IoPan

Hello, friends! My all-time favorite BPAL is Sri Lanka, which has been discontinued for many years. I'm so sad!! Wondering if anyone can recommend a similar perfume to try from BPAL. Sri Lanka's scent profile was: "Indian sandalwood and cedar, and the dry incense smoke of olibanum, gum mastic, patchouli and myrrh." Thanks!

I definitely get the grape and blackberry with a nice leafy/spicy undertone when I first apply. Then it begins to dry down and the panoply of other scents come out, too. The woodsy and leafy notes are just wonderful and combine so beautifully with the spices. Often, "fall" fragrances end up being very gourmand and Yankee Candle-ish, just too gimmicky to be sophisticated or interesting. This one misses the Yankee Candle character, probably because of the complexity of the various woods and fruits. It does put me in mind of autumn, but of being outside on an autumn evening and coming in to sip on a nice hot mug of mulled something or other, with all the fresh, cold air of the fall season still clinging to you. It's cozy and celebratory without being cheesy. I probably won't wear this often, but I can see wearing it during certain fall activities. Or, more likely, using it in an oil warmer as a home fragrance.

Defututa In the bottle: A fresh, not quite citrusy, not quite floral, airy scent. Wet: A pleasantly tropical floral, not overwhelmingly sweet. I can get the jasmine but it’s not reading as a one-note fragrance. Still a fresh, bright fragrance. Dry: Turns into a well-balanced yet distinctively jasmine blend. A little warmer and more rounded than plain jasmine on its own. After 30 minutes: Fading almost totally away on me after only about 15 minutes. That’s just as well, since it settled into a fragrance that’s much more feminine than I like.

Belladonna: In the bottle: Herbal and green with a hint of something citrusy-sweet. Maybe bee balm? Wet: Herbaceousness quickly gives way to camphoraceous/Vick’s Vap-o-Rub smell. Dry: Lavender, rosemary, sharp/heavy herbs. Still a note of Vick’s but it’s less strong. After 30 minutes: Vanished entirely on me at about 20 minutes.

Tombstone: In the bottle: Leather and a hint of vanilla. Something warm and smoky that might be tobacco. Interesting, because vanilla is the only note that’s actually in the blend. Wet: The sassafras comes through for sure wet, alongside the vanilla. Smells like a delicious root beer float minus the sweetness. Just the botanical/herby/spicy notes of the plants you use to make root beer and vanilla ice cream. As it continues toward dry-down, the cedar and balsam peek through, which grounds the scent more and gives it a more decidedly botanical/less foody character. Dry: Mostly just a vanilla on me when fully dried. Not bad, but lost most of its complexity. I’ll see if it continues to develop over time. After 30 minutes: I amped the vanilla so hard that it’s taking over the world. Can’t wear this one!

Tlazolteotl In the bottle: chocolatey and… floral? Hard to pin down. Wet: the chocolate is still there, and is very rich on my skin, with a more distinct floral note that I can’t pin down. A little earthy starchy note is coming through, which I suppose is the maize. Dry: An interesting, complex sweet/fresh scent. All the notes blend together so well that I can’t really pick anything out on its own. It’s sweet and reminds me of eating tasty things, but it doesn’t have the strong sugary forcefulness that most gourmand perfumes have. It’s subtle and quiet, and there’s a clear freshness to it reminiscent of clean laundry, but not as forceful and sharp as ozonic/airy/laundry fragrances tend to be, either. Others have called this a sophisticated scent, and I agree. It’s intriguing, complex, and pleasant without being overwhelming or one-note. After 30 minutes: After some time on my skin, this one just becomes a fairly anonymous floral fragrance. It’s nice enough, but it loses all its unique complexity on me. Darn.

