Witch Birds

[zankoku_zen]

Blinding-white mallow and vanilla sandalwood streaked with indigo opium pod accord, velvet black violet petals, wild plum, and opoponax.

[ziggystardust13]

This is very pretty. It’s very mallow and violet forward and the opium pod note gives it a high end perfume vibe. The mallow adds a creamy softness that I definitely enjoy. I don’t get much plum at all but the scent still feels purple. I like this but don’t love it, only because violet is not something I enjoy. I was hoping for more of a plum forward scent.  That being said, I can see this being very popular, especially if you like violet. 

[Little Bird]

Super sweet, super powdery, dark violets. 

 

For the first half hour, there's something dark, earthy, and slightly fecal underneath the violets, and then it shifts to all syrupy-sweet violets and intensely powdery sandalwood with a bright, warm, musky, perfumey quality that reminds me of walking into places like Sephora and Nordstrom.  I bought Witch Birds for the plum and I'm getting no plum at all.  If you like violet candy and bpal's powdery type sandalwood, you will enjoy this, but I'm disappointed in it as someone who was hoping for more of a resinous, slinky plum.

Edit:  After letting this settle for a couple months, it has really improved.  I don't get that fecal note anymore and it's not quite as powdery anymore.  I still don't get any plum, though, only sweet, dark purple violet candies with a little powderiness to them.

Edited January 9 by Little Bird

[forspecial_plate]

This one was an unfortunate fail on my skin. It goes on and reminds me of a crisp, clean, myrrh and linen scent, not bad, I kind of liked it.  There's a little bit of violet, no plum.  But when I sniff up close I'm getting a faint hint of something sickly sweet, more on the exhale, that's like - I don't know, rot or something.  Kind of similar to Little Bird's experience in the above review.  Once I noticed it I couldn't ignore it, and eventually had to wash it off because it was giving me a queasy feeling.  And then I could still smell it!  I don't think this scent is for me. 

 

 

[fruitiness]

This is so pretty - I've let it rest for a week or so now and the plum is still the star of this. I get sweet, dark violets as well and barely a whisper of opoponax. Overall the vibe is a bit perfumey,and gives that powdery note. The mallow isn't very present individually but it's a sweet scent and I think that's where the mallow comes in. I don't get any of the sandalwood. It reminds me of Fuck You, Said the Raven, but much sweeter. Maybe this has to do with all the birds?! 

[DisguisedSuperhero]

So my husband kind of laughed at me with this one, because I told him I wanted it because it sounded purple! I’m not much of a floral fan, but I’ve fallen in love with BPAL’s dark florals. It’s a slightly sweet and dusty floral, with a lovely creamy vanilla sandalwood dry down. The “purple” background notes stick around but take a bit more of a backseat. Moderate throw, lasted 12+ hours still detectible on my wrists after my morning application. (8/10 will wear when I’m feeling my goth fantasy self)

[Geminirubyshoes]

My inkling that I would love this is correct. If you love Beth’s violet note, snag a bottle of this ASAP. It’s a deep, musky indigo violet at first with the vanilla sandalwood on the dry down with some sweetness underneath. It makes me think of They Shut Me Up in prose with dark violet. Very faint about 2 hours later on me but I can still smell it if I hold me nose close enough to my wrist. I bet aging will make this amazing!

[WoolyBee]

I didn’t think I’d like this upon first sniff. Right outta the bottle it smelled like Mr Bubble bubble bath and lipsmackers chapstick. Not bad or repulsive, by any means, just not my thing. However I just applied it and it doesn’t smell like bubble bath at all. It almost smells juicy. I get a fruity floral first and foremost. I still kinda get a lipsmacker vibe from it, but it’s not distracting. As it dries the spicier drier notes come through. I get opium, violet, and I think sandalwood in the dry down. Fascinating! Just goes to show that skin chemistry can change everything. The longer I wear it, the drier it gets. And oddly, the more I like it! Although it’s not my favorite, I’m intrigued enough by it to keep testing it out!

[theseagrows]

plum turns plasticky on me, so i was hoping it was subtle to nonexistent in this. at the beginning it is-i mostly get parma violets and opoponax i believe. then it's followed by a subtle plum, along with something mildly animalic. dries down to plum, indigo opium and that animalic note. a dusky plum scent. nice, but not an absolute favorite either.

[roseus]

Sweet marshmallowy plum in the imp, and wet the opium and oppononax darken and ground the scent a bit. It's dark and swirling with a hint of sweetness. The marshmallow makes this stand out from other opium and plum scents I have. Luckily for me the violet does not make an appearance, was thinking this was not going to work on me!

Edited January 9 by roseus

[theredkilt]

This is a violet blend to my nose, only a restrained one. Smells like dainty black violet petals dipped in sweet and delicate plum/ oppoponax nectar. The throw is close to the skin.  Witch-Birds, imho, is a distant relative of Sybaris, imho,

[Failmingo]

I agreed with pretty much everything here as I read these reviews: a soft, dusky, fruity floral (I get both the violet AND the plum) with gently dark undertones.

 

Sitting with this one was important because I wanted to figure out what connected the notes to the story of the woman harassed to death by magpies -- it wasn't readily apparent from the notes. In the bottle I get plum rather strongly, or perhaps it just stands out because I've been wearing SANTA DOESN'T NEED YOUR HELP, and it seems like the same note. It's mysterious and melancholic, and then on the skin the violets come creeping out and it really does seem like the scent of a woman in a fancy dress sitting at home in the dark, too afraid to leave the house.

 

Galen thought it was soapy at first which tracks with the Mr. Bubble mentioned earlier; that seems apt, since the Demeter fragrance inspired by the Mr. Bubble product is described as "a combination of coconut, banana, peach, jasmine, balsamic vanilla, and raspberry notes." It's not much of a leap from peach/jasmine/vanilla to plum/violet/vanilla, if you think about it.

 

WITCH-BIRDS pulls out of that race as it begins to dry, with very recognizable (to me) mallow and opium notes. It's purple from so many different directions! I tend not to wear violet so I was apprehensive at first, but there's plenty going on here to keep it from being distracting. I love the way mallow rounds out a scent -- even the darker, more resinous parts -- with foamy sweetness. I have to lean in and breathe deep to explore those spookier recesses; overall it's a relaxing, gentle scent which hangs around for quite a long time.

 

 

[ghoulnextdoor]

A beguiling liveliness of ripe plum and velvety violet shrouds a shadowy heart of dark magic and bitter vengeance, resinous opoponax and mysterious opium evoking the midnight feathers of forbidden knowledge

[RoseThornAndOak]

I wanted to like this more than I did. The violet, plum, and sandalwood together are creating a weird breathy, indolic fruity floral that doesn't coalesce on my skin. In the bottle it is a gorgeous plum violet marshmallow. I think on the right skin this would be a nice complex fruity violet vanilla marshmallow with some woods supporting. Some sandalwoods just don't like me and that's fine. This is fine. 

[Myrrha]

Once dry it is Choward’s violet candies and plum over a beautiful  sweet vanilla- sandalwood base. The little bit of opium darkens the scent but isn’t prominent 

 

Violet tends not to work on me, it smells chemical and broken on my skin. This is a gorgeous purple, violet-vanilla scent for someone with a different skin chemistry. If you enjoy sweet  violet or think you might, check this one out.