wordortwo

I recently asked this question as well! Here are the answers I received: The Lab has a myriad of snow notes. There's the creamy, sweet Snow White one that some people get marzipan from and others get coconut. There's the slushy snow from scents like Skadi, a sweet evergreen-infused snow from scents like Snow Bunny, The First Soft Snow, Marshmallow Snow, and NYC Snowball Fight, a white musk sort of snow from scents like Schönperchten and Snow and White Musk Hair Gloss, and then there's mentholic snow from Nuclear Winter... you basically never know what you're going to get, because even with some Frostbitten scents in the past, there were several that had the Snow White snow, but others, like Frostbitten Zombi and Frostbitten Cheshire Cat, that featured different snow notes.

Testing a frimp of unknown age. This fragrance opens with - BAM - a bracing blast of spice, which I interpreted as cinnamon until I looked at the notes. For a brief time, sweet cherry vies for space. It's a good cherry - cherry liqueur rather than cough syrup - but still loses the battle. For about an hour, I'm in nothing but a sweet cloud of spice. Then the dragons blood takes over. So, to my nose, dragons blood resin smells like musty flowers and fruit candy. (It doesn't help that I, two decades removed from college, still associate it with dorm room incense lol.) It wears like a dragons blood single note after that. This is indeed a bold, sticky red scent. I have a feeling it smells very different on different people. But I can't do this much dragons blood, and without the cherry, it loses complexity on me.

Bottle fresh from the lab, 2023.This was not at all what I was expecting. Wet: Sweet lemon. Then lemon sugar cookie with royal icing. Pretty, tasty. Stays that way for quite some time. After four hours, it dries down to a delicious musk, with maybe a dash of coumarin, that is unfortunately whisper-soft. I've worn it quite a bit, but it doesn't knock my socks off. In the past, I had hesitated on buying this because of the word "sugared," and I think that caution was warranted. I think I wanted more astringent tea, and based on the fougere description, maybe more mossy or woody or herbal or lavender notes.

I could have sworn I reviewed this one! Testing a 2021 imp that is 1/4 full... I loved it then. I still like it, but I haven't worn it in quite some time. Wet: Rose. Then soapy rose. Then classy rose and cherry cough syrup. Finally it settles into silky wine and roses. Dry: An soft incense note emerges. Though the notes list dragon's blood, I will respectfully ignore that as I hate dragon's blood. So I'm calling it generic Incense. It takes this from soap territory to perfume land and creates an atmospheric quality. I can picture thick rose petals next to wine glasses empty but for a sip of something berry-laced, lightly tannic, and a tad metallic. Incense smoke sliding by. Sultry. (A note for other sober people: the wine note smells more like the tasting notes for some imaginary red wine and not like actual booze). The far dry down turns very mellow and honeyed. Unfortunately... the roses can go soapy and the wine can go grapey. And I kinda feel this scent is missing something. So, this is no longer a love for me, but I do enjoy it and I recommend any BPAL lover try it.

I don't have much to say about Baku, but that doesn't mean I don't like it. It is, as others have said, anise-tinged herbal lavender. Sometimes has a sinus-clearing quality. It is an excellent sleep scent. I keep an imp by my bed. Strong, don't over-apply if you actually want to sleep. I don't know much about the longevity, other than that it is gone by the time I wake up.

Step 1. Big loud sweet flower. Step 2. Big sweet flower bust open by ozone Step 3. Soft, clean, white clothing, sprinkled with herbs and drying in a blooming garden. Some days I love it, some days I hate it. Never dull, though.

Testing a 2023 frimp. Crisp, green, sweetly floral. I tested it before looking at the notes, and I smelled a very pretty green tea, something like sweet pea or freesia, something like luxury citrus hotel shampoo (that's not a knock). Crisp, buzzy edge I couldn't put my finger on (must be all that citrus). For me, this is all adds up to a really beautiful tea scent, with a well-rounded balance of the astringent, floral, lightly fruity aspects that tea can have. Came on very strong, faded to medium-light throw after an hour, disappeared by hour 5 if not earlier. Very nice. I'm not sure I will wear this that much, but I will wear it again.

