SmellsPrettyGood2Me
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Everything posted by SmellsPrettyGood2Me
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A true pleasure to wear such a beautifully aged scent! Soft, clean, lightly fuzzy sage, sweet sandalwood, a warm incense, slightly soapy muguet, and a very unassuming patchouli all meld together with delightful results. I'm not much into florals and find the intensity of them here to be just right. I can't recall if this is the first scent I have tried with Balsam of Mecca as a note, but I love it. Despite starting off quietly, the intensity and projection increases significantly as it dries down. I put this on mid-day and could still detect it 10 hours later at bed time. Catching a whiff of myself while wearing this was a joy every time. Time has only made it more lovely, perfect for all seasons and situations.
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Smells completely different between the bottle and skin! Wet in the bottle is the somewhat dank stickiness of the opium tar mashed up with the lightly sweet earthiness of the patchouli root. Applying to skin completely transforms the scent; floral, fragrant, sweet berries are front and center, intermingled with a powdery backdrop. Wow, this smells amazing!! Reminds me of a premium early 90's perfume in it's sophistication. I normally don't care for opium as a note, but it blends well underneath the overall caramelization. This patchouli root isn't stinky or particularly potent at all. The berries stick around for quite some time, and the scent as a whole lasts 8 good hours. I can easily see this as a daily wear option in cooler months, and I desperately hope it returns some day so that I can grab a few more bottles.
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Glittering gold and loss beyond understanding: antiqued amber, English lavender, vetiver, and tea rose. Time has burnished this scent down to a faded dried bundle of lavender and dribbles of vetiver in the bottle, evoking a "past life" type of nostaglia. highly remniscent of a Victorian era gentleman. On skin, this impression persists with the arrival of the tea rose (almost rosewood-esque, that must be connected to the antiquing quality of the amber). It sits softly close to skin, with a light, glimmering echo of copal giving it some warmth. Reading historical reviews, I think the scent packs much less of a masculine punch now that it has rested well, although it still leans that way. As a person of the female persuasion, I think it smells pretty nice on me, too. Although it is a Yule, there isn't anything specifically winter or holiday coded about it.
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"Intoxicating" is the first word that comes to mind when sniffing it from the bottle. There is a dark, plummy, purple sweetness from the black kyphi that dominates, and the myrrh swims alongside it. On skin, the scent blooms and becomes even jammier. The red musk and indigo oud are present, but restrained. Two hours later, the overwhelmingly beautiful sparkle of the scent is largely gone, leaving behind a sweet, dry woodiness. This gives an incredibly premium, sophisticated open that was truly incredible to experience, but then pretty rapidly disappears. For the sake of comparison, I applied a dab to a tester strip to see if my skin was the culprit in chasing it away. Although it took a bit longer for the top notes to fade (maybe another 30 min) the end result was the same. The quick retreat of intensity makes it a little challenging to wear; your choices are to apply more liberally and risk overdoing the open, or to reapply more often not to lose the bloom entirely. I rarely wish for a scent in EDP format, but this may be one of those fringe cases where the blend needs a different base to "stick" a bit better. Truly a gorgeous blend, just needs a bit more enduring potency. 9/10, highly recommend. (Note: The label and official Blood Milk website spell the scent name "Bhelena".)
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Much more coffee forward on skin than Pumpkin Spice Espresso Latte, the punkier latte cousin of this year's Yules. There is definitely some perky, frothed, high fat milk in here, along with a somewhat fruity, floral vanilla that smells a lot like the recently released Patchouli and Smoked Vanilla lotion (which smells nothing at all like vanilla or patchouli to me, RIP). There is a slight, acrid undertone to the coffee, like the oil in the beans went a bit rancid before they were ground up for brewing, that wafts up from time to time. I get more simple syrup than brown sugar from this until it is fully dried down. Do I enjoy this? Will I wear this? The answer is not so clear. The blessing and curse of such an expansive BPAL Scentverse is that, because there are so many things to love, it doesn't always feel like there is enough room to just LIKE something (or even sit with it long enough to find out, before the next thing comes along that also needs trying). To be continued...
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I think BPAL Nation is sleeping on this one. She's the perfect blend of sweetness and spice, leading with the toasty roasted chestnut and cardamom in the bottle, even though all notes can be teased out with the right sniff depth and concentration. Once my skin gets ahold of her, the allspice races to the front of the line for a few minutes before politely returning to the rest of the group. And then, poof! She dials her whole self back from a 9.5 on the intensity scale to a modest, demure 6.5-7 (depending on which way the air is blowing) after only 20 minutes in. The amber and caramel start to appear with cozy, almost powdery warmth, and they carry the scent alongside the chestnut for the next 5 hours or so. This is a November 18th to December 31st scent that you won't have to think twice about putting on when you want to feel snuggly and festive. Another Yule 2025 offering that begs for multiple backup bottles so that you never have to let these feelings go!
