supreme_c0rt

Lavender and bergamot are shouty up front, quite sharp and soapy. Oud reads perfumey here and I don't get any chocolate at all. As it mellows, it thankfully softens considerably. The oakmoss does its beautiful woodsy thing on me, and the vetiver shows up as a gentle wafting smoke. Very dark purple/blue vibe. This a dark and moody, yet also clean and soapy blend. Goth body wash? Actually it reminds me a lot of Nimue the Blood Queen, maybe a cleaner version of that.

Think Streets of Detroit with a stunning herbaceous green smell instead of the motor oil and you've got it. The weed note is present -- and accurate -- but not overwhelming (in fact I don't think I'd know immediately that's what it was, it just kind of reads "dark green dried plant"). It fades quickly and leaves behind a dark myrrh/musk-forward combo that is simply the perfect headshop hippie smell. Grateful Dead-following, dreamy, clean and sweet peaceful hippie. Not too strong, just the right amount of resins and incense and warm powdery hemp. The patch doesn't make a huge showing here, but I tend to amp myrrh and musk quite a lot so that is what I"m mostly getting. I love this and will definitely be seeking out a bottle. *edit* -- This layers gorgeously with Rev.enant R.hythm. Fuzzy wuzzy hippie dreamland. (~˘▾˘)~

It's all sushi here too. Salted nori, rice, lemon squeeze, a bit of weak wasabi paste. And I like it, it's not unpleasant at all. This phase lasts just a few seconds before it vanishes entirely into a faint memory of old library books. Then poof -- all gone. The whole thing is over in minutes. Keeping it for the weirdness factor alone! I love this weird sushi book! 🍣

thicc. Just a solid unit of woman stank. Qandisa is an unapologetic clot of sweet dark musk, swoony nag champa incense and sticky honey. I'm not surprised about that at all, as pretty much all of these notes bust down the door with their sweet and their chewy. The throw on this is huge and formidable. It is wearing me. I emit a fug of 1970s head shop incense, the type of head shop that has never cracked a window. The snake oil vibe of fleshy sex. This is the perfume version of a wide-hipped saunter. The perfume version of an extremely effective fertility statue. This is, I am not ashamed to admit, Too Much Woman for me. I tried to wash it off and it laughed at me. But the right person could dogwalk the world wearing this.

Straight away, Love Me is a thiccc fuuuug of nostril-singing cinnamon bark, heady ylang ylang, indolic jasmine, bourbon vanilla, and a base of maybe patchouli (possibly a sweet sandalwood) and, I think, almond. Everything is turned up to 11, and it’s a damn traffic jam in my sinuses. This is real heady, y’all. I feel dizzy. While it’s still wet, each scent elbows its way to the top of the pile, clamoring for attention. I understand now why this is called Love Me. It’s not the Love Me, I’m Irresistible and Charming, it’s the desperate, clingy kind of Love Me. Love Me. Love Me, Please. Please please love me why don't you love me. This is really not my cup of tea, and I don’t really like being around this type of scent on others either. And yet. AND YET. I can’t quit it. Why can’t I quit it…. It took almost a full hour to things to calm down and stop screaming for attention, but when it finally does — this becomes a dead ringer for As Above! One of my favorite BPAL blends. It even has the same weird silly-putty-band-aid phase. So there might be leather in here after all. Pretty sneaky, sis. If it ages anything like As Above does, this could be a keeper but right out of the mail... hatchi matchi.

A simple, gorgeous smoky/sweet dark vanilla. It perfectly captures that wistful part of early fall when the air is crisp and smoky from burning wood and leaves, and you're holding a steaming mug of vanilla spiced chai looking out over the mountains. I instantly love this, and I do hope I come across a bottle someday. *swoon*

Quite sharp and herbal-astringent at first, like pine, cedar or mahogany can be. Once it dries down the cardamom appears and smooths out the edges a bit. The leather is not overly present, but still there, plays well with others. Oudh is behaving well too (its not the barnyard kind, huzzah). Blackcurrant isn't coming through hugely either (mostly just a bare hint of dark berry). This is mostly a balsam party. Fully dry, this blends down quite well. Definitely masculine, on the dark-green, herbal side of that spectrum. Pheromonal and close to the skin, not much throw surprisingly. Reminds me of: Pine tar soap, but spicy. Satyr in an evergreen forest. A Young Boy and His Brother Seated Upon a Goat, but way more mellow and easier to wear. Dark forests, sexy lumberjacks.

