ShadowEtienne

The blood orange is bright and fresh, almost the scent of a blood orange being peeled or sliced. There's a lot of the oils of the zest, a little bit of sweet, tart juice, and a bit of pith balancing out the sweetness. The champagne note brings something bright and sparkling and floaty to this scent. While there's a little bit of sweetness, it balances more towards the sour and tart, for which I am pleased. It's a very fresh scent that I'm enjoying quite a bit. It's definitely in a family with Champagne and Delirium.

I picked up In Templum Dei because I was chasing some of the notes from The Hound and the Milk White Doe, most specifically Liquidambar which doesn't appear in many of BPAL's scents and I love. The overlapping notes are labdanum, sandalwood, and liquidambar, and like in my beloved The Hound and the Milk White Doe, the liquidambar takes the lead with a lovely spiced wood resinous element that the other two notes really support. The frankincense is very harmonious with it, also resinous with a hint of spice. This scent by itself is a little bit flat on me, but I think that it's going to make for a really nice layering base. Going to try to find some creamy florals to add more dimension to it and bring it more in line with what I love best about The Hound and the Milk White Doe in things that are more readily available to me.

This really beautifully captures hot spiced cider on me, but I wouldn't necessarily guess the alcohol elements if they weren't in the notes list. It's honestly more in line with the the hot spiced non-alcoholic cider that I get in the Pike Place Market in colder months. There's something very bright and fresh to the apple beside the warming spices. The ginger is definitely prominent here, but it's the earthier ginger of older ginger roots, and it blends really well with the more subtle cinnamon, clove, and allspice (the cinnamon and clove really do behave on my skin, and they can definitely be loud notes sometimes). The orange slices are a barely there hint of zest, but they're a really lovely element that rounds out the scent. The sweet woodiness of the oud (with just a hint of pleasant sourness) really ties everything together. Overall, apple and ginger are definitely the stars of this, which is exactly what I would have hoped for. I'm really glad I was able to get myself a bottle.

In GC, two scents that I like that have clove (and I find it noticeable) are Wrath (dragon’s blood spiked with black pepper, clove, and cinnamon) and Arachne of Lydia (dusty clove and blackcurrant). Clove is in general a note that I don't actively seek out, but I quite like in the right blends. Unlike others above, I don't find Arachne of Lydia to be a single note clove, but the clove is a lovely element of the scent. It's balanced out by a rich dark sweetness that is completely not a cloying sweetness from the black currant for me. Arachne of Lydia has a more dusty/drying clove note for me, in a quite lovely way. Wrath is a much brighter/sweeter clove (my general assessment of this one was a lovely bright spiced simple syrup full of warming spices, but again, somehow not cloying).

I have a couple of little bags in a box of the old caps uncleaned (so clearly I haven't really figured out what to do with them either), but they are an interesting combination of my scent profile/tastes over time. I'd say the first of the two little ziplock bags is a lot more discordant than the second when I on occasion open them to see what they smell like. I am kind of curious how cleanable they are, but I also kind of enjoy my chaos bags of original caps.

@Jarek BPAL'S Beard Oil formulation is fantastic (at least for my skin and beard). It properly saturates my rather thick beard without making it greasy, and it smells nice and has scents other than face planted into trees (which has its place but is often too strong and not what I'm going for). For the most part, I've found the Beard Oil to be slightly more mildly scented than its perfume counterpart which I appreciate with it being right on my face. Good luck with the finding of the harder to find perfumes!