Testing a second-hand frimp. Wet, I got the brief play-doh effect another reviewer mentioned. Almost plasticky, but not in the fragrance oil way. As it dries, I first get honey and then dry wood. My brain initially says "cedar?" But I realized that it is sandalwood. I really enjoy this combination. A little moody. By the end of the day, the scent on my sweater reminds me quite a bit of Death is Death from the 2021 Weenies, which is a sweet sandalwood incense with myrrh. On my wrist, what hasn't just rubbed off is vaguely fruity. This was low throw throughout it's life on the skin. It isn't remarkable to me, but very nice and I will wear it again.

Testing a three-year-old frimp. This was one of the first frimps I ever tested, and I remember thinking it was pretty and being surprised at how "mainstream" it felt. Then I didn't wear it for a long time. But both those things are still true, and I don't mean mainstream in a bad way. This is a big, bold fragrance, something sultry for an alien princess 🙂 Wet : blast of salty neroli with a squirt of mandarin juice carried on a green musk funk. A sliver of melon hovers above it all. Dry: white musk, clean and fresh and well-placed, becomes apparent for a while as florals rise over it. Blends into green musk. Melon persists. Surprisingly linear after that. Lasts about 8 hours, big throw. Almost too much.

Testing a year-old frimp. Wet: Sweetly evergreen. Bright. No booze. Dry: Sweetly evergreen, with lemon and frankincense. No booze. I think this is wearing quite close to my skin and is quite faded after four hours. This immediately called to mind memories of Gingerbread Invisible Man and Fatôme's Ruslan. The former is fizzy ginger ale and lemon (plus cookies), and the latter is frankincense and fir. This doesn't do much for me, though I can't say I was expecting it to work.

Oh this is lovely. Smooth, complex, rich without being overwhelming. A fresh, cool, green quality is twined around the lavender, and the cognac and ambergris ground and fix the top notes and give the whole thing a radiating warmth. Surprisingly not particularly animalic, though a bit salty. The green + ambergris puts me in the mind of Yule Cat, but this is much smoother and more interesting. (Edit: Seeing @doomsday_disco's review, I realized I had scents mixed up. Yes, the green bits remind me of Yule Cat, but the lavender + sweet ambergris is totally To a Wreath of Snow. But I still think bedroom is the more interesting 'fume.) I agree with other reviewers that this is evocative, and there is a wistful quality. Now I should say I'm testing this 8 hours out of the mail, so I will update if anything changes.

Like @Ghost of a Rose, I was taken by surprise by this fragrance. It green, fuzzy, powdery, with the scent and texture of sage. I do not think it smells like "moss-covered wood" - which I imagine as a damp, loamy scent. The moss and wood stand separate, since this smells more like fresh-cut wood and moss in the sun. The "dark musk" beneath it all is not BPAL's rich, heady black musk, but then smokey, stone-like variety in Tis Strange (another Shakespeare-themed scent). Robin Goodfellow feels very unisex to me. It is gentle, soothing, and balanced, one I could wear to work and to bed. Bottle-worthy. Thanks for the frimp, Labbies.

I tested a frimp of this one today. Hecate falls into a category of BPALs I think of as "un-fragrance." These scents are focused just on smelling good and they smell good just to smell good. They are not trying to win awards for being challenging. They aren't going to offend anyone, and everyone will want to hold you in a hug a little longer. Instead of pushing us to olfactory limits, Hecate soothes with an ancient perfume note: myrrh. This is the heart of this fragrance and endures after the marzipan becomes creamy almond. It is warm and balsamic and the musk makes it smooth. (This actually reads more like BPAL's "skin musk" note to me, rather than a dark musk). It is comforting and powdery in a velvety way. I'm on board with the whole "mama witch" vibe. I thought it faded after an hour, but it seems to have morphed or something. Definitely wears close to the skin after the marizpan phase is over, but that is exactly what I would want from a fragrance like this. I am not sure I need a bottle of this, but I am going to use up the imp. Probably a good work scent for me.