Um. This is.... huh. I'll start by saying leather and wood in all forms amps like crazy on me, and I'm not getting even a shred of either from this. What I'm getting is this: The memory of the taste of ambrosia (the pineapple/coconut/canned mandarin dessert that your aunt always brings to the potluck?). But get this, it's not hitting me in the nose, it's hitting me in the base of the throat, the way that olive oil does. I can't actually smell much of this at all, I'm mostly just... like, tasting it? Have you ever gone to a fancy olive oil shop and tried a sample? They tell you to breathe into it so you can get the nuance. Because the flavor doesn't really hit the same way other flavors do. It's more... mucosal. That's exactly what's happening here. But it's ambrosia-flavored. There's also almost no throw at all on this, so I have to get in close to experience this tropical oily weirdness. I don't hate it! But I can't say I was expecting ambrosia. As it dries, it starts to flatten out a bit into a simple tropical fruit/coconut number, which isn't unpleasant but not what I was going for.

Zoe: "First rule of battle, little one ... don't ever let them know where you are." Mal: "WHOO-HOO! I'M RIGHT HERE! I'M RIGHT HERE! YOU WANT SOME O' ME?! YEAH YOU DO! COME ON! COME ON! AAAAAH! Whoo-hoo!" Zoe: "'Course, there're other schools of thought." Captain is just a big ol' slap of leather, sharp and chemical. It's not soft leather. Black leather mixed with brown, very much like Silk Phoenix. The bourbon comes right out front with it. The cedar so faint behind I'm not sure I'm not making it up. Sarsaparilla and vanilla are just a vague sweetness, no root beer. This is primarily chemical leather and sweet booze. It's raunchy, like the inside of a new car that somebody spilled bourbon all over. The leather smells too "new" to really fit the idea of a proper seasoned space cowboy, and damn if it ain't REALLY shouting over the good stuff going on behind it. Let's see how it mellows out; it may find its footing after a season of rest.

A whollop of herbal mint with a lot of sugar. It reminds me of the mint from the whole foods mint shampoo which I really like. It's why I don't recoil from all the sugar, really. It is very much like tic tac coating. Settled in, the mint recedes slightly and becomes a bit woodsier. Once all the mint is gone what's left is ambergris similar to the kind used in Emperor's Throne. Woodsy, powdery.

Ok. Now I understand the fuss. This is a damn near perfect dark vanilla and black patchouli blend. It's simple, straightforward, and steady. The patch is of the gnarly type found in Goblin (the similarly between the two is striking and will come as a relief when this limited edition vanishes again). It's admittedly my least favorite patch type, but the way it's presented here is mind-changing and masterful. The grittiness of the patchouli becomes the entire reason this works, and makes what might be an overly simple vanilla an evocative, sexy, intoxicating work of art. The hemp is similar to the one in Rogue (if you can tease it out), giving it an earthy, glowy backbone. The mood is undeniably urban-bohemian, effortlessly magnetic. Touseled is a great way to put it. Penny Lane. Lisa Bonet. Beachy waves and rooftop jams. Yeah... It's clear why Urban Outfitters sold this back in the day. A little goes a long way (thankfully). The throw is perfect and consistent and lasts all day with no fuss or wild moods. So glad the lab re-released this grail and I was able to snag some.

Vanilla sandalwood incense. Warm radiant amber. Soft sueded leather. Sun-bleached dry grasses of the plains. This is stunning and sacred, and deeply familiar in a way that, a year later, I still can't quite pin down. It's like an olfatory photo album of intense nostalgia and bittersweet memories of late summer. It also lasts for ages so its place in my top 10 is well earned.

Wet: the black leather is quite nice here. Not too strong or shouty. A polite background player to the warm rosin and fuzzy hemp. Comfy cozy, kinda sexy and tousled and worn-in. Fits the name. Mid: Stays pretty much the same, but the leather starts to recede just a bit as everything blends together. The rosin and hemp become golden and glowy like a buttery rich amber skin musk. Settled in: I sat here for a while tryna figure out why the hell this is so familiar. It's Pert Plus. Pert Plus and cocoa butter, maybe. It's ridiculously comfy and casual like a favorite pair of worn-in jeans on a long weekend. Your best friend from school grew up and got really sexy over the summer break. But yeah, Pert Plus mostly. This is the kinda scent where someone coming in for a nice snuzzle would think you just smell really good naturally. You Plus.