Malediction In the bottle: Oooh, this is reminding me of my all-time favorite, Sri Lanka, with its resinous, incense, woodsy-green sharpness. Wet: Mmmmm, yum yum yum, a sharp, almost astringent resin, which might not be everybody’s cup of tea, but I absolutely love it. My dad was a painter and the wet application smells very much like his studio, with the smell of linseed oil and various resin-derived solvents. A clear cedar notes comes through toward the end of dry-down. Dry: On my skin, this is definitely a cedar-forward scent. I can definitely detect the subtle dark-greenness of vetiver and the smoky/resinous patchouli, but they are for sure well underneath the cedar. I love this combination, though. I can’t stop huffing my wrist. It smells great on me. After 30 minutes: Still a cedar/resin/woodsy fragrance on me with just a tiny hint of patchouli. Not much of a match for my beloved and sorely missed Sri Lanka, but with some of its familiar notes. I like it enough to get a full bottle!

Eclipse: Wet: Juicy, almond-cherry-fruity with a subtle undercurrent of spice and vanilla. Dry: A warm, gourmand vanilla with a subtle note of cinnamon. After 30 minutes: I smell like a Yankee Candle Co. kitchen candle of some kind—cinnamon rolls or baking cookies. It’s a pleasant, homey, foody smell, but not what I was hoping for.

Tenochtitlan: Wet: A lush, fruity fragrance with just a hint of spicy-woodsy undertones. I’m assuming the fruity impression comes from the hyssop and prickly pear merging. As it moves toward drydown, the amber comes through. Dry: Settles into a very juicy yet floral fragrance. I suppose this must be the prickly pear taking center stage. There is just enough warmth from the amber and bitterness from the sage and epazote to keep it from becoming a one-note fragrance. After 30 minutes: Fades pretty quickly on me, barely detectable even with my nose pressed against my skin. It’s still pleasant, but very faint.

The Antikythera Mechanism: Wet: Definitely a strong tonka note with a strange soapy-acrid undertone. Dry: Whatever that sharp, biting note may be only becomes stronger on dry-down and it is not working well with the tonka and my skin. Washing this one off pronto! Doesn't work on me!

Ouija In the bottle: astringent, minty, sharp. Wet: Still quite mentholated and Vicks Vap-o-Rub-like. But as it begins to dry a little, I’m getting a nice floral note. I can’t imagine what the solidly minty/camphoraceous note is coming from. Osmanthus, maybe?? That’s strange. Dry: I am definitely getting lilac and rose, but not an overwhelming note of either. The woody notes are noticeable now, too. It takes on a nice, airy quality, with the florals settling into the woods. It doesn’t read like a floral fragrance because everything blends together so nicely—more like a pleasant, fresh, outdoorsy scent—but it is also quite faint by the time it has dried down. After about 45 minutes: A very light and unobtrusive lilac-rose. The woodsy notes have all vanished. It’s nice if you like florals but don’t like really bold fragrances, just something that’s soft and hinting. Way too girly for my tastes, though.

Uruk: In the bottle: Very almondy! Wet: A complex array of spices starts to come through the almond top note. Cinnamon, saffron, something else… A smoky note also begins to come through. That must be the incense. Dry: The spices mingle nicely with the lily and jasmine. The almond has receded. Now it’s a light, floral scent with a grounding of warm spice. After further dry-down, it takes on a Christmas-like feel to me. The sweet florals recede a bit further behind the spices and the result is almost like sugary Christmas treats. After 30 minutes: It loses its Christmasy impression and settles into a pleasant balance between floral sweetness and warm spice. It’s a nice fragrance, but more feminine than I like.

Wilde: I like masculine scents on myself, so I had to try this one. In the bottle: A classic men’s-cologne scent with a clear interplay between bergamot and lavender. Fresh-smelling. Wet: After reading so many reviews saying it’s very strong, I put only a tiny dab on my wrists. Wet, the thyme comes forward to join the bergamot and lavender. Dry: Very bergamotty on me. I almost can’t detect anything other than bergamot. After 30 minutes: Still basically just bergamot on me and not much else. Bummer!

