Assimbya

Wet on my skin this is very sharp, paperwhite-like narcissus; as it dries, orange starts to come through; on me it feels bitter and like the fruit or rind, not the flower; the narcissus remains very much dominant. I get a very thin vanilla undercurrent, but definitely subtle by comparison with the narcissus and orange. It's interesting that the description for this one describes it as warm, sensual, and lustful - for me the sharpness and bitterness of the notes evokes the name in a different kind of way; a grasping, envious kind of hunger. This is vivid and fascinating, in an unsettling kind of way; I appreciate the intensity of it, but it nearly turns my stomach, and I don't find it very wearable. I'm going to keep my imp around for a little while in the hopes of making sense of the strangeness of my reaction to it, but I don't think it's one for any kind of regular wear on me.

2025 version. Alas, this was all acrid dead leaves on me, with no florals or vanilla! I was so disappointed. It's beautiful balanced on my partner, with a gorgeous rose note, so clearly a skin chemistry problem for me. I'll try not to be too bitter about it.

2025 version A marigold soliflore! I was very tempted to blind bottle this, more than anything else in this year's Halloween collection, but I was reasonable and put it in my decant circle order. Having had some time with it now, of course I am predictably going to buy a bottle of it. I had a vase of fresh marigolds at home when I got my decant of this, so I got to compare - the match is not quite precise, but that's mostly because with fresh marigolds you get a distinct greenness from the leaves/stems, and more intense earthiness. It's recognizably marigold for me, golden and smooth and herbal and just a little spicy. The true essence of an autumn flower, separated from its environment and purely bright and cheerful. This doesn't have much throw, but lasts pretty well on me even without much resting time. This makes me very happy, and feels just perfect for autumn; I'm so happy to have such a lovely marigold fragrance in my collection.

This starts out as very citrusy on me, and I couldn't figure out what it was - chamomile? figs? I'm still not sure. It takes a couple of hours of wear until I can start to pick out notes, at which point I definitely get a lot of beeswax and chamomile, some hay, and an earthy sweetness which might be fig or saffron. It's pretty, definitely in an autumnal overripe sort of way, but not objectionably so; I would agree with other reviewers that it's pretty approachable within a more unsettling collection. I'd like to try pairing it with some honey-based scents, especially Against Idleness and Mischief which also has the chamomile. The aggressively citrus top notes on me make this one a little challenging for me, despite the pretty drydown, and it doesn't quite feel like me - I imagine this one on someome who wears a large hat and gardens and keeps bees. I'll keep and wear my decant, but I don't think I'll be getting a bottle. This starts out as very citrusy on me, and I couldn't figure out what it was - chamomile? figs? I'm still not sure. It takes a couple of hours of wear until I can start to pick out notes, at which point I definitely get a lot of beeswax and chamomile, some hay, and an earthy sweetness which might be fig or saffron. It's pretty, definitely in an autumnal overripe sort of way, but not objectionably so; I would agree with other reviewers that it's pretty approachable within a more unsettling collection. I'd like to try pairing it with some honey-based scents, especially Against Idleness and Mischief which also has the chamomile. The aggressively citrus top notes on me make this one a little challenging for me, despite the pretty drydown, and it doesn't quite feel like me - I imagine this one on someome who wears a large hat and gardens and keeps bees. I'll keep and wear my decant, but I don't think I'll be getting a bottle.

This goes on sweet and drily spicy, the type of spiciness that cinnamon gives but also distinctly not cinnamon. It don't know if I would identify it as peppercorn without reading the notes, but knowing them I can certainly see it. As it dries, the florals come out, more the rose than the lily for me, and definitely dried petals rather than fresh ones. I do get something which feels like a costume shop to me, though I couldn't say how much is my imagination conjuring the description - the softened, indistinct sweetness of old fabric scraps and glue and glitter. There's something just a little bit plasticky here, not unpleasantly so, but enough to contribute to the sense of costume, of fabric flowers rather than real ones. This has very low throw, and pretty short longevity at least for now. This is something of a fond, comforting scent, and I've been finding I enjoy it more in the evenings; there's something that feels indoors and quieter in energy about it. I'm glad to have my decant and think I'll wear it on some autumn/winter nights, but it's not one I'll want a bottle of.