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Wolf Moon: Snow & Oak Bark
SmellsPrettyGood2Me replied to doomsday_disco's topic in Duets & Menage A Trois
This is a minty, mentholated snow in the bottle, cold, tingly and fresh. The oak bark has what seems like a touch of humidity to it, perhaps with some lichen growing on the surface that has been lightly covered by a dollop of freshly fallen white powder. On skin, the menthol snow REALLY kicks up in a pseudo-medicinal fashion. I feel like I can taste it in the back of my throat as I bring my nose up to my hand, and there is a bit of physical warming on my skin as it dries down as well. I spend the next 30 minutes patiently waiting for the scent to settle; it is bracingly atmospheric. The bark has a wet, heavy, almost dirty quality to it. As dry down is happening I feel like I get the smallest whiff of dried wildflowers and anise sweetening things up from underneath it all. Moderate projection that lasts around 6 hours total. It's not bad, but I don't want to smell like the first hour of this as a pre-requisite to enjoying the next 5 hours of it. A more patient soul than mine would likely delight in it. -
Despite the label imagery evoking a cavalry of sorts, this really isn't an overwhelmingly masculine scent. In the bottle, the tea is what presents most strongly, followed distantly by the coffee, then the cocoa. On skin, the tea note unfurls even further, with sight ferment and maybe even with a touch of cinnamon there in the background. The hay gets it's moment to shine as it dries down, sweet and airy, alongside a very toasted chestnut note and a dry tobacco. It takes a good hour for me to be able to pick the vetiver out of the lineup, but I never fully experience the cocoa absolute or the coffee as individual notes, once applied, even after dry down. Two hours in, there is a powdery, slightly furry musk that sits at the base and lingers on for another 4 hours more. Olfactorily, this is both pleasant and complex. I'm not sure exactly how to describe it, but there is almost a HAPPINESS to it. I found it very comforting, and even thought about wearing it again the next day after testing because I liked it so much. Very glad I let my love of BPAL's hay and tobacco notes lead me here.
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Opening the bottle and taking a whiff, it really does smell like winter sunshine warming a scene. There is nothing minty, but I do catch one of the traditional BPAL "cold" notes. There is a sense of your breathing being slightly arrested by the temperature of the air. I catch the tiniest, most fleeting sense of the beeswax, alongside the sweet, almost-but-not-quite-piney frankincense note that is generating much of the brightness. On skin, it's somehow both warm and cold at the same time. The beeswax really starts to liquefy, and I get a slightly astringent woodiness from the birch bark. The Peru balsam also comes into it's own about 25 minutes in. Much like in nature, this gets less "frozen" as time goes on, settling into a golden sweetness. Moderately strong projection, with the most scent force in the first 3 hours, followed by 4 more of light sweetness. I would call this a playful cold weather atmospheric, which, despite it's sweet bottom notes, never ends up feeling heavy or overbearing. I like it very much; a dribble of sandalwood would make it perfect, so I anticipate layering it with a sandalwood single note when I want to deepen it a bit.
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Very robust, dark coffee dominates the scent while wet in the bottle, with the usual BPAL pumpkin spice note, and a hint of creaminess from the nog. On skin, the spice and coffee notes switch places, and the brown sugar syrup appears in the background. There is definitely a thick, non-lactonic dairy element present that reflects custard as well. By about minute 30 that oily, silky coffee note has pretty much disappeared completely. The nutmeg and cinnamon are perfectly balanced, and the brown sugar syrup gets even nicer post dry down. Projection is quite bold, so apply carefully. I could still catch whiffs of it over 10 hours later! If you're wary of coffee fragrances, this one didn't smell like coffee for very long on me at all. All of the notes were extremely photorealistic, which was refreshing because I recently had a not-so-great encounter with a butterscotch note that sent me reeling. What really made this fantastic was the eggnog note; it smoothed everything out and tied the whole scent together. I can see wearing this nonstop between October and March, it's that good!