This is such a loveable scent... like that one easy-going, genuine friend who always smells good but you can't really put your finger on why... Jack is peachy, but not a summer peach; pumpkin-y, but not an autumn pumpkin. This is a summer-into-fall scent, sun-warmed pumpkin butter and peach butter. I wouldn't know there was nutmeg in this if the description didn't list it. This scent has no longevity. I mean, it is simply gone after an hour. I have thought about full-sizing it simply because I slather it on all day long every time I wear it.

I'm surprised I've never written about this one. I have a bottle purchased in swaps. Ava is one of a few perfumes that converted me to vanilla. I love the heady, fruity, sultry nature of tuberose, and blended with vanilla it becomes a little more innocent and pretty. The mandarin and almond add sharpness and creaminess. This is a grown-up scent that immediately brought me back to the 90s. Like @Cali I am reminded of Black Opium. (Edit/correction: I actually get Opium vibes rather than Black Opium). I don't wear this often enough, probably due to that big early 90s perfume association -- I remember those perfumes as big, brash, room-clearing scents. But Ava is more gentle than that.

I have a decant of unknown age. Patchouli is the star of the Funnel of Love show. All of the other notes are back-up singers to help a really smooth, sleek patch shine. The black pepper is a thin gloss on top. The musky leather is a soft and smooth base note. Though this is mostly a dry scent, the champaca lends a little sweetness. The coriander and cardamom are in no way foody; they are warm, a bit green and bitter, and I feel like they are twined around the jasmine (and yes, "feel," because I am not sure I can account for the jasmine). I agree with a lot of what @rivetted wrote. I initially found Funnel of Love unpleasant, but loved it once I gave it more time on my skin. I have enjoyed this most under layers of winter clothes. It is deep, dark, smooth, and a whole mood. I wouldn't necessarily call this an everyday scent... but I could see myself wearing it every day. When I was in my early 20s, I wore straight-up patchouli oil from a New Age shop. It was the dank, dirty variety and it was... a lot. This is my grown-up, sophisticated answer to that.

Testing second-hand frimp. As someone above said, this is only subtly animalic. I wouldn't have guessed this contained a civet, but I have found that I am not that sensitive to animalics. If that makes any sense. Instead, I get a clean, cool Egyptian musk cut with a more warm, dirty BPAL red musk (which, come to think of it, may actually be a well-placed civet note and not red musk at all). Opium is also prominent, a sort of powdery, incense-tinged, rich, resinous floral. This is much more linear than I was expecting. I bet this can be a really sexy skin scent (lightly applied) on the right person. I don't dislike this, and I like it more the longer I wear it, but it does not do that much for me.

I have an Ajevie decent RIS. This is quite fruity in the imp, in the way red musk sometimes seems to me. On the skin, the scent dries up. This is, in fact, blood musk. It is the sweet copper tang of a just-dried drop of blood. Powdery, bitter notes swirl into the blood. This is not a sweet perfume, but without the hint of sweetness it has it would probably smell only metallic and bitter. The dry down is earthy, a little leathery, the slightest bit spicy. This is very nice, very goth. It does what I wanted The Blood Garden to do: create a wine-free, not-too-dirty, bloody atmospheric, dark but not too heavy. (I can't believe that is a thing I have been looking for, but here I am). Edit: this reminds me, in mood and tone and ruby resins, of The Wish from the Ars Inspiration collection.