I suspect this may end up being a very popular and well-liked blend! It somehow does definitely manage to smell like plaster but...pleasantly so? Which doesn't seem like it should be possible, but somehow is. It has a very distinct textural sensibility to me - dry, powdery, chalky - but the combination of notes make this lovely and comforting, rather than unsettling. On me, it's definitely a showcase for the orris, with plenty of vanilla and some soft musk rounding it out. I was worried about the leather, which often amplifies on me, but it's subtle here, coming out only on drydown and really just giving some definition to the very pale other notes. There's something quite comforting about this, perhaps more the feeling one would want to offer to a scared little bat trapped in a bathroom than anything else. Solid wear-length, though I haven't tracked it too well yet. This is really beautiful, and I hope that it gets the appreciation it deserves! I'm not sure yet whether it's going to be a bottle purchase for me - while I really enjoy the orris here, I'm not sure it's one I'm going to wear all that often; I'll need to spend some more time with it to decide.

This goes on quite sweet on me, with a burst of almond blossom and nutty, sweetened heliotrope, with the narcissus distinct but waiting in the background. I was unsure about it at this stage - a little too almond, a little too sweet. But as it dries down the almond blossom recedes, and the narcissus comes through truly gorgeously as the center of the blend. The lab's narcissus note fascinates but has never fully worked for me - it has that paperwhite-like sickening edge (especially in perfumes like Langour in which is actually with paperwhites, bringing out that quality) which can't quite be described as indolic, but is somehow beautiful and queasy at once. I have several imps of narcissus-centric GCs which I've kept around because of that fascination, but never have quite found wearable, and I've wondered whether I would find a narcissus that I did actually want to wear. I think Interminable Grotesques may be it. There's a greenhouse quality to this narcissus, humid and sweetened, the perfume trapped within fogging glass. With the honey from the heliotrope, it reminds me of the stunning daffodil note in Flower Moon 2009, which is a gentler, more golden variation on bpal's narcissus, and one which has always felt closer to me to the true smell of the flower in nature (daffodil and narcissus, of course, being the same plant - their scent isn't noticeable most of the time, but is distinct if you actually try smelling a daffodil, or if you're fortunate enough to be in a place with overflowing beds of them in the springtime, amplifying their subtle fragrance). This is still much more indolic than the freshness of Flower Moon, which is definitely a field of wildflowers and not a bunch of blooms in a greenhouse, but there's a distinct resemblance. Over the course of wear, I also get what I could swear is a classic lily note rather than a lily of the valley - if I really look for it I can maybe find a sharpness that I could call lily of the valley, but I also get a very distinct stargazer lily which mingles beautifully with the narcissus. I don't think I can quite track the opium poppy yet, but it's perhaps part of the subtle sweetness in the background. This had quite long wear length, even just a day out of the mail. So: okay but not great when wet, really beautiful on drydown. I'll need to wear it a few more times to get a sense of whether I do want a bottle, and probably compare it with Flower Moon 2009 as well, but I think it might very well end up being a bottle purchase for me; it feels the 'wearable narcissus' gap which has been present in my flower completionist collection.

Reporting back dispatches from my jasmine quest for anyone else who may be on one! From my GC exploration, Nyx ended up being precisely the jasmine + rose combination I was hoping for! The myrrh is much gentler than in Wicked, and on me it's a beautifully balanced combination of both florals. Delight, alas, was not so for me, and ended up rather dusty and pale. Defututa is a fascinating scent, but I wouldn't call it predominantly jasmine - the champaca feels more central to that one. Tomie is beautiful, sinuously elegant scent with a thread of cool jasmine, but I would agree that it's not jasmine-forward, and I would probably describe its main notes as almond blossom and vanilla. I was also lucky enough to acquire three old LEs which have entirely satisfied my longing for a creamy jasmine - Eostre of the Dawn, The Night Priestess, and Mrs Emma Marsh (though the last is more gardenia than jasmine on me). Each is very different in sensibility and in the other florals the jasmine is paired with, but each in their own way showcases jasmine beautifully with the billowy creaminess I was longing to hold onto from my in vivo jasmine experiences this spring and summer. I know none of those are readily available, but I recommend them to anyone else who may be searching for a similar kind of jasmine! For cooler jasmines (either herbal or perfumey), I continue to love Twilight, The Presence of Love, and Cold Moon 2024. I recently tried the Cold Moon duet Jasmine Absolute & Champaca Petals which is a very pure and beautiful jasmine experience as well. A Cup of Tea on the Verandah, from last years Yules, has also been growing on me - as my decant ages the sharpness I experienced from at first has softened out and the jasmine comes out beautifully.