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It Was But the Wild Blast As It Sung Thro’ the Trees
SmellsPrettyGood2Me replied to doomsday_disco's topic in Yules
They promised comfort, and it brought comfort, like a trip to Grandma's prairie cottage in the first 3 weeks of November where fall and winter sometimes overlap. In the bottle, all of the scent notes are individually detectable but also blend together like a dream. On skin, the hay and oats dominate in the open, yielding to the hazelnuts and the clove as it dries down. The clove continues to amp up for an hour, and a slightly musky wool comes alongside and gives cozy sweater vibes. I do wish the hay note hung around a bit longer, but not much is going to outlast a spice or nut note when they're present! The honeyed oats were there from start to finish and reminded me of Amber Incense & Honey Cakes, which I also love. Bold in the open, but does not stay there long. Most of it was gone within 6 hours of application. I went back and forth on this as I was reviewing my cart, and I think I even took it out entirely at one point. Very glad it made it in the final cut as this will get a lot of wear when I need a warm scent hug. Would not mind it in lotion format as well! -
Wolf Moon: Amber & Grey Musk
SmellsPrettyGood2Me replied to doomsday_disco's topic in Duets & Menage A Trois
So pretty!! Wet in the bottle and on skin there is a sunny, buttery, chardonnay-like tone, giving it a light sweetness that counterbalances any woodiness that may come from the grey musk. Not powdery or sugary, and the musk is non-animalic. It stays completely lovely for just under 5 hours before I can no longer smell it on myself; Mr Smells says he can still catch it every now and then just over 8 hours later, so it's one of those that you lose track of, but that other people can still detect. What a great your-skin-but-better scent - I love it. Very work and small space safe, and while fantastic on it's own, it probably also layers beautifully to add depth to scents that need a little "something". Getting a backup bottle is a no-brainer. -
When I placed my order, I admit I was not at all expecting to get Back To The Future 3 in a bottle. Great Scott! This the silk accent on Clara's hat when she finds the model of the DeLorean (surrounded by the hay in Doc Brown's barn), the saddle Doc Brown puts on their horses, the shot he takes in the saloon (ok, creative license here: maybe Doc was a rum guy and not a whiskey guy after all?) while surrounded by the tobacco smoke wafting around the room, and the poncho Marty wears in his shootout with Mad Dog Tannen. Leather, rum and tobacco forward, it is the ruggedly masculine-leaning scent of a gentleman scholar with a barn workshop who has the good fortune of falling in love with a teacher in possession of a telescope, and a passion for what science can mean for humanity's dreams. Fans of BPAL's tanned hide and bay rum notes will not be disappointed here; the initial burst of saddle soap quickly dissipates, and I have to work hard to pick out the black silk note even an hour after drydown. I do get the slightly animalic wool about an hour in, but it's unrefined textile, not dirty sheep. There is definitely some shared DNA with Carved Wooden Livery Stable present (perhaps the saddle leather and dusty straw?). Bold sillage, going very strong for 6 hours and moderately strong for another 3 hours before it fades into obscurity. I like this, but do not love this, purely on the basis of the bay rum note. I actually think I would prefer a whiskey instead, like Doc Brown.
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Lightly lemony tea, a puff of cold air, and the tiniest twinkle of something aldehydic in the bottle. On skin, the marine tones of the ambergris meet a musky, slightly wintergreen current. Slowly, as it dries down, the scent softens; there is less tea and more ephemeral sweetness. Is this what the Coca-Cola polar bears smell like? Super cozy! Lasts 8 full hours with low to moderate projection. Verdict: Gorgeous. This is so wearable that I can see it being an all-season alternative to something more intense or gourmand when you're seeking a refreshing, non-minty sweetness and brightness.
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BPAL: (in the singsong call of Marco Polo) "Leath-errrrrrrr" Me: "Com-ingggggg" (in the singsong answer of same) Freshly tanned leather, not too dark, mixed with what smells like a slightly yeasty cinnamon bun with a light drizzle of apple tinged flood icing. Somehow, even on skin, the cinnamon doesn't really ride in hard at all. Not spicy, not dank, not cloying. Just hide and baked fluffy dough. Dare I call it a Leathermond? Sits close-ish to skin, doesn't evolve much (but doesn't need to), still tossing random wafts of scent my way close to 7 hours later. The word "genderless" comes to mind, which I mean more of in the sense that this will smell really good on you (I hope!) no matter how you identify. I haven't been so quickly enamored of a leathermond scent since Three Pairs of Shoes. I bet it will age like a dream!!
