbal and sort of anise-like. The lemon verbena starts to go yucky and sour on my chemistry, but luckily, this phase is short. Then it reverts back to it's initial phase, with a touch of fruit added. The poppy and hibiscus give this a thin, red, fruity tone that's interesting mixed with the darker notes. The fragrance continues to morph, evolving a honeyed sweetness, over the now more prominent fruits. It become more golden than red. After this phase, the spices exert themselves, and this becomes almost a mulled punch over mellow, smooth wood. Over all this stays complex, warm, vaguely sweet, woody, fruity, and warm. In short, this fragrance makes me think of chewing on golden raisins. It also smells somewhat like the beginning stages of Cairo. I wear it now and then, but I would really love it as a candle. It just seems cheery and comforting without being in any way stereo-typical of a Christmas scent. I would not let one or two notes keep you from trying this. It's very much a sum of its balanced parts.

Reviewing from memory, but I recall this being a very salty, fresh aquatic. It had a nice weight to it, but wasn't dark or heavy, and seemed like it would work great for someone who wanted a fresh air, beach vibe in a realistic way, or maybe wanted to make enclose spaces smell open. Clean, but not like cleaning product clean. This would be very nice for a guy's space, as it's not sweet, and far from the "sea breezy" fragrances so typical in candles and room sprays. This smells more natural. A bit like Beach Scene, but without the woodiness. I liked this one, even though aquatics aren't usually my thing. I'm digging all the salt in this year's line up.

I'm not having much luck with this release. Every note listed should have been win, but what I'm getting is perfumey chemicals with a weird sour sweetness. No recognizable honeysuckle or amber cream. Perhaps plum and cherry blossom, but only in a very artificial, chemical way. A no go for me. 😕

Salt Phoenix is one of my favorite BPAL lilacs. I used to think of it as a perfect lavender/lilac blend, but it's deepened with age and grown more complex. Hotaru no Yu is a different animal. It's quite lilac-y, but the honeysuckle makes a good showing, so you get more of a dewy, spring floral. It's a floraly-floral, but a nice one if you're into that sort of thing. I kept my decant, but a full bottle was a little much for me. Don't forget about Kabuki Actor and Their Lover, though. The lilac is more mellow, but it balances really nicely with the champaca and incense. Basically, think a light, lilac scented incense. I can smell a bit of the cherry blossom too, but the lilac is stronger to me. I love incense blends, so I preferred this one over Hotaru no Yu. Salt Phoenix's lavender and salty aspects really set it apart from these two HG's, at least to my nose.

Wow! Fecal. I get looooots of fecal. O_O Weird. I very rarely get that from anything but oud, and this is different. Less manure, more ... yeah, dirty diapers. I see civet mentioned as the culprit, but I like civet, and that's not what I'm getting here. I'm blaming this funk on the florals. Something heavy and VERY indolant. Definately some jasmine, but that's honestly all that cuts through the poop. Yeeeeesh. Maybe my nose is broken right now, but I don't think this is one's for me.

This makes me think of honey drizzled over yeasty rolls. I could see how some folks would really dig that, but it's not really something I want in a perfume. I don't get any obvious butter, which is a note I rather enjoy. I don't really get cream either, but maybe that's because I associate "cream" with vanilla cream, and that's not what this is. Mostly, I get a thin, sweet honey, like you'd find in the honey bear squeeze bottles. It's sort of "meady." There's a little bit of a pollen/wild flower vibe going on as well, but over all, this is not rich or dark enough for me.

This is deep, luscious cherries at first, over a dark background of woody patchouli. I'm not getting any almond or maraschino vibes from this one. I'm getting ripe fruit. This is pretty much what I wanted The Red Queen to be on me. Unfortunately, the cherry doesn't stick around long, and this quickly becomes all about the woody patchouli. It's a nice version of the note, with a little hint of the cherry chypre underneath it, but I was really digging those cherries. Alas. If cherry notes stick around on you though, this is a winner.

Lots of honey, a smidge of red musk, a little bit of leather. This is too sweet for me. The leather is somewhere between supple kidskin and raw or hard leather. So, no black S&M leather and no cowboy leather. I agree that BRD bares similarities to Womb Furie and Snake Skin. It also reminds me of Smut and a bit of Krapus Lace (though it's much less complex). Since I have all of those others, BRD is redundant, but if the idea of leather tinged honey sounds yummy to you, give this a go.

Lux. Slinky. Resinous. The perfume version of that little black dress, in velvet. This improved vastly with aging. When I originally got my decant, this was pleasant but forgettable. 2-3 years later I'm getting a smooth, rich myrrh and amber with a deep vanilla undertone. I can get the cocoa if I look for it, but this one's not chocolatey. Also, the oil separates, so shake shake shake! Cardamom -- again, I think I can catch it if I'm looking, but it blends with the amber pretty seamlessly. This is all about that myrrh and amber combo, with the other notes just taking things up a notch. If you love those two notes, definitely give this one a go. I'm probably going to have to pick up a bottle at some point.

With all those glorious listed notes, this should have been love, but for whatever reason, Dalliance just comes off as "meh" to me. A dry, smooth sandalwood is the most prominent note, dirtied up by patchouli. When I say "dirtied," I mean it literally. There's an earthy, dusty quality to the scent, and surprisingly, very little sweetness. I'm not getting any honey or benzoin. I think I may detect the labdanum, but it's all smoke, sans the syrupy quality I usually enjoy it for. I get Luchessa's reference to Fake News, and I can totally agree to that. Fake News didn't impress me at first either, but I love the dry down. This one just sort of maintains its "meh-ness." Not a win for me, but if you like drier/less sweet incense smells, this may be your bag.