Black Annis: I am a big fan of all things black licorice, so I was excited to try this one. In the bottle: I can definitely smell the anise, and it's surprisingly sweet and thick, with a bitter-earthy undertone that’s very appealing to me. Interested to see what this does on my skin. Wet: Interesting… my first impression wet is of sweet black licorice and leather, even though there is no leather note in the blend. That must be the vetiver and civet interacting. It quickly settles into a warm-spicy smell with the anise very much forward. So far, so good. Dry: Interesting… it goes from a sugary, sweet anise to a nice, complex, bitter anise on dry-down. I am getting a little of the oak, vetiver, and civet now that it’s dry. These are very much supporting cast for the anise, which is the real star of the show. It has also lightened up considerably on dry-down, which isn’t a bad thing. It’s so close to one-note on me that I don’t want to just smell like an angry Good ’N Plenty everywhere I go. After 30 minutes: this settles down to a mostly oak moss/oak leaf scent with the faintest hint of vetiver and civet, barely enough to anchor the oakey notes. The anise is still there, but you have to be right up close to pick it up at all. After wearing for a while, it’s an extremely light scent on me, yet still distinctive. The kind of fragrance that will just barely reach another person without overwhelming anyone’s senses. It has a fresh quality to it without taking on that soapy/body-washy character the “fresh” spectrum of fragrances sometimes have. It’s so light on me that I think it’s the kind I’ll need to re-apply a few times throughout the day, but I appreciate it for its distinctive yet unobtrusive character. It’s the kind of oil I’ll wear at writers’ conferences once conferences come back in a post-covid world. It’s unisex tending toward masculine, which is exactly what I love. I’ll order a full-sized bottle.

Bram Stoker I got some of this in the beard oil for my husband and he loves it. Smells great on him, too. Now I’m trying the perfume oil on myself. In the bottle: Strong vetiver and a bit of bergamot. A distinctly masculine, “cologne”-y scent, but not unpleasantly so. Wet: Holds the same characteristics wet as it held in the bottle, though I am getting the hay absolute now, too. Dry: My skin chemistry amps the vetiver times a million, drowns out the other notes, and throws it all over the place. Even a little dab on my wrist is overwhelming the whole room! That is some serious vetiver, my dudes. Hopefully it settles down with time. After 30 minutes: This one smells great when my husband combs it through his beard, but it just doesn’t work on me. I love vetiver, but on me, this is 100% vetiver and it is on a mission to murder you because you insulted its mama. I had to take it off with rubbing alcohol! Darn.

Nephilim: This one contains some of my all-time favorite notes—oakmoss, cardamom, black patchouli, fig, cypress, vetiver—so I’m excited to see how it works on my skin. In the bottle: I definitely get the oakmoss and fig, with a distinct soil-like bitterness, which I assume comes from the cardamom and patchouli. It’s an unusual smell in the bottle. Nothing you’d typically associate with perfume. A very outdoorsy or nature-oriented smell. Reminds me a lot of bird down. Wet: Wow, that fig! With a sharp, ferny green undercutting it. I am loving this so far. It smells like being outdoors in the fall. Not the pumpkin-spice-inspired “fall” facsimiles that are more gourmand than nature-y, but like taking a walk in an actual forest after a fall rain, during mushroom season. As it moves toward dry-down, the fig and green notes (cypress and lavender?) merge more smoothly with the oakmoss and vetiver. Please don’t turn into commercial perfume hell-stench on my skin, because I am loving this so much thus far. Dry: Wow, this all settles so beautifully together. I can’t pick out a single distinctive note, although occasionally the oakmoss, vetiver, and cypress assert themselves just for a moment and then sink back down into the others. It retains its open-air, woodsy, greenish characteristics without being the kind of scent that relies too heavily on any one note. It has such a clean, airy character. It’s almost an ozonic fragrance, but not as sharp as most ozonics. So far this is a BIG keeper for me, and I’m just waiting to see whether it continues to wear well over time without turning into a wreck on my skin. After 30 minutes: Fades down quite a bit, but still definitely present. It hasn’t changed in character much, except that the frankincense comes a bit more forward with its powdery note. However, the bitter green woodsiness is still quite present and very appealing. I do think this is scent tends much more toward the masculine end of things than the feminine end, which is great for me—I have a bod like Dolly Parton, yet I love to smell like I’m a lumberjack who’s about to punch a Sasquatch in the face. I think I have found a new all-time favorite. Nephilim is tied for first place with Depraved, in my book.

