AutoroboticTribal

So, a very kind person sent me a bottle of Channukiyah from 2015. First off--let me say that this is a very complex but difficult perfume, at least with my skin chemistry and sense of smell. When the perfume first arrived, I was absolutely taken by the fragrance because it initially smelled like the most vivid, juicest pomegranates I've ever smelled in my life. The pomegranate note is positively mouthwatering, and after five minutes the beeswax and olive smell start to come out--and then I got a faint whiff of fried dough. Whole thing smelled so much like the mediterranean. It was gorgeous and delicious! After a month though? This perfume's changed a lot. Sadly, the pomegranates now only show up for 5 seconds--and then it disappears completely and my skin winds up smelling intensely like super-sweet resins. It felt like someone had poured frankinsense and corn syrup over my head--and that may have been caused by the fig and amber. So, I was left feeling VERY nervous and self-conscious. After 30 minutes, I then get the realistic beeswax and some VERY good olive oil (it smells like very expensive and high-quality oil, the kind that carries whiffs of olive leaves and bark). The olive oil is clearly used here to 'freshen up' the amber and fig, but sadly it couldn't keep the whole fragrance from smelling a little muddled and uber-sweet on my skin. After two hours though--the sweetness calmed down and I finally get the sufganyot. It smells realistically like soft, fried dough and it made the whole perfume smell exactly like being at a bakery (for any Londoners here, my skin smelled a lot like being at Rinkoff's in Jubilee street. You walk in and you smell the fried dough made in-house, oil, and caramel in the air). So...I can see why Beth designed this fragrance this way (because it does evoke the holiday and eating sufganyots), but I badly wish the pomegranates were much more vivid (and the fig...less so). I'll let it rest again to see if it's my hormones affecting this perfume, or if I could layer this fragrance with something that could make the fig less overpowering. So, in conclusion: What kind of perfume is this? It's clear that this is intended to be a gourmand with a woody aromatic twist. The olive oil provides some green vibes that would make you think that there's olive leaves and bark in the notes, but you will still smell a lot of sweet fruit and dough in this. What season would be best to wear this? Definitely wear this during cold weather. The fig notes would smell very thick and heavy in warm weather. Will it smell okay if the person wearing this gets active and sweaty? Nnnnnope. I took this to a 14-km hike and realised that it was a bad idea. This is a perfume for going to a brunch with friends, not for anything physical. Does the dough smell greasy or too sweet? Surprisingly, no. The dough note smelled very light and fluffy, even with the presence of olive oil on my skin. What would you rate this? 5/10. The olive oil, beeswax, pomegranate and dough notes smell VERY vivid and high quality. It's just the fig that's playing havoc with my skin chemistry.

Ever had a perfume that smells totally repellant at first application, only to turn nicely sweet and well-blended on your skin musk after half an hour? Halfling is exactly like that. I personally love the smell of porridge and pastry (though I don't know how kukui nuts would smell like, since I've only ever seen kukui nuts in jewellery). But on first application, it smelled STRONGLY of nose-burning almond extract. It literally left a soapy taste in my mouth just to smell it. But I let it hang on and only around 30 minutes, did it finally calm down and begin to smell like soft oatmeal cookies, pie crumbs, and toasted nuts. This perfume scratches my carb-craving itch, but it's definitely something that I can't bring with me in public to apply when on the go. My husband in particular likes this one, but that's because I only apply this perfume when I know he's nowhere near me when I'm getting ready for the day.

So, this is one of my Top 3 Scents by BPAL. The notes make it seem like it should be a simple scent, but once I received my sample vial--I was instantly smelling half-melted beeswax (the pale kind), smoke, and a tiny trace of burnt hemp. It's positively evocative, and I love wearing it while playing Bloodborne because it makes the playthrough very atmospheric. It also never curdles on my skin, doesn't go sour, nor does it come off as plasticky. It gradually turns into a creamy 'my skin but better' kind of musk after 24 hours. I seriously wish I found this 5 years ago when I was hunting for a good candle scent!

