elissamay
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Everything posted by elissamay
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This is my level of Dead Leaves. I don't love that note when it's the lead player, but here it's softened and sweetened by the Snake Oil you know, plus some supporting spicy and smooth elements from the additional notes. Very comfortable and cozy, capturing fall in a bottle without needing any pumpkin or apple.
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Heady. The cherry is the same to me as what's in Moon When the Cherries Turn Black, and it hits first. The deep red musk slinks around the jasmine sambac, and that hits next. If you don't jive with jasmine, this might be a rough one, but fortunately jasmine sambac works for me. The rose is somewhere in the background, not a main character. As rich as this patch must be, I'm barely finding it. It must be just keeping it all bound to the ground. Definitely not a subtle scent; dark and divine.
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This is so beautiful. Sweet, waxy, realistic beeswax surrounded by a haze of almost caramelized dragon's blood incense smoke.
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Warm, radiant amber. A little lemony, sweet without cloying. Something almost piney somewhere around the edges. Do you like amber? Buy this.
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Pure Strawberry Nesquik frothed with marshmallows. Super sweet and PINK. If you like your sweet a bit more dirty, layering with the Pink Moon Wild Stawberries & Patchouli is pure perfection.
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Alice went to Morocco wearing Snake Oil, and they put it into this bottle. If you love carnation, definitely don't miss this one. Beautiful throw and longevity.
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This is spectacular. Unique, totally unexpected, great throw, great longevity. Fresh but somehow also musky, sweet but somehow also tangy, dirty yet also somehow clean. An absolute standout and a total surprise Luper winner for me. Bonus: If you love the white ginger in Implacable Beautiful Tyrant hair gloss, pair that gloss with this perfume. Total ginger bliss. I wore the combo to my friends' wedding and I was a ginger tornado of love.
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Reminiscent of Owl Moon (Bloodmilk), and lasts forever. This is so ridiculously in my patchouli-loving wheelhouse that I bought two bottles blind.
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Blood-spattered Anne Bonny and I LOVE IT.
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If beeswax scares you away, usually, you may want to give this Moon a try anyway. This is the creamiest, vanilly-est beeswax that ever did bee. I had to double-check the notes to see there wasn't any kind of vanilla here. The grass is a lovely combination with the sweet beeswax and gentle, fuzzy musk. It's nowhere near the "feral musk" I expected from "lupine;" cuddly, even. A skin scent for me, for sure, and be certain to swirl or shake before application. Mine has the coolest little blob of resiny goodness that just needs a shake to redistribute. I'd like to try the Grass & Dew with it and see how it might bump up the overall throw. Delightful.
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For me, this is a punched-up version of You May House Their Bodies But Not Their Souls. The patch is the same, the vanilla is the same, and I'd hazard to guess the amber is nearly the same. The musk might be the punched-up part, but it's still what I'd describe as a skin musk. If you love that one, you'll love this one.
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If you love sandalwood, this is one for you. The (fruity) red musk starts things off, but the red sandalwood and amber quickly make themselves known, especially the sandalwood. I don't get a lot of the florals, but the orris comes in as a creaminess tying things together. A total free love vibe in scent form.
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I get the vanilla-orange vibes from this, but I applied it and my fiancé smells nothing but the narcissus indoles, apparently, as he says I reek of poo. 🤣
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A rare time I've been compelled to wash one off. This smells very much like screechy lemon cleaner on my skin while wet, and dries down to a sort of screechy lemon musk. It's just too much screechy lemon for me, even with the muskiness that eventually arrives. Something else, like the orchid, might be adding to my unpleasant experience, since amber is usually one of my favorites.
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I was expecting something in the neighborhood of To a Wreath of Snow, but for me this is far more floral-forward. Shockingly so, in fact. Florals are not for me, so considering setting this one aside for a good while to see how that black tea and amber might bloom. Right now it's all tabac flower, but ymmv.
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This oud is on the "nice" list. It's woody-sweet and complex, but not wildly funky. The gingerbread spices blend seamlessly with it. It's a little bit cologne-esque as a whole, especially OOB or wet, but in a very appealing way. Rich and decadent, definitely sensual, but the "naughty" indoles have not tagged along to my nose, at least. This one is going to be a favorite for me. (And I should note that this doesn't read like very foodie or "cookie" to me.) UPDATE: This gets more beautiful and more complex as it wears on the skin. It's got a good bit of throw for me; my skin test is filling my entire car!
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Super boozy when first applied and wet! I can even smell a bit of the oaky notes of a nice bourbon. The sugar cookies come along behind as it dries, all blond and crumbly and buttery. Really delicious and so cozy! And probably the first "sugar cookie" that didn't read savory on my skin! (Looking at you, Sugar Cookie Snek).
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Sweet and tangy pomegranate with a deeper undercurrent of a very gentle, woody oud. There's a jamminess that may be the kyphi with its wine and honey. Lovely and skin-close. I will be interested to see how this one might evolve!