Sin: In bottle: A fruity, resinous combination. Not overly sweet but with a definitely sweet-leaning edge. Interesting, because there is nothing fruity listed in the blend. I suppose it must be the cinnamon reacting with the other notes to create an almost black-cherry-like smell. Wet: definite cinnamon now, on first application, with a nice amber underlying the heat. Dry: Melds into a sweet, resinous, balanced scent that’s warm and bright, but also very faint on my skin. Unusual for me, because normally I amp patchouli like crazy (and I love that), and black patchouli in particular smells awesome on me. But the black patchouli note is impossible to distinguish in this blend once it has dried down, and the remaining sweetish resin fragrance is almost not there at all. After 30 minutes: A lovely scent, but way too faint on my skin and it’s missing that black patchouli that I love so much.

Old Scratch: in imp: A fresh, almost watery smell, light and with a very slight sweetness, like unobtrusive florals. I’m struggling to figure out where that fresh, light smell comes from, because none of the ingredients on their own tend to be fresh and light! I can get a suggestion of lavender, but it’s not the heavy, sleepy lavender you typically smell. It’s a faint camphoraceous note whose stringency perks up the heavier ingredients nicely. Wet: I can definitely sense the lavender and amber playing together on first application. The lavender is stronger now but anchored by a strong base note from the amber and tonka. As it progresses toward the dry stage, the rosewood comes through noticeably but it’s still quite nicely balanced. Dry: Oh, wow. That rosewood is NICE. What a delicious meld of all the notes. Nothing is overpowering or strongly forward, but they all support each other in a unique, appealing fragrance. It’s woodsy and resiny with just the barest hint of a floral note, which doesn’t read as lavender at all, though it clearly must be from the lavender. The impression it gives me is of walking in a shady forest on a warm day. The warmth is in there, but mostly the experience is crisp and refreshing and very earthy/woodsy/natural. After 30 minutes: This has morphed into a more sophisticated and balanced, more artfully crafted version of the only commercial perfume I ever liked, Alabaster for Banana Republic. A bright, clean, unisex fragrance that walks a line between green notes and resinous notes. A definite keeper! Ordering a full-sized bottle of this one.

Perversion: Wet: Initially a rich, foody, curry/fenugreek smell that quickly gives way to the tonka. I can detect the leather and a bright, clear, sweetish note, which I suppose must be the chardonnay. Dry: On my skin, there’s a weird interplay between the tonka and chardonnay that is very sharp. Very cutting. I don’t necessarily hate it, since it’s memorable, but I’m not sure it’s a way I necessarily want to smell. After 30 minutes: Just an overly sweet tonka smell on me. Very sugary and rich. Nice gourmand, but I don’t like to wear gourmands.

Yggdrasil: In the imp: Medicinal, eucalyptusy, strongly herbal. Wet on skin: Vick’s Vap-o-Rub for sure! Giving it time to dry and start doing its thing with my skin chemistry… Dry: Unfortunately on me, this one goes straight from the Vicks stage to the non-existent stage. Arrgh!

Masquerade: Wet: Patchouli with just a hint of orange. I love it so far. As it begins to dry down, I start to get the carnation and ambergris, but not overtly. Dry: The orange blossom is a little more forward on dry-down, but still balanced beautifully with the ambergris, carnation, and patchouli. It also practically vanished on me when it was dry, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I’m okay with some of the perfumes I wear being very subtle and only detectable at very close range. So interesting to me, because usually patchouli really shines on my skin and has great staying power. After 30 minutes: It has fully settled into a floral that’s just slightly sweet, and only detectable if you’re very close to my skin. Although sweet and floral fragrances aren’t ones I usually go for because they tend to read too girly for my tastes, I like the way the ambergris and patchouli give this one a more gender-neutral edge. I’ll order a full-size bottle of this one.

