nikaida

This review mainly is a placeholder with quick notes from an early-morning 30-minute test on wrists and upper inner arm. Other reviews were read before testing and may have influenced review. I have had this bottle for at least half a year with multiple test attempts and much bewilderment, as this is outside my zone of confident perfume descriptions & notes identification! This does have the bracing-yet-sweet (but not-vanilla) TKO kinda vibe super early on, but then warmth blooms and something almost faintly….anise-like (but not??)…?? shows up? The bracing qualities die back and a softer sweetness is revealed. I can see why the other two reviews have mentioned a fruity sweetness, but I don’t know if I would’ve identified it as fruity on my own. I’m liking this on this warm spring morning—it’s reminding me of mornings in early summer as a kid, something about the first 30 minutes of wear feels fresh and cool, with gentle sunshine kisses of promised future warmth. Enjoyable! Definitely want to give this cutie a full day’s wear for deeper exploration in the future. edit: 45 minutes into wear a sweet amber has made its presence known! Pretty!

Lab frottle, tested several months ago w/o taking notes and then again this evening on-skin after a day of many other tests. This review currently only covers the first 90 minutes of wear. Wrote this review before reading others’ reviews. KPX130 opens SUPER lemongrassy, but after 10 or so minutes this morphs to a very convincing lemon drops perfume with lemongrass hiding in the background. For me, the lemon did die down pretty quickly after this, leaving behind faint lemongrass, fainter lemon, and a biiig poof of pillowy, dry sugar. It feels like I’m jumping into a big bowl of fluffy, lightly lemon-lemongrassed caster sugar! I think this will be fun to try wearing in the summer, since the sugar seems to be promising me some cool, dry, unsticky, uncomplicated sweetness. The sugar note does seem familiar, but I can’t quite place where else I’ve smelled it before—more seasoned BPAL enthusiasts may be able to place it!! I do want to wear this for a whole day and see how long it lasts! Regardless, I am absolutely loving my trial of KPX130 tonight, and it has earned its spot in my BPAL drawer. And here I was hoping to clear up a spot for future ‘fumes!

I’m loving this a lot! Updating as promised based on 4 total day-long wears with a bottle under 1 month old. I am getting fresh callas with a little bit of green bite to them (in the best way! A friend described it as “the spicy thing that some lily type scents can do”) and then only the coolest, freshest lilacs in the background. I don’t know peony well but I do know that it really is “peony milk” because there’s something a bit sweet and creamy in the background that is absolutely lovely here. Do I get any powder? Just a tiiiny bit, but not vintage or baby powder. (I like these kinds of profiles so would still be happy if I did!). This perfume dies down to a pink, creamy, cool, gently sweet scent! I feel like a wind-up music box ballerina when I wear this. Delicate, pastel-pink, and lightly floral-sweet. Very spring, VERY lovely, excited to wear this one through the springtime and then next winter when I need to pretend it’s a different season!!

This is veeeery pretty. It was a lil sweeter than I wanted on first application and then I forgot what I had put on and sniffed my hand and went “wow whatever this is, is great!! Not as sweet on drydown. Smooth woodiness, a little cool & bright, tempered by some dark & interesting qualities. Not a smoke perfume, the sandalwood smoke is incense-woody and the charred silk is reading to me as maybe vanilla somewhere between toasted and charred. Excited to see other people‘s thoughts on this one!

Whoever raved about this on BPAL Parlour when it had first come out…thank you. I threw this in my cart as a YOLO blind bottle and never sniffed—set it aside to rest then life got wild and now it’s months and months later! Super gorgeous, outdoorsy, balsamic. Does get sweeter on drydown, but it’s not a sugared amber. DEF some glorious heady sandalwood in there. Absolute banger.

I…love this?? I’m revisiting my Carmilla decants and remember feeling like this was too cold for my preferred autumnal ‘fumes & setting it aside for some future date. Well, guess that’s now! And wow, it’s glorious. Green, botanical patchouli vibes with a glowing warmth underneath. This is bottle-worthy!

This cutie is really pretty! Very clean gardenia that hits a lil bit baby-powder/clean-wet-wipes while wet, but dries down a little more grown-up. Gentle nag champa.

