Lucchesa

Winter Night Figure on the Bridge from the Yules a couple years ago would scratch that itch if the mood recurs. Indigo musk, blackened lilac, wild plum rind, opium tar, tobacco flower, and snow. So gorgeous.

When I did my junior year abroad in Italy, I rounded a corner one frigid fall day to be hit with the most extraordinary aroma. I knew immediately it was "chestnuts roasting on an open fire," which I'd sung about most of my life though I had never to my knowledge smelled them previously. A street vendor was roasting chestnuts on a brazier and selling little paper cones of them. The chestnuts tasted wonderful, but the aroma was even more heavenly, and I've been looking for it in BPAL for years. I thought it would be Chestnuts and Hearth Smoke but the smoke is still a little off-putting on my skin. I somehow missed One Good Turn Deserves Another and have one coming in a swap. But here it is in an October lunacy whose decants I am only testing now, when they're no longer available from the Lab. Earthy, nutty, warming, and somehow tied to a genetic memory of a beloved fall ritual. I will treasure my tiny bottle of Chestnut and Patchouli as a reminder of the scent of one of the happiest times in my life.

I was keeping this decant regardless because Michelangelo. Apparently I never reviewed it. I get a different perfume than the one the notes would suggest. Lots of oakmoss, very fougere. No black currant unless it’s just playing the citrus role in the fougere, no beeswax. It goes on all sharp cologne — I like unisex but this is a bit much. But it settles down fairly quickly into a dry cologne in a higher register than my usual taste. Still, it’s something I can wear, and will wear when lecturing on Michelangelo, and therefore should have worn last Wednesday. But I forgot.

This very well aged decant of Genital Mountains has some big, bad, old school BPAL energy. It’s a russet color but rubs in without staining, and freshly applied I would call it Snakes in the Coal Mine: a very Snake Oil musk with lots of vetiver. Eventually I get some hazelnut and booze, and definitely that caramelized sweetness, though hardly any leather at all. This is all surprisingly quiet on me once it’s dry, and after a few hours it’s barely detectable sweet musky vetiver.

Just concurring with the cocoa-dusted Snow White thing -- that's exactly how Midnight Marzipan dries down on me. My bottle has a lot of chocolate globules and I didn't see any brown on my skin where I applied, so it might be more chocolatey if I make sure to warm and roll the bottle well between my hands before applying, Soft warm hug, though, and for one of my favorite causes. So glad I blind bottled this!

I applied this on public transportation. On my way to an open rehearsal of the Seattle Symphony. I know, I know. But the vast majority of oils are relatively quiet on me. The Acrobats, not so much. This is a BIG apricot, with way more throw than I expected. I blame the oud. If an oud is stinky on me, I get massive throw and longevity. This one is not poopy at all; in fact the only real sign of the oud on me was amping the apricot. Not that I’m complaining — I love a scent with some oomph. So, mainly a big juicy apricot with some warmth and depth from the other notes and surprisingly good carrying power. I agree with @icecreamcone that this one is reddish orange.

Rendezvous with Her Lover is not very complicated, but it's very nice. It opens with lemony hay and then as it dries down I get the gentle creaminess of the rice milk and the sugar, which I always think is a sugar cane note here -- something about the way it interacts with the hay, I think. Plant milk notes tend to work for me when dairy and cream will curdle on my skin. Low throw and wear length -- definitely a personal scent, safe for work -- but I don't mind slathering and reapplying. Thank you, @Teamama!

Apparently I never reviewed Mage. And I haven’t really worn it since testing it, though I kept the imp. So this is a very well aged imp, possibly close to a decade old. Nothing sharp or evergreen here, or smoky; if anything, Mage is fruity on me. DBR is problematic — often cloying— on my skin; here it’s like a dark berry note with some non-specific resins in the background. It’s nicer than I remember, tbh, and deserves to be worn more than once every eight or nine years.

On my skin, this very aged imp of Neutral is less a skin musk than a single note gardenia. Pretty, delicate, not my thing.

Flaxen Flame is so gorgeous, I wish I had a bottle and not just a decant. Dragon’s blood is always a big question mark on me. Here it’s quite light against a lovely warm amber like in The Lion and gentle spices. It all just works together beautifully on my skin. There’s something sunny and hopeful about this one. Maybe I’ll see it on eBay or Etsy some day.

Huh, I realized I never reviewed Bram Stoker. Nothing bloodsucking here: this is the writer, not his creation. I have a very well-aged lab imp, I'm guessing at least eight years old, and it goes on strong whoa cologne. It is never soapy on me as some have experienced, and it settles down quickly and lasts a long time. Lots of smoky vetiver and a little grassy, maybe vetiver, maybe the hay; a little bergamot, I'm not making out opoponax or bourbon, but this is very traditionally masculine and sexy. I wear a lot of unisex blends and this definitely trends more m than f. I like it, but you need to be comfortable with something on the masculine spectrum to enjoy wearing this.

This is a very sweet peach, and the combination with the fruity red musk and fig taking it even further in that direction. I was hoping for a smutty Depraved but the patchouli is very light on me. Good throw and staying power as is typical with red musk on my skin.

There was an imp of Fae in my very first BPAL order years ago, but apparently I never reviewed it. I remember liking it well enough, but there were other things I loved more, and I never wore it much. I got a fresh one as a lab frimp recently and decided to put it on as an evening scent tonight. This is more of a light summery blend. It’s a delicate peach, like a white peach, rather than a juicy ripe running-down-your-face yellow peach, with a lot of powdery white musk and a floral I wouldn’t have been able to pinpoint as heliotrope. I can make out some oak moss, but the bergamot is MIA on my skin, a shame as I think it would work nicely here. Fae is too femme for me to wear often (Depraved is my go-to peach), but if you’d like something silvery and girly — something akin to Cate Blanchett in LOTR — this is well worth a try.

My Sugar Plum Snake Oil is definitely much more the former than the latter. Lots of sticky purple sugary plum, lots and lots; just a little Snake Oil, and only after a couple of hours of sweet plumminess. Good throw and longevity; I just wish I got as much snake as some of the other reviewers have.

I’ve worn this a lot this fall and find it invariably lifts my mood. I hoping for dead leaves and Earl Grey, but that’s not really my experience. Wet, it’s a crunchy dead leaves note and lots of bergamot, very bright and citrusy, the color of the brilliant reddish oranges of sugar maples or liquidambar at the height of their glory. The tea starts to insinuate itself about half an hour in, or maybe the bergamot settles down enough that I can make it out. It’s really a base note in this blend, or a bass line, with dead leaves as a tenor and bergamot a sassy mezzo soprano. This has good staying power on me though not a lot of throw (typical for my skin), so it’s completely work appropriate..