Juliamon

This went aggressively powdery on me. Bitter powder, with a hint of lemon, like a well-kept secondhand boutique. Disappointing.

Really vibing with this. Opens a little powdery but that vanishes almost immediately and leaves behind a very enjoyable wet dirt with just the smallest glimpses of sprouts peeking out. I wish I got more vetiver--I don't think I would have picked it out if I hadn't looked at the other reviews before starting mine, and I do love me some vetiver. It gets vaguely floral as it wears, which I'm not thrilled with, but it's such a light scent that I don't think I could trigger a migraine from it. Surprisingly good throw despite that, I keep catching whiffs when I move my arms. I can see myself using this a lot in the summer when other scents could be suffocating.

This is absolutely gorgeous in the bottle, like a vanilla Coke (I get that same cola vibe from the patch that tinyvulture does) but wearable instead of "I spilled soda all over my arm." On my skin it's a bit less lovely, having a 'flat' sort of feeling that I often get from amber-patchouli blends that aren't quite balanced, and the vanilla and musk are barely there. It also only lasts an hour or two, which is unusual for these notes on me (especially the vanilla, which in other blends can last 12+ hours). I think this is one that's going to need to sit in the aging box for awhile before it's wearable, but I can smell the promise in it and it has me looking forward to what it may age into!

Somehow misplaced my decant of this and just found it last night, decided to give it a go without looking up the notes first. My initial reaction: "nutty and fuzzy." That rice note is VERY nutty, in a good way! The amber fur is understated at first, but overnight it really melded with the champaca in a gorgeous way that has me catching whiffs of delicious incense now and again. I get confused every time until I remember "Oh! It's my hair!" Really glad I found it before it was too late to FS it!

I initially was going to FS this smell-unsniffed because the notes were so appealing to me, but something held me back. And true enough to instinct, there's something about this that's not working for me. It's far sweeter than I expected, with the fuzzy discomfort in my nose that I get from honey accords, and it overwhelms the resins and makes me a bit nauseous from how cloying it is. Glad everyone else is loving it, but I'll stick with Inside the Golden Amber of Her Eyeballs.

Whoo boy, that's some dryer sheets, baby! With a twist of citrus, maybe my nemesis lemon peel. After giving it a few minutes to dry down, the sea salt seems to have surfaced and helped tame the zingy aquatic into something more authentically beachy. And REALLY good. I'm loving what the musks are doing in the background and I swear I can taste the brine in the back of my throat. My head is still reeling from the opening blast though, so this is one I'll need to admire from afar.

I'm not sure if my skin's eating the ash and incense notes or if this just needs a loooong time to age, but this is straight-up a 'freshly washed' scent and nothing else. I agree this is more shampoo-like, reminds me of Pantene I think? One of those shampoos you can get at the supermarket that's a step above the bargain fruit-scented stuff but not 'premium' like OGX.

This is a peak summer evening before the cool of night has set in. It's still warm, your hands are sticky from the overripe peach you had for dessert, faint florals hovering around with no breeze to move them. Primarily peach in the decant, the honeysuckle (and maybe a bit of the lemon blossom, but mostly just honeysuckle) show up a little louder on my skin. It reminds me a lot of Imp, especially in the level of sweetness, and worth a try if Imp's patchouli scared you off.

I didn't touch my decant until this week because of how those early reviews read! So I don't know what fresh hell I might have smelled back then, but right now it smells like fresh Snake Oil with just enough fried dough to be noticeable but not enough for it to go plastic on me. The churro-spice aspect is also way dialed down and I don't get any of the caramel or syrup that I hated in PSIYH: it's just the dough in here! It's definitely worth a try if you're looking for a new gourmand SO blend, though it's absolutely fresh SO with all the caveats that accompany it. Only time will tell if it ages nicely, I know some SO blends age differently.