Cthulhu is one of my absolutely beloved scents, I have it both as perfume oil and as beard oil (and if they ever made it as hair gloss, I would absolutely get that too). If I had to pick just one scent to stick with, it would be one of the ones I would seriously consider. I like Y'ha-nthlei as well, and agree with you that the two scents are very much cousins. Picnic in Arkham, and the original Springtime in Arkham from which they were derived have been really amazing on the scents list for me! Some other Picnic/Springtime in Arkham scents that you might want to check out if you haven't already: - If white florals are potentially of interest, available as imps in current Picnic in Arkham, Night-Gaunt might be worth a try. It's a different profile than these two, but it's got some of the same interesting biting elements, and I can see how they are a cohesive part of the same scent family. (something akin to yuzu, white grapefruit, and kumquat mixed with the snow-dusted flowers of Mount Ngranek) - Also current in Picnic in Arkham, Nyarlathotep smells like a storm brewing to me, and has some elements that resonate with Cthulhu and Y'ha-nthlei. (This is the blackest of ritual incenses charged with flashes of ozone) - Discontinued Picnic in Arkham (so a little harder to get but maybe not as much as ones that were never released in Picnic in Arkham form), The Deep Ones. This is very much the cousin of Cthulhu, Y'ha-nthlei, and R'Lyeh (which I saw that you tried), but it has a profile of it's own that is fascinating. (Black algae, drooping seaweed, salty brine, and crushed coral) - Going further back to Springtime in Arkham only scents, if you can find any Kingsport is also a fascinating member of that family of aquatics. (Salty ocean breezes touched by a numinous, incandescent mist) - Also from Springtime in Arkham, and one of the ones with some fascinatingly but appealing disconcerting notes for me, is Yog-Sothoth. It's definitely worth checking out the descriptions for that one in the reviews thread! (The perfume of eternity in vast, unknowable space. A glittering oil, ephemeral, iridescent, and horrifying in its immeasurable emptiness. This is the scent of air and darkness) As far as other GCs that you could easily get as imps, if you're good with ozonic notes, Lightning is probably worth checking out. (Lightning slashing the midnight skies over the endless reaches of the ocean. The electric tang of ozone, marine notes, and a drop of sharp rain) In the realm of long out of stock and discontinued GCs that might appeal: - In Wanderlust, Kumari Kandam (The hollow scent of a vast antediluvian civilization, now frozen and buried, smothered by a thick sheet of ice and trapped deep beneath the ocean. Thick incense, clay, stone, and hothouse blooms with a spike of frost, a hint of decay, and heavy, dolorous aquatic notes) - In Wanderlust, Windward Passage (Breezes blowing off of the waters of the Caribbean: marine accord, seaweed, and bladderwrack) In the realm of LEs that might appeal: - Talvikuu to me is Cthulhu in the winter woods (Skeletal limbs of birch and fir coated in a thick, impenetrable blanket of snow. This is the death of the year personified) - Halloween San Francisco is incredible at capturing the exact time and place that it describes, and really fits in with the Cthulhu cluster of scents for me while being entirely its own thing and very melancholic in some ways (Salt air wafting in from the bay. Rain falling on rain-soaked leaves) I hope that some of those are interesting to seek out!

Not one I can use personally, but the idea of it sounds up your alley and I wish it didn't have a note that hurts me: Bengal (A sultry and unruly blend that emulates the ambient scent of the markets in ancient Bengal: skin musk with honey, peppers, clove, cinnamon bark and ginger). Maybe I could see it being too sweet or too cinnamon heavy, but could be worth a shot. One that I like personally that could fall into this is Wrath (dragon’s blood spiked with black pepper, clove, and cinnamon). The three listed spices are really well balanced, and to me it isn't sweet at all. It's a pretty potent scent, but if applied without to heavy a hand hits a really nice balance point of good throw and staying power without being overwhelming. Another one that might be worth further investigation but I can't use is Molly Grue (An angry little beetle with her own kitchen beauty: fig, sesame, hazelnut, and cooking spices softened by rice flower) from the Last Unicorn scents. Might be too foody though.

On me, this is the city cousin of The Forest Reverie. I'm getting what my brain definitely reads as opium smoke as a note in that it is the shared smoke-resin-incense note with The Forest Reverie. There's also a hint of lilies and a soft note of freshly rained on dark loamy soil. Surprising me once it was on my skin was a rich spicy element of anise and ginger. I like this far far more than I would have guessed in the imp or from the description.

Fig is normally something I avoid, but I was frimped this. Remarkably, while the fig is definitely doing something it is really nice to and on me. Mandarin - rich, juicy, fresh, tangy - is the bright shining star of this scent. But it's not a one note. There's an earthy richness that reminds me both of gardens and brown sugar underneath grounding it and warming it. I would not have guessed fig, but I guess it makes sense. This is a lovely, unexpected delight of a scent!

This is a scent that just can't make up its mind on my skin, which is a pity because the idea of a scent that it's muddling towards seems nice, there's just no clarity to the notes. It's sort of vaguely resin-citrus-herbal-wood. Maybe the verbena is the note that is sort of winning, but I think that the addition of my skin makes this scent worse not better.

I was dubious because leather and metal notes do not always love me, and I don't always love them, but I got this as a frimp, and anise is one of my beloved notes and I quite like frankincense from BPAL. I was still dubious in the imp, but I was getting just enough anise to make it worth the attempt. On my skin, it's sweetly spicy anise and resinous frankincense and the touch in the background of something tannic (leather I'm guessing) and cool clean metallic just barely there. I think that I like this, though I don't know how much I'd reach for it. It's beautifully blended and behaved so well on me though.

Skin chemistry is a fascinating thing! Tangy just ripe blackcurrant with the bright sharpness of raspberry leaf (all leaf no berries) take the forefront of this scent on me. Not too far behind is just zested lemon peel and a slightly toasty green tea that keeps the blackcurrant from becoming a fruit bomb or syrupy. The pine is absolutely nowhere to be found on my skin (I could smell it in the decant). This is lovely and fruity without being too sweet on me.