Wow, I can't believe it. I have finally found the ONE perfume that didn't make me hate orange blossoms. I've always been super-obsessed with green scents (mostly because I grew up in an arid desert which made growing things very difficult, and I grew up surrounded by childrens' books which showed lush and evocative drawings of forests & gardens (like 'The First Tomato' by Rosemary Wells) which left me and my siblings absolutely wondering what those places were like). So when I saw this perfume, I immediately wanted to try it because it claims to smell like tomato leaves and the fruit. The only problem is that I can't stand orange blossoms--they either get too astringent to my nose, or come off smelling like sunblock. Luckily, I found someone who was willing to destash half a bottle to me--and I must thank this person because it's a VERY evocative and tomato-y perfume. As soon as I opened the bottle, it instantly smells like a glass of fresh tomato juice. Practically the smell of summer in a bottle. Once I put it on my skin, the tomato juice vanishes and all I could smell are tomato vines and savoury-and-dried tomato leaves. It's delicious, and within 5 minutes I start to smell tomato-skin and fresh, crisp orange blossoms. It's now been 20 minutes and sadly I don't smell any soil, but I can detect something minty underneath the tomato, vines, and orange blossom (I looked it up and saw that geraniums can smell like mint to other people's noses). I can't get any whiff of seductive musks just yet, but I'm just loving this whole combination of herbs, tomato fruit, and summery flowers. I'll need to compare this with Soup (another good BPAL scent, but sadly LE), but this truly smells like being in a tomato garden. It's a joy-inducing perfume and I'll definitely wear this whenever I want to take a break from cold, rainy England. EDIT: Aaaaaand I'm back (40 minutes later) to report that the tomato doesn't stick around for long. Like Little Bird has commented above, I've been left with a predominant scent of orange blossom (though weirdly I don't get any sharp or masculine notes). I think my skin chem absorbed the musk completely, because all I could smell is just orange blossom but in a faint, aquatic way. I basically smell like a glass of water with an orange blossom dropped inside. Thankfully the blossom isn't overpowering, but I do miss the first 20 minutes of the perfume.

WOAH. This perfume smells exactly as it says on the tin. As soon as I put it on, my skin instantly smelled like lush gingerbread. It straight-up smells spiced, but it somehow also smells caramelized and chewy that it made me keep thinking about those wonderful Pierniczki cookies (seriously, they're the closest thing that smells like the gingerbread note of this perfume). Sadly, the gingerbread only sticks around for 15 minutes--and once the 15 minute wear-time passed, I wound up smelling like a tidal-wave of thick, frothy, and boiling milk. It got to the point that I could smell a whiff of sticky milk skin with the milk note, and that part almost got a little cheesey*, but it thankfully didn't get too noticeable thanks to the gingery spices that sit around the 'edge' of the perfume. This is definitely a 'fair-weathered friend' scent (this scent will NOT help disguise any sweat. It will also definitely be too heavy to wear during muggy/damp winters), but I'm utterly wowed by the realistic gingerbread note which makes me perfectly happy to grin and bear the also realistic 'milk skin' note. However, I would say that this scent is VERY much a gourmand perfume, to the point that it will raise a few eyebrows in the workplace (it's not like Shub Niggurath which smells more refreshing, light and likeable for people that are used to mainstream perfumes). The milk note in this perfume also lasts a LONG time. I had applied a little bit today at 9:00am and my skin still smells heavily like steamed milk at 8:00pm. So while I personally love this, I would only be able to wear this during very cold winters. *Disclaimer: So...I grew up drinking a lot of boiled milk (not because my family's into it, but because my abuela couldn't find pasteurized milk in supermarkets until the 1990s). So I'm very used to this kind of smell and don't mind the cheesiness at all. So if you're reading this and want to check whether this perfume would be a hit or a miss before you buy a bottle--I would absolutely recommend boiling a small pot of milk and giving it a good whiff. If you find it nice and comforting, give this perfume a try. If you find it gross, definitely give this a pass.

This broke my heart because it smelled so good from the bottle. It's smells exactly like a gooey honey cake with little dried-smelling buds lavender on the side. It's positively mouth-watering while still feeling light and not too dense or overly sweet. But as soon as I put it on my skin? The honey cake note turns into plastic. Which is weird because I've tried BPAL's honey notes before (like Good, Cerberus'ish, The Lights of Men's Eyes, and the 2020 shunga 'Women Copulating' scent), and all the honey notes worked well on my skin. I also thought the cake wouldn't be a problem because I've tried Two Frames and Dragon Slide, and both scents smelled exactly as they should with my skin chem as well. So with great regret, I'm going to have to destash my bottle and make a note to avoid specific honey-cake perfumes in the future. It's such a shame because it's a wonderful and well-crafted perfume, but thankfully I have other options should I need to reach for a honey-based scent.

