Pika

This was the "foodiest" of the honeys I've tried so far. A very sweet, nutty honey, and I'd definitely buy the "carmelized" description above. Very much honey, but almost too sticky-sweet for my tastes! I really didn't get a woody edge from this one either, though I think that would have deepened it nicely. Maybe I'll try layering to get that effect.

A lovely, sweet, fruity-floral honey. Lasted a long time on my skin. I thought I almost smelled roses partway through the day, too, although I wonder if my nose was confused with something else. The quality of the honey scent, which is really bold and delicious, reminded me of Anactoria. Very much in line with what I expected from The Apiary... beautiful! Edited, because bees don't live in aviaries... doh.

To me, this is very fresh, green, and herbal. Kind of cool and aquatic initially, but without ozone. (yay no dryer sheets!) It's actually fairly medicinal the longer it's on, and unfortunately, very much lacking in the honey I was hoping for. ETA: went powdery/dusty at the end too. Don't know what note that was; certainly wasn't expecting it from the way it started!

Heavy on the dragon's blood at first, then settles to dry, sour vetiver and powder. Not sure if it's the rose that's going powdery underneath it all, but I definitely don't get and of the rose or clove bud.

I really like this one, more than I thought I would. It's really complex on, though a little "perfumey". It smells a lot like a winter Holidays medley to me... I'm reminded quite a bit of bayberry candles we used to get out around Christmas when I was a kid. I don't think I'll get a bottle of it, but I will use my imp I think!

Most of the BPAL coffee-foody scents tend to smell similar on me, and this one is no exception. Coffee-creamy-buttery-spicy-foody... this one with a little pumpkin. Nevertheless, it is quite delicious, with good spices. I'll keep my decant, but probably use it as a room scent rather than perfume, since I don't usually like to smell too edible.

I wanted to love this so much, but I'm really only getting the sharp, red musk out of it. (At least today... I'm not giving up without another coupla tries!) I usually amp honey, but I just got nothing from this, and the musk was too sharp for me. 3/5/11 - dug this out from my massive pile of things to try... it went on *gorgeously* and I was all :joy:for a successful aging! But then, a little later, the creamy, honey goodness went away, and all I had left was the red musk with a gargantuan throw. It smelled good... but simplistic.

I'll pipe up for Brown Jenkin. To me it's like a coconutty Ivanushka, soft and furry, but with coconut too.

La Vita Nuova was totally apples and roses on me.

This smelled like a cheap kind of floral cleaner or air freshener type scent when I opened the imp, which was very disappointing. On my skin, it goes much more towards the honey (and I love BPAL's honey!) but it's kind of "tainted" honey to my nose. Something dry and dusty in it. It doesn't seem green or sharp enough to be the parsley, but maybe that's what it is, just morphed on me. Anyway, it's not behaving as nicely as I hoped, and will probably be off to swaps. Edit: 5/17/11 --- Retried this during the massive destash currently underway. Unbelievably different! Those notes don't seem like ones that would age well, but this is remarkably sweet, smooth, and creamy now, with a beautiful, light, summer-evening floral touch. Wow. It hasn't sold/swapped in the past year, and now I'm thinking I'm going to pull it out and keep it myself!

This smelled VERY similar to Snow White to me. So much so, that I consider them nearly the same. Pink Snowballs does have a nice, light rose scent, but it faded quickly. I think I am inspired to layer my Snow White with other things now though... thinking Perilous Parlor, or maybe Berry Moon?

This was very APPLE and then BERRY and kind of BITTER underneath. The whole scent was kind of chaotic for me, my nose never could figure it out. And while that makes it kind of fascinating, it's not what I was hoping for.

I find this lovely and dark. It reminds me a lot of my beloved Czernobog (that's the black musk and myrrh) but sweeter, and a little sultrier. The patchouli is dirt-earth type, not dirty-hippie type, which kind of takes the place of the vetiver. And the vanilla and nutmeg come out on drydown to lighten it up. I can't really pick out the red chili, but I really enjoy the scent. I might look for more decants, but I'm glad Czernobog is very similar and GC, so I don't have to worry too much.

