elissamay
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Everything posted by elissamay
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A curl of smoke at the end of a path lined with cypress. As you approach, you see the smoke is creeping out from cauldron bubbling with resin, smoldering on embers of tangled, thorny roots. Inhale, a deep breath of blackberries and sweet myrrh. The forest closes around you, a cackle off in the distance.
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This started off like an amped-up version of Cathedral, which is one of my very favorite BPALs ever. I didn't really get the leather at all, just pure, already perfect Cathedral. As it wears and warms up I start to get a whisper of leather, but it's fleeting. It's like the leather here adds a little soft suede to the resins and smoke of Cathedral, and the bat's wings waft it all around to somehow amplify the whole. I would probably love just about anything blended with Cathedral, so ymmv, but this is a lovely little variant.
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Very cozy, even fuzzy lavender cradled in warm leather, with a little extra herbaceousness from the chamomile and hay. I put this on after Halloween night revelry, and it was a lovely way to unwind while still keeping it just a little spooky. Definitely for lavender lovers, and if you aren't a huge leather person, this isn't a bold, brash leather. It's gentle.
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This is Snake Oil and rugged brown boot leather, for me. It seems extra vanilla-fied, and at first I called it "black" boot leather, but on further reflection it really is more English saddle than Doc Marten. Super wearable, super classic BPAL.
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I have never smelled any Lace before, Antique included. So ignore my review entirely if you'd like! I have no points of reference to help old BPAL heads. At first, this is a lovely sweet, caramelized vanilla with a touch of fuzzy musk. As it wears, I find the leather. For me, it's evoking elegantly huffing an expensive and oh-so-buttery-soft brown leather driving glove with a lace-edged linen handkerchief tucked inside that's been dabbed with caramelized vanilla perfume and the skin musk of a beloved. The leather is faint, and very well-worn. Lasted for several hours and still sniffable on my skin the next morning.
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Snooty Bat slapped me in the face with a black leather glove, but if I allowed the sting to subside, I could ride it out and find its dark patchouli and incense heart. It was a lot of leather, though. Snootier Bat, despite its promise of "double the leather," is a pure black musk sugar incense dream to my nose, with nearly no leather to speak of. If you love Streets of Detroit or By Day She Turned Herself Into a Cat, you will want all the Snoot this Bat can throw you. It lasts and lasts, and I loved catching it as I moved or my sleeve brushed it. So dark, so sweet, so musky, and so wearable right out of the gate!
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Perfectly chewy and rich, warm and comforting. One spray scents my living and dining area, and it accidentally scented me, too! I must have caught it in my hair, because I could smell it once I left the house, and that was a lovely bonus. A perfect complement to The Harvest Haunt perfume oil!
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This is way more floral and way less clove than others of the "goth"-themed scents I've tried. The hairspray is very realistically evoked, maybe too realistically for me, lol. Not listed, but my brain went to nag champa or sandalwood, so that's probably the incense. I'm not sure about the velvet, but this is a very plush and heady scent. If you want a more ethereal, Victori-Goth vibe, this is a great pick. If you're looking for the clove, definitely go with Vampire Milk.
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This is 100% orange ribbon candy for me. That's it! Super nostalgic.
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Fresh, fruity, a little herby, teeny touch of pepper. Not in any way what I expected!
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Perfectly blackberry black tea. Comes on strong at first but mellows out to a lovely skin scent. Comforting, familiar, happy, and lovely for a chilly autumn day.
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This is not the sharp and smoky fire scent I expected. In the bottle, it's almost effervescent and Dr Pepper-esque. On the skin, it's deeply resinous, and the scent of the pine pitch blooms as it warms, but it is never harsh or sharp. It's the sweetness of pine sap, never on the medicinal end of the pine pitch spectrum. There's really no smoke here, just warm smoldering, glowing embers. This really evokes a scene at the end of a magical bonfire in the woods, but without that "campfire smell" you might be thinking of. Very good, very Halloween, and a bit hard to explain since it veered so much from where my expectations took the notes. Pleasantly surprised, even though I do enjoy a good smoky fire scent, too!
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Googling this scent is a whole journey, so I'm glad you found your way here, lol. The condensed milk here smells a little caramelized, like the very beginnings of dulce de leche. The linen and tea almost evoke a lotus note for me, and the coconut is probably contributing to that, too. A little toasty, lotus-sweet and floaty, with a bit of the more grounded myrrh sweetnesd rounding it out. I don't get any of the acrid or bitter note I expected from bitumen, but it wouldn't be unwelcome if it appears, as this is a very sweet cloud at present. As it wears the other resins start to come through and add complexity that's very enjoyable. Sweeter than I expected, even with the "condensed" milk, but I am enjoying how it's getting more layered as it wears. I don't get any laundry notes or "clean/fresh" vibes, but the linen and tea does read sort of floral for me (lotus, specifically), though I personally definitely wouldn't call this a floral scent. Sugared milky resinous with the rest supporting.
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WOW. Total black musk vibes even though that isn't here. I'm getting a Halloween brimstone version of Streets of Detroit and I am LOVING it. Leather is very muted for me at this stage but I will update after more wear. Updated with drydown - I don't get any strong leather, which for me is amazing! Dark, dark and musky with sweet amber and that very special touch of pepper and brimstone.