Very much a related scent to Dawn: Maiden, which makes sense considering their similar inspirations/subject matter! The main difference between the two on me is Eostre's jasmine replacing Dawn: Maiden's olive blossom - and Eostre is a beautifully jasmine-centric scent on me (though I also get plenty of honeysuckle, I would call it more of a jasmine), creamy with a gentle indolic edge. Between that and the skin musk (which one me is subtle, it's not a musk-dominant scent, but is definitely an important element) this feels more langorous than Dawn: Maiden, which I find a little gently energetic. The lactonic element here also is more dominant than in Dawn: Maiden, and it's a slightly sweeter scent overall. I most definitely picture this one as yellow and creamy white, very much springtime but appropriate to wear at any time of year. This is lovely, very much my style and I'm so glad I ended up with it. There's a particular magic to Dawn: Maiden's olive blossom which means I think I'd go with that one if I had to choose between the two, but I'm so glad there's no need to! But, by that same token, the similarity to Dawn: Maiden means I'm not devastated about this one's discontinuation, and if anyone is seeking this I would strongly recommend Dawn: Maiden as an alternative.

What a delightful topic! The cheesy but honest truth is that all of my bpal perfumes make me happy - it's such a wonderful thing to have in my life, these scents I can wear everyday and feel such joy about. I think you're definitely definitely not alone in finding that scent helps with mental health stuff. However, for specifically cheering scents, I think the entire Alice in Wonderland GC collection has this quality for me - the ones I regularly wear are Alice; White Rabbit; Two, Five, & Seven; and Against Idleness and Mischief, and each of them, in their own way, has a bright whimsy that makes me happy in my everyday life (I haven't yet tried High-Strung Daisies, but @sunshinedaisybliss's suggestion of it reminds me that it's been on my list for a while!). Otherwise, I find that notes I read as 'golden' often have a very happy quality to me - honey, orange blossom, osmanthus, apricot, honeysuckle (not so much amber, though it definitely has a golden quality). Some currently available examples include: Katharina; Dawn: Maiden; Osmanthus & Honey Bells; Deadly Nightshade Honey; and Persephone's Ascent. Idyll, which I happen to be wearing today, is one of my favorite happiness scents, with beautiful orange blossom, honeysuckle, and osmanthus, and I love to wear it on days when I need some brightness, but it's a Lunacy Ars Anni from last year, and thus no longer readily available.

I know it doesn't help anyone much to review this blend after it's gone down, but I have been trying to make sense of it for months now! It's a tricky one to figure out. I definitely get strong resinous notes, certainly amber, possibly another resin, along with a sweet red fruitiness (red currant?) and a soft metallic sensibility. I definitely get a lot of musk here, though I don't think I could say what color. As it dries down, the fruitiness fades, and the musk becomes the center of the scent. Definitely red and gold, as in the description, definitely regal and queenly, but at the same time somehow hazy and undefined by comparison with other bpals I have with overlapping notes and qualities. I like this, and wear my decant occasionally, but something in it doesn't quite come together on me, and I ended up not going for a bottle. I'm not sure if it feels like it needs something additional, or if I'd want the balance of the notes to be slightly different and more intense, but either way it feels like it doesn't quite hit the mark for me. I'm glad though to have my decant and will continue to wear and contemplate it.

This is a pale, cool, clean white floral, predominantly calla lily and ivy on me with a soft backbone of iris. It has a clean, inedible fruitiness which I think comes from the calla lily, though I am not very familiar yet with gladiolus and delphinium as notes - it does smell the way I would imagine gladioli to smell! I definitely get the green of the ivy, and an image of flowers in a graveyard ringed by vines. I don't know if this blend would give me that spectral image without the association of the name, though - on its own it's clean unchallenging, slightly chalky, and almost commercial in a way that reminds me of Juliet. I get a little osmanthus (one of my favorite notes), but quite pale and muted, not its usual golden self. This is pleasant, but not a favorite, and I won't need a bottle, though the effect of the ivy with the white florals is interesting enough for me to keep my imp at least for now.

