Pa-Pow

[teamilk]

To celebrate her life and the joy she brought to all of us, we have created a scent evocative of bright days running through the grass and sun-warmed puppy fur dusted with California wildflowers.

Wore Pa-Pow this morning: it was grassy and floral, with a nice and comfortable warmth beneath it. The grass stage was my favorite, but I'm also a big fan of I Smell Good In...Grass and I can't get enough of grassy smells. Definitely a keeper for me and will be an amazing Spring scent. Casual and pretty. My skin gobbled it up quickly but I'm very happy with the perfume, the scent, and the memorial it represents, so I happily re-slather.

[portalkat]

I love Pa-Pow and even though I smell the grassy notes, I also smell something from later in the year that reminds me of the October blend from the Halloween update of 2007. There is something that reminds me of the fallen leaf and smoke note and takes this from a grassy green blend and moves it into Autumn territory. This is such a beautiful tribute blend for a beloved friend.

Edited November 21, 2009 by portalkat

[aislingeach]

Grassy, floral, and somehow warm and soft. Like a warmer version of Host of the Air. V. nice, but I prefer Host for my meadow-smelling needs.

[Seismogenic]

I think I love everything about this before I've even sniffed it. I adore the idea of memorializing a beloved pet in an artistic way - and scent definitely counts there! I think the Dorothy Parker poem accompanying the scent description is fantastic. The list of notes appeals to me in a big way (wildflowers are the one sort of floral that I can do). And, perhaps most significantly, I love love love that the profit from this scent will go to help animals displaced by the Station Fire. I was wondering if the Lab was going to do something to benefit some aspect of recovery from that fire, and it makes me squee that their charity also involves animals. So much love.

 

In the bottle: Grass and sweet wildflowers, with a hint of something indistinctly fuzzy.

 

Wet on skin: The fuzzy thing becomes immediately more prominent, but the grass and sweet flowers are still amply evident in the background.

 

Drydown: Freshly dry, this is still gently fuzzy, intermingled with sweet fresh grass and wildflowers. At one hour in, the fuzzy note has become more distinct as fur. The grasses have dried out a bit, and the flowers still lightly sweeten everything up.

 

Five hours later: Dry grasses and soft fur. The wildflowers are gone, but thereʻs still something else in there thatʻs warm and slightly sweet. Itʻs subtle, though.

 

End of the day: Dry, slightly musky, and a bit sweet.

 

Overall: And I repeat: so much love! This is a gorgeous scent. It is warm and bright, cheerful and gentle, all around comforting. It does capture the joy and companionship of having a pet, I think, and that is an excellent way to commemorate the life of a particular pet. In addition to the part where I love the animal aspects of this scent, I also love that it is reminiscent of so many California landscapes. The wildflowers and wet grass giving way to drier grass and foliage is so characteristic of fields and mountainsides around the state (or, well, of what they used to be like before invasive plants took over). This scent is the recollection of a happy experience with friends in a beautiful setting, and I do love it. I am so glad to have this bottle.

[Tal Shachar]

Nobody else said it yet? Garden Path with Chickens. I had to get that one out to compare, and to me they smell very, very close. Garden Path has the rose and verbena making it sharper and more floral, while the musk in Pa-Pow is very soft and sweet, but the grassiness and the "peppery" smell of the flowers is the same to my nose. I love it, so it's nice to have a Garden Path with Puppies version.

 

I really love this furry musk, which I think is in Faunalia as well (the Coyote/Ivanushka/Hunter Moon sweet-fur-smell), and it's very low-key compared to those ones. Lighter, not as dense and sweet, and it stays close to the skin while the planty notes waft upwards from my wrist. Once the grass goes (grass always goes so fast, sigh) the flowers soften up and it's a quietly sweet outdoorsy-fresh scent, herbal more than floral. I like this a lot.

[thestrangeheart]

Starts off very thick, almost dry (summery) grass-- I picture a big field in late summer, perhaps in autumn.

 

Then it starts to go sweeter from the wildflowers and the fur. The grass fades away fairly quickly after being so strong in the beginning. It does go a little baby-soft-- not quite Gladdener of All Hearts, but there is something here that reminds me of that milky sweetness that babies and puppies have, with the wildflowers lingering in the background. Summery and warm.

 

The thing I love most about this is it's definitely a puppy scent sweet-- it reminds me of what Penny used to smell like (after she'd been washed and romping out in the yard. She took on a stinky cocker spaniel scent a few days after a bath ). But I miss my girl so much (passed away in June after sixteen years together) and this is a lovely scent to remember her and all pups with.