My experience echoed the previous review almost exactly: very strongly sweet strawberry like any number of strawberry-scented toys of the 90s drowning out the rest as it opens, but the red musk pushes its way forward pretty quickly and unfortunately amps up the cloying nature of the strawberry. It gets worryingly close to migraine territory, but fades into a lovely slightly-sweet musky vanilla over time. That opening's just too scary for me to want to go through it again, but I can understand those who do as that drydown really is to die for! I'd probably FS a version with half as much strawberry.

It may be last in the list but eucalyptus is the first thing I smell in this, backed up by lilacs and just a touch of pomegranate. I don't get the orange peel or bergamot at all, so if citrus isn't your thing don't let it put you off this blend! It's a very pretty gentle herbal/floral scent with some soft resins supporting it. It feels a bit more mature than something I'd personally wear, maybe because it reminds me of some older metaphysically-inclined folks I've met in the past. This is a cold purple, dark but with a glimmer of warm light hiding just at the edge of your vision.

I don't love gourmands generally, but I really was looking forward to this because dang, I miss fried dough! Unfortunately it ended up being a collision of things that put me off: "caramel" in the way that caramel notes in perfume always smell like rotten garbage to my nose rather than actual caramel, plasticky cinnamon-dusted fried dough, pancake syrup. I cried quietly in my heart. If this works for you I'm happy for you, and if it continues to be a series I will enjoy the labels, but the perfumes themselves can stay away from me.

Something in this is going ever so slightly funky on me and it's got me VERY confused. All the notes are ones I'm familiar with and have never experienced this from (I almost always get along with neroli so I can't even blame it on the floral element) so I can only imagine it's an unlisted musk? If the rest of the scent was phenomenal I'd overlook it, but unfortunately it's just nice. A fizzy bergamot opening with a soft slightly-resinous drydown with maybe a hint of sage if I squint. Not worth the sweaty tang accompanying it.

This opens with a BIG punch of ripe banana that quickly gives way to a more candy-like banana courtesy of the sugar cane, with a bit of background fuzz from the tonka and guava and a touch of earthy fig. Amber slowly spreads into it, softening and smoothing the sweet notes. The ylang ylang is a minor enough player that it's not hitting me with a migraine, which is greatly appreciated as I'm liking this blend a LOT. It all melds together to become something indistinct yet warm and sunny, holding just enough banana to make it unique among the fruit fragrances in my collection. Low throw, so people won't be looking around wondering where the overripe banana is hiding.

Every time I open the vial my brain yells "ACETONE" before I can remind it that no, that's pineapple. Fortunately it's more well-behaved on my skin, smelling more accurate to the fruit and buoyed by the white musk. But then the currant shows up, and things go from 'juicy flirty perfume' to 'tropical B&BW Wallflower air freshener' where it's suddenly simultaneously too sweet and also too sharp and aggressive. How rude! But to be fair to it, I don't have a great track record with blackcurrant in particular, so it's probably just me. The white musk is probably my favorite part of this blend, much to my surprise.

I picked up a decant of this because I wasn't sure if I knew what gardenia smelled like but I did know I enjoy both vanilla and champaca. And it turns out: I don't hate it, but combined with the champaca it's too much powder for me. I would certainly smile if I smelled someone wearing this though! It's very pretty.

Like the first review, my gut reaction was "home goods store" but more specifically the kind that carry candles in seasonal scents like "Getaway Beach House" and "Cozy Holiday Spice" year-round and stocked in various spots throughout the store so that they intermingle with each other and saturate everything else. Fresh and breezy, but also woody and warmly spiced at the same time. The kind of scent I always enjoy when I'm in those kinds of stores, but never actually seek out because I walk out of those stores with the beginnings of a migraine from it. So it is happening here as well. An acquaintance of mine actually has a term for this type of scent, she calls it "hot man and the sea." Scent interpretations of a devastatingly hot guy standing with you on a sunset beach as the waves lick at your feet, like a romance novel cover. That's this. I love it, but it's a one-sided love. Wish I lived with someone who'd get along better with it, so I could just catch occasional whiffs!