Event Horizon: Wet: Contrary to the description, this is a bright floral grounded by a beautiful balance between benzoin and opoponax. It has an appealing tangy-spicy-resin smell on first application. Dry: Strikes a lovely, warm balance between the orchid and the richer, more incensey notes. The orchid is reading almost like gardenia to me, but not as sweet or as reminiscent of whiteness. The opium and labdanum are definitely there, but nothing in this blend is dominant. It’s all a perfectly cooperative play between the floral note and the various resins. After 30 minutes: It has faded considerably. No staying power at all on my skin. But that might not be a bad thing, since I really like the blend (unusual, for a sweet/floral fragrance) and it might be the right thing to wear when you want someone to want to get closer to you… I’ll consider possibly getting a full-sized bottle of this one.

Voodoo: In the bottle: a delicious, fruity, sarsparilla/root beer. Wet: A clear cinnamon note, which would be the clove, but it reads as cinnamon in this blend. A sweet undertone from the lime/vanilla/almond, but the sweetness is only faintly there. A suggestion of something powdery—that must be the myrrh. Dry: STRONG powder notes from the myrrh. The myrrh is drowning out everything else unless I hold my wrist up to my nose and sniff, and then I can get the clove. Nothing else, though. After 20 minutes: Settled into a myrrh/powder-forward scent that’s not bad, actually—well balanced with a clear vanilla base note. But all I’m getting now is powder and vanilla, with no complexity. Myrrh/vanilla is a nice combination, especially when it’s so well balanced, but it’s far too feminine for my tastes. This one is not a keeper for me.

Satyr: In the imp: a nice combination of green notes and spicy resins. Wet: A familiar, warm smell that I can’t quite put my finger on. Amber/incense maybe? The greenness I detected in the bottle is gone. Dry-down: An earthy, spicy fragrance that almost feels like winter holidays. Ginger, cloves, cinnamon? But not a “pumpkin spice” smell. I think the incense/resin base notes are preventing it from smelling too much like Yule time. At about five minutes after application, I’m noticing a distinctive sweet/fruity scent and a definite vanilla or amber note wafting around me. It’s maybe muscadine and amber? Maybe some sort of citrus? A botanical sweetness mixed with darker, warmer notes. That wafting smell is nothing like the smell on my wrist, which is sharp, spicy, and with that civet note which perfumers refer to as “pissy”. While I like the waft effect, what’s on my skin is starting to turn into the dreaded musk mess that sometimes happens with my skin chemistry and classic perfumer’s oils such as civet… I assume there must be civet in this blend. After ten minutes: The civet has become dominant on me and it just isn’t working well with my chemistry. If you have a hard time with musks and civet, probably steer clear of this one.

Love Me: In the imp: something obviously floral but hard to identify, with a strong base note that’s warm and slightly spicy. Amber of some kind maybe? Wet: Definitely amber and maybe a hint of vanilla. The floral note has disappeared. As it begins to dry down, a subtle spiciness emerges—maybe cinnamon? Works well with the amber. Dry-down: A complex warm sweetness. Not sugary and pretty subtle, but definitely in the gourmand range. Cinnamon and vanilla for sure, but in a pleasantly balanced way. it doesn’t smell like a cinnamon roll. Possibly the floral note I detected in the bottle was cassia? There is nothing floral remaining after dry-down but the cinnamon-ish note is more botanical than gourmand. After about 10 minutes: There must be some sort of musk or a similar oil in this, because it is turning into the intensely unpleasant “sample strip from a magazine” commercial perfume stench that musks morph into on my skin. Bummer! I was finding the not-quite-gourmand character very appealing until it fully dried and settled into my skin. My terrible chemistry strikes again!