This is truly a perfume built to help people feel cool and fresh throughout the winter/early spring season (especially if you're like me and live in a city where every public building cranks their thermostat up to 11 and makes everything feel like a hot, prickly vibe). Copulating Couple is a very light perfume that starts off with a 'cool water' musk that turns mildly sweet (likely from the mint), before turning crisp and lichen-esque. There's also something at the end that smells spicy (probably the patchouli?) that for some reason, keeps making me think of wasabi. My nose is probably broken, but even my SO agrees that it reminds him of horseradish. Sadly, the green tea note is barely there for me--it's a note that I'd absolutely have to root around for when inhaling the scent. It's there, but it's a microscopic note among the other parts of the fragrance. I really do like the mint and lichen in this, so I'll let it age and hope the green tea pops out more.

This was such a hit for me! The oakmoss smells so dewy and fresh, pairing real well with the candied cranberry that seems to sit in the 'centre' of the perfume. I only get the wool note after wearing this for 10 minutes and it genuinely smells like sticking your face in a pile of roving? I have no idea how, but I spin yarn as a hobby so I have bags of various roving, and the wool note smells a LOT like trapped air and crinkly little fibres that have been left on oakmoss for a while. It doesn't smell sheepy or like lanolin by any means, it just smells like scoured and hand-picked roving that's a little raspy but still comforting. This is definitely a perfume that would please the wiccan/strega crowd (the only issue is that occasionally, my kin chemistry can cause the wool note to smell a little like hairpsray. The oakmoss and cranberry brandy still smell great, but the wool note can be a little temperamental when you get close to shark week).

This is SUCH a beauty! I know it's strange to wear something that has butter as a note, but the cream and frankincense really pull it from being a niche-gourmand into a smoother, more sophisticated scent. On opening this, it starts off smelling like golden butter, smooth cream, and a very light touch of frankincense. As it develops on my skin though, it then winds up smelling like smelling a tub of Cornish cream at a church. Absolutely comforting, light, and great for first-timers who have been used to mainstream perfumes. I say that this is great for people who like mainstream stuff, because my very discerning sister and mom have taken a huge shine onto this perfume. As soon as I opened it, they instantly crowded in with 'ooh's and asked to try it (it's also gotten a good reaction from my cat! I try to only apply on perfume outside of the house since my cat has FIV and I worry about her breathing in essential oils--but when I came back home after wearing it all day, she absolutely perked up and wanted to smell my neck). I'm so taken in by this perfume (and the funny medieval art that inspired this!), I'll absolutely buy a backup! It's such a shame that this can't be part of the general collection!

Oh, WOW this is SCHWEET! This is so sugary that it'll make you suck your teeth in at first sniff, but I can't help but really appreciate the crystallised brown sugar and cinnamon (and the ultra-realistic dough smell) as I wear this. I can't detect any weed smell yet, but I can definitely confirm that I don't get any acrid or smokey undertone at all. This is perfect for cinnamon and foody lovers!

So, this scent is clearly an 'either you love it or hate it' scent. I was nervous about trying this scent and only bought a half-bottle from Ajevie's leftover collection, but when it arrived...I was surprised by how much it smells like Reese's Puffs?! Like I was ready to face the dreaded cumin smell. But when I opened the bottle and put it on, all I can smell during the first hour of wear-time is this delicious wave of chocolatey-and-peanut butter corn puffs. The maize aspect is very present and not at all plasticky, and I can only detect the spices by hour 2 of wearing it (and the spice notes smell very woody and earthy. Like a mix of sandalwood and kitchen spices which reminds me of the spices and amyris used in Zoologist's Chipmunk). I...I really like this scent. I sadly don't get any cream cheese or crust, but as a huge fan of Zoologist Chipmunk (for real, I bought a 2ml decant and completely drained it in 3 weeks), I'm really glad that I've purchased it (and now I'm sad, because all I have is 2.5ml of this version of Beaver Moon). Honestly, I think I can't smell any cumin because it's a note that usually plays nice on my skin (plus, my nose is probably incapable of smelling any funky cumin if it's present. I grew up in Spanish kitchens that always smelled like a fog of cumin and lentils, and eating cumin-heavy foods has probably altered my sense of smell). I'm gonna test this out on my family and will report back if they think it's got the funky BO-like cumin note. EDIT: Okay, so it's been 4 hours (and I've been chopping onions and garlic while sweating over the stove): The spices, chocolate, and corn notes have vanished--and I finally get the cheesecake notes (which reminds me a lot of the smell of marshmallow fluff). My husband couldn't smell any funky cumin BO on me, and my kid sister tells me that I smell like cookies (my mom though, is NOT a fan. Claims that I smell 'too sweet' to her). I'll definitely need to try this with a different group of people.