LizziesLuck

This starts out like a pretty floral soap. Though the leaves are the same note I recognize from other blends I love while in the bottle, on my skin they pretty much disappear and the florals take over. It's a really pretty, clean, bright floral, but sadly it's not very autumnal on me. The leaves do come out a bit more as it dries, but so does whatever has gone soapy, and it's not a great combo on me. I was so sure this would be the perfect fall scent for me! Sadly I was wrong.

Wet: I pick up BPAL's grass note. It's misty/dewy to me, but not full-on aquatic. I think there's something else green in there too, maybe some dandelion? Something floral - not lillies, to my nose, as they turn to wet cardboard on my skin. Maybe orchid? Like the orchid note in Lamia, with grass, and mist, and hints of leather and dirt. Dry: Quite pretty. I don't normally enjoy anything remotely aquatic, but I can appreciate this. The green keeps is from being soapy, I think. I love the lab's grass note. This reminds me a bit of a less sweet Venus Verticordia with some added rain/mist. Pretty. Not sure if it's really a "me" scent, but I think lovers of green or pretty aquatics would adore this.

Wet: Effervescent lemony musk. Sweet, a bit powdery. Really pleasant, to me. Innocent and almost candied. It gets less lemony and more musky as it dries. Dry: Musky, sweet, powdery, and a bit floral. Really nice. Somewhat ethereal. I think it'll be a great spring scent.

Wet: Spices - but not the familiar cinnamon/nutmeg/clove type spices. These are exotic and hard to pin down. They're warm and comforting, and a little green. There's also a suedey sort of leather coming through. This is light and earthy. There's also something sweet behind it. I like it so far. Dry: This is a great leather scent. Soft, worn leather, spices, and something I can't quite place. It would smell amazing on a man, but I don't feel it's too masculine for me to wear. Not sure if it's really "me" but I do like it a lot. So glad I got to try it!

Here's a thread on aquatic florals that may be of some interest to you - http://www.bpal.org/topic/65453-watery-or-aquatic-florals/?hl=aquatic and also one on rain scents http://www.bpal.org/topic/14650-rain-scents/?hl=rain I am not an aquatic fan myself, but objectively, the ones I liked best have been the new Halloween scent The Haunted Beach Pale, moonlit musk, sea salt, and ambergris. and the GC Egle Ocean water, hyacinth petals, star jasmine, and fir. Happy sniffing!

Mmm, the tobacco in this is beautiful, reminiscent (though not identical, to my nose) of French Tobacco, for sure. I'm not getting any spice from mine, but a creamy, buttery pumpkin note - to me, it's similar to the pumpkin rind note in The Changeling, which I adore. This is such a good combo, perfect for fall, and I will really enjoy using mine.

Mmm, this is so yummy! Lots of nutty toffee goodness. I sprayed this on my sleeve, and the initial blast is way more brittle than pumpkin or spice, but as it dries, the cinnamon comes out. I still get lots of rich nuttiness to balance it out. I like this a lot, and will use my decant up for sure, likely over the holidays - this feels very festive to me!

Wet: Lots of beeswax, mmm! Hints of roses...something smoky, maybe the Frank? It's quite light, and lovely so far. Hoping the Frank doesn't take over, it's such a bully note on my skin. Dry: Creamy styrax, leather, paper, beeswax, Frankincense...it's all present, and it's nice, but the sweetness of the beeswax isn't quite enough to temper the Frank on me, and I am just not loving it. I'll give it another chance another day, but currently this is headed to the swap pile. Pleasant, but not amazing on me.

I adore the combo of blackberry and Myrrh, so couldn't resist picking this up off Etsy. This is dark, fruity, tangy - almost zingy. The chypre and Myrrh give it some depth. I like it quite a bit, but not the blackberry/Myrrh scent I had hoped for. Glad I tried it, but if I find I am not reaching for it much, it may need to be rehomed.

I have recently fallen in love with ambergris (The Mirror and A Specific Aberration both rock my world) and have been longing for an ambergris HG to pair with them! Hoping this will be it... Sprayed on the sleeve of my sweater (already have HG in my hair) this is lovely. But I'm getting mostly woods (sweet, dry, similar to sandalwood, but not quite?) and sweet white tobacco. So so lovely. But the ambergris isn't really detectible. This is a light scent, The tobacco has that spicy-sweet quality, similar to what I found in Bulgarian Tobacco, but not as sweet or chewy. There's almost a hint of....citrus...? to it? Or something? This is pretty, and interesting, and entirely work appropriate, and I will enjoy wearing it. But it's not the in-your-face-ambergris HG I had hoped it might be.