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This is the kind of dead leaf note I can get down with right away. I usually have to either shy away from that note or let it settle for a good long while before it works for me. This one, on the other hand, delivers the dry, crunchy leaves with some maple-sugar sweetness. Not a ton, but just enough to allow it to work for me. (That might actually be the pumpkin that I'm mixing up with the maple leaves, but whatever it is, it's just enough sweetness.) The Bay Rum is a sensational combination with these dry, crunchy leaves, and the overall scent blend is evoking a well-dressed man strolling ominously through an autumn path, smoking a fine cigar, with possibly spurious intentions. I mean, he's got a pumpkin on his head, so how spurious can he be?! 🤣 There was a mention once of a Bay Rum Snake Oil maybe existing, back when the Purge scents were introduced, and this is one that makes me want to smell something like that desperately!
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Sweetly boozy, and the drier coconut scent of the coconut shells add to the "dust" and overall evocation of a scene. You put the skeleton key you found on the dusty bar into the lock of an old wooden door in the back of the tavern. It creaks open to bring into your view an altar in a darkened room and its ofrendas. A burning candle, a coconut shell with a shot of whiskey in it, and the gift of an unlit cigar ready to be smoked. I don't get a sense of foreboding, but of anticipation. Someone's been invited to this scene. It isn't you, but you'd like to stick around to find out who's coming and take your chances, make your deals. Halloween magic!
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Ever-so-slightly scorched goat's milk and spicy clove. There isn't a ton of "goat" in this milk for me, but enough for it to have more depth and pleasant funk than your usual moo juice. Creamy and sweet, but very well spiced with the familiar, fierce clove, which is smoothed out and clotted up with this toasty leche de cabra. Update: End of the work day, and this is still going strong, and somehow got sweeter and toastier.
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Sticky, resinous, deep, dark pumpkin incense. This is not a bright and shiny drug-store candle candy pumpkin. This is a spooky-ass, kinda warped and warty pumpkin that's seen some shit whilst perched on a porch on a rough street. Like if that smell of the inside of the lid of a lovingly carved, candlelit Jack o'Lantern was tranformed and captured into tears of resinous incense to smolder. Maybe a touch of the motor oil note making it just that much more blackened and viscous, or maybe it's a touch of very black musk. Whatever it is, it's exactly what I was hoping for, and pairs amazingly with Pumpkin Incense atmo spray!
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This was very warm, sweet, skin-close, and a little smoky. I wore this for my year-and-a-day handfasting on the solar eclipse new moon and it was the perfect accompaniment for a promise in the shadows of a different sort! I enjoyed the caramelized notes and the overall warmth of the scent. Comforting, familiar, but yet unique.
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Just beautiful. Fizzy at first, almost a little tropical; I'm guessing that's the coconut milk peeking through. Jasmine sambac really works for me more than any other in the jasmine world, and this is no exception. Sweet, but not cloying. Fresh, but not laundry. Floral, but not overwhelmingly so. The sandalwood and amber are in the background at first, but they appear as this warms. This is absolutely giving me Luper in the Weenies vibes. I love it. Also, if you liked To Lallie, I think you will like this one.
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A dusting of fireplace ash on warm puppy and kitten fur, taking a break by the glowing amber-sweet wood embers before the next romp. Sweet, a little smoky, a little fuzzy, and grounded with smooth wood. Very enjoyable and evocative; a great fall or winter mood.
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I don't go for floral, as a rule, but I just love Alice. Carnation is the one flower I tend to always enjoy, so that helps, but this is just such a perfect essence of innocence and mischief. If you like the spice of carnations and fresh-cut red roses, smoothed and sweetened with milk and honey, try Alice. It's an iconic BPAL creation everyone should try at least once.
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This is petrichor, but make it fashion. Bursting with cypress evergreens and suffused with a woody red patchouli, the mud is an earthiness anchoring it all together. The rain has passed, the earth is sodden, and the forest floor is alive and quenched. Breathe it all in! I'd like to layer this with Death Cap next time!
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It smells exactly like a well-loved black leather motorcycle jacket that's been drenched in years of that scent you get when you open your box of BPAL imps. You know the one. It's a gentle black leather; this isn't strong or overpowering leather for the leather-averse (me). And it morphs together seamlessly with a balanced blend of l'essence de BPAL: an amalgam of dragon's blood, musk, amber, patch, and incense. Dragon's blood is the loudest player in the melody, but the orchestra is all here. It's like one of our souls captured in a 5ml amber apothecary vial. I feel like while this scent may be a love letter to the Lab's dear friend behind the brand Bloodmilk, it's also kind of a love letter to the BPAL fandom.
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This reminds me a bit of Horses Cooling Themselves in Water, but that one was sweet with a touch of musk. The hazelnut leads the dance on my skin, with the chammomile gently behind. I get some of the woodiness coming in behind that, which for me is a lovely combo of that unmistakeable cedar and my beloved woody red patchouli. This is very dry, so if you crave a scent that isn't sweet, and you enjoy a nutty or woody blend, I'd give this one a go. Utterly genderless; this could smell sohpisticated and elegant on anyone.