The plum blossoms and very lightly honeyed green tea against crisp cold snow are the main elements of this on my skin. The rest of the notes give an effect of slightly sweet watery green, floral, fruit but are much less distinct to me. This is lovely and a good showcase of plum blossom but verging on too sweet for me.

Dewy lotus and lilies, freshly bloomed are the foremost notes in this for me. They are backed by a lovely tang of citrus and a whisper of some other florals. If that was all there was to the scent on me, it would be an absolute favorite. I like all those notes, and I really appreciate that my skin makes the lotus floral and not bubble gum. However, lurking in the background there is a squashed, overripe, slightly musty apricot, like it has fallen from the tree. I don't quite know what to make of the note. I think I still like the scent, but it's slightly baffling.

I think that I've finally found the floral that amps as much as lilies on my skin, in fact, the geranium is almost winning out here. Geranium reads as a nicely sour, herbal sort of floral on me. Right behind it in prominence is the smooth, almost creamy cala lily. It very much smells true to the flowers on me. The cedar is a little sharp and smells of living trees more than shavings to me. It's a backing note, but a quite present one. The orchid is nowhere to be found, drowned out by the other flowers.

Herbal, slightly sour (in a good way), sharp and fresh geranium rose is by far the leading note of this on my skin. When it first touched my skin, it was almost overwhelming, but given a chance to settle, it does go nice places. My skin often amps lilies, and these join the scent, smooth and almost creamy in their freshness. The rosewood and frankincense stay in the background, but they at a soft woody resinous element that sweetens and warms the scent. I love the rosewood note here and do wish it was a touch more prominent.

Airy white tea carries this scent on my skin and is the foremost note. The neroli is bright and fresh and citrusy and is balanced by tangy herbal mugwort. The champaca never showed up, but I'm not mad, it was the note I was least excited for. It's a light, fresh, tea in the garden at night with a breeze sort of scent.

Creamy ambergris supported by orris blending into it is beautifully balanced with fresh almost dewy orange blossom as the leading notes of this on my skin. There are other florals lurking in the background, and the herbal-citrusy lemon balm is a quiet but present backing note that brightens the scent. This is a garden I want to spend time in.

The biggest take away I'm getting on my skin is deep, still waters. Like being out on a boat when everything is perfectly calm, no wind no waves. It's a very still, calming scent. The only motion in the world is a very gentle rocking inherent to being in a small craft on the water. It's clean and clear, and you can see deep deep down. There is some sweetness that I could see as reading fruity or floral if it manifested more, but on me it's just the freshness of ocean air that is utterly calm.

This smelled incredible to me in the bottle, but I could not place what it was reminding me of. It hit my skin, and immediately it came to me: Talvikuu. The snow and ice in the woods near the ocean that Talvikuu is for me is a lot of overlap with this scent. However, there's a lot of distinct things going on here too. It's like being swept into a greenhouse of tropical blooms in the middle of winter by an icy storm. It's an almost surreal, beautiful combination. The clay note is warm and grounding, but also subtle. The aquatics combine the hint of ocean with everything that blew in with you from that storm melting. I'm not getting much incense, but there is just a hint of something resinously smoky in the background that reminds me a bit of Nyarlathotep. This is beautiful and very much a me sort of scent!

A lot of bottles settle quite a bit once they have been out of the agitation of the mail for a few days, also having been opened for the first time and getting a chance to breathe. In my experience (still much newer to BPAL than many here), the bottle will smell more like the imp about a week after being delivered and opened/tested for that first sniff. I in fact usually don't test mine until they've been out of the mail for a bit. Imps and bottles do seem to age a little differently over the long term though.

The leading notes of this on my skin are the ocean spray from waves crashing into cliffs where the water plumes up and rains lightly in your face where you stand and watch it from the top of the cliff, paired with early morning dewey freshly bloomed water lilies. The ambergris provides a oceanic creamy smoothness that helps unify the two leading notes. Freesia, which often shows up quite distinctly on me, is just a whisper of added florals in the background. The driftwood never showed up (historically hasn't always been a good note on me, so I'm fine with this). I think the molluskan seashell accord might be where the cliffs mentioned above are coming from, giving me that sense of salt and stone.

The part of this with more immediate throw on me is the bright, fresh yuzu. It's tart and refreshing and a little bit bitter in a good way. The blackcurrant takes a little longer to show up, but it is grounding. The deep rich scent of blackcurrants with slightly bruised skins, bringing in the barest touch of sweetness to the scent that helps balance the yuzu. I feel like this is going to be a good one for layering, but I already like it on its own.

This is beautifully true to its notes on me. There's a bouquet of fresh cut chrysanthemums (flowers and greenery), a smooth light black tea, perhaps a keemun, and freshly made candied lotus root, just dry and cool enough to be eaten but still very aromatic. It smells wonderful, but is also on the verge of being too similar to a food I like. It's stayed just this side of that, so I can wear it without the impulse to chew on myself, but it's a near thing.