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Seasonal perfection - what an exceptionally well blended, joyful, memory conjuring scent. Wet in the bottle are fir needles and forest-worn frocks that are a bit musky from Father's effort of dragging the tree inside on a slightly damp December day. On skin, these notes combine with the fabric of Mother's dress and her dried wedding bouquet hanging faithfully above the hearth, a symbol of other celebratory times. Her honey scented face powder has put in a hard day's work decorating the house, but still leaves a lingering waft of sweetness as she tenderly bends over to kiss the children goodnight on their foreheads. These scents meld together to make a bouquet unique to their family, the season, and this moment. This is another stunner that is so textural and multifacted that my meager imagination springs to life to manifest a vision to accompany what I am smelling. I'm mentally transported to a middle class Victorian home, seated next to a Noble fir tree. As always, the fabric notes here are perfectly tuned. Moderate projection and just under 5 hours of wear before it fades away. Perfect for that day you decide to do the family Christmas cards, decorate the tree, or sing the songs of days gone by.
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The Devil volunteered to make something for his neighborhood bake sale, and this is what his house smelled like for a full day afterwards. Crisp cinnamon spiced cookies and sinuous tentacles of swarthy patchouli tickle their way from the bottle to your nose. Applied to skin, the molasses arrives, getting really deep and broody. I swear I'm catching a whiff of the parchment paper that the cookies were baked on? Sin's amber and sandalwood don't have a chance to play until about 35 minutes in, when the cinnamon finally relents a bit. Now I'm getting the impression of some granulated turbinado sugar sprinkled on top of the cookie. Is there a little bit of leather dribbled in here? I'm getting spank-me-very-much vibes. Delectable. Moderately strong projection, with 6 hours of good wear and another 1-2 of the remaining whispers of patchouli. Buy a bottle for this year and two to stash away for safe keeping!
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When David Bowie and Bing Crosby sang The Little Drummer Boy in The Year of Our Lord 1977 AD, it brought together two classic voices in a brief, but glorious, intersection. So, you can imagine that when I saw two beloved BPAL classics combining forces in a single scent for a limited time only, a mental parallel was drawn. I had to know, would it be just as magical? Opening the bottle, the photorealistic Rose Red rose we all love is there, strong, vibrant. The green stems are there, too, but there is something a bit...off. I kept sniffing, and those frost bright petals and winter air smell a little rancid. I closed the cap, put the bottle down for a few hours, then picked it up and brought it into another room with less "smell pollution". No difference. Gah! I eyed the label suspiciously, looking for a hint of what may have gone wrong. Of course, there was no visual clue. I drank some water, took a deep breath, and put it on skin. Today was not our day for redemption. That same decay I smelled in the bottle came along for the ride, and despite rose riding hard in the front of the pack, there was a fetidity that was too legit to quit. As the rose faded and the Snow White elements took over it got a bit better, but it never smelled GOOD. I scrubbed it off after two hours with no regrets. All things being subjective, this pairing was confusingly disappointing to me. I love the individual scents deeply as solo artists, but neither my nose nor my skin could reconcile them as a duet.
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Unequivocally my favorite scent from The Prophet series so far. BPAL's hay notes are like catnip to my nose-brain; as soon as I opened the bottle and took my first deep inhale, I knew we had a winner. A touch of frankincense and a dab of cedar are there too, but this is all sweet hay (sweeter than, but similar to, the hay absolute in Judgmental Longhorn) in the initial whiff. Once on skin, the amber arrives, along with a background track of light beeswax such as you would find as remnants in a candle stick, as opposed to an actively melting, pooling liquid. The hearthsmoke is restrained, giving a slightly dry tone, and the frankincense is simply beautiful. Low projection, but 7 full hours of detectable wear. A work safe, blind buy safe, gorgeous skin scent type fragrance that could easily become a daily wear for me if I didn't have a bit of a testing backlog to get through first. I loved every minute I had it on and will be recommending this to everyone!
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Melted Jolly Rancher in the wet open on skin, sticky and saccharine. The currant is just tart enough to not make the sweetness completely overwhelming as it dries down. It's over an hour before the patchouli becomes detectable, helping to ground and balance the scent as a whole. As the fruity intensity abates, there is a really nice jammy quality that starts to emerge. The patchouli is mostly what remains at 3 hours in. Moderate sillage and around 6 hours of wear all in. Fans of the BPAL pomegranate note will probably really enjoy this one, as it feels like the fruits here are all cousins. Something about it reads more fall to me, but really it's appropriate in any cooler weather day; summer heat and humidity would likely amp it into overdrive. This is another one of several Yule 2025 scents that I expect will age like fine wine.