I keep reaching for this frottle from the GODS since my order arrived last week. I am having the wildest time trying to parse this fragrance as it is outside my identification wheelhouse—there is something fresh & soapy-clean & bracing that is the star of this perfume’s show, then there’s something a little sharp or acidic/tart in a great way, and something that maybe could be described as cold metallic? But nestled under a big pile of icy soapy-sharp-tart metal blankets is a sleeeeepy little trickle of nutmeg. I don’t know if this is a crowd pleaser, but I *do* know it’s a *ME* pleaser. This is Tilda Swinton as the White Witch at the height of her power, wrapped in furs on her sleigh or draped across her throne. No need for Turkish delight to seduce me, Tilda, I’m already in the carriage, fluttering my lashes at you & asking you about where I can get a matching outfit.

Daydreaming of this in perfume oil format I love this! I also bought it to use as a hair or cuticle oil and I really wish that it came in perfume format too. Lots of cherry up front and the clove/cardamom make it smell kind of like cherry pie in the best of ways. Nothing medicinal here! The cherry does fade halfway through the day, but it’s still worth it!

Gorgeous fragrance. Initial application is a very breezy, delicate floral with polished woods. Then for about an hour, it goes quite sweet (more honey than beeswax) on me, and reminds me of Possets Shah Jahan & Mumtaz Mahal (which is a favorite of mine!). And then it settles into a gentle, perfumey sandalwood floral with hints of the beeswax and of the other polished woods. SUUUPER pretty on me. Full-sized this beaut with no regrets(:

Bah, I am bad at describing dragon’s blood fragrances because dragon’s blood usually takes over a fragrance entirely for me and I become overwhelmed. Not with this one! But all I can really pick out in the drydown is dragon’s blood and dark cacao. Champaca before it dries. I think the rest of the notes are pulling the dragon’s blood into something deeper and more complex. I love this one. I keep going back to it and neglecting my other dragoncon purchases. 10/10. May more folks who can describe this better arrive and do a better review than I ? But I love it!

To me, this smells like 2000s B&BW Sensual Amber in the imp and on wet. So much so that I RAN to my wife (who used to work at B&BW) to confirm. She agrees! This is great for me, as this was MY scent in high school and it smells so nostalgic and yummy. Once it dries down a bit more, the myrrh becomes more present and a tiiiiny but bitter whiff of bay leaf peeks out. Now it’s Sensual AmbMyrrh. As a myrrh fan, this continues to be a win! Finally, many many hours later, it dries down to a gentle ambrette. Ambrette how I love thee. Considering a full bottle, if not at least a backup imp. I work through perfumes very slowly so bottle isn’t always necessary.

Utterly gorgeous. I get a kick of the mugwort up front, but on me this dries back pretty quickly. Most mugwort notes I've smelled in perfumes aren't very appealing to me but it isn't offensive here. Lots of moonflower, lots of moss, a gentle and lovely powdery vibe, and lasts for a l o o o o o o n g time on me. I applied some last night and it was going strong 12 hours later when I reapplied before work (it's an ESBAT KINDA DAY, OK). I tried this in 2019 or 2020, but didn't really enjoy it then. I'm glad I gave it another chance this year, because it's being discontinued once Haute Macabre runs out of their current stock! So beautiful. Full-sized this cutie and got a second backup imp to store at work. jan 2025 edit: wore this to an event with lots of family and had THREE women stop and go in for a second hug & go “YOU SMELL GOOOOOD” while I was wearing this. So sad this has been discontinued, grateful to have 2 bottles!

Bought a bottle secondhand due to its note list being quite similar to Defututa (which I like a lot). I wanted to see how different they would be and in what ways! They are QUITE different! In Melissae I’m getting something almost like olive oil early on, as well as a slightly cinnamon-spicy note and a slightly floral note. (I wish i knew what olive blossoms smelled like, sorry, I just know I like a lot of stuff they’re in!) Then it’s a spicy savory mix of cinnamon and frankincense, it’s a lot less sweet than I was expecting. A few hours later and the honey is coming through more. It reminds me of loukoumades? Fun! This is one I keep trying before bed, so I’ll have to come back and update this review with more thoughts once I try it earlier in the day!