This is a lovely, gentle floral scent. I get lilac most strongly when wet, and then tuberose and violet more on drydown, but all notes are distinctly present throughout; violet doesn't take over here as it sometimes does on me. The tuberose gives a honeyed sweetness especially present as it's nearly faded. Each floral note is clear, but as though with a gauzy, pale blue veil over them; very much a dusk/twilight scent. This truly does feel like a Chopin nocturne to me! It fades quite quickly (which I imagine is not likely to improve with rest, since I think this is an old imp) and has little throw, but is quite pleasant. I don't think I need a bottle of this, given the low longevity/throw, and since I don't think I'm likely to choose it over any of my other lilac blends which are all more intense and vivid. But for lilac it's a lovely GC alternative which also showcases tuberose in a very pretty way. I'll definitely keep and use my imp.

I don't think this is silly at all! I think it's one of those places where the similarity of the names gets very confusing, and I was lost for a while too. I don't find the two notes very similar at all, though I have much more experience with champaca in BPAL scents than nag champa, because I seek out florals and not so much incense blends. Champaca is a magnolia-like white floral (a couple months ago I smelled one of the flowers in a greenhouse which also clarified this for me!), and nag champa as a note reads like sandalwood incense.

Like @Akurarei, I found this to be a pretty evenly balanced blend of the two notes, though the plum blossom takes center stage. And what a gorgeous plum blossom it is too - gently tart fruitiness with a silky wafting perfumey floral from the petals. Definitely the same plum blossom note which I loved in Lingering Plum Scent in the Sleeping Chamber from this year's Shungas but, just as I hoped, given space and prominence to really shine. The golden amber here is very smooth, gently and subtly vanillic, with a gleaming resinous quality. I would agree that the amber takes a few moments of drying down to come forward, but I definitely get both notes quite quickly. The complexity and sophistication of the two notes makes this feel like a very complete perfume to me despite being a duet; I didn't get the main Lightning Moon scent and don't feel a particular need to layer this, since it's beautiful and full on its own. (Also - just laughing at myself from a year ago who looked at the duets and thought that I would never be interested in one when there were so many more complex blends out there! How wrong I was.) Very much what I was hoping for, and I'm so glad I took a chance on blind bottling this. I will say that at the moment the longevity of this one is quite low, fading after only a couple of hours, but since my experience has been that this is often true of BPALs that are closer to pure florals before they've aged, I feel quite hopeful that the longevity will increase with time.

This feels to me like a slightly more mature sister scent to The Bride; it has a similar quality of billowing white floral supported by gentle, sensuous honey and vanilla, but the jasmine and gardenia in place of magnolia feels somehow less innocent to me. These feel like flowers within a greenhouse, rather than under the open sky as the magnolia of The Bride reads to me. I got this blend in my search for a good gardenia for my floral completionism project - I have tried many of the Lab's gardenias, but the ones I have tried haven't shown up as clearly on me, or have been too sharp. The gardenia in this turns out to be precisely what I was hoping for - it has the silky lushness of real, living gardenia, with its subtly piercing indolic quality, but the honey, vanilla, and frankincense keep it from going too sharp. The jasmine here is vivid and definitely present, but on me a supporting note to the gardenia, sort of like a jasmine bush surrounding a gardenia. I don't clearly get the rose, but I have a sense of it as an undercurrent giving shape to the blend. I really love this, and am so very glad that I ended up getting it almost by chance! It's very much to my taste, and I'm grateful that the honey shows up so well on me and supports the florals rather than detracting from them.

On me this seems to be the same lilac note as in Eusapia - bright and slightly citrusy, not as indolic or lush as in the White Lilac & Musk HG (which I also have on with it today), as green and fresh as the lab's blue lilac note, or as smooth as the lilac in Lorrainna. I agree with previous reviewers that this is quite nearly a lilac single note at first, though as it dries down I get some soft, resinous vanilla and benzoin evening out the lilac much as the beeswax does in Eusapia. A few hours into wear, the vanilla is significantly more prominent; it's a dry, nearly powdery vanilla which I experience as elegant and understated. It feels to me like it matches the color palette of the painting which inspired it quite well, though it's less overtly sensuous. This is similar enough to Eusapia that I don't think one really needs both, though I am obsessed enough with lilacs that I'm happy I now do - I'm enjoying the subtle differences, and I know I will wear them both.