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Warm, boozy, slightly tangy-sweet Snake Oil. If you like Snake Oil or Snake Oil variants, you aren't here to read a review, you're here to post one. You already ordered this one; who are we kidding? I can't shake the visual of Snake Oil simmering on a stove with a slice of lemon, but here we are. Pour it in mug with a shot of whiskey and that's this scent. Woke up with a head cold? Get yourself a hot, steaming mug of honey-lemon water spiked with Snake Oil (and whiskey). It's just good. For the honey-averse, it's here but it isn't dominant for me, at least.
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This smells so realistically like the old-school lollipop on the label. That hard-candy-ness is not something I can describe all that well, but you know it when you smell it. It's very sweet, but it's almost as if you turned a lollipop into hard candy incense. Not smoky, but the "grit and petrichor" for me are coming through like a darkness to the candy. An absolute win for the cause alone, but I think this has some really fun layering potential, too!
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Being newer to the BPAL fandom, I hadn't tried Dorian until very recently. The hype was enormous, and I was tempted many times to buy a bottle for many multiples above retail price. Then, a lovely BPAL gifted me a vial of 2016 vintage and I had the opportunity to experience it. It was lovely, wearable, and such a unique scent, but I was OK with waiting for it to come back into stock, which it eventually did. I bought a bottle, I enjoy it, and I've reached for it once or twice, but it's not one that I'd say is in my usual wheelhouse. I expect to be in the minority here on the back half of this statement, but I'll say it: I love The Picture of Dorian Sufganiyot and prefer it over Dorian proper. The funny thing is, I'm not a major gourmand lover, so the Sufganiyot genre hasn't appealed to me that much until Snake Oil Sufganiyot, which is sexy and spectacular. I'm guessing this perfume-filled Sufganiyot sub-genre is my jam, because Dorian Suf is really doing it for me. The fougere and the musks with the pastry and sweet vanilla tea are just coming together into something that I don't go crazy for when they're separate, but that I'm head over heels about when smooshed together. As with Snake Oil Suf, I found Dorian Suf to be pretty potent: one cap drop on my arm was smell-able for me for hours and hours, even into the next morning. That was just a skin test, so with a full pulse point application I expect that the throw will be quite nice (for me). I didn't find that it morphs at all. It's exactly what you smell when you apply it the whole way through, just fading a bit after many hours. If you're a fan of Dorian, I can't see how you wouldn't love this, but if you just like Dorian, you might also really love this (like me). It's not super duper gourmand, IMO, so if you are coming for the Sufganiyot part, it's there, but it's not as forward as others I've smelled. Now I've got my wheels turning on whether or not this becomes a yearly tradition, and which Beloved Favorites might make good doughnut fillings?! Alice? Morocco? Blood Kiss? O? Scherezade?! Phew.
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This is a perfect dupe for Chanel No. 5 on me when applied, and I'm actually pretty confused! It's uncanny. The jasmine and amber take their sweet, sweet time showing up to move this out of powdery, Chanel territory. (Territory I have previously explored, but that is very much not my vibe.) I very emphatically do not like this at all until it's completely dried down. Once it gets there, it's a spicy, sexy, musky, jasmine-y bombshell with a perfect cupid's bow and pinstripes. She just arrives fashionably late.
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This is my first hairgloss and wow, did I ever set the bar high. My hair is very fine, so I wasn't sure how it would react to hairgloss, but this scent combo (and Samhain HG) were ones I couldn't skip. To start, I towel dried my hair and sprayed this while my hair is damp, and then dried it. It ended up making my hair smooth and soft, not greasy at all. The scent is woody and Palo Santo forward, and if I had to guess, it's red patchouli here. The scent was present in my hair, but not strong. Once I'd tested it on damp hair and had a good experience, I tried it on dry hair. I sprayed it on my hand, rubbed my hands together a moment, and smoothed it on. The scent is definitely more potent when smoothed onto dry hair for me. Smooth and soft, not greasy. (I don't put it on my roots, just 3/4 down and to my ends.) The best combo was spraying on damp hair, drying, then smoothing on dry hair. And this, my friends, is why I need a second bottle! Recommended for anyone who loves these notes, and for anyone who has perfumes with these notes or compatible ones. It doesn't compete, it just enhances.
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This was wildly weird OOB when it first arrived - sharp, off-putting, reminiscent of something kind of "assy" as Tom Bloom's Instagram review had already noted. However! With a couple of weeks rest, on the skin this is a very different experience! I picked this up mainly because I loved the creative concept of it, since oakmoss is often a non-starter for me. But, on the skin, this is what an impeccably dressed person smells like as they glide past you without making eye contact on a New York City street. It smells like the lobby of a chic hotel with an interior so flawlessly decorated as to make you question whether you have any business even wrinkling its sheets with your presence. It's bracing, herbal, fresh, and sophisticated -- with a little "je ne sais quois" coming through instead of what started out in the bottle sniff as more of a "what the actual fuck?!" It no longer smells off-putting, but instead complex, complicated, a little secretive, but yet absolutely self-assured. After being on the skin for a few hours, the sweet patch, vanilla, and sugar cane reveal themselves as the sharper armor of the lavender, spikenard, and oakmass fall to the wayside. I think this would be an interesting scent on anyone, but particularly on someone who can embody it on the given day. Is he, you know? This perfume implores you to fuck around and find out.
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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.