When I first got into bpal a year ago I gave Goblin a hard pass. This is the "scary" form of patchouli -- the pungent, raw, dirty-herbal sort that most people think of as hippie stench. Since then I've gotten a chance to encounter different types of patchouli through all the masterful ways it is handled by the lab, and I have come full circle back to Goblin. And I like it now, much more than I did when we first met. Make no mistake, this is gnarly patch. But the addition of the benzoin and coconut really help take the edge off it and sweeten the bitterness just enough so it becomes something different. To me, anyway. Having finally gotten a chance to try (and own) Banshee Beat, the comparisons to Goblin are accurate. In fact, layering Goblin with vanilla-heavy blends (Snake Oil, O) even further play up the similarities and the juxtaposition of the dirty and the creamy. I find that I like it even more layered this way. This is a hippie smell, yes. But maybe more of an urban-bohemian hippie than muddy hippie. It's ugly, but pretty. I need to be in the right mood to wear it, surely, but that mood does strike now and then.

Wet: Single Note Red Musk. I amp red musk like it's the only thing in the world. Dry: Still mostly red musk, but it's a little warmer, smokier and slightly sharper. It smells like so many other "red" blends with my chemistry. Like, this could easily stand in for Emperor's Rams, Melancholy Inferno, Satyr, etc etc. I love this type, because it really works on me. And it always reminds me of like... a hot, sexy beach ... But yeah. Can recreate this with a lot of other blends. I do wish tomato leaf showed up to this party in a substantial way. Erotic Vegetables is still the best representation of that holy-grail note I've come across.

This is ... gorgeous. The glowy amber is similar to the one in Bastet. And it does glow, warm and creamy and golden. The leather with the metal and asphodel give it a beautifully balanced, slightly musky mineral edge, like clean sweat. Like, natural person-smell. If that makes sense. It's fantastic. Definitely a warrior goddess giving off an aura of strength and purpose. There is something like coconut here, but the rough husk if anything. This is like Bastet's well-traveled warrior sister. It's comforting but strong and protective. Has a beautiful next-to-skin, almost pheromonal appeal. This settles gracefully. The leather and the creamy amber are in perfect balance and that hit of metal is divine. There is something beachy about this leather and I love it. I would wear this pretty much anywhere, anytime. The throw is about average. Sometimes it's helpful to draw comparisons to other blends, so.... I'd say that wet, this is the brown rawhide type leather from Silk Phoenix and Captain combined with the resinous vanillic amber from Bastet. Dry, I'm getting Black Rider vibes from the musk, but it's still very brown and not black, and not nearly as powdery as Black Rider tends to be on me. There's a "feeling" of Rogue here, too. That same soft worn-leather-and-skin smell, but I like this much better than Rogue for its complexity. This is truly unisex.

I tend to be wary of anything that says "orange blossom" and not "neroli" because that often means "sike, it's just sweet orange." This is definitely neroli! Or orange blossom, I guess. They're different extraction methods, apparently? Anyway. Neroli/orange blossom is one of my all time favorite scents in the world, and Tis Madness is a stunning showcase for it. In the bottle, I got really excited because of its similarity to Happy Happy Joy Joy (my Lush fave). I have been looking for a BPAL dupe for that and this is a great start. Once on, the complexity of the other notes come forward. Sweet patchouli and sandalwood give it a nice warm base, and the vetiver makes it just a touch earthy. But no doubt about it, neroli is front and center and stays that way throughout the drydown. The supporting notes do a great job of grounding this stunning floral top note. After about 30 minutes or so the base notes fade out a little more and sweet floral neroli just glows, almost as a single note. The other stuff is there, but just barely. Add a little rose to this and you'd easily have a HHJJ dupe. Just on its own, it's a sweet, happy, lilting ode to the end of summer. I will cherish this in the dark throes of mid-winter when I need a double hit of happy and joy.