This is a really beautiful spiced white floral, smooth and calm and definitely very appropriate to its inspiration. I can very much see this for the High Priestess of the tarot, and it definitely has a glowing, moonlike sensibility. On me it's predominantly jasmine and clove, but a luminous and smooth jasmine, not sharp or indolic. I get subtle hints of cardamom throughout wear, and when I look for them I can pick out some other indistinct floral notes, though the jasmine is definitely central. As I've been looking for a good night-blooming jasmine scent, this is a welcome delight. Something about the earthiness of the clove helps ground the ethereal paleness of the florals in this one and contributes to the olfactory depiction of a priestess, a woman who is very much human while also serving and in contact with the divine. It's lovely, and I feel very glad to have it. This has a reasonable throw and quite good wear length, fading around 7 hours in for me.

This is definitely predominantly a rose-sandalwood-frankincense on me, backed by pretty strong creamy coconut and faint vanilla. The rose note here feels like the same one in a number of the Ars Moriendi and Ars Amatoria GC blends, which reads on my skin as what I'd call a more dry, perfumey and less lush rose; it's a soft, pretty scent, but not my personal favorite type of rose that the Lab does. I get a sense of some light musk or perhaps the oud smoothing the blend out and holding it together, and some indistinct plumeria/frangipani, but I cannot pick out the other notes. Overall, this perfume gives me the impression of pale, veiled florals, which is something I also get from a number of the GCs classified in the 'soft floral' category. It's lovely, pleasant and inoffensive, but it doesn't grab me; I'm learning with time that I generally prefer my florals brighter and more intense. I'll keep my imp around for a while and see how often I feel drawn to wear it, but I don't think I'll be wanting a bottle of this one.

I got this as part of my search for a plumeria/frangipani-focused blend - I tend to be a little wary of coconut notes, but was encouraged by reviews here describing this as floral-forward, with the coconut working more to smooth out the blend. Having now tested it a few times, that description seems accurate to me. The coconut is moderately strong at first, but is creamy and smooth rather than aggressively sunscreen-like, and as it dries down the coconut recedes into the background and I get very gentle, subtle florals, primarily frangipani but with hints of gardenia and orchid. The ginger also definitely comes through for me, and has a gently fruity sense rather than being spicy. This is a very calm floral, not at all sharp or indolic, and would probably be a good entry point for people who are wary of florals. I enjoy it, but would also be happy for the flowers to be louder and brighter! It's also quite faint on me, with notably low throw. Now about five hours into wear I still get some soft lovely frangipani when I smell extremely close to my wrist, but I have to really search for it. I'll have to try applying more than I'm accustomed to, but in general I think this is going to be one I keep for times when I want a very subtle low sillage perfume, probably more than something to get me through my whole day.

I bought a decant of this off a fellow forumite to layer with my bottle of Cold Moon, and am so glad I did! This is a really lovely blend. I recently had the chance to smell a freshly blooming champaca tree in a botanical garden, and I found the scent so striking and vivid - similar to regular magnolia, but earthier and less perfumey. It's definitely recognizable to me here, along with a gorgeous dripping jasmine. There's something which feels gauzy to me about this scent, like light passing through thin cotton. Layered with the main Cold Moon blend it adds that sensibility, jasmine vines and flowering trees growing on the side of a river, their white blossoms almost obscuring the water below, though you can still feel it. It definitely brings out the jasmine already present in Cold Moon, and its delicacy strikes an interesting contrast with the aquatic and earthy notes in that main perfume. The combination is really beautiful. I find this wearable on its own and probably would do so if I had gotten a full bottle of it, but as it is I plan to use it mostly for the beautiful effect of the layering.

I bought a decant of this off another forumite to layer with my bottle of Cold Moon! When this first goes on, it's vividly realistic river silt for me - I can almost feel the dirt between my toes at the river where I used to swim sometimes as a child. As it dries, it turns sharply much greener, and I get a very fresh, clean, yet also vegetal moss, with something wet and almost cucumber-like about it. It's fascinating, and not unpleasant, but a little odd to have on my skin. Layered with Cold Moon, however, the gritty silt stays much more present, combining with the evocative, atmospheric feeling of the main blend to create what feels like a very full scent-picture of a cool, softly-flowing river, damp moss growing on its banks. This isn't one I'd want to wear on its own, but layered I like it quite a bit, and it creates a fascinating experience when I want to push the main blend further in its atmospheric direction. I definitely don't need a bottle of this, but a decant turns out to be just the perfect quantity.