[crebbsgirl]

This one scared me a little, but the concept was just so wonderful I couldn't pass it up. So imagine my surprise and delight when it turned out that this was just wonderful on me!! It smelled exactly like bottled sunshine! The grass and flowers are a little sharp when the scent is initially applied, but it quickly smoothed out on my skin and turned into a really cozy and warm scent. There's a sweet musky scent that is pretty light, and combined with the flowers and grass it's such a comforting blend.

[laslibres]

Can I first just say that I LOVE the label of this, with the little cartoon dog and then the comic-style sound effect "PA-POW!" Hee.

 

Okay, so in the bottle, this is grass, musk, and flowers. Sort of springy and perfumy...on me, these are the same "yellow" flowers as in, say, Garden Path With Chickens, or Et Lux Fuit. There’s a certain floral note they use that smells like _yellow_ flowers, not any other kind, sort of polleny and warm. This is that.

 

I know the musk is supposed to smell like puppy, but really it kind of makes the scent more perfumy and more sophisticated, almost. This is what puppies smell like after they’ve been bathed with fancy dog groomer shampoo. (They hate that.) Sunshine permeates throughout this scent...the musk smells sunny, the grass is sun-warmed, the flowers are sunny and yellow...I really don’t know how the lab manages to make blends smell LIKE SUNSHINE, but somehow they do exactly that, and this is one of those. This is a really pretty and fun scent. I swear, if I walk out on this snowy day wearing this scent, the power of its summery-sunshineyness will melt all the snow.

[Gwydion]

In bottle: A very light green scent, with a hint of mixed florals. It’s very grassy. Wet: Fresh cut lawn, under warm sun. The flowers are very understated, more there to suggest the out doors, instead of making the blend a proper floral. It’s very realistic and definitely reminiscent of a summer day in a field. Dry: Slightly more perfumey, but smells a lot like embalming fluid.

[fiddledragon]

Green! Sweet and green and grassy. It dries to a slightly less juicy grass, but this is pretty much all grass on me. No hay, no flowers, no puppies. Oh, well. Grass scents tend to take over on me.

[skylarkza]

In the bottle: Freshly mown grass and lemons.

 

Wet: Freshly mown grass with a flower or two?

 

Dry: Fresh grass, flowers and fur? Something kinda animal musky there...

 

A while later: A meadow and sunshine and puppy. Clean, spotless, absolutely-no-dirty-or-wet-dog smell at all puppy. Like you think one of the fluffy golden lab puppies in the toilet paper ads should smell if it bounced out the screen. Absolutely jaw droppingly amazing. Methinks that I will be hoarding this one til summer, since it does not really go with the current weather, but WOW.

[angelicruin]

So glad I decided to try a decant of this blend. I am surprised how much I like it...

 

This is a soft warm blend on my skin. Besides the grass and wildflowers, there is something else that just smells like warm sunshine.

 

A good summer blend, but I'm actually loving it with the temperature being in the teens outside. Makes me think of warmer seasons to come.

[Victory]

I was hoping for the dry grass note of Hay Moon/Coyote + fur, but I got men's cologne. There is indeed a green grass note, which is nowhere near as bad as I had feared (I was thinking lawn clippings, yikes!) and is actually quite good, but when the oil dries, it's all outdoorsy cologne. I'll keep this in hopes that aging does some wonderful things for it, as aging so often does.

[Coldfire]

Decant: tis a meadow in the vial. I wish to stop there for a while. Sunny green grasses and wild flowers.
Wet on Me: Definitely the green grass and then at the tail in the of the sniff you get the flowers and they draw you onward into the meadow.
Drying Down: still getting lovely grassy meadow with faint flowers.
Dry: This is just the kind of place I imagine that waits in Summerland for all pets to romp and play in until we join them. Oh Pa-Pow what a tribute to you!

[gingiemay]

This is a beautiful, fresh and happy floral/grass scent, very similar to Dog Days of Summer. Unfortunately, it fades very quickly on my skin and is almost gone after about an hour.

[Lycanthrope]

It's very grassy, a little warm, and a dry musk. It dries down on me a lot like the Rat King and Clio.

[Geminirubyshoes]

This makes me want to cry everytime I smell it, so I have only worn it once. It is so true to the concept that I almost can't bear to wear it as it makes me remember how devastated I was when my previous dog had to be put down. Warm, soft furry musk with sunlight and grass. It didnt stay on very long when I wore it but that's ok. I love it regardless, even if it does evoke some painful memories for me, I can tell it was made with pure love and care

[misscoldheart]

I also have a best friend who is a dog, and I really was touched by this sentiment and wanted to love the scent...Unfortunately I just can't get with it.

 

The musk is nice and I am a musk fan, so that was fine...but at first there is a really strange sharpness that maybe is "grass" that some other folks are reporting. It smells EXACTLY like this perfume my mother used to wear...My sister has the bottle. It's round and blue with 2 snakes intertwining but no name on the bottle at all...Pretty cool, but it really is a strange smell.