You could try the TAL Scent Recommendations thread, where people compare TAL aromas to BPAL non-ritual scents. Edited to fix link.

This is a surprising hit for me. It's very citrusy at first, but settles to a bright, happy, spicy-florally scent. I had a sneaking suspicion I smelled a little like laundry detergent about 2 hours in, but it was still yummy laundry detergent and I didn't mind. This is a much more "conventional" fragrance than many of the BPALs I like, but it's still unique. It probably helps that it's starting to be spring outside right now, but it's just the lovely, fresh, and a touch girly scent I was looking for, and I might have to acquire another decant.

So disappointed. I think the moss and aquatic-wet-type notes took over on this one, and strangled any warm amber and woods right out of it. Amazingly, I can't even smell any mint through it either, although there's an element of "cold" hanging around in there. Drat chemistry! I want what everyone else got.

I received a sniffie of this, not enough to test, but it really smelled delicious. I'd definitely have to look into a bottle if this came to production. I got the sweet evergreen notes that others mentioned, with a very smooth undertone compared to most of the herbals I've smelled from BPAL.

I'm getting a *lot* of pine from this one, which I know is part of the "snow" in the blend, but the whole scent is a lot "sharper" than I imagined. I guess I kind of thought First Soft Snow would resemble the cool sweetness of Snow White, perhaps with a kick more floral from the narcissus and a touch more "cold", but it's actually more forest-y than anything I expected. Definitely makes me think of dense winter snow banks, but less of narcissus poking through. The dry-down is more rounded and smooth, and I think if I layered it with something sugary, it'd turn into more of what I was expecting.

I almost entirely agree with the above review! "Sweet chewyness/herbal" - that's actually exactly it, though I never would have figured out the wording myself. And spicy at the end. The powdery musk is also accurate, but doesn't do it for me. Really smells more traditionally "perfumey" than I was expecting or hoping for.

Ah, this smelled great in the imp. I love amber, and the rest was nicely blended and warm/dry smelling as well. On me though, it went straight to powder. Like, immediately. Sigh.

Beautiful and light, fresh, green scent. It's got a little bit of that dewy "freshness" that I get from Rose Red, and I wonder if that's what's making me think there's rose in here. Prolly just the heather. I'm surprised this works as well as it does on my skin, considering these types of scents usually go to laundry detergent. It's headed there a bit, but only after more than an hour. Yay!

This smelled really gorgeous in the vial. On, it's not as nice. I like the dry, sweet beeswax when it pokes through, but there's kind of heavy floral and something going dryer-sheet in the background. I'm really not sure what note it is that's causing this, but it's kind of stinky, which makes me very sad.

Able to get a testable sniffy from a generous forumite! This is a lovely, smoky, smooth-sweet woodsy scent. Sweet without being foody, or overly cinnamon-y or coffee-y. I definitely see what all the fuss is about. Unfortunately, it faded quickly on my skin. It was very delicious while it was there, though, and if it were resurrected, or a bottle fell in my lap, I'd be very excited! But I think I will not devote my life to seeking out the spare drops. There are many other BPAL goodnesses out there to love.

This is a very interesting scent. Smelled very rich and intriguing in the vial, then on my skin it was sharp and icky... I thought sure I was done with it. A while later though, this has a really "hot" smell to it, as in sandy, desert-y flowers, almost. Definitely reminds me of some kind of incense as well, although not the usual variety. It's starting to go a little powdery now, possibly the rose, so I don't think it likes me well enough to keep. But there's a phase in there that is really gorgeous... I imagine those lucky few with the right chemistry will find an absolute treasure with this one!

I get a very dark, musky dirt-smell from this. Where is the red musk, the honey, the saffron, the cardamom? It's also got a plasticky smell on drydown. Aww, my chemistry= FAIL with this one.