In the bottle and wet on my skin, I get an intensely sharp neroli, myrrh, and sandalwood combination which feels intense and aggressive and does indeed evoke the "bursts of glory" in the description - there's a sense of something coming towards me, almost taking me aback. I'm not too familiar with pink pepper as a note, but I think I get it here as well, in an edge which almost tingles to smell,. I wasn't sure I would like it on me at this stage; it reminds me of neroli's classic use in men's perfumery, and I thought to myself that of course there was a chance that an Apollo perfume might end up feeling too masculine to me. But there's a hint of something softer underneath, which turns out to be the honey and mallow combination, and as it dries that becomes more and more central, with the assertive neroli fading to become part of a more cohesive whole. The sweetened mallow becomes the main thing I smell at this point, along with a nutty, almost almondy floral which I think must be the heliotrope, though it's not a note I know well (I do think I can recognize the similarities with Dawn: Maiden though, which is rather apropos). I can track the osmanthus when I look for it, but it doesn't come out as strongly as those other notes. The myrrh and amber at this stage seem to give shape and definition to the blend and an overall resinous feeling, evoking incense being burnt for the god, but they're smoothly blended and no longer taking over. In this drydown I really very much enjoy wearing it. This feels like a very Apollonian perfume to me, which I find really impressive; there's something in the combination of the really overwhelming wet stage and then the much gentler drydown which really does work as a representation of the contradictions and complexities of this particular god. It feels very golden, but in a way that has some force and energy behind it; this is not a diffuse and floating type of perfume, even with the soft mallow.

I was a little wary of the lettuce note in this one and so procrastinated for quite a while on trying my imp. But I shouldn't have worried - this is a lovely scent, and feels very appropriate to the fairy tale in ways that are difficult to define! Angel's Trumpet isn't a floral note I was familiar with before this, but it's the center of this blend on me and it's truly lovely - similar to lily but with a pale creaminess that reminds me of the Lab's Datura Blossom SN. The knowledge that it's a flower both poisonous and extinct in the wild evokes something of the violence and darkness of this fairy tale, which has always been one of my favorites. The lettuce is present as a wet greenness, and I think I can track the orris, a powdery note holding the blend together and making it feel like more of a perfume. I can't consciously identify bois de rose here, but that was also my experience with Endymion, which makes me think that it's a note I'm not great at noticing yet. As a full experience, this blend reminds me a little of a Prague, which I also experience as a very gentle lily-like white floral, but Rapunzel has a little more body from the orris. It fades pretty fast on me, which may because of the age of the imp, which is unknown to me. I'm disappointed that this one is discontinued, but glad that I've had the opportunity to try and will definitely use my imp, though I don't think I'm in love enough to try and seek out a secondhand bottle.

I got this because I adore osmanthus, and after losing my mind over it as a note in other BPALs, the idea of a duet truly centering it was too enthralling to resist. This turned out to be exactly what I was hoping for - nearly an osmanthus single note, with the secondary floral of the honey bells complementing but not at all detracting from it. This is osmanthus at its most golden and fruity, coming right up to the edge of the scent of apricot. The osmanthus here has a tactile quality that I would almost describe as tacky, giving me this dry, puckering sensation which I know makes it sound unappealing but in fact here just makes it feel very alive and fresh and real. The honey bells, which aren't a flower I get to smell very often in person, are similar to honeysuckle but somewhat sweeter and greener; less perfumed and wafting than honeysuckle tends to be. The blend of the two notes is harmonious and it takes effort to distinguish them, creating this overall rich yellow floral scent. This has strong throw for such a bright, simple floral scent, and good longevity. Its freshness means that this feels more youthful and less sophisticated and sensual than some of my other osmanthus scents (Idyll, The Brides of Dracula), but it's perfect for when I just want to luxuriate in osmanthus, or when I want a more straightforwardly cheerful golden floral. I have been really loving this in the summer heat, which the fruity edge of the osmanthus cuts through refreshingly, but I imagine it will also be very cheering for the colder months. Very glad to have this one.