mishi-bear

Definitely not just a drop of lilac at least on me, this is a very lilac forward blend. I don't mind lilac, but I wasn't expecting so much in this. It dominates the blend for a good while before finally letting the other notes peek out. I get a light, sheer white musk, a tiny bit vanilla smelling. The parchment is also a touch vanilla smelling, sweet leaning, kind of shiny and glossy feeling. The lampblack is interesting and was a note I was unfamiliar with, apparently it's a pigment made from soot. In this blend it has an interesting bittersweet black powdery smell to it. It's not so strong that it becomes sneeze inducing at least. The labdanum in this is surprisingly present, I'm used to it more as a fixative. In this it has a resinous and slightly medicinal smell to it. Good throw and long wear length.

Immediately on application I was reminded of a local bubble tea shop I frequent. A mix of leaves and spices with a touch of a milky note. The ti leaf and oakmoss combine to create a very lovely leafy smell that smells slightly earthy, fresh but not too green. The rice milk adds a touch of a light milky and slightly starchy note. The white ginger is lovely and as a plus, not at all skin irritating. I usually have sensitivity issues with spices like ginger, but this ginger doesn't hurt me at all. It definitely has that gingery smell but it's much less intense. The cardamom in this is gorgeous. It's not overly sweet and honestly isn't making me think of masala chai or anything. It definitely smells unground, still in the pod, slightly earthy, spicy, even a little woodsy. Medium throw and wear length.

This was a very non-offensive blend but honestly didn't appeal to me much. The peach blossom is nice, a mix between a fruity peach smell and a floral. The amber is bright, sweet, and a touch powdery. Unfortunately the almond is where this steers 'meh' on me, it's a bit too lotiony. I'm very picky about almond as a note, I prefer a more roasted almond smell, and in this it's absolutely not that. It's clean, smells like lotion, and is honestly a bit 'cool' in feel. This 'cool' feel is helped along by a vague sweet musk, which is clean, sweet, cool, and honestly a bit soapy. Low throw and short wear length. I didn't find this repulsive or anything but I'm picky about almond and feel like this would have worked better as some sort of lotion or bath product instead of a perfume.

Snake Oil with sugar, honeycomb, and thick vanilla cream. I, like a lot of people, thought they knew what this would vaguely smell like. Like Snake Oil, O, and extra vanilla! Or, like Womb Furie with vanilla! This does not smell like either of those things at ALL. This scent is very unique, and very beautiful. The Snake Oil itself in this is very light, so if you are a person who doesn't generally like Snake Oil, this blend might work for you. All the Snake Oil really does in this is provide a sort of resinous-spicy-vanilla base. The sugar in this is where this takes a wild turn. The sugar in this blend isn't a cloying white sugar, or a molassesy brown sugar, but a surprisingly lemony sugar. It's sweet sugar but with a light citrus hint to it. It makes the throw smell an awful lot like the drink half-and-half. Half lemonade, half iced tea. The 'iced tea' smell I think is in part because of the honeycomb. The honey to this is very fresh, leafy, and a touch floral. It's a nice shiny honey but there's a very fresh smell to it, like tea leaves, and also something akin to lavender. Just a touch of a floral-herbal sweetness. As this blend dries the citrusy-half-and-half notes do take a step back and allows a mix of just a touch more of that Snake Oil and big sweet dollops of vanilla cream to emerge. A very different vanilla than the one in your basic Snake Oil, this is more of a cream scent with just a bit of a very light vanilla. That lemony note does stay throughout the dry down but this really does become less 'lemony iced tea', as more vanilla cream emerges and also more of that herbal-floral-maybe-lavender. Good throw and long wear length.

2018 version. This starts off strongly aquatic and sweet between the blue musk and the ozone. That does dial back given some time, allowing a sweet powdery lilac, clean neroli, and a bit of a spicy-floral dianthus to come forward. I honestly get like no cedar. The Eastern herbs are kind of vague but there's definitely a bit of a herbal blend going on here. The longer this dries on skin the more those herbal notes develop. After a good hour I found myself sitting here wondering what smells so nice? Turns out it was me. I think one of the herbs in the blend is a creamy-spicy coriander, which I adore. Low throw but medium wear length.

This starts out strongly blueberry smelling but that note quickly moves to the background, then fades completely. While it lasts though it is a lovely blueberry, very realistic, plump and fruity. What it leaves behind when it vanishes though is a lovely spring blend. A mix of florals, very pretty and interesting, surprisingly pale. The sweet pea is very pretty, pale pink, almost a touch fruity in it's own way. The lilac is surprisingly unique, unlike other lilac notes I've smelled in BPAL perfumes before. This lilac is sweeter, with a hint of a green note, and kind of pale and even dusty in feel. It's very pretty. The orris butter adds a nice light white-floral-ish base without overpowering the other florals. The tobacco adds a hint of earthy warmth, more present on wrist sniff than in the throw. The sage starts off quiet but becomes stronger with time, and it's very lovely. It never becomes stronger than the florals, but gets more on their level. Sweet, herbaceous, pretty. Medium throw and wear length. This smells so nice and makes a lovely spring scent.

