Janis

(2021 January restock) this is all soft, creamy coconut. The other notes are very well blended - I can't pick any out individually, they work together to enhance the coconut without stealing the show. Lovely, a very sophisticated and comforting take on coconut. Medium throw and longevity.

I'm amping hearth smoke right off the bat! Citrusy smoke, bordering on savory, with mossy stones and the 'unconventional aquatic' note in the background. There's also something bright and fizzy that reminds me of cleaning products. Not what I expected at all, but if you like smoke notes and happen to amp it like I do here, this is a very pure, sparkling smoke that I haven't experienced before in BPALs. I also got a bit of oil on my shirt sleeve: there, the smoke is very faint. It's fresh cucumber water.. it reminds me exactly of the smell of my local Indian grocery store. (Note: I don't usually amp smoke, and I think the smoke note used in this scent is something different.)

Cool aquatic pine (the 'snow' accord), and stone. There is incense far in the background, but it's indeed an 'echo'.. one that only appears later into drydown, when the opening notes grow faint. The way this scent morphs evokes the temporal experience of ducking into a sheltered alcove, a respite from the snowy forest that surrounds. I was hoping that Klosterruine would be just stone and incense (as I associate pine so heavily with winter that I find it difficult to wear at any other time), but it's a lovely and evocative scent in its own right.

Fresh out of the bottle this began as a blast of very indolic oud 😖, but quickly softened into a crisp lavender breeze reminiscent of clean fabric. What a transformation! It's really beautiful once the oud calms down.

Wow, the oil is really dark! A dry, almost medicinal sandalwood and clean patchouli. Very well blended. No cherry at all, unfortunately. The drydown eventually turns into a labdanum single note on me, which isn't really something I'd want to wear on its own - but I adore the dry woodiness that precedes it. This is a really great take on patchouli! Clean, unisex, powerful.

The blueberry note is amazing in the bottle. It is the freshest, most delicious realistic blueberry and I love it. Blueberries, cardamom, and just a hint of cream. I could huff the open bottle forever. The blueberries and cardamom all but disappeared under some very strong cream once applied to skin, though this wasn't too unexpected. BPAL's cream and vanilla notes both amp and do all sorts of weird things on me. Blueberry cardamom makes a surprise resurgence later into drydown, but this time it's more of a sour, spiced blueberry jam. A couple hours later I had a skin reaction to something in this blend - the first and only time it's happened with any BPAL oil 😓 Although it doesn't agree with my skin, I really love the scent and will be trying to get creative with scent lockets and other ways to wear it.

Immediate fecal oud with a fizzy backdrop of soap and toilet cleaner. It smells like someone took a dump and then tried (and failed) to cover up the smell. This is, hands down, the most toilet-y scent I've ever tried. Oh no! ETA: a rinse with water transforms it into a soft, cologney, clean skin scent. If A Glimpse is pulling ultra oudh-y on you, give this a try!

This is an immensely decadent chocolatey banana cream. It's artificial banana, but I happen to love artificial banana flavoring! Wet, this is mostly banana cream and chocolate. Coconut peeks out as the oil warms (and dries). It's surprisingly balanced, without ever becoming sickeningly sweet or overly dry, and stays absolutely true to the notes. The cream note does its usual thing on me late into drydown where it turns into a plasticky single note, but honestly, the main body of this scent lasts for so long that the day's about over by the time it happens anyways. This one's a keeper!

First impression: whoa, this is smoky! Juicy red cherry dancing just barely at the edge of perception, chypre in the background, and lots and lots of smoky patchouli. Although I was able to notice a cherry note while aerosolized in the air, it all but vanished on my hair. The patchouli is fantastic, but not very strong or long lasting as far as patchoulis go. I like to use hair gloss as a detangler on damp hair prior to sleeping at night, and the scent was completely gone after a night's rest. That being said, I will enjoy the rest of my bottle.🖤

True to notes, with a refreshingly carbonated kick. Definitely check this out if you're a fan of cherry and amber! Medium throw/wear.

This is gorgeous!! I couldn't agree more with VetchVesper's description. Watery, light, softly spiced. Warm spices and resins are juxtaposed against cool water and clean, dry fibers. I get the distinct mental image of clean-shavenness. Unisex and soothing. This is without a doubt my favorite of the 2020 Lupers. Going to need a backup or two!

Ehon begins with a REALLY strong blast of blended florals and juicy-but-not-overly-sweet strawberry. It was so strong I skipped straight into olfactory fatigue for a while before I could actually review this scent! Apply sparingly - even a very very small dot of oil lasted for a very long time with massive throw. These are cheery, youthful, sun-warmed florals grounded by amber and strawberry. Like my experience with other blends containing vanilla, the vanilla gains strength on drydown as the floral notes calm down. The oil itself seems too concentrated for me to wear directly, but I think it would be lovely diluted in lotion or hair conditioner (etc).

I can identify sandalwood and sweet frankincense (the waxy, non-balsamic variety) if I really pay attention, but this scent is better described as an overall impression. Sweet, lightly green, and very lightly woody - it's not heavy or burning incense. In fact, I hesitate to describe it as incense at all. This is the skin-scent of the ascetic himself. It reminds me of a grown-up version of... the smell of a new-born baby.