I have an imp purchased in 2020. This scent opens and closes with red musk. For the longest time, I never got past the dry red musk opening. However, this time around, I kept it on all day and got to experience the dry down. When I sniff my wrist, I get a dry, spicy wood scent - an even combination of sandalwood and rosewood. The woods may be dry and subdued, but they are also magnetic. Unfortunately, I only detect that when I hold my wrist to my nose. I otherwise seem to be exuding a cloud of pale red musk, like head shop incense clinging to my clothes. As the day wears on, the woods wear off. Fenris spends hours in that pale red musk phase. I will try this again in the future, to see if I can hang on to the woody phase longer. As it stands, this is perfectly pleasant but I do not find it particularly compelling.

A low note thrumming on a guitar string. You know that feeling? This rumbles and resonates. The first sniff is powdery chocolate, like a Hershey kiss that has bloomed and hardened and turned to dust. (If you are familiar with Night, it does not share a cacao with Wrapped). I'm glad I actually put it on my skin after that impression. A glossy mahogany, reminiscent of Antikythera Mechanism, combines with the chocolate and gradually overtakes it. To the chocolate-dusted wood, add warm, unsweetened, spiced, earthy sort of vanilla smell. And, yes, the woods are smoked. Based on this first test, this is excellent. Sleek, warm, woody, earthy tonka with a dusting of smoke and cacao.

To me, this is the suggestion of dirt more than a realistic representation. I prefer that. It is almost like fresh juniper with rain-soaked mud clods and dried flowers (maybe rose petals). The patchouli is quite light. Fresh juniper and flowers trampled into a mud puddle. I enjoy this one very much. Initially, I had rejected this because it had not quite been what I expected. Too fresh. But I returned to it months later and found it lovely and quite "wearable" for most settings.

Throughout the pandemic (and several major life changes), Neil Gaiman books have been a salve for my frazzled nerves. Small Brown Cat is the perfect comfort scent to go with my comfort books. It truly smells like fur -- fuzzy, dusty, warm. The vanilla adds a hint of unobtrusive sweetness. The cardamom cools the scent just enough to allow me to wear this on 85°F days. The cardamom is dominant on my skin, which I love. I don't notice the cedar, but I imagine it gives the scent a bit of a backbone that prevents it from just poofing off the skin. Really a lovely, warm hug of scent.

2022 version. Womb Furie checks a lot of boxes for me: honey, bits of florals, musk, incense, vanilla, powder. As others have said, the honey reads like a wildflower honey, with an extra dose of wildflowers. With the honey, I expected this to be heavier than regular Snake Oil, but it is light and almost fresh. The honey is pale gold. Someone had told me this is a cousin to O and I agree with that assessment - the honey, vanilla, musk of it all. The wear length is medium and so is the throw. I so enjoy wearing this.

Try putting on lotion before your oils. That works well for me. Also, I make sure to apply oil to the crooks of my elbows and under my clothes, not just my wrists. Hand washing, using a mouse, etc. tends to remove perfume from my wrists. The first that comes to mind in the Antikythera Mechanism (teakwood, oak, black vanilla, and tobacco). Also from the GC: Fenris Wolf (rosewood, amber, red musk and a dribble of red sandalwood). Streets of Detroit from the Only Lovers Left Alive collection lasts forever (Black musk accord, Ethiopian myrrh, and motor oil). I haven't worn it a ton, but Pyramid of Skulls from last year's Weenies (tobacco and sandalwood) seems to last a long time. In general, citrus and light floral notes will dissipate quickly. Woods, musks, and heavy white florals will stick around.

Until this morning, I thought I didn't like Goblin. But I woke up wanting to wear it. After a few wand-swipes, I discovered a had finished the imp. If you asked me, I would say I find Goblin too sweet and simple. However, I enjoy wearing it. The patchouli is pleasantly dirty and dusty. The coconut, though sweet, brings to mind coconut flesh more than piña colada. I don't think the sweetness comes from the coconut; it has the thick syrup sweetness of BPAL's benzoin note. That sweetness initially rubs me the wrong way, but it always gets its claws in me anyway. I'm a fan. Apparently.