2018 version. This started out kind of suntan lotiony. The coconut combined with the sugar cane and ambergris make it kind of tanning oil ish for a bit. Given time to dry though that does fade for the most part. The sugary coconut at least moves to the background. The ambergris comes even more forward but it's less tanning oil and more of a beachy-sweet-salty musk at this point. Then the ambrette comes forward and turns this from a 'meh' scent into an 'ugh' scent. It really doesn't work on my skin. It's supposed to smell kind of musky-nutty-leathery but in combination with the ambergris it makes this blend go kind of plasticky/rubbery on me. The champaca basically doesn't exist. Medium throw but not sure of wear length, I ended up washing this off.

This was a fun smelling one. Very rose heavy but definitely a sweet pink rose. Sweet candied petals. It does have that slight sour note to it like most rose scents but it's a lot more relaxed in this blend. The vanilla sugar adds a nice base to this. It's definitely a sugary vanilla, not really a creamy vanilla. It's not strong in the throw at first but becomes stronger on dry down. The one note I don't really get that strongly in this is anything that smells like cotton candy. It might just be hard to discern over the other sugary notes. Medium throw and wear length.

Honestly this one smelled kind of Christmassy on me. The snow note in this has a sort of aquatic with menthol and pine smell going on. It's honestly not bad but it definitely makes this smell wintery. It's definitely a strong part of the throw. I also get a lot of fruit in the throw, the ume petals smell more like a straight plum to me. Not at all floral, a tart fruit. The wisteria and cherry blossom are lighter than the other notes but definitely present, adding a purple and pink sweet floral blend to this. Medium throw and wear length. This honestly wasn't a bad one but very much not for me, I was hoping this would have the Snow White snow note.

Fun smelling and kind of beachy. The ambergris in this is strong but it's a very beachy smelling ambergris. Definitely aquatic and a touch salty, sweet, almost tropical in feel. Not at all funky the way ambergris can be sometimes. The rose in this is very clean smelling. Different from your typical red rose smell, this is still sweet-and-sour but a lot paler, cleaner, perhaps a touch soapy. The rose isn't strong on initial application but gets stronger with wear time. The orris in this is mostly a complimentary smell, not really strong. It works with the rose to add a pale powdery tinge to it, but never overpowers it. Medium throw and long wear length.

I got a decant of this one on a whim, really not knowing what to expect. I was curious based on just the idea of what tortoiseshell and ivory could possibly be made to smell like. I'm so, so glad I decided to try this one. It's definitely not what I expected, but it's very elegant, classy, expensive smelling, and stunning. This has a sort of perfumey overtone to the whole blend, adding to that 'expensive' feel. The 'tortoiseshell' is a very orange smell. At first I thought it was a citrus, but as the perfume dried and continued to develop, it became a very lovely melon smell. Sometimes melon notes can be oddly funky on my skin, a sort of bizarre sweetness, but this one is bright, sweet, fruity, and delicious. Next is the 'ivory' which seems to be some sort of white floral. It's not at all bathy or soapy smelling, so definitely not a jasmine. My best guess is narcissus, definitely white and clean smelling with a sort of bittersweet note but not at all bathy. The mahogany is very in the background, and not at all pencil shavings or wood chips. It smells glossy, polished, and expensive. Deep dark brown and shiny. The amber cream is a mix of a sweet amber with a touch of a creamy vanilla note, very pretty. Medium throw and wear length.

This one was very clean and sweet smelling. The chypre to this is extremely light and pale. strongest on wrist sniff, though I do get a bit in the throw… a mix of a light and clean oakmoss, light labdanum, and then the citrusy top note i think might be a very light neroli. The bamboo is sort of sweet and clean smelling with the barest hint of a sweet leaning greenery note. Most of the throw is a blend of clean sweet florals. I don't get any sharp white florals like jasmine, but more mellow ones. If I had to make a guess, I'd say maybe some tuberose, a hint of narcissus? Morning glories can be used in perfume but it doesn't seem that common, so it seems likely that the florals are not morning glories. Medium throw and wear length.

