joopjoop

Lily is a white-floral lover's dream (well, she is this white-floral lover's dream anyway). A rush of jasmine and then a beautiful balance of the jasmine, magnolia and gardenia. The oakmoss gives depth to florals but surprisingly it is the cedar that makes it all work. I tend to amp cedar, and so often have to avoid it, but here it provides an excellent counterpoint to the flower show. I don't get patchouli, except perhaps as the tiniest bit of spiciness in the background. The throw on this one is lovely but not overpowering. It wafts around me in a gentle cloud. Despite the tropical florals, Lily is ultimately a melancholy scent to me. It seems insubstantial; a dream-like moment that you want to preserve under glass but that is always on the edge of slipping away. I"m ordering a bottle.

Sigh. I think I have to accept that tobacco just really doesn't like my skin. On me this musk and tobacco and nothing else. After a while I can smell something that might be the vanilla tea, but it might just be wishful thinking. Too bad - sounds like it is amazing on the right person.

Gah. This is sexy. But not in an 'in your face' way. More in the hot-hippiesh-guy lounging in the corner listening to music kind of way. I think I predicted that Jaawi would smell like a really good smelling man, and, well, yeah. As others have noted, he's a morpher but for me at least, he ultimately dries down to smell both resiny and fresh. Reminds me a little of Keichu Nyoetsu Warai Dogu but a little groovier, a little more outdoorsy and a lot sexier. Trying this on the man ASAP.

Boozy peach. Almost like peach liquor. I'm not sure what is giving it the alcoholic vibe, but perhaps the honey? It does that sometimes on me. There is a undercurrent of cocoa that is really nice. It smells like a chocolate peach cocktail. There is a tiny bit of ambergris sparkling in the background - adding to that boozy feel. I get no patchouli or neroli but that is fine by me. Really fun and interesting scent. You definitely won't smell like anyone else when you wear it! I like it enough to hold on to the decant for another test in a little while, but ultimately it is probably not a keeper for me.

Others have said it better than I can, but this scent is amazing. Clean, fresh, sophisticated, high-end. Gardenia, vanilla musk and metallic, with just a hint of bracing tea. Like an tony beach club in a 1980s movie - ladies with big white hats and artfully draped white sarongs and lots of eyeliner and saxophones playing on the soundtrack - and I mean that as a compliment. Def getting a bottle or two of this one.

On me this starts off beautifully - chilly pine with apple and a touch of lemon. But on the dry down.... something just doesn't quite work. I think it is this particular snow note, which on me gets sweeter with time. After a while it smells like an apple jolly rancher with a touch of half-melted breath mint. I've had that problem with a couple of other snow scents, unfortunately. I'm sure this one is going to get a lot of love, but it is not for me sadly.

Very sophisticated, very mysterious. Smells expensive. I can smell my beloved white sandalwood, the smokey floral of the nicotiana and the elegant iris. I'm not sure what life everlasting smells like. The juniper is more subtle than in some blends and gives just the barest hint of sharpness - which I like. Also glad that the juniper doesn't overwhelm on my skin like it does in some other blends. Once it dries down it doesn't morph much. So glad I got to try this one. I want to test it a few more times before committing to a bottle, but I can see reaching for it often when I want to feel and appear confident. A cool, aloof scent to entice - alluring but ever so subtly intimidating at the same time. Quite fitting for an immortal priestess.

This is so good. Airy and erudite - but definitely feminine - the perfect scent for a lady scholar with a scientific bent. Delicately old-fashioned, but very modern girl at the same time. I can see this as a companion scent to The Robotic Scarab, which is metallic-anise with a touch of floral, while Mary is ozone-anise with a touch of classic 'perfume.' Sadly this is so faint with my chemistry and has almost no throw on me. I have to almost have my nose glued to my wrist to smell it. So I'm sad because I loves it. I'm thinking scent locket or air diffuser for this one. Or maybe I will make my own linen spray with my imp - this would make a great sleep scent I think.

Gorgeous almost salty almond to start. This quickly morphs into an almost SN Black Musk on me with a touch of almond and little bit of myrrh peaking around the edges. The Black Musk is nice, but not really my thing. I'll stick with Queen of Sheba and Eclipse when I'm in the mood for a deep rich almond-forward scent.

At first I was a bit disappointed with Whoopie Cushion - I was hoping that it would be a raspberry version of Mme. Moriarty, but the overall vibe is different and I found the raspberry overpowering and a bit screechy the first couple of times I tested it.But now that it has had time to settle and age just a few months, and now that the weather has warmed up where I live, I've changed my tune and can appreciate it on its own merits. It is still very much a raspberry scent through all of its phases, but the orange blossom sweetens it up and the patchouli and red musk ground it. It is still very light and doesn't have the dark sexiness of Madame, but that's OK. It is a very nice light non-foodie fruit scent for the summer. And I suspect it will get even better with age. And the label art is awesome.

