Champagne and Snake Oil

[Jenjin]

BPAL’s signature scent made effervescent:
deep, rich, earthy notes swirled with vegetal musks, sugared vanilla bean,
champagne grape, white ginger, and dark spices.

Edited December 27, 2023 by Jenjin

[Little Bird]

When I opened Champagne & Snake Oil, I was immediately reminded of that scene in Disney's cartoon Robin Hood movie, where Sir Hiss gets stuck in a barrel of ale and comes out completely plastered.  It's funny how I haven't seen or thought of that movie in so long, but it suddenly came back to me.  That's my favorite thing about perfume, the way it brings back memories and stirs up the imagination.  Anyhow.

I love Snake Oil variations, but I hate champagne notes in perfume oils.  I'm waffling on whether or not I really like this mashup.
For the first 20-ish minutes, the fragrance is actually off putting to me, like someone handing me a pranked glass of fizzy alcohol with brown, dusty mulch and laundry soap powder in it.  I enjoy the dark musk and earthiness of Snake Oil, but it's like it's gone stale and musty here.
Then it turns to where I can't smell the Snake Oil at all, but the champagne isn't as sweet as bpal's champagne note usually is and it smells very dry, dusty, sharp, and soapy (reminding me more of the off fizzy note I got in Batty Cathedral). 
I was thinking that I should just scrub it off and give it more time to rest or just admit defeat, but I got busy organizing some things in my kitchen, and Champagne & Snake Oil does eventualy settle into something rather nice on me.  The sugared vanilla bean starts to come out a lot more, sweetening the whole blend, and anything creamy and vanilla-y is a plus for me.  The champagne still stays more on the dry and soapy side of things, crisp and sharp rather than sweet and bubbly.  The 'dark spices' of the Snake Oil also come out in the drydown and add a dark, seductive edge to the vanilla.

So it winds up being creamy, sugared vanilla with chilled, crisp champagne, a waft of exotic, spiced perfume, and a hint of soapiness on my skin.  It's not distinctively Snake Oil to me, though.  In most of the Snake Oil variants, I recognize it as Snake Oil, but this has more sweet vanilla cream and spice to me and not so much the signature slinky musk.  I'm curious to read other reviews of this one.

[frizzlechicken]

I LOVE THIS. It may be my all-time favorite Snake Oil variant. Now, keep in mind that I am a BPAL champagne fiend, so I was primed to love this. It's a simple premise - Snake Oil drenched in champagne - and it works so very well. The two scents combine beautifully on me, fading to a gorgeous vanilla champagne with a little snake oil spice. I adore this and will be picking up backups; if there's such a thing as a signature BPAL for me, it may very well be this!

[patina]

At first, ginger ale. Just ginger ale and very accurate!

Then the Snake Oil comes out and the scent waffles back and forth between champagne and Snake Oil. The ginger threatens to go soapy without quite actually doing it. The ginger is strongly rooty/airy wood to me. This is good because it smells sophisticated and bad because it can go a little bitter. But I think aging might fix that. I still think I'd prefer a more citrus/ floral sparkling vanilla ginger ale or else just plain Snake Oil. It's lovely and probably difficult to achieve this balance but not for me.

 

Edit: Spoke too soon, maybe. It eventually resolves into something that isn't trying to be soapy. I like it.

Edited February 17 by patina

[dancingchair]

Big disclaimer up front: I really dislike fizzy perfumes. I guess I have a very strong sense memory with lemon-lime soda and stomach illness because it makes me feel queasy whenever I smell something similar. However, I really wanted to try BPAL's champagne note because it's in so many fun perfumes and people gush about it.

 

Wet, this is a lot of effervescent citrus. It doesn't really read as champagne to me, more like a bright lemon soda. As it dries, I get a wave of booze and ginger. The citrus burns off and I'm left with ginger ale. Sometimes, I do get the impression of dry champagne. I do also get the musks and spices from Snake Oil surfacing in the bubbles. I don't really get much of the vanilla. It's kind of lost in the sticky sweetness of the ginger ale.

 

This is kind of a weird one for me. It shifts between "yuck, fizzy soda" and "ooo, ginger" and very rarely "hmmm, that does smell like champagne mixed with patchouli." If you're on the fence about this one, you probably shouldn't be looking at my impressions unless you also dislike fizzy lemon-lime soda perfumes. I'm glad I got to try it because it does confirm my suspicion that champagne notes are not for me.

[doomsday_disco]

This features the Lab's effervescent, soda-like champagne note accompanied by the musky current iteration of Snake Oil. The musk and patchouli of the Snake Oil end up being stronger than the champagne on me, with the champagne lingering in the background. Eventually, I do get some vanilla from the Snake Oil, which is much appreciated after the patchouli goes through a somewhat musty phase, which it also sometimes does when I wear the Gingerbread Snek 2023 Yule scent. There was also a phase where the Snake Oil component made me think of root beer for a bit, but it was brief. (I enjoy root beer perfumes, so I was actually digging that phase of the scent.)

 

Although I've tested this twice, I'm going to have to spend more time with it to see if I need more before it goes away. I do like it, but not as much as some other Snake Oil variants.

Edited March 20 by doomsday_disco

[Threemoons]

As a total fan of All Things Snake Oil, I love this.  For anyone who thinks that SO may be too strong for them -- can I call this one "Baby's First Snake Oil?"  I LOVE it.  It's a little fizzy and sweet, not too strong, office-friendly!  Long wear but low throw.  Give it a try if all other SO blends sound too heavy for you!