Wet, it's New Skin (liquid bandage). Dry, it's New Skin plus a dark black smoke, with a chewy frankincense softening and rounding it out. Despite the heaviness of the listed notes this is quite delicate on me and all but disappears after an hour or so. It's medicinal but not terribly so. I like it. Fans of Aerodynamic Junk might like it too.

Goddamn, this one was made for me. Every single note is the best representation of itself, and it all sings. The perfect blend of sweet, musky, leathery, and that stunning patchouli-vanilla. This shot almost immediately right up to the top of my all-time favorites. It's sexy and confident and gorgeous, and I love that it's Crowley, the flash bastard. I just wanna roll around in it.

First impressions wet -- this is reminding me a lot of Spellbound. There's no rose listed in this, but ya coulda fooled me. The spicy geranium with the red musk create a rose-like profile. The up-close scent and the wafted scent are actually quite different, which is a nice surprise. The distant-wafting-smell is a sweeter musk, with the same gorgeous vanilla-patchouli that's in Crowley. Up close it's much sharper, spicier, and almost single-note red musk but less sweet. I don't know geranium very well but this is a beautiful introduction. Dries down to a sexy, gorgeous hybrid of my all-time favorite lab notes. The sweet patchouli-vanilla of Crowley, and yay! the woods finally show up (hello oak, my precious, and there in the back is the dry cedar). A bit like Fenris Wolf, kinda sorta, but drier. It really is all my favorite stuff in one blend. I totally love it! If it ever returns I'll snatch up a bottle without hesitation, but in the meantime I think I could probably scratch this itch with Crowley. Love.

Weird, this is the total opposite of suffocating on me! The ambergris and frank create a gentle, mellow, resinous/powdery base while the cade floats delicately on top, almost like a watery tea tree or delicate juniper. It's very spa-like, medicinal, a bit like sauna steam. It's helping gently open my sinuses. It's so delicate that it actually works nicely on the balance and doesn't become too medicinal. Just... darn pleasant. Normally this much powder would send me running for the hills but the herbal edge of the cade balances it well. I find it soothing and meditative, maybe because I often use tea tree for healing. I like it! Great for bedtime or relaxing.

Drat. I had high hopes for this one. For a few pleasant moments after application I get a bit of nice warm smokiness and palo santo, but it only takes a few seconds for the sticky tobacco to bust through the wall like the Kool Aid man and stomp all over it. And now it's the Swisher Sweet show...the same sticky tobacco that's in Gaueko. If you like that type of tobacco this will be your jam, but for me it was too heady and cancelled out the other stuff I was hoping would come through. We'll see how it fares with later testing; I can tell there's stuff under there that wants to come out.

Leads with tart dried fruits (similar to Voluminous Red Blanket) but with a smoky incense backbone. Plummy tendrils of smoke, with something riiiight on the edge of the scent that tastes like the idea of a caramel cream. I don't know how or where this is coming from, and I keep thinking it's a trick of the mind, but it's definitely there. This is fruitier than I normally go for, but the smoky musk and incense are really taking this into a different place, and I'm here for it. It's beautifully balanced. Sharp and tart, yet dark and smooth at the same time. A very light hand with the oud, praise be. It's not a major player and seems there only to give the blend some body and cohesion. Sophisticated, unusual. Don't have anything else like this.

At first this really smelled a lot like the Mary Kay perfume samples that I remember from my teenage years (the kind that came in the mailers). Floral, powdery, commercial, a little old-fashioned. I mean, better than that, because it's BPAL, but it had the same mood. As it dries down, the spiciness and the musk come through more. It's reminding me of carnation or geranium, with the musk of a lighter red variety (pink musk? Is that real?). It adds more complexity and improves it, but I admit this is still skewing too commercial and old-fashioned for my taste. The scent memory isn't helping matters.

I think at this point I'm a leather daddy ("I'm looking for something that says 'Dad likes leather'") because dang, I must have tried nearly every variation at this point. This smells *precisely* like brown rawhide. Oiled saddles. The leather stall at Renne Faire. New Car? Meh, kinda sorta but I like that smell. I get a metal twang that does fade rather quickly, and right at the tail end, softly spiced incense smoke. As it dries the sweet smoke comes through more, but this is mostly a sharp fresh leather blend. This definitely has Firefly vibes.