Zorya P smells like the world's most exquisite delicate vanilla sugar cookie. Like a sugar cookie made by a gossmar-winged fairy in the light of the moon to be presented to a princess who doesn't yet know she's a princess (but of course her quiet dignity, sunny personality and natural grace impress all around her and hint at her noble lineage). In other words, it smells amazing. But it is sooo not me. I'll leave it to what is sure to be its many many fans.

I almost blind-bought this one, but I'm glad I waited for the decant. Wet this is STRONG on the vetiver-laced incense and the juniper berries (I'm beginning to realize that juniper or gin in any form is a no-go for me). Combined with the red musk, it smells medicinal - old world medicinal - and certainly makes an impression. After it dries down it settles into a rather pretty plum, red musk and neroli scent with a hint of incense. But it takes a loooong time to dry down and get to that phase. This Zorya V is a strong goddess who is not to be fucked with, but as a perfume she is just not for me.

Very sexy. At first it is a little too much vetiver but it quickly settles into a lovely red musk and patchouli cloud. Heady and vampy (as Zankoku_Zen says).

I got a few decants of hair glosses, because apparently my wallet isn't suffering enough Poem is probably the favorite of the ones I tried - minty - very fresh - slushy snow and lovely bright red currants. And it lasts and last! Probably won't hunt down a full bottle, but definitely will be purchasing more hair glosses!

This is one strange blend and I haven't quite worked out what I think of it. Initially it is indeed a 'dark metal' - it is definitely metallic but doesn't have that same brightness that some metallic notes have. I don't know if I would describe it as greasy, but it does have a depth to it. The other dominant note is bitter bitter grapefruit. It's a weird experience at first, but for the most part, I am HERE for it. If you do not like grapefruit, or find it to be an iffy note, avoid this one at all costs, but if you are like me and you LOVE grapefruit - the more bitter the better - you will not be disappointed! As it dries another note emerges - it is like a cold porcelain with just a touch of sweetness - that must be the bones. Eventually it settles into a very close to the skin scent of powdery, slightly sweet, grapefruit. I like this as well. It reminds me of those pastille candies you can get in little decorative tins. So overall, this one is a winner for me. Unfortunately it is short-lived - the whole experience from beginning to end is about 3-4 hours. I'm going to age the decant for a while and see if the longevity improves before committing to a bottle.

Media is a classic feminine floral perfume. A mixed bouquet of different colored flowers, but all very spring-like. As others have noted, it smells commercial - like a high end but heavily advertised perfume from the 1990s. There is slightly powdery edge to it which must be the cathodes and pixels! As it dries down there is a bit of pollen-y sharpness that emerges that makes me think that perhaps there are lilies or daisies in here, as those are two flowers that don't agree with my skin chemistry. Verdict: it is beautifully constructed but not really my thing. Probably a safe pass on this one.

A really lovely blend. Starts off as a gorgeous jasmine with a hint of honeysuckle and a touch of cream. The cream doesn't go sour on me like it sometimes does - but gets creamier as it dries. And the honeysuckle gets sweeter and a little more assertive. I love jasmine but I already have a lot of BPAL jasmine blends, so my first reaction was, while this is nice, I probably don't need more, but now ... I'm not so sure. I think I might need more! Perhaps it is the first flush of infatuation, but I think that this might be the perfect jasmine scent! In fact it is pretty much what I wanted La Prostitution et la Folie Dominent le Monde to be like - but that one was too gourmand with the vanilla frosting note. Hmm... will have to retest. I really do have so much jasmine already....

Wet. Wow that's a lot of patchouli. So very much patchouli. With some sandalwood in the mix too. A few minutes after application the rose emerges and it is really nice, but my hot take is that this is a patchouli scent for patchouli lovers. Did I mention there was patchouli? If you like patchouli and rose, this is the scent for you. It is really well done, but it is a bit much for me. It reminds me of less complex Taurus (minus the jasmine) and while I do like to wear this kind of scent sometimes, I already have a bottle of Taurus that will scratch that itch just fine.

This smells like the early 1980s. All of it somehow. I feel like there is something tickling at the edge of my consciousness, some specific sense memory, but I can't pin it down. A popular men's fragrance of the time? I don't know..... So it just smells, illogically but undeniably, like an entire time period to me. Oblivion is a dark scent, with an almost mentholated quality to it. I get patchouli, woods, and a deep green musk (although the unusual color of this one is probably suggesting that association to me). It doesn't morph much. I find it both comforting and unsettling. It does have a vibe that fits in with being really stoned and completely checked out and listening to droney prog rock while lying on a cheap fuzzy carpet and staring up at the popcorn ceiling (aha! there's that sense memory!).

