freyasfae

Ah, it's a jessamine, not a jasmine which is why it's softer. Nice, wet spring floral, but ends up drying down into something very perfumey.

I have been pleasantly surprised by how much I like sweet pea when BPAL does it. After the sickly sweetness of Bath and Body Works sweet pea scent, I had sworn it off. At first this is mostly sweet pea, and it is sweet, but not sickly so, and as it dries down the other notes start to come out and really balance the sweetness with a lush greenness.

I got this as a frimp in a forum swap, and on me this just seemed like the BPAL leather note, but a little softer and more rounded out. Reading the description, I am that it has many death notes for me: star anise, frankincense, and patchouli, but those didn't really stand out for me. Overall, it is very well blended.

Now, this is the winter scent I have been looking for. I tried the more snowy scents, but they often ended up being too sweet, then I tried the evergreens, and they were too pungent on me, and the mints too ozony, but Skadi, she is minty (more foodie minty), the coconutty BPAL snow, and a touch of pine.

There are some BPALs that from the initial inhale, I fall backwards in olfactory bliss. This is one of those. This is what I had hoped for in Snow White, and while Snow White ended up being too sweet, the light musk (skin musk, maybe?) in this scent balances this subtle rose and powdery, coconutty fresh snow with an earthiness that the saccharine, ethereal innocence of Snow White lacks for me.

Agh, this is so sweet, even with the oak wood, it's just super syrupy sweetness. Nope.

With the sweet pea and watermelon accord with the woods and green elements, this reminds of Give Me Thy Breath, My Sister, which surprised me because I thought it would be too sweet, but the green cut it, so it has this girly, pink sweetness to it, cut with beautiful, soft greens, and in the case of this scent, soft bark browns. I continue to be surprised by how scents like sweet pea (which Bath and Body Works made me hate for being too sweet) show up in BPAL scents, and I find a new love. And this is the second I have tried with elemi listed as a note, and I am finding I really like this strangely salty note.

In the imp, this smells like an herby honey, but almost as soon as it goes on the citrus notes start coming out. As it dries down, it becomes this very sophisticated scent - the scent of a woman who knows what she likes and demands it. It has a similar feel in this way to some of the other Venuses I have smelled, but it is still very much its own.

I do love BPAL's dirt note, but this is a spicy dirt that I do not care for. The addition of the patchouli takes it from fresh upturned dirt to weirdly spiced dirt for me.

I love when BPAL captures things like salty tears in a scent. At first, I thought this was a soapy floral, but there was something in the background that reminded me of salty tears which I think may be the elemi. The florals are very pretty, but the lonely, somber type. And it is very light.

This scent lists so many of my favorite notes, but on me, it's not particularly dynamic. It's sweet and pretty and the rose doesn't dominant, but that's about it - sweet and pretty.

A more herbal lavender, I couldn't really pick out much more of the other notes. It's okay, but there are other BPAL lavenders that I prefer.

While I love the BPAL cocoa note, I just don't like the rum note, and this was very boozy hot dark chocolate on me. I prefer El Dia de Los Reyes.

Zombi has to be my favorite dirt and rose scent now! I tried Deep in Earth which I did really like, but Zombi beats it because the rose is more prominent (probably because Deep in Earth is rose geranium). I adore the BPAL earth note and the sweetness of a classic red rose, it's perfect. I need a bottle!

Unsurprisingly, this was all violet sugar on me at first, but the green added a bit of sharpness to it. After it dried a bit, the osmanthus joined the party and brought some ripe berry with it, but the violet sugar is still prominent. This isn't morphing dramatically on me, it's more subtle. After an hour or so, this starts to get slightly soapy violet on me (which almost always seems to happen with violet, but it doesn't get overwhelming so like in Queen Gertrude). While some reviews call this little girl, on me, it's a little more sophisticated, instead of lilac purple with a bunch of other pastels, this is more like this color palette:

Wow, this one is a morpher. In the bottle, it's like soapy florals, but as soon as I slather it in on it's sandalwood with a touch of white florals, then there's a moment where it starts to get a little medicinal funky like some resinous notes like laudanum? THEN, a fruity floral starts to come in like the red in Dragon's Blood, finally it settles down into a smokey coconut for awhile, but then as it dries and fades rather quickly it goes powdery amber on me. I adored the smokey coconut stage, but unfortunately, it still kept morphing.

Wow, this has so many death notes for me, yet it works! The rose is a spicy rose, and spicy to the point of almost foodie, then it dries down to woods. I love how BPAL surprises me when I am ready to write off notes as death notes.

Wow, this is a complex scent, a sort of clean woods with florals overall. I can't really distinguish individual notes as this is well-blended, but not in a one dimensional way. I like it, but I have better.

This is lighter than I thought it would be, but it does have that element of innocence of Lucy that is then matured by Victorian spices. Overall, this is very well blended and hard to determine any specific notes other than rose and Victorian spices, and it mostly stays the same on me. Nice, but not a keeper for me.

Initially, this has the Eastern spices scent that I often don't like, but as it dries down, the rose comes out, it's a dried rose. I really don't get any coffee.

I am usually a sucker for the BPAL autumn scents, but this smells like a generic cologne on me. As it dries, it gets a little softer, but it still has a weird, cologne staleness to it.

Mossy florals and one of my death notes - I think it's vetiver.

Oh, this is mainly bourbon vanilla on me, but as it dries the jasmine tea comes out and prevents this from turning into a one dimensional (but still delicious) bourbon vanilla. It stays close to the skin on me, and eventually it goes powdery which sometimes happens to me with amber.

A mysterious, enigmatic blend of dry, mellow rosewood, crushed rose leaf and the slightest touch of warm hazel. This definitely smells like dirt, not necessarily the usual BPAL soil note, which is maybe from the wood and hazel. The rose leaf is very reminsicent of The Rose - in fact overall this scent is close to the BPAL green rose scents, but less prominent and warmer. I am very bummed this one is discontinued!

Lots of sweet, juicy fruit in this one. I thought the florals in this might tone down the fruit for me, but this just stays all fruit on me.