Freshly sprayed (on the sleeve of my sweater, my hair already has HG in it) the red musk is prominent, as one would expect. The honey is there as well, and if there is a "blood" component to it, it's behaving itself well and not taking over. I get hints of smokiness from the vetiver. The patchouli adds a subtle woody/earthiness, but is not prominent at all. This is all about the sexy red musk, as one would expect from something called, "vampire red". I love red musk, and previously I would have said The Poem Cloud and Holliday were tied for my fave red musk HGs, but this one might actually top them. Excited to actually try it in my hair to see about staying power, but it's good and strong, with decent (but not obnoxious) throw from my sweater sleeve. Love this. Will have to pick up a full bottle, I think, or at least another decant. ETA: I did order a full bottle. I cannot stress how good this is! I still love Holliday and Poem Cloud, but this is EVERYTHING. And it last forever. I just adore it. Top five HGs of all time, for sure. Maybe even top 3.

sadly this is a skin fail for me - I adore ginger, but this goes all "weird fruit" on me. I have difficulty with some of the lab's fruit notes, and it appears this one just doesn't agree with my chemistry!

Wet: So much leather! Manly leather. It's nice, it's not doing that chemical thing leather sometimes does on me, but it's still a TON of leather. Not getting any other notes at all. Dry: Ya it's sadly just all leather on me. Too bad, the other notes sounded awesome, and I was really hoping to detect the porter note. Oh well, I'll pass it on to someone who will love it more.

Wet: I thought I knew what marigolds smelled like, based on a few perfumes I have that contain it (including Summer's Last Will and Testament, which I adore). I was WRONG. Either that or it just hates me in this single note form. This is terrible on me! It currently smells like compost. In the bottle, it's a really rich floral that reminds me of dried grass, it's almost citrusy....it's nice. On my skin - compost. Dry: This FINALLY settles into something wearable on me, hours later. I amp some part of that marigold note that is just not pleasant! But once dry, it beautiful. Bright (it really is almost citrusy, to my nose), a little green, fresh, a bit peppery or "zingy" for lack of a better word. It's interesting. Not sure I would wear it though, it takes so long to get past that initial skin fail where it turns to compost...this may need to be rehomed.

In theory, I love the combo of fig and patchouli, but for whatever reason I find it hard to wear. Hoping I won't have that issue with this! Wet: Oh that's nasty, in the best way possible. Rich, chewy patchouli, that almost comes across like tobacco. The fig is sweet and rich and sticky. This is yummy. I can see even those who don't love patchouli liking this! Dry: Dirty! In a good way, though it's a bit drier than I really like. I wish more of that chewy richness from the fig had stuck around. But it's still nice and sweet, not at all gnarly or funky. Interested to see how it ages! Not sure how much I'll wear it, but pretty sure I have to keep it regardless.

This is the last of my blind-bottle Weenies I have left to try - I am a little leery, based on other reviews, and the scent in the bottle. I haven't had great luck with my blind bottles this year. Wet: Grape cough syrup (which I always rather liked) transitioning into grape candy, with hints of smoke coming through. This is not BPAL's typical blackberry note that I love so much, it has none of the tartness of blackberry. The "bruised purple toxins" must equal grape. The incense note in there is to die for, if the grape candy would just settle a bit, this would be glorious. Dry: This gets a bit darker, less candy sweet Still very rich purple fruit, almost syrupy. Still more grape than blackberry to me, but much less artificial smelling now. If you like sweet, fruity scent with just a hint of incense, I bet you would love this. As for me - the jury is still out. I think I'll let it settle a couple of weeks and try it again before I decide.

I think I was even more excited for this than I was for my Weenies! In the bottle, it's heavy on the sweet vetiver (which is noticeably sweeter than usual). My skin eats vetiver though, so I am excited to see what other notes come out. Wet: Sweet, almost caramelized vetiver. Lovely. It's gone (on me) in seconds, but a faint hint of smokiness remains to accompany the other notes. Lots of toasty nuttiness, hints of honey and hay. Lovely. It smells golden. Makes me happy. Dry: Warm, toasty, nutty. Lots of wheat/hay notes. I do quite like it, though I would love to get more vanilla/honey out of it, or just more sweetness in general. Interested to see how it ages.

2016 version - I randomly added this to my cart last minute, had to intention of even getting a decant of it, but something about it all of a sudden called to me, and I had to have it! Wet: Oh wow. Super complex, and much more than the sum of its parts - this smells like fall. I can't wear Samhain, due to the mullein, but this is what I wanted it to be like on me. Not sure where the fruitiness is coming from, but it's there! I get hints of red musk (but not totally dominating) and dead leaves, but also fruit. I don't really get the smoke, but I get some incense. It's quite lovely, and screams autumn to me. Dry: I really don't get where the fruitiness is coming from, but this honestly smells like Samhain without the mullein on me, which doesn't make a lot of sense to me, based on the notes. But it is what it is (fall in a bottle!) and I am really glad I ordered it. I recommend this to anyone who wanted to love Samhain and didn't - this might be your second chance!