I really like cherry blossom as a scent but have so few cherry blossom perfumes that I was really looking forward to trying this one. It definitely met my expectations and then some. Given time to warm up and dry the strawberry is the strongest note. It's a really lovely strawberry, not at all fake smelling, not overly sweet, but a very jammy crushed strawberry smell. Like sniffing a jar of strawberry preserves. It definitely has a bit of sugar to it but it's mostly fruit, delightfully pulpy. The cherry blossoms in this are light and sweet, pink and girly. Stronger on wrist sniff than in the throw, but definitely present in the throw. Really delicate and pretty. As the oil continues to dry these do get stronger as the strawberry calms down. The white musk in this is sweet, not heavy, and a bit vanilla-ish. Sweet, light, and close to the skin. Medium throw and wear length. My sole complaint about this blend is that I wish the balance was more in favor of the cherry blossom, but I can also see that changing with aging, or even based on skin chem due to cycle, etc.

I love Snake Oil, and I have a few BPAL leather blends that I've loved the leather note in, but something about this didn't work for me. The leather had a chemical and an almost musty smell to it and just smelled wrong. A shame

Full disclosure: I didn't try this on skin, my girlfriend wore it in a scent locket and it was honestly so straightforward I can't see this smelling differently on skin. This is a very sweet and sour scent. The rose obviously has that sort of sweet and sour smell going on but in this it definitely leans a lot sweeter, like it's sugared. The cherry is nice but it's definitely not a realistic cherry. This is that goopy tart cherry lollipop smell. Very candy smelling. Good throw and wear length.

Straightforward and not too complex, but lovely. The rose in this is light and somewhat watery. Still a sweet and sour rose note but a lot more sweet than sour. The shortbread in this is really nice. Sweet and buttery with a nice vanilla-almond scent to it, very comforting. It doesn't overpower the rose at all, serving as a base, but is still strong. The combination of the rose and shortbread does threaten to go bubblegum smelling on me at the start but that passes quickly. Medium throw but long wear length.

Something about this on me smelled straight up like a very diluted chlorine. I put it on and immediately had a scent memory of a clean bathroom or pool room. Oddly I didn't find it repulsive, but it's definitely not fullsize worthy for me. Very strange.

Snow White with extra vanilla and a more-sweet-than-sour rose note. Very pink, very sweet. Distinct enough from Snow White to be worth owning both. I really do love this one, the rose in it is very nice.

Delicious fried dough with a sweet fruit on application. Given time to dry though the dough scent disappears completely and I'm left with just the fruit. It's not a bad fruit scent at all, but I wish the dough had stuck around for a while.

One of the notes in this did not work on my skin at ALL. I get some nice honeysuckle and sweet pea for a moment and then... wham, something comes out that literally made me sick to my stomach and I had to hop in the shower. Admittedly I wasn't familiar with every note in this blend so I can't really say what it was that smelled so funky on me. Likely one of the more herbal notes.

This has been a sleeper hit decant for me. I got it from somebody's leftovers on a whim, thinking that I like coconut milk and I like amber, so why not give this a try? This is so not what I expected. It's very well blended, very soft, very 'cuddly'. The leather is beautiful. It feels like that sits as a wonderful soft pliable backdrop for all the other notes to mingle freely on top of. It's hard to pick out any of the other notes as being stronger than any other. They just make the scent as a whole very warm, sweet, soft, slightly floral, and again, very cuddly. Something about this kind of reminded me of places I've been before, and then it hit me... it kind of reminds me of all the gift shops I've been to on trips as a kid to Pennsylvania. Country themed places with lots of folksy knick knacks. Lots of leather, wood, and touches of potpourri and floral candles. I definitely don't mean that in a bad way... it just brought up a lot of nostalgia for me. Definitely love this one. Crossing my fingers it's still available in big bottles when I have more funds to throw around.

The dead leaf smell in this is slightly cologne like, but to be honest it wasn't very strong in this. It definitely made this scent smell fairly 'unisex-leaning-masculine' in the beginning. The cologne smell does fade quite a bit given a bit of time at least, and it's not too strong. The champaca is the strongest note in this though and it's lovely. It almost smells a bit fruity, but not quite. Just very sweet. The coconut is there but barely, just kind of adding a touch of earthy sweetness to the scent as a whole, while not making it feel too 'tropical'.

This was very much 'as advertised' in the best way. The name tells you all you really need to know about how it's going to smell, and it didn't morph at all on me. Sweet, bready pumpkin cake, globs of cream, spiced with nutmeg, and very lightly dusted with cinnamon. Really dig this one.

This was a pretty nice floral combination. Rose is the strongest note, a pretty sour rose, not in a bad way. The other florals are nice and a bit herbal, made dusty and slightly earthy by the leaves and slightly sweet by the vanilla. Overall not a bad one. I got a decant and won't spring for a big bottle, but this imp will get a lot of love.

This one really did not work out for me. Apple never lasts on my skin and here it was no different, it was gone within 5 minutes. What I was left with was cinnamon and something that smelled very weird, waxy, and synthetic. Almost like chapstick. Really no idea where that came from. That lasted a while and honestly I got annoyed with it and just wiped it off. Really not for me.