This is one of those situations where, if I were still a complete and total perfume newbie, I would gush over how perfect Sin is. Everything blends together so well, it's all notes I enjoy (well, I mostly tolerate cinnamon because it's just awful when used heavy-handed in a blend), it's present without absolutely suffocating me, it has that BPAL vibe I love. But a couple years down the line, I'm finding it a little bit lacking. The cinnamon is at the perfect level, but it's not really enough to make me pick it over any number of other sandalwood/amber/patchouli fragrances I've amassed. Still, I appreciate its lightness where most would wish for more strength and will hold onto my imp for occasions where I might be craving something simple and reliable. Or maybe to give to someone just getting into BPAL, if they already know they like patchouli. I regret waiting as long as I did to give it a go, and now I'm curious to try the variants that are out there!

This opens with a wonderfully tangy but still reasonably sweet cranberry sauce vibe along with a good solid hit of pastry. "Ooh" I thought to myself, "so THIS is why people raved about sufs of the past!" Unfortunately the pastry does end up going plasticky after about half an hour. Fig stays totally MIA. Ultimately not a winner for me, but I want this cranberry note in more blends!! Keeping the decant for now anyway, it could end up a good scent locket option.

More cool-toned than the warmth you expect from "Golden" in the name. The bergamot makes this super fresh-feeling, like just-stepped-out-of-the-shower fresh, with a just-laundered robe wrapped around your body to protect you from the temperature shift between steamy hot water and cool ambient air. The ambrette is subtle at first but comes out stronger as it dries, pushing the bergamot aside and making the scent warmer. It's really lovely, despite not being my usual vibe! (I expected it to be a bit heavier, but I blame my skin and how it gobbles some of the lab's ambers, apparently including amber cream.)

2020 decant. Been meaning to try this for the last couple years but somehow never remembered to pick up a decant when I had the chance. Until now! This is one of those weird blends that I both love and despise at the same time. Freshly applied this is STRONG, aggressive "summer beach" with the coconut as a suntan lotion base and the sugar cane and champaca throwing a sweet (sometimes to the point of cloying) floral, almost rummy blast of warm air across it. I put it on before bed and when I woke up it had settled down to a beautiful, delicate (but still detectable) salt-tinged skin scent. I don't think I'll upsize, but I'll keep this decant for warmer weather when I want to feel like I'm on vacation.

I still need to try the third of this trio of scents but as the last one has orris in it I feel pretty confident saying this one is my favorite of the group. It would be just vanilla amber, but the cypress adds a prickly nearly-floral note that, combined with the smoke, reminds me of BPAL's more honey-forward blends without my skin amping it to high heaven. Nothing overly fancy or complex, but any more additions would unbalance it. A bit light but I think this would be suffocating otherwise. I would love to see this as a proper Activism scent!

This is a fairly simple blend, but a beautiful one. Not loud nor too quiet, not heavy nor too light. Warm, sacred resin incense with a flicker of brightness from the bergamot. It doesn't stand out very much at first from other frankincense-heavy blends, but develops in the nicest way over the course of an hour into something more balanced between all the elements. A very meditative scent, one that could easily be a signature scent for someone with a strong spiritual lean.

This is a lovely, lovely beeswax scent. It's also a LOT, and very tenacious (there's still traces of it stuck to me a good 48 hours on). Make sure you're committed to smelling like beeswax for awhile if you put this on! I would have liked a bit more smokiness to show up on me, but it is what it is. And what it is, is a damn good beeswax single note.

This opens with an initial blast of acrid patchouli incense (I think the vetiver is reading as incense smoke here) but as it warms the woods and oakmoss come out to play. The overall vibe is of warmth, a darker russet feel than the actual color of the oil. I can see this as reading masculine, but it's not really a generic men's cologne to me. Then, about 15 minutes in, it starts to go... sour? I think it might be the oud or mahogany, I don't think I've tried many BPALs with mahogany (certainly can't think of any off the top of my head) so maybe theirs doesn't vibe with me. I'm conflicted because it started out so nice and maybe it would return to being nice if I leave it on, but it's uncomfortably sweat-adjacent so it's getting scrubbed off this time. Maybe I'll revisit it again at a later date, but if someone comes along looking for an imp of it I will be happy to offer it to them.