 

Anyway, this lingers for some time and then fades off to a pretty generic musk smell with a tiny hint of florals in the background. I dunno, I guess I could take it or leave it but I probably won't be using it much, so it's off to the swaps pile.

[Ondine]

The label on this one is adorable The scent is fairly consistent on me--warmed grass (kind of the like the grass note from A Blade of Grass, only lighter) and flowers, but not uber-heavy flowers--just like the faintest hint of flowers. It's a light, springtime scent.

[fairnymph]

Yellow oil. Grass and wildflowers. A bit soapy. I have always disliked 'California wildflowers' as a note in BPAL and I can tell this is going to be the same way.

 

Same, maybe a bit more - astringent/sappy. I do like the grass note very much. Not getting the puppy fur. Flowers still a tad soapy and just overall generic and boring, and as usual, making my rosacea flare.

 

Fading a lot and quite quickly. It's a bit sweeter now, almost honeyed - it reminds me a bit of Dog Days of Summer, but a lighter, more floral version. I do believe there is a bit of golden amber in this, not powdery, but lightly warm, and I am getting a bit of musk - maybe vanilla musk? It would explain the sweetness. Not going soapier, either!

 

Sweeter, warmer, muskier with hints of floral soap and grass. It's definitely vanilla musk and golden amber - this shares similarities with DDoS and also L'Estate. There is a hint of powder, but it's faint. The florals never amped or turned to pure soap as I expected.

 

After a few hours it has faded to almost nothing - faint vanilla musk, slightly powdery amber and grass are all that remain. Low throw and dismal longevity. It was almost good, but not quite.

 

[girasol]

I couldn't resist a scent that pays tribute to the beautiful relationship between dogs and their humans, so when I saw a bottle for sale I snapped it up!

 

This is a very gentle scent. It starts out grassy, but rather than fresh green grass it's more like a sun-baked meadow in the middle of summer. Soft florals come through during the drydown.

 

Dry, it's quite faint - but up close it's still there, warm and golden. Subtle and lovely.

[milo]

At first, this is sharp greenery with a mish mash of flowers. As it dries, I get a dusty, furry vibe, and the greenery has taken a background. This blend is not loud, screaming florals, which I was scared of and didn't order a bottle when it was available. It reminds me of the scent of a hot summer day in a meadow, actually. This is also reminiscent of Wulric, but without the lavender and with dusty flowers instead. This really melds well with my skin chemistry, and I'm kind of wishing I sprung for a bottle when it was available. For now, I'm just glad that someone frimped me an imp.

[tharsei-thanate]

Bought a bottle from AAddictson!

 

Being a dog lover with a precious doggy of her own at home and who knows the heartbreak of losing a four-legged best friend, I had to get a bottle of this.

 

In the bottle: Oh wow, that is blast of beautiful and nostalgia. Grass, musk, and flowers. I can even sense the sunshine in here, though it smells cool overall.

 

Wet: Musk and florals and grass and warm sunshine and sweetness and bright blue skies and happy puppy tail wags. Even the scent texture is a bit rough and furry. This is so beautiful, I'm tearing up a little. I just want to go home and cuddle my dog.

 

Drydown: The grass is the most noticeable note, but it's so wearable. It's recognizable as grass, but it isn't loud green clippings. It's a meadow perfumed by the wildflowers and warmed by the sun. As for the musk? Think of a dog sleeping in that sunny, grassy meadow, his little paws twitching as he dreams.

 

Dry: The perfumey florals become a bit more prominent as it goes on. I'm finding that wildflowers are one of my good florals- there's no powder or sourness or anything bad about them. The musk and warmth fade a little, but it's still easy to pick out the grass. The longer it's on, the more it fades until it's simply a soft floral skin scent with a touch of grass and a suggestion of musk.

 

I adore this. It's best at the wet and drydown stages but it's still a wonderful blend throughout. It's completely evocative of sunny meadows and puppies and it's totally appropriate for daily wear. It was so worth it to get a bottle.

[Naomi Kelsey]

This is rapidly turning into one of my favorite scents. I took a chance on it, and I'm so glad I did.

 

It opens with bright flowers, light, and very summery. In the middle there's a hint of grasses--very dry, summery, yellow grass. Then there's a deep, rich, tan scent that is almost off putting, but, as the others have noted, it is very "furry' smelling.

 

Almost all BPAL perfumes dry down to a sweet, almost honeyed almond musk on me (I have super-potent body chemistry apparently!) and this one is no exception, but it has a very slight cocoa or chocolate smell that is very nice.

 

 

Overall, it's in my top 5. Wonderful, sweet, and delightful scent.