Wet, this is all apricots and vanilla brandy, but as it dries it becomes primarily vanilla, with whispers of dark musk. I'm not getting any Hinoki wood at all! Like many blends with vanilla or cream notes I'm left with nothing but a sweet, slightly 'off', slightly synthetic creamy vanilla on drydown. (I think I might have similar skin chemistry as @muined, as Hecate and dark musk do the same thing on me as well.)

Peach/apricot and frankincense! I'm not picking up honey or rose at all. I tend to amp honey but it behaves itself and stays almost imperceptibly quiet here. The overall scent profile reminds me strongly of Court Crows hair gloss (golden mango, apple peel, and frankincense) except with peach and a deeper musk. Soft, light, sophisticated fruit. Lovely!

mmm, this smells just like the blackberry cobbler with vanilla ice cream from a certain roadside restaurant! Fresh bright berry cobbler that eventually fades into a berry jam, sticky with amber and sandalwood. Foodie but not overwhelmingly so.

The opoponax (neither dark nor smoky!), beeswax, and linden blossom are holding hands to create the most lovely impression of sun-warmed honey. Bitter mimosa quietly adds a light green, sappy quality in the background contrasting with smooth frankincense. I don't find it to be cynical at all - this is the crisp sweetness of early spring as trees fill with green blossoms and honeybees start getting busy. Really lovely. A wearable light green honey, not foodie in the slightest, totally appropriate for springtime. 💚

I was frimped a vial of Lust in a recent sales purchase on these forums! I don't know the age or condition of my imp. In the vial I smell patchouli and more patchouli. It is immediately eclipsed by myrrh upon application. A very dirty, dark, almost B.O. scent at this point - but not smoky. I'm not familiar with the smell of ylang-ylang so I can't comment on how it contributes to the blend. On drydown the grittiness burns off fairly quickly and I get a sweet red musk that's cozy, warm, and truly addictive - I love every whiff and can't stop sniffing! It's a very comforting, homey scent that I wouldn't describe as being sexual. It fades gracefully and pleasantly, too. I've been wearing it almost daily this past week. 🥰 I'm also going to add that I don't find Lust to be similar to Sin at all. Sin is very smoky and I amp up the sandalwood/cinnamon whereas Lust is all about the sweet red musk!

I would best describe this scent as a poetic metaphor for bonfire smoke. It is not a literal bonfire smoke accord. Lightly camphorous, along with -- something that tickles my nose. This must be what previous reviews described as lemony, but it doesn't read lemon to me at all, only.. lemonesque. Faded incense is the barest echo and is once again the suggestion of incense rather than identifiable incense notes. I can't even begin to pin down specific notes, but the overall impression is dry, wispy, and surreal. Quite nice.

Does anyone have pairing or similar scent recs for Caw-Caw hair gloss? (sweet black patchouli and clove with black amber, agarwood, and gilded lilac) IMO, the notes are very well proportioned in a way that is greater than the sum of its parts.

The fruit notes in this gloss are very soft and indistinct. I would say the strongest note here is apple blossom (the same one in Ladon) with the slightest hints of mango and citrusy frankincense. All the notes blur together into a light, refined, soft fruit scent that is pleasant but not striking enough to form a scent memory after it fades. Think 'fruity shampoo fragrance' as opposed to perfume! Throw is quite low (I need 2-3 sprays, as opposed to 1 spray of Caw-Caw) and fades in under 8 hours. With that being said, I think this is a mild, universally pleasing fruit scent and one I'm happy to have in my collection!

Hah, I have to agree with the other reviews so far. I'm a fan of both cherry and oud, but I've had my bottle for about a week now and the oud is ultra indolic. The cherry keeps it one step away from crossing over into full-on poop territory, but it's still way too close for comfort! I'm definitely going to let it age and see where it goes.

Ok, this is amazing. I impulse purchased a bottle off Etsy because I'm a fan of both corvids and traditional Japanese agarwood incenses, with which this blend shares many notes. I get very pungent, dark patchouli + clove when freshly applied on damp hair. After a couple hours of drying it unfolded into a beautiful spiced agarwood that offered soft whiffs throughout the day. It's everything I love about Japanese agarwood blends in hair gloss form. Lasted all day and even through the next wash, too! Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to grab some backup bottles before they're gone again. ☺️

(2019 version) Fruit punch! this is a very red, blended fruit punch with a hint of syrupy sweet almond. It doesn't read apple to me at all, at least no more prominently than the other red fruits and berries present in this punch. The forest is more of a backdrop in which the bowl of fruit punch has been placed. Knecht Ruprecht is pure fruit punch, fading into soft and powdery fir trees a couple hours later. I love the Lab's almond and apple notes, but this was unfortunately a miss - they both get lost in the swirl of fruit punch. I think it would make a nice holiday room scent, but as a perfume? it's not for me.

Wet: Slightly musty verbena. I was reminded very strongly of the scent of lemon gummy bears! Deep yellow. Dry: A light sweet amber, almost crossing into vanilla lemon cookies. Pastel yellow. Slightly cool-toned, but not minty (the snowdrops, perhaps?) An hour later emerging is a slightly smoky-resiny base that could be the tree notes.. lingering echoes of last week's service in the chapel. Brown. Interesting, but I don't think I'll reach for this too often.