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In the bottle, an astringent tea, a murky lavender, and a bit of that watery rain note stand out. On skin, the top notes burn off in about 10 minutes, leaving the iris and lilac standing there awkwardly looking at each other. Like Donkey's Tail, the musk moves in quickly, sitting here next to the muted, aquatic rainy moss. Very soft sillage, and only about 4-5 hours of noticeable wear. I'm usually pretty well aligned with the BPAL Hive Mind on popular scents, but like Donkey's Tail this doesn't do it for me at all. I very much get sad, musty old lady vibes here, despite generally liking iris, lilac and lavender as notes in other Lab offerings. My search for an offering in The Hundred-Acre Wood collection that hits continues!
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YES. I feel so fortunate that this scent returned for the 2025 Yules collection, because I had never tried it before, and she's an absolute stunner. I have to think anyone who was lucky enough to get this in the initial release carefully guards their precious stash and never lets it go! The sweet, oaty incense in the bottle is intoxicating, and it only gets better on skin. Although I know it's a pseudogourmand, it doesn't give "edible"; instead, I'm in a Portland, ME bar on a cold snowy day, sitting with a gaggle of girlfriends having a catch up over a late brunch next to a fireplace. The one sitting next to me smells like a combo of incense and a bowl of lightly honeyed oatmeal, comforting and a bit seductive at the same time. She's a little older, much better traveled, and has an impeccable sense of chic Euro-bohemian fashion. I secretly wonder if she is the illegitimate offspring of a Roma traveller and a Bavarian duke, because she moves so easily in any company she keeps. On top of being supremely cool, she never gatekeeps the amazing things she has come across in life, and when I mention how nice she smells she reaches into her vintage velvet patchwork satchel and hands me a bottle, telling me to keep it. Every time I open it and put some on I feel like a little bit of the magic she has collected in her adventures briefly casts a spell on me. My only very minor complaint is that this fades faster on me than I would prefer, peaking around 45 minutes in and quickly falling off a sillage cliff from there. By the fourth hour post dry down, it's largely gone. I'm infatuated with this, and need at least 2 more backup bottles (and, pretty please, a lotion, hair gloss, and atmosphere spray as well 🙏🏼🤞🏼💛).
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That first deep sniff is all brown musk and spice, with a touch of sweet dark molasses lurking below. Applied to skin, cinnamon, clove and a bit of sugar surge to the forefront and dominate for the first 25 minutes, right about when the patchouli starts to make its first appearance. The booze note here is powerful and present, but the brown musk itself stays quiet until around an hour in when the spices start to burn off a bit. I am not getting as much of the molasses note on skin as I did from the bottle, but I expect it will emerge more as it deepens with time in storage. Medium to strong sillage (a bit potent for small workspaces and places), lasting just under 7 hours before fading away. Not blind buy safe if you are sensitive to cinnamon in particular, but otherwise very enjoyable to wear now, and likely to get even better as the spices mellow out with time. Perfect transition scent from pumpkin spices in Fall to gingerbread spices in Winter! I suspect that people who may not be paying close attention will sleep on this vs Gingerbread Snek, but I think it has standalone merit and will end up being a cult favorite.
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VERY strong butterscotch rum wet in the bottle, cloying and synthetic. Coming in hard behind that is an oily hazelnut with just a touch of astringency from the white oak. First impression is overwhelming, and I am not optimistic. On skin, even with an electron sized dab, the butterscotch rum screams and the hazelnut wails. There is no subtlety here; the scent swells and expands with time, becoming more potent. I got 6 hours of nuclear wear, 2 hours of modest wear, and 4 more hours of faint wear, even though I considered scrubbing it off several times along the way. There is a cream note lurking in here somewhere that I've not really liked in other BPAL scents, and I'm getting hardcore Yankee Candle vibes from the butterscotch rum. Overall impression is that this is too potent and artificial smelling to be enjoyable for me. I will keep it to see if it smooths out as it ages, but can't imagine wearing it again anytime soon.
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Absolutely gorgeous, and my favorite of this year's Yules that I've tried so far. I love me a good carnation note, and this one glimmers at the very top of the bottle when you take that first, long sniff. The peony is a little sweet, the vanilla subdued, the orris restrained. All together, the effect is soft, familiar and familial. On skin, the red musk and leather finally show their faces, but instead of shoving their way to the front they linger mid-stage, present but not overpowering the softness in the lead. Eventually, the red musk moves forward and the other notes move to the back. I agree completely with other reviewers who said that this orris is not at all powdery. Overall, it is a very well balanced scent. This wears closer to the skin on initial application, but really blooms in strength when the red musk takes over post dry down - take care not to over slather and then become a bit overwhelmed when it gains strength as time goes by. I had a full 8 hours of wear and enjoyed them all. Will be buying a back up bottle as I expect this will age like a dream!