Wet: Hmmm. More honey than beeswax? Or both? And something fruity that is really unexpected. Incense, which gives a "purple" impression, and is different than I expected. Hmm, this is hard to pin down. Almost...grapey? Very faint on my skin. This may need some aging. It's glorious in the bottle, so this could also be a skin chem fail... Dry: Totally disappeared. I think I may let this one age a bit and test again. I love beeswax too much to just give up on it!

Wearing this to bed to night. I didn't even do a test, I just full on slathered, knowing there was no way it could go wrong, and it didn't. I love wearing lavender to bed, and amber is a favourite as well. This is a beautiful, rich, sweet, warm and glowing amber. It's beautiful. The lavender melds with it perfectly. The sweetness of the amber balances the lavender and keeps it from being astringent. A new bedtime favourite!

No idea what Origins ginger smells like, but when you mentioned ginger and florals I immediately thought of Pepper Wild English roses, French gardenia, vanilla, honey, golden ginger, blood orange, tuberose, bergamot, and geranium. On me it's a floral, citrusy ginger. It's lovely. You might also try Sudha Segara Sweet milk and warm, healing ginger with a touch of golden honey and our blend of Ambrosia If you can find some, Opuhi is beautiful - Ginger blossom and vanilla orchid. I also adore the gingery Vespertilio Proterus - Warm golden ginger, wild fig, and vanilla cream spiced with saffron, limu amani, nutmeg, coriander, and angelica.

I hate aquatics. But musk and ambergris with sea salt sounded so amazing that I lost all sense and blind bottled it! That being said, in the bottle it doesn't smell like a typical aquatic at all (aka soap, to me). Wet: Oh wow, that ambergris is gorgeous! With the salt, and the musk coming through...haunting indeed, and beautiful. But it's hovering juuuust on the edge of soap. It wants to go there. Hoping it doesn't. Currently it actually smells like the beach, not the "perfume" version of aquatic that never agrees with me. I think the salt is actually what's keeping it just out of soap territory - one almost never smells a salt soap... Dry: I can't decide about this! It doesn't go soapy on me at all (a miracle, right there) and I don't hate it, for sure. It's such a far cry from those drug-store brand type aquatics. It genuinely smells of the sea, and I love it for that. But at the same time something in it seems to be giving me a headache. And I'm also having a hard time picturing wearing it, it's just really not me. But I think I would LOVE it as a room scent, and may use it in an oil burner. Or who knows, maybe I'll wear it in the summer? OR I may pass it on to someone who will love it like it deserves. Haven't decided yet. Either way, hands down, best aquatic I have EVER smelled. If you're an aquatic lover, don't pass this up.

I love musk. It's the most common note in my whole collection. Hag musk?! Had to have it! Wet: Mmm. Oh that's good. It's a really dark, murky musk. Not quite black, not Siberian. Not red. I recognize it though, I swear! This musk is in something I have...is it Chokmah that has this musk? Or maybe Panther Moon? Ooh, or Luna Negra maybe!! I will have to do some side by side testing to find out. Either way, dark murky musk (but not the slightly lemony black musk variety). Sweet, but not too sweet. Sinister. I like it. Dry: So murky! This is a gritty, almost dirty (in a good way!) musk. It's dark, and sludgey and I like it.

I used to think I disliked dead leaves, but it turns out I really enjoy that note when it's with something sweet. I adore both blackcurrant and tobacco, so I had to have this. Wet: Mmm. Lots of dead leaves (which are a tad bitter on my skin/to my nose, but I have come to appreciate that scent). The tobacco comes through next, and it is chewy and rich. I get faint hints of sweetness from the blackcurrant, and the tobacco is sweet as well, so they're balancing out the dead leaves nicely. It's lovely, and smells so much like fall. Dry: Love this. The leaves fade into the background, and the currant and tobacco shine. It's so pretty. Everything is perfectly balances. I know I will get a lot of wear out of it this fall.

Fresh outta the mail, and I should be giving it time to settle, but I am not. I have had such a craving to smell like dead leaves this fall! And this one sounded perfect for me, I ADORE cardamom. And sugar. Wet: Wow, that cardamom note....it's so true and pure. Cardamom is one of my favourite spices to bake with, and this smells just like the real thing. It's sweetened to the perfect extent. The leaves are only in a supporting role - so far this is all about the cardamom Dry: Sadness!! Somewhere along the way, this turns odd on me. The leaves never really show up, the sugar fades away, and the cardamom turns into - men's soap?? Weird. I'll give it another test when it's not so fresh out of the mail, and hope for better results.