Buttery, rich sandalwood at first. Very Indian. Then it starts to go musty/dusty, and I'm digging it less. The violet I'm getting is sort of mentholy and green? Not really pleasant. 😕 Ok. Now I'm looking at the notes. I think that "sandalwood" I was picking up on must be the cedar - whiiiich hates my chemistry. So that explains the musty/dusty yuck. Sigh. I'm guessing if cedar works for you, this would be really nice, especially if you like old world incensey smells. The opening had promise. I don't get any p'oud, but I do get something akin to "red" oudh... which is another note that rarely works for me. The violet I detect is far from the floral tone I was expecting and hoping for. This one's not for me. But, if you like cedar, red oudh, and deep woody scents without the alpine feel, this is probably worth a whirl. I'd actually really like to smell it on someone with different chemistry. I think it might work well as a masculine blend too.

Weird. Sort of rubbery and fruity, with overtones of honey and lychee. Those are my 1st impressions, before looking at the notes. There's also a smoky undertone that reminds me of a floral caramel. Ok, looking at the notes after giving this a couple of minutes on my skin, the smoky-sweet aspect is still there, and is becoming recognisable as a dusty candle wax. The floral, fruity, and honey tones are gone, but so is the weird artificial smell. I'm getting a lot more resin, the opopponax, I think. I think I'm also getting a good amount of linden blossom. I haven't had a lot of experience with the note, but I think I recognize it, and I'm suspecting it's not something I really care for. 😕 It's sort of fresh, bright, and woody. A little green and a little soapy. This one's definitely different. The dusty wax and thick resins don't really gel for me with that brighter linden blossom.

This brings me back to the 80's with memories of citrusy scratch'n sniff stickers and Tang powder. It's sugar orange powder up front, maybe with some pale vanilla in the background. Then something begins to emerge from beneath the bright top notes. Something sort of bitter and woody. I might be getting a hint of strawberry too? I never get bubble gum from this. Candy, yes. The powdery kind with lots of citric acid. The beginning stages make me smile, but whatever is murking things up in the dry down puts a damper on this being a love. This Caroline will have to find her mojo elsewhere.

This smells like it has a smooth, understated cedar to me, but I guess its the sandalwood mixing with something. I do smell the dry orris. The coconut is prominent, dry, and non-tropical. This is sort of a non-foody cousin to Goblin. It's very "brown" smelling, has a nice weight, but could still be worn in the summer. I think guys or girls could pull it off.

This is a bright, clean rose scent at first. It's very pure smelling, sweet, and almost astringent. After a few minutes, a warm spiciness starts to tinge a still very dominant rose. If there's any soapiness, for me it emerges during the dry down, when the other floral comes into play. Muguet, I'm looking at you. O_-- It's still pleasant though, and much less soapy that I usually get from lily of the valley. In fact, this stage settles down pretty quickly, leaving me with a soft, well balanced blending of the two florals. The other notes lend a smoothness and maturity to the fragrance without detracting from its two main player. I get a somber feel from this one. It doesn't smell like an old lady, but neither is it a bright-eyed spring bouquet. Not me, but pretty, and well worth a try to those who like lily of the valley.

I smell cucumber and cold coffee, specifically the cucumbery smell in some of the plasticy perfumes like Polyester Spiderweb. A little later I start to get supple leather, and then the plastic cucumber becomes more of an ink smell. I'm not getting much coffee anymore. Just leather, ink, and something smoky. It's an interesting blend, but not something I'd wear, and once I've got plastic cucumber in my brain, it's hard to think of old books. ETA - After reading all the other reviews, I was thinking I might be insane, but thank you Starbrow. Cucumbers! I swear. O_O

This is a really interesting atmospheric, and I would never expect to enjoy the smell of wet green, butter, and old cigarette smoke, but I do. When I got my decant of this a little bit had seeped out into the package and everything smelled like buttery sugar cookies with a faint hint of cigarette. Sort of like a smoker with freshly washed hands had given me a cookie. Now that's its had time to settle, Mr. Nancy's House is all greenery and cigarette when it's first sprayed with no cookie in sniff. Which makes it really odd when those cookies reappear in dry down. They are still a faint whiff though behind the verdant greenery. As a Texan, I am QUITE familiar with palmetto bugs and am VERY GLAD I don't know what they smell like and do not smell them in this! But the greenery that's present does remind me of the humid, wet kind you would find things scuttling in. I'll enjoy my decant of this when I want something different and somewhat masculine. I also wonder if it might help mask the odor of real cigarette smoke, or at least make it more pleasant. I'm not a smoker, but I know some people have a certain nostalgia for the smell, and I could see how this could be a nice, non-carcinogenic way to get it.

Frankincense and rock-rose is what I primarily get. If you're looking for a rose blend, you might be disappointed. This is a dark, resinous blend in the vein of Ecclesiophobia and other "churchy" incenses. I don't really get any kind of cool, stone vibe, but this works nicely with the Gothic gargoyle image. I prefer my incenses to be more of the hippy and opium den variety though. 😜

For me this is all about the black currant, which is interesting b/c it's definitely a juicy, berryish black currant, and that's usually not how the note smells on me. I'm used to getting a dark huskiness that I enjoy but has never struck me as fruity. Here, it's fruity. I'm also getting some nice sandalwood and amber balancing and grounding things. This is a sensible fruitiness, more fall than summer. I get a bit of vanilla sweetening things up, but it remains in the background and is not the foody variety. Check this one out if you're a black currant fan, or like darker fruit blends with a hint of incense.

This starts out with a kick of clove and an almost bubble-gummy sugariness, but it evolves into a creamy carnation scent. The sandalwood stays in the background but smooths things out, and the clove and more spicy aspects of the carnation are subdued. I get very little vanilla and no detectable muguet. Pretty, but I have other carnations scents I like better.