Delightful and Dirty Indeed! This is exactly as advertised. It starts off as a strong blast of cherry and settles into a beautiful fruity red musk. The red musk is delicious and sexy. The cherry is just right - not too strong, but still present. Simple, sexy but not overly brash about it, and like most red musk scents, it lasts forever on me. In short, if you are a red musk lover, you will love this. I'm tempted to hunt down a bottle but it smells so much like Kabuki (minus the anise) that I think I need to do a death-match first. Since I'm an anise-lover anyway, I think I might be satisfied with my bottle of Kabuki and just a decant of this beauty - at least until it comes around another Luper!

Well the reviews for this one have been rather lackluster, but I wanted to try a new year's blend so when I had a chance to order a decant of Fire Cock, I went for it. It's wonderful. It is really well blended and smells soft and pretty. It also smells pretty much like Chinese New Year to me. Spot on in fact. If pressed, I would say that the fruit notes, particularly the tangerine, are most noticeable at first, along with the peony and bamboo. The peony is the most distinct note throughout, but the bamboo is what is really making this scent for me as it acts sort of like the canvas for the other notes. The only other note I get distinctly is the sticky rice cakes, it is very subtle but present from the dry down on, and it is the factor that tips this scent right into nostalgia territory to me. It is so pretty, and so distinct - unlike anything else I've encountered in the BPAL catalog yet! I quite enamored with this one and plan to hunt down a bottle on the forums.

Frimp! Yay! Nice and piratey to start - lots of wood and salt and sea spray with a distinct undercurrent of nice-smelling man (must be the leather and rum peaking through). Good stuff. After a while the wood starts to take over, and it is a dry, almost smokey wood. It's still really nice, though. And about 3 hours after putting it on the leather makes itself known a little more and balances out the wood nicely. I like it but I think it needs a softer note in there to round things out - at least on my skin. I'm keeping the imp - and will probably layer it with a coconut/lime scent so I can be a glorious beachy cliche this summer - but doubt it is bottle-worthy.

I've been very curious to try this one, so I'm super pleased to be able to test it. Anathema is quite the morpher and all the way through it smells like its description - sort of like indolence and debauchery blanketed over slightly bad intentions and lurking danger. It's like a scheming Borgia busy scheming and seducing and betraying all night long. In the end I really enjoyed wearing it, and it is different from anything I currently own, but I'm not sure if I need a bottle as this seems like a scent to wear only on certain occasions and when in a very specific state of mind! It starts off as strong honeysuckle with the vetiver lurking underneath. I've been trying different honeysuckle scents (I love the scent of blooming honeysuckle 'in the wild') and most of the fragrances I've tried are insanely sweet so when wet this is a nice surprise as it is 'wearable' honeysuckle to me. As it dries down the opium appears, making this a slightly hazy floral and it is in this stage that it really comes into its own as it develops a sort of 'corrupted pleasures' edge to it. Later, about 4 hours later, the vetiver comes more to the fore, but its smoky, gritty qualities are kept in check by the floral, and again, that is a nice surprise. It still smells alluringly evil, however! All in all, I'm not sure what to make of this one. I'm going to hold on to the imp and try it out a few more times.

I'm really on the fence with this one. The golden champaca is the most prominent note wet, and it is a really beautiful, resiny gold scent on the skin. Then it sort of disappears entirely for about 30 minutes - which is weird - before drying and reemerging into a lovely golden scent that smells like an hippie head shop mated with a fancy accessories boutique and decided to raise the baby in a laid-back beach town in Northern California. I dig it a lot, but I'm not sure when or where I would wear it - it's not really my style, but I sort of want it to be my new style maybe? In any case, I'm leaning towards getting a bottle anyway. It's for a good cause and I suspect it will smell incredible on a certain fellow of my acquaintance.

When I first put this on it is very similar to Fighter from the RPG collection - high-end leather handbag touched with a sort of metallic air-conditioning edge to it. I have no idea where the slightly chemically metallic undertone is coming from - this particular tobacco note I guess? After a while it calms down and settles into an expensive-leather-handbag-with-french-cigarettes-tucked-inside-it scent, which is a lot nicer, but not what I was hoping for at all. I love the lab's white sandalwood note, but get none of it here, sadly. I will be having the joopman test it as I think I might like it a lot better on him. Glad I only went for the decant on this one.